Global Warming Hits London (UPDATED)

The Daily Telegraph headline reads: Britain Paralyzed By Worst Snowfall in 20 Years.

Up to 1ft of snow fell in parts of the south east and the Pennines while most of the country was blanketed in at least four inches of it.

Forecasters are warning of worse to come and the Arctic blizzards are being treated as an "extreme weather event".

The Met Office said that it was the most widespread snowfall in Britain for 18 years.

With bus and train services out of action and drivers urged to stay off the roads, a handful of commuters took to skiing through the streets of London.

If only I had my "street" skis (as opposed to early-season, rock skis).

UPDATE 2:49pm BST: Do check out the snow-covered pictures of London posted by my flatmate, Seb.

Ice Age: Part 1
Ice Age: Part 2
Ice Age: Part 3
Ice Age: Part 4
Picasa Album

Last year, my brother, Matt, and I lived in a snowbound cabin the entire winter. From the time snow first fell in November, it persisted--w/o major melt--until April. One could climb, from the snow piles on either side of the entry, with very little difficulty, right onto the roof. The wild turkeys took shelter underneath our deck.

All of this is to say: I've seen snow, but I've never seen Londoners in snow, and let me tell you, it's great.

From our deck, overlooking the local cemetery (image courtesy Seb's Picasa album)

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Obama's 50-State Strategy: Good Luck With That

Open fighting among the nutroots, state Democratic leaders, and the media (but I repeat myself) over Obama's "game changing" campaign that was supposed to re-write the map. His campaign of clever twentysomethinghipsters is taking flak from long-time Democratic strategists for wasting money in places where it was never going to do any good (read: help him win in November). Per the Daily Telegraph:

The Sunday Telegraph has learned that senators, governors and union leaders who have experience of winning hard-fought races in swing states have been bombarding Obamas campaign headquarters with telephone calls offering advice. But many of those calls have not been returned.

A senior Democratic strategist, who has played a prominent role in two presidential campaigns, told The Sunday Telegraph: "These guys are on the verge of blowing the greatest gimme in the history of American politics. They're the most arrogant bunch I've ever seen. They won't accept that they are losing and they won't listen."

Ah, schadenfreude, I've missed you.


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Governor Palin: Reformer, Woman-of-Action

From the Daily Telegraph's James Bennett:

As with most poor, distant places that suddenly receive great natural-resource wealth, the first generation of politicians were mesmerised by the magnificence of the crumbs falling from the table. Palin was the first of the next generation to realise that Alaska should have a place at that table.

Her first target was an absurd bureaucratic tangle that for 30 years had kept the state from exporting its gas to the other 48 states. She set an agenda that centred on three mutually supportive objectives: cleaning up state politics, building a new gas pipeline, and increasing the state's share of energy revenues.

This agenda, pursued throughout Palin's commission tenure, culminated in her run for governor in 2006. By this time, she had already begun rooting out corruption and making enemies, but also establishing her bona fides as a reformer.

With this base, she surprised many by steamrollering first the Republican incumbent governor, and second, the Democratic former governor, in the election.

Far from being a reprise of Mr Smith Goes to Washington, Palin was a clear-eyed politician who, from the day she took office, knew exactly what she had to do and whose toes she would step on to do it.

The surprise is not that she has been in office for such a short time but that she has succeeded in each of her objectives. She has exposed corruption; given the state a bigger share in Alaska's energy wealth; and negotiated a deal involving big corporate players, the US and Canadian governments, Canadian provincial governments, and native tribes - the result of which was a £13 billion deal to launch the pipeline and increase the amount of domestic energy available to consumers. This deal makes the charge of having "no international experience" particularly absurd.

In short, far from being a small-town mayor concerned with little more than traffic signs, she has been a major player in state politics for a decade, one who formulated an ambitious agenda and deftly implemented it against great odds.

(emphasis added)

In short, she has the resume Obama wishes he had.

(h/t Ace)


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Genetically Modified Food: Feeding Millions

The verdict is in: Prince Charles screened The Happening one too many times (heck, once is too many).

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, the idiot royal claimed "mass development of genetically modified crops risks causing the world's worst environmental disaster."

The truth? Genetically modified crops provide cheap food to millions of people worldwide.

Comments like Prince Charles' risk alarming people unnecessarily and provoking bad policy. The EU already uses fear-mongering re: genetically modified foods as a not-so-clever form of protectionism. Statement's like Charles exacerbate the existing problem.

Hey Charles, here's a tip: leave the science to the scientists.


*UPDATE 13 August 11:45pm PST: the Reason blog weighs in against the idiocy of Charles and in favor of GM foods.


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