Climate Craziness of the Week – bonus "eye of the beholder" edition

This is another great example of drip drip BS propaganda. People see it in the passing and it passes into their conciousness. If they have never stopped to question the basic tenets of the issue (be it global warming or the war on whatever), never looked for evidence the threat is real and found it to be lacking, then each drip confirms in their mind that the idea they have been spoon fed is real. It’s the “I saw it on the telly so it must be real” syndrome.
Propaganda is in its golden age.
I did laugh out loud when I read it though; sometimes you just have to laugh.
“Almost too stupid to comment on” – absolutely. They really do think we’re stupid. Sorry, no they don’t, they realise they already have us psychologically castrated with American Idol/Big Brother/all the rest that these other almost subliminal messages just get added to the psychological mash.
The idea is to instil fear – a population in fear is much easier to control, Guide to Being a Dictator, 101.

Hey don’t dis China like that. I was there in 1986 and went back in 2004 and they have made great improvements in air quality. Only half the canaries die now.

Many infectious diseases can cause this person’s symptoms and many of these diseases are are very difficult to detect.The many types of chlamydial infections is just one example…

Urederra says:
May 9, 2012 at 9:40 am

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), of the 18 million people worldwide who have cataract-related diseases, 5% are directly attributable to UV radiation. UVA light, a component of UV radiation, stimulates the over-production of damaging oxygen-free radicals responsible for the clouding of the lens, typical of cataracts.

Only 5%!!! That seems too low to me.
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This study from 1998 has a graph on population vs height above sea level (see Fig. 2) It looks like over 20% of the world’s population lived above 900m (about 3000 feet) and ~8% of the world’s population above 1200m (about 4000 feet) (I am reading off the graph)

…75% of people lived at or below 523 m elevation…The prominent spur [in the graph] of high population density (Ͼ1,000 people͞km2 around 2,300 m elevation) reflects the heavily populated Mexican plateau. The population at elevations Ͼ4,000 m represents primarily Andean and Tibetan populations….

So if they are claiming “5% are directly attributable to UV radiation” then about a quarter to half of the people on the Mexican plateau and at least half of those living in the Andes and on the Tibetan Plateau must have cataract-related diseases just due to the increase in elevation especially where the latitude is associated with “favourable solar energy conditions.” Right??

Solar radiation is unevenly distributed throughout the world because of such variables as solar altitude, which is associated with latitude and season, and atmospheric conditions, which are determined by cloud coverage and degree of pollution. The following guidelines are useful for the broad identification of the geographic areas with favourable solar energy conditions in the Northern Hemisphere based on the collection of the direct component of sunlight. Similar conditions apply for the Southern Hemisphere (Acra et al. 1984).
The most favourable belt (15-35° N) encompasses many of the developing nations in northern Africa and southern parts of Asia. It has over 3 000 h/year of sunshine and limited cloud coverage. More than 90% of the incident solar radiation comes as direct radiation….
http://almashriq.hiof.no/lebanon/600/610/614/solar-water/idrc/01-09.html

So what are the actual facts surrounding cataracts.
From the US Center for Disease Control

An estimated 20.5 million (17.2%) Americans 40 years and older have cataract in one or both eyes, and 6.1 million (5.1%) have had their lens removed operatively. The total number of people who have cataracts is estimated to increase to 30.1 million by 2020….
http://www.cdc.gov/visionhealth/basic_information/eye_disorders.htm

(US population is 311.5 million)
It looks like any study on natives of Tibet could be “confounded” by other factors.

Cataracts in Tibet
Tibetans also suffer from unusually high incidents of eye disease. The high levels of ultraviolet rays found at high elevation takes its toll. After a lifetime of exposure to these rays many people develop cataracts (dense, foggy masses in the lenses) and go blind. Around 30,000 people in Tibet are blind as a result of cataracts. An additional 1,500 to 2,000 lose their sight every year because of them… [note: the 2009 Tibetan population was 2.91 million gc]
[However it is also noted gc]
Malnutrition is a serious problem. One study showed that half the children in Tibet suffer from it and 60 percent of children are shorter than normal….
[Not to mention Oxygen starvation gc]
“At this altitude—5000 meters—all people have very low levels of oxygen saturation but in some they are not so low.” She recently discovered that this trait is may be genetic.
Human beings are not very well adapted for high altitudes. Above 18,000 feet, cuts don’t heal and women can not bear children….
In a study the genes of 31 unrelated Tibetans were compared to the genes of 90 Chinese and Japanese. EGLN1 and PPARA turned up repeatedly in the Tibetans but not in the Chinese and Japanese. Xing wrote, “Their exact roles in high-latitude adaption is unclear. Both EGLN1 and PPARA…may cause a decrease of the hemoglobin concentration.”
…The lungs expel so much carbon dioxide that the blood’s Ph balance is affected….
Edemas, the accumulation of excess fluid in the body, are big dangers, especially when they occur in the brain (cerebral edemas) and the lungs (pulmonary edemas)…. Studies shows the body produces nitric oxide, a chemical that dilates the blood, to reduce constricting of the blood vessels. Some studies suggest that people who do not produce adequate amount of nitric oxide are more susceptible to pulmonary endemas.
http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=211&catid=6&subcatid=35#16

I would really hate to have to extract data about cataracts and UV light from that mess of other possible factors.
Latin America eye problems.

Eye Disease and Care in Latin America and the Caribbean
Abstract.
In the last decade, health indicators in Latin America and the Caribbean reflect advances. The per capita public expenditure on health care has increased in many countries. Despite these improvements, it is estimated that for every million population in Latin America and the Caribbean, 5,000 are blind and 20,000 are visually impaired; at least 66% of the blindness is attributable to treatable conditions such as cataract….

We all knows eyes are surrounded by liquid and the increase in the partial pressure of CO2 is causing… eye acidification!

looking through key holes also causes dry eye

Smokey,
If that’s one of the Mods grinning back at us, he REALLY needs a beer and a ham sandwich!
OK, Anthony! Ya got me!
MtK

SunderlandSteve says:
May 9, 2012 at 10:33 am
… Hard to see the link between mascara and AGW but I’m sure with the right amount of grant monies, alink could be proven 🙂
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The ancient Egyptians were known to wear mascara prior to and during the Roman Warm Period, during which time it spread to neighbouring areas. It fell into disuse everywhere with the fall of the Roman Empire, probably causing the subsequent cooler weather, but its use reappeared in the west prior to the current anthropogenic warm period and its widespread use coincides with the awful heat shown in the modern academic record. Clearly, this is not mere coincidence, but something more sinister – the Mascara-Warming Cycle.