(OT) Antarctic Sea Ice Sets Another Record

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/09/19/arctic-sea-ice-shrinks-to-lowest-level-on-record/

One data point may define weather but does not address climate.  Regardless
one metric (in this case the amount of sea ice) does not define climate
either.

The reality is how long has man been seeking the North West Passage without
success?  It's now a reality.

The entire system has to be studied and not just cherry picked by a reporter
or anyone that clearly does no understand the science much less the
underlying processes.

If anything the amount of sea ice in your cite could be an example of the
effects of global warming.

wrote:


Maybe the globe is warming, then again maybe it's not.  The pinprick of
time this has all taken up is nutting in the big pictures of global
history.  I'm not convinced it is what the marketeers say, that it is
caused by humans.  That is pure bunkum and an ultimate slippery way to
glean people and companies including the US as a whole from their money.  
It is and always will be, a scam.
--




If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.
George S. Patton
 

Disregarding the $$$ factor (hard to do).  The reality is there are serious
changes in our climate.  Remediation works on a number of levels.
Conservation being one of them.   Even if it makes no difference in the
climate it does make a difference in the budget.

We have converted several trucks to CNG.  NG burns cleaner despite the
hammer of fracking and in total is better than burning coal.  As a result we
are doing better for the environment AND doing better for ourselves
economically.

Coal has a long and dirty history.  For a while there were claims that the
EPA regulations were hammering coal plants and their customers.  The courts
took away the EPA's food ball.  In the end the coal fired plants servicing
the Texas market could not compete with NG.  Pure economics but covered by
those that would play politics.  Congress is back at the game as we type.

wrote:


Sure, make it more expensive (tax it) for selected technologies that
certain political groups don't like and they will go away.  Common
tactic.  Same for guns and ammo, make it expensive to manufacture gun
powder and eventually the guns will go away, OR, make it more expensive
to sell fast food and eventually Mac and Don's will quit, why because
nobody will pay $5 or $10 for a Macdonalds hamburger...on and on it
goes.  I don't like this kind of stuff.  The dims are great for it.  
Just look at NYC and the nanny bloomberg and his NY pals.  Let people
make decisions not the nanny's of government.
--




If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.
George S. Patton
 

As far as coal plants that supply the Texas market: the rug pulling had to
do with the fact that NG is very very cheap due to the great increase in
drilling and the new NG fields.  The shut down of the plants nothing to do
with any tax. They were just not competitive to NG.  That's what makes horse
races.

I find it very amusing as I knew from being inside the industry that there
were political games being played.  Lots of gloom and doom on the part of
the coal industry and the politicians that Obama's EPA was forcing the
plants to close.

Someone (coal industry?) took the EPA to court and surprise surprise coal
won.   In the end they had to make a go on pure economics and the economics
of their position was not there to keep the plants open.

As to hamburgers getting more expensive.  I suspect that has more to do with
pink slime than anything else.  And no government or tax involved.  Market
forces.  The reality of the market folk don't want to eat pink slime.

Monsanto is fighting the requirement of labeling any product that contains
GM crops.  The reality is Monsanto does not want the buying public to know
they are getting GM food with a side of Roundup.

wrote:


That "pink slime" you refer to has been deemed safe by the FDA.  The
company is law suiting a few entities over the bad publicity.  I believe
the main one is ABC news which did a month long war against the company.  
Unfair so called news reporting.  These news companies hide behind the
US consitiution and think they can say and do anything they please.
--




If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.
George S. Patton
 

"That "pink slime" you refer to has been deemed safe by the FDA"

You'll pardoned me if I don't get a warm and fuzzy with assurances from the
FDA about pink slime or much else.

Having worked in research for the government and industy I know how the
games that are played.

I am reminded about the joke on hot dogs.  There are some questions one does
not ask much less have answered  ... such as what goes into hot dogs.

"These news companies hide behind the US constitution and think they can say
and do anything they please."  Do a bit of research on the Beef Industry's
legal action against Oprah.  Every time I hear 'we'll file suit' I'm
reminded that discovery can be a bear.  Also look up the legal principals of
SLAP actions.  Which by design can get expensive.

"These news companies hide behind the US constitution"  any time there is an
effort to hide information for any reason my ears twitch.

WeThePeople are not mushrooms to be fed B* and kept in the dark.

wrote:


Well, that is the paranoid view.  I still happen to believe in innocent
until proven guilty.  

How many have died or become sick from the "pink slime" phenomenon?
--




If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.
George S. Patton
 

"dbu""

How may times do you require for an individual, induty or an agency to be
proven guilty before the point of 'that's enough' is exceeded?


As to how many have died or become sick no one knows but I for one don't
want to eat any thing that was washed in ammonia to kill pathogens such as
e-coli.

Comes down to knowing what's in what you eat and drink, where it came from
and what you feed to your kids.

Some eat animal testacies with relish, others won't.  Labeling the dish
mountain oysters or some other euphemism without a clear label/notice won't
cut it.  In part that's called informed consent.

BTW such games (people *were* dying) are one of the reason for the Pure Food
and Drug Act.

As a foster parent I deal with kids that have immune disorders and other
problems that are complicated by reactions to food and food additives.
There is noting like fast trip to the ER with a kid that's in anaphylactic
shock and unable to breath to get your heart pumping.

If you've never had the experience ... don't try it as you *won't* like it.

The reality is you never know how close 'almost didn't make it' comes until
it's too late.

As a person who has had farm raised beef slaughtered and processed by an
Amish butcher, I can tell you that ALL store purchased beef may be safe, but
doesn't taste anywhere near as good.

The polystyrene trays of hamburger do taste better than the "pink slime"
that comes in the 3/5/10LB tubes, but still pales in comparison to small
farm raised, mostly grass fed beef.

Details:
Pair of cattle fed a 5 gallon bucked of shelled corn a day, plus a steady
supply of grass hay bales.
Amish butcher still uses no grid electricity, refrigeration is by Diesel
engines driving open drive refrigerant compressors.

Just turn up the heat on those bed bugs and they will wither.
--




If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.
George S. Patton