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May 28, 2009
Southern Flying Squirrel
Here's a night shot of a Southern Flying Squirrel.
This and another squirrel were huddling inside our screen door, but outside the glass door. We gave them the afternoon to stay out of the rain. They are noctural so they slept on the screen itself.
Unfortunately, dinner time came around and the squirrels didn't leave on their own, so we had to catch them in a pot and transport them into the forest. They have excellent homing abilities but we are hoping we have discouraged them enough so they don't try to move into our house... this one jumped and glided down about 7 feet, but it was very clumsy on the ground, hopping much like a kangaroo rat.
Posted by sorsha at 8:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Two Southern Flying Squirrels
They were not invited, but they seem to have taken up residence on the inside of our screen door (but still outside). They are cute but terribly annoying if they find their way into your house...
Posted by sorsha at 1:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 24, 2009
Book Review: Censoring Science: Inside the Political Attack on Dr. James Hansen and the Truth of Global Warming by Mark Bowen
This book was well-written but very difficult for me to read. I was constantly angry.
Censoring Science: Inside the Political Attack on Dr. James Hansen and the Truth of Global Warming
Jim Hansen is head of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (Earth Sciences Division). He is one of the most well-respected climate experts in the world, although his forthright manner and willingness to tell those in political power what they don't want to hear has made him into something of a maverick. He has testified before Congress on numerous occassions. Al Gore based much of his work on Jim Hansen's science, as well as that of his collegues around the world.
For the past few administrations, Hansen's science (and that of many scientists at federal agencies including NASA and NOAA) has been heavily censored and modified to water down and also change the meaning of findings. Scientists and career civil servants were intimidated into softening their own findings (self-censoring), or risked losing their jobs. Public affairs processes were put into place to passively censor by way of delaying press inquiries long enough that they became obsolete. The party line (climate change isn't real, isn't a concern, isn't causing any of our problems, like Hurricane Katrina) was parroted by political appointees positioned at the top of each federal agency, which was not supported by the pure scientists of those agencies. Later, heavy active censorship, including the modification of factual data, led to a number of scandals within NASA. In fact, the funding of these science-based agencies were used by the most recent Bush Administration as political tools to get re-elected, at the expense of the American public and the detriment of our future.
Ironically, Jim Hansen's personal values do not put him at the liberal end of the spectrum; but he was a McCain supporter and conscious of trying to keep political pressures out of the scientific method. Since the early 1980s, his research has been far enough ahead of most others that his findings and warnings (esp. regarding coal-fired power plants) have been ridiculed and subject to not just healthy skepticism from the scientific community, but also deliberate attacks on his credibility for the sake of sticking with "business as usual.". In the past 25 years, most of his early warnings have become widely accepted facts, and he continues to advocate for common-sense changes in the form of curbing emissions (including carbon taxes), carbon sequestriation, improved efficiency standards, and a number of other policy changes required to keep us from the climate tipping point, which may very well be sooner, not later.
The book does not leave me hopeful. It leaves me even more concerned that change, which may have arrived with the Obama White House, will not be fast enough or aggressive enough, to avoid the serious consequences which are already on our doorstep.
It also made me realize how Americans, and the press, still haven't lived up to our responsibilities as the primary producer of greenhouse gas emissions in the world. For example, China recently surpassed the US as the primary emitter of greenhouse gasses, I have continually heard about how China's escalating creation of coal-fired power plants is the "real" problem now. I think many Americans then assume that is because of the rising middle class in China, when in reality, many of these plants are being created to power factories producing cheap goods which are then shipped back to the US. We off-shored our factories, and the emissions went with them (to less regulated places, at that, so the price is cheaper for us at the expense of long-term catastrophe).
End result: we Americans are still the ones who need to make changes. Big changes. Now.
Posted by sorsha at 12:46 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
May 20, 2009
Gray Tree Frog
Gray Tree Frog, originally uploaded by perlgurl.org.
Spring has sprung, and I certainly hope to see a lot more of these guys around, cause they eat the bugs!
Posted by sorsha at 1:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 19, 2009
Wolfram|Alpha Website Can Help You With Your Homework, and Much More
Well, kids! There's a search engine in town and it can help you out with your research papers and homework, that's for sure. The Wolfram|Alpha Computational Knowledge Engine provides information on a wide variety of topics, including math and science as well as animal kingdom info, and just about anything with units (time, volume, etc.)
So what is a computational knowledge engine and how is it different from a traditional search engine like Google or Yahoo? Traditional search engines generally take info (keywords) and return search results (websites), which you then go look at.
Wolfram|Alpha is a computational engine, so basically it takes input (a calculation) and spits out results (the answer to the calculation). For example, if you ask it what 2+2 equals, it answers 4, "four" and practically holds up four fingers to give you the visual answer. Those familiar with some of the Google's more advanced features (like its ability to do simple math and currency conversion and stock picks) will find the new Wolfram|Alpha computational knowledge engine familiar.
The Wolfram|Alpha web engine can help you with your pre-calc homework by acting as a graphing calculator, or give you the real probability of drawing four aces in a deck of cards (provided you don't stack the deck). Trying to remember how to compute the perimeter of a right triangle? No problem.
But this new website resource does way more than just math. For every field-whether its biology, chemistry, physics, geography or health-there are databases full of information, not to mention formulas and equations, upon which these sciences are based. For example, you can compute the nutritional information of an apple, OR you could compute the combined nutritional information of your whole breakfast: "apple+banana+hazelnuts 15g+ 1 cup non-fat yogurt"
Some other fun computations:
See what your night sky will look like on the Fourth of July with the star charts, such as the one shown below.
Determine where the lion fits into the Animal Kingdom or the current weather in your town. What about checking the tides so you can plan when to go surfing?
Posted by sorsha at 9:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
