The Elastic Has Snapped.

[U2U2U2]

"but a river boat it AIN'T I'm afraid "

be careful all that Oxford English is slowly being taken over by Americanism 's

[GURGLETROUSERS]

Yeah, I know, but frankly when I look East then look your way I follow that well known advice to 'go West young man!'

As for kayaking frozen seas I snap the icicles from under my nose and hurl them at the pesky cross eyed flying fish that seem intent on smacking me in the gob, ---- then I realise the cold has sapped my mental powers, and I'm only halucinating!

[isobars]

Dude ... you "smack your gob" outdoors ... when it's freezing? You Brits are tough!

Mike \m/

[bonner]

Loved the polar bear comment! Snowiest November on record in Tahoe, Cali and coldest Gorge trip I've ever had was this year. Hey, we were promised warming, where's the warmth??

[spennie]

Warming schwarming, I'm freezing!! I'm gonna run outside with an aerosol can in each hand and see if I can wipe out some more ozone!

[GURGLETROUSERS]

To be quite serious; Anybody who's studied geology must be aware that for the majority of the Earths millions of years history it has been warmer than at present. (Ignoring the ice age interruption.)

Even relatively recently (a few hundred years ago) the Vikings founded a thriving self supporting colony on Greenland which farmed and grew crops to survive the winter. That colony gradually perished as the climate turned colder and their crops failed. (A horrible lingering death from malnutrition and illness over successive winters.)

Clearly the climate was warmer when the colony was founded so if, as already posted earlier in the thread, it is once again steadily warming in those regions isn't that just a return to the norm?

I don't understand on what basis the global warming lobby believe that world temperatures 50 to 100 years ago are the NORMAL temperatures. That's to totally disregard the Earths history!

[d0uglass]

Typically when one part of the globe is colder than usual another part of the globe is warmer than usual, so the temperature at any one time and place is a lousy indicator of overall global climate.

The West Coast and Northern Midwest are supposed to be colder than usual this winter, but the South is supposed to be warmer than usual. Nothing special is supposed to happen on the East Coast. Europe is supposed to be colder because of the negative NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation).

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1702

All those things are regional patterns, none indicative of global warming or cooling.

I agree with most scientists than many factors affect weather and climate, and that regional and global climate have gone through lots of ups and downs in the past for various natural reasons. But I disagree with the skeptics who say greenhouse gas pollution won't have any affect on the climate worth worrying about. Of all the many factors that affect climate, greenhouse gas pollution is the only one with the potential to change global averages by multiple degrees in my lifetime, which would present a lot of problems for nature and society. Not the least of which would be that I wouldn't be able to inherit the family beach house in SC.

[GURGLETROUSERS]

Thanks for a rational explanation dOuglass. You are no politician! ( History begins on the day of their births, and all before is irrelevant.)

Given that our lifestyle may affect global climate, and that giving up cars and windsurfing to name but two things is not an option, the real question is to what extent, and would it be irreversible.

Common sense, without the aid of computer wizardry, would suggest a natural balance of sorts would result, and 'mother earth' as the nuts put it would survive. It's coped with far worse hits in the past. I wouldn't give up on your beach house just yet!

[cgoudie1]

Mr Gurgletrousers,

I tend to agree, but that balance may select humans (and a number of
other species) out of existence. Maybe my residence in HR will BE
ocean front property ;*).

The above statement is neither a denial nor an acceptance in the
current debate.

-Craig

[GURGLETROUSERS]

Well I'll keep sitting on my well varnished fence Mr cgoudie!, as I trust you will, for if or when the tide reaches my front garden.

Many in the media and the general public over here are now increasingly taking an anti global warming stance. This is as a consequence of having been misled and lied to by both politicians (fleecing us with extra taxes in the name of averting imminent catastrophy), and a prestigious climate change research centre (E. Anglia) selectively presenting evidence to bolster their very pro warming stance, upon which their funding depends of course!

Leaked E mails and information from this centre show that they are at a loss to explain the fact that there has been a cooling over the last 4 years which runs counter to their computer modelling predictions. So they suppressed it!!

As a bemused member of the general public I feel we are being led by the nose because everyone seems to be a part of some vested interest or other. Our songbird population has been devestated by a couple of very severe Winters and only days sgo I tried to help a starving and exhausted Blackbird pecking at the rock hard frozen ground to find something to eat and stay alive.

I get the impression that nobody in authority really cares about the truth, and they are all more concerned with their own agendas. I think we deserve better.