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Is the world really running out of sand?

practical.engineering

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Re: Is the world really running out of sand?

#21

Post by tedden »

Maxatar wrote: post #16
anamexis wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FYI it's "bury the lede," a lede being the introductory section of a news story.

The word "lede" was introduced in the 1970s as an alternative spelling for the word "lead" to resolve ambiguity between the leading paragraph of an article and the metal "lead" which was used in typesetting. It didn't even become popular until the 1980s. In fact, prior to the 1980s, it was indeed spelled "bury the lead". Here for example is an excerpt from a book about newswriting from the 1970s which uses "lead" as…

[dead]

Re: Is the world really running out of sand?

#22

Post by jzb »

sharkjacobs wrote: post #10
anamexis wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FYI it's "bury the lede," a lede being the introductory section of a news story.

I would argue that there's no reason to continue misspelling "lead" as "lede" outside of a context where you are worried about conflating the "lead" paragraph with the "lead" piece of metal which was used as a spacer between words in a Linotype machine

It's not a misspelling, it's jargon. FWIW I prefer it and I think it's valuable to preserve in part because people who dig into it a bit learn about the history of the term and practice of putting publications (especially newspapers) together.

Re: Is the world really running out of sand?

#23

Post by ipsod »

eichin wrote: post #5

Ironically, we just hit an entirely different "sand catastrophe" - https://mastodon.social/@mimsical/113232531800424706 > the crucibles used to create ingots of silicon which become microchips are made from an ultra-pure quartz sand -- and 70% of the world's supply comes from just one place in North Carolina [Spruce Pine]

Oh, cool. One of the most common glass batches (raw materials melted to make glass) used by artists is "Spruce Pine Batch".

Re: Is the world really running out of sand?

#24

Post by esmIII »

diggan wrote: post #13
eichin wrote: post #5

Ironically, we just hit an entirely different "sand catastrophe" - https://mastodon.social/@mimsical/113232531800424706 > the crucibles used to create ingots of silicon which become microchips are made from an ultra-pure quartz sand -- and 70% of the world's supply comes from just one place in North Carolina [Spruce Pine]

> and 70% of the world's supply comes from just one place in North Carolina A quick search seems to say there are more places available for getting that than North Carolina. Is it possible that this specific mine just happens to be the cheapest available right now, but in case they for some reason disappear, there are alternatives everyone would switch to? Or is the situation that if that mine disappears, there is no…

Could not even be the cheapest, Just the refinement process was developed for this particular sand. A different sand might have different impurities and need different processes to handle.

Re: Is the world really running out of sand?

#25

Post by bee_rider »

kylehotchkiss wrote: post #19

The first time I heard about this, I wondered why we didn't just blast desert sand at itself to rough it up to give it better properties. Sure it takes some energy but the sand mafia probably isn't getting cheaper.

It turns we’re all in the pocket of big sand. Which I guess is better than having big sand in our pockets, as that would scratch up our phones. Then, we’d need new phones, or at least new phone screens… either way, big sand wins!

Re: Is the world really running out of sand?

#26

Post by Maxatar »

jzb wrote: post #22
sharkjacobs wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would argue that there's no reason to continue misspelling "lead" as "lede" outside of a context where you are worried about conflating the "lead" paragraph with the "lead" piece of metal which was used as a spacer between words in a Linotype machine

It's not a misspelling, it's jargon. FWIW I prefer it and I think it's valuable to preserve in part because people who dig into it a bit learn about the history of the term and practice of putting publications (especially newspapers) together.

You can prefer one spelling over another, absolutely, but it's a bit too strong to say someone using the actual word "lead" is incorrect.

Re: Is the world really running out of sand?

#27

Post by ziddoap »

sharkjacobs wrote: post #10
anamexis wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FYI it's "bury the lede," a lede being the introductory section of a news story.

I would argue that there's no reason to continue misspelling "lead" as "lede" outside of a context where you are worried about conflating the "lead" paragraph with the "lead" piece of metal which was used as a spacer between words in a Linotype machine

>I would argue that there's no reason to continue misspelling "lead" as "lede"

Does it still count as misspelling when "lede" is in the dictionary (Merriam Websters & Cambridge & Oxford)?

Pretty sure it's just a word at that point, right?

Re: Is the world really running out of sand?

#28

Post by [deleted] »

diggan wrote: post #13
eichin wrote: post #5

Ironically, we just hit an entirely different "sand catastrophe" - https://mastodon.social/@mimsical/113232531800424706 > the crucibles used to create ingots of silicon which become microchips are made from an ultra-pure quartz sand -- and 70% of the world's supply comes from just one place in North Carolina [Spruce Pine]

> and 70% of the world's supply comes from just one place in North Carolina A quick search seems to say there are more places available for getting that than North Carolina. Is it possible that this specific mine just happens to be the cheapest available right now, but in case they for some reason disappear, there are alternatives everyone would switch to? Or is the situation that if that mine disappears, there is no…

[deleted]

Re: Is the world really running out of sand?

#29

Post by mp05 »

eichin wrote: post #5

Ironically, we just hit an entirely different "sand catastrophe" - https://mastodon.social/@mimsical/113232531800424706 > the crucibles used to create ingots of silicon which become microchips are made from an ultra-pure quartz sand -- and 70% of the world's supply comes from just one place in North Carolina [Spruce Pine]

I'm not sure that's technically irony but rather an interesting coincidence.

Re: Is the world really running out of sand?

#30

Post by telotortium »

kylehotchkiss wrote: post #19

The first time I heard about this, I wondered why we didn't just blast desert sand at itself to rough it up to give it better properties. Sure it takes some energy but the sand mafia probably isn't getting cheaper.

That would probably cause the sand to become smoother.
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