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The Earth is Flat, Humans Are Heating Up the Earth, and other science

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 15:02:24 GMT

I came across an interesting set of news articles about climate change over the last century. The one constant is this: We are a people driven by fear of the unkown, and there is *always* someone to capitalize on it. Does this mean I don't think that global warming exists? Does this mean I don't think people can affect it? The truth is that I don't know. Neither do you. Neither do scientists.

GLOBAL COOLING: 1890s-1930s

The Times, February 24, 1895
"Geologists Think the World May Be Frozen Up Again"
Fears of a "second glacial period" brought on by increases in northern glaciers and the severity of Scandinavia's climate.

New York Times, October 7, 1912
"Prof. Schmidt Warns Us of an Encroaching Ice Age"

Los Angeles Times, June 28, 1923
"The possibility of another Ice Age already having started ... is admitted by men of first rank in the scientific world, men specially qualified to speak."

Chicago Tribune, August 9, 1923
"Scientist says Arctic ice will wipe out Canada."

Time Magazine, September 10, 1923
"The discoveries of changes in the sun's heat and the southward advance of glaciers in recent years have given rise to conjectures of the possible advent of a new ice age."

New York Times, September 18, 1924
"MacMillan Reports Signs of New Ice Age"

GLOBAL WARMING: 1930s-1960s

New York Times, March 27, 1933
"America in Longest Warm Spell Since 1776; Temperature Line Records a 25-Year Rise"

Time Magazine, January 2, 1939
"Gaffers who claim that winters were harder when they were boys are quite right.... weather men have no doubt that the world at least for the time being is growing warmer."

Time Magazine, 1951
Noted that permafrost in Russia was receding northward at 100 yards per year.

New York Times, 1952
Reported global warming studies citing the "trump card" as melting glaciers. All the great ice sheets stated to be in retreat.

U.S. News and World Report, January 18, 1954
"[W]inters are getting milder, summers drier. Glaciers are receding, deserts growing."

GLOBAL COOLING: 1970s

Time Magazine, June 24, 1974
"Climatological Cassandras are becoming increasingly apprehensive, for the weather aberrations they are studying may be the harbinger of another ice age."

Christian Science Monitor, August 27, 1974
"Warning: Earth's Climate is Changing Faster than Even Experts Expect"
Reported that "glaciers have begun to advance"; "growing seasons in England and Scandinavia are getting shorter"; and "the North Atlantic is cooling down about as fast as an ocean can cool".

Science News, March 1, 1975
"The cooling since 1940 has been large enough and consistent enough that it will not soon be reversed, and we are unlikely to quickly regain the 'very extraordinary period of warmth' that preceded it."

Newsweek, April 28, 1975
"The Cooling World"
"There are ominous signs that the Earth’s weather patterns have begun to change dramatically and that these changes may portend a drastic decline in food production – with serious political implications for just about every nation on Earth. The drop in food output could begin quite soon, perhaps only 10 years from now."

International Wildlife, July-August, 1975
"But the sense of the discoveries is that there is no reason why the ice age should not start in earnest in our lifetime."

New York Times, May 21, 1975
"Scientists Ponder Why World's Climate is Changing; A Major Cooling Widely Considered to Be Inevitable"

GLOBAL WARMING: 1990s-?

Earth in the Balance, Al Gore, 1992
"About 10 million residents of Bangladesh will lose their homes and means of sustenance because of the rising sea level due to global warming, in the next few decades."

Time Magazine, April 19, 2001
"[S]cientists no longer doubt that global warming is happening, and almost nobody questions the fact that humans are at least partly responsible."

New York Times, December 27, 2005
"Past Hot Times Hold Few Reasons to Relax About New Warming"

The Daily Telegraph, February 2, 2006
"Billions will die, says Lovelock, who tells us that he is not usually a gloomy type. Human civilization will be reduced to a 'broken rabble ruled by brutal warlords,' and the plague-ridden remainder of the species will flee the cracked and broken earth to the Arctic, the last temperate spot where a few breeding couples will survive."

?????: 2020s?

RIA Novisty(Russian News & Information Agency), February 8, 2007
"Instead of professed global warming, the Earth will be facing a slow decrease in temperatures in 2012-2015. The gradually falling amounts of solar energy, expected to reach their bottom level by 2040, will inevitably lead to a deep freeze around 2055-2060," he said, adding that this period of global freeze will last some 50 years, after which the temperatures will go up again."
Quoting Habibullo Abdusamatov, head of the space research laboratory at the St. Petersburg-based Pulkovo Observatory. Full article at http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070115/59078992.html

Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics 95, 115-121 (2007)
"Multi-scale analysis of global temperature changes and trend of a drop in temperature in the next 20 years"
Lin Zhen-Shan and Sun Xian. The School of Geographic Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, P. R. China
Full article at http://www.springerlink.com/content/g28u12g2617j5021/fulltext.pdf

Four-door Ford Mustang concept car - not just a rumor anymore

Tue, 02 Jan 2007 22:21:58 GMT

I am sure this will have Mustang enthuiasts up in arms, but I personally think this thing looks pretty awesome!

From this CNN article, the concept Interceptor will be a 400HP V8 sedan based on the Mustang. To my very untrained eye, it looks like their shot at getting a piece of the Dodge Magnum market. What will the Mustang guys say about the station wagon version? :)

quote: With its six-speed manual gearbox, low roof-line and massive 22-inch wheels, the design is targeted at driving enthusiasts looking for a bold design but who can't fit the family in a two-door coupe.

"The Interceptor concept is a sedan, but with the heart and soul of a performance car," Freeman Thomas, director of Ford's North American strategic design department, said in a statement.

Disposable Life

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 17:06:29 GMT

From this article: Baby Boy Found Alive in Dumpster

It is so obvious that it pretty much goes without saying, but how on earth can someone view life like this? What has happened within a culture that someone can look at a new little baby and then go toss it in a trash can. As strange as it seems, this was probably the very best possibly thing that could have happened to this little boy. Hopefully, some loving person *wanting* a child will have the opportunity to raise him, and he will not be taught the the same utter disregard for human life that the woman who delivered him (the absense of the word "mother" is deliberate) must have learned.

This makes me want to go home an hug my kids.

You will never see this on the news

Sat, 16 Dec 2006 00:43:41 GMT

But let him lay a hand on the people who did this to the baby and her family and he will be on the front page tomorrow.

In case buying that size 20 dress didn't sting enough already!

Fri, 15 Dec 2006 17:33:50 GMT

How about an obesity warning on your clothes?!? Apparently these poor people had no idea that it is a bad idea to be fat. Thankfully the UK government might have an answer!

article here: Obese should have health warnings on their clothes

Crews demolish the Arcadia Theater in Dallas after fire

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 17:29:37 GMT

This is really sad news...

Crews Demolish Arcadia Theater

The Arcadia Theater was nothing short of a landmark and a huge piece of heritage and identity of the Lower Greenville section of Dallas. In June the building caught fire sealing its doomed future. After opening as a vaudeville and movie theather in 1927, the Arcadia hosted acts ranging from Charlie Parker to the Cure to Metallica.

I personally saw some of my favorite memorable shows there... Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails opening for Peter Murphy just before the release of 'Down in it', the Ramones, and many more.

In my early 20s I lived about a block from the Arcadia and I know first hand that its absence will truly be felt by the neighborhood. I know I am not alone in feeling sick over its fate.

If you so desire, the Dallas Morning News has video of the demolishion.

Getting on with Life...

Fri, 08 Dec 2006 19:47:01 GMT

This is the first post on the new blog. As you can see on the home page, this site will be more about me and my personal life and less about web development and technology. In short, I suppose that translates to far less read! :)