Open thread 3/3/21
I’m baaaack! Yesterday’s shot took much longer than I thought it would – not the shot itself, but waiting in line in the car. By the time I got back I felt like chilling out rather than writing, and even fell asleep for a while. My arm’s sore and I’m a bit tired, as expected.
I know you’re all thirsting for more Bee Gees to start the day off, so here’s their first TV appearance in Australia. Barry is about 13 and the twins 10, and this is a song Barry wrote, although later they wrote nearly all their songs together. The twins look like the proverbial deer in the headlights here, but I think that’s because this was their first time on TV. They were already seasoned performers of many years at this point, and either were already – or were soon to become – the virtually sole support of their family of 7 (they had their teeth fixed later, as soon as they got enough money to do it).
This is six years later with “Spicks and Specks,” at around aged 19 (or just turned 20) for Barry, and 16 for the twins. It was their first big hit in Australia and New Zealand. I’d never heard of it till a few weeks ago. The family left Australia for their native England around this time, in order to advance the Bee Gees’ careers (they had dropped out of school at 15 for Barry and 13 for the twins). They found their first period of fame in short order with a whole bunch of other songs (mostly baroque pop or R&B) such as “New York Mining Disaster 1941” (it apparently inspired David Bowie’s “Space Oddity”) and “To Love Somebody” (later covered by well over 100 artists) Even back then, though, their songs were so varied it’s hard to choose just one or two as examples, because there was no song that could be representative of their work. Barry sings lead here in the earlier “Spicks and Specks” (the guy on the right in the photo is a backup musician who was part of band for a while):
And this represent a different mood. It’s also from 1966, although I only heard it for the first time recently. It’s atypical of their work, but there’s something about it that grabbed me (as do many Bee Gees songs) – perhaps its resemblance to a traditional folk song, in this case. This is Robin using his lower register, at the age of 16:
Someone posted recently – perhaps Zaphod – derogatory comments regarding Dinesh D’Souza. I just listened to him discussing the current state of affairs with Dennis Prager. In my opinion he is spot on with his analysis. What am I missing?
This is for PhysicsGuy but if others have an opinion please join in. We all have drilled into us that CO2 is a dangerous pollutant that must be reduced or life on earth -as we know it – will be destroyed. This assertion is simply not questioned by many. When I was a boy I learned that CO2 as the starting point of photosynthesis, was the foundation of life, as the end product of the process was O2. Todays level of CO2 in the atmosphere is 412 parts per million. That computes to 0.04% of the makeup of the atmosphere. In other works for every molecule of CO2 in the atmosphere there are 2,427 other molecules ( H20, O2, N2 and other gasses). My question refers to the magical qualities of the O-C-O (CO2) molecule. How is it possible that this molecule in such a low overall quantity percentagewise when compared with other gases could have such a large effect on capturing and retaining heat? I have wondered about this for years with no reasonable explanation given. It is drilled into us that O-C-O is the demon molecule, but how can this be considering its extremely low presence in the atmosphere?
Speaking of “young”, here’s david bowie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKoX0LMNlwI
This is supposedly the story behind it.
https://people.com/celebrity/david-bowie-and-bing-crosby-the-story-behind-their-christmas-duet/
And this, of Bowie singing, “When I’m five”. You can see he’s a great actor even here… He’s REALLY good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLoO9Ek-3FU
Xyl: “How is it possible that this molecule in such a low overall quantity percentagewise when compared with other gases could have such a large effect on capturing and retaining heat?”
Well, they could not demonize water which is a GHG and far more plentiful. They would have been laughed out of town. So, yes, they chose CO2 and have worked up a rationale that CO2 is a kind of magic chemical. It reacts quickly but without being consumed, so that it is free to react again. Like a catalyst.
Thanks for The Bee Gees thread, was starting to shake from withdrawal…
}}} Xylourgos
Well, not to suggest I support AGW, buuuutttt….
Think of it, I suppose, like dirt on a window. A little dirt on the window can reduce the amount of light coming through, a lot can reduce a lot. Now, think about glass — the reason why a car gets so hot in the summer sun ties to the fact that glass is “clear” to visible light, but NOT clear to heat (which is a longer wavelength than visible light — i.e., a lower-energy state for the light photons).
The reason the car heats up so much, is that the visible light comes in, absorbs some of the light (it only reflects the light which represents the color of the materials, so it it is a red interior, it’s reflecting the red wavelengths, but absorbing the blue, green, etc., wavelengths. NOW, just because it absorbs the light, doesn’t mean it keeps all the energy. It keeps SOME of the energy, and gives off photons at a lower energy state…. like HEAT. So now there’s new photons bouncing around in the car with an IR (infra-red, or heat) energy state. But that glass, which was clear to the visible light, now BLOCKS the escape of the IR/heat photons. So now they bounce around, get absorbed again and again, etc… so the energy level in the car builds up. This is pretty much how a greenhouse helps keeps stuff warm in the winter, by “keeping in” the energy of the winter sunlight.
Now, back to the atmosphere. Think of the CO2 as “dirt” on the glass, but in this case, it’s doing the “glass” job, in the sense of blocking IR. The sunlight comes through as visible light and above (while the IR light gets bounced away), is absorbed by the planet much like the interior of the car, and bounces back as IR/Heat… and then is trapped by the “greenhouse gasses” inside the atmosphere.
Note that there are other greenhouse gasses (GHGs), most especially methane, which has a notable component in the atmosphere as cow farts, which is why Greens hate meat and cows in particular, as they DO produce a LOT of methane as a part of their digestion process.
Now, of course, they’re pretty stupid overall, since the release of both CO2 and Methane by a single volcanic eruption, much less the consistent worldwide releases (Etna, Indonesia, etc.) is far greater than human activity: https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/erupting_volcanoes.html
Note that there’s also a HUGE supply of trapped methane in something called “clathrates” which could dump a crapton of methane into the air at any given point, and may be part of the whole cause for major shifts in CO2/methane levels over time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clathrate_compound
There is a huge mass of CO2/Methane decomposition products trapped in permafrost and in the arctic seabed.
An SF author named John Barnes wrote an interesting book (slightly surreal, but still interesting) regarding a sudden release of the clathrate contents triggering a supersonic hurricane, called “Mother of Storms”.
https://www.amazon.com/Mother-Storms-John-Barnes/dp/0312855605
Yeah, that one went all over the place, didn’t it?
😀
I am very confused regarding the vaccine. Neo and a number of commenters have received the shot so I’m hoping some light can be shed on this so I have better understanding.
This article makes no sense to me.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2021/02/12/covid-vaccine-antibody-test/
Since antibodies were used early on to treat people, I assume there was and is sufficient method to determine whether or not someone has them. Now it is as though they can’t be detected and it is unnecessary to do so…just get the vaccine!!!
If antibodies as detected and utilized at the beginning of the pandemic aren’t necessary then how are the scientists coming up with a 94-95% rate of effectiveness for the vaccine? Is this being determined with the other test for the virus that is equally suspect? The Covid-19 test (PCR) has been very useful for shutting down states/economies and the reason for restructuring how we conduct a national election, but are they reliable?
People were found to have the antibodies for the 1918 flu 90 years after the fact. Are we now to believe that the body’s success in fighting off a particular contagion is entirely different with Sars Co-V 2 and its mutations?
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/science-july-dec08-influenza_08-22#:~:text=Two%20new%20studies%20on%20the,virus%20circulating%20in%20their%20blood.
Considering how nothing was done in response to the ebola breakout and now we have a pendulum that has swung and is connected to grave political occurrences I have lost faith in the science aspect of a lot of this.
The CDC was formed to come up with a pandemic response, or am I wrong? Billions of dollars later we had no pandemic response for this and we still don’t. And yet we allow the CDC to call the shots that affect our daily lives. Mass stupidity in my opinion.
I with Sharon W.
This … makes no sense to me, where … is a lot of things.
And, I don’t think “me” is the problem.
Texas, we are going to take our masks off and scare the Californians into going back to California. We have been wearing masks for the most part in stores where they expect us to and our traffic and commerce during the past few months has been going strong. Now the masks will off on March 10th , and I am about a month out from my 2nd COVID shot so either I cannot get COVID or transmit it or, at 75 years old I am going to get sick and die, I don’t care anymore, I miss smiling at people and seeing them smile back.
My wife continued going to church but it made me so damn sad to see masks on people, especially children, that I have been staying away for months and months. Mostly do at home stuff or visiting with neighbors and friends who don’t worry about the mask thing, it is time for this farce to end.
Sharon W.,
Interesting questions, some of which I’ve had. Today is my first day to be eligible to get vaccinated and it’s all booked up. Third world governance here.
I’ve seen one TV doctor, Drew Pinsky, claim that as a recovered COVID patient he is not getting the vaccine. I think I recall another medical person say that because they were a recovered patient they are only getting one dose of the two dose vaccine.
I believe it is true that in terms of neutralizing antibodies (whatever that is) the full two dose vax regimen is considerably better than being a recovered patient. I have read that people who have recovered from the original SARS in 2003 still had excellent antibody presence when tested last year.
The CDC did eventually update their seroprevalence tracker map today. Better late than never.
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#national-lab
This is the state by state “random” sampling and antibody testing of any and all blood specimens in commercial labs. It is random within each lab, but of course the healthiest (or younger?) people in the community are less likely to have blood specimens in labs.
Vermont is the worst with 1.2% of the population detected with antibodies; and the best are WY at 32%, WI at 27.5%, and NE at 24%.
Best/Worst? The most infected states will have the most antibodies. I haven’t seen any info. on how they deal with the vaccination issue. Probably the numbers reflect antibodies from vaccines too.
My wife and I, she 73 and I 75, received our second Moderna shot this past Saturday. Surprising to us, neither had any reaction to the shot. My thesis is that in our case, given our age, we would have a weaker immune system than those much younger, and thus our reaction to the introduction of the vaccine into our system produced a muted response as regards symptoms. I am told that the maximum benefit should be realized two weeks post injection. An alternative may be that our continuous consumption of Quercetin and zinc may have produced the non reaction.
JimNorCal: Yes, it is obvious that H2O is a much higher % in the atmosphere than CO2 and is more responsible for trapping heat. Think of the steamy nights in the tropics where 90%+ humidity (H2O) is the norm and where freezing temps in equatorial deserts close to 0% humidity (H2O) after sun set is the norm. You are correct; once they have their way with CO2, it be H2O under the lens. Regs on how much tea water you are allowed to boil will come into play.
From the New York Times
By Walter Sullivan
Oct. 31, 1982
“For several years scientists have been warning that carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere by increased burning of fuel is likely to alter world climates, like a greenhouse, by inhibiting the escape of heat into outer space.
Now researchers report that termites, digesting vegetable matter on a global basis, produce more than twice as much carbon dioxide as all the world’s smokestacks.
Termite gas production has become particularly high, the researchers say, because widespread clearing of land has offered them abundant food in the debris of felled forests. By digesting this debris, they are adding not only carbon dioxide but also methane to the atmosphere. Other researchers have found that methane in the atmosphere is increasing 2 percent a year.”
This research does not consider the huge effect of ants on CO2 production.
I can’t process 13 year olds writing songs about romantic love and faithfulness and longing. Not even in the case of 16 or 17 year olds, really.
There is something just too damn precocious and either artificial or unsettlingly unnatural about it. Nero’s work struck me somewhat in that way too. ( Yes, I know, some people live disturbingly carnivalesque lives and are “wise” , or jaded, beyond their years from the time of childhood)
But it nonetheless reminds me of Aristotle’s comment regarding the unseemliness of youth feigning sagacity by spouting old proverbs and aphorisms while obviously lacking the barest life experience to even superficially root them.
DNW:
A lot of teenagers that age feel love and romance and longing very acutely. I certainly did. I wrote poems, because I don’t write songs.
Barry wrote those earliest songs. He was past puberty. A lot of early rock and pop songs were written by kids in their teens.
OBH – Thanks for your explanations. Your analogy to the car window – “But that glass, which was clear to the visible light, now BLOCKS the escape of the IR/heat photons.” assumes that CO2 covers the entire envelope as the glass example does. It does not. CO2 concentration is only 412 parts per million, where as the glass covers 100% of the area in your example. Think of a car with a glass window that is 99.96% missing. Not much left to trap heat.
Xylourgos,
ObloodyHell did a great job, except I’d add that the issue is the increase in CO2 or “dirt” in your example. No one argues that human activity is increasing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. We’re digging inert carbon from the Earth’s depths (oil, coal) and burning it on the surface so that the CO2 floats into the atmosphere. Also, carbon sequestered in plants is added to the atmosphere when burned (This is why California and other regions should manage their forests better). Those who follow Dr. Herr Professor Michael Mann and his hockey stick model (we have to take his word for it, he won’t release his data) believe it’s a geometric impact, rather than arithmetic (and I agree with that, although I don’t necessarily agree that CO2 would be the trigger). The theory is there is a point where the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere triggers a runaway greenhouse affect.
Here’s a gruesome example to make the point. Your garage may be 1% carbon monoxide. If you leave your car running and don’t open the doors you will eventually die, but it doesn’t require the air you are breathing to be 100% carbon monoxide. Heck, the air we breathe is only about 20% oxygen and we do just fine with it. There is a point where the percent of carbon monoxide you intake (well below 100% of air content) is enough to kill you. In addition, in the greenhouse gas theory (I agree with this part) there is a point where the planet could enter a feedback loop where warming or cooling accelerates faster and faster. This has almost certainly happened in the planet’s past (i.e. iceball Earth) due to volcanic activity, asteroid impact, and other causes.
So scientists take core samples, look at tree rings, fossils… to try to determine what the Earth’s temperature was in the past, and how much CO2 was in the air at the time. There is a distinct correlation between CO2 and warmer temps, but there is debate over whether temperature drives CO2 on planet Earth, or CO2 drives temperature. Most global warming proponents believe it is the latter.
Xylourgos,
I agree with your impression of the New York Times article. The Earth’s climate is one of the most difficult things to model. There are so many inputs and variables. As I wrote, human activity does increase atmospheric CO2 and CO2 as a result of human activity (let’s face it, even your termite example is a result of human activity) has been even faster and greater than alarmists have predicted. Yet temperatures are not increasing at rates their models predict. One of the theories is our oceans do a lot more to sequester CO2 than previously understood, and higher temps seem to increase that activity.
In other words; it’s complicated.
I think it’s idiotic to talk of “climate change,” or “manmade climate change.” As you write, there is termite made climate change. A butterfly flapping its wings changes “climate.” The goal should be lessening human made pollution, especially toxins, and the good news is humans are really good at that. As societies advance industrially they reach a nadir of polluting (perhaps the ’70s in the U.S.) and then trend downwards. It’s what we do. There is no need for drastic change, especially imposed by government fiat.
OldTexan,
I’m with you regarding masks in church. I don’t like to go where they are required. It seems very wrong, somehow. I don’t mind distancing, to be safe, but if the church is at 20% capacity why can’t we see each others’ faces. Seems un-Christian, to me, but what do I know. I’ve found a Catholic church here that does not require masks, but I don’t want to get too specific so I don’t get them in trouble.
Regarding the first Bee Gees video; I just can’t get over how short Barry is! 😉
DNW and neo,
Regarding youngsters and romantic feelings; I recall a certain age not understanding what my instructor meant when he would downgrade my musical performances because they lacked “feeling.” I was playing the notes as written, following the tempo and dynamics; playing softer and louder as written. Yet, he claimed there was something missing. I could not comprehend what he meant.
At some point, years later, I understand completely and can play with tremendous emotion and feel now. There definitely was something missing when I was younger.
When I was young I would listen to recordings and not hear the distinction, but at a certain point I heard that extra dimension. I’m not sure if it was literally puberty, or hormones, or if it took a few years of experience and having my heart broken a few times for that ability to kick in, but it can be something tangible (or audible) in music.
Very unexpectedly, a vaccination site opened a month ago that is 20 minutes from us. They got several thousand doses and I stumbled onto the site when appointments were being accepted. As a result my wife and I received our second dose of the Pfizer vaccine on 2/24. The amount of vaccine here in WA is increasing slowly and they have plenty of capacity to give the shots. So, I’m more confident that they may get to at least 60% vaccinated by June. The county is at 10% now – three months since the first doses arrived here. Can they do 50% in the next three months? I think so, as the pace is really picking up.
My wife experienced an inflamed arm on the first shot and an itchy arm from the second. My arm was sore for two days after the first shot, and experienced no symptoms whatsoever from the second. We were issued cards showing the dates of vaccination with a bar code identifier. We’re treating these like passports, as they may be needed for travel for the next couple of years.
My wife has been very happy to get the vaccinations. She has been semi-depressed since the pandemic began. Her mood has improved markedly. I’m kind of happy, too. 🙂 We are proceeding with plans for a 71st high school reunion in September. (We canceled our 70th last year for obvious reasons.) There are six of us still alive from the class of 1950. We have stayed in touch and are life long friends. It will be a joy to see them again.
Xylourgos,
The problem with CO2 is that, while it is a green house gas, it makes up such a tiny part of the atmosphere that the math doesn’t work for it to create the warming the warmers claim to have observed. As a result, the modelers have all been forced to insert “forcings” (Water vapor, aerosols, particulates, etc.) into the models to make them show warming. Only one climate model that was done in the 1990s has been close to the actual, observed temperature changes and that was the Russian model – INM-CM4. All the other models have predicted much more warming than has been observed. The apparent reason is that the modelers have made educated guesses about forcings that have been incorrect, “forcing” their models to show more warming. Read about it here:
https://www.cato.org/commentary/are-climate-models-overpredicting-global-warming
While CO2 may have some small affect on climate, the true causes of climate change are presently unknown. The El Nino – La Nina shifts are obviously a part of it. Trying to control the global climate is the sort of idea that can seem plausible when you are in an ivory tower. But is it possible? Or necessary? Humans lived through the great Ice Age of 12,000 years ago with no more technology than fire and stone tools. They adapted and survived. Why can’t we, with our superior technology, also adapt to whatever climate change comes along? Much more discussion of these issues can be found at Wattsupwiththat.com.
Rufus T. Firefly:
Some young children and/or teens have their hearts broken quite young. The heartbreak can be so poignant that it leads to suicide.
And not just Romeo and Juliet (16-17 and 14). Shakespeare knew what he was talking about. Kids that age can get very desperate about love and loss.
Of course, that doesn’t mean all kids, or even most kids, feel that way.
Barry Gibb reported that as a young teen he was very romantic, had his heart broken more than once, and has drawn on that for his songs then and more recently.
In addition, as children the Bee Gees were already performing at race tracks and in men’s clubs in Australia, to a tough crowd. They report the atmosphere in the men’s clubs (I think they were war veterans’ clubs) as being like old-time saloons, with a lot of fistfights in the crowd. Their father was their chaperone and driver. They had to grow up fast. Their childhood gigs were, as I wrote above, the support of a large family, and they dropped out of school very early (although from their interviews you can tell they’re very smart and very articulate). Their father had a lot of trouble making ends meet.
Rufus T. Firefly:
What strikes me about that first video is how polite kids were back then.
Rufus T Firefly:
We are only supposed to say the words of the hymns while wearing our masks often after reading Psalms that say “Shout to the Lord” or “Sing his praises.” Very off putting and inducing of cognitive dissonance? But our Worship Committee or Safety Committee must be concerned that I sing anyway, although not as loudly as I desire. Sort of like playing brass with a mute in the bell.
“I’ve found a Catholic church here that does not require masks, but I don’t want to get too specific so I don’t get them in trouble.” Rufus T. Firefly
I attended Sunday Mass for the 1st time since 10-18-20. It was the 1st indoor Mass at Carmel Mission since the 1st lockdown in March 2020. 25% capacity, mask required. The Cantor sang-I did too, with my mask on. If we didn’t arrive early enough to be indoors we would have gone back to the house to watch the Mass from St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Sioux Falls, SD like we have been doing since 10-25-20. I conceded to wearing the mask though I much prefer how S.D. leaves it up to you. Not sure we will attend at our home parish this week as they have more restrictions that present the 2 + 2 = 5 doublethink that I personally won’t countenance in a faith setting. Praying for faith and courage in the Los Angeles Archdiocese. MIA, so far in my humble opinion.
@neo
You should write a book about the BeeGees. Heaven knows you have more than enough material … just need to get it all together.
jack:
Already been written – many times over, if you do a search at Amazon, for example.
I’m more into the personal essay – “the Bee Gees and me.”
Sharon W., I can’t see the sense in people who’ve had the virus getting the vaccine. One of my daughters had pertussis at age 18. At age 35 she was tested for immunity; still immune. The COVID vaccine is only going to boost immunity numbers among those of us who’ve been locked up.
Agree that the COVID shot card is a new National Passport. We have a copy in our wallets, originals in Safe Deposit Box, extra copies at home and a copy with our Passports.
Related:
https://www.google.com/search?source=univ&tbm=isch&q=psalms+%2B+mask&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjhp52RiJXvAhVNCuwKHYjgCjEQjJkEegQIDRAB&biw=1536&bih=754
(Is America a great country, or what?)
Short takes:
“Biden” reaches critical mass. Uses “N” word…:
https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/cdc-director-implores-texans-keep-wearing-masks-regardless-governors-orders
Cuomo, in absolute shocker, says he’s “sorry” (sort of, but then clarifies):
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/watch-live-ny-gov-cuomo-about-resign
(Short version: I may have been overly playful, maybe not as sensitive as I could have been…but can’t those women—and senior citizens—take a joke?)
As for our church, once we are in our seats we don’t have to keep the mask on however most of the folks who are good caring people do wear theirs, other churches in our area have folks who don’t wear their masks when seated and spaced out a bit. I suspect the next month will make a big difference around here.
I just got back from having a new boat registered in the tag office at our county court house and the women were all working behind plexiglass panels and not wearing masks at all. Being a Texas Hill Country County they were all wearing jeans and a few of them on the carpeted floor were barefoot and comfortable. I sure do like Texas and the folks here, county workers, who like to cut up and laugh a lot as they take care of business. Same goes for our retail stores too, lots of nice people around here, when the snow was piled up a little over a week ago and carts were stacked up in the grocery store parking lot the customers were picking two or three carts out of the racks and pushing them in for others to use.
Next week, March 10th, we will see the smiling faces once more here in Texas.
Rufus T. Firefly on March 3, 2021 at 2:15 pm said:
Well, I guess that some people really “get” poetry, and some “get it” less, and some of us cannot get far enough past the annoying weakness, interpersonal presumption, and personal obnoxiousness of the poet’s announcing of its cravings to the world, in order to really appreciate what is going on with the clever deployment of the words.
Speaking of not-weakness — and transgressing personal boundaries … hahah
If you don’t mind give me an idea of the weight class you competed at and your approximate record.
DNW,
I was in the 145 class Freshman year, but as I wrote, I moved to indoor track before the first wrestling meet, so don’t have an “official” record. 6′ 0″ and my guess is I was about 0% bodyfat though ( 😉 ), so I was in pretty good shape. Up until around 6th grade I was much more interested in reading than sports, and then a switch literally went off in my brain and I suddenly couldn’t stop exercising (running, push-ups, sit-ups, basketball [no money or equipment to do anything fancier]). (Might have something to do with poetry, or music, or hormones, or, perhaps, my suddenly noticing after 7 years of school that my class was co-ed…) So, by the time I got to High School I was in markedly good shape. But, as I wrote, our team had another guy who was also in great shape at that same weight class, and, being from a Catholic grammar school as he was, he had already been wrestling for several years. Probably the best guy on our team.
Sharon W and Kate,
I too am a bit offput by attitudes around the vaccine. I have no problem getting vaccinated, and likely will, but I don’t understand why nobody seems to care that I have had COVID and could very well still have the antibodies. It seems like those of us who have had it should go to the end of the line, unless we fail an antibody test.
Why waste vaccine on folks who have antibodies? I know some (all?) of these vaccines are m-RNA, which is different from the old school vaccines we’ve gotten in the past, but isn’t the magic still based on the same principle; training your immune system to recognize the pathogen (in this case, those grotesque looking COVID-19 blobs with the itchy looking spindles all over them) so your white blood cells “know” to engulf it and flush it from your system? If many or most of us who have had the disease have trained immune systems, why is the vaccine necessary? In other words, isn’t the point of the vaccine to expose people to COVID so they develop resistance? If so, I’ve been exposed.
Yet many people look at me like I’ve just stated I drown puppies when I tell them that I’m waiting until all folks in jeopardy get vaccinated until I sign up, since I’ve already had COVID.
Sharon W.,
I too have been very disappointed in my diocese’s response to COVID-19, my parish’s, and the Vatican’s. I have heard there have been rogue Priests meeting with the sick, administering Last Rites, etc… I believe those stories are true and hope folks make those details public as a lesson for the future. If there have been Priests openly defying lockdown mandates and celebrating traditional Mass I have not heard of them. (Although, as I wrote, I do know of a Parish nearby where the Priest doesn’t wear a mask and no one is turned away if they too, choose to go maskless.)
om, Sharon W.,
I have gone to Mass a few times while masked. I too sing as loudly as always. I can understand the idea that singing may cause more spread than not, but hopefully distancing and masks inhibit that additional spread. As om, highlights, I have yet to find the text in the Old or New Testament that advises to keep one’s faith and joy hidden under a rock.
Well, I guess there is Matthew 6:6…
Rufus T. Firefly on March 3, 2021 at 1:58 pm: “The theory is there is a point where the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere triggers a runaway greenhouse affect.” [That is, positive feedback.]
Not quite sure if you agree with that or not, and I don’t recall the details as to the source, but recently someone provided a link to a 2012 article about satellite heat measurements [perhaps even Aesop Fan? to a blog “Jovan” something?] . Supposedly that evidence showed the Earth was providing negative feedback and radiating more heat back into space as the planet warmed up. Thus there was a correcting process that would diminish the global warming effects.
But as you said, it is complicated.
Total Segue:
13th Floor Elevators – Slip Inside This House
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwSA0Tckwbk
The song is *8 minutes long*
>>> NO CHORUS <<<
Some repetitions, but more of a chaotic attractor than a regular circular orbit.
Thanks everyone for your informed and interesting comments on CO2. It strikes me for certain that “the Science is Not settled”. I would have enjoyed reading Physicsguy’s take on this.
}}} Think of a car with a glass window that is 99.96% missing. Not much left to trap heat.
That’s where you miss the issue — the analogy breaks down and you switch to the idea of the dirt on the glass. The dirt is only a small part of the surface area of the glass, but a certain amount of it still blocks your view. And a little more blocks more of your view, and so on… 😉
}}} Here’s a gruesome example to make the point. Your garage may be 1% carbon monoxide.
Sorry, Rufus, your analogy is flawed, because the deadly thing about CO (vs. CO2) in your garage is that CO can take the place of oxygen in your blood. Your body fails to realize it is not getting oxygen from breathing. This is one reason why it’s a very common method of suicide — you pretty much fall asleep and you’re gone. Many other methods have far more side issues that can happen — you get a poison dosage too high, and you puke it all up and still survive, but maybe with severe side effects from the poison or chemical. Or you try and kill yourself but you just jerk at the last minute, and only blow half your face off… or you fail to wreck the car badly enough to actually die. Or you jump off the building and have aaaaaaaaaalll that time to THINK about what you’ve done.
If you were gonna commit suicide, CO poisoning seems to be about the most easy and peaceful way you can go… it’s pretty hard to really screw up.
BTW, while I am strongly anti-mask — they are pretty useless for the most part — I would note that, if you’re going to sing, then you probably ought to wear one during the singing. Singing is like coughing and sneezing, it expels a LOT of aerosols forth, which (yes) will include flu particulates, if you ARE a carrier.
And all the evidence is that Covid is mostly spread by aerosols.
The reason masks are so useless is not because they don’t work with aerosols, it’s that the fine viral particulates are not impeded by the coarse weave of the standard masks being used. You might as well wear a lace doily.
No, the real “best” way to inhibit the spread of a viral agent like CV is a lot of air changes — about 6-7 full changes per hour of the contents of a room provides about 90% protection from exposure, vastly better than a mask or even “social distancing”.
And just another day in American elections!
https://thenationalpulse.com/breaking/mi-election-do-over-due-to-ballot-fraud/
H/T Ron Coleman twitter feed
(Which may remind one of this little tidbit of the “do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do” variety):
https://www.iwf.org/2021/01/25/the-delicious-irony-of-amazons-arguments-against-mail-in-voting-in-a-union-election/ )
While Lee Smith has the “Empire State Strikes Out” escapades (AKA Cuomo Capers) all figured out: Gotta take down the God(less)father so as to protect Kamala at all costs (though I’m’ a bit skeptical about this, myself, since she is likely to be toast as soon as she opens her mouth…but it’s a theory, I guess):
https://twitter.com/LeeSmithDC/status/1367253173312909316
My guess is the most important, single, positive thing we humans have done in response to COVID-19 is staying home and away from other humans when we are ill. I think that is a big reason why flu numbers were so good this past flu season. Hopefully that trend will continue*.
*And I have to admit, my past behavior was abysmal. I have that mid-western work ethic, as long as your not horizontal and 6′ underground you are able to go to the office, attitude.
OBloodyHell,
I wrote a long reply to explain my carbon monoxide analogy, it had nothing to do with carbon monoxide or dioxide, just trying to make the point that little changes in percentages of gases can have a big impact. However, it disappeared. Anyway, my intent was never to correlate carbon dioxide as a toxin to humans.
R2L,
Even more interesting is the temperatures of the other planets in our solar system over the past 40 years, or so. They correlate rather closely with the pattern on our own planet. That big, orange ball in the sky has A LOT to do with climate*.
I like atmospheric readings and ocean buoy readings more than surface readings because humans alter the topology around surface monitors all the time. Most every temperature monitor used on land over the past century, or so, is now in an area with more concrete, asphalt, etc… Climatologists sometimes “adjust” readings to try to account for those manmade changes. A lot of the surface readings you see in reports from the last 20 years, or so, have been adjusted upwards from what the actual gauges read with that reason as an excuse.
Also, “global” temperature is an odd term. If Belgium has a record high temperature while the Congo has a record low is the planet warming? Cooling? Atmospheric temperatures are better gauges of the planet’s actual temperature, but we only have a few decades of reliable, atmospheric readings. Making climate predictions with 20 years of data (or 200) is not too useful in a system that runs on 10,000 year trends. Even in the middle of an ice age there could be a 20 year period where global temps go up or down a few degrees.
And, most importantly, no one knows what the Earth’s temperature is supposed to be. We’ve been climbing out of an ice age for thousands of years. Are we near the end of the climb? 20% in? 80% in? That’s why I think we should focus on pollution. Find methods to reduce toxins in the air and water and utilize them when they don’t impact human survival.
*We are in a very odd period, sunspot-wise, and sunspots correlate with temperature. We still don’t understand the mechanism.
Hi Neo!
Thank you very much for all your interesting articles about Bee Gees, i`ve read all of them. And thank you very much for adding “Jingle Jangle” video created by me.. So i have nearly +200 views in a few days and new subscribers to my channel )) I found your blog`s link in my Youtube statistics and now i feel myself very comfort here )) I`m conservator, Trump`s supporter and Bee Gees fun. My story is close to yours. I never listened Bee Gees before March 2020 when Yotube recommendation directed me to “Massachusetts” and i immediately felt in love with Robin`s voice.. Tears of happiness only can describe my feelings when i listen Bee Gees songs.
I was born in the Soviet Union and i know very well how is to live in the socialist country and to listen all those lies every grey day. So that is why i never believe all those socialism lovers )) I`m sorry for my English, its not my native language, i try to make it better..
Best wishes, dear Neo, and thanks again.
Sincerely your new friend Zara
Zara:
Welcome!
Rufus T Firefly wonders about the sun-Climate links. He writes “ *We are in a very odd period, sunspot-wise, and sunspots correlate with temperature. We still don’t understand the mechanism.”
Indeed. But astrophysicist turned paleoclimatologist thinks he’s getting closer to understanding the link.
This is from Shaviv’s piece in the Epoch Times “How Climate Change Pseudoscience Became Publicly accepted.”
http://www.sciencebits.com/GWPseudoScience
This is easily understood by the layman. So please check out the link.
More sciency and graph/chart heavy, run through quickly, is Shaviv’s talk on the sun and climate from the International Conference on Climate Change, in Washington, DC, summer 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a–kc5dbvy
The more tech savvy and those fortified with curiosity ought to take a look here.