Sunspots 933

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others*:

Environment:  FiveThirtyEight reports on attempts to undo steps to reduce global warming.

Gizmodo reports that the US Supreme Court has become interested in the deception practiced by oil companies.

Politics: A Conversation writer compares the visions of Supreme Court Justices Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas.

Some Tennessee state officials are trying to remove mention of slavery from the history of the Civil War, according to a Conversation writer.

Science: Gizmodo reports that scientists are turning dead bird carcasses (including feathers) into drones.

Gizmodo (and other outlets) report on a massive study of the DNA of many types of mammals.

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view.

Thanks for reading.

 

Sunspots 921

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others*:

Christianity: The Conversation reports that evangelical Christians used to support protecting the environment, but that most of them no longer do so.

Environment: Gizmodo discusses the environmental effects of allowing grazing on federal lands in the West.

Gizmodo also reports that Exxon and Chevron made their largest profits ever, and are still bad for the environment.

Finances: Condominium owners in Texas may be forced to sell, according to NPR.

Science: Gizmodo reports on "rubble pile" asteroids.

Gizmodo also reports on the best ocean photography of the year.

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view.

Thanks for reading. 

Sunspots 895

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others*:

The Arts: (and Christianity) a Tor author discusses the fate of Susan Pevensie in the Narnia books, by C. S. Lewis.

Christianity: (and Politics) Christianity Today examines the question of how behavior changes in Southern whites who have stopped going to church.

Finances: Gizmodo reports that the oil industry has received lots of profit over the past few years, but has cut its workforce drastically.

CNN reports on how Russia is financing the war in Ukraine with African gold, and propping up African dictators.

Science: The Scientist on why a humpback whale recently collided with a small boat.

NPR reports that, although the moon has been thought of as divided into two regions, one too hot, and one too cold for living things, certain geological features on the moon are habitable throughout the lunar cycle, neither too hot or too cold.

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view.

Thanks for reading.

 

Sunspots 884

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others*:

Computing: Gizmodo reports on how often our presence is registered by someone we didn't ask to do this, on-line. (For example, how Google gets information on you, and shows you ads, when you do a search.) Normal internet users leak such information into the hundreds of times a day.

Environment: Gizmodo reports that major oil companies are selling off some of their structure to smaller companies, which are unregulated, and increase emitting greenhouse gases.

Politics: Relevant reports that Americans are a lot more interested in the Depp-Heard trial than in Roe vs. Wade.

Science: Gizmodo reports that NASA has detected a magnitude 5 earthquake on Mars.

A writer in The Scientist discusses sex, and argues that sex differences are much less binary than some would have us believe.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view.

Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 864

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others*:

The Arts: A BBC report (about 3 minutes long, video) on some amazing paper folding.

Christianity: Singer Mariah Carey insists that she is NOT the queen of Christmas. Mary is.

Relevant is not happy with Christians who think that there is a so-called "war on Christmas."

Education: (or something) NPR discusses the significance and history of piñatas.

Environment: Gizmodo reports that Halliburton, a large corporation, claims to have lost important evidence related to two different massive fuel leaks.

Health: NPR discusses mask types, with recommendations.

Science: Gizmodo reports on a study that found a hundred or more "rogue planets." (A rogue planet is one that doesn't orbit a sun/star.

Gizmodo also reports that the ivory-billed woodpecker seems to be extinct.

Edward O. Wilson, perhaps the most influential biologist of the 20th Century, passed away recently. 

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view.

Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 862

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to others*:

Christianity: Christianity Today reports on a survey that indicates that most Americans don't believe that Christ existed before His birth.

Relevant on why many Christians do not follow the Biblical mandate to care for the poor.

Environment: Gizmodo summarizes the ways in which oil companies have controlled our thinking and actions.

NPR reports that temperature records have recently been broken, all over the earth.

Finances: Gizmodo describes a study that indicates that Lego sets are a better investment than gold or stocks.

Health: Gizmodo reports that a court decision has caused county health departments in Missouri to stop all work, and all restrictions, related to COVID.

Politics: FiveThirtyEight analyzes Donald Trump's endorsements. He's endorsing more people earlier, and, in some cases, endorsed Republican challengers to a Republican incumbent.

Science: Astronomers have discovered a very large planet in a nearby solar system, according to Gizmodo.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view.

Thanks for reading.

 

Sunspots 798

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else: 

Christianity: Relevant has an article on the idolatry of patriotism.

Environment: Gizmodo says that animal extinction is increasing, but that it doesn't have to be that way.

Gizmodo also reports that the city of Charleston, South Carolina, is one of several that are suing oil companies because of increased flooding.

NPR reports on how oil companies knew plastic recycling wouldn't work, but promoted it heavily. It still doesn't work for plastics, and it's still being promoted.

Gizmodo reports that climate change denial is alive and well in Australia, as well as in the US.

Gizmodo also reports that international biodiversity goals have not been met, although there has been some progress. We are "rapidly losing the rainforests that play an important role in protecting us from our own carbon pollution, the bees we depend on to pollinate our food, and the coral reefs that shield millions of people from flooding ..." 

Politics:  FiveThirtyEight on Republican efforts to make it harder to vote (the report says that some Republicans are making it easier to vote).

Relevant reports that there was no child trafficking ring taken down in a raid in Georgia.

FiveThirtyEight on how, and why, white seniors in Florida are less likely to support Trump than in 2016.

Gizmodo reports that conservative media are influencing people to not evacuate when there's a hurricane warning.

It also reports that the Department of Health and Human Services is attempting to alter CDC reports.

Science: Gizmodo reports that new studies indicate that several species of fish can walk on land.

Gizmodo also reports that a molecule produced by living things, and perhaps in no other way, has been discovered in the atmosphere of Venus.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

Thanks for looking!

The US Presidential campaigns on Global Climate Change

I have examined the "Issues" pages of the Obama and Romney campaign web sites, to see what they say about global climate change.

I found no evidence that Governor Romney's campaign site so much as mentions global climate change. The Issues page of that site does include a link to an Energy page, which is here. However, lest I mis-characterize Mr. Romney on the subject, I quote my own blog, from July 1 of this year: ". . . Republican Presidential candidates Mitt Romney and John Huntsman believe that the climate is changing globally, and that humans are influencing that." At that time, when the Republican candidates for President were interested in support from my state, South Carolina (There was a debate between them in South Carolina) the state's most widely circulated newspaper had an article which was my source. That article is no longer available, as far as I can determine. I don't know if Romney still holds to that view. He has changed his views on several issues, apparently. The other Republican candidates for President, at that time, did not agree with Romney and Huntsman, but Romney is the candidate.

President Obama's campaign site also has an Energy page, under Issues, which is here. The only mention of climate change is a graphic, which says "climate change is not a hoax."

In case you didn't know it, there are some people who believe that "Global warming is the liberal hoax that the world is becoming dangerously warmer . . ." 

Both major party candidates said more about global climate change, leading up to the 2008 election, than either of the candidates are saying this time.

The Green Party, as would be expected, has a lot more to say about the subject than the two major parties.

Thanks for reading.

*  *  *  *

Added on October 19, 2012: Shell, Chevron, and BP all state that there is such a thing as Global Climate Change, and that using fossil fuels contributes to this. So does Exxon Mobil.