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/thebornotaku Sep 11 '23

Like so: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivanpah_Solar_Power_Facility

Downside is sometimes the intense, focused sunlight cooks birds that fly through.

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u/regoapps Sep 11 '23

Free electricity AND a free meal? Where do I sign up?

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u/BioshockEnthusiast Sep 11 '23

brb buying stock in KFC

4

u/doyletyree Sep 11 '23

Kilowatt fried

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u/Gavroche_Lives Sep 11 '23

Yup birds die sometimes. Next.

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u/kimbabs Sep 11 '23

Pretty insane how many birds that thing kills for not reaching its advertised capacity, even into 2020.

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u/CrimsonMutt Sep 11 '23

6000 a year is nothing compared to cats

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u/buckX Sep 11 '23

How many bird kills were advertised?

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u/brianwski Sep 11 '23

focused sunlight cooks birds that fly through

I heard that they invented home microwave ovens after they noticed birds that fly in front of military radar were cooked in flight.

Now in full disclosure, I heard this from a drunk stranger in a bar, so it deserves to be checked out for certain.

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u/jeffjefforson Sep 11 '23 edited Sep 11 '23

I think the first "microwave" was actually used to wake small rodents from cryosleep which is just as insane

Edit: I am wrong, guy below me right

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u/[deleted] Sep 11 '23

[deleted]

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u/brianwski Sep 11 '23

I saw these posts and realized there was no consensus between these comments and nobody was actually citing any sources

Haha! Now I am doing Google searches and I'm still not sure. This page: https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/snapshot/microwave-oven (and the Wikipedia page) claims a guy named Percy Spencer was working with military radar during World War 2 (1945) and noticed a chocolate bar in his pocket was melting. (I'm a little worried about what that was doing to his dangling man parts.)

vacuum tube radio waves were used to heat sandwiches at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair

Huh, yeah, other Wikipedia articles reference that. Plus say it can't be earlier than the 1920s because the first radio wave generators were invented then.

There are several references to the United Kingdom inventing the "cavity magnetron" but it was explicitly for things like radio transmission and military radar, they didn't realize it heated things containing water.

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u/jeffjefforson Sep 11 '23

Thank you for the correction! Awesome info!

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u/blade740 Sep 11 '23

The story I heard was that a guy working at Raytheon was trying to invent some sort of death ray, but it wasn't working very well. Then someone walked in front of it and the chocolate bar in his pocket melted.

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u/sadbr0cc0li Sep 11 '23

Thanks for the super interesting read!!

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u/uzlonewolf Sep 11 '23

Still fewer bird deaths than by outdoor house cat.

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u/thebornotaku Sep 12 '23

Still not a reason to hand wave away actual tangible impacts things have on the environment.

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u/uzlonewolf Sep 12 '23

And yet hand-waving away the bird deaths caused by the pollution from fossil fuel plants is fine?

Also, surely you have a source showing the number of birds cooked is statistically relevant? Because that whole argument is just FUD if not.

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u/thebornotaku Sep 12 '23

And yet hand-waving away the bird deaths caused by the pollution from fossil fuel plants is fine?

When did I ever state that? Please quote the specific sentence. I'll wait.

Also, surely you have a source showing the number of birds cooked is statistically relevant? Because that whole argument is just FUD if not.

https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-solar-bird-deaths-20160831-snap-story.html

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u/[deleted] Sep 11 '23

New supply of rotisserie for supermarkets

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u/danielravennest Sep 11 '23

It is the Nevada desert. There aren't that many birds. The top killers of birds in the US are (1) domestic cats, (2) windows, (3) power lines (4) coal pollution. Wind turbines and solar farms are way down the list.