MSM Glosses Over Irony of Global Warming Scientists Trapped in Antarctic Ice

[donnay]

MSM Glosses Over Irony of Global Warming Scientists Trapped in Antarctic Ice



By P.J. Gladnick | December 28, 2013

Somewhere far, far to the south where it is summer, a group of global warming scientists are trapped in the Antarctic ice. If you missed the irony of that situation, it is because much of the mainstream media has glossed over that rather inconvenient bit of hilarity. As an example here is an Associated Press story that avoids mentioning the real mission of the scientists aboard the icebound Russian ship:


The Snow Dragon icebreaker came within 7 miles (11 kilometers) of the Russian ship MV Akademik Shokalskiy, which has been stuck since Christmas Eve, but had to retreat after the ice became too thick, said expedition spokesman Alvin Stone.

The Akademik Shokalskiy, which has been on a research expedition to Antarctica, got stuck Tuesday after a blizzard's whipping winds pushed the sea ice around the ship, freezing it in place. The ship wasn't in danger of sinking, and there are weeks' worth of supplies for the 74 scientists, tourists and crew on board, but the vessel cannot move.

So what was the exact mission of these scientists? AP is rather vague about this reporting only:


The scientific team on board the research ship — which left New Zealand on Nov. 28 — had been recreating Australian explorer Douglas Mawson's century-old voyage to Antarctica when it became trapped. They plan to continue their expedition after they are freed, expedition leader Chris Turney said.


Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/pj-gladnick/2013/12/28/msm-glosses-over-irony-global-warming-scientists-trapped-antarctic-ice#ixzz2ozw3AxpQ

[Warlord]

Ho Ho Ho

[FrankRep]

Al Gore Forecasted “Ice-Free” Arctic by 2013; Ice Cover Expands 50%
http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/17207-al-gore-forecasted-ice-free-arctic-by-2013-ice-cover-expands-50

Arctic Ice Expands, Dispelling Myths of Climate Change
http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/16514-arctic-ice-expands-dispelling-myths-of-climate-change

[green73]

Bwaaahahaha

[Dr.3D]

I wonder if they have a peer reviewed study that says their ship is stuck in non-existent ice.

[ClydeCoulter]

I wonder if they have a peer reviewed study that says their ship is stuck in non-existent ice.

Depends on the data they use, right?

[Zippyjuan]

MSM Glosses Over Irony of Global Warming Scientists Trapped in Antarctic Ice



By P.J. Gladnick | December 28, 2013

Somewhere far, far to the south where it is summer, a group of global warming scientists are trapped in the Antarctic ice. If you missed the irony of that situation, it is because much of the mainstream media has glossed over that rather inconvenient bit of hilarity. As an example here is an Associated Press story that avoids mentioning the real mission of the scientists aboard the icebound Russian ship:


The Snow Dragon icebreaker came within 7 miles (11 kilometers) of the Russian ship MV Akademik Shokalskiy, which has been stuck since Christmas Eve, but had to retreat after the ice became too thick, said expedition spokesman Alvin Stone.

The Akademik Shokalskiy, which has been on a research expedition to Antarctica, got stuck Tuesday after a blizzard's whipping winds pushed the sea ice around the ship, freezing it in place. The ship wasn't in danger of sinking, and there are weeks' worth of supplies for the 74 scientists, tourists and crew on board, but the vessel cannot move.

So what was the exact mission of these scientists? AP is rather vague about this reporting only:


The scientific team on board the research ship — which left New Zealand on Nov. 28 — had been recreating Australian explorer Douglas Mawson's century-old voyage to Antarctica when it became trapped. They plan to continue their expedition after they are freed, expedition leader Chris Turney said.


Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/pj-gladnick/2013/12/28/msm-glosses-over-irony-global-warming-scientists-trapped-antarctic-ice#ixzz2ozw3AxpQ

Doesn't say they were studying global warming but re-enacting an eary vouage.

[juleswin]

Doesn't say they were studying global warming but re-enacting an eary vouage.

On CNN it says they were scientist studying effects of global warming in Antarctica.

[donnay]

Doesn't say they were studying global warming but re-enacting an eary vouage.

You missed this part...

Finally, National Geographic bluntly states (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/12/131226-russian-ship-stuck-ice-mawson-trek-antarctica/) the mission purpose:


...The current crop of explorers are hoping to document some of the same data and compare them to Mawson's numbers, "using the twist of modern technology," Turney told National Geographic earlier this month.

As may be expected, global warming might play a role in this, he suggests, particularly with respect to melted ice in the East Antarctic.

[Dr.3D]

Depends on the data they use, right?
That and the peers doing the reviewing and who is paying for all of it. If it weren't for politics, I doubt the study would have lasted this long.

[Teenager For Ron Paul]

I heard they were trying to show that Antarctic ice was melting.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/global-warming-expedition-to-prove-antarctic-ice-is-melting-trapped-by-ice/

[juleswin]

I heard they were trying to show that Antarctic ice was melting.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/global-warming-expedition-to-prove-antarctic-ice-is-melting-trapped-by-ice/

Lol, if anything, at least it shows that these crop of scientists are indeed true believers unlike people like Al Gore who probably knows the whole thing is a big fraud. Cos you gotta buy into the whole global warming thing to take a trip into Antarctica in the dead of winter.

[Dr.3D]

Lol, if anything, at least it shows that these crop of scientists are indeed true believers unlike people like Al Gore who probably knows the whole thing is a big fraud. Cos you gotta buy into the whole global warming thing to take a trip into Antarctica in the dead of winter.
Or they are just going along to get paid the bucks to do that job.

[Anti Federalist]

Lol, if anything, at least it shows that these crop of scientists are indeed true believers unlike people like Al Gore who probably knows the whole thing is a big fraud. Cos you gotta buy into the whole global warming thing to take a trip into Antarctica in the dead of winter.

Not winter in Antarctica. It is high summer and 24 hours a day of daylight.

[Zippyjuan]

On CNN it says they were scientist studying effects of global warming in Antarctica.

Thanks for the update. I was going by the info in the OP.

[Lucille]

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=227154


There's a particular irony to be found when a "scientific expedition" full of people who are globull-warming true believers take a trip to Antarctica, in a ship, during what is supposed to be summer for that part of the world (remember, folks, the southern hemisphere has its summer in what are our winter months) and gets stuck in rapidly-expanding ice.

It would be even more-hilarious if their ship ultimately is crushed by said non-existent ice (according to their religious beliefs), taking their lives with it and perfectly-preserving their last act of hubris and true belief in a sarcophagus of their own design.

[FrankRep]

Doesn't say they were studying global warming but re-enacting an eary vouage.

Actually:

Since the MSM isn't forthcoming as to the real purpose of those scientists traveling to Antarctica, we turn to Watts Up With That for more insight:


The expedition is being led by Chris Turney, “climate scientist”, who has “set up a carbon refining company called Carbonscape which has developed technology to fix carbon from the atmosphere and make a host of green bi-products, helping reduce greenhouse gas levels.” The purpose of the expedition is “to discover and communicate the environmental changes taking place in the south.”
It seems they found out what the “environmental changes taking place in the south.” are.

Finally, National Geographic bluntly states the mission purpose:


...The current crop of explorers are hoping to document some of the same data and compare them to Mawson's numbers, "using the twist of modern technology," Turney told National Geographic earlier this month.
As may be expected, global warming might play a role in this, he suggests, particularly with respect to melted ice in the East Antarctic.

Ah, so now we see why the MSM reluctance to flat out state why the scientists are in the Antarctic. Anything to avoid an inconvenient (but accurate) headline like this:

[ghengis86]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-12-30/presenting-definition-irony


Via The Spirit of Mawson blog (the research blog),

"Until recently it was thought this ice sheet was stable, sitting on the continental crust above today’s sea level. However there is an increasing body of evidence, including by the AAE members, that have identified parts of the East Antarctic which are highly susceptible to melting and collapse from ocean warming.

...The effects of this marked shift in westerly winds are already being seen today, triggering warm and salty water to be drawn up from the deep ocean, melting large sections of the Antarctic ice sheet with unknown consequences for future sea level rise"

[Dr.3D]

Don't worry, the folks on that ship will just claim, it is "climate change" that is making the ice form around their ship.

If they have a few air drops of supplies, maybe they can stay stuck in the ice till "climate change" makes it thaw again.

[donnay]

Don't worry, the folks on that ship will just claim, it is "climate change" that is making the ice form around their ship.

If they have a few air drops of supplies, maybe they can stay stuck in the ice till "climate change" makes it thaw again.


Are you mocking the science of global war... err climate change! <s>

[JK/SEA]

hey everyone....look over here>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>O<

[FrankRep]

http://www.thenewamerican.com/media/k2/items/cache/5c9f6ed597c9728d85e152bae7daa1a4_M.jpg (http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/17277-global-warming-alarmists-stuck-in-antarctic-sea-ice)



The alarmists set sail for Antarctica with a plan to show the world how “global warming” was wreaking havoc across the region — but instead their ship was frozen in place as sea-ice coverage was hitting record high levels this year.


Global Warming Alarmists Stuck In Antarctic Sea Ice (http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/17277-global-warming-alarmists-stuck-in-antarctic-sea-ice)


The New American (http://www.thenewamerican.com/)
30 December 2013


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Related articles:

Al Gore Forecasted “Ice-Free” Arctic by 2013; Ice Cover Expands 50% (http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/17207-al-gore-forecasted-ice-free-arctic-by-2013-ice-cover-expands-50)

Top Scientists Slam and Ridicule UN IPCC Climate Report (http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/16643-top-scientists-slam-and-ridicule-un-ipcc-climate-report)

UN Carbon Regime Would Devastate Humanity (http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/16763-un-carbon-regime-would-devastate-humanity)

Arctic Ice Expands, Dispelling Myths of Climate Change (http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/16514-arctic-ice-expands-dispelling-myths-of-climate-change)

Climate Theories Crumble as Data and Experts Suggest Global Cooling (http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/16372-climate-theories-crumble-as-data-and-experts-suggest-global-cooling)

“Climate Science” in Shambles: Real Scientists Battle UN Agenda (http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/11998-%E2%80%9Cclimate-science%E2%80%9D-in-shambles-real-scientists-battle-un-agenda)

Global-warming Alarmism Dying a Slow Death (http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/6820-global-warming-alarmism-dying-a-slow-death)

Despite Lack of Global Warming, UN Sure Humanity Is to Blame (http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/16637-despite-lack-of-global-warming-un-sure-humanity-is-to-blame)

Obama & Allies Tell UN to Cover for Lack of Global Warming (http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/16599-obama-allies-tell-un-to-cover-for-lack-of-global-warming)

Amid UN Climate Deception, Experts Decry Corruption of Science (http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/16588-amid-un-climate-deception-experts-decry-corruption-of-science)

UN Climate Summit Reaches Deal for Radical Treaty by 2015 (http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/17026-un-climate-summit-reaches-deal-for-radical-treaty-by-2015)

[ghengis86]

I just turned on my car and let it idle to help thaw then out.

Question: how much diesel are the ship's engines burning to keep those hypocrites alive? Lol!

[pcosmar]

Depends on the data they use, right?

Well,, That "Hockey Stick" might have an actual use about now. ;)

[FrankRep]

Drudge Report: (http://drudgereport.com/)


UPDATE: 'Global warming' scientists forced to admit defeat -- because of too much ice...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2531159/Antarctic-crew-build-ice-helipad-help-rescuers.html

'Blizzard conditions'...
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/30/world/antarctic-ship-stuck/

[Carson]

Remember a while back about Thanksgiving when the email scandal hit?

http://photos.imageevent.com/stokeybob/thenewera/globalwarmingturkeyrippedofffromRockIsDead.jpg

Climategate: the video everyone should see (1 Minute long. )

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100019671/climategate-the-video-everyone-should-see/

[Ronin Truth]

Sometimes Mother Nature can be a real bitch ....... but with a wicked hilarious sense of humor. Ya just gotta love it.

[FrankRep]

Sept. 23, 2013

Antarctic sea ice hit 35-year record high Saturday
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/09/23/antarctic-sea-ice-hit-35-year-record-high-saturday/

I guess the Global Warming scientists missed this.


Claim: Global warming causing Antarctic ice to hit record level!
http://www.climatedepot.com/2013/09/19/claim-global-warming-causing-antarctic-ice-to-hit-record-level/

Lol


And now it's global COOLING! Return of Arctic ice cap as it grows by 29% in a year
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2415191/And-global-COOLING-Return-Arctic-ice-cap-grows-29-year.html

[Danke]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMqc7PCJ-nc

[HOLLYWOOD]

After the latest failed attempt to rescue the idiots, look's like they'll be stuck for about 2 more months. If I had the money I'd parachute them all their global warming propaganda and this past year's record cold literature to read while stranded in ice.

These global warming followers just stamped 'MORON' on their foreheads and so-called socialists will remain in denial right up to their frozen deaths.

[Warlord]

After the latest failed attempt to rescue the idiots, look's like they'll be stuck for about 2 more months. If I had the money I'd parachute them all their global warming propaganda and this past year's record cold literature to read while stranded in ice.

These global warming followers just stamped 'MORON' on their foreheads and so-called socialists will remain in denial right up to their frozen deaths.

The propaganda won't end. There's too much special interests involved. The likes of AL GORE.... they want carbon credits administered by FASCIST wall street firms

[FrankRep]

The propaganda won't end. There's too much special interests involved. The likes of AL GORE.... they want carbon credits administered by FASCIST wall street firms

Australia said it best:

Australia Rejects UN “Socialism Masquerading as Environmentalism”
http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/16940-australia-rejects-un-socialism-masquerading-as-environmentalism

[youngbuck]

http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user3303/imageroot/2013/12/20131230_irony.jpg

[Occam's Banana]

Needs a "douchebag" cap on the bow ... http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/160/673/ScumbagSteveHat.png


http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user3303/imageroot/2013/12/20131230_irony.jpg

[devil21]

"Ask the people in Pompeii who are frozen in place by volcanic ash if they feel like a threat to the planet this week." - George Carlin (paraphrase)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjmtSkl53h4

[Henry Rogue]

Bwaaahahaha
I had he same reaction. Sweet irony.

[ClydeCoulter]

After the latest failed attempt to rescue the idiots, look's like they'll be stuck for about 2 more months. If I had the money I'd parachute them all their global warming propaganda and this past year's record cold literature to read while stranded in ice.

These global warming followers just stamped 'MORON' on their foreheads and so-called socialists will remain in denial right up to their frozen deaths.

Hey, at least include a lighter in the drop, a bic, to light the literature for warmth. After all, we only want them to learn a lesson, not unto death. :)

[pcosmar]

Hey, at least include a lighter in the drop, a bic, to light the literature for warmth. After all, we only want them to learn a lesson, not unto death. :)

Heck,, it would almost be worth the expense to send them a good load of coal. ;)

[ClydeCoulter]

Heck,, it would almost be worth the expense to send them a good load of coal. ;)

Oh, the Irony!

[mrsat_98]

Heck,, it would almost be worth the expense to send them a good load of coal. ;)

Now that they have plenty of time on their hands lets them watch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAcNFQGKWPs.

[FrankRep]

Frozen Out: 98% of Stories Ignore That Ice-bound Ship Was On Global Warming Mission
http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/mike-ciandella/2014/01/02/frozen-out-98-stories-ignore-ice-bound-ship-was-global-warming-missi

January 02, 2014

[Lucille]

It gets better. The crew requested the help of a well-known global warming skeptic:

WUWT and WeatherBell help KUSI-TV with a weather forecasting request from ice-trapped ship in Antarctica Akademik Shokalskiy
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/12/31/wuwt-and-weatherbell-help-kusi-tv-with-a-weather-forecasting-request-from-ice-trapped-ship-in-antarctica-akademik-shokalskiy/


Today, while shopping at lunchtime for some last minute year end supplies, I got one of the strangest cell-phone calls ever. It was from my friend John Coleman, the founder of the Weather Channel and Chief meteorologist at KUSI-TV in San Diego. He was calling via cell phone from his car, and he was on his way into the TV station early.

He started off by saying, “Anthony, we have a really strange situation here”.

Then to my surprise, he relayed a conversation he had just had; a person on the Akademik Shokalskiy had reached out, because they didn’t have adequate weather data on-board. At first, I thought John was pulling my leg, but then as he gave more details, I realized he was serious.
[...]
The message was that they needed better weather information on the ship than they had, specifically about wind and how it might affect the breakup of sea ice. John asked me to gather everything I had on the area and send it, and also to help him contact Joe D’Aleo of WeatherBell Analytics, because somehow John’s cellphone had gotten stuck into some sort of “private caller” mode and Joe wasn’t answering his phone due to how the incoming call looked.

My first thought was that no matter how much we’ve been criticizing the expedition for its silliness, that if such a request had reached all the way from Antarctica to me, I’d do everything I could to help.

[...] As I drove, I started thinking about the situation with the ship there. They had wind compressing the ice into shore, with the Akademik Shokalskiy in the middle, and the wind wasn’t changing. They needed a wind shift in order to ease the pressure on the ice but they had no idea when that might happen. It was a waiting game, and as we know, the longer a ship remains trapped in sea ice, the greater its chances of having a hull breach due to the pressure.
[...]
In a couple of minutes John Coleman was back on the phone to me, he wanted my assessment of the maps. I had looked at what was happening and saw what I thought might be an opening in 7-8 days based on the forecast graphics from WeatherBell, where the winds would shift to offshore in the area where Akademik Shokalskiy was stuck. Like we discussed in the WUWT post yesterday Polynyas are very important for marine life and cooling the oceans I had hoped that a coastal polyna might open up near the ship. We also discussed the possibility of a low pressure system passing nearby that might help break up the ice. I didn’t express much hope for that.

The problem is that they are in a catch-22 now, they need strong offshore winds to help blow the sea ice out to open water, but at the same time they need calm or light winds for a safe helicopter rescue.
[...]
Despite the irony and folly of the situation, I’m sure readers will join me in the hope that everyone makes it off the ship safely, whether it is by helicopter or by the ship being freed from the ice.

[FrankRep]

The comedy continues:

Chinese Icebreaker Is Stuck In Ice After Antarctic Research Vessel Rescue
http://www.slashdot.org/story/196377

[Dr.3D]

The comedy continues:

Chinese Icebreaker Is Stuck In Ice After Antarctic Research Vessel Rescue
http://www.slashdot.org/story/196377
But it's an icebreaker for pity sakes. It shouldn't get stuck in ice.

[oyarde]

Ridiculous. They should just wait until I come for them.

[HOLLYWOOD]

NSA dupe SPOOF

[HOLLYWOOD]

So, it's the Chinese who are the ones to rescue the liberal loons frozen in the Antarctica.

Marxist media just so happens to minimize or ignore the stuck global warming kooks. Let's not forget Big Barry's global Circus tent and Washington DC profiteering prostitutes, which get involved in everything around the globe so long as as long as it's profitable to someone inside the DC beltway, yet Washington sits back because of bad publicity(lol), all because their plans for taking more with their scam game of carbon taxes. So, that's your clown cart of Washington DC and the idiots stuck in ice of the global warming planet entertainment of the week.


Needs some frozen lyrics to the Love Boat theme...

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/04276fd8-69ca-11e3-aba3-00144feabdc0.html

January 3, 2014 4:42 pm A cruise that will cost the climate campaign dear

http://im.ft-static.com/content/images/6346bc8a-0950-11e1-8e86-00144feabdc0.img By Christopher Caldwell
The rescue of passengers from a Russian ship is a setback for those who warn of global warming
http://im.ft-static.com/content/images/063f4898-0ba6-4ab7-ab77-60597f0fd257.img



When a Chinese helicopter rescued (http://news.discovery.com/adventure/survival/stranded-antarctic-passengers-rescued-by-helicopter-140102.htm) 52 passengers from a Russian climate-science cruise ship trapped in ice off Antarctica, it was a skilfully managed end to an ordeal that had begun on Christmas Eve. It was also a debacle for climate change (http://www.ft.com/in-depth/climate-change) activists. The 233-foot Akademik Shokalskiy, a Russian meteorological ship leased by the Australian tour outfit Aurora Expeditions, had been on a mission called the “Spirit of Mawson”. It aimed to replicate part of a gruelling voyage the explorer Douglas Mawson had made in 1912. The ship carried 22 scientists looking to perform various experiments, led by Chris Turney, a professor of climate change at the University of New South Wales. They were joined by 26 tourists paying for the adventure, along with journalists for The Guardian, BBC and The Sydney Morning Herald.
Amid the worldwide relief that the passengers are now en route to Tasmania on the Australian supply ship Aurora Australis (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a10d1d28-7101-11e3-b9cc-00144feabdc0.html), another note is audible. Many websites where readers normally take climate change for granted have been inundated by posts from gloating disbelievers. The Australian group belittled the winter that nearly killed them and got a comeuppance, say the detractors. Such posts appear on the many YouTube videos uploaded by passengers (“For all your self-aggrandising bluster, you will go down in history as Turney’s turkeys . . . You are an international laughing stock”), on the Spirit of Mawson Twitter feed (“If the #spiritofmawson has taught us anything it’s the low level of intellect among those who have ‘settled’ the science”) and even on the New York Times’s Dot Earth blog, where the writer Andrew Revkin notes that the incident has “energised climate change contrarians”.

Of course, a scientific dispute cannot be settled by one near-tragedy on the high seas and a week’s worth of online invective. But the episode is a setback for those making the case for what used to be called global warming – probably the largest such setback since emails stolen from the University of East Anglia in 2009 cast doubt on the scientific neutrality of several climate researchers.
A beset ship is like a skint bank, and we can draw certain parallels to the financial crisis of 2008. The voyage of the Akademik Shokalskiy mixed public and private purposes, and all such enterprises nowadays invite scepticism. Those who stood to reap the benefits of the voyage were able, when things went sour, to pass on many of the costs.
These were of three kinds. The first was a cost in danger. Precipitation and wind complicated rescue plans in the week between Christmas and New Year’s day. Andrew Luck-Baker of the BBC called his own 15-minute rescue flight a “white-knuckle ride” – but the Chinese helicopter had to cover the distance between the Russian vessel and the rescue vessel eight times over the course of four hours. The second is a cost in money. The Xue Long, the Chinese icebreaker that sought to free the stricken vessel, became stranded itself, and will now lie idle until the weather changes. Twenty-two Russian crewmen will remain aboard the Akademik until help arrives weeks from now. French personnel and equipment were involved, too. The final cost is to science. The Aurora Australis had to delay offloading supplies to other, more purely scientific projects along the Antarctic coast in order to respond to the emergency call.
That is why the generally sympathetic Revkin found “vexing” the “devil-may-care” attitude of the ship’s passengers, who videotaped their raucous and self-referential New Year’s eve singalong. Nerves could be an explanation for that, but there was something unseemly in press reports of crew members dragging sleds with the passengers’ luggage to the helicopters. This looked like pampering. It made Mr Turney’s tweet of thanks to his rescuers – “for all their hard work” – sound less like the acknowledgment of an unrepayable debt to someone who has saved your life, and more like something you would say when tipping a barmaid.
How to keep well-meaning but overconfident people from imposing on others when they fail is a familiar problem. In his healthcare reform, Barack Obama sought to solve it (for better or for worse) with the “individual mandate”, which requires people to buy health insurance even if they are certain nothing could ever go wrong with them. The state of New Hampshire has a controversial “negligent hiker law”, which bills lost hikers for the cost of their own rescue, should they require one. In the world’s deadliest waters, that approach would be neither charitable nor fair. But that does not make it reasonable, in any walk of life, to confer the rewards of risk on people who need never heed the costs.

[Lucille]

Look at these fools:

Worst-case climate scenario looking more likely
Thursday 02 Jan 2014
http://www.3news.co.nz/Worst-case-climate-scenario-looking-more-likely/tabid/1160/articleID/327000/Default.aspx




New research released today suggests rises in global temperatures rises by the end of the century will be at the warmer end of predictions.

According to the study, published in scientific journal Nature, shows that as temperatures rise, fewer clouds will form, meaning less sunlight will be reflected back into space.

So far it's been difficult to model the effect of cloud cover on climate change, and scientists say this study breaks new ground.

"First by identifying what is controlling the cloud changes, and second by strongly discounting the lowest estimates of future global warming in favour of the higher and more damaging estimates," says Prof Steven Sherwood of the University of New South Wales, who led the study.

"[Four degrees Celsius] would likely be catastrophic rather than simply dangerous," he told the Guardian. "For example, it would make life difficult, if not impossible, in much of the tropics, and would guarantee the eventual melting of the Greenland ice sheet and some of the Antarctic ice sheet."

If that happened sea levels could rise by several metres, flooding low-lying coastal land where hundreds of millions of people live and work.

By including the effects of cloud cover, Prof Sherwood says scientists are able to "halve" the uncertainty around what the ultimate temperature increase will be by the year 2100.

"Climate sceptics like to criticise climate models for getting things wrong, and we are the first to admit they are not perfect," he says. "But what we are finding is that the mistakes are being made by the models which predict less warming, not those that predict more."

He says the apparent pause in warming since 1998 is "almost certainly temporary", as most of the heat is being sucked up by the ocean, and most of the rise is occurring in the polar regions, where accurate temperature data has been scarce.

"Rises in global average temperatures of [at least 4degC] will have profound impacts on the world and the economies of many countries if we don't urgently start to curb our emissions," Prof Sherwood told the Guardian.

[devil21]

Anybody else see the irony in using an "icebreaker" ship to go detect whether the ice is breaking up?

[FrankRep]

USA to the rescue!


US Coast Guard ice breaker to assist ships beset in ice in Antarctica
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/01/04/usa-to-the-rescue-us-coast-guard-ice-breaker-asked-to-assist-antarctic-rescue-vessels-trapped-in-ice-due-to-spiritofmawson-fiasco/


January 4, 2014

[Dr.3D]

USA to the rescue!


US Coast Guard ice breaker to assist ships beset in ice in Antarctica
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/01/04/usa-to-the-rescue-us-coast-guard-ice-breaker-asked-to-assist-antarctic-rescue-vessels-trapped-in-ice-due-to-spiritofmawson-fiasco/


January 4, 2014
Who will rescue them when they get stuck?

[Lucille]

The perils of global warming
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-perils-of-global-warming.html


Antarctica rescue (http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/antarctica-rescue-xue-long-calls-for-help-after-becoming-stuck-while-trying-to-help-akademik-shokalskiy-20140103-309dl.html): Xue Long calls for help after becoming stuck while trying to help Akademik Shokalskiy.

And they say that God doesn't have a sense of humor. Tell us more about that scientific consensus. That frozen, scientific consensus in need of rescue because it is stuck in the ice.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BdGHlnfCIAA4dgw.jpg:large