"They all lived in a turquoise submarine..."

[Fairportfan]

Iran unveils unusually colored blue submarine

It looks like the Iranian Navy really wanted people to see its new submarine. In a live broadcast on state TV on Wednesday, the Islamic Republic showed off a new Sina 7 submarine that is painted in an unusually bright turquoise blue hue.



So, why exactly would any military want to design its ship in a color that can be easily spotted ? The Daily Mail speculates that the ship's designers mistakenly chose the color, believing it would help the craft blend in with the ocean's waters

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[Atomic]

In short, the turquoise subs are camouflaged the same way pink Spitfires were in WWII. In use, they're the same color as the backgrounds they operate in. Note the water color here and here.

As they probably intend to operate it in the Persian Gulf, keep in mind how shallow it is -- the average depth is 50m/150 feet, maximum 90m/180 feet. Color extinction occurs rapidly with depth in seawater (see Loss of Color section), starting with the Red end of the spectrum so by as little a 25-30m/75-90 feet, everything is Blue. Plus, from above, anything at depth is being seen by reflected light, so objects at half that depth and below all appear to be a shade of blue, allowing for clear waters. Turqouise makes good sense for shallow water operations, because it will blend in with the forced-blue bottom. Dark gray/black works in deeper waters because the deep waters appear black, so the sub's color fits in.

As a open water scuba diver, this effect is stunning when you first see it, and must be considered when planning photographic dives below 20m/60 feet. A yellow stripe on a wet suit turns gray, then pale blue as you get down to 30m/90 feet. Orange goes dark as well.

FYI - One of the original cammo schemes for the F-117 Nighthawk was pastel gray on gray (similar to this F-15), but somebody was fixed on black for night and that was the end of it.

[Mark N]

Once again the average person has no concept of how color actually works in different environments. Many people see a color and assume that it is the same everywhere.

That was a great explanation Atomic. Now if you could explain economics for the people that think you can just print more money to save an economy

(Sorry I had a friend that actually thought that printing more money would save a faltering economy. It took me over an hour to explain how paper money works. )

[Fairportfan]

Once again the average person has no concept of how color actually works in different environments. Many people see a color and assume that it is the same everywhere.

That was a great explanation Atomic. Now if you could explain economics for the people that think you can just print more money to save an economy

(Sorry I had a friend that actually thought that printing more money would save a faltering economy. It took me over an hour to explain how paper money works. )

All money, really, despite the popular delusion that gold has 'intrinsic value".

[Mark N]

Once again the average person has no concept of how color actually works in different environments. Many people see a color and assume that it is the same everywhere.

That was a great explanation Atomic. Now if you could explain economics for the people that think you can just print more money to save an economy

(Sorry I had a friend that actually thought that printing more money would save a faltering economy. It took me over an hour to explain how paper money works. )

All money, really, despite the popular delusion that gold has 'intrinsic value".

Despite the popular delusion that Gold is involved in it anymore. lol

[Jabberwonky]

Why do I get the image of a high ranking Iraqi Naval Official putting his hands delicately over his chest and saying "But it's so pretty!"

[Fairportfan]

Once again the average person has no concept of how color actually works in different environments. Many people see a color and assume that it is the same everywhere.

That was a great explanation Atomic. Now if you could explain economics for the people that think you can just print more money to save an economy

(Sorry I had a friend that actually thought that printing more money would save a faltering economy. It took me over an hour to explain how paper money works. )

All money, really, despite the popular delusion that gold has 'intrinsic value".

Despite the popular delusion that Gold is involved in it anymore. lol

I mentioned gold because they sell those Krugerrands to the suckers witrh the "Gold always holds its value..."

Tell ya what - ask a gold bug if he's gonna want his Krugerrands fried or scrambled after the market system completely collapses.

[Fairportfan]

I mentioned gold because they sell those Krugerrands to the suckers with the "Gold always holds its value..."

Like this guy.

[Atomic]

That was a great explanation Atomic. Now if you could explain economics for the people that think you can just print more money to save an economy

Money, eh? Hmmm... just finished reading Atlas Shrugged, and remember the comment in there that the State's only fundamental responsibilities are Police, for protecting the citizens from each other; Military, for defending from invasion by outsiders; and Judiciary, for defending the people from each other and from the State. Everything beyond that is Contract -- a formal agreement freely adopted for the benefit of the several parties.

OK then, how to explain money.

First -- Some people think exchanges are always a Win-Lose proposition. Wrong. If you buy a can of beans at the store, you wanted the beans more than what you paid for it. The store wanted the money more than keeping the beans on the shelf. You both got want you wanted: a Win-Win situation, by way of free exchange.

A thief wants your wallet more than he cares for your health, and you want to live another day. This is not a free exchange, so it's a Win-Lose. Theft, fraud, extortion, etc, are not free exchanges. Any offer you can walk away from is a free exchange. So by definition, every free exchange IS a Win-Win exchange. You are Both better off because of it.

Second -- Og doesn't have to give up those stone arrowheads he's been making just because Wug offered him some bear skins. He's got plenty already, because he's good at flint knapping. He wants some woven baskets, so he tells Wug. Wug knows that his sister Moot is an excellent weaver, so he trades skins for baskets. Moot now has some great stuff for her family's comfort, and hire others to gather reeds so she can make more baskets. Wug gets his arrow heads to keep hunting and feed his family, and Og gets sturdy baskets. Og can now hire others to bring him flint, in the baskets, in exchange for bearskins, so he has more time to make arrowheads. Everybody chooses what they want and what they exchange for it. Win-Win all around, and more so -- Og's flint hunters and Moot's reed gatherers now have a source of bearskins they couldn't previously afford. Capitalism has improved their lives.

Third -- If everybody in the village can agree on a common medium of exchange, then they can use that instead of haggling over how many arrowheads buys a basket, bearskin, or basket of gourds. Instead, they can agree on how many exchange units are worth a bearskin, etc. And, the reverse is true! Now, one can say that a bearskin is worth X number of Cowries. Cowries are hard to come by (lovely, small purple/white shells brought hundreds of miles from the coast), they're durable, and interchangeable (fungible).

This way, Worth (utility) is transformed into Value (cost). And, since they're fungible, anybody's Cowrie is as good as the next one. You don't have to worry about the gourds being moldy or bruised, or the size of the bearskin when calculating the trades. Money simplifies transactions.

Fourth -- Cowries may be common as dirt at the coastline, but a month's travel inland makes them valuable by their rarity. If it's worth it, anyone can put up the cost of having another caravan bring more to you, in exchange for, no doubt, some huge amount of food, skins, baskets, and arrowheads. But because everyone in the village knows what those things are worth in time and effort to grow, harvest, hunt, and make those items, their Value won't decrease. If, on the other hand, the caravans just keep coming and simply dispose of their Cowries for whatever reason, and not demanding any payment in exchange, this makes their Value pretty much Worthless - anybody can have as many as the want.

Thus, money is Valuable only when recognized as a standard unit of exchange, and that unit has some Worth - some effort must be made to get it in free exchange. If you simply print endless money, it becomes worth less, and the value falls, and prices rise to compensate because the sellers maintain the worth of their products.

Ta da!

Money is a form of contract. The people agree the State's unit of exchange has value. If the State makes the money worthless, the people suffer.

P.S - If you think the above exchange story is silly, just remember -- Obsidian arrowheads were found in Britain that came from an obsidian mine in Syria. Not just a few, but thousands, and dating back 8-10 thousand years. Do you think they were Valuable? Somebody did!

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Also, the current form of currency (in the USA) is the US Treasury. While you can no longer go to the treasury and demand an equal portion of the gold stored there (gold standard went away quite some time ago), the value of the American Dollar is roughly equal to (the value of the Treasury) / (the total amount of currency in circulation). This is its purchasing power with respect to other nations.

When the Treasury starts hooking up a snow-blower to the US Mint, it devaluates the dollar with respect to foreign currency by virtue of there being more dollars and NOT more Treasury. This means that each dollar has less purchasing power. If it were an entirely internal system, this wouldn't matter one whit, because everyone has American Dollars. Unfortunately, much as some people might wish, America is not isolated from the rest of the world. Many companies have foreign plants manufacturing their goods (Made In CHINA), and of course a change in the price of the Dollar against foreign currency is always going to cause an impact in any import or export.

Therefore, if Company A has a plant in Japan cranking things out for around a buck a piece, and suddenly the price of the Dollar drops against the price of the Yen by 25%, then those items now cost the company $1.25 each, because those people in Japan are getting paid in Yen. So now the company has to raise their prices to meet this new higher cost. And thus the impact of the value of the dollar with respect to foreign currency hits domestic consumers.

You can't spend your way out of a depression or recession. You most certainly can't spend your way OUT of debt. Or rather, you can, but not the way they are doing it, because it involves investing the borrowed money in something that makes more of a profit than the interest on the loan. Since the federal government is not in the business of doing such business, the only thing that more debt is going to do is bury us deeper in interest.

[MerchManDan]

In short, the turquoise subs are camouflaged the same way pink Spitfires were in WWII. In use, they're the same color as the backgrounds they operate in. Note the water color here and here.

Similar to how the "Pink Panther" Land Rover has been used for desert environments.

Fourth -- Cowries may be common as dirt at the coastline, but a month's travel inland makes them valuable by their rarity. If it's worth it, anyone can put up the cost of having another caravan bring more to you, in exchange for, no doubt, some huge amount of food, skins, baskets, and arrowheads. But because everyone in the village knows what those things are worth in time and effort to grow, harvest, hunt, and make those items, their Value won't decrease. If, on the other hand, the caravans just keep coming and simply dispose of their Cowries for whatever reason, and not demanding any payment in exchange, this makes their Value pretty much Worthless - anybody can have as many as the want.

Thus, money is Valuable only when recognized as a standard unit of exchange, and that unit has some Worth - some effort must be made to get it in free exchange. If you simply print endless money, it becomes worth less, and the value falls, and prices rise to compensate because the sellers maintain the worth of their products.

Ta da!

I'm reminded of an episode of Ducktales, where Scrooge McDuck visits a society where money isn't used at all; they don't even know what it is. Pretty much exactly the same thing happens in that show, as what Atomic describes above (but with bottle caps, not cowries). A quick YooToob search yields this lesson in economics using that episode.

And some people look down their noses at old cartoons! Hah!

[alj_ws]

Also, the current form of currency (in the USA) is the US Treasury. While you can no longer go to the treasury and demand an equal portion of the gold stored there (gold standard went away quite some time ago), the value of the American Dollar is roughly equal to (the value of the Treasury) / (the total amount of currency in circulation). This is its purchasing power with respect to other nations.

When the Treasury starts hooking up a snow-blower to the US Mint, it devaluates the dollar with respect to foreign currency by virtue of there being more dollars and NOT more Treasury. This means that each dollar has less purchasing power. If it were an entirely internal system, this wouldn't matter one whit, because everyone has American Dollars. Unfortunately, much as some people might wish, America is not isolated from the rest of the world. Many companies have foreign plants manufacturing their goods (Made In CHINA), and of course a change in the price of the Dollar against foreign currency is always going to cause an impact in any import or export.

Therefore, if Company A has a plant in Japan cranking things out for around a buck a piece, and suddenly the price of the Dollar drops against the price of the Yen by 25%, then those items now cost the company $1.25 each, because those people in Japan are getting paid in Yen. So now the company has to raise their prices to meet this new higher cost. And thus the impact of the value of the dollar with respect to foreign currency hits domestic consumers.

You can't spend your way out of a depression or recession. You most certainly can't spend your way OUT of debt. Or rather, you can, but not the way they are doing it, because it involves investing the borrowed money in something that makes more of a profit than the interest on the loan. Since the federal government is not in the business of doing such business, the only thing that more debt is going to do is bury us deeper in interest.

Actually, What you wrote is true of other fully floating currencies (IOW all main ones except Renminbi) but USA dollars are in a quite special position, because many of the trades in enrgy sectors and high prices items like planes are done in dollars even between actors who use something else on both sides. This act as a quite efficient isloation buffer and the USA are the only country in the world which were able to run huge deficits without anything showing in the money value. All things come to roost soon or later, but so far, if not unscathed, US money is in a better position than it should. And unless Rinminbi policies change, there is no previsible reason it will not continue.

[Jabberwonky]

Apparently the Columbian Coke Cartels are doing better than the Iranian Navy...

ff_drugsub_f.jpg (78.73 KiB) Viewed 10630 times

I'm sure you'll notice the similar color scheme...

[Jabberwonky]

From the same web-search, this little number.

submarinetanktreads.png (94.05 KiB) Viewed 10628 times

Apparently they're a little lacking in American technologies.

t-3stoogesorbit07.jpg (61.66 KiB) Viewed 10628 times

The 'Merican version also had helicopter blades for Euryale manuvers...

[Atomic]

"Not only that, is slices, dices, and makes Julianne fries! Call before midnight tonight and get a second Helicopter Submarine Crawler for Free!"

[jwhouk]

THE SUBMACOPTER! Miss Pritchard thought of it first.

[Mark N]

From the same web-search, this little number.

submarinetanktreads.png

The 'Merican version also had helicopter blades for Euryale manuvers...

It reminds me of something from the old SuperMarination shows like Stingray and Captain Scarlet.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Actually, What you wrote is true of other fully floating currencies (IOW all main ones except Renminbi) but USA dollars are in a quite special position, because many of the trades in enrgy sectors and high prices items like planes are done in dollars even between actors who use something else on both sides. This act as a quite efficient isloation buffer and the USA are the only country in the world which were able to run huge deficits without anything showing in the money value. All things come to roost soon or later, but so far, if not unscathed, US money is in a better position than it should. And unless Rinminbi policies change, there is no previsible reason it will not continue.

True, the US dollar being the traditional intermediary currency for many transactions does give it an inherent value as well as an arbitrary value, however that is rather fleeting. If the US Dollar gets much weaker, people may decide to use an alternate currency as a medium (The Euro has been tossed around as a stable alternative), which would have a VERY negative impact on the US Economy which is already weak from the idiotic and insane economic practices of the government (no budget in eight years? WTF?!).

[bmonk]

Money, eh? Hmmm... just finished reading Atlas Shrugged, and remember the comment in there that the State's only fundamental responsibilities are Police, for protecting the citizens from each other; Military, for defending from invasion by outsiders; and Judiciary, for defending the people from each other and from the State. Everything beyond that is Contract -- a formal agreement freely adopted for the benefit of the several parties.

Cyril Northcote Parkinson once theorized that a governing (executive) committee begins as five experts: One in charge, and one each for the fundamental responsibilities of the state: Diplomacy (Foreign Office), Defense (Army), Finance (Treasury) and Justice (including, presumably, police). However, due to the inevitable growth of bureaucracies, this will grow over time until it reaches something over about 20 members, and pass into oblivion. In fact, he noted that England/United Kingdom had gone through a series of 5 such committees: (taken from Wikipedia)

The first cabinet was the Council of the Crown, now the House of Lords, which grew from an unknown initial number of members, to 29, to 50 before 1600, by which time it had lost much of its power.
A new body was appointed in 1257, the "Lords of the King's Council", numbering fewer than 10. The body grew, and eventually ceased to meet when it numbered 172 members.
The third incarnation of the English cabinet was the Privy Council, initially also numbering fewer than 10 members, rising to 47 in 1679.
In 1615, the Privy Council lost power to the Cabinet Council, initially with 8 members, rising to 20 by 1725.
Around 1740, the Cabinet Council was superseded by an inner group, called the Cabinet, initially with 5 members.

At the time of Parkinson's study (the 1950s), the Cabinet was still the official governing body. Parkinson observed that, from 1939 on, there was an effort to save the Cabinet as an institution. The membership had been fluctuating from a high of 23 members in 1939, down to 18 in 1954.

A detailed mathematical expression is proposed by Parkinson for the Coefficient of Inefficiency, featuring many possible influences. In 2008, an attempt was made to empirically verify the proposed model. Parkinson's conjecture that membership exceeding a number "between 19.9 and 22.4" makes a committee manifestly inefficient seems well justified by the evidence proposed. Less certain is the optimal number of members, which must lie between three (a logical minimum) and 20. That it may be eight seems both justified and ruled out by observation: no contemporary government in Parkinson's data set had eight members, and only the unfortunate king Charles I of England had a Committee of State with that membership.

[NOTDilbert]

In short, the turquoise subs are camouflaged the same way pink Spitfires were in WWII. In use, they're the same color as the backgrounds they operate in. Note the water color here and here.

Similar to how the "Pink Panther" Land Rover has been used for desert environments.Ta da!

I always did like Land Rovers. Always looked like you were driving a toolbox that hadn't been closed all the way.