Happy Earth Day!
Wisconsin Senator Gaylord (uproarious laughter) Nelson first proposed a national day to celebrate the earth in September of 1969. The Vietnam War was wrecking Southeast Asia’s jungles, the Cuyahoga river caught fire in Cleveland, and South Carolina’s Savannah River nuclear power plant was melting down. The negative aftereffects of mass consumerism and industrialization that emerged during the end of World War II were spreading across North America like a terrible monstrous weed.
All of those events–and the other events that contributed to America’s first environmental movement–were important factors in increasing American’s awareness of the fragility of our natural environment and the long term consequences of its neglect. All of that stuff is incredibly important, but to me there is one event that stands out beyond all the rest.
The picture above was taken on the 7th of December, 1972. Colloquially called the “blue marble” picture, it is the first picture ever taken of our planet. Although this occurred after the first ”official” Earth Day, I think it was the single most important promoter of environmentalism we saw in the twentieth century.
It has since become the most widely distributed picture in human history. It reminds us that what we have is incredibly special and vibrant, but also susceptible to our carelessness. It’s difficult to frame our perspective in the universe when we have our feet firmly planted on the earth’s soil, but we exist in an incredibly precarious state. If we imperil the planet’s habitability, we have nowhere to turn. We are surrounded by a bleak inhospitable vaccum that would freeze our lungs and immediately suck the life out of us if we stepped into it for only a moment. Thinking of conservation and sustainability with that perspective tends to reorganize one’s priorities.
Imagine what it must have been like to look upon this picture for the first time back in 1972. Take some time today to view the high-res version here.
There’s only one of these. Take care of it, and have a great day.
High-Res Map of the U.S. Carbon Footprint
From Wired Magazine…
A team of scientists has completed a carbon dioxide emissions inventory of the United States plotted down to 100-square-kilometer chunks.
That means that the NASA- and Department of Energy-funded scientists can detail emissions across all 9 million square kilometers that compose the United States. For a full explanation, check out the video that Purdue’s Kevin Gurney put together, which features a number of other excellent CO2 visualizations. Andy Revkin, the New York Times‘ environment-beat writer, put a memorable headline on a post about the video, calling it, “Breath of a Nation.”
The work, known as The Vulcan Project, has already yielded a significant discovery: Previous CO2 estimates that used population as a proxy for emissions overestimated the Northeast’s greenhouse-gas generation, while underestimating the coal-heavy Southeast’s contribution.
via Wired
How’s your Operating Thetan Level Today?
The feature story within this month’s Radar Magazine is about the Church of Scientology and the underground internet group that is taking them down. It’s interesting to see Scientologist opponents taking this tactical course, since the cult religion has been so clever about diverting criticism and using its massive resources to silence critics.
Here’s how the attacks on Scientology began (from the article):
On January 21, a video titled “Message to Scientology” appeared on YouTube. A brilliant work of agitprop, the video (embedded below) features a monotone, computer-generated voice speaking in staccato against a mesmerizing backdrop of gathering clouds. The message, which bears quoting at length, is ominous:
“Hello, Scientology. We are Anonymous. Over the years, we have been watching you. Your campaigns of misinformation, suppression of dissent, your litigious nature: All of these things have caught our eye. With the leakage of your latest propaganda video into mainstream circulation, the extent of your malign influence over those who have come to trust you has been made clear to us. Anonymous has therefore decided that your organization should be destroyed. … We are Anonymous. We are legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.”
Within hours of the video’s posting, all hell broke loose. Almost immediately, the Church’s main website, scientology.org, went down under a distributed denial of service attack, a classic hacker technique that overwhelms a target’s website with phantom user traffic until it crashes. Scientology offices worldwide were flooded with prank phone calls and so-called black faxes—pages upon pages of blank black pages—tying up their phone lines and emptying ink cartridges. Dozens of proprietary Church documents—videos, lectures, and course materials worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in Scientology’s pay-to-pray scheme—beganshowing up on YouTube, BitTorrent, and countless websites.
Here is the video in its entirety:
You can also read the full article here.
Bible + Natural History Museum = Awesome
Now, I know there are plenty of religious people who would never allow their children to be put through shit like this… but this is what you get when dogma and superstition overtake reason and evidence… Oh, and evolution is definitely a religion; I pray to Darwin and PZ Myers nightly…
I have a heterosexual man-crush on Daniel Dennett…
I do love TED, especially just floating around the site watching random talks… Stumbled upon these two last night from TED 2006…
So, this is Rick Warren talking about his book “A Purpose Driven Life” and the things that followed its success. I don’t wish to tinge your view of this before seeing it, but I find him… . . . well, here he is…
Here is Daniel Dennett talking about evolution then segueing into a critique of “A Purpose Driven Life”.
I’m not trying to offend anyone…
…seriously… Just as a warning, this is a clip from a weekly cable access show entitled “Atheist Experience” in which two fellows just sit and discuss Atheism/Theism… This is their response to a caller saying “…atheists have faith, just like theists.” I thought it was a particularly well argued point, which is what kept me watching (it is 11 minutes), and I would recommend watching for the entire length of the piece for the payoff at the end of it… So sit back and enjoy…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs3RKZjSzYg
Alright! Enough! I’m Officialy Creeped Out.
Meet the Little Girl Giant.
I’m looking for more info on this monstrosity that was displayed in the streets of London on May 7th. For now i’ll just say that it may be time to run from the hills.
My favorite comment on this: “FAKE!! its not really a giant, but rather a really big puppet, You can see the wires and people moving the “giant” if you look closely. Dont Be fooled!!, I repeat THIS IS NOT A REAL GIANT!!”
McCain is stumped on the stump
This blew me away. Taken from washingtonpost.com….
It’s not often that a reporter stumps John McCain. But it happened Friday, and it was a telling moment for the Republican presidential contender.
The bus had been rolling for a half-hour and McCain was holding court on everything from Iraq to college basketball. (”Who woulda thought? VCU,” he exclaimed upon boarding.) And then someone asked about public funding for contraception in Africa to prevent the spread of AIDS.
“I’m sure I’ve taken a position on it in the past,” he stammered as he looked to his communications director. “I’m sure I’m opposed to government funding.”
Sensing a vulnerable moment, reporters kept the questions coming. What about sex education in the schools? Should it mention contraceptives? Or only abstinence, like President Bush wants?
“I think I support the president’s present policy,” he said, tentatively.
More questions: Do condoms stop sexually transmitted disease?
A long pause.
A stern look.
