Virals Videos: Virals Videos and Virals News // Current

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Insurance Companies Pass Landmark Bill

WHOO! The Democrats in Congress passed a bill! Healthcare for all! Awesome! Right? ...right?

asherp
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Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) humbles Hudson Institute dilettante over health care bankruptcies

Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) humbles Hudson Institute dilettante over health care bankruptcies This during a senate Judiciary... more

pjacobs51
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Christopher Walken performs Lady Gaga's 'Poker Face'

Hilarious! http://www.todaysbigthing.com/2009/11/02

lvp
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Rock Band Voice Engine Tricked By Something Called a "Musical Instrument"

On one hand, what's happening here is very simple: Rock Band's singing feature just senses pitch, not words, so... more

pjacobs51
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What's Beck's Beef? Vegetarians, This Time

I've been following Glenn Beck's exploits for a while now, from his take down of Van Jones to his paranoid tirades... more

pjacobs51
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Call of Duty: Secret Spielberg Level Unlocked

Saving Private Ryan was a critically acclaimed movie (just as well, as the Tomatometer from Rotten Tomatoes is at 90%), but if it... more

smurph25
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300,000 birds

300,000 birds, this is cool, but I wonder if they counted them.... more

pjacobs51
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A man in a mohawk Rickrolls Westboro Baptist Church

Back in Easter of 2008, this mohawked hero showed people a very appropriate, if not perfect method to counter those lovable... more

PsychoAlan
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Shotgunning Weed - Does it Really Get You Higher?

humandivision
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How to open a bottle of wine with your shoe

On a day out? Drunk off your ass? Have a bottle of wine but no corkscrew? Observe.... more

emmaboswood
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Berlin Block Tetris

To mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Sergej Hein created this animated piece featuring former soviet... more

smurph25
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Dennis Kucinich- The Democratic Leadership is Running Away From Victory

On MSNBC, The Ed Shultz Show (October 28) Congressman Kucinich stated: It's time to re-double our efforts to insist on a... more

asherp
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Weezer Snuggie Infomercial

Apparently this is for real. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXqHfHN9dJs

lvp
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Threads: Crazy for Johnny Cupcakes

Stock your closet with the hottest T-shirts around from designer Johnny Cupcakes. Find out how owner Johnny Earle keeps his... more

Agent_Alpha
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Bear Necessities

The Mitzi TV crew head into the wilds of central London to seek out some furry characters at the Hugglets Teddy Bear Festival.... more

MitziTV
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Jon Stewart Endorses Geoengineering, Scares Audience

There's been quite a controversy kicked up over Steven Levitt and Steven Dubner's new book, SuperFreakonomics. The authors have battled allegations (which seem to have been proven true) that they misquoted and misrepresented the scientist featured in the book, in order to claim that geoengineering is the best solution to climate change--and that worldwide efforts to reduce carbon would be both infeasible and inadequate. Surprising just about everyone, Jon Stewart agrees. Video of the controversy after the jump.

Typically, Jon Stewart can be counted on to be a champion of progressive causes--which is probably why he alienates his audience in the clip below. Endorsing the view that essentially holds that we can continue polluting and emitting CO2 at the current rate because a geoengineering solution (seeding cloud cover, placing reflective mirrors in earth's orbit, etc) will emerge to will solve the problem does seem a bit odd.

Now, one thing Stewart may not understand (since he does not have time to pore over climate blogs, and I, alas, do) is that the controversy is not over whether or not Levitt and Dubner deny global warming. That's not the issue. It's whether they've sited the correct science in producing their view that we should turn to geoengineering as a solution. As it is, their argument remains riddled with errors.

Many scientists (rightly) fear that while geoengineering solutions should be looked at as 'plan b's--that they are potentially dangerous and could produce unintended and irreversible large scale side effects. And Levitt and Dubner seem to have jumped to conclusions to justify the solution they prefer--and Paul Krugman says they even got the economics wrong while doing so.

Also, by naming their chapter 'Global Cooling' and referring to climate science as a 'religion,' Levitt and Dubner knowingly (or if not knowingly, quite ignorantly) invoked two of the primary tropes embraced by the climate change denial movement, perhaps in order to stoke controversy or appear hiply contrarian.

The fact is, Stewart, Levitt, and Dubner overlook the fact that it is feasible for the world to collectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions. And not in any sort of hands-holding-kumbaya-emissions-be-gone idealistic way, either: individual and political will already proved strong enough to move the international community to protect the ozone from aerosol through a set of global agreements. There's no reason that the same can't be accomplished for greenhouse gases.

And the reason there's such a controversy over this is that we're almost there--the US is on the verge of passing climate legislation. The world is inching towards cleaner energy as a rule. China and India are funding huge alternative energy projects. So when Levitt and Dubner come along, on a very public platform, and say, 'Don't bother. There's going to be a magic bullet that will make all this go away,' of course people are going to take issue with it. Many have worked hard for the progress we've made--and of course Levitt is entitled to his opinion. But if you set out to stoke a controversy--don't be so surprised when you get one.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/10/stephen_levitt.phpThere's been quite a controversy kicked up over Steven Levitt and Steven Dubner's new book, SuperFreakonomics. The... more