Suspicious Inquires Into Climate Science

As previously mentioned, the Bush administration attempts to silence science is deeply troubling. Now U.S. Senator Jame Inhofe is making some suspicious inquiries into the research going on at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR, up the road in Boulder). Inhofe is chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and is asking for a review of NCAR's 40-year old contract from NSF. A review of this contract and NCAR's compete bid with NSF is reasonable, however there are numerous reasons for suspicion:

• the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation has jurisdiction for science inquiries, not Inhofe's committee.
• he is asking for a list of all NCAR and UCAR staff and job titles, a list of NCAR and UCAR employees under contract with non-National Science Foundation agencies and organizations including salary information; and a list of research projects including funding for the past three years, among other information. This is information outside the scope of a compete review.
• Inhofe in a quote from 2003, "With all of the hysteria, all of the fear, all of the phony science, could it be that manmade global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people? It sure sounds like it." NCAR is one of the world's top climate-change research institutions.
  

Credit to Todd Neff from Daily Camera for reporting on this.

Bleaching coral reefs continues

Ghostly coral bleachings haunt the world's reefs
Rising sea temperatures (due to global warming) cause coral reef to expel the algae living in coral polyps which provide food and the vivid color that make them so beautiful. This limit is 84F. If ocean temperatures cool, coral can recover from a bleaching, however extended bleaching kills the coral. Bleaching occurred in 1998 and 2002 on the Great Barrier Reef. 2005 saw bleaching in the Caribbean and now the Keppel Islands.

Ignoring the obvious ecological disaster when coral is bleached or killed (coral ecosystems are often called "the nurseries of the seas"...anyone that saw Finding Nemo know this.), there is an obvious visual impact. Bleached coral is ugly. No one wants to scuba or snorkel through a bleached coral reef. This impacts tourism in all areas affected. Not to mention leaving us with a sad, empty feeling looking at these ghostly reefs.

Cardboard Box Entered into Toy Hall of Fame

First, I had no idea there was such a thing as the Toy Hall of Fame.

The National Toy Hall of Fame^® was established in 1998 by A.C. Gilbert’s Discovery Village, a children’s museum in Salem, Oregon, to recognize toys that have achieved longevity and national significance in the world of play and imagination. The hall quickly outgrew its original home and in 2002, Strong Museum, which houses the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of toys and dolls (more than 70,000 items), acquired it and moved it to its permanent home in Rochester, New York. The hall serves as an interpretive gateway to Strong Museum’s world-renowned collection and provides additional opportunities for both hands-on experiences and intergenerational memory sharing among guests.

Second, how cool!? The cardboard box has been inducted. Who doesn't remember making believe a cardboard box was a rocket, fort, castle, ship, house, whatever.

The Chinese invented cardboard in the 1600s. The English played off that invention and created the first commercial cardboard box in 1817. Pleated paper, an early form of corrugated board, initially served as lining for men’s hats. By the 1870s, corrugated cardboard cushioned delicate glassware during shipment. Stronger, lined corrugated cardboard soon followed. American Robert Gair produced the first really efficient cardboard box in 1879. His die-cut and scored box could be stored flat and then easily folded for use. Refinements followed, enabling cardboard cartons to substitute for labor-intensive, space-consuming, and weighty wooden boxes and crates. Today, cardboard boxes are widely appreciated for being strong, light, inexpensive, and recyclable.

Over the years, children sensed the possibilities inherent in cardboard boxes, recycling them into innumerable playthings. The strength, light weight, and easy availability that make cardboard boxes successful with industry have made them endlessly adaptable by children for creative play. Shoe boxes serve as ideal settings for scenes and dioramas. Small boxes take on alternate roles as dollhouse furniture. Wheels drawn on the side turn a box into a car. Really large boxes—from washers, stoves, big-screen TVs, or refrigerators—can offer children even greater opportunity for creativity. With nothing more than a little imagination, those boxes can be transformed into forts or houses, spaceships or submarines, castles or caves. Inside a big cardboard box, a child is transported to a world of his or her own, one where anything is possible.

Hummingbirds rock!

Small brains, long memories - the tiny hummingbird

Too cool. They migrate 2000 miles twice a year (Canada to Mexico, and back). And this new study shows they have really good memory about specific flowers and when they last visited the flower. Guess it's good news if you get a hummingbird to visit your yard. Chances are he/she will remember and return!

Wind decision takes gusts

Aspen Ski Company (they runs Aspen's four mountains and two hotels) has made the biggest wind energy purchase ever in the ski industry. They are going 100% wind. They will need to draw wind power down the grid from Wyoming wind farms because this is such a big order. They follow on the heels of other big corps that are doing so, Whole Foods, Fedex Kinkos, Starbucks, Nike, Patagonia, and my favorite New Belgium Brewery (Fort Collins).