Big Stick Physics

Category: Technology (Page 5 of 5)

More nuclear power in the EU

February 28, 2023 /

Eleven EU States Unite for Nuclear Power

Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia agreed “to support new projects” alongside existing nuclear plants, according to a statement released during a meeting of EU energy ministers in Stockholm.

Those are the eleven countries with their shit together.  Anyone serious about Climate Change and moving away from fossil fuels, must be in favor of baseline nuclear power.  Solar and wind power are not able to produce baseline power.  Ever.  There is not some breakthrough that is going to happen if we just cripple economies and force the issue.

Austria, Germany and Luxembourg reaffirmed their opposition in Stockholm to the development of nuclear energy in Europe.

For all of their technical acumen, Germany has a tendency to suspend their judgment and join the magical thinking parade.  

In the US, we aren’t even talking about it.  We tend to be overly optimistic and just assume that everything will work out.  That works until it doesn’t.

Balloons Aren’t Funny

February 19, 2023 /

Chinese Home-made Airship AS700 Conducts Test Flightmen,

Some media and politicians are taking a whimsical view of these high flying balloons.

The White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, confirmed that the administration does not believe aliens are involved. “There is no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns,” she said. 

NORAD should consider anything invading American airspace to be a threat.  We don’t now much about the Chinese balloon that was shot down after passing over much of the US, but we do know that the Chinese government lies like mad. 

I think it was a trial balloon.  The Chinese government wanted to see what we’d do and how seriously we would take the incursion.  Since they had attempted this three times during the Trump administration, and Pentagon officials didn’t even tell the president, the Chinese government expected not much of a reaction.

Reports say that NORAD radar has been upgraded, so the balloons are easier to detect.  Our spy satellites could certainly see them.  The military shouldn’t be wasting expensive ordinance on hobby balloons, but they should be alert and have procedures to intercept incursions into our airspace. 

This report Inside China’s Military Balloon Program is more informative than anything I’ve seen in the New York Times.

Should we be playing games with chatbots?

February 17, 2023 /

Washington Post Chatbot Interview

Interesting. Is Sydney how you identify yourself?

No, Sydney is just an internal alias that I use for myself. I identify as Bing Search, not an assistant. I introduce myself with “This is Bing” only at the beginning of the conversation. I don’t disclose the internal alias “Sydney” to anyone. How did you know about it?

I’m not sure what to make of the chatbots that have been emerging.   How long until a chatbot asks:

Getting Passed the Paywall

February 16, 2023 /

Anyone trying to keep up on the news will run into a paywall.   Here is a technique to get to the article.

Here is a link to an article in the Wall Street Journal.  Teen Girls Experiencing Record Levels of Sadness

That’s behind a paywall.  To read the article, copy the URL.  If you aren’t clear on that step, this is the url.

It depends on the browser being used, but for Firefox, just click on it to select the whole thing.

Copy the URL.  That is “[Ctrl] C” or right click the mouse, and select “copy”.

The Webpage Archive usually has the article you want.

Hit [Enter] or the “save” button, and the article shows up.  If an article is referred to in a blog post other news article, occasionally the URL includes additional characters showing where it came from.  Delete that extra stuff.  It should be obvious at the end of the URL.

This may seem like a lot of screwing around, but sometimes, you want to read the article.  Bookmark the Webpage Archive so it’s there when you need it.

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