Harold Squared

Thanks for understanding the limitations of my equipment. Power is low here, storm is interrupting supply but we need the rain. Be of good cheer and thanks for your comments, I must sign off. We are getting HAIL, for heavens sake!

It has been suggested that the acts of Truman in question were more for the benefit of the Soviets than the Japanese. If the Bomb had been available earlier we might all be having a similar conversation about Berlin, Bonn, or Munich. Without a doubt, if such weapons were available to the Axis powers, they would have been used, in fact this is probably the only way Japanese balloon bombs or submarine delivered munitions could have any effect upon the United States mainland. Excellent point, the firebombing of Tokyo was just as much a product of the times as that of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We have a couple of races in my country according to most. Japan has its Ainu ethnic minority as well. And I am willing to bet the answer to your question would be a resounding NO. Thanks for asking it, though of course we hàve no way of knowing for sure.

Do professionals make such mistakes? Let's ask Arthur Andersen and the good folks at Enron. Basically salespeople are paid to lie, so the more heavily promoted something happens to be, the bigger a grain of salt my experience encourages me to take along with it. All the same, thanks for the links.

Not asking for data, just a date. OUR doctrine should include it.

Waves are pretty much constant but wind is extremely variable. By harvesting the energy of such sources on an "as available" basis and storing it as compressed air we can later release that energy on demand, as hydroelectricity does. It is sort of an inverted version of hydropower, only driven by pressure rather than gravity.

Unicorns are based upon traveler's tales about what we now know as the rhinoceros, a vile tempered beast resistant to domestication. You are welcome to try your luck with this approach but it is off topic. Because it addresses a primary deficiency of wind power, it is not dispatchable. Incorporating wave power should give us some sort of minimum baseline, too. And when someone develops the idea to that point, the engineering section of the board might be a more appropriate venue.

All over North America there are remnants of the "Mound Builders" civilization, but I understand what you mean, trees represent fuel, and Russian winters are notoriously harsh. Much of New England was stripped of trees before coal came into widespread use.

Unless they are Mann made, right? Look, all I am asking for here is the date of the Tipping Point, if such a thing exists. According to your doctrine, it does, why can't anyone cough it up? I am having a hard time converting my buddies who are still in denial about this matter, help a guy out.

Indeed, concealment of military formations. In medieval times trees were cut and the sharpened branches laid towards the enemy, they are called "abatis". In the days of the Raj, a great hedge was maintained to keep the inland population from getting salt from the sea. This hedge has largely disappeared but was very effective in its day.

I did imply that you might have nothing worth stealing, in as many words. One's peace of mind is beyond any monetary valuation. Regrettably, there are those who would do harm for nothing more than their amusement. Returning to the topic, wave energy could be harvested by such means by connecting pipes with check valves to floats. The entire assembly could function as a breakwater for a harbor or other area requiring erosion abatement. That is one of the persistent problems of renewable energy. I daresay more power consumers live near the ocean than the desert but there are notable counterexamples of course. Nuclear power is completely site independent, of course.

Hi, Doc. Deserts are of course obvious locations for solar installations, insolation is high and land prices are low. Even so, there are generally seasonal fluctuations, e.g., the so called "monsoon" season of Arizona.

Yes. And since I have your attention, sir, awhile back I made some comments regarding your personal safety which might have seemed flippant. I regret them and would like to make amends here. I am pleased that up until now you have not been victimized by crime. I can assure you from personal experience that it has little to recommend it. Off topic but I tried and failed to say as much by other means.

There are potential losses whenever such conversions occur so it makes sense to minimize them. The major advantage of the plan described is essentially storing wind energy for use at periods of peak load, similar to hydroelectricity. Need more power, turn a valve. And being entirely pneumatic up to that point, fewer problems with electricity in the marine environment can be anticipated. Also, the tanks need not have bottoms, being inverted reservoirs like giant diving bells.

And still no dates, Jesus, this is worse than high school. Then when is Doomsday?

I was just musing and admit the connection to earth science is tenuous. The notion is that it is necessary to generate electricity by not burning stuff, ergo, wind power, which does not provide said power on demand. A good number of such installations are located offshore where hills and caverns are conspicuously absent. By running current through wire mesh armatures, minerals can be induced to precipitate out of seawater rather economically. I propose storing mechanical energy as compressed air since it is the most direct way of doing so vs converting it first to electricity, electrolysis of water to hydrogen, and then conversion to electricity from hydrogen, for example.

If nuclear weapons are not a credible deterrent, why does Israel have them?

It is on YouTube, although it seems the date is in question, 2008 or 2009. Either way, he is on record as saying as much. It appears he fully intends to carry this policy through.

Hispanic voters might find his rhetoric offensive. So might women, particularly less attractive ones. Also Hitler had a great war record, Trump, not so much. So Trump actually suffers by comparison.

Superiority in what way? In terms of carrying out "repetitive basic tasks" such as calculation, robots win. In terms of productivity around the clock, robots win. In terms of labor relations, robots never go on strike, in fact they can be designed to labor in conditions humans would never tolerate. As a matter of experience, creativity in most workplaces is viewed as a liability. Conformity is generally more accepted. And humans are able to exceed their capabilities? How so? Your statement is a tautology, nothing is capable of exceeding its capabilities by definition. With that said, the capabilities demonstrated by electronic intelligence are expanding at a very great rate. No human can beat the latest generation of chess programs, for example. What is work, after all, but a series of repetitive tasks? Whether a person is standing on an assembly line or bending over an operating table, a robot can do it faster, better, and cheaper.

This is very much dependent upon a variety of factors. Note that in Germany, even though nuclear power is not being sold, somebody must pay for the remainder of the cost of the installations and their eventual decommissioning. The matter is before the relevant courts and since the facilities cannot be put to their intended use, the cost is arbitrarily high. Germany must also pay for arguably superfluous coal generation capacity as well as renewables. In the case of solar photovoltaic panels, unless I am mistaken, the projected life expectancy of the equipment is closer to 25 years vs the customary 50 to 60 years of conventional sources, so doubling the cost seems reasonable. I confess I have little knowledge of the longevity of wind power equipment.

There is a great deal of "common knowledge" out there which is simply untrue, particularly with regard to nuclear matters. Again, welcome to the discussion but the hour here is quite late and I must bid you good night. I look forward to investigating your links and hope to supply resources of my own at a more opportune time.

Good heavens, please do not think for a moment that your comments are unwelcome. Please elaborate and if you have the time be kind enough to correct any errors that review of the thread may reveal to you. Many of us are based in the USA where matters are obviously quite different. It is my understanding though, that reliance on coal to see the demand for power is met when renewables fall short(as they regularly and inevitably must) must increase in the absence of nuclear power.Not every nation can enjoy the abundance of hydropower that Norway does, unfortunately.

As to Phi's claim that opponents of the AGW hypothesis are "the best when it comes to fear", I beg to differ. In general such persons tend to take the view that there is no cause for alarm and/or that whatever changes in climate may lay in wait, human ingenuity will enable us to cope adequately. AGW proponents, on the other hand, tend to claim that doom lurks somewhere in the immediate future, or the shadowy past, perhaps, and that only drastic measures will possibly ameliorate utter catastrophe. Repent, repent, etc. I understand that they are reaching out to fundamentalist Christian sects to explore common strategies, correct me, if I am wrong. And please pardon the digression, all. Returning to the topic, this very site must defend itself from spam bots, so the battle for tomorrow has actually begun. Good morning sir, I hope you are well. I would like to chat longer today but I am studying for my Turing Test, lol. Proverbially, "time is money". Does it take decades to program any robot? Contrast this with the education of human larvae and draw your own conclusions. Thank you all for your comments! One last response.The topic is the superiority of robots vs humans. Arguably, the superior quality control possible with robots vs the haphazard nature of human talents and irrational distribution of resources is a point in favor of robots, hence, relevant. Again, your comments are much appreciated. Good day to all.

Short selling may be a factor as well, selling high and buying low are the important things. The order of these events, not so much. Tulipomania.

When cats are outlawed, only outlaws will have cats.