Acid Rain

Posted by Anonymous On 3:43 AM

What the heck ever happened to acid rain? Based on the news and all the videos I had to watch in science class growing up, weren't we all supposed to be melted by acid rain by now? (I also remember thinking I was going to be homeless and slain by killer bees according to the news and those videos...)

Acid rain was like the fifth horseman of the Apocalypse according to 6th grade science class videos. We even created fashion trends around the specter of our impending doom. I guess we figured that since all of our clothes would look like that once the acid rains came, we might as well preempt it and make the look cool. (Although I don't remember disfiguring scars and horrid acne ever coming into vogue... for some reason we only wanted to look like the acid rain got our denim. Maybe we thought we'd all be caulking the acid river. We'll go with that story.)

So what did happen? Did we get basic clouds? Is it still going on? Is there like a little scarred subculture of acid rain victims that "The Man" is hiding from us? What the nut? Does anyone else remember acid rain? Anyone remember any other lame science videos? (Please exclude any stories about sex-ed. Those videos are all lame... and psychologically damaging...)

*Cachinnator's Note: This is not a post about global warming. I will let you know when I'm talking about global warming. There's no secret code here. I just think it's funny that I thought my adult life would consist of living indoors while acid rain ate away at civilization. Am I the only one who imagined that? I'll post about global warming soon.

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10 Cachinnations

  1. Fork Said,

    Yeah! I remember that! They used to show pictures of these stone statues that were all melting because of acid rain!

    Bring on the acid rain!

    Posted on 2/28/2007

     
  2. Chaotic Hammer Said,

    I remember the acid rain scare, too. For me, it is somehow entangled in the same memories as the "we are all going to be using the Metric System pretty soon" stuff. (Now that is scary.)

    I think that what the scaremongers forget is that change and adaptation is a way of life for all creatures, great and small. I'm not sure why this is such a foggy concept -- do these people think the Earth has always been exactly the same as it is today? Same pH, same temperatures, same weather, same everything? Why is it so shocking that when conditions change, the survivors are those who adapt the best?

    (Actually, my questions are sort of dumb. Sorry about that. When you try and involve science with politics, all sense and reason is thrown out the window. I know that.)

    What I should have said was:

    Oh no! We're all going to die!

    Posted on 2/28/2007

     
  3. Tracy Said,

    "Did we get basic clouds?" LOL.

    I totally had a pair of acid washed jean that had zippers at the ankles, so that they would be as skinny at the ankles as possible.

    I also remember being 10% scared of killer bees and feeling 90% smug for believing deep down inside that it just wasn't gonna be as scary as all the hoopla was making it out to be.

    Posted on 2/28/2007

     
  4. Anonymous Said,

    Acid Rain is still around - it just moved to mexico.
    Go here:
    http://www.zeenews.com/articles.
    asp?aid=356230&sid=FTP

    Posted on 2/28/2007

     
  5. Queen, III Said,

    It WOULD move to Mexico. But, for reals, Cach!! If it was here 15 years ago, why is it gone now??? So many questions...

    Posted on 2/28/2007

     
  6. Red Said,

    I love the simpsons. :)

    Posted on 3/01/2007

     
  7. Fork Said,

    Oh yeah!! I remember the Killer Bee scare! There was all this talk that Killer Bees were on their way up from Mexico and would invade the US in a matter of months! I was TERRIFIED! I couldn't sleep nights! And this is the first time I've seen the words "Killer Bees" since 1996!

    Posted on 3/01/2007

     
  8. Anonymous Said,

    Acid rain is currently happening-in China. when we were there for several weeks last summer, when it rained in Beijing, you'd think it would wash away all the "yuck" and be such a nice fresh rain. Oh no. it was the sickest rain you've ever seen. All the pollution would come out of the air in the rain and actually make the streets Dirtier. As soon as the rain stopped, all the shopkeepers came out of the stores with buckets and mops and MOPPED THE BRICKS that had just been rained on. Then, everyone would come out and begin washing their cars, so the "acid rain didn't eat the paint off". Pretty sick, eh? I wish I was a 2008 Olympian.

    Posted on 3/01/2007

     
  9. Anonymous Said,

    Downer.

    Thanks, DLM.

    So the acid rain moved to China, eh? We should totally make a "The Gods Must be Crazy" movie about what someone in provincial China thinks about acid rain.

    Posted on 3/01/2007

     
  10. Meg Said,

    That post and the clip were hilarious, on multiple levels.

    Posted on 3/01/2007