There’s no shortage of reports from the far north about the effects of climate change. The new climate is much more obvious in the extremes of the world. What’s different about the situation in Kivalina, Alaska, is that residents are blaming several energy companies for their problems.

Lawyers for the Alaska Native coastal village of Kivalina, which is being forced to relocate because of flooding caused by the changing Arctic climate, filed suit in federal court here Tuesday arguing that 5 oil companies, 14 electric utilities and the country’s largest coal company were responsible for the village’s woes.

“There has been a long campaign by power, coal and oil companies to mislead the public about the science of global warming,” the suit says. The campaign, it says, contributed “to the public nuisance of global warming by convincing the public at large and the victims of global warming that the process is not man-made when in fact it is.”

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I forgot about the World Incident Map until someone reminded me today. How come Morenci isn’t lighting up? The bomb threat at the high school isn’t showing.

But that’s just the sort of thing that’s displayed on this map. I’ve seen the site described as your own private war room.

UPDATE: Morenci’s incident today was from a message written on a bathroom stall about a bomb in the building.

Ordinarily it would be pretty big news when someone walks into a village council meeting carrying a rifle. Could you run fast enough?

But this was Fayette’s meeting and it was a familiar face who wanted help ordering ammunition from one of the council members.

Now if he returns with his Winchester another time, once he has him ammo, I’ll be slinking to the floor.

Darning a sock. Editing audio tape with a razor blade and splicing block. Opening a can of beer with a church key. Adjusting the rabbit ears on top of a TV.

Obsolete Skills has an enormous compendium of things people used to know how to do.

Changing times.

There’s a new construction chief for the U.S. embassy project in Baghdad and he’s already made the mistake of talking honestly:

The State Department’s new embassy construction chief has rejected his predecessor’s certification that the $740 million new U.S. embassy in Baghdad is “substantially completed” and has instead begun a top-to-bottom review of the troubled project.

The official, Richard Shinnick, said in an interview the State Department hopes that the sprawling embassy complex — originally scheduled to be completed last September — will be ready by March 31.

But he said repeatedly that he’s not setting a target date because past deadlines have forced a rush to complete the embassy’s defective work.

Maybe they’re having some utility problems like in Najaf where power is restricted to one or two hours a day. This link has a very interesting report on life in Iraq.

George Isobar measured 2.0 inches of snow at 7:30 a.m., and it’s continuing to fall. The National Weather Service says 2 - 4 inches today for Morenci and 3 inches for Fayette.

When I was out shoveling, I noticed there’s a bit of a wind blowing. It’s not too strong, but it won’t take much to move this light stuff around. Should be fun driving later today.

In Australia, a family watched in horror as a large python ate the pet chihuahua. Digestion would take about two days:

Despite hurling chairs at the snake, it was undeterred and they were unable to save the family pet.

A pet guinea pig and a cat were also gobbled up by snakes recently. Who’s next on the menu, the kids?

Hilary Osborne in the Guardian discusses the financial implications of we on this side of the ocean call Sadie Hawkins Day:

If your intended says “no” it might not be entirely bad news. According to some reports you could be in line for £100 or even a new gown to cover your broken heart.

An NPR report this morning discussed the upcoming election to replace Putin. Voters have a choice between Putin’s hand-picked replacement or the Communist Party candidate. Others on the ballot have no chance of winning and any serious contenders were not allowed on the ballot.

Many voters will just sit it out, knowing the election is meaningless. Don’t worry about too many sitting it out. That would create the impression of the farce that it really is. For a large percentage of people, they will vote or lose their jobs.

I generally don’t have a big interest in business and economics, etc., but when I listen to Marketplace on NPR, it almost always holds my interest.

These days, the talk gets more and more interesting, although somewhat on the gloomy side.

Tonight’s show included:

Etc.

Psychologist Philip Zimbardo conducted an experiment in 1971 in which volunteer prison guards dealt with volunteer prisoners. The study had to be stopped due to the level abuse dished out.

Zimbardo talked to Wired about the pressure at Abu Graib that led guards to acts of cruelty at the Iraqi prison:

he situational forces that were going on in [Abu Ghraib] - the dehumanisation, the lack of personal accountability, the lack of surveillance, the permission to get away with antisocial actions - it was like the Stanford prison study, but in spades.

The Guardian’s Matthew Weaver provides info and links as a new round of Abu Graib abuse reports is released.

The number of male teachers in the U.S. has reached a 40-year low. Three reasons are suggested:

According to Bryan Nelson, founder of MenTeach, a nonprofit organization dedicated to recruiting male teachers, research suggests three key reasons for the shortage of male teachers: low status and pay, the perception that teaching is “women’s work,” and the fear of accusation of child abuse.

Many men once in the profession say they quit because of worries that innocuous contact with students could be misconstrued, reports the NEA.

“There’s a lack of support for male teachers, a lack of respect, and a lack of being able to be involved in decision-making,” said Reg Weaver, president of the NEA. “And I can’t say it’s getting better.”

What was that man thinking?

Thomas Jefferson devised a layout of 10 new states from the Northwest Territory:

The names suggested for these ten States are a peculiar mixture of Latin and Indian, and while a semblance of some of the names still remains in two cases, in all others it is so absolutely forgotten that the very fact has ceased to be known by many close students of American history. Yet, besides this humane and noble piece of statesmanship (the proposed prohibition of slavery in the territory) we have a glimpse of that absurd element in Jefferson’s mind which his admirers sought to excuse by calling him a ‘philosopher’. The matter is small, to be sure, but suggestive. He proposed as names for the several subdivisions of this territory: Sylvania, Michigania, Cheronesus, Assenisippis, Metropotamia, Illinoia, Saratoga, Washington, Polypotamia, and Pelipsia.

Don’t we all feel better now? Pres. Bush says to stop thinking a recession is coming. Just give the economic stimulus plan a chance to work.

No comment was made about how the stimulus put the nation $150 billion deeper into debt.

From the wit and wisdom of Gene:

Take any group of people and there’s going to be an oddball in the group. If you can’t identify that person, you better look in the mirror.