I totally agree. So many people and businesses fail to understand that the person physically standing in front of you takes precedence over the person calling. Get voicemail people.
Don't speak too soon. I get a phone call every few months regarding my domain. Granted that's not a lot, but it's disconcerting that these people are calling me from my whois info.
Also, there are many people using a website to try and get a small business off the ground. These often start off in someone's home. Not all of us want people knowing that our business is home-based. There are privacy issues for all the info on the WHOIS list. We don't even have such a PUBLIC and easily searchable listing for guns or cars and those things kill more people than domain names do.
That doesn't make any sense. Why force people to be revealed in the WHOIS listings just because they own a domain? This isn't like owning a firearm. There isn't a publicly viewable list matching vehicle license plates to owners is there? I'm not force to put my name, phone and email on my house am I? Even for purposes of a phone number I can opt to be unlisted.
So all the gamers playing FPSes on their Xboxes and Playstations are crazy too?
I played RE4 on Gamecube with the Gamecube controller with most enemies having multiple places to shoot on their bodies, and it was an elegant and nearly perfect control scheme.
Don't make me laugh. I'm sure the developers are using a regular controller during unit testing while another department/team is working on the remote control code. In fact, the code for the regular controller can pretty much be copy-pasted from other games they may have developed like the original Metroid Prime. I wouldn't be surprised if the support for the regular controller is in there during development and removed before launch. You do realize that the developers/testers do early testing before the remote bugs are worked out?
Comcast Secretary: Hello, thank you for calling Com-
Google Big Cheese: This is Google Inc. calling, I want to talk to whoever's in charge. Now.
Comcast Secretary: I don't know who you think you are but-
Google: Go visit google.com right now.
*secretary visits google.com, google recognizes the comcast head office IP range and serves up a pdf of a lawsuit document (Comcast as defendant) instead of the google homepage*
Secretary: Oh my, one moment please I'll transfer you.
Comcast Big Boss: What? I'm busy lining my socks with money and throwing darts at customer photos.
Google: This is Google Inc. You know why I'm calling.
Comcast: *stutters* y-yes, but we have the right to do whatever we need to, to ensure that our networks....
Google: Seriously?
Comcast: Seriously what?
Google: Seriously, you want to mess with us? Are you sure?
Comcast: *Long pause, and painful griding noises of "thinking"* Well... I think you overestimate how powerful you a-
Google: You have a lot to lose 'my friend'. You have 823 employees using Gmail. 138 office locations on Google Maps, 2,345 website pages indexed by the google search engine that recieve a collective 546 thousand search hits per day from Google Search. You currently rank first for the search term "cable internet" and nearly all your press releases are picked up by Google News. Do I need to go on?
Comcast: *speechless silence*... Uh, um, I- I'll talk to our engineers about getting this straighted up right away... sir.
Google: That's right. And be quick about it. *snaps fingers*
-- (All numbers are made up) Yeah, that's what I see coming...
I own a number of domains and I completely agree that the WHOIS system needs a major overhaul. For one or two domains I actually purchase extra whois privacy from GoDaddy, but for the most part this is just added cost for me to patch a broken system. Why can't I pick and choose what info to show?
On top of it, if I own a.ca domain, I'm forced to use my real name not my company name and my.ca registrar does not offer domain privacy on.ca domains.
I get a ton of spam to the email address I use for my domains, so this address has it's anti-spam set WAY up. I even get occasional phone calls about my domains- usually scams, but recently it was a good thing because I sold one of my domains for $5K (though why the person couldn't just use the contact info on the actual website is beyond me).
But, basically I think you should be able to opt for privacy at no cost. Seems like a no-brainer to have a privacy flag as part of the database. Or maybe provide a url of a contact page where you can determine what to show or just provide a contact form box.
The evolution of technology and society always results in older tech being dumped and jobs along with it. Especially employees who neglect to update their sills to stay ahead of the changing job markets.
The real problem happens when certain industries have major lobby power and can get handouts from the government or sometimes even slow down or stop the change to newer better products or tech. Here in Canada we have the Alberta oil companies crying that if people drive more fuel efficient (or alternative fuel) vehicles then they will be out of jobs and/or the Alberta economy will suffer. We also have the government giving subsidies and tax breaks to tobacco farmers because, boo-hoo, people are buying less cigarettes. It's silly, the products we SHOULD be moving away from are putting up a stink and getting government response. But did the government give handouts to VHS manufacturers when the DVD became popular. I should think not.
Anyway, if I was a 'webmaster' I'd be looking at how my career could evolve with the times. Similarly the oil companies should start investing in alternative energy sources / infrastructure.
*bah* I didn't mean for this to become an enviro-rant. *shrug*
The point is not whether you agree with me or not. The point is gamers have different preferences, and trapping people into a non-standard (ie, one they haven't grown up with) option is silly, when it should be trivial to add support for a regular controller.
I own a Wii, and in a way I agree with Will's comments. Especially in how the Wii has attracted players from new demographics. The fact that my Mom can enjoy it, is fantastic.
But, when I bought it I wasn't expecting to be FORCED to use the wii remote for FPS games. I thought I could use it if I liked and if I didn't I could pop in my gamecube controller and play it like a normal game. I was excited about the remote-as-a-gun-pointing-device idea but as it turns out, I'm not a fan. In fact I hate it, mostly due to the lack of buttons in reach of my fingers when holding the remote plus nunchuck. Imagine my shock to learn that the new Metroid as well as other shooters do not support a standard controller. Use the remote or else you lowly customer! I'm turned off of the Wii for the purposes of the more hardcore games.
While I'm enjoying Halflife2 ep 2 on my PC, I had to seriously cripple the graphics to get it to run (no, I can't afford a system upgrade every friggin year) and I can't get Bioshock to run on my PC at all.
So, here I am, considering buying an XBox360 or PS3. Something I never thought I'd do considering I've owned Nintendo products for a decade. I like the Wii in some ways for fun/party/virtual console games, but it has alienated me as a hardcore gamer. Not to mention the slim pickings for games. I'm kinda sad about this. Really, how hard would it be to support a standard controller TOO??? *sigh*
Oh, and Will... get your a$$ working on Spore and when it's FINALLY released, then I'll have more respect for anything you say. Till then, you're just a tease.
That's nice, but is it flexible? I'll be happy when I can start rolling a 4" x 5" screen out of a PDA/Cellphone a-la the movie Red Planet. Make it a touch screen too, then I'll really be psyched.
Let me see if I can scrape up some things present in modern games that pong doesn't have... hmmm...
Well, there's beautiful graphics, ex: Bioshock Immersive environment and gameplay, ex: Half-life 2 et al. Unique game play elements, ex: Eternal Darkness Great story telling, ex: Beyond Good and Evil Fun games for all ages, ex: Mario Party, Mario Kart Intensity of emotional response (ie fear), ex: Resident Evil
Hmm.. oh yeah, and more in-game activities to do than just bounce a ball off a little stick, ex: Legend of Zelda (Ocarina or Twilight).
Yeah, I'd say that modern games are going uphill since pong. But, to each his own I guess.
I very much agree. Very good point. Too much energy is being wasted on the assorted distros. Let's narrow down to just one or a personal and commercial flavour and start refining. It's time to unite and conquer. hehe.
There are still a few things holding me back from Linux... so I hope the community focuses on these soon:
- User-friendliness. Instructions on how to accomplish something should never involve command line anything. Some users just don't get it.
- Software support. Start pushing major vendors to make Linux versions. Start with major tools like graphics suites and IDEs. Then games. For example, I need Dreamweaver for it's code editor and Photoshop. And no, I don't want to use Gimp or buy the bloody expensive PHP IDE when I already own Dreamweaver licenses.
- Hardware support. Drivers for all my stuff.
- Make sure that the whole OS has integrated Help for anything you want to do. Again... no "Open a command window and...".
-Work on the attitude of the Linux fans on various support forms so they don't laugh at basic user questions. I need a supportive and friendly environment where I can go to for help.
It's been a while since I was looking into these, can anyone let me know if any (or all) of my points are already solved?
Suppose you are using BT to download a ton of legal amateur music, short films your friends made and 'weighty' legal documents. And Comcast is throttling your service using this method. How exactly is this "cleaning those who abuse the system"? Comcast tells us it's unlimited, so heavy use is not abuse. And Bit Torrent is not only used for illegal file sharing.
Watch what you say, you're sounding like a socialist.
Al Gore predicted more hurricanes, and that prediction did not come true. I thought for someone to win the Nobel Prize, you know, like Albert Einstein, you made predictions that DID come true.
That's weather, not climate. There's a difference.
Go right ahead. But, if the earth is as screwed as you say it is, then, build nuclear plants, as it is the only technology we have that can meet our energy needs and reduce green house gas production, and produces enough energy to build sequestration machines.
Nuclear is a horrid idea due to risks of waste and accidents and even terrorist attacks. Solar and wind are only part of the solution. There a a lot of possibilities, none are perfect obviously, but as humans we can improve existing technologies and invent new ones. Or did you forget? Here's only some suggestions I've seen thrown around. Let me repeat to those who will piss and moan- none of these are perfect.
Wind and solar power.
Geothermal and hydro-electric.
Improve the efficiency and scrub the emission of current power plants.
Improve efficiency of electronics, homes and vehicles.
Consumer and industry conservation.
New automobile designs.
Technologies under development like hydrogen power, kinetic, etc.
Who knows what humans will come up with. The problem is that blind reliance on coal and oil have made us lazy and we haven't even tried to innovate in the energy generation industry. Imagine if energy production was approached like computer processors. Doubling efficiency every 2 years would be incredible. Well, like to be an optimist.
Wow, Shadowlore you seem pretty angry in your "I find it interesting" post. What are you so pissed off about?
I'm saying we need to pollute less, reduce waste and increase energy efficiency. What exactly could be so wrong with that?
Go breathe in the exhaust from a car and tell me if it's a good thing for our world or a bad thing. Ok, so when it goes into the air it's diluted a bit... but the size of the earth only goes so far. Is it ok if I sprinkle some feces in your bed as long as it's just a tiny fragment compared to the size of your bed?
Even if there was no global warming.... tell me Shadowlore, why shouldn't we work on eliminating pollution of all kinds? That's a big thing that the skeptics can never answer.
I think there's more to the spam problem then the usual people we blame for it.
I have a personal email address on my own domain that used to NEVER get spam. I moved into my own apartment a month ago and I signed up a new phone number with Bell Canada and a new account with my local city utility company. I gave that email address to both without thinking- usually I give one of my alternates. Well, now that address is getting tons of spam of the worst kind.
So, either Bell or my local utility sold my address. Two companies that are supposed to be reputable and trustworthy. They both have privacy policies that say they don't sell or share your personal info. Apparently that's bull.
Oh wait, the other option is that I was sent an evite from evite.com to that address. The spam might be coming from them. Gee, you can't even trust your friends not to give out your address.
I'm not impressed. In fact I'm pissed. If I can't avoid spam by being selective about who I give my address to, then I'm not sure there's anyway to avoid it. If I wasn't a web developer, I think I'd give up email permanently. As it is I have about 10-15 addresses for various things, yuk.
I emailed them about expanding the DRM free music store to Canada... and this was the response:
Thank you for writing to us at Amazon.ca.
We expect our Canadian web site to expand and improve the selection of products and services we provide, but we have no further details to give you at this time regarding our plans for a DRM free MP3 music store.
However, I have passed your message along to the appropriate people in our company for their consideration.
We hope you enjoy our current offerings, and encourage you to check back on our web site often.
I contacted MS about why the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool updates were still coming even though I click the check box not to bother me again... they said that the check box only applies to that particular update, not to future updates for the same software- or future versions. *sigh*
There will never be an end to the number of people who will fight any mention that humans are causing climate change. No one is saying we are the ONLY factor. But we are a big part of it, and we can control our actions, compared to trying to control other natural factors. Shouldn't we do so... just in case?
I always notice that in my local paper, when they publish articles from global warming skeptics... these individuals are often the heads of various organizations and groups, professors, history buffs, basically anything but actual climatologists or environmental scientists. Not always, but often. I find that interesting.
The MAJORITY of climate scientists agree that humans are contributing to warming. I'm going to go with that conclusion because it's better to be safe than sorry, and because I can see the proof with my own eyes.
As for Mr. Gore and the IPCC winning the peace prize... good for them. Someone is standing up and shouting about this. Yes, I feel Mr. Gore is a bit of a phony in his personal life, but his message isn't. If I had the choice I would have recognized Canada's Dr. David Suzuki ( http://www.davidsuzuki.org/ ) for his work educating the public about all kinds of environmental issues... and he does so in a more science based rather than hollywood-dazzle kind of way. He recently toured across Canada giving talks and raising awareness in a very locally focused down to earth way and he's been doing this for DECADES. He deserves this prize as much if not more than Gore.
Either way, I'm glad environmental issues get a nod of recognition here.
So, it's a crock because the hurricanes never appeared (thank God) and that's all the proof you need right? And the fact that the North-West passage has opened due to record sea ice melting... well, that doesn't prove anything? *sigh*
Slashdot Mirror
I totally agree. So many people and businesses fail to understand that the person physically standing in front of you takes precedence over the person calling. Get voicemail people.
Don't speak too soon. I get a phone call every few months regarding my domain. Granted that's not a lot, but it's disconcerting that these people are calling me from my whois info.
Also, there are many people using a website to try and get a small business off the ground. These often start off in someone's home. Not all of us want people knowing that our business is home-based. There are privacy issues for all the info on the WHOIS list. We don't even have such a PUBLIC and easily searchable listing for guns or cars and those things kill more people than domain names do.
That doesn't make any sense. Why force people to be revealed in the WHOIS listings just because they own a domain? This isn't like owning a firearm. There isn't a publicly viewable list matching vehicle license plates to owners is there? I'm not force to put my name, phone and email on my house am I? Even for purposes of a phone number I can opt to be unlisted.
I already 'opt out' of website advertising - I add the advertiser to my do not advertise list. It's called adblock. It's gold.
So all the gamers playing FPSes on their Xboxes and Playstations are crazy too?
I played RE4 on Gamecube with the Gamecube controller with most enemies having multiple places to shoot on their bodies, and it was an elegant and nearly perfect control scheme.
Don't make me laugh. I'm sure the developers are using a regular controller during unit testing while another department/team is working on the remote control code. In fact, the code for the regular controller can pretty much be copy-pasted from other games they may have developed like the original Metroid Prime. I wouldn't be surprised if the support for the regular controller is in there during development and removed before launch. You do realize that the developers/testers do early testing before the remote bugs are worked out?
*Comcast phone ringing at head office*
... Uh, um, I- I'll talk to our engineers about getting this straighted up right away... sir.
Comcast Secretary: Hello, thank you for calling Com-
Google Big Cheese: This is Google Inc. calling, I want to talk to whoever's in charge. Now.
Comcast Secretary: I don't know who you think you are but-
Google: Go visit google.com right now.
*secretary visits google.com, google recognizes the comcast head office IP range and serves up a pdf of a lawsuit document (Comcast as defendant) instead of the google homepage*
Secretary: Oh my, one moment please I'll transfer you.
Comcast Big Boss: What? I'm busy lining my socks with money and throwing darts at customer photos.
Google: This is Google Inc. You know why I'm calling.
Comcast: *stutters* y-yes, but we have the right to do whatever we need to, to ensure that our networks....
Google: Seriously?
Comcast: Seriously what?
Google: Seriously, you want to mess with us? Are you sure?
Comcast: *Long pause, and painful griding noises of "thinking"* Well... I think you overestimate how powerful you a-
Google: You have a lot to lose 'my friend'. You have 823 employees using Gmail. 138 office locations on Google Maps, 2,345 website pages indexed by the google search engine that recieve a collective 546 thousand search hits per day from Google Search. You currently rank first for the search term "cable internet" and nearly all your press releases are picked up by Google News. Do I need to go on?
Comcast: *speechless silence*
Google: That's right. And be quick about it. *snaps fingers*
--
(All numbers are made up)
Yeah, that's what I see coming...
I own a number of domains and I completely agree that the WHOIS system needs a major overhaul. For one or two domains I actually purchase extra whois privacy from GoDaddy, but for the most part this is just added cost for me to patch a broken system. Why can't I pick and choose what info to show?
.ca domain, I'm forced to use my real name not my company name and my .ca registrar does not offer domain privacy on .ca domains.
On top of it, if I own a
I get a ton of spam to the email address I use for my domains, so this address has it's anti-spam set WAY up. I even get occasional phone calls about my domains- usually scams, but recently it was a good thing because I sold one of my domains for $5K (though why the person couldn't just use the contact info on the actual website is beyond me).
But, basically I think you should be able to opt for privacy at no cost. Seems like a no-brainer to have a privacy flag as part of the database. Or maybe provide a url of a contact page where you can determine what to show or just provide a contact form box.
The evolution of technology and society always results in older tech being dumped and jobs along with it. Especially employees who neglect to update their sills to stay ahead of the changing job markets. The real problem happens when certain industries have major lobby power and can get handouts from the government or sometimes even slow down or stop the change to newer better products or tech. Here in Canada we have the Alberta oil companies crying that if people drive more fuel efficient (or alternative fuel) vehicles then they will be out of jobs and/or the Alberta economy will suffer. We also have the government giving subsidies and tax breaks to tobacco farmers because, boo-hoo, people are buying less cigarettes. It's silly, the products we SHOULD be moving away from are putting up a stink and getting government response. But did the government give handouts to VHS manufacturers when the DVD became popular. I should think not. Anyway, if I was a 'webmaster' I'd be looking at how my career could evolve with the times. Similarly the oil companies should start investing in alternative energy sources / infrastructure. *bah* I didn't mean for this to become an enviro-rant. *shrug*
The point is not whether you agree with me or not. The point is gamers have different preferences, and trapping people into a non-standard (ie, one they haven't grown up with) option is silly, when it should be trivial to add support for a regular controller.
I own a Wii, and in a way I agree with Will's comments. Especially in how the Wii has attracted players from new demographics. The fact that my Mom can enjoy it, is fantastic.
But, when I bought it I wasn't expecting to be FORCED to use the wii remote for FPS games. I thought I could use it if I liked and if I didn't I could pop in my gamecube controller and play it like a normal game. I was excited about the remote-as-a-gun-pointing-device idea but as it turns out, I'm not a fan. In fact I hate it, mostly due to the lack of buttons in reach of my fingers when holding the remote plus nunchuck. Imagine my shock to learn that the new Metroid as well as other shooters do not support a standard controller. Use the remote or else you lowly customer! I'm turned off of the Wii for the purposes of the more hardcore games.
While I'm enjoying Halflife2 ep 2 on my PC, I had to seriously cripple the graphics to get it to run (no, I can't afford a system upgrade every friggin year) and I can't get Bioshock to run on my PC at all.
So, here I am, considering buying an XBox360 or PS3. Something I never thought I'd do considering I've owned Nintendo products for a decade. I like the Wii in some ways for fun/party/virtual console games, but it has alienated me as a hardcore gamer. Not to mention the slim pickings for games. I'm kinda sad about this. Really, how hard would it be to support a standard controller TOO??? *sigh*
Oh, and Will... get your a$$ working on Spore and when it's FINALLY released, then I'll have more respect for anything you say. Till then, you're just a tease.
That's nice, but is it flexible? I'll be happy when I can start rolling a 4" x 5" screen out of a PDA/Cellphone a-la the movie Red Planet. Make it a touch screen too, then I'll really be psyched.
Let me see if I can scrape up some things present in modern games that pong doesn't have... hmmm...
Well, there's beautiful graphics, ex: Bioshock
Immersive environment and gameplay, ex: Half-life 2 et al.
Unique game play elements, ex: Eternal Darkness
Great story telling, ex: Beyond Good and Evil
Fun games for all ages, ex: Mario Party, Mario Kart
Intensity of emotional response (ie fear), ex: Resident Evil
Hmm.. oh yeah, and more in-game activities to do than just bounce a ball off a little stick, ex: Legend of Zelda (Ocarina or Twilight).
Yeah, I'd say that modern games are going uphill since pong. But, to each his own I guess.
I very much agree. Very good point. Too much energy is being wasted on the assorted distros. Let's narrow down to just one or a personal and commercial flavour and start refining. It's time to unite and conquer. hehe.
There are still a few things holding me back from Linux... so I hope the community focuses on these soon:
- User-friendliness. Instructions on how to accomplish something should never involve command line anything. Some users just don't get it.
- Software support. Start pushing major vendors to make Linux versions. Start with major tools like graphics suites and IDEs. Then games. For example, I need Dreamweaver for it's code editor and Photoshop. And no, I don't want to use Gimp or buy the bloody expensive PHP IDE when I already own Dreamweaver licenses.
- Hardware support. Drivers for all my stuff.
- Make sure that the whole OS has integrated Help for anything you want to do. Again... no "Open a command window and...".
-Work on the attitude of the Linux fans on various support forms so they don't laugh at basic user questions. I need a supportive and friendly environment where I can go to for help.
It's been a while since I was looking into these, can anyone let me know if any (or all) of my points are already solved?
Suppose you are using BT to download a ton of legal amateur music, short films your friends made and 'weighty' legal documents. And Comcast is throttling your service using this method. How exactly is this "cleaning those who abuse the system"? Comcast tells us it's unlimited, so heavy use is not abuse. And Bit Torrent is not only used for illegal file sharing.
Watch what you say, you're sounding like a socialist.
That's weather, not climate. There's a difference.
Go right ahead. But, if the earth is as screwed as you say it is, then, build nuclear plants, as it is the only technology we have that can meet our energy needs and reduce green house gas production, and produces enough energy to build sequestration machines. Nuclear is a horrid idea due to risks of waste and accidents and even terrorist attacks. Solar and wind are only part of the solution. There a a lot of possibilities, none are perfect obviously, but as humans we can improve existing technologies and invent new ones. Or did you forget? Here's only some suggestions I've seen thrown around. Let me repeat to those who will piss and moan- none of these are perfect.
- Wind and solar power.
- Geothermal and hydro-electric.
- Improve the efficiency and scrub the emission of current power plants.
- Improve efficiency of electronics, homes and vehicles.
- Consumer and industry conservation.
- New automobile designs.
- Technologies under development like hydrogen power, kinetic, etc.
Who knows what humans will come up with. The problem is that blind reliance on coal and oil have made us lazy and we haven't even tried to innovate in the energy generation industry. Imagine if energy production was approached like computer processors. Doubling efficiency every 2 years would be incredible. Well, like to be an optimist.Wow, Shadowlore you seem pretty angry in your "I find it interesting" post. What are you so pissed off about?
I'm saying we need to pollute less, reduce waste and increase energy efficiency. What exactly could be so wrong with that?
Go breathe in the exhaust from a car and tell me if it's a good thing for our world or a bad thing. Ok, so when it goes into the air it's diluted a bit... but the size of the earth only goes so far. Is it ok if I sprinkle some feces in your bed as long as it's just a tiny fragment compared to the size of your bed?
Even if there was no global warming.... tell me Shadowlore, why shouldn't we work on eliminating pollution of all kinds? That's a big thing that the skeptics can never answer.
*sigh* I try to do this. But there's only so many email addresses I can keep track of.
I think there's more to the spam problem then the usual people we blame for it.
I have a personal email address on my own domain that used to NEVER get spam. I moved into my own apartment a month ago and I signed up a new phone number with Bell Canada and a new account with my local city utility company. I gave that email address to both without thinking- usually I give one of my alternates. Well, now that address is getting tons of spam of the worst kind.
So, either Bell or my local utility sold my address. Two companies that are supposed to be reputable and trustworthy. They both have privacy policies that say they don't sell or share your personal info. Apparently that's bull.
Oh wait, the other option is that I was sent an evite from evite.com to that address. The spam might be coming from them. Gee, you can't even trust your friends not to give out your address.
I'm not impressed. In fact I'm pissed. If I can't avoid spam by being selective about who I give my address to, then I'm not sure there's anyway to avoid it. If I wasn't a web developer, I think I'd give up email permanently. As it is I have about 10-15 addresses for various things, yuk.
I emailed them about expanding the DRM free music store to Canada... and this was the response:
Thank you for writing to us at Amazon.ca.
We expect our Canadian web site to expand and improve the selection
of products and services we provide, but we have no further details
to give you at this time regarding our plans for a DRM free MP3
music store.
However, I have passed your message along to the appropriate people
in our company for their consideration.
We hope you enjoy our current offerings, and encourage you to check
back on our web site often.
Thank you for your interest in Amazon.ca.
I wish that the Amazon MP3 store was available in Canada. Why do we always get left out? *sigh* I want to buy legal DRM free music too!
However, this can only be a good thing with Apple and Amazon competing. I'm sure it'll come to other countries eventually.
I contacted MS about why the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool updates were still coming even though I click the check box not to bother me again... they said that the check box only applies to that particular update, not to future updates for the same software- or future versions. *sigh*
There will never be an end to the number of people who will fight any mention that humans are causing climate change. No one is saying we are the ONLY factor. But we are a big part of it, and we can control our actions, compared to trying to control other natural factors. Shouldn't we do so... just in case?
I always notice that in my local paper, when they publish articles from global warming skeptics... these individuals are often the heads of various organizations and groups, professors, history buffs, basically anything but actual climatologists or environmental scientists. Not always, but often. I find that interesting.
The MAJORITY of climate scientists agree that humans are contributing to warming. I'm going to go with that conclusion because it's better to be safe than sorry, and because I can see the proof with my own eyes.
Climate Myths Examined: http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/dn11462
As for Mr. Gore and the IPCC winning the peace prize... good for them. Someone is standing up and shouting about this. Yes, I feel Mr. Gore is a bit of a phony in his personal life, but his message isn't. If I had the choice I would have recognized Canada's Dr. David Suzuki ( http://www.davidsuzuki.org/ ) for his work educating the public about all kinds of environmental issues... and he does so in a more science based rather than hollywood-dazzle kind of way. He recently toured across Canada giving talks and raising awareness in a very locally focused down to earth way and he's been doing this for DECADES. He deserves this prize as much if not more than Gore.
Either way, I'm glad environmental issues get a nod of recognition here.
So, it's a crock because the hurricanes never appeared (thank God) and that's all the proof you need right? And the fact that the North-West passage has opened due to record sea ice melting... well, that doesn't prove anything? *sigh*
Go ahead and latch on to anything you need to. I'll go with the majority opinion of climate scientists. Since I'm not one. Source: http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/dn11462