I don't think Yahoo was ever top dog search?

I remember switching from Altavista to Google sometime around 98/99. WebCrawler before that? Yahoo is one of those companies I've never understood why people used their products. Or, for that matter, how they're still around today.

I, on a personal level, am skeptical about the usage--or at least the possible over-usage--of mood-altering medications primarily because we know so little about the way they work. See TFA as an example. I'm doubly skeptical on using SSRIs and other drugs on childrens, adolescents, and even young adults, as there are even more uncertainties about these drugs on still-developing brains!

Having said that, SSRIs are common medications today. The kind of people who are suicidal or have such a mood-disorder that going on a shooting rampage seems like a good idea are exactly the people for whom you would expect SSRIs to be prescribed! In other words, are SSRIs causing these issues (and earning your blame), or were the problems there to begin with?

I don't know, and I don't know of any studies or other medical evidence that points either way. IMH(and not not scientifically grounded)O, I would, like you, suspect some causal relationship.

"Never" is an awfully long time, especially when you are talking about the climate. What actual timeframe are you talking about?

There's not law that does what he says, so it's kind of a moot point!

And when it comes down to it, county commissioners, city planners, zoning officials, etc are neither bound by the availability of plans or the lack of plans. If anti-development commissioners are elected, they can vote against expansive development all they want, completely regardless of sea level rise estimates.

FWIW, I would be an anti-development commissioner!

Reference for where the state "bann[ed] any such consideration or planning for the future"? Not to a biased media source with no sources, please.

You're absolutely right. Things are always--necessarily--better when they are centrally decided and mandated. Fireproofing is an excellent example. Thank goodness for codes that required asbestos, Tris, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers. Too bad those contrarians just want to stand in the way of progress.

Talk about a biased article. I am NOT saying I agree entirely with what happened, but the reality is that there was a moratorium on relying on the previous (2010) sea level report which predicted 39 inches of sea level rise. New standards for prediction are to be decided upon by 2016. The new standards do not look past 30 years.

I personally do not believe that any climate predictions we have right now are worth shit 30 years out, so I don't have a problem with this.

The NC coast, being surrounded for the most part by outer banks (as opposed to sea islands) are an interesting case. Erosion has long been a problem, and will continue to be a problem. I dare say a bigger problem than sea level rise.

Oh well, I guess we'll see in thirty years!

I totally agree. I'm typing this on a Macbook Pro 3,1 (mid-2007, Core 2 Duo 2.4ghz. Upgraded to 6gb ram, installed an SSD, still runs great) running Snow Leopard. I'll upgrade when it dies and not before.

At work I'm running a Mac Pro 1,1, upgraded with two SSDs and 14gb ram, new Nvidia graphics card. I had upgraded it to Lion--wish I had left it on Snow Leopard. Still runs great, however.

Quick thought for you: even if every single word you say is 100% true, and every single thing you believe about climate change is 100% true, are you really doing anything (other than perhaps gaining some cathartic release from Internet bullying) positive by ranting on Slashdot? Are you helping your cause at all by shouting at and belittling your opponents?

I consider myself without a clan in the climate wars, and rude a**holes on either side are by far the biggest turnoff. Take it for what it's worth.

I pretty much entirely disagree with you.

First things first, I live in North Carolina and my family has been going to the same island on the outer banks for about 60-70 years now. It's a part of the state I feel connected to and where I would really like to see NC avoid so many of the abominable excesses of the Northeast, Florida, etc. I've met and talked with Orrin Pilkey about some of these very same issues. We agree on many things but not all things.

I think we need major reform to insurance laws and who pays when beach property owners suffer losses. I don't it's fair to privatize profits (rentals, etc) but socialize the costs (beach replenishment, hurricane damage repairs, etc).

I think we need major limits on the kind of beach construction that is allowed (again, let's avoid the Northeast and Florida models), and where it is allowed.

I actually think NC, so far, has done a pretty good job of maintaining its beaches and islands and natural spaces. That's one of the reason the coast fills up with Ohio, Pennsylvania, NY, etc license plates every summer.

On to the juicy stuff!

Issues of jetties, replenishment, dredging, erosion, viability of coastal roads, etc, are all linked to the climate (and therefore climate change), but are also independent of effects 30 years out. If a beach is eroding TODAY (and some are--some are replenishing today--that's the way it goes!), stakeholders are going to want it dealt with today, consequences be damned. Forget the consequences 30 years out! If enough beach property owners make noise and can get a jetty built today, well, ignore the immediate consequences, it's built. The 30-year time frame is again irrelevant to the stakeholders.

The island I go to every year has horrible erosion on the north and the middle. They are constantly dredging and replenishing certain parts of the island. This has very negative effects on the beach and sea life, and is, at best, a temporary patch. They're also losing the battles. Some of the older houses are literally sitting in the water at high tide. On the south end of the island, the island is growing, The beaches are getting bigger, and the island is actually migrating south. That's just what barrier islands (non-rocky islands) do. At some point those on the north of the island are going to have to bite the bullet and lose their properties (or more like lose their properties in a hurricane and not be allowed to build). I say, tough luck, but if you chose to build or buy on the beach, you have to be prepared to take those risks.

So, please don't take this as a defense of beach property owners and stakeholders, it's just an "it is what it is" situation.

Getting to climate change models though, that's a different question entirely. For one thing, I (personally) have no trust in the models beyond thirty years. I don't have any faith in the models at thirty years truthfully. I do not believe it has been demonstrated that climate predictions of thirty years ago--or, specifically in the beach context we're discussing, ocean levels predictions of 30 years ago--are accurate. I doubt our predictions today are any better. Second, the 30-year window is a rolling window. If trends accelerate over the next 5 five years, well, the models can account for heightened results over the NEXT thirty years.

I don't know you or your beliefs at all, but like so many things in our society today, I think this particular "NC rethuglicans bans global warming AND HATE THE PLANET Zomg!!!!" talking point meme is way overblown and has become part of a needlessly didactic argument. It's not nearly so simple an issue as you seem to think.

I'm glad they've been banned in Europe. It will be a perfect test. If bee populations recover--they should be banned elsewhere. If nothing changes, we'll know neonicitinoids aren't the main problem. Either way, we will have an answer.

There's some evidence that neonicitnoids by themselves don't affect bee health--see Australia, which has healthy bees and is also a heavy user of neonicitinoids.

Varroa infested countries might have no choice but to ban neonicitinoids, however, if the combo of the two is the prime cause of CCD.

I've never so much as tried marijuana or any other illegal drugs, any painkillers, nicotine, etc. The only drug I have experience with is alcohol.

Now, in my later years, my thoughts regarding intoxicants have changed. It's very interesting to m to read conversations like this--the experiences are so very far from my own. Even coming across these situations (e.g., talking about different kind of MDMA you see on a regular basis!) is far outside my ken. I had thought the Silk Road might be interesting to try--good thing I missed out, given what went down there.

I wonder if LSD will ever been legal within my lifetime. I kind of doubt it.

Do you know of any examples of open source iOS/OS X software that demonstrates this separation of writing the user interface in objective-c and the guts in something different (e.g., c++)? I'm a total objective-c novice, but would be curious to see how it's done.

(Accidentally posting as AC, so, reposting)

Are there any positive impacts from global warming/climate change/climate disruption/what have you? Ever single consequence that I ever see people talking about is negative--drought, fire, sea level rise, spread of disease, extinction, etc.

Are there any possible positives looking ahead?

Zing!

(still running Snow Leopard on my laptop and happy about it!)

I'm curious about this. It seems to me that millions might--or might not--be better off by not being denied health care INSURANCE, but were people really denied health care (note the difference between insurance and care) previously? Aren't ERs and the like forbidden from turning away anybody who needs care, even if they can't pay? Do you think ER usage will change post-Obamacare?

Speaking as somebody who selects the healthcare plan for a small business with about 20 employees (about 15 of whom opt to be on our insurance), we've been raped by the insurance companies for years, and we're still being raped. I don't know our final percentage increase this year (our current plan runs through June 31), but it looks like the percentage increase for this year is going to be astronomical.

I don't even really blame the insurance companies. The companies are after all completely regulated by state and federal requirements and are forbidden from competing across state lines, etc. The problems are structural, and I just don't see how Obamacare changes anything at all structurally.