Thoughts from a Quirky Llama

I've observed that Delta has an interesting customer service model. It works something like this: 1. Use automated system to Screw the customer 2. Use automated systems to inform customer of their screwing. 3. Use automated system to field initial customer complaints. 4. Use human representative to inform customer there is nothing they can do to remedy. 5. Use human representative to insist there is nothing they can do. 6. Hope that customers cell phone runs out of power on hold. 7. Lie to customer. 8. If customer persists past this point, do what the automated system in step 1 should have done to begin with. We flew Delta on our recent trip to Savannah. The trip there was fine, but on the way back, Delta's new customer service was on display. I checked-in online about 20 hours before the flight. I noticed that we had terrible seats for the 5 hour flight from Atlanta- 42B & 43B, two middle seats in different rows! (Step 1 & 2) Which is weird since I'd picked out s...

This is cobbled together from a Buzz thread (yes, Google Buzz) about Global Warming. I think there are a lot of lay people who accept the science of Global Warming without understanding that most of the projected warming comes not from physics, but solely from computer models of the Earth's climate. Here's why these models (and thus Global Warming) are on very shaky ground. Belief in Global Warming comes down to your faith in computer models. The models are so important because CO2 itself will not warm the earth that much. Basic physics precits something like 0.5-1.5 degree Celsius over the next 100 years. That's the direct effect of the heat-trapping of CO2, and I think that's a reasonable forecast. The much greater warming projected by groups like the IPCC comes from positive feedback effects shown in computer models. That is- that 1 degree warming will be amplified by other processes in the climate system, resulting in much larger overall warming- 3-4 degrees. Thi...