Mar 292025
 

Yesterday, I was moving slowly for some hours, at which point I realized I had a mild headache and made myself a cup of coffee, which helped. But I’d like to have accomplished more.

Time for a post from The F* News again. Unfortunately, the title only expresses a wish, not a reality. I had better not start on a rant here, since I might have difficulty stopping.

Oh, what the heck, let’s make it a full rant day. Tomorrow is Sunday and I’ll find good news or die in the attempt. It’s hard to believe that there are people who did not see this coming. Or maybe they did, and are thrilled to see the actual destruction. I’m sure Putin is.

On Thursday, I received an email from Lona with a link to The Guardian, and a note that she observed I am in a wildfire danger zone (which is no surprise, considering how often over the past couple of decades I have had to reassure friends and family that a particular wildfire wasn’t anywhere close to endangering me, other than with smoke in the air, and that we can get from as far as Arizona. I was interested to see the map and noted that what we call the Front Range – the eastern slope of the Rockies at the foot of which Colorado turns into prairie and farmland, is the main corridor of wildfires here, but also not terribly surprised, as the Front Range is where all the cities are, lined up in a row, and I doubt there’s a natural disaster humans can’t manage to make worse. n The map is so useful I’m passing it on – y’all in the US (and I know not everyone is) know where you are on it, and may want to save a copy (or copies – besides wildfires, there are also maps for hurricanes, extreme heat, and drought.) drought.)

Gate

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Oct 102024
 

Yesterday, “Nobody can control the weather” was trending. It needs to be said – but it’s not entirely true. No single person or single group can control the weather. The entire human race working together cannot totally control the weather/ But the entire human race working together has some control over the climate, which means some control over the weather in the long run. We cannot bring down the temperature in any given place today. But over time, if we have raised the temperature in almost ever place, and if we can change our ways and minimize our worst habits, we have a chance of bringing it down, over time – over so much time that I for one will not live to see whether we have done it – or not.

I don’t often cite Steve Schmidt, or at least not a full article, but this one had to be shared. It is as much about morality and pholisophy as it is about politics (which should always be about morality at least, and philosophy if possible.) To make it a bit easier, let me state that he does eventually tell you who Rodney Edmonds was and what he did (and when he starts on the story, you may want a hanky.) Also, “revanchist” means “seeking revenge.” I didn’t know that, and figured therefore not everyone would, and wanted to save y’all a trip to the dictionary.)

This is a referral from Wonkette which I agree is well worth getting wider attention. Most people, including me, tend to think the economy is doing well nationally when we are doing well personally, and when we aren’t, it isn’t. Those who see beyond that are likely to look to the stock ,arket as an economic indicator, which it probably is if you are wealthy, but if not, not. Noahpinion gets us the four real indicators of a strong economy, and that is valuable to know.

FR

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Sep 192024
 

Ahoy, me hearties (today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day.) Yesterday, I deliberately went looking for climate news becuse I wantedto use tis cartoon today. I realize that sounds pretty shallow. But it is true that the climate is getting pushed out of the news in favor of violence and other stupidities. And not finding any climate-related news in my ususal sources made me more aware that more attention needs to be paid to it. It’s enough to make a pirate say Aaarrrgh! And I may do it again before the election, though that’s not a promise.

The AP could not resist putting a few beautiful photos in among the more obviously disastrous ones in this photo-essay. But it’s still quite eye-opening. Something else that is eye-opening is that herein Colorado we are starting to have climate refugees who have been our neighbors. At 5000 feet ablove sea level, it’s not from sea level rise, nor is it from flooding, or heavy snowfall (which quite reasonably might happen here, as evaporation puts more water into the air. The last two blizzards here were IMO caused by that.) It is related to dryness though. There’s a fire in Larimer County (where Virgil grew up) which has taken a lot of homes and displaced a lot of people. Our wildfire seasons are not as bad as California’s yet, but we are headed that way.

And Reuters has a potpourri of snippet articles, some of which are as devastating as some of the pictures from the AP. Fortunately that’s not true of all of them.

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