And there's the problem. I don't know about you guys, but when I was in college, the guys that flamed out of science or engineering went to the business or education schools. If they flamed out there, it was on to journalism. "Journalists" are the stupidest, laziest, most incompetent people I know. The general public holds them in low esteem for good reason.

Wayne, dude ... Clark Kent just called, he'd like to have a word with you ...

 

Wayne, dude ... Clark Kent just called, he'd like to have a word with you ...

As long Clark keeps his glasses on, Wayne is safe.

 

You spend way too much time thinking about me.

But I guess it's kind of nice. Thanks.

If energy cost becomes free,everything'll be free.
people will count on you for free-everything apocalypse then :--p

 

Communications majors.

Meh.

Or in general, major in Media.

 

I have a few old things that don't like LED lights because of the RFI/EMI they generate. My classic GENIE screw drive door opener simply will not work (overloads the receiver) unless a incandescent bulb is in the socket. I bought a modern digital replacement years ago but the old guy keeps running.

My opener has a light socket that is oddly "deep", it requires a narrow neck on the bulb. Most CFL and LED bulbs simply can't be screwed in far enough to make contact. Old incandescents fit fine but tend to burn out quickly from the vibration. I've finally found an LED bulb that fits and I look forward to never touching it again. Maybe

 

A nuclear fusion startup just reached a milestone in its bid to commercialize unlimited clean energy


​

Earlier this month, OpenStar Technologies announced it had managed to create superheated plasma at temperatures of around 300,000 degrees Celsius, or 540,000 degrees Fahrenheit — one necessary step on a long path toward producing fusion energy.

 

A nuclear fusion startup just reached a milestone in its bid to commercialize unlimited clean energy
View attachment 336989
​

They need money.
https://ignition-news.com/openstar-achieves-first-plasma/

What’s next? The plasma that the company achieved last month was a “minimum viable plasma,” Mataira said, but not the “full rated magnetic field of the magnet that we designed.” Next steps include kicking that magnet into higher gear to gather more data, as well as working out some of the other systems.

• That includes the levitation piece, which the team is confident they’ll be testing in the first few months of 2025.

Next up, OpenStar will finalize the design for its next test machine and raise a round to make that happen. It’s also considering partnership opportunities and a base in the US for its next iteration.

 

They need money.
https://ignition-news.com/openstar-achieves-first-plasma/

LOTS of it ...

 

LOTS of it ...

From 16 years ago.

 

A little too optimistic... IMHO ...

‘World’s first’ grid-scale nuclear fusion power plant announced in the US

​

“This will mark the first time fusion power will be made available in the world at grid scale,” Mumgaard said. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin welcomed the announcement, calling it “an historic moment for Virginia and the world at large.”

 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/...n Systems (CFS),,news release issued by M.I.T.
Will the World's First Nuclear Fusion Power Plant Be Built in Virginia? Here's Why We're Skeptical

But let’s hold our nuclear horses for just a moment: there are several steps that must be completed before this fusion plant, named ARC (for “affordable, robust, compact”), could be plugged into Virginia’s power grid. For one, CFS has not finished its demonstration machine, SPARC (“smallest possible ARC”). The company says it expects the completed SPARC to show net energy production in 2027. That alone would be a feat.
...
The biggest fusion project on the planet, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in France, is behind schedule and over budget, ballooning from an initial estimate of $6.3 billion in 2006 to $22 billion in 2023, as journalist Charles Seife reported in Scientific American last year. And ITER, whose fundamental goal is to prove that fusion energy is feasible, is not intended to power anything.

CFS, meanwhile, has secured about $2 billion in investments. If it succeeds, it will have done so where previous attempts by well-financed tech companies have failed. Lockheed Martin began working on a small fusion reactor in 2010. In 2014 it said it would develop a reactor compact enough to fit on a truck before 2019. But by 2021, Lockheed Martin had quietly shelved the project.

 

A little too optimistic... IMHO ...

‘World’s first’ grid-scale nuclear fusion power plant announced in the US
View attachment 338375​

And what are the very first words in the article:
"If all goes to plan..."
But at least they don't make you wait till the end to see it like a lot of other "articles" do.
Maybe they know something nobody else knows

It's almost like all these article authors are selling bridges now. Any buyers?

 

The science here is the Standard Model. A fusion reactor operates far below the energy regime where the Standard Model stops working so we know eventually the engineering needed will be done by someone.

I'm still betting on ITER being first.

 

"If all goes to plan", thousands of investors will be bilked out of billions of dollars while providing jobs

 

"If all goes to plan", thousands of investors will be bilked out of billions of dollars while providing jobs

I'm fine with that, as long as they're private investors.

 

"If all goes to plan", thousands of investors will be bilked out of billions of dollars while providing jobs

Maybe that is nature's way of correcting the gross nature of financial inequality

 

Maybe that is nature's way of correcting the gross nature of financial inequality

No. Those who can afford such investments usually can afford to lose on a few of them. And they win on lucrative others.

 

Investment is one thing, but I smell a fraud here. NObody should believe they'll meet their alleged technical goals. I think their actual goals are all financial.

 

Investment is one thing, but I smell a fraud here. NObody should believe they'll meet their alleged technical goals. I think their actual goals are all financial.

​

 

No. Those who can afford such investments usually can afford to lose on a few of them. And they win on lucrative others.

Perhaps you do not understand optimization. It's not always about getting to the bare minimum, it's about being able to improve things.