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Antarctic glacier melt maybe 'not due to climate change'. (Note all the what's-happening-is-normal stories on this page. The tone isn't necessarily Nothing's happening, as much as it is This is Cyclical.)The entire Climate debate is framed so shittily on both sides, but clearly, the Deniers are the worst. As a general observation, the vocal representation of Global Warming Deniers seem to discount any increases in weather extremes, claiming this is always how it's been, we just hear about it more now. And, ClimateGate is a legitimate scandal. But neither is true. Global Warming advocates, on the other hand, seem to cling to mainstream interpretations of available data, or data that might have a different context in light of other discoveries and observations suppressed or dismissed by conventional science. Alternate science has observable data, too. And, at the end of the day, the majority of both groups agree: Something is going on. While there seems to be some support for some GW Deniers to acknowledge something's happening, the opinion still seems to be the minority within the movement.The linked article is an interesting case in point. It wasn't an outright attack on Global Warming (Which I think is different than Climate Change--Climate Change is more agnostic in its "I don't know why it's happening, but it is happening" perspective. To me, anyway..), but it was written towards that opinion. Awesome. But it also managed to downplay the importance of the event itself. Ok, so Global Warming might not have caused this underground ice river to speed up, and cause a significant change in the amount of Antarctic water contributing to sea rise. Fine. So what are you doing to protect the populace with that information? Not much, as that's not the thrust of their research. Waters are rising: Are we using this information to buttress our coastlines? Naw, it's being used just to win an arguement and keep the status quo.Something is fucking happening. Anyone can see that, if their eyes aren't covered and their tounges aren't powered by corporate payoffs. If we can't stop it(which we probably can't), we should be preparing for some pretty disaterous scenarios. But we are not, as we seem to be polarized within an arguement between headstrong, retarded schools of thought. Time is tight, folks, and the clock is running out..
Actually, our Awareness of our Universe just got larger..
Newlywed couple: Officer blocked us from ER during bride's stroke. There were multiple encounters.1 "Aline tells Channel 3 Eyewitness News that once the couple was placed in a hospital room, the officer attempted to enter their room to arrest Jesse for evading the police.2. Thursday morning Erlanger security informed the couple that a warrant for Jesse's arrest had been issued, and suggested he turn himself in. Aline says Jesse went to the Hamilton County Jail to turn himself in that evening. According to Aline, jail employees told Jesse that they had no record of a warrant for him and told him he was free to go.3. On Friday morning the police were back at the hospital. This time Jesse surrendered to Erlanger Security who arrested him on behalf of the Chattanooga Police Department.Channel 3 had the only crew there as Jesse was released on $7,500 bond, about eight hours after being arrested. He is facing seven charges related to Wednesday night's events, including felony evading arrest. He's due in court on July 9th."Soo.. When involved in life of death emergencies, be sure to follow all traffic laws to the letter, because someone of authority might not understand the magnitude of the situation, or might not care.
Democrats increasingly convinced of election fraud in SC primaries.Excerpts: Depending on whom you ask, Alvin Greene's electoral victory in Tuesday's South Carolina primaries is either evidence that voting machines don't work, or that the Republican Party is planting phony candidates in Democratic races -- or both.When asked by NBC's David Gregory on Sunday if Greene's election was legitimate, senior White House adviser David Axelrod said, "It doesn't appear so to me. It was a mysterious deal."And:Greene handily defeated opponent Vic Rawls in Tuesday's primary, winning with 59 percent of the vote to Rawls' 41 percent, despite not having run any sort of visible campaign, not having set up a campaign Web site, and being unemployed. And it quickly emerged that Greene is facing a felony obscenity charge over an incident in which he allegedly showed a college student obscene photos from the Internet.So how to explain the unlikely election result? One theory, propagated by BradBlog's Brad Friedman, is that Greene was the beneficiary of phony voting-machine results. In 25 precincts, Greene received more votes than were actually cast; and while Rawls won absentee ballots by a whopping 84-to-16 percentage point margin, the election-day results showed Greene winning by 18 percentage points.Friedman reports:South Carolina uses ES&S' 100% unverifiable Direct Recording Electronic (DRE, in this case touch-screen) voting machines at the polling place. The machines, also used in many other states (such as Arkansas, where we recently reported exclusively on the disappearance of thousands of votes on May 18th, which neither state nor local officials are able to explain to this day) are both oft-failed and easily manipulated in such a way that it's almost impossible to detect the systems have been gamed.And:Strengthening the notion that Greene is a "plant" inside the Democratic Party is the fact that the unemployed candidate has not been able to explain, in interviews, where he got the $10,400 to file to run in the primary race.Writing at FireDogLake, Scott Creighton sides with the argument that Greene may have been a GOP plant. Noting a TV interview in which Greene apparently isn't familiar with the term "indictment," Creighton accuses Greene of play-acting."Alvin Greene is pretending to be an idiot," Creighton writes, noting that Greene holds a college degree (in Political Science-My insertion here..) and worked as an intelligence specialist in the US military. "He is doing it because someone doesn’t want a strong populist democrat like Vic Rawls running against Jim DeMint in South Carolina for his seat in the United States Senate."More from Bradblog here. This event is stunning in its audacity and arrogance. I'm in awe. Just when I think Republicans have hit their creative limit; Bam! They continue to sink lower.. Amazing. Really amazing..
Remember that volcano a couple months back, that one obviously named by.. someone.. from Iceland(Eyjafjallajokull)? It's eruption (or not) shut down huge swaths of European airspace for a couple weeks, freaked out all involved(tourists, the Airline Industry, breathless media types, scientists and economists), and basically made a worldwide nuisance of itself? So you also remember there were some scientists Very Alarmed about the possibility of Eyjafjallajokull's bigger, badder buddy, Katla erupting? 10-times-badder-Katla? Hey, guess what? It's shaking..Nothing more, yet. This can't even be classified as an earthquake swarm. I'll be watching this. If Katla intensifies, I'll let you know.
Offshore Oil Drilling is a lot like Tightrope Walking. It's less dangerous than it looks, most of the time.. There are nets and safety protocols, and an accident is not deemed serious, as The Net is always there. Until it's not. Take away those nets and safety protocols, and the result can easily become deadly. The difference? Tightrope Walking kills only the person(s) involved, and a massive disaster involving Offshore Oil Drilling can, quite possibly, kill millions of sea(and sea-dependent) animals, and effect millions along the Gulf and Eastern coasts of this country(and more..later). But these potentially apocalyptic implications (now that they're upon us) still doesn't stop The Love from some political-types..Congressman Don Young: What's the fuss?Rachel Maddow reminds us who the Real Culprit is: ACORN. (Long segment; so worth it. Really nice expose on BP's corporate monkeys on The Hill. And those recently employed there, of course.)Everything is all right because BP says it's all right. Except where it is not.
The huge, burning object that slammed into Jupiter last week still remains a mystery to scientists who are currently examining this latest impact on the gas giant.
Snakes may be declining across the world, according to a global study.Excerpts:Researchers examined records for 17 snake populations covering eight species over the last few decades, and found most had declined markedly.For reasons that are not entirely clear, some populations shrank in number abruptly around 1998.And:The researchers believe they amassed most, if not all, long-term datasets for this study - although "long-term" in this context means going back more than one decade, in some cases more than two.Nevertheless, within this relatively short time frame, eight of the 17 populations were seen to fall markedly in size - some by more than 90% - with only one showing any sign of a rise.And:Populations shrank even in protected areas, suggesting that the progressive loss of habitat for wild animals being seen all over the world is not the only cause.Similar steep declines observed in frogs and newts in an earlier period were eventually found to be caused by the fungal disease chytridiomycosis.The year when many of the snake declines began - 1998 - raises the question of whether climatic factors might be involved, as very strong El Nino conditions contributed to making it the hottest year recorded in modern times.
'Phantom' Motrin Recall Probe Intensifies. Excerpts:A Congressional probe into a "phantom" 2009 recall of Motrin pain relief caplets is causing headaches for the pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson.In July 2009, Johnson & Johnson's consumer division, McNeil Consumer Healthcare, began officially recalling Motrin caplets thought to be dissolving improperly resulting in possible adverse effects.And:"Rather than doing the right thing and announcing a recall, we have learned that the drug company hired contractors to basically sneak into stores to purchase the products as if they were legitimate customers," Towns said in a statement last week. Towns called the Motrin case a "phantom recall" at a May 27 hearing.And:Last week, the Oversight Committee uncovered a document titled "Motrin Purchase Project" purportedly sent to WIS by Inmar, a Winston-Salem, N.C.-based supply chain management specialist. Towns's spokeswoman said the document indicates that a division of Inmar was contracted by Johnson & Johnson's consumer division, McNeil Consumer Healthcare, and that WIS, in turn, was subcontracted by Inmar. WIS workers were instructed to go into stores and buy up all the Motrin IB Caplets they found, according to the document, which was made public by the committee. "There must be no mention of this being a recall of the product!" the Motrin Purchase Project memo read.And:Documents supplied to the Oversight Committee by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration showed that the FDA originally found out about the alleged secret Motrin recall last year, and looked into it, prompting the official recall, which was never publicized and involved 88,000 caplets thought to be problematic. The FDA was initially told by Johnson & Johnson that its contractors were merely performing a statistical sampling, according to an FDA document made public by the committee. The dissolution problem was first identified in November of 2008, the FDA document said.The Timeline is as follows: They knew about the problem since November 2008, didn't start working with the FDA until May of 2009, started covering their asses with a "Phantom Recall" in July 2009(when they started their "Official Recall"), and still aren't responding to this Congressional probe as of Tuesday. Who says Corporations don't care about you and me?
US financial markets may be shut down on Monday. No judgement whether this will happen tomorrow, but probably really soon..Doom quote: We have never been this close to the inevitable outcome.Then there's this: U.S.’s $13 Trillion Debt Poised to Overtake GDP: Chart of DaySo.. Soon.
Iran's navy offers to escort Gaza ships.Official: Elite Revolutionary Guards are prepared to intervene.This can't end badly, right?
Excerpts: Analysts said the North could use the extra session of the Supreme People's Assembly to make a major announcement on personnel changes or power succession, or to issue a hardline response to sanctions imposed by the South over the ship sinking.Many analysts say neither side is ready to go to war but also see the possibility of more skirmishes at their disputed sea border off the west coast or along the heavily armed DMZ land buffer that could flare up into a major fight.And:North Korea has called Seoul's move to refer it to the Security Council an "unforgivable act of grave provocation.The Supreme People's Assembly is the North's rubberstamp parliament, and approves new laws, personnel changes and economic policy initiatives as a formality after they have been formulated by the leadership
World War Two radio continues to pick up vintage broadcasts despite not having any power.A 70-year-old radio at a Scottish heritage centre has been picking up vintage broadcasts featuring Winston Churchill and the music of Glen Miller.The Pye valve wireless at Montrose Air Station, a heritage centre that tells the story of the men and women who served there, has no power and is not connected to any source of electricity.The aerodrome has been a source of paranormal sightings and sounds for almost a century, with reports of ghostly figures, eerie footsteps and door handles turning, but the mysterious wireless broadcasts have had even the most sceptical staff at the station searching for a rational explanation.
UFO spotted over eastern Australia. Not just a UFO, though..
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