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BREAKTHROUGHS IN FUSION AND THE BLUE REVOLUTION

      From Worldometer (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):

   DAY  USA  WORLD    Brazil    India    South Africa

June     9     1093     4732         1185        246       82
July    22      1205     7128         1293      1120     572
Aug    12      1504     6556        1242        835     130
Sept     9      1208      6222       1136       1168       82
Oct     21      1225      6849         571        703       85
Nov    25       2304    12025        620        518      118
Dec    30       3880    14748       1224       299      465
Jan     14         4142     15512       1151        189      712
Feb      3       4005    14265       1209       107      398
Mar     2        1989     9490        1726       110      194
April   6         906     11787         4211       631       37
May    4         853     13667         3025     3786     59 
June   1         287    10637         2346      3205      95
 July   7          251      8440        1595        817       411
Aug    4          656    10120        1118         532      423 
Sept  22       2228     9326          839        279      124
        29         2190      8859         643        309      108
Oct    6         2102       8255         543        315       59
        19          2005      7528         401       160        80 
        27          1594      8671         433        734        62 
Nov   3          1436      7830         186        458        23
        24          1594      8270         176        396        22 
Dec    1          1633      8475         266        477        28
          8          1324      7894         231        159         36
        17          1653      7359         126        289         35 
        22          1634      7686         137        434         99
        23          1149       6942        100        374         75
        29          1777       7393         147        268         81
        30         1354       6758          154        220       126 
Jan    7         2025       6729          148        285       140
       14          2303       7872          238        430       128
       19          2374       8972          349        493       156
       20          2700     9225          324        703       139 
       21           2777      9091          396        489       103 
       26          3143   10,554          606        575         94

Summary:

  • Sure, in my past few postings I said that this pandemic was over.  True, but only for those who have been fully vaccinated.  Mind you, to fully enter the realm of health normalcy, you also now need a booster shot.
  • If you have not yet been vaccinated, you remain in big trouble.  Not seen any recent summary, but at one time it was reported that 99.2% of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. were to the unvaccinated.  While it's too late to escape the Omicron variant, get vaccinated and boosted as soon as possible to avoid the next variant.
  • What you see above is the week to two delay from contracting COVID-19.  Omicron does have a lower mortality, but it is so contagious that it gloms on to those unvaccinated, and those who remain unvaccinated are most vulnerable to loss of life.
  • Regarding new cases yesterday (per million population in parentheses):
    • #1      USA  553,313  (1597)
      • California  63,738  (1613)
      • Arizona  18,220 (2497)
      • Washington 28,803  (3790)
      • Hawaii  2050  (1464)
      • Alaska  2566  (3505)
      • Military 15,719 (???)
        • if only 1.35 military active duty (11,655)
        • if including dependents (3,930)
    • #2      France  428,008  (6534)
    • #3      India  286,384  (205)
    • #4      Brazil  219,878  (1023)
    • World  3,833,450  (460)
    • Spain  133,553  (2854)
    • South Africa  4,511  (74.6)  This is where Omicron started.
    • Russia  74,692  (512)
    • Israel  76.155  (8462)
    • Japan  60,933  (484)  The World Bank predicted 400,000 cases/day in March 2022.
    • Denmark 43,719  (7538)
    • Slovenia  17,512  (8339)
    • Guadeloupe  10,554  (26,385)  Wow!!  What's happening here?
    • Faeroe Islands 859  (17,180)
    • Those countries doing terribly are on islands that in the past escaped earlier waves.
    • Societies that are known for freedom and independence are hurting.
    • China, of course is frighteningly dictatorial, and that controls COVID-19.  However, there are numerous reports that they whitewash numbers.
    • Many countries in the Orient, by culture, listen to the government.
    • In short, the U.S. is doing far worse than the World Average.
      • However, much of the world does not report well.
      • We are doing a whole lot better than Europe.

A good part of my life has been spent on fusion and the Blue Revolution.  I twice worked at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, but left the field more than 40 years ago because I thought the laser to accomplish this task had not yet been invented, and wouldn't for some time to come.  My PhD involved building a tunable laser before one could be purchased.

Finally, finally, Livermore's National Ignition Facility reported:

  • They used the energy from 192 lasers to heat hydrogen isotopes (deuterium and tritium) to 100 million degrees C and sparked a reaction.  While this is three times hotter that the center of the sun, the fusion of hydrogen requires a combination of intense temperature and pressure, and science has not yet been able to match the pressure experience at the middle of the sun.
  • A team of more than 100 scientists published four experiments announcing these results in Nature.
    • Burning plasma means that the fusion reactions are the primary source of heating.
    • The lasers delivered 1.9 megajoules of energy in pulses with peak powers up to 500 terawatts.  How high is this?  In 2020 all the nuclear power plants in the U.S. generated 790 terawatt-hours of energy.  Keep in mind, though, that this shot only lasted about 100 trillionths of a second.
    • The process is based on intertial confinement, where the implosion compresses the heating isotopes of hydrogen.  This fuel is encased in a tiny gold metal about the size of a BB.
  • How close are they to reaching net positive?  They have now progressed to a point less than one-tenth the power required to sustain the reaction.
  • At least the LLNR facility has advanced a lot further than the magnetic confinement fusion experiment in France, which is expected to complete construction in 2026.  What was projected to cost $5 billion is now up to $65 billion.
  • I'm biased, but I am now convinced that the more sensible pathway is the laser, not a donut.
  • Just like I thought it was worthy of my time to Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence at the NASA Ames Research Center in the 1970's, I also felt that fusion was something I had to try at Livermore.  When I left this national lab, I went on to work in the U.S. Senate and drafted the hydrogen legislation that became the Matsunaga Hydrogen Act, setting the tone for R&d to develop the hydrogen society.

The second breakthrough is also related to a bill I first wrote, on OTEC, and is sort of a Blue Revolution.  Not the kind I talked about in my TEDx talk last month, but blue, nevertheless.  The Star Advertiser this morning had an article entitled:  Biwako Blue food makes a splash.

But first, some background.  Lake Biwa at 259 square miles is the largest freshwater lake in Japan, located northeast of Kyoto.  It provides drinking water for 15 million people.  It is the breeding ground for the pearl culture industry. As Kyoto was the ancient capital of the country, Japanese literature is full of historical battles and poetry from this region.

Note to the top left is the town of Obama, made famous by Barack.  When I was born it had a population close to 40,000.  Today, less than 30,000.

But back to my Blue Revolution story, the inspiration for Biwako Blue, headed by Akihisa Tsuji, came from Nihon Advanced Agri Company developing a natural blue coloring agent.  The raw material is the butterfly pea, a legume that grows wild in Southwest Asia.  The petals are rich in anthocyanins and has no taste.

The dye got official approval in 2017.  Tsuji is aiding farmers in Thailand and Laos use organic-farming technique to grow the plant.

The first commercialized product was blue chocolate, Carre de Blue,  It first was marketed last year, but quickly sold out.  They are looking forward to Valentine's Day this year.

Since ancient times blue has been associated with happiness, sincerity and trust.  The candy comes with a message of happiness.

Here to the right is Biwako black curry, a dish you can find at 96 Cafe in Nahahama.  The black comes from squid ink.

How do you make black curry?  Apparently you can also use norikuro, sold in small bottles, which is a macroalgae found at the mouths of rivers. 

There are now more than 40 blue products.  Where can you find this blue dye?  Easy, go to Amazon.com.  A one ounce pack sells for $9.32/ounce.

I'll end with a sad piece of Jeopardy news.  Amy Schneider finally lost in game #41.

She was beaten by Rhone Talsma, a Chicago librarian who got a BA degree in Women's and Gender studies, minoring in LGBTQ and Graphic Design.

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