Topicless thread

[Pitkin]

I was in an exceptionally angry mood today when some members of the student group made super-fun jokes about Japan, making racist remarks on Asians and wishing for more nuclear plant explosions for their entertainment. If Finns so much expect to be entertained, how about pushing for a meltdown somewhere a bit closer, like Olkiluoto. -_- Those morons are by now ex-friends, if they ever were friends in the first place. I'm absolutely fed up with the insensitivity of some people: complaining all the ****ing time when it's about them, and not giving a shit or laughing about it when it's ANYONE else.

In related news, I made a small donation for the disaster fund for Japan and Libya. ._.

[NejinOniwa]

On a more amusing note, I was at 4chan yesterday... and /h/ was doing a roll-call thread checking up twitter feeds on hentai artists..

It was a bit amusing to see. "DISASTER HAS OCCURRED. IS OUR PORN STILL ALIVE?" Lulz'd heartily.

[Chocofreak13]

@nejin: because when disaster strikes, 4chan makes sure to have its priorities in order. -w-
@pitkin: good for you for dumping such insensitive pricks as that. i've made a point to not talk to people like that, or associate with them if possible. >_<;
i'd donate if i could, but i don't have a bank account, so no paypal. >__<;;

i'd like to see a world where nuclear power doesn't exist. >__<;

[stewartsage]

Then say goodbye to a significant portion of the world's electric power generation capability; without nuclear power we're kind of out on a limb.  And Japan goes dark.

[Chocofreak13]

all i wish is that we could eventually eliminate it. there's lots of other solutions to be had, that are less dangerous. (imagine all the power that could be generated by topping every building in tokyo with solar panels!)

[stewartsage]

Nuclear power isn't fantastically dangerous, especially since the Soviets demonstrated why you can't just go halfway in reactor design.  The fact that greater Sendai isn't a wasteland from multiple reactor vessel failure (despite fires and explosions) is a sign of positive change in industry safety.  Hell, coal power has done more damage to the US then nuclear plants even if three reactors have 'nearly' melted down and one did killing it's entire staff.

Since everyone wants to bring up Chernobyl, I'll just add it's a completely invalid comparison.  Chernobyl Power Plant was poorly designed, poorly built, poorly maintained, and indifferently supervised.  The Japanese power plants currently in trouble survived an earthquake and a tsunami.  Survived.  So, yeah, think they're a bit better built.  And not burning piles of fissionable material giving off near instantly fatal doses of radiation.

[NejinOniwa]

Chernobyl was also designed to produce warhead-grade plutonium, which current generation plants are not. And was undergoing an experiment at the time. Those two kinda makes things a bit more dangerous.

As for nuclear power extinction; yes, it has to be done eventually, but what will we replace it with? The ways we can go about replacing it with are three - a new high-grade source, a new low-grade replenishable source én masse, or upgraded old low-grade replenishable sources én masse.

New low-grades have been discussed a lot, but among the more sensible ones are Wave power, Thermal (not geo) power etc; upgrades to wind and solar power are in progress, as well. This, however, will be costly and bothersome to a fault if we are to build it in such quantity that we can replace the energy supplied by nuclear reactors today. Add to this future skyrocketing of energy consumption due to more and more nations industrializing and gridding on, and, well...

Simply put, a new high-grade source will inevitably be necessary for the earthen civilization - if not now, then we'll need it when we build our next generation of spaceships (because sure as hell, nobody will be stupid enough to make those chemically fueled as well) and whatnot. Sensible candidates are few in between, and strung with problems.
Fusion power is incredibly clean and handy, but the great problem still unsolved is how to build a reactor that is reasonably resistant to the extreme temperatures produced in the reactions - or, even better, how to stably attain cold fusion capability.
Antimatter is not in any way surefiredly clean - its fallout is as random as it can possibly be - but it's an extremely high-grade source. The problems aren't few, however; first we still need a reactor capable of handling the heat itself, like stated above, and secondly we need a financially viable way of procuring antimatter. This is what makes fusion power a lot more sensible in this case, since fuel is readily available.

Of course, I have quite a number of sources on my mind not mentioned above, but as they're all most purely theoretical and confidential, I will omit them.

[Bella]

Nuclear power isn't fantastically dangerous, especially since the Soviets demonstrated why you can't just go halfway in reactor design.  The fact that greater Sendai isn't a wasteland from multiple reactor vessel failure (despite fires and explosions) is a sign of positive change in industry safety.  Hell, coal power has done more damage to the US then nuclear plants even if three reactors have 'nearly' melted down and one did killing it's entire staff.

Since everyone wants to bring up Chernobyl, I'll just add it's a completely invalid comparison.  Chernobyl Power Plant was poorly designed, poorly built, poorly maintained, and indifferently supervised.  The Japanese power plants currently in trouble survived an earthquake and a tsunami.  Survived.  So, yeah, think they're a bit better built.  And not burning piles of fissionable material giving off near instantly fatal doses of radiation.

This. This a million times. Just this morning I explained the same thing to a friend - I told him that, compared with the death and destruction coal has wrought (in mining accidents, abuses to the environment and local populations because of said mining, and pollution) nuclear power is a walk in the park. This news is sickening to me - I can't recall being so torn up over a manmade or natural disaster at any other point (that includes 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti earthquake and the Indian Ocean tsunami) - and as horrifying as the destruction and human suffering is, I'm afraid the setbacks imposed on nuclear power will be the worse long-term effect of the disaster.

A world with perfectly clean, safe energy is a lovely thought - a wind turbine in every backyard, solar panels on every rooftop, and electric cars in every garage - but also a complete pipe-dream for the foreseeable future, and about as likely to happen as human beings collectively deciding to end war, injustice and inhumanity. Don't like coal power, nuclear power, oil dependency? War, prejudice, poverty? Neither do I, but this is human society - a society built upon, and driven by, those things. Will things change? Maybe, but I think we'll die out before we evolve into a more "enlightened" species - assuming that's even possible, and that human nature as we know it isn't the best Mother Nature can devise.

[Dr. Kraus]

This news is sickening to me - I can't recall being so torn up over a man made or natural disaster at any other point (that includes 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti earthquake and the Indian Ocean tsunami) - and as horrifying as the destruction and human suffering is, I'm afraid the setbacks imposed on nuclear power will be the worse long-term effect of the disaster.

Your not the only one, I watch the CNN.com live feed everyday in school whenever available and I'm always crushed by it having contacts over there.
To raise awareness of it (everyone is being a douche in school saying its not a big deal) I'm wearing a white armband with the UK, Japanese, and American flags across it with the slogan "We're here for you!"

[Chocofreak13]

@everyone: all we can do now is wait and see.
oh, and 3 words: SAHARA
SOLAR
PANELS

and because SOMETHING has to break up the intelligent conversation here, ALMOST TOO BADASS FOR WORDS:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42095074/ns/technology_and_science-space/from/toolbar

[Pitkin]

oh, and 3 words: SAHARA
SOLAR
PANELS

I'm a bit afraid to depend the sole energy source on that region, truth be told. It's not known to be extremely stable politically. :/ The question is, would it be any worse than depending on the oil from Middle East?

[Bella]

Speaking of badass things breaking up the intelligent conversation.


TODAY'S MY FOURTH /OSC/VERSERY.


Though, technically, I found this place in mid-February, but didn't join for a month because I though you EVIL PEOPLE WITH YOUR HORRIBLE /H/ SUBFORUM were going to CORRUPT MY INNOCENT MIND. But it took three years for that to happen!!!!

I kid, I kid, I love all you guys, and this is the only forum I've been to where I've gotten along with more people than not and actually made friends. Not net-friends, friend-friends. Thanks so much for being there for me, whether it be tolerating my occasional misanthropic rants or a wall-o-text about 50+ yo computer systems, or just being there to talk, and never stop being amazing. <3

[Paul]

These catastrophes in Japan make me sad like no other disaster ever did before. When I then hear people say, that it's entirely their own fault for using that energy (like a friend's dad did today) I really have to control myself not to explode in their faces... I'd also like to donate but I've got no credit card, maybe I can use the one of my dad.

@Bella: I've only been here for a short while, but I also got the impression that the people here are something special and really nice

[Pitkin]

Happy "OSC/versery", Bella. We haven't talked horribly much during your stay (and my absence xP), but it's very nice to have you around~ so, please stay at least for another four years! ^.^

[Krizonar]

Happy oscverseray! My first one comes up in a little over half a year...