Focus Fusion Society 2011 Year in Review

Focus Fusion

Society

Boldly pursuing aneutronic fusion
via Focus Fusion technology

Focus Fusion Society: Year in Review | December 2011

In This Issue

Call to Action
Focus Fusion Needs You!

2011 has brought many changes to the Focus Fusion Society. We continue to struggle with financing to stay afloat, and yet we are extending ourselves to grow with bold initiatives. Your involvement is crucial at this time. Please consider increasing your support, either financially or through action. There is a lot you can do to keep things going!

Donate via Paypal button. Better yet, to help us avoid the Paypal fee, send a check to:

Focus Fusion Society
PO Box 232
South Bound Brook, NJ 08880

Aneutronic Peace On Earth!

Help us spread the concept of Aneutronic Fusion by explaining it to people you know. Tell us what works best and what questions come up. Thanks again to Glenn Millam for this great design!

Focus Fusion Poster

A big Thank You to Sascha Becher aka Stereotron for producing this stereoscopic 3D poster of the electrodes of the Dense Plasma Focus. Available for download:

Fusion Coffee Mallows

Thanks to Steve Kingsley for kicking off this Fundraiser! The Focus Fusion Society earns 50% from the sale of each 4-Pack CoffeeMallows, made specifically to advance our mission. Fusion NOW!

2012 Plasma Universe Calendar

This calendar features a dozen awe-inspiring images of the cosmos, in which plasma plays an important role.

Get Calendar...

Social Media:
Spread the Meme

& post on the topic of fusion; share our posts with others; & invite your friends to like us too!

& tweet about fusion;
retweet our posts; &
make #aneutronic trend!

& post your Focus Fusion videos! We'd love to see them.

Creative Commons Copyright: Attribution Share Alike. Share the photos & use in mashups!

Focus Fusion Society
rezwan@focusfusion.org

Thank You!

Greetings!;

Thank You to all of the dedicated fusion supporters that we have had the privilege of working with this year. Thank You to all of our wonderful members, donors, volunteers and the board; Thank you to this year's sustaining donors Patrick Walsh, Ignas Galvelis, the Weed Charitable Family Foundation and Aaron Blake; Thank You to the LPP team whose experiment we avidly follow. Thank you to Bob Fitzgerald for stopping by the LPP lab and giving everyone a ride in the Tesla!

We've PACKED this "Year In Review" newsletter with more news than we put in our usual newsletters. We hope you enjoy! We wish all of you a Happy New Year with a huge rise in Focus Fusion Gain!

3 Days Left to Donate!

For the next few days you should drop everything to focus on some last minute giving. Here's why...

Everyone will like you better
It's good for tax reasons
The Society exists because of your donations.

Read on or:

LPPX Update

LPP Logo

As a year end gift to all we are including a link to the LPP December Report. Normally, the LPP monthly reports are only sent to dues paying members before we post it on the web. A great report. Things are heating up in the lab!

Read the LPP December Report (pdf file)

Note on the Relationship of FFS and LPP.

2011 Accomplishments

Tracking Focus Fusion Research
We continue to document, track and publicize information about Focus Fusion research being carried out by the crew at LPP in Middlesex, NJ. Read on...

Eric Lerner inspects anode.

Wiki: We have just set up a Focus Fusion Society wiki to crowd source the development of quality information about Focus Fusion technology. Thank you Ignas for getting this up and running! Everyone: pitch in!

Member Initiatives: We have many talented members who contribute key information, suggestions and initiatives. We enjoy integrating your suggestions into the mission and working with you to pursue them. We regret the times we haven't been able to keep up with you! You can see the result of some of your initiatives throughout this letter.

Events: The Focus Fusion Society presence was felt at several key events. We brought up diversification of fusion research at the American Security Project's fusion meeting on the Hill in May. We likewise infused the Fusion Power Associates Annual Meeting with support for diversification and are on the way to building productive coalitions. We've had some great conversations with ICC organizers throughout the year. Thank You to Rudy Fritsch for spending a day at the EV (Electric Vehicle) show in Toronto to spread a pro Focus Fusion message! We'd love to see Focus Fusion at more events, so get in touch with us if you have an idea for an event to attend on our behalf!

Rudy and Rob at EV, Toronto

Forums: Our forums continue to be an active, lively area of discussion where valuable suggestions are made that have an impact on the society as well as on LPP's focus fusion research.

Content: We develop and publish original articles about Focus Fusion technology and other topics related to fusion. We also track down and republish fusion stories from other sources.

Media: We have been communicating with members of the media to develop a better frame for the fusion story.

Social Media: Our social media numbers and activity continue to grow. Here's where everyone can pitch in to help weave the Focus Fusion meme into the fabric of the world wide web. Check out our social media blocks on the left and help spread the word!

Film Contest: Our film contest received one humorous entry from Paul Malone. We have rerouted Paul $250 in prize money which he is using to pay the VAT on his booth at the Kinetica Art Fair where he plans to feature slides related to Focus Fusion and the Electric Universe.

Governance: ("Boring but important")

In 2011 we strengthened and expanded the board and worked through many issues critical to a well run nonprofit, including hammering out stronger bylaws and going through an initial strategic planning process. Note, we are looking for more board members! This is a great way to make a difference.

Sharpening the Focus on Focus Fusion
As part of our strategic planning process, and in response to feedback on the forums, we continue to clarify the focus of the organization. See our 2012 Goals below and share your feedback!

Reaching out to the Fusion Community
Another outcome of the strategic planning process was the launch of the Fusion Energy League ("FEL"). FEL extends our enthusiasm to the horizon of the larger fusion community. It is to be a platform from which it will be easy to develop coalitions and seek the benefits of diverse fusion associations, while keeping the Focus Fusion Society focused on Focus Fusion technology. Sign up to join the League!

Our Goals in 2012

First, a reality check. We are effectively out of funds. Much of the work done to date has been unpaid (funds for payroll ran out last year). If you would like to see a continuation of this organization and its activities, please make a serious commitment to help finance the Focus Fusion Society today.

More Events: We would like to get together with people more often this year. We'd like to see members take the initiative to get together and form clubs, and to visit environmental and energy events to spread the word.

Wiki: Members! The wiki is up! Please pitch in!

Education: We have a proposal from Paul Ranky for $100,000 to develop films and interactive educational materials about LPP's Focus Fusion experiment.

Focus Fusion Games: The Ranky proposal includes funding for a Focus Fusion flash game trilogy. Please help us to either fund this, submit a design of your own, or help set up an open source platform for the development of such games. We'd like to play soon!

Website Improvement: Our website is due for an overhaul. In addition to design, we would like to add more functional features to facilitate your involvement in the advancement of Focus Fusion.

Fusion Research: Eric Lerner has informed us of individuals who are carrying out simulations that are relevant for the LPP fusion project and are of general interest to the field of fusion. We are considering ways to raise funds for this research for a year ($85,000).

Financing Fusion: As a nonprofit, we are not permitted to solicit investment. We do, however, have a social and charitable interest in seeing Focus Fusion develop. As such, we would like to explore concepts related to financing fusion, including increasing government commitment to a broader fusion program, increasing private sector investment in fusion and new initiatives for legalizing non-accredited investment.

Building Our Capacity: We are looking for ways to strengthen the organization, increase the human and financial resources, improve the tools we use.

Seeking New Director

The Focus Fusion Society is seeking a new executive director. If you would like to be considered for the position, please reply to this email with your phone number and a resume. We have one excellent candidate. He is perfect in all respects with the only shortfall being that he is located in California and we would ideally like someone with close proximity to the LPP lab in New Jersey. There is currently no budget for this position, so we also require donations to cover the salary.