Feet of Flames

About fifteen years ago, a great theatrical phenomenon emerged. It was a live stage show called, Lord of the Dance.  Created by and starring Michael Flatley,  it was a celebration of Irish Dance and music. The original music created for the show by Ronan Hardiman is full of joyful energy.  I never had the pleasure of seeing a live performace of  Lord of The Dance,  but I rarely missed it when it turned up on PBS. 

One of the principle segments of Lord of the Dance was called, Feet of Flames.

Here is a video link to part of that production...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxJS7Hh06_o

A Totem of Real Happiness

The real challange we face as a human society can be boiled down very simply.  It's too many people vs. too few resources..    The industrial revolution spawned a constant growth economic model that still  is front and center in shaping the world we live in.  That was okay a hundred years ago when there were only two billion humans on Earth, as opposed to the seven billion plus we must contend with now. There's just not enough biomass, water, and other resources on Earth to handle the demand created by that many people. 

Constant growth is an anathema.  It's a way of thinking that is bankrupt.  Sustainability must become the new operative paradigm.   The foundation of the sustainable future that must come is an economy that replaces 'constant growth' with 'steady state' thinking.

Toward that end, here is a wonderful graphic produced by an impressive group in the United Kingdom called Ecolabs that illustrates how a steady state economy might function.

Here is a link to the ecolabs website...
http://eco-labs.org/

Van's RV8

When I was a kid, what I wanted more than anything was to fly.  I wanted to be a pilot. I dreamed of flying for the Air Force.  I made models of all the current fighter aircraft in the Air Force Inventory.  When I reached my teen years,  I was devastated when I learned that I am red-green color blind.  That doesn't mean I see in black and white, but it is sometimes difficult for me to differentiate between close shades of red and green. A pretty common anomally, but at least at that time, it disqualified one from any prospects of flying professionally.  

Later on, after college and military service, I did learn to fly; first in gliders out in the California desert, then single engine Cessnas, and my favorite, the Bellanca Citabria.  I got an instrument rating, and was even on my way to getting a commercial license.  Then, the reality that I could never fly professionally, coupled with the rapidly increased cost of flying,  hit home.  I stopped flying not because I lost interest, but because I couldn't afford to do it often enough to stay safe in the cockpit. 

So here I am, hankering to get in the cockpit again.  Regaining my pilot proficiency, and having fun aloft is near the top of my personal bucket list.

Just down the Interstate, about half an hour from where I live, is Aurora, Oregon. There is a terrific airport in Aurora.  It is home to Van's Aircraft, a kit plane manufacturer.  They make a whole series of very cool, aluminum skinned, low wing, sport monoplanes.   The one I am in love with is the RV8.

It's got a tandem cockpit with the pilot sitting centerline.  It's fast and climbs out at 2,600 fpm. The engine most often used is a 180 hp Lycoming.   The RV8 is a taildragger, strictly stick and rudder.   It's designed to do aerobatics - loops, rolls, wingovers, tail slides -  total, unexpergated fun!

Here is the page on the Van's website that reports on the RV8.
http://www.vansaircraft.com/public/rv8.htm

This is a totally awesome flying machine.

Check out this video made by some RV8 pilots.. 
http://vimeo.com/4172767

Project Omega

Jonathan Trent is the chief scientist for a NASA initiative called, Project Omega.  Based at the Ames NASA Research Center in Silicon Valley,  this effort involves using photosynthetic algae fertilized by wastewater in off shore systems to produce biofuels.  

Here's how it works. Partially treated wastewater from an urban sewage treatment plant is pumped into a system of offshore bioreactors - essentially plastic tubing filled with photosynthetic algae.  The carbon dioxide generated by the wastewater is absorbed by the algae, which flourishes in the presence of sunlight.   What makes this concept economically viable when scaled up is its integration with other complementary technologies like aquaculture,  wind turbines, solar PV, and wave power generation.

Prototype Omega System

A lot of biofuel can be made from the rapid production of algae biomass in systems built on the Project Omega model.  Integrating multiple technologies into this kind of holistic system is the face of the sustainable energy and resource future that will replace our current dependence on fossil forms of energy. The sooner it happens, the better. 


Here is a link to a TED presentation by Jonathan Trent...
http://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_trent_energy_from_floating_algae_pods.html

A Tower for Rufus

You Tube has millions of cat videos.  Felines tend to do cute and/or funny things at times, and owners with video cameras like to share their kitty stories.

This video is about a cat named Rufus,  who had to endure a long series of painful treatments to clear his ear of an infection. His owner won back Rufus's affection by building him a very cool sancutary in the apartment they shared.

Here is the link...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI9W_VdV1l0&feature=player_embedded

Afghanistan - It's about Resources

Why are we still in Afghanistan?  Why did we go there in the first place?  Was it only about getting Osama and Al Queda?  More than likely, that was mostly an excuse. We are there because of that nation's untapped oil and mineral wealth.  About a trillion dollars worth of natural resources that are just beginning to be exploited.  We are still there because our government is acting as the armed surrogate of the oil, gas, and mineral extraction industries.

Thousands of American military deaths and injuries; billions in American taxpayer money...all to support the bottom lines of the rapacious corporate exploiters of Afghanistan's untapped natural resource wealth.   America's war in Iraq was about oil, and our continued presence in Afghanistan is totally about securing our place at the table when that country's resources are sold off to outsiders.

Here is a great piece written by Russ Baker from WhoWhatWhy.com about ths subject.

 

Treasure Trove of Mineral Wealth: The Real Reason for the Afghan War?

September 10, 2012 |

When the United States decided to invade Afghanistan to grab Osama bin Laden—and failed, but stayed on like an unwanted guest—could it have known that the Afghans were sitting on some of the world’s greatest reserves of mineral wealth?

We’ve raised this topic before (see here [3])—where we noted the dubious 2010 claim, published by the New York Times, that “the vast scale of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth was [recently] discovered by a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists.” Other evidence, and logic, point to the fact that everyone but the Western public knew for a long time, and before the 2001 invasion, that Afghanistan was a treasure trove.

So we were interested to see a new piece [4] from the Times that emphasizes those riches without stressing the crucial question: Was the original impetus for the invasion really Osama—or Mammon?
The failure to pose this question is significant because the pretense of a “recent discovery” serves only to justify staying in Afghanistan now that the troops are already there—while ignoring the extent to which imperial-style resource grabs are the real drivers of foreign policy and wars, worldwide.
As long as we continue to dance around that issue, we will remain mired in disaster of both a financial and mortal nature. As long as we fail to tote up who are the principal winners and losers then we fail to understand what is going on.

Some of the least likely candidates for insight are waking up. To quote Alan Greenspan [5]: “I’m saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.” Who will say the same about Afghanistan and its mineral wealth? Once we acknowledge what General Wesley Clark claims [6] (and which the media keeps ignoring)—that he was told the U.S. had plans ready at the time of the 9/11 attacks to invade seven countries (including Iraq and Afghanistan)– then the larger picture begins to come into view.

At this point, we can’t help but revisit our WhoWhatWhy exclusive [7] tying the 9/11 hijackers to that very reliable U.S. ally, the Saudi royal family— which itself needs constant external war and strife throughout the Middle East to keep its citizens from focusing on its own despotism and staggering corruption, and to maintain its position as an indispensable ally of the West in these wars. It was the actions of the Saudi-dominated 9/11 hijackers and their Saudi sponsor, Osama bin Laden, that created the justification for this endless series of resource wars. So, learning that the hijackers themselves may have been sponsored by, or controlled by elements of the Saudi royal family is a pretty big deal.

Nevertheless, the Times plays a key role in sending us in the wrong direction [4]:

If there is a road to a happy ending in Afghanistan, much of the path may run underground: in the trillion-dollar reservoir of natural resources — oil, gold, iron ore, copper, lithium and other minerals — that has brought hopes of a more self-sufficient country, if only the wealth can be wrested from blood-soaked soil.

 

So, according to the world’s most influential opinion-making outlet, the fact of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth has nothing to do with why the United States and its allies want to stay—and why others want us to leave. No, we are told, it is just a fortuitous “discovery” that can benefit the Afghans themselves, make them “self-sufficient.” If only it can be extracted…..

Of course, this narrative continues, the suffering Afghans can only be helped to become self-sufficient if enough long-term military and technical might is applied to the country.

We’d love to see more reporting from The Times about what Western companies knew and when they knew it. Instead, we see JPMorgan Chase’s Afghan venture mentioned, in passing, between references to efforts by the Chinese to get their piece of the action:

Already this summer, the China National Petroleum Corporation, in partnership with a company controlled by relatives of President Karzai, began pumping oil from the Amu Darya field in the north. An investment consortium arranged by JPMorgan Chase is mining gold. Another Chinese company is trying to develop a huge copper mine. Four copper and gold contracts are being tendered, and contracts for rare earth metals could be offered soon.

 

The truth is, as long as the Chinese and Russians are cut in on the deal, their objections to military actions that enrich oligarchs everywhere are likely to be muted.

Imperial militaries exist in large part to grab and hold resources vital to the continuance of empires, while their paymasters back home reap benefits. That includes the rest of us, who must balance the security and creature comforts this approach provides against the death and destruction it inevitably entails. And we can’t begin to do the moral calculus until we acknowledge what’s being done in our name around the world, and why.

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Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/world/treasure-trove-mineral-wealth-real-reason-afghan-war

Links:
[1] http://whowhatwhy.com
[2] http://www.alternet.org/authors/russ-baker
[3] http://whowhatwhy.com/2011/05/30/how-do-you-support-your-troops%E2%80%94regular-special-or-super/
[4] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/world/asia/afghans-wary-as-efforts-pick-up-to-tap-mineral-riches.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
[5] http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iFmgaccMh9xWKZfofR-BGfRT1J8g
[6] http://whowhatwhy.com/2012/08/10/tvwho-gen-wesley-clark-shocker-on-911-policy-coup/
[7] http://whowhatwhy.com/2011/09/22/saudi-royal-ties-to-911-hijackers-via-florida-saudi-family-0/






 

Climate Solutions for America

It's totally insane that we're basically sitting on our hands where climate change is concerned. The evidence that humans have caused it is ovewhelming. Virtually all the world's climate scentists agree on that, with the exception of those being paid to tell a different story by the fossil fuel industry.

In the U.S., the Summer of 2012 saw enormous stretches of draught, excessive heat, and wildfire caused by climate change.  Massive numbers of people have been impacted, especially in the southeast, southwest, and in the mid-west, where the largest share of climate deniers live. 

The first step in dealing intelligently and responsibly with climate change is to elect politicians, who are not shills for the fossil fuel industry.  Not an easy task since our disfunctional Supreme Court gave us 'Citizens United', a ruling that opened the floodgates to the legalized bribery of politicians. 

We are headed rapidly to the point of no return with climate change.  We must deal with it now. The good news is, with the exception of the tea party types,  most people recognize that our collective behavior has caused the heating up of our atmosphere. There is an awareness that we must change our ways in order to meet this challenge.

One group has put together a strategy based on inspiring the public's responsibility, patriotism, and accountability.  Here is a link to that group's terrific summation of the climate change challenge, with an emphasis on how to turn our public policy toward solutions and meaningful action.

http://breakthroughstrategiesandsolutions.com/uploads/A_Guide_For_Engaging_and_Winning_on_Climate.pdf