The RTG can't shield the neutrons... the sheilding would weigh more than the rest of the spacecraft.. Beyond Jupiter RTG radiation is that largest non-gravitational effect, larger than solar pressure even
Sorry, but effectively there aren't any neutrons. The P238 isotope used is used because it decays to U234 with the emission of an alpha particle and releases this energy fairly quickly, but not too fast - a half-life of 87.7 years. The alternative spontaneous fission only occurs.00000019% of the time. Effectively zilch.
How not to use GM weapons.
on
The DNA Bomb
·
· Score: 1
"I want a tailored germ that will only kill my hated identical twin!"
Nuclear war is only less dangerous if you think of it as 1 bomb taking out a town as opposed to the reality of the situation: 1 Sub in our ballistic missle fleet has over 200 independant warheads. (aren't MIRV's a bitch ?). How many subs do we have ? How many silos do we have ? How many things do we have that the public doesn't even know about ?
According to this article in Scientific American Magazine, "In sum, the two nuclear superpowers remain ready to fire a total of more than 5,000 nuclear weapons at each other within half an hour." The other numbers in the article add up to somewhat more than this though.
Acutally, if the attack mechanism is something thats "alive" or acts alive, then it can be killed or thwarted (eventually, and with enough research). While 95% of earths population might rot and spontaneously explode, there'd probably be enough people randomly unaffected to survive and figure out a "cure" or an antigen.
Perhaps, perhaps not. Some natural diseases like rabies kill higher percentages of some species infected. But if something kills even much less than 95% of humans at random, there would likely be a total collapse of civilization. Too many essential services and technologies would be lost. Not only the GM weapon, but natural diseases would become deadly as medicine regressed, aided by famine and civil violence.
On the other hand, short of a metric assload of lead sheilding, theres nothing you can do about a neutron bomb. You're just fucked if you happen to be nearby.
True. But enhanced neutron radiation weapons only kill over a small area. Inverse-square law assures isn't enough neutron flux at greater distances.
A fun excercize if we were allowed to know the numbers involved would be "how many nukes do we have per square mile of 1% or lower survivability fallout levels".
Good question. Probably an order of magnitude or two more than the number that exists. The Chernobyl explosion released an immensely larger amount than would be formed by a missle-mountable nuclear weapon, and few larger bombs exist. Cancer would be more common, but again most deaths would be caused by natural disease and other factors related to anarchy.
I usually do a good job of maintaing "Assured Clear Distance" even during rush hour, and I never get people honking at me or glaring. What I do get, however, is a few waves from people who have been desperately waiting for a chance to switch lanes.
I've had the pleasure of being able to stop gradually enough to be the first person behind the chain-reaction collision who neither hit nor was hit from behind. Very satisfying!
True. Locally to myself it would simply cause the gap to be continually filled by cars changing into it from other lanes. Nevertheless, I think that the legal theory used by the courts anyway.
BTW, this includes being backed into by someone if you are on a hill and their car rolls back a reasonably short distance into the front of yours.
The ontopic point being the law doesn't always have to seem sensible, since I'm NAL myself I'll add "at least to the layman".
And for that matter, you could always... just a minute...
$ whois ugosucks.com
[whois.crsnic.net]
Whois Server Version 1.3
Domain names in the.com,.net, and.org domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.
Domain Name: UGOSUCKS.COM
Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, INC.
Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com
Referral URL: http://www.networksolutions.com
Name Server: NS1.UGONETWORKS.COM
Name Server: NS2.UGONETWORKS.COM
Updated Date: 26-dec-2000
Last update of whois database: Wed, 16 May 2001 01:37:04 EDT
The Registry database contains ONLY.COM,.NET,.ORG,.EDU domains and
Registrars.
Another likely source of the accelerartion is neutrons (and other particles) from the radioactive power source that the probes carry. This effect is much larger than relativistic effects and is probably much larger than any new physics effects. The decay of these power sources over long periods is not well known, and hence their effect on perturbing the trajectory is not well known.
Huh? the RTGs' radioactive heat source is completely enclosed, the particles it generates do not have enough energy to penetrate the shielding and give up their momentum to the enclosure. Therefore, no net momentum change caused by the decay products, other than the known-to-be-miniscule contribution of individual neutrinos.
Not that it matters anyway, since the decays would happen equally likely in all directions, so even if the particles were released the net effect would be zero.
... subterranean data centers? No, this is not a "joke" post...
It may be that this is already quite widespread, but that's not the case from my experience in the field (== substantial). Let's stop to think about this for a second.
"Going down, instead of out" preserves land space and offers several additional benefits:
Relatively constant temperature.
Um, there is the phenomenon called "permafrost" which exists throughout the area. Assuming your post refers to the proposed server farm, the heat would melt this into a pudding-like mud.
Heightened protection from the elements (earthqakes included to a certain degree, since your buidling won't "fall over."
Yes, it would. Not quickly, but inevitably, see above.
Okay, so, for the 95% of System adminning that is done over the network, is there a solution to provide high level access via SSH or something, so that the box need not be physically accessed?
Often such physical access in not possible in practical situations.
IIRC one of the most common features of early WWW sites was a page that included a database of music
usually labeled "my record album collection" or something similar. No CDs at the time, same priciple.
Thanks. Some questions tho, if you or anyone else knows answers to them too:
First, the reports I read in the media indicated there was a significant amount of radioactive iodine released, how did the thyroid dose compare with the astatine?
Since I find astatine in the Webelements periodic table just under iodine and so it presumably is concentrated in the thyroid because it is mistaken for iodine, does a dose of (ordinary) iodine protect against it like it does iodine radioisotopes?
Last, since astatine isotopes have a max half life of a few hours compared to I131, how the hell do the amounts accumulate in reactors in the amounts that were measured as released, or last long enough to be ingested?
Which isn't news, really, whether you call it "kompagas" or anything else. However, it does give me an idea.
There currently being a problem with an excess of liquid hog manure in parts of the United States and the pollution it causes, why not adapt the vehicle to this obvious source of organic fuel, and address this issue as well as fuel shortages? Kill two turds with one stone, so to speak.
The article was unclear as to whether the fermentation took place on the car itself, but obviously the equipment used in gasoline stations could be adapted to store and pump (what would no doubt be) the newly valuable fluid. People would eventually get used to the smell, for the privilege of pulling up to the self-serve pump and topping off their tank with a few gallons of good old #2.
Or worse, get good enough that they will replace researchers as well as be a tool for them. When one of these programs, while its operators aren't looking, deduces the existence of the scientific journals and starts trying to publish papers on its own, they'll have to worry.
I'm wondering if it's much different than Google is doing with web page data, on a larger scale?
Rather fundemental to business is avoiding relying on suppliers who may go out of business unless you know there is a second source for what is being supplied.
When Joe's Flange Factory goes out of business, is there usually a row about those who used model GD47-j and are now left in the lurch? Why should it be any commoner with ASPs?
Unless the Court is willing to provide a time machine, if those thing aren't logged it ain't a-gonna get them.
The problem being if the order originates with a judge who has delusions of godhood, as sometimes happens. In which case the worst that would happen is that the judge in a fit of pique might jail someone until an appeals court containing a sentient jurist is contacted.
Slashdot Mirror
Where's that tongue-motion sensing device I've been filibustering for?!?
Come on, that's the precision communications output organ of the body...
The RTG can't shield the neutrons... the sheilding would weigh more than the rest of the spacecraft.. Beyond Jupiter RTG radiation is that largest non-gravitational effect, larger than solar pressure even
.00000019% of the time. Effectively zilch.
Sorry, but effectively there aren't any neutrons. The P238 isotope used is used because it decays to U234 with the emission of an alpha particle and releases this energy fairly quickly, but not too fast - a half-life of 87.7 years. The alternative spontaneous fission only occurs
"I want a tailored germ that will only kill my hated identical twin!"
Nuclear war is only less dangerous if you think of it as 1 bomb taking out a town as opposed to the reality of the situation: 1 Sub in our ballistic missle fleet has over 200 independant warheads. (aren't MIRV's a bitch ?). How many subs do we have ? How many silos do we have ? How many things do we have that the public doesn't even know about ?
According to this article in Scientific American Magazine, "In sum, the two nuclear superpowers remain ready to fire a total of more than 5,000 nuclear weapons at each other within half an hour." The other numbers in the article add up to somewhat more than this though.
Btw, you can find a nice abandoned missle silo tour at this site.
Acutally, if the attack mechanism is something thats "alive" or acts alive, then it can be killed or thwarted (eventually, and with enough research). While 95% of earths population might rot and spontaneously explode, there'd probably be enough people randomly unaffected to survive and figure out a "cure" or an antigen.
Perhaps, perhaps not. Some natural diseases like rabies kill higher percentages of some species infected. But if something kills even much less than 95% of humans at random, there would likely be a total collapse of civilization. Too many essential services and technologies would be lost. Not only the GM weapon, but natural diseases would become deadly as medicine regressed, aided by famine and civil violence.
On the other hand, short of a metric assload of lead sheilding, theres nothing you can do about a neutron bomb. You're just fucked if you happen to be nearby.
True. But enhanced neutron radiation weapons only kill over a small area. Inverse-square law assures isn't enough neutron flux at greater distances.
A fun excercize if we were allowed to know the numbers involved would be "how many nukes do we have per square mile of 1% or lower survivability fallout levels".
Good question. Probably an order of magnitude or two more than the number that exists. The Chernobyl explosion released an immensely larger amount than would be formed by a missle-mountable nuclear weapon, and few larger bombs exist. Cancer would be more common, but again most deaths would be caused by natural disease and other factors related to anarchy.
I usually do a good job of maintaing "Assured Clear Distance" even during rush hour, and I never get people honking at me or glaring. What I do get, however, is a few waves from people who have been desperately waiting for a chance to switch lanes.
I've had the pleasure of being able to stop gradually enough to be the first person behind the chain-reaction collision who neither hit nor was hit from behind. Very satisfying!
True. Locally to myself it would simply cause the gap to be continually filled by cars changing into it from other lanes. Nevertheless, I think that the legal theory used by the courts anyway.
BTW, this includes being backed into by someone if you are on a hill and their car rolls back a reasonably short distance into the front of yours.
The ontopic point being the law doesn't always have to seem sensible, since I'm NAL myself I'll add "at least to the layman".
And for that matter, you could always... just a minute...
.com, .net, and .org domains can now be registered
.COM, .NET, .ORG, .EDU domains and
:-)
$ whois ugosucks.com
[whois.crsnic.net]
Whois Server Version 1.3
Domain names in the
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.
Domain Name: UGOSUCKS.COM
Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, INC.
Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com
Referral URL: http://www.networksolutions.com
Name Server: NS1.UGONETWORKS.COM
Name Server: NS2.UGONETWORKS.COM
Updated Date: 26-dec-2000
Last update of whois database: Wed, 16 May 2001 01:37:04 EDT
The Registry database contains ONLY
Registrars.
Ah, too late...
Another likely source of the accelerartion is neutrons (and other particles) from the radioactive power source that the probes carry. This effect is much larger than relativistic effects and is probably much larger than any new physics effects. The decay of these power sources over long periods is not well known, and hence their effect on perturbing the trajectory is not well known.
Huh? the RTGs' radioactive heat source is completely enclosed, the particles it generates do not have enough energy to penetrate the shielding and give up their momentum to the enclosure. Therefore, no net momentum change caused by the decay products, other than the known-to-be-miniscule contribution of individual neutrinos.
Not that it matters anyway, since the decays would happen equally likely in all directions, so even if the particles were released the net effect would be zero.
More ACBS...
It may be that this is already quite widespread, but that's not the case from my experience in the field (== substantial). Let's stop to think about this for a second.
"Going down, instead of out" preserves land space and offers several additional benefits:
Relatively constant temperature.
Um, there is the phenomenon called "permafrost" which exists throughout the area. Assuming your post refers to the proposed server farm, the heat would melt this into a pudding-like mud.
Heightened protection from the elements (earthqakes included to a certain degree, since your buidling won't "fall over."
Yes, it would. Not quickly, but inevitably, see above.
Maybe somewhat increased physical security (depends).
This is true, since potential attackers would have a hard time finding the building once the mud had closed over the top of it.
Tundra wolves chewing on the fiber optic line.
Okay, so, for the 95% of System adminning that is done over the network, is there a solution to provide high level access via SSH or something, so that the box need not be physically accessed?
Often such physical access in not possible in practical situations.
It is possible.
1. Remove network card.
2. Carry to wastebasket.
3. Drop it in.
No, they're only certified if Microsoft doesn't reveal how to do it to any customers. :-)
IIRC one of the most common features of early WWW sites was a page that included a database of music
usually labeled "my record album collection" or something similar. No CDs at the time, same priciple.
Thanks. Some questions tho, if you or anyone else knows answers to them too:
First, the reports I read in the media indicated there was a significant amount of radioactive iodine released, how did the thyroid dose compare with the astatine?
Since I find astatine in the Webelements periodic table just under iodine and so it presumably is concentrated in the thyroid because it is mistaken for iodine, does a dose of (ordinary) iodine protect against it like it does iodine radioisotopes?
Last, since astatine isotopes have a max half life of a few hours compared to I131, how the hell do the amounts accumulate in reactors in the amounts that were measured as released, or last long enough to be ingested?
What would be a Ukrainian version of Godzilla?
Baba Yaga's chicken-legged hut grown to the size of Bill Gates' Mansion.
(Note: Yes, the witch Baba Yaga is Ukranian legend as well as Russian. According to the tales my grandmother tells.)
Assuming some degree of sanity these things have to be using a broadcast mode to send statistics, power levels, et cetra.
Pity, I can imagine a cardiac specialist in a panic mode trying to find out what a sudden increase in a patient's ping time is being caused by.
Which isn't news, really, whether you call it "kompagas" or anything else. However, it does give me an idea.
There currently being a problem with an excess of liquid hog manure in parts of the United States and the pollution it causes, why not adapt the vehicle to this obvious source of organic fuel, and address this issue as well as fuel shortages? Kill two turds with one stone, so to speak.
The article was unclear as to whether the fermentation took place on the car itself, but obviously the equipment used in gasoline stations could be adapted to store and pump (what would no doubt be) the newly valuable fluid. People would eventually get used to the smell, for the privilege of pulling up to the self-serve pump and topping off their tank with a few gallons of good old #2.
Or worse, get good enough that they will replace researchers as well as be a tool for them. When one of these programs, while its operators aren't looking, deduces the existence of the scientific journals and starts trying to publish papers on its own, they'll have to worry.
I'm wondering if it's much different than Google is doing with web page data, on a larger scale?
Rather fundemental to business is avoiding relying on suppliers who may go out of business unless you know there is a second source for what is being supplied.
When Joe's Flange Factory goes out of business, is there usually a row about those who used model GD47-j and are now left in the lurch? Why should it be any commoner with ASPs?
...that the layoffs would have been as high or higher had the merger gone through?
Worse, quantum encryption would be impossible, doe to the carrier's inability to fly in an entangled state.
Unless the Court is willing to provide a time machine, if those thing aren't logged it ain't a-gonna get them.
The problem being if the order originates with a judge who has delusions of godhood, as sometimes happens. In which case the worst that would happen is that the judge in a fit of pique might jail someone until an appeals court containing a sentient jurist is contacted.
Will now take giant leaps forward employing the Bowgo!
I want a good lips-and-tongue input device. It would take advantage of the deftness anyone who can talk (and even someone lacking vocal cords) has....