Antimatter Production for Near-term Propulsion Applications
The energy released from proton-antiproton annihilation (4.3 x 10^13 cal per gram of antiprotons) is 10 billion times greater than oxygen-hydrogen combustion and 100 times more energetic than fission or fusion.
First we got the Star Trek communicator (cell phone) then the tricorder (smart phone). So warp drive is next?
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/24/2015 7:49 Comments ||
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#2
I think I've found the "it don't" state of matter.
#1
Ouch. This seems to be a semi-regular occurrence, according to the Telegraph. I wonder if they understand the concept of root cause? (You gotta know the root cause of a problem in order to prevent or minimize it.)
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/24/2015 10:11 Comments ||
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(Reuters) Russia is planning a second major military base near the Ukrainian border. The new base will house 5,000 soldiers and heavy weaponry, according to sources and public documents. It is further east than one under construction in Belgorod region but still close to the border with separatist-held parts of the eastern Luhansk region, where there has been heavy fighting.
The bases are part of a military buildup along a new line of confrontation with the West, running from the Black Sea to the Baltic.
Documents show the Russian defense ministry intends to turn an old military depot in the town of Boguchar into a major base with special facilities for more than 1,300 armored vehicles and ammunition. The new base will have a dozen barracks with space for 5,210 troops, warehouses for rockets, and a large training complex, will be 28 miles from the border.
At the depot, one soldier said some had already arrived. He said, "The guys from Nizhny Novgorod are already here."
Besides plans for the two new bases in southern Russia, the Kremlin has moved military hardware to its Baltic enclave Kaliningrad, approved a military air base in Belarus last week, and is beefing up its military presence in Crimea.
[Rooters] A Houston woman detained in China said she was being held over politics and not for any crime, according to a letter released on Wednesday. Chinese authorities have been holding Sandy Phan-Gillis for about six months under suspicion of spying and stealing state secrets. Details of her detention emerged as Xi began his visit, which includes a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama.
"This is not a criminal case," she said in a letter transcribed by a U.S. consular official in China and sent to her family in Texas. "This is a political case."
The letter said Phan-Gillis was waiting for a court date but did not know when it would be.
"Or I am waiting for a lobbying of exchange of political prisoners," she said on Wednesday in her monthly meeting with a consular official.
Phan-Gillis, a naturalized American, runs a consulting firm that works with Chinese and American firms. She has made several trips to China without incident, her husband, Jeff Gillis, said from Texas, adding that she is not a spy or a thief. She is being held in solitary confinement and interrogated once or twice a day, Gillis said after hearing from the consular official.
China's state secrets law is notoriously broad, covering everything from industry data to the exact birth dates of state leaders. Information can also be labeled a state secret retroactively.
Phan-Gillis visited China on a trade delegation from Houston and was detained while attempting to cross from the southern city of Zhuhai to Macau on March 19, according to the family statement. It was unclear whether any formal charges have been brought. A lawyer working on her case was not immediately available.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in Washington on Tuesday that it was "disconcerting" that many of the U.S. government's questions about Phan-Gillis' status "have gone unanswered" by Chinese officials.
The subject might come up when Obama and Xi meet, Earnest added.
[DAWN] The front man of President Mamnoon Hussain on Wednesday rejected allegations levelled by Pakistain People's Party (PPP) about 'political meetings' of the president, and clarified he had no political ambitions.
"The president held a meeting in Islamabad with a PML-N delegation from Sindh in his personal capacity," the president's front man said in an official statement.
The front man also rejected the notion that Hussain may lead the election campaign for local government elections in Sindh.
Before becoming president, Hussain had an active political role in Sindh and enjoyed grass-root ties with workers, which is why the workers requested for a meeting which the president accepted, clarified his front man.
Earlier, according to a report published in Dawn, the PPP had objected to Hussain's participation in a PML-N meeting despite a ban on his taking part in political activities by the court.
"The PPP is surprised that unlike former president Asif Ali Zardari, the incumbent president is no longer restrained by the court order from participating in partisan political meetings," said PPP front man Farhatullah Babar in a statement on Tuesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/24/2015 00:00 ||
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[Rudaw] ERBIL, Kurdistan Region ‐ Residents and experts are weighing in on the ramifications of a water well in Chamchmal north of Kirkuk catching fire.
Some locals say the government should be pressed into harvesting the natural gas that seems to be the source of the fire, but others are worried that that same natural gas and hydrocarbons may be polluting the drinking water for those living in the area.
"We predict that the water is mixed with sulfur and hydrogen sulfide, Fuad Muhammad, an oil expert, told Rudaw. "It is possible that it also mixed with some hydrocarbon gas that burns hotter."
"I believe we should not let this natural resource be wasted. It is part of national wealth. There are several other wells down there that have been closed," one of the town's residents told Rudaw, insisting there was a potential for profit to be made from the gas.
Others, however, said the flames and the gas producing them posed dangers to the community. Locals have been burnt in the past by getting too close to the flames, and the natural gas has the potential to pollute drinking water.
"We ask the government to come and close the well that has so far caused nine people to be burnt who came to see it. One of them was my cousin," another local told Rudaw. Don't play with fire?
The Department of Geology at Sulaimani University has started to study the water and natural gas found in the area to eventually make a report to the Kurdistan region's ministry of natural resources. More on the well and its controversy can be found in the above video. What, no fracking? Send in Matt Damon.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
09/24/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
No surprise. Water itself is composed of two chemicals, hydrogen and oxygen, that are highly reactive when mixed. Once would not fill a zeppelin with water, for example.
#2
Yes, obvious. Because water is much heavier than air. :)
A long time ago I read, not sure story is true, that one of the pioneers of balloon flight had the idea of a balloon using hydrogen in the upper part, air in the lower part and... a flame to heat the air. During the flight hydrogen and air mixed, a spark from the flame reached the mix and kaboom.
#4
Actually not an uncommon thing. Drillers for natural gas joke that they bring up more water than anything else, and methane goes into water under pressure quite nicely.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
09/24/2015 13:26 Comments ||
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[Jpost] An important constitutional drama played out this past week behind closed doors, one that may prove pivotal in safeguarding Israel's democratic system.
According to various media reports, Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein brazenly sought to undermine the government's initiative to implement a firmer hand against Palestinians hurling stones and firebombs.
Fortunately for all of us, it appears that Weinstein was put in his place by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who reminded him that it is the government, and not the lawyers, who make policy. Of course we have the horrible example of Isengard USA to instruct us.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
