[John Cook]

qam1, to answer another of your questions:

“Mars’ southern ice cap is shrinking and has lost billions of tons of carbon dioxide over just the past 4 Martian years, says Geissler. The team’s simulations suggest that the planet’s albedo-induced warming may be responsible for as much as 60 percent of that loss.” What’s causing the other 40+ percent?

I think you’ve misread that quote. The 60 percent they’re refering to is 60% loss of CO2 from the southern ice cap, not 60% of temperature rise.

[Jeff F]

...found solar output has shown no rising trend since 1978

I suppose it can depend upon when you pick the start of the time period. The following NASA data shows total solar irradiance going up since the mid 1980's:

The following graph shows both irradiance and trending up over the past 100 years: