Off-Topic:

[Solo761]

Since we off topic-ed the off topic to nuclear power , how about fusion reactors? If I remember correctly current technology is fission based. Fusion should be a lot safer since it requires certain conditions to run and if containment is breached those conditions are also disturbed and fusion reaction stops. In case of fission that's not the case.

Problem is we still don't have fusion reactors, technology is not there yet. And why spend money into it if we have other sources that doesn't require research .

[hewhoispale]

My general understanding is that while cold fusion (that being, fusion that can be done at low enough conditions to generate more power than it took to perform) is awesome, it's also a pipe dream barring some amazing breakthrough.
I'd be all for nuclear power, once someone provides an answer on what to do with the waste. Design a process that will reduce it to lead in 30 years, or find a way to fission some lower numbered element than breaks into something that is or will be stable within a lifetime and I'll sign on.

[Alugere]

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The archdemon.I was curious because I know of 3 large dragons. The archdaemon, the high dragon, and when flemeth goes all kill bill dragon on you.

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Why not? A dagger istraditionally as much a mage's weapon as a staff, and there is analternative weapon slot. Not giving them a secondary weapon may be aworkaround, but it's still a very annoying bug.Daggers deal less damage than staves when mages use them, and there is no benefit to mages using them either because if the mage doesn't have the staff out, their spell power drops.



I don't know what to say about the control difficulty you're having though. It always seems to work fine and be fairly intuitive for me, so... I don't know.






As for nuclear fusion: cold fusion is a pipe dream. By it's very nature, you don't get cold fusion.

[zodiac44]

I guess what I'm trying to say here is: it's not that I don't trust the engineers who design reactors. It's more that I don't trust the management structure that's going to run the things for 50 years.

If you pulled out all the stops and put a modern reactor into maximum overdrive while killing the safety and coolant systems, you would have a total reactor meltdown - and a highly contaminated containment building.  I would have no qualms standing right outside a modern reactor undergoing a total meltdown.

As far as nuclear waste goes, there is promising research being done on spent fuel processing that will allow used fuel to be separated into uranium that can be re-enriched to commercial grade fuel (through breeder reactors) and fissile products that can be separated by element and isotope and then bombarded with neutrons to create stable, non-radioactive isotopes.

[DocClox]

If you pulled out all the stops and put a modern reactor into maximum overdrive while killing the safety and coolant systems, you would have a total reactor meltdown - and a highly contaminated containment building.  I would have no qualms standing right outside a modern reactor undergoing a total meltdown.

I find your lack of lack of faith ... disturbing.

Seriously though, no one ever said "I'm going to design a reactor that will contaminate half a million square killometers of real estate, but only under certain circumstances. Foolproof systems are like bug free programs. You can get very, very close but there's always going to be something you didn't allow for.

[zodiac44]

Yeah, if the Hulk smashed through the containment dome, you could have some issues, but short of bunker busting missiles, I don't think we have much to worry about when it comes to dome integrity.  I suppose there is the possibility that some idiot could build one in an earthquake zone, which would present its own hazards, but someone with an IQ above 0 should put a halt to that rather quickly.

[DocClox]

Yeah, if the Hulk smashed through the containment dome, you could have some issues, but short of bunker busting missiles

Yeah, that or Anything Else You Haven't Thought Of Yet. That's the problem.

No one builds a bridge so it can collapse. No one builds a space shuttle to explode. No one thinks their reactor can go disastrously wrong.

[letmein]

On fusion:  it's a neat theoretical possibility, but don't hold your breath.  We've been a decade away from workable fusion for about fifty years now, and I don't expect that to change for another fifty.  A better option is to make fission cleaner by recycling the spent fuel.

On reactors, well, the latest ones are designed with some very effective and completely passive backups.  If you want to compare to, say, bridges, the latest reactors are something akin to bridges that stand only two feet off the ground.  Sure, something might go wrong, but the damage afterward will be very minor.  I won't say nothing bad can happen, but there is a pretty low maximum amount of bad.  I'd be much more concerned with a maximum-security prison nearby than a reactor, or with a wind farm.  Did you know wind turbines can explode?!?  Tell that to the environmentalists.

[altereggo]

Well, safe unless it's a british reactor. My dad and his mates at an engineering consulting firm all grew beards so they couldn't be assigned to Sellafield, where they left waste in open "containment" pools that overflowed in heavy rain. 

(According to regulations, beards made it impossible to wear the safety gear. True or not, it got them assigned to a steelworks instead). 

And about fusion, there was a quote about ITER in the economist recently, that went along the lines of "we've spent x decades and y billion dollars studying Tokamak (style of fusion) reactors, and basically all we've discovered is that they're bloody useless."

[DocClox]

Doesn't surprise me. Terry Pratchett used to be press officer for Sellafield and you can get a good idea of his impression of nuclear power from reading the Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic.

He's been quoted as saying he could write a book about his experiences, if anyone would believe it.

[altereggo]

"Call it" *flip*
*sigh*... "edge"

[letmein]

...and Favre blows another playoff game.  'Atta boy, Brett!

[Graen]

...and Favre blows another playoff game.  'Atta boy, Brett!

Tie Game... 3rd Down... 20 seconds left in the game... We're in field goal range... "Let's throw the ball!"

 

[letmein]

Actually, the Vikings were about three or four yards outside Longwell's range.

I'm a Packer fan, mate, and I can tell you that every Sconnie in the state was just waiting for Favre to remember the good old days, and start tossing the ball liberally and stupidly.  Only some arcane act of God let him get through the regular season without doing so... and seriously, given how his last NFC Championship game went, you had to know which way kharma was going.

[Graen]

Heh, so his defeat was all the more sweeter for you.   

Only team I really wanted to win today was The Jets.  I don't really care for the other three.

That said...

DaBears!

Now if only we had a QB...