This expression has become popular to warn of the less obvious results or effects of a situation or event. It is based on the fact that only ten percent of an iceberg is above the surface of the ocean. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, the expression became popular beginning in 1969. In my personal opinion, “Tip of the iceberg” could be used to predict unintended consequences that often show up when the government tries to solve a problem with complicated laws.
Global Warming and Climate Change: A Scientific Phenomenon
NASA’a famous “blue marble” picture of Earth
I’ve found the global warming/climate change debate to be frustrating. The Earth is too large a system to grasp intuitively. In such a large system, anyone can “cherry-pick” a small subset of data to illustrate any point. Many discussions seem to distill down to: “You’re lying!”
I posted on the social aspects of the debate previously. Today I will discuss the science of global warming and climate change. (“Global warming” refers to average global temperatures while “climate change” refers to the effects.)
Makes my eyes cross (and this chart isn’t even very complex)
Global warming is complex enough to make my eyes cross. It involves many parameters that must be examined over decades and preferably centuries. I will primarily use information from http://www.skepticalscience.com/. This site provides the largest and most accessible collection of responses to global warming objections I’ve found. SkepticalScience has a handy glossary with mouse-over pop-ups in the text. For example, ice sheets, ice shelves, glaciers, and sea ice are different things. While unabashedly defending mainstream climate science against “climate myths”, the site also provides a more exhaustive list of objections than anywhere else I’ve run across: 174 of them! There are also comments from pro and con readers.
I leave you to explore as many of the 174 objections as interest you. Here is a sampling. Continue reading
Darkness at Noon
This book was written by Arthur Koestler in German and was translated into English by his companion, Daphne Hardy. It is considered a classic novel, and was considered in the selection of the “greatest legal novels.” The book gives an insight into the Stalin show trials that resulted in the execution of his enemies, most of his friends, and a large number of people who were just trying to stay out of trouble and alive. Very few members of the “first Congress of the Communist Party” who were included in a group photograph from early in the revolution were still alive by the beginning of the book. The efforts to erase those who had been executed had ended, and the only remaining evidence was the light rectangle on the walls where the picture had once been displayed. Comrade Nicholas Salmanovitch Rubashov was a senior official of the Party, but his time had run out. He had demonstrated willingness to sacrifice lovers, friends, and comrades who were designated by central authorities as the enemy. The book begins with his arrest and imprisonment, and he knew and accepted that his years of loyalty would not save him from charges that he had violated official edicts of the Party. Continue reading
What Strikes Your Fancy?
“Strike your fancy” is a phrase that is hard to pin down. I did not find the exact phrase “strike your fancy.”
Word Detective says “‘fancy’ is, etymologically, the same word as ‘fantasy,’ simply in a shortened form…. Filtered through Latin and Old French, ‘fantasy’ first appeared in English in the 15th century… [When] the shortened form ‘fancy’ began to be considered a separate word in the 16th century, it took on this sense of ‘whimsical notion’… By the late 16th century, ‘fancy’ had specifically come to mean ‘taste, preference in matters of art or appearance.” This made me think of the cat food brand “Fancy Feast.”
“Interestingly, the adjective ‘fancy-free’ originally, in the 16th century, meant ‘free from amorous entanglements,’ … but now it’s simply used to mean ‘carefree’.” There may still be many people who would agree that love and worry go together.
Global Warming: a Social Phenomenon
NASA’s famous “blue marble” picture of Earth
RF_alum and I (the Ponderer) are long-standing friends. We worked together in technical fields at the Rocky Flats Plant, a nuclear weapons facility that has since been decommissioned. We worked on weapons and in the environmental clean up. We both encountered our share of people pushing political agendas by misrepresenting science.
While we have much in common, we also have disagreements. We thought we would disagree on GMOs, but found ourselves in about the same place after doing our independent reading on the subject. Global warming is a topic that refuses to yield a similar satisfactory result. Ponderer is a “warmist” and RF_alum is a “denier”. We both dislike these terms (they present caricatures) but since they are used in popular discussions, we’ll use them, too. Continue reading
Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher
I was disturbed by the celebrations in the streets of Britain when Margret Thatcher died, and I decided I needed to know more about the “Iron Lady.” I found this book and was instantly intrigued by the title. I expect Reagan fans, and I’m definitely in that camp, will enjoy the book more than those opposed to Reagan’s politics. Apparently there are many in Britain who are not Thatcher fans, and I will guess they won’t like this book. However, I think anyone interested in the history of the Cold War would enjoy reading or at least be interested in this book.
The subtitle of the Nicholas Wapshott book is “A Political Marriage,” and I found it remarkable how close Reagan and Thatcher were. I got the impression from reading the personal messages between them that they were uncomfortable with how close they were. Prime Minister Thatcher probably had to worry the most; her opponents tagged her as “Reagan’s Poodle.” The reality was that she often displayed the strongest will in disagreements and Reagan worked his personality overtime when he thought he taken a position that had disappointed or angered her. Reagan, to his credit, valued her directness and council. Continue reading