Bruce

Well at least we can still discuss the matter. The way the government is going, it will be declared an act of terror to say anything about climate change.

If climate change is really happening, the price of food will be going up. ( Actually I reckon it is ) Luckily for deniers, there are lots of other things to blame : The politicians, the Chinese, the environmentalists, excessive regulation, not enough regulation, and the local council. Other blameworthy lots can be added if you like.

The cold snap was only on the eastern side of a big slow moving high pressure system centered well south. On the western side, it would have brought warm air way south of where it normally was. Overall, the effect on average temperatures would have been little or nothing. There were some record cold times in Europe while the arctic had record heat at the same time.

Yes Yenn, the P76 of mine had one annoying problem... one of the back doors let dust in. I have a theory about English engineering. There is too big a gap between the lower people who make things and the toffs at the top who own things. So they don't communicate.

New gripe... I got angry at the tax office bullies and their treatment of that whistle-blower. What sort of country are we becoming ? My grandfather fought in the first world war against just this sort of thing.. who gave them permission to have secrets from the taxpayers who pay their money anyway?

Yes, apparently the law of conservation of angular momentum demands that the moon move further away to compensate for the earth slowing down. But how does the moon know that the earth has slowed down? I really should understand this, but sorry I don't.

I bought a leyland p76 in 1974. $2500 brand new, 4 on the floor, it went for 600,000k but the wife demanded I get rid of it as it was unfashionable. Recently, this car-restorer guy nearly wept when I told him how I sold it for $900 in about 1980. The restorer guy said they were worth big money now. It was the last car I truly understood, any pipe or wire under the hood and I could tell you what it did and what would happen if you cut it.

Gosh Ian, and it was the worst cold snap I can remember. Recently, I was looking at heated jackets in Bunnings and wondering if one of these would be better than a heater for my Jabiru in winter. They only draw a couple of amps at 12 volts and although the bulk of the jacket might make it a bit uncomfortable , at least it wouldn't kill you from carbon monoxide poisoning. You could easily plug into the aircraft power system and it shouldn't cause any breakers to trip. They are designed for outside use where you would have a battery in a pocket. Dunno if this is much of an idea in a cold house though.

Just come back from the "sunshine coast" which they urgently need to rename as the "overcast coast".

On space stations as habitats: It has been suggested that a metre of moon-soil applied to the outside of an enormous rotating cylinder would protect those inside better than our atmosphere does. Rotation of the cylinder provides the gravity. The moon-soil in sandbags can be catapaulted up into lunar orbit. It all sounds plausible, but I reckon it would only be a matter of time before some cult started on that space habitat and the whole thing was sabotaged. Besides that, they have not yet managed to live in a closed system here on earth.

Wars do not have a track record in reducing populations. Wars in the future might be different of course.

In 1950, the world population was 2.6 billion. In 2019, it is 7.7 billion. This 7.7 billion is a lot more than the estimates for 2019 were some years ago. Actually, I agree it probably will not exceed 10 billion, but not for the nice reasons put forward by well-meaning bleeding hearts.

Us lot have lived in the only time in history when food has been so cheap and plentiful that we take it for granted. Fat schoolteachers who have no conception of where food actually comes from teach the kids to despise farmers for their environmental shortcomings. Agricultural colleges are closing down. How long can it last? The estimate I like best says that in about ten years, the calories of food produced will fall short of demand by trillions. There are actually three enormous challenges facing our species: 1. Climate change ( which has already decreased food supply and its hardly started, the effects are not apparent to the poorly educated at this time) 2. Resource depletion: Soil, water, oil, phosphate, and fish are just a few resources in trouble. 3. Over-population. It was once hoped that as women became more educated, family size would drop. This has actually happened in a few places, but the total population is not slowing down in growth. The growth, plus Old K's point about rising expectations food-wise, mean that food demand should double by 2050. Of course the world can't meet this demand, and the shortfall will become obvious by 2027. Some of us oldies will actually be there to see it.

Surely you can't get a driving license if you can't read road signs and speed signs?

Today I divided the world's military spending by the coal tonnage produced. The answer was $247 dollars per tonne. So if the world stopped military spending for a few years, the coal miners could be paid $123 per tonne to leave it alone and the farmers could be paid $123 a tonne to make charcoal for burying.

I agree about acumen and hard work being better than a degree in some cases. My son did an apprenticeship and ( at 47 ) he is way ahead of those classmates of his who did degrees. But a son in law had to do a degree to get a starting position in construction. The son in law is doing well too, but I don't think the degree helps him on the job. Some degrees are a waste of time and money, and some are essential to get a start in an industry. High time for some culling of university offerings, say I. What I would like to see is the standards lot take over quality control of degrees and to also work out other ways ( experience plus exams) of getting qualified.

We, that it our kids, are going to find out the hard way about sea level rise and global warming. And I don't have much sympathy for them,as they could have done much more to influence the last election than they did. The only bright spot was Abbott getting thrown out on the issue, but in Qld, a great many young people voted in favour of a big new coal mine. What will it take to convince people? The scientific evidence is there, but not yet obvious to all. By the time it is obvious, it will be too late...

The 2 degrees of global warming was based on most countries doing effective stuff. We are actually on course for 6 degrees, which will render the planet uninhabitable.

If it is true that the BOM figures are changed to suit the government in power, then global warming would go completely unreported. I don't think there is a government in the world that encourages it. In Australia and the USA, our governments are in denial. Only in some low islands are they complaining about being inundated, but they are not very important countries.

It's a tried and true tactic to scare people with lies into supporting your cause. We see this in action all the time, with the weapons of mass destruction most clearly, and the threat of Iran having nukes the latest. The effectiveness of this crude lying is amazing, I know a German-Australian who still gets angry at the Poles for starting WW2. But just because the weapons of mass destruction and the Poles provocations were obvious lies doesn't mean that all scare-mongering is based on lies. What if the scare-mongering is actually underestimating the danger? This election may well be influenced by younger voters who are sufficiently worried about climate change to vote the coalition out.

Have those island countries ever made any efforts to curb their populations? I remember Prince Phillip, many years ago, while inspecting a new maternity hospital in Tonga making an acid comment along those lines and saying they will be looking for food handouts one day.

If our species was capable of diverting our military spending for a few years, we could pay farmers everywhere to make charcoal for burying. Every tonne of charcoal buried would be over 3 tonnes of CO2 removed from the atmosphere. Of course we would also need to stop burning coal to make a reduction in the total. Shade-screens in space would have to be really big to have an effect on the climate. But if it were done, there would be the side-benefit that the weather could be controlled by changing the shaded zones. Wow that would make a lawyers breakfast huh, you could blame the shade controllers for the weather.

OME, I saw a tv item where a group of moslem young men were asked about their voting intentions... their reply was that they would be told at the mosque when the time came. Democracy is not easy to impose on cultures which have no understanding of the concept.

Any water evaporated from the lower lakes would be unlikely to fall on Australia as rain. There was once hope that if Lake Eyre filled, it would change the climate to make the future wetter. Bugger, there was no measureable change. Back over 100 years ago, the idea that the rain would follow the plough was so entrenched that people lost their savings betting on it.

Thats crazy space. It should have 10 stars if it runs on solar.