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[Wes Tausend]

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My apologies, Mike.

Wes

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[bomelia]

No problem Wes. But I am surprised nobody picked up on the "slowing down" of light.

Mike

[Ron61]

Wes,

The cold fusion idea is still around and is being worked on by some good scientists today. The clip that I saw on the Science channel took a huge amount of equipment to make that small amount of power, but the fact is they got out more than they had to use to make it. And it wasn't just water they used as the comic books show. I can't even pronounce, let alone spell what they used. The Laser was the only thing that I recognized. But I did find it interesting and fascinating, and if they could perfect it. we would have unlimited electric power. Not something the power companies would be happy about I am sure.
Mike, this wasn't on a website, it was on the Science channel on TV. Maybe still a wacky idea but we have to try something. I am sure many thought the same about almost every new thing that had emerged in the past years. What do you think people would have thought about you 70 years ago if you told them that someday they could sit in front of a box and watch live pictures from all over the planet?

Ron

[Wes Tausend]

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Originally Posted by bomelia

No problem Wes. But I am surprised nobody picked up on the "slowing down" of light.

Mike

Thanks, Mike.

I did get back to my post to correct it somewhat, after I ate my hot steak. But by then the "hurry-up", unedited version had gone out in email, I suppose.

I do like your original post on fusion. I, too, think it would solve some issues ...and I hope America is on top of it. China is breathing down our neck.

Wes

Originally Posted by Ron61

Wes,

The cold fusion idea is still around and is being worked on by some good scientists today... ...And it wasn't just water they used as the comic books show....

Ron

I have some doubts as to how useful cold fusion will be. The explanatory theory has yet to catch up with it. It is not really mainstream science, but I do believe that some spurious nuclear activity might occur. It would not be much more unreasonable than normal chemical oxidation occurring at either a slow rate, or fast, as in fire. Particles do weird things partly because odds say they will on occasion. Like Hawking noting that they will escape from a black hole even though nothing can. Like slow oxidation, maybe slow fusion can be hurried.

...it wasn't just water... No, deuterium, an isotope. As a coincidence, I am currently reading a book, that deals primarily with isotopes, entitled, THE RELATIVITY OF WRONG by Isaac Asimov. More well known as a Sci-Fi writer, Asimov wrote science in a light fashion easy to understand for laymen like myself. Most of all, I appreciate his showing, in detail, how these theorists come up with the ideas so that one can completely follow their reasoning. That quality is rare, IMO. I actually seek his books because they give me that "Aha!" feeling.

Wes

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[Ron61]

Wes,

That sounds like a good book that you are reading. There are so many theories out there about ways to generate power that it is hard to try and keep them in context. I believe that Israel did some experimentation with generating power by using the deeper cooler layer and the upper warmer layer of water in the sea but that was long ago and I can't even remember what they called it. But like most of the things they have tried it takes more input than they got output. I still believe that nuclear power is the only thing that we have now that is within our ability to actually use and gain a lot from it. And I do believe that someday they will figure out a way to decontaminate the fuel rods. To my knowledge the nuclear power plant at Bodega Bay has never had any serious problems and it hasn't harmed anyone living in that area.

Mike,

If the environmentalists would let them build more power plants, I believe we could at least ease some of the problems that exist in that area. But out here they won't even let them build any more dams as that may interfere with the fish. And I am not for more coal powered plants myself unless they can clean up their emissions. So with our situation out here, I think we will just continue to have more and more of the rolling brown outs as the power grid is at capacity now.

Ron

[bomelia]

Ron, like Forrest Gump said "stupid is as stupid does". Rolling brown outs are stupid. Especially when we know how to solve the problem. Coal & other fossil fuels are not the long term solution. Nuclear energy (fission or fusion) is. When these eco nuts finally die off, and our situation becomes trully dire, then we will get back on the right track. It starts with the kids.

Mike

[Ron61]

Mike,

I agree and I believe that many of the people do also. It is just that dam group that hands out the fliers with the picture of a nuclear power plant and the mushroom cloud above it, They are so dumb that they don't realize it is not going to cause a nuclear explosion. I argued with one of them one day for 10 minutes and he kept referring to Chernobyl (spelling). I told him that was not a nuclear explosion but the superheated steam that came from the cooling water because they couldn't get the reactor shut down and the water got to low. Then he started in about if it wasn't a nuclear explosion there wouldn't have been any radiation. I told him that came from the core and that was why once they are started up, the building they are in is sealed. And besides those were the old graphite type reactors. They have several nuclear power plants in Europe and no problems. We need about 7 more out here or soon the rolling brown outs will be in every small town. Last Summer they had some in Redding and it is by no means a large city. I really don't see how they saved anything here with them as they would crank up every air conditioner as high as it would go once the power came back on in an area and those office buildings get hot in 115+ heat.

Ron