leicsmac

In order to guarantee the continued inhabitation of our planet, we can have have to do both. Or at least give the requisite amount of attention to both, anyway.

Actually yes, you're right. The speed of light is the same as the maximum speed of causality and perception gravitational waves have been detected moving at light speed. I was referring in part to quantum entanglement, but also to the idea that because every single object that has mass in the universe has a measurable gravitational effect on every single other object in the universe and because the universe is so big, that effect would appear to have travelled faster than light in some cases. However, I do realise that's a matter of perception itself and therefore fallacious, though.

And then you start to wonder how gravity can apparently violate relativistic laws by acting "immediately" over vast distances and it all gets rather runny.

That is an extreme probability. Hence the need for haste.

And not a day too soon, either. For a variety of reasons.

Clearly we need to get the fvck on with established colonies on the Moon with Mars to follow to solve this one.

And it serves as a dangerous distraction from other threats.

Is it really that surprising?

Speaking personally I think the answer to that is quite self-evident, but stating it plainly would likely cause smoke that is not needed, so I won't.

It's almost as if these events aren't "just weather" and are part of an overall trend that is more and more rapidly becoming normalised, isn't it? I'm glad at least 70% of pollsters here at least are on board with that and roughly another 20% are at least on board with the fact that there is a problem even if they're not necessarily cogent of the cause and solution.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2k1103vljqo A second spell of temperatures well over 30C before we've even got to the end of June - how unusual is this and how much is climate change to blame? Temperatures of 34C are possible on Monday or Tuesday in south-east England. They've been triggered by an area of high pressure getting "stuck" over Europe, known as a heat dome. But climate scientists are clear that the heat will have inevitably been boosted by our warming climate. Some people might feel these temperatures are "just like summer" – and it's true they are a lot cooler than the record 40C and more the UK hit in July 2022. But it's important to be aware just how unusual mid-thirties temperatures are for the UK. In the second half of the 20th Century, one in ten years saw highs of 35C or more, BBC analysis of Met Office data shows. But this heat is becoming more common. Between 2015 and 2024, half of the years saw 35C or above. A good plain-language explanation of what's going on right now. I would hope that garden-variety ignorance is becoming less of an excuse on this matter, which leaves only the wilful and rather more damaging kind.

All the current (or former) England contingent scoring massive there.

Hopefully GB will have at least some representatives still in the second week.

18.3 degrees Celsius, apparently. Which, I should add, has been surpassed by three out of the last seven July's. Unfortunately, direct heat and cold are not the only factors that present a danger to life and society here. Added heat also brings additional direct stress through flooding when rain comes torrentially, and indirect when crop yields are much lower because of that same heat and flooding, to name but two other issues. NB. I would also posit that it's more difficult in general to defend against direct heat, rather than direct cold.

It is rather odd that quite a few talking heads (both media-prevalent and otherwise) appear to be more outraged about one than the other though. I mean, when was the last time 'almost 60000 people killed in ongoing war' made the same sensationalist headlines in certain media outlets as this rather unsavoury incident is doing today?

I think it's an accurate metaphor for the way the situation began, and the way it continues. The provenance in that way isn't relevant.

"A man once jumped from the top floor of a burning house in which many members of his family had already perished. He managed to save his life; but as he was falling he hit a person standing down below and broke that person’s legs and arms. The jumping man had no choice; yet to the man with the broken limbs he was the cause of his misfortune. If both behaved rationally, they would not become enemies. The man who escaped from the blazing house, having recovered, would have tried to help and console the other sufferer; and the latter might have realized that he was the victim of circumstances over which neither of them had control. But look what happens when these people behave irrationally. The injured man blames the other for his misery and swears to make him pay for it. The other, afraid of the crippled man’s revenge, insults him, kicks him, and beats him up whenever they meet. The kicked man again swears revenge and is again punched and punished. The bitter enmity, so fortuitous at first, hardens and comes to overshadow the whole existence of both men and to poison their minds." — Isaac Deutscher

Record in one place and time? 1976, 35.6 degrees C. Record for average across the month, which tends to have a greater impact? 2023, nearly a full degree Celsius hotter than 1976 - or almost all other years, come to that. https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/articles/czxwkgg41gno goes into more detail. So yes, though it isn't hitting us in the UK that hard (yet), the change is being felt. Edit: for graphical representation...

Wasn't meant to be, just stating fact about the future.

Stick around for a while, and you might find the UK climate entirely agreeable to you. Whether that will actually be good for the future as a whole is clearly up to the beholder.

The whole thing is rather more complex than some of those on all sides would like to reduce it to. And that's a big part of the problem in of itself.

I think it's played havoc with all age groups in its own way.

The hypocrisy would be hilarious were it not so dangerous for the future of... well, everything.

And record levels of wildfires so far in the UK this year too. Fun times.

It's especially complicated when for optimal effect some issues require a liberal democratic approach, and others rather more from-the-top - one government size doesn't fit all. And getting that optimal approach right is critical in some of those cases.