Thursday, February 13, 2003

Will Nuclear Get the same exemption? Concerned about the potential impacts of the proposed fees on renewable and clean generation equipment, at least one commissioner is preparing an alternative to offer an exemption to "ultra clean resources."

Wanna bet "Ultra clean" means Photovoltaic (wait a minute, silicon is needed to make PV) and Wind generation and excludes Nuclear?

Nuclear is excluded from the renewable game, despite the fact that we have plenty nuclear fuel to last us till the end of times. Sadly determining the end of times is a little difficult. Some people were saying it would occur three years ago. Chances are it will occur sometime between now and several millions years from now. How's that for a prediction. We have adequate nuclear fuels to get us to the millions number. Hopefully in that time we can come up with a substitute.




Can't beat Junkscience for leads "The field of toxicology has made a terrible blunder," says Calabrese. "A lot of high-powered people need to take the time to explore this." (Nature Science Update)

Haven't doctors been using poisons for years to treat ailments? Of course the homeopaths would argue that the toxicologists were correct, but then they would like to dose you with vacuum disguised as a pill.

Any votes on the chance that such rational conclusions will continue?

Wednesday, February 12, 2003

Beer Drinkers Guide to Green House Gasses



Gather ye together:

4 Bottles Bud Light (5 Proof)
1 Bottle Samuel Adams (12 Proof)
3 tablespoons white Grape Juice (No Proof)
1 Tablespoon Fortified Whine (40 proof)
1 drop Monopoly (200 Proof)

Additionally you might like to get the following tools.

1 Pitcher
1 Tablespoon (a teaspoon will work)
1 Straw (gotta measure that drop accurately)

The whole discussion of carbon dioxide causes me no end of bemuzement. The global swarming masses keep harping that carbon dioxide is going to bring down the world. OH MY GOD! (oops atheists aren't supposed to say that ;-) ). The world is going to end because of CO2. What are we going to do?

Wait a minute. My sixth grade text book (or was it 9th) said that the composition of the atmosphere was something resembling the following.

79% Nitrogen: mildly reactive, but basically boring, can you say Bud Light.
18% Oxygen: A little more reactive, much needed by us carbon life forms... (wait a minute can there be a connection carbon and oxygen....) Sam Adams, my friends.
1% Argon: Huh?
1% Water Vapor: OOPS what's this a Green House Gas. Fortified Wine.
1% other: This with the argon makes great grape juice.

Hey wait a minute. They didn't even list Carbon dioxide. I must have missed something.

Nope. Here it is. 370 ppmv. That's 0.04%. Since the powers that be tell us that it is a devestating chemical (which just happens to be vital to the life cycle of most plants), we will use Monopoly (nasty stuff that will cause your throat to vapor lock) to represent it.

Open the bottles of beer and poor them into the pitcher.
Measure out the grape juice and fortified wine.

We can't just use a tablespoon to measure the monopoly though...

Take the cap from one of the beer bottles. Place it on a coaster. Pour a little monopoly in the cap. Take the straw and put it in the cap. Cover the end with your finger and transfer the drop that is held in the straw to the pitcher.

Did the Monopoly affect the potency (alcohol content) of the brew?

Some will tell me that nitrogen and oxygen don't absorb infrared radiation. While this is mostly true, they do absorb some radiation and they act as a container for the rest of the greenhouse gasses. Trying to have a green house without nitrogen and oxygen would be like trying to boil water without a container.

Since 95% of all green house gasses are produced naturally (Volcanoes, forest fires, cows belching, crops decomposing, and oh wait a minute humans respirating) it seems pretty ridiculous to think that cutting back 10, 20, or 30% on our industrial (including automobiles) CO2 production will do anything. If the evil United States, just up and quit producing CO2, the entire population effectively disappearing without a trace, total green house gas production will decrease to 99% of current levels. Yes, that's right just barely a percent decreasesin output.

This doesn't even take into account the fact that water vapor is more prevelant than Carbon dioxide and actually a more effective green house gas.

Of course, my Environmental Education friends will tell me I am a stooge for Bush...

Neal discusses (try here after 2/12) Bush's proposal to overhaul the tax system.

See details at Fair tax .

Congress made a decision supporting your privacy! Did they do it to because they were worried about votes or their own sordid web abuse?

Monday, February 10, 2003

Guillame le Goat


I had the displeasure of observing the great astrologer Guillame le Goat in action a couple of weeks ago. He was seated in a little vestibule where he was dispensing nostrums to a gullible public. For the exceedingly small fee of $2/minute, he helped people over the hurdles in their lives. I, having created horoscopes in my youth, knew something of the mechanics involved and figured that this master of astrological meanderings would have all the tools at his side to perform the calculations involved. The software involved to calculate a natal chart and overlay a current state is not that complicated and can be found on the web with a quick google search. I figured he would have a laptop or PDA sitting on the table into which he would enter the birthdate, birthtime, and birthplace of his intended mark. I was wrong. Who needs such complicated and expensive gadgets when a big book will do the same thing.

Somehow, this goat manages to open a book to a page, glance at it overlay the current position of planets, calculate oppositions, conjunctions, quartiles, and sextiles and then provide the interpretation necessary to enlighten his victim. Or should I say lighten. No reading was longer than 10 minutes, and he managed to start the interpretation within 5 seconds of turning to a page (which I assume were precalculated natal charts). I am probably wrong. But then I believe in strange things like gravitation, electricity, and nuclear power.

Go Figure.

If you can't figure out who le goat is .... email me and I will send you a link to his website.