Hard hitting global and local news
Bridge Building Eli grew up in Brooklyn and one of the things he particularly was fond of, other than Flatbush carrots , was biking down to and across the Brooklyn Bridge. The story of the Roeblings and especially Emily Warren Roebling at Scandalous Women is worth reading I’ve always found the story of Emily Warren Roebling inspiring, because it’s a story of how a woman came into her own and learned what she was capable of through adversity. It’s also a deeply moving love story. When Washington Roebling was unable to continue hands-on work as chief engineer, his wife Emily worked tirelessly to relay his wishes to the workers, and to keep the vision that father and son had worked long and hard to achieve.  This was during the late 19th century, when the idea of a woman being able to understand complex mathematics or science, was unheard of. Many men(and women) believed that women’s brains weren’t developed enough or that they were too weak
Laughing at those who laugh at science Chris Mooney had one of his usual good Point of Inquiry shows back in November that I just caught, an interview with Michael Gordin , who wrote The Pseudoscience Wars. Gordin considers the idiot Velikovsky to be one of the originators of modern pseudoscience
Eli Rabett Eli Rabett Eli Rabett is a not quite failed professorial techno-bunny, a chair election from retirement, at a wanna be research university that has a lot to be proud of but has swallowed the Kool-Aid.
So our water district staff presented how they thought we could reach carbon neutrality by 2020. Depending on how you do the numbers, we became carbon neutral without even trying. A lot depends on this: ( Full presentation via scrolling to March 26 2013, Item 4.1) That’s how much energy’s used to cradle-to-grave a water drop from the Sierras to the outflow of a wastewater treatment plant
NASA Watch yesterday had posts and comments about a memo issued by NASA suspending all educational and public outreach activities From:    NASA Chief Financial Officer and the NASA Chief of Staff Subject:  Guidance for Education and Public Outreach (EPO) Activities Under Sequestration .
More: Another Reason to Subscribe to Rabett Run
Earth Hour: A Despicable Hoax “Earth Hour” special by Tony Cartalucci , Originally posted March 26, 2011 – Nothing embodies the corporate hijacked environmental movement more than the despicable hoax that is “Earth Hour.” Once a year, we are bombarded worldwide by a feel-good advertising campaign on TV, radio, billboards, fliers, in the newspaper and in every other conceivable way for an event that involves turning off the lights for one hour per year, to ” take a stand against climate change .” Image : What Al Gore doesn’t tell you: CO2 has been 1000’s of times higher during the Cretaceous period and sea levels have been so high North America featured an inland sea. …. Not only has science failed to prove that anthropogenic climate change is happening – to the extent proponents like the White House’s John Holdren have relabeled “Global Warming” to “Global Climate Change” to the now most ambiguous version, “Global Climate Disruption,” but the evidence suggests that the “scientists” peddling this theory have defrauded the public again and again.
Back at the beginning of time, well, to be honest Rabett Run, but did anything exist before, Eli had two excellent rants ( Rant I and Rant II ) about textbook prices and the machinations of the publishers. As you may have noticed in the US when your kid goes to college, the price of General Chemistry textbooks has shattered the $200 barrier. On the other hand, in markets where students are free to buy their own books, the price is much lower. For example, the International paperback edition (you can only get the hardcover in the US) costs ~$80 list and you can get it discounted. It is even less expensive in less expensive countries, which brings Eli to the law.