Gore is on the far left? Huh, didn't know that myself... :-)

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Well, I would not call him that. Consider the source. But he is funny, and not in a statesmanly way, unfortunately.

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Last September, Gore hiked reporters up to a glacier in Montana to point out that it was melting. Imagine: ice melting in the summertime. Although this photo op was supposed to demonstrate ''global warming,'' summer daytime temperatures in western Montana haven't risen in 100 years.

Right, but since glacial retreat is a phenomenon that happens over a long (on the human scale) time period - and it is happening. It cannot be observed in a single instance, yet a photo op is a moment in time so he had to work with what he had. I would like to see some data backing up the statement that summer daytime temperatures in western Montana haven't risen in 100 years.

As for there being no 'up' in space - yes this is true, but maps and photographs intended for presentation purposes (especially to the general public) it is expected that north/up be represented the way we have defined and accepted it.

Finally, yes, satellite data is streaming in all the time to computers around the globe, but how many people have the wherewithal (or the bandwidth) to download and watch it? A cable channel is something that people could flip by regularly on their way between American Idol and the Playboy network.

If this person hates Al Gore, for whatever reasons, he should just come out and say it directly. Gore is a visionary and he is not afraid to say what a lot of other public figures are terrified of.

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That person clearly hates Al Gore. And I'd like to know what the heck does this mean:

"It's bad enough that he thinks the disputed possibility of global warming is a more serious threat to public safety than a nuclear missile attack."

So the global warning is a "disputed possibility", but a nuclear missile attack is .. what exactly? A certainty? A "more serious threat"? Since when? Ah, the slight of hand in phrasing -- always a favorite of rightist with not a thread of data on their side.

But what I really want to know is what exactly cema@lj found out from that article that he didn't know before.

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"Not long ago, Gore called The Washington Post's executive editor to tip him off on an ''error'' in the paper.

''I decided I just had to call because you've printed a picture of the Earth upside down'' on the front page of the paper, Gore said."

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Right, so what's your point?

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Я не знал такой очаровательной подробности о нём. Думаю Сема тоже.

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Я никак не пойму чем эта подробность примечательна. Здесь люди все время звонят/пишут в редакцию с комментариями и замечаниями, особенно если думают, что нашли ошибку -- вполне нормальное поведение по моему.

И в этом случае действительно ведь ошибка -- в космосе может и нет направлений, а вот в принятых условностях вполне даже есть, и если кто-то печатает картографические материалы, особенно для широкой публики, то должны либо соблюдать условности, либо дать пометку, что они специально так сделали. Подозреваю, что если такое имело место, то скорее всего у них действительно какой-то layout manager ошибся.

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На мой взгляд это ещё одна чёрточка, которая характеризует его (в совокупности конечно) как мало информированного, но с большими претензиями человека.
PS Не думаю, что изображение земли из космоса должно соответствовать не ясным мне условностям.

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Чем именно условность "север сверху" вам неясна? И если вам не ясна, то вполне известна всем остальным.

И чем именно он мало информирован? И в чем все-таки большие претензии в звонке в редакцию? Cпросите у газетчиков -- им все звонят, претензий тут никаких.

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Собственно, он про это и говорит: Ал Гор знал, что есть в картографии такая условность - помещать север сверху.

Однако, вне картографического контекста - такой условности нету. В космосе нету верха и низа. В крайнем случае, можно было сказать, что, мол, - "ребята, если север расположить сверху, то людям, привыкшим к картам, будет легче разобраться". Но объявлять это ошибкой? Это поправка не ученого, но второкурсника. Ученый знает, что важно, что нет. Второкурсник уверен, что красивая запись конспекта лекции, с подчеркиванием цветными фломастерами - и есть занятие наукой.

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И откуда мы знаем его точные слова? Может он именно так и сказал -- учитывая тон всей заметки, если б он так и сказал, они все равно передали бы это так, как передали. Да и потом, как минимум этот разговор прошел через двух человек (того, с кем он говорил и того, кто писал заметку) -- если вообще был, потому что это единственное место (оригинал) где он упоминается.

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P.S. Judging from my google search, this article above is the original source to the fact that Gore supposedly called Washington Post about it. Pity it doesn't disclose where the author gets information like that. Somehow I very much doubt it actually happened, or if it did, it was anything like what's in the article.

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I did not know Gore called WP and complained about the upside earth picture. His arrogance does not surprise me, but it is so misplaced. At least he could talk to someone first. (I also wonder if it has actually happened; it is not out of his character, but I would not be surprised either way.)

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What's so arrogant about calling a newspaper and telling them you think they got something wrong? I bet scores of other readers did the same. Doesn't strike me as arrogant at all.

And I do wonder how this op-ed person found out about it.

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I agree with the latter, will add it now.

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He hates him, all right.

I don't. Although I cannot say I like or liked Al Gore, I used to prefer him as a candidate in 2000 presidential elections. He looked a bit stiff to me, but otherwise okay.

Gore may be a visionary, but I am afraid of visionaries, especially ones that go into politics.

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but I am afraid of visionaries, especially ones that go into politics.

I'd rather have a visionary than a puppet....

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Depends on whose puppet, but it's a matter of opinion.

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