GLOBAL COOLING

Global cooling could be devastating for the planet and people

Global Cooling: 2017-2053

'Cosmic Rays & Risks of Frequent Flying'
Pilots & Flight Attendants Warned To Be Careful

by Theodore White, astromet.sci

For years I have been doing my best to warn the world of the coming dangers from climate change that begins in outer space.

The ignorant, those pushing 'man-made global warming,' often ridicule because that is what the lack of knowledge does, but it is a fact that our planet, the Earth, lives in outer space.

And it is in space where the other planets in our solar system and the Sun - the star that governs our planet's climate - also live.

Space is where all the climate conditions and weather begin.

The dangers coming from outer space can and do cause serious problems on Earth and my specialty is to forecast these problems in advance so that preparations can be made to remain safe.

If you stay with me in this forecast post, I will explain what is happening, and why it is very important for you to take action before matters become much worse going into the coming decade of the 2020s.

Now,

The Sun's Grand Minimum, due to its reduced magnetic and ultraviolet activity means climate change - and that means global cooling for the Earth.

Global cooling is bad for the Earth.

The Sun, when operating at maximum or near maximum output, is the cause of global warming, which is good for the Earth.

Those who claim that global warming is bad for the Earth are ignorant and do not know what they are talking about.

Moreover, you cannot find a single individual among them who has ever forecasted a single weather and climate event in advance based on their fallacies and fiction.

When the Sun reduces its electromagnetic activity, it goes into a kind of 'sleep mode.'

These sleep modes are in fact quiescent phases, when there is reduced magnetic activity and few to no sunspots at all seen on the Sun's surface.

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These quiescent phases are called solar minimums.

There are various levels of minimums, to weak minimums to to very strong minimums.

The Earth has gone through ice ages before due to solar minimums, with increased seismic and volcanic activity as well caused by the Sun's reduced magnetic activity.

I have called for the start of a very strong Grand Solar Minimum, which will dominate the Earth's climate over the next 36 years.

In effect, a mini 'ice age,' or global cooling, which is bad for the Earth and its inhabitants.

Because of the Sun's coming Grand Minimum, I've also warned about the radical changes to the Earth's jet streams and wind patterns in how storms will become more frequent and powerful with torrents of precipitation in the form of rain and snow during respective seasons in both hemispheres.

The increase in clouds and torrential rains have already begun in fact. Google 'floods' and 'torrential rains' in the 'news' section to see how these events are spreading worldwide, as I've long forecasted it would.

I have also warned airlines about increased turbulence for aircraft due to the radical shifts in jet stream behavior.

It also means that as the Sun's heliosphere (the protective shield over all the planets of our solar system) weakens, it has allowed high-speed radioactive particles in the form of galactic cosmic rays to penetrate our atmosphere.

More proof of the coming of global cooling is the fact that the Sun’s Heliosphere has weakened by 25 percent over the last decade.

It is now at its lowest level than it was more than 51 years ago.

Our entire solar system is made up of the Sun’s Heliosphere that is formed by the Sun’s winds.

The Heliosphere is a protective bubble of sorts, with a combination of electrically charged particles and magnetic fields that move more than a million miles an hour from the Sun.

The Sun’s charged winds meet up with cosmic, or intergalactic gas that fills the gaps in outer space between solar systems.

At the boundary point where they meet; what is called a 'shock wave' or 'shock boundary' is formed which deflects dangerous clouds of gas and dust that are the interstellar radiation around the solar system as it travels through the galaxy.

These clouds of gas and dust between stars are also known as dark clouds, or cosmic radiation.

These dark clouds can block the light coming from particular stars.

They act as a kind of interstellar medium that surrounds our Sun’s Heliosphere.

The Heliosphere of the Sun creates a bubble of protection from speed of light travelling atomic particles that are hazardous to the climates of planets, like our Earth.

The Sun’s heliosphere is dynamic and it is a major part of what I monitor as an astrometeorologist; including angular momentum of the outer planets in our solar system that alters the path of our Sun relative and the impacts on the Earth's climate.

The heliosphere can enlarge or shrink according to the density of the interstellar medium or the dark clouds that surrounds it.

Cosmic rays are atom fragments that rain down on the Earth from outside our solar system. Since the last decade I have been very concerned about the penetration of cosmic rays to the Earth.

They travel at the speed of light and have been blamed for electronics problems in satellites and other machinery.

Because these highly-dense dark clouds can shrink the Sun’s heliosphere, at the same time they also can help to weaken the Earth’s protective shield from cosmic rays and that impacts our climate.

Understand clearly that cosmic rays constantly rain down on Earth.

Every second, each and every square centimeter of the Earth is struck by about 10,000 cosmic rays.

These charged subatomic particles from outer space can attain very high energies. They are a mixture of high-energy photons and subatomic particles accelerated toward Earth by supernova explosions and other violent space events.

Our best line of defense is the Sun, because the magnetic field and solar wind combine to create the heliosphere which normally fends off cosmic rays attempting to enter our solar system.

Their flow is particularly intense in the Arctic and Antarctica as they are attracted by the high magnetic field at the Earth’s poles.

While the high-energy primary rays collide with atoms in the Earth's upper atmosphere and rarely make it through to the ground, there are many secondary particles ejected from collisions and they do reach us on the surface.

With the Sun's reduced magnetic output and weakened solar wind, the result is global cooling and that has been my climate forecast for a long time.

According to my calculations, global cooling officially began in mid-December 2017 and will last 36 years.

It will affect everyone on Earth and already has started; especially the increase in cosmic ray penetration.

Cosmic rays can seed more clouds and therefore increase the precipitation action in the troposphere. Cosmic rays also can trigger more lightning.

There are also are studies that link cosmic rays with increased cardiac arrhythmias in the general population.

Some people may think that concerns about cosmic rays is nothing more than imagination, but cosmic rays are very real and have been increasing.

For example, that was the conclusion of a scientific paper published in the research journal Space Weather.

The authors, led by Professor Nathan Schwadron of the University of New Hampshire, confirmed that radiation from deep space is very dangerous and intensifying faster than previously predicted.

Schwadron and his team colleagues first sounded their alarm in 2014 about cosmic rays.

They discovered that cosmic rays in the Earth-Moon system were peaking at levels never before seen in the Space Age.

The worsening radiation environment, they pointed out, was a potential peril to astronauts, curtailing how long they could safely travel through space.

A figure from their original 2014 paper showed that the number of days a 30-year old male astronaut flying in a spaceship with 10 g/cm2 of aluminum shielding could go before hitting NASA-mandated radiation limits.

In the 1990s, an astronaut could spend 1,000 days in interplanetary space.

In 2014 it was down to only 700 days.

"That's a huge change," said Schwadron.

The protection of the Sun and its heliosphere when the Sun is at maximum protects us.

The problem is, as the authors noted, is that the heliosphere has been weakening:

"Over the last decade, the solar wind has exhibited low densities and magnetic field strengths, representing anomalous states that have never been observed during the Space Age.

"As a result of this remarkably weak solar activity, we have also observed the highest fluxes of cosmic rays."

Back in 2014, Schwadron used a leading model of solar activity to predict how bad cosmic rays would become during the next Solar Minimum, now expected in 2019-2020.

"Our previous work suggested a ~ 20% increase of dose rates from one solar minimum to the next," says Schwadron.

"In fact, we now see that actual dose rates observed in the last 4 years exceed the predictions by ~ 10% - showing that the radiation environment is worsening even more rapidly than we expected."

Sensors show that since 2014-2015 that there has been a 13% increase in radiation (X-rays and gamma-rays) penetrating our planet's atmosphere.

X-rays and gamma-rays detected by sensors are secondary cosmic rays that are produced by the crash of primary cosmic rays into Earth's upper atmosphere.

They trace radiation percolating down toward our planet's surface.

The energy range of the sensors (10 keV to 20 MeV) is similar to that of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners.

It has been my forecast for a long time that as the Sun begins its Grand Minimum and the Earth enters the climate of global cooling that cosmic rays will intensify much more in the 2020s.

What are some of the effects?

Well, some people do not know that cosmic rays do in fact penetrate commercial airlines and dose passengers and flight crews to the point that frequent fliers, pilots and flight attendants can now be classified by the International Commission on Radiological Protection as occupational radiation workers.

Yes, it is true.

Frequent flyers on airlines, especially pilots and flight attendants are at very high risk, not only from the altered jet streams and extreme turbulence, but also from cosmic rays.

It is a little-known fact that pilots and flight attendants are being exposed to more cosmic radiation than nuclear power plant employees.

Consider this,

In spring 2018, a new study found that American flight attendants are at an increased risk for several types of cancers.

This is from radiation exposure at higher altitudes as there are less atmospheric protection against cosmic radiation from space. Other threats are circadian rhythm disruption.

For the latest study, published in the journal Environmental Health, researchers used data from the Harvard Flight Attendant Health Survey, which included responses from more than 5,300 flight attendants.

They compared those findings to data from nearly 3,000 adults with similar socioeconomic backgrounds: participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

The results showed that for women, breast cancer was 1.5 times as prevalent in flight attendants as compared to in the general public.

Melanoma was twice as prevalent and nonmelanoma skin cancers (such as basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas) were 4 times as prevalent.

Flight attendants also had higher rates of uterine, cervical, thyroid and gastrointestinal cancers.

In a release, study author Irina Mordukhovich, a research fellow at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, called the findings “striking,” given the low rates of obesity and smoking in the flight attendants - 8 percent of participating flight attendants were current smokers, compared to 16 percent of the NHANES respondents.

So what’s to blame for the prevalence of cancer in flight attendants?

Although the study didn’t identify a cause (that wasn’t its purpose) Mordukhovich and her colleagues offered up a few potential explanations, including flight attendants’ exposure to cosmic ionizing radiation (or radiation from outer space).

We’re exposed to small amounts of ionizing radiation all the time, though our atmosphere offers some degree of protection.

At higher altitudes, where the air is thinner, more radiation gets through, which some researchers speculate may increase your cancer risk.

“Cabin crew have the largest annual ionizing radiation dose of all U.S. workers,” pointed out study's authors.

Radiation dose is measured in millisievert per year (mSv) and previous research has shown that the average dose for cabin crews is 3.07 mSv, compared to 0.59 mSv for U.S. Department of Energy workers.

Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere normally shields us from much of the radiation from space, but the Earth's magnetic field is weakening as is the Sun's heliosphere and more cosmic rays are easily penetrating the Earth.

An instrument aboard the Curiosity Mars Rover during its 253-day journey to Mars revealed that the radiation dose received by an astronaut on even the shortest Earth-Mars round trip would be about 0.66 sievert.

This amount is like receiving a whole-body CT scan every 5 or 6 days.

A dose of 1 sievert is associated with a 5.5 percent increase in the risk of fatal cancers.

The normal daily radiation dose received by the average person living on Earth is 10 microsieverts (0.00001 sievert).

Those interested in learning how to protect themselves should read this very sad cautionary tale of a female Korean Airlines flight attendant and her life and death struggle from exposure to cosmic radiation while working on commercial airlines.

This article by Theodore White was posted on Facebook group THE GLOBAL WARMING RATIONAL DEBATE GROUP     https://www.facebook.com/groups/1137138173085884/

WINGS OVER WAHAROA – TWO

When flying was for birds and dare-devils, and when pilots flew while birds were grounded

The second in a series that will lead to publication of the book Wings Over Waharoa in this 60^th year of the Piako Gliding Club.

The Piako Gliding Club’s first glider, Rhonlerche II ZK-GBO was damaged in an accident in July 1958. It collided with the tow plane, Tiger Moth ZK-AQA. A new wing needed to be imported from Germany. But there was a problem.

At the end of 1957 there had been a change of government, the new government faced a balance of payments crisis and Finance Minister Arnold Nordmeyer issued his famous Black Budget, which, among other measures, placed severe restrictions on imports. For a time, it was feared that the club might not survive without a flyable glider. Meanwhile, members kept the revenue flowing with private flights in the otherwise unemployed tow plane until an import licence was finally granted and gliding started again on February 21, 1959.

In those early times everyone was on a learning curve, and with little regulation, incidents and accidents were common.

Rhonlerche II ZK-GBO

The club’s two machines, ZK-GBO and tow plane ZK-AQA were involved in a comedy of errors at Tahuroa, near Morrinsville, on April 7, 1960, that could have seen both aircraft damaged beyond repair. AQA, flown by Peter Blakeborough, had towed GBO, flown by Tony Littlejohn, to Hamilton for maintenance. On the return flight, noticing that AQA had suddenly found extra airspeed, Peter looked over his shoulder in time to see GBO (the Little Stinker) heading for a steep topdressing strip. Tony had inexplicable released the tow. He made a good landing on the strip, stopping half-way up with room for AQA to pass to one side. Peter landed and taxied to the level loading area at the top and together they hauled GBO to the top of the strip ready for take-off. After a council of war, a phone call to Les Marshall, who lived in Morrinsville, brought him to the strip to fly AQA so that Peter could fly GBO with Tony as passenger. A strategy was devised whereby the Tiger Moth, famous for not having brakes, would idle slowly off the edge of the loading area, taking up the slack as it proceeded downhill. But this was a serious miscalculation. The strip was steep enough for the Tiger to get airborne without the propeller doing anything. It was thought that when the slack was taken up, the two aircraft would take-off normally. That was the plan. But it didn’t quite work out that way. Immediately the tug was clear of the level loading area, it quickly gathered momentum, the rope tightened equally quickly, and in less than its own length, GBO was catapulted into space, immediately catching up with the tug. Les continued his downhill take-off while Peter, already airborne, used spoilers to stay in position and thereby avoided towing the tug. The two aircraft then returned to Waharoa without further incident.

DH Tiger Moth ZK-AQA

Two days later April 9, 1960, GBO was involved another adventure that was possibly a first for Piako, and possibly a first for any New Zealand gliding club. At an air pageant at Whakatane three gliders performed formation aerobatics, including loops and stall turns followed by a maximum speed downwind run before landing from a 180 degree turn. That was not easy for two Rhonlerches formating with a faster Slingsby Skylark II. The aircraft were Skylark ZK-GBM from the Auckland Gliding Club, ZK-GBO (Peter Blakeborough) and Rhonlerche ZK-GBQ (M. Kirk) from the Tauranga Gliding Club. The pageant was to mark the opening of Whakatane Airport. (Some of this information may be in need of correction)

The Rhonlerche was a trainer with limited soaring capabilities. It could handle thermals that were close to the home base at Waharoa and it could make a downwind return to the airfield from the easterly Kaimai Range wave, provided the pilot kept a close watch on height and distance. On Saturday September 3, 1960, the club began a new type of operation that would enable ridge flying in a westerly wind. The Montague family at Gordon offered the use of their farm airstrip, a flat paddock, within easy distance of the Kaimai Range. For most Piako members, ridge flying was a new and enjoyable experience and by Sunday night Ross Carmichael, Peter De Renzy, Stuart Rogerson and John Cresswell had flown solo on the ridge in GBO.

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Tiger Moth ZK-AQA was involved in numerous incidents with the Piako Gliding Club during its three years of service. One incident highlights the adage, ‘There are lots of young bold pilots, but few old bold pilots.’ Les Marshall in AQA, and Peter Blakeborough in GBO, decided one foggy winter morning in 1960 to check out the ceiling. Several members were keen to fly, and the crew were keen to see them airborne. The fog seemed to lift a little and the tug and glider took off.

Unfortunately, at about 200 feet both aircraft entered cloud and Houston had a problem. Fortunately, Les had completed the instrument flying part of his commercial pilot training just days before and Peter was just able to keep him in murky view at the other end of the rope. The Rhonlerche had only an airspeed indicator, altimeter and variometer. Without the tow plane as his artificial horizon, Peter would have been doomed within seconds. He carefully followed the minor control surface movements of AQA, keeping his wings level with the tug, while Les executed a 180 degree turn. For an age they flew downwind on reduced power. Then the small control surface movements indicated another turn for Peter to follow. Then the power came all the way back and Peter opened the spoilers to stay in position. A short time later, the trees on Jagger Road (now removed) at the approach end of Runway 10 slipped by with ample clearance. The runway, clubhouse and hangar also appeared, both aircraft landed safely, and that would have been the end of the escapade, but for a third aircraft that appeared out of the fog.

AQA and GBO had barely rolled to a stop when a Piper Apache landed alongside them and taxied to the pump. On board was Civil Aviation inspector George Arkley. George took Les aside for a stern lecture on flight safety, after which he relaxed somewhat and thanked Les for saving his life. He explained that he had been flying from Wellington to Auckland but diverted to Hamilton because of fog in Auckland. But when he got overhead Hamilton, it had closed too. He decided to fly to Tauranga, but halfway there he realised he didn’t have enough fuel to make it. With no airports available he was looking for holes in the fog when he just happened to catch a glimpse of a Tiger Moth with a Rhonlerche on tow, so he followed in a wide circle to compensate for the Apache’s higher speed.

For some time after this incident, it was remembered as the day that Les Marshall saved three lives, including his own.

In those early days there was often times when the best of plans failed to go according to plan. One such day was when Arthur Bull, and aero club instructor from Tauranga, visited to sign tow ratings for some Piako pilots. The requirement at the time called for both tester and applicant to demonstrate that they could operate from both ends of the rope. So, Arthur flew the glider while the local pilot flew the tug. Then they swapped places, and everything went to plan until the glider pilot released the rope whereupon the tug pilot released his end too. Members spent the rest of the day looking for the rope, the only one the club had, but like Houdini, its escape was complete. The rope was never seen again.

ZK-AQA was a good performer due to its large diameter metal propeller, an unusual feature on a Tiger Moth, which increased the climb rate while aiding with engine cooling on long climbs. It also had wing slats which lowered the stalling speed and improved low speed handling. The metal propeller was heavier than standard wood propellers and was inclined to run on for a time after shutting down. It also had a larger diameter and these two qualities suddenly became a burden one Sunday when AQA was being put to bed for the night. Someone waved Les Marshall right into the hangar, but to be on the safe side he cut the switches immediately after a short burst of power to get the wheels over the hangar door tracks. AQA kept rolling forward and the prop continued to rotate, the propeller tips grazed the steel rafters, and a fireworks display lit up the hangar in the fading light.

Highway America

On Christmas Eve, 1960, ZK-AQA had an unscheduled brush with Terra Firma that resulted in substantial damage. Meanwhile, aircraft loaned from the Waikato Aero Club kept members flying while a search was mounted for parts. That was in the days when it was commonly believed that sobriety came immediately after downing the last drink, and it was safe to drive and/or fly immediately. The incident happened early in the morning and was therefore quite unexpected, as accidents usually are. Les Marshall towed the Rhonlerche into the blue and immediately returned to Waharoa to await the next launch. It must be said that in those days flying and gliding were less regulated than in later years and there was always a degree of experimentation with the way things were done. It was common practice to drop the tow rope before landing. This was sometimes accomplished with a high-speed, low-level run downwind, a little like an elated Spitfire pilot returning from a successful mission, with the rope landing as close as possible to the duty pilot’s feet. It was felt that landing with the rope trailing behind was bad for the rope, especially if it dragged over a fence. So, following the downwind dash, the tug would pull up into a steep turn, power would be cut, and a steep slipping turn would place it on the ground and clear of the runway before the glider approached. This day, Les did everything perfectly until it was time to straighten up from the steep slipping turn, and AQA would have been history except for some brilliant team work and the sudden appearance of main planes and other bits and pieces, several weeks later. After two days of hectic work, on a balmy moonlight night, ZK-AQA survived a test flight at the hands of Wally Christofferson of Tauranga, who also supervised the rebuilding. The test flight included some low-level aerobatics and a dead-stick landing. It was all typical of the times.

That was 60 years ago. Flying and gliding are much safer now, and that is how it should be.

In this 60^th year, the history of the Piako Gliding Club is soon to be published in a book and assistance would be appreciated with photos of people, places, events and aircraft, along with documents, records and stories. If you can help, please contact Peter Blakeborough at peterblakeborough@gmail.com or call on 021-115-0543.

PEER REVIEW DOUBTS

Is peer review really the Holy Grail of science?

For 300 years peer reviewed papers have served science and scholarly publishing without question, until recently. In the words of Wikipedia, peer review works like this:

Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people of similar competence to the producers of the work (peers). It constitutes a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review methods are employed to maintain standards of quality, improve performance, and provide credibility in academia. Scholarly review is often used to determine an academic paper’s suitability for publication. Peer review can be categorized by the type of activity and by the field or profession in which the activity occurs.

In a nutshell, peer review helps validate research findings submitted to science journals for publication. The journal will invite other scientists and researchers to comment on the paper before deciding to publish it. The review may take one of several forms. The single blind review is one in which the name(s) of the reviewer(s) are hidden from the author. In a double-blind review the reviewer’s and author’s names are not disclosed. Finally, there is the open review in which the author and reviewer are known to each other. Each review type has its own advantages and disadvantages and there is no perfect system. Personal bias can, and often does, play a part, and the author, whether the name is revealed or not, can often be identified by the writing style or topic, and a reviewer may be influenced by the standing, or lack of standing, of the author.

Acceptance of established scientific principles can change over time and an author with a paper revealing new discoveries may often receive an adverse review from a reviewer who supports the status quo or simply goes with the consensus opinion. History is full of discoveries that were harshly criticized by the establishment but later became mainstream thinking.

In 2006, the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine published this:

Peer review is at the heart of the processes of not just medical journals but of all of science. It is the method by which grants are allocated, papers published, academics promoted, and Nobel prizes won. Yet it is hard to define. It has until recently been unstudied. And its defects are easier to identify than its attributes. Yet it shows no sign of going away. Famously, it is compared with democracy: a system full of problems but the least worst we have.

Perhaps the most damning comment come from The Guardian:

Peer review is the process that decides whether your work gets published in an academic journal. It doesn't work very well any more, mainly as a result of the enormous number of papers that are being published (an estimated 1.3 million papers in 23,750 journals in 2006). There simply aren't enough competent people to do the job. The overwhelming effect of the huge (and unpaid) effort that is put into reviewing papers is to maintain a status hierarchy of journals. Any paper, however bad, can now get published in a journal that claims to be peer-reviewed.

Journals themselves can be biased and actively seeking research findings that suit the publisher’s bias and seeking reviews from reviewers known to also be biased. This makes a mockery of peer reviewing. 

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During the lifetime of this writer, many changes to CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation) have taken place. But each change found bitter resistance because the current method was developed by ‘experts’ and peer reviewed to give it extra authority. My introduction to CPR in the 1950’s, then known as artificial resperation, was to learn the Holger Neilsen technique for use in reviving workmates who had been ‘killed’ by contact with electric power transmission lines. We practised on ‘victims’ hanging in safety harness 30 feet above the ground. The rescuer would climb a ladder, secure his own harness, and perform the revival from behind the victim by moving his arms back and forth to fill the lungs and restart breathing. I never knew of a case where it worked, but it was a universally accepted technique. Present day first aid people would scoff at such an idea, but in its day the Holger Nielsen technique was only questioned by fools, sceptics and agitators. While peer review can help introduce revolutionary new scientific discoveries, it can also block the acceptance of new scientific discoveries.

Economist Professor George J. Borjas

Economics is a field where opinion and data are often disputed, always has been disputed and probably always will be disputed. It is a controversial area of learning. Professor George J. Borjas wrote in his blog:

I have a few pet peeves. One of them is how “peer review” is perceived by far too many people as the gold standard certification of scientific authority. Any academic who’s been through the peer review process many times (as I have) knows that the process is full of potholes and is sometimes subverted by unethical behaviour on the part of editors and reviewers.

Unethical behaviour? Some authors have even been caught peer reviewing their own work.

In recent years the peer review system has become such a shambles that some of the leading journals now knock back everything that doesn’t conform to their own pre-conceived idea of the world and the way it should be. This is the exact opposite of what peer review was supposed to achieve.

Holger Louis Nielsen, Danish Olympian
and creator of Holger Nielsen
artificial respiration

Mention has already been made of economics and CPR and how change has been opposed. Man-made climate change, and its dire consequences for the planet, has found widespread public acceptance. But, interestingly, it has found less acceptance in the academic community, particularly among meteorologists, climate scientists, geologists and historians. But they are largely shouted down by those citing peer reviewed papers.

Peer review is frequently used, by those claiming scientific backgrounds, to silence people who lack a PhD in some scientific discipline. On social media these people, and those citing their work, frequently lambast their critics as ignorant, or challenge them to list their own peer reviewed papers. The idea that anyone without a PhD and a peer reviewed paper is of no consequence, or is an ignorant meaningless individual, is repugnant.

I wonder, if John D. Rockefeller were alive today, would the ivory tower crackpots want to peer review his business plan and tell him it wouldn’t work because he hadn’t been to university. Astronaut John Glenn, author Mark Twain, and industrialist Henry Ford would have failed the PhD/peer review test too. To that list can be added William Shakespeare, Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, Richard Branson, Ted Turner, George Eastman and John Major. All dropped out of school before obtaining a degree. Are we to believe that government funded researchers are smarter than the successful men listed above? I don’t think so.

It is easy to write-off people who are uneducated. When I was growing up in rural Northland, New Zealand, I was fortunate to live next door to one of the wisest and most respected men I have ever known. He was in his seventies and was the most successful farmer in the district. He had taught himself to read and write, had a house full of books on every subject under the sun, and could talk with, or debate with, the best on any subject. After spending many hours, days and years in his shadow, I knew that a man or woman does not need to be educated to be a genius.

Peer reviews have become a joke. However, if someone genuinely desires a peer review on the future of the climate, my suggestion would be to take a wander down to your nearest seaside pier and ask a crusty old fisherman what he thinks about the future climate. He will tell it the way it is, the way it could be tomorrow, and beyond that summer will follow winter and winter will follow summer the way it always has, and always will.

One pier review will be worth a thousand peer reviews every time.

A CITY FOR TRUCKS

Bill Moon’s Iowa 80 Truckstop

Reposted from 2012

When trucking was just a gleam in some of today’s drivers’ eyes and Interstate 80 was not yet completed, the Iowa 80 Truckstop was founded. In 1964, Standard Oil built and opened the truck stop, and in September 1965, Bill Moon took over management of the truckstop for Amoco. Like many of the truckstops in existence at the time, Iowa 80 was a small facility that only took up a fraction of what it does today, housing a small truckers store, one lube bay and a restaurant run by the Peel family.

The Iowa 80  Truck Jamboree

Under Mr. Moon’s keen management, the truckstop began to grow and in 1984 Bill Moon purchased the truckstop from Amoco, that like the industry itself, has been a flurry of activity and expansion ever since. Now that it was theirs, the Moon family was able to remodel, update and expand the restaurant and truckers store. The shop bays were closed to build state of the art private showers and a driver’s area, both of which were very rare in a truckstop at this time. In 1989, Iowa 80 added a new store probably most famous for, other than its chrome selection, the 1918 Oldsmobile hoisted above the cashier island.

Three years later, in 1992, Iowa 80 Truckstop expanded its fuel center and became a Truckstops of America franchisee. This move gave Iowa 80 the opportunity to associate with a nationally recognized name and at the same time maintain its independence. Truckstops of America would also serve as a connection to the trucking fleets that had grown over the years. And one year later, Iowa 80 opened its TA Service Center. Sadly, 1992 also marked the year that Mr. Bill Moon passed away, but his family is still operating the truckstop as he would have wanted — focusing on the customer and you are sure to find someone from the Moon family on the grounds any given day.

The late Bill Moon

Mr. Moon’s focus on the customer is what sparked the beginning of theWalcott Truckers Jamboree, now preparing to celebrate its 33rd year. This huge driver appreciation event has evolved over the years and serves as an example for other truckstops and towns that hold such events. The Jamboree began as the Moon family’s way of thanking their driver customers and continues to do so today as a celebration of the trucking industry with a pork chop cook-out, Super Truck Beauty Contest, Live Entertainment, exhibits and an antique truck display that is partially comprised of the Moon family collection. Many of the trucks are displayed year-round in the truckstop building and on the grounds. The place is a tribute to the trucking industry with antique trucks, pumps, toys and hundreds of photos displayed throughout

With the completion of its $4 million expansion project in 1994, Iowa 80 TA Truckstop widened the gap as the largest truckstop in the world. The truckstop now boasts the Iowa 80 Kitchen, it’s new 300-seat restaurant with a 50-ft. salad bar, one-of-a-kind Truckers Warehouse Store, 24 private showers, 60-seat Dolby Surround Sound® movie theater, Driver’s Den, two Game Rooms, Embroidery Center, Vinyl Graphics Shop, Barber, Dentist, TA Service Center, Truckomat truck wash, CAT Scale, state-of-the-art Fuel Center, Wendy’s and Dairy Queen in the Food Court and a Blimpie located in the Fuel Center and parking for 800 tractor-trailers, 250 cars and 20 buses.

In 1997, the Iowa 80 Catalog was born. Drivers can now order everything they want from Iowa 80 Truckstop even if their schedule or route doesn’t take them to Walcott. Drivers have the choice of ordering by phone from the catalog or ordering on-line, 24 hours a day, at www.iowa80.com.

The Iowa 80 Trucking Museum, a dream of Bill Moon, Iowa 80’s founder opened in July of 2008. The museum houses many of the Moon Family’s antique trucks and transportation memorabilia. Museum tours are available by appointment.

HIGHWAY AMERICA

Iowa 80 completed yet another expansion in 2006. Iowa 80’s New 30,000 sq. foot Super Truck Showroom features everything from chrome bumpers to lights to cleaning supplies. The new addition, boasts two full size tractors and a tractor-trailer inside the building. They have been incorporated into the design and are used to display new interior and exterior chrome and stainless products as well as lights so drivers can see how the merchandise actually looks installed on a truck.

The Super Truck Showroom includes a staff of truck accessories experts to assist drivers who are customizing their trucks. A wall of lights will be displayed so drivers can see what every single type of light sold will look like lit up. The Custom Shop features a vinyl graphics shop, custom t-shirt shop, laser engraving and an embroidery center rolled into one. Drivers can see their designs come to life. There is also a balcony from the second floor overlooking the Super Truck Showroom where drivers can just stand and soak in all of the chrome and lights.

Iowa 80 has also remodeled the rest of the main building. More bathrooms have been added and the Convenience Store and Food Court have been expanded, adding Taco Bell, Pizza Hut Express, Orange Julius and Caribou Coffee.

See also:

Route 66

I Was A Paid Tourist

Mobile Flight Simulator

Over the years drivers have seen a lot of changes in truckstops and the amenities they offer. For drivers Iowa 80 TA Truckstop has been a home away from home and they’ve watched it transform from a small facility into the largest, most respected truckstop in the world. And each one of those drivers know that even though Iowa 80 has changed, their friendly service and commitment to truckers has remained the same. Iowa 80 is always focused on serving the professional driver better.