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Word to the wise…

Have you been following the flooding in China? Wild stuff. I’ve been keeping up with it via discussion forums, so I can’t really link to a definitive source. Twitter is a good place for impressive videos.

The smart bet seems to be that the Three Gorges Dam isn’t going to fail, but they’re having to flood the whole area to relieve pressure on it. That includes the breadbasket of China.

Uncle B read a little while ago that we’ll see rice shortages in the West as a result, as China is forced to import a large proportion of its supply this year.

Could be typical internet bushwa, but we just tried to add rice to our weekly order for next week and…not in stock. We can get by without it, but I’d rather not.

By the way, if the dam does go, it will be the largest natural disaster in, like, recorded history. Not just directly wiping out millions, but washing several nuclear power plants and a China-sized garbage dump into the Pacific. I gather water is super efficient at dissipating radiation, but I hate to think what will wash up on the beaches. Godzilla, probably.

And Durnedyankee has won the dick! I didn’t actually double check he’s the one who had Olivia de Havilland, but that’s the scuttlebutt. I love saying scuttlebutt. Also bushwa. Y’all know what this means – new Dead Pool Friday.

Durned, drop me a line. I can’t remember if one of the envelopes on my desk waiting to go out has your name on it already.

Comments


Comment from gromulin
Time: July 27, 2020, 9:56 pm

Attention! The family Gromulin is officially on vacation this week. Surly teenagers and all. If you hear reports of a large, hairy, Manatee seen floating in Lake Tahoe, you may disregard. On a side not: the only FM station I could find is a Modern Country station. WTF? Autotuned drum- drum machined is “Country” now?


Comment from Drew458
Time: July 28, 2020, 1:25 am

I don’t see why an epic disaster in China should effect us at all. Nearly all rice in the US is domestically produced. So why should we sell it to China? Harsh, but seriously – if 100 million starved in China would they even notice the difference? 200 million?


Comment from Subotai Bahadur
Time: July 28, 2020, 1:27 am

Have also been watching 3 Gorges. For the last couple of weeks the dam has been above what they have designated as flood level and ALL the flood gates have been open and are submerged and the ship locks have been left open as an extra floodgate. From a literal “40 days and 40 nights”+.

Interestingly enough, late last night or early this morning they [the Chinese government] admitted that a deformation in the dam spotted in a satellite photo a year ago that they have alternatively been denying was there, and simultaneously that it proved that the concrete and steel was safely elastic [think about that for a moment] was real. And that there were “minor leaks” in the structure of the floodgates. But that it was only peripheral [it’s in the middle of the freaking dam].

At the rate the water was rising, last time I checked Friday, we were days from the dam overtopping. Which would be what is classified technically as “not a good thing” and a sign the whole thing is about to go.

Either way, things are not going to be pretty. Even just the floods from the ongoing rain have destroyed bridges, rail lines, etc. functionally splitting China in half . . . during a pandemic . . . and a trade war . . . and a military skirmish with India. If the dam goes, much of what remains of Chinese industrial capacity is gone, as will be about 100 million Chinese.

As a sideline, I do a weekly small newspaper column, and my guess in the one that went in Friday was that there was a good chance it would be gone between July 31 and August 15. Mention was made of the Mandate of Heaven being gone.

Subotai Bahadur


Comment from durnedyankee
Time: July 28, 2020, 12:15 pm

0.o

Yeah it was me, somewhat regrettably.

Is there any way if I give the award to Timothy that Olivia will come back and some other more deserving Supreme Court justice will go to the big gym in the sky to complete the practice for her 10 back flip exercise routines?

This Chinese dam thing is great news for the one they’re wrapping up in Ethiopia that’s sure to result in a regional war long before it bursts.


Comment from weasel again
Time: July 28, 2020, 1:13 pm

The world’s pharmaceutical production is in the path of the dam. Which, on reflection, was a rather foolish thing for the world to allow.

I’ve run across the Mandate of Heaven numerous times in the discussion.


Comment from Deborah HH
Time: July 28, 2020, 1:15 pm

Rice. It’s a major crop here in south Texas. But I don’t think it can make up for the loss of crops in China. Tropical Storm/Hurricane Hanna just dumped heavy rains along the entire Texas coastline, so that’s a boon. I can’t eat rice anymore, and have learned to substitute with noodles. Not as nutritious, but oh so delicious.

I can, however, eat Rice Chex—and yesterday I made a batch of Chex Mix. Dang that stuff is good, and insanely addictive, too.


Comment from durnedyankee
Time: July 28, 2020, 1:33 pm

World’s Pharma, plus probably half a million other products that we “need” and get from China every day.

Why, our mask supply could be wiped out! And think of the bio labs that won’t be able to produced weaponized flu viruses! And what about the Mardi Gras bead supply! The dog jerky and bat soup supplies…

But, just for one grisly moment, try to imagine around a 100 million bodies all at once…(or more). And not exactly like there will be people left to bury them until the relief arrives from the areas not wiped clean. And the effect that kind of kill would have on the local ocean. And I thought Fukushima was bad.

All in all, despite my previous sarcasm, I find myself wishing the Chinese well on this one.


Comment from Mark Matis
Time: July 28, 2020, 9:23 pm

You don’t think that the local sea life would rapidly do a thorough job, durnedyankee??? Methinks you underestimate them!

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