Lake Superior During an Ice Age? Last Tuesday
Due to the recent cold spell and below normal temperatures for much of the winter of 2008-2009, ice covers nearly all of Lake Superior. Only small areas of open water remain. This image was taken on Tuesday, March 3rd. _WattsupWithThatJudging by past geologic history as read through ice cores, the Earth could enter a new ice age in as little as ten years. The sun has been behaving a bit sluggishly over the past couple of years, and we really do not understand the triggers of an ice age in any depth.
Imagine if your hometown were like Lake Superior is now -- 365 days a year, for years on end. Crops would not grow in the frozen fields, food supplies would run low. Keeping the roads, train tracks, and airfields clear of ice becomes harder the longer that glaciation conditions last. Food could be airdropped in, weather permitting, but supplies of heating and transportation fuel would run low.
Power transmission lines would fail under crushing loads of ice, and repair efforts would be constantly hampered by cold and gale force winds. Under President Obama, nuclear power is being curtailed and fossil fuels are being made artificially scarce by ruinous carbon regulations, restrictions, and taxes. And unfortunately, this president hears only the voices of revolution inside his head. For the sounds of the real world, his ears are made of tin.
Labels: ice age
posted by al fin at 1:48 am
4 Comments:
Well put. Warmer, moister weather patterns would be propitious for much of the world (especially the first world 30 degrees of latitude or more from the equator). Cold is humanity's enemy. That, of course, is nothing new.
Yep. Far more die of cold every year than heat.
Why are high IQ peoples more frequently found at higher latitudes, in colder environments? It takes intelligence to survive the cold, and the long cold cropless winters.
Ice coverage of Lake Superior has more to do with wind patterns and air pressure than air temperature. Since winter is always cold around Superior, a relatively calm stretch of weather can have an outsized effect on ice formation. Since weather is not the same as climate, we can agree that this WEATHER phenomenon does not reflect global climate change.
Also, how is it that you suppose more people die of heat than cold every year? Diseases associated with tropical climates (i.e. dengue, malaria) are not endemic in temperate climates because the vector cannot survive frost. AE, cold can be our friend.
Finally, IQ tests are created by peoples from higher latitudes and have been proven inadequate when crossing cultures.
More die of cold than heat.
You are making a big mistake by conflating death from tropical disease with death from heat. Not so long ago, large numbers of people died from malaria in Siberia. It is not the heat. It is the measures taken by persons to control disease vectors. In third world nations, public health measures are generally minimal.
The joys of post-colonialism. People suffer when their leaders fail to take basic measures to protect them.
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“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act” _George Orwell
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