<html xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>OK well, dang. That was a disappointment, but with a fun twist. Read on please.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>I saw the article which said China is clamping down on exporting rare earth metals, but the article made it sound like China was the only source. It isn’t, but while I thought it was, I came up with an idea: buy at a bargain that windfarm out off the coast of New Jersey that we are told POTUS shut down when it was 80% complete (with no explanation for how POTUS could shut down a power facility) then mine the generators for their rare earths.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Turns out that idea was flawed on multiple levels: the permanent magnets in those generators contain neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium. The chips contain neodymium, dysprosium and yttrium. But the price of the two elements they have in common, the neodymium and dysprosium, comes nowhere near the cost of extracting them from defunct generators, for China is not the only source of these materials. The USA has mines too, and those are cranking up to meet the need. Furthermore: that windfarm is going forward using alternative funding sources. It is not clear why that idea was not imagined previously, but who am I to question?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>So… No rare earth recovery for the spikeman.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>But I came up with another idea. The environmentalists hate the idea of a windfarm out there off the coast (recall the Life cereal that Mikey liked which was the only exception, for when it comes to power generation environmentalists hate everything.) The contention is that offshore wind power is bad for whales. So. Offshore windfarms are bad for whales. But why? The only thing I could think of was that migrating (or breaching) whales would slam into them, presumably slaying the beast. I am no expert on whales, but I would think they would survive such a collision. They can go fast I understand, for we have seen them leap from the water. If they land upon a turbine tower, it is easy enough to imagine the encounter as being lethal for the hapless cetacean.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>In any case, if the wind turbine towers slay whales, one might suppose it would result in whale carcasses, for the towers are still there whether or not they are producing wind power. OK then. The idea.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>You have perhaps seen those wood chippers which the tree trimmers use to convert enormous branches into mulch. What if… we had something analogous to one of those rigs, but which was mounted underneath a boat. Then imagine a whale is slain by apparent collision with the tower. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>Now we have a huge whale carcass at our disposal and a whale chipper mounted under our boat. We place a net around the periphery of the windfarm, which we stock with shrimp hatchlings. Then we grind the hapless cetacean and dump the disgusting glop into our shrimp pen, feed the little tasties on whale chips, where they grow big and expensive. A single whale could perhaps feed a flock of shrimp for a month. A shrimp grows from hatchling to ebi nigiri in only 4 to 6 months, so all we would need is that many whale carcasses, which we get free. We scoop out the biggest ones and sell them on the open market, we make a fortune. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></body></html>