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I'm not surprised that a meteorology course would concentrate on water. It's the only greenhouse gas whose level changes significantly on the time scales that weather is forecast on. Water vapor is what they call a condensing greenhouse gas. .....

Interesting and worthy "Water vapor is what they call a condensing greenhouse gas."

Jungles, forests, grasslands, ice fields... oceans... All are modified by water.
Remember the great Sahara Forest http://www.blueoregon.com/2007...
makes it clear that man's impact on the environment was big (put a time frame on that
bit of knowledge)...

They also didn't do anything at all. Peter Bray, the SEO software developer who recently made the for-profit site, has been posting anti-obama comments: http://www.blueoregon.com/2008/07/fisa-wyden-defe.html#c121812048 http://www.blueoregon.com/2008/07/fisa-wyden-defe.html#c121888560 It's clear that he sent this to the McCain camp in order to get more exposure for his poorly designed web app. The McCain camp is desperate to look like someone there knows what the internet is and pushed this story out. And, lucky for them, people just gobble PR up without actually looking into what it is or verifying that it's even true.

They also didn't do anything at all. Peter Bray, the SEO software developer who recently made the for-profit site, has been posting anti-obama comments: http://www.blueoregon.com/2008/07/fisa-wyden-defe.html#c121812048 http://www.blueoregon.com/2008/07/fisa-wyden-defe.html#c121888560 It's clear that he sent this to the McCain camp in order to get more exposure for his poorly designed web app. The McCain camp is desperate to look like someone there knows what the internet is and pushed this story out. And, lucky for them, people just gobble PR up without actually looking into what it is or verifying that it's even true.

We've seen forest fires and other major fires caused by lit cigarettes as recently as six months ago. From a quick Google search:

• http://www.tobacco.org/news/214045.htmlJanuary 2006
• http://belairnewsandviews.blogspot.com/2007/06/cigarette-butt-in-trash-caused-forest.html, June 2007
• http://www.goskagit.com/index.php/news/article/cigarette_causes_forest_fire_at_heart_lake/, December 2007

In fact, in Oregon alone, Cigarette-induced fires have killed 29 people and injured 129 since 2001, and have been responsible for 1500 residential fires, 70 forest fires, and $28 million in damage in that same time period. (Source: http://www.blueoregon.com/2007/01/firesafe_cigare.html) Of course, that's a year old, so the numbers today would be higher, but that should give you a good picture of the problem, anyway.

Various states are passing laws to require fire-safe cigarettes (though don't kid yourself, these are not truly safe, just safer), but AFAIK, they haven't taken effect anywhere.

The problem isn't the scientists. The problem is the politics.

The problem is scientists who put politics ahead of the science. If people like George Taylor are going to make it obvious that they privilege political ideology over scientific evidence, in what capacity are they qualified to serve as "state climatologist?" (Keep in mind that, in fact, George Taylor has never been Oregon's state climatologist, because Oregon has no such position.

If you agree with me that the science abundantly supports the consensus view of anthropogenic climate change, then someone who disputes that view either has extra evidence - which they should share, immediately - or is ignorant of the evidence, or disregards evidence in favor of ideology. Of the three, the latter two should immediately disqualify someone as a scientist.

The Euro-peons are thinking about using the Galileo system as part of an electronic road tolling scheme... So, bearing in mind the surveillance potential of such a scheme, I'd think the best way to "crack" one of the Galileo satellites would be an ASAT missile...

Ohh, those silly Europeans... that kind of thing would never happen in the US!

How can we as the American people cope with a President that doesn't even acknowledge that what he's doing is illegial? How can we further cope with a Congress that hasn't already 'stopped the presses' by calling for immediate hearings on the matter? I don't mean hearings next week, or next month. I want hearings now. This is a grave threat to our liberties, and I want it addressed right now.

Of course, this President speaks about 'freedom', but does 'freedom' include not being able to openly discuss laws and policies?

Oh, and the 'fanboy' contingent that believes that civil liberties must be curtailed in a time of conflict need not reply, because I'm not listening, and I doubt Thomas Jefferson would listen to it either.

Cities, due to their density have much lower tranportation costs. It is much cheaper, per person, to get water and gas services to a single apartment building than 100 rural farms, or even 100 suburban homes. Virtually anything done in a city is cheaper per person than it is in rural areas.

Urban taxes pay for the network of roads and highways that make suburbs possible. Urban taxes pay the farm subsidizes. Urban taxes pay for public transit outside of cities. Urban taxes pay for rural schools and hospitals.

http://www.ewg.org/reports/gastaxlosers/analysis.p hp
http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/Infrastructure/ov erview.htm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2005/07/05/AR2005070500594.html
http://www.techliberation.com/archives/015244.php
http://www.blueoregon.com/2005/03/joined_at_the_h. html