Monday, July 13, 2009

250 Children Die in Peru



This just in from the BBC: Close to 250 children under the age of five have died due to cold weather in Peru. This year freezing temperatures arrived almost three months earlier than usual. Experts blame climate change.

Meanwhile, world leaders, lead by Obama-the-Great and including our Go-With-The-Flow Canadian leader Stephen Harper, are desperately trying to put the brakes on a warming planet -- a supposed problem, supposedly caused by man-made factors, that will supposedly cause massive net harm (as opposed to net good) as predicted by supposedly accurate software algorithms designed and fed by supposedly neutral government-funded AGW believers. The goal: re-set world temperatures to something at least resembling the idyllic steady-state of the year 1850 CE and keep it there forever.

Ah, yes -- man's collective hand on the thermostat of the world, regulating the earth's climate and controlling its temperatures. Hubris of biblical proportions. Babel redux. Shades of Revelation and world rule.

The proposed solution to reach this goal entails a little thing called "world governance" coupled with a massive marxian redistribution of wealth from successful capitalistic countries to the dysfunctional poorer countries of the planet. This has been touted by a US global warming advocate as a "good thing" even if the science on global warming proves to be wrong. As if funds have ever been re-distributed efficiently and effectively from one first-world government to a third-world government. I see scores of politically-connected African functionaries tooling about in their late-model diesel-guzzling SUVs while the hungry peasants stare.

A more tangible act would be to send the kids blankets.

http://www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/sponsor/sponsor-peru

And that's the way the shivering-in-July Ball bounces.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8146995.stm

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

"..our Go-With-The-Flow Canadian leader Stephen Harper .."

That would be as opposed to our "buck the trend" Prime Minister or perhaps our "tilt at wind mills Prime Minister".

You'd think someone with the handle "The Way the Ball Bounces" would understand that "flow" is about more than Dead Fish.

Michael St.Paul's

Anonymous said...

all believers in global warming should be staked out naked in a field in canada in october through may and see just how warm it really is for we humans.

Joe said...

Happened to scan an article about AGW/Climate Change and most of the commentators agree that the 250 dead children is a good thing because what is really driving this whole climate change thingy is human over population.

If indeed they are serious I can see that the termination of a few million people would not be a bad thing in the true believer's eyes.

If they are serious I only hope the true believers lead by example instead of eliminating some innocent bystander.

Anonymous said...

"all believers in global warming should be staked out naked in a field in canada in october through may and see just how warm it really is for we humans."

You're as ignorant as RK_Ball I see... What part of "weather" is NOT the same thing as "climate" don't you guys understand.

That it's cold in Canada in October is WEATHER. That we had a cool first couple of weeks of summer this year is WEATHER.

Finding a blizzard in Toronto in November says NOTHING about the earth heating up - it just means there's a snow storm in Toronto.

joe agnost

BallBounces said...

When it's cold in Canada, it's weather, when it's cold in Peru, it's climate change.

Glad we got that straight.

BallBounces said...

If the weather's inconvenient, and doesn't fit the script, it's just weather; but if it's a hurricane and makes good video, it's global warming -- it worked for Al Gore.

Sauce. Goose. Gander.

And what happened to all those predictions that global warming was going to bring a spate of abnormal hurricane activity? Another prediction bites the dust.

Anonymous said...

We get it RK_Ball, we get it! You have no interest in learning - fine. Keep up the god lord's work - ignorance is the gift that keeps on giving....

joe agnost

Bitter Chill said...

It is going to be a strange year for Climate Change Deniers. With el Nino conditions ramping up, we should be in for a couple of years of very hot conditions in the Northern Hemisphere. This legend of “cooling since 1998” (which is of course complete hogwash) will go out the door. The question they will all have to ask themselves: “Do I go with the story that it is all el Nino and climate change has nothing to do with it, or do I blame the sun spots?” (since they are also starting to ramp up as well, but have been proven to have nothing to do with climate change). Or maybe it is time to switch tracks and start deriding Obama for not taking enough action… One thing is for sure, they will continue to either deny it is getting warmer, deny it is CO2, or deny there is anything we can do about it. Ugh.

BallBounces said...

"We get it RK_Ball, we get it! You have no interest in learning - fine. Keep up the god lord's work - ignorance is the gift that keeps on giving....

joe agnost"

Joe: What you haven't done is responded intelligently to my point -- the cold weather in South America is being attributed to climate change. Why is the cold weather in South America climate change, while the cold weather in North America, at your insistence, is merely "weather"?

Please think before you answer -- I would like the tone of this site to rise above thoughtless ad hominems.

Anonymous said...

You haven't shown that you understand the difference between "weather" and "climate" yet.

You want me to respond to this line posted by you:

"When it's cold in Canada, it's weather, when it's cold in Peru, it's climate change."

My response would be: "what are you talking about?!"

BallBounces said...

Peru: "But this year freezing temperatures arrived almost three months earlier than usual.
Experts blame climate change for the early arrival of intense cold which began in March."

Why is it OK to consider cold weather in South America climate change, but not North America?

Anonymous said...

You present a quote from dog knows where by dog knows who - what is that supposed to mean? Is this what the scientific community is saying about Peru?

In any case it might be right... an understanding of the words "weather" and "climate" are needed to understand this issue.

A cold day in Toronto in July is an example of WEATHER. If studies produced statistics which showed that the days have been getting colder in July for several years - then you could say with some certainty that this cold day in July is also an example of CLIMATE.

So - a cold day in July ~might~ be caused by climate change, but most definitely IS an example of weather and possibly just an anomaly in the climate of the region. So looking at local weather doesn't provide any useful information about climate without LOTS and LOTS of more information and historical weather reports.

Does that clear it up?

joe agnost

BallBounces said...

JA - "You present a quote from dog knows where by dog knows who

First clue: "This just in from the BBC:

JA - "Is this what the scientific community is saying about Peru?"

Second clue: "Experts blame climate change.

Third clue -- the link to the article being discussed:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8146995.stm

Joe said...

RK: If the fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom and since Joe Agnost doesn't fear God Joe Agnost must be a ?

Or as someone once said, "Never argue with an IDIOT he will drag you down to his level and then beat you up with years of experience."

Anonymous said...

I almost posted an "oops - my bad" after my last comment. After posting my comment I looked back at the OP and noticed that your quotes came from the links you cited... sorry for missing that.

But - that doesn't (at all) change the substance of my comment... this is why I didn't bother to add a comment explaining my having missed the citation of your quote.

I explained the reasoning behind something being blamed on climate change and something being an example of weather. I thought it was written so that a 2 year old could understand... are you still not understanding RK_Ball? Do you have anything to comment on the actual SUBSTANCE of my comment or are you only interested in knitpicking my first sentence...

And Joe: That's rich... don't argue with that guy - he's an atheist! Those atheists are idiots for not believing in god. Your "fear of god" line is exactly why religion is such a joke! You create a god, and then ~fear~ him?!!? What the hell is that about? "Fear"? Really? That's what it's about?? So much for that love idea I guess...

joe agnost

Bitter Chill said...

Here let me give this a try.

There are two stories mentioned here (Frosty night in PEI in July, and unseasonable cold in Peru). RK Ball claims that climate scientist claim the PEI event is “just weather” and the Peru event is “Climate Change”.

A quick look at the historic climate records for Charlottetown show that the Average mean temperature for July is 18.5c, and for June it is 14.6 (note than there has never been a day below freezing recorded in July since 1971, although there was at least one recorded in June)

Now compare that to the daily temperature readings for PEI for the June and July of 2009 , and one finds that there actually were no “frosty days” in either month. Never below freezing. Hmmm….guess someone was exaggerating for effect. Oh, well. Let’s follow through. Also note that the average temp for June was about 1 degree higher than the historic (1971-2000) average. The July average is slightly lower than the historic average, but the warmest days of July (the 15-30th) have not happened yet. Note, both averages are within two standard deviations of the mean, basically meaning that statistically speaking, they are within 95% of the norm.

So the “weather” in Charlottetown was cool one day in July, The climate, however, is either getting warmer or staying the same (within the scale of measurement)

Now what part of that is hard to understand? Except where that person lied about it being “frosty”.

By the way, sending blankets to Peru is an idiotic solution to the crisis there. The vast majority of these kids are dying from respiratory infections, not “cold”. They are victims of poverty (likely made worse by agricultural failures related to climate change, a good summary of them here ). They need doctors and medicine, not a comfy blanket.

BallBounces said...

"RK Ball claims that climate scientist claim the PEI event is “just weather” and the Peru event is “Climate Change”."

Not quite. It is Joe Agnost who keeps insisting on the "just weather" interpretation. Strangely, he gives Al Gore a "pass" when he uses Katrina -- clearly a weather event -- for AGW and commercial purposes. My point is, if one person can do this, so can another -- and I intend the point satirically, although certain individuals have their satire detector set to "off".

blankets -- you're probably right. Any donation to World Vision will ensure the kids get the help they need.

BallBounces said...

"related to climate change, a good summary of them here ).

How did you do that "here" with the link?

Bitter Chill said...

How did you do that "here" with the link?

Well, RK, there are two possibilities. Either I have used my evolutionary-enhanced intelligence to seek out the solution to that problem myself, using the body of available data collected by those with greater experience than me in that particular field (in this case, HTML coding), and taught myself the basics…

Or, since it is beyond your understanding, God did it.

Let me guess which you will choose.

BallBounces said...

OK, thank you.

"... nothing intellectually compelling or challenging.. bald assertions coupled to superstition... woefully pathetic"