Lawaranceville E-Newsletter

Point out news stories, on the net or in mainstream media, related to polywell fusion.

Moderators: tonybarry, MSimon

GIThruster
Posts: 4686
Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 8:17 pm

Post by GIThruster »

Trouble is in most States here in the US, using any sort of light on a hunting weapon is illegal. In states where poaching is a serious crime like Oregon, using a lighted sight will land you jail time. Shooting more than 30 minutes before sunrise or 30 minutes after sunset is usually considered poaching, so you don't need lighted sights to hunt. There are probably many exceptions. I think you can hunt crocs in FL at night.

The best application is probably handgun sights, because they allow one to point and shoot in complete darkness, without giving away your position the way a laser does.

http://www.trijicon.com/na_en/products/ ... hp?id=HDNS

Though note the multitude of applications provided.

http://www.trijicon.com/na_en/products/selector.php
"Courage is not just a virtue, but the form of every virtue at the testing point." C. S. Lewis

Joseph Chikva
Posts: 2039
Joined: Sat Apr 02, 2011 4:30 am

Post by Joseph Chikva »

GIThruster wrote:Trouble is in most States here in the US, using any sort of light on a hunting weapon is illegal. In states where poaching is a serious crime like Oregon, using a lighted sight will land you jail time. Shooting more than 30 minutes before sunrise or 30 minutes after sunset is usually considered poaching, so you don't need lighted sights to hunt. There are probably many exceptions. I think you can hunt crocs in FL at night.

The best application is probably handgun sights, because they allow one to point and shoot in complete darkness, without giving away your position the way a laser does.

http://www.trijicon.com/na_en/products/ ... hp?id=HDNS

Though note the multitude of applications provided.

http://www.trijicon.com/na_en/products/selector.php
Regardless to US internal laws such sights are widely used around the world. E.g. I used Kalashnikov equipped with lighting dot sight in 1992. Certainly night vision by intensifying of light or thermal imaging sights are better. But here talk was only about how dangerous tritium can be. My answer is not as dangerous as here many people think. And this was well augmented with the help of easy understood example.

Ivy Matt
Posts: 711
Joined: Sat May 01, 2010 6:43 am

Post by Ivy Matt »

The newest report is available online here and for download here. It's dated September 18, but it only appeared recently. I'm not sure what's up with that. :?

Mostly it's about the ongoing attempt to tame arcing. However, the arcing problems have also provided evidence that the filaments are as small as about 100 microns in diameter, as LPP predicted.
Temperature, density, confinement time: pick any two.

KitemanSA
Posts: 6179
Joined: Sun Sep 28, 2008 3:05 pm
Location: OlyPen WA

Post by KitemanSA »

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo.” —attr. to Andy Finkel, among others
Ivy,
I like your signature tag. :D
Last edited by KitemanSA on Fri Nov 30, 2012 5:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Ivy Matt
Posts: 711
Joined: Sat May 01, 2010 6:43 am

Post by Ivy Matt »

Thanks, I like it too. I believe it was a Unix fortune where I got it from. Here's a similar one:
"Any sufficiently advanced bug is indistinguishable from a feature." —Rich Kulawiec
Temperature, density, confinement time: pick any two.

DeltaV
Posts: 2245
Joined: Mon Oct 12, 2009 5:05 am

Post by DeltaV »

Ivy Matt wrote:Thanks, I like it too. I believe it was a Unix fortune where I got it from. Here's a similar one:
"Any sufficiently advanced bug is indistinguishable from a feature." —Rich Kulawiec
Microsoft's modus operandi, e.g. Vista "folder content sniffing".

Ivy Matt
Posts: 711
Joined: Sat May 01, 2010 6:43 am

Post by Ivy Matt »

The latest newsletter, dated November 15 (although it was just recently posted for public perusal) is available here.

Topics include:

Hurricane Sandy, its effect on LPP's research (not much), and the need for a more distributed energy supply.

LPP at the APS 2012 Plasma Physics Conference, and possible cooperation with LLNL (on computer simulation) and the University of Alabama (on spacecraft propulsion).

Robert Hirsch's presentation at the 14th U.S.-Japan IECF Workshop and letter to the New York Times' Dot Earth blog in favor of the pursuit of aneutronic fusion.

The video of LPP's October 12th presentation hosted by the Center for Economic & Environmental Partnership at Ernst & Young in New York City.

Recent results of the Fusion For Peace initiative, including a visit by Iranian plasma physicist Hamid Yousefi to the LPP lab, future opportunities for collaboration, and an upcoming proposal to the IAEA to establish a Collaborative Research Project for Aneutronic Fusion.

This appears to be the latest real news about the experiment itself (from the article on APS 2012):
Our new micro-ohm meter allowed us to test for the contact resistance that causes arcing without assembling and testing the whole machine. But continuing small resistances forced us to switch from the copper cathode plate with tungsten ring to an all-tungsten plate. We did not have time to test that new plate before the conference (and the simultaneous storm).
Temperature, density, confinement time: pick any two.

MSimon
Posts: 14334
Joined: Mon Jul 16, 2007 7:37 pm
Location: Rockford, Illinois
Contact:

Post by MSimon »

Loved seeing Torulf's Polywell image again and also seeing that LPP gave him credit.

http://lawrencevilleplasmaphysics.com/i ... &Itemid=90

and in case you missed it:

Hirsch in the NYTs:

http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/ ... the-field/

It is exciting to be in the loop on much of what is going on.

Ivy Matt wrote:The latest newsletter, dated November 15 (although it was just recently posted for public perusal) is available here.

Topics include:

Hurricane Sandy, its effect on LPP's research (not much), and the need for a more distributed energy supply.

LPP at the APS 2012 Plasma Physics Conference, and possible cooperation with LLNL (on computer simulation) and the University of Alabama (on spacecraft propulsion).

Robert Hirsch's presentation at the 14th U.S.-Japan IECF Workshop and letter to the New York Times' Dot Earth blog in favor of the pursuit of aneutronic fusion.

The video of LPP's October 12th presentation hosted by the Center for Economic & Environmental Partnership at Ernst & Young in New York City.

Recent results of the Fusion For Peace initiative, including a visit by Iranian plasma physicist Hamid Yousefi to the LPP lab, future opportunities for collaboration, and an upcoming proposal to the IAEA to establish a Collaborative Research Project for Aneutronic Fusion.

This appears to be the latest real news about the experiment itself (from the article on APS 2012):
Our new micro-ohm meter allowed us to test for the contact resistance that causes arcing without assembling and testing the whole machine. But continuing small resistances forced us to switch from the copper cathode plate with tungsten ring to an all-tungsten plate. We did not have time to test that new plate before the conference (and the simultaneous storm).
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.

D Tibbets
Posts: 2775
Joined: Thu Jun 26, 2008 6:52 am

Post by D Tibbets »

It is worth noting that while Hirsch, and Bussard as the deputy director, promoted the tokamak big spending course, they also desired a varied research effort on other approaches. According to Bussard's GOOGLE talk, this was a political ploy, which failed, partially because both left the agency shortly therefter. Why they left has not been addressed.

Dan Tibbets
To error is human... and I'm very human.

Ivy Matt
Posts: 711
Joined: Sat May 01, 2010 6:43 am

Post by Ivy Matt »

Another update came out on December 3rd. I downloaded it to read later, but then forgot about it till now.

Announcement

PDF Report

The main update is that the all-tungsten cathode plate was installed on November 10th, but LPP detected a leak in the vacuum chamber. They fired two shots anyway on November 13th, and it appears the arcing has stopped. However, it took them another two weeks to find the source of the leak: a rubber o-ring seal. They redesigned the seal and are (hopefully) now back on track.

Other updates are of new images that appear to confirm some of LPP's ideas about the plasmoid structure, and of collaboration between various Middle East governments (including Iran and Israel) on a synchrotron project, demonstrating (perhaps) the political feasibility of the Fusion for Peace initiative.

There is also a transcript of the October 12th presentation here.
Temperature, density, confinement time: pick any two.

Skipjack
Posts: 6805
Joined: Sun Sep 28, 2008 2:29 pm

Re: Lawaranceville E-Newsletter

Post by Skipjack »


Stubby
Posts: 877
Joined: Sun Aug 05, 2012 4:05 pm

Re: Lawaranceville E-Newsletter

Post by Stubby »

I get worried when the first thing they say is: Our article is the most read blahblahblah.
This interest is validation by our peers of LPP’s own view, expressed in our last report, that we are the leading R&D laboratory for aneutronic, radioactive-waste-free fusion, the only known means that can produce safe, nonpolluting, and unlimited energy at a cost well below that of existing technology.
Just because something is the most read does not validate anything it says. Why even mention that? Is the rest of the paper so devoid of meaning or value?
Everything is bullshit unless proven otherwise. -A.C. Beddoe

Skipjack
Posts: 6805
Joined: Sun Sep 28, 2008 2:29 pm

Re: Lawaranceville E-Newsletter

Post by Skipjack »

Uhm so you are saying that the new peak beam output power of 380 GW (a 4 fold increase over the previous one), almost exceeding theoretical predicitons and one 1/15th of the input power are nothing worth reporting?

Stubby
Posts: 877
Joined: Sun Aug 05, 2012 4:05 pm

Re: Lawaranceville E-Newsletter

Post by Stubby »

No i am not saying that. I cannot see where you even got that from my post.

I am saying that the first bullet point is very strange.
Usually you lead with your strongest argument or assertion which in this case is : LPP’s paper ranked #1 most-read in 2012 by the leading journal Physics of Plasmas
Very strange thing for a bunch of scientists to say.
Everything is bullshit unless proven otherwise. -A.C. Beddoe

Skipjack
Posts: 6805
Joined: Sun Sep 28, 2008 2:29 pm

Re: Lawaranceville E-Newsletter

Post by Skipjack »

Stubby wrote:No i am not saying that. I cannot see where you even got that from my post.

I am saying that the first bullet point is very strange.
Usually you lead with your strongest argument or assertion which in this case is : LPP’s paper ranked #1 most-read in 2012 by the leading journal Physics of Plasmas
Very strange thing for a bunch of scientists to say.
Sorry, misread. Was early in the morning and I had not had any caffeine yet. Not sure how I ended up reading what I read ;)
Mea culpa!

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