Category Archives: Anthropology

Carbon Pricks

Posted on August 4, 2016 by gymnosperm

It is not well-known that there was once there was a job title “Prick”. It was back during the witch crazes and Inquisition that racked Europe during the 13th to 16th centuries. Many forces combined in this human aberration that … Continue reading →

Posted in Animal Behavior, Anthropology | Leave a comment

Piltdown Mann and his Hockey Stick

Posted on August 16, 2015 by gymnosperm

The estimable Michael Mann has continued to defend his infamous “Hockey Stick” with bluster and litigation, even as his data has become increasingly indefensible. Credit Alan Caruba. When the likes of Wallace Broecker make observations like, “I don’t trust people like … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Climate | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Holocaust (I mean) Pause Never Happened

Posted on August 5, 2015 by gymnosperm

Ironic that the Carbon cult who would accuse skeptical scientists of believing the moon landing was faked are now furiously adjusting the data to “disappear” the Pause. Actually, the very word “pause” presumes that warming will resume. Time scales become … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Carbon Theology, Climate, Global Warming Denial, the "Pause" | Tagged | Leave a comment

Truckin’

Posted on March 21, 2015 by gymnosperm

My son, having graduated from UCLA in Math/Econ and worked for a year at a bank, took a notion to try his hand at long haul trucking. We parents were not particularly thrilled with this move, but having personally abandoned my … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Geography | Tagged | Leave a comment

Oil and the Devil

Posted on March 8, 2015 by gymnosperm

  The concept of the devil in the Judeo-Christian/Muslim tradition seems to have its roots in an older Persian and possibly Indo-European notion of opposing forces of good and evil. The Christian conception developed into the elaborate scheme described by  Dante which was integrated into … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Climate, Geology, History, Religion | Tagged | Leave a comment

The New Ptolemy

Posted on February 15, 2015 by gymnosperm

The evolution of consciousness since the Enlightenment can be thought of as the progressive, and unwelcome realization of human insignificance. We inhabit this rock, spinning in infinity*, the center of nothing, outweighed in biomass by ants. God still loves us, … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropocene, Anthropology, Climate Change, History, Metaphor | Leave a comment

Say Watt? Or Why I Just Love Math

Posted on February 14, 2015 by gymnosperm

Mathematics is one of the many human languages. It is written in very impressive hieroglyphics that can include multitudes of “terms”, many of which are given Greek letters. This language has been very much in fashion since the Enlightenment and … Continue reading →

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Pope Misguided the XXXXXXXXIX Preaches Crusade Against Carbon

Posted on January 5, 2015 by gymnosperm

In an action that betrays all the more clearly the religious roots of the Carbon crusade, the Pope continues a long and sorry tradition of involving the church in matters best left to science and individual conscience. From Galileo a … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Carbon Theology, Climate, Ethics | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Myth of Stasis

Posted on November 17, 2014 by gymnosperm

As one gets on a bit in years it is a comfort when customary things like the dental floss and shoes stay the same, but the sad fact is that most often they do  not and it is necessary to find available … Continue reading →

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Wink

Posted on September 1, 2014 by gymnosperm

It happens I have an extremely goofy dog. Teasing him as he thrust his legs in the air as if doing some high hurdle in reverse lying on his back on the couch, he looked over upside down and winked at … Continue reading →

Posted in Animal Behavior, Anthropology, Biology, Body Language | Tagged , | Leave a comment