Facebook can be addicting. I should know. I post A LOT. I check it once an hour all day long, and will usually reply if something I believe in is challenged. I have tried to get a little better lately, by blocking some feeds that I find outright outlandish most of the time. But it is still a time sucker, and it raises the blood pressure more than a little bit.
So with the holidays upon us, now seems like a good time to take a holiday from Facebook. Oh, I will check it once a day or so after work. And I will comment around the Paris Climate Talks. But any major entries will be done via this blog. And there WILL be entries, so if you like having my opinions rile you up, check it out. We’ll see how it all goes. For now, here are some observations from the last 48 hours.
=/\= We passed 400 ppm of carbon in the atmosphere again on 11 November. The ppm concentration has hovered around 400 since early 2013, but this time it does not appear to be going back under. This is a very important number, as it marks the first time in millions of years that we have seen carbon levels this high. We have no idea what the consequences will be. The last time levels were this high seas levels were 30 feet higher and camels roamed arctic latitudes. I don’t care if you do not believe in climate science and only believe in “weather.” I don’t care if you do not believe that humans contribute to increased carbon in the atmosphere. I don’t care if you think the sun is heating up when it is in fact cooling, or if you think that God is warming up the planet for God’s divine purpose. Carbon has exceeded 400 ppm, and even if we stopped pumping out C02 tomorrow, it would take decades to get back down to pre-industrial levels. We already see the consequences of a changing world in drought, increased major storms, rising sea levels, mass extinctions, and increased human migration and warfare. Yet we will not see the major consequences tomorrow or next week. You will notice them before you die, however, if you are in your 40’s or younger. And your children may inherit a vastly different world then ours. I sure hope they are smart enough to fix the problems we have ignored.
=/\= Turkey shoot down a Russian SU-24 today that had overflow Turkish airspace. The media is frantic with reports that this could lead to increased tensions between Russia and NATO. While tensions have risen, I think the threat of outright conflict between Russian and Turkey, or worse, NATO, is overblown. There is a small chunk of Turkey that sticks into northern Syria. Russian aircraft while on their patrol orbits have, by their own admission and confirmed via radar tracking, have routinely flown through this small chunk of airspace. That is a violation of airspace that Russia can not deny. Turkey repeatedly warned them, until finally today they brought down a plane. Putin can vocalize all he wants, but there is one group who I am 100% positive will get the message — Russian PILOTS. They will steer clear.
=/\= Chicago could be on the verge of major riots over the next couple of days. Video footage of a police shooting from last October is to be released tomorrow, a day after prosecutors charged the office with murder. The police have said that the youth, who was high on drugs at the time, brandished a knife and threatened officers. The video shows a different story, according to everyone who has seen it, with the officer getting out of his car, pulling his gun, and shooting the suspect 16 times. He was reloading and appeared ready to continue to fire in the video when another office ordered him to stand down. Chicago has it’s problems, but I like the city. I hope cool heads prevail over this Thanksgiving week.
=/\= On 15 November there was a high level meeting of ISIS military leaders in southern Syria. About half of them were killed in a suicide bombing courtesy of Al Nursa, the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda. Apparently the two Sunni terror groups are locked in a bloody fight along the border with Israel, south of Damascus. Al Qaeda has long disproved of ISIS’ tactics and long term strategy, but this is the first time I have read of a traditional terror tactic being used on a terror group. Go Al Qaeda?
=/\= Dr. Ben Carson is finally beginning to drop in the polls, with the percentage points being picked up by Ted Cruz. This is a good sign, and hopefully the outright lies and utter idiocy of Mr. Donald Trump’s campaign begins to catch up with him as well. We NEED outsiders in politics. We could have just used better examples than these two.
=/\= 23 days until Star Wars. 27 until I get to see it.