Tell me, how many islands have sunk, how many have sprung up? The Rocky mountains have gotten how much higher? The Himalayas rise nearly an inch a year on average. North America is now sevral dozen miles further from Europe, and closer to Asia.
Small islands being exposed and submerged as sea level fluctuates are not affecting the system on the scales of which I speak. The Rocky Mountains have not increased significantly in elevation in the last 10,000 years, nor the last 1,000,000, and the Tibetan Plateau was very close to its present elevation 8 million years ago. Please learn something about global tectonics before making references to it.
Oh wait, that's not doom and gloom enough for your crowd, somehow they have to blame the U.S. for it.
I made no doom-and-gloom postures, nor did I mention the United States.
Every person who has bought into Global Warming has the same problem. They think that the Earth's climate is a stable system.
NO! I never said this, in fact I said the opposite. Of COURSE climate fluctuates. My point is that we are now exceeding the bounds of the recorded amplitude of fluctuation during the past million years. Is it not worth considering that humans may have something to do with this, and that it may not be a good thing?
Several studies are now claiming that the CO2 levels gleaned from ice cores may be inaccurate becuase CO2 has a tendency to leach into the ice matrix, changing the concentrations in the trapped bubbles.
The studies that use these bubbles take into account this diffusion effect and use physically-based models to remove it from the signal.
They never mention that the period of 1650-1800 was the coldest time in the entire millenium.
Yes, it was called the Little Ice Age, and there was a minor advance of many of the world's glaciers. One hypothesis is that it was brought on by the reduction of human population by disease (esp. in the Americas), the regrowth of human-cleared forests, and a corresponding drawdown in CO2. The climate system tended toward cooler as a result. It has also been postulated that this cooling trend is what is due in the normal cycle of variability, but it has been prevented by anthropogenic greenhouse gases.
Now, of course, these are hypotheses... but they have very interesting implications. Variations in atmospheric gas content have been shown to correlate with human population swings over the past 2000 years.
Why is there so much opposition to exploring these ideas, which have ramifications for the future of OUR species, among others?
And you should read my post, in which I was referring to the past several hundred thousand years of ice-core record. The Carboniferous ended 250+ million years ago. And incidentally, it was a period of rapid decline in CO2 levels from the pre-carboniferous high, as a result of the proliferation of land plants and the formation of lots and lots of coal. This contributed to the glaciations which you refer to.
There are other things that affect global temperature besides CO2. The arrangement of the continents, for instance, affects ocean and atmosphere circulation, in turn affecting temperature. My point was that during the last million years or so, with the present levels of vegetation, the present arrangement of the continents, and the present solar flux, levels of these greenhouse gases have not reached the levels they are at today, and the deviation from normal cyclicity has been during post-industrial times.
The system is too complex to simply look at a graph of CO2 vs temperature on 100-million-year timescales and dismiss CO2 as having no effect. Other factors being equal, increased CO2 (and methane, and many others) levels WILL lead to a trapping of heat in the atmosphere.
We have records of atmospheric gas content going back many hundreds of thousands of years, from ice cores. We are rapidly approaching that point where the atmospheric CO2 levels are 100% HIGHER than the prior maximums over this time period.
Levels of methane, another potent greenhouse gas, are approaching 1000% higher than any previous peak on record.
BOTH of these curves begin a sharp exponential climb right around 1700 AD - the industrial revolution.
It is a fact that these gases contribute to a greenhouse effect, and it is also a fact that humans have contributed to the greenhouse gas content of the atmosphere.
Last time I flew it wasn't whether you were USING the FM tuner, but whether the device even HAD one. Something to do with the reference frequency transmitted by the device to tune itself.
Thing about the Simpsons and similar shows, even Beavis and Butthead - they portray the moronic exploits of some dumb characters, but the don't insult the intelligence of the viewer while doing it. This is important. The Simpsons is funny to someone with no education and a thirst for cheap beer, because they relate to Homer. It's funny to educated people on higher levels, though, too, through the generally good writing and subtle references. That is why it is so successful. I don't feel ashamed of our culture when Homer has a crayon extracted from his brain.
I do feel ashamed (and insulted) whenever I see the schlock that MTV peddles as the "reality" of our society. These are the shows that need to be outlawed;). There's no reward there for being more educated, no subtle technology references, no cultural or real history, and no exploration of interesting characters and themes that make you think.
1. As opposed to $0 a workstation. Times a bunch of workstations.
2. Yeah, 'cause MS's current OS is just what these kids will be using when they enter the workforse in 10-15 years. Right. Crap argument. Teaching them to USE and UNDERSTAND COMPUTERS is far more important than teaching them about one particular OS that will have changed significantly by time they are entering the real world, supposing it's still dominant. This can be done just as effectively (perhaps moreso) on another OS besides Windows.
It doesn't help that celebrities tend to be left or far-left in their politics, which is at odds with a majority of Americans.
A very thin majority.
There's a whole lot of middle class folks thinking, "Sure, it's easy for them to advocate higher taxes and more spending--they have the money to pay for it.
Funny, as it's the Right that's doing the massive government spending right now. Not sure I've really heard any celebrities saying they want to be taxed more - they're in the higher tax brackets like other rich people.
I agree about them whining about backlash though. The other issue is, when I go see a concert, I am paying a musician or band to play their music, not pontificate about politics. They are free to voice their opinions whenever, but not by wasting time when they are supposed to be working, which is what they are doing when I pay them to perform.
Note this doesn't apply if their political message is embedded in their art, as I will have evaluated that art and chosen whether I want to go to a concert or not. It's the ad-lib rants when they could be playing music that annoy me.
I get mod points all the time, and I'm happy to "waste" them on stuff like yours, because my 5 little points are among thousands and thousands out there at any given time. You seem to place too much value on mod points - moderating is something to do efficiently and not worry about. Who cares if I "wasted" a mod point? Not like it cost me anything.
Besides, there's too many crappy comments that make +5 but should be modded redundant. Any joke involving Slashdotters not getting laid, for instance, is trite as hell, and a poor, outdated stereotype. Yet, consistently, they get +5 Funny mods. Modding down needs to be done too.
And some AC comments are insightful, so no, not everyone has them below threshold.
And if I could, I'd mod this whole thing offtopic, because I could. But I can't, so I'll feed a troll, and a poor one at that.
But Graham Barlow, editor of MacFormat magazine, said some people may not buy a new Apple machine knowing that a new processor was coming out next year.
There's always a new chip coming out next year.
New software remaining available for both processors for years after the switch is the only issue here.
"These aren't the droids you're looking for." Obi-Wan palmed a spraycan of Oxitocin and waved it around. "He can go about his business."
The stormtrooper stared blankly at Kenobi, as his masks surgery-room-grade air scrubbers quietly filtered the chemical. A second more, and he decided the old man was bullshitting him. A quick signal and a short hail of blaster fire later, the occupants of the speeder were smoldering corpses, and the droids were in the care of a professional deprogrammer.
My dual G5 (1.8, 1GB) is very fast w/ spotlight (though I don't have many attached volumes). I bet it's some individual setup issue, rather than a G5 issue.
Slashdot Mirror
your graph shows
I did not provide a graph.
Tell me, how many islands have sunk, how many have sprung up? The Rocky mountains have gotten how much higher? The Himalayas rise nearly an inch a year on average. North America is now sevral dozen miles further from Europe, and closer to Asia.
Small islands being exposed and submerged as sea level fluctuates are not affecting the system on the scales of which I speak. The Rocky Mountains have not increased significantly in elevation in the last 10,000 years, nor the last 1,000,000, and the Tibetan Plateau was very close to its present elevation 8 million years ago. Please learn something about global tectonics before making references to it.
Oh wait, that's not doom and gloom enough for your crowd, somehow they have to blame the U.S. for it.
I made no doom-and-gloom postures, nor did I mention the United States.
Every person who has bought into Global Warming has the same problem. They think that the Earth's climate is a stable system.
NO! I never said this, in fact I said the opposite. Of COURSE climate fluctuates. My point is that we are now exceeding the bounds of the recorded amplitude of fluctuation during the past million years. Is it not worth considering that humans may have something to do with this, and that it may not be a good thing?
Several studies are now claiming that the CO2 levels gleaned from ice cores may be inaccurate becuase CO2 has a tendency to leach into the ice matrix, changing the concentrations in the trapped bubbles.
The studies that use these bubbles take into account this diffusion effect and use physically-based models to remove it from the signal.
They never mention that the period of 1650-1800 was the coldest time in the entire millenium.
Yes, it was called the Little Ice Age, and there was a minor advance of many of the world's glaciers. One hypothesis is that it was brought on by the reduction of human population by disease (esp. in the Americas), the regrowth of human-cleared forests, and a corresponding drawdown in CO2. The climate system tended toward cooler as a result. It has also been postulated that this cooling trend is what is due in the normal cycle of variability, but it has been prevented by anthropogenic greenhouse gases.
Now, of course, these are hypotheses... but they have very interesting implications. Variations in atmospheric gas content have been shown to correlate with human population swings over the past 2000 years.
Why is there so much opposition to exploring these ideas, which have ramifications for the future of OUR species, among others?
And you should read my post, in which I was referring to the past several hundred thousand years of ice-core record. The Carboniferous ended 250+ million years ago. And incidentally, it was a period of rapid decline in CO2 levels from the pre-carboniferous high, as a result of the proliferation of land plants and the formation of lots and lots of coal. This contributed to the glaciations which you refer to.
There are other things that affect global temperature besides CO2. The arrangement of the continents, for instance, affects ocean and atmosphere circulation, in turn affecting temperature. My point was that during the last million years or so, with the present levels of vegetation, the present arrangement of the continents, and the present solar flux, levels of these greenhouse gases have not reached the levels they are at today, and the deviation from normal cyclicity has been during post-industrial times.
The system is too complex to simply look at a graph of CO2 vs temperature on 100-million-year timescales and dismiss CO2 as having no effect. Other factors being equal, increased CO2 (and methane, and many others) levels WILL lead to a trapping of heat in the atmosphere.
I should edit - we are around 300% of prior maximum for methane.
We have records of atmospheric gas content going back many hundreds of thousands of years, from ice cores. We are rapidly approaching that point where the atmospheric CO2 levels are 100% HIGHER than the prior maximums over this time period.
Levels of methane, another potent greenhouse gas, are approaching 1000% higher than any previous peak on record.
BOTH of these curves begin a sharp exponential climb right around 1700 AD - the industrial revolution.
It is a fact that these gases contribute to a greenhouse effect, and it is also a fact that humans have contributed to the greenhouse gas content of the atmosphere.
state troopers led by a scientist with bolt cutters
Are you sure he didn't have a crowbar?
Last time I flew it wasn't whether you were USING the FM tuner, but whether the device even HAD one. Something to do with the reference frequency transmitted by the device to tune itself.
Most airlines don't allow devices with radio tuners to be used in-flight, and I LIKE to use my iPod in-flight.
And the radio sucks anymore.
Flatulent R2D2
You mean Fartoo Detoo?
Thing about the Simpsons and similar shows, even Beavis and Butthead - they portray the moronic exploits of some dumb characters, but the don't insult the intelligence of the viewer while doing it. This is important. The Simpsons is funny to someone with no education and a thirst for cheap beer, because they relate to Homer. It's funny to educated people on higher levels, though, too, through the generally good writing and subtle references. That is why it is so successful. I don't feel ashamed of our culture when Homer has a crayon extracted from his brain.
;). There's no reward there for being more educated, no subtle technology references, no cultural or real history, and no exploration of interesting characters and themes that make you think.
I do feel ashamed (and insulted) whenever I see the schlock that MTV peddles as the "reality" of our society. These are the shows that need to be outlawed
I'm not going to tell you, because you're either an illiterate moron or a troll. Either way, though, we can safely blame Canada.
Because feeding trolls is fun:
1. As opposed to $0 a workstation. Times a bunch of workstations.
2. Yeah, 'cause MS's current OS is just what these kids will be using when they enter the workforse in 10-15 years. Right. Crap argument. Teaching them to USE and UNDERSTAND COMPUTERS is far more important than teaching them about one particular OS that will have changed significantly by time they are entering the real world, supposing it's still dominant. This can be done just as effectively (perhaps moreso) on another OS besides Windows.
3. -1 Offtopic.
By "recent history" you must mean "since last week in Iraq"...
It's amazing to think that giants like this still swim in some of the world's rivers
[clouseau]Not anymore![/clouseau]
Yes! And the much less obscure Douglas Adams reference.
It doesn't help that celebrities tend to be left or far-left in their politics, which is at odds with a majority of Americans.
A very thin majority.
There's a whole lot of middle class folks thinking, "Sure, it's easy for them to advocate higher taxes and more spending--they have the money to pay for it.
Funny, as it's the Right that's doing the massive government spending right now. Not sure I've really heard any celebrities saying they want to be taxed more - they're in the higher tax brackets like other rich people.
I agree about them whining about backlash though. The other issue is, when I go see a concert, I am paying a musician or band to play their music, not pontificate about politics. They are free to voice their opinions whenever, but not by wasting time when they are supposed to be working, which is what they are doing when I pay them to perform.
Note this doesn't apply if their political message is embedded in their art, as I will have evaluated that art and chosen whether I want to go to a concert or not. It's the ad-lib rants when they could be playing music that annoy me.
I get mod points all the time, and I'm happy to "waste" them on stuff like yours, because my 5 little points are among thousands and thousands out there at any given time. You seem to place too much value on mod points - moderating is something to do efficiently and not worry about. Who cares if I "wasted" a mod point? Not like it cost me anything.
Besides, there's too many crappy comments that make +5 but should be modded redundant. Any joke involving Slashdotters not getting laid, for instance, is trite as hell, and a poor, outdated stereotype. Yet, consistently, they get +5 Funny mods. Modding down needs to be done too.
And some AC comments are insightful, so no, not everyone has them below threshold.
And if I could, I'd mod this whole thing offtopic, because I could. But I can't, so I'll feed a troll, and a poor one at that.
But Graham Barlow, editor of MacFormat magazine, said some people may not buy a new Apple machine knowing that a new processor was coming out next year.
There's always a new chip coming out next year.
New software remaining available for both processors for years after the switch is the only issue here.
Why should a web browser include a text editor? Stop propagating bloat and jack-of-all-trades syndrome.
"These aren't the droids you're looking for." Obi-Wan palmed a spraycan of Oxitocin and waved it around. "He can go about his business."
The stormtrooper stared blankly at Kenobi, as his masks surgery-room-grade air scrubbers quietly filtered the chemical. A second more, and he decided the old man was bullshitting him. A quick signal and a short hail of blaster fire later, the occupants of the speeder were smoldering corpses, and the droids were in the care of a professional deprogrammer.
Doesn't have quite the mystique.
to point out crapulence in the government
It's probably easier at this point to point out the stuff that's not crapulent.
It's a suppository!
OK, the internet age has affected your brain. Ebola is a virus. eBola is a virtual wad of grass in a virtual ruminant's mouth.
My dual G5 (1.8, 1GB) is very fast w/ spotlight (though I don't have many attached volumes). I bet it's some individual setup issue, rather than a G5 issue.
The "Alan Parsons Project"
Resulted in the burning of the White House, loss of Detroit, etc...
Can we provoke another one? Please?