r/technology • u/ourlifeintoronto • Sep 10 '23

Transportation Lithium discovery in US volcano could be biggest deposit ever found

https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/lithium-discovery-in-us-volcano-could-be-biggest-deposit-ever-found/4018032.article
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u/SilentSamurai Sep 11 '23

You'll likely see this.

US dropping a considerable dime to start domestic semiconductor production is probably one of the biggest public signs that the government is completely expecting a Pacific showdown in the next 20-30 years.

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u/fruitmask Sep 11 '23

US dropping a considerable dime

that's... not what "dropping the dime" means

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u/fatcat111 Sep 11 '23

You are being downvoted for some reason, but dropping a dime refers to snitching. Dropping a dime into a pay phone to contact the authorities. OP is right though, he just used the wrong idiom.

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u/ObiOneKenobae Sep 11 '23

It's been used the way he used it for decades.

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u/rshorning Sep 11 '23

It can also mean simply spending a whole lot of money. It can have multiple meanings at the same time, with even regional and sub-culture influence also having an impact on how a phrase like that is used.

It really isn't even the wrong idiom, just perhaps you might not be from the same part of the world that the poster is from. Or you might have a slightly different religious or ethnic background too.

The price for making a phone call on a pay phone has changed quite a bit over the years, and was only a dime for a specific period of time. That said, I do remember when first aid kits had a dime taped inside the box so you could call emergency services like police or a hospital...before 9-1-1 or other organized emergency service call centers were common.

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u/Kolby_Jack Sep 11 '23

What's a pay phone?

This joke brought to you by the year 2023. "2023! That show you loved in middle school is now old enough to drink!"

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u/krozarEQ Sep 11 '23

It's where your phone breaks so you go to a little booth thing and buy a prepaid cell phone with a $15 card.

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u/Beznia Sep 11 '23 edited Sep 11 '23

The phrase has definitely changed meanings. It's a pretty common expression to say "Man, he dropped a dime or two on that new boat."

"I'm about to drop a dime on my roof, not looking forward to that bill..."

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u/Grabbsy2 Sep 11 '23

They didnt say "the" dime, though. Sounds like youre thinking of an older, specific saying, versus its modern evolution.

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u/SilentSamurai Sep 11 '23

Really depends where you're from.

In my neck of the woods it means dropping a lot of money.

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u/gangofminotaurs Sep 11 '23

a Pacific showdown in the next 20-30 years

In 30 years we will be too far down in the energy and climate crisis to have any form of serious showdown; it will not be affordable. If the US really really wants it (and it does) it will have to come sooner than that.

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u/SilentSamurai Sep 11 '23

Lol.

Energy isn't going to be an issue. Since renewables are now among the cheapest ways to produce electricity, the market has already begun shifting. Ford shut down it's internal combustion division a year or two ago.

Climate will get worse, but on 20-30 years we are not going to see any condition that really means it's game over for the planet.

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u/[deleted] Sep 11 '23

I don't think you can really infer that. The worlds semi-conductors are dangerously consolidated for any major disaster and COVID just helped everybody remember how supply chains really work.

War is one of many issues with consolidating something with ever growing importance into just one region, it was going to happen eventually regardless of China's political direction and such.

China starting a war would screw up their exports much worse than it would screw up US exports. I don't think they'll ever really be in a position to do that in 20 years of getting their ass kicked by climate change and kind of idiotically bad government. Monolithic government doesn't tend to scale well with complexity due to all the consolidation. As their wages go up they are no longer a great labor deal and then their government has to become a real government that can guide them into a middle class circular economy.. with one of the biggest populations right in a climate change red zone.

I think China won't be doing much of anything but slowly crumbling until they turn into a real Democracy, because if they just try to deflate and stick with cheap labor they still just get replaced by cheaper labor and more and more automation. It's going to be flood/drought pandemic and famine city over there for the next couple decades probably.

Like plenty of this stuff is being moved to Vietnam, hardly well outside of a pacific war.

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u/krozarEQ Sep 11 '23

A Pacific sort of NATO could slowly emerge. The US is capitalizing on the hate Xi is building up around the South China Sea. If Xi can spur on enough to overcome some of the centuries-old feuds in the region, it could happen. But if not, it will still mean a lot more US bases in SE Asia in any case. China has seen this coming though, and it's a big reason why the CCP is keeping the Myanmar junta propped up. That's their bypass for the Straits of Malacca.