Higher temperature causes more evaporation from the oceans (which, as everyone knows, cover 3/4 of Earth's surface). This evaporation may be minute in small areas, but when it happens across huge oceans the total effect is... noticeable. After all, that's how storm clouds form over the oceans. And the oceans are vast, and little bits of extra evaporation over vast areas amass to noticeably greater clouds. So a slight increase in temperature over vast areas cause greater storms. These storms might have happened even if global temp stayed low, but with higher temperatures the storms become more violent.
Now, if a winter temperature "ought to have been" -10C, then the clouds will freeze and fall as snow. If the temperature increases to -9.3C, then the clouds will still freeze and fall as snow, but... because the evaporation over the oceans was greater (water evaporates even when very cold), the clouds will hold more water, leading to more snow falling.
All these weather events lead to greater hurricanes, greater floods, greater snowfall, etc. All these are costly to humans, and often more so to fragile eco-systems.
As to why dry areas are expected to become drier, I don't know. Hope someone else can enlighten us on that.
2. Aggravating factors
There are large swathes of tundra across northern Asia that is mostly frozen. And if that melts (and some of it already is), then we'll have more fertile land to live on, except... that tundra contains lots of rotting vegetation that, when thawed, releases lots of methane. Methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than CO2. Luckily methane decomposes after some years, presumably by being combusted into H2O and CO2, thereby still being an unnecessary addition of greenhouse gas.
The arctic ice can be thought of as a thermostat. In the winter it freezes and grows. One could think of it as "storing cold" (although that idea makes about as much sense as "centrifugal force"). When the summer heat thaws the antarctic ice, cold waters are released which cool the northern hemisphere, thereby evening out summer and winter temperatures. But, global warming causes the freezing zone to shrink. I wonder what will happen the summer when there is not enough ice to even out the summer warmth.
As you say, it is a minor fluctuation. But the problem is, as you also say, the average global temperature, and it's that which makes all the difference.
There's a scene in Wall-E where he opens a Twinkie packet and serves it to his cockroach friend. The Twinkie is as good as new... 400 years after humans abandoned Earth.
Being at work and actually doing work are not the same thing.
Sure, many people might prefer spending time at work. That's fine.
But insisting that people stay at work, even when it lowers their productivity, health, live quality, etc. is when there's a problem.
In about year 2000 I lived and worked in Stockholm, but our head office was in San Diego. We had one of those paid "team building days". While we were attaching our rented gear and my boss was inside paying the following conversation took place...
Rental guy: Your accent... Where are you from?
Boss: Sweden
Rental guy: Where's that?
Boss: In Europe.
Rental guy: Oh, I've heard Europe's no good.
Awkward silence...
Rental guy: Do you have pizza in Europe?
Boss: Well, there's this little county in southern Europe called Italy... (Don't know if she actually said or just thought this last part.)
Story 2:
Same business. Swedish developer in San Diego head office was working on a financial application for use on both sides of the Atlantic. He notices that one local programmer was hard coding dollar signs.
Swede: Why are you hard coding dollar signs?
Local: 'Cos they're money fields.
Swede: We don't use dollars.
Local: What? Don't you have money?
Story 3:
International scout meeting in Sweden involving members from all over the world. They laid out a world map and for the fun of it asked everyone to go stand on their respective country. All did, except for one group who wandered around lost. "The US is over there." says the organiser.
And I have many more anecdotes.
My point is, this sort of story comes out so often that it forms a pattern, but only involving people from the US. People of other countries seem to at least be aware of our ignorance, so these sorts of exchanges don't seem to happen. Sure, we have cultural misunderstandings, but that's not quite the same thing.
That said, I've met many (even related to some) people from the US who are very switched on. It seems to me that in the US people are either very knowledgeable or very ignorant, with very little in between.
It's one thing to send rovers to scout Mars. But if we send bunker blasting missiles to Mars, then we'll only have ourselves to blame when Mars attacks.
It's one thing to pause, recognise and test the code. But I'm truly amazed that you manage to find the origins of those snippets, especially as some of them would have to be very hard to find.
Also, they should sell different sizes and shapes in one box, each one clearly labeled, so that after going through the box one has a better idea of what model to buy a whole box of. That would be better than wasting money on box after box of misfitting condoms.
Does home gun ownership help prevent a government from turning on its own people?
...is quite clearly "no".
The US citizenry has lots of guns, including military weaponry, and a government that has already turned on its people in various ways, though none of them actually violent. (There's no need to be violent when the people let them get away with so much.) Yet despite so many reasons to start making a stand against its government, nothing seems to be happening. Having weaponry might make one feel like a tough badass, but actually getting organised to get out there to face the music of battle is not really appealing to anyone who values their life. So, the armed citizenry will not prevent a government from turning on its own people, as long as the govenment does it slowly, iteratively, insidiously.
That's not to say that we're all satisfied with our government here either. But at least were honest enough to admit that we don't want a peasant revolt facing our military. We'd rather solve our problems peacefully. And I believe that armed citizenries feel much the same, as can be seen in dysfunctional countries all around the world, many in much worse states than the US (look south).
FWIW, I'm glad that I live in a country where it's hard to obtain a gun. It means that guns, and the risks they pose, hardly ever feature in this society. That gives a certain peace of mind regardless of statistics because if someone threatens me I'd prefer it was with a knife than with a pistol. That's because, as parent post pointed out, a knife is a general purpose tool that can be used for killing, whereas most pistols are designed to make killing much easier, to the point of wrecklessness and accidents.
The various aliens and the story provided perspectives of human issues/problems with humorous ways. But they were fun! And they were inspirations for the Star Control games.
Please, pretty please, perhaps after they've revamped Star Control, could they revamp Starflight? Pleeease!
Say we're looking at Earth and the moon from a space station located somewhere along the moon's rotational axis around Earth.
If we're "rotating" at the same rate, then by our calculations Earth and the moon should fall into each other.
If we're "rotating" fast enough, then by our calculations Earth and the moon should fall away from each other.
Clearly that doesn't happen. In fact, by measuring the mass of each body and by observing that the distance between them barely changes, we can work out how fast the rotation ought to be.
Surely that would mean that rotation is absolute, rather than relative. (Of course, translationally, velocities still appear to relative.)
Could perhaps Bee colony collapse disorder be caused by the sudden increase of wireless technology that's been built since the early 2000's? Perhaps the bees simply can't navigate their way back to the apiary because their internal compasses are scrambled? That might explain why we haven't found any toxins or diseases that cause it.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm no expert, but this is my understanding...
1. Weather
Higher temperature causes more evaporation from the oceans (which, as everyone knows, cover 3/4 of Earth's surface). This evaporation may be minute in small areas, but when it happens across huge oceans the total effect is... noticeable. After all, that's how storm clouds form over the oceans. And the oceans are vast, and little bits of extra evaporation over vast areas amass to noticeably greater clouds. So a slight increase in temperature over vast areas cause greater storms. These storms might have happened even if global temp stayed low, but with higher temperatures the storms become more violent.
Now, if a winter temperature "ought to have been" -10C, then the clouds will freeze and fall as snow. If the temperature increases to -9.3C, then the clouds will still freeze and fall as snow, but... because the evaporation over the oceans was greater (water evaporates even when very cold), the clouds will hold more water, leading to more snow falling.
All these weather events lead to greater hurricanes, greater floods, greater snowfall, etc. All these are costly to humans, and often more so to fragile eco-systems.
As to why dry areas are expected to become drier, I don't know. Hope someone else can enlighten us on that.
2. Aggravating factors
There are large swathes of tundra across northern Asia that is mostly frozen. And if that melts (and some of it already is), then we'll have more fertile land to live on, except... that tundra contains lots of rotting vegetation that, when thawed, releases lots of methane. Methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than CO2. Luckily methane decomposes after some years, presumably by being combusted into H2O and CO2, thereby still being an unnecessary addition of greenhouse gas.
The arctic ice can be thought of as a thermostat. In the winter it freezes and grows. One could think of it as "storing cold" (although that idea makes about as much sense as "centrifugal force"). When the summer heat thaws the antarctic ice, cold waters are released which cool the northern hemisphere, thereby evening out summer and winter temperatures. But, global warming causes the freezing zone to shrink. I wonder what will happen the summer when there is not enough ice to even out the summer warmth.
As you say, it is a minor fluctuation. But the problem is, as you also say, the average global temperature, and it's that which makes all the difference.
Anyone more knowledgeable willing to weigh in?
...or a computer flu that cripples 5% of the worlds servers. That would have quite an impact too.
There's a scene in Wall-E where he opens a Twinkie packet and serves it to his cockroach friend. The Twinkie is as good as new... 400 years after humans abandoned Earth.
What else is there to say?
+1 Agree!
How about 169? :)
I notice there are only 168 hours in a week - please share your time technology!
Being at work and actually doing work are not the same thing.
Sure, many people might prefer spending time at work. That's fine.
But insisting that people stay at work, even when it lowers their productivity, health, live quality, etc. is when there's a problem.
the world is just slowly moving on from text to images and iconography, as sad as that may be.
So, we're moving from literature back to cave paintings.
That's one way to make civilization implode. And I always thought civilization would come to a more dramatic end due to some calamity.
Oh well. The end is nigh in yet another way, then.
Sorry to burst your bubble...
Story 1:
In about year 2000 I lived and worked in Stockholm, but our head office was in San Diego. We had one of those paid "team building days". While we were attaching our rented gear and my boss was inside paying the following conversation took place...
Rental guy: Your accent... Where are you from?
Boss: Sweden
Rental guy: Where's that?
Boss: In Europe.
Rental guy: Oh, I've heard Europe's no good.
Awkward silence...
Rental guy: Do you have pizza in Europe?
Boss: Well, there's this little county in southern Europe called Italy... (Don't know if she actually said or just thought this last part.)
Story 2: Same business. Swedish developer in San Diego head office was working on a financial application for use on both sides of the Atlantic. He notices that one local programmer was hard coding dollar signs.
Swede: Why are you hard coding dollar signs?
Local: 'Cos they're money fields.
Swede: We don't use dollars.
Local: What? Don't you have money?
Story 3:
International scout meeting in Sweden involving members from all over the world. They laid out a world map and for the fun of it asked everyone to go stand on their respective country. All did, except for one group who wandered around lost. "The US is over there." says the organiser.
And I have many more anecdotes.
My point is, this sort of story comes out so often that it forms a pattern, but only involving people from the US. People of other countries seem to at least be aware of our ignorance, so these sorts of exchanges don't seem to happen. Sure, we have cultural misunderstandings, but that's not quite the same thing.
That said, I've met many (even related to some) people from the US who are very switched on. It seems to me that in the US people are either very knowledgeable or very ignorant, with very little in between.
It's one thing to send rovers to scout Mars. But if we send bunker blasting missiles to Mars, then we'll only have ourselves to blame when Mars attacks.
I don't get sperm donation
Me neither. I'm male.
purge the non-fiction books that are out of date. Nothing says "the library is obsolete" like a shelf full of science books from 1973.
Or, for the sake of preservation, put them in a "historical section".
10) "How many square feet of pizza are eaten in the U.S. each year?" -- Goldman Sachs, Programmer Analyst interview.
How many times have you ever seen square shaped feet made of pizza?
That's right: None.
Women are men, with wombs. In the past (1000+ years ago) the word "man" was a gender neutral word simply meaning "human being".
Although, here's a question... When "man" stopped being gender neutral, did female humans stop being men? ;)
It's one thing to pause, recognise and test the code. But I'm truly amazed that you manage to find the origins of those snippets, especially as some of them would have to be very hard to find.
I'm very impressed. :)
Also, they should sell different sizes and shapes in one box, each one clearly labeled, so that after going through the box one has a better idea of what model to buy a whole box of. That would be better than wasting money on box after box of misfitting condoms.
delete content, unfriend friends, change the email address, and close the account if that's an option.
That's just plain nasty. It's unlikely they did that on purpose, given how signups work. So many things they can never get back.
It's like with Bluetooth... everything is better with Bluetooth, only LED's are flashier.
http://www.classicshell.net/
Should perhaps come standard though.
I install this on all my Windows machines.
I think the answer to...
Does home gun ownership help prevent a government from turning on its own people?
...is quite clearly "no".
The US citizenry has lots of guns, including military weaponry, and a government that has already turned on its people in various ways, though none of them actually violent. (There's no need to be violent when the people let them get away with so much.) Yet despite so many reasons to start making a stand against its government, nothing seems to be happening. Having weaponry might make one feel like a tough badass, but actually getting organised to get out there to face the music of battle is not really appealing to anyone who values their life. So, the armed citizenry will not prevent a government from turning on its own people, as long as the govenment does it slowly, iteratively, insidiously.
That's not to say that we're all satisfied with our government here either. But at least were honest enough to admit that we don't want a peasant revolt facing our military. We'd rather solve our problems peacefully. And I believe that armed citizenries feel much the same, as can be seen in dysfunctional countries all around the world, many in much worse states than the US (look south).
FWIW, I'm glad that I live in a country where it's hard to obtain a gun. It means that guns, and the risks they pose, hardly ever feature in this society. That gives a certain peace of mind regardless of statistics because if someone threatens me I'd prefer it was with a knife than with a pistol. That's because, as parent post pointed out, a knife is a general purpose tool that can be used for killing, whereas most pistols are designed to make killing much easier, to the point of wrecklessness and accidents.
I think you meant:
"Spiritual malaise" would mean a lack of or lessening of human conscience.
But yes, I agree.
Archon... another one of my ol' favourites! :)
I would really like to see Starflight (and Starflight 2) resurrected as well.
The various aliens and the story provided perspectives of human issues/problems with humorous ways. But they were fun! And they were inspirations for the Star Control games.
Please, pretty please, perhaps after they've revamped Star Control, could they revamp Starflight? Pleeease!
Serious off-topic question:
Say we're looking at Earth and the moon from a space station located somewhere along the moon's rotational axis around Earth.
If we're "rotating" at the same rate, then by our calculations Earth and the moon should fall into each other.
If we're "rotating" fast enough, then by our calculations Earth and the moon should fall away from each other.
Clearly that doesn't happen. In fact, by measuring the mass of each body and by observing that the distance between them barely changes, we can work out how fast the rotation ought to be.
Surely that would mean that rotation is absolute, rather than relative. (Of course, translationally, velocities still appear to relative.)
Or am I grossly misunderstanding something?
Could perhaps Bee colony collapse disorder be caused by the sudden increase of wireless technology that's been built since the early 2000's? Perhaps the bees simply can't navigate their way back to the apiary because their internal compasses are scrambled? That might explain why we haven't found any toxins or diseases that cause it.