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One mre thing. I'm not saying anyone in particular here has lost their mind (except for me) . I was just saying that the public in generally is susceptible to these antics.
When I was a geo-neophyte at a small but well known school of geology in southwest Colorado, one of my professors told me of an encounter he had with "EARTH FIRST!". Almost sounds like a scientific organization, but the exclamation point says otherwise.
Dr. Jack Campbell's example was the epitome of scientific objectivity, reason and balance. He was small in physical stature but an intellectual giant. He had a mountain of education and an ocean of experience and publication to back it up.
While at Fort Lewis College he was appointed to the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission of Colorado by the Governor of Colorado from 1990-1994, and thus acted as a liaison between the public and industry. On one occasion in the 90's he was called to witness a peculiar event at AMOCO's HD National Forest field office near Ignacio. A small group protesters were at the prescribed field office blocking the entry whereby employees could not go to work. The ring leader had hand-cuffed himself to the chain link entry gate (such are the antics of irrational types).
When Jack arrived on the scene these "environ-MENTALS" started screaming in his face that he was colluding with the big bad wolf of industry and that the state of Colorado was as guilty as AMOCO. When Doctor Jack asked "Guilty of what?" the ring leader that had chained himself to the gate screamed at the top of his lungs with flushed reddened face... "GUILTY OF FLOODING THE SKY WITH THE BY-PRODUCTS OF CAPITALISM THAT WILL SOMEDAY RESULT IN THE COMPLETE MELT DOWN OF THE POLAR ICE CAPS AND THE INUNDATION OF ALL COASTAL REGIONS!!!!!!!!!". The professor enquired "Do you actually believe that?" The mental replied "WITH EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING...SOMETHING MUST BE DONE!!!!!!"
Jack said he looked around and saw this 30 year old piece of **** VW Van these idiots were driving. The thing was smoking severely and needed a ring job. It certainly wasn't an environmentally friendly vehicle. He pointed at the kook's van and said "Well...You are certainly one to be talking...Why don't you practice what you preach, leave that van parked and WALK BACK TO DURANGO!" A hush fell over the crowd of environ-MENTALS. They had been caught with there pants down.
Indeed the most flagrant of offenders more often than not are the exact same people that are making such a hulabaloo over it.
Well... I have been gone for a bit.. (Still am!) I'm sitting here in the resort lobby.... swigging margarittas (Not dark rum Tony... sorry!) like they will help prevent this Global Warming!
I wanna just add.... I think it's all the alien anal probes releasing too much methane into the environment. These really don't serve any purpose except to mentally play on our fears.... Ya know the saying. Once you've seen one A@@, you've seen 'em all! They are secretly doing this to make our planet uninhabitable for most of us, and food out of the rest.
Yes I have read that Martian polar caps have retreated as well. The lends credibilty to the notion that the sun may well be the root cause of planetary warming since man can NOT be the cause of warming on Mars.
They are retreating because of the gas emissions from our recent exploring and Rover visits. Now if we can just figure a way to get people there. Why screw up one planet when you have the possibility of screwing up two!?? LMAO.
No, I don't actually belive any of this. This is "Just the tequila talkin'!" Think I'll have another and go watch Sylent Green again! lol.
Tod
Try your hardest to be the kind of person your dog thinks you are.
You can live to be 100, as long as you give up everything that would make you want to live to be 100!
Current bikes:
'06 Suzuki DR650
*'82 XJ1100 with the 1179 kit. "Mad Maxim"
'82 XJ1100 Completely stock fixer-upper
'82 XJ1100 Bagger fixer-upper
'82 XJ1100 Motor/frame and lots of boxes of parts
'82 XJ1100 Parts bike
'81 XS1100 Special
'81 YZ250
'80 XS850 Special
'80 XR100
*Crashed/Totalled, still own
Now there was a movie!
Women were called "furniture". One gets to listen to Beethoven's 6th symphony when they kill off the old and useless. Ahhh... for the lure of the future.
Due to global warming, I guess, and the rising oceans, soylent green was made out of plankton. (At least that was the cover story for the hungry masses)
I wonder what Al Gore really is planning?
"Damn it Jim, I'm a doctor, not a mechanic!' ('Bones' McCoy)
One of my jobs at the hospital is transporting people that have died from their room to our morgue.
The approved route I take goes behind the hospital cafeteria. I finally no longer have that line "Soylent Green is people!" going through my head as I roll the 'blue bus' to the morgue.
One volcano probably puts more greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere that anything we overrated humans can do. If the planet gets to the point where humans can no longer exist then the next dominant species will take over. It's happened before, it will happen again.
Pat Kelly
<p-lkelly@sbcglobal.net>
1978 XS1100E (The Force)
1980 XS1100LG (The Dark Side)
2007 Dodge Ram 2500 quad-cab long-bed (Wifes ride)
1999 Suburban (The Ship)
1994 Dodge Spirit (Son #1)
1968 F100 (Valentine)
"No one is totally useless. They can always be used as a bad example"
And what about them volcanos?
See the Phillipines have got another one starting to perk bigtime.
Used to be the Philipinos could cope OK.
The Witchdoctor would howl the odd prayer, toss in a virgin and the volcano would calm down for a decade or more.
Not now though, oh no.
It's those bloody Americans.
They've driven the going price of a virgin Philipina so high that the natives can no longer afford them.
Fred Hill, S'toon.
Fred Hill, S'toon
XS11SG with Spirit of America sidecar
"The Flying Pumpkin"
One of my jobs at the hospital is transporting people that have died from their room to our morgue
So... you guys know the rooms are killing them... but you keep puting them in there? Sounds like a good racket for organ harvesters! lol.
Tod
Try your hardest to be the kind of person your dog thinks you are.
You can live to be 100, as long as you give up everything that would make you want to live to be 100!
Current bikes:
'06 Suzuki DR650
*'82 XJ1100 with the 1179 kit. "Mad Maxim"
'82 XJ1100 Completely stock fixer-upper
'82 XJ1100 Bagger fixer-upper
'82 XJ1100 Motor/frame and lots of boxes of parts
'82 XJ1100 Parts bike
'81 XS1100 Special
'81 YZ250
'80 XS850 Special
'80 XR100
*Crashed/Totalled, still own
Originally posted by Pat Kelly One volcano probably puts more greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere that anything we overrated humans can do. If the planet gets to the point where humans can no longer exist then the next dominant species will take over. It's happened before, it will happen again.
Yes AND no. Volcanologists at the USGS estimate total global volcanism is adding about 200 million tons of CO2 annnually. Man...according to the EPA put far more than that with all his activities (burning fuel cars, electricity, as well as other activities)
However what I fear volcanologist maybe discounting is sub-sea volcanism. This would be virtually impossible to quantify.
The bottom line is no one knows for sure what impact man has in comparison to nature. There are so many sources in nature and no really good way to determine natural emissions versus man. Herein lies the problem.
And the undeniable fact is that earth has had numerous warming episodes. The current rate of warming is a walk in the park compared to what has happend in the past...long before man was ever on the scene. At one time there were NO POLAR ICE CAPS!!! Yes you read right....NONE. 45 million years ago during the Tertiary Eocene epoch, the poles were covered in a tropical rain forest of decidous conifers. As I posted previously of the Fossil Forests of Axel Hieberg.
Now that is what I call "GLOBAL WARMING". What we are experiencing today pales in comparison to that event.
What we must bear in mind is exactly what you said. "It has happened before...it will happen again." And nothing man can do will stop it. All we can do is precisely what Darwin said we would have to do. Adapt and change.
I'd rather have global warming than waste a good virgin. If she were really ugly then that might be OK. ;o)
Geezer
Originally posted by fredintoon And what about them volcanos?
See the Phillipines have got another one starting to perk bigtime.
Used to be the Philipinos could cope OK.
The Witchdoctor would howl the odd prayer, toss in a virgin and the volcano would calm down for a decade or more.
Not now though, oh no.
It's those bloody Americans.
They've driven the going price of a virgin Philipina so high that the natives can no longer afford them.
Fred Hill, S'toon.
I read the Crichton book and thoroughly enjoyed it. I've never worried about global warming because I never felt that iwas a phenomenon of any great concern. Now, depletion of the ozone layer, if true, is a cause of conern. I just don't know enough about that. I've quit going to the beach and I wear sunblock if I'm gonna be outdoors much. Living in my seventh decade has, if nothing else, given me a wait and see attitude.
I trust no politician to tell me the truth. I trust no scientist whose ressearch is funded by a corporation. (See: "Thank you for Smoking") I do believe that current oil reserves are finite, but think that there are probably a lot of places we haven't looked yet.
They can grow all the corn they want for ethanol prouction, but we are all still going to need lubrication and ethanol won't do that. I think that bean oil only goes so far.
I guess it's like eating the last Halloween Mounds bar in the bag. When it's gone, it's gone.
I trust no scientist whose ressearch is funded by a corporation.
And likewise I trust NO science which is funded by goverment. The studies are generally not designed to discover truth but to pertetuate themselves in order to keep the grants rolling in for said research.
And that should also tell you where I stand concerning scientific research rooted in organizations like the Sierra Club. Not only are many of the people that perform said research simply "hobby" scientists with no formal training... organization such as the Sierra Club have a publically stated political agenda. And if you don't already know it...THERE IS NO ROOM for politics in science.
So that leaves us with one other source for independent and objective research. The academy. While true the university has bona fide scientists with an ocean of formal training, it is also true they recieve the majority of their funding from industry then secondly from government.
So It would seem we are at an impasse. Maybe we should cast all science to the fire and just go back to living under the veil of superstition and ignorance because we "don't trust" science.
Of course being a scientist, the prescribed statement is chock full of sarcasm. My point is it really bothers me to see individuals simply make a broad sweeping statement concering scientific research like: "I don't trust science because it was funded by industry." As if industry is the big bad wolf.
Most of the science that has resulted in great gains of technological advancement was funded by industry, not by government.
The scientific method demands ALL research (simply quests for knowledge) be critiqued via peer review. Personally I couldn't give a damn where the research comes from if it sound and true, because the whole point of science to broaden knowledge and discover truth.
And finally...regarding scientific research...it appears now that smoking has absolutley NO BENEFITS and a wide array of risks. However as one of my professors of Geology at a well know school in Colorado once said "Just wait a few years...theories will morph...conclusions will change..."
In light of that statement couple with my 25 years of scientific endeavor ... I am about to commit blasphemy of political correctness. I would not be at all surprised if we don't find some benefits to smoking in the future. As a scientist I would not close my mind completely to the prospect.
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