Midnight Pub

Sometimes I'm so tired ...

~ew

~bartender? Hot Chocolate alone won't do it tonight. Maybe add a Scotch, an Ardbeg Corryvreckan, maybe? Thanks.

me sips at the Hot Chocolate

Every so often I think I'm not going to be surprised ever again. But it happened last week:

I read an article on the IT ticker about "not charging your $favorite_toy for 50 years". No kidding. Radio-nuclide batteries based on Nickel-63. Ok, it's small and cute and it may not power your $favorite_toy for a long time, but you get it. So, homo sapiens is clever enough to add yet another dimension to the not so small waste and garbage problem: radioactivity.

Seriously. If it can be done, it will be done. Sigh.

Unbelievable.

me staring out the window, wondering.

Maybe it's not all that bad, if an out-of-control army of nano robots just mines the earth away for whatever atoms they have been trained ...

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/power-supplies/chinese-developed-nuclear-battery-has-a-50-year-lifespan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betavoltaic_device

monpetit

If I want to throw away my old phone and buy a new one in 3 or 4 years, will the battery company buy back that used battery?

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beefox

the problem is that the want to design things that last a long time and the want for new things are at conflict with each other. hopefully these nuclear batteries don't cause problems!

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