scientists Archives - Where Is The Outrage?

Forecast the Facts

From TP:

America’s television meteorologists are theprimary source of climate information for most Americans, and are second only to scientists — who have much less access to the general public — in the level of trust they are given. Yet more than half of TV weather reporters don’t believe in human-induced climate change, even as our poisoned weather grows more extreme.

Forecast the Facts, a new campaign of 350.org, the League of Conservation Voters, and the newCitizen Engagement Lab, aims to turn the tide. The first call to action challenges the American Meteorological Society to vote next week for a strong climate change statement that rejects science denial:

It’s a big problem: weather reporters reach millions of people every night, and right now they’re not telling their viewers the full story. We can change that. Meteorologists are meeting this month at the annual conference of the American Meteorological Society, where the AMS Council will vote on a new official statement on climate change. Denier meteorologists don’t want the statement to pass, and are doing everything they can to derail the process. We can’t let that happen.

In 2009, ThinkProgress Green exposed weathermen James Spann and Joe D’Aleo as Marc Morano’s go-to climate deniers. Forecast the Facts has identified dozens more zombie weathermen (yes, they’re all male) from around the country. These climate denier meteorologists are betraying the public’s trust and distorting America’s airwaves with ideological science denial: (more…)

By ecthompsonmd|2012-01-23T07:17:00-04:00January 23rd, 2012|Environment|Comments Off

Underwater volcano, snow and things

I think the fact that scientists were able to capture the deepest underwater volcano during an ~~erection~~ eruption (Freudian slip :-)) is totally cool.

The storm that is creeping up the East Coast slammed in Asheville at about nine o’clock this morning. I’ve lived in Asheville for about five years. It snows here. We can see two or three or even 4 inches of snow at a time. Today, in some parts of Asheville was gotten over a foot of snow. The city has ground to a halt. My drive home from the hospital which usually takes about 15-20 minutes took closer to 90 minutes.

I think my radio show is canceled for tomorrow. Sorry. Maybe if I can get a helicopter to take me.

Finally, I really don’t have anything brilliant to say about healthcare. I found this whole process frustrating. I’ve talked about the lack of leadership from both Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. I think the president Obama made a mistake when he turned the whole process over to Congress. I think that Joe Lieberman is an attention seeking jerk. I think that the good people of Nebraska need to vote Ben Nelson out of office — yesterday.

I need to turn in early so that I can get up at the crack of dawn and try and make it through the snow.

By ecthompsonmd|2009-12-18T22:35:18-04:00December 18th, 2009|Domestic Issues|Comments Off

Smart men do it with knowledge

Smart men do it with knowledge. I always wanted to make that into a bumper sticker. 🙂 This was just my opinion since I like to think of myself as a smart guy. Now there is proof.

From LiveScience:

Smart men rejoice:

Turns out that intelligent people are generally healthier than their less-clever peers – studies have shown that brainiacs are, for instance, less likely to suffer from heart disease and Alzheimer’s. Scientists have suggested that smart people may score less stressful jobs in safer places and that they may make better lifestyle choices, for instance by exercising more and eating better. In other words, maybe bright people actually listen to the Surgeon General.

But these newest findings, to be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Intelligence, found that negative habits had little effect on sperm quality, so they don’t support that theory.

The researchers instead speculate that intelligence might be passed down as part of a larger package of good attributes. One gene can influence multiple traits, so the genes involved in smarts may somehow improve sperm quality – and perhaps other characteristics as well. (more… )

By ecthompsonmd|2009-01-09T14:55:29-04:00January 9th, 2009|General|Comments Off