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Rolla Peace News

June 4, 2019
Dear Friends:

Note from webperson: If you are having trouble reading this, it is posted at

http://tomsager.org/Peaceletters/peaceletter060419.html

          In this newsletter is:

1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2019
2. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org)
          Dirty Weather

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1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2019

We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office, THIS THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 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. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org)

DIRTY WEATHER
“Had he been informed by an indisputable authority that the end of the world was to be finally accomplished by a catastrophic disturbance of the atmosphere, he would have assimilated the information under the simple idea of dirty weather, and no other, because he had no experience of cataclysms, and belief does not necessarily imply comprehension.” —Joseph Conrad (Typhoon, 1902)
Most of us believe in cataclysms, although perhaps we have little experience with them. And as Conrad reminds us, “belief does not necessarily imply comprehension.”

However, cataclysms have become increasingly common. We've had more than our share of dirty weather this past month — devastating tornadoes and floods. Likely, records have been set.

May, 2019 was, according to the Copernicus Center, the third warmest May on record, only marginally missing the second spot. The 12 month running average for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increased by more than 0.25ppm over last month's running average. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere leads to a warming climate; and a warming climate leads to an increasing likelihood of cataclysms.

I suspect there is far more dirty weather on the horizon.

In Joseph Conrad's yarn, Captain MacWhirr, lacking in experience and imagination, sails his ship, the Nan-Shan, into a typhoon. However, he is a competent sea captain and not one to give up in the face of adversity. Captain MacWhirr brings his ship battered and beaten into port, without losing a single man.

One has to wonder whether our Captain, also lacking in experience and imagination, is capable of bringing the Ship of State through dirty weather safe into port, or whether, even if capable, he would care to do so.

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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).

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Wage peace,

Helen
helenm (at) fidnet.com

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