The usual nuclear power arguments are just that -- and truth has never been a significant part of it.
I used to work as a radiation hardness and susceptibility engineer so I know a little bit about the real business.
Advocated power systems always replace one monopoly with another. The choices aren't engineering ones. It is always --- and I emphasize ALWAYS -- about money. Profit and loss are weighed far higher than ecology or freedom for humanity.
As for innovation using renewable energy, there are some excellent examples in the world. Trouble is 99% of the people don't know they exist. That is not an accident. Ask yourself why a research scientist from Hanford was placed in charge of the "Solar Energy Demonstration Act". At that time I worked at JPL and there was a lot of coffee break comments about losing projects getting demonstration funding and promising concepts being orphaned. Again -- not an accident.
http://www.jinke.com.cn/english/v8/default.asp
290 grams with Li ion battery (just over 10 oz)
800x600 main display
Plays mp3 as well
USB 1.1 I/O
Here it is for $150 or at least that is what was said in the newsletter (Blackmask.com)
A high resolution (at least 1024x768) heads up display. No more high wattage big screen tv at home.
Only the keyboard need be exposed on a laptop so liquid spills wont be a major trajedy.
Read Ebooks -- all that you need is a way to change page. I use my notebook at present but it is only possible on a hard flat surface because of cooling constraints.
The display can't exclude the external environment though-- As all that I have seen do.
These mini displays are toys.
Nothing has changed. The Chinese gvt knew who the leaders of the rebellion were because they had photos courtesy of equipment released to them by the US gvt. (http://www.celestron.com/telescopes.htm)
These compact Cassegrain optics were (and may still be) controlled items under the restriction of transfer of technology. It was a felony to export them
The green light came from the highest authority.
So the students who thought they were far enough away to not worry about photographs were wrong.
Dead wrong in some cases.
So to kvetch about Yahoo is just misplaced. It shows a lack of appreciation of the real dynamics of global politics.
FK
So I went to the Shuttle web site and looked at a G4 8500g for $899. Except for a 7200 rpm drive just what does this machine do that my HP zv6130us notebook doesn't do. In fact the HP does more. 802.11g built in and most importantly it has a display. Oh -- and the dual layer DVD is standard.
And my HP has a battery. And 64 bit AMD And and and. . .
What am I missing here? How do these people get away with this?
I have always wondered why there is no consideration given to conserving bandwidth. If all busy sites were mirrored in every major location then all that needs to be updated is modifications to data bases. To tie up transcontinental communication services for the ten thousandth request for the same data when it could be local -- within the users city -- seems irresponsible. I notice a speed difference when school starts and all those online connections are made -- or on the weekend. Last Sunday my dialup went to 18k. I just gave up. Imagine what happens when more people add to the load. A lot of people have said to me they are getting a computer for Christmas and some of these are first timers. I believe the bandwidth dragon will be soon upon us.
And yes, security needs a big assist as well.
In space the worry for manned flight would be a class X flare. Gamma is your problem. A hydrocarbon would be good for neutrons but would have to be very thick for gamma. Water contains a fair amount of hydrogen -- ask yourself how deep the pool is for a reactor. Neutrons don't get very far in the pool. The depth is for the gamma.
The problem with a 10 foot thick layer of plastic is how you get it in orbit.
There was a scifi story about a structure along the lines of a hollowed out large asteroid. I think it was titled "Rama". That would provide a safe environment.
the reflectance of the finished part is 97 percent at 700 nm and ~99.5 percent at 2 m m, where it remains flat to well beyond 10.6 m m.
http://www.epner.com/press_article4.ssi
That is for gold. Silver in many cases is better but has the problem of degradation during storage.
I thik the best method would be a mirror underlaid with a substance that would produce a cloud opaque or diffusive at the wavelength of interest. This could raise required energies to the point of unfeasability with current technology. An example of this is a beam that can punch a hole in 1/4 steel only produces a burn on the skin of a mouse because the steam cloud reduces the effectivity of the laser.
Slashdot Mirror
The usual nuclear power arguments are just that -- and truth has never been a significant part of it. I used to work as a radiation hardness and susceptibility engineer so I know a little bit about the real business. Advocated power systems always replace one monopoly with another. The choices aren't engineering ones. It is always --- and I emphasize ALWAYS -- about money. Profit and loss are weighed far higher than ecology or freedom for humanity. As for innovation using renewable energy, there are some excellent examples in the world. Trouble is 99% of the people don't know they exist. That is not an accident. Ask yourself why a research scientist from Hanford was placed in charge of the "Solar Energy Demonstration Act". At that time I worked at JPL and there was a lot of coffee break comments about losing projects getting demonstration funding and promising concepts being orphaned. Again -- not an accident.
http://www.jinke.com.cn/english/v8/default.asp 290 grams with Li ion battery (just over 10 oz) 800x600 main display Plays mp3 as well USB 1.1 I/O Here it is for $150 or at least that is what was said in the newsletter (Blackmask.com)
A high resolution (at least 1024x768) heads up display. No more high wattage big screen tv at home. Only the keyboard need be exposed on a laptop so liquid spills wont be a major trajedy. Read Ebooks -- all that you need is a way to change page. I use my notebook at present but it is only possible on a hard flat surface because of cooling constraints. The display can't exclude the external environment though-- As all that I have seen do. These mini displays are toys.
Nothing has changed. The Chinese gvt knew who the leaders of the rebellion were because they had photos courtesy of equipment released to them by the US gvt. (http://www.celestron.com/telescopes.htm) These compact Cassegrain optics were (and may still be) controlled items under the restriction of transfer of technology. It was a felony to export them The green light came from the highest authority. So the students who thought they were far enough away to not worry about photographs were wrong. Dead wrong in some cases. So to kvetch about Yahoo is just misplaced. It shows a lack of appreciation of the real dynamics of global politics. FK
So I went to the Shuttle web site and looked at a G4 8500g for $899. Except for a 7200 rpm drive just what does this machine do that my HP zv6130us notebook doesn't do. In fact the HP does more. 802.11g built in and most importantly it has a display. Oh -- and the dual layer DVD is standard. And my HP has a battery. And 64 bit AMD And and and. . . What am I missing here? How do these people get away with this?
I have always wondered why there is no consideration given to conserving bandwidth. If all busy sites were mirrored in every major location then all that needs to be updated is modifications to data bases. To tie up transcontinental communication services for the ten thousandth request for the same data when it could be local -- within the users city -- seems irresponsible. I notice a speed difference when school starts and all those online connections are made -- or on the weekend. Last Sunday my dialup went to 18k. I just gave up. Imagine what happens when more people add to the load. A lot of people have said to me they are getting a computer for Christmas and some of these are first timers. I believe the bandwidth dragon will be soon upon us. And yes, security needs a big assist as well.
In space the worry for manned flight would be a class X flare. Gamma is your problem. A hydrocarbon would be good for neutrons but would have to be very thick for gamma. Water contains a fair amount of hydrogen -- ask yourself how deep the pool is for a reactor. Neutrons don't get very far in the pool. The depth is for the gamma. The problem with a 10 foot thick layer of plastic is how you get it in orbit. There was a scifi story about a structure along the lines of a hollowed out large asteroid. I think it was titled "Rama". That would provide a safe environment.
the reflectance of the finished part is 97 percent at 700 nm and ~99.5 percent at 2 m m, where it remains flat to well beyond 10.6 m m. http://www.epner.com/press_article4.ssi That is for gold. Silver in many cases is better but has the problem of degradation during storage. I thik the best method would be a mirror underlaid with a substance that would produce a cloud opaque or diffusive at the wavelength of interest. This could raise required energies to the point of unfeasability with current technology. An example of this is a beam that can punch a hole in 1/4 steel only produces a burn on the skin of a mouse because the steam cloud reduces the effectivity of the laser.