We have been told for a generation that power from nuclear fusion is "20 years away" or "30 years away." But really, no one knew. Nuclear fusion was mainly a gleam in the eyes of those getting DOE grants to work on it. The latest news is totally misleading. The experiment did not produce "more energy out than energy in" (Q > 1). If one considers the energy required to heat and contain the target of the lasers, Q was much less than 1, though the experimenters have been silent about that. More importantly, the experimental device, an array of powerful lasers, is not even remotely something that could be scaled to produce a practical or commercially useful power source.
Look, I was anti Trump, coloring Hitler moustaches before he came down the golden escalator. But I gotta say. I'm really defending him on this NFT thing, lol. I actually want one. What better way to commemorate the shit show of all his followers. The day they realized that they were in a cult, lmfao. I was never obsessed with Trump. I was always obsessed with his followers.
I don't know whether to agree with you on this or not. Part of me wants to have one, part of me tells me that buying one would only supporting him financially. It's kinda like how I want him on twitter again (I voted yes to him getting back on twitter) because I think the best thing that happened to him was that people stopped hearing about his crazy twitter posts. Liz Harrington posting his craziness never seemed to actually make the craziness trace its way back to him.
I’m ashamed to admit that I had never previously known about Margaret Chase Smith or her “Declaration of Conscience”. I was so intrigued, I looked up the entire text of the speech. It’s 4 pages of pure kick ass awesomeness and every word is relevant to what’s happening in Washington today:
It’s an absolute tragedy that they teach us all about McCarthyism and blacklists in school and gloss over heroes like Margaret Chase Smith. Thanks for sharing Charlie!
"As long as Putin is not exactly a fan of our country..."
This is a reminder of how Donald Trump views America. Before he was President, he had no shortage of harsh criticisms and blatant misrepresentations of America. We were stupid. We were laughingstocks. We were suckers being taken advantage of by the rest of the world. Our streets were rampant with crime. Our citizenry was impoverished and our unemployment rate was way worse than what the official numbers said.
Yet suddenly when he became President, the sun began to shine once again – unemployment really was under 5%, our streets were safe, our economy roaring, and we were "respected again" throughout the world.
Remember when he got his feelings hurt by the Danish PM after she called his proposal to buy Greenland, "absurd"? "She’s not talking to me. She’s talking to the United States of America".
To Trump, America is whoever is running the country. Whoever is sitting in the Oval Office. Of course he has no problem exhorting Putin to act against America, because right now we're the enemy. After all, don't forget we're being run by an illegitimate President who stole the election from him. He'll burn this country to the ground so that it can be "great again" the moment he's restored to power.
The moment America once again becomes Trump's personal plaything, an extension of himself.
I believe that if he ever returned to the Oval office he wouldn’t hesitate to use Putin’s mercenaries to slaughter millions of Americans. (Most of our service people would refuse, but russians wouldn’t) Im quite serious. I believe he’s more than capable of that. He’s criminally insane. For real.
For real. Nobody projects like MAGA. "Crooked Hillary", "Lyin' Ted" ... "Stop the Steal". Whenever I hear these morons talking about "treason" and the death penalty in regard to the 2020 election (which of course would require actual treason as defined by law, which they couldn't define if their life depended on it) I think, "you do realize that if you're wrong, which the overwhelming majority of society says you are, you're actually saying we should execute Trump, right?"
As for the secondary idiot in Florida...didn't he push Floridians to get vaccinated back in the (now-forgotten) day? Does the Florida Supreme Court have jurisdiction over federal agencies and their officers? Just asking.
It is amazing how much treason you can cram into one orange package... and while it may not meet the Constitutional definition of treason, anyone with half a brain without partisan blinders on knows it is.
This man would sell out anything and anybody if he thought it would benefit him. He is unfit to hold ANY position of trust or responsibility. ANY.
Hard to say, depends on who got their hands on him. If it was the "little people" probably tar and feathering (which COULD actually be fatal). Most likely, however, if he was in a position of wealth and influence it would have been something like Benedict Arnold--fleeing to the other side to avoid consequences.
Arnold, at least, provided some decent service before he jumped sides.
"As long as Putin is not exactly a fan of our country......"
What Trump was saying to Putin was: "If you want to hurt America, here's how you can do it and help me at the same time." Yet MAGAs insist that he "loves America" more purely and deeply than all his critics do. Some of those devoted MAGAs also think Putin is correct to be not-a-fan of America with all its "liberalism" -- and they still think they're the true patriots, because they're attached to an idealized vision of an America of the past.
No they aren't attached to an idealized version of America's past, they are totally untethered to America's past and fully tethered to something that never existed--a myth.
The Russians have the exact same problem with their perception of themselves as the Third Rome and Champions of the True Faith (Orthodox Christianity) and the protectors of the West from the Asiatic Hordes.
And the Chinese and the whole Middle Kingdom thing.
It is interesting to me that the three most powerful nations (using that term loosely and advisedly) on Earth are all heavily entrained in myth about themselves. The same was true of the British at the height of their Empire and the French (and the Romans.. and likely many others).
It almost feels like a requirement... that to become an Empire you HAVE to believe a bunch of lies about yourself.
Gotta have some kind of story to justify subjugating (and or killing) millions of people. We remember the Melian dialogue more than two centuries later not because of a stronger nation subjugating a weaker one, that happens all the time. We remember it because of the rare, brutal honesty.
"We both know that 'right' is only a question amongst equals; for the strong do as they will and the weak suffer what they must."
Usually we dress it up with things like "Manifest Destiny", "White Man's Burdon", "Co-Prosperity Sphere", etc.
There is a strain of truth in that... but I think it goes further than that (hence my comment). What you end up with goes (IMO) far beyond idealization and into actually creating a false narrative.
It is almost Orwellian (and going back to before Orwell was alive).
Yesterday, Trump said he had a major announcement to inflict on us today. How about "I'm taking my billions and fleeing the country while I can unlike that idiot Blanken-whatever-his-name-is"?
In times past I have credited DJT with a certain animal cunning, and I still believe that was true at points. But this? Trading cards? I'm honestly dumbfounded.
If that's his amazing announcement, he's fallen into a deeper rabbit hole and gone out the other end into endless space! If anyone buys into this grift, they are beyond stupid and gullible.
And let's hear it for the mighty and brilliant scientists at the Livermore Lab. Holy cow! If Climate change, and authoritarians don't burn the planet down, the Livermore success might just save our future generations. I am hopeful.
Fusion is, or will be, fine. I wonder why the U.S. nuclear industry isn't looking to molten salt reactors as existing facilities age and need upgrades or replacement.
While I don't want the people of Florida to not have access to life-saving medicine, I'm not sure but what the drug companies shouldn't call DeSantis' bluff and suspend all vaccines to Florida. And perhaps ALL vaccines. Let the vast majority of people who believe in vaccines in Florida start figuring out how to get medicine from companies that their government is being hostile to.
As far as I know, most if not all vaccines carry a risk of reaction / side effects, so in a hostile government environment in Florida these companies are opening themselves up to additional legal risk from any vaccines. Perhaps any drugs at all.
Failing that, what about higher prices for Florida to account for the additional legal cost and potential liability? Let the seniors in the Villages pay more for their choices.
Most vaccines are given to babies. And most childhood diseases like whooping cough make a comeback when young children aren't vaccinated. And I don't want to punish people because I don't like the way their neighbors voted.
In any case, the health care system in the US is about to collapse, and doctors are fleeing states where they can't practice without running afoul of political interference. Florida will soon be a health care desert, and that will be punishment enough for anyone.
I'm still lurking around here in the comments because the medical board in my redder than red state is one of the slowest in the country. I filed the paperwork in mid-July, and I'm waiting on a license to start a job in a rural, medically underserved town short a pediatrician and an internist. Over the phone this week I finally started to lose my patience and I said "to be blunt, I am going to have to start looking at options in other states if you cant give me a time estimate on this." I'm still waiting on the call back. I'm starting to lose it! The initial estimate they gave me was end of November. Now it's "well, December is really busy for us" It's really frustrating.
That's crazy. Everywhere seems to be short of doctors right now. I really wonder how long licensing doctors state by state is going to last. It creates so many obstacles. Good luck, I hope it works out soon.
Yeah, I know (on the first part). I know it won't really happen (outside of exactly what you are talking about in the second part) either.
Still, on the price side of things, extra risk should entail extra cost, and if some states are going to empanel grand juries to fish for legal liability around FDA approved vaccines, I'd prefer those costs not be borne by me in a state with a government that while red, isn't full on batshit crazy.
I don't think there are laws that stop health insurance companies from charging more to people who refuse vaccines. Certainly, if you get sick from a preventable disease, it's going to be expensive. You'd think that would be incentive enough.
But I'm thinking about making the medicines themselves more expensive.
Still, insurance cost can be a powerful motivator for public change. I've heard that it is starting to get reforms in some police departments where nothing else was getting much traction.
There's a niggling little part of me that thinks this is a great idea... after all... if they can force pregnant women to flee elsewhere for health care, then why not force everyone to have to search for ways and means to acquire any medically sound healthcare like vaccines?
Perhaps magats may then get "woke" to the idea that idiot politicians are not doctors, and should not be allowed to expound on or practice any kind of medicine.
And, she expands the respect of her children for her, and a place in history as what courage looks like, and decency demands. She's a hero, and I'm a progressive liberal, and my admiration isn't even grudgingly given, it's full throated and heartfelt.
I'm very torn on her. Since Jan 6, she's been exactly what you'd want. Up until that date, I have to square her full support for Trump with the fact that I knew he was unfit back in 2015.
I'm okay welcoming in opposition to Trump whenever and wherever it comes from, but I don't know if I can go all the way to lionizing her overall.
I agree that it would have been nice if she had taken a stand earlier…but the courage required to take a stand increases exponentially when you’re older, hold a high status position, and your family history and identity are intimately tied to the party. For overcoming that inertia, Liz Cheney has fully earned my undiluted respect and admiration.
Ya, it's a cliche. You think corrupt pols aren't proud of their self portraits in the mirror? Shame is not their trait. Even Cruz may think he is bigger. Showed'em suckers!
True that the TFG floods the zone. That said, many Rs would do exactly this if they get the chance. Their "respect" for dictators/strong men goes a long way back (remember all the Putin is strong, unlike Obama comparisons during the Republican primaries of 2011-2?). Not saying you are implying otherwise, but thoughts bordering treason and authoritarianism is more mainstream with the Rs than being a TFG influenced trait.
At the risk of overestimating the scant patriotism of the average republican pol in 2011-2, I choose to believe that they were fake flirting with foreign authoritarianism in an unseemly manner to score political points vs. actually being enamored with it.
I'm sure there were some who were already true believers back then, but I don't think the full partisanship rot had set in yet with regards to really believing that Putin > Obama. Not for the politicians at least.
We have been told for a generation that power from nuclear fusion is "20 years away" or "30 years away." But really, no one knew. Nuclear fusion was mainly a gleam in the eyes of those getting DOE grants to work on it. The latest news is totally misleading. The experiment did not produce "more energy out than energy in" (Q > 1). If one considers the energy required to heat and contain the target of the lasers, Q was much less than 1, though the experimenters have been silent about that. More importantly, the experimental device, an array of powerful lasers, is not even remotely something that could be scaled to produce a practical or commercially useful power source.
He does so many stupid things. This on brand.
Look, I was anti Trump, coloring Hitler moustaches before he came down the golden escalator. But I gotta say. I'm really defending him on this NFT thing, lol. I actually want one. What better way to commemorate the shit show of all his followers. The day they realized that they were in a cult, lmfao. I was never obsessed with Trump. I was always obsessed with his followers.
I don't know whether to agree with you on this or not. Part of me wants to have one, part of me tells me that buying one would only supporting him financially. It's kinda like how I want him on twitter again (I voted yes to him getting back on twitter) because I think the best thing that happened to him was that people stopped hearing about his crazy twitter posts. Liz Harrington posting his craziness never seemed to actually make the craziness trace its way back to him.
"Scabrous traitor"
That made my day!
I’m ashamed to admit that I had never previously known about Margaret Chase Smith or her “Declaration of Conscience”. I was so intrigued, I looked up the entire text of the speech. It’s 4 pages of pure kick ass awesomeness and every word is relevant to what’s happening in Washington today:
https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/SmithDeclaration.pdf
It’s an absolute tragedy that they teach us all about McCarthyism and blacklists in school and gloss over heroes like Margaret Chase Smith. Thanks for sharing Charlie!
MCS was a female. Women rarely make it into history books. Infuriating isn’t it?
Certainly not well-behaved women ;)
"As long as Putin is not exactly a fan of our country..."
This is a reminder of how Donald Trump views America. Before he was President, he had no shortage of harsh criticisms and blatant misrepresentations of America. We were stupid. We were laughingstocks. We were suckers being taken advantage of by the rest of the world. Our streets were rampant with crime. Our citizenry was impoverished and our unemployment rate was way worse than what the official numbers said.
Yet suddenly when he became President, the sun began to shine once again – unemployment really was under 5%, our streets were safe, our economy roaring, and we were "respected again" throughout the world.
Remember when he got his feelings hurt by the Danish PM after she called his proposal to buy Greenland, "absurd"? "She’s not talking to me. She’s talking to the United States of America".
To Trump, America is whoever is running the country. Whoever is sitting in the Oval Office. Of course he has no problem exhorting Putin to act against America, because right now we're the enemy. After all, don't forget we're being run by an illegitimate President who stole the election from him. He'll burn this country to the ground so that it can be "great again" the moment he's restored to power.
The moment America once again becomes Trump's personal plaything, an extension of himself.
I believe that if he ever returned to the Oval office he wouldn’t hesitate to use Putin’s mercenaries to slaughter millions of Americans. (Most of our service people would refuse, but russians wouldn’t) Im quite serious. I believe he’s more than capable of that. He’s criminally insane. For real.
For real. Nobody projects like MAGA. "Crooked Hillary", "Lyin' Ted" ... "Stop the Steal". Whenever I hear these morons talking about "treason" and the death penalty in regard to the 2020 election (which of course would require actual treason as defined by law, which they couldn't define if their life depended on it) I think, "you do realize that if you're wrong, which the overwhelming majority of society says you are, you're actually saying we should execute Trump, right?"
I wrote this on my website about treason and the (primary) idiot in Florida:
https://www.pathkeeper.net/curmudgeon-s-corner/treason.html
As for the secondary idiot in Florida...didn't he push Floridians to get vaccinated back in the (now-forgotten) day? Does the Florida Supreme Court have jurisdiction over federal agencies and their officers? Just asking.
These are not logical people.
It is amazing how much treason you can cram into one orange package... and while it may not meet the Constitutional definition of treason, anyone with half a brain without partisan blinders on knows it is.
This man would sell out anything and anybody if he thought it would benefit him. He is unfit to hold ANY position of trust or responsibility. ANY.
Hard to say, depends on who got their hands on him. If it was the "little people" probably tar and feathering (which COULD actually be fatal). Most likely, however, if he was in a position of wealth and influence it would have been something like Benedict Arnold--fleeing to the other side to avoid consequences.
Arnold, at least, provided some decent service before he jumped sides.
Wish I was in France!
"As long as Putin is not exactly a fan of our country......"
What Trump was saying to Putin was: "If you want to hurt America, here's how you can do it and help me at the same time." Yet MAGAs insist that he "loves America" more purely and deeply than all his critics do. Some of those devoted MAGAs also think Putin is correct to be not-a-fan of America with all its "liberalism" -- and they still think they're the true patriots, because they're attached to an idealized vision of an America of the past.
A very false version of the past.
No they aren't attached to an idealized version of America's past, they are totally untethered to America's past and fully tethered to something that never existed--a myth.
The Russians have the exact same problem with their perception of themselves as the Third Rome and Champions of the True Faith (Orthodox Christianity) and the protectors of the West from the Asiatic Hordes.
And the Chinese and the whole Middle Kingdom thing.
It is interesting to me that the three most powerful nations (using that term loosely and advisedly) on Earth are all heavily entrained in myth about themselves. The same was true of the British at the height of their Empire and the French (and the Romans.. and likely many others).
It almost feels like a requirement... that to become an Empire you HAVE to believe a bunch of lies about yourself.
Gotta have some kind of story to justify subjugating (and or killing) millions of people. We remember the Melian dialogue more than two centuries later not because of a stronger nation subjugating a weaker one, that happens all the time. We remember it because of the rare, brutal honesty.
"We both know that 'right' is only a question amongst equals; for the strong do as they will and the weak suffer what they must."
Usually we dress it up with things like "Manifest Destiny", "White Man's Burdon", "Co-Prosperity Sphere", etc.
I think that's a different way of saying what I meant by "an idealized vision" of an earlier America.
OTOH, some of them think the Founders were fundamentally misguided by their "Enlightenment secularism."
There is a strain of truth in that... but I think it goes further than that (hence my comment). What you end up with goes (IMO) far beyond idealization and into actually creating a false narrative.
It is almost Orwellian (and going back to before Orwell was alive).
Yesterday, Trump said he had a major announcement to inflict on us today. How about "I'm taking my billions and fleeing the country while I can unlike that idiot Blanken-whatever-his-name-is"?
Please let him leave.
My daily prayer. tRump and Musk should move in together... on Mars. Asap.
Haha
Trading Cards for "only" $99 each. More grifting from the grifter-in-chief.
Let's see: 30 million (supposedly) rabid MAGAs who think Trump is their god times $99 each - gee, $3 billion. Hey, Trump's a billionaire at last!
It looked like it was $99 for a card. A whole set?!? That could get him Elon Musk money. Err....
Okay, I just skimmed the article on The Hill and figured it was for the set. PER CARD?????? Is anyone really insane enough to buy them?
BTW, I'm beginning to think he really does plan to flee the country if he gets enough idiots to buy those cards.
He will if he is sentenced to prison. He can go live with Saudis. They deserve each other.
Perhaps time for Dr. Ronny to administer another cognitive test?
Holy shit. I thought this was a joke.
In times past I have credited DJT with a certain animal cunning, and I still believe that was true at points. But this? Trading cards? I'm honestly dumbfounded.
No but you can buy a set the official Donald Trump digital trading cards. A limited edition with amazing art!
I believe that was the major announcement. It is all about the grift.
Jack
If that's his amazing announcement, he's fallen into a deeper rabbit hole and gone out the other end into endless space! If anyone buys into this grift, they are beyond stupid and gullible.
lol, With Trump you never know
They think he us a great President. Thats how stupid and gullible they are.
Worth re-reading all of this!
And let's hear it for the mighty and brilliant scientists at the Livermore Lab. Holy cow! If Climate change, and authoritarians don't burn the planet down, the Livermore success might just save our future generations. I am hopeful.
Fusion is, or will be, fine. I wonder why the U.S. nuclear industry isn't looking to molten salt reactors as existing facilities age and need upgrades or replacement.
While I don't want the people of Florida to not have access to life-saving medicine, I'm not sure but what the drug companies shouldn't call DeSantis' bluff and suspend all vaccines to Florida. And perhaps ALL vaccines. Let the vast majority of people who believe in vaccines in Florida start figuring out how to get medicine from companies that their government is being hostile to.
As far as I know, most if not all vaccines carry a risk of reaction / side effects, so in a hostile government environment in Florida these companies are opening themselves up to additional legal risk from any vaccines. Perhaps any drugs at all.
Failing that, what about higher prices for Florida to account for the additional legal cost and potential liability? Let the seniors in the Villages pay more for their choices.
It seems like a stupid thing fir him to get involved with.
Most vaccines are given to babies. And most childhood diseases like whooping cough make a comeback when young children aren't vaccinated. And I don't want to punish people because I don't like the way their neighbors voted.
In any case, the health care system in the US is about to collapse, and doctors are fleeing states where they can't practice without running afoul of political interference. Florida will soon be a health care desert, and that will be punishment enough for anyone.
I'm still lurking around here in the comments because the medical board in my redder than red state is one of the slowest in the country. I filed the paperwork in mid-July, and I'm waiting on a license to start a job in a rural, medically underserved town short a pediatrician and an internist. Over the phone this week I finally started to lose my patience and I said "to be blunt, I am going to have to start looking at options in other states if you cant give me a time estimate on this." I'm still waiting on the call back. I'm starting to lose it! The initial estimate they gave me was end of November. Now it's "well, December is really busy for us" It's really frustrating.
Interesting. Sorry for your frustration.
That's crazy. Everywhere seems to be short of doctors right now. I really wonder how long licensing doctors state by state is going to last. It creates so many obstacles. Good luck, I hope it works out soon.
Yeah, I know (on the first part). I know it won't really happen (outside of exactly what you are talking about in the second part) either.
Still, on the price side of things, extra risk should entail extra cost, and if some states are going to empanel grand juries to fish for legal liability around FDA approved vaccines, I'd prefer those costs not be borne by me in a state with a government that while red, isn't full on batshit crazy.
I don't think there are laws that stop health insurance companies from charging more to people who refuse vaccines. Certainly, if you get sick from a preventable disease, it's going to be expensive. You'd think that would be incentive enough.
They charge more if you smoke.
But I'm thinking about making the medicines themselves more expensive.
Still, insurance cost can be a powerful motivator for public change. I've heard that it is starting to get reforms in some police departments where nothing else was getting much traction.
There's a niggling little part of me that thinks this is a great idea... after all... if they can force pregnant women to flee elsewhere for health care, then why not force everyone to have to search for ways and means to acquire any medically sound healthcare like vaccines?
Perhaps magats may then get "woke" to the idea that idiot politicians are not doctors, and should not be allowed to expound on or practice any kind of medicine.
"what she gains may end up more valuable"
She gains the ability to look at herself in the mirror every morning for the rest of her life.
And, she expands the respect of her children for her, and a place in history as what courage looks like, and decency demands. She's a hero, and I'm a progressive liberal, and my admiration isn't even grudgingly given, it's full throated and heartfelt.
I'm very torn on her. Since Jan 6, she's been exactly what you'd want. Up until that date, I have to square her full support for Trump with the fact that I knew he was unfit back in 2015.
I'm okay welcoming in opposition to Trump whenever and wherever it comes from, but I don't know if I can go all the way to lionizing her overall.
I agree that it would have been nice if she had taken a stand earlier…but the courage required to take a stand increases exponentially when you’re older, hold a high status position, and your family history and identity are intimately tied to the party. For overcoming that inertia, Liz Cheney has fully earned my undiluted respect and admiration.
Ya, it's a cliche. You think corrupt pols aren't proud of their self portraits in the mirror? Shame is not their trait. Even Cruz may think he is bigger. Showed'em suckers!
I had forgotten about (that particular) treason. TFG is so bad that no single outrage stays salient for long. OMG.
This made me chuckle. But ironically. And achingly.
True that the TFG floods the zone. That said, many Rs would do exactly this if they get the chance. Their "respect" for dictators/strong men goes a long way back (remember all the Putin is strong, unlike Obama comparisons during the Republican primaries of 2011-2?). Not saying you are implying otherwise, but thoughts bordering treason and authoritarianism is more mainstream with the Rs than being a TFG influenced trait.
At the risk of overestimating the scant patriotism of the average republican pol in 2011-2, I choose to believe that they were fake flirting with foreign authoritarianism in an unseemly manner to score political points vs. actually being enamored with it.
I'm sure there were some who were already true believers back then, but I don't think the full partisanship rot had set in yet with regards to really believing that Putin > Obama. Not for the politicians at least.
Mona Charen and her son, sitting in for Charlie Sykes, did a wonderful podcast on the fusion breakthrough. Mona was almost giddy with excitement (her Dad was a physicist). While I have very limited science knowledge, this podcast was a great overview of why this breakthrough is exciting. https://open.substack.com/pub/thesecretpodcast/p/miracles-happen?r=diso1&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Second this! Good stuff - go listen