here is a glimmer of hope that one day we can actaully harness nuclear energy safely.
If we cut Govt spending and walk away from this research there is no hope at all.
The sun speaks
On Dec 13, 2006, the sun itself provided a crucial clue, when a solar flare sent a stream of particles and radiation toward Earth. Purdue nuclear engineer Jere Jenkins, while measuring the decay rate of manganese-54, a short-lived isotope used in medical diagnostics, noticed that the rate of nuclear decay (this added by me for clarity) dropped slightly during the flare, a decrease that started about a day and a half before the flare.
the people who want to cut our govt are our own worst enemy.
Never forget that we cannot support pure researchthru private funding becuase shareholders will never pay soemoen who doesn't know what they are doing, nor should we expect them to Posted by glassman on :
to reinforce my assertion that we cannot truly do "directed" research with private funding, look at the way this was discovered by accident:
Random numbers
But that assumption was challenged in an unexpected way by a group of researchers from Purdue University who at the time were more interested in random numbers than nuclear decay. (Scientists use long strings of random numbers for a variety of calculations, but they are difficult to produce, since the process used to produce the numbers has an influence on the outcome.)
Ephraim Fischbach, a physics professor at Purdue, was looking into the rate of radioactive decay of several isotopes as a possible source of random numbers generated without any human input. (A lump of radioactive cesium-137, for example, may decay at a steady rate overall, but individual atoms within the lump will decay in an unpredictable, random pattern. Thus the timing of the random ticks of a Geiger counter placed near the cesium might be used to generate random numbers.)
they were not even truly nuclear reaction research scientists.. they stumbled on a deviation to what was previously considered a basic axiom of physics Posted by glassman on :
Posted by SeekingFreedom on :
{still staring at the pretty gif}
Posted by glassman on :
pretty cool huh?
escher would have been proud... it's a dynamic 3d mobius object (not strip since it's 3d)..
been working on physics lessons with one of the brats and this popped up...
anyway, as to solar flares, sun spots and other physics stuff? the mayan calendar pops up too, because the Solar System is about cross the "flat" axis of the milky way and according to mayan tradition it will be calamitous... We now know we can predict solar flares using this tho and that may help some.
well, we may very well see some really odd stuff over the next 36 moths. The earth undergoes periodic shifts in it magnetic feild polarity and if you think of the solar system as a big electric motor (gyroscope), this passge may be one possible trigger for that shift. Nobody really knows how it will happen.
If you follow relativity at all you will have heard that time dilation was supposedly proven using atomic (decay) clocks. Well this new sun spot/solar flare revelation proves that those proofs were invalid.
Hence we start over again.....
Posted by Pagan on :
quote:Originally posted by glassman: pretty cool huh?
escher would have been proud... it's a dynamic 3d mobius object (not strip since it's 3d)..
been working on physics lessons with one of the brats and this popped up...
anyway, as to solar flares, sun spots and other physics stuff? the mayan calendar pops up too, because the Solar System is about cross the "flat" axis of the milky way and according to mayan tradition it will be calamitous... We now know we can predict solar flares using this tho and that may help some.
well, we may very well see some really odd stuff over the next 36 moths. The earth undergoes periodic shifts in it magnetic feild polarity and if you think of the solar system as a big electric motor (gyroscope), this passge may be one possible trigger for that shift. Nobody really knows how it will happen.
If you follow relativity at all you will have heard that time dilation was supposedly proven using atomic (decay) clocks. Well this new sun spot/solar flare revelation proves that those proofs were invalid.
Hence we start over again.....
WOW!!!! You absolutely amaze me with your extreme knowledge of EVERYTHING. You are so cool. One day...when I grow up...I wanna so be like you! Posted by glassman on :
you only have to watch the same scifi movies i do and you will get your wish
Posted by SeekingFreedom on :
(cough)Be careful what you wish for, P...lol
Posted by SeekingFreedom on :
quote:If you follow relativity at all you will have heard that time dilation was supposedly proven using atomic (decay) clocks. Well this new sun spot/solar flare revelation proves that those proofs were invalid.
One thing that I've learned about theoretical research and postulation...the moment the word 'proves' is used versus 'supports' you should immediately stop listening. Posted by glassman on :
quote:Originally posted by SeekingFreedom:
quote:If you follow relativity at all you will have heard that time dilation was supposedly proven using atomic (decay) clocks. Well this new sun spot/solar flare revelation proves that those proofs were invalid.
One thing that I've learned about theoretical research and postulation...the moment the word 'proves' is used versus 'supports' you should immediately stop listening.
truly! you cannot even prove that you exist at teh quantum level, you are merely a statistic
Posted by SeekingFreedom on :
quote:truly! you cannot even prove that you exist at teh quantum level, you are merely a statistic
So, lol, Cogito Ergo Sum isn't enough anymore?
I've never gottn into quantum mechanics stuff myself. Too much is still theory and unverifiable (under current technological constraints). I know that understanding it is key to the Grand Unified Theory and the Theory of Everything 'research'...but 'till colliders and our ability to measure the results get better I'll stick to practical physics.
Posted by Peaser on :
When our star explodes, we die...
Cut spending! also, increase taxes temporarily to cut the debt in half over the coming very few years.
Posted by buckstalker on :
quote:Originally posted by Peaser: When our star explodes, we die...
Cut spending! also, increase taxes temporarily to cut the debt in half over the coming very few years.
Question is...cut spending where? increase taxes on who?
Posted by IWISHIHAD on :
Originally Posted By Buckstalker:
"Question is...cut spending where? increase taxes on who?"
_________________________________________________
That's the ten million dollar question.
State of Ca. has had a hiring freeze for some time to curve spending?
The problem is that agencies like unemployment, disability etc. loose more and more people, some because of natural progression and some because by being overloaded.
But again the more they loose the more they loose with no way to rehire.
Now you have a situation of the jobs not getting done so you have to go to overtime.
So in the end it actually will probably cost more with less efficency.
The good part for employees is that you can transfer to other departments and get into their departments with little or no background because they cannot hire on the outside anymore, which would not have happened before.
It's a vicious cycle with a lot of tough decisions to be made.
-
Posted by glassman on :
quote:Originally posted by SeekingFreedom:
quote:truly! you cannot even prove that you exist at teh quantum level, you are merely a statistic
So, lol, Cogito Ergo Sum isn't enough anymore?
I've never gottn into quantum mechanics stuff myself. Too much is still theory and unverifiable (under current technological constraints). I know that understanding it is key to the Grand Unified Theory and the Theory of Everything 'research'...but 'till colliders and our ability to measure the results get better I'll stick to practical physics.
Cogito Ergo Sum:
and schreodinger wanted us to starve poor kitty-cats?
''The Moving Finger writes and having writ, Moves on; nor all your piety nor wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a line, Nor all your tears blot out a word of it."
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