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from the don't-care-I-live-in-amundsen-scott-base dept.
The research co-led by Drs. Christelle Not and Benoit Thibodeau from the Department of Earth Sciences and the Swire Institute of Marine Science, The University of Hong Kong, highlights a dramatic weakening of the circulation during the 20th century that is interpreted to be a direct consequence of global warming and associated melt of the Greenland Ice-Sheet. This is important for near-future climate as slower circulation in the North Atlantic can yield profound change on both the North American and European climate but also on the African and Asian summer monsoon rainfall. The findings were recently published in the prestigious journal Geophysical Research Letters.
[...] Interestingly, the research team also found a weak signal during a period called the Little Ice Age (a cold spell observed between about 1600 and 1850 AD). While not as pronounced as the 20th century trend, the signal might confirm that this period was also characterized by a weaker circulation in the North Atlantic, which implies a decrease in the transfer of heat toward Europe, contributing to the cold temperature of this period. However, more work is needed to validate this hypothesis.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-11/tuoh-oci112318.php
(Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Sunday December 02 2018, @10:53PM (2 children)
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The US doesn't have karma. Just like any other nation, it has history. The US, just like a business, is not a person with a soul. (Politicians I sure as hell hope have karma, but that's a different discussion...)
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If nations did have karma however, I would be curious, what causes good and bad karma for a nation and why is the US's accrued karma so much worse than other nations? Do you see any actions of this nation that conversely generate good karma?
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 5, Informative) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday December 03 2018, @12:04AM (1 child)
Well, you're correct there, that's more of a metaphor than anything since a nation is not an individual. But to continue with it: the US got off to a bad start as it was begun by a bunch of Calvinist zealots who got kicked out of 17th century England for being too Christian (stop and think about that sentence for a moment in context...terrifying, isn't it?). They proceeded to betray the very Indians who helped them survive their first rocky years and immediately got down to genocide, wrapped up what was essentially a tax rebellion in the language of freedom and brotherhood, *kept the genocide up,* fought war after war of acquisition, had one of the most brutal slave trades outside the Arab world for over two hundred years...and all that before the 20th century!
It's in the early 1900s that the imperialist rhetoric really took hold with the Monroe Doctrine, and the Mammon-worship with the Federal Reserve Act. Germany got its ideas about eugenics and eventually extermination camps from the US. We nearly went into WWI on their side, and could have gone in on the Axis side in WWII. After WWII we were the only functioning economy left on the face of the earth, and we squandered it, leading to the current situation.
We were behind even the savage British in abolishing slavery. Women did not gain universal suffrage until 1920. Segregation was de jure until the mid 60s, and is de facto still. Marital fucking rape wasn't even criminalized nationwide until 1993. The government lost all accountability in '73 when Ford pardoned Nixon, setting the precedent for every misbehaving President we've had since, which is ALL of them except Carter. The social safety net's not just unraveling but actively being pulled to shreds by people who will call themselves good Christians--y'know, followers of the guy who said "care for the poor or spend eternity on fire?" (c.f. Mt. 25:31-47 among others). We don't produce anything but weapons. We're heading backwards to pre-Depression society at an ever-accelerating rate.
The infrastructure is crumbling to bits and the elite refuse to fix it even though it would be in their best interest medium and long-term because "muh shareholder value!" Corporations are more people than people are. Money is everything. We have actual goddamn Nazis with actual goddamn Nazi flags marching in the actual goddamn street. Our government cozies up to hellspawn like the Saudis and sentences entire nations to genocide and starvation (Yemen), destroys entire countries to keep the petrodollar afloat (Iraq, Libya), has sold its soul to the soulless Chicoms and the perverted Russians, pronounces lies truth and the truth lies on national TV, disgraces itself in international meetings of governance...what more do I need to say?
And what makes this a million times worse is, the US does all this while brazenly spouting "leader of the free world!" rhetoric. That is some epic gaslighting.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Arik on Monday December 03 2018, @07:05AM
True.
"But to continue with it: the US got off to a bad start as it was begun by a bunch of Calvinist zealots who got kicked out of 17th century England for being too Christian (stop and think about that sentence for a moment in context...terrifying, isn't it?)."
Except that it's a half truth at best. The colonies had different characters and compositions and your description only fits some of them. Massachusetts was founded by Puritans - which is one of the reasons why it has lost the vast majority of its early claims. New Hampshire and Rhode Island today exist as separate entities precisely because the puritans in Massachusetts Bay did not represent them. The Anglicans of Virginia were almost as oppressive as the Puritans of Mass. but Carolina was always more open, cast off the state church link more quickly, and unofficially welcomed dissenters (as long as they were protestant!) from the beginning.
The situation in the early US was nowhere near as dire as you paint. Unitarian universalism was the unofficial religion of the young republic - the fastest growing denomination even in states where it was prohibited. The situation was actually so *good* at the time that Virginian Thomas Jefferson, living in a state with an official religion (one to which he did not subscribe, and which he criticized relentlessly) could write "I rejoice that in this blessed country of free enquiry & belief, which has surrendered it’s creed and conscience to neither kings nor priests, the genuine doctrine of one only God is reviving, and I trust that there is not a young man now living in the US. who will not die an Unitarian" and "the pure and simple unity of the creator of the universe is now all but ascendant in the Eastern states; it is dawning in the West, and advancing towards the South; and I confidently expect that the present generation will see Unitarianism become the general religion of the United States."
So what went wrong? How did we get from TJ's generation to that of the Spanish-American war? Do you know?
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?