the 'problem' of global altruism

Biological explanations of altruism will naturally start with a parent's sacrifice for its offspring. This is not difficult to understand by utilitarian arguments and is readily extended to family, friends, even members of the local group (a tribe, for instance). Beyond this, it gets  difficult to imagine any kind of biological advantage for altruistic behavior. Richard Dawkins stretches this to the point of a sacrifice for someone you may see again. OK, difficult but not impossible.

But now consider what I would call 'global' altruism. This is altruism of the very highest order--A Raul Wallenberg, for instance. Wallenberg put himself at great and immediate personal risk for tens of thousands of people he had no connection with; nor was he likely to benefit from his connection to these people in any way. I've never seen an even mildly convincing evolutionary explanation for this sort of behavior. It's quite possible that global altruism exists in other species, but I am unaware of any examples.   Does this bahavior separate humans from other animals?  I don't know.   For me, the existence of  global altruism remains one of the perplexing puzzles of evolution.

A reality check on health-care costs

Journalists tend to be a bit credulous when it comes to large numbers.  Thus we are told repeatedly that the House or Senate health-care bills will cost (fill in an astronomical number here), as if such a statement actually conveyed information.  I saw a graphic on TV news recently that said the cost would be $32,849 per family--I don't remember the actual number, which is beside the point; it's the implied 1 part in 30,000 accuracy that you should be scratching your head at. 

more on the titanium single speed cross rig

Warning:  likely only of interest to cyclocross geeks and weight weenies.
Here are the details of the build.  The frame was made in Russia from a cad file that Scott Mares of Sibex Sports came up with from my geometry.  With Sibex I was able to get a custom frame at less then the cost of a typical stock titanium frame.  The goal was pure cyclocross and single-speed from the beginning.  So, for example, horizontal fork ends were used and there is no extraneous cable routing hardware.  The crankset and BB are Campy Record.  I used road cranks with a 42 chainring on the outer position to get the proper chainline for the 135 mm spaced rear fork.  Record headset, with Deda Newton stem and handlebars.

Climate fallacy #1

Small changes in inputs lead to small changes in ouputs.  

This assumes the Earth is a linear system.  But it's not.  There are many climate-related feedback mechanisms which, once excited, can lead to unstable, out-of-control changes.  For example, ice-albedo feedback.  A small rise in termperature is not just a small rise in temperature.  It can result in reducing the reflectivity of the Earth's surface (the albedo ) by melting ice.  This in term increases the absorption of sunlight, which leads to more ice-melt and off we go.  It works in the other direction too.  Decreasing temperature causes the albedo to increase as ice forms.  This can lead to uncontrolled cooling. 

Climate Scoreboard

N simple, inexpensive things to reduce our carbon footprint

These recommendations were written in the context my local campus community but I'm sure they apply, mutatis mutandis, more generally. Send me your ideas, I'll be happy to include them.

Expensive remedies such as PV and wind are great, but it is much easier to conserve energy than to produce it. For some reasons we Americans tend to seek solutions that are expensive and sexy but require no individual effort or commitment. Oh, and by the way, we have no money so let's do nothing. Some people will think these suggestions are too hard. But hard is curing cancer. Hard is stopping domestic violence. Using a broom instead of a leaf-blower? Requiring campus vendors to provide healthy food? Trivial rewards for people who walk or ride their bikes instead of driving? It's slightly embarrassing that we even have to discuss these things. Embarrassing or not, here goes: