The Doomsday Clock
Written by Alan Bellows on January 7th, 2006 at 10:36 pm
From DamnInteresting.comDoomsday ClockThere is a clock at the University of Chicago called the Doomsday Clock whose time perpetually lingers just shy of midnight. On this clock, midnight metaphorically represents full nuclear war bringing an end to all civilization, and the clock is meant as a gauge to constantly indicate humankind’s proximity to this horrific event.When it was introduced in 1947, it was set for seven minutes to midnight. Since that day, its minute hand has wandered around on the upper-left quarter of the clock face, inching closer to 12:00 when the threat of nuclear war grows, and crawling away as the risk fades. It has been as close as two minutes to midnight in 1953, and as far as seventeen minutes in 1991. If its caretakers ever set it for midnight, it will probably be the last thing they ever do.http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=329
U.S. nuclear double standards
By Hugh Gusterson | 21 February 2008
My last column quoted unusually blunt remarks by Pakistani Brig. Gen. Atta M. Iqhman and his deputy Col. Bom Zhalot. They expressed concern about the inadequacy of U.S. procedures for handling nuclear weapons and condemned U.S. double standards about nuclear weapons. Attentive readers wondered why they had not heard of the Brigadier-General before and why the only source produced by a Google search on his name was my article. Does a person’s reality have to be affirmed by Google, Wikipedia, or Who’s Who for his opinions to matter? Others asked if it would be possible to hear more from Atta M. Iqhman given his refreshing candor. Fortunately, I was able to win an exclusive interview with Iqhman.
http://www.thebulletin.org/columns/hugh-gusterson/20080221.html
BUSH WARNS OF WORLD WAR III?
Posted: Thursday, October 18, 2007 9:13 AM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under: White House, 2008In his new conference yesterday, the Washington Post writes, “Bush forecast doomsday if Tehran builds nuclear weapons. ‘We got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel,’ he said. ‘So I’ve told people that if you’re interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from [having] the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon.’”
The New York Daily News on Bush’s WWIII comment: “White House sources confirmed it was the first time Bush has floated that apocalyptic scenario for the Islamic republic. His language seemed even starker as he admitted relations with Russia have grown frostier. Russian President Vladimir Putin met Iranian leaders in Tehran Wednesday. The tougher talk seems to move Bush rhetorically closer to Vice President Cheney in an intensifying internal White House debate over the gravity of the threat posed by Iran.
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/10/18/417347.aspx
A Google Search For Leaders Who May Have Brandished WWIII
Bush warns of ‘World War III’ – The Carpetbagger Report
Much of the president’s press conference today was devoted to discussion of the … So I’ve told people that if you’re interested in avoiding World War III, …
www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13272.html – 56k – Cached – Similar pages – Note thisAlterNet: War on Iraq: Bush’s World War III ‘Solution’
If the president mentions World War III in the context of Iran’s nuclear program, one can be certain that this is the very sort of discussion that is taking …
www.alternet.org/waroniraq/65846/ – 122k – Cached – Similar pages – Note thisGeorge Bush warns Putin over ‘World War III’ – Telegraph
George Bush warns Putin over ‘World War III’ … President George W Bush has raised the spectre of “World War Three” breaking out if Iran was allowed to …
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/18/wiran118.xml – 49k – Cached – Similar pages – Note thisConsortiumnews.com
Oct 23, 2007 … President George W. Bush added his own ominous thunder with a public warning about World War III, and Democratic front-runner Hillary …
www.consortiumnews.com/2007/102307a.html – 25k – Cached – Similar pages – Note thisIsrael Warns World War III May be Biblical War of Gog and Magog …
(IsraelNN.com) US President George W. Bush said a nuclear Iran would mean World War III. Israeli newscasts featured Gog & Magog maps of the likely alignment …
www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/123961 – 12k – Cached – Similar pages – Note thisThe Raw Story | Rachel Maddow: Bush says ‘World War III is worth …
Oct 18, 2007 … President Bush had indicated in Wednesday’s press conference that “if you’re interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought …
rawstory.com/news/2007/Rachel_Maddow_Bush_says_World_War_1018.html – 22k – Cached – Similar pages – Note thisThe Washington Note
Calling himself a War president is the best way for him to rationalize …… Seriously, I just hope that when this escalates into world war III with the …
www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/001869.php – 142k – Cached – Similar pages – Note thisBush: Threat of World War III if Iran goes nuclear | U.S. | Reuters
Oct 17, 2007 … WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President George W. Bush warned on Wednesday a nuclear-armed Iran could lead to World War III as he tried to …
www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN1732974320071017 – 76k – Cached – Similar pages – Note this
A Small Step Toward Preserving Mankind
‘Doomsday’ Seed Vault Opens
Workers carry boxes of seeds into the Svalbard Global Seed Vault after its official opening on Feb.
EnlargeDaniel Sannum Lauten
Workers carry boxes of seeds into the Svalbard Global Seed Vault after its official opening on Feb. 26. The facility is located near Longyearbyen, Norway, on an island in the Arctic Ocean. AFP/Getty Images
The newly inaugurated Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway now holds more than 100 million seeds.
EnlargeMari Tefre
The vault now holds more than 100 million seeds. Global Crop Diversity Trust
The seed bank’s 130-yard-long tunnel leads to three storage rooms.
EnlargeMari Tefre
The seed bank’s 130-yard-long tunnel leads to three storage rooms. Each one can hold about 1.5 million small packets of seeds. Global Crop Diversity Trust
All Things Considered, February 26, 2008 · The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is designed to safeguard more than 2 billion seeds in case of natural or manmade disaster.
Located on a Norwegian island in the Arctic Ocean near the village of Longyearbyen, the vault is built into permafrost deep inside a mountain. It opened Tuesday, with 75 boxes of seeds.
Norway owns the facility — nicknamed the “Doomsday Vault” — and the Global Crop Diversity Trust is funding the seed collection.
Cary Fowler, the group’s executive director, says the world is losing a significant amount of diversity “on a daily basis.”
“When a crop variety becomes extinct, we lose the ability to use any unique trait that it might have in the future. So if it turns out that one of those crop varieties held the key to resistance to a particular insect pest or disease, or was really heat tolerant and could be used in the future to help us adapt to climate change, then it’s sort of tough luck,” Fowler tells Melissa Block.
The three storage rooms inside the vault are sealed behind air-tight doors and kept at a temperature below zero. Each one can hold about 1.5 million small packages of seeds.
The seeds that are viable for the shortest amount of time — lettuce, for example — can stay healthy for about 50 years, Fowler says.
But at the other extreme, experimental results suggest that other seeds — such as sorghum — could be safely stored in these conditions for nearly 20,000 years.
Monitoring of the seed vault will take place electronically — and no one will work at the site physically on a day-to-day basis.
Fowler says the seed vault’s annual operating cost will be about $150,000.
“We think that’s about the cheapest insurance policy anybody can imagine for the world’s most valuable natural resource,” he says.
See Article at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=38254288
