...with the sound of dissent. An anonymous comment a few days back led me to post about Norway, and its bizarre AGW fetish. A fetish that has led the Nobel peace prize committee to give its once respected award to the embarassed and untested President Obama; to honour the IPCC, whose reputation is being shredded every day, and even to award the disgraced and pitiful Al Gore, whose humiliation is as profound as the phony science behind his propaganda.Since that earlier post, this blog has been visited by Norwegian commenter Geir, who advises us that the Norwegian socialist party in power...
...is led by people who have never worked except for in the politics - we call them broilers, having been bred in cages with one purpose for their lives. Curiously, the party is in Norwegian called: The Worker's Party. So the working class traditionally vote with them. However, both the social democrats and the socialists who rule in coalition with them, are so incredibly fascinated with the leftists in America. Traditionally, they hated America (just look to the 60s/70s and the Vietnam war), so I am puzzled why they embrace the Democrats over there. I think I have found the simple solution:It is not a case of socialism or liberalism in itself. You rather have to divide it into those who opinionate that "we must rule the masses because they CAN'T rule themselves" and those who opinionate "the masses CAN rule themselves". Luckily we see other parties in Norway gaining momentum. The conservatives ("The Right" as opposed to "The Left") has traditionally been strong too...
...However, in the mid-70s a party was formed simply in order to reduce taxes and fees. They call themselves "The Progressive Party", but are not at all progressive in the usual meaning of leftist and marxist, they are rather liberal and are called populist, which is of course a derogatory term. They appeal to "common sense" and opinionate that people ARE in general capable of seeing what is the best for them. They are the only party skeptical to the climate warming hysteria in Norway...
...such comment of course is music to my ears. Here in NZ, the centre-right ACT party who favour a low flat tax and a minor role for the state has seized the "Liberal" name to avoid it being tortured and misused by the left. Geir goes on to comment that the IPCC...
...in order to strenghten their authority...amassed everything from the tiniest company brochure via greenist propaganda to scientific reports for their own report. The importance wasn't in the content, it was in the authority following the content. So we must question the authority, and not even that,we must bring it completely down...The whole IPCC work is done in order to create the impression of an infallible authority. We are working against the equivalent of a global church. The foundations of which can be eradicated, true, but it takes time.Chesterton is often quoted as saying: When people cease to believe in something, they will not then believe in nothing. They will believe in anything...
...and today, in the UK Telegraph, fresh and extensive new criticism of the IPCC...more here...
Geir, thanks for your comments. They add a dimension to the issue that a Google search never can. There is no doubt that the tide has turned against the IPCC and the church of the green left, and with that tide, a call for more honesty and transparency has come about, largely because of enhanced communication like this. Salut !
...and to conclude...Not impoverishing ourselves will also provide the resources to mitigate damage caused by AGW–if it exists, and if they occur. The time has come to fire the discredited IPCC, ignore Al–the debate is over–Gore, and begin to listen to the Bjorn Lomborg’s of the world...more from Bjorn Lomborg, and First Things here...
15 comments:
Hi again. I am flattered that you can find my comments to your blog of interest. I always enjoyed the New Zealand landscape though, as it looks like the Norwegian, and was even better suited to that movie about some ring and some funny-looking creatures.
As I do not stand forward with full name it is easier to write frankly. The thing is that not only do I oppose that sickening CO2-hypothesis (which was proposed by a Swede more than a hundred years ago, by the way), but I even know a way out of the energy crisis which I manage to get no politician to listen to, which in short has convinced me that the global warming has nothing with energy crisis to do either and all with taxation and control.
I used to be a well-known and respected research scientist here for many years, and while I now work in the private industry, I still mark theses at the university of technology and do the occasional lecturing now and then, even in connection with energy economization studies.
There is in fact a Norwegian invention that diminish the energy consumption in any concrete structure extremely much. It is true that it is complicated to install and also expensive, but I think that is mainly because it has not become recognized for what it is still. It has been on trial for many years, and I have it for instance installed in our home - the result is not less than phenomenal. And all for less energy consumption than a small lightbulb.
Now the thing is that when I talk to politicians or editors of technological publications, they don't understand a word of what I am saying. Or maybe they understand, but they are not able to see what are the consequences. Or maybe they see the consequences which is less energy consumption, but they are not interested.
It all comes back to authority. For them I am not an authority, I am probably the proverbial scientist who is struggling with some quack invention and blind to what is going on outside my own lab, maybe even outside my own head.
The invention will easily reduce energy consumption in buildings more than any other thing, both with regards to heating, cooling and ventilation, but it will also stop the processes which are going on in concrete breaking it down, like carbonization and corrosion. It is based upon the understanding that concrete seeps humidity from everywhere, like a sponge, and that is an irreversible process. But if you put electrodes into the concrete, you can set up a potential and "push" the water droplets out of it until it is "dry" - in which state it will insulate too. Insulation will work both against heat and against cold, and ventilation will be less required because absence of humidity means absence of unwanted biological activity.
All this is logical and rational and it works - and it has been put to tests, especially in the USA, but it has not caught on yet.
But the politicians don't care - they are not there to help new inventions catch on in order to reduce energy consumption.
Geir, that is very interesting and very pertinent to this part of the world. Some years ago, there was a major scare in Australia due to what was called "concrete cancer". As you say, corrosion/electrolysis of steel reinforcing was causing failure in buildings with potentially dire consequences.
I'd like to hear more about your work.
Well, I thought I should go back to the icons of global warming, but I first have to tell you that yes, this principle of electro-osmosis will actually completely remove any risk of concrete cancer and cure any building of concrete cancer. That was of course the short answer, the longer is that any concrete building also must have its concrete structure repaired, as electro-osmosis cannot jump over cracks, for instance. Also, the electrodes are subtle and there is a lot of calculation in order to assess the work of each electrode and how to lead the humidity towards the earth negative. I will not explain the principle here although it is patented, but it employs a shift of polarity in the opposite direction in each period, which neutralizes the opposing potential growing in the water ions, and is the extremely smart way of making the ions jump away from the structure into nature - even into air or water.
People think stupidly enough that they only had to protect the structure against running water, but alas, concrete will attract humidity in any form.
And as long as they think that, they don't want to go to the lenghts that I have done in my home. Another pro is that when the concrete is dry, the basement under ground will be keeping the surrounding earth temperature without extra heating, which is at 15 degrees C. So it is marvellous.
But to tell even experienced engineers about it is mostly futile. In the USA, they have humidity collectors working in every basement, and in that way they keep their basements dry - but they suck up litres every day with water, and then the concrete will draw humidity from its surroundings - it will never end. Not to think of the energy consumption.
As I have said before, many times, the real greenies like yourself and myself are among those who are most sceptical about AGW.
I wonder if your ideas may receive a better hearing in this part of the world ?
I have one or two contacts in the engineering and architectural fields if you would like me to explore further.
One comment which has to do both with concrete cancer and global warming. Terms. Concepts. Ideas. Principles.
For concrete cancer the problem is in many different departments. For instance, the Wellington hospital is built by one operator, which will spend the least money on building, run by another operator, which will use the least money on maintenance, and leased by a third operator, the hospital authority, which will spend the least money on it. The first operator gets the job because he makes the cheapest budget. The second operator shall only calculate that the expenses are paid by the income, and that the building has zero value after 20 years. The third operator has nothing to say whatever, they just have to accept the lease. With whom do you think you argue? The builder is completely uninterested in mounting an electro-osmosis system, the company that has the maintenance of the building doesn't want to do anything that enhances the lifetime of it because the building is worthless in 20 years, and the hospital just has got nothing to say. The only way to have this sort of system installed is because some sort of building standard demanding it. It is on its way in Norway.
People operating buildings don't understand the terms with regards to concrete, neither the principles under which concrete works and what happens to the concrete. They simply lack a language to come to grips with a problem. They grasp for authority, and currently the authority says that you have to have better protection against floating water.
In Norway, one of the biggest hospitals had such big problems that they had to give in and install electro-osmosis 4 years ago - they actually were the next customer after me.
The Wellington hospital could easily be helped.
As for global warming, we see the same. People go on repeating words and sentences which they haven't understood or thought through. They lack a language both for understanding what global warming is about and what is going on in the politicians' minds. Without concepts you can do nothing.
In my next post, I will tell you about the Icons of global warming theory.
Well, it didn't become my next post as you ask for what to do with electro-osmosis. Tell me your email and I will write separately.
Our building codes, engineers and builders have come under severe scrutiny because of lax practices leading to "leaky building syndrome." The repair/demolition costs are huge and have led to financial ruin and suicide for many home and building owners. However, this is not a concrete issue.
"The only way to have this sort of system installed is because some sort of building standard demanding it. It is on its way in Norway."
Is such a standard in place here I wonder ?
The Icons of global warming.
As I said other places it has all got to do with authority. Authority functions the best with pictures, people prefer to belive pictures because these are easy to remember and they can be interpreted the way you wish them.
One icon of global warming is the polar bear. It looks cuddly (but is the most effective and ruthless killer you can think of). Because of its cuddlyness people want to keep it as part of nature.
The thing is that everything about polar bears with regards to facts is the opposite of what is said by AGWers. The polar bear is not facing extinction for many reasons. The hunting is restricted (and not many hunters go to the arctic in order to bring salt on the table any longer). It is extremely well maintained by conservation, so the population is growing. It lives mainly from eating seals, but the seals are mammals and cannot stay back in the ocean if the ice melts away, so they will follow the ice edge, which in consequence means that if the ice retreats, both the polar bear and the seals retreat together. And lastly, the Arctic ice is not melting away.
Mister Gory has made a point of polar bears drowning - they can swim a long long distance. But this became an Icon of AGW belief.
I made a list for Norwegian politicans recently that summed up the Icons of global warming for different parts of the world. For instance, the Chinese are not interested in polar bears, but they react to the Iconic Himalaya glaciers melting. It doesn't matter much it seems when it is pointed out that some glaciers melt and others don't, that the year 2035 is bad science fiction, that the main reason for melting is soot, and that only about 50 of 15 000 glaciers have been monitored, so what about the others.
I think the AGW theory can be shattered when you list all the icons and point to the lies of each and every one of them:
North America: Polar Bears
Europe: Ice in the Arctic
South America: The Amazon
Africa: Drought
Asia: Himalaya, sea-level rise in Bangla Desh and the Maldives
Australia: Coral Reefs
Oceania: Sea-level rise in island states
Antarctica: The last looming danger in all that ice
And everything is funded on lies, more lies and statistics.
But - politicans can't read. Or most of them. They have to be told that "there is no Scientific basis for this claim" - the word Scientific is the magic word. They have been brought up to respect the word Scientific.
So for every Icon you have to state that There is no Scientific basis for the claim, as shown by (fill in suitable reference - they will never check it).
Truth will always come forward in the end. But it takes time because it has to penetrate the defence of believing people.
The icons of belief are very powerful marketing tools all right. The baby seal and the whale are the 2 main icons used to influence the uncritical minds over here, and a commenter recently pointed out the very tasty delicacy of roasted seal nose.
Goebbels knew all about icons too of course...
I am sad to hear about the bad state of buildings and the consequences for the homeowners. Yes, this is a growing problem which also has got to do with the way concrete is produced. But it will affect bricklaid houses too. Concrete bridges, tunnels, dams, all are affected as time goes by. There is not a standard in Norway yet, but it is worked with, and I cannot imagine that it should be found in any other country yet. I spent a heck of a lot of money on the system in my home, but it is brilliant and it has taught me so much about concrete and building that is taught nowhere. I know the inventor, and he has been in many different countries installing the system, but it has still not caught on, I think mainly because it is relatively expensive as opposed to simple water-proofing techniques - which will last for 20 years before the catastrophe hits you.
Why the whale with regards to global warming? Or did I misunderstand?
By the way, as the whale is well conserved in Norwegian waters, I am used to eating a lot of whale meat, and it is delightful.
That is good to hear.
I actually belong to a Facebook group which is celebrating eating whale meat.
You might like to join in...
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event.php?eid=300675484993&ref=mf
And yet http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article2157059.ece
Thanks Acadie1755.
Double Dutch to this monolingual idiot I'm afraid...
"Norge kom sist i fartsmåling"
Perhaps "Norway comes through a bit stinky " ?
These are the very pleasant and marvelous destinations with all the fresh air and tranquil and serene environment which makes a difference in a hustle and bustle urban living in one hand and a soothing, peaceful and unruffled life style on the other hand as well.
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