Lifeline for nature, etc.

I come across an interesting article this morning entitled "Lifeline for Nature" by Francis Dass in NSTonline of Malaysia, I believe. The article is really aimed at commenting on the pollutions in mainland China. But I was attracted by the abundance of proverbs, quotes, and citations in the article. It starts with:

"There’s so much pollution in the air now that if it weren’t for our lungs, there’d be no place to put it all!” — Robert Orben, American author and comedy writer.

Then he proceeded with the current events:

The country is already in the limelight, what with the upcoming Beijing Olympics and the recent Tibetan uprisings. But it’s no secret too that the country suffers massive pollution.

(Coincidentally, at the moment, China is at the centre of the world’s media attention for a few interesting reasons: the upcoming Beijing Olympics, the Tibetan uprising and, of course, the country’s seemingly perennial struggle with pollution.)

And it led to his main theme:

Traditional Chinese thinking has always respected Nature and the awesome power it wields. Take the Chinese adage, for example, that says: “Not only can water float a boat, it can sink it also.”

Yes, I know exactly that Chinese adage. Come to think of it, it is even appropriate to freaque waves. Somehow this is the first time I ever thought about the connection.

Decision-makers the world over may do well to pay heed — the damming of rivers and the clearing of forests, for instance, have caused untold damage to lives and property in almost every corner of the globe over the years.

Other Chinese sayings allude to Nature’s power: “A spark can start a fire that burns the entire prairie” and “Man’s schemes are inferior to those made by heaven.” “Heaven” here can be interpreted as Mother Nature.

Again I am familiar with the two Chinese sayings he cited. I may wish to argue that for Chinese people the word "Heaven" tends to mean God more than Mother Nature.

Clearing a hill indiscriminately of its forest for more development? Then, decision makers have to seriously think of the landslides and mud avalanche that have befallen men, women and children around the world during rainy spells, as a result of deforestation.

Do development planners ever give a thought to the consequences of deforestation: the landslides and the havoc they create in the lives of people?

Perhaps they should ponder on this lovely Chinese proverb: “Keep a green tree in your heart, and perhaps a singing bird will come.”

Here, finally, I am stunned. I must confess that I have no idea off hand what the proverb was in Chinese originally.

The 19th century American philosopher and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson takes that notion one step further when he said, “The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.”

New York’s famed Central Park is testament to the great beauty man can create, if he so chooses.

Made famous by American cinema and television, Central Park was created in 1853 and is a sprawling, 344-hectare park.

“One generation plants the trees, and another gets the shade” declares yet another Chinese proverb. And we might add that all future generations are usually very appreciative of forefathers who leave them a legacy of nature. Ask any young New Yorker about Central Park and you would know how true this saying is.

I definitely know this proverb, but off hand I am not certain about the exactly saying in Chinese originally. Now here again, I lived near New York City's Central Park for a while many years ago, I never thought of making the connection between the Central Park and a Chinese proverb. I do remember though, looked out from my 17th floor apartment window, those beautiful tree tops of the Central Park -- as compared to the ugly roof tops of the city buildings adjacent to the park.

Mr. Dass continues with his vast knowledge of famous sayings:

Saint Basil the Great who lived during the fourth century was reputed to have said that “a tree is known by its fruit, a man by his deeds”.

Local politicians, take note. Respect can be gained by simply following this advice by the 18th century Linnaeus: “If a tree dies, plant another in its place.”

Then you have Aristotle, one of history’s greatest philosophers, observing that “we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit”. How much better the world will be if all of us heeded this pearl of wisdom!

But in reality, Greed is the god the world worships and this insight is what India’s most famous son, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi a.k.a. Mahatma Gandhi, saw right from the start. His sobering dictum is: “There is sufficiency in the world for man’s need, not for man’s greed.”

Native Americans also celebrate Mother Nature by giving voice to its beauty and force in language.

“When a man moves away from nature, his heart becomes hard” is one penetrating observation.

So is this eye-opener: “The rain falls on the just and unjust.”

And we could go on and on with sayings of old.

He also pointed out what most American politicians and drive-by medias don't have the guts to even whisper:

Sadly, China is one of Earth’s worst polluters.

Mercifully, Chinese leaders are now trying to undo the damage they have done.

They are now taking serious measures to curb pollution in preparation for the Beijing Olympics in August. How good it would be to see a China the way it was!

Ah! How good it would be to see a China the way it was! But the two sentences leading to it were only wishful thinkings at best. I guess Mr. Dass may or may not know that the Commie thugs destroyed millions households in the famous Peiking alleys that preserved thousands of years of history and traditions in the old city for the sake of Olympics.

"To see a China the way it was!" Yes, sadly that can only be done now probably in your dreams. But this is not the world and era made for dreams. Open your eyes wide, you can only see spineless politicians kowtow to the rowdy, bully thugs all over the world.

A tiny, tiny minority?

Since I have stopped watching TV news for years, I don't usually pay attention to what's going on with them. By chance I just noticed a sort of advertisement news -- a pre-announcement of what's going to be on the program called "60 Minutes." The title that attracted my attention is "Gore's Message to Climate Change Skeptics" with subtitle "Tells 60 Minutes that doubting global warming is man-made is akin to believing earth is flat."

The drive-by CBS News obvious plays game with their title. There is no such thing as "Climate Change Skeptics." Climate changes constantly, no one skeptic about the fact climate is changing at any rate. Their subtitle about "doubting global warming is man-made" at least brings up the key point.

Global warming is man-made is simply junk talk. I don't think that it is even qualified to be called science of any kind because there is no creditable science in there whatsoever.

I don't have any patience to read the advertisement article about their show on Sunday. I only caught the part that Algore comments on the people not convinced that global warming is man-made:

I think that those people are in such a tiny, tiny minority now with their point of view . . .

Now that is really junk talk I regret I wasted my time even to pay attention to it. Since I have come this far, I would like to challenge Algore to put a number or a definition to let us know just exactly what does he consider to be"a tiny, tiny minority"?

I am reminded of Galileo Galilei, he was all by himself against the whole world of ignorant hierarchies. Was a lonely Galileo a "tiny, tiny minority" Algore?

There's a list on Wikipedia entitled "List of scientists opposing the mainstream scientific assessment of global warming" with names of truly prominent scientists who were academically accomplished and well-known long before Algore dropped out of divinity school. On that list there are 3 of them believe global warming is not occurring or have ceased; 3 believe accuracy of IPCC climate projections is inadequate; 22 believe global warming is primarily caused by natural processes; 10 believe cause of global warming is unknown; and 3 believe global warming will benefit human society. Are these famous scientists all a tiny, tiny minority, Algore?

At the beginning of this month, there was a conference on global warming in New York City aimed at examining the question "Global Warming: Crisis or Scam?" I blogged about it here. It was attended by over 400 participants and 98 speakers on the theme "there is no scientific consensus on the causes or likely consequences of global warming." Would 98 speakers and 400 participants a tiny, tiny minority?

Algore, I know you have gained a lot of weight, does that really make you an overwhelming majority in your own mind?

Update:

Well, I wasn't the only one among the "tiny, tiny minority" that noticed and being offended by Algore's junk talk. The editorial of Investor's Bussiness daily (IBD) today has this to say:

In addition to being gratingly sanctimonious, Gore is wrong. A study conducted by Texas A&M professors found that the more Americans know about global warming, the more likely they are to dismiss it.

In other words, the "tiny, tiny minority" is ever growing by the seconds. Pretty soon it will easily burst Algore's ego into tiny, tiny pieces.

The article cited by IBD editorial can be found here and here and full text here.

By the way, the super video "The Great Global Warming Swindle" is back online. Check it out!

I particularly appreciate IBD's comments on "this weekend's asinine Earth Hour" as

. . . when we were all expected to turn off our lights, and realize it was a metaphor for the darkness that global warming alarmists have been operating under.

Algore, eat your tiny, tiny heart out!

Not safe even just walking!

Here's a simple news, from Charleston, Oregon, that may have often repeated at different places around the globe and at different times, but the story is more or less the same:

(CHARLESTON, Ore.) - Coast Guard officials reported today that one of their helicopter crews airlifted a man near Charleston, Oregon. It is reported that 39-year old Frank Schneidle sustained injuries while walking along the beach close to the Cape Arago Lighthouse.

Perhaps the next paragraph can be used as a universalized message in general:

The Oregon coast is known as a treacherous location for beachcombing and even just walking during storms. Officials frequently talk about "sneaker" or rogue waves that take people by surprise and often drag them out to sea.

Just be ready to replace the location of "Oregon coast" by any other coastal area, the above will be a very good warning advice. The message that should never be ignored is that coastal area is never a safe place for beachcombing by any means even just walking!

It happened in Assissi, Italy

There are still quiet along the ocean freaque waves front. I thought I'll take my blogger's prerogative to present a rather pleasant freaque news that's not wave, science, or climate related. May be they are all implicitly related. Especially as today is the Good Friday of 2008.

I am talking about this picture:

Yes, that was the historically famous face in the middle accompanied by two Franciscan friars. I got this picture from the email from Dr. Robert Moynihan of the Inside the Vatican magazine with this captions:

The former president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, walks in Assisi, Italy, with Franciscan friars. Gorbachev visited Assisi recently to pray at the tomb of St. Francis, who lived 800 years ago, from 1181-1226

and this news:

Mikhail Gorbachev, has acknowledged his Christian faith for the first time, paying a visit to pray at the tomb of St Francis of Assisi. The visit, which reportedly took place on Saturday, March 15, was evidently a surprise. It is not clear whether there was any preparation whatsoever, even informally. The Italian news agency AGI launched the story on March 15 with these words: "A pleasant surprise today for the friars of the Sacro Convento (of Assisi): Mikhail Gorbachev, accompanied by his daughter, paid an unexpected visit to the Basilica of St. Francis."

Accompanied by his daughter Irina, Mr Gorbachev spent half an hour on his knees in silent prayer at the tomb.

His arrival in Assisi was described as "spiritual perestroika" by La Stampa, the Italian newspaper.

"St Francis is, for me, the alter Christus [the Latin for "another Christ"], the other Christ," said Mr Gorbachev. "His story fascinates me and has played a fundamental role in my life," he added.

Mr Gorbachev's surprise visit confirmed decades of rumours that, although he was forced to publicly pronounce himself an atheist, he was in fact a Christian, and casts a meeting with Pope John Paul II in 1989 in a new light.

Mr Gorbachev, 77, was baptised into the Russian Orthodox Church and his parents were Christians.

In addition, the parents of his wife Raisa were deeply religious and were killed during the Second World War for having religious icons in their home.

Ronald Reagan, the former United States president, allegedly told his close aides on a number of occasions that he felt his opponent during the Cold War was a "closet believer."

Mr Reagan held deep religious convictions himself. However, until now Mr Gorbachev has allowed himself to express only pantheistic views, saying in one interview "nature is my god."

Here's a picture of the tomb of St. Francis of Assissi, beneath the Basilica of San Francesco in Assissi, Italy:
Since I don't watch or read drive-by media in general, I don't know if they have reported this case. The news will certainly not be appreciated by the politically correctness gang. The U.K. Telegraph and Times Online among others have reported the news.

My rather biased notion that "a commie is always a commie" may need to be revised. Gorbachev's historical position is still to be developed in history. Especially hearing these of his words:

"I feel very emotional to be here at such an important place not only for the Catholic faith, but for all humanity."

Dr. Moynihan pointed out common misconception which I share:

That press report got one significant detail wrong. Francis was never a priest. A deacon, yes. A priest, no.

I guess when you become a saint, earthly title is really not that important anyway!

Missing heat in "Global warming" ??

There's global warming but heat is missing? How about that, a heat-less global warming or talking on both side of the mouth by the mainstream scientists.

This NPR article yesterday entitled "The mystery of global warming's missing heat" by Richard Harris reports that:

· Some 3,000 scientific robots that are plying the ocean have sent home a puzzling message. These diving instruments suggest that the oceans have not warmed up at all over the past four or five years. That could mean global warming has taken a breather. Or it could mean scientists aren't quite understanding what their robots are telling them.

This is puzzling in part because here on the surface of the Earth, the years since 2003 have been some of the hottest on record. But Josh Willis at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory says the oceans are what really matter when it comes to global warming.

No, it's not George Bush's fault, blame it on El Nino:

In recent years, heat has actually been flowing out of the ocean and into the air. This is a feature of the weather phenomenon known as El Nino. So it is indeed possible the air has warmed but the ocean has not. But it's also possible that something more mysterious is going on.

That leaves the scientists to agree that:

. . . a few mild years have no effect on the long-term trend of global warming. But they say there are still things to learn about how our planet copes with the heat.

Hey Algore, are you listening? There are "still things to learn about how our planet copes with the heat."

Rescue and a happy ending

What would be the best outcome for a search and rescue operation? Rescue and a happy ending, of course! Here's such a news from the Sydney Morning Herald by Jordan Baker that makes a nice reading for a Sunday morning:

TWO fishermen have survived 34 hours at sea after a freak wave capsized their boat off the South Coast.

Relatives raised the alarm yesterday morning after the men failed to return home.

Helicopters searched an 1430 square mile area from Kiama south to Bawley Point.

The men, aged 40 and 45, were found in the early afternoon clinging to their overturned boat off Burrill Lake. A trawler rescued the men and towed the boat to Ulladulla. The pair were flown to Wollongong Hospital for medical treatment.

What a wonderful relieve for their family and relatives. Deo gratias!

Scenic dread from latest Britain news

What's the latest?
May be this news from thisislondon.co.uk providess the answer:

Storms battered parts of Britain again yesterday - and closed one of the country's most popular race meetings.

The Cheltenham Gold Cup festival was abandoned as gales up to 85mph lashed western areas.

The news article was mainly reporting the cancellation of the racing but it also included the following rip-roaring pictures:

This scene at the Blackpool sea front:
And this crashing waves on to a lighthouse in Newhaven, East Sussex
And this one at Porthleven, Devon:

All the hats tip to the photographers. As much as I would like to see roaring waves, I certainly will not wish to be out there when all those wave things are indeed roaring.

The Pi Day

In the blogger's world, a date is usually just something to identify the beginning of a new blog. The fact that 3/14 is known as the International Pi Day just came to my attention. As someone who fancies himself always interested in math things, I have to add this post to honor this day though there's not much direct connection between pi and freaque waves. Of course, being in the late afternoon now I missed the Pi minutes which is 1:59 am on 3/14 (1:59 pm will do, but that's 13:59 for many). Anyway, today is the 20th anniversary of the celebration of Annual International Pi day.

Additionally scientists generally remember that this day is also the birthday of Albert Einstein. Not much of a phyicist myself, this is of less significance to me but still worth to mention while I am at it.

What's the big deal of of pi? Well, multiply pi to the diameter of a circle gives the circumference and multiply pi to the square of the radius gives the area of the circle which are the things we memorize since elementary school days. This interesting site here reminded me that Pi was discovered by Archimedes in the 2nd century BC and this old joke: "Pi r-squared? No, pie are round. Cake are squared."

Have a happy Pi day! (In a few hours, it will be "Beware the Ides of March!")


Update:

It is of interest to take a look into the history. It may not be entirely true to say that Archimedes "discovered" Pi. According to the NOVA site:

In Archimedes' day, close approximations of pi had been known for over 1,000 years. An Egyptian document dated to 1650 B.C., for example, gives a value of 4 (8/9)², or 3.1605. Archimedes' value, however, was not only more accurate, it was the first theoretical, rather than measured, calculation of pi.

So Archimedes was the first one to provide more accurate value for Pi. The efforts to obtain more and more accurate Pi value have been continued ever since as this site show:

Ptolemy	(c. 150 AD)	3.1416
Zu Chongzhi	(430-501 AD)	355/113
al-Khwarizmi	(c. 800 )	3.1416
al-Kashi	(c. 1430)	14 places
Viète	(1540-1603)	9 places
Roomen	(1561-1615)	17 places
Van Ceulen	(c. 1600)	35 places

I was particularly interested in the not so very well-known, but a great Chinese mathematician nevertheless, by the name

my prefered translation is Tsu Chung-Tze, which they say "about whom next to nothing is known." But he was well accomplished in mathematics, astronomy, and mechanical devices among other things during the Northern and Southern Dynasties period in Chinese history. I found from this site here, that there was some indication on how it was done in getting the value equivalent to Pi by Tsu in the 5th century A.D. China:

It happened in La Coruña, Spain

In this concise report of www.tv3.co.nz that entitled "Freak wave washes over beach wall in Spain":

A huge wave washed over a sea front in the north-western Spanish port city of La Coruna, surprising cars and pedestrians . . .

One can probably get a general idea of what had happened. This www.metro.co.uk news reports the following with some more detail (but they misspelled the City's name):

Unsuspecting motorists got a shock when a freak wave washed over a beach wall in Spain.

The wave washed away cars as it crashed over the wall La Caruna, Spain.

It also hit a few unsuspected passers-by.

The dramatic moment was captured on amateur video.

It happened earlier this week during storms in the region - the same weather pattern that battered Britain and France.

The waves of up to 7m injured several people and damaged cars and boats, Spanish media said.

Yes, it only happened in seconds and it was captured on video, otherwise no one would ever readily believe what really had happened. Beyond the truly freaque nature of the totally unexpected happening, the incredibly amazing part of the whole thing has to be that how can someone be at the right place, at that very moment and had the video camera ready!?

While both Metro and NZ's tv3 articles used the word "freak wave" in their titles, they are certainly not the kind of deep sea freaque waves the word usually implies. I usually call those cases on the beach or in the nearshore area nearshore freaquewaves or onshore freaque waves. This case in La Coruña is certainly much inland than those nearshore or onshore cases. This may or may not be a semantic problem, we are simply running out of descriptive expressions for the continued surprising cases the nature hurling at us.

By the way, La Coruña is a Spanish city located in the north-western corner of the country surrounded by ocean. It is in a region of vast green landscapes. According to Tourspain, the region has a Celtic and Roman heritage which keeps, still today, a "mystic and magic" allure. Here's an areal view of the city I found from here:

Winter storm's final fling

We the people in North America are poised to welcome back spring in due time, the world outside of us are not as lucky. Here's a news today in www.redorbit.com by Miles Davis with the hopeful headline "Great winter storm to have its final fling today!" in the Plymouth (U.K.) Western Morning News:

The Westcountry is today expected to be pounded by yet more strong winds as the storm which has raged for three nights - leaving a trail of destruction - finally begins to fade out.

Gusts of up to 60mph are forecast for this morning and were expected to sweep over the region last night - but forecasters say the force of the wind will be nowhere near the strength of the storm which has so far caused widespread damage across Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset.

The forecast for a calmer day ahead today will be welcome news to the thousands of people across the Westcountry whose lives have been turned upside down by the worst storm for as long as many can remember.

Among victims of the storm yesterday were residents in Bude where the giant waves, driven by hurricane-force winds, wrenched off the town's sea-lock canal gates.

The walls of the canal are understood to have been badly damaged and there are fears that thousands of pounds worth of fish - a key attraction for course fishermen - could have been washed into the sea.

Mike East, technical services director of North Cornwall District Council, which owns the canal at Bude, said: "One of the gates was wrenched off its hinges and it has caused fundamental damage to the canal walls."

And here's how it was a couple of days ago:

The drama began on Monday night when the combination of spring tides, low pressure and gale-force winds brought in massive waves.

The district council said it was impossible to say how much the damage to the lock would cost but the gates were installed in 2000 at a cost of pounds600,000. The canal and wharf area is currently being regenerated as part of a pounds5 million scheme.

The environment agency and local companies worked together to create a dam further up the canal to drain the water and assess the damage done.

Further down the coast a couple who should have been celebrating the purchase of their new restaurant watched as flooding overtook the building.

In this U.K. Daily Mail article there are some frightening pictures of the storm with this headline: "Britain braced for new storm front as forecasters warn 'the worst is yet to come.'" For instance:
and
Furthermore this news on cruise ship Artemis being damaged by freaque wave written by Corey Stephenson is also part of the storm:

A ROGUE wave has damaged the Southampton-based cruise ship Artemis as she battled against gale force winds in the English Channel.

The towering wave crashed over the ship's bow in the early hours of this morning hitting the anchor storage area and forcing the ship to change course and head for the shelter of the Cornish port of Falmouth.

The good news is:

A P&O spokeswoman said the ship was due to leave Falmouth later tonight after repairs were complete.

"The damage was only minor and was restricted to the anchor storage," she said.

"The damage does not affect the safety of the ship in any way, but will require some work before continuing into the Atlantic."

All these happenings in the world, but American people heard almost nothing about it. Fortunately we have no need to read or hear the drive-by media ever again, and we are more well informed than ever. All the power to the internet. Dan Rather ate his heart out, but still couldn't understand why fake is no longer true as he was brought up.

Anyway, the nature is changing and the climate is restless, but beautiful spring still comes back every year. Let's just be primed to enjoy it !

Lake Michigan iceberg

I blog only when something or some news struck my fancy, so I don't do it every day. My friend Rob Stormer is a very disciplined daily blogger and always have something interesting as well as exciting to say. Today he posted something extra I find it's too irresistible not to copy it here:

An iceberg in Lake Michigan:

with this explanation from Senior Forecaster/Meteorologist Marc Kavinsky:

The warmer temperatures, sunshine and brisk west winds have caused the ice to break away from shore and float several miles away from shore. The above freezing temperatures expected the next several days should cause these floating ice "bergs" to shrink and disappear.

At least there will not be a Titanic in Lake Michigan for us to worry about!

Riverdance rescue lingers on

The ferry Riverdance has been in the news since the beginning of February which I have blogged here. Rescue efforts have been mounted ever since. But discouraging news came this morning from BBC with a discouraging headline "Bad storms defeat ferry salvagers"

Storms and high tides have delayed hopes of refloating the stricken Riverdance ferry on Blackpool beach.

Salvage experts, who were hoping to have moved the vessel by this week, have been defeated by the weather.

The ferry had been heading from Warrenpoint, County Down, to Heysham, Lancashire, when she was hit by a freak wave on 31 January.

along with this rather depressing picture:

and these further details:

She is now almost on her side with a list of 87 degrees and has sunk into the sand on the Lancashire beach.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency is still optimistic the vessel can be refloated over the next couple of weeks.

Twenty-three people were lifted to safety from the ferry when it ran aground six weeks ago, including 19 crew and four passengers.

We wish the best of luck to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. Hope the final defeat is the BBC's headline writers. Storms are bad, but Riverdance will be refloated! At any rate, the fact that all four passengers and 19 crew members are safely rescued is something to cheer. There is just no simple solutions against nature's agilities. But human ingenuity will ultimately prevail!

I might add this observation: The Riverdance case has command worldwide attention of objective journalists except those drive-by media. That's why people in U.S. have heard very little about those severe storms in Europe in recent days. If it can't be blamed on ExxonMobil or all you SUV drivers, why should the New York National Enquirer, umm, the N. Y. Times care?

Consensus, what consensus?

Last Friday, Dr. Thomas Sowell posted this great article "Cold Water on 'Global Warming'" on National review with this synopsis on the state of present day "global warming":

They mobilize like-minded people from a variety of occupations, call them all “scientists” and then claim that “all” the experts agree on a global-warming crisis.

Their biggest argument is that there is no argument.

A whole cottage industry has sprung up among people who get grants, government agencies who get appropriations, politicians who get publicity, and the perpetually indignant who get something new to be indignant about. It gives teachers something to talk about in school instead of teaching.

and this announcement:

A new and very different conference on global warming will be held in New York City, under the sponsorship of the Heartland Institute, on March 2nd to March 4th — weather permitting.

It is called an “International Conference on Climate Change” that will examine the question “Global Warming: Crisis or Scam?” Among those present will be professors of climatology, along with scientists in other fields and people from other professions.

They come from universities in England, Hungary, and Australia, as well as from the United States and Canada, and include among other dignitaries the president of the Czech Republic, Václav Klaus.

All told, there will be 98 speakers and 400 participants.

The theme of the conference is that “there is no scientific consensus on the causes or likely consequences of global warming.”

This is one conference I wish I could be there. It is going on right at this moment I am typing, but not a single word about the conference has been uttered by the drive-by media, local or national in any of their news reports. Thank God for the internet we can still find out all about this and follow it online. For instance, starting here to check out some of the videos and blogs, and this website here, don't miss this youtube presentation called "Al Gore Snowjob" or "Al Gore Debate Global Warming." While you are at it, make sure to download and read the NIPCC (Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change) report edited by S. Fred Singer called "Nature, Not HumanActivity, Rules the Climate." Here's a part of the abstract:

While the report of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) makes it clear that the scientific debate is tilting away from global warming alarmism, we are pleased to see the political debate also is not over. Global warming ‘skeptics’ in the policy arena include Vaclav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic; Helmut Schmidt, former German chancellor; and Lord Nigel Lawson, former United Kingdom chancellor of the exchequer. On the other side are global warming fearmongers, including UK science advisor Sir David King and his predecessor Robert May (now Lord May), and of course Al Gore, former vice president of the U.S. In spite of increasing pressures to join Kyoto and adopt emission limits on carbon dioxide, President George W. Bush in the United States has resisted – so far.

We regret that many advocates in the debate have chosen to give up debating the science and now focus almost exclusively on questioning the motives of ‘skeptics,’ name-calling, and ad hominem attacks. We view this as a sign of desperation on their part, and a sign that the debate has shifted toward climate realism.

Finally for today, this article by Christopher C. Horner, just the title "Cirque de Solar Power: New York Conference Puts Lie to 'Consensus'" will make you smile. Here's the opening of the article:

A strange thing happened last year Down Under. A shark ate a kangaroo.

That wasn’t the odd part. Inexplicably, the media found themselves unable to blame the event on global warming.

According to this NC Media Watch report, the conference ". . . is sold out, except for press registration." A-huh, the drive-by media are shunning this conference. I wonder why? What are they afraid of? Doesn't matter, we have the internet, who cares about the press media anyway!

Oh yes, a disclaimer, I am a freaque wave aficionado, why should I be so fervent about this NIPCC conference? Simple, it's only because I am a scientist, I care about science, facts, and truth. I don't want some idiot trying to blame freaque wave occurrences on my SUV driving. It hasn't happen yet, but it will. I like to learn about the true facts but simply can't stand the snow jobs this wishy-washy mushy world has been tolerate for too long!

Hurricane Emma 2008

The headline says: "Hurricane Emma cuts swath across Europe," which is a report from Vienna in the Australia newspaper Australian.

No! There is no mistake here. It is a report from Vienna in the Australian (That's right, Australian, not Austrian) reporting about Hurricane Emma on March 3, 2008. Yes, that's the news tomorrow:

VIENNA: A winter storm with winds of more than 150km/h cut a swath of destruction across Europe from Britain to the Czech Republic, killing at least nine people.

For us who live in the heartland U.S.A. and only think that hurricane season as between June and November, it is a little strange to hear about a hurricane in early March. Clearly Europeans are not immune from hurricanes. May not be the same kind of hurricane as we know it. According to Wikipedia, there is such European windstorm as a severe cyclonic storm that tracks across the North Atlantic towards northwestern Europe in the winter months. So Emma is a real menace for the Europeans in winter. According to this Euronews:

One of Germany's high speed trains was taken out of action and several rail lines were closed as winds reached 190 kilometres an hour. Three people died in Germany.

In some areas, heavy rainfall caused flooding as well.

In Austria the death toll reached four, including two German tourists, with at least two of the people killed by trees blown down by high winds.

Some 10,000 households in the north of the country have been left without electricity.

Skiers in the Alps were warned to take extra care after a metre of snow fell and a Bundesliga football match was cancelled.

Across the countries hit by Emma, the damage is estimated to be worth tens of millions of euros. Weather experts say winds are likely to pick up again on Sunday morning.

Further from this AFP news:

High winds also struck the Netherlands, where the government said it was monitoring the country's vital sea barriers amid high waves on the North Sea, while buildings were reported damaged in neighbouring Belgium.

In Austria, where winds reached up to 166 kilometres per hour (103 miles per hour), two German tourists were killed in separate incidents in the western province of Tyrol.

In the central Salzburg province, a taxi passenger was killed by rockfall apparently released by the storm and a woman was crushed to death in Lower Austria by a fallen tree in her car.

Some 10,000 homes in Upper Austria were without power, roads and sections of motorway had to be shut down and rail services around the country were severely disrupted.

In Germany, one driver in western Rhineland-Palatinate was crushed when a tree fell onto his car, while a 72-year-old man in Bavaria was killed when a strong gust of wind pushed him into the path of an oncoming lorry.

Six people were wounded, including one seriously, after their bus fell into a ditch near Erding in Bavaria, while in North Rhine-Westphalia, a 41-year-old woman was severely injured by a falling tree.

In Bruehl, near Bonn, a high-speed ICE train collided with a fallen tree on the tracks, causing several light injuries.

Heavy rain prompted flooding in several regions and waves measuring several metres were observed in the North Sea but authorities reported no shipping incidents.

American people are real lucky, they don't have any of these worries and they have heard nothing about all these.

* * * Private view on:
For the American drive-by, Gore-little, media, who knows only Hurricane Katrina and dreams only for the Katrina repeats, the happenings of the rest of the world should be of no interest to American people -- unless they can connect those nature disasters in Central Europe to the sins of Exxon Mobile and SUV drivers. So we only heard the cult followings of a candidate, who has done nothing and accomplished even less, to talk about change. Change, change, change. Change, change, change. Change of what? How dare you ask. It's fake, but true! We need change. Isn't that enough? No? Read the New National Enquirer, uh, the New X Times, you'll learn all about it!
* * * Private view off.