Off topic Posts

[dualstow]

So as not to derail....

Re: electric vehicles and tires
viewtopic.php?f=9&p=238402#p238402

After having been anti-nuclear for nearly 50 years .... over the last year or so I have come over to the other side.

Now we just need to get Germany on board.

[Mountaineer]

.

Vinny, just curious - what were the significant (risk-benefit?) issues related to your being anti-nuclear and what caused you to change your mind?
(This topic gave me a flash-back to my Nuclear Engineering class in my last year at WVU where we studied various nuclear reactor designs. Unfortunately, I don't remember a whole lot of the details.)

... Mountaineer

[vnatale]

.

Vinny, just curious - what were the significant (risk-benefit?) issues related to your being anti-nuclear and what caused you to change your mind?
(This topic gave me a flash-back to my Nuclear Engineering class in my last year at WVU where we studied various nuclear reactor designs. Unfortunately, I don't remember a whole lot of the details.)

... Mountaineer

1) A major in being anti was if nuclear was so safe why did every insurance policy not cover damages due to a nuclear accident.

2) Have lately read a few books on climate change or with sections on it whose authors are moderates, practical and pointing out the pros and cons of nuclear compared to other fuel sources.

[vnatale]

Here is another question.

I can look up through my east window in this bedroom and see an area where about 1/2 mile away was going to be the site of a nuclear power plant!

That was in the plans in the late 1970s but got derailed.

How many reading this would feel okay living that close to a nuclear power plant.

[dualstow]

My first job out of college was running safety analyses on existing nuke plants. Unfortunately, many of those plants are still in operation decades later. I'm generally pro-nuke, but I'm anxious to see new plants with improved technology.

As Vinnie mentioned, the two big potential downsides that have to be managed are waste handling and accident prevention/mitigation.

Mountaineer, you're old enough to remember the "too cheap to meter" claims about nuke energy ... do you remember that in the popular imagination?

That is some first job! I don't even trust myself to check a single person's parachute.
Harry Shearer has an fm radio show/podcast called Le Show. Largely cheesy, but I love it when does nuclear news. It always begins with "your friend, the atom" and there's a whispered theme song, "clean - safe - too cheap to meter."

Idea for waste management: leave it at the Kremlin.

[dualstow]

I assume that all things being equal in war that defense has an advantage over offense.

It's gone back and forth historically. For example, a castle was largely impregnable, at least without a siege. Advantage: defense. But then the cannon was invented and the walls could just be shot down. Advantage: offense.

At the moment I agree with you, Vinny, that today in terms of putting boots on the ground and occupying territory, the defense has the advantage. But overall we're in an era where offense has the trump card: the nuclear bomb.

Armor had a good run before the advent of the crossbow.

[dualstow]

MARK LEAVY, constant traveler: Have you been to Ukraine? If not, where's the closest you've been?

[Mark Leavy]

I, sadly, have not seen much of Eastern Europe. That was on the list until the world turned upside down a few years ago.

I have been to the Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia and Monte Negro.

Ukrainians are fantastic people, making the best of hard times. Many young men I have worked with have fallen truly, madly, deeply in love with Ukrainian women. And (metaphorically) died with a smile on their faces.

The Ukrainians I have met, have been uniformly smart, tough and physical specimens. Both the men and the women. Many Ukrainians are really Russians. Different dialect and different genetics. Easy to tell the difference.

They are good people. I wish them well.

[dualstow]

thanks!

[Mountaineer]

Here is another question.

I can look up through my east window in this bedroom and see an area where about 1/2 mile away was going to be the site of a nuclear power plant!

That was in the plans in the late 1970s but got derailed.

How many reading this would feel okay living that close to a nuclear power plant.

At least one.

[vnatale]

Here is another question.

I can look up through my east window in this bedroom and see an area where about 1/2 mile away was going to be the site of a nuclear power plant!

That was in the plans in the late 1970s but got derailed.

How many reading this would feel okay living that close to a nuclear power plant.

At least one.

By the time I bought my house in 1982 it was deep in the past .....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montague_ ... %20project.

[dualstow]

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9978&p=238915p238915

People have funny ideas about what to do with their cash. Some times not so funny.

I wonder where Putin hides his personal stash. I am sure he has got at least one, but I am not sure if he can get to any of them.

See:
"Swiss banks count cost of Russia sanctions"

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-bank ... _content=o

Probably with his oligarch buddies, like this guy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Roldugin

[dualstow]

I just happened across this very interesting article:

Secondly, Ukraine has only recently been receiving modern western military assistance, and then of only a limited nature. Taiwan has been buying billions of dollars worth of Pentagon hardware for four decades, including fighter jets and missile defense systems.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newslett ... y-saturday

I just read it. Interesting indeed. Most prognostications are that China’s takeover of Taiwan would be bloodless. And even this author (Andrew Browne) writes

What’s more probable, and thus a greater worry, is that China will instead seek to force Taiwanese surrender through cyber-bullying, economic harassment and disinformation.

I do wonder if the Taiwanese are watching the Ukraine conflict and having seconds thoughts about letting that happen.

[barrett]

I just happened across this very interesting article:

Secondly, Ukraine has only recently been receiving modern western military assistance, and then of only a limited nature. Taiwan has been buying billions of dollars worth of Pentagon hardware for four decades, including fighter jets and missile defense systems.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newslett ... y-saturday

I just read it. Interesting indeed. Most prognostications are that China’s takeover of Taiwan would be bloodless. And even this author (Andrew Browne) writes

What’s more probable, and thus a greater worry, is that China will instead seek to force Taiwanese surrender through cyber-bullying, economic harassment and disinformation.

I do wonder if the Taiwanese are watching the Ukraine conflict and having seconds thoughts about letting that happen.

That's a good read and gives me a bit more hope that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is not just a warm-up act for China sending a force to take over Taiwan. Before reading this, I had no idea of the scale of the Okinawa battle.

[I Shrugged]

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9978&p=238915p238915

People have funny ideas about what to do with their cash. Some times not so funny.

I wonder where Putin hides his personal stash. I am sure he has got at least one, but I am not sure if he can get to any of them.

See:
"Swiss banks count cost of Russia sanctions"

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-bank ... _content=o

Probably with his oligarch buddies, like this guy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Roldugin

The Pandora Papers listed Zelenskyy and his buddies as big hiders of offshore wealth. Not that I care. Just interesting.

[vnatale]

I just happened across this very interesting article:

Secondly, Ukraine has only recently been receiving modern western military assistance, and then of only a limited nature. Taiwan has been buying billions of dollars worth of Pentagon hardware for four decades, including fighter jets and missile defense systems.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newslett ... y-saturday

I just read it. Interesting indeed. Most prognostications are that China’s takeover of Taiwan would be bloodless. And even this author (Andrew Browne) writes

What’s more probable, and thus a greater worry, is that China will instead seek to force Taiwanese surrender through cyber-bullying, economic harassment and disinformation.

I do wonder if the Taiwanese are watching the Ukraine conflict and having seconds thoughts about letting that happen.

That's a good read and gives me a bit more hope that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is not just a warm-up act for China sending a force to take over Taiwan. Before reading this, I had no idea of the scale of the Okinawa battle.

China has a lot more to lose than does Russia. Russia is a has-been nation, trying to reclaim its past prominence. China is an up and coming nation, probably the most likely candidate to eventually supplant us as the #1 world power. You don't due things like that in your ques to become that #1.

[dualstow]

The Pandora Papers listed Zelenskyy and his buddies as big hiders of offshore wealth. Not that I care. Just interesting.

That is indeed interesting!
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/o ... -zelenskiy