Tree Wells as natural Winter emergency Shelters

I got to thinking after writing the previous article called


Tree Well

If you want to read it too click "Tree Well" above.

I realized that a Tree Well even though they are very dangerous for skiers, snowboarders, sledders and snowshoers, that they also might be useful at times in an emergency as a shelter away from the wind in a storm.

If the tree well is deeper than about 5 to 6 feet I wouldn't recommend using it at all unless you have ropes to lower yourself down further. And even then below about 7 to 10 feet deep tree wells could be very problematic.

However, a tree well that isn't any deeper than you are tall might be a natural shelter and one might even be able with a small camping shovel or ski or snowshoe to carve out a place at the base or near the base to sleep away from the wind which can take away all your body heat and kill you quite easily in a snowstorm or just high winds when it is below freezing outside. Also, inside a snow cave type of environment all one needs to stay warm in addition to a waterproof ground cloth and a warm sleeping bag is a candle. A candle can bring up the temperature inside a snow cave kind of environment to the mid 40s Fahrenheit up to 50 degrees. However, above this the snow will start to melt and give you problems unless you need water to drink from the drips which I suppose you could gather if you were resourceful and the snow was clean enough where you were. But it is a way to survive a bad situation with just a plastic ground cloth, a sleeping bag and a lighted candle for warmth.

If you are out in the open and in someplace remote one can also survive even in a snowstorm or rain by placing fallen trees or logs more than 1 foot in diameter whose cores are still dry enough to burn and by getting a fire going and then covering the two 1 foot tree logs by placing them about 8 inches apart from each other with another piece of 1 foot or more wood on top protecting the fire from rain or snow getting into it and putting it out. This keeps the rain or snow out of the fire so it can coal into the three pieces of wood and keep you alive all night thereby. But one usually needs at least a tarp or large sheet of plastic to suspend to keep the rain or snow off of oneself. I suppose this could also be done by using branches woven about 4 to 5 feet above oneself and the fire.  This is a survival and camping technique that has been used in the wilds  in Alaska, Canada and Siberia and other cold places for centuries.

Potential Plasma Life Forms

wikipedia definition of Plasma:

In physics and chemistry, plasma is a state of matter similar to gas in which a certain portion of the particles are ionized. The basic premise is that heating a gas dissociates its molecular bonds, rendering it into its constituent atoms. Further heating leads to ionization (a loss of electrons), turning it into a plasma: containing charged particles, positive ions and negative electrons.^[1]
The presence of a non-negligible number of charge carriers makes the plasma electrically conductive so that it responds strongly to electromagnetic fields. Plasma, therefore, has properties quite unlike those of solids, liquids, or gases and is considered to be a distinct state of matter. Like gas, plasma does not have a definite shape or a definite volume unless enclosed in a container; unlike gas, under the influence of a magnetic field, it may form structures such as filaments, beams and double layers. end quote from wikipedia under the heading "Plasma".

The following one could consider to be science fiction except for the fact that it is based upon actual real life experiences.

I had a strange experience during the Christmas week. I was having trouble with my back and had been to the Chiropractor twice. However, then my 21 year old daughter arrived and was talking to me about magnetism and how a human aura is like the magnetosphere of a planet and also magnetic in somewhat the same way. I had thought about this kind of thing before. But when I read the above definition of Plasma I realized that magnetism which is an element of how electricity works whether it is in mechanical contrivances or in living organisms like humans and animals. Magnetism and electricity is part of the basis of human and animal life on earth.

So, as Christmas went on my daughter who is also very intuitive like me sensed how to heal me and worked on me and found a compass and read up on what direction a magnet should be and put the magnet on a long term injury on my back. Suddenly, my back got better. Both intuitively and medically she had made the right diagnosis and my 1 month of relative to severe back pain ended as quickly as it had come. I left the magnet clipped to my belt and as long as I did this and kept in the proper north south alignment in relation to my body I had no further back pain. So, when I read the above definition of plasma, I realized how magnetism and plasma connect directly to the basis of life itself in possibly all forms of it in the universe that we might be able to know of as humans. Though life in other forms than we might recognize might exist, it is obvious that all forms that we can easily recognize are electrically based.

Most people don't perceive themselves to be electrically or electronically based organisms. However, if you study what your body does with food, it converts it to electrochemical energy. If one looks at how a neuron in the brain is powered or a muscle is powered  they are both powered by electrochemically generated energy that comes from converting your food to electricity to run your brain, heart and muscles. So, none of our bodies would work nor could our brains without electricity. Even all our memories and our very identity as humans are stored in electrical memory within our brain cells. So, on one level we have a similarity to a cpu or a hard drive and this is also true of all moving organisms on earth. Though plants operate slightly differently in regard to this every human, animal, bird, insect, fish etc. uses electrochemical energy converted directly from the food it eats to function and to live at all.

So, when I read this particular sequence of words it took me to a point where I realized that plasma functions in somewhat the same way humans do. Therefore plasma, is a potential basis of lifeforms here in our galaxy and beyond. Let me give you the quote regarding the definition of plasma that triggered this thinking in me:

The presence of a non-negligible number of charge carriers makes the plasma electrically conductive so that it responds strongly to electromagnetic fields. Plasma, therefore, has properties quite unlike those of solids, liquids, or gases and is considered to be a distinct state of matter. end quote.


So, since plasma is not a solid, liquid or a gas and a distinct form of matter and since it responds (much like humans and other earth based life forms) to a electromagnetic field, it is a potential basis for types of lifeforms that humans have yet to either look for or to study as of yet. Though, how we would communicate with such life forms and whether Time for them and how it is perceived by them would be the same or even a useful point of reference is yet to be seen. However, I think the experiences of my own life have convinced me that there are plasma based life forms in our galaxy. And one might even further say that human life might even be a more solid based plasma form of life itself.

Though this is my own personal experience you might want to do your own research to see what you find to be true.

There can be Two Visions of the Same Thing

  I would like to quote from the Story of Tibet by Thomas Laird. It is a part of the Interviews with the Dalai Lama regarding the History of Tibet which is what the book is about. In other words "The Story of Tibet" is the Dalai Lama's comments about Tibetan History. This following quote I found very useful.

Begin quote on page 5 of the Introduction:

"There can be two visions of the same thing, one of people who have pure insight developed through spiritual practice and one that is purely conventional. In these special cases---these cases are rare but important---both are true, both are reality. So there are two viewpoints, one common and one uncommon. The uncommon viewpoint is not considered history, because historians cannot record such things. But we cannot say that such things are just the imagination of the Buddhist faithful. They can also be true." end quote.

The following is an example of what the Dalai Lama was talking about:

Begin quote:

"For example, he described an event that took place around 1920, in which a respected Buddhist teacher, Serkhong Rinpoche, was among a group of people who had an audience with the 13th Dalai Lama. The teacher had spent 5 hours a day, or more meditating, over many years. For Tibetans, he had "purified his mind". Five of the Six who met with the Dalai Lama that day had a normal meeting with him. The sixth man, Serkhong Rinpoche, though in the same room at the same time, did not see the Thirteenth as an ordinary man at all. He saw the Buddhist Bodhisattva Chenrizi instead; rather than conversing with the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, he heard secret teachings on meditation practice. This happened while everyone else---men who had not purified their minds--just saw a man with a mustache dressed in red robes talking about the affairs of state. Which event took place?" end quote of the Dalai Lama Speaking in "The Story of Tibet" by Thomas Laird on page 5 of the introduction.

The Dalai Lama and the author Thomas Laird continue their dialog:
The Dalai Lama talks first:

begin quote bottom of page 6:

"The Dalai Lama then proceeded to describe the construction of the Potala in detail. As he talked for half an hour, it became an amazing display of his trained memory. Historic eras and temple names flew off his lips without any hesitation, from a man who had told me he didn't know that much about history.

When he was finished, he looked at me and said, "But still, for someone who has trained his mind, the Potala is still just a building. Meditation is not a philosophy, it is a technique to develop that type of attitude, detachment."

He had answered the question as I thought it should be, yet I could not let go entirely of my annoyance with his detachment.

"But you also understand that for the common man the Potala is much more than just another building?" I asked.

"Yes, as I said earlier, there are common and uncommon views of history, and of everything we see. we cannot understand the Potala or Tibet unless we understand this. We must approach Tibetan history from a holistic viewpoint. The Western academics just pick one viewpoint--say political--and then draw their conclusions from that viewpoint alone. That is a mistake." endquote on page 7 of The Story of Tibet from the introduction.

Tree Well

from wikipedia the definition of a Tree Well is:
A tree well is a dangerous void or area of loose snow around the trunk of a tree which is surrounded by deep snow. A person, especially a skier or snowboarder, can easily fall into this well, possibly causing serious injury or death.

Having had my own brush with a Tree Well in about 25 feet of snow on Mt. Shasta when I heard about the Lake Tahoe snowboarder found dead in a tree well I thought it might be time to share about the danger of tree wells.

My first experience with the danger of Tree wells was also on Mt. Shasta near Clear Creek up from Mud Creek River on the mountain at about 8000 to 9000 feet. My wife and I and my kids had my nephews and niece playing in the snow with us on the mountain who were then in the 1980s between 4 to 9 years of age. The youngest was a 4 year old boy named Sammy. Well, Sammy liked to take a lot of risks on a sled and then suddenly we heard an echo of his voice but didn't know where he was. So we kept calling him and telling him to yell until we found him 10 feet down a tree well of a Shasta Red Fir tree. I couldn't reach him even though I'm 6 feet four inches. So, I lowered his older brother down so Sammy could grab his brothers legs and then we all pulled the two of them out of the tree well. I was amazed Sammy had fallen that far and hadn't broken anything going down that hole but he had survived even if he was a bit shaken up from the experience.

After that experience for the next 20 years I always walked about 3 to 5 feet minimum away from tree wells either on foot or when on  snowshoes or on cross country skis or downhill skis or the once or twice I tried a snowboard.

Then there was the year there was about 25 or more feet of snow and I tried to ski from Bunny Flats down to 7 mile curve on Everette Memorial Hiway on Mt. Shasta. I followed my old friend down a route we have skied over the years since about 1976 or earlier. However, since he is shorter and lighter than I when he crossed a cornice between two trees with fairly close tree wells he went over the cornice while I fell through down a tree well and found myself about 10 feet down a tree well standing on a limb of a Fir tree with 15 feet of tree well below me and 10 feet above me. Being in my mid 50s at the time I wasn't particularly happy about this. Even in my 20s or 30s this would have been sketchy. Luckily, I yelled at my friend and he came back to where the cornice had collapsed into the tree well. I told him I was going to try to take off my skis without falling off the limb and going deeper. He said I should hand my skis up one at a time because the snow was so deep that I would be in trouble if I didn't have skis to keep me on top of the snow even if I was able to crawl and climb out of the tree well. So, I very gingerly took off one ski at a time and carefully handed up each ski and then each pole for him to park on the surface 10 feet above my feet. Then luckily, I was able to climb the tree and then my friend gave me his hand to help pull me out of the tree well. I realized that had I been alone and if I couldn't have gotten cell phone reception that I would have died there down the well just like the snowboarder did this week in Lake Tahoe.

Consciousness Creates Reality

I was watching a public service announcement about a girl who was beautiful in high school in 1988 and then hit by a drunk driver and died 11 years later. This got me to thinking about writing this for you.

Recently, I was at LAX(Los Angeles International Airport) and picking up my wife and daughter who were flying down from the Bay Area in California. I almost stepped in front of a bus and my son who is in his thirties grabbed my arm. I was distracted because of how strange I found LAX to be this time from having grown up in Los Angeles and picking up passengers and flying myself there since the 1950s and 1960s as I was growing up in Glendale. I sort of sensed that someone around me was the kind of person that wanted to witness mayhem but luckily I was protected.

 Consciousness Creates Reality. Now, you may or may not believe that this is true but it is my experience for 62 years that it is absolutely true in a scientific sense. And I would further say that anyone who tries to convince you otherwise is either not your friend or is ignorant about how things actually work in the universe in regard to living things.

One of the ways I protect my life and reality and the life and reality of those around me is that I choose Not to watch horror movies. I find that such movies inherently tend to move people subconsciously towards bad real physical experiences. However, to each his or her own choice.

I find that if one wants to stay alive and to have a good life that one needs to think positive thoughts about oneself and one's family and friends in order to help keep them alive and healthy. If one doesn't do this one tends to create chaos in one's life. Understanding that we all create whatever happens in our lives either directly or indirectly is incredibly empowering. Once one understands this there is no limit to how wonderful one's life can be. But likewise, once one understands this it is important not to have a hysterical reaction to this because one can also completely unravel one's life if one doesn't become empowered and choose to protect their lives and those around them. It can be very discouraging to watch people destroy their lives through ignorance once one discovers this secret of life and of how both health and success in every way is self generated by thoughts, feelings and actions 24 hours a day.

One way to look at it would be to say that whether one believes in God or not it might be useful to consider oneself as the God of one's own personal universe and that everything one thinks or does creates this universe. So your personal microcosmic universe is created by everything you think or do or feel. And even though all other people's universes can affect you, they only have as much power over your universe as you give them or allow them to have over you. So, if you don't want them to have negative or confusing effects on your universe then don't allow them to.

The easiest way to prevent harm from others is by physically separating yourself from those who seem to cause you harm. The second way is to negate their harm upon you through your own mental and emotional strength.

But generally, I have always tried to move towards beautiful places and beautiful people and I personally have found in my life that this allowed me to generate the most good for myself and others while also preventing both mental and physical and supernatural harm from others.

So, if you want the best outcome in your life ongoing, generate a positive field of awareness and use this positive field of consciousness to keep yourself and those you love alive and well ongoing.

One way to say this would be: Pray without ceasing! In this way one consciously creates a heaven on earth all the time 24 hours a day!

Want to Succeed in College? Learn to Play

Want to get your kids into college? Let them play

To read news article click on "Let them play" above.

It turns out young people don't learn to experience others needs and to get along if they don't learn to play with other children at all ages. Otherwise, they throw tantrums and have all sorts of interpersonal problems and this prevents their success in College. 


begin quote from above article:
Every day where we work, we see our young students struggling with the transition from home to school. They're all wonderful kids, but some can't share easily or listen in a group.
Some have impulse control problems and have trouble keeping their hands to themselves; others don't always see that actions have consequences; a few suffer terribly from separation anxiety.
We're not talking about preschool children. These are Harvard undergraduate students whom we teach and advise. They all know how to work, but some of them haven't learned how to play.
Parents, educators, psychologists, neuroscientists, and politicians generally fall into one of two camps when it comes to preparing very young children for school: play-based or skills-based. end quote.

 So, if you don't learn to play and get along with others success in life might not come at all.

Opinion: Iceland Volcanic Dust Increases severity of Storms

It is my opinion from studying the effects of previous Iceland eruptions from the late 1700s that caused mass starvation throughout Europe and likely triggered the French Revolution and froze the Mississippi River down to New Orleans that the eruptions are a microcosm of similar events on a lesser scale. So, given this effect part of the cause of the extra low temperatures coupled with fierce storms on the West Coast of the U.S. , the East Coast of the U.S. , all of Europe, Russia and over 10,000 flights cancelled just in the U.S. I think it is quite likely that this might not be the end of storms like this. It is possible that further cancellations of flights on the East Coast, Europe and Russia could continue until the end of winter in the Northern Hemisphere.

So, since volcanic glass dust creates this kind of effect when above 20,000 feet in altitude for several years after each major eruption above 20,000 feet it mitigates the effect of Global warming while causing other obvious problems.

Unexpected Consequences

In all our lives there are unexpected consequences when our intentions turn out completely different than we planned. In my life unexpected consequences happened many times in my life and I'm sure yours as well. I suppose one could hide themselves in the closet and never see the light of day but then one could never live their lives or see the whole world. Some might hide away but the men of my family were not like that and why should I break precedent of 3 or more generations?

So, I lived my life very boldly always and this sometimes looked to others like I was a 6 foot 5 inch bull in a china closet so to speak. But being bold was always my way and the way of many of you as well I believe. I was thinking about someone I knew when she was 18 and very recently a friend of mine told me that she had passed away. This shocked me because she was 18 when I was 21 and it just didn't seem right to me that someone younger than I that I knew passed away before me. But then life often has other plans.

Often life puts us through serious changes in our youth. I was no exception and often wonder that I survived  from 1969 to about 1973 when my life was changing in a way no one could have planned for. As my life began to go through changes I met this person and she was my friend and very good to me. I was good to her as well but the circumstances surrounding us both drew us apart and now she is gone. I met her once in a market in a town she lived in completely by accident about 20 years ago now and heard from her that her life hadn't been easy. She had married and it hadn't worked out and then she was taking care of her mother until her mother passed on. A few years later I heard he mother had passed on and now this year I heard she was gone too.

Though my life has had many blessings in other ways it has been very difficult at times too. I have always tried to help all beings that came into my life in any way that I could including my friend. And so I say, Goodbye old friend. It is my hope that you may now be able to rest in peace. I am grateful that you were my friend and hopefully still are.

The Ongoing Problem of Dioxin

A Chemical Conundrum: How Dangerous Is Dioxin? : NPR

To read NPR news article on Dioxin click "A Chemical" above:

Ever since Agent Orange was sprayed in Viet Nam over the DMZ during the Viet Nam War babies have been born in that area with multiple heads and more than two legs or two arms or not enough legs or arms etc. This has been and is also true for animals and reptiles and birds in this area as well.

There is presently NO safe level for Dioxin. Women who used feminine products during the 1960s and 1970s often went into Toxic Shock until a way was found to reduce dioxin content. All paper napkins to this day or toilet paper or tissue paper that is white also contains some dioxin. If it didn't it wouldn't be dyed white. So, dioxin is still used to this day for many things in our everyday use. However, it is known to be one of the most dangerous chemicals to man that there is because as I said above "There is no safe level of dioxin for any living thing on earth."

 

Biggest Tech Surprises for 2010

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/12/28/biggest-tech-surprises-predictions/

Begin quote from above article:

Tech Tuesday

The Six Biggest Tech Surprises of 2010 -- and Predictions for 2011

By John R. Quain

Published December 28, 2010

| FoxNews.com

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AP

The amazing success of the iPad -- countered by the missteps Apple made with the iPhone -- were among the year's biggest technology surprises.

Every year, there are ingenious devices that fail miserably -- and some mediocre gadgets that became global hits. 2010 is no exception.

With that in mind, I offer the tech surprises of 2010 -- plus some understated predictions for the breakout hits you'll see in 2011. Just keep in mind, I was one of those who scoffed at cameras in cell phones, only to personally witness Muhammad Ali step out of an SUV -- and 20 passersby whip out their cell phones and click away (he was good-natured about it). On the flip side, I was also one of those who predicted years ago that Netflix would run roughshod over Blockbuster and Apple, which it has done with gusto.

1. The Rise of the Androids

It wasn't a surprise that free software from Google for smartphones would find a place in the market. We do like "free," after all. But Apple's iPhone had such a running start, who would have predicted that phones based on Google's Android would so rapidly eclipse everyone in terms of growth? (Okay, I did.)

In October, Android phones grabbed 23.5 percent of the market, up from just 2.8 percent the previous year. By November, it was 25 percent, second only to Nokia's phones worldwide. Blackberry and iPhones? Fuggedaboutit. 

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Prediction: New phones based on Windows Phone 7 won't slow the rise of Android, but a Verizon iPhone using the new 4G network could. If Apple doesn't get a new iPhone out on a carrier other than AT&T, its market share will decline in 2011.

2. The Tardiness of Fast 4G for Cell Phones

The iPhone proved how popular surfing the Web on the go could be. So with cell carriers touting their high-speed wireless networks for so long, one would have expected that 2010 would have seen upgrades all around. But in the end, only Sprint and T-Mobile made serious efforts to boost their network speeds (being second banana makes you try harder, of course).

Granted, there have been snags with the chips that were supposed to be used in new 4G phones, and decisions like Sprint's to charge customers more to use the sporadically available faster networks didn't help. Will 2011 be the year of 4G or is pokey 3G good enough?

Prediction: Verizon will make a major push in 2011 with its 4G network and drain away customers from other carriers, especially AT&T -- with or without an iPhone.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/12/28/biggest-tech-surprises-predictions/#ixzz19RLkUSvJ

 

Tablet computers go back 20 years, and none of them really caught on. So when all the hype started about Apple's plans for its own tablet, I yawned. Of course, it's turned out to be one of the biggest hits of the year. None of the previous attempts were as sleek and well-conceived as the iPad, however, and none had the long coattails of the iPhone to ride on.

Yes, tablets are ideal for the den or living room. They're unobtrusive yet convenient and simple to use. And there were a wealth of programs the iPad could run the minute it was launched, from Google Earth to Netflix. Who cares that it's over-priced, doesn't work with USB devices, lacks a camera, or is too heavy to use as an ebook reader? Market research group iSuppli forecasts sales of the iPad will reach 13.8 million by the end of this week, proving it's what people were waiting for.

Prediction: Even with all the hype, new tablet competitors based on other operating systems

-- HP's Palm, Microsoft's Windows, and Google's Android -- won't make a dent in the iPad's success ... until 2012. Then again, I was wrong about the iPad before.

6. E-Readers Live!

They said the colorful iPad would kill black-and-white e-readers. But dull devices march on, like Amazon's Kindle -- now the bestselling product in Amazon's history (even beating "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”). Analysts at Citigroup estimate that Amazon will sell about 5 million Kindles this year, doubling sales from the previous year.

Monochrome e-readers are cheaper ($139 for a Wi-Fi Kindle) and offer a better book reading experience than anything short of, well, a real book. Unlike LCD devices such as the iPad, you can read them in broad daylight. And for book lovers who want to focus on the story they're reading, there are fewer distractions like e-mail, Facebook posts, Tweets, or silly games.

The continued success of e-ink e-readers proves two things: They just work, and no matter what Steve Jobs thinks, there are still people who want to read.

Prediction: Monochrome e-readers will drop in price again, and may be free to shoppers who promise to buy a certain number of ebooks. Also, 2011 will see the rise of Google's e-book store, which will finally offer Amazon some serious competition.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/12/28/biggest-tech-surprises-predictions/#ixzz19RM099v7

 

end quote. 

I'm still waiting for either an Android that I want or an Iphone that actually works wherever you go. In the area I live in I don't hear people complaining about their Iphones. However, in the Greater Bay Area and in Los Angeles I hear about a lot of problems with calls dropping. And, my son has an Ipad that he bought the first day it came out. It is the hit of my family here during Christmas for the free Games he has downloaded. So, I understand why everyone now wants an IPAD especially the younger set.

 

Where are the Richest Americans?

Where the richest Americans live

To read Yahoo news article click "Where the richest Americans live" above. Below are my comments.

I live in California which is number 6 on the list of richest states.

However, California leads in the number of people in our state whose households earn over 200,000 a year. begin quote.

% of Households Earning $200K+: 6.2%
Total Households: 12,200,672
Households Earning $200K+: 757,411
Median Income: $56,862 end quote.

New York is second with: begin quote.
8. New York

Getty Images

% of Households Earning $200K+: 5.6%
Total Households: 7,099,940
Households Earning $200K+: 399,014
Median Income: $50,372




 end quote.

Texas is third with: begin quote.

Jeremy Woodhouse | The Image Bank | Getty Images end quote. However, if you go by state and district alone of percentages with that state or district without accounting for sheer numbers of wealthy people the 1 through 15 list in the article is valid.

% of Households Earning $200K+: 3.9%
Total Households: 8,244,022
Households Earning $200K+: 313,681
Median Income: $47,143

Freezing Because of Climate Change

Bundle Up, It's Global Warming

To read news article click "Bundle Up" above. begin ending quote.

It’s all a snow job by nature. The reality is, we’re freezing not in spite of climate change but because of it.

Judah Cohen is the director of seasonal forecasting at an atmospheric and environmental research firm.
end quote. 

Newly discovered human race relative discovered in Siberia

DNA says new human relative roamed widely in Asia
To read news article about "Denisovans" click "DNA" above. Quote below.

By comparing the DNA to that of modern populations, scientists found evidence that these "Denisovans" from more than 30,000 years ago ranged all across Asia. They apparently interbred with the ancestors of people now living in Melanesia, a group of islands northeast of Australia. end quote.

However, they also point out that this group did not interbreed then with people in Europe at that time.

The Difficulty of Being Christian Internationally

Pope urges courage for Catholics in China, Iraq

To read above article click "Pope urges" above.

Though generally Christians and Muslims do quite well in getting along within the U.S. this is less true in Europe and progressively worse throughout Africa and Asia and the Middle East depending upon the country. As a "Mystical Christian" since birth, even though I don't attend any church regularly anymore I still see myself as a Christian at core. So I'm concerned what is happening now to Christians worldwide during these times. I'm more of the belief that all religions should get along with each other but that doesn't seem possible in many nations who are less educated and self disciplined here on earth.

There is also the quality that one finds in Christianity of "turning the other cheek" that can get Christians in some countries in trouble or "Dead" by not defending themselves. Unfortunately, I don't see the rivalry between most of the religions of the world ending any time soon. As a somewhat educated person, I take pride in being both a Christian and a Tibetan Buddhist simultaneously, because Buddhism is a philosophy more than a religion (at least in the way religion is defined in the western world). So, the main tenet of Buddhism is also pretty much the same tenet in Christianity which is being compassionate to one's fellow man. In Buddhism one extends this compassion   to all beings in the universe. So I have no problem being both a Christian and a Tibetan Buddhist at the same time.

However, I am very concerned at the growing conflicts between Muslims and Christians worldwide. It is my hope and prayer this Christmas (and throughout the year) that all religions can get along better with each other and stop killing each other. We don't need another 1000 years of conflict between religions here on earth. A way needs to be found to create a more lasting peace worldwide. I think the most useful way would be through education fostered by the United Nations worldwide.

What Solar Power has already done in Africa

Beyond Fossil Fuels: African Huts Far From the Grid Glow With Renewable Power

begin  quote below from above news article:

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Beyond Fossil Fuels

African Huts Far From the Grid Glow With Renewable Power

Ed Ou/The New York Times

Thanks to this solar panel, Sara Ruto no longer takes a three-hour taxi ride to a town with electricity to recharge her cellphone. More Photos »

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL

Published: December 24, 2010

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KIPTUSURI, Kenya — For Sara Ruto, the desperate yearning for electricity began last year with the purchase of her first cellphone, a lifeline for receiving small money transfers, contacting relatives in the city or checking chicken prices at the nearest market.

Beyond Fossil Fuels

Starting Small

Articles in this series examine innovative attempts to reduce the world’s dependence on coal, oil and other carbon-intensive fuels, and the challenges faced.

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Living Without Electricity

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Ed Ou/The New York Times

Solar power for Ms. Ruto’s hut in Kiptusuri, Kenya, means her toddlers no longer risk burns from a smoky kerosene lamp. More Photos »

Charging the phone was no simple matter in this farming village far from Kenya’s electric grid.
Every week, Ms. Ruto walked two miles to hire a motorcycle taxi for the three-hour ride to Mogotio, the nearest town with electricity. There, she dropped off her cellphone at a store that recharges phones for 30 cents. Yet the service was in such demand that she had to leave it behind for three full days before returning.
That wearying routine ended in February when the family sold some animals to buy a small Chinese-made solar power system for about $80. Now balanced precariously atop their tin roof, a lone solar panel provides enough electricity to charge the phone and run four bright overhead lights with switches.end quote.

I have even here in the United States lived at least 10 miles from the nearest gas station or store and without electricity at 4000 feet on 2 1/2 acres on the side of Mt. Shasta in California. Solar power during the 1980s and also cell phones were not available. But I understand how wonderful it would be living that far away from civilization without a telephones or a utility grid of electricity to be able to use charge your cell phone  and light your home  living this remotely. It would really make a difference both in communication and safety and economically to people all over the world who live remotely.

Keeling: Almost 60 years of constant research on world Carbon Dioxide levels

A Scientist, His Work and a Climate Reckoning

To read news article on Keeling click "A Scientist" above. to read quotes from above article see below.

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MAUNA LOA OBSERVATORY, Hawaii — Two gray machines sit inside a pair of utilitarian buildings here, sniffing the fresh breezes that blow across thousands of miles of ocean.

Temperature Rising

Tracking the Numbers

Articles in this series are focusing on the central arguments in the climate debate and examining the evidence for global warming and its consequences.

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Sampling the Air

 

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• Green Blog: Does the Keeling Curve Still Need a Keeling? (December 21, 2010)

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Scripps Institution of Oceanography; U.C. San Diego

THE KEELINGS Charles D. Keeling with his son Ralph in 1989. More Photos »

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They make no noise. But once an hour, they spit out a number, and for decades, it has been rising relentlessly.
The first machine of this type was installed on Mauna Loa in the 1950s at the behest of Charles David Keeling, a scientist from San Diego. His resulting discovery, of the increasing level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, transformed the scientific understanding of humanity’s relationship with the earth. A graph of his findings is inscribed on a wall in Washington as one of the great achievements of modern science.end quote.

next quote.

When Dr. Keeling, as a young researcher, became the first person in the world to develop an accurate technique for measuring carbon dioxide in the air, the amount he discovered was 310 parts per million. That means every million pints of air, for example, contained 310 pints of carbon dioxide.
By 2005, the year he died, the number had risen to 380 parts per million. Sometime in the next few years it is expected to pass 400. Without stronger action to limit emissions, the number could pass 560 before the end of the century, double what it was before the Industrial Revolution.end quote.

One of the few ways to reduce world temperatures even with high carbon dioxide appears to be to increase volcanic glass dust particles above 20,000 feet in the air. However, everyone knows this is but a temporary fix to keep the ice caps from melting. And even with this fix can it be done in such a way as to prevent what is happening right now to Europe's Airports?  They have been  closed because of extremely low temperatures with snow.   Their main problem seems to be not enough Deicing fluid for getting the ice off of the planes wings so they can take off. However, reduced crop output because of less sun and other climatic problems  can usually result from several years of volcanic ash in the atmosphere above 20,000 feet.

However, it could be seen as at least a temporary fix of having artificially deposited volcanic glass dust in the upper atmosphere which could at least theoretically reduce increasing temperatures in that hemisphere for several years at a time. However, if nations or corporations secretly do this or publicly through the United Nations do this it might buy us more time. However, if it is secretly done Republicans and worldwide conservatives might  claim global warming is a myth. This I can see might be a real problem with doing this secretly which might allow carbon dioxide to become such a problem that no one could solve the problem worldwide and then humans(at least on earth) might go extinct.

New solar Machine mimics photosynthesis in creating electricity

New solar fuel machine 'mimics plant life'

By Neil Bowdler Science reporter, BBC News

In the prototype, sunlight heats a ceria cylinder which breaks down water or carbon dioxide

Continue reading the main story

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• Solar power lights up the world
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A prototype solar device has been unveiled which mimics plant life, turning the Sun's energy into fuel.

The machine uses the Sun's rays and a metal oxide called ceria to break down carbon dioxide or water into fuels which can be stored and transported.
Conventional photovoltaic panels must use the electricity they generate in situ, and cannot deliver power at night.
Details are published in the journal Science.
The prototype, which was devised by researchers in the US and Switzerland, uses a quartz window and cavity to concentrate sunlight into a cylinder lined with cerium oxide, also known as ceria.end quote

I have often thought of solar power being like a form of photosynthesis. So, philosophically and logically inventing a process that works a lot like synthetic photosynthesis makes complete sense to me.

However, in some ways it reminds me of electrolysis where one uses electricity to split H2O into Hydrogen atoms and Oxygen atoms. In this case the sun is making hydrogen and oxygen out of water and carbon monoxide is the byproduct. Carbon monoxide is what kills people in their exhaust from their cars. So, I suppose theoretically one could have these  solar generators on ones roof and then store the hydrogen in some kind of safe storage and then use the hydrogen to fuel hydrogen fuel cells to run either ones car or one's home thereby avoiding paying any electrical utility bills at all ever again.

The problem with this is that there is a finite amount of water on earth and as we break away water into hydrogen and oxygen, if the hydrogen ever gets loose in the atmosphere it goes to the very top and stays there closest to space. So trying to rejoin that hydrogen to oxygen to make water if it ever becomes a time with a water shortage here on  earth if we are  burning  up hydrogen or just breaking away hydrogen from oxygen in water  could also be problematic for anything that lives that needs water on earth in the future.

China: A re-emerging Historical World Power

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/books/review/Kahn-t.html

The following is a quote from a new york times book review listed above.

In “When China Rules the World,” Martin Jacques, a columnist for The Guardian of London and a visiting scholar at the London School of Economics, argues that China will not just displace the United States as the major superpower. It will also marginalize the West in history and upend our core notions of what it means to be modern.


This bold assertion, he acknowledges, rests on the assumption that nothing will derail the political stability and economic dynamism China enjoys today. It is not clear that even the most senior leaders in Beijing share Jacques’s faith in that forecast. But the future is unknowable, and his extrapolations are, if not provable, at least plausible. The strength of his book lies in his exhaustive, incisive exploration of possibilities that many people have barely begun to contemplate about a future dominated by China.
Much of the journalism and many of the best-selling books on China treat the country’s rise as an economic phenomenon. It is presented as a developing country, albeit the biggest one, that has opened its doors to the West, allowed a Western-style market economy to flourish and exported goods to wealthy consumers abroad. Those things are true. But Jacques argues that the focus on the economic side of the story has lulled the West into a false sense of security. “The mainstream Western attitude has held that, in its fundamentals, the world will be relatively little changed by China’s rise,” he writes. Rather, he says, “the rise of China will change the world in the most profound ways.”


Unlike Britain, the United States or Germany at various times during the past 200 years, China is not emerging on the world stage as a new, powerful nation-state. It is, instead, as one Chinese writer put it, regaining “lost international status,” becoming the first ancient civilization to re-emerge and reclaim its position as a dominant power. end quote.

So, looking at China from this perspective we have a world power that has been going through a major 1 century shift away from Chinese dynastic Rule towards the Present communistic State Capitalistic system. However, no one should underestimate the sophistication of  this ancient large civilization re-emerging on the world stage. It is not as simple as asking the question: "Will this be good or bad?"
Because with the emergence or re-emergence of any large nation the answer can only be both in its effects upon the whole world.

Memory Technology Breakthrough

IBM Unveils Memory Technology Breakthough

To read news article click on "IBM Unveils" above. Below see quote.

IBM is developing a new type of ultra-low-cost solid-state memory featuring a storage capacity that vastly exceeds what today's hard disk drives can provide. Called racetrack memory, the technology may one day replace hard disk drives in PCs, laptops and servers as well as displace flash memory chips in smartphones, digital cameras, and tablets.


next quote.


The radically new type of storage memory is based on a breakthrough technology known as spintronics, which manipulates the two types of independent electrons found in electrical current -- called the "spin-up" and "spin-down" electrons. The goal is to enable computing devices to store bits of information by manipulating the magnetic state of a region within a nanowire that is just a few tens of nanometers wide.

next quote.

A Year's Worth of Movies
Big Blue's goal is to boost device storage capacities by a factor of 100 times greater that what is currently available today from conventional memory devices. This would enable hardware makers to design portable gadgets capable of storing all the movies produced worldwide in a single year -- and with room to spare, IBM researchers said.
To make such memory densities possible, however, the domain walls of the nanowire racetrack must be manipulated at speeds of hundreds of miles per hour to atomically precise positions along the tracks. According to IBM researchers, the timescales in the tens of nanoseconds and the distances in micrometers are surprisingly long, given that research efforts over the past 50 years were unable to detect them.
"This was previously undiscovered in part because it was not clear whether the domain walls actually had mass, and how the effects of acceleration and deceleration could exactly compensate one another," Parkin said.
IBM researchers have just published their results in the Dec. 24 issue of Science. The paper by Luc Thomas, Rai Moriya, Charles Rettner, and Stuart Parkin of IBM Research is entitled, "Dynamics of magnetic domain walls under their own inertia." end quotes.

Between the information contained and accessed through:

1750 interfaced PS3s

And this blog it is obvious that both on scientific, hard drive and gaming and smart phone and other levels we should expect a 100 fold increase in both Memory and speed of processing during the next 10 years on all new devices.

Home for Christmas

All my children are home for Christmas. From 14 to 36 they are all here. (All my biological children).
I was thinking this morning how very grateful I was as our Christmas tree was delivered that we will trim later today. We had already decorated the outside of our home and inside our home so decorating the tree we will all do together. So, my son graduating with a BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) and having all my children here(there are others like step kids and God Daughters that won't be here). But still to have my 3 children here along with my middle daughter's boyfriend is really wonderful!

1750 interfaced PS3s

I was watching Fareed Zaharia GPS on CNN Sunday morning and one of his segments was on the Air Force and Government's 1750 PS3s that have been interfaced to create the fastest computer on earth. In fact "clustered" PS3s have been all the rage within Universities using various Linux operation systems over the past 3 years. However, I think Sony (As of March 2010) has disabled new PS3s from being able to use different operating systems so has stopped this now in new PS3s.  It is said that a linux powered 8 PS3 cluster outperforms 100+ Intel Xeons which is very impressive in regard to scientific calculations.

The following quote is from wikipedia under the heading

"PlayStation 3 cluster"

The NCSA had already built a cluster based on the PlayStation 2.^[2] Terra Soft Solutions has a version of Yellow Dog Linux for the PlayStation 3,^[3] and sells PS3s with Linux pre-installed,^[4] in single units, and 8 and 32 node clusters.^[5] In addition, RapidMind is pushing their stream programming package for the PS3.^[6]
On January 3, 2007, Dr. Frank Mueller, Associate Professor of Computer Science at NCSU, clustered 8 PS3s. Mueller commented that the 256 MB of system RAM is a limitation for this particular application, and is considering attempting to retrofit more RAM. Software includes: Fedora Core 5 Linux ppc64, MPICH2, OpenMP v2.5, GNU Compiler Collection and CellSDK 1.1.^[7][8][9]
In Summer 2007, Dr. Gaurav Khanna, a professor in the Physics Department of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth independently built a message-passing based cluster using 8 PS3s running Fedora Linux. This cluster was built with support from Sony Computer Entertainment was the first such cluster that generated published scientific results. Dubbed as the "PS3 Gravity Grid", this PS3 cluster performs astrophysical simulations of large supermassive black holes capturing smaller compact objects ^[10]. Khanna claims that the cluster's performance exceeds that of a 100+ Intel Xeon core based traditional Linux cluster on his simulations. The PS3 Gravity Grid gathered significant media attention through 2007 ^{[11] [12]}, 2008 ^[13][14], 2009 ^{[15] [16] [17]} and 2010 ^{[18] [19]}. Khanna also created a DIY website ^[20] on how to build such clusters, accessible to the general public. end quote.


If you are interested in building your own cluster I would recommend finding PS3s on someplace like Ebay and specify that they must have been built before March 2010 when the capacity to use multiple operating systems was disabled by Sony.

begin quote from same wikipedia site listed above:

On March 22, 2007, SCE and Stanford University expanded the Folding@home project to the PS3.^[22] Along with thousands of PCs already joined over the Internet, PS3 owners are able to lend the computing power of their game systems to the study of improper protein folding and associated diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's, cystic fibrosis, and several forms of cancer. The software was included as part of the 1.6 firmware update (March 22, 2007), and can be set to run manually or automatically when the PS3 is idle through the Cross Media Bar. The processed information is then sent back to project's central servers over the Internet. Processing power from PS3 users is greatly contributing to the Folding@home project, and PS3s have overtaken all other participating operating systems in teraflops contributed.^[23][24] As of April 23, 2007, more than 250,000 PS3 owners have allowed the Folding@home software to be run on their systems, averaging over 400 teraFLOPS and peaking at over 700. By comparison, the world's most powerful supercomputer as of April 2010, the Cray Jaguar has a peak performance of 1.75 petaFLOPS, or 1750 teraFLOPS.^[25] The latest report stated that Folding@Home has passed the 1PF (petaFLOPS) mark, of which 800TF(teraFLOPS) are supplied by PlayStation 3 clients.
The Computational Biochemistry and Biophysics Lab in Barcelona has launched a distributed computing project called PS3GRID. This project is expected to run sixteen times faster than an equivalent project on a standard PC. Like most distributed computing projects, it is designed to run only when the computer is idle.
eHiTS Lightning is the first virtual screening and molecular docking software for the PS3.^[26] It was released by SimBioSys ^[27]. as reported by Bio-IT World in July 2008^[28]. This application runs up to 30x faster on a single PS3 than on a regular single CPU PC, and it also runs on PS3 clusters, achieving screening of huge chemical compound libraries in a matter of hours or days rather than weeks, which used to be the standard expectation. end quote.

So, the capacity for PS3 clusters potentially to be used for good in helping mankind is potentially almost limitless. So, if you have a good use to put a PS3 cluster to---Go for it!

 

 

 

Levels of Truth

If you are over 15 to 20 years of age now we are all familiar with all the stages and levels of truth that we are exposed to throughout our maturation period. If we are lucky we have people around us both as children and as adults that don't incessantly lie to us or manipulate us. However, sometimes it is good for us to be lied to so at least we learn how to deal with it and become less naive and capable of manipulation through lies or half lies. If we continue to be lucky we have grown up around people who have good education and intentions and they share all that is best about who they are and what they know. If we are really lucky we go to a 4 year university and get a Bachelor's or Master's Degree or even a PHd if we want to. But even at that point it doesn't mean we know everything not even in the subject we get a degree in. Everything is constantly changing and there is always more to learn throughout one's life.

Throughout this whole process one learns through many levels of truth. The things one believes as a child under 5 are replaced by the new and ever evolving beliefs of a 5 to 12 year old. And then those beliefs are superseded by the new beliefs learned through both experience and formal education of a teenager. And those beliefs are then superseded by the beliefs and experiences of a 20 something. And if one is lucky this growth of knowledge and experience continues throughout one's life to the point where those listening to the wisdom garnered from such an ongoing growing person also stand on the shoulders of all those who have gone before and learned and shared all that they could learn in their lifetimes. In this way the experience and knowledge of the human race becomes more rich and more varied with each generation. And therefore each generation in it's own way becomes more amazing than the last.

One Story

There are many stories and theories about how the human race of which we are all apart got here. Here is my version of the story. First of of all humanoids or beings with five fingers on each of two hands, five toes on each of two feet, two eyes and one brain have been visiting earth for millions of years and even settled eventually on many planets in the solar system and came from other solar systems before that. When the planet they lived on in this solar system was having atmosphere problems they noticed that there were neanderthals living on Earth. Since they needed people to work for them to mine gold which would help them build devices to filter their air for their living structures on their planet, they decided Neanderthals weren't much use as slaves. So, they interbred their own genes (some say 80% along with 20% Neanderthal) to create an alien Humanoid Neanderthal hybrid (that is us) to mine gold and other minerals for them, since this atmosphere and the organisms in it isn't the best for them to breathe because the atmosphere they are used to is different even though it is oxygen based as well. So, we (the humanoid neanderthal hybrids) mined but eventually the aliens got enough gold and whatever else they wanted and returned to their planet and only eventually returned to get enough minerals to keep their living system going. They left in place Royals in every country on earth loyal to them (often with the common people considering those Royals to be Gods incarnate). In this way when they returned the Royals would order their people to get more gold for the aliens. It went on for thousands of years like this non-stop. However, then the Earth created Atomic Weapons and they had to return to protect their investment (us, the hybrids) from extinction as well as their source for obtaining minerals to keep their culture alive on another planet. This theory millions of people believe is the likeliest story of what has been going on here on Earth for millions of years now. And so most religions are in some way a part of this story either directly or indirectly. So, it makes the average person who is now alive on earth have a very difficult time in ferreting out the truth because the truth might not be as helpful to know as one might think. However, this is just one story. There are thousands of others as well.