Of course it is the German (Teuton) gods who test-fly commercial aircraft through an ash cloud of the angry Icelandic (Viking) volcano god; of course, it is the rest of Europe that sits back and stares at how scary the world is to permit volcanos and winds and the usual unpredictable weather. Is it the Germans, or is it that the Europeans still think Germany would have been a better master than the US for the sixty-five years since Berlin burned? Unknown. Meanwhile, the US and POTUS are busy surrendering to anything wearing a helmet, such as Tehran and Beijing and Caracas. Under the volcano, all things are possible. Who won the Second World War? Germany? Russia? US? Iran? China? This is a trick question, including "incomplete."
a survey of graduating high school seniors several years ago found that 40%+ of the students believed the second world war was fought between the us and germans on one side and the russians on the other.
Who won the Second World War? He who has the last laugh, of course! And I don't see too many people laughing.
I think humanity in general has pretty much given up on the idea of saving itself. In response, it has embarked on the quest of finding a savior from within the realm of the divine. Many divinities have been approached. Some have refused; some have been ignored; many others have been crucified before they could prove anything.
Krishnamurti did not believe he was the Second Coming of Christ; or if he believed it, he felt himself unprepared. I forget why Valentin Arnoldevitch Tomberg never became universally recognized as the implacable incarnation of the present Bodhisattva as some, including Dr. Robert A. Powell of the Sophia Foundation, believed he was. And then there is the ongoing scramble within China itself about who would replace the current Dali Lama after His Holiness joyously accepts his final release.
Some stand upright in their boots, shivering with fright. Some believe chaos is the ultimate sacrifice that the Redeemer demands; that unrestrained bloodletting will flush the 12th Mahdi out of his well.
All have found religion. All are seeking redemption, each in his or her own way; hastened, perhaps by the earth’s own spit, shake, and bluster as she opens her thighs in preparation for the next big thing.
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Aside from the spectacular visuals produced by the volcano, my only interest in it is the impact on the AGW hysterics. I figured there are two ways for them to go with the ejecta:
1) humility about their misguided efforts
2) doubling down on their hysteria and declarations that western societies must cut even more CO2 to compensate for nature's failure to get the hysterics' memo.
As a people-watcher, I'm not betting on humility.
Of all the Participants in WWII:
Germany: 50 years of division, Genocide, Focus on Commercialism.
France: loss of Colonies, Indochina, Africa, less global more insular.
Britain: Loss of Empire, Still influential in the Commonwealth and the USA. My choice for winner.
Russia: loss of Soviet Empire, Stalinism reborn?
Poland: 50 years of Soviet slavery, Close American Ally
Italy: little change
China: Communists won the Civil war, New superpower. Han Chinese dominant race in Asia.
India: Largest weak democracy. Like the Irish they are the hard-workers that immigrate all over the world.
Japan: from Despot to Economic powerhouse to Grayest nation on earth
Canada/Australia/NZ: Less British, more local.
USA: Superpower, Fall of the Roman Empire II?
Scandanavia: Socially Progressive.
Arab World and Africa: Regression, if not for the oil would be destitute. What happened?
Other Airlines are testing planes as well. KLM and British doing test flights.
750 tonnes of ash per second! Unusual volcanic activity, We may not have much of a growing season. Year without a Summer II. (1st YWAS was from Krakatoa). Oil down, Food-stuffs up.
If the Yellowstone Caldera were to explode, millions of Americans would need to walk out of the ash cloud. Midwest and Great lakes may have to be evacuated.
The salient point, I think, is that wars that begin with the word "World" are a bad idea. The West won't survive another such conflict, even in the unlikely event that nuclear weapons remain unused. Indeed, the lingering after-effects of the first two World Wars may yet prove fatal to our civilization, to judge from the parlous state of America, Europe, and Russia.
JB's remark about how the world can permit volcanic eruptions to occur is spot-on. My knee-jerk reaction when I heard about the eruption is "Uh-oh, Obama, Reid and Pelosi will now begin work on the Vindictive Volcanic and Tectonic Trouble Act of 2010."
BTW, flying test flights to determine whether conditions are safe is about as scientific as determining the existence of global warming based on the rings of a few trees in the Bristlecone Pine forest.
What's the typical rate of plane crashes per commercial flight? On the order of 1 in 100,000 or higher? (I'm guessing)....
Now, let's say the presence of the volcanic ash has increased this ratio to 1 out of 200. With this probability of success (or failure, depending on how you look at it!) you'd have to fly 80-90 test flights to get any sort of reliable results.
10, 20, even 30 test flights mean NOTHING.
Germany lost World War 1 and World War 2. However, should hostilities resume in the 21st century and the Germans (with their new partner Russia) prevail, game, set and match.
Unless we launch a pre-emptive strike while they're all on vacation.
We invade in August!
I've known many Germans and German-Americans in my life and I really doubt that Germany can ever be a world leader again. The Germans do not like to lead; they do not like wealth; they shun power and distrust success. It's the same attitude Obama pretends to have; the saving grace for the Hun is that they do not do it in pretense but in all sincerity.
Maybe the aggressive Germans got wiped out at the Somme and at Stalingrad. Evolution's a bitch, a fact we would do well to note.
Mit viel oktan
Und frei von Blei
Eine kraftshoft wie ... Benzin
Ich brauch Benzin