Category: In the News

Who is a presidential candidate behind ethanol?

I’ve been waiting for the presidential candidates to get more behind ethanol and alternative fuel sources, and it looks like one of them finally has, going all-out, even :

I’m all for ethanol, I drink a glass of ethanol every morning. ~ John McCain

That’s what I call support!

(Now if only he would be that gung-ho behind other good choices on the major issues…)

Are greenhouse gas emissions beyond “worst-case” scenario?

In the news today, one of Australia’s leading climate change experts said global greenhouse gas emissions are already beyond the “worst-case” scenario.  He’s referring to a scenario defined by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) back in 2001.  For one thing, I thought they just met again this year in some big conference to discuss global warming and all that stuff, so why haven’t they updated their models with current data?  And another thing, the weather here seems mostly normal, so their “worst-case” scenario wasn’t well thought out, in my opinion.  Go outside and observe your weather, then consider if it’s anything near “worst-case”.  It’s not here.  If it is elsewhere, maybe more folks ought to move to Arkansas, because we’re having good weather right now.  (Just don’t bring your greenhouse gas emissions here!)

In fact, I was standing outside after lunch today, talking to some friends and enjoying the good weather.  I had no idea we were in the “worst-case” scenario!  Perhaps I should join the IPCC and explain what “worst-case” really means.  Have these people never seen the movie The Day After Tomorrow?  I’m thinking that would be worst-case.  Or, if you want to be really pessimistic, worst-case would be the Earth becoming uninhabitable.

Now, I realize I’m no important scientist, and sometimes we should leave stuff up to the “experts”, but I think they really dropped the ball on this one.  Are they just trying to scare us with these climate forecasting models and subsequent news releases?  It sure doesn’t sound like they’re downplaying it, because it’s all over the news, but today’s news release really has me befuddled.  It looks like they’re crying “wolf”.  And anybody who knows their children’s stories should realize that’s a bad strategy.  If we’re now beyond the worst-case scenario, it doesn’t seem so bad.  So is all their ballyhooing for naught?  I don’t know. I think we do need to reduce pollution and quit burning so many fossil fuels, but I don’t see how we’ve went beyond the “worst-case” scenario…

If their worst-case model shows some drastic changes over the next few years, like billions of people dying, then they should let us know.  But the news release said nothing about such things.  Perhaps they just don’t really know what they’re talking about…

the king of Donkey Kong

I’m going to take a moment to mention a new movie that many will consider “nerdy”.  (I have to be me.)  🙂  There’s a movie/documentary called The King of Kong that came out last month.  It chronicles a true story dealing with classic arcade games and being the best.

Here’s a little bit of the story.  Billy Mitchell is a legend in old-school gaming.  At 17 years old in 1982, he held the all-time high scores in Donkey Kong and Centipede.  He also set a few more records on other video games, like Donkey Kong Jr.  Then at 34 years old, he had the first-ever perfect game at Pac-Man.  The movie chronicles the efforts by Steve Wiebe to break the record on Donkey Kong.  The movie has several twists and turns along the way, which you can read about at these links :

Dethroning the King of “Donkey Kong”
Who’s the real king of “Kong”?

What would life on Mars be like?

Could there be life on Mars?  Scientists have long speculated (and continue to do so), although there’s more hope than ever.  They also wonder if humans might ever have a colony there.  But now the question is more like, “Would we want to?”

One of the reasons it’s improbable to find life on Mars is that the atmosphere doesn’t contain oxygen.  And it was thought that all organic life requires oxygen.  But a few years ago an organism was found that can live without sunlight and oxygen.  It’s a methanogen.  They eat hydrogen, breathe carbon dioxide, and belch methane.  A group of these were found in Idaho, living 660 feet underground.  They also exist in the digestive tracts of humans, causing gas.  If these bacteria are what life might be like on Mars, it might be a stinky place.

But there’s more.  Mars stinks naturally.  The surface of the red planet contains a very high concentration of sulfur.  Combined with other acids and minerals on Mars, it forms hydrogen sulphide (H2S), which is that rotten egg smell you may have experienced before.  And not only does it stink immensely, but it can cause headaches, and it is also explosive and poisonous.  So if you were living on Mars, you might be tempted to light a candle to reduce the stench (as some people are accustomed to doing), and KA-BOOM!

I’m thinking I’ll just stay here on Earth.  While there’s a few bad smells to deal with here, it’s not nearly so bad as it would be on Mars.

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