Wrong in So Many Ways

Facebook lists the results of a poll everyday. I've seen a poll for "paper, rock, or scissors" or "how many times do you log into Facebook in a week." Today, the poll results were for the question: "Will humans be able to overcome the global warming crisis?" The choices were "It's not really an issue . . .," "Yes," or "No." I really love that their option for the choices "global warming doesn't / might not exist," "if global warming does exist, it isn't a crisis," and "I'm uneducated about the issue" are lumped into a single response of "not an issue . . ." My guess is that someone not directly associated with Facebook wrote the poll. (There's an option to do so on the results page.) Still, this has to be one of the most loaded questions I've ever seen. First, it assumes a condition that no one can establish as true (that a "crisis" exists, not whether any warming is occurring anywhere). Second, it assumes that the crisis requires an active approach to overcome. Now, the results: 50% of respondents say "No," 31% say "Yes", and 19% give the definitive ". . .". Just over half of those polled (502 of 1001) think that global warming is going to kill every human on the planet. That's all I can assume from a response of "No, humans will not be able to overcome the global warming crises." Are aliens going to come down and save us, or it is going to kill is all? Those are the only two choices, because if it's something that will correct itself naturally, it's not so much of a crisis, now is it? I would be willing to bet that not one of the respondents is a climatologist. We're all just fumbling around here, assuming that the scientists don't have an agenda of their own. I mean, what motivation could scientists have to put forth a theory that requires them to get lots of TV time explaining it, lots of money studying it, and lots of fame trying to fix it? Couldn't begin to imagine. But if Al Gore says so, it must be true, right? Al Gore is an expert, isn't he? He has a Ph.D. is climatology, doesn't he? He has some sort of advanced degree in something related to the environment, right? Something more than a Bachelor's degree in government? According to the ever-accurate Wikipedia - no. At least my degree is in a scientific field. Anyway, enough badmouthing the former Tennessee Senator from Washington D.C. We should clearly be panicking, since we won't be able to overcome this crisis. We need to dig caves and store food and water. We must ensure the survival of the human race during this oncoming disaster.

OK, I'm done, you can start reading again. Al Gore is a moron. Sorry, just kind of slipped out.

Not much to talk about today, after that Facebook poll. I grilled some pork chops tonight. They weren't very good - they were old and needed to be dealt with one way or another. They'd been frozen and so were safe, just not all that flavorful.

My mouse is making weird noises. It shouldn't be doing that - it's an optical mouse, after all. It's the only moving part - the scroll wheel - which seems to insist on annoying me with its incessant noise. More tomorrow.