Time-lapse perseids for the Recent commenters

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

The capacity of plants to act as a carbon sink could be on the decline.

As global temperatures have risen in recent decades, the amount of atmospheric carbon being converted into plant biomass has increased in step. However, in a paper published today in Science, ecologists Maosheng Zhao and Steve Running at the University of Montana in Missoula report a surprising reversal of this trend over the last decade, despite its having been the warmest on record¹.

Souce

"Ce qui vient au monde pour ne rien troubler ne mérite ni égards ni patience." René Char

keep to the Fen Causeway

keep to the Fen Causeway

The 21st century will not be dominated by America or China, Brazil or India, but by the city. In an age that appears increasingly unmanageable, cities rather than states are becoming the islands of governance on which the future world order will be built. This new world is not -- and will not be -- one global village, so much as a network of different ones.

Time, technology, and population growth have massively accelerated the advent of this new urbanized era. Already, more than half the world lives in cities, and the percentage is growing rapidly. But just 100 cities account for 30 percent of the world's economy, and almost all its innovation. Many are world capitals that have evolved and adapted through centuries of dominance: London, New York, Paris. New York City's economy alone is larger than 46 of sub-Saharan Africa's economies combined. Hong Kong receives more tourists annually than all of India. These cities are the engines of globalization, and their enduring vibrancy lies in money, knowledge, and stability. They are today's true Global Cities.

South Carolina's US Senate race is a media extravaganza. Jim DeMint, the radical right
Republican incumbent and tea partier and Alvin Greene, a mysterious, unknown Democrat and action figure enthusiast who has been indicted on a felony obscenity charge are joined by Tom Clements, a peace and environmental activist. Newcomer Clements is the Green Party nominee and a life-long activist involved with vital public interest issues affecting South Carolina, the United States and the world. Clements excels in political research and advocacy....

DeMint, a former paper salesman and ad executive, is the hero of the far right. Media is drawn to the enigmatic Greene, giving him more coverage than any candidate in America according to the Pew Research Center. DeMint is the most ultra-conservative Senator in Congress. Greene would stimulate the economy by selling action figures of himself, which could include a jailbird, considering  his indictment for showing pornography to a teenage student. But Clements' record of public service and activism gives him the credibility to be a Senator for all the people.
Read more...

Then I looked to see what was showing.

Have a choice between seven standard boring Hollywood crap films you couldn't pay to sit through or three standard boring Hollywood crap films in 3D you couldn't pay to sit through.

Time to dig through the DVDs.

(sigh)

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre