Weather, Water, Energy 2-19-07

Seriously. Even in the puerile world of local tv news, pound for pound, the "meteorologists" are the most worthless of the bunch. Do you even have to have a gradepoint to get into "meteorology school"? Is it like being a cosmotologist? When they're not hyping ice or tornadoes for hours on end anymore, they're playing their roles as clowns and pretty people "you like to know." A few of them have brains and fewer are serious at heart, and then there are the bottom-feeders who pull crap like this. These aren't the only ones. I heard an idiot morning weather clown in Madison say the same thing a couple of years ago. Here's the deal. You know you're dealing with a fool any time they tell you there can't be global warming because it snowed in the NE in February. Just walk away or turn them off. Their stupid may rub off. (Oh, and while you're at Grist there, go ahead and depress yourself with the posts they've been running on the media thud for the IPCC report. After all, Britney shaved her head.) . . . Meanwhile on Planet Reality, Europe is recognizing the need to make drastic cuts in greenhouse emissions. "Now or never", they're saying, even if our local news wunderkinds have trouble finding their asses with both hands. . . . Climate Progress has some great posts on conservation and utilities, the US's hottest year ever, insomniac bears, and more. Check them out. . . . This is worth noting. Remember a few days back when the American Association for the Advancement of Science heard the study on how Antarctica isn't doing exactly what climate models have predicted and how the deniers and obstructionists were hopping on it as proof global warming wasn't happening. Well, the AAAS heard the same report and decided that "The evidence is clear: Global climate change caused by human activities is occurring now and is a growing threat to society." Don't tell those Cleveland "cosmo . . ," sorry, "meteorologists" though. Reality can be a tough ride.