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April 19, 2010
Nature's wrath
Volcanic eruption between Myrdalsjokull and Eyjafjallajokull glaciers, originally uploaded by Narisa.
It's been pretty hard not to follow the goings-on in Europe, where an ash cloud from Eyjafja... Uh... Eyja... A volcano in Iceland, has drifted over the Western part of the continent and forced concerned aviation officials into canceling almost all commercial flights. The shenanigans have been going on nearly five days, and are costing the airlines millions, if not billions of dollars. Or euros. Or whatever the hell they use over there.
The Royal Navy has even gotten involved, dispatching ships to help stranded Britons. I mostly enjoyed that article because I learned that Britain's transportation minister is a person named Lord Adonis. What a name! If I wanted to become a porn star and chose the name Lord Adonis, the porn producer would probably laugh and tell me to come up with something a little less obvious.
Meanwhile, El Rushbo has opined this is God's fury for health care reform. Yes, because God believes in free markets, which is why He has the anti-competitive policy of eternal damnation for those who reject Him. Or, you know, God never chose to express His displeasure at other unpopular things like the Holocaust or slavery - but health care reform - you've gone too far this time, humanity! Smite. Also, why would God punish Europe for America's doings?
This whole volcano thing reminds of the events of 1816, sometimes known as "The Year Without A Summer." In 1815, a volcano erupted in Asia, affecting the climate through Europe and North America. Global temperatures dipped, crops failed, and people panicked.
Most significantly to people nowadays, the weather forced Mary Shelley and her companions to stay inside, where they wrote to while away the time. Shelley produced "Frankenstein," and John Polidori wrote "The Vampyre," which is quite obviously the precursor to all the irritating vampire-related literature now overwhelming our culture. Actually, maybe that is God's way of punishing us?
entry no. 1429
Posted at April 19, 2010 01:30 PM