John D. Bell

Recent Actions

• Commented on Peak Brexit
  the economic calculation problem I thought that the essence of that problem was that there was no way to sort out the various desires of "consumers" (whether they were people wanting shoes and cheese, or industrialists wanting iron ore and...
• Commented on Houston: what are the long-term consequences?
  a single PIRA bombing (Baltic Exchange) killed one person, injured forty, but caused £800 million of damage. Wikipedia says 3 dead, 91 injured, and £800 million worth of damage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_Exchange_(building)#Bombing_of_the_exchange_building...
• Commented on The End of the British nuclear deterrent?
  That story holds no water if you know about Bletchley Park. Yeahbut.... During WWII, there was a great patriotic effort to not upset the War Effort - "Loose Lips Sink Ships". And all that. Also the efforts of the...
• Commented on The End of the British nuclear deterrent?
  Why not? Classic keeping-of-secrets theory. Alternate launcher implies staff, physical infrastructure, training, yadda yadda.... None of which would be easy to hide. If it existed, somebody would have mentioned something to a mate over a pint, and someone else would...
• Commented on What else can you do with a Big Dumb Booster?
  Of course, it would still be ridiculously expensive, but think of the resolution, and the light collecting power. Resolution, yes; light gathering power, NO. The gathering power is directly proportional to the actual area of the mirrors, nevermind their...
• Commented on What else can you do with a Big Dumb Booster?
  As early as STS (Shuttle) mission 47 there have been married couples in space together. I am aware of no reports of any kind of "extracurricular" activities, however........
• Commented on Sad Trombone Exoplanet Reality Check
  I'm sorry for the misattribution....
• Commented on Sad Trombone Exoplanet Reality Check
  As far as I know, being able to survive freezing to near absolute zero and thawing (the only plausible technology) is limited to single-celled organisms and some plant material. The arctic wooly bear caterpillar freezes solid every year, thawing...
• Commented on Thoughtcrime
  Our Host: "(See if you can figure out who I cribbed the declaration from?)" Umkhonto we Sizwe?...