News Stories

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by DonQuigleone

All this discussion of boats is a bit foolish. Sea power is fairly dead, it's all about air power now. Those speed boats won't be able to do a damn thing against a Jet Fighter.

And while the speed boats are out harrassing your cruisers, you bomb his docks back to the stone age.

A ship holds more fuel than an airplane. Unless you are talking about Behemoth-class Battlecruisers with laser batteries and a whooping Yamato cannon, ships still rule because Earth is made of 71% water.

Originally Posted by Ithekro

Or maybe have the Japanese design some mecha based on American aircraft for the Carrier Air Wings (Itano Circus!). That would be amusing.


(The US did have Pegasus hydrofoils that were for that purpose...they were expensive to operate, and probably didn't work as well as advertised (scrapped 1993), And the current Cyclone-class Coastal Patrol ship are gunboats, not missile boats)

You guys can always copy us in Singapore : we mounted Gabriel missile tubes onto our gunboats.

Of course, you guys have to do it before SOPA or TPP is signed......or the RSN will sue the crap out of USN.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Made in USA: The Transformation of American Factory Jobs

By Adam Davidson
The Atlantic
(Jan 13, Fri)

IN THE past decade, the flow of goods emerging from American factories has risen by about a third. Factory employment has fallen by roughly the same fraction. The story of Standard Motor Products, a 92-year-old, family-run manufacturer based in Queens, sheds light on both phenomena. It's a story of hustle, ingenuity, competitive success, and promise for America's economy. It also illuminates why the jobs crisis will be so difficult to solve.

You can also tune in on NPR: Part 1, Part 2.

This is another one of those stories that instantly strike a chord with me, because it's a concrete, grassroots illustration of a bigger trend that is not just unfolding in the United States, but in many of the former Asian Tigers that transformed their economies with export-oriented manufacturing based on cheap, unskilled labour.

Today, Hong Kong has to grapple with the flood of mainland Chinese economic migrants who snatch away most of such jobs even as the factories themselves are moving from Shenzhen into China's second-tier cities deep in the Chinese hinterland. Taiwan has moved up the value chain, from being cheap manufacturers of OEM parts to becoming leading makers of smartphones on par with those of traditional giants like Nokia and Motorola.

In Singapore, one political candidate in last year's general election mooted the idea of scrapping entire chunks of the country's manufacturing sector, claiming that they were no longer competitive or, worse, providing jobs to foreign labourers instead of deserving Singaporeans. Yet the fact remains that manufacturing remains one of the key pillars of the island's economy, as well as one of its major sources of employment. The jobs haven't "disappeared". They've just changed in the same ways they have changed in Greenville, South Carolina: more reliant on technology that in turn requires different skill sets that will be a challenge for some workers to acquire.

The seldom-spoken truth about finding and keeping a job: It's a never-ending battle against skills and knowledge obsolescence.

[ganbaru]

Italy bond auction fails to match Spanish success
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...80C0LN20120113

Italy's three-year debt costs fell below 5 percent but its first bond sale of the year failed to match the success of a Spanish auction the previous day, reflecting the heavy refinancing load Rome faces over the next three months

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

The seldom-spoken truth about finding and keeping a job: It's a never-ending battle against skills and knowledge obsolescence.

I applaud countries that realize that if the workers are left to sink or swim on their own in an underpaid world they will likely sink -- that the churn of retraining needs to be community-supported for the good of the community (unless having lots of unemployed desperate angry people is what the wealthy really want).

[killer3000ad]

Court rules that dead teen's estate is liable for injuries cause by his flying body parts

In 2008, Hiroyuki Joho, 18, was hurrying in pouring rain with an umbrella over his head, trying to catch an inbound Metra train due to arrive in about five minutes when he was struck by a southbound Amtrak train traveling more than 70 mph.

A large portion of his body was thrown about 100 feet on to the southbound platform, where it struck Gayane Zokhrabov, then 58, who was waiting to catch the 8:17 a.m. train to work. She was knocked to the ground, her leg and wrist broken and her shoulder injured.

A Cook County judge dismissed Zokhrabov's lawsuit against Joho's estate, finding that Joho could not have anticipated Zokhrabov's injuries.

A state appeals court, after noting that the case law involving "flying bodies" is sparse, has disagreed, ruling that "it was reasonably foreseeable" that the high-speed train would kill Joho and fling his body down the tracks toward a platform where people were waiting.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by killer3000ad

Court rules that dead teen's estate is liable for injuries cause by his flying body parts

This almost begs the idea of a "News of the Strange" thread (as opposed to silly/odd)

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by Vexx

I applaud countries that realize that if the workers are left to sink or swim on their own in an underpaid world they will likely sink -- that the churn of retraining needs to be community-supported for the good of the community (unless having lots of unemployed desperate angry people is what the wealthy really want).

Towards the end of the excellent article, Davidson astutely observed that deeper problems may exist that may not be solved with just community-supported training:

I never heard Maddie blame others for her situation; she talked, often, about the bad choices she made as a teenager and how those have limited her future.

I came to realize, though, that Maddie represents a large population: people who, for whatever reason, are not going to be able to leave the workforce long enough to get the skills they need. Luke doesn’t have children, and his parents could afford to support him while he was in school. Those with the right ability and circumstances will, most likely, make the right adjustments, get the right skills, and eventually thrive.

But I fear that those who are challenged now will only fall further behind. To solve all the problems that keep people from acquiring skills would require tackling the toughest issues our country faces: a broken educational system, teen pregnancy, drug use, racial discrimination, a fractured political culture.

If you've read Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, you'll understand better why Davidson is on to something fundamental. The apparent lack of subsidised training is only a surface problem. The deeper issues are embedded in a social structure that impairs the ability of people to even stay in school. This in turn implies that the problem requires a more holistic solution than at first appears.

[DonQuigleone]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

A ship holds more fuel than an airplane. Unless you are talking about Behemoth-class Battlecruisers with laser batteries and a whooping Yamato cannon, ships still rule because Earth is made of 71% water.

A boat can not easily hit targets on land, aircraft can. Aircraft can hit targets far behind enemy lines. Now, Ships carried off aircraft carriers can do a decent job, but due to the fact they're carried on a carrier, they're inherently limited in size.

Due to this limitation in size, they cannot carry as much fuel, mount as much weaponry or large bombs, or carry as large a fuel tank. In all respects, a land based bomber is far superior to a carrier based one.

You can't fit a super bomber on the deck of a carrier.

Now, carrier air groups are fairly useful where the power does not have access to a nearby airfield, like in Pacific naval engagements, or where the infrastructure is poor. But where Airfields are available, as they are aplenty in the Middle East, then using carriers is not necessary.

One of the reasons why it was so important for the US to take the Pacific Islands during WW2 was to take the airfields on them, which gave the Japanese Airforce Air superiority, and to also enable the US to mount strategic bombing campaigns in Japan.

[Ithekro]

Aircraft on station faster. A Carrier in the Gulf is closer than an Airbase in Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia. If your job it to be sure shipping (yes ships) carrying things that are still presently valuable to the world economy (oil), than you need something closer than an airbase a few hundred to a thousand miles away. You need an airbase that can react to the situation within minutes and get aircraft on location within ten minutes. Cause we don't yet have flying Super Tankers. (though then you would need flying Battleships to escort them)

As a side, you also need something to shoot down missiles and other aircraft, and while airplanes can do that, a warship can do it as well...and remove things like mines and submarines. While you might be able to get the submarines with an airplane...I've not seen a good minesweeping aircraft.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

Aircraft on station faster. A Carrier in the Gulf is closer than an Airbase in Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia. If your job it to be sure shipping (yes ships) carrying things that are still presently valuable to the world economy (oil), than you need something closer than an airbase a few hundred to a thousand miles away. You need an airbase that can react to the situation within minutes and get aircraft on location within ten minutes. Cause we don't yet have flying Super Tankers. (though then you would need flying Battleships to escort them)

Wouldn't you need to destroy the enemy's ability to shoot at your ships, wherever your weapons come from?

[Ithekro]

The ability yes...but you need the ability as soon as possible. And without a declared war, you can't just send forces to take out the enemy ships and boats in harbor, or take out their missile launchers on their own soil. (At least not without a lot of flak from both the public and the UN) Therefore reaction time is needed. Even at Mach 2 or Mach 3 aircraft will take time to get from one airbase or another to the Gulf or Straits. With an Aircraft Carrier, you bring the airbase with you. But since it is usually only one or two in the area...hey too can be a ways away from an incident. But closer than most other airbases.

They can however attack you in their territorial waters or (without much difficulty)Oman's territorial waters. (technically there is effectively no International waters right there) The shipping channel is only six miles wide with each lane being two miles wide seperated by a two mile wide gap, even though the Strait is 34 miles wide at the narrowest point. But even with aircraft you need something to stop the incoming firepower. Warships today usually can stop an incoming missile if they have time. And if the aircraft cannot be in the area (weather or time problems) you need some teeth on the water to deal with the present threat.

After shots are fired it is likely that measures can be taken to stop other boats, aircraft, or missile from being used. It is that first fight that worries people.

It must be weird seeing American F-18s dogfighting Iranian F-14s though.

[solomon]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Towards the end of the excellent article, Davidson astutely observed that deeper problems may exist that may not be solved with just community-supported training:


If you've read Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, you'll understand better why Davidson is on to something fundamental. The apparent lack of subsidised training is only a surface problem. The deeper issues are embedded in a social structure that impairs the ability of people to even stay in school. This in turn implies that the problem requires a more holistic solution than at first appears.

Not until enough people get hurt by this in America will it change. Here you are expected to "do it yourself" with no help.

[ganbaru]

S&P downgrades nine euro zone countries
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...80C1BC20120114
After the US...

[Kokukirin]

Originally Posted by ganbaru

S&P downgrades nine euro zone countries
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...80C1BC20120114
After the US...

Well, at least they were downgraded for good reasons. US got downgraded for playing recklessly stupid political games.

[andyjay729]

http://news.yahoo.com/italian-cruise...035356831.html

They don't say how those people died, and I have to wonder, considering that this incident looked quite survivable.

[ganbaru]

^ They could have fallen over and drowned ?

Russia says would be threatened by Iran military action
http://news.yahoo.com/russia-says-th...153640749.html

[Tom Bombadil]

Live update of Taiwan voting count (every 3 seconds) for those who are interested.

http://news.sina.com.cn/z/twxj/live/index.shtml

In case you don't know the candidates (the politics of Taiwan is grouped by colors) :

(1)马英九 blue, current president, from the Nationalist party. Supporter of good relation with the mainland.

(2)蔡英文 green, challenger, from the democratic progressive party, pro-independence.

(3)宋楚瑜 orange, third party, fighting for his party's survival.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by ganbaru

^ They could have fallen over and drowned ?

Russia says would be threatened by Iran military action
http://news.yahoo.com/russia-says-th...153640749.html

They probably won't intervene as much as Iran would like them to along with China. They just downsized their military, and probably won't be interested in shifting their soldiers out of Chechnya to Hormuz just to fight the "Americunts".

[Tom Bombadil]

Voting counting is near its end. It is pretty much certain that President Ma is going to get another term.

[MrTerrorist]

NMA TV's report on the Scotland Referendum. Guess how many references you can recognize.