[Date: March 30, 2014 at 1:28:23 PM PDT]
PN:
Quotable Quote – “Sometimes doing your best is not good enough. Sometimes you must do what is required.” – Winston Churchill
Rant on Flotsam and Jetsam
At one point in history, the French military experimented with low frequency sound as a weapon. This was the follow-up of work done by Dr. Vladimir Gavreau, who stumbled upon infrasound (below 15 cycles per second) as a potent force while pursuing his work on robotics. Tesla also performed experiments and built infrasound machinery (ref. http://journal.borderlands.com/1996/the-sonic-weapon-of-vladimir-gavreau/ ) The very best human ear(s) can hear down to 15 cycles, but the accepted “normal” range of human hearing is 20 cycles to 20,000 cycles per second. As a matter of note, the telephone industry was founded on a range of 400 cycles to 4,000 cycles per second. Experimentation proved that the “intelligence” of the human voice (what was being said, and the identity of the speaker) could be propagated successfully using that spectrum. Frequencies above the normal human ceiling of 20K are called ultrasound. Other animal species have different hearing ranges; some examples: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearing_range
What about eyes? The human eye is a marvel. The range of frequencies it can discern is 430 – 790 THz – that’s terra hertz, or 1,000 billion cycles per second. However, there are other living creatures who can see outside the human frame of reference (ref. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visible_spectrum and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hertz ).
What about the other senses? How about the effect of frequency on taste, on touch, on smell?
What about the impact of frequency on the sub-cognizant physical entity? You know, organs, and muscle / tendon / ligament / blood / bile / consumed fluids and solids.
The highest observed frequency in nature is suspected to be varieties of gamma rays that exceed 10 to the 29th cycles per second. The computer I’m composing on has a clock that runs at 3.2 billion cycles per second (3.2 X 10 to the 10th cycles per second). The “4G” cellular phone you may use has up to 100 MHz spectral band width (100 X 10 to the 6th cycles per second). The radio frequency of a cell site transmitter is in the Giga Hertz band. The atmosphere of the earth blocks deadly radiation from the sun and from other sources (usually other suns) in the universe.
The flotsam and jetsam of physical wave and / or electromagnetic frequencies washing around us humans, either natural (flotsam) or man-made (jetsam), have some impact on human health. Madam Currie died of exposure to radiation, of which the alpha, beta, and gamma frequencies are all beyond the conscious senses capacity to detect. You can feel the infrared sun frequencies on your skin. A sunburn is the outcome.
Further down the rant in Science, Technology, Super Stuff there are two links to information about mega-windmill projects that are producing data. The data suggests great harm to humans and other living entities caused by the physical disturbance created by these machines.
If you can’t hear it, taste it, feel it, see it, smell it, does it exist?
Science says it does. Even if you were not there to hear the tree fall……….
CANADA
Silly Saskatchewan
What themes are acceptable for cheerleaders at a ball game? More generally, what themes are acceptable from (and by) the culture at large? My childhood sensibilities were childish – a fact. However, they were not “racist” or “discriminatory” in the least. They were elitist:
Politically correct speech is reaching it’s zenith, or the end of the pendulum swing. It is almost impossible to say anything that doesn’t offend someone somewhere in a hysterical “minority” hell bent on feeling better about themselves. Go fish……….
The Politics of Canadian Universities
When the statistic is “68% of high school grads go to college”, does it mean the high schools are doing a great job? Does it mean people are getting smarter? Does it mean there is a problem with universities and the tuition “bubble”? An analysis from a very Canadian blog named “The Gods of the Copybook Headings”:
http://godscopybook.blogs.com/gpb/2014/03/the-shadow-of-truth.html
Quotes of mention from the article –
“The art of dumbing down something as complicated as a university is a tricky one. If you dumb down the engineering program you get falling bridges and dead people. If you dumb down political science, well you just get more NDP voters. The thing that politicians and the university presidents failed to grasp is that while creating more NDP voters is not a good thing in the short-run, it’s a disastrous thing in the long run. There is nothing more dangerous to the future of a society than half-educated liberal arts majors.”
………..
“A point I try to emphasize is that the problem isn’t so much useless degrees as useless people taking degrees. Even in our modern sideways moving economy, or down ways if you’re an American, the clever and the bold succeed and even thrive. The piece of paper hanging on the wall matters less than the personality of the individual. A university degree in most fields qualifies you to work as a corporate drone. It proves you are somewhat more intelligent than average, somewhat less genuinely rebellious than average and have a proven capacity to absorb bullshit. This is the true value of subjects like gender studies, they allow you to absorb corporate bullshit with relative ease. ”
………..
“Mass university education, one of the more terrible ideas to emerge from the quite terrible twentieth century, might very well be what finishes off western civilization. It has generated a massive class of people who are unable, in any real sense, to work. They cannot think and they cannot toil……..”
Joe and I, having worked in the large corporate environment, find the above article to be more wheat than chaff, if our experience has been instructional.
There is an old adage that states “Money talks, bullshit walks”. The rest of the story is that the bullshiter often walks away with the money. There are too many real examples (i.e. Al Gore, Michael Moore, Barack Insane Obambi).
As a young person, breast full of hope, the serenity prayer (short version) made some sense to me –
As an older man, official senior citizen, breast full of fat and covered with grey hair, the serenity prayer has changed –
As is suggested in the article, the bold and clever will succeed. They always have and always will. The rest of us might think about getting up and finding that damned remote………….
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Pathetic President
The worst president ever is finding new ways to sell the West down the toilet. What an idiot:
I agree with the author that the West had better start applying pressure to these wackjob regimes. Sooner the better.
Sadly, no help will come from this “man”…..
His administration is responsible for traitorous levels of misspending tax dollars on corporate cronies –
Then there’s the ObamaCare act……
And the shameful history of Benghazi –
Riding shotgun, the lobotomized Joseph Biden, Tonto to Barackovich’s’ Kemosabe, has the audacity to say illegals are already American citizens! What effrontery. What buffoonery. What treason. Not funny:
Can Lady Liberty survive another 2 1/2 years of this bumbling idiot and his socialist leader? A true test of “American Exceptionalism”. This is scarier than Friday the 13th…….
CHINA
The signs of a struggling Chinese economy are growing. Cracks are appearing:
The scale required to “deliver the goods” to China is orders of magnitude above smaller countries. Super tankers, super container ships, and super contracts are fine and good when the contracts are honored. How much will it cost China (and the rest of the world) to save face?
POLITICS, POLITICIANS, WACKJOBBERY, HUMOROUS, STUPID
PLAIN OLD STUPIDITY
Earth Hour
How did something as ridiculous as “Earth Hour” ever, ever gain traction? Is it “progressive guilt” that makes people truly believe that humankind is a blight on the earth? What lunacy inspires people to think turning off their lights for an hour is significant in any way shape or form?
(Not that Joe or I condone these ridiculous expensive poor light sources)
The sultan explains all:
http://sultanknish.blogspot.ca/
Quote from the article –
“Earth Hour stigmatizes human accomplishment as the root of all evils and treats the lack of accomplishment as an accomplishment. For all the pretense of activism, environmentalism celebrates inaction.” – Daniel Greenfield
Just another bad idea from people who pretend to know how to live life better than you. As Kathy Shadle said, “You’re not smart enough to tell me how to live.” –
Why not join the real team – the team supporting human achievement –
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, SUPER STUFF
Bad Technology
Industrial sized windmills are a Yogi Berra (In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they’re not). The unintended consequences are proving to be substantive reasons to re-think the size and placement of towers, and the promised functionality just isn’t there. Here is some revealing testimony about the health concerns regarding giant windmills from “down under” in South Australia:
http://quixoteslaststand.com/2014/03/21/confessions-of-a-regretful-wind-farm-leaseholder/
The matter of fact statement that the studies regarding health effects, and a precautionary approach to placement and approval were never undertaken was a head shaker for me (and Joe). Political solutions to technical problems bode ill for all. The further revelation of missed “cost effectiveness” targets was also no surprise. There is a correlation between human health and the windmills in addition to the startling numbers of bird and bat fatalities. Then there is the rabid thoughtless slobbering worship of “green” technology at any cost. Huge sums of taxpayer $$$ to huge companies promising huge benefits suppressing dreadful data and statistics. So, outside of human and animal health concerns, failure to meet expectations, and huge investment of other people’s money – aka taxes – how does the implementation of this flawed technology effect / affect the average citizen? The following article from Europe indicates that the tax subsidies required to flirt with “green” technology is ruinous to the average citizen’s energy bills, especially seniors who are on fixed incomes. Stories of the elderly riding buses all day (to stay warm) and burning books because they can’t afford electricity or heating fuel:
http://stopthesethings.com/2014/03/28/bjorn-lomborg-wind-power-is-the-path-to-poverty/
Quote from the article –
“In 1971, 40% of China’s energy came from renewables. Since then, it has powered its explosive economic growth almost exclusively with highly polluting coal, lifting 680 million people out of poverty. Today, China gets a trifling 0.23% of its energy from wind and solar. By contrast, Africa gets 50% of its energy today from renewables – and remains poor.”
An interesting article on an interesting website focused entirely on stripping the mask from this monster in technologies clothing…….
Aerogel
An amazing substance:
Research $$$ spent on aerogel might produce amazing future products.
PHILOSOPHY, PHILOSOPHERS, SMART TALK
Featuring that mad man H. L. Mencken –
GUNS, GUNNERS, GUNNERY
Gotta love Canadians. Not often does the fanfare precede the event. Canadians simply seek solutions to problems then go about implementing those solutions. A case in point is the “civilian range project”:
http://christopherdiarmani.com/11058/liberty/gun-politics/civilian-range-project-idea-time/
A story of Detroit. What is happening there is a natural outcome:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/dgreenfield/detroit-is-americas-new-2nd-amendment-capital/
The common sense of the people will determine the course of action.
THE RELIGION OF PEACE (ON US ALL)
Cousin Delsie sent along the following perspective of Islam penned by Winston Churchill 115 years ago:
“How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy.
The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.
A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.
Individual Moslems(sic) may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it.
No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.”
Difficult to disagree with his opinion. Why? you may ask……
Strange but distasteful truth – Islam is the only religion which condemns “atheists” to death, or persecutes them in an official, governmental fashion. Egypt (home of the pyramids) reporting for duty:
SUNDAY SERMON
From the pulpit, a debate between Dinesh D’Souza and Daniel Dennett. Subject: “Is God a Man-Made Invention?”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6BvpDmj-ZQ
Akin to a tree falling in the forest with “no one” there. I am remiss in educating my children in religion.
Children, take the time to listen to Daniel Dennett in the above presentation. It is what I would say to you had I the words……
WEATHER
Cloudy skies. Small rain. Some wind. Snow may be history……… Reference the copyright cartoon reproduced via cut and paste (probably illegal – depends on how you lawyer up).
I have seen the strange light in the sky this week. Don’t have a dog, but the neighbor’s dogs seem to be out contributing their offal to my lawn with glee. Can’t take of the sweater for too long, and my house furnace still comes on frequently at night, and often during the day. Therefore, spring is only here by date, not proven by weather. Still haven’t seen this yet, but I’m hopeful….
hopeful that Spring is nigh. I don’t know if Phyllis is from Ontario or back East, but I’m sympathetic to say the least…….
Joe (pining for Spring) Mekanic
p.s. Ramirez springs eternal….
Had to repeat this one from last week because it is so absolutely wonderful and spot on –