WUWT readers may recall that back on October 7th, 2011, there was this story: Friday Funny – The newest member of the Union of Concerned Scientists where my dog Kenji, became an esteemed member of the Union of credit card carrying Concerned Scientists.
The photo then showed him with his welcome kit from that prestigious organization:
Only one problem then, one of the items that Kenji paid extra for was not included, and he’s been wondering ever since what has happened to that splendid Union of Concerned Scientists mousepad he paid an extra 10 bucks for. Months have gone by since October 7th, 2011. He was about to go barking mad waiting for it!
Today, just over 5 months later, it arrived, note the postmark.
Wow those UCS guys are fast in fulfillment.
It came with a high quality letter from the president:
And of course the fabulous mousepad itself:
It was a little “ruff” around the edges I noted, and smelled to high heaven. Why? because it is made of recycled tire rubber and it smells like a Goodyear Tire Store.
Eh. I figured Kenji would use it as a chew toy. No such luck, he hates the smell.
Maybe the David Suzuki Foundation will smell better. I wonder what it takes to be a member there?
…perhaps they had to wait for the tyres to wear out on the green car before sending away for recycling.
Shame about the aroma – my dogs enjoy playing with a tyre though – as long as I push it and they chase – tell me again who’s the foolish one
Congratulations to Kenji all the same – watch out Suzuki
I like that your “free” mousepad cost you $10. Are these people honest about anything at all?
My springer spaniel, Rory, would know what to do with that mouse pad… she’s always looking for something new to chew…
Kenji is a very interesting dog! (and, likely, smarter than most of the UoCS). What breed is he?
REPLY: Japanese Chin
anthony –
just responded on the Suzuki thread to Scarface’s comment re WUWT comments showing as all capitalised and very faint , and said it was happening to me yesterday, but was not happening today, even tho i hadn’t updated browser etc.
well, just opened your new thread and the one comment so far is very faint and capitalised. wonder what is causing it?
My guess is the recycled tires smell better than the recycled alarmism UCS peddles.
Wait, Kenji paid $10 for the “free” mouse pad? That’s the kind of accounting that promises more jobs from the “green” economy!
UNFAIR! If Kenji has a pedigree, he MAY be more qualified than most of the other UCS members!
As a soon-to-be-former member of the UCS (I’m not renewing) I was annoyed that I was receiving email after email admonishing me to renew my membership. Odd, I thought, since I’d just joined in August….Why was I already being hounded in Jan & Feb for membership renewal???
Turns out that membership runs on a calendar year. I didn’t get any discount for joining mid year, nor was it pro-rated. Still, as close as Kevin (the UCS big-wig) and I have become with his endless correspondence urging me to help with the fight, we’re not good enough friends for me to sign back up in the hopes he’ll invite me over for dinner.
The more I look at the tomes of UCS junk mail I get, the more I realize UCS is just another advocacy group, and I’m not impressed with the “science” they present. In fact, the more I look at a lot of these groups, like WWF, Greenpeace, Sierra Club, UCS, and others, the more they appear to me as get rich quick (and for a long time) schemes.
If I get the chance, and when his membership expires, I’m going to ask Kenji if he’d like to form a Union of Formerly Concerned Scientists.
O/T but important (apologies to Kenji for ignoring his smelly plight):
9 March: Reuters: Barbara Lewis: Poland blocks EU efforts on carbon limits
(Additional reporting by Charlie Dunmore and Francesco Guarascio in Brussels and Gabriela Baczynska in Warsaw; Editing by David Gregorio)
Coal-reliant Poland on Friday vetoed European Union efforts to move further towards a low carbon economy, pitting itself against the rest of the 27-member bloc…
But Poland, which relies on carbon-intensive coal for more than 90 percent of its electricity, said it could not agree to any inclusion of milestones for future carbon reductions in an EU text debated at a meeting of environment ministers.
“Unfortunately, one delegation has blocked,” Denmark’s Climate and Energy Minister Martin Lidegaard told reporters. “It has been a tough day. It would have been better if 27 countries would have been on board, but 26 is very encouraging.”
The text of an environmental council meeting does not have firm policy status within the EU’s complex decision-making process, but it is a signal, which is weakened if consensus cannot be achieved.
Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said the backing of almost the entire bloc was enough to allow the Commission, the EU’s executive arm, to keep working on further progress.
“Twenty-six member states want us to move ahead with the low carbon road-map,” she told Reuters.
To help fill the policy vacuum after a firm goal of a 20 percent carbon cut by 2020 expires, the roadmap lays out a route towards a long-term aim to reduce the bloc’s carbon emissions by 80 percent by the middle of the century…
Whereas Poland opposed increased ambition, other EU nations have objected to what they see as a step in the wrong direction, with the dropping of the 25 percent marker for 2020.
Britain is among those wanting an early increase in ambition.
“The outcome shows how we must redouble our efforts in explaining to Poland that shifting to a low-carbon economy is part of long term growth in Europe,” Britain’s Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey said in a statement.
“There’ll be no pause in the UK’s efforts to push for a 30 percent emissions target for 2020, providing the much needed certainty that business needs to invest in the green technologies of the future.”…
Even at the international climate talks in Durban, Poland was isolated from other EU nations in its refusal to agree a plan to reduce a surplus of Kyoto carbon permits, known as Assigned Amount Units (AAUs), which it wants to hold on to because it can sell them on international markets…
Environmental groups and the European Parliament, which has been pushing for environmental ambition, said Poland was missing a huge opportunity in its resistance to a low carbon future.
“Poland is not only slowing down their own country, but also the aspirations and opportunities for sustainable growth in the other 26 Member States,” Jo Leinen, a German Social Democrat said in a statement.
“Poland is adding to its image of an outdated economy and is holding back progress for the entire continent,” Greenpeace EU climate policy director Joris den Blanken said in a statement.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/09/us-eu-environment-idUSBRE8281DV20120309
Anthony, thanks for the funny reminder of this, I’d forgotten all about it.
REPLY: My pleasure, welcome to the light – Anthony
I can’t make out the postmark.
And what is happening to dogdom?!!?? When I delivered news papers the dogs in that neighborhood tried to rip the tires off my bicycle–and later, my car.
I asked one dog owner what the dog did with the tires she captured, No answer.
We have dog toys here that reek of Butadiene and it seems like they get their turn in the rotation.
But back to the point–that schedule is consistent with their delivery of everything they promise, isn’t it?
8 March: Seattle Times: Angela Charlton: Airbus says China blocking orders over EU scheme
China is blocking orders for at least $12 billion worth of Airbus jets to protest the European Union’s emissions trading fees, in a new challenge to the program aimed at fighting global warming, the planemaker said Thursday…
With some analysts warning of a brewing trade war, Airbus spokesman Stefan Schaffrath said his company is seeing “retaliation threats” from 26 countries, “in particular from China.”…
EU officials defended the emissions system. Asked about the Airbus complaint at the daily midday briefing, EU spokesman Isaac Valero Ladron said, “I’m not in a position to make any comments about possible trade decisions. I think it’s in everybody’s interest to reduce greenhouse gases, which affects climate change, and airplanes affect that, as well.”…
The United States, China, Russia, India and many other countries are opposed and say the bloc cannot impose taxes on flights outside its own airspace…
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2017698262_apeufranceairbuschina.html
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I am truly puzzled Anthony. A quick check on the web shows that the Union of Concerned Scientists adheres to the AGW religion and accept the phony hypothesis that CO2 is the preponderant cause of the Earth’s recent warming. No wonder Kenji does not like the smell of the mousepad.
Now that he’s a member of UCS, maybe it will increase his chances of becoming an IPCC contributor.
I suppose it is my fault, but, very few, if any, websites I visit have made me laugh harder than I just did now 🙂
Anthony, do you keep that gorgeous dog in your hand bag>?
Are you sure they did not advertise that you could/might/maybe be receiving a mousepad, sometime in the future?
Perhaps their distribution system is run on the same computer that the models are run on, with a bias to send the pad to your children/grandchildren so that they have a better life than you do.
For Kenji to trade bucks for a mouse pad would give the SPCA paws.
pat says: @March 9, 2012 at 5:03 pm
O/T but important (apologies to Kenji for ignoring his smelly plight):
9 March: Reuters: Barbara Lewis: Poland blocks EU efforts on carbon limits
(Additional reporting by Charlie Dunmore and Francesco Guarascio in Brussels and Gabriela Baczynska in Warsaw; Editing by David Gregorio)
Coal-reliant Poland on Friday vetoed European Union efforts to move further towards a low carbon economy, pitting itself against the rest of the 27-member bloc……
Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said the backing of almost the entire bloc was enough to allow the Commission, the EU’s executive arm, to keep working on further progress.
“Twenty-six member states want us to move ahead with the low carbon road-map,” she told Reuters.
To help fill the policy vacuum after a firm goal of a 20 percent carbon cut by 2020 expires, the roadmap lays out a route towards a long-term aim to reduce the bloc’s carbon emissions by 80 percent by the middle of the century…”
__________________________________________
I agree that this is very important.
I did an analysis of what the “aim to reduce the bloc’s carbon emissions by 80 percent by the middle of the century” actually means to the rest of us using the United states as an example since we are “The Big Emitters” I did it in response to a comment that:
“The cost to reduce CO2 output by 80% has been calculated, and that’s the low end of numbers estimated to “remove” mankind’s footprint of warming…..” http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/45086#comment-380264
_______________
We get all types of “Soothing” crap from the propaganda machines and economic model projections about how it really is going to be “painless” So Let us look at what real facts tell us.
The average for the USA is 335.9 million BTUs per person. http://www.nuicc.info/?page_id=1467
(Total population: 246,081,000)
In 1949, U.S. energy use per person stood at 215 million Btu.
epb.lbl.gov
The U.S. in 1800 had a per-capita energy consumption of about 90 million Btu. http://www.bu.edu/pardee/files/2010/11/12-PP-Nov2010.pdf
(Total population: 5,308,483)
If the USA reduces its energy consumption by 80% it equals 45.18 million Btu. per person IF THE POPULATION WAS THE SAME. Given the increase in technology and hydro power lets use the 1800 consumption level of about 90 million Btu. per person.
What does that mean?
The site http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blfarm4.htm helps us figure that out.
Farmers made up about 90% of labor force in 1790 and 69% of labor force in 1800. (2.6% in 1990)
About 250-300 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels (5 acres) of wheat with walking plow, brush harrow, hand broadcast of seed, sickle, and flail in 1830. (1987 – 2-3/4 labor-hours required to produce 100 bushels but that takes lots of oil.)
1810-30 saw the transfer of “manufacturing” from the farm and home to the shop and factory. It wasn’t until the 1840′s that we saw factory made farm machinery, labor saving devices and chemical fertilizers became at all common. It was in the 1860′s that kerosene lamps became popular. Also up until the 1850′s dung and wood were the major source of energy. http://dieoff.org/page199_files/image002.gif
In other words for the USA to use HALF the energy per person that was used in 1800 we must abandon ALL factories and 90% of the population must return to subsistence farming using animals. Remember in 1800 there was only 2% of the current population in the USA. Solar and Wind just are not going to produce enough power to keep us in anything but a few lights and if we are lucky a refrigerator. FACTORIES use a huge amount of power and that is why cotton mills and other primitive factories were built on rivers.
Anyone who tries to tell you differently is talking baffle gab because at present less than 9% of the US labor force is in manufacturing. The USA got rid of most of its really energy intense industry like smelting the ores to make machines. The USA shipped its factories to China.
They probably sent the mouse pad via Green Couriers which uses a fleet of Chevy Volts. They can only go about 37 miles a leg before they have to stop and recharge; MA to CA can take a while.
On the subject of dogs and tire……
http://bitsandpieces.us/2012/03/09/dont-bark-at-me/
re pat says: March 9, 2012 at 5:03 pm reporting on Poland acting rationally. What is ironic is the amount of electricity that Germany has been importing this winter from Poland’s coal-fired power plants. Truly delicious and perhaps worthy of its own thread.
Larry Sheldon says:
March 9, 2012 at 5:09 pm
> I can’t make out the postmark.
Click on the image, it brings up a larger version.
94710 – that’s Berkeley! A sister-state to the People’s Republic of Cambridge?
And what’s that “Cat” journal they sent Kenji? A catalog? “Can it” quick!
…… and what’s the bet that the UCS’s expression of moral superiority, the “recycled rubber pad “,uses twice as much energy to be produced than a non-elite ordinary one ….
LOL. I’m sure the tire recycling mouse pad effort was not a net carbon neutral exercise. Hence the shipping delay while planting invasive bushes somewhere in Africa for the offset.
btw- I’m naming my next dog Pauchuri.
I didn’t see the original, that’s hilarious. I can picture the next meeting of the UCS, “…all those in favour of motion to petition for more fire hydrants, say woof”.
REPLY: see link at the top paragraph – Anthony
And taht wouldn’t be giving off any voltaile organic compunds now woudl it?
If they said the mousepad was free, Kenji should ask for your money back.
That is one hell of a dog – he can read upside down!
It looks as tho Kenji may have been rife with worry…. about the climate, as well as his missing mousepad, because he’s kinda skinny. Hopefully now he’ll get his appetite back.
The other amusement is the cheesy form letter Kenji got from the President, Kevin Nobloch. You would think such Esteemed new scientists would get something a little more personal!
Excellent. I love it!
I can’t wait for Kenji et al to “peer review” some papers.
The ‘mouse’ pad:
It was a little “ruff” around the edges I noted, and smelled to high heaven. Why? because it is made of recycled tire rubber and it smells like a Goodyear Tire Store.
Oh … GREAT!
I want one of those things on my desk too — who wouldn’t ??!!
Can I place a gasoline*-impregnated mechanics wipe-rag next to it (the *perfect* complement don’t ya think)?
* With 10% Ethanol content
.
Doesn’t sound like Kenji will be chasing after any of those “recycled mousepads in the round”!!
DJ says:
March 9, 2012 at 4:59 pm
If I get the chance, and when his membership expires, I’m going to ask Kenji if he’d like to form a Union of Formerly Concerned Scientists.
Some questions:
Is it a prerequisite that one must first join UCS and then become an ex-UCS member
or can one simply declare their former concern?
Is the membership restricted to “DJ”s and “K9″s only?
Will the UFCS organization present a consensus statement describing their current concern regarding their former concern?
Will there be mouse pads?
Kenji is an ideal spokesman for the UCS :
When asked what the prospects are for the Earth’s climate over the next 20 years, he always replies :
“Ruff!, Ruff!”
Gail Combs says:
March 9, 2012 at 5:43 pm
….
Out on a weekend pass? (KIDDING mods!)
Do you perchance have a blog where we can ‘catch’ all your wit and wisdom, as opposed to, well, here for instance?
.
You should have ordered the cat pad…..
I wouldn’t get to upset about the 5 months, the UCS calender is no doubt tied in to their clock which hasn’t hit midnight for about 65 years. Not that hitting midnight would be a good thing, but it would help them with the calendar.
I’m almost certain Kenji is a dendochronologist. When asked what grows on a tree he answers…
Bark!
… and how does bark feel?…
Ruff!
I would like to sign up my Rottweiler to be a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists. She’s pretty good at Pee Review.
Sorry, I could’t resist.
Kenji is probably at least as smart as many of the “concerned scientists”. I wonder, though – does his acceptance by that worthy institution make him a scientist?
My dog is cuter than your dog …
Gail – thanks for the anit-bafflegab! Awesome sauce from start to finish and SO deserving of it’s own thread along with the initial post you responded to… Stop using coal and oil? Sure, but in 50 years? No way, no how… In a hundred years? Perhaps a significant reduction, I dunno… These confident politicians are playing a confidence game, aren’t they?
If it was made by Goodyear, it won’t last long! Good thing Kenji won’t play with it. Soft as butter, prolly.
Now we know who the one UCS expert is who does not endorse CAGW.
Sorry but Kenji will be excluded from any future polling.
Thanks for the fun story. ☺
Clive
Hasn’t Gail Combs overlooked the deforestation (and resultant production of CO2) required for energy generation in the 19th century? Today’s coal, hydro, oil and nuclear power has allowed North America to regrow the lost forests in many areas. There seem only two ways to reduce CO2 production as specified for Europe: (1) full conversion to nuclear power or (2) depopulation of the planet. Which of these does Kenji’s UCS (or is that the Holy Roman Empire?) approve?
Someone made a curiously snide or insulting remark about Gail Coumbs, but suggested to moderators that is was only for fun. Argumentum ad hominem from a coward? Is Gail too much on target? What’s going on?
Gail Combs says: March 9, 2012 at 5:43 pm ……………. “The USA got rid of most of its really energy intense industry like smelting the ores to make machines……” Out here in CA are last large auto assembly plant closed at the start of the recession (the NUMI plant in Freemont CA) as the costs to operate in our state are just a tad high- and this is before we put our cap and trade program in place. The Toyota’s and GM vehicles that we still buy in the state were leaked to lower cost assembly locations in other states.
The California Air Resources Board is worried about leakage …………….. “In addition to achieving cost-effective emissions reductions, the California cap-and-trade program will be designed so as to not unduly disadvantage California industry. Introducing an environmental regulation in one jurisdiction can cause production costs and prices in that jurisdiction to increase relative to costs in jurisdictions that do not introduce comparable regulations. This can precipitate a shift in demand away from goods produced in the implementing jurisdiction toward goods produced elsewhere. As a result, the reduction in production and emissions in the implementing jurisdiction is offset by increased production and emissions elsewhere. The offsetting increase in emissions is called emissions leakage.2 AB 32 directs the Air Resources Board (ARB) to design all GHG regulations tominimize leakage to the extent feas3
“To comply with this stated goal of AB 32, ARB staff has developed a methodology for identifying industries at risk of emissions leakage, and a mechanism to minimize leakage risk.4 The preferred methodology was developed through careful deliberation and analysis of three alternative methodologies, each of which relies on its own variations of emissions intensity and trade share as the two central measures for evaluating an industry’s risk of emissions leakage. A detailed discussion of the methodologies, tradeoffs and implications for each industrial sector is included below………..” http://www.arb.ca.gov/regact/2010/capandtrade10/capv4appk.pdf
Kenji is a solar engineering expert, when asked where to install solar panels, he answers:
Roof!!
I hope he gave them “Dog’s abuse”!
Nobody with the name ‘Knobloch’ could ever be taken seriously in England.
A Frontal Lobotomy?
Hahahahaha love your sense of humor.
Ha ha, superb. And I bet no other UCS member has an IR camera next to their water bowl. Kenji is certainly well equipped 🙂
I’m not usually a fan of small dogs since many of them yap repeatedly for long periods of time (making them overqualified to be climate alarmists) but Kenji is such a cutie that I must admit to being a fan; even if he is a member of the Union of Convoluted Scientologists or whatever.
You should put it somewhere where Kenji regularly “does his business”. He might be able to make it smell a little more to his liking … 🙂
“If I get the chance, and when his membership expires, I’m going to ask Kenji if he’d like to form a Union of Formerly Concerned Scientists.”
“Some questions:
Is it a prerequisite that one must first join UCS and then become an ex-UCS member
or can one simply declare their former concern?”
I see this question as a potential threat to the future of our future consensus. It’s what denialists do. Let’s not be like them.
OF COURSE, we are not going to take responsibility. ONLY applicants who have been “Concerned ‘Scientists’ ” can ever possibly be FORMERLY “Concerned ‘Scientists’.” – just as nobody else can be “The Artist Formerly Known as Prince”.
He had to be Prince, first.
So now that The Union of Concerned Scientists has cleared the way, not one of our “Formerlies” need be an actual scientist or even a specimen of Homo sapiens.
For some reason that tire smell really nauseates me and gives me a headache betwen my temples. I can barely go into a parts store or pass through the tire section of a store. As soon as you mentioned the smell of the mousepad i could actually feel the ache between my temples that usually followd that aweful smell ! That thing woulg go right into my woodburner to add some heat to my house.
After registration with UCS, I expect Ms. E Stiregg, Mr. Rock E. Stoneledge, and Mr. Po Ta To , will form the core of our board of directors.
Requirements to join the Suzuki Foundation???
Lobotomy?
(Easiest way to become an CAGW drone)
corporate message says:
March 10, 2012 at 3:49 am
After registration with UCS, I expect Ms. E Stiregg, Mr. Rock E. Stoneledge, and Mr. Po Ta To , will form the core of our board of directors.
Will Mr. Po Ta To head the board?
Historically, the wise men of Nippon stroke their Japanese Chins as they ponder.
I demand to know if these mouse pad tires were locally sourced!
I wonder how much CO2 was created to make that “free” mouse-pad” and why didn’t the Union of Concerned Scientists didn’t consider the carbon footprint of their actions? :-))
“the recycled alarmism UCS peddles”
Brilliant!
Your right, Kenji does have a slightly concerned look about him.
It looks like Kenji has something new…”To poop” on…
http://youtu.be/7zWNJHS9PBE?t=10m6s
With Kenji as Director, the gravy train seems inevitable.
I’ve heard people joke about this for years, that anybody including their dog could join. I’m glad to see someone finally do it.