Monday, June 21, 2010
Water Woes
Water shortages and prolonged drought in Iraq could undermine American foreign policy. India will also suffer future water woes as two watersheds dependent upon glaciers for their water lose that water by 2050 due to climate change(1). The Brahmaputra basin will lose the capacity to feed 34.5 +/- 6.5 million people by 2050. By 2050, the Indus basin will lose the ability to feed 26.3 million +/- 3.0 million people. The Yangtze and Ganges basins will lose the capability to feed 7.1 million +/- 1.3 million and 2.4 +/- 0.2 million people. The Yellow River basin will actually increase capacity due to more rainfall. Better water recovery techniques or desalination technologies may help to alleviate some of these future problems, but it doesn't look good. There are no uniform laws regarding water rights, yet almost all living things need water to survive.
1. Science,328,June 11,2010, pp:1382-1385.
1. Science,328,June 11,2010, pp:1382-1385.
Labels: Water shortages present and future
The Real Science Gap is in Demand, Not Supply
Miller-McCune has a great article about The Real Science Gap. Basically, the U.S. has an oversupply of scientific talent and few jobs available for the scores of graduates. Except for this article, you wouldn't know this state of affairs from the MSM. I used to joke that I was insourced before I was outsourced. There is a huge influx of foreign graduate students and postdocs who Americans have to compete with for jobs once they graduate or finish postdoctoral appointments.
One director of postdoctoral affairs at an unknown university put the problem in this context. The main difference between postdocs and migrant agricultural laborers, he jokes, is that the Ph.D.s don’t pick fruit.
One director of postdoctoral affairs at an unknown university put the problem in this context. The main difference between postdocs and migrant agricultural laborers, he jokes, is that the Ph.D.s don’t pick fruit.
Labels: science and technology jobs
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Energy for One Thousand Years
TWR reactors may be able to supply the energy needs of the Earth for one thousand years. Unfortunately, this man and his friends may end up controlling the technology. Would you want a power monopoly controlled by him? He's not known for giving any useful technology away to benefit people and he's into dominating markets.
Labels: Traveling Wave Nuclear Reactors
Natural Selection
How the bears get fed at the Natural Selection Zoo and the Natural Selection Game Preserve.
Labels: Selecting for smart bears and against dumb people
Friday, June 18, 2010
Fauxtography and the "Islamic Peace Activists"
It's stupid to bring a knife to a gunfight. It's reprehensible to make idiots look like heroes. I'm not saying Isreal didn't make a mistake in the way it handled the peace flotilla, but soldiers are trained to survive and if you have a gun, and some idiot is attacking you with a knife, your training kicks in and you shoot him, politics be damned. The same holds true for police. Shooting unarmed people is murder. Shooting armed people attacking you is self defense. The same would hold true for the boaters if the Isrealis had been pirates. However, the boaters provoked the violent Isreali response. Had they stayed nonviolent, the body count would have been lower and Isreal would have had much more soul searching to do for killing peaceful, nonviolent protestors. If the protestors were violent and anything, but peaceful, what did Isreali troops do that was wrong if their lives were in danger? Committing violence for peace is an oxymoron. Such an act does not help your cause either, because one has lost the moral and spiritual high ground.
Labels: fauxtography
Monday, June 07, 2010
What Time is It?
