A report in Newsweek, Iceberg Ahead, looks at the current state of climate science and politics… and how things got to this point.
What went wrong? Part of the blame lies, of course, with those who obstructed the efforts of the IPCC and the individual scientists, including bloggers who tried to sandbag scientists with spurious FOIA requests, and the perpetrators (as yet unknown) of the hack at the Climatic Research Unit. Part of the blame also falls on the climate scientists themselves. Many of them—including perhaps Rajendra Pachauri, the IPCC head—may have stepped too far over the line from science to advocacy, undermining their own credibility. Some scientists, as a result, are now calling for a change in tone from antagonism to reconciliation. Climate science, they say, needs to open its books and be more tolerant of scrutiny from the outside. Its institutions—notably the IPCC—need to go about their business with greater transparency. "The circle-the-wagons mentality has backfired," says Judith Curry, head of Georgia Tech’s School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.
Read more: Iceberg Ahead – Climate scientists who play fast and loose with the facts are imperiling not just their profession but the planet.
In a previous post, I provided the following information:
I came across this little item during our recent travels. It has an interesting purpose.
What do you think it is? Include the interesting purpose, if you can.
I’ll provide the answer later in the week if no one gets it correct.
Some additional information:
- I came across it in a National Park visitor center.
- I took a photograph of it because it reminded me of a post someone had written on their blog about a relative — a post I cannot find right now.
- It’s a 19th century artifact.
- Debo and Dot have come closest so far
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Commentary and images from the road
image and information from September 12, 2009
This post is being simultaneously published on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About.
I came across this little item during our recent travels. It has an interesting purpose.
What do you think it is? Include the interesting purpose, if you can.
I’ll provide the answer later in the week if no one gets it correct.
__________________________________
Commentary and images from the road
September 9, 2009
This post is being simultaneously published on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About.
We live in a rural area and most of our travels are to rural parts of the United States, so seeing a deer — or three or five — is no big deal.
We’ve seen that many out of our kitchen window.
I understand that most people do not have that opportunity and that, when they’ve seen a deer, they want to let others know so that they can see it, too. I know that they are just trying to share. I really do know that.
However, it’s a little hard not to be just a tad bit condescending, “Yeah, well, we see them all the time. It’s just a deer!”
I try not to.
However a couple of weeks ago, at Mammoth Cave National Park, we ran into a young family who had just spotted a deer quite a ways up in the woods laying down with its head just sticking up above some rocks.
Now, it’s quite an accomplishment to spot a deer in the woods when it’s laying down, not moving and quite a ways of the trail — at above the trail, at that.
However, the father of the family went on and on about where it was and that it was really a great view. On top of that one of the kids really went over the top to do his part to “help” us see it.
I finally saw it and couldn’t resist saying, “That’s the fifth one we’ve seen today.”
I think I said it nicely…, I hope so.
I’m sure they were from a less rural area than us and that seeing a deer in the wild is a big thing, but still….
On August 28, 2007, we had a really impressive deer related experience. We were at Devil’s Tower National Monument on a day that was going to be really rainy, so we took a drive over into South Dakota to go out to eat and do some shopping. Along the road we kept seeing little herds of deer. In 50 miles, we counted 95 head and I’m sure we missed a lot. Now that was cool!
Below is the deer that was pointed out to us at Mammoth Cave. This is the best photo I took, at the highest magnification of my zoom lens and cropped with my digital image editor.
It’s just a deer — but I doubt if I would have spotted it without it being pointed out to us.
I got some better images earlier on the trail — including some shots of a doe and a very, very young faun.
2
“I’m going to take every single sick day even if I don’t get sick; they’re mine.” — or — “I only take days off sick if I’m really feeling lousy.”
What was she thinking?
November 6, 2009
Commentary and images from the road
image and information from September 13, 2009
This post is being simultaneously published
on Exit78 and Haw Creek Out ‘n About
Mesa Verde National Park, September 13, 2009
I figure she was just thinking about seeing the cliff dwellings up close and personal.
It was obvious, though, to us, that she’s not a regular on trails.
The shoulder bag is a dead giveaway.
Generally, the only places we ever see women with purses on trails are relatively short trails that go to gotta-see sights.
Cliff Palace is certainly a gotta-see, but really….
And the footwear.
Granted, we did see a lot of people wearing sandals and flip-flops, but, again, I doubt that many of them are out on trails of any kind on a regular basis — I think her flip-flops were to show off her pretty red toe-nails.
But the real question was the skirt.
I doubt that she was thinking about the climb up out of the canyon — or maybe didn’t know, until it was too late.
The way out was very steep — and included near-vertical ladders.
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The image on the right was taken from across the canyon. I processed it on my computer to lighten it so that the dark crack in the rocks where the exit climb was could be seen.
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