Author: Webmaster (Page 79 of 96)
When eighty-one-year-old Jay Mendelsohn decides to enroll in the undergraduate seminar on the Odyssey that his son Daniel teaches at Bard College, the two find themselves on an adventure as profoundly emotional as it is intellectual. For Jay, a retired research scientist who sees the world through a mathematician’s unforgiving eyes, this return to the classroom is his ‘one last chance’ to learn the great literature he’d neglected in his youth–and, even more, a final opportunity to more fully understand his son. But through the sometimes uncomfortable months that follow, as the two men explore Homer’s great work together–first in the classroom, where Jay persistently challenges his son’s interpretations, and then during a surprise-filled Mediterranean journey retracing Odysseus’ legendary voyages-it becomes clear that Daniel has much to learn, too: for Jay’s responses to both the text and the travels gradually uncover long-buried secrets that allow the son to understand his difficult father at last. As this intricately woven memoir builds to its wrenching climax, Mendelsohn’s narrative comes to echo the Odyssey itself, with its timeless themes of deception and recognition, marriage and children, the pleasures of travel and the meaning of home. Rich with literary and emotional insight, An Odyssey is a renowned author-scholar’s most revelatory entwining yet of personal narrative and literary exploration.”
Our second outing this year is at Oak Hills Park, Norwalk, Tuesday, 17 July, starting at 12:30 pm.
Tee times will be assigned once registration is complete.
You are encouraged to arrive ahead of your tee time and enjoy lunch in the Clubhouse Grille.
To sign up, email Peter Carnes, picarnes@gmail.com.
Provide your handicap to facilitate pairing.
Fee is $50 (includes cart).
Confirmation and coordination will be via email during the week prior to play.
For directions to Oak Hills, go to. https://www.oakhillsgc.com/contact/directions-a-map
Discussion leader:Jack Neafsey
Discussion outline:
1-CYCLICAL TEMP/CO2 FLUCTUATIONS OVER THE PAST
MINI ICE AGE FROM 1850 TO 1925
2-SCIENCE- NO HARD SCIENCE-ALL BASED ON MODELS DEVELOPED IN LATE 1980’S–MODELS HAVE BEEN PROVEN TO BE WRONG
3-IMPACT- CO2 IS A FERTILIZER-15% OF CURRENT OUTPUT DUE TO CO2
IMPACT ON THE ECONOMY–COST OF ALT FUELS W/O SUBSIDIES
4- PARIS ACCORD/ KTOTO PROTOCOL- US IS VIRTUALLY ALONE
WORLDWIDE COAL USE IS INCREASING
Global Warming
What we probably agree on by Bob Baker:
Atmospheric CO2 levels are now at the highest of the past million years. This has occurred while CO2 emissions have risen since the start of the industrial revolution.
Current atmospheric level of 410 ppm compares to 280 ppm at start of industrial revolution
For the past 4-5 years CO2 emissions have leveled off at about 100 million tons per day.
This compares with about 60 million tons per day in 1990, when temperatures were rising.
Global temperatures have an erratic yr. to yr. change but have risen since 1950 by about .7 degree C at sea level and about 1 degree C at land surface.
In 1990, the temp. increases were at about their midpoint, such that if CO2 emissions were to drop to the 1990 level, we would not expect any decline in the rate of temperature increase.
The growth in CO2 emissions from fossil fuels has resulted from the consumer choice for consuming these fuels vs alternatives. The added cost for alternatives is not known.
What is at issue is the target in the “Paris Accords” to limit global temperature rise to 2.0 degrees C (but with a preferred target of a 1.5degree rise) in some target year. No agreed level of global emissions has been set; any reduction of atmospheric CO2 will need “CO2 capture and containment” which has not been demonstrated as feasible on a large scale. Lowering CO2 emissions does not lower atmospheric CO2 levels.
Estimated costs for meaningful reductions in fossil fuel use are huge, with the assumption that these will offset future costs of higher world temperatures.
About a billion persons do not have access to a reliable supply of electricity. What is the optimum method/cost for meeting this demand?
Several humanitarian uses for large expenditures can be identified which can yield with near-term results. (Between and one and two million persons die each year: lack of clean water, malaria, HIV and malnutrition).
What is the best use of huge mandated expenditures?
What’s with this wild weather? Blame an ‘extreme’ jet stream pattern.
The Washington Post
“Even veteran meteorologists with decades of experience are astounded,” said Capital Weather Gang’s severe weather expert.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/07/25/extreme-jet-stream-pattern-has-spurred-a-week-of-wild-weather-in-u-s/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.36353023b7f0
WSJ – Economics of Climate Change
Major Trump administration climate report says damages are ‘intensifying across the country’ – The Washington Post
Download this PowerPoint
California’s Death Valley Will Have the Hottest Month Ever Recorded on Earth
Gizmodo
July has been one for extreme heat around the world, but every locale pales in comparison to what’s going on at Death Valley in California. Already one of the hottest places on the Earth, the heat has gone into overdrive this July. Death Valley is in line to set a record for the hottest month ever recorded on Earth.
https://earther.gizmodo.com/californias-death-valley-will-have-the-hottest-month-ev-1828001766
Startling new research suggests even faster rate of global warming
The Washington Post
More than 90 percent of global warming ends up in the oceans.
The Climate Won’t Crash the Economy
A worst-case scenario projects annual GDP growth will be slower by 0.05 percentage point. WSJ 11/27/18
Climate Change Is Affordable
A new assessment allows us to think about good policy without panicking.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/climate-change-is-affordable-1543362461?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=6
You should read this.note the comment that U S emissions are declining and are now 14% versus China’s 27%. China’s are growing rapidly.how does the pact deal with China and India? https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/05/climate/greenhouse-gas-emissions-2018.html
A paper by Carolyn Holmes Coffey (Joe Holmes’ daughter)
Discussion leaders: David Mace & Charlie Goodyear
Opening summary: Immigration Opening Comments
Migrants Are on the Rise Around the World, and Myths About Them Are Shaping Attitudes – The New York Times
Migrants Around the World
Key facts about U.S. immigration policies and proposed changes | Pew Research Center
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/02/26/key-facts-about-u-s-immigration-policies-and-proposed-changes/
Companies Say Trump Is Hurting Business by Limiting Legal Immigration – The New York Times
https://www.wola.org/analysis/fact-sheet-united-states-immigration-central-american-asylum-seekers/
https://www.epi.org/publication/immigration-facts/
Discussion leader: Harris Hester
International Trade – It’s complicated
Foreign Affairs. Three Cheers for Trump’s Foreign Policy: What the establishment misses by Randy Schweller
China’s Small Share of an iphone
This is a brief fact check on the relationship between the federal deficit and the trade deficit.
http://www.crfb.org/blogs/did-trade-deficit-cause-20-trillion-debt
This is a more in depth analysis of the same thing.
https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/us-trade-deficit-not-debt-repay
41-Straight-Years-Of-Trade-Deficits-Yet-America-Still-Stands-Strong
Taylor Strubinger reports that on Tuesday, June 19, the Happy Wanderers will visit the area west of Lincoln Center.
After a short refreshment, we will continue in our effort to walk the entire Hudson River Greenway one section at a time.
This Tuesday, we will walk the Greenway from W. 74th Street to W. 34th Street.
Previously, we walked the Highline portion of the Greenway that runs from W. 34th Street to W. 12th Street.
We will be on the 8:36 a.m. train out of Darien and the 8:39 a.m. from Noroton. We will gather at the Information Booth in Grand Central Station before starting off.
Come join us.