Monthly Archives: August 2010

Reality: Disasters – that is, disruptions of entire communities, persisting after an extreme has come and gone, and exceeding a community’s ability to recover on its own – are largely a social construct. Consider this simple example. Meteorologists call a … Continue reading →

Reality: The Earth does much of its business through extreme events. The reason that the Arctic and Antarctic aren’t even colder? And that the equator isn’t warmer? In the winter hemisphere, about half of the heat transport from equator to … Continue reading →

“…we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate – we can not hallow – this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.” – Abraham Lincoln, … Continue reading →

Several sites, including the AMS blog, The Front Page, picked up the last post, “Knowing what the Earth will do next?…priceless…” There the post prompted this comment, contributed by Quyen Arana: “Politicians have been putting valuations on policies since citizens … Continue reading →

When it comes to valuation…what is a product or service worth?…maybe the MasterCard folks say it best. Let’s paraphrase them. Cost of the Earth’s observing systems, satellite- and surface- based (ocean and land)? Some very few tens of billions of … Continue reading →

“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, refuses to go away.”                                                                sometimes attributed to Philip K. Dick, in “How to Build a Universe that Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later” Yesterday’s reality? Our propensity to argue. Here’s … Continue reading →

“Civilization exists by geologic consent, subject to change without notice.”                                                                                                                                                                                       generally attributed to Will Durant “And I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”                                                                                                                                                       … Continue reading →

The last of the out-of-town participants have pulled out of town by now. Our State College hosts, including AccuWeather, Penn State, and the National Weather Service, are no doubt breathing a collective sigh of relief. Today we’re all rediscovering our … Continue reading →

Robert White, former head of the Weather Bureau (back in the 1960’s), and the first NOAA Administrator, tells the following story. President Nixon established the Environmental Protection Agency and NOAA in the same year, 1970. He set up EPA as … Continue reading →

Back in the 1990’s, while still working at NOAA, I was once part of a two-day U.S.-Japan bilateral discussion in Tokyo on science and technology issues. Bill Clinton was President. Walter Mondale, Jimmy Carter’s former Vice President, was then ambassador … Continue reading →