Climate != Weather

It’s Cold and My Car is Buried in Snow. How Can Global Warming be Happening?

Easily, because climate is not the weather.

A few snow storms, cold snaps or even heat waves do not prove anything about climate change, because there is a significant difference between weather and climate. Weather is what we experience on any given day or even over a couple weeks. Climate describes a region's prevailing conditions—including such things as temperature, rainfall, wind, humidity and atmospheric pressure—over long periods of time. Climate is a good indicator of what to expect. For example, in the Midwest, one would expect cold winters. Whereas, in a Mediterranean climate, one would expect a generally milder winter.

Climate change refers to shifts in prevailing conditions observed over decades. One such shift is a long-term rise in global average temperatures. The current cold spells are occurring against this backdrop.

Gendered Language and Positions of Responsibility, or, "Yes, Prime Ministress"

GENDER/LANGUAGE: Rejecting the Derogatory 'Feminine' By Miren Gutierrez and Oriana Boselli

"ROME, Dec 26 (IPS) - What happens to language and the way women are addressed when they start to occupy positions of responsibility? Well, it depends on the language."

Spanish leans to the feminine form of the word, while Italian simply applies the masculine form regardless of the person's actual testosterone levels - 'il ministro' to minister Mara Cafagna, who is a woman. Hm.

Some interesting notes on the "dynamic of the exception" in the sidebar article, so be sure to read that. My male readers, I trust, will be able to take it seriously because it is espoused by fellow men. So it can't just be radical man-haters, right?!

(Oh, how I long for the Revolution, when all obstreperal lobes will be free from patriarchy-induced explosions and we spinster aunts can lounge about with our margaritas in total comfort. In the meantime I console myself with I Blame the Patriarchy. I mean, shit, people, these languages's NOUNS have GENDER. Girl nouns! Boy nouns! On the one hand, ew. On the other hand, maybe it's more honest, you know?)

This is Just a Great Description of Someone

The Mexicans of Mexico On "Wab."

"The final word on 'wab' goes to Dr. Armin Schwegler, a professor in UC Irvine's Department of Spanish and Portuguese who specializes in dialectology and Spanish in the United States. He's taught at the school for 20 years and drops language trivia like some people default on their house payments."

It's just that this particular simile is unique to the current economic situation. It makes me wonder what someone 15 years from now might think reading it. (Hopefully, they won't understand the comparison but will still get it from context...)

Oil Spill - one of worst on the North Slope

Spill is one of worst on the North Slope

"Officials have found a 24-inch jagged rupture in a pipeline that began pouring oil and water Nov. 29, creating one of the biggest North Slope crude oil spills ever."

One ice plug was more than a quarter of a mile long. Shit howdy.

Note, by the way, the following:

"They've used Bobcats to scoop up the mess and vehicles called Rolligons with huge, low-pressure tires to haul it away. They're building an ice road for trucks, though the weather at times has been too warm for the ice road work."

Ice roads are a common concept in this kind of environment...and now the weather ON THE NORTH FUCKING SLOPE has been "too warm" for an ice road. I have varying pairs of words to state at this point: Global Warming. Climate Change. We're Fucked.

And it ain't just about ice plugs, neighbors. It's about permafrost melting. It's about ice roads. It's about subsistence living that depends on ice and permafrost and pipeline maintenance and spill cleanup that depends on ice and permafrost. It's about the rules changing dramatically.

Check this out:

US National Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change Educational Resources Regional Paper: Alaska With regards to oil pipelines: "The pipeline's support structures are designed for specific ranges of ground temperatures, and are subject to heaving or collapse if the permafrost thaws. Replacing them, if required, would cost about $2 million per mile."

Because of climate change, "the hard-frozen conditions needed to support ice roads around the North Slope oil fields now exist for only about 100 days a year. . . . Thirty years ago, oil companies could use ice roads for about 200 days of the year." Global warming devastating native Alaskans. See also, Warmer climate creates engineering challenges, Kenai Peninsula Online.

Can't fix it if you can't get to it.

Awesome 2001: Doctor Who video mashup

That's just NEAT. 2001: A Who Odyssey.

Nooooooooo!

No, slacktivist, stop reviewing "Tribulation Force"! The train wreck of it - can't...turn...away.

A great way to learn about writing is to read a lot of it, good and bad, and think about it. But oh, god, is this stuff painful.

http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/2009/11/tf-showdown-letdown.html

But the commentary is lovely! Check this out:

So far in Tribulation Force, the Buck pages are outnumbering the Rayford pages by more than 2-to-1. And even when we do check in briefly with Buck's co-star here it's mainly in order to eavesdrop on Chloe's side of Buck's romantic subplot, in which Rayford plays the role of the nurse in Romeo and Juliet.

*snigger*

Honestly, I Thought It Was _The Onion_, at First

Kellogg Plant Flood Triggers Eggo Waffle Shortage

We are working around the clock to restore Eggo store inventories to normal levels as quickly as possible," Charles said in the e-mail.

You kids have it easy today, going a day or two without your Eggo waffles. Why, I remember the Pancake Riots of '86, how we battled for our lives in the Great Syrup Catastrophe of '91. Oh, the humanity!

Ha. Finally A 'Good' Reason to Care About Environment

'Cuz if you don't, you'll get turned into a girly-man. Plastic chemicals 'feminise boys'.

warning: this post contains both sarcasm and news.

Wow, cool.

Sniff test to preserve old books

Researchers report in the journal Analytical Chemistry that a new "sniff test" can measure degradation of old books and historical documents.

That's just neat.

Excellent Things

Steve @ Now This has started a trend: excellent things. As in, list them.

OK. I like that.

1. The webcomic 'Digger', by Ursula Vernon. It's weird, it's beautifully drawn, and I love it. Excellent!
2. The webcomic/printcomic 'The Dreamer', by Lora Innes. Set in today and the Revolutionary War, it's just so so so cool. Excellent!
3. Living Harvest's hemp milk. Delicious. I don't drink milk b/c of my allergy, even though I've fallen off the wagon and eat cheese and chocolate right now, I have never been able to bring myself to buy milk. So I've tried a lot of milk substitutes over the years, and I picked up a carton of hemp milk, made from hemp seeds, at The Hempest, a store in Boston, and loved it. And now, look! Hemp milk at Whole Foods just down the street from my apartment! Excellent!

Domina Hatshepsut Pepper, 1997-2009

Pepper Being Cute as a Button
Originally uploaded by sidravitale

aka "#1 Cat."

This is Why Environmental Protection Is Important

Because your kids will drink that water. School drinking water contains toxins

You *Assholes*

I do NOT cuss in print lightly (anymore...well, ever). Domestic violence as a pre-existing condition? Are you fucking kidding me?

Treating Domestic Violence as a Preexisting Condition is Only One Example of the Rampant Sexism in the Healthcare Debate

Our health care system is broken. BROKEN. Not to mention the sexism.

Domestic Violence is a "Pre-existing Condition?"

BROKEN. How can anyone in their right mind not want to break the monopoly, rationing, and overall control of these companies that stand between us and receiving health care?

Wow, cool!

A skull that rewrites the history of man It has long been agreed that Africa was the sole cradle of human evolution. Then these bones were found in Georgia...

Ooooo. I love a good mystery!

Glass Microbes

Glass Microbiology Suddenly, my Ebola virus plushie seems quaint.