assault Posted September 15, 2021 Report Share Posted September 15, 2021 Australia is preparing for war against its largest trading partner.Australia to get nuclear-powered submarines The best thing you can say about the current government is that they would completely mismanage any such conflict, and we would lose quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cygnia Posted September 15, 2021 Report Share Posted September 15, 2021 They DID after all lose to emus... assault 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan D. Hurricanes Posted September 15, 2021 Report Share Posted September 15, 2021 Did you see those emus? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted September 15, 2021 Report Share Posted September 15, 2021 I can't wholeheartedly say this move is unwarranted. China's recent actions suggest its government wants to build economic hegemony rather than conquer an empire, but it appears willing and ready to use the country's growing military might to enforce that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted September 15, 2021 Report Share Posted September 15, 2021 Housing on Mars made from blood, dirt, and pee This sounds like some of my own experiments when I was 5 or 6. Never succeeded in making rocket fuel out of urine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted September 15, 2021 Report Share Posted September 15, 2021 Strangely, we can't provide enough housing for people on Earth. Not enough astronauts, presumably. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Bushido Posted September 15, 2021 Report Share Posted September 15, 2021 1 hour ago, assault said: Strangely, we can't provide enough housing for people on Earth. Not enough astronauts, presumably. You misspelled "won't." assault and Lawnmower Boy 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted September 16, 2021 Report Share Posted September 16, 2021 Context: Jobkeeper was a wage subsidy scheme meant to protect employment during COVID-19. Although it worked, a whole bunch of company owners used it as a subsidy for their Hookers and Blow funds. Also, in Australia, Pentecostal churches manage to be wealthy and influential, despite only about 1% of Australians attending them. I guess it's the right 1%. /Context Pentecostal church given $660,000 in jobkeeper, then returns 3,620% increase in profit Lawnmower Boy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclevlad Posted September 16, 2021 Report Share Posted September 16, 2021 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/15/sports/olympics/fbi-hearing-larry-nassar-biles-maroney.html High points: --*multiple* gold medalists testified at a Senare hearing into the GROSS mishandling of the Nassar case by the FBI. --the current FBI director apologized quite profusely and called the failures totally unacceptable. Abuse was reported by multiple team members...and nothing was done by the agent taking them. Which sure as HECK makes me ask, WHY NOT??? Something like...oh they're just brats, or even, oh, the way they flaunt, they're asking for it..... I don't know but I would LOVE to find out, and while the guy has been fired, what the story says means a simple firing is *nowhere near* adequate. Cygnia 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asperion Posted September 16, 2021 Report Share Posted September 16, 2021 16 hours ago, assault said: Strangely, we can't provide enough housing for people on Earth. Not enough astronauts, presumably. Even if the human population doubled, there still would be enough space on this planet to get over one acre of land per person. The primary reason that we don't see this is due to human greed. Wealthy people want much more than they are entitled to and refuse to let anyone else have access to anything else. If the middle class would get together, they could force the wealthy to share and the land (among other) problems would quickly disappear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted September 16, 2021 Report Share Posted September 16, 2021 The main obstacle there is that members of the middle class all* aspire to be among the wealthy and oppress those they dislike, whether they recognize this in themselves or not and it doesn't matter if the second half of that aspiration is recognized and self-acknowledged or not. *Well, there are a few pathological exceptions. Grailknight and pinecone 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pariah Posted September 16, 2021 Report Share Posted September 16, 2021 The other big question: Is is possible to sustain a human being on one acre of land? archer 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pariah Posted September 16, 2021 Report Share Posted September 16, 2021 Mayim Bialik, Ken Jennings to fill in as 'Jeopardy!' hosts for rest of 2021 after Mike Richards exit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclevlad Posted September 16, 2021 Report Share Posted September 16, 2021 3 hours ago, Asperion said: Even if the human population doubled, there still would be enough space on this planet to get over one acre of land per person. The primary reason that we don't see this is due to human greed. Wealthy people want much more than they are entitled to and refuse to let anyone else have access to anything else. If the middle class would get together, they could force the wealthy to share and the land (among other) problems would quickly disappear. That might literally be true, but it's meaningless. Land isn't usable for residential purposes for many reasons: --agriculture/food production --parks and national forests --environmental issues (flood zones, tidal zones, swamps) --unsuited to development (unstable ground, a lot of mountain terrain) --in the desert southwest, water is a SEVERE limitation --ecological/habitat concerns And I'm sure there's others I'm not registering right now. PLUS: there's a huge difference between housing and land. The single family home isn't the only reasonable model for residences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
death tribble Posted September 16, 2021 Report Share Posted September 16, 2021 Sir Clive Sinclair dies aged 81. Inventor and tech pioneer. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58587521 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclevlad Posted September 16, 2021 Report Share Posted September 16, 2021 7 hours ago, Pariah said: The other big question: Is is possible to sustain a human being on one acre of land? Depends on the acre, and the degree of self-sustenance you're anticipating. On the Jeopardy! move...that seems like the best call they could make, considering. You know Jennings, at least, is going to do everything he can to help right the ship; this has been a total screw up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclevlad Posted September 16, 2021 Report Share Posted September 16, 2021 Whoa... I'm not fond of many modern comics; the style today doesn't sit well with me that often. But Norm Macdonald was an exception. Dry and understated and often pointed. He died today at 61, from cancer he'd been dealing with, it's reported, for some time. Bummer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted September 17, 2021 Report Share Posted September 17, 2021 On 9/16/2021 at 12:31 AM, Logan.1179 said: Did you see those emus? But can they run the pants of a kangaroo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BNakagawa Posted September 17, 2021 Report Share Posted September 17, 2021 https://www.wired.com/story/anonymous-leaked-data-from-right-wing-web-host-epik/ Logan D. Hurricanes and Ranxerox 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archer Posted September 19, 2021 Report Share Posted September 19, 2021 Scientists created the world's whitest paint. It could eliminate the need for air conditioning. https://news.yahoo.com/scientists-created-worlds-whitest-paint-163538024.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall It not only reflects heat from the sun and surrounding air but it sucks the heat out of the surface it's painted on and emits that out into the surrounding air. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pariah Posted September 19, 2021 Report Share Posted September 19, 2021 I wondered what the pigment was. I wouldn't have come up with barium sulfate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclevlad Posted September 19, 2021 Report Share Posted September 19, 2021 But would this *increase* the need for heating in winter? Granted, that would likely be a lesser factor down here where summer cooling is the much greater concern. (Barring freak weather, anyway.) Mr. P: turns out it isn't that surprising. From Wikipedia Quote Paper brightener A thin layer of barium sulfate called baryta is first coated on the base surface of most photographic paper to increase the reflectiveness of the image, with the first such paper introduced in 1884 in Germany.[6] The light-sensitive silver halide emulsion is then coated over the baryta layer. The baryta coating limits the penetration of the emulsion into the fibers of the paper and makes the emulsion more even, resulting in more uniform blacks.[7] (Further coatings may then be present for fixing and protection of the image.) More recently, baryta has been used to brighten papers intended for ink-jet printing.[8] So the paint is just taking this up a notch. Or 6. 98% reflective is pretty amazing. Side by side, you can see the differences between lower-end (or especially, recycled) laser printer paper, and the high-brightness, premium stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted September 19, 2021 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2021 2 hours ago, archer said: Scientists created the world's whitest paint. It could eliminate the need for air conditioning. https://news.yahoo.com/scientists-created-worlds-whitest-paint-163538024.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall It not only reflects heat from the sun and surrounding air but it sucks the heat out of the surface it's painted on and emits that out into the surrounding air. I need some of that paint! That and some Musou Black paint as well. What would I do with them? I have no clue yet, but I will thing of something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted September 19, 2021 Report Share Posted September 19, 2021 Some tabletop figures cry out for such stuff, don't they? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclevlad Posted September 19, 2021 Report Share Posted September 19, 2021 9 minutes ago, tkdguy said: I need some of that paint! That and some Musou Black paint as well. What would I do with them? I have no clue yet, but I will thing of something. Heck of a thermal engine, perhaps. Hadn't heard of Mosou Black, that's pretty neat stuff. Vantablack is insane. I rather enjoy nice watches. Moser's made a few models using Vantablack dials....way, way, WAY out of my budget, as Moser makes very high-end watches. (We're talking $27K here.) It's pretty awesome. One of my (pipe) dream watches would have a clear sapphire dial, with the entire interior of the case in Vantablack. The structural pieces would be blackened too. The whole gear train would seem to be floating. (There's an even more exotic form of this dream, but I'd lose all of you....) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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