Something Interesting Thread

Discussion in 'Cactus Cafe' started by Dionysus, Jan 15, 2022.

  1. Chop

    Chop 10,000+ Posts

    At some point, with a high enough concentration of Uranium or other fissionable material, the reactor goes critical and sustains fission (on it’s own). It’s not an explosion. It just heats up as fission continues and stored energy is unlocked as the Uranium atoms split. Like commercial nuclear reactors.

    I believe what they found in Gabon was melted material with a high concentration of Uranium and the daughters of split Uranium. Without rods to absorb some of the neutrons, and without coolant, the fuel would meltdown. That’s why at Fukushima, they were pulling out all the stops to get water in there (even salt water—knowing that one reactor was finished) to cover the core (where the fuel is).
     
  2. Chop

    Chop 10,000+ Posts

    Neutrons generated from the splitting of some of the U atoms do go out and split other U atoms. There’s not a separate neutron gun or neutron generator or anything like that. The rods absorb some of the neutrons and keep it under control. The water also helps.

    Also, the level of concentration of Uranium/other fissionable material in atomic weaponry is quite a bit higher than the fuel in commercial reactor plants. If a nuclear power plant was sabotaged, and all the rods withdrawn, automatic scram triggers disabled, and all the water/coolant drained, the fuel would meltdown. You would have Chernobyl, not Hiroshima. There were explosions at Chernobyl and Fukushima, but that was probably the Hydrogen (and/or other flammable) that escaped the core and blew up once in the air and not in the water/core. That wasn’t so much the fuel blowing up. Chernobyl is by far the worst it’s ever gotten. 3 mile island was more political than an actual dangerous situation.
     
  3. Driver 8

    Driver 8 Amor Fati

    I'm pretty sure I know how to build a bomb now
     
    • Funny Funny x 1
  4. Duck Dodgers

    Duck Dodgers 1,000+ Posts

    The theory of A bombs isn't that complex - I wrote a report on it in middle school science class. The main challenge is in getting the source material - either U 235 for the gun and bullet method, or the plutonium for the implosion method.
     
  5. Chop

    Chop 10,000+ Posts

    Teddy Roosevelt tried to outlaw football.

    Darn polo-playing yachtsman…

    :e-football::e-football::e-football:
     
    • Agree Agree x 2
  6. Chop

    Chop 10,000+ Posts

    Rather than eating them, the pilgrims ground up lobsters and used them as fertilizer for corn.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  7. Chop

    Chop 10,000+ Posts

    The national hero of Chile is an Irishman—Bernardo O’Higgins.
     
    • Like Like x 1
    • Funny Funny x 1
  8. Dionysus

    Dionysus Idoit Admin

    Horizons
    A steel sculpture that looks like a windblown piece of paper on a hilltop.

    Neil Dawson created the sculpture in 1994 for Gibbs Farm, an outdoor sculpture collection in New Zealand.

    Horizons.jpg

    Horizons2.jpg

    2 minute video about Horizons and Gibbs Farm

     
    • Like Like x 7
  9. Dionysus

    Dionysus Idoit Admin

    The Salt Glaciers of Iran
    wikipedia | natureknows.org

    Million of years ago, the Persian Gulf was a much larger body of water than it is today, inundating large sections of the Arabian peninsula in the south and Iran in the west. As the water evaporated and the shores of the sea retreated, it left behind vast quantities of salt.

    All of these incredible salt formations can be seen in the south, southwest, and central areas of Iran. The best examples are found in the Zagros mountains that run parallel to Iran’s coast on the Persian Gulf.

    iran-1.jpg

    iran-2.jpg

    iran-3.jpg

    iran-4.jpg
     
    • Like Like x 5
  10. HornHuskerDad

    HornHuskerDad 5,000+ Posts

    When the US/Canada border was settled as the 49th parallel, Point Roberts, Washington, became an exclave. It is on a point of land that extends lust south of the 49th parallel, so it is part of the U.S. However, highway access to Point Roberts is available only by driving through Canada. Point Roberts is just south of Vancouver; on the US side, Point Roberts is accessible by water.
     
    • Like Like x 2
    Last edited: Nov 12, 2022
  11. mb227

    mb227 de Plorable

    There is some place similar to that in Minnesota that required going through Canada to access the US. Those people were screwed with the 'rona shutdowns because they literally could not leave their little hamlet since cross-border travel was prohibited...
     
  12. Horn6721

    Horn6721 10,000+ Posts

    • Like Like x 3
  13. SabreHorn

    SabreHorn 10,000+ Posts

    Actually, they played two full games, but he won so much money in the first game, he didn't need to answer a question in the second game to win.
     
    • Like Like x 2
  14. Dionysus

    Dionysus Idoit Admin

    • Funny Funny x 2
  15. Driver 8

    Driver 8 Amor Fati

     
    • Like Like x 2
  16. Facing Addiction

    Facing Addiction 1,000+ Posts

    [​IMG]
     
    • Like Like x 1
    • Agree Agree x 1
  17. Horn6721

    Horn6721 10,000+ Posts

    • poop poop x 1
  18. Dionysus

    Dionysus Idoit Admin

    The Screw-In Coffin

    In 2009, mechanical engineer Donald Scruggs received a patent for a hermetically sealed coffin that can be screwed into the ground. David Friedman made a short documentary about Scruggs and his screw-in coffin

    screw-in-coffin.jpg

    The coffins can simply be installed vertically, with plaques or iconography on top, replacing tombstones.
    coffin1.jpg

    They can be installed along a pond in the cemetery, with their tops sticking up out of the water.

    coffin2.jpg

    They can be stacked horizontally on a hillside, or diagonally alongside a walkway for easy viewing.

    coffin4.jpg

    It could be screwed in manually, or use a machine
    coffin3.jpg

     
    • Like Like x 2
    • Hot Hot x 1
  19. Sangre Naranjada

    Sangre Naranjada 10,000+ Posts

    Good idea if you have deep soil. In the hill country where you hit limestone less than an inch down? I don't see it working out too well.
     
    • Agree Agree x 2
  20. Vol Horn 4 Life

    Vol Horn 4 Life Good Bye To All The Rest!

    "Sir, unfortunately this cemetary is in rocky terrain so it's a bit more expensive to plant your wife here as opposed to east of I-35."
     
  21. X Misn Tx

    X Misn Tx 2,500+ Posts

    laughing at posters who "liked" this post. lol
     
    • Funny Funny x 1
  22. Dionysus

    Dionysus Idoit Admin

    Kailasa (Kailash) Temple — Ellora Caves, Maharashtra, India

    This temple, carved from solid rock, is the world’s largest monolithic structure. Its construction is generally attributed to the Rashtrakuta king Krishna I (r. 756-773 CE).

    wikipedia | travel-information.org | Live History India

    Kailasa_temple_5.jpg

    Kailasa_temple_4.jpg

    Kailasa_temple_1.jpg

    kailash-temple2.jpg

    kailash-temple3.jpg

    kailash-temple1.jpg
     
    • Winner Winner x 2
    • Like Like x 1
    • WTF? WTF? x 1
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2022
  23. mb227

    mb227 de Plorable

    THAT was an impressive feat!
     
  24. Horn6721

    Horn6721 10,000+ Posts

    Wow
    may have to add that to my list.
     
  25. LonghornCatholic

    LonghornCatholic Deo Gratias

    My fantasy has always been to make love to a woman, preferably my wife, in a bank vault.
     
    • Hot Hot x 2
    • Funny Funny x 1
    • WTF? WTF? x 1
  26. Hideo Gump Jr.

    Hideo Gump Jr. Summer Soldier and Sunshine Patriot

    Adolf Hitler suffered from catastrophic flatulence.
    Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy, right?
     
    • Like Like x 1
  27. Sangre Naranjada

    Sangre Naranjada 10,000+ Posts

    [​IMG]
    God: "Pull my finger"
    And on the 8th day, He created the winds.
     
    • Winner Winner x 1
  28. BevoJoe

    BevoJoe 10,000+ Posts

    I went out there once when I was working in Norway. Yep, folks walk on it, jump on it, even lay down on it. Crazy stuff! I just had a look, watched the dare devils, then left.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  29. huisache

    huisache 2,500+ Posts

    who is our only president to have a leg amputated?




    Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna
     
    • Like Like x 1
  30. BevoJoe

    BevoJoe 10,000+ Posts

    Man I bet that bunker he was in at the end of the war stunk!
     
    • Funny Funny x 1
    Last edited: Mar 17, 2022

Share This Page