The earth is a flexible fluid planet... I mean it is made of liquid and I don't mean the oceans. I am referring to what lies below the thin crusty surface. One should realise that with a diameter of nearly 13,000 kilometres, the continental crust is only about 40 kilometres thick on average while the oceanic crust is barely 7 kilometres thick on average. The hot liquid magma below is never far from the surface. Gravity holds the earth firmly as a liquid ball with a crust.

“Living with the greenhouse effect” was the subtitle of my October, 1988, cover story for Discover Magazine — my first lengthy exploration of the science pointing to a growing human influence on climate. The cover line on the piece, which followed a scorching summer across much of the country, was, “This summer was merely a warmup.”

picture by Gus

More young people in Australia are turning to a vegetarian lifestyle as part of a process of enlightenment, former High Court judge Michael Kirby says.

In the courts, retired Justice Kirby was known as the great dissenter and over the years the 72-year-old has been a vocal campaigner on a range of issues.

As a proud monarchist and passionate activist on the issue of gay rights, as well as lobbying for the protection of animals, the retired judge is one of two new high-profile patrons of the animal protection group Voiceless.

... Had there not been so much else going on, the announcement might have prompted an outcry against this generous sum of taxpayers' money going to Mr Cameron's old school chum, who is now doubly in the line of fire after John Yates, the recently departed Assistant Commissioner of the Met police, revealed that Mr Llewellyn was the Downing Street official who asked him not to talk to Mr Cameron about phone hacking.

 

Watching the painfully choreographed, and highly policed, red-carpet arrival of Prince William and Kate Middleton at a recent Los Angeles polo match reminded me why intrusive journalistic tactics are often called upon. They exist to break down the barriers of access that keep social elites at a remove from ordinary people.

For a critique of this rubbish, please read more...

OKLAHOMA CITY — As temperatures climbed into the 90s Sunday in Steele, N.D., a small window air conditioner in Paul and Betty Smokov’s ranch home just couldn’t keep up.

picture by Gus

There's dumb, there's dumber and then there are the House Republicans—nearly all of them—who voted this morning to set the U.S. back on energy efficiency. By a quick voice vote, the House approved an amendment that would prevent funds from a 2012 spending bill to be used to implement federal light bulb standards. The amendment came after a similar separate bill failed to garner a two-thirds supermajority earlier this week in the House—although it did win a simple majority and all but 10 Republicans in the House voted for it, along with five Democrats.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says he does not believe there is any need for a wide-ranging inquiry into Australia's media in the wake of the News Corp phone-hacking scandal in Britain.

Greens leader Bob Brown, who has dubbed the Murdoch press the "hate media" and accused it of bias against the Greens and Labor, has called for an inquiry. Prime Minister Julia Gillard has characterised some media reporting on the carbon price as "complete crap".

But Mr Abbott said a politician complaining about the media was in the same position as "a footballer complaining about the umpire".

What is the point in saving the planet from climate change at the cost of sacrificing democracy? A mandate doesn't give politicians the right to rule against the people's will with the excuse of reducing pollution. It is not worth saving a world where we are governed as slaves without freedom to decide our future.

We must not put climate change or anything before democracy, because liberty is the most precious value of humankind.

Juan Del Solar Mascot    For a critic of this view please read more...