Wednesday, January 28, 2009

The Iceman Cometh


Not that this weather has a thing to do with the Eugene O'Neill other than the title seems most appropriate. I live north of Cincinnati and we received 3 inches of snow Monday night. Last night we received a thick coating of ice on top of the snow. Then this morning the snow started falling in earnest again. The trees and overhead lines are heavily laden with snow and ice. I haven't seen any branches snap (yet) and so far the power lines have remained in tact.

The weather predictions indicate snow for the rest of today. We get a break tomorrow morning but more snow is predicted tomorrow night. The photo is from my front yard and pretty much sums up what is going on outside as I write this.

I read the other day Al Gore's was considering postponing his speech because of the weather (he is now set to brave the weather to deliver his speech). Seems his supporters didn't think it would look right to have it snowing behind Al as he plead the case for global warming. I'm bothered by this for two reasons. First, if Al Gore's arguments are persuasive than a little snow in the background shouldn't detract from the message. The leads me to the other problem, manipulation of the setting. The snow did not fit into the script, which makes any public event (not just this one) suspect.

The Belmont Club had a piece last week about cloaking device, yes just like the stuff of Star Trek. It seems technology has advance to the point where scientists are going to be able to produce materials that bend light around the surface. The effect, in principle, will be invisibility. If the material can bend light, then you will only see what the operator wants you to see. While the technology is the stuff of sci-fi, the principles are no different than rescheduling Al Gore's speech. They only want us to see what they want us to see.

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