Saturday, February 13, 2010

 

Thought of the Day

Other environmentalists have undermined the cause with claims bordering on the outlandish; they've blamed global warming for shrinking sheep in Scotland, more shark and cougar attacks, genetic changes in squirrels, an increase in kidney stones and even the crash of Air France Flight 447. When climate activists make the dubious claim, as a Canadian environmental group did, that global warming is to blame for the lack of snow at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, then they invite similarly specious conclusions about Washington's snow -- such as the Virginia GOP ad urging people to call two Democratic congressmen "and tell them how much global warming you get this weekend."

Dana Milbank

The same article has this bit of Warmie self confession:

...there's a huge amount of natural variability in the climate system" and not enough years of measurements to know exactly what's going on. "Unfortunately we don't have that data so we are forced to make decisions based on inadequate data."

Add that to scapegoat Phil Jones' to-little-too-late revelation on the road to Damascus and you have the Warmies reacting to the successful Denier pushback with what is closer to proper scientific humility.

It's actually quite refreshing.

Labels:


Comments:
Dana Milbank is right. The reason why we are growing smaller is b/c the apartments on St. Kilda are really small and it is just more convenient for us to be smaller.

The Shrinking Ovine Society of St. Kilda
 
I thought of you when I read Milbank and your repetition of the near pixie size sheep on an island I had never heard of and still don't know where it is. I think you are using it for comic effect, but I'm not sure, which is not so good a comment on your comic chops. Sorry.
 
57°49′N 8°35′W

T
 
Thanks, but I still don't know where it is. Scotland, Ireland, Faeroes, Shetlands? The Hebrides?
 
St Kilda (Scottish Gaelic: Hiort) is an isolated archipelago 64 kilometres (40 mi) west-northwest of North Uist in the North Atlantic Ocean. It contains the westernmost islands of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The largest island is Hirta, whose sea cliffs are the highest in the United Kingdom. The islands are administratively a part of the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar local authority area.

Hope this helps.

T
 
Yeah, thanks. I googled it too. So, outer Outer Hebrides. Got it. The Gulf Stream, sorry, Northern Atlantic Current goes right there so it would seem to be warmer there than areas of the same latitude two thousand miles east or west. Are the sheep supposedly getting smaller because it's too warm? I forget the story now.
 
The sheep are getting smaller b/c it is getting warmer. Milder winters allow smaller lambs to survive. It's Darwinism plain and simple or as simple as Darwin gets, other than the awards of course.

pvt e-mail to follow.

T
 
It's much easier for me to believe that the sheep are getting smaller because they are on tiny islands and mammals always tend to get smaller on tiny islands. The living-conditions-are-better-now-because-of-global-warming-so-the-sheep-are-growing-smaller explanation seems counterintuitive and against the normal trend of mammals on islands. I don't buy it.
 
Post a Comment

<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?