I was supposed to be flying to Iceland next week. I was really excited. I’ve been on business trips in SA, but this was going to be super cool. I just got out of a meeting, the trip (and the project) has been cancelled due to the project proponent being stuck in London, anyways, until further notice.
http://www.news24.com/World/News/Ash-cloud-to-move-to-Arctic-20100420
Eish… is it awful that I care more about my business trip than the potential effects of this event on a global scale? Do we even know what the effects are/will be? Can’t help but think its kinda funny that we, the human race, has all this technology, knowledge, capabilities etc, but when something erups, there sweet nothing we can do about it…
i had thought, that this is, unfortunately for your trip tho, quite cool.
the scientisty people said, that if this volcanic eruption continues, it will block out sun-rays, and cause global cooling.
since we are poeping ourselves about global warming…
hey presto!!!
problem solved.
fabulous.
Lilli sorry your trip got cancelled, but on the positive side, maybe you would be able to have a glimpse of the site, from the air when they do send you there, super cool! 
I’ve watched a few Nat Geo programmes on this, but something is tickling me here, if someone would care to enlighten me on this(sorry a bit off topic ;)):
From my understanding, earth is currently still in the ice age that began at the start of the Pleistocene (because Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets still exist) So according to me, earth is still in a natural heating up process.
Wouldn’t normal temperatures anyways have increased even if these greenhouse gasses were absent? Reliable surface temperature record exists only since about 1850. Can Industrialization be blamed for all?
…and Osama wanna halt USA for it :
Osama bin Laden blamed the United States and other industrialised countries for causing global warming in an extraordinary message issued yesterday. In a departure from his usual religious rants, the Al Qaeda leader lectured on the dangers of climate change, claiming the only solution was to 'bring the wheels of the American economy' to a halt. Rather than vows to inflict death and destruction on the U.S. and its allies, the man behind the September 11 atrocity in New York discussed the environmental future of the planet and monetary policy.Read more: Now Osama bin Laden gets worried about global warming | Daily Mail Online
you know, if i had said it, then i would have heard a thousand voices telling me im a nutjob.
but yes, i have wondered the same, actually. and as much as humanity has buggered up the environment with regards to polution, killing off species, trees, etc. and, i might add, placing back corbandioxide back into the atmosphere in the form of burning fossil fuels.
but, too, the planet, in my mind anyway, is still young, tectonic plates going bossies, so it hasnt settled yet. so fluctuations in temps should be quite normal, methinks. and, as i hear, temps had been climbing for the last few hundred years. so i dunno.
im not so stressed about global warming, as opposed to our environment being destroyed before anything can adapt to living in the heat conditions.
and as sad as it is that polar bears will have nowhere to live anymore, alot of other species survived and adapted the climate shift throught the millenia, some died out, others adapted and have turned into what we know today.
it should be an exciting prospect, we are seeing our planet in motion.
This is the essence of why global warming is such a fiercely contentious issue. We certainly are at the tail end of an ice age but nobody can demonstrate convincingly (a) at what rate global temperatures are changing on average, (b) what proportion of temperature change is anthropogenic and what natural, (c) what the major physical factors are that drive temperature change, (d) what the longer term prognoses for various scenarios are, and (e) what, if anything, humans can do to improve the situation. In short, the jury’s still out on this question and it doesn’t help that there are numerous special interest groups, each pushing its own agenda.
The eruption in Iceland has spewed lots of sulphur-based compounds, chiefly sulphur dioxide, into the air. Sulphur dioxide reacts with water in the upper atmosphere to form sulphurous acid, which increases the capacity of clouds to reflect incident sunlight (but the sulphurous acid eventually returns to the ground in the form of acid rain, decimating vegetation). Climatologists believe that the oceans are somewhat cooler today than they would be had the Krakatoa eruption not occurred in 1883.
Oh, and Osama bin Laden is clearly a dedicated scaper of goats… :
'Luthon64
Yeah well I would rather ask here, than the woo woos I’m surrounded by at work, most of them don’t care to know more of the world they live in and everything surrounding them. If you don’t gossip, give them an emotional boost of some kind or talk bijbel, they are simply not interested in scientific/medical/geological discoveries/research or whatsoever! In short, they don’t feel a shit because their inquisitiveness started and ended with the last juicy gossip! (Give me a pm if you want me to place a seemingly nutty Q 4u ;D)
I suppose his first target would rather be Hybrid car factories, cause I wont for one second believe
they can live without the income of oil sales
You are, to my knowledge, correct. Global temperature change is a natural phenomenon. The thing to be concerned about is that human activity may be speeding up the process, and while the animals who died at the end of the last ice-age just simply went extinct and didn’t seem to mind much, I doubt that the human race would feel that way if we don’t have enough time to adapt to our new, rapidly forming, much different respective environments.
This should be our primary concern, but as it is yet another problem that would greatly inconvenience the human race if we want to solve it, the drama of global warming is a much more popular conversation topic
Some stunning pics here too:
Yep. Maybe an occasional small reminder that we are still subject to massive, uncontrollable forces is not an altogether bad thing. The earth is generally well behaved, but when it does speak up, it insists on an attentive audience. Hope your travel arrangements will work out eventually.
Mintaka
Thanks. Fortunately I don’t think Iceland is going anywhere, and I will likely get another chance.
One would think that one would eventually learn when and where to open your mouth about what. My boss called us in this morning and asked that we pray for the souls of people not yet saved, because the ash cloud is clearly a sign of the end of the world…
Lovely, I had to endure a prayer for the husband of one of the “tannies” in the office, he went to the mighty men farce over the weekend and has been crying over his sins since. She’s at her wits end as to how to “ruk hom reg”.
Is there a company in this country thats truly secular? Or are we just so far and few between that we’re cursed with these scenario’s till our dying day?
My boss called us in this morning and asked that we pray for the souls of people not yet saved, because the ash cloud is clearly a sign of the end of the world...
i vomit quietly in my mouth.
luckily, my office consists of hippies and ex druggies, and alltho they have their religious moments, they tend to not force it down one’s throat. thank bob for that. we have, however, one dude, that came to me and my office-mate the day before easter weekend, and told us we need to be in church for three hours, coz jc gave his life and what what.
i had to stop myself from hollering ‘happy zombie jesus day!!!’
i still get remails from the boss tho, wonder how do i need to remind them of my belief-status. maybe tattoo a 666 on my pip for all to see?
i allready have the emo hair, wear black, piercings, tattoos…what more does a heathen need to do?!!
Maybe he would find a gift diverting. As discussed recently in another thread, one can’t go wrong with a small, tasteful selection of fresh porn.
Mintaka
maybe, barely legal, volume 5: anal invaders.
shuld get the omie ready to rock and roll.
LOL. I know that feeling…
I have recently embarked on a mission to see how far I can push them (quite fun, really) So I have started wearing T-Shirts with slogans like “come over to the dark side… we have cookies” and comparing the Mighty Bullshit conference to Oppikoppi. I’m sure they pray for me, but I haven’t been reprimanded yet. Any ideas as to how I can continue with making them uncomfortable without getting fired? Suggestions will be appreciated >:D
You could maybe wear a T-shirt that says, “Friendly Neighborhood Atheist” or “Imagine No Religion” or “No Gods, No Masters” or “I’m an atheist and that’s that - Kathrine Hepburn”. Hehe.
Lithium. Orally, or alloyed and delivered by slingshot.
Maybe your gothic appearance turns you into a do-gooder magnet because it scares them greatly. With all that black, tell them you’re actually a reformed liberal Muslim and solemnly cite the Qur’an about killing the infidel. That should scare them into silence.
'Luthon64
I love pissing on batteries (figuratively spoken). I fit in beautifully in the corporate environment, do the whole professional thing quite professionally and conduct myself in a wholly xtian manner. Which confuses people greatly when they refer to me as “a perfect example of a good xtian woman” - to which I stolidly reply “I’m an atheist” - the facial expressions are wonderful to behold, the fumbling for words in their now jumbled and confused little minds springs forth in expressions of shock (awe?), horror, and at times pure disgust. I love waiting out their next interaction with me, some simply cross the passage in case I’m catching, other’s will attempt to commisserate and ask me what disappointment I endured that catapulted me to the dark side. Great fun all in all.
At home I’m just me. Tatoos and bike and all… my Mother is probably the only person that has’nt given up praying for me, but I can live with that, she’s my mom. ;D
Sheesh, we atheists are a horrible lot, playing games with the sheeps… :-\
maybe we should start a thread, how to intimidte your co-workers to the dark side.
and btw, i happen to be a bit of a fundie on labour laws, and if they as much as give you a verbal warning, you can take them to the ccma. they are not allowed to do squat regarding religion. or lack thereof. as long as you do your job, they cant as much as fart in your direction. if the ladies have an issue about it, they can ask you to desist, co it upsets them, and affect office morale, and that’s it.
..Which confuses people greatly when they refer to me as "a perfect example of a good xtian woman" - to which I stolidly reply "I'm an atheist" - the facial expressions are wonderful to behold, the fumbling for words in their now jumbled and confused little minds springs forth in expressions of shock (awe?), horror, and at times pure disgust...
That’s how people think about me too.I’m often mistaken for a “good christian woman”. I think it confuses them (and hopefully makes them think) because here is someone who can be good without god and his laws, they find it difficult to comprehend that a godless heathen can have morals.
I find it difficult to comprehend that people think like that.