AMERICAN STATE LEGISLATURES are capable of amazing comedy. According to Charlie Jane Anders, at io9, the latest silliness is courtesy of North Carolina (of which someone once remarked that the state bird, the Cardinal, should be replaced by a Pontiac Firebird wrapped around a telephone pole as much more representative), "North Carolina considers outlawing accurate predictions of sea level rise".
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| — The Seal — |
| — The Firebird — |
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| — The Cardinal — |
Faced with predictions that sea levels in the coastal areas of North Carolina will rise by a meter in the next century, legislators are considering bold action: making those predictions illegal.
In 2007 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change gave a hesitant estimate of up to 59 centimeters of rise -but even two years later that estimate already appeared low and scientists began to expect a rise of a meter or more.
No matter in North Carolina. We've got resorts to build and we don't care what the rest of the ocean does – our sea isn't going to rise by more than 15.6 inches. Because otherwise it's against the law.
No matter in North Carolina. We've got resorts to build and we don't care what the rest of the ocean does – our sea isn't going to rise by more than 15.6 inches. Because otherwise it's against the law.
Back in 1897, in Indiana, the legislature also had a great idea, The Indiana Pi Bill, to set the value of Pi to a nice, simple number, like 3.2, but it didn't fly.
Perhaps Tar Heels will find themselves in the same situation as the characters at the end of "Oh, Brother Where Art Thou?", Ed.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I doubt things willPAIfor .09 end for them as well as the movie did.