Bob Smith wrote:
[...]
Global warming is caused by the dwindling number of pirates.

See http://www.venganza.org/

The calm Voice of Sanity at last! It should be noted, however, that a
recent spike in pirate numbers local to Indonesian waters has often
been adduced in an attempt to refute the theory. It's very important
to get across to the lay public, which might easily be confused by
such an apparent counter-example, that in fact these data merely
_confirm_ the theory.

Nick can explain the stats better than I, and I wish dear old Franz
were still with us to describe the physics, but I think it's
essentially correct to say it's a matter of what the layman would
call "averaging". A localised concentration does nothing to detract
from the principle applied globally; and, very interestingly,
according to catastrophe theory, may even appear to produce a
transitory effect _contrary_ to what a global calculation would
predict.

--
Mike.