I’m sure that the Canadian Human Rights Commission will be weighing in any minute.
[crickets chirping]
A Hopeful Long Shot
Some interesting progress in polywell fusion.
“We’re fully operational and we’re getting data,” Nebel said. “The machine runs like a top. You can just sit there and take data all afternoon.”
So was Bussard correct? Will it be worth putting hundreds of millions of dollars into a larger-scale demonstration project, to show that Bussard’s Polywell concept could be a viable route to fusion power?
Nebel said it’s way too early to talk about the answers to those questions. For one thing, it’s up to the project’s funders to assess the data. Toward that end, an independent panel of experts will be coming to Santa Fe this summer to review the WB-7 experiment, Nebel said.
“We’re going to show them the whole thing, warts and all,” he said.
Because of the complexity, it will take some interpretation to determine exactly how the experiment is turning out. “The answers are going to be kind of nuanced,” Nebel said.
The experts’ assessment will feed into the decision on whether to move forward with larger-scale tests. Nebel said he won’t discuss the data publicly until his funders have made that decision.
Let’s hope it pans out. If so, Bob Bussard will be smiling from the grave, or wherever he is.
How To End The Shuttle Program
Louise Riofrio has an interesting idea, but I haven’t given it enough thought to have much of an opinion.
Sauce For The Goose
John McCain continues to justly call for Obama to visit Iraq, and talk to General Petraeus (without preconditions). Well, I think that if Senator McCain would visit ANWR, he might discover that it is nothing at all like the Grand Canyon. Of course, Obama is not in a position to call him on that, since he opposes drilling there (and everywhere else, as far as I can tell) as well.
[Update a minute or two later]
Here’s a great suggestion:
Another way McCain can move toward an ANWR solution is to educate himself on small-footprint drilling practices. He should talk to some oil company guys, get the facts, and then announce STERNLY that he will only support the exploration in ANWR if it strictly adheres to “environmentally friendly low-impact micro-drilling standards” and DEMAND that no more than .5% of the land in that area be compromised in even the slightest way.
Bingo. The oil companies can all drill within those parameters now and McCain can appear as the reasonable tough guy he wants to be.
Unfortunately, I think he’s too stubborn and fixed in his views to do such a thing.
Fighting Global Warming
With geoengineering. But the hair shirters don’t like it:
Stabilization can only be achieved by cutting current carbon dioxide emissions by 80 percent. This means implementing highly unpopular policies of carbon rationing and higher energy prices. So some climate change researchers and environmental activists worry that the public and policymakers will see geoengineering as way to avoid making hard decisions. “If humans perceive an easy technological fix to global warming that allows for ‘business as usual,’ gathering the national (particularly in the United States and China) and international will to change consumption patterns and energy infrastructure will be even more difficult,” writes Rutgers University environmental scientist Alan Robock.
Well, boo frickin’ hoo.
[Update a couple minutes later]
Commenter Chris Potter has a pithy translation: “If there’s no good reason for people to do what I want them to do, they won’t do it.”
Nuance
I’m kind of scratching my head here. Can an Obama supporter explain to me how he can accept the resignation of someone who doesn’t work for him? Maybe it’s just more of that change you can believe in…
Actually, it would be pretty amusing if someone in the press asked him that question. Don’t hold your breath, though.
The Web-Savvy Obama Campaign
LGF has the story.
The man’s good at giving speeches, but he doesn’t seem to be able to identify or hire good staff. Do we really even want him picking cabinet members, let alone running the country?
Not Your Father’s Space Program
Or your grandfather’s either. Fresh from ISDC, Glenn Reynolds has a piece on the state of the private space industry, over at The Atlantic.
Not Your Father’s Space Program
Or your grandfather’s either. Fresh from ISDC, Glenn Reynolds has a piece on the state of the private space industry, over at The Atlantic.
I’m Sure It’s Just A Coincidence
Another jump in oil prices.
Think it has anything to do with the fact that both presidential candidates favor a hidden tax on energy and oppose expanding domestic oil production?
You know, in the past, when I’ve said that prices in this range are not sustainable, I always assumed that, at least at some point, sanity would reign in Washington. What a dumb assumption.
[Thursday morning update]
Wise words from Lileks:
…there’s hope. An article in the paper last week said that the gyrations in the oil market may indicate that the laws of supply and demand no longer apply. Well, clever us, to live in an age where immutable laws are abolished with ease; no doubt faster-than-light travel is now possible as well. Whenever someone says that the old laws no longer apply, it’s a sure sign that the laws are about to reassert themselves with brutal force.
Three-buck gas by October? Likely.
As Carl notes in comments, even when you know you’re in a bubble, you don’t know when it’s going to pop.
[Update a few minutes later]
Anyone wondering why U.S. energy policy is so dysfunctional need only review Congress’s recent antics. Members have debated ideas ranging from suing OPEC to the Senate’s carbon tax-and-regulation monstrosity, to a windfall profits tax on oil companies, to new punishments for “price gouging” – everything except expanding domestic energy supplies.
Amid $135 oil, it ought to be an easy, bipartisan victory to lift the political restrictions on energy exploration and production. Record-high fuel costs are hitting consumers and business like a huge tax increase. Yet the U.S. remains one of the only countries in the world that chooses as a matter of policy to lock up its natural resources. The Chinese think we’re insane and self-destructive, while the Saudis laugh all the way to the bank.
And unfortunately, both presidential candidates are economic ignorami:
Recent weeks have seen some GOP stirrings on Capitol Hill, but John McCain has so far refused to jettison his green posturings, such as his belief in carbon caps and his animus against offshore development. A good reason for a rethink would be $4 gas. At present, it is charitable to call Mr. McCain’s energy ideas incoherent, and it may cost him the election.
Of course, Obama’s even worse, but even if McCain wins, it will be a lot closer than it need be. And prices will continue to soar. Needlessly.