I'm not one of those "Al Gore is a big fat hypocrite for talking about global warming because he flies on airplanes" clowns. But I think there may be a teeny problem with the way we're describing Paul Allen in the first line of this story: A yacht owned by Microsoft co-founder and marine conservationist … Continue reading Today’s great deed in conservation

I hope you're sitting down, because this is a real stunner: The Syrian opposition said it will not attend peace talks due to begin in Geneva on Friday, derailing the first attempt in two years to hold negotiations aimed at ending the five-year-long war. An opposition council convening in Riyadh said its delegation would "certainly" … Continue reading Totally unforeseen

Any candidates or would-be candidates out there who might happen upon this, let me offer you some advice. I am not a veteran of the war room or the trenches or whatever dumb war metaphor you people like to use to describe taking money from very rich people to pay for the advice of other … Continue reading Free political advice

The Washington Post's editorial board wrote a pretty blistering attack on Bernie Sanders and his "fiction-filled campaign" last night. It includes a few fair points--Sanders does tend to brush off questions about the very real legislative challenges his agenda would face with a lot of way-too-optimistic talk about "political revolutions" and the like--and a bunch … Continue reading The opposite effect

The Nation has a very interesting piece today by Madeleine Schwartz called "The Origins of the Blood Libel." It's a book review for E.M. Rose's The Murder of William of Norwich, which I haven't read so I can't say whether it's worth reading or not, but the review at least is definitely worth your time. … Continue reading Your blood libel reading for today

Rio de Janeiro, as you may know, is hosting the Olympics this August. I'm sure many people are very excited. I'm not sure that any potential participants in the open-water swimming or sailing events are too excited, though, since it appears they'll be competing in the microbial equivalent of an open sewer: A new round … Continue reading Looking ahead to the 2016 Summer Poolympics

Sorry for the light posting today. I realized that I'm very backed up on paid projects and was able to clear one of those and part of another. While we're on the subject, posting may be light for the rest of the week while I try to get back on top of things. Also, I … Continue reading Watching Moldova

Lake Poopó, which was once Bolivia's second-largest lake, is now gone, its water content down to a shocking 2% of what it once was. A few days ago, NASA released a satellite image showing the extent of the situation, which resembles nothing so much as the destruction of the Aral Sea in Central Asia. And … Continue reading Trashing the place