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WorldWeird: [Closed] NEWSTRANGE -- the Informus Thread (Closes 22nd April)

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    • CommentAuthor256
    • CommentTimeApr 12th 2012 edited
     (10575.1)
    People talk about the rare earth thing as if China's total domination of the trade was some sort of inescapable incident of fate or geography, i.e. that they have them and everybody else (read: the US) does not.

    In reality many nations, including the USA, have domestic sources of rare earths. But the extraction processes currently used are so vile and polluting that 10-15 years ago everyone decided that it was ok to outsource all that shit to another country far, far away even if it meant allowing a global monopoly and leaving the military-industrial complex wholly unsafened.

    Essentially, the current situation comes from a nexus of shortsightedness, greed, and racism. Reap the fucking whirlwind.

    To me, the killer line in that article is: "refining rare earths into metals, alloys and end products such as magnets -- haven't been done in the United States since the early 2000s." So fucking what? I play computer games that are older than that! Get back to work.
    •  
      CommentAuthorStoto
    • CommentTimeApr 12th 2012
     (10575.2)
    North Korea launches long-range rocket

    The flying object is believed to have flown for more than one minute and fallen into the ocean.
  3.  (10575.3)
    @Stoto

    What's the problem? The rocket was being a loyal, patriotic North Korean citizen by refusing to leave the fatherland.
    • CommentAuthorRenThing
    • CommentTimeApr 13th 2012
     (10575.4)
    North Korea said its scientists were assessing what had caused the failure.

    That it was built in North Korea probably has something to do with it...
    • CommentAuthorKosmopolit
    • CommentTimeApr 13th 2012 edited
     (10575.5)
    In reality many nations, including the USA, have domestic sources of rare earths. But the extraction processes currently used are so vile and polluting that 10-15 years ago everyone decided that it was ok to outsource all that shit to another country far, far away even if it meant allowing a global monopoly and leaving the military-industrial complex wholly unsafened.

    Essentially, the current situation comes from a nexus of shortsightedness, greed, and racism. Reap the fucking whirlwind.


    Precisely.

    Then when China tried to clean up its own rare earth industry and close down the worst polluters the same people criticizing them for their poor environmental record accused them of doing it to give themselves an unfair trade advantage.
    • CommentAuthorFlabyo
    • CommentTimeApr 13th 2012
     (10575.6)
    @RenThing - this is the fun thing about ICBM's, they're actually REALLY hard to make work... I remember reading about all the crazy tech problems the US had to solve to get the Saturn 5 to work, everything from how to stop it melting the launchpad to dealing with the wave motion vibration that forms along its length due to the stresses.

    It's surprising that so many nations have actually managed it, in all honesty.
    •  
      CommentAuthorOsmosis
    • CommentTimeApr 13th 2012 edited
     (10575.7)
    They were able to practice quite a lot, something DPRK doesn't have the luxury of.

    See Spencer Ackerman''s latest.

    The IISS also has some good preliminary analysis.

    Gi ven the high profile of this particular launch, however, scapegoats will need to be found, so there may be one or two fewer rocket scientists around to go back to the drawing board
    • CommentAuthorKosmopolit
    • CommentTimeApr 13th 2012
     (10575.8)
    The US Government made a profit of $10 billion on the various bail-outs.

    link

    Because that's what happens when you buy distressed assets during a fianncial crisis then sell them once markets have recovered.
    • CommentAuthorFlabyo
    • CommentTimeApr 14th 2012
     (10575.9)
    @Kosmopolit - funnily enough, that's exactly where my investments have been going the last couple of years, I think I owned a small amount of my own bank at one point...
  10.  (10575.10)
    I'm all for legalized prostitution, providing people are in it as their own personal choice.

    This is a pretty damn good reminder that it's not always the case.

    • CommentAuthorRenThing
    • CommentTimeApr 16th 2012
     (10575.11)
    • CommentAuthor256
    • CommentTimeApr 16th 2012
     (10575.12)
    One of the oddest things I've read in a while: A Letter To Mel: The latest chapter in Mel Gibson's descent into insanity, as reported by Joe Eszterhas.

    Both Gibson's alleged behavior and Eszterhas' gonzo retelling of it are top-notch weird, if you ask me.
  13.  (10575.13)
    Syrian protesters allegedly flogged and tortured in hospital after arrest.

  14.  (10575.14)
    15 men rape 2 schoolgirls in central India

    Soon hearing the commotion some men came running from a nearby field. But instead of helping the girls, they too joined the act.


    There are no words. :(
    • CommentAuthorKosmopolit
    • CommentTimeApr 17th 2012
     (10575.15)
    Magnus, that site seems rather - unreliable.
  16.  (10575.16)
    There are several sites covering it, including the Times of India.
  17.  (10575.17)
    • CommentAuthorRenThing
    • CommentTimeApr 17th 2012
     (10575.18)
    wut
    • CommentAuthorKosmopolit
    • CommentTimeApr 17th 2012
     (10575.19)
    "There are several sites covering it, including the Times of India."

    Yeah that's a much more credible soruce.

    When I see a site that claims to be engaging in "citizen journalism" where most of the stories are about rape or various other scandasl and there are no sources cited and no-one -including the investigating police officers - is named, it raises my suspicions.
    • CommentAuthorRenThing
    • CommentTimeApr 18th 2012
     (10575.20)

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