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@clumma
clumma / reactors-first.md
Last active August 30, 2023 18:23
Early power reactors
Reactor Nation Grid Connection MW(th) MW(e) Decommissioned
EBR I US site only 1951-12-20 1.4 0.2 1964
Obninsk USSR 1954-06-27 30 6 2002
BORAX-III US 1955-07-17 6 2 1956
Calder Hall 1 * UK 1956-08-27 268 60 2003
SM-1 US 1957-04-29 10 2 1973
Vallecitos US 1957-10-19 30 5.3 1963
Shippingport US 1957-12-18 236 60 1982
@clumma
clumma / BetterParts.md
Last active February 26, 2017 04:24
JavaScript: The Better Parts
@clumma
clumma / soddy.md
Last active February 26, 2016 06:52
Soddy on Economics

Cartesian Economics (1921)

pg. 1

My own point of departure could not be better illustrated than by a quotation from Descartes and the aspects I propose to examine might well be called Cartesian Economics. "Starting from the forms of knowledge most useful to life, instead of from that speculative philosophy taught in our schools, and knowing the force and processes of fire, the air, the stars and all the other bodies which surround us as distinctly as we know the different occupations of our own workmen, we shall be able to employ them in the same fashion and so render ourselves as the masters and possessors of nature and contribute to the perfection of the human life."

pg. 10

All forms of energy previously utilised by life, with one or two minor exceptions, as tidal energy and that of hot springs, were forms of the solar revenue. Wind-power, water-power and wood fuel are parts of the year-to-year revenue of sunshine no less than cereals and other animal foods. But when coal became king, th

@clumma
clumma / civil.md
Last active February 26, 2016 06:51
Something to hide

I've seen a lot of essays claiming to explain why privacy is important even if you 'have nothing to hide'. They all fail because you manifestly don't need privacy unless you have something to hide.

The truth is, laws are written by ignorant mobs and we want to break them. We want to try marijuana, exceed the speed limit, rip DVDs we bought to an archival format and occasionally share them with friends, use incandescent bulbs because they provide better light and alternatives are provably no better for the environment, and fix our shower faucet without having to apply for a permit first.

Privacy is a natural foil to legislation run amok because it lets us break bad laws. It helps ensure that laws really do require the consent of the governed. There's even virtuous feedback, since lawmakers have enforcement budgets and need to appear effective.

So yes, I have something hide. If you need to see inside my house, it's a good sign the thing you're trying to prohibit isn't harmful enough to society to warrant t

@clumma
clumma / FutureProgramming.json
Created January 18, 2016 23:08
Projects in "Future Programming"
[
{
"Name": "Eros",
"Author": "Conal Elliott",
"Status": "Experiment",
"Updated": "2007-11",
"Description": "functional programming with isomorphic GUI",
"URL": "http://conal.net/papers/Eros/"
},
{
@clumma
clumma / reactors-old.md
Last active February 26, 2016 06:51
Workhorse reactors

How long do nuclear reactors last?

Here are some that have been in service over 50 years:

reactor site first criticality
F-1 Kurchatov Institute 1946
NRU Chalk River 1957
UMRR University of Missouri 1961
HFIR ORNL 1965
@clumma
clumma / NuclearTimeline.json
Last active February 26, 2016 22:18
Nuclear Timeline
[
{
"date": "1895-11-08",
"event": "X-rays produced with a cathode ray tube",
"people": "Wilhelm Röntgen"
},
{
"date": "1896-03-02",
"event": "Uranium is radioactive",
"people": "Henri Becquerel"
@clumma
clumma / reactors-new.md
Last active May 6, 2023 17:20
Newest Power Reactors

Newest U.S. power reactors by construction start:

reactor construction start first criticality
Vogtle 3 2013-03-12 2023-03-06
Summer 2 2013-03-09
Wolf Creek 1977-05-31 1985-05-22
River Bend 1 1977-03-25 1985-10-31
Vogtle 2 1976-08-01 1989-03-28
Seakbrook 1 1976-07-07 1989-06-13

How complexity scales with...

damage prime limit
JI Ω(1) Ω(π(p))
rank 1 Ω(1/d) Ω(π(p))
rank 2 Ω(1/d) Ω(π(p)2)
@clumma
clumma / generators.ss
Last active January 8, 2017 20:25
generators for a rank-2 temperament
;; computes TE-optimal generators for a pair of vals
;; e.g. (generators '(1 2 4) '(0 -1 -4) '(2 3 5)) => (1201.397 504.348)
(define generators
(lambda (val1 val2 basis)
(let* ((square (lambda (x) (* x x)))
(log2 (lambda (x) (/ (log x) (log 2))))
(mean (lambda (ls) (/ (apply + ls) (length ls))))
(w1 (map / val1 (map log2 basis)))
(w2 (map / val2 (map log2 basis)))