Monthly Archives: December 2014

A Criticism of Climate Change Science

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The following was provided by Dr. William F. Downs, a Geochemist and friend. I’ve done a tiny bit of editing, and added a comment at the end. The timing is perfect as a contrast to  the review posted today.

earth climate changeThere is little controversy over the fact that the temperature of Earth is currently rising and has been since the end of the “Little Ice Age” which lasted from about 1380 AD until circa 1780 AD.  Previously the climate experienced a warm period which was called the “Millennium Optimum” (c. 850 AD – 1300 AD) when I studied it during the 1960s.  It was considered “optimum” because the Vikings were able to expand into and develop farms in Greenland and grapes that had been planted in Britain by the Romans produced wine.  By the early 1300s, Greenland was no longer able to sustain agriculture and the Viking society in Greenland had collapsed.  There was another warming period termed the “Roman Warm Period” that existed in the first few centuries after the time of Christ.  The “Little Ice Age” was documented by Monks in Monasteries along the roads to Rome as Alpine Pilgrims on their way to Rome told their stories of glacial destruction of their Villages.

The temperatures and CO2 contents of the atmosphere in the past are estimated by measuring the oxygen isotope ratios and concentrations of CO2 released from ice cores collected from Vostok Glacier in Antarctica.  These data have been collected from ice that had formed during the last 100,000 years or so.  These data indicate that the current temperature level is lower than those experienced during the Millennial Warming Period. Continue reading →

Progressive Policies and Climate Change

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This Changes EverythingOn this blog we have tried to understand global warming and resulting climate change, and the social and scientific factors that affect the topic. But as interesting as the science is – and trying to understand the entire Earth as a single system is fascinating – there would be no public interest if not for the economic and ideological implications.

I have looked for a book that addresses the progressive view of climate policy. In This Changes Everything – Capitalism vs. The Climate, Naomi Klein clearly believes that global warming is real, predominately caused by humans, and an impending global crisis. She says we deny or ignore the issue “because we fear that letting in the reality of this crisis will change everything. And we are right.”

I think I’ve found my progressive tome.

Klein immediately draws the ideological battle lines, featuring the Heartland Institute as the capitalist position, whose scientists are “so steeped in fossil fuel dollars that you can practically smell the fumes.” But “deniers” are not just American. Klein notes that Canada, the UK, Western Europe, and Australia also have strong denier activists. Heartland stands in for many ring-wing think-tanks that were created to defend capitalism against socialism and “aggressive Keynesianism” in the 1960s and 1970s.

She notes that “climate change could become a catalyzing force for positive change… the best argument progressives have ever had…” This articulates the belief of many that global warming is just the latest excuse to do what progressives always want to do – block free-trade, undermine corporations, invest in public projects, open borders, and (as Klein states) “take back ownership of essential services like energy and water,” to “leave us with both a more habitable climate… and a far more just economy than the one we have right now.” Klein even uses the hot-button phrase “wealth redistribution”. If global warming is indeed threatening civilization, “climate change can be the force – the grand push – that will bring together all of these… movements.” Continue reading →

Barking Up the Wrong Tree

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Knowyourphrase.com explains that this expression means to “…make a wrong assumption about someone or something.” A person being wrongly accused might use the phrase to tell the accuser they are wrong. The origin is said to be from the use of hunting dogs to trail prey. The dogs give chase; the prey crawls up a tree and perhaps jumps to a nearby tree. Therefore, the dog is “…barking up the wrong tree.” The expression was used in the early 19th century when the Knickerbocker Magazine in 1836 had a statement that read, “’You’ve been barking up the wrong tree, cried the Ohioan.”

Fourth Anniversary of RockyFlatsFacts.com

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It has been an interesting four years since we launched this site to provide the book titled, “An Insider’s View of Rocky Flats:  Urban Myths Debunked.” Several hundred people have elected to hold the actual book or to read the Kindle version, which has several interesting pictures. Some think the pictures of two types of plutonium ingots make the Kindle version worthwhile.

Getting some statistics out of the way, the counters have indicated there have been over 1.3 million visitors. There will have been 654 postings when this one is added. Those postings have been just about equally divided between commentaries, book reviews, and expressions. Frequent readers know that there is no way to predict the subjects since we write about whatever attracts our interest on a given day. There was a series of Rocky Flats-related commentaries in mid-year when a three day event was held at the Arvada Center on an anniversary of the government raid on the plant (see “An Insider’s View, etc., above). There was another Rocky Flat’s series when the Department of Energy announced through a subcontractor that health insurance provided to retirees was changing.

Book reviews continued to be mostly non-fiction, but we will post a review about any book we think is interesting. We are still finding new expressions despite posting descriptions of the origin and meaning of over 200. Perhaps the day will come when we run out of new material, but we aren’t there yet.

The two frequent contributors also have been busy writing and publishing books. Ponderer (Kate Rauner) published a sequel to her book “Glitch.” This one is titled “Venture,” and I recommend it to anyone who has interest in space exploration. A sequel to “Angry Pigs Organized Against Gerbils:  The Farmer Island War,” is titled “Farmer Island Magic,” and should be published soon. The four grandchildren who once again served as “Creative Staff and Illustrators” are hoping to have a copy before Christmas. I’m also in the early stages of writing another Rocky Flats book that I think will be interesting to people who worked there and/or protested the place.  More about that later.

Capture and Escape in the Golden Age of Piracy

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at the point of a cutlassIf you’re in the mood for some pirate tales but your tastes run to non-fiction, here’s the book for you – At the Point of a Cutlass by Gregory N. Fleming. Fleming presents the story of Philip Ashton, a young New England fisherman who was kidnapped from his boat by pirates in 1723. It was three years before Ashton returned home, and a large part of that time he was marooned, alone, on an uninhabited Caribbean island. Ashton published his story in a memoir which is one of Fleming’s sources.

Fleming rounds out his book with the story of piracy in the era. “The governor on Bermuda, John Hope, would blame the surge in Atlantic piracy on Spanish efforts [to evict other nationalities.] ‘It is no great wonder if they embrace the only thing left them to do… This, my lords, is the reason and source of piracy.'”

Pirates were remarkably democratic for the 18th century. “The captain and quartermaster for a pirate ship were elected by the crew, a practice that stood in stark contrast to the nearly unlimited power of sea captains on naval or merchant ships.” Pirate ships had written articles to govern the ship that each man signed, and each signed crewman got an equal vote. Each pirate got a share of the loot, and the captain got a double-share.

Where a fishing or merchant ship might have less than a dozen sailors, pirate ships would carry fifty or more to have enough hands to attack and seize other vessels. Since many men were needed on a pirate ship, they routinely took captives to fill their ranks. Some signed the articles to join the crew willingly, but many were “forced”, beaten and abused until they signed. Anyone who signed would be executed if the ship was captured by authorities, and any association with pirates might get a man executed.

Ashton refused to sign on the ship that captured him, and his life aboard was difficult. One day he was able to hop into a boat going ashore for water (food and water aboard ship were horrible – no wonder they drank alcohol whenever possible). He hid onshore and was left behind without any tools, weapons, or even shoes. He was almost dead when a Scotsman arrived in a canoe. The Scotsman left his supplies with Ashton and left to go hunting, never to be seen again. But at least Ashton had his supplies, including a knife and a flint to make fire. Eventually he was rescued. Continue reading →

Fly in the Ointment

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I found a TV channel that runs “retro” shows. Last night I watched episodes of Doctor Who with Jon Pertwee. How different the pacing was for story told in half-hour installments than in today’s Doctor Who format. The Doctor spoke a phrase I don’t hear much on TV: a fly in the ointment.

Wikipedia defines the phrase as “an idiomatic expression for a drawback, especially one that was not at first apparent.” They don’t cite any TV shows, but do mention the phrase was used in the movie Die Hard. The article says the likely source is this King James Bible citation.

Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour. (Ecclesiastes 10:1)

Phrase Finder notes that the precise contemporary wording was first found in print in John Norris’ A Practical Treatise Concerning Humility, 1707: ‘Tis that dead fly in the ointment of the Apothecary.

This is the first time I’ve been able to combine Doctor Who and the Bible in a single post. Hurray.