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I just received this letter from Tom Goynes, with a great opportunity to ensure
we have river access at Sculls Crossing and Martindale for the future! Please read, and contribute!
- Harmon - This is really exciting!
As you know, we are losing public access to our rivers
all the time. I, personally, blame it on scumbag toobers - who throw out
their beer cans with wild abandon, play x-rated music on their boom boxes,
and generally behave in undesirable ways. But I digress...
We now have an opportunity to change this trend. We can collectively do something to
maintain the access that we have been enjoying at Sculls Crossing, and add
another public access point on the downstream side of Martindale.
A few years ago, a few of the citizens of Martindale got together and raised
enough money to allow their town to acquire a small tract of riverfront land
on Hwy 1979. They developed the property as a park and named it after Alan
Bates, a local scout leader who had recently died and who had always shown
his love for the river. You can read all about this park on the city's
webpage: http://www.martindaletexas.org/Allen%20Bates%20Park.htm
Now, an opportunity has come along that will allow the city to greatly enlarge this
park. The city has a contract to purchase a one and a half acre tract of
land adjacent to and immediately downstream of the Bates Park (this contract
expires on April 20). And, if the city can acquire this new tract of land,
they will be given an eight acre tract of land that Guadalupe County owns.
So, if all of this transpires, the city will go from having a 2 acre park to
having a 12 acre park. All for the price of about $50,000. Currently the
city has about $10,000 in donations to acquire this tract, so they need an
additional $40,000.
OK. Now I need you to focus on another issue in
Martindale that also needs our attention. That is, Sculls Crossing.
Guadalupe County recently built a new bridge at Sculls. The old access area
that we used for years (the concrete step where we docked in order to get
out of the river) is gone. The county has put up some "no parking" signs,
but so far there is no fence. So, folks have been taking out on the right
side just upstream of the bridge and loading their canoes along the side of
the road. The parking area along the side of county road 103 has remained
accessible.
Also, the city of Martindale, along with Caldwell County
decided to close the road that used to head up the hill from the river
toward Martindale (the road up the hill heading toward Hwy 80 is now the
only road up).
So here is where the Texas Rivers Protection Association
(and you) comes in. We talked to the city of Martindale and offered a deal:
we would help them raise money for the Alan Bates Park acquisition if they
would 1) guarantee public access to the river at the new park (which they
have) and 2) guarantee continued public access at Sculls Crossing.
Lorraine Harrison, the mayor of Martindale was really excited about getting some help
with the park acquisition. So, she went to Caldwell County and got them to
agree to make a canoe loading zone on the Martindale side of the river at
Sculls (where the road used to head up the hill, heading toward Martindale -
see attached pictures). That loading zone is already finished! She has
also agreed to put in some steps on the left side of the river and
immediately downstream of the bridge in the event that the right side ever
gets fenced. She has also committed to keeping the parking area open along
county road 103.
We are in the process of getting guarantees that this
access will always be available to us in writing (and, no money will change
hands until those documents are signed). I am also going to try to get all
speeding tickets forgiven for anyone driving through Martindale with a canoe
or kayak on their roof (hey, it's worth a try).
The bottom line is that the
TRPA currently has $5,000 in funds that are earmarked for this project
(there are three memorials - the Nancy Burns Memorial, the Lillie Cochran
Memorial, and the Michael Ash Memorial; and the Martindale access fund).
The board of directors of the TRPA has voted to match the current earmarked
funds with $5,000 from the general fund (which gives us a total of $10,000
right now) and to match an additional $5,000 of donations to this cause
(which will mean that the TRPA will be able to contribute as much as $20,000
to this project).
Our generosity has inspired the local folks in
Martindale. We have offered our entire contribution to match the money that
they raise. So, if they can match our $20,000, they can buy the new
parkland outright.
If you are committed to maintaining (and improving)
access at Martindale won't you please help? Please consider making a
contribution today. You can mail a check to TRPA, 444 Pecan Park Drive, San
Marcos, TX 78666 (be sure to include a note that it is for the Martindale
access fund - or designate it for one of our current memorials). If you
prefer to use a credit card, please visit our website: www.txrivers.org Just
click on the Donate link and be sure to let us know it is for the Martindale
Access fund.
Remember, your gifts are tax deductible.
Thanks, and if you
have any questions do not hesitate to call or e-mail. And, please feel free
to share this info with any group that might be willing to help.
Tom Goynes,
president, TRPA
512-392-6171
cell:
512-787-5574
tomgoynes@mac.com
goynes@centurytel.net
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Goal: Lose ONE POUND this week. That's all. No super secret diet. No extra tricks.
Whenever tempted by the ice cream in the freezer, tell yourself you need to lose ONE POUND this week, and if you have the extra ice cream, you won't. If you are tempted to add more food to the plate, or take a second helping - Your goal is to lose ONE POUND this week.
So far, I have lost one pound each of the last 3 weeks.
My goal next week is to lose ONE POUND.
Stop adding so much sugar to tea. Only one egg and one piece of toast for breakfast. Cut down on milk. More carrot sticks and raisons for lunch. More exercise. ONE POUND.
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On the BP Oil Rig:
Without industry, communities die, societies die, civilizations die. Remember Ozymandias.
It is the nature of industry to pollute and degrade the environment, and accidents happen.
The answer isn't to kill the industry - but to regulate it, tax it to provide community infrastructure and pollution mitigation, and develop fire departments to prepare to deal with emergencies.
We are all stepping into the future at one second per second, all of us, even industry.
It is the nature of industry to attempt to minimize the taxes it pays and the regulations that restrict it.
They do this buy contributing to the politicians that oversee the community.
Politicians that accept those contributions have more resources to campaign with, and are seen by the community as more successful.
By and large, lots of people in industry work very hard to make things go right, and avoid accidents and emergencies, so accidents and emergencies are rare.
Based on the recent safety record of industry, politicians agree that stringent controls and high taxes harm the industry and so are relaxed.
Until an accident happens.
It is a struggle.
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Saturday, April 24th, 2010
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Abortion protesters are motivated by church sponsored, church sanctioned sado-porn.
They can't think about sex, because that is a sin, so they can't think about penises and vaginas directly. But they CAN think about the womb, the unborn fetuses, and what they imagine are the mutilations and pain that a fetus undergoes during an abortion.
Since those topics indirectly deal with sex, their sexual responses are engaged (engorged) physiologically, but they aren't technically thinking about sex, so the Church encourages it. This is the same process that happens in sexual perversion. Dwelling on the lurid details, minutely considering the graphic images, imagining the feelings of the participants over and over again and describing the processes to each other in rapturous, florid phrases.
This is all pornography. When you add the descriptions of the blood, the violence and pain, it becomes sadistic pornography. It is how they get their sexual jollies because they can't think about sex directly. This is where the emotions and vehemence come from for the protesters. It is repressed sexuality, that allows them to think about and imagine sexual topics - pornography - that are sanctioned and encouraged by the church. Church promoted, church sanctioned pornography, so it's ok. Except it's not.
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After working on this list for a couple of months, and thinking more about what movies I want on it, and why, I've revised my must have movie list to this. And added some criteria.
These are movies that affected me in a good way, and that I have gone out of my way to watch over again and would watch again right now, Movies that I recommend to others, and, if you haven't seen them yet, you should put on your list to watch AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
Ghostbusters
Jumping Jack Flash
Boys on the Side
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Back to the Future
Dr. Zhivago
Annie Hall
Lawrence of Arabia
My Favorite Year
Man of La Mancha
How to Steal a Million
Little Miss Marker
High Noon
The Sting
Fiddler on the Roof
Dr. Strangelove
Star Wars
Camelot
Casablanca
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Fast Break - with Gabriel Kaplan
Breaking Away
Dead Poets Society
Good Will Hunting
South Pacific - and the PBS presentation of the music with Brian Stokes Mitchell and Reba McEntire.
Six Days Seven Nights
Three Fugitives
Grand Canyon - the one with Kevin Kline and Mary Mcdonnell
The Graduate
2001, Space Odyssey
Star Wars
The Matrix
Galaxy Quest
The In-Laws (with Peter Falk)
Secondhand Lions
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
MIB, MIBII
Die Hard
Sixth Sense
Patton
Hot Fuzz
The Pink Panther
Grosse Point Blank
Amalie
Waking Ned Divine
Wife vs. Secretary
Defending your life
Airplane
Tootsie
Spies Like Us
The African Queen
Groundhog Day
Inherit the Wind
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
To Kill a Mockingbird
Amadeus
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
The Dream Team
The Verdict
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Three Days of the Condor
Network
Fiddler on the Roof.
The Sound of Music
Taking Woodstock
Woodstock
Blues Brothers
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Friday, February 26th, 2010
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Ok, I've had a bad cold for a couple weeks, quit exercising, ate comfort foods and generally let myself go while slogging through the cold. Yesterday I weighed in for the first time in a month. Any guesses what I weighed?
All together now: 236!
Sigh.
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Sunday, February 14th, 2010
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Looking at lists of 100 favorite movies, I find some I didn't like, some I don't need to see again, and some I would go out of my way to see again and again.
Here are some of my favoriets, which I would watch again whenever opportunity arises.
Hot Fuzz
Ghostbusters
Jumping Jack Flash
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Back to the Future
Dr. Zhivago
Annie Hall
Lawrence of Arabia
My Favorite Year
Man of La Mancha
How to Steal a Million
Little Miss Marker
High Noon
the Sting
Fiddler on the Roof
Dr. Strangelove
Star Wars
Casablanca
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Fast Break
Breaking Away
Dead Poets Society
Good Will Hunting
South Pacific - and the PBS presentation of the music with Brian Stokes Mitchell and Reba McEntire.
Six Days Seven Nights
Three Fugitives
Ink, Nightwatch, Daywatch
Grand Canyon
The Graduate
2001, Space Odyssey
Star Wars
The Matrix
Galaxy Quest
The In-Laws (with Peter Falk)
Secondhand Lions
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
MIB, MIBII
Die Hard
Sixth Sense
Patton
The Pink Panther
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Thursday, February 4th, 2010
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As more research gets done, it is becoming more apparent that all the cultures that used the wheel and axle as a transportation and gearing mechanism copied it from other cultures and societies that had some relationship or traffic with ancient Sumer. It is likely that the wheel and axle as a transportation mechanism was invented only once, one time, by one person, in ancient Sumer. If the only way something was to ever get done, was if you do it, what would you do? Be you.
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Saturday, January 30th, 2010
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Part of my definition of beauty is that the work not be perfectly symmetrical. Michelangelo talks about it also.
The most important question in physics for the past half century has been why the original big bang was not exactly symmetrical - why, when according to all we know and theorize, the big bang should have produced exactly equal amounts of matter and anti-matter, which should have then perfectly annihilated each other, our universe instead produced a slightly unsymmetrical amount of matter. Perhaps the universe is naturally beautiful? As part of its basic definition?
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Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
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Thinking about a business model that would support a new space colony.
For instance, Jamestown - John Smith and Pocahantas and all that, was a joint stock company, with the investors hoping to make a profit from the goods it would produce (gold, lumber, and spices), and a significant proportion of the colonists also paid their own way, and brought their own equipment. Unfortunately, most of them died. Replacements also died. The colony didn't even begin to start returning anything on the investment until they started growing and selling tobacco. It never succeeded in returning the costs, and, like I said, most of them died.
One of the hopes in starting it, was that it would serve as an increased market for British finished goods. No go.
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Friday, January 15th, 2010
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The recent earthquake in Haiti highlights several things about the climate warming debate that I have issues with.
The earthquake is a bona fide disaster, with tens of thousands of people dead. Global warming is a predicted disaster, with a nebulous "many millions at risk, sometime in the future. But I haven't figured out at risk of what? Rampant disease? Al Gore mentions AIDS, SARS, Tuberculosis, and dozens of other diseases in his movie - but NONE of them are caused, or promoted in any way whatsoever, by increased carbon dioxide, or even increased temperatures. Increased human crowding, increased sexual promiscuity, increased worldwide travel, increased unsanitary conditions, and breeding hogs, ducks and humans in close proximity, often the same building, yes. Carbon dioxide and increased temperatures, no. Lowland flooding as oceans rise would kill millions, but the rise is measured in fractions of an inch per year, whereas tides rise and fall sometimes dozens of feet per day, and if people are too stupid to get out of the way of water rising at the rate of a quarter of an inch per year, they truly deserve to die. I have yet to find ONE legitimate disaster caused by AGW - or one that is actually probable that might happen, caused by AGW. It's all hand waving and dire general predictions and reminds me seriously of Professor Harold Hill telling the the people of River City they've got trouble - and their sons, their daughters caught by the arms of animal instinct-- mass-steria! Oh, we got trouble!"
The second issue brought out by the earthquake, is that Haiti is one of the "developing" nations that was begging for support from the "developed" nations, to offset the higher costs that dealing with global warming is predicted to cost in the future, on the theory that the developed nations were further along in their industrialization/modernization, and all Haiti needed was some funding on the side to nudge their development along a little faster so they could take their proper place as a "developed nation" sometime in the future. Does anybody really think that way? Anybody? Anywhere? Haiti - and most of the so-called "developing nations" are not, in fact, developing. They are static, or failing. Their political structures do not encourage or promote development of new wealth (new sources of value), only parasitic sucking of old wealth, or sucking from developed nations, or denuding the environment of any resources. I admit, the United States, and many of its corporations, have gone along with maintaining (and in some cases, setting up) those political structures, and the systems involved in pillaging the resources of an area. But the myth and paradigm of "developing nations" is by-and-large a fraudulent concept. Is Haiti "developing?" Is Yemen? North Korea? Burma? Afghanistan? Thailand? Serbia? Bangladesh? Angola? Armenia? Botswana? Cambodia? Cameroon? Chad? Congo? Ghana? Iran? Iraq? Namibia? Nepal? Rwanda? Seychelles? Somalia? The Sudan? Tanzania? Uganda? Uraguay? Zimbabwe? The answer is obviously NO. And their political systems, or lack thereof, will continue to hold them in the muck of poverty and backwardness until their political structures and cultures are changed. No amount of money aid, no amount of development projects, no amount of infrastructure support dropped onto them from outside will ever get them to be "developed." Anymore than pouring federal aid dollars into Detroit will bring that city back to a powerhouse industrial center. Is Detroit a "developing" city? Will it benefit from federal aid "infrastructure" projects? You tell me. The culture of entitlement, corruption and selfishness that has developed in the population of Detroit is poisonous to development, and any business that tries to start in Detroit is hampered by the attitudes of the culture and the governments that it deals with. Similarly with New Orleans. The main problem in New Orleans isn't that it is several feet below sea level and likely to be swamped by any hurricane that comes by, but that it has been, and still is, the city where people not only expect their government to be corrupt, but demand it. And the costs of doing business in such a city are too great for much development to really occur, and when a hurricane comes by, they discover that the dikes are held together with old newspapers (true) and the legislators have tens of thousands of dollars stashed in their freezers (also true). Which brings us back to Haiti. It also has been notorious for being corrupt for decades, if not centuries. The presidential palace which collapsed, had thrones and bathroom fixtures of solid gold, and the concrete with which it was built was substandard, and despite hundreds of years of experience and building codes to the contrary, not built to withstand any sizeable earthquake. Thousands of buildings have collapsed onto themselves, and officials are blaming substandard building practices. Tens of thousands of people, possibly hundreds of thousands of people have died. Several years ago, we had an earthquake in Los Angeles comparable to the one in Haiti. Buildings and highways toppled and sixty seven people died. Now, what caused all the collapses in Haiti? That it is still "developing?" Or that its culture and political structure is, has been, and will remain for the foreseeable future, corrupt?
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Thursday, December 17th, 2009
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Your life is your Garden.
Becca has a sculpture she inadvertently created when she was 9. It's a dead plant all dried out in a pot. She calls it "NEGLECT."
In just such a way, our lives are a garden. Its all there: growth and death, renewal and stasis, planning, tilling, weeding and harvesting, decisions and consequences, experimentation and serendipity, vicissitudes of weather, and the condition of the soil; care, and neglect.
Rules
1. The Universe is understandable.
2. You can understand the Universe.
3. There is no Question you can not ask.
4. There is no Thought you can not think.
5. Actions have Consequences. Inaction has Consequences.
Guidelines:
When you don't know what you are doing, do it Neatly.
Farming is 10% Agriculture and 90% fixing stuff that got broke.
Today is a unique opportunity to clarify the situation.
12 Rules for Living, by Miriam Hamilton Keare
1. If you open it, close it.
2. If you turn it on, turn it off.
3. If you unlock it, lock it back up.
4. If you break it, admit it.
5. If you can't fix it, call someone who can.
6. If you borrow it, return it.
7. If you value it, take care of it.
8. If you make a mess, clean it up.
9. If you move it, put it back.
10. If it belongs to someone else, get permission to use it.
11. If you don't know how to operate it, leave it alone.
12. If it's none of your business, don't ask questions.
7 Decisions, by Andy Andrews
1. The Buck Stops Here.
2. I will seek Wisdom.
3. I am a Person of Action.
4. I have a Decided Heart.
5. Today, I will Choose to Be Happy.
6. I will greet this day with a Forgiving Spirit.
7. I will Persist without Exception.
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Tuesday, December 15th, 2009
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The spectacle of the quote unquote "developing nations" trying to mug the "developed nations" for a cash shakedown at Copenhagen has given me to think about the whole concept of developing vs developed nations. The wording itself makes the unwarranted assumption that all countries are on a rather standard track of progression, that no matter what forms their governments take, or their attitudes towards their people, or ownership of property, or promotion of development, that countries will progress from less technology, infrastructure, freedom and wealth, to more.
This is demonstrably not so.
Most nations in the world have been tied into the world communications systems for more than a hundred years. Many nations have access to natural resources - such as Congo, but remain a "have-not" nation.
If they wanted to, they, too, could have the technology infrastructure representative of a "developed nation" but for some reason, they fail to take the steps necessary to develop them. Japan, notably lacking in practically any natural resources, still manages to hang in as a "developed nation". What differentiates the two classes?
in "The Mystery of Capital", Hernando de Soto explains it as the natural result of policies relating to the ownership, protection and development of real private property by the citizens of the country.
If the nation state does not allow easy, protected ownership and development of private property by its citizens, the nation stays mired in developmental limbo, or in some cases, regresses. Somalia and North Korea for example. Zimbabwe has regressed from being the breadbasket of Africa, to being a prime basket-case.
The argument that developed nations should pay developing countries to mitigate global warming is based on a false premise. The "developing" nations are NOT "behind" the developed nations. They are just as "developed" as the "modern" nations. They have just chosen to develop in the way they are. The "developing" nations have had just as much opportunity, and just as much resources, and just as much information about how to develop, as have the "developed" nations, and have chosen not to. Giving them money as a reward for developing in the way they have chosen, is simply encouraging them to continue developing as they have - or have not, as the case may be.
And this doesn't even consider that cold cash transfers from "developed" nations to "developing" nations for any reason tend to be stolen and diverted by corrupt officials along the way, practically 100 percent of the time. This is a naked mugging in progress.
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Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
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Since early this year, when the Russian Cosmos collided with the Iridium33 satellite and created two huge debris fields spreading around the globe, the issue of orbiting space debris has become openly serious.
Unfortunately, it is going to be hugely expensive to clean it up, and involve a serious amount of risk.
There are three different solution options, for 3 different types of debris.
1. For defunct, intact satellites, such as the Russian Cosmos, there will have to be individually targeted, one-shot "Space Tugs", that are sent after specific satellites, attach to them, and then, with their own dedicated rocket fuel and navigations systems, safely de-orbit the offending satellite, or send it into a safe parking orbit. As it may become possible to have lively cis-lunar economic traffic someday, the preferred method will involve de-orbit. For entire defunct satellites in GEO, there will be arguments that it would be cheaper to raise them out of the way to a parking orbit, but that would put them in the way for cis-lunar development. I suspect there would need to be a liability insurance rider involved, if the parking orbit alternative was chosen. If, at some time in the future, cis-lunar traffic did develop, and the parking orbit became a problem, removal would be paid for by the insurance.
2. For very small LEO debris - paint chips, nuts and bolts, little shards of insulation and stuff, Earth based lasers could theoretically target the debris and vaporize bits of it, causing it to change orbit and de-orbit. That's the theory, anyway.
3. Send a collection vessel up to sweep up bits of debris, and after collecting groups of debris, deorbit the entire collection vessel.
This is the most economical, but carries the biggest risk. The debris is traveling at orbital speeds - 17,000 mph, and if it impacts part of the vehicle not involved with collection, it may make the collecting vehicle explode, or damaged, creating more debris than it collected.
Consider the debris fields from the Cosmos/Iridium collision. You could, actually, insert a collection vessel into the orbit at approximately the same velocity, and collect debris at differences of only a few mph (or kph). The problem is, that much of the debris is spinning wildly, and if you manage to match orbit with it, you would still have several kilograms of mangled bits of sharp metal, rotating like a buzz saw through your collection vessel.
I think the design would have to involve an inflatable sphere of several layers of padded Whipple shields, with internal baffles and an internal interwoven series of arresting cables, to contain any buzz saw momentum affects. Several of the internal sections would have to be free-wheeling, in order to absorb the oddball momentum no matter what direction it tried to impart. If the internal collection spaces could, it would be a good idea to turn directional momentum into rotational momentum, so the entire collection ship wasn't knocked off its vector.
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Saturday, November 7th, 2009
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ON DEVELOPING STRATEGIES TO SOLVE PROBLEMS, WANTS, NEEDS.
GRASP
Goal
Resources
Adversity, obstacles
Strategies
Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, Plan D, Plan E....
Understanding:
Study - Science: Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Earth and Space, Mathematics
History
Economics
Description - anecdotal
Story Telling and Writing as methods to discover understanding (not just record events)
A voyage of self discovery
Logic, to find patterns, relationships, causes
MASLOW'S HIERARCHY; BLOOM'S TAXONOMY; RUMSFELD'S CONUNDRUM:
MASLOW'S HIERARCHY
Motivations of people to solve needs, wants, problems, from the most basic: food, water, air, sex, to the more complex and esoteric: self actualization.
Self Actualization
Self Esteem
Social Needs
Safety and protection
Physical Needs
food
Air
Water
Shelter
Sex
ECONOMICS
Every organism, organization, or system needs to bring in more resources and energy during its activities, than it expends in those activities in order to grow and thrive. In human activities, we account for that income and expenditure in terms of money. Because of losses, waste, and reproduction, that income must be substantially more than is expended, and is accounted for as profit.
BLOOM'S TAXONOMY
A way of classifying types of thinking along a spectrum from simpler to more developed, there is discussion that, while there are levels, it may be more complex than a simple hierarchy: a wheel, branches, and feedback:
Synthesis
Evaluation
Analysis
Application
Comprehension
Knowledge
I would add, at the low end:
Awareness
Clueless.
RUMSFELD'S CONUNDRUM
Donald Rumsfeld, in discussing the situation in Afghanistan, voiced great truth about Knowledge and Understanding:
There are Known Knowns: Things we know we know.
There are Known Unknowns: Things we know we don't know.
There are Unknown Unknowns: Things we don't know we don't know.
I would add,
There are Unknown Knowns: Things we Know, but are actually untrue.
SOLUTION STRATEGIES TO SOLVE PROBLEMS, NEEDS, WANTS.
These are Strategies that have been used to try to solve problems. Some are more appropriate than others in different circumstances. Some are more effective. Different societies tend to use different strategies. Using different strategies, in turn, changes the society.
Personal action, development, invention
Technology
Medicine
News, Publicity
Entertainment, Distraction
Recreation
Private Property, Real Estate Ownership
Corporate, Private development.
Jobs, Careers, Unions
Deals
Contracts
Commerce
Banking
Insurance
Diplomacy
Volunteer Associations, Clubs
Neighborhood Associations
Religious Organizations
Theology
Philosophy
Education Institutions
Marriage, Family
NGOs
Communes
Collectives
Violence
Terrorism
War
Warlords
Gangs, Mob action
Military
Battlefield Tactics: Space, Movement, Time, Force, Surprise
Government
Police, Fire, Legal, Taxation, CONTROL
Treaties
Constitution, vs. random custom or individual or group control
Chaos, Anarchy
Parliamentary
Monarchy
Aristocracy
Plutocracy
Representative Democracy
Direct Democracy
Fascism
Communism
Socialism
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ON DEVELOPING STRATEGIES TO SOLVE PROBLEMS, WANTS, NEEDS.
GRASP
Goal
Resources
Adversity, obstacles
Strategies
Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, Plan D, Plan E....
Understanding:
Study - Science: Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Earth and Space, Mathematics
History
Description - anecdotal
Story Telling and Writing as methods to discover understanding (not just record events or preexisting status)
A voyage of self discovery
Logic, to find patterns, relationships, causes
Maslow's Hierachy; Bloom's Taxonomy; Rumsfeld's Conundrum
MASLOW'S HIERARCHY
Motivations of people to solve needs, wants, problems, from the most basic: food, water, air, sex, to the more complex and esoteric: self actualization. From the basic at the bottom, to the more esoteric at the top:
Self Actualization
Self Esteem
Social Needs
Safety and protection
Physical Needs
food, Air, Water, Shelter, Sex
BLOOM'S TAXONOMY
A way of classifying types of thinking along a spectrum from simpler to more developed; there is discussion that, while there are levels, it may be more complex than a simple hierarchy: a wheel, branches, and feedback:
Synthesis
Evaluation
Analysis
Application
Comprehension
Knowledge
I would add, at the low end:
Awareness
Clueless.
Rumsfeld's Conundrum
Donald Rumsfeld, in discussing the situation in Afghanistan, voiced great truth about Knowledge and understanding:
There are Known Knowns: Things we know we know.
There are Known Unknowns: Things we know we don't know.
There are Unknown Unknowns: Things we don't know we don't know.
I would add,
There are Unknown Knowns: Things we Know, but are actually untrue.
SOLUTION STRATEGIES TO SOLVE PROBLEMS, NEEDS, WANTS.
Personal action, development, invention
Technology
Medicine
News, Publicity
Entertainment, Distraction
Private Property, Real Estate Ownership
Corporate, Private development.
Deals
Contracts
Commerce
Banking
Insurance
Diplomacy
Mob action
Warlords
Gangs
Volunteer Associations, Clubs
Neighborhood Associations
Religious Organizations
Theology
Philosophy
Marriage, Family
NGOs
Communes
Collectives
Violence
Terrorism
War
Government
Police, Fire, Legal, Taxation, CONTROL
Treaties
Constitution, vs. random custom or individual or group control
Chaos, Anarchy
Parliamentary
Monarchy
Aristocracy
Plutocracy
Representative Democracy
Direct Democracy
Fascism
Communism
Socialism
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Comments: Add Your Own.
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Wednesday, November 4th, 2009
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Rethinking space travel.
I think we've been led astray about space travel by false analogies.
We've been thinking about it in terms of "one-shot" rockets, or "re-usable vehicles" - comparing the vehicle with the family car, which would be unreasonably expensive if only used once and then thrown away.
Or we've used the analogy of a "space Truck" for the Space Shuttle. Able to haul multiple large payloads at the same time.
The analogy breaks down, of course, in that space travel is inherently different than travel on Earth's surface.
If we had to pay a penalty for every ounce of extra weight we carried in our car, for every mile we travelled, we would, of course, work hard to minimize anything extra we carried. This is the analogy we should be thinking about in terms of space.
If you think in terms of re-using the same vehicle that minimizes costs, on Earth that makes sense.
But if you pay a superlative penalty for every spare ounce you have to launch, then thinking about all the extra weight involved in the wing structures and aerodynamic surfaces, landing gear, and all the other accoutrements that are part of the shuttle merely to bring it back to be re-used, we are paying triple or quadruple in launch costs than what it would cost to launch similar amounts of freight into space without a re-usable launch vehicle. Not only do we have to account for the fuel to launch all that extra mass into space in the first place, but at the end of the mission, we have to expend a similar amount of fuel in order to slow down and land back on Earth - and we had to launch that extra fuel in order to do so in the first place, which is a double penalty.
This line of inquiry was motivated while watching the video clip of a reporter riding to the edge of space in a U-2 plane. The question was asked, if the U-2 can do that, why can't we just accelerate the plane a little faster, and use that to get into space?
The answer is: that it isn't just a LITTLE faster that we would have to accelerate, but 9 times faster. And the U-2 has been using atmospheric oxygen to burn it's fuel. If it went into space, it would have to carry its own oxygen - which would require more than twice the mass of the fuel it carried so far. So, for the U-2 to have accelerated to its current velocity if it had to carry its own oxygen, it would have required fuel tanks three times the size of the tanks it currently carried. Then, to accelerate to orbital speeds, it would have to carry tanks 9 times the size of that. And then, to slow down and land, would recquire the same amount of fuel again - a total amount of fuel approximately 55 times what it is currently carrying (x times three, times 9, and then doubled). And you would get something looking something like the Shuttle, with massive fuel tanks at take-off.
The Shuttle, and all other return vehicles, minimize the amount of fuel they use to return, by scrubbing off a lot of their orbital velocity just in friction against the atmosphere, which heats the outer surface of the vehicles to almost plasma temperatures.
The Russian return capsule also is as small as possible, which minimizes the amount of fuel it needs in order to slow down and begin reentry.
This leads to thinking about exactly what we want to accomplish, and what would the minimum amount of fuel expenditures necessary to accomplish it.
Carrying any extra weight any longer than absolutely necessary, or carrying the same weight twice, is doubly, triply, or quadruply penalized. Carrying something to the Moon and back, when you only need it for Earth reentry, is silly and will get penalized in having to accelerate it to the Moon, then accelerate it to get back to Earth, then get around to using it for Earth reentry.
So, let's think about what would be necessary for an orbiting tourist accommadation, and what would be the minimum launch configurations necessary to develop it.
We do not need to be confined to launching everything in one launch, norfrom the same launch facility.
We want to be able to launch a guest into space, have them spend a week or two in space in some sort of facility, do some things - such as Earth observation, travel to the Moon and back, astronomy observation, experiments in micro-g, or momentum and facility vibration in space, or development of agriculture or survival equipment for the facility or future space facilities, and then return safely to Earth. Along the way, avoid space radiation, meteorites and all the other dangers of space, launch, and reentry. Quoting Roseanne Barr: "If the children are still alive when my husband gets home from work, then I've done my job." If the guest is still alive and not damaged when they return to Earth, then the trip was a success. Any landing they can walk away from, is a good landing.
There isn't a necessary requirement for a vehicle in that statement. If the guest parachutes to Earth in a suit, and lands safely, then it is a good trip. Currently, we seem to need a vehicle to accelerate in a launch, and one to decelerate to return to Earth, but that is not a hard and fast requirement. The lesson is clear: Any weight in the vehicle that is not necessary, or the entire vehicle for that matter, is a penalty in achieving our goal.
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Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
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Today: 227.2 Almost to this week's goal of 227.
Long term goal: 195.
Next week's goal: 226.
And, as always, more vegetables, less milk and meat. But really fabulous pork steaks are $1.49/lb at the local Kroger. Probably somthing to do with the swine flu, with meat producers killing off entire herds of pigs.
I wrote to the CEO of Burger King, saying that flame grilled veggies were the absolute best way to cook veggies, and Burger King could do a flame grilled veggie dish easier than any of the other fast food joints - a simple wire cage box, with 3 or 4 ounces of cubed squash, zuchinni, mushrooms, onions, a cherry tomato or two, a couple of green beans, and douse them with a sauce before you rolled it through their flame grill, and it'd be fantastic. And definately a reason for most vegetarians and vegans to stop by Burger King regularly.
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Sunday, October 4th, 2009
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OK, after some interruptions from some storms, and times when I was gone, I re-started the radiation monitoring software, and this week, the average background radiation count for the past hour has been: 11.85 Counts per Minute.
For the past week, the average has been: 11.69. Both of these are well within the normal range.
The minimum of 2 CPM occurred on Friday at 9 am,
and the maximum of 26 CPM occurred on Saturday at 10:39 am.
Both, again, exactly the range of minimum and maximums to be expected.
News from club members (yes, there is a club on line that plays with this stuff!) this week, included an incident recorded by one member when a "Secret shipment" of radioactive equipment from a nuclear powerplant that was being dismantled, went by his house on the nearby railroad tracks, that went way, way over the legal limits of public exposure.
OK, I actually support nuclear power - but it MUST BE IN PUBLIC! In an informed arena. These secret shipments of hazardous materials are exactly the reason I don't trust the nuclear industry, nor the government to tell me when I am in danger. And why I have geiger counters in the first place.
The second report from a club member detailed his exploration of the local hospital waiting room, where multiple patients who have been injected with radioactive Tc99m (a radioactive isotope of Technetium, with a half life of 6 hours) mingle with pregnant women in the waiting room. The waiting room is a common room, where many patients from many different departments wait their turn for one reason or another. The radioactive patients have to wait for a while to allow the radioactivity to spread through the body appropriately to give a good picture in their examinations. At 3 feet from one patient, the readings maxed out his equipment at around 7000 uR/hr, (or 7 mR/hr). Most experts consider 10 mR/hr to be the dose from a normal chest x-ray. (Note: for those, such as myself, that get confused about milli- (small m, as in 7 mR) and micro- (small u, as in 7000 uR), centipedes have a hundred legs, millipedes have a thousand legs, and there aren't micropedes, because they would have to have a thousand times more - so micro is a thousand times smaller than milli.) For a pregnant lady sitting between two radiation patients, the unborn baby would be getting irradiated by substantially more than an x-ray for an extended period of time. Just a thought.
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Saturday, October 3rd, 2009
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spacedad2's journal