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Vicariously Tour the National Ignition Facility
Dave Bullock writes "The National Ignition Facility (NIF) has been discussed several times over the years on Slashdot and just recently fired all of its 192 lasers. LLNL scientists predict NIF will attain ignition (controlled nuclear explosion) in 2010. For now, take a look at the photos I shot of NIF for Wired.com when I toured it earlier this year."
Um... wow. 'controlled nuclear explosion'?
I'm an utter layman - anyone care to explain why that shouldn't be shocking?
Just how broken can slashdot get?
Broken like this?
What do they test the code on, a nigger with a cardboard box on her head being a computer?
The output of that is split and amplified to make the 192 beams. Pretty amazing when you think about it.
What's even more amazing is that the program will never result in controlled fusion for peaceful power generation. How can I predict this with certainty? Because the American government is running it. There are some things the American government does really well: build weapons (although they've been falling down on that lately, too), send spacecraft to Mars (so long as they don't screw up the units) and "defend" places back into the stone age.
What they don't do is finish domestic projects. The Yucca Mountain closure was just one more example of the American government in action. Or should that be inaction?
For all the cool research the American government has done over the years, it is clear that the basic institutions are so completely dysfunctional that it doesn't matter which of your Tweedledum or Tweedledee parties is in power in any particular branch, your government will still be unable to actually complete any long-term project. At least not without massive help from Europeans and and a bit from Canadians, as in the case of the ISS.
Blasphemy is a human right. Blasphemophobia kills.
> I want you to think for a little while about what the long term implications of fusion energy on technologically advanced human civilization will be.
Exactly the same as fission, diddly squat. Greens hate the N word for one reason, it means energy independence. So they will hate fusion for exactly the same reason. If we had the will to ignore the greens we could be reaping the benefits of fission now and eventually have fusion as an incremental improvement and hedge against running out of fissionable material. Barring that improbable event neither will do us any good.
Greens seem to be divided into three groups. The group making most of the decisions are the 'watermelons'. Red Communists hiding behind a Green cover. The two groups had enough goals in common to make cooperation inevitable. And even if knowing cooperation hadn't happened subversion was a given, the Soviets subverted any organization they thought might be useful and the Greens are very useful to their purposes. Both Greens and Communists want to slow/stop western industrial civilization. Note that until the fall of the Soviet Union no major 'Green' organiation made much of a fuss about Soviet environmental disasters and outright crimes against nature and for that matter still tend to cover up for them. While the Watermelons make up most of the Green leadership, the bulk of the shock troops are even more dangerous; the Gaians. These self hating pieces of mental disfunction worship the Earth. And every time they pray to Her they seem to hear the same message, "Humans are a disease. Industry and the Civilization it makes possible are an abomination against Me. Smash it all, and I shall unleash the Four Horsemen to complete the task of erasing the scourge of Humanity from My face. For thy service to Me, you shall be granted the honor of dying last." Third and making up a percentage too small to make a difference are the responsible enviromentalists and conservationists.
Democrat delenda est