American Association for the Advancement of Science gets off its bum

Vancouver - A stark theme emerged from an annual scientific get-together in Vancouver: the world must be helped to believe in science again or it could be too late to save our planet.
Science is "under siege," top academics and educators were warned repeatedly at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting as they were urged to better communicate their work to the public.
Scientific solutions are needed to solve global crises - from food and water shortages to environmental destruction - "but the public now does not understand science", leading US climate change expert and NASA scientist James Hansen told the meeting.
"We have a planetary emergency, and very few people recognise that."
The theme of the five-day meeting, attended by some 8 000 scientists from 50 countries, was "Flattening the world: Building a global knowledge society."
"It's about persuading people to believe in science, at a time when disturbing numbers don't," said meeting co-chairperson Andrew Petter, president of Simon Fraser University in this western Canadian city.
Experts wrangled with thorny issues such as censorship, opposition from religious groups in the United States to teaching evolution and climate change, and generally poor education standards.
Global warming
"We have to plan for a future, considering the risk of climate change, with nine to 10 billion people," said Hans Rosling, a Swedish public health expert famous for combating scientific ignorance with catchy YouTube videos.
Rosling, pointing to charts showing how human populations changed with technology and how without science the majority of a family's children die, said it is naive to think that humanity can easily go backward in history.
"I get angry when I hear people say: 'In the rainforest people live in ecological balance.' They don't. They die in ecological balance," he said.
Outgoing AAAS president Nina Fedoroff, a renowned expert on life sciences and biotechnology, said a growing anti-science attitude "probably lies in our own psyche".
"Belief systems, especially when tinged with fear, are not easily dispersed with facts," she said, noting that in the United States "fewer people 'believe' in climate change each year."
Her remarks held particular resonance for the scientific community, coming as US President Barack Obama faces a fierce attack from a potential Republican challenger for the allegedly "phony theology" behind his environmental policy.
"I refer to global warming as not climate science, but political science," Christian conservative Rick Santorum, who is soaring ahead in the Republican race to take on Obama in November, said at a campaign stop on Monday in Ohio.
Rick Santorum and the religious right are not really conservatives. They are just greedy bastards. They believe in science when it suits them and rubbish it when it doesn't.
Their religion is becoming more and more like the catholic church before the reformation.
they think they can buy GRACE just like indulgences.
They deserve a thrashing in November.
In the meantime the world waits.
there is no need to turn the clock back to have a better life.
somebody has to make decisions about those things that are vital to the well being of humanity.
and make choices. i.e. wasting money and resources on ever more complex machinery that eats up the environment in itself or using the media to educate people to help themselves.
science must solve its own problems by taking an active role in fostering a philosophical climate of awareness. e.g. its all very well some smartass philosopher claiming rights for this or that class of animal species but if they are all extinct then what?
do you people understand or not?

anyway.
When A city falls is on tv3 tonight.
a close relative had two houses go down under the christchurch earthquakes  so she moved to the north island and  I hope to catch a glimpse of her on the doco.
Gerard Smythe is the film maker  so lets see what sort of job he has done on this one.

Lucky Flukes. fiddling round with my dvd last night and it went on the blink but it was only the connections. I had thought that my video was had it but I sorted out the connections and it goes perfectly and all those old videos came to life.
I watched Galaxy Qwest twice. hehehehehehehe. and a Beatles compilation conjured up in Australia and it was great.
went to bed feeling really cool. maaaaaan.
and found a Shadows vinyl Lp in the Masterton Family Shop today. I have a CD but this album had the cheesiest photo you ever saw.
A Bruce Ward compilation for EMI in 1975. I bet he had a thousand laughs when he put 'that' piccy on the cover

hope you like the Happy Traum dvd's.
you can make handmade music too.
Tom Scott cartoon off the mark in the Dompost today.
Someone did the dirty on him back in the 60's and slipped him a ticket that exploded and he never came back.
Been down on the counterculture and Jimi Hendrix ever since.
Well Tom not everybody in this world is a clean cut kid who'se been to college too.
and its no use doing silly cartoons in the paper when it can take over 6 months for cannabis to exit the metabolism.
I dont know what or who you had in mind but show some class you oaf.


Masterton Queen Elizabeth Park.
write to your councillor and tell them you dont want cars in the park.
Is it a park or is it not a park?

The Economist gave a bad review because it was not opitmistic enough?