The NASA/NOAA global average temperature results were not met with glee by the usual suspects. Fox News host Steve Doocy took up the NASA conspiracy fiddling banner only to be shot to shit by Politifact who rated his claims Pants on Fire. One Breit-brat called anyone who quoted the findings “idiots,” claiming that NASA “fiddled” with the data and NOAA is “just as bad,” and that the satellite data shows no warming, then contradicted themselves a graf or two later. They even numbered the bulletpoints to make it easy to keep track of the backtrack:
1. The satellite data show no warming
[Lots of entertaining misinformation and nonsense]
4. According to the satellites it was only the third warmest year (since 1979)
C’mon fellas, can’t you at least try and make a show of it? I mean geez, that doesn’t even deserve a link. (More interested readers can look it up by googling “No, 2015 was not the hottest year evah ...”) But for many right-wing sites I checked, like the Moonie Times, I got zeroes on most search results. Which is probably the safest way to go if you’re in the service of wingnut pseudoscience facing down empirical data.
The Bank of Japan unexpectedly cut a benchmark interest rate below zero on Friday, stunning investors with another bold move to stimulate the economy as volatile markets and slowing global growth threaten its efforts to overcome deflation.
- Now we know that really big solar systems exist. This Sunday I’ll have a post discussing the possibility that our solar system is actually bigger than we thought.
I wish NASCAR were more like NASA. I wish NASCAR were more about the future instead of the past. … There’s no reason why NASCAR couldn’t be like that: a race with rules designed to reward the coolest, most advanced vehicle technologies.
- In a late breaking, quickly convened press conference, officials in Flint, Michigan released the latest test results on lead levels in the local water supply. The EPA cautions that 15 parts per billion is toxic, filters recommended for residents are good up to 150 ppb, at least one location tested at over 4000 ppb:
The high lead readings in recent testing were found throughout the city and were not concentrated in any single area. The spikes appear to be related to lead sediment breaking free from transmission pipes and into water, said Ken Creagh, director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.