Gasland

I'm rooting for Gasland tonight, a chilling documentary by Josh Fox about hydrofracking for natural gas.

It didn't win. I guess money trumps Benzene in drinking water but they are both related.

No More Salmon

Some folks declare the environment is getting better, but then they aren't fish biologists. I am. Chinook Salmon Vanish Without a Trace. In a time of dwindling fresh water in a warming world, this is a symptom. Hatchery salmon don't have the survival skills of wild runs. Like cattle, they can wander off and die easily. One thing is certain: they need water to get back to their source.

The "Malfunction" National Forest

That's what we called the Malheur in Central Oregon. A federal judge has ruled yet another Bush-sanctioned rule rollback would impede endangered steelhead and bull trout recovery. See a trend here? Because there is one.

The Fanficcer's Dream

Is their pilfered writings of authors' copyrighted characters will somehow catapult them into a paying fiction gig. But please don't bring money into it. While it has happened, this is rarer than a Whooping Crane. I've run afoul of a vehement Ayn Randian freelancer: Cathy Young, who happens to be a fanfiction writer and a columnist at Reason Magazine, the libertarian creation of Virginia Postrel and others.

It's amazing how some defend their actions no matter what just because it's them, so it must be a great noble cause. In this case it isn't. Fanfiction is stealing. Beyond that basic fact, it's lame, and ultimately, perverse. Perversion is the main catalyst for the fans doing it in the first place. She can't let go of Lee Goldberg who writes authorized tie-in novels for Diagnosis Murder and Monk. These are professional works for hire and not comparable to vanity unauthorized jaunts with the literary structure and lead characters. It's a false comparison fallacy.

Consider this diatribe:

Mr. York: having perused that first chapter of yours, I think I know why you're so vehemently anti-fanfiction.
... there was no need to report anything conclusive yet as his bosses at the Department of Interior were under command to downplay any evidence of the "climate change" phenomenon. They'd been instructed to use the softer language by the Baumgartner administration, who held a dim view of conservation, they dubbed as "environmentalism," which now had a pejorative connotation. Government agencies, being what they are as tools of the people, must follow along at least on the surface, but behind the scene, they followed the facts and reported the results regardless of who the political figurehead was at the time.
Your writing skills are roughly comparable to the average "fanficcer" -- okay, discounting the junior high school set -- but you need to feel superior to someone. It's the same reason the "white trash" in the old South were often so vehemently racist: sure they were trash, but hot damn it, at least they weren't n***ers!

A number of fanfic writers have already gone pro and have been signed up by major publishers. Judging by this chapter, at least, I don't see that anywhere in your near future.

Hmm. I don't see a Xena contract either. Contains some sexually explicit scenes, violence, and strong language. I don't even see TOR in your future, but I do see continued support of fellow wingnut libertarian deniers: false sceptics like Ronald Bailey. Is it any accident some readers gravitate to this particular background information in my chapter of Warm Front?

It's obvious why: they disagree with the characterization of the politics.

Too Darn Hot
Common sense in the warming debate Boston Globe

Tough. Reality's a bitch.