To me, this is just another manifestation of peoples' sense of entitlement.
Or it could be that it's easier to wrestle rights away from people who don't know what their rights are. I've observed over the last 12 years all the fucked laws in Australia put into law in America, thank our John.W.Howard for a lot of the ideas that made its way into your PATRIOT act.
Did you even care that your fore-fathers spilled their blood for the rights you enjoy. As an Australian I look with envy at the Bill of Rights that Americans enjoy and marvel at how they are pissed away by complete apathy.
As a member of the community actually I consider it a right to know what employers are doing. When using community resources (taxation benefits, lobbying, political donations, whatever) then of course an employer has a right to use it for business matters, but that should be limited to the necessary.
For example, if they have to use an offshore bank, then it always always must be done with the approval of the taxation department. But calling their accountant that can be done with the scrutiny of a taxation official at all times.
For e-mail: most business these days can archive all of their email transactions for inspection by ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission). Business things they should send using that e-mail address. Personal things are for personal matters.
It would be scary not to allow the relevant government departments inspect businesses to ensure they are doing the right thing by the community, to see that they are making the appropriate contributions to the community they operate in. Scary to be never allowed to inspect their affairs, when the community deems necessary (hasn't happened yet but it's possible) - the most likely situation for me would occur when a member of the public says "I got treated like this by this company", who happens to be a registered business, upon which relevant government departments start to audit the business's affairs.
An employer should know that the community tolerates a certain level of mis-behaviour from the business community, and the community also should have a right to check that those behavioural standards are being adhered to in the strictest possible manner.
No robot designed to kill will ever be 'three laws safe' - it's just ridiculous because it's designed to kill.
Any 'machine intelligence' designed to kill will have just enough autonomy to complete whatever mission it is assigned to do. Any thought to three laws in a machine killer would just be an impediment to the machine completing the assigned task, any morality or semblance of human intelligence would be about as likely as you being able to have a conversation with an ant.
A machine killer will be a totally unique thing and would probably evolve decision making in the way you describe but probably more along the lines of an insect mind, remorseless and devoid of any empathy. I dare say any soldiers having the misfortune to have to control one of these machines will witness killing in it's most terrifying form, themselves scarred mentally. More than likely they will be the cause of new forms of atrocities and probably as dangerous as the enemy they would have to fight.
I mean we are talking about autonomous technology with the capability to kill us, which actually strikes me as a very dumb thing to do, should we be surprised when it tries to kill. Soldiering should be left to Soldiers, nothing should divorce humanity from war if we are going to engage in it, lest the next wars we will conduct will be against machine.
It's even worse than that. The anti-vaccine movement operates much like a cult.
I think there is more going on here than that alone. First up the entire argument about thimerosal based vaccines could be ended by basing the vaccines on polysaccharides instead. However the pharmaceutical companies have billions of dollars worth of investment in stock and production processes so it is in their interest for any studies commissioned to show that 'there is nothing to see here - move along' in the same way the tobacco companies weighted studies in their favor.
Vaccines play an important role in health care and I am certainly not against vaccines, but the question of the delivery mechanism causing harm to individuals has to be considered if issue is to be resolved. It's certainly not beyond the realm of possibility for mercury based compounds to cause damage to developing brains in some portion of the population, so why continue to use thimerosal when a alternative delivery mechanism exists?
I think it's fine to put your hand on your heart and say 'but the scientific studies show...' but I would bet that there is a weight of suppressed evidence showing that there is cause for concern, aren't thimerosal based vaccines already banned in the UK? Someone has done the sums and assessed that the chance of a successful litigation is not a significant risk when weighted against the pharmaceutical companies commercial interests, so that evidence won't to come to public's attention for a long time.
I guess it's much like a lottery ticket, where there is the greater chance that you won't win, but in this case the prize is some sort of damage to your child's brain development. When it come time to vaccinate, I will be choosing vaccines based on polysaccharides not thimerosal.
Is there anything stopping M$ from doing this? Seems to me if they made this paradigm shift successfully they would make the year of the linux desktop and, perhaps, meet their projected deadline. Significant contributions to the WINE project could ensure backward compatibility and it would make them look more Microsoft than M$ (saving them $ on making an O$), when, in reality, all they want to do is hang on to a market $hare.
It's a kinda scary thought too (aside from the photo used in the story makes it look like bill is being guarded by a borg silhouette), but change at Microsoft is inevitable, if they are lucky they will survive it. It's happened before with large IT'$ with a stranglehold on market share. Open Source Software has provided a reliable answers to operational issues which management 'Just want fixed', programmers have used OSS as a framework for delivering those answers. Business needs what it needs, and the IT industry is what it is - MS is not bigger than both and has shown a consistent inability to deliver their product on time with the promised features. This has been demonstrated with the 'delivery' of Vi$ta and the reaction to it, so with the attitude M$ has, why would business react any differently to Window$ 7, after all 'You can't fool all of the people all of the time'.
Open Source Software presents a unique opportunity for M$ to finally deliver something on time, with a reasonable expectation of delivering on features, and if windoze is going to change anyway, which it has to, why would the market care if it was based on linux? Apple$ market don't care that it's based on BSD, Apple didn't see BSD they saw B$D, maybe M$ could see O$$.
In the distance you could hear them sing - "Koom By-Yah, my lord"
Personally I think M$ is too arrogant to let go and in time their relevance will fade. Make no mistake, business may tolerate failure for a little while - but they're certainly not going to pay for it.
I'd bet that they have had to resolve a plethora of vibration and cable wear issues (being a lift company) with respect to occupant safety and comfort, even large crane companies would have some experience that may prove useful.
I'd imagine a solutions for this would be simple, just not obvious until it was built. The first few elevators would be developmental and go through a couple of generations before being considered 'operational'. Perhaps resolving problems like this may be as simple as having two counterweights at the end where one is the actual 'space station platform' and a second counterweight is reeled out to space and back in again in response to vibration and/or the earth end is completely submersed and adjusts it's buoyancy in response to vibrations.
I'd imagine these kind of things, including sensor points on the cable, would be necessary to facilitate alignment of power transmission to the cars traveling on the cable, even the cars traveling on the cable could be part of the dampening system by adjusting the rate of climb and having cars change direction to perform dampening maneuvers. Passengers would view it in the same way an aircraft lines itself up with a run way or is put into a holding pattern or it could be done with empty cars or freight cars on the same cable.
In other word's studies like these should be welcomed so that issues of this nature can be considered and addressed. Now has anyone considered whose systems would be appropriate enough for a computer simulation of a S.E to uncover any other issues we may have?
CANDU reactors can burn up so-called "spent" fuel from the US's LWRs, too, you know.
Oh, and let me address this issue as well. Those 'burn-up' rates are less than 1% of transuranics into fissile ash, in addition to the characteristics I described for a functional nuclear reactor, those burn-up rates should be closer to 20%, like and IFR but without the issues of an IFR.
Dr. Helen Caldicott, (MD, not Ph.D, not that I don't respect the MD) is not a Nobel peace prize laureate.
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995, but it is no more valid to say that Dr. Caldicott won the Nobel prize than it is for the 200,000 other IPPNW members to say they won it. Everybody agrees that there aren't 200,000 Nobel laureates out there as a result of the prize being awarded to IPPNW.
Conceded, I'll be more thorough checking statements written in the wee hours.
Dr. Caldicott, and others like her, do a lot of very good, admirable work with regards to nuclear disarmament - and I've got a lot of respect for that. That's what IPPNW's Nobel Prize was for - these things are very admirable, but they've got absolutely nothing to do with nuclear power, which is a distinct issue.
I contend that until a reactor is available with the characteristics I described in my earlier post the nuclear power industry is closely related to maintaining a state of preparedness for nuclear war. From my understanding the same enrichment process you advocate to recycle nuclear fuel can be used to create weapons grade plutonium. Is this the case?
For all their very admirable work with regards to nuclear disarmament and the prevention of nuclear war, my respect for people like Dr. Caldicott is completely offset by my complete lack of respect for the things that they claim and say with regards to nuclear power, and peaceful, civilian nuclear science and technology.
Why? Even if half of what they are saying is true, it's concerning. Not only is it possible that Nuclear power plants leak radioactive elements into the environment, we know it has happened and continues to happen. Additionally peaceful use of nuclear power will *always* be attached to nuclear weapons because *it can be done*. I've never heard of a city being blown up by a coal bomb, or a solar plant going critical. The fact is Nuclear power will never be benign, because it isn't. Not that I'm an advocate of coal, but the worst case scenario I can expect from a coal power station is a fire, the worst case scenario from a nuclear power plant is the rendering of 3000 Sqkms of land uninhabitable and nuclear fallout over an entire continent. That is the reality of a nuclear power plant, operator error or not.
With regards to the cancer risk from the tritium - you may not have known, but I did quantify it for you in the above post - it's nothing.
Indeed, but you did sidestep the question of *other* bio-accumulating elements released into the environment, just how many radioactive elements are created inside a nuclear reactor? And isn't it possible, indeed probable, that those elements continue to be released into the environment. Are you saying it's immpossible for those element to escape?
The questions that you consider under "Engineering" - those are of course scientific questions...
...that remain unanswered. Simply put, there has never been a commercial nuclear power plant built that hasn't released nuclear elements into the environment. It's inherent in the design and indeed allowed by the N.R.C as part of standard operating procedure, and even that is not allowing for "accidents" that continue to occur, and even that does not take into account toxic byproducts of mining or enrichment. It is a wild stretch of faith for you to try and convince me that a machine as large as a commercial nuclear power plant would not have leaks in it, further, that since there are 450 odd commercial reactors around the world, not one of them has been engineered with disassembly and de-commissioning in mind which is another problem that is yet to be overcome.
You may advocate that nuclear power is safe based on your scientific understanding that the elements produce limited harm, but I posit that if we *have*
Like Helen Caldicott, you wouldn't know the difference between a Becquerel and a curie, and you don't even care.
You mean Dr Helen Caldicott, Nobel Peace prize winner. Is that the DOCTOR you are talking about, you know the one with a NOBEL PEACE PRIZE, the one that has spent time in the U.S President's Oval office advising the president of the medical ramifications of the nuclear industry. You know I really think that, as an academic, you should pay Dr Caldicott the appropriate level of respect, even if I don't deserve it.
But you live and learn, so thanks but unfortunately I've had to learn a whole lot more than I actually wanted to know about industrialised Nuclear power and I have no desire to be a physicist. So while I'm impressed at your apparent knowledge, your naivety is as impressive. You said
Thus, as a result of the tritium release into Lake Ontario, if a person consumed two litres of water from the lake, their risk of cancer will have increased by 7.2 * 10^-10 - 72 billionths.
In isolation this statement looks like "oh well it's just a tiny bit" but in context we have to ask, what sorts of cancer because some are worse than others. What happens when it the person's *local* water supply and that's what they drink e.v.e.r.y.d.a.y, they shower in it, brush their teeth with it, wash their face and eyes, cook their food with it and it is the water that their food is grown with.
And it is the same for the entire community, and there are other radioactive elements (if I using the terminology correctly) released into the environment which, according to your own blog, do bio-accumulate. Even if I got it wrong about tritium bio-accumulating how many other radioactive elements released by the nuclear process into the environment do bio-accumulate? So with that as a basis why don't you calculate the cancer rates for that community, because Pickering - in particular - will be a source of radioactive products well after the reactor is closed down permanently.
Generates more used fuel than a LWR? So what? Recycle it.
Like many Nuclear Power advocates you make a simple sweeping statement like this and ignore the actual logistics involved in achieving it. Safe extraction from existing plant based storage, safe transportation, reprocessing, more transportation. Yes I loved the idea of IFR, but - as pointed out to me by a nuclear advocate - sodium is extremely volatile, and radioactive sodium - exactly how dangerous is that, and importantly to the long term viability of the reactor - how corrosive?
Generates large amounts of tritium? So what? Collect it - we're going to need a fair bit of it to start up ITER and DEMO. It's very valuable stuff - the fuel of the future!
Great, more sweeping statements, no consideration of logistics. I support ITER, don't know about DEMO (is it fusion too?), but until they're operational guess where it is going to go?
Tritium expelled into the biosphere? *How much* tritium?
*How the fuck would I know*, however like many of the toxic externalities that the Nuclear Industry dumps into the environment *As much as they say* and they wouldn't lie would they, would they? Like I said, with respect for your knowledge, but naivety with respect to the political characteristics of the nuclear industry is at least equal.
What dose has the community received as a result of that? How does it compare to naturally occurring tritium?
As observed by the many other aspects of the Nuclear Industry the political supporters of Nuclear Power block funding attempts to find exactly that data, which allows people to say "no scientific study has been performed" on the toxic effects. Hardly the type of scientific approach you would support, is it?
I read my first science fiction book 2001: A Space Odyssey when I was 9 and I've hopelessly addicted to Science Fiction ever since. I've read all his books, many of them over and over, but I think my favorite was 'The City and the Stars". In his short stories he revealed a wicked sense of irony and wit.
Coincidentally, just before I saw this, I had just watched this video.
There is no question the man is a visionary and definitely a formative influence in shaping our world with his ideas and I'm sure many people, who know of his ideas, probably feel the same. I'll enjoy reading other peoples views and information about Sir Clarke all I can say to you all right now is that I am deeply saddened by this news.
I often wondered if he felt a little disappointed with our efforts to get into space as pondering and slow. His description of the construction of a Space Elevator in 'Fountains of Paradise' (and use of in 3001: The Final Odyssey) is an example of the power this mans visions brings to ideas, visions that we can only hope one day will become a reality.
There is little doubt that world has just lost one of it's wisest seers.
really these proposals don't go far enough. It is more likely that we will need to track errant semen and eggs before they are fertilised, less far reaching methods may include;
1 year olds that demand their mums boobs too much
2 year olds that have too many tantys
3 year olds that won't go to bed when they are told
4 year olds that want to be the robbers when kids play cops and robbers
Obviously by 5 years it's too late and by eliminating these behavioral problems early we will have the society we deserve!!
Nothing like linking to a 10 year old article (anthonydepalma.com).
So what, reactors are designed to last 40 years. Has some re-factor of the basic design occurred and been implemented that changes the characteristics of the reactor? I do think so.
Since I live less than 5 miles from 8 of them (2 closed down, 6 still operating) the technology is fairly safe.
Riiiiight. You just keep on believing that friend, cause that magic 'believa' sheild will protect you from the cumulative effects of tritium in the local food chain, thats right boys and girls tritium is one of those 'bio-concentrating' isotopes care of Pickering. I leave it as an exercise for the reader to work out which element tritium analogue's and what organs it can affect upon ingestion - being a beta emitter in the bopdy. I suppose thats a good description of 'fairly safe' - like it will only kill you a little bit at a time - but not so that you notice or anything and I'm sure that not e.v.e.r.y.b.o.d.y has ingested it or maybe everybody there magically escaped unscathed, but either way - I'm sure your ok.
The pot smoking idiot operators running the reactors, and terrible management have caused most of the problems.
Gee, lucky nothing bad happened because of the operators - those wascly operators getting stoned and drunk while operating a nuclear reactor - what were they phinking? I mean in a first world country it shouldn't be to hard to pay quality people enough to engender a safety culture enough to operate a fucking nuclear reactor, do you think they have the same problem in China, India, Pakistan, Romania and Argentina? Surely not!!
At Pickering, they refurbished 2 of the 4 reactors in the Pickering-A plant.
And how is Lake Ontario this time of year, I bet it's beautiful. Is it still where you get your drinking water from,,mmmmmmmmmm, 50 trillion curies of tritium in your drinking water has been Pickering's gift to you so far, I wonder what else it has in store for you. You don't think that the problems stop just because the reactors are shut down do you?
Extreme cost overruns were experienced, basically because they had no project plan, no deadlines, and no idea of the work involved. The President of OPG was then fired with a golden parachute.
Riiight, so what your saying is that there were no people competent enough to design it, operate it safely or rebuild it. Well I'm sure that everything is just fine and dandy with that plant and long after that plant is closed down none of the nasty radiation will come out and pollute that beautiful lake any more.
...when they help build the "great firewall of china". I think there is a delicious sense of irony in the Chinese copying their gear so they don't have to pay Cisco for more firewall gear.
A close relation in my family has suffered from depression for well over 10 years, it is a tragic malady and it has an effect on the people around him. His diagnosed conditions include Manic depression, Psychotic episodes, Paranoia and auditory hallucinations, but worst of all when you are around him you can sense the terrible sadness that afflicts him. He has regular visits to a Psychiatrist to assist him.
Amongst the side affects of the many drugs that are prescribed, he has become overweight and now suffers from sleep apnea further complicating the depression. If anything I have learned from observation is that people suffering from depression need the support of people close to them, for the condition is like a downward spiral of physical, mental and spiritual decay. Contact, phone calls conversations, anything you can do to help unravel the root cause of the depression, like challenging the paranoid feelings all help to take power away from the disease.
For the fist time in a long time, I think I see him finally come out of it because he is starting to excercise. I don't know if the drugs helped, perhaps leveled things out and maintained the status quo. They were probably required as on several occasions I was physically attacked by him (and he is a big guy), fortunately for me (and him) I also am a big guy and have trained physical combat for most of my life. I say that because there was a strong responsibility on my part to not hurt him any more than it was required to control and disarm him. You have to realise it's not the person attacking you, it's the disease and for this reason I think that it is also can become contagious (so to speak) who do not have this capability.
I can't say whether the drugs are good or bad (just that there is a lot of them and he takes them e-v-e-r-y--d-a-y) but I do know the drugs have changed his brain chemistry forever, I often wonder if the person I grew up with is still in there, occasionally I see a glimpse. I have studied all I can about depression to learn everything I could to help him and I look forward to reading about other peoples experiences in this discussion. What I learned is that the medications are a commitment for all the people around to be aware that the critical time is when they are coming off the medication and they finally lose their apathy towards self harm, i.e they finally have enough energy to do it, signs that must be watched for if you want someone you care about to actually survive depression.
I also learned that regardless of the drugs there are two core issues that every person who suffers depression will have to face;
1) Rigorous physical excercise is that path back to mental well-being, the sooner the better and something fun and positive that helps self esteem and confidence.
2) The issues that triggered the depression will eventually have to be faced.
I hope one day it will be gone, because I don't want my family member to die from it or with it. I call it the black dog because it chases and hunts you down and occasionally I sense it coming after me, but I fight it and you have to fight it. Perhaps if people who were susceptible to depression were made to excercise it would disappear, but then the drug companies wouldn't get to sell all that expensive medication and I definitely think it is a factor in the diagnosis of this modern curse. I also think that good spinal care is a factor as I also noticed an improvement in his demeanor when this was done. Additionally I think that depression is a natural consequence to some overload of emotional stress, alas IANAP, that triggers a change to the brain chemistry.
I suspect the Metalica song Until it sleeps was written about depression as it aptly describes what is truly the modern plague of our time.
Totally agree, I'd pretty much make the whole list say two things...
2. Space Elevator
1. CNT ribbon technology
I put them that way because I think our need for energy will drive a need for a S.E (in parallel with in other energy technology developments) to establish space based power, the need for a S.E will drive CNT. I think this because energy is the only real global economy, the capability to do work in this economy is dictated by our ability to use energy to maintain our lifestyle. No computers without energy, No washing machines, No transport, everything in our 1st world society is dictated by the use of energy.
Now, everyone everywhere wants the benefits of a 1st world lifestyle, but that lifestyle was created from consuming lots of energy AND we are arriving at a point in time where we realise the energetic costs of this lifestyle won't scale to allow countries like India and China to mimic this lifestyle. Mounting evidence is showing that the continuous consumption of this amount of energy, even for the first world, is unsustainable without ever growing, and more serious climatic consequences.
It's those consequences, which I strongly believe are going to be worse than our pessimistic forecasts, will govern our capability to continue to produce energy in our traditional means. It's not that I think that alternatives that produce a net energy benefit won't exist or be drawn on, or even that we may be able to replicate a first world lifestyle in a sustainable manner, I just think that it won't be enough to drive our civilisation without major changes to our existing infrastructure (in particular - cars and transport).
It may turn out to be easier to build a space elevator and create a hydrogen economy than changing the core infrastructure of our cities, suburbs, roads, railways that rely on cars, trucks, trains, aircraft and ships. Consequently I think the need for a S.E will exceed all other challenges and become an imperative simply because our civilisation will be facing the choice to advance or regress, and I just can't see people wanting to go back to living the way were were 10, 50 or hundred years ago, even if we could.
Becoming a space based human race to solve some of our terrestrial issues will become THE challenge for the 21st Century (as a result of our need for energy) and all other challenges will come after that.
Slashdot Mirror
Did you even care that your fore-fathers spilled their blood for the rights you enjoy. As an Australian I look with envy at the Bill of Rights that Americans enjoy and marvel at how they are pissed away by complete apathy.
For example, if they have to use an offshore bank, then it always always must be done with the approval of the taxation department. But calling their accountant that can be done with the scrutiny of a taxation official at all times.
For e-mail: most business these days can archive all of their email transactions for inspection by ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission). Business things they should send using that e-mail address. Personal things are for personal matters.
It would be scary not to allow the relevant government departments inspect businesses to ensure they are doing the right thing by the community, to see that they are making the appropriate contributions to the community they operate in. Scary to be never allowed to inspect their affairs, when the community deems necessary (hasn't happened yet but it's possible) - the most likely situation for me would occur when a member of the public says "I got treated like this by this company", who happens to be a registered business, upon which relevant government departments start to audit the business's affairs. An employer should know that the community tolerates a certain level of mis-behaviour from the business community, and the community also should have a right to check that those behavioural standards are being adhered to in the strictest possible manner.
Any 'machine intelligence' designed to kill will have just enough autonomy to complete whatever mission it is assigned to do. Any thought to three laws in a machine killer would just be an impediment to the machine completing the assigned task, any morality or semblance of human intelligence would be about as likely as you being able to have a conversation with an ant.
A machine killer will be a totally unique thing and would probably evolve decision making in the way you describe but probably more along the lines of an insect mind, remorseless and devoid of any empathy. I dare say any soldiers having the misfortune to have to control one of these machines will witness killing in it's most terrifying form, themselves scarred mentally. More than likely they will be the cause of new forms of atrocities and probably as dangerous as the enemy they would have to fight.
I mean we are talking about autonomous technology with the capability to kill us, which actually strikes me as a very dumb thing to do, should we be surprised when it tries to kill. Soldiering should be left to Soldiers, nothing should divorce humanity from war if we are going to engage in it, lest the next wars we will conduct will be against machine.
Vaccines play an important role in health care and I am certainly not against vaccines, but the question of the delivery mechanism causing harm to individuals has to be considered if issue is to be resolved. It's certainly not beyond the realm of possibility for mercury based compounds to cause damage to developing brains in some portion of the population, so why continue to use thimerosal when a alternative delivery mechanism exists?
I think it's fine to put your hand on your heart and say 'but the scientific studies show...' but I would bet that there is a weight of suppressed evidence showing that there is cause for concern, aren't thimerosal based vaccines already banned in the UK? Someone has done the sums and assessed that the chance of a successful litigation is not a significant risk when weighted against the pharmaceutical companies commercial interests, so that evidence won't to come to public's attention for a long time.
I guess it's much like a lottery ticket, where there is the greater chance that you won't win, but in this case the prize is some sort of damage to your child's brain development. When it come time to vaccinate, I will be choosing vaccines based on polysaccharides not thimerosal.
It's a kinda scary thought too (aside from the photo used in the story makes it look like bill is being guarded by a borg silhouette), but change at Microsoft is inevitable, if they are lucky they will survive it. It's happened before with large IT'$ with a stranglehold on market share. Open Source Software has provided a reliable answers to operational issues which management 'Just want fixed', programmers have used OSS as a framework for delivering those answers. Business needs what it needs, and the IT industry is what it is - MS is not bigger than both and has shown a consistent inability to deliver their product on time with the promised features. This has been demonstrated with the 'delivery' of Vi$ta and the reaction to it, so with the attitude M$ has, why would business react any differently to Window$ 7, after all 'You can't fool all of the people all of the time'.
Open Source Software presents a unique opportunity for M$ to finally deliver something on time, with a reasonable expectation of delivering on features, and if windoze is going to change anyway, which it has to, why would the market care if it was based on linux? Apple$ market don't care that it's based on BSD, Apple didn't see BSD they saw B$D, maybe M$ could see O$$.
In the distance you could hear them sing - "Koom By-Yah, my lord"
Personally I think M$ is too arrogant to let go and in time their relevance will fade. Make no mistake, business may tolerate failure for a little while - but they're certainly not going to pay for it.
Hmmm, what about That's the good thing about standards, there is so many to choose from" ;-)
I was wondering if it is possible to have galaxies in this configuration?
Ding dong the witch is dead music.
I'd imagine a solutions for this would be simple, just not obvious until it was built. The first few elevators would be developmental and go through a couple of generations before being considered 'operational'. Perhaps resolving problems like this may be as simple as having two counterweights at the end where one is the actual 'space station platform' and a second counterweight is reeled out to space and back in again in response to vibration and/or the earth end is completely submersed and adjusts it's buoyancy in response to vibrations.
I'd imagine these kind of things, including sensor points on the cable, would be necessary to facilitate alignment of power transmission to the cars traveling on the cable, even the cars traveling on the cable could be part of the dampening system by adjusting the rate of climb and having cars change direction to perform dampening maneuvers. Passengers would view it in the same way an aircraft lines itself up with a run way or is put into a holding pattern or it could be done with empty cars or freight cars on the same cable.
In other word's studies like these should be welcomed so that issues of this nature can be considered and addressed. Now has anyone considered whose systems would be appropriate enough for a computer simulation of a S.E to uncover any other issues we may have?
"How humiliating for SCO"
"SCO?"
"Yeah, you know, SCO, they tried to sue IBM"
"Did they?.. . . ",long pause , "Who?"
Conceded, I'll be more thorough checking statements written in the wee hours.
I contend that until a reactor is available with the characteristics I described in my earlier post the nuclear power industry is closely related to maintaining a state of preparedness for nuclear war. From my understanding the same enrichment process you advocate to recycle nuclear fuel can be used to create weapons grade plutonium. Is this the case?
Why? Even if half of what they are saying is true, it's concerning. Not only is it possible that Nuclear power plants leak radioactive elements into the environment, we know it has happened and continues to happen. Additionally peaceful use of nuclear power will *always* be attached to nuclear weapons because *it can be done*. I've never heard of a city being blown up by a coal bomb, or a solar plant going critical. The fact is Nuclear power will never be benign, because it isn't. Not that I'm an advocate of coal, but the worst case scenario I can expect from a coal power station is a fire, the worst case scenario from a nuclear power plant is the rendering of 3000 Sqkms of land uninhabitable and nuclear fallout over an entire continent. That is the reality of a nuclear power plant, operator error or not.
Indeed, but you did sidestep the question of *other* bio-accumulating elements released into the environment, just how many radioactive elements are created inside a nuclear reactor? And isn't it possible, indeed probable, that those elements continue to be released into the environment. Are you saying it's immpossible for those element to escape?
You may advocate that nuclear power is safe based on your scientific understanding that the elements produce limited harm, but I posit that if we *have*
You mean Dr Helen Caldicott, Nobel Peace prize winner. Is that the DOCTOR you are talking about, you know the one with a NOBEL PEACE PRIZE, the one that has spent time in the U.S President's Oval office advising the president of the medical ramifications of the nuclear industry. You know I really think that, as an academic, you should pay Dr Caldicott the appropriate level of respect, even if I don't deserve it.
But you live and learn, so thanks but unfortunately I've had to learn a whole lot more than I actually wanted to know about industrialised Nuclear power and I have no desire to be a physicist. So while I'm impressed at your apparent knowledge, your naivety is as impressive. You said
In isolation this statement looks like "oh well it's just a tiny bit" but in context we have to ask, what sorts of cancer because some are worse than others. What happens when it the person's *local* water supply and that's what they drink e.v.e.r.y.d.a.y, they shower in it, brush their teeth with it, wash their face and eyes, cook their food with it and it is the water that their food is grown with.
And it is the same for the entire community, and there are other radioactive elements (if I using the terminology correctly) released into the environment which, according to your own blog, do bio-accumulate. Even if I got it wrong about tritium bio-accumulating how many other radioactive elements released by the nuclear process into the environment do bio-accumulate? So with that as a basis why don't you calculate the cancer rates for that community, because Pickering - in particular - will be a source of radioactive products well after the reactor is closed down permanently.
Like many Nuclear Power advocates you make a simple sweeping statement like this and ignore the actual logistics involved in achieving it. Safe extraction from existing plant based storage, safe transportation, reprocessing, more transportation. Yes I loved the idea of IFR, but - as pointed out to me by a nuclear advocate - sodium is extremely volatile, and radioactive sodium - exactly how dangerous is that, and importantly to the long term viability of the reactor - how corrosive?
Great, more sweeping statements, no consideration of logistics. I support ITER, don't know about DEMO (is it fusion too?), but until they're operational guess where it is going to go?
*How the fuck would I know*, however like many of the toxic externalities that the Nuclear Industry dumps into the environment *As much as they say* and they wouldn't lie would they, would they? Like I said, with respect for your knowledge, but naivety with respect to the political characteristics of the nuclear industry is at least equal.
As observed by the many other aspects of the Nuclear Industry the political supporters of Nuclear Power block funding attempts to find exactly that data, which allows people to say "no scientific study has been performed" on the toxic effects. Hardly the type of scientific approach you would support, is it?
Coincidentally, just before I saw this, I had just watched this video.
There is no question the man is a visionary and definitely a formative influence in shaping our world with his ideas and I'm sure many people, who know of his ideas, probably feel the same. I'll enjoy reading other peoples views and information about Sir Clarke all I can say to you all right now is that I am deeply saddened by this news.
I often wondered if he felt a little disappointed with our efforts to get into space as pondering and slow. His description of the construction of a Space Elevator in 'Fountains of Paradise' (and use of in 3001: The Final Odyssey) is an example of the power this mans visions brings to ideas, visions that we can only hope one day will become a reality.
There is little doubt that world has just lost one of it's wisest seers.
1 year olds that demand their mums boobs too much
2 year olds that have too many tantys
3 year olds that won't go to bed when they are told
4 year olds that want to be the robbers when kids play cops and robbers
Obviously by 5 years it's too late and by eliminating these behavioral problems early we will have the society we deserve!!
Can we have severe safety problems in the country of design and shut half of them down, CANDU!
Can we generate much greater quantities of spent fuel than light water reactors, CANDU!
Can we generate large quantities of tritium and expel it into the biosphere, CANDU!
Can we generate large quantities of Plutonium 239 for weapons proliferation, CANDU!
Can we make a reactor harder to operate safely than a Yanky reactor, CANDU!
Can China, India and Pakistan, Romania and Argentina have one so we're one big happy M.A.D world, CANDU!
Serenity Now!
...when they help build the "great firewall of china". I think there is a delicious sense of irony in the Chinese copying their gear so they don't have to pay Cisco for more firewall gear.
Amongst the side affects of the many drugs that are prescribed, he has become overweight and now suffers from sleep apnea further complicating the depression. If anything I have learned from observation is that people suffering from depression need the support of people close to them, for the condition is like a downward spiral of physical, mental and spiritual decay. Contact, phone calls conversations, anything you can do to help unravel the root cause of the depression, like challenging the paranoid feelings all help to take power away from the disease.
For the fist time in a long time, I think I see him finally come out of it because he is starting to excercise. I don't know if the drugs helped, perhaps leveled things out and maintained the status quo. They were probably required as on several occasions I was physically attacked by him (and he is a big guy), fortunately for me (and him) I also am a big guy and have trained physical combat for most of my life. I say that because there was a strong responsibility on my part to not hurt him any more than it was required to control and disarm him. You have to realise it's not the person attacking you, it's the disease and for this reason I think that it is also can become contagious (so to speak) who do not have this capability.
I can't say whether the drugs are good or bad (just that there is a lot of them and he takes them e-v-e-r-y--d-a-y) but I do know the drugs have changed his brain chemistry forever, I often wonder if the person I grew up with is still in there, occasionally I see a glimpse. I have studied all I can about depression to learn everything I could to help him and I look forward to reading about other peoples experiences in this discussion. What I learned is that the medications are a commitment for all the people around to be aware that the critical time is when they are coming off the medication and they finally lose their apathy towards self harm, i.e they finally have enough energy to do it, signs that must be watched for if you want someone you care about to actually survive depression.
I also learned that regardless of the drugs there are two core issues that every person who suffers depression will have to face;
1) Rigorous physical excercise is that path back to mental well-being, the sooner the better and something fun and positive that helps self esteem and confidence.
2) The issues that triggered the depression will eventually have to be faced.
I hope one day it will be gone, because I don't want my family member to die from it or with it. I call it the black dog because it chases and hunts you down and occasionally I sense it coming after me, but I fight it and you have to fight it. Perhaps if people who were susceptible to depression were made to excercise it would disappear, but then the drug companies wouldn't get to sell all that expensive medication and I definitely think it is a factor in the diagnosis of this modern curse. I also think that good spinal care is a factor as I also noticed an improvement in his demeanor when this was done. Additionally I think that depression is a natural consequence to some overload of emotional stress, alas IANAP, that triggers a change to the brain chemistry.
I suspect the Metalica song Until it sleeps was written about depression as it aptly describes what is truly the modern plague of our time.
Won't Microsoft have to pay Sony royalties on blu-ray players if they were installed into 360's?
2. Space Elevator
1. CNT ribbon technology
I put them that way because I think our need for energy will drive a need for a S.E (in parallel with in other energy technology developments) to establish space based power, the need for a S.E will drive CNT. I think this because energy is the only real global economy, the capability to do work in this economy is dictated by our ability to use energy to maintain our lifestyle. No computers without energy, No washing machines, No transport, everything in our 1st world society is dictated by the use of energy.
Now, everyone everywhere wants the benefits of a 1st world lifestyle, but that lifestyle was created from consuming lots of energy AND we are arriving at a point in time where we realise the energetic costs of this lifestyle won't scale to allow countries like India and China to mimic this lifestyle. Mounting evidence is showing that the continuous consumption of this amount of energy, even for the first world, is unsustainable without ever growing, and more serious climatic consequences.
It's those consequences, which I strongly believe are going to be worse than our pessimistic forecasts, will govern our capability to continue to produce energy in our traditional means. It's not that I think that alternatives that produce a net energy benefit won't exist or be drawn on, or even that we may be able to replicate a first world lifestyle in a sustainable manner, I just think that it won't be enough to drive our civilisation without major changes to our existing infrastructure (in particular - cars and transport).
It may turn out to be easier to build a space elevator and create a hydrogen economy than changing the core infrastructure of our cities, suburbs, roads, railways that rely on cars, trucks, trains, aircraft and ships. Consequently I think the need for a S.E will exceed all other challenges and become an imperative simply because our civilisation will be facing the choice to advance or regress, and I just can't see people wanting to go back to living the way were were 10, 50 or hundred years ago, even if we could.
Becoming a space based human race to solve some of our terrestrial issues will become THE challenge for the 21st Century (as a result of our need for energy) and all other challenges will come after that.