Get a Grip People

Good grief. All together now...take a DEEEEEEEP breath. Exhale slowly.

Now repeat... "The world is not ending. The world is not ending." "I do not need to hoard rice. I do not need to hoard rice."

Feel better now? No? Take another breath and get a GRIP.

I'm not an eternal optimist who can't see hardships and reality. But neither am I a 'world is ending' pessimist. This world and everything in it is complex and truly beyond our full understanding. If science were the be all and end all for explaining everything we'd never be surprised by a snow storm in April again.

Worried about Global Warming? Relax. Buy some sunglasses. Remember that the scientists can't even predict your local weather. I highly doubt that the so called claims of a global disaster is truly eminent.

Worried about the coming ice age? Buy a sled. And relax. Time Magazine predicted an ice age back in 1974.

However widely the weather varies from place to place and time to time, when meteorologists take an average of temperatures around the globe they find that the atmosphere has been growing gradually cooler for the past three decades. The trend shows no indication of reversing. Climatological Cassandras are becoming increasingly apprehensive, for the weather aberrations they are studying may be the harbinger of another ice age. Telltale signs are everywhere —from the unexpected persistence and thickness of pack ice in the waters around Iceland to the southward migration of a warmth-loving creature like the armadillo from the Midwest. Since the 1940s the mean global temperature has dropped about 2.7° F.

This is hilarious to me! Why should we listen to scientists today? Follow the money - many of these alarmists are looking for government handouts for their research. No one is handing out money to prove that our global climate is complex and hard to predict. You get money for claiming a crisis. And blaming man is nothing new either...

Man, too, may be somewhat responsible for the cooling trend. The University of Wisconsin's Reid A. Bryson and other climatologists suggest that dust and other particles released into the atmosphere as a result of farming and fuel burning may be blocking more and more sunlight from reaching and heating the surface of the earth. Climatic Balance. Some scientists like Donald Oilman, chief of the National Weather Service's long-range- prediction group, think that the cooling trend may be only temporary.

While I do think that mankind can have a significant influence on the local environment through pollution I do not think that we have the kind of power we imagine to affect the ENTIRE planetary climate. Volcanoes do more damage than we puny humans.

These ridiculous rice hoarders are creating a self fulfilling prophesy. Buy up all the rice and create a shortage. But it's an artificial shortage. Are grocery prices going up? Yes. But the end of the world is not coming!!!

Now, I do think people should have enough food and supplies on hand to last at least one month in case of an actual emergency. Note the word ACTUAL. Like an earthquake, volcanic eruption, terrorist attack. You know. REAL emergencies. Not made up political ones.

So go into the weekend with a light heart. Enjoy the day. Look at all the beauty that surrounds you. Take joy in small things...a flower blooming. A child's laugh. A beautiful photo. Life isn't that bad.