Author: publius

Fools! I will destroy you all!!

ASFO 2021–09–25

A very rambly show. I start off by apologizing for not attending the “big climate rally” on Friday the 24th, which is in principle an ideal venue to speak out with hope and positivity, and and remind people that we do have solutions to our problems ― but a pro–nuclear activist was assaulted at the march in Berlin.

Then I try (with a little help from Chauncey Starr, one–time Director–General of the International Atomic Energy Agency) to dig into the mindset of the “Negawatts not Megawatts” people, who say we just need to cut back energy use. This leads me to comparing energy and electricity consumption figures for various countries, and thence to the fascinating inversion by which manufactured goods are now being sold by poorer countries to wealthier ones, and to tie that to changing patterns of energy consumption. At this point I can hardly allow the enormous human and environmental cost of coal mining in China to pass without a mention. Maybe I’ll be more coherent next week!

Supplementary Material

ASFO 2021–09–18

Eighteen people in orbit at one time, for what must have been the first time, albeit only for about a day ; a brief discussion of the “9/11” show I could have done, but chose not to ; and I read the statement from the Prime Minister of Australia purporting to announce the planned acquisition of nuclear–powered submarines in cooperation with the USA and UK, and discuss why it makes no sense whatsoever.

2 Supplementary Shows

ASFO 2021–09–11

Another pre–recorded show, just to make it more convenient to include the audio from the speech I gave the previous week (also available on YouTube). Somehow, that leads into a discussion of plastic waste, fish farming, and the fresh water supply problem of the Lima–Callao megalopolis in Peru.

2 Supplementary Shows

ASFO 2021–09–04

Pre–recorded because I was attending pro–nuclear–energy rallies, first in the city center of Augsburg (where I gave an impromptu speech, with simultaneous translation), and then at the nuclear power station at Gundremmingen on the upper Danube. Turnout at the latter was quite poor, in part perhaps because of ongoing railway strikes. Anyway, I discuss the fission–fusion energy economy, food irradiation, the second worst civil power reactor accident ever (which you have never heard of), and a few other minor topics.

ASFO 2021–08–21

Space news (with a brief digression into “New Space” versus “Dino–Space”) and the value of having more than one string to one’s bow ; problems I would not attempt to solve using nuclear energy, with a little thought about setting priorities ; and just what is this pastoralism that I’m always inveighing against, anyway?

A Journey in Other Worlds

Best–selling books written by very wealthy people are usually along the lines of “The Secrets of My Success” ― but this is a space–travel story!

A Romance of the Future

John Jacob Astor IV (1894)

  • HNtW 092 (2021–08–13) : Author’s Preface, Book I Chapters I―IV
  • HNtW 093 (2021–08–17) : Introduction by SM Stirling for a reprint edition (following the main content of the show, which is Chapter II of The Castle of Otranto)
  • HNtW 094 (2021–09–02) Book I, Chapters V―VII
Continue reading “A Journey in Other Worlds”

The Castle of Otranto

This is regarded as the first “Gothic novel” of terror and suspense. I had trouble restraining my laughter all through.

Horace Walpole (1764)

  • HNtW 091 (2021–08–10) : Author’s Preface and Chapter I
  • HNtW 093 (2021–08–17) : Chapter II (plus an introduction to A Journey in Other Worlds, written by SM Stirling)
  • HNtW 096 (2021–09–10) : Chapter III ― we are now on even numbers, because of the special episode 95 for the 25th anniversary of aNONradio

For those who wish to follow along at home, the text is available on Project Gutenberg.