31
Off Topic / Re: Car thread
« on: February 02, 2017, 06:53:31 PM »Participated and won this in an auction today.looks like a piece of garbage. you're not gonna make your money back are you
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32
General Discussion / Re: New Years 2017 --- New record: 188 players (186 unique) Badspot actually vaped
« on: January 01, 2017, 05:39:39 PM »
Really happy you keep hosting these, loved it for the short time I was there. Awesome work!
33
Off Topic / Re: speak a foreign language?
« on: December 15, 2016, 09:04:05 PM »
Est-ce que je parle la francais? Oui, un peu.
34
Off Topic / Re: Annoying Orange: 'Nobody really knows' if climate change is real
« on: December 15, 2016, 09:01:51 PM »
I think ultimately it's fair to be slightly skeptical of the stuff that scientists put out, but there also needs to be an aiding realization that there is almost always a rigorous research-related requirement that goes into producing grand predictions. Often this gets conflated with whatever the loudest person shouts into the media, which makes it a very partisan issue, because people have to pick sides and American politics closely relate political affiliation with cheering for a sports team.
Regardless, while I certainly agree that many of the things climate-scientists propose will have a negative effect on the economy in the short term, there appears to be very real consequences to what we are doing. Again, I do not want to assert that the world is ending, but given our understanding of the natural world the possibilities are endless and terrifying.
Let's say, for the sake of the argument, that you accept that the Earth is under an unusual period of warming, whether that is due to humans or not is slightly irrelevant (but we can observe that periods in Earths history where the climate was at its hottest are directly correlated with CO2 content in the atmosphere, and the recent heating period can also be directly correlated with our entrance into the Industrial revolution and extensive globalization). As the amount of CO2 increases in the atmosphere, we see a lot of direct changes, even if they happen over a few hundred years.
The first and most popular is global heating - as chemistry dictates, CO2 along with other, lesser related gasses are better than oxygen at trapping heat within the atmosphere. But the far scarier second result of increased atmospheric CO2 is Ocean Acidification. Essentially, the oceans are very good at absorbing carbon from the atmosphere, and end up absorbing something like 40% of the carbon dioxide released by human activity. This carbon reacts with salt water (primarily) in order to form carbonic acid, constantly shifting the pH spectrum of the worlds oceans towards the acidic end. We've already seen some of the results of this, as the oceans pH has decreased from 8.25 to 8.14 since the mid 1700's. The effects can even be localized, like the degradation of Australia's coral reefs.
Unfortunately for us, the run-away result of Ocean Acidification is, obviously, the extreme acidification of the oceans. Algae, one of if not perhaps the most fundamental organism to the oceans ecology, relies on the alkaline pH of the ocean to continue its metabolic process. However, while it would be devastating to the oceans ecology if Algae were to become extinct, it would also almost certainly mean the mass-extinction of land animals, as not only does the ocean provide the fundamental basis of the food period (one way or another) for many animals, Algae also produce something like 70% of the oxygen in the Earths atmosphere. It is important to consider too that once we begin to see the effects of ocean acidification, it is already far too late to do something about it.
Fortunately for us, it appears that even with relatively moderate climate change accommodations in the coming decades will allow us to avoid this utter catastrophe. But if we were to not alter our path at all - and see a 4 degree Celsius raise of global temperatures by the end of the century, I think its clear that life as we know it would cease to exist. There are no easy solutions to climate change. That, I think we can all agree on. However, investment in renewable energy sources, nuclear, and even fusion have shown and will continue to show returns both environmentally and economically. If we cannot agree on the facts of climate change, at least accept the clear economic stimulation that will come from the continued research and investment into these fields. The bottom line here is that if we, as a species, decide that it is important to prevent the formidable effects of climate change - what are the consequences? Economic downturn for less than a decade as we phase out previous energy sources and retrain the populous into new endevours? Then, even if we're wrong, we will have established a new age of energy production and there is no reason for the economy not to respond and grow once again in that scenario.
Regardless, while I certainly agree that many of the things climate-scientists propose will have a negative effect on the economy in the short term, there appears to be very real consequences to what we are doing. Again, I do not want to assert that the world is ending, but given our understanding of the natural world the possibilities are endless and terrifying.
Let's say, for the sake of the argument, that you accept that the Earth is under an unusual period of warming, whether that is due to humans or not is slightly irrelevant (but we can observe that periods in Earths history where the climate was at its hottest are directly correlated with CO2 content in the atmosphere, and the recent heating period can also be directly correlated with our entrance into the Industrial revolution and extensive globalization). As the amount of CO2 increases in the atmosphere, we see a lot of direct changes, even if they happen over a few hundred years.
The first and most popular is global heating - as chemistry dictates, CO2 along with other, lesser related gasses are better than oxygen at trapping heat within the atmosphere. But the far scarier second result of increased atmospheric CO2 is Ocean Acidification. Essentially, the oceans are very good at absorbing carbon from the atmosphere, and end up absorbing something like 40% of the carbon dioxide released by human activity. This carbon reacts with salt water (primarily) in order to form carbonic acid, constantly shifting the pH spectrum of the worlds oceans towards the acidic end. We've already seen some of the results of this, as the oceans pH has decreased from 8.25 to 8.14 since the mid 1700's. The effects can even be localized, like the degradation of Australia's coral reefs.
Unfortunately for us, the run-away result of Ocean Acidification is, obviously, the extreme acidification of the oceans. Algae, one of if not perhaps the most fundamental organism to the oceans ecology, relies on the alkaline pH of the ocean to continue its metabolic process. However, while it would be devastating to the oceans ecology if Algae were to become extinct, it would also almost certainly mean the mass-extinction of land animals, as not only does the ocean provide the fundamental basis of the food period (one way or another) for many animals, Algae also produce something like 70% of the oxygen in the Earths atmosphere. It is important to consider too that once we begin to see the effects of ocean acidification, it is already far too late to do something about it.
Fortunately for us, it appears that even with relatively moderate climate change accommodations in the coming decades will allow us to avoid this utter catastrophe. But if we were to not alter our path at all - and see a 4 degree Celsius raise of global temperatures by the end of the century, I think its clear that life as we know it would cease to exist. There are no easy solutions to climate change. That, I think we can all agree on. However, investment in renewable energy sources, nuclear, and even fusion have shown and will continue to show returns both environmentally and economically. If we cannot agree on the facts of climate change, at least accept the clear economic stimulation that will come from the continued research and investment into these fields. The bottom line here is that if we, as a species, decide that it is important to prevent the formidable effects of climate change - what are the consequences? Economic downturn for less than a decade as we phase out previous energy sources and retrain the populous into new endevours? Then, even if we're wrong, we will have established a new age of energy production and there is no reason for the economy not to respond and grow once again in that scenario.
35
Off Topic / Re: we are number one but every post is a line from the song in order
« on: December 13, 2016, 04:12:04 AM »- now
- listen
- closely
36
Off Topic / Re: ITT: We are Dinosaurs
« on: December 08, 2016, 07:55:12 PM »
test alliance best alliance?
37
Off Topic / Re: Why does Japan make the weirdest and sometimes loveual games?
« on: December 05, 2016, 03:28:59 AM »since they're a collectivist culture that abhors public displays of weirdness ("PDW," naturally) they have to let out their weirdness in private and, in recent years, through the internet, where they can enjoy all the upsides of individualist culture like in the west without being "outed" to their peers and publicly lynched as a result.fukin weeb
38
Gallery / Re: slave barn
« on: December 02, 2016, 02:24:27 AM »
i thought dark skin people were the only people who could be slaves ????
39
Gallery / Re: Cohort Team - A Russian City
« on: November 24, 2016, 06:02:15 PM »
glad to see you guys are still working on this!
40
General Discussion / Re: What are your actual names in game?
« on: October 25, 2016, 12:24:14 PM »
same fam
41
Off Topic / Re: hillary gets caught using gestures at a rigged debate
« on: September 29, 2016, 03:11:02 AM »
absurd.
42
Off Topic / Re: [NEWS] Missile which downed civilian airliner MH17 in 2014 confirmed as Russian
« on: September 29, 2016, 03:05:29 AM »Wasn't this confirmed last year?It was speculated as being Russian
43
Off Topic / Re: Montreal ban on Pitbulls
« on: September 29, 2016, 03:04:59 AM »
if you look at it from the governments point of view you can at least understand, as it is unrealistic to apply and police strict requirements for owning and training a dog (something you could argue actually limits your freedoms even more) and the dogs themselves seem to continue to end up in the hands of people who do not know how to properly treat them, which results in more injuries.
44
Gallery / Re: Cohort Team - A Soviet City
« on: September 18, 2016, 02:00:28 AM »
haven't been on BL in a while, glad to see you're still working on this! great work!
45
Off Topic / Re: how many days of your life have you had blockland
« on: August 13, 2016, 03:27:20 PM »
2677 days, or about 47% of my life