2023 smashes record for world’s hottest year by huge margin

Rapid reduction in fossil fuel burning urgently needed to preserve liveable conditions, say scientists, as climate damage deepens

Aftermath of a wildfire caused by a deadly heatwave near the city of Santa Juana, Chile, in February 2023. Photograph: Pablo Hidalgo/EPA
Aftermath of a wildfire caused by a deadly heatwave near the city of Santa Juana, Chile, in February 2023. Photograph: Pablo Hidalgo/EPA

2023 “smashed” the record for the hottest year by a huge margin, providing “dramatic testimony” of how much warmer and more dangerous today’s climate is from the cooler one in which human civilization developed.

Link to article: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/09/2023-record-world-hottest-climate-fossil-fuel

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Hello!

ATC is happy to hand out the first issue of the Anti-Tech Collective Journal. The journal features 4 essays but should be enough to keep you busy for a while! This project has been an experiment in focussing on subscriber-submitted contributions, differing significantly from ATC’s past publication projects. We look forward to hearing all of your feedback–both positive and negative–as this is primarily a community endeavor to foster discussion of and expose to anti-tech ideas.

Happy reading, and apologies for the general lack of communication,

The ATC team

ATCJ 1.1

Extreme Heat: the Climate Disaster That’s Hardest to See

A sign stands warning of extreme heat Tuesday, July 11, 2023, in Death Valley National Park, Calif. July is the hottest month at the park with an average high of 116 degrees( Ty ONeil / AP Photo )
A sign stands warning of extreme heat Tuesday, July 11, 2023, in Death Valley National Park, Calif. July is the hottest month at the park with an average high of 116 degrees
( Ty ONeil / AP Photo )

https://waaa.wnyc.org/otm/otm081823_cms1350313_pod.mp3/otm081823_cms1350313_pod.mp3_ywr3ahjkcgo_5519da30dc01dd0975d3b76e28354973_13333740.mp3?hash_redirect=1&x-total-bytes=13333740&x-ais-classified=streaming&listeningSessionID=0CD_382_242__567a5979b814662b7395f3af0baafde850670875

Across the globe, this summer has been unusually, unseasonably, and scarily hot, with the United Nations announcing that we’ve entered the era of “global boiling.” Scientists say this extreme heat wave would be impossible if it weren’t for the warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels. And yet it’s hard to grapple with the damage caused by extreme heat. It’s the deadliest kind of climate disaster, and yet victims of heat often die out of sight of the public eye. FEMA doesn’t even respond to extreme heat waves in the way it does to other “major disasters.” Jake Bittle is a staff writer at Grist covering climate impact. In this conversation, Bittle speaks with Brooke about the invisibility of extreme heat, and the challenge it presents to news outlets, and the potential value of naming heat waves.

This is a segment from our August 18, 2023 show, Read All About It.

Pentagon Scientists Discuss Cybernetic ‘Super Soldiers’ That Feel Nothing While Killing In Dystopian Presentation

The soldier of the future will be “flooded with pain-numbing stimulants,” cybernetically enhanced, and, one official sort-of joked, must be eventually “terminated.”

Pentagon Scientists Discuss Cybernetic 'Super Soldiers' That Feel Nothing While Killing In Dystopian Presentation

The Pentagon is looking toward a future where the U.S. deploys “super soldiers” directly inspired by Captain America and Iron Man, officials said at a recent conference.

LINK: https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7eky8/pentagon-scientists-discuss-cybernetic-super-soldiers-that-feel-nothing-while-killing-in-dystopian-presentation

How Osama bin Laden’s ‘Letter to America’ reached millions online

Videos citing the document had been viewed far less than many TikTok posts. Then a journalist made a compilation and posted it to X, causing attention to the manifesto to explode.

Osama bin Laden in 1998. (Mazhar Ali Khan/AP) (Mazhar Ali Khan/AP)
Osama bin Laden in 1998. (Mazhar Ali Khan/AP) (Mazhar Ali Khan/AP)

On Monday, a TikTok user with 371 followers, using the screen name “_monix2,” posted a video where she read parts of Osama bin Laden’s “Letter to America,” in which the late terrorist leader said his killings of nearly 3,000 Americans in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks had been justified by the United States’ support of Israel’s “occupation” of the Palestinian territories.

LINK: https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/2023/11/16/guardian-osama-bin-laden-letter-to-america/

“We May Have Doomed Humanity” – Eric Weinstein

Chris and Eric Weinstein explore the ramifications of sidelining physics. Why does Eric Weinstein believe it’s crucial to prioritize physics? How does Eric Weinstein attribute physics decline to events in the ’80s? What are Eric Weinstein’s suggestions for restoring interplanetary physics to prominence?

U.S. Lawyer Arrested After Fatally Shooting 2 Protesters on Camera in Panama

An American lawyer has been arrested in Panama after allegedly shooting two people taking part in an environmental protest Tuesday. Local media reports identified Kenneth Darlington, 77, as a Panama-born U.S. citizen. On Tuesday, he allegedly walked up to a group of protesters blocking the Pan-American Highway in the Chame District and remonstrated with the attendees. He then pulled out a pistol and—in front of a group of journalists reporting on the protest—allegedly opened fire. One victim, Abdiel Díaz Chávez, died at the scene, while another Iván Rodríguez Mendoza, was pronounced dead at a medical facility, according to TVN. Both victims were teachers, the report said, adding that Darlington has been charged with aggravated homicide and illegal possession of firearms.

An American lawyer has been arrested in Panama after allegedly shooting two people taking part in an environmental protest Tuesday. Local media reports identified Kenneth Darlington, 77, as a Panama-born U.S. citizen. On Tuesday, he allegedly walked up to a group of protesters blocking the Pan-American Highway in the Chame District and remonstrated with the attendees. He then pulled out a pistol and—in front of a group of journalists reporting on the protest—allegedly opened fire. One victim, Abdiel Díaz Chávez, died at the scene, while another Iván Rodríguez Mendoza, was pronounced dead at a medical facility, according to TVN. Both victims were teachers, the report said, adding that Darlington has been charged with aggravated homicide and illegal possession of firearms.

LINK: https://www.thedailybeast.com/us-lawyer-kenneth-darlington-arrested-after-fatally-shooting-2-environmental-protesters-on-camera-in-panama

This year ‘virtually certain’ to be warmest in 125,000 years, EU scientists say

This year is "virtually certain" to be the warmest in 125,000 years, European Union scientists said on Wednesday

This year is “virtually certain” to be the warmest in 125,000 years, European Union scientists said on Wednesday, after data showed last month was the world’s hottest October in that period.

Last month smashed through the previous October temperature record, from 2019, by a massive margin, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said.

“The record was broken by 0.4 degrees Celsius, which is a huge margin,” said C3S Deputy Director Samantha Burgess, who described the October temperature anomaly as “very extreme”.

The heat is a result of continued greenhouse gas emissions from human activity, combined with the emergence this year of the El Nino weather pattern, which warms the surface waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

Globally, the average surface air temperature in October was 1.7 degrees Celsius warmer than the same month in 1850-1900, which Copernicus defines as the pre-industrial period.

The record-breaking October means 2023 is now “virtually certain” to be the warmest year recorded, C3S said in a statement. The previous record was 2016 – another El Nino year.

Copernicus’ dataset goes back to 1940. “When we combine our data with the IPCC, then we can say that this is the warmest year for the last 125,000 years,” Burgess said.

LINK: https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/this-year-virtually-certain-be-warmest-125000-years-eu-scientists-say-2023-11-08/

Leaked Nashville shooter manifesto shows motivation behind attack: ‘Kill all you little f******’

https://twitter.com/scrowder/status/1721545965402726734

https://twitter.com/scrowder/status/1721545965402726734

Portions of the manifesto belonging to Nashville school shooter Audrey Hale are circulating social media after months of debate regarding its release.

Steven Crowder, the host of the Louder with Crowder talk show, shared leaked images from the manifesto Monday morning. The pages released by Crowder allegedly reveal the intentions behind Hale’s deadly attack.

Wanna kill all you little c*******,” one page from the manifesto reads. “Bunch of little f****** w/ your white privlages f*** you f******.”

The National Desk has verified the authenticity of the leaked images through its Nashville affiliate, FOX 17 News.

 

https://cbsaustin.com/news/nation-world/leaked-nashville-shooter-manifesto-shows-motivation-behind-attack-kill-all-you-little-f-audrey-hale-aiden-covenant-school-march-schooting-louder-with-crowder

Haunting Sounds Made by World’s Largest Living Thing Recorded

We can now hear one of the largest and most ancient living organisms on Earth whisper with the tremble of a million leaves echoing through its roots.

The forest made of a single tree known as Pando ("I spread" in Latin) has 47,000 stems (all with the same DNA) sprouting from a shared root system over 100 acres (40 hectares) of Utah. Here, this lone male quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) gradually grew into a massive 6,000 metric tons of life.

After possibly 12,000 years of life on Earth, this massive plant, whose tree-like stems tower up to 24 meters (80 feet), surely has plenty to say. And recordings released this year let us 'hear' it like never before.

"The findings are tantalizing," Lance Oditt, founder of Friends of Pando, said when the project was unveiled in May.

We can now hear one of the largest and most ancient living organisms on Earth whisper with the tremble of a million leaves echoing through its roots.

The forest made of a single tree known as Pando (“I spread” in Latin) has 47,000 stems (all with the same DNA) sprouting from a shared root system over 100 acres (40 hectares) of Utah. Here, this lone male quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) gradually grew into a massive 6,000 metric tons of life.

After possibly 12,000 years of life on Earth, this massive plant, whose tree-like stems tower up to 24 meters (80 feet), surely has plenty to say. And recordings released this year let us ‘hear’ it like never before.

“The findings are tantalizing,” Lance Oditt, founder of Friends of Pandosaid when the project was unveiled in May.

LINK: https://www.sciencealert.com/haunting-sounds-made-by-worlds-largest-living-thing-recorded