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TimmyBoy said:What makes you so sure terrorists don't have a nuke right now?
TimmyBoy said:Maybe they do have one, but have intentionally chosen not to use it just yet. Terrorists are not stupid. They are calculating smart people. Terrorism is a smart person's game, not a game for the stupid.
Kandahar said:Umm, for the reason I cited in my previous post.
And being smart people, they know that the longer they hold onto a nuke, the greater the possibility that they will be discovered before they can use it.
If a terrorist group got a nuke, I'm almost positive they would use it within six months.
TimmyBoy said:Just because a city hasn't been destroyed or a nuke hasn't been used, does not mean the terrorists do not have one.
TimmyBoy said:Terrorists could very well already have a nuke and have intentionally chosen not to use it yet. This is a much more plausible scenario than the scenoria you advocate.
TimmyBoy said:I think you are a bit niave to think it impossible for one of these terror organizations to be unable to get ahold of one of these nukes.
Saboteur said:Well In 7th grade sience we conducted an experiment with fruit flies. They were in a tube and died in a couple of days. This wasn't their natural course of life in the world as opposed to their tube. However the outcome was the same; all life exsiting in an closed environment, like earth, will eventually over populate and exaust itself.
I suppose if humans have a couple more thousand years of existance they'll find another habitable planet but the cycle just starts over.
Hoot said:Scarecrow and Kandahar seem to be the only ones looking at alternatives? The rest of you are nukes nukes nukes.
Nuclear weapons won't be the end of mankind, it will be a tiny microbe or virus that rises up out of the polluted river beds.
We have had three very serious viruses since 1997...all capable of wiping out mankind. We have no combative drugs stored to innoculate the populace.
In the last 100 years or so, the world had three very serious plagues...like the bubonic, black plague...etc...now, we've had three in the last 8 years?!
Things are getting worse. In 1997, the bird flu was shown to attack the brains of lab mice and kill them...now the strain has changed...it has adapted to previous treatments...today, bird flu is being diagnosed in humans.
Our anti-biotics are over diagnosed and becoming useless against new variances of virus....these virus adapt and change because they too, have the will to survive. If just one of these viruses gets away, we could all be doomed...this is no joke.
We need to protect our environment, conserve our energy, stop ignoring global warming, and elect a president that actually gives a crap about the environment instead of raping Mother Nature.
"What have they done to the earth?
What have they done to our fair sister?
Ravaged and plundered and ripped her and bit her
Stuck her with knives in the sight of the dawn
And tied her with fences and dragged her down"
Jim Morrison
Kandahar said:It means that it's highly unlikely that they have one. Why would they be interested in obtaining nukes if they didn't plan to use them? And if they do plan to use them, why would they wait longer than the bare minimum of planning necessary to do so? Every passing day that they hold onto it is another day that they can be discovered by the authorities.
If you were an al-Qaeda operative, what possible incentive would you have to hold onto a nuke for a long period of time, and cautiously plan its use? You'd be much better off to take it to the nearest major infidel city in the back of a van and detonate it.
No it isn't, as you have not provided any possible motive for them not using it at the first available opportunity.
Straw man. I said no such thing.
Scarecrow Akhbar said:There is no single virus capable of eradicating humanity. As the pathogen spreads through the population it will continue to evolve, and this certainly means reverting back to a mean lethality of less than it's peak, which is never 100% anyway. It's what viruses do.
Hoot said:We have had three very serious viruses since 1997...all capable of wiping out mankind. We have no combative drugs stored to innoculate the populace.
In the last 100 years or so, the world had three very serious plagues...like the bubonic, black plague...etc...now, we've had three in the last 8 years?!
Hoot.....your kidding right? In the past few years, we have had the avian influenza, west nile virus, and SARS.
1.avian flu-one reported death
2.west nile virues-62 cases/no deaths. This is suprisingly good seeing as how
there are what, 100 million Americans? I dont have a calculator large
enough to show how small that percentage is.
3.SARS-3,461/170 deaths worldwide.
As far as the last 100 years are concerned, try 1,500 years. Give or take a decade when the first case of bubonic plague was recorded. The last recorded case was in 1920 where 60,000 people died. This was in Manchuria.
The black plague was from 1348 till 1357 and killed, ohhh I dont know, 25%-50% of Europe. Yeah, we had the Spanish flu, but that was before penicillin was discovered. We have not a global pandemic in a very long time. This is another case of the media trying to up their ratings. Christ, if its not global warming, its killer bees. If its not killer bees, its killer west nile mosquitos. If its not west nile mosquitos, its the flu. Trust me, the CDC is spending our tax dollars very wisely. Of course, whats scary is that they reported three lab mice missing that were carrying the ebola virus.
Hoot said:We have had three very serious viruses since 1997...all capable of wiping out mankind. We have no combative drugs stored to innoculate the populace.
In the last 100 years or so, the world had three very serious plagues...like the bubonic, black plague...etc...now, we've had three in the last 8 years?!
Ddoyle said:Hoot.....your kidding right? In the past few years, we have had the avian influenza, west nile virus, and SARS.
1.avian flu-one reported death
2.west nile virues-62 cases/no deaths. This is suprisingly good seeing as how
there are what, 100 million Americans? I dont have a calculator large
enough to show how small that percentage is.
3.SARS-3,461/170 deaths worldwide.
As far as the last 100 years are concerned, try 1,500 years. Give or take a decade when the first case of bubonic plague was recorded. The last recorded case was in 1920 where 60,000 people died. This was in Manchuria.
The black plague was from 1348 till 1357 and killed, ohhh I dont know, 25%-50% of Europe. Yeah, we had the Spanish flu, but that was before penicillin was discovered. We have not a global pandemic in a very long time. This is another case of the media trying to up their ratings. Christ, if its not global warming, its killer bees. If its not killer bees, its killer west nile mosquitos. If its not west nile mosquitos, its the flu. Trust me, the CDC is spending our tax dollars very wisely. Of course, whats scary is that they reported three lab mice missing that were carrying the ebola virus.
Scarecrow Akhbar said:1) Some men aren't fruit flies. (San Francisco is an exception)
2) The Earth isn't a sealed bottle. If nothing else, we have an entire solar system at a minimum, if not a galaxy, of natural resources waiting for us.
3) Even without extraterrestrial resources, there's no limit to human ingenuity. Needless to say, most of the industrialized countries are experiencing near-zero direct population growth, with noted increases mainly coming from immigration from more primitive places. This trend will further flatten as technology spreads.
ddoyle00 said:"Ah but the question is do we have enough fresh water to last us another thousand years? "
Your kidding, right? Where do you think all the water we use goes? Off into space? Its very molecular essense disappears?
No, we will not run out of fresh water because the Earth's environment is more or less closed. Water evaporates, condenses and turns into rain. Rain falls and collects in lakes, rivers, streams, underground aquifers and fills up the water shed. The water George Washington used to brush his wooden teeth with could be the same stuff you use to fill your bong with.
ddoyle00 said:"Ah but the question is do we have enough fresh water to last us another thousand years? "
Your kidding, right? Where do you think all the water we use goes? Off into space? Its very molecular essense disappears?
No, we will not run out of fresh water because the Earth's environment is more or less closed. Water evaporates, condenses and turns into rain. Rain falls and collects in lakes, rivers, streams, underground aquifers and fills up the water shed. The water George Washington used to brush his wooden teeth with could be the same stuff you use to fill your bong with.
libertarian_knight said:right, the same water that flowed forth in Archemedies Urine could very well be in the drink by your side right now.
The Problem with water, is it is the greatest solvent there is. Damn near everything disolves in it, execpt non-polar and hydrophobic molecules, like oils and fats. Pollutants and nutrients alike fall prey to the awesome disolving power of water.
The trick, which we are learning pretty well, is to take all the other junk out. The Technology is still fairly new, and a little cost prohibitve for world wide use. I have do doubt it will get there though. H2O is the way to go!
A few things, like photosynthesis, phosphorus reactions, some Hydrogen fuel cells and systems will dissociate water into hydrogen and oxygen. The Earth and the universe are filled with Hydrogen beyond comprehension. Oxygen is all over the place also, once we can get a better energy system, we can make our own at will.
Saboteur said:Nope not kidding. Pollution is our biggest threat because earth IS a closed environment. And the polluted water that evaporates is the polluted water that rains in our already polluted lakes, rivers streams and underground water tables. I'm sure you're going to ignore that this is real. At least you'll be happier.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/1887451.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1691732.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2966322.stm
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0234,otis,37614,1.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2943946.stm
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3068267/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/19/AR2005091901295.html
There's tons more, enjoy and good luck.
libertarian_knight said:That's not entirely true about the evaporation, many of the toxins in bodies of water, to no go up with the water, granted some do. The biggest toxicity problems as far as rainfall goes, are the dissolved gases and particulates in the air, which tend to be acidic, like sulfates, CO2, Nitrates, or possibly low-altitude Ozone. Otherwise, rainwater tends to be very clean.
Run off from over use of pesticies, herbicides, and urbanization; and dumping pose the biggest problem for clean water overall. And yes, the earth is (pretty much, except for the very important influx of energy from the Sun, minor space stuff, meteors, the occasional asteroid, etc, and loss of some light gasses like Hydrogen) yeah it is functionally closed, in terms of simplified closed system dynamics. However the poster said a SEALED bottle, which, it is not.
Saboteur said:Good to know that after we're all dead the next animals, probably insects, to evolve and think that there is a god that made them in it's image will have clean water.
STOP SMOKING THE BANANA PEELS AND GET INFORMED!
Saboteur said:So when's the mission to Titan to see if the water is drinkable?
I never said this environment is SEALED either, infact I mentioned finding another habitable planet in the future. But I don't think we'll get to one before we kill ourselves. But you missed that I guess...
I don't appreciate being talked to like I'm an idiot because the environment is in undeniable trouble. I wish you guys would've read my posts and comprehended them... Now we can't be friends.
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