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Kodak ran a nuclear device in its basement for decades

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Re: Kodak ran a nuclear device in its basement for decades

#161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was obvious when he was president that he's a terrible person. Not sure how you're struggling with it now. He's just a guy like anyone else. Not special. We shouldn't deify presidents. I didn't vote for him in 2008 because I thought he was too inexperienced. I didn't vote for him in 2012 because he continued the war of terror.

I didn’t say any of this. I think you are responding to Your own thoughts and not mine.

>As a dyed in the wool leftist I more and more struggle with Obama legacy from common core to regulation to his utter selling out the American people to the cia.

You're struggling now but presumably weren't struggling then even though it was obvious at the time that he was a bad person just like the rest of them.

Re: Kodak ran a nuclear device in its basement for decades

#162
post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Texas and Florida both have a lot of solar as well, with TX likely passing CA on battery storage over the next few years. Those states also have much cheaper energy than CA. California's energy problems aren't due to the source of their energy.

PG&E being a for profit company, and also that whole Enron thing doesn’t help.

Not sure how they're allowed to generate a profit or distribute dividends given the cost of the wildfires started by their complete and total failure to maintain equipment to minimum safety standards.

Re: Kodak ran a nuclear device in its basement for decades

#163
post #67

At the Univ of Maryland College Park in the mid 1980s, a campus of 40k students, it was common knowledge the was a small research reactor in full time operation right on campus. I can't imagine it was the only school to have one.

https://neup.inl.gov/infrastructure/university-research-reac...

Re: Kodak ran a nuclear device in its basement for decades

#164
The University of Florida (Gainesville, FL), has a small nuclear reactor on campus. My mom always talked about it when I was young as she worked in the nuclear engineering department. I just checked and it's still active. Apparently it's been online since 1959.

https://news.ufl.edu/2025/10/uf-students-join-elite-ranks/

https://neup.inl.gov/infrastructure/university-research-reac...

Re: Kodak ran a nuclear device in its basement for decades

#165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know if you quite realize how close to a major climate change event Chernobyl almost became.

That's not supported by physics. Even at the worst - if the other reactor had somehow also melted down, that still wouldn't have caused a major climate change event. It would have been absolutely terrible , regionally, but not globally. Nuclear reactors aren't atomic bombs.

I don’t understand. Plenty of climate change related developments are regional. See: the increasingly devastating hurricanes forming in the Gulf of Mexico. Not every single thing that we attribute to climate change has to span the entire globe.

Re: Kodak ran a nuclear device in its basement for decades

#166
post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are still trying to solve the problem that we can't keep the plasma hot long enough to create fusion energy, so working on exotic conversion schemes is one step too far. Consider also how complex these reactors already are, it makes sense to use the simplest method that we know works well.

Makes sense, but from a layman perspective it seems like introducing additional complexity and lots of inefficient, high-loss transmission steps. We start with detached electrons moving at high speeds (plasma). We want detached electrons moving at moderate speeds (electrical current). And yet, the intermediate steps involve everything from heat, steam, large-scale mechanical forces and magnetic induction, just to get…

> It feels more like the "pull in a 500MB framework instead of writing the function yourself" kind of simplicity.

Essentially yes, but it's a function that has been continuously optimised by engineers for 200 years.

Re: Kodak ran a nuclear device in its basement for decades

#167
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is just like how universities hide their animal research facilities. It wasn't until the final year of my biology degree that I found out we had a basement floor under our life sciences building where this research is carried out. I visited a few times as part of a research project I was involved in, and that experience was one of the factors that put me off pursuing a career in biomedical research.

To be fair an operational animal lab is an order of different ethical problem than safely storying radioactive material.

Operational radioactive animals!

Re: Kodak ran a nuclear device in its basement for decades

#168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did not put it forth. The other user asserted that it was “conspiracy”. That’s the assertion that I’m challenging, not the veracity of the theory itself.

I am not sure what you are trying to say. It is a conspiracy theory at this point because it is believes, in spite of the existing evidence, the covid absolutely came leaked from a lab rather than starting being of zoonotic orign. It also asserts a coverup by both the Chinese and American government, as well as cover ups and complicity from the entire Chinese and American virology community. This, despite the possibi…

[deleted]

Re: Kodak ran a nuclear device in its basement for decades

#169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not sure what you are trying to say. It is a conspiracy theory at this point because it is believes, in spite of the existing evidence, the covid absolutely came leaked from a lab rather than starting being of zoonotic orign. It also asserts a coverup by both the Chinese and American government, as well as cover ups and complicity from the entire Chinese and American virology community. This, despite the possibi…

You’re putting a lot of words in my mouth here. The specific origins of the virus have not, to my knowledge, been confirmed. I am not asserting that it was a lab leak; I’m merely asserting that it is not unreasonable to consider it possible. Nowhere did I suggest that I believed it more likely to be the source than zoonotic spillover, nor did I assert anything about a coverup by any party. Frankly, this whole discuss…

> You’re putting a lot of words in my mouth here.

I'm not putting them in your mouth, I am stating what the most popular strains of the lab leak approach are.

> The specific origins of the virus have not, to my knowledge, been confirmed.

They have not, and realistically never will be. What would even constitute confirmation? If it leaked out of a lab, the lab and or CCP could own up to it. But zoonotic origin? You'd basically need a time machine to confirm it. The discussion by scientists is about the balance of evidence.

> nor did I assert anything about a coverup by any party.

I am not saying, or implying, you did. I'm sorry if you got that impression. The assertion of a coverup however is intrinsic to any version of the theory that it leaked from a lab. If someone believes that it originated in a lab then the only explanation for why it hasn't been proven yet is that the lab, the scientists, and/or the CCP is actively covering it up. Which is a textbook definition of a conspiracy.

> It should absolutely not be discouraged to consider less-likely explanations when the most likely has not been conclusively proven.

Who is discouraging considering the explanation? Take a look even at the wikipedia page [0]. Both scientists and varying government agencies have looked into the theory, and they have found no credible evidence to back it up, while finding plenty of evidence in support of zoonotic origin.

This discussion is not happening in early 2020, or even early 2021, when there is very little evidence to go on, it is happening in 2025 when there is plenty of evidence in support of zoonotic origin, and a of lack of evidence in favour of the lab leak theory.

Discussion on the topic isn't being suppressed, it's that those supporting the lab leak theory are supporting it despite the evidence to the contrary. They are using it to attack scientists and science broadly because they believe scientists are in on it (a conspiracy theory) [1][2].

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_lab_leak_theory#Gover...

[1]: https://decoding-the-gurus.captivate.fm/episode/interview-wi...

[2]: https://decoding-the-gurus.captivate.fm/episode/lab-leak-fev...

Re: Kodak ran a nuclear device in its basement for decades

#170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn’t say any of this. I think you are responding to Your own thoughts and not mine.

>As a dyed in the wool leftist I more and more struggle with Obama legacy from common core to regulation to his utter selling out the American people to the cia. You're struggling now but presumably weren't struggling then even though it was obvious at the time that he was a bad person just like the rest of them.

I actually strongly considered voting for McCain.
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