Too Much Of A Good Thing, Part 2

Just like I said in my recent post, the recent increase in volcanic eruptions should take care of the "too clean air" crisis that supposedly threatens the polar caps with melting and us with melanomas. Also, this should give the moonbats who are so apologetic about the U.S. being such a big pollluter some much needed perspective. Here is a story from Hawaii about just that. Hat tip to Fark for the link.

Since it began erupting on Jan. 3, 1983, the volcano has been sending an average of 1,000 metric tons of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere each day, according to the Hawaii chapter of the American Lung Association.

This is 6,000 times the amount emitted by a major industrial polluter on the mainland, making Kilauea the nation's top producer of sulfur dioxide.

The sulfur dioxide from Kilauea reacts with other chemicals in the air to form a hazy, naturally occurring pollution known locally as "vog," or volcanic smog. When the lava enters the ocean, concentrations of hydrochloric acid are also formed.

From The "How Does That Work" Files

Hat tip to Fark on this one. I thought it appropriate because of the release of the latest Star Wars movie.
How Lightsabers work. by Marshall Brain.

Too Much Of A Good Thing?

OK, OK, so the tree-hugging, chicken littles for years have been telling us how badly we are messing up our planet with pollution. Now I read in an article called Clear skies end global dimming by Quirin Schiermeier on Nature Publishing Group's News@Nature.Com that says our skys are too clean and are allowing too much solar energy to reach the ground. Apparently this will now lead to increased global warming.

Reductions in industrial emissions in many countries, along with the use of particulate filters for car exhausts and smoke stacks, seem to have reduced the amount of dirt in the atmosphere and made the sky more transparent.

That sounds like very good news. But the researchers say that more solar energy arriving on the ground will also make the surface warmer, and this may add to the problems of global warming. More sunlight will also have knock-on effects on cloud cover, winds, rainfall and air temperature that are difficult to predict.

Before you start running around looking for a hole to bury your head in, relax...if you recall, the planet is starting to experience a trend of volcanic eruptions, and this should spew enough ash into the upper atmosphere to cancel out these dreaded clear skies. You might want to use a good sun block until then.

Where Is My Muse?

Work this past winter and spring was mucho and stresssful, and has left me drained and non-inspired. I know some are still visiting my site and I thank you. We are quickly moving into summer here in south Louisiana. The lawn is starting to grow quickly again, the heat has started to climb. Oh joy, can't wait until the mercury reaches the upper 90s and the humidity is above that. This weekend though, we had quite a rain storm come through and it actually cooled things down a bit. It was a nice afternoon today, the kids were content to relinguish their minds to the animated brain suckers on TV, my wife Kelli was finally tackling the mess in her car. Earlier I had spied what I thought was a nice patch of blackberries so I set off on the bike. Much to my delight the ride paid off and I was able to pick a quart bag in little time. Somewhere in the back of my mind, while I was picking mother nature's treasure, I couldn't help but think that I probably would have to pay for this easy haul with a visit from the dreaded "red bug". That's right....CHIGGERS. If you haven't suffered from these evil little critters consider yourself lucky. I won't go into details, but lets just say they like dark, warm areas where your clothing is tight, moving from the feet up. I showered and soaped up several times and hopefully washed all the vermin off. Time will tell. Here is what may be crawling up my leg this very moment. Click the bug for more info.



Oh well...bring on the blackberry cobbler.