Barack Obama has only four years to save the world. That is the stark assessment of Nasa scientist and leading climate expert Jim Hansen who last week warned only urgent action by the new president could halt the devastating Global Warming climate change that now threatens Earth. Crucially, that action will have to be taken within Obama's first administration, he added.
Soaring carbon emissions are already causing ice-cap melting and threaten to trigger global flooding, widespread species loss and major disruptions of weather patterns in the near future. "We cannot afford to put off change any longer," said Hansen. "We have to get on a new path within this new administration. We have only four years left for Obama to set an example to the rest of the world. America must take the lead."
Hansen said current carbon levels in the atmosphere were already too high to prevent runaway greenhouse warming. Yet the levels are still rising despite all the efforts of politicians and scientists.
Only the US now had the political muscle to lead the world and halt the rise, Hansen said. Having refused to recognise that climate change global warming posed any risk at all over the past eight years, the US now had to take a lead as the world's greatest carbon emitter and the planet's largest economy. Cap-and-trade schemes, in which emission permits are bought and sold, have failed, he said, and must now be replaced by a carbon tax that will imposed on all producers of fossil fuels. At the same time, there must be a moratorium on new power plants that burn coal - the world's worst carbon emitter.
Hansen - head of the Goddard Institute of Space Studies and winner of the WWF's top conservation award - first warned Earth was in danger from Global Warming climate change in 1988 and has been the victim of several unsuccessful attempts by the White House administration of George Bush to silence his views.
Hansen's institute monitors temperature fluctuations at thousands of sites round the world, data that has led him to conclude that most estimates of sea level rises triggered by rising atmospheric temperatures are too low and too conservative. For example, the Intergovernmental Panel on Global Warming Climate Change says a rise of between 20cm and 60cm can be expected by the end of the century.
However, Hansen said feedbacks in the climate system are already accelerating ice melt and are threatening to lead to the collapse of ice sheets. Sea-level rises will therefore be far greater - a claim backed last week by a group of British, Danish and Finnish scientists who said studies of past variations in climate indicate that a far more likely figure for sea-level rise will be about 1.4 metres, enough to cause devastating flooding of many of the world's major cities and of low-lying areas of Holland, Bangladesh and other nations.
As a result of his fears about sea-level rise, Hansen said he had pressed both Britain's Royal Society and the US National Academy of Sciences to carry out an urgent investigation of the state of the planet's ice-caps. However, nothing had come of his proposals. The first task of Obama's new Global Warming climate office should therefore be to order such a probe "as a matter of urgency", Hansen added.
#1
Hansen is not a scientist, but a screaming hysteric. Fire him
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/18/2009 11:05 Comments ||
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#2
Not likely in the new administration.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/18/2009 11:26 Comments ||
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#3
nothing had come of his proposals
This so-called "scientist" should apply Occams's Razor to that result and realize that Britain's Royal Society and the US National Academy of Sciences both concluded that he is stark raving mad.
#8
The ethical and intellectual collapse in much of science represented by the farcical and outrageous "global warming" nonsense surely ranks as the outstanding such episode in modern history.
In a world where more and more events force one to pinch oneself just to make sure you're actually living it, this is among the worst.
I'd be astonished if Bambi had the political will or guts to do anything serious (since that would mean economic calamity for no apparent gain). Instead, as with most of the vague and stupid ideas he and his ilk have been screaming or mumbling for years, they'll just define the issues away. While expanding the deadening hand of public sector spending and control, and appointing judges to continue the evisceration of the constitution and common sense rule of law, natch.
#11
-50F in Maine. Global sea ice same as 30 years ago. Lower troposphere temps same as 20 years ago. Sea level possibly dropping, certainly the rise is near the normal 3mm/year.
"Don't bother me with facts and related information."
#13
This is Hansen's job/promotion application being filed with BO and Carol Browner. Let's see if they bite.
Hansen's GW is a crock. But as long as temperatures seemed to be warming back in the 20th century many fence-sitters signed on to it.
Now things are NOT warming. They said the arctic ice would disappear. It's still there, and growing.) The glo-bull warming zealot continues to sail on in his Titanic of a political echo chamber. Methinks he is about to hit an iceburg.
Posted by: Minister of funny walks ||
01/18/2009 15:40 Comments ||
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#14
I thought this read:
"President 'has four years to ENSLAVE Earth'
Curious.
#16
Now, now, Darth. As it is better to light a candle than curse the darkness, I recommend everyone make a big-ass pile of truck tires in the driveway and burn 'em down in honor of The Chosen One.
As for Hansen, it is nice that he has won the World Wrestling Federation's top conservation award, but he would have flunked out of Mr. Gazierowski's 10th grade chem class for writing bad lab reports.
#17
Doctor to patient: "You only have one year to live".
Patient: "But I need at least 3 years to pay off your bills!"
Doctor (fumbling with papers): "Oh, silly me, you still have 3 years to live."
Posted by: European Conservative ||
01/18/2009 17:27 Comments ||
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#18
He does, GoldenShellback. He's got one 4-year shot.
If he can't manage to do it by then, even the lefties will want to kick his worthless ass out of office in 2012. (Albeit for different reasons then normal people will have.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/18/2009 19:47 Comments ||
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Oh, Bulllogna he can do it whenever he likes. All he has to do is fly 'round the Earth real fast and fix it then.
At 2:06 am on Sunday, January 18th, the temperature at the Caribou Municipal Airport fell to a low of -30 degrees, setting a new record low for this date. The previous record, -28 degrees, was set in 1971 and tied in 1982.
Daily low temperature records were also set on January 17th (-33 degrees) and January 16 (-37 degrees).
This -37 degree reading on January 16 was a record monthly minimum as well, eclipsing the previous all time January low of -33 degrees from 1995. On Jan 16 there was a -50F reading in the NW part of Maine. If this is confirmed it would be the all time State record besting the 1925 record of -48F
From a Jan 15th DoD News Briefing with Vice Adm. Gortney from the Pentagon H/T Blackfive
Q Can you talk a little bit about the operation in more detail? And what do your forces do if they encounter suspicious boats, especially if they're not in the act of doing something? Do you have the authority to deal with those folks, in any way, in international waters? And what are your orders regarding any detainees that you might take?
ADM. GORTNEY: Currently I'm going to have to take you back just a few, take you back just a few days. But when the activity spiked in the middle of August, we sat down. We knew we had -- our current process wasn't working, and we had to take a new look at it.
We knew that the problem of piracy started ashore. And it's because there is not a rule of law. There isn't a governance. There isn't economic stability. There isn't a court system that will hold these criminals responsible for their actions. And so the ultimate solution is ashore proper.
So we had to focus on prevention efforts at sea. And we developed a campaign plan. We created, working with the International Maritime Organization, the Maritime Security Patrol Area, a place to channel the shipping, so that we can concentrate naval activity, to make our naval activity more effective, because we knew we would be ineffective alone. And we went off on three lines of influence.
The first one was to bring more navies into it, international navies, to bring more of the international community to help solve this international problem and to bring more navies into it.
The second one was to work with the shipping industry on best practices to, what can they do to prevent pirates from successfully getting onboard their vessel?
And the third line of influence was to work through the interagency process to find a way to solve what we call the persons under control: When we capture a pirate, where do we take him? Where do we hold him? Where -- what court system tries him and holds him? If they're found guilty, hold them accountable for their actions.
We've had great effects in the first two -- once again, 14 nations at that are down there. The shipping industry is having the greatest impact. They're doing a terrific job of sharing best practices, speed, maneuver and non-kinetic defensive measures that will prevent pirates from getting on board the vessel. And we have had great effect on that. And we've actually gotten -- in the last six weeks there's only been four successful piracy attacks.
The down side of that, though, is that the attacks continue. And if we're going to be -- whether there's -- the -- they're all -- all the rest have been unsuccessful, and if we're going to be effective, it's coming to closure on our last one, where we capture the pirates and take them to a court of law and, if they're found guilty, hold them accountable for their actions.
We're close with that. The State Department's close on finalizing an agreement with one of the nations out there. And once we get that authority, then we're going to change my orders. And my orders right now to the coalition are disrupt, deter, but do not capture. But once we get the authorities, what we -- that we need there and a place to take them, then we're going to go -- my orders will change to disrupt, deter and capture, and try and hold them accountable for their actions.
#1
Cool! One helpful thing would be to build the guardrails around the edges of the ship in such a manner that grappling hooks are useless.
If things keep hardening up, however, the pirates will come to the point where they will just start shooting ships with RPGs as punishment for being too difficult to hijack. We have time to think about what we are going to do about this now, but the answer is going to lie along the lines of some kind of "disproportional" response so they never get to the point where their tiny minds start thinking along those lines.
Burglars must expect stiff punishment for violating homes, says Britain's top judge. The Lord Chief Justice yesterday urged the courts to impose harsh sentences on thieves who target vulnerable victims, steal irreplaceable sentimental items or terrify residents. Lord Judge said: 'There is a long-standing, almost intuitive belief that our homes should be our castles.
'Something precious is violated by burglary of a home, and those who perpetrate this crime should be sentenced and punished accordingly.' His strongly-worded guidance marks a significantly tougher approach to burglary following years of mounting concern over 'softly-softly' punishments, and police forces treating the offence as a low priority.
Lord Judge, sitting with two other senior judges at the Appeal Court in London, made his call for a renewed focus on the often terrible impact on victims as he threw out attempts by six convicted burglars, including heroin addict Rebecca Saw, who terrorised a young family, to have their jail terms reduced.
He took the opportunity to issue formal guidance for all courts in England and Wales calling for a robust approach to domestic break-ins.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Whoa. Next thing you know they'll be suggesting that victims of crimes might actually have rights, too. Like self-defense.
#4
This actually works, too. My daughter's apartment in Manhattan was recently burglarized. The thief broke in and stole a laptop and a roomie's camera. That's it. True the apartment was burgled, but the place was not tossed, which adds significantly to the emotional violation.
When she asked the NYPD why they had not searched the apartment for more they said 1. thieves want to get in and out quickly because every second they are in is a chance to leave DNA evidence and 2. because the judges give much stiffer sentences when they toss the place.
#5
Home invasions are far more popular in the UK than in the US. In the UK alarm systems are likely to be turned off when the residents are at home. And British law expects homeowners to retreat when confronted by burglars. In the US, burglars take the chance of being shot by the homeowner.
The French government is strongly advocating the teaching of Arabic language and civilization in French schools. Not surprising, considering the number of Arabs and Muslims in France, and the unctuous deference with which they are treated by officials, beginning notably with Nicolas Sarkozy, who cannot praise enough the splendor of Arabic contributions to the world.
The French National Assembly was the scene of a meeting earlier this month of the first Conference on the Teaching of Arabic Language and Culture, attended by a variety of interested parties. There was much wearisome blather about the need for "dialogue."
In his message to the participants, French President Nicolas Sarkozy called Arabic the "language of the future, of science and of modernity," and expressed the hope that "more French people share in the language that expresses great civilizational and spiritual values."
"We must invest in the Arabic language (because) to teach it symbolizes a moment of exchange, of openness and of tolerance, (and it) brings with it one of the oldest and most prestigious civilizations of the world. It is in France that we have the greatest number of persons of Arabic and Muslim origin. Islam is the second religion of France," Sarkozy reminded his listeners.
Paging Mr. Martel, Mr. Charles Martel, to the red hammer ...
He proceeded to enumerate the various "advances in terms of diversity," the increase in Muslim sections of cemeteries, the training of imams and chaplains and the appointments of ministers of diverse backgrounds.
"France is a friend of Arabic countries. We are not seeking a clash between the East and West," he affirmed, emphasizing the strong presence of Arab leaders at the founding summit of the Union for the Mediterranean, last July 13. "The Mediterranean is where our common hopes were founded. Our common sea is where the principal challenges come together: durable development, security, education and peace," added the French president.
Wall Street may be bruised and battered, but it still donated more money than any other U.S. industry to President-elect Barack Obama's inaugural festivities on Tuesday, a study has found.
Dane-geld ...
The Center for Responsive Politics said executives of finance, insurance and real estate companies and their family members gave $7.1 million to Obama's inaugural committee. Top donors from the world of high finance included George Soros, Ronald Perelman and David Shaw, the center said.
Bankers and hedge fund managers will mingle with Hollywood stars and Silicon Valley high-technology titans at the swearing-in ceremony for the 44th president, the parade down Pennsylvania Avenue and the balls and parties that follow.
Special access and tickets are reportedly available to those who contributed $50,000 to the inaugural committee or who helped "bundle" larger sums from multiple individual donors, the center said.
The committee refused to accept money from corporations, registered lobbyists, unions or political action committees.
Entertainers such as Halle Berry, Samuel Jackson and Sharon Stone donated heavily, as did behind-the-camera moguls including Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Jeffrey Katzenberg, the center said, citing data downloaded from the Presidential Inaugural Committee's Web site.
"While Americans are hoping for real change in Washington, many deep-pocketed donors are hoping money still buys them access and influence," said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the nonpartisan money-in-politics watchdog group.
No, really? And do you think it works?
"If history is any guide, these wealthy individuals, as well as the corporations and industries they represent, may more than recoup their investment in Obama through presidential appointments, favorable legislation and government contracts," Krumholz said.
People with Wall Street ties -- 118 of them -- gave $3.6 million; lawyers gave $2.5 million; and donors from the TV, movie and music businesses gave $1.7 million, the center said.
The center's analysis of inauguration donors was posted on its Web site at www.opensecrets.org.
#4
Bush was a fool not to replace all US attorneys when he came on board. The level of corruption would be much more apparent by now and might have made a difference in the election.
#6
One of these two made the terrible decision to railroad Tommy Chong, to a great extent because of his advocacy of marijuana, and admitted it was because he had offended the DEA.
It was a gratuitous bust, and they used the threat of decades behind bars for him and the prosecution of his family to get him to agree to a 9 month sentence.
Spending $12M, in addition to using 2,000 federal agents, they achieved 55 arrests resulting in fines and home detention for 54, and threw Chong in prison.
It was a generally embarrassing and egregious abuse of power. For his part, Chong did not suffer in prison, as he was held in such high esteem by the other inmates that no one would dare offend him.
Israel has dispatched the first of the three Phalcon Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft to India ahead of a reworked delivery schedule. Reports suggest the aircraft arrived at New Delhi's Palam airport on 11 January 2009 from where it has now moved to the Indian Air Force's base at Agra.
The surprise development takes place even as relations between India and Pakistan continue to deteriorate post-Mumbai terror attacks. According to the re-worked delivery schedule the first Phalcon was to arrive only in February 2009.
Under a $1.1 billion deal signed in March 2004, Israel was contracted to supply three Phalcon airborne warning and control systems. These systems were to be mated with Ilyushin-76 heavy military transport aircraft. The deliveries were originally intended to commence in November 2007, but were subsequently postponed to the end of 2008 and further to February 2009.
According to the revised delivery schedule, the first aircraft was to be delivered in February 2009 with the second and third ones now expected in September 2009 and April 2010.
Reports emerging in early November 2008 suggested that India may have contracted for a fourth Il-76 mounted Phalcon AWACS system from Israel. It is said to be keen on building up its Phalcon AWACS fleet to a strength of six.
The Israeli Phalcon AWACS will enable the IAF to carry out tactical surveillance over a radius of 400 kilometers and collect surface target information deep inside Pakistan even as the aircraft operates within Indian airspace. An electronically steered beam emitting from a solid-state phased array Elta EL/M-2075 radar, mounted on a radome above the fuselage, provides a 360 degree coverage around the aircraft.
It is also being suggested that the AWACS will eventually be networked with other air force assets through a dedicated satellite.
India has an indigenous AWACS programme being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), which signed a deal last year with Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer for the purchase of three EMB-145 aircraft for use as an AWACS platform. These aircraft will be modified to carry an Active Array Antenna Unit, developed by the DRDO, on their fuselage.
Last month Pakistan announced a $278 million deal with the People's Republic of China for the purchase of a modern Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS). The Chinese AWACS system has been under development since 2004, sometime after the Americans stopped the Israeli government from selling the Phalcon system to Beijing.
According to details provided to Pakistani legislators China will provide the system to Pakistan over the next four years. The PRC has also made a critical concession to cash-strapped Pakistan agreeing to make deliveries on a deferred payment basis.
For India, its tactical surveillance responsibilities are currently being shouldered by a fleet of Israeli-made Searcher and Heron UAVs.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/18/2009 09:25 ||
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#1
Got the first AWACS in before GWB leaves office?
Posted by: john frum ||
01/18/2009 9:32 Comments ||
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#2
If only the Israeli's had done the ex-Soviet aircraft carrier refurbishment, then India would probably have half a dozen in the IO.
#3
Will the international court have to decide whether or not it belongs to Israel since Mohamed decided the world belongs to him and Islam way back when?
#4
The gas is located 90 kilometers west of Haifa, between Israel and Cyprus, but the rights to the Cypriot drilling sites are also owned by Teshuvah. The depth of the water above the find is 1.7 kilometers, over a mile, and the gas is located another 4.9 kilometers deep in an area 140 meters wide.
AKA "the 4,376th holiest place in Islam". Back off Juice! This is part of the Paleo ancestral homeland!
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/18/2009 11:27 Comments ||
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#5
A fine target for practice from Lebanon and Syria.
#6
Assuming this all works out (and I'm not totally buying the optimism on the reservoir), it would make sense to sell a lot of the gas to Europe via Turkey. This is both for logistical and political reasons.
Barb, do you do popcorn for parties, too?
Three massive gas reservoirs have been discovered 80 kilometers off the Haifa coast, at the Tamar prospect, Noble Energy Inc. announced on Sunday. The Tamar-1 well, located in approximately 5,500 feet of water, was drilled to a total depth of 16,076 feet. The thickness and quality of the reservoirs found were greater than anticipated at the location.
Charles D. Davidson, Noble Energy's chairman, president and CEO, said in an announcement that his company was "extremely excited by the results. This is one of the most significant prospects that we have ever tested and appears to be the largest discovery in the company's history."
Speaking on Army Radio Sunday morning, an exhilarated Yitzhak Tshuva, owner of the Delek Group Ltd, one of the owners of the well, called the discovery "one of the biggest in the world," promising that the find would present a historic land mark in the economic independence of Israel.
"I have no doubt that this is a holiday for the State of Israel. We will no longer be dependent [on foreign sources] for our gas, and will even export. We are dealing with inconceivably huge quantities; Israel now has a solution for the future generations," Tshuva added.
An ecstatic Infrastructures Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said before the weekly cabinet meeting that the discovery was a "historic" one and could "change the face of Israeli industry."
In a statement released following the discovery, the Meimad-Green Movement party also praised the "historic discovery," and called to put plans to erect the coal-fired power plant in Ashkelon on hold.
"Until now, the central argument in favor of building the coal plant was that strategically, we cannot depend on clean natural gas, since its reservoirs are located in hostile countries," said Meimad chairman Rabbi Michael Melchior in the statement.
"Now, with the discovery of the huge reservoirs, the plans to construct the coal plant should be shelved, as it will cause severe health damage to the region's residents," said Melchior. "Instead, we should build a plant powered by natural gas instead, Israeli and [environmentally friendly], which will have minimal health repercussions and aid Israel's economy."
Production testing at Tamar will be performed after the well is completed. Noble Energy and its partners may keep the rig to drill up to two additional wells in the basin. Pending positive test results, one well could be an appraisal at Tamar.
Noble Energy operates the well with a 36 percent working interest. Other interest owners in the well are Israeli companies Isramco Negev 2, Delek Drilling, Avner Oil Exploration and Dor Gas Exploration. I'm curious to know if the squatters in Gaza are going to try to lay claim to this somehow as they seem to all have forgotten that it's Israel's land they are living on, at the suffrance of Israel.
Guess Israel doesn't need the Gaza gas now. There is a lesson here. Take the deal on the table, because things change and the deal may not be there next time.
It seems like everybody's talking about it these days.
This unmanned tank that tops 60 mph, can be fitted with a remote gun system and plows over concrete barriers like its a wall of foam.
Colin's down at the Army Science Conference and they're raving about it:
Thats the Ripsaw MS1, a tracked unmanned ground vehicle that no less than Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Armys vice chief of staff, called an an amazing piece of gear this morning.
The Ripsaw may be one of those development programs that lawmakers can use to justify earmarks. It was funded by an earmark worth about $1 million pushed through by GOP Sen. Susan Collins, of Maine. The vehicle is on display for the first time at the Army Science Conference here in Orlando.
Built by twin brothers, Geoff and Mike Howe of Barwick, Maine, the Ripsaw can careen at high speed over obstacles that would leave a vehicles crew dazed and bruised. It is operated by a driver in another vehicle using a modular crew station that can be unbolted and placed in a range of Army vehicles, including the Stryker and all the MRAP models.
A weaponised version, modified by the Armys Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) at Picatinny Arsenal, NJ, includes a remotely operated M240 machine gun. The gun is operated by a separate person using another modular station that can be put in a range of vehicles.
In addition to impressive firepower, the Ripsaw can carry a payload of 2,000 pounds. It is not armored and each track can be removed as a unit should it be damaged, according to Bhavanjot Singh, ARDEC project officer.
Singh and the Howe brothers are eager to find a sponsor to help get the Ripsaw into production, or at least to get some prototypes built and tested in the field.
At least four congressional aides checked out the vehicle at the conference display here and Chiarelli had a tour of his own. Singh was enthusiastic about both the vehicle and its builders.
CAMPO CARABOBO, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday Barack Obama had the "stench" of his predecessor as U.S. president and was at risk of being killed if he tries to change the American "empire." Hugo isn't really into "hope" so much.
Most world leaders expect a new era of U.S. foreign relations when Obama, a Democrat, is sworn in as president on Tuesday after Republican George W. Bush's eight years in the White House.
But Chavez said frayed ties with Washington were unlikely to improve despite the departure of Bush, who the Venezuelan leader has often called the "devil." "I hope I am wrong, but I believe Obama brings the same stench, to not say another word," Chavez said at a political rally on a historic Venezuelan battlefield.
"If Obama as president of the United States does not obey the orders of the empire, they Not sure who "they" are except that they are the guys who keep killing Kenny
will kill him, like they killed Kennedy, like they killed Martin Luther King, or Lincoln, who freed the blacks and paid with his life."
Besides isn't one of the principle tenets of international law "He who first smellt it oft times has dealt it"? Sounds like something worthy of being taken up at The Hague.
Posted by: regular joe ||
01/18/2009 11:09 Comments ||
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Gov. Sarah Palin has crossed swords with conservation groups over petroleum drilling, but she earned nothing but praise Friday after announcing the most ambitious renewable energy goals in the nation. At a news conference announcing her statewide energy plan, Palin called for 50 percent of Alaska's power to be generated by renewable resources by 2025.
The goal addresses both urban Alaska, including Anchorage, Fairbanks and other cities that make up the Railbelt, and the hundreds of Alaska villages off the road system and power grid.
Palin called for six state utilities that serve most of the population to stop traditional infighting and take a regional approach for new power generation projects that could lower costs.
Palin also unveiled a guide listing alternative energy assets of every village in Alaska. Those resources can be developed to wean far-flung villages off electricity generated by burning diesel fuel that must be imported by barge or airplane. "This guide will help us move to a future where, ideally, 50 percent of Alaska's electricity is generated from renewable resources by 2025," Palin said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Read a while ago that Toshiba was going to trial a small self-contained reactor in a village in Alaska. The reactor is buried in concrete, requires no maintenance and provides power for 30 years. The fuel cannot be "weaponized" (thorium?).
#2
That would be the Toshiba 4S. I read the fuel uses both uranium and plutonium so it can be weaponized by chemically extracting the plutonium. The greatest deterrent to theft being it is buried deep under concrete.
Because of the very high cost of diesel power generation, it seems to make sense to supplement it with wind power and a small battery backup system.
Posted by: ed ||
01/18/2009 10:05 Comments ||
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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.
Barack Obama has only four years to save the world. That is the stark assessment of Nasa scientist and leading climate expert Jim Hansen who last week warned only urgent action by the new president could halt the devastating 
Burglars must expect stiff punishment for violating homes, says Britain's top judge. The Lord Chief Justice yesterday urged the courts to impose harsh sentences on thieves who target vulnerable victims, steal irreplaceable sentimental items or terrify residents. Lord Judge said: 'There is a long-standing, almost intuitive belief that our homes should be our castles. 
Wall Street may be bruised and battered, but it still donated more money than any other U.S. industry to President-elect Barack Obama's inaugural festivities on Tuesday, a study has found.
It seems like everybody's talking about it these days.
Gov. Sarah Palin has crossed swords with conservation groups over petroleum drilling, but she earned nothing but praise Friday after announcing the most ambitious renewable energy goals in the nation. At a news conference announcing her statewide energy plan, Palin called for 50 percent of Alaska's power to be generated by renewable resources by 2025.
