Well, the post-election hangover resulted in the Dow Jones Industrials crashing 486 to 9139. Who said we are over this economic slump. In fact, I predicted that 8000 would be the bottom, and we have 1139 points to go. So, awaiting that period, I thought I would be prepared this time with my E-Trade account, but learned that I had to go through a few more hoops before activating it with more money. The last time with Ameritrade I lost a few days and missed that moment. Let's see how long it takes this time, although I don't think the nadir will be reached for weeks, if not months. The Pacific-Asian markets all rose (Japan Nikkei up 4.5%) today, while, save for a couple of Scandanavian countries, the European stock exchanges mostly dropped (German TECDAX down 4.5%). Crude sunk more than $5/barrel to $65.30, as it looks like OPEC will only reduce production by 400,000 barrels/day. Gold slipped $22/toz to $738.
-
In case you didn't know, Hawaii is this week celebrating Arbor Day. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed this occasion on April 10, 1907. While April is the traditional month, Hawaii picked November 3, and will be holding ceremonies this year from November 6 to 8. Traditionally, children plant trees and sing songs.
-
HECO began their custom of giving away seedlings in 1993, which this year can be obtained on Saturday at a variety of locations. Interesting that in the early days I did pick up a couple of, I think, eucalyptus seedlings, and planted them on my roof. I can't imagine how they procreate so young, but I haven't been able to completely eradicate what, at that early stage, looks and grows like weeds. Maybe I picked up some superweeds by mistake.
-
This brings up my latest Huffington Post article on THE VENUS SYNDROME REVISITED. A couple of years ago, scientists from the Max Plank Institute in Heidelberg, Germany, reported Trees implicated in greenhouse gas conundrum. In short, they said that 30% of the methane produced in the world came from trees, and it is of course true that one molecule of methane is at least 20 times worse for global warming than one of carbon dioxide. We knew that dead trees under certain conditions decayed to produce some methane, but live trees naturally emitting this gas was most shocking and controversial. The Institute immediately released a press release saying that trees, on balance, are good. However, the science on "growing trees and resultant methane contributing to the Greenhouse Effect" has not yet been fully answered.
-
That would indeed be the ultimate irony if trees turn out to be a terrible contributor to climate warming and Teddy Roosevelt is thus blamed for initiating Arbor Day. Hmm...I wonder if 1907 is when global warming began to be accelerated. Nah, can't be.
-
Tropical Depression Polo in the Pacific is dissipating, but Tropical Depression Seventeen, now at 30 MPH, just formed near Guatemala, will move northwest, then northeast, probably in the meanwhile growing into a hurricane in two to three days, threatening Cuba.
-
No comments:
Post a Comment