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Arctic Ice Extent Tops 2012's, But Is 6th Lowest In History

We mentioned recently the rebound in Arctic ice levels compared to those found at the end of last summer; now that the 2013 minimum has been reached, Forbes' Alex Knapp points out that 2013's figures still show the 6th lowest ice extent in recorded history. "This pattern is expected to continue as average global temperatures continue to rise, leading to further Arctic Ice melts. The volume of sea ice – that is, how thick the Arctic ice is, has also been steadily declining over the same period. And although the charts above only go back to the 80s, the loss of sea ice began several decades prior to that. In 2011, a paper published in Nature estimating Arctic ice extent for the past 1450 years shows a sharp decline in Arctic ice beginning in the mid-20th century."

200 of 310 comments (clear)

  1. ReMAX and Century 21 in Greenland by retroworks · · Score: 1

    If you want to speculate in real estate, go north young man.

    --
    Gently reply
    1. Re:ReMAX and Century 21 in Greenland by gmuslera · · Score: 1

      If you want to really speculate, go south, grab all the new land before it becomes clear of ice next century. But maybe you will get to the race too late, probably oil companies already bought them.

    2. Re:ReMAX and Century 21 in Greenland by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I live about 2 hours from Anchorage. I wasn't any warmer than usual.

    3. Re:ReMAX and Century 21 in Greenland by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      Russia actually wants global warming because it's "fucking cold here":

      http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2007/08/06/russia-welcomes-global-warming-answer-all-its-prayers

    4. Re:ReMAX and Century 21 in Greenland by VortexCortex · · Score: 3, Funny

      Alaska had a real summer comparable to the lower 48 of the United States. Nice cabin there if the summers warm up to near 20 Celsius for months on end!

      Yes, but the warmer temps up there mean more mosquitos... which are already the size of vultures.

      A bit further south, in Canada, the mosquitoes take down cows. My gods, they've spread further south than I imagined.
      For all our sakes, let's pray they don't descend on truly South America.

    5. Re:ReMAX and Century 21 in Greenland by conquistadorst · · Score: 1

      The funny thing is, the article you linked cautions against the kind of sensationalism that you're suggesting. Unless you meant to lace you post with sarcasm that I failed to detect... I see this article resurface every year just like killer (Africanized) bees. Except these types of mosquito have already been native to most parts of N America for a very long time.

    6. Re:ReMAX and Century 21 in Greenland by phrackthat · · Score: 1

      If you want to freeze your ass off, go right ahead and buy real estate in the Antarctic. Antarctic ice levels are at their highest recorded levels. That's something that's usually left out of the AGW debate. See: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamestaylor/2012/09/19/antarctic-sea-ice-sets-another-record/

    7. Re:ReMAX and Century 21 in Greenland by gmuslera · · Score: 1

      You mean this? Don't confuse local weather with global climate, something that people that deny AGW always do. Anyway, wasn't being serious regarding the south pole being free of ice next century, if it happen ocean water level will rise 60 meters and most of mankind will be busy enough trying to float to worry about whos fault is.

  2. So who said... by LeadSongDog · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... that the trend of annual extent minima was supposed to be monotonic?

    --
    Oh, I'm sorry sir, I thought you were referring to me, Mr. Wensleydale.
    1. Re:So who said... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      ... that the trend of annual extent minima was supposed to be monotonic?

      If that can possibly be phrased in a sexual manner then yo mama said it. That's who.

    2. Re:So who said... by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 1

      Hmm, let me think... Was it Miley Cyrus? It was possibly part of the lyrics of her latest song, although to be honest I watched her video with the sound muted.

    3. Re:So who said... by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      I don't know about that, but at least one professor at Cambridge predicted the ice would be gone by 2015-2016.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    4. Re:So who said... by dave420 · · Score: 1

      If the warming trend continued as it was, but as it has wavered slightly, we're looking at at least 2020.

    5. Re: So who said... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Commentator at soccer match:

      "If the ball had gone in the net, it would have been a goal!"

    6. Re:So who said... by Mashiki · · Score: 1, Insightful

      That's pretty good, I remember back in the late 80's that they said that it would all be gone by 2000 or so.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    7. Re:So who said... by Eunuchswear · · Score: 2

      That's pretty good, I remember back in the late 80's that they said that it would all be gone by 2000 or so.

      Ah, you remember that, do you?

      "they" said.

      Who was they? When in the late 80's. Where was this published? What does "2000 or so" mean?

      --
      Watch this Heartland Institute video
    8. Re:So who said... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Scientists.
      This source is dated 1960.
      New Scientist.
      The year 2000.

      http://books.google.ca/books?id=yJjFw4bzRi0C&pg=PA1453&dq=global+warming&hl=en&ei=_vZbTfq4F5OCsQPI5vyxCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

    9. Re:So who said... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I seem to recall reading about the flying cars we'd have by the year 2000. I also remember reading that we'd have man-portable telephones around then.

      Are you suggesting that the models used in 1960 are equally reliable to the models used in 2013?

      Or are you suggesting that because some people were wrong about something in 1960, some other people can not be right about something else in 2013?

    10. Re:So who said... by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 1

      I think that you will find that he said that it could be ice free, not would. If there is one thing that you can safely say about scientists, it is that they avoid making outright statements when there is any significant margin of error.

    11. Re:So who said... by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      > Who said that the trend of annual extent minima was supposed to be monotonic?

      The hyperble of rhetoric from politicians and others. It does a disservice to scream "Global warming!!!!!!!" every time there is a major weather event, when they happen all the time and any increase in severity or nmber is a tiny fraction of the energy released.

      See also heat waves and hurricanes. Things are shifted by a fraction of a percent, and due to energy delta gradients as energizers, a fraction of a fraction of a percent.

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    12. Re:So who said... by Bartles · · Score: 2

      It's funny how catastrophe is constantly being pushed to just over the horizon. Just far enough ahead, so that when the time comes and it doesn't happen, people wont remember the actual prediction. There's a guy with a beard and long hair in Times Square who's been doing the same thing for 20 years. The end is near!

    13. Re:So who said... by riverat1 · · Score: 1

      How many times do James Hansen, Michael Mann and the other ring leaders both past and present have to be wrong before you admit the truth to yourself?

      At least it will have to be more times than the number of times some climate contrarian has misinterpreted what they've said in order to claim it was wrong.

    14. Re:So who said... by riverat1 · · Score: 1

      Climate change/global warming is a slow motion catastrophe. By the time the average person realizes it's really going to be bad it's far to late to do much about it.

    15. Re:So who said... by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      Who was they? When in the late 80's. Where was this published? What does "2000 or so" mean?

      Well, everyone's favorite AGW guy, David Suzuki did so. I do remember a few things from back then, of course there are others as well but I'd have to actually find the papers from gradeschool they gave us.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    16. Re:So who said... by Eunuchswear · · Score: 1

      Who was they? When in the late 80's. Where was this published? What does "2000 or so" mean?

      Scientists. [sic]
      This source is dated 1960.
      New Scientist.
      The year 2000.

      So, all scientists are called Robert Cushman Murphy now?

      Robert Cushman Murphy (April 29, 1887-March 20, 1973) was an American ornithologist and former Lamont curator of birds for the American Museum of Natural History.

      And 1960 is "the late 80's"

      And "New Scientist" is a peer reviewed journal?

      --
      Watch this Heartland Institute video
    17. Re:So who said... by Eunuchswear · · Score: 1

      Who was they? When in the late 80's. Where was this published? What does "2000 or so" mean?

      Well, everyone's favorite AGW guy, David Suzuki did so. I do remember a few things from back then, of course there are others as well but I'd have to actually find the papers from gradeschool they gave us.

      Well, he is technicaly a scientist, but Zoology and Climatology aren't exactly the same field, and a TV program isn't exactlty a peer reviewed journal.

      --
      Watch this Heartland Institute video
    18. Re:So who said... by Bartles · · Score: 1

      Right. Well, we're the Slashdot crown. And we're special. The only catastrophe would be if anyone thought we were average. So let's do something to prove we're not.

  3. Why a line? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Why not fit an ARIMA model to the daily data along with some sin functions (or whatever oscillating function would be good) instead of taking averages

    1. Re: Why a line? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Typical statisticians: the trends justify the means...

      I'll get me coat.

  4. history? by iggymanz · · Score: 4, Informative

    Reliable monitoring with authoritative of sea ice extents began only with the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) on the satellite Seasat launched June 28, 1978.

    Very spotty records before that time are not considered reliable.

    1. Re:history? by haruchai · · Score: 5, Informative

      The Danes have excellent records going back to the '30s.
      And let's not forget that the volume is also dropping precipitously but that's much more difficult to measure.

      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    2. Re:history? by jklovanc · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Even if it goes back to the '30s, 80 years is a millisecond in geologic terms. There is too much emphasis put on "recorded history" when is is such a short time period.

    3. Re:history? by khallow · · Score: 2, Insightful

      So it's the sixth lowest record in 35 or so such records. That's a bit underwhelming. And I find it interesting how the other replier goes on to say that ice volume is down significantly even though it is "hard to measure". It's interesting how much modern climatology relies on data that is hard to verify.

    4. Re:history? by TapeCutter · · Score: 4, Interesting

      There's some pretty good volume estimates based on declassified sonar maps from the cold war, volume is now roughly 1/5th of what it was when I was born in the late 50's.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    5. Re:history? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      True, but you can make some deductions from biology. The existence of polar bears, not to mention their threatened status with receding ice, paints a picture of a lot of ice going way back: had there been no ice 100 years ago, there would be no polar bears. 100 years isn't time enough for them to evolve from brown bears.

    6. Re:history? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yes a bit like saying the earth is still warming because the heat is in the deep ocean while admitting that we have no way of measuring that and establishing wether that's true or not.

    7. Re:history? by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 4, Informative

      So where were they when it was warm enough that the Vikings had two separate colonies on the southern shores of Greenland? Or was Canada still frozen while Greenland was basking in warmth?

      --
      If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
    8. Re:history? by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 1

      He sounds like someone who doesn't have to resort to high school debate team minutia to make a point. You should try that next time.

      --
      If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
    9. Re:history? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      When the Arctic is ice free in summers, probably within the next decade the deniers will have no credibility left, which will be good for the effort to curb fossil fuel exploration and development, not to mention use.

      And if the arctic is not free of ice?

    10. Re:history? by khallow · · Score: 1

      When the Arctic is ice free in summers

      Which is just fine. That would be observable. And when you're done screwing around with the "climate deniers" perhaps we can then discuss just how much of a problem AGW would be at that point.

    11. Re:history? by Mashiki · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yeah...you might just want to stop trotting out the "threatened status with ice" bit. There's no shortage of the bloody things, if anything there are more every passing year and their range of liveable area keeps expanding. In fact, there have been more than a few clashes between brown and polar bears in the last few years. As a fun point, we have them here in Ontario, and not all that far outside of the "southern half" of the province. And they range south, even in the summer here. There have been warnings posted as far south as Kesagami Provincial Park.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    12. Re:history? by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 5, Informative

      They failed after being there for 500 years. The first 400 must have been warm enough to keep them there and in good health.

      It was only later that the climate cooled, and they were forced to change their lifestyle, and finally leave Greenland.

      So my point stands: When it was that warm in Greenland, it was certainly warm in Canada and Alaska. So where did the polar bears live, if warmer water is lethal to them?

      .
      PS. This article says the Vikings actually adapted to the colder climate, and ate more seal meat as their livestock dwindled over the colder years. They only left in the end because they couldn't trade for needed materials anymore.
      http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/archaeologists-uncover-clues-to-why-vikings-abandoned-greenland-a-876626.html

      --
      If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
    13. Re:history? by jklovanc · · Score: 2

      You are still thinking too short a time period. I am thinking 1,000, 10,000 and 100,000 years ago. What happened in the last 500 years is still to short a time to say that ice loss similar to what is happening now has not happened before and without the help of man.. Recorded history is a snap of the fingers in geologic time.

    14. Re:history? by dbIII · · Score: 3, Funny

      100 years isn't time enough for them to evolve from brown bears.

      They didn't evolve from Brown Bears. They transformed from Cartesian Bears :)
      We may as well just laugh because the science deniers have even more of a problem with evolution than they do with the climate changing. Both argue against a perfect unchanging world since day 7 which Christianity-Lite likes to pretend is the state of things.

    15. Re:history? by dbIII · · Score: 1

      Why are you pretending that effects are not "observable" now?

    16. Re:history? by orzetto · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It was only later that the climate cooled, and they were forced to change their lifestyle, and finally leave Greenland.

      My favourite author, Jared Diamond, had an entire chapter on the Greenland Norse in his book Collapse. They are remarkable because many factors impacted them at the same time, and their demise was due to climate, international politics, and their own stupidity.

      Climate did get colder, but the Norse also lost their most important export, walrus tusks, because the Muslims started trading elephant tusks again with the Christians after several centuries of embargo: no one wanted walrus tusks anymore. Also, the Norse had apparently a phobia for fish, which for some reason they were unwilling to eat (or were unable to catch). They were also horrible diplomats and could not have friendly relations with the Inuit (who arrived in Greenland after the Norse), who eventually displaced them. Also, they were a very religious and conservative society, using relatively enormous resources to build a cathedral that could rival that of Nidaros in Norway.

      When it was that warm in Greenland, it was certainly warm in Canada and Alaska.

      That's a way too bold statement. Latitude is not the only predictor of temperature. I live at the same latitude as Anchorage, AK, but out temperature average is 5-10 degrees Celsius higher because we are exposed to the Gulf stream. Climate change does not have the same uniform effects in every spot.

      --
      Victims of 9/11: <3000. Traffic in the US: >30,000/y
    17. Re:history? by blueg3 · · Score: 1

      Geologic time scales aren't useful.

      They're useful to geologists, and often to other scientists, sometimes, but not in this context.

      Yes, pretty much no climate we could reach is really unprecedented on Earth. The ice ages are pretty cold. Other eras were quite hot and high in CO2. Hell, in still other eras, there was no oxygen in the atmosphere.

      What's relevant is the climate of the last few thousand years and, to a lesser extent, the modern geologic era, because it's what our civilization is dependent on. Sure, if the climate goes all to hell, there will still be life on Earth. There will still even be humans on Earth. Just a lot fewer of them for quite a while, plus catastrophic economic losses.

    18. Re:history? by dave420 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You might want to ask yourself why there are more clashes between polar and brown bears... Maybe something along the lines of them losing their habitat and having to spread... No, that can't be it. They must be in cahoots with those damned liberal scientists. Hint: Measuring a populations' behaviour from outside the population isn't going to help anyone learn anything. Listen to the scientists who actually study this stuff and see what they say. Another hint: They disagree with you.

    19. Re:history? by haruchai · · Score: 1

      Thx for the info.

      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    20. Re:history? by jamesl · · Score: 1

      Healthy polar bear count confounds doomsayers
      The debate about climate change and its impact on polar bears has intensified with the release of a survey that shows the bear population in a key part of northern Canada is far larger than many scientists thought, and might be growing.
      http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/healthy-polar-bear-count-confounds-doomsayers/article4099460/

      The greatest threat to polar bears is hunters.

    21. Re:history? by More+Trouble · · Score: 1

      When it was that warm in Greenland, it was certainly warm in Canada and Alaska. So where did the polar bears live, if warmer water is lethal to them?

      Hardly.

    22. Re:history? by deadweight · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Besides for all that IIRC "Greenland" was a real estate scam like "Quiet Sylvan Resort Acres Nice Trees and Wildlife Developement" is really crappy townhouses in a ghetto next to a railroad track and down the street from the toxic waste dump.

    23. Re:history? by Attila+Dimedici · · Score: 1

      Of course the problem with using polar bears as the measure is the fact that current estimates of polar bear population are massively higher than estimates for polar bear population in the 1950s. So, polar bear populations have RISEN over the last 60 years, yet global warming is threatening them with extinction?

      --
      The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
    24. Re:history? by kwbauer · · Score: 1

      That's rich. You seem to be making a claim that global warming deniers like to use an argument that requires the earth to be a static system when the reality is that the earth is not and has never been static and nobody cared until one day some scientists declared that the climate was not supposed to be changing but it is changing so it must be the fault of humans. It seems that the climate change crowd is the one demanding "an unchanging world."

    25. Re:history? by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 1

      It was only later that the climate cooled, and they were forced to change their lifestyle, and finally leave Greenland.

      My favourite author, Jared Diamond, had an entire chapter on the Greenland Norse in his book Collapse. They are remarkable because many factors impacted them at the same time, and their demise was due to climate, international politics, and their own stupidity.

      Climate did get colder, but the Norse also lost their most important export, walrus tusks, because the Muslims started trading elephant tusks again with the Christians after several centuries of embargo: no one wanted walrus tusks anymore. Also, the Norse had apparently a phobia for fish, which for some reason they were unwilling to eat (or were unable to catch). They were also horrible diplomats and could not have friendly relations with the Inuit (who arrived in Greenland after the Norse), who eventually displaced them. Also, they were a very religious and conservative society, using relatively enormous resources to build a cathedral that could rival that of Nidaros in Norway.

      Yes, that was a problem, and is explained in the article I linked. It didn't mention the Muslims selling elephant tusks, so thanks for filling in that blank about why the Greenland Norse couldn't sell walrus tusks anymore.

      When it was that warm in Greenland, it was certainly warm in Canada and Alaska.

      That's a way too bold statement. Latitude is not the only predictor of temperature. I live at the same latitude as Anchorage, AK, but out temperature average is 5-10 degrees Celsius higher because we are exposed to the Gulf stream. Climate change does not have the same uniform effects in every spot.

      I should have used a modifier there. When it was that warm in Greenland, before the Little Ice Age cooled everything down, it was certainly warmer in Canada and Alaska than it was during the Little Ice Age.

      That I will stand on, because I don't accept the theory I've seen put forth by others that the Medieval Warm Period only warmed up part of the world, and then the Little Ice Age only cooled off that same region. Especially since we are seeing now that current warming is affecting the Arctic so dramatically.

      But thank you for calling me on that line. It was, as you said, too bold.

      --
      If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
    26. Re:history? by kwbauer · · Score: 1

      Exactly. Because there are so many more polar bears now that we don't hunt them as much people might be inclined to allow more hunting of them and then their numbers will decline at which point hunting will be limited and their numbers will rise. Once the decline begins, the AGW crowd will use that as proof of their correctness. Once the rise begins, they will use the fact that they predict it will decline as proof of their correctness.

    27. Re:history? by jklovanc · · Score: 1

      What's relevant is the climate of the last few thousand years

      Considering the recorded history of ice coverage is only 40 years and using your "few thousand years" as a guide that is still only 1.3% of the relevant time period.

    28. Re:history? by BenfromMO · · Score: 2

      I did ask myself that very question. What could possibly cause increased contact between humans and polar bears? And it dawned on me that if their numbers were becoming smaller, contact between them and humans would be rarer and rarer even if they are pushed out of one ecosystem. You can not have contact with a species that basically does not exist. In that sense, the best bet is to indeed look to the experts and see what they say.

      I saw a wide variety of reports, but the latest research that I could find says this (the link is rather harsh and opinionated, but the facts stand) And it seems that their numbers are indeed increasing. You see, a metric such as "polar bear clashes with humans" tells you nothing about their actual numbers when you really think about it. Scientists indeed study this very problem by taking population numbers. In reality, their numbers are up and it seems that the number one cause of their original demise was probably human hunting of them to begin with. now that we protect them, their numbers are going up...and yes contact between them and humans are also going up as their populations increase. I expect their numbers to continue to increase which is the correct thing to do until they do reach a number that is satisfactory. Of course, this has nothing to do with sea ice or the extent as the polar bear numbers seem to correlate much better with the amount of hunting we do on them. And since global warming is so politicized, no one wants to study the salient facts.

      I realize you won't take my word for it or even the peer-reviewed literature that the link I gave talks about, so ask yourself this, if their numbers really are decreasing, why are people thinking of increasing quotas for hunting them?

      http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavut_wildlife_board_considers_request_to_up_foxe_basin_polar_bear_q/

    29. Re:history? by BenfromMO · · Score: 1

      8000 years ago, during the Holocene climate optimum which was warmer than we are today, it is widely thought that all arctic sea ice melted every summer. The polar bear survived this, so the only conclusion one could make is that since the polar bears are not depended on year-round sea ice for survival. That is unless you are insinuating that the polar bears evolved in just 8000 years?

      That is why this claim that polar bears need sea ice has always seemed silly to me.

    30. Re:history? by dbIII · · Score: 1

      is that all heretics to their cult

      Ah - framing it that way I see. Just read your own Bible and you'll see that preaching hate against the poor is a real heresy and calling others heretics to make yourself feel better is not a good way to deal with it.

    31. Re:history? by dbIII · · Score: 1

      Yes I am - take a look at some of the stuff they are throwing up and that's exactly what it is. Both opposition to the idea of evolution and opposition to the idea of a changing climate are both based on a belief of a lack of change.
      Also a common tactic of these people is to try to project their own faults on others, such as describing an entire profession as a "cult" or the strange argument kwbauer above got from who knows what propaganda about "scientists declared that the climate was not supposed to be changing". It's best to stay closer to reality and think about what you are writing instead of repeating such silly stuff from well paid advertising agencies.

    32. Re:history? by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      So where did the polar bears live, if warmer water is lethal to them?

      How "old" is the species of polar bear? It could be a relatively recent off-shoot of brown bear, or one that lived closer to the glaciers and such in the warm times, then spread out when the ice spread. It's not water that's lethal, it's lack of food that's lethal.

      Your misstatement indicates you either have no grasp on what's lethal, or you are lying for effect.

    33. Re:history? by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      Of course the problem with using polar bears as the measure is the fact that current estimates of polar bear population are massively higher than estimates for polar bear population in the 1950s. So, polar bear populations have RISEN over the last 60 years,

      Or the measurement criteria have changed.

    34. Re:history? by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      There were still glaciers and other cold areas, and the diversity of food 8000 years ago isn't known. What is known is that the current lifestyle of the polar bear will end with climate change. Unless they adapt, they will die out. We could speculate that in the last 8000 years they adapted, but we don't know the starting conditions (how many, etc.), so the population of bears could fail to survive this change, despite surviving the last.

    35. Re:history? by Attila+Dimedici · · Score: 1

      According to CURRENT estimates of how many polar bears there were 60 years ago there are more polar bears alive today than there were 60 years ago. It is not just a matter of a difference between 60 year old estimates and current estimates. It is current estimates of what the population was that says there are more polar bears today.

      --
      The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
    36. Re:history? by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      You might want to ask yourself why there are more clashes between polar and brown bears... Maybe something along the lines of them losing their habitat and having to spread... No, that can't be it.

      Couldn't be anything to do with the number of polar bears has increased by nearly 2000% in the last decade, nope none of that. And that even the Inuit are seeing increased numbers as well. Here's a hint: The scientists are wrong, especially when correlated with people on the ground. More so when you realize that elk, moose, and seal populations have exploded in the last 20 years.

      Next you'll be trotting out the picture of a polar bear floating on a block of ice, and claiming that the arctic is melting.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    37. Re:history? by khallow · · Score: 1

      Well, there is some evidence of global warming over the past century. But most of what passes for evidence these days is either observation bias or someone attaching their pet issue to "climate change". For example, a recent oyster die-off on the northwest coast of the US was blamed on oceanic acidifcation from increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Turns out it's probably something that has been going on for a long time (say sourced by oceanic volcanism or the like), but we only noticed it recently and it gets blamed on the current favorite target of choice, climate change.

    38. Re:history? by khallow · · Score: 1

      Ok, I saw it. You have a point to make? I'll also note that a considerable portion of the northern hemisphere from about 40 degree latitude and up was tundra or ice field in the last 15k years and isn't now.

    39. Re:history? by riverat1 · · Score: 1

      The sun is a variable cephid star, what does that imply.

      And you lost credibility with me for that ridiculous statement. The Sun is definitely not anything close to being a Cephid.

    40. Re:history? by dbIII · · Score: 1

      News just in - the media uses hype.
      Please consult reality instead of insulting a strawman.
      As for bias, readers should take a look at khallow's earlier posts on the climate issue to see the dogma driven bias there.

    41. Re:history? by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 1

      So where did the polar bears live, if warmer water is lethal to them?

      How "old" is the species of polar bear? It could be a relatively recent off-shoot of brown bear, or one that lived closer to the glaciers and such in the warm times, then spread out when the ice spread. It's not water that's lethal, it's lack of food that's lethal.

          Your misstatement indicates you either have no grasp on what's lethal, or you are lying for effect.

      How is asking a question "lying for effect"?

      --
      If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
    42. Re:history? by khallow · · Score: 1

      News just in - the media uses hype.

      So what? The media aren't the only ones who use hype. A number of people had discovered that they can get more attention for their personal causes by implying that "climate change" somehow contributes.

      Please consult reality instead of insulting a strawman. As for bias, readers should take a look at khallow's earlier posts on the climate issue to see the dogma driven bias there.

      Consider who just used the strawman of "the media uses hype" in the previous breath.

      I suggest it would be educational for said readers to also look at a certain dbIII's posts and ponder someone who would say "If all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail ". Here, you dismiss someone's argument on the basis that people who are concerned about flaw X (which incidentally happens to be dogmatic and selective rhetoric) only because they suffer from flaw X.

    43. Re:history? by blueg3 · · Score: 1

      Man, good thing I didn't say, "what's relevant is the recorded ice coverage history of the last few thousand years"!

    44. Re:history? by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      no, the Danes do not have records of polar ice extents, they have some local measurements.

      There are no accurate measurements of volume for even 50 years ago.

    45. Re:history? by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      Utter rubbish, there are polar bears at the rather famous zoo in the town where I grew up. The bears are outdoors during the day and also have a concrete "cave" for sleeping when they're not napping in the hot summer sun. I'll give you a hint, the summer their gets over 95 F degrees with 80%+ humidity at times. Polar bears can live where it is warm. They are happy and play. Polar bears don't need the pole.

    46. Re:history? by jklovanc · · Score: 1

      Where is that record? Citations please. They are only comparing the last 30 years not the last few thousand years.

    47. Re:history? by haruchai · · Score: 1
      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    48. Re:history? by dbIII · · Score: 1

      What is wrong with using that old saying when it is completely appropriate? It is a very good example of someone out of their depth and comparing a thing with something they are used to.
      I advise you to follow the link I gave in that post as well. It illustrates well the "science denier" problem I have written about where a biologist gets attacked about climate science mostly just because he is a scientist.

      Considering your rather venomous written attacks on me in the past I must say that I am pleasantly surprised that your worst insult this time is to link a very appropriate comment I've made on a quoted question. Perhaps you've gotten over whatever was making you boil with anger earlier, and hopefully you are now willing to accept that expert opinions in climate science have worth instead of dismissing an entire field as worthless as you have in earlier posts.

    49. Re:history? by kermidge · · Score: 1

      Thanks for this. Came here partially to see if someone would mention the sonar records. Years back when U of Colo. was setting up their arctic climate research, I exchanged some email with a former sub driver was a prof there who'd done several patrols under ice. At the time there was only limited availability of USN data, and none from former Sovs.

      While some will still consider the data anecdotal in comparison to satellite observations, the accumulation of something like 100,000 miles of track data starting in 1958 with Nautilus is nothing to sneeze at.

    50. Re:history? by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      "Do you support the Democrats despite their intention to open concentration camps for gun owners?"

      It's "just a question". But it contains a factual statement that's false. Water is not lethal to polar bears, but the absence of ice reduces hunting grounds.

    51. Re:history? by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      They do for their place in the food chain. They use the icepack to move between hunting grounds. It'd be like removing the roads and subways from NYC and seeing how many people keep their jobs. It won't be many.

    52. Re:history? by khallow · · Score: 1

      What is wrong with using that old saying when it is completely appropriate? It is a very good example of someone out of their depth and comparing a thing with something they are used to.

      The problem is when the old saying gets used on you. At least twice in this discussion, you've accused others of being dogmatic in thought. I don't see much in the way of evidence presented for it aside from the occasional old saying. Dogmatic thought looks to be your hammer.

    53. Re:history? by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 1

      Except for the fact that the post I originally said "had there been no ice 100 years ago, there would be no polar bears." So my question is in direct response to his claim.

      Your example would only hold true if no Democrat had ever stated a goal of opening concentration camps for gun owners. I don't believe I have heard any say that. But the poster I responded to did indeed say polar bear would be dead if the water was warmer.

      --
      If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
    54. Re:history? by dbIII · · Score: 1

      At least twice in this discussion

      The second time was obviously referring to the first. I know you cannot possibly be as stupid as you are pretending so what silly little mass debate game are you playing this time? Do you get extra points for pretending an IQ less than shoe size? Why are you deliberately demeaning yourself so much just to try to get across your silly point about "climate science not being real science" (maybe you want to convince people it's breakfast cereal instead?).

      I suggest writing about something you actually know about instead of the old, tired line that all experts in a field you despise are worthless. Let's hear about your adventures with Visual Basic or something instead, it will be far more entertaining and of some actual worth.

    55. Re:history? by cundare · · Score: 1
      >So my point stands: When it was that warm in Greenland, it was certainly warm in Canada and Alaska. So where did the polar bears live, if warmer water is lethal to them?

      .

      .No, I don't have anything constructive to contribute here, but I just wanted to be sure that everybody saw this comment. It really brightened my day. Who needs SNL?

      --
      Who says enabling technology is a good thing?

    56. Re:history? by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 1

      Whoops. Didn't proofread well enough. First line left out a couple words. Should have been:

      Except for the fact that the post I originally replied to said "had there been no ice 100 years ago, there would be no polar bears."

      --
      If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
    57. Re:history? by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      if they are on land they don't need icepacks, they can walk on the ground from point a to b like other bears. Fact: polar bear population in 1966, 10,000. In 2006, 25,000.

    58. Re:history? by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      Current lifestyle and migration patterns require ice.

    59. Re:history? by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      they've been known to loot dumpsters and garbage cans, and eat pets. they're bears, seal blubber isn't the only thing that can make them go.

    60. Re:history? by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      Black bears are the garbage diggers. Brown and white bears don't like the garbage. If you want to take a picture of the majestic Bald Eagle, or a black bear, visit a dump in Alaska. Birds are flying rats. In coastal lower-48, it's the seagulls. Elsewhere it's pigeons or crows. In Alaska, it's the Bald Eagle, at least in some areas. The Kodiak dump is full of them. Every light-pole has at least one on top.

      But yes, they will eat other things, when forced. But such changes always cause stress on the population, sometimes to extinction, sometimes not.

  5. looks like we are safe by frovingslosh · · Score: 1

    Looks like we may be safe from the impending ice age, at least for a while.

    --
    I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
  6. Wonder no more. by gargleblast · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Wonder no more: it is a statistical effect called Regression toward the mean. Specifically: ... following an extreme random event, the next random event is likely to be less extreme.

    Not that annual Arctic ice levels are entirely random. They are somewhat linked, hence this year's being among the lowest in observed history.

    1. Re:Wonder no more. by real-modo · · Score: 3, Funny

      A fish.

    2. Re:Wonder no more. by real-modo · · Score: 2

      * Absurd questions demand surreal answers, and the surreal answer to every question is "a fish".

    3. Re:Wonder no more. by hey! · · Score: 1

      Er... a fish?

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    4. Re:Wonder no more. by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      I prefer a swallow. African at that.

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    5. Re:Wonder no more. by ilguido · · Score: 1

      That doesn't change the fact that a more extreme event would be worse.

    6. Re:Wonder no more. by doccus · · Score: 1

      42

    7. Re:Wonder no more. by doccus · · Score: 1

      Actually, this thread has the answers to life, the universe, and everything. Pretty good for /. I previously was convinced that Dougie Adams had already solved it, but hey, what do I know?

  7. Regression toward the mean by mdsolar · · Score: 1

    The idea that this year, following an extreme year, can be formally called regression toward the mean seems OK but it seem clearer to say something like a return to closer to the trend line. Anybody got a better description than that?

    1. Re:Regression toward the mean by mdsolar · · Score: 1

      When this term is used for stocks it has a different sense because the statistics are far from normal. To quote the WP link above,

      "In finance, the term mean reversion has a different meaning. Jeremy Siegel uses it to describe a financial time series in which "returns can be very unstable in the short run but very stable in the long run." More quantitatively, it is one in which the standard deviation of average annual returns declines faster than the inverse of the holding period, implying that the process is not a random walk, but that periods of lower returns are systematically followed by compensating periods of higher returns."

      You are not the first person to suggest that a non-linear term should be included in the fitting function for this.

      The term is used correctly, but it bugs me that in 2150, when the mean will be pretty much pinned near zero for the satellite period, 2012 will be a movement towards the mean and 2013 a movement away yet the statistical behavior will not have changed in this time neighborhood.

  8. Re:why should anybody care? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Are you just playing dumb, or are you actually unaware of the fact that diminishing Arctic sea ice cover will significantly alter climates across the world* through ice-albedo feedback?

    *Note: This includes the place where your food is grown.

  9. Re:why should anybody care? by symbolset · · Score: 1

    Temps didn't bottom out until 1976. We came within a gnat's whisker of runaway snowball conditions.

    --
    Help stamp out iliturcy.
  10. volume? by onemorechip · · Score: 1

    "The volume of sea ice – that is, how thick the Arctic ice is..."

    Er, no, "how thick the ice is" is called "thickness". Volume is thickness times area (or more precisely, thickness integrated over area).

    That said, two data points (last year's area and this year's area) do not a trend make. I can't believe how many people don't get that (or enjoy telling lies so much that they don't care that it contradicts reason).

    --
    But, I wanted socialized health insurance!
    1. Re:volume? by tbannist · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You have to remember for the libertarians (the Heartland Institute's branch anyway) it's not really about the science it's about defending their ideology from an existential challenge. They believe that government is always bad and capitalism always good. The very idea of capitalism causing a massive global problem that can only be resolved by government intervention is unthinkable and thus must be false. The facts be damned, because they know the "The Truth of Capitalist Libertarianism" they know that AGW can not true.

      Also, the Heartland Institute is funded by the true believers, so they will fight this to the last breath because both their identities and their jobs depend on it.

      --
      Fanatically anti-fanatical
    2. Re:volume? by gtall · · Score: 1

      Hmmm...so what you are saying is that libertarians are a fragile species which might be on the brink of extinction due to political climate change and evolution of ideas. This is grave. Maybe we could enact a new government program to protect them as a species. We'll need to tag them and track their movements and observe their lifestyles. I doubt we could do this without significant increase in funding for science. Damn, I guess I'll have to stop shooting them too.

    3. Re:volume? by BenfromMO · · Score: 1, Insightful

      I never knew a libertarian who stated that all Government is bad, and that capitalism is always good. Of course, when you make generalizations on subjects you don't know anything about, you are liable to get it completely wrong. Libertarians are not anarchists period. That might be part of your confusion. Libertarians believe in SMALL Government, not NO government which is what differentiates libertarians from anarchists. You can thank me for this lesson on terms, but like always, look the word up if you don't know what it means! Please.

      As for Government intervention, if a problem is large enough, I don't as a libertarian see an issue with a massive Government project. If a meteor is coming towards the Earth and the proof is easy to see, I would be the first to support massive Government spending to attempt to save the planet. The problem that most people who are skeptics on global warming is that the evidence for "catastrophic" climate change is not in evidence. You expect us to believe and trust you and others like you when all along every prediction and projection even has ended up being wrong. If CO2 did indeed have an amplification effect on water as proposed by global warming catastrophe believers, we would have seen much higher temperature than what we have so far. Now, if CO2 has a more minor inpact as the physics tells us (1.0 degrees C of warming per doubling) or even less, the models would diverge from reality like they have recently simply because the effect of CO2 is too small to over-come natural variation.

      Where is the proof? That is the question all of us skeptics are asking and we are willing to discuss radical ideas to fix this problem when the proof arrives, but over the last 5 years we have seen nothing but obfuscation, insults and downright dirty behavior including scientists keeping their methods to themselves and simply publishing papers that no one else can duplicate. If you instead of spending time insulting us and obfuscating the truth went out and attempted to prove your case minus insults and full of dialogue, you might not be losing numbers like you have. That kind of behavior simply turns normal people off. So what about it? are you willing to have a discussion on this subject, or are you just going to call me "true believer" and other insulting terms and insult anyone who questions a certain orthodoxy. Because in my experience the person throwing out the insults is the one who tends to have nothing else to say.

    4. Re:volume? by BenfromMO · · Score: 1

      You have to start shooting libertarians first sir. And fair warning, we shoot back.

    5. Re:volume? by geekoid · · Score: 1

      1) visible light is invisible to CO2
      2) Visible light create infra-red when it strikes the earth
      3) Infra red light is opaque to infra red.
      4) thus more CO2 = more trapped heat.

      The fact is., you are too stupid to understand the details.

      " If CO2 did indeed have an amplification effect on water as proposed by global warming catastrophe believers, we would have seen much higher temperature than what we have so far."
      False.

      " if CO2 has a more minor inpact as the physics tells us (1.0 degrees C of warming per doubling) or even less"
      physics doesn't tell us that.
      The discussion has been had, by experts in the field. Consensus is in. There is nothing to discuss anymore by the lay man.
      This applies to you and your ilk:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  11. Re:Global Climate Change by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Toxic lights bulbs don't actually save as much power as they claim. The daylight saving time change actually resulted in more energy being consumed than saved. BUT that doesn't mean they were ineffective. They're having just the result desired, making people feel like they are doing something to solve the problems but having those same problems still around to force even greater changes.

  12. Re: why should anybody care? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The oil industry has a long reach. Why they are so hell bent in terraforming the planet to be unsuitable for human life one can only guess.

    The bigger players are not in the "oil industry" but the "energy industry". They'll sell you solar power, just no one wants to pay for it yet. We all throw money at them for oil, what are they supposed to do, have super-human morals? Might as well turn control of Exxon And BP over to the Vatican or something.

  13. Re:why should anybody care? by WalksOnDirt · · Score: 1

    Temps didn't bottom out until 1976. We came within a gnat's whisker of runaway snowball conditions.

    No, it was much colder at the peak of the last glaciation. I doubt we were all that close then, but who knows?

    --
    a,e,i,o,u and sometimes w and y (at be if of up cwm by)
  14. Re:why should anybody care? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    It is if you live in Colorado or other places in the Northern Hemisphere being seriously affected by the slowing of the jet stream. Then you have lots of reasons to care, especially if you like to eat.

    Slowing of the jet stream leading to more slowly moving weather fronts is a direct result of the fact that the Arctic is getting warmer and as a consequence, the temperature and pressure differential means that their is less of a "hill" that gives the Jet Stream its acceleration. If you are a farmer that means that the weather patterns you have taken for granted as "in place" for the past few thousand years are rapidly changing, with a significant increase in the probability of much more extreme weather (severe flooding and severe drought). Severe, extreme weather means lower crop yields, which are already being witnessed across many different kinds of crops.

  15. The last one by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    In 2040, the last chunk of Arctic ice will be swiped up, stowed in a regular fridge, and auctioned off on Ebay.

    1. Re:The last one by BenfromMO · · Score: 1

      Only an idiot would buy a piece of ice on ebay that would just come back the next winter.

  16. Arctic ice is a ridiculous liberal myth by El+Puerco+Loco · · Score: 5, Funny

    Nothing resembling "the arctic" is ever mentioned in the Bible.

    1. Re:Arctic ice is a ridiculous liberal myth by VortexCortex · · Score: 1

      Oh, I don't know. All pure white and bright... To a bunch of desert dwellers wouldn't "the arctic" be pretty much the definition of heaven?

    2. Re:Arctic ice is a ridiculous liberal myth by gtall · · Score: 1

      Maybe that's where preachers go to get inspired, "Ah can see the light!!!" Oh who am I kidding, they get their inspiration from the collection plate.

    3. Re:Arctic ice is a ridiculous liberal myth by geekoid · · Score: 1

      the arctic is a desert.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  17. Re:Global Warming on Slashdot? by dave420 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There was no misconduct found due to "ClimateGate". Read the scientific literature, not some interpretation by some talking head you happen to agree with. That's not learning, that's masturbation.

  18. Re:Here we go again by gox · · Score: 1

    Come on guy. Knowledge is not bestowed upon you by a holy power, just because you attended to some classes and had the privilege of shaking hands with famous "scientists". Anyone who wants to know about scientific process already knows about scientific process.

    Furthermore, while scientists (or at least those who are labelled so) may be trained to adhere to the scientific method, with your logic, they can't know what it really is, since the nature and meaning of scientific method is not the subject of science.

  19. Re:Global Warming on Slashdot? by Mashiki · · Score: 1

    And if police officers were investigating police officers for a crime that had been committed without a civilian SIU, people would be crying corruption.

    --
    Om, nomnomnom...
  20. Re:why should anybody care? by real-modo · · Score: 1

    2080 plus or minus 20 years, according to most climatologists.

    2040 plus or minus 10 years, according to climatologists specialising in the Arctic.

    2028 plus or minus 7-ish years (for under 1 million square kilometers of ice area at minimum), according to the trend.

  21. Some data by amaurea · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There is some discussion on this here.

    In particular, these two images from the same article are interesting: Temperature anomaly for the medieval warm period and temperature anomaly for the period 1999-2008. Both are anomalies relative to the same 1961-1990 average, so they should be directly comparable, though of course the medieval warm period is a reconstruction with significant uncertainties.

    So to answer your question. yes, you could say that "Canada was still frozen while Greenland was basking in warmth". Though temperatures slightly elevated in some parts of Canada, most of it was cold. And none of them were anywhere near as hot as they are now.

    1. Re:Some data by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 2

      I looked at the article, and unfortunately its main point is based on work by Michael Mann. I wouldn't accept evidence from him of a cow farting. He did more to damage the reputation of "your side" than anyone else in these debates.

      So, thank you for your time, but I have nothing to add to a discussion that is based on Michael Mann.

      --
      If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
    2. Re:Some data by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 2

      No, you have the wrong post. I'm not saying amaurea is a bad person, and I'm not saying Michael Mann is a bad person.

      I'm saying Michael Mann was shown to be a bad scientist, and has damaged the AGW-believer side of this issue with remarkably poor science. I'm saying I don't trust anything he says, because of his prior bad science which not only is he not ashamed of, but which has his supporters twisting in logic knots to maintain. Name the people on the non-AGW side who have done such acts, and I will condemn them as well.

      I don't dispute that global warming is happening. I don't dispute that man has played a part in it. I think both of those things are true, but I also think the degree of our impact is being inflated by people in power for their own ambitions. I think that Michael Mann assisted those "rich and powerful people" to be able to amass more wealth and power, at the expense of the rest of us. He was rewarded with money, power, and prestige.

      So, no, my statement of not trusting Michael Mann is not an ad hominem. It is a statement of his past actions, and how he conducted himself.

      --
      If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
    3. Re:Some data by riverat1 · · Score: 1

      Perhaps you could offer some actual evidence that Michael Mann is a bad scientist. As far as I can tell he is held in high regard by his peers in paleoclimatology and in the end they're the only ones who really matter in judging his work.

    4. Re:Some data by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 1

      I could indeed offer some actual evidence, from scientists and non-scientists. But you apparently have your mind made up, and are stating you'll dismiss anything that isn't from paleoclimatologists (as if only they can point out bad science in Mann's work), just as I dismiss anything from Michael Mann himself.

      Anyhow, thanks for the reply.

      --
      If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
  22. Re:Global Warming on Slashdot? by Bongo · · Score: 1

    We are gradually running out of professions which enjoy unquestioning blind respect from the public.

  23. Re:Global Warming on Slashdot? by Deluvianvortex · · Score: 1

    yeah well fear sells better than respect

  24. Re:why should anybody care? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Except that if you go and actually look at the data, you discover that the increased temperature and CO2 periods are correlated (with good reason too) with increased biodiversity, and massively increased plant life. We're actually at the moment, right on the lower limit of what plants are happy to deal with in terms of the level of CO2 in the atmosphere.

  25. Re:Wow! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    How much do you get paid for this shilling gig? I mean, really. I want in.

  26. Take a stats class, moron. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The value for the standard deviation of TWO POINTS is infinity. That is because you divide the values or RMS error by the number of points minus 2. In the case of two points, that comes to divide by zero, which is infinity.

    You cannot make a point of uncertainty with two points alone.

    Meanwhile, the value against the long-term trend fit is within 1 standard deviation, therefore the trend continuing is not excluded.

    Your intended null hypothesis is "The trend has stopped". That is NOT proven.

    1. Re:Take a stats class, moron. by ae1294 · · Score: 1

      When did they change Divide by Zero from undefined? Serious question?

    2. Re:Take a stats class, moron. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Undefined effectively means infinity.

      Proof:
      f(x)=1/x
      assume x 1
      as x approaches 0, y approaches infinity

      To divide by zero one must cut the number being divided into an infinite number of groups, rendering an undefinable result.

    3. Re:Take a stats class, moron. by ae1294 · · Score: 1

      OK so In calculus Extended real line?

      Formal operations:

      A formal calculation is one carried out using rules of arithmetic, without consideration of whether the result of the calculation is well-defined. Thus, it is sometimes useful to think of a/0, where a 0, as being \infinity. This infinity can be either positive, negative, or unsigned, depending on context.

      Real projective line:

      The set {R} U \infinity is the real projective line, which is a one-point compactification of the real line. Here \infinity means an unsigned infinity, an infinite quantity that is neither positive nor negative. This quantity satisfies -\infinity = \infinity, which is necessary in this context. In this structure, a/0 = \infinity can be defined for nonzero a, and a/\infinity = 0. It is the natural way to view the range of the tangent and cotangent functions of trigonometry: tan(x) approaches the single point at infinity as x approaches either +\pi/2 or -\pi/2 from either direction.

      This definition leads to many interesting results. However, the resulting algebraic structure is not a field, and should not be expected to behave like one. For example, \infinity + \infinity is undefined in the projective line.

      Riemann sphere, which is of major importance in complex analysis. Here too \infinity is an unsigned infinity – or, as it is often called in this context, the point at infinity. This set is analogous to the real projective line, except that it is based on the field of complex numbers. In the Riemann sphere, 1/0=\infinity, but 0/0 is undefined, as is 0\times\infinity.

      Extended non-negative real number line:

      The negative real numbers can be discarded, and infinity introduced, leading to the set [0, infinity], where division by zero can be naturally defined as a/0 = infinity for positive a. While this makes division defined in more cases than usual, subtraction is instead left undefined in many cases, because there are no negative numbers.

      Still you are mixing maths but I get it...

    4. Re:Take a stats class, moron. by mrsquid0 · · Score: 1

      You are thinking of the sample standard deviation of one point, which is undefined, or infinite depending on one's taste. The sample standard deviation of two points (x1, x2) is sqrt(0.5 * (x1 + x2)^2 - x1^2 * x2^2).

      --
      Just because you are paranoid does not mean that no-one is out to get you.
  27. Re:Wow! by erikkemperman · · Score: 1
    --
    Gosh, thanks. That must be why the other ships call me Meatfucker -- GCU Grey Area (Eccentric)
  28. Oh god, you're a moron. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    2016+/-3.

    That means maybe 2013, maybe 2019. We haven't passed 2019.

    And, again, the claim wasn't that the ice would be gone, it would be a summer extent. We'd get ice back.

    Moreover, that's one guy.

    Now what about other predictions that AGW would be falsified by 2012 being about the 1956 average? Your statement merely shows one man was wrong. Big deal. Doesn't disprove the general science which has there being no sea ice by maybe 2040. But deniers you DO listen to are wrong in damn near (95%+) all cases. Yet you don't decide that the case against AGW is wrong, do you.

    Why?

    Because you're a moron.

  29. Re:Global Warming on Slashdot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Lying to the public, falsifying data, covering up contradictory data, advocating campaigns in the press demonizing any who agree with you, creating code which perverts the output.

    Of course there was no misconduct. That is all well within the bounds of acceptable conduct for a public body.

  30. More Spin with Fakery. by REALMAN · · Score: 1

    "a paper published in Nature ESTIMATING Arctic ice extent for the past 1450 years shows a sharp decline in Arctic ice beginning in the mid-20th century."

    Estimating translates to "using models to GUESS the arctic ice sea extent in the past AND THEN proffering that as PROOF that 2013 was the 6th lowest"

    Hide the decline... Hide the decline...

    --
    - A Frog in a pond utters an azure cry. -
    1. Re:More Spin with Fakery. by Eunuchswear · · Score: 1

      Hide the decline... Hide the decline...

      Sorry, I don't see what this has to do with the divergence problem, could you elucidate?

      --
      Watch this Heartland Institute video
  31. Re:Wow! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    "leftist" check
    "AGW" check
    "wealth redistribution" check

    *snicker*

  32. Re:Global Warming on Slashdot? by mvdwege · · Score: 2

    The problem is that 'Climategate' was not just investigated by scientists, but also by outside authorities.

    And all investigations independently concluded that no significant misbehaviour had occurred.

    You're an idiot.

    --
    "I know I will be modded down for this": where's the option '-1, Asking for it'?
  33. Re:Global Warming on Slashdot? by mcgrew · · Score: 1

    And if police officers were investigating police officers for a crime that had been committed without a civilian SIU

    I went to college at SIU. So WTF are you talking about? Southern Illinois University is the only SIU I've ever heard of, and googling your acronym brought up nothing but my alma matter. So what is your SIU? We're nerds, not cops.

  34. Re:Why only the Northern Hemisphere? by Troyusrex · · Score: 1

    I'm not sure where you got that graph, but it doesn't match the official statistics from the NSIDC. There is absolutely a statistically significant trend in Antarctic ice, both in minimums and maximums. In fact, the minimum trend is even more pronounced than the maximum trend. Now, had you argued that the ice melt in the Arctic far exceeds the gains in the Antarctic (by about 3 times) I'd agree with you but as-is you are very much overly minimizing the gains in the Antarctic. http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/2012/10/poles-apart-a-record-breaking-summer-and-winter/

  35. Re:Wow! by erikkemperman · · Score: 2

    ad hominid attacks

    Ad hominem, is what you wanted to say. Then you proceed to call the people you disagree with (which is fine) various names. Yeah, you're a real big hitter for your team, AC.

    --
    Gosh, thanks. That must be why the other ships call me Meatfucker -- GCU Grey Area (Eccentric)
  36. Re:Wow! by haruchai · · Score: 2

    That actually would have been clever if the topic was evolution.

    --
    Pain is merely failure leaving the body
  37. Re:Wow! by tbannist · · Score: 1

    Those people are usually labeled as criminals.

    Only after they're caught, before they're caught they're usually called sociopaths, psychopaths, or CEOs...

    --
    Fanatically anti-fanatical
  38. And the luminiferous aether too! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Yeah, right.

    So a long time before the IPCC. And they'd only just worked out (Callendar) that the saturated gas argument was not valid. And the computers they had at the time were just about able to say "Sensitivity is between 1.5 and something above 6.5 C per doubling CO2").

    Oh, and New Scientist isn't a published journal.

  39. Re:why should anybody care? by dave420 · · Score: 1

    Because the deserts will spread, current areas which provide massive amounts of food will stop being able to do so (unless you want to move all the farmers thousands of miles across the world), the seas will heat and become more acidic, which will kill off or severely affect massive amounts of flora and fauna which live in and off the sea, including the massive amounts of plant life which converts CO2 into oxygen, which in turn will make the world warmer. Then the vast areas of permafrost across the world will start to thaw, which will release their sequestered greenhouse gasses, which will make the world even warmer. Then the Antarctic will lose more of its cover, reducing the albedo of the planet, which will increase the warming effect even more. So yeah, "5 degrees" doesn't sound so much, but it won't stop there. That 5 degrees extra will cause lots of other processes to be massively altered which will tend to create more warming, and make the world a far less pleasant place to live. You think international politics is complicated now? Just wait for half the world to be destabilised by food supply difficulties and massive loss of local, environment-specific industry. Your view is massively short-sighted, almost as if you don't even care what's going to happen. You are either selfish or an idiot - pick one :)

  40. Re:They were not there 500 years. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Well, consider the two following possible advertisements:
    • Hey, I'm banished here, but come join me in my far-away colony in Even-colder-than-Iceland!
    • and
    • Hey, I'm banished here, but come join me in my far-away colony of ... umm.. Greenland!

    Eirik "the Red" Thorvaldsson chose the 2nd version in the 10th century, for some reason.

  41. Re:They were not there 500 years. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    No, the Viking who discovered 'Greenland' named it thus because it better enabled him to find willing settlers.

  42. Re:why should anybody care? by sycodon · · Score: 3, Informative
    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  43. Re:Wow! by nomadic · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Hahaa....oh man. "Arrogance." Yes, that's how science works. A->B unless the Arrogance Coefficient is too high, in which case Zeus steps in and prevents B from happening because he hates human pride. Do you even listen to yourself talk?

  44. Re:Wow! by ae1294 · · Score: 2

    Quoting The Nation as a source? Really? For those too uninformed to know what I mean, The Nation is nothing but the spigot out of which the Current Truth of radical socialist talking points runs. Seriously, it is pure propaganda. It says a lot that The Nation supports those who are promoting the man-made climate change narrative.

    Honestly I think I speak for a number of us here. We don't care anymore about Ds or Rs.... They can all go fuck themselves with a red hot poker...

  45. Re:Wow! by ae1294 · · Score: 1

    What no blow? What is the world coming too? Back in the 80's me and Manuel Noriega were getting fucked up all the time...

  46. 6th highest minimum extent since 2002 by dtjohnson · · Score: 1

    "Recorded History" on arctic ice extent is pretty damn short. The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) used to list something they called the '1979-2001' average and then showed that, based on that, the current ice extent was pathetically low. Lately, they have switched to showing the '1981-2010' average because the early years of satellite measurements have been found to be wildly inaccurate. Better quality data has only been available since 2002 and, based on that, 2013 is the 6th highest ice extent minimum on record.

  47. Re:LMAO by tbannist · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's below the long term average (by a million square km), and there are exactly two data points, so only a fool would consider that an upward trend. Also the years with lower ice extents are 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

    You're just seeing what you want to see and ignoring everything else.

    --
    Fanatically anti-fanatical
  48. Re:Wow! by erikkemperman · · Score: 2

    Look, it's fine to disagree with with Ms Klein. I also don't agree with every line she writes. I decided to post the link because the GGGP was talking about left-wing propaganda, and I think this article does a fair job of at least showing the right-wing has far from clean hands in this department.

    But then this brave AC saw fit to use a big word (wrongly) and proceeded to do exactly what that word usually derides. Viz, "nutbar", "w00w00s", "freaks".

    Also, I think it is rather telling that all of this remains anonymous. Grow a pair, will ya?

    --
    Gosh, thanks. That must be why the other ships call me Meatfucker -- GCU Grey Area (Eccentric)
  49. Re:Wow! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I don't care either. I am the author of the post you responded to and I have no party allegiance, but I do care about principles and about the truth and the truth is that The Nation reliably and absolutely predictably spouts whatever the current anti-capitalist, socialist line is currently in vogue. Nothing that it says about science or economics or politics or anything really can be considered objective. If hearing me point that out makes you butt-hurt, well then that's your problem.

  50. Re:Wow! by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

    'The Nation' is far left of any D who can get elected to national office. Those who can still believe it's BS are masters at cognitive dissonance.

    --
    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  51. Re:Wow! by ae1294 · · Score: 1

    Well ok... Can you provide me a few links and give me a clue what is wrong... I mean really I can google but what? I mean what you're saying is it's not just Climate change right?

  52. Re:Wow! by h4rr4r · · Score: 1

    Any D who can get elected is no where near left.

  53. Re:Wow! by I'm+New+Around+Here · · Score: 1

    I am going to assume then that you are one of those assholes who are so absolutely arrogant you feel you can do whatever you like and fuck the consequences for everyone else? Those people are usually labeled as criminals.

    Only after they're caught, before they're caught they're usually called sociopaths, psychopaths, or CEOs...

    Describes America's current CEO to a tee.
    And the last one.
    And the one before that.
    And the one....

    --
    If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
  54. And the Dramatic Answer to every question is-- by Guppy · · Score: 1

    * Absurd questions demand surreal answers, and the surreal answer to every question is "a fish".

    So it has come to this.

  55. Re:Just like the Aral Sea by hey! · · Score: 1

    And the people who are talking the most about the "loss of Arctic sea ice" want to adopt the economic system that created the situation in the Aral Sea.

    And that would be ... the economic system where they ignore the long term environmental consequences of your actions in order to maximize short term gains?

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  56. Re:Wow! by mcvos · · Score: 1, Troll

    So you declare without proof that everyone who disagrees with the AGW narrative is paid by evil corporations? *yawn* So dissent from your side of a political disagreement can automatically be dismissed with no further thought?

    No, in this particular case, it can be dismissed exactly because of all the thought, not to mention calculation and observation, that has already gone into it. There's this thing called science, and I'm aware it's very popular to dismiss, belittle or ridicule it, but bad PR is not refutation.

    How convenient, especially since that talking point was invented by the dried-gourd rattling witch doctor, give-me-a-virgin-to-sacrifice hucksters who cooked up the AGW scam in the first place.

    You've got a nice view of scientists. Call your doctor a dried-gourd rattling witch doctor next time you're ill.

  57. Re:Wow! by mcvos · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The absolute asshole arrogance to think that anything man does will have a long-term effect on climate is unbelievable

    Because your unfounded disbelief make for such a better argument than science, doesn't it?

    Just another manufactured crisis to grab grant money and headlines

    Have you actually looked at where the money is in this debate? Are those poor, poor oil giants so strapped for cash that they can't counter the manufactured PR campaign by publicly funded scientists?

    - and the beauty is, if anyone disagrees, just claim they are not "educated" enough to understand....

    That's certainly what it looks like. That, or they're simply bought by the people with the real money.

  58. Re:One skeptic's impression by AdamHaun · · Score: 2

    The task also appears partially hindered by the better safe than sorry attitude (among the scientists?) that we should skip the science and go straight to the cure.

    I must point out that this is pretty standard risk mitigation, particularly given that reducing CO2 emissions will take many years. (The more the better, for economic reasons.) You're not supposed to wait for 100% confirmation of an impending disaster before taking steps to prevent it -- ask any insurance company. Had we started seriously trying to cut emissions 20-30 years ago, we'd be in a much better position now. Likewise, starting now is much better than waiting another ten years. And reducing fossil fuel usage is something we need to do anyway, both because of pollution and because we're running out of them. Again, starting on those problems early is a good idea.

    The enviromental movement has been a good force, but to much of a good thing here would result in economic disruption backed only by good intentions ... I just hope that society and planet survives the cure. It would be tragic if folks pushing their agenda to save the planet end up killing it.

    Those are some pretty big assumptions given the state of economics as a science, and the lack of consensus therein. What makes you think the economy is that much more fragile than the climate?

    --
    Visit the
  59. Re:Wow! by HornWumpus · · Score: 2

    That says more about you then anything else.

    --
    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  60. Re:why should anybody care? by kwbauer · · Score: 1

    "The Sahara used to be a lush and fertile plain." When was this and why would it be bad for it to be that way again?

  61. Re:Global Climate Change by TemporalBeing · · Score: 1

    Toxic lights bulbs don't actually save as much power as they claim. The daylight saving time change actually resulted in more energy being consumed than saved. BUT that doesn't mean they were ineffective. They're having just the result desired, making people feel like they are doing something to solve the problems but having those same problems still around to force even greater changes.

    DST was never about saving energy. It was about aligning workers to shifts for production in a manner that made sense for war time.

    Yes, there are people that claim it would save energy - not burning candles at night when you could just get up a little earlier kind of thing; but it was really about making the most of the daytime for war efforts when enacted (WWII). It made sense for the manufacturing economies of that era, but now we run 24/7, so it really doesn't make sense any more.

    --
    Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away. - Elvis Presley (source: imdb.com)
  62. Re:Just like the Aral Sea by Attila+Dimedici · · Score: 1

    And the people who are talking the most about the "loss of Arctic sea ice" want to adopt the economic system that created the situation in the Aral Sea.

    And that would be ... the economic system where they ignore the long term environmental consequences of your actions in order to maximize short term gains?

    That would be the economic system whereby all economic activity is controlled by the government.

    --
    The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
  63. Re:Wow! by ae1294 · · Score: 1

    I bet this gig comes with hookers^W ...er... "comfort women", too.

    Money, candy, blow, *and* hookers? Dammit, now I really want in.

    wait.. what type of drugs/candy comes in bars that weigh killo's.... Cocaine and Hereon!!! The CIA runs both!!
    YEAH ME TOO I'll sign up for the mobile infantry TODAY! The only good person is a controlled and always watched person!!!

    (Want to know more?)

  64. Re:Wow! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You've never seen, heard, nor met a socialist.

  65. Permafrost is not your friend by Tenebrousedge · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This would be funnier if it weren't completely retarded. Let me draw you a map.

    I've explained enough times to want to make this short, but most of the ground up here is some variant on permanently frozen. At some point, all of that is likely to melt, and subside. We Alaskans know a lot about what that looks like, because if you build in the wrong way in the wrong place, you'll be filling out your cross-stitch with "Home Sweet Bog". Houses built on permafrost are built on stilts.

    Also, while the Arctic is warming at a significantly greater pace than the rest of the world (1.6 degrees C up from last century, compared with .8 degrees C globally), the winters are still going to be cold as fuck (<-40) for a long time to come.

    Plus, there's <1% of the land up in Alaska that's actually owned privately. The rest is owned either by the Feds, the State, or the Natives.

    This is really just the tip of the iceberg. Your suggestion, and its underlying premise, are so wrong-headed that it's turning my stomach. Perhaps you can go be a real estate agent in Shishmaref, or one of the other villages that we're having to relocate due to climate change. Hopefully at that point you might understand exactly what it is that is offensive about your comment.

    --
    Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
    1. Re:Permafrost is not your friend by bored_engineer · · Score: 1

      Plus, there's <1% of the land up in Alaska that's actually owned privately. The rest is owned either by the Feds, the State, or the Natives.

      You misstate the case slightly. Native land is private land under ANCSA. Native Corporation land can, and has been, sold. Further, the selection of land by the state has had a strong focus on private ownership and development.

      While it changes slowly, the 1% number isn't static. (Sorry to pick at nits, but you try to present a picture that's static, when it's not.)

    2. Re:Permafrost is not your friend by khallow · · Score: 1

      Plus, there's That all can be sold off or leased.

  66. It's not a rebound, its regression by geekoid · · Score: 1

    specifically, regression to the mean. And expected and predicted event. It's a single event among many they clearly show the earth is warming form increased infra-red trapping from CO2.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    1. Re:It's not a rebound, its regression by CauseBy · · Score: 1

      Do you listen to Skeptic's Guide to the Universe? That's exactly how Steven Novella covered this item -- not that he is the only person who could make a straightforward conclusion like that, it just reminded me of his conversation.

  67. Re:LMAO by BenfromMO · · Score: 1

    What, you mean like record high antarctic ice extents that are yearly over-looked? Or how temperature in the arctic have been running below average for 2 years now?

    There are plenty of facts that are over-looked by both sides truth be told. and yes, I would hardly call this year a recovery or a two year trend the sign of things to come, but I think everyone should keep an open mind and keep an eye on the data over the next couple of years. A cooling arctic is hardly consistent with the theory of catastrophic global warming, and if indeed it turns out skeptics are right, it might be best to not say things you regret later. IE: don't call someone a fool who might end up being correct. The conclusion might be premature, but if they are correct, well what does that make you?

    In other words, this debate could use a lot more decorum on both sides.

  68. Re:Wow! by h4rr4r · · Score: 1

    How so?
    I think it says more about how far right the USA has slid. Even our furthest left politicians would have trouble being elected outside some pretty extreme foreign governments.

  69. Communism! by brit74 · · Score: 1

    Oh, going straight for the "they're making us into communists!" scare? How about this: "finding ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions" is a long way from "all economic activity is controlled by the government".

    (Or maybe the US government already made us into communists with their "reducing cloroflorocarbons + ozone" scare. Remember that? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone_depletion )

    1. Re:Communism! by Attila+Dimedici · · Score: 2

      Oh, going straight for the "they're making us into communists!" scare? How about this: "finding ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions" is a long way from "all economic activity is controlled by the government".

      When the "greenhouse gas" you are trying to reduce the emissions of is CO2 than no there is no distance at all between "finding ways to reduce greenhose gas emissions" and "all economic activity is controlled by the government" because ALL economic activity generates CO2 (all human activity generates CO2).

      --
      The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
    2. Re:Communism! by brit74 · · Score: 1

      When the "greenhouse gas" you are trying to reduce the emissions of is CO2 than no there is no distance at all between "finding ways to reduce greenhose gas emissions" and "all economic activity is controlled by the government" because ALL economic activity generates CO2 (all human activity generates CO2).

      Yeah, as if the cycling of carbon dioxide from plants to animals/humans and back is equivalent to digging up long-buried carbon dioxide and putting it into the atmosphere. Secondly, reducing carbon emissions is still a long way from controlling all activity. If we put a $2 / gallon tax on gasoline, how does this result in "controlling everything you do"? It doesn't. It means you pay a little money to drive anywhere and it incentivizes alternative fuel sources (which I would think that conservatives would appreciate since the world oil-based economy makes Middle Eastern Muslims rich). You're just trying to find a reason to avoid doing anything about our carbon emissions.

      Speaking of the Ozone layer, looks like Rush Limbaugh was denying a human role in Ozone depletion, too. Are all conservatives this scientifically illiterate?
      http://mediamatters.org/research/2005/08/16/limbaugh-falsely-denied-human-causes-of-ozone-d/133658

      It seems to me that conservatives are just ideologically inclined to drag their feet on *anything* environmentally related. The science doesn't seem to matter. At this point, conservatives have devolved into the party of "not-shitting-on-the-environment is a liberal idea, and we have to oppose everything environment-related because we love any excuse to attack anyone on the left". It's retarded and childish and dangerous.

  70. Re:LMAO by tbannist · · Score: 1

    The conclusion might be premature, but if they are correct, well what does that make you?

    A sceptic? I don't care what you're trying to prove two data points don't make a trend.

    --
    Fanatically anti-fanatical
  71. That's not even close to all that we know by geekoid · · Score: 1

    " 1) Long term measurement data is unavailable, and only a few proxies (ice cores) for parts of this this have been found."
    also trees, which give us very accurate data, btw.

    "To predict longer terms, more of the planet's weather has to be modeled. "
    More model is nice, but there is more to it. You aren't even looking at the primary data we know:
    CO2 is invisible to visible light, and opaque to infrared light.
    So when visible light strikes a surface, it creates infra-red. Since more CO2 equals more material to trap infra-red light, the prediction is teps go up.

    All this 'discussions' is either based in ignorance, or cherry picking small piece of data while disregarding the bigger picture.

    It's not like we don't know why increased CO2 cause the temp to rise.

    So take you opinion and put it where it belongs: 1970. Find out what facts we actually know before droning on.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  72. Nobody? How about last night? by dbIII · · Score: 1

    Nobody is saying that the climate doesn't change

    Just last night on a radio show called Q&A the first question put to Dr David Suzuki was about climate, was from somebody that was insisting that the climate is not changing and that the trend was flat for the last decade.
    The people I'm writing about are out there and making a lot of noise.

  73. Re:LMAO by CauseBy · · Score: 2

    If you agree that a two-year timespan is totally meaningless to something as variable as climate, then it's disingenuous to turn around and try to give it credence.

  74. Re:Global Warming on Slashdot? by geekoid · · Score: 1

    You don't know what science is, do you?
    It was vetted by a lot of experts in the fields, not some group that also worked with the climate gate people..which, as t turns out., was a made up media event.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  75. Not history - the denial is happening now by dbIII · · Score: 1
    Here's an example from last night - a question put to Dr David Suzuki on Q&A (http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s3841115.htm)

    Bill Koutalianos asked: Since 1998 global temperatures have been relatively flat, yet many man-made global warming advocates refuse to acknowledge this simple fact. Has man-made global warming become a new religion in itself?

    If all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail - hence the accusation of "new religion".

  76. Re:why should anybody care? by riverat1 · · Score: 1

    And you just conveniently ignore that he qualified it by starting out " At this rate, ... ".

  77. Re:Why only the Northern Hemisphere? by riverat1 · · Score: 1

    There is absolutely a statistically significant trend in Antarctic ice, both in minimums and maximums.

    I don't think that sentence says what you meant to say. The NSICD link doesn't say anything about Antarctic sea ice minimums and as I understand it the Antarctic sea ice minimum is essentially zero every year so there probably isn't a trend there.

  78. Re:why should anybody care? by stenvar · · Score: 1

    If you are a farmer that means that the weather patterns you have taken for granted as "in place" for the past few thousand years are rapidly changing,

    You're insane. There have been no weather patterns "in place for the past few thousand years" anywhere on the planet, at least not anywhere where agriculture is taking place. Frankly, people like you are at about the same level of scientific literacy as young earth creationists.

  79. Re: Wow! by gzuckier · · Score: 1

    Calm down, nobody thinks you're a hominid.

    --
    Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
  80. Re: Wow! by gzuckier · · Score: 1

    How can you say that? Look at Obama; requiring people to purchase any of a number of health care plans offered by several large for-profit corporations, instead of just accepting whatever their employer selected for them (if any) as God intended? Radical socialism, even Stalin never came up with a similar plan.

    --
    Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
  81. Re: Wow! by gzuckier · · Score: 1

    Is it that you don't consider the dust bowl a serious event, or that you consider it just a random fluke?

    --
    Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
  82. Re:Wow! by ae1294 · · Score: 1

    Sure just put your mark on this blank piece of paper my friend!