NFrameFred
Member
For your perusal and conversation . . .
Earth Has Tilted 31.5 Inches. That Shouldn't Happen.
The article is apparently a reprint of a piece originally from Popular Mechanics.
To anyone remotely familiar with fluid dynamics, this would seem to make sense and more quantifiable than some of the Chicken Little explanations the more strident try to shove down our throats as 'evidence'. As usual, the answers don't seem to be as pat as many preach, though it does lend credence to those who point toward human interference as a still yet unquantified reason in its scope as compared to natural forces perhaps not yet sufficiently understood for global changes of concern.
Basically (for those wondering just what the heck we're talking about without bothering to read the article) the idea is that by human manipulation of vast amounts of ground water being pumped from one place to another for development and maintenance of places such as the American southwest (among many other places in the world), that the redistribution of weight has caused the earth's rotation axis to wobble off by at least 31.5 inches in a relatively short time. Doesn't sound like much but any such changes affect a whole chain of balances on a global scale. Those who admonish us on the fragility of 'balance' of eco systems and their inter-connectivity are correct.
The panic and the hubris of those screaming "we're all gonna die in 10, 15, 20 years !" or whatever (looking at you Algore and Greta Thorninabuttberg) predicting calamities from a new ice age to new ocean front beach property in Arizona are alarmist, unfounded and silly, but not without some yet understood long term validity. Problem is we don't know what we don't know and extreme predictions on scant data and jumping to panicked conclusions aren't serving the common good and are quite possibly doing as much harm as good. ["But we have to do something! NOW!"
note - this was 'sarcasm' for you literalists 
]
In one sense I agree with those who think we give ourselves too much credit for being able to 'destroy' or 'fix' the planet; but I also agree with those who believe the earth can and will endure and "fix" itself . . . even if it has to exterminate us to do it.
Having said all that, my personal belief is in something bigger, higher, more powerful and omnipotent that takes all these things into account and has known about it all from the beginning and has plans for us that cannot be thwarted by our feeble efforts . . but we can't talk about that here . . .
Earth Has Tilted 31.5 Inches. That Shouldn't Happen.
The article is apparently a reprint of a piece originally from Popular Mechanics.
To anyone remotely familiar with fluid dynamics, this would seem to make sense and more quantifiable than some of the Chicken Little explanations the more strident try to shove down our throats as 'evidence'. As usual, the answers don't seem to be as pat as many preach, though it does lend credence to those who point toward human interference as a still yet unquantified reason in its scope as compared to natural forces perhaps not yet sufficiently understood for global changes of concern.
Basically (for those wondering just what the heck we're talking about without bothering to read the article) the idea is that by human manipulation of vast amounts of ground water being pumped from one place to another for development and maintenance of places such as the American southwest (among many other places in the world), that the redistribution of weight has caused the earth's rotation axis to wobble off by at least 31.5 inches in a relatively short time. Doesn't sound like much but any such changes affect a whole chain of balances on a global scale. Those who admonish us on the fragility of 'balance' of eco systems and their inter-connectivity are correct.
The panic and the hubris of those screaming "we're all gonna die in 10, 15, 20 years !" or whatever (looking at you Algore and Greta Thorninabuttberg) predicting calamities from a new ice age to new ocean front beach property in Arizona are alarmist, unfounded and silly, but not without some yet understood long term validity. Problem is we don't know what we don't know and extreme predictions on scant data and jumping to panicked conclusions aren't serving the common good and are quite possibly doing as much harm as good. ["But we have to do something! NOW!"
note - this was 'sarcasm' for you literalists ]In one sense I agree with those who think we give ourselves too much credit for being able to 'destroy' or 'fix' the planet; but I also agree with those who believe the earth can and will endure and "fix" itself . . . even if it has to exterminate us to do it.
Having said all that, my personal belief is in something bigger, higher, more powerful and omnipotent that takes all these things into account and has known about it all from the beginning and has plans for us that cannot be thwarted by our feeble efforts . . but we can't talk about that here . . .
