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marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
 Posted - 12/14/2008 : 10:53:37
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I'm pretty thrilled to hear that for the first time ever, a real physicist to be Energy Secretary under the Obama administration. And not just any physicist, a Nobel Prize winning physicist - Steven Chu.
Link to Wiki page on the position: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Secretary_of_Energy
From this article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/10/AR2008121003681.html
| Chu, the son of Chinese immigrants, won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1997 for his work in the "development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light." But, in an interview last year with The Washington Post, Chu said he began to turn his attention to energy and climate change several years ago. "I was following it just as a citizen and getting increasingly alarmed," he said. "Many of our best basic scientists [now] realize that this is getting down to a crisis situation." |
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"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 12/14/2008 : 13:25:36 [Permalink]
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| I heard it on the radio Thursday night. Intriguing choice, a strong advocate for switching from fossile- to alternative energy. |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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Simon
SFN Regular
USA
1992 Posts |
Posted - 12/14/2008 : 17:45:22 [Permalink]
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Hehe, Somebody smart and competent at the post!
Great, maybe he will be able to make up for some of these 8 wasted years... |
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
Carl Sagan - 1996 |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 12/14/2008 : 21:58:47 [Permalink]
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I think this is wonderful. Imagine: Scientists in charge of scientific matters! At this rate, maybe scientists will be taken off the TSA's "no fly" list soon.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Mycroft
Skeptic Friend
USA
427 Posts |
Posted - 12/17/2008 : 22:55:39 [Permalink]
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| I've heard some express the concern that a physicist in charge of energy policy would pursue nuclear power aggressively. |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 12/17/2008 : 23:26:37 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Mycroft
I've heard some express the concern that a physicist in charge of energy policy would pursue nuclear power aggressively. |
As if all physicists are nuclear physicists. 
Here:...the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory... under Chu has been a center of research into biofuels and solar energy technologies. Not a good indication that he's going to go nuke-nuts. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Boron10
Religion Moderator
USA
1266 Posts |
Posted - 12/18/2008 : 08:54:17 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Mycroft
I've heard some express the concern that a physicist in charge of energy policy would pursue nuclear power aggressively. |
What's wrong with that? It's safer and more efficient than many other energy sources. |
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Simon
SFN Regular
USA
1992 Posts |
Posted - 12/18/2008 : 10:25:51 [Permalink]
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I am, somewhat, of a tree-huger and not a big fan of the nuclear myself. But, still, for the Us, at this point of time, it is the easiest-fastest- most assured way to obtain much needed energy independence as well as green the country.
Development of renewable energies will take time before being useful on an industrial scale better to start being nuclear plants now and make the shift when we renewable technologies reach the point where they can take over.
It might be surprisingly fast if we put real efforts behind it (and it is a shame how the last eight years were sacrificed to shellfish private interests) but it will probably take a while -I am thinking ten years- until we can start making the shift totally toward renewable energies. |
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
Carl Sagan - 1996 |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 12/18/2008 : 15:00:21 [Permalink]
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With regards to nuclear power, I'd like to see more development of the Thorium Reactor:
http://www.thorium.tv/en/thorium_reactor/thorium_reactor_1.php
There should also be a way to construct a power-generating reactor that use decomissioned nuclear weapons for fuel: weapons-grade uranium and plutonium does have a shelf-life. After that the nuke goes "sour" and lose efficiency, and will eventually fail and become just dirty. That would be putting "bad shit" to good use.
By loading the reactor with a lower than critical mass, and then bombard it with a neutron gun, we would get forced fission that in itself isn't a self-sustaining reaction.
Such a construction will not be as efficient, but it will be safer because it could never go critical. |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
| Edited by - Dr. Mabuse on 12/18/2008 15:06:05 |
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Obama’s choice for Energy Secretary
