Statistics for the eighth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News

As I promised first in Happy Birthday to the blog and Nowruz Mubarak (Happy Persian New Year)! and again in CNN's 'Dirty Water: Danger from the Tap' on World Water Day, it's time for me to report on the statistics for the eighth year of this blog.

Blogger recorded that this blog had a lifetime total of 2,168,149 page views and 3853 posts at 11:59 PM EDT March 20, 2019.  In addition, I counted 361 comments since March 21, 2018.  The equivalent numbers from the seventh year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News were 3465 entries, 1,630,513 page views, and 2,391 comments during the first six years of the blog.  The result was that the blog earned 537,636 page views while I posted 388 entries during 365 days.  Those are fewer page views and comments for more posts than during the seventh year of blogging here, 682,128 page views and 488 comments from my readers and me on 364 entries.  That's a first, and not a good one, either.  Follow over the jump for my analysis of what went "wrong."

July 2016 hottest month on record yet

New Scientist has the summary in July was the hottest month in history.

NASA's records show that Earth's temperature was hotter than it has been since measurements began.

USA Today has more details.

July was 1.51 degrees higher than average. The previous record-holder for hottest month was July 2011.

July's record-breaking heat follows a wave of shattered records this year — the first six months of the year have been the warmest half-year on record.

Phil Plait at Slate noted how long the record-breaking streak has gone on, writing "For the sixth seventh eighth ninth 10th month in a row, we’ve had a month that has broken the global high temperature record."  As my readers can see, the streak has continued since April.

USA Today reported records for the U.S., too.

July was yet another hotter-than-average month across the U.S., and folks in New Mexico and Florida were really feeling the heat.

Both states had their hottest July on record, and overall, it was Florida's second-hottest month ever. The Sunshine State's all-time hottest month was June 1998.

With a nationwide average temperature of 75.3 degrees, July was the USA's 14th-warmest July on record, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.
...
For the year to date, the nation is seeing its third-warmest year on record. Every state is warmer-than-average so far this year, with Alaska record warm.

Yesterday, I wrote that I'd post another retrospective unless I got distracted by a shiny object.  I must say this is quite the shiny object!  That written, expect the retrospective series to continue tomorrow with January 2016's stats.  Stay tuned.

De-extinction: moral imperative or techno-narcissism?

Two weeks ago, TED Talks posted Stewart Brand: The dawn of de-extinction. Are you ready?

Throughout humankind's history, we've driven species after species extinct: the passenger pigeon, the Eastern mountain lion, the dodo .... But now, says Stewart Brand, we have the technology (and the biology) to bring back species that humanity wiped out. So -- should we? Which ones? He asks a big question whose answer is closer than you may think.

Megan Gannon of LiveScience just reported the facts in Reviving the Woolly Mammoth: Will De-Extinction Become Reality?

Biologists briefly brought the extinct Pyrenean ibex back to life in 2003 by creating a clone from a frozen tissue sample harvested before the goat's entire population vanished in 2000. The clone survived just seven minutes after birth, but it gave scientists hope that "de-extinction," once a pipedream, could become a reality.

Ten years later, a group of researchers and conservationists gathered in Washington, D.C., today (March 15) for a forum called TEDxDeExtinction, hosted by the National Geographic Society, to talk about how to revive extinct animals, from the Tasmanian tiger and the saber-toothed tiger to the woolly mammoth and the North American passenger pigeon.

Though scientists don't expect a real-life "Jurassic Park" will ever be on the horizon, a species that died a few tens of thousands of years ago could be resurrected as long as it has enough intact ancient DNA.

Alan Boyle at NBC News included more opinion in his fairly even-handed article Should we revive extinct species? Watch experts debate de-extinction explaining both de-extinction and linking to the conference. In it, science writer Carl Zimmer made a vain wish.

Zimmer said the last thing that Church and his colleagues want is a genetic free-for-all over de-extinction. "They want this to be something where there's a strong consensus," he said. "This is not an off-the-reservation project."

Too late. Very shortly thereafter, the scientific and popular press went wild over it. Follow over the jump for the reaction, both pro and con.

Deer hunting--doing it wrong and right

Two stories about young people hunting have appeared on my monitor within 24 hours.  Since I'm not one to ignore signals from the Internet and I have expressed my interest in hunting deer, I'm going to put the two together.

As an example of "deer hunting, you're doing it wrong," I present two young men who ended up being the subject of a WXYZ report: 2 men accused of hunting deer in Warren.


I have only two good things to say about this story.  First, they were bow hunting, which is less dangerous than shooting a gun inside a city, which would have gotten them in even more trouble.  Second, it's still deer archery season, which lasts until January 1st.  My wife has a third; she thinks they were doing the City of Warren a favor by removing a deer that could have caused a traffic accident.  In case you're wondering, my wife lived in the country for 15 years, so she's had plenty of experience with deer-car collisions.  Other than that, FAIL!

Follow over the jump for the story about "hunting, you're doing it right" from Slate.

Ted Cruz, Agenda 21 conspiracy theorist, leading in Texas polls

Remember Ted Cruz?

Cruz is one of the maniacs promising people can keep their cars, McMansions, and commutes this year.

That was two months ago, when Cruz forced Texas Lt. Governor David Dewhurst into a run-off. At the time, Cruz was 10 points behind Dewhurst and not likely to win the run-off. Now, the situation is reversed, as Slate reports.

Public Policy Polling returns from Texas with a 52-42 lead for former state Soliciter General Ted Cruz in the U.S. Senate runoff. Are you dusting off your "how the Tea Party changed everything" columns? Do it now.

Over at ABC News, one of the reporters is doing just that, writing Ted Cruz appears likely to win Texas Senate runoff, thanks to tea party support.

Former state solicitor general Ted Cruz appears favored to win the Republican Senate runoff in Texas on Tuesday, which would hand the tea party a significant underdog victory in a massive state.

Tea party support stretching from high-profile figures like Sarah Palin, Rick Santorum and Jim DeMint down to grassroot volunteers helped catapult Cruz to the top slot in Tuesday's primary race. And he held his lead, despite beginning the election with less name recognition and less money than his wealthy and well-connected opponent Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.

Matt Mackowiak, a Republican consultant who divides his time between Washington, D.C. and Austin, T.X. is a Cruz supporter and gives "enormous" credit to the tea party for Cruz's come-from-behind success.

"Look, this is a low turnout primary runoff late in the summer-- it's hot, we've never had a primary this late-- it's the most committed folks that are voting," Mackowiak told Yahoo News, "and in many ways it's the tea party activists who are not only voting but who are really acting as multipliers."

At this rate, it looks like the prediction I concluded my previous post about him may be true until November.

Looks like I'm not done with blogging about politicians exploiting Agenda 21 paranoia, even after I said "Goodbye, Gingrich!"

I'll check back after the votes are tallied tonight.