Ut runco es traho sursum quod exuro in incendia , sic is ero procul terminus of aevum.

I don't have much to talk about at the moment. I've been too busy with my baby, and reading (currently enjoying The Club Dumas) to really think about anything of late. I would be interested in knowing what others think of the worldwide discussion on global warming. I'll post links to some of the articles I've been reading on the web. If you've read something that has influenced your thoughts on climate change, I'd love to read it as well. With that said, I'll set out what articles I remembered to save, and I'll look forward to what anyone else might like to recommend. This is open to anyone - both those few folks that stop by regularly, as well as the random visitor from Indiana, Italy, or Singapore.

UPDATE*** I only caught the tail end of the program, to my dismay, on KVPR FM89, called Intelligence Squared. It's a semi-regular program from NPR in the format of an Oxford-style debate. Today's debate was titled "Global Warming Is Not A Crisis". It featured notables like Michael Crichton, Richard Lindzen, and Gavin Schmidt. Follow the link here to download a podcast of the program. I found it to be very interesting. I hope you will feel the same. Drop your suggestions in the box. I'll put them in a post, to appear a little later. Thanks, as always for reading.


Richard Lindzen talks about the Kyoto treaty and the National Academy of Sciences report on climate change

Science Daily: Researchers Question Validity of a Global Temperature

Malaria, Kenya, Climate Change and DDT?

Global Warming Swindle

From a Rapt Audience, A Call to Cool the Hype

GlobalWarming.Org

vulnerant omnes, ultima necat

It's Getting Hot In Here?

I was going to post about this yesterday, but now I'm not as excited about it. There was a piece in the New York Times concerning Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth movie. I hesitate to call it a documentary, because documentaries are supposed to be based on facts. True to his background as a politician, Gore has "stretched" the "truth" about the reality of global warming.

In an interview with Grist, Gore admitted that he isn't honest with people. Here's a chunk of the interview I pulled from this article.


There's a lot of debate right now over the best way to communicate about global warming and get people motivated. Do you scare people or give them hope? What's the right mix?

I think the answer to that depends on where your audience's head is. In the United States of America, unfortunately we still live in a bubble of unreality. And the Category 5 denial is an enormous obstacle to any discussion of solutions. Nobody is interested in solutions if they don't think there's a problem. Given that starting point, I believe it is appropriate to have an over-representation of factual presentations on how dangerous it is, as a predicate for opening up the audience to listen to what the solutions are, and how hopeful it is that we are going to solve this crisis.

Over time that mix will change. As the country comes to more accept the reality of the crisis, there's going to be much more receptivity to a full-blown discussion of the solutions.

I believe that God intended that we be good stewards of the earth. I also believe that man is not as influential in global weather patterns as some think. I'm also not a scientist. Mainly, I become distrustful of someone who resorts to alarmist tactics.

I'd suggest that you read the article in the New York Times. I've got a link here.

James Taranto's article in the opinion page of the Wall Street Journal is also good to read.

I wish people would take a step back to look at all the facts on global weather patterns.

Did you know that in the last 15,000 years of weather history that there have been 10 swings in the weather pattern, including the Medieval Warm Period, that surpass the warming trends we are seeing now? Ask Dr. Easterbrook, an emeritus professor of geology at Western Washington University. I would ask, how can we presume to know that this shift in the global weather pattern is any different from the past. For now, I'll keep reading.

Yesterday's Pizza Crust Powers Tomorrow's Hydrogen Car

Great Scot!!! It seems that Doc Brown and Marty McFly weren't too far off when they turned to the Mr. Fusion to power the DeLorean (part number 19852015A - Don't believe me? Check it yourself).

Joseph Longo of Startech Environmental Corporation has created a machine that takes any type of waste, and turns it into clean burning hydrogen. The entire construct is made of off the shelf technology. Separately, these pieces do nothing spectacular. The sum of the parts is much more than expected. At the heart of the Startech Plasma Converter is a tool that could be found in most metal shops - plasma, as in a plasma torch. Electricity passes through the air between two electrodes and ionizes some of the atmosphere, creating plasma. It looks like lightning, and burns hotter than the sun. Garbage goes in, and burns at such a high heat (30,000 Fahrenheit) that nothing toxic remains. What is left over is a gas from which hydrogen is easily pulled, and an obsidian-like substance. No fumes. No waste.

Another side benefit of the burner, is that once it is running, it makes it's own power. It's almost a perpetual motion machine.

Garbage in, and power out. I like that.

If you'd like to read more, check out the latest issue of Popular Science.

Smoke a Ferrari, Without Burning Oil

Electricity is so cool. Case in point - Tesla Motors.

What is faster than a Ferrari, but cleaner than a Prius?

Only the Tesla Roadster.