From: mdhangton@gmail.com   
      
   On Monday, October 6, 2014 11:48:45 AM UTC-4, David E. Siegel (siegel@acm.org)   
   wrote:   
   > On Saturday, October 4, 2014 2:33:50 AM UTC-4, William Vetter wrote:   
   >    
   > > On Friday, October 3, 2014 10:33:22 PM UTC-4, bre...@sff.net wrote:   
   >    
   > >    
   >    
   > > > Weather is also an important part of worldbuilding. What would Hoth be,    
   >    
   > > > if it were not an ice planet?   
   >    
   > >    
   >    
   > > I don't quite remember if that book actually had a monolithic worldwide   
   climate.  I don't think that's really plausible for an Earthlike world.   
   >    
   >    
   >    
   > Whether the Earth actually had an "Ice Ball" or "Slush Ball" or "White   
   Earth" climate  in the distant past is, I gather, much disputed. But it seems   
   that all   
   >    
   >  the climate models indicate that such a thing is at least possible for a   
   more-or-less earth-like world. And of course an "ice world" in an SF story can   
   >    
   >  be just that little bit farther from its sun, or the sun just slightly   
   cooler, making such a state more likely.   
   >    
   >    
   >    
   > In such a case the planet might well have a relatively uniform climate   
   across the globe, at least one with far ;less variation than we presently have   
   on earth.   
   >    
   The planet might well have NO climate.  What kind of climate does Callisto and   
   Europa have?   
      
   So far as I can see, the snowball has some wind, but the albedo is high enough   
   that it doesn't absorb much energy to create much weather.   
   >     
   >    
   > Whether it is plausible to have large land animals on an iceworld is another   
   question, and doubtless depends on the exact details, but many large animals on   
   >    
   >  Earth are basically browsers, and if you allow some vegetation, a browser   
   might be able to survive.    
   >    
   Television leads me to understand that penguins in Antarctica don't browse.    
   They eat fish underwater, walk up on an ice shelf for two months to lay their   
   eggs and starve, hope to survive until they can walk back to the sea again.    
   My understanding is    
   that there is nothing to browse except dead penguins.   
      
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