04:42:27Â 01/09/2017
https://youtu.be/Y1dUZDI66As
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A lot of news, but is it art?
Welcome to another Monday. Temperatures are still cold out this morning, but by mid-afternoon, we might just make it above freezing for the first time in several days. This is the beginning of a warming trend that will see central Indiana near 60 degrees by Thursday, but with that comes a reasonable chance for rain every day except today. By next weekend it will be cold and wintery again, so enjoy the warmer weather while you can.
The weekend managed to conjure up a fair bit of news for this morning. McDonald’s has sold most of its business in China and Hong Kong to investors who can help them grow. Turkey claims they’ve killed more than 40 ISIS fighters over the weekend, and the Friday’s Ft. Lauderdale shooter is likely facing the death penalty. Yet, it’s an award show that seems to be getting all the chatter this morning. Let’s look at our 5 things you should know and see if we can figure out why.
But first, the weather
We tend to look at the weather in terms of local forecasts and are typically thankful when everything is benign and quiet. A little bit of snow in the wrong place can be a real problem with it hits in the South, such as it did on Friday and Saturday last week. But what you might have missed was a massive winter storm that hit Europe over the weekend, leaving at least 20 dead and closing businesses and services across much of the continent1.
Those of you familiar with European geography know that, like the US, Southern Europe rarely sees a touch of winter. The Greek Islands are a popular winter tourist destination because they tend to stay warm. The same is true for Southern Italy. Yet, both are frozen over today and have a heavy blanket of fresh snow, closing ferries, ports, and schools. Overnight temperatures in Northern Europe reached as low as -22° F, which contributed to many of the deaths. Many of those dying are homeless and immigrant people with insufficient shelter.
At the same time, however, the Western US is getting hit with a storm of its own. Hundreds of homes have been evacuated in Nevada and in Northern California police are rescuing people from cars as the strongest winter storm to hit that region in 10 years pummels them with more water than they can handle2. This is on top of the more than six feet of snow dumped on the Sierra Nevadas in the past week. What you should know is that this is normally a high desert region that sees less than eight inches of rain a year. They’re looking at a very rough start to their week.
Death of a diplomat
People in Iran are mourning the death of Former Iranian president Akbar Rafsanjani who died Sunday at age 823. This is important because Rafsanjani, who was a political moderate, played a large role in the election of Iran’s current president, Hassan Rouhani and was a force within Iran for supporting the current nuclear agreement between that country and the West. Without Rafsanjani, Rouhani faces considerable objections from Iranian hardliners in favor of ditching the agreement and developing Iran’s nuclear program.
Given the rhetoric toward Iran from president-elect Donald Trump, many moderates and Middle Eastern academics feel that Rafsanjani’s death could not have come at a worse time. With political instability on both sides of the nuclear agreement, fears are high that the whole thing might fall apart without Rafsanjani’s voice working to keep both sides calm. Any political misstep on either side now could have catastrophic results.
In a country that has often been isolationist and protective, Rafsanjani was a rare voice of reason who advocated not only stronger ties with the West but closer relations with Iran’s Middle Eastern neighbors. A three-day period of mourning has been declared and the former president’s funeral will be held on Tuesday.
Using trucks as weapons
We may soon begin seeing a more diligent inspection of trucks on city streets as, once again, a truck has been used as part of a terror attack, this time in Jerusalem4. At least four Israeli soldiers were killed and 17 people wounded as a Palestinian driver rammed his truck into a crowd at a popular tourist attraction. This is the deadliest single attack in the region which has seen a considerable amount of violence over the past year.
This time, however, the US has a direct role in the causation for the attack. Tensions in the region have been high based on president-elect Trump’s statement that he plans to move the US embassy to Israel to Jerusalem. Palestinians have warned that such a move would have dire consequences, which has many wondering if this was merely a warning of what might be to come should the president-elect follow through on his promise.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is blaming the so-called Islamic State, however, given that organization’s recent use of a truck at a market in Germany that left 12 dead. The truck driver was a Palestinian man from a nearby neighborhood known for being home to other terrorists in the region. Security cameras show the truck barreling through the streets at a high rate of speed toward a group of soldiers, and then backing up rapidly after hitting them. The driver was shot dead by other Israeli soldiers surviving the attack.
Ending the program but not the controversy
Following the death of Tilikum, the orca that killed a trainer at Sea World back in 2010, Sea World San Diego has announced that it is ending its Killer Whale show5. The final presentation featuring trainers interacting with the giant mammals was held yesterday afternoon. Sea World says it plans to redesign the large tanks and open a new orca exhibit in the spring that is more of an educational experience. Visitors will see how orcas eat and interact with each other rather than with a trainer.
Don’t think this is an end to the controversy surrounding the Sea World program, though. Tilikum died at an estimated age of 36. While that might seem old compared to the life of your family pet, orcas in the wild have been known to live well over 200 years, with some estimated to live another century beyond that. The effect of captivity on the giant animals dramatically shortens their lifespan, no matter how well their care might be.
What you should know is that Sea World parks in Orlando and San Antonio will continue their orca shows through 2019. Attendance at all Sea World parks has fallen off since the documentary Blackfish criticized the conditions of the orcas at Sea World, specifically Tilikum, saying that captivity makes the massive mammals more aggressive. Sea World has also announced they are laying off some 320 people across its 12 parks, none of which are likely to affect the orca programs.
And finally …
The first big awards show of the new year, the Golden Globes, was held last night and, as one might expect, the tabloids and entertainment news is full of chatter about who won what6.  Now, before anyone busts a gut, we can tell you that the musical La La Land took the lead with seven awards, which definitely brightens its chances going into the Oscars. Tracee Ellis Ross, took the award for best actress in a TV comedy for “Black-ish,” the first black woman to win in that category since 1992. Emma Stone won for best movie actress in a comedy or musical, and Billy Bob Thornton won for best actor in a TV drama.
What has tongues wagging fiercely this morning is Meryl Streep’s acceptance speech after winning the Cecile B. DeMille award, where she called the president-elect a bully and challenged the press to hold those in power accountable. What is getting the most attention, however, is when she said, “Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners. And if we kick ’em all out you’ll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts.”
That comment set off a firestorm about athletics not being the arts. MMA supporters especially took exception, given the word “arts” is in the title. Stop and think about it, though. We don’t called anyone a football artist, we call them “players.” We call those who participate in MMA “fighters,” not artists. Just so we’re clear, the Fine Arts always have been, and continue to be painting, sculpture, architecture, music and poetry extending to dance and drama. Modern modifications include film, photography, and other visial elements, but they do NOT include athletics. Those are sports. Don’t get confused.
And that’s all we have time and energy for this morning. Being a Monday, I’m sure there will be a lot happen throughout the day today. We’ll watch it all and we’ll be back in the morning to sift through all the nonsense. Enjoy the warming weather if you can and we’ll back tomorrow.
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Earth Day: The Warning We Keep Ignoring
Talking about global warming on a day in April when I woke up to 36-degree Fahrenheit temperatures may feel to some as if we’re perpetuating some kind of myth or conspiracy theory. We have this horrible tendency to consider global warming theory as meaning the same thing to all regions around the world. We’ve blocked it from being taught in many schools because we fail to understand how critical the matter is to the world as a whole and probably won’t recognize the danger until it’s too late.
Warning: for much of the world, it’s already too late.
Take a look at the picture above. I’ve been coming to the same spot in this park for 19 years. Normally, including last year, I could not stand on dry ground to take this picture from this position. The water would be at least ankle-deep. While we’ve set some rainfall records for the month, there still is a deficit in the amount of water flooding traditional wetlands. This may not yet affect how green the grass is in your overly manicured earth-warming yard, but it does affect the wildlife living off the wetlands, and that wildlife inevitably impacts the quality of the air you breathe and the temperatures in which you are forced to live and work. Changes that are occurring are not yet to the point that they are slapping you in the face on a daily basis, but that doesn’t mean they’re not sneaking up behind you, ready to pounce.
We tend to think of the Middle East as a relatively dry place, don’t we? We hear the reference and think of camels and deserts and turbans. Last week, the Dubai Airport had to close and a record number of people were killed because of rain and flooding. Just this morning, The Washington Post published the story: “Flooding Wreaks Havoc Across East Africa. Burundi Is Especially Hard Hit.” Climate change is real and if it’s not already affecting you in disastrous ways, just wait: you could be next.
The climate on this little blue ball of nonsense has never been all that stable. That’s why our most ancient ancestors created deities whom they could blame when weather-related disasters such as floods, storms, famine, and drought. They didn’t have any understanding of science or weather patterns and how they work, so they invented something to help them understand. They were wrong, but it gave them comfort to pray to those deities and offer them sacrifices.
Now, as our understanding of climate and weather continues to increase, we can see more reliably how actions in one part of the world affect weather in other parts of the world. What we do in North America has a disastrous effect on people on the African continent. As things change in the Middle East, Europe can suffer changes that upend the entire food supply and their ability to work outdoors.
Yet, right here on the ground level people in the United States, continue to remain willfully ignorant of climate matters and think that this whole warming thing is “just a phase that will straighten itself out.” Yes, it’s going to straighten itself out, but it may not do so in a manner conducive to the continuation of human life on this planet. We are latecomers to the scene anyway. The planet has no obligation to keep us alive.
One of the reports released earlier this morning states “World’s Workers Increasingly At Risk As Climate Changes.” This report from the International Labor Organisation (ILO) should make everyone shudder more than a bit. Among its findings are fun things like air pollution killing 860,00 workers each year. Now, compared to a global population of just under eight billion, 860,000 may not sound like much unless you or your children happen to be among that 860,000.
“We do have some (countries) that already limit exposure to high temperatures and also limit exposure to air pollution, but we rarely have occupational exposure limits set for the other hazards,” said Manal Azzi, ILO Senior Specialist on occupational safety and health.
Hmmm. Could he possibly be talking about the states of Florida and Texas that block local governments from passing laws that protect outdoor laborers? Seriously, the states of Florida and Texas won’t allow city governments to require that workers be provided with shade and water during the hottest months. This isn’t only a denial of climate change, but genocide toward those who work in extreme heat, people who are often among the lowest paid and least likely to be politically involved.
When you consider the full cocktail of environmental changes that affect those who work outdoors, that 860,000 number jumps to over 3.4 billion. Is that a large enough number for you? That’s more than 90% of the entire US population. Anyone who spends any significant time outdoors is in trouble and should be considered at high risk for lethal health issues.
Another article released from Brussels this morning warns that ” Europe is increasingly facing bouts of heat so intense that the human body cannot cope, as climate change continues to raise temperatures.” This wonderful bit of news comes from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service and the World Meteorological Organization. What they’re specifically looking at is a 7% increase in the parts of Europe where daytime temps have exceeded 46 degrees Celsius, the point at which the body needs immediate healthcare to prevent heat stroke and other issues. In one particularly disastrous case, a 44-year-old man painting road markings in the Italian town of Lodi collapsed from the heat and died before an ambulance had time to respond.
Europe is the fastest-warming continent on the planet. Heat-related deaths there have increased by more than 30% in the past twenty years, making it one of the most dangerous places to work or play outside. With the Summer Olympics coming to France this year, how the heat will impact athletes is a major concern, especially when outdoor track events are frequently held in relatively quick succession, not giving athletes a lot of time to recover from the previous event.
None of this is terribly new, of course. Scientists have been warning that deaths and illnesses are going to increase if countries don’t take demonstrable measures to offset the warming. The Paris Accords were passed but the United States and several other countries have failed to live up to their part of the agreement. This is a dangerous situation where we are allowing petty politics to interfere with the potential extinction of our species.
I know that, as a group, humans can be extremely stupid and self-defeating. Are we so stupid, though, as to endanger human survival beyond the next 100 years?
Yeah, we’re that stupid. I’d worry for your grandchildren if I were you.
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