Chazd's (Charles Dowdell's) News Burps

Getting used to the "real" world is going to take some time. I will probably not ever totally end up where I was before my adventure and that is ok. I certainly do keep busy.

One of the things I planed on doing when I was on the ice was to form an opinion about global warming based on what I saw with my own two eyes in Antarctica. Antarctica certainly was not warm for the most part when I was there but it was warmer on some days than most people would have thought. The sea ice has not melted and broken up in McMurdo Sound for at least 6 years. This year it receded more than it had in some recent past but still it had not receded to the point when Shackleton and Scott were sailing around McMurdo sound.

One of the things that irritates me is how the Antarctica card is being played in the global warming arguement. Most people have not and will not personally expereince Antarctica. So the political technocracy can use facts regarding Antarctica to advantage. For example, a story regarding the calving of huge ice sheets and iceburgs can sway an unsuspecting populus. There is a lot of ice in antarctica and I suspect the calving of the icesheets and the overall ice boundaries of the continent are in and have been in great flux for quite some time. The jumps of fact that humans are directly causing global warming through in direct comparisons of events in Antarctica is just not appropriate or good science.

Now if you asked me, "Are humans affecting the earth?", my gut feeling is of course. I don't need proof and some iceberg is not going to prove these things to me either way. The data is pretty clear that the earth is warming and that warming may be part of a normal cycle.

I am not terrified of global warming. In fact, I believe the folks that are most worried about global warming are the environmental control-freaks we most have the most to fear. The earth is alive and has been alive through terrific cataclysmic events on a cosmic scale for much-much longer than humans (or pond scum even) have been around . Changing the warming trend is possibly a very human-controlling effort that may exceed natural forces behind our warming trend. Green is popular and growing.

Humans can and will adapt to live on earth no-matter what it is like if it is changing slowly.

Here is a picture of a sundog I took on the way to work. I saw some nice sundogs in Antarctica no doubt. I think we called them perihelia more than sundogs though. Rainbows no matter what the temperature are nice. The other picture I don't think I posted before. I remember that particular day (1-17-07) fondly at the catchy name of S 77 30' 86.1" and 166 49' 37.6". It was a peak experience.

Life is getting back to normal. I went to work the other day and I was greeted by a very large species of penguin. It seems strange being back. My outlook has changed. I am seeing things I didn't see before. Success is ahead.

I have been studying flight manuals and making other plans. I missed my big red parka so much I ended up buying a new winter coat and some new boots. This is the time of year. Things go on sale. I bought some bunny boots on ebay for 33 bucks (with shipping). They are very nice. I am quite happy with them. Actually they are Mickey boots. They are black not white and they are not rated quite as cold as the ones I had on the ice. I will be snowshoeing this afternoon since I have at least 9 pounds to loose from the ice. My membership in the fitness center is also reinstated. I have been working on getting the audio system in the house setup as well. I have an old computer setup as a MPEG server that will connect to the Mcintosh preamp and Fisher amp I scored recently. The subwoofer (one of them) has been concealed in the coffee table. I am looking at video cards for HDTV and planning the video setup next.

Calisto the llama is doing pretty good. That llama owes Bonnie forever since she nursed him back from the brink of the grave. His wound is healing and the Meningia worm lost during this salvo.