You ever see the movie "Groundhog's Day?" Yes? Well, that's what it feels like to me. Every day. I wake up (remarkably, I can wake up at 0200 and feel great, then when I get up a mere three hours later, I can barely move because I'm so tired). I shower. I let the dog out. I leave the house. I see the same three Fed Ex trucks leave the highway. I work. I leave, then I do it all over again. Groundhog's Day. Time to make the doughnuts…
It's good to see that it's warmed up. And by warmed up I mean it's not 0 degrees Kelvin. Currently, it is 10 degrees, but the Weather Channel tells me that it FEELS like -2 degrees. For all I care it could be -10 degrees, because at this point it all feels the same: too cold.
And speaking of this cold, this climate change/global warming thing is getting out of hand. It's almost like a religion. One side is convinced it's caused by man, the other convinced that it's natural. Some variations - some think it's happening, others think it's not happening at all. Combine the themes and you cover the gambit of this nonsense. When I say "think" I should say "believe" because that's what it is now, a belief. Each side has what appears to be sound science backing them up, but at this point, I don't think there's a such thing as sound science in this debate. Each side merely finds what it wants that will back their belief up; sort of like religion. You don't find a whole lot of religions people that will admit to something that punches a whole in their beliefs, nor will you find many in the global warming/climate change debate. I find the whole thing humorous. Look at the words - climate change (doesn't sound all that bad, and perhaps more accurate); global warming (man-caused connotations, sounds very bad).
Personally, I think we're pretty arrogant to insist that we know just how this planet works; so well that we can say for certain that man caused climate change. We can't even predict the weather tomorrow with any degree of accuracy (it's more like reading omens and portents) let alone say with any certainty that anything is the cause. However, I don’t think that absolves us the responsibility to do something about it. I see no reason we cannot modify our lives, collectively, to lessen the load on our planet. We, the United States, developed nuclear weapons in the span of four years. The entire country's resources were mobilized, billions upon billions of dollars spent, and for what? A weapon that was used twice (to devastating effect, admittedly). We have thousands of these weapons now. But alternative energy sources are primitive. I would argue that climate change is more of a threat to us than nuclear holocaust. Yes, people fear being incinerated in megaton nuclear explosions, and a nuclear holocaust would surely bring about global climate change - but we wouldn't be around to see it. We can take a proactive approach to avoiding nuclear holocaust, and thus it isn't a problem really. Climate change is a problem, mostly because we're doing squat about it. We're hemming and hawing about it rather than doing anything to prevent it. Who cares what is causing it? That's not the important thing. The important thing is that in a few hundred years, earth may have a hard time supporting life, not only for flora and fauna of a less sentient nature, but for mankind. I think it's irresponsible to simply argue about it when we could be doing something to help. Debate and discussion are good things, but they're paralyzing us. Indecision will kill us. We've made a conscious decision as a species to try to avoid nuclear holocaust - good on us. But since the connection between man-made and nature is difficult to see, we're having a hard time acting at all. And it's not instantaneous, but happens over decades and centuries, and that doesn't serve to motivate people. But our descendents might just wish we'd have done something about it.
To reiterate my opinion - I don't care what the cause is, whether it's fossil fuels or emissions from carbon turds, it's our responsibility to help ease the burden. This is not a First World problem; it's a global problem, and nations like China should not be exempt from regulation. I'm tired of the endless debate and court jester "experts" slinging figures and "facts." The time to act is now, or there won't be any time left.
I'm now getting off my soap box; into the elevator and pushing the button for the ground floor.
Some woman was found guilty of poisoning her Marine husband with arsenic to collect his insurance policy and live a life of luxury (to include breast augmentation). Her lawyer told the jury that Cynthia Sommer had "lost her knight in shining armor" alluding to the fact that she didn't kill him because she loved him so much and he meant so much to her, etc, etc. Interestingly, she's engaged to a former Marine she met a mere two months after her husband's death. I guess he didn't mean that much after all…helluva mourning period. Well, at least I wasn't poisoned with arsenic.
Word of the Day: Homily (noun): 1. a sermon; a discourse on a religious theme; 2. a moralizing lecture or discourse; 3. an inspirational saying; also, a platitude. Surprisingly fitting today.
On This Day in History: The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital (1747). US government orders all Native Americans to move into reservations (1876). Mystery Science Theater 3000 ends its run on the Sci Fi channel (2004).
"Si vis pacem…para bellum."
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