Two nuclear explorers share photos, videos and stories from their trips to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, including a peek inside the Sarcophagus. Ryan and Elizabeth of the NSDM staff.
Description:
Ryan and Elizabeth were into Chernobyl before the HBO miniseries made it cool and well before the Russian occupation, travelling there in 2013, '15, and '16. They will share photos, videos and stories from areas not accessible on past public Chernobyl tours, such as the hospital basement, contaminated vehicle graveyards, the unfinished Unit 5 reactor building and cooling towers, abandoned laboratories, and areas inside the power plant such as the Unit 2 control room, pump halls, turbine hall, and a journey inside the Sarcophagus to visit the Unit 4 control room where the fatal safety test that caused the meltdown happened. Presented by Ryan and Elizabeth of the National Security Decision Making Game staff.
This seminar discusses what the history of air warfare, aerial combat, air-to-ground/sea warfare, and Isaac Newton, can tell us about the use of magic in air war. By Robert Mosher of the NSDM staff.
Description:
The invention of fixed wing aircraft led to the expansion of warfare into an additional dimension during the First World War. This seminar looks to answer your questions and examine what the history of air warfare, aerial combat, air-to-ground and air-to-sea warfare, and Isaac Newton, can tell us about the use of magic in aerial war. Presented by Robert Mosher of the National Security Decision Making Game staff.
Past seminars discussed how armies fight, this examines how armies are raised, organized, fed, paid, etc., who, what, where, when and how armies do what they do. By Robert Mosher of the NSDM staff.
Description:
Building on past War Magic seminars for the Writers' Track, in which we have discussed how armies fight, this time we answer your questions and examine how armies are raised, organized, fed, paid, etc., the who, what, where, when and how that enable armies to do what they do, and how these functions may be augmented by the use of a little War Magic. Presented by Robert Mosher of the National Security Decision Making Game staff.
The Washington Naval Treaty averted an arms race, limited capital ship, carrier & cruiser design & production, shaping naval forces at the start of WW II. Capt. Mark McDonagh, USN/ret., on NSDM staff.
Description:
Negotiated between November 1921 and February 1922, the Washington Naval Treaty between the World War I allies US, Britain, France, Italy and Japan averted a naval arms race. It ended the construction of new battleships and battlecruisers, placed armament and displacement limitations on aircraft carriers and cruisers, and prohibited construction of any new fortifications or naval bases in the Pacific Ocean region. And a 5:5:3 capital ship displacement ratio for US, UK and Japan was taken as a snub by Japan, one of several factors that drove a wedge between Japan and the US and contributed to World War II. In affecting carrier and cruiser design and numbers, it shaped many of the naval forces that were on hand at the start of World War II. Presented by Capt. Mark McDonagh, USN/ret., with 12 years' experience at the Naval War College, on the National Security Decision Making Game staff.
ZPE, energy quantum theory says is all around us. It may not be real, but SciFi writers use it as limitless "free" energy. What's real vs. SciFi? Capt. Mark McDonagh, USN/ret., physicist on NSDM staff
Description:
Zero-point energy, ZPE, refers to energy that exists even at absolute zero. One form of this rises from quantum field theory, which cites a universe composed of continuous fluctuating fields formed from a huge amount of energy that we cannot see. Some argue this is an artifact of mathematics, not a real thing. Others say that, if it is real, it is in equilibrium & entropy principles will not permit us to tap it. Recently, ZPE has become fodder for SciFi novel & screenplay writers as a source of limitless "free" energy. What is SciFi & what is real? What's the true potential of ZPE & how close might we be to realizing it? With a focus on the science & engineering technology, lecture attempts to separate fact from fiction. Presented by Capt. Mark McDonagh, USN/ret., a physicist with 12 years' experience at the Naval War College, on the National Security Decision Making Game staff.