Subject: Sciences

• Backing or Backpedaling?

  Governor Schwarzenegger took a stand on cutting greenhouse gases yesterday. His stand? Going on the commonly held theory that most readers never get beyond the headline and first paragraph of a newspaper story, unless they have some compelling interest in the story, his stand depends on what city you live in. The Los Angeles Times story has the headline, Gov. Calls for Curbs on Emissions, and begins: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday threw his political weight behind a drive to curb green

  April 12, 2006

• Dancing around a great problem at The Great Park

  The El Toro Shuffle? The Great Park Gavotte? The Irvine Ranch Water District Toxic Waltz? We should come up a name for the little dance. It's a simple four step dance, and very familiar one. Scientists point out a looming environmental threat and call for government action. The Bush administration, refusing to act and attempting to dismiss the scientists as panic-mongers and tree-huggers, calls for even more scientific study before it will even consider acting. The further study is completed, a

  July 28, 2006

• Change in the air?

  This is certainly a refreshing development, although the participation of a gubernatorial candidate smacks of political posturing. NEW REPORT ON COMPANIES IN CALIFORNIA, ELSEWHERE TO FIND WIDE DISPARITY IN CLIMATE CHANGE RESPONSES; INVESTORS WILL PUSH POOR-PERFORMING FIRMS TO SHAPE UP NEWS ADVISORY - March 21, 2006 -- A first-ever comprehensive assessment of a half-dozen of California's largest companies on their handling of climate change risks and opportunities is the subject of a major new

  March 17, 2006

• Shake n' Bake

  It's been funny--not funny ha-ha--sitting here on the sidelines watching the changing global-warming debate. While the international scientific community for years has piled voluminous report atop voluminous report detailing that global warming is real, producing all sorts of climatic problems and either is or most probably is human caused, those who originally pooh-poohed the eggheads have gone from saying it's a myth, to it's a normal cyclical weather pattern, to okay, so it's happening, whadd

  July 5, 2006

• Baby, It's Warm Outside

  The Inconvenient Truth is on its way to becoming the box-office champeen of documentaries (pound sand, Michael Moore!). Orders are already brisk for the DVDs that won't be out until November. However, because Truth starred Satan's spawn Al Gore, there's a good chance many holy rollers skipped it and headed into whatever anti-Semitic Mel Gibson "Christian" movie was playing at the time. Well, fear not, Samson and Delilah: there is a new global-warming documentary coming that's especially for lov

  September 12, 2006

• Irvine Starbucks Climate Crisis Discussion Today

  Just came over the wire: At 2 p.m. today, the Starbucks Coffee at 3995 Alton Pkwy. in Irvine is hosting a "National Day of Discussion" on the issue of "climate crisis" in support of a new Paramount/National Geographic-sponsored film, Arctic Tale. Filmmakers Adam Ravetch and Sarah Robertson, as well as May Chiu with Global Green USA, will be on hand. According to the press release, the new film is "about the real-life adventures of a polar bear and a walrus struggling to survive as warmer temp

  August 15, 2007

• Beirut In-store at Amoeba Tonight (Free)

  Much-hyped Euro-folk reviver Beirut plays a free show tonight at the Hollywood Amoeba Records at 6:30 p.m. He'll be supporting his new album The Flying Club Cup (Ba Da Bing), which OC Weekly reviewed here. Amoeba is located at 6400 Sunset Blvd. (323-245-6400). In the meantime, enjoy this video of Beirut's "Elephant Gun."

  October 12, 2007

• Surf punks

  Social Distortion, the Adolescents and even bubblegummy Blink-182 are among the bands whose scheduled UC Irvine shows were canceled at the last minute over the years because fraighty cat campus security fretted onslaughts of scary, leather-clad, facially pincushioned punk rockers. A quick glance at the surfers, beachcombers and plain ol' average folks lined up against the extension of the 241 Foothill South toll road extension through San Onofre State Beach and other environmentally sensitive a

  July 14, 2008

• Saving Trestles: Game On!

  The on-again, off-again hearing on the 241 Foothill South toll road extension by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce is back on, from 10:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Sept. 22, and in an old/new home, O'Brien Hall at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, or the same place the California Coastal Commission met, took testimony and ultimately voted 8-2 against paving Lexus lanes over state park land. The hearing was to go off last month in the Bren Events Center until fears about the expected crowd size, coupled with a sl

  August 26, 2008

• Approaching His Limits

  June 3, 1999

• All Clubs Are Gay

  December 23, 1999

• Infinity, IYI

  November 13, 2003

• Wildfires Just a Sneak Preview?

  Ted Soqui shot this in Yorba Linda the weekend past. See his amazing slideshow here. Now that the fires have been contained, heroes have been identified, firefighting techniques have been blasted, causes have been zeroed in on, and our Last Action Hero Governor has likened the disaster to one of the crappiest action movies ever (Armageddon, which he didn’t even star in), some sobering news: Worse wildfires are likely a-comin’. So says a report released last week by UC Berkeley researchers

  November 19, 2008

• Marine Wildlife Cruises

  April 2, 2009

• UCI Scientist Helps Add More Culprits to the Global Warming List

  Anyone worth Al Gore's salt knows that cars, factories and farting cows contribute to global warming, but an international study that includes the research of a UC Irvine scientist has found drought and deforestation can also help fuel the pesky phenomenon and should be included in future climate pacts. ScienceDaily.com reports today:The study, analyzing six years of climate and fire observations from satellites, shows that in dry years, the practice of using fire to clear forests and remove org

  December 9, 2008

• Feds Kill Foothill-South Toll Road Proposal. Now What? Punt?

  UPDATED WITH TCA NON-RESPONSE RESPONSE; BLOOMBERG REPORT...If the posting times are correct, The Orange County Register (9:40 a.m.) beat the Los Angeles Times (10:03 a.m.) in getting the news out that the U.S. Department of Commerce had announced it would uphold the state Coastal Commission's rejection of the plan to extend the 241 Foothill-South toll road through San Onofre State Park and perilously close to Trestles beach.Jane C. Luxton, general counsel of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmos

  December 18, 2008

• UC Irvine Eggheads on the March

  Twenty UC Irvine science and engineering researchers were named last week as Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, representing the largest class this year of any American university or institution. Eighty-five current and former UCI faculty members have previously earned the honor from AAAS, the world's largest general scientific society. The 2008 UCI AAAS fellows are:* Pierre Baldi, Chancellor's Professor and Institute for Genomics and Bioinformatics director* Jam

  December 22, 2008

• Superhero Science is Finally, Shockingly Revealed--For Free!

  If you've ever wondered if Superman really could fly, UC Irvine physics professor Michael Dennin has the free online course for you. (Full disclosure: That is NOT Dr. Michael Dennin shown here.) "Science from Superheroes to Global Warming," which is available here, mirrors the curriculum of UCI's Department of Physics and Astronomy undergraduate course and freshman seminar developed by Dennin, a leading researcher in the area of non-equilibrium dynamics. The online descripti

  January 14, 2009

• Dana Rohrabacher Praised for Saying the Sky is Falling

  Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), shown here possibly pointing to a dangerous object in the sky, is being commended by the no doubt august Institute for Human Continuity for his "Planet X forsight" and belief that Earth's preparedness for dealing with cosmic debris hurtling toward it is "key for the survival of the human race." What the Star Surfin' Congressman did specifically was introduce House Resolution 4917, the "Near Earth Objec

  February 10, 2009

• Obama's Expected Lift on Stem-Cell Ban Cheered at UCI

  President Barack Obama is expected to sign an executive order on Monday rolling back restrictions on federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research, fulfilling a campaign promise and repealing one of the most bone-headed stances taken by his predecessor, George W. Bush.News of Obama's expected order, which is tentatively scheduled to be signed at 11 a.m. Monday at the White House, is quite welcomed at UC Irvine, which is one of the foremost medical and scientific research institutions in

  March 6, 2009

• Toll-Road Dissing NOAA Now Fights to Protect Local Steelhead

  Perhaps environmentally sensitive locals should withhold sending support to the Sierra Club, the Surfrider Foundation and the Natural Resources Defense Council and instead cut checks to the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It was, after all, the NOAA that dealt what many believe to be the final death blow to extension of the 241 Foothill South toll road through a state park and perilously close to Trestles. Now the NOAA is sticking up for local steel

  March 11, 2009

• Junior Oceanographer

  Ocean Institute

  April 9, 2009

• Spacing Out

  October 23, 2008

• The Fire of the Century . . . of the Year

  Hellish fires now, Sahara Desert later, says UCI doom prophet Mike Davis

  November 1, 2007

• Theres Got to Be a Morning After

  June 3, 2004

• An Inconvenient Slope

  Big Bears ski resorts are covered in snow despite a chronic lack of natural snowfall. So where are the crowds? Dont blame global warmingblame the media

  February 15, 2007

• Bad News With Al

  OnDVD: An Inconvenient Truth

  November 23, 2006

• 'Devo Mixed With Seventh Grade'

  Single Cell debunks black holes

  November 23, 2006

• Remote Hog

  July 20, 2006

• June Gloom Boom

  June 22, 2006

• Commie Girl

  June 15, 2006

• Science Friction

  February 23, 2006

• Watching the Carbon Detective

  January 15, 2004

• The Darkish Side

  November 27, 2003

• Uncle Sam Bets Big Money on Iraq

  November 14, 2002

• Poof!

  June 20, 2002

• Gunk Science

  May 30, 2002

• Burning Bush

  April 11, 2002

• Crashing Bohr

  January 17, 2002

• Bleccccccccccch!

  September 20, 2001

• Mickey Mite Club

  June 21, 2001

• It's the End of the World As You Know It, and I Don't Feel Fine

  April 27, 2000

• Globaloney

  February 17, 2000

• Vespas Bring Musicians, Global Warming Message to Sutra

  Singer-songwriters Jason Reeves, Brendan James and Amber Rubarth, who today began a two-week ride up the California coast on Vespas to raise awareness of global warming, make a stop at 7 p.m. Friday at Sutra Lounge, 1870 Harbor Blvd., Costa Mesa. "It seems like back in the late '60s and early '70s, people turned to folk singers and songwriters for inspiration and answers to difficult questions," explained Reeves. "We were very motivated by that idea and hope to influence a new generation t

  April 30, 2009

• Astronomy Night

  May 21, 2009

• Global Warming Denier Rohrabacher Froths On

  Photo by Jack GouldRohrabacher, frothing in November.The way Scott Harper begins his story proves that he had correctly identified the speaker he was covering."U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher was in a froth . . ." Anyone who has witnessed the Mouth That Rohrabachered whip up the party faithful at GOP election night shindigs over the years knows that froth oh so well. But Harper was not at a swanky Republican fiesta nor a pity party like the Nov. 3 morgue scene that found a supremely pissed-off Dana s

  June 12, 2009

• Charter Film Series: MADEINUSA

  July 16, 2009

• Astronomy at the Library

  October 22, 2009

• Global Warming Activists as Inescapable as Global Warming this Weekend

  ​Last week, we posted about the Global Climate Change Day of Action event taking place at Irvine Regional Park tomorrow. There'll be bells tolling, bikes biking, and a bunch of people forming a "350" for an aerial camera.But there are a bunch more of these shindigs tomorrow all over the world, including in Orange County. It is the Global Day of Action, after all.The most intriguing, at least for Jews: a "global climate healing Shabbat" at Temple Judea Laguna Hills. More events after the jump.

  October 23, 2009

• Calvary Chapel to Crucify Darwin this Weekend!

  ​While Rick Warren goes around eating ice cream, the mothership Calvary Chapel campus will host a two-day conference starting Friday on the evils of Charles Darwin. Titled, appropriately enough, "Darwin was Wrong," a press release promises many lectures on the subject by scientists who "will present overwhelming scientific evidence against Darwin's speculations." But these aren't just any unbiased scientists--nearly all are affiliated with Logos Research Associates, an offshoot of Calvary Chap

  November 9, 2009