CaptainPanic

For those among us who rather watch pictures than read text, here's a TED talk about it:

Except (former) Yugoslavia, where the leader of the partisan independence movement Tito, who fought the Nazis, became the benevolent dictator, liked by many, and decorated by many - also Western countries. Yugoslavia was a communist country (peaceful), until the war broke out in 1991.

The gold dissolved. (You already gave the answer yourself). It is similar to sugar dissolving into your tea: sugar has a (theoretica) melting point far above the boiling point of water. Nonetheless, it will dissolve even at room temperature. The temperature at which a component can dissolve has nothing to do with the melting point.

That's not funny! (as in, that's way too serious for this thread) Now, this is funny:

! Moderator Note John Cuthber, When moderators post a mod note trying to stop some flame war, we really do not appreciate it when you just continue to fuel the fire right after the mod note. Stop it.

Right... just as I thought things are calming down, this news breaks: "Crimea votes to join Russia, accelerating Ukraine crisis" Basically, the Crimean government has voted to join Russia. Apparently they couldn't wait for the referendum in just 10 days (fearing an undesirable outcome?). They also said that Ukrainian troops would be treated as occupiers and be forced to surrender or leave. So, since the Ukraine has (off the top of my head - no link to back it up) about 10,000 troops there, this could turn nasty quickly, especially since the Ukrainian government says this is illegal, and will probably try to fight it.

Microorganisms, fungi and insects (especially their larvae) together will break pretty much everything down in days. Our invading aliens should be prepared to fight that. Through our broadcasts they may have a lot of information about humans, but unless they watched all the nature documentaries in detail (and understood it), all small life forms may be a bit of a surprise to them which they only find out after landing on the surface... As Acme said, what else do we have? I think we have no other model to base the aliens on. Especially when you base everything on the assumption that aliens want to invade/conquer, you already attribute a human trait to the aliens. Why not give them a few more? If it would just be a battle of alien vs human, then aliens will have technology on their side (frickin' lasers perhaps?), but we play with a home advantage, and with numbers on our side. Seriously, we have well over 100,000 military vehicles (tanks, howitzers, carriers) on this planet. The list is endless. I agree with some people above that lobbing a huge space rock (asteroid) onto the planet is not a viable strategy, as it destroys the target. It's like trying to conquer the museum of national arts by blowing it up. That is not an invasion. That is just (space) terrorism. Btw, holy crap, the US really have many more military aircraft than everybody else!

! Moderator Note Ok, nobody suggested that anyone is a second class citizen. So, before a little joke turns into a huge flame war, I want to warn all participants that on this forum, you must always be nice to each other. Always. So, in summary: Be nice to each other, or else! Sent from my evil lair.

LOL... 'Sleeping US senator' gets me 7 million hits in Google.

LOL... so, I you dismiss statistics and figures just like that, how are we supposed to discuss with you? I get the feeling you're not interested in any discussion. You just write down your part of the story, and then you look around triumphantly, after which you cover your ears, and shout loudly "LALALALA I CANNOT HEAR YOU", when other people are giving their counter arguments. Anyway, BRICS are not exactly allies. The don't have much in common - at least, not more or less in common with each other than with the USA or EU countries (except that they're fast-growing large economies). I don't see why they would cooperate against the Western countries (EU and NATO). I am sorry, but you are not convincing me. Your arguments are weak, and not supported by any facts. And the way you dismiss other's arguments (which come with handy references) does not increase my confidence in your theory.

I get the feeling that the situation is not escalating anymore in the Ukraine. The EU support Ukraine with 11 billion, which is sufficient to keep the Ukraine going for months. (I could have linked to any newspaper, but thought it would be funny to link to the Kiev post). The huge pockets of the EU may actually be a powerful weapon if this crisis turns into a financial crisis instead of a military crisis. I am happy to see that there is no large scale violence anywhere in the Ukraine... the Russians have no excuse to invade. The only news I read about violence today is about Russian-minded men attacking protesting women in Simferopol. I admit that this particular article (also Kiev post) is probably biased. Still, this is all peanuts, and as long as the pro-Russians are the aggressors, Russia have no easy excuse to invade. The fact that the tense situation lasts for a few days now means that both parties have time to talk. That's very good news.

(completely re-edited - sorry if anyone is quoting me in the meantime) jduff, instead of shouting you could of course just search for some information yourself. The list of most important trade partners of Russia is hugely important in this discussion, so I looked it up. I think this is the list imatfaal mentioned: [I have edited the text below, updating] Finding the Netherlands at the top of that list was also a surprise to me (I'm Dutch). So, I looked into that. One third of all oil imports into the Netherlands are from Russia. But you should realize that Rotterdam (which is in the Netherlands) is the largest port of Europe. So, huge volumes of oil are also traded there. In addition, the Netherlands have invested in gas storage. We're now using empty gas fields to buy Russian gas in summer, and sell it to other (mostly European) countries in winter. The Netherlands got a bunch of additional gas pipelines, and also a gas terminal in the harbor of Rotterdam. What I am saying is that it may be an economic trick, as the pipelines go through the Netherlands, and the Dutch act as traders. I trust this source more, because it seems very closely linked to the trade missions of 2013 (2013 was the "Russia-Netherlands year"). This indeed suggests that China is Russia's single biggest partner if you add up both import and export, but only if you don't count the EU as a single economy. If you do count the EU as a single economy, it is about 4 times larger in trade as China. Based on the list I just quoted, I don't think it is likely that (quoting) "most of its transactions are through the Yuan"? (Assuming "most" means >50%). Still, reading the quote in CharonY's post, that China will stick to its principle of non-interference, I think we should close the topic of China really getting involved. I find it less and less likely.

! Moderator Note Acme, Moontanman, Please both stick to the topic. Acme, don't bring the pet story up. You made your point loud and clear by now. Moontanman, you're not really helping by replying and asking questions (for example here). If you know it's off-topic, you have a few options: ignore it, report it, or open a new thread. You chose to discuss first... and you only reported it once you got tired of it. That is not the ideal situation. I propose we all read the OP again, and try to discuss that.

So, recap: If it walks like a mammoth. Has tusks like a mammoth, Has a trunk like a mammoth, Eats grass like a mammoth, But is the size of a goat... It's a goat? /me points at the OP, looking innocently, not wanting to hijack this thread...

Western nations are loud and clear what they want: no armed conflict. I disagree with your views. Also, I think your smileys and enthusiasm about a potential WWIII are a little frightening.

The awesomeness of it. The article (in the OP) mentions that someone practically fell in love with an extinct species of pigeon, and dedicated his life to bring it back. That is not a rational attempt to do as much good for the planet with the least effort. That is entirely emotional. It is just about as useful as people maintaining old cars, or people spending a lot of effort creating some art. It's awesome. It can motivate. You can even say that these kind of things make use human... but they have one thing on common: they're rather pointless in the big picture. The first pigeons/mammoths/sabretooths won't roam the steppes. They'll be shown in a zoo (which can instantly triple the entrance fee). If they plan to release thousands into the wild (and they probably plan to, but that's just a little plan), then we may have to consider the wisdom of that at a later stage. In the case of the mammoths, I'm all for it. Humans have a good track record when it comes to population control of big beasts with tusks, so we have a plan B if their de-extinction goes wrong.

Sorry, but I cannot see any political or economic gains for the BRIC(S) countries if they would start WWIII (especially not if that would be a nuclear war, with a nuke on each of their big cities). The trade imbalance with the EU/USA can only be solved by a reverse of the production: EU/USA start to produce goods for those BRIC(S) countries. This is exactly the way the world is turning too: EU/USA economies are going worse, which essentially makes us cheaper... so that we can export our stuff cheaper. WWIII would not exactly make the EU/USA better at producing/exporting goods, and it would gain the BRIC(S) countries nothing. Frankly, the only similarity I see with this conflict, and the early developments in any previous war, is the dumb and stupid enthusiasm in some people to go to war.

Why on earth would China get involved in this? What would be their motivation (and how would that compensate the huge losses in trade)? If this escalates (I hope it won't!!) China will be supplying every party with whatever they need, at a very modest price - if necessary an installment plan can be arranged. Don't forget that in a war, the neutral parties can be the biggest winners. This conflict in the Crimea is just the Ukraine vs. Russia, where the Ukraine can hope for some support from the EU and/or USA. Russia are certainly not looking for WWIII, because they know they would lose it badly. And the EU/USA are reluctant to enter into this conflict because they probably want Russia's gas and oil. So, it seems to me that the Crimea is just sacrificed in a dirty political game. [edit] I hardly wrote that down or I read an article that Russia claims that China agrees with the Russian policy to protect Russian speaking population. I'm looking for any confirmation of this from a Chinese source, but I haven't found any so far.

We can discuss about the benefits and problems of the EU in another thread. Unless it's directly related to the Ukraine/Crimea issues, I propose we don't do that here. In the meantime, 10 Russian helicopters were spotted flying into Ukrainian airspace. Russia continues to provoke.

! Moderator Note Unfortunately, iron oxide is a popular component for the Thermite reaction, which is rather dangerous if done by someone who doesn't know what he's doing. Unfortunately, in addition to that, in this modern world people (especially governments) seem to adopt a policy of complete risk mitigation, rather than risk assessment, which means they are totally intolerant of people playing with (dangerous) chemistry. In that light, we have included a line in our rules, specifically section 2.3: Descriptions of the construction or synthesis of illegal or hazardous devices or chemicals are subject to removal at the discretion of the staff. Remember that many SFN readers do not have the scientific background to know the appropriate precautions and safety procedures; all posts should contain a warning of the potential hazards and safety considerations of any dangerous procedure. And therefore, I am closing this thread. Sorry.

Delbert, what you describe may actually be the whole game plan of the Russians. They don't need to put one of their puppets back in power, they just have to maintain the instability for a while longer. And with some anonymous army in two airports and some government buildings in the Crimea, they are doing exactly that. Russians have always been good chess players. No shock-and-awe here. Just some smart moves, which may result in a desirable outcome in a while. The EU on the contrary are likely to never reach a good plan, they just have one meeting after another. Fortunately though, the EU does have very very large pockets, and if the situation becomes critical, they can afford a small financial loss to buy the Ukrainian government some time. I'm curious to find out who is occupying the airports and government buildings. The Russian Black Sea fleet deny any involvement. I think it is curious that they even comment on this.

In the Crimea, the Russian population is a majority, even though it is part of the Ukraine. It seems that these Russians wish to become part of Russia. Gunmen seized the Crimean government buildings. Both Ukraine and Russia are using strong words that they won't tolerate any 'violations'. The Ukrainian interim president, who is in power only for a few days now after the recolution last weekend, said that Russian military movements would be seen as agression, while Russia has put 150,000 troops on high alert near the Ukrainian borderm including jet fighters and navy, to 'defend' the Russian interests in the Crimea. What do you think it gonna happen? I think there is a fair chance that the Ukraine cannot hold on to the Crimea... I just hope that any transitions will be without major conflicts. The way that Russia seems to approach this however is like a bully, and I am afraid that Russia won't easily back down now. [edit] Unconfirmed reports say that the former president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, is in Moscow. He was a pro-Russian president. Russia says the new government of Ukraine is not legitimate. It appears to me that they wish the former president back in power in Kiev (Kiev = Ukraine's capital).

'Dimmable LED' gets me over 4 million hits in Google, so online they are certainly available.

! Moderator Note s1eep, While your post seems to start off as a valuable contribution to the forum, it ended as an insult to one of our ex-members. Even though ADreamIveDreamt has been banned for rule violations already, there is no reason to start breaking our rules yourself). You have already been suspended for rule violations. A continuation of this behavior will result in a ban from our forum.

! Moderator Note veproject1, please give us a little insight into why you are doing this. We are beginning to think that you use our forum as a way to advertise your youtube channel, and that would be against our rules (section 2.7). "Links, pictures and videos in posts should be relevant to the discussion, and members should be able to participate in the discussion without clicking any links or watching any videos." Everybody else, while we are not even sure that veproject1 is claiming that these are actual perpetual motion devices, please be polite and don't attack based on the assumption you're dealing with the next crackpot. Let's be nice to each other, ok? Thanks.