Reader Tips

A lot of veteran teachers suggest that the children of immigrants, particularly those from from Asia, tend to be more disciplined and less distracted than other students who are often more interested in partying and video games than the pursuit of scholastic excellence. American songwriter Randy Newman proposes a solution to this lack of discipline: non-immigrant students should simply purchase their very own Korean Parents.
They’ll be strict, but they’ll be fair.
The comments are open for your Reader Tips.

Now Is The Time At SDA When We Juxtapose!


October 19th, 2010
In Ontario on Tuesday, Health Promotion Minister Margarett Best suggested it might investigate a new fast-food item. KFC has introduced to Canadians its Double Down – two slabs of seasoned fried chicken sandwiching bacon, cheese and secret sauce.
October 28th, 2010[T]he Double Down has become KFC Canada’s best-selling new menu item ever. By Sunday — less than two weeks after the product launched — the company said it will have sold more than 350,000 across the country.
Contact the Minister here to demand she investigate the public health threat posed by Conservative blogs.

Humphry Slocombe VS San Francisco Chronicle

Think about it: A barely two-year-old business with no marketing budget in a modest storefront in a less-than-fashionable part of town now has a larger and arguably more passionate audience than a once-mighty metro daily that traces its history back to 1865.
How did it happen and what does it portend for what’s left of the Chronicle and the newspaper business?

It could just be that people like ice cream.

We Don’t Need No Stinking Giant Fans

SDA gets results!

New wind farms are needed to have any chance of creating enough renewable energy to reduce reliance on coal and gas power production. But planning approvals for them in England are at an all-time low, with only one in three applications getting the go-ahead from councils in the face of angry and organised opposition from people living nearby.
More than 230 separate local campaign groups against wind farms are operating across the UK, from Scotland and Kent to Norfolk, Yorkshire and Cornwall. These groups are scoring striking successes in defeating planned wind farms – even when faced with the weight of official recommendations.

More… “The Danish company Skykon, which took over the Vestas wind turbine factory in Kintyre last year, has announced it is suspending payments to its creditors. “
h/t Maz2, Daniel

The Sound Of Settled Science

Judith Curry responds to charges of “heresy”;

Let me ask you this. So how are things going for you lately? A year ago, the climate establishment was on top of the world, masters of the universe. Now we have a situation where there have been major challenges to the reputations of a number of a number of scientists, the IPCC, professional societies, and other institutions of science. The spillover has been a loss of public trust in climate science and some have argued, even more broadly in science. The IPCC and the UNFCCC are regarded by many as impediments to sane and politically viable energy policies. The enviro advocacy groups are abandoning the climate change issue for more promising narratives. In the U.S., the prospect of the Republicans winning the House of Representatives raises the specter of hearings on the integrity of climate science and reductions in federal funding for climate research.
What happened? Did the skeptics and the oil companies and the libertarian think tanks win? No, you lost. All in the name of supporting policies that I don’t think many of you fully understand. What I want is for the climate science community to shift gears and get back to doing science, and return to an environment where debate over the science is the spice of academic life. And because of the high relevance of our field, we need to figure out how to provide the best possible scientific information and assessment of uncertainties. This means abandoning this religious adherence to consensus dogma.

h/t Maz2

Reader Tips

There are great love songs, and then there’s tonight’s amusing misfire which sees a legendary Wagnerian tenor making an ill-advised foray into popular music. Intended (one assumes) as an earnest romantic plea, the song instead evokes a Homer Simpson-esque chap with a chewed up stogie in one hand and an oniony hot dog in the other pleading his hopeless case to an indifferent moll. When the backing choir swells to prop up his wailing entreaty, it just gets worse. From the Florence Foster Jenkins-heavy album Murder On The High C’s – I highly recommend it – here’s Lauritz Melchior singing – nae, beggingPlease Don’t Say No.
The comments are open for your Reader Tips.

l’Effing Stupid Puis Des Votes Ethniques

Heh. ” Who’s laughing now, artsy, hipster white boys?
(Update: The Vanity Press suffers a sudden attack of shyness.… SDA gets results!)
Indeed“Progressives in Toronto have done a good job talking to each other about what’s best for regular folks, for the poor, for immigrants. But they’ve done a piss poor job of talking to those constituencies, and perhaps just as poor a job listening to them.”

Y2Kyoto: We’re Winning

Here’s something that you can bring to the bank: With regard to global warming, the major purveyors of news in the industrialized world will be climbing down from their various versions of frenzied alarmism. Here’s something else that you can bring to your banker: the climb-down will be sneaky. On the other hand, when the series of editorial re-positionings is visible to casual members of the public at all, it will be beyond awkward.
How do I know? Because the process has already begun.

Related!
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