>> ^quantumushroom:

"I want everybody to experience the abundance and the greatness of this country. I want everybody to be told how to do it, not told that it can't be done, which is what Obama does. If anybody ought to be under the microscope, it's Obama. Obama's tamping down expectations. Obama's ratcheting up fear. Obama's the guy whose foreign policy is falling apart. Obama's the guy who's watching our economy disintegrate. Obama's the guy whose policies are making it tougher and tougher and tougher for excellence to matter in one's pursuit of life.
Mitt Romney hasn't done anything to anybody.
--Rush

"I want everybody to experience the abundance and the greatness of this country. I want everybody to be told how to do it, not told that it can't be done, which is what Obama does. If anybody ought to be under the microscope, it's Obama. Obama's tamping down expectations. Obama's ratcheting up fear. Obama's the guy whose foreign policy is falling apart. Obama's the guy who's watching our economy disintegrate. Obama's the guy whose policies are making it tougher and tougher and tougher for excellence to matter in one's pursuit of life.

Mitt Romney hasn't done anything to anybody.

--Rush

To continue this lesson, it is important to note that most bomb technology doesn't use enriched uranium alone. The other key material compound is plutonium. For all intents and purposes, all plutonium is man made (with only traces of 244 found in nature, of which is completely unsuitable for weapons..Pu244). Plutonium is usually needed in a bomb because of its much lower critical mass. This lower mass makes bomb fabrication easier, but that creation of plutonium is by no means trivial.

You need huge facilities, dedicated to the sole purpose of uranium exposure. Like the video mentions, normal uranium is mostly U238, this junk gains value in the creation of plutonium. Weapons grade plutonium is a special isotope of plutonium, Pu239. This need is very specific, the different isotopes of Pu can have so very serious implications for bombs. Lets go over them as we as we go over how uranium is exposed to make this very special isotope

First, we start off with U238...the fuel stock. This isotope is bombarded with neutrons. These neutrons are occasionally absorbed by the uranium, turning it into U239. U239 is highly unstable, and quickly decays (in 23.45 minutes) to neptunium 239. This will in turn, decay into Pu239 (in about 2.3 days). Sounds easy, right? Not exactly, neutron absorption isn't something you can control with ease. What I mean is, there is little to stop our Neptunium or Plutonium from absorbing neutrons any more or less than the Uranium (in fact, their absorption cross sections are typically much larger...they are more hungry of neutrons than uranium in other words). When this undesired absorption happens, the neptunium and plutonium eventually becomes Pu240...and that is a big problem.

Plutonium Pu240 is HIGHLY undesirable in a bomb. Pu240 is a medium lived isotope of Plutonium, meaning it decays pretty quick, but it is HOW it decays that is the problem. Pu240 often decays by spontaneous fission. Having spontaneous fission in your fission bomb is just as undesirable as it sounds. Firstly, all even number isotopes are poor fission candidates, so for every even number isotope in your bomb, that lowers the bombs over all yield (because they prefer to fission themselves, and for very little return energy). This is further complicated by high densities of Pu240 causing your bomb to prematurely detonate, ya...bad news. The levels of Pu240 represent yet another challenge in the level of heat they generate from their rather quick decay, though, considering the previous 2 issues, this one is less problematic, though still troublesome. And lastly, there is nothing stopping our Pu240 from absorbing yet another neutron causing yet another isotope of plutonium to arises, namely Pu241.

Pu241, being an odd numbered isotope heavier than lead makes it a rather good subject to undergo fission. It doesn't have the same set of problems as Pu241, but it rapidly decays (14 years) into Americium 241, which is not fissile, and has a halflife of 432 years. These factors add large amounts of heat to the bomb, and reduce overall yield, as well as detract from critical mass.

The solution for this is a very low tech, time consuming, laborious process with produces tons of waste and very little plutonium. One has to expose small blocks of uranium to neutrons under a very brief window. The brief window decreases the chances of undesired neutron absorption and negates much (but not all!) of the heavier forms of plutonium being created. After exposure, they are left to decay, then after a few months, are chemically processed to remove any plutonium and other undesirables (this is also very very hard, and I won't even go into how this is done), then re-exposed. This yields gram(s) at a time. To make a weapons, you need 10 killos, at least...for one bomb...if everything went great. This means you need HUGE facilities, HUGE staff, and HUGE uranium resources. Your facility would be obvious and serve no other purpose, use tons of energy, and pile up radioactive waste of the kind no one wants, heavier than uranium wastes...the worse of the worst. No such facility could exist alongside some traditional uranium facility and not be noticed, period, end of story, done.

We haven't even covered bomb making problems, of which killed some of our top minds in our own bomb program. A set of incidents revolving around a specific bomb type, after taking 2 lives, was dubbed the Demon core. These are the reasons over half the budget of the DOD gets soaked up in nuclear weapons, and we haven't even covered some of the more important aspects (like delivery systems, one simply doesn't walk into Mordor). Nuclear weapons are hugely expensive, hugely conspicuous, require massive facilities and require a level of sophistication that is completely absent from the training of reactor nuclear scientists.

Reactor research and materials are orders of magnitude different from weapons grade materials and research. No bomb in history has EVER been made from reactor grade plutonium because the levels of Pu240 and Pu241 (and we haven't even covered Pu238!) are blisteringly high, way to high for weapons. Isotopic separation for Pu would be even more costly than uranium because of their mass similarities (compared to U235 and U238) and need a different set of enrichment facilities specially tailored to plutonium enrichment, of which all the people who knew something about that are Russian and American, and most likely dead or work classified to the highest degree.

The problem of nuclear weapons via reactor development is all a game to ratchet up the fear machine to get a particular end. It isn't a technical problem, it is a political problem. In the end, though, emerging technology could make enrichment easier anyway, so many of the issues I mentioned might eventually fall to the wayside (not within the next 10 years I imagine; for interested parties, google laser enrichment...coming to a world near you, but not exactly tomorrow, it's awesome stuff though). Eventually, the US is going to have to get used to the idea of more and more nations owning the bomb...but that issue is completely unrelated to reactor design and research. Reactors and nuclear weapons share about as much in common as cars and space shuttles...trying to link them as a dual proliferation argument is a political game and doesn't map on to them technologically.



I should note that I am not yet a nuclear engineer, but I did stay at a holiday inn express.

I haven't done the smuggler story at all, but as a Sith Warrior, I can say the story was VERY engaging all the way up to level 40 something. They did a great job of continually ratcheting up the drama. If it weren't for the fact that I'm stupid busy dealing with moving into my new house and work, I'd be playing it right now.

Hey, don't get me wrong. I enjoy Zero Punctuation quite a bit. For the same reason I enjoy Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. It's witty and amusing. [EDIT: Right there was I referring to Zero Punctuation, not the dog puppet...] But there are plenty of games which are actually a ton of fun, despite getting torn up by Zero Punctuation. Hate was prolly the wrong word - but he definitely ratchets up the flames to a exaggerated level. Claiming otherwise is disingenuous.


>> ^Deano:

>> ^braindonut:
Zero Punctuation is hate packaged as comedy.

I'm sorry mate but that's complete rubbish. The guy loves games and is expressing an opinion blended with comedy. How much you get out of that is one thing but it's certainly not "hate".

>> ^HugeJerk:

What's the Parappa reference? Is it the thing that moves out of view from behind the dogs just as the soldiers enter?
>> ^Shepppard:
So, this video makes reference to:
CoD (or, generic WWII shooters), Twisted Metal, Parappa the Rappa, Little Big Planet, Ratchet and Clank, Final Fantasy, Killzone, Uncharted, God of War, Portal, Infamous, Tekken, MLB/NFL generic games, Metal Gear, Modern Warfare 3, Dead Space, Bioshock, Hitman, Resistance and Assassins Creed.
Not sure if the bartender is supposed to be from somewhere, though.



Nope, that's the Mk.II or III, whichever is in MGS4, the parappa is on the wall behind the chick in the booth, it's just a crappy little drawing, but it's a dog in a red hat with a purple shirt.

Pause at 31 seconds, just before it switches back to the two soldiers, he's on the right side.

What's the Parappa reference? Is it the thing that moves out of view from behind the dogs just as the soldiers enter?

>> ^Shepppard:

So, this video makes reference to:
CoD (or, generic WWII shooters), Twisted Metal, Parappa the Rappa, Little Big Planet, Ratchet and Clank, Final Fantasy, Killzone, Uncharted, God of War, Portal, Infamous, Tekken, MLB/NFL generic games, Metal Gear, Modern Warfare 3, Dead Space, Bioshock, Hitman, Resistance and Assassins Creed.
Not sure if the bartender is supposed to be from somewhere, though.

So, this video makes reference to:

CoD (or, generic WWII shooters), Twisted Metal, Parappa the Rappa, Little Big Planet, Ratchet and Clank, Final Fantasy, Killzone, Uncharted, God of War, Portal, Infamous, Tekken, MLB/NFL generic games, Metal Gear, Modern Warfare 3, Dead Space, Bioshock, Hitman, Resistance and Assassins Creed.

Not sure if the bartender is supposed to be from somewhere, though.

What do they want?

http://occupywallst.org/forum/proposed-list-of-demands-for-occupy-wall-st-moveme/

There you go.

9/9/9 plan … followers are too stupid to realize he's talking about raising taxes.

No – his plan is a staged plan moving towards a fair tax with 9/9/9 as a starting point. Everyone is aware of what it is because it clear, simple, and down on paper. This is in stark contrast to Democrats who want to raise taxes on the middle class but are saying they only want to tax 'millionaires and billionaires’ as with the Obama tax scheme that he calls a ‘jobs bill’.

starting today, the media will go back to ignoring them, on the grounds that now they're just a front for Unions and Democratic political organizations. In other words, at the first signs that this protest might align with a broader liberal agenda, they'll go back to dismissing them

This is just one of those areas where you are going to have to admit you are completely off target Net. The presence of union & other radical leftists REINFORCES the image of these whackos in the minds of the media. You said the media would ignore the protestors 'starting today'. This morning on the news I saw no fewer than FIVE different stories on three networks about the protests ‘ratcheting up’, ‘spreading’, et al. The media coverage isn’t decreasing. It is increasing.

There is no secret about why this is the case. It is because the majority of the media is dominated by leftist sympathizers, and so they naturally gravitate towards these other leftists. For the media, the ‘occupiers’ are a romantic throwback to their own liberal college days. They love these schmucks.

Consider how they treat them. In almost every story the occupiers are given actual SERIOUS consideration. The reporters do not challenge them or their ideas. The reporters slant the stories so that the protestors are shown in a sympathetic light. The media hides away their crazy signs, their lunatic fringes, their violent chants, their anti-american Marxist speakers, their illegal street and sidewalk blockings, and all the other bad things they do or say. But they broadcast ad-nauseum the vids of the cops arresting them as they wail and cry about how they are ‘peaceful’… There are puff peice stories about them needing blankets, and food. Boo hoo hoo.

Now think back again and recall how the very same media treats the Tea Party. From the beginning, the media has tagged the Tea Party as astroturf, racist, hate-fuelled, radical, fringe purveyors of violence. They’ve gone out of their way to paint the Tea Partiers as crazy, evil dupes of the vast Right Wing Conspiracy. Interviews with TP members routinely come from a position of antagonism or outright hostility. Media goes out of their way to find ignore huge crowds of rational, everyday normal folks and thier simple message of fiscal responsibility. But if there's ONE bozo at a rally acting like an @$$hole with a "Obama is Hitler" sign then the media will devote whole news segments to that guy and try to make it look like he is the rule rather than the exception.

Two different protest groups. Two completely different styles of media treatment. And all because the news media is dominated by an east-coast knee-jerk position of leftist philosophy. They say they are unbiased - but talk is cheap. When talk ISN'T cheap, they prove they are biased. Almost 90% of all news media donations to political candidates in 2008 were to Democrats. When was the last time you were in ANY population that was so lopsided? In any normal population, you'll have like 40% GOP, 40% Democrat, and 20% 'other'. The news media is so slanted to the left that it is hard to find any other group quite as radically lopsided and not officially a 'cult'.

As far as Cain goes - he's 100% right. These bozos are attacking the wrong target. If you want to succeed in life you don't go about it by blaming others. You do it by rolling up your sleeves and going to work. The bulk of these protesters are lily-white college doofuses who have never had a real job. Maybe they should try it before they go hatin' on it.

Sorry Net – but you’re wrong on this and today’s media treatment alone proves it.

>> ^Winstonfield_Pennypacker:

Yup. I stand by every word of that. The whole Wisconsin kerfuffle had almost nothing to do with "fairness". It was all about Union power and money. To a man, the protests were bought, paid for, and stoked by a bunch of swaggering, thuggish, threatening, mafioso sleazebags.
ht
tp://bigjournalism.com/jjmnolte/2011/03/18/20-days-of-left-wing-thuggery-in-wisconsin-when-will-obama-democrats-and-msm-call-for-civility/
And after the law passed they are not done. They're going around threatening businesses who don't actively support THEM (unions) with financial ruin. They are threatening families. They are threatening people. They are using violence. There is nothing to praise about these people. They are scum and don't deserve one iota of sympathy.
But of course they are not done. This Cenk vid showing them ratcheting up their rhetoric and activity was easy to predict. Unions were never going to just shrug and go, "Oh well - guess we better start behaving..." Nope. Not with Indiana, Ohio, and several other states in the process of passing similar laws that scale back on the lavish union gravy trains in many locations. The unions know they are facing a huge tide of popular sentiment against them, and they are going to bus in every thug, make every threat, slap every woman, punch every old guy, and beat up any kid they have to in order to make sure they can keep living like pigs on the public dollar.


God-fucking-dammit.

This is not about some "mafioso" union crime bosses. This is about a Republican governor and Republican senators eliminating by fiat collective bargaining.

Collective bargaining! The heart and soul of the only protection and means of progress that the laboring class has ever known in the history of the human race.

From wikipedia: Collective bargaining is a process of negotiations between employers and the representatives of a unit of employees aimed at reaching agreements which regulate working conditions. Collective agreements usually set out wage scales, working hours, training, health and safety, overtime, grievance mechanisms and rights to participate in workplace or company affairs.

The unions acquiesced to Walker's salary demands. They acquiesced to his demand to contribute more to their health care. And yet, even as they acquiesced to the financial aspects of Walker's plan, this still wasn't enough. The Republicans voted to eliminate nearly ALL collective bargaining rights.

Read the above definition of collective bargaining again. Do you really think it's moral to strip workers of the power to declare their workplace is unsafe without fear of retaliation or access to a grievance system that protects them from unfair discipline or termination, or any of a thousand other issues that infringe on basic human rights?

Collective bargaining means far more than just wage negotiations. It is the means by which ordinary workers across a broad range of careers have any leverage to stand up to enormous government and corporate entities (which in this day and age are nearly the same thing thanks to people like the Koch brothers who are funding Walker's criminality) that can and do exploit them in any way that is not strictly prohibited by law.

This is class warfare.

Yup. I stand by every word of that. The whole Wisconsin kerfuffle had almost nothing to do with "fairness". It was all about Union power and money. To a man, the protests were bought, paid for, and stoked by a bunch of swaggering, thuggish, threatening, mafioso sleazebags.

http://bigjournalism.com/jjmnolte/2011/03/18/20-days-of-left-wing-thuggery-in-wisconsin-when-will-obama-democrats-and-msm-call-for-civility/

And after the law passed they are not done. They're going around threatening businesses who don't actively support THEM (unions) with financial ruin. They are threatening families. They are threatening people. They are using violence. There is nothing to praise about these people. They are scum and don't deserve one iota of sympathy.

But of course they are not done. This Cenk vid showing them ratcheting up their rhetoric and activity was easy to predict. Unions were never going to just shrug and go, "Oh well - guess we better start behaving..." Nope. Not with Indiana, Ohio, and several other states in the process of passing similar laws that scale back on the lavish union gravy trains in many locations. The unions know they are facing a huge tide of popular sentiment against them, and they are going to bus in every thug, make every threat, slap every woman, punch every old guy, and beat up any kid they have to in order to make sure they can keep living like pigs on the public dollar.

The pertinent bits of each example given by Qmush (hi, Qmush!):

slap him
I'd spit on her
I am only hoping that when Glen Beck does put a gun to his head
It's about time that we have an intifada in this country that changes fundamentally the political dynamics in here
The Iraqis ... are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow -- and they will win
there has never been an army as violent and murderous as our army has been in Iraq.
I hope his wife feeds him lots of eggs and butter
This administration is waging war on poor children

Compared to (paraphrased from memory):
Don't retreat, reload
First to the ballot box, if that doesn't work, then to the bullet box
The recent news story of the gun manufacturer who was offering a limited edition run of a automatic weapon gun part inscribed with "you lie"
Water the tree of liberty with blood


The Dems hoped someone would make an omelet. That's their big threat. Feed them. Ratchet it up a bit to ... Slap someone. Spit on them. Plus a couple of ugly and maybe not ugly observations about what other people might do of their own accord.

No direct threats that incite violent action that would lead to loss of life. None.

That intifada thing is the closest thing about inciting to violence. It wasn't a politician who said it, it was clearly not a planned speech, it was something said in the heat of the moment. But I'll halfway grant you that one. Reluctantly.

I think you have to give it up, Q. That, or find some better examples. These don't make it.

I watched the entire thing and right around the ending there the only thought I could succumb to was " fuckin idiots"

a piece of equipment was ratcheted down wrong or held in place with bungee cords and in turn destroys all that work and money and history.

Fuckin idiots.

Excellent.

I got goose bumps when the foreboding book closed.

I do want to bring something up here though. You don't lock and load an M1 Garand except once. When you load a magazine into the weapon the top round will chamber. So when the other soldier ratchets the bolt, he would be wasting the top round. I know that filmmakers do this for the effect, but to stay true to period this is a useless gesture.

Also the sound effects for the lock and load are to clean and crisp. Just listen to the video below.

Their use of "neutral" for the zero ratio is a little misleading (assuming I'm understanding the mechanics involved correctly). "Neutral" tends to imply that the output is disengaged from the input, but in this case the zero ratio is actually holding the output stationary (ie- you can't freely turn the output arm by hand).

For a true neutral the transmission output would still need to be disengaged from the wheels. It makes me wonder what happens if someone is coasting downhill at highway speeds and then puts the vehicle back into gear without touching the gas pedal. Current CVTs can at least slip if the torque gets too high.

Edit: A ratcheting system would probably solve this issue, for forward motion at least, but would make the next part more difficult.

Also, since I live in the mountains, does anyone know if current CVT vehicles offer any way to engine brake? Using the standard brakes on multi-mile continuous downhills can cause problems, but is the driver generally given a way to "downshift" a CVT?