Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere: Long Shadow Edition
A piece I wrote in yesterday’s Albuquerque Journal about a new approach to maintaining the U.S. nuclear stockpile has triggered some thoughtful discussion at the Arms Control Wonk blog. See also some stuff on my Journal blog, and the usual crappy anonymous comments but a few good signed ones at the LANL blog.
Storm Death
Here’s a lazyweb question, the product of an afternoon at the office with entirely too much time on our hands. (Hey, it was this or writing about White Christmas. Again.) The “storm death toll” is a newsroom staple: At least 19 deaths were linked to the weekend-long blast of ice and windblown snow, which led [...]
Welcome to One of the ‘Net’s Top 10 Water Blogs
Years ago, when I had two working knees, I used to enjoy running in local 5k and 10k races. I would often linger at the finish area, hoping against hope that I might win one of those coveted top three age group finish medals. It rarely happened, but if the field was small enough, I [...]
A Christmas Miracle
And the angels came from on high, and bade Lissa go forth into that December morn and purchase luminaria bags, for the old bags were worn, or missing entirely. And lo, the angels suggested K-Mart, saying the Lord doth view Wal-Mart as the more evil of the two shopping options in our neighborhood. “But K-Mart [...]
On a Post-Simian Future
A Thinking Ape’s Critique of Trans-Simianism: Technologies such as the bow and arrow already desimianize the act of hunting. While our ancestors were able to experience the pure ape feeling of clubbing an animal to death with a rock, we are left with the cold, sterilized bow that kills cleanly and quickly from a safe [...]
Ethanol, Soy and Deforestation
A letter in Science last week from William Laurance of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute lays out a piece of the argument I’d not heard regarding the extent to which ethanol as fuel reduces, or doesn’t reduce, carbon emissions. The ethanol push in this country is causing U.S. farmers to shift from soy to corn. [...]
Don’t Count La Nina Out Just Yet
Snowpack may be looking just dandy here in the Southwest for a La Nina winter, but Klaus Wolter’s latest experimental forecast suggests it would be unwise for us to get all cocky about our decisions to buy those full-season ski passes: My experimental forecast guidance for the late winter season (January-March 2008) continues to show [...]
Giant Sushi
A couple of scores this week led me back to a favorite Google game, wherein in I grab top rankings for obscure phrases that amuse me. An abbreviated list of some of the phrases I ownz, or at least ownz a substanial share of, starting with this week’s new additions to the list: sustainable nuclear [...]
The China Problem
Joseph Kahn, Mark Landler and others had the latest yesterday in the New York Times series on the problems enveloping China’s rapid growth. The story uses the journalistic trope of moving from the illustrative particular to the more significant general issue underlying it. The particular in this case is the shift of steel production from [...]
Santa Goes Green
This just in: NORTH POLE — Kris Kringle announced today that he has dropped the centuries-old tradition of stuffing coal into the stockings of naughty boys and girls. The decision comes at a time when record warm temperatures and thinning sea ice are threatening the very existence of Kringle’s North Pole toy-making and distribution center. [...]
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