X-Message-Number: 14711 References: <> Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2000 09:43:42 +0100 From: "Joseph Kehoe" <> Subject: end of the world! Again from slashdot... http://www.discover.com/oct_00/featworld.html 20 ways the world might end. Some are facisious (Doomsday) one or two extremely unlikely (Alien Invasion) but most of the rest I knew about. On an aside I met some ecologists recently and they said that there was a debate within their field about whether Island species should be protected from extinction in all cases. As a rule all Island species are doomed to extinction. The very act of living on an Island guarentees your extinction (as a species)! This is why (I firmly believe) we should be investing in space. At the moment all our eggs are in one basket and if anything happens to it.... In case anyone thinks it is a bit theoretical there is currently an Ebola outbreak in Uganda and a number of supervolcanos are known about (Yellowstone -overdue, pacific rim -periodic in nature). This years hole in the ozone layer is the largest ever - At 11.4 million square miles! Flooding in Italy and Switzerland has left thousands homeless. Similar flooding has just occured in England and the experts say there is more to come - global warming and all that Some long term thinking is needed and soon. Joseph. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=14711