World News Thread & Breaking News!!

[MwRYum]

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.

Criminal elements only understand one language, and I assure you politeness and civility is the wrong answer...usually, crack their skulls wide open is.

 

[Geographer]

Criminal elements only understand one language, and I assure you politeness and civility is the wrong answer...usually, crack their skulls wide open is.

Sometimes it is the Brazilian police who break the law. I encourage you read The Economist's report on Brazilian police violence:

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Police have an important and dangerous job but must follow the law and be held accountable for their actions. The problem in Brazil is not that the police lack aggression or firepower. The problem is they have too much of it and often act with impunity. Does anyone think that dressing like Robocop and covering their identity is going to solve those problems?

 

[PanAsian]

Criminal elements only understand one language, and I assure you politeness and civility is the wrong answer...usually, crack their skulls wide open is.

The thing is criminal elements usually aren't readily identifiable, and they tend to be among the civilian population, so the burden is on the authorities to identify them correctly and deal with them with minimal collateral damage.

 

[Air Force Brat]

Sometimes it is the Brazilian police who break the law. I encourage you read The Economist's report on Brazilian police violence:

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Police have an important and dangerous job but must follow the law and be held accountable for their actions. The problem in Brazil is not that the police lack aggression or firepower. The problem is they have too much of it and often act with impunity. Does anyone think that dressing like Robocop and covering their identity is going to solve those problems?

Hiding behind a mask of anonymity, and adopting quasi military tactics almost always lead to violence, keep the lines between military and civilian authorities clean and tight, I don't want to live in a police state, really, and that outfit is bad ju-ju....

 

[Equation]

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.

But waters gets evaporated by the sun and released into the atmosphere as well. There is such a large need for water that I don't see a rising sea water will be a threat within 200 years. I mean look at the Southwest of the US are suffering from drought and we NEED rain badly. That desalination technology for mass consumption should be enough to put out large forest fires as well. Now, imagine China's need and the entire world and the growing population could reach 9-10 billion.

 

[no_name]

Governments, Gangs, and big business conglomerates do not differ much in their structure and operation.

That is probably why constitutions are important and that they not be broken.

A good government sworn to stand by, serve and protect the people, but when the people wields enough power to make the government feel threatened, than the real face shows and we can see the essence more clearly as to what type of government they are.

 

[bd popeye]

More tragedy in the Republic of Korea.. My condolences to the families that lost loved ones.

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At least 21 people have died in a fire at hospital for the elderly in southwestern South Korea, the National Emergency Management Agency said Wednesday morning.

The death toll included one nurse.

Seven people were injured, six seriously, the agency reported. Seven people were evacuated from the second floor of the building, which was separate from the main hospital.

The fire started just after midnight. There was no word how it started.

The semi-official state news agency Yonhap, citing police and fire officials, said heavy fumes caused victims to choke.

The hospital, which is in the province of South Jeolla, has a total of 324 patients.

 

[Jeff Head]

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?

These "reports" have been coming out for decades.

There is no consensus on man-made/caused global warming...or as they have changed the name now...man-made climate change. They are changing the name because reality these last few years has not been fitting the predictions.

Single volcanic eruptions in the past have produced as much, or more in some cases, hydrocarbons than all of man-added since the industrial revolution.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s the predictions were that the ice caps would be entirely melted by the year 2000.

Now, there is climate change...but it is part of a natural cycle...which is not altogether predictable because there are many natural variables, including the sun itself.

So, what may happen or not 900 years from now is something we are very unlikely to impact appreciably ourselves short of all out nuclear war.

Having said that, I...and most Americans I know...are conservationists and good stewards of the environment. You do not destroy what is providing your energy...your food...your water...etc. You should always leave a place as good if not better than how you found it. There are many laws in the US that reflect this...and in fact, though there is certainly over regulation, the US has the finest laws on earth.

Of course we should explore and develop all energy sources. Geo, hydro, solar, hydrogen, nuclear, and continue to improve upon and develop oil, natural gas and coal. The US should be doing all of that, and doing it responsibly.

 

[delft]

But waters gets evaporated by the sun and released into the atmosphere as well. There is such a large need for water that I don't see a rising sea water will be a threat within 200 years. I mean look at the Southwest of the US are suffering from drought and we NEED rain badly. That desalination technology for mass consumption should be enough to put out large forest fires as well. Now, imagine China's need and the entire world and the growing population could reach 9-10 billion.

Part of irrigation water is evaporated, part needs to flow away to prevent the land being poisoned by salt. The evaporated water will rain out and will give you more fresh water. However the amount of water in use at any moment by people is several orders of magnitude less than the amount of water that will net flow from Antarctic and Greenland every year. So the sea level will be raised by the reduction of ice in the world.

 

[Equation]

Part of irrigation water is evaporated, part needs to flow away to prevent the land being poisoned by salt. The evaporated water will rain out and will give you more fresh water. However the amount of water in use at any moment by people is several orders of magnitude less than the amount of water that will net flow from Antarctic and Greenland every year. So the sea level will be raised by the reduction of ice in the world.

True, but Arctic and Anarctic ice has been melting at fast rate since global warming became a popular term and we still haven't seen a single coastal city anywhere around the world going under.