Small, Cheap Fusion? Gamechange!?!

Reuters has this stunning, breakthrough, improbable story with a troubling plot twist:

Lockheed Claims Breakthrough on Fusion Energy

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp said on Wednesday it had made a technological breakthrough in developing a power source based on nuclear fusion, and the first reactors, small enough to fit on the back of a truck, could be ready in a decade

 

Tom McGuire, who heads the project, said he and a small team had been working on fusion energy at Lockheed's secretive Skunk Works for about four years, but were now going public to find potential partners in industry and government for their work

 

Initial work demonstrated the feasibility of building a 100-megawatt reactor measuring seven feet by 10 feet, which could fit on the back of a large truck, and is about 10 times smaller than current reactors, McGuire said

 

Fusion reactors? Everything I have read says we are decades away from commercially useful reactors. And the last bit of this story makes me wonder what I am reading:

 

 

U.S. submarines and aircraft carriers run on nuclear power, but they have large fusion reactors on board that have to be replaced on a regular cycle.

 

"What makes our project really interesting and feasible is that timeline as a potential solution," McGuire said.

 

Large fusion reactors currently on subs and ships? Please, those are fission reactors. Is it possible the reporter is just out to lunch on this? [UPDATE: The Reuters version in the ChiTrib properly uses "fission".]

 

Well, evidently not. This is from Aviation Week, and goes into enough detail to make it obvious that we are in fact talking about a compact fusion reactor (watch for clues in the excerpt below):

 

Skunk Works Reveals Compact Fusion Reactor Details

 

Lockheed Martin aims to develop compact reactor prototype in five years, production unit in 10

 

Hidden away in the secret depths of the Skunk Works, a Lockheed Martin research team has been working quietly on a nuclear energy concept they believe has the potential to meet, if not eventually decrease, the world’s insatiable demand for power.

 

Dubbed the compact fusion reactor (CFR), the device is conceptually safer, cleaner and more powerful than much larger, current nuclear systems that rely on fission, the process of splitting atoms to release energy. Crucially, by being “compact,” Lockheed believes its scalable concept will also be small and practical enough for applications ranging from interplanetary spacecraft and commercial ships to city power stations. It may even revive the concept of large, nuclear-powered aircraft that virtually never require refueling—ideas of which were largely abandoned more than 50 years ago because of the dangers and complexities involved with nuclear fission reactors.

 

...

 

With just such a “Holy Grail” breakthrough seemingly within its grasp, and to help achieve a potentially paradigm-shifting development in global energy, Lockheed has made public its project with the aim of attracting partners, resources and additional researchers. 

 

Although the company released limited information on the CFR in 2013, Lockheed is now providing new details of its invention. Aviation Week was given exclusive access to view the Skunk Works experiment, dubbed “T4,” first hand. Led by Thomas McGuire, an aeronautical engineer in the Skunk Work’s aptly named Revolutionary Technology Programs unit, the current experiments are focused on a containment vessel roughly the size of a business-jet engine. Connected to sensors, injectors, a turbopump to generate an internal vacuum and a huge array of batteries, the stainless steel container seems an unlikely first step toward solving a conundrum that has defeated generations of nuclear physicists—namely finding an effective way to control the fusion reaction.

 

Well, resume selling any oil stocks you still own.

 

SINCE YOU ASK: I doubt Tom McGuire is a relative but my estate attorneys are looking into it. Hard.

 

NICE BUZZ LIGHTYEAR MOMENT: Tom McGuire, describing some of the science and engineering:

 

“We should be able to go to 100% or beyond,” he adds.

 

100% is just the beginning!

 

NO PROBLEM WE CAN'T SOLVE: Are the world's engineers really going to come up empty on both thorium reactors and this Lockheed breakthrough (which we hope is credible, while wondering why, if they are so confident, they want to invite in partners.)? Not to mention the grinding progress on making solar more cost-efficient.

Comments

[NKreBootDeux]

TomM-- if you read your commenters, you'd know that commenter JiB and his 12 yo son are building a Thorium Reactor in their garage with Legos. Who needs Skunk Works when you have that know how. Skunk Works has been arond for almost 70 years, so I guess they have some credibility.

[Beasts of England]

All these threads! Someone is crying out for attention.

Segundo!

[AliceH]

Nitpicking: why do people insist on saying "about 10 times smaller than" rather than "about 1 tenth the size of"?

Math can multiply numbers and get a smaller product, but English is clearer if all the dimensional terms of the sentence match.

/endnitpicking

[NKreBootDeux]

Lockheed's Tom Maguire has an MIT PhD. JOM's Tom Maguire, ..... well he's just a good guy... but no MIT PhD I'm afraid.

[BeenThereDoneThat]

Made the mistake of not switching channels quickly enough - Shemp is now informing the world there is NOTHING to WORRY about with Ebola... no, no, no, we do not have an outbreak and all the hysteria blaming the maladministration of not handling this properly is nothing but midterm election politics.

You got it - the Republicans are stirring up a panic. All the sick people are safely in isolation...

[Miss Marple]

Yes, the Hurricane Hysteria guy from Katrina is lecturing me on not panicking.

I think I will turn him off and go clean the bathrooms.

[Dave (in MA)]

If it's merely political games on the part of the Republicans then the right thing to do is go to a Donk fundraiser as regularly scheduled, right Sheppie?

[jack is Back!]

Naval reactors are not replace but rather "refueled". This is refered to as ROH (refuel and overhaul). For Subs it is usually a 2 year operation and for Aircraft carriers about 2-3 years. About every 25 years. The overhaul includes instrumentation changeout, pump and vessel maintenance etc.

We did the refueling at iidaho NRF and at Knolls. I remember we spent one year just doing the mock-up so we could practice. Our schedule was an hour by hour path not day by day. Very precise when we went green. Took a year to complete.

Noi need to refuel and handle spent fuel with fusion. We'll see. But some damn smart guys at Lockheed skunk works ever since Kelly Johnson and Ben Rich. Of course, Al Capp was the inspiration.

[jack is Back!]

AliceH,

Engineers use Scaling Laws (yes there are laws that dictate the rhetoric of scales). Nothing wrong with what Doctor Maguire said. It may not fit the MLA lesson plan but it is acceptable engineering language.

[NKreBootDeux]

I agree JiB-- there are physical and engineering 'laws'. At some point enough laboratory and practical application of theory allows one to call a scientific premise a 'law' rather than 'not disproven'.

[Cat]

Well, bye, bye to "big oil" and to all of its evils.
No. not really. We'll still it for making plastics.

[iqvoice]

The space shuttle main engines regularly went up to 103%, so the "greater than 100%" thing is not unprecedented in the annals of stupid numbers.

However I find it silly to talk about "breakthroughs" on something that is five generations away from proof-of-concept.

Full Disclosure: I am a former Lockheed employee.

[NKreBootDeux]

Breakthrough? I remember reading about Soviet and USA Nat'l lab Takomaks in 1974. I'm not holding my breath on Lockheed. Now JiB's Thorium reactor....

[Rob Crawford]

I really, really, really would like to see this happen.

[sbw]

I really, really, really would like to see this happen.

Then come up with the cro-moly legos.

[Dave (in MA)]

Looks like the Dow is 'only' down 175 now.

This job might be a good opportunity for the folks for whom Fauxcahontas provided much of their intellectual foundation, since it involves the same set of skills.

[fdcol63]

So, what will we all do for employment when robots, automation, and other technologies reduce our opportunities for jobs?

How much poorer, angrier, and more violent will Arab Muslims become when they no longer have their oil revenue?

[jack is Back!]

Cpan at noon tomorrow. House Commerce Comm. hearings on Ebolo with NIH and CDC. Buy popcorn now.

iqvoice: I don't think this is a long road type project but perhaps 10 to 15 years depending on the funding and the partners. If its DoE only then forget it. But if its GE or Combustion Engineering and perhaps the Navy Reactor Facility it is much more doable. Looks like the engineering is there and just needs scaling, material design, fabrication/manufacturing and testing.

I see a more compact schedule here.

[maryrose]

DOW almost hit 15,000 plus today. Talk about an October surprise.
Did I mention I am outraged by that irresponsible nurse from Dallas traveling to Cleveland before the 21 days had ended. I thought they were quarantining the people who had direct contact with the first patient? No more Ebola victims should be treated at the Texas hospital. Let Emory or the Nebraska hospital handle it.

[narciso]

the previous non thorium reactors relied on a laser cascade to trigger the fusion, how do you miniaturize that, or is there another mechanism,

[GMax]

ABC News backs up the hearse close enough that the faithful can smell the flowers:

A ‘CRISIS OF CONFIDENCE’: Barack Obama and his political party are heading into the midterm elections in trouble. The president’s 40 percent job approval rating in a new ABC News-Washington Post poll is the lowest of his career – and the Democratic Party’s popularity is its weakest in polling back 30 years, with more than half of Americans seeing the party unfavorably for the first time, according to ABC News Pollster GARY LANGER. The Republican Party is even more unpopular. But benefiting from their supporters’ greater likelihood of voting, GOP candidates nonetheless hold a 50-43 percent lead among likely voters for U.S. House seats in the Nov. 4 election. These and other results are informed by an array of public concerns on issues from the economy to international terrorism to the Ebola virus, crashing into a long-running crisis of confidence in the nation’s political leadership. Almost two-thirds say the country is headed seriously off on the wrong track. http://abcn.ws/1w121LB

•IN CONTEXT: History offers the Democrats cold comfort. Obama’s approval rating matches George W. Bush’s heading into the 2006 midterms, when the Republicans lost 30 seats, LANGER notes. The only postwar president numerically lower heading into a second midterm was Harry Truman, at 39 percent approval, in 1950; his Democrats lost 28 seats. While race-by-race assessments don’t suggest those kinds of losses this year, the comparison adds context to the GOP’s upper hand. http://abcn.ws/1w121LB

Read that carefully. They are telling you the generic ballot is R + 7, and its rarely r + anything, yet Republicans still do quite well, outperforming the generic. Even 20 seats in the House would shoot them well past the high water mark of 245. At 261 they get to 60% of the seats. Which would leave Dems at but 174 seats. Probably would make some veto overrides achievable at least in the House...

[Miss Marple]

Shep Smith says we have nothing to worry about, and that all of this panic about Ebola is stupid.

Dr. Ben Carson says we should be very concerned.

Guess who I am listening to?

[Rob Crawford]

The new fusion reactors take advantage of a new, extremely dense material recently discovered. The discoverers named it for its source: bidenium.

[Stephanie accidentally OnT?]

They are moving the newest patient to Emory. Per local news.

[lyle]

Too many threads for effective provocation so I'm reposting:

http://video.foxnews.com/v/3841168832001/meghan-mccain-talks-ebola-fears-war-on-women/#sp=show-clips&v=3841168832001

Huh? No, I didn't watch any of it and I doubt you will, either. I'm just trying to get some creative slattering of this worthless RINO spawn. Who in the hell decided any of the drivel coming out of her piehole was relevant to, well, anything?

[Miss Marple]

Why are they moving THIS patient to Emory, and not the other one? Did they say why?

[MarkO]

Bless Shep's little lavender heart.

[anonamom]

This is good news from bad news--40% of Americans feel that they or an immediate family member are at risk to contracting Ebola.
(This poll was taken BEFORE the word of the nurses getting infected was out.)

Hopefully they will vote accordingly.

[Stephanie accidentally OnT?]

Hokey Pokey response team:

Obola Friedan in a telephone interview:

I think there are two different parts of that equation,” he continued. “The first is, if you’re a member of the traveling public and are healthy, should you be worried you might have gotten it by sitting next to someone? And the answer is no.”

“Second, if you are sick and you may have Ebola, should you get on a bus? And the answer to that is also no. You might become ill, you might have a problem that exposes someone around you,” he said.

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/brittany-m-hughes/cdc-you-can-give-can-t-get-ebola-bus

[Cat]

@ 4:01 PM - It is already happening even as we speak. Ironic that at such a point in history, the USA's leader is primitive even by standards established for retards.

[Stephanie accidentally OnT?]

Why are they moving THIS patient to Emory, and not the other one? Did they say why?

Didn't say, but I saw somewhere today the first nurse is 'doing better.' Better than what they didn't say.

[fdcol63]

Who else thinks Shep is WAY overpaid? LOL

[Rob Crawford]

Stephanie -- at least they haven't declared her "stable".

[NKreBootDeux]

Stephanie@:23-- did he really say that? If yes.....

[jack is Back!]

narc,

Frederick is working with a frozen graphite compound that isloates the hyoerbolic structure of the cascade and is able to then shrink it in a controlled vacuum:)

IOW's he is hoping a ball of play dough put in a freezer and then zapped in a microwave will work:)

[Jane]

Did I mention I am outraged by that irresponsible nurse from Dallas traveling to Cleveland before the 21 days had ended

She went home to plan her wedding with her mother - which is a better excuse than the doc from NBC.

[Jane]

MM,

The "other one" didn't want to go to Emory. (I guess under Obamacare if you like your hospital for ebola you can keep your hospital for ebola.

[lyle]

Gee, here I thought bidenium was an unstable dense material prone to sporadic emissions of stinky, noxious gas.

[anonamom]

Jane--
And I'm betting none of them were told to curtail mass travel, or
to regard ANY fever as an indication of infection.

How utterly stupid of the clueless bureaucrats at the CDC to think that ANY community hospital could handle this?
NOW they'll send a team from the CDC to supervise care and protocols--now that an entire plane has been exposed to that sick nurse.
Duncan's family and Jesse Jackson are right- HE should have been shipped to Emory or one of the designated high containment hospitals.
They would have been smart enough to not put him on dialysis and expose another twenty people.

[Philip Ngai]

How is a 100 Megawatt fusion reactor which generates most of its heat via neutrons better than a 100 Megawatt fission reactor?

[Danube on iPad]

AliceH beat me to it. That usage has always driven me nuts.

[lyle]

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/10/government_employee_unions_openly_fear_gop_senate_win.html

Are they referring to some other GOP than the one we know? If only.

[Beasts of England]

They're moving the new patient to Emory because she's not black.

/RebrundJasson

[(A)Nuther Bub]

Here's what I am reminded of when Josh Earnest, Dr. Frieden et.al. continue to tell us that the safest response is continuing to let in travelers from W. Africa. . .

I think about those slasher movies where the teen girl decides that the safest thing she can do will be to head to the back of the house and the most distant bedroom instead of running out the front door. Meanwhile the entire audience is yelling "No! No! Don't go there!"

Most Americans are yelling now but our masters continue to think we're stupid enough to buy their script.

[Beasts of England]

@Philip Ngai: Someone with a DeLorean in their avatar should know the answer to that question...

[jimmyk]

That usage has always driven me nuts.

Me too, DoT, and Alice.

[jimmyk]

You say Maguire, I say McGuire, let's call the whole thing off.

[jack is Back!]

Ben Carson says we should put our resources into stopping it at the source - west Africa. I agree.

Why are we in a position now to trest it as it comes to us. Why not put this world class medical treatment there and attack it at the source?

[(A)Nuther Bub]

How do we know the nurse's temp was "only" 99.5 when she got on the plane? Her word?

[Sue]

Beasts,

The new patient is black.

[Danube on iPad]

My money says the EPA will bring this fusion thing to a screeching halt. A hydrogen bomb is also known as a "fusion weapon," and that's pretty much all you need to know.

[henry]

Latest Marquette poll : Walker & Burke tied. The fraud will be turned to 11.

[lyle]

Why not nuke west Africa just to be safe? Hey, just livin' up to my racist bona fides that the media have conferred on me.

[Dave (in MA)]

lyle wants to be the Donald Sutherland character from "Outbreak".

[Beasts of England]

I was just trying to mock Jessie Jackson, Sue. I guess I failed. Darn it...

[Porchlight]

http://hotair.com/archives/2014/10/15/cdc-chief-from-now-on-well-make-sure-people-were-monitoring-for-exposure-to-ebola-dont-get-on-a-plane/

CDC says from now on they won't let people they're monitoring for ebola get on planes.

[Jane]

"And I'm betting none of them were told to curtail mass travel, or
to regard ANY fever as an indication of infection."

Well since Obola decided to come up with "a plan" today, I'm sure you are right Anonamom.

Henry, that Marquette poll better be wrong. I thought Walker had pulled away with it.

[Eric in Boise]

OT - If you're bummed by your portfolio lately, be glad you're not a Netflix shareholder (like me).

Down 26.5 after hours.

Not points. Percent.

[Iggy]

--I think about those slasher movies where the teen girl decides that the safest thing she can do will be to head to the back of the house and the most distant bedroom instead of running out the front door.--

You mean the "why can't we just get in the running car?" girl?

[NKreBootDeux]

BTW-- IMHO, deliberately failing to protect the nation from arguably the worst communicable disease on Earth, the Congress is well within its rights to impeach and remove Obummer.

[jack is Back!]

DoT,

Controlled fusion versus extreme thermal kinetic energy dispersal.

But then then the Unicorn Society is still waiting for cold fusion. Remember that?

[Porchlight]

They're also saying hospital workers weren't properly protected for the first couple of days after Duncan got there.

However, does "not properly protected" mean they were wearing no protection whatsoever? Or does it mean they were wearing the insufficient CDC protocol for 2 days and then said EFF THIS, WE'RE PUTTING ON HAZMAT SUITS. ??

[Iggy]

IIRC "normal" temps range from 97.5-99.5 with 98.6 only an average.

How can you tell when someone is symptomatic if you don't know their baseline normal temp?

[Holly]

Reposting Porch's comment from a previous thread. I know I shouldn't be surprised, but I'm gobsmacked.

"If you want to be absolutely freaked out, read this thread:

http://www.reddit.com/r/ebola/comments/2jbfui/user_involved_with_dallas_emergency_broke_that/cla8pji

Commenters saying that:

--because the hospital staff didn't immediately know Duncan had Ebola (and why would they), several nurses and a doctor examined him without protection prior to the diagnosis.

--Several of these people are running fever now.

--FBI has asked all the nurses to delete social media accounts.

I think this just might possibly be why Obama canceled those fundraisers.

Needless to say I'm just a tad bit more worried than I was a couple of days ago.

Posted by: Porchlight | October 15, 2014 at 02:52 PM"

Porch, folks in Dallas are worried. A local Dem county commissioner sent an email out to Lakewood residents (East Dallas neighborhood near White Rock Lake) titled "Ebola, Facts not Fear." I"m tempted to show up to ask about the five or six additional Ebola cases at Presby. Talk some facts. :)

"Hello Friends!
There will be a town hall meeting tonight at the Lakewood Theater 630-730 pm, hosted by John McCaa. This is a great opportunity to get some answers from the experts.

Your questions will be answered by ABC News Chief health and medical editor Dr. Richard Besser and Dr. Todd Pollock, President of the Dallas Medical Society.

Norma Scholz
CHRP Team 8"

[anonamom]

I want to see what those 70 health care workers were instructed to do as far as contacts.
What's the real difference of getting on a bus or plane versus going to one of those huggy-kissy churches and spreading the the virus that way, and then over coffee and donuts in the fellowship hall? Going to a sold- out movie? Were they told to stay home and just infect their loved ones and pets???

Yet another government fail.

[daddy]

I pulled an all nighter last night and only sporadically heard thru the static of distant AM Radio channels bits and pieces about the 2nd Ebola victim.

Then I got home, turned on the Tube and JOM and tried quick to catch up. I think I made 2 posts, then passed out.

As I was fading I put on my radio headset, dialed up Rush, shut my eyes, then zonked out, and had him rant into my subconscious for the next 3 hours, followed by a bit of Dennis Miller. What an odd way to absorb some of the particulars of this ongoing, self inflicted nightmare.

Now awake, I rolled on the floor with my frisky pups, and now on my 1st cup of coffee. Catch-up obviously is impossible, and Dennis Miller just said that he believes that the Administration will wind up handling this Ebola crisis even lousier than the roll out of ObamaCare: "They are complete screw-ups in everything they touch."

FOX Business currently doing a very good segment on Ebola. An update on my crashing portfolio, the deadly virus, and Bureaucratic incompetence all at one. The Doctors Jerry Willis is interviewing are absolutely appalled at the idiocy of allowing the 2nd Nurse to board the plane.

[henry]

Jane, probably represents the difference between legal voter preference (last poll w/ voter ID for Nov) and the effect of the illegals / felons (this poll, thanks Supreme Court). Nothing else changed, except Walker is ahead with registered voter by 3 which matches the poll before the last one (also before the 7th said voter ID was a go). This is why Obama is suddenly welcome by Burke (who snuck out the back door last time he was in town). It is back to getting people to show up at the polls, so chief free shit helps somehow.

[Jeff Dobbs]

Thanks for picking up the slack, Jane...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT!!!

(new record for number of threads a JOMer is wished HB has just been set)

And also, while we're on about birthdays...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARKO'S DAUGHTER!!!

MarkO - please pass this along you your little girl...

...since according to the state, she's earned it.

[clarice]

Anuther (Bub) Love that!

As for this fusion story--let's sjust say once again the neo Malthusians are donning sackcloth and ashes.

[(A)Nuther Bub]

You mean the "why can't we just get in the running car?" girl?

Heh. No, Iggy. The running car girl is the American public saying "Why don't we just stop issuing and honoring visas from W. Africa until this is over?"

The Obama administration is the "No, let's lock ourselves in a bedroom," girl. "It's safer."

[Stephanie accidentally OnT?]

Stephanie@:23-- did he really say that? If yes.....

Yes, evidently he did. I wasn't on the phone interview, but the link has it in quotes and no ellipses and he did a first, second, third countoff and those were his one and two.

[AliceH]

Dipped a toe in the Google waters of scaling laws... seems unrelated to my point in that nothing found yet relates to rhetoric.

[Porchlight]

Thank you, Holly, I was going to repost that. It is freaky. Prayers for all of you in the DFW area. I would be scared, too.

CNN reporting CDC is "intensively assessing" 4 other healthcare workers.

http://i.imgur.com/m1I6uG2.jpg

[Thomas Collins]

I challenge any non-Massachusetts JOMer to come up with an official in your state who has made a more patently ludicrous statement about ebola preparations than this one (from State House News):

"STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, OCT. 15, 2014.....While New York City has tasked a Manhattan hospital with handling potential Ebola cases, Massachusetts has not designated any particular medical facility for cases within Bay State borders and officials say all Massachusetts hospitals are ready for suspect cases. A Department of Public Health (DPH) official said Massachusetts has no comparable system of designating a particular hospital or hospitals to handle Ebola cases. The Massachusetts Hospital Association said the transfer of patients would be coordinated by the DPH, which says every hospital in Massachusetts is capable of handling a case of Ebola, the disease that has killed thousands in West Africa."

I keep reading this and saying there can't possibly be an official so stupid as to think all Massachusetts hospitals are ready for this. I'm actually hoping this official is lying, because I think it is even worse if the official believes this.

[Janet]

at Drudge - Caribbean island bans visitors from West African nations...
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CB_ST_LUCIA_EBOLA_TRAVEL_BAN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-10-15-16-40-51

St Lucia for heaven's sake. It is embarrassing to have a President this incompetent.

[MarkO]

Happy Birthday, Matt.

Thank you, hit, for the good wishes. My youngest married her true love at the end of August. I need the drink.

I've waxed poetic about her, but her husband is simply perfect for us. Lucky.

It is also the birthday of my youngest grandson, Simon. His mother is the daughter who lives all over the world. He was born in Brasil.

It helps one's memory to have two born on the same day.

[RickB]

" The Doctors Jerry Willis is interviewing are absolutely appalled at the idiocy of allowing the 2nd Nurse to board the plane."

I wonder how they feel about West African visas being issued? Who wants to bet nobody has made it to the No Fly list as yet?

[Stephanie accidentally OnT?]

The Obama administration is the "No, let's lock ourselves in a bedroom," girl. "It's safer."

The CDC is the girl saying 'why don't we hide behind the 50 chainsaws hanging in the garage" in the ad.

Not sure who to cast as the serial killer as he rolls his eyes at teh stoopit as he's preparing to kill em.

Just being pedantic...

[lyle]

Was Donald's character racist like me?

[Old Lurker]

Mark, was she upset when you came out?

[Some Guy]

"Who else thinks Shep is WAY overpaid?"

I'm shocked he's still on. I specifically won't watch when he's on, and I'd suggest others do the same. As long as he pulls ratings, he'll stick around. The only way to make him go away is to stop watching him.

[MarkO]

When I first went over to see DoT, it was Grace who asked me where I met him. I said, "The Internet." She said, "Good luck with that."

[Old Lurker]

I like how the chase scenes always have the car heading into and up a parking garage to get away from the bad guys...

[MarkO]

OL, no. She needs closet space.

[Porchlight]

It helps one's memory to have two born on the same day.

My parents would agree. Their firstborn (my older brother) was born on my dad's birthday.

My younger brother's first son (secondborn) was born on his birthday, which also happens to be my husband's birthday.

So on July 2 we celebrate three birthdays and on July 19, another two.

Congratulations on all your family happiness!

[daddy]

A Freidan quote from Steph's 04:23"

“The first is, if you’re a member of the traveling public and are healthy, should you be worried you might have gotten it by sitting next to someone? And the answer is no.”

USA Today's front page story from yesterday, (which I can't link to and don't have in front of me) said that they believed the virus could live on the Aircrafts armrests or tray travels for up to a week if they were not properly cleaned by the clean up crews, and then said that they were probably not being properly cleaned.

So either Friedan is lying or the USA Today was wrong.

[Stephanie accidentally OnT?]

The local news reports that screening for travelers coming in from Sierra Leone, Ghana and Liberia will begin being screened tonorrow (by Customs agents wearing the blue gloves). But rest assured... only 10-15 people actually arrive here after transferring from their overseas flights.

So what happens to the other 100-300 people who flew in from overseas and dispersed to non screening airports or those who only boarded the plane on the 2nd of the three legs from Africa?

Evidently no screening. I feel sooooo much better. NOT.

[MarkO]

Porch, that's just crazy.

My DC daughter's other son was born on my birthday.

So much for free will.

[Sue]

Iggy,

My normal temp is 97.6. Anything over that I consider I have a low grade temp.

[Skoot]

Heck of a catch by KC's Gordon in left field.

Where's King Obola?

[Porchlight]

How can you tell when someone is symptomatic if you don't know their baseline normal temp?

You can't, Iggy. But who took this nurse's temperature? Was the 99.5 number self-reported? If so, how do we know she is telling the truth? Seems like she is pretty seriously motivated to lie at this point.

The main question is why she was allowed to fly to Cleveland and back AT ALL.

[Some Guy]

I'm still trying to get my mind around the unbelievable stupidity of a nurse going out in public, let alone stuffing herself into a flying sardine can.

Shouldn't she be indicted for reckless endangerment?

Must be an Obama voter.

[Jeff Dobbs]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIMON111

It helps one's memory to have two born on the same day.

I guess so, since you and another grandson share a birthday...

[Porchlight]

So much for free will.

No kidding. MarkO! My firstborn, my mother and both my grandmothers were born in July as well. 2, 16, 19, 26, 27 and 31 are the lucky numbers.

Myself - March. (They knew I was trouble from the beginning.)

[NKreBootDeux]

Daddy-- look at the entire quote-- Frieden says, NO PROBLEM if the person next to you has Ebola. Then Frieden says, should the symptomatic person ride the bus? OH NO says Frieden, they may have a problem on the ride and transmit fluids to other passengers. In the very next sentence Frieden discredits his first statement. This is unreal; this is the head of CDC? it's a clown show. It's a sick joke on all of us.

[lyle]

Must be an Obama voter.

Dead on given. Oops, strike that "dead on" part.

[Porchlight]

Shouldn't she be indicted for reckless endangerment?

That's why I think she might be lying about her temperature on that flight.

But it's the CDC's fault she wasn't in strict quarantine from the beginning.

[Stephanie accidentally OnT?]

USA Today's front page story from yesterday, (which I can't link to and don't have in front of me) said that they believed the virus could live on the Aircrafts armrests or tray travels for up to a week if they were not properly cleaned by the clean up crews, and then said that they were probably not being properly cleaned.

Frontier's statement was also highlighted on the local news:

“At approximately 1:00 a.m. MT on October 15, Frontier was notified by the CDC that a customer traveling on Frontier Airlines flight 1143 Cleveland to Dallas/Fort Worth on Oct. 13 has since tested positive for the Ebola virus. The flight landed in Dallas/Fort Worth at 8:16 p.m. local and remained overnight at the airport having completed its flying for the day at which point the aircraft received a thorough cleaning per our normal procedures which is consistent with CDC guidelines prior to returning to service the next day. It was also cleaned again in Cleveland last night. Previously the customer had traveled from Dallas Fort Worth to Cleveland on Frontier flight 1142 on October 10.

Customer exhibited no symptoms or sign of illness while on flight 1143, according to the crew. Frontier responded immediately upon notification from the CDC by removing the aircraft from service and is working closely with CDC to identify and contact customers who may traveled on flight 1143.

Customers who may have traveled on either flight should contact CDC at 1 800 CDC-INFO.

The safety and security of our customers and employees is our primary concern. Frontier will continue to work closely with CDC and other governmental agencies to ensure proper protocols and procedures are being followed.”

Bolded and italicized mine. Splitting hairs, theirs.

Hope to God she showered before she boarded the flight on 10/10...

Their protocols have more holes than swiss cheese and taste worse.

[Extraneus]

It may not fit the MLA lesson plan but it is acceptable engineering language.

I've never heard it in umpteen years of engineering.

[daddy]

Has Michelle Obama mandated what type of meals should be served to the Ebola patients?

Why the hell not?