Silenced Majority Portal

In the Shadow of Mt. Rainier - Literally

Mt. Rainier casts a big shadow on Seattle's sunrise | Weather Blog | Seattle News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KOMO News - more images

Climate Change Real? Ask Genoa. Ask Bangkok.

We were just in la Cinque Terre in Italy a little over a month ago.  The little towns of Vernazza and Monterossa were devastated by landslides and floods and the rain has continued over the week or so ago that we heard that.  These towns are now completely evacuated except for the military.

This is a current picture on Rick Steves' website and next to it is one I took when I was there (which is currently my screensave.) 

 Rick Steves' Europe: Vernazza in the Aftermath

Rick Steves: Vernazza Evacuated

Help Restore Monterosso | Helping the people of Monterosso recover what was lost in the recent flooding.

This is a very current photo from Genoa, where there are quite a few casualties and no end in sight.

Our long-time friend Henry has a ticket for Bangkok for November 11th.  We just talked to a Thai waitress here in Seattle and she said that people trying to fly back to Seattle are having to go by bus all the way up to Chiang Mai to get a flight out.  That would be like taking a bus from Seattle to San Francisco to get a flight to Bangkok.  One big problem is crocodiles in the water.  Subways are at risk.  There is really no barrier between the Chao Priya River and the heart of downtown as water tries to fly from the north to the Gulf in the south.  Here is Bangkok.

Here are our political candidates:

"Look, if people look at the real data, the climate had varied ever since we’ve known that the planet is here. "  (Herman Cain)

"For us to take a snapshot in time and to say that what is going on in the country today, the climate change that is going on is man's fault and we need to jeopardize America's economy, I'm a skeptic about that."  (Rick Perry)

"My view is that we don't know what is causing climate change on this planet." (Rick Perry)

 “I think all these issues have to be settled on the base of real science, not manufactured science.” (Michele Bachmann)

"Climate change is junk science." (Rick Santorum)

 "I used to teach environmental studies. And sometimes when you see 7,000 scientists sign a petition what you are looking at is political science, not science." (Newt Gingrich)

“On Fox News, Karl Rove criticized President Obama for elevating climate change as a national security concern.”  (Media Matters)  So I'll assume Obama believes climate change is real.

Coastal Zones and Sea Level Rise | Climate Change - Health and Environmental Effects | U.S. EPA - This is part of why Republicans want to abolish the EPA.

http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/Programs/climate_change/media/Science%20Presentations/Watershed%20Hydrology/VGriffis_NOAA_Workshop_MAC.pdf

Isaac Asimov - On AntiIntellectualism

Hand Brain

If you know the artist, please let us know

Humor: Libertarian is to Liberty as Scientology is to Science

Libertarian is to liberty as Scientology is to Science.

 

Seattle Area Savant Draws Perfect Fractals After Brain Trauma

Jason Padgett is a mathematician and businessman who developed the ability to hand-draw perfect fractals after an attack and brain trauma.  He live in Federal Way, near Seattle.  He has acquired synesthesia and savant syndrome.  He has also had many profound insights about mathematics and physics and claims to be able to visualize space/time.  He initially had PTSD but now is taking courses in math to be able to back up concepts that he intuits.  

Scientists still calling in on Federal Way savant - KCPQ

Jason Padgett - Fine Art        Geek Art Gallery: Artist: Jason Padgett

Jason Padgett: The Fractal Maker | Neurobonkers.com

Center for Consciousness Center . Tucson . Arizona

Lab Grown Meat Just Months Away

Just like in that Margaret Atwood futuristic novel or David Lynch's "Eraserhead" ..

Lab Grown Meat Just 6 Months Away, Scientists Say : TreeHugger

 The New Scientist reports that "Post has experimented mainly with pig cells and has recently developed a way to grow muscle under lab conditions - by feeding pig stem cells with horse fetal serum. He has produced muscle-like strips, each 2.5 centimetres long and 0.7 centimetres wide."

It's still whitish in color and needs to be "stretched" periodically on Velcro strips.  Vegetarianism is sounding better all the time.  (image . artificial chicken from "Eraserhead")

Twice As Much Conflict in El Nino Years

There are alot of articles recently about possible effects of climate change on weather patterns, such as the hurricane currently raging on the Eastern seaboard.  Here is another possible effect of the weather.  There is a study that was published in the journal "Nature" which focussed on the El Nino pattern, in which the Pacific Ocean warms.  This occurs every 3-5 years.  They found a doubling of conflicts in El Nino as compared with La Nina years. The climate cycles are only one factor in the increased violence, but may be part of a tipping point.

The authors tallied some 234 conflicts across 175 countries in Africa, the Middle East, South East Asia, South Pacific and the Americas where more than 25 people were killed in a given year. Half the conflicts caused more than 1,000 battle-related deaths.  Lead author and Princeton University researcher Solomon Hsiang says the work is the first to document a correlation between climate and civil unrest on a global scale in modern times.  “When we went back and looked through the data since 1950 approximately one-in-five civil conflicts were influenced by El Nino.”  That's double the rate of conflict in La Nina years.  

Study Shows Climate Cycles May Be Driving Wars -- Environmental Protection

Study: Climate is Major Violence Trigger | Environment | English

Stem Cell Update: Governor Perry's Back Surgery & Japanese Sperm

Doctors used adult stem cells to help Texas Gov. Rick Perry with his back surgery last month.  A spokesman said the stem cells were used in an "innovative way." The cells were taken from Perry's body and applied to the area where doctors decompressed a nerve and fused part of his spine. Adult stem cell therapy is different from using embryonic cells, which Perry opposes.  The Food and Drug Administration has not approved using stem cells to help people heal from surgery, but experimentation is common. Researchers do warn, however, of a slight increased cancer risk.

Texas governor's surgery included stem cells - politics - Decision 2012 - msnbc.com

Granted these were ADULT stem cells.  Will Republicans be more open to stem cell research if it is able to help more conditions they may suffer from, such as infertility and impotence?

Scientists in Japan said Friday they have for the first time succeeded in coaxing sperm cells from mouse embryonic stem cells, a breakthrough that could one day help humans overcome infertility.  The sperm were used to fertilize eggs and were found to produce "healthy offspring that grew into fertile male and female adult mice," said the study in a special online edition of the US journal Cell.

Japan scientists coax sperm from stem cells - Yahoo! News

More Rick Perry info:

Rick Perry's Army of God - The Texas Observer

Rick Perry’s prayer rally a failed hot mess of hypocrisy – LGBTQ Nation

Rick Perry's Religious Revival Sparks A Holy War : NPR

War on Science - Anti-Evolution Propaganda