Paris has been on my mind more than other recent attacks, due to it being my uncontrollable place of birth, but there is no doubt that wherever the location or whatever the reason, a planned innocent-killing attack, either led by terrorist or anti-terrorist groups, should NOT be.
In this blog I would like to talk about one of the best conferences I attended this year (2015), the “Ninth International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation” held in Nairobi. More than 400 scientists from around the world (over 90 countries) attended the conference. The theme of the conference was ‘Measuring and enhancing effective adaptation‘…. Read more »
An opportunity for young graduates to intern in the Climate System Analysis Group, Environmental and Geographical Science Department at the University of Cape Town. We are looking for a self-motivated candidate who will work with key research staff within existing projects and towards proposals and new contract work within the unit. This opportunity is… Read more »
The Climate System Analysis Group (CSAG) is expanding the post-doctoral team with three new appointments to work collaboratively within a new interdisciplinary program (see www.fractal.org.za) with a consortium of international partners, and be based in Cape Town, South Africa. The three positions are loosely focused on: Developing regional climate change information Changes in regional climate… Read more »
Okay, maybe not everything. However, when discussing climate science it’s inevitable at some point the conversation will turn to the subject of ‘the future’. Often in the form a question like “So what’s going to happen?”, at times meant in quite precise terms. In some ways it’s a quite flattening question. Unfortunately, I’m not very… Read more »
South African Society for Atmospheric Sciences (SASAS) organizes an annual conference, and this year, the event precipitated on the deep outskirts of Pretoria over 21-22 September. What sets this year apart is that, although officially attached to University of Pretoria, it was organized by a cross-institutional organizing committee composed entirely of women. The conference is… Read more »
During a conversation last week, a fellow CSAG-er casually mentioned that the probability of precipitation depended on the day of the week. I found this to be puzzling – after all, what does the weather know of the days of the week? A search of the literature uncovered that this theory is plausible, and that… Read more »
Found this gem of a poem on the internet the other day, and thought that it perfectly captured the type of pondering we tend to do regarding the climate, weather, and life in general. The poem is entitled “Children’s Song” and it’s by Ford Madox Ford [1]. Sometimes wind and sometimes rain, Then the sun… Read more »
(The paradox of this post is that it is probably not purely objective) “One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted. Most people are rather confident of their ability… Read more »