tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6762928.post2234784266654740783..comments2024-01-03T05:23:36.046-08:00Comments on The Citizens: Science, Statistics and "Tricks"Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6762928.post-90593637425373906892009-12-11T10:15:59.978-08:002009-12-11T10:15:59.978-08:00"Is there any way to hold legislators persona..."Is there any way to hold legislators personally responsible for the climate change damage they permit through their obstructionism?"<br /><br />Sadly, no. Immunity.The Law Talking Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17886791396468512490noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6762928.post-82920189969138572352009-12-10T15:36:57.163-08:002009-12-10T15:36:57.163-08:00The only way to punish a politician is not to vote...The only way to punish a politician is not to vote for her or him. The problem is a) politics is multi-dimensional and the environment is not the top issue for most voters and b) politics is geographically localized in this country so being a climate change denier actually gets you votes in some isolated locales. <br /><br />Ultimately, the best political strategy for the environment today is to work with the candidate most capable of defeating the Republican party's candidate.Raised By Republicanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03461006522141969925noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6762928.post-83806958811061897162009-12-10T12:00:55.176-08:002009-12-10T12:00:55.176-08:00Is there any way to hold legislators personally re...Is there any way to hold legislators <i>personally</i> responsible for the climate change damage they permit through their obstructionism?Dr. Strangelovehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14407042105777411150noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6762928.post-89166185645719070702009-12-10T11:49:58.245-08:002009-12-10T11:49:58.245-08:00This handful of e-mails merely demonstrate that sc...This handful of e-mails merely demonstrate that scientists are human. As RbR indicates, this entire flap is merely about the presentation of a data set. The evidence is incredibly strong.<br /><br />One big point that so many Republicans seem to miss is that climate scientists honestly wish they were wrong about the whole climate change thing. Nobody wants it. Nobody likes it. It is depressing and frightening. It's like watching a massive train wreck happening in slow motion and being helpless to stop it. They plead for folks to look up and see what is happening, but conservatives close their eyes because it costs money to avoid it and they don't want to pay for anything. So selfish and greedy.<br /><br />There is plenty of room to debate the merits of ways to address the problem, but at this point, denying the <i>overwhelming</i> evidence of climate change is not just irresponsible but criminally negligent. Twenty years from now, it may even be seen as a form of treason.Dr. Strangelovehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14407042105777411150noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6762928.post-64038670439265334822009-12-09T09:35:55.730-08:002009-12-09T09:35:55.730-08:00During the Cold War, everyone talked about Moscow,...During the Cold War, everyone talked about Moscow, with the "cow" being the animal. Then in the 1980s it became fashionable to call it Mos-ko, with the "cow" rhyming with "know" or "dough," as if this were edujacted. The former pronunciation is German (Moskau); the latter probably reflects the French (Moscou). Neither is correct by a mile. The Russian is Mosk-VA (strong accent on the VA, the "o" in the first syllable more like a schwa). Of course, in English, it would be pronounced MOSK-va, which is worse. <br /><br />FYI, the cyrillic for Moscow is fun, because it uses characters available on a Roman keyboard: "MOCKBA" <br /><br />The whole issue of pronuncing foreign names is messy, of course. The normal English custom is to pronounce the city's name, however it gets spelled, as if it were an English word. The spelling is usually something historical, frequently adopted from another language, which makes it all worse. So "Mexico" is pronounced with a "ks" instead of a "h" or "kh" for the X. We pronounce "Warsaw" with "w" and "s" instead of "v" and "sh". <br /><br />The best example of this is the way the British pronounced the Belgian town of Ypres during WWI. They called it "wipers."The Law Talking Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17886791396468512490noreply@blogger.com