Carny futures are down, the European Endarkenment has begun and the EPA introduced the world to the concept of extinction neutrality. If you have no idea what any of this means, then you need the weekly round-up. Coincidentally, here it is:
Part One: Al Gore & Friends
Al Gore is a social networking junkie. Al has added yet another name to those he follows on Twitter, making the total a staggering… 8. If you’d like Al to follow you, simply devise a way to fill his pockets with millions of dollars or become President of the United States. The Goreacle eased off on his blogging pace this week after reports that some acolytes found the flurry of posts almost too much to take. I think it was the post about Tipper’s photography that pushed folks over the edge, and no, I’m still not linking it. This week Al blogged only to claim that his fake grassroots movement is bigger than your fake grassroots movement. He also slips in a little snark about the Bonnor letter, but before he gets too sanctimonious, let’s not forget how his friends at the WWF use terrorist attacks for fund raising. Add ‘carbon baron’ to Al’s list of titles. Nobel Prize winner, Oscar winner, Emmy winner, Grammy winner and Big Weiner, he’s won ‘em all.
Al and Oscar Al’s investment firm, Generation Investment Management took a 12% share in Ireland’s Kingspan. They’re working on a new high-efficiency insulation, which might be handy for Al if people start asking inconvenient questions about his personal wealth. Talking of inconvenience, Al has been challenged to a $20,000 bet:
J. Scott Armstrong, a professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, has bet Gore $20,000 that he will be able to make more accurate forecasts of annual mean temperatures than those that can be produced by the climate models Gore and his followers base their predictions on.
Nice try, J. Scott, but I wouldn’t run and spend that $20k on a new Hummer just yet. Al’s famously shy when it comes to debates. It’s over, you see, the debate is over. Al said so, I heard him. Sheryl Crow, musician, artist and TP miser is set to join MC Albert G for something called the Greenbuild Convention. Whatever it is, you know it’s important when you’ve got an intellect like Crow supporting it. Canadian David Suzuki is worried about Salmon. Sockeye salmon, to be precise. Of course, whatever is wrong with the fish is the fault of global warming. Here he is telling the world that global warming is messing with Salmon right before he admits he doesn’t really know why the fish are in trouble:
…their survival is threatened by warming oceans and rivers due to climate change, and they are vulnerable to sea lice and diseases from open-net salmon farms. While we need to invest more funding in science to understand the exact details behind saving our disappearing salmon, we can and must take precautionary actions to curtail activities that we know harm salmon.
Meanwhile, the real reason that salmon are missing is a little easier to explain:
the food chain, respect itPart Two: AGW Scaremongers
People that are deathly afraid of the weather don’t want you to have any power. Not the political kind but the stuff you power your home or car with. To that end, deranged hippies are promising that they’ll do whatever they can to block oilsands development in South Dakota. So, next time you’re complaining about the price of gas, maybe blame hippies instead of the oil firms. (Note to any Big Oil folks reading this, where’s the money the hippies think you’re giving me?)CLICK HERE to read the rest and check out this weeks Global Hottie!