This video looks at the scientific research to answer three basic questions: 1) Was the Medieval Warm Period global? 2) Was it warmer than today? 3) And what does this all mean anyway? I examine the internet feud over the hockey stick and the various myths and misinterpretations about the Medieval Warm Period that seem to be rife on the Internet. My sources for the myths are blogs and videos; my sources for the facts are scientific papers.
More like this
My friend Howard Williams of the University of Exeter touched down at Arlanda airport in Sweden a couple of hours ago. He's here for a few weeks of study and also giving talks at four archaeology departments. Good stuff for all friends of the Dark Ages!
[More blog entries about history, carnival, ancient,
In a comment at the end of the Religion and Science post, Brandon of Siris mentions Peter King as a source for discussions of Anselm's ontological argument.
There are stories of viking ships getting damaged by marine borers in UK waters. When I left the UK in the 70's the only place the water in the UK was warm enough for this to be a problem was near the outlets of atomic power plants. The water might have warmer back in Viking days, or the stories might be innaccurate.
Or, given the way Viking stories go, the "UK" could have been "Italy" or something.
In a quick internet search I only found a mention of Viking ships infested with shipworms after a trip from Vinland to Greenland. This suggests either that these shipworms did alright enough in cold similar to that found around the UK, or a misdiagnosis, or???.
Teredo distribution map
http://www.marlin.ac.uk/specieshabitats.php?speciesID=4447
Native range: China, Faeoe Islands, Iceland, Japan, Korea Republic, Norway, Taiwan
https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/nonnativespecies/factsheet/factsheet.c…
Google Scholar turns up a number of hits for Viking and Teredo, but the ones I looked at were hidden behind a paywall so that was that.
Apparently there aren't any Teredo in the Baltic.
For those of you who haven't seen one before, Peter Sinclair is what an investigative journalist looks like. His "climate crock of the week" series on youtube is an outstanding example of genuine skepticisim.
Opps, I meant Peter Hadfield. o_0