Mystery of the Missing Sunspots, Solved?

On 22 jun, 16:14, Quadibloc wrote:
On Jun 22, 5:37*am, "Chris.Bee" wrote:

On Jun 21, 6:01*pm, Quadibloc wrote:

The United States isn't something free countries need to defend
themselves from. It's true that power-mad dictators, or fanatical
terrorist leaders, who wish to bully and oppress others, might see the
United States as a threat, but making life easier for them will hardly
improve the lot of humanity.

I would disagree. America is and has been a bad influence on the
world. It messes in the internal politics of many lands either
directly or indirectly. Provides arms to those who should be denied
them leading to global conflict and tension. Subsidises and arms
revolutionaries yet denies elected democracies the freedom to exist.

The overthrow of Arbenz in Guatemala hapenned a long time ago.

Perhaps you're thinking of Venezuela. But that country, while still
trying to appear to be nominally a democracy, has been...

shutting down opposition TV stations,

requiring private schools to join public schools in political
indoctrination of the youth.

In any case, we know that Cuba is a vicious totalitarian dictarorship,
and Hugo Chavez has expressed approval of Cuba while criticizing the
United States. The United States isn't a place where secret policemen
whisk political dissenters away in the dead of night. Countries
hostile to the U.S. are like that - China, the former Soviet Union,
Nazi Germany are all examples of this sort of thing.

Countries friendly to the United States, on the other hand, like
Canada, Britain, New Zealand, France, Israel, and, indeed Denmark are
places where people are free to access foreign news media, where they
can openly debate political issues, and where elections are fair.

Has a greed for raw materials and oil which has done far more to screw
up the world than anything else.

People in the United States - just like people in Europe - expect to
be able to live comfortably. Their ancestors have built a peaceful
country on a land with vast resources of its own. It leads the world
in science and technology.

However, Japan has caught up, and Europe is not far behind either.

For that matter, the lead of the United States over South Korea,
Taiwan, or even Mainland China is no longer all that great. The United
States has a lot of forests and a lot of oil resources, but it is
still a net importer in those areas.

So, basically, its exports fall into these categories:

- Food
- Intellectual property for direct consumption: Hollywood movies, rock-
and-roll recordings

I wouldn't call this part, intellectual property. And les of all the
rock and roll recordings

- Intellectual property for technological use: Intel microprocessors,
Microsoft Windows.

You are no going to live much longer on the fruits of Microsotf
Windows, will you?

I think the trouble ahead is an economy based on the car and the gas
consumption.
The reserves of oil are being wasted, and in a near future we would be
crying better tears thinking of all this oild squandering.

This would be the real crisis, not climate warming, not the melting of
the poles.
The exhaustion of the oil. This would be the real doomsday for this
civilization.

leopoldo perdomo


So a widespread switch to Linux might just bring about the collapse of
the U.S. economy; that, and a decline in the popularity of Britney
Spears?

I think it would just be a wake-up call, not the end of the world.
Once the U.S. abandons blind adherence to the Gospel according to Adam
Smith, and recognizes that protectionism and mercantilism are not
wholly without validity, they will learn to live within their means -
and provide jobs to their suffering minorities making their own cars
and TV sets.

John Savard