Category Archives: Science

Study: WHO Hype More Harmful than the H1N1 Itself

By Brian Brawdy | Published: June 5, 2010

Over a year ago I renamed the Swine Flu the “Whine Flu” and wondered if the World Health Organization was scaring the globe while inflating the fears of a flu pandemic. Wow! Perhaps I should have called it the $wine Flu. Now comes a Washington Post report suggesting that some believe that the WHO exaggerated the global spread and the ferocity of the Swine Flu and may have done so in collusion with drug manufacturers of certain vaccines.

WHO Breeding Fears of Influenza for Financial Reasons? What next?

When will it end? Global warming, global pandemics, global BS, global spin?

If you can’t trust the WHO, who can you trust?

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Also posted in Breaking News & Commentary, Low Lifes Making Headlines, Politics and Political Parties, Survival and Emergency Preparedness | Tagged Biology, environment, Flu, Flu pandemic, Flu pandemic in the United Kingdom, Health in the United States, Health/Medical/Pharmaceuticals, influenza, Influenza A virus, Influenza A virus subtype H1N1, Influenza pandemic, Influenza pandemics, Microbiology, Pandemics, Swine Flu, Swine influenza, The Washington Post Company, the WHO, Washington Post, World Health Organization | Leave a comment

Secretary Salazar Oil Spill Bravado Not Based in Fact

By Brian Brawdy | Published: May 24, 2010

Nearly a month after the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig ruptured and began polluting the Gulf of Mexico, our Interior Secretary offered the following promise. “If we find that they’re not doing what they’re supposed to be doing, we’ll push them out of the way,” said Ken Salazar. “We’ll push them out of the way.” Hmmm. OK.

Fast forward to today when, during a White House Press conference focusing on the man-made disaster, Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen was asked to respond to the earlier comments of Sec. Salazar. Raising an eyebrow, shrugging his shoulders and turning his palms skyward, he answered the question with a question, “and replace them with what?” He continued that the United States has neither the “competence, capability or capacity” to answer a disaster at 5000 feet beneath the surface of the Gulf.

Moments later on Fox News Studio B with Shepard Smith, White House spokesperson David Axelrod concurred saying the United States was not equipped to take over the sealing of the damaged pipeline. So, bottom line? In spite of all the strong words and soundbites we can’t “push them out of the way.” We don’t need tough words, we need tough actions. We don’t need bravado Mr. Secretary; we need to blow the well, seal it and save the affected Gulf shores.

Though that action will cause British Petroleum to loose not only the oil reservoir but the billions in invested and future dollars, tough luck.

BLOW the WELL.

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Also posted in Breaking News & Commentary, Low Lifes Making Headlines, Politics and Political Parties | Tagged Barack Obama, BP, Coast Guard, Colorado, David Axelrod, Deepwater Horizon, Government, Gulf of Mexico, Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar, Man-Made Disaster, Marketing, Oil platform, oil reservoir, oil rig, Salazar, Secretary, Shepard Smith, spokesperson, Thad Allen, Tough, United States, White House, White House Press | Leave a comment

20th Anniversary of the Hubble Microscope

By Brian Brawdy | Published: April 24, 2010

On April 24th, 1990 NASA launched the Hubble Telescope. Over its 20 year history of space exploration, this technological marvel has clearly earned the distinction of one of the greatest scientific and human accomplishments of all time. Its pictures from the deepest reaches of space, its photographs charting distances nearly beyond our comprehension, are as stunning as any images known to humankind.

Yet for all the nearly unfathomable miles into space, the incalculable pilgrimage back in time, Hubble has been more of a microscope than a telescope. Looking out for us has allowed us to look in as well.

I still believe that the alluring depth and darkness of space reminds you and I of the vastness within ourselves. The scattered pinpoints of starlight overhead on a clear evening evoke our tiny, fragile foothold within that immensity. Surveying the nighttime skies is an exercise of Human recognition and reflection. Deep space and inner space are one and the same.

Photo Courtesy of NASA

That the human body is an amalgam of exploding star remnants and swirling cosmic dust (over eons of time), seems to escape us in our daily lives and travels. Whether our beginnings were sparked by Divinity or gravity, when we look to the heavens, we do in fact look homeward. We thrive when we remember who we are!

For that reason I find it fitting that today is also the anniversary of the first video ever posted on YouTube. It’s 5th birthday is also a celebration of those things that make us all human, that make us all one family yet stunningly unique at the same time.

As a person, a people and a planet we are indistinguishable at a certain level. Peering into our future with a telescope or a video camera, we might be better served to remember it.

Photo Courtesy of NASA

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Also posted in Adventure and Exploration, Breaking News & Commentary, Nature and Wildlife, Religion | Tagged 20 years, 5 years, astronomy, Great Observatories program, hubble, Hubble Deep Field, Hubble Heritage Project, Hubble Space Telescope, hubble telescope, Hubble Telescope 20 years, NASA, NASA hubble 20, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Space, Space exploration, Spacecraft, Technology/Internet, the anniversary of the first video, YOUTUBE, YouTube 5, YouTube Inc | Leave a comment

Polar Bears to Vote ‘No’ for Cap and Trade

By Brian Brawdy | Published: April 7, 2010

In a follow up to a post I did last week, What Happened to Our Retreating Arctic Sea Ice, this morning the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center is reporting “The extent of sea ice over the Arctic Ocean grew until the last day of March, the latest the annual melting season has begun in 31 years of satellite records” according to an article in BusinessWeek.

For the first time in over three decades the polar ice is chilling and extending its grip into spring. What’s happening to our beloved global warming campaigns? Not too long ago we were warned that our polar regions were turning from ice boxes to microwaves, and that human actions were endangering polar bears. Does this report by experts in the exact field of melting ice and retreating glaciers make you wonder where the truth lies? Whether you view pending legislation as either Cap and Trade or Cap and Tax, regardless of where you fall in the global warming debate, the truth is in the ice.

“Come forth into the light of things. Let Nature be your teacher,” according to one of my favorite poets William Wordsworth.

It would seem to me that we should ignore the hot air of partisan rhetoric and focus on the science itself. After all, satellites don’t lie. They see what they see. I would so much rather get my information from the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado than the National Spin and Ideology Center in Washington, D.C.

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Also posted in Breaking News & Commentary, Nature and Wildlife, Politics and Political Parties | Tagged Arctic, arctic ice, Arctic Ocean, BusinessWeek, cap and trade, climate change, Colorado, Earth, environment, Glacier, Glaciology, global warming, global warming debate, media spin, Physical geography, polar bear, Polar ice cap, Polar region, Poles, sea ice, teacher, U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center, Washington, william wordsworth | 1 Comment

What Happened to Our Retreating Arctic Sea Ice?

By Brian Brawdy | Published: April 1, 2010

In a compelling article on the What’s Up With That website, Anthony Watts poses a great question. “Arctic Sea Ice about to hit ‘normal’ – what will the news say?” Don’t take my word for it; Anthony is a former television meteorologist with 25 years of experience.

Now he had a bit of help from the folks at The National Snow and Ice Data Center. NSIDC “is part of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder. NSIDC supports research into our world’s frozen realms: the snow, ice, glaciers, frozen ground, and climate interactions that make up Earth’s cryosphere. Scientific data, whether taken in the field or relayed from satellites orbiting Earth, form the foundation for the scientific research that informs the world about our planet and our climate systems” according to their website.

Most of us know that the natural earth cycle is one of ebb and flow, freeze and thaw. Outside of the hysteria of Climate Gate/Global Warming theatre, it’s just nice to read every so often that the Polar Bears might be ok after all.

Wondering how the media will spin this report? Me too!

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Also posted in Breaking News & Commentary, Media, Nature and Wildlife | Tagged Anthony Watts, Arctic, Arctic Ocean, Atmospheric sciences, Boulder, climate systems, Climatology, Colorado, Cooperative Institute, Cooperative Institute for Research, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, Cryosphere, Earth, Earth sciences, environment, FaceBook, Geography, Glaciology, global warming, Ice, meteorologist, National Snow and Ice Data Center, NSIDC, Physical geography, Planetary science, polar bear, Polar ice packs, sea ice, Technology/Internet, television meteorologist, The National Snow and Ice Data Center, Twitter, University of Colorado, WUWT | 4 Comments

Humans Too Stupid to Save the Day

By Brian Brawdy | Published: March 30, 2010

James, James, James. Humans are too stupid to prevent climate change. According to a story at Guardian.co.uk, “I don’t think we’re yet evolved to the point where we’re clever enough to handle a complex a situation as climate change,” said James Lovelock. ”The inertia of humans is so huge that you can’t really do anything meaningful.”

James, where have you been? Wake up. We humans are too stupid to do a ton of things. The list of things where we have “yet evolved” to address successfully is way long. We’re too stupid not to be lead like lemmings from one media broadcast to another. We’re too stupid not to act ignorantly and aggressively towards those who disagree with us. We’re too stupid to believe that maybe, just maybe we’re growing ever more dependent by sacrificing our independence. We’re too stupid to have rooted out and destroyed racism long, long ago. When it comes to “clever” we’re seldom clever enough. Dimwits from day one, foolish from our very first steps.

Then again, we were smart enough to uncover and report the disingenuous climate change emails at the University of East Anglia, clever enough to realize that IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change) fudged the figures prompting yet the latest round of “climate-gate” and intelligent enough to ignore the crowd at Copenhagen and the call for Cap and Trade.

Thankfully, were just smart enough to realize that in a true and meaningful debate, you don’t call your opponents dummies.

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Also posted in Breaking News & Commentary, Nature and Wildlife, Politics and Political Parties | Tagged Atmospheric sciences, Carbon finance, climate change, Climatology, Copenhagen, environment, Gaurdian.co.uk, global warming, Guardian.co.uk, Inertia, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, James Lovelock, Physics, Racism, Science, Stupid, University of East Anglia | 1 Comment

Preparing Superseeds Panic

By Brian Brawdy | Published: March 15, 2010

During the dustup last week over the Survival Seed Bank on blogs and media outlets from The Huffington Post to the Colbert Report, (highlighted in my post Media Sowing Seeds of Hypocrisy) I took some time to learn a bit more about gardening in general and seeds in particular. I know, sounds like a great way to spend the weekend; interviewing “Master Gardeners” from all over the U.S. and Canada.

Truth is, I learned a ton.

Did you know that Norway has a bit of a survival seed bank of its own? Or that other seed banks in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Philippines were destroyed by wars and natural disasters. Kind of ironic, don’t you think? “Doomsday” seed vaults wiped out by a doomsday scenarios? Hmmm.

Did you know that a majority of seeds called hybrid seeds are designed with a sort of “planned obsolescence” or a very short shelf life. You can’t continually replant those seeds hoping for the same yield each subsequent season. Not unlike watering down green paint, you keep blending enough light-green paint into the original color and pretty soon, no more green.

Did you know that it’s a bit of a trick to find non-hybrid seeds; not as bountiful as one might think?

Now, I’m far from being an expert, nor will I ever write on book on seed science, but one thing is clear. If governments plan ahead and create seed vaults, what’s wrong with you and I banking a few seeds for a rainy day.

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Also posted in Breaking News & Commentary, Media, Nature and Wildlife, Survival and Emergency Preparedness | Tagged Canada, Colbert Report, doomsday, Green, hybrid seeds, hybrids, Master Gardeners, Norway, Science, seed vaults, Survival, Survival Seed Bank, The Huffingotn Post, United States | Leave a comment

Buried Logic Podast – Green Washing with Mary Burrows

By Brian Brawdy | Published: October 26, 2009

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Guest Intro/Interview

Mary Burrows

Our guest today is Mary Burrows. Mary is the Manager of Chemical Development at Thetford Corporation, the world’s leading maker of portable and permanent RV toilets, and the holding tank deodorants and related additive products used in and on RVs. Mary received her Bachelor’s degree from Albion College in 1980, with majors in Chemistry and English. She has worked at Thetford for over twenty years, and spends much of her time researching and developing RV deodorant and cleaning products. She is a recognized expert in the area of treating holding tank waste and the deodorants used in RVs, and is called upon repeatedly for her knowledge and experience in this field.

www.Thetford.com

EPA: Design for the Environment

http://www.epa.gov/dfe/

Design for the Environment

In a study conducted by Opinion Research Corporation, and summarized in Packaging Digest in Feb 2009:

“Four out of five people say they are still buying green products and services today – which sometimes cost more – even in the midst of a U.S. recession.”

“Half of the 1,000 people surveyed say they are buying just as many green products now as before the economic downturn, while 19% say they are buying more green products.

Fourteen percent say they are buying fewer environmentally green products.”

“About one in three say they don’t know how to tell if green claims are true. One in 10 consumers blindly trust green product claims.”

“Consumers are verifying green claims by reading the packaging (24%) and turning to research (going online, reading studies, 17%).”

In an article from Brandweek in Feb 2009, quoting from a study by Mintel:

“A $17.7 million business in 2003, the Chicago-based market research company says the green cleaning category quadrupled sales to $64.5 million by 2008. by 2013, Mintel anticipates eco-friendly cleaners will do an astounding $623 million in business and account for 30 percent of the household cleaners market by then (compared with 3 percent last year)”.

“Green Works brought green cleaning products into mainstream supermarkets, which have seen green sales increase more than 170% from 2007-08 and market share rise 16 percentage points.”

As you can see green is growing rapidly. Many manufacturers want to claim their products are green. The only way to know for certain if a product is green is to look for products that are certified or recognized green by a third party.

Green Washing

7 Sins of Green Washing

Mary Burrows Final Thoughts

Buried Logic Closing by Host Brian Brawdy

To learn more about Mary Burrows and the Thetford Corporation, please visit www.Thetford.com

Contact us at Buried Logic:

Brian Brawdy: BuriedLogic.com

Michael Mauro: MauroMedia.com

Also posted in Buried Logic, Podcast | Tagged Brian Brawdy, Buried Logic Pocast, Design for the Environment Award, DFE, Green Chemist, Green RV, Green RVing, Mary Burrows, Mauro Media, Michael Mauro, Thetford, Thetford Corporation | Leave a comment

Earthquakes, Aftershocks & Tsunamis

By Brian Brawdy | Published: September 30, 2009

Earthquakes, aftershocks and tsunamis are a frequent part of the lives of millions of people across our planet, that’s for certain. In the last 24 hours alone, dozens of earthquakes with varying degrees of magnitude struck around the world. That said, seismology strikes each of us, regardless of where we live, at a much more personal and profound level, both physically and philosophically.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I believe that we come from the earth. Garden of Eden or African savanna, sacred or secular point of view, I don’t care; either way, we come from the earth. There is dirt in our DNA. The earth is who we are. In light of our terrestrial origins, I believe the ground of our family tree, literally contributes to our genetic makeup. Investigating our planet enlightens us as to ultimately how we are forged and formed.

Each with fiery cores and constantly changing surfaces, stoked at varying depths by subterranean and subconscious forces, the resemblances between our planet and its people are difficult to miss. We erupt, spew and grow dormant only to reawaken at some later, mostly unpredictable date. Composed of water and deserts, peaks and valleys, naturally punctuated with rock-solid islands and attitudes, the innate tectonics of give and take continually reshape each of us.

Earthquakes remind us that life is full of tremors and jolts. Our planet and its people exist far from a static, fixed and stable state. Ruled by constant change and uncertainty, vigorous and sometimes forceful growth is part and parcel of life on and of Earth. Existence, above and below the surface crust is an ongoing transformation, a perpetual metamorphosis. Continual change fuels both geology and psychology. We are each scarred with fault lines, crevasses and rifts that register on Richter Scales of our own.

I often think we could learn a good bit from the engineers that work to secure our buildings, businesses, highways and homes from the devastating effects of earthquakes. Perhaps we can sway a bit more, tremble without tumbling, shake without surrendering, flow without falling, balance without braking, counter-balance without capitulating?

What if we replaced the fixed with flexibility, the static with the dynamic, the rigid with the rolling, the immobile with the mobile? What if we embraced the natural ebb and flow that both constitutes and encompasses who we are?

Also posted in Nature and Wildlife | Tagged aftershock, Disaster/Accident, DNA, Earth, earthquake, Earthquake engineering, Earthquakes, environment, Garden of Eden, Human Interest, Indian Ocean earthquake, planet earth, Quake, Richter Scale, Seismology, Tsunami, Tsunamis | 1 Comment

8.4 magnitude quake another red flag in Ring of Fire

By Brian Brawdy | Published: September 29, 2009

In a blog post on July 15, I wondered if the earthquakes in New Zealand, China and California were in any way connected. Since that date, according to the US Geological Survey there have been additional quakes reported in Japan, Indonesia and Alaska, just to name a few.

With this morning’s 8.4 magnitude earthquake off the coast of American Samoa and the devastatingly deadly tsunami that followed, I’m wondering if this a sign. I’m beginning to think that those living in the Los Angeles area, with the thoughts in the back of their mind of “the Big One” would look at the events of late with a little more foreboding eye.