Two great New York Times journalists!
James Aldridge reported from Finland 70 years ago.
Andrew C. Revkin, ‘Dot Earth’, resigned. 
Oceanclimate 23 December 2009

  The New York Times has lost a great journalist. Andrew C. Revkin, who served as staff reporter to write on science. He set up one of the best environment blogs around: “Dot Earth”.  His last article is about the past and his future : My Second Half, NYT, Dec.21, 2009. Thanks Mr. Revkin and Good Luck. 

The New York Time deserves credit for its journalists and their reporting, and the time may just be right to recall the reporting by James Aldridge form Finland 70 years ago, marked the end of a warming period for almost 100 years and the beginning not only of one of the severest winters in modern history, but also the commencement of three decade of global cooling. It is all about climate change and the question whether the World War which had started only four months earlier  (see the pervious comment: Are 70 Years Ignorance not enough?, had played a significant role. But here is Aldridge’s Christmas story:

 “24 December 1939: Report by James Aldridge (extract from NYT, 25 December 1939): “The cold numbs the brain in this Arctic hell, snow sweeps over the darkened wastes, the winds howl and the temperature is 30 degrees below zero (minus 34.4 ° C). Here the Russians and Finns are battling in blinding snowstorms for possession of ice-covered forests. …I reached the spot just after the battle ended. It was the most horrible sight I had ever seen. As if the men had been suddenly turned to wax, there were two or three thousand Russians and a few Finns, all frozen in fighting attitudes. Some were locked together, their bayonets within each other’s bodies; some were frozen in half-standing positions; some were crouching with their arms crooked, holding the hand grenades they were throwing; some were lying with their rifles shouldered, their legs apart….(T)heir fear was registered on the frozen faces. Their bodies were like statues of men throwing all their muscles and strength into some work, but their faces recorded something between bewilderment and horror.” (NYT, 25 December 1939). “

NOTE: The text was referred as Comment 8 the R.C. Revkin article 25/12/2008: “Christmas in Deadhorse, and Space”

 Lets hope that the New York time has soon a competent journalist for its science section again, and that such man as James Aldridge serve as example for good journalism, a matter the world needs more than ever.

A fine Holiday Season and a Happy New Year 2010