Oolite Bulletins

I can't even remember the last time I heard any good news. Its all f**king doom and gloom and man's inhumanity to man. Blah.

I haven't got enough sleep this week. You can probably tell, huh?

Where do you guys live anyway; does anyone live anywhere interesting? Europe and N. America, generally not interesting. Does anyone live on a canal barge? (A Rhine barge, not one of those pissy little English ones.) A lighthouse? A treehouse (only if it's a big, two tree affair like Johnny Weismuller or the Phantom had)?

Do any of you guys live in a cave, or a Coober Pedy style dug-out, or a Santa Fe style adobe house? They'd be pretty cool.

Edit: Changed the topic title. Apparently it was maudlin. It wasn't meant to be, it was an invitation to share any good news stories you knew of that were unlikely to be reported in the international media, which is pre-occupied with bad news.

Lord Jesus loves you! Break the good news to every one!


And it you're more on the atheistic side of the spectrum, here a little bit propaganda: Kernfusionsanlage "Wendelstein 7-X" startet erste Experimente. (Sorry it's in german.) [wp]Wendelstein 7-X[/wp]
They only heat up helium plasma so far, but...well. Could become a very good thing in some time.

Edit: Nah, sorry to disappoint. Just plain, boring, old europe out here. Last time since my neighbour got a visit from the police for drug dealing, is also nearly two years ago.

ocz wrote:

Lord Jesus loves you! Break the good news to every one!

I can't; this place is run by rabid Dawkinsists. They soon put a stop to that kind of good news!

ocz wrote:

And it you're more on the atheistic side of the spectrum, here a little bit propaganda: Kernfusionsanlage "Wendelstein 7-X" startet erste Experimente. (Sorry it's in german.) [wp]Wendelstein 7-X[/wp]
They only heat up helium plasma so far, but...well. Could become a very good thing in some time.

I fail to see the connection between atheism and fusion, but whatever you think.
Do you really think God interferes with fusion reactors to stop them working? I think it's more likely their physics and/or engineering is bogus. Fusion power is a pipe dream; if anyone were going to get power out of one of those reactors, it would have happened 40 years ago.

And we don't need it anyway. There's more than enough geothermal, hydro, wind and solar energy to power the whole world.

ocz wrote:

Edit: Nah, sorry to disappoint. Just plain, boring, old europe out here. Last time since my neighbour got a visit from the police for drug dealing, is also nearly two years ago.

Someone crashed their car in my street this afternoon. Managed to put it backwards over a bus shelter somehow. Now the people waiting for the bus will have to stand in the summer sun.

Geothermal energy is sweet. Too bad there are many problems with it, too. Alternative ecological energy sources is what all the rage is about in europe nowadays. Germany is spending a lot on on- and off-shore wind generators in the North Sea. The thing is they don't work, if there is no wind. That's what THEY are telling us all the time. Nuclear-, Coal-, Gas- and Oil-Power plants do work all day and night, which is >>>why we need them<<< so we won't have any blackouts. Geothermal or fusion plants would work wonders to shut THEM up (as it is simple to understand why they are keep telling this. $), but they are right.
We simply don't any alternatives.

Those "other" guys on the other hand keep telling us, that for a bright new future we need these new intelligent electricity meters, that "buy" electricity and store it, when cheap (daytime, because of solar energy panels) and shut down stuff when it's "expensive". But what the definition of "cheap" and "expensive" is, already lies within the hands of the major energy companies. (Oh, and those meters monitor every usage of electricity and send them to THOSE guys. Soooo *ka-ching* $).

I'm sorry, but you triggered my conspiracy nerve.

Edit: Oh, right! There is summer now at your place. How important was this bus shelter?

Now the people waiting for the bus will have to stand in the summer sun.

Australian problems! Here in Germany the people would have to stand in the rain - during summer and winter.

And fusion - I'm not very optimistic about it. I remember it to be "available in the near future" since the 1970s...

Good news? It's Friday!

Happy Friday!

There actually is a constant known to physicist as the fusion constant.
It's ft = 1.26144*10^9 s
If an expert tells you when we have clean power by fusion, he will say 40 year (=ft). It has been 40 years in the 60s and in the 80s and it's 40 years today, too. This value somehow doesn't change.

ocz wrote:

Edit: Oh, right! There is summer now at your place. How important was this bus shelter?

All through summer we get heatwaves from 3 to 10 days long, when the daytime temperature is 35-45C and the overnight temperature is 25-35C. It's not pleasant. Standing around out in the sun is not sensible (especially for kids today who are all soft from too much videogaming, and soft in the head from fluoride in the water).

Cricket. That's how the British empire trained its men to endure standing around in the summer sun. That's why I dislike Canada: it's a Commonwealth country but they don't play cricket. It's not right.

I've just realized this French phrase doesn't say what I thought it did.
VVV

A good news about energy sources is the long-term scientific development. Look at the cost of a solar panel producing 1 watt energy:



I think if this trend will continue then we will have alternative source.

Though I'm a german, I have to say I don't enjoy watching football that much. (That's "soccer" in the language of people who have got no idea of the concept of how to name a game truly involving feet and a ball and just are calling another game football instead.)
I don't often watch football, but if I do I watch it for the spilled blood! (If there is blood spilling involved (seldom these days) and not some bad acting (more common).)

So, cricket, huh? Tell me, is it brutal?

Cricket. That's how the British empire trained its men to endure standing around in the summer sun.

That sounded promising!

ocz wrote:

So, cricket, huh? Tell me, is it brutal?

Cricket. That's how the British empire trained its men to endure standing around in the summer sun.

That sounded promising!

It has been known to be:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60GAhXvU90k

Venator Dha wrote:

ocz wrote:

So, cricket, huh? Tell me, is it brutal?

Cricket. That's how the British empire trained its men to endure standing around in the summer sun.

That sounded promising!

It has been known to be:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60GAhXvU90k

Thats why they now wear helmets. Sadly we lost a player to a bouncer in 2014.

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/phi ... 1vcpt.html

@wildeblood, dont tell the Sun that Fusion is a pipe dream.....

I have an amazing news story...

UFOs have returned dozens of cattle abducted from North America over many years. The cattle have been returned as a single herd to a remote location in Canada.

http://www.france24.com/en/20151212-mys ... n-prairies

It's an omen, I tells ya! The end is nigh!

The BBC's version of the Wendelstein 7-X story is here:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35074848

It's in a sort of English. (Plasma = "a special super-hot gas ". Sigh.)

Good news. Bacon. Bacon is good news. I put on a bit of TED whenever I'm feeling a bit down. Occupy the mind with humanity making cool shit for a change.

Wildeblood wrote:

It's in a sort of English. (Plasma = "a special super-hot gas ". Sigh.)

Not bad. A local German newspaper wrote that osmosis is the reason why you can't open an aircraft door in flight...