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... not Russel! Registered Member #1
Joined: Thu Jan 26 2006, 12:18AM
Location: Tempe, Arizona
Posts: 1052
Some of them are for real, it seems. The others are just trolling for reactions. I wouldn't get too worked up about it. Better to spend time draining the swamp than wrestling with individual alligators.
Registered Member #543
Joined: Tue Feb 20 2007, 04:26PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4992
Extra-institutional and non-corporate science has been held in public suspicion for some time, though this has not always been the case.
Victorian scientists worked as often at home as they did in university laboratories, a practice which continued well into the 20th Century.
Now we have a situation, promoted I would say by the peer-reviewed corporate cabal, where the amateur scientist is regarded as a crank, a fringe figure, slightly ludicrous, whose misguided experiments may pose a threat to the wider community.
When you add to this the governmental promotion of foreign Terror Beliefs marketed as an existential threat to society - a media-political process which has helped transform the United Kingdom from being a nation of citizens into a nation of suspects - the situation of the amateur scientist is not a good one.
Registered Member #1221
Joined: Wed Jan 09 2008, 06:17PM
Location: Odense, Denmark
Posts: 196
Every non-geek person panics when they hear the word "nuclear". Nothing new about that, unforntunately. I think it is merely a sympthon of the mental health of the public, rather than a sign of abusive goverments or crazy intelligence agencies.
Here in Denmark it would actually be illegal if someone constructed a Fusor and achived fusion conditions with deuterium, thus emitting neutrons. Any aperatus containing ionizing radiation must be approved or it is considered illegal, even if it is safe. So if there is a similar law in his country, the people suggesting it might be illegal could actually be right. Also I belive it is worth noting, that law I mentioned is from some people responsipel for radiation safety, not from one of those infamous "terror laws".
Most of the suspicion towards amateur sciencetists you mention, Proud Mary, isnt that caused by various psedouscience idiots claiming silly things? Also, is paranoia about your goverment any better then paranoia about your neighbour?
Registered Member #543
Joined: Tue Feb 20 2007, 04:26PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4992
GluD wrote ...
Every non-geek person panics when they hear the word "nuclear". Nothing new about that, unforntunately. I think it is merely a sympthon of the mental health of the public, rather than a sign of abusive goverments or crazy intelligence agencies.
Here in Denmark it would actually be illegal if someone constructed a Fusor and achived fusion conditions with deuterium, thus emitting neutrons. Any aperatus containing ionizing radiation must be approved or it is considered illegal, even if it is safe. So if there is a similar law in his country, the people suggesting it might be illegal could actually be right. Also I belive it is worth noting, that law I mentioned is from some people responsipel for radiation safety, not from one of those infamous "terror laws".
In Britain, a fusor might very well be classed as "a radioactive apparatus" - without too much legal difficulty - and so become subject to regulation. See: Tromans, S. Nuclear Law: The Law Applying to Nuclear Installations and Radioactive Substances in its Historic Context, Hart Publishing; 2nd Revised edition, 2010
GluD wrote ...
Most of the suspicion towards amateur sciencetists you mention, Proud Mary, isnt that caused by various psedouscience idiots claiming silly things?
I don't think the general public are even aware of the claims of pseudoscience, or would be able to distinguish between truth and falsehood in such matters. The tabloid newspapers carry whole columns of advertisements for astrologers, fortune tellers, and sex chat lines.
GluD wrote ...
Also, is paranoia about your goverment any better then paranoia about your neighbour?
'Paranoia' is a morbid, inappropriate, and unjustifiable fear or suspicion. In Britain, deceit is no longer a simple moral category, but has become a central pillar of the state.
Registered Member #3040
Joined: Tue Jul 27 2010, 03:15PM
Location: South of London. UK
Posts: 237
I've been involved in similar comment threads on Youtube videos and long since come to the conclusion that it's not worth the effort, and much easier to simply block ignorant posters . A couple of examples were someone who insisted that Oxygen was inflammable and someone else that insisted that a flame could burn back into a pressurised gas cylinder and cause it to explode (despite the fact that the cylinder contained no air/oxygen). What's more worrying with the second example is that his science teacher had told him that the cylinder could explode.
Registered Member #3414
Joined: Sun Nov 14 2010, 05:05PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4245
Proud Mary wrote ...
. In Britain, a fusor might very well be classed as "a radioactive apparatus" - without too much legal difficulty - and so become subject to regulation. See: Tromans, S. Nuclear Law: The Law Applying to Nuclear Installations and Radioactive Substances in its Historic Context, Hart Publishing; 2nd Revised edition, 2010
.
While I've not read the text you refer to, I understand there are laws in the UK relating to devices 'designed to produce ionizing radiation', or words to that effect. A fusor is 'designed' to do fusion, the X-rays and neutrons produced are a by-product, as are the (weak) X-rays produced by a CRT.
Registered Member #1221
Joined: Wed Jan 09 2008, 06:17PM
Location: Odense, Denmark
Posts: 196
Glud, the police have 'raided' fusors in both the UK and US that I know of and not been able to prosecute because no laws were being broken.
If the police cannot prosecute because no laws were broken, why did they raid the place? Seems to me that the police might have been wrongly informed by whoever called them out.
A fusor is 'designed' to do fusion, the X-rays and neutrons produced are a by-product, as are the (weak) X-rays produced by a CRT
I think the diffrence, at least in my stupid country, is that the CRT is probably approved by somebody whereas the DIY Fusor is not approved by anybody. Kind of like a drivers license I supose, maybe you're an execellent driver but without the license its still illegal for you to drive an automobile.
ugh, i think you should have HW take this away... its toxic to everything... before people think ur gonna poison people with it, as u probably have enough to kill everyone in ontario... multiple times over
Copypasta from a comment regarding fusors on hackaday:
this thing might be legit but it is extremely unsafe. there is an article about a young boy-genius in michigan that did something similar to this in his mothers tool shed, he wound up exposing some 4000 people to high levels of radiation… It takes something like 4″ of lead or 4′ of concrete to stop the particles emitted by the fusion process… while i may only have basic knowledge of chemistry and physics I believe it is safe to say that unless you want federal agents beating down your door, it is probably wise not to attempt this particular project… Leave this one to professionals.
Ignorance is causing the gob'ment to make laws banning our hobbies, which in turn makes people more ignorant (and there's not much left to lose).
I fear that I will live to see fusors, x-rays, lasers, chemistry and high voltage all outlawed.
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Ignarance and paranoia 'alive and well' in the US (and elsewhere)!
. A couple of examples were someone who insisted that Oxygen was inflammable and someone else that insisted that a flame could burn back into a pressurised gas cylinder and cause it to explode (despite the fact that the cylinder contained no air/oxygen). What's more worrying with the second example is that his science teacher had told him that the cylinder could explode.
