In which I talk about Sex. Fair warning, if you hold any strong opinions on topics such as gender identity or feminism, you probably won’t feel that I have fairly described either your position or opposing ones. Just as a reminder, I have very little patience with anyone who claims to hold an “unpopular opinion”, and then comes up with what is probably the second or third most popular opinion on the topic. Be original!
Supplementary ShowTag: supplementary shows
ASFO 2021–12–04
A letter from the President of the United States! No, not a notice from the Draft Board.
2 Supplementary ShowsASFO 2021–11–27
Much complaining about Greens, their mendacity, and its effect on public discourse. Also a brief report of a conversation with Dr Knief, author of a text on nuclear engineering for commercial power plants ; the Russian coal mine explosion (coal kills!) ; musings about nuance ; and a questionable word coinage. Surely I can come up with something better than “cosmification”.
2 Supplementary ShowsASFO 2021–11–20
Waiting for Kessler Syndrome ; “think global, act local” ; and a Climate Marshall Plan.
Supplementary ShowASFO 2021–11–13
Aleksandr Lukashenka of Belarus offers to help Europe reduce its carbon emissions, and everybody is mad at him for some reason. Also a digression on the horridness of Veblen goods.
2 Supplementary ShowsASFO 2021–11–06
William Shatner is old and fat, and COP 26 accomplishes nothing. Not exactly breaking news!
2 Supplementary ShowsASFO 2021–10–30
The two Texas Tokamaks ; a quick look at the new German coalition goverment, featuring the amazing Schulz–o–Mat™ ; and an idea for an extremely provoking ad campaign.
Supplementary ShowASFO 2021–10–23
This show, which was not aired on the date, consists largely of a discussion of nuclear research reactors, to give some context for the show from the previous week. I also get into some discussion of the use of various kinds of reactors for producing bomb materials.
2 Supplementary ShowsASFO 2021–10–09
After a week involuntarily taken off due to technical difficulties, I narrate my visit on 3 October to the open day at the Heinz Maier–Leibnitz Neutron Source in Garching, north of Munich. The “source” is a specialized nuclear reactor (but the people in charge of it will thank you not to talk about that), otherwise known as FRM–II, the successor to the original Forschungs–Reaktor München (Munich Research Reactor), built by American Machine & Foundry in 1957, and noted at the time for its ellipsoidal aluminium dome. The campus of the Technical University of Munich was subsequently built around this reactor.
2 Supplementary Shows
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