Random Thoughts Showcase Spectacular

[Iskanderia]

PS. I'm so glad I'm going to be dead before global warming, natural or man-made, becomes a real probblem.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure some sort of carbon-capture technology is the only hope future generations have and I'm not even sure such a thing is possible (on a large enough scale, anyways). There are lots of relatively simple things we could do to mitigate the damage, but of course we'll never do them because almost half the population doesn't "believe" in science.

It's more that even scientists argue about it and people don't know which science to believe in. For every study I see saying that global warming is really serious, I see another that says it's not a big deal and we won't really feel the impact of it for like thousands of years. It's pretty confusing for someone who isn't a scientist.

 

[Berserk]

^^Yeah, I can understand that. It's frustrating that certain media outlets (primarily Fox News and the Daily Mail, though I'm sure there are others) have been intentionally confusing the discussion. They are generally the only sources from which most people will be learning about things like climate and evolutionary science, and they abuse their role.

Dr. Richard Muller of UC Berkley was a high profile skeptic of global warming studies that you may have heard about. He is not a climatologist, but a physicist. He was granted a lot of money from the billionaire oil magnates, David and Charles Koch, to conduct his own study. He brought in a huge team of physicists and astrophysicists who conducted a bigger, better study than had ever been done before--a study that addressed every one of his criticisms of previous studies. The results of his study surprised him, and confirmed what all of the other previous climatology studies found. Here are his own words:

Call me a converted skeptic. Three years ago I identified problems in previous climate studies that, in my mind, threw doubt on the very existence of global warming. Last year, following an intensive research effort involving a dozen scientists, I concluded that global warming was real and that the prior estimates of the rate of warming were correct. I’m now going a step further: Humans are almost entirely the cause.

There may be some uncertainty over how quickly global warming is occurring, but in legit scientific circles there is no debate over the following: global warming is happening right now, it is caused almost exclusively by anthropogenic CO2 emissions, and it will have serious consequences down the road if we do nothing today.

The following was supposed to be my "simple" summary of the science behind global warming (here's a comic that explains even more, but with pictures, politics, and a penguin XD):

CO2 is a colorless, odorless, trace gas in the atmosphere that is necessary for life as we know it on Earth. It also has properties that allow it to absorb and emit thermal radiation, which is why it's dubbed a "greenhouse" gas. This effect was first described in 1824 by Joseph Fourier and quantified by Svante Arrhenius in 1896, making "the greenhouse effect" a scientific law. The atmospheric concentrations of carbon (~280 parts per million), along with other greenhouse gases, had been stable for millennia, which has afforded us a stable global temperature and comfortable living conditions.

In the past couple centuries, however, we have discovered the energy potential of carbon-based fossil fuels. Through burning these fuels, we have been releasing billions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year for decades. For the entire Holocene epoch (which gave birth to our species and in which we currently live), the ppm of CO2 had been around 280. Now it stands at about 390 and is rapidly increasing. Though there are many other factors besides greenhouse gas concentration that will ultimately dictate climate (cloud cover, upward convection of heat, oceanic absorption of CO2, etc.), increasing atmospheric CO2 is a certain way to increase the absorption of thermal radiation from the sun and ipso facto the global temperature. In 1896 Arrhenius predicted that we might cause global warming in the future, in the 70's scientists basically confirmed that we were causing global warming, and at this point we know certainly that global warming is already happening and will take away like a freight train in future decades/centuries unless we reign in our CO2 emissions now.

And this is to say nothing of ocean acidification! CO2 and H2O react to form H2CO3, a.k.a. carbonic acid. The oceans have been absorbing huge amounts of our CO2 emissions in this way, which has slowed down the effects of global warming. But the increased acidity is taking a toll on marine life, most notably by killing coral on a large scale. If we continue to allow the ocean to acidify, we're headed for a large extinction event of marine life.

(Hopefully that explains it clearly.)

 

[Iskanderia]

But see, I've seen people on the other side make equally compelling arguments with legit-looking sources to back it up as well (and I'm not talking about Fox News or The Daily Mail [the latter in particular is completely lacking in integrity and I wouldn't believe them if they told me the sky was blue. With Fox, I generally just take what they say with a grain of salt and don't find it that difficult to differentiate between the objective facts and the biased opinions in their reporting. What makes biased reporting so dangerous though is that too many Fox News, Daily Mail, MSNBC and HuffPo watchers/readers aren't so good at critical thinking or recognizing bias and just take at face value whatever they're told, accepting it wholesale and parroting the talking points that are fed to them./tangent]).

I certainly believe that climate change is occurring and it seems pretty plausible that our actions have caused it to speed up and I don't often see these two basic points being disputed amongst reasonable people. As you said, the debate seems to be mostly about how quickly it's happening and exactly how much our actions have sped up what is generally a naturally occurring phenomenon. Because of this uncertainty, I say let's do what we can to slow the process just in case but let's be careful to not do so to the detriment of the health of our economy. A compromise is what's called for here but we know how good our major political parties are at compromise (each side blames the other for this but they're both equally to blame).


@Faith: again, it's easy to say that now but when you're actually faced with the dilemma, you really have to consider which is more painful and difficult: losing your "soulmate", best friend and the person who knows and understands you better than anyone ever has and starting your whole life over in middle age OR learning to trust them again and getting over the pain of being betrayed one single time for a whole 5-10 minutes.

The latter would certainly be rough and it would take a while to get over it but the former would be like losing half of yourself. I personally am not willing to just throw away the life we've built together and give up having someone love me on such an intense and nearly miraculous level just because they had their penis in someone else for 5 minutes once.

If we were discussing this 15 years ago, I would say the same thing too - that is, that I would immediately leave someone who had cheated on me, even if it only happened once. I had been in love and had had a few 1-2 year relationships at that point but those relationships and loves were nowhere near the depth and intensity of my marriage after 12 years. I had no way of being able to even conceptualize the vast loss I would feel if I got a divorce even though I had been through my share of painful breakups.

This is not to say that many people who have been married for a long time don't feel the way you do, but I promise you they would still agonize over the decision when faced with it and it wouldn't be as simple as "hit the road, jackass, and don't you come back no more" (unless it was a terrible marriage to begin with).

Of course, again, we're only talking here about a single slip-up after years of faithfulness in a childless marriage - not a full-blown affair or multiple one night stands.

Okay, I'll stop now. Sorry, guys.

 

[Berserk]

@Iska: If you have any particular "skeptic" studies in mind, I can look at them and see if they're worth their salt. In general though, my advice is that anyone who presents a study as "debunking man-made global warming" is just pulling a fast one, because there have been thousands of carefully designed studies conducted by reputable scientists that have more-or-less already proven that global warming is driven by CO2 emissions (and deforestation). Wikipedia has a good article called Scientific Opinion on Climate Change.

I think your position, that we shouldn't hobble the economy in our quest to reduce CO2 emissions (though we should still seek to reduce them), is a fair one. If only the Republican party would take that stance, maybe we'd get somewhere. Reducing CO2 emissions doesn't have to harm the economy and solutions can be as simple as improving insulation/weather stripping in buildings and switching to CFL/LED light bulbs. Bigger projects could include rezoning and retrofitting communities to make them more walkable/bikeable and implementing high-speed rail along high-traffic corridors (you know, like every other developed country has). We have a history of being dependent on the auto industry, especially in Michigan, but I think it's about time we've moved on from that.

A lot of conservative people I've talked to (like my dad) will scoff at every one of those suggestions except maybe improving building insulation. Somehow it's become nothing to do with logic and everything to do with politics or a misguided notion of what it means to be "American" (i.e. "but trucks and cars are the American way! Don't wanna be like pinko Europe" ).

 

[Wandering_Fox]

There is nothing tasty about plain oatmeal with no added flavors whatsoever. If only I had some cinnamon and 2 scoops of raisins...

And while I'm dreaming, I'd also like a pony...

 

[flowersofnight]

Pony is so gamy though, it doesn't go with the oatmeal at all.

 

[Wandering_Fox]

Pony is so gamy though, it doesn't go with the oatmeal at all.

Pony Oatmeal... Hmmmmmm...

I wonder... This might have to be one of those life lessons one must learn on their own d(^__^o)

 

[flowersofnight]

I just went to B&H Photo, or as I now call it, BAHHHH Photo

Step 1: Skulk around till you can shanghai a staffer into helping you. This is not optional
Step 2: Have the staffer use a computer with the website to find the item you want. God help you if you're behind people who don't already know what they want
Step 3: Get a receipt from the staffer
Step 4: Take that receipt to another desk, where they process it and give you a second receipt which gives you permission to check out

Repeat steps 1-4 in every department you need to shop in (!!!)

Step 5: Wait in line and actually check out and use your second receipt(s) to pay which gets you your third receipt
Step 6: Wait in ANOTHER line to use your third receipt to actually pick up your stuff

 

[MissUMana]

Kafka would have loved that shop.

 

[faith]

So my boss was talking about the Olympics today, and about how they played all British songs for the closing.

Then he goes, "I thought about France and we'd be done within 2 minutes. Who do we have that the whole world knows? No one? Edith Piaf? And she died in the 60's"

It was exteremely funny XD
So I decided to make him feel better and told him if there were a lot of gay people or DDR fanatics at the closing they could probably use Mylene Farmer and Sylvie Vartan.
Or Debussy, Faure, and Gainsbourg if there weren't. They'd just have to reach back a hundred years or so XD

But honestly, there's no point in competing with England when it comes to popular music. They have the Beatles.

 

[flowersofnight]

Then he goes, "I thought about France and we'd be done within 2 minutes. Who do we have that the whole world knows? No one? Edith Piaf? And she died in the 60's"

BERNARD MINET
Obviously XD

Or they could try to coax France Gall out of her hidden volcano retreat in the Antarctic.

 

[faith]

No offense, but anyone you can name, no one else in the world probably remembers

PS. Matilda is still the name of that girl from Roald Dahl, first and foremost lol

 

[flowersofnight]

PS. Matilda is still the name of that girl from Roald Dahl, first and foremost lol

I'm not leaving a shrimp on the barbie for YOU then XD

 

[MissUMana]

Then he goes, "I thought about France and we'd be done within 2 minutes. Who do we have that the whole world knows? No one? Edith Piaf? And she died in the 60's"

BERNARD MINET
Obviously XD

Bernard la Superstar, ahahahah! Did you know that "minet" means "pussycat" and in the 70's it meant "effeminate guy"?

Or they could try to coax France Gall out of her hidden volcano retreat in the Antarctic.

Wrong direction : she spends half the year in Senegal, where she owns a very plain house on a small island.

 

[Iskanderia]

France currently makes the best black metal and post-black metal in the world but I suppose those genres are not particularly appropriate for the Olympics, sadly.

 

[PureElegance]

OMG imagine Daft Punk performing!? They're French! Along with all those other French house/dance/electronic music French people.

Aw man, my fortune cookie says, "You have a natural grace and great consideration for others." Darn

I can't get this scene from The Good Wife out of my head so I need to write it out. Caitlin, a cool young attorney who works at Alicia's (the main character) firm tells Big Cheese Lady she's resigning. When Alicia asked why, she thought she liked working there, etc. Caitlin says she's pregnant and is getting married soon, and BCL says they have great maternity leave benefits and all this stuff. Caitlin said she's thankful for that, but...

Caitlin: I want to be... a mom.
Alicia and BCL: ... *awkward silence* o_o
Caitlin: Well anyways, thank you *leaves*
*awkward silence*
BCL: (to Alicia) Go talk to her.

At that point I was like, "Talk to her for what?" I'm not sure why they couldn't be "Well if that's what you want." So Alicia goes to Caitlin who's putting away some papers, and Alicia starts saying how great a lawyer Caitlin is.

Alicia: You’re a good lawyer Caitlin. You’re smart and clever and you handled today’s questioning like a pro. You can’t give this up. If you give this up, even for someone important to you, there’s a chance you’ll regret it.
Caitlin:*shakes head* I’m not giving it up for my fiancee. I’m giving it up for myself. I like the law, but I love my fiancee.
Alicia: But you don’t have to choose. There’s no reason you can’t work, be a wife, and a mother.
Caitlin: But I -want- to choose. Maybe it’s different for my generation, but I...don’t have to prove anything. Or if I have to, I don’t want to.

I was totally amazed this was happening before my eyes. Alicia still doesn't believe that Caitlin's telling the truth so she went, "Sorry I wasn't a good mentor." Oh give me a break XD Caitlin assured her that she was a great mentor and Alicia sulked. I was like, YOU GO GIRL. YOU TELL THOSE LOSERS. Even after that, BCL and Alicia are still in disbelief as they watch Caitlin pack her things. BCL said, "I don't think the glass ceiling was broken for this." And Alicia goes, "I think it was." I was like, finally.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yz1Z5ZrU4vs

man I'm swamped with work heeeeelp.

 

[flowersofnight]

I can't believe she just up and left like that. Good thing I was only paying her 75 cents for every dollar I paid the men, or I'd be pretty teed off.

 

[Wandering_Fox]

Whatever happened to Cameron? Maybe a camera stole his soul and he is trapped for all time on a Moi dix Mois DVD...? I haven't heard anything about him in ages...

 

[Cerceaux]

Moved around/switched out the posters in my bedroom and hung up another frame so I now have an Imai Kira corner.
I can't bring myself to take down my giant Kanon poster though. I have another smaller one, but the big one is autographed. I wish I could get the other one signed, bahhh. She should sell posters of her artwork too, I would be all over that.

 

[flowersofnight]

Whatever happened to Cameron? Maybe a camera stole his soul and he is trapped for all time on a Moi dix Mois DVD...? I haven't heard anything about him in ages...

Beats me, for all we know he could still be living in Japan (WHERE HIS MARRIAGE IS A HELL) and going to indies VK lives... but I doubt it XD He let his site go down a long time ago.

I bought my copy of Lareine's "fierte no umi..." album from him back in the day