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Rather than traditional air conditioning, perhaps those in hotter climates should live at higher altitudes (or we start building really high) or even, on/underwater cities... http://apollo.lsc.vsc.edu/clas...

http://davidpratt.info/climate/warm7.jpg
http://apollo.lsc.vsc.edu/classes/met130/notes/chapter16/isotope.html

Global warming is a complete scam.

Wow. A week in an elevator.

Yeah, that didn't sound right to me either, and the article doesn't mention the reason why it needs to be 36,000 km. International Space Station is only 200-250 miles, or 320-400 km, so 36,000 km would zoom right past it. Why does it need to be 36,000 km?

Also the earth's radius is only 6,400 km, so 36,000 km is HUGE. It would be waaaaaay out into space. Closest easily visualized equivalent would be similar to a lolipop, with earth being the candy part and the elevator being the stick. That's ridiculous to the point of absurd, are we sure this is correct? Anything over 500 km really wouldn't make much sense.

Could they have meant 360 km? That would put it at the ISS which makes a whole lot more sense.

I believe it's relative temperature, not absolute, that matters for target acquisition and it's pretty damn cold at 60,000 ft (18km). Depending on the operating temperature of the engine, it might stick out like a sore thumb.

600 > 512

Linux makes aggressive use of RAM to buffer files, so free will usually report much more memory being used than is actually required.

Fact: Cold air does not come from the polar regions. Cold air comes from high in the atmosphere where air radiates heat to space. Warm air comes from contact with sun warmed ground and sea.
http://www.rcn27.dial.pipex.com/cloudsrus/wind.html

Your reference does not support your alledged Fact, and your alledged Fact ignores the concept of adiabatic warming. The poles are colder than the equator because they receive less energy from the sun, not because descending air is colder. This casts a LOT of doubt to the validity of the rest of your arguments as well.

*Note that the adiabatic warming reference is from an education institution site, not a property development site.

Fact: Cold air does not come from the polar regions. Cold air comes from high in the atmosphere where air radiates heat to space. Warm air comes from contact with sun warmed ground and sea.
http://www.rcn27.dial.pipex.com/cloudsrus/wind.html

Your reference does not support your alledged Fact, and your alledged Fact ignores the concept of adiabatic warming. The poles are colder than the equator because they receive less energy from the sun, not because descending air is colder. This casts a LOT of doubt to the validity of the rest of your arguments as well.

*Note that the adiabatic warming reference is from an education institution site, not a property development site.

Fact: Cold air does not come from the polar regions. Cold air comes from high in the atmosphere where air radiates heat to space. Warm air comes from contact with sun warmed ground and sea.
http://www.rcn27.dial.pipex.com/cloudsrus/wind.html

Your reference does not support your alledged Fact, and your alledged Fact ignores the concept of adiabatic warming. The poles are colder than the equator because they receive less energy from the sun, not because descending air is colder. This casts a LOT of doubt to the validity of the rest of your arguments as well.

*Note that the adiabatic warming reference is from an education institution site, not a property development site.

I agree to a fair extent. I imagine if temperature compensation equipment went into play, all we'd see is even higher posted gas prices in the summer, actually. We'd still end up spending about the same amount of money, though.

See, there's supply, and there's demand. If the below-ground tanks are above nominal temperature at all, then that artifically increases supply, and automatically puts a downward pressure on price. Conversely, summer sees an increase in travel because the weather's nice, the kids are out of school, and so on. This puts an upward pressure on price.

Because of this expansion, the amount you're getting charged per BTU goes up more than the amount you're getting charged per gallon. My hypothesis is that since the demand for BTUs is what went up, but you're actually buying fewer BTUs of gasoline per measured gallon, the offered price per measured gallon doesn't go up as far as it otherwise would if gasoline stayed at a constant temperature year-round.

If you started charging people based on temperature-compensated gallons instead of measured gallons (so, for instance, 1 measured gallon might equal 0.95 compensated gallons when it's hot out), the "price/gallon" will go up, if only because now the price reflects price per BTU. There won't be this persistent blunting effect on the upward gasoline price pressure.

In other words, this is too big of a market for the effect to have not already been priced in. And yes, it probably is the local gas station that's getting the short end of the stick here, if anyone, although I imagine the attached Quicky-Marts help act as a counter balance, since summer travel season == families with kids buying snacks. The actual below-ground temperaturs for the tanks doesn't really shift much (take a look here for one example), so it's really gasoline being sold from above ground that sucks. (Think fuel delivery truck.)

If nothing else, I'll skip a gas station from now on if I see it has just gotten a fuel delivery in the summer. The rest of the time? It should be fine.

--Joe

No-one ever suggested any of this would happen. The ozone hole has stabilised and perhaps started to shrink because the world took notice of warnings from atmospheric physicists and chemists and agreed to phase out the use of CFCs. It was called the Montreal Protocol and is an excellent examlpe of worldwide action to counter an imminent threat to the whole planet.

I defy you to find any evidence that the Montreal Protocol or any other political action has directly led to the reversal of ozone layer depletion.

Furthermore, you dismiss the comment on volcanic eruptions and provide no basis in fact supporting your insulting statement:

This is just not true, and if you're so stupid as to regurgitate such outright crap it indicates you haven't bothered doing the most cursory attempt to research any, like,... 'facts'. You have humiliated yourself in public, well done.

I think you might have humiliated yourself. Volcanic eruptions DO have an IMMEDIATE, VISIBLE and GLOBAL effect on the environment. This is 100% scientific FACT. A rare but large single volcanic eruption CAN have the same effect on the environment in some ways as years of human activity. These efects were measured with the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo which caused a dramatic depletion in the ozone layer over the arctic. Scientists believe that the effects of non-CFC volcanic aerosols were magnified by CFCs, but no political accord can remove CFCs that are already there, and it'll take decades for them to break down. Horse it out, closing the barn door ain't gonna help much.

Incidentally, the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo caused global COOLING at the same time due to "haze effect". It also emmitted an unusually high level of sulphur and nitrogen compounds which also cause climate disruption and acid rain. The overall effects of natural and man-made activity are really too complex to fully understand.

Here is what has been observed about volcanoes and weather:

* Global temperatures after Pinatubo
* Single eruption overpowered El-nino AND human-related greenhouse effect for TWO YEARS

So to say natural a phenomenon cannot dwarf the impact of human activity is total crap. At least in this case it probably slowed global warming by five years and helped climatoligists improve their models, even at the expense of the ozone layer.

The other thing to note is that the ozone hole has not been shown to affect climate in and of itself--it is more of a threat because of increased radiation exposure. I think a better reason to limit CFC emissions is the effect they have at lower altitudes (they contrubute to the greenhouse effect). To me it seems that LOW-altitude CFCs should be the biggest concern, being they are heavier than air and are probably more likely to sit on the ground for awhile before they'd ever reach the stratosphere. Their HFC replacements also contribute to the greenhouse effect but to a lesser degree.

It's sad, but I think global warming and the ozone layer are politically overhyped at the expense of some other more immediate environmental issues. Pesticide use, acid-rain causing emissions and other industrial pollutants are well known for their impacts on the environment and are largely cleaned up in the western world, but in China, Russia, other developing nations the amount of pollution is still atrocious. Oddly enough, these nations either refuse to participate in cleaning up, or are granted exceptions (Kyoto accord for example).

Slashdot really needs a -1, Uninformed moderation option. (And who the hell moderated the parent Informative?)

Climate through the Ages - The last 1000 Years

Trolling is the ancient practice and art of being sarcastic, funny, and sometimes annoying. Trolling is said to date back to the 5th century BC, in northern Mongolia. But, back then trolling was punishable by death. Many troll martyrs have sacrificed their lives in their fight for the freedom of trolling. Trolls have a rich and diverse culture in modern times. They band together and fill our lives with wonder and heartfelt thanks to all that read their witty and insightful comments. But, the cuddly trolls have a dark enemy that threatens their very survival. They are the Moddur-Raetirs (more commonly known as the Moderators). The Moderators have declared all out war against the benign, peace-loving trolls. It is said the Moderators are evil creatures devoid of emotions and senses of humor that want to destroy anything bearing those qualities. But there are Rebel Moderators out there that have aquired these traits by trolling spells, and are helping the trolls in their never ending battle. Let us wish them luck.

Here are some troll links:

ustrolls

The boy who loved trolls

Rare photos of trolls

Troll page

Troll Lovers page