h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

BTW, I have absolutely no idea why I just spelled Adolf with a "ph".

Why do you always speak of "Mother Nature" in anthropomorphic terms as if she were an entity and yet deny the existence of God with your selfsame breath? The earth is not vengeful, nor is it seeking to destroy us for our sins, it's merely doing what it does and has always done. You contradict your own disbelief, ER ... you aren't being logical.

<< I hope that it's something similar to the events portrayed in the movie "The Day After Tomorrow", coz that seemed to mainly happen in the northern hemisphere>>

That's because it was a *winter* storm, Evil Roy. When the Northern Hemisphere has its winter, the Southern one has its summer. Once winter comes to the Southern Hemisphere, the ice age will take hold there as well.

Not that it couldn't just be a Northern-Hemisphere ice age. There have been a lot of ice ages, and they didn't all affect both hemispheres. However, I plan to see that you get yours.

That was a movie ... even if it failed to wipe out Australia.

Quite simply, AW, I can refer to Ma Nature in anthropomorphic terms because I do not for a second expect that anyone would think I were talking about a physical or even spiritual entity, merely the representation of events and consequences. On the other hand, those who attribute events to God, *do* expect me to accept that he/she is an actual entity which can control or direct those events.

No, the is not vengeful, but if a meteor smacks into it there will be a reaction. Similarly, if we, by our actions, change the composition of the atmosphere, it is logical to expect a reaction. I do not know what that reaction will be (and I do not see any evidence which would make me subscribe to the worst case scenarios), but I would not argue that it was the world "seeking to destroy us for our sins", one event would simply be a natural consequence of the other.

"Once winter comes to the Southern Hemisphere, the ice age will take hold there as well." - Yes, but we'll have had time to prepare for it!

One large volcano could change the composition of our atmosphere far more than all the pollution thrown off by our generation ... nature is on a much grander scale than we are. You are being arrogant to think that our puny activities have that much power.

"nature is on a much grander scale than we are" - Are you saying that we are not a part of nature? That's terribly elitist of you.

One large volcanic eruption would certainly add to the fun, but I would think it naive to assume that our activities might be completely insignificant.

Well, *your* activities are certainly not a part of anything that could be considered "natural", ER ... and I don't care what you think. Your brain is full of stinky little farts ... there is irrefutable evidence on your web pages.

And thus, the conversation reverted to the subject of farts, after much promising discussion of the anthropomorphic and scientific........ 'tis just the way of the world!

Oh, I *could* go on being elitist, as you so often are, ER ... but that would be too much like wo*k ... especially so near to my bedtime.

You know that I'm right, so why bother to argue your point?

I agree with Evil Roy for the most part. However, I don't know if having a few months to prepare for the ice age will do much good, unless you plan to move into the tropics. Come to think of it, about a third of Australia is already *in* the tropics. So, is it part of your grand plan to move, ER?

Anyway, I seem to recall having read that a number of earlier ice ages coincided with periods of extremely active volcanoes. Volcanic emissions reduce the amount of sunlight that can reach the earth. Sadly, our own pollution has reduced the sunlight by about 20% since about 1960. So, we really *could* tilt the balance toward a colder climate. Add in a few extra volcanoes, and this could be a joint effort toward ice age.

Why , Paul?

Yay! It's too damn hot in the summer anyway.


Don't take me too seriously, Paul. I have a more balanced view than my ornery comments would indicate.

I'm worried too when er starts, even partly agreeing with me!

No mate I don't have a reference for the Kilimanjaro story..It was just a short mention on the BBC radio extended news. And I wasn't comparing the tsunami (natural) with global warming (human caused..possibly)...I was just citing it as an example of the way something can happen out of a clear blue sky, to remind us that end of the day nature can suddenly do something very scary and destructive, to shake us out of our sense of safety that everything trolls along the same, day after day. Maybe you don't quite have the same complacency downunder cos your subject to things like cyclones in Oz, (further north than Melbourne I know...before you start explaining that to me), but we poms rarely have too much extreme in our weather patterns. Though in recent years we definitly have seen a change...winters are milder, spring comes on average 2 weeks earlier, mediterranan fish species have started appearing in our coastal waters, and southern Eurpean birds have now extended their range to us....

I reckon that there is a change in global climate due to industrialization.....I mean all that coal and oil that took millions of years to make, being combusted in a 150 years or so is bound to affect the planet's equilibrium...it's all a question of how much?

We need to petition "Dubya" for a federal research grant for "precision farting". I'm sure the United States government would GLADLY spend the money on something so worthwhile!

In the meantime - we are just fleas on the hide of a large elephant, and if that elephant decides to plunge into a lake for a swim, or jump off of a cliff - what can we as fleas do about it? Until we have the knowledge of how to manipulate the molten core of a planet, or create a livible atmosphere on Saturn or Jupiter - I think we're just pretty much along for the ride - don't you?

Speaking of "Dubya" I heard from a friend that they did a spoof on Dubya on one of the late night talk shows (Leno, Conan or Letterman - don't remember which now). Where they had an actor made up as Dubya talking. They asked him "what do plan to do after your presidency is over in 2008?" and he replied "I'm going to run for another term". The talk show host said "you can't do that - you can only serve two terms in a row" and Dubya answered "yes I can - the first term doesn't count as I wasn't really elected"..



You don't think that could happen do you???