Become a fan of Slashdot on Facebook


Forgot your password?

Slashdot videos: Now with more Slashdot!

  • View

  • Discuss

  • Share



+ - What If We Lost the Sky?

Submitted by (3830033) writes "Anna North writes in the NYT that a report released last week by the National Research Council calls for research into reversing climate change through a process called albedo modification: reflecting sunlight away from earth by, for instance, spraying aerosols into the atmosphere. But such a process could, some say, change the appearance of the sky — and that in turn could affect everything from our physical health to the way we see ourselves. “You’d get whiter skies. People wouldn’t have blue skies anymore.” says Alan Robock.“Astronomers wouldn’t be happy, because you’d have a cloud up there permanently. It’d be hard to see the Milky Way anymore.”

According to Dacher Keltner, a psychology professor at the University of California, losing the night sky would have big consequences. “When you go outside, and you walk in a beautiful setting, and you just feel not only uplifted but you just feel stronger. There’s clearly a neurophysiological basis for that," says Keltner adding that looking up at a starry sky provides “almost a prototypical awe experience,” an opportunity to feel “that you are small and modest and part of something vast.” If we lose the night sky “we lose something precious and sacred.” “We’re finding in our lab that the experience of awe gets you to feel connected to something larger than yourself, see the humanity in other people,” says Paul K. Piff. “In many ways it’s kind of an antidote to narcissism.” And the sky is one of the few sources of that experience that’s available to almost everybody: “Not everyone has access to the ocean or giant trees, or the Grand Canyon, but we certainly all live beneath the night sky.”

Alan Robock says one possible upside of adding aerosols could be beautiful red and yellow sunsets as “the yellow and red colors reflect off the bottom of this cloud.” Robock recommends more research into albedo modification: “If people ever are tempted to do this, I want them to have a lot of information about what the potential benefits and risks would be so they can make an informed decision. Dr. Abdalati says that deploying something like albedo modification is a last-ditch effort adding that “we’ve gotten ourselves into a climate mess. The fact that we’re even talking about these kinds of things is indicative of that.”"

Comment: Re:Why hasn't it happened already? (Score 1) 241

by cfsops (#49106753) Attached to: Al-Shabaab Video Threat Means Heightened Security at Mall of America

No, we can't. We have no such capability.
The only way you're going to stomp ISIS into the ground is to level Sunni cities, and kill ALL the people living in them. The west is not willing to do that.

The ability to accomplish a task has nothing to do with a willingness to accomplish a task.

Comment: Re:Which is stupider, the book or the game? (Score 1) 393

by cfsops (#48823403) Attached to: Is 'SimCity' Homelessness a Bug Or a Feature?

Probably had something to do with a requirement that in return for a FREE PLACE TO LIVE, they had to actually look for work, or attend job training.

Right. And that's a problem. Try providing something for less fortunate people without strings. You know, providing for the sake of providing, because it's the RightThing(tm) to do, rather than as an effort to force your will on powerless people. What no one wants is the leash around their neck.

Comment: Re:Makes Sense (Score 1) 225

by cfsops (#48060293) Attached to: Google Threatened With $100M Lawsuit Over Nude Celebrity Photos
While I agree in principle that someone should be responsible for what they post, I agree much more strongly with the notion that, if you don't want nude pictures of yourself distributed across the net, then don't fucking take nude pictures of yourself. And certainly don't act the butt-hurt "victim" when they get loose.

Comment: Re:the solution: (Score 1) 651

by cfsops (#48052941) Attached to: The $1,200 DIY Gunsmithing Machine
From Article 1 of the Constitution:


While the Constitution did not explicitly "allow" slavery, it did implicitly recognize it's existence (the 3/5ths clause) and it could be argued thereby tacitly allowed it. With the 13th Amendment slavery was abolished.

Comment: Re: Case on Shaky Ground (Score 1) 195

by cfsops (#48032043) Attached to: CEO of Spyware Maker Arrested For Enabling Stalkers

except in the RARE excpetion where a minor is tried as an adult for something serious like murder

I don't know how rare it may be, but I don't care. there is something fundamentally flawed with people who say out of one side of their face that a 15 year old is too unsophisticated to decide that they want to suck cocks, then from the other side of their face say that an 8 year old knew exactly what he was doing when he killed someone. it's perverted and obscene.

Comment: Re:Not sure about this. (Score 1) 195

by cfsops (#48032021) Attached to: CEO of Spyware Maker Arrested For Enabling Stalkers
I think they are trying to "make a point", but it seems the point is on top of their heads.

Perhaps since the software was being hosted over AWS, they'll next go after Amazon for selling surveillance systems.

I would say this is one of the silliest things I've ever heard, but I've only just started reading ./ this evening. :)

Comment: Re:Bullshit (Score 1) 221

by cfsops (#47970419) Attached to: Secret Service Critics Pounce After White House Breach
I seem to recall a newspaper picture at some point that showed missiles on the roof of the building, but I think that the secret service has always declined to comment on the defense systems in place. I'm not sure that it would make the most sense to put missiles at the WH; there may be other locations in the vicinity that would offer better protection.

Comment: Re:A solution in search of a problem... (Score 1) 326

by cfsops (#47914199) Attached to: Technological Solution For Texting While Driving Struggles For Traction
Where I live, there are clever signs on the road that say:

Hang up and drive!
$124 fine

So I'm sitting at a light and a local cop in an SUV drives by and he is... wait for it... talking on his fucking cell phone. If those charged with enforcing the law, (and traffic laws are laws after all), are incapable of abiding by the law, then I'm not sure there's a good answer to this "problem."
