Tag: supplementary shows

ASFO 2024–11–09

What is good in life? (wrong answers only) — oaths of fealty, and the question of how far self–interest actually predicts human motivations — immigration, and what it has to do with Don Quixote. And the Preamble and Chapter I of the Charter of the United Nations, for those requiring a refresher.

Supplementary Show

  • 2024–11–12 Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen ; the Preamble and Chapter I of the Charter of the United Nations ; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ; and some material from a US Government publication entitled The Treaty of Versailles and After, including the resolution of 18 April 1946 for the dissolution of the League of Nations.
  • 2024–11–15 More from the annotated Treaty of Versailles, specifically the Covenant of the League of Nations.

ASFO 2024–11–02

Mail Call! A plea to my fellow Americans — “Iowasolation” — a reassurance for those who hope to escape to the last place uncontaminated by capitalism — and the problem of argot and specialized symbology.

Supplementary Show

  • 2024–11–05 Three editorials from Analog magazine — from Ben Bova, who strove to carry on the provoking and insightful tradition of John W Campbell. “The Mystic West” on the supposed conflict between the empirical sciences and the humanities, and the role and character of mythology in the modern world (1972 June) ; “Life Cycles” on astrobiology and urban renewal (1972 May) ; and “Man in Space”, 1972 December, which I did not quite get to the end of.
  • 2024–11–08 What Supports Apollo? by Ben Bova and photographer J Russel Seitz, from the 1970 January Analog magazine ; most of a John W Campbell editorial from the same issue, on “Racial” Tensions ; and at the beginning, some poetry to express my frustration with the state of the world and reaffirm my belief in the inherent nobility of mankind, which is sorely tested at the moment.

ASFO 2024–10–26

Too much of my attention lately is on mundane politics. Alas, it is a topic which has a direct effect on how I live and what I am able to do, and on the shape of the future that it is feasible to build. Also, Mail Call! leads me to speculate on the resemblance between Chinese Hell Money and the securities markets.

Supplementary Shows

  • 2024–10–29 Skylab (part 1 of 2) by Joseph Green, science–fact article from the 1972 March Analog magazine. Did not archive properly.
  • 2024–11–01 Skylab (part 2 of 2), Analog magazine, 1972 April.

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!

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 2024–06–15

Despite delays in the mails, we have Mail call! Also, progress with one of my many “Man and Atom” information efforts — remembering Anita Gale of the National Space Society and Ed Stone of JPL (yes, Voyager has now outlived its Chief Scientist) — Islets of Langerhans! — and a meditation on what we are as human beings, and the value of considering that very question, prompted by another instance of Big Business resembling a mental illness.

Supplementary Shows

  • 2024–06–18 After some reading of bits I am composing for a second issue of blast, I begin reading A Second Nuclear Era : Prospects and Perspectives by Alvin Weinberg, from The Nuclear Chain Reaction — Forty Years Later (RG Sachs, ed), the Proceedings of a University of Chicago symposium commemorating the fortieth anniversary of the first controlled, self–sustaining nuclear chain reaction.
  • 2024–06–21 Despite interspersing my copious commentary, I succeed in finishing A Second Nuclear Era just short of the end of the hour.

ASFO 2024–06–08

Nico–Clean? What in the world? Also, the engineered physical systems which make life in the modern world possible (often prosaically called infrastructure) and the obligation to keep them up ; the value of immigrants and refugees, and the stupidity (quite separate from any moral or human–rights arguments) of refusing them ; and a lesson, in the context of Internet social media, in cause and reasonably–foreseeable effect.

Supplementary Shows

  • 2024–06–11 Probably the last I will read from The Fast–Neutron Fission Breeder Reactor, Energy for 1000 Years by TN Marsham FRS, the succeeding general discussion, and concluding remarks by JG Collier.
  • 2024–06–14 From ATOM 134 (1967 December), a eulogy for nuclear pioneer Sir John Cockcroft, and Electricity from the Atom — Britain’s Second Decade by ES Booth.

A "Nico-Clean" card in its original packaging. Price 1000 yen.
If you want one of these things — or ten of them! — do let me know.

ASFO 2024–06–01

More on “blast” and further efforts with payphones ; aspersions on the US education system ; a US Government press release which may be good news for nuclear, but not for anyone hoping for scientific and engineering literacy among the policy–making class ; and a somewhat abstract and poetic thought about one of the intersections of politics with engineering, in which I use the phrase “touched by the finger of Vulcan”. (Start is just slightly late.)

Supplementary Shows

  • 2024–06–04 Again from The Fast–Neutron Fission Breeder Reactor, I go back to the beginning of Engineering and design of fast reactors by Köhler and read the whole thing, and then some “General Discussion”.
  • 2024–06–07 More from The Fast–Neutron Fission Breeder Reactor : Environmental aspects of the fast reactor fuel cycle by GM Jordan and LEJ Roberts FRS. This is a bit less accessible, and narrowly-focussed on radioactive discharges to the environment, but the basic conclusion that most of the environmental impacts of atomic power are associated with uranium mining, and thus reduced 100-fold by the regenerative fuel cycle, seems clear enough.

ASFO 2024–05–25

Can I solve all the problems of the Japanese economy? Absolutely not. But I might make a few suggestions as to how to reduce fuel use, to the benefit of the balance–of–payments and the value of the yen, and at the same time relieve the pressures that drive people from the rural areas to the cities. Also, US Customs and Border Protection leads me to talk about the problems of Internet social media, which is usually far off my path, and make comparisons with other forms of communication ; and a little bit of capitalism and its discontents. Also, a final version of blast №1 is now available (with extensive commentary).

A link about rail freight in Japan

Supplementary Show

2024–05–31 From The Fast–Neutron Fission Breeder Reactor, the Proceedings of a discussion meeting held 24 and 25 May 1989, reprinted from Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London (Series A) : Introductory remarks by RS Pease, FRS ; The science of fast reactors and why it has been studied, by G Vendryes (CEA) ; and just the first little bit of Engineering and design of fast reactors by M Köhler (Interatom). Unlike The Breeder Reactor, this is not intended for a general audience, but as it is meant for the non–specialist, at least parts of it should be reasonably accessible, and those are the parts I mean to read for you.

ASFO 2024–04–20

Mostly progress reports, on blast and the Payphone Thing. I talk about the use of hypertext in conjunction with, or as a support for, printed text ; and the motivation for presenting information through an interface which may seem uniquely irrelevant in today’s world ; with a brief digression into one possible way I might use a substantially larger amount of financial support. I also spend a minute questioning what seem like senseless political choices, particularly when purported priorities conflict with actual policies, leading me back to the idea of “leaving room for Nature”.

Supplementary Show

2023–04–23 Starting a little late, I read from the notes to blast №1, and then a couple of supporting articles from Architectural Record magazine (reprinted 1955 in a volume entitled Architectural Engineering). I subsequently called in to OpenVoIP to finish the second piece.

ASFO 2023–12–23

Peace on Earth and goodwill toward men! This is one of those shows in which I read poetry, so if you don’t like that, you are now properly warned. One poem is 160 years old, the other, more than 2400.

Supplementary Show

2023–12–29 Selections from “Let’s Talk About the Atom”, “Let’s Talk About Energy”, and “Energy and the Atom” with the general theme of future.

Nine cards of different colors in a three-by-three arrangement. Each shows a US 3-cent "Atoms for Peace" postage stamp of 1955, and a Greek 10-drachma coin depicting Democritus, father of the atomic theory. A tenth card is turned over to show the back.
Pick a colour!