George Rebane

Because many RR readers see various far out notions and ideas reported first in these pages, I am sometimes viewed as a wingnut and assigned to sit in a remote corner with the other fringe elements until the more established media catch up (some never do).  This is not a complaint, but a simple statement of fact.  Those who know me, know that I wear such appellations as a badge of honor – my days will be over when I start bleating with the flock.

Geo-engineering is the new watchword in the global warming hysteria.  I wrote of its dangers starting way back in the 23jan08 piece ‘Climate Change – A Format for Reasoned Dialogue’.  On Russ Steele’s NC Media Watch I commented on the recent WSJ spread on geo-engineering.  And now the respectable The Atlantic is also weighing in – ‘Re-engineering the Earth’ – on the latest idiocy that calls for the immediate dispensing of sulfur dioxide particulates into the atmosphere to cool an already cooling earth.  They caution –

As the threat of global warming grows more urgent, a few scientists are considering radical—and possibly extremely dangerous—schemes for reengineering the climate by brute force. Their ideas are technologically plausible and quite cheap. So cheap, in fact, that a rich and committed environmentalist could act on them tomorrow. And that’s the scariest part.

More people are beginning to crowd into my corner.
 

Math literacy is the ever-growing concern among an ever-shrinking cohort of those who study and contemplate the fate of our Republic.  On his blog RR reader Dr. Larry Press (professor of information technology at Cal State Dominguez Hills) presents a number of links to articles discussing the possible uses of the new online knowledge engine WolframAlpha (RR post here).  With the ready availability of such an engine, how will students of math and science gain proficiency in their fields?  Will such proficiency be evaluated on the basis of their being able to extract solutions from a vast technical knowledge base without the need to understand the underlying math and science?  What shall we call such people?

GoldMoney – sign of the inflationary times.  This company, founded in 2001, allows the easy transfer of physical gold in the settlement of accounts between parties.  For all intents and purposes, writing contracts to be concluded by the payment of GoldMoney satisfies most of the requirements for such a medium of exchange that I recommended in ‘An Honest Money Proposal’.  At the time I wrote that piece, I didn’t know GoldMoney was already available.

The Inspector General of the Federal Reserve is supposed to keep tabs on that curious keeper of our currency.  Well, it turns out that they have, perhaps purposefully, assigned a double dummy to head that office.  This video on The Daily Bail, sent by a reader, of the IG testifying before Congress exhausts my capability to comment.  See if you can do better.

Finally, in the ‘Last of the Late Great Newspapers’ department, look at this video from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart of a fairly aggressive interview with Executive Editor Bill Keller of The New York Times.  It’s hard to tell whether it’s funny or sad or simply “brutal comedy” as characterized by the correspondent who sent me the link.  From his email –

It’s been clear that newspapers are going away for 10 years. Many people say it shouldn’t be so, but it is so.  So we have to adjust.  Debating whether it’s good or not is not very relevant.  It’s happening.  Technology has changed.  It’s no one’s fault.  It’s evolution.  Many things about the transition will be hard, including the career changes for the people who learned the journalism trade and now don’t have a place to practice their trade. … Loss of good journalism could be a threat to our democracy.  Interesting times.

I wonder what the moral equivalent of this was in 400AD Rome.