A Space & astronomy forum. SpaceBanter.com

Go Back   Home » SpaceBanter.com forum » Astronomy and Astrophysics » Amateur Astronomy
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Even relatively honest but left-wing BBC sometimes publishes rubbish



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #11  
Old November 17th 18, 03:21 AM posted to sci.astro.amateur
RichA[_6_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,076
Default Even relatively honest but left-wing BBC sometimes publishes rubbish

On Friday, 16 November 2018 09:57:39 UTC-5, Chris L Peterson wrote:
On Thu, 15 Nov 2018 22:28:17 -0800 (PST), RichA
wrote:

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46219656


What's "rubbish" about it? It's a legitimate news story about
something that some businesses are claiming they can do. That's what
good reporting looks like.


Parroting, with no criticality. Lets say they find out that much smaller designs (which is what the article dealt with) made sustained fusion possible. They shut down the NIF and ITER, billions wasted. Now how, given the difficulty of just confining the plasma, are they going to siphon off power from it? Will it consist in just wicking away heat to convert to electricity, as they do now with fission reactors? Fusion is still inevitably 50-100 years in the future, best case. Worst case, it never happens. Reality; fission reactors are here and perfected. The fuel they use, the cost is one the least costly components of the plant, unlike with oil, gas. There is no upside to replacing huge, efficient fission plants with some kind of speculative fusion power.

  #12  
Old November 17th 18, 03:17 PM posted to sci.astro.amateur
Chris L Peterson
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10,007
Default Even relatively honest but left-wing BBC sometimes publishes rubbish

On Fri, 16 Nov 2018 18:21:19 -0800 (PST), RichA
wrote:

On Friday, 16 November 2018 09:57:39 UTC-5, Chris L Peterson wrote:
On Thu, 15 Nov 2018 22:28:17 -0800 (PST), RichA
wrote:

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46219656


What's "rubbish" about it? It's a legitimate news story about
something that some businesses are claiming they can do. That's what
good reporting looks like.


Parroting, with no criticality. Lets say they find out that much smaller designs (which is what the article dealt with) made sustained fusion possible. They shut down the NIF and ITER, billions wasted. Now how, given the difficulty of just confining the plasma, are they going to siphon off power from it? Will it consist in just wicking away heat to convert to electricity, as they do now with fission reactors? Fusion is still inevitably 50-100 years in the future, best case. Worst case, it never happens. Reality; fission reactors are here and perfected. The fuel they use, the cost is one the least costly components of the plant, unlike with oil, gas. There is no upside to replacing huge, efficient fission plants with some kind of speculative fusion power.


It's just a news story about a business. Not about fusion. In the
business section, not the science section.

  #13  
Old November 18th 18, 04:54 AM posted to sci.astro.amateur
RichA[_6_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,076
Default Even relatively honest but left-wing BBC sometimes publishes rubbish

On Saturday, 17 November 2018 09:17:50 UTC-5, Chris L Peterson wrote:
On Fri, 16 Nov 2018 18:21:19 -0800 (PST), RichA
wrote:

On Friday, 16 November 2018 09:57:39 UTC-5, Chris L Peterson wrote:
On Thu, 15 Nov 2018 22:28:17 -0800 (PST), RichA
wrote:

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46219656

What's "rubbish" about it? It's a legitimate news story about
something that some businesses are claiming they can do. That's what
good reporting looks like.


Parroting, with no criticality. Lets say they find out that much smaller designs (which is what the article dealt with) made sustained fusion possible. They shut down the NIF and ITER, billions wasted. Now how, given the difficulty of just confining the plasma, are they going to siphon off power from it? Will it consist in just wicking away heat to convert to electricity, as they do now with fission reactors? Fusion is still inevitably 50-100 years in the future, best case. Worst case, it never happens. Reality; fission reactors are here and perfected. The fuel they use, the cost is one the least costly components of the plant, unlike with oil, gas. There is no upside to replacing huge, efficient fission plants with some kind of speculative fusion power.


It's just a news story about a business. Not about fusion. In the
business section, not the science section.


First paragraph:

"We're just five years away from harnessing almost unlimited power from "miniature suns", some start-ups say: nuclear fusion reactors that could provide abundant, cheap and clean energy."
  #14  
Old November 18th 18, 05:11 AM posted to sci.astro.amateur
palsing[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,068
Default Even relatively honest but left-wing BBC sometimes publishes rubbish

On Saturday, November 17, 2018 at 7:54:03 PM UTC-8, RichA wrote:
On Saturday, 17 November 2018 09:17:50 UTC-5, Chris L Peterson wrote:
On Fri, 16 Nov 2018 18:21:19 -0800 (PST), RichA
wrote:

On Friday, 16 November 2018 09:57:39 UTC-5, Chris L Peterson wrote:
On Thu, 15 Nov 2018 22:28:17 -0800 (PST), RichA
wrote:

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46219656

What's "rubbish" about it? It's a legitimate news story about
something that some businesses are claiming they can do. That's what
good reporting looks like.

Parroting, with no criticality. Lets say they find out that much smaller designs (which is what the article dealt with) made sustained fusion possible. They shut down the NIF and ITER, billions wasted. Now how, given the difficulty of just confining the plasma, are they going to siphon off power from it? Will it consist in just wicking away heat to convert to electricity, as they do now with fission reactors? Fusion is still inevitably 50-100 years in the future, best case. Worst case, it never happens. Reality; fission reactors are here and perfected. The fuel they use, the cost is one the least costly components of the plant, unlike with oil, gas. There is no upside to replacing huge, efficient fission plants with some kind of speculative fusion power.


It's just a news story about a business. Not about fusion. In the
business section, not the science section.


First paragraph:

"We're just five years away from harnessing almost unlimited power from "miniature suns", some start-ups say: nuclear fusion reactors that could provide abundant, cheap and clean energy."


.... "some startups say..."

Yup, sounds like a business pitch to me, too...

\Paul A
  #15  
Old November 18th 18, 05:48 AM posted to sci.astro.amateur
Chris L Peterson
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10,007
Default Even relatively honest but left-wing BBC sometimes publishes rubbish

On Sat, 17 Nov 2018 19:54:00 -0800 (PST), RichA
wrote:

On Saturday, 17 November 2018 09:17:50 UTC-5, Chris L Peterson wrote:
On Fri, 16 Nov 2018 18:21:19 -0800 (PST), RichA
wrote:

On Friday, 16 November 2018 09:57:39 UTC-5, Chris L Peterson wrote:
On Thu, 15 Nov 2018 22:28:17 -0800 (PST), RichA
wrote:

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46219656

What's "rubbish" about it? It's a legitimate news story about
something that some businesses are claiming they can do. That's what
good reporting looks like.

Parroting, with no criticality. Lets say they find out that much smaller designs (which is what the article dealt with) made sustained fusion possible. They shut down the NIF and ITER, billions wasted. Now how, given the difficulty of just confining the plasma, are they going to siphon off power from it? Will it consist in just wicking away heat to convert to electricity, as they do now with fission reactors? Fusion is still inevitably 50-100 years in the future, best case. Worst case, it never happens. Reality; fission reactors are here and perfected. The fuel they use, the cost is one the least costly components of the plant, unlike with oil, gas. There is no upside to replacing huge, efficient fission plants with some kind of speculative fusion power.


It's just a news story about a business. Not about fusion. In the
business section, not the science section.


First paragraph:

"We're just five years away from harnessing almost unlimited power from "miniature suns", some start-ups say: nuclear fusion reactors that could provide abundant, cheap and clean energy."


Exactly. Like I said, a business news story reporting on the claims of
some businesses. The claim is not being made by the reporter. And
while the estimates of the businesses may be wrong- very likely are
wrong- it's still news. I'm interested to know that there are private
companies out there trying these things.
  #16  
Old November 18th 18, 05:17 PM posted to sci.astro.amateur
Martin Brown[_3_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 189
Default Even relatively honest but left-wing BBC sometimes publishesrubbish

On 16/11/2018 15:28, Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha wrote:
Chris L Peterson wrote in
:

On Thu, 15 Nov 2018 22:28:17 -0800 (PST), RichA
wrote:

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46219656


What's "rubbish" about it? It's a legitimate news story about
something that some businesses are claiming they can do. That's
what good reporting looks like.

"We're just five years away from harnessing almost unlimited power
from "miniature suns", some start-ups say"


XXX say is standard journalise for "we don't believe it either" but
these folk were daft enough to say it on the record. It is a bit like
"The jury were told" as a way round strict UK contempt of court rules...

The same as they've been saying for 50+ years.


Not quite - they have been saying we are just a mere 50 years from
having fusion power and electricity too cheap to meter for more than 50
years. They have always been hopelessly optimistic about how easy it
would be to tame thermonuclear fusion. Even the best kit so far barely
makes break even on a good day and getting the energy out in a form
where it can be used to generate electricity remains a challenge.

No doubt it will be used to power the self-piloting flying cars that
run on desktop Linux, justl ike everything else.


Android for droids - please.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown
  #17  
Old November 19th 18, 10:47 AM posted to sci.astro.amateur
Martin Brown[_3_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 189
Default Even relatively honest but left-wing BBC sometimes publishesrubbish

On 18/11/2018 03:54, RichA wrote:
On Saturday, 17 November 2018 09:17:50 UTC-5, Chris L Peterson
wrote:
On Fri, 16 Nov 2018 18:21:19 -0800 (PST), RichA
wrote:

On Friday, 16 November 2018 09:57:39 UTC-5, Chris L Peterson
wrote:
On Thu, 15 Nov 2018 22:28:17 -0800 (PST), RichA
wrote:

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46219656

What's "rubbish" about it? It's a legitimate news story about
something that some businesses are claiming they can do. That's
what good reporting looks like.

Parroting, with no criticality. Lets say they find out that much
smaller designs (which is what the article dealt with) made
sustained fusion possible. They shut down the NIF and ITER,
billions wasted. Now how, given the difficulty of just confining
the plasma, are they going to siphon off power from it? Will it
consist in just wicking away heat to convert to electricity, as
they do now with fission reactors? Fusion is still inevitably
50-100 years in the future, best case. Worst case, it never
happens. Reality; fission reactors are here and perfected. The
fuel they use, the cost is one the least costly components of the
plant, unlike with oil, gas. There is no upside to replacing
huge, efficient fission plants with some kind of speculative
fusion power.


It's just a news story about a business. Not about fusion. In the
business section, not the science section.


First paragraph:

"We're just five years away from harnessing almost unlimited power
from "miniature suns", some start-ups say: nuclear fusion reactors

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

These are the weasel words. It isn't any different in principle from any
other start-up promising amazing returns if you invest in their bubble.

that could provide abundant, cheap and clean energy."

^^^^^

Again note the wording carefully. It promises a lot and will in all
probability deliver absolutely nothing. There is another very effective
free energy scam been doing the rounds that has taken in some agencies
that I would have expected to be smart enough not to fall for it.

https://www.popsci.com/science/artic...ssis-black-box

LENR aka eCat whose CEO is a known con-man called Rossi - you couldn't
make it up but someone was daft enough to pay good money for a license.

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/04/...thout-success/


--
Regards,
Martin Brown
  #18  
Old November 19th 18, 11:14 AM posted to sci.astro.amateur
RichA[_6_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,076
Default Even relatively honest but left-wing BBC sometimes publishes rubbish

On Monday, 19 November 2018 04:47:05 UTC-5, Martin Brown wrote:
On 18/11/2018 03:54, RichA wrote:
On Saturday, 17 November 2018 09:17:50 UTC-5, Chris L Peterson
wrote:
On Fri, 16 Nov 2018 18:21:19 -0800 (PST), RichA
wrote:

On Friday, 16 November 2018 09:57:39 UTC-5, Chris L Peterson
wrote:
On Thu, 15 Nov 2018 22:28:17 -0800 (PST), RichA
wrote:

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-46219656

What's "rubbish" about it? It's a legitimate news story about
something that some businesses are claiming they can do. That's
what good reporting looks like.

Parroting, with no criticality. Lets say they find out that much
smaller designs (which is what the article dealt with) made
sustained fusion possible. They shut down the NIF and ITER,
billions wasted. Now how, given the difficulty of just confining
the plasma, are they going to siphon off power from it? Will it
consist in just wicking away heat to convert to electricity, as
they do now with fission reactors? Fusion is still inevitably
50-100 years in the future, best case. Worst case, it never
happens. Reality; fission reactors are here and perfected. The
fuel they use, the cost is one the least costly components of the
plant, unlike with oil, gas. There is no upside to replacing
huge, efficient fission plants with some kind of speculative
fusion power.

It's just a news story about a business. Not about fusion. In the
business section, not the science section.


First paragraph:

"We're just five years away from harnessing almost unlimited power
from "miniature suns", some start-ups say: nuclear fusion reactors

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

These are the weasel words. It isn't any different in principle from any
other start-up promising amazing returns if you invest in their bubble.

that could provide abundant, cheap and clean energy."

^^^^^

Again note the wording carefully. It promises a lot and will in all
probability deliver absolutely nothing. There is another very effective
free energy scam been doing the rounds that has taken in some agencies
that I would have expected to be smart enough not to fall for it.

https://www.popsci.com/science/artic...ssis-black-box

LENR aka eCat whose CEO is a known con-man called Rossi - you couldn't
make it up but someone was daft enough to pay good money for a license.

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/04/...thout-success/


--
Regards,
Martin Brown


It isn't really much different than the stuff I read on science sites like phys.org. The number of prognostications of near immediate promises of wonderful things to come on that site that actually turned into anything is very small.
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Any comet images beside this rubbish from left-wing Guardian newspaper RichA[_1_] Amateur Astronomy 7 November 14th 14 05:45 AM
Left-wing envirokooks better not oppose this Rich[_4_] Amateur Astronomy 72 December 11th 10 01:27 PM
not for left wing loones David Staup Misc 62 February 4th 10 01:35 AM
Shuttles Left Wing Again??? G=EMC^2 Glazier Misc 7 December 24th 06 09:14 PM
Discovery's left wing STS-114 Alan Pretre Space Shuttle 11 October 21st 04 06:57 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 01:56 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 SpaceBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.