Author: Kate

The Sound Of Settled Science

Climategate: the little genie who could

Britain’s premier scientific institution is being forced to review its statements on climate change after a rebellion by members who question mankind’s contribution to rising temperatures.
The Royal Society has appointed a panel to rewrite the 350-year-old institution’s official position on global warming. It will publish a new “guide to the science of climate change” this summer. The society has been accused by 43 of its Fellows of refusing to accept dissenting views on climate change and exaggerating the degree of certainty that man-made emissions are the main cause.
The society appears to have conceded that it needs to correct previous statements. It said: “Any public perception that science is somehow fully settled is wholly incorrect — there is always room for new observations, theories, measurements.” This contradicts a comment by the society’s previous president, Lord May, who was once quoted as saying: “The debate on climate change is over.”
The admission that the society needs to conduct the review is a blow to attempts by the UN to reach a global deal on cutting emissions. The Royal Society is viewed as one of the leading authorities on the topic and it nominated the panel that investigated and endorsed the climate science of the University of East Anglia.

An Inconvenient Tipper

Love means never having to say you’re a sorry loser.

On Tuesday’s CBS Evening News, with the help of the Washington Post’s Sally Quinn, Sharyl Attkisson managed to blame news, that Al and Tipper Gore are separating, on how they never got over being denied the presidency despite winning the popular vote in 2000. If only Bush hadn’t taken it from them.

It wasn’t just CBS. Yesterday, Saskatoon’s CKOM “afternoon news” host Richard Brown got in on the sentiment – and then added a “historical” footnote that Gore had actually won the 2000 election, only to have it snatched away by the Supreme Court.
As I flipped the dial to a country music station, I felt a little twinge of sadness for John Gormley. All that work building an audience each morning with intelligent, informed commentary on the day’s current events – only to have it punted away by the idiocy of the so-called “news department”.
(Or, is it a case of convenient division of assets? – h/t ES)

Reader Tips

Welcome to Late Night Radio. Tonight we feature Richard Thompson’s fine guitar playing, and, especially, his talent as a narrative songwriter, as he tells a long-ago tale of unrequited love. The song’s verses are short biographical vignettes of a moment in time when shifting cultural forces collided in the figure of two strong-willed but differing characters; this clearly-recalled detail floats a lyrical chorus wherein the narrator’s wistful sense of loss, whetted by those remembered circumstances, now soars in pure feeling far above them.
Here’s Shakespeare-headed English songwriter Richard Thompson performing Beeswing. (Lyrics here.)
The thread is open for your Reader Tips.

The Da Vinci Left: Not Conflicted Enough!

Now is the time at SDA when we juxtapose!
Ezra LevantIt’s one thing for Messrs. Martin and Duceppe and Ms. Mc-Donald to dislike Christians. But what’s new — and disturbing — is that this once-passive intolerance is becoming active: There is a concerted effort to name Christians and drive them out of office, to delegitimize the very idea of Christians participating in public life.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) “And that Word is, we have to give voice to what that means in terms of public policy that would be in keeping with the values of the Word. The Word. Isn’t it a beautiful word when you think of it? It just covers everything. The Word. Fill it in with anything you want. But, of course, we know it means: ‘The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us.’ And that’s the great mystery of our faith. He will come again. He will come again. So, we have to make sure we’re prepared to answer in this life, or otherwise, as to how we have measured up.”

Enough Already

61% agree;

Nearly two-thirds of respondents to the Canadian Press-Harris Decima survey – 61 per cent – said they want Justice Jeffrey Oliphant’s inquiry to be the last word on the former prime minister’s dealings with German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber.
The poll was conducted just prior to the release Monday of Oliphant’s final report into the affair, which described as “inappropriate” the pair’s financial relationship, as well as Mulroney’s failure to disclose it.

Well, maybe not the last last word.

I want the $16M this waste of time cost taxpayers deducted from the CBC budget.
Yes
No
  
pollcode.com free polls

Survivorman

An axe with a built in distress signal.

After being stranded for days in an area just south of Wollaston Lake, he cut down four power poles in hopes of attracting attention. According to SaskPower’s James Parker, he was spotted by a helicopter last Friday. “We fly the line to see what the issue is. So naturally our folks went down to rescue him. He was in a very distressed state when we got to him.”

Reader Tips

Welcome to SDA Late Night Radio. Yesterday, on Memorial Day, Americans paid tribute to their fallen soldiers. Steve McCann, who was brought to the US after being orphaned in World War II, believes that citizens of other nations should be thankful as well:

With each new generation, the knowledge and experience of war and survival are replaced with the demands of day-to-day living and an unfortunate tendency to fall prey to the false but fashionable proclivity of blaming the United States for all the world’s ills. But the various countries of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East who have experienced peace and prosperity for years or decades would not have done so without the willingness of the United States to expend the lives and wealth of its citizens.

On Memorial Day, when Americans honor the memory of those who without hesitation paid the ultimate price to defend the United States, it is fitting that the people and their progeny around the world whose lives were so impacted by these same sacrifices pause and express their gratitude.

Indeed. Tonight’s song, George Jones’ heartfelt 50,000 Names, is dedicated to our American friends, including the families of fallen soldiers.
The thread is open for your Reader Tips.

“Remember Haibar Oh, Jews “

Uri Goldflam;

When watching the coverage of the intl. media I noticed that the boat people are chanting. Fair haired and bright eyed “human rights activists” from all over the world who are sure they are doing the right thing are sitting hand in hand and chanting in Arabic:
Haibar Haibar ya Yahud – Jaish Muhammad Sa’ufa Ya’ud

More…

… it does appear that the physical violence started from the other side, which to begin with had the rather unhumanitarian mission of aiding Hamas, and, to the extent there were sincere humanitarian/peace activists involved, allowed themselves to get hijacked by violent Islamic extremists who manned one of the ships.

And then there are the friends in the White House. One can only hope November comes soon enough.
More commentary here and here:A Brutal Ambush At Sea.

The paintballs obviously made no impression on the activists, who kept on beating the troops up and even attempted to wrest away their weapons.
One soldier who came to the aid of a comrade was captured by the rioters and sustained severe blows. The commandoes were equipped with handguns but were told they should only use them in the face of life-threatening situations. When they came down from the chopper, they kept on shouting to each other “don’t shoot, don’t shoot,” even though they sustained numerous blows.
The Navy commandoes were prepared to mostly encounter political activists seeking to hold a protest, rather than trained street fighters. The soldiers were told they were to verbally convince activists who offer resistance to give up, and only then use paintballs. They were permitted to use their handguns only under extreme circumstances. …
At one point, the attackers nabbed one commando, wrested away his handgun, and threw him down from the top deck to the lower deck, 30 feet below. The soldier sustained a serious head wound and lost his consciousness.
Only after this injury did Flotilla 13 troops ask for permission to use live fire. The commander approved it: You can go ahead and fire. The soldiers pulled out their handguns and started shooting at the rioters’ legs, a move that ultimately neutralized them. Meanwhile, the rioters started to fire back at the commandoes.

Video in the extended entry.

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Is There Nothing That Obama Can’t Do?

Mark Tapscott

Release of the Federal Trade Commission’s working paper on “reinventing journalism” makes it clear that there is no more time for diplomacy about this issue: Barack Obama is determined to federalize the news industry just as he has banking, autos, and health care.
[…]
Those in the administration who clearly view independent journalism as an obstacle to “change we can believe in” and their numerous allies in the old media, non-profit activists, and academic community who either share a similar ideological vision or see the FTC process as their salvation against the Internet will no doubt dismiss my assertions as extemism or alarmism.
Fine, call me whatever, but what they cannot deny is what is written in the FTC document and what it clearly tells us about the intention behind the initiative, which is to transform the news industry from an information product collected by private individuals and entrepreneurs as a service to buyers to a government-regulated utility providing a “public good,” as defined by government.

Via.

The Sound Of Settled Science

Did you know that big glowing ball in the sky has been strangely quiet?

Solar physicists here at the semiannual meeting of the American Astronomical Society this week offered a number of mechanisms to shed light on what has been happening on the sun of late, but conceded that the final answer—or more likely answers—remains opaque.

Scientific American – the go-to place for two year old science news. The least these science journalists could do is remind us of how such phenomena still pale in comparison to the impact of the incandescent bulb.

Reader Tips

Welcome to SDA Late Night Radio. Tonight, as we roll on without rebranding, I’d like to thank Vitruvius for his years of exemplary service here at SDA. I was unable to join everyone else in thanking him during his last show because my internet connection was disrupted by wet *snow and ice*, so I just want to say: Vitruvius, you’re a real character, and you will be sorely missed for the duration of your absence.
To get this inaugural Vit-less Reader Tips underway, here’s a clip, from Canadian documentary filmmaker Harry Rasky’s 1980 film Song of Leonard Cohen, that alternates between footage of Cohen in a Montreal apartment playing a recording of a new song for his friend Irving Layton and footage of the live performance at which the recording was made. It’s touching to see Layton’s reaction to the achingly beautiful, almost numinous song. In the live performance itself, I love the passionate, gypsy-style violin that marries joy, sadness, love, and mortality with such great expressiveness. Here it is, then, for your Sunday evening pleasure: Leonard Cohen performing The Window.
The thread is open for your Reader Tips.

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