Ah, you knew it had to happen. Taking a page from the “smoking kills” campaigns, the McKibbenites are petitioning the land of fruits and nuts to put new warning labels on gas pumps warning buyers about the evils of gasoline use as it pertains to global warming.
And, given that California’s governor Jerry brown was recently scared shitless at AGU by a hyped up presentation by Penn State’s Dr. Richard Alley, he’ll probably help these folks get it into law. I wrote then:
I shudder to think what sort of influence Alley’s rantings might have on the people of California via Brown.
Here’s the proposed label:
My view is that it will probably get about as much attention from consumers as the idiotic Global Warming Labels for cars in California, that are even required on electric cars (which is why I gave up on trying to sell them in 2008, but that’s another story) because apparently consumers are too stupid to figure out that electric motors don’t directly emit gases.
Does anyone except the most zealotous of buyers really care? Generally not, looks, features, color, price, performance, and mileage are still the biggest factors in determining an automobile purchase.
So, even if the McKibbenites manage to get this into law, it will likely have about as much impact as this sticker already slapped onto new car doors and the side of gas pumps in California from Proposition 65 in 1986:
![prop_65[1]](http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/prop_651.jpg?quality=83)
People still need to get from point A to point B, like to work, and will generally consider that need above all others. Basically the new global warming gasoline warning label as proposed will just be a subtle form of harassment from the minority McKibbenites on the majority of Californians.
The local chapter of the McKibbenite sect thinks the label should look like this:
350BayArea.org has released this mock up of what a climate change warning label might look like on a gas pump. (350BayArea.org)
I keep hoping environmental zealots will be forced to wear a warning label. Maybe something like “Warning: Irrational and emotionally based statements (and odors) may emanate from this individual, keep 10 feet back.”
(h/t to a bunch of people, you know who you are.)
Mac the Knife says:
January 10, 2014 at 7:52 pm
_Jim and Janice,
My favorite production corvette is the original 1990 – 1995 ZR1, with the LT5 aluminum block, double overhead cam, 375hp, 375 ft lb torque, sweetest V8 small block mill ever built! In 1993, they increased the horsepower to 405 hp…. The ZR1 included a greatly refined suspension, a new 6 speed manual transmission, a 4 inch wider aft body to cover the wider tires, and many other refinements.
From http://www.corvettemuseum.org/specs/2009zr1/history.shtml
Rumor became fact at the 1989 Geneva Auto Show, when the ZR-1 officially debuted. It was a time when performance cars were only beginning to regain some of the performance enjoyed during the heyday of the muscle car, and the ZR-1′s 375-horespower (280 kW) LT5 V-8 engine – with its DOHC configuration and four-valve heads – was an intoxicating breath of high-octane excitement.
+++++++++++
I totally loved the ZR-1. At the time, it was simply amazing… I drove one back in the day – but to see one is much better than looking at pictures. The wider body looks so damned cool. Very much a super car. The following generation Vettes with standard 405 hp were not as good, but the bragging rights of equal power for much less money stole the show.
Dear Mario!,
How COOL that you showed up here! LOL, re: “Mr. Knife,” I just cannot bear to call that kindhearted, generous-spirited, man the name from that HORRID song (ugh), so I changed it… . He is not my knight in shining armor, just a knight in shining armor. #(;))
Re: Subarus — Oh COME ON, Lento, you know good and well that’s not the model of Subaru I was talking about (smile).
Yes! (re: wider ‘vette body) — that’s why my dream C5 Corvette will have a Calloway body mod.. Bea—u–teee–ful.
Re: speed limits, as I said, I always drive safely… . #(:))
Thanks for all the fun and informative (have to go buy some fake whipped cream, now — I call it “fake” because it’s far inferior to the real thing — and LAUGH-OUT-LOUD, GIGGGGGLE, heh) comments, Mr. Lento.
Janice
Ah,yes. About what you can expect from
Governor “Medfly” Brown
Janice: You know I commented on this particular post because of you. I had missed it in trying to catch up, so was busy on other posts. So, anyone who might be perturbed by me on this particular post –blame Ms Moore, that’s Janice Moore.
Au contraire, Mr. Lento, they will most certainly not be blaming me for your excellent remarks, but giving me the CREDIT.
#(:))
Awh – shucks Janice, you sure know how da make a fella feed real good. (I hope that sounds like the Mater the Tow Truck character)… *blush*
Yes, you sounded like Mater, lol, but you reason and write and drive and charm like Lightning McQueen. Your wife is blessed, indeed. Yeah, just thought I’d better remind myself about her existence, heh, heh.
*blush*
SMILE
Hi, Phil Jourdan,
Well, I can’t speak for Wally, but your post was read by me, at least. Good one, heh, heh.
Say, did you get to listen to that Meatloaf song I posted for you and for A. D. Everard on Bob Tisdale’s “I have to go back to work” thread? (“Forever Young”)
Your WUWT ally,
Janice
@Janice Moore – No I missed it. I read most comments from the email, but it never posts youtube links or graphics. I just went back and listened to it. Always nice to take an enjoyable break to listen to great artists!
Thanks.
@Phil Jourdan — You are welcome! #(:))
Thanks for letting me know.
Let them do it. Why fight it? Let everyone be assaulted by this and every other “sky if falling” nonsense that is out there. And, year after year, as it becomes more obvious the sky isn’t falling, they’ll just have made it that much more impossible to prevaricate on where they actually stood and what they actually were calling for.
Give them all the rope they want.
Frank Lee MeiDere – thanks for the Snopes link for the DMHO ban in Mission Viejo. I wouldn’t have believed you otherwise. I mean, Orange County is supposed to be the sanest of CA. It’s the next town south of me. I had to forward a link to this page as well as the Snopes link, because it beggars belief. LMAO!
I gotta get out of here SOON! (I know, you don’t give a damn!)
@theOtherJohninCalif
I know. It beggars belief.
I think I’ve told the story here before, but I taught at a college in Toronto for eight stress(pretty much gone back to journalism now) and for the first half of the semester I would stress the importance of checking facts, and especially facts being provided by people with an agenda. After the mid-semester break I would introduce a guest speaker (my friend, Joe) who would proceed to regale them with the horrors of DHMO (using a PowerPoint presentation I’d prepared). At the end he would pass around a petition to ban from municipal properties all food containing or prepared with DHMO. I’ve been doing that for the last five years I taught (so right up to 2012) and each semester I had between three to five classes.
In all that time, two (2) students DIDN’T sign the petition. One because she figured society was so screwed it wouldn’t help anyway, and the other because she didn’t think I would allow a real petition in my classroom (she was right — a fellow Doctor Whovian, she’d pegged me pretty well).
Every other student out of those hundreds signed willingly and with great pride.
Other John;
Um, it’s DHMO, not DMHO. That would mean Di-Mono Hydrogen Oxide, a nonsense.
@Brian H – I prefer hydrogen hydroxide – HOH.
@Brian H: “Um, it’s DHMO, not DMHO. That would mean Di-Mono Hydrogen Oxide, a nonsense.”
Doesn’t mean they wouldn’t try banning it anyway 🙂
Once you had the papers safely in hand, did you casually reveal that they had just petitioned to ban water? What was the best reaction you got, if so?
Brian H says:
January 18, 2014 at 6:22 pm
Sorry for the delay answering. We went to visit some friends for a belated birthday party.
Anyhow, to set the stage for this whole DHMO trick I would explain, a couple of weeks before hand, that we were going to have a guest speaker and when he was finished the class was to discuss how well he’d presented the material, the trustworthiness of his sources and how convincing he’d been.
When the presentation was over there was a slide with various questions and suggestions for class discussion. When the discussion finished I would say that unfortunately there was no way I could grade them on their participation, at which the guest (my friend, Joe) would say, “I have a way,” and produce the petition. I would hem and haw over allowing a petition in my class, but eventually I’d relent, saying something along the lines of, “Well, I’ll allow it — but only sign it if you were really convinced. Whether you sign or not will have no effect on marks — in fact, I won’t even look at it when you’re done.”
The petition would be passed. When it came back with the signatures I would click the PowerPoint ahead another slide, which explained that sometimes it helped to understand the nature of a chemical when dealing with issues. The slide would then show that DHMO was H2O.
The general reaction was a chorus of groans, following which I would ream them out for failing to apply even a single lesson I’d been hammering home for the first part of the semester.
I think the most puzzling reaction I got was one student who said, “You know, I knew it was water.” And when I asked why he’d signed it, he said, “Well, I figured there must be a good reason, otherwise there wouldn’t be a petition.”
The best reaction was one student who came up to me with a big smile as the class was leaving and said, “You, sir, are a bastard.”
I cherished that one.
The PowerPoint presentation went through several forms, but around 2009 I settled on one that looked like an official, and somewhat bland, presentation as done by the DMHO organisation. I’ve just now uploaded it to my old class website from my Dropbox (naturally I didn’t have a link to it on the class site while I was actually teaching, since I didn’t want students stumbling upon it before the lecture, and after the lecture it was irrelevant.). The link to the page is here: http://gbccollegeenglish.wordpress.com/about/
The PowerPoint is called Dihydrogen Monoxide.
A few others you might enjoy (if that’s the right word) are “I Read the News Today,” which looks at Video News Releases an has a special feature on the non-reporting of the Climategate emails, Who’s Lying Now, which looks at the way statistics are often manipulated, and Reading Studies and Statistics.
Geeze. Going over all this has reminded me just how much I loved teaching. I stopped in 2012 to become managing editor of a paper out west for a year. I sure don’t miss the education system, though.
Hope you enjoy the DHMO presentation, and thanks for the interest.
Uh. That should have been “beforehand.” (Bad English prof. No cookie.)
Rich!
Working my way through the PPTs. The CTV glassware link is dead, I think. Just gives a generic FP now.
Shame, but I was always having to find new examples to replace old ones that no longer were available. If I recall, that one was obviously put out by Corning Ware’s PR department and showed how some glass bake-ware shattered when taken from the oven and placed on a wet surface. Only one brand didn’t — Corning Ware.