From: Jed Rothwell <72240.1256@compuserve.com>
Subject: Miscellaneous
Reply-To: Jed Rothwell <72240.1256@compuserve.com>
Organization: Sci.physics.fusion/Mail Gateway
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 05:45:22 GMT

To: >INTERNET:fusion@zorch.sf-bay.org

Tom Droege comments: The problem is that Japan *is* a monolithic society, and
we can make generalizations about Japan.  The US is very much ***not***."

Actually, the way I see, they pretend they are monolithic, but they aren't,
and we pretend to be multicultural, but we aren't. Japanese society is
characterized by cut-throat competition, politics and rivalry. The magazines
and newspapers are usual cynical and mean spirited, and shot through with
sexual frustration and exploitation. Not very monolithic, certainly not
unified.

This "multicultural" business in the U.S. is a bunch of nonsense in my
opinion. I will grant that an immigrant brings a completely different culture
to the U.S., but her kids are 100% True Red White & Blue Americans, like it
or not. People who think they have some 'ethnic' traits in their behavior are
mostly kidding themselves. We are a surprisingly homogenous nation of
television and mall culture. I have spent a lot of time with Japanese -
Americans, including several first generation (issei) people who were
interned in the U.S. camps during WWII. The first generation are quite
Japanese, as you would expect. The second generation -- even the ones who
were interned -- can barely speak a word of Japanese. Compared to me, they
know nothing about the culture, literature, mores or politics of Japan. As
for Chinese - Americans, if I showed one of them a genuine reburial ceremony
they would choke! I remember one time in a seminar, after we had watched
several hours of field anthropology films of reburial, money burning, and other
ghost related ceremonies from Taiwan, and we had spent a week going over the
details, one young lady asked, "wait a minute professor. Do these people
actually *believe* in these ghosts and stuff?" The professor kept his cool
and answered, "Yes, of course they do. Don't you?"

Tom also comments: "I think the difference that Jed Rothwell has with many of
us is that he chooses to believe the measurements that he has heard about..."

Not every one of them! Not by a long shot. And generally, not until I see a
full paper, raw data, and have a nice talk with the researcher. If you are
talking about heat, I prefer a fairly hefty signal, say 2 watts in, 3 out. I
do not pay much attention to people who put in one tenth watt and claim 3%
excess. I *much* prefer the guy who puts in 110, ignores gas evolution, and
measures 140 watts out. I don't like having to account for every little tiny
bit of heat -- I prefer people who have such a strong signal they can ignore
gas recombination and minor heat losses, and still come out with as much
excess heat as a small incandescent lightbulb. I like simple, straightforward
calorimetry, with a temperature Delta T least 3 Deg C, and preferable 30 C.

I like unambiguous heat at a level so high that you could not miss it no
matter how poor your instruments are. Plus, I like those pretty little
thermometers from HP that cost $20 or $30 grand and can measure temperature
to nearest 0.0001 Deg C. Combine a 30 C temperature with one of those babies
and you have absolute certainty to many decimal places. That's what I like!

Tom expresses everyone's frustrations in saying: "I am particularly upset
with McKubre. He has had plenty of time, and his work is good enough for
publication. So Mike, put your reputation on the line and submit a paper!  Or
shut up and go completely secret!"

Hey, cut the poor man some slack, Tom. He doesn't make the rules, he just
works there. Mike doesn't tell SRI what to do; and SRI doesn't own the
information either -- it belongs to EPRI. For that matter, what do you want
EPRI to do? Do you want them to hand out a $3 million result for free, out of
the goodness of their hearts? Why not ask Microsoft to distribute all
software for free? Why not ask Ford to give everyone a free car?

Actually, though, technically, EPRI is some kind of semi-public utility, so I
gather they may not be perfectly within their rights keeping this stuff
secret. Their expenses are paid by public power companies, so I have heard
some legal opinions bandied about to the effect that they owe this information
to people who own the power companies (you and me).


Dieter Britz comments, regarding the nickel cells:

"Have you forgotten that when it is conducted in a closed system, the effect
goes away?"

This is incorrect. Bob Bush and a couple of other people I know are running
closed nickel cells with not trouble at all. You have to use the right kind
of catalyst, which is one that is very clean and does not add filth to the
electrolyte. I will ask Bob what he uses when he gets back from Christmas
vacation. I think some other people are using some kind of fuel cell
arrangement.

Tom got negative results when he put a recombiner in the cell. Maybe he had
the wrong kind of catalyst? Who knows? He got no result with a recombiner
in a second jar. I cannot imagine why.

Mills does not recommend a recombiner; I believe he has some theoretical
reason, but I do not know the details. Others, however, report no trouble at
all. I personally think it is much safer and better to put the gas out the
window, or burn it with a nice hot flame outside the calorimeter. I like to
be absolutely certain there is no hydrogen gas around. I don't trust those
recombiners at all. I have heard they are not designed to work at low
temperatures. Storms had terrible trouble with a recombiner (in a Pd CF
experiment). A couple of people I know have come home to find calorimeter
shards all over their kitchens or basements from failed recombiners. Who needs
that kind of risk? Just toss out the gas and don't count excess until it gets
comfortably above I*V. Also, always build a low pressure escape value (or a
trapdoor-like thing) to prevent explosions.

- Jed


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