Observations From the Back Row, 4/4/11

By Rich Kozlovich

Will a UCLA Prof Lose His Job For Sticking to Science Over Politics?

Dwayne Whitney owns a trucking business. He started it decades with only one truck. Since then, his company has grown. Now he has 18 trucks and 20 employees. But that growth may soon be stunted by the state of California. “The State of California says my trucks are killing people,” Whitney told ReasonTV. “What do you say to that?”

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) said this: that the pollution emitted from buses and trucks contributes to 2,000 deaths a year in California. Rubbish! says UCLA’s Dr. James Enstrom. That number is probably closer to zero, he says.....(apparently his continued employment at the university is now in question, and there are) concerns “as to the integrity of this process,” since UCLA‘s allegation that Enstrom failed to meet his department’s “minimum requirements”……..This seems arbitrary and capricious and undermines the legitimacy of the Department’s reasons for dismissal.”

My Take - He doesn’t meet minimum requirements after 34 years! Does someone mean to tell me that no one noticed in 34 years this man wasn’t qualified? Wow! Did it ever occur to those making this claim that if this true then he isn’t the one needing to fired….his superiors are the ones who need to be fired? And if it isn’t true….his superiors are still the ones who need to fired! I hope everyone will notice that this “minimum standard” baloney seems to only apply to those who stand against greenie nonsense….and the children of those who stand against greenie nonsense. Please check out Observations From the Back Row of 4/2/11.

This and That…..

Ancient Greek Computer Had Surprising Sun Tracker

The world’s oldest astronomical calculator is famous for having intricate gear systems centuries ahead of their time. But new work shows the Antikythera mechanism used pure geometry, as well as flashy gears to track celestial bodies’ motion through the heavens. The device, a 2,000-year-old assemblage of gears and wheels that matched 19th century clocks in precision and complexity, was salvaged from a shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera in 1901…..the machine gracefully kept track of the day of the year, the positions of the sun and the moon, and perhaps the other planets. It also predicted eclipses and kept track of upcoming Olympic games.

My Take - This doesn’t have a thing to do with greenie stuff, but as a history buff I love this kind of thing. Advanced scientific knowledge of the ancients has been known for many years. There were modern conveniences existing in ancient Carthage, Rome, Persia, Egypt and Babylon, including a washing machine. The only thing they lacked was a viable power source…..like oil. Well, look at that….it turned out to be a greenie thing after all.

There is one point that I disagree with. This man claims that this thing was just for show. Rubbish. This would have been an extremely expensive device to create and it would have been for religious purposes, and probably for reading the stars to foretell the future. I said they had greater scientific knowledge than is commonly believed. I didn’t say that they weren’t a bunch of savage superstitious dodos. 

The Green Energy Economy Reconsidered

"Green" energy such as wind, solar and biomass presently constitute only 3.6% of fuel used to generate electricity in the U.S. But if another "I Have a Dream" speech were given at the base of the Lincoln Memorial, it would undoubtedly urge us on to a promised land where renewable energy completely replaced fossil fuels and nuclear power.

How much will this particular dream cost? Energy expert Vaclav Smil calculates that achieving that goal in a decade — former Vice President Al Gore's proposal — would incur building costs and write-downs on the order of $4 trillion. Taking a bit more time to reach this promised land would help reduce that price tag a bit, but simply building the requisite generators would cost $2.5 trillion alone.

Let's assume, however, that we could afford that. Have we ever seen such a "green economy"? Yes we have; in the 13th century. Renewable energy is quite literally the energy of yesterday. Few seem to realize that we abandoned "green" energy centuries ago for five very good reasons.

My Take - Let's face it. Everyone, everywhere, and all through time, have consistently abandoned the primitive life for an advanced life when the opportunity arose, which was clearly a better life. It doesn't matter what area of human activity they are talking about either. Whether it is agriculture, energy, pest control or anything else you can think of...if it was green it was primitive..... and it was abandoned.

Can’t we then reasonably conclude that ‘green’ must not have been all that great after all? So why are we so stupidly buying into it now? What really disturbs me the most are those who insanely demand that we "go green" and yet don't live in areas of the world that can already accommodate them; and their families. Noooo....they choose to stay in this polluted, contaminated, vaccinated, degraded, industrialized, homogenized, pasteurized comfortable, easy living, safe environment known as the first world….and all it has to offer, while demanding that I have to 'go green'. Go figure! Oh wait! I just had a thought! Is it possible they aren't true believers? Oh, No! Say it ain’t so Joe!

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