Why humans are always thinking about the future. Link via co-author John Tierney:
He and I argue in the NYT that Homo sapiens is a misnomer, because calling ourselves the “wise man” is more of a boast than a description. What makes us wise? What sets us apart? Other animals live in the moment, but we can’t stop thinking about tomorrow.
Well, except for Trump.
Thoughts from Judith Curry on the current state of knowledge in climate. The warm mongers never consider the possibility that their proposed cures may in fact be worse than the disease. I personally think it’s nuts to consider climate a greater threat to humanity than poverty, and particularly energy poverty. But then, many of them don’t really care about humanity, or consider humanity a problem in and of itself.
[Update a few minutes later]
A new paper on the epistemological status of general circulation models.
“What made Fox News so dominant for so long wasn’t just that Roger Ailes built a news network to tell just the right stories to gather a conservative audience, though he did make it a religion, but that his competitors in the news business had built theirs to drive that audience away.”
It’s often been said that he recognized a niche market that wasn’t being satisfied: half the country.
Victor Davis Hanson on the nightmares versus the realities.
Trump has been about as terrible as I expected him to be, and I don’t expect he’ll change. I’m primarily happy that he’ll probably get another SCOTUS nominee. I’m still glad she lost.
[Update a while later]
Link was wrong, fixed now.
“His loyalty was more to Chuck Schumer.”
Whatever admiration I’ve ever had for James Comey continues to spiral down.
Three times Barack Obama tried to do it.
I don’t think he just tried; he often succeeded.
The state government and governor persist in their fiscal, environmental and regulatory insanity.
Here’s your feel-good story of the day: The cartel lost $76B last year due to U.S. fracking.
I’m old enough to remember when Barack Obama told us we couldn’t drill our way out of the energy crisis. Oil reserves continue to climbe every year, as they have for decades.
[Update a few minutes later]
Sort of related: Three reasons natural gas prices may be headed higher.
We just put in a soaking tub in our renovated bath, and now our 40-gallon water heater isn’t quite up to the job. I’d been thinking about putting in an instant heater in the bath, but there’s no gas line to it, and at California prices, the electric bill would be a killer. I could replace it with an instant-gas heater, but I’m starting to think maybe just get a bigger tank, given that it’s almost thirty years old.
[Update a while later]
OPEC is dead.
It’s been a feature of my life for forty-five years. It’s not quite as big a victory as ending the Cold War, but good riddance.
Why the latest missile test is more worrying than any to date.
When the Shuttle didn’t come home. An NPR story with Wayne Hale.