Awesome stuff you see on the internet

gollum

Words to live by

taniwharugby

jegga

That sounds like one of these "satans fart".

NTA

<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.sciencealert.com/german-has-just-successfully-fired-up-a-revolutionary-nuclear-fusion-machine'>http://www.sciencealert.com/german-has-just-successfully-fired-up-a-revolutionary-nuclear-fusion-machine</a>
 
Big step.
 
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<div><blockquote class="ipsBlockquote">Germany just switched on a revolutionary nuclear fusion machine</blockquote></div>
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And it worked!
 
You probably didn't notice, but a few hours ago, the world took a huge step towards the goal of achieving clean, limitless energy through nuclear fusion. 
 
Physicists in Germany announced that they've <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.sciencealert.com/first-of-its-kind-german-stellarator-could-revolutionise-the-way-we-use-energy'>just fired up one of the world's largest nuclear fusion machines</a> for the first time â€“ and it was successfully able to contain super-hot blobs of helium gas, otherwise known as plasma.
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The 16-metre-wide machine is the Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) and it's a type of nuclear fusion device called a stellarator. Scientists have been talking about the enormous potential of stellarators for decades, but this is the first time a team has shown that it can produce and control plasma just as well as other fusion reactor designs. 
 
On 10 December, the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='

'>tweeted out this</a>incredible image of its new machine's first plasma:
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Nuclear fusion occurs when atoms fuse together at incredibly high temperatures and generate energy, and the reason scientists are so excited about it is because it has the potential to produce an almost-unlimited supply of energy from little more than salt water. This is the same process that's fuelled our Sun for the past 4.5 billion years, and is predicted to continue doing so for another 4 billion years.
 
Unlike nuclear fission, which powers today's nuclear power plants, nuclear fusion also doesn't produce any radioactive waste, and is a whole lot safer.
 
But it's also been incredibly tricky for scientists to achieve, because it requires them to construct a device that can produce and control a 100-million-degree-Celsius blob of plasma.
 
The key to controlling plasma is using superconducting magnets, and scientists have already built several working doughnut-shaped fusion reactors known as <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.sciencealert.com/mit-researchers-have-designed-a-simple-fusion-reactor-that-could-be-running-in-10-years'>tokamaks</a>.
 
But there's a big problem with tokamak reactors â€“ they can only maintain plasma for a maximum of 6 minutes and 30 seconds at a time, which isn't long enough to harvest significant energy. In other words, we've already been able to achieve nuclear fusion, but it consumed way more energy than it generated.
 
And this is why the launch of the stellarator is so exciting, because it's predicted that the device will be able to control plasma for an unheard-of 30 minutes at a time.
 
In its first run, the machine was filled with helium â€“ an unreactive gas â€“ heated with a laser to around 1 million degrees Celsius. This plasma was maintained for around one-tenth of a second, which may not sound like much, but was enough to show the machine works.
 
"Weâ€

re very satisfied," <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.ipp.mpg.de/3984226/12_15'>said Hans-Stephan Bosch</a>, who led the team. "Everything went according to plan."
 
The next step will be to increase the duration of helium plasma discharges, with the ultimate goal of building them up to 30 minutes in length. In January, the scientists will start trying to produce plasma from hydrogen, which is what would be used in a functioning nuclear fusion machine.
 
To be clear, the point of W7-X has never been to produce energy. This device is simply a proof-of-concept to show that the stellarator concept actually works. If all goes to plan, the things we learn from W7-X will help us build the next-generation of stellarators, which could quite literally change the world, and end our reliance on fossil fuels forever. Or as <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='

'>this commenter put it so perfectly on YouTube</a>: "Help us Wendlestein 7-X, you're our only hope."
 
Skip forward to around the 23.30 mark of this live stream to see the scientists get super pumped when the machine produces plasma for the first time. What a time to be alive.

NTA

This kid has some pipes. His other performances on the Yank Voice are pretty good too. <a class="bbc_url" href="

">

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NTA

Christmas in a minor key is creepy, and kind of stalky with a murdery vibe...

gollum

jegga

Not sure if this has been posted , don't fuck with this guy.<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.gpforums.co.nz/threads/382668-Debt-Collecting-for-Noobs?perpage=25'>http://www.gpforums.co.nz/threads/382668-Debt-Collecting-for-Noobs?perpage=25</a>

Bones

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="jegga" data-cid="547935" data-time="1450288221">Not sure if this has been posted , don't fuck with this guy.<a class="bbc_url" href="http://www.gpforums.co.nz/threads/382668-Debt-Collecting-for-Noobs?perpage=25">http://www.gpforums.co.nz/threads/382668-Debt-Collecting-for-Noobs?perpage=25</a></blockquote>
That was epic!

taniwharugby

in my previous life, we had a debt to collect for about $12,000, we gave the guy the option to pay it off up front, $9,000.
 
Ignored.
 
We took it to court.
 
Court ended up ordering him to pay $15,000.
 
He started paying, stopped after about a year. We offered him the $12,000 to pay up front, he ignored. As this had been through the courts already, when we contacted the courts, an arrest warrant was issued. He handed himself in, this happened a couple of times more.
 
Long story short, he ended up owing $21,000. When I finished working there, he had paid $8,000 or so of the debt, $13,000 to go...
 
Burying your head in the sand is not a good idea.

JC

Crucial

It never ceases to amaze how some people are not only incredibly stupid but ignore the extra warning signs of their friends saying 'wait while I get my phone out to film this'

NTA

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="jegga" data-cid="547935" data-time="1450288221">
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Not sure if this has been posted , don't fuck with this guy.<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.gpforums.co.nz/threads/382668-Debt-Collecting-for-Noobs?perpage=25'>http://www.gpforums.co.nz/threads/382668-Debt-Collecting-for-Noobs?perpage=25</a>
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Not sure my Mum would have bailed me out on that. Fucking hell just pay the $200!

Milk

Also, don't steal.

jegga

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="NTA" data-cid="547968" data-time="1450304131">
Not sure my Mum would have bailed me out on that. Fucking hell just pay the $200!</blockquote>
 
Or don't rip people off, that thread inspired me to chase down the piston wristed gibbon who ripped me off on trade me. Young people out so much personal info on thd net for anyone to see, I shared all that with the other people he ripped off too including his cellphone number .

JC

Since it's Christmas, time for some funnies. To start, here's one of my all time favourite news stories:
 
<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/immigration-officer-sacked-for-putting-wife-107487'>http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/immigration-officer-sacked-for-putting-wife-107487</a>
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote">
An immigration officer put his own wife on a terrorist watch list â€“ Âso she could not get home from a trip to Pakistan.
The officer was so sick of his partner that when she was visiting family overseas he added her name to the register of people banned from flights into the UK.
When she went to the airport to get her return flight back, officials told her she could not board the plane and did not Âexplain why.
She called her husband, who Âpromised to look into it â€“ but left her stuck in Pakistan for THREE YEARS. He was sacked after bosses found out about his antics.
An immigration source said: â€œA lot of people may dislike their other halves but to do this takes it to the next level. Needless to say she was confused when she got to the airport as she had never been involved in anything criminal or terrorist related.
â€œShe obviously thought her husband, being an immigration officer, would be able to find out what was going on. Little did she know it was him who had put her on the list. By all accounts he then had the time of his life.â€
The officer worked with a unit that puts terror and criminal suspects on the watch list of people â€œnot conducive to the public goodâ€. He simply had to log on to a computer database to add his wife as a Âpotential suspect.
The officer was caught out when bosses vetted him after he went for a promotion that required him to have a higher level of security clearance. They realised his wife was on the watch list and asked him for an explanation. ÂHe had no choice but to confess what he had done â€“ and was fired.
The immigration source added: â€œHe may have lost his job but he is bit of a legend in immigration circles. It will be talked about for years as the officer who hated his wife so much he put her on a watch list.â€
A spokesman for the UK Border Agency, based in Croydon, Surrey, said: â€œWe expect the highest Âlevels of integrity. ÂAllegations of misconduct are Âthoroughly Âinvestigated and we Âalways take Âaction swiftly where we find members of staff who have abused their position. On the extremely rare occasions where this occurs, the strongest action is taken.â€
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gollum

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="jegga" data-cid="547935" data-time="1450288221">
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Not sure if this has been posted , don't fuck with this guy.<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.gpforums.co.nz/threads/382668-Debt-Collecting-for-Noobs?perpage=25'>http://www.gpforums.co.nz/threads/382668-Debt-Collecting-for-Noobs?perpage=25</a>
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That is one of the best things I've read in ages.
 
Its the sort of thing that should be stepped thru in a lecture or something to educate the average person. I dont even live in NZ but I bookmarked it for when I do & someone rips me off.

NTA

<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.spacex.com/webcast/'>http://www.spacex.com/webcast/</a>
 
Tesla SpaceX doing a return to earth vehicle EDIT: first stage booster of the Dragon 9. Live now (ADST 12.40PM)
 
Nerds going crazy.

NTA

THEY FUCKING DID IT! BOOYAH!

NTA

Big implications for reusable technology, and the cost savings associated with it.
 
Nerds chanting U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
 
Wonder how all the international people working there feel about that? :)

The Silver Fern

Awesome stuff you see on the internet