Archive for January, 2008

New Studies Require Grain Of Salt

Monday, January 28th, 2008

   I wrote a piece over a year ago entitled “The Matrix” in which I made a comparison between the hit movie and the reality of today’s information sources. People still read and watch and listen to “the News” and believe that which they absorb from their preferred media. The way the “news” is presented these days, it’s no wonder prescription, mood-altering drugs are so common and so-called diseases such as bi- polarism are widely “accepted” terms.      We are being pulled in several different directions at once by what we “learn”, all the while absolutely convinced that our new knowledge is concrete. Ironically, the only stable people left behind in this educational march are those who learn slowly and deliberately, relying on what they knew with certainty before the onslaught of the modern age to anchor them in an actual reality.

 

     Case in point:

 Global warming melts away hurricanes – study
published: Monday | January 28, 2008  A new study says rising ocean temperatures linked to global warming could decrease the number of hurricanes making landfall in the Caribbean.

The study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, a publication of the American Geophysical Union, challenges recent research that suggests global warming could be contributing to an increase in the frequency and the intensity of Atlantic hurricanes.

It reaffirmed earlier views that warmer sea waters might result in atmospheric instabilities that could prevent tropical storms from forming.

 

      Ah yes, those “earlier views” that had so many readers convinced beyond a doubt that somehow a world without powerful storms was a sign of impending doom. Moreover, these same people, armed with the unassailable “knowledge” of those very studies, marched out and did verbal battle with anyone they deemed uneducated on the subject. What of the willing dupes who may have been swayed by those arguments? Well, they became as the kite tail, following a path long forgotten by the kite itself. Hence the need for Zoloft, e.g. To this day, they zig while the leaders zag.

     Here’s why, from 2½ years prior:


 

Global warming is fueling nastier storms, expert says

     By Dan Vergano, USA TODAY

Posted 7/31/2005 1:30 PM     Updated 8/1/2005 11:33 AM

Hurricanes have grown fiercer in recent decades, spurred by global warming, and even tougher storms are likely on the way, a researcher predicts.

In his new study, ocean climatologist Kerry Emanuel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, suggests that the power of big ocean storms has increased and will continue to do so, even if their numbers stay the same.

The analysis, released online Monday by the journal Nature, confounds some past studies that had indicated that increasing average temperatures worldwide over this century — a United Nations climate panel has projected that temperatures will rise from 2 to 10 degrees worldwide by 2100 — would have little effect on hurricanes.

 

      What I find enormously humorous is the fact that the folks on the furthest tip of the tail, far from the kite, will insist that once again they have the proof they need to silence those of us who would dare to scoff at their Don Quixote-like machinations.

     Just for fun, let’s take a look at what William Gray, who is often called the World’s Most Famous Hurricane Expert, has to say about all of this:


 

    

“I am of the opinion that this is one of the greatest hoaxes ever perpetrated on the American people,” he says when I visit him in his office on a sunny spring afternoon.

He has testified about this to the United States Senate. He has written magazine articles, given speeches, done everything he could to get the message out. His scientific position relies heavily on what is known as the Argument From Authority. He’s the authority.

“I’ve been in meteorology over 50 years. I’ve worked damn hard, and I’ve been around. My feeling is some of us older guys who’ve been around have not been asked about this. It’s sort of a baby boomer, yuppie thing.”

Gray believes in the obs. The observations. Direct measurements. Numerical models can’t be trusted. Equation pushers with fancy computers aren’t the equals of scientists who fly into hurricanes.

“Few people know what I know. I’ve been in the tropics, I’ve flown in airplanes into storms. I’ve done studies of convection, cloud clusters and how the moist process works. I don’t think anybody in the world understands how the atmosphere functions better than me.”

In just three, five, maybe eight years, he says, the world will begin to cool again.

 

     Will someone please get a basketful of Zoloft for Kerry Emanuel? I’ll just stay here and mind the anchor…

-Woody

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The Agenda Shows Its Face

Monday, January 21st, 2008

    Why are so many scientists and climatologists being routinely dismissed as heretics when they oppose the “establishment” regarding anthropogenic global warming? The question raises two very interesting issues. While the Baby Boomers are the ones mostly responsible for the battle being waged over global warming, it is contrary to the belief systems of their youth.

     For instance, the Boomer movement was all about fighting the establishment. “Damn the Man”. Funny how life works out, isn’t it? But there is another glaring contradiction in their philosophy that adds to the bi-polar nature of their crusades, and that is the self-adversarial conflict which will be hard to reconcile once people begin to really pay attention.
    
     Before global warming took on such a prominent role in the arena of “worthy causes”, there was and still is the age-old battle cry to energize the now-wobbly kneed; “The Rich and the Evils of Capitalism”. Here’s where the paths diverge.
    
     This article is the first glimpse of the true driving force behind Al Gore and the IPCC. The headline?
MCX Launches Futures Trading In Carbon Credits
    
     Carbon credits are soon to be a hot (pardon the pun) commodity. Well, well, well. So it would seem the anti-establishment Boomers have found a way to get rich quick afterall, something they viewed with utter disdain in their youth. To make matters worse, they seem not the slightest bit queasy about scaring the bejeebers out of people to do it. Nor do they seem at concerned about what it will do to world economies in the process, and ultimately, The Poor, whom they claim to care deeply about.
    
     I’m beginning to believe in the old axiom: “Give ‘em enough rope, and they’ll hang themselves”. The true agenda has shown its face. All people have to do is look.
-Woody

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Fred Is Red

Friday, January 18th, 2008

      I have spent weeks touting Fred Thompson on this world wide web, and I have read aplenty as well, but it seems that Fred has been the victim of both a general malaise from the American electorate and a lack of fire from his own campaign. For all we hear of his strong conservative roots, his candidacy has not taken root. Yet, Ron Paul supporters zealously keep their genuine lunatic afloat. How does this happen?

       For any devoted denizen of the internet, the answer should be clear; it’s all about control. And Google, which has become the automatic catch-phrase for any form of search (much the same as “Xerox” did for copying, transforming that name brand into a verb), determines for you that which you will find. There is deliberate filtering of search results and the practice could accurately be termed “steering”.
      
       We keep hearing the mantra from our preferred sources that which we so desperately wish to hear; that Fred is our guy, that Fred is Red, but the message seems lost on those who are not so nearly engaged as we. Sure, those like us who are truly engaged can find the information we seek, but what of the young, new voters? Those who only rely on easily readable headlines; the headlines that Yahoo! and Google offer on the homepage? Do most people actually spend the time to really dig for information?
       
       I have said that the vast majority of people in America derive their “news” from Oprah-style talk shows and demagoguing weekly series, and the recent polls seem to bear my assessment out.  The danger in this is two-fold:
  1. People who rely on this type of media for their positional stands genuinely scare the pants off of me and…
  2. The very same people who should never vote become energized, based on lies that energize them to get out and vote.

       But what happens to candidates like Fred? The practice of dummy saturation results in the theft of truly capable people like Thompson as options for the general electorate, and it becomes an exercise in futility for those of us who see him as incredibly viable.

       The only hope we have is that they actually read small time blogs and somewhat more visible message boards. If so, I would implore Fred to stay red, to keep going, and the pundits be damned. There is a definite agenda, afterall. Some are just more honest about that agenda than others…

-Woody

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Winter Wonder Land

Friday, January 11th, 2008

     First, I must wonder how many noticed the subtlety in the title. Show of hands…anyone? Well, for those who are now completely perplexed by their recognition of this song title while being quizzed on what they may have missed…the song title had “wonder land” as one word, i.e., Wonderland.

      I can just hear the plaintiff wails as people automatically assume that they’ve been duped by such a trivial detail. I can also hear the footsteps tromping down the hall toward the exit, those of the folks who have already given up on the main course.  True, there are times when the appetizer is a forewarning of the general cuisine, but sometimes the chef is a true specialist, and does well on only the meal.
    
     Ah well,  sometimes the diner, not the paid critic, is the best judge. So let’s eat.
    
     Today, snow fell in Baghdad for the first time in recent memory for most Iraqis. Many had no words to even describe it, but some had a most poignant, even poetic colloquialism; peaceful. For an Iraqi employee of the New York Times, it was indeed a wonder in his life. As Ahmad Fadam reported: 

“To see snow falling in Baghdad, the scene was very joyful and I felt peace coming. I think it is a first in Baghdad … .” 

 

Fadam said people on Baghdad streets were amazed at what they saw and offered up a variety of explanations. January traditionally is the coldest month in Iraq, but temperatures range from the low 40s to low 60s.

“But in the end they all agreed that it was beautiful and full of peace,” Fadam said. “Maybe it is a sign of God, maybe it will heal the wounds of the Iraqis and make them live peacefully again.”

    
     Noted on Fox News tonight, albeit coincidentally, there were no reports of death around the capitol of Iraq on this day. Miracle? If so, certainly not by the will of Allah. Can there be little doubt that the exact opposite would have been more fitting of “his” will? Feel free to correct me.
    
     Some other incidents of note on the same day, something which caught my eye and made me wonder. This next may be an exercise in figuratively walking naked amongst my critics on both sides, but one I feel necessary. Because while I am very far from embracing our radical islamic enemies, I do believe, especially after recent and frequent events, that there may be hope for peace, despite the wishes of a relatively small band of wacko-islamic naysayers.
     
     President Bush is in Israel, and he met with Mahmoud Abbas. I have read little of these meetings, but I still believe the axiom that a picture is worth a thousand words. Bush and Abbas managed to have a genuine “guffaw” moment, which led me to think at once of my own (and I’m sure many of our) dealings and personal interactions with the “7-11″ guys, who at least in my area are nearly 100% Pakistani and generally muslim. Radically so, I seriously doubt, but one never knows, do they?
    
     I have no choice but to wonder how we may have affected these legions of mostly young men as we stop in for our morning coffee and engage them in anything from cordial daily greetings to locker room banter regarding everything from our own NFL playoff games to the soccer or cricket matches that they often watch when it’s slow. Is it really possible for them to be immune from our exuberent friendliness on a daily basis? Is it really possible for them to be blind to what we ourselves see every morning, that being that some we like and some we loathe? Our own, I mean. I like the Paki guy more than some of the schmucks I see getting coffee in the morning, and I know for sure that I am not alone in that assessment.  
    
     Do the clerks in these stores see our eye-rolls at the more cantankerous American patrons as a sign of our weakness as a people, or as I perceive, that being a general sign of fairness and genuineness?
    
     The jury is still out, and perhaps we may have some nasty surprises in store for us, but for the time being, I prefer to maintain my relationships with the “7-11″ guys. I do like them, and they seem to like me, and they know my kids. They interact with them and joke with them, and I can say with great conviction that it would break my heart if I ever had to kill them for any betrayal.
    
     I wonder how they feel about American workers in their countries in the same circumstances?  Nevertheless, we have been blessed so far in this season with a sign of hope for all people; A Winter Wonder Land, and a mere three weeks past the most miraculous season of all. Let there be hope, and let the good will among men continue, whatever the sign or whatever the reason. All I ask is that the righteous rage be directed collectively toward those who would ruin it.  Let natural allies equally recognize the destructive force that would tear asunder such a beautiful serenity, and sacrifice such temporarily for the brutal defeat thereof.
    
     In short, I pray that a simple distinction between Winter Wonder Land and Winter Wonderland is not indicative of that which separates the peoples with whom we deal, i.e. a triviality. I saw a common thread today in the Bush/Abbas video that made me write this. It was a commonality that I think we all share, and one which the rare snow has brought out in Iraqis. It was nothing short of a sign of hope, and one I sincerely pray will catch hold.  
-Woody

 

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