Bill Kirchner: Passing of a legend
By Rich Kozlovich
William L. Kirchner, passed away on April 15, 2017 at the age of 83. He was preceded by his wife "Honey" in 2014 who was 78.
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| Eleanor and William |
MY COMMENTARY
Why Are They Really Coming Here?
By Rich Kozlovich
Brad Harbison wrote an editorial in the August issue of PCT Magazine entitled, Another M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions) Player Takes a Seat at the Table, discussing PCT’s April 2007 cover story saying: “we chose the headline “The British Are Coming” for an article that explored the impact of UK-based Rentokil’s purchase of Reading, Pa.-based J.C. Ehrlich, which at the time was the fourth largest pest control company in the Unites States. We speculated how this acquisition might change the North America market, as it provided Rentokil with a platform company for expansion into the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Central America.” He points out how these buying sprees have made big changes in purchases saying: “valuations skyrocketed with multiples of 2.5 becoming the norm — not the exception — for strategically important, high-quality pest control firms.” He also goes on to say this “may not be at their zenith” since it turns out there’s a Swedish company, Anticimex, entered this market with their own buying spree...........
ALTERNATIVE ENERGY
Fair trade for thee, but not for me
Paul Driessen
Imagine what a Tesla or wind turbine would cost if the Left followed its own “principles” - “Nobody wants to buy something that was made by exploiting someone else,” Ben & Jerry’s and Fair Trade co-founder Jerry Greenfield likes to tell us. Let’s hope he doesn’t drive an electric vehicle, doesn’t use a laptop or cell phone, and doesn’t rely on wind or solar power. We’re constantly confronted with slogans and lectures about fair trade, human rights, sustainability, environmental and social justice, little people versus Big Corporations. Most of these subjective terms reflect perspectives and agendas of the political left, and are intended to advance those worldviews and stifle any discussion about them. But most of their self-avowed adherents never look beneath the surface of their own purchases. Indeed, they would have no standards at all if they didn’t have double standards. ............
Biofuel Justifications are Illusory
Paul Driessen
The closest thing to earthly eternal life, President Ronald Reagan used to say, is a government program. Those who benefit from a program actively and vocally defend it, often giving millions in campaign cash to politicians who help perpetuate it, while those who oppose the program or are harmed by it are usually disorganized and distracted by daily life. Legislative inertia and obstruction of the kind so graphically on display in the Senate over the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) also help to perpetuate program life. The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), created under the 2005 Energy Policy Act and expanded by the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, is a perfect example. It has more lives than Freddy Krueger............
COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER
The closest thing to earthly eternal life, President Ronald Reagan used to say, is a government program. Those who benefit from a program actively and vocally defend it, often giving millions in campaign cash to politicians who help perpetuate it, while those who oppose the program or are harmed by it are usually disorganized and distracted by daily life. Legislative inertia and obstruction of the kind so graphically on display in the Senate over the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) also help to perpetuate program life. The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), created under the 2005 Energy Policy Act and expanded by the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, is a perfect example. It has more lives than Freddy Krueger............
COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER
How Capitalism Saved the Bees
Shawn Regan from the August/September 2017 issue - view article in the Digital Edition
A decade after colony collapse disorder began, pollination entrepreneurs have staved off the beepocalypse. You've heard the story: Honeybees are disappearing. Beginning in 2006, beekeepers began reporting mysteriously large losses to their honeybee hives over the winter. The bees weren't just dying—they were abandoning their hives altogether. The strange phenomenon, dubbed colony collapse disorder, soon became widespread. Ever since, beekeepers have reported higher-than-normal honeybee deaths, raising concerns about a coming silent spring............
DDT
USNAS Estimates DDT Saved 500 Milion Lives Before it was Banned
By Art Robinson
Readers of Access to Energy have repeatedly, over the past decade, been reminded of a terrible and tragic circumstance: Somewhere on the Earth, on average every 12 seconds, a child dies of DDT-preventable malaria. The United States National Academy of Sciences estimated that DDT saved 500 million lives before it was banned. The discoverer of DDT was awarded the Nobel Prize. Then came Silent Spring — a book filled with deliberate falsehoods and blatantly marketed unreasoning and unjustified fear. The burgeoning enviro movement chose these lies for one of their first big campaigns. This campaign coincided with the rise of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA was in search of a big win with which to promote itself. The EPA studied the subject and its own scientific review board reported that – DDT is harmless to the environment and is a very beneficial substance that should not be banned. Politics prevailed, however, over reason. DDT was banned, and the U.S. government spread that ban throughout the world by tying it to all sorts of international programs.........
Readers of Access to Energy have repeatedly, over the past decade, been reminded of a terrible and tragic circumstance: Somewhere on the Earth, on average every 12 seconds, a child dies of DDT-preventable malaria. The United States National Academy of Sciences estimated that DDT saved 500 million lives before it was banned. The discoverer of DDT was awarded the Nobel Prize. Then came Silent Spring — a book filled with deliberate falsehoods and blatantly marketed unreasoning and unjustified fear. The burgeoning enviro movement chose these lies for one of their first big campaigns. This campaign coincided with the rise of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA was in search of a big win with which to promote itself. The EPA studied the subject and its own scientific review board reported that – DDT is harmless to the environment and is a very beneficial substance that should not be banned. Politics prevailed, however, over reason. DDT was banned, and the U.S. government spread that ban throughout the world by tying it to all sorts of international programs.........
ENDOCRINE DISTRUPTOR
Sunscreen, MS and Endocrine Disruptor BS
By Josh Bloom — July 27, 2017 @ The American Council on Science and Health
A strange but interesting paper by scientists at The University of Wisconsin, which just appeared in PNAS, examines whether two similar sunscreen chemicals, homosalate and octisalate, could be a possible treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS). (See my colleague Julianna LeMieux's companion article "Sunscreen, MS And A Scientific Finding That Is Hard To Believe" about the biological activity of the chemicals.)..........
By Josh Bloom — July 27, 2017 @ The American Council on Science and Health
A strange but interesting paper by scientists at The University of Wisconsin, which just appeared in PNAS, examines whether two similar sunscreen chemicals, homosalate and octisalate, could be a possible treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS). (See my colleague Julianna LeMieux's companion article "Sunscreen, MS And A Scientific Finding That Is Hard To Believe" about the biological activity of the chemicals.)..........
EPA
Debunking the EPA’s fake accounts of the Gold King mine disaster
By Rob Gordon July 26, 2017 by CFACT, 0 Comments
Bureaucrats and politicians should no longer be able to get away with sweeping their sins under the rug. After almost two years, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Inspector General released its report on the Gold King Mine disaster that dumped over a million pounds of metals into the Animas River, turning dozens of miles of the river orange. While inspectors general are tasked with finding out the truth and holding agencies accountable, this recently released report sheds no more light on the disaster than previous misleading reports. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has inherited not only an environmental mess, but also the mess created by an agency more interested in its narrow self-interests than truth. Pruitt now has an opportunity to send a message that would ripple far beyond the EPA........There you have it: Experts “inadvertently … initiated an internal erosion failure.” It could have happened to anyone...........
Bureaucrats and politicians should no longer be able to get away with sweeping their sins under the rug. After almost two years, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Inspector General released its report on the Gold King Mine disaster that dumped over a million pounds of metals into the Animas River, turning dozens of miles of the river orange. While inspectors general are tasked with finding out the truth and holding agencies accountable, this recently released report sheds no more light on the disaster than previous misleading reports. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has inherited not only an environmental mess, but also the mess created by an agency more interested in its narrow self-interests than truth. Pruitt now has an opportunity to send a message that would ripple far beyond the EPA........There you have it: Experts “inadvertently … initiated an internal erosion failure.” It could have happened to anyone...........
GLOBAL WARMING
Michael Mann’s “hockey stick” hypocrisy
by Craig Rucker, July 26, 2017
by Craig Rucker, July 26, 2017
Michael Mann has consistently refused to share his temperature proxy data for others to examine, forcing one to wonder what it is he has to hide. Do you remember “Mike’s nature trick” from the infamous “Climategate” emails? Penn State scientist Michael Mann grafted historical temperature data derived from tree rings and other sources to modern observations and smoothed things out to produce the now infamous “hockey stick” graph the UN likes so much. Mann’s graph and the approach he used to create it has come in for withering criticism from other researchers. Mann has consistently refused to share his data for others to examine, forcing one to wonder what it is he has to hide. (The Medieval Warm Period for one thing)........
Increased Carbon Dioxide Boosts Crops, Not Weeds!
MEDIA
Behind the NY Times glyphosate fiasco: Why anti-GMO activists turned on Ben & Jerry’s
Increased Carbon Dioxide Boosts Crops, Not Weeds!
One of the tactics utilized by climate alarmists in their attempt to disparage or downplay the growth-enhancing benefits of atmospheric CO2 enrichment is to suggest that weeds will become ever more aggressive in the future as the air's CO2 content continues to climb, making them greater threats to the wellbeing of both natural ecosystems and farming operations. But is this contention correct?..........
Australian Scientists Caught Fudging Temperature Data ....... Again!
Heartland Institute Climate Change Weekly
For the second time in three years the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has been caught altering or removing low temperature readings from the official record, thus giving the false impression warming is occurring in regions where it isn’t. After several meteorologists and climate researchers noticed low temperature readings were disappearing from the temperature observations recorded at a number of BOM weather stations—observations confirmed by independent sources—BOM was forced to admit a problem with the system. ..............
For the second time in three years the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has been caught altering or removing low temperature readings from the official record, thus giving the false impression warming is occurring in regions where it isn’t. After several meteorologists and climate researchers noticed low temperature readings were disappearing from the temperature observations recorded at a number of BOM weather stations—observations confirmed by independent sources—BOM was forced to admit a problem with the system. ..............
JUNK SCIENCE
Point: Trump’s War on Junk Science
July 10, 2017
According to many news outlets, President Donald Trump has “declared a war on science.” Yet judging from at least one recent decision, the opposite is true. The Trump administration is trying to prevent policies based on junk science. A key example is the Trump administration’s denial of an activist petition to ban agricultural uses of the pesticide chlorpyrifos, which farmers have safely used for decades. This decision makes sense when you consider the history. Residential uses of chlorpyrifos, such as for bug spray, were phased out starting in the year 2000, but not because it was proven dangerous. Rather, chemical company Dow Agrosciences voluntarily phased out home uses because Environmental Protection Agency regulations proved too expensive and onerous, making the product unprofitable...........
According to many news outlets, President Donald Trump has “declared a war on science.” Yet judging from at least one recent decision, the opposite is true. The Trump administration is trying to prevent policies based on junk science. A key example is the Trump administration’s denial of an activist petition to ban agricultural uses of the pesticide chlorpyrifos, which farmers have safely used for decades. This decision makes sense when you consider the history. Residential uses of chlorpyrifos, such as for bug spray, were phased out starting in the year 2000, but not because it was proven dangerous. Rather, chemical company Dow Agrosciences voluntarily phased out home uses because Environmental Protection Agency regulations proved too expensive and onerous, making the product unprofitable...........
MEDIA
Behind the NY Times glyphosate fiasco: Why anti-GMO activists turned on Ben & Jerry’s
Organic production has an important place in modern agriculture. It is good to test how various techniques and approaches can limit or change agricultural inputs, or produce a more profitable crop for farmers. While many are critical of the discipline I have always been a supporter, as organic production has an important role in the agricultural tapestry. Findings from organic agriculture are sometimes even extending and informing...........
REGULATIONS
Fixing A Washington That's Gone From Rule Of Law, To Rule By Whatever
Forbes July 18, 2017
Astrophysicists have concluded that ordinary visible matter—the Sun, the Moon, the planets, the Milky Way, the multitudes of galaxies beyond our own, and their trillions of component stars, planets, and gas clouds—make up only a tiny fraction of the universe. How tiny a fraction? Less than 5 percent. Weakly interactive but pervasive dark matter and dark energy make up most of the universe, rendering the bulk of existence beyond our ability to observe directly..........
Astrophysicists have concluded that ordinary visible matter—the Sun, the Moon, the planets, the Milky Way, the multitudes of galaxies beyond our own, and their trillions of component stars, planets, and gas clouds—make up only a tiny fraction of the universe. How tiny a fraction? Less than 5 percent. Weakly interactive but pervasive dark matter and dark energy make up most of the universe, rendering the bulk of existence beyond our ability to observe directly..........
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