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China Invents Solid Water
Drew N. Taylor writes: "The 'solid water', which is packed in degradable paper, is not pollutive and can be placed deep in the earth together with the root of plant. With the help of microbe, the 'solid water' is gradually dissolved to irrigate the root of plant."
The Chinese didn't "invent" anything new. They ripped off this idea from here
Now the ovious Joke...
So they invented ice in china?
or is there a significant anti-china attitude in the american (general slashdot? i hope not) populace?
it is really sad... given that China is the next world superpower... and we can only bask in our ignorance, self-indulgence, arrogance, and naievete for so long....
What comes first, finding a teacher or becoming a student?
The article says this product could be used in afforestation efforts/ desert growing. I say, "Screw that!" I want to use this product because I am a really lazy gardener.
Imagine, I can plant a tree without worrying about any kind of watering scheme. By the time the water gel-pack wears out, the tree has set up a self-sustaining root system.
"I like to wear big boy pants."
The Chinese make trouble for themselves by being very backward in their form of government. Their is still the feeling in China that only the Chinese are truly civilized. The Chinese often have a very cold-hearted way of relating to each other.
It is easy to romanticize about China. However, they have big, big problems. They are not close to being as influential in world thinking as developed countries. Remember, maybe 800,000,000 are uneducated peasants.
Now seeing as how China pirates enough of our stuff to be awarded their own DVD zone, do we get to work around their patent? Or would that be against the good for the communist people? (Tounge in cheek...)
let's just make sure it doesn't come anywhere near any of our normal water!
was getting people to believe he doesn't exist. The ability of such a psychological attack to deter further speech appears to have accomplished such a trick. First, why don't you tell me how being thrown in jail or charged with crimes of treason has an effect on speech. By one logic, they are merely bad reactions to what the person had to say.
LOOK You see 'Root of Plant' GET 'Root of Plant' You now have 'Root of Plant'
I invented solid water too! It's in my freezer! It comes in little cubes!
Why, why, why do all sectional stories now have to appear as section.slashdot.org in the front page link? It's annoying!
Yes, I know that if I only want to see the Science stories I can go to science.slashdot.org, or if I want to see a horrific colourscheme I can go to apache.slashdot.org. However, I _didn't_, I went to main slashdot.org and clicked on a link. This story, for no good reason, took me into the subsection. This gains me nothing (same story is available at the same URL minus the section. at the beginning) and means it ignores my login cookie. So, I either have to log back in (waste of time, irritating) or manually change the URL and redownload the story. On 56k and a larger story, that's not much fun.
PLEASE, can this stop? It doesn't help anyone, it just wastes time and bandwidth, mine and yours.
Greg
(Inside a nuclear plant)
Aaaarrrggh! Run! The canary has mutated!
Although this is a great start for speeding the reforesting of desert ecosystems, I see one major problem. Plants generally need a moderately reliable source of water, and this doesn't create an infrastructure solution that would be necessary to start a new ecosystem within an existing one.
You zap the moderators with a wand of humor! The moderators resist!
An American invents liquid shit.
The United States makes trouble for itself by being very backward in its form of government. It is still the feeling in the USA that only Americans are truely democratic. The Americans often have a very cold-hearted way of relating to each other.
It is easy to romanticize about the USA. However, they have big, big problems. They are not close to being as influential in world democracy as other developed countries. Remember maybe 200,000,000 are uneducated wage slaves.
Al Gore was here?
says they'll use this as a way to deliver spam more efficiently into the United States. We need to cut the cable already--it's not as if they aren't censoring the inbound connection; why let them spam us?
Call (206) 338-5780 COLLECT for information about a genuine BA, BS, MA, MS, MBA, or Ph.D.
I find it fascinating how a discussion about water dissolved (yeah...I know) into a discussion of China's politics. While yes, there is the opportunity for a patent lawsuit, this development has nothing to do with china's politics. Now that I related this to the discussion, lemme go (sort of) off topic.
China's government is split. There is the 'old guard' the socialists that lead the behemoth of a beauracracy. Then there are the capitalist/government socialist corporations that the economy, or at least the export economy , is built on. China will soon change drastically, IMHO, but it will be good for the country.
China is developing a lot of 'new' technology. While the polymer based slow-release water might be a patent infringment, they are jumping ahead in many ways. They are trying to reach the moon 10 years from now. Give them a little credit for taking a bloated government, no 'yro' section in the media, and excess poverty, and making the best of it.
Sig (appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars)
This is water susspended in "a kind of macromolecular polymer extracted from animals and plants". Sounds like the Chinese just invented Jello...
Not that it muh matters because I distincly remember seeing a tv show showcasing this kind of thing 10 years ago, at least.
If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
When someone from China discovers something that sounds truly useful in a desert environment (And no, it isn't jello, since Jello would dissolve within a day at most, and they specifically mention a macrobe to dissolve the polymer) and this topic turns into an accusation of China's political policies. I would like to make the following notes:
1.People in countries increasingly threatened with desertification, like much of North Africa or Australia, could make very very good use of this, and I very much doubt that they will care where this comes from.
2.China is *not* heaven and is *not* a democracy and *is* communist and has been threatening Taiwan for decades and did invade Vietnam twice. However people live there and some seem to be quite proud of their country, irrespective of or because of what it does.
3.The USA is *not* heaven and *is* a democracy and has been threatening Cuba for decades, invaded Vietnam once amongst others. However people live there and some seem to be quite proud of their country, irrespective of or because of what it does.
4.I don't think all that many Americans know what Communism is apart from what they have gathered on supposedly "free" media such as CNN, etc. Economic factors in the media can force quite a lot to be changed in order to support certain views, or do you think CNN supports all news items equaly and fairly (/. vs. Microsoft for example)?
5.I also think that many Chinese have no idea what the so called free world is like. Their news isn't free either. But perhaps they accuse some US scientist of being a fascist (eg. Oppenheimer) although he did have a human side as well, even if one were pressed to see it.
It depends on where you're looking from.
I'm still trying to figure out how the chinese are taking credit for what magicians did a long time ago... I mean, who here hasn't thrown that white powder into a toilet to turn all the water in it into a solid gel?
It's worth it to see the look on your roommates face when his poop is floating on top of the "water."
"And like that
But seriously- I wonder, assuming they ever put up that moonbase, what the possibilities are for this stuff up there?
"They do not sin at all, who sin for love" -Oscar Wilde
Yessiree, folks, step right up and buy your share of the future! It's all right here int this little package-
Introducing "Powdered Water"!!! Just add water, and you have all the cool, refreshing water you need!
Please, folks, there's plenty to go around...
Huxley
Namely:
6. All communists deserve to die.
7. As a correction to point 3, the USA isn't, never was, nor will it probably ever be a democracy. I don't think you have a leg to stand on in claiming that not "all that many Americans know what communism is" in light of this. The USA is a republic that is, in many ways, democratic. This is not a difference of perspective. It's a difference of fact. Fact is not a matter of perspective.
On a similar note, the People's Republic of China isn't communist. It's generally understood that nations that call themselves "communist" are not so, but are striving to BECOME the communist ideal, which is, of course, entirely infeasable in reality. Which means such governments can get away with nearly anything, claiming it will help the nation reach the communist ideal. It's an ideology based in ignorance, and fueled by ignorance.
8. The US threatens Cuba and tried to assassinate Castro because the US doesn't like the prospect of a hostile and potentially nuclear nation 90 miles off its coast. China has been threatening Taiwan because the Chinese government set up camp there after Mao took over the mainland. Taiwan is calling itself the Republic of China, and they are, much like the US, a democratic republic. Taiwan doesn't threaten the PRC in any military way.
So, as far as your parallelism goes, the US has a legitimate interest in Cuba, while the People's Republic of China has no such legitimate interest in Taiwan.
9. Blindly assuming CNN is the crowning glory of American news is pure ignorance fueled by a lack of real points to make. The beauty of non-communist systems is that one doesn't need to rely on one single source for news, and those sources aren't edited by the government to remove subversive content. I'm sure you're right in claiming that many Chinese are in the dark as to the true State of the Planet, and this is a result of Orwellian brainwashing. I'm sure that, at times, the US government has tried to do the same thing, but it's significantly harder when your citizens aren't obliged to take the government's word for it, and can go straight to the primary sources themselves. No, the US government has to resort to actually CAUSING the things they want people to see/know/believe, rather than just lying and SAYING those things happened.
In conclusion, it does not depend on where you're looking from, it simply depends on whether or not you're a fucking idiot.
Ciao.
At least I have acheived parity.
You on the other hand are more deluded than you are confused. If you were to become more confused, it would no doubt be an improvment, for then your mental state would reflect your situation.
Yes, you are undoubtedly more deluded than I am.