You think this is actually going to rest? What is actually going to happen is the same thing that has been happening all along: those with an interest in denying anthropogenic climate change will selectively quote those things that suit their purpose (the fact some evidence of impropriety was raised) while selectively ignoring those things that do not (the fact those improprieties were disproved).
You want disaster? Try a 2 degree C warming across all our most important foodbelts! Even a minor, persistent decline in ecological carrying capacity will cause serious production issues.
You want disaster? Try halving the amount of precipitation (rain and snow) available to a few dozen major watersheds across the globe. Even a minor, persistent decline will lead to all kinds of resource conflicts, quite possibly even the shooting kind.
Bottom line? When you build a complex, resource-intensive society of ~7 billion people, and run that society really close to the margins of earth's carrying capacity (as we are today), then arbitrarily messing around with a bunch of climate parameters is a stupid idea. It might work out okay, or it might not.
If the letter is in fact addressed "Dead Keith Jr.," then shouldn't it say something more along the lines of "in the last three months we have noticed that you have turned ghoulish grey and started to stink like hell. Please stay the fuck in the ground and stop disturbing your former friends and neighbours."
If we lived in a world where rocks, broken glass, and garbage were constantly pummelling your house all the time (for example a world of constant category 4 hurricanes), then yes; he would have a responsibility to ensure his house could defend against what constitutes an ordinary everyday reality.
A more apt analogy would be somebody who develops extreme sun sensitivity late in life, and then attempts to sue the sun.
And as much as I'd like to believe this is a really, really stupid example, I somehow can not completely discount the possibility of this happening someday, somewhere.
The Sundarbans are also subject to some crazy tidal influences and currents, which have been known to create, reshape, and destroy islands in the past.
It absolutely astounds me how much time some of my FB friends spend on this shit. They don't just play Mafia Wars. They don't just play Farmville. They don't just play Cafe World. They play all three, and I see dozens and dozens of "updates" every single day. They must treat it like a part-time job in order to generate the amount of application pollution they do.
Radical idea, but how about letting them play physical games and other unstructured activities in order to learn the lessons of socializing, sharing, consequence, reward, and impulse-control?
More likely, a huge intellectual battle will break out among humankind, between the Dark Matter proponents and the Dark Matter deniers. Auditoriums full of angry people will hurl insults back and forth at each other, news stations will interview various scientific experts and political commentators in an effort to boost ratings, deniers will accuse the proponents of wanting to destroy the free-market universe and enslave humankind in some kind of subatomic socialism, while proponents will accuse the deniers of being selfish and greedy, willing to gamble the heat death of the entire universe just so they can run their colliders a little longer.
I think the point of TFA is that once a kid's brain has developed to the 7th-grade level, you can cover all the pre-7th math in a year or less rather than taking 6 years to do it.
Slashdot Mirror
When the 3-word post "please stop now" gets rated +5 informative, it's time for the /. editors to take note.
Please stop now.
OMG!!!! Ponies!
You think this is actually going to rest? What is actually going to happen is the same thing that has been happening all along: those with an interest in denying anthropogenic climate change will selectively quote those things that suit their purpose (the fact some evidence of impropriety was raised) while selectively ignoring those things that do not (the fact those improprieties were disproved).
You want disaster? Try a 2 degree C warming across all our most important foodbelts! Even a minor, persistent decline in ecological carrying capacity will cause serious production issues.
You want disaster? Try halving the amount of precipitation (rain and snow) available to a few dozen major watersheds across the globe. Even a minor, persistent decline will lead to all kinds of resource conflicts, quite possibly even the shooting kind.
Bottom line? When you build a complex, resource-intensive society of ~7 billion people, and run that society really close to the margins of earth's carrying capacity (as we are today), then arbitrarily messing around with a bunch of climate parameters is a stupid idea. It might work out okay, or it might not.
Mine goes to eleven.
Yes ... for one thing we now know that the magnetic fields in Amsterdam and Bangkok are way out of kilter.
If the letter is in fact addressed "Dead Keith Jr.," then shouldn't it say something more along the lines of "in the last three months we have noticed that you have turned ghoulish grey and started to stink like hell. Please stay the fuck in the ground and stop disturbing your former friends and neighbours."
The key is to not let them stop at a trifecta. We the people need to add a 4th element: renegade tracking and recording of "the watchers."
Once everybody is subjected to the same rules and consequences, the idea of a surveillance society seems a lot less scary.
I am secretly hopeful that this will eventually turn into a great big litigation circle-jerk.
If we lived in a world where rocks, broken glass, and garbage were constantly pummelling your house all the time (for example a world of constant category 4 hurricanes), then yes; he would have a responsibility to ensure his house could defend against what constitutes an ordinary everyday reality.
A more apt analogy would be somebody who develops extreme sun sensitivity late in life, and then attempts to sue the sun.
And as much as I'd like to believe this is a really, really stupid example, I somehow can not completely discount the possibility of this happening someday, somewhere.
Exactly - keep your CPU busy running SETI@Home while all your apps sit on a server somewhere.
do virtually anything public programming related
Example: build a race of giant robots and program them to seek out and destroy any HR manager who turns down your resume.
the public mind can only contain one global issue at a time
And that's on a good day.
What if every single router in the world is manufactured in China? Are you sure you know what's in that firmware?
The Sundarbans are also subject to some crazy tidal influences and currents, which have been known to create, reshape, and destroy islands in the past.
go listen to Rush while I jerk off to a picture of Ann Coulter
I'll not have you impugning a fine Canadian rock band that way.
Weather |= Climate
It absolutely astounds me how much time some of my FB friends spend on this shit. They don't just play Mafia Wars. They don't just play Farmville. They don't just play Cafe World. They play all three, and I see dozens and dozens of "updates" every single day. They must treat it like a part-time job in order to generate the amount of application pollution they do.
Actually the Montessori model has some equally successful applications in the adult world too.
Suggestions?
Radical idea, but how about letting them play physical games and other unstructured activities in order to learn the lessons of socializing, sharing, consequence, reward, and impulse-control?
More likely, a huge intellectual battle will break out among humankind, between the Dark Matter proponents and the Dark Matter deniers. Auditoriums full of angry people will hurl insults back and forth at each other, news stations will interview various scientific experts and political commentators in an effort to boost ratings, deniers will accuse the proponents of wanting to destroy the free-market universe and enslave humankind in some kind of subatomic socialism, while proponents will accuse the deniers of being selfish and greedy, willing to gamble the heat death of the entire universe just so they can run their colliders a little longer.
But that's just my prediction.
That's what Zoolander would name it.
I think the point of TFA is that once a kid's brain has developed to the 7th-grade level, you can cover all the pre-7th math in a year or less rather than taking 6 years to do it.