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Old School Data Mining, Maritime Style?
jason0000042 writes "The BBC is reporting on Cliwoc, the Climatological Database for the World's Oceans, which pulls data about climate change from 18th and 19th Century sailing ships' logbooks. It's like a window in time that could help us better understand global climate change, if they can decipher the olde timey language of the 1750's. Personally, I can't wait to know if we're going to melt down, or alternatively, have an ice age."
Nowe we canne fynde oute about the Dragons and mighty Sea-Serpents alsoe. I, for Onne, can't Waite to fynde oute if they melted down, or what.
for great justice
Did anyone read that as "Old School Data Mining, MARTIAN Style?"
I pictured rovers being smashed into a database.
Personally, I can't wait to know if we're going to melt down, or alternatively, have an ice age.
Unfortunatelly the data sample being studied is insufficient to give you an answer for two main reasons:
1. The data is more complete for the Atlantic Ocean. A big chunk of the Pacific Ocean is left out simply because the most interesting travel routes were concentrated on the South Pacific.
2. 100 years of weather records are insufficient to make accurate predictions of global climate patterns.
I, for once, would be grateful if /. editors and contributors refrained of making comments like these in the stories.
R.Actually, current models look like we're going to get both.
The basic gyst is that the warming melts Greenland. This diverts the gulf stream; plunging Europe into an Ice Age. [It also cools the NE of North America, but Europe really gets it.]
The average temperature is rising, that doesn't mean it's getting warmer everywhere.
This is not a political statement. This is not legal advice. It's a frick'n Slasdot post. However: I'm Running For
There are very few things I can think of that would mean the end of the World. However there are a lot of things that would mean the end of Humans.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
There must be some trick to reading logs that I haven't figured out yet. For example, I just read my log and it said that the climate is going to be long, brown, smelly, squishy, and somewhat moist. Followed by a localized cyclonic oceanic disturbance, and a short trip down a narrow pipe.
Get your stinking paws off me you damn dirty ape
People have this "The Sky is Falling" mentality of current weather, what with the ozone and pollution, my God, all the ice caps will melt! But did you know that there is a natural cycle with global warming, and every now and then the ice caps DO melt? Did you know that in fact we are in that part of the natural cycle? The next thing you know, German cockroaches will be declared an endangered species!
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
The weather has been demonstrated conclusively to be a chaotic system. One feature common in chaotic systems, easily seen in the Lorenz simulation (e.g. in your screen saver) is that when the system's oscillations get increasingly large (a little moreso each cycle), this is prelude to a change in mode to a different attractor, where all recent history has no predictive value at all.
Imagine what would happen if the Gulf Stream decided to flow on a different path, e.g. because of the massive salinity decrease around the north pole. The end of agriculture in northwestern Europe is just a beginning. Anybody who thinks that ocean currents can only flow the way they do now is very silly indeed.
Funny, lots of shipping company executives are excited about the prospect of driving across the north pole.
Seriously... this is the title of the Caltech Michelen Lecture, 1/17/2003 by Michael Crichton.
...and...
Since this discussion will lead to the inevitable global warming flap, this paper offers a good viewpoint on the issue (although I disagree with his assertion that SETI is a religion - it isn't - it's an experiment).
A few quotes:
Regarding Sagan's claims of nuclear winter:
Although Richard Feynman was characteristically blunt, saying, "I really don't think these guys know what they're talking about,"
In my book, if Feynam said it, it was almost certianly true. I used to go to his lectures at Hughes Malibu Research Center and it was an amazing experience.
I want to pause here and talk about this notion of consensus, and the rise of what has been called consensus science. I regard consensus science as an extremely pernicious development that ought to be stopped cold in its tracks. Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled. Whenever you hear the consensus of scientists agrees on something or other, reach for your wallet, because you're being had.
The only good weather is bad weather.
Watch out for thunderstorms and hurricanes in future decades
I think this is a weather forecast we can't go wrong with! Would it be safe to say that there is a 100% chance of hail at some time during these future decades as well?
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
r stop to think that maybe we shouldn't play god everytime. We screwed it up and you think we can fix it just as easily. The real problem is that we humans seem to be good at only one thing... breeding like rabbits. There are over 6 Billion people and in many parts of the world we can't adiquately feed ourselves.
*cough*bullshit*cough*
You do realize that the overpopulation fears of the 1970's never materialized? The population was supposed to grow to over 7 billion during the 80's. It didn't. In fact, many countries are depopulating due to the modern attitudes toward having children.
Most of the people out there who are starving are in countries where no economy has been imposed to foster the supply of goods. We have more than enough food here in the U.S. to feed most of Africa, but there's no economic incentive to do so. Throwing monetary "aid" at the problem only makes those people dependent on our kindness instead of improving their life-style.
I should probably also point out the tremendous amount of undeveloped land in Russia and China. Russia has two major cities: Moscow and St. Petersburg. Most people living outside of those areas are poor farmers that perform their duties with the equivalent of 1850's technology. Many of the tractors and combines they do have, are built to double as war vehicles! (Gotta love the thinking the Communists had.) Thus, everyone wants to live in Moscow. They only go to St. Petersburg if they can't get to Moscow.
China isn't much better. Everyone is crowded into the cities while hundreds of thousands of acres of land are left to be tended by townsfolk who haven't seen much technological progress in 400+ years.
If you look at U.S. history (as a comparison), land development has been fostered by capitalism. The government's grant of homesteads encouraged individuals to develop land for profit. Thus very little usable land has been allowed to sit like it has elsewhere.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade