Comments by "r baxter" (@rbaxter286) on "Sabine Hossenfelder" channel.

  1. I helped build 3 in the 70s that were YEARS behind and hundreds of millions over budget and situated in an area with a mushrooming population. Oh, and two were on a river that had flow decreases in the summer so they had to cut power ..., all because the project save tens of millions not having to build a new transmission line for them. Guess who has to pick up the $$$$ for the power they have to 'import' because of that screwup? Oh, oh, and because the utility on two of them ignored their OTHER units, those units got shut down by the NRC for general incompetence and arrogance to regulators. How much more money do you think that utility incompetence cost the rate payers? We'll not discuss their horrendous waste handling practices and the like. All of this was in a era where a huge talent pool of nuclear construction was present, and YET they couldn't get my 3 plants finished near time and budget NOR could the 2 Georgia Power plants get finished on time or budget, but needed an emergency flare to the industry to dig them out of their hole. NOW, guess which utility considered itself qualified to build the nuke vendor's LATEST, GREATEST, FASTEST, SHINIEST PLANTS, yet they STILL went $Billiond and many year OVER?! If you don't have the experience, the industry and the people who got their golden retirements from it will snow you every time with lies, promises, and marketing.
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  2. So, how is a normal taxpayer going to NOT blindly trust science when Big Science has captured the process in the country like the Japanese nuclear industry captured the nuclear regulatory industry?! Should we be running our own labs to do confirmatory experiments and the like? When the whole system, including the checks-and-balances, is fraught with issues, how does the normal person work back up the line to Trust But Verify?
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  3. Went from the Greater Northeast to the Hot Southeast, and what you have observed about skin temperature surprised me, but the overall 'heating' with a heat pump is VERY EASY to live with when you factor in full house AC in Summer and things like 'abnormal' gas backup. I have some 'cooler/hotter rooms', but NOTHING like the ice-on-the-windows attic I grew up in from an oil/radiator house. Thanks for the practical insights, because there is such a lack of such experience in YouTube!!
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  4. Another video that summarizes the important information and gets to the point quickly enough and with enough entertainment value to make me spend the time required. SOOOOO superior to most of the 'science' reporting by writers who are just there for the clickbait and Bury the Lede under many paragraphs of digression ..., for the algorithm ... The Patreon is worth the price to get this early, too!!
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  5. Carrot Ironfoundersson has been assigned you case and would "... like a word, please."
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  6. In the US, I continually get severe weather warnings and NOTHING HAPPENS. The responsible organizations are SOOOOO SCARED of missing something that EVERYTHING is SEVERE!!! That has created a huge Boy Who Cried Wolf syndrome to the point that I use various live radar apps and sites to forecast my own weather. ("When Everyone is Somebodee, Then No One's Anybody!") Of course, I was perspicacious enough to never have to live in any of the Weather Hellholes, like Tornado Alley or the like.
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  7. Always wanted to refit my entry hallway with a Penrose Tiling. Wrote that when first starting the video and wanted the floor like that decades ago. I figured I could set the tiles in the grout by placeing his then-popular book on top of each.
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  8. I really miss having Daniel Dennett around, who would examine and present the actual cases for Consciousness, with this as one chapter, in well-reasoned philosophical terms.
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  9. And, it came about because physicists weren't invited to those kinds of parties? Nothing changed there ..., I can't imagine Sabine dancing on a table top, anywhere in the visible universe.
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  10. The overruns and slipped schedules will be AT LEAST as bad because, just like every project I've been involved with from nuke plants to smaller ones, the vendors will lie about costs, the what-used-to-be-called AE (architect/engineer) group doing the integration design, the engineers and techs on the site, the craft on the site, and anyone else involved will STILL have the tacit desire to LIE THEIR BUTTS OFF to ensure a long gravy train throughout the entire process. And, I'm talking about Lies of Commission and Lies of Omission. In case I hear the ole "but why would they lie and jeopardize the project?!?!", I point to VW and the diesel HIGH CRIME, ENRON and it's idiocy, and Siemens and their HUGE bribery scandals. I can include any number of incompetent/looking out for their paycheck US nuclear projects and equipment vendors/AE Firms, too.
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  11. That is only ONE of the issues with this process, but this is really just a toy for the US nuclear weapons complex for research to support that program. This is not a serious fusion project, as one of my faculty advisors admitted decades ago from his experience with the program.
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  12. Wha?! I thought this 'bubble' burst YEARS AGO, ALREADY?! Even if the tech were ready to scale up, the project planning and long-lead items would eat up a LOT of time in the "next 25 years", as would the startup and initial operation of this kind of tech (think the first generation of 1000Mw nuke plants, if you aren't scarred by that experience, first-hand). This 'New Way' will not be free from ANY of the pitfalls and self-created booby traps of any recent introduction of Big Tech.
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  13. "For the String WAS a Boojum, you see ..."
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  14. I'd rather listen to a video like this one that ties together things I've heard here, before, than go through endless, "water flows downhill and light is really fast" useless background and recap (i.e., bloviation) I get in so many others. Let them complain, I really don't care. I prefer The Encyclopedia Galactica to the HHGTTG, and don't need the low density, but so much more talking.
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  15.  @NicholasSullivan-tk8zt  Plank lengths depend on the tape measure you use and how good you are at guesstimating the unmarked length between the actual gradations on the tape. I can easily see how irrationality can enter into it.
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  16.  @lobabobloblaw  Ah, reminds me of the South Park Prius episode, swelling on the self-flatulence sniffing of Prius owners ...
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  17. PLEASE, I've just learned the arms aren't coherent structures that the stars turn around the core as a unit!, that they're a lot like the density wave of cars going up when a lane closes or there's a gaper block, with density going down after, well, after maybe something cuz the accident that cause the gaper block has already been cleared up. Now you've got me trying to remember right-hand-rule stuff about angular momentum!! This is supposed to be a TGIF, not a Oh-No-It's-Friday!!
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  18. It's applying "Quantum, Quantum, Quantum!" (as Angela Collier says) to neurobiology in a methodical way. "It's Fine ..." That's how Artificial Ignorance would answer your question?
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  19. They will have problems MAINTAINING that vacuum in a Production/Commercial environment over hundreds of km in THE REAL WORLD.
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  20. Great ... UNTIL you have the stress corrosion cracking in vessel nozzles that affected ALL the units at the same time because of a common mode failure in the design. But, it looks like a lot of engineers here have fooled their bosses into thinking they're overworked, while they seem to have a lot of time to 'comment'.
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  21. Except it was the very scientists who designed and implemented AI, not the engineers??
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  22. The 'build it in your basement' fools in this sub-thread have no idea what they're talking about.
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  23. Yeah, what THEY said!!😊 Metaphors are for English majors, not for hard science with actual math available to describe Reality directly.
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  24. I assume your level of expertise is equal to that of the people saying it can be done? I assume you level of expertise in risk analysis and management meets things like the DOE orders used at their various nuclear sites? "Lousy way" doesn't mean it WON'T be done.
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  25. When will we have the same kind of 'End of Year Reivew of Physics Predictions' that we have for the psychics? It's be nice to see all the 'The Sky is Falling'/'The Standard Model is Broken, FINALLY!' videos and papers, along with the journals publishing them ..., with statistical analysis of 'reliabitlity'?
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  26. Do call us when they build a train between some economically relevant distance, as in the maglev saving enough time to justify the PRACTICAL issues contained in building a maglev quasi-hyperloop. This really sounds like the LLNL 'fusion breakthrough' that doesn't include the power used to pump the HUGE bank of lasers, or without talking about the economics of the fuel, the fuel loading mechanism, or the consequences when any of that FAILS UNDER LOAD. Try bumbling over to Thunderf00t's channel for a meaningful, exhaustive examination of Space Karen's hyperloop, and then apply all that here. He highlights the PRACTICAL issues of maintaining vacuums even in a lab environment, much less for hundreds of km, and the HUGE problems when you get an 'upset' like a defective joint catastrophically failing with a pressure pulse propagated down the tube. I find it interesting that I rarely see people with EXPERIENCE MAINTAINING ANY KIND OF BIG MACHINERY GIVING THEIR OPINIONS ON HOW MUCH SUCH A SYSTEM WILL COST TO KEEP RUNNING AND WITH WHAT REGULARITY.
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  27. The old rule of Project Management is "Better, Faster, Cheaper: Pick any TWO!" I doubt China will make it stick without huge "Unintended Consequences".
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  28. Math is a tool that exists in The Universe. If we cannot 'prove' math, then there ARE unproveable things in The Universe.
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  29. And, the rebuttals sound like Employment Applications from those hoping to hop on the ever-almost-here Traveling Nuclear Circus payroll. Been there, done that, bailed on it to finally get a legitimate, ethical profession.
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  30. Just realized, WHAT AN EPIC EXCUSE!! "I can't hand in my homework because the NSA classified it and took it away, Mrs. Krabappel-Flanders!"
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  31. Sorry, but how is Artificial IGNORANCE supposed NOT to have bigger problems?! ("It's a JOKE, son!")
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  32. Funny how the only thing that is known to exist inside those gaps are the myriad of Gods that Man has invented, instead of the billions of Men that the Gods have invented?
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  33. Thanks for alerting us to a new explanation. Maybe one of these ideas will provide some impetus to find better and newer data to lead to a new hypothesis even if the original purpose is not served.
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  34. Well, philosophers trying to do science normally just end up eating the Play-Doh, while scientists doing philosophy only do so AFTER inventing something useful. I'll excuse the scientist ANY day.
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  35. Yes, and I'm always suspicious of Loonies, too.
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  36.  @gwentarinokripperinolkjdsf683  I have read the Science report in the copy I get every week. Have you? I worked in the nuclear industry and have had an interest in this for years, including past analysis provided by the Union of Concerned Scientist by experts in the nuclear weapons field. I've got enough of a background to know the particulars of the analysis and/or the bona fides of the experts waving flags. These references are out there, but you have to look for them. Just because this kind of issue is 'inconvenient' is not a valid reason to ignore them.
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  37. ... it just needs to look intelligent enough to convince Management and to give Marketing some buzz words to use ...
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  38. I've often observed that a lot of 'innovators' and 'contrarians' (e.g., FLERFs) are unable to even 'think outside the coffin'.
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  39. Wow, this is like the time I had to buy a new set of Steam Tables because someone recalculated values and came up with differing graphs for the T-s diagrams ..., or is that too old a reference for anyone but the original steam punks ...
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  40. Only if they were feckless enough to get caught. The Uberwald Igors were never so foolish as to go down with a 'sinking' castle.
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  41. "It's not a lensed galaxy, it's actually just two very galaxies near each other in our line-of-sight ..., D'OH!!" "It's not nice to fool (with) Mother Nature!"
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  42. What ISN'T ad hoc?
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  43. [... something about 'rung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible', I think ...]
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  44. Note the pronoun "YOU"?!
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  45. Yeah, because AI is really EXACTLY what a spreadsheet represents, but it's already been done and nobody can make a big buck off it anymore. The issue is, how do you make sure the product is CORRECT when the way it was made is using a black box?! I have had to proof check multipage spreadsheets by hand for REGULATORY COMPLIANCE in hazardous and worse waste transport and disposal, so how will black boxes be checked for fidelity?!
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  46. THANK YOU for presenting a meaningful interpretation of Godel's Theorum, and not falling for Penrose's "And Then a Miracle Occurs" B/S! Read his book, wasn't impressed, except by its weight. NEXT quantum use case is MAKING A HUGE RETURN ON INVESTMENT! PERIOD!! That's why Google is there with it's slavering dragonfly nymph mandibles triggered to fire at any possible spinoff FOR THEIR STOCKHOLDERS' BENEFIT. This is not "For Duty and Humanity!", as described by "Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard" , but is "For Stockholders and Vulture Capitalists!".
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  47. Oh great, the yard is full of 'unsightly' weeds, there's a new homeless cat looking for food, and NOW I'VE GOT PERNICIOUS AI IN MY SCIENCE! You are worse than my Home Owners Association with the angst you cause me!!
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  48. PBS to me is like New Scientist ..., I've given up on it multiple times when the retractions in it outnumber the articles ..., now I stick to AAAS and Science ...
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  49.  @eyeofthasky  Their formulaic "high-school science class" presentation style is abysmal, too.
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  50. Let Poland be the SOLE update. The 'experts' and 'engineers' are either INCOMPETENT and/or ECONOMICALLY ILLITERATE and/or ... ... SNIFFING OUT A PAYCHECK ... as they have REPEATEDLY DEMONSTRATED OVER MORE THAN 50 YEARS! AND, GE?! They are the same who designed that execrable containment on their FIRST TRY of the BIG BWRs at Fukushima, too!! That containment was a running sore in the nuclear industry for DECADES with structural flaws and the like. The US DOE has just CANCELLED an SMR installation, and I don't see ANY small utility being able to support or sustain INTEREST to support the infrastructure for nuclear power, technically and regulatory ..., even with the NRC trying to crawl to their RETIREMENT with JUST ONE MORE series of regulatory jobs. Small Modular Reactors (spit) will be 'economical' just like the B/S 'advanced reactors' were 'economical' in the US ..., until NOBODY COULD AFFORD THEM except some poor fools here in Georgia. Even the Good Ole Boy ethical cesspit of South Carolina CANCELLED the reactors. SMRs are just another B/S 'Murican PR and MARKETING Campaign by people who can't make a buck elsewhere. Nuclear power is back wherever the NUCLEAR POWER INDUSTRY AND LOBBY ARE STRONGEST AND $$$$. If you haven't worked IN THE INDUSTRY, you really need to get some 'expert' opinions from people who have the inside info on this that is not particularly 'bright and shiny'. The tech is nifty, but the continued support required and the need to maintain small groups of expert knowledge have ALWAYS been an albatross around utilities' necks. Let's finally put a stake in the heart of the Admiral Rickover Zombie. You do an excellent, unsurpassed job on Real Science, why don't you practice some of the 'attempted falsification' that makes Real Science so robust by focusing it on this Big Business tech ghoul?! The OLD units may have been mistakenly removed from service, BUT THAT IS NO REASON TO SEW ANOTHER CROP OF NUCLEAR DRAGONS' TEETH TO POISON THE FUTURE!!
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