Offshore Oil Drilling

Coming to a California Coast near you!

The federal government is taking steps that may open California's fabled coast to oil drilling in as few as three years, an action that could place dozens of platforms off the Sonoma, Mendocino and Humboldt coasts, and raises the specter of spills, air pollution and increased ship traffic into San Francisco Bay.

The federal government is taking steps that may open California's fabled coast to oil drilling in as few as three years, an action that could place dozens of platforms off the Sonoma, Mendocino and Humboldt coasts, and raises the specter of spills, air pollution and increased ship traffic into San Francisco Bay.

You really have to hand it to Democrats bowing to the mighty power of the oil industry during last summer's gas price sky-rocket. Offshore oil drilling was never a short-term solution to gas prices and their decision not to press the Bush administration on renewing the ban looks even sillier today. Hopefully Boxer and Pelosi can block this or President Obama can reinstate the executive order before any rights are sold.

Photo by Flickr user tsuda used under a creative Commons License.

Friday Photo Blogging

Cherry Head Redfoot Tortoise
Geochelone carbinaria
Needs a little moisturizer though :)

Moments in Hackery

An article in a pet trade magazine Pet Age about the worries of the pet industry in regards to an Obama administration is pretty awesome in its ability to be such a worthless piece of hack-job journalism. Congratulations to Cathy Foster. As Atrios would say. Wanker of the Day!

For starters this is piece has a lot of quotes from various pet shop owners. Most of their quotes are full of right-wing talking points and not a single quote was published from a source who felt an Obama administration may stregthen their business, despite Pet Age's own (unscientific) poll showing that 25% percent of respondents thought that an Obama administration would be better for their business compared to 33% who thought they would be worse off. I have given interviews with Pet Age magazine over the last year and we were never asked our view on this issue when it was out there for everyone to see. Ms. Foster could have hardly looked far for an opinion contrary to the article she wanted to write.

Now, granted there were more people fearful than hopeful, so what does this mean. I think this goes to the heart of our industry where so many people fear us coastal liberals trying to take away their money and what-not. Even when an Obama administration are probably more aligned with thier views.

Is this Obama fear because most pet store owners are making more than $250,000 a year and are worried their taxes will be raised. Maybe but I doubt it. I think it is a lot of misinformed people worrying about their taxes being raised such as a person quoted in the story.

Larry Greenberg, owner of Animal Magnetism (Naples, Fla.), also is worried his taxes might increase under the Obama administration, despite campaign promises that only those who make more than $250,000 would see a tax hike. “A week before the election, he changed that $250,000 to $100,000. Who knows what it’s going to be? It will definitely affect individuals and Sub S corporations. What about [other] corporate returns?”

Now I am sure some Pet retailers are worried about the Obama Administration and their bottom line, but I think the economy and health care are going to be much bigger factors in our collective economic outcomes than a potential tax increase.

A National Health Care plan of some sort would take the health insurance burden off of the small business, I thought a good thing for struggling small business. Better protection of our natural resources will allow more people to experiance herps in the wild and bring about a better appreciation of them and lead to more people wanting to care for them in thier homes as pets, again I think a good thing for the pet reatiler. If people are worried about more regulations in regards to pet quality of life, then maybe they need to examine the treatment of pets in puppy mills etc.

In addition to worrying about the new administration’s effect on the general business climate, some pet retailers who sell puppies and other pets also are concerned it could pave the way to extreme laws regarding animal sales. “That’s certainly possible,” said Greenberg. “If more rampant liberalism takes hold, then certainly the more radical as well as the more moderate pet organizations could certainly get some legislation through that would harm the business.”

Because rampant Conservatism has been so good for business. In case people have forgotten, he has been President during this economic disaster.

But back to the point of wankery, this was a very one-sided article and I am not arguing balance for the sake of balance, but even Pet Age's own poll shows that there are a far more people who think that the Obama administration will have a positive or no effect on their business that think there will be a negative affect, but you would never know it from this article.

Scientists involved in Science Policy

Gasp!

Hopefully this is true. Having a Nobel Prize winning scientist as Sec. of Energy would be a major change from the usual industry insiders in charge of our energy policy.

The Washington Post’s Al Kamen reports that there’s “buzz” that the Obama transition is “looking hard at some scientific types” to lead the Energy Department. Dr. Steven Chu, the Nobel laureate director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, is reportedly a dark horse candidate.

In a presentation at this summer’s National Clean Energy Summit convened by the University of Nevada Las Vegas, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), and the Center for American Progress Action Fund, Dr. Chu described why he has moved from his background in experimental quantum physics to tackling global warming.

Best of Berkeley 2008

You love us! You really love us!

Bush to Eliminate Neurotoxin Regulation

Now you can get your water with as much neurotoxin in it as you (or polluters) wish.

Among the Bush administration's final environmental legacies will be a decision to exempt perchlorate, a known neurotoxin found at unsafe levels in the drinking water of millions of Americans, from federal regulation.

The ruling, proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency in October, was supposed to be formalized on Monday. That deadline passed, but the agency expects to announce its decision by the year's end, before president-elect Barack Obama takes office. It could take years to reverse.

Critics accuse the EPA of ignoring expert advice and basing their decision on an abstract model of perchlorate exposure, rather than existing human data.

"We know that breast milk is widely contaminated with perchlorate, and we know that young children are especially vulnerable. We have really good human data. So why are they putting a model front-and-center?" said Anila Jacobs at the nonprofit Environmental Working Group. "And they used a model that hasn't yet gone through the peer-review process."

London Zoo Hatches a rhino rat

The London Zoo hatches some Rhino Rats with cool pics

Friday Photo Blogging

Norops biporcatus
Green tree anole
Taken on Isle Bastimentos
Bocas Del Toro, Panama by myself.

Identifying 400 year old Bodies

The body of Copernicus has been identified.

Researchers said Thursday they have identified the remains of Nicolaus Copernicus by comparing DNA from a skeleton and hair retrieved from one of the 16th-century astronomer's books.

The findings could put an end to centuries of speculation about the exact resting spot of Copernicus, a priest and astronomer whose theories identified the Sun, not the Earth, as the center of the universe.

Polish archaeologist Jerzy Gassowski told a news conference that forensic facial reconstruction of the skull that his team found in 2005 buried in a Roman Catholic Cathedral in Frombork, Poland, bears striking resemblance to existing portraits of Copernicus.

Photo of DNA gel by Flickr user Spanish Flea used under a CCL

Science and Medicine Quick Links

A study published in PLOS Medicine shows that Republicans are preventing research in critical areas such as HIV.

The first organ transplant of an organ grown entirely from stem cells was done in Spain. Five months later the patient is thriving.

The Woolly Mammoth genome has been compiled.

Asian poaching rings are getting more complex, suggests a recent bust.

Photo by Flickr user Hey Paul used under a Creative Commons License.

Friday Photo Blogging

Unknown species of spider found on Pipeline Road above Boquete, Panama 1600 ft elevation about 10PM at eye-level in the understory.

Losing the Axolotl

Sad news of axolotls nearing extinction in the wild.

The number of axolotls (pronounced ACK-suh-LAH-tuhl) in the wild is not known. But the population has dropped from roughly 1,500 per square mile in 1998 to a mere 25 per square mile this year, according to a survey by Zambrano's scientists using casting nets.

It has been a steep fall from grace for the salamander with a feathery mane of gills and a visage reminiscent of a 1970s Smiley Face that inspired American poet Ogden Nash to pen the witticism: "I've never met an axolotl, But Harvard has one in a bottle."

Millions once lived in the giant lakes of Xochimilco and Chalco on which Mexico City was built. Using four stubby legs to drag themselves along lake bottoms or their thick tails to swim like mini-alligators, they hunted plentiful aquatic insects, small fish and crustaceans.

Legend has it that Xolotl — the dog-headed Aztec god of death, lightning and monstrosities — feared he was about to be banished or killed by other gods and changed into an axolotl to flee into Lake Xochimilco.

The axolotl's decline began when Spanish conquerors started draining the lakes, which were further emptied over time to slake the thirst of one of the world's largest and fastest-growing cities. In the 1970s, Lake Chalco was completely drained to prevent flooding. In the 1980s, Mexico City began pumping its wastewater into the few canals and lagoons that remained of Xochimilco.

Hopefully the captive animals in the United States and elsewhere could be used in the future to replenish wild supplies, but first the non-native predators would have to be exterminated, so it does not look good for the little axolotl.

h/t and photo by ecov ottos (Xian)

Lincecum!

Wins the Cy Young! A rare bright spot in Bay Area Sports this year. Congrats. Not really even close in the vote totals either.

Lincecum received 23 of 32 first-place votes and 137 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Brandon Webb of the Arizona Diamondbacks got four first-place votes and finished second with 73 points.

Listed at 5-foot-11 and 160 pounds, tiny by today's standards for a big league pitcher, Lincecum defied detractors -- and the laws of physics -- by firing 97 mph fastballs past one hulking slugger after another.

Missing Tortoise Found

A bay area tortoise missing for 6 weeks mysteriously reappears in his yard. Good to see he is home.

Butch the tortoise, who gets around, is back home in Cupertino.

The 150-year-old reptile turned up Monday morning in the front yard of his home, following a mysterious six-week disappearance that left his owners, Penny and Chuck Carle, shell shocked.

...

The Carles suspect that someone snatched Butch from the yard and then returned him when the reptile began growing lethargic, as tortoises do as winter approaches. But they don't know for sure, and Butch isn't talking.

Olbermann on Prop 8

Transcript

Guessing Game

Which of the following quotes is from the Onion and which is from Conservative Blog Powerline:

(1) Obama thinks he is a good talker, but he is often undisciplined when he speaks. He needs to understand that as President, his words will be scrutinized and will have impact whether he intends it or not. In this regard, President Bush is an excellent model; Obama should take a lesson from his example. Bush never gets sloppy when he is speaking publicly. He chooses his words with care and precision, which is why his style sometimes seems halting. In the eight years he has been President, it is remarkable how few gaffes or verbal blunders he has committed. If Obama doesn't raise his standards, he will exceed Bush's total before he is inaugurated.

(2) According to a CNN exit poll, 42 percent of voters said that the nation's financial woes had finally become frightening enough to eclipse such concerns as gay marriage, while 30 percent said that the relentless body count in Iraq was at last harrowing enough to outweigh long ideological debates over abortion. In addition, 28 percent of voters were reportedly too busy paying off medical bills, desperately trying not to lose their homes, or watching their futures disappear to dismiss Obama any longer.

You cannot say both are from the Onion.

The Onion or Hindrocket?

Via TPM

Doing what you get elected to do

From Rahm Emanuel, President-elect Obama's Chief of Staff.

It has bipartisan agreement in the House and Senate. It's something President-elect Obama expects to see. Second would be [ending current restrictions on federally funded] stem-cell research. And third would be an economic recovery package focused on the two principles of job creation and tax relief for middle-class families."

Emphasis mine but glad to see the rest of the country will be joining California and the World in being able to perform good stem cell science. This was a backwards thinking ban and I could not be happier to see it be one of President Obama's first priorities.

Photo of stem cells differentiating into neurons by me.

Friday Photo Blogging

Oophaga (Dendrobates) pumilio
Isle Bastimentos, Bocas Del Toro, Panama
Taken by me.

First Dog

Discussion at President-elect Obama's first press conference turned towards the all important issue of the first dog.

“There are a number of breeds that are hypoallergenic, but on the other hand our preference is to get a shelter dog, but obviously, a lot of the shelter dogs are mutts like me,” Obama said. “So, whether we are going to be able to balance those two things I think is a pressing issue on the Obama household.”

It would be great if they went with a shelter dog, but I understand the need for more hypoallergenic breeds.

My Favorite Line

"Sasha and Malia, I love you both so much, and you have earned the new puppy that’s coming with us to the White House."

Can I recommend a Boston Terrier?

Photo by the gf