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| Global warming and anti global warming scientists bet on future results |
| 2005-08-19 |
| EFL Two climate change sceptics, who believe the dangers of global warming are overstated, have put their money where their mouth is and bet $10,000 that the planet will cool over the next decade. The Russian solar physicists Galina Mashnich and Vladimir Bashkirtsev have agreed the wager with a British climate expert, James Annan. The pair, based in Irkutsk, at the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics, believe that global temperatures are driven more by changes in the sun's activity than by the emission of greenhouse gases. They say the Earth warms and cools in response to changes in the number and size of sunspots. Most mainstream scientists dismiss the idea, but as the sun is expected to enter a less active phase over the next few decades the Russian duo are confident they will see a drop in global temperatures. Dr Annan, who works on the Japanese Earth Simulator supercomputer, in Yokohama, said: "There isn't much money in climate science and I'm still looking for that gold watch at retirement. A pay-off would be a nice top-up to my pension." To decide who wins the bet, the scientists have agreed to compare the average global surface temperature recorded by a US climate centre between 1998 and 2003, with temperatures they will record between 2012 and 2017. If the temperature drops Dr Annan will stump up the $10,000 (now equivalent to about £5,800) in 2018. If the Earth continues to warm, the money will go the other way. I'll put an extra $100 on the Russians |
| Posted by:mmurray821 |
| #4 Iff Osama is the true Mahdi, and Zawi and Zarghy are His Prophets, whattta da odds of the Sun exploding once someone puts a bullet thru their heads - you know, ANTI-GOD SECULARISM. And there's Madonna - sniffle, sniffle - a'fallin off her hoss like Daddy Emperor Barbarossa of the Holy Roman Empire, or Mommy Maria THerese of Austria, etal.!? Make God and Daddy Attila proud and break those bones good, girl! |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2005-08-19 21:21 |
| #3 I'm with the Russians, but I think each side should put their $10,000 in escrow -- guys named "Annan" are not to be trusted. |
| Posted by: Darrell 2005-08-19 20:50 |
| #2 Geez, Penguin, I haven't heard the term "nuclear winter" since the 1st Gulf War, when loser Saddam had the Kuwaiti oil wells set on fire as his army was I seem to remember all the usual suspects had been warning that if he did that (as he had threatened), the smoke from the wells would cause "nuclear winter." It didn't affect the atmosphere at all, as far as I remember (though you could see the plumes of smoke from space). In fact, as far as I know, even Hiroshima/Nagasaki didn't cause "nuclear winter." What did you have in mind? |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2005-08-19 20:42 |
| #1 The Russkis are figuring the odds of events causing a Nuclear winter in the next decade are too damn good to pass up this bet. |
| Posted by: Penguin 2005-08-19 16:17 |