Everything posted by zapatos
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Asteroid defense ideas
Did the nuke outside Charlotte NC reenter the atmosphere at 17,000 mph? Nukes falling apart during reentry DO spread plutonium all over the place.
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Asteroid defense ideas
1. the danger was almost nonexistent 2. A container can be easily designed that would prevent any wide spread contamination upon reentry
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Asteroid defense ideas
Citations for any of that?
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Asteroid defense ideas
Because of the risk of widespread distribution of plutonium in the event of a catastrophic failure. This is related to the Cassini launch in 1997... https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/97EO00257
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Asteroid defense ideas
I don't know. How big do you think it should be? Again, I am not well versed enough on the subject to say. I think we need a lot more information in order to decide. I'm unsure if we even have the capability to strike with a nuclear weapon that may hit us in the near term, or know the consequences if we did so. I also don't know that we are prepared to use other means if we detect an asteroid that would not strike us for quite a while. No.
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Asteroid defense ideas
I'm pretty sure more than 507 asteroids have struck the earth and we are still alive and well. Additionally, are my only options a nuke falling or an asteroid strike? Can't we substitute some other option besides launching nuclear weapons to avert an asteroid strike?
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Asteroid defense ideas
There is also the risk of a failure to leave orbit. We don't need nuclear weapons accidentally falling back on earth.
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Your favorite science popularizer?
Lewis Thomas had the biggest impact on me and really got me interested in science.
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Asteroid defense ideas
You realize this contradicts your previous assertion, right?
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Asteroid defense ideas
Citation please?
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Helicopter Carrying President of Iran Lost - Accident or Assassination ?
https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/raisi-iran-president-helicopter-crash/index.html
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Helicopter Carrying President of Iran Lost - Accident or Assassination ?
Because Israel would not do so, or because it is just more likely an accident?
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Helicopter Carrying President of Iran Lost - Accident or Assassination ?
Many countries have used assassination to eliminate threats and enemies. I would not be surprised to find that this was the result of either an accident or an assassination. If it is proven to be an assassination I'm afraid more bloodshed will follow.
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Asteroid defense ideas
What information would convince you?
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Most dangerous chemicals?
I still think HFCS is more likely to harm you. In the US between 1975 and 2009 109 people died from botulism. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5460764/#:~:text=Overall mortality was 3.0% with,other%2Funknown botulism cases]. HFCS is linked to diabetes, and while I don't know to what extent, in 2021 almost 400,000 people in the US died as a result of diabetes. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/why-high-fructose-corn-syrup-is-bad#4.-Excessive-intake-is-linked-to-diabetes
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Civil war in USA (19th century)
It seems that while everyone in your ideal democracy is equal, some seem to be more equal than others. Unfortunately you are moving us back to the democracy of the 1700s, when democracy was more democratic if you happened to be a white, rich, male landowner. With your model you can be a female of color but you'd better have enough money for a computer and internet access.
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Civil war in USA (19th century)
We have a referendum every four years. Surely we have the right to change our minds.
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Most dangerous chemicals?
I think we are delving into semantics and conflating 'danger' and 'risk'. As I understand it 'danger' refers to the possibility that something will cause harm. Thus botulinum toxin is more dangerous than high fructose corn syrup as it has a greater possibility to cause harm when we are exposed to both. On the other hand, HFCS is riskier simply due to the fact that you are more likely to be exposed to and harmed from HFCS than you are to be exposed to and harmed from botulinum toxin.
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Most dangerous chemicals?
On the other hand, the reason you are unlikely to be exposed to deadly chemicals is because they are so deadly, and thus kept behind lock and key. Is radium no longer dangerous now that girls don't ingest it while painting the hands of watches?
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Most dangerous chemicals?
I'm no chemist, but I would think nothing (or everything) is intrinsically 'deadly'. Doesn't the 'deadliness' come from level of exposure? In a small enough dose nothing will kill us, and in a large enough dose everything will kill us.
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Civil war in USA (19th century)
You are naive to think 19th century USA was an ideal democracy.
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“Amateur science” and nature apps
On a side note, Merlin developed a novel way of identifying bird songs which had always been very difficult to do. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/whats-that-bird-song-merlin-bird-id-can-tell-you/#
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“Amateur science” and nature apps
I use Merlin all the time. Absolutely love it. For identifying plants and trees I use PictureThis. Sky Guide is a very good app for identifying stars, planets, constellations. You just start the app and hold the phone up pointing at the star you want to identify. You can also point it in any direction (say, below the horizon or straight down) and it will show you the stars there too.
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Does carbon capture make sense?
I was pointing out that Iceland already gets near 100% of their electricity from green sources and still has geothermal capacity to spare. Thus they may as well use that capacity to scrub the air. Then I noticed others said similar things and I didn't want to be redundant.
- Does carbon capture make sense?