What if we could harness the force for renewable energy?
Randall Munroe (the creator of XKCD) has created a “what-if” blog which is bound to become a delightful waste of time. One of the first questions he asks is “What…
Dan Moutal
Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math
Bill Mckibben has just written a must read article in Rolling stone, ignore the initial error which I also made here on P3, and go read it now. Here are…
Welcome to the new Mind of Dan
After the massive database crash a couple of weeks ago I decided to give Mind of Dan a proper upgrade. Really these were things that I should have done a…
Standing up against bullies
Michael Mann continues to do everyone a great service by consistently not backing down when faced with constant harassment, threats and unending attempts to smear his reputation. The latest is…
U.S. heat over the past 13 months: a one in 1.6 million event [UPDATED]
From Jeff Masters: Each of the 13 months from June 2011 through June 2012 ranked among the warmest third of their historical distribution for the first time in the 1895…
Pingback spam
I screwed up. A few days ago Mind of Dan had a database crash. A bunch of posts were lost and I had to rebuild the site from scratch. This…
Quote of the day
We need evidence-based decision-making; not decision-based evidence-making. -Raj Sherman, leader of Alberta Liberals Via Elizabeth May Related posts (randomly generated) Conservatives win majority; Greens elect leader Elizabeth May, the first…
Quote of the day
Granted, we’ve only lived in the area for 25 years… But the first 15 left an impression that this was not one of Dante’s circles. The last ten: approaching inner…
Intense Jealousy
I am not a jealous person… or at least I wasn’t until I saw this picture: NASA astronaut Don Pettit, Expedition 31 flight engineer, posing with more digital cameras than…
Higgs
The brainiacs at CERN have found the Higgs Boson!!! Or rather they have found a new particle that resembles what they think the Higgs should look like. Phil Plait has…
Adaptation
Robert Grumbine points out that the recent derecho that hit Washington DC demonstrates the folly of thinking we can simply adapt to climate change: I live in the national Capitol…
Fracking can be done ‘safely’
The conclusion of a review by the Royal Society in the UK, is that fracking can be done ‘safely’, provided ”best practices are implemented and robustly enforced through regulation.” Unfortunately…
BC’s Carbon tax goes up on July 1st
Tomorrow, North America’s only Carbon tax will increase by $5. British Columbia’s carbon tax was introduced July 1st 2008 at $10/tonne by the right of centre BC Liberals. Every year…
Climate literacy is necessary but not sufficient
Mark McCaffrey is not happy with the recent trend of downplaying the importance of climate literacy: There’s a dangerous meme drifting through the climate community: that when it comes to…
Warning
There are many things evolution has not prepared us for. That is a major reason we find ourselves in this mess. (via xkcd) Related posts (randomly generated) This is my…
Why EPA Regulating Greenhouse Gases Is Absurd…And Why It Doesn’t Matter
John Nielsen-Gammon is not happy with the appeals court decision that upheld EPA GHG emissions rules concluding: Until there’s a reasonably intelligent scheme, approved by Congress and the Administration, for…
UNESCO to set up UN science advisory board
Via Nature News: The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, has agreed to set up an international scientific advisory board to provide him with guidance on science-related issues, and enable him to…
US Appeals Court Upholds EPA Greenhouse Gas Emission Rules
Via Climate Progress: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit today unanimously ruled in favor of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) legal authority to limit industrial…
Depressing yet expected
Via Nature News: Oil exploration ramps up in US Arctic A new round of exploratory oil drilling is due to begin in the Arctic this July. Oil companies are no…
EO Wilson: Advice to young scientists
It is worth noting that EO Wilson and Richard Dawkins are currently involved in a dispute over some of the more intricate details of evolutionary theory. I mention this only…