I used to be anti-nuclear. The basis for this was one part "oh no, meltdowns!" and one part anti-war. The second part of this concern happened when I learned that the material in warheads is refined in nuclear reactors.

As I continued my research I learned that newer reactors can be built that do not enrich weapons-grade material. They can't be used for bombs.

With the new reactor technology, I was left with only the concern around meltdowns. Even with older technology, meltdowns are very rare. Newer technology---like what's mentioned in this video--is even safer..

Now, I'm an old hippie, and I still prefer solar and wind (in my ideal world) but my concern over nuclear was pretty much put to rest with all that I've learned.

As long as the powerplants are designed in such a way that they do not create material that can be weaponized, I'm pretty much okay with it.

Fine...let's use Bill Nye's approach...

Follow the logic...

Let's say these puppets on my fingers are humans..."Oooh yay combustion, let's drive cars, build powerplants, make concrete, raise millions of cattle, and pump all these gases into the atmosphere." *Puppets dance*

What happens then? The levels of CO2, CH4, and CO (among other gases) increase. For example, CO2 levels have been increasing AND these activities lead to an increase in CO2 levels. We know this. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mauna_Loa_Carbon_Dioxide-en.svg)

Let's then say that this orange is the earth -> O (Hello puppet humans!)

The orange is surrounded by something called the ozone layer. Say it with me kids: O-ZONE LAY-ER. Good. Think of it like a sock around the earth (*stuffs the orange in a sock*).

Now, the ozone layer is made up of greenhouse gases - which are usually very good because they trap heat and make it nice and warm for the puppet humans (Yay! *puppets dance*). Greenhouse gases include CO (Carbon monoxide - given off by cars), CO2 (Carbon dioxide - power plants, factories, cars, respiration, etc), CH4 (Methane - cows, pigs, industry, etc), and several others. More pretty pictures --> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Greenhouse_Effect.svg)

So, what happens when the puppet humans increase greenhouse gases? The greenhouse effect gets stronger, and the sock turns into a sweater! *wraps the orange in a sweater* More gases = more trapping = more heat. *puppets melt*

As for global cooling, that dealt with pollution particulates, which have been declining in the atmosphere since government regulations went into effect in the USA (although pollutants from China and other developing countries are causing some slight cooling, which is, ironically, making climate change *less* prominent than it was actually thought to be at this point).

Look at the puppets. Look at them dance *dancing puppets* Okay, now take a nap.

1,000,000μSv = 1000mSv = 1Sv

250mSV is about when you start to get symptons of radiation sickness. Its also the maximum allowed dose for workers at the Fukushima powerplant. To get that kind of dose from the radiation they were exposed to at the end of the clip they'd need to stand there for some 2500 hours.

So yeah, while its definitely not healthy to be there its not chernobyl either. I don't think it'll be 50 years before enough material has decayed to allow rehabitation either.

probably because, if you set the phone down on your desk for example, chances are you're gonna do it screen up, so you can monitor any activity.

What I do wish they (not necessarily this company) would do is adapt this sort of technology to use in house/building windows. Consider the sheer window surface area of a modern building. You could have a small powerplant right there. (but not with this technology obviously. if that small screen is only producing 2,5 miliwatts, a whole decent sized window would produce only about 1watt of power, which is very little.)

3D models of the the actual powerplant structures and some more detailed explanations are here:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/12/world/asia/the-explosion-at-the-japanese-reactor.html?ref=earth

Wow, I have never really liked Michael Moore, but these comments are particularly silly.

He says to get out of Afghanistan (because we have no right to be there), apologize and then offer help to rebuild when they work out their own situation.

1. The ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) is in Afghanistan at the request of the elected government of Afghanistan. While there was some electoral fraud on the part of the current ruling party, his main adversary, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, would likely have asked for the ISAF's assistance as well. In his words, "the international community played an active and effective presence, and, with its extensive financial, political and military assistance, supported the formation and establishment of a legal and elected state." Remember, this is the main rival to the democratically elected President of Afghanistan. You would think that if the people wanted us out of their country it would be advantageous for a politician to make our removal part of his platform but he doesn't even mention that in any of his election documents. Further, as a member of the Canadian Forces, I know first-hand that the people there largely appreciate what the international community is doing: fighting their enemies.

2. You can't rebuild when there is no stability. It would be nice if we could go in and just build schools and powerplants and wells and hospitals and leave but that's not the way it works. There are still a lot of people in Afghanistan who will make it their goal to chop off the head of the teacher at the school, or blow up the powerplants, or poison the wells or bomb the hospitals. While we are doing our best building infrastructure for the Afghani people, we are also fighting and dying to make sure no one destroys that infrastructure. It's guaranteed that if we left now all we have worked for will be in the shitter and it wont be long before Afghanistan is under the thumb of the Taliban and harboring terrorists with international targets.

Possible idea for an ocean wave powerplant? Seems it only needs small oscillations with high torque as input.

My powerball only has as much energy as i put into it, and it can still drive 6 little leds at fairly low speed with what is probably a very cheap generator.

2008 games I enjoyed immensely, consider unique, polished pieces of work and I'd recommend to everyone:
Dead Space
Witcher: Enhanced Edition

Honorable mentions:
Audiosurf
Mass Effect for PC (technically a 2007 game)

I can't for the love of me call any more 2008 games 'excellent' though.
For me, all other "AAA" titles were sub par (at times extremely so) in terms of quality that was advertised or I'd expected. Prominent examples include:

GTA4 (a letdown on pretty much all fronts except mini-games or mini-distractions),
Fallout 3 (lame story, complete lack of identification with the protagonist and shitty narrative & voice acting by decent actors bugged me the fock out),
Prince of Persia (cakewalk platforming, random-button-blocking-combat and those FUCKING QTE POWERPLATE SEQUENCES),
Crysis: Warhead & Far Cry 2 & Cod5-World at War all had god-awful storylines, terribly idiotic AIs, and conveyed the feeling that Crytek, Ubi and Treyarch had a competition scoreboard trying to see how many cliches they could squeeze into their games.

I guess I'm hard to please. I keep hoping it'll apply to me in bed some day

That's awesome. I love how he extracts common resources and puts back beneficial elements to the environment rather than toxins and pollution. And byproducts are inevitably some other energy source he can tap into.

I firmly believe this is the future of mankind. We cannot continue with our conventional polluting and inefficient powerplants. The only way we can survive as a race is by giving something back when we take from the environment. Big ups to that guy.

CNW Marketing Research's Hummer advert/report has some pretty ridiculous distortions and assumptions in it. It assumes that 85% of "total lifetime energy use" of a vehicle is in manufacturing when scientific studies show 85% is in driving. It lies and says hybrid batteries aren't recycled when they are (some even have phone numbers on them to call for recycling instructions). Two models of Scion with nearly identical stats are in the report and are shown as drastically different. It assumes a Hummer H1 lasts 35 years and a Prius lasts 12 years without backing up their claim.

Also, this seems like a recycled talking point. Oil company "marketing research" groups had a similar argument against electric cars: Because you plug your electric car in at home, you're just moving the CO2 production to the powerplant with no benefit to the environment. But a large powerplant producing electricity wholesale is far more efficient then each car's engine. Plus the power source for your home could eventually be something non-pollutive like solar panels. And then there's the CO2 produced transporting the gas to each gas station.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

My vote is with electric plug-in over hydrogen fuel-cells or more hybrids. Horsepower for watt - the energy you get from your local powerplant is way cheaper and more efficient than any internal engine.

The problem is getting batteries to a point that they are cheap enough and can hold enough juice. Battery technology seems to be the bottleneck and has been for so many years.

"global ban on the production of fissile material?
*wtf
good luck with that.

The same equipment that can enrich it to 10% U235 for powerplants can enrich it to 90% for bombs.

Not even a global police state could implement that policy. Missile defense is better.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

getting your energy from a powerplant gives you the efficiency that comes from that larger scale of energy production.

the smaller the engine, the less efficiency - or so I have read.

rats are just lovely. intelligent, clean, trainable, diurnal (not like bloody hamsters that wake up when you're trying to sleep!!!!!)

But, my god, what have you been feeding this rat, it's monstrous... Do you live near a nuclear powerplant?

I was also waiting for the flush.. surely it's only half trained LOL

I found this as well..... GM created a hydrogen powerplant car. About 4 min. into it they show you the powerplant system.
I just posted it after paying for subscription here....
http://www.videosift.com/video/Top-Gear-Water-Powered-Car-made-by-General-Motors