Climate models suck - It's the programming
in [Cobol]
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From: Howard Brazee on 19 Jan 2010 11:00 On Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:41:26 -0800 (PST), Alistair <alistair(a)ld50macca.demon.co.uk> wrote: >And, seeing as the doomsday clock has been put back by one minute, we >have nothing that our grand-children should worry about. Isn't it funny how those minds work who set the doomsday clock? -- "In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found, than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace to the legislature, and not to the executive department." - James Madison
From: Pete Dashwood on 20 Jan 2010 06:21 docdwarf(a)panix.com wrote: > In article <gLmdnT37kbeSMMjWnZ2dnUVZ_q-dnZ2d(a)earthlink.com>, > HeyBub <heybub(a)NOSPAMgmail.com> wrote: >> Alistair wrote: >>> >>> And, seeing as the doomsday clock has been put back by one minute, >>> we have nothing that our grand-children should worry about. >> >> The Doomsday Clock was set back solely due to the election of Barak >> Obama. > > Which, had the 'undeniable truths' held by the people of the State of > Texas, found on > http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_texsec.asp , been adhered > to: > > begin quoted text: > > We hold as undeniable truths that the governments of the various > States, and of the confederacy itself, were established exclusively > by the white race, for themselves and their posterity; that the > African race had no agency in their establishment; that they were > rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race, and > in that condition only could their existence in this country be > rendered beneficial or tolerable. > > That in this free government all white men are and of right ought to > be entitled to equal civil and political rights; that the servitude > of the African race, as existing in these States, is mutually > beneficial to both bond and free, and is abundantly authorized and > justified by the experience of mankind, and the revealed will of the > Almighty Creator, as recognized by all Christian nations; while the > destruction of the existing relations between the two races, as > advocated by our sectional enemies, would bring inevitable calamities > upon both and desolation upon the fifteen slave-holding states. > > --end quoted text > > ... could never have happened. > > DD Interesting reading, Doc. I wonder how many people still think it holds true? I knew a very sweet girl in Dallas, Texas (we dated for a short time) who was gentle and kind and honest. I found to my horror that she actually believed negroes were an inferior race, like cattle, and it was the bounden duty of white folks to care for them and benefit from their labour. This was not 200 years ago; it was in the early 1980s. When I asked her why she believed this she said:"It's in the Bible". I pressed gently for Chapter and Verse and she said her father had told her this and "Daddy never lies about the Bible". This was NOT an evil family; they were normal, law-abiding, decent folk. But there was an ingrained, handed-down, bigotry, that was wrapped in religion. The experience chilled me. Reading your post above, I can see the roots of her family's attitude. How do you change people's minds about this? How long does it take? Pete. -- "I used to write COBOL...now I can do anything."
From: Pete Dashwood on 20 Jan 2010 06:25 HeyBub wrote: > Charles Hottel wrote: >> >> An interview with Ray Kurzweil. See section heading "Global Warming >> and GNR Technologies (copied below). The part most interesting to me >> is about solar energy growing exponentially and doubling every two >> years (has been for the last 20 years) so that only 8 more doublings >> (16 years) before solar energy can meet 100% of our energy needs. >> > > Heh! > > The point of impossible returns will be reached long before that last > doubling. > > The amount of sunlight falling on the earth is, at a maximum, about > 1070 Watts/meter^2. At the equator. At noon. With no clouds. The > average, under optimum conditions, is 5,300 watt-hours per day. > > Assuming 70% conversion efficiency, and adjusting for latitude, > cloudy days, night, etc., it would take a collector farm the size of > the Los Angeles basin (1200 sq miles) to provide sufficient > electricity for just California (~55 GW). > > Aside from the cost of constructing and maintaining such a system, > the array would leave Los Angeles in the dark, or at least the shade. > Which, when one thinks on it, may not be such a bad idea. > > The only way this process can be improved is to move the orbit of the > earth closer to the sun. > > Conclusion: We cannot run this country - or the earth - on sunbeams. Jars full of lightning bugs? Could we train ants to work tiny treadmills? We have 1,000,000 ants for every human on the planet... Pete. -- "I used to write COBOL...now I can do anything."
From: Anonymous on 20 Jan 2010 08:40 In article <7ro791Fsd3U1(a)mid.individual.net>, Pete Dashwood <dashwood(a)removethis.enternet.co.nz> wrote: >docdwarf(a)panix.com wrote: >> In article <gLmdnT37kbeSMMjWnZ2dnUVZ_q-dnZ2d(a)earthlink.com>, >> HeyBub <heybub(a)NOSPAMgmail.com> wrote: [snip] >>> The Doomsday Clock was set back solely due to the election of Barak >>> Obama. >> >> Which, had the 'undeniable truths' held by the people of the State of >> Texas, found on >> http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_texsec.asp , been adhered >> to: >> >> begin quoted text: >> >> We hold as undeniable truths that the governments of the various >> States, and of the confederacy itself, were established exclusively >> by the white race, for themselves and their posterity; that the >> African race had no agency in their establishment; that they were >> rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race, and >> in that condition only could their existence in this country be >> rendered beneficial or tolerable. >> >> That in this free government all white men are and of right ought to >> be entitled to equal civil and political rights; that the servitude >> of the African race, as existing in these States, is mutually >> beneficial to both bond and free, and is abundantly authorized and >> justified by the experience of mankind, and the revealed will of the >> Almighty Creator, as recognized by all Christian nations; while the >> destruction of the existing relations between the two races, as >> advocated by our sectional enemies, would bring inevitable calamities >> upon both and desolation upon the fifteen slave-holding states. >> >> --end quoted text >> >> ... could never have happened. > >Interesting reading, Doc. To my mind it is more than 'interesting', Mr Dashwood... given a relatively recent trend in the United States of certain folks - usually occupants of the former Confederate States of America, which was vanquished in war by the United States of America - to say that their 'Great Cause' was one of states' rights versus Federal rights and completely ignoring explicit Overman/underbeing relationships stated in documents such as the Cornerstone Speech, the Declaration of Secession of South Carolina, the Declaration of Secession of the State of Mississippi, the Georgia Secession statement, the abovequoted Texas Secesssion statement, et cetera, I find it to be a kind of willful and almost proud ignorance. > >I wonder how many people still think it holds true? I barely know how *I* think... let alone anyone else. From more-than-a-few sources one can find such hatred and fear still spewed. >I knew a very sweet girl >in Dallas, Texas (we dated for a short time) who was gentle and kind and >honest. I found to my horror that she actually believed negroes were an >inferior race, like cattle, and it was the bounden duty of white folks to >care for them and benefit from their labour. The White Man's Burden! The phrase was coined by Kipling, I believe, and was the title of his poem ( http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/Kipling.html ). Odd, isn't it, how some of the Oldene Wayse, like mercury purges and debtors' prisons, have fallen by the wayside (in some places) while others still survive. >This was not 200 years ago; it >was in the early 1980s. When I asked her why she believed this she >said:"It's in the Bible". I pressed gently for Chapter and Verse and she >said her father had told her this and "Daddy never lies about the Bible". Her father might not have lied in the sense of 'misrepresenting the truth with the intention to deceive'; this may have been what his Pastor/Minister/Rabbi/Shaman taught him, as his father's taught him, as his father's father... etc. I've seen Old Testament injunctions against harnessing different animals in tandem or the mixing of different sorts of fabric used as justification that 'like has to keep with like, that's why the races are Divinely forbidden to intermingle.' >This was NOT an evil family; they were normal, law-abiding, decent folk. But >there was an ingrained, handed-down, bigotry, that was wrapped in religion. > >The experience chilled me. E'en more bloodcurdling, Mr Dashwood, might be to remember that there seem to be more folks who hold to such opinions than to the ones you espouse... and by the Laws of Democracy that makes them Right, no? > >Reading your post above, I can see the roots of her family's attitude. > >How do you change people's minds about this? How long does it take? I do not change minds, Mr Dashwood... I'se jes' a COBOL-codin' fool. Some say the answer is found in early-age education, as pointed out in the musical play/film 'South Pacific' (see 'You've Got to be Carefully Taught')... .... and others say that just about every human tribal grouping has a special name for it'sself, usually translated as 'The Human Beings'... and seems to have had such since late Neolithic times. DD
From: Howard Brazee on 20 Jan 2010 13:00
On Wed, 20 Jan 2010 12:48:57 -0500, SkippyPB <swiegand(a)Nospam.neo.rr.com> wrote: >Nanotechnology is lot closer than people realize. It is just not a >front page topic. See the US's effort (1.6 Billion budgeted for 2010 >research) at: > >http://www.nano.gov/ > >In addition, there are many things being discovered and built in that >arena that will be commercially available soon. One of the leaders is >my alma mater. You can read about that here: > >http://www.purdue.edu/dp/nanotechnology/ > >These things will be a reality sooner rather than later. But what we see won't be quite what we're expecting. Same thing with quantum dots. It never is. -- "In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found, than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace to the legislature, and not to the executive department." - James Madison |