Originally Posted by flaja

In an average year the first freeze for my part of Florida comes during the last week in November. The forecast for tonight calls for a near freeze and I had frost in my yard one morning about 2 weeks ago when we missed setting the record for the all time earliest freeze by about 2 degrees.

I guess global warming is another promise the Democrats can’t keep.

Originally Posted by saltwn

I don't now about the global warming issue, but weather in Florida as well as the environment in general has changed since so many people moved there and the swamps have been drained here and there. Over building is a problem there due to the sea level and gas pockets, underground caves. I know when I was a young person, wild fires were something unheard of except in rare instances. But in recent memory, Florida has been on fire almost as much as Cali.

Originally Posted by flaja

My part of Florida isn’t all that swampy; we are nothing like the Everglades. And while we have a metropolitan population of over a million people we are nothing like Orlando or Miami.

If the climate of my part of Florida is changing it is getting cooler, not warmer. The second coldest winter on record was 1995-96 and the coldest July and August on record have both happened within the past 10 years. And we had near-freezing record low temperatures the last 2 Aprils.

I think part of the reason why weather records indicate a warming trend is urban sprawl. The official weather records for where I live are made at the airport. 40 years ago the airport was surrounded mostly by woodland, but due to urban sprawl it is now surrounded mostly by office buildings, warehouses, highways, shopping centers and parking lots- all of which store more heat than trees and bare ground do.

As for wildfires, I doubt that the number has increased in Florida over the years. Back in the mid-80s there was a summer where it seemed like the entire state was on fire. There likely have always been as many wildfires in the state as there are now, but with more people around more of the fires get reported.



The Jews trace their ancestry back to the Patriarch Jacob aka Israel. Israel had 12 sons that became the Israelite Tribes (actually Joseph wasn’t a tribe, but his two sons were). Following the death of King Solomon a delegation from some of the tribes asked his son and successor to reduce the tax burden that Solomon had imposed on the Kingdom. The successor refused and the United Kingdom broke apart. The tribes of Judah and Benjamin together with part of the Levites made up the southern Kingdom of Judah and became the Jews. The other tribes, together with the rest of the Levites, became the northern Kingdom of Israel. In time the Kingdom of Israel was captured by the Assyrians and the Israelites were exiled. Some of these Israelites merged with the Jews after the latter had been exiled by the Babylonians. But most of the Israelites from the northern Kingdom dispersed from the Assyrian Empire and were lost to history.

Some people claim that the descendants of the exiled Israelites settled in Western Europe with the descendants of Manasseh and Ephraim, the 2 sons of Joseph, becoming the Saxons who settled in the British Isles, the descendants of the younger one (I can never keep them straight) eventually moved to America.

In Genesis 49:22-26 Israel, on his deathbed, offers a blessing for his son Joseph: Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall: The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him: But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb: The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.

Some interpret the part about branches running over the wall as a prediction that the British and American people would be great colonizers and explorers. And I cannot help but associate the part about archers with the Battle of Agincourt; during the Hundred Years War of the late Medieval Period the English had the strongest national army in Europe- because of the longbow.

BTW: A lot of people that interpret the Bible and world history this way are racists bigots who insist that you have to be white to be a descendant of the Israelites. These people ignore what the Bible says about the Israelites being sifted through the nations of the world (Amos 9:9) and thereby refuse to recognize non-White Americans as Israelites even though America likely has people from most of the world’s nationalities. Personally I do believe that all Jews are Israelites, but not all Israelites are Jews and I accept that non-Jewish Israelites still exist. But I don’t think there is enough historical evidence for anyone to conclude which modern nations represent the Israelites and I utterly reject the bigotry and racism that usually comes with the beliefs that I have outlined here.

Originally Posted by Mikeyy

Did you figure out who had the babies after the flood. I mean there was one family left. Right? Cain and Abel. When you can tell me how they populated the planet without incest I'd like to hear it.

Originally Posted by flaja

Back before genetic mutations accumulated in the world’s human population, brother-sister mating didn't really pose any genetic problems because there weren't many, if any, dangerous genes to worry about.

Originally Posted by flaja

In an average year the first freeze for my part of Florida comes during the last week in November. The forecast for tonight calls for a near freeze and I had frost in my yard one morning about 2 weeks ago when we missed setting the record for the all time earliest freeze by about 2 degrees.

I guess global warming is another promise the Democrats can’t keep.

Originally Posted by Mikeyy

Did you figure out who had the babies after the flood. I mean there was one family left. Right? Cain and Abel. When you can tell me how they populated the planet without incest I'd like to hear it.