|
Dead Reckoning posted:That would require leadership to admit that there was a problem in the first place. Yeah...I mean let's put it this way. Say you're the Chinese Communist Party. Do you pick: a) Publicly admitting you made a mistake b) Massive public health crisis These people still have a picture of Mao hanging in Tienanmen Square.  if you think they pick A.
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2017 01:43
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 13, 2024 04:43 |
|
|
Speaking of China and its potential future clay acquisitions, 2017 has been a constructive year for Chinese base building. Lots of satellite photos with highlighted parts showing China's efforts to militarize disputed pebbles.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2017 01:55
|
|
|
How many of those bases will get wrecked the next time a big storm comes through? Dropping giant piles of sand on smaller piles of sand in the middle of the ocean seems to have a mixed record, as these things go.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2017 02:19
|
|
|
Sperglord posted:Semi-serious question, could this lead China to pursue a Lebensraum option? If a significant fraction of the country is polluted to uninhabitability, that may lead to a desire to explore foreign lands. China is still in the phase of economic development where people are flooding away from the relatively pristine countryside to the massive, polluted, congested, densely packed urban centres because that's where the economic opportunities are. Nobody wants to live in out the sticks over the booming coastal cities. When you look at the population map, you see that the vast majority (94%) of the population is concentrated into the coastal provinces: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=china+population+map There's currently huge amount of undeveloped, relatively pristine land in the Far West that the government in is trying to entice people to move to with little effect, so no, future expansion for lebensraum is not particularly plausible. StandardVC10 posted:How many of those bases will get wrecked the next time a big storm comes through? Dropping giant piles of sand on smaller piles of sand in the middle of the ocean seems to have a mixed record, as these things go. It depends on the size of the bases, smaller reefs will be susceptible to swamping but when you look at the size of the big 3, Mischief, Subi and Fiery cross are comparable in size to actual Pearl Harbour Hawaii. The sheer size of the big 3 makes them a lot less susceptible to weather patterns. https://warontherocks.com/2016/09/chinas-artificial-islands-are-bigger-and-a-bigger-deal-than-you-think/ https://2k8r3p1401as2e1q7k14dguu-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/SCS-Islands-Fig-4.jpeg
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2017 03:28
|
|
|
Mr Crustacean posted:China is still in the phase of economic development where people are flooding away from the relatively pristine countryside to the massive, polluted, congested, densely packed urban centres because that's where the economic opportunities are. Nobody wants to live in out the sticks over the booming coastal cities. One of the bigger problems is how badly they've polluted their arable land. Cobalt contamination in particular is just horrific. A crazy percentage of their rice crop is contaminated with it. This isn't a problem that they can solve with the deserts they're trying to kick the Ugyhers out of. They can't exactly take the land out of cultivation, either, because rice won't just grow anywhere and they have to feed a fairly sizable population. It just so happens that the river based watersheds that are great for rice agriculture are also really useful for all sorts of industrial processes, hence the problem. A lot of the pollution is from the big industrialization pushes in the 60s - 80s.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2017 04:27
|
|
|
Hauldren Collider posted:Yeah...I mean let's put it this way. Say you're the Chinese Communist Party. Do you pick: What has more of a chance of happening is them re-trying the "cling not to the backwards past" maneuver again, claiming that today's *modern* leadership has put China in the ~glorious and powerful~ position that it is now, and that while they *appreciate* the actions of the "great olds," China's ~futcha~ belongs to the young (and gullible). So it's a riff on A - publicly admitting that those who came *before* you made a mistake.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2017 04:53
|
|
|
drgitlin posted:The fact that sites do get cleaned up should give you some cause for optimism. The Columbia Organic Chemical Company site in SC doesn’t appear on that list anymore and that was a horrifically contaminated site, so it is possible. The owner's memoirs are a fuckin' hoot though. Actually, that probably explains a lot but still, if you liked Ignition!, you'll love Excuse Me Sir, Would You Like To Buy a Kilo of Isopropyl Bromide? http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2010/05/27/max_gergels_memoirs
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2017 06:08
|
|
|
Speaking of Ignition!, if people haven't already heard there's a reprint being published in May: https://www.amazon.com/Ignition-Informal-History-Liquid-Propellants/dp/0813595835/
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2017 06:25
|
|
|
I just want the fan made audio book featuring Illectro
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2017 07:21
|
|
|
StandardVC10 posted:How many of those bases will get wrecked the next time a big storm comes through? Dropping giant piles of sand on smaller piles of sand in the middle of the ocean seems to have a mixed record, as these things go. Hard to say, as it all depends on how far they drove those piles in, and how much concrete they used to make sure they're not entirely dependent on the sand to hold things up. In some of the bigger "islands" you might see some runway damage/washout if there were larger typhoons hitting it, but I'm guessing the important structures (communications, weapons storage/emplacements and fuel bunkers) are hardened and well supported. The irony gets laid on extra thick, as now that the Chinese has "solidified" their claims to the region, the physical base infrastructure is becoming more and more vulnerable, because Chinese fishermen are now able to do whatever they want in those waters without having to worry about repercussions. One of their favourite activities is to use giant spinning blades and explosives to destroy the coral reefs so they can dig out large clams and turtles to sell for food. The destruction of the reefs in time will protect these islands less and less (as the coral is washed away) and ocean waves will play more havoc on their sandbar bases. I'm guessing when that happens they will either have to pour a lot more concrete to protect their islands, or they're going to have to dump millions of Tetrapods in the waters around their islands to keep them from washing away.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2017 07:44
|
|
|
Blistex posted:I'm guessing when that happens they will either have to pour a lot more concrete to protect their islands, or they're going to have to dump millions of Tetrapods in the waters around their islands to keep them from washing away. https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/oyster-tecture/
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2017 08:43
|
|
|
Dammit! Now I want to eat oysters.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2017 09:42
|
|
|
We might be sorta teetering on the brink of another agricultural revolution so depending on how much capital and energy the Chinese have to throw at the problem they might be able to feed their people and take the worst-hit land out of cultivation. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/09/holland-agriculture-sustainable-farming/ That article also has a graph that says that the Chinese are using a third more water than the global average to grow a tomato and if you extrapolate that there might be quite a bit of inefficiency / wastage in the system in general to look into before you start sizing up your neighbors for their calorie content.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2017 11:37
|
|
|
C.M. Kruger posted:Speaking of Ignition!, if people haven't already heard there's a reprint being published in May: I wrote a drunk e-mail to Rutger University Press, and I like to think that tipped it.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2017 12:44
|
|
|
Sperglord posted:Semi-serious question, could this lead China to pursue a Lebensraum option? If a significant fraction of the country is polluted to uninhabitability, that may lead to a desire to explore foreign lands. They have plenty of land that's mostly unpopulated. Also that land is not polluted to the point of being uninhabitable, although it is pretty nasty and I'm sure there are serious health effects. I can't speak to the farmland, but the city smog is something that will clear up very quickly once they stop burning so much nasty rear end bituminous and sub-bituminous coal for power. Don't forget that London was just as horribly polluted into the 50s and 60s and once or twice had smogs that killed thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people. The culprit was coal heating. Once that went away the city cleared up more or less instantly. Unfortunately China will be severely dependent on low grade coal for the foreseeable future; it is adding something on the order of 1GW of capacity every week. Mortabis fucked around with this message at 16:21 on Dec 29, 2017 |
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2017 16:18
|
|
|
The Podcast This American Life featured two of this threads threads recurring topics this week. The Titan II explosion in Damascus from Command and Control and the Fitzgerald/McCain collisions. They have interviews with people involved in all three incidents. https://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/634/human-error-in-volatile-situations
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2017 16:48
|
|
|
kill me now posted:The Podcast This American Life featured two of this threads threads recurring topics this week. The Titan II explosion in Damascus from Command and Control and the Fitzgerald/McCain collisions. They have interviews with people involved in all three incidents. For a few seconds, I imagined this being something like a double A-bomb survivor situation. That the people interviewed were somehow involved in all those incidents. "Wow, those people are either very unlucky or should never be let close to anything expensive ever again."
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2017 20:37
|
|
|
Anta posted:For a few seconds, I imagined this being something like a double A-bomb survivor situation. Is a double A-bomb survivor really unlucky or really lucky? 
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2017 20:54
|
|
|
Craptacular posted:Is a double A-bomb survivor really unlucky or really lucky? He's lucky, but you don't want him moving in next door.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2017 21:14
|
|
|
Iirc, there was at least one guy who was at both Hiroshima and Nagasaki Edit https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsutomu_Yamaguchi
|
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2017 22:28
|
|
|
Double A-Bomb survivors demonstrate that normal nuclear bombs are insufficient, justifying the development of thermonuclear weapons.
|
|
#
?
Dec 29, 2017 22:52
|
|
|
Smiling Jack posted:Iirc, there was at least one guy who was at both Hiroshima and Nagasaki Yeah, if you're that guy, I figure you live your life doing whatever the gently caress you want after that point, secure in the knowledge that you cannot be killed until some Scotsman shows up with a katana to behead you.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2017 00:18
|
|
|
Dead Reckoning posted:Yeah, if you're that guy, I figure you live your life doing whatever the gently caress you want after that point, secure in the knowledge that you cannot be killed until some Scotsman shows up with a katana to behead you.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2017 00:50
|
|
|
Smiling Jack posted:Iirc, there was at least one guy who was at both Hiroshima and Nagasaki quote:That morning, whilst being berated by his supervisor as "crazy" after describing how one bomb had destroyed the city, the Nagasaki bomb detonated.  ?
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2017 00:54
|
|
|
His surviving both bombs pales in comparison to his being able to do the legendarily impossible...he managed to shut his boss up. He was being 'berated' by his supervisor in Nagasaki over his claim that a single bomb had destroyed Hiroshima when the second bomb detonated.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2017 00:56
|
|
|
BIG HEADLINE posted:His surviving both bombs pales in comparison to his being able to do the legendarily impossible...he managed to shut his boss up. He was being 'berated' by his supervisor in Nagasaki over his claim that a single bomb had destroyed Hiroshima when the second bomb detonated. "Worth It!" - Tsutomu Yamaguchi
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2017 00:58
|
|
|
Smiling Jack posted:Iirc, there was at least one guy who was at both Hiroshima and Nagasaki There are estimated to have been 165 double survivors. Yamaguchi is the only one who is officially recognised. Platystemon fucked around with this message at 03:02 on Dec 30, 2017 |
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2017 02:53
|
|
|
When you think about it, it'd make sense that the survivors who could move of their own volition would go to another city that had mysteriously been spared aerial bombardment.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2017 03:00
|
|
|
South Korea has seized a Hong Kong-flagged tanker accused of illicitly transferring oil to DPRK ships.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2017 03:13
|
|
|
Sperglord Actual posted:South Korea has seized a Hong Kong-flagged tanker accused of illicitly transferring oil to DPRK ships.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2017 03:36
|
|
|
.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2017 03:47
|
|
standard.deviant posted:My favorite part of this is that it leads the PRC to a place where they have to say “we weren’t involved, it was Taiwan.” Queue up the Trump "China needs to get this rogue island province under control" tweet.
|
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2017 04:30
|
|
|
That Works posted:Queue up the Trump "China needs to get this rogue island province under control" tweet. The solution is to unleash Chang.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2017 04:32
|
|
|
BIG HEADLINE posted:When you think about it, it'd make sense that the survivors who could move of their own volition would go to another city that had mysteriously been spared aerial bombardment. But afterwards, maybe shy away from heading to a third city mysteriously spared aerial bombardment.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2017 06:23
|
|
|
StandardVC10 posted:But afterwards, maybe shy away from heading to a third city mysteriously spared aerial bombardment. "Let's move all the way to the other end of the island! Sapporo should be safe..."
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2017 06:35
|
|
|
mllaneza posted:He's lucky, but you don't want him moving in next door. In a similar vein, never ever go on a cruise with this woman. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violet_Jessop quote:Violet Constance Jessop (2 October 1887 – 5 May 1971) was an ocean liner stewardess and nurse who is known for surviving the disastrous sinkings of both the RMS Titanic and her sister ship, the HMHS Britannic in 1912 and 1916, respectively. In addition, she had been on board the RMS Olympic, the eldest of the three sister ships, when it collided with a British warship in 1911.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2017 16:26
|
|
|
I remember hearing the story about a guy who survived the Lusitania and the Titanic both, but ended up drowning in an irrigating ditch in his garden.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2017 16:51
|
|
|
The dude with the world record for most lightning strikes survived was electrocuted while working on his pool's filtration pump. Life's a bitch.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2017 17:10
|
|
|
Cat Mattress posted:I remember hearing the story about a guy who survived the Lusitania and the Titanic both, but ended up drowning in an irrigating ditch in his garden. Terrible Robot posted:The dude with the world record for most lightning strikes survived was electrocuted while working on his pool's filtration pump. Final destination taught me you can only avoid death for so long before he finally gets his due.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2017 18:29
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 13, 2024 04:43 |
|
|
Mortabis posted:I can't speak to the farmland, but the city smog is something that will clear up very quickly once they stop burning so much nasty rear end bituminous and sub-bituminous coal for power. Don't forget that London was just as horribly polluted into the 50s and 60s and once or twice had smogs that killed thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people. The culprit was coal heating. Once that went away the city cleared up more or less instantly. Unfortunately smog is making a comeback in London...thanks to too many people installing wood burning stoves as an "environmentally friendly option". Particulate pollution from them has gotten so bad that the current Mayor is calling for a ban.
|
|
#
?
Dec 30, 2017 18:43
|
|
