Posted by
Crescen7(Regis Matejcik) on Friday, November 09, 2007 11:21:07 PM
The American League Championship Series was underway. My beloved Cleveland Indians were attempting to overtake the Boston Red Sox and advance to the World Series. I worked through the first several innings of the first game, keeping tabs on the game via MLB.com. If anyone has ever tried to keep up with a baseball game in that fashion, particularly a crucial playoff game, they would know that it is an excrutiating experience.
It works something like this:
Browser reloads and reads: Ball outside.
A few seconds later it reloads again and reads: In play - out(s)
Or maybe: In play - no outs
Then what seems like an eternity later an explanatory sentence appears saying something like: Manny Ramirez homers - 3 runs score.
Eventually I finished working on the latest crises in my world, got in the car and headed home to catch the rest of the game on TV, with the Indians nursing a small lead. It seemed that as soon as I turned on the TV, the Indians fell apart. They eventually lost in a lobsided defeat.
The following day, my sister and I discussed the unfortunate outcome of the game. I told her I guess I'll have to "watch" the rest of the series on the internet - they don't do well when I watch on TV. My sister concluded that I'd better stick to the internet.
Probably all of us that follow sports have done similar things. Someone moves to a different seat in the living room and the home team scores a touchdown. Hey, that's the good luck seat. Don't move! Such things are common, and often the associations are compelling..
For example, in the following game, I also began keeping tabs on the internet. This time the Indians took a sizable lead. Again, I finished working and headed home. I tuned in the game on the radio. The very first Red Sox batter hit's a home run. Damn. I knew I should've stayed with the internet, I kidded myself. The next Red Sox batter hits a home run. Wow, good thing we've got a big lead. Or else I might have to go back an watch on the internet. The third consecutive Red Sox batter then hits yet another home run.
I do a U-turn and race back to the office, sprint to my desk before the next batter is up. Wow, lucky thing there was a pitching change so I had a few more minutes to get back.
I watched the entire stupid game on the internet. The Indians won. I watched that way until they lost in game 5.
Of course it's ridiculous to think that my behavior had any effect on the outcome of the series. But I did it anyway. Why? Some would say it's superstition. I would offer a different explanation. I think we all want to feel that we're doing "our part" in our teams victory. It makes the victory that much sweeter when one thinks they've participated in the victory.
This is roughly the reasoning behind all "Global Warming" initiatives.
Consider first that the "greenhouse effect" is only one of several variables that effect climate variations. Other major factors include solar activity (is a duh required here?), precipitation patterns, and the angle of tilt on the earths axis.
Consider also that CO2 accounts for only about 3.5% percent of all greenhouse gasses.
Consider that 99.89% of that CO2 is naturally occurring.
That leaves us with making a whopping contribution of .117% of the CO2 in the atmosphere. Consequently, if humanity suddenly vanished our total reduction in the CO2 levels would be considered statistically insignificant.
Consider that the drastic actions called for in the Kyoto protocol call for a 30% reduction in CO2 by developed nations, and very little from "developing" nations. This would mean roughly a 20% reduction in manmade CO2, or a .022% reduction in greenhouse gasses. For those of you that have difficulty with place value that's 22 hundreths of 1 percent.
Of course, we would be then living on vastly lower standards of living, struggling to pay exhorbitant electric and fuel bills and desperate to take any kind of work available in a depression style econonmy. But many would still look fondly to the sky and proclaim that they've sacrificed their comfort - but they saved the world from climate catastrophe.
Pretty much the same way I saved the game for the Cleveland Indians - by watching on the internet.