The percentage of the Czechs who are climate alarmists is negligible today. Passionate desires to "save the planet" are virtually non-existent among the generic people which is also why the media rarely write about the topic and if they do, their approach is balanced in average.Even in the academic system, there are just a few IPCC-faithful alarmists - right now, I can only think of Mr Ladislav Metelka as a clear example - and the number of skeptics is arguably higher: for example, Dr Miroslav Kutílek has just received a presidential medal. ;-) The alarmists are confined to the extreme environmentalist movements.
Of course, our president, Václav Klaus, is probably the most powerful climate realist among the world's politicians. Also, the party he founded - ODS - which is the main party forming the current government coalition - is "softly" on Klaus' side, too. Interestingly enough, the list of Klaus' soulmates more or less includes the current minister of environment. ;-)
However, this may change as people get paid from the EU.
As a Prague Post blog and lots of Czech media reported, the education minister has accepted a EUR 25 million - or USD 35 million - subsidy from the EU that will create a huge research team, "CzechGlobe", composed of 150 people in Brno, the second largest city in the country.
This single step will increase the funding meant to create climate alarmists in the Czech Republic at least by one order of magnitude. The money is just gigantic. Even if you divide the EU subsidy among the 150 people, you will learn that each of those people may be given the average Czech salary for 15 years.
In other words, the EU will fund 150 people who will suddenly emerge out of the vacuum and who will spread lies about the climate and create the completely flawed impression that the Czech scientists have actually reached a conclusion that there is a global warming worth talking about. And you should have no doubt that the loyalty to the global warming lies is a key necessary condition for a person to be paid out of the grant. The Prague Post blog describes the mission as follows:
Both Czech and foreign scientists will recreate extreme conditions of global warming like increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to test the effect on plants, as well as studying water cycles and geological patterns.As you know very well, there exists nothing such as "extreme conditions of global warming" so to "recreate" these conditions, your expenses should be zero rather than USD 35 million. The average temperatures may change by something like 0-2 °C per century and the CO2 concentration will increase by 50 percent or so.
That will of course gradually make even crazy things such as biofuels - that are also mentioned among possible "applications" of this grant - easier to be grown. The plant growth rate may increase by 20 percent or so. But what do they actually want to measure or invent? It's clear that there will be no moment at which the CO2 concentration will suddenly and qualitatively change to allow plants that were previous uneconomic.
Clearly, if a scientist realizes that there won't be any "extreme conditions of global warming", he or she can't participate.
This whole thing looks like a scam. I kind of believe that if there will suddenly be people paid from these foreign funds who will spread lies as a result of this corruption, they should get a life in prison for their high treason because they will have clearly joined foreign powers to fight against the interests of their own country.
There are at least two such interests: the most important one is "Veritas", i.e. the truth, which is explicitly mentioned at the Czech president's flag since the era of the first Czechoslovak president Masaryk. Comparably importantly, however, the health of the Czech economy depends on the industry for which the freedom to produce the gas we call life is vital.
Via Willie Soon and klimaskeptik.cz
Snow is back in Pilsen
With 4 weeks of the autumn remaining, Pilsen is below the freezing point and there are lots of snow covering our roads. I have changed the seasonal background image on this blog accordingly.
On Friday, while Obama got 12 stitches in his First Lip after being elbowed by an unnamed opposing basketball player, your humble correspondent has experimentally verified the law for centrifugal acceleration and the reduction of the coefficient of static friction in freezing conditions.
My mopped slipped in a highly curved curve. I fell 2 meters away from it while the moped escalated its noise. My digital camera got an acceleration shock and had to be rebooted, clothes had to be washed. The rubbed knees are the most visible and painful memory of the accident. ;-)
Like tubs, roads are slippery. ;-) They are most slippery when covered by a film of liquid sufficient to reduce the coefficient of static friction between the tire and the road to essentially zero but not so deep as to introduce a new source of friction.
