Ukraine

[wolfriverjoe 1,340]

12 hours ago, billvon said:

Yep.  Unfortunately the end of e-commerce in Russia means many Russians can't pay for them any more.

Honest question:

Could Russians use Bitcoin or other crypto-currency to evade that?

[gowlerk 1,902]

47 minutes ago, Phil1111 said:

Russian and Chinese officials have also pushed the theory, which has reached mainstream conservative media in the U.S.

The far right hates American democracy. Is there even a "mainstream" conservative media anymore?

Edited March 15, 2022 by gowlerk

[ryoder 1,380]

47 minutes ago, wolfriverjoe said:

Honest question:

Could Russians use Bitcoin or other crypto-currency to evade that?

Like this?

Russians liquidating crypto in the UAE to seek safe havens

[billeisele 122]

On 3/8/2022 at 8:57 AM, olofscience said:

Plutonium in the warheads is extremely unstable - they need to be inspected regularly and completely replaced approximately every 10 years. Otherwise, they'll 'fizzle' instead of detonate.

Tritium in boosted weapons also needs to be replaced every few years.

Nuclear weapons are extremely expensive to build and maintain - the US spends that much on its arsenal, and the Russian arsenal is bigger so they should be spending more if they're maintaining them to the same standard. But who knows if they are? A question you really can't afford to get wrong...

Interesting - how does one inspect plutonium in a warhead?

[gowlerk 1,902]

24 minutes ago, billeisele said:

Interesting - how does one inspect plutonium in a warhead?

The rate of decay is a known factor. There are plenty of things to inspect beside that.

[olofscience 420]

29 minutes ago, billeisele said:

Interesting - how does one inspect plutonium in a warhead?

Processes are usually classified, but I'd imagine they do some X-ray inspection for cracks, then possibly some chemical testing or radiation flux measurement to verify the composition due to nuclear decay. But I really have no idea. Maybe inspecting the surrounding components (chemical explosives, intiators etc) on how they're holding up under the radiation flux?

Pu-239 decays quickly enough that the cores will feel warm to the touch. Not as much as Pu-238 which glows red hot though.

Edited March 15, 2022 by olofscience

[wolfriverjoe 1,340]

2 hours ago, ryoder said:

Like this?

Russians liquidating crypto in the UAE to seek safe havens

I was thinking more along the lines of the much smaller amount needed to set up a VPN subscription.
Not 'Billions"

On a similar note, how about all the Russian porn producers?
Can they get paid in Bitcoin or other crypto and continue to generate income?

24 minutes ago, billeisele said:

Interesting - how does one inspect plutonium in a warhead?

Carefully. 

 

6 minutes ago, olofscience said:

Processes are usually classified, but I'd imagine they do some X-ray inspection for cracks, then possibly some chemical testing or radiation flux measurement to verify the composition due to nuclear decay. But I really have no idea. Maybe inspecting the surrounding components (chemical explosives, intiators etc) on how they're holding up under the radiation flux?

Pu-239 decays quickly enough that the cores will feel warm to the touch. Not as much as Pu-238 which glows red hot though.

That lines up pretty nicely with what a quick search found.

Inspect all the other components, testing stuff like conventional explosives, detonators & such.
Actually cut apart one of the 'pits' (the radioactive stuff) and inspect it. 

They can (and do) remanufacture the pit when deemed necessary.

Interesting paper on the subject (I could almost understand it):
https://rlg.fas.org/010216-aaas.htm

[billeisele 122]

4 minutes ago, olofscience said:

Processes are usually classified, but I'd imagine they do some X-ray inspection for cracks, then possibly some chemical testing or radiation flux measurement to verify the composition due to nuclear decay. But I really have no idea.

 

7 minutes ago, gowlerk said:

The rate of decay is a known factor. There are plenty of things to inspect beside that.

Certainly incorrect, but I was picturing Billy Bob (affectionate Southern slang for a hillbilly, often, correctly or incorrectly, assumed to be less than fully mentally capable) being sent into a containment area with tools.

"Send Billy Bob, he only has 8 REMs on his badge this year. Yeah, I know the US standard is 5 REMs but this is Russia, We're tougher." 

[olofscience 420]

3 hours ago, kallend said:

Phew, that's a relief.

For a moment there I was worried.

What can I say, I'm an optimist 

[gowlerk 1,902]

3 minutes ago, billeisele said:

"Send Billy Bob, he only has 8 REMs on his badge this year. Yeah, I know the US standard is 5 REMs but this is Russia, We're tougher." 

Well....either that or possibly Homer Simpson.

Edited March 15, 2022 by gowlerk

[gowlerk 1,902]

Now there is a confirmed FOX fatality in Ukraine.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/15/media/fox-cameraman-killed-pierre-zakrzewski/index.html

[gowlerk 1,902]

Russia is newly aggressive, Britain has left the EU, Germany is stepping up militarily in a way not seen since its defeat in 1945. The western world is seeing the biggest changes in my lifetime. The security arrangements of Europe are about to undergo a huge upheaval. That has never been good news.

[billeisele 122]

9 minutes ago, wolfriverjoe said:

Carefully. 

Interesting paper on the subject (I could almost understand it):
https://rlg.fas.org/010216-aaas.htm

Best answer yet.

Maybe Kallend, Billvon or someone else interpret this. It's from the referenced paper:

 At  Sandia Albuquerque, the "Z-pinch" has produced more than
       1 MJ of thermal x-rays, filling a larger Hohlraum  than  NIF
       with  a  black  body  temperature  of more than 200 eV. Such
       results are obtained by imploding  a  cylindrical  shell  of
       hundreds  of  fine  wires  by  the  self-magnetic  field  of
       20 megamp currents.  Interesting results have been  obtained
       not  only  on radiation flow but also by the use of magnetic
       pressure  to  drive  flyer  plates  to  produce  shocks   in
       materials  of  relevance  to  nuclear  weapons.    In  other
       experiments on the Z machine, the magnetic pressure is  used
       to  provide  isentropic  compression  of  materials, such as
       deuterium, to explore their equation of state.

 

 

[olofscience 420]

2 minutes ago, gowlerk said:

Russia is newly aggressive, Britain has left the EU, Germany is stepping up militarily in a way not seen since its defeat in 1945. The western world is seeing the biggest changes in my lifetime. The security arrangements of Europe are about to undergo a huge upheaval. That has never been good news.

That's why Putin was overconfident about Ukraine.

Nobody did anything when he invaded Georgia.

He contaminated parts of London with Polonium-210 when he assassinated a dissident. No consequences.

Chemical attack in Salisbury. Still nothing from the west.

Managed to spread enough fake news to trigger Brexit.

Even got his candidate elected as US president!

Everything was going his way until that pesky covid-19 happened, have you seen his long tables?

[gowlerk 1,902]

1 minute ago, olofscience said:

That's why Putin was overconfident about Ukraine.

Yes, and the price to be paid now is going to be so much higher than it could have been.

[olofscience 420]

8 minutes ago, gowlerk said:

Yes, and the price to be paid now is going to be so much higher than it could have been.

War is a negative-sum game. The winner also loses.

[SkyDekker 1,120]

1 hour ago, gowlerk said:

Now there is a confirmed FOX fatality in Ukraine.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/15/media/fox-cameraman-killed-pierre-zakrzewski/index.html

I am sure Russia would be happy if they can make foreign journalists scarce in Ukraine.

[JerryBaumchen 1,046]

19 hours ago, metalslug said:

Her courage is admirable although I hope she finds it worth it balanced against the reach of the message. This lady now potentially faces 15 years in Siberia or worse. There have been indications that a great many Russians already know the truth via a huge increase in VPN subscriptions to bypass internet restrictions within Russia, a growing awareness of truth albeit still unwise to protest publicly.

Hi slug,

Looks like they had some mercy for her:  Russian state TV employee fined for ‘they’re lying to you’ sign protest – POLITICO

Jerry Baumchen

[GeorgiaDon 340]

1 hour ago, JerryBaumchen said:

Hi slug,

Looks like they had some mercy for her:  Russian state TV employee fined for ‘they’re lying to you’ sign protest – POLITICO

Jerry Baumchen

If you read the whole article, maybe not so much "mercy".  The conviction and fine were for "hooliganism".  She is also the subject of an ongoing investigation under the newly passed law regarding spreading "false news" (IOW contradicting the Kremlin's official propaganda).  That is the law with the 15 years in the Gulag penalty, and she may well still be hit with that.

[GeorgiaDon 340]

3 hours ago, olofscience said:

...

Even got his candidate elected as US president!

...

Trump and his apple-doesn't-fall-far-from-the-tree spawn have been spreading the lie that Putin didn't invade Ukraine while Trump was in office because he was afraid of Trump.  A more reasonable explanation is that he was hoping Trump would pull the US out of NATO.  He was likely counting on Trump being re-elected or stealing the election, but when that didn't happen Putin decided to not wait 4+ more years on the chance that Trump would get back in and wreck NATO.

[dgw 8]

3 hours ago, olofscience said:

War is a negative-sum game. The winner also loses.

I think that is right. I think a lot of historic wars (in Ireland) were about having a war to lose the least amount of resource, knowing that sooner or later a war was going to happen. No nukes, of course. 

[SkyDekker 1,120]

1 hour ago, GeorgiaDon said:

Trump and his apple-doesn't-fall-far-from-the-tree spawn have been spreading the lie that Putin didn't invade Ukraine while Trump was in office because he was afraid of Trump.  A more reasonable explanation is that he was hoping Trump would pull the US out of NATO.  He was likely counting on Trump being re-elected or stealing the election, but when that didn't happen Putin decided to not wait 4+ more years on the chance that Trump would get back in and wreck NATO.

I do think Trump caused Putin to not invade Ukraine during his presidency.

But only because I find it conceivable that Trump made it clear he wouldn't pull the US out of NATO until his second term...wink....wink....

Edited March 15, 2022 by SkyDekker

[kallend 1,620]

5 hours ago, billeisele said:

Best answer yet.

Maybe Kallend, Billvon or someone else interpret this. It's from the referenced paper:

 

 

I'm retired now.  I just build R/C airplanes.

[wmw999 2,116]

Send some of those R/C planes over to Ukraine… 

Wendy P. 

[JerryBaumchen 1,046]

3 hours ago, GeorgiaDon said:

If you read the whole article, maybe not so much "mercy".  The conviction and fine were for "hooliganism".  She is also the subject of an ongoing investigation under the newly passed law regarding spreading "false news" (IOW contradicting the Kremlin's official propaganda).  That is the law with the 15 years in the Gulag penalty, and she may well still be hit with that.

Hi Don,

I always read any link that I post.  I just wanted to put somewhat of a happy face on what might be a major problem for her.

Jerry Baumchen