"An Inconvenient Truth" - debunked all too easily !!

Somehow, I can't believe I've taken so long to get around to making this point. Al Gore is, apparently, really fond of inconvenient truths. The Keynote (NOT Powerpoint by the way) presentation he made is atrocious. Don't blame Apple. The software's good but the content's rubbish. It shows what a lack of good scientific training does for a man. The rest of the show is self-publicity !

Well here's one for him. 50 years ago I had to learn the basics of the Geological Ages. Pre-Cambrian, Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian etc. I spent ages learning an acronym "Poor Cuthbert Ordered Six Devon Cream Puffs Though John Couldn't Even Order Mince Pies Properly - Hopeless ! That gave me everything up to the Holocene - although, now that we know the Ice Age (Pleistocene) may not have finished, the Holocene may be redundant - for the next few million years at least.

However, we then learned the main features of each Epoch. What do we know about the Cretaceous ? It was probably the hottest period ever on Earth. No ice anywhere. Not even at the Poles. If anything, the world had its most even temperature gradient of all time. Fossils of tropical plants were found within a few degrees the of the (then) Poles. Ocean temperatures were so much hotter.

Best estimates from sediment cores suggest that tropical sea surface temperatures were between 9-12°C warmer than today, whilst the deep ocean temperatures were anything up to 15-20° C higher than today's.

Any 4x4s ? Any massive burning of fossil fuels ? Evidence of human activity ? As usual, bearing in mind the Cretaceous Epoch was 144 to 65 Million Years ago, answers on a postcard please ...................

Well, Al Gore, c/o Apple Inc, 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, CA - where's your response to this ?

Retraite Entrante en France, as they say ......

I've been rather more remiss than ever I intended. I originally thought I would be able to blog at least once each week. However, I'm finding time is slipping by rather faster than I thought it ever could. I'm finding it ever more difficult to stay abreast of my specialities; even more difficult to find time to refute the idiocies of the 'Fiends of the Earth' brigade and fellow-travellers. Monbiot, I just long to meet you face to face. As for Porrit, well HoH, the Duke of Rothesay is welcome to him !

My Ultimate Other is desperate to get the gite complex up and running so we can earn income to finance her property ambitions. I suppose it's not out of order. She supported us through the bad times when my income was rather less than necessary to keep her and two growing little 'uns in the luxury she would have loved so much. It's only right I should put the effort into helping her to achieve her dream now - the world is not enough ! Now where did I hear that ? Here in France we are building our little launching pad into a property empire which may well span several countries. If all goes well, we should be buying some properties in eastern Europe in the next couple of years. Is this what I would like ? Answers on a postcard. as always, please .........................

Finally, we are emerging from the long dark financial tunnel of the last 35 years. If all goes well we should be able to pay off the property in the UK in the next few months. Add to that the results of some really careful planning and we are set up for life - even if the speculation in eastern Europe goes dreadfully and horribly wrong.

If all goes well "Her Indoors" may well be able to set herself up as a site agent on a small complex near the Black Sea. That should leave me rather more time time to get on with the Ph.D. I should have completed in the mid-70s. Even as I blog, I am in negotiations with a couple of universities back home. Somehow, the filthy lucre I've accumulated over the years seems so very unimportant now. OK, I've visited so many parts of the world I never thought I'd see but I've stopped stretching the only part of me that really matters. So few years left.

What gives me the greatest satisfaction these days ? Doing things I never thought I could. The gite complex progresses. The inner walls stand neat and strong - brick-laying skills I learned from a former class-mate who bullied me appallingly but who taught me so much in that line years later. The roof trusses are almost in place now - I taught myself so much from a set of books and watching joiners working on a project in Japan in the 90s. As for electrics they're almost finished: I learned those from Morris who was one of my few friends at school. Plumbing - well if anything is simple, then that's the job.

As for now, well, I've just got a short commission in Asia Minor. Looking forward to that - a part of the world where I've not spent too much time. It gives me a reason to learn another language. Oh well, here goes ............