I miss Horizon...

[VectraMan]

I liked QED. Then it turned into Judith Hann reporting on kids with cancer every week.

[Bob Dalek]

And decent scientific programmes like that...

The Global Warming thing with Iain Stewart was highly irritating.

Talk about a one note tune.....

And no one seems to explain where the mediaeval climate optimum & the little iceage have gone from the much vaunted hockey stick graph.

They must have been delusions.

Greenland was never green & the Vikings were pulling everyone's legs... the ice fairs never happened on the Thames... etc.

When I was a lad (mid-late 70s) there was a prog on early Saturday mornings (before Swap Shop) called, I think, The World Around Us. Anyone remember it? Marine Boy was great, too. And Robinson Crusoe. And Laurel & Hardy. And Harold Loyd.

[HairyArsedBloke]

... And Robinson Crusoe..

There was another one called "White Horses". I hated that show.

On the other hand Robinson Crusoe - I loved it.

[TimberWolf]

And decent scientific programmes like that...

The Global Warming thing with Iain Stewart was highly irritating.

Talk about a one note tune.....

And no one seems to explain where the mediaeval climate optimum & the little iceage have gone from the much vaunted hockey stick graph.

They must have been delusions.

Greenland was never green & the Vikings were pulling everyone's legs... the ice fairs never happened on the Thames... etc.

Stewart discussed all those issues except the little ice age IIRC.

He said we are certain that the Vikings were able to farm in Greenland in 1000AD and that there is evidence to show that it was warmer in England at that time too, since the population grew and grapes were grown. Scientists call it the Medieval warm period.

He goes on to describe how Mann (a climatologist) used climate proxies to reconstruct temperature over the last 1000 years. Proxies included tree rings, corals from the Red Sea, snow from Peru and thermometer records. Following some fiendish statistical analysis Mann produced the famous hockey stick graph. It did not show a Medieval warm period. More proxies were sought (no source given) and Mann's graph was joined by many others. Some of these showed the Medieval warm period to be warmer than average and some indicated it was cooler. Stewart said Mann may have underestimated variations in temperatures and that the Hockey stick graph was too straight, but it depends on the reconstruction used. His key point was that none of the reconstructions showed that it has ever (in the last 1000 years) been as warm as it was at the end of the 20th Century.

All well and dandy, but when summarising at the end of the documentary (2 of 3) he says the sceptics claims that Earth was hotter in medieval times are not true. In fact his whole summing seemed like a bit of a non-sequitur to what preceded it IMO. It was a good documentary overall though IMO and he showed some balance of view. Next week, the new controversy (since that the Earth is warming is settled except for the nutters [in my interpretation of his opinion]) is on prediction, i.e. climate models.

[Bob Dalek]

Harold Loyd...

Remember the clock stunt?

No CGI, stunt men or any of that namby pamby nonsense... it was a real clock up a real clock tower...

Sorry - it was not as it looked. IIRC, he was about 14 feet above the ground. 10 points deducted.

[cojak]

Wasn't the former presenter a ex WWII Spitfire pilot,? I suppose fighting 109's gives you a different perspective on life

also I recall some Joe Blogs who had stumbled upon a material with superb heat insulation properties - bit like the Space Shuttle slabs - heat 'till cherry red and you could still pick it up with your hands - he wouldn't tell anyone the formula for his material in case anyone nicked it (think a hairdressing salon provided the components)

Wonder what happened to him?

Grammar, chaps!

Do keep up part 2?

[DaveB]

Harold Loyd...

Remember the clock stunt?

No CGI, stunt men or any of that namby pamby nonsense... it was a real clock up a real clock tower...

Actually it wasn't. It was a mocked up clock face staged above the Hill Street Tunnel in Los Angeles and filmed so that although Harold was only about 6 feet of the floor he looked like he was suspended 50 or 60 feet up.

[PRC1964]

Tomorrow's world memories:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayXJhiWllBs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrWBz-fp05Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwp2dQyz93I

[TimberWolf]

...when summarising at the end of the documentary (2 of 3) he says the sceptics claims that Earth was hotter in medieval times are not true. In fact his whole summing seemed like a bit of a non-sequitur to what preceded it IMO.

Actually, I've just realised what he must have meant, d'uh. He must have meant that it was not hotter in medieval times than it is today (or at least not hotter than at the end of the last century, and is implying that sceptics do say that it was hotter in medieval times than today [I don't recall that detail being stated earlier in the documentary, only that sceptics said that it was hot enough to grow crops in Greenland], rather than hotter than average). I first thought he meant that it wasn't hotter than average in medieval times. I'm not happy about other wording in his summing up, which seems a bit misleading.

[Spacecadet]

I liked QED. Then it turned into Judith Hann reporting on kids with cancer every week.

Tomorrows world went that way too... 30 minutes was divided into 20 minutes of new healthcare technologies and 10 minutes of proper science.

Of course most geeks (the core audience) find any new healthcare innovations more than boring as there is far too much of a "human" angle and couldn't really give a toss about how many sick children are saved (being uber geeks its not as if they're going to get married/have sex and have kids anytime soon)