Krugman wagging the Dalek on Real Time

Speaking of "Science Fiction Political Theater," Nancy over at Reason Creek posted this video of Paul Krugman on Real Time proposing that the government get the country out of recession by preparing for a fake alien invasion.




If this looks familiar, it's because I've blogged about it before, twice. Wag the Dalek!

I was in a foul mood until I watched this video

I was annoyed about the conclusion to Tuesday's episode of Science Fiction Political Theater until I watched this video that my wife shared on her Facebook wall. It seems that the British have their own version of corn pone fascism in the BNP, which this song originally addressed, although the artist herself has since directed it at other targets.




There, I feel much better. Don't you?

Yesterday in Science Fiction Political Theater

It looks like I coined a phrase when I typed "Science Fiction Political Theater" as part of the title of yesterday's post. A Google search shows that I'm the only person to use it as a complete unit (the other result was dismissing an Arab proposal as "science fiction. Political theater" which is the same search string, but not the same usage; the period makes a difference), making yesterday's entry a first. That's the good news.

The bad news is that when I made the snarky comment that "Arnold Schwarzenegger can't have all the fun," the comparison to the Governator was a little too apt. After all, he was the hero in both the movie and the California Recall. That's right, he got to star in both the original and the real-world remake. So when Scott Walker ended up being the star of yesterday's political drama, he got the benefit of being the protagonist instead of the antagonist. Phooey. The real protagonists were Wisconsin's voters, but they didn't get the star billing. Too bad. That's the meme that needs to take hold.

At least there was a consolation prize in yesterday's vote for the Democrats; they got the majority back in the state senate.

State Senate - District 21 - Special General
60 of 60 Precincts Reporting - 100%
Name               Party Votes Vote %
Lehman, John       Dem   36,255 51%
Wanggaard, Van (i) GOP   35,476 49%

Wisconsin is no longer effectively a one-party state. Too bad the same can't be said about Michigan.

Today on Science Fiction Political Theater...

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 Arnold Schwarzenegger can't have all the fun.

Space and astronomy stories for the week of Memorial Day

In Sustainability news from commericial sources for the week before Memorial Day I wrote "Time to move on to the next installment of space news!" And so it is. Here are the space and astronomy stories from Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Venus Transit, Partial Eclipse, and Total Recall edition) on Daily Kos.

First up, a summary of this week's events involving NASA, including three successful tests of vehicles for the Commercial Crew Development Program.

NASA Television on YouTube: Dragon's Back on This Week @NASA

The first commercial spacecraft to journey to the International Space Station returns safely to Earth. Also, new milestones for other commercial crew/cargo spacecraft; John Glenn awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom at White House; and more!

Darksyde on Daily Kos had even more to say about Dragon's return, along with other space and science news, in This week in science: Spin me round.

Join me over the jump for news about the upcoming partial lunar eclipse, the transit of Venus, and other space and astronomy news.

Sustainability news from commercial sources for the week before Memorial Day

Yesterday, I boasted:

Would you believe I have enough material left for a post about sustainability news from commercial sources? Believe it.

Over the jump are all the posts from commercial sources included in Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Dragon docks with ISS edition) on Daily Kos last week.

Examiner.com article on warmest spring in Detroit history

I decided to convert two posts from last month into a paying article on Examiner.com once the record was confirmed.




Examiner.com: Warmest spring in Detroit history

Detroit just completed the warmest spring in recorded history, according to the National Weather Service Forecast Office for Detroit and Pontiac. The average temperature from March 1 through May 31 was 55.2 degrees F, more than two degrees warmer than the previous record warm spring in 2010 and at least five degrees warmer than normal. The record includes the warmest March in Detroit's history, which the NWS Forecast Office called "the most unusual climate event to ever be recorded in Southeast Michigan" as well as record high temperatures for several days in May, including 94 degrees F on Memorial Day, breaking the previous record by two degrees.
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Record warmth has also been the experience of the rest of the United States, according to NOAA. The first four months of 2012 have been the warmest first four months of any year for the contiguous United States, with an average temperature of 45.4 degrees F, 5.4 degrees F above the long-term average. Twenty-six states, all east of the Rockies, recorded their highest averages for the four-month period, and an additional 17 states had temperatures for the period among their ten warmest.

In addition, the twelve consecutive months ending in April 2012 were the warmest in U.S. history. The twelve-month running average temperature for the contiguous U.S. was 55.7 degrees F, which is 2.8 degrees F above the Twentieth Century average. These months included the second hottest summer, fourth warmest winter, and warmest March ever recorded for the contiguous United States. Twenty-two states set records for highest average temperatures during the 12-month period, and an additional nineteen states experienced temperatures among the ten highest in their histories.

Five more paragraphs at the link.

I'll also be promoting this article on Daily Kos as part of Overnight News Digest tonight.

Sustainability news from campuses on the campaign trail for the week before Memorial Day

Even after sorting the stories from Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Dragon docks with ISS edition) into theme posts about space, education, and health along with one story forming the core of a sustainability-related polical post, I still have enough left over for a post of their own. Continue over the jump for stories from Arkansas, Texas, and Wisconsin.

Environmental health news from universities on the campaign trail 1

Time to jump into a new series with help from an existing one.

Sometimes when I'm preparing a linkspam, a distinct theme emerges connecting many of the week's articles. That's what inspired me to compose U.S.-China EcoPartnerships: The CoDominion plans for sustainability, one of my most read entries, as well as Universities studying and promoting civility in politics, among others.

That's how I opened Sustainability education news from campuses on the campaign trail, which spawned a sequel. It turns out that the bulk of the stories from last week's Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Dragon docks with ISS edition), after I stipped out the space and education stories, also has a theme--environmental health and safety and health as a sustainability issue. Looks like a good series idea to me. That written, here are the health stories from public universities in Kentucky, Texas, and Wisconsin for the week before Memorial Day over the jump.

Nablopomo for June: Jump

So, what's this month's theme?

JUMP

Every year when the pool opened, the first thing I needed to do was jump off the high dive. The whole act of jumping terrified me, and if I didn't do it as the first thing when I got to the pool, I would let that fall grow to epic proportions in my mind until I couldn't get myself to climb the ladder, and I'd kick myself the rest of the summer.

At BlogHer, we're going to encourage you this month to jump.

Jump into a new project, jump into a new idea, and most certainly jump into something that terrifies you so you can get over it. We're going to look at things that make us happy so we can jump for joy through our words. And we're going to look at things that make us nervous and jumpy.
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So start thinking about different things you want to jump into this week.

At first, I thought that the theme of the month would come off as ironic considering that nearly everything I follow fell today. Then I noticed that the jump described was actually taking a plunge. That fits today's news perfectly. Even better, the concluding blogging idea was "look[ing] at things that make us nervous and jumpy." That's the entire purpose of this blog. I might as well jump!