Plan B

For those who deny the global warming hypothesis, and even for those who are highly skeptical of it, there remains this other issue lurking under the radar: ocean acidification. It is caused by carbon dioxide emissions, which are also considered the primary cause of global warming. But, ocean acidification itself is a problem of sufficient scope, certainty, and severity to merit serious efforts to reduce these emissions. As with global warming there is no known strategy to reverse the damage once done. So, for purposes of persuading nations to reduce their CO2 emissions, ocean acidification is Plan B. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/31/science/earth/31ocean.html

Elevator as Paradigm Shift

I like the bit about making "elastic smoke" and then twisting it up into a fiber--to space and beyond!!! http://www.physorg.com/news151938445.html

A Fading Footnote

I've read some of Ayn Rand, now facing the embarassment of an attempted resurrection. A very brief summary of her works is a much happier experience than actually reading her rambling fictions and essays. She's actually a better philosopher than novelist--but, unfortunately, she's a third rate philosopher. I would like, at least, to credit the woman with good intentions, yet she thwarts even this charity: in particular, she opposed philanthropy both public and private. Her atheism also keeps her out of the mainstream rightwing tradition. Though, as a quasi-libertarian, I agree with her on many essential matters, she is not one of those I am pleased to consider an ally or an equal.

 

Greenspan is one of her most famous devotees. And his (rather large) share in the responsibility for the financial disaster follows in a direct line from his superficial Rand-induced ideology.

A 10 on the Counterintuitive Scale

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/07/jellyfish/
I would never have imagined that the scale of forces might be so balanced as these researchers suggest and for which they note suggestive evidence. But, I hope their hypothesis proves this strange equivalence, for I confess to a special delight in counterintuitive scientific discoveries. They have for me the tone of Supreme whimsicality, of God at play.