Remembrance Sunday

This is why I'm some sort of pinko peacenik:  Because war is not glorious, it's a pile of corpses that stretches to the horizon, a nation of mourners whose lives are diminished, a territory blasted into rubble and filth, veterans with scars visible and invisible, it's a generation tainted with the propaganda.  It's fucking hideous, and anyone who starts a war for frivolous reasons, who lies and manipulates to get that war started, deserves the most harsh of punishments. 

Pocket nuke saves world, ushers in sci-fi future [redux]

The Hyperion pocket nuclear power plant -- a sealed reactor delivered on a flatbed and buried underground -- looks to be more than hype.  I'm as surprised as anyone at that. 

"They will cost approximately $25m [£13m] each. For a community with 10,000 households, that is a very affordable $250 per home.'

[the head honcho] claims to have more than 100 firm orders, largely from the oil and electricity industries, but says the company is also targeting developing countries and isolated communities. 'It's leapfrog technology,' he said.

The company plans to set up three factories to produce 4,000 plants between 2013 and 2023. 'We already have a pipeline for 100 reactors, and we are taking our time to tool up to mass-produce this reactor."

The powers that be seem committed to nuclear power as part of the post-carbon energy mix, and this looks like an interesting contender.  The leapfrog aspect is interesting too - like mobile phones "leapfrogging" wired phones in the developing world, a neighbourhood powerplant that Just Runs without any need to lay in a national grid or a nuclear power programme is a serious deal-changer.  Sealed, unscrewupable and with no weapons-grade goodies, it looks like it might address most of the in-life objections to nukes (clearly the fuel production and processing issues remain, though I've come to the opinion that they're less bad than massive climate change; your mileage may differ).