Why do I have the feeling you would complain if the US cured cancer and AIDS? "But they're still evil bastards who HATE folks with malaria!"
They provided a free useful service for everyone in the entire world, with no licensing fees that I'm aware of. It's a friggin clock and radio in the sky, that has been running very well since 1994 and not mucked with. "Monopoly"? No one is stopping you from putting your own clocks in the sky. You're basically upset that they built it for their own purposes, but opened it to everyone when it became obvious it was globally useful? You're complaining that a FREE system doesn't do everything YOU want, so it's evil and bad and probably kicks puppies.
Some folks would complain if you hung them with a golden rope, geesh.
That said, sure, always room for improvement. It irks the heck out of me when folks let blind prejudice block out all of the good things and focus solely on the bad. More systems are good for improved accuracy and redundancy. Sharing the cost for satellite navigation between countries is also good. As long as they all play nice with each other, I don't see any downside.
Expensive and not a high level of implementation. So harder to find folks that install, service, etc rail cultivation systems. As rails would be out in the weather all the time, they'd wear out a lot faster than stuff that is stored during bad weather. Plus, you can rent mechanical cultivation equipment and a lot of folks do. Renting rail cultivation equipment is probably not as likely to occur.
Also, fields get tilled. I'm not sure how much of an issue hardpanning is. Erosion and groundwater contamination IS an issue.
All and all, current system is more reliable and cheaper (not just because of oil). Very unlikely to change. Not every "evil" is due to "Big Oil".
Works well with AD, supports collaborative stuff, plays nicely with other MS products.
Don't look at me funny, I use postfix. I used to use qmail, for entertainment's sake, but the qmail dev thinks his product is 100% perfect and won't touch it. It doesn't natively support multi-domain email very well (aftermarket patch for that). So postfix. I screamed, hit my head on my desk and did get postfix installed. Granted, it was interesting experience. Much worse than installing Exchange into any AD environment. But postfix has worked without any real hiccups in years.
I hate maintaining Exchange, but it does pay well and the alternatives aren't there when it comes to MS integration. If they were, I'd make piles of cash replacing Exchange.
Easy enough. If I was your boss, I'd ask what you wanted or were interested in.
I'm sure "money" is the prime answer, and likely should be. If pay or bonuses was not possible for whatever, I'd look into addition certs or semi-related training in something you found interesting. Or try to buy some quasi work related software or hardware you found interesting and wanted to play with. Or say if you meet your markers, you can spend 5-10% of day on a project of your choice (subject to loose approval). I'd ask for your input, let you know what was possible and what was not possible.
Balance. You need to balance Work, Family/SO, Mandatory Stuff and Leisure.
Work is pretty obvious. You need to make enough to pay the bills and ideally move towards a better tomorrow. Don't neglect it or become entitled, or you won't be able to pay bills or move towards a better tomorrow.
Family/SO, take them for granted and it will not be good in the long run. I'd put this as the most important part, but it doesn't mean it should be the sole thing on your mind either.
Mandatory Stuff is fixing broken washer or sink. Changing the oil. Doing laundry, showering. Stuff you have to do as infrastructure of living. It's the least "important", which means efficiency here pays off. Less time spent on this the better, but neglecting it is just as hazardous.
Leisure. You need to do SOMETHING to mentally unwind. The alternatives seem to be alcoholism or substance abuse. We all wish this category could be more...
Seen a lot of very smart folks fail to spend even a couple minutes in truly look over the priorities in their life. They get in their routine and make really stupid decisions, simply because they never did a mental review and say "WTF?"
Theoretically yes. FFL's have a "bound book" of all firearms they process, with some exceptions. Gunsmiths can buy or make firearms unrelated to their business. If they are smart, while not legally required, they keep a journal (in the accounting sense of the word) of their personal firearms activities.
This is a regular issue. If you have a Type 1 FFL, you can sell firearms but not MAKE firearms. You need a Type 7 FFL to make and sell firearms. In addition, you must process FAET. That's the 10% Firearms and Ammunition Excise Tax, processed by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau at the Treasury Department. The BATFE does not process FAET. Why, I have no idea.
So, if a gunsmith has a Type 1 FFL, he can legally make non-NFA weapons for personal noncommercial usage so long as he complies with State and Local law. But if he's intelligent, he goes to great lengths to very distinctively separate personal and business.
Firearm laws tend to be very complex. Add in a lot of case law (court decisions). Then add in subjective and changing BATFE determinations. Often, any combination of the above may be contradicting any combination of the above. It is very cumbersome.
Under US federal law, that is incorrect. Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA or GCA68), Pub.L. 90-618, 82 Stat. 1213, enacted October 22, 1968 set up the Federal Firearms License system. It was reformed by the Firearm Owners' Protection Act (FOPA), Pub.L. 99-308, 100 Stat. 449, enacted May 19, 1986, codified at 18 U.S.C. 921. FOPA cut down on abuses by the BATFE, but due to the Hughes Amendment, restricted the production of new fully automatic weapons.
It's fairly complicated, but essentially, if it is not a NFA weapon (suppressor, full automatic, short barreled rifle, short barreled shotgun or AOW) and not sold, firearms are legal to make for yourself. If your state allows, you can give away at $0 any handgun, rifle or shotgun. Without paperwork, licenses or anything. If you charge even a cent, it would be illegal. I would not recommend doing so without a lot of legal research. The BATFE does not have the kindest reputation. They can and will kill you over tax issues. Or economically destroy you, by "seizing potential evidence". Seriously, do not play games and know the law before doing anything. Federal, state AND local laws.
Also, while some states may or may not ban personal production of non-NFA weapons, such bans likely would not be considered legal under District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008) and McDonald v. Chicago, 561 US 3025 (2010). But you would have decades of legal battles to prove you were right and said state was wrong. The ban of personal production of NFA weapons for non-commercial purposes is likely still illegal and not Constitutionally protected, under Heller and McDonald.
Making your own beer or wine for noncommercial purposes is also legal, BTW.
I've dated women that most folks would consider well out of my league. The "trick" is not acting like a moron. Try talking her as a human being first, don't stare, don't try to impress her, don't be way overly helpful and generally be polite. If things progress (and let her handle that), cool. If not, as long as she's a decent lunch buddy (good conversation, pays for her half, etc), enjoy it for what it is and don't try to turn it into what it is not.
If she's imposing in some way, more than you're comfy with, try telling her directly. Politely and don't make a scene out of it. If that doesn't work, start doing things with other folks. Don't be passive aggressive, but don't be a rug either. If you do get friend zoned, either accept being just a friend (and NEVER anything more), or move on. Don't waffle.
"There is no way to increase the available RF spectrum."
No, but it's trivial to increase the available bandwidth. Smaller cells. You don't increase the EM spectrum, of course. You dilute the amount of bandwidth being utilized within whatever stretch of land you wish to consider. It's the equivalent of "just run more wires!" you were ranting about.
Carve one cell into four smaller cells? You just quadrupled the potential bandwidth. Gets complicated with the antennas and cell phone software, but that's an existing and mostly solved issue. I drastically improved the mobile bandwidth by plugging in a "cell tower in a box" into my LAN (isolated like no tomorrow, I don't trust Verizon). Voila, users are happy with their cell speed again. They COULD have just used the WiFi, but why type in a password?
Yea, I did some work myself at interesting places. The plus side is that they have plenty of information, but not enough hands to use it. Best they can do, and it is pretty bad, is use that information when they have someone they want to find guilty of... anything. The number of laws on the books are the really bad part. Reduce the number of possible crimes to something realistic, and you have virtually no hold over the majority of normal folks.
Private Express Statutes (PES). 18 U.S.C. 1693–1696 and 39 U.S.C. 601–606, implemented under 39 Code of Federal Regulations Parts 310 and 320.
This does not apply to packages, freight or parcels. Since authorized by the Postal System in 1979, letters must either cost at least the greater of $3 or twice what First Class (or Priority) mail service would cost, or they must be delivered within strict time limits or otherwise lose value.
And yet, you likely have food on your plate at the end of the day. And 10% of America's exports are agriculture.
Not saying you're wrong, but obviously someone is doing something well. Or well enough.
Actually, yes, capitalism in action. Because we're turning feed into fuel, combined with a severe drought reducing feed, feed prices go up. Things based off feed, including beef and pork, go up. Market pressure mean less feed is consumed, or more feed is produced. Works itself out. If you wanted to lower feed prices, ask your representatives to stop mandating turning precursor food into ethanol. Too late this year, as fuel companies have already purchased the ethanol. If the drought next year is significant, food prices will be even higher.
This is actually a classic example of government distortion in markets. I suspect it'll be in Econ 101 textbooks about a decade from now.
Meh, I've seen plenty of rooted Linux boxes out there. Linux still needs patches.
I use both. Both have good and bad points. Linux has a longer learning curve. First time I got postfix running, I was cursing. A lot. Once I got everything figured out, no problem. I can use the same config files with a handful of edits on many different boxes.
Windows does tend to have a lot more admin tools, for better or worse.
Overall, I like being able to do anything I want on the command line in Linux. Clicking boxes in Windows is a lot more annoying.
18.1% of Japan's power is nuclear generated. That's going to be a lot of fossil fuels, which must be imported. Importing large amounts of fossil fuels requires quite a bit of transportation, which also consumes resources as Japan has very little in the way of fossil fuels. Good for exporters, of course.
Replacing nearly a fifth of your country's power generation with ANY replacement is very expensive, time consuming process. Gearing up 44,000 MW is going to be entertaining. Renewables are not going to be very feasible, as Japan doesn't have lots of cheap land for it. Funny enough, burning coal tends to release plenty of radiation.
There's no easy choice. Nuclear power requires a high level of attention to detail, fanatical safety protocols and serious long term planning. It's complicated by social bias against building safer nuclear power and international politics. Renewables just can't economically hack it, at the moment. I hope they do someday, but not today. The third, unliked but default opinion is fossil fuels. Germany can get away with closing their nuclear plants by buying French nuclear energy. Japan really doesn't have that option. MAYBE if South Korea ramps up their nuclear power program, but I'm not familiar with any extremely large scale submarine power lines. Not on this scale, not anywhere close.
I'm guessing you were never in the military. Insurgent warfare is the worst type of warfare, and militaries flat out hate them. The IRA, Afghani mujahideen (both against the USSR and US), Zulus, etc.
Modern wars are say, maybe 5 years (think WWII). Or a month (Persian Gulf War). Insurgent wars can and do last decades.
Yea, I'll wait for more wind farms to actually be build.
I know folks that build those giant wind turbines. They think they build a good product (and they do), but not a single one thinks it'll be more than a supplemental. If for nothing else... Not In My Back Yard.
As I mentioned, and went out of my way to mention, the Lepse. It is not in operation, it did have waste, it is right this second in the process of being scrapped and the material being disposed of. Nuclear ships in operation do not tend to carry any significant amount of waste on board. Why WOULD they?
As for nuclear apologist, I grew up half a mile from TMI. Heck, I stood where the one reactor used to be. The Geiger counter barely hummed above background. Take a Geiger downwind from a coal plant. The rads, and radiological uranium/thorium being vented into atmo, scared the heck out of me. Not a single fatality or weird health outbreak either. I grew up there, folks would know very quickly. Buddy of mine that flew Constant Phoenix told me that coal plants used to give their equipment all kinds of interesting readings.
Trust me, I'm the last in the world to ever think nuclear power generation cannot have serious consequences. Every Sunday, radiation alarm sirens were tested. My folks still live in the area. But the more I learned, because it was a real concern, more I realized how much FUD is involved with radiation and radiological issues. Anyone significantly educated on the subject (and pretty much every school in the area was for obvious reasons) tends not to freak out. Because there was no apologizing, misleading statements, or emotional stuff. Again, waving a Geiger counter at America's worst civil nuclear power disaster tends to do that sort of thing.
Statistically, nuclear power sources tend to be about the safest source of energy. And I significantly doubt they keep radioactive waste on-board. The real number is 150.7 kg, in fuel. The Lepse, which is docked, DOES have a 600 some odd fuel assemblies. It's in the process of being chopped up and the waste disposed of.
I noticed that anti-nuclear activists noticeably often tend to use incorrect or misleading statements, designed to invoke emotional responses. Why not use accurate statements?
"Current/former communist countries had/have a historically poor environmental track record, which is a valid concern for present radiological concerns. Proper, strict and full adherence to safety radiological guidelines is not happening, but Russia is making improvements in that area with the assistance of international cooperation. Radiological hazards can have moderately lengthy times of being dangerous, but the really dangerous stuff half lives quickly. It's not extremely dangerous, but it still warrants attention so that it does not become extremely dangerous. Even if the radiation doesn't kill folks, heavy metal contamination is not good and difficult to clean up. Which it could if folks do really stupid things, which is entirely possible even if not an exceedingly high risk."
I plan on buying a few cases myself. I live in PA. We get snowstorms. I now live in an area with very large trees, with some hills. It might take a few days with a chainsaw to get my driveway open again if two very large trees fell across. I roll my eyes at the current zombie fad. I want to be warm, comfy and well fed for a couple weeks even if three feet of snow is dumped on me, like the Blizzard of 1996.
If that lands me on some list, you know what. Good. At this point, those lists should be seen as a challenge and not a behavior inhibitor. If you're not on at least three watchlists, your life is not particularly interesting. Take up a couple hobbies.
If you really want your brain to hurt, look up the costs associated with the now closed VH-71 Kestrel project. Half a billion per helicopter. I worked at Sikorsky at the time, working on their civil aircraft line. We made some seriously pimped out aircraft. Up to and including gold plated toilets. Never saw a single S-92 go over $120m per. Even with precious stones and gold.
Incorrect. The five permanent members of the UN Security Council hold the balance of power. China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United States.
China does not care unless an issue has to do with the PRC directly. Russia (and the former USSR) often vetoes actions. Ditto US, roughly equally to Russia. UK and France vary, more than PRC but less than US or Russia.
That would likely be the cheapest and best solution. $10/gal is unlikely. Higher the gas price, more production options become practical.
I have engineer friends that explained it was entirely possible to make synthetic gasoline analog out of thin air (and water). Basically, much like Haber–Bosch process that currently feeds a third of the world. Natural gas and atmospheric nitrogen are combined to make ammonia. N2 + 3 H2 2 NH3 A similar process could be used for synthetic "fossil fuels". It'd use a LOT of electricity and water. Switching our entire national energy system to nuclear and synthetic fuels would cost about $15-20 trillion (3-5 TW average power) over about 20 years. Aside from fission material, it'd be sustainable. If the US set it up, we could become the next Saudi Arabia. Times oh, several hundred. We have a lot of air, water and fission material. Especially if thorium reactors get worked out. US, Australia and India control the majority (80%) of the world's supply.
This is basic capitalism. Something gets expensive, so the market responds. At $4/gal, alternatives are not cost effective. At $6/gal, some but not all alternative production methods become more viable. At say, $100/gal, a LOT of alternatives become viable. This is also why every major "world ending" crisis does not occur. The hypothetical Malthusian catastrophe ran into basic capitalism theory, and lost. Food "got more expensive", so economics and science overcame.
You don't need full acceleration very often. However, when you need it, you tend to REALLY need it. If the world was basically "flat" (no substantial elevation difference) and roadways were optimized for slow acceleration everywhere, we could design vehicles with substantially better gas mileage.
Unfortunately, you have to design a vehicle around the extremes of performance requirements, not the optimized case. That's strictly for EPA mileage estimates.
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Why do I have the feeling you would complain if the US cured cancer and AIDS? "But they're still evil bastards who HATE folks with malaria!"
They provided a free useful service for everyone in the entire world, with no licensing fees that I'm aware of. It's a friggin clock and radio in the sky, that has been running very well since 1994 and not mucked with. "Monopoly"? No one is stopping you from putting your own clocks in the sky. You're basically upset that they built it for their own purposes, but opened it to everyone when it became obvious it was globally useful? You're complaining that a FREE system doesn't do everything YOU want, so it's evil and bad and probably kicks puppies.
Some folks would complain if you hung them with a golden rope, geesh.
That said, sure, always room for improvement. It irks the heck out of me when folks let blind prejudice block out all of the good things and focus solely on the bad. More systems are good for improved accuracy and redundancy. Sharing the cost for satellite navigation between countries is also good. As long as they all play nice with each other, I don't see any downside.
Expensive and not a high level of implementation. So harder to find folks that install, service, etc rail cultivation systems. As rails would be out in the weather all the time, they'd wear out a lot faster than stuff that is stored during bad weather. Plus, you can rent mechanical cultivation equipment and a lot of folks do. Renting rail cultivation equipment is probably not as likely to occur.
Also, fields get tilled. I'm not sure how much of an issue hardpanning is. Erosion and groundwater contamination IS an issue.
All and all, current system is more reliable and cheaper (not just because of oil). Very unlikely to change. Not every "evil" is due to "Big Oil".
Works well with AD, supports collaborative stuff, plays nicely with other MS products.
Don't look at me funny, I use postfix. I used to use qmail, for entertainment's sake, but the qmail dev thinks his product is 100% perfect and won't touch it. It doesn't natively support multi-domain email very well (aftermarket patch for that). So postfix. I screamed, hit my head on my desk and did get postfix installed. Granted, it was interesting experience. Much worse than installing Exchange into any AD environment. But postfix has worked without any real hiccups in years.
I hate maintaining Exchange, but it does pay well and the alternatives aren't there when it comes to MS integration. If they were, I'd make piles of cash replacing Exchange.
Easy enough. If I was your boss, I'd ask what you wanted or were interested in.
I'm sure "money" is the prime answer, and likely should be. If pay or bonuses was not possible for whatever, I'd look into addition certs or semi-related training in something you found interesting. Or try to buy some quasi work related software or hardware you found interesting and wanted to play with. Or say if you meet your markers, you can spend 5-10% of day on a project of your choice (subject to loose approval). I'd ask for your input, let you know what was possible and what was not possible.
Balance. You need to balance Work, Family/SO, Mandatory Stuff and Leisure.
Work is pretty obvious. You need to make enough to pay the bills and ideally move towards a better tomorrow. Don't neglect it or become entitled, or you won't be able to pay bills or move towards a better tomorrow.
Family/SO, take them for granted and it will not be good in the long run. I'd put this as the most important part, but it doesn't mean it should be the sole thing on your mind either.
Mandatory Stuff is fixing broken washer or sink. Changing the oil. Doing laundry, showering. Stuff you have to do as infrastructure of living. It's the least "important", which means efficiency here pays off. Less time spent on this the better, but neglecting it is just as hazardous.
Leisure. You need to do SOMETHING to mentally unwind. The alternatives seem to be alcoholism or substance abuse. We all wish this category could be more...
Seen a lot of very smart folks fail to spend even a couple minutes in truly look over the priorities in their life. They get in their routine and make really stupid decisions, simply because they never did a mental review and say "WTF?"
Theoretically yes. FFL's have a "bound book" of all firearms they process, with some exceptions. Gunsmiths can buy or make firearms unrelated to their business. If they are smart, while not legally required, they keep a journal (in the accounting sense of the word) of their personal firearms activities.
This is a regular issue. If you have a Type 1 FFL, you can sell firearms but not MAKE firearms. You need a Type 7 FFL to make and sell firearms. In addition, you must process FAET. That's the 10% Firearms and Ammunition Excise Tax, processed by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau at the Treasury Department. The BATFE does not process FAET. Why, I have no idea.
So, if a gunsmith has a Type 1 FFL, he can legally make non-NFA weapons for personal noncommercial usage so long as he complies with State and Local law. But if he's intelligent, he goes to great lengths to very distinctively separate personal and business.
Firearm laws tend to be very complex. Add in a lot of case law (court decisions). Then add in subjective and changing BATFE determinations. Often, any combination of the above may be contradicting any combination of the above. It is very cumbersome.
Under US federal law, that is incorrect. Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA or GCA68), Pub.L. 90-618, 82 Stat. 1213, enacted October 22, 1968 set up the Federal Firearms License system. It was reformed by the Firearm Owners' Protection Act (FOPA), Pub.L. 99-308, 100 Stat. 449, enacted May 19, 1986, codified at 18 U.S.C. 921. FOPA cut down on abuses by the BATFE, but due to the Hughes Amendment, restricted the production of new fully automatic weapons.
It's fairly complicated, but essentially, if it is not a NFA weapon (suppressor, full automatic, short barreled rifle, short barreled shotgun or AOW) and not sold, firearms are legal to make for yourself. If your state allows, you can give away at $0 any handgun, rifle or shotgun. Without paperwork, licenses or anything. If you charge even a cent, it would be illegal. I would not recommend doing so without a lot of legal research. The BATFE does not have the kindest reputation. They can and will kill you over tax issues. Or economically destroy you, by "seizing potential evidence". Seriously, do not play games and know the law before doing anything. Federal, state AND local laws.
Also, while some states may or may not ban personal production of non-NFA weapons, such bans likely would not be considered legal under District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008) and McDonald v. Chicago, 561 US 3025 (2010). But you would have decades of legal battles to prove you were right and said state was wrong. The ban of personal production of NFA weapons for non-commercial purposes is likely still illegal and not Constitutionally protected, under Heller and McDonald.
Making your own beer or wine for noncommercial purposes is also legal, BTW.
I've dated women that most folks would consider well out of my league. The "trick" is not acting like a moron. Try talking her as a human being first, don't stare, don't try to impress her, don't be way overly helpful and generally be polite. If things progress (and let her handle that), cool. If not, as long as she's a decent lunch buddy (good conversation, pays for her half, etc), enjoy it for what it is and don't try to turn it into what it is not.
If she's imposing in some way, more than you're comfy with, try telling her directly. Politely and don't make a scene out of it. If that doesn't work, start doing things with other folks. Don't be passive aggressive, but don't be a rug either. If you do get friend zoned, either accept being just a friend (and NEVER anything more), or move on. Don't waffle.
"There is no way to increase the available RF spectrum."
No, but it's trivial to increase the available bandwidth. Smaller cells. You don't increase the EM spectrum, of course. You dilute the amount of bandwidth being utilized within whatever stretch of land you wish to consider. It's the equivalent of "just run more wires!" you were ranting about.
Carve one cell into four smaller cells? You just quadrupled the potential bandwidth. Gets complicated with the antennas and cell phone software, but that's an existing and mostly solved issue. I drastically improved the mobile bandwidth by plugging in a "cell tower in a box" into my LAN (isolated like no tomorrow, I don't trust Verizon). Voila, users are happy with their cell speed again. They COULD have just used the WiFi, but why type in a password?
Yea, I did some work myself at interesting places. The plus side is that they have plenty of information, but not enough hands to use it. Best they can do, and it is pretty bad, is use that information when they have someone they want to find guilty of... anything. The number of laws on the books are the really bad part. Reduce the number of possible crimes to something realistic, and you have virtually no hold over the majority of normal folks.
Private Express Statutes (PES). 18 U.S.C. 1693–1696 and 39 U.S.C. 601–606, implemented under 39 Code of Federal Regulations Parts 310 and 320.
This does not apply to packages, freight or parcels. Since authorized by the Postal System in 1979, letters must either cost at least the greater of $3 or twice what First Class (or Priority) mail service would cost, or they must be delivered within strict time limits or otherwise lose value.
Any other questions?
And yet, you likely have food on your plate at the end of the day. And 10% of America's exports are agriculture. Not saying you're wrong, but obviously someone is doing something well. Or well enough.
Actually, yes, capitalism in action. Because we're turning feed into fuel, combined with a severe drought reducing feed, feed prices go up. Things based off feed, including beef and pork, go up. Market pressure mean less feed is consumed, or more feed is produced. Works itself out. If you wanted to lower feed prices, ask your representatives to stop mandating turning precursor food into ethanol. Too late this year, as fuel companies have already purchased the ethanol. If the drought next year is significant, food prices will be even higher.
This is actually a classic example of government distortion in markets. I suspect it'll be in Econ 101 textbooks about a decade from now.
Meh, I've seen plenty of rooted Linux boxes out there. Linux still needs patches.
I use both. Both have good and bad points. Linux has a longer learning curve. First time I got postfix running, I was cursing. A lot. Once I got everything figured out, no problem. I can use the same config files with a handful of edits on many different boxes.
Windows does tend to have a lot more admin tools, for better or worse.
Overall, I like being able to do anything I want on the command line in Linux. Clicking boxes in Windows is a lot more annoying.
18.1% of Japan's power is nuclear generated. That's going to be a lot of fossil fuels, which must be imported. Importing large amounts of fossil fuels requires quite a bit of transportation, which also consumes resources as Japan has very little in the way of fossil fuels. Good for exporters, of course.
Replacing nearly a fifth of your country's power generation with ANY replacement is very expensive, time consuming process. Gearing up 44,000 MW is going to be entertaining. Renewables are not going to be very feasible, as Japan doesn't have lots of cheap land for it. Funny enough, burning coal tends to release plenty of radiation.
There's no easy choice. Nuclear power requires a high level of attention to detail, fanatical safety protocols and serious long term planning. It's complicated by social bias against building safer nuclear power and international politics. Renewables just can't economically hack it, at the moment. I hope they do someday, but not today. The third, unliked but default opinion is fossil fuels. Germany can get away with closing their nuclear plants by buying French nuclear energy. Japan really doesn't have that option. MAYBE if South Korea ramps up their nuclear power program, but I'm not familiar with any extremely large scale submarine power lines. Not on this scale, not anywhere close.
I'm guessing you were never in the military. Insurgent warfare is the worst type of warfare, and militaries flat out hate them. The IRA, Afghani mujahideen (both against the USSR and US), Zulus, etc.
Modern wars are say, maybe 5 years (think WWII). Or a month (Persian Gulf War). Insurgent wars can and do last decades.
Yea, I'll wait for more wind farms to actually be build.
I know folks that build those giant wind turbines. They think they build a good product (and they do), but not a single one thinks it'll be more than a supplemental. If for nothing else... Not In My Back Yard.
As I mentioned, and went out of my way to mention, the Lepse. It is not in operation, it did have waste, it is right this second in the process of being scrapped and the material being disposed of. Nuclear ships in operation do not tend to carry any significant amount of waste on board. Why WOULD they?
As for nuclear apologist, I grew up half a mile from TMI. Heck, I stood where the one reactor used to be. The Geiger counter barely hummed above background. Take a Geiger downwind from a coal plant. The rads, and radiological uranium/thorium being vented into atmo, scared the heck out of me. Not a single fatality or weird health outbreak either. I grew up there, folks would know very quickly. Buddy of mine that flew Constant Phoenix told me that coal plants used to give their equipment all kinds of interesting readings.
Trust me, I'm the last in the world to ever think nuclear power generation cannot have serious consequences. Every Sunday, radiation alarm sirens were tested. My folks still live in the area. But the more I learned, because it was a real concern, more I realized how much FUD is involved with radiation and radiological issues. Anyone significantly educated on the subject (and pretty much every school in the area was for obvious reasons) tends not to freak out. Because there was no apologizing, misleading statements, or emotional stuff. Again, waving a Geiger counter at America's worst civil nuclear power disaster tends to do that sort of thing.
Statistically, nuclear power sources tend to be about the safest source of energy. And I significantly doubt they keep radioactive waste on-board. The real number is 150.7 kg, in fuel. The Lepse, which is docked, DOES have a 600 some odd fuel assemblies. It's in the process of being chopped up and the waste disposed of.
I noticed that anti-nuclear activists noticeably often tend to use incorrect or misleading statements, designed to invoke emotional responses. Why not use accurate statements?
"Current/former communist countries had/have a historically poor environmental track record, which is a valid concern for present radiological concerns. Proper, strict and full adherence to safety radiological guidelines is not happening, but Russia is making improvements in that area with the assistance of international cooperation. Radiological hazards can have moderately lengthy times of being dangerous, but the really dangerous stuff half lives quickly. It's not extremely dangerous, but it still warrants attention so that it does not become extremely dangerous. Even if the radiation doesn't kill folks, heavy metal contamination is not good and difficult to clean up. Which it could if folks do really stupid things, which is entirely possible even if not an exceedingly high risk."
I plan on buying a few cases myself. I live in PA. We get snowstorms. I now live in an area with very large trees, with some hills. It might take a few days with a chainsaw to get my driveway open again if two very large trees fell across. I roll my eyes at the current zombie fad. I want to be warm, comfy and well fed for a couple weeks even if three feet of snow is dumped on me, like the Blizzard of 1996.
If that lands me on some list, you know what. Good. At this point, those lists should be seen as a challenge and not a behavior inhibitor. If you're not on at least three watchlists, your life is not particularly interesting. Take up a couple hobbies.
If you really want your brain to hurt, look up the costs associated with the now closed VH-71 Kestrel project. Half a billion per helicopter. I worked at Sikorsky at the time, working on their civil aircraft line. We made some seriously pimped out aircraft. Up to and including gold plated toilets. Never saw a single S-92 go over $120m per. Even with precious stones and gold.
Incorrect. The five permanent members of the UN Security Council hold the balance of power. China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United States. China does not care unless an issue has to do with the PRC directly. Russia (and the former USSR) often vetoes actions. Ditto US, roughly equally to Russia. UK and France vary, more than PRC but less than US or Russia.
That would likely be the cheapest and best solution. $10/gal is unlikely. Higher the gas price, more production options become practical.
I have engineer friends that explained it was entirely possible to make synthetic gasoline analog out of thin air (and water). Basically, much like Haber–Bosch process that currently feeds a third of the world. Natural gas and atmospheric nitrogen are combined to make ammonia. N2 + 3 H2 2 NH3 A similar process could be used for synthetic "fossil fuels". It'd use a LOT of electricity and water. Switching our entire national energy system to nuclear and synthetic fuels would cost about $15-20 trillion (3-5 TW average power) over about 20 years. Aside from fission material, it'd be sustainable. If the US set it up, we could become the next Saudi Arabia. Times oh, several hundred. We have a lot of air, water and fission material. Especially if thorium reactors get worked out. US, Australia and India control the majority (80%) of the world's supply.
This is basic capitalism. Something gets expensive, so the market responds. At $4/gal, alternatives are not cost effective. At $6/gal, some but not all alternative production methods become more viable. At say, $100/gal, a LOT of alternatives become viable. This is also why every major "world ending" crisis does not occur. The hypothetical Malthusian catastrophe ran into basic capitalism theory, and lost. Food "got more expensive", so economics and science overcame.
You don't need full acceleration very often. However, when you need it, you tend to REALLY need it. If the world was basically "flat" (no substantial elevation difference) and roadways were optimized for slow acceleration everywhere, we could design vehicles with substantially better gas mileage. Unfortunately, you have to design a vehicle around the extremes of performance requirements, not the optimized case. That's strictly for EPA mileage estimates.
Very funny. We just order bigger boots.