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Rolla Peace News November 20, 2018 |
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Dear Friends: http://tomsager.org/Peaceletters/peaceletter112018.html In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2018 2. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Correction: Ocean Heat Uptake b) From Our Readers: A European Military c) It IS a Management Problem d) Some Of My Favorite Quotes 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2018 We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office THIS WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, FROM NOON TO 1:00 PM. Following this Thanksgiving week, we will return to Thursday vigils and continue with Thursday vigils until peace is established. Please try to join us. The temperature is predicted to be in the 50s. 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) a) Correction: Ocean Heat Uptake b) From Our Readers: A European Military c) It IS a Management Problem d) Some Of My Favorite Quotes CORRECTION: OCEAN HEAT UPTAKE Two weeks ago I mentioned that a recent study, “Quantification of ocean heat uptake...” found that our oceans have absorbed 60% more heat than previously thought. The authors of the article have now published a correction. Seems they got their statistical analysis all wrong. Well, it might be 10% and then again it might be 70%. We just don't know yet.“I hate statistics. What I got to know, I keep in my head.” Climate deniers are having a good laugh over this one. Ok, folks, I suppose this means Hurricane Florence never devastated the Carolinas and the Camp Fire never really wiped out Paradise, California — and if they did, its all China's fault anyway. So let's get real. The burning question isn't where all this heat gets stored. The question is what's it doing to us when it comes out of storage; and what are we going to do about it. Here's another Dizzy Dean quote which may be pertinent to this topic: “I can't tell you why there's a delay [of the ball game], but stick your head out of the window and you'll know why.” [Note: During World War II, announcers were prohibited from broadcasting weather reports over the radio.] Climate scientists have been telling us for years not to confuse climate [long term] with weather [day to day]. Seems to me that weather change has caught up to climate change — maybe even surpassed it. Also seems like Dizzy Dean was way ahead of his time. Yup, just “stick your head out of the window and you'll know why.” — or worse — wait for your house to wash away in a flood or burn up around your ears. Climate change is upon us. You don't need a climate scientist to tell you that. And you know what needs to be done — nothing short of changing our entire life-styles will do. So let's get busy. There is much to be done. [Note: Dizzy Dean was one of baseball's greatest pitchers — some might say, The Greatest. Dizzy Dean had a second grade education.] FROM OUR READERS: A EUROPEAN MILITARY A reader writes: Yup, check out this list of Conflicts involving Russia. And if you go back to 1814, Russian troops occupied France along with the British and much of the rest of Europe.“I am not supporting a European Military, but it does seem that within the last 80 years Russia (USSR) has invaded Finland, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Ukraine. I am probably missing several more countries. Not exactly a good neighbor to have.” Good neighbors are hard to find these days — especially if you make a habit of disrespecting them. A little detente can go a long way. We should be trying to get along with all our neighbors on planet Earth, like our lives depended on it — because they do. IT IS A MANAGEMENT PROBLEM Sometimes Donald Trump can make some really profound statements, although he rarely gets much credit for it, at least not among the publications I tend to read. For example: Here's Donald Trump on this month's California fires:“The fact that the messenger is deranged doesn’t mean the message itself contains no significant truths.” That's great as far as it goes; but let's talk about mismanagement now.“There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor.” One of the biggest problems is that there are too darn many people in California; and in particular, too darn many rich people who have to build their mansions in environmentally sensitive locations, fill their swimming pools and water their golf courses, even in the middle of an extended drought. That's a management problem. And then there's the corruption: Nestlé is still bottling tons of California water, even in the midst of a water crisis. And California's crumbling infrastructure: California utilities may have been responsible for starting these devastating fires. They have started forest fires in the past. And the world's addiction to fighting wars, burning fossil fuels, eating meat, air travel, wearing fashion clothing and a host of other environmentally insensitive behaviors which cause a warming climate with longer more frequent droughts. And finally, the rich are now hiring their own private fire fighters which can't help but further stress and degrade the public forest service's fire fighting capabilities. I suspect I've only scratched the surface here. So let's give credit where credit is due. Mr. President, you made a very profound statement about forest management. Congratulations! Oh, by the way, I'm saving raking the forest for some future week. SOME OF MY FAVORITE QUOTES I've expanded and redone my web page on favorite quotes. Check it out. 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 |