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Archive for December 22nd, 2012
2012 – A year of extreme weather
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 22nd, 2012
BBC: As the heavy rain and winds continue to sweep across many parts of the UK, the latest flooding marks the end of a year of extreme weather. This year has been officially the wettest on record but it did not start that way, as Jeremy Cooke reports.
Posted in 
John Krasinski, Matt Damon a promising pair
Posted by Boston Globe: Lynda Gorov on December 22nd, 2012
Boston Globe: Forget the fancy hotel and Hollywood heat. When Matt Damon and John Krasinski get going, they're just guys who grew up with similar hometown references despite a decade's difference in age.
There's Aerosmith, of course. And Bobby Orr. Krasinski, 33, says his mother's favorite photo of him is with the Bruins legend, who retired the year before he was born. Damon, 42, laughs knowingly at the mention of another former Bruin, Cam Neely. Regional accent, chowdah, Faneuil Hall, they've both got Boston...
Life Returned Shortly After Mass Extinction, But Long-Term Biodiversity Suffered
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 22nd, 2012
RedOrbit: While it has long been assumed plant and animal life took a long time to recover following the largest mass extinction to date, researchers from the University of Zurich have discovered new evidence to suggest they may have bounced back sooner than previously believed.
The mass extinction in question took place at the end of the Permian geological period some 252 million years ago, and scientists had long believed it took roughly five million years for complex ecological communities to become...
BP settlement over Deepwater Horizon oil spill approved by federal judge
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 22nd, 2012
Associated Press: A federal judge gave final approval to BP's settlement with businesses and individuals who lost money because of the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
BP PLC has estimated it will pay $7.8bn to resolve economic and medical claims from more than 100,000 businesses and individuals hurt by the nation's worst offshore oil spill. The settlement has no cap; the company could end up paying more or less.
US district judge Carl Barbier, who gave his preliminary approval in May, made it final on...
Waterkeepers Worldwide Defend the Right to Clean Water
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on December 22nd, 2012
EcoWatch: Waterkeeper Alliance has produced a new PSA video narrated by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the organizations president, and Edward James Olmos, a long time supporter of the group. The video premiered on CBS on Dec. 10, during the Deer Valley Celebrity Skifest and will be seen on cable channels beginning in early 2013. Founded in 1999, Waterkeeper Alliance, a global environmental movement uniting more than 200 Waterkeeper organizations around the world, focuses on citizen advocacy on issues affecting...
An apps-eye view of global warming and climate change
Posted by Mercury News: Pete Carey on December 22nd, 2012
Mercury News: Drought in the Midwest; forest fires in the Southwest; blizzards and hurricanes on the East Coast; rising ocean levels on both coasts.
If you're wondering what to make of the crazy weather of the past few years, maybe it's time to check out some of the iPhone and Android apps you can use to study climate change and global warming.
Quite a few are devoted to the still-contentious issue. Many are for the Apple (AAPL) operating system, but there are some in the Android app store too.
By making...
A Biodiversity Map, Version 2.0
Posted by New York Times: Rachel Nuwer on December 22nd, 2012
New York Times: University of Copenhagen Researchers have produced a new biodiversity map divided into 11 large biogeographic realms.
Tigers and pandas live in Asia, kangaroos and koalas in Australia and polar bears and snowy owls in the Arctic. The world can be divided into regions based upon the unique types of animals that live there. Or so the thinking went when Alfred Russel Wallace published the scientific world`s first global biodiversity map in 1876.
More than a century has come and gone since Wallace...