Don Monroe on The Honest Broker

Don Monroe alerts me to his very well written review of The Honest Broker. He writes:Pielke's short, readable book provides a helpful guide for what we can hope for in policy debates involving science, and how scientists can most productively contribute. What we can't hope for is a single, science-endorsed answer to complex issues that trade off competing interests and conflicting...

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Ricky's New Movie is a Laugh and That's No Lie

The Invention of Lying is a must see movie. It was written and directed and by Ricky Gervais also.Basically it's set in a world where only one man has theability to lie.It's a sweet romantic comedy with a heartfelt message, who'sfunniest scene is actually near the start of the movie.I don't want to spoil anything, but one of the other highlightsof the movie, is a short cameo...

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Australia's Climate Policy

I've been waiting a few months to finish up an analysis of the implications of the proposed Australian ETS for the decarbonization of Australia's economy (along the lines of my UK and Japan case studies) so I can that submit it for publication. The analysis is pretty much done, but it would be nice to have at least some stability in the politics before putting it out. It...

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More Amicus Briefs in American Needle v. NFL

Last Tuesday was the deadline for amicus curiae briefs supporting the NFL in American Needle v. NFL. A number of supporting briefs were filed with the Supreme Court, and are now available for download:A brief by the National Hockey League, available here.A brief by the National Basketball Association and NBA Properties, available here.A brief by the NCAA, available here.A brief by the ATP Tour, WTA Tour, Major League Soccer, and NASCAR, available here.A brief by various economists in support of the NFL, available here.A brief by Visa and Mastercard,...

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SportsLeader Team in Oregon State Championship

Remember that team I told you about that raised $10,000 to build a house for a family in Peru? Click on the link for more infohttp://www.regnumchristi.org/english/articulos/articulo.phtml?se=364&ca=198&te=782&id=27280&csearch=198They started off the season 0-3 but now they're 9-4. This coming Saturday they will be playing for the Oregon 2A State Championship.In the playoffs they have won the rematches with 2 of the 4 teams they lost to in the regular season. In the Championship they will face a third.God bless, Louwww.sportsleader.orghttp://www.youtube.com/user/SportsLeaderUSAKennedy...

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All the Leaves Are Brown

Looks like the foliage season is officially over.All the leaves are brown (yes, and the sky is grey la-la-la). And while I would not go so far as to say this makes me dream of moving to California, I do find myself curious - for the first time in my life - about what it would be to like to live in that year-round cycling paradise where the Rivendells roam free with the carefree...

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Evaluation of RMS Hurricane Damage Forecast 2006-2010

In the spring of 2006 (and annually since), a company called Risk Management Solutions (RMS) issued a five year forecast of hurricane activity (for 2006-2010). RMS predicted that U.S. insured hurricane losses would be 40% higher than average the historical average. RMS is the global leader in so-called "catastrophe modeling." Their loss models are used by insurance companies...

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Tiger Woods Brings to Light the Privacy Rights of Public Figures

Eric Zorn of the Chicago Tribune wrote an interesting post titled, Up in Tiger's Business: Is it Our Right to Know? Zorn writes that many of us may want to know what precipitated the weird, low-speed crash outside Tiger Woods' home very early Saturday. But he raises the question whether we have the informal right to know. Zorn makes an excellent point:The implicit bargain of modern celebrity is that it's a battle between the image makers and the image wreckers -- the celebrity is no longer able to draw lines between public and private that...

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No Ice Water for You

Rajendra Pachauri, head of the "policy neutral" IPCC (does anyone take this seriously?), suggests that responding to climate change means dramatically changing our unsustainable lifestyles:Hotel guests should have their electricity monitored; hefty aviation taxes should be introduced to deter people from flying; and iced water in restaurants should be curtailed, the world's...

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Assistant Eastern Illinois football coach dies in car crash

Coaches,This is a reminder of how short life is. We know not the hour ... May we live every day serving God and others with all our heart.God bless, Louwww.sportsleader.orghttp://www.youtube.com/user/SportsLeaderUSAAssistant Eastern Illinois football coach dies in car crashThe Associated PressUpdated: 11/30/2009 06:42:22 AM MSTEffingham, Ill. » Eastern Illinois assistant football coach Jeff Hoover was killed in a car crash as he returned home from a playoff game against Southern Illinois. He was 41.Hoover and his family were riding with strength...

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CRU on Global Temperature Data

The Times had an article yesterday reporting the old news that CRU did not have in its possession the original station data from some locations that comprise its global temperature index. I am quoted in the Times article as follows:“The CRU is basically saying, ‘Trust us’. So much for settling questions and resolving debates with science,” he said. The quote comes from...

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Eduardo Zorita on Climategate

Eduardo Zorita, a climate scientist at the GKSS Resaerch Center near Hamburg , Germany, has posted these comments up on his website: Why I think that Michael Mann, Phil Jones and Stefan Rahmstorf should be barred from the IPCC processEduardo Zorita, November 2009 Short answer: because the scientific assessments in which they may take part are not credible anymore....

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Mike Hulme on Climategate

These comments by Mike Hulme of UEA (location of CRU) were originally posted at DotEarth: The key lesson to be learned is that not only must scientific knowledge about climate change be publicly owned — the I.P.C.C. does a fairly good job of this according to its own terms — but the very practices of scientific enquiry must also be publicly owned, in the sense of being open...

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Blue Collar Ambition

I have been experiencing a lot of frustration when it comes to the issue of careers. I have had so many thoughts swirling in my head, and I am not alone. These same issues have been on other forums and blogs that I read. I will see if I can break them down.Generalization vs. SpecializationWise Bread had an interesting article here on the subject of being a jack-of-all-trades or a master of one. I am in the generalist camp. I think specialization will make you a huge roll of cash if your specialty is in high demand, but you will pay it all back...

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Metropolitan

The weather here has been awful since I've returned from Vienna. So while I've used my bicycle to get where I need to go, the long "welcome home" ride I fantasized about does not seem to be in the cards. Stretches like this remind me to take advantage of good weather whenever possible, and so I offer these photos from one of the nicer cycling days we had at the beginning of...

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GRL and James Saiers

Having seen his name mentioned in the CRU emails as a possible "skeptic" needing to be removed from the editorial board of GRL, I contacted James Saiers, Professor of Hydrology at Yale University, to see what he had to say about all this. He emailed me the following response which I post with his permission:I haven’t looked for, and don’t intend to look for, my name in the...

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Random Thoughts on Various Subjects

1. TIGER WOODSTiger was cheating on his wife, and she beat his ass with a golf club. That's my take. Will have to see how the story unfolds.2. CAROLINA VS. CLEMSONIf Spurrier doesn't win, that fucker should be fir...

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The Give Blog

University of Illinois Law Professor Suja Thomas, who teaches sports law, and her husband Scott have created the Give Blog, where up until December 24th they will match donations of up to $100 from new donors to five charities (The Hunger Project, The Grameen Foundation, Safe Passage, Catcholic Charities USA, and Eastern Illinois Foodbank). If you're interested in contributing to any of these five charities during this holiday season, please consider doing so through the Give Blog, as Suja and Scott will match the amount if you are a new donor....

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The "Born Again" Moment

Some of you were surprised when I mentioned in a recent post that I only began cycling again in Spring 2009 - so I thought it would be fun to share my "born again" moment. The Co-Habitant and I developed a huge batch of film for one of our art projects earlier this week, and it turned out that one roll contained these pictures from 8 months ago - pictures of my first real...

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China's Carbon Intensity Pledge

China has put some numbers on its carbon intensity pledge -- that is, its aim to reduce carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP. China has promised to reduced its carbon intensity of GDP by 40-45% by 2020. While a few folks have been fooled (or are trying to fool you) into thinking that it is meaningful, others including the Obama Administration are not fooled. The...

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DVD-Star Trek

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is the greatest Star Trek movie ever made. Everything else in the Star Trek canon is a colossal joke, and this includes JJ Abrams' reboot Star Trek.Star Trek is indebted to Khan and uses it as source material to begin the tale of Capt. Kirk and the gang. The first problem with the movie is the colossal bad acting. You quickly realize you don't...

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Final Fantasy

I think I have decided on Maude and Reilly's baby's name. Maude's registered name is 'Fantasy' and this foal is Reilly's last so it seems 'Final Fantasy' pretty much fits the bill. I think I have decided on Enya as a paddock name. Enya is Celtic for 'Little Fire' and she's a raging redhead so it seems to fit too.She's doing brilliantly and Maude is being the protective mother...

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Why People Can't Get in Shape

Getting in shape is easy. Eat right. Exercise. There is no mystery to it. There is also no lack of external motivation. Society and the media urge us to lose the flab. Finally, getting in shape makes you feel better and feel better about yourself. So, why can't people get in shape?The conventional wisdom points to a lack of will power. People are just lazy. But this just isn't true. The USA is the fattest nation on the planet, but it is also the hardest working. Americans work more than anyone else. They put in the hours and get shit done.Some...

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The Case for Working with Your Hands

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/magazine/24labor-t.html?_r=3&pagewanted=printHow was it that I, once a proudly self-employed electrician, had ended up among these walking wounded, a “knowledge worker” at a salary of $23,000? I had a master’s degree, and it needed to be used. The escalating demand for academic credentials in the job market gives the impression of an ever-more-knowledgeable society, whose members perform cognitive feats their unschooled parents could scarcely conceive of. On paper, my abstracting job, multiplied a millionfold,...

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They came back and they were magnificent

Well the Seinfeld reunion that isn't a reunion is over.They came back and they were magnificent. The first few episodes involving the Seinfeld cast, didn't quite do it for me, mainly because they played their real lifeselves.But the last two were pure Seinfeld, last week episodethe cast did a read through that also had Kenny Bania,Newman and George's mum. All slipped back...

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Redefining Peer Review

In 2005 Gavin Schmidt and Michael Mann, of Real Climate and CRU email fame, carefully explained that the process of peer review is a messy, incremental way to advance knowledge in fits and starts:The current thinking of scientists on climate change is based on thousands of studies (Google Scholar gives 19,000 scientific articles for the full search phrase “global climate change”)....

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Reilly's Swansong

Yesterday was a big day here at Talisman Farm. The final stage of 'the great bedroom makeover' was completed (will dedicate a separate blog entry to that), Hooty was inseminated with Coalman's Touch semen and I had my beautiful young stallion, TF Life O'Reilly gelded.Reilly's gelding was pretty tough for me but after much soul searching I made the decision based on my desire...

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Case Keenum - University of Houston QB - Great Quote

Case Keenum - University of Houston QB"I found out real quickly when I got out on my own that I can't do it on my own," Keenum said. "I can't deal with all the stresses of being a college football player and an athlete and a student, a Christian, a role model and all this stuff on my own. I need somebody else in control. Because if I think I've got it under control, he definitely reminds me that I don't."If I start stressing and worrying about stuff, it's kind of slapping God in the face and saying, I don't think You have it under control.' He...

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Wisteria Lane

It is good to be back in Boston, just in time for Thanksgiving. We are off to visit family - but first, I wanted to share this: I spotted this unseasonably floral bicycle in scenic Somerville. It is a Batavus Old Dutch, in "head-to-toe" lilac. The pannier-basket is decorated with garlands of faux wisteria.When it comes to pastel purple, the owner obviously follows the "more...

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The Curious Case of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

Trying KSM in NYC is a mistake. The reality is that this terrorist will be treated with greater legal rights than our own uniformed soldiers get when accused of crimes.I've given it a lot of thought, and I have come to a middle path between those who believe that terrorists like KSM should be locked up with no due process and those who demand they be tried with the same rights as US citizens. Neither path makes sense to me. What does make sense is a military tribunal and a firing squad.The tragedy of a place like Gitmo isn't the guilty who rot...

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2010 AALS Sports and the Law Section Meeting and Panel

For those of you attending the Association of American Law Schools' 2010 annual meeting in New Orleans in January, Villanova Law Professor David Caudill, the Chair of the AALS Section on Sports and the Law, invites you to attend this year's section meeting and panel, which will be held from 1:30 to 3:15 p.m in the Elmwood Room (3rd Floor) of the Hilton New Orleans Riverside.Below...

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