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New York, 8:09 PM
Sat Dec 19
10 posts in the last 24 hours

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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Swifter Swifter
    12/18/09

    In reply to It's Not On The Sun, It's Not in a Bun
    I discover dark matter every morning about 20 minutes after my first cup of coffee.
     Reply
    Swifter was starred Swifter was unstarred
    Image of filthy tongue filthy tongue
    12/18/09

    @Swifter: I'm drinking coffee right now and could have done without the mental image. Gross! (But you're hearted anyway.)
     Reply
    Swifter promoted this comment filthy tongue was starred filthy tongue was unstarred
    Image of Spirit Fingers Spirit Fingers
    12/18/09

    In reply to It's Not On The Sun, It's Not in a Bun
    Too science-y. Most of us (Me!) really just want to know if the earth will:

    a) blow up
    b) become covered in lava
    c) descend into a black hole without a hyper-warp option
    d) become all water
    e) become no water
    f) attract blood-starved aliens/vampires/zombies/or killer apes with an agenda
    g) lack natural resources from too many plastic twisty-ties in the oceans like the HIPPIES said.
     Reply
    Spirit Fingers was starred Spirit Fingers was unstarred
    Image of Uncle_Billy_Slumming Uncle_Billy_Slumming
    12/18/09

    @Spirit Fingers:

    Molly says: Yes!
     Reply
    Uncle_Billy_Slumming was starred Uncle_Billy_Slumming was unstarred
    Image of Smitros Smitros
    12/18/09

    In reply to It's Not On The Sun, It's Not in a Bun
    How could they tell? It wouldn't stand out or anything.
     Reply
    Smitros was starred Smitros was unstarred
    Image of Uncle_Billy_Slumming Uncle_Billy_Slumming
    12/18/09

    In reply to It's Not On The Sun, It's Not in a Bun
    Grrr. Lede (is that what they call it?) is incorrect. They did not discover dark matter in the mine shaft, they discovered a "hint." Since I have one more exclamation point in my quiver, though, this morning, nicely Seussed up...............!
     Reply
    Uncle_Billy_Slumming was starred Uncle_Billy_Slumming was unstarred
    Image of Uncle_Billy_Slumming Uncle_Billy_Slumming
    12/18/09

    @Uncle_Billy_Slumming:

    Suggestion for useage: [To be accompanied by sexy R&B ] "Yo bro! Seuss it up"
     Reply
    Uncle_Billy_Slumming was starred Uncle_Billy_Slumming was unstarred
    Image of Lysergic Asset Lysergic Asset
    12/17/09

    In reply to Massive 'Waterworld' Discovered in Space, Presence of Kevin Costner Unconfirmed
    Having totally trashed this planet, at least we're planning ahead.
     Reply
    Lysergic Asset was starred Lysergic Asset was unstarred
    Image of lobstr lobstr
    12/16/09

    In reply to Massive 'Waterworld' Discovered in Space, Presence of Kevin Costner Unconfirmed
    "Astronomically speaking, this is on our block," David Charbonneau of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, lead author of the study, told reporters this week. "This is a next-door neighbor. For perspective, our own TV signals have already passed beyond the distance of this star."

    Great. So their heads are filled with original runs of Felix the Cat, Amos and Andy, and footage of Hitler marching processions, and we expect to be greeted with their twelve open arms?
     Reply
    lobstr was starred lobstr was unstarred
    Image of Ogiri W Surie Ogiri W Surie
    12/16/09

    @lobstr: Wait until they get all of our reality shows. By the time we're technologically ready to talk the them, they will have added us to their 'Do Not Call' list.
     Reply
    Ogiri W Surie was starred Ogiri W Surie was unstarred
    Image of lobstr lobstr
    12/17/09

    @Ogiri W Surie: Well, that, and once Jersey Shore's wavelengths reaches their atmosphere, they'll expect our planet's race to be orange and jelled.
     Reply
    lobstr was starred lobstr was unstarred
    Image of Ogiri W Surie Ogiri W Surie
    12/17/09

    @lobstr: And, to make for a Twilight Zone-type scenario, the aliens are taken with the Guids of the world and force the sentient members of our species into servitude, working as slaves in intergalactic orange and gel factories.

    Naturally, newly appointed Overlord Snooki has no idea what's manufactured in said factories.
     Reply
    Ogiri W Surie was starred Ogiri W Surie was unstarred
    Image of MyNameIsChris MyNameIsChris
    12/16/09

    In reply to Massive 'Waterworld' Discovered in Space, Presence of Kevin Costner Unconfirmed
    Road trip? Where we're going we don't need roads...
     Reply
    MyNameIsChris was starred MyNameIsChris was unstarred
    Image of Atilla the Bun Atilla the Bun
    12/17/09

    @MyNameIsChris: "It is most gratifying that your enthusiasm for our planet continues unabated. As a token of our appreciation, we hope you will enjoy the two thermonuclear missiles we've just sent to converge with your craft. To ensure ongoing quality of service, your death may be monitored for training purposes. Thank you."
     Reply
    Atilla the Bun was starred Atilla the Bun was unstarred
    Image of MyNameIsChris MyNameIsChris
    12/17/09

    @Atilla the Bun: Did you do that by heart?
     Reply
    MyNameIsChris was starred MyNameIsChris was unstarred
    Image of Atilla the Bun Atilla the Bun
    12/17/09

    @MyNameIsChris: Um, no. But I knew exactly where to look for it because I love that damn underrated movie.
     Reply
    Atilla the Bun was starred Atilla the Bun was unstarred
    Image of Claire Buoyant Claire Buoyant
    12/16/09

    In reply to Massive 'Waterworld' Discovered in Space, Presence of Kevin Costner Unconfirmed
    In today's news release, Berta said the pressure may turn at least some of the water into a rare crystalline form known as ice-seven.

    Close enough. I say we rename the planet from GJ 1214b to Vonnegut.
     Reply
    Claire Buoyant was starred Claire Buoyant was unstarred
    Image of sweet_communist sweet_communist
    12/16/09

    In reply to Massive 'Waterworld' Discovered in Space, Presence of Kevin Costner Unconfirmed
    How shall we occupy our time during the voyage? I'm bringing my collection of long-winded Russian literature.
     Reply
    sweet_communist was starred sweet_communist was unstarred
    Image of D2theMatthews D2theMatthews
    12/16/09

    @sweet_communist: "Ball In a Cup" for me.
     Reply
    D2theMatthews was starred D2theMatthews was unstarred
    Image of Airvault Airvault
    12/16/09

    @sweet_communist: I bought Rosetta Stone: GJ 1214b edition.

    Don't want to look like a tourist.
     Reply
    Airvault was starred Airvault was unstarred
    Image of NathanSt NathanSt
    12/16/09

    @sweet_communist: Looks like I'll finally start developing that line of near-perpetual motion machines.

    Or just sit in the corner and jack-off for most of the ride.

    Decisions, decisions..
     Reply
    NathanSt was starred NathanSt was unstarred
    Image of Anrkist Anrkist
    12/16/09

    @sweet_communist: I was just going to watch 2001 on repeat.
     Reply
    sweet_communist promoted this comment Anrkist was starred Anrkist was unstarred
    Image of sweet_communist sweet_communist
    12/16/09

    @NathanSt: Why not both? These bacteria will help with your perpetual motion machine: [www.boingboing.net]

    @Anrkist: I wholeheartedly support this endeavor, as 2001 is my favorite film.
     Reply
    Edited by sweet_communist at 12/16/09 10:27 PM sweet_communist was starred sweet_communist was unstarred
    Image of sweet_communist sweet_communist
    12/16/09

    @D2theMatthews: I admire your sense of commitment.

    @Airvault: You shall be our official translator. Now hit the books!
     Reply
    sweet_communist was starred sweet_communist was unstarred
    Image of lobstr lobstr
    12/16/09

    @sweet_communist: "I spy a nebulon..."
     Reply
    lobstr was starred lobstr was unstarred
    Image of MyNameIsChris MyNameIsChris
    12/16/09

    @Airvault: Ehh... I'm going to just learn basic numbers, "hello," "goodbye," "please," and "thank you." I heard everybody on GJ 1214b is learning Wall Street English anyway.
     Reply
    Edited by MyNameIsChris at 12/16/09 10:39 PM MyNameIsChris was starred MyNameIsChris was unstarred
    Image of sweet_communist sweet_communist
    12/16/09

    @lobstr: I spy with my little eye A BLACK HOL---
     Reply
    sweet_communist was starred sweet_communist was unstarred
    Image of Regular_Stormy Regular_Stormy
    12/16/09

    @sweet_communist: I'm still working on this one Sudoku puzzle from my last 40 light year voyage.
     Reply
    sweet_communist promoted this comment Regular_Stormy was starred Regular_Stormy was unstarred
    Image of Helio Helio
    12/16/09

    @Anrkist: and i'll be surprised if the credits roll before we land.
     Reply
    Helio was starred Helio was unstarred
    Image of Atilla the Bun Atilla the Bun
    12/17/09

    @NathanSt: Is there really much of a difference between the two?
     Reply
    Atilla the Bun was starred Atilla the Bun was unstarred
    Image of Uncle_Billy_Slumming Uncle_Billy_Slumming
    12/15/09

    In reply to The Fake Scandals That Global Warming Deniers Are Flogging
    "In conclusion, the fact that it is currently 50 degrees in New York City is a localized, temporary, one-off temperature fluctuation, and anyone who takes it to undermine the well-established fact that there's no such thing as global warming is an idiot.

    Don't you think it's a scootch ironic in light of the fact that the temperature chart you include begins in 1880? Datapros Krugman and Brad Delong do this all the time.

    Do a point for point bullet list of the specific contentions, evidence for, and evidence against and we've got something. Charts that start in 1880... fail.

    And yes 9/11 was an inside job, and yes we still haven't seen Obama's long form birth certificate (have we?), and yes Oral Roberts just died, and no I'm not a republican or conservative, or democrat or progressive or libertarian socialist so just stfu with any partisan rejoinders.
     Reply
    Uncle_Billy_Slumming was starred Uncle_Billy_Slumming was unstarred
    Image of Uncle_Billy_Slumming Uncle_Billy_Slumming
    12/15/09

    @Uncle_Billy_Slumming: and no, the stfu was not directed at John Cook.
     Reply
    Uncle_Billy_Slumming was starred Uncle_Billy_Slumming was unstarred
    Image of The Van Buren Boys The Van Buren Boys
    12/15/09

    In reply to The Fake Scandals That Global Warming Deniers Are Flogging
    As someone who occasionally works on climate change issues in Washington DC (both science and policy), this whole issue makes me want drink...heavily. The amount of misinformation, ignorance, and over-simplification among both deniers and advocates (including Gawker and commenters in this thread) is astounding.

    Long story short, the media is fucking awful. I would encourage everyone to read the IPCC Synthesis Report for Policymakers. It's long but it's fair, informative, and fairly easy to read. [www.ipcc.ch]
     Reply
    blix promoted this comment Edited by The Van Buren Boys at 12/15/09 3:44 PM The Van Buren Boys was starred The Van Buren Boys was unstarred
    Image of krismry krismry
    12/15/09

    @The Van Buren Boys: Yep. Nobody understands this very well and making it worse is the tag 'global warming,' which misleads non science oriented people into thinking winter has been cancelled, such as. 'Climate change' isn't much better, but at least that phrase offers an indication that extremes of heat, drought, precip and cooling are all possibles. This is a tough one. I started writing climate stories with the big 1982 ENSO and kept it up until my editors' eyes glazed over around 1995. Almost nobody gets it. Keep trying I guess.
     Reply
    krismry was starred krismry was unstarred
    Image of yikesahootie yikesahootie
    12/15/09

    @krismry: I have friends who work at a nationally-known environmental group, and they tried to get people to use the phrase "climate disruption" instead of "global warming" or "climate change," but the other phrases had already entered the public consciousness. A pity, as it's more accurate.
     Reply
    krismry promoted this comment yikesahootie was starred yikesahootie was unstarred
    Image of Richard Petty Bourgeoisie Richard Petty Bourgeoisie
    12/15/09

    In reply to The Fake Scandals That Global Warming Deniers Are Flogging
    Drudge has previously noted . . . weather is conjured by God as punishment for abortions

    Drudge has also previously noted that snow is FAAAAAAABULOUS!!!!!
     Reply
    Richard Petty Bourgeoisie was starred Richard Petty Bourgeoisie was unstarred
    Image of Sproing Sproing
    12/15/09

    In reply to The Fake Scandals That Global Warming Deniers Are Flogging
    So does Maslowski believe that "there is an 80% chance of the north polar ice cap will be nearly ice-free within five to seven years," or does he believe that "80% of the north polar ice-cap will be nearly ice-free within five to seven years?" Or both? Which? Wha?
     Reply
    Sproing was starred Sproing was unstarred
    Image of DennyCrane DennyCrane
    12/15/09

    In reply to The Fake Scandals That Global Warming Deniers Are Flogging
    The thing that pisses me off the most about this (and it pisses me off a lot!) is the stealth implication that all of a sudden we can start to trash the planet again because, hey, there are no consequences, not really!

    Whether climate change is or is not actually happening, while extremely important, is far from the only justification for being good stewards of our planet.
     Reply
    DennyCrane was starred DennyCrane was unstarred
    Image of Richard Petty Bourgeoisie Richard Petty Bourgeoisie
    12/15/09

    @DennyCrane: Amen. Eff Al Gore and the rest of his crew for conflating environmental common sense with the "Warriors Against Climate Change" movement.

    If you've not read SuperFreakonomics, you should, particularly for the discussion and analysis of global warming solutions. If the interview subjects in the book are correct, global warming can be battled with relatively cheap solutions (shooting chemicals into the stratosphere). And Al Gore all but admits that cheap, effective solutions are not what he's looking for.
     Reply
    Richard Petty Bourgeoisie was starred Richard Petty Bourgeoisie was unstarred
    Image of Mo MoDo Mo MoDo
    12/15/09

    @Richard Petty Bourgeoisie: Shooting crap in the atmosphere sure sounds like a safe easy answer. What could possibly go wrong?
     Reply
    Mo MoDo was starred Mo MoDo was unstarred
    Image of Richard Petty Bourgeoisie Richard Petty Bourgeoisie
    12/15/09

    @Mo MoDo: Stratosphere, not atmosphere. Hey, I'm no scientist. The fellas who thought of this, however, are. They noticed that a recent volcanic eruption sent certain chemicals into the stratosphere, and the chemicals cooled things off. It's not as elegant as cap and trade, but it sounds like it might actually work.
     Reply
    Richard Petty Bourgeoisie was starred Richard Petty Bourgeoisie was unstarred
    Image of ydmos ydmos
    12/15/09

    @Richard Petty Bourgeoisie: here is a fun, short TED talk about 'shooting crap into the atmosphere': [www.youtube.com]
     Reply
    Richard Petty Bourgeoisie promoted this comment ydmos was starred ydmos was unstarred
    Image of Voyou_Charmant Voyou_Charmant
    12/15/09

    @Richard Petty Bourgeoisie: Scientists also came up with DDT, Thalidomide and lead paint

    I am much bigger fan of less chemicals, less pollution, less "cheap" fixes and more proper corrections to the way we impact our environment.
     Reply
    Voyou_Charmant was starred Voyou_Charmant was unstarred
    Image of toastball toastball
    12/15/09

    @Richard Petty Bourgeoisie: Pure bullshit. People, do NOT read Superfreakonomics. EVER. It's what happens when economists try to dissect massive environmental problems with zero expertise. The interview subjects in the book are completely and utterly INcorrect:

    [[www.realclimate.org]]
     Reply
    Richard Petty Bourgeoisie promoted this comment toastball was starred toastball was unstarred
    Image of Richard Petty Bourgeoisie Richard Petty Bourgeoisie
    12/15/09

    @Voyou_Charmant: So am I. But it seems that something can be done now, AND we can start to correct our impact on the environment. Some people who are much, much, much smarter than I am think that, if we take every step imaginable to lower the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere starting today, we might see a reduction in 2075. By then, we'll be taking boat tours of Wall Street.

    Let's be realistic: No one is going to convince China and India to trade improvements to their populations' standard of living for being team players in cleaning up the world. Why not explore cooling ideas and technologies we have today while we figure out efficient, cheap, clean energy sources?
     Reply
    Richard Petty Bourgeoisie was starred Richard Petty Bourgeoisie was unstarred
    Image of Voyou_Charmant Voyou_Charmant
    12/15/09

    @Richard Petty Bourgeoisie:

    Mo Modo was right in what she/he was saying because Earth's Atmosphere is made up of layers, including but not limited to the Mesosphere and Stratosphere.

    You say that it sounds like a good idea yet do not, and I stress that I'm not trying to be insulting, know the basic make up of the atmosphere or which layer. You think it sounds good because it was said with authority.
     Reply
    Voyou_Charmant was starred Voyou_Charmant was unstarred
    Image of Richard Petty Bourgeoisie Richard Petty Bourgeoisie
    12/15/09

    @toastball: @Voyou_Charmant:
     Reply
    Edited by Richard Petty Bourgeoisie at 12/15/09 5:44 PM Richard Petty Bourgeoisie was starred Richard Petty Bourgeoisie was unstarred
    Image of Richard Petty Bourgeoisie Richard Petty Bourgeoisie
    12/15/09

    @toastball: @Voyou_Charmant: Let me check my post above. Yep. It appears I wrote, If the interview subjects in the book are correct. So, since I don't claim to be a scientist or very smart, I'm not sure I understand the vitriol (Voyou_Charmant's non-insult assertion notwithstanding). That David Keith fella in the YouTube clip provided by ydmos above seems to think geo-engineering is worth exploring. His bio says he's something called an "environmental scientist." I have no idea what that means, but it sounds like he might be a scientist whose field of study is the environment.

    Hell, toastball, the comments section of that realclimate.org post you linked to has some lively (seemingly science-driven (i.e., not politically driven) banter about this very idea. I don't think it's accurate or meaningful to call it "pure bullshit." It might be, but I think there are some bright people who believe it should at least be studied and modeled before it's dismissed.
     Reply
    Richard Petty Bourgeoisie was starred Richard Petty Bourgeoisie was unstarred
    Image of deepey deepey
    12/15/09

    In reply to The Fake Scandals That Global Warming Deniers Are Flogging
    What if the world were about to enter another (naturally occurring) ice age, and all of our spewed C02 was going to SAVE MANKIND from icy death? I don't know anything about global warming (or anything else) so I'm wondering if people ever posit such scenarios. I mean, ice ages do happen with regular frequency, and I imagine an ice age would suck equally (or more) than a hot phase? This isn't meant to be provocative, I've just always wondered.
     Reply
    Trai_Dep promoted this comment Edited by deepey at 12/15/09 3:10 PM deepey was starred deepey was unstarred
    Image of Trai_Dep Trai_Dep
    12/15/09

    @deepey: I hear reckon there's something called The Google that can help there.
    Happy hunting!
     Reply
    Trai_Dep was starred Trai_Dep was unstarred
    Image of deepey deepey
    12/15/09

    @Trai_Dep: Hey, wouldn't it be funny if everytime someone brought something up in conversation you just referred them to Google, rather than giving your own opinion on the subject?
     Reply
    Edited by deepey at 12/15/09 7:15 PM deepey was starred deepey was unstarred
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