It is a very unlucky situation that Bob Park is not informed about or does not understand Cold Fusion because about othr subjects he says remarkable things, as today: See: " Robert Park [email protected] 7:23 PM (3 hours ago) to BOBPARKS-WHATS. WHAT’S NEW Robert L. Park Saturday, 7 Jan 2012 Washington, DC
1. ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE: IT’S PROPORTIONAL TO HUMAN POPULATION. One by one, the great ocean fisheries are being destroyed by overfishing, including the storied Grand Banks off Newfoundland. Elsewhere, ocean gyres (circulations) have trapped gigantic "floating garbage patches," consisting of barely-buoyant pieces of man-made plastics that threaten marine life. On land, the Green Revolution saved billions of lives from starvation in the 20th century, but at the cost of lower groundwater levels over much of the globe and depleted reserves of phosphate rock. It would be impossible to repeat the Green Revolution today. Moreover, population growth pushes oil production ever closer to the dreaded Hubbert Peak, even as atmospheric carbon from burning fossil fuel contributes to global warming and lowers the pH of the oceans, with serious environmental consequences. The lesson is clear: excessive population is damaging our environment at a rate that far exceeds the natural recovery rate. What then determines the population? 2. FERTILITY RATE: IT’S PROPORTIONAL TO HUMAN IGNORANCE. World population reached 7 billion in November 2011 and is on track to a disastrous 9 billion by mid-century. This is generally taken to be evidence of a powerful reproductive instinct. There is, to be sure, a nurturing instinct, but who thinks about that during foreplay? The Pill will one day be recognized as the most important invention of the 20th century; it permits us to plan our most essential function: reproduction. Unfortunately, industry wants more consumers, generals want bigger armies, priests want their souls. Fertility in developed nations, however, including all of Europe, is at or below the replacement rate, usually taken to be 2.1. This is not the result of some policy consensus; it's simply that access to the Pill now empowers women to develop to their full potential. The lowest fertility rate is in China, where the current economic miracle refutes the belief that a low fertility rate is bad for business. The highest fertility rate of any country is 7.0 in Afghanistan, where the Sunni Muslim Taliban forbade girls to learn to read. 3. REPUBLICAN FERTILITY: IS IT PROPORTIONAL TO POLITICAL SUCCESS? In Rick Santorum’s marriage, fertility follows the appalling rate of Afghanistan. A father of seven and a Catholic, Santorum described contraception as "a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be." Uh, what sexual things is he talking about and how should they be? With five children of his own, Mitt Romney, barely edged out Santorum in the Iowa Republican Caucus but trails him slightly in fertility, five being closer to that of Rwanda. The presumptive Democratic presidential candidate has two children. THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND. Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the University of Maryland, but they should be. --- Archives of What's New can be found athttp://www.bobpark.org What's New is moving to a different listserver and our subscription process has changed. To change your subscription status please visit this link: http://listserv.umd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=bobparks-whatsnew&A=1 -- Dr. Peter Gluck Cluj, Romania http://egooutpeters.blogspot.com
