Tuesday
Mar132012
by 
Bishop Hill
Bishop Hill Quote of the day
Mar 13, 2012 Climate: WG3 "It is my sad duty to inform you of a four foot restriction on humanoid height."
[Extract from coversation of Joe Ordinary in Local Puborama]
"I hear the directors of Genetic Control have been buying all the properties that have recently been sold, taking risks oh so bold.
It's said now that people will be shorter in height,
they can fit twice as many in the same building site.
(they say it's alright),
Beginning with the tenants of the town of Harlow,
in the interest of humanity, they've been told they must go,
told they must go-go-go-go."Get 'em out by Friday
Genesis, in their Peter Gabriel era, foresee Professor Liao's suggestion that the human race should engineer itself to be smaller. (H/T PMT in the comments)
Reader Comments (30)
Yes, and then Gabriel got involved with the rainforest pygmies of Deep Forest fame on a song called "While the Earth Sleeps". More here than meets the (cat's) eye......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqKYj2WSggQ
It's already started with the brains of warmists, if you think your green, you are, If you think your carbon footprint is ok, it is, if you think you are small you are. Now all they have to do is make skeptics smaller.
What a load of (self-snip).
The main reason I am sitting here is because Humans have already proven highly adaptable to change.
We got though the last Ice-Age and the extreme Global warming that ended it.
We also, somehow, managed to survive the Holocene Thermal Anomaly (it used to be called the “Optimum” before post-normal “science” redefined it).
I respectfully suggest that Professor Liao reads up on Human history and pre-history before engaging his massive intellect.
Even 40 years on, those early Genesis recordings have a freshness and a vitality that is rarely heard today. And I was lucky enough to see them live many times in that incarnation. Oh Happy Days!
And this should surely be their anthem for all those interested in matters climate:
'Watcher of the Skies'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBwVo27KJ1I
RE: Latimer Alder
I agree re: Watcher of the Skies. Awesome!
I am beginning to suspect from evidence over the last few years from Bishophill that climate scepticism may be correlated with being a Genesis fan...but somehow I doubt it likely that Peter Gabriel is a climate change sceptic (if he expresses an opinion on it all).
If I can show it is true that climate scepticism is correlated with being a Genesis fan then I have a cunning plan to increase the number of climate sceptics...we simply institute a policy of introducing more of the general public to the music of Genesis. Simples!
Jonathan Swift wrote a better satire than Liao.
http://art-bin.com/art/omodest.html
Oh, wait: Liao was being serious.
While brightening 16 square meters of dark and solar warmth absorbing surface may equal the removal of a tonne of CO2 from the air , there is little reason for Hello and Vanity Fair to declare that bald albino dwarfs are the new black.
Featuring Ascot sized white hats in their next Green issue will have much the same effect.
......Selling England by the Pound...... or wind subsidy
While engineering people to be smaller, might as well tweak the genome to cover people with a thick layer of body hair. Big savings could be effected in reduced heating costs and the need for clothing.
He shakes his head... :-)
@thinking scientist
'I am beginning to suspect from evidence over the last few years from Bishophill that climate scepticism may be correlated with being a Genesis fan'
There's an interview with Mike Rutherford where he recalls that there weren't a lot of girls at their Peter Gabriel-era gigs. Just a lot of earnest spotty-faced male teenagers.
I make no comment other than to say that I don't remember many girls there either... ;-)
But maybe those ES-FMTs have evolved into today's sharp, intelligent and perceptive band of sceptics. Probably naive nd gullible enough to believe in the then current acid rain and ozone layer scares.
But we learnt, we grew up and We Won't Get Fooled Again, Horatio.
Reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut's "Slap Stick", wherein the Chinese, in order to better feed a billion people, shrink themselves. Unfortunately, to the point of become really, really tiny, and becoming inhaled by everyone else, causing a plague.
Oh, and they train everyone to think as one, so there is definitely a tie-in to what passes for climate research these days.
I guess that they could lower the basketball hoops, but the game just won't be the same with four-foot centers.
"There's an interview with Mike Rutherford where he recalls that there weren't a lot of girls at their Peter Gabriel-era gigs. Just a lot of earnest spotty-faced male teenagers."
Ah, that's why I had a bad day! I never did like Genesis!
As another ES-FMT from circa 1972, I do hope someone here can engage with the great Mr Gabriel and persuade him that in spite of all their posturing, the alarmists are no friends of the impoverished societies he has tried so hard to help.
While we're quoting from Foxtrot, the lyrics from Can Utility and the Coastliners describe the position the believers are in quite nicely too.
Is there any Gabriel-era Genesis fan that has fallen for the catastrowarmist credo? Somehow I doubt it.
At first I thought the authors were 'gleicking' the CAGW crowd by making climate alarmism look stupid. But after reading Liao et al., I realized they are really, seriously that way.
At this rate I will be joining the Warmist side just so I can listen to my Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young without guilt.
Saw Genesis live (2nd show) at Massey Hall, Toronto, October 1974.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Peter_Gabriel_The_Watcher_of_the_Skies.jpg
I've recently come into possession of a bootleg recording of that show.
Playlist:
Watcher of the Skies
Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
Cinema Show
Firth of Fifth
Supper's Ready
I should mention the playlist is from the bootleg. Selling England by the Pound was played in it's entirety.
I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe).
Why stop at vegan hobbits? Go the whole hog and make humans microscopic!
Surface Tension, James Blish, 1952.
(Hmm, maybe I should put a research grant application in with DECC.)
"Dr. Noah's bacillus is highly contagious. This germ, when distributed in the atmosphere will make all women beautiful and destroy all men over 4'6". Please handle these capsules with care."
- 'Casino Royale' (the 1967 mess no one quite wants to take credit for)
Sorry, this (female) skeptic always loathed Peter Gabriel. While the spotty-faced geeks were moshing at the front of PG concerts, I was deciding who to take home from hard rock, industrial noise, punk and heavy metal concerts :)
While travelling in the US in the late 70s, I saw a double bill of Black Sabbath and Ted Nugent. Talk about 'no regrets' policy options!
Johanna, a woman after my own heart, I am all yours... these Prog Rockers are just splitters...
Enough! Get the stakes out! We need extract CO2 from a couple of Prog Rock denialists here!!!
johanna,
Sabbath created the green anthem 'Killing Yourself to Live'?!?
Maurizio,
more than a few...we are many :).
Tony
If you pay attention to the lyrics, you have missed the point!
As a big Genesis fan from the mid 70s, I also thought of the Get 'em out by Friday lyrics when I read the Liao article. Spooky how this can become closer to reality 40 odd years later. Especially so, as you'd think intuitively that we would be more enlightened than we were back then. Never mind the Ice Age, are the Dark Ages returning??