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Originally posted by Niki2:
Nope, but all the previous ones WERE--look at how much information you put up, at what valid points you made, and then look at every response from Rap. What else would you call it?



(I much appreciated the material you put up, by the way, but you just know Rap didn't read a word of it...his responses make that clear)

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Originally posted by Niki2:

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Originally posted by reaverfan:
It's just that smart people tend to be more liberal.

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Originally posted by AURaptor:


Which is at least a far better move than out right changing their tune from 'global warming' to a more obscure, easily pliable 'climate change'.

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Originally posted by reaverfan:

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Originally posted by AURaptor:


Which is at least a far better move than out right changing their tune from 'global warming' to a more obscure, easily pliable 'climate change'.

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Oh, jeez, you just can't accept facts, can you?

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Originally posted by AURaptor:
All I do IS deal in fact. I'm not swayed by popular public sentiment.

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Originally posted by m52nickerson:
Now the Chinese ice breaker is stuck. Well climate change does predict more violent, unpredictable weather, I guess we are see it.

I do not fear God, I fear the ignorance of man.

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Originally posted by Niki2

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http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=62424&mid=1
054245#1054245 Originally posted by second:
Every tweet is like another slice of chocolate cake for me. Every failure is delicious. Trump is entertaining me and paying me with tax cuts. He might even be damaging the GOP's election chances, which is a great thing.

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:

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People tend to freeze even when not in disasters. They can't think their way out, even if given months, years, decades to plan a sensible, reasonable escape from their difficulties. Instead, they hope for miracles: win the lottery or a heroic president comes to their rescue or God touches them or a long lost relative leaves them a fortune or Hollywood discovers their talents, etc.

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DIPSHIT JACKASS

red green blue purple orange yellow skyblue teal turquoise lightblue puce

rose

So, what are you going to do about it? Whine some more? Carp some more? Pout some more? Yeah. That'll work. (not)


_________________________________________________________________

because he's a fucking crazy stupid lying nutjob asshole.
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=60278&mid=1
016814#1016814
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=60278&mid=1
016816#1016816
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=60278&mid=1
016817#1016817
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=60278&mid=1
016818#1016818

dick

If you see me as father time
Then I shall respond in kind
If you see me as the Reaper


Granted, it's hard to find a source that backs up off-topic posts, ad hominem attacks and fabrications. And that SHOULD be your first clue that you're going off the rails - that you can't find anything BASED IN REALITY that supports what you post. But, not you. You're too 'smart' for that. And I'm being ironic btw, in case you didn't get it.
But, enough about you and your foibles. It's boring.

THUGGR

Humanitarian. (snicker)
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=58208&p=5
kiki - And meanwhile, to understand the role of capitalism in improving life FOR THE MASSES you'll note here that the greatest gains in life expectancy in China - for women from 45 to 63, and for men from 44 to 64 - came between the years 1950 and 1972.
THUGGR - Your (sic) a fucking moron: who gives a shit?

and the epitome of evidence and reason
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=58499&p=29#
1003717
and here is your cite

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ...


_________________________________________________________________
Here's 'G', protesting Kiev shelling cities and civilians
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=58499&p=14
I think they should be brined and roasted before they are shelled.



Here's 'G', protesting Kiev shelling cities and civilians, in his own words:

I think they should be brined and roasted before they are shelled.
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=58499&p=14

I invite everyone to examine the thread to find 'G' offering a genuine protest, no matter how faint or indirect, to the atrocities.

    «financial vulture»
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The last 24 hours have been sobering. I am sitting in the comfort of a cabin on board the Australian icebreaker the Aurora Australis, one day after evacuating the Australasian Antarctic Expedition from our Russian-crewed vessel, the MV Akademik Shokalskiy. After sleepless nights thinking about keeping everyone safe, it is a relief to know everyone is on board the Aurora and well.

In this little haven of civilisation surrounded by a chaotic jumble of white to the horizon, everyone is taking stock of being locked in sea ice for 10 days. We are all incredibly grateful for the bravery of our Russian crew, the courage of Captain Jianzhong Wang on the Chinese icebreaker Xue Long – which itself now appears to be stuck – and the wonderful perseverance of the Australian icebreaker Aurora Australis.

There is relief, but there is also frustration over what appears to be a misrepresentation of the expedition in some news outlets and on the internet. We have been accused of being a tourist trip with little scientific value; of being ill-prepared for the conditions; putting our rescuers at risk; and making light of a dangerous situation. Others have remarked on what they describe as the "irony" of climate researchers stuck in unexpected ice.

I would like to address some of the issues that have been raised, but more importantly highlight the potential this region has for research and the value of getting the public engaged in science.

The aim of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE) is to lead a multidisciplinary research programme in one of the most scientifically exciting regions of our planet, straddling the Southern Ocean and East Antarctic. Using the latest in satellite technology, we are beaming images, movies and text in an attempt to excite the public about science and exploration, inspired by one of the most scientifically successful efforts in the Antarctic: the Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911-1914, led by British-born Sir Douglas Mawson. Starting out at the unbelievably young age of 28, Mawson managed to raise £39,000 in a year – equivalent to some $20-25m today. With this he kitted out an entire ship to discover what lay south of Australia.

His research bases, populated by scientists and members of the public, straddled thousands of kilometres along a previously unknown coastline, and communicated their findings back to Australia using the latest radio technology. His effort laid the foundations for modern Antarctic research while his tales of adventures and discoveries electrified the public.

Inspired by Mawson's efforts, friend and colleague Chris Fogwill and I decided to attempt a similar venture on a smaller scale. In spite of a century of work, huge gaps in knowledge remain across the region investigated by the original expedition. To tackle these questions we spent the last two years building a team of experts keen to work with individuals outside their area of expertise. Meetings were held and questions honed. We decided, for instance, that among many other things we would investigate the circulation of the Southern Ocean and its impact on the global carbon cycle and the potential for new records of past climate change using tree ring and peat sequences on the subantarctic islands.

One hundred years ago, Mawson and his team sailed to their Antarctic base at Commonwealth Bay. Today Mawson's Huts lie behind 65 kilometres of sea ice, the result of a 2010 collision between an enormous berg known as B09B and the Mertz Glacier Tongue. As a result of this clash, B09B lodged itself on the seabed of Commonwealth Bay, changing the circulation of the area dramatically. No one knows what impact this event has had on the wildlife. Penguin and seal populations, their feeding patterns and the first underwater surveys of life in Commonwealth Bay have been a part of the expedition. We worked on our research programme with the Australian Antarctic Division and other bodies and the expedition was considered significant enough to be given the official stamp of approval. Climate change was part of our programme but the AAE is much more.

The six-week expedition was split into two legs, the first focusing on the New Zealand subantarctics, the second the Southern Ocean and the immediate area around Mawson's Huts at Commonwealth Bay. As the expedition traversed the Southern Ocean, oceanographic measurements were made, weather conditions recorded, trawls of the surface taken and bird counts noted; while on the subantarctic islands, teams cored trees, dug peat sections, investigated bird burrows and underwater surveys were made in the shallows. Many were firsts for the region.

The amount of data we collected far exceeded our expectations and we returned to New Zealand for the second leg in high spirits. The pace of work continued when we returned south. For instance, the oceanographer on the AAE, Dr Erik van Sebille, led the combined deployment of Argo floats and drifter buoys in the sea – another first for the region – beaming their location at regular intervals to help complete the view of our planet's ocean circulation; a legacy of the expedition that will last years after our return. During the expedition we pioneered a new route into the huts and were able to deliver two large teams to work in the area, including undertaking important conservation work on the huts. The AAE is not a jolly tourist trip as some have claimed, nor is it a re-enactment. The AAE is inspired by Mawson but is primarily a science expedition; it will be judged by its peer-reviewed publications.

Unfortunately, events unfolded which no amount of preparation can mitigate. To provide a comparison with the samples we collected in the Mawson Hut area, we relocated the vessel to the Mertz Glacier area in the east, a major driver of ocean circulation and importantly an area where the continent is closer to the sea ice edge. Late on 23 December, we returned to the Shokalskiy. We had completed our work programme on the continent and were heading north into open water to continue the oceanographic work on the return home.

Unluckily for us, there appears to have been a mass breakout of thick, multiyear sea ice on the other side of the Mertz Glacier; years after the loss of the Mertz Glacier tongue. There was nothing to suggest this event was imminent. We have had regular updates on the state of the sea ice in the area and had been monitoring the region for the last year. We also had regular weather forecasts from two different sources: one from the Australian Antarctic Division base at Casey and the other a European company called Meteoexploration used by expeditioners. Both forecasts suggested consistent conditions.

The forecasts were correct, but it was soon clear that the armadas of ice that started to appear were thick and old. Captain Igor tried to beat a path to open water but the size of the sea ice overwhelmed the Shokalskiy. In places the ice was three metres thick with little open water to push aside. With the southeasterly winds, the ice would not budge and we were caught just two to four miles from the sea-ice edge. Getting stuck is not unusual for ships here. The vessel we are on now, the Aurora Australis, was stuck for four weeks earlier in the season.

Let's be clear. Us becoming locked in ice was not caused by climate change. Instead it seems to have been an aftershock of the arrival of iceberg B09B which triggered a massive reconfiguration of sea ice in the area.

Once we realised we were trapped for several days, the key thing was to keep team members positive. The science work continued, lectures were given, classes offered, walks on the ice took place and Christmas and New Year's Eve provided a chance to keep people's minds off their surroundings. The worse-case scenario was an iceberg striking the vessel, although none were close. There was no danger of the ship's hull being crushed by the ice floes surrounding us.

The rescue itself, like any operation in the Antarctic, entailed some risk to our rescuers, but vessels always look out for one another in the Antarctic. As the Aurora's captain Murray Doyle put it: "It's part of the programme of people working down here. We have to rely on each other if something goes wrong. You're too far away from anything else."

Morale remained high. The media interest helped. Twice-daily briefings on the situation were accompanied by reports from the media at home and overseas. Interviews the team gave provided a chance to reassure those at home that all were well but also describe our science work, much of which was followed up online using the expedition website and social media, such as G+, Twitter, Vine and Facebook. In spite of the situation we found ourselves in, the AAE had a conversation with the public about science, exploration and Mawson. There really does remain a passion for these subjects. Sadly though, there seems to be a few people who have just caught the last few days of the conversation.

Chris Turney is leader of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition 2013-2014, professor at the University of New South Wales and author of 1912: The Year The World Discovered Antarctica.

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Originally posted by reaverfan:
So, we can put this to bed. Rappy's wrong, yet again.

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US braces for coldest weather in decades

SIOUX FALLS (South Dakota) — Bitterly cold temperatures blowing into the American Midwest and North-east in the coming days are likely to set records, disrupt schools along with airports and endanger those who go outside without proper clothing.

The frigid air will continue early this week, funnelled as far south as the Gulf Coast because of what one meteorologist called a “polar vortex”, a counter-clockwise-rotating pool of cold, dense air.

“It’s just a large area of very cold air that comes down, forms over the North Pole or polar regions ... usually stays in Canada, but this time it’s going to come all the way into the eastern United States,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Phillip Schumacher in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

The forecasts are startling: Minus 31°C in Fargo, North Dakota, minus 35°C in International Falls, Minnesota, and minus 26°C in Indianapolis and Chicago. At those temperatures, exposed skin can get frostbitten in minutes and hypothermia can quickly set in as wind chills may reach minus 45.5°C, minus 51°C or even minus 56.7°C.

http://www.todayonline.com/world/americas/us-braces-coldest-weather-de
cades

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Originally posted by Magonsdaughter:
Ah who gives a f*ck, lets just keep screwing up the place without thought to consequences. I mean who needs renewable, clean energy sources. I want my grandkids to live in a giant toilet *ahem* bathroom.

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Mark Steyn: Global warming's glorious ship of fools

Yes, yes, just to get the obligatory ‘of courses’ out of the way up front: of course ‘weather’ is not the same as ‘climate’; and of course the thickest iciest ice on record could well be evidence of ‘global warming’, just as 40-and-sunny and a 35-below blizzard and 12 degrees and partly cloudy with occasional showers are all apparently manifestations of ‘climate change’; and of course the global warm-mongers are entirely sincere in their belief that the massive carbon footprint of their rescue operation can be offset by the planting of wall-to-wall trees the length and breadth of Australia, Britain, America and continental Europe.

But still: you’d have to have a heart as cold and unmovable as Commonwealth Bay ice not to be howling with laughter at the exquisite symbolic perfection of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition ‘stuck in our own experiment’, as they put it. I confess I was hoping it might all drag on a bit longer and the cultists of the ecopalypse would find themselves drawing straws as to which of their number would be first on the roasting spit. On Douglas Mawson’s original voyage, he and his surviving comrade wound up having to eat their dogs. I’m not sure there were any on this expedition, so they’d probably have to make do with the Guardian reporters. Forced to wait a year to be rescued, Sir Douglas later recalled, ‘Several of my toes commenced to blacken and fester near the tips.’ Now there’s a man who’s serious about reducing his footprint.

But alas, eating one’s shipmates and watching one’s extremities drop off one by one is not a part of today’s high-end eco-doom tourism. Instead, the ice-locked warmists uploaded chipper selfies to YouTube, as well as a self-composed New Year singalong of such hearty un-self-awareness that it enraged even such party-line climate alarmists as Andrew Revkin, the plonkingly earnest enviro-blogger of the New York Times. A mere six weeks ago, pumping out the usual boosterism, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that, had Captain Scott picked his team as carefully as Professor Chris Turney, he would have survived. Sadly, we’ll never know — although I’ll bet Captain Oates would have been doing his ‘I am going out. I may be some time’ line about eight bars into that New Year number.




http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9112201/ship-of-fools-2/

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