Riled Up

The End of Skiing?

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 19:39:16 GMT

Winter won’t end, but skiing might fall off as a winter sport, if current trends continue.

Where will you ski in 50 years? Maybe more in Canada and Norway, less in places like New Mexico and Spain.

Here’s the News Hour’s report:

Watch Decreasing Snowfall Sends Winter Sports Industry Downhill on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

Envious of a Sea Slug

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 18:42:46 GMT

By Lucas Gardner

As reported by the Royal Society journal, Japanese researchers recently observed a very strange, very special ability of the Chromodoris reticulata species of sea slugs - the ability to detach and regrow its penis. Basically, their entire life is like that one King Missile song.

It's a weird feeling to be envious of a sea slug, but I'd choose the ability to only have a penis when I WANT one over any other super power, although the sex life of the Chromodoris reticulata, or nudibranchs, is a generally undesirable affair. Nudibranchs are a hermaphroditic species, with both a penis and vagina on the right side of their bodies. During mating, two nudibranchs “connect” at each other's right side, the penis of one entering into the vagina of the other and vice versa, thereby legitimizing “double penetration” as a scientific term, and offering you a good excuse if your girlfriend checks your browser history.

The Japanese researchers report that the act lasts anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes. (Several minutes? Who are these slugs, Sting?) Afterwards, the sea slugs shed their penises and grow it back within 24-hours, for round two.

Bernard Picton of National Museums Northern Ireland calls the sex life of the nudibranchs “complicated,” which is a lot like saying the Artcic is “kind of chilly.”

Still, I maintain that that's a truly awesome ability. I honestly can't tell you how many times I've wished I could ditch mine and then just get it back at my convenience. For example, when I was 12 and went to that pool party at Sharon Griffin's house. Or that one time in church at age 11, during the part of Exodus where Aaron made all those people get naked. Or that time when I was age 14 through 17.

- Lucas Gardner is a comedian and a person who tweets at @Lucas_Gardner.

Meteors Falling

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 13:19:41 GMT

Everyone said: once we elected a black president, the meteors would start falling.

Let’s hope Morgan Freeman has a plan to save us.

- Reilly Capps

How to Fall off a Rock and Not Die

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 12:10:05 GMT

By Reilly Capps

It’s never easy being a pioneer. (See: Magellan, Philippines.) The first person with an idea often suffers. (See: Curie, Marie.) Better to be the second person into the breach.

So it wasn’t easy for climber Matt Maddaloni to be the first to try a new kind of climbing, a kind that doesn’t use a rope or a mat but a net, a net stretched between rocks and trees and situated underneath the climbing route.

When he lost his grip, he fell into space.

“It was terrifying,” Maddaloni told me. “We were using a fishing net at the time – it’s not exactly designed for that.”

They set it up on a rock in British Columbia called Young Blood. Before the net catches, it drops ten feet, and part of Maddaloni wondered whether it was going to catch at all.

Watch:

As far as he knows, it’s a system that’s only been rigged up twice, on two different routes in Squamish, BC, where Maddaloni lives.

“It’s some of the most fun I’ve ever had,” Maddaloni told me. “Just to jump into the net is hilarious.”

National Geographic featured Maddaloni here.

Since it has worked 100 percent of the time, the net is, statistically, the safest way to climb (right?). This time, being the first to try something has worked out.

What Kind of Beer Your Drink Could Help the Planet

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 21:38:36 GMT

A beautiful short by a couple buddies of mine, Ben Knight and Travis Rummel, about businesses donating 1 percent of their sales to environmental causes.

One of the companies, note, is New Belgium. Get drunk, do good.

[one percent] of the story from 1% for the Planet on Vimeo.

How Two Battlebots Found Love in a Hopeless Place

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 09:53:00 GMT

By Lucas Gardner

When I was a kid, I was a huge fan of the show “Battlebots.” If you don't remember it, it was a show where people built tiny little remote-controlled robots, and made them fight each other. Here is a video for reference.

Like a lot of people who grew up nerdy and had an unhealthy attachment to television, I took to writing fan-fiction. So, I thought I would share with you a few of my favorite pieces of “Battlebots” fan-fiction that I have written

K-1000 vs. The Metal Devil

For a second it looked like K-1000 was gonna win (on account of the chainsaw) but then it turned out The Metal Devil had a laser! The Metal Devil won instead!

Glenn 1450 vs. Monsterbox

“John 1450? No robot with a name like that could ever win a robot battle.” That's what everyone said about poor old Glenn 1450. They were right. Monsterbox smashed him with a hammer.

Juliebot 10000 vs. Crush-o-tron 900

Juliebot 1000 and Crush-o-tron 900 met in the middle of the ring. The crowd was going nuts. They knew they were in for an absolutely BRUTAL robot battle. Whoever lost this battle would surely be left unrepairable, never to fight again.

The gentle gaze of Juliebot met the cold gaze of Crush-o-tron 900. “Don't you look at me like that,” said Crush-o-tron. “Don't look at me with those eyes.” “You know this isn't right,” replied Juliebot.

“We can't!” said Crush-o-tron. “Everyone expects us to fight. What happened in the past... Well, that's in the past.”

“We belong together,” spoke Juliebot in an impassioned whisper.

“Goddamn you, Juliebot. No.”

“Crush-o-tron, I'm... i'm pregnant. It's yours.”

“What? How could this happen.”

“2 months ago... at that party.”

“Oh my god. Juliebot.”

Juliebot and Crush-o-tron stared each other in the face for almost a full minute.

“I love you,” whispered Juliebot.

Crush-o-tron took Juliebot in his arms, and they kissed for what felt like years. “Let's get out of here,” he whispered into her earhole.

The crowd was very confused. Crush-o-tron and Juliebot got married the next day, and are raising their child in Barbados.

- One of the most accurate science reporters working today, thinker and critic Lucas Gardner tweets at @Lucas_Gardner.

NASA’s Hidden Logs Reveal a Lesser-Known Rover

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 15:08:39 GMT

By Lucas Gardner

The Curiosity Rover landed on Mars at 0:32 p.m. PDT, Aug. 5, 2012. It was one of the most outstanding victories in space exploration in human history thus far. The rover was named “Curiosity,” because, well, it says it all. It has spent the last six months searching for signs of ancient life.

What a lot of people don't know anything about is the launch of the Curiosity Rover's brother, Apathy Rover, which was sent on failed mission to Mars a few years prior to Curiosity. As it turned out, the Apathy Rover earned its name, too. This was not meant to be made public, but we've gotten our hands on NASA's official recorded timeline of the Apathy Rover's trip to Mars.

Take a look:

Jan. 1, 2006: The Rover is completed. NASA engineers ask what it would like to be named. “Who gives a shit, man?” replies the rover
Jan. 2, 2006: The Apathy Rover is named. Scientists begin correcting some issues with its mobility system
February 2006: The Apathy Rover starts a “protopunk” band; decides to just name the band Apathy Rover
April 1st, 2006: The Apathy Rover (the band) release their first single “F*ck Space”
May 2006: The Apathy Rover (the band) breaks up; band members say it's because Apathy Rover (the actual rover) “didn't care”
June 1, 2006: NASA grounds Apathy Rover for smoking; “Whatever, dude” Apathy responds
June 13, 2006: This was intended to be Apathy's official launch date; launch is postponed because Apathy wasn't “into it”
July 15, 2006: NASA finally talks Apathy Rover into going to Mars; “UGHH, JESUS CHRIST. FINE” responds Apathy Rover
July 16, 2006: Apathy Rover is launched on a direct path to Mars. Apathy Rover sends back first official report from space: “This blows!!!!”
July 29, 2006: Apathy Rover changes its path to the Moon instead; claims it looks “more chill.”
Aug. 15, 2006: Communication with Apathy Rover is lost
Aug. 20, 2006: Apathy Rover is finally located, smoking weed in a moon crater; sends back second official report: “Nice.”
Sept. 10, 2006: NASA finally convinces Apathy Rover to get back on course towards Mars. Apathy Rover takes off once again on a path to Mars, very slowly
Sept. 20 2010: Apathy Rover finally reaches Mars, over 2 years late
Sept. 16, 2010: Apathy Rover send back first report from Mars: “LAME.”
Sept. 17, 2010: Communication is lost with Apathy Rover once again (Apathy Rover actually can still receive and send messages, but just doesn't ever respond)
Oct. 1, 2010: Apathy Rover begins drilling on Mars; gets “bored;” takes a nap
Dec. 19, 2010: Apathy Rover wakes up
Jan. 14, 2011: Apathy Rover, against NASA's wishes, returns to Earth, claims there was “no good poon on Mars”
Jan. 20, 2011: Apathy Rover moves in with its parents in New Jersey

Apathy Rover is currently working as a dishwasher at a small diner in Hoboken. NASA wishes to keep Apathy Rover a secret for obvious reasons, but we think science is science and its not always perfect, and Apathy Rover shouldn't be forgotten by history.

- One of the most accurate science reporters working today, thinker and critic Lucas Gardner tweets at @Lucas_Gardner.

Growing food and community at public libraries

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 13:40:07 GMT

In the public mind, at least, public libraries have been on the wane for years. First mega-bookstores like Borders and Barnes and Noble began to displace the longstanding homes of free reading material. More recently, the rise of the Internet and the advent of the e-book have further marginalized Ye Olde Public Library.

But, at least in cities and towns that continue to fund and support them, libraries are finding new ways to serve constituents and build community. In Basalt, Colo., a group of avid gardeners recently joined hands with the local library to launch a seed-lending program.

A seed shelf at the Basalt library. The green circles, blue squares and black diamonds on the envelopes indicate the relative ease of seed-harvesting. Bob Ward photo.

Here’s how it works: Working with local gardeners and the Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute, the library stocks envelopes of various vegetable and herb seeds known to succeed in the region’s arid conditions and short growing season. Local growers check out the seeds in the spring for planting, with the expectation of harvesting new seeds from the hardiest plants in the fall and returning them to the library. Borrowers also are expected to take a class in seed harvesting.

Over the years, the project should become a storehouse of seeds well-adapted to local conditions. Basalt’s program is new, but a dozen-plus examples exist around the country, including Manitou Springs on Colorado’s eastern slope. In New York’s Hudson Valley, a for-profit seed library has been operating and refining successful seeds for nine years. And similar projects continue to spring up.

Stephanie Syson, a leader of the Basalt effort, told The Aspen Times : “Seeds are life, and they’re public property.”

– Bob Ward

Do Cars Equal Freedom or Waste?

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 10:19:00 GMT

By Reilly Capps

It’s a cruel joke car companies play.

In practically every commercial, every hour, there’s a giant SUV flying through some untracked wilderness, the sense of freedom coursing through the driver’s veins.

And so consumers buy giant cars by the millions. But they almost never drive them on desolate country roads. They drive them through cities and suburbs.

The result? A landscape so congested and traffic-clogged that what was sold as a ticket to freedom instead begins to feel like a slow-moving prison.

It’s long been known that a long commute makes a person more miserable than almost anything besides poor health.

And, today, comes another accounting of the costs of congestion.

Americans wasted $818 each in 2011 sitting in traffic, both in wasted fuel and wasted time. Multiplied by the number of commuters, that comes out to $121 billion in waste, reported the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.

They’ve long warned about traffic’s cost in dollars and time. But, this year, they added a new factor: CO2. Fifty-six billion pounds of additional carbon dioxide spewed into the air in 2011. All while drivers were sitting in traffic, doing nothing, angry and unfree.

Feds propose to list wolverine as ‘threatened’

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 15:07:21 GMT

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took an important step Friday, Feb. 1, toward listing the North American Wolverine as a species worthy of protection under the Endangered Species Act.

USFWS/Steve Kroschel photo

The proposal could have ramifications for western states with high, snow-covered mountain ranges where wolverines live. Colorado, in particular, already has taken initial steps toward a reintroduction of 30-40 wolverines in order to help reestablish the species. That state effort has been on hold for a couple of years, however, as the federal agency debated the merits of an ESA listing.

Friday’s action was not an actual listing of the wolverine, but a proposal to protect the animal as a “threatened” species, with several questions and caveats. The only human activity contemplated for regulation/prohibition under the listing would be killing of wolverines. Other human activities that occur in high-alpine wolverine habitat — snowmobiling, backcountry skiing, logging — do not appear to threaten the animal and wouldn’t be affected.

The proposal leaves open the idea of critical habitat designation for the wolverine. It’s unclear whether setting aside land would help the animals, because climate change is the chief threat to their habitat and survival. Wolverines are also highly nomadic, moving great distances between islands of cold, inhospitable high country.

In recent years, biologists from the Greater Yellowstone Wolverine program documented a male wolverine, M56, that traveled some 500 miles from northwestern Wyoming to northern Colorado, where it remained for months.

On Feb. 4 the Fish and Wildlife Service opened a three-month comment period, during which it hopes to hear from citizens, stakeholders and scientists about the proposal. A final determination is expected in one year, and will be “based on the best available science,” according to the FWS.

– Bob Ward

Which Came First, The Chicken or the Egg?

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 11:57:00 GMT

Finally, a simple answer.

The egg.

Airbags on the Outside

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 09:08:00 GMT

By Reilly Capps

The category is: all-time stupid ideas.

Vaulting ahead of screen doors on submarines, ultralight flights with Melissa McCarthy, raising your dog to sic on command, if the command is "nice doggy," and dating Hawaiians off Twitter, comes "airbags on the outside of cars."

Somehow a Dutch company has done it. A few are taking it seriously. The Dutch government gave a million euros toward developing the idea. Weed is legal in Holland.

The following video is mostly worth watching for the comedic value of watching a car ram into a crash test dummy repeatedly.

Bringing Back a Bad-Ass Weasel

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 17:28:46 GMT

Following the successful reintroduction of the lynx to Colorado’s high country, the state is considering a similar program for the North American Wolverine, a weasel cousin with a grizzly-bear demeanor.

USFWS photo.

The wolverine’s potential return has prompted opposition from the ski industry, but the more likely reason the Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife has stalled the reintroduction effort is the predator’s murky legal status. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering an endangered species listing , and no state agency wants to launch a reintroduction till the species’ status is clear.

The wolverine resides in high, cold places that are covered by snow for most of the year. One male from Wyoming was confirmed to have roamed northern Colorado for much of 2009 and 2010. The remaining 250-300 wolverines in the contiguous U.S. exist as small, isolated populations in the high mountains of the West. Historically, they’ve lived in California, Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

From a biological standpoint, the Fish and Wildlife Service believes endangered species status is warranted for Gulo gulo luscus. "Climate changes are predicted to reduce wolverine habitat and range by 23 percent over the next 30 years and 63 percent over the next 75 years, rendering remaining wolverine habitat significantly smaller and more fragmented," said a 2011 agency report.

A decision on the wolverine’s status is expected before the end of this year. If the feds proceed with the listing, then a Colorado reintroduction seems feasible. By definition, wolverine habitat is inhospitable to humans and only 1 percent of that habitat overlaps with ski areas. Moreover, the 20-40-pound wolverines rarely prey on large game, whether wild or domestic; they prefer carrion or small, high-country mammals.

– Bob Ward

Fighting Climate Change with Star Power

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 17:15:17 GMT

For those who haven’t yet heard of a McTwist, Backside Rodeo or Triple Cork, check out the ESPN Winter X Games, which are in full swing, right now, in Aspen, Colo.

It’s a media circus and a Mecca for slouching pilgrims in baggy snowboard pants. But wait up, Dude, there’s more happening here than Red Bull hype and on-snow carnage. Between laps on the superpipe or the slopestyle course, athletes are spreading the word about climate change.

The X Games themselves aren’t entirely green. On Thursday night beneath the floodlights, crowds watched the Snowmobile Freestyle Final, in which competitors performed gasoline-powered midair flips on their sleds. Pure fossil-fueled insanity, brah.

But during the day, a handful of extreme athletes appeared at schools across Colorado’s Western Slope, urging school children to save snow from the threat of global warming. Under the aegis of Protect Our Winters (POW), Olympic snowboard silver medalist and four-time X Games gold medalist Gretchen Bleiler spoke at a high school in Carbondale (30 miles to the northwest), while her freeskiing colleagues and competitors spoke at schools in nearby Basalt, Glenwood Springs and Gypsum. The athletes, assisted by experts from the Alliance for Climate Education, share their own stories and multimedia presentations about climate science and potential solutions.

Protect Our Winters photo

POW’s Hot Planet/Cool Athletes program has sent iconic winter athletes to schools around the country since its inception in 2011, and the group estimates the program has reached 15,000 members of the next generation through its high school assemblies.

That’s some sick PR, Dawg.

– Bob Ward

News: Instagram Still Owns Your Photos

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 23:30:00 GMT

The online photo-sharing service Instagram updated its privacy notices, making a big deal about how it has responded to its users who were alarmed at the revelation that Instagram can do whatever it wants with your photos.

What changed, exactly? Nothing. Nothing has changed.

Instagram doesn’t own your photos. But it can do what it likes with them. Which, really – what’s the difference between owning something and being able to do whatever you want with that something?

By using Instagram …

… you hereby grant to Instagram a non-exclusive, fully paid and royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide license to use the Content that you post …

In other words: it can do what it likes with your photos. And so can anyone else. When you post to Instagram, you divorce yourself from control of your images. It’s not illegal in any way for anyone to use your photos off Instagram. So much for the integrity of the artist.

- Reilly Capps

Yes, It's Cold in New York

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 17:57:33 GMT

By Reilly Capps

East Coasters think that the whole world is the East Coast, when in fact the East Coast is only four-fifths of the world (approximately). So whatever is happening in New York matters more than what happens to the sad people who live in states that are not New York, whatever those states might be called.

So when a super hurricane slams into the East Coast, suddenly climate-change is an issue. When an insane person shoots people on the East Coast, suddenly guns are an issue. When And, this week, when it is cold, suddenly global warming no longer exists.

Twitter is full of annoying East Coasters (you could end that sentence right there, and it would always be true) who are complaining today today about how cold it is (18 degrees in Manhattan at this moment). There are lots of hashtags like #WhatGlobalWarming and #GlobalWarningIsAMyth, with pictures of ice and snow offered as proof.

Here are five quick responses you can post to your narcissistic friends who believe that the weather where they are is the only weather that exists:

1. The glaciers are still melting. Why don't you truck some of that snow from your doorstep up to Greenland?

2. It's hot in Australia. Kangaroos have swamped the barbershops, asking for buzz cuts.

3. On average, the Earth is warming. Here's a nice visualization.

A House Not So Divided

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 12:18:19 GMT

So, President Obama finally decided to speak frankly and strongly about climate change. He chose to avoid the subject during the election campaign, but signaled in his inauguration speech that he feels it’s time to act.

Perhaps the president recently read a study from George Mason University and Yale University, entitled “Global Warming’s Six Americas,” which found that an increasing number of Americans not only believe global warming is real, human-caused and threatening, but to varying degrees they support policies to combat it.

Additionally, even the minority that doesn’t support action on global warming does support conversion to renewable energy sources.

The Six Americas study, which has been updated several times since its 2009 inception, maintains the American public can be divided into six distinct groups on the topic of global warming. The researchers labeled the six groups Alarmed (13 percent), Concerned (26 percent), Cautious (29 percent), Disengaged (6 percent), Doubtful (15 percent) and Dismissive (10 percent).

At opposite ends of the spectrum, the “alarmed” crowd is most likely to support policies to combat global warming, while the “dismissive” group simply doesn’t believe in global warming and won’t support action to fight it. Interestingly, however, both the “alarmed” and “dismissive” groups, along with the others in between, do support a national conversion to clean energy sources like solar, wind and geothermal.

Three key take-away points:

1. America is less divided on global warming than is often assumed.
2. There is strong support for accelerating the transition to clean energy.
3. There is growing support for Congress, the president and industry to take action on climate change

Read the report. The American public is not in agreement, but it does appear more solution-minded than Congress.

– Bob Ward

Until the New 'Cosmos' Comes ...

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 04:01:44 GMT

By Reilly Capps

I'm atwitter. My excitement at the news that "Cosmos" is going to be updated by Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Seth MacFarlane keeps me shaking with anticipation, or perhaps that's my caffeine addiction.

There never was a show so deep, so insightful, so transformative as "Cosmos." Carl Sagan literally changed the way we look at the world. And he did it by telling the remarkable story of the universe and our relationship to it in a way that is every bit as compelling as the best creation myths of the world's best religion. Only this story, as explained by Sagan, is so much better because it's not made up.

The only thing that could make this re-boot better than the original is if Seth MacFarlane adds poop jokes.

Until then, here's a brilliant and beautiful little clip with Sagan. Watch it once a week to remind yourself how cool it is to be alive.

Strong Words on Climate Change and the Meaning of Life

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 18:31:08 GMT

It’s doubtful that, regarding climate change, any more forceful words were ever spoken on a grander stage than they were today. The re-inaugurated president reminded us that we can’t just live for ourselves, but that we’re obligated to do our best for generations that come after.

We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations.Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms. The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But American cannot resist this transition. We must lead it. We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries. We must claim its promise. That’s how we will maintain our economic vitality and our national treasure, our forests and waterways, our crop lands and snow capped peaks. That is how we will preserve our planet, commanded to our care by God. That’s what will lend meaning to the creed our fathers once declared.

Those last two sentences are the most powerful.

It’s hard to remember a person with such power so clearly state that fighting climate change will not only help our economy and save lives, but that it has a spiritual, moral, existential and ontological dimension. That it can lend meaning to the most cherished words handed down to us. That fighting climate change connects us both to the past and the future.

Any hope we might have of finding meaning or purpose in our lives is sure to lie in our ability to join with something greater than ourselves, to link up our own small powers with something greater, whether family, God, country, an idea or even just one other person. Living only for yourself, making no impact on anything else, is almost the definition of meaninglessness.

The president, and many others who are calling for us to pay better attention to the natural world we are a part of is offering us a chance to find meaning in our lives.

Here’s the speech. The bit on climate change starts at 12:00.

The Most Badass Photo of All Time?

Sun, 20 Jan 2013 11:07:00 GMT

Quora asks.

The readers favor this one:

But I’m going with this dude refusing to salute Hitler.

Sometimes doing nothing is the best thing you can do.

- Reilly Capps