Odds and ends, 4/16/07

Is China coming around on global warming and carbon dioxide emissions? Maybe.

To get one thing straight: I am willing to believe the world is getting warmer, although I wonder more about the distribution of temperature changes than I am about a global average temperature. I also think mankind gives itself too much credit for its impact on those changes.

Having said that, we probably do emit more CO2 and other such gases than we need to.

Getting China and India on board is vital to any efforts regarding climate change. That will do more than replacing all the light bulbs in every house in West Virginia.

***

Today is tax day. This year, in contrast with previous years, I filed my federal and state returns in February. So today, I can relax.

***

Here is a newspaper report that's almost a year old, but one that's still worth reading. According to The Indianapolis Star, universities and their students contributed about $1 billion to athletic departments in 2005. I note this because there are still people around here who think Marshall University football and basketball are money-making enterprises and help pay scholarships for nonrevenue athletes. Wrong. Even at Marshall, sports teams rely heavily on student fees and state subsidies. Take away the subsidies and football and basketball become club sports at Marshall.

Maybe I overstate it, but not by much.

***

I went to MSNBC.com to see how it was covering the Virginia Tech shootings. I scroll down the page and I see a news headline about the Pulitzer Prizes. And it's listed under... entertainment.

Newspapers producing serious stuff, and the Web site of a TV news operation lists it under entertainment. My suspicions of what these guys are and how they see themselves is confirmed.