What I did today -instead- of Rocketry.

[Cl(VII)]

Currently about halfway between Nashville and Memphis headed home from the inlaws house...734 miles down, 563 to go. My wife's turn driving so I get Dublin the 13 yo, blind, incontinent (hence the stylish pants) all around pathetic German Pinscher in my lap...he has a nasty case of gas this evening too. Joy!

 

[teepot]

A rabbit up a tree. Must have been one heck of a jump. And as far as what I did besides rockets. Nothing.

 

[kuririn]

Just watched a very interesting documentary on Amazon Prime. "Let there be Light" is about the endeavor to create a successful nuclear fusion power plant. Did not know that this international project existed. Being constructed in France and is about 80% complete. First plasma generation hopefully around 2025. Cheap, non polluting sustainable energy with enough fuel (water) to last a billion years..
When I read the description I thought it was going to be a sci-fi film.
Heh.

 

[Jim Hinton]

Just watched a very interesting documentary on Amazon Prime. "Let there be Light" is about the endeavor to create a successful nuclear fusion power plant. Did not know that this international project existed. Being constructed in France and is about 80% complete. First plasma generation hopefully around 2025. Cheap, non polluting sustainable energy with enough fuel (water) to last a billion years..
When I read the description I thought it was going to be a sci-fi film.
Heh.

How are they going to contain the reaction?

Jim

 

[Jim Hinton]

It's been hard on brass monkeys out here. It's about 6 degrees Farenheit with a Wind Chill alert. I will sojourn forth again in a few hours to combat ice and snow.

Jim

 

[kuririn]

How are they going to contain the reaction?

Jim

Magnetic field. It's a tokamak style reactor.
The film explains the project and the engineering challenges in a mostly non technical way so that a layman like me can grasp the enormity of it all.
It's called Project ITER, and will be the first fusion reactor to have a net positive energy output for a sustained period of time. Expected to be fully operational by 2035. Primarily an experimental project to prove concepts and designs for future use in commercial reactors.
When that day comes it will be a game changer.

 

[lakeroadster]

-7° F for most of the day here...

Where is here?

 

[lakeroadster]

Magnetic field. It's a tokamak style reactor.

What could possibly go wrong?

 

[neil_w]

Magnetic field. It's a tokamak style reactor.
The film explains the project and the engineering challenges in a mostly non technical way so that a layman like me can grasp the enormity of it all.
It's called Project ITER, and will be the first fusion reactor to have a net positive energy output for a sustained period of time. Expected to be fully operational by 2035. Primarily an experimental project to prove concepts and designs for future use in commercial reactors.
When that day comes it will be a game changer.

It's a very long way from net positive output demonstration to cost-effective grid-scale power. I don't expect to see cost-effective fusion power in my lifetime.

This podcast has a good overview of the situation: https://overcast.fm/+0_sjLpth0

 

[Hobie1dog]

Got mad enough to smack everyone's grand mother right in the mouth, trying just to sign in on the iCloud site. Mac and Apple can kiss my anal cavity on the Court House square, and I'll give them an hour to draw a crowd. You type in a username, a password that worked the day before, and they still send you a code, that doesn't work. I've had 3 macs that all the hard drives crashed, or got severe viruses, the worst virus was from clicking on a link in a motorcycle forum.

 

[Hobie1dog]

Took my 32' new monitor to the garage to sit on the back of the Tanker desk, brought the 21" back to the condo and put it on the desktop in the bedroom closet/PC closet/HAM radio shack. I tried using an old TV wall mount that I had saved for the last 10 years only to find out that critical parts were missing so I ended up just throwing the thing in the dumpster.

 

[prfesser]

It's a very long way from net positive output demonstration to cost-effective grid-scale power. I don't expect to see cost-effective fusion power in my lifetime.

Nor do I. There was a "Chemistry" magazine article from around 1975 that ballyhooed the "break even point." Supposedly commercially-viable fusion was a decade away. It's been a decade away for over 40 years. Ain't holding MY breath.

Best -- Terry

 

[Charles_McG]

I talked my XYL (and distiller) into putting in a paperwork day, instead of canning cider - so I finished the following:
IL out of state shipper report
IRS 941 Q4 firm and payment
IRS 940 form and payment
WI unemployment insurance Q4 form and payment
WI withholding Q4 payment
WI withholding annual reconciliation form and W2 submission
SSA W2 submission
WI direct shipper report Q4
WI sales tax monthly form and payment
WI Alcohol Manufacturer monthly operations form and excise payment
TTB DSP monthly production, warehouse, and processing operations forms
TTB DSP Excise tax form and payment Q4
TTB Bonded Winery operations report Q4
TTB Bonded Winery excise tax form and payment.
Supporting inventory reports for DSP and winery, bulk, in bond, and taxpaid.

 

[prfesser]

I talked my XYL (and distiller) into putting in a paperwork day, instead of canning cider - so I finished the following:
IL out of state shipper report
IRS 941 Q4 firm and payment
IRS 940 form and payment
WI unemployment insurance Q4 form and payment
WI withholding Q4 payment
WI withholding annual reconciliation form and W2 submission
SSA W2 submission
WI direct shipper report Q4
WI sales tax monthly form and payment
WI Alcohol Manufacturer monthly operations form and excise payment
TTB DSP monthly production, warehouse, and processing operations forms
TTB DSP Excise tax form and payment Q4
TTB Bonded Winery operations report Q4
TTB Bonded Winery excise tax form and payment.
Supporting inventory reports for DSP and winery, bulk, in bond, and taxpaid.

Good gravy...I don't know how you keep all that straight! I hope the business is more than profitable enough to deal with that many dead trees!

Best -- Terry

 

[Charles_McG]

Good gravy...I don't know how you keep all that straight! I hope the business is more than profitable enough to deal with that many dead trees!

Best -- Terry

The short answer is 'its complicated'. But careful organization helps with all the reporting. The alcohol operations reports are the most complicated. I built my own database to turn daily operation log into the reports for any given time period.

 

[Hobie1dog]

I talked my XYL (and distiller) into putting in a paperwork day, instead of canning cider - so I finished the following:
IL out of state shipper report
IRS 941 Q4 firm and payment
IRS 940 form and payment
WI unemployment insurance Q4 form and payment
WI withholding Q4 payment
WI withholding annual reconciliation form and W2 submission
SSA W2 submission
WI direct shipper report Q4
WI sales tax monthly form and payment
WI Alcohol Manufacturer monthly operations form and excise payment
TTB DSP monthly production, warehouse, and processing operations forms
TTB DSP Excise tax form and payment Q4
TTB Bonded Winery operations report Q4
TTB Bonded Winery excise tax form and payment.
Supporting inventory reports for DSP and winery, bulk, in bond, and taxpaid.

That's as ridiculous as anything I've heard of, and that is what's wrong with this country.

 

[jqavins]

Just watched a very interesting documentary on Amazon Prime. "Let there be Light" is about the endeavor to create a successful nuclear fusion power plant. Did not know that this international project existed. Being constructed in France and is about 80% complete.

There's been a lot of development over the decades. That French build is already obsolete.

What could possibly go wrong?

Very little. No matter the reactor type, they all rely on containent to keep the reaction running. If the containment fails, there's no reaction to contain.

It's a very long way from net positive output demonstration to cost-effective grid-scale power. I don't expect to see cost-effective fusion power in my lifetime.

I hope to. I don't discoumt the possibility. And, lile @prfesser, I'm not hplding my breath.

 

[lakeroadster]

Very little. No matter the reactor type, they all rely on containent to keep the reaction running. If the containment fails, there's no reaction to contain.

Say what?

 

[jqavins]

Compare it to the deflagration of deisel fuel in an engine's cylinder. If the cylinder wall fails to contain the reaction, how will this not let the dangerous explosion out? The answer is that without containment the fuel won't ignite at all.

 

[Cape Byron]

Found an Omicron website that fortunately has zero to do with covid.

http://www.ugofadini.com/omicron10.html
Much more fun.

 

[lakeroadster]

Compare it to the deflagration of deisel fuel in an engine's cylinder. If the cylinder wall fails to contain the reaction, how will this not let the dangerous explosion out? The answer is that without containment the fuel won't ignite at all.

Your comparison and statement, while true, is an extreme over simplification.

While more than 5 gallons of diesel fuel is considered an EPA hazard, diesel fuel won't kill you if you try to clean it up, like Tritium will. Sure Tritium's half life of 12-1/2 years is amazingly better than uranium's millions of years (or billions) half life, but Tritium is still radioactive and thus dangerous and difficult to clean up in the event of a loss of containment.

The Hazards of Tritium

 

[Hobie1dog]

Too cold for my lungs at 36 degrees. Watched a youTube video on how to open up my iPhone so that I can use the hair dryer to blow warm air on it for several hours and try to dry it out.
Blew warm air on it for 2 hours, didn't work.

 

[jqavins]

Your comparison and statement, while true, is an extreme over simplification.

While more than 5 gallons of diesel fuel is considered an EPA hazard, diesel fuel won't kill you if you try to clean it up, like Tritium will. Sure Tritium's half life of 12-1/2 years is amazingly better than uranium's millions of years (or billions) half life, but Tritium is still radioactive and thus dangerous and difficult to clean up in the event of a loss of containment.

Very well, a breach in the fuel tank would, indeed, be very bad. A breach in reaction containment, the magnetic containment mentioned above, is an entirely different matter, and a relatively minor one.

 

[PatD]

Shoveled snow and painted the bathroom, part of a makeover/refurb. At least that project is nearly done. Tomorrow temps dropping to -8 F and snow. Wednesday forecast is a high of -4 F and 10 - 15 mph winds, should be simply marvy. As a younger guy I liked winter. Getting to like it less and less as I age.

 

[boatgeek]

Spent an unreasonable amount of time down a rabbit hole where a medieval military historian dissects the battles of Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith. In addition to the discussion of strategy, operations, and tactics, there's a bunch of timeline analysis (infantry can carry 10 days of food with them without a baggage train, and can travel ~10 miles per day on foot, so the range of an unsupported army is ~50 miles) and other good stuff. It is actually pretty impressive how well Tolkien (and less so, Peter Jackson) did with keeping it relatively real. The author also has a hot take that Saruman is a pretty stereotypical engineer--thinking that with the right tech and overly complicated plan, this all should be pretty easy, then failing when he neglects the human elements and uncertainties. I feel attacked.

 

[jqavins]

(infantry can carry 10 days of food with them without a baggage train, and can travel ~10 miles per day on foot, so the range of an unsupported army is ~50 miles)

Obviously I'm missing something. How is ~10 milse/day times ~10 days not ~100 miles?

 

[heada]

Obviously I'm missing something. How is ~10 milse/day times ~10 days not ~100 miles?

I had to think about this too. What I came up with is you can only use half because you have to return to base. 50mi out and 50mi back.

 

[boatgeek]

Obviously I'm missing something. How is ~10 milse/day times ~10 days not ~100 miles?

I had to think about this too. What I came up with is you can only use half because you have to return to base. 50mi out and 50mi back.

That's it. The author pointed out that you don't want to leave your army hanging out 100 mi from home with no supplies. In theory, you could send a wagon train with food later, but that depends on everything going right.

 

[Hobie1dog]

Searched the web, all day long.

 

[jqavins]

That's it. The author pointed out that you don't want to leave your army hanging out 100 mi from home with no supplies. In theory, you could send a wagon train with food later, but that depends on everything going right.

You can also hunt, forage, and steal food from the populace (a common practice) but yes, I take the point.