SeventyTwoTrillion

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[–] SeventyTwoTrillion@hexbear.net 16 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

There's three ways plants have evolved to do photosynthesis - there's the "C3 pathway", the "C4 pathway", and "CAM". The last one is used by plants growing in arid conditions. C3 is used by most plants on Earth, while C4 is less common.

Carbon dioxide is taken up by plants and is made into sugars through a complicated series of reactions and molecules. C3 plants have a design flaw where one of the molecules will sometimes grab hold of oxygen instead of carbon dioxide, and this design flaw happens more often in drier conditions and higher temperatures. This makes photosynthesis less efficient, sometimes by like 20-30%. C4 plants found a way to overcome this design flaw, and do photosynthesis better and more efficiently at higher temperature conditions.

Note that if the problem was merely higher CO2 concentrations, C3 plants might be better suited as they can take more CO2 in than C4 plants. But with added problems like higher temperature and drought, the C4 plants are better suited for that.

Scientists are trying to convert some C3 plants like rice into C4 plants, but this is difficult.

[–] SeventyTwoTrillion@hexbear.net 29 points 2 years ago (4 children)

Interesting events recently in the Palestine War.

The Gazan resistance has successfully caused enough damage to the Golani Brigade, the most elite Israel brigade, to force them to withdraw and recuperate. Given NATO doctrine, this implies that about a third of the brigade has been wiped out (dead+seriously wounded) as it takes a brigade being brought down to 70% of its original numbers to become combat ineffective. Things are thus going pretty badly for the Israel military inside Gaza despite the triumphant rhetoric and propaganda from the Zionist Propaganda Torment Nexus.

Nawaf Al Mussawi, Hizbullah’s official chargé of the Resources & Borders dossier: “Once our brothers in Hamas started the Al Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7, the element of surprise vanished. We [in Hizbullah] asked them about their strategic vision. When we questioned Hamas about the possibility of ending the aggression on Gaza through Hizbullah’s engagement in an all-out war, they said the aggression on Gaza wouldn’t stop. The war on Gaza will only end when the ‘Israeli’ fighter is defeated within Gaza.”

So, basically, Hamas doesn't want Hezbollah to start shit for realsies up on the northern front, at least not yet. This confirms my suspicions in November that it was Hamas who was telling Hezbollah not to do anything yet because they're acting on a much larger plan than most realize. That all being said, Hezbollah attacks are still regular, with 10-15 per day, give or take. There was some kind of serious incident on the northern border a day or two ago that prompted Israeli military censorship but idk what was that about. Also, Hezbollah took out those two Iron Dome batteries recently, and their attack on a settler settlement went un-intercepted, suggesting they were indeed destroyed.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has been a little quieter than usual, until yesterday when they announced that they have struck the Karish gas field off the coast of Israel. A notable escalation on Israel energy supplies, therefore. I think we're in the realm of 100 total attacks on US bases in Iraq and Syria, though I haven't been paying too much attention, so correct me if I'm wrong. So still quite busy overall.

And, of course, Ansarallah pissing off the West. Further down the thread, John Helmer's coverage of what's going on there was mentioned. You can see this map from Naked Capitalism showing how busy the Red Sea is becoming. The Western naval forces are lining up to overlap their missile defence ranges to provide as much coverage as possible over the Red Sea, though obviously the whole problem of using million-dollar missiles to shoot down swarms of drones worth mere thousands of dollars has been covered in this thread before. Until the missiles and drones start flying, though, who can say what will truly happen.

[–] SeventyTwoTrillion@hexbear.net 47 points 2 years ago (5 children)

Your (very short) Saturday Briefing:

96% of Saudis think that Arab nations should cut ties with Israel, and 40% of Saudis have a positive view of Hamas, compared to 10% months before the conflict began. Not that democratic sentiment means much in a monarchy, but worth loosely keeping an eye on.

The Sudanese Armed Forces have had a pretty serious defeat lately, after a couple months of relatively little movement (though even this "little movement" puts all the territorial losses and gains in the Ukraine War since June to shame; such is non-attrition war). The opposing Rapid Support forces have seized Wad Madani and some other major towns/cities in Jezira State, which is much more agricultural and populated than the western desert regions that the RSF has had their strongholds in before. This was a pretty surprising defeat for the SAR, especially due to the seeming lack of attempt to conduct any defensive urban warfare, and it's been a real kick up the ass for the pro-SAR population and politicians and leading to a lot of arguments and controversy about the military and what the fuck it's even doing. Given that hundreds of thousands of people had fled from other attacked areas to Jezeira State due to its assumed safety, this is very much not good for the civilian populace either, who are now fleeing again. You can compare the current map on NATOpedia to how the battlefield was just two months ago. Meanwhile, the SAF is accusing the UAE of supporting the RSF (they are), and some Democrats in the US Congress are calling on the UAE to end its support for the RSF.

Japan's defense spending is increasing by over 16% next year, up to a record $56 billion, and is loosening arms export controls, including being able to sell Patriot missiles that it manufactures to the US, whose stockpiles are dwindling. You know what they say, if your air defense missiles don't work on hypersonic missiles and they don't really work on drone swarms, the two major threats to your current military hegemony, just make even more of them and confidently state that this is Fine And Good, Actually, instead of trying a different strategy!

Podoliak, senior aide to Zelensky, has said that Ukrainian men of fighting age who fled the conflict should be forced to return, and that restrictions should be put in place to limit their access to aid and services in their places of stay in order to pressure them to return to Ukraine.

[–] SeventyTwoTrillion@hexbear.net 29 points 2 years ago (8 children)

It's really a tidal wave of effects, yeah. It's easy to be like "Oh, rising energy prices will knock out X% of the industry and thus a decrease in GDP of Y%" but there's a ton of second and third order effects too. It's the same reason why it's so laughable when you get people who are like "Who cares if global agricultural declines massively under climate change, it only makes up a small percentage of the global economy!" forgetting that, y'know, humans need to eat food to survive

[–] SeventyTwoTrillion@hexbear.net 37 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Not just that, but China's New Silk Road connecting them to Europe is probsbly getting some real action right now. Actually kinda funny: China was correct in their assumption that the Red Sea would become a war zone that was dangerous for shipping, but obviously were unable to predict the specifics and even that their own ships would be safe as long as they aren't heading for the Zionist entity

[–] SeventyTwoTrillion@hexbear.net 22 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Everybody laughed at the people who filled up cum jars. Nobody's laughing now that they realize constructing a household Strategic Cum Reserve was a sound investment for the future

[–] SeventyTwoTrillion@hexbear.net 31 points 2 years ago

ROAPE’s 2023 Best Reads for African Radicals

Revolutionary Hope vs. Free-Market Fantasies: Keeping the Southern African Liberation Struggle Alive, by John Saul

Empire of Disorder, by Alain Joxe

Revolutionary State-Making in Dar es Salaam, by George Roberts

Dismantling Green Colonialism: Energy and Climate Justice in the Arab Region, by Hamza Hamouchene and Katie Sandwell

Red Africa: Reclaiming Revolutionary Black Politics, by Kevin Okoth

Dark Emu, by Bruce Pascoe

Joan Wicken: A Lifelong Collaboration with Mwalimu Nyerere, by Aili Mari Tripp

Amílcar Cabral: The Life of a Reluctant Nationalist, by António Tomás

The Hundred Years War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017, by Rashid I. Khalidi

Mental Health and Human Rights in Palestine: The Life of Gaza’s Pioneering Psychiatrist Dr Eyad Sarraj, by Wasseem El Sarraj

[–] SeventyTwoTrillion@hexbear.net 48 points 2 years ago (4 children)

‘Russia stopped us from buying fighter jets’ – Ukrainian arms firm

The CEO of a controversial private firm that helps Ukraine procure weapons in foreign markets, has lamented that Russia was able to derail its bid to buy fighter jets.

The company, Ukrainian Armored Technology, was identified by The New York Times in August as the biggest private supplier of arms to Ukraine, raking in hundreds of millions of dollars through what the US media outlet alleged are shady price-gouging schemes.

Vladislav Belbas discussed the firm’s operation and ties with the Ukrainian publication Ekonomicheskaya Pravda in an interview on Thursday.

The proposed jet deal involved a nation “on the other side of the planet,” Belbas told the outlet, but Russia somehow intercepted one of the messages detailing it.

“Soon, a representative of the Russian embassy in that nation started going around with that letter, threatening local officials that Russia would cut some projects in that nation,” the arms trader recalled. The sale was aborted by the seller, he said, offering no further details about the incident.

...

“Much of the money that fuels this system comes from European aid,” the report said, citing an inside source. “But European and American officials are loath to discuss Mr. Pashynsky, for fear of playing into Russia’s narrative that Ukraine’s government is hopelessly corrupt.” In 2022, the firm reported sales totaling $350 million, up from $2.8 million the year before hostilities with Russia started, NYT reported.

[–] SeventyTwoTrillion@hexbear.net 72 points 2 years ago (2 children)

To shoot or not to shoot: Chinese-developed ‘golden veil’ could make deadly missiles look like passenger planes

A gold-plated camouflage veil that can make a cruise missile look like a passenger plane on a radar screen could “change the face of war”, according to the team of Chinese scientists behind the design.

The low-cost technology can confuse expensive air defence systems and significantly reduce the time available for military commanders to respond – if at all.

Developed by a research team in northwest China, the project is part of an ongoing effort by China to build up a wide range of ways it can penetrate air defence systems in the first island chain, Guam or even the US homeland.

I can see a major problem with this - you're assuming that the United States is above shooting down passenger planes.

[–] SeventyTwoTrillion@hexbear.net 49 points 2 years ago

settlers reaching bootlicking levels that shouldn't even be possible

[–] SeventyTwoTrillion@hexbear.net 3 points 2 years ago (3 children)

#Tradle #656 1/6
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
https://oec.world/en/tradle

spoilerfidel-cool

[–] SeventyTwoTrillion@hexbear.net 67 points 2 years ago (5 children)

Wholesome reminder that Kissinger is dead

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