Canada "too small" to develop Northwest Passage shipping, diplomat says

[crazy canuck]

Who knows.  30 years ago climate scientists were warning about a coming ice age.  All we really know is climate changes occur - sometimes dramatically.  I am not so sure we know enough to reliably predict how things will be 30-50 years out let alone when the next cooling event might occur.

Scientists do. 30 years ago much less was known and inferior research tools were available. It is not that as time progresses what we know changes back and forth. We learn more and more and clarify and understand the nature of things better. We will not all of a sudden change our minds and declare the world to be flat again. We simply get more and more precise in our knowledge as time passes, the shape of the world does not swing between flat and round, to went from flat to round to orange shaped to pear shaped, each shape being more and more accurate. At the same time we know more and more about what factors affect climate and how much these factors affect climate we become better and better at understanding and predicting future climate.

Granted we wont say the world if flat or that the sun revolves around the earth.  But what the hell does that tell us about our current ability to predict when the NW passage will become ice free with sufficient certainty to start pouring billions of dollars in infrastructure costs into the North.  You are not a member of the US congress by any chance are you?  This is beginning to sound more and more like something they might do.

You were suggesting that the previous less good science which predicted an ice age 30 years ago could return. That is what I was criticizing.

Ok, so bring youself back on topic given the fact that my point was that we dont have a good idea what is going to happen 30-50 years out.

The wonderful thing about scientists is that they are the first to admit they might be wrong.  The terrible thing about non scientists is they insist the current scientific projection/estimate must be true.

[Razgovory]

When did people think the Earth was pear shaped?

When GPS satellites showed us that the southern hemisphere is a few meters fatter than the northern hemisphere. It has something to do with the southern hemisphere having more ocean.

I'm not sure that's really the shape of a pear.  I've seen photos of both pears and the Earth.  They really aren't that similar.

[viper37]

Granted we wont say the world if flat or that the sun revolves around the earth. 

we won't?
hop!

[Viking]

Ok, so bring youself back on topic given the fact that my point was that we dont have a good idea what is going to happen 30-50 years out.

The wonderful thing about scientists is that they are the first to admit they might be wrong.  The terrible thing about non scientists is they insist the current scientific projection/estimate must be true.

The thing about science is that "the current scientific projection/estimate" is the best "projection/estimate". I suppose you'd make policy based on projections/estimates known to be faulty or lacking supporting evidence?

[Viking]

When did people think the Earth was pear shaped?

When GPS satellites showed us that the southern hemisphere is a few meters fatter than the northern hemisphere. It has something to do with the southern hemisphere having more ocean.

I'm not sure that's really the shape of a pear.  I've seen photos of both pears and the Earth.  They really aren't that similar.

Nothing's really shaped like the earth.. since fruit is the usual comparison the pear comparison explains the variation well though.. but then again, the earth was never shaped like an orange when we thought it was shaped like an orange.

[Razgovory]

Who said it was shaped like an orange?  Oranges aren't pefectly round and have indentions at the top and bottom.  I would say the Earth is shaped something like a globe.

[crazy canuck]

Granted we wont say the world if flat or that the sun revolves around the earth. 

we won't?
hop!

Correct We wont.

[crazy canuck]

Oranges aren't pefectly round and have indentions.

So in other words, something like the Earth...

[Viking]

Who said it was shaped like an orange?  Oranges aren't pefectly round and have indentions at the top and bottom.  I would say the Earth is shaped something like a globe.

eh? thats like saying my head is shaped like my head.

What the fuck do you think a globe is?

[Razgovory]

Who said it was shaped like an orange?  Oranges aren't pefectly round and have indentions at the top and bottom.  I would say the Earth is shaped something like a globe.

eh? thats like saying my head is shaped like my head.

What the fuck do you think a globe is?

Something shaped like the Earth.  Duh, I thought you would have figured that out by now.   I should note that saying the Earth is round is not mutually exclusive with it being pear shaped, globe shaped or eggplant shaped.  All of which are round things.  I think the fact that Earth is round has been accepted in the West for thousands of years.  No clue what the Chinese thought.

[Siege]

When did people think the Earth was pear shaped?

That's stupid.
Everybody knows the Earth is flat, otherwise we would slide off the sides.

[Viking]

When did people think the Earth was pear shaped?

That's stupid.
Everybody knows the Earth is flat, otherwise we would slide off the sides.

"    Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of Fundamentalism that SOMEONE won't mistake for the real thing.    "

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Poe%27s_Law

[Siege]

What parody?

[Siege]

This is how the Earth really looks like:
(notice that Antartica is really a wall of ice surrounding the continents)

[Viking]

What parody?

this one

When did people think the Earth was pear shaped?

That's stupid.
Everybody knows the Earth is flat, otherwise we would slide off the sides.

You can't bet that stupid..

seriously dude...