feel the heat - part 2...

A couple of emails sent to me suggest that I need to explain the graph in the previous item a bit further, so I've amended Al Gore's graph (above) to highlight two things:

(1) The Orange Line: What will happen in the the next few years, when the global temperature plays catch-up with the current atmospheric CO2 levels.

(2) The Yellow Line: What will happen to the global temperature if CO2 levels reach the "After 45 More Years" mark on Al's graph.

Note: Read these new lines as an extension of the white line (it's easy to confuse them with the blue line.)

Hope this makes things clearer.

(Whilst we're on the subject of emails, I've lost all my pre-upgrade emails and email addresses ['cos I'm stoopid!] so unless you email me again, I don't have your email address anymore.)

wake up and feel the heat ...

Here's a graph, the ramifications of which are worth considering very seriously indeed. The blue line represents CO2 levels in the earth's atmosphere, going back 650,000 years. The white line represents global temperature fluctuations during the same period.


As you can see, global temperature fluctuations correspond to CO2 levels in the earth atmosphere.

You can also see, at the right hand side of the graph, representing the present time, that temperature changes lag slightly behind the CO2 level changes, and that when the effect which the present level of CO2 will have on global temperature eventuates, it will result in a global temperature significantly hotter than any other hot period in the last 650,000 years.

(Graph is from Al Gore's book An Inconvenient Truth.)

pest control...

The next time you find yourself on a plane, sitting next to someone who cannot resist chattering to you endlessly, I urge you to quietly pull your laptop out of your bag, carefully open the screen (ensuring the irritating person next to you can see it), and hit this link:

http://www.thecleverest.com/countdown.swf

(compliments of Sad Susan)

An Australia Day message for John HoWARd...

M-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-t-e ...

Being Australian is about driving in a German car to an Irish pub for a Belgian beer, then traveling home, grabbing an Indian curry or a Turkish kebab on the way, to sit on Swedish furniture and watch American shows on a Japanese TV.

Oh and...... Only in Australia ... can an Italian pizza get to your house faster than an Australian ambulance.

Only in Australia ... do supermarkets make sick people walk all the way to the back of the shop to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.

Only in Australia ... do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries and a DIET coke.

Only in Australia ... do banks leave both doors open and chain the pens to the counters

Only in Australia .... do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars on the drive and lock our junk and cheap lawn mower in the garage.

Only in Australia ... do we use answering machines to screen calls and then have call waiting so we won't miss a call from someone we didn't want to talk to in the first place.

Only in Australia ... are there disabled parking places in front of a skating rink.

NOT TO MENTION...

3 Aussies die each year testing if a 9v battery works on their tongue.

142 Aussies were injured in 1999 by not removing all pins from new shirts.

58 Aussies are injured each year by using sharp knives instead of screwdrivers.

31 Aussies have died since 1996 by watering their Christmas tree while the fairy lights were plugged in.

8 Aussies had serious burns in 2000 trying on a new jumper with a lit cigarette in their mouth.

543 Aussies were admitted to Emergency in the last two years After opening bottles of beer with their teeth.

8 Aussies cracked their skull in 2000 whilst throwing up into the toilet

IF YOU'RE PROUD TO BE AUSTRALIAN SEND THIS ON!

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY!!!!

(Author unknown)

the challenge...

Sad Susan, who emails me things... often racist, white supremacist stuff which she deludes herself into believing will "convert" me... has sent me this piece of capitalist "humour":

Humans originally existed as members of small bands of nomadic
hunters/gatherers. They lived on deer in the mountains during the summer and would go to the coast and live on fish and lobster in the winter.

The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups:

1. Liberals; and
2. Conservatives.

Once beer was discovered, it required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can were invented yet, so while our early humans were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That's how villages were formed.

Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to B-B-Q at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as the Conservative movement.

Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly B-B-Q's and doing the sewing, fetching, and hair dressing. This was the beginning of the Liberal movement.

Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into women. The rest became known as girliemen.

Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy, group hugs, and the concept of Democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that conservatives provided.

Over the years conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberals are symbolized by the jackass.

Modern liberals like imported beer (with lime added), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done. Sushi, tofu, and French food are standard liberal fare.

Another interesting evolutionary side note: most of their women have higher testosterone levels than their men. Most social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, dreamers in Hollywood and group therapists are liberals. Liberals invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn't fair to make the pitcher also bat.

Conservatives drink domestic beer. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big-game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, corporate executives, athletes, Marines, and generally anyone who works productively. Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living.

Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to govern the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the liberals remained in Europe when conservatives were coming to America. They crept in after the Wild West was tamed and created a business of trying to get more for nothing.

Here ends today's lesson in world history: It should be noted that a Liberal may have a momentary urge to angrily respond to the above before forwarding it. A Conservative will simply laugh and be so convinced of the absolute truth of this history that it will be forwarded immediately to other true believers and to more liberals just to piss them off.

Your job, dear reader, is to submit a witty liberal riposte to this fine example of Neanderthal "literature"... If this goes untrumped, Sad Susan wins...

a blog by any other name...

diogenesian discourse...

hypocritical hyperbole...

masturbater's mutterings...

back again...

Nice and clean... The blogs looks right again, with pictures loading automatically. Things happen faster. All will be well now till Windows gets all moth eaten again...

no emails please...

I'm reformatting Drive C:\ and reinstalling Windoze XP.

This means that I will be offline for a few days whilst I wade through the dross and the trauma.

If I don't put an axe through the pooter, I'll let you know when I'm back up and running, but till then, no emails please.

Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye...

a bit of reading...

George W. Bush: A Symptom of Disease By Charles Sullivan
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article16155.htm

Is President Bush Sane? By Paul Craig Roberts
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15799.htm

Has He Started Talking to the Walls? By Frank Rich
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15803.htm

End is near in Babylon by Eric S. Margolis
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15804.htm

(Heads-up by DS)

sound familiar?

Joseph Schumpeter on Roman foreign policy, in his Imperialism and Social Classes (1919):

The policies of this epoch are not as naively manifest as those in the other cases discussed so far. Here is the classic example of that kind of insincerity in both foreign and domestic affairs which permeates not only avowed motives but also probably the conscious motives of the actors themselves—of that policy which pretends to aspire to peace but unerringly generates war, the policy of continual preparation for war, the policy of meddlesome interventionism.

There was no corner of the known world where some interest was not alleged to be in danger or under actual attack. If the interests were not Roman, they were those of Rome’s allies; and if Rome had no allies, then allies would be invented. When it was utterly impossible to contrive such an interest—why, then it was the national honor that had been insulted.

The fight was always invested with an aura of legality. Rome was always being attacked by evil-minded neighbors, always fighting for a breathing space. The whole world was pervaded by a host of enemies, and it was manifestly Rome’s duty to guard against their indubitably aggressive designs. They were enemies who only waited to fall on the Roman people.

(Compliments of DS)

get this...

One sobering fact from Homer-Dixon's book (see previous post) is this:

The financial repercussions of the September 11th attacks were enormous: the total cost of lost economic growth and decreased equity value around the world ultimately exceeded $1 trillion. Since the cost of the attack on the World Trade Center to Al Qaeda was probably only a few hundred thousand dollars, the terrorists multiplied their impact well over a million-fold.

And Bush, Blair, and HoWARd still reckon they can win their insane "war on terror"...

Go figure...

food for thought...

Kyan Gadac has written a bleak piece which might make you think a bit.

Thomas Homer Dixon's new book might make you think a bit too, as might a few facts from that book. (Thanks to JahTeh for the heads-up on Homer-Dixon.)

VI Day...

Remember VE Day? And VJ Day?

When will we be celebrating VI Day?

We didn't help the Vietnamese celebrate VV Day...

* * * * * * *

Our Leader of the Opposition, Elmer Fudd Kevin Rudd, asked a most salient question: "What's HoWARd's plan for winning the Iraq war?"

Upon hearing the question, I couldn't help blurting out, quick as a flash, "Whatever George's plan is..."

George's Man OF Steel doesn't have a plan. He doesn't have to have a plan. Sycophants don't bother with plans, other than planning to "stay the course" with those they are toadying up to.

By George, we're going to win in Iraq! Just as soon as we figure out a brand new meaning for the word "win"...

Fuck off, HoWARd, you're not impressing anyone...

the west wing...

My partner loves watching The West Wing on the teev...

So I often watch it with her.

And vomit...

It is about the most blatant piece of US propaganda claptrap I could imagine.

Myth after myth after myth...

Myth #1: America is a liberating force on the planet.

Myth #2: The planet would be plunged into violence and chaos if America were not there to stop that happening.

Myth #3: America needs to implant its "democracy" everywhere.

Myth #4: America is the God-appointed Sheriff of The Whole World.

Myth#5: The US Administration can be benign.

Myth #6: Capitalism is good for the poor and anything which is an obstacle to the rampant march of Das Kapital must be opposed vigorously.

Makes me think that the Democrats are even more dangerous than the Republicans. Why? Because with the Democrats you get fed some sort of hope that the system which will ultimately screw you can be administered in a humane way. And that is the most dangerous myth of all...

footprints in the melting snow...

Greenie said "BTW, Gerry, you have one of the better lists of resources for transitioning to sustainability to be found in the PBA."

Sustainability...

Does anyone actually give a shit about it?

Do they even know what it REALLY means?

Clue: It means that the lifestyle we in "The West" have gotten so used to, the one the rest of the world has been sucked into aspiring to, is utterly unsustainable.

Do one of those eco-footprint tests again and think a bit harder this time.

Apart from realising that your lifestyle is fast trashing the planet, go to the next level: Use the test to try to discover what a sustainable lifestyle might actually look like. Then ask yourself these questions:

Would I really be prepared to commit to living this sort of lifestyle?

What would happen to God the economy if we all lived like that?

Is diogenesian discourse dead yet?

greensmile's on a roll...

He's always worth a read, but I find his poem to 3006 an absolute humdinger.