Y2Kyoto: Ice Whine

Y2Kyoto 52 Comments

Via IceAgeNow;

Hard freezes in some of France’s famous wine-making regions, including Champagne, Bordeaux and Burgundy, have caused extensive damage.
Temperatures plunged in all three regions last week, sometimes to below -7C (19°F).
In the Bugey region near Lyon, winemakers said the damage was extensive, with some vineyards totally destroyed.
“Frost destroyed everything – shoots are dead,” Julien Hubail, expert at the Bugey wine union, said. “In winemakers’ memory it had never happened, no one had ever experienced such a severe freeze.”
In Champagne the frost impact is worse than last year’s, and last year was down more than 20% from the year before that.

h/t Maz2

So Why Is He Still Defense Minister?

Military The Libranos 64 Comments

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan has apologized to Canadian, American and Afghan troops that he served with in Afghanistan for claiming that he was the “architect” of Canada’s most famous and bloodiest combat operation of that war.
The minister made the claim in a speech last week in India.

Not just last week.


Who does he think he is – Minister of Democratic Institutions?
h/t Antenor

This Is Not Your Grandma’s Humane Society

Animal Rights Extremism 10 Comments

An Ocala science teacher stands to lose his job after school officials said he harassed and called Future Farmers of America students “murderers” for raising livestock to be sold for slaughter.
A district investigation revealed that Allison is seeking to end the animal agriculture program because of his animal rights beliefs. Maier said he’s also made it harder for FFA students to get good grades in his science class.

The Sound Of Settled Science

Unsettled Science 30 Comments

Hold the consensus.

Consuming fewer than 2,500 milligrams of sodium daily is actually associated with higher blood pressure, according to the Framingham Offspring Study report, given today. The American Heart Association recommends consuming no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium daily, equal to a teaspoon of ordinary iodized table salt.
High blood pressure is a known risk factor for heart disease and stroke. Hence, lowering salt intake is supposed to lower blood pressure and thus reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke. But the study found that supposition to be unfounded.
Moreover, the lowest blood pressure was recorded by those who consumed 4,000 milligrams or more a day — amounts considered dangerously high by medical authorities such as the American Heart Association.

Art Of The Deal

Trump 50 Comments


Global News: Trump sounded satisfied that his peers had agreed to negotiate swiftly…
Related.

Meanwhile, the president’s battle to restore U.S. competitiveness is just warming up, right when Canada’s is looking weaker than it has in a long while. Business investment in this country is already anemic. As Jack Mintz noted last month, private investment in manufacturing and services, averaging less than eight per cent of GDP in recent years, is lower even than in economic basket-case Greece, significantly lower than in the U.S. and U.K., and less than half the level in Germany and France.

CPAWS

Green Police 8 Comments

Reader James notes via email – CPAWS is taking our Government to court.

The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) has filed a lawsuit against federal environment minister Catherine McKenna, asserting that the Government of Canada is not following its own rules about protecting caribou.
Under the Species at Risk Act, once critical habitat for a species has been identified, the minister has 180 days to take action.
“Boreal woodland caribou’s critical habitat was identified and publicly posted in October of 2012. Much of the habitat is on non-federal lands. Though we know that much of the boreal caribou critical habitat remains unprotected more than four years later, there have been no reports describing what is being done to address any protection gaps,” CPAWS Quebec executive director Alain Branchaud said in a statement.
Much of that habitat is in oil and gas development regions across Canada.

Of course it is. James adds – “And a peek at the CRA site tells us why: CPAWS non-receipted revenue from out-of-country sources ($893,596) and revenue received from other charities ($1,045,007) vastly exceeds the relatively miserly federal donation: $166,092. Get out our cheque-book Justin – make it all go away.”

We Don’t Need No Stinking Giant Fans

Alternative Subsidy 14 Comments

Sustainable poverty;

However, we must not look at wind and solar as anything more than short-term solutions to fix serious, immediate problems. They do not equal real economic development or really improved living standards. Our cities need abundant, reliable electricity, and for faraway villages wind and solar must be only temporary, to meet basic needs until they can be connected to transmission lines and a grid.
Only in that way can we have modern homes, heating, lighting, cooking, refrigeration, offices, factories, schools, shops and hospitals – so that we can enjoy the same living standards people in industrialized countries do (and think is their right). We deserve the same rights and lives.
That is why I react strongly to people and organizations that think wind and solar electricity and solar ovens should be enough, or the end of our progress, and everyone should be happy that their lives have improved a little. I do not accept that. But I see it all the time.

h/t DB

Deep Impact

Media 17 Comments

“The people being fired at ESPN today aren’t being fired because they are bad at their jobs, they’re being fired because ESPN’s business is collapsing. That collapse has been aided by ESPN’s absurd decision to turn into MSESPN, a left wing sports network…
Related.

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