Today is the Day.... A Brief History of Climate Change By The Associated Press posted: 16 February 2005 06:04 am ET Today the Kyoto Protocol takes effect in an effort by 140 countries to reign in emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The world's biggest emitter, the United States, is not participating, so the result is expected to be limited, reducing by about one-tenth a projected 30 percent rise in worldwide emissions between 1990 and 2010. Key events in the story of climate change: 1750: Before Industrial Revolution, atmosphere holds 280 parts per million of heat-trapping carbon dioxide, later research determines. 1898: Swedish scientist Svante Ahrrenius warns carbon dioxide from coal and oil burning could warm the planet. 1955: U.S. scientist Charles Keeling finds atmospheric carbon dioxide has risen to 315 parts per million. 1988: NASA scientist James Hansen tells U.S. Congress global warming "is already happening now.'' 1992: Climate treaty sets voluntary goals to lower carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. 1995: U.N.-organized scientific panel says evidence suggests man-made emissions are affecting climate. 1997: Treaty parties approve Kyoto Protocol mandating emission cuts by industrial nations, an approach rejected in advance by U.S. Senate. 1998: Warmest year globally since record-keeping began in mid-19th Century. 2001: U.N. scientific panel concludes most warming likely due to man-made emissions; President Bush renounces Kyoto Protocol. 2004: Carbon dioxide reaches record 379 parts per million; Russia gives crucial ratification to Kyoto Protocol. 2005: Kyoto Protocol takes effect on Feb. 16. A related story : Toasty 2005? Year Could Become Warmest on Record By LiveScience Staff posted: 10 February 2005 04:00 pm ET Last year was the fourth warmest since the late 1800s and climate conditions in place could cause 2005 to be the warmest, NASA scientists said this week. The analysis of 2004 data by NASA confirms figures for 2004 released in December by the World Meteorological Organization. The numbers are based measuring stations around the globe, with each day's high and low being averaged. Temperatures are recorded on land and at sea, in part with satellite data. The 2004 average temperature at Earth's surface around the world was 0.86 Fahrenheit (0.48 degrees Celsius) above the average temperature from 1951 to 1980, NASA scientists said. The warmest four years since 1890s, when reliable record-keeping began: 1998 2002 2003 2004 "There has been a strong warming trend over the past 30 years, a trend that has been shown to be due primarily to increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere," said James Hansen of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. In any year, temperatures around the world can be nudged up or down by short-term factors like volcanic eruptions or El Ninos, when warm water spreads over much of the tropical Pacific Ocean. The large spike in global temperature in 1998 was associated with one of the strongest El Ninos of recent centuries, the scientists say, and a weak El Nino contributed to the unusually high 2002-2003 global temperatures. Manmade pollutants play a role, too, most scientists agree. Hansen said Earth's surface now absorbs more of the Sun's energy than gets reflected back to space. That extra energy, together with the weak El Nino, is expected to make 2005 warmer than the years of 2003 and 2004 and perhaps even warmer than 1998, which had stood out as far hotter than any year in the preceding century, according to a NASA statement. Hansen and his colleagues also note that global warming is now significant enough that it is beginning to affect seasons, making them warmer than before on a more consistent basis. Some scientists argue that the human contribution to global warming has been insignificant.

KSWL, Oh my, that sounds extraordinarily trying. Thank goodness he (along with his family's support, I am sure) was able to defy the odds. Languages do seem to be a "knack"; hopefully he can find something that clicks for him! They say girlfriends/boyfriends who speak the target language are the best solution, LOL! Neighborgirl, What takes you to Santiago, I am curious? Here is what I got from a work colleague my real life "neighbor" : Places to Go: 1. Downtown including Casa de la Moneda(our White House)/Plaza de Armas/Mueso de Bellas Artes/ Cathedral, etc. 2. Plaza Mulato Hill, which has an excellent food alternatives and it is close to downtown. Recommended by night 3. Cerro San Cristobal Hill to get to the Virgin. You can get a very nice view of all of Santiago. 4. Bellavista neighborhood. This is one of the bohemian places in Santiago with a lot of nice restaurants and nightlife. Recommended by night. 5. Isidora Goyenechea street. This is a very fancy street with also good restaurants and bars. 6. Paseo el Mañío Vitacura. With excellent gastronomic offers as well. Restaurants: 1. Nollita (Plaza Mulato Hill) 2. Liguria Luis Thayer Ojeda (www.liguria.cl). If you want to understand Chile, you need to go there. By far, the best option. 3. Mestizo restaurant (www.mestizorestaurant.cl). Nice option over Parque Bicentenario in Vitacura neighborhood. Especially for the evenings in summer time (Dec/March) 4. Coquinaria (www.coquinaria.cl). Located in the same building that the W Hotel, it is also a very good option. 5. Tierra Noble. Excellent Chilean food in an elegant way. 6. La Mar (www.lamarcebicheria.cl). Amazing Peruvian food. PS I have heard great things about the colorful seaside town of Valparaiso. Some source say it is an hour from SLC, some say 2?

I agree with all of the posters who are frustrated with the people who cram huge bags into the overheads (how did they get on with them - I am lucky to get on with my "regulation" size) - and then continually get up and open the compartment which results in items falling on the heads of passengers who are sitting under said compartments and who have had to put their bags at the end of the plane because their space has been taken over by an "unauthorized" user. The other problem is that there are various sizes of planes. I have been on a 5 hour flight in a seat that could not accommodate my purse - a regular size purse under the seat in front of me. There isn't a woman in the world who doesn't know what size a regular purse is - despite the women trying to carry on purses the size of a garment bag. And this was on Air Canada - not a discount airline, so I can only imagine what will happen. We were recently in New York and my husband was lucky to get on with his small carry-on and laptop just in its sleeve, whereas others were being zipped through with huge bags. I have found it best to make sure your carry-on weighs less on your home scales. I know what our bags weigh empty - and once packed - and I leave a 2 or 3 lb. window to allow for the airport's scales weighing high - and it happens. In New York I bought a 6 lb. carry-on at Brookstone and could have sold it 3 times over during the walk back to the hotel (without the box). I then found my husband happily putting his laptop in it - get your own! There was another bag - bigger - and of course $40 cheaper. The sales associate told me that it would weigh in at 7 lbs. - I suggested 10 lbs. So out came her scale - 9.9 - so she told me she was right. Well, I had to point out that I was "more right" than she was! She then tried to sell me a scale so that I could prove to security/check-in that my bag was not overweight - as if that is ever going to happen. Clearing customs in Toronto for the U.S. was something else this go round. What I hate - even though I do understand the rationale - is that if my husband and I are travelling together, we could each check 2 bags of the allowable weight - but not one bag that is 2 lbs. over without incurring a charge. A money-maker for the airlines for sure. I also bought him 3 Brooks Brothers no-iron cotton dress shirts that he will use only for travelling. It was like a revolving door at BB - Canadians and Europeans all buying the same 3 shirt deal - in the same white and pale blue shades. I am careful - my plastic bag was held up as an example to all at Heathrow as to how to back a plastic bag - but I still seem to always end up as the random person to be checked.

Dr Edward Jenner: The Man Who saved the World from Smallpox - George Smith (leel, from where I am now sitting I can see across the fields and the distant River Severn to the small town of Berkeley where Jenner lived and carried out his experiments) Here is a link that might be useful: Edward Jenner