Firman dual fuel generator 4000 watt

Best Gaming Laptops (Updated for April 2023!)

2023.04.01 06:04 legos45 Best Gaming Laptops (Updated for April 2023!)

Hi everyone,

Please visit our website laptopsdeals.net for laptop deals, reviews, and lists!

My list is updated this month with all of the excellent gaming laptops featuring new Intel 13th Gen processors and NVIDIA's RTX 4000 graphics cards.
You may have already saw my list of general use laptops. This time, I have an updated version of my general list of good gaming options. If you are looking for a general use devices list, please click here to view my list from April 2023!
As a reminder, this list isn't a definitive list to determine what you should get. It should give you an overall idea of what you should be able to expect in a given price range. If you have any questions about anything listed here, let me know, I will assist you!
This category applies to anyone who is on a tight budget, all the way to the most expensive devices. It applies to anyone who want to play lighter games, as well as demanding games. Here are some bullet points to refer to when looking for a good gaming laptop:
  1. Look for a good processor! For gaming, the processor is definitely an important factor. It is more important than in a general use device, since games will benefit from having higher clock speeds and more cores / threads. Most of the U processors are not ideal for gaming, since they often cannot sustain their boost clock speeds. But, they can still make do on a budget. Here is the order of processor strength of the devices I will be presenting: i5-4300M < i5-11400H < Ryzen 7 5800U < Ryzen 5 6600H < Ryzen 9 5900HX < Ryzen 9 5980HX < Ryzen 7 6800H < Ryzen 9 6900HS < i7-12650H < Ryzen 9 6900HX < i7-12700H < i7-12800H < i7-12800HX < i9-12900H < i7-13700H < i9-13900HX < i9-13980HX
  2. Look for a good graphics card! This is the most important aspect for gaming! This is the main factor that will be able to fuel gaming capability. Here is the order of weakest to strongest GPUs that are available on this list: Intel HD Graphics 4600 < GTX 1650 < RTX 3050 < RTX 3050 Ti < RTX 3060 < AMD RX 6700S < RTX 3070 < AMD RX 6800S < AMD Radeon RX 6800M < RTX 4060 < RTX 3070 Ti < RTX 3080 < RTX 4070 < RTX 3080 Ti < RTX 4080
    1. Please keep in mind that for this generation of GPUs, wattage matters a lot, often more important than the GPU model. For example, a very high wattage RTX 4060 may outperform a lower wattage RTX 4070 or RTX 4080. I have included all of the wattages that are known for the RTX 4000 laptops on my list. Before purchasing, I would recommend watching reviews on YouTube.
  3. Pay attention to thermals! This has become larger and larger of an issue in recent times. These newer CPUs can consume a lot of power, but some manufacturers have decided to skimp out on cooling, meaning that these processors will happily run at 100°C, which really isn't ideal for long term use. So, you should search up reviews on the device you intend on purchasing for an idea about how hot it runs. If you end up with a system that has a CPU that runs hot, take a look at my tutorial video on how to disable turbo boost. It will decrease temperatures by 20°C to 25°C in games without affecting gaming performance.
This month's list is conveniently organized in a table on laptopsdeals.net.

Click here to view this month's list.

A lot of these laptops are not necessarily on sale, so keep your eyes peeled for the deals that are regularly posted on the subreddit! If you're looking for a specific laptop recommendation, considering making a request in the pinned weekly request thread.
If you are looking for a general device instead, take a look at my Best General Use Laptop list from April 2023!
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2023.04.01 03:16 Welllllllrip187 Apologies for beginners questions, what setup do I need to run a 4000/8000 inverter.

I’ve found a pure sine wave 4000 8000peak watt inverter for $250 that I might pickup. I’m planning on picking up a few things as a prepper for SHTF. The guy is selling an inverter too, but at 40amp that would only hold about 500watts of solar from my understanding. The goal is to be able to scavenge parts batteries, panels, maybe charge controllers in a world ending event, but I want enough to start solar generation. I know some people recommend not oversizing your inverter so I’m looking at a $50 1000w pure sine inverter to complement the 4K. As for solar panels I’m looking at portable ones as they are easier to carry in that event. 2x200watt panels one foldable mono crystalline, and a Bougerv CIGS panel for better sunlight coverage if I can find one used. Ideally maybe a small jackery or yeti unit as a starting battery until I can scavenge more batteries. What amount of panel generation would I need to support the 4K watt inverter, and how large of a battery setup will I need as well. I’m looking to start small but have the capability to expand. Once again I apologize for my noob questions. 😅
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2023.04.01 01:04 helanthius_anomalus Can someone review my potential build and let me know if you see any issues?

Hello! I am planning to build a current generation gaming PC and putting Linux on it (would prefer to just buy one but I can't afford what System76 is quoting me for the same level of system as I can build at CyberpowerPC). I believe this all works together, but I would love if someone with more experience in Hardware and PC building would give it a once-over and tell me how it looks! Thanks in advance!
Esports Essential Gaming PC (NO MONITOR)
$1250
*BASE_PRICE: [+985]
​
Here is the link to the base system I'm starting with if you want to be able to toggle through all the options: https://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Esports-Essential-Gaming-PC
submitted by helanthius_anomalus to linux_gaming [link] [comments]

2023.03.31 18:33 gullyBo1z Electricity cost

Hi! We just moved into a place with propane and are looking to run numbers before pulling the trigger on a dual fuel system. Our electric rates: 0.07707 distribution charge 0.08999 generation charge 0.00727 transmission charge
My guess is to use the sum of these rates as our electricity rate per kWh?
(For context : 3120sqft SFH and would be a 2 zone ducted setup. Leaning towards the Mitsubishi intelliheat system keeping the propane tank as backup since we paid for it already. Blower door score for the home came in at about 3.4ACH50 Propane is about 3$/gal. Annual usage is about 1000 gallons give or take as an assumption using the neighbors data.
Will be getting a manual J and S done to appropriately size the unit and then speak with a Mitsubishi diamond partner in the area for quotes. Almost seems like the system will pay for itself in 4ish years if I spend about $20,000)
submitted by gullyBo1z to HomeEnergy [link] [comments]

2023.03.30 16:39 Jaded_Strain_1226 6 Technologies that will Impact the Future of Trucking

"…cars and trucks in which human drivers are never required to take control to safely operate the vehicle. Also known as autonomous or ‘driverless’ cars, they combine sensors and software to control, navigate, and drive the vehicle."
—Union of Concern Scientists, USA (USCUSA)
Is this what the future of trucking looks like?
For a few years, electric trucks were mainly being worked on by startup companies, while the large tech companies were mostly silent on the issue. This all changed around 2017. Tesla unveiled its all-electric autonomous truck in 2017 and the early customers of this product are Walmart, UPS and PepsiCo. Then, Daimler unveiled the electric siblings of their most popular trucks, Cascadia and M2 as eCascadia and eM2 in 2018. At the ACT Expo in 2018, Roger Nielson, the CEO of Daimler Trucks, said that the time has come to contemplate the post-internal combustion engine. The production of Daimler electric trucks will begin in 2021. In April 2019, the Nikola Motor Company, a tech startup unveiled its semi-truck powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Anheuser Busch, a beer making company has planned to buy 800 units of Nikola’s hydrogen fuel powered semi-truck.
Uber has also acquired a startup company, Otto which is working on autonomous trucks. In October, 2018 Otto completed the first shipment in the world from a self-driven truck. The cargo hauled by it contained 51,744 cans of Budweiser.
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Any technological advancement requires large investments. According to a report from CB Insights, $2 billion has been invested in startup trucking companies as of 21st May, 2019. The investments in tech startups jumped a huge leap from $114 million in 2014 to $3.6 billion in 2018. The growing interest in the future of trucking has increased the scale of investments. The costs of electric trucks are quite higher than that of a diesel truck. Nielson went on to say that the business scenario at present will not allow a sane fleet operator to buy an electric truck. The industry needs to find ways to carry on research and make batteries that are half the current size and price. Also, it must double the energy density. In the meantime, partnerships and grants can make production of electric trucks possible.
The 6 major technologies that may impact the future of trucking are:
Electric Trucks
Autonomous Vehicles
Platooning
Shipper Platforms
Blockchain Trucking
Artificial Intelligence

Electric Trucks - Future

The depletion of the conventional sources of energy have made researchers seek alternative sources to power vehicles. Additionally, vehicles need to be designed and structured in such a way that is compatible with alternative sources of energy. Thus, conservation of nature has been a driving concern behind a lof of the recent innovations.
Since trucks were first used in the late nineteenth century, they have come a long way. The future seems quite exciting as truck manufacturing companies are aiming to build electronic and autonomous trucks. Trucking had altered the way America did business and a lot is set to change in the coming years as well. With Tesla, Volvo, Daimler and other truck giants about to launch electric trucks in a few years, the future of trucking never seemed so promising and exciting.

A Brief History of Electric Trucks

The first crude yet viable electric motor which could power a tiny car was built by ÁnyosJedik, a Hungarian priest in 1827. 28% of vehicles running on American roads in 1900 was actually powered by electricity. Milburn electrics was the vehicle used by President Woodrow Wilson and his team of secret service agents to travel around Washington, DC. Once charged, the vehicle could travel a distance of approximately 60-70 miles. Though, initially electric vehicles did not have rechargeable batteries. The first electric carriage was invented somewhere around 1832-1839 in Scotland by Robert Anderson. It ran on primary cells which were non-rechargeable. The nickel-iron battery was one of the kinds of rechargeable batteries.
Of the many companies that produced and sold electrical vehicles, Baker Electric, Detroit Electric and Columbia Electric were quite notable.

Why did electric vehicles lose their prominence?

Cars powered by internal combustion became cheaper. Also large petroleum reserves were found in Oklahoma, California and Texas. Additionally, roads outside urban areas began to improve. Due to the availability of better roads, cars with internal combustion engines became a more popular choice.
In 1913, Henry Ford introduced a line of gasoline-powered vehicles. These vehicles were mass produced which lowered the price. Gasoline vehicles became more and more popular. The electrical vehicles began to lose ground, only to come back with a bang after nearly a century.

Why do Electric vehicles seem like a promising option in the present day?

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There are a number of reasons behind the growing popularity of electric vehicles:

Can use electricity generated by non-conventional sources

Electrical vehicles need electricity to recharge batteries. Apart from fossil fuels, this electricity can also be generated from renewable sources like solar, wind and tidal energy.

Leaking oil from conventional engines

The conventional engine may leak oil. If not detected in time, this can lead to damages. Electric vehicles do not have this fear as they run on rechargeable batteries.

Regenerative braking

Regenerative braking is one of the key advantages of plug-in or hybrid electric vehicles. In a hybrid vehicle a conventional way of propulsion is often merged with an electric one. This braking system helps an electric vehicle gain back the kinetic energy which is usually lost as heat during friction braking. This recovered kinetic energy can be stored in the vehicle’s battery as electricity and give a small recharge in that way.

A step towards autonomous driving

It is an easier integration for full self-driving capabilities to happen with an electric vehicle rather than a traditional engine.

Less noise while operating

Vehicles that run on electricity cause less noise in comparison to a combustion engine. Emitting less noise means that a truck can run in suburban areas at night without causing any disturbance.

Fewer service and maintenance needs

Electric vehicles have fewer service and maintenance needs. This is because there are 30% fewer movable parts as compared to a conventional vehicle with a combustible engine.

No tailpipe emissions

As electric vehicles do not run on conventional sources of energy like fossil fuels, there is no smoke emission. Hence, it can be driven in environmental zones as well.

Energy efficient

As electric trucks use rechargeable batteries to function, the energy consumption of the truck is maximized.

Types of Electric Vehicles available

Electric vehicles can recharge batteries from a number of energy sources:
Based on the type of energy used, electric trucks can be classified into four categories:

HEV or Hybrid Electric Vehicle

Instead of using only a traditional engine, a HEV or Hybrid Electric Vehicle, adds to the engine an electrical option. By using regenerative brakes, HEVs convert kinetic energy into electric energy as mentioned above. These vehicles use both electric energy and use gas or diesel to operate.

PHEV or Plug-in Electric Vehicle

A hybrid electric vehicle which has a battery that has the option of being recharged by plugging it into an external source of energy is called PHEV or Plug-in Electric Vehicle. These vehicles use electricity for short distances. When the battery is over, the driver can switch over to the conventional combustion engine. This type of vehicle allows the driver flexibility that ensures high fuel and energy utilization. The use of electric energy to run the vehicle saves fuel costs. The emissions from the tailpipe are also minimized.

BEV or Battery Electric Vehicle

This type of vehicle uses chemical energy stored in its rechargeable batteries. This is a pure electric vehicle. Being battery operated, BEV vehicles do not have a combustion engine. Instead, it uses electric motors along with motor controllers.

FHEV or Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle

This type of vehiclehas an electric motor, that is recharged by the chemical reaction of oxygen and hydrogen. It is true that some emissions are created while the hydrogen is produced for the fuel cells. However, water is the only waste product while an FHEV is driven.

Autonomous Vehicles

The advancement of electrical vehicles in recent years calls for another futuristic feature in trucking: autonomous driving. The concept of autonomous driving began with the notion of ‘driver assistance’ or ‘assisted driving’. It aims to have completely driverless vehicles or a vehicle where the people inside are passengers. Undoubtedly, the concept of autonomous driving demands an advanced technology with superior sensors. P C Mag has defined an autonomous car as, “A computer-controlled car that drives itself.” Autonomous trucks can save a lot of money too. Morgan Stanley estimates that if American trucks are made autonomous, $168 billion can be saved each year. Though, we are still many years away from full autonomous driving as of now. Autonomous driving has been set to five stages. The fifth stage is considered the most technically and mechanically advanced one:
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Stage 0 – No Automation

Vehicles controlled by human drivers and without any sort of support from computerized driver assistance system is considered stage 0 or ‘No Automation’.

Stage 1 – Driver Assistance

Vehicles in ‘Driver assistance’ level or stage 1 are jointly controlled by the driver and a computerized automated system. There are a number of ways in which this system can work. A driver usually always controls the steering, while the automated system may have certain control over the brakes and speed of the vehicle when required. At times the engine power is controlled by the automated system which ensures that the vehicle can maintain a specific speed. At times parking assistance is also available with this automated system. Here, the speed of the vehicle is controlled manually while the steering is done automatically. However, the driver has to be alert and ready to take up the control if any problem arises. This type of driving is also called ‘hands on’ driving.

Stage 2 – Partly Automated Driving

In stage 2 or the ‘Partly Automated Driving’ level, the driver monitors the driving process while it is conducted by the automated system. If in any situation or condition, the automated system cannot do its job or fails to respond, the driver has to take up manual controls immediately. This stage is at times called ‘hands off’. In this stage it is mandatory for the driver to keep hands on the steering wheel at all times. This mandate is for safety purposes. Having the driver constantly holding the steering wheel means that immediate manual control of the vehicle can be taken up during any situation.

Stage 3 – Highly Automated Driving

The ‘Highly Automated Driving’ level is commonly called ‘eyes off’ level. This means that the driver is not required to constantly monitor the driving or look at the road ahead. The automated system will be able to perform on its own and without any human interference. If any problem occurs, automatically the emergency brakes are applied. Though the driver can usually do personal work while the vehicle is on the road, during adverse or critical conditions human intervention may be required. These situations will be specified by the manufacturer before-hand.

Stage 4- Fully Automated Driving

In the ‘Fully Automated Driving’ the human driver is allowed to take their ‘mind off’ in most of the situations. The driver may sleep or do other work in other part of the vehicle as the vehicle is capable to look after its own safety. This type of vehicle is capable of completing the journey and park itself. However, during traffic jams (which falls under ‘special circumstances’ category) or tight-spaced areas, the vehicle has to be operated by a human driver.

Stage 5- Full Automation

In a vehicle having ‘Full Automation’, the steering wheel is optional. Hence, it does not require any human intervention for any aspect related to driving. Through this type of vehicle, full automation is achieved.

What is our present stage in Truck automation?

Volvo’s VNL and Pleton’s Platooning System are examples of trucks that are available in the trucking market today that have Stage 1 automation. Under the Stage 2 automated truck category, the new 2020 Cascadia will be the first truck in Northern America according to Freightliner. It will begin production from July, 2019. Embark and Starsky Robotics are the two other Stage 2 automated trucks that will be available in the future but at present are in pre-commercial stage. Freightliner Inspiration and Uber Otto are trucks that fulfill the criteria of the Stage 3 automation. However, at present they are only available in prototype retrofits. The Freightliner Inspiration was the first automated truck to be licensed to operate on the highways of the country back in 2015.
At the CES electronics show in Las Vegas on 7th January, 2019, Daimler trucks announced that it will invest more than half a billion dollars and create 200 new jobs in its global endeavor to launch Stage 4 or highly automated trucks in about 10 years. The switch from Stage 2 to Stage 4 is natural and hence the step of conditional automation is being skipped as according to Daimler, conditional automation will not provide any extra advantage to the truck drivers. In the 3rd stage of automated driving, drivers can go about doing other work but have to take immediate control if the system cannot tackle the situation. The mental and physical switch from leisure to prompt action may not be as quick as required thus, it is judicious to skip the Stage 3 altogether. Additionally, Stage 4 will ensure optimal utilization of the trucks. They will be able to travel at night and avoid traffic congestion by smart route management. Future of trucking is looking very promising with autonomous vehicles.

Platooning in Trucks

Another trucking innovation in the near future is platooning. Platooning is the coupling of two or more trucks to form a convoy through the use of automated driving support system and connectivity technology. The ways in which platooning works is:
Peloton Technology plans to commercially introduce a platooning system that is partially automated. This system at present allows two trucks to work in a close chain. Peloton technology’s PlatoonPro is already being used in fleet operation by six of its clients.
The features of Platooning system by Peloton Technology:

Usefulness of platooning

Platooning is said to have a number of benefits for the future of trucking:
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Improved safety

Truck platooning is said to improve the safety of the convoy as the brakes of all the trucks can be applied automatically and immediately. It has been seen that during truck platooning, automated brakes take one-fifth of the human time to analyze the road condition and apply the brakes.

Efficient performance

There can be optimal utilization of roads in the platooning system, increasing the range of the roads and avoiding traffic jams. As a consequence, goods can be delivered quickly and efficiently.

Cleaner environment

During truck platooning, the Carbon Dioxide emissions can be reduced along with fuel consumption. The air-drag friction is also considerately reduced as the trucks drive close to one another.
However, Platooning is not really as fuel-effective as it is being claimed by some. Daimler has said that during testing of the platooning system its fuel savings are less than estimated even in perfect conditions. These savings are further reduced if the platoon is disconnected and have to be accelerated again to get reconnected.

Shipper Platform: Uber Freight and Amazon Freight

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Freight brokerage connects shippers with the appropriate carriers. Recently, technology is playing a role in this aspect as well with Shipper Platforms.
The Trucking business was taken by storm with the introduction of shipper platforms like Uber Freight. Shipper platforms connect shippers with small fleets hauling freight via a load-matching feature. Uber Freight launched its load-booking app in May, 2017. The main intention behind the launch of Uber Freight was automating the manual processes of shipper selection and increasing market visibility. It was also intended to relieve shippers from time consuming legal proceedings and the anxiety of getting the best possible deal. This is one of the many ways on how owner operators can find loads.
The features of Shipper Platforms and how they may impact the future of trucking:
Uber also reported that the freight division has a network of more than 50,000 carriers and mentioned that some of the largest carriers in the country are users of the app. However, it has not been all great for Uber Freight since its launch. Uber Freight posted a loss of $64 million in the first quarter of 2020. According to CNBC, Uber Freight gives 99% of the revenue generated to the trucking companies, which leaves little room for profitability.
There may also be a few other reasons why Uber Freight has not been fully able to live up to its vision:

Rudimentary features

With the growth of GPS tracking and ELD devices, merely providing shippers the details of the truck’s location is not unique. Shippers also need to know the route the truck is taking and the HOS data.

Not so reliable in fleet and driver selection

In Uber Freight there is not a lot of barrier to sign up. All carriers do not have to provide basic requirements like an active DOT/ MC number, proper safety ratings or proof of insurance. A shipper may not feel comfortable about doing business with such carriers.

Shortage of drivers

Uber Freight provides drivers a number of perks. In spite of this, driver shortage is quite a problem. Drivers will want a steady job that ensures a good livelihood. Hence, many drivers will prefer to work with a trucking company with regular pay, rather than rely completely on Uber Freight.

Focus on shippers rather than carriers

While launching the load-booking app, the shippers’ perspective was given a lot of importance as the price transparency feature shows. However, the carriers are an integral part of the trucking business too. Apart from the loyalty program there has not been a push to ensure that carriers get steady and constant work through Uber Freight.
Uber Freight is not deterred from their path though, and mentioned recently in 2020 that their focus is still there to grow the Uber Freight business.
Amazon has also launched its own freight app, ‘Amazon Freight’. Amazon Freight was released quite quietly some time in 2016 or 2017. This app allows truck drivers to take up jobs of hauling Amazon packages in Prime-branded trailers across the country.
Fleets can sign up through the website and hauling assignments get allotted accordingly. There are a few requirements which drivers have to fulfill:
Amazon tried to use the truck drivers base and enhance its business via the Amazon Freight service. However, truckers do not see a good livelihood coming from only hauling Amazon trailers. Anecdotal evidence says that the payment is fairly low. It can be kept as an option, or can be opted as back-hauling. Doing business exclusively with Amazon Freight is said to not be fully profitable. In spite of the initial setbacks, Uber Freight and Amazon Freight are changing the future of the trucking business.
Amazon launched its freight app ‘Relay’ in 2018. It operates in 5 states—Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, New York and Pennsylvania. Its aim is to give truckers additional freight information. It has features like route tracking and expedited checking procedures at the warehouses. It has been designed to help truckers get faster entry and exit at the Amazon warehouses. It is Amazon’s first attempt at automating the truck delivery process.
How does the Relay work?
In these 3 steps:
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Amazon also intends to build an app like Uber Freight that will match cargo shippers with truck drivers.

Blockchain Trucking

The trucking industry in general has certain inefficiencies. Deals can take time to get finalized. The related paperwork is again, time-consuming and hectic. The trucking industry needs an open platform where shippers and carriers can view each others profile, get the selection process done in less time and get the load rolling. However, how will this be possible? The Blockchain is kindling hopes of achieving a seamless and frictionless trucking system. First, let's understand the basics of blockchain and how it can make the trucking space a community where work can get done more efficiently.

What is Blockchain?

Blockchain is an open digital ledger. It is a business network where transactions can be recorded along with tracking of assets. Blockchain technology is inherently based on cryptography, a complicated branch of mathematics. Blockchain is also decentralized. It depends on the consensus of a peer network spread across the world to function. This digital ledger is made up of a series of ‘blocks’. The blocks are the bundles of transactions which are connected together in an open ‘chain’. The data entered in the blockchain is considered to be true and valid. As being a decentralized forum, there is no single authority to verify the facts. Everyone is always on the same page. It is impossible to change or modify the data in a block as that will modify the entire chain and will need consensus from the entire network.
The whole community associated with the blockchain will be able to validate the data entered by an organization as blockchain technology is an open-to-all ledger. It leaves no room for speculation, assumption and data falsity. Hence, a holistic trucking ecosystem can be developed through a blockchain network. After all, organizations can be rest assured that the data they have been provided is authentic and validated.

How will blockchain be used in the future of trucking?

The trucking industry can definitely benefit from blockchain technology. One of the obstacles of the trucking industry is that it is largely fragmented. There’s no open knowledge about which shippers are currently looking for carriers or which carriers are open to haul shipments. Blockchains open ledger will open up the trucking industry. One of the problems it will most definitely solve is matching appropriate truckers with shippers. In the longer run blockchain technology can function as an open network for truckers.
The trucking industry largely depends on paperwork. Due to this, administration and processing costs have gone up to 20%. However, blockchain technology allows the sharing and easy distribution of documents on the open ledger. This sharing facility makes paperwork between shippers and carriers quite unimportant. Easing out the hassles of documentation will make payments possible in less time.
Some trucks, especially refrigerated ones, carry medical shipments. These are at times detained at customs for large periods of time. This mostly happens when trucks exceed the allowed range of temperature. A blockchain enabled refrigerated truck-trailer made by the Swiss Tech company, SkyCell, lowered the temperature-deviated rate to less than 0.1%. With the use of smart approvals, clearance at the customs checkpoints can be made smoother and more efficient. Moreover, a refrigerated trailer has to be closely recorded at every step. It has to pass through more than 30 organizations which require more than 200 different pieces of information. Any miscommunication can either delay the shipment or the shipper may lose track of it. A blockchain network will ensure that communication at every step is clearly noted. This ensures the shipment reaches the respective facility on time.
The e-commerce industry has developed in such a pace that same-day and 2-hour delivery options are provided to customers. For a parcel to be delivered in the same day or in 2 hours, the technology should not have any glitch. The traditional trucking technology largely relies on paperwork at every stop can not be suitable for such a fast-paced delivery. The blockchain technology with its immediate access to order tracking and authentication ensures that the delivery takes place in the required time.
At times, trucking companies order spare truck parts and also old trucks. The tracking of these spare parts or old trucks can be pretty exhausting as no proper forum is provided for constant tracking. However, the blockchain network will enable the efficient tracking of the supply chain as well.
These are the different ways that blockchain can impact the future of the trucking industry:
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Efficient Freight Tracking

As mentioned above consumer expectations are ever-increasing along with demands for same-day delivery and two-hour delivery. Blockchain will not only take care of the tracking of the shipments but also help in authentication.
In order to ensure consistent improvement in trucking operations, authentic data has to be provided to transportation companies. EDI or electronic data interchange and API or application program interface leaves room for data manipulation or misinterpretation. Blockchain has the backup of the entire network to contribute information and authenticate the data. Hence, there is no scope of data tampering. Blockchain also improves the efficiency of temperature controlled and refrigerated trucking which is reliant on on-time delivery by giving data backup at every step.

IoT (The Internet of Things) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) enhance monitoring efficiency

Carriers and shippers can detect the total space taken up by a shipment in a trailer with the help of IoT. This helps to determine the expense of the shipment and all the information can be transmitted to the blockchain. This aids in maintaining the transparency of the freight cost. SkyCell had created containers for air freight. These containers monitor humidity, temperature and location for transporting biopharmaceuticals that require refrigeration. Its cloud platform is also utilized by SkyCell for recording every document of the shipping process, from start to finish. As these cargos travel through various check-points, all the required documents available at hand make the transportation process easy and efficient. Thus, the blockchain technology ensures that valuable cargo is transported intact and has the backup of all supporting documents that might be needed along the journey by using IoT and AI.

Maintaining vehicle performance history

While it is very important to have fleet tracking records for future use, the tracking records of a vehicles performance is also beneficial for the future. A vehicles performance records include its maintenance history and past performance. When considering used trucks, buyers are usually interested in the past history of the truck. However, that leaves a grey area of speculation. With blockchain technology, a prospective buyer and seller will have all the information validated by the entire network easing any intermediary speculations.

Ease of new carrier onboarding

While taking on new carriers, it is quite difficult for freight brokers to find all the adequate information on that carrier. It is quite time consuming to get all the required details together and that also leaves room for speculation. However, with the blockchain system all the necessary details of the new carrier will be provided by the decentralized network. This network stores all the data of the carriers operating in the transportation and freight industry. No new carrier will be able to give false information in an open network.

Vehicle to vehicle communication via the Internet of Things (IoT)

Platooning technology uses vehicle to vehicle communication to enable vehicles to work together as a convoy. This communication via IoT can improve the vehicles efficiency and safety as the platooning system claims to do. All communication information can be stored in the blockchain and this information will be helpful for all the transportation companies using the blockchain network to operate their fleets better.

Improving reliability of load boards

In a blockchain network, all the loads can be verified by others and get time-stamped in the process. This will ensure that loads are not duplicated and the carriers get authentic information. The blockchain network will also be able to authenticate all the loads put up. Thus, the reliability of the load board is improved due to a blockchain network.

Smart Contracts

Smart Contract allows companies to program self-executing tasks in the blockchain network. The task gets automatically performed when certain criteria are fulfilled. For example, a carrier’s payment can be released when the cargo reaches the facility if the task has been set accordingly.
Those are a list of some potential benefits. The largest blockchain network at present is by the Blockchain in Trucking Alliance (BiTA). Its current members have exceeded 1000 in number. The members include mcCleod Software, UPS, DAT, Salesforce, Don Hummer trucking, Transfix. BiTA members are taking part in nearly 85% truck-related global transactions. Its blockchain standards have brought a uniformity and efficiency in the trucking community. Sweetbridge is another blockchain based technology that seeks to take care of the significant inefficiencies of the supply chain across the world. Some major problems it addresses are — supply chain operations, supply chain flexibility and supply chain liquidity.
The blockchain revolution has just begun. It must also be taken into account that to use a blockchain system, the trucking or shipper company must have the adequate resources like the required hardware and software, along with the technological know-how. In spite of all the speculated downsides, blockchain seems like a wonderful solution for many trucking problems. It must be nurtured with time and technical advancement. In the coming years, the trucking industry’s profitability and efficiency will reach new heights if blockchain trucking’s functionality continues along the same graph.

Artificial Intelligence and Trucking

According to the American Trucking Association, the US freight transport will increase to 20.73 billion tons by 2028. This huge growth by 36.6% from the freight weight of 15.18 billion tons in 2017 will need an advanced infrastructure. This will be able to ensure smooth operation of such a ‘healthy’ industry. Along with the existing challenges, fuel prices, increasing cost of operation, driver shortage and shortage of shipping capacity will be the crucial areas in coming years. Every American is virtually affected by trucking. Hence, smooth operation must be ensured so that the economy and the lives of the people maintain a steady pace. AI can be of real help to continue to roll the wheels of the trucking industry.
Some of the key ways in which AI can affect the trucking space are:
📷

Cost reduction

AI will be able to foster predictive maintenance systems. This will help vehicles perform better. With constant monitoring, any mishap can be predicted beforehand. It can monitor by keeping in check the maintenance logs, IoT sensors, and other external sources. This will have a dual impact of reducing the maintenance costs and increasing the fleet performance. In other words, it can predict when a maintenance will be needed in advance of an issue occuring. So rather than being reactive with maintenance issues, carriers can be proactive.

Lower the numbers of highway fatality

AI along with IoT enhances vehicle to vehicle communication (V2V). V2V along with ADAS, or advanced driver assistance systems, can prevent nearly 40% of road crashes according to a publication by the NHTSA or National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The prevention of highway fatality will save a lot of money and more importantly lives. Cisco IBSG estimates that the savings can be $280 per crash.

Natural image processing

Trucking involves a lot of paperwork. The documentation has to be stored in proper folders as any information may be required for any purpose in the future. This process can be exhausting and time consuming. AI with its feature of natural image processing can recognize and retrieve any scanned document. This easy retrieving of documents will aid the manual task of computer data entry.

Predictive analytics

AI processes past performance records. This will not only predict the health of a vehicle but will also predict about the drivers. AI will also be able to analyze what conditions are preferred by drivers and what are the chances of driver retention.

Match carrier with shippers

While human freight brokers find it extremely taxing to connect the appropriate carriers with the shippers, AI can easily do so by matching facts and data.
With all the new technological advancements and more to follow, the future of trucking indeed looks promising and exciting. We are also a technology provider in this space and are always looking for ways to improve the life of truck drivers through technology. You can learn more about us - ELD Mandate.
submitted by Jaded_Strain_1226 to u/Jaded_Strain_1226 [link] [comments]

2023.03.30 06:37 Choice-Bake7922 Add uranium to minecraft

Uranium is a chemical element with symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium radioactively decays by emitting an alpha particle. The half-life of this decay varies between 159,200 and 4.5 billion years for different isotopes, making them useful for dating the age of the Earth. The most common isotopes in natural uranium are uranium-238 (which has 146 neutrons and accounts for over 99% of uranium on Earth) and uranium-235 (which has 143 neutrons). Uranium has the highest atomic weight of the primordially occurring elements. Its density is about 70% higher than that of lead, and slightly lower than that of gold or tungsten. It occurs naturally in low concentrations of a few parts per million in soil, rock and water, and is commercially extracted from uranium-bearing minerals such as uraninite.[6] Many contemporary uses of uranium exploit its unique nuclear properties. Uranium-235 is the only naturally occurring fissile isotope, which makes it widely used in nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons. However, because of the tiny concentrations found in nature, uranium needs to undergo enrichment so that enough uranium-235 is present. Uranium-238 is fissionable by fast neutrons, and is fertile, meaning it can be transmuted to fissile plutonium-239 in a nuclear reactor. Another fissile isotope, uranium-233, can be produced from natural thorium and is studied for future industrial use in nuclear technology. Uranium-238 has a small probability for spontaneous fission or even induced fission with fast neutrons; uranium-235, and to a lesser degree uranium-233, have a much higher fission cross-section for slow neutrons. In sufficient concentration, these isotopes maintain a sustained nuclear chain reaction. This generates the heat in nuclear power reactors, and produces the fissile material for nuclear weapons. Depleted uranium (238U) is used in kinetic energy penetrators and armor plating.[7][8]
The 1789 discovery of uranium in the mineral pitchblende is credited to Martin Heinrich Klaproth, who named the new element after the recently discovered planet Uranus. Eugène-Melchior Péligot was the first person to isolate the metal and its radioactive properties were discovered in 1896 by Henri Becquerel. Research by Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner, Enrico Fermi and others, such as J. Robert Oppenheimer starting in 1934 led to its use as a fuel in the nuclear power industry and in Little Boy, the first nuclear weapon used in war. An ensuing arms race during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union produced tens of thousands of nuclear weapons that used uranium metal and uranium-derived plutonium-239. Dismantling of these weapons and related nuclear facilities is carried out within various nuclear disarmament programs and costs billions of dollars. Weapon-grade uranium obtained from nuclear weapons is diluted with uranium-238 and reused as fuel for nuclear reactors. The development and deployment of these nuclear reactors continue on a global base as they are powerful sources of CO2-free energy. Spent nuclear fuel forms radioactive waste, which mostly consists of uranium-238 and poses significant health threat and environmental impact. Uranium is a silvery white, weakly radioactive metal. It has a Mohs hardness of 6, sufficient to scratch glass and approximately equal to that of titanium, rhodium, manganese and niobium. It is malleable, ductile, slightly paramagnetic, strongly electropositive and a poor electrical conductor.[9][10] Uranium metal has a very high density of 19.1 g/cm3,[11] denser than lead (11.3 g/cm3),[12] but slightly less dense than tungsten and gold (19.3 g/cm3).[13][14]
Uranium metal reacts with almost all non-metal elements (with the exception of the noble gases) and their compounds, with reactivity increasing with temperature.[15] Hydrochloric and nitric acids dissolve uranium, but non-oxidizing acids other than hydrochloric acid attack the element very slowly.[9] When finely divided, it can react with cold water; in air, uranium metal becomes coated with a dark layer of uranium oxide.[10] Uranium in ores is extracted chemically and converted into uranium dioxide or other chemical forms usable in industry.
Uranium-235 was the first isotope that was found to be fissile. Other naturally occurring isotopes are fissionable, but not fissile. On bombardment with slow neutrons, its uranium-235 isotope will most of the time divide into two smaller nuclei, releasing nuclear binding energy and more neutrons. If too many of these neutrons are absorbed by other uranium-235 nuclei, a nuclear chain reaction occurs that results in a burst of heat or (in special circumstances) an explosion. In a nuclear reactor, such a chain reaction is slowed and controlled by a neutron poison, absorbing some of the free neutrons. Such neutron absorbent materials are often part of reactor control rods (see nuclear reactor physics for a description of this process of reactor control).
As little as 15 lb (6.8 kg) of uranium-235 can be used to make an atomic bomb.[16] The nuclear weapon detonated over Hiroshima, called Little Boy, relied on uranium fission. However, the first nuclear bomb (the Gadget used at Trinity) and the bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki (Fat Man) were both plutonium bombs.
Uranium metal has three allotropic forms:[17]
α (orthorhombic) stable up to 668 °C (1,234 °F). Orthorhombic, space group No. 63, Cmcm, lattice parameters a = 285.4 pm, b = 587 pm, c = 495.5 pm.[18] β (tetragonal) stable from 668 to 775 °C (1,234 to 1,427 °F). Tetragonal, space group P42/mnm, P42nm, or P4n2, lattice parameters a = 565.6 pm, b = c = 1075.9 pm.[18] γ (body-centered cubic) from 775 °C (1,427 °F) to melting point—this is the most malleable and ductile state. Body-centered cubic, lattice parameter a = 352.4 pm.[18]
The major application of uranium in the military sector is in high-density penetrators. This ammunition consists of depleted uranium (DU) alloyed with 1–2% other elements, such as titanium or molybdenum.[19] At high impact speed, the density, hardness, and pyrophoricity of the projectile enable the destruction of heavily armored targets. Tank armor and other removable vehicle armor can also be hardened with depleted uranium plates. The use of depleted uranium became politically and environmentally contentious after the use of such munitions by the US, UK and other countries during wars in the Persian Gulf and the Balkans raised questions concerning uranium compounds left in the soil[8][20][21][22] (see Gulf War syndrome).[16]
Depleted uranium is also used as a shielding material in some containers used to store and transport radioactive materials. While the metal itself is radioactive, its high density makes it more effective than lead in halting radiation from strong sources such as radium.[9] Other uses of depleted uranium include counterweights for aircraft control surfaces, as ballast for missile re-entry vehicles and as a shielding material.[10] Due to its high density, this material is found in inertial guidance systems and in gyroscopic compasses.[10] Depleted uranium is preferred over similarly dense metals due to its ability to be easily machined and cast as well as its relatively low cost.[23] The main risk of exposure to depleted uranium is chemical poisoning by uranium oxide rather than radioactivity (uranium being only a weak alpha emitter).
During the later stages of World War II, the entire Cold War, and to a lesser extent afterwards, uranium-235 has been used as the fissile explosive material to produce nuclear weapons. Initially, two major types of fission bombs were built: a relatively simple device that uses uranium-235 and a more complicated mechanism that uses plutonium-239 derived from uranium-238. Later, a much more complicated and far more powerful type of fission/fusion bomb (thermonuclear weapon) was built, that uses a plutonium-based device to cause a mixture of tritium and deuterium to undergo nuclear fusion. Such bombs are jacketed in a non-fissile (unenriched) uranium case, and they derive more than half their power from the fission of this material by fast neutrons from the nuclear fusion process.[24]
The main use of uranium in the civilian sector is to fuel nuclear power plants. One kilogram of uranium-235 can theoretically produce about 20 terajoules of energy (2×1013 joules), assuming complete fission; as much energy as 1.5 million kilograms (1,500 tonnes) of coal.[7]
Commercial nuclear power plants use fuel that is typically enriched to around 3% uranium-235.[7] The CANDU and Magnox designs are the only commercial reactors capable of using unenriched uranium fuel. Fuel used for United States Navy reactors is typically highly enriched in uranium-235 (the exact values are classified). In a breeder reactor, uranium-238 can also be converted into plutonium through the following reaction:[10]
Before (and, occasionally, after) the discovery of radioactivity, uranium was primarily used in small amounts for yellow glass and pottery glazes, such as uranium glass and in Fiestaware.[25]
The discovery and isolation of radium in uranium ore (pitchblende) by Marie Curie sparked the development of uranium mining to extract the radium, which was used to make glow-in-the-dark paints for clock and aircraft dials.[26][27] This left a prodigious quantity of uranium as a waste product, since it takes three tonnes of uranium to extract one gram of radium. This waste product was diverted to the glazing industry, making uranium glazes very inexpensive and abundant. Besides the pottery glazes, uranium tile glazes accounted for the bulk of the use, including common bathroom and kitchen tiles which can be produced in green, yellow, mauve, black, blue, red and other colors.
Uranium was also used in photographic chemicals (especially uranium nitrate as a toner),[10] in lamp filaments for stage lighting bulbs,[28] to improve the appearance of dentures,[29] and in the leather and wood industries for stains and dyes. Uranium salts are mordants of silk or wool. Uranyl acetate and uranyl formate are used as electron-dense "stains" in transmission electron microscopy, to increase the contrast of biological specimens in ultrathin sections and in negative staining of viruses, isolated cell organelles and macromolecules.
The discovery of the radioactivity of uranium ushered in additional scientific and practical uses of the element. The long half-life of the isotope uranium-238 (4.47×109 years) makes it well-suited for use in estimating the age of the earliest igneous rocks and for other types of radiometric dating, including uranium–thorium dating, uranium–lead dating and uranium–uranium dating. Uranium metal is used for X-ray targets in the making of high-energy X-rays.[10]
The use of uranium in its natural oxide form dates back to at least the year 79 CE, when it was used in the Roman Empire to add a yellow color to ceramic glazes.[10] Yellow glass with 1% uranium oxide was found in a Roman villa on Cape Posillipo in the Bay of Naples, Italy, by R. T. Gunther of the University of Oxford in 1912.[30] Starting in the late Middle Ages, pitchblende was extracted from the Habsburg silver mines in Joachimsthal, Bohemia (now Jáchymov in the Czech Republic), and was used as a coloring agent in the local glassmaking industry.[31] In the early 19th century, the world's only known sources of uranium ore were these mines. Mining for uranium in the Ore Mountains ceased on the German side after the Cold War ended and SDAG Wismut was wound down. On the Czech side there were attempts during the uranium price bubble of 2007 to restart mining, but those were quickly abandoned following a fall in uranium prices.[32][33]
The discovery of the element is credited to the German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth. While he was working in his experimental laboratory in Berlin in 1789, Klaproth was able to precipitate a yellow compound (likely sodium diuranate) by dissolving pitchblende in nitric acid and neutralizing the solution with sodium hydroxide.[31] Klaproth assumed the yellow substance was the oxide of a yet-undiscovered element and heated it with charcoal to obtain a black powder, which he thought was the newly discovered metal itself (in fact, that powder was an oxide of uranium).[31][34] He named the newly discovered element after the planet Uranus (named after the primordial Greek god of the sky), which had been discovered eight years earlier by William Herschel.[35]
In 1841, Eugène-Melchior Péligot, Professor of Analytical Chemistry at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (Central School of Arts and Manufactures) in Paris, isolated the first sample of uranium metal by heating uranium tetrachloride with potassium.[31][36]
Henri Becquerel discovered radioactivity by using uranium in 1896.[15] Becquerel made the discovery in Paris by leaving a sample of a uranium salt, K2UO2(SO4)2 (potassium uranyl sulfate), on top of an unexposed photographic plate in a drawer and noting that the plate had become "fogged".[37] He determined that a form of invisible light or rays emitted by uranium had exposed the plate.
During World War I when the Central Powers suffered a shortage of molybdenum to make artillery gun barrels and high speed tool steels they routinely substituted ferrouranium alloys which present many of the same physical characteristics. When this practice became known in 1916 the USA government requested several prominent universities to research these uses for uranium and tools made with these formulas remained in use for several decades only ending when the Manhattan Project and the Cold War placed a large demand on uranium for fission research and weapon development.[38][39][40]
A team led by Enrico Fermi in 1934 observed that bombarding uranium with neutrons produces the emission of beta rays (electrons or positrons from the elements produced; see beta particle).[41] The fission products were at first mistaken for new elements with atomic numbers 93 and 94, which the Dean of the Faculty of Rome, Orso Mario Corbino, christened ausonium and hesperium, respectively.[42][43][44][45] The experiments leading to the discovery of uranium's ability to fission (break apart) into lighter elements and release binding energy were conducted by Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann[41] in Hahn's laboratory in Berlin. Lise Meitner and her nephew, the physicist Otto Robert Frisch, published the physical explanation in February 1939 and named the process "nuclear fission".[46] Soon after, Fermi hypothesized that the fission of uranium might release enough neutrons to sustain a fission reaction. Confirmation of this hypothesis came in 1939, and later work found that on average about 2.5 neutrons are released by each fission of the rare uranium isotope uranium-235.[41] Fermi urged Alfred O. C. Nier to separate uranium isotopes for determination of the fissile component, and on 29 February 1940, Nier used an instrument he built at the University of Minnesota to separate the world's first uranium-235 sample in the Tate Laboratory. After mailed to Columbia University's cyclotron, John Dunning confirmed the sample to be the isolated fissile material on 1 March.[47] Further work found that the far more common uranium-238 isotope can be transmuted into plutonium, which, like uranium-235, is also fissile by thermal neutrons. These discoveries led numerous countries to begin working on the development of nuclear weapons and nuclear power. Despite fission having been discovered in Germany, the Uranverein ("uranium club") Germany's wartime project to research nuclear power and/or weapons was hampered by limited resources, infighting, the exile or non-involvement of several prominent scientists in the field and several crucial mistakes such as failing to account for impurities in available graphite samples which made it appear less suitable as a neutron moderator than it is in reality. Germany's attempts to build a natural uranium / heavy water reactor had not come close to reaching criticality by the time the Americans reached Haigerloch, the site of the last German wartime reactor experiment.[48]
On 2 December 1942, as part of the Manhattan Project, another team led by Enrico Fermi was able to initiate the first artificial self-sustained nuclear chain reaction, Chicago Pile-1. An initial plan using enriched uranium-235 was abandoned as it was as yet unavailable in sufficient quantities.[49] Working in a lab below the stands of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago, the team created the conditions needed for such a reaction by piling together 360 tonnes of graphite, 53 tonnes of uranium oxide, and 5.5 tonnes of uranium metal, a majority of which was supplied by Westinghouse Lamp Plant in a makeshift production process.[41][50]
Two major types of atomic bombs were developed by the United States during World War II: a uranium-based device (codenamed "Little Boy") whose fissile material was highly enriched uranium, and a plutonium-based device (see Trinity test and "Fat Man") whose plutonium was derived from uranium-238. The uranium-based Little Boy device became the first nuclear weapon used in war when it was detonated over the Japanese city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. Exploding with a yield equivalent to 12,500 tonnes of trinitrotoluene, the blast and thermal wave of the bomb destroyed nearly 50,000 buildings and killed approximately 75,000 people (see Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki).[37] Initially it was believed that uranium was relatively rare, and that nuclear proliferation could be avoided by simply buying up all known uranium stocks, but within a decade large deposits of it were discovered in many places around the world.[51][52]
The X-10 Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, formerly known as the Clinton Pile and X-10 Pile, was the world's second artificial nuclear reactor (after Enrico Fermi's Chicago Pile) and was the first reactor designed and built for continuous operation. Argonne National Laboratory's Experimental Breeder Reactor I, located at the Atomic Energy Commission's National Reactor Testing Station near Arco, Idaho, became the first nuclear reactor to create electricity on 20 December 1951.[53] Initially, four 150-watt light bulbs were lit by the reactor, but improvements eventually enabled it to power the whole facility (later, the town of Arco became the first in the world to have all its electricity come from nuclear power generated by BORAX-III, another reactor designed and operated by Argonne National Laboratory).[54][55] The world's first commercial scale nuclear power station, Obninsk in the Soviet Union, began generation with its reactor AM-1 on 27 June 1954. Other early nuclear power plants were Calder Hall in England, which began generation on 17 October 1956,[56] and the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, which began on 26 May 1958. Nuclear power was used for the first time for propulsion by a submarine, the USS Nautilus, in 1954.[41][57]
Prehistoric naturally occurring fission Main article: Natural nuclear fission reactor In 1972, the French physicist Francis Perrin discovered fifteen ancient and no longer active natural nuclear fission reactors in three separate ore deposits at the Oklo mine in Gabon, West Africa, collectively known as the Oklo Fossil Reactors. The ore deposit is 1.7 billion years old; then, uranium-235 constituted about 3% of the total uranium on Earth.[58] This is high enough to permit a sustained nuclear fission chain reaction to occur, provided other supporting conditions exist. The capacity of the surrounding sediment to contain the health-threatening nuclear waste products has been cited by the U.S. federal government as supporting evidence for the feasibility to store spent nuclear fuel at the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.[58]
Above-ground nuclear tests by the Soviet Union and the United States in the 1950s and early 1960s and by France into the 1970s and 1980s[23] spread a significant amount of fallout from uranium daughter isotopes around the world.[59] Additional fallout and pollution occurred from several nuclear accidents.[60]
Uranium miners have a higher incidence of cancer. An excess risk of lung cancer among Navajo uranium miners, for example, has been documented and linked to their occupation.[61] The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, a 1990 law in the US, required $100,000 in "compassion payments" to uranium miners diagnosed with cancer or other respiratory ailments.[62]
During the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, huge stockpiles of uranium were amassed and tens of thousands of nuclear weapons were created using enriched uranium and plutonium made from uranium. After the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, an estimated 600 short tons (540 metric tons) of highly enriched weapons grade uranium (enough to make 40,000 nuclear warheads) had been stored in often inadequately guarded facilities in the Russian Federation and several other former Soviet states.[16] Police in Asia, Europe, and South America on at least 16 occasions from 1993 to 2005 have intercepted shipments of smuggled bomb-grade uranium or plutonium, most of which was from ex-Soviet sources.[16] From 1993 to 2005 the Material Protection, Control, and Accounting Program, operated by the federal government of the United States, spent approximately US $550 million to help safeguard uranium and plutonium stockpiles in Russia. This money was used for improvements and security enhancements at research and storage facilities.[16]
Safety of nuclear facilities in Russia has been significantly improved since the stabilization of political and economical turmoil of the early 1990s. For example, in 1993 there were 29 incidents ranking above level 1 on the International Nuclear Event Scale, and this number dropped under four per year in 1995–2003. The number of employers receiving annual radiation doses above 20 mSv, which is equivalent to a single full-body CT scan,[63] saw a strong decline around 2000. In November 2015, the Russian government approved a federal program for nuclear and radiation safety for 2016 to 2030 with a budget of 562 billion rubles (ca. 8 billion dollars). Its key issue is "the deferred liabilities accumulated during the 70 years of the nuclear industry, particularly during the time of the Soviet Union". Approximately 73% of the budget will be spent on decommissioning aged and obsolete nuclear reactors and nuclear facilities, especially those involved in state defense programs; 20% will go in processing and disposal of nuclear fuel and radioactive waste, and 5% into monitoring and ensuring of nuclear and radiation safety.[64]
Along with all elements having atomic weights higher than that of iron, uranium is only naturally formed by the r-process (rapid neutron capture) in supernovae and neutron star mergers.[65] Primordial thorium and uranium are only produced in the r-process, because the s-process (slow neutron capture) is too slow and cannot pass the gap of instability after bismuth.[66][67] Besides the two extant primordial uranium isotopes, 235U and 238U, the r-process also produced significant quantities of 236U, which has a shorter half-life and so is an extinct radionuclide, having long since decayed completely to 232Th. Uranium-236 was itself enriched by the decay of 244Pu, accounting for the observed higher-than-expected abundance of thorium and lower-than-expected abundance of uranium.[68] While the natural abundance of uranium has been supplemented by the decay of extinct 242Pu (half-life 0.375 million years) and 247Cm (half-life 16 million years), producing 238U and 235U respectively, this occurred to an almost negligible extent due to the shorter half-lives of these parents and their lower production than 236U and 244Pu, the parents of thorium: the 247Cm:235U ratio at the formation of the Solar System was (7.0±1.6)×10−5.[69]
Uranium is a naturally occurring element that can be found in low levels within all rock, soil, and water. Uranium is the 51st element in order of abundance in the Earth's crust. Uranium is also the highest-numbered element to be found naturally in significant quantities on Earth and is almost always found combined with other elements.[10] The decay of uranium, thorium, and potassium-40 in the Earth's mantle is thought to be the main source of heat[70][71] that keeps the Earth's outer core in the liquid state and drives mantle convection, which in turn drives plate tectonics.
Uranium's average concentration in the Earth's crust is (depending on the reference) 2 to 4 parts per million,[9][23] or about 40 times as abundant as silver.[15] The Earth's crust from the surface to 25 km (15 mi) down is calculated to contain 1017 kg (2×1017 lb) of uranium while the oceans may contain 1013 kg (2×1013 lb).[9] The concentration of uranium in soil ranges from 0.7 to 11 parts per million (up to 15 parts per million in farmland soil due to use of phosphate fertilizers),[72] and its concentration in sea water is 3 parts per billion.[23]
Uranium is more plentiful than antimony, tin, cadmium, mercury, or silver, and it is about as abundant as arsenic or molybdenum.[10][23] Uranium is found in hundreds of minerals, including uraninite (the most common uranium ore), carnotite, autunite, uranophane, torbernite, and coffinite.[10] Significant concentrations of uranium occur in some substances such as phosphate rock deposits, and minerals such as lignite, and monazite sands in uranium-rich ores[10] (it is recovered commercially from sources with as little as 0.1% uranium[15]).
Some bacteria, such as Shewanella putrefaciens, Geobacter metallireducens and some strains of Burkholderia fungorum, use uranium for their growth and convert U(VI) to U(IV).[73][74] Recent research suggests that this pathway includes reduction of the soluble U(VI) via an intermediate U(V) pentavalent state.[75][76] Other organisms, such as the lichen Trapelia involuta or microorganisms such as the bacterium Citrobacter, can absorb concentrations of uranium that are up to 300 times the level of their environment.[77] Citrobacter species absorb uranyl ions when given glycerol phosphate (or other similar organic phosphates). After one day, one gram of bacteria can encrust themselves with nine grams of uranyl phosphate crystals; this creates the possibility that these organisms could be used in bioremediation to decontaminate uranium-polluted water.[31][78] The proteobacterium Geobacter has also been shown to bioremediate uranium in ground water.[79] The mycorrhizal fungus Glomus intraradices increases uranium content in the roots of its symbiotic plant.[80]
In nature, uranium(VI) forms highly soluble carbonate complexes at alkaline pH. This leads to an increase in mobility and availability of uranium to groundwater and soil from nuclear wastes which leads to health hazards. However, it is difficult to precipitate uranium as phosphate in the presence of excess carbonate at alkaline pH. A Sphingomonas sp. strain BSAR-1 has been found to express a high activity alkaline phosphatase (PhoK) that has been applied for bioprecipitation of uranium as uranyl phosphate species from alkaline solutions. The precipitation ability was enhanced by overexpressing PhoK protein in E. coli.[81]
Plants absorb some uranium from soil. Dry weight concentrations of uranium in plants range from 5 to 60 parts per billion, and ash from burnt wood can have concentrations up to 4 parts per million.[31] Dry weight concentrations of uranium in food plants are typically lower with one to two micrograms per day ingested through the food people eat.[31]
Production and mining Main article: Uranium mining Worldwide production of uranium in 2021 amounted to 48,332 tonnes, of which 21,819 t (45%) was mined in Kazakhstan. Other important urmom mining countries are Namibia (5,753 t), Canada (4,693 t), Australia (4,192 t), Uzbekistan (3,500 t), and Russia (2,635 t).[82]
Uranium ore is mined in several ways: by open pit, underground, in-situ leaching, and borehole mining (see uranium mining).[7] Low-grade uranium ore mined typically contains 0.01 to 0.25% uranium oxides. Extensive measures must be employed to extract the metal from its ore.[83] High-grade ores found in Athabasca Basin deposits in Saskatchewan, Canada can contain up to 23% uranium oxides on average.[84] Uranium ore is crushed and rendered into a fine powder and then leached with either an acid or alkali. The leachate is subjected to one of several sequences of precipitation, solvent extraction, and ion exchange. The resulting mixture, called yellowcake, contains at least 75% uranium oxides U3O8. Yellowcake is then calcined to remove impurities from the milling process before refining and conversion.[85]
Commercial-grade uranium can be produced through the reduction of uranium halides with alkali or alkaline earth metals.[10] Uranium metal can also be prepared through electrolysis of KUF 5 or UF 4, dissolved in molten calcium chloride (CaCl 2) and sodium chloride (NaCl) solution.[10] Very pure uranium is produced through the thermal decomposition of uranium halides on a hot filament.[10]
It is estimated that 6.1 million tonnes of uranium exists in ore reserves that are economically viable at US$130 per kg of uranium,[87] while 35 million tonnes are classed as mineral resources (reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction).[88]
Australia has 28% of the world's known uranium ore reserves[87] and the world's largest single uranium deposit is located at the Olympic Dam Mine in South Australia.[89] There is a significant reserve of uranium in Bakouma, a sub-prefecture in the prefecture of Mbomou in the Central African Republic.[90]
Some uranium also originates from dismantled nuclear weapons.[91] For example, in 1993–2013 Russia supplied the United States with 15,000 tonnes of low-enriched uranium within the Megatons to Megawatts Program.[92]
An additional 4.6 billion tonnes of uranium are estimated to be dissolved in sea water (Japanese scientists in the 1980s showed that extraction of uranium from sea water using ion exchangers was technically feasible).[93][94] There have been experiments to extract uranium from sea water,[95] but the yield has been low due to the carbonate present in the water. In 2012, ORNL researchers announced the successful development of a new absorbent material dubbed HiCap which performs surface retention of solid or gas molecules, atoms or ions and also effectively removes toxic metals from water, according to results verified by researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.[96][97]
In 2005, ten countries accounted for the majority of the world's concentrated uranium oxides: Canada (27.9%), Australia (22.8%), Kazakhstan (10.5%), Russia (8.0%), Namibia (7.5%), Niger (7.4%), Uzbekistan (5.5%), the United States (2.5%), Argentina (2.1%) and Ukraine (1.9%).[99] In 2008 Kazakhstan was forecast to increase production and become the world's largest supplier of uranium by 2009.[100][101] The prediction came true, and Kazakhstan does dominate the world's uranium market since 2010. In 2021, its share was 45.1%, followed by Namibia (11.9%), Canada (9.7%), Australia (8.7%), Uzbekistan (7.2%), Niger (4.7%), Russia (5.5%), China (3.9%), India (1.3%), Ukraine (0.9%), and South Africa (0.8%), with a world total production of 48,332 tonnes.[82] Most of uranium was produced not by conventional underground mining of ores (29% of production), but by in situ leaching (66%).[82][102]
In the late 1960s, UN geologists also discovered major uranium deposits and other rare mineral reserves in Somalia. The find was the largest of its kind, with industry experts estimating the deposits at over 25% of the world's then known uranium reserves of 800,000 tons.[103]
The ultimate available supply is believed to be sufficient for at least the next 85 years,[88] although some studies indicate underinvestment in the late twentieth century may produce supply problems in the 21st century.[104] Uranium deposits seem to be log-normal distributed. There is a 300-fold increase in the amount of uranium recoverable for each tenfold decrease in ore grade.[105] In other words, there is little high grade ore and proportionately much more low grade ore available.
Calcined uranium yellowcake, as produced in many large mills, contains a distribution of uranium oxidation species in various forms ranging from most oxidized to least oxidized. Particles with short residence times in a calciner will generally be less oxidized than those with long retention times or particles recovered in the stack scrubber. Uranium content is usually referenced to U 3O 8, which dates to the days of the Manhattan Project when U 3O 8 was used as an analytical chemistry reporting standard.[106]
Phase relationships in the uranium-oxygen system are complex. The most important oxidation states of uranium are uranium(IV) and uranium(VI), and their two corresponding oxides are, respectively, uranium dioxide (UO 2) and uranium trioxide (UO 3).[107] Other uranium oxides such as uranium monoxide (UO), diuranium pentoxide (U 2O 5), and uranium peroxide (UO 4·2H 2O) also exist.
The most common forms of uranium oxide are triuranium octoxide (U 3O 8) and UO 2.[108] Both oxide forms are solids that have low solubility in water and are relatively stable over a wide range of environmental conditions. Triuranium octoxide is (depending on conditions) the most stable compound of uranium and is the form most commonly found in nature. Uranium dioxide is the form in which uranium is most commonly used as a nuclear reactor fuel.[108] At ambient temperatures, UO 2 will gradually convert to U 3O 8. Because of their stability, uranium oxides are generally considered the preferred chemical form for storage or disposal.[108]
Salts of many oxidation states of uranium are water-soluble and may be studied in aqueous solutions. The most common ionic forms are U3+ (brown-red), U4+ (green), UO+ 2 (unstable), and UO2+ 2 (yellow), for U(III), U(IV), U(V), and U(VI), respectively.[109] A few solid and semi-metallic compounds such as UO and US exist for the formal oxidation state uranium(II), but no simple ions are known to exist in solution for that state. Ions of U3+ liberate hydrogen from water and are therefore considered to be highly unstable. The UO2+ 2 ion represents the uranium(VI) state and is known to form compounds such as uranyl carbonate, uranyl chloride and uranyl sulfate. UO2+ 2 also forms complexes with various organic chelating agents, the most commonly encountered of which is uranyl acetate.[109]
Unlike the uranyl salts of uranium and polyatomic ion uranium-oxide cationic forms, the uranates, salts containing a polyatomic uranium-oxide anion, are generally not water-soluble.
Carbonates The interactions of carbonate anions with uranium(VI) cause the Pourbaix diagram to change greatly when the medium is changed from water to a carbonate containing solution. While the vast majority of carbonates are insoluble in water (students are often taught that all carbonates other than those of alkali metals are insoluble in water), uranium carbonates are often soluble in water. This is because a U(VI) cation is able to bind two terminal oxides and three or more carbonates to form anionic complexes.
Effects of pH The uranium fraction diagrams in the presence of carbonate illustrate this further: when the pH of a uranium(VI) solution increases, the uranium is converted to a hydrated uranium oxide hydroxide and at high pHs it becomes an anionic hydroxide complex.
When carbonate is added, uranium is converted to a series of carbonate complexes if the pH is increased. One effect of these reactions is increased solubility of uranium in the pH range 6 to 8, a fact that has a direct bearing on the long term stability of spent uranium dioxide nuclear fuels.
Hydrides, carbides and nitrides Uranium metal heated to 250 to 300 °C (482 to 572 °F) reacts with hydrogen to form uranium hydride. Even higher temperatures will reversibly remove the hydrogen. This property makes uranium hydrides convenient starting materials to create reactive uranium powder along with various uranium carbide, nitride, and halide compounds.[111] Two crystal modifications of uranium hydride exist: an α form that is obtained at low temperatures and a β form that is created when the formation temperature is above 250 °C.[111]
Uranium carbides and uranium nitrides are both relatively inert semimetallic compounds that are minimally soluble in acids, react with water, and can ignite in air to form U 3O 8.[111] Carbides of uranium include uranium monocarbide (UC), uranium dicarbide (UC 2), and diuranium tricarbide (U 2C 3). Both UC and UC 2 are formed by adding carbon to molten uranium or by exposing the metal to carbon monoxide at high temperatures. Stable below 1800 °C, U 2C 3 is prepared by subjecting a heated mixture of UC and UC 2 to mechanical stress.[112] Uranium nitrides obtained by direct exposure of the metal to nitrogen include uranium mononitride (UN), uranium dinitride (UN 2), and diuranium trinitride (U 2N 3).[112]
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2023.03.29 23:55 wow_i_exist The Enemy in the Dark Forest

Unknown Date, Unknown location
*Unknown*
The spacecraft were traveling at no faster than eighteen and three-quarters percent of the speed of light and were no bigger than several hundred meters in length. What little crew they had were all put under cryostasis and all systems were completely shut down, producing no more than a few dozen watts of waste heat for the entire fleet in total, rendering the vehicles almost invisible to anyone, if there were anyone, who was not looking hard enough.
The spacecraft continued on their journey of millennia, sent by their creators with a less-than-benevolent intent.
Standard Year 3275, Day 321, V2 Draconis, Control Center of Laser Highway Station 7G-S
*Sensors and Trajectory Officer Xyvan Karvyk*
Nu Draconis, a binary star system consisting of V1 Draconis and V2 Draconis, was probably the most boring system owned by humanity, having been colonized only recently almost a century ago. The system was barely populated even for its immense volume. It was very unlike Sol, which Xyvan Karvyk departed from, more than 500 years ago, on a ship zipping by at a leisurely twenty percent the speed of light, due to the lack of a laser deceleration system on the then untouched system, save for a few probes sent for fly-bys throughout the centuries.
If Xyvan remembered correctly, the population back on Sol was so high that there were millions of deaths every few seconds. Despite that, death itself, was not a problem most folks had to deal with nowadays. Nu Draconis itself was very sparse, with a population of a few billion at most, though this was increasing extremely rapidly and steadily due to incoming immigration from some of the more developed systems humanity has already colonized, though the term “humanity” here is disputed, because this includes uploaded minds, true AI, and genetically engineered humans and animals…
Xyvan himself was a product of a bygone era. He was a baseline human, unmodified by the countless advancements that had been made in the centuries since he was born. It was a rare sight these days to see someone like him, who looked like they could have walked straight out of a history book. While gene editing had become a ubiquitous technology, allowing individuals to modify their genetic code to enhance their physical and mental capabilities, Xyvan had chosen to eschew these enhancements in favor of maintaining his original genetic makeup.
Pick any two people randomly from even the same star system and they would look as alien to each other as an actual hypothetical alien. Some have artificial enhancements, like bionic limbs and computer brains, making them essentially cyborgs. There are also those with animal DNA spliced into their own, resulting in strange new forms of life. And then there are those with completely artificial bodies, where their consciousness is uploaded into a machine. It's even possible for one person to exist in multiple copies or clones. The possibilities are endless, and the distinction between humans and non-human is now almost non-existent.
Xyvan, on the other hand, decided that he wasn’t gonna have any of them newfangled robot arms and computer brains so he decided to stick with his original layout, though with millions of nanomachines loaded inside his bloodstream, keeping him well-maintained and alive, possibly for millennia.
The 7G-S, nicknamed “The Golden Sunbeam” affectionately by its occupants, was of the standard dual-use medium-sized O’Neill cylinder and laser station variety designed to both keep areas traveled by spacecraft traveling at high fractions of the speed of light clear of dangerous debris and to either decelerate or accelerate those spacecraft to those speeds.
Most people on the station chose to remain baseline humans, though some opted for cybernetic enhancements to improve their physical abilities or to supplement their jobs. The residents all came together to Nu Draconis and were part of an interstellar colonization fleet, looking to escape Sol’s relatively cramped conditions, where they felt that they were no longer needed there. As much as they would not like to admit it, the baselines knew that they were no match for the other human variants. The uploaded minds could process information at lightning speeds, the AIs could analyze data with unparalleled precision, and the genetically-engineered humans and animals possessed physical and cognitive abilities that far surpassed their own.
So, they had set forth, on a centuries-long trip to a pristine star system untouched by anything intelligent, so that they’d be of use once again. At least that was the plan anyway. The company that had funded the colonization mission promised not to send anyone else with them for a few millennia, in exchange for developing the system. However, this promise did not stop other non-baselines from coming in much sooner, as they were able to fund their fleets and make their way to Nu Draconis by themselves. Though on the bright side, Nu Draconis is still very undeveloped as a system, especially compared to the inner-volume systems like Alpha Centauri and 40 Eridani, and may take several more millennia to catch up to them.
Xyvan sank into the plush, leather-like cushions of his chair, savoring the way they molded to his body. As he reclined further and further back, the chair let out a soft, high-pitched chirp of protest. He could feel the barely imperceptible vibration of the 1G spin-gravity that kept him comfortably grounded. The faint smell of recycled air and sterilized surfaces filled his nostrils, and the soft glow of the control panels cast a warm light on his face. His actual residence was on the 0.2G spin-gravity level of The Golden Sunbeam, which he complained that he felt too weightless at lower gravities, having grown up on Earth, where he was used to the constant pull of its gravity. Since leaving, he had been stationed on different planets and space stations with varying levels of gravity. While he could adjust to lower gravities after a while, it never felt quite right to him, and he always longed to return to the familiar 1G of Earth. He’d rather spend his time at his workplace, rather than at his residential room because it is at the 1G level, in addition to the Coriolis effect being significantly lesser this far out from the center of spin.
“Heads up, dirtballer,” his colleague Astrogation Officer Fejka Azmah said, jolting Xyvan out of his daydreaming.
“Dirtballer? Didn’t ya come from Mars yerself eh, dustballer,” Xyvan retorted.
“Umm…akshually, I grew up in a rotating drum AROUND Mars, not on it”, Fejka replied half-jokingly, pushing up her glasses for effect, the servos in her arms whirring softly.
“Why’d’ya even have those, yer basically a robot now,” Xyvan remarked.
“Well apparently, glasses are the ‘in thing’ in Sol right now, or at least a century ago, considering light lag. Also, I believe the correct term nowadays is ‘Cybernetically Enhanced Biological Lifeforms’,” Fejka said, smirking a bit.
“Huh? What is ya even talkin’ about? Anyhoo, why the hell is starin’ at screens for ‘ours on end even a job? What’d I even see ‘ere? Hell, these ships and trash floatin’ in space follow a ballistic trajectory, and ‘eir paths should be predictable out for light years, so why can’t the computer just do it itself?” Xyvan grumbled, looking begrudgingly at the screens showing the trajectories of various incoming and outgoing ships and numerous debris.
“Beats me. I guess that these jobs give people like us an excuse to be employed,” Fejka said. “I mean, it's not like anything exciting happens around here. Those VR-addicted slackers might have the right idea, but I’d rather be doing something productive. That being said, I totally agree. We just babysit these silly interstellar ships that come in, which is fine, but it's not exactly thrilling work,”
“True reality,” Xyvan said, nodding. “We're basically glorified security guards for ‘em ships. What’s worse is that we ain’t seeing any of ‘em interstellars passin’ by for years. Even the company stopped sendin’ us extra fusion fuel shipments for the laser, so even the laser’s useless for vaporizin’ debris. Kinda ironic, don’t ya think? ‘Cause we call this spinnin’ bucket the ‘The Golden Sunbeam’, yet the sunbeam’s never gettin’ any use,”
“Yeah, it's pretty disappointing,” Fejka agreed. “But hey, speaking of upgrades, when are you going to get around to it? We might as well make the most of our time here,”
“Upgrade? Um, yuck, no thanks! I’d like to keep me arms and guts until the Iron Star era, thank you. Kinda a waste of perfectly good limbs eh? There’s a reason why I’m in this bucket and not back in Sol!” Xyvan replied in disgust, sticking his tongue out for comical effect.
Xyvan continued, “Heck, ain’t those robo-eyes of yers only good for watching movies and shows all day. Ya sure ye ain’t a VR-addicted slacker yerself?”
Fejka laughed. “Well, you got me there. Though, I still look at the console every so often, so at least it’s considered as ‘working’. Anyway, have you heard that some guy on Epsilon Eridani apparently discovered a ‘cut and paste’ version of mind uploading, instead of simply creating a digital clone?”
“Yer considerin’ to do that?”
“Nah, it’s not worth the risk,” Fejka said with a shrug. “For all we know, it actually kills the user’s original consciousness in the process and replaces it with a digital imposter, with all the memories of the original, thinking that it is the original,”
Xyvan nodded in agreement “Yeah. To an outsider, it ain’t really makin’ a difference, but to the original…Well, it’s safe to say that the original is no longer with us,”
As they continued their conversation, the alarm on Xyvan's station suddenly blared, and red lights filled the room. Both of them jumped up from their seats and rushed over to the screen.
“Ughh…what is it now? Better not be some delivery freighter accidentally shining their thrusters directly at us again” Fejka murmured in annoyance.
“Huh? That's weird. There ain't supposed to be anyone passin’ round these parts—but looksy, a few dozen drive plumes just happened to appear out of nowhere,” Xyvan said, pointing to the infrared view of several blobs on the screen.
“They're decelerating hard too, 7Gs,” Fejka pointed out.
“Ain't that supposed to be rather soft for ya, Fejka? Anyhoo, why are they usin’ their thrusters to decelerate from that velocity, when the system already has lasers to do that for 'em?”
“I only got my limbs and eyes replaced!—Really wouldn't wanna be inside those ships for long. Back to the point, well, they DID seem to want to hide in the first place. Also, their current trajectory puts them on a relatively close fly-by,”
*Captain of 7G-S, Vong Zan’ir*
“Oh come on, why now‽ Why the fuck can’t it happen later!” Vong Zan’ir grumbled irritably, disturbed from his sleep by blaring sirens to a crimson-lit room.
“Hell, I should replace these shitty alarms with some Zen meditation chants,” Zan’ir snarled under his breath as he was putting on his clothing while cursing up a storm, the remaining remnants of sleep washing away as he injected himself with an anti-fatigue stimulant. Since he was a baseline human like the rest of the crew on The Golden Sunbeam, he was still entitled to some damn sleep.
Being the captain of The Golden Sunbeam, his living quarters were right next to the control center, should he be needed on short notice. Zan’ir dragged himself to the control center next door and entered.
“Captain Vong on deck!”, an officer announced.
Everyone in the room stood up and bowed.
“Damnit! What in the hell is happening‽” Zan’ir asked, to no one in particular.
“Cap’n, I think somebody just solved stealth in space,” Officer Xyvan Karvyk answered.
“Holy shit, really? That’s just what we needed today,” Zan’ir replied, rolling his eyes. He strode towards the sensors and navigation stations, and looked at the displays.
“Wha—what the absolute fuck is this?”
Displayed on the screen were the current positions of the ships and their calculated future trajectories. Each ship staggered from each other at varying distances, with some having a separation as far as a few light-seconds.
Zan'ir opened a telescopic view of the nearest spacecraft, located a few light-hours away. A new window on the screen appeared, depicting a view of the nearest spacecraft, displaying an infrared image of it. The drive plume appeared as an extremely bright steep cone, shaded in various hues of yellowish-white, indicating its intense heat. The actual spacecraft was a barely visible dot on top of the long exhaust stretching thousands of kilometers. Zan'ir couldn't help but notice that it resembled a pencil tip, reminiscent of the days when people used to write manually on paper.
Zan’ir further increased the magnification to reveal more details. The ship itself looked like a long needle, except for what seemed to be numerous glowing patches and a pair of huge glowing wings sticking out of its smooth surface. “Radiators”, Zan’ir said out loud. “Looks like they can’t wish away the laws of thermodynamics after all, even though they could somehow manage to sneak past the sensors from whatever place they come from, hmm?” Officer Fejka Azmah commented.
“What in the flaming hell is this crap? Are these jokers lost on their way to a fucking picnic‽ Nobody’s due to drop by for years!”, Zan'ir asked, spit flying everywhere, bewildered at the sight.
“Dunno, cap’n, all we were just here doin’ our thing then suddenly all of these ships appeared in the infrared. What’s funnier is that the LIDAR can’t even detect them on all of the frequencies, even though their RCS should’ve been visible to us at that range and beyond. Though if we used the main laser, we’d see them better,” Xyvan replied.
“Well, since they’ve revealed themselves, they can’t do the same trick they used to hide again,” Fejka mused.
Xyvan nodded in agreement. “Yup, it's the old ‘There ain’t no stealth in space’ problem. Even if they shut off their heat-producin' activities, we already know their velocity, so it's easy enough to extrapolate their current location. Changing direction would require another burn, and that's gonna produce heat, so they're screwed,”
“Well, the fact that they showed up suddenly without a trajectory plan being sent means this is already solid ground for us to blow them up—”
“Captain! We’ve got a message from DC-23-G!”, shouted Communications Officer Kallax Eket.
“DC? Oh, right, Dense Cloud Inc.—the uploaded minds,” Zan’ir sneered, rolling his eyes. “Oh joy. Our robotic overlords have graced us with their presence. What do they want?”
“Seems like they just sent the bogeys a message—it’s gonna take a while to arrive and any replies would similarly take a while to come back due to light lag, anyway, they asked the ‘stealth’ ships what they are doing, and what their purpose is—so, we don’t really need to do anything, for now. Also, they told us to extrapolate the direction they came from?”
Zan’ir groaned. “What a bunch of smug pricks. They don't trust us baselines to make the right decisions, so they send us a message to tell us to find out what the hell these jackasses are doing,” Zan'ir scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief.
“Yeah…the recipients’ list shows that the message is addressed to nearby baseline-human controlled ships and stations,” Kallax said.
"Typical. Bet they're just tickled pink that they get to sit back and watch us scramble to solve this mess," Zan’ir sighed. “Anyway, let’s backtrack their origins,”
“Already did it. Captain, but you probably need to wait a while, the computer’s crunching trying to account for thousands of years of stellar drift, because as of now, it basically traces to the void,” Fejka replied.
“Ah, the joys of interstellar travel. It's like waiting for a snail to crawl across the desert, only slower,” Zan'ir grumbled.
After several dozen seconds of loading, it was ready. Zan’ir took a look at the display and traced the stealth fleet’s velocity line from their current location to their origin. “Wait, that can’t be right…” Zan’ir took a look at the display again. It didn’t change. The label on top of the star system showed “V Puppis”.
“V Puppis? That’s hundreds of light-years away! A round trip to and from there at their velocity would literally take a longer time than we had spaceflight—” Zan’ir eyes widened as he began to put the pieces together.
“Aww…they noticed this first though we’re the nearest and the first to see this?” Xyvan said, finally breaking the silence. “Y’know, due to light lag, those DC guys are what, a light minute further away from the stealth bogeys?”
“Well, that’s the silicon shitheads for you. Fuckers could just hog like a few hundred times more of the electricity and suddenly time slows down a shit ton for them,” Zan’ir said.
“I guess it turns out aliens actually exist, eh?” Fejka commented.
“Yeah, aliens exist, and they're about as subtle as a ferret down your pants. Looks like it's gonna be a fun ride from here on out, folks. Space is too fucking big,"
“What’s a ferret?” Fejka asked, confused.
“Have you been to a zoo bef—actually never mind, you are from Mars,” Sensing that Fejka was about to tell him about her past visits to O’neill cylinder habitat preserves around Mars, Zan’ir quickly changed the topic.
“Egghead!” Zan’ir called out to The Golden Sunbeam’s resident Science Officer, Saikor Qorvan, who somehow managed to sleep through the commotion earlier on. Though Slumber Officer is probably a more accurate description. Nowadays, with nothing to do, and no exploration and research being done, he simply sleeps in the office. Zan’ir, seeing that Saikor has not awoken from his deep sleep, sauntered over to Saikor’s station opposite Xyvan’s and Fejka’s, smirking as he took in the sight of the science officer snoring away.
“Wakey wakey, Egghead,” he drawled, shaking Saikor’s shoulder until the man groggily opened his eyes.
“Wha—what happened,” Saikor asked groggily, barely awake, the last remnants of sleep still holding his eyes shut.
“Wow, you sure are working hard. Someday you might actually get a promotion!” Zan’ir said sarcastically, clapping his hand on Saikor’s shoulder.
“Really?”
“Yeah, someday, millions of years later,” Zan'ir replied, with a wry smile on his face.
“Aww…”
Zan’ir didn’t have time for pity parties. He had more pressing concerns. “Anyway, any guesses on what the cloudbrains mean by ‘sending the bogies a message’? I assume they mean first contact protocols or some other shit. How are they gonna expect little green men from outer space to even understand our message protocols and reply back?”
“Uhh…” Saikor paused, thinking for a while to fully infer the situation. “Oh, first contact protocols! I studied that at university! Hmm, I think first you start with integers like 1, 2, 3, and so on, then universal constants, like Pi or prime numbers, or whatever. Something they can easily distinguish from natural nois—”
“Ah, yes, because that's exactly what aliens are looking for when they encounter an unknown civilization. A lesson in mathematics. Brilliant,” Zan'ir interrupted, shaking his head.
Saikor frowned. “You just told me to explain—”
“Yeah, I told you to explain, not to put me back to sleep! Try concision, Mr. Qorvan!”
“Umm…Start with a radio message by defining natural numbers and then universal constants. And throw in some radio trickery to display an image, if they analyzed the message correctly, so on and so forth until you can finally set up a basic language both parties can understand,”
Saikor, still confused about the whole ordeal, scratched his bald head. “So uh…what’s all this about with aliens and first contact?”
Zan’ir turned to Xyvan, who had been listening in on their conversation. “Tell him, Xyvan. Our poor Saikor here seemed to be sleeping in class and can’t seem to remember the lecture now,”
After a few minutes of Xyvan retelling the events in his slow drawl typical of those who grew up in the then-developing West Asian arcology on Earth back in the 22nd century, Saikor finally got the gist of it. “V Puppis? That system contains a binary pair orbiting a black hole, if I so remember correctly. Well, my guess is they’re dumping their waste heat into the black hole, so that explains the lack of infrared waste heat coming from there. Though that doesn’t really explain the lack of radio waves and other…”
As Saikor continued droning on, Xyvan, who was not listening and instead was going through the infrared images of the stealth ships, noticed something strange. “Hey cap’n, this seems weird,” Xyvan squinted at the display and replayed the stored footage of the stealthcraft for each of them.
Saikor stopped his droning and went over to Xyvan’s station, and so did Zan’ir, thankful that Saikor finally stopped talking.
“Huh. Right before the ships started their deceleration burn, there seemed to be a short heat spike happenin’...”
Saikor suggested, “Maybe they’re restarting the reactors?”
Xyvan shook his head. “Nay, the heat blobs appeared kilometers out from the ships, so it ain’t the ships themselves,”
“Captain!” Kallax called out suddenly. “This just in from DC-23-G again! This time it’s a general alert to watch for relativistic kinetic kill vehicles,”
Zan’ir snorted. “What? RKKVs? Wow, the first thing alien bastards do when they meet us is to shoot. How diplomatic of them,”
Kallax pressed a few buttons and then on the screen in front of Zan’ir a few hundred new velocity lines appeared. “I’ve just sent over the attached trajectories they’ve given out,” Kallax explained.
Suddenly, an alarm rang out. On the screen, hundreds of the kill vehicles changed their directions, as well as new velocity lines appeared.
“They’re course correcting! From the looks of it, sixteen of them will probably hit us!” Saikor exclaimed, a hint of panic evident in his voice.
“No shit, Einstein,” Zan’ir said. “Anything useful for the kill vehicles though?”
“They’re all stealth-coated cap’n. Can’t check the hull materials, though we can assume stuff based on their drive plumes…uhh—” Xyvan said, his characteristic slow drawl being replaced by a more urgent tone.
“From their exhaust velocity and acceleration, the computer thinks they all mass ‘round 350 kilos each…so if any of those hit somebody, at 18.75% c, half-em-vee squared, no relativistic calcs—” Xyvan paused to think. “—it‘d be an excruciatin’ 130 megaton-TNT’s worth of energy. Let’s just say it’d be a very bad day for those unfortunate enough to be in front of these things,” he said grimly.
Zan’ir could feel a headache forming in the deep recesses of his head.
I hate people who throw rocks, he thought.
``` A/N
Hello there, I hope you all enjoyed reading all that.
Feedback would be much appreciated ;)
BTW, do note that this is actually a chapter for a story idea I had originally, but along the way, I thought of another plan, which is something like this story, but modified such that the antagonists are your Soft-Scifi folks you normally see in space opera (so essentially, a Hard Sci-Fi vs Soft-Scifi story instead of purely HSF vs HSF as in the above chapter)
I honestly don't really plan to continue this story and instead go on to the newer idea, but if more people wanted, I might consider going on this route instead.
So yeah, I posted this because I wanted feedback on how I could improve the writing style, things to avoid, what I did great, etc, so that I could implement it in the other route. Also, damn, writing characters are a bit difficult, so I'd like some advice there too.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading that as much as I enjoyed writing this. Thank you, and have a great day! ```
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2023.03.28 22:09 amazing-world-here Best Prebuilt Gaming PC to Buy in 2023

Here we will tell you which is the best prebuilt gaming pc to buy in 2023. This guide is the best that you can find on Reddit for buying prebuilt pc online.

1. iBUYPOWER Pro Gaming PC

This is the Best of all prebuilt gaming pc

If you're in the market for a mid-range gaming PC that offers good performance, the iBUYPOWER Pro Gaming PC Computer Desktop SlateMR 304i might be worth considering. iBUYPOWER Pro Gaming PC is a visually appealing, no-hassle, plug-and-play pre-built PC with good specs for the price and silent computer that comes with a GTX 1660Ti graphics card, which provides amazing performance for gaming in 1080p with high FPS.
Pros:
-Silent but potent
-Capable of reading Arris Surfboard without the ASUS antenna
-Full customization of RGB lighting with preinstalled Aura App
-No bloatware
-Can run required WFH programs and gaming simultaneously
-Very quiet and runs most games on ultra settings
Cons:
-No Type-C port
-Limited USB connections on the top of the machine

2. HP Pavilion Gaming PC

This is the Best prebuilt gaming pc for everybody

The HP Pavilion Gaming Desktop is a low-end beginner gaming computer that can handle current day games with conservative graphical settings due to the surprising performance of the 1650 super and 10100 CPU. However, the computer only comes with one RAM stick which forces the RAM to be in single-channel mode, severely hindering the computer. Adding an extra 8 gig stick and bumping it up to 16 gigabytes of memory can greatly improve performance. Additionally, the computer has limited storage space for modern games, but adding a second mechanical 1 or 2 terabyte hard drive can make a big difference. Overall, the computer is rated 7/10 for a beginner gaming computer or workstation, and would be a 9.5/10 if it came with dual-channel RAM and more storage space.
Pros:
-Surprisingly good performance for a low-end gaming computer, thanks to the 1650 super and 10100 CPU
-Efficient multitasking ability and CPU performance
-Affordable price
-Ready-to-use wiring for adding extra components
-Suitable for beginner gaming or workstation tasks
Cons:
-Comes with only one RAM stick, which severely hinders performance
-Limited storage space for modern games
-No option for upgrading to a better motherboard or other parts
-Not suitable for high-end gaming or graphics-intensive tasks

3. Empowered Sentinel Gaming PC

This is the Best high end prebuilt gaming pc

The Empowered Sentinel Gaming PC has a MSI z370-A Pro motherboard, 2x Team Group Vulcan T-Force 16GB 2666Mhz DDR4 RAM chips, an Asus Turbo GeForce RTX 2080, Intel i9 9900k processor, a 500GB NVMe drive, and a 2 TB 7200 RPM HDD. The build quality was good and all cables were neatly organized. The system did not come with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth built-in. The computer runs a bit louder than previous models but the noise level is not excessive. The computer is fast and performs well for video editing and gaming. The system comes with a remote to change the color and light pattern of the case fans. The GPU runs hot, but vertical mounting the GPU and adjusting the fan curve with ASUS GPU Tweak II reduced the temperature.
Pros:
-Extremely powerful hardware, able to handle all tasks without any issues
-Excellent liquid cooling system, keeping GPU and CPU cool at around 50 degrees Celsius
-Exceptional performance, with the RTX 4090 GPU providing blazing speed
-Clean cable management and attention to detail
-Massive video card is supported with extra brackets to prevent sagging and strain
Cons:
-Difficulty in getting fan monitoring and adjustment programs installed, causing frustration for less experienced users
-Without fan control software, the computer may have issues with overheating if pushed to its limits.

4. KAMRUI Mini Gaming PC

This is the Best portable prebuilt gaming pc

The KAMRUI Mini Gaming PC is a small, powerful and versatile computer that can handle gaming, photo/video editing, multimedia, browsing, and everyday use. It has 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and a Ryzen 5 processor, providing fast and reliable performance. It comes with Windows 11 Pro pre-installed and a sleek black design. The device is portable and easy to upgrade, and its noise levels are acceptable.
Pros:
-Compact size and portable design
-Fast and reliable performance for gaming, video/photo editing, and everyday use
-Comes with pre-installed Windows 11 Pro
-Capable of handling online games without frame drops
-Sleek black design with LED lighting that gives a gaming feel
Cons:
-Some users may require more storage space than the included 512GB SSD
-Some users may find the LED lighting too flashy or distracting

5. OMEN 30L Gaming PC

This is the Best of others prebuilt gaming pc

The OMEN 30L Gaming Desktop PC is an impressive pre-built machine that performs on par with benchmarks for a 10900K and RTX 3080 combo. It is attractive and well-built, making it a great choice for gamers and content creators who want a plug-and-play experience. The custom RTX 3080 has three fans with a curve that shuts them off when the temperature is low. While the fans under load can be loud, they are not out of the ordinary or annoying. The only criticism is that the compact case with three fans can lead to slightly high temps under load. The memory is already running at 3200, making it an excellent choice for those who do not want to spend hours squeezing every ounce out of their PC for maximum performance. It is a no-frills package that runs at stock speeds, making it a perfect choice for those who want the latest high-end tech.
Pros:
-Easy to set up and use, minimal bloatware
-Attractive design, looks like something that could be self-built
-Good gaming performance with i9 10850k and RTX 3080
-Anti-sag bracket included with GPU
-Side panel comes off easily for upgrades
Cons:
-Can get loud under heavy load
-Cable management is sloppy
-AIO cooler has minimal surface area and airflow

6. CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme VR Gaming PC

This is the Best prebuilt gaming pc for VR

The CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme VR Gaming PC is a high-quality pre-built gaming PC that exceeded the expectations of a picky and experienced PC builder. The case has ample ventilation with four 120mm CoolerMaster fans, and the motherboard is a solid MSI B460M PRO-VDH WiFi with dual M.2 NVMe slots, 4 DIMM slots, and several heatsinks. The GPU is a legit Gigabyte Gv-N1660SOC 1660 Super with 2 "windforce" fans, and the 500GB M.2 NVMe SSD is a decent WD Blue SN550. The price of the PC is impressive, and it even comes with extra cables and mounting frames for further upgrades. The PC is quiet and works smoothly, making it ideal for gaming, 4K video, and mining Bitcoin and Ethereum. The setup was easy, and the free upgrade to Windows 11 was a plus. The only minor complaint is that the RGB LED lights work with a remote instead of software.
Pros:
-Great 1080p gaming performance, capable of running most games smoothly
-A great productivity machine for non-gaming tasks
-Supports multiple monitors for increased productivity
-Cool RGB lighting adds a nice aesthetic touch
Cons:
-Standard 8GB RAM may not be enough for some users, and may require an upgrade for optimal performance

7. ZOTAC Gaming PC

This is the Best small prebuilt gaming pc

The ZOTAC Gaming MEK Hero G1 I1416FV Gaming PC Desktop features an Intel 11th Gen Core i5 11400F processor, 8GB 3200 MHz DDR4 RAM, and a 500GB M.2 NVMe SSD. It also comes with WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, as well as RGB lighting. The graphics card included is a GeForce GTX 1650 4GB, which is ideal for those who want to upgrade their GPU without having to purchase a new power supply, have a small case PC, or need a low power GPU that consumes 75 watts or less.
Pros:
-Small size for compact cases
-Fast performance and good benchmarks for its price
-Low noise level
-Draws power from PCI slot, no extra power pins needed
-Already overclocked, no need to increase clock speed
Cons:
-Requires good ventilation for latest games
-May require a good power supply for very graphics-intensive games

8. Skytech Archangel Gaming PC

This is the Best RGB prebuilt gaming pc

The Skytech Archangel Gaming Computer PC is a pre-built PC that comes with an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3rd Generation CPU and 8GB RAM, allowing for fast and efficient performance. It also has a 500GB SSD card for storage, with the ability to store up to 500GB of content. As a gaming PC, it features a GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6G GDDR5 graphics card, which is responsible for rendering images and content in games. The PC comes with a detailed pamphlet explaining how to connect and use the various features, including two HDMI ports for up to 2 monitors, USB ports for keyboard and mouse, and a splitter for headphones. The PC also features a visually appealing design, with a white tower and tempered glass window, as well as multiple RGB lights and three fans for cooling.
Pros:
-Clean and spacious internal build
-Capable of handling gaming and multi-tasking
-Comes with LED gaming keyboard and mouse
-Visually appealing with RGB options
-Fast load and boot up times
-Room for future upgrades
Cons:
-Limited RAM slots and PCIe components with included motherboard
-Fan can be loud
-PC can get hot

9. Alienware Aurora R14 Gaming PC

This is the Best prebuilt gaming pc with liquid cooling

The Alienware Aurora R14 is a powerful gaming PC with liquid cooling that runs games smoothly on high settings. It is equipped with an RTX 3080 graphics card, a Ryzen 9 5900 processor, and 32GB of RAM. It is highly recommended for those who are looking for a gaming PC. The computer is also suitable for business use, with good cooling and easy transfer of files from Windows 11. The machine is well-packaged and arrives in good condition. The pre-built option is a good choice due to current component prices and wait times. Dell support is reliable and responsive, able to resolve issues remotely. Overall, the Alienware Aurora R14 is a solid purchase that comes with a positive experience.
Pros:
-Great performance and speed, runs all games smoothly on high settings
-Liquid cooling helps prevent microprocessor failure from dust and lint buildup
Cons:
-Cheap keyboard and mouse included, should invest in Alienware brand

10. Skytech Shiva Gaming PC

This is the Best prebuilt gaming pc design side

Skytech Shiva Gaming PC is a quality budget option for FHD gaming. The PC includes an AsRock A320M motherboard, MSI RTX 2060 (Asus GTX in product photos), Seagate Barracuda SSD, and AData 3000mhz RAM (2x8gb). The build quality is great, cable management is well done, and the fans are quiet with good RGB effects. The PC handles FHD gaming well with frame rates consistently over 100 FPS, but may struggle with 1440P gaming. The included keyboard and mouse are entry level, but easy to upgrade.
Pros:
-Quiet with great front-to-back airflow
-Sleek and aesthetically pleasing low-profile design
-Range of RGB patterns
-Easy hard drive mounting
Cons:
-Misaligned I/O shield makes plugging in cables tricky
-No extra SATA cable included for hard drive installation
submitted by amazing-world-here to bestredditguides [link] [comments]

2023.03.28 04:27 HollowpointPen Ramen Reviewed: An Essay

In today's society, food is not given very much thought. It’s a simple need that must be satisfied three times a day, in our frying pans at home or in the booths of a diner. Each of us has our preferences, our Thanksgiving lineups, and our hole-in-the-wall shops. But for me, there is a food that stands out, transcends being an enjoyable meal, and serves a greater purpose. It both influences and is influenced by culture, history, memory, industriousness, capitalism, health, evolution, adaptation, and our own flaws as human beings. It is easy to take our food for granted, so I find it only proper to pay homage to what might be my favorite class of dish. It also happens to be among the most forgettable. No other food is more profound to me than ramen noodles.
Ramen is old, and not necessarily novel. It isn’t technically Japanese, either. The first recorded existence of ramen was isolated to the Yokohama Chinatown, just south of Tokyo, dating back to the late 1800s. It commanded a cult-like appreciation amongst Chinese immigrants living in Japan, working to maintain what little fragments of their culture they could, but living in Japan would ultimately sever most ties to their homeland. Ramen remained prevalent, and countered the distance decay through brute strength. It was simple, based upon Chinese hand-pulled noodle soup, and derived from pork dishes like Char Siu. It was a humble pork broth with chopped wheat noodles, a few seasonings, and a pinch of salt. Ramen remained this way for half a century, until being circulated throughout Northern Japan upon the wheeled carts and stalls of food merchants, becoming a staple street-food alongside Gyoza dumplings.
My first encounter with ramen is a rather insignificant memory. It filled a mundane purpose in my young life. It was cheap, readily available, and I could prepare it for myself. As things were then, these were the only types of food I could eat. Alongside Cheerios and PB&Js, ramen was the greater part of my diet (in amount, not quality). I never gave much thought towards the noodles themselves. I popped a package into a bowl of water, nuked it for three minutes, mixed the seasoning packet in, and ate as soon as the ramen was cool enough to scald my throat. Food was never important to me then, merely fuel in the tank, the means to surpass a routine obstacle in my day to day. My meals weren’t special in any way, how could they be?
Ramen wasn’t anything special in the nineteenth century, a food in a foreign land, doing whatever it could to generate profit for Japanese lower-class merchants by providing for Japanese middle-class laborers and preserving the subjugated culture of Chinese immigrants in a harsh land. There was a consistency between every seller that was appreciated, and it performed its role as a cultural anchor as well as could be expected in the dynamic shift that hit economically expanding Japan, abandoning tradition in favor of industry. Everything changed when the US dropped the nukes.
After Japan lost World War II, it was occupied by the US military to ensure a smooth transition from an Imperial dictatorship to Nintendoland. Up until 1952, the US had complete authority (and responsibility) over the growing food crisis. You see, the Rising Sun had plunged deep into the Asian continent and had grown to rely on forcible rice exports from China and Manchuria. After relinquishing its western claims, Japan succumbed to the worst rice shortage in its entire history. Luckily, the USA was in the business of fostering capitalist “utopias” in communist neighborhoods, and America was ready to bring home the bacon and show off its bread and butter.
The Japanese market was flooded with wheat flour and pork products, subsidized by the United States' own wartime super-production. In Japan, meat and bread became incredibly prevalent, with bread consumption between the years of 1948 to 1951 increasing from 262,211 tons to 611,784 tons, meaning the Japanese diet had a need for a dish that made use of the highly imported wheat product and prevalence of pork products. One food, remaining dormant within Japanese culture, became an overnight sensation. Ramen surged in popularity, benefitting from the USA’s surplus and the rapid acculturation of Chinese immigrants within the Japanese Empire over the course of a very bloody regime
Ramen remained inert in my diet as a reliable supplement when home cooking and restaurants remained a distant fantasy. However, after a rapid transition from the crumbling sidewalk-burbs of Converse, Texas, to the bustling metropolis of Houston, Mars, my lifestyle shifted. All of the mansions and villas I walked past had two stories, a detached garage, and cultivated lawns. Some neighborhoods had gates and guards. I discovered restaurants that charged multiple dollars for tacos. To almost be run over by a clueless Tesla driver became a common occurrence. It was a major culture shock, for me at least, and my diet reflected that. I still ate cereal for breakfast, but for lunch, I enjoyed an assortment of seared slabs of meat, salads, and starches, even at school, and at restaurants I ordered sides! Moving affected every aspect of my life, but the way I ate was an immediate and dramatic change, more well-suited for the way I felt inside. Safe, happy, and free to explore. But I would be lying if I said I didn’t feel homesick– not for my old school or my old friends, but for my old food.
Ramen in a bowl, run through the microwave for three minutes, seasoned with the mysterious contents of an aluminum packet, is nostalgic. But after my introduction to a few juicy burgers and one french dish that I cannot begin to spell, it didn’t exactly feel glorious to eat something that came in a block and went in a microwave. I was afflicted by a growing love for certain foods and seasonings. I started to sprinkle salt and pepper on my eggs. I learned to turn eggs into omelets. I felt the inclination to combine some of my favorite foods and enhance my spaghetti with a basil garnish. And my Maruchan was no exception. As I longed for home, I began to explore ways in which I could make warm tap water special.
A Yatai is a cart, fitted with wheels, that moves in fleets up and down the streets of the cities of Japan, finding the strategic position to intercept the patrols of pedestrians and to capitalize on the chokepoints of the commuter, to serve a famished patron who doesn’t have the time to take a seat in a restaurant. Here, in America, food trucks pop up in parking lots. In Japan, the Yatai cook materializes on every corner of every street, gravitating towards the rumble of a pedestrian's stomach. The conveniently aggressive business model of Yatai cart cooks can be traced back to the days when they not only had to capitalize on foot traffic but also had to skillfully dodge patrols of ration-enforcing GIs of the American occupation. The Yatai embraced a food of growing popularity, with ingredients of growing availability. Take a wild guess.
Yatai cooks, in their efforts to turn a buck, became prey for Yakuza gangsters hunting for a less-than-legal front for cash. I was shocked to learn the extent to which mobile noodle vendors became prey to the black market. As historian Owen Griffiths puts it in NEED, GREED, AND PROTEST IN JAPAN'S BLACK. MARKET, 1938-1949, as “the Americans maintained Japan's wartime ban on outdoor food vending, flour was secretly diverted from commercial mills into the black markets, where nearly 90 percent of [Yatai] stalls were under the control of gangsters related to the yakuza… Thousands of ramen vendors were arrested during the occupation”
Despite the greasy tentacles of the black market, the ramen Yatai cart represented the powerful grasp of western ideals upon a wounded Japan: entrepreneurship. A Yatai was a gateway for a skilled cook to embed himself in the national economy while remaining free-lance, to serve the flow of goods and services independently. For better or worse, the Japanese were now being placed into the eternal race for economic freedom through fierce competition. This endeavor went pretty well for about five minutes, until someone had an idea… and started a new empire.
At home, I began to innovate with my ramen. I watched videos and expanded my family’s grocery list. I conducted my experiments on lonely afternoons, in between episodes of Better Call Saul, and when I really should’ve been studying for PreCalc. But to say I wasn’t productive would be an injustice. I found joy in my exploration of food. I tested different amounts of soy sauce and salt– always in combination with the familiar aluminum seasoning packet. I soon graduated away from the mystery powder, using actual pork broth, not microwaved but heated on the stove in a pot. I scavenged the occasional hard-boiled egg or strip of beef, grazed a green onion, and minced my own garlic. I grew more confident in my ability to make ramen tasty, and soon I devoted more time and energy to making it than actually eating it, although both were equally delightful.
Ramen was accessible when I was young. When I ate soup, it was seldom unpackaged. A package of Maruchan soy-flavored noodles took a few minutes to prepare and was a tasty, warm option. It was cheap and easy, so I ate it more often than any other food. It was there when I wanted it and I needed it. It was there. I ate the noodles and drank the “broth” and was full. But that’s not the only way I ate ramen. It’s just the only way I prepared it.
My relationship with my father is complicated. It is painful. Since I turned twelve, it has been nonexistent. Among my memories of him is the occasional Thursday when would pick me up, take me to his apartment, and play video games with me and my sister. For dinner, he would make strip steaks, microwave some frozen vegetables, and, somehow, serve ramen noodles as a side. They were drained of their broth and served on their own in a bowl. And I’ll admit, I loved them. I had them three times. The third time was the last time I ever saw my dad.
Ramen noodles with him and ramen noodles at home were drastically different things. The drained noodles just filled me with a feeling of bitter finality, while the bowls of soup offered an endless journey. But in spite of my experimentation in the present day, I have never tried to make them the way he would’ve. I am not sure why. I like the idea of trying something new and exciting when I mix real ingredients with cheap noodles. Yet something about draining the broth and putting them on a plate feels wrong. For me, it is not allowed.
By 1950 the wheat flour controls imposed by the US occupation were relaxed and, eventually, removed. By the time small-scale entrepreneurs of the ramen Yatai carts were no longer outlawed, ramen had become a staple amongst the citizens of Japan, although it hadn’t yet crossed any oceans. It settled into a niche of urban street-food, until 1958.
Momofuku Ando invented Instant Ramen, propelling an urban delicacy into the revolution of mass production and knockoffs. Despite the disingenuous imitation, the instant noodle cups spread like a wildfire, cheap as dirt and a novelty in convenience stores. It reached the US and took over by storm, and by 1980, it wasn’t just a cultural icon– it was a global phenomenon. Ramen was recognizable at this point, but not for its humble presentation hailing from a small Chinatown in a Japanese industrial district. It was now known by the styrofoam standard-issue palm bucket employed by the lunchtime employee at the blue-collar grind, passing up on a good lunch across the street to save a few bucks and suck on factory-produced gruel with a plastic fork.
Make no mistake, every customer knew instant ramen was a better supplement for a meal than an effective main course. Instant noodles were always associated with an urban worker robbed of time, money, and physical (or mental) health. But that didn’t stop anyone from buying it and pouring the boiling water into the cup, because you have to keep the gears grinding somehow.
I had begun to fantasize about Ramen. I had reached the reasonable limits of glorifying my flash-fried noodle block. I wanted the real thing. I salivated over the thoughts of bowls of authentic tonkotsu– pork broth with beef and onion and salt and egg and real, hand-cut noodles. I scoured the web for restaurants and noodle houses in the Houston area. I hunted for recipes and ingredients. It became an obsession. I broadened my horizons and honed my skills in other food groups as well. I perfected my omelets, explored baking, and started preparing intricate sandwiches and experimenting with ribs and roasts. I made a half-hearted attempt to get the grill in the backyard to function(, but alas, my motivation did not extend to building outdoor IKEA furniture). Of course, the prevalence of a certain virus limited my culinary exploration to the confines of my own home.
Despite all my best attempts, a bowl of tonkotsu remained distant. I settled for the crude imitation I had grown familiar with, along with the growing lineup of traditional American meals I was far from mastering. As my life grew increasingly complicated, cooking took a back seat, as did most of my other interests. For the rest of my sophomore year in high school, food returned to its status as a need to be fulfilled in between a daily grind. I moved once more, to another home in Houston, and in the shadow of that shift, I entered a very dark period of my life. It was a return to the days of miserable cup ramen at a lonely desk, deadlines, and projects littering my thoughts like a cluttered bedroom, spiraling downward into my pit of despair, until the Winter Break of my junior year.
Today, ramen is primarily consumed by the masses in cup form. People eat it when necessary, but few enjoy it. Considering its 200-year-long history, accepting this as ramen's final form is... dissatisfying. To have something be so universally enjoyed while in a gilded state doesn’t sit well. I grew to enjoy the ease of instant ramen. Its cheapness made cup noodles an ever-present food in my diet, but I had become far more interested in enjoying the food I ate, both in the process of eating it and preparing it. I appreciated the efforts of a cook, far more than the pump of a machine or the hum of a truck. I wanted to understand the journey that brought ramen to its current state, the road it had traveled. I wanted to understand what made it so comforting to the Chinese workers in Yokoma, and appealing to the commuters of Japan, all those years ago.
Ramen had first been a stranger in a foreign land. Unwelcome and out of place amongst the rice and soba of the era, it had sheltered itself among the poor and marginalized immigrants, searching for a reminder of home. Once a crude imitation of a long-forgotten delicacy, history would show mercy upon the noodles. Mobile sellers and individual cooks would descend upon the hungry Japanese populace, and ramen could seat itself firmly within the culture of a people in a dark time of domination, of recession. Finally, it had been stripped of its ability to provide for the individual. It became a mass-produced, styrofoam-encased, microwave-heated incarnation of not having the time to enjoy your food. Instant noodles could branch out across the modern world, but their roots were not forgotten.
I flew in a plane, by myself, as an adult last Christmas. It was not as scary as I thought it would be. I made my connection just fine and enjoyed a good book. I arrived in Hartford four days before Christmas, and spent the next three days with my older sister in New Haven, admiring the colossus that is the Yale campus, a collection of Cathedrals with a city growing into its shade like flowers beneath a tree. It shook me, to walk the cold streets in what felt like the dead of night, struggling to keep pace with my sister, anxiously watching for cars, and keeping my footing on sloping sidewalks. But this environment had a charm to it. Regardless, my sister knew me well and considered what I would care about most in New Haven. On the first day, she gave me a tour of the campus and cooked salmon for dinner. On the second day, she took me to eat at a wonderful Indian restaurant. We watched a movie afterward. We talked about her thesis, (which just so happened to pertain to the history of food from a much different context,) and her time at college, and I enjoyed her sense of humor and taste in food. On the final night of my stay, she took me to another restaurant. A noodle house.
Cup ramen, despite the impression I may have aggressively pushed upon you, is not just the food of the lowly modern desk jockey. It is also a core part of the college experience, as broke academics on their final legs often rely on fifty-cent meals. That was not the case for my sister, however, who has worked hard and often, and has a fantastic opportunity at Yale. Still, ramen had earned itself a place amongst college students, and that interest had generated a demand for the occasional bowl of authentic tonkotsu. Thus, a noodle house like Mecha Bar was packed on a Friday night. I found myself at the end of the line, there in Mecha, having progressed my entire life struggling to appreciate the food that I ate most often. I ordered a bowl of traditional tonkotsu, as the chef recommended, and soaked in the atmosphere. I was overcome with a strange sense of victory and excitement, but my view from the peak of whatever mountain I had climbed revealed something unexpected.
Across from me sat my sister, tears in her eyes. She had received what she believed to be a poor grade on a paper and was devastated. I was puzzled, having never placed much weight on the grades my teacher gave me at that point. So, as I waited for my soup, I pondered. I thought back upon the ramen that I mindlessly warmed on the days on which we had no other food to cook. I reflected on my aimless journey, drifting from pitiful attempt to pitiful attempt, in the hopes of restoring a mockery of a dish back into its original form. I would come to the conclusion that I had failed. It strikes me as fitting now, just as it did then. I lacked the passion and motivation that awarded my sister the position that brought the ramen to my table. I lacked the roots and stability that my peers enjoyed, never knowing where I would be living from one month to the next, never knowing if I would be able to afford to spice up my instant noodles. I had coasted my entire life passing as approachable, polite, and intelligent upon the surface. In truth, I was an apathetic cynic, effortlessly and ineffectively stumbling over the footsteps of my sister, of my classmates, and of my role models. I had grown out of place, in a world where I felt like I didn’t belong. In a time of crisis, I had been forcefully shoved into the role of a happy child, adapting to the environment I had been so temporarily planted in. I had rounded out my adolescence feeling cheap, sputtering across the finish line, only succeeding because I believed I would always just be “ok.” As my sister mourned her GPA, I attempted to enjoy the dish before me, the last remnant of a spiritual successor to a long-lost soup, venturing from the depths of necessity into the dark era of displacement and demand, and succumbing to the ease of the modern era, maintaining its quality only on the exception that someone was willing to seek it out and pay for it, but never being the norm.
There is something to be said about the journey I have made from Converse to Houston. There is more to be said about the journey a certain food has made from Yokohama to its styrofoam prison. There is much to be said about the cheapness of men like me compared to the outstanding quality of a tonkotsu soup, of the miserable visage of a humming microwave alongside my sister’s imposing dedication. But I don’t want to say those things. I want to instead wonder where ramen will go now, that it has occupied the dual role of a cultural delicacy and a common backbone for the rabble. I want to think of the ways in which that bowl of soup at Mecha was more akin to the bowls in Japan than the many I had prepared at home, despite the simplicity of the pork broth and wheat noodles in 1890. The similarities came from the love and care, not just in the individual bowl of soup. I had given my instant ramen oodles of attention. No, it’s the love and care put into the legacy of preservation, the tradition of survival, in spite of cultural oppression, in spite of an occupying foreign force, in spite of an exploitative underworld, in spite of a spinoff that took the world by storm for all the wrong reasons. Because even if the instant noodles were an imposter amongst heroes, without it I never would’ve found this tale of hope.
Just as ramen noodles have a rich history of transformations, I too have experienced a complex assortment of positions and identities in my life. I’ve changed dramatically. I expect both ramen noodles and myself to continue to change– not just to adapt to the environment, to survive, but to preserve what we once were. The humility of being in a strange, dark, poor land, and doing all you can to do your job as best you can, filling the stomachs and souls of the broken and beaten down. And beyond this story of hope for me, of the goal to transcend my boiling limitations, is a critique of the modern world. The way we people are flash-fried in a factory, pulled apart and slammed back together, crammed into a lonely, stuffy, cacophonous jail, spun under an oppressive bulb, ignored, used, and tossed away. Ramen has been robbed of its purpose, but maintains its duty as a cultural anchor across the world, and holds the potential to wrestle its original purpose back, at least for me.
I give ramen noodles a 4.4 out of 5.
submitted by HollowpointPen to creativewriting [link] [comments]

2023.03.28 02:24 Sharkbite86 Cold start terrible idle help

Cold start terrible idle help
So I have an A-iPower 2000 watt SUA2000i generator which has a very rough “idle” when cold. It used to run great and had it running on natural gas for a time even.
However, after it became impossible to start I took it apart, put it back to gas only and have cleaned the carb multiple times very thoroughly. Now I can only get it to barely idle as shown in the video, until it will eventually “catch” and run perfectly. No issues once it really catches, but it will rough idle like that for 15min before it’ll finally catch (assuming it doesn’t die).
-Carb is cleaned -new spark plug which sparks -Cleaned air filter -fresh 91 gas and used fuel cleaner treatments on prior batches
Should I try a replacement carb? Could this be electrical related like a bad coil? Pretty stumped.
submitted by Sharkbite86 to Generator [link] [comments]

2023.03.28 00:50 RecentSpeed Which Dual Fuel Inverter For Whole Home Backup?

Last week I had a transfer switch installed with power inlet. I also bought a new dual fuel inverter I was excited to hook up and not deal with extension cords through open door in wind and rain and trip hazards inside the house. Problem is the electrician said that our transfer switch will not work the way I wanted because my generator is only 120volt and will only power single phase. I need 240 volt.
My questions:
If Champion had something available and I were to pick one of the overseas brand, I would pick Champion for the great customer support. They have chat, email, phone. They are responsive, knowledgeable, and helpful.
​
Thanks!
submitted by RecentSpeed to Generator [link] [comments]

2023.03.27 19:09 Xceptionless Project Starburst

Project Starburst
Overview: Project Starburst
Prepared by: Dr. James Hoffa Ph.D. (Exxstle Research Division)
Project Starburst
Purpose: To replicate naturally occuring crystilline power storage devices, for more efficient collection and distribution of Station/Ship usable power.
Problem: (Sham-Marckohs Station Core)
Sham-Marckohs has maintained a monopoly in the Expanse as the sole producer and supplier of Station Grade Power Cores (Station Cores). Put simply, SM Station cores out perform any of our attempts at long term high intensity power storage. As shown in Figure 1,📷 our current Baseline for Solar storage (Orange) maintains intensity under load for only a short time. Our experimental best, (DeepNull, Green) Shows a higher intensity, but flags quickly after use. Either giving us only 9 years of battery life, while providing only 9 yotta-watts of power. Meanwhile, the Sham-Marckohs naturally occuring core, seems to strengthen during use, as it’s significant seems to extend far beyond it’s expected life span as it channels more of it’s power. Some of the best performing cores lasting some 40 years or more, allowing a through put of up to a Zeta-Watt of power, possibly more with a perfect crystilline structure.
Fig.1
As we know, Sham-Marckohs’ edge in this competition lies in the proprietary ability to move these Station Cores at FTL (Faster than Light) speeds, thus requiring those wishing large amounts of power, remotely in the expanse to either purchase for them, or embark on a costly and perpetual cycle of engine generated power, fuel purchase and consumption, and battery replacement. Thus causing an inflation of fuel and power costs, beyond the purchasing ability of the bulk of our customer base.
Proposed Resolution: Project Starburst.
If we cannot move existing Station Cores to desired locations, then it stands to reason that we must produce them in place.
Station Grade Power Cores, as previously mentioned, are produced naturally. Blue Supergiant stars that have fused all of their Hydrogen fuel into helium, before the production of heavier elements like carbon and Iron will convert into Wolf-Rayet stars, and will fuse helium at it’s core, eventually shedding any gaseous atmosphere and laying bare a carbon-oxygen core. As this core cools, it’s internal pressure drops, allowing gravity to constrict the core. Most often, this will lead to a solar implosion, ending in a singularity. However, there are cases when a WR star begins to cool inside of a gravitational anomaly, where the core is able to cool far longer than a normal star of it’s type. When this happens, the carbon-oxygen core is further fused by gravity, producing a crystilline matrix, with a dense proton shell, and a superfluid Neutron core. Eventually, this also produces an implosion, however, this Crystilline Matrix is expelled from the detonation. Eventually settiling on forming planets with unique gravitational notes, namely planets of a specific mass, with an orbiting moon of a certain distance. Theoretically, this could also be achieved on a moon of a Gas-giant planet, with a complex system of moons, though this is highly unlikely.
When these planets have formed, the ‘Station Core’ Crystals will be drawn to the surface by the orbiting terrestrial body, and be trapped in the crust of rocky planets. The constant flex of gravity during the creation, and subsequent cooling of these crystal matrices allow them to store and channel ambient power as a non-harmful (to carbon based life) radiation, that properly manipulated can produce vast amounts of usable power.
We at the Exxstle Research Devision have discovered a process to produce this crystelline matrix artificially, using gravitational manipulation. We have been growing a large core on Toblerittles, which will make the planet power indepentent for the foreseeable future.
Corperate Protections: It is noted, that there are only a few places in the expanse that these crystals can naturally form. Using the data from GoomazonX Gravitational survey, we have Isolated the locations where cores may have, or could currently be forming.
Fig.2
It is recommended that we try to control as many of these locations as possible to limit competition.
NOTE: (Parasites)
It has been noted, during our experimentation, that we’ve seen evidence of simple parasitic life forms, operating on a microscopic scale. These seem to be silicate based life forms that seem to ‘feed’ on the basic radiation of the cores. These parasites, much like bacteria form large colonies, and even seem to work in harmony with each other, building interesting structures to maximise the amount of radiation gathered to the whole of the colony. While troubling at first, we have found that, while they feed on the basic gentle radiation of the core, if that radiation is manipulated to channel power, they are easily overwhelmed and die. This makes sanitizing our cores a simple process that is not cost prohibitive.
*****************************************************
submitted by Xceptionless to ThreadsOfFateGame [link] [comments]

2023.03.26 05:20 Grocery-Super Design of Brushless Permanent-magnet Motors

Design of Brushless Permanent-magnet Motors
The Design of Brushless Permanent-Magnet Motors, written by J.R. Hendershot and T.J.E. Miller, is a must-read for anyone interested in the design and performance of brushless permanent-magnet motors. Published by Clarendon Press, the book is the most comprehensive guide to the subject ever written and offers a combination of practical and theoretical aspects. It covers topics ranging from electrical and magnetic design to materials and control, making it a valuable resource for students and researchers in electric and electronic engineering.
Brushless permanent-magnet motors are becoming increasingly popular due to their simplicity, low maintenance, and easily controlled mechanical power. However, designing these motors requires a deep understanding of the underlying principles and technologies. The Design of Brushless Permanent-Magnet Motors provides such understanding by offering a comprehensive overview of the subject, including both practical and theoretical aspects.
Monographs in Electrical and Electronic Engineering
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One of the key strengths of the book is its focus on modern software-based techniques for design and analysis. As new magnetic materials and digital power control techniques continue to widen the scope of the applicability of such motors, the need for an authoritative overview of the subject becomes ever more urgent. The Design of Brushless Permanent-Magnet Motors fits the bill and is an excellent resource for students and researchers looking to stay up-to-date with the latest advancements in this field.
Learn more: The blueprint for making a permanent magnet generator
The Design of Brushless Permanent-Magnet Motors is a well-written and comprehensive guide to the design and performance of brushless permanent-magnet motors. Its combination of practical and theoretical aspects, modern software-based techniques, and deep understanding of the underlying principles makes it an invaluable resource for anyone interested in this subject. I highly recommend this book to students, researchers, and professionals in electric and electronic engineering.
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submitted by Grocery-Super to Mechatronics_Spin [link] [comments]

2023.03.26 04:23 Fn-2199Isloyal RTX worth it over GTX? Also could use help with my build

I’ve got an old Workstation that I want to build out.
Currently: Dual XEON 2620s 12 cores at 2.5 GhZ 32 gb ram Nvidia Quadro 4000 635 Watt power supply
Goal: Dual Xeon 2687w 16 cores at 3.8GhZ 32 Ram GTX 1080 or RTX something. Same power supply
My question is whether an RTX is really worth the money for a build like this. I know they have Ray tracing and DLSS and apparently those things are important. Also The CPUs are gonna bottle neck the GPU till I upgrade them I’m pretty sure. How bad will that be? GTX 1080s are like 150 on eBay. Any RTX is like 215 minimum for a 2060. Also, what do you guys think of this build?
submitted by Fn-2199Isloyal to buildapc [link] [comments]

2023.03.25 00:00 GardeningRunner Race Report: Tobacco Road Marathon

Race Information

Goals

Goal Description Completed?
A PR (3:48:51) Yes (15+ min PR)
B BQ (3:35) Yes
C Negative split Yes (59s)

Splits

Mile Pace
1 8:42
2 8:23
3 8:03
4 8:00
5 7:50
6 8:21
7 7:55
8 8:19
9 7:58
10 8:21
11 8:02
12 8:04
13 8:15
14 8:18
15 7:54
16 7:34
17 7:56
18 8:03
19 7:37
20 8:17
21 7:54
22 8:07
23 8:35
24 8:19
25 7:59
26 7:43
27 7:33
I want thank this community for your feedback to a previous post a few weeks ago(https://www.reddit.com/AdvancedRunning/comments/11emyz2). I posted that I was contemplating adjusting my goal from 3:35 to 3:30, and I got much sage (and some snide) advice not to risk it. Most comment suggested keeping my 3:35 goal and then attempting a negative split. I followed that advice and am very grateful for it.

Background and Training

55M
I started running in July 2020 to stay healthy during lockdown. I had attempted to take up running a few times in my life, but didn’t enjoy it and never stuck with it. But this time was different, and after a few weeks I started to look forward to my runs. Since then I have gone through four marathon training cycles with a local running group. The first (Fall 2021) was cut short by posterior tibial tendon problems, and decided to DNS. The second cycle peaked at 40 mpw, and yielded me a 3:49 finish for the 2022 Tobacco Road Marathon. My third marathon cycle peaked at 50 mpw, but ended with a very difficult race at the 2022 City of Oaks Marathon. The hot day, hilly course, and inadequate fueling resulted in a disappointing 4:17 finish. I walked a substantial amount of that race. A month later, I raced a half marathon in 1:43:23 (7:54 pace), which gave me confidence that a 3:35 marathon was within reach.
The cycle for my recent marathon peaked at 60 MPW, though only for one week. 45-50 MPW was more common. I did six 20+ mile runs and a couple more that were almost as long. Most weeks I did a tempo run and an interval workout.

Pre-race

Did some half-assed carbo loading for a couple of days before the race. Woke at 3:30am for the 7am race. I had a banana, two small croissants, and three cups of coffee. An hour before the race I had another banana, and 10 minutes before the race I had a liquid Gu and a couple of gummy worms.
At the lineup, I saw the 3:35 pacing group, so I asked one of the pacers what his plan was. He said they would go out a little fast and keep the same pace up and down the hills. And if they get ahead of schedule, they would slow down a little near the end. That was not what I wanted to do, particularly since the course is mostly uphill for the first two miles, so I decided to pace myself and try to catch up with them by the end.

Race

Conditions were perfect for a fast race. Temperature began around 34 F and did not warm up much during the race. The course is relatively flat with about 700 ft of elevation gain, the hills are gradual, but long. I fueled myself for the whole race with Haribro Gummy Worms. My plan was to eat one every half mile, which I had practiced in long runs. I carried my own water, with a little added salt, in a hydration pack.
I raced in Endorphin Speed 2, and paced myself with the help of a Stryd meter. I had previously worked out that I need to run at a power of about 270 Watts to maintain a 8:12/mile pace on the flat, so to be safe I aimed for a bit higher than this overall. I started slightly slower than this and ramped up my effort over the first 4 miles and then aimed to stay at around 272 W, equivalent to about 8:09/mile, for as long as I could.
At about 7 miles, my glutes were feeling a little tired, which I wasn’t expecting. I told myself that I couldn’t possibly be fatiguing yet and I convinced myself to ignore it. Things went smoothly, and at the halfway point I checked my watch and saw that I was at 1:47:xx, which was right on schedule for a 3:35 finish. Since my first few miles were a bit slower than target pace, I knew I would be fine if I could keep up my current power. Around this time I noticed that I had been forgetting to eat my gummy worms for the last couple of miles, so I downed a liquid Gu.
At mile 16, I was still maintaining my pace well, so I decided to pick up the pace slightly to bank a little time. I began aiming to maintain a power of 275 W, equivalent to about a 8:03 pace on the flat. This was the point in my previous two marathons when it became noticeably difficult to maintain my pace, so I was amazed that I was still feeling well so far into the race. Over the next miles I kept expecting to hit the wall, but found myself able to maintain my pace.
Somewhere around mile 21 I noticed that my peripheral vision was becoming distorted, which I have come to recognize as hypoglycemia and a sign that I was about to hit the wall. This was not good, since I still had a long hill ahead, but my legs felt good, so I stayed cautiously optimistic. I took stock of the gummy worms in my pockets and realized I had been eating far fewer than planned, so I threw a couple in my mouth, slowed my pace a bit to stay just above 270 W, and grabbed a cup of Gatorade at the next station. Somehow I continued to have the energy to keep my pace going.
When I reached the last aid station, I finally let myself believe that a 3:35 finish was a sure thing. I had 2 more miles, mostly downhill. The 3:35 pacing group was not far ahead, so I picked up the pace a little, with the aim of catching them over the remaining distance, just in case I was mistaken about how much time I had in the bank. I slowly gained on them, and in the last half few hundred meters, the pacers started calling out to encourage me to catch up with them. I stepped on the gas a little, and as I passed the last turn and saw the clock at the finish line, I started to get a little emotional. A few seconds later, I saw my wife, who was cheering me on, and really had to fight back tears. Man, it felt so good to cross the finish line.

Reflections

My number one lesson from this marathon cycle is the importance of fueling adequately. I realize that this is a little dimwitted, since fueling is emphasized in practically every book, blog, and article ever written about marathoning. I had previously paid attention to fueling, but I had not recognized just how much carbohydrate I needed to consume. This cycle, I practiced fueling aggressively during my long runs, and felt a big difference during those runs and in my recovery afterwards. I am convinced that fueling was the most important factor allowing me to maintain my pace and to feel good throughout the entire marathon.
Also, I have found the Stryd meter to be a really helpful tool for pacing optimally. By monitoring power, it is easy to ensure that I am not pushing myself too much up hills and to know how much to pick up the pace down hills. The latter is probably more valuable in a race like this, where the hills are long and gradual, because it is difficult (and probably dangerous) to maintain a constant power down steep hills.
Made with a new race report generator created by herumph.
submitted by GardeningRunner to AdvancedRunning [link] [comments]

2023.03.24 22:22 r3crac Excellway 2200W Gasoline Power Station Generator [EU] for 459.99 USD with coupon (Best price in history: $469.99) [Country limited!]

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submitted by r3crac to flashlight_deals [link] [comments]

2023.03.24 22:22 r3crac Excellway 2200W Gasoline Power Station Generator [EU] for 459.99 USD with coupon (Best price in history: $469.99) [Country limited!]

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Notes (coupon may work only in selected countries): Spain,Italy,Portugal
Damn, coupon doesn't work anymore? Currently best price is here: https://couponsfromchina.com/excellway-2200w-gasoline-power-station-generator-eu/ You can also set price alert there. Have a nice day!
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submitted by r3crac to couponsfromchina [link] [comments]

2023.03.24 13:25 HereForTOMT2 nah but like why is it I cannot remember what I did yesterday but my brain has crystallized all my mistakes in 4K HD to playback on a constant loop

Brain hit me with the Caught you in 8K UHD surround sound 16 Gigs ram, HDR GEFORCE RTX, TI-80 texas insturments, Triple A duracell battery ultrapower100 Cargador Compatible iPhone 1A 5 W 1400 + Cable 100% 1 Metro Blanco Compatible iPhone 5 5 C 5S 6 SE 6S 7 8 X XR XS XS MAX GoPro hero 1 2 terrabyte xbox series x Dell UltraSharp 49 Curved Monitor - U4919DW Sony HDC-3300R 2/3" CCD HD Super Motion Color Camera, 1080p Resolution Toshiba EM131A5C-SS Microwave Oven with Smart Sensor, Easy Clean Interior, ECO Mode and Sound On/Off, 1.2 Cu. ft, Stainless Steel HP LaserJet Pro M404n Monochrome Laser Printer with Built-in Ethernet (W1A52A) GE Voluson E10 Ultrasound Machine LG 23 Cu. Ft. Smart Wi-Fi Enabled InstaView Door-in-Door Counter-Depth Refrigerator with Craft Ice Maker GFW850SPNRS GE 28" Front Load Steam Washer 5.0 Cu. Ft. with SmartDispense, WiFi, OdorBlock and Sanitize and Allergen - Royal Sapphire Kohler K-3589 Cimarron Comfort Height Two-Piece Elongated 1.6 GPF Toilet with AquaPiston Flush Technology., Quick Charge 30W Cargador 3.0 Cargador de Viaje Enchufe Cargador USB Carga Rápida con 3 Puertos carga rápida Adaptador de Corriente para iPhone x 8 7 Xiaomi Pocophone F1 Mix 3 A1 Samsung S10 S9 S8AUKEY Quick Charge 3.0 Cargador de Pared 39W Dual Puerto Cargador Móvil para Samsung Galaxy S8 / S8+/ Note 8, iPhone XS / XS Max / XR, iPad Pro / Air, HTC 10, LG G5 / G6 AUKEY Quick Charge 3.0 Cargador USB 60W 6 Puerto Cargador Móvil para Samsung Galaxy S8 / S8+ / Note 8, LG G5 / G6, Nexus 5X / 6P, HTC 10, iPhone XS / XS Max / XR, iPad Pro/ Air, Moto G4 SAMSUNG 85-inch Class Crystal UHD TU-8000 Series - 4K UHD HDR Smart TV with Alexa Built-in (UN85TU8000FXZA, 2020 Model) GE 38846 Premium Slim LED Light Bar, 18 Inch Under Cabinet Fixture, Plug-In, Convertible to Direct Wire, Linkable 628 Lumens, 3000K Soft Warm White, High/Off/Low, Easy to Install, 18 Ft Bissell Cleanview Swivel Pet Upright Bagless Vacuum Cleaner Trane20,000-Watt 1-Phase LPG/NG Liquid Cooled Whole House Standby Generator.Caught you in 8K UHD surround sound 16 Gigs ram, HDR GEFORCE RTX, TI-80 texas insturments, Triple A duracell battery ultrapower100 Cargador Compatible iPhone 1A 5 W 1400 + Cable 100% 1 Metro Blanco Compatible iPhone 5 5 C 5S 6 SE 6S 7 8 X XR XS XS MAX GoPro hero 1 2 terrabyte xbox series x Dell UltraSharp 49 Curved Monitor - U4919DW Sony HDC-3300R 2/3" CCD HD Super Motion Color Camera, 1080p Resolution Toshiba EM131A5C-SS Microwave Oven with Smart Sensor, Easy Clean Interior, ECO Mode and Sound On/Off, 1.2 Cu. ft, Stainless Steel HP LaserJet Pro M404n Monochrome Laser Printer with Built-in Ethernet (W1A52A) GE Voluson E10 Ultrasound Machine LG 23 Cu. Ft. Smart Wi-Fi Enabled InstaView Door-in-Door Counter-Depth Refrigerator with Craft Ice Maker GFW850SPNRS GE 28" Front Load Steam Washer 5.0 Cu. Ft. with SmartDispense, WiFi, OdorBlock and Sanitize and Allergen - Royal Sapphire Kohler K-3589 Cimarron Comfort Height Two-Piece Elongated 1.6 GPF Toilet with AquaPiston Flush Technology., Quick Charge 30W Cargador 3.0 Cargador de Viaje Enchufe Cargador USB Carga Rápida con 3 Puertos carga rápida Adaptador de Corriente para iPhone x 8 7 Xiaomi Pocophone F1 Mix 3 A1 Samsung S10 S9 S8AUKEY Quick Charge 3.0 Cargador de Pared 39W Dual Puerto Cargador Móvil para Samsung Galaxy S8 / S8+/ Note 8, iPhone XS / XS Max / XR, iPad Pro / Air, HTC 10, LG G5 / G6 AUKEY Quick Charge 3.0 Cargador USB 60W 6 Puerto Cargador Móvil para Samsung Galaxy S8 / S8+ / Note 8, LG G5 / G6, Nexus 5X / 6P, HTC 10, iPhone XS / XS Max / XR, iPad Pro/ Air, Moto G4 SAMSUNG 85-inch Class Crystal UHD TU-8000 Series - 4K UHD HDR Smart TV with Alexa Built-in (UN85TU8000FXZA, 2020 Model) GE 38846 Premium Slim LED Light Bar, 18 Inch Under Cabinet Fixture, Plug-In, Convertible to Direct Wire, Linkable 628 Lumens, 3000K Soft Warm White, High/Off/Low, Easy to Install, 18 Ft Bissell Cleanview Swivel Pet Upright Bagless Vacuum Cleaner Trane20,000-Watt 1-Phase LPG/NG Liquid Cooled Whole House Standby Generator.
submitted by HereForTOMT2 to Vent [link] [comments]

2023.03.24 12:59 PilotHappy_TomHol 'OSCP' by MrTomHol [T13]

'OSCP' by MrTomHol [T13]

'OSCP' - Tom 13 - 'The Clock, almost always right'.

​
Accentual mapping.
As you probably already know, I'm living on this planet for some time now. So, you can imagine how many people I did meet with. If you didn't know, my life experience isn't based on one and only one little village, but on nice area of the Planet Earth. And what's most important, in relation to many cases I did gather personal views on things while being active member of the society, not as passenger or occasional drunk tourist - naturally without disrespect for such pleasures.
Once upon the time, I have noticed my mind is mapping people, just because people speak as they speak. It happened many years ago, but on variety of occasions such phenomenon mixed itself with the other factors during production of the results. Often it played the role in some approaches. In my case, wasn't easy to override such unusual aspect of the Human nature, but I've had done it successfully. In this chapter I will share with you some info about it, and hopefully such set of data will help you someday in finding pieces in the puzzles, which you've been looking for a long time. Aaaand, here we go - Let's say you are looking for the answer to very important question, and your life path leading you to the individual with extremely strong Russian accent. Prior to this event, all you hear is the news about Russian advanced military maneuvers, and on top of it, you've had met one individual speaking in the language similar to Russian. You didn't know that person was matter of fact from Ukraine and wasn't kind at all, it was drunk criminal and manipulative thief. Chances are massive, as soon as you will hear few words from that person, your mind will influence your judgment. Unfortunately very similar reaction may occur when you have something very important to accomplish, but only person on your life path is the Lady with unbelievably strong German accent. Unfortunately if your knowledge is little bit limited, and all you know about German Ladies is this - they were cherishing Hitler's defilades, also few moments before their illness started attempts to kill many sources of originality on the Planet. Matter of fact such Ladies where loudly defilading in the style's stolen from Romans and Greeks empire's. Yes, I know, also their logo was stolen from far far past. Anyways, with such base info your mind will most likely map that person characteristic based on such knowledge. Or this example - Someone told you, our fellow human beings with very dark skin tone are idiots, they don't want to work, they are useless, they are only good as slaves. With use of such data, whoever was your mentor, obviously attempted to make you idiotically sick racist. In many cases it happens because such mentors version of the truth was influenced by their own sick failures. Such malfunctions often happens because of simple lack of knowledge. In this example, let's say the doctor which you've had visited had very strong African accent. As the result, image of the personality was painted by your mind immediately after few words, with very unpleasant background, and you ignored very important information which doctor shared with you. Another example is Hindu accent. In many cases, when people hear it, image of stinky taxi driver from the past appears, because some idiots thinks this is one and only one version of Hindu person. Often the image is based on their terrible experience from rip-off kebab store, or on image of somebody with off-white skin tome, who is willing to kill others, because they thought their religion is only one and most important in the whole World. Could be unfair not to mention lovely Arabic, Latin or Asian accents. Idiots in the country like united states made nearly impossible to see most of those fellow human beings in realistic and true light. As you can see, unusual mapping happens when variety of accenting is active. Specific British accent for example may lead to image production which is painted in strictly intoxicated and uncivilized rainbow colors but with hidden character of Edward 8, or such imaging may be influenced massively by 'Truli Syndrome'. The syndrome is described in Tom 3. Obviously, some people thinking such crazy mind things are limited only to locations far away, between the regions far apart. Seems like, this is not truth, and following example explains why not. Once upon the time, one of the researchers from UK had occasion to deal with individual from Wigan, it is small town in England. There massive part of society using unusual dialect. Some people are saying, back days, when they were wild tribe, they came up with such method of communication for a reason - to make impossible to understand them, while they were making conspiracy against other tribes. Anyways, experience with the person from Wigan was terrible, not only because whole case was very difficult, but mostly because person was extremely rotten mentally. Sometime later, the same researcher had met someone totally different, matter of fact very positive educated smart and peaceful person, also from Wigan. Unfortunately that person had the same Wigan accent, as the ill person from the past. What happened next is very interesting. Characteristics of the personality wasn't painted by the mind correctly. Image was based on mentioned example from the past. In the result, whole co-relation was badly influenced by such factor. Examples based on significant accents may go on and on, probably in the length similar to the list of the languages on this Planet. Currently we estimating the count of such communicative ability in count of about 7100. Before I will throw at you final thought, please make sure you understand content from the chapter 'Floor number 13' in Tom 1. The power tool required to activate some changes in 'Accentual mapping' has there few very important supportive mechanisms. So, I've had come up with simple tactic. As soon as someone starting to speak with significant accent (in chosen language of our communication), I can consciously recognize chemical reactions associated with sensation based on described in this chapter phenomenon - 'accentual mapping'. In few simple words: ' It's possible to feel it, when accentual mapping is happening'. Naturally I have in mind possibilities amongst sober people with at least average chemical balance in their brains. Although, it all means, when you are in control of such sensation, the verbal communication starting to have different value. You will actually start to hear what other person is saying, you will understand what that person is talking about. You will understand real meaning hidden inside of such simple vibration of air molecules. And please, with cherry on top, always have in mind - monologues and dialogues have different names for a reason.
...
​
Stupidity, misleading factor.
However we are looking at the word 'Stupidity', one thing is probably most common - not many people can actually formulate understandable definition of such a simple word. To make it easier for you, here's one of many such definitions: 'Stupidity - doing the same things, in the same way, but expecting different results'. Human nature is unbelievably complex, without a doubt. Situation may look little bit different if really intelligent life form is looking at the Humans, and at one point of such observation is asking - so, they can't afford to live on the Planet Earth ?. Undoubtedly such question may sound insane, but if accompanying argumentation is available, opinion about such question may be little bit different. Lets say the fundamental problem with Humans is actually their own creation, the money. In many cases people discovered, their one and only one home Planet is dying because of their activities. Such activities also causing their collective health problems, including serious mental health issues. If you look closely, unfortunately whole approach is based on truth, because people have built economy mechanisms which basically saying - things are not affordable. It relates to new energy sources, carbon extractors, plastic pollution, better education, new vehicles, healthcare system, better infrastructures, better housing, healthy food and many other subjects. What is interesting, is the reason why Humans are in such position, and how they got there. Once upon the time someone said: 'Originality is overrated, smart people copying smart people'. Such approach is well known to many individuals. As well, is known already why so many monkey businesses exists - in this case monkey business means: 'Monkey see, monkey do'. In this book few subjects associated with the matter are visible, for example 'Rubber neck menu'. However, results from many researches saying, massive part of Humans looking at other people results, and if they believe their results are lucrative, it triggers their own monkey business mechanism. And just like that, World is fulfilled with almost identical disciplines during the global Olympics to nowhere. Some people are saying this is good, because businesses are working, trading is alive. Yeah, cool, but unfortunately such loud trend has additional real side effect. Massive part of Human kind blindly sniffing for mentioned successful finish lines, and very often without a pinch of thinking throwing them selves into the mechanisms with only one desire- to reach identically successful finish line. Very often this is the field where cheaters, liar's, and huge spectrum of bad actors have their sick polygon. Fabrication of images painted with fake successes these days is for some idiots a mission, a job, or paid sick assignment. Yes yes, we all know it, very often people get pay for telling the lie's. In the result monkey businesses copying their directions, and just like that 'Stupidity' runs in the circles. To summarize this chapter, I have something special for you, it is an idea. Please dive into Gov databases with the records of businesses closed down because of financial failures. Additionally, please find volume of people living in unmanageable debts. After you finish your research, make sure you remember this: 'Somewhere in their lifetimes, they've had seen results which blocked their thinking, at the same time such misleading factor started their own monkey businesses'.
...
​
Special Unit.
Lately reports in England delivering worrying data, associated with the youngsters. In the accordance with the information, Police is present in schools very often, because of variety of very strange behaviors. Unfortunately many of such cases ending-up as strip searches. Unfortunately such actions are taken in the circumstances where very young Humans behaving extremely uncivilized. Probably anybody can imagine how serious situation must be, if cops have to conduct such a difficult procedures. On the other hand, not every cop is an angel, as we all know already. By the way, same thing is with the coaches, priests, politicians, doctors, leaders, parents and many others. However, because situation at the schools is as is, this is why 'MSU' (Mobile Special Unit) was created. The device on-board of special vehicle is very similar as those which we see on the airports, little bit smaller and more sensitive, but overall purpose is exactly the same. Similar story is with additional tech on-board of special vehicles. They are equipped with illegal drugs testing devices, and mini lab capable of finding variety of particles. So, from now on, whole search is done by making pockets empty, rest is done by the cool and very well trained Police personnel, in accompany with very modern technology. However, I'm afraid youngsters aren't aware, results from the scans are implemented almost automatically, and data will be available 'forever' - for schools, sports clubs, workplaces, insurance companies, NHS, and GOV in general. You may believe in it or not, but in cooperation with IT super geniuses, collected data contain also info about authors of potential allegations. It means, if someone providing faulty accusations against other people, database will have such info. Yeah, new tech, is cool, no doubt. Although, on one hand brilliant resolution, on the other hand this is very sad story. Who knew, youngsters will find themselves in the era, where such tactics will be required for their own good. However we are looking at the subject, I know one thing - it's OK, if new approaches will help them grow up safely, and foremost, if tactics will help real cool adults in building better society with improved and safer future.
...
​
United Kingdom.
While reading whichever part of this book, did you ever wonder why so many mentioned subjects have roots in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland ? - Well, because I live in the United Kingdom, and already for many years this is my home. Obviously my natural HOME is the Planet Earth, but I'm sure you know what I mean. Lately (when time is allowing) I've been working on adjustments which have man-made roots in the past, plenty of it in 30's. It is in fact mind setting, amongst massive part of the society. Such factor travels from one generation to another, it is something like strange trend, sometimes way of living, sometimes mad craziness. Work isn't easy, subjects often are very complex and total amount of data is so big, it's not easy to describe it. Humongous - nice word, isn't it ?. At his stage, everyday something different makes my life more or less difficult. As you probably expecting, some members of the society love the progress, some others are angry like a virus while facing remedy. Reason for such totally different reactions is simple, some Humans are able to understand what's happening, some are stack mentally in dangerous areas of 30's, or generally somewhere there in the past. Primary concept, whole direction and purpose is based on simple adjustment - it is, hidden meaning of "United Kingdom". Today is Tuesday, and currently we are in the year 6771; 5783; 4720; 2776; 2563; 2023; 1944; 1444; 1401; 230, etc. Set of digits depends on the author of the book known to many as calendar. Believe me, the worst thing you can do to yourself is to judge which one is better one, which one is the only one ever existing, which one is only one correct. What I mean is, pyramids exists not only on the territory of one region. The difference between them is significant - what was the purpose of such structures, and what kind of progress and life quality improvements Humans gained from them. Anyway, since people created union of the regions, since they attempted to kill each other because of it, since they used slaves to accomplished few simple things, since they couldn't understand each other, since many idiotic things happened, a lot of time passed by. The World is changing, but some changes amongst habitants of this Planet doesn't come easy. Especially, when adjustments must take place in some parts of primitive Human nature. Not mentioned, parts of the nature disturbed by chemicals, mental illnesses, economical failures, abuses, faulty directions, or forced behaving. Man-made land boarders appears and disappears, depends on the situation and collective consciousness. Humans family will be always Human's family, regardless who and why create the boarders. Naturally not all boarders are bad and only bad. Sometimes brilliant societies working very hard to accomplish things, administrative boarders allowing things to be regulated, for the safety and prosperity of many individuals. Although, this part of the book isn't about water lines, barbed wires, or beaches, but about real meaning of the "United Kingdom". Most likely, very soon previous model of the definition related to such name may cause serious confusion. Not only because real valuable Gentleman's doesn't want to wear skirts, but because administrative stability is at the level know to many well-developed Humans as brand NEW. In such scenery, so called United isn't based anymore only and strictly on few regions, but on People - devoted to building 'United Kingdom'. Regardless, if they are present on the territory of the island or not. On this planet we have about 4000 religions, on the territory of current UK we have many of them. The same with the languages, few thousands of them on the Planet, few of them in the UK. Whole success, and whole beauty about the real 'United Kingdom' is, if they will know about the mutual purpose, they will learn how to build mutual Home. Yeah, including our fellow Human beings known as atheists, or those our friends who believe only in the power of the money, they are known as modern capitalists. Naturally, we all have one mutual tool - communication in English language. To help you understand how powerful such structure may become, imagine, just imagine, what will happen if you will take some most talented people from each country and you will place them under one roof. Naturally with simple understanding, they are there to live their life's. Not to fight with life, damage other's religions, destroy or kill life and everything what relates to it. Anyways, described in this chapter adjustment is easy to understand, and may look as easy as treble clef. Real situation is little bit different, especially when well-known and very common factors coming into the play. One of them is one of the strongest currencies on the Globe, and the other may be Human factor known as bad actors without imagination. So, without a question, the road isn't downhill yet. Nowadays, the enemy of the progress may be the group of people with toxically imprinted stupid doctrines, sometimes it could be lack of knowledge, also amongst people in charge. All of it also mean, this is the moment when some people will finally realize fact, whole collective is moving up-hill. To summarize: 'Challenging matter it is, to adjust for better few things, at this very rainy but lovely 'United Kingdom'. However, if I stepped on your head mate, I mean with this chapter, please find a sec in your super fast busy life and jump into the chapter 'God's heathy sense of humor' [Tom 7], it will make you feel better. Cheers.
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Soldier.
Military subjects are present on the pages of the history books, almost everywhere. Some of related activities on the Planet Earth are so tragic, people started to say: 'Without Army's wars aren't possible'. No doubt, it is interesting statement, but in todays World such peaceful concept is not achievable, at least not yet, if ever. What is kind of interesting, regardless of all past Centuries with bloody violence scenes, people continuously having a lot of interest in devices designed and produced to kill their own fellow Human beings. Youngsters spending hours in front of the screens while killing others in the virtual world, and these days such activity isn't limited only to angry stupid boys. Basically whole aspect has impact on Human nature, and often Militaria shaping people's perception on the reality. The reason for the content in this chapter is very simple, it is the truth. Primary question is: 'If army trained individual, and as a civilian such person used their knowledge to harm others, or destroy things - it is GOV responsibility or strictly and only Army's responsibility ?'. Unfortunately in my life I've had few occasions to work with post-army individuals, and the cases wasn't easy. On top of it, very often tag associated with their background wasn't helping at all. Average person see simple Soldier as their hero. Naturally not many taking on-board fact, sometimes they kill others because of simple order, or because they go 'kuku'. Cases from united states army are most common, and isn't pleasant to examine any data related to it. On the territory of the UK very often they ending up in the companies based on variety of industry's. In many cases their already disturbed psychological condition is mutating into psycho-sicko and things often aren't easy to solve by the force themselves. One way or another, fundamental question remains: 'Who's responsible or who should be responsible, if Soldier go 'kuku', after the release from the service and while amongst the civilians ?'. Naturally the question relates exactly the same to the Soldier from Afghanistan, as relates to Soldier from Russia, China, EU, Africa, Northern Ireland, Ukraine, Scotland or England.
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Homo Drugpiens.
During one of the assignments, Prof had discussion with very interesting person. Unexpectedly after some time he become one of Prof's unusual friends. Until his last days exchanges of knowledge had very interesting style, but whole approach was never in other than strictly Gentleman's style. He was a main Chief of organization known in the united states as Gaylords. His position in such rough World wasn't one and only one reason why Prof was assigned for the 'research'. He was the Veteran, Vietnam Veteran. Discussions about many dark corners in Human nature wasn't unusual, at least not for the Prof. Maybe Prof's approach was as it was, because he already knew few real Man from organizations like Hells Angels, Folks, Kings, People, Japan tribe, Cobras, Chinese mob, and few others. Unfortunately today many of them are already gone, and huge spectrum of secret knowledge about very interesting Human nature is gone with them. Some others, are somewhere doing multiple lifetimes of imprisoning. In many of such cases their mutated consciousness will never reveal real facts about the moments when they lost, themselves. Partially for them, and for everybody else who ever lost own personality, is dedicated this chapter.
In many cases Prof had noticed one mutual factor, the substances. If it wasn't alcohol, it was powder, if not powder, it was rocket fuel, if not rocket fuel, it was weed, if not weed it was some kind of farming chemical. lab toxic creation, or some kind of mutation of the plant. etc. It was always something what altered their perception and cognitivity. As you already know, beside of biology, IT, chemistry or physics, one of Prof's fields of interest is neuro-psychology. Maybe this is why during discussions about Life some subjects acted as eyes opener agent, at least for some people. Today is Thursday, March 2023, and we are living in the World where kids without a handful of pills aren't able to go to schools, and for everything they have medication. Obviously it is happening in most modern country's with super democracy and juicy capitalism. Could be unfair not mention here adults, their habits and their white addictions. For example, latest results indicating, approximately 80% of population in England consuming some kind of chemicals/drugs. Mostly these are pain killers, but massive part of them is under the influence of strong stimulant's. You may try to convince yourself this is not truth, but after that, consume some analysis based on truth. So, Prof had earned more than one key to crucial factors in the reality and what is interesting about each case he worked on, everywhere he noticed - Human's perception and whole brain activity is nothing less nothing more than just one big chemical reactor, naturally with little accompany of energy (electricity if you like). Often he was saying - this is why everything matters - air, food, water, senses, how they treat each other, what they say, how they act, everything. If you ever wondered why Prof wrote about the Brain so many works, well, I guess, because thanks to some specific brain reactions, some people are able to read with understanding books like this one. Although, lets go back to the present days. Until these days Prof strongly believe problems with Human nature are rooted in the behavior, such factor itself acting often like a special child, if without conscious control. Because lack of real true knowledge exist on massive scale, in last couple of hundreds of years People poisoned themselves with variety of substances, often intentionally. And once again, please always have in mind, remembering is one thing, understanding is totally different thing. The same story is with education and intelligence, two different things. If you know the difference, you should understand - behavioral poisoning continuously exist, and is harvesting very strange results. But, regardless if it is hate or empathy, all is based on chemical reactions. Many such reactions may be addictive, almost the same as toxic drugs. Who knew, for example factor known as discrimination may be addictive. Yeah, believe in it or not, moment of falling in love has similar composition of sub-effects as little tiny dose of amphetamine. If you know what amphetamine is made of (exact chemical composition), and what such chemical composition is actually doing to the body, you will easily understand why cheating for example may become addictive - yeas, cheating is like falling in love, over and over and over again. Somehow all subjects in this chapter come to one point, and it is one simple 'IF' - what if, Humans are no longer Homo Sapiens, because without noticing it, they mutated themselves into Homo Drugpiens. The sad part of the story is, if such 'IF' is correct, chances are massive, people's difficulty in understanding simple things will increase with time. Because their Brains are off chemical balance like ever before. However, to optimistically summarize this chapter, here's something really special. Something what Prof said many times: 'Regardless of the circumstances, when they are sitting in Evil's shit up to their ears or when they are drowning in sick negligence's, some of these substances will make them strongly believe - they're feeling good, and direction of their existence is alright'.
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The end
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LINK TO Tom 1 ; Tom 3 ; Tom 5 ; Tom 7 ; Tom 9 ; Tom 11 ; Tom 15
'OSCP' by MrTomHol
submitted by PilotHappy_TomHol to u/PilotHappy_TomHol [link] [comments]

2023.03.24 11:42 miarrial Mazda throws a diesel paving stone into the EU's pond

Link in French : Mazda lance un pavé diesel dans la mare de l'UE
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It is the humble answer of the Japanese shepherd to the Brussels shepherdess, the imagination of engineers is much better than the abstruse regulations of the EU.
The diesel on the CX-60 is not a windmill and the electricity of the hybrid is produced on board, when slowing down and braking.
In the land of the king of diesels, we're not going to come back from this. France, which has been so successful in spreading diesel engines by the hundreds of thousands, was never able to defend it when regulatory dogmatism emerged. At the same time, instead of giving up, the Japanese company Mazda has, as usual, worked without preconceived ideas on a new diesel engine that overturns all preconceived ideas about it.
The brand will soon launch a longitudinally positioned in-line 6-cylinder engine (German style) on the European market, running on diesel and emitting less than 130g of CO2. With a fuel consumption of 5.2 l/100 and a range of more than 800 kilometers, it is designed for heavy drivers who want, at 50,000 euros for a CX60, to have a work tool that does not require elaborate refueling plans as with the electric.
The straitjacket imposed on polluting engines in Brussels is perfectly respectable, as long as engineers are allowed to find the best way to clean them up. This is obviously not the case. Instead, European white-collar workers have dogmatically pointed to the solution: electric, nothing but electric.
Professor Nimbus
We need to get past the bad business of dieselgate and the flogging of all diesel engines in the same garbage can, and realize the particular advantages of this technology. With its high compression ratio, it already burns gases more completely, which explains its intrinsically lower consumption than gasoline. But, based on this observation, it was necessary to do even better and not only with downstream filtration.
Mazda sent its Professor Nimbus to the European journalists, who came to present the advantages of its new generation engine with a lot of graphics and animations. With a basic premise adopted since the wave of "downsizing": at Mazda, each job has an ideal engine size. And rather than reducing them, Daisuke Shimo assures that on a large SUV like the CX60, it is indeed a... 3.3-liter engine that should be installed. He now does it longitudinally, which allows him to add different hybrid or electric systems and transmissions in the future without any installation problems. The last in-line six-cylinder diesel presented was that of Mercedes, which had thus joined the BMW solution by abandoning the V6. But that was in… 2016.
Since then, a lot of diesel fuel has flowed into European pumps, but less and less, given the threats that are looming, particularly from certain cities that want to purely and simply ban access to diesel, without distinguishing between technologies and generations. This is obviously absurd and could be argued as blind discrimination where some diesels meet current standards. This is the case with the Mazda, which has a Crit'Air 2 sticker in France, and emissions of 128-130 g for the 2.0 l version.
How did Daisuke Shimo's team achieve this incredible result on a 1.9 ton vehicle? In several ways, starting with a dual combustion chamber whose egg-shaped design creates a mixing effect that greatly improves combustion, triggered by several differentiated injections. Combustion is thus lean, forcing the quantity of air in relation to that of fuel. This system, called "DCPCI", is the pride of the Japanese, who have also designed a block no heavier than a four-cylinder engine. It is available in 200 hp and rear-wheel drive and 254 hp and 4-wheel drive versions, with sensors engaging the front wheels if necessary.
Accelerated idling
The treatment of cold emissions is particularly well thought out, with a kind of accelerated idle at start-up to force exhaust gas recirculation and thus reduce gross NOx emissions under real-life, not laboratory, conditions. "Depending on the circumstances, the system can run for up to eight minutes," says Laurent Thézée, head of Mazda France. But the goal is to start as quickly as possible, which further accelerates the ideal temperature rise for effective filtration, especially of the SCR catalyst.
To support this already spectacular performance, Mazda used a light 48V hybrid system, a solution that it believes should be extended to the entire range in the future. It should be enough for about ten years to satisfy the rules (while waiting for the content of Euro 7) without jumping to all-electricity.
It is made up of a 0.33 kWh lithium-ion battery housed in the floor and a 12.4 kW electric motor. Mazda has calculated that on the WLTP cycle, it operates alone 37% of the time, leaving the diesel engine stopped precisely where it is least efficient. Since this happens in the city, air quality is largely preserved. The battery is powered by energy recovered during deceleration and braking.
Our test drive (read elsewhere) puts the advances provided by this winning tandem into real life, and buyers still need to be reassured. "We still have a professional clientele that is very attached to diesel and has even come back to all-electric vehicles, which are not suitable for heavy drivers," says Laurent Thézée. They are already convinced of the validity of the solution and, at 50,000 euros for the 200 hp version, we have a competitive and rational offer. What remains to be done is to reassure companies that the solution will last. This is why we have set up financing and long-term leasing solutions that exempt these users from having to resell the vehicle, in a context that may have changed. The vehicle is returned to us at the end of the contract and it is up to us to manage the rest. Even if the decisions of Brussels are unpredictable, at Mazda, we seem very confident in the next few years which will remain diesel.
submitted by miarrial to europes [link] [comments]

2023.03.24 04:10 LoganTheGuitarist More Alan Praise, Car is back from a blown motor better than ever!

More Alan Praise, Car is back from a blown motor better than ever!
Car has an Escape Motor with 126k on the clock, Scooter Cantweld/michael_st Elbow, Garrett GTX2867R gen2 .64 A/R, Garrett Powermax Intercooler, CPE Charge Pipes, Tial BOV, FSWERKS Intake with AEM Filter, and an AWR Rear Motor Mount all on stock fuel and a stock clutch with plenty of life on it!
submitted by LoganTheGuitarist to FocusST [link] [comments]

2023.03.23 18:01 Temporary_Noise_4014 Shiftcarbon (CSE: SHFT, OTC PINK: SHIFF) Continues To Grow Carbon Offering

Shiftcarbon (CSE: SHFT, OTC PINK: SHIFF) Continues To Grow Carbon Offering
ShiftCarbon (SHFT.CN) is a platform that allows clients, large and small, to measure their GHG emissions comprehensively, set reduction goals, and embed carbon offsetting into their business.
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https://preview.redd.it/bzhmrexasipa1.png?width=308&format=png&auto=webp&s=4d050800985a527563f1c928bb9f26902db9e421
To gain a foothold in this socially responsible sector that also encompasses superior growth potential, SHFT is a viable and direct proxy.
According to the Corporate Credit Institute*,* a carbon credit is a tradable permit or certificate that provides the holder of the recognition the right to emit one ton of carbon dioxide or an equivalent of another greenhouse gas. The main goal for creating carbon credits is to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from industrial activities to reduce the effects of global warming.
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https://preview.redd.it/k0eqcy8dsipa1.jpg?width=1379&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=190822810552a3f50056a8b8a6377cdec3d33363
Before getting into the impressive green initiatives that ShiftCarbon is bringing to the massive cruise ship sector—of which it has deep business roots through its TraceSafe technology–put the following on your webinar list:
Shift Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call
When: Tuesday, March 28, 2023
Time: 2:00 p.m. PT (5:00 p.m. ET)
Live Call: (833) 634-1255 or (412) 317-6015
Live Webcast: https://investors.shift.com/
The Greening of the Cruise Ship Industry Here’s a video to see what these behemoths are doing to reduce the carbon footprint of this popular vacation choice. SHFT will play a large part that should add significant revenues and visibility. And then there is the potential for other forms of shipping and the movement of goods.
SHFT’s foothold in the leisure cruise sector is on the back of the cloud-based Tracesafe. That has resulted in ‘Focused Footprint,’ recently announced.
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https://preview.redd.it/5axkt7uesipa1.png?width=243&format=png&auto=webp&s=b09b8572c820aa012fc13c3d99027c432adac807
According to McKinsey and Company, only 9% of surveyed companies can measure their emissions accurately and frequently, with over half of firms acknowledging an error rate of as much as 40%. To say the field is open to technologies surpasses understatement.
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https://preview.redd.it/v3m1u72gsipa1.jpg?width=877&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fed86713a397ffbb145f2b99aeec5e46adcb2046
The maritime industry is highly dependent on fossil fuels and emitted about 1.2 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) in 2020, equivalent to about 3% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This is more than the world’s 5th GHG emitting country.
“…in 2023 Royal Caribbean-owned Silversea will become the first cruise line to launch a hybrid powered ship using three different energy sources: the 728-guest Silver Nova will have a hydrogen-based fuel cell system to supplement the main power supply, battery technology, and dual fuel engines, which use liquefied natural gas (LNG) as their main fuel.” (Mundy Cruising)
The cruise industry has chosen 2035 as the target date for Net Zero emissions.
ShiftCarbon’s proprietary tech is undoubtedly required for achieving these goals, underpinned by its “platform that allows clients large and small to comprehensively measure their emissions, set reduction goals, and embed carbon offsetting into their business.
Recent Shiftcarbon Developments of Keen Interest to Investors
  • Launching a new cloud platform designed for carbon offset project measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) automation. 03/07/23.
  • Announced its first revenue-generating engagement with solutions by stc. The first phase of revenue from this project is estimated to be US$5 million, with the potential for additional revenue in the form of a long-term supply of goods as the smart city becomes operational. 02/23/23
  • Introduce Focused Footprint for the marine industry, a feature that allows cruiseliners and transportation companies to calculate their carbon emissions through guided steps focusing specifically on the marine industry. 02/16/23
As Investors will note, not only is SHFT on the cutting edge of reducing and ultimately eliminating GHG expulsions, but tech is relevant to many industries. This piece highlights the massive cruise industry, but it could have been many others. The Company is not late to these issues, as you can see below;
SHFT Stats
10+ Years building innovative technology.
50+ Customers in over 40+ countries.
5.5B+ Datapoints processed in 2021 alone.
1M+ IoT devices manufactured.
Need more?
The Company says it best IMHO;
Shiftcarbon provides an innovative platform for carbon accounting, offsets, and MRV (Measurement, Reporting, and Verification) automation. Businesses can use Shiftcarbon Measure to view a complete picture of their carbon emissions without hiring external consultants or using manual calculations. Shiftcarbon Offset provides enterprises with powerful APIs that allow customers to embed carbon offsets into their business. Find more details on www.shiftcarbon.io.
The potential—particularly at a market cap of CDN$4.4 million and a share price below a dime—should be apparent.
submitted by Temporary_Noise_4014 to PennyHaven [link] [comments]