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I wonder who we’ll blame after the next super hurricane or the next drought? I’m curious as to what will be the explanation for those that come after us be when we’re done here on Earth. Let it be shown here in 2012 that we’re still talking about if climate change is a serious topic or not.
Short term planning and thinking will be the end of us. Honest.
Hey you, yes you…lighten up, Lawrence Krauss is in the house. :)
It is nice to have a post you can point to when people suddenly become hyperskeptical of Evolution. Thanks Qualia Soup.
Why does the progressive movement keep on suffering set backs when they are quantifably right on the issues. George Lakoff suggests it has much to do with framing and how human cognition works. A great lecture, well worth the 70 minutes of your time.
Hurrah, Bad Science Watch is here!
It is about time Canada had its own team of people dedicated to showing the absolute nuttery that goes on under the guise of homeopathy, riki, acupuncture and the rest of the quackery that goes on up here. Go to their blog, click on there advertising, heck donate to them and help them in their battle against the dishonest woo-peddlers that are infesting our society.
The first bastion of bullshite they are tackling are the so called “nosodes vaccines” which like the rest of the shit and sugar water homeopathic foolishness are unproven snake-oil remedies that can really hurt the people taking them and the people around them. From the BSW website:
Today, the new Canadian science advocacy group Bad Science Watch announced plans to convince Health Canada to de-register homeopathic health products that are offered as unproven replacements for childhood vaccinations. This project will combat the anti-vaccine camps within homeopathy that offer these so-called “nosodes”; the sale of which directly contradicts Health Canada’s own efforts to promote childhood vaccinations.
Nosodes are ultra-dilute homeopathic remedies prepared using diseased tissue, such as blood, pus, and saliva, that are based on the unsupportable “like-cures-like” hypothesis where you give someone a very low dose of the offending substance to then cure or prevent the disease in question.
Homeopaths in Canada are offering these nosodes for a variety of childhood diseases, like pertussis, or whooping cough, a deadly disease that is currently afflicting more Canadian children, mostly infants, than it has in the past 50 years. The anti-vaccine messages spread by homeopaths have caused parents to needlessly question the usefulness and safety of vaccines and as a result the level of vaccination in Canadian communities has dropped to as low as 62%. A level of 80% or higher is needed to have proper protection from pertussis in the community.
62%? Frak me, people. You need to vaccinate with real vaccines not this froopy-doopy shite that doesn’t work. You are hurting yourself and the people around you. BSW is starting large, I hope they can get the ball rolling on defenstrating this quackery ASAP.
Solar flares make CBC radio 2 reception crappy. Completely a first world problem, but I really do like clear reception when Radio2 isn’t playing crap. Not to worry too much though, apparently the storm will not wipe our earth slate clean:
“A solar storm that began with a massive flare on the sun’s surface Thursday is due to slam into Earth’s magnetic field Saturday morning and last through Sunday.Scientists said it will be a minor event, and they have notified power grid operators, airlines and other potentially affected parties.”
Stay Calm, Carry On. But…
“The storm began Thursday when the sun unleashed a massive flare that hurled a cloud of highly charged particles racing toward Earth at 4.8 million kilometres per hour. It was the sixth time this year that such a powerful solar outburst has occurred. None of the previous storms caused major problems.
In severe cases, solar storms can cause power blackouts, damage satellites and disrupt GPS signals and high-frequency radio communications. Airlines are sometimes forced to reroute flights to avoid the extra radiation around the north and south poles.”
So out technological butts could be smacked around a bit, but nothing to serious. Let’s hope they are correct. :)
It is one of those lifetime events, as Venus rarely crosses the plane of our orbit while in front of the sun.
“Our nearest planetary neighbour will be passing between the Earth and the sun starting at 6:04 p.m. ET on June 5 and will be aligned in such a way that its passage will be visible with the naked eye. The transit, as it’s known, will last about six hours, but in most parts of Canada, it will be visible for only a few hours before sunset.”
That doesn’t happen very often because most of the time when Venus crosses Earth’s orbital plane, Earth is somewhere else in its orbit, so there is no direct sight line from Earth to Venus and the Sun
“Earth orbits the sun slower than Venus. If they both orbited in the same plane, like runners running around a track, then every time Venus ‘lapped’ Earth, there would be a transit,” Reid said.
“However, Venus’s orbit is ’tilted’ relative to Earth’s orbit, so the only way Venus and Earth can line up with the sun is if Venus laps Earth exactly when Venus happens to be passing through the plane of Earth’s orbit.
“That only occurs at two points in Venus’s orbit (the two points where the ring of Venus’s orbit ‘punctures’ Earth’s orbit). The odds of Venus happening to be at one of those two points when it ‘laps’ Earth are small.”
As with the annular eclipse that dazzled millions of people around the world on May 20, the key to viewing the transit of Venus safely is to avoid looking directly at the sun without a protected lens. Sunglasses or ordinary telescope lenses are not enough to protect the eyes.
To be safe, lenses must be treated with something like an aluminized film like Mylar or have a strong filter such as the type found on some welder’s glasses. The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada lists a number of safe lens options in a special section of its website devoted to the transit.
Whatever viewing method you choose, the key, says Reid, is to not miss what will be your last chance to see Venus in transit.
“It will not occur again until 2117, so it’s worth trying to see it,” Reid said.
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
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