Things that make you go "Hmmmm…"

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by retina

Something that makes me go "Hmmmm..." about these things, is that if the Cerne Abbas Giant had been produced just recently then someone would be up on charges of indecency or pornography or similar, and it would be erased. But if it is "old" then it gets a pass as art or something. Hmmmm... why is that?

Good question... Cerne Abbas Giant: Snails show chalk hill figure 'not prehistoric'

Martin Papworth, senior archaeologist at the National Trust, and environmental archaeologist Mike Allen said two species of snail that appeared for the first time in Britain in the Roman period - thought to have been brought over from France as food - were not found at the site.

However, microscopic species, found for the first time in the medieval period during the 13th and 14th Centuries, have been discovered in the samples.
<snip>
Mr Allen said snail shell testing had also shown the vegetation at the site had changed over time.

"There was a period when the giant was grown over with grass and other vegetation, and disappeared," he said.

"This suggests some people weren't bothered about the giant or felt he was too rude so left him.

"However, during the Victorian period - a time thought of as the most prim and proper - he was there in all his glory."
<snip>

[LaurV]

Science break through: Now the glottal warning is not caused anymore by pollution, but by the clean air! In fact, the air pollution is good, because it reflects the solar rays back to space, keeping the climate cold...

Huge is your garden, Lord... and what a bunch of idiots you keep there...

[rogue]

Originally Posted by LaurV

Science break through: Now the glottal warning is not caused anymore by pollution, but by the clean air! In fact, the air pollution is good, because it reflects the solar rays back to space, keeping the climate cold...

Huge is your garden, Lord... and what a bunch of idiots you keep there...

So we need more air pollution, right? Maybe Trump was onto something when he rolled back parts of the Clean Air Act with his EPA mandates...

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by LaurV

Science break through: Now the glottal warning is not caused anymore by pollution, but by the clean air! In fact, the air pollution is good, because it reflects the solar rays back to space, keeping the climate cold...

Huge is your garden, Lord... and what a bunch of idiots you keep there...

You might want to read this transcript of the NOVA program "Dimming the Sun."

I note that the program was broadcast in 2006, so by Dr. Hansen's "less than a decade" estimate at the time, we should be well past the "point of no return" for a warming climate. So maybe this dimming effect has bought us some time.

The first I heard about this sort of thing was anecdotally, from an excellent photographer who had been a long-time member of a camera club I was in. She took a lot of photographs in remote areas. She commented at one meeting about what she called the "loss of brilliance" in the light. In some locales, light levels were a full stop (a factor of two) lower than they had been in years past in similar weather conditions.

Besides reduction in overall light levels, the diffusion of light by haze or clouds can also make "specular highlights" less brilliant.

I note that light that fails to reach the Earth's surface isn't necessarily all being reflected. Some could be getting absorbed, and possibly re-radiated as infrared.

[Viliam Furik]

Originally Posted by LaurV

Science break through: Now the glottal warning is not caused anymore by pollution, but by the clean air! In fact, the air pollution is good, because it reflects the solar rays back to space, keeping the climate cold...

Huge is your garden, Lord... and what a bunch of idiots you keep there...

Well, there is some truth to it. When supervolcano erupts, the gases and ash in the atmosphere literally cause a weak ice age.

[retina]

So what is the solution?

To makes CO₂ eaters that belch out soot?

Soot will cool the planet and in the process kill all life that has lungs.

[kriesel]

There's also the data from the few days' groundings of most aircraft in Sep 2001, including some satellite photos showing the extent of the contrails effect. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/contrail-effect/
That usual dimming (by all causes) makes the economics of solar energy a bit more difficult.

[tServo]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

You might want to read this transcript of the NOVA program "Dimming the Sun."

I note that the program was broadcast in 2006, so by Dr. Hansen's "less than a decade" estimate at the time, we should be well past the "point of no return" for a warming climate. So maybe this dimming effect has bought us some time.

Perhaps, but not for Greenland. One of 2020's more ominous stories was that no matter what happens, the ice on Greenland is going to melt.


https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...0813123550.htm

[Xyzzy]

https://arstechnica.com/features/202...-at-the-stars/

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021...tching-a-wave/

[Xyzzy]

https://stackoverflow.blog/2021/02/0...a-twitter-bot/

[Nick]

Originally Posted by Xyzzy

https://stackoverflow.blog/2021/02/0...a-twitter-bot/

BBC Basic was very good within the limitations of hardware at that time.
It had many things that later became standard in C,
and lots of ideas from our wishlist (such as OLD to undo NEW).