Re: realistic aliens and the necessities of storytelling

In article <133a8buvq85hf3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, sueblom@xxxxxxxxxx
says...
"David Friedman" <ddfr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

So tell us--when the northern icecap is melting, how much of it do you
think goes in four to six weeks and how far do you think the change in
salinity extends? If you have no idea of such numbers, then you have no
idea whether your initial claim is true.

David, I don't get it. Lots of chemicals are active in parts per million,
some--perhaps lots--in parts per billion. How come parts per ten thousand
are insignificant? What tests have been done to show this?

It's salt.

It's ubiquitous, and concentration varies significantly for various
reasons everywhere. It makes no sense that small variations (less than
one percent of the average, say) would have any biological import, any
more than they would for oxygen or CO2.

It is correct that melting ice can affect ocean currents, though. The
Earth is a big place, and mixing etc. can be much slower than one would
intuit.

- Gerry Quinn
.