At last we have you interested in a real, albeit insidious, threat to human existence.
One that requires uncomfortable actions.
If you don’t think AI is a threat you aren’t thinking
Of course it is a threat. Sooner or later it is going to exterminate us.
Paradoxically AI might be the one thing that can save us from climate disaster. I fear it is a problem beyond the wit of man to solve. But maybe not beyond the capabilities of a robot mega brain
I’m quite serious
Some serious AI needs to be focused on the challenge of energy storage. Cheap, compact batteries that can store energy at hydrocarbon energy-density levels would be an absolute game-changer.
The only positive I can see from the insane weather this month (which, let's not forget, is happening at 1.2C) is that it might drive some more immediate sense into energy generation policy.
Like, no more coal. Like, NOW.
The future may be uncertain to us, but it is already baked in. CO2 emissions are not stoppable now or in the next few years.
No, but we can stop increasing them and accelerating the transition.
Yes. All these sentiments are true. But the rapid decrease in CO2 output isn't going to occur. Even when you do (halve it for example) it is like inflation, it's still happening but slower. The end is the same. Understandably people are massively exaggerating the amount which can and will be done to avert the CO2 increase. Unless there is a global level scale up, very rapidly, of carbon capture from the air. Most people seem to think this also is not deliverable.
I don't share your pessimism. The UK has already cut its CO2 emissions massively from 1990 levels and is on course to achieve net zero in energy generation and transmission within the next 20 years.
That should absolutely be the ambition for all other nations and would make a significant difference. A global level scale up is exactly what I'm asking for, and of CCUS.
Don't forget also how the price of PV cells and wind turbines has collapsed over the last 10 years: technology and its economics can shift the dial very quickly.
The only positive I can see from the insane weather this month (which, let's not forget, is happening at 1.2C) is that it might drive some more immediate sense into energy generation policy.
Like, no more coal. Like, NOW.
We have been cool and wet for the last month, catching up much of the shortfall of an exceptionally dry spring. Most the tracks around here have more muddy puddles now than they did in April.
And?
It is important to remember that weather is local and climate is international. I am not suggesting for a moment that the world is not heating up but local records can be misleading.
OK, but that's a non sequitur.
I wasn't referring to local British records in the last few weeks. And don't forget the crazy June we just had and how mad the elevated North Sea temperatures were.
In years to come we may be thankful for mild, damp, changeable British weather. Personally I find that very hard to believe. But no longer impossible
The Polish countryside is REALLY dull. It’s a whole load of nothing. Apart from various sites of appalling atrocity and genocide
It’s like you’re driving through the most boring part of Lincolnshire and it’s nothing-nothing-nothing-nothing-nothing-oh-two-million-people-were-murdered-there-nothing-nothing-nothing-nothing-look-there’s-a-place that sells biscuits nothing nothing nothing nothing-nothing-SITE-OF-SATANIC-EVIL-nothing-nothing-Skegness
I may need a beer after this 19 hour train journey
Being perpetually bored is so . . . boring.
The relentnessless of large open spaces is a scenery of its own. I have felt that driving inland between Victoria and Queens land, with a stop in an Aussie dairy every couple of hours to break the monotony of dessicated gum trees. It's an acquired taste, but beautiful.
Had roughly similar experience many years ago, taking the Great Northern railroad line (now part of BNSF) across the northern Great Plains of USA. Took full day and then some from Glacier National Park to Minneapolis.
Distinctly remember when the train was briefly stopped at Havre, Montana. Was looking out the window, and there was a real-live cowboy, or close enough, likely a rancher. I gave him a wave . . . and he tipped his Stetson.
The sort of flat landscape you get in the north European plain, or Lincolnshire for that matter, is different and worse than anything in the prairies or the steppe.
It’s cluttered flatness. There are buildings, road signage, rows of trees, electricity pylons all preventing any really long distance views. So you don’t really get the big sky effect or the sense of emptiness.
Yes, I get that. There is a bleakness to the Fens when I drive east to Norfolk. Not least the weird sex shop in a lay-by near Thorney Toll. The sort of place that serial killers shop, I suppose.
I rather like the Fens. They feel weird and other wordly. I like that you can scramble up a drainage ditch and be the highest person for miles around. But I only pass through them once every few years. Maybe I'd feel differently if I passed through them regularly. I bought my favourite ever pair of trousers on Boston market in February 1994.
Long may Lincolnshire remain reviled and unvisited. It is thrilling in every way, and in an odd corner of it Stamford is the finest smallish town in England. And it is full of odd small towns. And it is gigantic. It takes a lifetime to discover. Its fields are a standing rebuke to urban types who think agriculture is less important than financial services.
I've always liked the fact that Lincs, like Yorkshire, possesses Ridings: Lindsey, Kesteven and Holland. And, according to Alec Clifton-Taylor, has the finest cathedral in England.
Politics of “too many young people going to university” a bit surprising. Our Loyal National (more Red Wall) segment among most likely to say too few/right numbers going whereas Established Liberal (Cameronite/Blue Wall) among mos be
Presumably a similar mechanism to grammar schools- those who are confident that their children/grandchildren will still get to go like the idea of selective academic education.
Krakow must be right up there in the top 20 most beautiful cities on the planet. I think I prefer it to Prague
True story: I was last here 20 years ago for a wedding. A couple of days before the wedding we all went for a jaunt. On the way back to krakow from the salt mines we passed auschwitz and the minibus driver said “if anyone wants to see it, well, here it is”
Despite the horror everyone wanted to see it, as they’d not seen it before, so they all piled off. I could hardly stay on the bus (“what, don’t you care??”) so I dutifully got off to “see Auschwitz”
Thing is I’d specifically seen it about six months before. So I spent my time hiding behind a gas chamber, basically, in case one of the staff recognised me and said “what, you came back? Did you enjoy it that much? Perhaps you should get a season ticket?”
I love Krakow. My favourite European city of the ones I’ve seen.
Although to be fair I’ve seen Vienna but not Prague.
Prague is stunning. But it’s now SO touristy. Almost as bad as Venice
Both are global top 20 most-beautiful-city contenders. From the UK I’d definitely put Bath and Cambridge in there
Very few cities outside Europe would make the list
New York. Hong Kong. Errr….
There are cities outside Europe with extraordinary locations but usually the architecture rather lets them down. Sydney. Cape Town. Etc
The most beautiful city in Europe, and indeed the world, is Bergen.
I have no association with the city, nor any desire to live there. It just is. Here's a picture.
Not sure if this will come out OK. Supposed to be Alnmouth taken from a speeding LNER train last Thursday.
Is the rolling stock now all the Hitachi made/assembled trains ?
Not quite, they still have a few Mark 4 trains (Class 91 locos etc.), some even painted in a kind of retro "Inter-City" livery. My trains to Edinburgh and back were both Hitachi Azumas.
The only positive I can see from the insane weather this month (which, let's not forget, is happening at 1.2C) is that it might drive some more immediate sense into energy generation policy.
Like, no more coal. Like, NOW.
We have been cool and wet for the last month, catching up much of the shortfall of an exceptionally dry spring. Most the tracks around here have more muddy puddles now than they did in April.
And?
It is important to remember that weather is local and climate is international. I am not suggesting for a moment that the world is not heating up but local records can be misleading.
OK, but that's a non sequitur.
I wasn't referring to local British records in the last few weeks. And don't forget the crazy June we just had and how mad the elevated North Sea temperatures were.
In years to come we may be thankful for mild, damp, changeable British weather. Personally I find that very hard to believe. But no longer impossible
I'm already delighted that it looks like we're going to get through this Summer without being boiled to death like we were last year. It got a bit hot and sticky for a while in June, but just lately it's been pleasantly changeable with damp intervals and not at all like bloody Spain, thank Christ. Long may it continue - and, if the Met Office medium range forecast is to be believed, it will for at least the next month. Once we're into the back end of August then the days should be too short and the nights too long for a repetition of 2022's Hadean torments. Rejoice!
The only positive I can see from the insane weather this month (which, let's not forget, is happening at 1.2C) is that it might drive some more immediate sense into energy generation policy.
Like, no more coal. Like, NOW.
We have been cool and wet for the last month, catching up much of the shortfall of an exceptionally dry spring. Most the tracks around here have more muddy puddles now than they did in April.
And?
It is important to remember that weather is local and climate is international. I am not suggesting for a moment that the world is not heating up but local records can be misleading.
OK, but that's a non sequitur.
I wasn't referring to local British records in the last few weeks. And don't forget the crazy June we just had and how mad the elevated North Sea temperatures were.
In years to come we may be thankful for mild, damp, changeable British weather. Personally I find that very hard to believe. But no longer impossible
It will drive mass immigration to the UK off the charts. Which could result in a fascist government here - like, a proper one.
The only positive I can see from the insane weather this month (which, let's not forget, is happening at 1.2C) is that it might drive some more immediate sense into energy generation policy.
Like, no more coal. Like, NOW.
We have been cool and wet for the last month, catching up much of the shortfall of an exceptionally dry spring. Most the tracks around here have more muddy puddles now than they did in April.
The only positive I can see from the insane weather this month (which, let's not forget, is happening at 1.2C) is that it might drive some more immediate sense into energy generation policy.
Like, no more coal. Like, NOW.
We have been cool and wet for the last month, catching up much of the shortfall of an exceptionally dry spring. Most the tracks around here have more muddy puddles now than they did in April.
And?
It is important to remember that weather is local and climate is international. I am not suggesting for a moment that the world is not heating up but local records can be misleading.
OK, but that's a non sequitur.
I wasn't referring to local British records in the last few weeks. And don't forget the crazy June we just had and how mad the elevated North Sea temperatures were.
In years to come we may be thankful for mild, damp, changeable British weather. Personally I find that very hard to believe. But no longer impossible
I'm already delighted that it looks like we're going to get through this Summer without being boiled to death like we were last year. It got a bit hot and sticky for a while in June, but just lately it's been pleasantly changeable with damp intervals and not at all like bloody Spain, thank Christ. Long may it continue - and, if the Met Office medium range forecast is to be believed, it will for at least the next month. Once we're into the back end of August then the days should be too short and the nights too long for a repetition of 2022's Hadean torments. Rejoice!
Also decent reservoir stocks for the winter and spring, I hope.
The only positive I can see from the insane weather this month (which, let's not forget, is happening at 1.2C) is that it might drive some more immediate sense into energy generation policy.
Like, no more coal. Like, NOW.
The future may be uncertain to us, but it is already baked in. CO2 emissions are not stoppable now or in the next few years.
No, but we can stop increasing them and accelerating the transition.
Yes. All these sentiments are true. But the rapid decrease in CO2 output isn't going to occur. Even when you do (halve it for example) it is like inflation, it's still happening but slower. The end is the same. Understandably people are massively exaggerating the amount which can and will be done to avert the CO2 increase. Unless there is a global level scale up, very rapidly, of carbon capture from the air. Most people seem to think this also is not deliverable.
I don't share your pessimism. The UK has already cut its CO2 emissions massively from 1990 levels and is on course to achieve net zero in energy generation and transmission within the next 20 years.
That should absolutely be the ambition for all other nations and would make a significant difference. A global level scale up is exactly what I'm asking for, and of CCUS.
Don't forget also how the price of PV cells and wind turbines has collapsed over the last 10 years: technology and its economics can shift the dial very quickly.
The problem being, of course, that the UK is now such a minor contributor to overall greenhouse gas emissions that it is functionally irrelevant on a global scale.
What's going to properly torch the world is the colossal volume of coal being burnt in power plants across most of the world outside of the OECD economies, principally in China and India.
The Polish countryside is REALLY dull. It’s a whole load of nothing. Apart from various sites of appalling atrocity and genocide
It’s like you’re driving through the most boring part of Lincolnshire and it’s nothing-nothing-nothing-nothing-nothing-oh-two-million-people-were-murdered-there-nothing-nothing-nothing-nothing-look-there’s-a-place that sells biscuits nothing nothing nothing nothing-nothing-SITE-OF-SATANIC-EVIL-nothing-nothing-Skegness
I may need a beer after this 19 hour train journey
Being perpetually bored is so . . . boring.
The relentnessless of large open spaces is a scenery of its own. I have felt that driving inland between Victoria and Queens land, with a stop in an Aussie dairy every couple of hours to break the monotony of dessicated gum trees. It's an acquired taste, but beautiful.
Had roughly similar experience many years ago, taking the Great Northern railroad line (now part of BNSF) across the northern Great Plains of USA. Took full day and then some from Glacier National Park to Minneapolis.
Distinctly remember when the train was briefly stopped at Havre, Montana. Was looking out the window, and there was a real-live cowboy, or close enough, likely a rancher. I gave him a wave . . . and he tipped his Stetson.
The sort of flat landscape you get in the north European plain, or Lincolnshire for that matter, is different and worse than anything in the prairies or the steppe.
It’s cluttered flatness. There are buildings, road signage, rows of trees, electricity pylons all preventing any really long distance views. So you don’t really get the big sky effect or the sense of emptiness.
Yes, I get that. There is a bleakness to the Fens when I drive east to Norfolk. Not least the weird sex shop in a lay-by near Thorney Toll. The sort of place that serial killers shop, I suppose.
I rather like the Fens. They feel weird and other wordly. I like that you can scramble up a drainage ditch and be the highest person for miles around. But I only pass through them once every few years. Maybe I'd feel differently if I passed through them regularly. I bought my favourite ever pair of trousers on Boston market in February 1994.
Long may Lincolnshire remain reviled and unvisited. It is thrilling in every way, and in an odd corner of it Stamford is the finest smallish town in England. And it is full of odd small towns. And it is gigantic. It takes a lifetime to discover. Its fields are a standing rebuke to urban types who think agriculture is less important than financial services.
I've always liked the fact that Lincs, like Yorkshire, possesses Ridings: Lindsey, Kesteven and Holland. And, according to Alec Clifton-Taylor, has the finest cathedral in England.
It certainly is; just pipping Salisbury and Durham to the post. But it is a field full of Shergars. Ely, Chichester, York, Wells, Norwich...
If the Tories had not made such an F****** mess of nearly everything this lot would have been so beatable. SKS is smart but his team is bordering on pitiful.
That's the point. The Conservatives have led the Government of this country for more than 13 years and have wasted most of its time (and ours) on an exercise in pointless self-indulgence.
There is so much that could and should have been done - the fact this governing party is now wittering on about promises to make things better is testament to its own complete and utter failure.
How people of obvious intellect can continue to support it and excuse it stretches credibility to breaking point.
The only positive I can see from the insane weather this month (which, let's not forget, is happening at 1.2C) is that it might drive some more immediate sense into energy generation policy.
Like, no more coal. Like, NOW.
The future may be uncertain to us, but it is already baked in. CO2 emissions are not stoppable now or in the next few years.
No, but we can stop increasing them and accelerating the transition.
Yes. All these sentiments are true. But the rapid decrease in CO2 output isn't going to occur. Even when you do (halve it for example) it is like inflation, it's still happening but slower. The end is the same. Understandably people are massively exaggerating the amount which can and will be done to avert the CO2 increase. Unless there is a global level scale up, very rapidly, of carbon capture from the air. Most people seem to think this also is not deliverable.
I don't share your pessimism. The UK has already cut its CO2 emissions massively from 1990 levels and is on course to achieve net zero in energy generation and transmission within the next 20 years.
That should absolutely be the ambition for all other nations and would make a significant difference. A global level scale up is exactly what I'm asking for, and of CCUS.
Don't forget also how the price of PV cells and wind turbines has collapsed over the last 10 years: technology and its economics can shift the dial very quickly.
The problem being, of course, that the UK is now such a minor contributor to overall greenhouse gas emissions that it is functionally irrelevant on a global scale.
What's going to properly torch the world is the colossal volume of coal being burnt in power plants across most of the world outside of the OECD economies, principally in China and India.
Who are now being very hard hit themselves.
Even totalitarian regimes (and India is not one) cannot be nakedly suicidal.
It looks like Orbán is badly out of touch with the Hungarian people with his support of the Putin regime. Only India and Indonesia of the countries surveyed were net positive towards Russia
The only positive I can see from the insane weather this month (which, let's not forget, is happening at 1.2C) is that it might drive some more immediate sense into energy generation policy.
Like, no more coal. Like, NOW.
We have been cool and wet for the last month, catching up much of the shortfall of an exceptionally dry spring. Most the tracks around here have more muddy puddles now than they did in April.
And?
It is important to remember that weather is local and climate is international. I am not suggesting for a moment that the world is not heating up but local records can be misleading.
OK, but that's a non sequitur.
I wasn't referring to local British records in the last few weeks. And don't forget the crazy June we just had and how mad the elevated North Sea temperatures were.
In years to come we may be thankful for mild, damp, changeable British weather. Personally I find that very hard to believe. But no longer impossible
It will drive mass immigration to the UK off the charts. Which could result in a fascist government here - like, a proper one.
On the other hand there will be an annual contest for the finest Greenland Merlot, Scotland will grow bananas and northern Russia will be the breadbasket of the world. Canada would support a population of 400,000,000. Sun worshippers will flock to Alaskan beaches.
Politics of “too many young people going to university” a bit surprising. Our Loyal National (more Red Wall) segment among most likely to say too few/right numbers going whereas Established Liberal (Cameronite/Blue Wall) among mos be
Presumably a similar mechanism to grammar schools- those who are confident that their children/grandchildren will still get to go like the idea of selective academic education.
Krakow must be right up there in the top 20 most beautiful cities on the planet. I think I prefer it to Prague
True story: I was last here 20 years ago for a wedding. A couple of days before the wedding we all went for a jaunt. On the way back to krakow from the salt mines we passed auschwitz and the minibus driver said “if anyone wants to see it, well, here it is”
Despite the horror everyone wanted to see it, as they’d not seen it before, so they all piled off. I could hardly stay on the bus (“what, don’t you care??”) so I dutifully got off to “see Auschwitz”
Thing is I’d specifically seen it about six months before. So I spent my time hiding behind a gas chamber, basically, in case one of the staff recognised me and said “what, you came back? Did you enjoy it that much? Perhaps you should get a season ticket?”
I love Krakow. My favourite European city of the ones I’ve seen.
Although to be fair I’ve seen Vienna but not Prague.
Prague is stunning. But it’s now SO touristy. Almost as bad as Venice
Both are global top 20 most-beautiful-city contenders. From the UK I’d definitely put Bath and Cambridge in there
Very few cities outside Europe would make the list
New York. Hong Kong. Errr….
There are cities outside Europe with extraordinary locations but usually the architecture rather lets them down. Sydney. Cape Town. Etc
The most beautiful city in Europe, and indeed the world, is Bergen.
I have no association with the city, nor any desire to live there. It just is. Here's a picture.
The only positive I can see from the insane weather this month (which, let's not forget, is happening at 1.2C) is that it might drive some more immediate sense into energy generation policy.
Like, no more coal. Like, NOW.
We have been cool and wet for the last month, catching up much of the shortfall of an exceptionally dry spring. Most the tracks around here have more muddy puddles now than they did in April.
Garden like a herd of triffids too.
Interesting to note the collective noun for triffids there, Carnyx.
Politics of “too many young people going to university” a bit surprising. Our Loyal National (more Red Wall) segment among most likely to say too few/right numbers going whereas Established Liberal (Cameronite/Blue Wall) among mos be
Presumably a similar mechanism to grammar schools- those who are confident that their children/grandchildren will still get to go like the idea of selective academic education.
Krakow must be right up there in the top 20 most beautiful cities on the planet. I think I prefer it to Prague
True story: I was last here 20 years ago for a wedding. A couple of days before the wedding we all went for a jaunt. On the way back to krakow from the salt mines we passed auschwitz and the minibus driver said “if anyone wants to see it, well, here it is”
Despite the horror everyone wanted to see it, as they’d not seen it before, so they all piled off. I could hardly stay on the bus (“what, don’t you care??”) so I dutifully got off to “see Auschwitz”
Thing is I’d specifically seen it about six months before. So I spent my time hiding behind a gas chamber, basically, in case one of the staff recognised me and said “what, you came back? Did you enjoy it that much? Perhaps you should get a season ticket?”
I love Krakow. My favourite European city of the ones I’ve seen.
Although to be fair I’ve seen Vienna but not Prague.
Prague is stunning. But it’s now SO touristy. Almost as bad as Venice
Both are global top 20 most-beautiful-city contenders. From the UK I’d definitely put Bath and Cambridge in there
Very few cities outside Europe would make the list
New York. Hong Kong. Errr….
There are cities outside Europe with extraordinary locations but usually the architecture rather lets them down. Sydney. Cape Town. Etc
The most beautiful city in Europe, and indeed the world, is Bergen.
I have no association with the city, nor any desire to live there. It just is. Here's a picture.
Politics of “too many young people going to university” a bit surprising. Our Loyal National (more Red Wall) segment among most likely to say too few/right numbers going whereas Established Liberal (Cameronite/Blue Wall) among mos be
Presumably a similar mechanism to grammar schools- those who are confident that their children/grandchildren will still get to go like the idea of selective academic education.
Krakow must be right up there in the top 20 most beautiful cities on the planet. I think I prefer it to Prague
True story: I was last here 20 years ago for a wedding. A couple of days before the wedding we all went for a jaunt. On the way back to krakow from the salt mines we passed auschwitz and the minibus driver said “if anyone wants to see it, well, here it is”
Despite the horror everyone wanted to see it, as they’d not seen it before, so they all piled off. I could hardly stay on the bus (“what, don’t you care??”) so I dutifully got off to “see Auschwitz”
Thing is I’d specifically seen it about six months before. So I spent my time hiding behind a gas chamber, basically, in case one of the staff recognised me and said “what, you came back? Did you enjoy it that much? Perhaps you should get a season ticket?”
I love Krakow. My favourite European city of the ones I’ve seen.
Although to be fair I’ve seen Vienna but not Prague.
Prague is stunning. But it’s now SO touristy. Almost as bad as Venice
Both are global top 20 most-beautiful-city contenders. From the UK I’d definitely put Bath and Cambridge in there
Very few cities outside Europe would make the list
New York. Hong Kong. Errr….
There are cities outside Europe with extraordinary locations but usually the architecture rather lets them down. Sydney. Cape Town. Etc
The most beautiful city in Europe, and indeed the world, is Bergen.
I have no association with the city, nor any desire to live there. It just is. Here's a picture.
The only positive I can see from the insane weather this month (which, let's not forget, is happening at 1.2C) is that it might drive some more immediate sense into energy generation policy.
Like, no more coal. Like, NOW.
We have been cool and wet for the last month, catching up much of the shortfall of an exceptionally dry spring. Most the tracks around here have more muddy puddles now than they did in April.
And?
It is important to remember that weather is local and climate is international. I am not suggesting for a moment that the world is not heating up but local records can be misleading.
OK, but that's a non sequitur.
I wasn't referring to local British records in the last few weeks. And don't forget the crazy June we just had and how mad the elevated North Sea temperatures were.
In years to come we may be thankful for mild, damp, changeable British weather. Personally I find that very hard to believe. But no longer impossible
It will drive mass immigration to the UK off the charts. Which could result in a fascist government here - like, a proper one.
On the other hand there will be an annual contest for the finest Greenland Merlot, Scotland will grow bananas and northern Russia will be the breadbasket of the world. Canada would support a population of 400,000,000. Sun worshippers will flock to Alaskan beaches.
I'm reminded of this novel, not quite as distant-seeming as when I bought it in the SF shop in Coogaitheid in Edinburgh 23 years ago.
The Klog faimlie pool wis a bree o grippie east coast insurance men an born again presbyterian fishwifes, lowsed by the lord fae prozac, sex an involuntary hame shoppin. Grandfaither Klog never bosied or beardied him when he wis wee but gart him staun in foostie cupboards in his sterile widower’s apartments whenever Paolo bairnishly havered Klog’s deid wife’s name.
The only positive I can see from the insane weather this month (which, let's not forget, is happening at 1.2C) is that it might drive some more immediate sense into energy generation policy.
Like, no more coal. Like, NOW.
We have been cool and wet for the last month, catching up much of the shortfall of an exceptionally dry spring. Most the tracks around here have more muddy puddles now than they did in April.
And?
It is important to remember that weather is local and climate is international. I am not suggesting for a moment that the world is not heating up but local records can be misleading.
OK, but that's a non sequitur.
I wasn't referring to local British records in the last few weeks. And don't forget the crazy June we just had and how mad the elevated North Sea temperatures were.
In years to come we may be thankful for mild, damp, changeable British weather. Personally I find that very hard to believe. But no longer impossible
I'm already delighted that it looks like we're going to get through this Summer without being boiled to death like we were last year. It got a bit hot and sticky for a while in June, but just lately it's been pleasantly changeable with damp intervals and not at all like bloody Spain, thank Christ. Long may it continue - and, if the Met Office medium range forecast is to be believed, it will for at least the next month. Once we're into the back end of August then the days should be too short and the nights too long for a repetition of 2022's Hadean torments. Rejoice!
19th July was the hottest ever day last year. Remarkable to remember it was actually in term time.
The only positive I can see from the insane weather this month (which, let's not forget, is happening at 1.2C) is that it might drive some more immediate sense into energy generation policy.
Like, no more coal. Like, NOW.
We have been cool and wet for the last month, catching up much of the shortfall of an exceptionally dry spring. Most the tracks around here have more muddy puddles now than they did in April.
And?
It is important to remember that weather is local and climate is international. I am not suggesting for a moment that the world is not heating up but local records can be misleading.
OK, but that's a non sequitur.
I wasn't referring to local British records in the last few weeks. And don't forget the crazy June we just had and how mad the elevated North Sea temperatures were.
In years to come we may be thankful for mild, damp, changeable British weather. Personally I find that very hard to believe. But no longer impossible
It will drive mass immigration to the UK off the charts. Which could result in a fascist government here - like, a proper one.
On the other hand there will be an annual contest for the finest Greenland Merlot, Scotland will grow bananas and northern Russia will be the breadbasket of the world. Canada would support a population of 400,000,000. Sun worshippers will flock to Alaskan beaches.
The only positive I can see from the insane weather this month (which, let's not forget, is happening at 1.2C) is that it might drive some more immediate sense into energy generation policy.
Like, no more coal. Like, NOW.
We have been cool and wet for the last month, catching up much of the shortfall of an exceptionally dry spring. Most the tracks around here have more muddy puddles now than they did in April.
Garden like a herd of triffids too.
Interesting to note the collective noun for triffids there, Carnyx.
What would it be for knotweed?
Acutally, now you pull me up, on checking, it might be 'blinding' for triffids.
It's one of the biggest mistakes of the Right that they've allowed the radical Left to own and dominate the climate debate in the last 30 years, thus making it ultra political.
It should be no more so than any other form of infrastructure.
Politics of “too many young people going to university” a bit surprising. Our Loyal National (more Red Wall) segment among most likely to say too few/right numbers going whereas Established Liberal (Cameronite/Blue Wall) among mos be
Presumably a similar mechanism to grammar schools- those who are confident that their children/grandchildren will still get to go like the idea of selective academic education.
Krakow must be right up there in the top 20 most beautiful cities on the planet. I think I prefer it to Prague
True story: I was last here 20 years ago for a wedding. A couple of days before the wedding we all went for a jaunt. On the way back to krakow from the salt mines we passed auschwitz and the minibus driver said “if anyone wants to see it, well, here it is”
Despite the horror everyone wanted to see it, as they’d not seen it before, so they all piled off. I could hardly stay on the bus (“what, don’t you care??”) so I dutifully got off to “see Auschwitz”
Thing is I’d specifically seen it about six months before. So I spent my time hiding behind a gas chamber, basically, in case one of the staff recognised me and said “what, you came back? Did you enjoy it that much? Perhaps you should get a season ticket?”
I love Krakow. My favourite European city of the ones I’ve seen.
Although to be fair I’ve seen Vienna but not Prague.
Prague is stunning. But it’s now SO touristy. Almost as bad as Venice
Both are global top 20 most-beautiful-city contenders. From the UK I’d definitely put Bath and Cambridge in there
Very few cities outside Europe would make the list
New York. Hong Kong. Errr….
There are cities outside Europe with extraordinary locations but usually the architecture rather lets them down. Sydney. Cape Town. Etc
The most beautiful city in Europe, and indeed the world, is Bergen.
I have no association with the city, nor any desire to live there. It just is. Here's a picture.
But all of coastal Norway looks like that.
To some extent yes. To be pedantic the rest of coastal Norway isn't a city. Bergen is a genuinely beautiful city - what you can see of it through the rain - when almost no other city is. It has the mediaeval buildings in the centre, and the modern buildings are also quite nice, in a stupendous natural setting.
The only positive I can see from the insane weather this month (which, let's not forget, is happening at 1.2C) is that it might drive some more immediate sense into energy generation policy.
Like, no more coal. Like, NOW.
We have been cool and wet for the last month, catching up much of the shortfall of an exceptionally dry spring. Most the tracks around here have more muddy puddles now than they did in April.
Garden like a herd of triffids too.
Interesting to note the collective noun for triffids there, Carnyx.
Millions of US military emails have been misdirected to Mali through a “typo leak” that has exposed highly sensitive information, including diplomatic documents, tax returns, passwords and the travel details of top officers.
Despite repeated warnings over a decade, a steady flow of email traffic continues to the .ML domain, the country identifier for Mali, as a result of people mistyping .MIL, the suffix to all US military email addresses.
The problem was first identified almost a decade ago by Johannes Zuurbier, a Dutch internet entrepreneur who has a contract to manage Mali’s country domain.
Zuurbier has been collecting misdirected emails since January in an effort to persuade the US to take the issue seriously. He holds close to 117,000 misdirected messages — almost 1,000 arrived on Wednesday alone. In a letter he sent to the US in early July, Zuurbier wrote: “This risk is real and could be exploited by adversaries of the US.”
The only positive I can see from the insane weather this month (which, let's not forget, is happening at 1.2C) is that it might drive some more immediate sense into energy generation policy.
Like, no more coal. Like, NOW.
We have been cool and wet for the last month, catching up much of the shortfall of an exceptionally dry spring. Most the tracks around here have more muddy puddles now than they did in April.
And?
It is important to remember that weather is local and climate is international. I am not suggesting for a moment th8at the world is not heating up but local records can be misleading.
OK, but that's a non sequitur.
I wasn't referring to local British records in the last few weeks. And don't forget the crazy June we just had and how mad the elevated North Sea temperatures were.
In years to come we may be thankful for mild, damp, changeable British weather. Personally I find that very hard to believe. But no longer impossible
It will drive mass immigration to the UK off the charts. Which could result in a fascist government here - like, a proper one.
On the other hand there will be an annual contest for the finest Greenland Merlot, Scotland will grow bananas and northern Russia will be the breadbasket of the world. Canada would support a population of 400,000,000. Sun worshippers will flock to Alaskan beaches.
Utter delusional nonsense.
On our Artic cruise in June some years ago, as we crossed the Artic circle it was 80+ (27c ) and was most unexpected
It's one of the biggest mistakes of the Right that they've allowed the radical Left to own and dominate the climate debate in the last 30 years, thus making it ultra political.
It should be no more so than any other form of infrastructure.
You can tell the Tories are in a death-spiral because they are deliberately siding with the loud, reactionary minority on lots of these environmental issues - LTNs, wind farms, ULEZ, all of which have pretty solid support across the electorate. Remember Cameron in the Arctic?
An aspirational, election-winning Tory party would be pointing out that a wind farms on the east coast will "level up" lots of those communities, that reducing emissions will take the pressure off migration into Europe, that we import most of our cars so reducing use doesn't harm us as much as Europe, that massive infrastructure projects like HS2 replicate the Industrial Revolution glory days etc etc
Politics of “too many young people going to university” a bit surprising. Our Loyal National (more Red Wall) segment among most likely to say too few/right numbers going whereas Established Liberal (Cameronite/Blue Wall) among mos be
Presumably a similar mechanism to grammar schools- those who are confident that their children/grandchildren will still get to go like the idea of selective academic education.
Krakow must be right up there in the top 20 most beautiful cities on the planet. I think I prefer it to Prague
True story: I was last here 20 years ago for a wedding. A couple of days before the wedding we all went for a jaunt. On the way back to krakow from the salt mines we passed auschwitz and the minibus driver said “if anyone wants to see it, well, here it is”
Despite the horror everyone wanted to see it, as they’d not seen it before, so they all piled off. I could hardly stay on the bus (“what, don’t you care??”) so I dutifully got off to “see Auschwitz”
Thing is I’d specifically seen it about six months before. So I spent my time hiding behind a gas chamber, basically, in case one of the staff recognised me and said “what, you came back? Did you enjoy it that much? Perhaps you should get a season ticket?”
I love Krakow. My favourite European city of the ones I’ve seen.
Although to be fair I’ve seen Vienna but not Prague.
Prague is stunning. But it’s now SO touristy. Almost as bad as Venice
Both are global top 20 most-beautiful-city contenders. From the UK I’d definitely put Bath and Cambridge in there
Very few cities outside Europe would make the list
New York. Hong Kong. Errr….
There are cities outside Europe with extraordinary locations but usually the architecture rather lets them down. Sydney. Cape Town. Etc
The most beautiful city in Europe, and indeed the world, is Bergen.
I have no association with the city, nor any desire to live there. It just is. Here's a picture.
But all of coastal Norway looks like that.
To some extent yes. To be pedantic the rest of coastal Norway isn't a city. Bergen is a genuinely beautiful city - what you can see of it through the rain - when almost no other city is. It has the mediaeval buildings in the centre, and the modern buildings are also quite nice, in a stupendous natural setting.
On my walk through it from the railway station to the yacht harbour, these are the two photos I stopped to take. It may be I don't have a very good eye, but really they aren't all that are they?
The only positive I can see from the insane weather this month (which, let's not forget, is happening at 1.2C) is that it might drive some more immediate sense into energy generation policy.
Like, no more coal. Like, NOW.
We have been cool and wet for the last month, catching up much of the shortfall of an exceptionally dry spring. Most the tracks around here have more muddy puddles now than they did in April.
And?
It is important to remember that weather is local and climate is international. I am not suggesting for a moment th8at the world is not heating up but local records can be misleading.
OK, but that's a non sequitur.
I wasn't referring to local British records in the last few weeks. And don't forget the crazy June we just had and how mad the elevated North Sea temperatures were.
In years to come we may be thankful for mild, damp, changeable British weather. Personally I find that very hard to believe. But no longer impossible
It will drive mass immigration to the UK off the charts. Which could result in a fascist government here - like, a proper one.
On the other hand there will be an annual contest for the finest Greenland Merlot, Scotland will grow bananas and northern Russia will be the breadbasket of the world. Canada would support a population of 400,000,000. Sun worshippers will flock to Alaskan beaches.
Utter delusional nonsense.
On our Artic cruise in June some years ago, as we crossed the Artic circle it was 80+ (27c ) and was most unexpected
I am not sure where I stand on this policy. I will say that 'Sir Kid Starver' is quite a clever nickname though.
It is a Tory policy though.
Labour as well now
"Oh, look at Labour under SKS! They're so shite they've adopted our policies!"
Realism and acceptance there is no money
(1) There is plenty of money, it's just that Labour is not willing to hold the wealthy upside down by the ankles and give them a good shake. (2) Why are additional benefits for children in low income families unaffordable, when a 10% state pension hike for the three million pensioners who live in millionaire households could be fully funded with no apparent difficulty? (3) Apart from being the right thing to do, getting rid of the benefit cap might well save us more than it costs in the long run, simply through alleviating the effects of child poverty. The problem, of course, being that (a) the savings from such mitigations are not straightforward to quantify and they come in the future and not straight away, and nobody's interested in tomorrow anymore; and (b) that, in a competition for resources between rich, powerful, older voters and poor, powerless, non-voting children, there can only ever be one winner - regardless of who's in power.
And make no mistake, it's the getting and the keeping of that power that the politicians care about. The differences between the Conservative and Labour parties are superficial and played up for effect, in a game to outmanoeuvre one another, rather than to achieve anything in the genuine interest of the country or its people. Scratch the surface and the DNA is 99% identical - it's all about who gets to collect the ministerial salaries, ride in the ministerial cars and walk into lucrative consultancies and non-executive directorships when they get tired of playing. When the Opposition tells you that the sum total of their ambitions is to strip Eton of its VAT exemptions and use the money to fund breakfast clubs then believe them - because what they are about is perpetuating EXACTLY the same system as currently exists, with minor cosmetic alterations to try to fool the gullible into believing that everything has changed and is getting better.
It won't change, it'll just keep on getting worse.
Politics of “too many young people going to university” a bit surprising. Our Loyal National (more Red Wall) segment among most likely to say too few/right numbers going whereas Established Liberal (Cameronite/Blue Wall) among mos be
Presumably a similar mechanism to grammar schools- those who are confident that their children/grandchildren will still get to go like the idea of selective academic education.
Krakow must be right up there in the top 20 most beautiful cities on the planet. I think I prefer it to Prague
True story: I was last here 20 years ago for a wedding. A couple of days before the wedding we all went for a jaunt. On the way back to krakow from the salt mines we passed auschwitz and the minibus driver said “if anyone wants to see it, well, here it is”
Despite the horror everyone wanted to see it, as they’d not seen it before, so they all piled off. I could hardly stay on the bus (“what, don’t you care??”) so I dutifully got off to “see Auschwitz”
Thing is I’d specifically seen it about six months before. So I spent my time hiding behind a gas chamber, basically, in case one of the staff recognised me and said “what, you came back? Did you enjoy it that much? Perhaps you should get a season ticket?”
I love Krakow. My favourite European city of the ones I’ve seen.
Although to be fair I’ve seen Vienna but not Prague.
Prague is stunning. But it’s now SO touristy. Almost as bad as Venice
Both are global top 20 most-beautiful-city contenders. From the UK I’d definitely put Bath and Cambridge in there
Very few cities outside Europe would make the list
New York. Hong Kong. Errr….
There are cities outside Europe with extraordinary locations but usually the architecture rather lets them down. Sydney. Cape Town. Etc
The most beautiful city in Europe, and indeed the world, is Bergen.
I have no association with the city, nor any desire to live there. It just is. Here's a picture.
But all of coastal Norway looks like that.
To some extent yes. To be pedantic the rest of coastal Norway isn't a city. Bergen is a genuinely beautiful city - what you can see of it through the rain - when almost no other city is. It has the mediaeval buildings in the centre, and the modern buildings are also quite nice, in a stupendous natural setting.
On my walk through it from the railway station to the yacht harbour, these are the two photos I stopped to take. It may be I don't have a very good eye, but really they aren't all that are they?
Come home from ground number 642 Carlton Athletic to find Sir Kid Starver trending on Twitter!
Beautiful ground with alpacas looking on from the next field recommend to any groundhoppers
This is my point. We are in 2017 territory, dumb vs dumber, and it will only take a meme like "dementia tax" or "kid starver" to tip the balance dramatically.
Politics of “too many young people going to university” a bit surprising. Our Loyal National (more Red Wall) segment among most likely to say too few/right numbers going whereas Established Liberal (Cameronite/Blue Wall) among mos be
Presumably a similar mechanism to grammar schools- those who are confident that their children/grandchildren will still get to go like the idea of selective academic education.
Krakow must be right up there in the top 20 most beautiful cities on the planet. I think I prefer it to Prague
True story: I was last here 20 years ago for a wedding. A couple of days before the wedding we all went for a jaunt. On the way back to krakow from the salt mines we passed auschwitz and the minibus driver said “if anyone wants to see it, well, here it is”
Despite the horror everyone wanted to see it, as they’d not seen it before, so they all piled off. I could hardly stay on the bus (“what, don’t you care??”) so I dutifully got off to “see Auschwitz”
Thing is I’d specifically seen it about six months before. So I spent my time hiding behind a gas chamber, basically, in case one of the staff recognised me and said “what, you came back? Did you enjoy it that much? Perhaps you should get a season ticket?”
I love Krakow. My favourite European city of the ones I’ve seen.
Although to be fair I’ve seen Vienna but not Prague.
Prague is stunning. But it’s now SO touristy. Almost as bad as Venice
Both are global top 20 most-beautiful-city contenders. From the UK I’d definitely put Bath and Cambridge in there
Very few cities outside Europe would make the list
New York. Hong Kong. Errr….
There are cities outside Europe with extraordinary locations but usually the architecture rather lets them down. Sydney. Cape Town. Etc
The most beautiful city in Europe, and indeed the world, is Bergen.
I have no association with the city, nor any desire to live there. It just is. Here's a picture.
But all of coastal Norway looks like that.
To some extent yes. To be pedantic the rest of coastal Norway isn't a city. Bergen is a genuinely beautiful city - what you can see of it through the rain - when almost no other city is. It has the mediaeval buildings in the centre, and the modern buildings are also quite nice, in a stupendous natural setting.
On my walk through it from the railway station to the yacht harbour, these are the two photos I stopped to take. It may be I don't have a very good eye, but really they aren't all that are they?
Yeah, no, that ain’t Krakow
Mind you, a win for AI or whatever. I vaguely remember taking the photo, I certainly never bothered to catalogue or name it, but I can just search Bergen in google photos and it comes up with the goods.
And yes I know it's just reading exif data but it's still pretty clever.
The only positive I can see from the insane weather this month (which, let's not forget, is happening at 1.2C) is that it might drive some more immediate sense into energy generation policy.
Like, no more coal. Like, NOW.
We have been cool and wet for the last month, catching up much of the shortfall of an exceptionally dry spring. Most the tracks around here have more muddy puddles now than they did in April.
And?
It is important to remember that weather is local and climate is international. I am not suggesting for a moment th8at the world is not heating up but local records can be misleading.
OK, but that's a non sequitur.
I wasn't referring to local British records in the last few weeks. And don't forget the crazy June we just had and how mad the elevated North Sea temperatures were.
In years to come we may be thankful for mild, damp, changeable British weather. Personally I find that very hard to believe. But no longer impossible
It will drive mass immigration to the UK off the charts. Which could result in a fascist government here - like, a proper one.
On the other hand there will be an annual contest for the finest Greenland Merlot, Scotland will grow bananas and northern Russia will be the breadbasket of the world. Canada would support a population of 400,000,000. Sun worshippers will flock to Alaskan beaches.
Utter delusional nonsense.
On our Artic cruise in June some years ago, as we crossed the Artic circle it was 80+ (27c ) and was most unexpected
The only positive I can see from the insane weather this month (which, let's not forget, is happening at 1.2C) is that it might drive some more immediate sense into energy generation policy.
Like, no more coal. Like, NOW.
The future may be uncertain to us, but it is already baked in. CO2 emissions are not stoppable now or in the next few years.
No, but we can stop increasing them and accelerating the transition.
Yes. All these sentiments are true. But the rapid decrease in CO2 output isn't going to occur. Even when you do (halve it for example) it is like inflation, it's still happening but slower. The end is the same. Understandably people are massively exaggerating the amount which can and will be done to avert the CO2 increase. Unless there is a global level scale up, very rapidly, of carbon capture from the air. Most people seem to think this also is not deliverable.
I don't share your pessimism. The UK has already cut its CO2 emissions massively from 1990 levels and is on course to achieve net zero in energy generation and transmission within the next 20 years.
That should absolutely be the ambition for all other nations and would make a significant difference. A global level scale up is exactly what I'm asking for, and of CCUS.
Don't forget also how the price of PV cells and wind turbines has collapsed over the last 10 years: technology and its economics can shift the dial very quickly.
The problem being, of course, that the UK is now such a minor contributor to overall greenhouse gas emissions that it is functionally irrelevant on a global scale.
What's going to properly torch the world is the colossal volume of coal being burnt in power plants across most of the world outside of the OECD economies, principally in China and India.
Who are now being very hard hit themselves.
Even totalitarian regimes (and India is not one) cannot be nakedly suicidal.
I believe that India announced a moratorium on the construction of new coal fired power plants this year, although this doesn't appear to affect new projects that have already been green lit. Regardless, about three quarters of current power consumption in that vast country is met by the burning of coal, and coal will carry on being burnt in immense quantities for decades. Sure there's plenty of renewable potential, but you can't convert a country of over a billion people to run off solar overnight, and the Government can't turn off the electricity whilst it builds that capacity either.
China, meanwhile, despite being a world leader in the development of renewables, is still actively planning and building vast amounts of new coal fired generation capacity as well. The chances of stabilising the CO2 content of the atmosphere whilst these two behemoths are still working to dig up coal and burn it as fast as possible are nil.
The only positive I can see from the insane weather this month (which, let's not forget, is happening at 1.2C) is that it might drive some more immediate sense into energy generation policy.
Like, no more coal. Like, NOW.
The future may be uncertain to us, but it is already baked in. CO2 emissions are not stoppable now or in the next few years.
No, but we can stop increasing them and accelerating the transition.
Yup. Whatever badness is already baked in, there's still a choice about how much badness to put on top of that.
And, I think we'll basically have to engineer it out the atmosphere by mass CCUS/direct air capture.
That's probably more realistic than ending absolutely all emissions in all their forms.
Global emissions are 37 Billion tons of CO2 per year.
You can do direct capture from the atmosphere, right now, for $150 per ton
5.5 Trillion dollars is about 6% of world GDP, give or take.
One company is looking at a process that gets it down to $20 per ton.
The TLDR is that, left to itself, excess carbon dioxide ends up in carbonate rocks. But that takes geological timescales. Grind the relevant source rocks small enough, and you can make the whole thing go a lot faster, which is what we need. And there's lots and lots of olivine out there.
Doesn't mean we shouldn't aim to stop burning stuff if we can. Hydrocarbons are too damn useful for other things.
The only positive I can see from the insane weather this month (which, let's not forget, is happening at 1.2C) is that it might drive some more immediate sense into energy generation policy.
Like, no more coal. Like, NOW.
We have been cool and wet for the last month, catching up much of the shortfall of an exceptionally dry spring. Most the tracks around here have more muddy puddles now than they did in April.
And?
It is important to remember that weather is local and climate is international. I am not suggesting for a moment th8at the world is not heating up but local records can be misleading.
OK, but that's a non sequitur.
I wasn't referring to local British records in the last few weeks. And don't forget the crazy June we just had and how mad the elevated North Sea temperatures were.
In years to come we may be thankful for mild, damp, changeable British weather. Personally I find that very hard to believe. But no longer impossible
It will drive mass immigration to the UK off the charts. Which could result in a fascist government here - like, a proper one.
On the other hand there will be an annual contest for the finest Greenland Merlot, Scotland will grow bananas and northern Russia will be the breadbasket of the world. Canada would support a population of 400,000,000. Sun worshippers will flock to Alaskan beaches.
Utter delusional nonsense.
On our Artic cruise in June some years ago, as we crossed the Artic circle it was 80+ (27c ) and was most unexpected
2019
Pretty shocking, what the pollution levels in North Atlantic did to that poor SOB's face!
Reforestation. Restoration of peat bogs. This is the sort of action we need to take CO2 from the atmosphere.
Direct air capture. It's what plants do.
I like this post so much that a mere 'like' is not enough
Reforestation is amateur hour. Trees are the ridiculous result of a beggar-my-neighbour arms race and have nothing to offer over and above ground level vegetation. Except huggability.
The only positive I can see from the insane weather this month (which, let's not forget, is happening at 1.2C) is that it might drive some more immediate sense into energy generation policy.
Like, no more coal. Like, NOW.
We have been cool and wet for the last month, catching up much of the shortfall of an exceptionally dry spring. Most the tracks around here have more muddy puddles now than they did in April.
And?
It is important to remember that weather is local and climate is international. I am not suggesting for a moment th8at the world is not heating up but local records can be misleading.
OK, but that's a non sequitur.
I wasn't referring to local British records in the last few weeks. And don't forget the crazy June we just had and how mad the elevated North Sea temperatures were.
In years to come we may be thankful for mild, damp, changeable British weather. Personally I find that very hard to believe. But no longer impossible
It will drive mass immigration to the UK off the charts. Which could result in a fascist government here - like, a proper one.
On the other hand there will be an annual contest for the finest Greenland Merlot, Scotland will grow bananas and northern Russia will be the breadbasket of the world. Canada would support a population of 400,000,000. Sun worshippers will flock to Alaskan beaches.
Utter delusional nonsense.
On our Artic cruise in June some years ago, as we crossed the Artic circle it was 80+ (27c ) and was most unexpected
2019
Pretty shocking, what the pollution levels in North Atlantic did to that poor SOB's face!
Politics of “too many young people going to university” a bit surprising. Our Loyal National (more Red Wall) segment among most likely to say too few/right numbers going whereas Established Liberal (Cameronite/Blue Wall) among mos be
Presumably a similar mechanism to grammar schools- those who are confident that their children/grandchildren will still get to go like the idea of selective academic education.
Krakow must be right up there in the top 20 most beautiful cities on the planet. I think I prefer it to Prague
True story: I was last here 20 years ago for a wedding. A couple of days before the wedding we all went for a jaunt. On the way back to krakow from the salt mines we passed auschwitz and the minibus driver said “if anyone wants to see it, well, here it is”
Despite the horror everyone wanted to see it, as they’d not seen it before, so they all piled off. I could hardly stay on the bus (“what, don’t you care??”) so I dutifully got off to “see Auschwitz”
Thing is I’d specifically seen it about six months before. So I spent my time hiding behind a gas chamber, basically, in case one of the staff recognised me and said “what, you came back? Did you enjoy it that much? Perhaps you should get a season ticket?”
I love Krakow. My favourite European city of the ones I’ve seen.
Although to be fair I’ve seen Vienna but not Prague.
Prague is stunning. But it’s now SO touristy. Almost as bad as Venice
Both are global top 20 most-beautiful-city contenders. From the UK I’d definitely put Bath and Cambridge in there
Very few cities outside Europe would make the list
New York. Hong Kong. Errr….
There are cities outside Europe with extraordinary locations but usually the architecture rather lets them down. Sydney. Cape Town. Etc
The most beautiful city in Europe, and indeed the world, is Bergen.
I have no association with the city, nor any desire to live there. It just is. Here's a picture.
But all of coastal Norway looks like that.
To some extent yes. To be pedantic the rest of coastal Norway isn't a city. Bergen is a genuinely beautiful city - what you can see of it through the rain - when almost no other city is. It has the mediaeval buildings in the centre, and the modern buildings are also quite nice, in a stupendous natural setting.
On my walk through it from the railway station to the yacht harbour, these are the two photos I stopped to take. It may be I don't have a very good eye, but really they aren't all that are they?
Yeah, no, that ain’t Krakow
Mind you, a win for AI or whatever. I vaguely remember taking the photo, I certainly never bothered to catalogue or name it, but I can just search Bergen in google photos and it comes up with the goods.
And yes I know it's just reading exif data but it's still pretty clever.
Photo-search is amazingly effective now
Re Bergen I don’t think any city north of, say, Edinburgh can be really beautiful, because the weather is so brutal it demands tough ugly buildings, and it will chew at anything old faster than it can be repaired: like the church in your photos
And ultimately we are talking about architecture more than location. Krakow is built in a fairly boring slightly undulant corner of Poland. But it is exquisite. Paris is situated on a flattish bit of the Seine valley, with a couple of minor islands, nothing special: but it is magnificent
The Polish countryside is REALLY dull. It’s a whole load of nothing. Apart from various sites of appalling atrocity and genocide
It’s like you’re driving through the most boring part of Lincolnshire and it’s nothing-nothing-nothing-nothing-nothing-oh-two-million-people-were-murdered-there-nothing-nothing-nothing-nothing-look-there’s-a-place that sells biscuits nothing nothing nothing nothing-nothing-SITE-OF-SATANIC-EVIL-nothing-nothing-Skegness
I may need a beer after this 19 hour train journey
Being perpetually bored is so . . . boring.
The relentnessless of large open spaces is a scenery of its own. I have felt that driving inland between Victoria and Queens land, with a stop in an Aussie dairy every couple of hours to break the monotony of dessicated gum trees. It's an acquired taste, but beautiful.
Had roughly similar experience many years ago, taking the Great Northern railroad line (now part of BNSF) across the northern Great Plains of USA. Took full day and then some from Glacier National Park to Minneapolis.
Distinctly remember when the train was briefly stopped at Havre, Montana. Was looking out the window, and there was a real-live cowboy, or close enough, likely a rancher. I gave him a wave . . . and he tipped his Stetson.
The sort of flat landscape you get in the north European plain, or Lincolnshire for that matter, is different and worse than anything in the prairies or the steppe.
It’s cluttered flatness. There are buildings, road signage, rows of trees, electricity pylons all preventing any really long distance views. So you don’t really get the big sky effect or the sense of emptiness.
Yes, I get that. There is a bleakness to the Fens when I drive east to Norfolk. Not least the weird sex shop in a lay-by near Thorney Toll. The sort of place that serial killers shop, I suppose.
I rather like the Fens. They feel weird and other wordly. I like that you can scramble up a drainage ditch and be the highest person for miles around. But I only pass through them once every few years. Maybe I'd feel differently if I passed through them regularly. I bought my favourite ever pair of trousers on Boston market in February 1994.
Long may Lincolnshire remain reviled and unvisited. It is thrilling in every way, and in an odd corner of it Stamford is the finest smallish town in England. And it is full of odd small towns. And it is gigantic. It takes a lifetime to discover. Its fields are a standing rebuke to urban types who think agriculture is less important than financial services.
I've always liked the fact that Lincs, like Yorkshire, possesses Ridings: Lindsey, Kesteven and Holland. And, according to Alec Clifton-Taylor, has the finest cathedral in England.
And the tallest building in the world from 1311 to 1549.
Reforestation. Restoration of peat bogs. This is the sort of action we need to take CO2 from the atmosphere.
Direct air capture. It's what plants do.
I like this post so much that a mere 'like' is not enough
Reforestation is amateur hour. Trees are the ridiculous result of a beggar-my-neighbour arms race and have nothing to offer over and above ground level vegetation. Except huggability.
Not true. They also have a massive part to play in reducing temperatures at ground level. So much so that these days this is a basic part of town and city planning.
The only positive I can see from the insane weather this month (which, let's not forget, is happening at 1.2C) is that it might drive some more immediate sense into energy generation policy.
Like, no more coal. Like, NOW.
The future may be uncertain to us, but it is already baked in. CO2 emissions are not stoppable now or in the next few years.
No, but we can stop increasing them and accelerating the transition.
Yes. All these sentiments are true. But the rapid decrease in CO2 output isn't going to occur. Even when you do (halve it for example) it is like inflation, it's still happening but slower. The end is the same. Understandably people are massively exaggerating the amount which can and will be done to avert the CO2 increase. Unless there is a global level scale up, very rapidly, of carbon capture from the air. Most people seem to think this also is not deliverable.
I don't share your pessimism. The UK has already cut its CO2 emissions massively from 1990 levels and is on course to achieve net zero in energy generation and transmission within the next 20 years.
That should absolutely be the ambition for all other nations and would make a significant difference. A global level scale up is exactly what I'm asking for, and of CCUS.
Don't forget also how the price of PV cells and wind turbines has collapsed over the last 10 years: technology and its economics can shift the dial very quickly.
The problem being, of course, that the UK is now such a minor contributor to overall greenhouse gas emissions that it is functionally irrelevant on a global scale.
What's going to properly torch the world is the colossal volume of coal being burnt in power plants across most of the world outside of the OECD economies, principally in China and India.
Who are now being very hard hit themselves.
Even totalitarian regimes (and India is not one) cannot be nakedly suicidal.
I believe that India announced a moratorium on the construction of new coal fired power plants this year, although this doesn't appear to affect new projects that have already been green lit. Regardless, about three quarters of current power consumption in that vast country is met by the burning of coal, and coal will carry on being burnt in immense quantities for decades. Sure there's plenty of renewable potential, but you can't convert a country of over a billion people to run off solar overnight, and the Government can't turn off the electricity whilst it builds that capacity either.
China, meanwhile, despite being a world leader in the development of renewables, is still actively planning and building vast amounts of new coal fired generation capacity as well. The chances of stabilising the CO2 content of the atmosphere whilst these two behemoths are still working to dig up coal and burn it as fast as possible are nil.
Also there are negative feedbacks at work. As the world warms, so people in hot countries like India will demand MORE power to fuel their aircon (or they will die). Which means more coal burned, which means….
At last we have you interested in a real, albeit insidious, threat to human existence.
One that requires uncomfortable actions.
If you don’t think AI is a threat you aren’t thinking
Of course it is a threat. Sooner or later it is going to exterminate us.
Why would it do that? I am much cleverer rhan most people, and I CBA with the whole extermination thing.
Whether from climate change or AI, I reckon we are probably doomed for purely probabilistic reasons.
When you look at all of the incredibly unlikely events that were required in order to create intelligent life, the only thing that makes sense is a multiple universes theory of reality in which countless universes exist without intelligent life. As an analogy, consider the superficially astonishing fact that every single one of your ancestors managed to reproduce. Just as this by no means guarantees that you yourself will bear children, so there is little certainty that the events that have resulted in the evolution of humanity will continue to support our future survival.
Politics of “too many young people going to university” a bit surprising. Our Loyal National (more Red Wall) segment among most likely to say too few/right numbers going whereas Established Liberal (Cameronite/Blue Wall) among mos be
Presumably a similar mechanism to grammar schools- those who are confident that their children/grandchildren will still get to go like the idea of selective academic education.
Krakow must be right up there in the top 20 most beautiful cities on the planet. I think I prefer it to Prague
True story: I was last here 20 years ago for a wedding. A couple of days before the wedding we all went for a jaunt. On the way back to krakow from the salt mines we passed auschwitz and the minibus driver said “if anyone wants to see it, well, here it is”
Despite the horror everyone wanted to see it, as they’d not seen it before, so they all piled off. I could hardly stay on the bus (“what, don’t you care??”) so I dutifully got off to “see Auschwitz”
Thing is I’d specifically seen it about six months before. So I spent my time hiding behind a gas chamber, basically, in case one of the staff recognised me and said “what, you came back? Did you enjoy it that much? Perhaps you should get a season ticket?”
I love Krakow. My favourite European city of the ones I’ve seen.
Although to be fair I’ve seen Vienna but not Prague.
Prague is stunning. But it’s now SO touristy. Almost as bad as Venice
Both are global top 20 most-beautiful-city contenders. From the UK I’d definitely put Bath and Cambridge in there
Very few cities outside Europe would make the list
New York. Hong Kong. Errr….
There are cities outside Europe with extraordinary locations but usually the architecture rather lets them down. Sydney. Cape Town. Etc
The most beautiful city in Europe, and indeed the world, is Bergen.
I have no association with the city, nor any desire to live there. It just is. Here's a picture.
But all of coastal Norway looks like that.
To some extent yes. To be pedantic the rest of coastal Norway isn't a city. Bergen is a genuinely beautiful city - what you can see of it through the rain - when almost no other city is. It has the mediaeval buildings in the centre, and the modern buildings are also quite nice, in a stupendous natural setting.
On my walk through it from the railway station to the yacht harbour, these are the two photos I stopped to take. It may be I don't have a very good eye, but really they aren't all that are they?
Yeah, no, that ain’t Krakow
Indeed not. This is the walk from the station in Krakow. Although I believe it's an architecturally significant building.
Seattle Times - King County deputy herds wayward llama, unblocks traffic
. . . On Saturday, a delivery driver contacted the King County Sheriff’s Office to report a llama standing in the middle of a road near Duvall, the agency said.
The llama was blocking traffic, including the delivery driver, who was unable to deliver a package.
No prob-llama for the Sheriff’s Office.
A deputy responded to the scene and, “using his de-escalation skills and standing just a tad over spitting distance,” coaxed the llama onto a leash and out of the road, the office said.
Soon after, the agency received another call, this time from someone reporting their llama missing.
The only positive I can see from the insane weather this month (which, let's not forget, is happening at 1.2C) is that it might drive some more immediate sense into energy generation policy.
Like, no more coal. Like, NOW.
The future may be uncertain to us, but it is already baked in. CO2 emissions are not stoppable now or in the next few years.
No, but we can stop increasing them and accelerating the transition.
Yes. All these sentiments are true. But the rapid decrease in CO2 output isn't going to occur. Even when you do (halve it for example) it is like inflation, it's still happening but slower. The end is the same. Understandably people are massively exaggerating the amount which can and will be done to avert the CO2 increase. Unless there is a global level scale up, very rapidly, of carbon capture from the air. Most people seem to think this also is not deliverable.
I don't share your pessimism. The UK has already cut its CO2 emissions massively from 1990 levels and is on course to achieve net zero in energy generation and transmission within the next 20 years.
That should absolutely be the ambition for all other nations and would make a significant difference. A global level scale up is exactly what I'm asking for, and of CCUS.
Don't forget also how the price of PV cells and wind turbines has collapsed over the last 10 years: technology and its economics can shift the dial very quickly.
The problem being, of course, that the UK is now such a minor contributor to overall greenhouse gas emissions that it is functionally irrelevant on a global scale.
What's going to properly torch the world is the colossal volume of coal being burnt in power plants across most of the world outside of the OECD economies, principally in China and India.
Who are now being very hard hit themselves.
Even totalitarian regimes (and India is not one) cannot be nakedly suicidal.
I believe that India announced a moratorium on the construction of new coal fired power plants this year, although this doesn't appear to affect new projects that have already been green lit. Regardless, about three quarters of current power consumption in that vast country is met by the burning of coal, and coal will carry on being burnt in immense quantities for decades. Sure there's plenty of renewable potential, but you can't convert a country of over a billion people to run off solar overnight, and the Government can't turn off the electricity whilst it builds that capacity either.
China, meanwhile, despite being a world leader in the development of renewables, is still actively planning and building vast amounts of new coal fired generation capacity as well. The chances of stabilising the CO2 content of the atmosphere whilst these two behemoths are still working to dig up coal and burn it as fast as possible are nil.
Also there are negative feedbacks at work. As the world warms, so people in hot countries like India will demand MORE power to fuel their aircon (or they will die). Which means more coal burned, which means….
It ain’t great
You mean positive feedbacks, in the sense that they amplify rathen than act against the initial change.
Politics of “too many young people going to university” a bit surprising. Our Loyal National (more Red Wall) segment among most likely to say too few/right numbers going whereas Established Liberal (Cameronite/Blue Wall) among mos be
Presumably a similar mechanism to grammar schools- those who are confident that their children/grandchildren will still get to go like the idea of selective academic education.
Krakow must be right up there in the top 20 most beautiful cities on the planet. I think I prefer it to Prague
True story: I was last here 20 years ago for a wedding. A couple of days before the wedding we all went for a jaunt. On the way back to krakow from the salt mines we passed auschwitz and the minibus driver said “if anyone wants to see it, well, here it is”
Despite the horror everyone wanted to see it, as they’d not seen it before, so they all piled off. I could hardly stay on the bus (“what, don’t you care??”) so I dutifully got off to “see Auschwitz”
Thing is I’d specifically seen it about six months before. So I spent my time hiding behind a gas chamber, basically, in case one of the staff recognised me and said “what, you came back? Did you enjoy it that much? Perhaps you should get a season ticket?”
I love Krakow. My favourite European city of the ones I’ve seen.
Although to be fair I’ve seen Vienna but not Prague.
Prague is stunning. But it’s now SO touristy. Almost as bad as Venice
Both are global top 20 most-beautiful-city contenders. From the UK I’d definitely put Bath and Cambridge in there
Very few cities outside Europe would make the list
New York. Hong Kong. Errr….
There are cities outside Europe with extraordinary locations but usually the architecture rather lets them down. Sydney. Cape Town. Etc
The most beautiful city in Europe, and indeed the world, is Bergen.
I have no association with the city, nor any desire to live there. It just is. Here's a picture.
But all of coastal Norway looks like that.
To some extent yes. To be pedantic the rest of coastal Norway isn't a city. Bergen is a genuinely beautiful city - what you can see of it through the rain - when almost no other city is. It has the mediaeval buildings in the centre, and the modern buildings are also quite nice, in a stupendous natural setting.
On my walk through it from the railway station to the yacht harbour, these are the two photos I stopped to take. It may be I don't have a very good eye, but really they aren't all that are they?
Yeah, no, that ain’t Krakow
Indeed not. This is the walk from the station in Krakow. Although I believe it's an architecturally significant building.
If you are insane enough to arrive in Venice by car or coach, this is the first bit of Venice you see
Reforestation. Restoration of peat bogs. This is the sort of action we need to take CO2 from the atmosphere.
Direct air capture. It's what plants do.
I like this post so much that a mere 'like' is not enough
Sadly, photosynthesis is rather inefficient.
Carbon capture would need to be better.
CCS has a lot of basic problems they are still trying to overcome. One of the most basic is the Joule–Thomson effect of rapid cooling as the CO2 expands as it enters to reservoir. This results in the formation of ice in the pore spaces which inhibits or prevents further injection.
The only positive I can see from the insane weather this month (which, let's not forget, is happening at 1.2C) is that it might drive some more immediate sense into energy generation policy.
Like, no more coal. Like, NOW.
The future may be uncertain to us, but it is already baked in. CO2 emissions are not stoppable now or in the next few years.
No, but we can stop increasing them and accelerating the transition.
Yes. All these sentiments are true. But the rapid decrease in CO2 output isn't going to occur. Even when you do (halve it for example) it is like inflation, it's still happening but slower. The end is the same. Understandably people are massively exaggerating the amount which can and will be done to avert the CO2 increase. Unless there is a global level scale up, very rapidly, of carbon capture from the air. Most people seem to think this also is not deliverable.
I don't share your pessimism. The UK has already cut its CO2 emissions massively from 1990 levels and is on course to achieve net zero in energy generation and transmission within the next 20 years.
That should absolutely be the ambition for all other nations and would make a significant difference. A global level scale up is exactly what I'm asking for, and of CCUS.
Don't forget also how the price of PV cells and wind turbines has collapsed over the last 10 years: technology and its economics can shift the dial very quickly.
The problem being, of course, that the UK is now such a minor contributor to overall greenhouse gas emissions that it is functionally irrelevant on a global scale.
What's going to properly torch the world is the colossal volume of coal being burnt in power plants across most of the world outside of the OECD economies, principally in China and India.
Who are now being very hard hit themselves.
Even totalitarian regimes (and India is not one) cannot be nakedly suicidal.
I believe that India announced a moratorium on the construction of new coal fired power plants this year, although this doesn't appear to affect new projects that have already been green lit. Regardless, about three quarters of current power consumption in that vast country is met by the burning of coal, and coal will carry on being burnt in immense quantities for decades. Sure there's plenty of renewable potential, but you can't convert a country of over a billion people to run off solar overnight, and the Government can't turn off the electricity whilst it builds that capacity either.
China, meanwhile, despite being a world leader in the development of renewables, is still actively planning and building vast amounts of new coal fired generation capacity as well. The chances of stabilising the CO2 content of the atmosphere whilst these two behemoths are still working to dig up coal and burn it as fast as possible are nil.
Also there are negative feedbacks at work. As the world warms, so people in hot countries like India will demand MORE power to fuel their aircon (or they will die). Which means more coal burned, which means….
It ain’t great
You mean positive feedbacks, in the sense that they amplify rathen than act against the initial change.
You’re probably right. It’s nearly midnight in BEAUTIFUL Krakow and I am minded to wine
Politics of “too many young people going to university” a bit surprising. Our Loyal National (more Red Wall) segment among most likely to say too few/right numbers going whereas Established Liberal (Cameronite/Blue Wall) among mos be
Presumably a similar mechanism to grammar schools- those who are confident that their children/grandchildren will still get to go like the idea of selective academic education.
Krakow must be right up there in the top 20 most beautiful cities on the planet. I think I prefer it to Prague
True story: I was last here 20 years ago for a wedding. A couple of days before the wedding we all went for a jaunt. On the way back to krakow from the salt mines we passed auschwitz and the minibus driver said “if anyone wants to see it, well, here it is”
Despite the horror everyone wanted to see it, as they’d not seen it before, so they all piled off. I could hardly stay on the bus (“what, don’t you care??”) so I dutifully got off to “see Auschwitz”
Thing is I’d specifically seen it about six months before. So I spent my time hiding behind a gas chamber, basically, in case one of the staff recognised me and said “what, you came back? Did you enjoy it that much? Perhaps you should get a season ticket?”
I love Krakow. My favourite European city of the ones I’ve seen.
Although to be fair I’ve seen Vienna but not Prague.
Prague is stunning. But it’s now SO touristy. Almost as bad as Venice
Both are global top 20 most-beautiful-city contenders. From the UK I’d definitely put Bath and Cambridge in there
Very few cities outside Europe would make the list
New York. Hong Kong. Errr….
There are cities outside Europe with extraordinary locations but usually the architecture rather lets them down. Sydney. Cape Town. Etc
The most beautiful city in Europe, and indeed the world, is Bergen.
I have no association with the city, nor any desire to live there. It just is. Here's a picture.
But all of coastal Norway looks like that.
To some extent yes. To be pedantic the rest of coastal Norway isn't a city. Bergen is a genuinely beautiful city - what you can see of it through the rain - when almost no other city is. It has the mediaeval buildings in the centre, and the modern buildings are also quite nice, in a stupendous natural setting.
On my walk through it from the railway station to the yacht harbour, these are the two photos I stopped to take. It may be I don't have a very good eye, but really they aren't all that are they?
Yeah, no, that ain’t Krakow
Indeed not. This is the walk from the station in Krakow. Although I believe it's an architecturally significant building.
The only positive I can see from the insane weather this month (which, let's not forget, is happening at 1.2C) is that it might drive some more immediate sense into energy generation policy.
Like, no more coal. Like, NOW.
The future may be uncertain to us, but it is already baked in. CO2 emissions are not stoppable now or in the next few years.
No, but we can stop increasing them and accelerating the transition.
Yes. All these sentiments are true. But the rapid decrease in CO2 output isn't going to occur. Even when you do (halve it for example) it is like inflation, it's still happening but slower. The end is the same. Understandably people are massively exaggerating the amount which can and will be done to avert the CO2 increase. Unless there is a global level scale up, very rapidly, of carbon capture from the air. Most people seem to think this also is not deliverable.
I don't share your pessimism. The UK has already cut its CO2 emissions massively from 1990 levels and is on course to achieve net zero in energy generation and transmission within the next 20 years.
That should absolutely be the ambition for all other nations and would make a significant difference. A global level scale up is exactly what I'm asking for, and of CCUS.
Don't forget also how the price of PV cells and wind turbines has collapsed over the last 10 years: technology and its economics can shift the dial very quickly.
The problem being, of course, that the UK is now such a minor contributor to overall greenhouse gas emissions that it is functionally irrelevant on a global scale.
What's going to properly torch the world is the colossal volume of coal being burnt in power plants across most of the world outside of the OECD economies, principally in China and India.
Who are now being very hard hit themselves.
Even totalitarian regimes (and India is not one) cannot be nakedly suicidal.
I believe that India announced a moratorium on the construction of new coal fired power plants this year, although this doesn't appear to affect new projects that have already been green lit. Regardless, about three quarters of current power consumption in that vast country is met by the burning of coal, and coal will carry on being burnt in immense quantities for decades. Sure there's plenty of renewable potential, but you can't convert a country of over a billion people to run off solar overnight, and the Government can't turn off the electricity whilst it builds that capacity either.
China, meanwhile, despite being a world leader in the development of renewables, is still actively planning and building vast amounts of new coal fired generation capacity as well. The chances of stabilising the CO2 content of the atmosphere whilst these two behemoths are still working to dig up coal and burn it as fast as possible are nil.
The idea that decarbonising Britain will be wholly decoupled from and of no relevance to decarbonising other countries is a stretch. The marketing pitch of a green industrial revolution, with all that should conjure up for a nation that got exceptionally rich on the original one, should be taken at least partly literally.
We wouldn't have some staid anti-growth agendists on the other side of the argument would we?
Reforestation. Restoration of peat bogs. This is the sort of action we need to take CO2 from the atmosphere.
Direct air capture. It's what plants do.
I like this post so much that a mere 'like' is not enough
Reforestation is amateur hour. Trees are the ridiculous result of a beggar-my-neighbour arms race and have nothing to offer over and above ground level vegetation. Except huggability.
Not true. They also have a massive part to play in reducing temperatures at ground level. So much so that these days this is a basic part of town and city planning.
Slight cross purpose though; street trees can do a lot to provide seasonal shade (the leaves vanish in winter! It's genius!) and transpired water. But they don't work at the scale to meaningfully reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Politics of “too many young people going to university” a bit surprising. Our Loyal National (more Red Wall) segment among most likely to say too few/right numbers going whereas Established Liberal (Cameronite/Blue Wall) among mos be
Presumably a similar mechanism to grammar schools- those who are confident that their children/grandchildren will still get to go like the idea of selective academic education.
Krakow must be right up there in the top 20 most beautiful cities on the planet. I think I prefer it to Prague
True story: I was last here 20 years ago for a wedding. A couple of days before the wedding we all went for a jaunt. On the way back to krakow from the salt mines we passed auschwitz and the minibus driver said “if anyone wants to see it, well, here it is”
Despite the horror everyone wanted to see it, as they’d not seen it before, so they all piled off. I could hardly stay on the bus (“what, don’t you care??”) so I dutifully got off to “see Auschwitz”
Thing is I’d specifically seen it about six months before. So I spent my time hiding behind a gas chamber, basically, in case one of the staff recognised me and said “what, you came back? Did you enjoy it that much? Perhaps you should get a season ticket?”
I love Krakow. My favourite European city of the ones I’ve seen.
Although to be fair I’ve seen Vienna but not Prague.
Prague is stunning. But it’s now SO touristy. Almost as bad as Venice
Both are global top 20 most-beautiful-city contenders. From the UK I’d definitely put Bath and Cambridge in there
Very few cities outside Europe would make the list
New York. Hong Kong. Errr….
There are cities outside Europe with extraordinary locations but usually the architecture rather lets them down. Sydney. Cape Town. Etc
The most beautiful city in Europe, and indeed the world, is Bergen.
I have no association with the city, nor any desire to live there. It just is. Here's a picture.
But all of coastal Norway looks like that.
To some extent yes. To be pedantic the rest of coastal Norway isn't a city. Bergen is a genuinely beautiful city - what you can see of it through the rain - when almost no other city is. It has the mediaeval buildings in the centre, and the modern buildings are also quite nice, in a stupendous natural setting.
On my walk through it from the railway station to the yacht harbour, these are the two photos I stopped to take. It may be I don't have a very good eye, but really they aren't all that are they?
Yeah, no, that ain’t Krakow
Mind you, a win for AI or whatever. I vaguely remember taking the photo, I certainly never bothered to catalogue or name it, but I can just search Bergen in google photos and it comes up with the goods.
And yes I know it's just reading exif data but it's still pretty clever.
Photo-search is amazingly effective now
Re Bergen I don’t think any city north of, say, Edinburgh can be really beautiful, because the weather is so brutal it demands tough ugly buildings, and it will chew at anything old faster than it can be repaired: like the church in your photos
And ultimately we are talking about architecture more than location. Krakow is built in a fairly boring slightly undulant corner of Poland. But it is exquisite. Paris is situated on a flattish bit of the Seine valley, with a couple of minor islands, nothing special: but it is magnificent
The only positive I can see from the insane weather this month (which, let's not forget, is happening at 1.2C) is that it might drive some more immediate sense into energy generation policy.
Like, no more coal. Like, NOW.
The future may be uncertain to us, but it is already baked in. CO2 emissions are not stoppable now or in the next few years.
No, but we can stop increasing them and accelerating the transition.
Yes. All these sentiments are true. But the rapid decrease in CO2 output isn't going to occur. Even when you do (halve it for example) it is like inflation, it's still happening but slower. The end is the same. Understandably people are massively exaggerating the amount which can and will be done to avert the CO2 increase. Unless there is a global level scale up, very rapidly, of carbon capture from the air. Most people seem to think this also is not deliverable.
I don't share your pessimism. The UK has already cut its CO2 emissions massively from 1990 levels and is on course to achieve net zero in energy generation and transmission within the next 20 years.
That should absolutely be the ambition for all other nations and would make a significant difference. A global level scale up is exactly what I'm asking for, and of CCUS.
Don't forget also how the price of PV cells and wind turbines has collapsed over the last 10 years: technology and its economics can shift the dial very quickly.
The problem being, of course, that the UK is now such a minor contributor to overall greenhouse gas emissions that it is functionally irrelevant on a global scale.
What's going to properly torch the world is the colossal volume of coal being burnt in power plants across most of the world outside of the OECD economies, principally in China and India.
Who are now being very hard hit themselves.
Even totalitarian regimes (and India is not one) cannot be nakedly suicidal.
I believe that India announced a moratorium on the construction of new coal fired power plants this year, although this doesn't appear to affect new projects that have already been green lit. Regardless, about three quarters of current power consumption in that vast country is met by the burning of coal, and coal will carry on being burnt in immense quantities for decades. Sure there's plenty of renewable potential, but you can't convert a country of over a billion people to run off solar overnight, and the Government can't turn off the electricity whilst it builds that capacity either.
China, meanwhile, despite being a world leader in the development of renewables, is still actively planning and building vast amounts of new coal fired generation capacity as well. The chances of stabilising the CO2 content of the atmosphere whilst these two behemoths are still working to dig up coal and burn it as fast as possible are nil.
Also there are negative feedbacks at work. As the world warms, so people in hot countries like India will demand MORE power to fuel their aircon (or they will die). Which means more coal burned, which means….
It ain’t great
When power demand is for air con that is when PV actually makes sense - peak generation coincides with peak demand.
Reforestation. Restoration of peat bogs. This is the sort of action we need to take CO2 from the atmosphere.
Direct air capture. It's what plants do.
I like this post so much that a mere 'like' is not enough
Sadly, photosynthesis is rather inefficient.
Carbon capture would need to be better.
Yes, it took a lot of plants a loooooong time to lay down all that coal.
As a politician might say, the important thing is that it got done and operated well when it was, and people should not complain the project took a few million more years than we would have liked.
Politics of “too many young people going to university” a bit surprising. Our Loyal National (more Red Wall) segment among most likely to say too few/right numbers going whereas Established Liberal (Cameronite/Blue Wall) among mos be
Presumably a similar mechanism to grammar schools- those who are confident that their children/grandchildren will still get to go like the idea of selective academic education.
Krakow must be right up there in the top 20 most beautiful cities on the planet. I think I prefer it to Prague
True story: I was last here 20 years ago for a wedding. A couple of days before the wedding we all went for a jaunt. On the way back to krakow from the salt mines we passed auschwitz and the minibus driver said “if anyone wants to see it, well, here it is”
Despite the horror everyone wanted to see it, as they’d not seen it before, so they all piled off. I could hardly stay on the bus (“what, don’t you care??”) so I dutifully got off to “see Auschwitz”
Thing is I’d specifically seen it about six months before. So I spent my time hiding behind a gas chamber, basically, in case one of the staff recognised me and said “what, you came back? Did you enjoy it that much? Perhaps you should get a season ticket?”
I love Krakow. My favourite European city of the ones I’ve seen.
Although to be fair I’ve seen Vienna but not Prague.
Prague is stunning. But it’s now SO touristy. Almost as bad as Venice
Both are global top 20 most-beautiful-city contenders. From the UK I’d definitely put Bath and Cambridge in there
Very few cities outside Europe would make the list
New York. Hong Kong. Errr….
There are cities outside Europe with extraordinary locations but usually the architecture rather lets them down. Sydney. Cape Town. Etc
The most beautiful city in Europe, and indeed the world, is Bergen.
I have no association with the city, nor any desire to live there. It just is. Here's a picture.
But all of coastal Norway looks like that.
To some extent yes. To be pedantic the rest of coastal Norway isn't a city. Bergen is a genuinely beautiful city - what you can see of it through the rain - when almost no other city is. It has the mediaeval buildings in the centre, and the modern buildings are also quite nice, in a stupendous natural setting.
On my walk through it from the railway station to the yacht harbour, these are the two photos I stopped to take. It may be I don't have a very good eye, but really they aren't all that are they?
Yeah, no, that ain’t Krakow
Indeed not. This is the walk from the station in Krakow. Although I believe it's an architecturally significant building.
Schindler's Enamel factory?
You can visit his actual factory in Krakow. The one with the stairs
What makes it especially haunting is that Spielberg used the real location, to shoot the factory scenes
So when you look at it you are simultaneously thinking of that immensely powerful movie, but ALSO the far more profound and horribly real events that took place right there
Reforestation. Restoration of peat bogs. This is the sort of action we need to take CO2 from the atmosphere.
Direct air capture. It's what plants do.
I like this post so much that a mere 'like' is not enough
Reforestation is amateur hour. Trees are the ridiculous result of a beggar-my-neighbour arms race and have nothing to offer over and above ground level vegetation. Except huggability.
Not true. They also have a massive part to play in reducing temperatures at ground level. So much so that these days this is a basic part of town and city planning.
Yes, sure, because by a spooky coincidence the arms race pays off in towns and cities where humans, for their own reasons, want ground level to be tarmac rather than a bog or a shrubbery. In countryside which is going to be countryside anyway, trees are pointless.
Reforestation. Restoration of peat bogs. This is the sort of action we need to take CO2 from the atmosphere.
Direct air capture. It's what plants do.
I like this post so much that a mere 'like' is not enough
Sadly, photosynthesis is rather inefficient.
Carbon capture would need to be better.
CCS has a lot of basic problems they are still trying to overcome. One of the most basic is the Joule–Thomson effect of rapid cooling as the CO2 expands as it enters to reservoir. This results in the formation of ice in the pore spaces which inhibits or prevents further injection.
The capture bit has been sorted by us process bods. It's the bloody geologists who need to get their shit together with the storage.
Politics of “too many young people going to university” a bit surprising. Our Loyal National (more Red Wall) segment among most likely to say too few/right numbers going whereas Established Liberal (Cameronite/Blue Wall) among mos be
Presumably a similar mechanism to grammar schools- those who are confident that their children/grandchildren will still get to go like the idea of selective academic education.
Krakow must be right up there in the top 20 most beautiful cities on the planet. I think I prefer it to Prague
True story: I was last here 20 years ago for a wedding. A couple of days before the wedding we all went for a jaunt. On the way back to krakow from the salt mines we passed auschwitz and the minibus driver said “if anyone wants to see it, well, here it is”
Despite the horror everyone wanted to see it, as they’d not seen it before, so they all piled off. I could hardly stay on the bus (“what, don’t you care??”) so I dutifully got off to “see Auschwitz”
Thing is I’d specifically seen it about six months before. So I spent my time hiding behind a gas chamber, basically, in case one of the staff recognised me and said “what, you came back? Did you enjoy it that much? Perhaps you should get a season ticket?”
I love Krakow. My favourite European city of the ones I’ve seen.
Although to be fair I’ve seen Vienna but not Prague.
Prague is stunning. But it’s now SO touristy. Almost as bad as Venice
Both are global top 20 most-beautiful-city contenders. From the UK I’d definitely put Bath and Cambridge in there
Very few cities outside Europe would make the list
New York. Hong Kong. Errr….
There are cities outside Europe with extraordinary locations but usually the architecture rather lets them down. Sydney. Cape Town. Etc
The most beautiful city in Europe, and indeed the world, is Bergen.
I have no association with the city, nor any desire to live there. It just is. Here's a picture.
But all of coastal Norway looks like that.
To some extent yes. To be pedantic the rest of coastal Norway isn't a city. Bergen is a genuinely beautiful city - what you can see of it through the rain - when almost no other city is. It has the mediaeval buildings in the centre, and the modern buildings are also quite nice, in a stupendous natural setting.
On my walk through it from the railway station to the yacht harbour, these are the two photos I stopped to take. It may be I don't have a very good eye, but really they aren't all that are they?
Yeah, no, that ain’t Krakow
Indeed not. This is the walk from the station in Krakow. Although I believe it's an architecturally significant building.
If you are insane enough to arrive in Venice by car or coach, this is the first bit of Venice you see
I drove from Llandudno to Venice when our children were very young and it took two night stays, but our children even today tell their children of the time Papa drove them all to Venice
Politics of “too many young people going to university” a bit surprising. Our Loyal National (more Red Wall) segment among most likely to say too few/right numbers going whereas Established Liberal (Cameronite/Blue Wall) among mos be
Presumably a similar mechanism to grammar schools- those who are confident that their children/grandchildren will still get to go like the idea of selective academic education.
Krakow must be right up there in the top 20 most beautiful cities on the planet. I think I prefer it to Prague
True story: I was last here 20 years ago for a wedding. A couple of days before the wedding we all went for a jaunt. On the way back to krakow from the salt mines we passed auschwitz and the minibus driver said “if anyone wants to see it, well, here it is”
Despite the horror everyone wanted to see it, as they’d not seen it before, so they all piled off. I could hardly stay on the bus (“what, don’t you care??”) so I dutifully got off to “see Auschwitz”
Thing is I’d specifically seen it about six months before. So I spent my time hiding behind a gas chamber, basically, in case one of the staff recognised me and said “what, you came back? Did you enjoy it that much? Perhaps you should get a season ticket?”
I love Krakow. My favourite European city of the ones I’ve seen.
Although to be fair I’ve seen Vienna but not Prague.
Prague is stunning. But it’s now SO touristy. Almost as bad as Venice
Both are global top 20 most-beautiful-city contenders. From the UK I’d definitely put Bath and Cambridge in there
Very few cities outside Europe would make the list
New York. Hong Kong. Errr….
There are cities outside Europe with extraordinary locations but usually the architecture rather lets them down. Sydney. Cape Town. Etc
The most beautiful city in Europe, and indeed the world, is Bergen.
I have no association with the city, nor any desire to live there. It just is. Here's a picture.
But all of coastal Norway looks like that.
To some extent yes. To be pedantic the rest of coastal Norway isn't a city. Bergen is a genuinely beautiful city - what you can see of it through the rain - when almost no other city is. It has the mediaeval buildings in the centre, and the modern buildings are also quite nice, in a stupendous natural setting.
On my walk through it from the railway station to the yacht harbour, these are the two photos I stopped to take. It may be I don't have a very good eye, but really they aren't all that are they?
Yeah, no, that ain’t Krakow
Mind you, a win for AI or whatever. I vaguely remember taking the photo, I certainly never bothered to catalogue or name it, but I can just search Bergen in google photos and it comes up with the goods.
And yes I know it's just reading exif data but it's still pretty clever.
Photo-search is amazingly effective now
Re Bergen I don’t think any city north of, say, Edinburgh can be really beautiful, because the weather is so brutal it demands tough ugly buildings, and it will chew at anything old faster than it can be repaired: like the church in your photos
And ultimately we are talking about architecture more than location. Krakow is built in a fairly boring slightly undulant corner of Poland. But it is exquisite. Paris is situated on a flattish bit of the Seine valley, with a couple of minor islands, nothing special: but it is magnificent
Etc
Petersburg?
Good call. Must be the most northerly (or southerly) beautiful city on earth
It demands an awful lot of repair work in the thaw
And on that perfect note, I am off to watch THE GREAT, set in lovely St Petersburg
Politics of “too many young people going to university” a bit surprising. Our Loyal National (more Red Wall) segment among most likely to say too few/right numbers going whereas Established Liberal (Cameronite/Blue Wall) among mos be
Presumably a similar mechanism to grammar schools- those who are confident that their children/grandchildren will still get to go like the idea of selective academic education.
Krakow must be right up there in the top 20 most beautiful cities on the planet. I think I prefer it to Prague
True story: I was last here 20 years ago for a wedding. A couple of days before the wedding we all went for a jaunt. On the way back to krakow from the salt mines we passed auschwitz and the minibus driver said “if anyone wants to see it, well, here it is”
Despite the horror everyone wanted to see it, as they’d not seen it before, so they all piled off. I could hardly stay on the bus (“what, don’t you care??”) so I dutifully got off to “see Auschwitz”
Thing is I’d specifically seen it about six months before. So I spent my time hiding behind a gas chamber, basically, in case one of the staff recognised me and said “what, you came back? Did you enjoy it that much? Perhaps you should get a season ticket?”
I love Krakow. My favourite European city of the ones I’ve seen.
Although to be fair I’ve seen Vienna but not Prague.
Prague is stunning. But it’s now SO touristy. Almost as bad as Venice
Both are global top 20 most-beautiful-city contenders. From the UK I’d definitely put Bath and Cambridge in there
Very few cities outside Europe would make the list
New York. Hong Kong. Errr….
There are cities outside Europe with extraordinary locations but usually the architecture rather lets them down. Sydney. Cape Town. Etc
The most beautiful city in Europe, and indeed the world, is Bergen.
I have no association with the city, nor any desire to live there. It just is. Here's a picture.
But all of coastal Norway looks like that.
To some extent yes. To be pedantic the rest of coastal Norway isn't a city. Bergen is a genuinely beautiful city - what you can see of it through the rain - when almost no other city is. It has the mediaeval buildings in the centre, and the modern buildings are also quite nice, in a stupendous natural setting.
On my walk through it from the railway station to the yacht harbour, these are the two photos I stopped to take. It may be I don't have a very good eye, but really they aren't all that are they?
Yeah, no, that ain’t Krakow
Indeed not. This is the walk from the station in Krakow. Although I believe it's an architecturally significant building.
If you are insane enough to arrive in Venice by car or coach, this is the first bit of Venice you see
I drove from Llandudno to Venice when our children were very young and it took two night stays, but our children even today tell their children of the time Papa drove them all to Venice
Insane. You should have been paid to fly legacy by some indulgent editor.
Four new polls tonight with a lot of stability and the PP/Vox majority remains the likeliest result. Both of the extreme left and right parties are being squeezed by the big 2. Just 4 days of campaign before Saturday 's day of reflection and rest.
Shouting from afar will not improve women’s rights.
We need to re-engage.
We need to re-open the British Embassy.
Bit early to be shilling for a job as head of Taliban PR, isn't it?
I wonder if there is any other aspect of transformation he might have picked up on?
My understanding is that he's correct as far as it goes (though the opium crop has only been eliminated in Helmand and one other province). Obviously security is partly improved because the Taliban are no longer trying to plant bombs.
It's possible for a regime to be vile in some areas and do positive things in others. What we do about that - reengage, even when they're being vile? - is a tricky question. But I wouldn't be against reopening the Embassy if we were allowed to operate freely (e.g. employing local female staff).
Politics of “too many young people going to university” a bit surprising. Our Loyal National (more Red Wall) segment among most likely to say too few/right numbers going whereas Established Liberal (Cameronite/Blue Wall) among mos be
Presumably a similar mechanism to grammar schools- those who are confident that their children/grandchildren will still get to go like the idea of selective academic education.
Krakow must be right up there in the top 20 most beautiful cities on the planet. I think I prefer it to Prague
True story: I was last here 20 years ago for a wedding. A couple of days before the wedding we all went for a jaunt. On the way back to krakow from the salt mines we passed auschwitz and the minibus driver said “if anyone wants to see it, well, here it is”
Despite the horror everyone wanted to see it, as they’d not seen it before, so they all piled off. I could hardly stay on the bus (“what, don’t you care??”) so I dutifully got off to “see Auschwitz”
Thing is I’d specifically seen it about six months before. So I spent my time hiding behind a gas chamber, basically, in case one of the staff recognised me and said “what, you came back? Did you enjoy it that much? Perhaps you should get a season ticket?”
I love Krakow. My favourite European city of the ones I’ve seen.
Although to be fair I’ve seen Vienna but not Prague.
Prague is stunning. But it’s now SO touristy. Almost as bad as Venice
Both are global top 20 most-beautiful-city contenders. From the UK I’d definitely put Bath and Cambridge in there
Very few cities outside Europe would make the list
New York. Hong Kong. Errr….
There are cities outside Europe with extraordinary locations but usually the architecture rather lets them down. Sydney. Cape Town. Etc
The most beautiful city in Europe, and indeed the world, is Bergen.
I have no association with the city, nor any desire to live there. It just is. Here's a picture.
But all of coastal Norway looks like that.
To some extent yes. To be pedantic the rest of coastal Norway isn't a city. Bergen is a genuinely beautiful city - what you can see of it through the rain - when almost no other city is. It has the mediaeval buildings in the centre, and the modern buildings are also quite nice, in a stupendous natural setting.
On my walk through it from the railway station to the yacht harbour, these are the two photos I stopped to take. It may be I don't have a very good eye, but really they aren't all that are they?
Yeah, no, that ain’t Krakow
Indeed not. This is the walk from the station in Krakow. Although I believe it's an architecturally significant building.
If you are insane enough to arrive in Venice by car or coach, this is the first bit of Venice you see
I drove from Llandudno to Venice when our children were very young and it took two night stays, but our children even today tell their children of the time Papa drove them all to Venice
Insane. You should have been paid to fly legacy by some indulgent editor.
I took our family all over Europe when they were young and they were wonderful holidays without an airport or border delay in sight
Shouting from afar will not improve women’s rights.
We need to re-engage.
We need to re-open the British Embassy.
Bit early to be shilling for a job as head of Taliban PR, isn't it?
I wonder if there is any other aspect of transformation he might have picked up on?
My understanding is that he's correct as far as it goes (though the opium crop has only been eliminated in Helmand and one other province). Obviously security is partly improved because the Taliban are no longer trying to plant bombs.
It's possible for a regime to be vile in some areas and do positive things in others. What we do about that - reengage, even when they're being vile? - is a tricky question. But I wouldn't be against reopening the Embassy if we were allowed to operate freely (e.g. employing local female staff).
I don't think anyone is particularly surprised the security or opium situation is improved with the Taliban fully in charge. If we're that blown away by it we really should have just left them to it.
Obviously the reality of the world involves dealing with vile regimes in some manner, but is there really anything to be gained from him not just promoting reengagement, but doing so in a slimy, servile way?
Four new polls tonight with a lot of stability and the PP/Vox majority remains the likeliest result. Both of the extreme left and right parties are being squeezed by the big 2. Just 4 days of campaign before Saturday 's day of reflection and rest.
For the of us who are not clued up on Spanish politics who are PP and Vox
The trailer for "The Creator" is out. A non-franchise original SF film with excellent effects and not afflicted with the endless post-processing and color-correction that makes high-budget films look like a fuzzy mess, it's budget is $88million. As a rough rule of thumb you have to do over two, preferably three times your budget worldwide to do a solid profit, and it might do it.
The only positive I can see from the insane weather this month (which, let's not forget, is happening at 1.2C) is that it might drive some more immediate sense into energy generation policy.
Like, no more coal. Like, NOW.
We have been cool and wet for the last month, catching up much of the shortfall of an exceptionally dry spring. Most the tracks around here have more muddy puddles now than they did in April.
And?
It is important to remember that weather is local and climate is international. I am not suggesting for a moment that the world is not heating up but local records can be misleading.
OK, but that's a non sequitur.
I wasn't referring to local British records in the last few weeks. And don't forget the crazy June we just had and how mad the elevated North Sea temperatures were.
In years to come we may be thankful for mild, damp, changeable British weather. Personally I find that very hard to believe. But no longer impossible
It will drive mass immigration to the UK off the charts. Which could result in a fascist government here - like, a proper one.
We have record high immigration now and the party leading in the polls is Labour.
Comments
https://www.statista.com/statistics/276629/global-co2-emissions/
I have no association with the city, nor any desire to live there. It just is. Here's a picture.
Tobias Ellwood has added himself to it.
What's going to properly torch the world is the colossal volume of coal being burnt in power plants across most of the world outside of the OECD economies, principally in China and India.
Look at Sir Kid Starver, who err...backs our policy...
There is so much that could and should have been done - the fact this governing party is now wittering on about promises to make things better is testament to its own complete and utter failure.
How people of obvious intellect can continue to support it and excuse it stretches credibility to breaking point.
Even totalitarian regimes (and India is not one) cannot be nakedly suicidal.
https://twitter.com/AlexKokcharov/status/1679898162163593219
What would it be for knotweed?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/But_n_Ben_A-Go-Go
The Klog faimlie pool wis a bree o grippie east coast insurance men an born again presbyterian fishwifes, lowsed by the lord fae prozac, sex an involuntary hame shoppin. Grandfaither Klog never bosied or beardied him when he wis wee but gart him staun in foostie cupboards in his sterile widower’s apartments whenever Paolo bairnishly havered Klog’s deid wife’s name.
Remarkable to remember it was actually in term time.
Because she understood the science.
https://www.wyndham.lode.co.uk/triffids.htm
[deleted as not up to PB standards]
It should be no more so than any other form of infrastructure.
Direct air capture. It's what plants do.
An aspirational, election-winning Tory party would be pointing out that a wind farms on the east coast will "level up" lots of those communities, that reducing emissions will take the pressure off migration into Europe, that we import most of our cars so reducing use doesn't harm us as much as Europe, that massive infrastructure projects like HS2 replicate the Industrial Revolution glory days etc etc
On my walk through it from the railway station to the yacht harbour, these are the two photos I stopped to take. It may be I don't have a very good eye, but really they aren't all that are they?
Beautiful ground with alpacas looking on from the next field recommend to any groundhoppers
(2) Why are additional benefits for children in low income families unaffordable, when a 10% state pension hike for the three million pensioners who live in millionaire households could be fully funded with no apparent difficulty?
(3) Apart from being the right thing to do, getting rid of the benefit cap might well save us more than it costs in the long run, simply through alleviating the effects of child poverty. The problem, of course, being that (a) the savings from such mitigations are not straightforward to quantify and they come in the future and not straight away, and nobody's interested in tomorrow anymore; and (b) that, in a competition for resources between rich, powerful, older voters and poor, powerless, non-voting children, there can only ever be one winner - regardless of who's in power.
And make no mistake, it's the getting and the keeping of that power that the politicians care about. The differences between the Conservative and Labour parties are superficial and played up for effect, in a game to outmanoeuvre one another, rather than to achieve anything in the genuine interest of the country or its people. Scratch the surface and the DNA is 99% identical - it's all about who gets to collect the ministerial salaries, ride in the ministerial cars and walk into lucrative consultancies and non-executive directorships when they get tired of playing. When the Opposition tells you that the sum total of their ambitions is to strip Eton of its VAT exemptions and use the money to fund breakfast clubs then believe them - because what they are about is perpetuating EXACTLY the same system as currently exists, with minor cosmetic alterations to try to fool the gullible into believing that everything has changed and is getting better.
It won't change, it'll just keep on getting worse.
And yes I know it's just reading exif data but it's still pretty clever.
Carbon capture would need to be better.
China, meanwhile, despite being a world leader in the development of renewables, is still actively planning and building vast amounts of new coal fired generation capacity as well. The chances of stabilising the CO2 content of the atmosphere whilst these two behemoths are still working to dig up coal and burn it as fast as possible are nil.
https://worksinprogress.co/issue/olivine-weathering
The TLDR is that, left to itself, excess carbon dioxide ends up in carbonate rocks. But that takes geological timescales. Grind the relevant source rocks small enough, and you can make the whole thing go a lot faster, which is what we need. And there's lots and lots of olivine out there.
Doesn't mean we shouldn't aim to stop burning stuff if we can. Hydrocarbons are too damn useful for other things.
Re Bergen I don’t think any city north of, say, Edinburgh can be really beautiful, because the weather is so brutal it demands tough ugly buildings, and it will chew at anything old faster than it can be repaired: like the church in your photos
And ultimately we are talking about architecture more than location. Krakow is built in a fairly boring slightly undulant corner of Poland. But it is exquisite. Paris is situated on a flattish bit of the Seine valley, with a couple of minor islands, nothing special: but it is magnificent
Etc
https://twitter.com/TmorrowsPapers/status/1681046145563230214?t=bg2EDbVooiSyX7mOM-IArQ&s=19
It ain’t great
When you look at all of the incredibly unlikely events that were required in order to create intelligent life, the only thing that makes sense is a multiple universes theory of reality in which countless universes exist without intelligent life. As an analogy, consider the superficially astonishing fact that every single one of your ancestors managed to reproduce. Just as this by no means guarantees that you yourself will bear children, so there is little certainty that the events that have resulted in the evolution of humanity will continue to support our future survival.
. . . On Saturday, a delivery driver contacted the King County Sheriff’s Office to report a llama standing in the middle of a road near Duvall, the agency said.
The llama was blocking traffic, including the delivery driver, who was unable to deliver a package.
No prob-llama for the Sheriff’s Office.
A deputy responded to the scene and, “using his de-escalation skills and standing just a tad over spitting distance,” coaxed the llama onto a leash and out of the road, the office said.
Soon after, the agency received another call, this time from someone reporting their llama missing.
The llama and the owner were reunited . . .
https://images.seattletimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/07172023_Llama_103759.jpg?d=2040x1816
SSI - not sure if PBer will be able to see this pic, hope so it's rather amusing.
I wonder if there is any other aspect of transformation he might have picked up on?
be taken at least partly literally.
We wouldn't have some staid anti-growth agendists on the other side of the argument would we?
Not like here.
What makes it especially haunting is that Spielberg used the real location, to shoot the factory scenes
So when you look at it you are simultaneously thinking of that immensely powerful movie, but ALSO the far more profound and horribly real events that took place right there
It is disturbing
It demands an awful lot of repair work in the thaw
And on that perfect note, I am off to watch THE GREAT, set in lovely St Petersburg
Manana
Four new polls tonight with a lot of stability and the PP/Vox majority remains the likeliest result. Both of the extreme left and right parties are being squeezed by the big 2. Just 4 days of campaign before Saturday 's day of reflection and rest.
It's possible for a regime to be vile in some areas and do positive things in others. What we do about that - reengage, even when they're being vile? - is a tricky question. But I wouldn't be against reopening the Embassy if we were allowed to operate freely (e.g. employing local female staff).
Obviously the reality of the world involves dealing with vile regimes in some manner, but is there really anything to be gained from him not just promoting reengagement, but doing so in a slimy, servile way?
It's released Sept 29. The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex3C1-5Dhb8