Global Warming Due to CO2? Poor science.

Posted by Reid at 10:16 p.m.

Maybe I'm just getting old, but I've found CBC's Newsworld to be providing better programming than in the past. Tonight, I briefly watched a documentary on global warming presented by the wonderful David Attenborough. Now I like David Attenborough a lot. He's provided BBC viewers with some amazing nature documentaries. I, however, completely disagree with his arguments in the film. Having been shown on The Big Picture with Avi Lewis, there was a debate following the film. I was shocked at the pathetic arguments people were making for and against "Global Warming". Let's go over the basics:

Global Warming: The world's mean temperture is going up.

That's it. That's all the term "Global Warming" says. This is well supported by data obtained in preceeding years. For some unknown reason (biased media bullshit and loud mouth tree huggers), people seem to think that global warming has to do with CO2 levels. The general "Scienctific Concesus" is that if we reduce our emissions, we reduce the global warming.

David Attenborough put out a bunch of "calcutions" from someone's ass to show how much we could reduce the emissions by using alternative power sources besides carbon. I wanted to shoot myself in the face. I don't even know where to start, so let's begin with CO2.

As we can see, the CO2 levels are so much lower than they were 150 million years ago. Going back to 500 MYA, today's 0.03% is nothing. Were the dinosaurs worried about CO2 levels? Was it too hot for them? Was it a bad thing that the levels were so high? If it weren't for the increase, we would probably not exist. Rapid changes occur all the time, which is how the slow process of evolution can reach higher rates.

More important than anything is that there is no reason to assume that CO2 levels are the causal agent of global warming.

One of the suggestions in the film was to use nuclear power to reduce CO2 emissions. AHhhhhh, this kills me. I'm all for nuclear power, but does it really reduce global warming? How the fuck do they pull numbers out or how much it will reduce the climate change? Oh, they calculate the change in CO2 emission. Here's a novel concept. Maybe the earth is heating not because of the CO2 but because billions of years of energy is being released in a small period of time. Consider an example.

A small room starts out at a reasonable tempterature. You enter the room and begin dancing around. Within 5 minutes, the temperature in the room has increased dramatically. Is it because of the CO2 you are breathing out? Is it because you ate a cow instead of your granola? If you ate nothing at all, would it change anything? NO, because what it is heating the room is the release of energy from your body. Why is this such a hard concept? New energy sources don't solve the problem. We are still heating up our world by heating out houses, boiling pots of water, even taking a shit. Yes, taking a shit would warm a small area of surrounding air.

There is no real solution to this "problem", if you wish to all it that. The world is warming, we are probably doing our part in contributing to it. For the record, the temperature has been significantly higher and lower prior to us contributing. Are you going to live without energy and kill off a bunch of people, or are you going to take your chances with evolution and the natural homeostasis mechanisms of the world that must haven been implemented before?

Fuck people, are we actually going to do anything useful, or just spend a lot of money?

Punchline

Posted by Johnny at 12:29 p.m.

Exerpt from the Avi Lewis-hosted debate on CBC last night:

Lewis: But how can you tell which parts of the Bible to interpret literally?
Misinformed religious dude: The Bible interprets itself!
Audience: (Bursts out laughing)

This phrase is going to become a part of my daily language and I encourage you all to do the same. Here's an example of its use:

Johnny: Guess what Kristen! I got laid last night!
Kristen: Yeah, and the Bible interprets itself.

I think it could catch on in some circles.

Life 202: Driveways

Posted by Johnny at 11:25 a.m.

This is a rant that's been coming for a while. It will be brief, but intense.

LEARN DRIVEWAY ETIQUETTE. NOW.

(This is directed at my mom's clients who are making drop-offs and pick-ups at my house during the rush hours.)

Here's something you may not have known: When you park in front of a single width driveway, it prevents people who are already on the driveway from exiting the driveway. This may be desirable when said persons with cars on the driveway are trying to get to work and have to wait for you to exit your minivan, make the drop off, get back in the minivan, and move the minivan.

Similarly, when people who have a justified use for the driveway need to put their car back on the driveway, it's difficult to do that when a minivan is blocking the entrance to the driveway. Not to mention that the minivan's driver takes forever to return to the minivan because they fail to see the person trying to enter the driveway. Then it takes an additional forever to load the cargo back into the minivan, at which point, after 2 forevers have passed, the driver trying to enter the driveway can finally achieve his goal.

Here's another fact: A partially blocked driveway is still a blocked driveway. The last time I checked, no one at my house owns a motorbike, nor does anyone ride a bicycle to work. So why couldn't you move your fucking minivan another 4 feet forward so that I can fit my fucking Toyota past the fucking minivan? GOD DAMN IT!

Why would anyone park halfway blocking the driveway and halfway not?!?! How does that make any sense?! Are you trying to save gas? Let's figure out how much money you're saving by not driving an extra 4 feet. If you're minivan gets 13.4L/100km in the city and you are saving a distance of 1.5m by blocking my car, you are saving 0.000201 L of gas. Assuming an average pump price of $0.90/L, that means you just saved yourself $0.00018. Holy fucking shit! That was clearly worth it.

I'm not stereotyping, but the data I've collected on this subject indicates that the worst offenders of driveway inettiquette are soccer mom types with minivans. Soccer dads have offended as well, but it is not as frequently. When the dads do it, they fucking giv'er by actually parking right next to the door on the driveway.

One final thing before I conclude this rant. If you're backing your minivan out of a single-width driveway, as in Figure 1, and there is a parked car that you have to drive around so that you don't hit the car parked across the street, try turning the fucking steering wheel while you back out. Otherwise, you'll hit the car parked across the street and be called an idiot by me for as long as you live, which probably won't be very much longer given your driving abilities.

Figure 1: Backing Out

As you can see, the green lines show the correct path, while the red lines show the incorrect path.

Life is hard, isn't it?

State of the world: not ended

Posted by Johnny at 4:03 p.m.

If you recall one of my previous posts about the guy who "predicted" that the world would end on September 12, he was wrong, as I predicted he would be.

If you're keeping score,

Johnny: 1
Religious nut: 0

The Mars Volta + Red Hot Chili Who?

Posted by Johnny at 12:46 a.m.

Last post, I alluded to the fact that Jon Theodore, former drummer for the Volta, left the band in late July and that I was worried about whether his replacement could fill the shoes.

I apologize to Blake Fleming for ever doubting his abilities. They FUCKING ROCKED.

They sound amazing live and put on one of the most energetic shows I've seen. I'm still amazed at the musicianship of Omar and Cedric and at the tightness of the band. If anyone wants to come with me, I'm going to try to catch one of their shows in the US when they go on tour to promote Amputechture.

Tonight's setlist for the Volta:

1. Roulette Dares (super-extended)
2. The Widow
3. Tetragrammaton
4. Viscera Eyes
5. Day of the Baphomets

And that was a one-hour show. I would have loved to hear Cicatriz ESP, Drunkship of Lanterns, and Take the Veil, but maybe I'll get to hear that when I see them in the US.

Oh yeah, and the Chili Peppers played too. John Frusciante is the man, Flea is cool, Chad Smith looks like Will Farrell and has some nice licks, and Anthony Keidis is the musical equivalent of Mission Impossible III - shiny exterior with a hollow interior. They put on a good show, but they didn't play Under the Bridge!! I couldn't believe it.

PS: Two people noticed my Mr. Bungle T and had very exuberant comments about it.

Proof of Attendance

Posted by Johnny at 3:05 p.m.

If you look closely at the enclosed red areas, you'll see Sara, Kevin, and I at the U of C kickoff watching Bedouin Soundclash. Kevin's face is cut off, as is my "Mr. Bungle" t-shirt.

This image can (currently) be seen on the ucalgary.ca index.

Speaking of the Mr. Bungle shirt, I'm going to wear it to the Chili Peppers' concert on Saturday in hopes that Anthony Kiedis will see it and get pissed off and not play. Then the Mars Volta will have to fill in for them, but since nobody in this city listens to them, I'll be the only one watching. Then, they'll invite me on stage to jam because their drummer quit and they had to get a (presumably) sucky guy to fill in. Yeah, I can see that happening.

If you're wondering why Kiedis would be pissed off about Mr. Bungle, it's because Bungle did a Halloween gig as the RHCP and pretended to shoot heroine and snort coke on stage. They also purposely butchered the songs. Kiedis, when he found out, had the Warner Bros. execs pull Bungle from a bunch of festival gigs. Sense of humour: check.

...any club that would have me

Posted by Johnny at 11:39 p.m.

My brief research into clubs at the U of C has yielded the results I was expecting: there are 14 clubs dedicated to some form of religion, and 0 dedicated to humanism, atheism, or free thinking (or anything even remotely related). The Religion category, as listed on the Student's Union website, is as follows:

• Ahmadiyya Muslim Students Association
• Baptist Student Ministries (BSM)
• Calgary Chinese Christian Fellowship (CCCF)
• Campus Association for Baha'i Studies (CABS)
• Campus for Christ
• Catholic Community, U of C
• GNOSIS
• Intervarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF)
• Iranian Students' Association
• Latter-day Saints Student Association
• Muslim Students' Association (MSA)
• Navigators, U of C
• Sikh Students' Association
• Victory Campus Ministeries (formerly U of C Life)

NOTE: There is a Jewish Student's club, which has been debatably been placed under the Ethnic/Cultural category. I would have included that under the Religions category, since Judaism is a religion.

NOTE: Iran is not a religion, it is a country, contrary to what the Student's Union would have you believe.

Now, if you've ever read this blog before, you can probably guess that I'm disappointed by the lack of representation in this list for those students who live without religion, such as myself. I can't be the only one on campus who believes that religion, as with every other byproduct of humanity, should not be protected from scientific, and thus logical, analysis, nor should we slow the growth of humanity and the human condition in the name of protecting archaic and irrational beliefs. If I'm the only one, then I will dedicate the inevitably shed tear to those capable of saving humanity from itself.

If club week fails to deliver this year, as it did last year, then by the time I return to classes in 2007, I promise to be ready to start a Secular Humanist club on campus. I've yet to decide on a good club name, but Free Thinkers Nonymous is near the top on my list of ideas.

During this next year, I will learn as much as I can about Humanism, drawing from the ever-reliable Free Inquiry, Paul Kurtz, Richard Dawkins, and anything else I can find. I will also need ideas for activities that can be carried out by the club; there are only so many pro-choice counter-protests you can do before the campus eye loses interest.

I doubt that I'm the right person to start this club, since my knowledge of Humanism only slightly outweighs my knowledge of religion. But if I know more about Christianity than a lot of the Christians I know (thanks to Reid), then my knowledge of Humanism can't be that bad. I guess if this club fails to take off, I can always start a progressive music appreciation club.

Edmonton Recap

Posted by Johnny at 12:40 a.m.

Reid and I got drunk and ate good food and walked around lots. It was a good time. That was the Coles' Notes of the weekend - good times all around. And...

I met a girl today on the bus from Edmonton to Calgary. I didn't plan to talk to anyone, but I just lucked out. There was a dad with a young daughter who needed two seats together, so I gave mine up and moved next to the attractive girl who was making eye contact with me earlier.

We talked the whole way to Calgary. I'll spare the details except that she moved here in June from somewhere else in Canada, is turning 20 in a month, and is going to the U of C next year. At the end of the trip, I gave her my phone number, not asking for hers back, but she kindly offered it to me. I'm debating whether or not she was interested in me in a dating sense, but I'll probably call her on Wednesday.

As long as I have 0 expectations, I can't be disappointed.

PS: I added Kristen's blog to my list at the side. It's funny and well-written. Read it.