Letters to the Editor
farnsworth
Published Letters: 449 Editor's Choice: 21
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The NBA's opinion of their own referees
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I find it laughable that the NBA is making a "There is no racial bias in foul calls" pronouncement.
I no longer watch NBA games, but for decades I watched more than a hundred games a year. I have had many discussions with people of different generations, different economic backgrounds, and different racial backgrounds. And our consensus, as observes, is that foul calls and turnover calls (traveling, palming, etc.) is accurate no more than 25% of the time. Yet the league claims ninety-something percent accuracy.
The utter lack of any consistency in calling games was the primary reason I quit watching. Players palming the ball on every dribble, players regularly taking three steps to the basket, superstars like Shaquille O'Neal jumping into the air with the ball, landing, and jumping again, all make the game unwatchable to me. And now i am supposed to take them at their word? Not hardly.
Oh yeah, the NBA has credibility on the issue of foul calls.
Sure they do.
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On formal speech over the intercom
[Read the article: Ask the Pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I do not work for an airline, this is just my personal opinion.
Saying things like "at this time" and "the off position" and "we do remind you" adds an air of formality and authority to intercom pronouncements. While experienced air travelers such as Mr. Smith will not need the added authority for such announcements, there will be many others who will benefit from such wording.
Having said that, We do appreciate your choosing United is over the top.
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knots
[Read the article: Ask the Pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]sceptical wrote:
It was only a coincidence that it was close to the length of a statute mile.
This is true.
I don’t think anyone ever used a +/- 6000-foot knoted rope to measure distance at sea, but I could be wrong.
This is also true.
However, the origin of the word remains knots in a rope.
Sailors threw a log attached to a knotted rope overboard. The knots were evenly spaced at a set distance. The log fell behind the ship, as it was lying in the relatively non-moving sea, pulling the rope off the ship as the ship sailed. The sailors counted the number of knots in the rope that passed a particular point on the ship in a set period of time. This gave the speed of the ship in "knots."
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Global warming, terms, and obfuscation
[Read the article: Reason to believe: The Cockburn files, Part 2]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Before any reasonable discussion on global warming can take place, terms must be defined.
I will use Merriam-Webster (www.m-w.com):
Main Entry: cli·mate
Pronunciation: 'klI-m&t
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English climat, from Middle French, from Late Latin climat-, clima, from Greek klimat-, klima inclination, latitude, climate, from klinein to lean -- more at LEAN
1 : a region of the earth having specified climatic conditions
2 a : the average course or condition of the weather at a place usually over a period of years as exhibited by temperature, wind velocity, and precipitation b : the prevailing set of conditions (as of temperature and humidity) indoors
3 : the prevailing influence or environmental conditions characterizing a group or period : ATMOSPHERE
In this case, the operative definition is number 2; climate defined as what the weather has been for the past few decades.
And:
Main Entry: weath·er
Pronunciation: 'we-[th]&r
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English weder, from Old English; akin to Old High German wetar weather, Old Church Slavic vetru wind
1 : the state of the atmosphere with respect to heat or cold, wetness or dryness, calm or storm, clearness or cloudiness
2 : state or vicissitude of life or fortune
3 : disagreeable atmospheric conditions: as a : RAIN, STORM b : cold air with dampness
For this word, the operative definition is number 1
So, climate is what the weather has been doing for the last 30 years (according to my meteorology professor). The question now becomes, not "Global Warming" as much as "Global Climate Change".
Is the climate changing? It could be argued that the weather over the past few years has not followed the climate for many parts of the world. This could be indicative, or it could merely be an aberration. Either way, the weather has, in general, been warmer than the climate would indicate for many parts of the world.
If this were indicative of climate change due to warming, it should be possible to find some other way of measuring this. What would be a good way to measure the overall temperature of a planet? Air temperature is often cited by skeptics as evidence against global warming. This may be based the indeterminate nature of air temperature, because of measuring methods, and because of the various factors that influence air temperature. What is needed is a surer metric.
The largest heat sink on the earth's crust is the water that covers most of it. That there is such a vast amount of water, coupled with water's relatively high capacity for storing heat, means that measuring the ocean temperature is an extremely reliable way to measure temperature change.
Thus the question can be viewed from a perspective of looking for changes in the temperature of the oceans. The amount of water is so large that only a small change in the average temperature indicates an enormous change in the amount of heat stored there. Are the oceans warming, or are the oceans cooling, or are they staying the same temperature? That is the way to decide if the earth is changing temperature, and if climate change will follow.
I am not trying to promote either side of the argument here (although if I have not been careful enough a bias may appear). I am merely trying to put the question in a form that can be answered by those who are not expert climatologists.
To me the answer to the question "Is the planet getting warmer?" seems simple. This doesn't address any of the other issues raised by the concept of "Global Warming", but it is necessary to start somewhere.