This is one of my very favorite topics, thanks for this thread. I think from the Vostok Lake ice core charts, we can see a pattern that puts our current time period smack at the expected beginning of another Great Ice Age. I think "AGW" people are mis-using the data from recent past (like 100-500 years - basically nothing from a global climactic scale standpoint) to make their points. The pattern is not too hard to see if you are viewing enough centuries of data. Unable to post pics so I can't post it but it's on Wikipedia search Vostok Lake Ice Core chart.