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Health & Fitness

Are You Smarter Than a Weather Rock?

When you wake up in the morning and wonder what the weather is going to be, you turn on the Weather Channel. You will learn what the likely temperatures and precipitation will be for the day. It may also give you the weather forecast for tomorrow and the next few days. Weather is generally considered as a future event but not too far in the future. Weather is not complex.

The simplicity of weather was obvious to the creator of the humorous gag gift, the Weather Rock. It was a rock. You bought the rock, gave it to a friend, and then they put it outside their house. In the morning when they looked at it, if it was white, then it had snowed during the night. If it was wet, then it had rained.

Climate is different from weather. Climate generally looks toward the past, say the past decade, or century, or millennia, or hundred thousand years. Climate is more complicated than weather. To understand climate more than a rock is needed. Trained scientists are constantly examining the history of Earth to see what the historical weather conditions (climate) over time were and what brought about those conditions. Finding out what happened in the past can help scientists predict what the climate will be in the future.

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It is hard to confuse weather with climate. When the Duck Dynasty boys think about going hunting, they don’t ask, “Wonder what the climate will be like tomorrow?”

97% of all climate scientist are united in predicting what the future climate will be and why. The few scientists who disagree are in the employee, directly or indirectly, of companies that are responsible for the pollution that is affecting the climate and profiting from that pollution.

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Being the main spokesman for polluting industries must be an easy job. The fat man currently with the job quit college after two semesters at Southeast Missouri State because, as his mother said, he flunked all his courses. What forms the bond with the fat‘s man’s audience is that they share the same hates and fears when he talks about race, politics, and gender and they have generally give him the benefit of the doubt on climate change.

That connection may soon be ending. Being called a racist or sexist is just fine with a lot of Americans but when they become the butt of “He’s dumber than a Weather Rock” joke; it’s time for some to make a change. When the fat man talks about weather like it is climate, it is time for some of his audience to switch to a sports radio program for a few minutes.  Then they can change channels and go back to listening about sluts, liberals, and integration.

You can successfully and profitably appeal to the prejudices of people but don’t insult their intelligence at the same time. They might get used to sports talk shows and some could discover that National Public Radio has a lot to offer and no commercials. Books are also available on CD, even the Bible.

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