CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-06-18 16:31:30 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

"...If we release CO2 at approximately modern rates (baed on population size), and have population increase up to a point, thus increasing CO2 release (in other words, do nothing significant to mitigate Carbon release, increase the number of people actively releasing it, and population goes up towards 8 or so billion) we can reach over 1000 ppm by 2300 AD, or sooner. That’s surely enough to melt most of the glaciers except bits and pieces in the coldest regions of Antarctica.

It is estimated (see this web page) that there is about 80 meters of ocean trapped in glacial ice. There are plenty of web sites out there that allow you to add ocean height to see how coastal regions would change, but the ones I know about don’t go to 80 meters. So, to find out what North America would look like, I found a map that has pixels to indicate altitude, with different colors representing topography, at afin... more »

2013-06-18 13:18:22 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

The Maryland DNR will no longer invest conservation related resources in land below 2 feet above sea level, given impending sea level rise. 

http://10000birds.com/climate-change-many-birds-are-doomed.htm

2013-06-18 12:37:25 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/06/18/amazon-throws-tantrum-screws-minnesota-associates/

2013-06-17 03:00:20 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

http://mnprogressiveproject.com/an-outsiders-view-of-the-dfl-minneapolis-mayoral-convention/

2013-06-13 16:12:56 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

High temperatures and dry conditions have caused the outbreak, increased intensity, and rapid spread of numerous wildfires in Colorado. Again. Fires happen, but the number, size, and intensity of wildfires in the western United States has been very high in recent years, and this is caused by global warming.

Global warming causes more rain and more frequent and more severe storm lines. More rain causes more plant growth in otherwise arid regions, and severe storms knock a lot of that vegetation down. This causes more light to get to the ground, so “ladder” vegetation, which enhances fire spread, increases, and the fallen branches add to the fuel that has already been increased by the increased rainfall.

Global warming causes drought, when it isn’t busy causing rain. So, areas with increased amounts of fuel that has been configured to increase fire intensity and spreadabilitybecom... more »

2013-06-13 15:23:27 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/06/13/can-you-patent-dna/

2013-06-13 13:32:41 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

http://teenskepchick.org/2013/06/11/ken-ham-children-are-belongings/

2013-06-12 17:59:02 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

http://membracid.wordpress.com/2013/06/09/silk-pavilion-2/

2013-06-12 17:48:03 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 7 +1s)

Obviously, you don’t want to help melt the ice cap. But you can help scientists figure out how and why it is happening and to learn important details of what might be one of the most important effects of global warming happening right now.

First, a word on why this is important. Look out the window. If you live in Bavaria, and you look out your window, perhaps you can see fish swimming by because you are in the middle of a huge flood affecting Central Europe. Look out the window. If you live in the American Midwest, it is either raining, about to rain, or it just rained, and you might be experiencing unprecedented flooding. Good luck getting your corn crop in. Actually, it is too late for corn, maybe try the soybeans in a week or two.

Look out the window. If you live in Colorado, you might not see much through the smoke from a nearby wildfire. Look out the window. If you live in theA... more »

2013-06-11 14:42:37 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/06/11/bob-alberti-would-you-look-at-that-face/

2013-06-06 16:51:56 (3 comments, 3 reshares, 5 +1s)

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/06/06/right-wing-science/

2013-06-06 14:59:01 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/06/06/the-science-of-melting-ice-sheets-new-review-in-nature/

2013-06-04 16:00:48 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 10 +1s)

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/06/04/the-1970s-ice-age-myth-and-time-magazine-covers-by-david-kirtley/

2013-06-04 15:34:51 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/06/04/linking-weather-extremes-to-global-warming/

2013-06-03 19:53:29 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/06/03/why-are-we-having-such-bad-weather/

2013-06-03 17:52:22 (5 comments, 3 reshares, 4 +1s)

Who should the next Doctor be?

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/06/03/matt_smith_leaving_doctor_who_the_12th_doctor_should_be_a_woman.html

2013-06-02 15:57:36 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/06/02/skeptically-speaking-about-human-female-breasts-and-bras/

2013-05-31 18:56:39 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

I’ve got something else for you to read. I’m working on a piece of fiction that is set in a post-apocalyptic utopian world, in which everything is fine, and that’s a huge problem. It is a climate change novel, so if you are one of the denialist bullies, this will be a future target for you, piece of literature you can burn along with your precious fossil fuels. Below, I’ve got a passage from an early draft to give you a flavor and hopefully amuse you a little. The scene takes place about 150 miles north of what is now Laramie Wyoming, in the Spring, in the year 2546. Enjoy.

The group was easy to locate from some distance owing to the toddler who frequently cried or screamed, and otherwise, was very loud. If there was an animal out there that habitually ate people, all the people would be eaten, Bale thought, owing to these toddlers. Bale approached the group the long way, allowing her toput sev... more »

2013-05-31 13:56:13 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

2013-05-31 13:50:05 (0 comments, 3 reshares, 2 +1s)

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/05/31/the-takedown-of-a-novels-page-by-facebook-bullies/

2013-05-29 20:12:41 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

You Didn’t Build That: The Best Animal Engineers - My latest piece on the so-called "ecosystem engineers" of the animal world is up at +Nautilus Magazine 

If an intelligent alien species landed on the small bit of galactic rock that we call home, they might get out of their spaceships, have a look around, and decide that we—that is, our species—are the master builders on our planet. There would be plenty of reasons to think so. We build bridges spanning enormous waterways, aptly named skyscrapers, and stadiums that seat tens of thousands. And that doesn’t even scratch the surface of the diversity of structures we build: schools, airports, apartment buildings, shopping malls, a Starbucks on every corner.

2013-05-29 14:13:09 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 1 +1s)

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/05/29/how-do-snails-coil/

2013-05-29 11:45:53 (4 comments, 2 reshares, 13 +1s)

!Holy Moly!!!!

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/05/29/michele-bachmann-will-not-run-for-re-election/

2013-05-28 20:27:23 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

Getting away from Gnome

2013-05-25 17:56:11 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Here we go again... If you don't like the posts scrunched up into a third of your screen, try this userstyle: http://userstyles.org/styles/87608/gplus-increased-column-widths-google-plus-g
You also need to go to your home feed, select the More dropdown, and switch to one column layout.

2013-05-25 00:32:18 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/05/24/cosmic-bombardment-of-the-earth-ca-2-2-million-years-ago/

2013-05-24 00:22:24 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

Can Obama’s Organizing For Action (OFA) help save the planet? The jury is out.

You’ve gotta love South Minneapolis.

My friend Sharon Sund passed me an email this morning about an Organizing for Action meeting in South Minneapolis to discuss climate change activism. Sharon and I had been talking about local climate change activism earlier in the week so she thought I’d liked to go to this meeting and see what they are up to.

Organizing for Action(OFA) is an offshoot of the Obama campaign, a grassroots non profit that is separate from any campaign committee (so they don’t support or run candidates) that organizes in favor of Obama’s issues like getting some sensible gun regulation or immigration reform passed in Congress, or keeping Obama care intact.

The organizer of the event described OFA’s structure and purpose, gave a bit of a pep talk, andthen opened... more »

2013-05-24 00:19:44 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 5 +1s)

Apparently, Rebecca Watson is an alien from another planet. I had always suspected that. 

Hear is my comment on the post linked to below.
_____________________

Ron,

The work the CFI does is too important to be associated with what is clearly becoming yet another arc of endless bickering and oneupmanship. I know one of your objectives is building a support base and fund raising, and I doubt that isolating the growing more vibrant and involved part of the Skeptical and Atheist/Humanist movement is not going to hurt you much in the short term, but as the gray hairs die off you are going to want the support of the upcoming generations. You are losing it now. The relevancy of the CFI is at stake right here and right now. Did you really want to be the guy people remember as the Last Man Standing in this particular fight? 

It was a very poor decision on your partt... more »

2013-05-23 02:49:06 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/05/22/who-are-the-illuminati/

2013-05-23 02:16:42 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Interesting legal question.

2013-05-21 18:06:37 (9 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

"Carbon dioxide, Mister Speaker, is a natural byproduct of nature. Carbon dioxide is natural. It occurs in Earth. It is a part of the regular lifecycle of Earth. In fact, life on planet Earth can’t even exist without carbon dioxide. So necessary is it to human life, to animal life, to plant life, to the oceans, to the vegetation that’s on the Earth, to the, to the fowl that — that flies in the air, we need to have carbon dioxide as part of the fundamental lifecycle of Earth."

http://www.barackobama.com/climate-deniers/

2013-05-21 17:56:57 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/05/21/are-there-more-tornadoes-because-of-global-warming/

2013-05-21 17:56:46 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 1 +1s)

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/05/21/understanding-storms-and-global-warming-a-quaint-parable/

2013-05-21 12:49:37 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

An interesting demonstration, looking at great tits, linking parasite load to reproductive success.


http://10000birds.com/parasites-survivorship-great-tits.htm

2013-05-20 22:39:18 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Free on Kindle until tomorrow - my Norfolk Gothick novel 'By The Sea': sex, science, resurrectionists. And mermaids. http://www.amazon.co.uk/By-The-Sea-ebook/dp/B005Y2EHPI

2013-05-20 16:43:08 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 8 +1s)

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/05/20/the-mad-mad-mad-world-of-climatism-mankind-and-climate-change-mania/

2013-05-20 12:25:23 (1 comments, 2 reshares, 9 +1s)

"...In 2005, the British government asked Stern to lead a team of economists in preparing a review of the economic impacts of climate change. The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change is the seminal work on the issue, and it is an overwhelming read. But he now says it is dated. He now says it underestimated the dangers and the damages. Last week, he succinctly summarized his new understanding of the depth and intensity of the climate crisis:

It is increasingly likely that hundreds of millions of people will be displaced from their homelands in the near future as a result of global warming.

More specifically... "



http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/05/19/1209728/-Climate-change-isn-t-AN-issue-it-s-THE-issue

2013-05-18 22:51:26 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

http://gregladen.com/blog/2013/05/how-to-get-rid-of-fur-balls-caturday-book-recommendation/

2013-05-18 17:05:57 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 3 +1s)

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/05/18/did-the-keystone-xl-environmental-contractor-and-the-state-department-act-inappropriately-or-illegally/

2013-05-17 15:51:53 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/05/17/investing-in-fossil-fuel-free-portfolios/

2013-05-16 16:14:52 (8 comments, 1 reshares, 12 +1s)

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT

The issue at hand is this: What is the level of agreement in the scientific community about the reality of climate change and about the human role in climate change? The new paper, Quantifying the consensus on anthropogenic global warming in the scientific literature, address this question and the answer is very clear. The number of climate scientists who question the reality of global warming or the human role in global warming is vanishingly small.

This is not the first study to look at this question, but....

click through to read the rest


http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/05/16/is-there-consensus-on-anthropogenic-global-warming/

2013-05-16 14:11:43 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 10 +1s)

I think Google Plus and Pinterest got drunk, had sex, and there was an offspring. 

2013-05-16 14:11:08 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Here's a write up on the concept of nomadism vis-a-vis hunter-gatherers: http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/05/16/efe-pygmy-land-use-nomadism/

2013-05-16 12:09:30 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

My Norfolk Gothick novel BY THE SEA available FREE on Kindle 17-21 May, for Cromer & Sheringham Crab & Lobster Fest http://www.amazon.com/By-The-Sea-ebook/dp/B005Y2EHPI/ref=la_B001IO9QAC_1_23?ie=UTF8&qid=1368694162&sr=1-23

2013-05-16 03:13:32 (18 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

Dear Google + Two columns are bad.  Get rid of the damn two columns thing.  

I'll check back next week. See you'all on facebook (until they fuck up)

2013-05-16 03:12:27 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/05/15/can-obama-for-america-help-save-the-planet-the-jury-is-out/

2013-05-15 14:54:21 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/05/15/blockading-a-coal-plant-in-massachusetts-breaking-news/

2013-05-15 00:48:22 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/05/14/should-you-drink-tap-water-or-bottled-water/

2013-05-14 23:15:57 (6 comments, 2 reshares, 8 +1s)

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/05/14/want-to-boycott-stuff-theres-an-app-for-that/

2013-05-14 21:04:12 (10 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Who are the richest people in the world, and as an aside, who has more babies, poor people or rich people? 

http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/05/14/who-is-the-richest-person-in-the-world/