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Submitted on behalf of user "crutchy" #179, who writes:
"I don't seem to be able to use the 'Submit Story' feature at the moment... I just thought I'd flag a little saga currently unfolding near where I live. An open cut coal mine that supplies coal to a nearby 1600MW power station in Victoria, Australia, has been on fire for over a week. This could threaten electricity generation in the area and might have been deliberately set.
What might be more interesting is the lack of news media attention to it."
[Ed. Note] we're working on fixing article submission, thanks for getting this to us via alternate means.
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(Score: 1) by crutchy on Tuesday February 18 2014, @06:32AM
so... apple sues google, google sues apple, apple sues microsoft, microsoft buys motorola, linux 3.X released, nvidia support for linux is shit, steam... bitcoin...
maybe you should go back to slashdot
i brought up this story not only for its environmental impacts, but also the possible/apparent mainstream media censorship issue
it's fine if you don't think it's newsworthy... but please don't assume that nobody thinks it's newsworthy
i doubt you will find any newssite in the world that only publishes articles/stories that all of its readership enjoys
it is also early days for solent... if nobody contributes anything out of fear of backlash there isn't going to be much to read and comment on
(Score: 1) by kwerle on Tuesday February 18 2014, @04:00PM
so... apple sues google, google sues apple, apple sues microsoft, microsoft buys motorola, linux 3.X released, nvidia support for linux is shit, steam... bitcoin...
maybe you should go back to slashdot
Maybe.
My point is that /. carries too many articles like this (non tech articles), and too many non news articles (a car caught fire). Frankly, I'm not very interested when companies sue each other - I'm far more interested in when suits are settled and something actually happened.
My hope is that the focus of this site be narrower than what /. has become. Not that there be more articles - but that there be fewer of better quality.
Again, a goal statement would perhaps be helpful.
(Score: 0) by crutchy on Tuesday February 18 2014, @08:51PM
how is that newsworthy? usually it merely consists of a handshake and a non-disclosure agreement
also, if you're seriously comparing the coal mine in TFA to a car fire, i encourage you to look into it more (even though there isn't much in the mainstream media). the mine is huge and even the fire is about 3 km long. fire authorities are still trying to figure out how to put the thing out after more than a week. i have a feeling this fire will eventually appear in the mainstream media, but by then it will be too late.
(Score: 1) by kwerle on Tuesday February 18 2014, @09:02PM
how is that newsworthy? usually it merely consists of a handshake and a non-disclosure agreement
It probably isn't. And by extension, the announcement that a suit is *starting* certainly is not.
also, if you're seriously comparing the coal mine in TFA to a car fire, i encourage you to look into it more
From a technology standpoint, they're about identical. Nothing [interesting] to do with tech. The fact that the coal fire is big doesn't make it more technologically interesting. If they use some interesting tech to put it out, then I'd love to hear about it. Until then, it's a coal mine fire. And if it was arson, then it was a crime. Neither of those give it a reason to be on this site (I hope).
(Score: 1) by crutchy on Tuesday February 18 2014, @09:14PM
the fact that it is threatening a power station might be... a lot of tech doesn't work well without them :-P
there is some interesting tech being used from what i hear. it's unfortunate that the media hasn't reported on it, but there aren't hundreds of firefighters lined up with conventional hoses trying to put this thing out. from what i hear there are some fairly specialized high volume firefighting appliances being used. i haven't seen any pics, so unfortunately this is just third-hand info. you don't put a coal fire out by hammering it with a water jet because it kinda acts like oil in some ways (it just spreads). i would think that's whatever the equipment actually is looks like, the water being pumped onto the fire is probably low pressure but high volume; so very large pipes with water flowing over the batters from the top maybe.
the aspect that i originally thought might be interesting to soylent readers was the apparent media/corporate cover up (the mine and power station is owned by GDF Suez). it's something that is talked about a lot around here (in my engineering circle) anyway.