Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: gpwurzel on June 22, 2007, 08:59:52 AM
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Listen to any debate about global warming these days, and you can guarantee there'll be at least one cynic who says that it's all a load of poppycock, and that the whole thing is a sneaky government plot to squeeze even more money out of us under the pretence of saving us from ourselves. Either that, or they'll ask how one puny little person composting his potato peelings can possibly make a difference when China is building two coal-fired power stations a week, and all those billions of people in India are forsaking their elephants for Jaguars. It's no wonder so many of us are confused and not knowing what to do.
That's how I felt about it until Tuesday. Confused, and not knowing what to do.
On Tuesday, I discovered that I do make a difference.
I left the bathroom light on by mistake for two hours, and it rained like billyo. The sky was as black as a bag. There was a river going down the road near us, and some poor people got stuck in their cars and some others in Shrewsburyshire got cut off altogether.
I'd like to tell those people that I'm very sorry.
Because there was nobody else in the house for most of yesterday, I made a point of turning off everything that didn't need to be on. As a consequence, it hardly rained at all. I think experts call it a causal link. No matter what they call it, I'm convinced that I do make a difference, and that if we all made a big effort, global warming would be over by next Thursday and we could all relax and stop worrying about it.
I'm keeping a log of how I'm doing. It's on a little recycled paper pad held onto the side of the fridge with an organic magnet. It's going pretty well so far, and my carbon footprint has already shrunk to a size 8. This morning I consolidated my ablutions by having a shave and cleaning my teeth while I was having a shower. I did think about having a widdle in there at the same time, because the dirty water from the shower goes out through the wall and into the big pipe from the potty, but I decided that piddling on my own feet while stone-cold sober was taking things a bit too far.
I'm going to try collecting the methane from the dogs in a container of some sort and then see if I can rig up some kind of hose to the cooker so that we can switch from natural gas to unnatural gas.
The other thing that I think might be worth trying is to carry a small tree or a suitably-sized shrub in a papoose type thing fastened to my chest (a bit like those stripy Mothercare things that you carry a little baby in), so that all the carbon dioxide I breathe out is turned straight back into oxygen on the spot and I can breathe it in again. Come to think of it, if it was a tree that produced something edible, like cherries, or apples, I could kill two birds with one stone.
(Shamelessly stolen from somewhere else...)
Wurzel
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yep.. very good. makes a good point.
I think that everyone is willing to screw in some flourecent bulbs if they are cheap enough... they are as bright as the old ones and turn on instantly now (or close enough) and... they last 10 times longer and save money on electricity. great... we will all do that (even tho it may be creating a mercury nightmare down the road)...
Yep...but... pay twice as much for gas in tax to support some government agency to study the thing? hardly.
The reason you are starting to see healthy scepticism is because the other shoe is about to drop.. the one where they tell us how much they thing we should give or...... more to the point.. give up. What kind of house we live in or car we drive and how much more it will all cost and how much more in taxes.
Soooo.... smart people start to look at the "evidence"... they want to hear what "significant" and such mean in real practical terms.. they want to know how come it can get colder on a graph even tho the co2 is not going down on a graph. they want to know why the suns activity not only leads the heating and cooling but matches it almost perfectly no matter what co2 does.
They want some real proof.. not a model or a theory... proof. real numbers and they want to know what the weather will be like next week or year before they believe 100 year predictions by people who 100 years ago thought leeches were a good way to heal an infection or cancer.
lazs
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Couldn't agree more fella, whilst I do "think" global warming is having an effect, I also think there are way to many people with a vested interest in making it a bigger issue than it could be - scientists needing funding sorted for a few years etc.....which, imo, is clouding the issue completely (not to mention governments looking at taxing everything possible to hammer it home etc)
Wurzel
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the globe warming and, worse, cooling does have an effect on our lives.
It has been happening forever and will continue to happen. What is going on now is that scientists are saying that we can change the weather. That we not only can but.. that we are. even tho.. they can't even predict it for next week.
They use words like "significant" to explain our "contribution" to natural global weather changes...
They use words like "anomaly" to explain the changes that don't fit their theory.
What the hell does "anomaly" mean anyway? doesn't it just mean that things happened that did not fit what they thought would happen? Doesn't it just meant that they don't know enough to make a prediction? Anomaly means that they can't predict.
lazs
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Originally posted by gpwurzel
I also think there are way to many people with a vested interest in making it a bigger issue than it could be - scientists needing funding sorted for a few years etc
Be as skeptical as you like, the more the better. But you're not going to sell me on this "scientists needing funding" nonsense. A scientist could make just as much money by studying the contrarian view on this issue. As I mentioned in that other thread, the head of NASA says that Global Warming is not an issue. So put the conspiracy theories away, they only hurt your case.
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I wear no underwear... fighting the cause.
Up the Establishment.
Power to the People!!! Right On!!!
If I had a Draft Card I'd burn it.... wait,
Damm I served 20 Years in the Army already.
Dammm... I missed out on some stupid stuff.
:aok
Mac
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Phookat, not trying to sell you anything fella, my observation about scientists is an example, and purely an opinion......your mileage may vary as the saying goes.......
Mac, oddly enough I wear underwear, question the establishment as often as I agree with em...and your post means I need to clean my screen, coffee and electric just dont mix.......I served 19 years in the Royal Navy, before having a breakdown and getting medically discharged......
to all who serve, have served and are considering serving!!
:aok :aok
Wurzel
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There is no doubt that the globe is warming, and I'm something of a recent convert to the belief that the production of carbon dioxide needs to be controlled.
However, a statement such as "The science has been settled" sounds suspiciously like an attempt to stifle debate, and hardly reflects the true spirit of scientific investigation. Indeed, it smacks of arrogance.
I hardly think all of the answers have been uncovered. Climatologists who call these findings into question should not have their reputations impugned, or their own studies cavalierly dismissed.
There is plenty of cause for further research.
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Originally posted by Shuckins
However, a statement such as "The science has been settled" sounds suspiciously like an attempt to stifle debate, and hardly reflects the true spirit of scientific investigation. Indeed, it smacks of arrogance.
Agreed.
How about repeating the phrase:
ITS THE SUN STUPID
over and over again?
Does that qualify too?
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Curval,
Whatchoo tawkin bout boi? :D
Regards, Shuckins
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The Globe is warming.........It's summer here in Texas.
In a few months it will be global cooling. Winter time ya know.
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Originally posted by RedTop
The Globe is warming.........It's summer here in Texas.
In a few months it will be global cooling. Winter time ya know.
I'm going to let you in on a secret. While it's summer here in the northern hemisphere, it's winter in the south.
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Originally posted by Sandman
I'm going to let you in on a secret. While it's summer here in the northern hemisphere, it's winter in the south.
I'm not worried about the south...only Texas...its warm..some may say even hot. Global Hotting?
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Nevertheless, the globe is not warming because it's summer in Texas.
;)
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Originally posted by Sandman
Nevertheless, the globe is not warming because it's summer in Texas.
;)
I'm not offering a commentary on global warming but the summer in Texas has been quite nice so far. Lots more rain than in recent years and temperatures are almost tolerable, so far.
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Jerry Pournelle's blog has a lot of intelligent discussion on global "whatevering", and what we should be doing instead of running in circles demanding that people "do something!!!!!111one"
Here's a link to this week's mail section, with some recent findings that directly contradict the pseudo-science behind a lot of the global warming hysteria.
http://www.jerrypournelle.com/mail/mail471.html#Thursday
Dr. Pournelle is a bit crotchety, but he is a scientist and as such, his whole position is that although we are unarguably running an uncontrolled environmental experiment with respect to industrial emissions, anything we do at this point is just as likely to cause disaster as doing nothing because we don't really understand the problem (if there is a problem), and we don't really understand the cause-effect relationships between human behavior, natural phenomena, and the global environment. Reducing environmental toxins and industrial pollutants are almost certainly good things to do, but if we are going to go to great lengths to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, there are fairly simple and inexpensive ways to do that.
But that's not what the enviro-whackos want. They want action (just about any sort of action is ok apparently, as long as it feels good) and they want it now. But they don't want effective and immediately available action such as CO2 sequestering or nuke plants, because they have an agenda to push and in their hearts they know that large-scale CO2 reductions could be just as dangerous as leaving the stuff there, because we simply don't know what's really going on.
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Wow dude i would of never thought im herting ppl by leaving the light on. (well not sober at least.) U made a good point. If somehow this got on the news it would probally get ppl to stop wasting electrictiy/gasoline. :D
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Pournelle has degrees in psychology, statistics, engineering, and political science. In addition to promoting his skepticism of global warming, he also takes a contrarian stance on the accepted theory of evolution.
Isaac Asimov was a Professor of biochemistry and wrote a non-fiction book on environmental issues including global warming 16 years ago.
So what was your point again?
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You know those "Energy Saving" light bulbs... the flourescent ones? They're full of one of the most toxic metals on the planet... Mercury. Now where will all that mercury go when your bulb breaks, or is tossed in a landfill, hmmm?
Originally posted by RedTop
The Globe is warming.........It's summer here in Texas.
In a few months it will be global cooling. Winter time ya know.
Exactly... :aok
Man can not affect this planets weather system on a global scale. Locally yes. Globally, no.
The planet will cool and heat up on it's own, TYVM with help from that big yellow hydrogen furnace in the sky we call the SUN.
Also, other than Mars and Earth, where do we have SUV's that are supposedly causing all the planets to heat up?
:rofl :rofl :rofl
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Originally posted by RedTop
The Globe is warming.........It's summer here in Texas.
In a few months it will be global cooling. Winter time ya know.
:rofl
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so if we all slit our throats today.. what would the temp of the globe be in 100 years? in ten years? next month?
ITS THE SUN STUPID
That works because the suns activity will tell you what will be happening in the near future. Not co2... man made or otherwise... co2 tells you what the sun has already done.
I believe it is the sun and other acts of nature that we can't do anything about.
I have nothing against studying nature or global climate... what I do protest is the idea that we are changing the weather to any extent that matters and that...
more importantly... we know enough about it to pass laws and restrictions and grow government and taxes to make it all better.... to control the weather.
Another good question that is not being asked is.... what do we do about global cooling when it happens? Since we are all powerful so far as heating and cooling of the globe... what will they suggest to stop the inevitable global cooling?
lazs
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Originally posted by Shuckins
Curval,
Whatchoo tawkin bout boi? :D
Regards, Shuckins
What the previous poster said.
:rofl