Quixote1818
Quixote1818's JournalNeil deGrasse Tyson Tells GMO Critics to "Chill Out"
Cosmos star Neil deGrasse Tyson is known for defending climate science and the science of evolution. And now, in a video recently posted on YouTube (the actual date when it was recorded is unclear), he takes a strong stand on another hot-button scientific topic: Genetically modified foods.
In the video, Tyson can be seen answering a question posed in French about "des plantes transgenetiques"—responding with one of his characteristic, slowly-building rants.
"Practically every food you buy in a store for consumption by humans is genetically modified food," asserts Tyson. "There are no wild, seedless watermelons. There's no wild cows...You list all the fruit, and all the vegetables, and ask yourself, is there a wild counterpart to this? If there is, it's not as large, it's not as sweet, it's not as juicy, and it has way more seeds in it. We have systematically genetically modified all the foods, the vegetables and animals that we have eaten ever since we cultivated them. It's called artificial selection." You can watch the full video above.
In fairness, critics of GM foods make a variety of arguments that go beyond the simple question of whether the foods we eat were modified prior to the onset of modern biotechnology. They also draw a distinction between modifying plants and animals through traditional breeding and genetic modification that requires the use of biotechnology, and involves techniques such as inserting genes from different species.
More: http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/07/neil-degrasse-tyson-on-gmo
Neo-Con TeaParty nut Rob Bishop, looking to strip our Nat. Mon. land, down to it's salable resources
National Monuments are National Monuments!! H.R. 1459 is a real piece of rotten work coming from Neo-Con TeaParty Caucus, Rob Bishop R-UT.. Again the right confuses We the People with a small group of opportunist looking to strip America's National Monument land, down to it's salable resources.
Vote against HR 1459 or introduce counter-proposals to keep the Tea Party from destroying the single most effective tool to protecting our national heritage. Sign the petition at the link below to Kill the Bill.
https://www.credomobilize.com/petitions/kill-the-monument-bill-hr-1459?source=fb_share_sp&sp_ref=50101759.4.7406.f.26599.2
Run the Honest Politician for U.S. Senate
So far he has raised $30,000
http://www.courier-journal.com/story/politics-blog/2014/07/18/honest-gil-coming-to-billboards/12834599/
Earth Just Finished Its Warmest Quarter-Year Ever Since Record-Keeping Began
New data released Monday shows humanity has just unlocked another achievement in the race to cook the planet: The last three months were collectively the warmest ever experienced since record-keeping began in the late 1800s.
The Japan Meteorological Agency said June 2014 was the warmest June globally since at least 1891, when its dataset begins. This follows May 2014, which was the warmest May globally on record, which follows April 2014, which was the warmest April globally on record.
Taken as a whole, the just-finished three-month period was about 0.68 degrees Celsius (1.22 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 20th-century average. That may not sound like much, but the added warmth has been enough to provide a nudge to a litany of weather and climate events worldwide. Arctic sea ice is trending near record lows for this time of year, abnormally warm ocean water helped spawn the earliest hurricane ever recorded to make landfall in North Carolina, and a rash of heat waves have plagued cities from India to California to the Middle East. In addition to the relentless push by human-caused global warming, this year’s extra heat comes in part because of a building El Niño emerging in the Pacific.
More: http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/07/15/april_may_and_june_2014_is_the_warmest_three_month_period_ever.html
Food for thought
However, this is very difficult to accomplish but it is something to strive for.
Miami, the great world city, is drowning while the powers that be look away
Low-lying south Florida, at the front line of climate change in the US, will be swallowed as sea levels rise. Astonishingly, the population is growing, house prices are rising and building goes on. The problem is the city is run by climate change deniers
In November 2013, a full moon and high tides led to flooding in parts of the city, including here at Alton Road and 10th Street. Photograph: Corbis
Read entire article here: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/11/miami-drowning-climate-change-deniers-sea-levels-rising
This study of flooding in Miami Beach is absolutely devastating! The area will probably be a ghost town by 2050 with 30 to 70 tidal flooding events each year. It went from .2 in 1998 to 2 per year in 2013: http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/users/swdowinski/presentations/2014-Wdowinski-SLR-Miami-Beach.pdf
And then there is this: World's Hottest May Is Now May 2014: NOAA
http://www.weather.com/news/science/environment/may-2014-was-worlds-hottest-warmest-record-noaa-20140623
The linked thread deserves way more recs!
Seriously? Only 26 recs so far for the below link about how Obamacare has caused the uninsured rate to drop to the lowest on record? This is why we are Democrats! The outcome is the essence of what we are all about! We dedicate our lives to helping out the little guy. Obama is helping millions and perhaps saving millions of lives down the road. That thread should have 1000 recs for a President actually doing something awesome for a change!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014843587
Did anti-ObamaCare ads actually boost health care enrollment?
ObamaCare enrollments were noticeably higher in states that also saw the most concerted anti-ObamaCare ad campaigns, according to a new Brookings report.
Brookings' Niam Yaraghi calculated per capita spending on anti-ObamaCare ads, and then compared it against the percentage of eligible ObamaCare enrollees who signed up for coverage. The results:
[A]fter controlling for other state characteristics such as low per capita income population and average insurance premiums, I observe a positive association between the anti-ACA spending and ACA enrollment. This implies that anti-ACA ads may unintentionally increase the public awareness about the existence of a governmentally subsidized service and its benefits for the uninsured. [Brookings]
Of course, there are other reasons people signed up en masse in some states but not in others. Kentucky, for instance, had the most anti-ObamaCare ad spending — but it also boasted a fantastic state-run exchange website. Still, the Koch brothers and others who bankrolled the enormous campaign to curb ObamaCare enrollments can't be happy with the news they may have inadvertently undercut their own effort.
- - Jon Terbush
http://theweek.com/speedreads/index/264516/speedreads-did-anti-obamacare-ads-actually-boost-health-care-enrollment
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