Hackers' Pub

Hackers’ Pub

Syntax	Description	Examples
`"` keyword `"`	Finds the string within quotes, including spaces. Case-insensitive. (Escape quotes inside with `\"`)	`"Hackers' Pub"`
`from:` handle	Finds content written by the specified user.	`from:hongminhee` `from:hongminhee@hollo.social`
`lang:` ISO 639-1	Finds content written in the specified language.	`lang:en`
`#` tag	Finds content with the specified tag. Case-insensitive.	`#HackersPub`
condition condition	Finds content that satisfies both conditions on either side of the space (logical AND).	`"Hackers' Pub" lang:en`
condition `OR` condition	Finds content that satisfies at least one of the conditions on either side of the OR operator (logical OR).	`#HackersPub OR "Hackers' Pub" lang:en`
`(` condition `)`	Combines the operators within the parentheses first.	`(#HackersPub OR "Hackers' Pub" OR "Hackers Pub") lang:en`

SellaTheChemist @sellathechemist@mastodon.social

6/24/2025, 8:35:30 AM

Public

Every so often you see a letter in a local paper that just pisses you off so much - "climate is always changing" and "we have no idea about temperature" - that you feel forced to respond. And in this case, I was not alone. From the Islington Tribune, complete with both @ed_hawkins #WarmingStripes and a plot of temperature from Tamino's Open Mind. #climatechange (My letter, slightly shortened is in the Alt Text)

"It is sad to read Patrick Burke’s letter in which he takes the fatalistic view that “the climate always fluctuates”. He believes that past changes are utterly mysterious and that temperature records go back “only a few hundred years”.
Nothing is further from the truth. We have excellent records of both temperature and atmospheric composition from ice cores that go back 800,000 years. The role of the atmosphere in determining planetary temperature has been known since 1827, that of carbon dioxide since the late 1850s; our understanding has improved enormously in the time since.
The last few thousand years are the period in which human civilisations flourished, when natural variation in climate was extremely small - about half a degree (see attached picture). By contrast, since the end of the 19th century, temperatures have risen by about 1.5 ˚C and continue to head upwards.
The glaciers Mr Burke shrugs about are the source of stable year-round drinking and irrigation water for billions of people in Europe, South and East Asia. Aside from the disruption to food supplies if rivers start running dry for part of the year (the recent behaviour of the Po, the Rhone and the Rhine in Europe being cases in point), melting ice adds to sea level rise to which London is not immune.
None of us like the idea of climate change, but whether we like it or not, the climate of our youth is gone forever. It is a wise man that plans for the future. Mr Burke’s complacency is all too common.

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