Duffers Holiday Hockey

Merry Christmas from...

"A Drinking Team with a Hockey Problem" Visit the Beak's Web Page: http://www.lopatka.net


	16 goals!

Downers Grove, IL 12/21/07
Attendance 26

Christmas came early for the Shooters!

Goals came early and often for the Whites as Tweedy got things rolling on his first shift, when he fired a puck past the tipsy Anvil. The Whites ran it up to a 5-0 with goals by "I can't remember" and "Who done it" The Brain's shut out was spoiled when Harvey surprised everybody with a pass from the corner that Geno buried. The Whites ran it to 6-1 before the first period ended when Perry intercepted a pass to Thor and put it past his own goalie. The Flea made up for that goal when he picked up Beak's rebound and made it 6-2 early in the second period. He set up Geno's second


	Klinger earned a playmaker award, when he had 3 assists

goal, that started a come back, as "somebody" made it 6-4. The Anvil sobered up and we had a game again. The Whites woke up in the third and added 4 goals by Tweedy, Basketball Jones and the "Wheeler".* Tommy Z and Harvey made it a 10-6 Meaningless final. The Reds won the Meaningful contest as The Anvil made some great saves on Brinks, Thor and Magoo to pick up the Meaningful 3-0 shut out!
* We had to get a nick name for Robert Granato since there are 5 or 6 Robs in the Granato clan. I'm suggesting we call him "The Wheeler" since he is the only Duffer to put wheels on his hockey bag. The Brain has wheels on his bag, but goalies have an excuse , because they are weird.
New Year's Day The Duffers will skate at 11:00 A.M for a $20.00 fee. Ice Skating Party will start after our game around 12:30 P.M. ($5.00 for adults) Here is what we have so far: Paper goods, Papa Joe, Perry will bring Lasagna and drink items. BBTW will bring Chili, Beak has the coffee, cake and cookies, Art, crackers and dip, Frank, Beer, Brinks, Let Beak know what your contribution is, so that we don't get 50 bags of potato chips and no chocolate chip cookies. (Leftovers from New Year's Eve parties that have been left out all night are fine, we can blame our trips to the can on the chili.)
Phoenix plans are shaping up! Uncle Bob has set us up for 3 games in 4 days. Some golfers are planning to shoot a few rounds and Baseball fans are looking at the schedules for spring training games.

Eddie was feeling no pain.

My Year in Review

Don't miss the train lay out at the Morton Arboretum. Ends 1/6/08	This rare wood pecker visited my feeder yesterday.
I had a few cold ones before the game. Teachers are always fun when vacation begins.	My Naperville Students are watching this section of the DuPage River for Freeze up. Click here for more Freeze Up Data
The Arboretum's Lake Marmo froze up on December 1, 2007	We measured the surface temperature and the debt of the snow.
We watched for bud burst and measured leaves in the spring.	We recorded the color change in the fall
We measure the Humidity by spinning wet and dry thermometers.	We released some Bass into Hidden Lake.

The Ginkgo tree was covered with leaves on October 30, 2007	4 days later, the Ginkgo leaves were all on the ground.
I went to Alaska in the Spring and returned there in the Fall.	I saw glaciers melting at the fastest rate in millions of years. I saw homes sinking into permafrost that was no longer permanent.

Permafrost and global warming

Permafrost is being significantly affected by global warming and the impact on permafrost has the potential to accelerate further the warming phenomenon.

With average temperatures rising, permafrost is currently on the retreat in the Arctic regions, from northern Canada to Siberia. This is destabilising both natural features and man-made structures as the previously frozen-solid ground gradually becomes soft, damp or waterlogged. Permafrost warming is also increasing the incidence of rockfall (and rockslide) activity in mountain ranges the world over as the cementing effect of ice within soil and rock structures decreases with increasing ice temperature.

According to the recent Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) and the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost (GTNP), thawing permafrost is also contributing to an increasing rate of erosion in coastal areas in the Arctic region, with the result that some coastal communities are already being forced to relocate.

Perhaps most importantly, Arctic permafrost is estimated to contain up to some 14% of the Earth's stored soil carbon. The annual thawing of the "active layer" allows vegetation to grow on otherwise frozen ground but residual dead vegetation does not fully decompose as is the case in other climes. This vegetation is absorbed by the active layer and frozen, slowing decay considerably. Over time significant quantities of vegetation are in fact frozen solid and their stored carbon suspended in the permafrost. Thawing would mean considerably greater decomposition of the stored vegetation and consequent release of significant quantities of carbon dioxide and particularly methane (a more potent greenhouse gas). You only hear about Carbon Dioxide, but methane is the one that could do us in much faster.

There is a complex equation to be considered, however: the release of carbon would also stimulate additional plant growth. The concern of many scientists is that although some of the carbon released would be absorbed by greater plant growth there would, nonetheless, be a net carbon increase, contributing to a dangerous vicious circle of further temperature rise and consequent carbon release.

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