The 10 things Americans care about more than the environment

By Will Oremus 22 April 2013 (Slate) – Environmentalists like to think that the public is in their corner—that it’s only the pernicious influence of Big Oil and Big Coal that keeps Congress from passing a carbon tax or Obama from nixing the Keystone Pipeline. They’re right that most voters care about the planet, insofar […]

People aren’t smart enough for Democracy to flourish, scientists Say

[“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Democracy simply doesn’t work.” – Kent Brockman] By Natalie Wolchover, Life’s Little Mysteries Staff Writer28 February 2012 (LiveScience) – The democratic process relies on the assumption that citizens (the majority of them, at least) can recognize the best political candidate, or best policy idea, when they […]

Pessimists live longer and healthier lives: study – ‘Being overly optimistic in predicting a better future is associated with a greater risk of disability and death’

Washington, 28 February 2013 (ANI) – Pessimism about the future may lead to longer and healthier life, researchers have suggested. According to a new study [pdf], older people who have low expectations for a satisfying future may be more likely to live longer, healthier lives than those who see brighter days ahead. “Our findings revealed […]

50 doomiest graphs of 2012

In 2012, “the new normal” is how observers from Christiane Amanpour to The Onion characterized the various forms of extreme weather that wrought havoc around the globe. This is a practical definition of “climate change”, and Dr. James Hansen showed clearly what this means quantitatively: Graph of the Day: Shifting Distribution of Global Temperature Anomalies, […]

Desdemona Despair app now available in the Windows Store

Desdemona was busy over the holidays and is happy to report that the Desdemona Despair app is live in the Windows Store. If you’d like a convenient way to get fresh doom updates on your desktop, install Windows 8 and then search for “Desdemona Despair” in the store. Desdemona Despair app for Windows in the […]

50 doomiest stories of 2012

At some point, the pace of doom will overtake this blog’s capacity to document it. In 2012, Desdemona came pretty close to this threshold, as a burst of extreme weather events battered civilization and illustrated the nature of abrupt climate change to the most obdurate of nation states. “The new normal” is how observers from […]

50 doomiest stories of 2012

At some point, the pace of doom will overtake this blog’s capacity to document it. In 2012, Desdemona came pretty close to this threshold, as a burst of extreme weather events battered civilization and illustrated the nature of abrupt climate change to the most obdurate of nation states. “The new normal” is how observers from […]

50 doomiest images of 2012

In 2011, Desdemona experienced déjà vu while collecting doom-laden images, but not so this year. Doom has begun to have a certain characteristic look: the record flooding looks the same, whether it’s in the Philippines or Nigeria; spiderwebs coat the flooded landscape in Pakistan and Australia alike. Mega-fires in Siberia and the U.S. West produce […]

20 most popular doom stories of 2012

Once again, it’s time for the yearly doom retrospectives, and as usual we’re kicking them off with 2012’s most-viewed stories on Desdemona. There were no appalling technogenic disasters in 2012, like Fukushima or the Deepwater Horizon – but Chevron’s K.S. Endeavor rig fire came close – and no story clearly dominated the year’s coverage. Over […]

50 doomiest graphs of 2012

In 2012, “the new normal” is how observers from Christiane Amanpour to The Onion characterized the various forms of extreme weather that wrought havoc around the globe. This is a practical definition of “climate change”, and Dr. James Hansen showed clearly what this means quantitatively: Graph of the Day: Shifting Distribution of Global Temperature Anomalies, […]

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