Voyager: Peak civilisation?

As I listened to the news on Voyager, it occurred to me that this was the end of an era in space transport. I can still remember when Voyager was first launched: it was heralded as the beginning of a new era of space exploration. But now, much like lunar landings, it has had its day and is due for some museum.
Likewise, Concorde. Once heralded as the beginning of new era of super sonic passenger aircraft, now both the machine and the hope have been shelved.
At the weekend, I heard a very sobering statistic. Apparently, if you calculate peak oil/person in the world, that peak was passed in the 1970s. Are all these connected? Obviously Concorde was a massive consumer of aviation fuel energy. Likewise the reusable shuttle saved a bit of manufacturing cost of the vehicle for a massive increase in cost of fuel to send that “green” (recyclable) but heavier vehicle into space.
Now there is talk in Scotland of “enforcing” speed restrictions, which no doubt (like cigarettes) will see a continuing campaign of harassment until the PC politicians demonstrate their inability to let anyone lead their own lives.
So, is this “peak speed”? Will the next generation see their average travel speeds steadily reducing until they are like the M80 (40mph restrictions with Nazi like enforcement everywhere)
All in all it seems that we are already on the downward slope regarding any civilising aspects of modern society which consume energy.

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The real climate multiplier – I dunno!

Beefy Bert doesn't know if Climate is changing!


we are told that by 2110 the world will have experienced an unacceptable level of change which necessitates us all to make dramatic changes to our lives. The start of this period is commonly agreed to be about the 1970s (after the global cooling scare). So, we are now far enough into this scare to approximate the extent to which anyone of us should be experiencing problems as follows: Continue reading

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Breaking news: UK coalition split over "climate change"

As I sat half asleep in bed I turned on the radio to hear an article:

0719 It has emerged that the coalition cabinet is reportedly spit over the government’s policy on climate change. Environment correspondent Roger Harrabin reports. (addendum: link to listen again)

You’ll forgive me if I don’t have the facts correct, but as I remember it, the treasury are saying that we should not aim for the 2020 (30?) target whilst the energy and climate disaster minister is saying: “we must lead onward onward … to show that we are leaders not followers”
Does anyone remember that game of lemmings?
I’ve searched google and found nothing, nor is there a “listen now” of the item. So “that’s all folks”.

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Global warming is dead in the MSM


About a week ago I happened by chance to check the level of news on Peak oil compared to Global Warming and noticed something dramatic: the news level of “peak oil” was just a  little below that of “global warming”. In my naivety I assumed this was part of the long term trend Continue reading

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Scottish Nationlists Win Outright Majority

2007


2011


I’ve just learnt that the Scottish Nationalists have gained their 65th member of the Scottish Parliament. Whilst this is not a direct vote for independence, it is a vote for a Scottish referendum on independence and so it is possible that Scotland will be an independent country within 5 years.
Unfortunately, all the Scottish parties are numpties on Global Warming. However, as the only mention of global warming in this election I know about was the strong campaign against wind power in Shetland which nearly unseated the Liberal Democrat leader in Scotland (Liberal Democrats share power in the UK), it is highly unlikely the politicians got any kind of public support for their previous eco-zealot like stance pro-global warming.
One fly in the ointment is that the Greens are said to be heading toward another MSP. Fortunately, an outright majority by the SNP largely makes the Greens redundant in this parliament, and as before they will no doubt huff and puff but have no real effect.
Furthermore, the other traditionally highly pro-warmist party (the Liberal Democrats) have suffered a staggering defeat loosing almost all their MSPs.
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Global Warming has been buried this election

And as Alice looked on ... it melted away until there was nothing left but a cheesy grin.


When I wondered how much global warming had featured in the Scottish elections, the headlines really spoke for themselves:

  • The Guardian (blog)- 4 days ago
    us to tackle the daunting threat of global warming over the next four decades. despite George Osborne’s [UK] pre-election warm words: “If I become
  • Public Finance – 5 days ago
    art but yours is causing global warming and poisoning small children. So my plea to local councillors in next week’s [UK] election is the unlikely
  • BUJA – Nigeria’s post-election riots have highlighted the likelihood of further BEIJING – Gradually rising sea levels caused by global warming over the Continue reading
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Now Online gaming causing global warming

From Online Social Media


Is Angry Birds Increasing Global Warming?
“We are well aware that the Angry Birds causes plenty of damage to complex structures and greedy green pigs, but are they causing damage in real life?
The most successful mobile game ever seen may damage your eyesight after a frantic playing session or even your social life in extreme cases; however reports from Platform Nation suggest Rovio’s masterpiece is harming our mother earth. The theory sounds crazy but bare with us and we will explain how John McMahon has broken down the maths in his interesting article, or YouTube video.” (Source: Online Social media)

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Are we on the verge of a global warming tipping point?

Druidic Zealots against the Romans


I’ve been playing Rome Total war with the kids … OK, I’ve been playing Rome Total War. For those who don’t know, this is a computer game where you direct the operation of your army against the computer. Each army consists of a number of units, and each Unit has its own level of moral, and if it is attacked too much or sustains too heavy a loss … or sees other units nearby routing, then it will rout.
So, the battle normally starts with two armies in position opposite each other, they then engage, the fighting becomes hand to hand and it becomes very difficult to disengage units and so the battlefield is bogged down. But sooner or later, and quite suddenly, one of the units from one side will start routing, and from then on it is extremely difficult to stop the whole of that army routing resulting in victory. Continue reading

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How to Boil a Frog

No frogs were harmed in the making of this photo


“The title is based on the premise that if a frog is placed in boiling water it will jump out but, if it is placed in cold water that is slowly heated, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death. The story is often used as a metaphor for the inability of people to react to significant changes that occur gradually. Continue reading

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After the drought another "global warming could" story

An American pika feeding on grass in the Canadian Rocky Mountains Image: Wikipedia


Thanks to WUWT, for his Story on “Now its global warming killing Pikas“, obviously the Pikas (some kind of American rat/rabbit) isn’t the story, so much as the almost complete absence lately of these “global warming could … kill the … <name some species whose numbers just happened to have declined> because of <name some speculative link with temperature>”.
Somehow, even if the global warming could story is a bit of a Dodo in evolutionary terms and even if we know that it’s going the same way as the Dodo, somehow, despite the ridiculousness of the species, it does add colour to our lives. So it’s nice to see that at least one endangered species hasn’t quite yet fallen off its perch (which in the case of the Dodo was obviously the ground).

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