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Comment Re:But the real data is worse than the models pred (Score 1) 1190

I see your point.
Of course models have limits. Science itself has limits, that's all I know. I plead ignorant as I am not a scientist of sort, I don't have a scientific education background and my maths grades were awful in high school so I don't believe I have many chances (will and time) to understand the science behind models and so on.
However, I profoundly doubt whatever comes out of the Heartland's mouths as they are notorious for warping information for corporate gain and I respect the work of thousands of climate scientists around the world whose independent research is pointing out - whatever the differences - to one conclusion.

Comment Re:Required reading (Score 4, Insightful) 628

One dumb lobster trick is that if you hold a lobster with one hand on gripping its back it will struggle and twist to get free but if you move it close to you other arm or leg it will grab your arm and feel safe because it's feet are gripping something.

One dumb human trick when they see a tiger is trying run away. Of course they don't know that we tigers can run way faster than them and we always manage to catch them. The funny thing is that when you finally claw them they still try to fight! I, as a tiger, I am not entirely sure humans know they are alive, let alone feel pain. I think I'll have human steak for dinner tonight.

Space

Submission + - Unknown Substance on Saturn's Moons Identified (spacefellowship.com)

Matt_dk writes: "For more than 30 years, scientists have been observing an unknown substance on the dark surfaces of objects far beyond the Earth in the outer solar system. After analyzing images from the Cassini spacecraft, scientists are able to finally verify the unknown substance seen on the deep red surfaces of Saturn's moons Iapetus, Phoebe, and Hyperion. "The surface material of these outer objects was always a mystery," said Dale Cruikshank, a space scientist at NASA Ames Research Center."
Announcements

Submission + - $5 solar cooker in FT Climate Challenge Final (ft.com)

Mr. Sunshine writes: "Energy use in developing countries is still in the stone age, causing deforestation, erosion, spinal injuries, smoke inhalation damage, time loss and all kinds of danger for women and children collecting firewood. Lack of cleaning methods for drinking water kills over 10 million mostly children every year.

A new ultra simple $5 solar cooker developed by Kyoto Energy in Kenya has the potential to solve many of these problems, and has been nominated to the final of the Financial Times Climate Challenge. It is up against 4 innovations for the developed world. The main sponsor is HP, and the jury that selected these 5 consists of luminaries such as HP CEO Mark Hurd, Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy, Sir Richard Branson and Nobel Peace Price winner Dr. Rajendra Pachauri.

Help solve these severe problems by voting for the Kyoto Box at www.ft.com/climatechallenge

What are the opinions of /. readers on this competiton? Is $75K enough to solve the problem or is this just another attempt at greenwashing from FT/HP et al? Are web based polling systems with unique IP addresses reliable for such purposes or can they be manipulated?"

Earth

Submission + - Top UK Scientist Predicts Global Crisis by 2030

Peace Corps Online writes: "Prof John Beddington, the Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government and Professor of Applied Population Biology at Imperial College, told the Sustainable Development UK 09 conference that growing world population will cause a "perfect storm" of food, energy and water shortages by 2030 with demand for food and energy jumping 50% by 2030 and for fresh water by 30%, as the world population tops 8.3 billion. "We head into a perfect storm in 2030, because all of these things are operating on the same time frame," Beddington says. "If we don't address this, we can expect major destabilization, an increase in rioting and potentially significant problems with international migration, as people move out to avoid food and water shortages." Beddington says improving agricultural productivity globally was one way to tackle the problem. "We need more disease-resistant and pest-resistant plants and better practices, better harvesting procedures," says Beddington. "Genetically-modified food could also be part of the solution. We need plants that are resistant to drought and salinity — a mixture of genetic modification and conventional plant breeding." Beddington says the concern now — when prices have dropped once again — was that the issues would slip back down the domestic and international agenda. "We can't afford to be complacent. Just because the high prices have dropped doesn't mean we can relax.""
Education

Submission + - Report Reveals One-Third of US Birds are Endangere (scienceblogs.com)

grrlscientist writes: "According to the most comprehensive report ever published in the USA, nearly one third of America's 800 native bird species are endangered, threatened, or in significant decline, thanks to habitat loss, pollution, climate change, competition from invasive species and other threats. This story summarizes the original report and includes video, graphs, and suggestions for what you can do to help as well as links to the original report."
Image

Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch Provokes Bomb Scare Screenshot-sm 186

Bomb disposal teams were called in and a nearby pub evacuated after water company engineers mistook a Monty Python film prop for a hand grenade. After nearly an hour of examination by bomb experts, they counted to three. No more. No less. Three was the number they counted, and the number they counted was three. Four they did not count, nor two, except to proceed to three. Five was right out. Once the number three had been reached, being the third number, they declared that the grenade was actually a copy of the "Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch" used in the film Monty Python And The Holy Grail. A police spokeswoman confirmed that the device was a toy and that it had been no danger to the public.
Earth

Robot Fish To Hunt Down Pollution 55

An anonymous reader writes "According to the Financial Times, scientists are building a shoal of robot fish to be let loose in the port [of Gijon, Spain] to check on the quality of the water. The fish are equipped with tiny chemical sensors capable of detecting pollutants in the water. These let them home in on the sources of hazardous pollutants, such as leaks from vessels or undersea pipelines. Modeled on carp and costing about £20,000 ($29,000) each to make, the fish are to be lifelike in appearance and swimming behavior so they will not alarm their fellow marine inhabitants."

Comment Re:Impossible Syllogism (Score 1) 397

The Hockey Stick graph is not something you believe in or not. It is data records backed by most of the most prestigious scientific bodies in the world. Besides, it is just one of the countless elements used in trying to explain why our climate is changing so rapidly in such a short amount of time. To dismiss the theory of anthropogenic climate change, it's not enough to counter one of the points. You'll have to counter most of them and offer a better explanation.

Comment Re:Well of course (Score 1) 584

I also agree with most of what you say except one thing:

one big problem with the envirowacko movement, they always want things RIGHT NOW, they never can understand that you have to change things over time

Yes, only that "envirowackos" have been pushing for renewable energy for decades now.

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