Re: Earlier global warm-up
Brian, Cor Blimey, Brian. I was 6 years old. Do you mean 'they' were after me then? I am sure I learned phonetics. The silliness of look-say hadn't arrived. In a recent reading testing in the LA School District, they found that 10th graders tested more poorly than the 8th graders coming along behind. Of course, the 10th grade kids were the final remnants of look-say. Along behind them the 8th graders had taken phonetics. Meanwhile, it's the 'devouring' that makes us what we are. I suspect that reading anything and everything is important. One hopes later the avid reader will find a mentor like you to build on the enthusiasm. Finally, when I left Ontario in 1962, there were 84 "out of control" conflagrations in the provincial forests. So, it's definitely the Canadians who are causing the fuss. Harry Brian wrote: >Hi Keith, >And the cause of this 'natural warming' of 1000 years ago could have been >massive droughts causing massive forest fires (a lot more forests back >then) greatly increasing the greenhouse gases. And now we choose to put >massive amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. So then it was an >act of god and now it is an act of humans. >About your waiting to get some response to your IQ postings; my question >to you is why I have not read a word from you re 'Mud, Brawn and Brain' or >'Learning'? I have no interest what so ever with Intelligence Quotients. >I'm only interested in signs of intelligent behaviour. My point in posting >the 2 above mentioned topics was to SHOW signs of highly intelligent behaviour. >I also found your recent rant about the 'whole language'approach to >reading highly paradoxical. It came shortly after you and Harry raved >about some very treasured pulp fiction you both read as youths. Whole >language advocates would have made use of your enthusiastic response to >these materials to take you more deeply into reading. For example they may >have asked you to critically examine who the heroes were and who the >villains were. Was there any propaganda lurking in those texts? There >certainly was in the Superman and Batman comics I devoured in the 1950s. > >Take care, >Brian McAndrews ** Harry Pollard Henry George School of LA Box 655 Tujunga CA 91042 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel: (818) 352-4141 Fax: (818) 353-2242 ***
Re: Muck not Mud (was Re: Earlier global warm-up
At 6:07 PM + 2002/03/22, Keith Hudson wrote: >At 08:52 22/03/02 -0500, Brian wrote: > >Hi Keith, >>And the cause of this 'natural warming' of 1000 years ago could have >>been massive droughts causing massive forest fires (a lot more >>forests back then) greatly increasing the greenhouse gases. Keith: >Could be. But it's unlikely. When climatologists talk of warm periods they >are talking of decades at least, usually centuries. It's unlikely, >statistically, that there'd have been continuous forest fires all through >the Medieval Warm Period. There'd have been no forests left! > >My house stands on what used to be a Roman vineyard during a previous warm >period when the climate of southern England was more like the Mediterranean >being several degrees Centigrade warmer. I think this was a mini-warm >period and only lasted a couple of centuries (until 300AD). Are you deliberately avoiding my point Keith by questioning my example. How about this: an earthquake or asteroid caused a significant steady leakage of methane or natural gas that ignited and burned for a long time and caused increased levels of green house gases? Do you believe that large levels of greenhouse gases may have caused global warming then? And what about now? At 6:07 PM + 2002/03/22, Keith Hudson wrote: >My apologies for not commenting on those postings. I much enjoyed 'Mud, >Brawn and Brain' and the obvious skill of the bricklayer's labourer when a >bricklayer is in full spate. I can attest to the skills involved, having >mixed mortar (called "muck" over here) for the laying of 10,500 bricks >during a period when I was a young man building a small house for my >family. Though whether I was as skilled as the labourer mentioned in your >article is doubtful, 'cos the bricklayer concerned was also me and was none >too quick -- in fact, pathetically slow. (One trick your writer missed was >the addition of a dash of washing-up liquid to the mix -- it produces >beautiful muck which spreads like warm butter from the trowel. If you >haven't laid bricks in this way you haven't lived!) You don't seem to want to stay in the 'concrete' with me Keith;but rather jump back to the abstract concept of IQ which takes us nowhere. I would suggest you read Jane Wagner's "Searching for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe" or see the play if it happens to be playing in a theatre near you. Lily Tomlin played the narrator Trudy, the 'mad' bag lady, in the Broadway production. At 6:07 PM + 2002/03/22, Brian wrote: > >I also found your recent rant about the 'whole language'approach to >>reading highly paradoxical. It came shortly after you and Harry raved >>about some very treasured pulp fiction you both read as youths. >Keith replied >Is there not a teeny-weeny bit of prejudice in the above? The ScFi writer, >Brian Aldiss, whose name I forgot in my recent posting to Harry, wrote lots >of "pulp fiction" in his early days for those gory magazines. But he's >acknowledged to be one of the finest writers of our day. Have you read his >autobiography? Much to be recommended. > >(BMcA) >>Whole >>language advocates would have made use of your enthusiastic response >>to these materials to take you more deeply into reading. For example >>they may have asked you to critically examine who the heroes were and >>who the villains were. Was there any propaganda lurking in those >>texts? There certainly was in the Superman and Batman comics I >>devoured in the 1950s. Keith: >Good gracious! You read Superman and Batman comics and yet turned your nose >up at "pulp fiction"? Remarkable! I never read 'em m'self. For me, was >text-only stuff like the Wizard, Rover, and Adventure that Harry and I >mentioned some while back. You completely missed my point here Keith. I used 'pulp fiction' partly because of the powerful film by that name and also because I loved it as a kid. Stephen King has been described as a pulp fiction writer by some high brows. He a has a wonderful little nonfiction book out called 'On Writing'. He writes about all the pulp fiction he read as a kid that inspired him to write. My point is that whole language teachers use the stuff that kids love to read; Harry Potter is a perfect example. Have you read any? Beats the hell out of the phonics structured "See Dick kick Spot" stuff. I remember trying to get a Grade 5 student's mother to see the value in her son reading 4 books from C. S. Lewis' Narnia series rather than the first 80 pages of a basal reader. Amazing, eh? I much prefer the swampy world of 30 years of practice rather than the high hard ground of abstraction that you read about in the Telegraph or FT regarding education. -- ** * Brian McAndrews, Practicum Coordinator* * Faculty of Education, Queen's University * * Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6 * * FAX:(613) 533-6596 Phone (613) 533-6000x74937* * e-mail: [EMAIL
Re: Earlier global warm-up
Hi Keith,
And the cause of this 'natural warming' of 1000 years ago could have
been massive droughts causing massive forest fires (a lot more
forests back then) greatly increasing the greenhouse gases. And now
we choose to put massive amounts of greenhouse gases into the
atmosphere. So then it was an act of god and now it is an act of
humans.
About your waiting to get some response to your IQ postings; my
question to you is why I have not read a word from you re 'Mud, Brawn
and Brain' or 'Learning'? I have no interest what so ever with
Intelligence Quotients. I'm only interested in signs of intelligent
behaviour. My point in posting the 2 above mentioned topics was to
SHOW signs of highly intelligent behaviour.
I also found your recent rant about the 'whole language'approach to
reading highly paradoxical. It came shortly after you and Harry raved
about some very treasured pulp fiction you both read as youths. Whole
language advocates would have made use of your enthusiastic response
to these materials to take you more deeply into reading. For example
they may have asked you to critically examine who the heroes were and
who the villains were. Was there any propaganda lurking in those
texts? There certainly was in the Superman and Batman comics I
devoured in the 1950s.
Take care,
Brian McAndrews
>Now on my third pot of tea of the day, with a dogwalk and breakfast behind
>me, I have come across the following news item in today's Daily Telegraph.
>Before I quote this, I'll mention that today's breakfast brought a long
>series of experiments to a satisfactory end. This was to find the best
>recipe for a medium-soft goose egg -- that is, one into which you can dip
>slices of bread or toast ("soldiers" over here):
>
>Place egg in cold water, bring to boil, time for 7 minutes, choose a very
>large spoon with which to extract the egg (one or two experiments failed in
>previous days because of spoons that were too small causing subsequent hand
>tremors and splattering of eggs on the kitchen floor -- of advantage only
>to my dog).
>
>Keith Hudson
>
>Now to the DT:
>
><<<<
>Earlier global warm-up seen in tree rings
>
>Roger Highfield
>
>A tree ring study has revealed that 1,000 years ago the Northern Hemisphere
>may have been as warm as today, suggesting that global warming can happen
>naturally.
>
>The study shows that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which
>has been focussing on the effects of burning fossil fuels, has probably
>underestimated the extent of global warming free of human influence.
>
>The IPCC executive summary found that conditions during the 20th century
>were warmer than at any other time since 1000AD.
>
>However, the new work, combined with other studies, suggests that the
>"Medieval Warm Period" 1,000 years ago may have been just as warm as recent
>decades in the Northern Hemisphere.
>
>The latest findings are p[ubliushed today in "Science" by Dr Jan Esper and
>Fritz Schweingruber, of the Swiss Federal Institute in Birmensdorf, and Dr
>Edward Cook, of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York.
>
>Trees grow an additional layer of wood every years, forming annual rings
>whose width varies, depending on environmental conditions. ~Scientists can
>use these overlapping annual ring-width series to piece together
>year-to-year climate changes based on three ring thickness. It is tricky
>for older trees because age also makes rings become increasingly narrow.
>
>Prof Keith Briffa at the Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia,
>said: "The idea that medieval warmth was restricted to Europe is looking
>far less likely."
>>>>>
>__
>ìWriters used to write because they had something to say; now they write in
>order to discover if they have something to say.î John D. Barrow
>_
>Keith Hudson, Bath, England; e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>_
--
**
* Brian McAndrews, Practicum Coordinator*
* Faculty of Education, Queen's University *
* Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6 *
* FAX:(613) 533-6596 Phone (613) 533-6000x74937*
* e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]*
* "Education is not the filling of a pail, *
* but the lighting of a fire. *
* W.B.Yeats *
**
**
Earlier global warm-up
Now on my third pot of tea of the day, with a dogwalk and breakfast behind
me, I have come across the following news item in today's Daily Telegraph.
Before I quote this, I'll mention that today's breakfast brought a long
series of experiments to a satisfactory end. This was to find the best
recipe for a medium-soft goose egg -- that is, one into which you can dip
slices of bread or toast ("soldiers" over here):
Place egg in cold water, bring to boil, time for 7 minutes, choose a very
large spoon with which to extract the egg (one or two experiments failed in
previous days because of spoons that were too small causing subsequent hand
tremors and splattering of eggs on the kitchen floor -- of advantage only
to my dog).
Keith Hudson
Now to the DT:
<<<<
Earlier global warm-up seen in tree rings
Roger Highfield
A tree ring study has revealed that 1,000 years ago the Northern Hemisphere
may have been as warm as today, suggesting that global warming can happen
naturally.
The study shows that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which
has been focussing on the effects of burning fossil fuels, has probably
underestimated the extent of global warming free of human influence.
The IPCC executive summary found that conditions during the 20th century
were warmer than at any other time since 1000AD.
However, the new work, combined with other studies, suggests that the
"Medieval Warm Period" 1,000 years ago may have been just as warm as recent
decades in the Northern Hemisphere.
The latest findings are p[ubliushed today in "Science" by Dr Jan Esper and
Fritz Schweingruber, of the Swiss Federal Institute in Birmensdorf, and Dr
Edward Cook, of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York.
Trees grow an additional layer of wood every years, forming annual rings
whose width varies, depending on environmental conditions. ~Scientists can
use these overlapping annual ring-width series to piece together
year-to-year climate changes based on three ring thickness. It is tricky
for older trees because age also makes rings become increasingly narrow.
Prof Keith Briffa at the Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia,
said: "The idea that medieval warmth was restricted to Europe is looking
far less likely."
>>>>
__
Writers used to write because they had something to say; now they write in
order to discover if they have something to say. John D. Barrow
_
Keith Hudson, Bath, England; e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
_
