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[Magistrum]

Yeah, that is an unwanted side effect, it provides a nice cover for recent stories like Cohen in Prague just as the dossier said.

[inteuniso]

Either way, sabers gonna rattle and rocks are gonna get thrown some more.

Really big rocks, that happen to be made of high-explosive and are attached to rockets.

I don't think most people are aware that the Grand Solar Minimum is coming, even though it's being reported more and more, and the effects are becoming more clear, with 74 degree swings in two days(It was 106 in Woodward, OK yesterday and it's going to be 32 degrees tomorrow night) and farmers committing suicide as freak hailstorms decimate their entire holding and prevent them from ever repaying their debts.

There will be war. As more and more farmland is lost and we currently don't have the greenhouses/vertical farming to replace it, the nation-states will go to war to protect dwindling food supplies, as well as to ensure they're on top of the dogpile when the blizzards start in earnest. I am willing to sacrifice everything to build the capacity we need, across the world. I know that I can't prevent the war, no matter how fast I work. I'm just focused on saving as many of us as possible.

I will not give up. There's no point. Even if it gets me killed, so what? I was going to die/be killed anyway, and to shy away from something because it's dangerous is antithetical to life; every moment I have paid attention to life, I have glimpsed what it means to hope against all odds, to fight death and live. Honestly, it's better than trying to integrate into this awful system that cares more about shiny things than their own families. And don't get me wrong, I don't have a death wish. Honestly gardening/farming isn't even that dangerous of a trade anyway, so it's probably the safest thing to do: people won't hate you for helping to grow plants (unless it's Weed and they drank the Tricky-Dickonade).

We can do anything that we imagine, truly. We are almost at the point where technology and magic are indistinguishable and honestly, true to every plot that's been in every story, the climax is suspenseful and it's unclear if we will make it to the future or not. That's the point where the protagonists throw away all their paradigms and look honestly at the situation and either strike at the heart, succeeding, or fail at the critical moment.

But yes, enough flowery talk. Our cousins are dying faster by the day. We must help them. I will help them. I will help us.

[redwallzyl]

Did the apocalips happen when I wasn't paying attention or something?

[wierd]

A bit bombastic, but I can see how less developed nations would be spurred into armed conflict over food shortages due to climactic changes, which are totally proven to be happening.

I can also see how more developed countries would try to jockey these conflicts to their advantage. (See also-- russia + syria right now.)

Is it the Apocalypse? No, not yet anyway.

[Trekkin]

Is it the Apocalypse? No, not yet anyway.

Eh, it's always the Apocalypse somewhere. Most of them are small, though.

[Egan_BW]

From what I can tell from wikipedia, "grand solar minimum" seems like a load of hooey, at least in terms of apocalypse-causing. Certainly seems unlikely to disrupt our ability to feed ourselves any time soon.

[Doomblade187]

NASA article

Actually a pretty interesting thing in the sunspot cycle, sounds like. I can see how it may have some weather effects, but it should be kept in mind that changing global temperatures have been having effects on our weather patterns including unpredictable weather (as I understand it). This is, in my opinion, a more immediate threat.

[redwallzyl]

NASA article

Actually a pretty interesting thing in the sunspot cycle, sounds like. I can see how it may have some weather effects, but it should be kept in mind that changing global temperatures have been having effects on our weather patterns including unpredictable weather (as I understand it). This is, in my opinion, a more immediate threat.

The weather is all wonky. It was snowing last week. I'm fairly far north but its ridiculous.

[misko27]

It is certainly true that Trump's ongoing crises are likely making it difficult to also work on the Syria crisis; if not for him personally, than for his aides.

That said, as the resident hawk, the Syria course of action is.... debatable? I'm not sure what the plan is. That's not an ironic or metaphorical "debatable", I mean it literally: I'm actually unsure as to all of this. I suppose if the intention is "we will use missiles everytime we hear about chemicals" it's not totally without merit: consistency is valuable deterrence. But otherwise, it's just like, why though.

[wierd]

IIRC, spring crop planting is in late Feb to March.  It is April. We had snow not that long ago. This is how you have spring crop failures.

That is how climate change destabilizes human society; One year of crop failures wont do it, but repeated years of it, with dwindling strategic reserves, and growing populations, will.

It will affect less developed countries with less sophisticated means of dealing with crop failures (less structured reserves, fewer greenhouses, etc.)first, which is why I stated what I did.


Re: Syria

The Russian govt is trying to sow FUD about the legitimacy of the claim that Assad used chemical weapons, even though several hospitals were inundated in respiratory trauma patients fitting the description of chemical weapons use.  This is to make it look unappealing diplomatically to take action against the Assad regime. This is a very frequent tactic used by the russian government when it is blatantly apparent that they are deeply involved. (See also, the FUD they spread when they were totally sending troops into Ukraine, prior to their annexation.)

It could be that this multinational action is more a very strongly "worded" "we dont believe you" sent to Russia, than anything else.

[inteuniso]

NASA article

Actually a pretty interesting thing in the sunspot cycle, sounds like. I can see how it may have some weather effects, but it should be kept in mind that changing global temperatures have been having effects on our weather patterns including unpredictable weather (as I understand it). This is, in my opinion, a more immediate threat.

The weather is all wonky. It was snowing last week. I'm fairly far north but its ridiculous.

It's not just the 11-year cycle. Even if it is the start of something, I want to stress I'm not freaking out and none of you should either. There's a lot of work to be done and acting crazy won't get it done any quicker. I'm just saying we need to start doing things as communities ourselves and not worry about what others think. At best, I'm wrong, nothing happens, and we have lovely greenhouses and shaded cities built to enjoy. At worst, we have reinforced for what is to come.

It is certainly true that Trump's ongoing crises are likely making it difficult to also work on the Syria crisis; if not for him personally, than for his aides.

That said, as the resident hawk, the Syria course of action is.... debatable? I'm not sure what the plan is. That's not an ironic or metaphorical "debatable", I mean it literally: I'm actually unsure as to all of this. I suppose if the intention is "we will use missiles everytime we hear about chemicals" it's not totally without merit: consistency is valuable deterrence. But otherwise, it's just like, why though.

From a Crow to a Hawk: United States is King of the Hill. If you're on top of the hill, do you want anyone else to develop any ability to get close to/climb the hill? Wouldn't you rather have them infighting, destabilized and too unfocused to challenge your power in their domain, let alone come close to your own ground? George Friedman did an excellent write-up on the U.S. grand strategy in The Next 100 Years, and in a sentence, he stated that the goal of the United States is to prevent any power from developing into a Regional Power, lest they develop enough to challenge any part of American Hegemony.

[Doomblade187]

Ah, so you were referring to the grander changing climate and related issues. Okay. I read it a bit unclear. Yeah. As I tell my family- even if climate change isn't man-caused, don't we get a more environmentally friendly earth from conservation efforts?

[inteuniso]

Ah, so you were referring to the grander changing climate and related issues. Okay. I read it a bit unclear. Yeah. As I tell my family- even if climate change isn't man-caused, don't we get a more environmentally friendly earth from conservation efforts?

Exactly. Even as quickly as this is happening, and the models that are holding true are showing this event peaking in three years, that means we have three years before we're inundated. If we can print houses with current tech in twelve hours, we can do this. Tengri 137 even gave us the blueprint for making compressed sunlight pipes, although I think we can make it with a steel alloy instead of silver-coated pipes, we just need high-enough grade steel that can withstand the temperatures, so it will likely have to be forged in vacuum furnaces.

EDIT: Oh yeah, we can just fill the pipes with supercritical water and graphite, that should be enough to work as an effective reflection medium. It's scalable too!

[Madman198237]

Having read that NASA article and knowing quite a bit about space in general...I'm not sure what you're worried about, at all. Solar minimum isn't going to do anything to us (I mean, maybe some weirdness with GPS satellites or other such space equipment, but it doesn't sound like it's going to cripple anything). But it is not going to do what you fear. I'm not even sure how you came up with what you said, it makes no sense in the context of what a "solar minimum" actually is.

[martinuzz]

I hope this is the end of it. I'm not interested in fighting Israel's wars for them.

You been drinking the extreme-right coolaid a bit much?

Ah, so you were referring to the grander changing climate and related issues. Okay. I read it a bit unclear. Yeah. As I tell my family- even if climate change isn't man-caused, don't we get a more environmentally friendly earth from conservation efforts?

Exactly. Even as quickly as this is happening, and the models that are holding true are showing this event peaking in three years, that means we have three years before we're inundated. If we can print houses with current tech in twelve hours, we can do this. Tengri 137 even gave us the blueprint for making compressed sunlight pipes, although I think we can make it with a steel alloy instead of silver-coated pipes, we just need high-enough grade steel that can withstand the temperatures, so it will likely have to be forged in vacuum furnaces.

EDIT: Oh yeah, we can just fill the pipes with supercritical water and graphite, that should be enough to work as an effective reflection medium. It's scalable too!

Are you allright? To be quite honest, you last two posts kinda read like the ramble of someone who is on the edge of losing it. You got me worried, but not about a solar minimum.