Rather than sit in the house and curse the snow, I grabbed my camera and tramped around Danvers this afternoon — along the power lines not far from St. John’s Prep, through Endicott Park and at Glen Magna. Nothing special, but if you like snow pictures, here are snow pictures.
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Nice pics. I didn’t grumble about the snow, either. Instead, after shoveling the driveway (the first of 3 cleanings today), I set off on my walk around W Peabody, stopping, of course, at my “office”, the local Dunkin Donuts. As crummy as the weather was, several of the regulars showed up, plus the snow related plow drivers. Four miles later, I was home. All things considered, it was very comfortable walking today.
I’m a little further north in Essex and took in some nice wintery scenes as well. Although, with each shovelful of snow I was cursing you and all those namby-pamby Global Warming alarmists. Can’t you see that snow means there is no global warming!!! Happy New Year o’Fish!!
Dan,pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease feel free to move to Danvers,but just don’t expose our gems ! (try a picnic in the orchard in July)
@Gordon: Move? I’ve lived in Danvers for nearly 25 years.
Happy New Year to you too, tunder. Whether or not manmade global warming exists, all I am saying is that so far this has been a tough winter to argue for it, not just here but throughout much of the U.S. and Europe. Since few of us here have the scientific backround, I’m taking the marketing background. Global warming is a tough sell this year.
Back to the post, nice pics Dan, especially of the large and small horses at Endicott Park. Good stuff.
Lovely!
I especially like 1372, the way the snow is visible spitting nearly horizontally against the horse’s coat.
Thank you.
– Lee
Sure, I may comment mostly in media and politics threads . . . .
but I come here for the horsey (and cat) pics.
BEAUTIFUL photos.
Well then, a belated welcome to the ancestoral Pickguard stomping grounds.
Fun photos, Dan.
But I question, if I may…
Doesn’t living in Danvers and commuting to your office at Northeastern contribute to the very climate change that you rail against so often?
Or is your argument that your contribution is so insignificant as to be unmeasurable?
It would seem to me that a million or so commuters adopting this self same attitude and behavior every day for years and years might actually be significant.
Great winter snaps again. If only I could agree with your political insights like I agree with your photo insights. Thanks for a great tour.
“It would seem to me that a million or so commuters adopting this self same attitude and behavior every day for years and years might actually be significant.”
Fortunately, Danvers is on an MBTA commuter rail line, so thousands of commuters traveling into Boston via rail can minimize their own carbon impact.
But even a single commuter traveling alone via automobile into Boston each day is far less significant than six billion people burning coal for heat and electricity.
But your point is well-taken, and we should each of us think about the choices we make that might contribute to making the world inhabitable for generations yet to be born.
The commuter rail stops in Danvers? Next stop after Peabody I guess.
“The commuter rail stops in Danvers? Next stop after Peabody I guess.”
Did I screw that up? South Shore guy, here.
At any rate, Salem looks like a hop, skip, and a jump.
@Harry: Yes, Beverly or Salem is a hop, skip or a jump from Danvers. North Station is another hop, skip and jump. And then Northeastern is another hop, skip and jump. You get the idea. You can’t get there from here.
Now, folks who live in the right towns south of Boston (not the South Shore; more like Norwood, Walpole, Foxborough) can take the commuter rail right to the Northeastern campus. Pretty nice ride.
Oh Harry. The Danvers to Salem station commute is easily 20 minutes. So Harry, you’re like the crow trying to fly from the manure pile after a day of feasting. He didn’t make it because he was full of it. Maybe Dan should use the Middleton station !
*You can’t get there from here*
South Shore commuters– House to Orange Line to Ruggles NU. Dan- House to Salem commuter rail to North Station Orange Line to Ruggles NU. Sounds like only one additional connection to enlist in Gore’s Global Guerrillas.
@Nial: No. The commuter rail actually stops at Ruggles. If you happen to live in the right town south of Boston, it’s point-to-point. There is simply no comparison. By contrast, it takes me 20 minutes to drive to Salem station, but only 40 minutes to drive to NU (I travel off-peak). Taking public transportation from Danvers to NU eats up anywhere from an hour and a half (if things are going perfectly) to two hours.
@Ikcape: Nuclear, wind, solar, geothermal, natural gas as a bridge.
“But even a single commuter traveling alone via automobile into Boston each day is far less significant than six billion people burning coal for heat and electricity.”
I cannot disagree with this statement.
However, where would you suggest that the six billion people get their heat and electricity?
Wind and solar, while promising technologies, are far from ubiquitous and quite far, at this time, from being sustainable as industries. It is not likely that sufficient resources can be applied in the next decade or two, and maybe even five or ten, to change this outlook dramatically. Geothermal can be promising, but it too suffers from lack of investment and profitability.
Dan’s crusade on the subject of climate change lacks the essential focus on a practical solution, and it seems as if he is unwilling or unable to walk the walk about which he talks.
As long as demand continues to increase, the need for additional energy sources will remain. If the demand increases faster than alternatives can be sourced, coal fired-plants will continue to be introduced because they can be constructed quickly and efficiently and the source of energy is still inexpensive and abundant.
I have long been a supporter of nuclear energy because of its relative efficiency. Politics, however, has ruled over common sense and strategic thought and has driven the start-up costs beyond reason.
And for those who are appalled at the thought of nuclear sites within your personal space, I think you would be astonished as to how many functioning nuclear reactors there actually are within a 100 mile radius of downtown Boston.
Gotcha, Dan, and point taken Gordon. Spoiled to be in Easton, with Stoughton three miles up the road.
Anyway, folks have to get to work.
And my point still stands.
“However, where would you suggest that the six billion people get their heat and electricity?”
I’m not smart enough to have any answers, but it seems the best we can do in the short-run is to minimize and mitigate man’s impact on the environment. Higher MPG vehicles, mass transit, and more heat and cooling efficient buildings are as good a place as any to start. Like you, I also support vastly increased use of nuclear power.
But as I’ve said before, in the long-run, we gotta get off this rock.
“Dan’s crusade on the subject of climate change lacks the essential focus on a practical solution, and it seems as if he is unwilling or unable to walk the walk about which he talks.”
I wouldn’t call reasonable posts alerting folks to changes in the climate a “crusade,” and I would also note that (unless I missed it), you have yet to take issue with a single fact he has proffered.
In terms of your own “crusade” to somehow prove that Dan is a hypocrite, well, I got news for you . . . we’re all hypocrites in one fashion or another. Not sure how old you are, but I expect this is something you’ll learn.
Meanwhile, the Earth continues to warm.
@Harry: I don’t send voluntary payments to the government whenever I write that certain taxes ought to be higher. And if I called for more prisons, I would not volunteer to keep prisoners in our cellar. There is something about environmental issues that is unique in the way it pushes some to label as hypocrites anyone who doesn’t don the hairshirt. And in my case, it’s ludicrous, because I’m on record as a Big Tech guy. The next time I call for people to get out of their cars will be the first.
“There is something about environmental issues that is unique in the way it pushes some to label as hypocrites anyone who doesn’t don the hairshirt”
I got a feeling, in this specific instance, it may just be the idealism of youth talking. Ah, to be young again!
(Very amusing post, BTW. Made me smile.)
I let Dan’s comments that he doesn’t have the technical understanding to comprehend the science or the underlying data stand on it’s own.
If someone is saying time and again that he knows not of which he speaks, then why should I object to his continuing self-condemnation. And if someone calls stridently for draconian changes and avoids being an active participant in those changes, we are entitled to find some term to describe his stance. Any suggestions? (Some seem to think the work hypocrite applies.)
The discussion is not about the problem….even earthworms change the environment they live in…because that is the nature of life as we know it.
The discussion needs to be about solutions that are possible in the short term and can be planned for the future (long-term). In the current climate of politicized “everything”, planning is problematical…
Further, data that does not fit the predetermined model should not be manipulated or discarded. It needs to be explained.
And arguing that the manipulation or rejection of data doesn’t alter the conclusion fails miserably in its logic, and may well be proven wrong when not-fitting data is finally explained. (Science is like that.)
A quiet reminder: Nature is far more complex and resilient than we can ever imagine….
“even earthworms change the environment they live in…because that is the nature of life as we know it. ”
Earthworms injest organic matter and excrete nutrient rich humus. They injest soil and excrete it as nitrogen and phosphate rich casts. Their burrowing action aerates the soil and provides outlets for drainage to occur.
They are a species that changes the environment for the better, for themselves and for other living things.
As for the rest? Sound and fury, signifying nothing.
“@Harry: I don’t send voluntary payments to the government whenever I write that certain taxes ought to be higher. And if I called for more prisons, I would not volunteer to keep prisoners in our cellar. There is something about environmental issues that is unique in the way it pushes some to label as hypocrites anyone who doesn’t don the hairshirt.”
Good points Dan, but I think you miss something: It is Environmentalists themselves who are always urging personal efforts on behalf of the climate (ride your bike to work, bring cloth bags to the supermarket…).
Of course, such things aren’t going to stop global warming. But I think there’s a purpose – getting people to significantly rework their lives for a cause will psychologically prime them to support the cause in other significant ways. It also helps ease the guilt of the individual environmentalist.
@Ben: I consider myself an environmentalist. I do not go around hectoring people about such things.
Let’s stop this whole debate about commuting, who’s more “environmentally conscious,” etc. The point is, Dan took some great pictures. Just the balm we needed to make us appreciate winter, if just for a moment. (BTW, does anybody know what breed of horses these are? They’re beautiful.)
“The point is, Dan took some great pictures.”
Not really.
The context is that Dan took some really great pictures and has delivered the Climategate VII offering, I through VI, preceding.
Are VIII, IX and X waiting in the wings?