Cyberjunk

Wraiths story - I deleted the two additional threads:

----------------------------------------------------------

 

The man woke up in a darkened hallway sitting on his ass back against the wall. He hurt all over. He tries to stand once but the combat armor he's wearing is just to heavy for him. After a few seconds he tries again and with help from the wall he is able to stand on his own until the dizziness hits him. After a moment it pass's and he begins to walk down the hallway towards the light, stumbling once because somethings wrong with his left foot. As he get's closer to the light there's a snap and hiss as a pressurized door opens to your right. A dirty light flickers on and off randomly in this new hallway. Trash litters the floor and a teddy bear sits on the floor leaning against the wall with it's left foot nearly torn off. After a few seconds the smell of death comes from this new hallway and wraps around you like a long lost lover. There are four open doors down this way. He turns away to face the bright light and start walking again but he hare's something. At first he think it's his imagination then he hears it again. Like whispering. Whispering in a female voice. The whispering get's louder and and can hear her whispering his name. The whispers turn into her softly calling his name. Suddenly a name enters his mind and he can't help but ask “Hanna...?” He enter's the new hallway sweeping his Chadran Arms City Reaper SMG left to right checking the other door ways. They happen to be dormitory style bedrooms that have not been used in a very long time. Trash litters the floor and the walls show of years of no upkeep. Once you get up to the flickering light you see a hallway going to your right. You start walking towards the hallway and stop as you notice movement. The female voice softly calls your name in a questioning manner. A woman steps out of the darkened hallway and a rush of emotions fill him. Love, heartbreak, sorrow, hope all fight for dominance inside you. She smiles and say's “Welcome home, we've missed you.” and the lights flicker off. When they flicker back on the the beautiful woman is gone and standing in her place is a skinless corpse standing directly in front of him and reach's out for him and embrace's him. Her bloody cheek press's against his and he can feel her hot breath on his ear and neck. “Welcome home, the children have missed you.” and lights in the darkened doorway light up allowing you to see several misshapen bodies, bodies from his worst nightmare come stumbling towards him from on the other side of the open doorway. The woman disengages from the embrace and gives a bright smile “Children, come welcome your father home.” and with that the misshapen bodies begin to move faster towards him and he screams....

 

 

…. waking up and smashing his already aching forehead into something about 2 feet above his head. Something wet lands on his cheek the cheek that woman touched. After a second you feel something fall on that same cheek and then he notices the sound hitting the roof of whatever he was in. The sound of rain hitting cement came from outside and a slight rumble of thunder in the distance. Feeling around he discovered that he was in a metallic box roughly 4 feet in length and 4 feet wide. Three sides were metal and behind him was some kind of cushioning that refused to move. Laying on his side he realized that he barely had room to roll over on his back. Doing so caused him a lot of pain as his back, chest and neck felt like they suddenly exploded. In the spasm of pain his legs shot out and kicked the metal wall. As it bowed out slightly he recoiled again as his left ankle flared up in pain. After a minute or two the pain receded. While waiting for the pain to subside he activated his cyber eyes. Low light showed very weak pin points of light streaming in from different points in his box. Slowly the man looked around and turned his head. To his left where the cushioning was he could make out thin bands of metal going from side to side like a winding road. The man slowly turn onto his left side so not to cause himself any more pain. Once comfortable he reached out with his hands to feel the cushioning and metal bands. He noticed that this time the cushioning was wet. Gritting his teeth, he pushed on the cushioning a few centimeters out until it stopped. He gritted again and pushed harder thanking the makers of his advanced muscle and bone lacing as the top of the cushioning gave way and folded out and down. The flare comp option in his cyber eye's kicked in and the low light option turned off at the sudden appearance of light. He blinked a couple of times before peering out of opening. The back side of a drivers seat greeted him. As he crawled slowly he heard something metallic move down by his feet. He ducked back in his hole and slowly turned over and engaged his low light vision and notice a heavy pistol down by his feet. He tried to bend down and reach for the weapon but the pain in his chest and abdomen stopped him. Breathing hard and holding his breath he reached again pain igniting and he felt the butt of the weapon as he moved it away from himself and then he jerked forward and reached the weapon pulling it towards him. Bringing the weapon to his chest he breathed through clenched teeth until once again the pain receded. With eye's closed, he tried to remember how he ended up in this situation but nothing came. With effort he called up a menu in his times square marquee + and ran down his cybercafe listing and saw that all was functioning normally. He focused on the Wet Drive Link option and tried to access an data that was within but found out it was empty. With a sigh he slowly rolled over to face the cushions and began to fold down the back of the passengers side back seat and slowly crawled out into the backseat. Laying on his back and staring up he noticed that the vehicle was striped down on the inside and was missing the front passengers seat. Rain was coming in through the missing windows. The man slowly reached for the door handle which was missing and again sighed and reached for the open window and pulled himself up with a grunt. Turning over, he fitted himself through the missing window and crawled out. He landed on the wet cement with grunt and could see spots in his vision and the sudden pain nearly knocked him unconscious. Breathing heavily the stared up into a dark over caste sky as the rain fell on him. Once the pain passed, he eased himself up and slid around to rest his back on the car door. In front of him about five feet away from him was slightly overgrown brown grass and weeds sprouted. This went on for about six feet then ducked down and rose again a few away and went slightly up hill where a thin woods began. He stood up slowly and looked down the road in confusion. He currently was standing in the outside lane of a four lane highway. Abandoned and striped vehicles littered the road on both sides of the highway behind the car he he had climbed out of. Some were on their sides, some flipped completely over. In front of the car were more vehicles all the same shape and a couple of miles down the road stood a wall. The height of the wall wasn't what amazed him but the monumental building going on miles behind it. Going several hundreds of feet into the air it penetrated the low hanging clouds and was nearly incalculable to determine it's width. From what he could see the structure was was dome like. In several places there was like indents or openings into the structure and in other places there was outcroppings. A word, a name formed in his mind unbidden and he mumbled “Arcology...”

Seriously, though, the new banners look and work great, not to mention load fast. My account is easier to edit, what more can you ask for?

You could ask me to update the software we use - its 5 years old now! However I am taking the stance of if it ain't broke...

New members cannot start new posts at the moment as we try to combat the spam bots - however you can post replies to existing threads. To start you off please post on this topic saying hi and introducing yourself. You don't have to say much but it will help us to spot that your not a bot and ensure we don't delete your account!

 

Just say hello!

The spammers have arrived at long last. I have been dreading this for 5 years but at last we have active spammers. The thing is that I set up the registration in a certain way to limit this as much as possible. You can only have one account per email addres, you have to have a valid email address. You cannot register on this system using a bot. Therefore the overheads in getting a post on here a large - so it must be worth it!

 

If you see a spam post please just report it to me with the URL -DO NOT DELETE IT - this is important as I need to know the account that posted it so that I can suspend them - why not delete the account? - because I suspend them for 10 years and it means they cannot create another account using that email address. If I deleted them they could set up a second account with the original email address.

 

The forum software is now well out of date and when I upgrade it I will implement another level of security which hopefully will stop this spamming nonsense.

 

So keep your eyes peeled and please spend an extra minute looking at a couple of forums you don't normally to check see if there are any naughties getting past our radars.

 

Cheers chaps!

We had it on a pay plan to get a load of extra tracks in. My credit card expired and i have not renewed the details on the Live 365 service. therefore its in hiatus at the moment. Maybe we will have a re-look at this in the winter.

Is it just my pc or is the link not working?

please say its not just me...

84847[/snapback]

 

 

Unfortunatly no its not your PC. This was a bit of an experiment and did not really take off that well though Crysalis and I did put on a bit of a show. I even had a guest DJ but he retired! I had paid for a years subscription and at the end I just let the account expire. Maybee one day when there is more interest we can relook at this.

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QUOTE (Strawberry-Cream @ Mar 12 2004, 07:46 PM)

Nice thing, the ads just suck! And it's soooo un-CP to have ads for the mean corporations .

oh. I use the live 365 player - works fine for me. I changed the settings in Listen Settings to MP3 and when I hooked into the station next time it opened up in my Itunes (on the PC) as a stream which is what I expect your are expecting from Winamp.

 

Did you click the big button? The big yellow button... (Or try putting the url in for a stream http://www.live365.com/stations/307957 and if that does not work PM Hanns!

I believe its as simple as setting up your Listen Settings on Live365.com. Yes you need an account but its free.

Or - just post the track, artist and album here and we will search our huge collections to try and find it.

 

The Scissor Sisters are just sooo hip at the moment in the UK - not really mainstream yet. I really hated the track when I first heard it but after a couple of plays it really grew on me. You have to be in the right mood I suppose! Mrs CJ and I have the Album.

The Forum guidelines have been around for years and all of you agreed to them when registering - yes you ticked a box. We have never really had to implement anything and no doubt some guidelines have been strayed over on many occasions but they are there to protect this forum from a legal point of view, not to hamper this communities interaction. At the end of the day its your forum for you. But I run it and I am fickle...

Sorry for the apparent slowness of this reply (I did e-mail ages ago).

 

For all that need to know, at the bottom of the top100 page is an edit link - you will need to log in - and in the next set of screens you can make changes.

If you can't log in please try the password reset. If that does not work either then please e-mail me

 

webmaster (my attempt to stop spam)

@ (my attempt to stop spam)

cyberpunk.co.uk

Key concepts: micronations, climate change,

national obliteration, Internet domains

 

Attention Conservation Notice:  Darkly whimsical

musings about the fate of the Pacific Island

of Niue and its Internet domain.

 

Links:  

Perhaps this should become the National Fruit

of Climate-Changed Niue.

http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~stevelew/lemon

 

Register your .nu domain today!

http://www.nunames.nu/

 

"They don't need people coming in from outside

and telling them their country is dead."

http://www.nunames.nu/about/cyclone.cfm

 

Welcome to "No Man's Island," a fine example

of a "Viridian Involuntary Park."  Mind

those artillery rounds.

http://www.state.ma.us/dep/bwsc/files/RandR/NLI/nliuxo.htm

 

Want to build stormproofed super-cheap shacks on

low, small islands menaced by giant typhoons?  Perhaps

these "superadobe domes" are in order.

http://www.calearth.org/EcoDome.htm

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm....dobe_dc

 

Viridian Reader, photographer and music critic

Sean M. Burke remarks:

 

"After that last Viridian note, I hereby prescribe you one listening of this short (26KB) MIDI file which I declare to be 'humanity's national anthem.' It's 'Einzug der Gladiatoren' by Julius Fucik, a nice old Austrohungarian military bandleader and student of Antonin Dvorak.  It is also commonly known as 'the clown music.'"

http://interglacial.com/~sburke/pub/midi/circus.mid

 

"Repeat as necessary until you want to breakdance."

 

************************

 

Source:  The Register, U.K., Kieren McCarthy

Link:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/34919.html

 

"Niue is dead! Long live .nu!"

 

By Kieren McCarthy

 

"Posted: 15/01/2004 at 21:39 GMT

 

  "The tiny island of Niue was all but wiped off the map at the end of last week when cyclone Heta sent 300kph winds and 20-metre waves smashing into a population of just 1,200 people.

 

  "Now, with many islanders deciding to move to nearby New Zealand, there is a question over Niue's independence, granted in 1974 when the population was closer to 5,000. It is expected that only 500 people will remain.

 

   "One of the peculiar aspects of the world's smallest independent state and world's largest coral island however is how it has traditionally made its money. Aside from the NZ$8 million the New Zealand government gives it annually in aid and the sale of passion fruit, lime oil and coconut cream, an important source of revenue has always been the sale of postage stamps to foreign collectors == the vast majority of whom will never visit the island.  (((I enjoy the Register's acerbic British commentary so much that I can scarcely bear to interrupt this.)))

 

  "With this background, it is hardly surprising that the Internet has also become an important revenue source for the island. Granted the .nu domain, Niue has set itself up as the younger brother of Tuvalu (population: 11,300) and its successful .tv domain, leased for 12 years for $50 million.

 

   "With the help of two Americans, over 100,000 .nu domains have been registered, mostly to the Swedes since 'nu' means 'now' in Swedish. It also means 'naked' in French but the French porn industry has yet to really cotton onto the domain.  (((Surely just a matter of time, especially if there is some kind of passion fruit, lime oil, coconut cream and postage-stamp porn angle.)))

 

   "But with the island devastated, its infrastructure in tatters and its independence under threat, many have started asking if cyclone Heta will also blow away a section of the Internet?

 

  "The answer, categorically, is no. And this leads us to the fascinating and peculiar world of country domains.  (((Yeah!  This is the cool, geeky part!)))

 

"Sticking to the standards

 

  "The official rule, set up by Jon Postel in the early days of the Internet, is that if a country is included in the international list of countries (International Country Code Standard ISO 3166-1) then it is given a domain.  (((How about the soon to be mothballed "International Space Station" (dot-iss)?)))

 

  "It needn't be a certain size or a certain importance. It needn't even be an independent state. If it was listed in ISO 3166-1, it got a domain. This has led to the interesting situation that four of the 243 quoted country code top-level domains don't even have anyone living on them."

 

Link:

"It is easy to assume that the world of country codes is static and dull. Nothing is farther from the truth! Country code standards are a reflection of world events and international politics."

http://www.niso.org/standards/resources/3166.html

 

  "Bouvet Island (.bv) is nothing but glaciers. (((Or at least, it used to be.))) Discovered in 1739 by the French, taken over by the British in 1825 and then handed to the Norwegians in 1928, it was only in 1977 that anything stayed permanently on the island == a meterological station.

 

  "The Heard Island and McDonald Islands (.hm) are completely barren. Handed over to the Australians by the British in 1947, it does boast a few seals and birds, but Club 18-30 it is not.

 

Link:

The hm. domain has a complete absence of alien plants

and animals, and, (before climate change) a complete

absence of human ecological impact!

http://whc.unesco.org/sites/577.htm

 

  "British Indian Ocean Territory (.io) has a joint UK/US 'naval support facility' on its biggest island, Diego Garcia, which sounds like the worst posting in the military. But apart from that, not a dickie-bird."

 

Link:

http://www.mydiegogarcia.com/

Diego Garcia has birds aplenty, thank you.

 

  "And the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (.tf) are as inviting as they sound. Discovered by the French in 1840, the only people to set foot on it are researchers who, get this, study the native fauna. (((Might be a great spot for French atomic testing!)))

 

  "Getting closer to Niue, we have the Cocos (Keeling) Islands (.cc) == sporting a Olympic catchment population of 630. There are two islands where people live, but not exactly in harmony. The Europeans apparently are to be found on the West Island and the Malays on Home Island.

 

  "More incredible than that, Pitcairn Island (.pn) has only 47 people living on it, doesn't even have an email connection and yet took its domain so seriously that a massive row saw the UK government involved and ICANN approve a redelegation (done by post, of course). The word you are looking for is parochial.

 

  "However, despite these oddities in using the ISO list of countries, the issue of country domains is not quite that simple. Certainly when Zaire became the Democratic Republic of the Congo, its previous .zr domain was removed and a new .cd introduced. Plus, when the Occupied Palestinian Territory was given international recognition, ICANN followed suit and gave it .ps.

 

"Do the maths

 

   "But there are 239 official countries in ISO 3166-1 and 243 country code top-level domains. In fact, there are 244 country code domains in existence because even though .su was marked down for deletion following the break up of the USSR in 1991 and doesn't officially exist, .su addresses are still accessible and the domain administrators are consistently trying to revive it, much to the annoyance of everyone else. (((The Soviet Union LIVES!)))

 

  "As recently as June this year, the 'Supervising Council of the Foundation' in Moscow announced that its sunrise period for trademark registration had ended and now .su domains were open to anyone under its rules and regulations. It claims nearly 30,000 registered domains but in this surreal parallel world not everything is to be believed.  (((Why is that any less believable than

any other Russian economic or political development?)))

 

  "The break-up of the USSR saw 10 new domains enter the world: in 1992, Estonia (.ee), Lithuania (.lt), Georgia (.ge) and Ukraine (.ua); in 1993, Latvia (.lv) and Azerbaijan (.az); in 1994, Moldova (.md), Russia (.ru), Belarus (.by), Armenia (.am) and Kazakhstan (.kz).

 

  "However, in the wonderful flexible world that is Internet domain names, there required no break-up of an empire for Great Britain not be granted .gb as described in the ISO list but .uk representing United Kingdom plus four others dotted around the coastline: Ascension Island (.ac), Guernsey (.gg), Isle of Man (.im) and Jersey (.je).

 

   "And if all that wasn't enough, from November you will be able to buy .eu European domain names, as approved by the European Commission and soon to be agreed to by ICANN once the details have been thrashed out.

 

  "Which leads us to the rather interesting thought about what the Internet will look like in, say, 100 years. If everyone political movement and country that appears is granted a new domain, and no domains are ever removed, (((wait a minute == go re-read that lede paragraph))) not only will our ancestors be presented with the equivalent of .bb for Babylonia but the artificial scarcity of domains that currently exist thanks to ICANN will be wiped out. You only have to wait for the tectonic shifts in human civilisations."  (((Let's not bring tectonics into this when a five-meter rise in sea level should suffice.)))

 

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

VIRIDIANDESIGN.EU

VIRIDIANDESIGN.HM

VIRIDIANDESIGN.BV

NO, NO, FORGET ABOUT IT

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

Key concepts: Tyndall Conference on Macro-Engineering Options for Climate Change Management and Mitigation, MIT, Cambridge, counsel of despair, fervid, crazy, and mostly fantastic climatic disaster counter-efforts,

thinking outside the box, weird science

 

Attention Conservation Notice:  Consists mostly of Viridian

black humor about a well-meaning conference of Anglo-American

wannabe climatic super-engineers.  Includes the entire, heavily

annotated text of a conference dot-pdf.

 

Links:

The planet-menacing horror of soot-tainted snow.

http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/2003/1223blacksoot.html

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroo....28.html

 

The tiny, inoffensive Pacific island of Niue catches

it in the neck from a Category 5 typhoon.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/australasia/story.jsp?story=479052

 

My advice:  never get intimate and trustingly disrobe in the presence

of anyone sporting "Dejaview Camwear."

http://www.mydejaview.com/pages/2/index.htm

 

Robotic flowers.  An efflorescence of MIT.

http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/massave1203.asp?p=6

 

Dr. Mary Kaldor, the judge of our Viridian "Civil Society Computer"

contest, has been in Iraq recently.

http://www.opendemocracy.net/debates....Id=1579

 

Climate change will exterminate about a quarter of all species

now living on Earth.  That's assuming we don't kill more

of them with ambitious remediation schemes like the ones

described in this Note.

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/23350/story.htm

 

Nifty ubicomp scheme harvests piezoelectric energy.

http://www.eet.com/at/news/OEG20031230S0004

 

Another set of praiseworthy enviro beers.  I especially

like the one boldly named after Cleveland's polluted river that caught fire.

Another Viridian beer-tasting is clearly in order, but I don't know

where to find these Ohio beers in Texas.  Send me mail if you

know, because after proofreading this Note, I badly need a drink.

http://www.greatlakesbrewing.com/Beerschool/environmental.htm

http://www.greatlakesbrewing.com/Brews/burning.cfm

 

 

Source: Tyndall Conference: MACRO-ENGINEERING OPTIONS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE MANAGEMENT &  MITIGATION, January 2004

http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/events/macro_options.pdf

 

   "Tyndall Centre & Cambridge-MIT Institute Symposium    

 

    "MACRO-ENGINEERING OPTIONS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE MANAGEMENT &  MITIGATION

     Isaac Newton Institute, Cambridge, England, 7-9 January 2004

 

((("Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night: / God said, 'Let

Newton be,'" and Newton was immediately discredited by Lysenkoist

Beltway political operatives bankrolled by the fossil-fuel industry.)))

 

    "Background    

 

   "Reducing global greenhouse gas emissions by the amount (say 50%) which may be  necessary to avoid excessive climate change, will be very difficult.  If combined with  significant convergence internationally, it will moreover require the developed countries  to reduce their emissions by much larger proportions, such as 90% (for the USA) and 80%  (for Europe).  Many people feel that it is very unlikely that such reductions can be  achieved just by improving energy efficiency and reducing carbon intensity by using  renewable sources of energy.  (((Yep, it sounds pretty tough... I guess we'd better just fold our hands and die from this civilizational inadequacy of ours... Oh wait, maybe we techies can invent some source of hope, however farfetched!)))

 

   "Specifically, conventional approaches may not be sufficient  regarding either their magnitude and their time-scale.  Because of the urgency of  implementing climate-change management, more innovative approaches to the mitigation  of climate change are likely to be needed.

 

   (((Let's rephrase this, shall we?  "Although we can't find the political will not to cook our own planet, we might, while cooking, be able to invent some weird way to avert some of the consequences.")))

 

    "Indeed, new options may already be needed  during the Second Commitment Period for the Kyoto Protocol.  Any alternatives such as  possible macro-engineering options for climate change management and mitigation  therefore need to be widely discussed and properly evaluated, as soon as possible, before  they can be seriously considered for implementation.

 

     (((The peculiar assumption here is that people will find the resources, cash and energy to repair a climate crisis while they are actually on fire.  It's kind of like arguing a legal case after being flung in prison.  But, well, okay == if that's what it takes, carry on!)))

 

    "The Tyndall Centre for Climate  Change Research and the Cambridge-MIT Institute are therefore jointly convening a  Symposium in Cambridge, England, on 7-9 January 2004, whose purpose is to identify, debate, and evaluate possible macro-engineering approaches  to the management and mitigation of climate change.    

 

    "Specific Symposium Objectives    

 

    "1.  to convene and consolidate the relevant research community  (((Hey, research guys!  Too bad you didn't have the clout to convince oil and coal companies not to destroy our civilization!)))

 

    "2.  to provide a panoramic review of the options (((Step One: jail entire board of Exxon-Mobil for crimes against humanity, Step Two, shut Chinese coal mines by force of arms... whoops, these vital steps don't seem to be in here!)))

 

     "3.  to evaluate the options using multi-criterion analysis and ranking techniques ((("Grandmere has died in her Paris apartment of the heat; quick, order a multi-criterion analysis, and rank her.)))

 

     "4.  to contribute to setting the research & development agenda  (((we're from Cambridge and MIT, so we don't do that "action" stuff.)))

 

      "5.  to provide the scientific, engineering and socio-economic basis for policy formation by  Governments.  (((Oh Vannevar Bush, that we have lived to see this melancholy day for the Endless Frontier mavens of your beloved MIT...  At last everyone on Earth can become Robert "Destroyer of Worlds" Oppenheimer  through the simple process of pumping some gasoline.)))

 

     "Page 2  Philosophy    

 

    "The intention is to initiate a process of exploration and evaluation of any possible macroengineering approaches, so that suitable options may be available if and when it is decided  that they are required.  (((Decided by whom?)))  This process is envisaged as continuing for a number of years,  before any firm conclusions can be reached.  The range of approaches identified now will  doubtless be incomplete, and any evaluations made will necessarily be preliminary.  

 

    "Nevertheless, since the detailed evaluation and the actual implementation of any  promising approaches may take several decades, it is important to start the process as  soon as possible.  (((Good thinking.  We'll need to give Rem Koolhaas plenty of contractual leeway so that he

can construct a vast new prison in The Hague.)))  

 

    "Although most of the macro-engineering approaches identified so far are not currently in  the  mainstream thinking in relation to climate policy, (((wry MIT-Cambridge ivory-basement humor here))) the mere fact that they have been  conceived and proposed places an obligation on engineers, economists, and environmental  and social scientists, working together, to explore their feasibility and evaluate their  consequences and their wider implications.  (((We're screwed and we all know it.  So, hey, let's blue-sky and handwave!)))

 

    "At the very least, such options may be  considered as emergency policy options in the event of more adverse climate change  impacts than expected, or less effective carbon reduction measures than anticipated.  The  process of  exploration, evaluation, development and (eventually) pre-operational  implementation of such approaches should be regarded as at least an insurance against  these eventualities.   (((If "thinking the unthinkable" was good enough for Herman Kahn, it's good enough for us!)))

 

    "The symposium will therefore    

 

     "* Consider all approaches identified, objectively, and without preconceptions  (((For instance, we'll consider and identify some objective provisions for really, really massive graveyards)))

 

     "* Engage in an open, unbiassed, and visionary but still concrete discussion   (((I'm starting to warm to this kooky Tyndall project, even though I know full well that it means every possible kind of hell for my grandchildren)))

 

      "* Disregard potential pressures in relation to political correctness.

(((Hoo-ah)))

 

       "* Employ a very wide range of criteria for a preliminary evaluation  

(((Maybe SAUCER-MEN will save us from our own insanity!  Or == okay, maybe I'm blue-skying it here, but bear with me == maybe mass prayer can trigger a premature Rapture!)))

 

       "Possible options to be considered    

 

      1.  CO2 Sequestration (capture and storage), including  

      * Geological disposal (liquid & solid)  (((export our crisis to the great-grandkids)))

      * Direct ocean disposal  (((dissolve coral reefs in seltzer water)))  

      * Atmospheric scrubbing  (((needs really, really, really big sponge)))  

      * Ocean fertilisation  (((sounds good as all fish are doomed anyway)))

      * Enhancement of land carbon sinks  (((grow more trees? OK!)))  

 

     Page 3  

 

     "2. Insolation Management (albedo modification)

 

      "Orbiting Deflection Systems (Mirrors, Balloons, Droplets, etc.)  (((I'm really liking the "balloons", though "droplets" are kinda growing on me as I begin to sweat bullets)))

 

     * Stratospheric Aerosols  (((Manmade Global Dimming)))

 

     * Differential Cloud Stimulation  (((Poor people's countries don't get any clouds any more)))

 

     *  Land Surface Modification  (((paint roofs and roads white)))

 

     "3. Prospective Climate Design  (((I do hope they teach this

at Cranbrook)))    

 

      "* Terra-forming Approaches  

 

      "* Glaciation Control by Designer Greenhouse Gases  (((Huh?)))

 

      "*  Long-Term CO2 Management for Photosynthesis   (((When the biosphere does this naturally, it's known as a "coal-bed")))

 

       "4. Impacts Reduction    

 

       "Ocean-Current Stabilization by River Deviation  (((Re-route the Mississippi through Washington DC to keep Europe from freezing)))  

 

       "Sea-Level Stabilization by Freshwater Retention  (((dam up the molten Antarctic glaciers)))

 

       "Large-Scale Migration Corridors for Biosphere Adaptation (((abandon the American MidWest, reinstate nomads and bison)))    

 

        "Note:  many of these possible options are highly speculative at present, and some may  even appear to be crazy.  (((Okay, I love these guys. All is forgiven.  Send me the conference T-shirt.)))

 

       "However, that is precisely why they should be evaluated (and if  necessary dismissed) as soon as possible.  Otherwise, politicians may seek to use them as 'Magic Bullets' either to postpone action, or as prospective solutions for actual  implementation, once it becomes clear that the mitigation of climate change is going to be  a major and very difficult task.  ((("Major and very difficult" = "bankrupting and massively lethal")))

 

      "Evaluation Criteria      

 

       "The criteria to be considered for evaluating options should include:        Feasibility  * Effectiveness  *  Predictability  *  Reversibility  * Environmental impacts  *  Ecological tolerability  * Safety (potential for disaster)  * Cost  *  Social equity *  Economic equity  * Economic efficiency  *  Public attitude  (((Nice list there, would look great on the T-shirt)))

 

      "Evaluation Methodology    

 

     "We propose to use a combination of techniques to guide and motivate the debate.  These  will include the iterative Delphi method (where those holding extreme views are invited  to explain their reasons, prior to a collective re-evaluation).  We also propose to use multicriterion decision analysis and scale-free ranking techniques.  These will be used at the  symposium simply to facilitate and focus the debate, and we shall not attempt to reach  anything more than preliminary and indicative conclusions.

 

     (((The good ol' Delphi method, wow.)))

 

Link:

http://www.iit.edu/~it/delphi.html

 

     "Organisation and Process    

 

      "A modified Dahlem Conference approach is proposed.  Before the symposium, the  Tyndall Centre & CMI will therefore commission and distribute a set of short factual  briefing notes on the alternative approaches to be discussed, with selected references to  sources of further information.     The symposium will commence with invited plenary presentations reviewing the options  under consideration, each followed by a Q&A sessions to enable participants to clarify any  matters of interest or doubt.  This will be followed by further group presentations and  debate based on the working papers.  The first day will concentrate on factual issues, and  on mutual education, and will deliberately avoid premature attempts to reach conclusions.   It will conclude with a preparatory explanation of the evaluation process, and the criteria  to be considered, and a final plenary discussion session in which any other major issues or  concerns can be raised.    The second day will be commence in parallel sessions (with chairs and rapporteurs), with  each group carrying out the same task, i.e. to debate the pros & cons of each option  according to the criteria selected, without deliberately seeking a consensus, and then  (working as individuals) evaluate them on a qualitative scale (e.g. H/M/L,  good/neutral/bad, etc) against each criterion.  Following this the facilitators will prepare a  synthesis of these evaluations [see Note 2].    During the final afternoon the rapporteurs will summarise the major issues and outcomes  arising from their sessions, and the facilitators will then present their synthesis of the  evaluation (including the ranges and outlying opinions).  The symposium will conclude  with a final discussion to permit expressions of assent and dissent.  There will be no  attempt to force any agreement on consensus conclusions at this meeting, although these  would be reported if they should emerge naturally.

 

   (((You know, the human race may well be pitching itself and a million other species off a cliff, and organizational minutiae like this paragraph up above, that is the crown of our civilization.)))

 

 

    "Outcomes & Deliverables    

 

     "The principal Symposium output will be a short (circa 10-page) synthesis/strategic  overview document based on the working papers and the discussions, summarising the  salient attributes of each scheme, and recording the symposium evaluation of each, (i.e.  their preliminary overall ranking, including ranges, and annotated with any special issues  identified).  Further symposium materials (presentations, working papers, bibliography,  etc) will be placed on the Tyndall web-site.  (((I really can't wait!)))

 

 

   "The deliverables envisaged are therefore:    

 

    "* A new volume in the Tyndall Symposia Series of topical monographs  (((There are almost 2,000 people on Viridian List now, so if we were to each order one of these Tyndall Symposia climate monographs, I feel quite certain that we would vastly outnumber all other such consumers)))  

 

     "*  An executive summary technical paper for (e.g.) Nature or Science (((vastly to their credit, neither Nature or Science have bowed the knee to political pressure as yet)))

 

     "* A briefing/overview paper for government and policy-makers  (((Useless without a fat packet stuffed with re-election money, but you can't say they didn't try.)))

 

     "* Web-based dissemination of results, possibly including an e-mail conference.    

 

      "Participants    

 

       "Following the Dahlem format there will be between 40 and 50 invited participants, mainly  from a professional (science, engineering, and socio-economic) background, together with  additional participants from the policy and business communities and major NGO's to  ensure that the full range of attitudes will be expressed.  ((("Full range of attitudes?"  What?  No ludicrously opinionated science fiction writers?  Call Michael Crichton!)))

 

        "Notes    

 

        "1)  The workshop process proposed is a loose hybrid of the classic Dahlem model, and the  first iterations of a Delphi process.  The aim is to elicit and report the full range of  views, and not to arrive at a consensus.    

 

         "2)  The evaluation process should employ a non-parametric multiple criterion approach,  and the distributions of the scores should be preserved and presented.  The proposed  attempt to arrive at a preliminary overall ranking and synthesis may be too ambitious  (but is suggested since it will help to focus and stimulate the final discussion)."

 

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

HAVING SUFFERED THROUGH THIS, TRY

TO IMAGINE THE "FINAL DISCUSSION."

I MEAN THE *REALLY* FINAL DISCUSSION

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

Key concepts: attention conservation, usability,

Jakob Nielsen, information pollution

 

Attention Conservation Notice: Viridian List getting

a bit meta here with a note about attention conservation.

Also offers a lot of links to further prey on your time

and ability to concentrate.

 

Oil was more expensive in 2003 than it's been in 20 years.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArt....4062180

 

It's 2004. The Euro's chasing all-time highs.  People are *buying gold,*

for heaven's sake.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArt....4062219

 

Goodbye, "Washington Consensus."  Hello, "Brasilia Consensus."

http://www.iht.com/articles/122604.html

http://taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2003/12/14/2003079571

 

Another year, another extra USD5 billion in increasingly

uninsurable weather disasters.

http://www.greenbiz.com/news....8409439

 

"Global Dimming."  An atmospheric advent even weirder than the sudden

stabilization of methane.  Dunno what to make of this report, frankly.

It scarcely bears contemplation.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4821493-111414,00.html

 

**************************************************************

 

The Jakob Nielsen Drinking Game.

http://www.rc3.org/clips/nielsen_drinking_game.html

 

Source: ACM Queue, "Tomorrow's Computing Today"

ACM Queue vol. 1, no. 8 - November 2003

http://www.acmqueue.com/modules....&pid=96

 

"IM, Not IP (Information Pollution)"

 

by Jakob Nielsen, Nielsen Norman Group

 

  "A steady dose of realtime interruptions is toxic to anyone's health.

(((Preach it, brother!)))

 

   "Respected technology commentators say that they now prefer instant messaging (IM) over e-mail as their medium of choice for computer-mediated communication.(1) The main reasons are that e-mail has become an overloaded channel for readers and that you can't be sure to get a timely response from the recipients of your e-mail.  

 

   "Yes, e-mail is suffering. Indeed, it's very close to the breaking point where it will stop being useful, whether for personal communication or for company newsletters. (((That would mean us Viridians, of course.  Yes email

is indeed breaking and yes we are suffering for it.)))

 

   "Here are some representative user comments from a recent study of e-mail newsletters:(2)

 

"'I used to be on more lists, but not now. When I was newer to the Web, I signed up for a lot of stuff. But then I realized I couldn't keep up. It was more work to delete them than any benefit I was getting reading them.'

 

"'It's the sort of thing I don't have time for. It would be good when I retire. Then it's something I could look at daily. I'd be embarrassed to read it at work, but I don't want to read e-mail on the weekends.'

 

"'I hate junk mail. My friend on Hotmail gets a lot more. I take it as a personal assault, though I shouldn't.'

 

"'Once you get on, it seems like you can never really erase yourself.'

 

(((We don't hear a lot of such complaints here are Viridian, but

we do get bounces from most any number of spam-overloaded,

abandoned mailboxes, these days.)))

 

   "When a long-term employee who used to shoulder a heavy workload and be one of your most valued contributors becomes sick, what do you do? Shoot the poor fellow? Usually, the better answer is to see if there's a cure.

 

   "I think we need to cure e-mail, not kill it. But it will surely die if left unattended.

 

   "It is naive to believe that IM is the answer to the information overload that's ailing e-mail. Continue current trends a few years and most people will get so much IM that they will have to tune it out to get any work done.  (((Exactly. Spam IM is "spim.")))

 

   "IM is even worse than e-mail with respect to one of the most important human-factors criteria: It's interruptive of task flow because it demands realtime attention. Some things do need realtime attention, but even a one-minute interruption can easily cost a knowledge worker 10 to 15 minutes of lost productivity due to the time needed to reestablish mental context and reenter the flow state. That's why one of the best ways of increasing the productivity of programmers is to give them individual offices. And that's why no e-mail program should come with the biff feature turned on by default. (Biff is the annoying ability to ring a bell or flash the screen every time an e-mail message arrives. In fact, the world economy would gain several million dollars per year if this feature were completely eradicated.)

 

(((I probably shouldn't mention that I am listening on broadband

headphones to the indescribable masala racket of "Indian Soca Reggae Hip Hop Elite Soundz Web Radio Caribbean Spice-Solid Gold" as I try to type this.)))

 

   "Our culture is hurting from information pollution everywhere we turn. The Internet is the most severely afflicted ecosystem, with countless content-free Web pages overflowing with either low-value stream-of-consciousness postings or bland 'corporatese.' The physical world is not much better. (((An important point here.  It's not exactly clear to me why email is full of "information pollution" at the same time that our sky is so polluted that "global dimming" is setting in, but those two things have just got to be connected on some profound civilizational level.)))

 

  "In the United States, for example, you can't buy a lawn mower without a label saying that you're not supposed to mow your feet. Most instruction manuals are littered with 'important' warnings that caution against obvious stupidities, burying actual dangers amid a mass of irrelevancy.  (((Not a practice restricted to lawnmowers == found those Iraqi warheads yet?)))

 

   "IM is one more toxic spill that's directing our attention to short-term minor issues at the cost of procrastinating on important tasks that require more than a few minutes of uninterrupted thinking. Any time-management consultant will tell you that the basics of meeting your goals are to prioritize them and spend the most time on the most important problems. To make real progress in creative thinking, problem solving, or other knowledge work, we need to keep out interruptions and set our own agenda. IM, in contrast, lets your agenda be controlled by anybody who has your screen name.

 

   "Remember that a one-minute interruption costs you ten minutes of productivity. Only very important instant messages are worth 1,000 percent in overhead costs.

 

   "The Web is a junkyard. (((At last someone admits it!  It's a Dead Media apotheosis! Man, no wonder the coiner of the word "cyberspace" was William "Gomi-no-Sensei" Gibson!)))

 

  "E-mail is suffocating users. IM destroys productivity. What can we do about this?  (((Let's COMPLAIN!  I'll help!)))

 

  "I have my own suggested solution, which I call the Internet control panel.

(((Huh?))  This would be a single central base for monitoring and prioritizing all the information a user is interested in. Do you want to keep track of your eBay auctions? Instead of five e-mails per auction, all scattered throughout your inbox, you would have a single flag in the control panel. Discussion groups? The control panel would show when hot topics of interest to you are being discussed and would call attention to discussions with contributions by writers you particularly respect. E-mail? Restricted to truly personal communication. Newsletters, intranet status reports, and other nonletter communications would be summarized and available for perusal on request. IM would have a small role, but your personal agent would be very strict at screening incoming requests.

 

  (((Where is the big red button one pushes to cause spammers to die?)))

 

  "Whether or not you believe in my control panel,  (((I'm glad we're offered a choice))) the most important point is to change our ideology for computer-mediated communication. The old thinking was that more information was better. If a unit of information were sent, it would have to be transmitted and received at all costs. The new thinking must be that human time is our most precious resource. Stop strip-mining it.  (((Our Viridian philosophy is triumphing in these words of wisdom here!  Hurray for our five-year-old attention conservation ideology!)))

 

   "Traditional operating systems managed and scheduled computer resources. The next generation of computers must protect users' time just as strictly as the most vigilant executive secretary protects a CEO's calendar."  (((Okay, sell me one, then.)))

 

REFERENCES

 

1. Gillmor, D. Spamming sleazebags ruining e-mail. San Jose Mercury News (August 31, 2003); see http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld....39.htm.

 

(((Odd that Gillmor gets it about the role of cunning human malice here

while Nielsen still thinks a control panel will make the

problem go away.)))

 

2. Stover, A., and Nielsen, J. E-mail newsletter usability: 79 design guidelines for subscription, newsletter content and account maintenance based on usability studies. Nielsen Norman Group, Fremont, CA. 2002; see http://www.nngroup.com/reports/newsletters/.

 

"JAKOB NIELSEN is principal of Nielsen Norman Group, a user research company focused on making technology more suited to humans. He was previously a Sun Microsystems distinguished engineer and holds 71 U.S. patents on ways of improving Internet usability. Nielsen's books include Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity and Homepage Usability: 50 Websites Deconstructed. His Web site is http://www.useit.com."

 

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

EMAIL MAY BE BREAKING

BUT LADIES AND GENTLEMEN

WE ARE GOING TO FIGHT

THIS CULTURE WAR

DOWN TO THE LAST PIXEL!

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

Happy New Year everyone!

 

I hope the new year brings you lots of very nice unexpected surprises and good fortune!  If your Danish please do be carefull when you are throwing yourself off the chair to jump into the new year. If you are British - go easy on the juice and enjoy it! Everyone else just have a great time tonight!

 

Your the best community on the web -  have a great time!  

NEWSNEWSNEWS

 

The semi-official IRC #Cyberpunk channel is moving to psionics.net!

 

During the past few months those of us who are regulars on the Rebelchat channel #cp-usa_staff. have noticed the lack of people there. Also with www.cyberpunk-usa.com gone, and

the limited prospective audience on the rebelchat server we decided to move to irc.psionics.net.

 

The #cp-usa_staff on rebelchat will exist for the next two months, but it will be a dead channel, so it is better to come over to irc.psionics.net and join the #cyberpunk there.

 

There are two co-owners of the channel #cyberpunk, and they Juggler, and me Chrysalis, if we are not there then you may send us a memo by using the /memoserv function. For aid on using memoserv write /memoserv help .

 

The short and sweet version:

 

IRC server: irc.psionics.net

new channel: #cyberpunk

 

NEWSNEWSNEWS

 

Chrysalis

Viridian Note 00396:  Jolly News for the New Year

 

Key concepts: methane in Earth's atmosphere stabilizes

for no apparent reason

 

Attention Conservation Notice: Errs on the side of

the life-affirming in a frank attempt to keep

people's hopes up.

 

The year 2003 was the world's third hottest year ever,

but hey, at least 2003 wasn't the hottest-hottest

ever.  A lot of us survived 2003, even in Europe!

http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,8190217%255E401,00.html

 

The Prius is MotorTrend's car of the year.

http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/alternative/112_031120_coy/

 

A fuel cell so small that it's built into a chip.

http://www.llnl.gov/str/November03/Upadhye.html

 

There's an interesting development: ardent political activists who just plain hate petroleum and big oil's corrupting role in government.

http://www.petropolitics.org

 

If the US Congress can't manage to pass a new energy policy, they can always use this perfectly sensible and decent new British energy policy, recently passed

without much fuss.

http://www.bwea.com/media/latest.html

 

Beautiful embrace-the-decay

pics of a defunct Alaskan gold mine

eaten by Alaskan natural forces.  Imagine

how that mining wreckage will look after another

hundred years.

http://www.binginit.com/sburke/juneau/wrappers/104.htm

 

This is the oddest and most interesting good news

of the season.  Concentrations of methane, a serious greenhouse gas, have somehow levelled off in the atmosphere.  Nobody quite knows why this has happened, but, well, without any kind of apparent major effort on humanity's part, methane has simply stopped increasing after 200 solid years of growth.

 

Source: NATURE magazine, Helen Pearson

http://www.nature.com/nsu/031124/031124-10.html

 

"Greenhouse gases level off

 

"Concerted efforts could further fall of methane.

28 November 2003

 

by Helen Pearson

 

"Levels of the greenhouse gas methane have plateaued for the first time in around 200 years, shows a new report.

 

"Methane is second only to carbon dioxide in contributing to our planet's warming. The gas == belched out by fossil-fuel burning, rice paddies, festering farm manure and landfill sites == has been accumulating steadily since the Industrial Revolution.

 

"Now the tide may be turning, say Ed Dlugokencky of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Boulder, Colorado, and his team. They found that levels steadied between 1999 and 2002, according to measurements from 43 ground-based stations around the world.

 

Link:

Carbon Cycle Greenhouse Gases Group

http://www.cmdl.noaa.gov/ccgg/

 

"The reason for the change is unclear. Dlugokencky believes that a major contributing factor was the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991. Oil and gas production fell, and the industry became more efficient at plugging gas leaks from pipes and wells.  (((Communists did that,

eh? After 200 years?  Really? No kiddin'?)))

 

"Experts are keen to point out that the plateau is no cause for complacency. (((As far as I can figure, there's just plain "no cause".))) Increasing fossil-fuel consumption in developing nations, or renewed drilling for natural gas, might boost methane again. 'The trajectory is still moving up, in my opinion,' says atmospheric chemist David Blake of the University of California, Irvine.

 

"Indeed, says Blake, the finding highlights how small steps to cut methane emissions could slow global warming. Leaking gas pipelines could be capped, for example, and incentives introduced to encourage landfill owners and farmers use methane to run power generators.

(((Yeah, yeah but... well, this kind of begs the question of what's actually going on up there.  Is there less methane emitted somehow, or maybe some kind of unknown mechanism kicking in to destroy it more quickly in the atmosphere? Nobody's got the foggiest.)))

 

"Gas bill

 

"Earlier studies hinted at a slowing in the long-term rise in methane == but Dlugokencky's conclusion is based on particularly frequent and accurate measurements. 'He can connect the dots in a more accurate way than we can,' explains Blake.

 

"Accumulating methane is thought to prevent heat escaping from Earth into space, like the thickening blanket of carbon dioxide. It probably accounts for roughly 20% of the warming effects of greenhouse gases, compared with the 40-50% attributed to carbon dioxide.

(((So this is kind of big deal, really.  Too bad

nobody understands it.)))

 

"Human activities pump out more than two-thirds of the methane in the atmosphere, the rest comes mainly from natural wetlands. Methane survives an average of nine years in the sky before it is broken down in reactions with short-lived compounds called hydroxyl radicals.

 

"A quickening of this destruction might partly explain the methane plateau. Changes in climate can also alter the amount oozed by wetlands. 'A collection of things has resulted in this trend,' says Elaine Matthews, who studies methane emissions at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies at Columbia University in New York.  (((A "collection of things"?  Wow, that sounds like a pretty safe assessment.  Maybe one could use that to get out of a speeding ticket == "Er, a 'collection of things' caused me to exceed the speed limit, officer!")))

 

"References

 

"Dlugochenky, E. J. et al. Atmospheric methane levels off: temporary pause or a new steady state? Geophysical Research Letters, 30, doi:10.1029/2003GL018126, (2003)."

 

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

EVEN A PLANET GETS

A DUMB LUCKY BREAK

SOMETIMES

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

Merry Christmas everybody! Merry Christmas!

 

One of the best I have had for years as well. Parents came up to stay for the first time ever and its the first time my mum hasn't had to cook Christmas dinner for 43 years! She was at a loss - till she found the port!! Got some great presents from Mrs CJ but ate too much as usual.

9 months of negotiations, not a shot fired and we have a terrorist country deciding it wants to be part of the world community. I am sure events in Iraq helped confirm Gadafy's decisions that he was doing the right thing but I think that it's a shame that so many civilians had to die in Iraq to make a point (and several billion dollars for big corporates). I still don't think there should have been a war in Iraq and the Libyan situation suggests that diplomacy is a better way to change regimes.

 

Libya does have oil but only small quantities - not sufficient to interest Rumsfelds chums.

 

I wonder what Michael Moore will have to say...

Key concepts:  futures markets, weather turbulence,

weather-dependent industries

 

Attention Conservation Notice: Concerns peculiar vagaries

of contemporary capitalism; includes some mind-deadening

biz-jargon.

 

******************************************************

Alas for those halcyon days when the market solutions of

the "Washington Consensus" commanded some respect. Today's

buffaloed WTO falls down as if pepper-gassed in the

streets. The executive briefing? "The poor die and the

planet cooks."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/eu/story/0,7369,1107202,00.html

 

The miracle year for weather markets is 2065 AD,

the predicted year in which weather damage outpaces the

planet's entire GNP.  That's just a rough estimate, mind

you. Could be later.  Could be sooner.

http://www.eces.org/articles/000422.php

 

Do you suppose there is some kind of risk-hedging market

solution for "megacryometeors'?  No one even knows

what those darn things are.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-ice11.html

 

Kids! This dazzling Christmas season, test the DNA of

captured dictators on your own brand-new home

electrophoresis lab!

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/bown/2003/article/0,18881,537113,00.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1107868,00.html

http://www.infinitematrix.net/stories....se.html

*****************************************************

 

Source: Planet Ark, Reuters

 

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/23127/story.html

 

"Change in the Weather == Bet on It"

by Richard Valdmanis

 

USA: December 16, 2003

 

"NEW YORK - Buying and selling the weather may seem an

even stranger way to pass the time than trading orange

juice or pork bellies."

 

(((How exotic is this supposed to be compared to  DARPA

terrorism markets?)))

Link:

http://www.ccc.nps.navy.mil/rsepResources/si/sept03/terrorism.asp

 

  "But in a year when an uncertain winter outlook

threatens profits in weather-dependent industries like oil

and power, a rapidly growing number of players are using

weather markets to hedge their risks and anticipate Mother

Nature's whims.

 

(((If only those *were* "Mother Nature's whims" instead of

the whims of "industries like oil and power.")))

 

"Trading volumes on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange

weather futures market, the first of its kind when it came

into being in 1999, have more than quadrupled since last

year at roughly $1.6 billion in trades, with watchers on

the sidelines coming to view the market as a

meteorological crystal ball.

 

((("The sky above the Chicago futures market was the color

of television.")))

 

"'This market is an excellent way for players to hedge

their weather risk, because it completely isolates the

weather as a factor,' said Felix Carabello, associate

director of industrial commodities and head of weather

futures at the CME.

 

(((Yeah, but what if there's another Chicago Heat Wave and

all the weather traders die?)))

Link:

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/443213in.html

 

  "'But the market also represents the aggregate

viewpoint of all its participants and is therefore a good

indicator of what people believe the weather will do,' he

added.  

 

(((What people think isn't necessarily what weather will

actually do, which raises the interesting notion of a

massive panic in a weather market.)))

 

  "Weather impacts about a third of the nation's gross

domestic profit, or $3 trillion of the U.S. economy,

according to Rodney Weiher, chief economist for the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.  

 

(((Can anyone (besides a government economist) imagine

that two thirds of the U.S. economy is *immune* to

weather?)))

 

"The weather futures market allows companies to hedge

their risk by giving them a alternate source of revenue

when weather hurts their core business. A heating oil

supplier, for example, can bet on warm weather in New York

or Boston, thus countering a loss in demand if the warmth

occurs.  

 

(((Or, just bet on crazy Greenhouse weather violence

happening someplace or other, and you ought to

be able to sew up ten percent rates of return, year

after year!)))

 

"Energy companies often have access to in-house or private

weather forecasters, and a futures market gives them

incentive to act on, and thereby reveal, such information

in weather futures pricing.   (((It also gives energy

companies incentive to lie about the havoc they themselves

are wreaking on the weather and then profit by their own

misbehavior.  Of course, people said that about the DARPA

"terrorism market," too.)))

 

"A market that can serve the dual function of leveling out

risk and providing increased transparency into an

industry's weather expertise is a much-welcomed boon in a

year that promises finicky weather patterns and

volatility.  

 

(((Increased transparency could be nice.  Viridian

principle:  "Make the Invisible Visible".  If, instead of

poor Third Worlders dying from weather violence, rich

speculators were also going broke in droves, this might

compel useful action of some kind.)))

 

   "The U.S. National Weather Service, along with several

private U.S. forecasters, said this winter's weather will

be particularly hard to predict due to a lack of a strong

El Nino or La Nina weather driver in the Pacific.  

(((Yep, it could get lively!)))

 

   "This lack of a clear weather outlook generally makes

it more difficult for energy suppliers to anticipate the

nation's demand for products like heating oil, natural

gas, and electricity. 'In a year like this you're bound to

see interest in this market jump,' said Agbeli Ameko,

managing partner for Denver-based Enercast, which provides

financial information to the natural gas industry.

 

Link:

http://www.enercast.com/

(((Interesting site here.  Too bad one has to sign up in

order to use it)))

 

"The CME weather futures market, which logged over 18,000

contracts this year through November compared to 4,446 in

the same period last year, did a good job of reflecting

forecasts of abnormally warm weather in November, followed

by a cold trend in December, Ameko said.

 

"'The market knew about the cooling trend in November well

in advance of a rise in natural gas prices,' Ameko said.

 

(((What if the market privately learns about something

really, really awful?  Like, say, a sudden reversal in the

Earth's magnetic field?  How does one cash in on knowledge

like that, eh?  Really thought-provoking!)))

 

"While the CME would not name any of the companies that

actively trade in weather futures, (((why is this a big

secret?))) Carabello said they included a broad cross-

section of energy companies, reinsurance companies, and

even some hedge funds that see an opportunity in weather's

volatility.

 

  "'The first wave is always the pioneers,' said

Carabello. 'As people start to become more savvy about

their economic relationship with the weather, they are

more likely to turn that risk into weather transactions.'"

 

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

WELL, I DIED OF

DROUGHT AND

HEAT STROKE,

BUT I DIED RICH!

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O

I spent 3 weeks in India travelling around Goa, Bangalore, Mysore, Ooty and Kerala and I have to recommend it. It really is an amazing place. The drivers are nuts - nothing at all like in Japan. If you ever get the chance go spend some time in India.