Horrible news stories Catch All

This isn't as horrible as the other news I've seen in this thread, but it's definitely a more appropriate place to put this than the "entertain me" thread.

World’s 15 Biggest Ships Create More Pollution Than All The Cars In The World

Engines made by VW?

MeatMan wrote:

This isn't as horrible as the other news I've seen in this thread, but it's definitely a more appropriate place to put this than the "entertain me" thread.

World’s 15 Biggest Ships Create More Pollution Than All The Cars In The World

That didn't seem possible to me so I did a bit of reading.

Large commercial vessels primarily burn what's called Heavy Fuel Oil when out at sea. This fuel is not heavily refined, has high sulfur content and produces a lot of sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxide compounds when it is burned.

Cars burn a highly refined gasoline which produces almost no sulfur oxides or nitrogen oxides. Even trucks burn a highly refined highway diesel which must contain less than 15 parts per million of sulfur, so they too produce very few sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides. Cars and trucks do produce quite a bit of carbon dioxide and other pollutants.

So yes, the 15 biggest ships produce more sulfur oxide pollutants than all the cars in the world, because they run on completely different fuels. A ship produces more carbon dioxide emission per mile and per gallon of fuel than a car. Ships in general, however, have the lowest emission levels of any other method of cargo transport , producing fewer emissions per ton of freight per mile than barges, trains or trucks.

So it's not exactly cut and dry.

MeatMan wrote:

That is absolutely f*cking horrifying.

The Extra Credits stuff is normally pretty light-hearted. I can't watch at work but I'm curious about that video.

Dr_Awkward wrote:

The Extra Credits stuff is normally pretty light-hearted. I can't watch at work but I'm curious about that video.

This is not light-hearted at all. It's downright scary, because it's a credit-score type game with real-life, government-related consequences. It really does seem like something out of a Phillip K. Dick novel.

Extra Credits didn't even touch on all of it. China's biggest matchmaking service is also in on it. I don't think I'm being too paranoid when I say that they're literally breeding blind patriotism.

BBC wrote:

Users are encouraged to flaunt their good credit scores to friends, and even potential mates. China's biggest matchmaking service, Baihe, has teamed up with Sesame to promote clients with good credit scores, giving them prominent spots on the company's website.

"A person's appearance is very important," explains Baihe's vice-president, Zhuan Yirong. "But it's more important to be able make a living. Your partner's fortune guarantees a comfortable life."

More and more of Baihe's 90 million clients are displaying their credit scores in their dating profiles, doing away with the idea that a credit score is a private matter.

Yeesh, thanks for the summary.

It seems that Extra Credits video (along with other press reporting of this ACLU blog post) is conflating a few different things in China. The overall picture is not as Orwellian as described. From https://www.techinasia.com/china-cit... ...

Alibaba’s Sesame Credit scoring system, Tencent’s credit scoring system, and the mandatory government one (which isn’t mandatory until 2020) are not the same things. They are three different things that many articles in the Western press are treating as if they were the same.

Sesame Credit isn't a government program, it's a private program that offers discounts and rewards for goods and services offered by Alibaba. Alibaba is sometimes refered to as "China's Amazon.com," though I believe they are more diversified than Amazon. Alibaba is heavily promoting Sesame Credit on Chinese social media, so that is why people are bragging about their scores.

Tencent's consumer credit rating system does mine social media, which is more than a little creepy, but it is not related to Sesame Credit, and it is also a private program, not a government one. Tencent is an internet mega corporation - they operate the largest Internet portal, QQ.com, and run many social media businesses including a mobile paying system they bought in April 2015.

The Chinese government *does* plan on implementing a "credit scoring" system by 2020, but it is unclear exactly how it will be implemented. They do intend it to be more than a simple financial credit rating, though, so that's a little bit scary.

I call fake.

krev82 wrote:

could probably go in rape culture thread but..blah
Ontario teacher accused of 36 sex crimes, making pornography involving youths aged 12 to 15

Could also go in the feminism thread. I made the mistake of assuming the teacher was a man.

sometimesdee wrote:
krev82 wrote:

could probably go in rape culture thread but..blah
Ontario teacher accused of 36 sex crimes, making pornography involving youths aged 12 to 15

Could also go in the feminism thread. I made the mistake of assuming the teacher was a man.

Strangely I assumed the teacher was a woman. Not sure why.

Mother sentenced to life in prison for throwing her autistic six-year-old son from a 133ft bridge to his death

not horrible that she's sentenced obviously, horrible that she did such a thing. RIP London, sorry your mom sucked.

She actually looked up falls from the exact height of the bridge, and insanity defenses? What a twisted person. I was afraid she'd get off lightly, as many murderers of autistic kids do.

A powerful Pakistani religious body that advises the government on the compatibility of laws with Islam on Thursday declared a new law that criminalizes violence against women to be "un-Islamic."

Fazlur Rehman, the chief of one of Pakistan's largest religious parties, the Jamiat-i-Ulema Islam, said the law was in conflict with both Islam and the constitution of Pakistan.

"This law makes a man insecure," he told journalists. "This law is an attempt to make Pakistan a Western colony again."

It's all about ethics in journalism, anyway.

Mother jailed for poisoning her baby's milk with painkillers

believed to have deliberately made her child ill in an attempt to claim higher levels of benefits.

special hell.

A one-year-old was beaten by a babysitter. The babysitter admitted to it, but won't face criminal charges because Oregon law requires the victim (a one-year-old baby) to say that he was in pain.

IMAGE(http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2645853.1463945585!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_1200/baby23n-2-web.jpg)

You've got to be kidding me.

Marbury was referencing a 2012 Oregon Court of Appeals ruling that prosecutors say made it more difficult to file charges in abuse cases with victims who can't speak.

That sounds like the biggest sack of sh*t ever. And it's been FOUR YEARS and Oregon has done nothing to fix their law?

That is absolutely infuriating.

The prosecutor has either got to be the laziest or most cowardly piece of garbage ever. I don't care what an appeals court said, he/she should have prosecuted the case until a judge ruled otherwise. f*ck them.

Wait, are there really no applicable Federal laws? Are all those assault/battery/abuse laws state by state?

That poor baby. As bad as that is, hopefully there will be enough outrage to change that law.

Just. f*ck that.

Yonder wrote:

Wait, are there really no applicable Federal laws? Are all those assault/battery/abuse laws state by state?

I believe that federal laws wouldn't apply unless state lines were crossed, or federal employees were attacked while performing their federal duties (e.g., postal carriers while delivering mail).

If that were my baby it would be covered with hugs and tears.
The following day I would be covered with babysitter blood.

If that were my baby, I would be in a neighboring city the next day, in the clear company of friends and family, with video evidence to vouch for my presence. Any untoward incident that may or may not happen to the babysitter at the time would clearly not be related to me in any way.

Whoever that sorry motherf*cker is, deserves to be drawn and quartered.

You DO NOT hit babies.