I think that we cannot change the weather, but Reverend Pat Robertson and Al Gore disagree with me.
After a while it becomes tiresome.
But I found this series of charts on an Australian site. Interesting stuff. The links provided in the comment field could keep you busy all day, if you are so inclined.
The seven charts basically demonstrate the following:
(The italics are just me reminding you of other unfounded fears.)
1) The world isn't warming (and the sky isn't falling).
2) The lower atmosphere has actually been cooling (and airliners aren't going to drop out of the sky because of the Y2K problem).
3) The seas have been rising for about the last 150 years, but now they've stopped (and God isn't going to call down judgement on New Orleans because of a heavy concentration of Gays and Lesbians).
4) The amount of sea ice is heavier than usual (and no one has ever documented a case of razor blades hidden in Halloween apples).
5) We don't have any more cyclones or hurricanes than usual (remember the freakout in China over SARS? Chill. There's nothing to worry about).
6) It still rains (remember last week, when we were all afraid to eat tomatos? Turns out, we should've worried about jalapenos. Or something totally different. We don't know.)
7) There were once farms in Greenland, somewhere beneath all that ice. (and if you step on a crack, it won't break your mother's back).
We enjoy good food. We enjoy companionship. And we enjoy freaking out over things that aren't going to happen. Otherwise we feel guilty for "not doing enough about it".
For years and years, I've known that people enjoy supporting the home team, even when the odds are against them. So I make money betting against home teams with home team supporters. It's easy, and keeps me in lunch money. But now it's time to branch out.
A U.K. athlete/adventurerer/explorer named Lewis Pugh is going to try to kayak from Norway to the North Pole. His point is that there won't be enough ice to prevent him from getting there.
I'll bet $50 against your $10 that he doesn't make it. Email me (see user profile) or use the comment field. First person to do so gets to make the bet. All bets are off if he uses his support boat as an ice breaker.
Any takers?
13 comments:
"God isn't going to call down judgement on New Orleans because of a heavy concentration of Gays and Lesbians"
And I thought he (He) tried to do his best with that Katrina thing ;-)
Re your bet: someone sad once that in every bet there is one liar and one dupe. Why should we two take up one of these two positions each?
But yeah, the stock of GW people seems to be dropping...
Oh hell. I'll take your bet!
Not that I agree or disagree -- I just hate to see your offer spurned! Besides, you know where to find me (and vice versa).
I believe that the crises is not global warming, or SARS, or pandemics, but the crises is the 24 hour news beating all of the dead horses screaming in fear about the end of the world.
Snoop,
Agreed. I know the Dr. pretty well, and he isn't taking this bet because of being a dupe. He's doing it out of tribal loyalty.
Dr.,
You're on. Thanks for your willingness to take a hit for the team. And now that I know this about you, how do you feel about the Dallas Cowboys winning a playoff game this year?
Blue,
That blog of yours is one of the strangest things I've ever seen. Admirable poetry and stream-of-consciousness blogging, sir.
And if those aren't really poems, or aren't stream-of-consciousness blog posts, no offense was intended. I've just never seen anything....quite...like....that.
WS - You know me too well, sir! What fun would it be if no one took that bet? I figure I can afford $10 to keep things interesting (not that they aren't pretty interesting on their own). I'd just do something stupid with it otherwise, like buy a couple of gallons of gas.
WS - ps. I have less faith in the Cowboys than I do in climate change.
Dr. Trotsky, or whoever that morph is....
I, too, have faith in Climate Change. It does it every year.
Remind me to tell you about the Cowboys thing sometime.
WS - Re: it does it every year.
Well played, sir!
WS knows that you cannot go broke underestimating the intelligence of the public at large. So somebody will take him up!
The only recent environmental news I sorta buy is that Burger's Lake in Fort Worth seems pretty skanky. Yet, I swam in it like crazy, eyes open underwater, when I was a kid. And yet I breathe today.
Well, thats just a stupid series of comments that would make hannity proud. You obviously haven't taken the subject serious, because the eventual result of global warming is a new ice age.
Anonymous,
I have taken it serious.
I still take it serious.
Teach me, teach me !
Are you saying that we should increase our CO2 emissions to try to warm the planet and prevent the new ice age? Cool it by warming it? Or warm it by cooling it?
WS -- Least you think I'm not a man of my word, it looks like I owe you ten bucks.
Darn! I was going to have you contribute my (now non-existent) take to the Obama campaign.
Assuming I see you next Sunday, I'll give you your winnings after church.
Dr.,
Believe it or not, I was sitting down to type up something on this very issue when I got your email.
Part of my NFL gambling strategy is to double up after wins.
How do you feel about The Northwest Passage being clear enough for merchant traffic by the end of summer next year?
(Seriously, what I believe this is all about is consciousness-raising. Nobody will remember this guy running into icebergs and turning him around. Everybody remembers the predictions that the Arctic was supposed to melt by the end of this summer.)
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