Karl Uppiano

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Monday, November 20, 2006

WxService Update Available
  • WxService: ow4j061120
    • Support for unreliable 1-Wire networks. Reads the device until n-consecutive results (n is configurable) agree within a predefined mean absolute deviation (configurable).
8:39 pm pst

Wednesday, November 8, 2006

Global Warming is a Religion
I do not subscribe to Al Gore's Global Warming religion. He sounds just like an evangelical preacher: "Al Gore's Traveling Salvation Show". As our increasingly secular society rejects traditional religions, such as Christianity and Judiasm, mankind still has a need for a faith-based belief system. As a faith-based belief system, Global Warming fills the bill remarkably well. Disciples refer to non-believers as "deniers" (the terms "apostate", "heretic" and "infidel" were already taken).
 
People who challenge this dogma and belief system with facts are attacked viciously, in much the same way that Galileo was in his time. A scientist who points out, for example, a gross error in the temperature data that invalidates any evidence of global warming will find himself ostracised, out of a job (there is no point in continuing a government grant if you can show there is no problem). Besides, people just hate it when someone attacks their religion. Their faith gives them the truth. Facts just get in the way.
 
Global warming is four big leaps of faith away from getting at the truth:
  1. We don't know if we even have a phenomenon. Although our instruments do seem to indicate a warming trend, there is more than one explanation for it. Measuring the planet's temperature is an extrordinarily difficult undertaking. Technology has changed dramatically in the last 100 years, and even in the last 10 years. It is very critical that we properly correlate that data. The jury is still out. Until this issue is resolved, we know nothing for sure except that our instruments are reading higher. To say the planet is warming is a leap of faith.
  2. We do not know if the warming trend is self-limiting or self-correcting. There is no way to predict whether this warming trend is going to continue indefinitely, stop, or reverse. It is a big leap of faith to predict any outcome. This hypothesis is not testable.
  3. It is a big leap of faith to assume that a warmer climate would be a bad thing. This hypothesis is not testable.
  4. It is the ultimate in arrogance and chauvanism to assume that Humans have any effect on the climate for better or for worse. This hypothesis is not testable.

The argument that "by the time we do prove any of these hypotheses, it will be too late", is idiotic. We don't know if we have a phenomenon, whether it is self-limiting or self-correcting, whether it is a problem or not, or what is causing it. It makes no sense to propose a solution to something we know so little about. It makes just as much sense to curtail our use of fossil fuel as it does to throw virgins into a volcano. And the latter would probably harm fewer people, especially these days.

A random "solution" such as the Kyoto accord, if fully implemented, would be more likely to plunge the world economy into depression, causing worldwide hardship, disease and pestilence, than to have any measurable effect on the climate. Furthermore, poor economies are demonstrably less environmentally friendly than richer ones, so the cure could be worse than the disease (no disease). The authors of the Kyoto accord apparently know this, because they put more of the burden on the richer economies, while giving third world economies a pass - they simply cannot afford it - even as they contribute at least as much "greenhouse" gas as the richer economies do.

Being a religion, Global Warming should be subject to the establishment clause of the first amendment. The government should leave it well enough alone. Of course, the free excercise clause still guarantees that Global Warming desciples have the freedom to practice (and preach) their religion.

Here are just a few further observations:

  • Water vapor is the most powerful "greenhouse" gas, many times more powerful than carbon dioxide. It is also many times more plentiful than CO2. Even if we Humans were to double the amount of CO2 in the air (we have not), the effect would be insignificant.
  • Ice floats. If it melts, only the ice sheets and glaciers that are sitting on solid ground will increase the sea level.
  • This planet has undergone many climatic cycles in its history. Ice ages and warming trends are common. And they occurred entirely without any help from Humans. Why is this one suddenly any different?
  • Practical technology to replace fossil fuel will not spring up out of nowhere just because people want it to. Electric cars, fuel cells, all have to be powered by something. The pollution associated with these things just happens in a different place.
  • Forcing the issue and lacking any other practical technology will lead us inexorably toward nuclear energy. Is that what the Global Warmers want? I guess not "no" but "hell no". They should be careful what they wish for.
  • Any technology has a down-side. It is usually negligible when only a few hundred thousand people are using it. When 300 million people use it, the negative effects become more obvious, no matter what. We should investigate alternatives to fossil fuel for many reasons, but we should not throw the baby out with the bath water.
10:53 pm pst


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Welcome!
This site is dedicated to my interest in engineering. I use it as a place to just put stuff "out there" for anyone who might be interested, as well as a job search tool. This page contains my engineering web log (to your left). Anything that seems timeless enough, or too involved for a log entry may get it's own page as a full-blown article. And, of course, my resume is here for anyone who might be considering hiring me to do something. Email me.

About Me
I have worked as a broadcast engineer, electronics designer (analog and digital) and software developer. I especially enjoy audio engineering, although I've been writing software for the last several years, since that's where the opportunities are in the Pacific Northwest (this is Microsoft country after all). I'm currently working as a Senior Staff Engineer -- Resume at another large independent software vendor in Washington State.

Futurama Web Site
(not my best side)

I majored in mathematics and physics in college. Other interests include music appreciation (baroque, classical and early romantic, ragtime, and 60's and 70's rock & roll), high fidelity audio electronics, meteorology and of course, computing hardware and software. I tend to think a lot like this guy.