» Hemp legalization added to Senate farm bill Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!
Stephen C. Webster
Rawstory.com
June 10, 2012
In a last minute addition to the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) has submitted an amendment that would legalize the production of industrial hemp, a potential new bumper crop for U.S. farmers.
“Industrial hemp is used in many healthy and sustainable consumer products. However, the federal prohibition on growing industrial hemp has forced companies to needlessly import raw materials from other countries,” Wyden said in prepared text. “My amendment to the Farm Bill will change federal policy to allow U.S. farmers to produce hemp for these safe and legitimate products right here, helping both producers and suppliers to grow and improve Oregon’s economy in the process.”
Allowing American farmers to produce industrial hemp, which is different from its more notorious cousin marijuana, would yield significant and immediate profits the first year, according to an analysis conducted in 1998 (PDF) by the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Kentucky.
Monday, June 11, 2012
World Science Database related Energy Sites
World Science Database - New Energy Group
World Science Database
http://www.worldsci.org/php/index.php?tab0=Topics&tab1=New_Energy
| New Energy |
| Of all the areas in independent science, the study of energy has probably received the harshest and most unjust criticism. The age-old, predictable response from conventional critics is that "it sounds like perpetual motion, and that's been proven impossible." More than anything, the criticism reveals the ignorance of the critic, because the vast majority of new energy researchers don't claim to violate conservation of energy, but rather to extract it from the environment in new and unconventional ways. They attempt to construct "open systems", which allow environmental energy to flow in, possibly in excess of the losses inherent in any real physical system. For example, wind or watermill systems are traditional "open systems", in which tapping the energy of the wind or river doesn't eventually cause the wind or river to cease flowing. Clearly if energy is conserved, we're not running out of it, but simply losing it to unusable forms such as "heat". The important question is, does nature provide reservoirs of energy that can be tapped and yet replenished? In other words, are there things in nature that will return to a higher energy state after we've extracted energy from them? Many mavericks claim yes.What sort of things does nature return to a higher energy state after being tapped? Materials that naturally provide dipoles, or separations of opposites. If we had a voltage source different than "ground", say, the potential difference between it and ground would provide an endless source of energy. That is, the energy source would come from the dipole itself, which nature would naturally replenish. But what materials provide dipoles? The two most obvious are water, with an electric dipole, and ferromagnets, composed of magnetic dipoles. Could we shock water into a higher energy state, and tap its energy as it returns to a normal dipole state? Could we "shake up" a magnet, neutralizing its dipole, and tap its energy as the dipole returns it to a lower energy state? These materials are VERY unusual, because most materials are dipole-free in their lowest energy state, whereas water and magnets have HIGHER energy when dipole free, for whatever reason. What about the spherical dipole of the atom itself (positive nucleus and negative shell)? Electrical potential gradients in the atmosphere? Resonance associated with the rotation of the earth? The list goes on, with the common factor being something in nature that provides some kind of dipole. If the idea of nature providing dipoles sounds naive, consider current sources of energy. In 1800 Alessandro Volta introduced the Voltaic pile, which arose from the natural dipole arising simply by placing dissimilar materials adjacent to each other. Interestingly, this principle is not only the basis of semiconductors, but an area of intense research today. One early energy maverick, T. Henry Moray, who in the 1920s tapped energy from his "Swedish stone", also invented an early version of semiconductors from this same unusual stone. Vacuum tube inventor Lee de Forest (1906) conducted research in "chiral" or optically active materials, whose unique properties might also be tapped, especially in juxtaposition with other materials. Many mysteries remain regarding chiral and other special materials, and only smugness prevents mainstream science from exploring possible applications of these materials as an energy resource. A related approach concerns resonance and integrates with concepts of structure. When an electrical circuit is first activated, as when one flips a switch, transient fluctuations dominate for a brief interval until the circuit settles into a steady state. In conventional engineering, this transient "noise" is regarded as a nuisance to be minimized, whereas many new energy researchers see it as a potent, yet untapped source of energy. Can we could capture this transience, they ask, with an "energy diode", so those fluctuations are put to work rather than lost? The transience occurs in the first place because the material has certain resonant properties, ultimately based on its very structure. What if we "flipped the switch" with the same frequency as the transient response? Would the response grow without bound? This is the misunderstood argument of Nikola Tesla, thw inspiration for many new energy researchers today. How are we to understand all of these ideas theoretically? First, by defining what energy really is, something mainstream science complacently believes it already understands. Many independents explain their anomalous results in terms of electromagnetic Poynting vectors, "zero point energy", or the Cassimir effect. The energy to be tapped, they claim, actually resides in space in enormous quantities, needing only coherence to be rendered usable. Surprisingly, mainstream scientific literature itself contains volumes of material in support of these ideas. New energy theorists also challenge conventional wisdom regarding entropy and the Second Law of thermodynamics, and ask whether certain systems under certain conditions can be made to "self organize", in harmony with the work of Nobel Laureate Ilya Prigogine, maverick Per Bak, and others. Without doubt, science will benefit from exploring new paradigms in our understanding of energy and entropy. |
Book Review: X-Events: The Collapse of Everything by John Casti - Blogcritics Books
Book Review: X-Events: The Collapse of Everything by John Casti
Anyone who follows popular culture or media is aware that the Apocalypse is coming this year. After all, didn't the Mayans predict it? Thus, you shouldn't be surprised by the publication of books talking about potential doomsday events. But set aside the pseudoscience, pseudohistory, and metaphysical psychobabble when it comes to John Casti's X-Events: The Collapse of Everything.
Casti is a senior research scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria, where he works on the development of early-warning methods for extreme events in human society, and is one of a number of scholars in the field of what is called "complexity science." Among other things, complexity science examines how the complexity of modern systems, often structural, could lead to failures that may border on or be downright calamitous.
At its most basic, a core theory appears to be that as society becomes increasingly complex, there is a point where all its resources are consumed just maintaining the current level. The next big problem is, in a way, the straw that breaks the camel's back and there is a "complexity overload." Some part of a complex system rapidly collapses and the adverse effects of this "X-event" forces the society to a much lower level from which it must/can rebuild. Granted, there are events that are beyond human control—asteroids, tsunamis, hurricanes and the like. But here's plenty of potential human-caused events to make anyone ill at ease.
Among the 11 specific X-events Casti explores, some are probably less likely to occur, such as scientific experiments creating exotic particles that can destroy all or part of the earth, or the creation of intelligent robots who eventually overthrow the human race. Most, though, seem wholly realistic, such as a long-term and widespread failure of the Internet, nuclear war or terrorism, the drying up of world oil supplies, and failure of the power grid or economic collapse. Perhaps even more alarming is the interrelatedness of these complex systems. As Casti points out, a failure of the power grid may well lead to the failure of the internet. The failure of either could lead to economic collapse in a global economy in which commerce and finance depend on electronic transactions and information exchange.
Even a commonsense view of modern life indicates X-Events isn't far-fetched speculation. Consider the electrical grid in the United States alone. Despite being one of the most advanced industrial nations, there have been several instances over the years where large chunks were taken down by human error and led to cascading effects. Think the internet can't fail? Set aside the electrical grid and think of the seemingly inveterate trojans, worms and other malware in the system. Throw in government control in some nations, denial of service attacks and the like and, as Casti notes, "there are many ways to bring down the system, or at at least huge segments of it. The most amazing fact of all is that it hasn't happened more frequently." Throw in computerized trading and finance, let alone the concept of peak oil, and there's plenty out there to worry about
But Casti contends it's not all doom and gloom. To the contrary, the real message of X-Events is that if we are aware of the potential for human-caused X-events, they are avoidable or we can greatly reduce their potential damage. Casti warns, though, that doing so is "a painful, difficult, and time-consuming process." One of our foremost problems, he says, is recognizing the risks and when they may be escalating.
"We've been coddled and protected to the extent that we actually expect our governments and other public institutions to solve all problems and address our hopes and needs without cost or risk to ourselves. In short, we've fallen into the misguided belief that everyone can be above average, that it's everyone's birthright to live a happy, risk-free life, and that any misfortune or bad judgment or just plain bad luck should be laid at someone else's doorstep. So the first step on the road to reality is to drop these visions of Utopia."
If there's a sense of foreboding created by X-Events it isn't just the potential events and consequences. In actuality, knowing of them is easy. The real difficulty arises in whether we have the political and social fortitude necessary to address them before an X-event forces us to do so in dire circumstances.
The World According to Monsanto (FULL LENGTH) - YouTube
The World According to Monsanto (FULL LENGTH) - YouTube
There's nothing they are leaving untouched: the mustard, the okra, the bringe oil, the rice, the cauliflower. Once they have established the norm: that seed can be owned as their property, royalties can be collected. We will depend on them for every seed we grow of every crop we grow. If they control seed, they control food, they know it -- it's strategic. It's more powerful than bombs. It's more powerful than guns. This is the best way to control the populations of the world. The story starts in the White House, where Monsanto often got its way by exerting disproportionate influence over policymakers via the "revolving door". One example is Michael Taylor, who worked for Monsanto as an attorney before being appointed as deputy commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1991. While at the FDA, the authority that deals with all US food approvals, Taylor made crucial decisions that led to the approval of GE foods and crops. Then he returned to Monsanto, becoming the company's vice president for public policy.
Thanks to these intimate links between Monsanto and government agencies, the US adopted GE foods and crops without proper testing, without consumer labeling and in spite of serious questions hanging over their safety. Not coincidentally, Monsanto supplies 90 percent of the GE seeds used by the US market. Monsanto's long arm stretched so far that, in the early nineties, the US Food and Drugs Agency even ignored warnings of their own scientists, who were cautioning that GE crops could cause negative health effects. Other tactics the company uses to stifle concerns about their products include misleading advertising, bribery and concealing scientific evidence.
There's nothing they are leaving untouched: the mustard, the okra, the bringe oil, the rice, the cauliflower. Once they have established the norm: that seed can be owned as their property, royalties can be collected. We will depend on them for every seed we grow of every crop we grow. If they control seed, they control food, they know it -- it's strategic. It's more powerful than bombs. It's more powerful than guns. This is the best way to control the populations of the world. The story starts in the White House, where Monsanto often got its way by exerting disproportionate influence over policymakers via the "revolving door". One example is Michael Taylor, who worked for Monsanto as an attorney before being appointed as deputy commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1991. While at the FDA, the authority that deals with all US food approvals, Taylor made crucial decisions that led to the approval of GE foods and crops. Then he returned to Monsanto, becoming the company's vice president for public policy.
Thanks to these intimate links between Monsanto and government agencies, the US adopted GE foods and crops without proper testing, without consumer labeling and in spite of serious questions hanging over their safety. Not coincidentally, Monsanto supplies 90 percent of the GE seeds used by the US market. Monsanto's long arm stretched so far that, in the early nineties, the US Food and Drugs Agency even ignored warnings of their own scientists, who were cautioning that GE crops could cause negative health effects. Other tactics the company uses to stifle concerns about their products include misleading advertising, bribery and concealing scientific evidence.
Strategies To Preserve Life For Nuclear Power Plant Facilities Along the San Madrid Earthquake Fault Line - Page 3 - Blogcritics Sci/Tech
Strategies To Preserve Life For Nuclear Power Plant Facilities Along the San Madrid Earthquake Fault Line - Page 3 - Blogcritics Sci/Tech
Interesting reading...(ah..hemmmm...)
and then there's Page 3. Have you heard of Thorium??
Read more: http://blogcritics.org/scitech/article/strategies-to-preserve-life-for-nuclear/page-3/#ixzz1xVPCX2mf
Interesting reading...(ah..hemmmm...)
and then there's Page 3. Have you heard of Thorium??
...."In a Science Friday interview conducted 5-4-2012, Richard Martin the author of SuperFuel: Thorium, the Green Energy Source for the Future, explains why nuclear fission reactor designs were chosen over thorium. "We had to fight World War II, and uranium, which is much better for making bombs, took over the stage, as it were, and that's when thorium actually sort of was pushed aside." 6)
Richard Martin says that the decay rate of thorium is very slow in his work SuperFuel: Thorium, the Green Energy Source for the Future. Thorium is fertile meaning that it can be converted into a fissile uranium isotope according to Martin. In addition, nuclear waste issues are less of a public health concern with thorium as a green energy source according to Richard Martin.
Thorium could provide a clean, safe and potentially unlimited power source. The all important Contingency Plan and Disaster Recovery Planning sequences await the actual implementation of a liquid fuel reactor together with the commercialization of a superfuel called thorium. In the event liquid fuel reactors can be built with thorium as the green energy source of the future, then the existing global stock of fission reactor designs may become obsolete and global decommissioning can commence more quickly at some point later this century.
Until that time, standards for the location, public safety and operation of fission reactors are in the process of a continuous re-evaluation based upon current NRC regulations and changed conditions."
References:
1. http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=46853
2. http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/list-power-reactor-units.html
1. http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=46853
2. http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/list-power-reactor-units.html
3. http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/buried-pipes-fs.html
4) 5) http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1614/v5/comment-resolution-matrix-tt.pdf
6) npr.org 2012 /05/04 152026805
6) npr.org 2012 /05/04 152026805
Read more: http://blogcritics.org/scitech/article/strategies-to-preserve-life-for-nuclear/page-3/#ixzz1xVPCX2mf
Logee's Greenhouses - Retail
Logee's Greenhouses - Retail
 | The Logee’s Retail Store is a destination greenhouse for any avid gardener. Wandering through our series of 5 greenhouses and Retail Shop makes the mail-order experience come to life. You’ll see lemons the size of grapefruits on the ‘Ponderosa’ Lemon tree (in the aptly named “Lemon Tree House”) that has been here since 1900. Take a deep breath of divinely fragrant air from all the blooming tropical plants. Speak to our friendly, knowledgeable staff, and see the spectacular “Blooming Plant of the Day.” We promise a trip to Logee’s Retail Store is well worth the trip. http://www.logees.com/retail.asp#map |
