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Rolla Peace News May 14, 2019 |
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Dear Friends: http://tomsager.org/Peaceletters/peaceletter051419.html In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2019 2. CITIZENS CLIMATE LOBBY: THURSDAY, MAY 16, 6:30PM 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) My Column b) From Our Readers: Donald Trump's Popularity c) Sic Transit Gloria Mundi d) Carbon e) Why China Increasingly Leads the United States 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2019 We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office, THIS THURSDAY, MAY 16 FROM NOON TO 1:00 PM (and most subsequent Thursdays until peace is established). Please try to join us. The temperature is predicted to be in the 80s. If you do not feel comfortable standing with us in front of the Post Office, please consider driving by and showing your support for our message by honking your horn and flashing a peace sign. 2. CITIZENS CLIMATE LOBBY: THURSDAY, MAY 16, 6:30PM Newly formed Rolla chapter of the Citizens Climate Lobby will meet in the meeting room of the Rolla children's library at 6:30pm, Thursday, May 16. Everyone is welcome. 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) My Column b) From Our Readers: Donald Trump's Popularity c) Sic Transit Gloria Mundi d) Carbon e) Why China Increasingly Leads the United States MY COLUMN I'm going to try to cut back on my writing. I feel I'm repeating myself. When I find my own writing repetitious and boring, it's time to do something else. FROM OUR READERS: DONALD TRUMP'S POPULARITY A reader writes, “Trump's approval rating is high because the economy is doing pretty well. People generally vote their pocketbooks.” My response, Ok, “Guns and Butter.” Put money in my hand and all else is forgiven: war, death, destruction.... Here's a line from Bertrand Russell: “I had supposed that most people liked money better than almost anything else, but I discovered that they liked destruction even better.” SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI The City of Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, is sinking at a rate of 10in./yr. Other great cities are sinking too. And sea levels are rising. “Nature bats last.” CARBON First the good news: Joanne Chory at the Salk Institute is developing super-plants that are able to sequester far more carbon than natural plants. Now the bad news: Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere measured at Mauna Loa breached 415 ppm on Sunday and Monday. Last week it averaged 414.37 ppm, which was 3.6 ppm above a year ago. Professor Chory, I hope you develop your super plants soon. We sure do need them now. Note: Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere tends to hit a maximum in May and then decrease in the late northern hemisphere spring and summer when plants sequester large quantities of carbon. A much more informative statistic is the 12 month running average which was 409.50 ppm, May 2018 through April 2019. If you like multiples of ten, we are on track to hit 410 ppm this summer. WHY CHINA INCREASINGLY LEADS THE UNITED STATES While China trains its youth to be scientists and engineers, here in the United States we scare the bejeezus out of our school children. Florida governor Ron DeSantis has signed into law SB7030 which allows teachers to go to school armed. As one third grade teacher explained to her class: “5, 4, 3, 2, 1, shut your mouths or I will get a gun.” Rolla Peace News is distributed by email once a week on Tuesday evenings (except on rare occasions) and is posted on the web at http://tomsager.org (click on Grassroots Rolla: at the top of rightmost column). If you don't wish to get notices of peace events in the Rolla area, let me know and I'll take you off this list. If you want to be added to this list, let me know. Wage peace, Helen helenm (at) fidnet.com |