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Thread: Fusion, another step closer?
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2022-05-31, 08:16 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2019
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Re: Fusion, another step closer?
To put it a different way - planting trees is great, and has a variety of benefits on ecological, atmospheric, and cultural levels.
However, even if you were to plant a million new trees, that's not the same as a million old growth forest trees as those saplings need to grow for years, so keeping preexisting forests safe is important and setting up artificial photosynthesis to have a different solution is also very useful.
Though it is worth noting that regardless of all of that, eating less meat and participating in tree planting events of various kinds are still great ways to handle the GHG issue. Not to mention taking a longer train ride instead of a plane trip (surprisingly viable in Europe), and so on.
I can also talk at length about how while society-scale implementation of those changes would save the day, so would a handful of corporations being environmentally friendly instead of doing screw-all about it, but that's a much much longer discussion.An explanation of why MitD being any larger than Huge is implausible.
See my extended signature here! May contain wit, candor, and somewhere from 52 to 8127 walruses.
Purple is humorous descriptions made up on the fly
Green is serious talk about hypothetical
Blue is irony and sarcasm
"I think, therefore I am,
I walk, therefore I stand,
I sleep, therefore I dream;
I joke, therefore I meme."
-Squire Doodad
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2022-05-31, 08:35 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2020
Re: Fusion, another step closer?
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2022-05-31, 08:43 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2010
Re: Fusion, another step closer?
Though any individual-level approach basically doesn't scale well enough compared to systematic approaches to move the needle in practice. If you took all the people willing to change their lifestyles and made them maximally negative-carbon, that still wouldn't counter-balance a single regulatory decision...
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2022-05-31, 10:28 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2019
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Re: Fusion, another step closer?
So kind of like seeding those vast plots of empty grass that are all over the place with edible plants for the city to use? You could probably stick fruit trees near highways or something if you want to, though exhaust would limit this potential somewhat.
The goal is to maximize diversity and carbon capture, so planting native cranberries is great even if their useful yields boil down to feeding a handful of wandering campers over the course of 5 years.
I mean that would because it would in turn consist of what a governmental regulatory decision would aim for and probably influence company regulatory decisions
But yeah point taken, the best way to do the most good with the least changes to your lifestyle is to do the easy stuff for yourself and then push heavily in favor of ecologically sound policy. Or at least the less ecologically-destructive ones.An explanation of why MitD being any larger than Huge is implausible.
See my extended signature here! May contain wit, candor, and somewhere from 52 to 8127 walruses.
Purple is humorous descriptions made up on the fly
Green is serious talk about hypothetical
Blue is irony and sarcasm
"I think, therefore I am,
I walk, therefore I stand,
I sleep, therefore I dream;
I joke, therefore I meme."
-Squire Doodad
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2022-06-01, 05:36 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2007
Re: Fusion, another step closer?
Otherwise quite a lot of coastal areas (where most people in the world live actually) would face this. Ozone layer crisis has shown that a global action can make a huge difference, but with greenhouse gasses it is not that easy as we basically need to shift whole branches of industry into new directions.
In a war it doesn't matter who's right, only who's left.
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2022-06-03, 02:47 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2011
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- Sharangar's Revenge
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Re: Fusion, another step closer?
New energy storage system: Polymer Batteries
From Science Friday
The CEO of PolyJoule was on the program, and hyped the environmentally friendliness of the batteries, which do not require mining of copper, kobalt, lithium, etc, but neglected to mention that plastic comes from oil, merely mentioning that they use plastic feedstock, which already has supply lines in place. He also pushed that at end-of-life, plastic is recyclable, which is a very iffy thing to assert these days, but it may be true, since I don't know specifically what types of plastic these are made of. It is true that the 1% of lead-acid batteries that aren't recycled tend to poison the landscape, and that lithium-ion batteries are pretty nasty when their usable life is over. But plastic decomposition into microplastics is a real problem. I'm kind of disappointed in Ira Flatow for not pushing back on those issues. Oh well.
A couple other notes:
According to the Science Friday segment, these batteries are very safe. They don't catch fire like lithium batteries, and can be punctured when fully charged without risk of explosion or chemical leakage. They are good for over 20,000 charge/discharge cycles (last year they were rated for 12,000 cycles, so it's possible that 20k is not the limit).
They have about 20% of the energy density by volume of standard lithium-ion batteries, so these are not going to be powering your car or cell phone. The CEO says he envisions them being used for Wind/Solar energy storage in large-scale facilities. Or possibly occupying a cabinet in the average person's home.Last edited by Lord Torath; 2022-06-03 at 02:49 PM.
Warhammer 40,000 Campaign Skirmish Game: Warpstrike
My Spelljammer stuff (including an orbit tracker), 2E AD&D spreadsheet, and Vault of the Drow maps are available in my Dropbox. Feel free to use or not use it as you see fit!
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2022-06-03, 03:14 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2019
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- Magrathea
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Re: Fusion, another step closer?
An explanation of why MitD being any larger than Huge is implausible.
See my extended signature here! May contain wit, candor, and somewhere from 52 to 8127 walruses.
Purple is humorous descriptions made up on the fly
Green is serious talk about hypothetical
Blue is irony and sarcasm
"I think, therefore I am,
I walk, therefore I stand,
I sleep, therefore I dream;
I joke, therefore I meme."
-Squire Doodad
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2022-06-04, 01:46 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2016
Re: Fusion, another step closer?
IIRC some plastics can also be produced directly from plants, rather than from oil. I'm not sure if the particular plastics used in this device can be, but I know that some can.
"If you want to understand biology don't think about vibrant throbbing gels and oozes, think about information technology" -Richard Dawkins
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2022-06-15, 02:00 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2008
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- Sweden
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Re: Fusion, another step closer?
Black text is for sarcasm, also sincerity. You'll just have to read between the lines and infer from context like an animal
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2022-06-15, 02:31 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2013
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- Bristol, UK
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2022-06-15, 02:44 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2010
Re: Fusion, another step closer?
That's around 0.1% of the total daily mass of food you eat, and plastic is biologically pretty inert, so I don't know that you'd notice.
That said, for similar reasons, I'm not particularly bothered by the idea of it either, short of specific claims or studies showing particular negative effects at scales I care about...
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2022-06-15, 03:24 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2013
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- Bristol, UK
Re: Fusion, another step closer?
I still want to see a citation for that. Wikipedia says 70,000 particles a year, with a maximum length of 5mm, which is relatively huge, but I still don't think a gram is a reasonable gross mass without the texture at least being noticable:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microplastics
That said, for similar reasons, I'm not particularly bothered by the idea of it either, short of specific claims or studies showing particular negative effects at scales I care about...Last edited by halfeye; 2022-06-15 at 03:25 PM.
The end of what Son? The story? There is no end. There's just the point where the storytellers stop talking.
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2022-06-18, 10:21 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2008
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Re: Fusion, another step closer?
Er yes, really. https://graphics.reuters.com/ENVIRON...2MQ/index.html
People could be ingesting the equivalent of a credit card of plastic a week, a recent study by WWF International concluded, mainly in drinking water but also via sources like shellfish, which tend to be eaten whole so the plastic in their digestive systems is also consumed.Black text is for sarcasm, also sincerity. You'll just have to read between the lines and infer from context like an animal
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2022-06-18, 11:56 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2013
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- Bristol, UK
Re: Fusion, another step closer?
A gram is a lot. A credit card is a lot too, but I would guess it's less than a gram.
The article (which is journalism not scientific, and quotes the WWF, which is a charity and also not scientific) says in drinking water and shellfish, most weeks I don't eat shellfish at all. I would plainly see 5mm chunks of plastic in drinking water, they may be thinking of nanoplastics which are small enough to be invisible, but they said micro-plastics, which are big.The end of what Son? The story? There is no end. There's just the point where the storytellers stop talking.
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2022-06-18, 02:04 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2010
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2022-06-18, 10:32 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Sep 2011
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- Calgary, AB
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Re: Fusion, another step closer?
While I'm also concerned about the potential harms of microplastics, the specific quoted rate of Credit Card per Week is unlikely to be true.
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2022-06-20, 09:48 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2011
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- Sharangar's Revenge
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Re: Fusion, another step closer?
Thanks for that! I've shared it with my family.
Fun little bit about how we might conceivably be able to deal with our plastics disposal problem:
These plastic-munching superworms are living recycling plants from SyFy-WireLast edited by Lord Torath; 2022-06-20 at 09:49 AM.
Warhammer 40,000 Campaign Skirmish Game: Warpstrike
My Spelljammer stuff (including an orbit tracker), 2E AD&D spreadsheet, and Vault of the Drow maps are available in my Dropbox. Feel free to use or not use it as you see fit!
Thri-Kreen Ranger/Psionicist by me, based off of Rich's A Monster for Every Season
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2022-06-20, 11:43 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2011
Re: Fusion, another step closer?
The vast majority of micro plastics come from polymeric textile laundering (acrylic, polyester, nylon, etc clothing mostly) and wear and tear on plastic/rubber materials, mostly tyres on roads. How we handle plastic waste disposal isn't really relevant to the issue AFAIK.
Originally Posted by crayzzOriginally Posted by jere7my
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2022-06-20, 12:17 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2020
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2022-06-20, 04:01 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2019
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Re: Fusion, another step closer?
I mean nurdles also enter the waters in considerable quantities as a result of raw mats for plastic production being shipped and leaking out. There's lots of different sources that can be fixed.
Bamboo fabrics aren't a good option but bamboo substitutes for, say, plastic cutting boards seems goodAn explanation of why MitD being any larger than Huge is implausible.
See my extended signature here! May contain wit, candor, and somewhere from 52 to 8127 walruses.
Purple is humorous descriptions made up on the fly
Green is serious talk about hypothetical
Blue is irony and sarcasm
"I think, therefore I am,
I walk, therefore I stand,
I sleep, therefore I dream;
I joke, therefore I meme."
-Squire Doodad
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2022-06-22, 03:21 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2009
- Location
- Germany
Re: Fusion, another step closer?
We are not standing on the shoulders of giants, but on very tall tower of other dwarves.
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