Friday, March 11, 2011
"Let There Be More Efficient Light," an op-ed by Roger Pielke Jr in this
morning's New York Times. He was commenting on a bill introduced by Rep.
Michele Bachmann (R-MN) that seeks to turn back the ban on conventional
light bulbs signed into law by George W. Bush. I can do no better than
Dr. Pielke, however, I don't think Rep. Bachmann reads the New York Times.
I don't think she reads WN either, but she should. Rep. Bachmann declared
that, "Government has no business telling an individual what kind of light
bulb to buy." Hold your candle a little closer Michele; I can find nothing
in the law telling people what kind of light bulb they have to buy, as long
as it's efficient. Lots of things are banned if theyre harmful;
incandescent light bulbs harm the entire planet. The ban is an incentive
for companies to build a better light bulb. The compact florescent lamp
was an important step in that direction but half-a-dozen other new lamps
are already entering the market.
Petroleum is a hydrocarbon of fossil origin that can be refined to provide
fuel and valuable petrochemicals. Abundant 100 years ago, it is now
available in the quantities needed by modern industrial societies only
beneath oceans and politically unstable countries. Short of an unexpected
breakthrough in synthetic fuel production or fusion the world, and
particularly the US, will suffer a serious oil shortage.
The space shuttle Discovery returned its crew safely to Earth on
Wednesday. Nothing more had been asked of it. A remarkable technological
achievement, the shuttle program must nevertheless be judged a colossal
failure. It was sold to Congress and the nation as a reusable spacecraft
that would reduce costs; it turned out to be the most expensive launch
system ever devised. The great achievements of the space program,
including exploration of the solar system, space-based telescopes, weather
satellites, space communications and global positioning all came out of the
unmanned program.
If youre a space alien from the planet Mongo, that is. According to the
Astronomy Weather Blog, on March 19 (that's a week from tomorrow) the moon
will make its closest approach to Earth in 18 years. Talk about trouble.
A new or full Moon at 90% or greater of its closest perigee to Earth has
been named an Extreme Super Moon by astrologer Richard Nolle. This occurs
when the moon is full, or new, and at its 100% greater mean perigee
distance to Earth (if I got that right). The last time was on January 10,
2005 around the time of the 9.0 Indonesia earthquake. WN explained it:
http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN05/wn011405.html
. The disaster claimed
more than 150,000 innocent lives. "Innocent"? Buddhists explained that
seemingly innocent victims could be paying for some really bad stuff they
did in previous lives. A leading Muslim cleric in Southern California says
it was, "a test from God to see how human beings respond." Columnist and
pretentious theologian William Safire also saw the 2005 tsunami as a test,
and compared it to God' s test of Job.
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