Author: publius

Fools! I will destroy you all!!

ASFO 2023–03–25

In the country of the blind, the one–eyed man is thought mad. The over–arching theme of this episode is “quantitative thinking”, an excercise which is never popular, even though we have to live with its results in the end. Also I introduce the expressive term Goudadämmerung for the prospective demise of the Dutch dairy industry in the face of mounting restrictions on animal husbandry.

Countries with nuclear power and a population smaller than Metro Istanbul

  1. Slovenia : 2·1 million people, 1 power reactor / 688 MW, 37% nuclear electricity
  2. Armenia : 3·0 M, 1/448 MW, 25%
  3. Finland : 5·5 M, 4/2794 MW, 33%
  4. Slovakia : 5·5 M, 4/1868 MW, 52%
  5. Bulgaria : 7·0 M, 2/2006 MW, 35%
  6. Switzerland : 8·6 M, 4/2960 MW, 29%
  7. Belarus : 9·5M, 1/1110 MW, 14%
  8. Hungary : 9·8 M, 4/1916 MW, 47%
  9. United Arab Emirates : 9·8 M, 2/2762, 1·3%
  10. Sweden : 6/6882 MW, 31%
  11. Czech Republic : 10·7 M, 6/3964 MW, 37%
  12. Belgium : 11·5 M, 7/5942 MW, 51%

Population given is for 2019. Number of reactors and rated capacity are as of 2021–12–31. Nuclear share of electrical generation is for the full year 2021. Note that the Krsko plant in Slovenia and the Metsamor (Oktemberjan) plant in Armenia (originally two reactors, one of which has been permanently shut down) were built when those countries were part of a larger union, Yugoslavia and the USSR respectively. It is not considered good practice for any generating unit on a system to exceed 10% of the peak load, and with 25% of the average, Metsamor must be approaching that, and Armenia would definitely be a good customer for “small modular reactors”. Krsko is clearly much too large for Slovenia alone.

EU Member States which must be eliminated to meet the 11·7% energy austerity target

  1. Malta : 0·5 million people / 0·11% of EU population, 0·09% of EU total GDP, 0·05% of EU total energy consumption
  2. Luxembourg : 0·6 M / 0·13%, 0·44% of GDP, 0·28% of energy
  3. Cyprus : 0·9 M / 0·20%, 0·16% of GDP, 0·16% of energy
  4. Estonia : 1·3 M / 0·29%, 0·19% of GDP, 0·37% of energy
  5. Latvia : 1·9 M / 0·42%, 0·21% of GDP, 0·32% of energy
  6. Slovenia : 2·1 M / 0·47%, 0·34% of GDP, 0·49% of energy
  7. Lithuania : 2·8 M / 0·62%, 0·33% of GDP, 0·54% of energy
  8. Croatia : 4·1 M / 0·91%, 0·38%, 0·33% of GDP, 0·61% of energy
  9. Slovakia : 5·5 M / 1·2%, 0·67%, 0·33% of GDP, 1·22% of energy
  10. Bulgaria : 7·0 M / 1·6%, 0·39%, 0·33% of GDP, 1·31% of energy

Additional EU countries which may have to be eliminated

  1. Ireland : 4·9 million people / 1·1% of EU population, 2·5% of EU total GDP, 0·97% of EU total energy consumption
  2. Finland : 5·5 M / 1·2%, 1·7% of GDP, 2·4% of energy
  3. Denmark : 5·8 M / 1·3%, 2·3% of GDP, 1·1% of energy
  4. Austria : 8·9 M / 2·0%, 2·8% of GDP, 2·4% of energy
  5. Hungary : 9·8 M / 2·2%, 1·0% of GDP, 1·9% of energy
  6. Portugal : 10 M / 2·3%, 1·5% of GDP, 1·6% of energy
  7. Greece : 11 M / 2·4%, 1·4% of GDP, 1·6% of energy
  8. Czech Republic : 11 M / 2·4%, 1·5% of GDP, 3·1% of energy

ASFO 2023–03–18

Vive la France! Macron’s government does some good things, some questionable things, and some extremely stupid things. Will revulsion against the bad lead to a wiping out of the good? Can anyone explain why the French Left insists on imitating the German Energiewende, even after seeing just exactly what happens with it in practice? And what would I do, if I were in charge there? (Minor glitch at the beginning)

ASFO 2023–03–11

Toward a working definition of the “post–human”. Pithy attempts at summing up important concepts, as you expect from me. And commentary on world affairs ― if the German Energiewende is intended to make that country irrelevant in the world, the newest EU policy announcement is a bold step in that direction for the whole bloc. (Minor glitch at the beginning)

ASFO 2023–03–04

Theatre of the Atom! What is it? Even I am not sure yet. Also, Mail Call! And your periodic reminder that something is horribly wrong with the humanity of this planet, and I want off. (This is a short show, because I ran out of time to edit it ― I have a whole segment about the Oklo Phenomenon recorded for future use. And I didn’t even make a “March Forth” pun!)

“Science–Fiction : The Early Years”

This monumental work by Everett F Bleiler, the compilation of which occupied six years altogether and involved the reading of more than two thousand stories (when we consider the ones the author rejected for inclusion), many of them very difficult to get hold of before the arrival of the Internet and large-scale scanning of old books and periodicals ― and in many cases, that difficulty has not gone away ― attempts to list, categorize, and even summarize the material out of which the literature which we know as science–fiction developed.

Continue reading ““Science–Fiction : The Early Years””

ASFO 2023–02–25

Ice cream is the next frontier of “climate action” as marketing campaign. The delicious flavour of Pykrete! Also, is the Internet becoming a vast Voynich Manuscript? and a reflection on the problem of lying down with dogs and getting up with fleas. Note : owing to an error on my part, this show was done several hours late, during the 0300 Sunday OpenMic block on aNONradio. Thanks to SDFer screwtape for recording it.

“The Flying Scarab and the Seventh Heaven”

Here we have another story by Rene Mansfield from Popular Electricity magazine. This and “The Sun Victim”, which appeared in The Popular Magazine, are mentioned by Everett Bleiler in Science Fiction : The Early Years ― his comment on this one is “horrible writing”. Possibly I will be able to get my hands on that third story at some future date.

Illustrations below the cut

ASFO 2023–02–18

Charles Proteus Steinmetz is a name you should know. For generations Edison was lionized, now Tesla is cast as the romantic hero, but Steinmetz is always ignored. Yet, where would we be without him? Also, what does it mean that India has ordered 470 new large jetliners? The very necessary distinction between “renewable” and sustainable energy, and a reminder of the importance of quantitative thinking. And Mail Call!

Supplementary Show

2023–02–24 “Why Nuclear Power Should be Defended”, address given 1980–03–15 in Los Angeles by Professor Petr Beckmann, author of The Health Hazards of NOT Going Nuclear ― transferred from audiocassette

“A Sherlock of the Skies”

This brief story combines the detective genre with aviation, as the name would imply, but also with wireless, the other wonder of the age. It is thus science fiction, of a sort at least. It appeared in Popular Electricity magazine, 1912 October, over the name of Rene Mansfield.

Illustrations below the cut

Superb Owl Sunday 2023

In celebration of this important American religious festival, I am reading for your delectation, All Men are Brothers by Pearl S Buck. And what is that? It’s a translation of the 14th–century Chinese adventure novel The Water Margin. There are lots of Chinese names and by–names, very challenging to keep track of, along with violence, occasional cannibalism, and minor supernatural elements ― all kinds of fun! And in the 02z00 hour I’ll be calling in to aNONradio OpenVoIP, in case you want to talk with me about the story.