Mark Bossingham

Inconvenient facts, dude

I RECENTLY mentioned to a co-worker that the West's punitive threats/actions against African nations that would dare to use DDT to eradicate mosquitoes left millions of people defenseless against malaria and ultimately dead. The response? Pretty much, "Tough shit, let 'em eat cake--and use better mosquito nets."
    While environmentalism may seem like nothing more than an annoying cult, it is not. Rachel Carson and "Silent Spring" have killed millions and counting.
    Now that tubby Al Gore is about to be anointed high priest of the cult at the Oscars, the Left's annual kook-clatch, a couple of quotes in defense of reason seem in order. Taken from this week's Patriot Post:
    Gore insists that the increased incidence of hurricanes, tornadoes, drought and other weather phenomena is the direct result of global warming.
    Renowned meteorologist Dr. William Gray takes exception: “The degree to which you believe global warming is causing major hurricanes,” he says, “is inversely proportional to your knowledge about these storms.”
    In a recent issue of Discover Magazine, Gray, described by Discover’s editors as one of “the world’s most famous hurricane experts,” wrote, “This human-induced global-warming thing... is grossly exaggerated... I’m not disputing there has been global warming. There was a lot of global warming in the 1930s and ‘40s, and then there was global cooling in the middle ‘40s to the early ‘70s. Nearly all of my colleagues who have been around 40 or 50 years are skeptical... about this global-warming thing. But no one asks us.”
    Gore preaches about the two percent of Antarctica that is warming without noting that temperature readings over the rest of Antarctica indicate the continent has cooled over the previous 35 years, or that the UN’s climate panel estimates net snow mass increases in Antarctica this century. Gore notes the increasing temperatures and shrinking ice caps in the Northern Hemisphere but does not note the decreasing temperatures and increased sea ice in the Southern Hemisphere.
    Richard S. Lindzen, Professor of Atmospheric Science at MIT, writes, “A general characteristic of Mr. Gore’s approach is to assiduously ignore the fact that the earth and its climate are dynamic; they are always changing even without any external forcing. To treat all change as something to fear is bad enough; to do so in order to exploit that fear is much worse.”

   

The promise

"YOU SAY that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: When men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks, and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."
Gen. Sir Charles Napier

Hillary -- Lest you forget

ON THE Senate floor in 2002 Hillary Clinton said:
"In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports showed that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including Al-Qaeda members, though there is apparently no evidence of his involvement in the terrible events of September the 11th, 2001. It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare."

Tokyo Marathon

THE TOKYO International Marathon was held in a downpour yesterday. Aside from the elite runners, most of the 30,000 participants ran in raincoats. I even mention this because they changed the route and the last bit of the race was in front of my house. I felt obligated to go out and watch.
    Aside from the crummy weather, marathoners are not that interesting. Eventually the leader (a Kenyan (I think) dude clad in blue) splashed by on his way to victory. A few minutes later a few more guys ran past. I decided to endure the cold until the leading female runners arrived. Only to discover that when it comes to marathoning, it is not that easy to discern gender from across the street. Most are small and skinny, male or female. Many wear long-brimmed hats pulled down over their faces.
    I eventually retreated to my home when the first of the rain-coated bunch began to trot past. What the hell, it was on TV, anyway.

Losers

TWO OUT of three Americans between 18-24 are unqualified to join the military, according to the Pentagon.

Paul Likens & emailing me

I JUST got an email announcement from Classmates.com from an old friend. Cool, except to read it I would have to cough up some cash. Since anybody can easily find me via google, it's a simple next step to email me for free using the link down a bit and to the left. It says "email me" which is pretty clear I think. In addition to Paul, I would especially like to hear from Tom Burger, Bob Kane and all the others ... you know who you are.

Salarymole

HERE'S MY latest column in the IHT/Asahi:

Salarymole emerges from underground to commute to work

For years, like a mole, I used tunnels burrowed under the city to get to work. A few minutes' walk from my condo I submerged, only to rise again at the steps to my office. What stood between, I had little idea.

Bored with the Yurakucho line, I searched for an alternative means of transport. First, over the summer, I rode my bicycle to work.

Good exercise and quick, but I felt uneasy on the sidewalks and on the streets. Trucks waited to squish me; oblivious pedestrians stumbled every which way--they might as well have had targets on their backs.

But it was summer, and though I arrived alive, the puddles of sweat that marked my path to the newsroom were unappealing.

I gave up and returned underground until the winter holidays. Around Christmas, I spotted a bus near my home. People were getting on it. I followed. The bus driver provided the lowdown. I handed over a 10,000-yen note. He gave me a pass good for 35 days.

Unlike a train pass that takes a rider from point A to point B, my bus pass allowed me to travel anywhere in Tokyo. What a deal. I fantasized about trips to out of the way places and how much money I would save. But over the next 35 days, I only rode to work and back. Anyone who knows me could have predicted this. Anyone but me.

The bus was a revelation. There were many buildings, canals and a big river between my home in Toyosu and my office in Tsukiji. And instead of being tunnel rat/salaryman, I rode on high. From my comfy bus seat I looked down on the squabbling masses.

At night, I viewed the Sumidagawa river in its glorious, slithering splendor. The holiday illuminations were marvelous and happy-making. The bus traveled less crowded roads: I had never seen many of the shops.

I even got a demographic lesson. I can remember (barely) when an ex-general named Eisenhower was president of the United States, yet on more than one instance I was the youngest traveler on the bus. I discovered what Japan would look like in the year 2050--wrinkled.

If everything was so great, why am I back riding the subway to work? It was all in the timing. Both of my bus stops were on major intersections. Often I watched, trapped on the wrong side of the road, as my bus approached. It was only a matter of time until I would freak out, race against a red, and end up a hood ornament on a dump truck.

Finally, while departure times are posted at every bus stop, they are merely wish lists. I frequently "just missed" my No. 10 bus. Trains may be boring, but at least they're predictable.

Last week, I was looking at a map. I discovered a route via rivers and canals that runs from my backyard to a pier just couple of minutes walk from my office...