Rally to Restore (Fusion) Sanity
(6) CommentsMeet us on October 30 at the Washington Mall to leverage the John Stewart-Stephen Colbert Rally for fusion! (I think they’re calling it something else. Little do they know. Be part of the Fusion Flash Mob!)
Do you feel current fusion policy could be improved? Come join us at the rally and share a reasonable fusion funding vision with your fellow Americans.
Let us know if you’re coming so we can expect you. Once at the rally I’ll be coordinating/announcing our coordinates via twitter.
Also, check out our handy events calendar. If you use Google Calendars you can import this directly into your own.
Time:
We’ll meet at 11:00 am, October 30, 2010.
The rally itself is from Noon to 3:00 pm.
Gathering Point
Head for the Smithsonian Metro station at 12th Street on the Mall. Outside the station, gather at the Freer Gallery Entrance on the Jefferson Drive side. There’s a handy plaza there we can assemble at.
From there, we’ll head over to the main rally, which is on the far eastern end of the National Mall between 3rd Street and 7th Street, known as East Seaton Park and Henry Park.
It would be great to go as a big group, but if you’re more of an independent, or have plans with another group, that’s fine! It’s more effective to fan out. Just make sure to get some focus fusion signs and such to hand out.
Transportation:
There are many ways to get to the Rally. There is even a info about buses from major US cities.
What to do at the Rally (aka Fusion Flash Mob Tactics)
Supporters of John Stewart’s Rally to restore sanity can talk about how reasonable fusion research is and politely hand out flyers and try to explain fusion, aneutronic fusion, focus fusion - whatever comes up.
Supporters of Stephen Colbert can make dark predictions about the future should this research not be funded.
A sign that would provide a reasonable balance between the two would have the Peace sign with arms down on one side and arms up on the other.
It being close to Halloween, there is talk of costumes. If you have a fusion themed costume, bring it! And we’d love to see pictures! A DPF themed statue of liberty comes to mind, with electrode crown lighting the torch.
If we have enough people (and space), we may also try some fusion reaction drill team manoeuvres. Or square dancing. “Take your proton by the hand, do si do (actually, tri-si-alpha) etc.”
This is also an opportunity to work on the fusion pitch. You may want to have a friend film people’s reactions to your explanations of fusion. A bit of impromptu social marketing.
Flyers & Posters
OMG we just have a week to make some signs, print up some flyers, and head down to the rally.
Make sure the flyers you hand out have our website and twitter address on them: http://focusfusion.org @focusfusion
To assist you in making signs and flyers, Glenn Millam has graciously made available focus fusion artwork with a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike license.
Download your favorite designs as is, or modify them, or do your own thing.
As to a flyer that spells out the whole thing - we’re still working on it! Help collaborate on flyers to explain aneutronic fusion!
See you at the rally!
Free Fusion Designs!
Volunteer for LPPX Sparkplug Simulation Team
Comments
For a more in depth discussion, start a thread in the forums.I’m coming! I think this will be a lot of fun. As far as flyers go, I’m working on trying to convey that Focus Fusion
-creates no radioactive waste, because it uses boron and hydrogen
-is pulsing, so it has essentially no risk of meltdown
-cannot be used to proliferate nuclear bombs
-could potentially be a way to replace coal and oil as a primary source of energy for the developed and developing world.
Also, I think its helpful to clarify the ways in which Tokamak has dominated the fusion space up until now, and how physicists interested in Tokamak fusion might be afraid of losing their own funding, and thus might make it seem like that is the only option. The goal is for the US to support a whole range of approaches, including LPP’s, with both public and private funding.
My word, am I slow. I just realized what Tri Alpha stands for. (Tri Alpha being the California company working on field-reversed configuration fusion.)
proton + Boron 11 = 3 alphas
LOL! I just figured it out a few months ago, after talking to one of their board members, who pointed out that our three alpha particles on our masthead were similar to their logo or something. I was all, “Three alph…OMG!”
I always thought it was cheeky of them to try and monopolize the pB11 process! Maybe even cheesy.
Have they released any more info, projections, extravagant claims, etc., recently? Or still in full stealth?
Oh, well.
JS, about the pulsing: since each pulse lasts just a few microsecs, you can honestly point out that it’s “off” at least 99.9% of the time!
Allegedly, they will reveal something at the upcoming APS meeting, Chicago, Nov. 8-12. I’ll be there to witness it.
Tri Alpha is still mostly in stealth mode, but the latest rumor (from Talk-Polywell) is that they’re ready to build a billion-dollar demo reactor.
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