The Global Warming Thread

Discussion in 'Off Topic Area' started by David Harrison, Mar 3, 2016.

  1. Giovanni

    Giovanni Well-Known Member Supporter

    whenever i get depressed about it, i always think to how reality has a way of opening up peoples' eyes. for the better. and then all those people will question what they've been told for real. see right now, it's too abstract. to them global warming is just "blah blah blah liberals blah blah blah"

    but i've been in south florida. and i've watched fair weather flooding happen. many many people voted for the guy who told them that it's all a hoax, who also happens to need people to believe that so he can continue charging them exorbitant sums to be members of a club that's on a channel island that will be underwater.

    when this happens--and it's going to happen--all of a sudden question will be asked like "you told us this was a hoax, but i can't get insurance for my house any longer, what's up with that?"
     
  2. Giovanni

    Giovanni Well-Known Member Supporter

    there's a trump voter and global warming denier in my office. i love dangling little bits for him to digest. on a level he can understand.

    i was talking global warming with another colleague. and this gentleman--and i use the term loosely--say something about liberals this or liberals that. i just asked him what happens to water when it warms up? and left it at that. just leaving breadcrumbs for him.
     
  3. Tom bayley

    Tom bayley Valued Member

  4. philosoraptor

    philosoraptor carnivore in a top hat Supporter

    I mean, thing is, again, there's a tipping point at which runaway climate change proceeds. We have the capacity to effect change now, but the scary part is that our window of opportunity may be vanishing faster than people's minds are changing. The effects of climate change are already here, but we've been indoctrinated by propaganda to ignore them.

    Long time ago I was in the Bahamas fishing, and one of the guy's who took us out brought back a big grouper. Fat thing, about two feet long, dude was so happy to catch it. He brought it back and started talking to his grandfather who laughed and said that they used to be twice as big.

    People's perceptions of the environment shift in such a way as to make them think that whatever they're perceiving now is normal.
     
  5. Giovanni

    Giovanni Well-Known Member Supporter

    i don't disagree. but something like south florida flooding tends to get peoples' attention. ft. lauderdale and miami beach are trying to figure out how they can raise their towns.

    https://newrepublic.com/article/123216/miami-sinking-beneath-sea-not-without-fight

    the godfather of my oldest is in manufacturing. his company chose the chicagoland area to build their factory for two reasons: not near the coasts, and near fresh water.
     
  6. philosoraptor

    philosoraptor carnivore in a top hat Supporter

  7. Tom bayley

    Tom bayley Valued Member


    Sadly totally true. Can't think where I heard of it put there is a paper some were done on fishing in the florida keys showing photos of proud fisherman with their trophy fish over the last 100 years. the size of the fish gets smaller and smaller but the fishermen look just as happy.
     
  8. philosoraptor

    philosoraptor carnivore in a top hat Supporter

    Cool new study, here's the popular science take on it: Those 3% of scientific papers that deny climate change? A review found them all flawed

    Here's the paper itself: Learning from mistakes in climate research

    I think we're way past ascertaining whether global warming is occurring, or even if humans are the primary cause of it, but with most Americans believing in big foot and angels, well, I'm not sure how persuasive this paper will be.
     
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  9. Tom bayley

    Tom bayley Valued Member

    From the outside it would appear that republicans rely heavily on the state of Florida to elect a republican president.

    It is getting harder and harder for Floridians to ignore the impact of climate change. which will make it harder for a climate denigher to be elected president.

    The solution - regonise climate change ?

    But the republican party rely heavily on blue collar voters in the coal and oil industries and on the oil industry for a large portion of their campaign funds. If the republicans regonsise climate change they risk alienating the people who fund them.

    The solution - abolish the electoral collage system and have the president elected directly by the greatest number of votes cast over the entire country.

    then the republicans can abandon florida to salinification of water aquifers and inundation due to rising sea levels.
     
  10. philosoraptor

    philosoraptor carnivore in a top hat Supporter

    Except Republicans routinely receive a minority of the votes nationally. Despite this, due to structural inequalities, they routinely enjoy the majority of power. Their only hope lies in disenfranchising minorities and gerrymandering. Which, y'know, they're working on.
     
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  11. Rataca100

    Rataca100 Banned Banned

    *Foreigner stares at thread not knowing how the U.S works* :p
     
  12. philosoraptor

    philosoraptor carnivore in a top hat Supporter

    The demographics of the US are changing to where Republicans have less support than Democrats. For example, Hilary Clinton won the popular vote by 3 million people, and still lost the electoral college. In 2018, Democrats are projected to win something like 53% of the vote but will likely only control 47% of the House. This is due to a combination of factors, for example gerrymandering:

    [​IMG]

    You can see this in the real world in maps like these:

    [​IMG]

    You can even trace it through time and see that these redrawings are aberrations from the norm.

    [​IMG]

    At the same time, Republicans have been pushing to disenfranchise typical Democratic voters; meaning racial minorities and women. This is accomplished by instituting stringent voter ID laws, reducing the number of polling stations in urban areas or staffing them poorly, eliminating methods of early voting, etc. In one notable instance after the Supreme Court case Shelby v. Holder gutted the Voting Rights Act, Republicans in North Carolina requested voting data by race, then instituted something like 10 new measures restricting voting access, 7 of which would disproportionately effect African Americans. These laws are not an aberration, but were joined by similar measures in several other states, some of which have been successfully passed.
     
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  13. Rataca100

    Rataca100 Banned Banned

    I dont understand those two pics. Well, so-so dont understand.
     
  14. philosoraptor

    philosoraptor carnivore in a top hat Supporter

    The first picture kind of explains it. Look at the picture of Maryland's 2nd and 3rd districts - what you can see is that Baltimore is split into two different congressional districts. City dwellers typically vote Democrat. By splitting up Baltimore and tying it to more rural districts, you've ensured that those Democratic voters will be balanced out by rural voters. So instead of having the city go one way and the rural areas go the other, you now have two districts both going the way of the rural voters.

    [​IMG]

    In this way, the method of which you choose to draw boundaries can dictate the course of an election.

    [​IMG]
     
  15. aikiMac

    aikiMac aikido + boxing = very good Moderator Supporter

    They're supposed to be maps showing the boundary lines for voting districts. We carve up each State into voting districts, and elect one US Representative per district. We do the same thing for state representatives, at the state level.

    Every few years the boundaries are redrawn, both for the state representatives and for the national representatives. By examining all of the factors that go into voting, one can redraw boundaries so as to maximize the number of winners for your political party.

    Democrats are as guilty of this as Republicans. Both sides do it. A few years back when I lived in California the boundaries were redrawn in an absurd way to blatantly secure Democrat seats, because the Republican candidates were getting stronger.
     
  16. philosoraptor

    philosoraptor carnivore in a top hat Supporter

    Sure, both sides do it. That doesn't mean that in its current version it doesn't benefit Republicans more than it benefits Democrats.

    Gerrymanders, Part 1: Busting the both-sides-do-it myth

    Or, more currently: Analysis: Partisan gerrymandering has benefited Republicans more than Democrats

    I've seen some interesting mathematical models that suggest better ways of redistricting that aren't up to individual preferences.
     
  17. philosoraptor

    philosoraptor carnivore in a top hat Supporter

    This guy rules!

    Democratic Partisan Gerrymanders, 1972-present

     
  18. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award



    For non USA people, a simple explanation of gerrymandering.
     
  19. Rataca100

    Rataca100 Banned Banned

    Got kind of confused with the colours. and no obvious key for what anything is meant to mean in it. :p
     
  20. philosoraptor

    philosoraptor carnivore in a top hat Supporter

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