The Grim Hamster lord

I also thought you'd like to know about the next step towards cold fusion, developed by the EU..... Clock ticking on fusion decision Europe believes Iter should be built at Cadarache Europe has made it clear it will not wait beyond June to reach international agreement on where to site Iter, the experimental nuclear fusion reactor. EU ministers said on Monday they wanted the matter resolved before the current Luxembourg presidency ends. Europe believes Iter should be built at Cadarache in France, but other project members are backing Rokkasho in Japan. The multi-billion-euro reactor will produce energy from nuclear reactions like the ones that power the Sun. After the International Space Station, it would be the largest global research and development collaboration. 'Clear timetable' But the six international partners - the EU, Russia, China, the US, Japan and South Korea - are deadlocked on a location decision. Definitive decisions will have to be taken under the Luxembourg presidency Francois Biltgen, Luxembourg research minister Now, Luxembourg research minister Francois Biltgen has warned the impasse must end by July. "In November 2004, [Europe's Competitiveness Council] took a fundamental decision and set out a timetable and according to this timetable, work on Iter should begin before the end of the year. "If we want this to happen, definitive decisions will have to be taken under the Luxembourg presidency." On 1 July, the presidency is handed to the UK. And the EU's research commissioner Janez Potocnik added: "We have to remember that we would like to start building the project at the site of Cadarache in the course of this year. If we take into account the fact that we would need half of the year to prepare for it, we need to find a solution very soon." The EU and Japan have put proposals forward that they hoped would encourage the other stand down. But neither is prepared to do so at the moment. Six still best Japan is adamant that its Iter plans are superior - and has the backing of the US and South Korea; the EU has Russia and China in its corner. Any solution that does emerge would see the "loser" take up a dominant support role, researching and supplying many of the key technologies that will be required in the reactor. "The EU has been doing its utmost to find a consensus among the six international parties," explained Mr Potocnik. "We have been explaining our offer to the Japanese partners. I have expressed my readiness to meet with my Japanese counterpart to achieve a compromise. I still believe that the best possible solution is to build this project with six parties, not least as a model for future international joint ventures." He has made it clear he would like to see high-level political discussions between the EU and Japan - but this approach appeared to be rebuffed at the weekend by the Japanese. They dislike Europe's aggressive stance, which sees Cadarache construction as the only outcome in any negotiations. "High-level political talks would be fruitless. If we were to hold such talks forcibly, we would only reach a deadlock," Satoru Ohtake, director of fusion energy at the Science and Technology Ministry, told the Reuters news agency. The next European Competitiveness Council meeting on 18 April looks now to be a critical point in this drawn out process. If no resolution is found by this date, it is possible Europe may begin to ask a smaller number of partners to join it in a Cadarache venture - even if that means leaving some of the six parties behind. Final approval for this strategy would likely fall to Europe's senior research ministers meeting under the British presidency of the EU. On to Demo Unlike in fission reactions, in which atomic nuclei are split to release energy, fusion reactions release energy when nuclei are forced together. The process is the same as the one that powers the Sun. Achieving stable and sustained reactions on Earth, however, present an immense challenge. The Iter design is for the reactions to take place inside a 100-million-degree gas (plasma) suspended in an intense doughnut-shaped magnetic field. ITER - NUCLEAR FUSION PROJECT Project estimated to cost 10bn euros and will run for 35 years It will produce the first sustained fusion reactions Final stage before full prototype of commercial reactor is built Iter will consolidate all that has been learnt over many decades of study. It is expected to produce 500MW of fusion power during pulses of at least 400 seconds. If it achieves this and its technologies are proven to be practical, the international community would then build a prototype commercial reactor, dubbed Demo. Fusion could help fill the void as the world moves away from oil, coal and natural gas. The fusion fuels are plentiful and produce no greenhouse emissions when "burnt". The systems are said to be inherently safe because they shutdown in a malfunction; and although radioactive materials are produced, they are not of the high-level long-lived variety that has so burdened nuclear fission.

Remember the Beslan crisis? Its back...... Chechen leader Maskhadov 'killed' Russia blamed Maskhadov for a series of attacks Russian forces say Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov has been killed. Russian television showed pictures of a body resembling that of Mr Maskhadov, 53, in a pool of blood in Chechnya. But President Vladimir Putin has asked for further identification. Chechens have not confirmed the death, which a spokesman said was likely to be true. The spokesman said Chechnya's war of independence would not be affected by the death of Mr Maskhadov - the most moderate of Chechen rebel commanders. Mr Maskhadov was elected Chechen president in January 1997 but was ousted two years later. Thousands of people - many of them civilians - have been killed in the 10-year war between Russian forces and Chechen separatists. Further identification Few details have been released of the Russian operation at the settlement of Tolstoy-Yurt, near the Chechen capital, Grozny. Col Ilya Shabalkin, a spokesman for Russian forces in the Caucasus region, earlier told news agencies that Mr Maskhadov's body had been found in a bunker. But it was not clear whether he had been killed by the Russian forces. Chechnya's Moscow-appointed Deputy Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov told Interfax news agency the intention had been to take Mr Maskhadov alive but that he had been was killed by careless weapons-handling by his bodyguards. Russia's FSB security chief briefed President Putin on the troops' operation in a Chechen village, but did not say how Mr Maskhadov was killed. He told the president the FSB security services "today carried out an operation in the settlement of Tolstoy-Yurt, as a result of which "the international terrorist and leader of armed groups Maskhadov was killed, and his closest comrades-in-arms detained". "Carry out additional identification tests, report back," Mr Putin ordered. "If this information is confirmed, grant state awards to all those involved in the operation," the Russian leader said. "We have to gather our forces to protect the people of the republic and citizens of all Russia from the bandits," Mr Putin said. Russian television showed pictures of a grey-bearded and shirtless corpse in a pool of blood, but a Chechen spokesman said he was not convinced. However, one of Mr Maskhadov's oldest allies, Akhmed Zakayev, told Ekho Moskvy radio from London that the Russian announcement was likely to be true. But this would not affect Chechnya's pursuit of independence, he said. "The resistance will continue, no doubt about it," Mr Zakayev said. If the death is confirmed, this will be a major coup for Moscow, the BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Moscow says. Moscow has blamed Mr Maskhadov for a string of deadly attacks in Russia, including a rebel attack on a school in the south Russian town of Beslan last September in which more than 330 hostages - half of them children - died. He led the Chechen separatists who defeated Russian forces in a 1994-1996 war. Mr Putin sent Russian troops back into Chechnya in October 1999.

Hopefully makes more sense now.

We have a fan of Mr.Atkinson it would appear. What about Blackadder?

I meant, ye-of-a-Horatio-brain, would LE come back again after this one post?

Big deal, I don't think LE really cares how many posts she has. She's focusing on her schoolwork and what's important.... Actually I need to revise for my exams. Razzle Frazzle Irony.....

1. How would you get the evil doers to make you rich? These people are your competiton, not aides 2. You'd need a very, very powerful army for that and also no country is unheard of anymore, all countries keep in contact. STupid UN. 3. How would you do that? 4. So after you took over this small country what would your next target be, considering the countries? 5. Good way, but many small countries will be economically backwards and the people are unlikely to join your military. How would you get round these problems? 6. And this would be achieved how? Keep in mind, many countries will just band together and retailate. Thats your first exercise. I'll mark the results later.

Wow. Isn't it you who was complaining about Kansas in another topic?

I know, I'm kind of calming down from my posting maddness.

*notes Hamster senility and delusions have kicked back in*

MW isn't on the dark side! She's on the Sheena side. And also, we raided the SSS before you moved. *reveals the hordes of sanities backed into cool box*

*looks at freshly dug dumping ground* *whistles innocently* *accidently kicks sanities into dump* *a JCB accidently covers them* Er... What sanities?

Right thats reperations you have to pay to MW and damages to property you have to fix for me.

So I'm not allowed to have my song posted in this collection because you gave the laws of physics a nervous break down?

Yes, and now-she's-a-deccided against it. Don't-a-messa with da Kat!

Don't be so satupid Horatio! Arkcher's brain is in my brain cool tank, behind me. *arkcher's brain floats up and down and lets off the occasional bubble of oxygen*

You should play them too Mastermind. C'est tres bein.

1. I was talking in ye olde style-e medieval talk. Fools usually say prithee, sirrah! 2. Mounds of Cow pats.

Yet.... Come to the Tower of London, I'm sure I could lend you one.....

Try as far away from a fast food resturant as possible. *goes to Paris and then Berlin*

Nope. *gives Darth Frinckels lightsaber*

Right. Red Nose Day is a huge nationwide event where people usually do all sorts of weird stuff to raise money for Comic Relief. For example, last year at our school there was "Gunge the Teacher", "Wax the Headmaster's legs" (we made him cry with agony) and various other events. This year's main event is a mock general election, I am leading the Communist party to victory, and of course in true Stalin style I shall have thugs deployed at the voting booths to "perssuade" those undecided voters. I was going to join the RLB (Raving loonies of Britain) and mess about with various decrees like "Cheese is mandatory" and "Blibble Fliible Clompty ploo!"(tanslates as, just cos I'm with the RLB doesn't mean I talk a load of rubbish!). Its usually rounded off with a huge concert type thing where all the famous celebrities put on a show of comedy, music and the usual stuff. Billy Connoly, Victoria Wood and various other people acting and messing about including Roan Atkinson and John Cleese. Usually raises billions from all collected stuff.

Still 54. Please take them, I need space for the next batch.

Slightly stereotypical and I think its been attempted by someone before. Another perhaps?

But will LE return?