momusradar

Bill Wolfe was surprised to read the New Jersey Environmental Federation endorsed Republican candidate Chris Christie for Governor:

So to get a little understanding, I just went to the Christie website, watched the 1½ minute Christie video, and read his “entire plan” –

At a fundamental level, Christie feels that DEP has become “too intertwined with business life” in NJ (his words) and needs to shrink and disengage on the regulatory front. This language should set off all sorts of alarm bells for those who follow environmental affairs – it represents a sort of kinder and gentler (yet actually more conservative) “Open for Business” mantra.

This endorsement by New Jersey’s largest environmental group may be an asset for Christie. But as Wolfe outlines in his post, Christie’s policy declarations are seriously flawed. Combine this with the concern regarding his insubstantial plans for the state’s finances and it seems pretty clear that Christie is a poor choice for Governor.

From the Scientific American article, Ammonite trove exists in Agony Creek, in suburban New Jersey:

Outside Freehold, N.J.—The water is icy cold and the stone is slippery as I wade in up to my calves. Along the banks of this slow-flowing stream, guarded by prickly brambles, lies one of the richest caches of fossils dating back to the extinction that claimed the dinosaurs. The remains of marine creatures buried here, kept secret to prevent looting, tell an unusual tale: rather than dying off 65 million years ago, these creatures lived on afterward, albeit briefly. The discovery is causing scientists to rethink why some creatures survived the so-called KT extinction while others did not.

Unlike this one, significant fossil sites tend to be found in exotic locales such as the searing hot Gobi Desert or the windswept pampas of Patagonia, areas remote from the kind of urban development that can ruin them. “You don’t expect to find them here in suburban New Jersey some 90 minutes away from New York City,” explains Neil Landman, curator of fossil invertebrates at the American Museum of Natural History.

Taking into account that New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the nation, I’m impressed they managed to keep the site in relative secrecy for the past six years.

The new Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 7970 gear-shifter sounds great for real racing cyclists. I can’t help but be concerned, though, that it will be the new rage with the roadie posers that litter the roads here in Northern New Jersey.

Amitabha Buddhists from New York released imported reptiles into New Jersey’s Passaic River this past Sunday as part of a ritual. The river was chosen because it was thought to give the creatures “the best chance of surviving and realizing their full karmic potential.”

Apparently no concern was given to the bad karma of possibly altering the local ecosystem.