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  • Colorado River Now 86% Below Normal - Disaster For Southwest Looms Near

    From 23k.302@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jul 30 01:09:42 2023
    XPost: talk.politics.misc, alt.politics.usa, alt.survival

    https://phys.org/news/2023-07-colorado-river-basin-megadrought-massive.html

    Colorado River Basin megadrought caused by massive 86%
    decline in snowpack runoff

    The Colorado River Basin provides freshwater to more than
    40 million people within the semi-arid southwestern United
    States, including major cities such as Las Vegas and Los
    Angeles. However, between 2000 and 2021 the basin experienced
    a megadrought (a severe drought lasting multiple decades),
    which researchers have suggested likely would not have
    occurred if it were not for anthropogenic climate change.

    . . .

    Yea, yea ... everything's due to SUVs .........

    However the American west has had mega-drought
    long LONG before SUVs. Read up on the people
    at Mesa Verde ... lived in their mountain-wall
    homes for hundreds of years - then GONE. It
    wasn't the Spanish, it was NO WATER. There
    were similar even-broader droughts, largely
    responsible for destroying the Mayans, maybe
    the Olmec before them. Sorry, the Mayans did
    not have SUVs ... never even invented the wheel
    (which IS kinda odd).

    Right NOW however, well, most of the southwest
    and even the LA area (and all the surrounding
    agriculture) depends on water stolen from the
    Colorado river. No Colorado river, everybody
    has to LEAVE. No more LA, no more Cal produce,
    Vegas becomes a dusty one-light town again.
    Hoover dam stops making electricity. Letter by
    letter the Hollywood sign falls down.(Bookies -
    take BETS on the last letter standing !)

    Even the massive west-coast rains last winter
    were just a drop in the bucket compared to
    the snowpack needed to boost the Colorado.
    All that rain DID make was lots of undergrowth
    which has subsequently caught fire.

    With the (very late)
    return of el-Nino it looks like huge stagnant
    heat domes are going to be the norm for the
    whole southern USA (and EU). Shit, ocean
    temperatures in west Florida are at almost
    100f ... the heat domes just don't move.
    In the USA the domes steer weather OVER them,
    making New England cold and VERY VERY rainy.

    (Not sure about the wheel thing ... even the
    earliest civs, Akkadians/Sumerians, had wheels
    for wagons/chariots. Central/South America -
    they just didn't DO them. Weird weird. Did
    most of the other 'civilization' stuff, but
    NO WHEELS).

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From rbowman@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jul 30 06:21:44 2023
    XPost: talk.politics.misc, alt.politics.usa, alt.survival

    On Sun, 30 Jul 2023 01:09:42 -0400, 23k.302 wrote:

    (Not sure about the wheel thing ... even the earliest civs,
    Akkadians/Sumerians, had wheels for wagons/chariots. Central/South
    America - they just didn't DO them. Weird weird. Did most of the
    other 'civilization' stuff, but NO WHEELS).

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roads_of_Chaco

    To put the frosting on the cake artifacts that appear to be wheeled pull
    toys for kids were found. The construction was stone but they still needed vigas. At least today it's close to 60 miles to anyplace with suitable
    trees. While they did not have draft animals even some sort of handcart
    would make transporting the timbers easier.

    One of the rangers at Chaco was a Navajo. He got push back from his family
    when he went to work there. The Navajo are relative latecomers and don't
    know any more about the ruins than the white man but consider it a place
    to be avoided.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From 23k.302@21:1/5 to rbowman on Sun Jul 30 13:51:55 2023
    XPost: talk.politics.misc, alt.politics.usa, alt.survival

    On 7/30/23 2:21 AM, rbowman wrote:
    On Sun, 30 Jul 2023 01:09:42 -0400, 23k.302 wrote:

    (Not sure about the wheel thing ... even the earliest civs,
    Akkadians/Sumerians, had wheels for wagons/chariots. Central/South
    America - they just didn't DO them. Weird weird. Did most of the
    other 'civilization' stuff, but NO WHEELS).

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roads_of_Chaco

    To put the frosting on the cake artifacts that appear to be wheeled pull
    toys for kids were found. The construction was stone but they still needed vigas. At least today it's close to 60 miles to anyplace with suitable
    trees. While they did not have draft animals even some sort of handcart
    would make transporting the timbers easier.

    Hand-carts would have been very good, light wagons
    even better, even if human-drawn. Further south you
    get llama ... and a number of them COULD pull a
    cart or maybe a light wagon. A potential for a big
    llama trade seems to have been missed. Also, with
    some selective breeding, larger llama could have
    been made.

    One of the rangers at Chaco was a Navajo. He got push back from his family when he went to work there. The Navajo are relative latecomers and don't
    know any more about the ruins than the white man but consider it a place
    to be avoided.

    There is a false perception that every native tribe
    knows everything about all the others.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)