Oh hey I missed this sorry. Good to see you, bud. Don't be a stranger!
All Things in Moderation [Jas]
Moderators: djd001, LikkleMel, Noodle
All Things in Moderation [Jas]
All Things in Moderation [Jas]
Well I just finished what was probably the most productive meeting I've had since starting to run this project at work.
It's a satisfying feeling.
So many different perspectives and agendas and personalities it can get downright gridlocked sometimes.
Feeling refreshed.
It's a satisfying feeling.
So many different perspectives and agendas and personalities it can get downright gridlocked sometimes.
Feeling refreshed.
All Things in Moderation [Jas]
Today truly was a good day.
I don't know if you saw but I put that up in my status this morning.
At the time I didn't know what was going to happen today, but I had a feeling. And it worked out.
Logically, I'm aware that what I experienced was just a well-fated coincidence, but emotionally I am extremely stoked about it.
I don't know if you saw but I put that up in my status this morning.
At the time I didn't know what was going to happen today, but I had a feeling. And it worked out.
Logically, I'm aware that what I experienced was just a well-fated coincidence, but emotionally I am extremely stoked about it.
All Things in Moderation [Jas]
It's been a few days since my last big update, so I figure maybe it's time for another.
This one, which I will entitle, "Of Atoms and Neutrons," will be the first of a series on understanding nuclear power.
Nuclear power is an often-misunderstood science. I suspect that the stigma comes from the first nuclear weapons detonated in Japan. This was an atrocity to be sure, but it is not what nuclear power is all about. It is true that the same process (namely fission) is the source of the power for both fission bombs and nuclear power stations, but this does not mean that every nuclear power station is a bomb waiting to go off.
Much in the same way as combustion is the core process in both your gentle, warm campfire and explosive, dangerous C4, the difference between safety and devastation is in the execution.
Nuclear weapons use pure or nearly pure fissile metal, whereas modern nuclear power plant designs use a ceramic fuel design made of an oxide. Just like combustion, fission is only useful (or dangerous) with a sustained chain reaction. With less fuel material in a given space, it is more difficult (read: impossible) to cause a nuclear explosion.
(But I saw Fukushima explode!)
But is a runaway chain reaction possible? Unfortunately, yes; for an example examine Chernobyl. But that's the only disaster which has been a result of that. The other two big ones, Three Mile Island and Fukushima-Daiichi, are a result of another phenomenon.
You see, nuclear power is safe, but it has a weakness. You can't just switch it off. Even long after a plant is shutdown, it continues to generate heat. Compare this to a coal plant, for instance: the moment you remove heat, fuel, or oxygen, the combustion reaction breaks down and no more heat is generated by the boiler. In a nuclear reactor, on the other hand, it is relatively trivial to shut down the fission chain reaction by way of neutron capture, but that's not the only process in play. Fission generates radioactive isotopes, which continue to produce heat by way of decay for years after shutdown.
In recent memory, we have the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear reactors in Japan. In the spring of 2011, the power station lost all on-site power for an extended period of time after an earthquake and resultant tsunami.
The plants were designed to shut themselves down after an earthquake, and that is exactly what they did. The plant shutdown triggered a transfer to emergency power by way of a set of diesel generators, the point of which is to remove heat from the reactor.
So when Fukushima's diesels flooded and went down, all cooling to the fuel was stopped and the still-hot fuel boiled the stagnant water. This built up enormous amounts of pressure, which is a problem. In fact, a similar phenomenon is what caused the explosion of Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, USA. A simple steam explosion.
(But I know I saw fire at Fukushima!)
That's right. The famous explosions at Fukushima were not simply steam explosions. They were hydrogen explosions. I'll explain the mechanism for that in the next issue, but I think this post is plenty long enough for now.
This one, which I will entitle, "Of Atoms and Neutrons," will be the first of a series on understanding nuclear power.
Nuclear power is an often-misunderstood science. I suspect that the stigma comes from the first nuclear weapons detonated in Japan. This was an atrocity to be sure, but it is not what nuclear power is all about. It is true that the same process (namely fission) is the source of the power for both fission bombs and nuclear power stations, but this does not mean that every nuclear power station is a bomb waiting to go off.
Much in the same way as combustion is the core process in both your gentle, warm campfire and explosive, dangerous C4, the difference between safety and devastation is in the execution.
Nuclear weapons use pure or nearly pure fissile metal, whereas modern nuclear power plant designs use a ceramic fuel design made of an oxide. Just like combustion, fission is only useful (or dangerous) with a sustained chain reaction. With less fuel material in a given space, it is more difficult (read: impossible) to cause a nuclear explosion.
(But I saw Fukushima explode!)
But is a runaway chain reaction possible? Unfortunately, yes; for an example examine Chernobyl. But that's the only disaster which has been a result of that. The other two big ones, Three Mile Island and Fukushima-Daiichi, are a result of another phenomenon.
You see, nuclear power is safe, but it has a weakness. You can't just switch it off. Even long after a plant is shutdown, it continues to generate heat. Compare this to a coal plant, for instance: the moment you remove heat, fuel, or oxygen, the combustion reaction breaks down and no more heat is generated by the boiler. In a nuclear reactor, on the other hand, it is relatively trivial to shut down the fission chain reaction by way of neutron capture, but that's not the only process in play. Fission generates radioactive isotopes, which continue to produce heat by way of decay for years after shutdown.
In recent memory, we have the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear reactors in Japan. In the spring of 2011, the power station lost all on-site power for an extended period of time after an earthquake and resultant tsunami.
The plants were designed to shut themselves down after an earthquake, and that is exactly what they did. The plant shutdown triggered a transfer to emergency power by way of a set of diesel generators, the point of which is to remove heat from the reactor.
So when Fukushima's diesels flooded and went down, all cooling to the fuel was stopped and the still-hot fuel boiled the stagnant water. This built up enormous amounts of pressure, which is a problem. In fact, a similar phenomenon is what caused the explosion of Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, USA. A simple steam explosion.
(But I know I saw fire at Fukushima!)
That's right. The famous explosions at Fukushima were not simply steam explosions. They were hydrogen explosions. I'll explain the mechanism for that in the next issue, but I think this post is plenty long enough for now.
All Things in Moderation [Jas]
Yay three day weekend coming up.
All Things in Moderation [Jas]
aw dang i was gonna bring up something on the first page but here we are in page three
that's what i get for ignoring journals
that's what i get for ignoring journals
All Things in Moderation [Jas]
Feel free. I'll rewind time for you lolin
All Things in Moderation [Jas]
Jas wrote: ↑19 May 2020, 05:01Random musing of the evening, as the world slows around me:
Why am I here?
No, not on the planet. I'm not asking for the ultimate answer, and surely that's not the ultimate question.
What am I asking?
Why do I scurry back here periodically just to fit into a similar routine? While some of the main cast sticks around, the minor roles are recast and the dance goes on. Why is this going to hold my interest longer this time?
Why do I inevitably crawl away and just stop?
Is it boredom? Shame? Something else is shinier? I do have a lot on my plate right now but even if I didn't spam constantly I could still pop in for a message or two.
But no, when I'm here, I'm all in, and when I'm out, I'm a ghost.
I have many people here I consider friends, but I also don't seem to have a problem walking away. That's a pretty shitty thing to do, but I seem capable of it anyway. I am sure I've hurt some of them, both those who are still here and those I'll never meet again.
I feel guilty about it now, but honestly I don't feel that bad about it when I'm not here. And I feel guiltier about that.
It's not just people on here, either. It's all of my relationships. I looked at my call history as I was calling my mother on Mother's Day, and my last 4 phone conversations with my mom were mothers day and my birthday for the past two years.
I sometimes wonder if I'm broken. People are social animals; that's an observable truth. So why am I incapable of maintaining social bonds?
Because I feel the need to preempt reactions: no, people, this isn't a cry for help or for attention. This might be an apology, but if it is, it's a terrible one. Mostly, this is a realization. And I wonder if I can figure out a way to change something like that about myself.
I fear I cannot. I fear more that I don't really want to.
i think in some sense it's TOTALLY okay to just walk away from a forum, especially if you have the friends you want over a messenger/text. i GUARANTEE you're not broken though, so many people come and go and the old adage is that friends come and go. we live in a very individualistic world where your priority has to come first and it's okay to shove people to the wayside (so long as you're nice about it, at least). i hate that i just typed that last sentence but it's a fundamental truth and it makes me sick to my stomach that it is.
the advice of "be yourself" rings true on many levels, honestly
All Things in Moderation [Jas]
Thank you, Lolin.
I don't think I was particularly looking for a response to that post, but I do appreciate yours. And it legitimately makes me feel a little better.
Still feel a little shitty, though, but that's part of the human condition I suppose.
I don't think I was particularly looking for a response to that post, but I do appreciate yours. And it legitimately makes me feel a little better.
Still feel a little shitty, though, but that's part of the human condition I suppose.
All Things in Moderation [Jas]
i feel shitty about a lotta things in life, A LOT
i'm glad it helped even if you aren't looking for responses
i'm glad it helped even if you aren't looking for responses
All Things in Moderation [Jas]
I appreciate them, just wasn't really expecting them. Thanks.
I know it's not that abnormal to drift between groups of friends as interests change, etc. It still wholly seems like a shitty thing to do.
I know it's not that abnormal to drift between groups of friends as interests change, etc. It still wholly seems like a shitty thing to do.
All Things in Moderation [Jas]
Today has been a nice, slow Saturday.
I woke up around 9, and Lex wasn't even out of bed yet, which was surprising. I had breakfast and checked AL.
Lexi watched a couple of episodes of pokemon then went out to play with one of her friends. While she was out, Jenna and I took a walk around the neighborhood and talked for about an hour.
Then we came back and made hot dogs for lunch, which Lex skipped in lieu of playing with her friends a little longer. Jenn and I stayed outside where we could watch them like 100 yards away at the playground.
It's rare to have a lazy day with nice weather. Pittsburgh weather isn't always cooperative.
Feeling peaceful.
I woke up around 9, and Lex wasn't even out of bed yet, which was surprising. I had breakfast and checked AL.
Lexi watched a couple of episodes of pokemon then went out to play with one of her friends. While she was out, Jenna and I took a walk around the neighborhood and talked for about an hour.
Then we came back and made hot dogs for lunch, which Lex skipped in lieu of playing with her friends a little longer. Jenn and I stayed outside where we could watch them like 100 yards away at the playground.
It's rare to have a lazy day with nice weather. Pittsburgh weather isn't always cooperative.
Feeling peaceful.
All Things in Moderation [Jas]
Went to the store today.
Social distancing and public safety measures are only useful when you follow them. People seem either too stupid or too self-important to acknowledge that.
For instance, if a grocer places direction indications on each aisle so that trafficking flows better and contact is minimized, then follow them. Just because you aren't worried about infection doesn't mean no one is.
You may have to go down an adjacent aisle and come back up the right way to get your goddamned moon pies, but it's better for everyone that way.
And if you pull down your mask so your nose is outside of it, you may as well not even wear one. Dipshits.
Other than that it was a nice day.
Social distancing and public safety measures are only useful when you follow them. People seem either too stupid or too self-important to acknowledge that.
For instance, if a grocer places direction indications on each aisle so that trafficking flows better and contact is minimized, then follow them. Just because you aren't worried about infection doesn't mean no one is.
You may have to go down an adjacent aisle and come back up the right way to get your goddamned moon pies, but it's better for everyone that way.
And if you pull down your mask so your nose is outside of it, you may as well not even wear one. Dipshits.
Other than that it was a nice day.
All Things in Moderation [Jas]
Started to clean out our garage today. We have a lot of shit that Alexandra has outgrown that Jenna doesn't want to get rid of. And it's cluttering both our garage and our basement.
So we're selling some shit off. Turns out baby toys are a lot more expensive than they should be, and they maintain their resale value well.
So we're selling some shit off. Turns out baby toys are a lot more expensive than they should be, and they maintain their resale value well.
All Things in Moderation [Jas]
Oh hey my name turned purple