Proof of Global Warming?

The upper picture shows the Boulder glacier in 1988. The lower picture is the exact same scene as it appeared in 1932.

Where'd the ice go? This example may or may not constitute proof of global warming since it's only one spot on a very big earth. We also can't conclude that man caused the ice to melt, either.

Something caused the ice to melt, though. I'd like conclusive evidence of just exactly what. Maybe the scientists will come up with the evidence in the future. I'll pay attention to the news.

In the meantime, economists are also thinking about the economic, as opposed to ecological, effects of global warming. Remember the Oklahoma Dust Bowl in the 1930s? You've seen pictures in the history books of the effects of the prolonged drought and the human misery that climate change created. But humans are resilient. And Mother Earth has a way of healing herself. Today's Oklahoma landscape and economy is nothing like its 1930s version. That's a good thing for the land and people of Oklahoma.

I wonder if there's anything good about a warmer earth. Higher crop yields and a longer growing season to feed hungry mouths? Just wondering. One thing we don't have to wonder about is whether humans will adapt to climate change. They've been doing that for thousands of years. So, maybe I won't lose sleep over global warming. At least not tonight, when the low here in south Texas is going to plunge into the 20s. Brrr!

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Bigger Vehicle, Bigger Tax Credit--Does It Make Sense?

The Honda Insight: 57 mpg, but a relatively meager $1,450 tax credit for purchasers

Tax credits are intended to encourage specific kinds of behavior by subsidizing them. The linked article in Wired poses an interesting economic issue, one deeply intertwined with politics. It seems that tax breaks designed to reward purchasers of fuel efficient vehicles fail to correlate exactly with a vehicle's miles per gallon. Thus, consumers who purchase some SUVs will receive larger tax credits than purchasers of hybrids, according to a study done by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy.

The amount of each tax credit is computed according to a formula, which takes into account a vehicle's improved fuel economy, measured against competitors in its class. Thus, the 57 mpg Honda Insight hybrid automobile offers a $1,450 tax credit, while buyers of the 36 mpg Ford Escape hybrid SUV receive a $2,600 credit.

The ACEEE's own research shows that the correlation between miles per gallon and the size of the tax credit is in general positive. The logic for a greater credit of the Escape is also well grounded, since the Escape will save more gallons of gas each year for its purchasers than will the Insight. What's the problem?

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Gay Gene or Gay Germ?--Is Homosexuality an Infection?

When I was a kid my father came down with stomach ulcers. In those days, the doctors believed that ulcers were caused by worry and spicy foods. Thus, a good part of his medical treatment involved instructions to "Relax, be happy, don't worry," and "Avoid spicy foods." Today, we know that the advice he was given was worthless, at least as it relates to treating ulcers. The reason is that it is now known with certainty that stomach ulcers are caused by a germ.

The courageous scientist who battled the medical establishment to prove that ulcers are caused by a germ was Gregory Cochran. For years his theory was ridiculed until the proof that he was right was so overwhelming that it couldn't be ignored. Now, we treat stomach ulcers with antibiotics and other medicines targeted at the causitive germ.

Well, Mr. Cochran, an independent physicist, is at it again. And taking a lot of heat.

While conventional science seems hell-bent on proving the existence of a gay gene, Mr. Cochran theorizes that such a gene would have been bred out of existence, had it ever existed. His hypothesis, so far untested, is that homosexuality is the result of an infection of some sort, possibly viral in origin. Biology professor Paul W. Ewald has teamed with Mr. Cochran to make something of the hypothesis.

What Cochran suspected about homosexuality, he and his colleague now believe to be true for a large number of conditions—namely, that microbes, not genes, are responsible for them. Ewald and Cochran’s innovation is to consider disease from the perspective of human evolution. If your mother is obsessed with knowing when you are going to give her some grandchildren, then you are more or less familiar with the traditional perspective of human evolution: You were put on this earth to reproduce. Anything that gets in the way of reproduction is a problem that you better be prepared to explain. To judge the size of such a problem, evolutionary biologists assess its "fitness cost"—that is, the damage it does to your chances of procreating.

Genes with a substantial fitness cost do appear from time to time. Every so often a cell makes a mistake while copying its DNA—a mistake known as a random mutation—and this mutation may give rise to a gene harmful to the person carrying it. But in such a case, according to evolutionary theory, the new disease-causing gene would vanish after a hundred generations or so, gradually but inexorably, because damaged organisms reproduce less often and less prolifically than healthy ones. (There is an exception: Some disease-causing genes simultaneously provide a protective benefit—such as the gene for sickle-cell anemia, which also happens to ward off malaria.) The higher its fitness cost, the faster a gene disappears.

The math is unforgiving. If a genetic trait has a fitness cost of just 1 percent, it will sink to the very low rate of a random mutation after only 100 generations. Over the course of human evolution—roughly 800,000 generations so far—a trait would vanish even if its fitness cost were as low as 0.001 percent. According to the best available estimates, however, 3 to 4 percent of men and 1 to 2 percent of women in the United States are exclusively homosexual. That’s a lot of homosexuals. Too many, Cochran and Ewald believe, for the condition to be genetic.

This web site shows the results of an opinion poll about the cause of sexual orientation. Poll results show that most people believe sexual orientation results from a person's environment or some aspect of his or her upbringing. The gay gene theory has been gaining ground, however, because of publicity given to papers that suggest the existence of a gay gene.

One question for Cochran and Ewald is that even if it is eventually proved that gayness is caused by a germ, would gays welcome a cure for that infection? The web site linked in the previous paragraph mentions the Bible's explanation for homosexual conduct, which is Satanic demons that enter the body and cause people to "sin." Perhaps gays would welcome proof of the cause of homosexuality, so long as the scientists prescription doesn't involve exorcism. That burden of "sin" that is laid on gays by the Bible must be a tough burden to carry around all your life!

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JC's GirlsGirlsGirls--Three Beauties Stand Up for Jesus

Tanya

Lori

Heather

They say that God works in mysterious ways. Porn surfers might agree.

JC's GirlsGirlsGirls, Tanya, Lori, and Heather have a trick or two up their collective sleeves, no pun intended. The sight of the glamour shots above, taken from jcsgirls.com, might lead a body to think that more revealing sights await those who click deeper into the web site. No way! What is there are the personal stories of three lovlies who've found Jesus.

These beautiful women are on a mission to minister to those enslaved by sexual addiction. From the women of porn to the males who thrive on consuming it, these girls say, "Jesus loves you. Repent."

They're not exactly what you expect when you think of Christians on a mission. You'll never mistake them for Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell. However, they offer a Christian message. Let's hear it in their own words. From the pen of Lori we learn:

Our whole goal when we began was simply to get the message out to people in the sex industry that when they are ready to come to God, he will not turn his back on them. This is still our goal…so this means that even if a girl never enters the door of a church, a huge accomplishment has been achieved in helping her get the message that God forgives no matter what she has done! God is using us to get this message out way faster than we anticipated.

Heather adds:

As a successful Vegas stripper, I lived life to the extreme. I partied with celebrities, traveled, and found pleasure in the lifestyle that stripping provided. However, deep down inside I was terrified to die. Feeling like I would eventually pay the price for the life I lived, I began “bargaining” with God. Unfortunately, no one ever reached out to me, so I started seeking God on my own. I found a local church but went not telling anyone of my past, afraid that people would judge me. I learned slowly that God does not want Christians to judge others but calls them to love. Knowing this, I began to open up and share even though I knew I was being judged. I began to help my Christian friends realize that judging others is wrong, and God doesn’t like it.

My hope is to open the doors of churches to make room for all people including porn stars, strippers, and men addicted to strippers or porn.

JC's Girls is the second-highest rated video at Craveonline. Again, don't expect a skin show. The video is a profile of the ministering by JC's GirlsGirlsGirls shown on the TV program, A Current Affair.

Sex appeal is used to sell everything from new cars to toilet paper. Why not Jesus?

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QuickTake: Survey--One in Five Teens Have Own Blog

We have a gender gap here, folks. Females are more likely to blog than males. Do I sense a government affirmative action initiative coming to assist the males? Nah. The blogging gap will remain a fact of life, I fear. Males are playing video games while females are blogging. Maybe that's just nature taking its course.

From my own experience, blogging keeps my writing skills honed. Thus, I predict that young women's writing skills will outpace those of young men. If writing skills matter in today's economy (and I think they do), then look for young women to have a leg up in the job market.

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Blondes--Going the Way of the Dinosaur?

A rather Freudian view of blondness, I would say.

The Village Voice is young, hip, and multicultural. Michael Musto, who is one of their more thought-provoking regular contributors, has this to say about a certain type of young, blonde celebrity:

A surfeit of pesky peroxide addicts who had face-lifts at age 12 and turned their abortions into handbags has made things so oppressively dumb-tastic that Charlize Theron has to wear boils and a modified babushka to elevate herself from the tragically superficial morass into respectability (though ever a trouper, she bravely still sports luscious blond locks).

I swear on my obsolete Uggs that dumb blonds are, like, officially over. It's just not cute anymore to watch people who, thanks to raging insecurity issues, insist on being both stick-thin (because they want to look "good") and camera-hoggingly self-humiliating. The spectacle of boobs popping out, drug dribble leaking out, and vaginas wearing out, all in the name of career advancement, was extremely amusing for a while, but everyone's too smart to stand by and applaud this sideshow any longer, especially if they can't get close enough to grab some.

You can't say the man minces words, can you?

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Invitation to a Divorce

Marriage is a bedrock institution of society. Yet, about half of American marriages fail to last a lifetime. It seems inevitable in that light that a book like How to Throw a Divorce Party would come along. Here's the skinny on what's going on:

The parties seem mostly designed for women, particularly since the author of the book on the trend, Los Angeles writer Christine Gallagher, has been selling it through her website revengelady.com.

Women spend thousands on bands and play games like "Pin the Blame on the Spouse". There's also often a divorce party cake and of course the cocktail: Marriage on the Rocks.

My reaction? How many other failures in life could we celebrate? Let's see: Getting kicked out of college, getting thrown in jail, getting fired from a good job, running over the neighbor's cat, ...

The list of party opportunities is endless, right? Pardon me, though, if I don't feel like celebrating any of the above with you.

In a rejoinder to her critics, the author says,

It's the one sort of life-changing event we have no help with. We need a ritual. We need to surround ourselves with our friends and family and say, 'Hey, it's OK. We support you. We still love you.

OK, maybe she has a point, but a revamped Irish wake might not be the best venue to provide that support. Thus, if any of my friends come looking for a shoulder to cry on after a divorce, I think I'll refrain from suggesting a party.

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Negative Real Interest Rates--A Sign of the Inflationary Times

Can you identify with my dilemma? I was tired of my bank accounts paying as little as 0.75 percent interest. What to do? Hit the Internet, of course, and search for a safe alternative that offered a more appealing interest rate.

The real interest rate is computed as: nominal interest rate minus inflation rate. With inflation recently running at about 5 percent as measured by the CPI, and the nominal rates (the rates as stated by the bank) on my accounts at about one percent on average, then the real interest rate I've been receiving has been about minus 4 percent.

Inflation is like a thief, robbing a person's savings of its purchasing power. How to foil the thief was the question to which I needed a solution.

After looking high and low at various mutual funds and other alternatives, I found the Series I savings bond page on the Internet. These bonds absolutely guarantee the purchaser that the real rate of interest will be positive (although modestly so). How can that guarantee be made? The government adjusts the nominal interest rate on the series I bonds by adding the inflation rate over the last six months to a modest real interest rate. From November 1, 2005 until April 1, 2006 the I bonds will pay 6.73 percent interest. I couldn't find a secure investment with a better return.

The interest rate will be reset next April 1. If the inflation rate is lower, then the interest on my bonds will be lower. If the inflation rate is higher, then the interest rate on my bonds will be higher. I wish I could lock in the 6.73 interest rate for several years, but that's not the way these bonds work.

I bonds are an example of indexing for inflation. The U.S. Treasury also offers individuals another indexed bond called TIPS (Treasury Inflation Protected Security). You can read about the differences between TIPs bonds and I bonds on the TreasuryDirect web page. In a nutshell, the TIPS is a marketable bond whose price might be higher or lower than the price you paid for it when you bought it. That price will be higher if interest rates turn lower in the future, but will be lower if interest rates go higher. Changes in the price of the bond compensate bond purchasers for changes in interest rates. There are also differences in the tax treatment of interest earnings between TIPs bonds and I bonds that made the I bonds more attractive to me.

Bottom line question: How much longer will banks get away with paying negative real interest rates to savers?

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QuickTake: This Woman Up for Bids

Deborah can be had for $600,000, house included.

Clever gal is Deborah. She's reaped a lot of attention by offering her house and herself on eBay for $600,000. As she puts it, the house is worth approximately that much in the Denver housing market, but she herself is "priceless."

This scheme is another in the long line of creative, attention-getting uses of eBay. Deborah (no last name is given on her web site) is looking for a good relationship with a good man, but her efforts to find that man in more conventional ways have proven fruitless.

If you're a man between 40 and 60, well educated, and like animals, maybe you'll want to submit a bid. I've shown you Deborah, but you'll have to visit her web site to see the house.

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QuickTake: A New Use for Superglue?

Will the company use this incident in its advertising?

According to this story, Gail O'Toole of Murrysville, Pennsylvania should be on every man's "Do Not Date, Do Not Call, Avoid at All Costs" list. When her boyfriend, Kenneth Slaby, broke up with her she extracted revenge by supergluing his genitals to his abdomen while he slept. O'Toole pleaded guilty to a misdemenor and served six months probabation. Presumably Slaby received attention from a hospital sufficient to make his genitals operational again.

Wasn't it Shakespeare who wrote, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned"? As for O'Toole, I suggest she write a book called "One Hundred and One Uses for Superglue You Never Thought of Before."

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QuickTake: Squirrels Hooked on Crack?

Squirrels should stick to nuts and avoid crack!

You know that drugs are epidemic when charming little park squirrels become hooked on the hidden rocks of crack cocaine stashed away by crackheads. Such is the case in parks in Washington, D.C. and New York City. Now, the unfortunate squirrels of London appear to be the next victims.

Let's hope that gangs of dope-addicted squirrels don't start carrying signs that say "Will work for food" in order to raise money to buy more of the stuff!

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