Forum Topic

From 50 years ago

The current Mediterranean heatwave, and the wildfires elsewhere, reminded me of a science fiction novel, set in the USA in a period of breakdown, which I read in the early 1970s. Near the end there is a scene in the west of Ireland and it reads:-"Opening the door to the visiting doctor, all set to apologize for the flour on her hands — she had been baking — Mrs. Byrne sniffed. Smoke! And if she could smell it with her heavy head cold, it must be a tremendous fire!”We ought to call the brigade!” she exclaimed. “Is it a hayrick?””The brigade would have a long way to go,” the doctor told her curtly. “It’s from America. The wind’s blowing that way.”"(John Brunner - "The Sheep Look Up". Published 1972.)One of those brief scenes that sometimes stick in your mind with what they suggest.

David Ainsworth ● 699d6 Comments

As I understand it that volcano was directly under the jet stream at that time which carried the ash and particles which towards us.  It changes.

Philippa Bond ● 692d

Even if it is on Teams!

Philippa Bond ● 698d

It's called Zooming now, just like we all do the Hoovering:-) 

Michael Ixer ● 698d

Video-conferencing - I'd forgotten that was what it was called.  People were running around looking to buy the equipment for their conference rooms.The trouble with meetings is that it is actually often better to be sitting around a table where you can see everybody and can share ideas and in the case I'm thinking of drawings and details ie more of a workshop.  You don't want meetings to just become a tick-box internet meeting where people only half attend and there isn't the same amount of engagement as you would have face to face in a meeting room.  With a series of meetings you are usually trying to progress a project with different people having their own different tasks to perform before the next meeting, and if they are not paying proper attention....

Philippa Bond ● 698d

Philippa. Yes, it was the abrasive silica particles in the ash clouds from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano that shut down air traffic in Europe because if the risk of engine damage. I think the current Iceland volcanic emissions are different?Video conferencing always comes into the forefront during travel disruption; notable the ascent of Zoom and MS Teams during the recent pandemic, but even back in the days of the 1990-91 Gulf war a number US company staff avoided transatlantic travel and used video conferencing instead - I interviewed some if them as part of some post grad telecoms research into the use of video conferencing :-)It's interesting, though, that once things calm down people like to get back to face-to-face meetings :-)

Michael Ixer ● 699d

I haven't read that one.  A film called The Day the Earth Caught Fire I remember from a very long time ago. That worried me then about the consequences of man's behaviour on earth.This year more than 24 million acres of land have burned in Canada... so far and there have been warnings about that smoke from Canada in America. They appear to have a lot of fires there every year but this year is a lot worse. Remember in more recent times when that Icelandic volcano stopped so many planes in Europe flying - and more meetings started to take place online - because of the smoke? I don't think the recent Icelandic volcano erupting seems to have done that this time but there are a lot of fires in Europe with this very high heat.

Philippa Bond ● 699d