Mohney, forget nickel, the real scandal is tantalum

Hi, Doug! Hope you've survived all those negative rays.

The real scandal of mobile phones lies in their demand for tantalum. Their capacitors must be small in this application, so the cheaper bulkier Al types won't do (they are also more prone to leak/explode).

Ta is a very very rare metal. It is obtained from the DRC, almost as the sole source.

The 'coltan' ore is gathered by hand from river outfalls by child slave labour whose gang bosses are tied into organised crime.

Once again, the USA prefers to look the other way in its greedy demand for scarce resources. It really is time for the world's most powerful nation, and its allies, to grow up. Stop the rape of the planet, etc, etc.

David

I'm probably one of the few people you'll ever hear from who has actually been to tantalum mine -- this was before they outsourced all of the tantalum mining to locations outside the USA.

My experience with this fascinating lightweight metal took place while I was searching for "float" tourmaline crystals off HWY 22 near Rockford, Alabama. After being run off of the mine property several times seemingly for no reason-- I didn't know what they were mining 'til I went to the Bureau of Mines (BOM) in Tuscaloosa to look the place up.

Then I found it was a Defense Logistics Agency contract to mine good ole tantalum at a meager $45 a pound (1991 dollars). It's a metal with the acid resistance of glass and the conductivity of copper. Kinda cool stuff for satellites, nuke reactor vessels, etc., etc.

Anyway there was no child labor there. Just a steamshovel and a water-based crushing and element settling system. I have little doubt that the mine operators were also skimming a bit of placer gold during the process as tantalum is almost always associated with gold in the wild.

They mined about $11-million of tantalum in about 9 months if they fulfilled the contracted listed by the BOM. The place was loaded with weird waxy white, green and black mica schists and quartz bolders the size of a VW bug.

It's all part of a series of bizzare ancient magma deposits one doesn't usually associate with the deep south and only a dinosaur throw from the even stranger Wetumpka Astroblem (near which the movie, The Big Fish, was recently shot by Tim Burton).

Some people believe the magma flows were caused by the asteroid hit which left a 2.5x6 mile wide crater that forms the only high ground in Wetumpka-- you gotta be bored by now... it's funky down there! Brazil and Australia are now the main sources of the ore.

Jim Willett

AMD outsourcing not a great idea

I'll do the one little thing I can - stop buying AMD, and stop recommending AMD. I have been responsible for putting together systems for family friends, and making recommendations to people when they asked me what they should look for when buying a computer. I always said AMD becuase of the price to performance advantage. I'm curious how much of this is going on at Intel. They're heavy into outsourcing as well. Is there any company with any soul or integrity left? The problem is that there currently is no unified loud enough voice to make the politicians listen. One can only hope this becomes a huge issue that won't go away in the next US election. Maybe this bleeding can be stopped from there out.

Greg

I will pay extra for my chips and support as long as know it is us workers who speak English working on my stuff. I will no longer buy AMD stuff

Thank You
Mike Fucci

Dr Barrett is a born leader of men

Craig "the Baron" Barrett. Grandmaster of the end game. A truly fearless leader. One-in-a-row. You can despise, hate, admire, look up or down on this man, but you have to give credit where credit is due. If you can't beat 'em, blow 'em out of the water with mass production. He will sink your "Bismark (Battleship)" every time and never once blink while losing a few of his own. Willing to take casualties in a Calculated Risk, this dude is a Patton in a business suit. Got Marketing. Got Production. Got Capital. Got Company. But most of all...Got Backbone.

Just one look at his picture says it all. This dude is in charge, the King of Procs. Knows when to fold 'em, knows when to hold 'em and knows when to walk away laughing all the way to the bank.

Name withheld...Please

Welcome to the Hotel Minnesota

I just thought I'd pass this note along after reading this article. I ran into this issue seven years ago at the Radisson Suites in Canton, MA when the hotel "accidentally" placed a hold for the entire 2 week stay and $50 per day for incidentals on the debit card I gave them for incidentals only. The kicker? The room was PREPAID BY THE COMPANY I WORKED FOR.

The useless desk staff could (would?) do nothing to release the hold, so I had to ask for an advance from my boss so I could eat for the second week. Incidentally... that second week in the hotel was the third week I worked for that company... great first impression I left.

I learned the hard way to NEVER give a hotel your debit card for any reason. I started carrying a credit card for that very reason... and haven't stayed in a Radisson hotel since (yes, I can carry a grudge.. I just don't very often!). Just pay your credit card at the end of the month (or get an AmEx) and you won't carry a debt anyway.

Large businesses will cover their own a$$es every time at your expense. Oh, by the way... they'll still place the hold on your debit card even if you reserve with your credit card and pay with your debit card.. don't make that mistake either. Just never give a hotel your debit card for any reason. I can't repeat that often enough. Good luck in your future travels!

Mike Kane

Winders for X86 chips

Mike,

Although I love a good conspiracy theory, I think the reasons for the delay are much more mundane:

1) 1) Testing of the AMD-64 version of XP take a long time. This will be Microsoft's first NUMA aware release of XP. Getting that tuned alone is a huge job and they want to make sure it's right when it goes out the door.

2) 2) XP SP2. Resources are focused on this baby right now. I'm sure SP2 is a higher priority, and they probably want to release SP2 before AMD-64 version so that they don't have to immediately release an SP for the AMD-64 version.

3) 3) Corporate demand isn't there yet! Us geeks want to get our hands on it but nearly all corporate users just want XP 32bit at this point. The only real reason to run a 64bit OS is to run 64 bits apps, and they aren't really available.

Keep up the good work!!

Phil Mattson

Dothan, how I love you my dear old Dothan

There are many cities and towns in the US named after biblical settelments in the land on Israel, Dothan is one of them. The intel CPU was likely named after the original settelment in ancient Israel rather than after the one in the US. Dothan.

Let's not forget the Pentium-M was designed in an intel facility located in Israel and named after another biblical settelment and the river it was located by - Banias.

Let me also assure the readers the AMD Athlon64 core "Paris" is unlikely to be named for any of these :) Paris, Texas, US, Paris, Tennessee, US, Paris, Illinois, US, Paris, Kentucky, US, Paris, Arkansas, US, Paris, Missouri, US, Paris, Idaho, US, Paris, California, US, Paris, Indiana, US, Paris, Iowa, US, Paris, Iowa, US, Paris, Maine, US, Paris, Maryland, US, Paris, Michigan, US, Paris, Mississippi, US, Paris, New Hampshire, US, Paris, New York, US, Paris, Ohio, US, Paris, Ohio, US, Paris, Oregon, US, Paris, Pennsylvania, US, Paris, South Carolina, US, Paris, Virginia, US, Paris, Wisconsin, US

Assaf