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My February birthday fund-raising campaign for this website, Behind the Black, is now over. Despite a relatively weak initial three weeks, the last week was spectacular, making this campaign the second best ever.

 

Thanks to every person who donated or subscribed. It continues to astonish me that people who can read my work for free like it enough to donate money voluntarily. Words cannot express my appreciation for that support, especially in these uncertain times.

 

If you have been a regular reader and a fan of my work and have not yet donated or subscribed, please consider doing so. I take no ads, I keep the website clean from pop-ups and annoying demands (most of the time). Thus, I depend entirely on my readers to support me. Though this means I am sacrificing some income, it also means that I remain entirely independent from outside pressure. By depending solely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, no one can threaten me with censorship. You don't like what I write, you can simply go elsewhere.

 

You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:

 

1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.

 

2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
 

3. A Paypal Donation:

4. A Paypal subscription:


5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
 
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
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A new study claims that biofuels made from corn produce more greenhouse gases than ordinary gasoline.

The uncertainty of science: A new study claims that biofuels made from corn produce more greenhouse gases than ordinary gasoline.

The EPA disagrees. If you read the article you will see that the EPA might be right, but either way it appears to be a case of scientists arguing about statistical details. The bottom line is that the corn biofuels aren’t significantly different than ordinary gasoline, and in fact this whole debate forgets the original reason for backing biofuels, which had nothing to do with global warming. Biofuels can be harvested here in the U.S., and were thought an excellent way to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Whether that is true, however, also remains very much uncertain.

One quote in the article, however, demonstrated to me once again the foolishness of using legislation to mandate sales in a market.

Last year, for the fifth time, the EPA proposed reducing the amount [being produced as] required by law. It set a target of 17 million gallons for 2014. The law envisioned 1.75 billion gallons being produced this year.

The law demanded that manufacturers ramp up production to billions, regardless of economics or demand. Such mandates are the stuff of fantasy, and never work.

Posted from Tucson, Arizona.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

2 comments

  • Richard

    No!!! Tell me it’s not so.

  • Cotour

    And the fear campaign continues: All of these imagery based conversations and graphics serve to fix in the public’s subconscious the agenda. Ask a certain percentage of the population about “Global warming” or “climate change”, what ever label that it has been refined or reshaped down to at the moment and you will hear the parroted “truth”, not based on actual understanding or but based on what they have heard in the media. And the media, I think we can all agree is no longer an objective entity but an agenda and cause driven concern.

    World Global map shows planet with 260-foot rise in sea levels
    Graphic designer from Slovakia creates rendering of globe without polar ice caps. London, Miami, New Orleans, Washington D.C. disappear
    BY DEBORAH HASTINGS NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Tuesday, April 22, 2014, 7:47 PM

    Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/new-map-shows-globe-polar-ice-caps-article-1.1765411#ixzz2ziz0buhO

    Two points:

    1. The earth, the universe for that matter is not a static thing, it is dynamic and is constantly changing so to attempt to define what the “normal” climate conditions of the earth are is a fools errand IMO. The earth has been much warmer and the earth has been much colder, human existence not even a consideration for the vast, vast, vast majority of that time.

    and

    2. Which is not to say that humans should not be conscious and cautious of the things that they do related to their environment and pollution and the associated potential effects. We are all environmentalists in this regard.

Readers: the rules for commenting!

 

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