I was a proponent of expanding nuclear fission electricity generation until Fukushima. Fission is a zero-carbon system and cheap at massive scale. However, my enthusiasm also assumed that the industry was regulated and transparent enough to be safe. Clearly it is not. The bigger nail in the coffin for me, however, is that the first month or more of issues with Fukushima were clouded with lies from the utility that runs the plant and from the Japanese government itself. Why should we ever trust anything the utilities say about nuclear safety ever again? They don't have the moral integrity to handle the responsibility of running a safe nuclear fission industry.
I still hold out hope for the safe cold fusion dreams. It may not be a rational hope but it would be awesome.
In my childhood I lived in an area where a proposed nuclear plant was to be built. The power company behind it started with a barrage of PR about clean, safe energy. Eventually, after years of changing regulations and legal battles they scrapped the nuclear plans and turned it into a natural gas plant.
That preceeed Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and, of course, Fukushima.
Obviously it's fake, we all know that after shutdown there CAN'T be uncontrolled fission going on. It's physically impossible, you dumb hippies!
I dunno.. with what happens when all hell breaks loose in a reactor losing cooling, superheating and such - granted the period would likely be very, very short, but you could get just about anything from it (much of which will have very short half-lives) but the unpredictable nature of the event and outcomes shouldn't be underestimated.
Also.. rather like this bit: inside some areas of Fukushima Daiichi workers soon will not have to use full face masks." Right. Do I have any volunteers?
I'm half expecting Godzilla to emerge from off shore and stomp the rest of the plant to bits.
Truth may be the first casualty of war, but it seems to be bound up and stuffed into a file cabinet in a disused lavatory in the basement of a building with a sign "Beware the leopard" on the door, when there's a disaster and a business involved.
EVEN WITH A MAJOR EARTHQUAKE OCCURING because of "fracking" it's a non-issue compared to the damage done to the water table by the chemicals used in the process, toxic for centuries afterwards.
Story of pit/strip mines around the world, too. Toxic waste containment, seepage into ground water, cleanup was never were never in the vocabulary for some of these.
if you're rich enough to live far away from it. Frankly I don't see the problem.
Sure. But what if your fine bungalow happens to be below a dam, which collapses because extraction of petroleum from beneath it changes the contour of the Earth, just enough to weaken the structure?
I've never understood why we are so damn eager to extract more substances from the Earth, while poisoning Suface, Ground Water and Air - when we should be punishing those who waste resources. I commute and see an absolutely insane number of BIG vehicles on the road, every day - some I have seen for months or years - big pickups or SUVs, some with those horribly inefficient (for road use) oversize wheels. They are in competition with every other vehicle owner for gas/petrol, that they choose to put $100 into their tank every few days where they could by putting in $30 (or less), they also are keeping demand high, which keeps prices high. Fools.
When someone buys a luxury vehicle in California they pay a luxury tax, when someone buys a guzzler car in California they pay a guzzler tax, but when they take an ordinary utilitarian vehicle and turn it into some expression of their ego (or to compensate for poor self image) they pay no extra tax. I'd certainly like to see that change - some of these mods make the vehicles far less safe, not only for occupants but others on the road.
Yeah, except that they just released an awesome N9 phone (based on Linux too), and WP7 phones are starting to roll out. Later they're thinking of using Linux on their low-end phones. It takes time to change your line-up as much as Nokia did, but they're going to be a serious competitor now. Microsoft actually saved them. They would have gone down the toilet if they had continued with the Symbian stuff and not getting anything new done.
I expect Microsoft to flext their muscle and Nokia to quietly retire Linux anything quietly.
Windows phone may be late to the ball and look more like a frog than a princess, but that won't stop them trying to push it as one, until it goes the way of the Zune and Nokia is left in tatters.
Who went "huh he requested an xbox in an Israeli prison..." somehow, being from the netherlands where even some of the worst offenders get max 8 years plus mental support, I was surprised he even got the chance to request it. So much for being jaded.
Different countries, different rules.
I'm still perplexed how Israel continues to paint Palestinians as the obstruction to peace, while countering recognition from UNESCO with more building on occupied land. (While Isreal was effectively carved from the heart of Palestine and is recognised and a member of the UN.) Bloody weird country, if you ask me.
I'm impressed Microsoft even acknowledged it. Years ago they would have buried this news, claiming anyone reporting on it was aiding terrorists. I'm looking forward to the fix, when they roll it out in a couple of months.
Guessing he's a vegan with an agenda. Probably make a good study case for a paper on meatless diets increasing bad decision making.
I mean really, they already made the huge mistake of giving up tasty animal flesh, someone should study what other bad decisions vegans make.
Well, eating too much meat can constipate you. Then you go off to the john and spend a lot of time in there, which makes people think you don't want to spend time with them.
Won't work. The *IAA, et al, must be salivating at the thought of foisting new purchases of IP-Spy-O-Lux network appliances on carriers and the hardware industry (yet another wolf lurking in the shadows) must be positively writhing at the prospect of big sales of those IP-Spy-O-Lux appliances.
I'm not young but I would not be surprised if, one day, my wife and I find ourselves living in a tent somewhere, eating what we can catch or forage.
So... that'll be one camping pass... and one hunting/fishing permit, unless you plan to eat only plants, then you'll run afoul of the regulations on havesting plants, which are protected, on public lands.
The way to beat the system is to become part of it and then force change from within.
No, US wants people to think China is some powerful enemy and that cyberwar is constant threat. This enables them to pass new more powerful laws, keeps citizens in constant fear and allows US to use things like Stuxnet against Iran.
All US has to do is shut off a range of IP addresses from Mainland China - that would pretty much stop it. Drastic, yes, but perhaps they day will come. The US Government threatens some IP addresses in Russia, from time to time, so they certainly have dictated to those who route traffic they had best have some controls and a switch for Washington to flip if and when it wants to. Can't say I'd find the concept hard to believe.
It's actually all coming from an attempt by Elma Sniddle to hack a C64...
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I was a proponent of expanding nuclear fission electricity generation until Fukushima. Fission is a zero-carbon system and cheap at massive scale. However, my enthusiasm also assumed that the industry was regulated and transparent enough to be safe. Clearly it is not. The bigger nail in the coffin for me, however, is that the first month or more of issues with Fukushima were clouded with lies from the utility that runs the plant and from the Japanese government itself. Why should we ever trust anything the utilities say about nuclear safety ever again? They don't have the moral integrity to handle the responsibility of running a safe nuclear fission industry.
I still hold out hope for the safe cold fusion dreams. It may not be a rational hope but it would be awesome.
In my childhood I lived in an area where a proposed nuclear plant was to be built. The power company behind it started with a barrage of PR about clean, safe energy. Eventually, after years of changing regulations and legal battles they scrapped the nuclear plans and turned it into a natural gas plant.
That preceeed Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and, of course, Fukushima.
Want to conserve energy? Increase rates.
Obviously it's fake, we all know that after shutdown there CAN'T be uncontrolled fission going on. It's physically impossible, you dumb hippies!
I dunno .. with what happens when all hell breaks loose in a reactor losing cooling, superheating and such - granted the period would likely be very, very short, but you could get just about anything from it (much of which will have very short half-lives) but the unpredictable nature of the event and outcomes shouldn't be underestimated.
Also .. rather like this bit: inside some areas of Fukushima Daiichi workers soon will not have to use full face masks." Right. Do I have any volunteers?
Am I the only one getting tired of all this nuclear talk when we are ignoring the real Godzilla threat?
You mean, like *shudder* a sequel to the American version?
the horror! the horror!
Heaven forbid a moth would land on that fissle material...
Rather a good thing that (so far) radiation tends to kill things, rather than mutate them like good ol' fiction suggested for 70, or more years.
but all it takes is once ...
No. Their target market wants appliance-like reliability.
Other software choices exist outside the RDF and the sooner those who WANT choice are shunted there by Apple and MSFT the better.
Sounds a bit like the glory days of Blackberry, doesn't it?
Ah, but Apple could never die again, could they?
I'm half expecting Godzilla to emerge from off shore and stomp the rest of the plant to bits.
Truth may be the first casualty of war, but it seems to be bound up and stuffed into a file cabinet in a disused lavatory in the basement of a building with a sign "Beware the leopard" on the door, when there's a disaster and a business involved.
I bought my Sega because I believed it would lead me into a larger world.
I bought my Playstation because I believed I would become more self actualised (whatever the heck that means.)
Funny how they are in boxes, gathering dust, which I continue to use a desktop computer.
People might get sick of the restrictive nature of Apple products.
EVEN WITH A MAJOR EARTHQUAKE OCCURING because of "fracking" it's a non-issue compared to the damage done to the water table by the chemicals used in the process, toxic for centuries afterwards.
Story of pit/strip mines around the world, too. Toxic waste containment, seepage into ground water, cleanup was never were never in the vocabulary for some of these.
Gas reserves are far below water tables in complete different strata...five thousand to 20,000 feet, far , far deeper than any aquifer.
But you keep drinking that Kool Aid.
We keep being assured the water is safe, despite what our noses keep telling us.
if you're rich enough to live far away from it. Frankly I don't see the problem.
Sure. But what if your fine bungalow happens to be below a dam, which collapses because extraction of petroleum from beneath it changes the contour of the Earth, just enough to weaken the structure?
Stuff happens to the rich, too.
I've never understood why we are so damn eager to extract more substances from the Earth, while poisoning Suface, Ground Water and Air - when we should be punishing those who waste resources. I commute and see an absolutely insane number of BIG vehicles on the road, every day - some I have seen for months or years - big pickups or SUVs, some with those horribly inefficient (for road use) oversize wheels. They are in competition with every other vehicle owner for gas/petrol, that they choose to put $100 into their tank every few days where they could by putting in $30 (or less), they also are keeping demand high, which keeps prices high. Fools.
When someone buys a luxury vehicle in California they pay a luxury tax, when someone buys a guzzler car in California they pay a guzzler tax, but when they take an ordinary utilitarian vehicle and turn it into some expression of their ego (or to compensate for poor self image) they pay no extra tax. I'd certainly like to see that change - some of these mods make the vehicles far less safe, not only for occupants but others on the road.
Your heart is true, you're a pal and a cosmonaut.
I believe the word you are looking for there is confidant...
Is that you Yuri?
I disagree.
Iz glorious day in People's Republic!
Yeah, except that they just released an awesome N9 phone (based on Linux too), and WP7 phones are starting to roll out. Later they're thinking of using Linux on their low-end phones. It takes time to change your line-up as much as Nokia did, but they're going to be a serious competitor now. Microsoft actually saved them. They would have gone down the toilet if they had continued with the Symbian stuff and not getting anything new done.
I expect Microsoft to flext their muscle and Nokia to quietly retire Linux anything quietly.
Windows phone may be late to the ball and look more like a frog than a princess, but that won't stop them trying to push it as one, until it goes the way of the Zune and Nokia is left in tatters.
Who went "huh he requested an xbox in an Israeli prison..." somehow, being from the netherlands where even some of the worst offenders get max 8 years plus mental support, I was surprised he even got the chance to request it. So much for being jaded.
Different countries, different rules.
I'm still perplexed how Israel continues to paint Palestinians as the obstruction to peace, while countering recognition from UNESCO with more building on occupied land. (While Isreal was effectively carved from the heart of Palestine and is recognised and a member of the UN.) Bloody weird country, if you ask me.
and sell them at sheriff's auction.
Ooo. Lemme know when the auction is. Then I can share the secrets with /. =)
It's a victory, small, but a victory no less.
I'm impressed Microsoft even acknowledged it. Years ago they would have buried this news, claiming anyone reporting on it was aiding terrorists. I'm looking forward to the fix, when they roll it out in a couple of months.
IOW, you are saying MS is now a rich Zombie of a corporation?
This explains why they were asking for smart people. (Braaaiiins, needs Braaaiiins)
They have the brains, but they don't have the guts to use them.
Guessing he's a vegan with an agenda. Probably make a good study case for a paper on meatless diets increasing bad decision making.
I mean really, they already made the huge mistake of giving up tasty animal flesh, someone should study what other bad decisions vegans make.
Well, eating too much meat can constipate you. Then you go off to the john and spend a lot of time in there, which makes people think you don't want to spend time with them.
No wonder people were suspicious. I don't know anyone who became anto-social after eating meat.
Perhaps it embiggened some gland which released some hormone into the blood. It's a perfectly cromulent theory.
How about IPv6? Might as well be prepared.
Won't work. The *IAA, et al, must be salivating at the thought of foisting new purchases of IP-Spy-O-Lux network appliances on carriers and the hardware industry (yet another wolf lurking in the shadows) must be positively writhing at the prospect of big sales of those IP-Spy-O-Lux appliances.
Complete control over everything is their goal.
I'm not young but I would not be surprised if, one day, my wife and I find ourselves living in a tent somewhere, eating what we can catch or forage.
So ... that'll be one camping pass ... and one hunting/fishing permit, unless you plan to eat only plants, then you'll run afoul of the regulations on havesting plants, which are protected, on public lands.
The way to beat the system is to become part of it and then force change from within.
It was fun for a while. Too bad they've decided to kill it.
Seems I've seen a bumper sticker somewhere - Nothing ever imrpoves with Government involvement.
A pretty general statement, but certainly applicable here.
How low can they go?
You have to ask? Sometimes they make me feel like we really missed a golden opportunity to join the Communists.
No, US wants people to think China is some powerful enemy and that cyberwar is constant threat. This enables them to pass new more powerful laws, keeps citizens in constant fear and allows US to use things like Stuxnet against Iran.
All US has to do is shut off a range of IP addresses from Mainland China - that would pretty much stop it. Drastic, yes, but perhaps they day will come. The US Government threatens some IP addresses in Russia, from time to time, so they certainly have dictated to those who route traffic they had best have some controls and a switch for Washington to flip if and when it wants to. Can't say I'd find the concept hard to believe.
It's actually all coming from an attempt by Elma Sniddle to hack a C64 ...