That troublemaker M.Simon suckered me in to doing a little freelance writing for ecnmag.com.
I don't know if you'll see it without signing up, but at the moment it is showing up as the "lead story" when you go to the website. Maybe you can make me look good by going to see this very short fusion rant.
http://www.ecnmag.com/
In other news, I bought a new DSLR with HD video capabilities a week or two back, and now fancy myself a videographer. Nothing great so far, but I'm practicing. If I can get my animation skills down I hope to finally do some electrodynamic fusion videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBBLT4j6_aw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OytrsuP6J2w
Writing gig ...
Re: Writing gig ...
As in 'free' lance, Tom?
The issue regarding fission is a bit more involved. Slow fission will keep the electricity flowing for only a short while if it came to be any more heavily depended on, but the planet needs to develop breeder reactors (inc. thorium) right now. And not just 'develop' it, the target needed is shunting lots of electrons along the grid.
The reason that fast breeding/fission is so important in the plan is that fusion is too high a risk to go in one step, and breeders are a known but undeveloped technology. If the fusion power target is not achieved within the 'slow fission' era, it looks like it will be too late to develop the fast breeders if that step is missed. So, fast fission should be looked upon as an essential, albeit parallel, step in the timeline towards fusion.
Tom's essential thesis is correct though. In fact, it is unquestionable, and the only surprise is that most others haven't realised that yet. When chrismb describes how to achieve, and what it would look like for, human civilisation in a million years time, those who struggle with a 5 year plan think he's just plain bonkers. But one way or the other, descendants of humans will be roaming this planet in a million year's time. The ONLY question is whether they will be tweaking the controls of fusion reactors, or climbing trees for fruit for their main meal of the day. This singular point is quite simply so far from people's thought today that it is beyond their puny comprehensions.
The issue regarding fission is a bit more involved. Slow fission will keep the electricity flowing for only a short while if it came to be any more heavily depended on, but the planet needs to develop breeder reactors (inc. thorium) right now. And not just 'develop' it, the target needed is shunting lots of electrons along the grid.
The reason that fast breeding/fission is so important in the plan is that fusion is too high a risk to go in one step, and breeders are a known but undeveloped technology. If the fusion power target is not achieved within the 'slow fission' era, it looks like it will be too late to develop the fast breeders if that step is missed. So, fast fission should be looked upon as an essential, albeit parallel, step in the timeline towards fusion.
Tom's essential thesis is correct though. In fact, it is unquestionable, and the only surprise is that most others haven't realised that yet. When chrismb describes how to achieve, and what it would look like for, human civilisation in a million years time, those who struggle with a 5 year plan think he's just plain bonkers. But one way or the other, descendants of humans will be roaming this planet in a million year's time. The ONLY question is whether they will be tweaking the controls of fusion reactors, or climbing trees for fruit for their main meal of the day. This singular point is quite simply so far from people's thought today that it is beyond their puny comprehensions.
Re: Writing gig ...
The average lifespan of a species of about 100k years? If being "smart" doesn't pay off, we probably wont be around.
Carter
Re: Writing gig ...
Tom,
Thanks for what you have done to push Polywell along, including your practical contributions towards bringing it into reality. I must say I haven't done much other than learn about it, still my frustration on EMC2 progress is dawning hard and I am really slow to become frustrated. It seems like the EMC2 work is being done by scientists as a bureaucratic science project, not like a project where the lost opportunity cost is as large as we all here seem to believe (including me).
I would not have become an engineer if I was just a talker, I would have become a mathematician in a university, but at this time in life I am ruled by health (disease), and money constraints, not to mention that saving the world is not my life goal. I am correcting the health issue and money issue (probably by this years end, but I can't see any future change to the other issue. Nevertheless, the seemingly bureaucratic slowness of Polywell is important enough to be really irritating.
I take it that if you felt frustrated as I do about Polywell progress you would not be working on solar home projects and writing about fusion in ECN, but then you signed that paper...On the other hand, if you really believed good progress was being made, why write such an article? And that makes me worry, and bothers me, but so much seems to bother me these days.
Thanks for what you have done to push Polywell along, including your practical contributions towards bringing it into reality. I must say I haven't done much other than learn about it, still my frustration on EMC2 progress is dawning hard and I am really slow to become frustrated. It seems like the EMC2 work is being done by scientists as a bureaucratic science project, not like a project where the lost opportunity cost is as large as we all here seem to believe (including me).
I would not have become an engineer if I was just a talker, I would have become a mathematician in a university, but at this time in life I am ruled by health (disease), and money constraints, not to mention that saving the world is not my life goal. I am correcting the health issue and money issue (probably by this years end, but I can't see any future change to the other issue. Nevertheless, the seemingly bureaucratic slowness of Polywell is important enough to be really irritating.
I take it that if you felt frustrated as I do about Polywell progress you would not be working on solar home projects and writing about fusion in ECN, but then you signed that paper...On the other hand, if you really believed good progress was being made, why write such an article? And that makes me worry, and bothers me, but so much seems to bother me these days.
Counting the days to commercial fusion. It is not that long now.
Re: Writing gig ...
Why write the article? Because Simon got me the gig and the first thing they wanted was a short energy "pot-boiler" to stir things up, like the ones that made Simon so popular there.
But I won't write just anything somebody asks for. I stuck to the suggested length and that limited how much I could say, but I've been feeling a frustration with short-sightedness regarding our energy future for a very long time.
And I really was set off by cruising Google News and encountering a "news article" (curious how blogs and actual news seem to be interchangeable these days) declaring that the only solution to our present problem was energy taxes.
I've just finished article number two. It is completely different.
These are not for free ... I get paid a little. But I've never really written for money.
But I won't write just anything somebody asks for. I stuck to the suggested length and that limited how much I could say, but I've been feeling a frustration with short-sightedness regarding our energy future for a very long time.
And I really was set off by cruising Google News and encountering a "news article" (curious how blogs and actual news seem to be interchangeable these days) declaring that the only solution to our present problem was energy taxes.
I've just finished article number two. It is completely different.
These are not for free ... I get paid a little. But I've never really written for money.
Re: Writing gig ...
Chris,
Fission is indeed more involved and deserves its own article. I may take a crack at it, but no short blog does any of this justice.
Fission has its faults, and I only consider it a stopgap. The worst fault is proliferation of weapons material. Waste is a problem but I consider the problem more political than practical ... find a nice geologically stable place, vitrify it, and entomb it. I mean, what else is Nevada good for, anyway?
The guy finding the disposal site in 10,000 years will be better off if civilization never fails. If it fails now, he'll find a bunch of plants the were never shut down and dismantled. More to the point, he'll live in a wrecked world due to 6 billion people forced to try to make a living without the industry they depended on.
Nukes do make nice, steady power at industrial levels and we can use it.
We were just starting to warm up to the things when Fukishima was hit by the tsunami. Frankly, I thought the plant withstood the quake and tsunami splendidly. The problem was a severe version of Three Mile Island, failure of cooling after the system scrammed. The solutions to prevent a recurrence could be worked out on napkins over lunch by a couple of engineers.
A. Remember to put fuel in the backup generators.
B. Provide power lines into the plant so that if the generators fail, you can bring in backups to some location safely outside the plant.
C. Provide backup points of attachment for the cooling plumbing, readily reached without undue exposure, where cooling water can be pumped in from well outside the plant.
Fission is indeed more involved and deserves its own article. I may take a crack at it, but no short blog does any of this justice.
Fission has its faults, and I only consider it a stopgap. The worst fault is proliferation of weapons material. Waste is a problem but I consider the problem more political than practical ... find a nice geologically stable place, vitrify it, and entomb it. I mean, what else is Nevada good for, anyway?
The guy finding the disposal site in 10,000 years will be better off if civilization never fails. If it fails now, he'll find a bunch of plants the were never shut down and dismantled. More to the point, he'll live in a wrecked world due to 6 billion people forced to try to make a living without the industry they depended on.
Nukes do make nice, steady power at industrial levels and we can use it.
We were just starting to warm up to the things when Fukishima was hit by the tsunami. Frankly, I thought the plant withstood the quake and tsunami splendidly. The problem was a severe version of Three Mile Island, failure of cooling after the system scrammed. The solutions to prevent a recurrence could be worked out on napkins over lunch by a couple of engineers.
A. Remember to put fuel in the backup generators.
B. Provide power lines into the plant so that if the generators fail, you can bring in backups to some location safely outside the plant.
C. Provide backup points of attachment for the cooling plumbing, readily reached without undue exposure, where cooling water can be pumped in from well outside the plant.
Re: Writing gig ...
Whereas fission may not be QUITE as sustainable as fusion; 500,000,000 years is still a good amount of time for us to figure out the next step. 0.5Gy is how long we could maintain the predicted peak world population at US levels of energy consumption using Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors.
Re: Writing gig ...
It is so fun having you at ECN. I wrote up your start there and also how I got started with Polywell Here: http://classicalvalues.com/2013/03/tom- ... g-for-ecn/
Here is a direct link to your article: http://www.ecnmag.com/blogs/2013/03/nuc ... vilization
No registration is required to read anything. And if you are registered with Disqus you can comment.
Also note: if any of you have writing ambitions ECN is looking for writers:
http://www.ecnmag.com/articles/2012/05/call-freelancers
I would be glad to have a look at your first piece, give you some pointers, and shepherd it through the process. I get brownie points for bringing new writers on board.
Here is a direct link to your article: http://www.ecnmag.com/blogs/2013/03/nuc ... vilization
No registration is required to read anything. And if you are registered with Disqus you can comment.
Also note: if any of you have writing ambitions ECN is looking for writers:
http://www.ecnmag.com/articles/2012/05/call-freelancers
I would be glad to have a look at your first piece, give you some pointers, and shepherd it through the process. I get brownie points for bringing new writers on board.
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.
Re: Writing gig ...
Thanks Tom for clearing that up. I thought the article was nicely written and I understand how word constraints are limiting. I just got needlessly concerned. Again, thanks for all your past Polywell work and successful efforts at keeping the project alive.
Counting the days to commercial fusion. It is not that long now.
Re: Writing gig ...
Anyone suggesting that more taxes are a solution to shortages and high prices is at best an ignoramus, with possibilities extending to those warranting a lynching. But all too many people in government, and the people who vote for them, appear to share this mentality.Tom Ligon wrote:...a "news article" ... declaring that the only solution to our present problem was energy taxes.
The daylight is uncomfortably bright for eyes so long in the dark.
Re: Writing gig ...
kcdodd wrote:The average lifespan of a species of about 100k years? If being "smart" doesn't pay off, we probably wont be around.
Tell that to a horseshoe crab!
Re: Writing gig ...
True.Tom Ligon wrote:Chris,
Fission is indeed more involved and deserves its own article. I may take a crack at it, but no short blog does any of this justice.
Tom's article can be looked forward to!
Re: Writing gig ...
I just submitted piece number two (Tuesday night, 3/27/2013). We'll see if they bite. This one is engineering history, not fusion. The editor seemed to be looking forward to the new one even more than the first.
After these two I'll probably slow down, do something mundane, like maybe troubleshoot that busted LG flatscreen monitor using my thermal imager. Supposedly my $150 monitor was likely taken out by a $1.50 capacitor, if it fits the pattern of most failures. Show off my new camera on my microscope looking at some cooked surface mount part or something. UV inspection of conformal coating. Snoooooze!
After these two I'll probably slow down, do something mundane, like maybe troubleshoot that busted LG flatscreen monitor using my thermal imager. Supposedly my $150 monitor was likely taken out by a $1.50 capacitor, if it fits the pattern of most failures. Show off my new camera on my microscope looking at some cooked surface mount part or something. UV inspection of conformal coating. Snoooooze!
Re: Writing gig ...
Once you get started with them you can write most anything you like about technical subjects. And at almost any length. Or do a series. They are very loose with their bloggers.Tom Ligon wrote:I just submitted piece number two (Tuesday night, 3/27/2013). We'll see if they bite. This one is engineering history, not fusion. The editor seemed to be looking forward to the new one even more than the first.
After these two I'll probably slow down, do something mundane, like maybe troubleshoot that busted LG flatscreen monitor using my thermal imager. Supposedly my $150 monitor was likely taken out by a $1.50 capacitor, if it fits the pattern of most failures. Show off my new camera on my microscope looking at some cooked surface mount part or something. UV inspection of conformal coating. Snoooooze!
The only requirement: be a good read and generate traffic. And not every piece needs to be a traffic generator. You can indulge yourself and impart technical wisdom from time to time.
Also: they like photos if you can provide them for articles.
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.
Re: Writing gig ...
Fascinating. One of my ancestors was this guy.Tom Ligon wrote:I just submitted piece number two (Tuesday night, 3/27/2013). We'll see if they bite. This one is engineering history, not fusion.
About that picture used to illustrate your article: intentional irony?
I was pretty sure those uniforms looked a little off, but it was the Union Flag that clinched it for me.Temperature, density, confinement time: pick any two.