YouTube – TRON: The Next Day – Flynn Lives Revealed (TR3N Teaser 1) [480p]

[youtube http://www.youtube.com?v=GaodH483Ako]

The first of the 2 fabled TR3N (TRON 3) teaser videos. This one is titled “The Next Day”, and is an official exclusive extra from the TRON: Legacy Blu-Ray. It explains the origins of the Flynn Lives organisation (who ran the ARG) and who was in charge of it, and what happens after Sam decides to take over ENCOM at the end of TRON: Legacy! Featuring the fabled scene with Dan Shor as Ram and Bruce Boxleitner as Alan Bradley. The second TRON 3 teaser is reportedly a hidden Easter Egg in the DVD/Blu-Ray and will reportedly feature Olivia Wilde as Quorra and Cillian Murphy as Ed Dillinger Jr.

A look back at Chernobyl disaster, in lieu of Japan’s disaster..

We all know that Japan is in the middle of recovering from a disaster…  And has more issues that they are still dealing with, mainly the Nuclear Power plant issues…

But, what do we know about Nuclear Reactors?  And what about the last great nuclear disaster?  The Chernobyl disaster? (The Chernobyl link is a great review of all the human and mechanical causes of the Chernobyl disaster.)

The issue in Japan, appears to be related to the Plant’s power requirements. Even when not actively generating power, nuclear power reactors require cooling, typically provided by coolant flow, to remove decay heat. Pressurized water reactors use water flow at high pressure to remove waste heat. Following an emergency shutdown (scram), the core still generates a significant amount of residual heat, which is initially about seven percent of the total thermal output of the plant. If not removed by coolant systems, the heat could lead to core damage. Even following an emergency shutdown, reactor cooling is still required to keep the temperature in the reactor core low enough to avoid fuel damage.

To place this into perspective, Chernobyl required a water flow of 28 metric tons (~7,400 Gallons) per hour to be able to cool the reactor safely. To generate that much water flow, Chernobyl required 5.5 MegaWatts to run one of the main water pumps.

The Japanese issue(s) appear to be completely related to the failure of Cooling system power, or a Coolant related leak… There have been reports of additional coolant being delivered to the plants, which suggest a leak…

Compare this to Chernobyl…

  • The roof of the reactor building and turbine hall at Chernobyl were constructed of a combustible material (bitumen)
  • The Chernobyl power generation tests were being run at a unsafe power level (far lower than was specified)

The Chernobyl reactor had several unknown design defects:

  • The reactor was very unstable at low power levels, and prone to sudden increases in energy production.  Often to a dangerous level.
  • The control rod system had a significant flaw.  The rods fit into a shaft that ended with Hollow channels that were filled with water.  As the rods were inserted, the coolant would be displaced, and thus the reactor power output would be momentarily increased.
While at this time, we do not know the exact issues and the final fate of the small number of Japanese nuclear plants that have been damaged…  We need to realize that the issues at the Japanese plants offers a chance to review the causes, and to solve these problems in the future.

Apple is going to love this: Probably the best customer unboxing video ever.

You may have heard about the release of the iPad 2 yesterday and despite the catastrophe in Japan and (the far less significant) twitter announcement, Apple’s iPad update is still garnering a lot of attention online.Over the last 24 hours, a number of unboxing videos have been posted to YouTube…

via Apple is going to love this: Probably the best customer unboxing video ever..

Technical Difficulties: Consolitis- Destructoid

Now, let it be known that I have absolutely nothing against video game consoles. Last generation I owned a PC, a PS2, and an XBOX, and loved all of those. The term comes from the fact that, originally, the dumbing down of games came from hardware limitations. However, now the streamlining comes from publishers attempting to please a wider array of people. Consoles are just another victim of the phenomena today.

Chaos Theory is my third favorite game of all time. It’s just too damn good. One thing I especially liked was how the most hardcore players could attempt to get past the levels without even touching guards. Less hardcore players could resort to interrogating a few people and then knocking them unconscious. If you like immersion in your games, Chaos Theory was pretty realistic. Sure, you could pull out your silenced pistol and kill every guard, but it wasn’t what you would normally do. When listening to guards in the other room you could hear them chat about many things. You could hear them chat about their family, you could hear them chat about life, about their stories, a whole lot of things. They didn’t even hate you – they were just guys who didn’t want to necessarily kill anybody, people who wanted to get through with their day alive. Guards you felt sorry for murdering. That wasn’t the only appeal of the game, of course – the difficulty in the game was scaled just right. But it wasn’t easy, especially if you wanted to avoid firearms. You had to carefully think about each situation you were in to survive the mission. It was a game by the hardcore for the hardcore.

Then, Conviction came along.

Destructoid discusses the dumbing down of games, to meet both technical specs, and to reach the “Mass Market”.

Take a look here, at Technical Difficulties: Consolitis