Saskboy Stomps Off...

...sucking his thumb:

"The weather has been quite unusual for most of the year, especially in Regina where it’s been hovering around zero degrees Celsius through most of December! Reality deniers will try to say these sorts of extremes happen all of the time, or happen naturally, and they’d be correct except they are happening in the context of humans polluting the atmosphere at an increasing rate never achieved before in human history."

Earth to Saskboy. Earth to Saskboy. Warmer winters doesn't prove a thing about "humans polluting the atmosphere". It doesn't even prove that humans are the cause of anything. Throughout history, the earth has been much warmer than it is now, without a corresponding increase in CO2 and there have also been many periods when concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere have been much higher than they are now with no corresponding increase in temperature. I can see you sucking your thumb as you drag your teddy bear off the stage. Don't let the door hit your teddy bear on the way out.

Adam Carolla Tells It Like It Is

This is for you, Saskboy, and other OWS idiots:

Just Look At That...

...crowd. Must have been a cold day, eh Saskboy.

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

Good Place To...

...cut.

Prepare for howling from all the usual suspects.

What they won't tell you, though, is that there are budget cuts across the entire gamut of government departments.

IT services, for example.

"As it stands, government departments and agencies operate their own IT programs. Because of that, there are more than 100 different e-mail systems, more than 300 data centres and more than 3,000 network services operating across the government, Ambrose said."

Sounds good to me.

Saskboy

..has completely flipped his lid.

What a delusional nutbar!

Hide under your bed, Saskboy. They're coming to get you.

Ode to SDA Comment Posters

They post the greatest links. This one came from SDA yesterday and it's a goody:

Botched environmental forecasts

I wonder what Saskboy would say. No doubt he'd dis it because it's Fox News.

And by the way, anyone reading Saskboy on a regular basis will know the boy has a pretty hefty carbon footprint of his own. He does a lot of travelling and it's not by travois.

Happy New Year Saskboy. Hope you come to your senses this year.

This One's for Saskboy..

...who missed the 1970s:

Back to Plimer - Chapter 2 - HISTORY

I've quoted Plimer and posted some vids before. But now it's time to quote a few of the gems from the chapters of Heaven and Earth: global warming the missing science that I've read, so far. (Admittedly, it's taking me forever to read it. I spend way too much time on the net.) Some of it is pretty scary, like the following, from the chapter on "History":

"Evidence suggests that the shift from interglacial to glacial conditions occurred in only 400 years." (pg.37)

[---]

"The change from warmth to the bitter cold of the Younger Dryas took less than 100 years and maybe only a decade." (pg. 43)

[---]

"It appears that the end of the Younger Dryas took place over 40-50 years in three different steps, each about five years duration. Other data indicates a warming of 7 degrees C in only a few years, half of the warming taking place in a 15-year period. Such a warming rate is far higher than even the most alarmist catastrophic warming suggested by models of human-induced global warming." (pg. 46)

[---]

"Climate change is a powerful causal agent for the evolution of civilization. Global cooling is generally associated with a collapse of civilization, whereas global warming is associated with great advances in civilization." (pg. 55)

[---]

"History shows us that global warming gives us nothing to fear. If we need to fear something, then the best candidate is a global mega-drought associated with cooling and driven by solar activity. It's happened before and it will happen again." (pg. 55)

Yikes!

"The Vikings, who were already great mariners, sailed north and west and established settlements in Greenland, Iceland and North America....The ice-free North Atlantic meant that the Vikings could travel and they called Newfoundland "vinland" because of the vineyards there. Cattle, sheep and barley were grown in Greenland, tree roots could penetrate soil that was once tundra, fishing for cod and seals took place on ice-free seas, burials could be undertaken in soils that were not frozen, villages were established and the Pope sent a bishop to Greenland to care for his Norse flock." (pg. 65)

[---]

"The Doomsday Book of England shows where grapes were grown, in places where no grapes could now be cultivated for wine production. England, now a cool damp place, was warmer and drier in the Medieval Warming. England thrived and its population grew from 1.4 million to 5.5 million. France's population tripled to 18 million.

Vineyards in Germany were up to 780 metres above sea level whereas today the maximum altitude is 560 metres above sea level. Temperature usually decreases by 0.6 to 0.7 per 100 metres of altitude gained, so the average mean temperature must have been 1.0 to 1.4 degrees C warmer than now. Settlements, land clearing and farming in valleys and slopes spread 100 to 200 metres higher in altitude in Norway, again suggesting that summer temperatures were 1 degree C higher than now. Tree lines moved upslope in the Medieval Warming and the stumps and roots are still preserved above the current tree line in many alpine areas. Stumps and logs of Larix sibirica 30 metres above the current tree line in the Polar Urals have been dated and show that at 1000 AD the tree line was higher than now. This treeline receded around 1350 AD, indicating the effects of the following Little Ice Age." (pg. 65-66)

Many of the CO2 alarmists have claimed past warming was localized to northern latitudes, but sorry pals, it ain't so.

"Examination or temperature indicators in boreholes in Australia has given a 500-year record of temperature. The 17th Century was the coolest in the 500 year period, with warming in the 19th and 20th Centuries. The warming of Australia over the past five centuries is only about half that experienced by the continents of the Northern Hemisphere. More importantly, the Australian and South Pacific data shows that the Little Ice Age was global. This is contrary to the suggestion that the Little Ice Age was restricted to the Northern Hemisphere and was caused by a weakening in the Gulf Stream. Stalagmites in a cave in the Makapansgat Valley of South Africa show that the region was 1 degree C cooler from 1300 to 1800 AD. The lowest temperatures recorded in South Africa were in the Maunder and Sporer Minima. Again it is clear that the Little Ice Age was global and not regional." (pg. 80)

[---]

"The Little Ice Age brought famine, disease, death, depopulation, war and social disintegration. The previous cooling, the Dark Ages, did the same. Over the last 1000 years in Europe, there is a correlation between violence, conflict, cold weather and precipitation. Cold times bring violence, war, depopulation and human misery." (pg. 86)

[---]

"The evidence from history, archaeology and science is overwhelming. It shows substantial changes in climate over the last 130,000 years. Many of these changes are cyclical and coincidental with solar cycles. These changes are rapid. The evidence from geology is also overwhelming. Since the explosion of multicellular life (at 542 Ma) [Ed: "Ma" means "million years ago"], there were times when Earth was far colder and far warmer than now. It also includes times when atmospheric CO2 was far higher than now. (pg. 86)"

And that's just a tiny smattering of the gems referred to in Chapter 2 of Plimer's book, which cites 400 historical and scientific sources. But perhaps the best of the best is his final sentence on page 99:

"History cannot be rewritten just because it does not fit a computer model with a pre-ordained conclusion."

Take that, Saskboy. I'd like to see you, or for that matter, Brad Wall go mano-mano with Ian Plimer.

Next up. Chapter 3 THE SUN. You'll have to wait until tomorrow, though.

Oh, I'm Soooooo Embarrasssed - Not

Down at this entry, Saskboy has told me I am embarrassing myself.

He wants me to believe that catastrophic droughts are in store for Saskatchewan.

It would be interesting to see how the U of R scientists explain past droughts.

"Bonsal and Regier report that "over the agricultural region of the Prairies, 2001 and 2002 generally ranked high in terms of spatial extent and severity of drought," and that "at some stations the 2001/2002 drought was the most severe one on record." Nevertheless, they state that "the SPI and PDSI as drought indicators revealed that the worst and most prolonged Prairie-wide droughts during the instrumental record (1915-2002) ... occurred in the early part of the 20th century (1915 through the 1930s)."

[---]

"So, we know when the most severe and widespread droughts of the historical record occurred on the Canadian Prairies (1915 through the 1930s); but as for why they occurred at that time is anybody's guess, although we definitely know they were not caused by anthropogenic CO2 emissions!"

Never mind that record rainfalls have been the norm across the Canadian prairie this year. Never mind, that none of the catastrophic anthropogenic global warming models predicted a downturn, now in it's tenth year, in the global temperatures. Never mind that alarmist scientists are now reduced to engaging in some pretty creative doublespeak:



Never let facts get in the way, Saskboy.

Canada's Silliest Boy Blogger...

...has his knickers in a knot about this news and this.

An long overdue update of Canada's aging military vessels, whether aircraft or navy, while welcomed, should also be an embarrassment. Thank God our current government understands the implications of the Liberal era indifference to our national interests. Not only does Canada have domestic needs as far as military equipment goes, but we also have contractual obligations via NATO to come to the defense of our allies, not to mention moral responsibilities. The time has long passed when we should be sending our men and women into harms way armed only with pitchforks and peace signs. It's high time we pulled our weight. Peacekeeping has its place. (Thank you, Lester Pearson.) But that place is where there actually is a peace to keep.

A nation of wimps gets trampled upon in the real world. Bring back the days when our country knew how to fight wars. Canada used to have aircraft carriers. The last was decommissioned nearly forty years ago.

And thank God for this: Canadian soldier found not guilt in battlefield death

About Those Shrinking Polar Ice Caps

...over which the blogosphere's most naive blogger has his knickers in a knot, here's some choice quotes (somewhat paraphrased) from a brief history of the planet. Bear in mind that planet earth is believed to be some 4 billion years old.

"144,000,000 years to 64,000,000 years ago there were no polar ice caps."

Understand that homo sapiens emerged in Africa only 200,000 years ago, so obviously they didn't have anything to do with the absence of polar ice caps.

"32,000,000 to 24,000,000 years ago glaciation begins in Antarctica.

"24,000,000 to 5,000,000 years ago Antarctica becomes permanently frozen."

I guess the world stopped then too, if they can confidently declare a continent's climatic condition to be 'permanent'. But the world is coming to an end,  ya know.

"1,800,000 to 10,000 years ago, 30% of the earth's surface was covered with ice."

"10,000 years ago to the present, global warming begins." 

And gee. I wonder how that can be construed as 'Anthropogenic' global warming?  The 10,000 years ago mark happens to roughly coincide with the development of agriculture independently in several parts of the world, though. Maybe it's all those domesticated grains we've been producing ever since then. Oh, but Antarctica is permanently frozen, so I guess the warming must be about to stop.  Here comes another ice age.

Fact is, there have be 26 glaciations (ice ages) in the northern hemisphere, all of them advancing and retreating from the North pole in the past few million years, but humans have only been around for a fraction of that time, and our use of fossil fuels, far less.

Relax, Saskboy. The science is not settled.

Oh.  And try growing your own food when the soil is under 4 km of ice. It's a lot easier when it's warmer.

A Lesson in Plate Tectonics

UPDATE:

The air travel and freight disruptions are costing airlines at least $200 million a day and perhaps billions more to the affected economies, one industry group warned.

[---]

"Meanwhile, the air industry in Europe -- already battered by the financial crisis and labor disputes such as strikes at Lufthansa and British Airways this year -- is putting on pressure to reopen the skies.

"This crisis is costing airlines at least $200 million a day in lost revenues and the European economy is suffering billions of dollars in lost business," said Giovanni Bisignani, director general and CEO of the International Air."

Not to worry. Saskboy has a plan. Trouble is, he is blissfully unaware that it would amount to the same thing.
==========================================
...for Saskboy.

Threat of new, larger Icelandic eruption looms

"For all the worldwide chaos that Iceland's volcano has already created, it may just be the opening act.

Scientists fear tremors at the Eyjafjallajokull (ay-yah-FYAH-lah-yer-kuhl) volcano could trigger an even more dangerous eruption at the nearby Katla volcano — creating a worst-case scenario for the airline industry and travelers around the globe.

A Katla eruption would be 10 times stronger and shoot higher and larger plumes of ash into the air than its smaller neighbor, which has already brought European air travel to a standstill for five days and promises severe travel delays for days more.

The two volcanos are side by side in southern Iceland, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) apart and thought to be connected by a network of magma channels.

Katla, however, is buried under ice 550 yards (500 meters) thick — the massive Myrdalsjokull glacier, one of Iceland's largest. That means it has more than twice the amount of ice that the current eruption has burned through — threatening a new and possibly longer aviation standstill across Europe."

[---]

"There are no clear answers, however, and even fewer predictions about what the future may hold. Volcano eruptions, like earthquakes, are difficult to predict.

"Katla can start tomorrow or in 100 years (emphasis mine), you don't know," said Palsson. "All we can do is be ready.""

Volcano's eruption getting hotter

"Located near the island’s southern coast, Eyjafjallajökull is actually one of the Iceland’s smallest and least threatening volcanoes, standing at just 1,666 metres.

It is not a beautiful cone-shaped volcano like Mount Fuji in Japan, but an elongated ridge stretching for more than two kilometres under a cap of glacial ice. Reversely magnetized rock indicates that there has been volcanic activity beneath the surface for almost a million years."

[---]

"It has erupted only 10 times, but one incident lasted almost two years." (emphasis mine)

[---]

"Unlike Mount St. Helens, which burned itself into the North American psyche with a fierce but short-lived eruption, Dr. Hickson said, Icelandic eruptions tend to persevere for days or months. In Hawaii, she said, a similar eruption has been bubbling since 1986.

“It would not be unexpected for this eruption to continue to carry on.”"

[---]

"Trouble began at Eyjafjallajökull on March 20, when a red cloud was spotted above the glacier, and the first eruption occurred in a pass of ice-free land between Eyjafjallajökull and a neighbouring volcano called Katla.

Two weeks later, the current eruption began around midnight on April 14, in the glacier’s central calderra, or crater.

Glyn Williams-Jones, a volcanologist at Simon Fraser University, visited Iceland two years ago and said the entire island is essentially being ripped apart from below.

“It’s sitting on a hot spot, so you’ve got a big pulse of magma coming up from the core of the Earth,” he said. “ But it also sits on the mid-Atlantic ridge, which is where new ocean floor is created all the time.”

And while Eyjafjallajökull is a threat, it’s nothing compared to Katla, a larger and more dangerous volcano. In the past 1,100 years, every time Eyjafjallajökull has erupted, Katla has soon followed suit."

Frankly, I wouldn't want to be eating 100 year old lobster, nor would I wish my great-great-grand daughters to be walking down the aisle with dry, wizened up old bridal bouquets, nor latter day hippies to have to wear crumbling dead flower stocks in their hair.  Nor would I want an economic disaster that lasts a 100 years.

There's a limit to how well we can prepare for the consequences of a volcanic eruption, and that limit is first and foremost being sure the citizens who live below it can be safely and quickly evacuated. Planning meetings, international travel and funerals are not and cannot be among the list of to-dos.

And on top of all that, Saskboy, watermelon that he is, wants to create a perfect command economy. I'm sorry Saskboy, but to say you are naive is putting it mildly.

There's Roughly a Dozen..

...videos at CTV's website about the economic impact of the Eyjafjallajokull eruption and one at CBC's website.

And then there's this astute analysis from Saskatchewan's most naive blogger.

"This is what happens when you base your economy on businessmen flying in and out of countries instead of using the Internet and telephone to its greatest capacity." (emphasis mine)

As if, Saskboy.

"If everyone didn’t try to live on the wire, and had some patience, things would work a lot more simply when nature taps us on the shoulder and says, “Hey there, slow down and do something else for a day or two.”"

Yes, Saskboy. Try importing flowers from Holland before they wilt, or exporting lobster to France using the Internet and telephone.  Try running a tourist resort by the Mediterranean without tourists. Try finding hotel rooms for those thousands of stranded travellers, whose rooms are now occupied with people who had arrived just hours before the volcano blew. Try making up the lost wages of those passengers who would have been back at work by now, not to mention the taxes collected on those wages.

Try using your brain, once in a while, Saskboy. Use it, or lose it, if it's not too late. I presume you know what the term "watermelon" means. Or maybe you don't

Saskboy's World

is rosy hued.

In Saskboy's world, people carrying AK47s and RPG launchers aren't fair targets in a war. Apparently they are supposed to wait until they start shooting and then shoot back, presuming they're still alive and airborne. The videos only show a small portion of the area where insurgent attacks had already taken place. The guys in the air, on the other hand, could see a lot more than what Wikileak chose to focus on. Read up on it, dingbat! And if you're too lazy or too frightened to break your comfortably naive little bubble, listen to this NPR broadcast. Even the left-leaning NPR gets it.