TheMoneyIllusion » Pirates and Global Warming [Fraud]

Now let’s turn to global warming. This is obviously a highly-charged issue, as the stakes are very high for both the environment and the economy. I’m not a scientist, but based on what I have read the hypothesis seems well-supported. But I don’t think policy should be based on my hunch, or even the views of scientists. We need a subsidized prediction market in futures contracts based on global average temperatures and atmospheric CO2-equivalent levels—with contracts having 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 year maturities. (Aaron Jackson and I did a paper on this.)

BET OFFERED | Daily Telegraph Tim Blair Blog

Only someone who lives outside Australia would refer to the interior being turned into a Martian landscape; it’s been that way for as long as humans have known it. Does anyone at this paper care for a wager? I’ll put a lazy billion on Australia (and Australians) outlasting the LA Times. Hell, let’s make it $100 billion. They need the money, after all.

UPDATE. NRO’s Greg Pollowitz doubts the LA Times. If it weren’t for all these dead flying foxes and white lemuroid ringtail possums piling up on my laptop, I’d send him an email. [Via An Honest Climate Debate]

BillingsGazette.com :: Letter: Interior secretary has his numbers all wrong

The largest available wind turbine from Vestas, a major manufacturer, generates three megawatts. It would seem that a mere 333,000 turbines would do the job. But the wind fluctuates and average output from a wind turbine is about 35 percent of the rated power. Now we need 950,000 turbines. They cannot be situated too close together or they steal wind power from each other, so each of these monsters needs 32 acres for itself. That adds up to over 47,000 square miles! Therefore, Salazar's imaginary wind farm would cover a 30-mile wide path from Maine to the tip of Florida.

Not only that, but Salazar is suggesting that we build this mega wind farm offshore, which will be hugely more expensive that a land-based operation, not to mention a hazard to navigation.

My problem with all of this is that our national energy policy is a really important issue. Having President Obama's political appointees make absurd pronouncements serves only to obfuscate the seriousness of the problem and misdirects efforts toward a real solution.

Robert Schalla
Billings