Price Point

I asked the following impertinent question to some colleagues at work:  Is there a price point for energy (reflected in the cost of gasoline, electricity, and natural gas) at which Americans will drop their resistance to nuclear power, suppress their irrational (I believe) fears and embrace nuclear power?  Or, is there a price at which Americans will demand access to abundant nuclear power, in spite of the studious anti-nuclear disinformation of entrenched self interests?


Here are the answers I got:

With the exception of one outlier, the answers ranged from 2.3 to 10 times the current retail price of gasoline, electricity, and natural gas.  (The prices will be adjusted in terms of constant 2012 dollars.)  


The outlier said that there is no price that will prompt Americans to accept nuclear power.  "Myth trumps logic," he said.  Let's hope he is wrong.

Job Creation and Economic Growth

In Alma Chapter 22 of the Book of Mormon, we read of the king of the Lamanites being taught by Ammon, the plan of Redemption, the Mission of Christ, his Resurrection and Atonement and eternal life.  Here is the Narrative:

 15 And it came to pass that after Aaron had expounded these things unto him, the king said: What shall I do that I may have this eternal life of which thou hast spoken? Yea, what shall I do that I may be born of God, having this wicked spirit rooted out of my breast, and receive his Spirit, that I may be filled with joy, that I may not be cast off at the last day? Behold, said he, I will give up all that I possess, yea, I will forsake my kingdom, that I may receive this great joy.

 16 But Aaron said unto him: If thou desirest this thing, if thou wilt bow down before God, yea, if thou wilt repent of all thy sins, and will bow down before God, and call on his name in faith, believing that ye shall receive, then shalt thou receive the hope which thou desirest.

 17 And it came to pass that when Aaron had said these words, the king did bow down before the Lord, upon his knees; yea, even he did prostrate himself upon the earth, and cried mightily, saying:

 18 O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day. And now when the king had said these words, he was struck as if he were dead.

So, the King is willing to give up all, even his kingdom and all his sins to know God and be raised unto eternal life, that most precious gift of all the gifts of God..

Contrast this to politicians and other talking heads.  They (we - in interest of full disclosure, I am a local politician, a city council member in my city.) say they are all interested in economic growth and job creation.  In fact, I have never heard a politician say they are anti-growth. (Last time I checked, Paul Ehrlich and other Malthusians, were not a politicians.)

So, I ask, what are politicians willing to give up in exchange for job creation and economic growth?  Anything?  Seriously, in spite of all rhetoric what are they willing to give up? Anything!?!?  The Delany Act, the Wagner Act, a cabinet level department, Sarbanes-Oxley, TSA, Obamacare, the Patriot Act, a single dollar of spending, their closely held Keynesian beliefs, QE1, QE2, TARP, a tax, a regulation, a snail darter, a single square inch of designated wilderness west of the Mississippi, a single page of the Federal Register, a single paragraph or single sentence of the Federal Register?  Anything?  Anything at all?

Are they even willing to give up their rhetoric?  I don't think so!  

The King was willing to give up all for the precious gift of eternal live.  Politicians, I believe are not sincere in the stated desire for job creation and economic growth because they are not willing to give up anything in exchange.  They want to keep their "kingdoms" and only jaw bone about job creation and economic growth.

Contactless Energy Transfer System #2

Looks like somebody at USU has been reading my blogs.  I wrote about contactless energy transfer over 2 and 1/2 years ago.  Wow, the USU Spin-out (spin out - doesn't that have negative connotations?) company seems to have figured out that "Battery limitations represent the largest roadblock to full-scale electric vehicle market adoption".  Imagine that?


The actual technology has been around for some time and is used in industrial settings.  I wonder if they will sent me a finders fee?

Cyclone of Fire

I saw this experiment at engineering day at the U and decided I had to try it myself.

The burner is a tin can with a corrugated cardboard wick, fueled with charcoal lighter.  An aluminum window screen, formed into a cylinder and supported by four wooden dowels, is supported on a plywood disc, which spins on a lazy susan bearing.


Apparently, the screen entrains air in a circular motion, which allows the flame to be fed more combustion air, which increases the flame height.


I'll do some investigating and post anything informative that I find.

Here is a close-up of a plasma electrolysis experiment that I conducted recently.  I won't bore you with the details, but if you are interested, Jean-Louis Naudin as written extensively about the subject.

BTW, the electrode is pure tungsten.

For Matt

I think that Thorium is a really cool element.  One thing that makes it so amazing is that it is the most energy dense element in the universe.  It also has a half life of 14 billion years, which is the same thing as saying that it is very weakly radioactive.

"Man, I wish I had some thorium," I was thinking to myself the other day.  Then, it dawned on me, "I do have some thorium."

Don't rush to call the federales just yet.  The thorium is in the form of thoriated tungsten TIG welding electrodes.

You can read about them here.  The 2% thoriated electrodes have a red stripe on the end.

Here is a photo of some thoriated tungsten TIG electrodes and a Geiger counter.

Next,  is a video clip of the geiger counter measuring background radiation.

 

Lastly, are two clips of the thoriated tungsten TIG electrodes next to the Geiger counter.

 

As you can see, they are very weakly radioactive.  Cool, huh?

Utopia

I saw the new iPhone on Sunday and I was really amazed by it.  It will do just about everything. It has GPS, HD camera, HD video and makes phone calls of course and it has Siri.  It's Apple's answer to Google. 

You can ask the phone in a verbal command to search the web for this or that.  It will send a text to my wife - tell her I'll be home late - by verbal commands and dictation.  It does all of this and it's a tiny little phone that fits in your hand.  It's amazing and has incredible pictures and you can watch HD movies on it.  There is just about nothing it won't do.  There are so many applications (apps) for it.  The younger generation is enthralled with this phone it is so incredible.  This phone (and other smart phones) will be the death of Utopia.  I can only hope to live to see it. 

Fiber to the home is mostly malarkey.  No one in the rising generation cares about fiber to the home . No one under 30 goes home to send a text or e-mail message from their home computer. They have smart phones; iPhone and android phones.  They stay connected with their phones.
 
They're totally mobile! These phones are wireless and fiberless.  They are not physically connected to anything.  This will definitely be the final final final bankruptcy of Utopia. 

If the managers of Utopia were smart/honest they would sell now to the highest bidder at what ever price so the new owner can connect the fiber network to cell towers.

So, once again I'm predicting the insolvency of or the continuing insolvency of Utopia.  Now all we need to do is get out of the way and let it collapse.

If you don't believe me just ask your kids or your nephews and nieces or the neighbor kid to show you their iPhone or their android phone. They are incredible, relatively cheap and they do so much.  Mobility trumps the speed of fiber optics because wireless is better.

That is my post for today. Once again I am predicting the insolvency of Utopia.