The Horror
As if drought, famine, rising sea level inundating coastal cities and the cancellation of international ski competitions were not enough, my colleague Dan McKay in this morning’s paper catalogues a previously unmentioned and potentially devastating consequence of global warming: It could harm Albuquerque’s famed balloon fiesta, “the world’s most photographed annual event.” Worrying about the [...]
Radioactive Laundry Lint
There’s a phrase that’s never appeared in the Googleverse. Until now.
Accepting the science
From Saturday’s Washington Post: “We have to deal with greenhouse gases,” John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil Co., said in a recent speech at the National Press Club. “From Shell’s point of view, the debate is over. When 98 percent of scientists agree, who is Shell to say, ‘Let’s debate the science’?” The interesting bit [...]
Where the Nukes Are
If you’ve ever wondered where those “secret” underground bunkers are where they keep all our nukes, the Nuclear Notebook guys, Hans Kristensen and Stan Norris, have poked virtual pushpins into a Google Earth map. (Hint to Albuquerque readers: some are right under your nose, and I don’t mean at the Ghost Mall.) More on Hans’s [...]
Climate Catastrophe
Never mind drought, famine, rising sea level inundating coastal cities, etc. This is serious: High temperatures in Europe have disrupted the Alpine skiing World Cup, throwing the calendar of the sport’s premier circuit into disarray and raising questions about the future of a sport so vulnerable to climate change. “It will very quickly be a [...]
Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere
In which I get references to The Graduate, Richard Feynman and Rumpelstiltskin into the same story. Nanotechnology enthusiasts love to cite a classic exchange from the 1967 film “The Graduate.” Mr. McGuire, an older businessman, is trying to explain the future to a young Benjamin Braddock. “I want to say one word to you. Just [...]
Waiting For Santa
waiting-for-Santa Originally uploaded by heinemanfleck. I love a parade, so Lissa and I went downtown last night to watch the Twinkle Light Parade. It was fabulous – lowriders decked out in Christmas lights with those wacky hydraulic bouncy thingies, marching cheerleaders cheering for Christmas cheer (Go Christmas!), a motorcycle cop with his bike decked out. [...]
Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere
On University of New Mexico geographer Maria Lane’s fascinating work on the late 19th and early 20th century mapping of Mars (sub. req. or you gotta watch the ad): Schiaparelli, Lowell and a host of others in the late 19th century were using advanced new telescopes to study Mars every two years as Earth made [...]
Cheap Shit From China Watch
I didn’t have my camera with me this morning when I rode by the Wal-Mart up on Carlisle, so you’ll have to forgive this Inkstain file photo to illustrate today’s update on the onrushing Christmas consuming season. When last we tallied up the temporary shipping containers filling the parking lot behind this particular Wal-Mart superstore, [...]
It’s Not the Fall that Kills You
From Somalia: The flood-hit communities in southern Somalia were already vulnerable because they had not recovered from the severe drought of earlier this year when they lost thousands of livestock and had no harvest. “Juba has been in a chronic humanitarian crisis,” said Cindy Holleman, technical manager with Somalia’s Food Security Analysis Unit (FSAU), a [...]
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