An airship I was on, and one I thankfully was not on ; Power Outrage!s across the southeastern United States, and rail service disruptions in Central Europe ; and a reflection on the unsatisfactory world political situation.
Tag: a step farther out
ASFO 2024–09–21
Report from Berlin, and missed opportunities on my part — Three Mile Island, excuse me, Crane Clean Energy Center, and MicroSoft — “net zero by 2030”, gas for Australia, “thirty million acres” of photovoltaics for the USA, and no sign of an actual energy policy anywhere… A little technical trouble at the outset, unfortunately.
ASFO 2024–09–14
What are these popping noises coming from my submersible? or, socially useful functions of plutocrats. Also, a report on my outing to Eurometropolis Strassbourg, where I spent a chunk of the afternoon chatting with folks from French citizen pro nuclear group Voix du Nucleaire. (More photos here.)
ASFO 2024–09–07
The triumphant (?) return to Earth of the Boeing CST–100 “Starliner” ; a long discussion of British energy policy and the implications of the “Contract for Difference” mechanism ; and benefits afforded to my Patreon supporters, in the form of postcards from unusual and even unique post offices. All while I eat an ice–cream cone!
- Archive Recording
- 2024 ASFO Masterpost
- A Step Farther Out Masterpost
- Previous Week
- Following Week
- Patreon campaign
Supplementary Show
2024–09–10 After occupying the first quarter of the hour with something else, we hear from the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland, and a recently published report on “Technology Monitoring of Nuclear Energy”. This is officially part of the “Energy Strategy 2050”, which calls for Switzerland to decarbonize its whole energy supply while withdrawing from nuclear power, which currently supplies more than a third of Swiss electricity. Recent decisions by the Federal Council will hopefully lead to a reconsideration of this “Strategy”.
ASFO 2024–08–31
The very thought of the “carbon footprint of astronomy” causes me to fly into a frothing rage. Also, an opportunity to receive unique mail ; Colonies on Saturn! and, has Private Equity ruined capitalism?
ASFO 2024–08–24
Service is resumed, huzzah! (You may all now commence rejoicing.) I talk about what I’ve been doing the past few weeks, notably my visit to Torness, with photos here and here ; the continuing CST–100 debacle ; some decidedly unsatisfactory engineering in the vicinity of Amsterdam ; and an extraordinary and deplorable matter in Britain.
ASFO 2024–08–03
Greetings from Munich! Not the most coherent show, but I manage to allude to the major Power Outrage in Omaha, “battery trains” (the new secret sauce for solar power), the October 1987 storm in Britain, and A Trans–Atlantic Tunnel, Hurrah! by Harry Harrison. You also learn details of how I’ve handled blast №2, and a new order of stickers.
ASFO 2024–07–27
Power outage? Power outrage! Also I attempt to define “high technology” by reference to Adam Smith’s ideas about the division of labor, and this helps to clarify part of the problems I have with both “de–growth” and “trans–humanism”.
ASFO 2024–07–20
Hail to the Glorious Twentieth of July! “In peace for all mankind” is the topic of this episode. There is a great deal I could have chosen to talk about, but it can wait for another day. Here is the document with all the goodwill messages, of which I read out a few. The list of world leaders is fascinating — there are emperors, dictators, governments in exile, all pledging their hopes and best wishes. Let us always rededicate ourselves to that end!
ASFO 2024–07–13
Power outage? Power outrage! (Not me, this time.) Also, another instalment of “don’t trust anyone who uses the word quantum” ; no news on the Boeing CST–100 is… no news ; the Ariane 6 is new but hardly novel ; uranium from a mine in Finland, but not a uranium mine ; implications of an obscure legal topic known as “Chevron deference” ; and so on.