What Caught My Eye Today - Nicaragua, Brazil, Extinction, Potpourri, Winter Olympics
Nicaragua - The Nicaraguan Constitution has officially been changed to allow President Daniel Ortega to run for re-election as many times as he wants. I think its great that the government is taking such care to legitimize a dude who is going to lead this nation as long as he feels like it. The amendments, pushed through by the ruling Sandinista party, eliminate term limits and allow a candidate to be elected president with a plurality of votes instead of a majority. Should you be wondering what the difference is between a plurality of votes versus a majority of votes, it's actually quite simple--a majority is more than half while a plurality is the greatest number for one but less than half. Still confused? This happened in the United States not too long ago in the 2000 Presidential election, when George W. Bush beat Al Gore based on a plurality of votes rather than a majority. Ortega, plans to run for a fourth five-year term in 2016.
Brazil - More than 140 cities across Brazil are rationing water because of the worth drought in decades has dried up reservoirs. Brazil is having one of its hottest summers ever, and many towns are turning on the water only every other day. In at least one city, running water is only available for half a day every three days. The drought has devastated crops and global prices of coffee, soybeans and sugar are already rising. I also read somewhere that there is a critical shortage of deodorant in Brazil. Coincidence? I'll let you be the judge of that. The record heat has also produced an immense algae slick off the Brazilian coast that stretches 500 miles and is visible from space.
Fred's Note: You might be thinking to yourselves, really...a drought is interested? By itself, perhaps not, but as you all know, context is everything. Keep that in mind as you read this next item.
Extinction - The mass extinction that wiped out more than 90% of life on Earth 252 million years ago appears to have occurred in the geological equivalent of a blink of an eye. The key here is "geological equivalent". A new study has found that the Permian extinction took only about 60,000 years, making it 10 times faster than previously thought. Mind you, the human race as we know has been around for about 200,000 years. Researchers came to that conclusion by reanalyzing rock samples collected in Meishan, China, where rock formations contain evidence of different geologic eras. They determined that the oceans experienced a sharp uptick in carbon levels roughly 10,000 years prior to the Permian extinction, likely reflecting a massive influx of the gas into the atmosphere. This could have led to widespread ocean acidification and a life-killing increase in sea temperature of at least 18 degrees Fahrenheit. Hmm...disturbingly high levels of carbon in the atmosphere, rising temperatures and sea levels. I don't know why, but this has a vaguely familiar ring to it. Is it possible that Mother Nature is trying to tell us something? Yeah, right. As if that is could ever happen.
Potpourri
- Pizza - A U.S. military lab has developed a pizza for soldiers that can stay on the shelf for up to 3 years, without being chilled or frozen, and still remain safe to eat. Hear's the thing. Sure the pizza might be safe to eat, but did anyone bother to ask whether or not a soldier would want to eat a three year old pizza?
- HBO - President Barack Obama cornered HBO's chief executive at a recent White House dinner and asked him for advance episodes of the network's True Detective and Game of Thrones series. If that sort of abuse of power doesn't warrant a Congressional inquiry, I don't know what does.
- Lingerie - Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan banned the import and production of synthetic lace underwear, claiming it's unhygienic. Yeah, that's what's wrong with the state of affairs in this part of the world.
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