[mythtv-users] OT: Nokia N800 only $236 at Amazon

David Brodbeck gull at gull.us
Wed Oct 31 16:31:42 UTC 2007


On Oct 31, 2007, at 4:57 AM, R. G. Newbury wrote:
> IIRC Nikon stopped producing Ti bodies because of environmental  
> concerns
> about steps in the production process...They were producing some toxic
> by-product from a cleaning process (priopr to anodization iirc). The
> acid wash produced titanium dioxide (the white in white paint), and  
> that
> was being dumped/escaped/poisoning the workers/offending the
> greens...and Japan is more than a little wary of environmental toxins
> (can you spell 'mercury poisoning'?).

Hmm.  Sure it was titanium dioxide?  It's pretty inert and non- 
toxic.  It's even used as a white coloring in some foods.  There's  
some evidence it can cause lung cancer if you inhale a lot of it as  
dust, though.

There were, at some points in history, availability problems with  
titanium.  Most of the large titanium ore deposits are located in the  
former Soviet Union.  There are stories that, during the cold war,  
the U.S. military was unable to procure it in sufficient quantities  
to make military aircraft, and resorted to buying many gallons of  
white paint in order to extract the titanium dioxide.





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