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Sixth Extinction
Of course, these gradualist doomsday scenarios are sadly the best we can hope for from the situation. Nobody has yet been able to produce a model demonstrating the inflexion point at which warming oceans begin to precipitate globalized methane hydrate eruptions – with a resulting positive feedback loop that of course warms the oceans further. I’d hate to go out gasping…
Paleontologists have long puzzled over the mass extinction at the end of the Permian. There is no evidence for a large asteroid impact, but sharp changes in carbon isotope ratios indicate something triggered massive releases of frozen methane hydrates from under the sea floor and in permafrost … Bob Berner of Yale University calculated that a cascade of effects on wetlands and coral reefs would have reduced oxygen levels in the atmosphere from 35 per cent to just 12 per cent in only 20,000 years – a fleeting moment in geological time … Lungs used to higher oxygen levels strain desperately for oxygen, and fill with fluid. The lack of oxygen would have left most Permian land animals gasping for breath, suffering from nausea, headaches, and inflamed lungs. Marine life would have suffocated in the oxygen-poor water.
Earlier here.
Embedded Analog Vinyl Computer Code
Paul sent me this amazing web page that describes a “popular” technique in 1980s UK of embedding Sinclair Spectrum computer code into the locked grooves of vinyl records.
Kerry and McGuinness: Mall Buddies
Buried in this LA Times puff piece, I noticed a reference that John Kerry and former IRA Chief of Staff Martin McGuinness are apparently such good buddies that they hang out together at the mall on their days off.
Kerry did his best to browse like any other customer, but it was impossible to shrug off his situation. At one point, he was approached by Martin McGuinness, a leader of Sinn Fein, the political arm of the Irish Republican Army. McGuinness was in town to speak at Harvard, and the two men, who know each other, engaged in a detailed discussion of the peace process in Northern Ireland.
Case Closed
Earlier here.
Polish President: We Were Misled By United States
Of course, Aleksander Kwasniewski is the Polish President, while Leszek Miller is the Prime Minister, but still, it looks like the Spanish uneasiness at the Bush Gang’s incompetent duplicity is contagious…
President Aleksander Kwasniewski, a key Washington ally, said Thursday he may withdraw troops early from Iraq and that Poland was “misled” about the threat of Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction … Earlier in the day, Kwasniewski said Poland may start withdrawing its troops from Iraq early next year, months earlier than the previously stated date of mid-2005.
Earlier here.
Pants On Fire
It’s sadly infrequent that one of the Bush Gang (Rumsfeld) is called during such a flagrant attempted deception. Here’s the text:
Sec. RUMSFELD: Well, you’re the–you and a few other critics are the only people I’ve heard use the phrase “immediate threat.” I didn’t.
SCHIEFFER: You’re saying that nobody in the administration said that.
…
Sec. RUMSFELD: Not–if–if you have any citations, I’d like to see ‘em.
…
Mr. FRIEDMAN: We have one here. It says “some have argued that the nu”–this is you speaking–”that the nuclear threat from Iraq is not imminent, that Saddam is at least five to seven years away from having nuclear weapons. I would not be so certain.”
Sec. RUMSFELD: And–and…
…
Mr. FRIEDMAN: “No terrorist state poses a greater or more immediate threat to the security of our people and the stability of the world and the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.”
Real US Unemployment Hits 10%
I’ve written before about how the “official” US unemployment rate is massaged to create an artificially low level, especially when compared with posted EU figures. Here’s the latest (March 2004) figures for the US:
| Category | % of civilian work force |
| Persons unemployed 15 weeks or longer. | 2.2% |
| Job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs. | 3.0 |
| Total unemployed. (Official unemployment rate) | 5.6 |
| Total unemployed plus discouraged workers. | 5.9 |
| Total unemployed, plus discouraged workers, plus all other marginally attached workers. | 6.7 |
| Total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers, plus total employed part-time for economic reasons, plus all marginally attached workers | 9.6 |
Discouraged workers have given up looking for jobs.
Workers employed part-time for economic reasons want full-time jobs but have to settle for part-time.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics employment situation report for February
Earlier here.
Kick Out The Jams!
Here’s a roundup of press reaction to the frustrated voters in Spain finally getting a chance to rebuke their former Government’s unpopular and unqualified support for last year’s US invasion of Iraq. If I was Tony Blair or Leszek Miller I’d be squirming a little right now. Of course, Mullah David Frum sees democracy in action as a victory for terrorism, implicitly branding every person who voted Socialist an enemy of freedom and all that is right and good and so on.
Future Shock
It’s tough to keep up with trends in designer entheogens and hallucinogens. I blame pacman. Apparently, the latest trend is for 2C-I, 2-CT-7, 4-HO-DiPT, and 5-Meo-DMT, strong-as-fuck psychedelics too new to have been been scheduled as of today by the FDA. Anyway, you can order these weird drugs in bulk from J&M Research, AmChem, or Omega Chemicals. I recommend thorough research on Erowid or Lycaeum first.
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