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TPP to Piketty – The Slow War
Trans Pacific Partnership, Retirement Security, and Piketty income inequality are backdrop to slow but very real warfare. The TPP issue is not an isolated topic but part of deep background to an unspoken but real efforts to change the structure … Continue reading
Posted in Economics
Tagged Danial Wasserman, Dean Baker, Dionne Searcey, Emmanual Saez, exchange rate, free trade, income inequality, Inverstor State Dispute Settlement, ISDS, James Surowiecki, Median wage, Michael Wasielewski, renminbi, Rich Peoples Rules, Robert Gebeloff, Slow Revolution, Thomas Piketty, TPP, Trans Pacific Partnership, yen
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NIF Notes_Hohlraum Spring-2015
Tiny target chambers may become rugby footballs. Will these save ICF/IFE? During the early spring (2015), the National Ignition Facilty (NIF) at LLNL released/published several modifications to the target design that are worth mentioning. One is the realization that the … Continue reading
Posted in Technology
Tagged CBET, Hohlraum, M. Rosen, national ignition facility, NIF beam overlap, rugby hohlraum, SBS, SRS, T. Ma
2 Comments
Physics – Science or Ideology?
Should physics theories be tested – or just accepted? So asks essay the in New York Times Adam Frank and Marcelo Gleiser discuss whether Physics has moved beyond the need to be checked. Their essay (Sunday New York Times 2015-Jun-7) … Continue reading
NIF Notes_tents Spring 2015
The NIF fusion lab reports that their target support structure could hurt implosion results – our discussion. During the early spring (2015), the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at LLNL released/published several modifications to the target that are worth mentioning. One … Continue reading
Posted in Technology
Tagged Hohlraum, hohlraum tents, LLNL, NIF, target support structure
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NIF Notes_shells Spring-2015
NIF reports tests with capsule designs that illuminate the path toward great results During the early spring (2015), the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at LLNL released/published several modifications to the targets worth discussing. One is the realization that the gossamer … Continue reading
Fortunetelling killed by Time’s arrow
Precognition / clairvoyance / prescience? Not in our universe! The gypsy soothsayer says “Cross my hand with silver and I will tell you your true future.” If such actions could be possible, over our past 70,000 years, the soothsayer’s guild … Continue reading
Posted in General
Tagged Doug Beason, Fermi paradox, James Randi, Kevin Anderson, Larry Niven, magic, Mona Clee, Nature of time, Precognition, Stephen King, teleportation, time travel
2 Comments
KMS Fusion – an addendum
KMS Fusion, an early ICF group mostly remembered for its mashup of good science and bad politics. This is our historical addendum. An excellent article on the beginning of ICF (inertial confinement fusion) was posted on January 28th by ScienceLine’s … Continue reading
Posted in Technology
Tagged Alex Wellerstein, Chelsey Coombes, Chroma Laser, DBIS, icf, inertial fusion, Keeve M Siegel, Keith Brueckner, Kent Moncur, Kip Siegel, KMS fusion
30 Comments
KXL threatens US environment -Not energy -Not climate
Keystone XL is is a threat to US environmental integrity. Its Senate vote is near. The bill forcing development of the Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline build is about to be set before the president. The proponents say it is about … Continue reading
Fusion Paths Not Taken -4
Secretive Tri Alpha Energy makes fusion progress. Has private backers and Government ones too, but –Russian– not U.S. We finish our Fusion Paths Not Taken series by looking at Tri Alpha Energy (TAE). TAE was started with the explicit goal … Continue reading
Fusion Paths Not Taken -3
Outlier LPP proposes Dense Plasma Focus and the hardest fuel! Do they really have a chance? In these final two posts, we discuss proposals that use magnetized target fusion ideas but both have the goal using p-11B fuel at successful … Continue reading
Posted in Technology
Tagged dense plasma focus, DFP, Eric Lerner, focus fusion, Hamid Yousefi, LPP, LPPF, p-B11
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Fusion Paths not taken 2
Do magnetized plasma targets offer options for smaller, cheaper fusion power? In this part -2 of our Paths Not Followed series, we discuss 3 proposals that show promise of being fusion game changers. All consider manipulating blobs of plasma isolated … Continue reading
Posted in Technology
Tagged Chris Pihl, Colliding Plasma, David Kirtley, F. Douglas Witherspoon, Field Reversed Configuration, Fusion Engine, General Fusion, George Votroubek, Helion Energy, HyperV Technologies, Hypervelocity, John Slough, LPP plasma focus, Magnetized Target fusion, Michel Laberge, MSNW, PJMIF, PLX
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Fusion Paths Not Taken – 1
Magnetically confined plasma fusion was abandoned decades ago. Has their time come? Magnetic fusion concepts require coils to form the field. One path that is still being proposed is to embed the coils into the fusion-grade plasma because confinement can … Continue reading
Posted in Technology
Tagged CFR, Charles Chase, cusp, Dynomak, EMC2, Lockheed-Martin, multipole, polywell, Robert Bussard, Spheromak, Thomas Jarboe
3 Comments
Stirring the Fusion Pot
8 companies are looking for non-government funding of their innovative fusion ideas. Hoax or real? There are a number of reports in the recent months of Amazing! New! and Simple! ways of generating fusion power. Fraction of the cost of … Continue reading
Posted in Technology
Tagged 1958 Fusion Reactor Ad, D-He3, D-T, Dynomak, EMC2, General Fusion, Helion Energy, KMS fusion, Lockheed CFR, LPP plasma focus, Naive fusion, p-B11, Tri Alpha Energy
2 Comments
Saving Production Rules
If California can do it for chicken eggs, why can’t we do it for all goods sold in America? The Oct 4 print copy of the New York Times Business section has the report (on-line) on the recent United States … Continue reading
How To Peel A Mango
Peel a mango, remove its pit, without mess and in less than a minute. Same for any other stone fruit. Mangoes are my favorite fruit. This even though they have a bad reputation for being really messy, wasteful to peel, … Continue reading
Posted in General
Tagged BBC Hercule Poirot, lemon freezer ice cream, mango, peel and de-pit fruit, stone fruit
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Gini Index demonstrates Saez-Piketty Inequality
The Gini index demonstrates Saez-Piketty trends. These two very different markers show that inequality is increasing. The trend line for the Gini index (Gini) is well correlated with the trend line from Saez-Piketty Inequality (SPI) studies, although these two ways … Continue reading
Business Startups and Inequality
FiveThirtyEight posted on the decline of startups. Who would have thought of Saez-Piketty inequality? New information shows that startup businesses in the U.S. have been following a declining trend since 1977. This was posted by Ben Casselman, chief economics … Continue reading
Are Tuition Costs Exaggerated?
Claims that college tuition rate rises cause problems are wrong. Or are they? Do rising college costs exclude some and force others into crippling loans that weaken their future? Maybe that’s nonsense! Maybe the exact opposite is true – aren’t … Continue reading
Should oil trains get limited liability?
Exploding oil cars do not deserve a waiver from the costs they generate. Warren Buffett has requested that oil train companies get a liability limitation – just like nuclear power plants, so reports Heather Smith in her 2014 Aug 6 … Continue reading
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