We really might know what it's like ...

Damn.

Believe it or not, 'liberals' aren't all lock-step behind Al Gore regarding "global warming." I've been planning to post for a while about why I think we may indeed be in a Maunder Minimum which may bring another "small Ice Age. The disappearance of this man-made Lake Delton outside Chicago and some of the whacked comments under reminded me of this debate. Will be back with more to say.

...OK, I'm back. The photo above is from the Chicago Tribune, and it's giving me flashbacks to my childhood in Imperial Valley, which is criss-crossed with irrigation canals feeding off the Colorado River. At 12, before we moved to the city that Frank Sinatra built, mom and dad loaded us on the truck and off we went with other families to two large canals that were drained for upkeep. We brought coolers full of ice to haul away with as many flip-flopping catfish and tilapia from the exposed sandy bottoms as our garage freezers could hold. YEEEEEEEEEEEEE-HAW :)

Anyway, the article points out that many Lake Delton residents appeared to have forgotten that their lake view was courtesy of a man-made dam, and not a dam built for longevity. And a dam that maintenance had been skipped till 2009. Infrastructure maintenance has been overlooked in my fair country with catastrophic consequences; sadly Katrina appears to be a lesson lost on politicians and voters alike.

About the Maunder Minimum, what looks like an overdue ice age, and the global warming debate, I think this event shows how little we appreciate the impact of the sun's cycles as well as eons of variables that have not even been taken into account yet. From what I've been reading about global warming, too, a good case is made that hydrocarbons do increase heat, but just how big a factor is it in the long run?

Climate alarmists grabbed an as-yet unproven ball and ran with it. And their head-in-the-sand counterparts on the right can now cry "TOLD YOU SO" while trying to ignoring the consequences of petrochemical toxins and overpopulation, etcetera, in one fell swoop just because the greenies are wrong on the longterm or short term impact of global warming.

So what happens after an ice age, if that's where we're headed? How do we keep ignoring what is happening right now: food and water shortages, riots and wars over dwindling resources that advanced society depends on? I think it's tragic that arguing over climate changes that even the best geologists, astronomers, climatologists, etcetera, don't have a handle on is being used as a way to ignore the mess we are in now.

And speaking of messes, and of my catfishing Imperial Valley days, the desert's own floodwater bowl is in sore need of rescue. For now it remains the go-to place if you enjoy the crunching sound of fish bones as you walk its "beach," the perfect tourist trap for Europeans on discount vacation packages in August, or a cheap place to make a surreal movie or music video:



and oh yes, I love this song.