Humanity Itself

[DevonDeathTrip 2,290]

I've found an online video of the BBC film "Threads" which was shown in the 1980s. It is still the only film ever to portray Britain in a nuclear winter scenario. It starts off like a homely drama and ends up as bleak as bleak can be.

 

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=...cyTCg&hl=en

 

Well worth watching if you've got a spare 107 minutes.

[Banshees Scream 107]

I didn't watch 107 minutes. But I skimmed through it and "every scene" I saw was morbidly depressing. It makes you want to shrivel up into a little ball.

 

A couple years ago I swore to myself that I would live by the laws of attraction. I've realized that there is actually some truth to it.

 

I really don't know how "Well worth watching it is" ... I try and convince myself keeping an optimistic mindset improves quality of life. It might be a standard example but not a motivator for a good mood.

[honez 79]

Y2K simply never happened did it? What a fraud that was.

I cannot disagree more, Godot. To the outsider looking in, it may appear to have been a big beat up over nothing but a fizzle on the night. But I can assure you, if nothing had been done in the three or more years in the lead up to Y2K, it would have been an economic catastrophy. I agree that lifts didn't immediately fall into basements and planes did't fall from the sky, but almost all of the computer systems (I'm talking big finance companies, banking, insurance, telecoms, etc) I saw in the lead up to it failed, and often in ways that were not predicable and sometimes did incorrectable damage during simulation testing. For the big end of town, to do nothing would have been an unmittigated disaster. They spent up big to prevent it from happening.

It is good -- very good -- that there really were very few and far between "Y2K" issues. Rather than the whole thing being a fraud, it means that the years of work taken to avoid such issues paid off and the money was well spent.

Think of car insurance, crash tests, seatbelts, airbags, crumple zones, road rules, speed limits, etc. When you arrive safely at your destination and step out of your car, do you moan and complain about how much of a fraud insurance and car safety features are?

[Godot 148]

Y2K simply never happened did it? What a fraud that was.

 

Think of car insurance, crash tests, seatbelts, airbags, crumple zones, road rules, speed limits, etc. When you arrive safely at your destination and step out of your car, do you moan and complain about how much of a fraud insurance and car safety features are?

 

Yes, they piss me off too. A lot of insurance is bollocks designed by people who like to put the frighteners on us. If the stuff you say is true Honez - and you seem to know the IT business well - how is it Italy didn't collapse when, according to accounts I've read, they spent hardly anything on Y2K?

[honez 79]

Y2K simply never happened did it? What a fraud that was.

 

Think of car insurance, crash tests, seatbelts, airbags, crumple zones, road rules, speed limits, etc. When you arrive safely at your destination and step out of your car, do you moan and complain about how much of a fraud insurance and car safety features are?

 

Yes, they piss me off too. A lot of insurance is bollocks designed by people who like to put the frighteners on us. If the stuff you say is true Honez - and you seem to know the IT business well - how is it Italy didn't collapse when, according to accounts I've read, they spent hardly anything on Y2K?

I can't speak from personal experience with Italian IT systems, but I presume their financial systems would have been riddled with the same problems. Like I said, if left to their own devices there would have been major problems, so my conclusion is that they must have done some remediation that went unreported. Maybe Italian programmers didn't code in the problems in the first place, but I seriously doubt that. From what I saw, there were major issues with the Aussie/British/American systems and it would have been a financial disaster much worse than anything we've seen with the recent roller coaster ride.

[maryportfuncity 10,022]

Large Hadron Collider starting full operations fairly soon. One or two 'maverick' boffins believe it capable of creating black holes that may persist to the point of endangering life on earth. Of course, this could mean the end of deadpooling as we know it.

[Monoclinic 39]

Déjà-vu?

 

Alongside the more traditional signs of the/an approaching Armageddon such as war, famine, pestilence and death we should be considering traffic accidents and rapid transport. Personally I think they forgot the X-factor and Simon Cowell.

 

Anyway, more annoyingly it is misleading, nowhere on this "countdown" site does it give a firm time, which I find irritating. I mean I'd like to know if God's penciled in his diary total world destruction for next week then I can forgo doing my laundry.

[Godot 148]

Interesting feature on Tunguska.

[maryportfuncity 10,022]

Interesting feature on Tunguska.

 

 

Everything within the M25 would have been wiped out," Dr Mark Bailey, director of the Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland, told BBC News.

 

Yer man above is discussing what would have happened if the detonation had been above London. I mean, this was 1908, they didn't finish the M25 until the mid-eighties! How much of our taxes is Dr Mark paid?

[DevonDeathTrip 2,290]

I have a cunning plan to save the world.....dumping nuclear waste in rainforests.

 

Flora and fauna seem to be thriving around Chernobyl in the absence of humans. We've got plenty of nuclear waste to spare, why don't we scatter it liberally throughout what remains of the rainforests? This would keep even the most intrepid of loggers at bay for years to come, the threat of global warming would be reduced and the gibbons would still be happy (possibly). How about it?

[maryportfuncity 10,022]

I have a cunning plan to save the world.....dumping nuclear waste in rainforests.

 

Flora and fauna seem to be thriving around Chernobyl in the absence of humans. We've got plenty of nuclear waste to spare, why don't we scatter it liberally throughout what remains of the rainforests? This would keep even the most intrepid of loggers at bay for years to come, the threat of global warming would be reduced and the gibbons would still be happy (possibly). How about it?

 

 

That's f*****g genius DDT. Me and a bunch of regulars at the Miners are busy trying an experiment now. We'll load up a van of the vilest noxious bilge from Sellafield and scatter it over Exmoor in the next few days to protect that vital wilderness.

[Terminator 13]

Flora and fauna seem to be thriving around Chernobyl in the absence of humans.

 

Even the humans are thriving, the Ukraine contains the tallest as well as, apparently, the heaviest man in the world. I reckon once the Japanese hear wind of this, they'll be relocating like mad.....

[Godot 148]

George Carlin on saving the planet:

 

"We're so self-important. So arrogant. Everybody's going to save something now. Save the trees, save the bees, save the whales, save the snails. And the supreme arrogance? Save the planet! Are these people kidding? Save the planet? We don't even know how to take care of ourselves; we haven't learned how to care for one another. We're gonna save the f****n' planet? . . . And, by the way, there's nothing wrong with the planet in the first place. The planet is fine. The people are f**ked! Compared with the people, the planet is doin' great. It's been here over four billion years . . . The planet isn't goin' anywhere, folks. We are! We're goin' away. Pack your sh*t, we're goin' away. And we won't leave much of a trace. Thank God for that. Nothing left. Maybe a little Styrofoam. The planet will be here, and we'll be gone. Another failed mutation; another closed-end biological mistake."

[Madame Defarge 21]

Shortly after this thread started I had a dream in which a polar bear poked his head through my window. Now I see there is some speculation that the North Pole will be vanishing in September?!

 

I wish to assure you all that this will not happen. I have never, not even once, had a prophetic dream of any kind.

[Terminator 13]

Shortly after this thread started I had a dream in which a polar bear poked his head through my window. Now I see there is some speculation that the North Pole will be vanishing in September?!

 

I wish to assure you all that this will not happen. I have never, not even once, had a prophetic dream of any kind.

 

So.......Polar bears, huh???

 

Apparently, some dream interpretation website came up with the following......

 

"Dream Interpretation - Q: Dream Interpretation Dictionary - Polar Bear

 

Polar Bear [164]

 

Polar bears in dreams, are prognostic of deceit, as misfortune will approach you in a seeming fair aspect. Your bitterest enemies will wear the garb of friendship. Rivals will try to supersede you.

 

To see the skin of one, denotes that you will successfully overcome any opposition.

 

[164] See also: Meaning of Dreams about Bear.

 

Source: 10 000 Dream Interpretations, by Gustavus Hindman Miller"

 

There's more here.

[Madame Defarge 21]

Apparently, some dream interpretation website came up with the following......

 

"Dream Interpretation - Q: Dream Interpretation Dictionary - Polar Bear

 

Polar Bear [164]

 

Polar bears in dreams, are prognostic of deceit, as misfortune will approach you in a seeming fair aspect. Your bitterest enemies will wear the garb of friendship. Rivals will try to supersede you.

 

To see the skin of one, denotes that you will successfully overcome any opposition.

 

[164] See also: Meaning of Dreams about Bear.

 

Source: 10 000 Dream Interpretations, by Gustavus Hindman Miller"

 

There's more here.

 

Interesting.

 

Clearly it was Aipalovik, the Inuit God of evil, up to his usual tricks. There is also the slight possiblity that the dream was a result of an air conditioner in my room being set at 'sub arctic ' on the eve in question.

[Lord Fellatio Nelson 6,134]

This thread seems quite timely, hence my digging it back up, in view of the latest discovery by scientists looking into the whole Global Warming, freak weather syndrome.

As some of you may have read, Scientists have expressed excitement in discovering that our Seafaring ancestors tended to keep quite meticulous Ship logs detailing tides, currents, weather conditions, the whole works.

While they have only just begun to scratch the surface they have found that our freak weather, attributed to man made climate change, is not freak at all. Ships logs have highlighted that the likes of Captain Cook and Lord Nelson experienced the same type of freak weather patterns, some which have mirrored our current ones in both type and location.

Such is the wealth of information, it is calculated that it could take quite some time to log all the information available and build a picture of Climate change from the earliest records going back to the 17th Century and now.

If their preliminary findings are substansiated, it would appear that we have all been sold a pup, climate change, freak weather, it was all here long before and certainly could not have been man made.

Will the truth finally out

[Rotten Ali 599]

<---- believes in global warming. But in my eyes its more like global cooking! We have used too much fossil fuel in the past 100 years that we have past the "peake oil" point - less in the ground than has allready been burnt. That has pushed the ratio of CO2 higher than ever before in the atmosphere and there are few ways of cleaning it all up before the tipping effect can be reversed.

The poles will warm quicker and the feed back of warming will speed up till all the Earth's ice has melted. Most coastal cities of the world will be under 70m of water and we will have to move to inland areas.

The "people bomb" is a real danger. We saved 1 million people from dieing in africa in the mid eighties and now those people and their now 4 million decentents will die in any next round of famine.

The population of the world is about 6.8bn at the current time and this will advance for maybe another 10 to 20 years. Markets will crash ten times more badly than this last year and we will all run out of food. So it will be thankful that sometime in 2017 will be hit by an a large lump of rock called To'tartis.

<----- doom munger!, me!!! don't be silly!

[DevonDeathTrip 2,290]

This thread seems quite timely, hence my digging it back up, in view of the latest discovery by scientists looking into the whole Global Warming, freak weather syndrome.

As some of you may have read, Scientists have expressed excitement in discovering that our Seafaring ancestors tended to keep quite meticulous Ship logs detailing tides, currents, weather conditions, the whole works.

While they have only just begun to scratch the surface they have found that our freak weather, attributed to man made climate change, is not freak at all. Ships logs have highlighted that the likes of Captain Cook and Lord Nelson experienced the same type of freak weather patterns, some which have mirrored our current ones in both type and location.

Such is the wealth of information, it is calculated that it could take quite some time to log all the information available and build a picture of Climate change from the earliest records going back to the 17th Century and now.

If their preliminary findings are substansiated, it would appear that we have all been sold a pup, climate change, freak weather, it was all here long before and certainly could not have been man made.

Will the truth finally out

 

Well, here's hoping you're right!

 

I didn't really start this thread specifically to discuss global warming, there's as much of a chance to us all (apart from Clive) falling pray to plagues or nuclear war.

 

I'm not too sure how scientists have just figured out that seafarers of yore kept records of the climate. Books by British explorers like William Dampier, Joseph Banks and Alfred Maudslay, which are littered with detailed references to the weather, have been around for centuries. Nor do I think it's news to anyone that there has been freakish weather in the past. There were the volcanic winters of 536 and 1816 which led to "years without summer", going further back to 38AD, a massive storm surge on the Thames killed ten thousand people, still Britain's worst natural disaster.

 

So yes, there has always been bad weather, but you may be interested to know that the world has been hotter on average over the last fifty years than it ever has been in the last ten thousand years. If the global average temperature was to rise by just one more degree, the world will be hotter than it has been for the last million years. Scientists predict that the world could heat up by as much as six degrees over the next one hundred and fifty years, there is no evidence anywhere to suggest that the planet has ever before warmed up that much before in such a short space of time. The effects on us all will be catastrophic. I find it very hard to believe that humans have nothing whatsoever to do with this sudden acceleration of climate change.

 

In light of that, and bearing in mind the continuing threat of diseases, nutters with large bombs, overpopulation, etc, I continue to look to our collective futures with much pessimism. But please continue to try and convince me otherwise, LFN, I'd love to stop thinking the sky is about to fall on my head.

[Godot 148]

Shortly after this thread started I had a dream in which a polar bear poked his head through my window. Now I see there is some speculation that the North Pole will be vanishing in September?!

 

I wish to assure you all that this will not happen. I have never, not even once, had a prophetic dream of any kind.

How's the North pole slush fairing? There's only three and a bit weeks. Cpt Oates must be turning in his lollipop.

[harrymcnallysblueandwhitearmy 1,464]

//excess gloominess snipped// ...bearing in mind the continuing threat of diseases, nutters with large bombs, overpopulation, etc, I continue to look to our collective futures with much pessimism. But please continue to try and convince me otherwise, LFN, I'd love to stop thinking the sky is about to fall on my head.

Cheer up Dev, at least Phil Drabble won't have to witness the onrushing calamity.

[Gunjaman5000 30]

This thread seems quite timely, hence my digging it back up, in view of the latest discovery by scientists looking into the whole Global Warming, freak weather syndrome.

As some of you may have read, Scientists have expressed excitement in discovering that our Seafaring ancestors tended to keep quite meticulous Ship logs detailing tides, currents, weather conditions, the whole works.

While they have only just begun to scratch the surface they have found that our freak weather, attributed to man made climate change, is not freak at all. Ships logs have highlighted that the likes of Captain Cook and Lord Nelson experienced the same type of freak weather patterns, some which have mirrored our current ones in both type and location.

Such is the wealth of information, it is calculated that it could take quite some time to log all the information available and build a picture of Climate change from the earliest records going back to the 17th Century and now.

If their preliminary findings are substansiated, it would appear that we have all been sold a pup, climate change, freak weather, it was all here long before and certainly could not have been man made.

Will the truth finally out

At last, some sense. I don't doubt the Earth's climate is changing, I question man's effect on the changes. Careful saying so, you'll be burnt at the stake. Global warming* nay-sayers are the modern witches.

 

*'Global warming', which in my view is hysterical nonsense, as opposed to 'Climate change' which is a catchy way of saying the weather has sustained periods of change.

[BrunoBrimley 83]

In these troubled times of global warming, diminishing fuel reserves, religious unrest, rogue nuclear states etc etc, I was wondering how fellow Deathlisters feel about the future. Most of us aren't that ancient, do you think we stand a chance of dying peacefully in our beds, or will we live to see a time when mankind will "reap the whirlwind" for our destructive habits? Will Earth ever see a nuclear winter? Could an invented disease mutate and kill us all? Might overpopulation and starvation lead inexorably towards worldwide anarchy and murder?

 

Even if we overcome or prevent man made problems, aren't we overdue a supervolcano which could block out the sun for years?

 

I do wonder more and more if we are not at "five minutes to midnight" and, in fact, there are only a few seconds to go. Or am I worrying too much?

 

Discuss.

Having been through cancer, loss of a leg, digestive disorders galore, rock bottom alcoholism/alcohol abuse, poverty, and a few other things, I haven't spent a great amount of time wondering about gloom and doom. I have heard that a flood can wipe out my city, that an earthquake can do the same-which will happen first or will the volcanic spewing under the western states send ash into the sky and have me starve in my final frozen days? Time will tell.

[DevonDeathTrip 2,290]

//excess gloominess snipped// ...bearing in mind the continuing threat of diseases, nutters with large bombs, overpopulation, etc, I continue to look to our collective futures with much pessimism. But please continue to try and convince me otherwise, LFN, I'd love to stop thinking the sky is about to fall on my head.

Cheer up Dev, at least Phil Drabble won't have to witness the onrushing calamity.

 

 

I am happy really, more importantly than anything Exeter are back in the league!! Sorry for the doom mongering everyone, maybe this thread should lie dormant for fifty years, then we can revive it and see how we're doing. That's if the floodwaters haven't got the DL servers by then...

[Madame Defarge 21]

//excess gloominess snipped// ...bearing in mind the continuing threat of diseases, nutters with large bombs, overpopulation, etc, I continue to look to our collective futures with much pessimism. But please continue to try and convince me otherwise, LFN, I'd love to stop thinking the sky is about to fall on my head.

Cheer up Dev, at least Phil Drabble won't have to witness the onrushing calamity.

 

 

I am happy really, more importantly than anything Exeter are back in the league!! Sorry for the doom mongering everyone, maybe this thread should lie dormant for fifty years, then we can revive it and see how we're doing. That's if the floodwaters haven't got the DL servers by then...

But what conclusions will be drawn by visiting extraterrestrials if the DL servers are the only things that survived the flood?