Oh this is so cool...

[kickaha]

Atomic powered planes

Let the ignorant screaming and protests begin.

Hint: it's not fission, it's not fusion, it uses an X-ray machine of about the same power as you find in a dentist's office, there is no chain reaction possibility, it is instant-on/instant-off, the fuel has a half-life of 31 years, and is considered low-dose in industrial settings. To top it all off, it's run by a small solar cell.

But I can't wait for the whinging to start over this one if it moves forward... I mean, after all, it has the word 'nuclear' somewhere in it, so it *MUST* be evil and bad and deadly and awful for everyone for years and years... :P

Comments

[f-x.livejournal.com]

My limited memories of sub-atomic physics is no match for this concept... Cool though!

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

Isn't it though?

It's essentially a nuclear-reaction battery. Charge it up with neutrons, and the energy stays there (with a bit of leakage) until being hit with the X-rays, at which point it all comes out as hard gamma. Very efficient at heating that exchanger, and by extension, the air in the turbine.

Turn off the X-rays, the radiation ceases immediately, like flipping a switch.

[code-slave.livejournal.com]

Heh... I can't *wait* to hear Dubya talk about it... I'll have to get a case of beer to play that game where you drink every time he says "Nuke-yuh-lur".

Y'know... because it involves the "Nuke-yuh-luss" of the atom, and all.

Grrrrrrrrrrr.

Does it bug anyone else that the Captain of the Fucking Free World can't be trained to say that word correctly?!

Hmmm.

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

I'm going to go ahead and jump in here, after keeping my mouth shut for, well, years, since code_slave so sweetly gave me the opening.

I grew up saying nuke-yuh-lur. It was the common and accepted pronunciation of the word in the area I grew up in. Redneck? Sure. Sounds rather daft? Yup. But it was what I was taught, and the way everyone in my town spoke. It stayed nuke-yuh-lar through a physics degree at the University of Washington. It stayed nuke-yuh-lar through working with one of the world's top researchers into nuclear health risk assessment.

And I defy anyone to tell me to my face that I'm stupid.

Frankly, many of the very people from this fine state of North Carolina who have been bitching about this, (particularly from the, shall I say, more rural areas,) have absolutely *ZERO* to say when it comes to screwing up the Queen's English. (You want to listen to someone who sounds like they should be a complete and utter idiot, try recording yourselves some time. And yet, I know you're not.)

So there. Nyah.

Bush may have plenty of behaviour that points to a lack of working intelligence, but for god's sake people... how shallow do you have to be to equate the pronunciation of *one word* with his IQ?

Cripes.

Re: Hmmm.

[noiseinmyhead.livejournal.com]

not one word, the fact that his accent comes and goes........and he ain't no Texan but claims to be one. Although at least he bought a house here a few years ago unlike his Dad....

Re: Hmmm.

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

So a changing accent is a sign of lack of intelligence?

Heck, I adopt and drop a NC accent at times. I've lived here going on 10 years now. It's inevitable. Sometimes my WA accent is more obvious, sometimes a NC one pops out.

Also, what does the lack of residence in the state of office have anything to do with *anything* (not to mention this discussion) these days? Senators swap states on a regular basis now.

I mean for god's sake, there are plenty of reasons to dislike the man based on his *policies*. Why dilute the discussion pool by irrational and ultimately meaningless ranting over a mispronunciation? What purpose does it serve? Is it to somehow join the fray without showing a lack of ability on the part of the speaker to engage in those deeper topics?

Bottom line, I find the practice of slamming Bush strictly for nuke-yuh-lar to be immature, infantile, and worthy of fundies and other established non-compassionate folks. Why people feel the need to drag themselves down to that level, I'll never know.

I find it to be as idiotic as slamming Clinton for his accent and background and god knows I had to endure that from my right-wing family for eight years.

But of course now I'll be slapped with a 'Bush supporter' label, since if you're not *with* the Bush Bashers, you're *against* them... Wait, didn't everyone jump down Bush's throat for that exact same standpoint post 9/11? Yeah, that's what I thought. Left, right, it's all the same any more, just choose your side and suit up with the rest of the team. I am so utterly sick of the hypocrisy and self-righteousness on both sides of the fence, none of which is deserved or earned that I can see.

We're just fucked as a country, both sides are firmly going round the bend and meeting on the other side of sanity.

Screw it, I'll just be a good little consumer from now on and keep my damned mouth shut. God forbid anyone have an opinion not officially sanctioned by either candidate.

Re: Hmmm.

[noiseinmyhead.livejournal.com]

OK, I shouldn't have tried to answer at an hour that was past my bed time. Looking at what I wrote is embarrassing now. To explain more fully:

I know about accents. I know a little bit about Texas.

I don't think the man is an idiot, I think the man is a liar at avery basic level. He created a good ol'boy from Texas facade and he is not.

Texas has no income tax, thus the rich like living here. Bush the elder had a hotel room as his address in order to avoid paying Maine's taxes. That is where the "he isn't even a Texan" comes from.

Lies, attempts to use ones money as a way to avoid having to follow the rules, this is what the Bush family apparently does.

I try not to label anyone.....and I hate that politicians have to build an "image" in order to sell themselves in 30 second sound bites.......

Re: Hmmm.

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

OK, I shouldn't have tried to answer at an hour that was past my bed time. Looking at what I wrote is embarrassing now.

Well that makes two of us. *sigh*

Thank you for the patient clarification. Like I said, there are plenty of other reasons to dislike the man and his policies. I am just so very very sick of getting it from both sides in this election year because I don't fall in line with either sanctioned opinion. It sounds like we're actually in more agreement than not.

But now.... gotta raaaaaaaaaaaaant.... (jazz hands)

Frankly, much of what I see others vilify Bush for, apparently as a mere reflex, can be applied to most politicians on both sides of the fence. Nobody has the moral high horse to be slinging mud... but everyone thinks they do. It's just sickening, and useless.

We spend so much time in this country spewing rhetoric that the issues that matter get buried in mountains of crap... and both sides are equally at fault. I am seeing less and less difference between the right and left as time goes on, not just at the political behaviour level, but in the fanbases. They're just blending into one equally rabid and equally control-hungry screaming mess that is more concerned with Victory Uber Alles than they are with getting anything meaningful done.

It's not the right that will convince me to move to another country, it's the mindless masses, both right *and* left to whom empty and irrational cheap shots are bread and butter. There's just no difference that I can see, and the trend is growing.

I don't care which political party someone cheers for, when I hear someone make an out of the blue 'official position' pot shot (Bush is an idiot, Kerry flip-flops), my personal opinion of them goes down another notch.

Wake the fuck up, people.