lucius septimius 1/4/2022 5:28:12 AM

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vxbush 1/4/2022 6:12:12 AM

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In #1 lucius septimius said: Temperatures dropped last night as the front went through.  It's 66 on the porch right now.

It's 23º F. here. So 66 looks mighty toasty to me. 

Kosh wrote yesterday: 

I have an idea for cartoon for geeks - Wile E Hacker is after Code Runner. A cyberpunk cartoon

Oh, I'd like to see how you would work this. But I would make Wile E the cop coder and the Code Runner as the hacker. 

JCM 1/4/2022 7:52:43 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 2:

Code Runner trying to get around all the Acme tools Wiley E. uses to suppress speech on the platform.

vxbush 1/4/2022 8:36:42 AM

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In #3 JCM said: Code Runner trying to get around all the Acme tools Wiley E. uses to suppress speech on the platform.

Surely we can generate a bitcoin episode, though.....

Occasional Reader 1/4/2022 8:57:50 AM

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Kosh's Shadow 1/4/2022 9:50:55 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 5:

BS.

Anything that breaks one of the fundamental conservation laws (momentum, energy, angular momentum) needs to be looked at very, very closely.

If any of them are broken, it, opens a  galaxy-sized can of giant spaceworms.

You see, conservation laws are tied to symmetry laws. If conservation of momentum is broken, then the laws of physics can be different in different places. Conservation of energy is tied to symmetry in time; if that is broken, the laws of physics can change over time. 

My guess is that accelerating the ions to increase their mass produces a reaction force on the engine which would counteract any thrust. I don't have time to analyze it or explain in detail, but can later this evening.

buzzsawmonkey 1/4/2022 9:55:00 AM

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Occasional Reader 1/4/2022 9:55:12 AM

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buzzsawmonkey 1/4/2022 9:58:29 AM

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In #8 Occasional Reader said: In other news: Just have to vent. I just drove by a guy who was shoveling the snow out of his driveway… INTO THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET. 🙄

What's the problem with that?  You shovel it into the middle of the street, the passing cars churn it into nothing and it goes away.

Snow is not something you bag like autumn leaves.

Occasional Reader 1/4/2022 10:07:48 AM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 9:

it creates a nice slick patch for passing cars, not to mention an actual obstacle for smaller cars with low clearance. The correct way to do it is to push the snow to the side of the driveway, not into the middle of the street.

Kosh's Shadow 1/4/2022 10:23:19 AM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 6:

I'd have to download the paper to figure out more, but based on the description, the device accelerates ions to increase their mass, then accelerates them in the direction opposite to the "thrust". It then decelerates them to lower their mass and then accelerates them in the opposite direction. The idea is that pushing the heavier ions takes more force than accelerating the lighter ones, thus the former force is not completely counteracted by the latter. The acceleration to change mass is done in an almost perpendicular direction. Note that once the ions have been accelerated in the direction of thrust, decelerating them to reduce mass would have to be done at an angle as they have momentum in the opposite direction to travel. Same for accelerating them to increase mass, where they would have a component of momentum also in the direction of thrust. The forces needed to accelerate and decelerate for mass changes thus also have components along the direction of motion, and those would counteract the "thrust".

That's the best I can do without reading the paper, and it is probably not that easy to understand. 

Executive summary: the accelerations and decelerations to change mass cannot be done in a manner that does not counteract the "thrust" of accelerating the high-mass and lower-mass ions.

Kosh's Shadow 1/4/2022 10:23:59 AM

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In #7 buzzsawmonkey said: I am increasingly convinced that the American political class has already surrendered the US/sold the US to China, and simply has not yet bothered to inform the populace.

Agreed

Kosh's Shadow 1/4/2022 10:24:30 AM

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In #8 Occasional Reader said: In other news: Just have to vent. I just drove by a guy who was shoveling the snow out of his driveway… INTO THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET.

Illegal in Massachusetts.

JCM 1/4/2022 10:33:06 AM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 6:

I was thinking on the same lines. The negative acceleration of the ions in a closed system would be equal the acceleration and cancel each other out with no resultant thrust.

Occasional Reader 1/4/2022 10:40:48 AM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 11:

I am highly skeptical as well, to say the least.

Occasional Reader 1/4/2022 10:41:34 AM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 13:

True, but despite that, it’s still a bad idea.

Kosh's Shadow 1/4/2022 10:44:47 AM

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In #14 JCM said: I was thinking on the same lines. The negative acceleration of the ions in a closed system would be equal the acceleration and cancel each other out with no resultant thrust.

Exactly, It has to. I just went into more detail where all the thrust is, because the description implies the acceleration/deceleration for mass change has no thrust along the direction of motion. It has to, because the ions have a component of momentum along the direction of motion, and while the pipes the ions travel in can be slanted in a way that at first glance does not have any thrust in that direction, that just isn't going to work once all the math is worked out; part of the problem is that the ions are accelerated and decelerated, and the angles and force along the direction of motion will be different.

Occasional Reader 1/4/2022 10:54:08 AM

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Kosh's Shadow 1/4/2022 11:06:25 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 18:

Sheep in the shape of a syringe? They're obviously trying to pull the wool over people's eyes; that's for shear.

Apparently the farmer found it easy to get them to do that; there was mutton to it.

Kosh's Shadow 1/4/2022 11:10:48 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 18:

It shows ewe how they just want to ram through vaccination mandates.

Occasional Reader 1/4/2022 11:49:25 AM

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New Soros-funded Manhattan DA will only seek prison sentences for homicide and a few other crimes:

https://nypost.com/2022/01/04/manhattan-da-alvin-bragg-to-stop-seeking-prison-in-some-cases/

Things are about to get WORSE than they were in the Death Wish years.  Just… wow.

JCM 1/4/2022 11:55:07 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 21:

It worked SO well in Seattle.

Kosh's Shadow 1/4/2022 12:10:09 PM

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In #21 Occasional Reader said: New Soros-funded Manhattan DA will only seek prison sentences for homicide and a few other crimes:

Soros wants an open society - open prison doors, and open stores for looting. And open season on law-abiding citizens.

(I get annoyed when criticism of Soros is labeled antiSemitism - he does not identify as a Jew. By the same standards, criticism of Marx would be antisemitic.)

Occasional Reader 1/4/2022 1:39:29 PM

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Kosh's Shadow 1/4/2022 1:51:03 PM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 24:

https://babylonbee.com/news/leftist-who-keeps-getting-covid-tests-says-he-can-quit-anytime

ARLINGTON, VA—A local family held an impromptu intervention for their son, Eric Chag, 35, who has been taking up to 24 COVID tests a day.

“I can quit anytime I want!” screeched Eric. “I’m not out of control! You’re all out of control! I’m going to cancel you from my room!”

The family first became concerned after Eric’s nose fell off.

“He said it was just a drug problem,” informed his mother, Olivia Chag. “But then I started to notice Q-Tips piling up in the trash. [My husband] never cleans his ears so I was immediately suspicious.”

Kosh's Shadow 1/4/2022 1:53:03 PM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 24:
I could just go to work and get tested, but I'd rather just work from home. They seem to have no trouble getting tests, although they get sent to a medical facility for results. They also do have instant tests for people who have to work in close proximity (lab work, etc)

Alice in Dairyland 1/4/2022 1:54:37 PM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 8:

It's futile!

JCM 1/4/2022 2:01:30 PM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 25:

The line at the local test is at least a mile long every time I drive by, how long in time I have no idea.

Occasional Reader 1/4/2022 2:04:09 PM

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Reply to Alice in Dairyland in 27:

Heh.  Yeah, there's that issue, too. 

Occasional Reader 1/4/2022 2:06:52 PM

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In #28 JCM said: The line at the local test is at least a mile long every time I drive by, how long in time I have no idea.

Good grief.

Charles MacKay, call your office. 

buzzsawmonkey 1/4/2022 2:11:01 PM

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In #23 Kosh's Shadow said: By the same standards, criticism of Marx would be antisemitic.)

Marx was a Jewish apostate (baptized Christian as a child) who hated Jews.  

Hating Jews is a distinguishing characteristic of Jewish apostates.  The most famous of such Jew-hating apostates is St. Paul.

Kosh's Shadow 1/4/2022 2:36:48 PM

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In #31 buzzsawmonkey said: Hating Jews is a distinguishing characteristic of Jewish apostates.  The most famous of such Jew-hating apostates is St. Paul.

There is a long list of them, often in medieval times  but most are only known within the Jewish world.