Friday, May 14, 2010

News of the Day

I am not a regular blogger- I get too busy with other aspects of my life and often suffer both from ADD and CRS. But today, I've found some interesting stories while reading the morning web news I thought I'd post, just in case there is someone who actually reads this stuff. The first involves bottled water. Now, I've been telling students for years that there is no such thing as pure, natural spring water hyped by bottling companies. This story proves that I am correct. Pepsi's Aquafina brand is, in fact, nothing more than filtered tap water. I have no doubt that many, if not all brands of bottled water come from similar sources. It amazes me that people moan and complain about the price of oil and gas, but never give a thought to the fact that they are paying more for water per unit volume than either petroleum product (by the way, the bottle the water comes in is a petroleum product). Is the average consumer that ignorant, or does he or she just not care?

Cigarette smokers rejoice! Apparently, a recent research report out of China suggests that cigarette butts, when soaked in water, release an unusual mixed of chemicals that have an antioxidant effect on steel. Perhaps smokers should be paid for saving their butts (sorry for the unintentional pun) in much the same way they are paid for recycling certain glass bottles. I keep my butts in a can until I can dispose of them properly. I wonder how much a can of butts would sell for....

Also, the global warming folks are on the defensive now that errors have been found in their work and following the recent release of scandalous emails between grant-funded researchers that hint of scientific impropriety. The chairman of the IPCC is offering up research for review, no doubt hoping that there is so much paper to plow through that the average skeptic will shy away. As I have stated in the past, though I feel that much of the hype about anthropomorphic global warming is just that, in the final analysis we need to do many of the things being proposed- not so much to stave off global warming, but to wean us off of our dependence on foreign oil and prevent such true environmental disasters as the BP drilling rig debacle occurring right now. Folks, global warming is not going to kill you. But if we in our stupidity continue polluting and destroying the world's ocean life, especially the phytoplanton and other photosynthetic microbes that produce about 50% of the molecular oxygen we all need to survive, we will go the way of the other 90% of life that once inhabited Earth, only we'll do it much more quickly. Hey Stockholm! I'd like my Nobel Prize now please. You gave one to Gore, you gave one to the IPCC, you gave one to Obama and none of those folks have really done anything substantial other than talk a lot. My cause is different from theirs. Mine is real. The proof is in the data concerning primary ocean productivity can be seen and analyzed here and an overview of creeping death zones in the world's oceans here. I'd like to use the award money to help pay for my wife's health care, as well as my son's college tuition since it it would be nice to see him graduate before the extinction level event. Small bills, thanks and I'd like a lump sum rather that an annuity. I'll pay the taxes myself.
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