cmooney
Posts by this author
September 14, 2006
My main thought on departing Portland this morning is, jeez, I'll be back in like three days.
On September 18, I will be speaking at Reed College at the invite of the Reed Secular Alliance.
Portland's Reed College, according to the Christian Century, is the most secular college in the nation--the…
September 14, 2006
I'm about to head to the Portland airport now...Seattle next. Today only contains one event, no radio bookings:
Thursday, September 146:00 PM-7:30 PMElliott Bay Books101 South Main StreetSeattle, WA 98104
Last night at the Powell's Technical Books store was a great event. I think they were a bit…
September 13, 2006
I've just found an online interview that I did with the Portland-based bookstore Powell's, where I'll also be appearing tonight. For some reason I hadn't tracked this down before now. You can read it here. Excerpt:
Have you ever taken the Geek Test? How did you rate?
I'm not sure what the Geek Test…
September 13, 2006
Okay, I'm readying myself for the criticisms and hate mail....I have agreed to debate Jonathan Wells again, this time for an hour. And it's going to be on a conservative show: The Michael Medved Show out of Seattle. We're doing it in studio, from 1 to 2 pm PT, on Friday.
Okay, now's your chance to…
September 13, 2006
Karl J. Mogel was there last night at Booksmith in Haight-Ashbury, and he's got a long rundown on the talk, plus lotsa pictures like the one above. Check it out.
Meanwhile, Brian from Backseat Driving was there the night before out in Mountain View, and also has some reactions. FYI Brian: I wasn't…
September 12, 2006
I'll be on this show from 8:30 to 9:00 am PT, or 11:30 to 12 pm ET today. I realize that's not a lot of notice. But you should be able to figure out how to listen in from here....
September 11, 2006
I've just gotten some of the pictures from my Thursday talk in La Jolla at the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals conference. They look great, thanks to Holly Connor for taking them. Here they are:
That's me using some audiovisual effects during my talk. If you want to know what it…
September 11, 2006
In my new talk, I strongly emphasize that scientists need to be strategically aware of how they are communicating their knowledge and their results in politically contentious areas. If they're not careful, not only might they communicate badly--but what they say might actually backfire.
It' hard…
September 10, 2006
I've got a busy day tomorrow in the Bay Area. So busy, unfortunately, that I probably won't have any time to track Hurricane Flo, which could be our most damaging storm of the year. I also doubt I'll be watching the perhaps-soon-to-be Tropical Storm Gordon, or keeping an eye on ShanShan in the…
September 9, 2006
My ScienceBlogging brothers and sisters have been checking out The Republican War on Science in paperback, and I appreciate recent reactions from the following (in no particular order): Uncertain Principles, Respectful Insolence, Thoughts from Kansas, Afarensis, Dispatches from the Culture Wars,…
September 9, 2006
Flo is getting organized, finally. Maximum sustained winds are at 70 mph, and minimum central pressure is now 990 mb. By the next advisory this storm may be classified as a hurricane (if it isn't one already). The media, I'm sure, must be getting very excited.
Hurricanes run the gamut in size, and…
September 8, 2006
TS Florence is giving the forecasters a hell of a time. They can't see any real reason why it hasn't strengthened--but it hasn't. Chalk up another mystery to the weird Atlantic hurricane season of 2006. As forecaster Lixion Avila amusingly puts it in his latest discussion, which follows upon…
September 8, 2006
Having done a lot of traveling and speaking, I've come to know very well that there are better and worse days in terms of how well a talk comes off, how many of the things-that-inevitably-go-wrong actually go really wrong, and so forth.
By these lights, yesterday was a near perfect day and a…
September 7, 2006
Don't look now...but the latest forecast has Florence as a strong Category 2 storm hitting Bermuda in 96 hours. Of course, that's still a long range outlook subject to the usual caveats and uncertainties. I don't know how vulnerable Bermuda is to hurricanes due to geography and such. But you know…
September 7, 2006
Well, here's the first dispatch from the road....This morning I will be on San Diego's progressive talk radio, KLSD 1360 am, at around 11 am ET, 8 am PT. You should be able to listen live here. The station website is here.
This afternoon, as previously mentioned, I'll be giving a talk on the…
September 6, 2006
[Blogged from Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport!]
Anyone concerned about how this administration has repeatedly distorted, undermined, and in some cases suppressed information about global warming should read this amicus brief (PDF). It was just filed by a distinguished group of climate scientists--…
September 5, 2006
The other day I showed you a pretty impressive image, from Remote Sensing Systems, of the cold wake left behind after Hurricane/Supertyphoon Ioke passed. The original image, dated Sept 1, is posted below:
Pretty cool, no? But now look at this image, dated Sept 4:
Note how the cold wake has…
September 5, 2006
Apparently this tiny little atoll stood up pretty well, at least according to this story:
When the crew approached the Island they weren't sure what they were going to find. "Our first assessment that we heard of the island could be pretty massive devastation. When we came to the island we flew…
September 5, 2006
The NHC has now upgraded the latest thick cloud blob to a tropical storm, making it Florence. You can see the five day cone above. Note: the forecasters describe the latest disturbance as "VERY LARGE TROPICAL STORM FLORENCE." Indeed, they've had a fair spot of trouble even pinpointing the center…
September 5, 2006
Well, it's official: On Wednesday I head out to the left coast for the start of the book tour. The first talk, on Thursday in La Jolla, will be one to remember (for me at least, and hopefully also for the audience). It will take place at the annual conference of the Association of Reproductive…
September 4, 2006
There's still not much news yet out of Wake Island, other than that there aren't any oil spills (um, why would there be?) But Hurricane/Supertyphoon Ioke left a different kind of, er, wake than its destruction of Wake. This incredible storm churned lots of cooler water up from below the ocean…
September 4, 2006
I just noticed that someone, at some point, put a bio of me up on Wikipedia. I had nothing to do with this. The information presented, and not presented, is interesting, to say the least. You can check it out here. And feel free to add or subtract; I myself feel odd messing with it, but I don't…
September 3, 2006
As you can see in the once and future path of Ioke provided by Tropical Storm Risk, this storm has now weakened dramatically as it has tracked further and further north. It's now a Category 2 storm, and no longer an apparent risk to Japan. According to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, Ioke will…
September 3, 2006
The National Hurricane Center has just officially classified the sucker pictured above, located at about 15N and 40W, as a tropical depression with 35 mph winds. It ain't named yet; it's merely TD 6 for the moment. And it's unclear where it will go--but it bears watching. If ithis one does develop…
September 3, 2006
What a great cartoon by David Horsey for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Last night on the Karel show the host asked me if there really was a "Republican War on Science" or simply a bunch of bozos hijacking the good name of the Republican Party. It was a good question, and suffice it to say that…
September 2, 2006
Again, tonight at 11 ET, 8 PT, I will be appearing for an hour on the Karel Show, which airs on ABC Radio, KGO AM 810 out of San Francisco. You should be able to listen live here, or via this website. Hope many of you can tune in....
September 1, 2006
[From CNN's Gallery on Hurricane John.]
So anyway, why am I so fascinated by the relationship between hurricanes and drinking? I present you with possible explanations in the form of a multiple choice question:
A. I grew up in New Orleans, home to the Hurricane and Pat O'Brien's.
B. I have been…
September 1, 2006
I will be on a great program, the Karel Show, for an hour starting at 8 pm Pacific, 11 pm Eastern. This show is on ABC Radio, KGO AM 810 out of San Francisco. You should be able to listen live here, or via this website.
This will be one of many upcoming interviews as I go into book promotional…
September 1, 2006
From a CNN story on those awaiting Hurricane John:
Paul Mares, another American, stocked up with a 12-pack of beer at a local store the evening before the hurricane was to strike, noting "it's good to be prepared."
September 1, 2006
The forecast team at Colorado State now says we're going to have a below average hurricane year in the Atlantic. They admit their last foreast for August was a "bust", because they had been unable to anticipate the high levels of African dust in the air that have been choking off storms, and the…