* Posts by Alasdair

5 publicly visible posts • joined 3 Jul 2007

Police ad urges: 'Trust no one'

Alasdair
Flame

Shameful

I flew back into the country early Saturday morning and the first thing I saw on the underground was teh poster about reporting people looking at CCTV cameras. TBH it made me want to be a criminal and tear all the posters down. What a disgusting, shameful country we live in. I want to go back to the open and free place I was on holiday in: the Middle East!!

I'm a sceptic now, says ex-NASA climate boss

Alasdair
Boffin

@ Wonderkid

Congratulations for falling into the biggest,and most obvious trap when it comes to forecasting climate change: you've taken your short timescale reference and weather patterns in a small area as symbolic of how the entire planet's climate is changing over a long time.

Let's get one thing straight: Weather is not climate.

In the 60s Loch Lomond froze over completely for two winters; in 1994 Scotland had an incredible amount of snow; in 2006 the whole country had a scorching summer and lost most of its water. Then it rained for 18 months solid....

The point is these events cannot be taken as symbolic of the climate going one way or another; the frame of reference is far too short to extrapolate out. I really wish scientists would be more honest and just say "I dont know what's happening".

One last thought which relates to animals and weather/climate: has there ever been a single documented case of something in nature staying constant? I dont believe so. Animal populations ebb and flow due to all sorts of reasons (take any British bird species for example) and so does the climate. We should try not to panic so much and instead aim to clean up our act as a race because our current resources will run out rather than something that is impossible to prove.

Ian McKellen to reprise Gandalf

Alasdair

Fine, but please speak this time

Watch LOTR I, II or III again and notice how McKellen whispers every time he speaks. Usually followed by very loud, emotive music. Can we have some professional mastering for the two future films please?

The "original story" sounds horridly like something Christopher Tolkien would pass off as his father's work. It's not big, it's not clever and you're not your dad. Stop it.

BT's secret Phorm trials open door to corporate eavesdropping

Alasdair

Easy now Chris

"Liberal Democrat shadow culture, media and sport secretary Don Foster 'blasted' the Home Office's brick wall stance today."

careful Chris. Otherwise you'll be using words like 'actually' and 'basically' in your reports, like ITV.

MEP plans EU build ban on cars faster than 100mph

Alasdair

Good arguments against but...

... it's a waste of your good time if you are trying to convince Mr Davies he is (completely and utterly) wrong. Someone who comes up with arguments like that for new legislation is beyond help and he undermines every other MEP/MP's hard won respect by showing such a complete lack of regard for facts.

I'm a mechanical engineer and can think of a couple more reasons why the legislation wouldn't work without really trying but I shant waste my time. I guess I don't even have to mention the proportion of total CO2 production that is attributable to motor vehicles ?

Mr Davies: please inform us when you have put your brain back into gear. It is very hard for us to tell when this has happened.