Talk-Polywell.org

Any official news yet? Any thoughts on when we might reasonably expect some official news? My guess is, maybe, by 30 September. You know, the end of the fiscal year.

What about un-official news?

Alan Boyle is on vacation, doing the Oshkosh airshow. Maybe when he is done with that (maybe reporting what my company had to show off), he'll check back in with EMC2.

If you want unofficial news you need to sign an NDA.

Hint: let the process run. It is running. All I can say.

In another thread Rick N. suggested that a person who wished to contact his Congress critter hold off for a while.

I think that tells us something. What that something is is a question open to speculation.

I'd sign an NDA (and thus be able to end my nail biting) except that then I couldn't speculate. Where is the fun in that? Besides nails grow back when the biting stops.

My guess? An announcement will be made some time around contract end (22 Aug.)

Simon

Patience is a virtue which I find in short supply, both for myself and others.

However, it is needed.

(Return to chanting mantras ... "Hurry up O Rick, hurry up O Rick ...)



Regards,
Tony Barry

We have to be very careful about dealing with Congress on this. Money that gets appropriated through Congressional pressure looks like an earmark and gets labeled as pork. That kind of money can go away in a big hurry. That wouldn't serve anyone very well. Consequently, we are going through the peer review process. That's the right way to do things.

We have to be very careful about dealing with Congress on this. Money that gets appropriated through Congressional pressure looks like an earmark and gets labeled as pork. That kind of money can go away in a big hurry. That wouldn't serve anyone very well. Consequently, we are going through the peer review process. That's the right way to do things.

I think this may have been the first time I've heard concern that pork money would disappear . Not that I think it should have any bearing on the way you are going about things, but these days I think energy ranks much higher on the list of priorities than pork. I can't imagine many politicians voting down a possible solution to both a very tricky energy and environmental problem for fear it would be viewed as pork.

I will back-off in my attempts to contact Norm Dicks, my congressman. It was becoming a somewhat frustrating exercise. Although I have spoken with with three different assistants of his, have sent two different emails, and two different USPS letters - one with a "polywell packet," I have not ever had the feeling that he actually got the message. (I also sent a single email polywell appeal to each of my Senators, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell about 9 months ago: one of them sent a generic "we always like to hear from..blah blah" reply; the other sent no reply at all.)

However, regarding the potential polywell "pork" label, I got quite the opposite slant about three weeks ago from Norm Dick's secretary in his Tacoma office. She asked me why Norm would want to support funding for a project way down in New Mexico? She wanted to know what would such a project do for people in here in Norm's home district in Western Washington? (I did remind her that should the polywell fulfill its promise, then the whole world would benefit - even the people in Norm's District; and I also reminded her that this was NAVY project; that the polywell would ultimately be used on ships and subs very much involved with Bremerton, Bangor and shipyards in Tacoma - all in his District.)

But yes, I will definitely back off, at least until we hear results from the peer review.

Bill Flint

I can't imagine many politicians voting down a possible solution to both a very tricky energy and environmental problem for fear it would be viewed as pork.

Problem is, from the point of view of an outsider with a neutral or negative take on Polywell, it's not drop-dead obvious that it's the answer to energy problems. Of course we're all anxious for it to be the big win. It's a very exciting possibilty. But let the team make a solid case first.

Consequently, we are going through the peer review process. That's the right way to do things.

Couldn't agree more. A lot of people regard all fusion projects as a boondoggle, which isn't unreasonable considering the track record.

I wrote my Congressperson a while back, but basically just asked them to keep this on their radar and pay attention to what the review found.

"Success has many fathers. Failure is an orphan. "

If this sucker works, congress will be falling all over themselves to fund it, and they will all claim credit in their districts.



David

That’s an interesting point on congress. I hadn’t considered that. Luckily I’m a nobody and so nobody listens to me.

TallDave wrote:

Consequently, we are going through the peer review process. That's the right way to do things.

Couldn't agree more. A lot of people regard all fusion projects as a boondoggle, which isn't unreasonable considering the track record.

I wrote my Congressperson a while back, but basically just asked them to keep this on their radar and pay attention to what the review found.

I did the same with my Congress critter.

I also contacted Obama (one of my Senators) on one of his blogs but so far nothing has come of that.

I was pushing the political angle a lot harder a few months ago. Now I'm just waiting for results.

What I am doing is leaving comments at various blogs when the appropriate search terms come up. Something I have been doing since Nov. 006. i.e. helping to build demand. If the demand is there supply will follow. esp. in an election year.

Now a days when fusion comes up in a blog about 1/3 of the time Polywell gets mentioned either in the post or in the comments. Surprisingly the commenters often have no connection to the Polywell community. So the efforts are paying off.

Also I have a standing request from Instapundit for reports on progress. When news comes out expect a big splash there. He is pretty tech savvy for a law Prof. Once it splashes there expect ripples. BTW he linked to the last Alan Boyle report. He has also linked to some of my blog posts on Polywell at Classical Values blog. I think he has also linked some of Tall Dave's stuff on Polywell at Dean Esmay.

All in all I'd say we are well positioned if the news is positive.

The #1 rule in politics is to find a big parade and then insert yourself in the front. Especially in an election year.

One of the stated goals for this summer was a very high level review of the results of the WB-7 experiments. Does anyone know if this meeting will go ahead as planned? If so who's on the invite list and how many have RSVP'd?

As I try to understand the process of ONR peer review I came across this document. Can anyone tell us if the review going on now is looking at both facets?
1) done right
2) right to do

(see SELECTION OF PEER REVIEWERS phg. 2)
?One common error in panel selection is limiting the choice of
research experts to those who have specific expertise in the
subdisciplines of the existing program. This provides an answer to
the question of whether the job is being done right, but not to
whether the right job is being done. The former question relates
to detailed technical quality, while the latter question relates
more to investment strategy in the broadest sense (investment
strategy is the rationale for the prioritization and allocation of
resources among the program components)."

http://www.onr.navy.mil/sci_tech/33/332 ... erweb1.doc
________
FERRARI TIPO 500

rnebel wrote:We have to be very careful about dealing with Congress

DR Nebel,

I work in campaigns here in NJ. I am able to , I can get face time with Sen Menedez on 3 days notice, likely Sen Launtenberg too, and most of the NJ Dem House caucus, including Rush Holt who I believe has a PHD in Physics. Along with about 17 state House members in NJ as well as the Governor.

I also have many connections @ SUNY @ Stony Brook in the math & Physics depts, whose former president is now Bush's science advisor. My Dad was a electronic tech in WW2, radar tubes ya know, and has been at SUNY since the early 1060's

Yeah- earmarks are a no no these days. If you want 20+ million for 160 cm net power reactor, what do feel is the right path? And when ?

We all want the same thing, and like I said, I can make some phone calls and get face time with some powerful people. building consensus is something I do well.