Viewing profile — MurMan

Former EO here. Every group on the boats gets an unofficial name. My favorite was the A-ganger's, the guys that took care of all the mechanical stuff that no one else wanted like t…

I think it depends on what you call the reactor. I think of a reactor as the vessel that holds the fuel, moderator, controls, etc. From the NRX diagram, the reactor includes everyt…

The story confuses the difference between radiation and contamination.

> ... the dubious abilities of our nominally elite classes ... to competently mediate the difference between artifice and reality. I wish there were more media introspection over h…

> in the coming years Intel will cease to buy back shares, but will invest in new manufacturing capacities instead. This is critical for Intel's turnaround. Good to have a CEO that…

Abba has always been the guilty pleasure that I'd never admit to my musician friends. Have to confess that I like their new song “I Still Have Faith In You”.

> There's also a firing rate issue ... The NIF goal was ignition, not continuous power production. The original spec was one shot every four hours. Achieving one shot per day is cl…

Her current net worth is essentially zero now that Theranos has collapsed. Plus, she has a lot of legal bills to pay. It wouldn't surprise me if her legal team points our how poor …

Both Pfizer and Moderna have stated that boosters will be needed this Fall. Pfizer says that immunity drops from 96% to 84% at the six month point. The good news is that the vaccin…

Noticed that, too. He lives in Fletcher, NC about 20 minutes from Ashville, the home of Moog.

> I would very much like to know your take on why the Navy has this knack. I think the obvious answer is that they have to. The Navy has a lot of technology that needs maintenance …

> 90% of the people I started training with were gone in the first two years! My experience too. Do you remember the "skyhook"? We'd return to the barracks after class and find tha…

You're right about HN. Experts in all domains. My experience is from the Vietnam era and doesn't apply today. I was drafted mid-way through an EE program when I got behind in units…

Just once, briefly when he did an inspection of our boat in Guam. My last memory of him was standing next to the ladder as he left. His pants raised as his ankle reached my eye lev…

Oxygen generators use electricity (electrolysis), not steam. Thankfully, we never had to use oxygen candles. Candles are effective only in a small closed space. That would have bee…

Yes. Subs use low-pressure steam to desalinate sea water. Having lots of fresh water for showers was a huge benefit of nuc boats over diesel boats.

I was a nuclear power plant operator on a submarine during this period. Wanting another challenge (young & crazy ...), I applied for duty at McMurdo Station in 1971. My request was…

I remember these machines well. My father was a radiologist and wouldn't let us use them. He knew they were dangerous and the shoe sales people were unqualified. As a side note, ma…

I assume that you're referring to USS Thresher and Scorpion. These weren't nuclear accidents.

Is this contraption actually a robot? A robot has some automatic function or autonomy. I would classify this thing as a coconut harvesting machine.

I think dating is better. My experience is that it's now more about in-depth conversation than attending events. I think this is a great step forward. It has also eliminated the re…

Doubt if an 8008 uC would have been a commercial success. It ran at 125 KHz with instructions taking around 20 clocks. Instruction set was very primitive compared to the 8080 and t…

In addition to all the reliability & usability concerns others have pointed out, don't forget the time when Verizon enforced data caps during the Mendocino fire: https://www.npr.or…

> Nuclear startup NuScale’s modular reactor uses low-enriched uranium, for example, but couldn’t meet the requirements for the moon without some modification and further developmen…