| Sunday, July
26, 2009
Subject: Warming Hoax
Warming Hoax? more Data!
High resolution ( 1m ) imagery depicting nothern polar
ice. These were kept under wraps during the Bush administration.
http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/
tre56f6n2-us-climate-arctic-images/
Whatever the "this is a hoax people" think ( they have
prooved), I am missing some explanation why 30% more CO2 in the atmosphere
than at any time in the last million years should be deemed "just nature".
G! uwe
Thirty percent more sounds horrifying, but the
actual amounts don't. We do not have a good analysis of the effects of more
CO2. The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere contributed by human activity is
debatable, but it is very likely that most of the additional CO2 is due to
human activity. Some of course is due to warming -- not caused by warming,
but due to warming.
I have said for years that we do not want to run an
open-ended experiment on just how much CO2 we can put into the atmosphere
without causing problems; but I also pointed out, way back when, that the
developing countries were not going to give up development. "Now that we get
a piece of the action you want to end the game. No thanks." I said in the
1970's that this attitude would prevail and I have seen no reason to believe
otherwise. China and India have built coal fired plants and they intend to
use them.
If we are going to come up with sane policies we
need to start with two things: Real Science, and an appreciation of
political realities around the globe. So far neither our politicians nor our
scientific establishment leaders seem to have either. The evidence for any
global warming beyond the 1 degree per century that has been going on since
1800 is scant. The evidence for man-made global warming is not high.
Arrhenius did his work essentially on the back of an old envelope and came
up with at least a good a prediction as the most sophisticated models.
There are trillions at stake, meaning that the
incentives for charlatans, waverers, fools, entrepreneurs, psychopaths, and
nearly anyone else are very high. Grantsmanship now demands that you pay
homage to the 'consensus' opinions -- and grantsmanship is about the only
path to scientific prominence. As my friend Bob Bussard used to say, the
easy work is pretty well all done. Things are harder now. It takes more
money and larger teams to make great advances in many of the sciences and
particularly in physics. Control of that money is the key to scientific
prominence.
We have given little thought to this. We do not
have mechanisms for funding contrarian views, and we pay a big penalty for
that. We may may an enormous on some day.
=================
Worthless Theses for Advanced Degrees
Jerry,
While it is true that many PhD Theses are probably
less than worthless at least the holder of a PhD has to demonstrate some
facility in a foreign language. Now a Doctor of Education or a Doctor of
Business Administration need not demonstrate such facility.
It is way past time for a revolution to take back
control of our schools from the Educrats and Teacher's Unions!
Bob Holmes
===============
America...A New Menace.
It's not just alligators, poisonous snakes, and
mountain lions that threaten the citizens any more. For the scary details go
to:-
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/
up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl
=14700183&ch=4226726&src=news
John Edwards
==========
"We will want to ensure that the names disclosed
reflect the broad range of cases and are not all Islamic extremists."
<http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=105029>
- Roland Dobbins
Will there always be an England?
===========
Jerry, this just in from Livermore labs. - rjw
Lawrence Livermore Laboratories has discovered the
heaviest element yet known to science.
The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron,
25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy
neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.
These 312 particles are held together by forces called
morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles
called peons. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it
can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into
contact.
A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction
that would normally take less than a second, to take from 4 days to 40 years
to complete. Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2- 4 years. It does not
decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the
assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.
In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase
over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become
neutrons, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron promotion leads
some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons
reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as
critical morass.
When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes
Administratium, an element that radiates just as much energy as
Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.
I get one or another variant on this several times
a year, and once in a while it's worthwhile putting it up for those who may
not have seen it. Thanks.
=============
On Peggy Noonan
Jerry,
http://online.wsj.com/article/
SB100014240529702035173045
74306533556532364.html
This may well be Ms. Noonan's best column since she
became skeptical of Mr. Bush c. 2005.
<snip>
The common wisdom the past week has been that
whatever challenges health care faces, the president will at least get
something because he has a Democratic House and Senate and they’re not
going to let their guy die. <snip> But after the news conference, I
found myself wondering if he’d get anything.
I think the plan is being slowed... by simple
American common sense. <snip>
J
============
Speechless: Dilbert Creator's
Struggle to Regain His Voice,
Jerry
Scott Adams has spasmodic dysphonia and has been
working to restore his voice:
http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/
magazine/17-08/ff_adams?currentPage=all
It's quite a story.
Ed
Quite a story indeed. When we were trying to get
high speed connectivity here when BYTE did a Technews Broadcast, I called
AT&T tech support and ended up talking to Scott Adams as the only competent
person in the company... We got it working. Sort of.
============
NASA and space
Dr. Pournelle:
In the mainstream media, there seem to be several
recurring questions:
1. Should the USA do anything more in space? 2. If the
first question is answered in the affirmative, how can NASA be equipped to
do it? 3. If NASA is tasked with some project, should we go back to the Moon
or just go on to Mars?
The whole concept of private development of space
resources just doesn't seem to come up. I like the idea of a scientific
laboratory on Mars, but what we could use right now is infrastructure in
orbit, space suits designed for actual work (such as the skintight suits you
have described), solar power satellites--the whole list. NASA won't get it
done, though. Senator Blowhard will want rocket engines built in his state,
Senator Blunder will want the crew cabins built in his state, and Senator
Porkulus will want his state to be NASA's control center. This way lies
madness.
I certainly mean no disrespect to Mr. Aldrin, but I
would first rather develop the technology to move asteroids and mine them.
Going to Mars is a wonderful idea; I'd love to buy a ticket, but from a
resource-development standpoint, Mars isn't going to help much--whatever we
mine there has to be boosted to Mars' escape speed. We climb out of one
gravity well, cross a fair chunk of the solar system, and go down into
another gravity well. That's not a formula for economic success unless Mars
turns out to be the mother lode of Unobtainium.
How can the idea of private development in space be
introduced to the public consciousness?
The other constant in current discussions about space
is that the military aspects are not mentioned. Don't militarize space is a
fine concept until someone figures out that the USA is down there, we're up
here in orbit, and we have some big rocks handy . . .
When Project Thor is outlawed, only outlaws will have
tungsten rods.
jomath
I would build a Moon Base before attempting either
asteroids or Mars. I've given the reasons before. The Moon is sort of like
the Azores...
=========
TRICARE
Jerry,
This is probably too long to print and of little
interest to most of your readers. Bu, I want to set the record straight for
you.
Last week –d said “Tricare is okay if you don't have
to use it for more than bandaids and aspirin.”
I don’t know why some people want to trash TRICARE, it
is a great program. It is ~$600 a year (yeas a Year) for TRICARE Prime for a
family. I wrote you earlier about my brain tumor. The surgery is next
Tuesday. So far my Dr visits/test and out of pocket expenses have been:
Primary Doctor visit $12
EKG, echo cardiogram, Doppler of arteries in neck,
blood test, urine test and MRI $12
Visit to Neurologist and Neurosurgeon (DeKalb Medical
Center) $12
30 day supply of anti-seizure drug $3
Second opinion with Chief of Neurosurgery Department,
of Emory University Medical School (this was “out of system” but TRICARE
approved it) $12
Visit to different Neurosurgeon(3rd opinion) (Gwinnett
Medical Center) with CAT Scan $12
So 5 good doctors, a string of tests and my drugs for
$63. All of the doctors are good and the one at Emory is arguably the best
in the Atlanta area. My surgery for Kidney stones in 07 cost me $22 and my
hernia surgery in 08 cost ~$25. Sorry, but –d is talking out of his hat.
I chose the Dr. at Gwinnett Medical Center (Michael T.
Stechison, MD, PhD, FRCS( C ), FACS) to do the surgery.
If you do print this, feel free to edit it, please do
not use my last name.
Mike
For the record I have neither data nor an opinion
on TRICARE.
===========
Nuclear's Model T
The future of nuclear energy could lie in plants
that can be factory built, shipped to a site, and operated 30 years without
refueling.
http://memagazine.asme.org/Articles/
2009/July/Nuclears_Model_T.cfm
There are many viable nuclear options -- viable
technically at least. The hovering eagles of the law who serve the enemies
of mankind are the main danger. Low cost energy and freedom inevitably
produces economic growth, but neither is in the best interest of
bureaucracies. Bureaucrats will ever seek to prevent them.
==========================
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