Wait, but fusion is working. They’re seeing net positive output. It’s still quite small at the moment, but moderate gains continue to be made in the field.
This isn’t properly calculated though. They only count the actual laser energy inside the reacttvs output. They don’t account for the huge amount of energy thatch’s needed to run the lasers in the first place or the rest of the facility. It’s nowhere near putting out more energy than it consumes and it’s also a reactor for nuclear weapons testing so they don’t really try to produce energy anyway.
You’re not wrong. It’s still an important step for the field though. Having a net positive within the reaction itself could theoretically mean eventually the energy from the reaction can help sustain the reaction after the initial higher activation energy. But with the poor state of science journalism the result was reported with extreme hyperbole.
Well seeing how you almost need the output of a Dyson swarm to make a Dyson swarm, cool glowy rock power and explodey gas power can and will work just as good. Especially for places that are far away from the ideal conditions to exploit solar energy terrestrially. Where I’m at we have to use literal piles of garbage to be able to get high enough above the trees to achieve sustainable output.
Sadly I believe they found adding more mirrors did not appreciably raise the temperature of the focal point. Diminishing returns and all. So unfortunately more mirrors is not the answer, more Lasers is!
They already do this fyi. Solar plants tend to use mirrors that concentrate light to heat water and turn a turbine instead of actual solar panels. Amazingly, iirc converting light into heat, the heat into steam, and then the steam into kinetic energy, is still more efficient than a normal photovoltaic cells.
I mean yeah, we should absolutely be replacing as much fossil fuel use as we can with existing renewable energy tech. But there’s no reason we shouldn’t also be investing in fusion research, at least as far as I’m aware
Because bad actors like fossil fuel and car companies will say “look, the government is funding fusion. Don’t make us go renewable now, just wait five years until fusion is here.” You have to consider the political impacts pursuing research will have on society’s perceptions. Even if you know your project is just a wild experiment that probably won’t work, journalists won’t.
Exactly. And that’s with the little reactors. If I remember correctly ITER is less than 5 years from first plasma. After that monster gets online, fusion research gets much easier.
Mustard and kale are also (among) the ultimate year-round crops. They shrug off winter in all but the coldest places like it’s not even happening. The brassica’s arch nemeses, aphids and the cabbage white caterpillar, die off in autumn. Brassicas even get tastier after a frost. Forget California lettuce; local winter greens ftw!
(Also part of the dead-of-winter greens gang: chicory/raddichio, lamb’s lettuce/corn salad/mâche, Claytonia/miner’s lettuce, spinach, cress, and sorrel)
Capitalism is like fire. Let it run free and it will burn your home down, and your family to death. If it’s controlled, and focused however, it will keep them warm, and power your industry.
Unfortunately, we’ve let capitalism run rampant, and now we need to bring it back under control.
Great analogy, but I cant fully agree. It seems to me that capitalism will almost always act the same way, it will always seek out every manipulation and loophole possible to get money into politics and then its good game. The people will never be able to stay as informed and hardworking at voting for right people and policies, as private money will be at buying the worst candidates and policies. Greed is essentially baked into capitalism.
…Then again what system wont be broken by the worst parts of humanity given enough time. I feel like the constitution should have been more robust, set out ethical guidelines for the country, it would make it so much harder to be a piece of shit and claim you love America at the same time. Especially as I see nationalism as the final nail in our coffin.
This is not capitalisms fault. It’s weak and corrupt leadership. Leaders who care more about people than power and money are required to keep it in check. Last time I looked they were all doing their own thing and I can’t blame them but still, it would be nice.
Except it is capitalisms fault. If the capitalist must make more money each year than it did the year before, eventually the only way to make that happen is by influencing elections to get bills passed that bring up the ladder behind you solidifying your monopoly, or by deregulating the market so you can produce more with less.
What you’re describing is not only caused by unchecked greed (solved by strong leadership), it’s lazy capitalism. In actual capitalism the business must achieve constant growth yes, but the part people forget is this is supposed to be achieved through innovation and adaptation. If the businesses fails to do this it goes out of business. Capitalism allows for years of decline so long as the business is strong enough to sustain it. What we’re seeing by companies influencing elections is open admission that they are either struggling to produce innovation or they are greedy. Sometimes probably both. If they are innovating like alphabet or meta and they still do it it’s lazy greed plain and simple. Capitalism ends here, strong leadership should start here and push back against it. You could argue this is where democracy is broken because these companies can control the flow of information and will sway public opinion to vote out a politician that doesn’t play their game. Unfortunately this is still poor leadership. A truely good leader will do their job regardless of public opinion or in the face of losing an election.
I think we disagree on one specific point, I believe weak leadership is a guarantee when massive institutions can no longer grow and instead seek to cheat growth through political action. The vote of the people is meaningless when compared to so much capital. I believe it to be inevitable. Sure strong leadership could prevent this, ,but we elect leadership and are easily manipulated.
Yeh I agree it’s fucking dire. The electing of easily manipulated leadership is the problem. Basically capitalism has hijacked democracy and the only way forward is through selfless leadership. Without it capitalism will probably consume us. You’re probably right that it will but it’s nice to know there’s a solution, better than no solution.
I don’t know your life, but are you sure you haven’t just had poorly prepared brassicas? Have you tried roasted Brussels sprouts? Do you hate sauerkraut and coleslaw? Buffalo wing cauliflower? What about mustard (the condiment, the spice, and/or the fresh leaf)?
There are lots of ways I hate brassicas: kale chips (gag), broccoli of any kind (not even in Chinese takeout), and let’s not forget plain, steamed brassicas (basically medieval dungeon food). But the brassica family is huge and there are so many ways to prepare them. Even kale by itself has dozens of varieties, and they do in fact have different tastes and textures. In fact, the exact same plant will taste completely different depending on time of year: mustard leaves harvested in summer heat are almost unbearably spicy, but nearly lettuce-bland in winter. Kale harvested in summer is way more bitter and earthy than in winter when it’s juicy and sweet (in response to freezing temps the plant produces sugars like an antifreeze for the leaves).
Saying you hate all brassicas is like saying you hate all nightshades: you may be correct, but it’s such a huge family it’s hard to imagine there’s not something in there you enjoy.
I've not tried all of them but I don't like the ones I have tried
And yes, I have tried roasted sprouts, they were perhaps the worst. The best way I have had sprouts was chiffonaded, steamed, then roasted with bacon and chestnuts, but that would have been so much better without the sprouts. Sprouts are absolutely the worst brassicas (and don't tell me "there's a new cultivar that's less bitter now" cos that's also horrid and the bitterness was never the problem). Kale is tough and nasty, broccoli tastes bad and bits of it get everywhere, cabbage is acceptable raw if it's not too strongly flavoured, or its flavour is hidden behind something else and it just provides a crunch.
Mustard (English or Dijon) is good, but not American mustard, that stuff is more bland than mayonnaise! But prepared mustard the condiment tastes absolutely nothing like the leafy green crap I mentioned above
I went and looked this up, turns out drinking acetone isn’t as outright dangerous as I expected. Our bodies produce a little of the stuff when breaking down fat, into ketones. It’s only a problem when there’s too much of the stuff for the liver to process.
I don’t think your comment emphasizes enough how like drinking rubbing alcohol drinking acetone would be. Rubbing alcohol (isopropanol) is, in fact, metabolized directly to acetone when ingested. The acetone can be metabolized further, but a good chunk is also simply exhaled.
All right then, chemically and metabolically speaking, (this is hypothetical and I never have any intention of drinking rubbing alcohol or acetone), what is the maximum amount of these liquids a person could drink before it becomes dangerous?
¯_(ツ)_/¯ I was just trying to highlight a fun fact about how they act similarly metabolically.
But since you asked, according to wikipedia, the oral LD50s for acetone and isopropanol (taking average of values for rats, mice, and rabbits) are 4713 and 3655 mg/kg, respectively. Extrapolating to a 75 kg human, that’s 451 and 349 mL for a 50/50 shot at permanent night-night. For comparison, ethanol is ~7300 mg/kg -> 694 mL by the same metric.
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