Monday, April 22, 2013

Pollen at its worst

I have been telling my wife for the month of April that this has been the worst year for pollen since we moved here in 1984. At times I think I can feel the pollen in my eyes when I blink. Its something Atlantans have come to know (and hate!).  The yellow pine pollen is too big to cause allergies, but its pretty obnoxious when it gets in your eyes or on your car and when you fly into Atlanta early in April you can see the dome of yellow over our city. Go spring.

One day last week the pollen count hit 8000, which is the third highest count ever, the other two being the 8,163 recorded on March 19, 2012 and the record count of 9,367 on March 20, 2012. Even though they happened a year ago, this year is definitely worse for me.

Meanwhile, scientists are struggling to explain the slowing in the rise of worldwide temperatures. The average global temperature has fallen in the last two years, and is getting closer to the 100-year average. Greenhouse gases including CO2 are not decreasing, but the temperatures are. I have to wonder if the term "global cooling" will be in our future.

I was searching the other day and found this quote on one of those mis-information sites that have such a presence on the web:

As you increase CO2, it tells the allergenic plants to produce more pollen to the tune of three to four times more, and the pollen itself, we think, may actually be more potent.

So, apparently CO2 is the culprit and its causing the allergenic plants to produce more of the much maligned pollen. Wait a second, how does the CO2 know which plants produce allergens? So now that carbon dioxide is not causing global warming it must be causing pollen. So when we find out this is a bunch of crap we'll have to call it pollen-gate.  A few years ago climategate exposed problems in the way research groups were using weather data.

Friday, April 19, 2013

Wilcox County Prom

When Georgia integrated in the 1960's Wilcox County made a decision not to hold a prom for its seniors. Since that decision kids have organized proms that were, for the most part, segregated. This year a group of seniors have decided to hold a prom that crossed racial boundaries and I think its wonderful.

The problem is that folks in the metro Atlanta area and even more from outside the state want to make a big deal about the choices of the kids in Wilcox County and turn it into a problem of the county's school system.  The kids have chosen for years to hold two proms. Since the school system does not support either one, nor the system that creates them, its fine with me. Its fine with Nathan Deal as well because he believes that government should not interfere in a private matter.

In fact, Governor Deal said, "I believe that anything that’s associated with a school should not have the distinction or discrimination made based on race or gender or any other separation..." Hooray for the Governor. One site took exception to Governor Deal and wrote, "The reason we have civil rights law is because we understand that certain private actions, such as race and gender discrimination, wound our society so deeply that they cease to be a merely private concern." (thinkprogress.org)

Well, that's not quite right, and I think that 100 Black Men of Atlanta might have a problem with that definition of Civil Rights. Rev. King fought hard for the government to rid itself of the specter of "separate but equal"  that really meant "separate but un-equal." Society has come a long way from the days of segregation, and its time to start realizing that the days of bigotry and racism, are history. There still are racists and bigots, and there always will be, but I can't believe that a county that elects its first black President can be considered racist or bigoted.

Some kids in Wilcox County have decided to hold an integrated prom for 2013. I support their decision and hope that all involved have a great time. We really need to get behind this positive change and let history be history.