Monday, December 07, 2009

Phylum Miscellanea

CDs in Play: The Who, Live at Leeds. Morphine, The Night.

Winter is Here

One of the things I don't think I totally grasped last winter in Saskatoon is just how much darker it is here that it is in Vancouver. We do get more sunlight throughout the season, but the day arrives later (around a half an hour) and sets earlier. I didn't think that such a slight difference in latitude would make so much of a difference. A coworker from Kenya said it hit her straight away, since the Sun rise and sets at pretty much the same time all year around. (0600-0630 to 1800-1830) It certainly makes one want to take advantage of the day as much as possible. It is currently -30°C.

Climategate

Well the deniers of Global Warming have the event that they have been wishing for. Scientists from the University of East Anglia have hurt the world far more than they ever helped it. For many, no matter what evidence you can produce about the effects of emissions on the environment will ever reach them now. I am not going to get into it quite yet, but I have ask why it is so important for the deniers to deny the effect that humans are having on the environment? Even beyond the issue of Global Warming there is that pesky and passé little issue of pollution.
Pollution has serious effects on the health and well being of everyone on the planet. It gets into the food chain and into us. It damages terrain and man-made structure. It effects our health in numerous adverse ways. Cutting emissions is cutting down on sources of pollution, how is that a bad thing? Are practices that are adverse to the health and well being of our species worth preserving? Isn't it worth adopting new practices that reduce harm? It may mean a hit to the profit margins of some of those big companies/industries out there, but so what? It isn't like the majority of us actually reap the benefits of those profits ourselves. Nor are we ever likely tom so why not look after our own best interests - our health?

Women

So I was seeing a woman and she broke it off. C'est la vie. But did it have to be the "It's not you, it's me" speech? One day I want to go out with one of those women again and then break it off by saying, "Look, if it is any consolation it's not me, it's you."

8 Comments:

Blogger MaCanuck said...

So howsit that we (me) only hear about your lovelife, such as it is, after it happens?

Oh, wait. 1400 km. Right.

Although that said, I don't recall ever actually meeting any of the women you've said you've dated in...at least a decade. (Wait, that'd be this one. Never mind).

07 December, 2009 23:34  
Blogger Peter T Chattaway said...

I agree it's a shame that pollution has become a "passé" issue to many people. Indeed, one of the problems with so-called "global warming" (or "climate change", the it-means-everything-so-it-really-means-nothing term that was coined to cover all the bases, given that the globe has actually been cooling this past decade) is that it has diverted our attention away from more local and objective environmental problems such as pollution. You might say it's similar to how Obama and others have complained that the war in Iraq distracted us from the war in Afghanistan and even undermined public support for the war in Afghanistan.

08 December, 2009 09:01  
Blogger MaCanuck said...

Yo! Chatters. Same page here.

08 December, 2009 12:01  
Blogger Magnus said...

Trent: You are secretive in your way, I am secretive in mine. Blame my parents. My Mum worried about me going out with them and my Dad worried that I wasn't, so kept my mouth shut on the subject. And since you big mouths can't keep a secret...

Pete: I do believe that human industry is having an impact in terms of Global Warming. What astounds me is that so many people are against doing anything about emissions even when it is in their own best interests to do so. When 15% of Bangladesh (and other countries in its situation) is underwater and roughly 13 million people are displaced, tell me how that isn't going to effect the world at large? Even if warming is a natural occurance, how screwed is Vancouver, the Lower Mailand, Vancouver Island and the whole of the West Coast when the waters rise? Won't rising sea levels also affect rivers like the Fraser and tidal lakes like Pitt Lake also be affected?
Why do so many people not want to face this and do something about it? Even if reducing emissions won't reverse the cousre we are on - it will reduce pollution and that is a huge bonus.

08 December, 2009 16:11  
Blogger Magnus said...

For the record, I told Geo and Elijah about her so I am opening up.

08 December, 2009 16:12  
Blogger Glen McKay said...

I'm with MaCanuck on this, if you were dating & happy at the time why not tell us?

24 December, 2009 09:02  
Blogger Magnus said...

I'm just that kind of guy. :P thbppt!

24 December, 2009 12:32  
Blogger Magnus said...

As it is, she was like most of my relationships. Short and ends badly.

24 December, 2009 12:32  

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