Here's a video from history.com website. I like this site.
A revolutionary car. Until it was invented, automobiles were too expensive for most people.
By the way: who invented the Model T? Most people would say Henry Ford. What would Obama say?
Maybe he'd say that the government built the roads the Model T travels on, therefore Ford didn't really invent the Model T. Or some other sort of nonsense.
Al Fin: "Cowboy Commentary", aka "Eat your veggies" The Flag banner is posted in order to defy those who would make patriotic symbols illegal or disreputable.
Monday, July 30, 2012
Aug 3, 1958:Nautilus travels under North Pole
www.history.com
Not yet Aug 3rd, but it is consistent with recent posting.
Some excerpts:
Not yet Aug 3rd, but it is consistent with recent posting.
Some excerpts:
- The USS Nautilus was constructed under the direction of U.S. Navy Captain Hyman G. Rickover
- Regarded as a fanatic by his detractors, Rickover succeeded in developing and delivering the world's first nuclear submarine years ahead of schedule.
- At 11:15 p.m. EDT on August 3, 1958, Commander Anderson announced to his crew: "For the world, our country, and the Navy--the North Pole."
- For the command during the historic journey, President Dwight D. Eisenhower decorated Anderson with the Legion of Merit.
Seems like everything is a hustle
Last night, just before retiring, I came across some 911 Truther videos. At first, I began to believe this stuff, which was probably a danger signal. It seems to me that there are so many signs of dishonesty out there in the world, so that an attempt to persuade like the Truthers like to do was enough to get me to seriously consider their point of view. Then I thought, no. The system hasn't gotten that bad. Not yet.
It may be a bit naive of me, but I think there's still enough good things. Some good, some bad. Maybe it has always been so. It wasn't such a long time ago that I remember watching an old Dick Van Dyke TV show. In that episode, there was a pool hall hustler that got Rob Petrie ( Dick Van Dyke) suckered into a game in which he would hustle Petrie for money.
So, back to the real world. I got to thinking once again about the Truthers. It could well be nothing but a hustle. It's just their way of making some money off some marks. Just follow the money. Look at where they start asking for money. It turns out that that is like so many other things in life. Hustling isn't new. Heck, I read something in a novel that produced the quote "everything's a hustle". The setting for the book was in the thirties. So, that's just to show you that it isn't a new phenomenon. That's the way to look at things. Everybody's out there with their hustle to try to get money out of somebody else. It has always been true.
You know, you can get really paranoid about this stuff. You start to look for somebody's angle when they come at you with their requests for money. You get to where you are always expecting to be hustled. And so you are. Everywhere you look, there's a hustle.
If you want to think of it on a large scale, you can say the entire society has become a hustle. Politics is a hustle. They hustle you for campaign donations. They hustle you for more taxes. They hustle you for more social programs. They hustle you for carbon trading schemes. It's all a hustle. Everywhere you look. The 911 Truthers are hustling you for money somehow.
How to recognize a hustle? It is a game. Every game has at its heart a bit of dishonesty. When it comes to hustling, it is a game of larceny. The dishonesty is the insincerity of the ideas presented. They really don't believe the stuff they are telling you, but they need to convince you of it so as to get you to support their idea. Then comes the grab for your money.
It may be a bit naive of me, but I think there's still enough good things. Some good, some bad. Maybe it has always been so. It wasn't such a long time ago that I remember watching an old Dick Van Dyke TV show. In that episode, there was a pool hall hustler that got Rob Petrie ( Dick Van Dyke) suckered into a game in which he would hustle Petrie for money.
So, back to the real world. I got to thinking once again about the Truthers. It could well be nothing but a hustle. It's just their way of making some money off some marks. Just follow the money. Look at where they start asking for money. It turns out that that is like so many other things in life. Hustling isn't new. Heck, I read something in a novel that produced the quote "everything's a hustle". The setting for the book was in the thirties. So, that's just to show you that it isn't a new phenomenon. That's the way to look at things. Everybody's out there with their hustle to try to get money out of somebody else. It has always been true.
You know, you can get really paranoid about this stuff. You start to look for somebody's angle when they come at you with their requests for money. You get to where you are always expecting to be hustled. And so you are. Everywhere you look, there's a hustle.
If you want to think of it on a large scale, you can say the entire society has become a hustle. Politics is a hustle. They hustle you for campaign donations. They hustle you for more taxes. They hustle you for more social programs. They hustle you for carbon trading schemes. It's all a hustle. Everywhere you look. The 911 Truthers are hustling you for money somehow.
How to recognize a hustle? It is a game. Every game has at its heart a bit of dishonesty. When it comes to hustling, it is a game of larceny. The dishonesty is the insincerity of the ideas presented. They really don't believe the stuff they are telling you, but they need to convince you of it so as to get you to support their idea. Then comes the grab for your money.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Nuclear Boy Scout - DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME! 2 of 2
You have to wonder if the kid actually knew what he was doing in all its significance.
The story shows a bit of ignorance of things nuclear. A little knowledge can be dangerous.
Update: Part one here.
The story shows a bit of ignorance of things nuclear. A little knowledge can be dangerous.
Update: Part one here.
Review of "SuperFuel: Thorium, the Green Energy Source for the Future"
The author, Richard Martin, writes for Wired magazine. He began writing about Thorium in 2009. The book appears to have been published in late spring of 2012. The central theme to the book could be stated as an anti-thesis of the better mousetrap bromide. He attempts to answer the frequent question-- If it so good, why aren't we doing it already? The answer is that the better mousetrap doesn't always get the crowd beating their way to your doorstep after all.
Super Fuel is all about energy, our choices, and how they get made. Thorium has a better "burnup" than Uranium, which means it's a more efficient fuel. So, how did this not get recognized? But it did, and the explanation for why this energy wasn't adopted is not so easy to explain.
It's not about ideology- but politics plays a big role. He goes after the left and the right in this book. For example, he says renewables just aren't good enough. That may make the left mad. Then he slams the military industrial complex, which could make the right mad. But there's plenty of blame to go around on both sides of the political divide.
Just what exactly is Thorium anyway? It is only one of many radioactive elements just like Uranium. It just so happens that some of the finest minds of the world who combined for Manhattan Project seemed to like its potential as an energy source. But, it can't be used for a bomb. With the addition of a neutron, it can be transmuted into an artificial isotope of Uranium. For that reason, it is said to be fertile- it can be bred. In this way, it works really well as a "breeder", but not the same kind of "fast-breeder" that has failed in those other designs. It's a different kind of breeder- a thermal breeder. It works best with a molten-salt liquid-core, instead of the conventional water-cooled, solid-fueled core most often seen today.
How the best minds of the world couldn't convince the government to take this route is a troubling phenomenon. It seems to come down to the nuclear arms race between the two superpowers of the time. The military needed a quick and dirty way to make submarines that could stay out at sea for very long periods. Hence, the nuclear powered submarine was born and the kind of reactor that filled the need was the water-cooled, solid-fueled type reactor. In short, this kind of reactor "got there firstest with the mostest."
The rivalry between science and the military were personified in two people-- Alvin Weinberg, the innovative scientist, and Admiral Rickover, the father of the atomic sub. The author tells much of the story through these two men. Weinberg loses out because he is seen as a malcontent, who associated with the likes of Ralph Nader. On the other hand, Rickover gave the government, and the military, what it wanted. The rest, as they say, is history.
But now we have the situation as it stands today. The nuclear sub paved the way for conventional water-cooled, solid-fueled reactors. The molten-salt reactor concept was almost lost forever, as it was forgotten about. The eminent generation of nuclear scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project eventually passed away. There was nobody left to continue their work, but notes and books of what they did some forty years before was still available.
Now there's Kirk Sorensen and others who have stepped up to the plate and are trying to redress what has gone wrong. The story is brought up to date to the present time with the present cast of innovator and dreamers.
How to go forward? Martin lays out a way. It is not impossible, but history has shown that the better mousetrap is not always the one that is the most popular at the moment. The warning given by the Thorium advocates is that the we must do it, or allow leadership in energy to pass on to others who will develop Thorium energy instead. The dreamers still believe in America. America was once a place where great things could happen. It remains to be seen if it is still that kind of country.
Super Fuel is all about energy, our choices, and how they get made. Thorium has a better "burnup" than Uranium, which means it's a more efficient fuel. So, how did this not get recognized? But it did, and the explanation for why this energy wasn't adopted is not so easy to explain.
It's not about ideology- but politics plays a big role. He goes after the left and the right in this book. For example, he says renewables just aren't good enough. That may make the left mad. Then he slams the military industrial complex, which could make the right mad. But there's plenty of blame to go around on both sides of the political divide.
Just what exactly is Thorium anyway? It is only one of many radioactive elements just like Uranium. It just so happens that some of the finest minds of the world who combined for Manhattan Project seemed to like its potential as an energy source. But, it can't be used for a bomb. With the addition of a neutron, it can be transmuted into an artificial isotope of Uranium. For that reason, it is said to be fertile- it can be bred. In this way, it works really well as a "breeder", but not the same kind of "fast-breeder" that has failed in those other designs. It's a different kind of breeder- a thermal breeder. It works best with a molten-salt liquid-core, instead of the conventional water-cooled, solid-fueled core most often seen today.
How the best minds of the world couldn't convince the government to take this route is a troubling phenomenon. It seems to come down to the nuclear arms race between the two superpowers of the time. The military needed a quick and dirty way to make submarines that could stay out at sea for very long periods. Hence, the nuclear powered submarine was born and the kind of reactor that filled the need was the water-cooled, solid-fueled type reactor. In short, this kind of reactor "got there firstest with the mostest."
The rivalry between science and the military were personified in two people-- Alvin Weinberg, the innovative scientist, and Admiral Rickover, the father of the atomic sub. The author tells much of the story through these two men. Weinberg loses out because he is seen as a malcontent, who associated with the likes of Ralph Nader. On the other hand, Rickover gave the government, and the military, what it wanted. The rest, as they say, is history.
But now we have the situation as it stands today. The nuclear sub paved the way for conventional water-cooled, solid-fueled reactors. The molten-salt reactor concept was almost lost forever, as it was forgotten about. The eminent generation of nuclear scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project eventually passed away. There was nobody left to continue their work, but notes and books of what they did some forty years before was still available.
Now there's Kirk Sorensen and others who have stepped up to the plate and are trying to redress what has gone wrong. The story is brought up to date to the present time with the present cast of innovator and dreamers.
How to go forward? Martin lays out a way. It is not impossible, but history has shown that the better mousetrap is not always the one that is the most popular at the moment. The warning given by the Thorium advocates is that the we must do it, or allow leadership in energy to pass on to others who will develop Thorium energy instead. The dreamers still believe in America. America was once a place where great things could happen. It remains to be seen if it is still that kind of country.
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