Chris Mooney with a New Year's resolution for practicing scientists: engage more with the public and the media : Abel Pharmboy

I agree to some extent but, in this particular case, I don't think that any concerted effort by scientific communicators could have overcome the bleating by Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck that took one or two statements out of context from among 1,073 e-mails and a million words, claiming proof of a massive global scientific conspiracy to manufacture climate change warnings.

The problem is that when one's statements are not bound by facts, you can pretty much say whatever you want; that will be the first thing uncritical sycophants hear and remember.

Terra Sigillata : About

Abel Pharmboy is a pseudonymous, independent PhD researcher/educator trained in pharmacology and toxicology, hoping to be a voice of reason and skepticism, but equally open-minded about conventional and folkloric therapeutic agents. I take prescription drugs, I take certain herbal products, I've interned in a pharmaceutical company, I've worked in a university, I've been awarded tenure, I've relinquished tenure...you get the picture. Readers will be the judges of whether I'm objective.

Record low blows into Siouxland

The forecast pointed to an overnight low of 22 degrees below zero, and the record low for Jan. 2 is minus 16, achieved twice, in 1942 and 1911. The high temperature Friday of 7 degrees was reached just before noon, and by 7 p.m. the temperature had already fallen to 7 below.
...
The Dec. 8-9 and Dec. 23-26 snow blasts left a combined 29 inches of snow on the ground, which some county and city crews are still working to push off streets and roads.

As a point of comparison, ponder the record high for the day -- 59 degrees, reached six years ago in 2004.

Liverpool pensioners face cold weather death risk, claim Tories

MERSEYSIDE is facing an upsurge of cold weather deaths amongst pensioners.

Figures obtained by the Tories show that the North West’s “winter kill” rose from 3,210 in 2007-08 to 5,000 last year.

And the current severe weather and rising fuel poverty rates suggests that the three-month death toll over the current season will be higher than that.

[From Obama's hometown]: Man's Death Is Fourth Related To Cold This Winter - cbs2chicago.com

CHICAGO (AP) ― A man whose body was found in a park on Chicago's South Side is Cook County's fourth confirmed cold-related death.

OpEdNews - Article: Will Americans Reclaim Our Nation in 2010 From the Thugs and Con Artists?

Top scientists, economists and environmentalists all say that cap and trade is a scam which won't significantly reduce C02 emissions, and will only help in making the financial players who crashed the economy even more wealthy.

Will we defeat this worthless scam, or allow the failed banks like Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Citigroup - who have already taken many billions of taxpayer dollars - to make a fortune off of this con game at our expense?

State and local officials urge people to get ready for major cold snap | tallahassee.com | Tallahassee Democrat

A series of hard freezes is on the way, and low temperatures will begin dipping into the teens starting Sunday night, according to the National Weather Service in Tallahassee.