Comment Re:"The Ego" (Score 1) 553
Sanders is running as a Democrat.
Sanders is running as a Democrat.
I think it's premature to say that CO2 hasn't cranked up the surface temperatures as much as has been predicted. There's a reason why the standard climatological period is 30 years.
If you're a climate scientist and you want to convince me, stop with the doom scenarios and start getting headlines of things more reasonable. I'm sick of hearing that because of global warming, I'm going to be dead in 5 years, just to read the exact same headline 5 years later.
You are obviously not paying attention to what actual scientists have actually said if you think they said you'd be dead in 5 years. Rather than listen to hyperbole why don't you use some of the critical thinking skills you should have learned in academia to analyze the situation.
Don't expect much out of mi. I tangled with him about his request to list 2 or 3 successful predictions back in March and gave him a link to this paper which compares IPCC AR3 & AR4 predictions for temperature and sea level rise to current (2011) observations.
Comparing climate projections to observations up to 2011 (Rahmstorf, Foster, Cazenave, Environmental Research Letters 2012)
He wouldn't accept it apparently because it wasn't formatted exactly as he requested. Apparently he won't take yes for an answer.
Actually, yes, this is something like the impulse drive.
"Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual indicates that the impulse engines are nuclear fusion engines where the plasma from the fusion reactor powers a massive magnetic coil to propel the ship. It is a form of magnetohydrodynamic or magnetoplasmadynamic thruster. "
If the Trek impulse drive uses reaction mass, it is very, very efficient at it.
The drive being suggested here does not use reaction mass at all, it pushes against space itself, which shouldn't be possible as we understand it. It's a very big deal, because it means we don't need to carry around the stuff we push against, we can carry around a compact (relatively) power source, like a nuclear reactor, and it can just directly apply power to pushing the ship through space.
Here you're going from the concept of a lowest energy state vacuum where there is nothing to push against, to space almost being something you can just put a propeller out the back and turn it like you do in the water. A very special propeller that looks nothing like a propeller, mind you, but the concept is similar in that it is orders of magnitude easier to engineer a serious deep space ship without having to effectively carry onboard and lay your road behind you.
Growing up in the 80s, all I heard was how liberal the media was and how we had to fight against it. Now, with the benefit of hindsight, it's clear that the phrase "liberal media" was a conservative talking point that they repeated ad infinitum until people stopped questioning it and just assumed it was true.
The same thing is happening now with claiming scientists are politically or monetarily motivated (the conservative machine hasn't settled on which script to stick with).
Look, I'm a scientist. I know scientists. I know scientists at NOAA, NCAR, NIST, the Labs, in academia, in industry, at biotechs, at agri-science companies, at space exploration companies, and at oil and gas companies. I know conservative scientists, liberal scientists, agnostic scientists, religious scientists, and hedonistic scientists.
You know what motivates scientists? Science. And to a lesser extent, their ego. If someone doesn't love science, there's no way they can cut it as a scientist. There are no political or monetary rewards available to scientists in the same way they're available to lawyers and lobbyists.
Science if hard work for little pay and possibly some recognition. Unfortunately, the conservative noise machine is slowly building a narrative that scientists are all politically and monetarily motivated. The public doesn't really know any better and will believe this to be true if they hear it enough.
This attempt to paint scientists as political actors is pure bullshit and demeans the hard work and great sacrifices working scientists make every day.
-Chris
Victor Venema on his blog Variable Variability has a post on the House Science Committee's gutting of NASA's earth sciences programs. In it he wrote this (my emphasis):
Science is a free market of ideas. Like the free market uses distributed information on how to efficiently organize an economy, science is highly distributed and cannot be controlled from the top. Every researcher is a small entrepreneur, trying to search for problems that are interesting and solvable. Science is organized in small groups. If your group does not function, you'd better get out before your reputation and publication record suffer. Multiple such groups are at one university or research institute. In one country you will find many universities and institutes. All these groups in many countries are all competing and collaborating with each other. Competing for the best ideas, because it is fun and get more possibilities to do research. The currency is reputation.
Most scientists don't care that much about money. It is just a means to the end of doing more and better science. If they really cared about money that much they'd be working in finance or something like that. Assuming most scientists are in it for the money probably says more about your motivations being projected on them than anything else.
Things like "cold fusion" and this could actually be useful if not managed by irresponsible teams seeking to make headlines for themselves. It can be important to learn when there's things that can throw your measurements off that weren't immediately apparent. You don't need headlines to get the necessary followup; researchers in the field read the peer-reviewed literature and most definitely will take interest in such unexpected results.
Re. Treebeard, see above.
So are we to interpret all statements of extreme facts in Tolkien to be mere exaggerations?
Even if we go with your interpretation, if Gandalf possesses the art to make all of those things, why doesn't he?
Really? The defection of the member of the White Council isn't of concern to the elves?
Okay, so we now need to interpret Tolkien as not only exaggerations, but also full of marketing speech?
But Gandalf calls Treebeard "the oldest of all living things" and Celeborn calls him "Eldest".
While Clinton has experience, it's all government experience (most of which is as a first lady).
Don't forget that Clinton was also a Senator and Secretary of State so she has experience in both the legislative and executive branches.
I like Bernie Sanders but he's unlikely to get the nomination.
Just a few more. Who's the eldest being in Middle Earth, Tom Bombadil or Treebeard? Is mithril "supple as linen", and if so why did Bilbo hurt himself when slapping Frodo's mithril coat? So Galadriel knows Sauron's thoughts that concern the elves, but didn't know of Saruman's betrayal, or never saw relevant to mention it to Gandalf? Why does Gandalf warn people against using devices "of an art deeper than we possess ourselves" when talking about the palantir and yet have no problem with with the fellowship using all sorts of magical items of arts deeper than they possess (glowing elvish swords, daggers from the barrow, the Phial of Galadriel, Galadriel's box of earth, etc)? Is "Sauron" (lit. "abominable") a name that he despises and does not permit his underlings to speak, and if so, why does he have his messenger refer to him as "Lord Sauron the Great" and a servant refer to himself as "the mouth of Sauron"? Are Thranduil's favorite gems emeralds, or white-colored gems? Did Sauron prohibit the Nazgûl to traverse west of the Anduin, and if so why did one fly over the Fellowship at Hollin? Etc.
Tolkien was human. Humans make mistakes and oversights.
Or Yik Yak cooperated with an investigation of a credible anonymous threat based on a message posted on their service.
Well, yes and no. Yes, there has been disagreement on the depiction taboo. And yes, some Muslims have depicted Muhammad.
However, it's a very real theological debate in Islam and there is a very strong strain of thinking against it.
Of course, none of that justifies killing someone else over it.
Somehow, I can't quite admire their dedication.
whoosh
8 Catfish = 1 Octo-puss
