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Submission + - Google Books New Ngram Tool (wordpress.com)

Submitted by Martin Hellman
Martin Hellman writes: Google has a great new tool that allows you to see how frequently a word sequence (an N-gram) occurred in books that they have scanned as a function of time. Naturally, with my focus on reducing the risk posed by nuclear weapons, I input “nuclear weapons” and my most recent blog shows the graph of frequency versus time.

Submission + - Missile Defense Gets an F (wordpress.com)

Submitted by Martin Hellman
Martin Hellman writes: Today’s test of our missile defense system failed to intercept its target, making the score only 8 successes in 14 tests. That would be a failing grade on any exam, and countermeasures are likely to reduce the success rate even further in a real attack. So why do the Russians object so strenuously to our missile defense program? Because, where nuclear deterrence is concerned, perception matters more than reality.

Submission + - A Nobel Peace Laureate’s Nuclear Blackmail (wordpress.com)

Submitted by Martin Hellman
Martin Hellman writes: Under which American president do you think the following nuclear threat was made to the Soviet Union? “The Soviets know that this terrible weapon has been dropped on human beings twice in history and it was an American president who dropped it both times. Therefore they have to take this into consideration in their calculus.” Most people would not have guessed that this occurred under Nobel Peace Laureate Jimmy Carter, but it did. This becomes less surprising when the illogic of nuclear deterrence is illuminated.

Submission + - The real story behind Hecker’s North Korean (wordpress.com)

Submitted by Martin Hellman
Martin Hellman writes: Former Los Alamos Director Siegfried Hecker recently returned from his seventh trip in as many years to North Korea. The purpose of his visits has been to assess that nation’s nuclear program and to seek ways to defuse the nuclear threat on the Korean peninsula. It is unfortunate that the extensive press coverage of his trip has focused on the parts that feed American fears. This is dangerous because, in a guest lecture to my seminar last February, Prof. Hecker suggested a program to improve American national security with respect to North Korea, but noted that it was impossible to implement because of domestic political considerations. Media coverage that reinforces American fears and myths therefore harms our national security. When I emailed Prof. Hecker about some inaccurate reporting on his most recent trip, he told me to "check the CISAC website for the real story." My current blog post summarizes that “real story” and its implications for national security.

Submission + - New START Treaty on Life Support (wordpress.com)

Submitted by Martin Hellman
Martin Hellman writes: Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) has wounded the New START Treaty so badly that it is on life support and needs help to stay alive. While making only a modest reduction in both the US and Russian arsenals from 2,200 to 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads, rejection of this treaty would set back — and could well halt — efforts to reduce the world's bloated nuclear arsenals. Because ratification requires 2/3 approval in the Senate, a radical fringe can hold the treaty hostage even though it has strong support from foreign policy and military experts in both parties. A 2.5 minute YouTube video clearly shows Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) to be riled at this effort to put partisan politics above national security.

Comment Re:Bring back Neutron Jack (Score 1) 301

by Martin Hellman (#34224170) Attached to: GE To Buy 25,000 EVs, Starting With the Chevy Volt
I'm not so sure about that. Gas turbines have a higher power density (kW/kg and kW/m^3), but I believe they have lower efficiency than diesels for automotive use. Aircraft operating at high altitudes, where the incoming air is very cold, can be more efficient. That's because the work to compress the air to get it into the combustion chamber is proportional to volume, not mass, and cold air has a smaller volume. Also, I believe that small turbines are less efficient than large ones due to gap clearance (related to inefficiency) does not scale exactly. Gas turbines used for electrical generation are more efficient, but I believe that's because they use the waste heat in a "combined cycle" to run a steam turbine or some other secondary generator. Can someone who knows for sure chime in?
Businesses

GE To Buy 25,000 EVs, Starting With the Chevy Volt 301

Posted by timothy from the private-sector-bailout dept.
DeviceGuru writes "In what's claimed as the largest-ever single electric vehicle commitment, GE plans to acquire 25,000 electric vehicles by 2015. The buying spree will initially involve 12,000 GM vehicles, beginning with GM's Chevy Volt in 2011. By converting most of its own 30,000-strong global fleet, and promoting EV adoption among its 65,000 global fleet customers, GE hopes to be in a strong position to help deploy the vehicles' supporting infrastructure, including charging stations, circuit protection equipment, and transformers. In contrast to the all-electric Nissan Leaf, the Volt implements a small gas engine, which can recharge the vehicle's battery to extend its range beyond the 100 mile limit of all-electric cars like the Leaf, leading some to question the Volt's EV credentials."

Submission + - Faster Than the Wind, Explained (wordpress.com)

Submitted by Martin Hellman
Martin Hellman writes: Yesterday’s Slashdot headline Going Faster Than the Wind in a Wind Powered Cart got to me. As a sailor, I knew that a sailboat could go faster than the wind when beating into the wind. But downwind? Come on! Slashdot’s imprimateur and sponsorship by Google and Joby Energy gave me reason to question my skepticism and delve more deeply. Much of what I found only added to my confusion, but a few key articles helped me to synthesize a relatively simple explanation of how this works. For those who want to skip the relationship to nuclear weapons, jump down to the appendix of that post. For those who wonder how I can relate wind-powered carts to nuclear weapons, remember that I also related them to gliders and cryptography.
Transportation

Submission + - Nissan to Surround its Cars With Safety Bubbles (mobilesynergetics.com)

Submitted by __aajbyc7391
__aajbyc7391 writes: In addition to pioneering the world's first mass-marketed all-electric vehicle, Nissan has been busy developing advanced safety systems that reduce the risk of accidents by wrapping a virtual safety bubble around the car (check out the videos especially the first one). Nissan's collision-avoidance technologies encompass both active and passive safety features. The vehicle's on-board intelligent safety system categorizes potential risks into different phases of driving, and activates various barriers to provide multiple layers of protection depending on the type of approaching risk. Based on risk data collected, the car provides suitable safe-driving prompts to the driver to help avoid the risk, and also offers a succession of other safety features as the risk approaches or in case a crash occurs. Gives new meaning to 'leave the driving to us,' eh?
Movies

Submission + - Roku Now Licensing its Media Player Design (deviceguru.com) 2

Submitted by __aajbyc7391
__aajbyc7391 writes: Roku has begun licensing its A/V media streaming set-top-box hardware and software technology to third-party device makers. Netgear, Roku's first licensee, will soon offer a Netgear-branded version of the recently size- and cost-reduced Roku XDS box through Best Buy, Fry's, and Radio Shack stores. Although Roku's licensing move follows closely on the heels Google's October rollout of the Google TV platform, the $60 to $100 Roku XD player design's low-cost, low-power, compact design, and sheer ease-of-use make it a compelling alternative to Google TV, assuming Google's platform results in priced like Logitech's $300 Review. As a small example, the Roku player most likely uses an inexpensive, power-stingy MIPS-based NXP processor in contrast to the Review's more power-thirsty, expensive, and spacious Atom processor.

Submission + - Governator Nukes Idiots (wordpress.com)

Submitted by Martin Hellman
Martin Hellman writes: Imagine the Terminator, reincarnated as the Republican governor of California, calling four Republican Senators "idiots" for opposing the New START Treaty. Well it happened. On returning from a visit to Moscow with Silicon Valley executives, Schwarzenegger declared support for the treaty in no uncertain terms: “There are those in America that are trying to flex their muscles and pretend they're ballsy by saying, ‘we've got to keep those nuclear weapons.’ it's an idiot that says that.” While not directly naming John Barrasso, James Risch, Roger Wicker, and James Inhofe, those four Republican Senators voted against START in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The treaty would reduce both the US and Russian nuclear stockpiles from 2,200 deployed warheads to 1,550 each. Hardly disarmament, but a step in the right direction.

1,550 nuclear weapons is far more than needed as noted in a statement I authored that has been endorsed by former NSA Director (and one-time nominee for Secretary of Defense) Adm. Bobby R. Inman, among others: "Russia and the United States each have thousands of nuclear weapons, whereas a few hundred would more than deter any rational actor and no number will deter an irrational one. Either side could therefore reduce its nuclear arsenal with little to no loss in national security, even if the other side did not immediately reciprocate. In light of the growing specter of nuclear terrorism, a reduced nuclear arsenal could even enhance national security by lessening the chance for theft or illicit sale of a weapon."
Movies

Submission + - Boxee v1.0, D-Link Boxee Box Coming Nov. 10 (deviceguru.com)

Submitted by __aajbyc7391
__aajbyc7391 writes: Following nearly three years of alpha- and beta-level releases, Boxee's A/V-streaming software platform will finally go gold at a November 10 launch event in New York City. However, v1.0 initially will be limited to D-Link's Boxee Box, which will start shipping by mid-November, whereas the v1.0 Boxee update for users of PCs running OS X, Windows, and Linux will roll out later. Boxee hasn't indicated whether v1.0 represents a major restructuring, minor enhancement, or bug-fix update, but some significant Boxee beta updates have already occurred this year, as have additions of numerous new content sources via plug-ins developed both by Boxee and third-parties. Meanwhile, Logitech's Google TV box and Sony's Google TV-enabled LCD HDTVs are both in pre-order and should ship within a month.

Submission + - Risky Nuclear Designs

Submitted by Martin Hellman
Martin Hellman writes: Yesterday, Slashdot reported that a system failure at Warren AFB in Wyoming affected 50 ICBM’s and that “various security protocols built into the missile delivery system, like intrusion alarms and warhead separation alarms, were offline.” Assuaging fears that America’s nuclear deterrent might have been compromised during this failure, the source article notes that the missiles still could be launched from airborne command centers. Other reports cite an administration official offering assurances that "at no time did the president's ability [to launch] decrease." Given the difficulty of debugging software and hardware that is probably not a good thing. The history of nuclear command and control systems has too many examples of risky designs that favor the ability to launch over the danger of an accidental one.

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