http://tspwiki.com/index.php?title=1686
Here are some one liners...
Weather becomes a Moving Phenomenon -- The first modern weather map is published showing wind patterns and directions. I talk about chaos theory, the Butterfly Effect, Jurassic Park and the Jarrell tornado.
A New Union: The Dominion of New England -- King James the 2nd, unites the New England colonies into the Dominion of New England. The colonies are unhappy. I talk a little about the Dominion of Canada.
Weather becomes a Moving Phenomenon
Edmund Halley has produced the first weather map. He marks out the trade winds and other weather oddities such as monsoons using lines with arrows to show the direction of the winds. For all intents and purposes, this is the basis for the modern weather map you will see on TV in the modern day. Halley's work will lead to later scientists publishing papers in 1735 and 1740 concerning the reasons why weather occurs at all. Essentially, it is due to the rotation of the Earth, changes in atmospheric pressure and the fact that air acts like a fluid under certain conditions. Now all they need is a computer sufficiently powerful to model it all. Right? [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
It is the dream of every weather scientist to see a pattern that can be used to predict the weather for years to come. Of course, this ignores the fact that weather, like many natural systems, is chaotic. Small, random fluctuations build up over time so that a butterfly flapping its wings in Japan can cause a hurricane in Florida. This was the point driven home again and again in Michael Crichton's book, Jurassic Park and to a lesser extent in the movie of the same name. Even when you have everything covered... some system will change in a random fashion, and chaos will ensue. That is how on May 27, 1997 I woke up to the weather report for Austin, Texas. Oddly, the weatherman never mentioned the F5 tornado that would soon wipe out the town of Jarrell and collapse the roof of the grocery store that my wife shops at. When I was a child I was told the Earth was heading for a new Ice Age. When I was 30 I was told that the Earth was burning up. Now I am told that the climate just changes! To say that I can KNOW the temperature of the Earth 100 years from now is like saying that I know what my life will be like in 10 years, 25 years, or 50 years from now. I can make some intelligent guesses, but that is all they will be... guesses. The weather, like life, is somewhat random. [6] [7] [8] [9]
It is the dream of every weather scientist to see a pattern that can be used to predict the weather for years to come. Of course, this ignores the fact that weather, like many natural systems, is chaotic. Small, random fluctuations build up over time so that a butterfly flapping its wings in Japan can cause a hurricane in Florida. This was the point driven home again and again in Michael Crichton's book, Jurassic Park and to a lesser extent in the movie of the same name. Even when you have everything covered... some system will change in a random fashion, and chaos will ensue. That is how on May 27, 1997 I woke up to the weather report for Austin, Texas. Oddly, the weatherman never mentioned the F5 tornado that would soon wipe out the town of Jarrell and collapse the roof of the grocery store that my wife shops at. When I was a child I was told the Earth was heading for a new Ice Age. When I was 30 I was told that the Earth was burning up. Now I am told that the climate just changes! To say that I can KNOW the temperature of the Earth 100 years from now is like saying that I know what my life will be like in 10 years, 25 years, or 50 years from now. I can make some intelligent guesses, but that is all they will be... guesses. The weather, like life, is somewhat random. [6] [7] [8] [9]
A New Union: The Dominion of New England
King James the 2nd has jiggled the charters to join the various colonies into a single federation, the Dominion of New England. The region covers what is modern day New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, but this will not be a happy marriage between the colonies. There is a reason why they were separate before. Separate governing entities allowed for unhappy colonists to find something different. Now the colonies are supposed to be governed more efficiently from a central location, and in closer compliance with British law, but representatives from the various colonies are not being paid for their travel expenses to join in the central government. Sir Edmund Andros, the Dominion governor, sets up his offices in Boston, so the only representatives to show up are the ones living near by... primarily from Massachusetts. The Dominion will last as long as King James... and that is... not for long. [10] [11]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
A Dominion is a region nominally under the rule of a distant monarch but allowed to govern themselves. Canada was a Dominion under the English Crown until 1931. Today the Queen of England is the Canadian sovereign but her role in Canadian governance is limited. Don't ask about Quebec. They were formerly a French colony and have not been comfortable with British rule. Some engaged in open rebellion in the 1990s. Christopher Hitchens was the author of a biography of Thomas Jefferson. In an interview he was asked what Jefferson might criticize if he were alive today. Hitchens replied that Jefferson would be very disappointed that the United States hadn't had the manhood to conquer Canada yet. [12] [13]
A Dominion is a region nominally under the rule of a distant monarch but allowed to govern themselves. Canada was a Dominion under the English Crown until 1931. Today the Queen of England is the Canadian sovereign but her role in Canadian governance is limited. Don't ask about Quebec. They were formerly a French colony and have not been comfortable with British rule. Some engaged in open rebellion in the 1990s. Christopher Hitchens was the author of a biography of Thomas Jefferson. In an interview he was asked what Jefferson might criticize if he were alive today. Hitchens replied that Jefferson would be very disappointed that the United States hadn't had the manhood to conquer Canada yet. [12] [13]
This Year on Wikipedia
Year 1686, Wikipedia.
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