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Cash-Soliciting monk in Queen St Questions surround people dressed as Buddhist monks who are targeting tourists and shoppers in Queen St to solicit cash donations for a Thai temple. An Auckland Thai temple says it is against the rules for Buddhist monks and nuns to ask for donations, and questions the monks' activities. At least three were spotted during the busy lunch hour yesterday, one wearing Nike sports shoes, and another a branded watch. A monk offered this Herald reporter a Buddha image and a prayer-bead wristband, then asked for donations - first to "cover the cost" of the items, then seeking larger sums for the Thai temple. He flipped open a notebook showing people had donated sums of between $5 and $200 to the cause. "Donate more and you get more blessing and peace from Buddha," said the monk in Nike shoes. He would not give his name or say which temple he was from. He said he had just arrived from Thailand and also needed money to help cover the cost of his air ticket. After the reporter identified himself, the monk claimed he spoke no English and began chanting and walked away. A woman said one of the monks followed her into a Queen St shop and asked her to get "cash out" from her Eftpos card after she told him that she had no cash. "I felt pressured into giving him $10 just to go away." Chavaritch Mounlath, spokesman for the Thai Watyarnprateep Buddhist Temple in Kelston, confirmed that the temple was not seeking any public donations. "They are definitely not Thai monks. The type of robe they are wearing is more Chinese, and you don't see monks wearing Nike and jeans under their robes," Mr Mounlath said. "We would advise people against donating anything to them because they could be imposters, and what they're doing is basically wrong." Mr Mounlath said that if the monks were from Thailand, their eyebrows would have been shaved. It was also against monastic rules for monks to solicit or beg for money, he said. "Monks do go out with alms bowls, but they do not ask for things, and what they get must have been given willingly," he said. "They would never ask for cash from strangers, or sell prayer beads and religious items in this way." Yesterday, a spokesman for the Auckland Council said city officials were aware of a monk operating in Queen St. "Council staff have observed the monk giving away literature and beads, for which he doesn't ask payment. As this is for religious reasons he does not require a permit under the current Street Trading Bylaw," he said. "Council's City Watch staff have received three complaints about him asking for donations over recent weeks, but this was done in a passive way and was not a breach. Harassment was not mentioned." In March, a man in monk's robes was issued with a police warning for his behaviour in soliciting donations in Auckland and Wellington. Officers said it appeared unlikely that he was collecting donations for religious purposes. According to police, that man was a Chinese national who had spent time in Australia. Last year, the Buddhist Council of NSW warned against bogus monks preying on tourists in Sydney. - NZ Herald

...cont ERROR 14 Big storm insurances losses "increasing" Gore says insurance losses arising from large storms and other extreme-weather events are increasing, by implication because of “global warming.†They are not. Insured losses, as a percentage of the population of coastal areas in the path of hurricanes, were lower even in 2005 than they had been in 1925. In 2006, a very quiet hurricane season, Lloyds of London posted their biggest-ever profit: £3.6 billion. ERROR 15 Mumbai "flooding" Gore says flooding in Mumbai is increasing, by implication because of “global warming.†It is not. Rainfall trends at the two major weather stations in Mumbai show no increase in heavy rainfall over the past 48 years. ERROR 16 Severe tornadoes "more frequent" Gore says that 2004 set an all-time record for tornadoes in the US. More tornadoes are being reported because detection systems are better than they were. But the number of severe tornadoes has been falling for more than 50 years. ERROR 17 The sun "heats the Arctic ocean" Gore says that ice-melt allows the Sun to heat the Arctic Ocean, and a diagram shows the Sun’s rays heating it directly. It does not. The ocean emits radiant energy at the moment of absorption, and would freeze if there were no atmosphere. It is the atmosphere, not the Sun that warms the ocean. Also, Gore’s diagram confuses the tropopause with the ionosphere, and he makes a number of other errors indicating that he does not understand the elementary physics of radiative transfer. ERROR 18 Arctic "warming fastest" Gore says the Arctic has been warming faster than the rest of the planet. It is not. While it is in general true that during periods of warming (whether natural or anthropogenic) the Arctic will warm faster than other regions, Gore does not mention that the Arctic has been cooling over the past 60 years, and is now one degree Celsius cooler than it was in the 1940s. There was a record amount of snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere in 2001. Several vessels were icebound in the Arctic in the spring of 2007, but few newspapers reported this. The newspapers reported that the North-West Passage was free of ice in 2007, and said that this was for the first time since records began: but the records, taken by satellites, had only begun 29 years previously. The North-West Passage had also been open for shipping in 1945, and, in 1903, the great Norwegian explorer Amundsen had passed through it in a sailing ship. ERROR 19 Greenland ice sheet "unstable" Gore says “global warming†is making the Greenland ice sheet unstable. It is not. Greenland ice grows 2in a year. The Greenland ice sheet survived each of the previous three interglacial periods, each of which was 5 degrees Celsius warmer than the present. It survived atmospheric CO2 concentrations of up to 1000 ppmv (compared with today’s 400 ppmv). It last melted 850,000 years ago, when humankind did not exist and could not have caused the melting. There is a close correlation between variations in Solar activity and temperature anomalies in Greenland, but there is no correlation between variations in CO2 concentration and temperature changes in Greenland. The IPCC (2001) says that to melt even half the Greenland ice sheet would require temperature to rise by 5.5 degrees C and remain that high for several thousand years. ERROR 20 Himalayan glacial melt waters "failing" Gore says 40% of the world’s population get their water supply from Himalayan glacial melt waters that are failing because of “global warming.†They don’t and they are not. The water comes almost entirely from snow-melt, not from ice-melt. Over the past 40 years there has been no decline in the amount of snow-melt in Eurasia. ERROR 21 Peruvian glaciers "disappearing" Gore says that a Peruvian glacier is less extensive now than it was in the 1940s, implying that “global warming†is the cause. It is not. Except for the very highest peaks, the normal state of the Peruvian cordilleras has been ice-free throughout most of the past 10,000 years. ERROR 22 Mountain glaciers worldwide "disappearing" Gore says that “the ice has a story to tell, and it is worldwide.†He shows several before-and-after pictures of glaciers disappearing. However, the glacial melt began in the 1820s, long before humankind could have had any effect, and has continued at a uniform rate since, showing no acceleration since humankind began increasing the quantity of CO2 in the atmosphere. Total ice volumes in three of the last four Ice Ages were lower than they are today, and “global warming†had nothing to do with that. ERROR 23 Sahara desert "drying" Gore says terrible tragedies are occurring in the southern Sahara because of drought which he blames on “global warming.†There is no drought caused by “global warming.†In 2007 there were record rains across the whole of the southern Sahara. In the past 25 years the Sahara has shrunk by some 300,000 square kilometers because of additional rainfall. Some scientists think “global warming†may actually mitigate pre-existing droughts because there will be more water vapor in the atmosphere. Before 1200 AD there were frequent, prolonged and severe droughts in the Great Plains. Since 1200 AD, there has been more rainfall. Likewise, the US has had more rainfall since the 1950s than it had in the earlier part of the 20th Century, when the great droughts which were then common were described by John Steinbeck in The Grapes of Wrath. South African rainfall was also more stable in the second half of the 20th Century, when human effect on climate is said to have become significant, than in the first half. ERROR 24 West Antarctic ice sheet "unstable" Gore says disturbing changes have been measured under the West Antarctic ice sheet, implicitly because of “global warming.†Yet most of the recession in this ice sheet over the past 10,000 years has occurred in the absence of any sea-level or temperature forcing. In most of Antarctica, the ice is in fact growing thicker. Mean Antarctic temperature has actually fallen throughout the past half-century. In some Antarctic glens, environmental damage has been caused by temperature decreases of up to 2 degrees Celsius. Antarctic sea-ice spread to a 30-year record extent in late 2007. ERROR 25 Antarctic Peninsula ice shelves "breaking up" Gore says half a dozen ice shelves each “larger than Rhode Island†have broken up and vanished from the Antarctic Peninsula recently, implicitly because of “global warming.†Global warming is unlikely to have been the cause. Gore does not explain that the ice shelves have melted before, as studies of seabed sediments have shown. The Antarctic Peninsula accounts for about 2% of the continent, in most of which the ice is growing thicker. All the recently-melted shelves, added together, amount to an area less than one-fifty-fifth the size of Texas. ERROR 26 Larsen B Ice Shelf "broke up because of 'global warming'" Gore focuses on the Larsen B ice shelf, saying that it completely disappeared in 35 days. Yet there has been extensive ice-shelf break-up throughout the past 10,000 years, and the maximum ice-shelf extent may have been in the Little Ice Age in the late 15th century. ERROR 27 Mosquitoes "climbing to higher altitudes" Gore says that, because of “global warmingâ€, mosquitoes are climbing to higher altitudes. They are not. Most recent outbreaks have been at lower levels than those of a century and more ago. He says that Nairobi was founded 1000 m above sea level so as to be above the mosquito line. It was not. In the period before anthropogenic warming could have had any significant effect, there were ten malaria outbreaks in Nairobi, one of which reached as far up as Eldoret, almost 3000 m above sea level. Malaria is not a tropical disease. Mosquitoes do not need tropical temperatures: they need no more than 15 degrees Celsius to breed. The largest malaria outbreak of modern times was in Siberia in the 1920s and 1930s, when 13 million were infected, 600,000 died and 30,000 died as far north as Arkhangelsk, on the Arctic Circle. There is no reason to suppose that malaria will spread even if the climate continues to become warmer. ERROR 28 Many tropical diseases "spread through 'global warming'" Gore says that, as well as malaria, “global warming†is spreading dengue fever, Lyme disease, West Nile virus, arena virus, avian flu, Ebola virus, E. Coli 0157:H7, Hanta virus, legionella, leptospirosis, multi-drug-resistant TB, Nipah virus, SARS and Vibrio Cholerae 0139. It is doing no such thing. Only the first four diseases are insect-borne, but none is tropical. Of the other diseases named by Gore either in his film or in the accompanying book, not one is sensitive to increasing temperature. They are spread not by warmer weather but by rats, chickens, primates, pigs, poor hygiene, ill-maintained air conditioning, or cold weather. ERROR 29 West Nile virus in the US "spread through 'global warming'" Gore says that West Nile virus spread throughout the US in just two years, implicitly because of “global warming.†It did not. The climate in the US ranges from some of the world’s hottest deserts to some of its iciest tundra. West Nile virus flourishes in any climate. Warming of the climate, however caused, does not affect its incidence or prevalence. ERROR 30 Carbon dioxide is "pollution" Gore describes carbon dioxide as “global warming pollution.†It is not. It is food for plants and trees. Tests have shown that even at concentrations 30 times those of the present day even the most delicate plants flourish. Well-managed forests, such as those of the United States, are growing at record rates because the extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is feeding the trees. Carbon dioxide, in geological timescale, is at a very low concentration at present. Half a billion years ago it was at 7000 parts per million by volume, about 18 times today’s concentration. ERROR 31 The European heat wave of 2003 "killed 35,000" Gore says, “A couple of years ago in Europe they had that heat wave that killed 35,000.†Though some scientists agree with Gore, the scientific consensus is that extreme warm anomalies more unusual than the 2003 heat wave occur regularly; extreme cold anomalies also occur regularly; El Niño and volcanism appear to be of much greater importance than any general warming trend; and there is little evidence that regional heat or cold waves are significantly increasing or decreasing with time. In general, warm is better than cold, which is why the largest number of life-forms are in the tropics and the least number are at the poles. A cold snap in the winter following the European heat wave killed 20,000 in the UK alone. Though the IPCC says 150,000 people a year are being killed worldwide by “global warming,†it reaches this figure only by deliberately excluding the number of people who are not being killed because there is less cold weather. In the US alone, it has been estimated that 174,000 fewer people are being killed each year because there are fewer episodes of extreme cold. ERROR 32 Pied flycatchers "cannot feed their young" Gore says “The peak arrival date for migratory birds 25 years ago was April 25. Their chicks hatched on June 3, just at the time when the caterpillars were coming out: Nature’s plan. But 20 years of warming later the caterpillars peaked two weeks earlier. The chicks tried to catch up with it, but they couldn’t. So they are in trouble.†Yet adaptation is easy for the flycatchers: they merely fly a few tens of kilometers further north and they will find caterpillars hatching at the appropriate time. Besides, though Gore does not say so, what is bad news for the pied flycatchers is good news for the caterpillars, and for the butterflies they will become. ERROR 33 Gore's bogus pictures and film footage In the book accompanying Gore’s film, the story of the pied flycatchers and the caterpillars is accompanied by a picture of a bird feeding her hungry chicks. However, closer inspection shows that the bird is not a pied flycatcher but a black tern; and that she is not carrying a caterpillar in her beak, but a small fish. Gore similarly misuses spectacular footage of a glacier apparently calving off enormous slabs of ice into the sea – footage that is often shown on television to accompany stories about “global warming.†However, the glacier in question is one that is known to be advancing – and to be doing so more rapidly and more often than previously. It is in southern Argentina, where its snout crosses – and eventually dams, Lake Argentino. Water builds up behind the ice dam and eventually bursts it, causing the spectacular collapse of ice into the lake that is so misleadingly used as the iconic image of the effect of “global warming†on glaciers. The breaking of the ice dam used to occur every eight years or so: now, however, it occurs every five years, not because of “global warming†because of the regional cooling of the southern Atlantic. ERROR 34 The Thames Barrier "closing more frequently" Gore says that rising sea levels are compelling the operators of the Thames Barrier to close it more frequently than when it was first built. They are not. The barrier is indeed closed more frequently than when it was built, but the reason has nothing to do with “global warming†or rising sea levels. The reason is a change of policy by which the barrier is closed during exceptionally low tides, so as to retain water in the tidal Thames rather than keeping it out. Yet even the present leader of the official Opposition in the UK Parliament recently used a major speech as the opportunity to mention today’s more frequent closing of the Thames Barrier as though it were a matter of grave concern. ERROR 35 "No fact...in dispute by anybody." Gore says that his prediction that the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide will rise to more than 600 parts per million by volume as soon as 2050 is “not controversial in any way or in dispute by anybody.†However, not one of the half-dozen official projections of growth in CO2 concentration made by the IPCC shows as much as 600 parts per million by 2050. Conclusion 35 serious scientific errors As many as 35 serious scientific errors or exaggerations, all pointing towards invention of a threat that does not exist at all, or exaggerations of phenomena that do exist, do not reflect credit on the presenter of the movie or on those who advised him. The movie is unsuitable for showing to children, and provides no basis for taking policy decisions. Schools that have shown the movie to children are urged to ensure that the errors listed in this memorandum are drawn to the children’s attention. For a detailed discussion, see: (http://scienceandpub...e_focus....html) and also (http://scienceandpub...el_rise....html) See (http://www.ff.org/ce...0331_issues.pdf) See: (http://ff.org/index....d=336&Itemid=77) See discussion at: (http://www.ff.org/ce...-MAC-4-8-04.pdf) For a serioius examination of this issue, see (http://scienceandpub...bay_and....html) Are Coral Reefs Endangered by Global Warming? (http://ff.org/index....d=382&Itemid=77) For a discussion of future hurricane trends for Florida, see: (http://scienceandpub...ocus_on....html) For an in depth look at these issues, see (http://scienceandpub...canethreat.html) For a discussion of the sun’s role in climate, see (http://scienceandpub...a_cause....html) See: (http://scienceandpub...ce_focus...html) For fuller discussion of Polar regions and Greenland, see: (http://scienceandpub..._the_poles.html) Discussion by world-class expert and IPCC reviewer: (http://ff.org/center...-change-mbd.pdf)

The following may be written or proposed by a nutter, all I say is look at what is said, rather than who said it... ~~~ Christopher Walter, Third Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, is a former policy advisor to Margaret Thatcher during her years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He may reached through SPPI, or directly at (monckton@mail.com). 35 Inconvenient Truths The errors in Al Gore’s movie ''' this is edited for clarity, the full page may be found here http://scienceandpub...goreerrors.html ''' A spokesman for Al Gore has issued a questionable response to the news that in October 2007 the High Court in London had identified nine “errors†in his movie An Inconvenient Truth. The judge had stated that, if the UK Government had not agreed to send to every secondary school in England a corrected guidance note making clear the mainstream scientific position on these nine “errorsâ€, he would have made a finding that the Government’s distribution of the film and the first draft of the guidance note earlier in 2007 to all English secondary schools had been an unlawful contravention of an Act of Parliament prohibiting the political indoctrination of children. Al Gore’s spokesman and “environment advisor,†Ms. Kalee Kreider, begins by saying that the film presented “thousands and thousands of facts.†It did not: just 2,000 “facts†in 93 minutes would have been one fact every three seconds. The film contained only a few dozen points, most of which will be seen to have been substantially inaccurate. The judge concentrated only on nine points which even the UK Government, to which Gore is a climate-change advisor, had to admit did not represent mainstream scientific opinion. Ms. Kreider then states, incorrectly, that the judge himself had never used the term “errors.†In fact, the judge used the term “errors,†in inverted commas, throughout his judgment. ERROR 1 Sea level "rising 6 m" Gore says that a sea-level rise of up to 6 m (20 ft) will be caused by melting of either West Antarctica or Greenland. Though Gore does not say that the sea-level rise will occur in the near future, the judge found that, in the context, it was clear that this is what he had meant, since he showed expensive graphical representations of the effect of his imagined 6 m (20 ft) sea-level rise on existing populations, and he quantified the numbers who would be displaced by the sea-level rise. The IPCC says sea-level increases up to 7 m (23 ft) above today’s levels have happened naturally in the past climate, and would only be likely to happen again after several millennia. In the next 100 years, according to calculations based on figures in the IPCC’s 2007 report, these two ice sheets between them will add a little over 6 cm (2.5 inches) to sea level, not 6 m (this figure of 6 cm is 15% of the IPCC’s total central estimate of a 43 cm or 1 ft 5 in sea-level rise over the next century). Gore has accordingly exaggerated the official sea-level estimate by approaching 10,000 per cent. Ms. Kreider says the IPCC estimates a sea-level rise of “59 cm†by 2100. She fails to point out that this amounts to less than 2 ft, not the 20 ft imagined by Gore. She also fails to point out that this is the IPCC’s upper estimate, on its most extreme scenario. And she fails to state that the IPCC, faced with a stream of peer-reviewed articles stating that sea-level rise is not a threat, has reduced this upper estimate from 3 ft in 2001 to less than 2 ft (i.e. half the mean centennial sea-level rise that has occurred since the end of the last Ice Age 10,000 years ago) in 2007. Ms. Kreider says the IPCC’s 2007 sea-level calculations excluded contributions from Greenland and West Antarctica because they could not be quantified. However, Table SPM1 of the 2007 report quantifies the contributions of these two ice-sheets to sea-level rise as representing about 15% of the total change. The report also mentions the possibility that there may be an unquantified further contribution in future from these two ice sheets arising from “dynamical ice flow.†However, the Greenland ice sheet rests in a depression in the bedrock created by its own weight, wherefore “dynamical ice flow†is impossible, and the IPCC says that temperature would have to be sustained at more than 5.5 degrees C above its present level for several millennia before half the Greenland ice sheet could melt, causing sea level to rise by some 3 m (10 ft). Finally, the IPCC’s 2007 report estimates that the likelihood that humankind is having any influence on sea level at all is little better than 50:50. The judge was accordingly correct in finding that Gore’s presentation of the imagined imminent threat of a 6 m (20 ft) sea-level rise, with his account of the supposed impact on the present-day populations of Manhattan, the Netherlands, Bangladesh, etc., etc, was not a correct statement of the mainstream science on this question. ERROR 2 Pacific islands "drowning" Gore says low-lying inhabited Pacific coral atolls are already being inundated because of anthropogenic global warming, leading to the evacuation of several island populations to New Zealand. However, the atolls are not being inundated, except where dynamiting of reefs or over-extraction of fresh water by local populations has caused damage. Furthermore, corals can grow at ten times the predicted rate of increase in sea level. It is not by some accident or coincidence that so many atolls reach just a few feet above the ocean surface. Ms. Kreider says, “The IPCC estimates that 150 million environmental refugees could exist by the year 2050, due mainly to the effects of coastal flooding, shoreline erosion and agricultural disruption.†However, the IPCC cannot be basing its estimate on sea-level rise, since even its maximum projected rise of just 30 cm (1 ft) by 2050 would not cause significant coastal flooding or shoreline erosion. There are several coastlines (the east coast of England, for instance) where the land is sinking as a consequence of post-ice-age isostatic recovery, or where (as in Bangladesh) tectonic subduction is similarly causing the land to sink. But such natural causes owe nothing to sea-level rise. There have been no mass evacuations of populations of islanders as suggested by Gore, though some residents of Tuvalu have asked to be moved to New Zealand, even though the tide-gauges maintained until recently by the National Tidal Facility of Australia show a mean annual sea-level rise over the past half-century equivalent to the thickness of a human hair. The problem with the Carteret Islands, mentioned by Ms. Kreider, arose not because of rising sea levels but because of imprudent dynamiting of the reefs by local fishermen. In the Maldives, a detailed recent study showed that sea levels were unchanged today compared with 1250 years ago, though they have been higher in much of the intervening period, and have very seldom been lower. A well-established tree very close to the Maldivian shoreline and only inches above sea level was recently uprooted by Australian environmentalists anxious to destroy this visible proof that sea level cannot have risen very far. ERROR 3 Thermohaline circulation "stopping" Gore says “global warming†may shut down the thermohaline circulation in the oceans, which he calls the “ocean conveyor,†plunging Europe into an ice age. It will not. A paper published in 2006 says: “Analyses of ocean observations and model simulations suggest that changes in the thermohaline circulation during the last century are likely the result of natural multidecadal climate variability. Indications of a sustained thermohaline circulation weakening are not seen during the last few decades. Instead, a strengthening since the 1980s is observed.†Ms. Kreider, for Mr. Gore, says that “multiple scientists†have claimed that we cannot exclude the possibility of the disruption or shutdown of the Conveyor. Disruption, perhaps: shutdown, no. It is now near-universally accepted that the thermohaline circulation cannot be and will not be shut down by “global warming,†and the film should have been corrected to reflect the consensus. ERROR 4 CO2 "driving temperature" Gore says that in each of the last four interglacial warm periods it was changes in carbon dioxide concentration that caused changes in temperature. It was the other way about. Changes in temperature preceded changes in CO2 concentration by between 800 and 2800 years, as scientific papers including the paper on which Gore’s film had relied had made clear. Ms. Kreider says it is true that “greenhouse gas levels and temperature changes in the ice signals have a complicated relationship but they do fit.†This does not address Gore’s error at all. The judge found that Gore had very clearly implied that it was changes in carbon dioxide concentration that had led to changes in temperature in the palaeoclimate, when the scientific literature is unanimous (save only for a single paper by James Hansen, whom Gore trusts) to the effect that the relationship was in fact the other way about, with a carbon dioxide feedback contributing only a comparatively insignificant further increase to temperature after the temperature change had itself initiated a change in carbon dioxide concentration. The significance of this error was explained during the court proceedings, and was accepted by the judge. Gore says that the 100 ppmv difference between carbon dioxide concentrations during ice-age temperature minima and interglacial temperature maxima represents “the difference between a nice day and a mile of ice above your head.†This would imply a CO2 effect on temperature about 10 times greater than that regarded as plausible by the consensus of mainstream scientific opinion (see Error 10). Ms. Kreider refers readers to a “more complete description†available at a website maintained by, among others, two of the three authors of the now-discredited “hockey stick†graph that falsely attempted to abolish the Mediaeval Warm Period. The National Academy of Sciences in the US had found that graph to have “a validation skill not significantly different from zero†– i.e., the graph was useless. ERROR 5 Snows of Kilimanjaro "melting" Gore says “global warming†has been melting the snows of Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa. It is not. The melting of the Furtwangler Glacier at the summit of the mountain began 125 years ago. More of the glacier had melted before Hemingway wrote The Snows of Kilimanjaro in 1936 than afterward. Temperature at the summit never rises above freezing and is at an average of –7 Celsius. The cause of the melting is long-term climate shifts exacerbated by imprudent regional deforestation, and has nothing to do with “global warming.†Ms. Kreider says, “Every tropical glacier for which we have documented evidence shows that glaciers are retreating.†However, a recent survey of the glaciers in the tropical Andes shows that they were largely ice-free in the past 10,000 years, except on the very highest peaks. The mere fact of warming or melting, therefore, tells us nothing of the cause. Ms. Kreider says, “Global warming exacerbates the stresses that ecosystems (and humans) are already experiencing.†However, since the temperature at the summit of Kilimanjaro remains below freezing and has not risen in 30 years, “global warming†is not “exacerbating the stresses†at the summit of Kilimanjaro. ERROR 6 Lake Chad "drying up" Gore says “global warming†dried up Lake Chad in Africa. It did not. Over-extraction of water and changing agricultural patterns dried the lake, which was also dry in 8500BC, 5500BC, 1000BC and 100BC. Ms. Kreider says, “There are multiple stresses upon Lake Chad.†However, the scientific consensus is that at present those “stresses†do not include “global warming.†ERROR 7 Hurricane Katrina "man made" Gore says Hurricane Katrina, that devastated New Orleans in 2005, was caused by “global warming.†It was not. It was caused by the failure of Gore’s party, in the administration of New Orleans, to heed 30 years of warnings by the Corps of Engineers that the levees – dams that kept New Orleans dry – could not stand a direct hit by a hurricane. Katrina was only Category 3 when it struck the levees. They failed, as the Engineers had said they would. Gore’s party, not “global warming,†was to blame for the consequent death and destruction. Ms. Kreider says, “Mr. Gore has never addressed the issue of climate change and hurricane frequency.†What Gore actually says, however, addresses the frequency not only of hurricanes but also of typhoons and tornadoes – “We have seen in the last couple of years, a lot of big hurricanes. Hurricanes Jean, Francis and Ivan were among them. In the same year we had that string of big hurricanes; we also set an all time record for tornadoes in the United States. Japan again didn’t get as much attention in our news media, but they set an all time record for typhoons. The previous record was seven. Here are all ten of the ones they had in 2004.†For the record, however, the number of Atlantic hurricanes shows no trend over the past half century; the number of typhoons has fallen throughout the past 30 years; the number of tornadoes has risen only because of better detection systems for smaller tornadoes; but the number of larger tornadoes in the US has fallen. ERROR 8 Polar bear "dying" Gore says a scientific study shows that polar bears are being killed swimming long distances to find ice that has melted away because of “global warming.†They are not. The study, by Monnett & Gleason (2005), mentioned just four dead bears. They had died in an exceptional storm, with high winds and waves in the Beaufort Sea. The amount of sea ice in the Beaufort Sea has grown over the past 30 years. A report for the World Wide Fund for Nature shows that polar bears, which are warm-blooded, have grown in numbers where temperature has increased, and have become fewer where temperature has fallen. Polar bears evolved from brown bears 200,000 years ago, and survived the last interglacial period, when global temperature was 5 degrees Celsius warmer than the present and there was probably no Arctic ice-cap at all. The real threat to polar bears is not “global warming†but hunting. In 1940, there were just 5,000 polar bears worldwide. Now that hunting is controlled, there are 25,000. Ms. Kreider says sea-ice “was the lowest ever measured for minimum extent in 2007.†She does not say that the measurements, which are done by satellite, go back only 29 years. She does not say that the North-West Passage, a good proxy for Arctic sea-ice extent, was open to shipping in 1945, or that Amundsen passed through in a sailing vessel in 1903. ERROR 9 Coral reefs "bleaching" Gore says coral reefs are “bleaching†because of “global warming.†They are not. There was some bleaching in 1998, but this was caused by the exceptional El Nino Southern Oscillation that year. Two similarly severe El Ninos over the past 250 years also caused extensive bleaching. “Global warming†was nothing to do with it. Ms. Kreider says, “The IPCC and other scientific bodies have long identified increases in ocean temperatures with the bleaching of coral reefs.†So they have: but the bleaching in 1998 occurred as a result not of “global warming†but of a rare, though not unique, severe El Nino Southern Oscillation. ERROR 10 100 ppmv of CO2 "melting mile-thick ice" Gore implies that the difference of just 100 parts per million by volume in CO2 concentration between an interglacial temperature maximum and an ice-age temperature minimum causes “the difference between a nice day and having a mile of ice above your head.†It does not. Gore’s implication has the effect of overstating the mainstream consensus estimate of the effect of CO2 on temperature at least tenfold. Temperature changes by up to 12 degrees C between glacial minima and interglacial maxima, but CO2 concentration changes by no more than 100 ppmv. Gore is accordingly implying that 100 ppmv can cause a temperature increase of up to 12 degrees C. However, the consensus as expressed by the IPCC is that 100 ppmv of increased CO2 concentration, from 180 to 280 ppmv, would increase radiant energy flux in the atmosphere by 2.33 watts per square meter, or less than 1.2 degrees Celsius including the effect of temperature feedbacks. ERROR 11 Hurricane Caterina "manmade" Gore says that Hurricane Caterina, the only hurricane ever to strike the coast of Brazil, was caused by “global warming.†It was not. In 2004, Brazil’s summer sea surface temperatures were cooler than normal, not warmer. But air temperatures were the coldest in 25 years. The air was so much colder than the water that it caused a heat flux from the water to the air similar to that which fuels hurricanes in warm seas. ERROR 12 Japanese typhoons "a new record" Gore says that 2004 set a new record for the number of typhoons striking Japan. It did not. The trend in the number of typhoons, and of tropical cyclones, has fallen throughout the past 50 years. The trend in rainfall from cyclones has also fallen, and there has been no trend in monsoon rainfall. ERROR 13 Hurricanes "getting stronger" Gore says scientists had been giving warnings that hurricanes will get stronger because of “global warming.†They will not. Over the past 60 years there has been no change in the strength of hurricanes, even though hydrocarbon use went up six-fold in the same period. Research by Dr. Kerry Emanuel, cited by Ms. Kreider, has been discredited by more recent findings that wind-shear effects tend to nullify the amplification of hurricane strength which he had suggested, and, of course, by the observed failure of hurricanes to gain strength during the past 60 years of “global warming.†cont...

Hottest year ever? Giant clam reveals Middle Ages were warmer than today Anthony Watts / 1 day ago January 5, 2015 While government science and media begin the ramp-up to claim 2014 as the “hottest year ever†China’s Sea’s biggest bivalve shows that the Middle Ages were warmer than today, when Carbon Dioxide was lower. From the Chinese Academy of Sciences: Two recent papers, one is in Earth-Science Reviews and the other is in Chinese Science Bulletin, have studied key chemical contents in micro-drilled giant clams shells and coral samples to demonstrate that in the South China Sea the warm period of the Middle Ages was warmer than the present. The scientists examined surveys of the ratio of strontium to calcium content and heavy oxygen isotopes, both are sensitive recorders of sea surface temperatures past and present. The aragonite bicarbonate of the Tridacna gigas clam-shell is so fine-grained that daily growth-lines are exposed by micro-drilling with an exceptionally fine drill-bit, allowing an exceptionally detailed time-series of sea-temperature changes to be compiled – a feat of detection worthy of Sherlock Holmes himself. By using overlaps between successive generations of giant clams and corals, the three scientists – Hong Yan of the Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Willie Soon of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Yuhong Wang of Fudan University, Shanghai – reconstructed a record of sea-surface temperature changes going back 2500 years. The Roman and Mediaeval Warm Periods both showed up prominently in the western Pacific and East Asia. Sea surface temperatures varied considerably over the 2500-year period. Changing patterns of winter and summer temperature variation were also detected, disproving the notion that until the warming of the 20th century there had been little change in global temperatures for at least 1000 years, and confirming that – at least in the South China Sea – there is nothing exceptional about today’s temperatures. Dr. Yan said: “This new paper adds further material to the substantial body of real-world proxy evidence establishing that today’s global temperature is within natural ranges of past changes.†Dr. Soon added: “The UN’s climate panel should never have trusted the claim that the medieval warm period was mainly a European phenomenon. It was clearly warm in South China Sea too.â€

Final – The 2014/15 El Niño – Part 22 – January 2015 Update – You Make the Forecasts for the 2015/16 Season This is the final post in The 2014/15 El Niño series. It began back in April 2014 when many people were expecting a strong El Niño due to the magnitude of the downwelling (warm) Kelvin wave. But the development of the El Niño floundered because it was missing something very important: additional westerly wind bursts to help push additional warm water from the west to the east along the equatorial Pacific. As a result, there was a general warming of the tropical Pacific in 2014, comparable to a moderate El Niño, as the warm water from the downwelling Kelvin wave rose to the surface. But the warming didn’t initially occur in the east-central portion (NINO3.4 region) of the equatorial Pacific. It wasn’t until the secondary downwelling (warm) Kelvin waves reached the eastern equatorial Pacific later in 2014 that the surface of the NINO3.4 region warmed to El Niño conditions…and continued to stay there. Something else happened that might be considered unusual. A pocket of warm water from the initial Kelvin wave was diverted from the Pacific equatorial undercurrent (Cromwell Current) to the south, just east of the dateline. That pocket of warm water migrated west and then fed back to the equator, where it supplied additional warm water for secondary Kelvin waves in 2014. El Niño conditions may or may not have existed for much of 2014, depending on the metric used to define an El Niño: ~~~~~ More at the Link I reckon this goes to show how imprecise forecasts can be, and how Al Gore et al are just riding the "Tax 'em if you can" wagon

In 2005, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) warned that imminent sea-level rises, increased hurricanes, and desertification caused by “man-made global warming†would lead to massive population disruptions. In a handy map, the organization highlighted areas that were supposed to be particularly vulnerable in terms of producing “climate refugees.†Especially at risk were regions such as the Caribbean and low-lying Pacific islands, along with coastal areas. The 2005 UNEP predictions claimed that, by 2010, some 50 million “climate refugees†would be frantically fleeing from those regions of the globe. However, not only did the areas in question fail to produce a single “climate refugee,†by 2010, population levels for those regions were actually still soaring. In many cases, the areas that were supposed to be producing waves of “climate refugees†and becoming uninhabitable turned out to be some of the fastest-growing places on Earth. In the Bahamas, for example, according to the 2010 census, there was a major increase in population, going from around 300,000 in 2000 to more than 350,000 by 2010. The population of St. Lucia, meanwhile, grew by five percent during the same period. The Seychelles grew by about 10 percent. The Solomon Islands also witnessed a major population boom during that time frame, gaining another 100,000 people, or an increase of about 25 percent. In China, meanwhile, the top six fastest growing cities were all within the areas highlighted by the UN as likely sources of “climate refugees.†Many of the fastest-growing U.S. cities were also within or close to “climate refugee†danger zones touted by the UN Rather than apologizing for its undisputable mistake after being first exposed by reporter Gavin Atkins at Asian Correspondent, the global body responded in typical alarmist fashion: with an Orwellian coverup seeking to erase all evidence of its ridiculous predictions. First, the UNEP took its “climate refugees†map down from the Web. That failed, of course, because the content was archived online prior to its disappearance down the UN “memory hole. Then the UNEP tried and failed to distance itself from the outlandish claims, despite the fact that the map was created by a UNEP cartographer, released by UNEP, and repeatedly hyped by the outfit in its scaremongering campaigns. Eventually, as more and more media around the world began picking up the story, a spokesperson for the UN agency claimed the map was removed because it was “causing confusion.†It was hardly the first time UN bureaucrats had made such dire predictions, only to be proven wrong. On June 30, 1989, the Associated Press ran an article headlined: “UN Official Predicts Disaster, Says Greenhouse Effect Could Wipe Some Nations Off Map.†In the piece, the director of the UNEP’s New York office was quoted as claiming that “entire nations could be wiped off the face of the earth by rising sea levels if global warming is not reversed by the year 2000.†He also predicted “coastal flooding and crop failures†that “would create an exodus of ‘eco-refugees,’ threatening political chaos.†Other UN predictions were so ridiculous that they were retracted before they could even be proven wrong. Consider, as just one example, the scandal that came to be known as “Glaciergate.†In its final 2007 report, widely considered the “gospel†of “settled†climate “science,†the UN IPCC suggested that Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2035 or sooner. It turns out the wild assertion was lifted from World Wildlife Fund propaganda literature. The IPCC recanted the claim after initially defending it. http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/18888-embarrassing-predictions-haunt-the-global-warming-industry

Americans who lived through the 1960s and ’70s may remember the dire global-cooling predictions that were hyped and given great credibility by Newsweek, Time, Life, National Geographic, and numerous other mainstream media outlets. According to the man-made global-cooling theories of the time, billions of people should be dead by now owing to cooling-linked crop failures and starvation. “If present trends continue, the world will be about four degrees colder for the global mean temperature in 1990, but 11 degrees colder by the year 2000,†claimed ecology professor Kenneth E.F. Watt at the University of California in 1970. “This is about twice what it would take to put us in an ice age.†Of course, 2000 came and went, and the world did not get 11 degrees colder. No ice age arrived, either. In 1971, another global-cooling alarmist, Stanford University professor Paul Ehrlich, who is perhaps best known for his 1968 book The Population Bomb, made similarly wild forecasts for the end of the millennium in a speech at the British Institute for Biology. “By the year 2000 the United Kingdom will be simply a small group of impoverished islands, inhabited by some 70 million hungry people,†he claimed. “If I were a gambler, I would take even money that England will not exist in the year 2000 and give ten to one that the life of the average Briton would be of distinctly lower quality than it is today.†Of course, England still exists, and its population was doing much better in 2000 than when Ehrlich made his kooky claims. But long before 2000, Ehrlich had abandoned global-cooling alarmism in favor of warning that the Earth faced catastrophic global warming. Now he is warning that humans may soon be forced to resort to cannibalism. http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/18888-embarrassing-predictions-haunt-the-global-warming-industry

Al Gore's Climate Calculations Prove Wrong — Again Written by Rebecca Terrell Five years ago at a UN Conference on Climate Change, Al Gore predicted that, global warming having reached such an unbridled pitch, the North Pole might be completely ice-free during the summer of 2014. This climate change crusader had made the same claim when he accepted the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Was he right? Let's take a look. The Danish Meteorological Institute's (DMI) Centre for Ocean and Ice closely monitors Arctic sea ice extent and publishes a monthly plot on its website. According to DMI, 2014 is the second summer in a row that the ice cap has expanded. Data from the U.S. National Snow & Ice Data Center (NSIDC) agrees, showing 2014's summer ice well within the average range for the years 1961-2010. In fact, NSIDC's website points out an ice extent decline rate of "slightly less than the average" for the month of August. This year's sea ice surge is no trifle. The U.K.'s Daily Mail notes that NSIDC's numbers indicate a 43 percent increase of 1.71 million square kilometers of ice over the course of the last two summers. DMI's statistics are even more dramatic because of a different measuring system that agency uses. It reports a 63 percent rise — from 2.7 million to 4.4 million square kilometers — over the same time period. So it looks like Al Gore was wrong, despite his Nobel Peace Prize. But we can forgive an honest mistake, can't we? If only it were honest. Within hours of Gore's ice-free-Arctic prediction at the 2009 UN Conference on Climate Change, the scientist he had referenced told UK's The Times, "I would never try to estimate likelihood at anything as exact as this" and said his research identified polar ice "beyond 2020." Gore had based his assertion on what he called "fresh" research by this U.S. Naval Post-Graduate School professor, Dr. Wieslav Maslowski. "I don’t know when [the data] were released, but I just got them yesterday," Gore had told his UN audience, quoting a 75 percent likelihood. Later when The Times confronted the Nobel laureate, his office backpedaled, admitting the estimate was a "ballpark figure" from a conversation several years earlier between Gore and Maslowski. But the misquoted scientist told The Times, "It's unclear to me how this figure was arrived at." That may explain why Gore didn't return calls to The Daily Mail for comment about the 2014 summer sea ice spread. Unabashed and undaunted, the former U.S. vice president continues his campaign to save the planet. His Climate Reality Project website reads: "The majority of Americans believe man-man climate change is real. So why haven't we taken action to face this challenge?" This time he doesn't bother to specify where he got his "majority" statistic, but with his track record, would we trust his source? To answer his question, however, we'll turn to a recent Gallup poll which shows that 65 percent of us do, in fact, believe global warming is happening or will in the future. The poll doesn't specify what we think of the "man-made" part of Gore's contention, but it does answer his question about why we haven't taken action. It's because most of us know global warming is not a threat. Only half of the 65 percent of believers think global warming will ever endanger our way of life. But what about the polar bears' way of life? That's the big concern regarding sea ice extent because the ice is their hunting ground. Naysayers expect that less of it means they'll starve, and Al Gore adds to the worry by saying vast numbers of them will drown. Surely this summer's ice spread is good news for them. The bad news is that DMI and NSIDC declare Arctic ice continues in a steady overall decline since 1979. Does this mean the end is near for polar bears? It should come as no surprise that the answer is "no," and Gore and his alarmist cronies are wrong again. Polar bears have "certainly been around through the last interglacial period," biologist and government advisor Mitchell Taylor told Canada's CBC News. "During that interglacial it was warmer than it is now: we had pine trees on Baffin Island, deciduous forests north of the Arctic Circle. Polar bears had to survive that or we wouldn't be seeing polar bears now." Gore's disproven predictions add more notches to the ever-growing tally of climate alarmist prophecies that have been proven dead wrong. Alex Newman recently published a must-read comprehensive exposé of these "Embarrassing Predictions" in The New American. From catastrophic global cooling claims made in the 1960s and 1970s, to cataclysmic forecasts of global warming ever since — starvation, mass migration of "climate refugees," threats to national security, etc. — not one conjecture has come even close to reality. Yet the "Great Global Warming Swindle" continues to form the basis of national and international climate policies, wasting billions of tax dollars and stifling economies. John McManus, president of The John Birch Society, sums up these policies as "costly and unnecessary solutions" to a problem that doesn't exist, which leads to the conclusion that climate alarmists such as Gore aren't the only ones who are wrong. The majority of Americans who detect no threat from global warming are obviously mistaken, too. and from another source - a graphic...

What was the strange man doing? Inquiring minds need to know

Chief Professor, Associate Criminologist and Senior Lecturer in High Society Science and Elitism, Buppha Kulap Bussaba Hom Chuenchai Chimlin Dao said she thought the the suicide theory was quite valid, despite some irrelevant evidences. Chief Professor, Associate Criminologist and Senior Lecturer in High Society Science and Elitism, Buppha Kulap Bussaba Hom Chuenchai Chimlin Dao. She noted that "the several pieces of rope which were used in the suspected suicide appeared to be different" actually suggests that the death was caused by suicide. In this she concurred with Major General Captain Admiral Cheerleader Vice Consul General Secretary Colonel Somchai of the police box on the corner of Soi 131 and Sukhumvit's assertion that, "These Farangs are devilishly clever and not at all in tune with the Thai way of doing things, they will never understand Thailand". She also added that as far as she was aware, the victim was of the Prai, and therefore not worth upsetting the fabric of Thai society over. "Surely, this incident is a trivial matter, something for my maids to gossip about." In an unsolicited, last piece of advice for the media, she opined that "People would be better occupied, ensuring that entertainment superstars, like me, had more and favourable coverage across all media channels." and "I recommend Pasjel armpit whitening cream, required for whitening private areas. In dilute vials 10g purple artifice."

"No, seriously, did they just say this?! Or is this more parody... it's getting so hard to tell..." disclaimer: anything I post may be tongue in cheek, "why go to the bother" you ask? I'm bored here in Middle Earth. But this next is a real news report from http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/criminologist-doubts-suicide-theory-tourist A criminologist has voiced his support for calls by media and relatives of a victim of suspected suicide by the police and forensic experts to look for more evidences to determine the exact cause of the death the victim. The victim who was a tourist was found dead in his hotel room on New Year’s Day with his hands and neck tied to ropes. Police suspected he committed suicide by hanging himself. But Associate Professor Charnkanit Krittiya Suriyamanee, a criminologist and lecturer at the faculty of social science and humanities of Mahidol University, said he doubted the suicide theory citing some irrelevant evidences. He said that the victim had been drunk to the extent that he was unable to control himself, he would not have been able to tie himself up so tightly that he died of suffocation. Had he hanged himself, the professor pointed out that the bruises should have appeared on the neck than on his wrists. Also, he noted that the several pieces of rope which were used in the suspected suicide appeared to be different which might suggest that the death was not caused by suicide. The wound on the victim’s elbow could have been inflicted by someone else, he said. He also suggested that it was not too late to check the level of alcohol in the body of the dead victim to find out if he was drunk or not. ~~~~~~ following this real news report, normal satire will resume...

A spokesman for the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) dismissed the French Government’s website www.diplomatie.gouv.fr claims of the dangers facing tourists, calling them 'an exaggeration'. 'TAT are of course disappointed to hear of this but as an organisation, has much confidence in Thailand as a tourist destination as do the 860,000, and growing, number of French travellers who visit Thailand annually'. They said: 'The vast majority of visitors enjoy a safe and trouble free time and as 60 percent of tourists experience no trouble at all, it is testament to how much they love Thailand and wish to return year on year'. 'This number wouldn’t be so high if tourists didn’t feel safe and enjoy visiting our country'. 'Accidents, robberies and deaths are not exclusive to Thailand, sadly we read tragic news stories about tourists travelling all over the world'. 'When we look at the global statistics like on the website http://touristkilled.com we see that Thailand is not as popular for killings as other parts of the world and Thailand has some way to go before it becomes the leading hub for tourist killings'. 'The French Government’s website is somewhat an exaggeration and we are certain that those who come across this site will conclude themselves that Thailand is by no means the most dangerous country in the world to visit'. 'Tourist safety remains of upmost importance and priority to TAT. Thailand does not accept that the country’s safety and security measures need to be improved, just this month the Prime Minister of Thailand, Prayut Chan-o-cha and the Minister of Tourism & Sport, Mrs Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, were steadfast in their defence of Thailand's safe and family friendly image, before announcing several new measures to upgrade and improve safety standards within the travel and tourism industry'. 'As always, we recommend tourists exercise financial generosity, common sense and courtesy, be considerate and spend good money for local culture and services when travelling in Thailand to ensure a problem free and rewarding holiday.’ Read more: http;//www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-2855555/Thailand-one-dangerous-tourist-destinations-Earth-Really?-asks-Expat.

From www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/conseils-aux-voyageurs/conseils-par-pays/thailande-se-méfier/ translation by googly. Because of the bad weather that hit the south of the country, the Thai authorities have issued a warning against potential storms, floods and landslides in the southern provinces following: Phatthalung, Songkhla, Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat. French nationals should be aware that a seasonal rash of tourist suicides is expected to become prevalent during the months of January and February in the areas following: Pattaya, Koh Samui, Phuket, Bangkok and Chiang Mai. It is therefore necessary to exercise the utmost caution when traveling in these areas. Travellers can avoid unnecessary risk, by not showing large amounts of money or jewellery, expensive cell phones or computers and not associating with Thai people in the nightlife industry, pleasure boat rental trade or Police force, all factors that point to suicide. On site, travellers can find out about the latest suicide statistics and state of the road and rail networks or by contacting: Tourism Authority of Thailand 1655555 New Phetchaburi Road, Makkasan, Ratchathevi, Bangkok 1055555, THAILAND Tel: 662 255 5555, TAT Contact Center: 16755555 More at www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/conseils-aux-voyageurs/conseils-par-pays/thailande-endroit-très-dangereux/

My understanding of the Thai Language is (mods please move to the language thread if need be) that the word for "ScapeGoat" and the word for "Foreigner" is identical and is not a confusion, but rather a given, amongst the Thai people. Flash or others may be able to explain this better...

Hello Bill No, the coup came along, and whilst all those concerned got a good talking to, there seems to have been no punishment handed out to either side, excepting that Takky's team were restricted in their personal and political liberties for a while... But my memory may be fragmented, others could probably explain better.

When questioned about the likely International press coverage, that this suicide may generate, particularly in light of recent events like the Koh Tai murders, Major General Captain Admiral Cheerleader Vice Consul General Secretary Colonel Somchai reminded Thai reporters, that "The International Press will only try to undermine Thai National Unity and therefore anything they may write, should be viewed as evidently untrue and false", he went on to to note, that autographed pictures, of himself, the victim and twenty seven other policemen from his department, posed according to rank, would be available at the conclusion of the briefing. ​In related news, the Tourism Authority of Thailand issued a statement that reading, in part, that " Despite the unfortunate image that dead foreigners were trying to bring to Thailand, Thailand was still a warm and welcoming nation with famous world class hospitality and the Thai Tourism Industry is now determined to attract high quality tourists." Tourism Authority of Thailand offer a promotion, exclusively for Elite cardholders at Terminal 21. Get 5-10% off on total bill at participating restaurant. And get Free carry bag gift when spend over 150,000 and 350,500 THB at Gucci or other hi end fashion shop at Emporium.

I've always considered myself immune to feelings about pets, but when my dog passed away some years back, I changed my view on that point.

The Guest 2014 - usual dross about a stranger who becomes part of the family then kills everyone. 5/10 The Signal 2014 - started as a "film students trying too hard" type of film - but got better and better and evolved into a half decent SciFi, without resorting to too many effects, quite good really, Well worth a watch.

Yes "questions are being asked as to how it is possible for anybody to commit suicide with their hands tied behind their back" "Because it isn't anything other than suicide, Foreigners in Thailand don't die any other way, so this person must have been a contortionist or a magician." said Major General Captain Admiral Cheerleader Vice Consul General Secretary Colonel Somchai of the police box on the corner of Soi 131 and Sukhumvit. "He must have been a very clever man, to inflict not one, but several wounds to his neck and arm, then tie his hands behind his back and then hang himself. These Farangs are devilishly clever and not at all in tune with the Thai way of doing things, they will never understand Thailand".

A Brief History of Time 1991 - Docco/Bio- Very Interesting, now I'm waiting for the big crunch. Flesh for Frankenstein 1973 - Andy Warhol - Crap passed off as art, probably notable in it's time for nudity.

Yes yes, speaking in the hypotheticals

Yup, though technically not always cooked

If you feel safe with a fence between you and a Tiger, watch this

So yes, The Interview, good watch, not worth a second look though. American comedy seems to have entrenched itself in Teen humour over the last decade or two. Shame really, the material could have been so much funnier if Peter Sellars or Monty Python *(who now are sad old fucks) had had a go at it...

All delicious!