LOL!
"I can feel it kicking!"It is found several years ago that green algae can produce hydrogen when deprived of sulfur. Researches at University of California have found that hydrogen production in green algae can be increased greatly by changing one of its genes called "hydrogenase".
By using the new version of this gene, hydrogen production has been increased by a factor of 100k. But to be commercially viable, it needs to be increased again by a factor of 100. One estimate is that an algae farm the size of Texas can supply enough energy for the whole world then. But it's still theoretical.
This sounds very exciting. Though the process is anaerobic, there's no way it can beat the CO2 output of oil usage. Hydrogen cars!!
Right now solar power is the best option, but solar panels are big and expensive, and not reliable enough in places with wet climates.
In PRC, there are places where you can eat human fetuses. They are believed to be very nutritious. And they're not cheap.
But there are other things that are just as strange. Like in Chinese medicine, the deer's penis is a cure for impotency. Usually they use a dried penis. Imagine using a fresh one... LOL!!!
But in Singapore, most people are ignorant of many herbs that are used in traditional Chinese medicine, even in "Chinese pharmacies". When I came to Singapore, my mum was quite shocked to find so many herbs unavailable in the so-called "Chinese pharmacies" in the neighbourhood.
Heck they don't even know those herbs when she mentioned them. In the end she had use what is available. Maybe she'd have better luck in the bigger pharmacies somewhere else but those will not come cheap.
I blame Confucius for making the Chinese lose in the race of technologies centuries ago!
No doubt he did many great things for our race like strengthening the belief in filial piety, among many others, but it was people like him who caused the Chinese to embrace only the old and distrust the new.
I can't deny it wasn't him alone who caused the ancient Chinese to be superstitious people, but he's a symbol of all the scholarly wisdom of the Chinese past. He almost made the Chinese who we are today, even though the first emperor of China burnt almost all his books back then.
Did you know that before that happened, days have to be chosen even for things like searching for thieves? For example, if a criminal was known to be born on the day of the Rat, constables to not look for him on all days of the Rat because he'd be doing everything better than he would on the other 11 days.
And by the way, back then there was no year belonging to each of the 12 animals, but days. Day of the Rat, then day of the Bull, etc.
Imagine how that hindered the productivity of the empire!
China was winning the race at the start, with its invention of the gunpowder. And the compass. And the earthquake detectors. And surgery. And ship hulls divided into multiple compartments(Titanic wasn't the first ship to use this concept!). And many others.
China did rule the sea with its technologically advanced ships, but they didn't like the idea of trading with foreign nations. The main objective of the fleets was to impress other kingdoms, exchange gifts with them, and collecting tributes.
The Chinese back then did not try to explore much, nor trade, which were exactly what the Europeans did later. Thus while the Chinese was having a great time being the greatest empire in Asia, Europeans built trade empires everywhere. Especially after the Napoleonic War.
Later the Spanish and Portuguese each created some of the greatest empires in the Americas by exploring new lands. The Spanish got filthy rich, with all that sacking and looting they did in the great cities on the American natives.
And what were the Chinese doing then? Because defending its northern and eastern borders was more important than impressing the kingdoms to the south, its navy was neglected while money was transferred to the armies from the navy. Soon its fleets were forgotten until one day the Japanese pirates arrived in large numbers. By then it was too late.
Even when European troops began improving on their muskets, the Chinese did not make enough advances in this field. True, muskets and cannons back then were unreliable compared to bows and crossbows. The first muskets could only be loaded and fired once before the enemy troops reach the musketeers.
Cannons were NOT accurate at all. Not that muskets were much better. None of their accuracy was really worthed a damn until someone discovered that a spinning bullet flies straighter.
But it was really too late by the time the Qing rulers finally saw that their armies and navies were hopelessly obsolete. Even though its armies were the first to use guns. Even though the Chinese invented the FLAMETHROWER!!! Even though the Chinese invented a primitive form of gunpowder missile!
(Yea this is the point where you should be thinking along the lines of WTF! and WTF?!?!?!)
Stagnation is the key point here. They believed themselves to be the greatest kingdom in the world, and were not interested in knowing the progress of the "barbarians".
But the Qing dynasty did try to improve its military in the end, and great generals did emerge. But its modernized armies, Beiyang Army for example, did not fare well at all in the wars to come. Its efforts to improve, like the Self-Strengthening Movement, was like a last-minute attempt to save the country.
And in the end, Qing collapsed and Yuan Shikai tried to be the next emperor and succeeded for a while. Sun Yat-Sen died of cancer and soon became forgotten. Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek came along and fought each other. To this day, their followers are still fighting.
Disclaimer: There may be some mistakes above since I'm no history student. Do your own research if you're picky :P
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