A Portrait of the Dumbass as an Old Man

What Global Warming?

So last weekend the wif and I left Thursday am for a trip to Charleston, SC, followed by a visit to our son and daughter-in-law (and my baby sister and her family) in Morrisville, NC. So at around 4:30 p, 5/17/7, we are about 30 miles northwest of Charleston when we start noticing haze/fog/smoke? It gets worse as we get into Charleston. Crossing Charleston Bay (the Prius' GPS was seriously surprised that the bridge it knew about was no longer there), you couldn't see a mile. We get to the place we're staying and get out you can clearly smell cypress in the smoke. Ask around, it's from the fires in Florida, ~ 300 miles away. And I'm thinking, increased temperature, increased O2 in the atmosphere, both global warming side effects, both give more and longer fires ...

Then a couple hours later, walking along a marina there on Charleston Bay, we see a manatee feeding -- way cool, 2 ft wide by 9-10 long, looked like he weighted at least a half ton, bright white propeller scan on his back. And I'm thinking, I thought these guys stayed down in Florida? And three people I ask all say, I thought they stayed in Florida. And I'm thinking, species moving north, global warming, global warming ...

But, the next day, someone told me that manatees weren't uncommon there, and when I got home, wikipedia said that they have been seen as far north as Cape Cod (they like to hang out by power plants, always warm there).

So, maybe it's not The End Days of Global Warming. But, at this point, it is pretty much an accepted scientific fact. Al Gore's movie is very entertaining, but also very scary. My wife was telling me about a coworker, a pharmacist, former military, dedicated republican/bushite, expounding on how there is no global warming, that data has been misinterpreted and misrepresented by people with green agendas. If that is not a case of projection, I don't know what is. Scientists who misrepresent data lose their credibility and their jobs. The only thing I have heard of re misrepresentation of data is that of the many documented cases of republican political hack appointees who have edited scientific reports and removed anything that did not fit in with their political views/goals.

It's kind of funny tho. I feel fairly confident that there is no "green cabal" in the scientific community. Too many scientists (basically 100%) believe that the data supports human-generated global warming for it to be a cabal. But, (the funny tho part), I have no trouble believing that the neocon republican leadership is a cabal working to their own agenda, one of the top items of which is protecting big oil. So who's the paranoid?

Biked this morning, much better, 25 miles in 2h0m. Still, I was dying at about the 50 minute mark and took a 10 minute break. I think the problem may be, that since I have quit smoking, I have gone from 0-4 oz of alcohol a day to around 3-6, and I think that I have quit paying attention to my hydration when drinking. I used to pretty much always drink 3-4 oz water (in addition to mixers) for each oz of alcohol. I think I need to get back to serious hydration. In another month or two, when more of my "want a smoke" routines have timed out and been put into mental hibernation (hopefully), I will cut back on the drinking.

Until then, as Albert Collins says:

I don't care what other people thinkin'
I'm not drunk, I'm just drinkin'.