It's simply not worth pursuing. For example, if I agree that Pete is right,
then I have to retract my statement that global warming is a theory, rather
a hypothesis.

Which is really a statement of your political convictions
and an admission that you're not really sure what a "theory"
or a "hypothesis" really is. For example, Special Relativity
is just a theory.



Peter Wiley wrote:
Yeah. Also irrelevant. Global warming is a fact, as far as I'm
concerned.

Seems to be, yes.

... The causes of global warming are at this stage only
hypotheses. That's somewhat *less* than a theory and a theory is far
less than an established fact.



OTOH to suggest that human activity has had *no* part in
global warming is just plain stupid. We've been dumping
kazillions of BTUs into the atmosphere for hundreds of years
now, ramping up geometrically. Now does all that heat just
disappear? After all, conservation of energy is "just a theory."



The expert I respect says 'not proven' WRT human activities. That's
worth far more to me than all the 3rd hand refs Jon can cite. This guy
is head of glaciology research, I've been to Antarctica with him on a
number of occasions, has a string of publications in refereed science
journals a mile long. In fact I've been to sea with a very broad cross
section of the entire planet's glaciologists, oceanographers,
atmospheric scientists etc. Had a whole bunch of NASA people a few
years ago. Or was it NOAA, all these acronyms, so little brain space,
even less interest...


The problem with trying to analyse human effects on the
environment is that we don't really have any good math for
what the environment does.

It's been suggested that we'd be entering an Ice Age and
human activity has prevented that (IOW human activity is
responsible for 110% of global warming), also that human
activity is responsible for less than 10%. Whatever.


Anyway I'm kinda hoping for a sea level rise of between 1 and 3 metres.
I'd be able to build a deep water jetty then rather than have a tidal
waterfront as I do now. Swings & roundabouts.


Good for some, bad for others... it would be invconvenient
for us to find a new marina when our current one is
underwater. OTOH Katysail's marina had the foresight to
install floating docks




The other is, I was given a Kyocera ceramic kitchen knife as a belated
Christmas present. This thing is *sharp* and guess what - it has zero
metal content, so it ain't gonna trigger a detector, AFAIK. So much for
a/port security WRT a pair of nail clippers.

If they were really serious they'd ban *all* carryon baggage and make
everyone strip their street clothes off & wear a set of disposable
overalls for the flight. They haven't done that, and won't.


No, but they have reactivated the Sky Marshal program. Fancy
your chances with a ceramic knife against a .44 Sp? It's
about the only sign of 'getting serious' about security that
I've seen. OTOH the utter lack of border security makes it
irrelevant. Depressing topic.


On that note, I'm waving goodbye to a bunch of friends off south and
then heading for a margarita or 3. Followed by a weekend's sailing.


Sounds good. I'm just getting over a bad flu, so will
dispense with the alcohol... but it also gives me an
excellent excuse to do less fiberglassing & more sailing
this weekend. But first, we're stopping in at an Emmylou
Harris concert.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King