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Scientists appear to be self-censoring by omitting the term climate change in public grant summari
Climate Scientists Watch Their Words, Hoping To Stave Off Funding Cuts
An NPR analysis of grants awarded by the National Science Foundation found a steadily decreasing number with the phrase “climate change” in the title or summary, resulting in a sharp drop in the term’s use in 2017. At the same time, the use of alternative terms such as “extreme weather” appears to be rising slightly.
The change in language appears to be driven in part by the Trump administration’s open hostility to the topic of climate change. Earlier this year, President Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord, and the President’s 2018 budget proposal singled out climate change research programs for elimination.
Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency has been systematically removing references to climate change from its official website. Both the EPA’s leader, Scott Pruitt, and Secretary of Energy Rick Perry have said they do not accept the scientific consensus that humans are causing the planet to get warmer.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/11/29/564043596/climate-scientists-watch-their-words-hoping-to-stave-off-funding-cuts
Kansans beg Sen. Jerry Moran: Why take this failed experiment nationwide?
By The Kansas City Star Editorial Board
Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran is not just another Republican who has to decide which way to jump on the tax bill. For one thing, his could be the deciding vote. For another, he has already seen, first-hand, during a very painful five years, what will happen if it passes.
At a forum Moran held at the Tasty Pastry in Clay Center last weekend, one of his constituents, Robynn Andracsek, of Olathe, neatly summed up the apparent thinking behind the bill: “Let’s cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires, and then let’s figure out how to pay for it.” Instead, she pleaded with him, “Let’s do a sensible tax cut. This is Kansas. We know the trickle-down experiment doesn’t work. All of our members of Congress from Kansas should know that.”
Should but do not. Or if they do, betray no sign of it.
Every Kansan knows what happened after Gov. Sam Brownback’s 2012 cuts did away with the state income tax for some 330,000 business owners. The governor kept insisting — and in fact, still does — that robust growth and woohoo, jobs galore would result. When that didn’t happen, elected officials kept having to dip into funds set aside for highways and schools just to balance the budget. Finally, this year, lawmakers overrode a Brownback veto and at last repealed the LLC tax break and raised income tax rates.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article186974513.html#storylink=cpy
This is Cassinis Last Photo of Saturn After 13 Years in Orbit
On September 15, 2017, NASA’s Cassini space probe plunged into Saturn’s atmosphere and burned up, concluding its mission after 13 years in orbit. Two days earlier, Cassini used its wide-angle cameras and captured this beautiful final photo of the planet it had studied for over a decade.
NASA writes that Cassini spent two hours shooting a total of 80 wide-angle photos of Saturn during this planetary photo shoot. 42 of those 80 photos, shot using red/green/blue spectral filters, were combined and stitched as a mosaic to create the final natural-color photo.
Six of Saturn’s moons — Enceladus, Epimetheus, Janus, Mimas, Pandora, and Prometheus — are also faintly visible when looking at this photo up close.
more
https://petapixel.com/2017/11/25/cassinis-last-photo-saturn-13-years-orbit/
Wednesday Toon Roundup 3 - The Rest
CFPB
Sessions
Moore
Robertson
Net
Thought
Time
Police
Harassment
Wages
Climate
Santa
Mr. Fish
Julius Caesar's Britain invasion site 'found by archaeologists'
Archaeologists believe they may have uncovered the first evidence of Julius Caesar's invasion of Britain in 54BC.
The discovery of a defensive ditch and weapons led them to identify Pegwell Bay in Thanet, Kent, as the place they believe the Romans landed.
The ditch, in the nearby hamlet of Ebbsfleet, was part of a large fort, the University of Leicester team says.
Its location was consistent with clues provided by Caesar's own account of the invasion, the team said.
more
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-42155888
Trump account retweets anti-Muslim videos
Source: BBC
Donald Trump's Twitter account has retweeted three inflammatory anti-Muslim videos from a British far-right group.
The first tweet from Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of Britain First, claims to show a Muslim migrant attacking a man on crutches.
This was followed by two more videos of people Ms Fransen claims to be Muslim.
Britain First was founded in 2011 by former members of the far-right British National Party (BNP).
Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42166663
Long-haired microbes named after Canadian band Rush
Three new species of microbe found in the guts of termites have been named after members of the Canadian prog-rock band Rush, owing to the microbes’ long hair and rhythmic wriggling under the microscope.
“A Spanish postdoc, Javier del Campo, asked me to recommend some good Canadian music, and I suggested he listen to Rush,” says Patrick Keeling, a University of British Columbia microbiologist and senior author on the paper describing the new species. “He came back to me and said ‘Those microbes we’re finding have long hair like the guys on the album 2112!’”
The microbes in question are covered with flagella, which are long threads that cells use to move around. Many cells have a few flagella, but these little rockers have more than ten thousand very long flagella, giving them flowing hair that even Farrah Fawcett might envy.
And while Rush may not be famous for their dance moves, the tiny creatures also have rhythm. They bob their heads and sway their bodies in microscopic dances, prompting the researchers to baptize the new Pseudotrichonympha species P. leei, P. lifesoni, and P. pearti after musicians Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart.
more
https://science.ubc.ca/news/long-haired-microbes-named-after-canadian-band-rush
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