[BOBPARKS-WHATSNEW] What's New 25 Dec 09
Bob Park's What's New
WHAT'S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 25 Dec 09 Washington, DC
1. ABATEMENT: CAN GLOBAL WARMING BE HALTED OR REVERSED?
Off course it can. If global warming is anthropogenic, and I feel certain
that it is, it should be seen as a demonstration that humans already exert
control over the climate. We need only to reverse the sign. Two things
can
do it: 1) increase efficiency and 2) decrease the number of "warming
centers" (i.e. reduce the number of people on Earth). Number 1) should be
a crash program, since efficiency pays for itself over time. Human
population reduction on the other hand, must be very gradual to retain a
voting majority. All subsidies for fecundity, such as tax deductions for
dependents, should be eliminated.
2. WARNING! CELL PHONES ARE FOUND TO EMIT BULLSHIT.
From San Francisco to Maine there is a campaign to require cancer warning
labels on cell phones. Fact: cell phone radiation doesn't cause cancer.
Cancer agents break chemical bonds, creating mutant strands of DNA.
Microwave photons cannot break chemical bonds. This is not debatable. In
1989, Paul Brodeur, a staff writer for the New Yorker, claimed in a series
of sensational articles that electromagnetic fields from power lines cause
childhood leukemia http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN89/wn082589.html .
Brodeur, however, understood none of this and when virtually every
scientist agreed that it was impossible, Brodeur took their unanimity as
proof of a massive cover-up. Other anti-science know-nothings followed
Brodeurhave since spread to almost the entire population, but with no
corresponding increase in brain cancer. Case closed.
3. CLIMATE GATE: WERE THEY HACKERS OR WHISTLE BLOWERS?
I was asked to address this question. I said last week that Daniel
Ellsberg, is one of the great heroes of the 20th century for releasing
the "Pentagon papers." Do I think so because I agreed with his goal? It
certainly didn't hurt. This week I received a lengthy statement from
Kevin
Trenberth on hacking of climate files. It was a line from a Trenberth e-
mail, taken out of context that caused much of the finger-wagging in the
press: "The fact is that we can't account for the lack of warming at the
moment and it is a travesty that we can't." He was not questioning the
link between anthropogenic greenhouse gas emission and warming. A paper
Trenberth published this year complained about our inability to monitor
energy flows associated with short-term climate variability.
4. RETIREMENT: THE SPACE SHUTTLE IS SET TO BE RETIRED IN 2010.
The International Space Station, which was built to give astronauts
something to do, is slated for retirement five years later. It is a
classic example of functional unemployment. Spirit and opportunity, for
example, the two telerobot explorers on Mars, live on sunshine. They were
designed specifically for the Martian environment. Meanwhile, it is clear
that research results from the ISS have not justified the enormous cost of
maintaining a research laboratory in low Earth orbit. The GAO put the
launch cost to support the ISS at $44,000 per kilogram.
THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.
Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland, but they should be.
---
Archives of What's New can be found at http://www.bobpark.org