If You Think You’ve Got It Cold
Ready for a dash of Global Weirding? A bay in the Norwegian island of Lovund instantly froze when already cold water was hit by a far colder wind shear. The…
The Mound of Sound
Physician, Heal Thyself
Former U.S. defense secretary, Robert Gates, is firing broadsides in his tell-all book at seemingly every one he dealt with. One of his targets is Britain where cutbacks imposed on…
It’s Back to the Polar Vortex Penalty Box for You Easterners
It sounds as though the Polar Vortex is returning for a two-week encore engagement. With any luck it won’t be quite as bad as the first bout, -20C for Toronto,…
How Did We Become So Dysfunctional?
Hardly a day goes by but we read of new studies and reports warning us of serious developments that are either underway or imminent that will transform Earth or our…
IPCC Warns It’s Now or Never
A leaked copy of the final report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reveals a stark warning – we either shift to a low-carbon economy now or prepare to…
Think We’re Awash in Fossil Fuel Energy? Think Again. Crunch Time May Be Closer Than We Imagine.
The world could hit a global energy crisis possibly as early as 2015 and that’s got the Pentagon deeply worried. The shale oil and gas miracle that, especially in the…
Australia Roasts and It’s Lights Out
Australia is reeling from the worst heatwave to hit the country since – oh, I see, the worst since 2013. For city dwellers, heatwaves tend to be particularly severe –…
America’s Death Industry
When condemned prisoners are executed in the States today, death is often a matter of ill-educated guesswork. Dennis McGuire was on the wrong end of that miscalculation yesterday as the…
It’s That Time Again in America
There may be no country in the world that harbours as much skepticism over climate change than the United States. From April to November, 2013, the number of American respondents…
America Bounces Back. Policing the Cops?
Americans are turning on law enforcement – with smart phones. They’re watching the watchers and they’re reporting what they see. They’ve got the cops on the run and it’s about…
Death by Torture
If the state wants to execute somebody it had better find a way that doesn’t take 25-minutes to kill. Ohio is now officially the State of ‘death by torture.’ Unable…
On a Lighter Note, What’s on God’s Mind?
From The Tweet of God:I love each and every one of you like My own son, whom I killed.I don’t think it’s too much to ask that everyone stop acting…
How Dangerous is Stephen Harper’s Fossil Fetish?
If there’s one symbol that best exemplifies the Harper government, it wouldn’t be the beaver or the maple leaf or pretty much anything else we associate with Canada and being…
Australian Open Calls Matches on Account of Heat
It’s too damned hot to play tennis on outdoor courts in Melbourne, Australia. Organizers of the Australian Open pro tournament have finally come to their senses and canceled matches scheduled…
It’s Never Too Late
I just stumbled across a really neat site, FutureLearn. It’s a site that offers a wide range of free, online courses ranging from forensic science to climate change, business, acting,…
Now Brace Yourself
When it comes to money, what sounds like a big number to you? A billion dollars? A hundred billion, maybe a trillion? How does 36 trillion dollars sound? $36-trillion is…
Afghanistan. We Tried. We Failed.
Afghanistan’s opium production grew by 50% between 2012 and 2013. Obama has invested nearly $10-billion trying to nudge the country off its opium economy. Hasn’t worked. Sure, we’re the West.…
China’s Latest Export – the Rich
We’re familiar with anecdotal tales of China’s nouveau riche and their extravagant spending habits to feed their taste for luxury goods. That made it a bit surprising to learn that…
Funny You Should Mention That
Comedians are, well, slightly unhinged. You might have sensed that on some level but now the science is in. In a study in the British Journal of Psychiatry, researchers analyzed…
A Reformed Capitalism for the 21st Century
What if we changed the rules of capitalism? What if we stuck with private capital organized into corporations but required them to compete for access to resources, not according to…