Cap-and-Trade Sucks

Yep, that's Tiger Woods throwing his cap and doing some trading with a golf iron, in a rather non-famous picture from about a year ago. But today's topic is "Cap and Trade" in the context of greenhouse gases. I don't care for it for several reasons, the primary one being that it is a secret tax on energy. Allow me to explain.

As was described in this rather okay NY Times article, cap and trade was a brilliant move for get reductions in a kind of air pollution known as sulfur dioxide, which was causing serious "acid rain" in many parts of the US. It combined the best of the environmentalist (read Left) principles within a free-market platform (read Republican Right). But it was a farce!


But here's why: the sulfur dioxide levels were based on the sulfur content in coal, fuel oil, and natural gas. Nearly all industries had an "allowance" or cap based on really stinky fuels such as high sulfur coal and "Bunker C" fuel oil. So to comply, all a company had to do was to purchase clean Wyoming coal or switch to natural gas, both of which were very low in sulfur. Reductions of 12,000 to 50,000 tons were possible nearly overnight! This was considered as being one of the best Clean Air Act measures every done but to me was the most deceptive.

But there is not way you can cheat the system with greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO2), which is a function of caloric and BTU content. You can't play bait-and-switch. So a cap on CO2 becomes a tax, plain and simple - unlike sulfur dioxide, where many companies made money. Then consider that in all areas that tried the Kyoto Agreement and cap-and-trade, such as the EU, CO2 emissions still rose upwards, instead of going down. Prices for everything also went up, since energy is involved in making most tangible things.

I consider myself as an environmentalist and have been in the field of work since about 1990, and I don't want to be confused with the current Republican rhetoric that is happening today regarding climate change issues. I will say that I could see right through the cap and trade issue with sulfur dioxide, and that was a big ole joke.

The tail of 2009 spring birding

That's an extremely rare mangrove warbler that Scarlett Colley shot with her super-camera. From what we can tell that's a solitary male but Scarlett things there might be a female around. Scarlett is adorable, and makes kissy squirrel sounds to attract the male into poses like this.

But alas, this year was the pure-D worst for spring migrating birds that I've ever seen. Sure, we had some unusual birds, but few were on the island and most were up the Valley. The cool fronts were wimpy and there was no water or bugs or seed for the birds to want to hang around here. Now the season for summer offshore birds starts, soon as these giant waves will calm down and we can get on a boat without going airborne. I've seen some very strange birds out like 30 or 40 miles into the Gulf, and wish I knew more about them, large and small.

But I am happy to say that Scarlett's mangrove warbler is a full-time resident of the Laguna Madre, a truly rare and very beautiful bird. Ask her to make that sound she makes to attract the male and I know you will smile.

Solar Pork

Have to love the title, what's all this about? Well, our little local paper published the strangest article about solar and wind power I've ever read in my life, and if you want to read it, try this link.

I must be fair, I wasn't at the meeting with SPI GO GREEN, a new company that wantonly promotes solar power, and the story writer did as best as he could. But gosh, such laughable statements as to say there's no wind here! By gosh, it's been blowing over 20 the last month or two and the average even for July is 12 MPH winds. We have wind, sir.

And then these chappies as the unmitigated audacity to claim that solar power is 20 percent cheaper than wind power! Now that's a lie - it should be the other way around. Hey, I think solar power is great but don't lie about the costs. Fortunately, the company also sells wind turbines so don't get me wrong.

But there's more. The newspaper article claims that when the power goes off - which it did 40 times over the last month, none of the solar or wind turbine stuff would work. What a crock! If you had installed switchgear you could at least run 1,000 or 2,000 kW if the sun or wind was working pretty good. That's only a few hundred bucks - the generator, solar panels, or wind turbine is what costs the big money. I mean really, nobody uses batteries, Mr. Ferrario.

Hey I love alternative power of all kinds but something about this story put me off. I do have to say the last sentence of the article really drove me crazy - that our area "is unsuited for windmill generation simply because the wind velocity is not reliable enough ...." The only time the wind stopped last year was right after Hurricane Dolly as I recall, and with 30 years of climatic data I can show how SPI is a prime area for wind power generation. As a matter of fact, the Texas General Land Office has been promoting it up and down the coast. Why are huge wind turbines being built on the King and Kennedy ranches if the wind is no good?

Hmm no rain that way either

Here's a typical shot of the tropics. Not shown are the large plumes of smoke coming from Mexico due to agricultural burning - but the idea is that the entire Gulf of Mexico is bone dry. Bummer, maybe in a few weeks we'll see some nice farmer's rains heading our way. Looks like a repeat of last year ... notice some interesting blobs starting to show up in the lower Pacific already. Oh well, dance for rain!

Booker Sam

Gosh that was fun - I got a video crew to shoot the Bongo Dogs at the Wanna-Wanna. This took some proverbial dancing around with the band (his wife runs the show), the video man (his wife runs the show), and the club owners (his wife runs the show). All this in a wild crowd that was full to the rafters. I have to admit, I was a little nervous we could even pull it off.

All for not a single dime. No money changed hands. Why on Earth would somebody be so foolish?

Well, we're trying to promote the island, plain and simple, and our long-range plan is to help Sea Turtle Rescue as well. It's free advertising for the video folks who also run eight webcams, the band, and the club. Gosh I don't even want credits for anything ... to be honest I'm lower than a "key grip" or deck ape. I just want to have some fun and promote the island.

Nothing sells the island better than a honking good band playing right on the beach, right? And aside from a few Twitters and emails, maybe talking in person a little, I didn't have to do much at all. Gosh, even the crowd was fantastic, and didn't crowd the stage to dance so the video dude could get some clean shots. But it was somehow quite satisfying. Heck, something happened and it was all smiles. That's my favorite kind of deal. Oh, and Guitar Dave says he'd love to have that for his local band, Port O Call. Hmm, gears be working now, maybe more turtle money?

Now if we can get Willie Nelson's daughter down here without any union, agent, or syndication hooey maybe we can light 'em up again! Well, you know, depends on if the girls want to do all that ... us men gotta stand back and see how the roll goes.

Hubble Telescope at 19

Eric the "Sci Guy" at the Houston Chronicle celebrates the 19th birthday of the Hubble Deep Space Telescope, which was supposed to only last 10 years or so. The picture is a former star that blew up - talk about a bad day but it sure is pretty. The colors mean different chemicals. Anyway, another Space Shuttle mission should give it another 5 years of life and make the pictures even more awesome. Photo credit to NASA.

In Retrospect

I found some pictures of Don Wierenga, Sandy Feet's dad, some on his blog. The man passed away on Monday night all the sudden, a real shock. It seems like just the other day I visited and he seemed more fit than me at 78, working away at his beloved construction of his retirement cottage or thinking about some shrimp at the Wanna Wanna. Anyay, these pictures were from his recent work in Africa, where he helped people build things and make things work.



An educator for years, he found a passion to going into the darkest places to help people, such as when he helped build new homes for Katrina victims. When I grow up I want to be just like Don.

Zeste Things

I was rather surprised to see that our local deli, bistro, and gourmet joint on the island isn't doing so well these days. The name is "Zeste" (956-761-5555). I usually don't write about these kinds of things but they're so sad ... I was the only person there shopping for to-go yesterday evening and Mike, Lisa, Barry, and Amy looked real bummed-out.

The story is Lori came home from San Diego and caught something she described as "airplane flu." You know, coughs, fever, scratchy throat, the bug. So being a nice cabana boy and all-around fella I called in an order for ahi tuna, roasted duck, mussels in white wine, and a salad with so many things in it I can't pronounce them all. Is "Monteggio" the kind of cheese we had?

But good? Wow I hit on all cylinders there, a very happy wife. The cost was like 28 bucks with the sliced baguette bread but I added in a designer beer called 'Old Speckled Hen' or something I'd never had before. And yes, it passed "the Sammy test" for digestability with flying colors. All I'm saying is to please support your local business, and this is a good 'un.

Update April 20:

You know, last week or so has seemed like everyone was tired. I was way stressed and tired too, so don't take what I wrote too literally in the first paragraph. Phase of the moon? Trust me, Mike and Lisa are as energetic and funny as ever. They always brighten up my day.

A Message from the Sturgeon General

Gulf of Mexico Sturgeon
"The General"

It turns out there are sturgeon in the Gulf of Mexico, although mainly from the Pearl River in Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle including the Suwanee. I had heard about it but I even found an official-looking USGS/Florida shebang about 'em. My brother in coastal Mississippi probably has 'em and doesn't even know it (hint - up the Pascagoula River). Sometimes I wonder if there were any in the Rio Grand watershed, as I know they like freshwater too. I love this quote: "Gulf sturgeon can jump six feet out of the water."

Not bad for a little old dinosaur.

Y'all remember the stories about boaters being struck by jumping sturgeon, especially those in personal watercraft. Heck we could ranch 'em down here, especially if they cleaned up the Arroyo Colorado. Only a crazy Texas Yankee would ever think about ranching sturgeons.

Why, all they do is munch and jump, mate once a year "like the sound of a creaking door," are extinct and on the endangered list, and you're not even supposed to eat caviar. Sheesh. But think about it, if you ranch your sturgeons right, they'll always come home for dinner just like little cow doggies. Why, I imagine some would even get names like "Ranger" and "Howie" and "Missy."

And what a picture that would be, YOU feeding some ancient dinosaur fish with huge nose hairs and really big sucker lips, built like an armored tank. I bet people would line up for miles and miles. Why a little bar would be nice, just like that famous bar in Florida that has hundreds of tarpon trolling for food scraps ... and the tourists go nuts, love it. Heck man, we only got the hardhead catfish that swarm behind Louie's. Let's get some class and pizazz down here!

"Don't drink the Kool-Aid"

I got a question from somebody in Houston about what is meant by "don't drink the Kool-Aid." This expression has become part of our regular speak now, so I thought I'd help such wayward folks along.

It origins are from a horrible, whacked-out religious mission that committed suicide in 1978 by drinking poisoned grape Kool-Aid, something that was premeditated by an odd fellow and wacko kook named Jim Jones when in a country called Guyana. But after a few decades, it took on a very different meaning.

This is not exactly correct from what I can tell, since The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test was published in 1968 by a guy named Thomas Wolfe. If you drank that stuff ou were high for about half a day or more, would listen to the Grateful Dead all the time, and would contemplate your navel a real lot. It meant stoned-to-the-bone.

In modern times, people who were around President Bush #43 were said to have "drank the Kool-Aid" when doing the crazy things they did. At some point, Enron executives were known to have taken long drinks of the stuff. More recently, when handing out bennies to General Motors and Chrysler, or fixing the banking system, some pundits accused President Obama of "drinking the Kool-Aid." What on Earth did they mean?

Basically the term means to agree to some powerful status quo instead of thinking for yourself, and blindly following the leaders and making horrendous mistakes. I'm talking big mistakes, like the financial "experts" who got us in the worst recession since the Great Depression: they drank the Kool-Aid. The term doesn't mean that you're impaired, stoned, or dead anymore (funny sentence!). It merely means that you have no judgment and you messed up by trusting the authorities.

How models work

Ugh ... sorry folks, this post ain't about sexy Hollywood models with million dollars bods. But if I have your attention, I was really talking about computer models. There are a bazillion kinds of those things so let's narrow it down to Climate Change and Global Warming.

This is big news lately, with our President sounding like he wants carbon dioxide mandates and major folks like Joseph Romm (Climate Progress), Freeman Dyson (a major physics denier dude), and Thomas Friedman (NY Times Pulitzer winner) getting published all the same week, duking it out. And there are thousand of more major peeps banging the pots and pans as well.

What it all comes down to are several ensembles of computer models that predict sea level rise, ice coverage, differential heating, and technical stuff I won't bore you about ... other than all these models suck!

Say what, Sammy?

It's a rather existential question because any models that try to predict things into the future are based on humans, and most of the time Mother Nature has a different idea in mind. So global models for sea ice totally missed their mark, a horrible thing for the "modelers." What happened was that sea ice was supposed to break up in a decade or two, like in the Arctic and now even the western Antarctic. They blew it. The stuff is melting at an incredible rate never forecast by ANY computer model. What happened was a classic case of under-shooting because all models done by humans are fallible.

Then there are there is over-shooting, where some models show global heating right now, even in a mild cooling stage, although in the long term they are perhaps correct because the thinking is "Mother Nature took off a year or two from warming." Excuses, excuses, the models that predicted rampant global warming also failed. Poor Al Gore has been severely abused by these notions.

Then there are the ... what can I say, weirdos who predict "crazy weather" from global warming. These folks don't know the difference between climatology and today's weather and unfortunately must be relegated to the loony bin, as no model can support those conclusions except when modeled results conflict with each other, or somebody tries to bloviate about "super hurricanes." The only folks to get away with that trick was the original Farmers Almanac that predicted sun, rain, hail, sleet, and snow all in the same day in Boston sometime in the 1800s.

A model only works for about 5 years of predictive value and I'm going to leave it at that. We have absolutely no idea what will happen in 50 or 100 years. I'm serious! But before you dismiss me as having sentiments one way or the other, I can tell you that climate change is happening right now. I can also say that if the climate was not changing, we'd be in for some very serious entropy problems.

And so far, as good as our bazillion-dollar satellites and billion-dollar super-computers are, we really can't predict very much other than some obvious things that are already happening. This does not mean that they are bad. It means that climate modeling needs a new generation of thinkers who can plug in the right kinds of data without being so political about it.

Poof'n'Whiff Anniversary?

I had to ask Lori how long Poof'n'Whiffs has been, well, poofing and whiffing. She says four years and three-four months. It was before we moved from Leander to here on South Padre Island for sure. Moved in July, 2005 before Hurricane Emily.

Gosh, the dream it was back then, and many (including me at times) didn't think we'd ever move down to the seashore. People say I've changed since then - gosh I hope I didn't turn into an asshole again. Dang I hate that when it happens. It's been fun so far.

I guess in the next chapter, Sammie will get his own boat.

Shower Politics

Not a great picture, but here's an outside shower, one I've been meaning to fix with new pipe, valves, and a shower head - and that ugly rusty deadbolt. I came across an interesting article in Salon about 'shower politics.' Basically, those who take a shower (white collar) before work are treated much better than those who take a shower after work (blue collar). The writer does a pretty good job of explaining our outrage at the AIG executives who got millions in bail-out money, while company workers like at GM are getting the ... pink slips and the boot.

Here on the island is no different I guess, other than we don't care when you take a shower ... its usually after getting in the sand or in the water because otherwise you'll get itchy and pack sand into the bed at night. That's where our humble outside shower comes in!

The shower analogy is a good one also describe water issues. In many areas of the world we consider tapwater a given, something you can waste. However, parts of Australia and the Caribbean are in a horrible drought and most rely on meager rainwater collected in cisterns. It wasn't but last year at this time the Rio Valley was so dry the Rio Grand stopped flowing. Shower water is often used to water plants, flush the commode, and other beneficial uses. So there are people who watch their water use and those who do not.

Oh well, as Texas Week winds down now, and the daughter has just left to go back to Austin, I think I'm ready for a ... shower.

Spring Break 2009

Just catching up on things, noting the wonderful turn of the weather and more kids for spring break today, the few migrant birds and hummingbirds that have passed through, and mundane things like that.

I learned that Spring Break was invented in 1983 at the old Sandy Retreat hotel (which became the Mira Mar), where there parking lot was used for rock 'n' roll bands. The gathering was started by a bunch of Valley kids, not out-of-area college students. In 1984 the Thunderbirds and Stevie Ray Vaughn played there. Gosh, that was only 25 years ago. Steve Hathcock has a great story about the history in the last issue of the Coastal Currents local newpaper (sorry, not online). He has a rather amusing ending about Dionysus and how since ancient Greek times, people have been celebrating spring.

It's a break in things right now, as Lori and daughter head to Mexico for goodies and her boyfriend is checking out driving on the beach. Work has been quiet so I'll have to give them a jingle in a while. But it's definitely an "open door day," a good one too.

Grass-mud horse

There is a huge controversy about censorship now in China, something I knew was always repressive but here's a new twist: a children's song about the "grass-mud horse" and it's battle against the evil river crab (which actually stands for peace and harmony).

The way the words are pronounced, "grass-mud horse" sounds exactly like "f*ck your mother," which technically is spelled very differently. Wow, all these kids singing that song, this IS creepy. I have never heard of such a protest since the Falun Gong massacre.

Where were the grass-mud horses when President Bush was in power, anyway? Compared to our fearless Chinese counterparts, we're a society of wimps.

Last Blasts of Old Man Winter

Here's a computer model for Saturday's weather that shows expected rain and other stuff (click the pic to slightly enlarge). Most of the bad weather will be to the north, with some lingering showers in our area. It is expected to be cool the weekend, perhaps bad for Spring Break but good if we see some migrating birds. SPI is located towards the bottom center of the graphic in the pink part showing light rain.

So enjoy today, as a preliminary front is coming down with a chance of thunder this evening, some cool air, a secondary shot of cool air, and some over-running rain. By Monday things should be dry and on the mend - there are no big storms I can see behind this one yet.

Why Twitter is sometimes funny

This is a chain on Twitter posts that started when one of us found a story about "male enhancement pills" that said they didn't work. I'm "Whams."

1. Whams@southpadrelive Dood, I don't think you are near cute enuff to do lap dances, keep the day job!less than 5 seconds ago from web in reply to southpadrelive
2. southpadreliveForget the free lap tops-Where do I sign up for free lap dances15 minutes ago from TweetDeck
3. Whams@southpadrelive TMI brudder!15 minutes ago from web in reply to southpadrelive
4. sandyfeet@southpadrelive Thanks for that visual, JW (not!)22 minutes ago from TweetDeck in reply to southpadrelive
5. southpadrelive@sandyfeet Yea I take them so it will stick out enough so i don't pee on my feet23 minutes ago from TweetDeck in reply to sandyfeet

Sam, Sam, the programmer man

That's a picture of an original Jim Franklin poster for the 'Thirteenth Floor Elevators,' one of the first real hippie bands that played at a cool place called the Vulcan Gas Company up in Austin, late 60s ("Conquero"). Jim went on to Armadillo fame later but these old posters are quite rare. I never got any prints but I do remember getting a bunch of cheap copy paper to staple them onto telephone poles downtown, which made for some rather unusual telephone poles.

But I digress, at the same time these hippies were blasting out electric rock 'n' roll, folks were programming on computers. I think this had something to do with the hippie movement. In essence, kids were making up any entire new language to communicate more effectively. I will never forget when one of the UNIX originals told our training class that "disk slash dollar dot splat" was the ultimate insult ... well you had to be there but the training was at the UT think tank technology incubator facility, millions of bucks and chaired by Admiral Inman himself.

So getting onto my point, since those days programming has changed, and boy has it. RegularHTML and SQL programming has gone nuts, and no telling what they do to jack up all those freaking graphics. It's amazing. DO YOU KNOW THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO PROGRAM IN FREAKIN' 'TWITTER'?

Ahem. I guess I am old school and went into a kind of statistics programming language called SAS, which was strange for a former English Major like me. SAS started in the 60's too, by a couple of hippies who left Big Blue (IBM) to work on applied mathematics, including such stuff as linear regression to analysis of variance and quality control. Unless you "sex up" your SAS output it looks like it was printed on one of the first linotype mainframe printers you ever saw.

Me I don't mind it a bit, and while I'm not getting rich I can make in the low six figures in the little job niche I wandered into. SAS has been berry, berry good to me. I guess I'm graphically challenged but viewing data in different ways, formats, and structures has always appealed to me, and a picture or movie is always better than reams of data. An emerging consensus is that when you really view data and visualize it, many of the common urban myths and old wive's tales turn out to be completely false!

So there I am, like the "best of 1998" and these mainstream programmers today are really hot. It's OK and it's all good, and as more people use computers communication will increase. I did put in a major plug for data programming, which can always use sexing-up. Just like them good old boys and girls did down on Congress Street at the Vulcan in Austin, Texas, light show and all.

Frumpy Hibiscus Effect

As spring keeps rolling into South Padre Island, the mind turns toward assessing the damage from the hurricanes, cold fronts, bugs, and plant diseases. This poor, stunted Hibiscus was a very expensive hybrid with double flowers, obviously never to amount to much. I got to looking around the island and many are in the same condition. Unfortunately, the only thing to do is to throw them away, dirt and all.

Salt might have something to do with it, but I noticed that after a plant gets stressed a little the bugs such as aphids will move in. Then some kind of ant "farms" the aphids. I think one or both help spread harmful bacteria, viruses, and fungus. For lack of a better expression I call it "frumpy hibiscus syndrome."

Interestingly, one common hibiscus I threw in the ground is going great, so how certain plants or varieties get sick is something of a mystery. But I'll be playing in the yard this weekend, trying to make sense of it all.

George F. Will and Global Smarmy

I'm temped to post about global warming and the recent torrent of pubic outcry out the last two columns by George F. Will of the Washington Post. I just posted a note on Grist, a very green blog, that they missed the point and inadvertently allowed George to win the argument.

We all think that George is something of a skeptic, although his antiquated views shouldn't be a threat to the effort to educate folks about climate change - which most everyone will say is happening. But his main point was that each side has a certain orthodoxy about what to think, and anybody who disagrees with them are considered insane. He brought up the media articles done back in the 1970s that in very alarmist terms, said the Earth was going to freeze over solid.

Naturally the "greens" responded with reams of information, studies, and "proof" that George F. Will was a lying, insane skeptic. Some of the responses such as by Joseph Romm were so rabid and over the top they were comical. The facts are, George F. Will might have a limited understanding of the science and got things slightly wrong in a citation (he proves where he got the information though), but his points about alarmism, extremism, and orthodoxy were pretty much right on target.

The mistake was the greens who went on the attack failed to convince anybody but themselves and only served to illustrate what George was saying. Instead of trying to work with folks to calmly educate them and lead them down the path to understanding how global warming works, they screamed, shouted, and revolted, nearly foaming at the mouth. It's almost like a "dictatorship of the nerds." It's was almost embarrassing to watch them struggle to reclaim the high ground.

This is important because while public opinion puts global warming at the bottom of the top ten national priorities, Americans are fairly divided about being for or against the concept of global warming, very similar to the recent Presidential election results. President Obama intends to float initiatives for low-carbon vehicle standards and a cap & trade program for large industries, ones that have to be voted up or down in Congress. That's why this fight is so important.

Perhaps things just aren't going very well for the greens these days. The economy dominates the media and a recession had put off some construction plans for clean power. Obama's plans for investing in mass transit and "green jobs" were drastically scaled back - which was as if it was a slap in the face. And George F. Will won the debate on his own grounds because he took the high road and acted calm.

I guess I'll leave you with my perspective. If you reduce energy consumption that will save you BIG BUCKS. If one can harness solar, wind, and water power and make that competitive, that will also save money, especially if fossil fuel costs race skyward again. The US could save about 30 percent of its power costs simply by improving efficiency and that saves a ton of money. Oh and by the way, when you do that, CO2 emissions will also go down about 30 percent, not a bad side effect. I think that's the right direction to go.