Category Archives: Guest Posts

Guest Post: Global Cooling on My Mind

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[Special to the Perspective] — The difference between weather and climate has been explained this way (which seems fairly good to me):

“Weather” is your mood and “Climate” is your personality.
Climate is a more permanent, underlying factor that causes the Weather.

There is also an old Jewish proverb that is one of my favorites: “For example is not proof.” The science of “anthropogenic global warming” is based around a lot of anecdotal evidence, some good data, and government funded computer programs. We have to be equally careful with anecdotal evidence such as the ones in items 1-9 going around lately, but consider the following:

1. The U.S. and Europe have had record, early cold/snow in 2013.
2. Australia has had very late (nearly summertime) snow and cold.
3. Cairo (Egypt, not Illinois) had snow for the 1st time in 100 years. Storm Alexa, the worst storm to hit Jerusalem for 60 years, left snow up to 19 inches deep in some areas.
4. The ice coverage area in the arctic ocean is higher than it has been in the last 7 years and that in the Anctartic has been trending higher for the last 30 years and more.
5. Solar activity is low now and projected to enter a period of 30 years of low activity.
6. Every data collection shows there has not been any global warming since 1998 — ironically the year after the Kyoto Protocol was signed.
7. The models developed by multiple agencies have been wrong in predicting the slight cooling over that period.
8. There are many cases of warmer temperatures than what we have now — such as in the medieval ages.
9. There is increasing consensus within the scientific community that the models have overstated the importance of greenhouse gases and understated the importance of solar radiation.

Add to the anecdotal evidence above a few other factoids:

A. The sun is overwhelmingly the source of heat on the Earth.
B. Carbon dioxide solubility in water drops with increasing temperatures.
C. Heat loss at night (the mechanism presumably responsible for global warming) is strictly based on radiation from Earth’s surface and atmosphere to the sub-zero cold of outer space. This transfer mechanism is not subject to sharp changes (ie a discontinuity), because neither the Earth’s surface temperature nor the blanket of greenhouse gases, nor the temperature of space can change suddenly. Indeed the temperature of space does not change at all and the greenhouse gas concentration has been increasing steadily. So basically nothing can explain reduced radiation at night – the supposed mechanism of globval warming conventional thought.
D. As opposed to the heat losses at night not changing quickly, we do know that solar activity does have ‘rapid’ changes.
E. The rapid changes in warming or cooling, therefore, must be due to higher/lower solar activity and incident radiation coming to Earth.

Combining A and B and E, a reasonable scientist would investigate that it is more likely that atmospheric CO2 lags heating rather than the other (more conventional) opinion that has dominated the public discourse for the last 20 years.

For more information:

o The CDIAC offers a lot of data and facts on concentration and sources of atmospheric CO2. CDIAC is a unit of the U.S. Department of Energy Climate and Environmental Sciences Division of the Office of Biological and Environmental Research.
o The sea ice extent in both hemispheres is available from The University of Illinois (where Dangerous Bill taught for many, many years) Polar Research Group is part of UIUC Department of Atmospheric Sciences.
o A study by Swedish scientist Leif Kullman and others analyzed fossils in the Scandes mountains. They found that tree lines for different species of trees were higher during the Roman and Medieval times than they are today. The temperatures were higher as well.

–Felipe Yanes

Editor’s Note: The literature is full of data, much of which contradicts the official “climate change” arguments. Mr. Yanes has pointed out some of the flaws.

Solar heating deniers (many of whom ask for government credits to add solar devices to private homes) lost the “anthropogenic global warming” argument so they now are trying to change it to the “man-made climate change” argument. Over the millennia, the climate has and does change as solar activity varies, the magnetic poles shift, the moon wobbles, and Earth’s axis tilts a few degrees one way or the other.

Science isn’t “fixed,” permanent, in stasis. Mr. Yanes’ reasonable scientist would discover that narcissistic comic book illustrators and fiction writers who defend AGW know little about actual science and have adopted the now conventional opinion that they have more control over their environment than even Jack Williamson believed.

They have to. Otherwise, they lose control of the rest of us.

 

Guest Post: Peej’s No Puffin

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[Special to the Perspective] — I’m feeling emotional today, which is par for the course this time of year, although some days I’m more so than others. Today is one of the “extremely-more-so” days … so it was probably stupid of me to choose this day to go through two boxes of Christmas decorations. They aren’t mine; they belonged to a neighbor who moved to a different state last summer. She took a few ornaments that trace back to when her now-adult daughter was a baby, and gave the rest to me. She hasn’t seen or talked to her daughter in a long time, and she doesn’t care to.

As I’m going through these two boxes I’m overcome by memories, happy and joyful memories of Christmases past, celebrated with three children I love too much to even begin to describe. Later, when grandchildren were added to the mix, my Christmases grew even more love-filled and even more memorable. That love and those incredible memories were trying hard to dominate my mind as I went through the two boxes of decorations — but they weren’t winning the battle. They were squeezed out by shock and grief that someone could simply toss years of memories away like that. I’m able to read people quite well and I could tell that she just didn’t care. “Take what you want and either donate the rest or put them out by the curb with your trash,” she told me.

Thinking I hadn’t heard her, I asked if she was absolutely certain and she assured me she was.

Many of the decorations are dated … 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982. Obviously the family chose a special ornament each year, and I thought of the ages my own children were during each of those years. I remembered our annual tradition of going to a Christmas store and choosing one special ornament together, and then going to get our tree. I thought of the stockings I hand-made for them when they were toddlers (stockings they still love to this day). I thought of the ornaments that each of them made for me in school, all of which I still have and still hang on the tree year after year. Those thoughts were lovely, but as I was getting lost in them I couldn’t help feeling like I was violating someone’s personal space. As though I had no business pawing through those boxes, touching those colorful glass balls and birds and angels and bells and Santas and rocking horses … precious possessions and memories that belonged to someone else and not to me.

Mostly what I felt, though, was despair that any parent could be ambivalent about seeing his or her child … at Christmas time, or any time. That is simply inconceivable to me, as I look at my children and grandchildren and feel like there’s no way my heart can possibly hold all that love. And just when I think it’s filled past capacity, more love for a family that means the world to me somehow finds a way in.

I’ll pray for her. I don’t know whether she cares, or whether it will do any good, but I’ll pray anyway.

— Peggy J. Parks

Author Peggy J. Parks has written more than 100 nonfiction educational books for children and young adults on topics ranging from environmental science, the Internet, and space research to controversial issues such as gay rights, animal experimentation, stem cells, and drug legalization. Two of her titles were recognized as “Best Books” of the year by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In addition, she wrote and self-published the cookbook Welcome Home: Recipes, Memories, and Traditions from the Heart.

Guest Post: George says Today is *F* Day

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“F” can stand for a lot of things to different people–depending on where their mind is.

As a Morse Radio intercept operator in the military, we learned the code by associating the cadence of the dots and dashes of the letters in the alphabet to the cadence of ordinary phrases.

For example, to someone familiar with Morse code charts, “F” is written as dot dot dash dot. But experienced radio men do not use dots and dashes in their lingo. They use dits and dahs to stand for dots and dashes. So, from experienced lips, it would seem that “F” would be spoken as dit dit dah dit. But not so . Here’s why:

You see, in true radio lingo, when two consecutive dits are used to make part of the coded for a particular letter, they are not sounded as separate, single-syllable words, but are combined into one double-syllable word, and sounded out as “ditty”. So, dit dit becomes “ditty” when spoken.

Therefore, when “F” (dit dit dah dit)is articulated in experienced Morse lingo, as ditty dah dit, with the first two dits expressed as ditty, and final dit being expressed singularly as “dit”: “ditty dah dit”. See how simple that is?

Here’s where it gets funny:

As I said above, operators learn the code by associating the combined sounds of the dits and dahs in individual letters with the sound of ordinary phrases. An example: “N” in code is dah dit, and students learn that N–in code–sounds like “Got It”. (Geddit? Dah Dit, Got It). Okay…

Yes, every letter in the alphabet, when converted to Morse Code, has a similarly sounding phrase attached to it for learning purposes. For example, “Q” is, dah dah dit dah, or “Pay Day today”.

Believe it or not, this is the system that military radio schools use to teach young men and women how to recognize the sounds of dits and dahs of Morse Code and to be abe to slap the words down on paper.

And this brings me back to “F” day, and the subject of this message: Remember, “F” is ditty-dah-dit. And ditty dah dit sound like… (and you’re gonna just crap when you hear this)…in learning lingo, ditty dah dit sounds like “get a haircut”. So, today is the day I have to go get a haircut.

BTW, Beau Pinder (North Puffin’s mayor and general roue)’s initials are BP.

“B” is dah-dit-dit-dit, or dah ditty dit. In learning lingo, dah ditty dit sounds like “Big Chickenshit”. but it gets better:

“P” is sounded out as dit dah dah dit, or “The Girls Love it.”

Hasn’t this been an interesting message?

— George Poleczech

Guest Post: George says This May Not Be Bloggable

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George Poleczech is a dooms-day survivalist. He believes the world will end December 23, 2014 — two years and two days beyond the end of the Mayan calendar because that is the day his Mexican barber swears is the number of years and days that the Mayan calendar is out of whack because the entire Mayan society got drunk and stayed drunk for 732 days back when record keeping was important before the Spaniards arrived and mucked things up.

George has a large stash of nonperishable foodstuffs put away for tough times, and 12-23-2014 is his red letter day for All Hell Breaking Loose. Heaven help us all if his barber is right.

Anyway, this is George’s culinary contribution to Survival in the 21st Century.

George writes:Today was experimental day at the Poleczech home, pretending that the S**t had hit the Fan, and that my bride and myself were having to stretch Peter’s underwear to feed Paul’s appetite. It was all just an experiment, so I could afford to be whimsical.

To underwrite this endeavor I took a can of Sam’s Club premium salmon and decided to make fried fritters with it — enough to feed a family of five for a full meal and then some. To do that, I needed a packet of ready-to-stir cornbread mix with directions plain to read on the side of the box. I chose Martha White because the print was large.

Fast forward: I mixed the cornbread according to the directions and added a 15 oz can of Sam’s premium salmon and stirred it in thoroughly. Then, I added the secret ingredient that I had learned some 65 years ago at the culinary feet of my dad, who was the real cook in the family. (Of course, the secret ingredient shall remain a secret). Without it, the fritters will come apart in the fry oil and turn into a messy, crumbly glob.

Then, I heated a skillet with about 1/3 inch of vegetable oil, and when it was smoky hot, I spooned in the first seven fritters and watched them sizzle to browny perfection. I performed this action thrice until I had 22 fried salmon fritters piled on a flat plate; and then I called Mrs George in to enjoy the first fruits. She was impressed.

Prior to our sitting down, she had opened a can of okra and tomatoes as an accompaniment to the tasty treats. What else could serve so well? Okra and tomatoes keep you regular.

But then the ultimate question arose. What for wine?

I mean, what kind of wine does one choose for salmon fritters and okra and tomatoes? Mrs George had the perfect choice. She chose a vintage Pouilly-Fuisse from Walmart ($2.97 a bottle). Perfect.

Me, I had a beer.

She chose to compliment the fish ingredient of her fritters with a gourmet tartar sauce, and I smeared mine with ketchup to enjoy the cornbread DNA of the mixture. To each his/her own.

Of the 22 fritters, we left 13 for snacks later on. We wiped out the okra and tomatoes.

As we sat and sipped the last drops from our wine glasses, Mrs George arched a provocative eyebrow, touched me beneath the table and demurely inquired what the secret ingredient was.

Did she really think I would give away such a vital secret on the veiled promise of passion’s pleasure? I told her to kiss off. No way was I going to give up the secret that had been passed down from father to son — from one millennium to another.

She left the table in a snit — leaving me to do the dishes and scrub the skillet.

So be it. Some secrets are worth scrubbing pots for.

Isn’t this an interesting message?

Guest Post: George says Peppers and Beans Planted

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I put the title in larger letters because I’ve been struggling with that chore for over a week — I having been hampered by a combination of soil conditions, other important tasks and laziness.

I am nearly a month behind in my seed planting because of an unusually wet and cool Spring. It’s all that global warming that Algor has spread around.

Every time I intended to get (re)started, one of the hamperings would show up to stop me. Later today I will get the cucumbers planted <finally> and set some onions.

Last week I planted half a jar of pickles and some macaroni, but nothing came up. I think the bugs got to it. I love macaroni because you can push the middle out of it and get spaghetti. Most people don’t know that.

These pepper plants were in a bio-degradable pot that you can just set in a hole with ample fertilizer and cover it adequately with soil. No transplanting shock.

A glance at the clock revealed it to be past 12 noon, which is the legal pub opening time on Sunday here in this One Nation Under God. So, to show her appreciation for my diligence, Mrs Geno just brought me a meatloaf sandwich and a bottle of Mexican beer.

BTW, bio-degradable pot is the only kind my Canadian friend Deadfloyd will smoke.

Isn’t this an interesting message?

— George Poleczech