"Children Just Aren't Going to Know What Snow Is!"

Global warming fanatics and proponents of political cap and trade regulation just can't catch a break.  Unfortunately, neither can European travelers, it seems.


Just when Iceland thought global warming was destroying their glaciers, a surprise eruption earlier in the year from the glacial Eyjafjallajökull volcano grounded airplanes for weeks, stranded hundreds of thousands of travelers, and reminded the world that liquid magma and scorching steam generally has a greater impact on frozen water than high concentrations of atmospheric gases.


Now, as world leaders return home from their annual global warming summit in Cancun to educate the world about how winter and snow are climate conditions of the past, northern Europe is blasted with the worst blizzard in 100 years, leaving a half a million passengers once again trapped at airports and train stations, bringing England's rail systems to a freezing halt, and even forcing German airports to hire clowns to keep stranded passengers entertained.


The storm is yet another chilling reminder that weather patterns tend to be cyclical by nature, regardless of the regulatory feel-good political efforts to change climate...change.


Question: Does Dr. David Viner, the senior research scientist of the University of East Anglia's climatic research unit still have a job after his claims from ten years ago that by now, thanks to man-made global warming, "children just aren't going to know what snow is" and winter snowfalls will have become "rare and exciting" events?  As Europe struggles to de-ice their vehicles, rebook their holiday travel plans, and in general just keep their heads above the snow drifts, I certainly hope someone from his department has clued him in that, surprise, it tends to snow during winters.


For that matter, at which ski resort is Al Gore roasting chestnuts by an open fire?


Old Man Winter once again is showing the international community that it needn't be concerned --especially during this particularly frigid holiday season-- about snowfalls being a thing of the past.


~Gee

An Inconvenient Eruption

Back in March, a little-known volcano snugly situated under Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull glacier erupted, resulting in the evacuation of hundreds of local townspeople from the region.  This event received little media attention until less than a month later, the same volcano erupted a second time, emitting huge, billowing plumes of ash and smoke into the atmosphere. Authorities evacuated the local population again, and now, as a massive smoke cloud drifts southeast across central Europe, as hundreds of international flights are inconveniently cancelled, and as the world takes a renewed interest in how volcanic eruptions influence the earth’s geography, climate, and inhabitants, I can’t help but wonder...

Considering how there’s been a smoldering volcano gearing up to spew liquid hot magma out from underneath the glacier’s surface, why again did Iceland’s Reykjavik City Environmental Department blame the glacier’s melting on man-made global warming, predicting their glaciers would “completely disappear” within the next 200 years unless the country reduced its greenhouse emissions by 70 percent?

What about the President of Iceland, who constantly lobbied against former President Bush to visit Iceland in person to see the melting firsthand – when will he issue an official apology for blaming the melting of his country’s sixth largest glacier on America’s refusal to sign the Kyoto treaty?

Moreover, I'd really like to know, how in the world do you pronounce "Eykafkallajökull"? (Even with the audio pronunciation, I’m still baffled.)