The Right Spin

HOPE stands for Hospitalized Online Pediatric Environment. What they are is a group of doctors who believe that access to online gaming can help improve the quality of life of hospitalized children. For example, kids who need to be hooked up to a dialysis machine multiple times every week might benefit from being able to play games during the procedure. It will keep them occupied and they might even ask for less pain medication. The doctors behind this are currently working on gathering the hard data needed to support their idea.

Taken from their mission statement:

HOPE gives chronically ill children the opportunity to escape stresses inherent in their conditions by providing distraction through gaming and comfort via peer contact. Through our virtual world we are able to ameliorate depression, reduce perceived pain, and improve the quality of our patients’ lives.

You can learn more about this great cause at their homepage.

Looks like Antarctica has put on some weight! 45 billion tons of ice to be exact. Enough to slow the annual rising of the oceans by 0.12 millimeters per year. Well, good for her. I'm glad to see the lass up on her feet again.

However, global warming proponents, not to be outshone by this upstart continent, warn that this thickening is nothing more than a weather variation. Well, humbug. Here I was hoping my grandchildren wouldn't have to call Nevada beachfront property. Damn you America!

Or, more realistically, the whole thing is a cycle. A cycle which up until this point we've not been able to really measure. Glaciers melt due to rising temperatures because of the lack of moisture in the air. As they melt this adds moisture into the air, bringing down temperatures, and causing an accumulation of ice in artic regions. Once this hits its peak, glaciers stop melting as much, temps raise and the cycle begins again. We've just happen to catch the cycle during a swelling phase. And scientists who barely understand what it is they study are too eager to effect social change than simply devote themselves to study and answer, "I don't know," when asked a question. They don't because, "I don't know," doesn't pay the bills. They get paid to get the results whoever is paying them want. In this day it happens to be groups like the Sierra Club and other global warming tree huggers. A scientist whose results run counter to the public talking points will not find themselves employed long.