Asian Brown Cloud; Bargaining Chip & Ricky Jay

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

ASIAN BROWN CLOUD

(From CNN.com.  Shortened to "ABC"?...This, at first, sounded a little racist
to me, like "Asian yellow cloud," but I suppose tha the term has been
accepted--ed.)

'Asian Brown Cloud' poses global threat

August 12, 2002 Posted: 8:33 AM EDT (1233 GMT

By CNN's Marianne Bray
and wire reports
HONG KONG, China -- A dense blanket of pollution, dubbed the "Asian Brown
Cloud," is hovering over South Asia, with scientists warning it could kill
millions of people in the region, and pose a global threat.

In the biggest-ever study of the phenomenon, 200 scientists warned that the
cloud, estimated to be two miles (three kilometers) thick, is responsible for
hundreds of thousands of deaths a year from respiratory disease.

By slashing the sunlight that reaches the ground by 10 to 15 percent, the
choking smog has also altered the region's climate, cooling the ground while
heating the atmosphere, scientists said on Monday.

The ptent haze lying over the entire Indian subcontinent -- from Sri Lanka to
Afghanistan -- has led to some erratic weather, sparking flooding in
Bangladesh, Nepal and northeastern India, but drought in Pakistan and
northwestern India.

"There are also global implications, not least because a pollution parcel
like this, which stretches three kilometers high, can travel half way round
the globe in a week, " U.N. Environment Program chief Klaus Toepfer told a
news conference in London on Sunday.
(...)

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BARGAINING CHIP

Do you play poker?  If not, why'd you come here?
--Ricky Jay, ON THE STEM

   David Shulman got me "three free tickets" to see Ricky Jay last night.  It
cost me two hundred dollars.
   Jay's assistant later explained that Shulman had already received two free
tickets; these tickets would have to be paid for.  Let's see, there was $40
for his cab ride home to Brooklyn, $40 to buy Ricky Jay's book...
   Jay signed the book, but the book was brought inside to him.  Supposedly,
he was busy making a documentary, so he couldn't come out to see us.   So I
paid about a gazillion dollars and didn't even get an answer on "bargaining
chip."
   I tried to tell my date (that woman from Spain) the rules--that what
Shulman and I do is worthless, and this one evening cost more money than I've
actually really made.  Then she won't see me again and life will go on.
   Sorry about "bargaining chip," but I did try.