Re: Helmholtz Layer Metal-Water Interface, Joe Cell Etc
Interfacial Energy Etc. Getting to the Energy (joules per square meter) at the Water-Metal-Metal Oxide Interface. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface_tension Effect of NaOH (raises surface tension of water) Detergents lower surface tension. Effect on Electrolysis of Water at Interface.
Re: Helmholtz Layer Metal-Water Interface, Joe Cell Etc
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface_energy Surface energy quantifies the disruption of chemical bonds that occurs when a surface is created. In the physics of solids, surfaces must be intrinsically less energetically favourable than the bulk of a material; otherwise there would be a driving force for surfaces to be created, and surface is all there would be" Beta-Aether Overpressure Flat Space, Frank? :-) "If the cutting is done reversibly (see reversible), then conservation of energy means that the energy consumed by the cutting process will be equal to the energy inherent in the two new surfaces created." Good. How much energy does it take to "atomize" a cubic centimeter of water down to 1.0 micron diameter spheres? How much "Free Energy" comes from the spread of a milliliter (1.0E-6 cubic meter) of water over a 2,000square meterWater-Metal or Water-Metal Oxide Interface? - Original Message - From: Frederick Sparber To: vortex-l Sent: 5/18/2006 1:50:33 AM Subject: Re: Helmholtz Layer Metal-Water Interface, Joe Cell Etc Interfacial Energy Etc. Getting to the Energy (joules per square meter) at the Water-Metal-Metal Oxide Interface. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface_tension Effect of NaOH (raises surface tension of water) Detergents lower surface tension. Effect on Electrolysis of Water at Interface.
Re: Butanol
http://www.peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Butanol "In this process, biomass feedstock is first fed to the bacteria Clostridium tyrobutyricum, where a large percentage is converted into butyric acid and hydrogen. In the second process, the butyric acid is fed to the bacteria Clostridium acetobutylicum, where it is converted into butanol. Ramey has claimed a 42% butanol yield from this process." Cows make Butyric Acid in their rumens, but it's hard to pipe it out. http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/dlc-me/zoo/zacmain.html "The rumen stinks. This is because microbes in the rumen produce stinky organic acids. The billions of microbes in the rumen quickly use up all the oxygen. Because there is no oxygen, the rumen is anaerobic. When oxygen is lacking, microbes must get their energy from anaerobic respiration or from fermentation. In anaerobic respiration, microbes breathe compounds other than oxygen for energy. Fermentation is the breaking down of organic molecules into smaller molecules such as organic acids like butyric acid and valeric acid that stink." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butyric_acid "Butyric acid, IUPAC name n-Butanoic acid, or normal butyric acid, is a carboxylic acid with structural formula CH3CH2CH2-COOH. It is notably found in rancid butter, parmesan cheese, and vomit, and has an unpleasant odor and acrid taste, with a sweetish aftertaste (similar to ether)."
Re: Butanol
I think Liposuction or microwaving fat from overfed hogs to get Stearic Acid, then cracking it to Decanol-Biodiesel would be more cost effective. FDA approved methodology, of course. http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/liposuction/what.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stearic_acid "Stearic acid, also called octadecanoic acid, is one of the useful types of saturated fatty acids that comes from many animal and vegetable fats and oils. It is a waxy solid, and its chemical formula is CH3(CH2)16COOH. " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-decanol "1-Decanol is a straight chain fatty alcohol with ten carbon atoms and the molecular formula CH3(CH2)9OH. It is a colorless viscous liquid that is insoluble " - Original Message - From: Frederick Sparber To: vortex-l Sent: 5/18/2006 3:31:16 AM Subject: Re: Butanol http://www.peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Butanol "In this process, biomass feedstock is first fed to the bacteria Clostridium tyrobutyricum, where a large percentage is converted into butyric acid and hydrogen. In the second process, the butyric acid is fed to the bacteria Clostridium acetobutylicum, where it is converted into butanol. Ramey has claimed a 42% butanol yield from this process." Cows make Butyric Acid in their rumens, but it's hard to pipe it out. http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/dlc-me/zoo/zacmain.html "The rumen stinks. This is because microbes in the rumen produce stinky organic acids. The billions of microbes in the rumen quickly use up all the oxygen. Because there is no oxygen, the rumen is anaerobic. When oxygen is lacking, microbes must get their energy from anaerobic respiration or from fermentation. In anaerobic respiration, microbes breathe compounds other than oxygen for energy. Fermentation is the breaking down of organic molecules into smaller molecules such as organic acids like butyric acid and valeric acid that stink." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butyric_acid "Butyric acid, IUPAC name n-Butanoic acid, or normal butyric acid, is a carboxylic acid with structural formula CH3CH2CH2-COOH. It is notably found in rancid butter, parmesan cheese, and vomit, and has an unpleasant odor and acrid taste, with a sweetish aftertaste (similar to ether)."
Re: Abstract from Josephson, annoying statements by Truzzi
Yes - but one other thing... With engineering we more or less know what we're dealing with; the interactions of materials are quite predictable. Can't say the same for society - which is another name for a mass of unpredictable people... despite our ability to use statistics as a tool. P. At 11:40 PM 5/17/2006 -0500, you wrote: Marx was a social theorist rather than a social engineer. The problem with earlier social engineering projects is that the social engineer had acquired political power, which meant they could not be held legally and financially liable for their failures. We are comfortable with the idea of physical engineering because mechanical, structural and electrical engineers are held to account financially and legally for the harm they may cause. Harry Philip Winestone wrote: The efficacy of legally sanctioned social impact studies went all the way downhill when Karl Marx wrote Das Kapital. P. At 02:25 PM 5/17/2006 -0500, you wrote: Jed Rothwell wrote: Harry Veeder wrote: The consequences of denying the reality of cold fusion have had a horrendous impact on the real world. The consequences of denying the reality of ___ have had a horrendous impact on the real world. Fill in the blank and take a number... Some things matter much more than others. If cold fusion can be made into a practical source of energy, it is the most important discovery in recorded history. Only prehistoric discoveries such as fire, agriculture or language have had a greater impact or more benefits. - Jed Sure, but there have been costs too. Social impact studies should be required by law just as environmental impact studies are now required by law. Harry
Re: Helmholtz Layer Metal-Water Interface, Joe Cell Etc
Home recipes for dishwashers suggests a 50-50 mix of Borax and Baking Soda. In the electrolysis cell might this aid the interfacial Water-Metal or Water-Metal Oxide "wetting" or will it act in a deleterious effect? With our cell adding a very small amount of baking soda increased the current from 2 milliamperes up to 21 milliamperes. Gas yield tests are under way using balloons so that pressure or vacuum in the electrolysis chamber can be handled. Fred
Re: Cornsene Diesel-Biodiesel
One hot summer night in 1955 I decided to see what would happen if I cooked Cornstarch with motor oil. When it hit the ~ 60 deg C gelatinization temperature of the starch it swelled into a gelatinous mess, that looks like it could be stirred into a good motor fuel. Cornaline "oxygenated gasoline" from cornmeal without the energy intensive ethanol production too? :-) Fred
Re: Cornsene Diesel-Biodiesel
Not recommended for Grits, Terry. Try Peanut oil instead. :-) Sent: 5/18/2006 10:20:33 AM Subject: Re: Cornsene Diesel-Biodiesel One hot summer night in 1955 I decided to see what would happen if I cooked Cornstarch with motor oil. When it hit the ~ 60 deg C gelatinization temperature of the starch it swelled into a gelatinous mess, that looks like it could be stirred into a good motor fuel. Cornaline "oxygenated gasoline" from cornmeal without the energy intensive ethanol production too? :-) Fred
Re: The social impact of cold fusion is up to us to decide
I wrote: Of course some disruption is inevitable, and jobs will be lost, but that can easily be balanced by social improvements and new jobs. But we have to decide that is how things will be. We have to make decisions, set policies and allocate money. I realize that such decisions and policies sometimes interfere with the mechanisms of pure free-market capitalism, and this reduces efficiency. If economic theory is correct, cold fusion technology would be propagated at the fastest possible rate if we allow Ayn Rand style capitalism a free hand to destroy jobs and disrupt society. This might also bring in the most monetary profit. Capitalism is essential, after all. But it is not the only essential institution, and society is not one-dimensional. If we must slow down the commercialization of cold fusion slightly, and reduce profit somewhat in order to preserve a measure of social stability and happiness, we should. It is worth the trade-off. Anyway, at this stage, capitalism has done nothing to develop cold fusion, so it is not the be-all end-all solution to all problems. So far, all progress in cold fusion has been made by academic professors who are is far removed from capitalist competitive pressure as anyone can be. Many other essential breakthroughs have come from outside the economic system. The Wrights, for example, gave no thought to profit when they invented the airplane. They thought it would never pay. They acted purely out of curiosity and the love of learning. The people have developed the Internet had no thought of profit, and they never made one extra dollar from their work. They were all government employed programmers, doing their job at published government salary levels. These salaries are generous but they include no extra incentive payment, even though the Internet is one of the most important technologies in history. The laws of economics are constraints, similar to the laws that govern structural engineering. If you ignore the laws of structural engineering, your buildings will collapse. But within the constraints these laws define, you can create an enormous variety of different structures. Some structures, such as an airplane hangar, will make extraordinarily efficient use of the materials to cover the largest possible area. Other structures, such as a Victorian house, will waste a lot of materials to produce a charming effect. Some economic structures produce fantastic profits in a short time, such as WallMart superstores. Others are inefficient and wasteful, such as Japanese mom-and-pop retail stores. But these small stores take care of many people and they enliven neighborhoods and make life more pleasant. - Jed
Re: Abstract from Josephson, annoying statements by Truzzi
People are apparently unpredictable because we spend too much time trying to eliminate people's warts as conceived by this or that religion. People become more predictable when we look beyond their warts to what really motivates them to be good to others and to themselves. Harry Philip Winestone wrote: Yes - but one other thing... With engineering we more or less know what we're dealing with; the interactions of materials are quite predictable. Can't say the same for society - which is another name for a mass of unpredictable people... despite our ability to use statistics as a tool. P. At 11:40 PM 5/17/2006 -0500, you wrote: Marx was a social theorist rather than a social engineer. The problem with earlier social engineering projects is that the social engineer had acquired political power, which meant they could not be held legally and financially liable for their failures. We are comfortable with the idea of physical engineering because mechanical, structural and electrical engineers are held to account financially and legally for the harm they may cause. Harry Philip Winestone wrote: The efficacy of legally sanctioned social impact studies went all the way downhill when Karl Marx wrote Das Kapital. P. At 02:25 PM 5/17/2006 -0500, you wrote: Jed Rothwell wrote: Harry Veeder wrote: The consequences of denying the reality of cold fusion have had a horrendous impact on the real world. The consequences of denying the reality of ___ have had a horrendous impact on the real world. Fill in the blank and take a number... Some things matter much more than others. If cold fusion can be made into a practical source of energy, it is the most important discovery in recorded history. Only prehistoric discoveries such as fire, agriculture or language have had a greater impact or more benefits. - Jed Sure, but there have been costs too. Social impact studies should be required by law just as environmental impact studies are now required by law. Harry
Re: OT: the political economy of energy distribution
In a message dated 5/11/2006 4:51:04 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: In the 24th century there is no need for money in Gene Roddenberry'sworld of Star Trek.Gene Roddenberry never really explained how such a society could functionwithout money, but a possible system was outlined decades before Star Trekfirst appeared on television...http://www.technocracy.org/?p=/documents/pamphlets/energy-distributionHarry Thanks for the above link. Best Regards, Baron Volsung, www.rhfweb.com/baronPresident Thomas D. Clark, Email form: http://www.rhfweb.com/emailform.html, Personal Web Page: http://www.rhfweb.com/personal.htmlArchitectural Engineers, http://www.rhfweb.com/aeStar Haven Community Services, at http://www.rhfweb.com/shRadiation Health Foundation Trust at http://www.rhfweb.com/Baron Volsung, www.rhfweb.com/baronMaking a difference one person at a timeGet informed. Inform others
Re: OT: Bertrand Russell- In Praise of Idleness
In a message dated 5/11/2006 11:44:47 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: The Muslims think the west is their enemy. They think that all 'crusades' come from the 'west'. They are wrong. They forgot aboutHulagu Khan the avenging Nestorian Christian that almost wiped Islam fromthe face of the planet. They look guardedly at the West and ignore the East. When India grows desparate enough for energy, the road through Pakistan,Baluchistan, lower Iran, Iraq, Syria, and the Saudi lands will be all to open and irresistably inviting. With tens of millions of troops, what middle eastern army would have a chance against them. It took India all of threedays to finish off a huge army in East Pakistan in the troubles before theBangladeshi revolution. . Thanks for the above information. Even though birth control has not worked, I still encourage it as the best alternative to solve overpopulation problems. If just one generation of Third World citizens can reduce the number of children in half, then they have reduced their population in half later on. With high technology we should be able to offer better if not perfect birth control options for free in the Third world and offer incentives and rewards such as better jobs for those who have fewer children. Others have sent me emails hinting that high tech viral warfare may reduce the overpopulation in the Third World. Unfortunately, in the West mind control and beam weapons slavery systems have been used secretly by the Third World and the US government and other governments to reduce the birth rate of the minority white cultures, while the majority nonwhites overpopulate and are not targeted by their own beam weapons systems to reduce their populations also. Best Regards, Baron Volsung, www.rhfweb.com/baronPresident Thomas D. Clark, Email form: http://www.rhfweb.com/emailform.html, Personal Web Page: http://www.rhfweb.com/personal.htmlArchitectural Engineers, http://www.rhfweb.com/aeStar Haven Community Services, at http://www.rhfweb.com/shRadiation Health Foundation Trust at http://www.rhfweb.com/Baron Volsung, www.rhfweb.com/baronMaking a difference one person at a timeGet informed. Inform others
Re: Abstract from Josephson, annoying statements by Truzzi
An interesting way of looking at it. Without going into it too deeply, I've been a seeker for many years now (still seeking) and my conclusion is that people have their warts with or without religion. A belief system is a belief system no matter what its nature. In fact, the seeking path involves an effort to divest oneself of - by observing - one's socially conditioned robotic behaviour and become LESS predictable. P. At 12:51 PM 5/18/2006 -0500, you wrote: People are apparently unpredictable because we spend too much time trying to eliminate people's warts as conceived by this or that religion. People become more predictable when we look beyond their warts to what really motivates them to be good to others and to themselves. Harry Philip Winestone wrote: Yes - but one other thing... With engineering we more or less know what we're dealing with; the interactions of materials are quite predictable. Can't say the same for society - which is another name for a mass of unpredictable people... despite our ability to use statistics as a tool. P. At 11:40 PM 5/17/2006 -0500, you wrote: Marx was a social theorist rather than a social engineer. The problem with earlier social engineering projects is that the social engineer had acquired political power, which meant they could not be held legally and financially liable for their failures. We are comfortable with the idea of physical engineering because mechanical, structural and electrical engineers are held to account financially and legally for the harm they may cause. Harry Philip Winestone wrote: The efficacy of legally sanctioned social impact studies went all the way downhill when Karl Marx wrote Das Kapital. P. At 02:25 PM 5/17/2006 -0500, you wrote: Jed Rothwell wrote: Harry Veeder wrote: The consequences of denying the reality of cold fusion have had a horrendous impact on the real world. The consequences of denying the reality of ___ have had a horrendous impact on the real world. Fill in the blank and take a number... Some things matter much more than others. If cold fusion can be made into a practical source of energy, it is the most important discovery in recorded history. Only prehistoric discoveries such as fire, agriculture or language have had a greater impact or more benefits. - Jed Sure, but there have been costs too. Social impact studies should be required by law just as environmental impact studies are now required by law. Harry
Re: OT: Bertrand Russell- In Praise of Idleness
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Thanks for the above information. Even though birth control has not worked . . . This is complete nonsense, by the way. Birth control has worked magnificently in every part of the world. It is one of the greatest triumphs of medical technology and public health in history. Without modern contraceptives, the population would have spiralled wildly out of control after 1850, and billions of people would have starved to death. The situation is bad now, with 2 billion people living in dire poverty. But without contraceptives the numbers would be far higher, and millions would die every day in unthinkable squalor. That is not happening. And the contrary, living conditions in China and India are gradually improving. Only in Africa are things going rapidly downhill, and this is mainly caused by genocidal wars which are deliberate policy. Population is growing much too quickly in the Third World. The absolute number of new mouths to feed is still growing at record levels in most Third World countries. But the rate of population growth in every nation has fallen drastically, and this would not have happened without the widespread use of contraceptives. Population growth in Europe, the US and Japan has stabilized. In Japan the population last year declined for the first time in modern history. (Some Japanese leaders are upset about this but I think the country would be a lot more comfortable with about half the present population.) If the rest of the world shared our prosperity and good medical care, population everywhere would be stable, and pollution and pressure on the ecosystem would soon be greatly reduced. - Jed
Emergence
Jed Recently stated: The laws of economics are constraints, similar to the laws that govern structural engineering. If you ignore the laws of structural engineering, your buildings will collapse. But within the constraints these laws define, you can create an enormous variety of different structures. Some structures, such as an airplane hangar, will make extraordinarily efficient use of the materials to cover the largest possible area. Other structures, such as a Victorian house, will waste a lot of materials to produce a charming effect. Some economic structures produce fantastic profits in a short time, such as WallMart superstores. Others are inefficient and wasteful, such as Japanese mom-and-pop retail stores. But these small stores take care of many people and they enliven neighborhoods and make life more pleasant. - Jed Jed's thoughts on this matter brings to mind something I've been pondered on and off in my life for years, a concept called Emergence. Theories of Emergent behavior help explain why dilapidated Mom-and-Pop retail stores thrive. It helps explain why certain run-down neighborhoods in our cities deserve to stay pretty much intact the way they are, as compared to being torn down and replaced with another ill thought out housing project, and with disastrous consequences. First, humor me a second while I fill in some hopefully entertaining background. On a recent family recent trip to Portland, Oregon, to deposit my father's ashes in the Pacific Ocean (his spawning grounds), we visited Powell's Books, one of the most well known used bookstores in the country. Browsing through one of the long corridors in the science section my eyes scanned past an off-color light gray-blue book. It was of an average size, not very impressive looking book at first glance. The title said Emergence. It continued with, The Connected lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software. I was intrigued. It might help to understand that in my youth I, too, had studied the social behavior of ants. A kindred spirit! During a younger and more inquisitive time in my life I maintained several full-fledged ant colonies which included the queen. I had been fascinated by the complex organizational structure these tiny creatures exhibited. How is it, I often wondered, that such seemingly mindless little creatures with brains the size of, well, the size of an! ant, were capable of organizing their living conditions into highly complex social structures as if the entire colony was behaving like a single-minded organism? I read on. THIS BOOK IS ABOUT THE MYSTERY OF WHY THE WHOLE IS SOMETIMES SMARTER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS What did the author mean by the term Emergence? I happened to notice the author's name, and that's when I got the biggest surprise of all. There, in capital letters was the name: STEVEN JOHNSON (No relation!) Not only were the author's ideas on emergence personally compelling he possessed my name. Out of the entire bookstore how did I manage to, almost as if I was an ant, ambling endlessly through a labyrinth of bookshelves find my way to this particular isle in the science section, and how did my eyes manage to focus on this particular nondescript book out of the thousands of others littering the shelves. It was an eerie kind of synchronicity, one that I had not personally experienced to that degree of conscious awareness in decades. Of course, I bought the book. I finished it over the following days absorbing as much as my mind could take in. The characteristics of Emergence, I discovered, exists in a surprising number of seemingly unrelated manifestations. It helps explain the formation of neighborhoods, both the highly successful and not so successful ghetto habitats that have emerged from our cities. It helps explain the occasionally unpredictable idiosyncrasies of economic models, like capitalism. Emergence helps explain the surprising robust evolution and success of a high-tech phenomenon called public domain software. It helps explain why our brains, while physically hardwired as a jumble of excruciatingly slow carbon-based biological networks can, nevertheless, easily exceed the cognitive power of the fastest silicon-based super computers currently in existence. The rules of emergence help explain why there is a surprising lack of control news networks must now contend with as they vainly try to choose what is newsworthy. For those who might be interested in designing their own Emergent data models (and play God for a while!) I would highly recommend downloading a free public domain software package called StarLogo. You can find the package at: http://education.mit.edu/starlogo/starterpage.html Some of you old farts might remember this programming language was once called Logo. It was one of the first programming languages developed with children in mind. The original intention was to interest tiny tykes in the joys of learning the
Re: OT: the political economy of energy distribution
Yikes! Even with grand illustrations of failure why is it not recognized that the prime survival instinct in every living thing runs contrary to communistic ideology? The romance of homogenous equality goes right out the window as soon as the have-nots become haves. Isn't "Animal Farm" on the required reading list in schools anymore? For the latest examplelook no further thanZimbabwe and their accelerating 1000%+ inflation from Mugabe's Orwellian-style redistribution of land resources. Tuesday, January 1, 2002 ...1 US Dollar = 57.34300 Zimbabwe Dollar Wednesday, January 1, 2003 ... 1 US Dollar = 57.14500 Zimbabwe Dollar Thursday, January 1, 2004... 1 US Dollar = 818.520 Zimbabwe Dollar Saturday, January 1, 2005... 1 US Dollar = 5,600.10 Zimbabwe Dollar Sunday, January 1, 2006 ... 1 US Dollar = 82,902.0 Zimbabwe Dollar Thursday, May 18, 2006... 1 US Dollar = 101,874 Zimbabwe Dollar Perhaps just a cynical viewpoint, but humanity organized anything is the few looking to control the many for the benefit of the self appointed elite; religion, politics, sex, work, play, etc. -john -Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Thursday, May 18, 2006 1:42 PMTo: vortex-l@eskimo.comCc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]Subject: Re: OT: the political economy of energy distribution In a message dated 5/11/2006 4:51:04 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: In the 24th century there is no need for money in Gene Roddenberry'sworld of Star Trek.Gene Roddenberry never really explained how such a society could functionwithout money, but a possible system was outlined decades before Star Trekfirst appeared on television...http://www.technocracy.org/?p=/documents/pamphlets/energy-distributionHarry Thanks for the above link. Best Regards, Baron Volsung, www.rhfweb.com/baronPresident Thomas D. Clark, Email form: http://www.rhfweb.com/emailform.html, Personal Web Page: http://www.rhfweb.com/personal.htmlArchitectural Engineers, http://www.rhfweb.com/aeStar Haven Community Services, at http://www.rhfweb.com/shRadiation Health Foundation Trust at http://www.rhfweb.com/Baron Volsung, www.rhfweb.com/baronMaking a difference one person at a timeGet informed. Inform others
Re: History of Electrostatic motors
In a message dated 5/17/2006 3:32:06 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: This link has more on the history of electrostatic motors.Includes several illustrations.http://f3wm.free.fr/sciences/jefimenko.htmlHarry Thanks for the above link. Best Regards, Baron Volsung, www.rhfweb.com/baronPresident Thomas D. Clark, Email form: http://www.rhfweb.com/emailform.html, Personal Web Page: http://www.rhfweb.com/personal.htmlArchitectural Engineers, http://www.rhfweb.com/aeStar Haven Community Services, at http://www.rhfweb.com/shRadiation Health Foundation Trust at http://www.rhfweb.com/Baron Volsung, www.rhfweb.com/baronMaking a difference one person at a timeGet informed. Inform others
Re: Emergence
OrionWorks wrote: Jed's thoughts on this matter brings to mind something I've been pondered on and off in my life for years, a concept called Emergence. Theories of Emergent behavior help explain why dilapidated Mom-and-Pop retail stores thrive. It helps explain why certain run-down neighborhoods in our cities deserve to stay pretty much intact the way they are, as compared to being torn down and replaced with another ill thought out housing project, and with disastrous consequences. I hope you don't mean such neighborhoods deserve to be left run-down. Personally, I think cities should actively develop mixed income neighborhoods. There is no reason why poor and rich can't live in the same neighbourhoods. Harry
Re: Emergence
Harry Veeder wrote: dilapidated Mom-and-Pop retail stores thrive. It helps explain why certain run-down neighborhoods in our cities deserve to stay pretty much intact the way they are, as compared to being torn down and replaced with another ill thought out housing project, and with disastrous consequences. I hope you don't mean such neighborhoods deserve to be left run-down. It is surprising, but often they do! That is what the famous urban activist Jane Jacobs said. (She died in April 2006 -- read her obits.) Japanese cities in the 1970s were dilapidated by U.S. standards, especially the collegetowns I used to live in. I used to live in a Meiji-era nagaya apartment building with no sanitation and a crowd of eccentrics who made the Maison Ikkoku comic book characters look normal in comparison. These places have been cleaned up since then. They are now lifeless and soulless. Run-down is okay, as long as there are many people around who are enjoying themselves doing legal activities. - Jed
Re: Butanol
In reply to Zell, Chris's message of Wed, 17 May 2006 16:34:36 -0500: Hi, [snip] I must confess I've never heard of this. It sounds somewhat astonishing. http://www.peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Butanol A gasoline substitute that's cheap and fully equal in BTU energy However it may be too toxic to use as a gasoline substitute. Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://users.bigpond.net.au/rvanspaa/ Competition provides the motivation, Cooperation provides the means.
Re: Emergence
Jed Rothwell wrote: Harry Veeder wrote: dilapidated Mom-and-Pop retail stores thrive. It helps explain why certain run-down neighborhoods in our cities deserve to stay pretty much intact the way they are, as compared to being torn down and replaced with another ill thought out housing project, and with disastrous consequences. I hope you don't mean such neighborhoods deserve to be left run-down. It is surprising, but often they do! That is what the famous urban activist Jane Jacobs said. (She died in April 2006 -- read her obits.) You are jumping to conclusions. I am not suggesting they be bulldozed. Japanese cities in the 1970s were dilapidated by U.S. standards, especially the collegetowns I used to live in. I used to live in a Meiji-era nagaya apartment building with no sanitation and a crowd of eccentrics who made the Maison Ikkoku comic book characters look normal in comparison. These places have been cleaned up since then. They are now lifeless and soulless. Run-down is okay, as long as there are many people around who are enjoying themselves doing legal activities. - Jed They probably went over board cleaning up the neighbourhood, but then again not all low income people wish to live like stereotypical bohemians. Harry
Re: The social impact of cold fusion is up to us to decide
Jed Rothwell wrote: Harry Veeder wrote: Sure, but there have been costs too. Social impact studies should be required by law just as environmental impact studies are now required by law. That is impossible, even in principle. The social impact of cold fusion, or any other technology, is always a matter of choice. We decide what the impact will be. Any technology can be used for good or evil. Yes, but I think we also need to be a little more circumspect of new technology. The new way is not necessarily the better way. Of course some disruption is inevitable, and jobs will be lost, but that can easily be balanced by social improvements and new jobs. But we have to decide that is how things will be. We have to make decisions, set policies and allocate money. When the U.S. built railroads, highways, computers, modern agriculture, the Internet and most other major technology with a society-wide impact, the projects were planned by and paid for mainly by Uncle Sam. So the public had a direct and decisive role in planning the outcome. When the price of gasoline rose in the 1970s, nations in Europe and Japan decided to make changes. They raised gasoline taxes so that fuel cost about $6 per gallon. They improved efficiency. That is why countries like Italy are roughly twice as energy efficient as the US, and why the record high price of oil will have little impact on their economy. I believe Norway and Sweden intend to phase out the use of oil completely in the next 10 or 20 years. They can do this because they deliberately set out to change their society 30 years ago. We could have done the same but we chose not to. If we had joined Italy, France and the others, the U.S. would now be a member of OPEC. We would be exporting oil and we would be delighted that the price has reached $72 per barrel. - Jed Harry
Re: Helmholtz Layer Metal-Water Interface, Joe Cell Etc
Frederick Sparber wrote: That is interesting Harry. But why use the feeble electrostatic motors Aesthetics. I like how charge is directly converted into kinetic motion. Anyway, with ultracapacitors couldn't you make them more powerful? when you can use the helium balloon tethered fair weather field collector voltage-current to make OH and H gas to run a ICE? You can also store the fair weather field energy in a capacitor or storage battery then dump it into a motor. I suppose you could use up to a 13.5 foot whip antenna on your car to pick up the Electronic Smog too. and feed it to your Joe Cell with cathode at chassis ground. http://f3wm.free.fr/sciences/jefimenko.html Maybe Reich's Faraday Shield type Orgone Boxes shut out the outside world for therapy? Your last remark went over my head. Harry
Re: Emergence
Howdy Steven V.J., Interesting views presented. You must have been stimulated by the book. The analogies you use are thought provoking. It gave me pause for thought. We actually exist in "ordered chaos".Creation as we seek to understand it screams out that it is hopelessly flawed. What is interesting to read is the book of Ephesians in the new testament that confirms chaos was by design before creation. Perfection by definition cannot be part imperfection once perfection is achieved. It can only be perfect perfection and chaos cannot emerge. However, perfection can come from imperfection. This is the hope given man through faith in Jesus Christ. Richard
