Some info from early Sierra Environmental Studies Foundation docs

Just ran across the "Search the files of the Registry of Charitable Trusts" Calif. Attorney General webpage, and found some history on the Sierra Environmental Studies Foundation, the anti-environment charity vehicle of George Rebane, Russ Steele and John McDaniel; history which, not surprisingly, exposes more anti-environment roots.
(Also, SESF is "delinquent"; is this meaningful?)

Brin on blackmail

Food for thought, when you see someone in a position of influence behaving wildly out of character. Includes this advice:

This hero didn't stand a chance - Tim DeChristopher sentenced, 2 years in prison

Wed. update, DeChristopher's statement to the court: I Do Not Want Mercy, I Want You To Join Me.


"Tim DeChristopher, convicted earlier this year with two federal felonies, will be spending two years in prison for his creative act of non-violent protest against an illegitimate oil and gas lease auction set up by the Bush administration in late 2008."

Details, updates and links to other coverage here.

Reminder, Mine film/discussion tomorrow (Wed) night, Nevada Theater

Information over at Sierra Voices...

This hero didn't stand a chance - Tim DeChristopher to be sentenced tomorrow

From Chris Hedges (link). Read it please.

GVG's stablemates at Francisco Partners

It's an intriguing herd.

Setting the record straight - nearly impossible, unless...

A good one from Coby Beck, reporting that...

"...simple human nature, of the sort the most earnest and conscientious of us all possess, lends itself to being deceived by whomever yells loudest, even when the verifiable truth follows quietly and obsequiously after. An article titled "Setting the record straight almost impossible" describes a new study... by Ullrich Ecker and colleagues...that shows just how insidiously difficult it is to remove misinformation once it is planted in the mind.

... even strong retractions do not undo the damage... But one line from Dr. Ecker: "If you make them suspicious of why that information was presented in the first place, such as by saying it was a deliberate attempt to mislead you, then they can more readily dismiss it," does give some ... hope. "

Tea Party Patriots IRS form 990, from MoJo

Stephanie Mencimer in Mother Jones last week, Tea Parties Aren't Cheap -

Buy local? not so fast...

Locally-contrarian food for thought (link) -

"When country A enacts a blockade or economic sanctions against country B, does country B become more prosperous or less? Does country B thank country A for the good fortune of being forced to “buy local,” or does it claim that country A has committed an act of war?

Free Banking – The Folly that is “Local” Currency: “More importantly, the object that the local currency movement would achieve if it could—that of of “keeping trade within the community”–is, like all forms of protectionism, a highly dubious one: As Tim Harford succinctly puts it, “the gains from more trade with locals are more than offset by the losses from less trade with strangers. Otherwise economic sanctions would be a blessing.”"

What science requires (a post for the "warming since little ice age" folks)

Tom McClintock, take note. From Eduardo via Stoat:

On Experts and Global Warming (and us) - NYTimes, the Stone

A great piece, from Tuesday: On Experts and Global Warming, by Gary Gutting
In short:

We non-experts are in no position to argue against the consensus of expert scientific opinion. ... once we have accepted the authority of a particular scientific discipline, we cannot consistently reject its conclusions. To adapt Schopenhauer’s famous remark about causality, science is not a taxi-cab that we can get in and out of whenever we like.

[irksome comment deleted, 2011-07-20]

A taste of Burning Man at Stonehouse - the Now-a-saurus

If you were driving through the Plaza(*) intersection in Nevada City about 8pm tonight, you likely spied something alien...

Where to find highlights from TEDGlobal (streamed in TEDxGV)

Many thanks to those who put on the TEDxGrassValley event yesterday - which was mostly contemporaneous streaming from TEDGlobal 2011 with the addition of several local speakers.

TEDxGrassValley -The Stuff of Life - at Foundry tomorrow- register online

Looks like there'll be some good speakers. From See Jane Do email:

Machinery of Climate Denial - on KVMR today, Mashey's talk via Radio Ecoshock

Why is this message news, to people who encounter it?
If you'd listened to KVMR today at noon(*), you'd already know it - and you'd know why it's news to others.

Update on Brunswick resurfacing (not), widening (not) of bike-scary parts

In spring 2010 I'd posted about my understanding from talking to Dave Keck of NevCo roads maintenance, about their plans for resurfacing Brunswick Rd & making it a little more bike-safe. But it sounds like I'd misunderstood -

Weighing in on journalism as a discipline of verification, over at Keachie's

Over at Keachie's; factoring in the opportunity cost. Feedback please.

A semi-correction - Among other things there, I asked "how do you report a Gish Gallop talk", leaving the answer open/unknown; but the right answer is probably something along the lines of "pick & dissect the first N distortions, where N is a very small number"; climate bloggers are increasingly doing this.

Parade p.s.

One of the coolest sights from & around today’s parade in Grass Valley was the black, Indian & and Muslim looking family walking in front of me afterward; the womenfolk dressed to the nines, the little girl holding up her American flag.

Notes on the Tea Party, at GV Fourth of July parade - and short Meckler Q&A

Twilight in Nevada City, July 3

Nevada County Tea Party, meet Critical Thinking and Intelligence Analysis

July 9 update: minor wording for increased clarity.
After being, as usual, struck dumb by Mark Meckler's dynamic diatribe Wednesday night on how the United Nations (Agenda 21) and sustainability folks (ICLEI) want to take away your freedoms (link, link) - how *do* you bridge a chasm like that? - I realized one helpful resource might be this passage from David T. Moore's Critical Thinking and Intelligence Analysis (pdf) from the National Defense Intelligence College:

ButtePIC questions...

Updated 2011-07-10 (edited title), 2011-07-06 (some add'l info, though whether it's *all* the add'l funding is unclear; see bottom of post.)

Anyone have suggestions on how to find out what ButtePIC's other (i.e., non Workforce Investment Act) funding streams were?

A tale of two pavers

Last month's Soapbox Derby was held on Nimrod St, recently resurfaced by (sez Brenda at City Hall) Sierra Nevada Construction. They did a beeauutiful smooth job, as the soapboxers and subsequent skateboarders can attest.

And then there's the bone-jarringdensity-building GV resurfacings of Idaho-Maryland to Sutton to the Dorsey Drive intersection...