Global warming "dry" run

So my brother, who's an atmospheric scientist for NASA, sent me an email this morning:

"Still wondering why sea level rise is bad news for Bangladesh? Just tune-in to the evening news in about 24 hours or so and find out."

And he attached this image:



That, ladies and gentlemen, is a category 5 cyclone bearing down on some the most populated lowlands on the planet. It's expected to cause 10-20 foot storm surges in the region. The population density in the area is way, way, way bigger than the US Gulf Coast, with a fraction of the infrastructure that America enjoys. This could make Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath look like a windy summer rain storm during a Sunday afternoon picnic.

Naturally, the western media has been very late to pick up this story.

Update: Looks like Reuters picked up the story, and the storm is currently at category 4 strength.

Barack me Amadeus!

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to see Barack Obama speak at Google. To date, several Republican and Democratic candidates have spoken here including Hilary Clinton, John McCain, John Edwards, Bill Richardson, Mike Gravel, and Ron Paul. I've managed to see all of these except Gravel, and have blogged about most of these experiences. Obama, however, was the candidate I was most interested in seeing.

I was not disappointed. I think he just won my vote.

As much as I'd like to vote for McCain, there are a couple of issues that I just totally disagree with him on, including his incredibly hawkish stance on the war and his views on abortion rights. McCain had been the best of the candidates to visit us for one simple reason: he's a straight talker. Obama surprised me by talking in a very similar fashion. Like McCain, he's not afraid to express his opinion on something, even if it's not the most populist opinion. I like this approach a lot.

In fact, the very lack of that approach is probably the single greatest turn-off for me on Clinton. When she visited here, and every time I've heard her speak elsewhere, she keeps spouting the same ol' politico-speak that sounds like she's just trying to say the words that will get the most Democratic voters to vote for her. It feels like she's taking the populist path, and that's the same sort of leadership that's gotten the United States into all this trouble now. Bush has proven that style only works while your approval ratings are high. As soon as they're low, you're in trouble.

One of my favorite statements from Obama was "My job as president is to break the fever of fear in this country." His point is that Bush (and Giuliani) are both trying keep America afraid: afraid of terrorists, afraid of shadows, afraid of consequences. Obama says that he wants the exact opposite: openness, re-engaging the world (both our allies and our enemies) in dialog instead of with threats and hatred. I like this stance. I like it a lot.

You can see a video of his visit here. For comparison, check out the other videos of candidates' visits that I linked to above