Via Off-Guardian
Bad news guys, it turns out we’re not going to be able to build cities on the moon after all.
You see, some scientists have looked into it and, through diligent research, have found there is no water there:
…and as funny as that headline is, once you actually read the article, it gets funnier.
At first glance it might seem like it’s intended to be a bucket of cold water on sci-fi fantasies, but it’s really, really not.
What it’s actually saying is there isn’t enough water for moon cities, but there might be enough for moon towns.
The aforementioned scientists estimate there might “only” be enough water on the moon to last a city of a million people about 100 years, so maybe we should settle for a “moon town” of 10,000 people, or maybe a “moon village” of only 1000 people.
And that might be possible in the next ten years.
To be clear, there are currently no people on the moon. There are no buildings on the moon. There is no construction equipment on the moon. There is no oxygen on the moon. There might be water on the moon, if we can find out how to extract it.
We just celebrated the achievement of putting five people (relatively) near the moon, for a few hours. And THAT took years of work and billions of dollars…if it really happened at all.
…but still, moon villages by 2036.
Quote of the week goes to astronomer Ian Crawford [emphasis added]:
That’s the level techno-masturbatory fantasy in which our civilisation is currently embroiled.
George Monbiot wants to ban cars.
Not all cars, just ones that are too big, or too fast or being driven “antisocially”. I mean, for preference, it would be all cars, but for now just the big and/or fast ones.
It’s all just “petro-masculinity” and it shouldn’t be tolerated:
For anyone interested, Monbiot defines “petro-masculinity” as:
You see, despite our climate breakdown and local housing estate noise regulations, people keep driving over 60mph in residential areas. And it shouldn’t be legal.
…which, of course, it isn’t. But it should be even more illegal than it is!
Also, we should ban people driving 4x4s in urban areas. Because they’re all homophobes who enjoy running down children.
A few days ago we got our first look at Netflix’s upcoming Narnia adaptation, directed by Barbie’s Greta Gerwig. And it looks dreadful:
Apparently it’s going to be a sort of “rock opera” inspired by David Bowie and The Who.
But only news anyone is discussing is that Aslan will be voiced by Meryl Streep. Gerwig has a long explanation for this in the Empire article…
And it’s nonsense. She chose Streep because she’s a woman. That’s all.
Partly because Aslan is clearly meant to be an incarnation of Jesus Christ, and they’re shooting for some other dated and really shallow, Earth-mother, “what if God was a woman” subversion, but mostly because the studios have now learned that fanning the flames of irritation is easy publicity.
They make an awful creative decision that is nonetheless inline with trendy politics, knowing that Camp A is so hypnotised into party loyalty they’ll praise anything no matter how shoddy or nonsensical it is, while Camp B will eagerly snap up the bait to be outraged and make outraged content.
This outraged content just pushes more and more of Camp A to watch the movie/show in the name of “owning the chuds”.
The online debate makes the movie/show briefly relevant, and turns viewership into a question of political loyalty over artistic merit. This means huge numbers of people will willingly blind themselves to your product’s flaws for fear of being seen as a bad person (racist/sexist etc). Sometimes it works (The Odyssey or Black Panther) and sometimes it doesn’t (Ghostbusters (2016) or The Marvels), but either way it’s free publicity.
…but that’s just service level stuff. There’s also the deeper question of subverting values and destroying art just because. But that’s too big a conversation for TWitNN.
In what is always a highly competitive category, this week’s award goes t Giorgia Meloni’s government announced plans to ban veils, niqabs and burkas in Italian schools – because they don’t “align with Western values”. Western values, in this instance, meaning punishing people for wearing clothes we don’t like.
Italy is just the latest of the EU members to make a move like this, France and Belgium banned public face covering back in 2011, and Bulgaria joined them in 2016.
Because the one thing Western governments HATE is people being forced to cover their faces in public against their will.
*
All told a pretty hectic week for the new normal crowd, and we didn’t even mention the Greenland “peace deal” or the return of Julian Assange.
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[ H/T The Burning Platform ]
Our successor to This Week in the Guardian, This Week in the New Normal is our weekly chart of the progress of autocracy, authoritarianism and economic restructuring around the world.
1. Settling our Moon Villages
Bad news guys, it turns out we’re not going to be able to build cities on the moon after all.
You see, some scientists have looked into it and, through diligent research, have found there is no water there:
…and as funny as that headline is, once you actually read the article, it gets funnier.
At first glance it might seem like it’s intended to be a bucket of cold water on sci-fi fantasies, but it’s really, really not.
What it’s actually saying is there isn’t enough water for moon cities, but there might be enough for moon towns.
The aforementioned scientists estimate there might “only” be enough water on the moon to last a city of a million people about 100 years, so maybe we should settle for a “moon town” of 10,000 people, or maybe a “moon village” of only 1000 people.
And that might be possible in the next ten years.
To be clear, there are currently no people on the moon. There are no buildings on the moon. There is no construction equipment on the moon. There is no oxygen on the moon. There might be water on the moon, if we can find out how to extract it.
We just celebrated the achievement of putting five people (relatively) near the moon, for a few hours. And THAT took years of work and billions of dollars…if it really happened at all.
…but still, moon villages by 2036.
Quote of the week goes to astronomer Ian Crawford [emphasis added]:
That’s the level techno-masturbatory fantasy in which our civilisation is currently embroiled.
2. The scurge of petro-masculinity
George Monbiot wants to ban cars.
Not all cars, just ones that are too big, or too fast or being driven “antisocially”. I mean, for preference, it would be all cars, but for now just the big and/or fast ones.
It’s all just “petro-masculinity” and it shouldn’t be tolerated:
For anyone interested, Monbiot defines “petro-masculinity” as:
You see, despite our climate breakdown and local housing estate noise regulations, people keep driving over 60mph in residential areas. And it shouldn’t be legal.
…which, of course, it isn’t. But it should be even more illegal than it is!
Also, we should ban people driving 4x4s in urban areas. Because they’re all homophobes who enjoy running down children.
3. Trans Aslan and Narnia’s Outrage Marketing
A few days ago we got our first look at Netflix’s upcoming Narnia adaptation, directed by Barbie’s Greta Gerwig. And it looks dreadful:
Apparently it’s going to be a sort of “rock opera” inspired by David Bowie and The Who.
But only news anyone is discussing is that Aslan will be voiced by Meryl Streep. Gerwig has a long explanation for this in the Empire article…
And it’s nonsense. She chose Streep because she’s a woman. That’s all.
Partly because Aslan is clearly meant to be an incarnation of Jesus Christ, and they’re shooting for some other dated and really shallow, Earth-mother, “what if God was a woman” subversion, but mostly because the studios have now learned that fanning the flames of irritation is easy publicity.
They make an awful creative decision that is nonetheless inline with trendy politics, knowing that Camp A is so hypnotised into party loyalty they’ll praise anything no matter how shoddy or nonsensical it is, while Camp B will eagerly snap up the bait to be outraged and make outraged content.
This outraged content just pushes more and more of Camp A to watch the movie/show in the name of “owning the chuds”.
The online debate makes the movie/show briefly relevant, and turns viewership into a question of political loyalty over artistic merit. This means huge numbers of people will willingly blind themselves to your product’s flaws for fear of being seen as a bad person (racist/sexist etc). Sometimes it works (The Odyssey or Black Panther) and sometimes it doesn’t (Ghostbusters (2016) or The Marvels), but either way it’s free publicity.
…but that’s just service level stuff. There’s also the deeper question of subverting values and destroying art just because. But that’s too big a conversation for TWitNN.
Fascism of the Week
In what is always a highly competitive category, this week’s award goes t Giorgia Meloni’s government announced plans to ban veils, niqabs and burkas in Italian schools – because they don’t “align with Western values”. Western values, in this instance, meaning punishing people for wearing clothes we don’t like.
Italy is just the latest of the EU members to make a move like this, France and Belgium banned public face covering back in 2011, and Bulgaria joined them in 2016.
Because the one thing Western governments HATE is people being forced to cover their faces in public against their will.
*
All told a pretty hectic week for the new normal crowd, and we didn’t even mention the Greenland “peace deal” or the return of Julian Assange.
Tweet
Continue reading...
[ H/T The Burning Platform ]
