Boulder is a Stoopid Place

Accompanying publicity material declared the change reflected ‘concrete evidence’ that 15 per cent of the ice sheet around the island – an area the size of the United Kingdom – had melted since 1999.
But last night the atlas’s publishers admitted that the ‘ice-free’ areas could in fact still be covered by sheets of more than a quarter of a mile thick. It came after a group of leading polar scientists from Cambridge University wrote to them saying their changes were ‘incorrect and misleading’ and that the true rate of melting has been far slower.

Just in the years 2007 to 2009, for every barrel of oil produced in the world, 1.6 barrels of new reserves were added. And other developments – from more efficient cars and advances in batteries, to shale gas and wind pwoer – have provided reasons for greater confidence in our energy resilency. Yet the fear of peak oil maintains its powerful grip.

Pirosko, who has fought photo- radar shenanigans since the beginning and once got a judge to suspend Denver’s system until it was reformed, told me, “The public is sick of cities using them as an ATM machine. I’m telling people to follow the law. Make them serve you personally.” And if you do, don’t answer the door to strangers for awhile. In the tickets it mails to motorists, Denver does say they won’t be reported to the state. But the only hint of the personal service mandate is the warning that the assessment “may be served to you” if you don’t pay by a particular date. When Fox 31’s Heidi Hemmat did a report on photo radar in April, Denver police brushed off her questions about personal service — as well they might, since ignorance is the best assurance of docile payment. Make no mistake: Docile payment is the right call if you were speeding recklessly. If not, though, it seems you have an option.

Despite the announcement of the Solyndra bankruptcy on August 31, “Hardball,” “PoliticsNation,” “The Last Word,” “The Rachel Maddow Show,” and “The Ed Show” have not done one single report on the subject.