World News Thread & Breaking News!!

[Mr T]

But that's democracy, you can't blame the voters for voting the "wrong" candidates.

Ah, I think my post wasn't clear.

I quite agree with you. The issue is that people like the Thai elites can't accept that voters vote for people that they (the elites) don't like. The elites think the voters made a bad choice, the elites think they know better, so they think they have the right to intervene. They don't because they don't have the right to take that decision and they need to accept that's the case. But I think that's why they intervene, mostly out of supreme arrogance and a sense of entitlement.

Hope that's clearer now, Mr T is in favour of voters having the right to choose.

 

[Equation]

Another fact is that you loose your coastal cities sooner if you burn all that oil and gas. The estimate is that parts of the ice in the Antarctic will melt in the next 200 to 900 years giving a sea level rise of about 4 meters, according to two recent US scientific reports. Similar effects can be expected from other parts of the Antarctic and Greenland. If it all melt sea level will rise some 80 meters in the next 1000 years. Doesn't it make much more sense to develop other energy technologies?

Desalination technology would be so advance by that time that the human consumption of "fresh" sea water would deter some of those sea rises.

 

[no_name]

Also posted in 2014 Xinjiang attack thread.

12 Suspected terrorist arrested near kindergarten with 11 cleavers and 2 axes.

Put them to the grill and make them spill.

I suspect that the guy with 2 axes in hands will try to create damage, while the others with cleaver each will either cover him, block escape paths and/or otherwise herd victims to him.

 

[delft]

Desalination technology would be so advance by that time that the human consumption of "fresh" sea water would deter some of those sea rises.

Very nearly all water used by humans ends up in the sewers and to be returned to the sea. Desalination technology will remain irrelevant to the sea level.

 

[Equation]

Very nearly all water used by humans ends up in the sewers and to be returned to the sea. Desalination technology will remain irrelevant to the sea level.

Don't farmers and aqua-farmers used tons of water as well, along with cattle's and pigs too? It's not just humans that are consuming them. Industry used water as well to make and build products.

 

[broadsword]

More water will be needed, especially in heavily populated countries as living standards improve. Some parts of Africa can be discounted since their populations are not huge and water can be drawn inland, but northern Africa is already using recycled and desalinated water. China's per capita consumption is below world average, and so has plenty of room to grow. Energy will get cheaper, whether it is renewable, nuclear, thorium or fusion. When that happens, the incentive to become self-sufficient will grow even more since affordable water will be available to irrigate crops so as to feed people and livestock, and to reclaim desert land.

 

[solarz]

Don't farmers and aqua-farmers used tons of water as well, along with cattle's and pigs too? It's not just humans that are consuming them. Industry used water as well to make and build products.

Desalinization takes energy, so unless we find a sustainable source of green energy, it would just make us burn more fossil fuel, and thus contribute to a greater global warming.

 

[delft]

Don't farmers and aqua-farmers used tons of water as well, along with cattle's and pigs too? It's not just humans that are consuming them. Industry used water as well to make and build products.

Most of the water that cattle and pigs consume is excreted again. Only a small part of the water used by farmers and aqua-farmers ends up in their products. Industry is often very prodigal in its water use.
Changes are taking place in all these areas. One I find very interesting is the use of vacuum toilets. Human soil is sucked into tubes using about a tenth as much water as in a normal flush. The waste is then concentrated enough to be digested anaerobically producing methane. The waste then remaining is biologically safe and contains all the P, K and N that makes it valuable as fertilizer. It doesn't reach the ordinary sewers and this makes treating the sewerage much cheaper. Test with such systems are now taking place in The Netherlands and several other countries.
Remember that we are nearing the end of easily mined phosphorus fertilizer.

 

[Geographer]

I worry this armor will encourage police abuse of protesters. Anonymity plus the feeling of invulnerability can make someone a little too brave and willing to commit crimes. Brazil has had problems with corrupt and abusive police for a long time. The key to any long-lasting social stability is peace, understanding, and restraint between civilians and the security forces.

 

[delft]

The term "security forces" generally signals police and army units violating the laws of the country in defense of the authorities. That has been well documented in the Troubles in Northern Ireland, thanks to the ability of activists to get a significant part of its secrets published, but generally after a very long time.