Shocking

There is a ridiculous article in the Times this morning which seems to have originated in New Scientist. I actually quite like New Scientist, though it's become the mouth piece of the Eco Warrior in recent years, which does hack me off a bit. I don't know whether the article in Today's Times is simply badly reported, or whether the original was also bilge, but it tries to produce a timeline of events that would occur if man was wiped from the face of the eearth in a single catastrophic event tomorrow, with all else left intact.

First on the timeline of events is light polution, which would end within 48 hours of humans vanishing. I think that's a fair statement, obvious, but fair. At 3 months nitrogen and sulphur oxides start to lesson in the atmosphere, OK. Within 10 years the methane in the atmosphere is apparently "gone". I'm no expert, but I do know that all rotting organic matter releases methane, so you are not really trying to tell me that methane just vanishes in 10 years are you? In 50 years GM crops vanish. I'd say that was unlikely. They might even prolifereate without man to stop them. Most buildings will be gone in 1,000 years. I can think of a lot of exeptions to that. There are plenty of structures already thousands of years old. Apparently nearly everything is gone in 50,000 years. I guess most things would be gone in 50,000 years. The article claims that some chemicles only disappear after 200,000 years and some nuclear waste will remain deadly for 2,000,000 years.

I can think of a few other things that would be left behind. The non reactive metals, especially jewellery will be around for millions of years, as will precious stones that have been cut. I think the precious stones will last pretty much for ever. Stone structures wear away over the millenia, but carved stone will last eons. Buried relics would last longer than those exposed to the atmosphere. The whole article is silly. We already have artifacts from prehistoric times which are millions of years old. I myself have some ants preserved in amber. What really gets me about this though is the fact that some academic clown is claiming kudos for this when any reasonably intelligent 13-year old could have come up with it. There is no specialist knowledge, no creative thought, no original ideas, it's all wallpaper.

Last night I missed the 18.03 train. The 18.12 was cancelled, and the 18.24 was late. By the time I got home it was almost time to go back to work again. We really do have the worst rail system in the whole wide world I think.

Tomorrow is Friday 13th - Woooooo. It's also Halloween at the end of the month and we are planning on making a pumpkin head again. I love doing that. And this year of course we have an excuse in the form of my son, so we'll look like good parents and not immature students or something. I was toying with the idea of using some other vetetable this year, but I think you have to go a long way to beat pumpkins. Also, pumpkin is another food our little boy has yet to experience, so we can slaughter two birds with the same rock here.

The BBC website seems to have been down all day - shocking!