commentopia What the World Is Saying A SERVICE BRINGING YOU THE BEST READERS' COMMENTS FROM TOP NEWS SOURCES ON THE WEB ENVIRONMENT ARCHIVES — JANUARY 2010
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JANAURY 25, 2010 -- JANUARY 31, 2010 HIMALAYAN GLACIER RETREAT, "NOT SO FAST," SAYS U.N. PANEL
It seems that many are missing the point. This was not a small mistake in the calculation of the rate of glacier melt, nor was in a misinterpretation or misrepresentation of data such as the one that prompted the previous climate change scadal. The problem is that the IPCC simply cherry-picks these various reports and studies that support their political agenda, without any verification of whether they are scientifically accurate or have any scientific basis. They even quoted the 500,000 sq km figure which was clearly not correct, regardless of what you think about climate change. It makes you wonder what else in the IPCC report is simply the regurgitation of other junk science included in the report because it sounds good. Read the article CNN/U.N. climate chiefs apologize for glacier error <> I have been going on Himalayan & Alpine glaciers virtually every year for 40 years. No mountaineer that I know doubts that glacier retreat is a huge issue. Of course, a few glaciers are advancing, but they are a minority.
Read the article U.K. GUARDIAN/U.N. scientists review Himalayan glaciers claim <> Let's be clear about this. The IPCC was pushed at the public as the orthodox, unassailable, very best collection of the very best "top" scientists. Sceptics ( "deniers" sounds like something to do with nylon stockings ) were ridiculed &, in some quarters abused. Verily, the Spanish Inquisition allowed more lee-way. First, (but in no particular order ) we find a nest of crooks lurking in their midst. Then we find a raft of TV punditry masquerading as Science. Now we have a plagiarised, discredited, hypothesis from years ago dressed up and served all-fresh. Is this, in all seriousness, worth bankrupting the West's manufacturing base for ? And that Government TV ad would make any sane scientist laugh out loud if he could stop himself from weeping at the Goebbels-like travesty it portrays. Let's drop Science. Lets go back to the Dark Ages. At least you knew where you were then. Or if you did not, some cleric or sooth-sayer would soon put you right. Or at least"on message".. Read the article U.K. GUARDIAN/U.N. scientists review Himalayan glaciers claim
JANUARY 11, 2010 -- JANUARY 24, 2010 THE LOSS OF THE SEA SHEPHERD ADY GIL
Interesting use of the word 'militant' for a group of people who are out to protect Whales from illegal poaching. The Japanese are hunting for whales illegally. Their operations are called poaching. They are poachers. So yes, you may refer to the Sea Shepherd as 'militants' (somewhat 60'ish) and yet they are getting the attention that is needed to stop Japan from ignoring international law and the incredible damage that their fishing practices are doing to our oceans.
Japan's whale hunts are allowed under international rules as a research program, despite a 1986 ban on commercial whaling. Whale meat not used for study is sold for consumption in Japan, which critics say is the real reason for the hunts. The idea that we have to 'kill' something to 'study it' is ridiculous. It's clear that the international constraints on Japanese whaling are not strong enough and the Japanese are clearly abusing the existing agreement and profiting from it. Read the article LOS ANGELES TIMES/Rammed anti-whaling boat sinks off Antarctica <> It's hard to tell from the video, but it may be that the Ady Gil deliberately provoked the collision. Watson would run his boats back and forth across the path of the larger whaling vessels. The larger vessels would turn sharply so as to avoid him. If he were to suddenly stop before crossing the bow of the larger vessel and it had already started to turn, a collision would be virtually unavoidable because the larger vessel cannot abruptly start turning (turns are controlled from the back of boats and ships not from the front like cars or trucks). Read the article CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR/The aggressive tactics of Sea Shepherd Paul Watson <> You can't call them pirates either because they are not stealing anything. If anybody is a pirate it is the Japanese whalers who are stealing whales from the south sea! There is all this talk about a Paul Watson’s “private war” and vigilante actions, but I don’t see why and how any of it is relevant. Why is a private war so much different than a public war? They are both immoral but sometimes necessary. Year after year the Japanese kill hundreds of whales. This is well documented. Somebody finally decided to do something about it. Well done… Read the article CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR/How Bob Barker joined Sea Shepherd Paul Watson and the whale wars <> I spent two years reading Peace Studies. I went in believing in Pacifism. I came out believing in Violence. Not for its own sake, but in combating the violence of oppressors. Everyone references Gandhi when putting forward non violent opposition. The fact is that Gandhi had several million Indians standing up to a a few thousand British. And for all the massacres, the British at the time were honourable and at some point got it through their skulls that shooting unarmed people is wrong. (Pity we've forgotten that again recently). We Brits wouldn't be able to hold a candle to a real tyrant like Stalin or Mao. They'd have shot them and kept shooting. Violent Opposition does not legitimise Violent Oppression. It's Violent Oppression that legitimises Violent Opposition. And despite the danger of anthropomorphasising Whales. Whaling is violent killing of a species with an intelligence and emotional ability that may well rival our own. Seeing as the Whales haven't yet risen up and overthrown their genocidal killers in 3000 years of Whaling History, due to their rather unfortunate lack of limbs and lungs, it behoves us to protect them from butchers. By any means necessary. That is what makes us human. And above animals. Our ability to care about other beings. Something that Whales and Dolphins are also capable of. People fight, because they care. The day we stop fighting will be the day Humanity dies. Read the article U.K. GUARDIAN/Is violent protest wrong? . THE HIGH COST OF MOUNTAINTOP COAL MINING
We all know blowing up mountain tops and taking coal is not good for the environment. The question is the extent to which it is bad. Is it worth ceasing all mining operations if these areas simply wither away and die economically? Ask why the local representatives in these areas do not stop it. Do the constituents not want it stopped? Of course not - it is their economy. Its like a study of the impacts of humans on earth - they burn, move, mine, trash and use it - well duh. Do you want everyone to just stop living? I am sure these coal miners would love to operate a windmill - it just ain't practical. Read the article WASHINGTON POST/Scientists decry impact of mountaintop coal mining <> I live in the middle of MTR and know firsthand of the TRUTH to this article. This is not CRU scientists cooking the data. Come here with a water analysis tester and you see can see the truth for yourself! Not to mention the deterioration of the quality of life for residents that live near a MTR operation. Damage to your home by blasting, vehicles, well water and air! It’s akin to Environmental Terrorism. Read the article WASHINGTON POST/Scientists decry impact of mountaintop coal mining
JANUARY 4, 2010 -- JANUARY 10, 2010 "HERRING TODAY, GONE TOMORROW" -- THE VANISHING SEA LIONS OF PIER 39
Guaranteed the anchovies left so they had to get off their fat asses and work for a living. This story is a joke, "no one knows why", its always about the food supply. Read the article SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE/S.F.'s vanishing sea lions baffle experts
Animals have a hidden sense, that we don't have. In 1960, 12 hours before the big (9.5) earthquake that struck Chile around 3 in the afternoon, we saw large flocks of birds that we had never seen before jumping form one tree to another, stay in the tree for few moments, then flew agitated to another tree where they only stay for a few seconds and jumped to another tree. That night a 3 AM we were hit by the most devastating earthquake.
<> I live in San Francisco and this has happened before. The seal lions used to all gather on Seal Rocks, just beyond the Cliff House at Ocean Beach. In a similar incident, one day all of the seals at Seal Rocks were gone. They were nowhere to be found very suddenly and everyone wondered where they went. After the Loma Prieta earthquake for whatever reason (probably food) they started gathering at Pier 39 and stayed there for years. Read the article HUFFINGTON POST/San Francisco's famous sea lions have vanished
DECEMBER 28, 2009 - JANUARY 3, 2010 HOW THE TERM " BLUE MOON" CAME ABOUT...
The term ‘blue moon’ does not refer to its color. It actually originated in a leaflet during Henry VIII’s reign when the Church of England separated from Roman Catholicism. The writer of the pamphlet was complaining about the religious clergy, whom the common people blindly followed. He wrote a rhyme which sarcastically expressed: “If they say the moon is blue, we must believe that it is true.” Read the article CNN NEWS/Blue Moon to shine on New Year's Eve <> There is a major controversy over whether or not a second full moon in a month is astronomically a “blue” moon. According to Sky and Telescope and other sources, a “blue moon” occurs when there are four full moons between a solstice and the following equinox, or equinox and solstice. This is not the case with the double fulls in December. There is an entire arcane “science” to the lunar calendar, one of the outcomes of which is the setting of the date of Easter, and the naming of the moons in the year. The designation of the second full moon in a month apparently came from a mistaken derivation in a 1946 article. It moved into popular culture and has doggedly and mistakenly stuck ever since. Read the article ST LOUIS POST DISPATCH/Blue moon set to rise on New Year's Eve
BEWARE THE EVIL EYE OF THE CONNIVING GOAT!
I have nine goats and I can confirm that they #1, have extremely creepy/crazy eyes and #2, cannot be trusted. They routinely collaborate on barn "break-outs" (one unlatches the stall gate, the other unlatches the food gate, etc) where mass-destruction ensues. On many occasions, the have snuck up behind me and bonked me in the backside before bouncing away in delight. Last month while I was not looking, one bit a chunk out of my hair requiring tens of dollars worth of beauty repair. My advice to the masses... watch your back! Read the article BOINGBOING/Proof That Goat's Cannot Be Trusted <> I took my kid to the weekly farmer's market and street fair in Monrovia this past summer because they had bouncy houses and a petting zoo. For $5 he'd be entertained for hours and exhaust himself before sundown, which, if you have ever had a three-year-old, you'll understand to be awesome. It started on the first visit to the petting zoo. There was one chubby goat who was very friendly and likable. So I started scratching her neck and chest. Then another came up and I started doing the same thing with the other hand. Before I knew it, I was surrounded by goats, all looking at me with those insane eyes. I don't find them creepy at all, just bizarre. The next week, as soon as I stepped into the little pen, I was surrounded by goats. So while my kid played with the chickens (his favorite) I scratched and talked to the goats. This happened repeatedly. After a few weeks, one of the women who worked the petting zoo asked if I was the Goat Whisperer. She said she'd never seen anything like it. I thought it was rather special and actually considered dropping out, starting a goat farm and making cheese. Mmmm, Goat cheese.... Read the article BOINGBOING/Proof That Goat's Cannot Be Trusted
Octopus's Guarding! And in my hour of darkness Read the article SCIENCE BLOGS/ED YONG/Octopus carries around coconut shells as suits of armor <> Octopuses are indeed cognitively sophisticated. At the Bodega Bay Marine lab in Northern CA, there was one rather peckish octopus who was such a famous escape artist. he was nicknamed Houdini. Read the article NEW SCIENTIST/Octopuses use coconut shells as portable shelters
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