Wish List Item - "Public" file name

[Bill Campbell]

On Mon, Nov 19, 2007, John Esak wrote:
>> Sctt ???
>
>Must be that old comedy teletype group based out of Chicago....  :-)
>
>Incidentally, on an even less filePro-related topic, for those following the
>global warming thing. We just got 8 to 10 inches of snow here in Hazleton,
>PA (Eagle Rock)... maybe it's fixed???   :-)
>
>Just kidding...  just kidding... please no cards and letters.
>
>John
>
>Seriously, I *do* firmly believe in global warming and that it has been
>active during the past 40 years. When we were kids November in Northern NJ
>was *always* filled with many 1 and 2 foot snow storms.  These days, you're
>lucky to get any snow even into December and January.  The thing is, I want
>to believe that the causes for this global warming are just that glboabl,
>meaning earth based, nature based, cyclical weathern patterns, etc. I'm not
>convinced that man's various forays into all the things we do have *caused*
>this trend in more heat less filling. We certainly have huge impact, I am
>just one that still has an open mind as to the real causes.

Actually, the human impact is probably minimal compared to external
factors, primarily the sun.

I just finished reading ``Unstoppable Global Warming: every 1,500 Years''
by S. Fred Singer and Dennis T. Avery which goes into this in great detail.
It has extensive references to real scientific studies, not political
screeds and bad science as promoted by the IPCC and Al Gore.

The authors point out man inconvenient truths including:

   + The current warming is the most recent in hundreds of cooling and
     warming cycles that occur every 1,500 years +- 500 years.

   + Frequently there are rapid changes in climate, on the order of a
     decade or so.

   + Current temperatures are less than they were in the 1930s, and
     temperatures in most of the Antartic are decreasing, not increasing.

   + Temperature and CO2 levels are related, with CO2 levels increasing
     *AFTER* temperatures rise, lagging by about 800 years (this is evident
     even in Gore's movie).

   + There are fewer storms, hurricanes, etc. during warming periods than
     curing the cold periods,  Major storms are largely caused by
     temperature differences between the poles and the equator, and the
     temperature changes are minimal at the equator.  Historical records
     show much higher storm activity during cooling periods, the most
     recent being the Little Ice Age from about 1600 -> 1850 than they are
     during the warmer periods.

   + Warmer periods are generally conducive to all forms of life with lower
     rates of disease, better crops.  Far more people die due to cold than
     heat, particularly since the advent of air conditioning.

   + Modern farming methods require far less land to feed people than so-
     called ``Organic'' farming.

The authors point out that the primary advocates of human-caused global
warming are (and I'm quoting):

   + Computer models that cannot explain past temperatures, let alone
     accurately forecast future ones, and whose funding depnds on the
     public's fear of radical warming.

   + Activists who oppose modern technology, abhor expanded human
     populations, and expecially hate the low-cost energy that alleviates
     human poverty and misery.  They say we must renounce attractive
     lifestyles, give up yigh-yield farming, shorten millions of lives, and
     put more pressure on Third World forests for fuelwood.

   + European politicans.

   + Jourhalists looking for scary headlines.

   + Various national and international bureaucracies and UN-appointed
     members and staff of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

I am not an atmospheric scientist.  My degree is in Physics and Math from
The Johns Hopkins University, and I do have a fair understanding of science
and the scientific method.  Equally important, I have a good understanding
of economics and politics, well summarized by Mencken:

     The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace
     alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless
     series of hobgoblins.  -- H.L. Mencken, 1923

Bill
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