Eloquent, witty, literate, intelligent, knowledgeable, brave, erudite, hard-working, honest (who could forget his clean-through skewering of Mother Teresa's hypocrisy?), arguably the most formidable debater alive today yet at the same time the most gentlemanly, Christopher Hitchens is a giant of the mind and a model of courage. A lesser man would have seized the excuse of a mortal illness to duck responsibility and take it easy. Not this soldier. He will not go gentle into that good night; but instead of a futile raging against the dying of the light he rages, with redoubled energy (and concentrated power in his vibrant, Richard Burton tones) against the same obscurantist, vicious or just plain silly targets as have long engaged him. But he never rants. His is a controlled, disciplined rage, and don't get on the wrong side of it.

Like Bertrand Russell, Hitch "would scorn to shiver with terror at the thought of annihilation". He laughs off the spiritual vultures eager for a death-bed conversion, and dismisses – but with unfailingly gracious courtesy – the many schadenfreudian prayers for his recovery. As Daniel Dennett said, in similar circumstances, "And did you also sacrifice a goat?"

I devoutly hope (not pray) that we shall see realised the 5% chance of recovery that modern doctors (not ancient gods) can offer. And if it is not to be – if, in his own gallantly insouciant words, he has to leave the party early – he will bequeath us an example worth following for centuries to come.

via www.guardian.co.uk

Ocean surface waters normally contain 5—8 milliliters of oxygen per liter of water, a number that declines rapidly with depth. But on his first day out, Chan found that at a depth of 150 feet the inner coastal waters off Oregon were hypoxic — oxygen levels there were lower than 1.43 milliliters per liter, so low that fish cannot survive.

Similar low oxygen levels were found further offshore, the researchers knew that something unprecedented was happening.

The changes in Oregon may be related to a broader pattern around the globe, in which subsurface patches of permanent hypoxia seem to be growing in size and losing yet more oxygen, for unknown reasons. And whether or not global warming is responsible for the changes to date, ocean models forecast that in the coming decades increasing water temperatures and changes in circulation will drive oxygen concentrations down even further.

"What we have been experiencing is a perfect storm — where weather, climate and currents can come together to crash an ecosystem," says Chan.

via www.enn.com

the size and growing number of oceanic dead zones is alarming, and i expect will increasing hammer global food webs.

Yesterday, in what CNN anchor Rick Sanchez billed a “good, smart conversation,” Myers actually recognized the reality of a “consequential global warming caused by man,” when not repeating climate-denier talking points:

Is it caused by man? Yes. Is it 100% caused by man? No. There are other things involved. We are now in the sun spot cycle. We are now in a very hot sun cycle. there are many other things going on. But, yes, a significant portion of this is caused by greenhouse gases keeping heat on the shore, on the land, in the atmosphere that could have escaped without those greenhouse gases, so, yes, it’s warmer. . ..

There is absolutely something going on here for this summer being the hottest and some of the water that we have in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico the hottest ever on record which could cause a pretty significant hurricane season still to come.

via climateprogress.org

All the data are piling up, and the steady blanket of heat is becoming too real for all but the most religious deniers to dispute.

It’s all the more powerful evidence of human-caused warming “because it occurs when the recent minimum of solar irradiance is having its maximum cooling effect,” as a recent must-read NASA paper notes.

via climateprogress.org

the frog is slowly, ever so slowly, being brought to a boil

Previous spacecraft investigations have pointed to the possible presence of an ancient ocean, with supporters for the idea that there is still a substantial amount of water under the surface as liquid or ice. Climate change over millions of years might have led to the disappearance of the atmosphere, which would mean that any water on the surface would boil away.

Volcanic activity is among other explanations for apparent gullies, river valleys, flood plains, lakes, seas and other signs of water that have vanished.

Gaetano Di Achille and Bryan Hynek, of the University of Colorado, led a team that analysed the distribution of supposed ancient delta deposits and river-valley networks on Mars. They found many of the deltas were at a similar elevation and suggested these might ring an ancient shoreline, providing strong support for a vast ocean once covering the northern plains of the planet.

via www.guardian.co.uk

If there was that much liquid water, there had to be life. When will we start finding real Martians?

The Kuwaiti study created its world model for peak oil based on 47 individual models for each major oil-producing nation. It also took a separate look at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which includes nations that control about 35 percent of the world's oil reserves.

More complications may still change the ultimate end date for peak oil. OPEC's latest projection suggests that world oil demand will grow by 900,000 barrels per day in 2010, according to an Associated Press story this week. That follows a period of low oil demand during the height of the worldwide recession in 2009.

For now, Kuwaiti scientists say that the world continues to consume its oil reserves at a rate of about 2.1 percent each year. They plan to continue including new data that can refine the model as time goes by.

via www.msnbc.msn.com

The post oil world is in sight.

An iceberg the size of the European country of Luxembourg has broken off from a glacier in Antarctica in an event that could disrupt ocean circulation patterns around the world, scientists warn.

Nearly 3,000 square kilometres of iceberg broke off earlier this month from the tip of the Mertz glacier that juts out into the Southern Ocean from east Antarctica, Australian scientists said on Friday.

via english.aljazeera.net