tal

joined 1 year ago
[–] tal 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Aside from any small economic benefit provided -- my assumption is that there are no restrictions on how Ukraine uses said drones.

The US may not be onboard with US weapons being used, but may be fine with funding production of Ukrainian weapons that strike in Russia. Thus, this may have larger impact than just where production happens.

Ukraine is obviously capable, given recent successful long-range strikes, of producing long-range strike hardware that Russia hasn't been able to stop sufficiently to prevent attacks from getting through.

I don't know if there are any specific constraints on what types of drones these are being used to produce. But if not, I suppose that it may have strategic impact.

[–] tal 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I'm not an expert in the situation, but I'd guess that:

  • Animal manure. We're wealthy enough that we don't think about it much, but meat is calorie inefficient, something for the wealthy. North Korea is pretty poor, has had recent problems just feeding the population, has seen famine. Unless you're part of the regime -- I suspect, looking at his figure, that Kim Jong Un is getting a healthy dose of calorie-rich foods -- I doubt that a lot of meat consumption is happening in North Korea. If you're having a hard time getting enough calories produced, you aren't going to be targeting luxuries like meat.

    kagis

    https://archive.ph/osH3s/again?url=https://www.nknews.org/2022/04/how-north-korea-tried-and-failed-to-boost-consumption-of-the-other-white-meat/

    North Korea has never been a nation of meat eaters, even considering an increase in consumption under Kim Jong Un, but that does not mean the country’s people do not like meat. On the contrary, meat has always been a desirable and prestigious delicacy in the DPRK, as it is throughout East Asia.

    The problem has always been that high population density has required the use of nearly all available flat land for rice paddy fields, since an acre of agricultural land produces roughly ten times the calories of an acre of pasture.

    This says that meat consumption did increase somewhat under Kim Jong Un:

    https://www.38north.org/2023/09/north-koreas-animal-protein-farming-expansion-status-and-challenges-2/

    Prior to 2000, except for North Korea’s elites, the country subsisted principally on vegetarian diets. To have meat as few as two to three times a year was the apparent norm. Under Kim Jong Il, that began to change as efforts to expand the availability of animal protein to more of the population began around 2005.

  • Ashes. I don't think that this is a substitute, don't think that nitrogen at least is provided, which is the most-critical thing that fertilizer normally provides.

    kagis

    Sounds like it.

    https://gardening.usask.ca/articles-and-lists/articles-how-to/using-wood-ash-in-the-garden.php

    Is wood ash a good fertilizer? 

    Wood ash adds nutrients to your soil, but the amount varies according to the kind of wood burned. Generally, the largest ingredient in wood ash is calcium carbonate (about 20%). This is followed by potassium (less than 10%), phosphorus (1%) and trace amounts of micro-nutrients such as iron, manganese, boron, copper and zinc. Wood ash does not contain nitrogen. 

    Used in moderation, wood ash helps to fertilize your soil. However, since wood ash has no nitrogen at all, it is not a complete fertilizer. Adding compost to your soil will help meet the other nutrient needs of your plants.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertilizer

    Nitrogen-fixing chemical processes, such as the Haber process invented at the beginning of the 20th century, and amplified by production capacity created during World War II, led to a boom in using nitrogen fertilizers.[2] In the latter half of the 20th century, increased use of nitrogen fertilizers (800% increase between 1961 and 2019) has been a crucial component of the increased productivity of conventional food systems (more than 30% per capita) as part of the so-called "Green Revolution".[3]

  • Bones. Bones come from animals. See above point about meat.

[–] tal 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

No problem. If you're into this capcom music thing, the comments on that video may also be fun to read, as there are people who clearly got really into it. Stuff like:

I supported Shuttle missions from STS-26 to STS-135.  It was a tradition to play "Countdown" continuously in my car as I was making my way into work on launch day.  After the program ended, I would only hear it when playing "Signals" at home or in the car.  Fast forward 11 years.  Launch day for the newest vehicle in U.S Space Exploration, Artemis.  Heading in to support the launch, a few blocks from the house, the news guy on the radio mentions the "Countdown of Artemis".  Countdown?  Artemis?  COUNTDOWN!!!  I stopped the car, turned around,  went back home, grabbed "Signals", started "Countdown" and headed in to work.  The tradition continues...  Ad Astra!

Or

I have a friend who is an astronaut and has been in space. I asked  him if he knew of this song, and with a wide eyed grin, he replied - "every astronaut knows this song". Now how cool is that! Rush frames the excitement of the space journey so well, it had to register with these space pioneers as well! For the record, I've seen Rush 23 times, beginning with GUP and can't begin to say how impressive each and every show was. They're living evidence that the Mozart's and Bach's of the past,  still exist in modern times.

[–] tal 2 points 1 month ago

I mean, it doesn't make life any easier for Ukraine.

Also, while whatever North Korea's sent -- I've seen 15k -- and whatever their role is, we don't know whether this is a first installment or not.

[–] tal 2 points 1 month ago

That was my reaction too -- North Korea has a history here -- but that doesn't seem to mesh with the article text.

But sometimes the diplomats and company officials know the money they are sending to Pyongyang is not legitimate, Ryu Hyun-woo, who was once acting ambassador to Kuwait, told RFA. 

“People can buy a counterfeit $100 bill for $20,” he said. “When I was short like $200, I would put in fake bills.”

He said that internal counterfeiting was discovered internally in 2015 and 2016, when sanctions against North Korea were getting more stringent. 

Though North Korea may have been the origin of high-quality fakes of the $100 bill, Ryu thinks that that’s not the case today. 

“It is questionable whether North Korea can currently secure the appropriate materials to produce counterfeit money,” he said.

[–] tal 14 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/nk-manure-quota-2020-10142019154836.html

Citizens Fight Over Feces to Fill Human Fertilizer Quota in North Korea

Competition for human feces has become cutthroat in North Korea, as authorities have burdened citizens with impossible collection quotas to prepare fertilizer for next year’s farming season.

In impoverished North Korea, farms are fertilized using human waste, and the government tasks every household with yearly collection quotas.

RFA reported in January, shortly after leader Kim Jong Un’s New Year’s address, that households were struggling to meet an impossible quota amounting to 100 kilograms (220 pounds) per able-bodied citizen.

If you have access to a source of poop in North Korea, I assume that you're not going to simply flush it away, even if you had the infrastructure to give you that option.

[–] tal 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I'm surprised that nobody came up with a gizmo for holding a regular rifle around a corner while keeping the human body behind it.

[–] tal 19 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (4 children)

My guess is that South Korea probably only will become directly involved if the US does, and frankly, if the US becomes directly involved, I think that Russia's going to either fold or play nuclear hardball, either of which kind of shuffles expanded conventional conflict out of the picture.

[–] tal 1 points 1 month ago

I have to say that the photographs and video do highlight a silver lining here -- the photography opportunities. It's not often that you get the opportunity to photograph developed areas without fixed lighting.

[–] tal 21 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (7 children)

Hmm. Do we have sufficient information in -- and understanding of -- DNA to reliably predict IQ?

We can definitely screen for some things, genetic diseases and such. I'm just a little skeptical of the our ability to say "this is what the IQ of this embryo will be".

[–] tal 11 points 1 month ago (2 children)

!buildapc@lemmy.ca for a link that will work for anyone, regardless of their home instance.

[–] tal 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Ah, thanks, yeah.

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