Eunice Kennedy Shriver, RIP
INCONVENIENT: Backfire: Americans say global warming climate change “exaggerated“
“Here’s what Gallup found: The number of Americans who say the media have exaggerated global warming jumped to a record 41 percent in 2009, up from 35 percent a year ago. The most marked increase came among political independents, whose ranks of doubters swelled from 33 percent to 44 percent. Republican doubters grew from 59 percent to 66 percent, while Democratic skeptics stayed at around 20 percent.”
Finally, a significant percentage of Americans realize that the End of Days rhetoric has jumped the shark.
INCONVENIENT: The Climate Change Climate Change: The number of skeptics is swelling everywhere
Joanne Simpson, the world’s first woman to receive a Ph.D. in meteorology, expressed relief upon her retirement last year that she was finally free to speak “frankly” of her nonbelief. Dr. Kiminori Itoh, a Japanese environmental physical chemist who contributed to a U.N. climate report, dubs man-made warming “the worst scientific scandal in history.” Norway’s Ivar Giaever, Nobel Prize winner for physics, decries it as the “new religion.” A group of 54 noted physicists, led by Princeton’s Will Happer, is demanding the American Physical Society revise its position that the science is settled. (Both Nature and Science magazines have refused to run the physicists’ open letter.)
INCONVENIENT: The Revolt of the Scientists,
Bruce @QandO, “Apparently it is getting a little hot in the scientific community when it comes to AGW and skepticism. And it is the skeptics who are firing the broadsides.”
INCONVENIENT: Peer-reviewed study from Down Under points to nature as global warming source
Three Australian scientists have published a study in the Journal of Geophysical Research claiming that virtually none of the observed temperature increases in the Earth’s atmosphere in recent years can be attributed to man-made factors.
“The surge in global temperatures since 1977 can be attributed to a 1976 climate shift in the Pacific Ocean that made warming El Niño conditions more likely than they were over the previous 30 years and cooling La Niña conditions less likely” de Freitas said. “We have shown that internal global climate-system variability accounts for at least 80% of the observed global climate variation over the past half-century. It may even be more if the period of influence of major volcanoes can be more clearly identified and the corresponding data excluded from the analysis,†he added.
Somehow Gorebots believe that the science about something as dynamic as the environment is “settled”. Nothing left to learn.
INCONVENIENT: Obama’s EPA plans fewer toxic cleanups
WASHINGTON – For years, the Bush administration was criticized for not cleaning up enough of America’s most contaminated waste sites. The Obama administration plans to do even less.
Environmental groups and some Democratic lawmakers railed against President George W. Bush’s cleanup record. But this time, they’re shying away from speaking out against a popular president who’s considered an ally in the fight to clean up the environment.
How is he “an ally in the fight to clean up the environment” if he is doing less that that evil, environment hating bastard George W. Bush? Suckers.
INCONVENIENT: New York Times asks Is the Sun Missing Its Spots?
“We still don’t quite understand this beast. The theories we had for how the sunspot cycle works have major problems,†said David Hathaway, a solar physicist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala
Wow. You mean with new technology and research, models and theories can be proven wrong, improved, changed or adapted. Maybe science is the process of discovery after all?
The best example I could find explaining what Jerry Garcia meant to Deadheads comes from legendary venture capitalist Roger McNamee, of all people. From the New York Times on the day Garcia died, August 9, 1995,
“I feel like a member of my family died,” said Roger McNamee, a general partner at Integral Capital Partners in Palo Alto. He also said that the day was one of emotional contrast for him. As a technology investor, he had been elated by the early success of Netscape Inc., a hot new Internet company that had its first public stock offering. But when he learned that Mr. Garcia had died, he felt devastated, he said.
Just how big of a deal was that hot new Internet company?
FORTUNE Magazine
Remembering Netscape: The Birth Of The WebIt was the spark that touched off the Internet boom. On Wednesday, Aug. 9, 1995, a 16-month-old Silicon Valley startup called Netscape tried to go public, but demand for the shares was so high that for almost two hours that morning, trading couldn’t open. The stock, which had been priced at $28 a share, zoomed as high as $75 that day and closed at $58.
And he felt devatstated.
Garcia understood the connection. In today speak, Garcia and the Grateful Dead launched multiple, synergistic initiatives to leverage their installed base. He was a visionary leader who understood social networks, marketing and monetization. I’m making him sound like a dot-com CEO! Have I completely lost my marbles? I don’t think so and here’s why…
P2P File Sharing, 1965
Fifteen years before Shawn Fanning was born and 33 years before Napster was invented, Jerry Garcia launched a P2P file sharing network. The files of the day were cassette tapes and the people sharing them were Deadheads who were free to record and trade the music. Over time, so many people wanted to record each concert, the band established a “tapers section” that allowed for great recordings and minimal interruption to the audience. Last month Forbes, of all places, actually published an article on this topic titled, Grateful to the Dead,
Like the Grateful Dead, Phish and Widespread Panic are notorious for their open recording policies, encouraging fans to record their shows for free. “Music once spread through word of mouth. Now it happens on the Internet–very quickly,” says John Bell, the lead singer of WSP. While Internet downloads bite into record sales, it’s plausible that if these bands had enforced their copyright, they never would have achieved such popularity.
Self Publishing, 1973
After several less than satisfying experiences working for “the man”, Garcia and the Dead decided to bypass record companies and start their own label. They self-published. Just like bloggers, tweeters and Facebook friends.
Built social network, 1973
From Sandy Troy’s 1994 biography of Garcia,
Part of the band’s confidence in starting their own label was rooted in the Dead Freaks Unite campaign initiated by Garcia on the inside of Grateful Dead (album), which had the following notice, “DEAD FREAKS UNITE: Who are you? Where are you? Send us your name and address and we’ll keep you informed.”
The response was overwhelming and the band quickly built up a list of twenty-five thousand names. With this direct mail list and a newsletter to communicate information, the band had an effective link with their fans, now known as Dead Heads.”
Garcia and the Dead didn’t just build a social network, they monetized it. Out of that list grew a business empire that eventually included music, a full line of merchandise, even ice cream, designer neckware and art. Ten years after his death, in 2005, the New York Times wrote,
The Jerry Garcia company and Grateful Dead Productions are separate businesses each generating millions of dollars of revenue a year. Just how many millions is not publicly known. But consumers still buy more than a million J. Garcia-brand neckties each year, and Cherry Garcia is often the top-selling brand of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, each pint generating royalties for the Garcia heirs.
He helped to build a durable, thriving band brand and he did it by harvesting and building on the community of Deadheads by using innovative means of communication and information sharing.
Like I said, the Godfather of Social Networking.
Since this is a Jerry Garcia post, I think we need a little music as well.
Franklin’s Tower from Radio City Music Hall, 10-31-80
Perhaps the only sobering thing about Amsterdam is the Anne Frank House. When I went over there in 2007, I took the tour and I must say it was amazing. It was truly shocking to see how they lived and what they did to survive under the Nazi’s.
This is from the official Anne Frank website, about This Day in History,
It is August 4, 1944, a lovely sunny day. An anonymous tip arrives that morning by telphone at the headquarters of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD or Security Police). The SD-officer in charge, Julius Deetman, takes the call and orders the officer on duty SS-Oberscharführer Karl Silberbauer to the Prinsengracht. Four Dutch Nazis go with him to assist. Silberbauer and a few of his men go into the warehouse on the ground floor of the building. They approach the ware-houseman Van Maaren who points in silence, indicating upstairs.
To read the whole story about the events of August 4, 1944, click here.
The official Anne Frank website is here.
It is always an honor to welcome men like Bill Roggio to Pundit Review Radio. Bill is a former Army man who has embedded with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has helped to build The Long War Journal into an indespensible resource for those interested in Obama era Overseas Contingency Operations The War on Terror. Like Michael Yon, Long War Journal is supported by its readers. If you value this type of citizen journalism, please consideer making a donation.
Bruce McQuain joined me in this interview. I always want to include his great experience and perspective when talking to people like Bill Roggio. Bruce is an Army vet himself, having spent 28 years in the service, including a tour in Vietnam.
One of the first topics addressed was this recent report from Long War Journal,
US released senior Iranian Qods Force commander
A senior Qods Force officer who led one of the three commands in Iraq assigned to attack US and Iraqi forces was one of five Iranians released by the US military on July 9.
…Farhadi is considered one of the three most dangerous Iranian operatives to have been captured in Iraqi since the US began targeting the Iranian-backed Shia terror networks. His role as one of the three theater commanders in the Ramazan Corps means he is directly responsible for planning, coordinating, and executing attacks against US forces.
The Ramazan Corps is responsible for the death of hundreds of US soldiers in Iraq, and the corps backed the various uprisings by Shia extremist groups. Ten percent of US deaths in Iraq are estimated to have been caused by the Iranian-supplied, armor-piercing explosively-formed projectiles, or EFPs.
This segment flew by and we need to have Bill back on soon to get his perspective on the wars in Iraq and increasingly, Afghanistan.
The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here.
What is Pundit Review Radio?
On Boston’s Talk Station WRKO since 2005, Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to the radio every Sunday evening from 8-10pm on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.
Bruce McQuain from Blackfive joined us once again for Someone You Should Know, our weekly tribute to the troops. Bruce spent 28 years in the U.S. Army and he is a veteran of the Vietnam war. He brings a perspective and understanding to these stories that we could never match.
This week Bruce told us about Staff Sgt. Lincoln V. Dockery,
Staff Sgt. Lincoln V. Dockery said he didn’t even see the grenade that sent shrapnel into his right forearm while charging insurgent fighters in Afghanistan’s Korengal valley, Nov. 16, 2007.
“Someone yelled out,” he said. “My hand went up and a hot, sharp feeling went through.”
Dockery, a combat engineer then assigned to a route clearance patrol with Company A of the 173rd Airborne Brigade's Special Troops Battalion, said he decided the injury wasn’t major, and continued his charge up a hill into enemy fire.
“I don’t want to think about what would have happened had he not been there,” said Capt. William Cromie, Dockery’s platoon leader that day in Afghanistan. “It would have been a completely different day.”
Dockery said the description of the mission for which the patrol departed from Forward Operating Base Asadabad in Kunar Province that day sounded like the description of their mission for any other day: “Out looking for bombs.”
“My only concern was for the guys who worked under me,” the 25-year-old stated.
The Someone You Should Know radio collaboration began as an extension of Matt Burden’s series at Blackfive. Bruce does an incredible job with the series every week. The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here.
What is Pundit Review Radio?
On Boston’s Talk Station WRKO since 2005, Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to the radio every Sunday evening from 8-10pm on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.