Obama lifting ban on Gulf drilling

#121

Nuclear fusion will, in the near (50~100 years possibly) future, be the answer to all of humanity’s issues on energy sources.

BUT, we aren’t even that close to controlling any kind of nuclear fusion yet, let alone do it everyday and everywhere to produce energy.

But when we do, yeah, you can kiss your thermal plants and your oil goodbye. Ridiculously high amounts of energy with no environmental drawbacks? Do want.

By the way, the most obvious way of using Nuclear Fusion to generate energy would be to fuse Hydrogen atoms into Helium, not fusing Helium-3 atoms into… I don’t know… Carbon? Whatever.

That’s the way stars do it, and it has worked out pretty well so far.

#122

Ya so that’s not the governments fault, but rather the companies. So why should the government be so liberal with their money to “bail out” these banks and companies that have shown to be irresponsible? If your store is trashy, and you’re not willing to fix it up, let it crash so something better can take it’s place. That way the gvt. can spend on more important things like fuel, or millitary, or whatever.

#123

I’m confused because Omega came in with some crap about employment rates, when this “supermarket” is just a model.

EDIT: Now he’s talking about company responsibility! It’s not an actualy supermarket!

Actually, I recently read in Cosmos magazine that scientists at the US National Ignition Facility have built a chamber capable of containing heat and pressures up to 3.3 million degrees Celsius. The next step will just be trying to harness the energy of fusing hydrogen, which they hope to do by capturing spat out neutrons. (how this will work I’m not sure, I’m no nuclear physicist.)

#124

Because the banks and such have grown to such a point and their influence has grown so large that, if they do fail, many more people than just the single company will fail.

I hate to keep using analogies because it’s hard to come up with a good one that doesn’t have holes, but I’ll try to keep it simple.

You’re living in an apartment building with thousands of other families. At night, one of your neighbors does something monumentally stupid and goes to sleep with a lit cigarette in their hand. The bed catches fire. So does the carpet. So does the drapes. So does the next unit over. And the next unit. Eventually, your unit is engulfed. You did nothing wrong yet you suffer because of the inept actions of another.

That’s what happened here. They grew so large that their failure affects others. In order to keep the “fire” from spreading to other units, ‘bail outs’ were needed. Unfortunate circumstance and a necessary evil, but if we didn’t do that, it’d be the Great Depression all over again.

Oh, and by the way, there’s only one supermarket…the poorly run one. It’s going to cost a bunch of money to fix it up and then will cost more to keep it up. But that’s evidently the wrong course of action according to many.

#125

That’s life though. Nobody ever said it was perfect. The irresponsible fall and the smart rise from the ashes. My bank was “bail out” free and I have an interest rate of 2% in my savings. How many other banks can say that? My point is, I like smaller government, and with that smaller governmental influence.

Anyway, we’re veering again.

I rarely go to the supermarket anyway…

#126

Are you guys still arguing about why the government couldn’t let the financial services industry collapse? You don’t need analogies at all.

RONALD FUCKING REAGAN passed the law that dictates what happens to banks that fuck up -

the government takes ownership of the bank, guarantees the debt, and attempts to recover as much as possible through the resale.

Look it up: 12 U.S.C. § 1831o.

What actually happened under Jr. Bush was roughly equivalent to what the law calls for, only a bit more laissez-faire than Reagan.
ZOMFG REAGAN WAS A SOCIALIST

#127

Well yes, there have been promising study results dating way back to 1970 and on, but that’s just how studies for new energy sources work.

You read a paper about a study that had a good result, and then you forget about it for 5 or 6 years, then another study gets some attention, and another decade of silence. It’s too much of a slow process to produce results in such short time spans. And even when it becomes a reliable source of energy, it still needs to go through an experimental phase to check things like safety, maintenance and other stuff which also takes a long time to get sorted out.

Chances are that even though we might be looking at a couple of decades to be able to control a single nuclear fusion reaction, it will still be 50 or more years until it becomes a reliable, financially efficient energy source to replace the ones we have today. Until then (and even after it happens), variety is our best bet. It has been shown multiple times that relying on a single source of energy causes catastrophic results (1973/1979 Oil Crisis anyone?), and wanting to replace Oil for one other single source of energy is as stupid as saying we should keep Oil as our main source.

#128

Ah, a fellow[COLOR=‘Black’]-scientist!-technocrat!

#129

Why are some Americans so afraid of the word “socialism” and “liberalism”?

To me it seems that socialism (not communism, some people seem to mix these up) is the only way to get the US back on track, so why are people fearing the change?

#130

It’s not about Americans being afraid of it, it’s about their media constantly portraying “liberalism” and “socialism” (which are mutually exclusive funnily enough) as the devil’s work. The same can be said of Australian shows like Today Tonight with shit like “the Asian Invasion!” fearmongering.

I call myself a machine rule activist but good to see there are others like me here.

And icwatudidthere.

#131

Not really. We’re pretty much 50/50 with the media stuff. I honestly don’t know a single person who is “afraid” of liberalism. Most of the country call themselves liberals.

#132

Glenn Beck?

#133

what about him?

#134

Oh, wait, I guess now he’s moved on to progressivism… Nevermind.

#135

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/75/Liberalismisamentaldisease.jpg
https://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/P/1400054184.jpg
https://mailer.fsu.edu/~njumonvi/lib-permit.jpg

Do you really need to know that liberalism is considered a slur in so many circles?

#136

But you have books like that against any political/religious group, why does liberalism/socialism get so much more in the US?

#137

Laughing so hard! :smiley:

#138

it doesn’t. It’s a stereotype.

https://static.squidoo.com/resize/squidoo_images/590/draft_lens7393282module75110151photo_1267209458514BYZVpvXL.SS500.jpg
https://www.free-press-release.com/uploads/news/2010/03/11/1268319424_img0.jpg

blah blah blah google if you have to.

#139

I’m waiting on the books that say that conservatism is a mental disorder, or the general consensus in many circles that conservatism is tantamount to treason.

#140

Well then you should write one

Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.