What's New 25 Dec 09

WHAT’S NEW   Robert L. Park    Friday, 25 Dec 09   Washington, DC

1.  ABATEMENT: CAN GLOBAL WARMING BE HALTED OR REVERSED?
Off course it can.  If global warming is anthropogenic, and I feel certain 
that it is, it should be seen as a demonstration that humans already exert 
control over the climate.  We need only to reverse the sign. Two things can 
do it:  1) increase efficiency and 2) decrease the number of "warming 
centers" (i.e. reduce the number of people on Earth).  Number 1) should be 
a crash program, since efficiency pays for itself over time.  Human 
population reduction on the other hand, must be very gradual to retain a 
voting majority.  All subsidies for fecundity, such as tax deductions for 
dependents, should be eliminated.   

2.  WARNING!  CELL PHONES ARE FOUND TO EMIT BULLSHIT.
>From San Francisco to Maine there is a campaign to require cancer warning 
labels on cell phones.   Fact: cell phone radiation doesn’t cause cancer. 
Cancer agents break chemical bonds, creating mutant strands of DNA.  
Microwave photons cannot break chemical bonds.  This is not debatable.  In 
1989, Paul Brodeur, a staff writer for the New Yorker, claimed in a series 
of sensational articles that electromagnetic fields from power lines cause 
childhood leukemia http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN89/wn082589.html .  
Brodeur, however, understood none of this and when virtually every 
scientist agreed that it was impossible, Brodeur took their unanimity as 
proof of a massive cover-up.  Other anti-science know-nothings followed 
Brodeur’s lead, shifting their attack to cell phone radiation.  Cell phones 
have since spread to almost the entire population, but with no 
corresponding increase in brain cancer.  Case closed.   

3.  CLIMATE GATE:  WERE THEY HACKERS OR WHISTLE BLOWERS? 
I was asked to address this question.  I said last week that Daniel 
Ellsberg, is one of the great heroes of the 20th century for releasing 
the "Pentagon papers."  Do I think so because I agreed with his goal?  It 
certainly didn't hurt.  This week I received a lengthy statement from Kevin 
Trenberth on hacking of climate files.  It was a line from a Trenberth e-
mail, taken out of context that caused much of the finger-wagging in the 
press: "The fact is that we can't account for the lack of warming at the 
moment and it is a travesty that we can't."  He was not questioning the 
link between anthropogenic greenhouse gas emission and warming.  A paper 
Trenberth published this year complained about our inability to monitor 
energy flows associated with short-term climate variability.  

4.  RETIREMENT: THE SPACE SHUTTLE IS SET TO BE RETIRED IN 2010. 
The International Space Station, which was built to give astronauts 
something to do, is slated for retirement five years later.  It is a 
classic example of functional unemployment.  Spirit and opportunity, for 
example, the two telerobot explorers on Mars, live on sunshine. They were 
designed specifically for the Martian environment.  Meanwhile, it is clear 
that research results from the ISS have not justified the enormous cost of 
maintaining a research laboratory in low Earth orbit.  The GAO put the 
launch cost to support the ISS at $44,000 per kilogram. 

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.
Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland, but they should be.
---
Archives of What's New can be found at http://www.bobpark.org
What's New is moving to a different listserver and our
subscription process has changed. To change your subscription
status please visit this link:
http://listserv.umd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=bobparks-whatsnew&A=1