Whatever takes over from mass use of oil as a fuel will have truly appalling political end economic implications in the Middle East. At the moment, it's oil money that is holding back the islamists; once that stops, there'll be revolution across the area. Then, as their leaders (who will be very much like IS) reject all science and most progress, their populations will descend into poverty and breed more and more extreme views. Interesting times ahead indeed. Vin
And that is the commendable cautious response. Thing is LENR has got past that point. And Fleischmann's experiments were reproducible, just not by enough people.
If I say that putting a strip of zinc and a strip of copper into acid will create a potential difference between the strips of metal and I show exactly how I did it then provided my instructions are clear and people follow my method it will be reproducible every time. That's irregardless of whether it's carried out by people who want it to work, want it not to work (the default position a scientist should have) or don't care - it'll work every time. That's where cold fusion (as it was then) fell short of scientific acceptance, and rightly so, in my opinion. If things genuinely have changed and it's able to be done on demand, I really haven't heard so but I'll welcome it with open arms. Vin
Here are some details of a recent Chinese attempt at LENR. Not exactly reproducible but getting there I'd say. Mind you, some of the comments below the article show what sceptics think about it: http://nextbigfuture.com/2015/06/chinas-lenr-is-getting-excess-600-watts.html Like most people, I would love this to happen, and I believe the ecological implications for the planet far outweigh the political ones, provided the impact of the new technology doesn't lead directly to World War III using good old nuclear fission. I am keeping my scientist head firmly in charge of my idealist heart for the moment (with my fingers crossed as well).
Having a bad couple of days with the car. Yesterday: repeatedly tried to get in before realising it wasn't the right car. Today: walked all the way home before realising the car was still outside the shops.
Many years ago, a friend of my Mum's left work, got in her car and set off. She went round a roundabout and the shopping on the back seat fell over. She thought "odd, I didn't shop today", looked around and realised it wasn't her car. She popped back to where she'd set off, locked it and got into her car (which was a couple of spaces behind). Those were the days, before immobilisers and with locks you could open with pretty much any key. Vin
That reminds me! My mum went to ASDA once, did her shopping and went back to the car. Unloaded the shopping into the boot, put the trolley back, got in the car and started the engine up. As she went to put her belt on she thought 'Christ, I don't remember the car being this messy'. She then realised. An identical car had parked next to her and she'd managed to open the car, unload all the shopping and be ready to pull away before realising it wasn't her car. She then had to get out, open the boot on our car, transfer all the shopping before locking the other car up and driving her car back home.
I walked out of my old local pub once (sober of course), got in the car and drove to my new flat 7 or 8 miles away. It was only as I switched the radio off that it occurred to me that my car radio didn't work. I got out, checked the reg, and realised it wasn't my car merely an identical make model and colour. It had been recently bought by a guy I knew well who lived next door to the pub. I drove back to the pub and parked it back in the space I took it from and then got into mine parked right next to it. To be fair it was an unlit carpark but I still had the piss taken every time I went back, and comments like whose car are you taking home this time? The owner had initially called the police, but rang them back when he realised what had happened. The weird thing was that my key opened and started his car, but his wouldn't even unlock mine. I guess my lock barrels weren't as worn as his.
I'm going to sue Cadbury's. The giant bag of choccy buttons I bought for tonight's match was said to have a resealable top. Well, it didn't reseal itself and all the choccy buttons have gone. And I feel sick.
One of my friends from university was a whizz at picking locks (no criminal intent involved when he learnt how to do it, he just Sussed it out after rebuilding car and door locks at home) opened up two of his friends rooms in halls and swapped ALL their possessions over. It was hysterical when they came back and went into what they were sure were their rooms to find someone else's gear in there. They came back separately so it took a little while to work out what had happened, as their rooms werent even close together. He also did "anti crimes" where he would buy something like a cheap coffee maker, toaster or other small appliance, and would break in and leave them in random peoples rooms.
Bloody hell, how's your luck - friend of mine's grandfather died earlier in the year, then his dad passed away last month. Day after the funeral his husband left him and is trying to take half his money, now his brother's in hospital with cancer of the penis and had it ALL removed....as in everything.... Today I will mostly be counting my blessings!
Years ago I used to do camp site security for Cropredy Festival and one of our number was a young lad who had a penchant for joyriding in nice cars. He promised us he was a reformed character, but his talents were known to the local police who, when they had a festival-goer who had lost their car keys (fairly common) and who they couldn't help get back in their car (less common), used to ask our lad to open the door for them. He always made them turn their backs so they couldn't find out his trade secrets, but it rarely took him more than 5 seconds to get in the car!
