Snail's pace - Josh 298

As Richard Betts notes here "I see the '2 degree limit' as rather like a speed limit on a road". And which is also quite an apt metaphor for the pause in global temperatures - slower than a not very extinct snail.

Click image for larger version

Cartoons by Josh

Comments

[Graeme No.3]

Given that the sun is quieting and cooling is far more likely, perhaps Richard Betts should make that ± 2℃.

[Joe Public]

And the occupants of the car are totally unproductive whilst sauntering along.

[betapug]

The Revenue Harvester with the radar gun is missing from this illustration.

[Phillip Bratby]

They seem to be stuck in an old banger, with no exit strategy.

I look forward to seeing this in next year's calendar.

[TinyCO2]

Would that be a 2C V? Subltle, very subtle. LOL.

[Anoneumouse]

Don't snails move faster when its warm?

Whatever, for £97000000 they might be able to develop a cardiac arrest machine for snails.

[Harry Passfield]

Tiny!!! You beat me to it again! 2CV - LOL! ('though now, I'm trying to think of what the V could be for...)

[Harry Passfield]

"...what the V could stand for?..." Verma? (she'd probably think it should be a 4CV)

[TinyCO2]

LOL @ Harry but sorry, I recon the V stands for velo. It is really a pedal bike. Inside the MO guys are pedaling like fury but getting nowhere fast.

[Phil R]

betapug

"The Revenue Harvester with the radar gun is missing from this illustration."

That would be funny. Giving a ticket to the snail because the car is stalled.

[Harry Passfield]

OK, Tiny: Did you notice that after the 'speed limit' sign - it's all doooownnnhillllll from here!!! Brrrr.

[MikeP]

V usually represents a V shaped engine. So 2 cubic centimeter V engine? Would that be a tiny V6 or V8? :)

[Anoneumouse]

Are 2CV's 'GAS' tro 'POD's?

[Green Sand]

Harry Passfield

".....she'd probably think it should be a 4CV....."

RB still on record as it being a 4CV by 2060

[Greg Cavanagh]

Racing toward the cliff. This one has it all.
Perhaps with the wheels comming off.

[Hilary Ostrov]

Perfect, Josh, as always :-)

And while I'm here, speaking of this particular representative of the "jewel in the crown, of British science and global science" ... during the course of this inspiring non-tweet of his, Richard Betts had written:

Clearly, all other rings being equal, the faster one travels the greater the danger from an accident - but you also want to go fast enough to get to your destination in a reasonable time.

All other "rings"?! Was this merely a consequence of some rather unfathomable "slips of the keyboard"?! Or was this RB's unique way of talking about - or at the very least alluding to - "alarm bells", or perhaps "circle games"?!

Then again, perhaps this was merely one of RB's 'well, this wasn't a scientific paper, so there's no need to be accurate' slips of the keyboard?!

OTOH, he also wrote:

Despite what we sometimes hear, there is no clear, scientifically-based threshold for 'dangerous anthropogenic climate change'

YMMV, but - on this particular matter - "sometimes" is definitely not the word I would have chosen!

Alas, we have frequently "heard" the 'dangerous anthropogenic climate change' mantra (and/or facsimiles and/or derivatives thereof and therefrom) from so many quarters. Not the least of which are the high profile "experts" such as ... oh, dunno ... Ireland's Mary Robinson, for example.

Wearing her recently acquired "UN Secretary General Special Envoy on Climate Change" hat - Robinson (unchallenged by the fellow Elder, Gro Harlem Brundtland at her side) was recently heard to declare:

We have to change course in order to stay below 2 degrees Celsius, and the summit will be extremely important, but we must keep up the momentum, right up to Paris.

So, I have to wonder, why didn't RB choose to highlight and straighten out poor, misled Mrs. Robinson (via twitter?!) rather than choosing to declare (as he indisputably did circa Oct. 16) - and (speaking of snails!) subsequently vigorously (albeit rather inexplicably and incongruously) defend his dismissive and doubt-casting out of the wild blue (green?!) yonder declaration that Owen Patterson's ...

I also note that the forecast effects of climate change have been consistently and widely exaggerated thus far.
[...]
For example the Aldabra Banded Snail which one of the Royal Society’s journals pronounced extinct in 2007 has recently reappeared, yet the editors are still refusing to retract the original paper.

It is exactly this sort of episode that risks inflicting real harm on the reputation and academic integrity of the science.

... is/was (in the immortal words of this particular representative of the "jewel in the crown")

"merely a strawman"

Amazing, eh?!

[Bernd Felsche]

An infinite struggle to reach 1 c . Einstein said so. ;-)

[Roy]

In accordance with the "precautionary principle" shouldn't there be a man with a red flag walking in front?

[hunter]

Excellent summary of one of the many, many fallacies pushed by our climate obsessed friends.
OT but very interesting: Ben Pile has another excellent post up that is worth a wide readership:
http://www.climate-resistance.org/2014/10/the-green-blob-in-academe.html#comment-343260

[Brent Hargreaves]

No, the "V" is a v-sign being put up to the taxpayer by a bunch of alleged scientists who operate outside the scientific method.

Whilst their gravy train is still on the rails...