Posthuman Blues

Superstorm Confirmation--It Has Happened Before...and May Again

"5,200 years ago, alpine meadows from Peru to Switzerland were suddenly buried in mountains of snow. Oetzi, the famous ice man, was caught in one of the storms in Switzerland and remained frozen until 1991. The world climate suddenly became much drier and colder as water vapor was trapped in ice. The Sahara desert appeared, destroying in a matter of years a vast temperate region and turning it to a sandy waste. Worldwide drought ravaged forest and grassland alike. What happened to human beings--of which there were about 250 million on the planet at the time--remains obscure, but documents like the Popul vuh, which describes an enormous upheaval, suggest that extraordinary climactic violence accompanied the change."

Meanwhile . . .

Freak storms kill six in France

"A freak hurricane-force wind has struck the French capital Paris and much of the country's north, killing at least six people, say the emergency services."