#95 / Do You Copy That?

I have always liked crime thriller movies that include references to police jargon. The use of such jargon makes those crime thrillers seem really authentic: 

"10-4, 10-4. On our way. Do you copy that?" 

I just made that up, of course, but at least some of that hypothetical dialogue is genuine police lingo. While I am not certain that the phrase, "Do you copy that?" is authentic, it sure seems real to me. It is always good to ask whether your message has been received.

Recently, I have been reading about the spread of the coronavirus. I have also been paying attention to The Wall Street Journal, which has been publishing charts in its news stories that tie the recent stock market plunge to the spread of the coronavirus. Charts illustrating what is happening are shown below: 

Then there is that famous chart from Al Gore, showing atmospheric CO2, plotted against global temperatures:

The president said, early on, that the whole coronavirus thing is a gigantic hoax. Apparently, it was the president's view that this hoax was propagated by the Democrats, though I may say that the Democrats certainly had a lot of assistance from thousands of sick people in China, Italy, and elsewhere. Some of those initially afflicted are no longer sick. They're dead. Of course, the president has also claimed that global warming and the dangerous impacts of climate change are a "hoax." 

I think it makes sense to think of these various charts we have been seeing as transmitting messages to us about what is happening in the real world. The first chart does seem to indicate that the dissemination of the coronavirus has been escalating, and it seems plausible to me that this fact may well be tied (as financial commentators believe) to a huge decline in stock prices. That's what the second chart shows. And Al Gore's chart is pretty self-explanatory. CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere have been increasing to levels not seen for several hundred thousand years, and global temperatures are also increasing, far beyond what we have ever experienced before. The two phenomena seem very much related.

So, the way I look at it, we have just received some messages from these charts. The world is interrelated, and the spread of a dangerous disease is a global problem affecting every human being on Earth. Slowly but surely, everyone seems to be coming around to the realization that this is a real thing. We're "copying that." Even the president!

The release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere is also affecting everyone, everywhere. We are together in this life. 

So, here's my question: DO WE COPY THAT?

If we got the message about global warming, if it isn't a "hoax," then we had better turn on the sirens and start doing something! 

Image Credits:

(1) - https://www.einvestigator.com/police-ten-codes/

(2) -https://uk.style.yahoo.com/coronavirus-map-chart-rise-spread-141807668.html

(3) -https://www.wsj.com/articles/more-markets-head-toward-correction-territory-as-coronavirus-spooks-investors-11582864550

(4) - https://skepticalscience.com/print.php?n=3735