This Country, This World

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Sure, you can show it to your Social Studies teacher as long as you don't claim it as your own. lol. Just say it came from "some guy" on the internet or something.I am happy that technologies are developing toward a more "world friendly" approach.In your last paragraph, I agree that things are changing everyday. We can't expect change too abruptly, otherwise people will reject it. Babysteps is the key. I just hope that we change things fast enough before mother nature decides to wipe a lot of us out.I don't have a TV, but I did get to watch some of the weather channel when I visited my parents over the holidays. My dad was watching it and all I hear about is global warming and the things people are doing to "go green". They said something about Wal-Mart going green and I thought was very interesting.Though, you'll be surprised at how many people are ill-informed of the global problems we're going to face in the near future if things continue the way they are. If someone gets onto this site, reads this post, and talks about it to two people and they talk to two people... then it was all worth it.

Quote: Studies have shown that the brightest and the best often doubt themselves, whereas, the not-as-bright often have boundless self-confidence in their ability and knowledge -- little self-reflection or self-doubt. Reminds me of my co-worker. He has a know-it-all complex. We went to a certification center and took the same test. I passed and he didn't. He couldn't believe it. He was so confident that he passed and I had more of a shrugs kind of an attitude. He failed two more times before he passed it. At $110 everytime you take it, it wasn't a pretty sight. What I noticed when I tried to help him is that he insisted that certain questions were a certain answer and it was not. All I could say was, "You may be right, but that's not what the company who made the test wants you to answer." We have to give a little to gain a little.

Haha, well... Basically, today's society is broken. Especially in the United States. We have become a processed food mongering, materialistic, government dependent, I-WANT-IT-NOW, pill-poppin' countryWell I and none of my blood relatives eat frozen dinners for one. We eat fast food sometimes and eat out on rare occassions but the kitchen is the most used room in the house. Yes, I can cook. I know for a fact I'm not materialistic becuase I'm still in the Dark Ages with technology don't even ask me. I'm not too happy about the government we could be doing a better job... understatement. I never get what I want when I want it lol and I can't take pills only folic acid because I'm anemic. But that's rare. I know alot of people like me but it's still rare at least around here. My bff is the total opposite of me because she's one of those people who splurge their money like crazy and wouldn't get her hands dirty for anything or anyone. Matter of fact everytime I'm at her house I end up fixing us something to eat if she doesn't end up buying. But yeah I completely agree with you. America is kinda... nevermind. But that's life. You don't have to follow the crowd.

At least he had the opportunity to confront a situation where he was able to get objective feedback on his performance. But if you're the CEO of a company, for instance, there is usually no clear and direct feedback available. Even if the stock price craters a couple of years into a CEO's tenure, the blame can be placed on all kinds of things.You kind of need that mindset in acute situations, like when an airline pilot or surgeon confronts an emergency, but it works poorly in situations that need though and deliberation, such as in setting corporate or government policy...or when a contractor works on your house.

I think some of us are built for jobs that need that attribute of unflinching confidence. Though, I hope this status of confidence is gained for good reason. As for my co-worker, he's 21 and has been working in the computer feild for about 5 years now.I believe we agree with each other on this particular subject.

Studies have shown that the brightest and the best often doubt themselves, whereas, the not-as-bright often have boundless self-confidence in their ability and knowledge -- little self-reflection or self-doubt.Truer words have never been spoken.

I read that in the newspaper about seven years ago. I wish I would have saved the article.

Just curious if you ever presented my post to your social studies teacher. I can only imagine what people had to say about it.EDIT : I meant to send this in a PM. Don't post and while under the influence of sleep deprivation.

Isnt Nemisis more fitting than arch enemy?I always wanted my own nemisis, can I get one at sears?

you know, I believe, as a human race, we, are total idiots. We've destroyed our enviroment ot such an exstent that it might never be the same, and it takes an entire scientific pannel to determine after weeks of pondering that "Global warming is indeed happening and there is a 90% chance that global warming is caused by humans" FUCKING DUH!!!! If asked 7 years ago "what is global warming?"i would have said "thats Humans destroying our enviromentby releasing CO2 into the atmosphere". I went to Washington for a vacation last summer, and i was absolutely shocked when I got on the ferry and people were having popcorn, it was 8 in the morning, and there was a pop corn machine on the ferry, you americans wonder why your so fat, its because your small pops are as big as our canadian larges, because you do everythign in excess, and the pill poping, thats not all your fault, I mean, Doctors over perscribe medication, they do, and everybody should trust theri doctor right?

I like the way you think.It is my hope that the young generations of today and to come will realize many of the things that are discussed here. I hope it will not be too late by the time we decide to do something on a mass scale. If I am lucky, I will not see terrible things happen on a global level. Above that, I truly hope that the children of tomorrow will not see it either.

indeed, I dont want my future kids to have to deal with global warming, they'll have to, but hopefully my generation can do something to slow it down at least

With all due respect (and I do respect your concern for the world) your generation can do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to stop global warming. That's because the whole global warming brouhaha is a hoax. They barely got done crying "new ice age!" before they started the global warming crap. It's all based on junk science, if it's science at all.

Yeah, global warming does not exist! Its the same people that are going on about these "green-house gases" that are the ones that claim there was some sort of holocaust in the last century! Crazy nuts!

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That's because the whole global warming brouhaha is a hoax.

I'd love to see supporting evidence that it is a "hoax" and examples of what you refer to as "junk science".

IMO, I think Global Warming is a three fold problem. 1st. is the fact that there are less Oxygen emitting plants than there use to be. 2nd. We have increased Co2 emissions. 3rd. It could also be time for another Ice age. (I have not seen anyone look into the fact that this could not be another Global "cold snap" happening)

Quote:3rd. It could also be time for another Ice age. (I have not seen anyone look into the fact that this could not be another Global "cold snap" happening)My father has been talking about this for quite a long time now. Our negligence may serve as a catalyst toward an ice age. This is a part of what I meant when I said, "mother nature will find a way to kill off the overgrown human population".

You sound just like Senator Inhofe of Oklahoma.Climate scientists seem to be coming to a consensus that humans activity affects the climate. The Intergovernmntal Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is about to release its 4th Assessment Report, which states, among many other things, that there is a 90% certainty that human activity, mainly the release of greenhouse gases, is raising the average global temperature.There are very few climate experts who disagree. Even the ones who were the most skeptical have moved toward agreement that human activity is affecting the climate.The total rejection of the idea is coming from political organizations, like the Cato Institute, rather than scientific organizations.Your absolute rejection of the idea is dogmatic. It's a religious position. I can understand skepticism, or skepticism over whether we can do any thing about climate change, but rejecting it out-of-had is certainly not scientific. Even George Bush said that climate change and greenhouse gases are a problem -- finally.Even if we are in the midst of a natural global warming, adding more greenhouse gases will exacerbate the process. There will be serious problems for humans and most living things if the climate changes too quickly. Species can adopt and evolve just so fast.It's funny that Dick Cheney said a few years ago something like, the risk of terrorism is so high that even if there's a one percent chance that Saddam had WMDs, the U.S. had to take them out -- and so we invaded Iraq.Even if you thing the chance of global warming is a very small (but non-zero number), if you're wrong, the implications could be dire. In addition, moving away from our dependence on foreign oil will improve the security of the U.S.; it will eliminate the possibility of blackmail by Middle Eastern countries, Russia, and Venezuela. It will also make those countries less of a military and strategic threat. The situation is Russia now looks very bad for us, and it's being financed by petrodollars.Or should we just accept your from-the-fringe ideas out-of-hand?

I doubt you could convince me that the global warming alarmists aren't coming from an a priori - actually religious - allegiance to the supposed phenomena. And judging by some of the responses to my post...The IPCC...the same group that originally said that by the end of the century the sea level would rise three feet, but have now backed down to 17 inches (while Al Gore claims it will rise 20 feet.) The secret being kept from everyone is that the IPCC is not a scientific institution but is a political body of the UN. From the 1920's to the 50's the world was warned of Global Warming. In the 60's and 70's, the same people were warning us of a new Ice Age. Over the last 100 years, the same people have switched back and forth between the two four times. Here we go again. Global Warming alarmism has pretty much depended on this so-called hockey stick temperature graph. This graph claims to show that temperatures in the Western Hemisphere remained stable over 900 years, then spiked upward during the 20th Century, supposedly due to human activity. But this all falls apart when you consider the Medieval Warming Period from about 900 to 1300 AD and the Little Ice Age from about 1500 to 1850. And the blatant attempts of climate alarmists to erase these periods is pretty alarming. But the fact is you can't prove global warming by comparing today's average temperatures with those of the 1700's when the New York Harbor was freezing over.As much as you would deny it, there is a growing list of scientists, climatologists, and meteorologists who are saying that there is no alarming warming trend, and that whatever warming might be occurring is not due to human activity. And these scientists are being threatened, squelched, refused publication, and whatever else needs to be done to shut them up. Real science comes from a position of skepticism, not from a political/religious insistence that a thing is true followed by attempts to explain it scientifically.But I guess that's all irrelevant because you'd rather argue with statements like this:Quote:You sound just like Senator Inhofe of Oklahoma.and thisQuote:Or should we just accept your from-the-fringe ideas out-of-hand?It's so like you and yours to divert the discussion from the issue by calling names and characterizing anyone who is skeptical as "from the fringe". Well done.

I have been down this road of discussion before. People mention history and the natural temperature changes that have occured and that we may be in another heat or cold "spell" for a lack of a better word. I won't argue with history. Things like that do happen.The difference between history and today is technology and the fact that we're cutting down so many trees and multiplying so fast that the human to tree ratio alone is way off. We pollute the oceans with chemicals so algae dies off.It is true that we need carbon dioxide to live, but we also need oxygen. We are disturbing this balance. I'm not a scientist, but common sense should tell you that bad things will happen if we continue the way we are.Can you ignore the fact that recorded history hasn't seen the technologies humans have developed? Can you ignore the unbalancing of oxygen and carbon dioxide?I want to ask you a simple question. When you were a kid, how long could you stay out in the sun before you got sun burn? Do you think if you were a kid now that you could stay in the sun just as long without sun screen?