Men. Take Charge.

Posted by: Dave In Texas at 06:08 PM | Comments (19)
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Gamma-ray annihilation lasers!

cientists in the US have successfully combined electrons with their anti-matter counterparts, positrons, to create Di-positronium, bringing the dream of gamma-ray annihilation lasers one step closer to being realized.

The discovery, reported in the journal Nature, is a key step in the creation of ultrapowerful lasers known as gamma-ray annihilation lasers.

"The difference in the power available from a gamma-ray laser compared to a normal laser is the same as the difference between a nuclear explosion and a chemical explosion," said Dr David Cassidy of the University of California, Riverside, and one of the authors of the paper.

"It would have an incredibly high power density."

Gamma. Ray. Annihilation. Lasers.

Sounds like lasing a stick of dynamite to me. Well played, Mr. Knight.

I have no idea what I'm talking about, but it seems they've found a way to make positrons take up the orbits of normal electrons in normal matter, creating (if only for a few nanoseconds) a molecule which has both matter and anti-matter electrons whizzing about it. And I guess if they can extend that very short shelf life, they'd have the most potent short-burst energy container in the universe, as a matter-antimatter annihilation results in 100% pure direct conversion of mass to energy. Unlike a petty nuclear reaction, which usually only manages to convert, what?, 10% of the mass involved into energy.

Somehow (follow through the links) this is interesting to those researching fusion. Then again, those people are interested in practically anything, because living lives of scientific futility has to get old after a while.

Dr Cassidy believes that increasing the density of the positronium in the silicon would create an exotic state of matter known as a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC).

BECs are usually produced by supercooling atoms so that they merge and begin to behave like one giant atom.

They have been used in many experiments such as the 2003 Harvard study in which scientists were able to trap light.

"At even higher densities, one might expect the material to become a regular, crystalline solid," wrote Professor Clifford Surko, of the University of Californian, San Diego, in an accompanying article.

Taking it one step further, scientists could use the spontaneous annihilation of the BEC, and the subsequent outburst of gamma-rays, to make a powerful laser.

"A gamma-ray laser is the kind of thing that if it existed people would find new uses for it everyday," said Dr Cassidy.

He highlighted an experiment at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in the US where scientists are using 196 lasers to heat a fuel target to try to kick-start nuclear fusion.

"Imagine doing that but you no longer need hundreds of lasers," he said.

Eh... I'm imagining and I'm not impressed. If we can do it with 196 not very sophisticated lasers, what's the big advantage of doing it with One Big Megamillion Dollar Laser? Who cares how you start it? Keeping it going seems to the be the stickler.

The whole article perplexes me, really, because while you can make a really powerful laser this way, you can also make a really kickin' bomb, and yet they don't discuss that. But this is the BBC, and perhaps they just don't want to frighten their target audience too much.

More: From an old article linked in the BBC sidebar, the laser-fusion connection:

Harnessing nuclear fusion, as the process is known, would offer almost unlimited energy without the release of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide.

A proposal to fund the set-up costs of a project called Hiper (High Power Laser Energy Research) is currently being considered by the EU.

...

"In just one cubic kilometre of seawater there is the equivalent energy of the world's oil reserves," says Professor Dunne. "So it's almost limitless fuel."

...

In the core of the Sun, huge gravitational pressure allows this to happen at temperatures of around 10 million Celsius. At the much lower pressures on Earth, temperatures to produce fusion need to be much higher - above 100 million Celsius.

Hiper would achieve these extreme temperatures using ultra powerful lasers - some will concentrate the equivalent of ten thousand times the power of the national grid into a spot less than a millimetre across.

The whole scheme has been drawn up to capitalise on a US project at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.

Scheduled for completion in 2010, the massive NIF laser is expected to prove to the world that laser fusion will work and should be taken seriously.

"That will move it from the scientific field to the public and political field," says Professor Dunne.

"Everything from then on is just mere detail - it's technology and engineering."

The NIF laser and Hiper take very different approaches to laser fusion. Professor Dunne compares it to the differences between a diesel and petrol engine.

"Nif is the diesel approach," he says. "You shine lasers at a pellet of material and compress it to such a point that its temperature and density reach a point that allows fusion reactions."

In contrast, Hiper will use two sets of lasers: one to compress the fuel pellet and another, like a spark plug, to ignite it. Using this set up means that the fuel does not need to be compressed as much as it does with NIF, overcoming a major hurdle.

"It's like trying to squeeze jelly," explains Professor Bob Bingham, also of the RAL. "You want to squeeze in a way that it doesn't come back out through your fingers. That really is the key."

I realize scientists are discussing some very heady stuff, but could they take a fucking Learning Annex course on Illuminative Metaphors? "You want to squeeze jelly so it doesn't come out between your fingers"? What?

I'm more confused now. Why the fuck would I want to squeeze jelly in the first place, dickhead? What the blue hell are you talking about dude?

"Well, you see, creating a Bose-Einstein Condensate is sort of like sodomizing a dyspeptic sasquatch with a bucketfull of jellybeans and hatred." Oh, yeah, I totally get it now, thanks for nothin', Poindexter.

Posted by: Ace at 06:06 PM | Comments (54)
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And that poll was mostly taken before Petraeus' and Crocker's two days of testimony, and before the testimony is picked at rehashed over the next week of news.

37% is not, of course, a majority. But it is an overwhelming majority of Republicans and moderates in swing districts and states, so these numbers, while hardly glittering, should be enough. For a while, at least.

The proportion of Americans who say the war remains winnable has edged up to 37% from 32% in July, while the majority who say it isn't has diminished to 56% from 62%. The proportion saying the troop surge is helping the situation on the ground has risen to 33% from 29% in July and 24% in April.

The proportion saying the Iraq war has been worth the financial and human costs ticked up to 35% from 33% in July. Mr. Bush's approval rating on Iraq is still paltry at 30%. But that's up from 22% in July.

The poll shows that American sentiment about the war is complex. Asked about possible outcomes, just 24% say U.S. troops should leave only after Iraq becomes a stable democracy. Yet just 26% say troops should start leaving now regardless of conditions on the ground. A 37% plurality says some troops should remain in the region even after leaving Iraq to prevent violence from spreading.

Glenn Greenwald should probably modify his cutesy catchphrase about the "24% dead-enders" up the "37% not-quite-dead-enders," but perhaps word travels slowly down to the most patriotic city in America, the site of the Bunker Hill stand, Rio de Janiero.

Posted by: Ace at 05:28 PM | Comments (11)
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The Youtube community has been having some fun with Britney Spears' poor showing the other night.

From National Lampoon.

Couple more silly vids below the jump.
Please feel free to share your own in the comments. more...

Posted by: LauraW. at 04:49 PM | Comments (8)
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Updated and Bumped [Slublog] - For two reasons. One, the photoshop. Every scandal needs a graphic and this one was fun. Two, this is a big story that I believe has the potential to smash the aura of inevitability that surrounds Clinton's campaign.

This post by Sweetness-Light deserves to be highlighted - the acceptance of dirty cash seems to be a pattern, not a quirk. And like S-L points out - this is the same campaign that demanded Obama return money from David Geffen because the producer had the audacity to call Clinton a liar.

---------------

The Wall Street Journal thinks it has figured out where Norman Hsu's money came from and it's not the Chinese.

Apparently, an investment fund run by Woodstock co-creator Joel Rosenman invested $40 million in an apparel company run by Hsu. The regular procedure would be for Hsu to take the money in the form of a loan and use it in China to produce high-quality fashion items which are then sold to U.S. merchants. The investment fund would then get a check from Hsu for the amount of the loan plus profit.

Rosenman says that Hsu's last two checks bounced and that there are 37 outstanding loan deals in progress. In an understatement to his investors, Rosenman wrote in a recent letter, "This development, coupled with recent revelations led us to believe that payments due on our recent transactions with [Hsu's company] and Hsu may not be made."

My question: If Hsu was using the loan money for contributions to Democrats, how did he think that wouldn't be discovered when it came time to pay back Rosenman and the investors?

[Incidentally, I keep posting on Hsu because this story fascinates me. Hsu's ability to juggle money in such a way as to fundraise for Democrats and lead the sweet life while simultaneously keeping himself out of prison is worthy of some examination.] more...

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 04:05 PM | Comments (58)
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Senator Harry Reid is jumping on reports that President Bush is close to nominating someone to replace Attorney General Gonzales. As of the beginning of the week, it looked like Ted Olson was the front-runner.

Now Reid has announced that Olson is not confirmable. Says Reid:

I intend to do everything I can to prevent him from being confirmed as the next attorney general.

It's not about Olson's qualifications, which are excellent. Olson has the skill and the integrity to see the Department of Justice through the rough year it's about to have. Even some Democrats think he makes a great choice. (But see the comments where others cannot led go of Bush v. Gore.)

If Reid has his way, he'd get to pick the next Attorney General. For that reason alone, I'd like to see Olson get nominated. Fortunately, Olson has impeccable credentials, patience, and the smarts to get through another Senate confirmation process. He did it once before, he can do it again.

At least it'd give Senate Democrats something to do other than pass earmarks and treat a four star general like a liar.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 03:59 PM | Comments (36)
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I'll say it. Doesn't mean much when I say it, but let's put it out there anyway:

One does not need to stoop to transparent fakery to show a "speech" from a man who is still alive and therefore capable of delivering it in a more straightforward fashion.

No one, for example, ever spliced together old tapes of mine to create a "new" Hoist the Black Flag show. It was far simpler to just get me to record a new one.

But then, I had an advantage over Osama bin Laden. I wasn't dead.

So, you murderous monster, burn in Hell, eternally. I don't believe in Hell, but I'm trying to will into being just for you, Pal.

And you thuggish imbeciles running Al Qaeda: Ha, ha. In trying to prove your pederast coward of a "leader" was alive you proved he was dead.

Death is coming for all of you.

As the man said, "We will bury you."

Just like we buried your pederast princeling bin Laden.

[Update PA]
More info HERE

He's pining for the fjords. Bank on it.

Posted by: Ace at 03:47 PM | Comments (54)
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More fake than we thought.

The September 7 video shows bin Laden dressed in a white hat, white shirt and yellow sweater. Krawetz notes “this is the same clothing he wore in the 2004-10-29 video. In 2004 he had it unzipped, but in 2007 he zipped up the bottom half. Besides the clothing, it appears to be the same background, same lighting, and same desk. Even the camera angle is almost identical.” Krawetz also notes that “if you overlay the 2007 video with the 2004 video, his face has not changed in three years–only his beard is darker and the contrast on the picture has been adjusted.”…

At roughly a minute and a half into the video there is a splice; bin Laden shifts from looking at the camera to looking down in less than 1/25th of a second. At 13:13 there is a second, less obvious splice. In all, Krawetz says there are at least six splices in the video. Of these, there are only two live bin Laden segments, the rest of the video composed of still images. The first live section opens the video and ends at 1:56. The second section begins at 12:29 and continues until 14:01. The two live sections appear to be from different recordings “because the desk is closer to the camera in the second section.”

Then there are the audio edits. Krawetz says “the new audio has no accompanying ‘live’ video and consists of multiple audio recordings.” References to current events are made only during the still frame sections and after splices within the audio track.” And there are so many splices that I cannot help but wonder if someone spliced words and phrases together. I also cannot rule out a vocal imitator during the frozen-frame audio. The only way to prove that the audio is really bin Laden is to see him talking in the video,” Krawetz says.

Nice.

This distributed intelligence thing seems to actually work. As soon as this came out a reader was scolding me for not looking at the video carefully to debunk it as a hoax. I thought that was an unlikely possibility, and did not pursue. But other people did and now here you go.

And our, ahem, intelligence services and our, cough-cough, news services will clue on to this sometime next week.

Posted by: Ace at 03:30 PM | Comments (16)
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A couple of 'em. File them as funny-strange rather than funny-ha-ha. more...

Posted by: Ace at 03:20 PM | Comments (12)
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And that is possibly illegal, given this whole economic embargo and all.

The poll's major finding?

A new poll indicates that some 43 percent of Americans believe that Washington knew about the 9/11 attacks but did nothing to stop them.

According to the Press TV-Zogby International poll, 42.5 percent of the respondents believed that the Bush Administration knew about the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center but did nothing to prevent the attacks.

Only 37.5 percent of the respondents strongly disagreed with the idea and 4.5 percent neither agreed nor disagreed with it.

Thanks, Zogby!

Remember when we used to think this guy was somewhat right-leaning? Good times, good times.

Posted by: Ace at 01:13 PM | Comments (22)
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