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I did that: saved it as a bookmark but it didn’t work after a while because they keep changing the URL. Currently, I have two bookmarks, different URLs, both of which still work at the moment, but I don’t know how long for.

Yes, but you have to do it over the phone. If you have a smartphone, it’s even easier. Call the activation number on your screen, and take the smartphone option. They’ll send you a text containing a link; follow the link and you just do it in your phone’s browser.

Yes – though by no means an expert, I’ve read up on all of those and it’s the tokamak for me; it’s the most elegant, and I’m an Occam’s razor type of guy. But still, you never know…

One development of the tokamak was where they’d been making it too accurate; the plasma mass wouldn’t stay stable and kept touching the sides, and it just sorta…fizzled out. They realised (with the help of a super-computer) that they needed to put in place a few irregularities so that the plasma just goes where it wants to. It worked and now they’re bumping the underside of the parity ceiling (that point on the graph where they get as much energy out as they put in).

ITER is planned to be lit in 2025, though the present crisis just may have an effect on that. I think we’ll get there sooner.

Actually, there’s no nuclear waste. The reactor vessel is bombarded by neutrons, and that wears it out. It needs replacing after a few years and kept underground for a hundred years, after which time it’s safe to handle again, and can be recycled into a new vessel, and can be re-used. Compare that to what you get from a fission plant. Typically, it would be about twenty (ish) tons of metal – one truck load.

Later designs are using a new type of blanket (the material lining the inside of the vessel, and the part that gets hot and is used to heat the water) which is said to protect the outer metal, and they look interesting.

Fact is, we’re learning all the time, and the rate at which we’re learning is rising exponentially. It makes Moore’s law look silly. Exciting times.

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wavy, OscarCP

Nuclear fusion has, surprisingly, only been mentioned once here, and then only in passing. But the old joke (fusion power is only twenty years away, and always will be) isn’t being bandied about any more.

I once had a contact at JET here in the UK (I was involved in supplying their hydrogen, and visited the site many times), and I’ve kept up my fascination in the industry. Development is continuing at pace, and I wouldn’t be too eager to dismiss it out of hand. I’m quite convinced that our children will think fusion power is the norm. We’re getting there.

Long ago I got into the habit of middle-clicking. That way, you always know what it’s going to do.

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SueW, satrow

I was first introduced to the work of the brilliant Nick Park by a series of TV ads for the electric companies. (We have a long history of excellent ads here in the UK; shame they keep getting interrupted by programmes.) This led me to discover Creature Comforts.

After that, Wallace & Gromit was a done deal. With Shaun the Sheep, I was lucky; I was working strange hours at the time, I happened across some Children’s TV (as you do) and I was immediately hooked.

One of the things I like about Park’s work is the attention to detail; there’s a lot going on in the background, especially in the later stuff. You can see it developing as his work progresses; little at first, then lots later. It’s all blink-and-you-miss-it stuff, and you can watch it all again and see more each time.

Shame everyone thinks it’s for kids…

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rodcallen, Nathan Parker, OscarCP

What a mess. If you can boot with the WinXP CD, why not use that to copy your data onto other media? I’m assuming that the HD is readable, of course. Then format the HD to see if it eliminates any errors, and reinstall.

That seems simpler to me, unless I’ve misread the situation.

[tonyl]

Keepass can create passwords for you. In fact, you never need know what they are yourself,  even; I like that.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by tonyl.

What’s the point? According to every movie I’ve seen, all you have to do is type *override password* and you’re in…

Hear, hear. We had all this malarkey with the demise of Windows XP, and here I am, still using it on two machines. I’ve had no malware, my computers haven’t exploded, and no boxing glove has come out of my screen and punched me on the nose.

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Steve, westtrail, Kranium, PDX5802, Geo, Spiral, Charlie, wdburt1, Myst, Cybertooth

12″ wooden ruler.

Perfect for rapping the knuckles of people who don’t back up their computers.

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Erik_S47, MrJimPhelps

There’s no way I’d put up with that from an ISP. I think a change to another one is in order.

3 users thanked author for this post.

FakeNinja, Kranium, Cybertooth

Manic Street Preachers

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Microfix

I can’t see it either. Did you find Green Day and The Doors? Once you see ’em, you can’t unsee ’em lol