"Oh, speculators about perpetual motion; How many vain chimeras have you created in the like quest? Go and take your place with the seekers after gold*." - Leonardo da Vinci

How to be an annoyance and moron in general:

Step one:

Locate a word in a comment with several usages, one broader than the other.

Step two:

Decide to assume the poster meant the narrower usage, although such an interpretation is obviously wrong.

Step three:

Write a post claiming the original poster is wrong, and doesn't understand the meaning of the word. For good measure, include a definition of the narrower meaning.

This is basically an addendum to my previous journal entry.
(So read it first, if you want to know where I'm coming from here..)

In the latest "Cold fusion for real!" story on Slashdot, several commenters pointed out (without any justification) that they think the Coulomb barrier (that's the like-charges-repel force) stopping two nuclei from getting close enough to fuse can be overcome by tunneling.

Ok.. well I guessed someone would say that. The simple answer is: NO.

There has been several unedifying discussions on Slashdot on fusion power, where a number of pseudoscientific ideas have come up again, and again. I've tried to rebut these, although perhaps a bit impatiently sometimes. Out of the layperson's standpoint, the whole matter probably appears rather confusing. So I feel I'll use s

Really, I can't see a single reason why a sane person would be interested in reading my journal.

Yet, the thought that someone might actually do so is so intriguing that I felt I had to write something..
So here it is.