Great Fires of History

The loss of life and property in the willful destruction by fire and sword of the principal cities of ancient history--Nineveh, Babylon, Persepolis, Carthage, Palmyra, and many others--is largely a matter of conjecture. The following is a memorandum of the chief conflagrations of the current era:

In 64, A. D., during the reign of Nero, a terrible fire raged in Rome for eight days, destroying ten of the fourteen wards. The loss of life and destruction of property is not known.

In 70 A. D., Jerusalem was taken by the Romans and a large part of it given to the torch, entailing an enormous destruction of life and property.

In 1106 Venice, then a city of immense opulence, was almost, wholly consumed by a fire, originating in accident or incendiarism.

In 1212 the greater part of London was burned.

In 1606 what is known as the Great Fire of London raged in the city from September 2 to 6, consuming 13,200 houses, with St. Paul's Church, 86 parish churches, 6 chapels, the Guild Hall, the Royal Exchange, the Custom House, 52 companies halls, many hospitals, libraries and other public edifices. The total destruction of property was estimated at $53,652,500. Six lives were lost, and 436 acres burnt over.

In 1679 a fire in Boston burned all the warehouses, eighty dwellings, and vessels in the dock-yards; loss estimated at $1,000,000.

In 1700 a large part of Edinburgh was burned; loss unknown. In 1728 Copenhagen was nearly destroyed; 1,650 houses burned.

In 1736 a fire in St. Petersburg burned 2,000 houses.

In 1729 a fire in Constantinople destroyed 12,000 houses, and 7,000 people perished. The same city suffered a conflagration in 1745, lasting five days; and in 1750 a series of three appalling fires: one in January, consuming 10,000 houses; another in April destroying property to the value of $5,000,000, according to one historian, and according to another, $15,000,000; and in the latter part of the year another, sweeping fully 10,000 houses more out of existence. It seemed as if Constantinople was doomed to utter annihilation.

In 1751 a fire in Stockholm destroyed 1,000 houses and another fire in the same city in 1759 burned 250 houses with a loss of $2,420,000.

In 1752 a fire in Moscow swept away 18,000 houses, involving an immense loss.

In 1758 Christiania suffered a loss of $1,250,000 by conflagration. In 1760 the Portsmouth (England) dock yards were burned, with a loss of $2,000,000.

In 1764 a fire in Konigsburg, Prussia, consumed the public buildings, with a loss of $3,000,000; and in 1769 the city was almost totally destroyed.

In 1763 a fire in Smyrna destroyed 2,600 houses, with a loss of $1,000,000; in 1772 a fire in the same city carried off 3,000 dwellings and 3,000 to 4,000 shops, entailing a loss of $20,000,000; and in 1796 there were 4,000 shops, mosques, magazines, etc., burned.

In 1776, six days after the British seized the city, a fire swept off all the west side of New York city, from Broadway to the river.

In 1771 a fire in Constantinople burned 2,500 houses; another in 1778 burned 2,000 houses; in 1782 there were 600 houses burned in February, 7,000 in June, and on August 12 during a conflagration that lasted three days, 10,000 houses, 50 mosques, and 100 corn-mills, with a loss of 100 lives. Two years later a fire, on March 13, destroyed two-thirds of Pera, the loveliest suburb of Constantinople, and on August 5 a fire in the main city, lasting twenty-six hours, burned 10,000 houses. In this same fire-scourged city, in 1791, between March and July, there were 32,000 houses burned, and about as many more in 1795; and in 1799 Pera was again swept with fire, with a loss of 13,000 houses, including many buildings of great magnificence.

In 1784 a fire and explosion in the dock yards, Brest, caused a loss of $5,000,000.

But the greatest destruction of life and property by conflagration, of which the world has anything like accurate records, must be looked for within the current century. Of these the following is a partial list of instances in which the loss of property amounted to $3,000,000 and upward:

   Dates--Cities: Property destroyed.
   1802--Liverpool: $5,000,000
   1803--Bombay: 3,000,600
   1805--St. Thomas: 30,000,000
   1808--Spanish Town: 7,500,000
   1812--Moscow, burned five days; 30,800 houses destroyed: 150,000,000
   1816--Constantinople, 12,000 dwellings, 3,000 shops: ----
   1820--Savannah: 4,000,000
   1822--Canton nearly destroyed: ----
   1828--Havana, 350 houses: ----
   1835--New York ("Great Fire"): 15,000,000
   1837--St. Johns, N. B.: 5,000,000
   1838--Charleston, 1,158 buildings: 3,000,000
   1841--Smyrna, 12,000 houses: ----
   1842--Hamburg, 4,219 buildings, 100 lives lost: 35,000,000
   1845--New York, 35 persons killed: 7,500,000
   1845--Pittsburgh, 1,100 buildings: 10,000,000
   1845--Quebec, May 28, 1,650 dwellings: 3,750,000
   1845--Quebec, June 28, 1,300 dwellings: ----
   1846--St. Johns, Newfoundland: 5,000,000
   1848--Constantinople, 2,500 buildings: 15,000,000
   1848--Albany, N. Y., 600 houses: 3,000,000
   1849--St. Louis: 3,000,000
   1851--St. Louis, 2,500 buildings: 11,000,000
   1851--St. Louis, 500 buildings: 3,000,000
   1851--San Francisco, May 4 and 5, many lives lost: 10,000,000
   1851--San Francisco, June: 3,000,000
   1852--Montreal, 1,200 buildings: 5,000,000
   1861--Mendoza destroyed by earthquake and fire, 10,000 lives lost: ----
   1862--St. Petersburg: 5,000,000
   1802--Troy, N. Y., nearly destroyed: ----
   1862--Valparaiso almost destroyed: ----
   1864--Novgorod, immense destruction of property: ----
   1865--Constantinople,  2,800 buildings burned: ----
   1806--Yokohama, nearly destroyed: ----
   1865--Carlstadt, Sweden, all consumed but Bishop's residence, hospital
         and jail; 10 lives lost: ----
   1866--Portland, Me., half the city: 11,000,000
   1866--Quebec, 2,500 dwellings, 17 churches: ----
   1870--Constantinople, Pera, suburb: 26,000,000
   1871--Chicago--250 lives lost, 17,430 buildings burned, on 2,124 acres:
         192,000,000
   1871--Paris, fired by the Commune: 160,000,000
   1872--Boston: 75,000.000
   1873--Yeddo, 10,000 houses: ----
   1877--Pittsburgh, caused by riot: 3,260,000
   1877--St. Johns, N. B., 1,650 dwellings, 18 lives lost: 12,500,000

From the above it appears that the five greatest fires on record, reckoned by destruction of property, are:

      Chicago fire, of Oct. 8 and 9, 1871: $192,000,000
      Paris fires, of May, 1871: 160,000,000
      Moscow fire, of Sept. 14-19, 1812: 150,000,000
      Boston fire, Nov. 9-10, 1872: 75,000.000
      London fire, Sept. 2-6, 1666: 53,652,500
      Hamburg fire, May 5-7, 1842: 35,000,000

Taking into account, with the fires of Paris and Chicago, the great Wisconsin and Michigan forest fires of 1871, in which it is estimated that 1,000 human beings perished and property to the amount of over $3,000,000 was consumed, it is plain that in the annals of conflagrations that year stands forth in gloomy pre-eminence.

[Source: Burroughs' Encyclopaedia of Astounding Facts and Useful Information, 1889]

Blunders and Absurdities In Religious Art

In looking over some collections of old pictures, it is surprising what extraordinary anachronisms, blunders, and absurdities are often discoverable.

- In the gallery of the convent of Jesuits at Lisbon, there is a picture representing Adam in paradise, dressed in blue breeches with silver buckles, and Eve with a striped petticoat. In the distance appears a procession of Capuchin monks bearing the cross.

- In a country church in Holland there is a painting representing the sacrifice of Isaac, in which the painter has depicted Abraham with a blunderbus in his hand, ready to shoot his son. A similar edifice in Spain has a picture of the same incident, in which the patriarch is armed with a pistol.

- At Windsor there is a painting by Antonio Verrio, in which the artist has introduced the portraits of himself, Sir Godfrey Kneller, and May, the surveyor of the works of that period, all in long periwigs, as spectators of Christ healing the sick.

- A painter of Toledo, having to represent the three wise men of the East coming to worship on the nativity of Christ, depicted three Arabian or Indian kings, two of them white and one black, and all of them in the posture of kneeling. The position of the legs of each figure not being very distinct, he inadvertently painted three black feet for the negro king, and three also between the two white kings; and he did not discover his error until the picture was hung up in the cathedral.

- In another picture of the Adoration of the Magi, which was in the Houghton Hall collection, the painter, Brughel, had introduced a multitude of little figures, finished off with true Dutch exactitude, but one was accoutred in boots and spurs, and another was handing in, as a present, a little model of a Dutch ship.

- The same collection contained a painting of the stoning of Stephen, the martyr, by Le Soeur, in which the saint was attired in the habit of a Roman Catholic priest at high mass.

- A picture by Rubens, in the Luxembourg, represents the Virgin Mary in council, with two cardinals and the god Mercury assisting in her deliberations.

[Source: Burroughs' Encyclopaedia of Astounding Facts and Useful Information, 1889. Project Gutenberg edition]

A list of 40 harmful effects of Christianity

1. The discouragement of rational, critical thought.
2. Vilification of homosexuality, resulting in discrimination, parents disowning their children, murder, and suicide.
3. Women treated like second-class citizens based on religious teachings.
4. Children growing up to hate and fear science and scientists, because science disproves their parents' religion - leading to appalling scientific illiteracy.
5. Tens of thousands tortured and killed as witches (a practice which still continues today).
6. People aren't making the most of this life because of their belief in an afterlife.
7. People dying because they believe their faith makes them immune to snake venom, or other lethal aspects of reality.
8. People dying - and letting their children die - because their religion forbids accepting medical help.
9. People choked, starved, poisoned, or beaten to death during exorcisms.
10. Genital mutilation of babies endorsed by religious texts.
11. Psychological and physiological conditions blamed on demons, preventing believers from seeking medical care for themselves and their children.
12. People disowning family members for leaving their religion.
13. Friendships and romances severed or never started over religious differences.
14. "Abstinence-only" sex education, resulting in five times the amount sexually transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancies - often leading to ill-fated "emergency" marriages.
15. Women having septic abortions-or being forced to have unwanted children they resent-because religious organizations have gotten laws passed making abortion illegal or inaccessible.
16. Censorship (often destructive) of speech, art, books, music, films, poetry, songs and, if possible, thought.
17. The demonization of other religions, e.g. Christianity demonizing Pagans ("They're devil-worshipers!")
18. Children spending the period of their lives when the brain is most receptive to learning new information reading, rereading, and even memorizing religious texts.
19. People who believe the world is about to end neglect their education, are not financially responsible, and in extreme cases take part in mass suicides.
20. Long-term environmental issues ignored because of beliefs that the rapture/apocalypse or something will happen soon, so they don't matter.
21. Wives told they will be tortured forever if they leave their abusive husbands (and vice versa).
22. Holy wars - followers of different faiths (or even the same faith) killing each other in the name of their (benevolent, loving and merciful) gods.
23. The destruction of great works of art considered to be pornographic/blasphemous, and the persecution of the artists.
24. Slavery condoned by religious texts.
25. Children traumatized by vivid stories of eternal burning and torture to ensure that they'll be too frightened to even question religion.
26. Terminal patients in constant agony who would end their lives if they didn't believe it would result in eternal torture.
27. School boards having to spend time and money and resources on the fight to have evolution taught in the schools.
28. Persecution of "heretics"/scientists, like Giordano Bruno (burned at the stake) and Galileo Galilei.
29. Blue laws forcing other businesses to stay closed or limit sales, while churches can generate more revenue.
30. Mayors, senators, and presidents voted into office not because they're right for the job, but because of their religious beliefs.
31. Abuse of power, authority and trust by religious leaders (for financial gain or sexual abuse of followers and even children).
32. People accepting visual and auditory hallucinations unquestioningly as divine, sometimes with fatal results.
33. Discrimination against atheists, such as laws stating they may not hold public office or testify in court, or in half a dozen countries around the world, laws requiring their execution
34. Missionaries destroying/converting smaller, "heathen" religions and cultures.
35. Hardship compounded by the guilt required to reconcile the idea of a fair god with reality ("why is God punishing me? What have I done wrong? Don't I have enough faith?").
36. Human achievements-from skillful surgery to to emergency landings-attributed to gods instead of to the people actually responsible.
37. Mother Teresa, prolonging the agony of terminal patients and denying them pain relief, so she can offer their suffering as a gift to her god.
38. Tens of billions annually in the US alone spent to build, maintain, and staff houses of worship.
39. Grief and horror caused by the belief that dead friends and family members are tortured as punishment for disbelief.
40. Natural disasters and other tragedies used to claim God is displeased and present demands to avoid similar events (it's like terrorism, but without having to plan or do anything).

By "copycatgod" on Reddit.

Frightening statistics

A report in 2008 by the US Department of Energy found that the energy lost as heat each year by US industry is equal to the annual energy use of 5 million Americans. Power generation is a major culprit; the heat lost from that sector alone dwarfs the total energy use of Japan.
[Source: New Scientist]

Howl

As we get older, we become more cynical, more rooted in the boring, mundane world that we see around us every day. We waste all our finest talents until we finally lose them completely, and you know the saddest thing of all? Saddest of all, is the fact that most of us are never aware of the existence of those special talents. Most of us never know we have them, so when they wither and eventually shrivel up altogether from disuse, we don't even realise that they're gone. Simply put, it's the boring adult world, with its stunted and artificial 'norm', that forces conformity and compliance. It clouds our judgement and soothes our awareness until they can no longer function; it anaesthetises and lobotomises our minds. Worse, it then facilitates the creation of a cosy, desensitized, minutely confining cage for each and every one of us and it soothes and dulls our minds until we are utterly brainwashed, convinced there is no question of whether it is right and proper to meekly submit ourselves to a sentence of voluntary life imprisonment. As a reward for our self-subjugation, we are encouraged to step forward into the ranks and claim our place as another of the successfully dehumanized drones in the herd of compliant and mindless automata. And the very worst of it is this; that the custom-built cell we have each condemned ourselves to, the gilded cage that defines the outer limits of our lives, our realities and our minds and that only allows us the absolute minimum of space, this part cell, part cage, part madhouse, is a cage of our own making, created inside our own minds and our own limited perceptions, built of the pulverised, homogenised shambles of our dreams. We are each trapped within our own minds and our acceptance of our castrated lives, our limited existence and our narrow perspectives. We dutifully deny ourselves the realisation that there is a greater and worthier and infinitely more fulfilling reality to be claimed if each of us would only reach out and grasp it, each to make it their own. We don't allow ourselves the realisation that we are the inheritors of a far greater legacy which was handed down to us, and which we are systematically squandering. And so we deny and lock away our most glorious selves, the very parts of our humanity that makes of each of us a radiant being, and thus locked away, we settle down to quiet unquestioning acceptance of our comfortable little existences in our cages, mouldering inexorably until we finally rot away altogether. Our conformity to the accepted and imposed norm gradually disempowers us. Eventually it becomes impossible to perceive the extraordinary any more, to experience at first hand the exceptional and the remarkable that is always everywhere around us.

Who painted these pictures?

Take a look at these pictures below. All of them were painted by the same artist, who later became world famous after giving up art and getting into an entirely different career path. It's a pity, because they show some talent, but unfortunately an application to an art school was rejected. And that rejection was ultimately to have drastic results for the world.

 

The artist in question was Adolf Hitler, who was instrumental in bringing about the worst armed conflict in world history. His application to study at a well-known art school of the time was rejected, possibly as much for his relatively low-class background as much for the quality of his work. That rejection forced him into a different career path. His only skills were painting and being a decent low-rank soldier, and since Germany was not in a war at the time, he struggled to keep himself afloat by painting portraits and postcards for sale. But his disillusionment crystallised into a hatred for the ostentatiously wealthy Viennese Jews, and was to lead to the West being dragged into a war that was to cost 50 million lives, wipe out almost the entire Jewish population of Eastern Europe and change the course of history forever.

What is climate change?

Climate change refers to variations in the Earth’s global climate, or regional climates, over time - changes that have accelerated rapidly over the last century. One of the major effects of modern climate change is the rise in average global air and ocean temperatures commonly referred to as "global warming".

 
Did you know that 19 of the 27 years since 1980 were the warmest since temperatures were first measured in the 1850s?
The Earth has warmed by 1 degree Celsius over the last century. The most authoritative scientific reports to date which is the conclude that this global temperature increase is very likely due to the observed human-induced increases in six major greenhouse gases that trap heat in the atmosphere. Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, for example, have increased to just below 400 parts per million from 300 ppm before industrial times. If we continue business as usual, levels of this major greenhouse gas are expected to rise above 600 ppm by 2100, increasing global temperatures by between 2 and 4.5 degrees Celsius.

 
The culprits
Human industry is mostly responsible for climate change, because of the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emitted by factories (particularly cement factories), power plants, airplanes, trucks, cars, and other sources. What few people realize is that burning or clearing tropical forests is also a major source of atmospheric carbon, an estimated 20 percent of the total, which is second only to the power generation sector. Some 35 million acres (close to 11 million ha) of tropical forests (about the size of Italy) are destroyed through slash-and-burn methods each year to make way for livestock farming and crops, releasing millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In fact, the destruction of tropical forests contributes one quarter of global emissions with agriculture and land use change, more than all of the world's cars and trucks.

Did you know?
Predicted deforestation in Central Africa is estimated to release 34 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere by 2050. This is roughly equivalent to the United Kingdom’s CO2 emissions over the last 60 years. The Democratic Republic of the Congo risks losing almost half of its forests.
Large scale agriculture is another global warming culprit, as large amounts of the artificial nitrogen fertilizers applied to crops convert into the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide. Factory farming is another greenhouse offender. Globally, livestock produce large amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas that is 23 times more potent than CO2. Landfills, where we dump the mountains of waste we produce, are another source of methane, producing 34% of total emissions. In many countries it is law to flare off the methane produced by landfills, but this is not practiced in South Africa. However, in a showcase project at three landfill sites in Durban, methane is captured and used to produce an annual 10 MW of electricity that is fed into the municipal grid. This project by the eThekwini Municipality is a leading example of how to turn climate change to our benefit.

 
Did you know that the average CO2 emission rate per person in South Africa is about 10 tons of CO2 (or equivalent in other greenhouse gases) per person per year? This is above the global average of 7 tons per person, making South Africa a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions.

Why worry?
The Earth's atmosphere is now warming at the fastest rate in recorded history, posing a threat to sustainable development, especially in developing countries, and could undermine global poverty alleviation efforts and have severe implications for food security, clean water, energy supply, human health, environmental health and human settlements. Human communities are also directly threatened by climate change as seas rise, storms become more intense, and episodes of drought and flooding increase. Climate change and global warming are also among the greatest threats to biodiversity today and without action will destroy some of the World's most precious ecosystems and result in the extinction of more than a million species. Coral reefs are bleaching and many already dying off due to increased sea temperatures and acidification of the oceans to a level not experienced in over 800,000 years. As the Earth's temperature rises and habitats change, wild species that have adapted over millions of years to their specific conditions have to move to more suitable areas. Many species, however, cannot move because they are not suited to their surrounding ecosystems or are hemmed in by human development. Entire populations of species can disappear if they are unable to relocate or adapt to climate changes.

 
What will happen if the Earth heats up?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that temperatures will rise by between 2°C and 4.5°C by 2100, relative to pre-industrial temperatures. Below are estimates of the impacts for each degree of temperature rise based on a major report published by Nicholas Stern, chief British government economist, in October 2006.

The impacts of 1°C rise
• Small Andean glaciers disappear, threatening water supplies for 50 million people
• Cereal yields in temperate regions increase slightly
• At least 30,000 people die every year from climate-related diseases, but winter mortality in Northern Europe and US drops
• 80% of coral reefs are bleached, including the Great Barrier Reef
• The Atlantic thermohaline circulation starts to weaken

The impacts of 2°C rise
• Water availability in some vulnerable regions (Southern Africa and Mediterranean) could drop by 20% - 30%
• Crop yields in Africa drop by 5% - 10%
• 40 - 60 million more people are exposed to malaria in Africa
• Up to 10 million more people are affected by coastal flooding
• Arctic species, including the polar bear and caribou, run a high risk of extinction
• The Greenland ice sheet could begin an irreversible melt

The impacts of 3°C rise
• In southern Europe, serious drought happens occurs every 10 years
• 1 to 4 billion more people suffer water shortages; up to 5 billion gain water but they could suffer increased floods
• Another 150 to 500 million people are at risk of hunger (if carbon fertilisation is weak)
• 1 to 3 million more people die from malnutrition
• The risk of abrupt changes in monsoons climbs
• There is a higher risk that the West Antarctic ice sheet, and the Atlantic thermohaline circulation, will collapse

The impacts of 4°C rise
• Water availability in Southern Africa and Mediterranean could drop by 30% - 50%
• African agricultural yields drop by 15% - 35%
• Up to 80 million more Africans are exposed to malaria
• Another 7 to 300 million people are affected by coastal flooding

The impacts of 5°C rise
•Some of the large Himalayan glaciers may disappear, affecting one quarter of the Chinese population and millions in India
• Ocean acidity continues to rise; marine ecosystems are seriously disrupted
• Sea level rise threatens small islands, low-lying coastal areas such as Florida, and major world cities such as New York, London, and Tokyo.

What to do?
There are two key ways of responding to changing climate. One is through mitigation - reducing the intensity of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and the second is adaptation - the process of recognizing the effects of climate change and adapting to these changed conditions.
Mitigation recognizes that in the longer term countries and individuals can stem the tide of climate change through activities that reduce the quantities of greenhouse gases we produce. This approach implies radical changes in the use of technology, and employing practices that actively reduce carbon emissions such as innovative industrial processes, the use of cleaner fuels, the implementation of energy efficiency measures and the enforcement of fuel efficient vehicles.
With regards to atmospheric carbon dioxide, a business as usual scenario will produce atmospheric CO2 levels of more than 750 parts per million by 2050, leading to a predicted global temperature increase of between 3 and 5 degrees Celsius. The European Union and the United Nations have set a target of keeping global warming to below 2? Celsius, which means keeping atmospheric CO2 concentrations (or the equivalent in other greenhouse gases) to below 450 parts per million. As current levels are 389 ppm, meeting this target means reducing our current emissions – quite a challenge!

Adaptation is an equally important response to climate change and implies behavioral changes in response to the changed conditions, such as the implementation of alternative farming practices, climate wise conservation planning and appropriate measures in development planning and so on.

 
Mitigation is urgent.

 
Time to bend the curve is short.

 
Data provided by Harald Winkler Energy Research Center www.erc.uct.ac.za
All information from www.350.org.

Country comparison: current account

This entry records a country's net trade in goods and services, plus net earnings from rents, interest, profits, and dividends, and net transfer payments (such as pension funds and worker remittances) to and from the rest of the world during the period specified. These figures are calculated on an exchange rate basis, i.e., not in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms.

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Quote of the Day

In Germany, they came first for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists but I didn't speak up because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time nobody was left to speak up.
[Martin Niemoeller, Dachau, 1944]

Not even funny