Links for 2009-09-21

"The original design is fuelled by a mix of uranium-233 and plutonium bred from thorium using fast neutron power reactors earlier in a thorium fuel cycle. The LEU variant is suitable for export because it does away with the plutonium, replacing it with uranium enriched to 19.75% uranium-235.

Producing 300 MWe, the unit is less than one third the capacity of a typical large reactor. It is designed to operate for up to 100 years and has a "next generation" level of safety that grants operators three days' grace in the event of a serious incident and requires no emergency planning beyond the site boundary under any circumstances."

"Critics of the GRE, myself included, feel that the GRE does not evaluate any of these but simply provides a metric for how well a person can master GRE test taking procedures. ETS, the nonprofit that administers the test, states "the tests are intended to measure a portion of the individual characteristics that are important for graduate study: reasoning skills, critical thinking, and the ability to communicate effectively in writing in the General Test, and discipline-specific content knowledge through the Subject Test" However, the Princeton Review guide states, "ETS has long claimed that one cannon be coached to do better on its tests. If the GRE were indeed a test of intelligence, then that would be true. But the GRE is NOT [emphasis original] a measure of intelligence; it's a test of how well you handle standardized tests.""

"Anyway, for eight years I walked around with a time bomb in my chest, not knowing on any given day whether today was the day it would go off. I became a much more cheerful person during these years; but the experience also aged me in unexpected ways."

"Sankalp employees have just finished creating a dosa that measures 32.5 feet. " Mmmmmmm..... dosa....

"Dinosaurs of this "lost world," in a remote region of the U.S. West, may have outlived their doomed relatives by as much as half a million years, according to James Fassett, an emeritus scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Santa Fe, New Mexico."

"Mostly, McCaughan and Ballance seem to have made a go of Merge because they know their limitations. Major label or no, Superchunk was unlikely ever to sell more than the mid-five-figures. If a band does that on a major, it gets dropped. If it does that on its own label, it can make enough money to buy a house and put out modest-selling records by its members' favorite bands. Our Noise makes McCaughan and Ballance's choice seem not just noble, but sound."

A look at the first draft, "Star Non-Violent Civil Disobedience."