One of the dead horses the global warming proponents continue to beat is the coming catastrophe caused by the melting ice sheets in the Arctic. I’ve mentioned two skeptics in “If It Ain’t Broke…” and “And another…” who challenge the argument by calling it too narrow.

They both point out that if you are going to argue about melting ice sheets affecting the global ocean levels, you need to take all of the ice in the world into account. Once you include the Antarctic ice, the future looks much less grim. There is far more ice in the Antarctic. So much that any change there would overwhelm any change in the Arctic.

Another report popped up recently (referenced in this article in The Scotsman) discussing research about the status of the East Antarctic ice sheet, which happens to be the largest ice sheet in the world. It said that this ice sheet is very stable and will remain cold enough to prevent any melting in the near future. The end of this article reinforced the skepticism of the folks mentioned above:

Glaciologist Wendy Lawson, head of geography at Canterbury University in Christchurch, New Zealand, who took no part in the study, said the new research supported previous modelling(sic), indicating the sheet was stable.

“There is no short-term risk as far as the overall magnitude of the East Antarctic ice sheet goes,” she said. “My take is that it is likely to grow in the next 100 years.”

Did you catch that? She thinks it’s likely to grow? Well, if the ice sheet is growing, that actually means it’s collecting water and lowering sea levels. When all of the ice in the world is taken into account, the images of collapsing glaciers and retreating ice caps don’t imply global disaster. It’s just not going to change the Earth that much because the net change in ice will be relatively small.

As usual, those who predict global environmental disaster do so by extrapolating skewed data. Look at all the data and don’t be fooled.

I’ve been writing casual games for PocketPC/Windows Mobile devices for Smart Box Design for a little while now. Recently, we’ve started a blog for our users and I’ve begun to chime in. Specifically, we’re doing a major revision of one of the games (WordPop). So, in an effort to make the process interesting for our customers, I’m blogging about my progress as I go. Feel free to follow along and see what I’m doing with some of my free time.

Well, despite our best efforts life continues to march onward. Spring continues to produce some beauty in our otherwise desolate backyard. These roses are from a rosebush given to us by Wyatt’s mom a few years ago. We just love how they go from yellow to pink and they are very fragrant!

David’s freshman year of high school is almost over. One difference about homeschooling is that not all of our subjects finish on the same day. We’ve wrapped up everything except algebra which will continue on for a few more days. Also, David will be taking his annual assessment test in a couple of weeks. We are confident he will do well! Even his church youth group will officially recognize him as a sophomore as of June 17 when all kids will graduate to the next level of Sunday School and Youth Group. Nonetheless, David isn’t so sure about this doing school into late June.

Stefanie’s mother was hospitalized for a couple of weeks due to complications and side-effects of her chemotherapy. She is slowly recovering and has been moved to a nursing home and rehabilitation center. The good news is that the new place is only minutes from our home rather than the forty minute drive to the hospital. We can all visit more frequently and it’s easier to run a quick errand when she needs it.

Finally, we all drove to Ellensburg, WA to see Wyatt’s sister, Elizabeth, receive her Master’s Degree in Experimental Psychology from Central Washington University. Crazy person that she is, she’s turning around and going right back for a degree in Graphic Design. She is hoping to mix the research she has done on captive primates with some design skills to make life for those animals better.

It was overcast during the ceremony (the first of two and the football stadium bleachers were FULL!), but the rain held off. Well, it held off until it was time for the party at Liz’s place. We had fun eating and meeting some friends. It was also a chance for us to catch up with Wyatt’s parents, his other sister Brittany, and her daughter, Madison.

The whole crowd was entranced with Madison’s antics which included sucking the frosting off of the plastic animals on one of the cakes. A good time was had by all despite the four hour drive through the rather dry and unexciting landscape of central Washington between The Dalles and Yakima.