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Wednesday, October 8. 2014

How Radicals Hijacked Environmentalism

Why 12-Foot Traffic Lanes Are Disastrous for Safety and Must Be Replaced Now

Schools Ban Swings Because Everything Is Dangerous

Eggs? This Unhinged Woman’s Tearful Rant Will Change Your Mind About Food Forever, or Something

Judgemental map of Seattle

Why Charities Collect and Sell Used Clothing and Shoes

NASA Scientists Puzzled by Global Cooling on Land and Sea

Obama: 'There’s A Sense ... The World Is Spinning So Fast and Nobody Is Able To Control It'

Mark Udall Says He Supports Abortion During the Eighth Month of Pregnancy

The Siege Of Kobani: Obama’s Syrian Fiasco In Motion

Hong Kong: The party and the people

FBI Director Raves That ISIS Terrorists Are “Entitled” to Return to USA

Panetta: '30-year war' and a leadership test for Obama

Where is the Case for Co-Ed Ground Combat?

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 04:26 | Comments (30) | Trackbacks (0)

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Obama: 'There’s A Sense ... The World Is Spinning So Fast and Nobody Is Able To Control It'

Dude, that's called reality. The world spins and nobody is able to control it. If you need someone to be in control, let me introduce you to the concept of God. No, it's not you.

#1 JKB on 2014-10-08 08:00 (Reply)

Careful this smacks of American exceptionalism

QUOTE:

And that's something we can be very proud of. It's a burden. It means we do more than anybody else. We're asked to respond even by folks who are critical of us. People don't always appreciate the work that we do. But in the end, it's a burden that we bear proudly because it's part of what makes us American, and it's part of what that lady with the torch in the middle of the water means.

#1.1 JKB on 2014-10-08 08:08 (Reply)

Or right to protect, which is of course not neo-colonialism because the right people say its not. Nor is it the old racist White Man's Burden to teach our little brown brothers how to behave.

#1.1.1 walt moffett on 2014-10-08 10:59 (Reply)

This was my thought exactly.

At my office, I try to press the concept of "managing" rather than "controlling". If you think you control any situation, you'll eventually lose. If you attempt to manage it, you may or may not lose, but you're more likely to be able to guide it to a suitable outcome.

You can manage many things in life, to a degree. The only thing you can control is yourself. Anything else is just a question of how much influence you can bring to bear on a situation.

#1.2 Bulldog on 2014-10-08 09:50 (Reply)

I would say that given his speech at the UN where he said he deals with the world as it should be rather than as it is (or something to that effect), he will always have minimal influence over events since he's not dealing with what is but what he wishes it to be. He's living a fairy tale and we're all along for the ride.

#1.2.1 mudbug on 2014-10-08 11:19 (Reply)

Wide streets are the preferred solution to bicycle traffic, rather than bike lanes. Bikes share a lane with cars just fine if the lane is suitably wide.

Streets go where you want to go, bike lanes don't.

#2 rhhardin (Link) on 2014-10-08 08:20 (Reply)

QUOTE:

How Radicals Hijacked Environmentalism

They were called radicals in the 1960s right up until environmentalism became mainstream. Yes, there were even Native Americans preaching respect for the land.

QUOTE:

NASA Scientists Puzzled by Global Cooling on Land and Sea

Global Ocean Heat Content continues to rise
http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/OC5/3M_HEAT_CONTENT/heat_content700m2000myr.png

This just out: Durack et al., Quantifying underestimates of long-term upper-ocean warming, Nature Climate Change 2014: “Relying on the close correspondence between hemispheric-scale ocean heat content and steric changes, we adjust the poorly constrained Southern Hemisphere observed warming estimates so that hemispheric ratios are consistent with the broad range of modelled results.“

#3 Zachriel on 2014-10-08 08:24 (Reply)

...we adjust the poorly constrained Southern Hemisphere observed warming estimates so that hemispheric ratios are consistent with the broad range of modelled results.“ English translation: ...we make data that don't fit our theory fit by altering the data. The systematic way is to adjust your theory (modelled results) to fit the data (observed warming estimates), whatever an observed estimate is, sheesh.

#3.1 BillH on 2014-10-08 11:10 (Reply)

So are the NASA scientists lying? Or maybe it's just that their data disagrees with the NOAA. In that case, the science isn't settled, is it? (of course real science is NEVER really settled)

Where are all the new more powerful hurricanes we're supposed to be getting. Isn't warmer sea water supposed to breed and intensify hurricanes?

This whole AGW thing is just a political stunt and the ring leader is Al Gore. Katrina was a strong storm that produced a lot of damage but it wasn't particularly strong by historical standards when it landed. It was strong enough to make political hay (on many fronts) out of it though and that's what really matters.

#3.2 mudbug on 2014-10-08 11:31 (Reply)

mudbug: So are the NASA scientists lying? Or maybe it's just that their data disagrees with the NOAA.

Not at all. There an excess in Earth's energy budget. The energy has to go somewhere.

A recent study showed that it hasn't ended up in the abyssal ocean (below 2000 meters), and that there is too long a lag before the deep responds to changes on the surface. See Wunsch & Heimbach, Bidecadal Thermal Changes in the Abyssal Ocean, 2013.

However, the oceans from 0-2000 meters have been warming, and Durack et al. indicate that warming in the southern oceans has been underestimated.

#3.2.1 Zachriel on 2014-10-08 12:22 (Reply)

"Native Americans preaching respect for the land. "

You mean the Italian actor "crying" on TV?

"we adjust"

Thankfully, those with serious intellect realize that "we must adjust" to fit the data. Quite a different approach.

#4 Jess1 on 2014-10-08 08:55 (Reply)

Jess1: You mean the Italian actor "crying" on TV?

No, we're referring to the 'ecological Indian myth' as adopted by native groups, including the American Indian Movement.

Jess1: Thankfully, those with serious intellect realize that "we must adjust" to fit the data.

All data has to be analyzed. Indeed, science nearly always progresses by extracting correlations from less than perfect data. The data for southern oceans is sparse, so the overall trend has to be estimated. In this case, they use different lines of evidence, such as sea level and new data from direct measurements and satellite measurements, to refine previous estimates. If you have a problem with the methodology, then you have to make specific objections to the methodology. Here's a discussion of the paper:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26317-the-world-is-warming-faster-than-we-thought.html

#4.1 Zachriel on 2014-10-08 09:25 (Reply)

"science nearly always progresses by extracting correlations from less than perfect data"

"Science" has nothing to do with "progresses" at all, much less attempting to "extract correlations".

Observe. Test. Repeat. These are the steps (methodology) not taken by those who call themselves "researchers". They're making assertions w/o backup. It's not up to me to prove their "negative".

'ecological Indian myth' - well, it's progress for you to admit the "ecological Indian" as a myth.

#4.1.1 Jess1 on 2014-10-08 11:18 (Reply)

Jess1: "Science" has nothing to do with "progresses"

You've never heard of scientific progress?

Jess1: much less attempting to "extract correlations".

It's hard to know how to respond. Of course science attempts to extract correlations, then, if possible, to assign causation.

Jess1: Observe. Test. Repeat.

No, that's not quite right. You have to hypothesize, then deduce empirical implications, then observe, revise the hypothesis as necessary, then repeat the process again. Scientific evidence only exists in light of some explanatory framework.

evidence, the available body of facts or information indicating whether a belief or proposition is true or valid.

#4.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2014-10-08 12:31 (Reply)

"Scientific Progress" is nothing more than a feel good statement about the speaker - much like the nostrums of NdGT and his ilk.

"extracting correlations" then "assigning causation" is only a part of the tale, and this is not the forum for the defining of terms.

"excess heat"? "Excess"? Do you not even realize what you've posted?

#4.1.1.1.1 Jess1 on 2014-10-08 16:33 (Reply)

Jess1: "Scientific Progress" is nothing more than a feel good statement about the speaker

In the light of the history of science over the last few centuries, especially the last few generations, it's hard to imagine you reject the idea that science can progress in understanding of natural phenomena.

Jess1: "extracting correlations" then "assigning causation" is only a part of the tale

Previously, you had said "'Science' has nothing to do with 'progresses' at all, much less attempting to 'extract correlations'." At least now you acknowledge it is part of the process.

Jess1: "excess heat"?

Yes, the Earth is currently absorbing more radiant energy than it is emitting.

#4.1.1.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2014-10-08 16:39 (Reply)

So in your world, "correlations" and "progress" = "science"?

Bizarre.

#4.1.1.1.1.1.1 Jess1 on 2014-10-09 08:15 (Reply)

Jess1: So in your world, "correlations" and "progress" = "science"?

No. We said science progresses by extracting correlations from less than perfect data.

The Relativity of Wrong
http://chem.tufts.edu/answersinscience/relativityofwrong.htm

#4.1.1.1.1.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2014-10-09 08:20 (Reply)

"FBI Director Raves That ISIS Terrorists Are 'Entitled' to Return to USA"

Well, they are.

1 - they're still American citizens. The US government has made it really difficult to voluntarily give up your citizenship - now all those regulations and requirements, intended to screw over anyone rich enough to want to safeguard their money elsewhere, are coming back to bite them in the arse. Unintended consequences you see.

2 - Like it or not, we still have this thing called 'innocent until proven guilty'. You've got proof of at least conspiracy (which is the easiest part, thanks to the 'war on the mafia' and the 'war on drugs') then simply arrest them at the border. If not, well, they're not 'terrorists' then, are they.

#5 Incunabulum on 2014-10-08 09:24 (Reply)

I believe an American can be legally stripped of his/her citizenship for serving in a foreign army and ISIS certainly qualifies. There is some kind of hearing involved.

Only after stripping them of citizenship could they be barred from entering the U.S.

#5.1 NJSoldier on 2014-10-08 15:38 (Reply)

"ISIS terrorists are entitled to return to the USA".
The simple truth is we haven't learned from 9/11. We will have to go through some more attacks on the homeland. The media and FBI will for the most part try to convince us that smaller terrorist attacks are "workplace violence" or "teens wilding" and we will muddle through until the next big one happens. Maybe we won't learn from that either and we will just continue to import muslims and giving them homes, cars and welfare until there are enough here to start a war. Maybe this is how a country ends when the majorityof the population are too comfortable and distracted.

"Where is the case for co-ed combat?"
Confronted by the reality that biology makes men more suitable for physical combat then women the feminist want to make it mandatory that everyone stick their head in the sand and make believe if we just make enough Disney cartoons showing princesses acting powerful and men acting dumb that little girls will grow up to be Seal Team candidates. Why?

#6 GoneWithTheWind on 2014-10-08 10:30 (Reply)

Ol' Wretch over at Belmont Club believes the fantasy world of PC thinking you allude to is coming to a close. I am dubious.

Wretch sez:

"The current PC paradigm has been failing for some time. The rise in terrorism and Ebola have highlighted its shortcomings, although the old players are still trying to force the new situation into the same old tired talking points with ever more absurd results. ......

........ The current PC paradigm has by no means collapsed. But it’s in trouble; and the cracks in it are beginning to appear. What is still uncertain is what will replace it when it falls apart. In his 1962 article on the structure of scientific revolutions, Thomas Kuhn identified 5 steps in the lifecycle of an idea. This is how Kuhn thought things went.

1. The pre-paradigm phase in which there is no dominant idea;
2. The normal period, ‘in which puzzles are solved within the context of the dominant paradigm’.
3. Crisis, in which there are problems which the dominant paradigm cannot even begin to think about.
4. Revolution, when the ‘underlying assumptions of the field are reexamined and a new paradigm is established.”
5. Post-revolution when the new theory becomes the dominant theory.

If Kuhn’s model is right, this generation of Western leaders may be close to the end of their line. "

http://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/2014/10/07/paradigm-shift/

#6.1 feeblemind on 2014-10-08 10:47 (Reply)

And how quickly will they change when women get killed in quantity? Will women have to be forced into combat slots if whatever "desirable" percentage does not volunteer, or make the grade/meet performance norms for said slots?

Also to #12, Gringo: I calls it a refusal to grow up. Or, just a life-time/life-long hobby.

#6.2 Sam L. on 2014-10-08 17:52 (Reply)

Unsuprized the bit on charities reselling used clothes did not mention how when shipped overseas they destroy the recipients textile industry.

Why do I think a class action suit over 12 foot lanes is in the offing?

Where is the case for co-ed combat? Our lords and masters will create one. Though for an fictional example, read Tom Kratman's Amazon Legion, findable at your book store.

#7 walt moffett on 2014-10-08 11:13 (Reply)

Jess1,

I live in the Mid-Atlantic region and well remember once taking a school trip as a class parent with one of my younguns to a state park to learn about how the indigenous people had lived before Europeans arrived. They told the kids about how the Indians would build a village with huts and longhouses and how they'd hunt and fish and clam and gather oysters and raise their children and how, after a while, they'd move on to another area, rinse and repeat.

As the group was marshaled off to another area of the park I fell behind with the park ranger tasked, during movements, to manage stragglers.

"So, why would they fold up shop and move away?" I asked.

He got a sort of half smile on his face and looked at me and said (paraphrasing), "Well, 'cause they'd hunted off all the wildlife, burned up all the firewood, ruined all the nearby water, buried all the feces they could stand, the garbage dump had gotten too big and the nutrients in their crop fields were exhausted."

"Hmmm.... funny how that works."

One with nature my ample arse. When thousands of square miles are supporting a few thousand people it's pretty easy to be "one with nature". Wreck the place where you are and just move a few miles away.

#8 Knucklehead (Link) on 2014-10-08 11:46 (Reply)

I make a point of never eating the yellow snow. The other bits of snow, and probably Snow herself, are generally yummy.

I'd be demanding compensation if the restaurant I was lunching at allowed that whacko and her moronic comrades to disrupt my meal. If they can walk in and spout what they please I can walk out and pay what I please ($0).

#9 Knucklehead (Link) on 2014-10-08 11:55 (Reply)

Defense Department data have shown for decades that military women are promoted at rates equal to or faster than men.

That's because the DoD policy is that women and minorities must be promoted in the same percentages that white males are promoted. In other words, quotas.

BTW, anybody who has studied this matter knows that on the average women have about half the upper body strength of men and 2/3 the lower body strength. They simply cannot do the physical things men do. I was surprised when a woman make it to the finish on the TV show American Ninja Warrior. She is a physical anomaly.

#10 Ray on 2014-10-08 12:15 (Reply)

"12' -> 10'"

Our State has been on this tear recently. Freeway lanes are being reduced in width from 12 feet to 10 feet. On one section I have to take home, where there were once 3 lanes and an emergency breakdown lane, there are now six lanes which suddenly merge into 4 lanes.

I generally now avoid the freeway because it is so dangerous. Late last evening, however, I made the decision to go on the freeway; because of the hour I didn't anticipate much traffic. I then got trapped in a massive gridlock. After 30 minutes of so of inching forward I saw the cause. An ambulance and three cars had crashed together and were piled up across the lanes. Nobody was moving in any of the vehicles. I assume emergency vehicles also could not get to the crash scene because the emergency lane had been removed and they were all stuck in the same traffic I was. Like the other vehicles, I inched around the carnage and went on my way. Government stupidity at its finest.

#11 Jim on 2014-10-08 14:58 (Reply)

How Radicals Hijacked Environmentalism

This goes way back. Consider the author Barry Weisberg at Amazon.

QUOTE:

Ecocide in Indochina. The ecology of war [1970]
Beyond repair;: The ecology of capitalism [1971]
The fascist menace in the United States and how to fight it [1981]

Had Barry Weisberg ever bothered to research environmental degradation behind the Iron Curtain- though much of what we know know about Iron Curtain environmental nightmares was not available in 1971- he would have had to rewrite at least one of his books, but that's another story.

I was an eco-activist in Berserkeley back in the day. There was a tension between radicals and more conventional liberals in the environmental movement even back then. In the spirit of the words of Tom Lehrer's song My Home Town-"I better leave this line out just to be on the safe side"- I will not quote some of what I remember, as those who are now respected professionals would probably not like to be reminded of the radical words they said back then. But some of them are still at it. I was surprised to find the name of an eco-activist I knew back then associated with the Occupy Wall Street protests. Doing the same protest stuff at 60 you did at 20 indicates to me an inability to learn.

#12 Gringo on 2014-10-08 15:26 (Reply)

Indigenous
adjective
originating or occurring naturally in a particular place; native:

There are no humans indigenous to the America's. We are all descendents of immigrants.
Canada prefers the term "first nations". But for most indigineous tribes, I mean natives, oops I mean pre-columbian people this could be a cruel irony. There were probably three major pre-Columbian waves of immigrants and a dozen or so lesser waves of people from other places. Each new group of immigrants would displace, enslave or subsume those who were here before them. Each of those groups/tribes that were displaced would move on to displace, enslave or subsume other tribes. So the Indians/native people/first nations were probaby descendents of genocidal warrior tribes that killed and ate the actual first nations. Maybe Canada should call them last nations standing or winners of the "king of the mountain" game. But First Nations just doesn't seem right.

#13 GoneWithTheWind on 2014-10-08 17:56 (Reply)

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Wednesday, October 8. 2014

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