back to article China discovers unknown mineral on the moon, names it Changesite-(Y)

China announced last Friday it discovered a hitherto unknown mineral in samples returned from the Moon. The mineral, dubbed "Changesite-(Y)", was named after Chang’e – a moon goddess in Chinese mythology and the namesake of the Chang’e-5 mission that retrieved a sample of lunar dust in 2020. China's sample clocked in at 1. …

  1. Headley_Grange Silver badge
    Headmaster

    Curly -- or Straight?

    "Linguine" is plural, so the unit should be the "Linguina".

    They are also elliptical, so should only really be a unit for elliptical things. Interestingly (?) some human hairs are elliptical.

    1. Twanky
      Boffin

      Re: Curly -- or Straight?

      I'm fairly sure that the Linguine unit refers to the length rather than the width of the fundamental pasta particles. The other dimensions of the particle are ill-defined.

      The dangerous practice of of 'splitting the Linguine' (for example, when feeding children) can cause serious leaks of the sauce and consequent irreversible changes to tablecloths.

      1. David 132 Silver badge
        Mushroom

        Re: Curly -- or Straight?

        > The dangerous practice of of 'splitting the Linguine' (for example, when feeding children) can cause serious leaks of the sauce and consequent irreversible changes to tablecloths.

        Plus of course, the risk of accidental creation of antipasta.

        Icon ->

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Curly -- or Straight?

          I *so* need more upvotes. Well played :).

        2. Tom 7

          Re: Curly -- or Straight?

          Down here in the west country we have the anti-pasty particle. Sampling it is very difficult as it seems to transform into a seagull emitting charmless radiation at the same time.

          1. Martin-73 Silver badge

            Re: Curly -- or Straight?

            I thought the anti-pasty was made by Ginsters

            1. The Oncoming Scorn Silver badge
              Pirate

              Re: Curly -- or Straight?

              Damn I feel the need for a Ivor Dewdney one now - Thanks

              Icon - I'm starving!

              1. Martin-73 Silver badge

                Re: Curly -- or Straight?

                Indeed, a good Cornish Pasty is a delight... a poor one, an absolute disgrace, there IS NO middle ground. Hope you satisfied your craving

                1. Headley_Grange Silver badge

                  Re: Curly -- or Straight?

                  @Martin: your post might be construed as fighting talk in some parts. Ivor Dewdney pasties are definitely not Cornish!

        3. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge

          Re: Curly -- or Straight?

          Nothing wrong with antipasta if used in properly controlled conditions, as shown by the Cannelloni On Macaroni Experiment 2 Pasta-AntiPasta Annihilator (COME-2-PAPA), where they have been using antipasta safely for years (unlike the rather reckless people at the Fast Food Fight Facility (FFFF), where collisions frequently cause leaks of sauce into the environment)

      2. Richard Pennington 1

        Re: Curly -- or Straight?

        That sounds like splitting hairs to me.

      3. XSV1
        Joke

        Re: Curly -- or Straight?

        We should probably ask one of the Pastafarians on the comments section to verify this (or not).

        1. gandalfcn Silver badge

          Re: Curly -- or Straight?

          Ramen to that

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

    3. heyrick Silver badge
      Happy

      Re: Curly -- or Straight?

      I wouldn't pay too much attention to this. They still think linguine is 14cm. it demonstrably isn't.

      1. Loyal Commenter Silver badge

        Re: Curly -- or Straight?

        If, as you say, the mean length of dry linguine is just over 25 cm, have you taken into account how much this increases by when cooked? Pasta can as much as double in volume when cooked, so assuming the swelling is isometric, this would mean the length would increase by up to the cube root of three, minus 1 (or by a little over 25%)

        Of course, this still doesn't make linguine 14 cm, but depending on how well cooked it is (I prefer it al dente), your 25 cm piece could end up as long as 31.5 cm, and measuring using such soggy pasta could mean that the 2 m distance you refer to in your blog may only be 6.3 linguine.

        It seems to me that the El reg measurement may refer to the cooked length of half a piece of al dente linguine. Maybe this is taking into account the practise some cooks have of breaking the pasta in half before adding it to the pot?

        1. TimMaher Silver badge
          Pint

          Re: Curly -- or Straight?

          Also, is El Reg using a nr. 13 linguine or some other type/size?

        2. ChoHag Silver badge

          Re: Curly -- or Straight?

          Those are not cooks. They are monsters.

          1. Loyal Commenter Silver badge

            Re: Curly -- or Straight?

            If I could upvote that more than once...

            They probably put ketchup/"catsup" on it too...

        3. heyrick Silver badge
          WTF?

          Re: Curly -- or Straight?

          Breaking linguine? Breaking? If that's how they get it into the pot, they really need to find a different profession.

          My god. I need tea and a lie down now.

          PS: Interesting idea on the expansion during cooking. I'll have to add some extra linguine and then measure it.

          1. Danny 2

            Re: Curly -- or Straight?

            I ate sixteen pasta today - or sixteen pieces of pasta, I never learned Latin. Is it like Lego? The conch shell ones. I can tell you now that if you can count the pasta on your plate then it's not enough to fill you, no matter how well you improvise a sauce.

            I hate the nouveau pauvre boasting about having a choice between heating or eating. I resent those rich sods on Universal Credit who still have teeth and glasses.

            I confess I have saved a huge strategic reserve of pasta I was saving that for the apocalypse, but that is now.

            1. heyrick Silver badge

              Re: Curly -- or Straight?

              The seashells are "conchiglie". At least, that's what it ought to say on the pack.

              I have pasta reserves as well, awaiting the zombie apocalypse. Not entirely sure it hasn't already started...

            2. Toni the terrible Bronze badge
              Trollface

              Re: Curly -- or Straight?

              A double Fist Full (or hand full) of shell pasta is just enough for one

          2. Loyal Commenter Silver badge

            Re: Curly -- or Straight?

            Incidentally, if you break a piece of linguine (or spaghetti, or other long straight pasta) by bending it, it's not going to break into two equal pieces, and it'll probably break into three, as the bending stress will cause a "whiplash" effect in the longer piece which will break a smaller bit off the end of it. I can't remember where I read the article about someone modelling the stresses, it might even have been on El Reg.

            1. Loyal Commenter Silver badge

              Re: Curly -- or Straight?

              Found it, it was the winner of an Ig Nobel Prize no less:

              https://improbable.com/2018/08/13/breakthough-snapping-a-spaghetti-strand-into-2-not-3-pieces/

          3. heyrick Silver badge

            Re: Curly -- or Straight?

            Quick reply a month later (!) as I've finally gotten around to doing this

            Barilla linguine - approx 25cm uncooked.

            Extending to approx 33cm when cooked (plus or minus half a centimetre in three samples).

            El Reg's 14cm is just comically wrong.

    4. Inventor of the Marmite Laser Silver badge

      Re: Curly -- or Straight?

      All this talk about pasties brought a holiday memory back of a "Kurdish pasty" from a vendor whilst I was on holiday there a few years back in Blaenau Ffestiniog, Wales. Despite the weird concept I can confirm a high state of yumminess.

  2. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

    The Genie's out of the Lamp and Exploring the Delights of Pandora's Open Box

    Organizations like MI5 and the FBI frequently issue warnings of Chinese espionage and the CCP's strong long game to encourage further invention of absolutely fabulous speculation justifying their raison d'être for continued existence and financing/fiat money supply for global disbursement and product purchase/proprietary intellectual property capture.

    Such a methodology though has many able to copy it and thus be they equally well equipped to successfully capture and enjoy the employment and deployment of a leading overwhelmingly almighty powerful advantage which ideally delivers free reign and indisputable dominion over all others whenever such is available and on offer.

    However, a major self-destructive problem arises and expands exponentially then whenever the warnings issued are more recognised to be fake news for further future program conversion with media preparations and presentations of intricate fabricated perceptions for public acceptance as profound metadatabased physicalised realities by those targeted ...... for more than one can play that Greater IntelAIgent Game.

    Would you like to deny that is a current available live running virtualising reality for capture and enjoyment and employment and deployment/payment and purchase?

    1. Dr Who

      Re: The Genie's out of the Lamp and Exploring the Delights of Pandora's Open Box

      amanfrommars never has, and never will, pass the Turing Test. Which is odd for someone whom I believe to be an actual human. Always fun to read though.

      1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

        Re: The Genie's out of the Lamp and Exploring the Delights of Pandora's Open Box

        Once upon a time, Dr Who, in lands both far away and near, did everyone believe the Earth to be flat, which is odd whenever it has been photographed and proven to be not so and anything but ..... https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b6/18/4a/b6184a1289bbd01c2cb93dd70610d6b6.jpg

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: The Genie's out of the Lamp and Exploring the Delights of Pandora's Open Box

          Any proper conspiracy theorist is immunised against reality - they will simply claim the images to be fake..

    2. Lordrobot

      Re: The Genie's out of the Lamp and Exploring the Delights of Pandora's Open Box

      Utter gibberish. Are you allergic to commas and semi-colons as well as punctuation in general? Even Ginsberg used commas.

      Let's consolidate your floodgate run-on post:

      "M15 and the FBI frequently issue FOS Warnings over Chinese Achievements."

      I won't touch the rest of your post with a 10 ft pole.

      "Would you like to deny that is a current available live running virtualising reality for capture and enjoyment and employment and deployment/payment and purchase?"

      Yes, I would like to deny that, that particular run-on sentence, means a bloody thing.

      1. Loyal Commenter Silver badge

        Re: The Genie's out of the Lamp and Exploring the Delights of Pandora's Open Box

        It seems several commenters here are new to the game, and have never "experienced" AMFM before.

      2. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

        Re: Utter gibberish @Lordrobot

        If you're disagreeing with, rather than just disliking, that which is freely shared under the hood of The Genie's out of the Lamp and Exploring the Delights of Pandora's Open Box, Lordrobot, you're not gonna be prepared for, and will then struggle to accept as possible, escaping news of Near Future Otherworldly AWE*some Strategic Surprises of a Novel and Noble Paramilitary Ilk which would pit Postmodern Pioneering Cavaliers against Outmoded Establishment Roundheads/Non-State Private Pirates against Public State Non-Entities.

        *Advanced Warfighter Experienced

        Ps .... can you clarify, for those who may be interested in what you say, what FOS you are referencing. As you can see here, is there an extensive choice list with quite a few possibilities providing sense in the place of gibberish.

    3. Ian Johnston Silver badge

      Re: The Genie's out of the Lamp and Exploring the Delights of Pandora's Open Box

      The word "fiat" warned me to ignore the rest of the posting. Thank you.

  3. nil0
    Boffin

    Weight

    > China's sample weighed about 1.73kg (3.8lbs) on Earth.

    Acknowledges weight differs between the Earth and Moon. Uses unit of mass...?

    1. veti Silver badge

      Re: Weight

      By an interesting coincidence, it weighed 1.73 kg on the Moon as well.

      1. KittenHuffer Silver badge

        Re: Weight

        No, technically it 'massed' 1.73 kg on the Moon as well, since kg is the SI unit of mass.

        The term 'weighed', as used by most people, is under the assumption that the weighing takes place under the conditions of 1g (one Earth gravity). When you weigh something you should be measuring in Newtons.

        1. VoiceOfTruth Silver badge

          Re: Weight

          -> under the assumption that the weighing takes place under the conditions of 1g (one Earth gravity)

          Which is true for 99.99999999% of people who have ever lived. People weighed things long before SI and space travel even existed. It's this sort of language appropriation which annoys people. If you want to say "mass" then say it.

          1. TRT Silver badge

            Re: Weight

            It's not unusual to find people mass debating on this forum.

            1. KittenHuffer Silver badge

              Re: Weight

              How can we do that when our Paris icon has been taken away from us?!?

            2. Charles Burrows

              Re: Weight

              Re "It's not unusual"

              Tom Jones' long-lost discarded lines #429.

            3. gandalfcn Silver badge

              Re: Weight

              Disciples of J Arthur

          2. Tom 38

            Re: Weight

            Which is true for 99.99999999% of people who have ever lived. People weighed things long before SI and space travel even existed. It's this sort of language appropriation which annoys people. If you want to say "mass" then say it.

            In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

            The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,

            and the love of God,

            and the communion of the Holy Spirit

            be with you all.

            Brothers and sisters, let us acknowledge our sins,

            and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.

            1. TimMaher Silver badge
              Pint

              Re: Mass

              Damn @Tom. Beat me to it!

              Benedictus, Benedicat, per Jesum Christum Dominum Nostrum Amen.

          3. Loyal Commenter Silver badge

            Re: Weight

            Yeah, except g != 1G everywhere on Earth, and varies slightly due to underlying geology and altitude.

            1. Astarte1

              Re: Weight

              https://xkcd.com/852/

              Thank you Randall

          4. Peter Gathercole Silver badge
            Headmaster

            Re: Weight

            I'm going to be really pedantic here, so I expect to be shot down by VoT, but weighing things at different places on the surface of the earth with the same equipment gives different results as a result of gravity not being constant on across the entire Earth's surface.

            The force applied to an object (and thus it's weight) is dependent on the distance between the centre of gravity of the two objects. So altitude matters, and as the Earth is an oblate spheroid so does the latitude.

            In addition, the density of the earth is not uniform, so the centre of gravity of the Earth is not exactly at the centre of the Earth, resulting in some descrepancies at various points on the Earth's surface.

            The difference will not be very large (varying by about 0.5%), but it's a counter argument to the comment about 99.99999999% of the people who have ever lived being under 1g.

            1. VoiceOfTruth Silver badge

              Re: Weight

              No shooting down from me. You are correct (and somebody else mentioned that gravity is not exactly 1g everywhere on earth) - in a similar vein is boiling water at different altitudes.

              1. Tom 7

                Re: Weight

                I still remember the horror of trying to eat pasta that had been cooked at 16000 ft up Kilimanjaro several hours before the midnight start of the final ascent. It achieved a consistency of extractal dente in that it was impossible to chew and then stuck to your teeth sufficiently well to pull them out should you wish to speak!

            2. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Weight

              You are quite correct that the force is different in different places. It's standard practice to calibrate a scale in the location where it's installed, partly for this very reason. (Calibrated using kg weights, of course, so that the mass shown on the scale is accurate.)

              The real challenge is getting force-weights (like a 50-Newton weight) calibrated properly at an off-site lab. You have to specify your local gravity so the lab adjusts the weight to be 50 N at YOUR facility, not theirs!

            3. Ian Johnston Silver badge

              Re: Weight

              The difference will not be very large (varying by about 0.5%), but it's a counter argument to the comment about 99.99999999% of the people who have ever lived being under 1g.

              It's not actually. The value of 1g varies, that's all.

        2. veti Silver badge

          Re: Weight

          I disagree. When people say something "weighs" 1kg, they are making a statement about how much of it there is. That's what's important when, e.g., baking a cake or doing the shopping.

          Scales will of course be calibrated to local gravity (as happens here on Earth, gravity is not the same - 1kg in, say, Greenland is about 0.5% heavier than that same kg in Ecuador). But it's still "1kg".

          On the Moon, I'm guessing 1lb is quite a bit more than 1kg.

        3. Tom 7

          Re: Weight

          Before or after he got hit by the apple and presumably ate it?

        4. hnwombat
          Headmaster

          Re: Weight

          "No, technically it 'massed' 1.73 kg on the Moon as well, since kg is the SI unit of mass."

          True, however it also 'weighed' 3.8lbs since, as everyone knows, a pound is a measure of force (like the Newton) and the actual imperial unit of mass is the slug.

          Hmmmm... I sense an opportunity. El reg should add the slug as a unit of mass (e.g., 1 adult badger == 130.4347 banana slugs).

          However, I note that el reg has also intermixed measures of weight and mass. We need a purifying revamp of the standards!

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Weight

        By an interesting coincidence, it had a mass of 1.73 kg on the Moon as well.

        Fixed it for you

    2. Macs1000

      Re: Weight

      I suppose it all hinges on whether, on the moon, you use a spring balance or an old-fashioned pair of scales!

  4. J.G.Harston Silver badge

    Changesite - that's a name that calls out for an accent - change site?

    1. heyrick Silver badge

      It's a little disappointing that it relates to Chinese mythology. I was hoping the new stuff found would have been given entirely random names: Changesite, Felicity, Seven, Trevor...

      It would make science class much more interesting - today we're going to learn about the mineral "Myfanwy".

    2. Loyal Commenter Silver badge
      Joke

      Have you tried a Geordie accent? I reckon it would sound pretty good using one of those.

  5. John69

    > The highly valuable gas is also extremely useful for cooling quantum machines.

    That is any Helium. You do not need Helium 3 for that.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Helium-3 vs. Helium-4

      You can get to lower temperatures with Helium-3. Our cryostat would get to 1.2K with He-4, but down to 300mK with the He-3 insert. That might be useful for lower noise in quantum measurements.

      1. bonkers
        Boffin

        Re: Helium-3 vs. Helium-4

        Helium-3, being a Fermion, should not exhibit superfluidity, a property of bosonic liquids. Helium-4 refrigeration below 2.17K is difficult because it goes superfluid and gushes through the tiniest of gaps, ask CERN....

        <high voice> " we think the Helium is leaking"....

        Of course, Fermions can pair-up, Cooper pairs, to make Bosons, and this is why electrons can become superconductors - and why, eventually, He-3 can become superfluid, but at a much lower temperature.

        1. Short Fat Bald Hairy Man

          Re: Helium-3 vs. Helium-4

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vRM7Ucc8Q8

      2. Flightmode
        Boffin

        Re: Helium-3 vs. Helium-4

        Shower thought: 1.2K is the same as 1.2KmK. But 300mK would only be 0.3KmK.

        1. Martin-73 Silver badge

          Re: Helium-3 vs. Helium-4

          If your shower is at 1.2K, twist the knob slightly, which will turn it to somewhat hotter than the surface of the sun.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Helium-3 vs. Helium-4

          K for Kelvin, k for kilo.

          Also you can't have several SI prefixes. Of course milli cancels out kilo. What's your point?

          1. Loyal Commenter Silver badge

            Re: Helium-3 vs. Helium-4

            Indeed, and kmK would be kilometre kelvins, presumably some sort of temperature differential times distance?

    2. swm

      I believe that there is a dilution refrigerator refrigerator technique using a mixture of He3 and He4 that can reach very low temperatures while dissipating a watt or two. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilution_refrigerator)

  6. Arthur the cat Silver badge

    A question

    What's the "-(Y)" bit about? Any mineralogists in the house?

    1. Xalran

      Re: A question

      Yttrium.

      There has to be another mineral called Changesite that does not contain Yttrium...

      I haven't been able to find the chemical formula ( which is strange, it has to be clearly defined for the IMA to accept a new mineral name ) but since there'es that trailing Y and it's a phosphate it at least contains the following elemen/complex : Y and PO4

      now for a complete answer, I'm going to use a similar phosphate : merrillite and merrillite-Y

      Merrillite : Ca8NaMg(PO4)7

      Merrillite-Y : Ca16Y2Mg2(PO4)14

      As you can see, the Yttrium replaced the Sodium in the formula...

      1. Arthur the cat Silver badge

        Re: A question

        Thanks (to you & Dr. G. Freeman). Knew there had to be someone round here who could explain.

      2. Loyal Commenter Silver badge

        Re: A question

        ...this does raise the question about why this is Ca16Y2Mg2(PO4)14 and not Ca8YMg(PO4)7. Presumably this is crystalline, and AFAIK, formulae for crystal structures normally refer to the smallest unit (e.g. NaCl, and not Na3Cl3).

      3. Richard Pennington 1
        Boffin

        Re: A question

        Merrillite Ca9NaMg(PO4)7 not Ca8NaMg(PO4)7

        So Yttrium (oxidation state +3) replaces Calcium (+2) and Sodium (+1).

    2. Dr. G. Freeman

      Re: A question

      Means its got a lot of yttrium in its structure compared to other minerals with the same structure and other mineral composition.

      formula: (Ca8Y)Fe2+(PO4)7

    3. Steve K

      Re: A question

      Maybe it's a bit like Changesite but not entirely? So is Changesite-y?

  7. imanidiot Silver badge

    "They found a single crystal particle among the 140,000 lunar sample particles with a diameter of about 10 microns."

    So... actual new mineral or measurement error? Seems awfully small and rare to definitively call it a "new mineral"

    1. David 132 Silver badge
      Meh

      The official Chinese line is that this new thing DID NOT come from a lab. And what reason would we have to doubt them?

    2. Hurn

      "They found a single crystal particle among the 140,000 lunar sample particles with a diameter of about 10 microns."

      Might this mean that the largest, of many particles, reached 10 microns. How many, smaller, particles were there? 0 or > 1 ? Disambiguation requested.

      This might also account for the -Y, if more particles did have Y.

  8. Management Order

    There is not a lot of helium-3 in lunar regolith (which is just the surface layer, and is the only layer that contains any at all) - it's in the tens of parts per billion at best. That means collecting and processing billions of tons of regolith for a few measly tons of helium-3, which isn't all that useful outside some niche extreme cryogenic applications. It's not a worthwhile fusion fuel - it produces less energy per fusion event than standard D-T fusion, and would be quite difficult to ignite and sustain (we don't yet know the Lawson Criterion (difficulty to ignite) for 3He-3He, but we do know it for D-3He and it's 16 times harder to ignite than D-T). The sole "advantage" is that 3He-3He is aneutronic, but the neutronic emission from D-T is actually useful for breeding more fuel.

    1. TRT Silver badge

      But the damn moon nazis beat us to it anyway!

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Awww please...

    Can we call it Chinesium.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Awww please...

      "I'm livin' on Chinese rock.

      All my best things are in hock.

      I'm livin' on Chinese rock.

      Everything's in the pawn shop."

      -- J. Thunders

    2. J.G.Harston Silver badge

      Re: Awww please...

      Nah. -ium is for elements, -ite is for rocks.

      (I emailed IUPAC and petitioned for element 113 to be Yamatium, as by tradition is you use ancient names for elements, but they went with nihonium, using the modern name :( )

  10. spold Silver badge

    Two letter error...

    Clangersite

    1. Arthur the cat Silver badge

      Re: Two letter error...

      Emits whistling noises.

  11. DJ
    Flame

    Yes, but does it...

    cure Covid?

  12. Richard Pennington 1

    Changesite

    Presumably it's called Changesite because they found it in the second place they tried.

  13. RLWatkins

    Less here than meets the eye....

    People are constantly discovering new minerals. So what?

    *Everything* on the surface of the Moon has a tiny bit of 3He in it. So what?

    3He is a terrible fusion fuel; it's difficult to fuse. Sure, fusing doesn't make your reactor parts radioactive like Tritium does, but if you can't get it to fuse then so what?

    Don't get me wrong: it's neat that they brought samples back from the Moon. But this is a tempest in a teapot, a transparent effort to get a headline.

    Yawn.

  14. Lordrobot

    Who's the Colony Now?

    "The UK's Imperial College has reportedly decided to shut down two Chinese-sponsored aerospace research centers after warnings they could unintentionally aid the Chinese military." UNINTENTIONALLY?

    Here is BREXIT. Instead of being more independent, The UK is now essentially a US Colony. Instead of opening up global trade, the UK is closing it down on behalf of assisting the US to Nancy Kerrigan knee bash the Chinese at every turn.

    If the US and UK can no longer compete just say so... The KneeCapping foreign policy of the US and its slave state the UK, is nothing more than the new low standard of LOSERSHIP.

    It is repulsive to read a story about a great new discovery that is parsed with backhanded phrases minimizing the effort, then having the UK act in such an utterly stupid fashion on behalf of retrograde Murica... Murica is pegging the moron meter these days and UK has become it's trained ape.

    1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

      Re: Who's the Colony Now?

      Getting right down to the nitty gritty then, Lordrobot ..... whenever what you say is true of the UKGBNI, who is to blame and be held accountable for the disaster?

      Members of Parliament in the Commons and House of Lords and their aiding and abetting Civil Servants? The Bank of England for supplying them with apparently limitless currency generating untenable debt and increasing deficits for payments of living expenses and lovely rewards? An ignorant and unwholly civilised population for tolerating and allowing such a mess to continue day after day without any end in sight? Or do you prefer to blame foreign powers over whom there are similar degrees of zero command and control and accountability ‽ .

      Who/What might they be?

      It’s all nothing less than a titanic disgrace, isn’t it? And I wouldn’t like to be discovered fundamentally responsible for that situation, for one doesn’t have to be an Einstein to know what the mob will do, with every right and justification, to that and those pulling their strings and the wool over their eyes so they cannot see what fools they are being taken for at every available opportunity.

    2. EnviableOne
      Big Brother

      Re: Who's the Colony Now?

      Welcome to Airstrip1

      1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

        Re: Welcome to Airstrip1

        The Prime Time Third World Destination, EnviableOne, for No-Hopers and Serial Losers.

  15. Ian Johnston Silver badge

    Still no Phostlite? Though I always thought it should have been Phostlium, since it's cleared said to be a metal, not a mineral.

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