| Author | Message | ||
     Sifo |
I'm not sure if this belongs in the Science thread, or the Conspiracy thread. Oh well, the conspiracy thread is archived, so it goes here. On Deathbed, Former ‘Lockheed Martin Engineer’ With ‘Top Secret Clearance’ Opens Up About…Aliens | ||
| Ducbsa |
Killer CO2!!!  | ||
| Aesquire |
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| Torquehd |
Yep, winter is coming. http://www.boston.com/news/weather/weather_wisdom/ 2014/11/dry_cold_into_the_weekend_but.html I just figured out how to use the imagelink URL code awhile back... How do you post and resize an image from URL? | ||
| Sifo |
Every once in a while, even the true believers have to face the facts. Google was a big supporter of "sustainable" energy sources, and put their money (well no doubt a lot was "our" money) where their mouth was. At any rate, they made real world attempts at making things happen. They had sharp people working on it.
In short, it just isn't going to work. Shocker: Top Google Engineers Say Renewable Energy ‘Simply won’t work’ | ||
| Aesquire |
There's a lot to consider there. The replacement of fossil fuels with other resources is massive investment. It also has to be done long term. We have to be well into that transition pretty darn soon. Yes. I'm a warming skeptic. Skeptical in the extreme, in many cases..... but common sense makes replacing fossil fuels obvious. Yes we have fracking and a short term boom in fuel production. China will absorb that and demand more. Then it's gone. Then high prices going ballistic until the next tech needed to keep the machine going. ( coal to oil?) The new tech will cost more. Duh. So. Big fan orbital solar. Yes, big transportation cost. Big infrastructure investment. Big payoff. And the infrastructure lets you mine the Solar System. | ||
| Blake |
Nuclear | ||
| Aesquire |
Lots of thorium in the asteroid belt. You want strip mines in Texas or on Vesta? Let's exploit the Martians and make Earth a park. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Nuclear is the only option who's math works. With enough care and engineering, we can make Nuclear about as safe as other power sources (all of which come with some risks). | ||
| Rparnel1 |
The government climate for Nuclear is dismal. Extensive regulatory requirements related to the Fukishima disaster, Fire Safe Shutdown Analysis and cyber security are driving companies out of the nuclear business. I thought a nuclear renaissance was coming, but after seeing all these unfunded regulatory mandates at my facility, I think nuclear is dying a slow death. Wish it were otherwise, but NRC and INPO heavy handedness and intrusion will kill it. Like most things the government is involved in, they are messing it up! | ||
| Aesquire |
Well said. If gov. Regs on cars were like the nuclear industry each car would have a flagman walk ahead to clear the intersection. Think that's nuts? Check English law on motor cars in the early days. No commercial plant in the U.S. is a design younger than I am. Some better computers. We need fail safe reactors and an active recycling system. With sorry to say, government guards on the bad stuff and control. But RATIONAL control. Not BATF insanity. | ||
| Hootowl |
Neat-O http://liquidpiston.com/ | ||
| Torquehd |
Glorified rotary engine concept. There have been a lot that have appeared in computer graphic representations over the years. Few have made it into production. Fewer still are sitting under the hood of your car. The conventional reciprocating piston engine is hard to beat. Folks have been trying for, what, 150+ years now? I dare say it is one of those glitches in the "matrix", which although marginally improved over time, has yet to be marginalized by any advances in technology... over a period of 150 YEARS. While I believe the US needs to figure out an alternative to fossil fuels... and I have my fair share of interest in electric vehicles... IF we ever get there, it's going to take some MAJOR advances in technology, and not just drilling some ports and adjusting the timing of an already-existent design. | ||
| Blake |
That Liquid Piston venture capital enterprise appears to have yet to produce a product beyond a prototype, but they have press releases touting their ability to garner funding. It's a rotary engine. Notice they never provide actual efficiency values. Hustlers probably looking for some of that "green energy" govt slush. | ||
| Aesquire |
I've had internet issues and finally got to see the liquid piston video. Neat. Also what looks like a tortured flow setup. Does offer cooling of the rotor but may have issues at higher rpm. Also end ports mean a multi rotor engine will be longer than just stacking rotors on a Mazda. It looks like a 2 rotor engine wouldn't need counterweight? Still...... I may want one. IF It's the right mass and power for an ultralight aircraft. Give me 40 hp. With a reduction drive to get the prop speed subsonic and keep the weight under 80 pounds........ with All parts including exhaust and carbs, and you have a sale even with lousy mileage. | ||
| Chauly |
The squish area and combustion chamber shape is detonation waiting to happen... | ||
| Aesquire |
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2 014/11/what-should-a-bayesian-infer-from-the-antik ythera-mechanism.html | ||
| Aesquire |
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| Aesquire |
http://vvattsupwiththat.blogspot.com/2014/11/someb ody-should-write-book-about-this.html I found this funny. | ||
| Torquehd |
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| Hootowl |
No shit. http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/11/25/google-e ngineers-say-renewable-energy-wont-solve-climate-c hange/ | ||
| Aesquire |
When I ( often ) sound a bit strident about the fundamental concept that the facts should shape theory..... there's a reason. When Theory is "defended" by changing the data, you have fraud. Fraud of that kind is often used to gain power. Often from hatred. After all, wasn't it the darn "fatcat bankers" that got us into this mess? ( I mean, of course, the inspirational speeches that united Germany in the 1930's under a wounded war hero. ) Imagine a world where the Emperor declared that no one would ever go exploring again, since all we needed was right here. It's happened. China. A thousand plus years of death, starvation, incredible wealth for a few, backbreaking labor for the many, and, to this day, where the whims of the Glorious Leaders means the mass murder of those who would question their magnificence. The Emperor ordered the end of exploration, and even made it punishable by death to build a boat with more than 2 masts. ( the huge exploration ships were multimasted ) | ||
| Aesquire |
http://www.science20.com/science_20/when_it_comes_ to_neonics_activists_understand_pr_better_than_che mical_companies_do-150299 or... How to fake science. Worth a read. The subject, Neonicotinoids, ( nicotine like chemicals used in insecticide ) is not really relevant to the article and it's meaning. I have no idea how bad, good, or harmful these chemicals are to Bees. I love Bees. They are a vital part of our 21st century food production system, and if the Bees die, Millions of people will die, horribly, from starvation. hundreds of Millions. Perhaps over a Billion. Seriously. So I don't know if these chemicals, developed to replace more harmful ones, are a problem for Bees. ( I WANT the insecticide to kill mosquitoes, which pretty birds eat, and other pests, that eat our food. I DON'T want it to kill our Bees. ) I do know that there are people who willingly lie that they are. | ||
| Aesquire |
BTW, I didn't have the timing right this year, but I am setting up a Bee trap ( capture hive ) next year, under the supervision of the local Apiary experts. If I catch a wild Queen, I will then install her in a palatial Hive, in a shady, pleasant place on my ( the Bank's, really ) property, where there is lots of clover, and wildflowers. I will harvest only a pittance of honey while leaving the bulk of it for the Bees to reproduce more Queens, and battle the problems we have with a declining Bee population. Support your local Bee Keeper. Buy local honey. Don't kill Bees. Feel free to lay waste to hornets and wasps. If you don't know the difference, I'll be glad to post links. | ||
| Pwnzor |
I will let the wasps be, thank you. As long as they stay off my house, they can have the run of my land. With them around I have very few other pests to worry about. Good on you for keeping bees! | ||
| Sifo |
I thought they had found that the bee colonies were dying from a virus?  | ||
| Aesquire |
And a bee mite. | ||
| Hootowl |
Wasps are bastards. | ||
| Blake |
A bee mite? More info please? Thought it was a certain pesticide that over time degraded the hive. Thought I read that France had figured it out and since eliminating the culprit chemical, their hives regained their health and vitality. | ||
| Aesquire |
PA has these white faced ground hornets. They thrive where we go camping each year near Pittsburgh at the Pennsic War. SCA event with, among other things, a couple of cannon used to start & stop battles. ( hard to hear whistles in a helmet ) One year they had me guarding a hornets nest to keep people from walking over it, and the nice cannon folk came over with their cannon to "stun the bees". I suggested that didn't seem wise to me, but they were all excited at the concept, and they had a cannon. When the time came, I backed off 20 meters and sat down, thinking quiet thoughts and watched. The hornets were a bit riled up with the ground noise of hundreds of heavy laden folk stomping about nearby, but had subsided to what looked like a little decorative fountain, with hornets spitting up like droplets, then going back home. A small swarm of a few dozen were cruising around the hole looking for trouble but not finding any. They took no notice of the cannon slowly being pushed to point at the hole. When the cannon went off ( blank, black powder and a wad ) all the airborne hornets dropped, stunned, to the ground. Impressive. Then it looked like a fire hose of furious insect doom, & the cannoneers took off screaming pursued by thousands. .......... They are part of nature. Doesn't mean I want them near me. |
