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Antarctic Ozone Hole Shrinks 30 Percent
polar red sends us news of a story that many outlets have picked up from a European Space Agency press release: the Antarctic ozone hole is 30% smaller than it was during the previous record year. It's still about the size of North America. "Scientists say this year's smaller hole... is due to natural variations in temperature and atmospheric dynamics... and is not indicative of a long-term trend. 'Although the hole is somewhat smaller than usual, we cannot conclude from this that the ozone layer is recovering already,' [one researcher said]."
If I hand you a bottle of an unknown chemical and say "go on, drink it, I think it's safe." and somehow says to you "He's a good guy, trust him." and someone else says "He's a liar, don't trust him." you're stuck with what might seem (in Fair and Balanced land) like an even choice. But, you see, the truth is that you have many choices of things to drink, and the cost of not drinking is miniscule, while the cost of drinking could be fatal. So I'm betting you won't drink it. Even though it looks like symmetry. Vizzini: But it's so simple. All I have to do is divine from what I know of you: are you the sort of man who would put the poison into his own goblet or his enemy's? Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet, because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I am not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But you must have known I was not a great fool, you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
Man in Black: You've made your decision then?
Vizzini: Not remotely. Because iocane comes from Australia, as everyone knows, and Australia is entirely peopled with criminals, and criminals are used to having people not trust them, as you are not trusted by me, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. Man in Black: Truly, you have a dizzying intellect.
Vizzini: Wait til I get going! Now, where was I?
Man in Black: Australia.
Vizzini: Yes, Australia. And you must have suspected I would have known the powder's origin, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
Man in Black: You're just stalling now.
Vizzini: You'd like to think that, wouldn't you? You've beaten my giant, which means you're exceptionally strong, so you could've put the poison in your own goblet, trusting on your strength to save you, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But, you've also bested my Spaniard, which means you must have studied, and in studying you must have learned that man is mortal, so you would have put the poison as far from yourself as possible, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.
Man in Black: You're trying to trick me into giving away something. It won't work.
Vizzini: IT HAS WORKED! YOU'VE GIVEN EVERYTHING AWAY! I KNOW WHERE THE POISON IS!
Man in Black: Then make your choice.
Vizzini: I will, and I choose - What in the world can that be?
Vizzini: [Vizzini gestures up and away from the table. Roberts looks. Vizzini swaps the goblets]
Man in Black: What? Where? I don't see anything.
Vizzini: Well, I- I could have sworn I saw something. No matter.First, let's drink. Me from my glass, and you from yours.
Man in Black, Vizzini: [they drink ]
Man in Black: You guessed wrong.
Vizzini: You only think I guessed wrong! That's what's so funny! I switched glasses when your back was turned! Ha ha! You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well-known is this: never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha...
Vizzini: [Vizzini stops suddenly, and falls dead to the right]
Buttercup: And to think, all that time it was your cup that was poisoned.
Man in Black: They were both poisoned. I spent the last few years building up an immunity to iocane powder.
"Yes, what an amazing coincidence that we started dumping massive amounts of CFCs into the atmosphere at the same time that the Earth suddenly started needing CFCs to maintain its present state."
OOH A STRAW MAN!!! Love those, fun to read, useless in debates.
The point, which you intentionally avoided, is that there are ALWAYS unintended consequences, and a rush to action, even if seemingly for good reasons, can result in disaster.
Like this one
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_snail
or this one
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_hyacinth
or this one
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbits_in_australia
How many times do you have to see it happen?
I only go to buffets for the unlimited soft serve.
You the one who modded me off topic.
Do you know what off topic means you fucking retard?
I swear to go sometimes you idiots make me wonder how you type with only a brain stem.
No, we know what happened, I refuted you after one of your idiotic posts, and like the child you are, you used your mod points to retaliate you fucking coward.
I only go to buffets for the unlimited soft serve.
If you think that is mind boggling, you should have seen how I spelled it before the Firefox's built in spell checker corrected me.
Anyways, it is kind of humorous on how it changed the entire meaning of the statement. This sort of reminds me of the scene in "Dumb and Dumber" when they are on the minibike riding to aspen Colorado and ended up pissing in their pants for the extra warmth on the cold ride. Then when they got there, they were frozen together and one actually lifted the other up when getting off the minibike.
I don't know if you would consider that good humor, but thanks for using good humor to point out my mistake. It somehow made my day.