"Reardan Metal" in the real world

[BaalChatzaf]

Story about Nobel Award in science:

Just an excerpt:

STOCKHOLM — Two Russian-born scientists shared the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for "groundbreaking experiments" with the thinnest, strongest material known to mankind — a carbon vital for the creation of faster computers and transparent touch screens.

Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, professors at the University of Manchester in Britain, in 2004 isolated graphene, a form of carbon only one atom thick but more than 100 times stronger than steel, and showed it has exceptional properties, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.

Experiments with graphene could lead to the development of new superstrong materials to make satellites, airplanes and cars, as well as innovative electronics, the academy said in announcing the 10 million kronor ($1.5 million) award.

[Brant Gaede]

Story about Nobel Award in science:

Just an excerpt:

STOCKHOLM — Two Russian-born scientists shared the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for "groundbreaking experiments" with the thinnest, strongest material known to mankind — a carbon vital for the creation of faster computers and transparent touch screens.

Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, professors at the University of Manchester in Britain, in 2004 isolated graphene, a form of carbon only one atom thick but more than 100 times stronger than steel, and showed it has exceptional properties, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.

Experiments with graphene could lead to the development of new superstrong materials to make satellites, airplanes and cars, as well as innovative electronics, the academy said in announcing the 10 million kronor ($1.5 million) award.

Krell metal! That'll do it!

--Brant

[PDS]

It's a miracle!

[Selene]

Ba'al:

I saw that this morning. Imagine how that will change the use of oil and transportation costs.

Poor eco-environmental-thugs...another defeat to their anti-industrial agenda.

Adam

[9thdoctor]

So now Bob can move beyond his oft-repeated critique of Galt’s motor qua perpetual motion machine to how Rearden Metal is incorrectly formulated. Here’s another one: how did they grow the tobacco to make the dollar sign cigarettes? Does tobacco grow in Colorado? Maybe in a greenhouse, but how could they grow enough to meet the demand from all those heroic Randian chainsmokers?

Edited October 6, 2010 by Ninth Doctor

[Brant Gaede]

So now Bob can move beyond his oft-repeated critique of Galt’s motor qua perpetual motion machine to how Rearden Metal is incorrectly formulated. Here’s another one: how did they grow the tobacco to make the dollar sign cigarettes? Does tobacco grow in Colorado? Maybe in a greenhouse, but how could they grow enough to meet the demand from all those heroic Randian chainsmokers?

The cigarettes are manufactured in China from African tobacco and delivered by Fed Ex to Denver International where John Galt waits in his Cessna 210 turbo for the final leg to his Gultch. (I mean MM's.) One year there wasn't any because Ragnar accidentally sank a tobacco ship and had to spend two years lecturing on piracy at the University of Denver. This is where he met his wife, but I digress.

--Brant

knew you wanted to know

[9thdoctor]

knew you wanted to know

You’re just making shit up! First of all, a Cessna 210 can’t handle the cargo, and that’s whether you calculate by weight or volume. You know how much those strikers smoke? Maybe a week’s supply could fit, no way a full month, and that's assuming that he's flying solo.

Second, there’s a rule in the gulch about bringing in things from outside. I don’t remember how it went, but the upshot is that they were self-sustaining. Presumably they let Ragnar bring in gold to deposit in Mulligan’s bank, but beyond that?

[Brant Gaede]

knew you wanted to know

You're just making shit up! First of all, a Cessna 210 can't handle the cargo, and that's whether you calculate by weight or volume. You know how much those strikers smoke? Maybe a week's supply could fit, no way a full month, and that's assuming that he's flying solo.

Second, there's a rule in the gulch about bringing in things from outside. I don't remember how it went, but the upshot is that they were self-sustaining. Presumably they let Ragnar bring in gold to deposit in Mulligan's bank, but beyond that?

You've been hookwinkled by Randian mythology. Get your reality right or walk the plank of rationality lest Ragnar keelhaul you.

--Brant

turn his warship into a passenger ship--what nonsense!

[9thdoctor]

Show me where, in the Atlas Shrugged valley chapters, anyone eats a dessert made with coconut. QED.

Edited October 6, 2010 by Ninth Doctor

[Brant Gaede]

I know! Passenger pigeons could carry one pack each! A million birds, a million packs! Using GPS they could drop them all on G.G.

--Brant

the obvious tends to elude me

[9thdoctor]

I know! Passenger pigeons could carry one pack each! A million birds, a million packs! Using GPS they could drop them all on G.G.

--Brant

the obvious tends to elude me

The ray shield would burn them up. You need to think it through!

[Brant Gaede]

I know! Passenger pigeons could carry one pack each! A million birds, a million packs! Using GPS they could drop them all on G.G.

--Brant

the obvious tends to elude me

The ray shield would burn them up. You need to think it through!

The cigarettes are specially packaged. It's the bird shit that gets burned up.

--Brant

you didn't know those birds were extinct, did you?

[9thdoctor]

you didn't know those birds were extinct, did you?

Actually, yes I did. I was trying to limit myself to truly trenchant critiques. You could easily substitute another species of avian, after all. A California Condor could deliver them by the carton, if not by the case. Imagine the endangered species police coming in after one gets fried by the ray shield. To the gulag with all the strikers.

[Brant Gaede]

you didn't know those birds were extinct, did you?

Actually, yes I did. I was trying to limit myself to truly trenchant critiques. You could easily substitute another species of avian, after all. A California Condor could deliver them by the carton, if not by the case. Imagine the endangered species police coming in after one gets fried by the ray shield. To the gulag with all the strikers.

Too late! The time to say so was before I GOTCHA!

--Brant

gotcha twice! I'm so frickin' shallow

[william.scherk]

One of the two Nobel winners is quoted extensively in a Guardian story published today. He is quite an amusing, light-hearted fellow -- apparently the only person to have won both a Nobel Prize and an IgNoble prize !!

The Guardian article contains his plaint that proposed UK cuts to science are just what the UK does not need if it wants to maintain its place in the rankings of scientific innovation.

I highlight a few parts of the story that don't rant on about the need for state support of research; in the Objectivish Valhalla to come, of course, research similar to that done by the Nobel team would be accomplished under capitalism -- though this is disputed by at least one Marxist/Fascist looter in comments following the story.

Geim is regarded as a playful and highly creative

physicist who once published a scientific paper that

was co-authored by his pet hamster, Tisha. In other

work, he proved that it was possible to levitate

frogs using magnetic fields.

Geim and Novoselov's breakthrough came in a

deceptively simple experiment in 2004 that involved

a block of carbon and some Scotch tape. The two used

the tape to strip off layers of carbon that were

only one atom thick. These thin wafers of carbon,

known as graphene, were found to have extraordinary

properties.

[ . . . ]

Geim encouraged creative experiments at the

laboratory, Novoselov said. "We'd just try crazy

things and sometimes they worked and sometimes not.

Graphene was one of those that worked from the very

beginning. It's such a robust material and all the

effects were so pronounced."

Despite winning the prize, Novoselov said he was

planning to work in other areas of physics and was

considering taking a year or two of sabbatical

leave. "All this graphene business is very exciting,

but we've been doing it a while and we're trying to

diversify from it and establish some new

directions," he said. "I really like it here and

want to do my research in Manchester."

[ . . . ]

The Nobel committee said of the two scientists in

its press release: "Playfulness is one of their

hallmarks. With the building blocks they had at

their disposal they attempted to create something

new, sometimes even by just allowing their brains to

meander aimlessly."

Link to full story here. Comment by socialist swine below.

Wait? What's this? A

basic research project

which

has yielded a result which should change all our

lives for the better? Centrally funded through a

research council?

Yet another example of how

government funding of

science is vital

[BaalChatzaf]

Here is what Brian Cox had to say about the two Russians who won the Nobel Prize for their work with graphene:

Brian Cox, a physicist at Manchester University who works on the Large Hadron Collider at Cern near Geneva, said: "I remember when Andrei Geim started at Manchester in 2001. At that time, UK universities were just beginning to feel the effects of the government's enhanced commitment to science: the mood was optimistic and universities were looking to hire the best young scientists from across the world.

"Andrei was such a scientist, and together with Konstantin Novoselov, they have received the highest award in international science for the curiosity-driven discovery of graphene, a material that has the potential to change the world and generate immense economic benefits. This is what UK science is all about – a world-leading success story that must be treasured and supported for the future."

Cox went on to say that Geim and Novoselvov were the fookin' smartest applied physicists he had ever met. (/just joking)

Ba'al Chatzaf

[9thdoctor]

I'm so frickin' shallow

You’ll get no argument from me on that point. BTW, there are no California Condors in Colorado…if you knew that you’d have said so, therefore you didn’t know, which means you just learned something, and also that I’m the winner of this one-upmanship contest.

[Brant Gaede]

I'm so frickin' shallow

You'll get no argument from me on that point. BTW, there are no California Condors in Colorado…if you knew that you'd have said so, therefore you didn't know, which means you just learned something, and also that I'm the winner of this one-upmanship contest.

There are in Arizona. Your arguments by asseveration are pathetic. Isn't there anyone in this bar who can fight?

--Brant

I knew it but my eyes glazed over

[9thdoctor]

Isn't there anyone in this bar who can fight?

Ah well, beware ye coarse ruffian, for I am a gentleman! Oh and BTW, beware the quality of my foot work.

[Brant Gaede]

Isn't there anyone in this bar who can fight?

Ah well, beware ye coarse ruffian, for I am a gentleman! Oh and BTW, beware the quality of my foot work.

Like Nathaniel Branden I am Not a gentleman. Unlike Nathaniel Branden I did Not sleep with That Woman!

Now please explain what This has to do with California Condors in Arizona, but Not in Colorado, dropping cartoons of Yuan-sign cigarettes on Galt's Gulch and why John Galt would do business with the Chin-coms.

--Brant

taking it all to my grave--all of it

[9thdoctor]

Now please explain what This has to do with California Condors in Arizona, but Not in Colorado, dropping cartoons of Yuan-sign cigarettes on Galt's Gulch and why John Galt would do business with the Chin-coms.

I can't explain, you've lost me. How did this Arizona motif get introduced? I'm going to have to accuse you of asseveration by non sequitur.

[Brant Gaede]

Now please explain what This has to do with California Condors in Arizona, but Not in Colorado, dropping cartoons of Yuan-sign cigarettes on Galt's Gulch and why John Galt would do business with the Chin-coms.

I can't explain, you've lost me. How did this Arizona motif get introduced? I'm going to have to accuse you of asseveration by non sequitur.

I live in Arizona with my very own California Condor.

--Brant

you had to go ask--I didn't want anyone to know

[mfgreaves]

Yet another example of how government funding of

science is vital

Bill,

You're wrong about that. You may have missed a third possible

funding model, besides science-for-profit and public funding:

philanthropic endowments, such as for universities and research

foundations like HHMI.

Government has no place funding research unless it relates to

a proper function of the state.

Rand did allow for the legitimacy of charity, but it is true

that she did not emphasize it's importance enough. It is

certainly true that science-for-profit will not answer all

of our questions for us.

Mike

[equality72521]

When I read this post my first thought was "This is John Galt speaking."