fart simpson posted:

why don’t the americans simply criminalize unlicensed fentanyl imports?

stephenthinkpad posted:

https://twitter.com/GameofTrades_/status/1780244757693763935?t=WyoyMgz6q_qBKshSy2HYog&s=19

They got to bring Abe back.

quote:

Chinese scientists are working on constructing a giant electromagnetic rail gun that will be used to launch 50 tonne hypersonic planes into space.

Engineers and scientists in China have been working on the project - named Tengyun - since 2016, but following a recent series of significant advances made in both electromagnetic launch and hypersonic flight, they believe that soon, people could be sent into space.

The rail gun will essentially be a giant electromagnetic launch track used to accelerate a hypersonic aircraft to Mach 1.6 - meaning it will be travelling at almost twice the speed of sound (Mach 2).

Weighing 50 tonnes, the mammoth planes are set to be longer than a Boeing 737 at over 129ft.

Following the launch, the aircraft would then separate from the track, ignite its engine and enter space.

If the project is successful, the new technology could reduce launch costs to a fraction of the current price.

This makes it an attractive peice of technology for companies such as NASA and SpaceX - who still haven't cracked the code to successfully building an electromagnetic launch to this scale.

But creating these futuristic machines hasn't been simple.

Relying solely on the plane's own power for lift-off would require a significant amount of fuel and the team also faced difficulties in finding a way to combat the dangers of a low-speed take-off.

Engineers and scientists were then forced to make compromises in aerodynamic design and engine layout that affect the machines high-speed flight efficiency.

This is not the first time China have put forth projects of this nature - although many of them did not leave the drawing board.

But this time the scientists working on the Tengyun project are confident the current issues they are facing can be solved.

'Electromagnetic launch technology provides a promising solution to overcome these challenges and has emerged as a strategic frontier technology being pursued by the world's leading nations,' wrote team lead scientist Li Shaowei, in a paper published in journal Acta Aeronautica on February 6.

To test the theory, China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) will be using the 1.2 mile long low-vacuum track high-speed maglev test facility in Datong.

The original purpose of the lab was to provide a key test platform for the low-vacuum tube magnetic levitation train technology.

But because the facility can propel heavy objects to speeds of up to 1,000km/h, scientists are now using the base for aerospace testing.

Within coming years, the Datong test facility will be extended to 37.2 miles long, to achieve a maximum operating speed of a staggering 5,000km/h.

The lab is considered one of the most 'ambitious electromagnetic propulsion facilities on the planet' according to SCMP, which is why it will now be used to gather crucial scientific data for the space electromagnetic launch project.

China is not the only country to explore the creation of an electromagnetic space launch system and hypersonic planes, with NASA and the US Navy previously attempting to successfully bring the concept to life.

In the 1990s, NASA tried to build a mini test line of 49ft but only managed to complete around 32ft due to technical difficulties and lack of funds.

The ambitious project was eventually scrapped and military officials put their resources towards developing low-speed electromagnetic catapult technology instead.

The US Navy implemented the technology into the USS Ford but have publicly acknowledged the high failure rate of the electromagnetic catapult system.

Now, the US has shifted its focus once more, to work on the development of rail guns and hypersonic missiles.

China is continuing to make breakthroughs in their electromagnetic rail gun research, however, staying ahead of the game with their high-performance power supplies, precision control technology, and the development of electronic devices capable of resisting strong electromagnetic interference.

Dr. Jerrold Coe posted:

lol at Xi's armband

stephenthinkpad posted:

Some how I missed this news last month.
https://twitter.com/steveashleyplus/status/1768371840634744899?t=WeAALeedLSFQlgUnkYk0tQ&s=19

An electric magnetic launching system sound very cool, I don't remember reading it from scifi before.

Its paid walled so here is the daily mail version

stephenthinkpad posted:

Some how I missed this news last month.
https://twitter.com/steveashleyplus/status/1768371840634744899?t=WeAALeedLSFQlgUnkYk0tQ&s=19

An electric magnetic launching system sound very cool, I don't remember reading it from scifi before.

Its paid walled so here is the daily mail version

gradenko_2000 posted:

fits my needs posted:

https://x.com/business/status/1780748594129101299

oh no

GlassEye-Boy posted:

Pack it up folks, china is over, so much corruption, trust us.

https://twitter.com/AMFChina/status...090%2Fpage-9150

Son of Thunderbeast posted:

lmao "I hate the ccp and don't doubt that they are doing it, but I'm doubting it"

Every time I think about Xinjiang now I remember some gbs china thread freak who was fantasizing about the all bodies they'd find afterward and boy wouldn't the tankies be sorry then

quote:

In the nearly 12 minutes of the televised opening remarks, Yoon strongly implied that nothing is wrong with his approach to governance

Even after the ruling party’s crushing defeat in the general elections on April 10, President Yoon Suk-yeol maintained on Tuesday that he has done his best to move the country in the right direction while only acknowledging that he didn’t do enough to make that change tangible to the public.

In his first direct remarks after elections that amounted to a punishing rebuke to his administration, Yoon still emphasized that the basic direction of his leadership is correct.

Koreans who spoke with the Hankyoreh shared their sense of dread. “Seeing [the president] insisting that he did a good job when he ought to be bowing humbly before the public makes me worried about the next few years,” one said.

...

In the nearly 12 minutes of the televised opening remarks, Yoon emphasized the progress he has made on managing inflation, normalizing the real estate market and rolling back the previous administration’s nuclear phaseout and strongly implied that nothing is wrong with his approach to governance.

“In terms of the bigger picture, these policies are designed to benefit the public, but we fell short in the details,” Yoon said.

Nor did Yoon specifically address a long-running dispute between the government and the medical community and a number of scandals that are thought to have been behind the ruling party’s disastrous loss in the general elections. Yoon had been slammed for appointing Lee Jong-sup, his former defense chief, as ambassador to Australia despite allegations that he had illicitly pressured the investigation of the death of a Marine in the line of duty. Yoon had also come under fire after his wife Kim Keon-hee accepted a gift of a luxury handbag in apparent violation of a graft law.

“If [the president] fundamentally changed his approach to government because of the election [results], that could mean not keeping his promise to the public,” noted a high-ranking official at the presidential office.

Yoon said he would “have to work closely with the National Assembly” while stressing that he would continue to push for reforms in the areas of labor, education, pension and medical services. But he didn’t directly mention letting the opposition, including Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, take part in governance.

...

“Far from an apology, this was a self-righteous declaration that the president means to adhere to his bullheaded approach to politics,” said Han Min-soo, a spokesperson for the Democratic Party.

Kim Bo-hyeop, a spokesperson for the Rebuilding Korea Party, added that the president is “fully opposed to the popular sentiment confirmed in the general elections” and has “declared war against the public.”

Tankbuster posted:

whats going on with korean won?

stephenthinkpad posted:

Some how I missed this news last month.
https://twitter.com/steveashleyplus/status/1768371840634744899?t=WeAALeedLSFQlgUnkYk0tQ&s=19

An electric magnetic launching system sound very cool, I don't remember reading it from scifi before.

Its paid walled so here is the daily mail version

Son of Thunderbeast posted:

lmao "I hate the ccp and don't doubt that they are doing it, but I'm doubting it"

Every time I think about Xinjiang now I remember some gbs china thread freak who was fantasizing about the all bodies they'd find afterward and boy wouldn't the tankies be sorry then

Stairmaster posted:

It's in Gundam, you philistine

Cao Ni Ma posted:

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2024/04/113_372449.html

Cho ain't kuk'd no longer

Mantis42 posted:

I've never been more disappointed in the Uyghur people than when they refused to be dead

stephenthinkpad posted:

Is the Korean Won drop caused by interest rate difference too? I tried to search it on twitter, all I got were Won-crypto nonsense.

quote:

Rhee said he believes the ongoing currency depreciation is different from that of late 2022. At the time, the won’s value against the dollar weakened to over 1,440 won with the US Fed maintaining a tight grip on its aggressive monetary tightening policy stance.

“It was not just the interest rate differential but the expectation that the US would continue to increase the rate that affected the exchange rate movement more,” Rhee said.

“This time, it will be a little bit different. The general understanding of the market is that it is about the delay of the US rate cut, rather than (the US) reversing (its stance) back to a rate hike.”

He further mentioned the Korean won had lost some of its value thanks to the depreciation of the Chinese yuan and Japanese yen, as the won works as a proxy for the two currencies.

The Korean benchmark Kospi, which had dipped to a two-month-low closing of 2,584.18 points on Wednesday, made its recovery the next day as it wrapped up at 2,634.7, up 50.52 points. It hit up to the day-high of 2,642.03 points during intraday trading.

Retail investors net sold 657 billion won, while foreigners and institutional investors each racked up 580 billion won and 69 billion won on the market.

quote:

Major Asian currencies steadied against the US dollar on Thursday after finance ministers and central bankers voiced their concern with recent depreciation against a resurgent dollar.
...
The finance ministers of Japan, South Korea and the US said in a joint statement late on Wednesday that they would “continue to consult closely on foreign exchange market developments in line with our existing G20 commitments”.

The statement also acknowledged “serious concerns of Japan and the Republic of Korea about the recent sharp depreciation of the Japanese yen and the Korean won”.
Emerging-market currencies have been under pressure from a stronger dollar, fuelled by better than expected US economic data that analysts say could delay rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.
...
Asian currencies suffered a sharp sell-off on Tuesday, with the yen falling to ¥154 a dollar, its weakest level since 1990. Markets have been on high alert for the possibility of direct intervention by Japanese authorities, a measure Tokyo last took in 2022.

On Wednesday, Bank of Korea governor Rhee Chang-yong said the central bank would intervene to control currency volatility if needed. “The recent movement is a little bit excessive,” Rhee said during a televised interview. “We are ready to deploy stabilising measures if the volatility continues and we have enough tools and resources to do so.”

Japan’s top currency official, Masato Kanda, reiterated his country’s commitment to currency stability while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington on Wednesday.
The renminbi has weakened in recent days in line with other Asian currencies. The People’s Bank of China set a stronger renminbi reference rate on Thursday, fixing the trading midpoint at Rmb7.102 a dollar in an attempt to discourage sales of the renminbi against the dollar.

On its social media account, the PBoC on Thursday said it would “resolutely correct” what it called “procyclical behaviour”, understood to mean sales of the renminbi at a time when the economy was weak. The PBoC added that it would prevent the “formation of one-sided consensus and self-reinforcement” of views on the direction of the currency.

“The central bank is determined and unwavering in its stance to keep the relative stability of the yuan rate,” Zhu Hexin, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange and vice-governor of the PBoC, told reporters in Beijing on Thursday.

The latest statements increase the likelihood of “joint FX intervention between Japan and Korea should key levels be broken”, ING Economics said in a note.

stephenthinkpad posted:

An electric magnetic launching system sound very cool, I don't remember reading it from scifi before.

quote:

President Joe Biden and the U.S. Trade Representative confirmed today that they are initiating an investigation into China’s shipbuilding practices. News of the investigation comes as President Biden and the White House will tell steelworkers that they are also calling for a tripling of tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum. He is also promising to block efforts by China and others to circumvent U.S. restrictions by importing products through Mexico.

The White House said the administration recognizes the growing concerns that unfair Chinese trade practices, including flooding the market with below-market-cost steel, are distorting the global shipbuilding market and eroding competition. While highlighting that the U.S. trade deficit with China is the lowest it has been in a decade, the administration is also accusing China of unfair competition saying China is undercutting U.S. products with artificially lower-priced alternatives. They cite the critical nature of steel in U.S. commercial and naval shipbuilding calling steel the backbone of the American economy.

The concerns over China subsidies and state control of the shipbuilding industry were outlined in a petition to the U.S. Trade Representative from five labor unions. Filed in March, the unions formally requested an investigation into Chinese acts, policies, and practices in the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors.

“The petition presents serious and concerning allegations of [China’s] longstanding efforts to dominate the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors, cataloging the PRC’s use of unfair, non-market policies and practices to achieve those goals,” said U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai. The announcement marks the start of a process of comments and hearings into China’s shipbuilding programs and could see tariffs imposed on Chinese-built ships calling at U.S. ports.

Administration officials are saying that China accounts for more than half the world’s steel exports. They said the Chinese have created overcapacity with non-market investments in the steel and aluminum industries.

“The steel and aluminum industries face a significant challenge from Chinese exports which are among the most emissions-intensive products in the world,” the White House wrote in its briefing document. It accuses China of “distorting the global shipbuilding market and eroding competition.”

China’s commerce ministry responded immediately to the accusations saying the initiative was “full of false accusations, misinterpreting normal trade and investment activities.” They repeated the Chinese position that the U.S. administration is playing the “China card” for its political aspirations.

The White House cites over 30 anti-dumping and countervailing duties on steel-related products already imposed by the U.S. Department of Commerce. President Biden said he was not seeking a trade war, but said steps would be taken against countries and importers that flood the market with cheap products.

President Biden said they would also be working with Mexico to jointly prevent China and other countries from evasion of tariffs on steel and aluminum by importing products into the United States from Mexico.

Stringent posted:

The announcement marks the start of a process of comments and hearings into China’s shipbuilding programs and could see tariffs imposed on Chinese-built ships calling at U.S. ports.

tractor fanatic posted:

lmao China accounted for 50% of global shipbuilding last year and this year it's shaping up to be 60%

gradenko_2000 posted:

https://twitter.com/kristinemuslim/status/1780941300524634407