It's over 80 degrees in Southern California today....

So I thought I'd post a picture of a kitten in the snow for all you guys with actual winter....

 

Doggie winter sledding

Blog sprinkles

I always KNEW they were trashy rodents!

• Amazon explorers uncover signs of a real El Dorado

• Phila of Bouphonia's Friday Hope Blog.

• Great Britain in winter!

• Sunk Australia WWII hospital ship Centaur: first images

It's what you scream as you see it sail past? PHAaaaa!!! There are currently 1091 known Potentially Hazardous Asteroids.

• Power Your Cellphone Off Coca-Cola

• You say El Nino, I say La Nina, let's call the whole thing off ... El Nino, La Nina

Brrrrrr....

Gulf Stream shifts to Greenland... London freezes.

And no, cold weather in winter does not mean rapid climate change is not happening: Experts: Cold snap doesn't disprove global warming

For the east coast

From sunny Southern California.

For those who mock global warming

By pointing to the US's severe winter storm, here's what's happening in Australia:

South-eastern Australia is experiencing its worst heatwave in decades, with temperatures in excess of 43C (109F).

Health officials in South Australia say the searing heat may be to blame for an apparent increase in the number of sudden deaths among the elderly.

In neighbouring Victoria state, bush fires have destroyed at least 10 homes.

Nearly 500,000 people in the state are reported to have lost their power supplies, following severe pressure on the electricity grid.

An explosion was also reported at a substation in Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city.

"It is an extreme week. The system is not made to operate where you've got temperatures in the suburbs of 46C," said the head of Victoria state, John Brumby.

Commuters are facing long delays after the blackouts added to the problems on the rail network. Hundreds of train services were cancelled after the heat buckled tracks.

The phrase global warming is unfortunate as it should really be called climate change. The weather will become more extreme at both ends of the gauge, extreme heat, extreme cold. There will be more droughts, floods, fires. Meanwhile, glaciers are losing their ice and the poles are melting, the oceans are acidifying, creatures are going extinct.





Even if we negated our carbon footprints right now, this shift in climate will still continue for decades. We can thank the Bush administration for eight more years of delay in addressing this.

George Bush surprised world leaders with a joke about his poor record on the environment as he left the G8 summit in Japan.

The American leader, who has been condemned throughout his presidency for failing to tackle climate change, ended a private meeting with the words: "Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter."

He then punched the air while grinning widely, as the rest of those present including Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy looked on in shock.

Mr Bush, whose second and final term as President ends at the end of the year, then left the meeting at the Windsor Hotel in Hokkaido where the leaders of the world's richest nations had been discussing new targets to cut carbon emissions.

One official who witnessed the extraordinary scene said afterwards: "Everyone was very surprised that he was making a joke about America's record on pollution."

But maybe we can hope:

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore urged President Barack Obama and other world leaders to seal a quick deal to fight global warming despite the pervasive financial crisis.

Gore called Obama "the greenest person in the room" for making environmental funding a big chunk of the $819 billion economic stimulus bill passed by U.S. lawmakers this week.

"I think it's important for the world leaders gathered here to fully appreciate the magnitude of the change in U.S. leadership," Gore said.

The former U.S. vice president and environmental advocate, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, referred to frustration in many countries at the Bush administration's refusal to sign international pacts on reducing emissions of carbon, blamed for global warming.

What's wrong with this picture?

Compare and contrast:

HOUSTON – Exxon Mobil Corp. on Friday reported a profit of $45.2 billion for 2008, breaking its own record for a U.S. company, even as its fourth-quarter earnings fell 33 percent from a year ago.

To this:

At least 1.3 million homes and businesses were without power across a wide swath of the country. Utility companies struggled through ice-encrusted debris into Friday morning as they worked to restore power, but warned it may not return until Saturday at the earliest. It could take until mid-February for some to come back online.

At least we have our priorities straight...

Uh oh

This winter was the warmest on record worldwide, the government said Thursday in the latest worrisome report focusing on changing climate.

Answer: This is good! Ah... Good! Because we will use less um... oil to heat stuff! Yeah...

Question: What about overuse of air conditioning and the strain on the power grid during the record heat of the summers?

Answer: Ah.. This is all Al Gore's fault!