DOD Energy Implications paper with Polywell plug

Discuss ways to make polywell research more widely known or better understood. Includes education and outreach.

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chrismb
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Post by chrismb »

KitemanSA wrote: This is evidence to me that either the Polywell has proven itself ambiguously, or that folks in the Navy are just really stupid. I choose to believe the former. chrismb seems to choose the latter. Maybe I am just hearing him/her** wrong.

Not exactly, I think they're naive, rather than stupid, over a device which is still ambiguously unproven. ALL people [unconnected with the work] are naive over new technology, else it'd not be 'new'.

Right and properly (perhaps) the USN has seen fit to keep the pilot-light going on a project whose success would be almost unbelievable in impact, such that the probability of success can affort to be miniscule whilst still justifying previous funding (in better times).

The point of my earlier quip speculating on a conversation by some 'Black Shoes' in the USN was intended to show that whereas before this was good enough ("Hey. bung 'em some money" kinda attitude) all of a sudden energy projects are out in the open like bunnies in headlights and in such a situation you can easily imagine a lot of back-peddling and thinking "wow, we really have to get this thing looking Bristol fashion" (OK that's RN slang, but I don't know the USN equivalent!).

So, a bit of naivety, a real prospect for incredibly disruptive technology and some boot-shining before a formal inspection by the Old Man. Sure, these justify a spend [remember, I'm all for funding it] but does not a scientific claim make.


**(I have been identified as a male human on my birth certificate and appear to have maintained the same general physiology from birth, albeit with dimensional modifications over time.)

MSimon
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Post by MSimon »

"wow, we really have to get this thing looking Bristol fashion" (OK that's RN slang, but I don't know the USN equivalent!).
Ship shape.
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.

pfrit
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Post by pfrit »

MSimon wrote:
"wow, we really have to get this thing looking Bristol fashion" (OK that's RN slang, but I don't know the USN equivalent!).
Ship shape.
Strangely enough, that is the same phrase. Ship shape and Bristol fashion is the full phrase.
What is the difference between ignorance and apathy? I don't know and I don't care.

MSimon
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Post by MSimon »

pfrit wrote:
MSimon wrote:
"wow, we really have to get this thing looking Bristol fashion" (OK that's RN slang, but I don't know the USN equivalent!).
Ship shape.
Strangely enough, that is the same phrase. Ship shape and Bristol fashion is the full phrase.
Well you know the Colonist could hardly use Bristol fashion once certain disagreements had surfaced. ;-)
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.

chrismb
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Post by chrismb »

MSimon wrote:
Ship shape.
How dull.

I was expecting something a little more zesty and colourful from our zesty and colourfully charactered colonists.

MSimon
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Post by MSimon »

chrismb wrote:
MSimon wrote:
Ship shape.
How dull.

I was expecting something a little more zesty and colourful from our zesty and colourfully charactered colonists.
My understanding is that we stole our best stuff from you guys. And then revised and extended it some.

====

BTW I had a really excellent English history course in High School. It is so difficult for me to see what hard times you have fallen on these days.

Two errors I see:

1. The estates of the aristocrats should have been confiscated as was done to the church (my memory is bad - when was that?).

2. You need a written Constitution. It has not been perfect over here. But at least we have some words on paper to point to.

And then there is this little gem:

http://pajamasmedia.com/richardfernande ... /26/alone/

http://sheikyermami.com/2009/10/27/labo ... of-racism/

We are getting pretty far OT so if you want to respond move it to general.
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.

chrismb
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Joined: Sat Dec 13, 2008 6:00 pm

Post by chrismb »

The fundamental issue in UK is that there is a 'vision-void'. No-one is charismatic enough to take everyone together on a new journey, or just to hold them together on this one. The country, the culture, the commitment to citizenship, it is all fragmented. It is becoming true in many Western countries. The US has just had an Obama-injection into its tired limbs and it seems to have been a little bit of a boost. So, consequently, people will end up hopping between idealisms because they are searching for one.

It strikes me that in recent years Western politics has deliberately aimed to make itself boring so no-one got interfering in politics. What we now have [at least in England] is a country run by committees of people who simply want to be a part of committees, not that they actually have any good ideas for themselves or want to actually do something useful. It is a self-fulfilling bureaucracy.

MSimon
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Post by MSimon »

chrismb wrote:The fundamental issue in UK is that there is a 'vision-void'. No-one is charismatic enough to take everyone together on a new journey, or just to hold them together on this one. The country, the culture, the commitment to citizenship, it is all fragmented. It is becoming true in many Western countries. The US has just had an Obama-injection into its tired limbs and it seems to have been a little bit of a boost. So, consequently, people will end up hopping between idealisms because they are searching for one.

It strikes me that in recent years Western politics has deliberately aimed to make itself boring so no-one got interfering in politics. What we now have [at least in England] is a country run by committees of people who simply want to be a part of committees, not that they actually have any good ideas for themselves or want to actually do something useful. It is a self-fulfilling bureaucracy.
Yes we have had an Obama boost. It looks like Obama is going down and America is going up. There will be some pain.
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.

93143
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Post by 93143 »

MSimon wrote: The estates of the aristocrats should have been confiscated as was done to the church (my memory is bad - when was that?).
I believe some English monks were testing a high-efficiency blast furnace around 1530 (slag with abnormally low iron content was found in the ruins of the facility). Since the technology didn't spread across Europe over subsequent decades, I assume it must have been right around then.

KitemanSA
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Post by KitemanSA »

chrismb wrote:
MSimon wrote: Ship shape.
How dull.
You say dull, I say efficient.

D Tibbets
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Joined: Thu Jun 26, 2008 6:52 am

Post by D Tibbets »

chrismb wrote:
KitemanSA wrote: This is evidence to me that either the Polywell has proven itself ambiguously, or that folks in the Navy are just really stupid. I choose to believe the former. chrismb seems to choose the latter. Maybe I am just hearing him/her** wrong.

Not exactly, I think they're naive, rather than stupid, over a device which is still ambiguously unproven. ALL people [unconnected with the work] are naive over new technology, else it'd not be 'new'.

Right and properly (perhaps) the USN has seen fit to keep the pilot-light going on a project whose success would be almost unbelievable in impact, such that the probability of success can affort to be miniscule whilst still justifying previous funding (in better times). ...
Another interprtation is that the contracts with DARPA and the Navy were more about control and hush money rather than expectaions. I get the impression that R. Bussard was somewhat of a loose cannon. Based on what he said about the AEC/DOE and his aborted privatly funded Riggatron efforts, he may have threatened budgets, therefore someone decided to keep him busy and quiet with chump change, compared to the big projects. I wonder if someone is kicking himself for allowing the contracts to terminate. The new contract for WB7 could fit this conspiracy theory, though the escalated funding for subsequent WB8 research suggests there is some expectation involved. The realatively short timescales for the current researh effort also suggests some eagerness for results and conclusions. The money extended by an admiral which allowed Bussard, etel to persue work on WB6 for one more year also suggests at least some had an intrest in his work (or welfare).

Dan Tibbets
To error is human... and I'm very human.

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