Global cooling disproven (again)

Statisticians show that people (*cough*Matt Drudge*cough*) who try to claim there is a "global cooling" trend are being disingenuous.

From the Associated Press:

Statisticians who analyzed the data found a distinct decades-long upward trend in the numbers, but could not find a significant drop in the past 10 years in either data set. The ups and downs during the last decade repeat random variability in data as far back as 1880.

Saying there's a downward trend since 1998 is not scientifically legitimate, said David Peterson, a retired Duke University statistics professor and one of those analyzing the numbers.

Identifying a downward trend is a case of "people coming at the data with preconceived notions," said Peterson, author of the book "Why Did They Do That? An Introduction to Forensic Decision Analysis."

Ball's in your court, climate change deniers.

Gallup polling: We're better than news outlets

There was an interesting blog post in Gallup's The Queue blog basically saying they're better than newspapers (whose circulation is down) and TV news (with CNN dropping to dead last among cable news networks).

These new realities reaffirm why we do what we do here at Gallup.com. Quite simply, we do what no one else can do -- which is to provide empirical, rather than anecdotal, insights on the news of the moment. Put more simply, we let our data drive our news. Data that no one else has. That's why at Gallup.com, every lead has a data point, and every story has a graph.

We don't want you to visit Gallup.com instead of visiting other news sources. We want you to visit Gallup.com in addition to your favorite news sources. It's perfectly fine with us if you turn somewhere else for context and background, and then come to us for the data or empirical evidence to complete the picture.

What do you think?

Why do people care about Brett Favre?

The New Yorker tries to dig into this maddening phenomenon.

My two cents?

It's like a bad habit. You know that it's bad for you. You know that nothing good is coming from it, but you just can't help yourself.

Case in point: More people watched his Monday Night Football game between his new team (the Minnesota Vikings) and the team that he was on seemingly forever (the Green Bay Packers) than any other cable program -- ever.

It was the highest rated show of the week, despite being on a cable network (albeit a cable network that is on every single basic cable package in the country).

Why? Two words: Brett Favre.

Why do we care so much about Favre? Maybe we'll never know -- but for as long as he puts on that helmet (for whichever team it is), we'll still be watching.

Bloomberg breaks record for most self-funding in political race

All I can say is: Wow.

Michael R. Bloomberg, the Wall Street mogul whose fortune catapulted him into New York’s City Hall, has set another staggering financial record: He has now spent more of his own money than any other individual in United States history in the pursuit of public office.

He's spent $85 million of his own money so far. And he could spend up to $140 million by the time all is said and done.

The man who covers Texas executions

An interesting, if somewhat macabre, story about Michael Graczyk, the Associated Press reporter based in Houston, TX who has covered "nearly every execution the state has carried out."

From the New York Times:

No reporter, warden, chaplain or guard has seen nearly as many executions as Mr. Graczyk, 59, Texas prison officials say. In fact, he has probably witnessed more than any other American. It could be emotionally and politically freighted work, but he takes it with a low-key, matter-of-fact lack of sentiment, refusing to hint at his own view of capital punishment.

Held by the Taliban: 7 Months, 10 Days in Captivity

New York Times reporter David Rohde was held by the Taliban for seven months and ten days before escaping. In a five part series, he recounted his tale.

Moments later, I felt a hand push me back toward the car, and I was forced to lie down on the back seat. Two gunmen got in and slammed the doors shut. The car lurched forward. Tahir and Asad were gone and, I thought, probably dead.

Take an hour or so and go read the first four parts (the fifth isn't up yet).

Strip hockey

From ESPN:

In an effort to inspire more team unity, Lightning players competed in a post-practice game of strip shootout, according to the St. Petersburg Times.

Players faced off in a series of shootouts, forced to lose a piece of equipment every time their attempt was thwarted.

Those wacky Canadians (I just assume a good percentage of the team is Canadian).

Scientists find "ribbon" surrounding solar system

A very interesting story about the outer edges of our solar system.

In a discovery that took astronomers by surprise, the first full-sky map of the solar system's edge—more than 9 billion miles (15 billion kilometers) away—has revealed a bright "ribbon" of atoms called ENAs.

The solar system is surrounded by a protective "bubble" called the heliosphere.

Scientists have no idea why this is there -- it took them completely by surprise.

I have to say, astronomy is a very interesting science. If I was a lot smarter, maybe I would have went into it.

Inside the wacky world of the kickball world championships

From ESPN's Jemele Hill:

To say this ain't fifth-grade kickball is like saying Malcolm Gladwell is just a little bit smart. At your average rec league tournament, you do not see a team from New Mexico playing in green wigs as if they're straight out of a Dr. Seuss book or doing a team dance that's a cross between the Macarena and the stanky leg. You do not see men big enough to have played college football wearing bumblebee costumes (complete with antennae and wings) and feather boas. You do not hear the national anthem sung by a man who makes William Hung sound like Luther Vandross. You don't have a couple getting married in their kickball uniforms after their team -- which has a name that can't be mentioned here -- was eliminated from the tournament.

I played in a kickball tournament in New Mexico a few years back -- we made it out of our group, but lost in the first elimination game. In that game, we had a player ejected and a near-fight -- not joking. Kickball is serious business.

Some ignorant KC Chiefs fans on Facebook

Further down the line, a voice of reason:

Wow. There are some ignorant rednecks subscribed to this feed. Look, face the fact that our country has an increasing Spanish speaking population. If it bothers you unsubscribe and stop making Kansas and Missouri look as intolerant and backwoods as the rest of the country already views us.