By the way, speaking of tornadoes and crazy weather patterns, this is a picture of a storm that hit near Georgia the other day, only ten miles from where my daughter used to live.
Because that scares the pee right out of me!
Update: That freakish storm is apparently NOT from Georgia, where my daughter used to live, but rather from Chile in 2008.
Gee you would think your own daughter would fact check the pictures she sends you, but NOOO!
Sorry for the misinformation. Honest mistake.
(P.S. if the video will not play, or HBO makes YouTube take it down, you can also see this exchange over here on the Mediaite)
Uhmmm, no, that weather isn't normal. It might be the new normal though. No matter that people like Bob Lutz (a clueless know-it-all..."I was a marine") will not believe FACT based evidence, climate change is real. Hope he's got a big seawall around that house of his in the Florida Keys.
ReplyDeleteWas that the same executive that was around when GM was about to go bust?
DeleteDoes that photo possibly make you believe in a vengeful G-d, Gryphen?
ReplyDeletePerhaps and most likely God has nothing to do with it. Weather patterns are based on science and God has nothing to do with it. By the way, many believe in a loving God, not a vengeful God!
DeleteScience is the study of natural phenomena. Science does not cause weather patterns. All we know is what we can see.
DeleteI was being snarky....!
DeleteThanks for bringing this to people's attention Gryphen. We have to stop ignoring that we are using the atmosphere like a sewer for our emissions and Mother Nature is taking her revenge.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter will be graduating UPenn Vet and taking an internship for a year starting in May at a big horse clinic in Kentucky. When you look at the map of the tornado warnings you can't even find the state borders there were so many.
Politicians may want to deny to please their big corporate campaign contributors, but the insurance companies know that climate change is causing more frequent and more violent storms. I put up some of the charts from MunichRe here, really scary:
http://witsendnj.blogspot.com/2012/03/risk-your-heart.html
O/T but I watched The Big White" (Robin Williams and Holly Hunter) last night. It appears to be a rather good representation of the Alaska we've come to know. Hysterically funny.
ReplyDeleteO/T but McCain is pushing back on Game Change and the director is strongly defending it...a fight to the finish!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mediaite.com/tv/john-mccain-trashes-hbos-game-change-director-defends/
Was that old Dingbat even aware what was going on? He seemed as retarded as Sarah! He was trying to say something this morning about Iran and Israel and it sounded like word salad to me. Cindy, please take that old coot to one of your homes and take away all sharp objects and lock the door quietly behind you. His shelf life expired years ago. Old soldiers never die, they just babble away in La-La land! Thanks for your service, now go home!
DeleteI put HBO back on my Direct TV pkg just for this show. The blogs and twitter will be a real delight to read after the first showing. Whoo hoo, I have my popcorn ready and a new flat screen TV. Gonna be a fun night for all (sucks to be Palin)!
DeleteHoly sheep shit batman! It's not even summer with a real thunderbanger brewed from a sweltering day!
ReplyDeleteO/T but this is really interesting from the NYT regarding government benefits for Americans. Most interesting is the high percentage of those receiving money from the government and the fact that that is heavily represented in Red states. You can scroll over each individual county. Look at the Mat-Su Valley's stats for subsidies.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/02/12/us/entitlement-map.html?ref=us
Thanks for the link, that was very interesting.
DeleteThanks for using the words government benefits and not entitlements. I wish people would stop using the latter to make it sound like a terrible thing.
DeleteEntitled sounds privileged and I bet most truly disabled people don't feel privileged nor do seniors who worked there whole lives and live on 800 a month now in SS.
NO!
ReplyDeleteI spent my younger years in northern Minnesota, then Minneapolis, St. Louis, and finally Reno.
That is not normal to modern man. Has it existed before… probably? I don’t know how culpable modern man is in this new climate change. I have engineers living all around me (including hydrologists), and THEY aren’t sure.
I live in the extreme corner of NC about 20 mins drive from Georgia, South Carolina and Tenn. and in my 50 years I have never seen such a lightning display, It was literally non-stop for an hour and a half, We had a patrial funnel cloud within a half mile of my home that delivered hail the size of two golf balls, The roof was ripped from a Wal-Mart and a local Ingles grocery store, Many vehicles lost windows but thankfully nobody was hurt, These storms have been crazy, Mother Nature is extremely unhappy with mankind !
ReplyDeleteBTW, Jesse, Your daughter must have lived in North Georgia, That looks an awful lot like home.
ReplyDeleteI think God is coming for Newt, Sarah, Sanctimonious Rick, and Maybe Mitt. The GOP had better mend their ways.
ReplyDeleteThat bottom picture is amazing. I hope I never see such a thing in real life though.
ReplyDeleteReally unbelievable how many tornadoes there were this past weekend. So early in the year! Must be because God is mad that we have a biracial president? ***please note..this is not how I feel..it is sadly a comment that I feel sure the teabaggers will say. NOT me. I don't believe in a god of any kind, much less one that would kill innocent people to get back to suit his social agenda.
that picture isn't from Georgia. http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/chaiten.asp
ReplyDeletethanks for clearing that up. I've been trying to figure out where that was from all morning.
DeleteStill scary though!
Came here to say this. My wife has actually had that pic as a background on her computer.
DeleteThat pictures at the bottom is not from a storm in Georgia. It is from a storm in Chile in 2008 http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/chaiten.asp
ReplyDeleteGryph, yes, that is normal, if you're talking about the picture of the tornado. Before they had the fancier radar they have today, meteorologists could somewhat predict where a tornado was by counting the number of lightning strikes within a certain area over a certain time. I don't recall the timing factor, but I think the formula was 60 lightning strikes within a minute.
ReplyDeleteWhat is rare is that this photographer was able to so graphically capture such a clear display of all that energy in this photograph.
Uh gryph:
ReplyDeletehttp://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/05/photogalleries/volcano-photos/index.html
That WOULD be pretty unusual for Georgia since it's a volcano in Chile...
'Game Change': Five Craziest Scenes in HBO Sarah Palin film
ReplyDelete5. Toward the end of the campaign, Palin is depicted as a loose cannon, ignoring instructions from advisors and going off-message when the urge strikes her. Her swelling ego has also made her forget about her home state (where she would resign as governor the following year). Pulling McCain (Ed Harris) aside, she whispers conspiratorially: "We have to win this thing - I so don't wanna go back to Alaska!"
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2012/03/game-change-five-craziest-scenes-in-hbos-sarah-palin-film.html
O/T HBO's Game Change is like Days of our Lives for Republicans
ReplyDelete...And make no mistake: Game Change depicts Sarah Palin as flighty and temperamental, as a Hollywood-style diva who fires staffers on a whim, and as ignorant of the most basic facts about American history and governance.
Whether this depiction is believable, of course, is another question entirely.
Indeed, viewers will be free to question whether Palin really required briefings on the basic differences between the Afghanistan and Iraq wars (which seems unlikely, given that her son Track was deployed to Iraq), or on the elemental facts of World War II, or that she didn't know what the Federal Reserve does.
Though even Palin's most ardent supporters would hesitate to compare her to William F. Buckley in her eloquence or erudition, Game Change stretches the Palin-as-ignoramus cliché past the point of credibility.
Yet it's important to point out that Game Change also depicts Palin as a caring mother, as passionate and sincere in her faith, and as the kind of charismatic, Capra-esque political star unseen in Republican circles since Ronald Reagan. It also depicts her as innocent of the most ridiculous charges made against her during the 2008 campaign: such as that she was a free-spending clothes horse, or that her baby Trig wasn't even hers.
http://news.moviefone.com/jason-apuzzo/review-hbos-game-change-i_b_1320327.html
It may be "unusual" for Georgia, but considering the way things are going I wouldn't make any bets that it stays unusual.
ReplyDeleteDo you think Mr. Lutz has federally backed flood insurance on that house in the keys? Or has he bought it outright and decided to take the risk?
ReplyDeleteO/T, The Palinbots are going insanely apoplectic over two articles posted a Cee 4 Pee touting Romney, and the fact that Granny Crone Paylin will stump for him if he's the nominee.
ReplyDeleteThey are threatening to abandon C4Pee website, and even go as far as to not give $ to $arahPac or possibly even disavow Paylin herself.!!
Oh my, golly gee, Palinbotz..
WE TOLD YOU LAST YEAR that she was a quitter, a faker, a grifter, and would do whatever it takes to be a Tammy Faye painted celebrity doll, but you didn't believe it.
Now she's going to support the hated Romney, and the botz are mudslinging at each other, the "columnists" at C4Pee, and even at $arah herself.
It must really suck to be a PalinBot with SuperTuesday approaching, and knowing that Queen $arah is never serving as a politican again.
They want ppl to beleive that global warming is made up. It takes away their resposibity. They want no regulation on the air, water or anything. Corporate earnings only counts. If you keep ppl ignorante they can keep raping and pillaging the earth. The consenquences are in the future and by that time they will have all the money and they will be gone.
ReplyDeleteAs Dr.Degrasse-Tyson pointed out, it took many years for climate change deniers to admit that global warming was even taking place; even now they admit that it is happening to a degree, but refuse to accept that man is a cause of it. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that so many of these RWNJs see these events as a sign of the end times. It is a part of their messiah myth.
ReplyDeleteIt's also why no one is outraged at the thought of engaging in another war - this time with Iran. Honestly, you would think that after the total debacle in Iraq and the continuing sinkhole in Afghanistan, the mere mention of engaging in a war with Iran would be met with protests in the streets, but instead it is met with applause. It's another sign in their prophecy - Israel and Armageddon and the final war against evil. Evil having been identified as Iran by George Bush and Dick Cheney. Prophecy says one third of mankind will be lost in this final war, so the thought of more war is not a problem for them. Nuclear war especially fulfills the book of Revelation.
And for those who haven't figured it out already, yes President Obama is, indeed, the much anticipated anti-christ who will put bar-codes on all our foreheads. Then, the clouds will part and Jesus will descend riding a white horse, sword in hand to lead the final battle.
I only wish I was joking about all of this. They really believe this stuff.
They have been waiting a long time and the second coming is already overdue! Reagan was certain that he was ushering in the Apocalypse (I am not making this up). His Secretary of State (James Watt)was an environmental disaster who felt that exploiting the environment as good and "noble". He said in his TESTIMONY TO CONGRESS(!!!) that "when the last tree is felled Christ will return."
You just can't argue with stupid.
Sorry, My mistake. I meant Secretary of the Interior.
DeleteI moved from Ga. in the early 90's. After almost being killed several times by tornado's and hail storms. Yes, the weather is getting more extreme and more frequent.
ReplyDeleteAnd you can talk to deniers until you are blue in the face and they will refuse to believe. But here is one thing that I've had success with when talking to types such as this. They only believe in the bottom line, his profit and loss statement. So I ask these types to look at their homeowners insurance. Check out the rates, what they will cover, what they will not and have those have changed over the last 25 years. Bet this guys flood and hurricane insurance is through the roof in the Keys and there's a bunch of restrictions on the policy.
Here's a thought....the "capitalists and freemarket folks" are worried that regulations on their polluting behavior will screw the economy. In other words, regulations will restrict their ability to make a profit effing up commonly owned natural resources.
ReplyDeleteI say, if you can't drink the water or breathe the air, the economy won't matter anymore so let's go with protecting the earth from these arseholes.
I grew up in Alabama and Florida, where violent thunderstorms are very common. There were tornadoes and hurricanes too. I was a young woman in Mobile when Camille struck. It was a category 5, a terrible storm which caused enormous destruction and loss of life, especially in Pass Christian and Waveland, Mississippi. I've seen tornadoes, and my sister's house in Bay Minette was destroyed by one.
ReplyDeleteBut, in my non-expert opinion, the storms are becoming more frequent and more severe. The tornadoes in Tuscaloosa, AL, and Joplin, MO, last year that killed hundreds, the storms throughout the south and midwest last week--these are shocking even to people who've lived there all their lives.
Lutz KNOWS he's wrong. He's just mouthing the party line, and he's so arrogant because of his wealth that he thinks he can make a case with an eminent scientist sitting there. Dr. DeGrasse Tyson made Lutz sound even more foolish, without breaking a sweat.
AOL Suspends Advertising On Rush Limbaugh's Show
ReplyDeleteMonday, AOL announced it would suspend advertising on The Rush Limbaugh Radio show. AOL is the latest in a growing number of advertisers who have pulled their ads from his show over comments Limbaugh made about Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown law student who testified in support of the administration's contraception coverage rule. Limbaugh called her a "slut" and a "prostitute."
AOL's statement is on its Facebook page:
At AOL one of our core values is that we act with integrity. We have monitored the unfolding events and have determined that Mr. Limbaugh’s comments are not in line with our values. As a result we have made the decision to suspend advertising on The Rush Limbaugh Radio show.
Limbaugh issued an apology Friday. Appearing on The View Monday morning, Fluke said of Limbaugh's apology: "I don't think that a statement like this…changes anything."
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/aol-suspends-advertising-on-rush-limbaughs-show
So in all the years Limpballs has spewed hate his opinions WAS in line with AOL? Now that he's insulted more than half of AOL (and other company's) customer base it isn't? Where the fuck have these advertising mental midgets been?
DeleteThat is what I have been wondering about Anon@9:53--Limpy has been spouting nasty garbage for a long, long time. Any company that has been advertising on him in the last many years should be avoided in my opinion. Permanently.
DeleteOnly an utter buffoon tries to argue against scientific consensus and fact with Neil deGrasse Tyson.
ReplyDeleteLutz is just such a buffoon.
Yes, that storm is normal, or at least normal in that it happens every once in a while so to speak. If a climate change denier sees your suggestion that it may not be normal, he will immediately use it against we who do believe in science.
ReplyDeleteBut I do get it. If I were one of the religious whackjobs who believe in sky fairies and that kind of crap I would immediately see the face of satan or some other sky fairy in that storm.
Be careful of what you question as perhaps not being normal. You know those fucking deniers are out there lurking and ready to pounce don't you!
WHAT a putz... NOW I understand why people either hated Lutz (me) or loved him... he was a jarhead... I worked with another couple of these guys before.. the same.. FACTS mean nothing..ORDERS mean everything. IF Commander Chennney issued a command - Lutz followed it blindly - no questions ever... chump...
ReplyDelete• When all the trees have been cut down, when all the animals have been hunted, when all the waters are polluted, when all the air is unsafe to breathe, only then will you discover you cannot eat money.
ReplyDelete~ Cree Prophecy
De Grasse Tyson did a poor job, as usual. And ever since Richard Dawkins shot the useless prick down in 07 I have been suspicious of him. Oh well, just another opportunity lost where a scientist could totally destroy a wingnut rightie.
ReplyDeleteI hope that Bill Maher will now understand that he'll get nothing substantive out of that pseudo scientist apologist goofball. On the other hand, he's good at sending the message to children on children's shows.
Winski, Lutz didn't do all that bad of a job. I wouldn't send this to any rightie in order to convince one. De Grasse Tyson failed to do the job that was needed and lost the opportunity that was handed to him. You'll find that if you follow him you will find that he usually does fail in this way. I think it has something to do with him worrying too much about the politics and not enough about his faithfulness to his science.
ReplyDeleteOMG!
ReplyDeleteFor a moment after seeing that photo of the lightning ball, I thought someone had captured the moment of Sarah's birth on film.
LOL! Maybe they did.
DeleteThe photo is not a photo of a thunderstorm. It shows an erupting volcano. The lightning display is common in volcanic eruptions.
ReplyDeleteMore DeGrasse Tyson
ReplyDeleteI love his voice and love this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D05ej8u-gU
INSURANCE INDUSTRY: Trust Us, Global Warming Is Real
ReplyDeletehttp://www.businessinsider.com/insurance-industry-trust-us-global-warming-is-real-2012-3
Arguments about global warming deflect attention from the indisputable increases in pollution and catastrophic accidents from the extraction and combustion of fossil fuel and the extraction, refining and use of fissile, nuclear materials. The practical solutions to energy problems that are ignored is because they will not generate the revenue streams that commodity use of fossil fuel and nukes create. If the world cools, the need for energy will increase and if humanity follows Lutz's path of fossil and nukes, humanity will turn the world more hellish than it already is. This is the big issue obscured by stupid arguments over warming.
ReplyDeleteI live in Arkansas, otherwise known as "Dixie Alley" on the tornado maps. I haven't seen a tornado lit up quite like that, but even the typical tornados we get around here are enough to make you lose it. I was actually in one in the 1960's, and I still have nightmares about falling out of the sky.
ReplyDelete