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Bussard Gets Navy Funding For Fusion Research

Posted by kdawson on from the only-2-mil-but-hey dept.

UnreasonableMan writes to let us know that Robert Bussard, the fusion researcher whose talk at Google was discussed here a few months back, has won continued funding from the Navy. The word on this spread from Kent Brewster at the Speculations blog, who reportedly had the word from Bussard himself. (The link is to another blog that reproduces Brewster's post, because Speculations has no permalink.)

10 of 146 comments (clear)

  1. Cue all the jokes... by tttonyyy · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...about the reactor having an "I feel lucky" button, but with a "Do you feel lucky, punk?" Navy twist to them.

    --
    biopowered.co.uk - catalytically cracking triglycerides for home automotive use since 2008. Just say no to big oil!
    1. Re:Cue all the jokes... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Ducks are Touring complete. They move across a (theoretically) infinite river in either direction. They have memory. In each step, they can catch fish, take a dump, or quack.

    2. Re:Cue all the jokes... by tttonyyy · · Score: 2, Funny

      Ducks are Touring complete. They move across a (theoretically) infinite river in either direction. They have memory. In each step, they can catch fish, take a dump, or quack. This is the perfect example as to why standing next to an unshielded fusion reactor is Bad News(tm).

      Personally I like the idea of starships powered by Bad News. As Douglas Adams points out, it is the only thing that travels faster than light - but wherever you go, you're unpopular when you get there. :)
      --
      biopowered.co.uk - catalytically cracking triglycerides for home automotive use since 2008. Just say no to big oil!
    3. Re:Cue all the jokes... by NoMaster · · Score: 2, Funny

      As Douglas Adams points out, it is the only thing that travels faster than light
      Pratchett would disagree - monarchy also travels faster than light.

      (I won't go into the whole theory here, but suffice to say the particles involved are "kingons" and "queeons", the path of which can only be blocked by "republicons"...)

      --
      What part of "a well regulated militia" do you not understand?
  2. Starcraft quote by Xel'Naga · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Thank God for cold fusion"
    -Terran marine, getting a can of beer from a nuclear device

  3. Re:Damned Buzzard by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Hey guys, we have a person who has just now stumbled across his first joke.

  4. Re:More info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I'm not making this up, he literally threatened the audience with giving the tech to China for free

    Why is that a "threat"?

  5. Re:More info by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    because his statement was in the form of a threat: "if you don't X, then i will Y".

    given politically correct logic, the above statement is a threat when Y is not 'give technology to china'.

  6. Re:Dr. Robert Bussard by Nefarious+Wheel · · Score: 3, Funny
    Ok, let's cross over to a place where "other cultures" live, i.e. Welsh and Old Folks. I be nothing like the former (although I do have friends who say only Welsh can spell a sneeze phonetically) and definitely an early entrant in the latter, so let's get down to it:

    Welsh "dd" is kind of a shortish "th" sound, so I "R'd" meaning "Readtha".

    "F" is silent, although some folk say it stands for "Fine".

    And a long time ago in the IT profession (back when it was known as "Programming") we had these innovations held together by thin strips of razor blade called "printed Manuals" with words like "PL/I" and "CORGZ" and "DBOMP" on them. ("Paper" is kind of like a blank .html file, only well, sort of entirely different. Ours had holes punched in them and the odd bloodstain). So RTFM meant, loosely, "Read The Fine Manual". I wrote that abbreviation (and why is "abbreviation" such a long word?) so many times my fingers kind of took over there for a moment. Perils of old age slipping into me dotage. Apologies to all you young nerds who couldn't make the linguistic transition there. But brush up on your "old", if you're lucky you'll need to speak that language some day.

    Iffn' ye don't like that explanation, give me a few and I'll invent another one. In the mean time, "dddd" to the lot of ye.

    --
    Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
  7. Re:Dr. Robert Bussard by Hal_Porter · · Score: 2, Funny

    So RTFM meant, loosely, "Read The Fine Manual". I wrote that abbreviation (and why is "abbreviation" such a long word?) so many times my fingers kind of took over there for a moment.

    If you using the Emacs usenet client to do tech support for noobs on the Linux kernel forums, you might like to know that you can type "Read The Fine Manual" quickly with Meta3-Ctrl-~ Shift-R Shift-T Shift-F Shift-M Meta2-Ctrl-~ !-%-Esc-Alt-Meta-Escape-Return. You need to install lisp-acronym-expander obviously, and change the bindings from the default which needs a keyboard with Meta4 and Meta5 keys.

    --
    echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;