Another unintended consequence of global warming
It seems that a combination of global warming, Google Earth and Facebook is leading to british teens invading people’s backyard pools! The Mail on Sunday reported The Google Earth gatecrashers who take uninvited dips in home-owners’ swimming pools, saying:
Would-be revellers are using satellite images on the internet to find houses with swimming pools - and then turning up uninvited for an impromptu dip.
The craze involves using the Google Earth programme, which provides high-quality aerial photos of Britain and other countries.
Once a target is chosen, the organisers use social networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo to arrange to meet, say police.
Now kids will be kids, and when I was a student in Brisbane we’d often jump the fence at the Queensland Uni pool for a midnight swim. With weather getting warmer in the UK, summers getting longer, and pools much more scarce than down-under, although with Google Earth much easier to find. Pool Party flashmobs where inevitible and will only become more common.
This is the Law of Unintended Consequences at work again; another small reminder that the big danger we face with respect to global warming is the inherent non-linearity of the global system. — DS
