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The Dead Sea is 'dying'
www.breitbart.com ^ | April 17, 2006 | AFP

Posted on 04/17/2006 1:48:58 PM PDT by Bubba_Leroy

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To: rmlew

So, logically - do you think its best to spend money and resources on routing a precious resource (fresh water) into a sea that can't support life? Even if I was religious, I would recognize that all of Earth is a gift, not just the things that made it into scripture. We have limited resources and they should be governed by what is best for humanity. Until the next ice age kicks in, the salt lakes of the world are destine to become salt flats as has happened for millennia on this planet.


41 posted on 04/18/2006 7:39:11 AM PDT by stacytec (Nihilism, its whats for dinner)
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To: XJarhead

One cannot put one's best foot forward while it is stuck in one's mouth.


42 posted on 04/18/2006 7:58:02 AM PDT by Old Professer (The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
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To: XJarhead
I thought it blindingly obvious what they meant, even though I suppose you could nitpick the word choice.

That is because you already knew that the shore of the Dead Sea is the lowest point on dry land. If a reader has to already know the information being conveyed in order to understand a sentence then the author has done a really crappy job.

43 posted on 04/18/2006 10:51:54 AM PDT by Bubba_Leroy (What did Rather know and when did he know it?)
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To: Bubba_Leroy

No, its because when you link the "10 lowest places on earth", and everyone of them is deep under the ocean, its disingenuous to claim you have no idea what was meant when the Dead Sea was referenced as being the lowest point on earth. It doesn't take a genius to figure out the author was obviously referring to dry land, not ocean depths.


44 posted on 04/18/2006 10:55:02 AM PDT by XJarhead
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To: XJarhead
The Dead Sea is not the lowest point on Earth. The shoreline around the Dead Sea is the lowest dry land on Earth. Those are two different things.

As I read the sentence, the object of the sentence was "the Dead Sea." The object was then described as "the lowest point on Earth." I knew that the bottom of the Dead Sea (clearly the lowest point of the Dead Sea) was not the lowest point on Earth. I did not know that the shoreline of the Dead Sea was the lowest dry land on Earth nor could anyone have reasonably learned that from reading the sentence.

No matter how you look at it, it is a very poorly drafted sentence that does not convey the information that it is intended to convey. I do not know why you are taking that so personally.

45 posted on 04/18/2006 11:16:51 AM PDT by Bubba_Leroy (What did Rather know and when did he know it?)
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To: Bubba_Leroy
The Dead Sea is not the lowest point on Earth. The shoreline around the Dead Sea is the lowest dry land on Earth. Those are two different things.

Agreed. And its so obviously two different things that claiming you were "confused" because the Marianas Trench is the lowest point on earth is disingenuous.

No matter how you look at it, it is a very poorly drafted sentence that does not convey the information that it is intended to convey. I do not know why you are taking that so personally.

I'm not. Although saying that the Marianas Trench is the lowest point on earth isn't accurate either. I mean, if you dig down 10 feet from the bottom of the trench, isn't that "lower", and aren't you still "on earth"? So really, you should have said it was the lowest point on the surface of the earth.

Of course, most people are capable of adding that kind of context themselves. Unless they're trying to be grammar queens, in which case they'll claim to be "confused".

46 posted on 04/18/2006 11:23:48 AM PDT by XJarhead
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To: stacytec
So, logically - do you think its best to spend money and resources on routing a precious resource (fresh water) into a sea that can't support life? Even if I was religious, I would recognize that all of Earth is a gift, not just the things that made it into scripture. We have limited resources and they should be governed by what is best for humanity
You are making unfounded assumptions.
A relatively easy way to reduce the loss of water is to stop allowing collection of Dead Sea Salt by evaporation. If the sea salt is that important, then it should be gathered by reverse osmosis.

The real problem is that the 6.2 million Israelis, 3 million Arabs in the disputed territories, and the Jordanians are using too much water. Not only is the Jordan River lossing water, but underground aquafers are drying up or become brakish.

Israel needs to stop subsidizing water-inefficient agriculture. Israel has pioneered many water-efficient irrigation techniques. Unfortunately some idiots thought it would be smart to grow flowers in semi-desert conditions.

Israel should also begin constructing desalinization plants.
47 posted on 04/18/2006 5:01:09 PM PDT by rmlew (Sedition and Treason are both crimes, not free speech.)
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To: Paleo Conservative

This would be quite expensive and would destroy fertile areas along the coastal plain.


48 posted on 04/18/2006 5:03:51 PM PDT by rmlew (Sedition and Treason are both crimes, not free speech.)
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To: rmlew

Sounds like the same damn problem with Vegas right now, too much consumption chasing too few resources. Fresh water should certainly be managed carefully, and if cost effective osmosis units can be used in extracting salt form the dead sea, it should be encouraged. That would also mean one could extract fresh water from the sea. But what value does one have in preserving the dead sea itself? It's not like we are talking about the everglades or the great lakes where whole ecosystems depend on the water.


49 posted on 04/19/2006 10:12:17 AM PDT by stacytec (Nihilism, its whats for dinner)
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To: rmlew

Also, could you tell me exactly what my unfounded assumption was? My questions were based on the assumption that you care for the dead sea based off of your statement " To you it may be just another salt lake, but to us, it is a gift from God.".


50 posted on 04/19/2006 10:20:36 AM PDT by stacytec (Nihilism, its whats for dinner)
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similar, much older:

Dead Sea Drying Up
Guardian Unlimited - AP | November 4, 2003 | PETER ENAV
Posted on 11/04/2003 12:03:22 AM EST by repentant_pundit
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1014147/posts


51 posted on 05/21/2006 8:14:27 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: blam; Ernest_at_the_Beach; FairOpinion; StayAt HomeMother
Just adding this to the GGG catalog, not sending a general distribution.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
Gods, Graves, Glyphs PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

52 posted on 05/21/2006 8:17:55 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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