TheVat

Should we expect a letter mailed to law enforcement, composed of glued-on letters cut out from magazines? Stop me before I post again!

Pretty close tie between Ada Lovelace, Rachel Carson, and Emmy Noether. Carson pretty much rocked my world when I was a child in the sixties and increased my interest in biology and ecology. Her book The Sea Around Us was the first science book I owned. LOL, @CharonY

What a terrible idea. Buy oil from one fascist tyrant to make up the small shortfall of oil (what, three percent of our oil?) from another fascist tyrant? Three percent - we can't sell breaking out the bikes and scooters (it's March, folks) as a patriotic act and expanding the arsenal in the war on obesity? Or bring bigger federal subsidies for purchasing hybrids, electrics, and fuel miser IC cars? If we mean to go Green, and move away from fossil fuels, this seems like the perfect two birds/one stone set-up.

So many possible flashpoints now. Would Russia try to seize the Suwalki corridor if it felt Kaliningrad exclave was threatened? What if NATO were to flip Vlads territorial logic back on him, point out that the exclave is not really historically part of Russia? Or what if Putin saw NATO movements around the exclave and misinterpreted them as directed towards a land grab? Another random thought - how does a NATO ally deliver fighter jets to Ukraine without, erm, you know? Or do Ukraine pilots go to that donor country and pick them up, fly a sortie from there? IIRC, Poland is looking into something like that. Does that send Vlad off the rails and he declares war on the donating nation? Seems likely. All this "we're helping the war but hey we're not really in the war" stuff seems like thin ice to me.

I was. I remember thinking Jaynes was fascinatingly wrong, and thus a good stimulant to the field. Events in the RW conspire atm, but will get back to your question tomorrow I hope.

I see a good case for cultural selection, as societies grow in size. Those which deal with, say, crop failures by tossing virgins down volcanoes tend to collapse more rapidly than those which respond by assigning members tasks like meteorological observation, experimenting with mulching materials, methods of water diversion, trying different seed stocks, etc. IOW, societies where a religious hierarchy and metaphysics dominates life intensively may be less likely to thrive. Societies where both faith and reason are allowed some scope will do better and lead to more divisions of labor that allow innovation. Brain architecture doesn't have to change at some deep anatomical level, culture just needs to allow both hemispheres to actively engage.

I suspect that the empirical evidence for efficacy of torture is roughly on a par with the evidence for the efficacy of virgin sacrifice.

Thanks. Had not thought much about the decay heat, especially in the first hour or two. That's a pretty significant burn with the short lived isotopes. And money does seem like a factor, for sure. Putting that cost into high quality batteries might make more sense.

This from an AP News report prompted me to wonder about the apparent need for an external electricity source in many nuclear plants to run the coolant pumps... So, with these designs, if you lose grid electricity, you go to diesel backup, and if that fails, you better have batteries. What I have never fully understood is why designers, from the start, wouldn't look at this system producing massive steam and think, for safety's sake, we will put in some emergency shunt to a steam turbine that could provide emergency coolant pumping. So the pumps run directly off the plant's heat. As it cools, there is less steam, and there is less need of the steam to run the emergency pumps. I'm not suggesting the plant run off its own power, and understand the problems with that. But the ability to do so temporarily, in an emergency, would seem useful. Diesel generators can get flooded with seawater, broken by crazy or poorly trained armies with artillery, etc.

Last Spring they were detecting a rise in neutron emissions, and there were concerns as to whether or not it would subside on its own... https://www.science.org/content/article/nuclear-reactions-reawaken-chernobyl-reactor We really need to move to the smaller, modular generation of reactors.

Thanks, yes the Russian U (y) is an "oo" sound, not an "uh," and I should know that. @String Junky needs accurate teeshirt info. Now he just needs teeshirt weather. 😀

If my clock is accurate, our UK members include some serious night owls! And the breaking news is not terribly soothing for anyone wanting to sleep. Фук Путин

These are precisely the points I was making to my son, and he was asking, well what if he does this, or what if he does that, and there was a pause where we both had to grapple with what could be so heinous an act, so blatant a war crime, that it would be worth it to cross the line into direct intervention. I really don't want to find out the answer to this, but... crikey! Shooting at nuke reactors is a pretty blatant threat to all of Europe and beyond. And certainly has potential for serious loss of life, as well as ruined food supplies, etc.

Asking members to support assertions with evidence is never tedious. "Volodymyr is a twat" is just venting, but saying stuff like Volodymyr started the war and lied about Russia calls for factual support of some kind.

My son and I were chatting about the pros and cons of a no-fly zone and other more direct challenges yesterday, and the reasons to avoid any on-ramps to WW3. We both wondered how far Putin could get with his "watch out, crazy badass with nukes!" strategy. This kind of attack might be pushing the envelope, as they say. Yep. My wife was in her last trimester with our (aforementioned) son when Chernobyl went boom, so we were pretty aware of the possible global implications of large radioactive plumes. I seem to recall a conversation about some imported cheese from Denmark and its production date.

My pants are dull-witted and need constant discipline with a belt, but I think the RTG nuclear battery is pretty handy, for certain niche uses. Depleted U would not be good for this, however, given its very slow decay. Other actinides, like plutonium 238, are suitable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisotope_thermoelectric_generator

Holy mother of fuck what is wrong with these people? https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/top-wrap-1-europes-largest-nuclear-power-plant-fire-after-russian-attack-mayor-2022-03-04/ BORODYANKA/LVIV, Ukraine, March 4 (Reuters) - The largest nuclear power plant in Europe is on fire following a Russian attack, Ukraine's foreign minister said on Friday, as he called for a security zone and firefighters to be allowed to tackle the incident. A generating unit at the plant has been hit during an attack by Russian troops and part of the station is on fire, RIA news agency cited the Ukrainian atomic energy ministry as saying on Friday. For once, I would be delighted to learn that I was being deceived by fake news and that this is not real!

What is your point here? How is Ukraine situation with the Donbas analogous to that of Kosovo?

Cool. I will agree as far as Biden is not an inspiring orator. And he stumbles verbally when he is tired, which 79 year old men can do. I voted against Trump, and not for putting an elderly man into the world's most stressful and punishing job. It is what it is, as we say here in these Ununited States. Cory Booker or Amy Klobuchar wasn't an option, so I had to vote Joe. He's holding up amazingly well.

Continuing this theater of the absurd interpretation, where a nation that had nukes gave them all up in 1994 (Budapest memorandum), allowed Russian control of the Crimean peninsula, and signed Minsk agreements 1 & 2 to allow some autonomy and self-governing in Donbas areas, and yet we are told that Ukraine and Zelenskyy should really back down more. LoL! Still waiting @mistermack response on what he would do in a home invasion scenario offered by two members, a more comparable situation than the ludicrous bar stool one. Or should I assume he would grovel, lick the marauders boots, and offer up the master bedroom and his nubile daughter for the sake of safety and preserving the china cabinet? ETA -- dismissing a bad analogy isn't dodging it. Obviously, I am not going to risk being shot for a bar stool. Yes, clearly any sane person would give up the stool and likely call the police when at a safe remove. Analogy remains ridiculous, and I understand you will never concede any flaw to it, so have a nice evening and stay out of bars with armed stool thugs.

You need the rest of that first quote, which you seem to have dodged neatly by omitting it. That part contained a more apt analogy which you don't seem to want to address. Come now, how would you respond to a destructive home invasion and kidnapping? @Arete, it seems, would also be interested in your addressing this. Second part, no, my father-in-law was a WWII historian who served in the Pacific theater and had direct knowledge of what happened on Corregidor, so I fear the rubbish is all yours, tovarich.

You understand the Donbas is part of Ukraine, da? And that, given a separatist revolt there, his having troops there to restore order ON UKRAINE TERRITORY would be entirely legitimate as it would be in any sovereign nation. If we have National Guard troops in Minnesota, that doesn't mean we're at war with Canada and they can invade us. I can read enough Russian to see your video is titled, Putin, what do you want? Seems like a good question!

Couple thoughts - one, if you did nothing to provoke the guy in the bar, why would he be pulling a gun on you for a bar stool? This just underscores the silliness of your analogy and how trivial its stakes are compared to the situation in Ukraine, which is more like a home invasion by destructive and homicidal marauders who want to kidnap you and own your house. (ETA: which I see another poster also pointed out) Two, MacArthur had someplace to run off to and try to acquire more troops, which again doesn't parallel too well the Ukrainian situation. Further, MacArthur refused to leave when ordered to, was utterly opposed to leaving his troops on Corregidor, and it took a special direct order from Pres. Roosevelt to get him to comply. And his troops, left behind, were captured and sent on the Bataan Death March, so MacArthur's actions, even had he done them willingly, were not exactly a brilliant falling back that saved everyone. So your analogies are just getting worse, IMO.

I posted a few days ago that that quote would be remembered for many years. (that, and the Snake Island reply to Russian warships, heh heh)