Weather and History

Here it started the monsoon on 29th of the last month. I’ve completed my school education, but the memories are still with me. Especially the effect weather have on us, children that go to school, extra tuition classes etc. So the weather conditions have effect over even simple life of me. So, I was not really surprised to think about its effects on the course of history, but it surely was very interesting.

A number of ways come to mind. The drought that affected the Middle East brought the Akkadian Empire of Sargon and Naram Sin to an end 2250 BCE. Carpenter has shown that the Bronze Age civilisations collapsed as a result of weather perturbations and that this seems to be associated with the stories of Joseph and Moses – pretty significant.

The Medieval Warming Period saw yields in Western Europe peak – with the surplus going into Cathedral building at that period. Alternatively the Little Ice Age, begriming with the Mongol Invasions, saw plague returning to Western Europe and killing 1/2 to 1/3rd of the population.      [Amazon Discussions]

That’s just for starters. Wait to we see the coming climate change that may kill 6 + billion  people, then we will know the answer to the question. Food riots are already prevalent in 34 nations. Unless something drastic is done to stop this, the we are cranking the gears just too fast, to hell.

Teen Decomposes Plastic Bag in Three Months

Non-degradable nature of plastic is causing a lot of environmental problems around the world. But, it is nearly impossible to ban plastic, as it have so many uses. If plastic can be decomposed it will be a great invention for a big problem. A 16 year old innovative school goer in the U.S has derived a way to do that. His find will help us to reduce the decomposition time of plastic from millions of years to just 3 months. That is initial results, I believe it can be reduced further under industrial production if further R&D is invested.

How is plastic decomposed? The factor that is responsible for the decomposition of bacteria is bacteria.

The Waterloo, Ontario high school junior figured that something must make plastic degrade, even if it does take millennia, and that something was probably bacteria.

(Hey, at between one-half and 90 percent of Earth’s biomass, bacteria’s a pretty safe bet for any biological mystery.)

The Record reports that Burd mixed landfill dirt with yeast and tap water, then added ground plastic and let it stew. The plastic indeed decomposed more quickly than it would in nature; after experimenting with different temperatures and configurations, Burd isolated the microbial munchers. One came from the bacterial genus Pseudomonas, and the other from the genus Sphingomonas.

Burd says this should be easy on an industrial scale: all that’s needed is a fermenter, a growth medium and plastic, and the bacteria themselves provide most of the energy by producing heat as they eat. The only waste is water and a bit of carbon dioxide.

Amazing stuff. I’ll try to get an interview with this young man who may have managed to solve one of the most intractable environmental dilemmas of our time. And I can’t help but wonder whether his high school already had its prom. If he doesn’t get to be king, there’s no justice in this world. [1]

1. Teen Decomposes Plastic Bag in Three Months, Brandon Keim

Why Smith can’t get good Jobs in America

 Smith started the day early having set his alarm clock (MADE IN JAPAN) for 6 AM. While his coffeepot (Made In CHINA ) was perking, he shaved with his electric razor (Made In HONG KONG ). He put on a dress shirt ( MADE IN SRI LANKA ), designer jeans ( Made In SINGAPORE ) and tennis shoes (MADE IN KOREA ). After cooking his breakfast in his new electric skillet
(Made In INDIA ) he sat down with his
calculator ( Made In MEXICO ) TO SEE HOW MUCH
HE COULD SPEND TODAY.  AFTER SETTING HIS WATCH
(Made In TAIWAN)
to the radio ( Made In INDIA ) he got in
his car ( Made In GERMANY ) filled it with GAS from Saudi Arabia and continued his search
for a good paying AMERICAN JOB.   At the
end of yet another discouraging and
fruitless day checking his Computer 
(Made In Malaysia ), Joe decided to relax for a while! He put on his sandals (Made In BRAZIL) poured himself a glass of wine ( Made In FRANCE.! ) and turned on his TV (Made In INDONESIA ), and then wondered why he can’t find a good paying job in … America!!

From [Jobs in America]