Kids, do NOT try this at home. But do enjoy this fantastic video of saving a humpback whale that had become seemingly hopelessly entangled in fishing gear. I love the emotion at the end - from both whale and humans.
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saving a whale
June 16, 2011
Kids, do NOT try this at home. But do enjoy this fantastic video of saving a humpback whale that had become seemingly hopelessly entangled in fishing gear. I love the emotion at the end - from both whale and humans.
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seriously?
June 15, 2011
This has to be a joke, right? An extraordinarily bad joke, but a joke nonetheless. Otherwise, this is simultaneously the most offensive and hilariously inept campaign commercial I've ever seen. Seriously, it's like an SNL/Andy Samberg parody of an extraordinarily bad and offensive campaign commercial. Of course, the makers' intent may just have been to get as many eyeballs as they possibly could, knowing full well that it was dreadful, and dreadfully over-the-top, just as a way of bringing public attention to the issue they espouse. In which case, maybe they're geniuses. Kinda doubt it, though.
The video is not safe for work, minors, or anyone with half a brain.
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The video is not safe for work, minors, or anyone with half a brain.
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this is boxing
June 14, 2011
This video is played before the main event at every Top Rank card these days. It's ten kinds of awesome.
ice bears, again
June 11, 2011
For reasons that are unclear to me, there has been a sudden resurgence in media interest in my book. Rather than analyze this endlessly, I'm just happy to go along for the ride. Here's one I did recently, on the Relevant Radio Network, which I especially enjoyed. I was particularly grateful that the host, Sean Herriott, very kindly and unexpectedly asked me about my parents at the very end. My segment begins at about 29:50. Read More
Earning America Points
June 2, 2011
Memorial Day was hot, the sun was punishing. Kieran, being an idiot, wore jeans. Saba, not being an idiot, wore a dress.
Kieran and Saba went to Mt. Vernon - the perfect destination for Memorial Day. Not feeling like driving (Kieran rarely feels like driving), Kieran proposed taking a cruise up the river and back, which made for a longer day but a more leisurely and enjoyable experience. Read More
Kieran and Saba went to Mt. Vernon - the perfect destination for Memorial Day. Not feeling like driving (Kieran rarely feels like driving), Kieran proposed taking a cruise up the river and back, which made for a longer day but a more leisurely and enjoyable experience. Read More
Explanation Without End
May 31, 2011
This interview should be required listening for researchers and campaigners who are ever called to discuss or "debate" climate change in front of a hostile audience or on skeptic-populated airwaves. Indeed, it is an ideal template for anyone required to explain a contentious issue in a less than sympathetic environment. Read More
adieu
May 10, 2011
Today, my Mother's ashes were committed to the sea, in the same patch of water to which my father's ashes were surrendered two years ago.
And thus, finally, ends a long journey, a life lived well and lived long.
With much love and my eternal gratitude,
Farewell.
And thus, finally, ends a long journey, a life lived well and lived long.
With much love and my eternal gratitude,
Farewell.
May 10, 2011
I live two lives. I am a writer in both, but in the dominant life, I write about science and the environment, while in the secondary, part-time life, I write about sports, and specifically boxing.
However, more people know me for my boxing work than for my environmental writing; such is the relative popularity of sports and polar bears. And so some who know me only for the former might be surprised by the latter. I get that. Even so, I wasn't expecting the following communication, submitted via this website:
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However, more people know me for my boxing work than for my environmental writing; such is the relative popularity of sports and polar bears. And so some who know me only for the former might be surprised by the latter. I get that. Even so, I wasn't expecting the following communication, submitted via this website:
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on being calm at the center of the storm
May 2, 2011

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
The news that President Barack Obama gave the order to kill Osama bin Laden on Friday April 29 really highlights the extent to which a president needs to have an almost superhuman ability to multitask and develop an ironclad poker face. There he was last week, dealing with Trump's birther nonsense and even, on Saturday night, the final night of bin Laden's life, smiling and hinting at nothing as Seth Meyers joked about the al-Qaida leader's whereabouts during the White House Correspondents' Association dinner - all the while knowing what was about to unfold.
Personally, I'd have been texting and Tweeting uncontrollably: "OMG. Abt 2 kill OBL. So excited. LOL"
Reason # 4,768 why I'm not president.
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