Today’s trivia has relevance, which always perks things up. Everyone knows that carbon dioxide causes climate change. Does it now? Consider some facts. How are the gas levels measured? They take ice core samples in Antarctica. The Earth’s average temperature varies in long cycles, caused by various “wobbles” in revolution, tilt and orbital shape. Here’s the trivia. Every increase in carbon dioxide levels in the past was preceded by global warming. Have you spotted the discrepancy?That is correct, the warming came first, then the dioxide increase. Not the other way around. Statistics 101 teaches that correlation is not cause and effect. So at a very strident interpretation, all we really know for sure is that both readings are rising. But to say greenhouse gas will cause warming is placing historical factors in exactly the wrong order. Don’t misunderstand, the problem is serious, but the fundamental premise is as backwards as you can get. And for the truly skeptical, nobody knows for sure if gas levels in ice stay constant for 11,000 years.
Popular misconceptions include that the Israelis stole land from the Arabs and forced them into refugee camps. Again, I would appreciate if anyone who thinks that can show me one shred of evidence. I will accept articles by the New York Times. The fact is that the Israelis bought the land from the Arab landowners, the records are on public file in London and even the Arabs admit they are not fakes. The camps were created by the Arabs who threatened to kill all Arabs who did not leave Israel. These Palestinians fled across the borders into neighboring Arab states. Thus the camps were created by the Arabs, not the Israelis. (The camps are now inside Israel only because the Arabs lost the land in various wars.) It is amazing how many people have the facts exactly wrong.
There is a peculiar twist to those land purchases. The money was mostly borrowed from the international banking system who, during that time period, would not lend money to Arabs and the middle-east oil companies had not yet been nationalized. So, if you can say your neighbor stole his house because he borrowed the money from a banker who wouldn’t talk to you, then you could say that the Israelis stole the land. If you wanted to sound like an idiot, you could.
Nitroglycerine. I used to think it quaint in the old movies how it came to be used as medicine. It works by thinning the blood, but it has the side effect of causing migraine-like headaches, the bright side being that one is alive to experience them. I laugh no more; I have been ordered to carry a small supply. Will the airport sniffer dogs get me now? Sadly, I had to miss a chance to go for a drink and say adios to Wallace, who is packed and leaving soon. August is the hottest month so he’s lucky that way.
Pipe Dream, the original computer game, is still an interesting diversion and still gets a good review today.. There are plenty of offshoots, like the train track game. The original was by an English company, LucasArts, way back in 1988. You need passwords available on-line to get start at a higher level. The only design fault is the “clear scores” button is right where it should not be. I like the game because it is how I would have programmed if I’d gone into that field. Not those karate games with unresponsive controls that grunt at you.
ADDENDUM
Famous Family Quote #2: “What do you mean you don’t have time to talk to me right now!” With its near cousin, “What do you mean it’s none of my business!”
Now this quotation is likely a repeat in this blog, because this was the type of statement repeated probably twenty times each day while I was growing up. Two things about these sentences that may not be obvious enough; I’ll point them out. The emphasis on the [pronunciation of the] word “mean” is hard to portray correctly in writing, and how the sentences, though grammatically questions, do not end with a question mark.
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