Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Please don’t feed the bears.

Everybody saw this coming.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Never forget that he train is barreling down on Trump, even as he dances on the tracks.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Another missed opportunity for Jamie Dimon to just shut the fuck up.

đŸŽ¶ Those boots were made for mockin’ đŸŽ”

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

When we show up, we win.

If West Virginia and San Francisco had a love child.

Bark louder, little dog.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

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Wee Hours Open Thread

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Kingfisher bird
Full disclosure: I’m posting these thoughts under the influence of some choice state-sanctioned medical marijuana. I still marvel at its availability in this backward-ass state, and good stuff too!

Am currently sitting on the porch as the wind howls and rain falls in hissing sheets. Hurricane Debby is passing west of us, and I feel better about it since the storm crossed our latitude.

Looks like Cedar Key will be sideswiped and Steinhatchee will take a direct hit. Best of luck to all in the path!

I heard a branch or something heavy land on our boat a while ago. It’s too dark to see what’s going on, but I hear debris occasionally.

The doughty vessel is a 1985 metal jon boat, so it is basically indestructible as long as the engine wasn’t hit. Sunrise will tell the tale!

What are y’all up to?

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Climate Solutions: Rewilding and the Woolly Mammoth

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I thought we could use some news about good people doing good things in regard to climate change. And I wanted to clear out my mammoth files, LOL

I know, I’m obsessed with the idea of bringing back the woolly mammoth – but I believe the research is leading to hopeful solutions for the de-extinction of more recent ecological disasters, as well as making people more aware of the crisis in the permafrost.

The science is pretty interesting, but there are also groups who are not waiting on a giant pachyderm. They are reintroducing reindeer,  Yakutian horses, musk ox, and European Buffalo among many others. One of the best known is Pleistocene Park, pretty much the project of one amazing man  – more info and a full movie at HERE

From the archives: With Arctic permafrost thawing too quickly, scientists in Siberia are considering drastic measures. See this week’s full 60 Minutes interview with George Church, here: https://cbsn.ws/34ZhuTs

 

Deep in the frozen north of Russia’s Sakha Republic lies a place where time is being reversed and a once extinct environment is being brought back to life. How is something like this possible and what impact could it have on our world?  All their resources for the video are listed at this link.

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Climate Solutions: More On Regenerative Farming

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I have so much information tucked away – including some dramatic changes in cooling – which as the planet heats, becomes a bigger problem and emissions contributor. There is also a lot of news out on batteries, new EVs and everyone’s favorite – fixing the grid (if you’re not following David Roberts Volts podcasts, I highly recommend, he covers most of those innovations) I really have not had time to aggregate any of it properly for posts.

But, there are two documentaries out that address regenerative farming. There is more and more data that if we heal the soil, carbon capture solutions reveal themselves.

This one is free to watch on YouTube:

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The Roots So Deep Documentary is now available to rent. It’s on my list, though I wanted to wait until I knew I could watch it uninterrupted.

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Saturday Morning Open Thread: Hot Enough for Ya?

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*********

Related, and yet not: This is a very important piece of legislation!

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Climate risk and reinsurance

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Earlier this month, Keys and Mulder released a new NBER working paper that builds a new property insurance data set and then seeks to project where premiums are likely to increase over time due to catastrophic claims risk.  Catastrophic claims are routinely insured via reinsurance.  For property damage, the major risk is storm and natural disasters risk.  It is mostly fire and hurricane risk.

Reinsurance has gotten expensive:

And these reinsurance costs are not uniformly spread out.  Michigan is not facing substantial new hurricane risk.

Actuaries, with long and varied lags, rule the world. When actuaries get scared, premiums spike and right now actuaries are terrified of climate risk.

And apropos of nothing, this update from the National Hurricane Center came in just after I got back from the gym with my 11 year old:

…RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT FIND BERYL NOW AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS
CATEGORY 4 HURRICANE…
…LIFE-THREATENING WINDS AND STORM SURGE EXPECTED IN THE WINDWARD
ISLANDS BEGINNING EARLY MONDAY MORNING…

NOAA and Air Force Reserve hurricane hunter aircraft data indicate
that Beryl has strengthened to an extremely dangerous category 4
hurricane. The maximum sustained winds are estimated to be 130 mph
(215 km/h) with higher gusts.

SUMMARY OF 1135 AM AST…1535 UTC…INFORMATION

Tropical weather Reddit is having kittens as this is the earliest Category 4 in the Atlantic and far further east than a storm of this magnitude “should” be. They’re looking at Beryl and saying it looks like an August or September storm rather than a June storm.

The actuarial fear is motivated by storms like these.

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Afternoon Beat Down Open Thread: Buttigieg On Fire

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I can’t wait to post this in a climate post, I needed you to see it now

Here’s the full testimony (ongoing, I believe)

Kick them harder, Pete, kick them harder.

Open thread

ETA: Since this is technically about climate – and I follow David Roberts pretty closely, he just posted this about their new pup. As the mom of Great Danes, I can sympathize, but will say, at least he didn’t EAT the couch (I’ve had two couches eaten by Danes, and a half wall and a porch railing).

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Squishable Wee Hours Open Thread

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Check out this handsome eggplant-colored dragonfly:

Squishable Wee Hours Open Thread

It was hanging out where the swamp behind our house borders the crappy dirt road. In other words, the dragonfly is my neighbor across the street.

The swamp on that side of the road is mostly dry because the river is so low due to lack of rain. South Florida is getting biblical floods, but the northwestern coast has been dry as a popcorn fart.

The low pressure system off the northeastern coast is getting organized and turning west, but it looks like it will soak Georgia instead. Damn.

Open thread!

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