What's it all about?

And why should you bother to read it?

Mazel is a yiddish word that is loosely translated as luck. It is usually paired with "tov" (good) which phrase is usually meant as a wish to another person as "May you have good luck."

Ah, but way back when, in ancient Israel, mazel, in old Hebrew, meant roughly, "May the stars be aligned for you." Oh, no! Not the people of the Book! Astrology? Ah, yes, those ancestors of mine, attuned to the customs of the day, were very much influenced by what they thought were "outside forces."

In this Blog I wish to convey that there are "inside forces" that influence us, and therefore we have "Mazel tough" instead of "Mazel tov."

Yeah, today we have tough luck!

Here's an example. Some 25 years ago I found myself teaching a course in Industrial Safety Management. The previous professor had died suddenly from an overdose of twinkies. I had to place myself as his replacement because I was the department chair at the time. There was no time to find a substitute, so I found the text to be too elementary and began supplementing the text with lectures from other sources. I began to read widely and diligently (hey! I was a professor after all) and began learning some interesting things. One of these things was about an air sampling station on Mauna Loa volcanu in Hawaii.

This station collects air samples over the course of each day, measuring the concentration of carbon dioxide. Being high above vegetation and away from human activities, this is a source of data that is considered the most reliable in the world. The graphical record over many, many years shows a steady increase in CO2 levels in the atmosphere.

I brought this up in class one day, remarking that this could have an impact on the climate of the world. I compared the way that CO2 acted like the pane of glass in a greenhouse to keep heat from dissipating. I mentioned that they should be aware of this phenomenon inasmuch as they would be employed (if not already employed) by industries that could be generating this CO2.

I invite you to Google "Mauna Loa carbon dioxide monitor." See for yourself. The shnooks who say that the science underlying global warming is wrong can't seem to understand the data or refuse to acknowledge it.

And that is our mazel tough!