Nuclear power (again)

It’s time for a new complaint about Germany!
This time it is about Germany’s decision to opt out of the nuclear energy program and more specifically about why Germany isn’t participating in the research of “Generation IV nuclear reactors”. Stopping all research that is related to nuclear power is a completely stupid move!
This article shows that a Gen IV reactor (gas-cooled fast reactor) would probably produce “virtually no long-lasting nuclear waste”.

As I already said, nuclear power may be the only reasonable means of producing electricity. If I were in a state of power, I would fund research on the subject ASAP!

I hate the Green party for their (sometimes) completely stupid propaganda and for their responsibility in the decision.

Paradebeispiele für Rassisten

Ich habe mich noch vor ein paar Jahren gewundert, warum die Deutschen auch noch heutzutage ständig mit dem Nationalsozialismus in Verbindung gebracht werden. Ich habe mit der Zeit meine Antwort gefunden: Die heute regierende Generation ist noch genauso rassistisch eingestellt, wie damals im Dritten Reich!
Damals waren es unter Anderem die Kommunisten und Auslaender, welche den Hass der Deutschen spüren mussten. Heute sind es die Computerspiele(r). Weit her geholt? Ein ungerechtfertigter Vergleich? Keineswegs. Meiner Meinung nach lassen sich einige Parallelen zwischen den beiden Sachverhalten ziehen.
Fangen wir mit der Basis des Fremden- und Spielehasses an: Vorurteile und ein Mangel an Toleranz. Es existiert kein Verständnis für das neue Medium der Videospiele. Die amtierenden Politiker und Wähler sind größtenteils nicht damit aufgewachsen und / oder haben nie ein Videospiel gespielt. Es ist leicht, eine Sache, die man selbst nicht kennt, zu verteufeln. Wer z.B. Jude war, war automatisch Kulturvernichter, Ausbeuter, Kommunist… Wer Computerspiele spielt ist automatisch verroht, gefährlich, asozial, … Vor allem aber mangelt es an Toleranz. Man akzeptiert dieses neue Medium einfach nicht.
Auch der Sündenbock-Charakter ist beiden Sachverhalten gleich: Damals wurden die Kommunisten / “niederen Rassen” für alle Probleme Deutschlands verantwortlich gemacht. Heute sind es die Computerspiele. Die Jugend verroht? Gewaltverherrlichende Computerspiele. Die Jugend verkommt? Computerspiele. Der Jugend fehlt es an Sport, sozialen Kontakten und Intelligenz? Computerspiele, Computerspiele, Computerspiele.
Die Medien leisten wie damals ihren Beitrag zu der Hetze. Bild-Zeitung und Konsorten machen riesige Schlagzeilen in denen Spiele angeprangert werden. Rundfunk und Fernsehen ziehen eifrig mit. Damals wie heute haben die Medien die Macht, Menschen zu beeinflussen und zu steuern. Sei es zum Guten, oder zum Schlechten.
Vor 73 Jahren hat der Reichstagsbrand dazu geführt, dass Kommunisten verfolgt wurden. Ob die politische Einstellung etwas mit der Tat zu tun hatte, war damals nicht klar. Dennoch hat die Propaganda dazu geführt, dass die Reichstagsbrandverordnung (bzw. Ermaechtigungsgesetz) die Verfolgung der Kommunisten ermöglichte. Heutzutage sind es die Amokläufe, bei denen ebenfalls nicht geklärt werden kann, ob Computerspiele im Zusammenhang mit der Tat stehen, die es den Politikern ermöglichen, Spieler und Spieleentwickler zu verfolgen.
Es ist nicht meine Absicht, die Schrecken der Zeit mit diesem Vergleich zu verharmlosen. Allerdings möchte ich auf die offensichtliche Ironie der derzeitigen Situation in Deutschland aufmerksam machen.
Politiker wundern sich über mangelndes Interesse an der Politik. Warum sollte die Jugend wählen gehen, wenn Politiker sie nur bevormunden und entrechten wollen, wie es damals die Nazis taten? Eine Freizeitbeschäftigung kriminalisieren? Kein moderner Staat sollte soetwas zulassen!
Deutsche Politiker benutzen heute noch Methoden, wie sie eigentlich in diesem Staat seit vielen Jahren nicht mehr auftreten sollten!

PS: Dies ist eine entschärfte Version des Textes den ich vor ein paar Wochen veröffentlichte. Ich hatte ihn auf Druck von ein paar Lesern gelöscht.

Man beachte die vielen Nazi Vergleiche, die Spieler aus dem Ausland für diese Politik übrig haben.

Update on discussion

Stoiber: Killerspiele animieren zum Töten – Golem.de

This is ridiculous. I sure as hell hope that there won’t be a law against violent video games. If a law like this was passed, gamers should stand up and protest against such tutelage! Unfortunately, Germans usually just remain silent (a typical trait of the Germans: they always complain silently and never stand up to fight for something)
Such a law would only be a new reason to emigrate.

Fuck Stoiber and all those German politicians with their twisted sense of reality. It’s those discussions that make me violent. I just repeat my plea to never let anyone above 30 stay in any state of power.

Good blog post on the subject (German)

Gedanken eines Informatikers » Blog Archive » Diese dämlichen Politiker. Wie wärs mal mit Realität?

Exactly

Ban on the production and distribution of violent video games

Bundesratsinitiative für Killerspielverbot – Golem.de

Now a politician tries to achieve a ban on the production and distribution of violent video games.

I can’t help but hate Germany.

Discussion about ban on the production and distribution of violent video games

Bundesratsinitiative für Killerspielverbot – Golem.de

Now a politician tries to achieve a ban on the production and distribution of violent video games.

I can’t help but hate Germany.

Another debate about violent video games

Amoklauf in Emsdetten facht Gewaltspiel-Debatte neu an – Golem.de

There was a stupid 18 year old running amok in Germany. He was known to play Counterstrike, so naturally, there’s a new debate about whether to abolish “killer games”.

FFS stop it already! Just because someone plays a violent video game, he doesn’t walk around killing people! It’s just a daily activity! Nobody is concerned when somebody plays pool in a pub every day! There was/is a funny gif on the web saying “90% of people running amok consume bread. Ban bread!” Just because it is common among youth doesn’t make it a reason for such a massacre!

Nuclear power

This entry is dedicated to nuclear power. Because of the latest incident in a Swedish nuclear power plant, I think it is time for me to offer my thoughts about nuclear power in general.

In short: I think nuclear fission is the only reasonable way to satisfy our energy needs until fusion power becomes actually feasible (I assume, it does)

People complain about the Greenhouse Effect as our primary ecological problem at the moment but often overlook the fact that most of our energy is generated by coal, gas and oil plants. Shutting them down would be a huge improvement in CO2 emissions. Acid rain would probably become less frequent as well. Moreover, fossil fuels could suffice for a far longer period of time to facilitate the transition of conventional car engines to hydrogen powered ones, for example.

The only real alternatives to fossil fuels at the moment are the renewable sources of power (wind, water and solar energy) and nuclear fission.

Solar energy is unreliable as it can of course only be used during the day. Furthermore, it is not efficient enough to be used as a substitute. Future research may improve this, but to what degree and how long it will take is uncertain.

Water power is a great way to produce electricity. However, I read some time ago that almost every profitable location is already used.

Lastly, wind power. I particularly hate this one. I recently read that building a wind plant CONSUMES MORE ENERGY THAN THE PLANT WILL PRODUCE IN ITS ENTIRE LIFETIME! (I’ll try to find the source edit: I could only find sources that claim exactly the opposite, i.e. 5 – 35 times as much energy produced. However, I am quite certain that I have read something like this somewhere) This fact alone negates every advantage it has. edit: OK, let’s correct this then: Wind power is also unreliable and quite expensive. So there.

Consequently, nuclear fission is in my opinion the only reasonable substitute for fossil fuels. There are certainly problems with nuclear waste but if the greenhouse effect is really this close to get out of control, the benefits more than outweigh the disadvantages. The security of newly built plants should be enough to prevent any type of radiation leakage or a nuclear meltdown. Additionally, terrorist attacks have been shown to do little to no damage to a nuclear plant. ;This site has a comparison of the costs for the individual means of electricity generation showing that “Nuclear power is cost competitive with other forms of electricity generation…“, whereas wind power is 1.5 to 3 times as expensive.

Even Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore now promotes nuclear power.

It makes me sad to see that Germany decided to stop supporting nuclear power and shut down every nuclear power plant. I think old plants should be replaced by new designs and new plants should be built instead. Electricity is already very expensive here and using more and more wind plants will only aggravate the problem.

I look forward to the day nuclear fusion solves all our energy problems. At least, I hope to be alive by then

By the way: Why is it taking so long to build the ITER? I’m quite sure the time needed to build such a reactor could be dramatically reduced by removing bureaucracy efforts and by allocating more funds. Nuclear fusion is after all one of the only possibilities to solve our energy problems, so let’s put more time, effort and money into research!

PS: Being the egoist that I am, I could not care less about ecological problems. For me, it does not matter whether or not humanity survives the next day. I just don’t want to pay horrendous electricity bills.

Wii and PS3 launch

Console launch camp out guide

It is a bit old, but I just saw this on slashdot.

I think in Germany, more people should camp in front of stores waiting for the launch of a console or game. It would perhaps establish more acceptance of video games in Germany. At the moment, video games are in a very bad position in German society. Many people think of them as childish and above all they think they make kids violent, stupid and fat. Gamers in Germany should stand up and fight for acceptance of the medium to make it as popular as it already is in the USA.
By the way: I’ll probably get a Nintendo Wii with my brother. I don’t like Sony and the PS3.

Humor, anyone?

http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/kino/0,1518,445992,00.html

I think Germans lack a sense of humor. This is only the most recent example that Germans don’t appreciate satire or comedy.
All in all, the article says that an European institute based in Hamburg sued Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) and Twentieth Century Fox for making the movie Borat and several German TV stations for broadcasting TV trailers for the movie.
They claim the movie is racist towards gypsies “Sinti” and “Roma”, calling for acts of violence against these groups.
I cannot help but wonder how people can lack any sense of humor and not understand that this is merely a movie, a satire, that is by no means to be taken serious!? There are so many movies that portray gypsies or other groups stereotypical, Snatch for example. Nobody takes them serious!
I assume, the reason is that this institute is run by old, conservative jerks who cannot relate to anything juvenile anymore. I hope all these old people that are in charge retire or die in the near future. I favor a law that prevents persons older than 40 to be in any state of power.

Listening to: Mindless Self Indulgence – Bring the Pain