OLD1953 wrote:And the above is an example of something very important, which Ifirst heard of as Sturgeon's Law - 90% of everything is shit.
90% of all research is shit, 90% of all the economic "fixes" are shit, 90% of what you are told about politics and religion is shit (in those cases, perhaps even a higher percentage) 90% of EVERYTHING we think we know or understand is just plain crap!
This doesn't mean the world is hopeless, it just means you need to have the old BS filter turned up pretty high on everything.
And that's why I don't get upset when I'm told that some scientists are exaggerating the results of their research - they are already in my crap pile.
When you are trying to make up your mind about something, you have to go to the basics and work up from that, and by basics, I meant original data that's public and known to be good as you can get.
So what was the data that I felt confirmed global warming was happening that could not be refuted or altered? The most obvious bits were:
1. The satellite data for worldwide temperatures is accurate and the gathering methodology isn't changing. Nobody is disputing that data, though it only goes back to the 70's.
2. Breakup of the Antarctic ice shelves as predicted
3. Opening of the NorthWest passage for the first time in over a century.
All of those are facts, none can be argued with, and they aren't crap. The stuff that CAN be argued about, is crap, and I dismissed it as crap long ago. (Yes, Al Gore is full of crap.) So I don't get excited about it. Incidentally, if they'd drop the price, I'd take that cruise through the NorthWest passage. That's got to be some cruise.
You have to understand, and I am sure you do, ( as indicated by your comments ) that scientists, those in authority, etc.
have agendas. Scientists to maintain funding, authority to maintain their position, and others etc. And in many cases ( I do not want to say all, for there are truth seekers ) the truth be damned. For example, anomalies that do not fit, are dismissed,( for any number of reasons ). Or studying something to maintain funding, which if viewed from a different perspective looks like a dead, is another.
Trying to find the "truth" and accepting the "truth" is not easy, and many times it can be very disturbing, because it might be something one does NOT want to accept. "Global warming" depending on sources, has been going on for about 400,000 years, the Northern and Southern 1/3 of the planet at that time could have been covered by ice. And of course there have been cycles of ice advancing and retreating. A side note, if you can do the Northwest passage do it , I haven't, but better yet, do a cruse to Antarctica. I highly recommend Antarctica, it changes one's perspective, the others on the cruse said so as well.
Gerald