NYTimes: A fast, so-called car; Let our economy run free, save the planet; they shoot wild horses don’t they? (but no bullets please), etc….
The Tracker took one look at this morning’s Science Times and in a millisecond thought, “That’s no car. That’s a freakin’ F-104.” The Tracker was 12 years old, an aviation nut, when the Matsu Quemoy crisis (you can look it up) was at its height. I knew about these Starfighters – every fighterplane-besotted kid did. The missile with a man in it, some called it. Fighter jocks called them Zippers. They were stupid fast. The LA Times ran a story one day about the brand new US warplanes sent out on patrol over the disputed islands and speculated that radar operators in mainland China must surely have been dumbfounded and maybe struck blind or been ready to surrender on the spot or something like that. The reason: US fighter jets going twice the speed of sound. I was so proud.
As it turned out, the planes were swift but not particularly good as fighters. Science Times today has a piece by Guy Gugliotta on a semi-amateur team that has saved an F-104 from the recycling bin, put aluminum wheels on it, painted it prettily and shaved its wings off. Lots of other mods, too. Maybe it’s a terrific car and still stupid fast. Their goal is a land speed record on a dried, clay lake bed. It’s a diverting tale – almost utterly devoid, by the way, of science. One meets no professors, no PhDs; here are just some enthused fellows who really know their way around machinery and hot rods, going for a record. Their static test stand for checking engine thrust is a stout tree and a strong cable. It mentions a rival Brit team’s rocket-jet car – that one, one suspects, has the science. Good luck, North American Eagle (and one hopes the ejection seat mechanism has been removed … or inverted).
One suspects the most controversial piece in the section is some non-newswriting by columnist John Tierney. It is non-newswriting because few citations of sources and no opinions counter to his theme appear. It is a column. He channels the late and smart economist Julian Simon while arguing that the way to a greener, low-carbon future will be automatically followed if we just encourage national – and presumably individual – wealth. He doesn’t say it this way, but the implication is that individual self-interest and the hidden hand of Adam Smith will deliver us from the evils of a hothouse world. There is much truth in the piece: that wealth permits nations to maintain their environments, establish and maintain nat’l parks, provide healthy air and water, perform eco-tourism, etc. Which is why The Tracker firmly believes that right now, while we still have some wealth to gather up with our taxes, it is time to spend trillions and trillions of dollars in gov’t money (and stimulate even more in private capital) to transform the economy – by deliberate, political decision. Unfettered new coal plants ought, as soon as possible, be illegal. Tierney’s example of wealthy-means-green is the cleanup of sulphur from the air. That was by government cap-and-trade fiat. But Tierney’s approach appears more on the laissez faire, relax-already side. He says more on his blog. And there, readers have a lot to say in reply.
Other notable headlines:
- Jim Robbins : As Wild Horses Multiply, a Voice for Contraception ;
- Henry Fountain’s Observatory: Why Mussels’ Grip is Stiff but Stretchy ; His whole roundup is fine – this one is not only a good example of Fountain’s gift for economy in explanation, but worth singling out for its biomimetic resonance with the spider story in the Plain Dealer, tracked two posts down.
- Claudia Dreifus : A Conversation With Richard Wrangham / From Studying Chimps, a Theory on Cooking ; Or, there’s a reason why most of those with the willpower to stick with a raw food diet are skinny.
- Donald G. McNeil Jr. : Avian Flu Cases in Egypt Raise Alarms ; Or not.
As usual, lots more. Whole Section ;
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