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Monday, June 16, 2008

That damned Science

What's Mallard raving about today?

Global Warming.

Uncool, Mallard. Really uncool. Under no circumstances should you write something like this without including everybody's favorite Mallard character, Evil Sun.

It's also not cool to conflate periodic moderate changes in planetary temperature based on solar activity with the sudden and historically rapid change in Earth's temperature which the vast majority of the non-lobbyist scientific community agree has been exacerbated by human activity.

But, I want to focus on what's really important here...no Evil Sun!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mars and Jupiter?

Hmmm... it's interesting that MF omits Venus where the primary driving force behind its extraordinary surface temperature is precisely "greenhouse"
warming.

Or put it this way: Venus is, of course, somewhat closer to the Sun than the Earth. If the surface of Venus was heated primarily by simple solar-heating (and the atmospheric conditions were more Earth-like), then we would expect that the average surface temperature would be some few tens of degrees hotter than the surface of the Earth.

As it is the atmosphere of Venus (containing large percentages of carbon dioxide and sulfur compounds) functions as a very efficient "greenhouse canopy". The result is that average surface temperature on Venus is some 700 to 900dg, i.e. hot enough to melt lead.

Neo Tuxedo said...

Good point, NLC.

Also, I just want to say that it's fascinating, being able to watch a conservative cartoonist's brain go completely off the rails in real time. After all, I wasn't even born when it happened to Al Capp, Chester Gould and Harold Gray.

rewinn said...

Q: How can you determine when a global-warming denier understands basic science?

A: No-one knows; it's never been observed.

Bah-dah-BOOM!

Anonymous said...

I get the impression somehow that Bruce isn't a creationist, which is at least not a negative (it could be worse). But he would absolutely have been drawing the same godawful sorts of cartoons about Charles Darwin had he been around a hundred and fifty years ago. Of this, there can be no doubt. And before that, he would have been one of the ones writing "witty" satire about Galileo or anyone else who discovered something beyond the traditional comfortable belief.

Conclusion: global warming deniers are this century's "Sun goes round the Earth" fundies.

EddyPo said...

Can we email Tin Ear Tinsely and request Evil Sun?

Oh the capers that Evil Sun gets into...

GeoX, one of the GeoX boys. said...

A pressing question: who would win, Tinz's Evil Sun or the Evil Sun from Super Mario Bros 3?

Anonymous said...

Oh, this is a funny one! Mostly because Mallard's actually the one screaming "shut up" with his hands over his ears blindly throwing his faith into whatever agrees with him.

The scientist who contends that Mar's evidence of smaller ice caps being evidence of solar output causing global warming has not passed peer-review.

His peers were not satisfied with the fact that he did not account for atmospheric differences between the two planets, nor did he properly address the fact that Mars is affected by other factors beyond just solar output (eccentricity, dust storms, wobble, to name a few)

There is, however, many peer-reviewed articles out there regarding solar activity, interactions in the atmosphere, and causes of climate changes past and present, on this planet and others. So, fundamentalists, put your hands over your ears and start screaming "lalalala". Mallard, I'm talking to YOU.

Kaitlyn said...

GeoX - the Evil Sun from Mario Brothers 3 would win.

This is Mallard Fillmore.

The Evil Sun may be awesome, but it can't escape its surroundings.