This is a bit of a departure from expressions, but I thought the origin of sincere was interesting. One story is that it resulted from unscrupulous marble dealers covering imperfections with wax. “The practice eventually became illegal, as the Roman Empire certified that all marble must be ‘sine cera’ or ‘sincerus,’ meaning without wax—genuine.” Therefore, to be sincere is to be genuine.
More Natural Methane Sources Discovered
Our regular readers know we have posted often on global warming and climate change. While I don’t think a single study warrants a lot of concern, I recently read about a discovery of methane vents off the US east coast that promises confirmation soon.
“The ease of access has set off an exploration stampede, with several new projects in planning stages or already funded… ‘We’re setting the stage for a decade of discovery.'”
Unfortunately, these vents do not mark gas pockets that drillers can extract.
A study of a few seeps in 2013 found “them teeming with crabs, fish and mussel beds,” which sounds good to me. In deeper, colder waters, the seeps could be a natural laboratory for studying how methane hydrates respond to warmer oceans. There’s little in nature that’s all good or all bad. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, so releases could accelerate the documented trends in global temperatures.
For me, this discovery demonstrates that there is a lot we don’t know about the world. Also, that science is the right process for learning more. I accept that I will never know enough to make 100% sure predictions about climate change, which is hardly unique.
I’ve observed that polemics lead people to take harder and harder positions on narrower and narrower arguments. I think old political habits are getting in our way. What the global warming debate needs is wider discussion; on mitigation measures as well as reductions in human contributions via pollution, land use, etc. Balancing costs and benefits is nothing new. Let’s do it.
The Smartest Kids in the World
Amanda Ripley has investigated the education mystery: why do some kids learn so much while others so little? From country to country? From school to school within America? The Smartest Kids in the World is really two books. One is an analysis of data, “education [is] suddenly awash in data.” The other presents the stories of three American exchange students who go abroad for a high school year in one of the world’s best school systems: Finland, South Korea, and Poland. (Poland? You may ask, but read on.)
While I appreciate that “narratives without statistics are blind, [and] statistics without narratives are empty,” personally I could have done with less detail on the three exchange students. I was anxious to learn how America can improve education and less interested in how a student raised money for her trip. For me, the book could be a third shorter, but at only 165 pages in the body, that’s not a significant problem.
Ripley uses an international testing system called PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) to compare schools. She explains its genesis and how it works to assess students’ ability to solve problems (not just memorize) in math, reading, and science. She makes a good case that PISA tests students’ “preparedness for life”, not just “for more schooling.” To reinforce her point, Ripley interviews the CEO of Bama Companies (they make apple pies for McDonalds among other products). Bama opened a new factory in Poland because they “had trouble finding enough maintenance techs in Oklahoma… even filling their lowest-skilled line jobs, because even those workers had to be able to think and communicate… [they] couldn’t trust a high school diploma [in America]; graduates from different high schools… knew wildly different things.” Continue reading
Cut Off Your Nose to Spite Your Face
Russia has reacted to sanctions from the West by banning imports from those Western countries. The action reminds me of today’s expression.
A snopes discussion offers Word Detective input: “it seems to have first appeared around 1200 as a Latin proverb cited by Peter of Blois, a French poet of the day.”
Another commenter says “According to Nigel Rees in A Word In Your Shell-Like: 6,000 Curious And Everyday Phrases Explained: The expression may have originated in 1593 when King Henry IV of France seemed willing to sacrifice the city of Paris because of its citizen’s objections to his being monarch. One of his own men had the temerity to suggest that destroying Paris would be like cutting off his nose to spite his face. The phrase seems not to have taken hold in English until the mid-19th Century.” Without a written reference by “one of his own men”, this may be apocryphal.
It’s nice when Snopes does your work for you.
Either way, the phrase refers to an act that injures you more than it injures your opponent. While this phrase labels such acts as foolish, sometimes harming ourselves makes sense if it will punish a cheater. I guess, for every rule-of-thumb on one hand, there’s the other hand.
Rocky Flats Benefits Changes—August Update
I’ve previously summarized important information on scheduled changes to Rocky Flats retiree healthcare benefits. These changes were described in June 2014 letters to retirees and also further elaborated in public briefings by the new DOE benefits contractor (Washington River Protection Solutions) implementing healthcare benefit changes for Rocky Flats retirees 65 or older. These healthcare benefits changes are currently scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2015 and require near-term action by 65+ year old, benefits-eligible retirees to avoid loss of benefits. Please note: I’m acting in a purely unofficial capacity, do not endorse the benefits changes, and want mainly to make sure that my former colleagues are aware these important, upcoming changes so they can take timely and appropriate action. My main concerns are that some retirees may believe that they can safely ignore these changes because they were promised ‘lifetime benefits’ or, alternatively, some may be frustrated or overwhelmed by the apparent complexity of these changes. As I understand what is happening, these changes are moving forward and delay or inaction may result in Medicare-eligible retirees losing Rocky Flats-provided healthcare insurance coverage.
I’ve received many questions and comments since my initial blog postings and have myself attempted to find more information on the website provided in the healthcare benefits changes information letter (and packet) that I received by mail in June. That website has many links, but I was unable to find the correct pathway to access Rocky Flats information. When I called Rocky Flats Benefits Office at 1-866-296-5036 and United Health Care at 1-877-893-7224, they provided another link to a website a video recording of one of the informational briefings given in the Denver area in July 2014. For those that did not attend a briefing, I recommend watching the 1-hour video to learn what you will need to do over the next three months. Continue reading
The World Set Free; A Story of Mankind
We usually don’t review fiction books, but this one deserves an exception. H. G. Wells wrote the book in 1913 and published it in 1914, and his visions of the future are quite amazing. A central part of the story is the discovery and application of nuclear energy for “aeroplanes” and other transportation vehicles. An “atomic riveting gun” is even mentioned. Wells uses the terms “radio-activity” and “atomic bombs” frequently. The bombs are a key part of the story. The major population centers are destroyed by atomic bombs, and mankind has little choice but to rebuild a more peaceful world. Wells was obviously keeping up with research of the atom by renowned physicists of the day to get material for the book. He dedicates the book to Frederick Soddy, who had written a paper about radium.
The Prelude begins with man at “…the onset of his terrestrial career…” and we find him struggling to survive by making crude weapons and using fire and beasts of burden. Reading it made me wonder if the author of “Space Odyssey 2001” had read this book. Early man “…fled the cave bear over the rocks full of iron ore and the promise of a sword and spear; he froze to death over a ledge of coal…” Of course a few of the strongest and smartest survived and began to thrive. The author attributes this accomplishment to what is explained in the sentence, “Man began to think.” Not all was perfect, because man and his tribes invested centuries of history in warring against others. Many inventions, such as gunpowder, were intended to gain an advantage in wars. Still, at the end of the nineteenth century, “The sober Englishman …could sit at his breakfast table, decide between tea from Ceylon or coffee from Brazil, devour an egg from France and some Danish ham, or eat a New Zealand chop, wind up his breakfast with a West Indian banana, (and) glance at the latest telegrams…”
A professor named Rufus was giving lectures on radium and radio-activity and described how radium was “…breaking up and flying to pieces.” Rufus mentions uranium and thorium and describes that “…the atom…is really a reservoir of immense energy.” He goes on to describe how in fourteen ounces of the element uranium “…slumbers a least as much energy as we could get by burning a hundred and sixty tons of coal.” He continues to explain that that a sudden release of the energy “…would blow us and everything around us to fragments; … (or) keep Edinburgh brightly lit for a week.” He then proposes driving giant battleships or liners and predicts that “man’s material destiny” will be changed forever. Continue reading