Introduction: Two Institutions Required in Every Watershed: Commodity Ecology and Civic Democratic Institutions. Read that link for an explanation. And this one about maintaining biodiveristy and the bioregional state.
No where is required to entirely reinvent the wheel. Related intimately to the book Toward A Bioregional State (2005), this PARALLEL blog will be a clearinghouse of interesting technologies and materials showing that the wider window of known possibilities that can be utilized, instead of reinvented, for institutionalizing sustainability materially, in a particular watershed.
Unlike most blogs, it will be associated with a permanent number of 71 updated threads--one for each of the human commodity choices, as follows:
1. textiles
2. dyes/colorants (murex, cochineal, synthetic chemicals, derived organic coal based chemicals)
3. building materials/tool construction
4. metals
5. garbage/garbage disposal
6. soils/dirt
7. drugs/medicines
8. infant food
9. animal based food
10. vegetable based food
11. mycelium based food (mushrooms)
12. insect based food
13. transport
14. pollinators (introduced bees where none exist; or in some cases required hand pollination, in vanilla for instance; ultrasound/birdsong pollinators)
15. fertilizers
16. herbicides/pesticides
17. mineral food (typically only one: salt, sometimes earth/clays/dirt)
18. preservatives (salt, smoke, sun-dry/dehydrate, chemical, sugared, vacuum sealed, pickled, dry freeze, etc.)
19. communication/transmission technology (voice/sound, paper, mud brick cuneiform, silk rolls, papyrus, digital computers, pony express, telephone/telegraph, smoke signals from fires, semaphore, electrified metals/conductors, electromagnets, etc.)
20. condiments/flavorings
21. scents/incenses/fragrances
22. purifiers/cleansers/concentrators (soap, water, membrane sieves, clays, diatomaceous earth, ultrasound, gas diffusion/heat, etc.)
23. protectants (paint, plastic, electroplate, glass, bulletproof glass, etc.)
24. retardants (asbestos, inflammable materials, deoxygenators, glass, etc.)
25. insulators (wool, ice, straw, fiberglass, rags, vacuums, solid glass, plastic, stones/marble, etc.)
26. abrasives (diamond dust, carborundrum, sandpaper, etc.)
27. lubricants
28. elastics (rubber, synthetic rubber)
29. coolants (ice, caves, chemicals, oils)
30. ambient heat (chemicals, caves, oil, hot springs, tallow, wood fires, antifreeze)
31. light/artificial light (sunlight, chemicals, oil (whale or abiotic), tallow, electricity/blubs, fire)
32. potable liquids (water, wine, sake, beer, cider, milk, tea, coffee, koumiss, etc.)
33. war materiels
34. energy (oil, solar, wood, nuclear, hydro/waterpower, charcoal, horse power, human labor, AC electricity, DC electricity, tides, zero-point technology, water based electrolysis engines, electromagnetic dynamos, etc.)
35. catalysts/mordants
36. energy storage (batteries, computer memory (a peculiar property of silicon only discovered in the 1950s), cynanobacteria (being linked as silicon substitutes in experiments) etc.)
37. aesthetics (brought into consumption simply because of perceived beauty, spirituality, and/or symbolism/ideology interests instead of a ‘material functionality’ prominent in many other consumptive positional categories)
38. musical instruments
39. toiletries
40. conductors
41. nonconductors
42. superconductors
43. semiconductors
44. environmental-proof/waterproof/airtight materials
45. adhesives
46. solvents
47. industrial tools/machine tools materials
48. tunneling/drilling materials
49. humans themselves as a ‘designed commodity’ (i.e., materials for those of eugenic bent, gene knowledge, etc.; or replaceable human parts whether transplants or cyborg machine substitutes like dialysis machines, artificial hearts, or artificial kidneys, etc.)
50. sense extensions (different from simply communications technology, actually going into human sensory areas that humans are ill equipped to do without aids of some sort)
51. calculation (human minds, abacus, computer, copper, silicon, superconductors, cynanobacteria, etc.)
52. software (from Jacquard’s loom to programmable Chinese textile machinery from the Later Han, etc.)
53. hardware
54. timekeeping (archaeoastronomy, moons, garden/plant clocks, calendars, mechanical clocks, water clocks, chronometers, Foucault pendulums, cesium atomic clock, etc.)
55. spacekeeping (string, plumb line, geodetic pyramid, compass azimuths, compasses)
56. climate manipulation (seeding, etc.)
57. money (state-financial decisions about money and exchange are equally a commodity and infrastructural issue influenced by the materiality of the commodity in question and politics of choice; local currency strategies, rice, metals/coins/bullion, paper, checks, digital transfers, stones, shells, salt, cider, cigarettes, etc.])
58. remediation (zeolite, recycling filtration, etc.; various types of water and soil cleansing technologies dependent upon physical characteristics of the materials utilized, learning options, etc.)
59. dentistry
60. stimulants
61. hallucinogens
62. intoxicants
63. narcotics
64. hypnotics
65. psychedelics/entheogens
66. anesthetics
67. chemically inert materials.
68. poisons/antidotes/purgatives
69. surgical tools
70. experimental models
71. antiseptics
[larger image]
Some people already working on this are those like William McDonough--working in a few 'cradle to cradle' materials. Clipped from the parallel book blog post on this topic:
We've seen the dystopian plan of the "World Bank's world". Here's William McDonough's version of a "cradle to cradle" world and of urbanization without wastes--where urbanization is intimately fitted to a particular landscape. We might even say urbanization fitted to support the ethnosphere durability that Wade Davis speaks of in his talk above. In McDonough's world, wastes become useful items back into the city with the aim for durability of "all time." Just so you avoid thinking this is some "pie in the sky" plan, he shows you some schematics of the already agreed upon plans to build twelve cities in China in a "commodity ecology" sustainable fashion.'
(McDonough hired by Chinese Government to build cities based on Cradle to Cradle, starting 2012)
When built as a model to us all, China once more may justify the title of Middle Kingdom, core of the world. This talk is only twenty minutes as well, though represents a lifetime of work in which many other similar ecological design projects are mentioned.
TEDTalks: William McDonough
20 min 11 sec
"Architect and designer William McDonough asks what our buildings and products would look like if designers took into account "All children, all species, for all time." A tireless proponent of absolute sustainability (with a deadpan sense of humor), he explains his philosophy of "cradle to cradle" design, which bridge the needs of ecology and economics. He also shares some of his most inspiring work, including the world's largest green roof (at the Ford plant in Dearborn, Michigan), and the entire sustainable cities he's designing in China."
However, to be more systematic with a larger view, commodity ecology requires integrating each of the 71 above in particular watersheds.
This blog will aid in creating a scalable model for use anywhere in the world based on interactions myself or others post It will obviously be based on noticing different climactic, material, and interactive requirements in different watersheds worldwide (i.e., even ones that are desert, for instance).
A great deal of the history of the world can be said to be 'bad material choices'. This may be for a variety of 'purposes', though two main purposes can be detailed. First, there is only the short term interest involved in commodity choices, which tends to yield externalities that destroy the biodiversity of particular areas.
Second, more nefarious is the history of intentionally forcing people to consume certain items and reducing their choices in the category--to gain political and economic power over citizens and consumers.
So let's ponder the project of an ideal watershed commodity ecology that will maximize human commodity choice, remove political clientelism, remove environmental degradation, and preserve local biodiversity. Though the ideal watershed would be a varied solution, the project of making any of them sustainable and closed loop involves pondering the social dynamics of different commodity productions, wastes, and local material and biota availability.
Janine Benyus's short talk may inspire how to learn ideas from natural interactions for commodity ecology interactions: what life with its "3.8 billion years of field testing" might teach in terms of human design. This is known as "biomimicry."
This might mean a biologist sits that the design table, or the engineers go out into the natural world to learn ideas. Benyus's short talk opening with the story on the resistant engineers is instructive, how they learned to apply an IDEA from an organism instead of simply utilizing materials and organisms. Benyus says of life: "3.8 billion years of field testing....These are solutions solved in context, and these are...conscious emulation of life's process...taking the design principles and learning something from it."
Janine Benyus shares nature's designs
Length: 23:24
"With 3.8 billion years of research and development on its side, nature has already solved problems that human designers and engineers still struggle with. In this inspiring talk, Janine Benyus provides fascinating examples of biomimicry -- the way humans mimic nature in the products we build and the systems we implement. And because the champion adapters in the natural world are, by definition, those that can survive without destroying the environment that sustains them, biomimicry can contribute to the long-term health of our planet."
From her described "heat, beat, and treat" of most current human commodity production (with 96% wastes and only 4% product on average), to an integrated 100% of products without wastes, since "life doesn't really deal with 'things', things divorced from their system." HER lucid points in the talk describe TWELVE PROBLEMATIC ASPECTS OF HUMAN DESIGNS in turning massive waste streams into metabolically sound arrangements--that we are dealing with right now.
THREE POINTS ON COMMODITY PRODUCTION AND BIODIVERSITY PROTECTION--IN COMMODITY ECOLOGY
1. Ideally, another strand here is that it deals with institutionalizing biodiversity in human uses, instead of leaving them out of the social human loop (like in utilizing native bees for pollination, for example). Once they have a social use, there is a systemic human desire to innately preserve them and their ecological interrelations. When the local biodiversity is integrated in commodity production, then humans take over--for their own self-interest and politics--the protection and representation of voiceless plants and animals that is in sync with them.
2. As a corollary, when they are integrated, areas of plants/animals/environments of local biodiversity that are left out of integration are less likely to suffer degradation if there is a closed loop of human commodity production that runs in a parallel track, to to speak, without 'leaks' of externalities that poison the area.
3. This blog may additionally be of use in rekindling such ecologically sound commodity relations in 'emergency recovery efforts' after natural or human disasters to aid in the organization of sustainability in destroyed and/or polluted communities and ecologies, to start out on a footing already thought of in terms of interactions.
Post away!
Note Bene: Ideally, this is a beta test for how to archive such information. Ideally, one would post one example only once, and then have a drop down list of all the numbers you could 'check' to make it appear in different sorted streams of the 71 commodity choices simultaneously--instead of having to post multiple instances of the same thing on each thread. This may require a design solution closer to a separate website with a database attachment (perhaps designed through Dreamweaver Ultradev).
Give me an email (or just post to this thread) if you know of something readymade, or if you want to be in on the website design issue.
One nice solution to direct posting over the internet is the self-categorization motif inbuilt into the left column of Portland Indymedia. There you can post once, though it allows the post to be instantly self-categorized in multiple ways, so it creates separate slowly amalgamating lists of many different self-categorized posts appearing in multiple places, though with only one post required.
- I've got another idea about users of the website capable of ranking such items for how well they like it,
- or how they could set up separate watershed filters on the idea it if is specifically to integrate a particular locality's biodiversity.
- or how particular watersheds could have open ended debates on what are their priority issues for solutions and/or integrations.
- and people could be notified by email when someone updates a particular thread they are watching, etc.
29 comments:
I have been documenting much the same material but in not such an organized way on my blogs. I have some bad news. Google has "edited" my posts over the past 2 years. Most of my archive has disappeared.
Well, I keep records of course of the individual examples elsewhere. And I make regular copies of the aggregating weblists anyway.
On another note about the 71 categories themselves, it is always an open work. Thus, I tend to be weighing the idea of why it is best to split out "packing materials" from "building materials" and thus make one more category, yielding 72 categories total.
Even though their materials occasionally overlap, and even though building materials is obviously a larger category of them all, the materials per se are hardly the point.
Packing materials (in which I would include most (so called) 'disposable' food and drink carriers) tend to have a different human social use--and thus a different choice pressure in their material requirements--than mostly more permanent and/or potentially costly building materials. Their [1] tendency to be impermanent and temporarily used as well as their [2] tendency to be far cheaper than the material that is shipped with them, would be two rationales why separating it out would be sound.
On the one hand, a way to link them to commodity ecology would be [1] far more ready ways to make packing materials into more permanent building materials at the side of gathering or end of the transshipment would be nice--instead of them just gathering as garbage. For instance, taking all plastics and coagulating them, etc. and making packing materials in mind that would have secondary uses later--to avoid the massive plastic waste dump that is gathering in the oceans, as described by William McDonough above (or at this recent article about oceanic plastic waste).
Those lightweight plastic bags have already been banned in some countries--like South Africa, if I remember correctly. (Far more interesting is how the 'ideal of short term use/disposability') was created in the first place--which is a rather novel assumption under which things were made by the mid 1950s.)
In other words, it's unrequired to entirely make packing materials automatically part of the subset of chemically inert materials, as many are. (#67 chemically inert materials).
Thus, on the other hand, a way to link many of them to be far more biodegradable without toxins would be beneficial--particularly if they could be turned into mulch, etc., for the soil. There are many books on this subject already I note, particularly in the 1990s.
"Waste is Energy in the Wrong Place"
Yet another:
73. Fodder
This is another social commodity category of use that is different than vegetable based food, as it strictly goes toward animal populations. It might though be loosely considered a subsection off 'garbage/garbage disposal, though of course it fails to have to be so its arttifical to always include it in that manner there, though it would perhaps be better for us all if fodder was treated as biological organic matter waste disposal for animal feed--instead of the concrete dust and remaindered dead animals they fed on many occasions.
74. Shock-absorbents
[more fine-grained changes: different than 'protectants']
shock-absorbent material d3o is taking the world by storm
Holy batcapes! The age of the superhero suit is upon us
ITS rock-hard surface can take a full- on assault from a baseball bat, yet remains flexible enough to allow you to kick, leap and roll with perfect ease.
Crafted from cutting-edge science, its unique molecular structure means that while providing armoured protection against crude concrete and even barbed wire, it remains light enough to allow you to run at high speed.
It sounds like the stuff of Batman comics - but the superhero suit is here.
Identified as a major breakthrough that could impact on every sector from the military to motor sports, the revolutionary shock-absorbent material d3o is taking the world by storm.
Blessed with the kind of properties your average costumed crime fighter would kill for, it is being hailed as an invention with the potential to change entire industries and save real lives.
"It has been a battle against the odds to get this far. I've had to struggle against ignorance of the major players, work out of a back bedroom and beg, borrow and steal to keep development going, but I never doubted that it could be done," said inventor Richard Palmer.
"What we've developed is already being incorporated into everything from police body armour to protective sportswear, and the number of applications is almost infinite.
"At the moment a complete superhero suit made of our material would be a bit too heavy and far too expensive, but those challenges should be overcome within the next few years."
Speaking at an awards ceremony in London last week, where he was named the O2 X Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 in recognition of his achievement, Palmer told the Sunday Herald of a torturous invention process which saw him laughed at and driven to the edge of ruin.
In a nutshell, d3o is an advanced polymer with an intelligent molecular structure that flows with you as you move but, when shocked, locks together to become rigid enough to absorb impact energy.
In its simplest form, it is like an automatic knee-pad that can be sown seamlessly into a pair of jeans.
Yet when former DuPont scientist Palmer approached the world's largest polymer companies with his invention, they said it was impossible. Despite his evidence, several key industry boffins refused to believe such a fabric could ever be successfully manufactured.
"I stood there telling them that I'd already done this, but they outright refused to entertain the possibility. Were they calling me a liar? A fool? I really don't know, but I was frustrated, furious and appalled by the lack of imagination that commercial science exhibited."
In 1999 Palmer sold his house and car, moved into a friend's spare bedroom and did it himself.
Providing funding out of his own pocket, he kick-started the process in a garage lab, calling in academic help from friends where needed and pushing d3o to the point where it was ready for production.
Today the material they said couldn't happen is fast becoming a common component of cutting-edge protective equipment, with the d3o brand beginning to feature in a range of winter and motor sports products worldwide.
It has been adopted enthusiastically by the likes of US Olympic ski team, the four-times Everest climber Kenton Cool and Olympic cyclist Craig McClean.
Industry observers predict the miracle cloth could be earning annual global revenues of $2 billion within five years.
"The hardest part now is keeping focused. Every day brings fresh enquiries about potential new applications for d3o from airlines, police forces, and car manufacturers," said Palmer.
Presenting his award on Thursday, O2 director Simon Devonshire said: "Richard is an inspiration to anyone with a dream and the drive to realise it."
While he intends to continue developing and enhancing his revolutionary new material, Palmer's Brighton-based development lab team has already produced a range of other products.
They include a rigid Frisbee that folds like a soft handkerchief when you catch it, and the world's first bullet-proof wallpaper, a lightweight protective covering that absorbs and contains the deadly shrapnel generated when a projectile pierces most buildings.
"I know it must sound like we're trying to build a Batlab here, but I make no apology for that," said Palmer. "This is what science is supposed to be; something that excites the imagination and inspires the mind."
8:20pm Saturday 7th July 2007
By Iain S Bruce, Technology Editor
http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.1528394.0.holy_%20batcapes_the_age_of_the_superhero_suit_is_upon_us.php
Here's a summary of commodity ecology that I posted elsewhere:
Re: 'sustainable development', moving away from abstract terms to more grounded uncooptable terms: commodity ecology
Joan Mencher writes:
>> What words are people who are working for a truly alternative model of the
>> future where people consume much less, where cooperation and community are
>> more important, and where food production for example, is primarily local
>> (for nearby towns, villages, and maybe cities), etc. and not for a vast
>> globalized work market -- where most of what people eat is grown within 100
>> or so miles of where they lives --where most energy (including electricity)
>> is produced by solar or wind energy locally, etc.
>> I would like to know what
>
>>>> term to use instead of sustainable development for such systems.
I've suggested "commodity ecology" as a term. It's a more 'grounded' definition in particular geographically locused materials and
institutions, instead of using abstract double terms 'sustainable' and 'development' which I think we can all agree can be shuffled to mean and have signification toward anything people want to stick it to unfortunately.
Unlike that, 'commodity ecology' is a very grounded and un-cooptable thing because it describes a sense of institutional forms, localization, and material interactions themselves as desired in sustainability. I additionally provide some institutional suggestions on how to get there at the links below.
"Commodity ecology is the local watershed democratization of commodity choice and their interactions."
Quoting this link:
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
COMMODITY ECOLOGY: From Living Machines "End of Pipe" Dead Ends, to Ecologically Engineering Commodity Interaction for Sustainability in a Watershed
http://biostate.blogspot.com/2006/05/commodity-ecology-from-living-machines.html
excerpts:
"Most people I know consider that sustainability means only a form of agroecology, socially speaking, a continuation of the whole 1960s ‘back to the land ethic’ revisited--and little else. I have nothing against that, and it's very important, though, however, food is only one of the 54 different materials** and material choices (or lack of choices!) we consume daily in social relations....
[**everywhere I say 54 below, insert 74 as updated in the comments ongoing:http://commodityecology.blogspot.com/ ; particularly see a suggested watershed commodity ecology planning diagram for facilitators and institutions mentioned there or here: Saturday, May 26, 2007, "Two Institutions Required in Every Watershed: Commodity Ecology and Civic Democratic Institutions,"
http://biostate.blogspot.com/2007/05/two-institutions-required-in-every.html ]
Food can hardly be the alpha or omega of a movement of sustainability because it is only a small 1/54th part of commodity relations--however important food is.
What is required is a larger vision and knowledge base for how to integrate all materials in sustainable relationships--instead of only food. This post moves toward that commodity ecology.
First, a commodity ecology of a watershed would integrate all 54 commodity choices. (Just what these 54 are will be addressed in section two.) A commodity ecology will be a human invention of how to interact the 54 different commodity choices we all use worldwide, to fit a variety of different geographic concerns concerning issues of remediation as well as sustainability of commodity choices that potentially can be as different and perfectly suited to each microclimate, soil type, people's political economic local desires, or general ecological specifics for each watershed worldwide. And if they get out of bounds with externalities, there is the political feedback from their neighboring watersheds in the bioregional state as well as from within their own as a political feedback because these watersheds are additionally electoral districts.
I personally see nothing the matter with economic scale expanding outside of a particular watershed (unlike more puritanical foodsheders, for example)--as long as externalities are successfully avoided within their home watershed. The issue of avoiding institutionalizing externalities in the first place is the greater point I think. If people wished to self-limit themselves to exclusively buying and selling within a particular watershed, well, who can or should critique that? That is the point. That is the "local jurisdictional dominance over developmental paths" that is important in the bioregional state:
Bioregional democracy (or the Bioregional State) is a set of electoral reforms (and commodity reforms) designed to force the political process in a democracy to better represent concerns about the economy, the body, and environmental concerns (e.g., water quality), toward developmental paths that are locally prioritized and tailored to different areas for their own specific interests of sustainability and durability. This denotes democratic control of a natural commons and local jurisdictional dominance in any economic developmental path decisions--while not removing more generalized civil rights protections of a larger national
state.
There should be variation within the theme of sustainability. Sustainability is the theme of variability, institutionalized--institutionalized and protected from being undermined from environmentally degradative frameworks of commodity production elsewhere.
Second, as mentioned, this commodity ecology would be done on the criteria to minimize externalities in the beginning by entirely removing the whole category. Instead of a flippant after the fact "end of pipe" concern, materials as a group would be chosen holistically inside the factory wisely through a producerist-consumerist democratic process described below (in section three). [or described at links above: http://biostate.blogspot.com/2007/05/two-institutions-required-in-every.html ]
Instead of attempting to deal with pollution politics AFTER pollution has already been institutionalized in the poor choices of material
choices in factories via chemical/technological processes used--which puts producers typically at odds with the consumer politics of pollution remediation and safe health, ecology, and economy--instead the 54 different commodity producers get together in the first place led by their vision for sustainability for their watershed. In this sense then the consumer and the producers will be more of one family on the same side.
...
Third, another criteria of this human invented commodity ecology would be adjudicated on whether producers' commodity choices for their positions can be integrative or supportive--instead of degradative--of the other 53 different commodity choices in a particular watershed.
To do this, it is suggested to institutionalize a producer-consumerist deliberative interaction between all 54 different commodity producers by a regular democratic process of collective work in each watershed to create this commodity ecology as a living practice. Each "watershed of 54 heroes" and their consumer feedback of improvement or critique can be supportive of cobbling together how to institutionalize local developmental paths that are germane and particularly suitable to a watershed. This is done by an open political process to suit and protect each specific watershed's contribution to sustainability (which includes preservation of the local interaction of health, ecological security, and economic sustainability).
Each watershed can draw upon the experiences and "commodity ecology" plan of interaction of another watershed for ideas about the interactions in general, though each watershed would have a nugget of 54 interactions of commodities especially suited to its democratic producerist-consumerist process. This interaction of a democratic, watershed-specific developmentalism is where people, in the local area, can have jurisdictional dominance in the oversight of the demotion of their own pollutions and create their own 'local wing' solutions. This is implied in the short definition of the bioregional state. Each watershed has the dominant jurisdiction in its own health, ecological, and economic concerns, though within the larger civil rights rubric of the bioregional state. (See this other post for more details on this point.)
...
WATERSHED COMMODITY ECOLOGY
The challenge of sustainability is to integrate ourselves into ecology politically, with the mental focus that people used to devote to
thinking up novel cogwheels or flywheel designs for clocks or heavy machinery. Instead, a means is required where we can integrate our politics and consumption into ecologically durable relationships, because it is the organization of our consumption choices that pays little heed to this which leads to environmental degradation and habitat destruction--instead of our consumption by definition in the abstract per se. However, a vocabulary for commodity ecology is lacking for the most part. I hope to provide a few ideas below for that by a comparison with some ideas that have been toyed with approaching commodity ecology without touching on it. I will show that each lack crucial material and/or socio-political insights that makes them far from sufficient for achieving sustainability as commodity ecology would. These insufficiencies relate to their lack of appreciation of socio-political institutional dynamics and/or knowledge of the major 54 commodity choice puzzle pieces. Many still view commodities as neutral abstracts. However, materials are always politically informed choices which have very different material and political ramifications.
As an introduction to commodity ecology and what I would call its applied science of ecological engineering, there are several different strategies aired in the past 20 years where I think all this is leading.
The mental prowess now required is for raising a generation of "ecological engineers." This desire--actually this requirement--for
sustainability means that such "ecological engineering" of human and environment to take each other into account from the start by knowing of the biological issues and material science issues and social science issues of each item chosen. Ecological engineering would ponder the long term iterative health, ecological, and economic durability issues with each policy, commodity choice, technology, or formal institutional design change, and how each change whether biological, physical or social will give rise to a whole different kind of interaction in a particular watershed.
...
the rest here:
http://biostate.blogspot.com/2006/05/commodity-ecology-from-living-machines.html
Best,
Mark Whitaker
author _Toward A Bioregional State (2005)
http://biostate.blogspot.com/
[latest post there: "Friday, July 13, 2007
The Dying of Die Grunen and the Birth of the Bioregional State:
Shortcomings of Limiting Sustainability Strategies to a Single
Co-optable Party]
http://biostate.blogspot.com/2007/07/dying-of-die-grunen-and-birth-of.html
75. Real Estate
(The world as it is, particularly geographies, or land reclamation strategies)
Land--how it is reclaimed, maintained, and geopolitically organized that makes certain areas strategically important--is quite a commodity choice as well.
76. Services
This is another social commodity category of use that is different than mere 'energy/labor', as it goes toward specific uses of selling an experience or expertise instead of selling a commodity, per se, or at least a particularly-treated commodity experience.
I'm just attempting to be accurate and refine the utility categories of uses of human commodities--in how they are socially different.
I originally was thinking about merely sexual services (like prostitution (in its worst cases a form of female/male slavery) as well as inert sexual toys are) in competition with each other in the same category here.
However, it occurred to me that a number of other services are equally specialized and experiential/expertise driven forms of commodities (and equally subject to computerization or mechanization to demote knowledgeable labor competition in the category) so it was hardly a general issue of sexual services that could be justified in a category by itself, since there are a number of services.
It's still somewhat unsatisfactory to me to lump all services into a singular category of 'services' because it goes against one principle of the categories themselves: do they compete with each other for the same position? On the one hand, there are so many kinds of services that they hardly compete with each other in the same category. On the other hand, I suppose they could compete in many ways though--in terms of prioritization expenses of the purchaser.
Therefore, the general category of 'services' are included. It would be a mistake to ignore a category of expertise, selling general knowledge expertise and handling 'refinement' in human history. Issues of knowledge and technique are general to any service instead of 'services' meaning only one service.
The theme here is the selling of knowledge, experience, and expertise in a hired performance or commodity creation.
Since much political corruption flows from consumptive clientelism across ostensible political borders, it turns into the 'real' political borders through these tendrils of material dependence.
Therefore, all material and technological changes toward sustainability in the bioregional state should be judged on how well then can be decentralized as much as materially sustainable--optimized to a particular watershed or bioregional area's own sustainability.
In other words, this decentralized material sustainability is its own political sustainability. This means judging novel technologies and materials on more than simply soft sustainability (material sustainability), it means hard sustainability that integrates a degree of judgment on whether the technology or material can be implemented locally and in a decentralized fashion to avoid future cross-border political economic dependences that become the source of corruption in the watershed, and soon a source of a political developmentalism that encourages more unsustainability through more political corruption, etc., in a feedback loop of corruption that is political and material.
The current more bioregional opposition to a huge liquefied natural gas terminal in Oregon (that is not even to be utilized by Oregonites!) is starting to show these type of oppositions to such political corrupt developmentalism as unsustainability in practice.
72. Packing Materials
Perhaps better to go back to wax and paper products for storage of minor things and transshipment instead of permanent pollutive forms of plastic (around my biscotti for instance).
Sawdust packing materials, strips of recycled paper, etc., at the destination can go into mulch/soil category, etc.
77. Funeral Services
Funeral Services can be considered another category of specialized commodity handling practices unlike others so far. It is unable to be fitted into the previous categories well, so it deserves its own category.
Cremation, though sold as 'clean' practice, actually can release a huge amount of heavy metals from past dentistry into the air and other pollutants.
Some people are already being composted, by their wishes, leaving few bodies around.
Besides pumping the toxin formaldehye and others into every dead body and then putting them in a heavy metal capsule underground is rather polluting as well--particularly during floods when many coffins of this type tend to surface. In floods, they can be a huge air bubble surfacing when the water loosens the soil over graveyards, and leading to a lot of rotten corpses with heavy chemical treatment being carried around in floodwaters.
78. Levitation
Three methods I know of of cancelling out gravity for levitation:
1. the electromagnetic route (superconductors though a small emf effect) as well as
2. something that actually reduces inertial weight (mentioned in the Nick Cook book "The Race to Zero Point" about antigravity and the black projects of the U.S. military and what is known about it and some select patents from after 2000.
3. just straight 'canceling gravity' otherwise known as the anti-gravitational force--with super-fast spinning materials.
This could be known as the "Bruce DePalma effect" after its first rigorous discoverer who was aware of how it revamped all classical physics to be a 'universal' only about non-rotational bodies.
Rotational bodies have different 'classicial' principles that he went into deep analysis of such as
- variable inertia,
- variable gravitational acceleration either up or down (the spinning ball launch experiment)
Bruce DePalma is (or rather, was, he died suspiciously) the "second Newtwon."
His research implies that if you spin something fast enough, it would levitate off the ground somehow canceling gravity. this was a factor of course of its mass as well as weight and the spin.
There is physical proof of this effect. DePalma summarizes this "postmodern classicial physics effect".
"
We are all familiar with the great experiment of Galileo in 1590 when he showed that objects of different weights fell at the same rate when he dropped them from the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. This experiment has been formulated as a principle by later thinkers. The Einstein principle of equivalence is the contemporary expression of the idea that the acceleration of gravity is the same for all objects, and, for this a construction is possible which represents gravity as a property of a geometrical interpretation of space. This is the current "standard interpretation." Of course if a situation were found wherein the rate of gravitationally induced acceleration could be varied, constructions and theories based on the original Galilean experiment would be rendered void. As well, control of the rate of fall of objects is the entré into the construction of a practical mechanical antigravity machine which could be ultimately developed.......
The basic experiment is the discovery that a rotating object behaves differently under the influence of gravity than a non-rotating one. The basic experiments are:
1) Rotating objects falling in a gravitational field are accelerated at a rate greater than "G", the commonly accepted rate for non-rotating objects falling in a vacuum.
2) Pendula utilizing bob weights which are rotating, swing nonsinusoidally with periods increased over those of pendula with non-rotating bobs.
3) A precessing gyroscope has an anomalous inertial mass, greater than its gravitational mass.
4) An anomalous field phenomenon has been discovered, the OD field, which confers inertia on objects immersed within it. This field is generated by the constrained forced precession of a rotating gyroscope.
These simple experiments which can be verified by any experimenter with simple equipment, form the basis of a new interpretation of physical Reality. As well as being the most fundamental physical discoveries since the experiments of Galileo, to mathematics must be added a new fundamental proposition, such that the phenomena be described. This proposition may be stated: No numerical quantity, representative of a physical measurement, may be infinitely subdivided. For example, a contemporary mathematician would claim that the center of a rotating disc was not rotating. This is false to fact. At the other end of the spectrum this paradox is represented by the topological fixed point theorem of Euler and the aleph null and aleph one transfinite denumerable non-denumerable paradoxes of Georg Cantor.
The limitation of the Newtonian laws of motion to the special case of non-rotating objects, (and other limitations as to the rate of change of acceleration), places our present level of physical understanding on the threshold of the resolution of these paradoxes and the generalization of our conception of motion. The spinning ball experiment which shows a greater rate of fall than a non-spinning object is the stone of David which slays the Goliath of the ideational constipation which clouds the best minds of our race. It is not germane to the purpose of this paper to engage in further exposition of these ideas. Spontaneous interest must be sparked by the individual verification of these ideas by the motivated investigator. For the present it is sufficient to say that a much greater theoretical and experimental context now exists into which these primary results fit.
With the variability of inertia established, and the interaction of a rotating object with the gravitational field, several kinds of antigravity machines may be constructed. Without going into constructional details here, the machines take two forms. The first kind involves the generation of an OD field of sufficient strength to neutralize the gravitational attraction of the mass of the machine itself and associated masses. The second form of the machine - the linear force machine - is a direct conversion of rotational energy input to a unidirectional force output through the principle of variable inertia. Details of this machinery are available from this source.
...
http://depalma.pair.com/NewPhys&UFOs.html
FREE ENERGY
The Political, Social, and Economic Implications of The N Machine / Space Power Generator
by Bruce De Palma
It is said: "The whole Universe and created world is a thought in the mind of God."
- The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
If that be the case, wouldn't He want it to be the finest show in town?
As a long time worker in the field of Free Energy physics, and the inventor of the N machine which extracts energy from the Free Energy field of Space, sooner or later I would have to face the political nature of progress. It is not simply enough to violate the established laws of physics with a new experiment. (1)
We are facing at the close of the 20th century a situation unique in the history of the world. In the past the inventor had to serve the requirements of a vital and expanding society. The telegraph, the telephone, long distance communication, the railroad and automobile covered the globe and finally satellite communications making a truly global and planetary society. With the coming of the global society the planetary Earth became a floating island in space with only resource wars on the horizon as a foreshadowing of things to come.
Limitation of resources as opposed to development of uncharted territory poses a new challenge to the inventor. In the case of Free Energy, it is not a case of being able to accomplish something which had not been done before but being able to accomplish the same things which had been done before without consumption of gas, coal or oil or the pollution of natural resources by exhaust fumes or combustion by-products.
Take the case of the electric car. An automobile which could exceed the presently accepted performance while not consuming or burning oil or gas - which could be switched on before a journey and off after reaching your destination. The power unit for such a machine would extract its energy directly from space without noise or pollution.
With the growth of society limited by the finite planetary surface area the Space Power Generator offers the only hope for avoidance of resource wars. In fact, planetary renewal can be affected with the availability of unlimited non-consumptive and non-polluting Space Power. It must be recognized that advancement in society always means less manual labor and that finally we must accept the condition of un-employment as the fulfillment of the nature of progress itself. A new source of energy in our society, a new prime mover, can make possible a new kind of independence. A kind of independence for the common man where he can take pride that he has fulfilled his role in free society and now he can make his own life in the certainty of a new source of prime energy which can make him independent of the feeling that he must take orders from someone else in order to feel he has a job.
That total un-employment is the ultimate goal of capitalistic society. When all the natural forces of Nature have been harnessed man is released from the state of slavery. At this point politics becomes a form of state or option from which he can launch his platform to the stars.
If energy and transportation costs were zero, society would center around quality of life, small communities would form in which all basic life support requirements would be met locally. Money would still be required to purchase manufactured high-tech items and money could be earned through sale of community grown or manufactured goods.
A political administration would be elected to provide global planetary coordination for projects outside the scale of simple community organization. This does not imply the necessity of a global one-world government; a loose federation of autonomous states and countries would be sufficient.
In our present 1993 society Mammon has been elevated to the position of a god, i.e. nothing can be accomplished without money. The challenge is to replace promises on paper with real quality of life.
When Isaac Newton formulated his "Principia Mathematica" in the late 1600's he violated his own admonition "Hypotheses non Fingo", "I make no hypotheses" in his third law of motion: "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." This statement implies there is an "equal" and "opposite" reaction to every action. The statements "equal" and "opposite" are in themselves an hypothesis, since every experiment in physics would have to be tested, including experiments not yet to be done, in the future, to substantiate the truth of such a statement. Newton's first two laws, the law of inertia, and the law of mass, are laws of experimental observation which define inertia and mass and do not in themselves include a foreshadowing of the results of those experiments, to wit equal and opposite. Einstein, whose theories are based on the definitions of Newton's 1st and 2nd laws and the conservation laws which grow out of the hypothesis of the third law, are in themselves a conjecture resting on the hypothesis of equality of action and reaction.
Free Energy transduced through the reactionless self-running electric engine will replace all other forms of internal combustion machines. Society will reformulate itself around the new reactionless prime mover. Man and his activities will hitch themselves to the very wheelwork of the Universe, the forces which cause the planets to rotate and move in circular orbits around the Sun.
REFERENCES
(1) Magnetism as a Distortion of a Pre-Existent Primordial Energy Field and the Possibility of Extraction of Electrical Energy Directly from Space, Bruce de Palma; the proceedings of the 26th Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference (IECEC), August 4-9, 1992, Boston, Massachusetts; sponsored by The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE).
http://depalma.pair.com/Absurdity/Absurdity04/FreeEnergyImplications.html
79. Invisibility
From another website: "I posted about the mysterious em-drive awhile back and now here's another development... a faster than light capable 'warp' drive that the US air force is showing remarkable interest in. So, perhaps these stories are cover to explain the invention of tech they already secretly have. Perhaps we're getting close to a disclosure of some sort.
Welcome to Mars express: only a three hour trip
IAN JOHNSTON SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT
http://news.scotsman.com/ViewArticle.aspx?articleid=2739585
[the link is gone]
AN EXTRAORDINARY "hyperspace" engine that could make interstellar space travel a reality by flying into other dimensions is being investigated by the United States government.
The hypothetical device, which has been outlined in principle but is based on a controversial theory about the fabric of the universe, could potentially allow a spacecraft to travel to Mars in three hours and journey to a star 11 light years away in just 80 days, according to a report in today's New Scientist magazine.
The theoretical engine works by creating an intense magnetic field that, according to ideas first developed by the late scientist Burkhard Heim in the 1950s, would produce a gravitational field and result in thrust for a spacecraft.
Also, if a large enough magnetic field was created, the craft would slip into a different dimension, where the speed of light is faster, allowing incredible speeds to be reached.
Switching off the magnetic field would result in the engine reappearing in our current dimension.
The US air force has expressed an interest in the idea and scientists working for the American Department of Energy - which has a device known as the Z Machine that could generate the kind of magnetic fields required to drive the engine - say they may carry out a test if the theory withstands further scrutiny.
Professor Jochem Hauser, one of the scientists who put forward the idea, told The Scotsman that if everything went well a working engine could be tested in about five years.
However, Prof Hauser, a physicist at the Applied Sciences University in Salzgitter, Germany, and a former chief of aerodynamics at the European Space Agency, cautioned it was based on a highly controversial theory that would require a significant change in the current understanding of the laws of physics.
"It would be amazing. I have been working on propulsion systems for quite a while and it would be the most amazing thing. The benefits would be almost unlimited," he said.
"But this thing is not around the corner; we first have to prove the basic science is correct and there are quite a few physicists who have a different opinion.
"It's our job to prove we are right and we are working on that."
He said the engine would enable spaceships to travel to different solar systems. "If the theory is correct then this is not science fiction, it is science fact," Prof Hauser said.
"NASA have contacted me and next week I'm going to see someone from the [US] air force to talk about it further, but it is at a very early stage. I think the best-case scenario would be within the next five years [to build a test device] if the technology works."
The US authorities' attention was attracted after Prof Hauser and an Austrian colleague, Walter Droscher, wrote a paper called "Guidelines for a space propulsion device based on Heim's quantum theory".
Joined: 22 Apr 2005
Posts: 1745
PostPosted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 7:52 pm Post subject: 'The G-Engines are Coming' - headline 1956 Reply with quote
Nick Cook's The Hunt for Zero Point begins in his office at Jane's Aviation Weekly with someone anonymously dropping a clipping with that headline on his desk.
The article reads that "in the United States and Canada, research centers, scientists, designers and engineers are perfecting a way to control gravity - a force infinitely more powerful than the mighty atom.
The result of their labors will be antigravity engines working without fuel - weightless airliners and space ships able to travel at 170,000 miles per second."
The article states the research is supported by the Glenn L Martin Aircraft Company, Bell Aircraft, Lear and several other US firms.
It quotes Lawrence Bell as saying they are "already working" on canceling out gravity. The head of Advanced Programs and VP in charge of the "G-Project" at Martin Aircraft, George S Trimble, adds that manufacturing a gravitational field drive "could be done in about the time it took to build the first atom bomb."
Cook almost throws it in the waste basket, because almost as soon as such reports were published in '56 it was as though they'd never existed.
The research either never happened, was discontinued, or went deep black. Cook, picking up the thread, begins by tracking down Trimble. He asked his media contact friend at Lockheed Martin, Daniella Abelman to look up Trimble without telling her specifically why. She called back soon after, and said that Trimble was alive and retired in Arizona. "Sounds hard as nails, but an amazing guy. He's kinda mystified why you want to talk to him after all this time, but seems okay with it. Like you said, it's historical, right?"
"Right," Cook said.
Abelman called back a few days later. "Separated by an ocean and five time zones," Cook writes, "I heard the catch in her breathing."
"It's Trimble," she said. "The guy just got off the phone to me. Remember how he was fine to do the interview? Well, something's happened. I don't know who this old man is or what he once was, but he told me in no uncertain terms to get off his case. He doesn't want to speak to me and he doesn't want to speak to you, not now, not ever. I don't mind telling you that he sounded scared and I don't like to hear old men scared. It makes me scared. I don't know what you were really working on when you came to me with this, Nick, but let me give you some advice. Stick to what you know about; stick to the damned present. It's better that way for all of us."
Edited by: Rigorous Intuition at: 1/8/06 5:55 pm
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anotherdrew
Joined: 23 May 2005
Posts: 528
PostPosted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 8:19 pm Post subject: Re: 'The G-Engines are Coming' - headline 1956 Reply with quote
the body of raw info seems to suggest that either thay have such tech in hiding, or are willing to work their asses off making it seem like they do when they don't. I'm just not sure I can't buy any of the probable motives for them to stage a cover up of nothing. So... it seems like wishful thinking, but I'm feeling like it's true. Now a lot of possibly bad news is riding in the back seat... but how wonderful if we can really build such vehicles.
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marykmusic
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Posts: 1502
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 9:32 pm Post subject: Re: 'The G-Engines are Coming' - headline 1956 Reply with quote
Grav-lev has been here since the end of WWII. I have seen black-and-white film of German experimental aircraft bouncing along the ground and a few feet into the air... the Nazis were so far along that Project Paperclip was developed to keep 'em working. It was a saucer-shaped craft, too. Hauneby I was on the drawing board in 1939, II in 1943, and III in 1945. Copies of these drawings are in the book Reich of the Black Sun ny Joseph P. Farrell. --MaryK
---
http://rigorousintuition.ca/board/viewtopic.php?t=1483
80. Transparent Materials
[more superconducting wire, and transparent superconductors as well]
Room Temperature Superconductors, Inc.
Has developed what are believed to be the world’s first, commercial, ambient-temperature superconducting polymer materials, trademarked Ultraconductors
RTS has three issued U.S. Patents.
The very large
pending application is in the process of division. It will become ten additional patent applications.
To read more about this exciting technology
Click here
Room Temperature Superconductors Inc. (RTS),
a subsidiary of Magnetic Power Inc., has developed the world's first ambient temperature superconducting materials, trademarked Ultraconductors. The company has worldwide rights to this technology, with landmark process and materials patents U.S. #5,777,292 and #6,552,883.
RTS also has achieved significant polymer technology breakthroughs and experimental demonstrations for film applications, enhanced materials properties, and additional superconducting materials.
The company's primary technology objectives are:
* To develop commercial processes and core fabrication technologies
* To reach application-ready platforms for commercial film and wire products
* To achieve proof of concepts for additional product applications
WHAT is an Ultraconductor ?
Ultraconductors
- A Primer -
By Kevin P. Shambrook, Ph.D.
ULTRACONDUCTORtm n. "Electrical conductors, which have certain properties similar to present-day superconductors. They are best considered as a novel state of matter."
Ultraconductors are patented materials being developed for commercial applications by Room Temperature Superconductors, Inc. They are made by the sequential processing of amorphous polar dielectric elastomers.
They exhibit a set of anomalous magnetic and electric properties, including: very high electrical conductivity (> 1011 S/cm -1) and current densities (> 5 x 108 A/cm2) over a wide temperature range (1.8 to 700 K).
Additional properties established by experimental measurements include: the absence of measurable heat generation under high current; thermal versus electrical conductivity orders of magnitude in violation of the Wiedemann-Franz law; a jump-like transition to a resistive state at a critical current; a nearly zero Seebek coefficient over the temperature range 87 - 233 K; no measurable resistance when Ultraconductor(tm) films are placed between superconducting tin electrodes at cryogenic temperatures.
The Ultraconductor properties are measured in discrete macromolecular structures which form over time after the processing.
In present thin films (1 - 100 micron) these structures, called 'channels', are typically 1 - 2 microns in diameter, 10 - 1000 microns apart, and are strongly anisotropic in the Z axis.
RTS was founded in 1993 to develop the Ultraconductor(tm) technology, following 16 years of research by a scientific team at the Polymer Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, led by Dr. Leonid Grigorov, Ph.D., Dc.S. There have been numerous papers in peer-reviewed literature, 4 contracts from the U.S. government, a landmark patent (US patent # 5,777,292). and a devices patent (US patent # 6,552,883.)
Another patent is pending and a fourth now is being completed.
To date 7 chemically distinct polymers have been used to create Ultraconductors(tm), including olefin, acrylate, urethane and silicone based plastics. The total list of candidate polymers suited to the process is believed to number in the hundreds.
In films, these channels can be observed by several methods, including phase contrast optical microscope, Atomic Force Microscope (AFM), magnetic balance, and simple electric contact. The channel structures can be moved and manipulated in the polymer.
Ultraconductor(tm) films may be prepared on metal, glass, or semiconductor substrates.
The polymer is initially viscose (during processing). For practical application the channels may be "locked" in the polymer, by crosslinking, or glass transition.
The channel's characteristics are not affected by either mode.
A physics model of the conducting structures, which fits well with the experimental measurements, and also a published theory, have been developed. The next step in material development is to increase the percentage or "concentration" of conducting material.
This will lead to films with a larger number of conducting points (needed for interposers and other applications) and to wire.
Wire is essentially extending a channel to indefinite length, and the technique has been demonstrated in principle. Connecting to these conducting structures is done with a metal electrode, and when two channels are brought together they connect.
From an engineering point of view, we expect the polymer to replace copper wire and HTS in many applications.
It will be considerably lighter than copper, and have less electric resistance.
---
http://www.ultraconductors.com/primer.html
Ultraconductors are the result of more than sixteen years of prior scientific research, peer reviewed publication, independent laboratory testing, and eight years of engineering development.
From an engineering perspective, Ultraconductors are a fundamentally new and enabling technology. They are lightweight, flexible, transparent, and possess magnetic, electric, and electronic properties of exceptionally high commercial value.
Ultimately, Ultraconductors will offer unprecedented high performance and energy efficiency throughout a very broad range of products.
These applications will include:
* Electric power products (Power downleads, motors, generators, transmission lines)
* Electronics (microelectronic circuits and components, computer chip mounting, antennas)
* Medical (MRI systems, sensors, specialized instruments)
* Electromagnetics (energy storage, shielding)
More PDF documents from them here:
http://ultraconductors.com/documents.html
78.2. Levitation
27 March 2006
Not So Fast Einstein!
by Kate Melville
A quantum theory of gravity could be within reach, as scientists funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) report measuring the gravitational equivalent of a magnetic field. Presenting their results at a one-day conference at ESA's European Space and Technology Research Center (ESTEC) in the Netherlands earlier this month, the scientists involved said that under special conditions the gravitational effect was far greater than expected, and therefore contradicted Einstein's Theory of General Relativity that states such gravitational effects should be negligible.
Moving electrical charges and objects create magnetic and gravitomagnetic fields respectively, but Einstein claimed that the effect of the latter would be barely perceptible. Not so, says researcher Martin Tajmar and his colleagues, who believe that the effects of gravitomagnetic fields could explain the anomalies seen in high-precision mass measurements of Cooper-pairs (carriers in superconductors) and their prediction via quantum theory.
The team conducted an experiment using a ring of superconducting material that rotates at approximately 6,500 RPM. It has already been observed that rotating superconductors emit a weak magnetic field, known as a London moment, but Tajmar says that his team have also detected a gravitomagnetic field.
The team detected what has been dubbed the "Gravitomagnetic London Moment" by placing small acceleration sensors at various locations close to the spinning superconductor. Once the superconductor has reached a particular speed, claim the team, the sensors pick up an acceleration field outside the superconductor that appears to be produced by gravitomagnetism.
"This experiment is the gravitational analogue of Faraday's electromagnetic induction experiment in 1831. It demonstrates that a superconductive gyroscope is capable of generating a powerful gravitomagnetic field, and is therefore the gravitational counterpart of the magnetic coil. Depending on further confirmation, this effect could form the basis for a new technological domain, which would have numerous applications in space and other high-tech sectors," says researcher Clovis de Matos.
While 100 millionths of the acceleration due to Earth's gravitational field may not seem particularly astounding, the Gravitomagnetic London Moment detected by the team is a staggering one hundred million trillion times larger than what Einstein's Theory of General Relativity predicts. The results were so astonishing that the team did not believe the results themselves, but it soon turned out that the inconceivable had entered the realms of reality. "We ran more than 250 experiments, improved the facility over 3 years and discussed the validity of the results for 8 months before making this announcement. Now we are confident about the measurement," says Tajmar, who hopes that other scientists will now repeat his team's experiment to verify the results.
In addition to the team's experimental results, Tajmar has spent some time fine-tuning the theoretical aspects of the Gravitomagnetic London Moment. When the team used equations that allowed for force carrying particles (gravitons) to gain mass, they found that the gravitomagnetic force could be modeled. "If confirmed, this would be a major breakthrough," says Tajmar, "it opens up a new means of investigating general relativity and its consequences in the quantum world."
Source: European Space Agency
---
http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20060227023503data_trunc_sys.shtml
78.3. Levitation
Acoustic Levitation Chamber
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94KzmB2bI7s
"This is an acoustic levitation chamber I designed and built in 1987 as a micro-gravity experiment for NASA related subject matter.
The 12 inch cubed plexiglas Helmholtz Resonant Cavity has 3 speakers attached to the cube by aluminium acoustic waveguides.
By applying a continuous resonant(600Hertz) sound wave, and by adjusting the amplitude and phase relationship amongst the 3 speakers; I was able to control levitation and movement in all 3 (x,y,z) axis of the ambient space. This research was used to show the effects of micro-gravity conditions that exist in the space shuttle environment in orbit, but done here on Earth in a lab."
78.4. Levitation
The Case for Antigravity - 116 min - Sep 30, 2006
Andrew Johnson - www.checktheevidence.com/
This presentation asks: What is Gravity? What is Anti-Gravity? What evidence is there that technology, other than “conventional” aerospace technology exists which could be thought of as being “Anti-Gravity” or something attempting to control Gravity? It then looks at: Some History of Antigravity Research Some of the Research of Nick Cook The Hutchison Effect Some Antigravity Experiments Coral Castle (Florida) Alleged Black Projects in the USA Sightings of Flying Triangles Hints of “New Technology” which have come from NASA Sources of Information Used: JL Naudin’s marvellous site http://www.jlnlabs.org/ Nick Cook’s The Hunt For Zero Point (2002) (Available from Amazon etc) American Antigravity http://www.americanantigravity.com/ Archive of http://www.teegeeack.com/ufo-tr3b-fs2002.html (no longer available) Jeff Rense sound archives http://www.rense.com/ Flying Triangle Pictures from http://www.deepspace4.com/pages/science/flayingtriangle/flayingtriangle3tr-3b.htm UFO Casebook - http://www.ufocasebook.com/ Fouche Presentation - http://www.ufomind.com/misc/1998/aug/d26-001.shtml Channel 5 Documentary Billion Dollar Secret (1999) Channel 4 Documentary Welcome to the 11th Dimension (2003) Channel 4 3-part Documentary Riddle of the Skies (1999) NASA Briefings at http://www.moontomars.org/ (no longer available) Thomas Townsend Brown – http://www.soteria.com/ Coral Castle – http://www.coralcastle.com/
78.5.
Hutchison 2006 Full Experimental-Footage - 38 min - Mar 10, 2006
American Antigravity - www.americanantigravity.com
For the first time in over a decade, Canadian inventor John Hutchison has reproduced the "Hutchison-Effect" in his homebuilt lab-environment. In our exclusive video footage, taken March 4th by researcher Harold Berndt, over 1,500 pounds of test-equipment is seen to spontaneously jump after what Berndt describes as an audible change in equipment noise that occurred while Hutchison was calibrating his test apparatus. This is the full 40-minute clip for the Hutchison-Effect in 2006, detailing Hutchison's experimental procedures & equipment setup. One notable event from this clip has been reported.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3486217070984951349
78.6.
The Searl Effect: Large-Scale Antigravity - 56 min - Mar 3, 2006
American Antigravity - www.americanantigravity.com
Filmed in 1994 at the IFNE Conference in Denver, this hour-long presentation by John Searl describes the inner-workings of the infamous Searl-Effect Generator and IGV Propulsion System with photos, schematics, construction details, and a concise summary of 1960's testing that you simply can't afford to miss! John Searl is one of the most controversial figures in Antigravity research, but since beginning his work in the 1940's, he's arguably become "the father of modern Antigravity". His claim is simple: that after a childhood dream showing a rotating set of rollers on a metallic ring, he constructed a device called the Searl Effect Generator (SEG) that seems to produce massive Antigravitational thrust. Searl is one of the cultural icons in the Antigravity.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8635897559220353909
81. Anti-Gravity/Inertial Variation
A relatively novel category for humans. Some of what above is straight levitation though I think that anti-gravity/inertial variation is a whole different level of effects and phenomena generation through special materials/technologies, so it can have its own category.
Some of what was posted in the levitation category of material effects was actually in this category of anti-gravity.
Another for anti-gravity:
Gary Stephenson Interview: Superconductors & Gravity-Modification
27 min
"HFGW Research & STAIF Session-Chair Gary Stephenson comments on the recent ESA announcement by Dr. Martin Tajmar that superconductors produce a repeatable gravity-modification effect."
72.2 Packing Materials
The only difficulty with this idea of use of packing materials is how to shore up particular localized biodiversity. If you watch the film, come back and think about that: the potential is for creating a loss of biodiversity and locality via saving it. However, the general principle is ingenious: use cardboard as a multi-use packing material. You can use it for packing materials and you can use it for the material that it is already 'seeded' (literally) and ready for turning itself green. Packing materials as innately sold and bound with a 'mycelium and seeds' mixture, so when it is thrown away, it will consume itself and create a green area when turned to 'trash'.
Paul Stamets: 6 ways mushrooms can save the world (17 minutes)
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/258
This idea seems to be the one with THE MOST overlaps SO FAR. It connects very well with:
58. Remediation
16. Herbicides/Pesticides
6. Soils/Dirt/Hydroponics
5. Garbage/Garbage disposal
7. Drugs/Medicines
11. Mycelium based food
72. Packing Materials (for seeding forests, mycelium and seeds embedded)
THAT means mycelium's many local multiple consumptive positional uses makes it a good place to start upon the commodity ecology for branching in multiple directions from this locus.
He says 6 ideas. I count seven.
72.3. Packing Materials
Well, even plastic bags are solved.
[Canadian] WCI student isolates microbe that lunches on plastic bags
May 22, 2008
Karen Kawawada
RECORD STAFF
WATERLOO
Getting ordinary plastic bags to rot away like banana peels would be an environmental dream come true.
After all, we produce 500 billion a year worldwide and they take up to 1,000 years to decompose. They take up space in landfills, litter our streets and parks, pollute the oceans and kill the animals that eat them.
Now a Waterloo teenager has found a way to make plastic bags degrade faster -- in three months, he figures.
Daniel Burd's project won the top prize at the Canada-Wide Science Fair in Ottawa. He came back with a long list of awards, including a $10,000 prize, a $20,000 scholarship, and recognition that he has found a practical way to help the environment.
Daniel, a 16-year-old Grade 11 student at Waterloo Collegiate Institute, got the idea for his project from everyday life.
"Almost every week I have to do chores and when I open the closet door, I have this avalanche of plastic bags falling on top of me," he said. "One day, I got tired of it and I wanted to know what other people are doing with these plastic bags."
The answer: not much. So he decided to do something himself.
He knew plastic does eventually degrade, and figured microorganisms must be behind it. His goal was to isolate the microorganisms that can break down plastic -- not an easy task because they don't exist in high numbers in nature.
First, he ground plastic bags into a powder. Next, he used ordinary household chemicals, yeast and tap water to create a solution that would encourage microbe growth. To that, he added the plastic powder and dirt. Then the solution sat in a shaker at 30 degrees.
After three months of upping the concentration of plastic-eating microbes, Burd filtered out the remaining plastic powder and put his bacterial culture into three flasks with strips of plastic cut from grocery bags. As a control, he also added plastic to flasks containing boiled and therefore dead bacterial culture.
Six weeks later, he weighed the strips of plastic. The control strips were the same. But the ones that had been in the live bacterial culture weighed an average of 17 per cent less.
That wasn't good enough for Burd. To identify the bacteria in his culture, he let them grow on agar plates and found he had four types of microbes. He tested those on more plastic strips and found only the second was capable of significant plastic degradation.
Next, Burd tried mixing his most effective strain with the others. He found strains one and two together produced a 32 per cent weight loss in his plastic strips. His theory is strain one helps strain two reproduce.
Tests to identify the strains found strain two was Sphingomonas bacteria and the helper was Pseudomonas.
A researcher in Ireland has found Pseudomonas is capable of degrading polystyrene, but as far as Burd and his teacher Mark Menhennet know -- and they've looked -- Burd's research on polyethelene plastic bags is a first.
Next, Burd tested his strains' effectiveness at different temperatures, concentrations and with the addition of sodium acetate as a ready source of carbon to help bacteria grow.
At 37 degrees and optimal bacterial concentration, with a bit of sodium acetate thrown in, Burd achieved 43 per cent degradation within six weeks.
The plastic he fished out then was visibly clearer and more brittle, and Burd guesses after six more weeks, it would be gone. He hasn't tried that yet.
To see if his process would work on a larger scale, he tried it with five or six whole bags in a bucket with the bacterial culture. That worked too.
Industrial application should be easy, said Burd. "All you need is a fermenter . . . your growth medium, your microbes and your plastic bags."
The inputs are cheap, maintaining the required temperature takes little energy because microbes produce heat as they work, and the only outputs are water and tiny levels of carbon dioxide -- each microbe produces only 0.01 per cent of its own infinitesimal weight in carbon dioxide, said Burd.
"This is a huge, huge step forward . . . We're using nature to solve a man-made problem."
Burd would like to take his project further and see it be used. He plans to study science at university, but in the meantime he's busy with things such as student council, sports and music.
"Dan is definitely a talented student all around and is poised to be a leading scientist in our community," said Menhennet, who led the school's science fair team but says he only helped Burd with paperwork.
Other local students also did well at the national science fair.
Devin Howard of St. John's Kilmarnock School won a gold medal in life science and several scholarships.
Mackenzie Carter of St. John's Kilmarnock won bronze medals in the automotive and engineering categories.
Engineers Without Borders awarded Jeff Graansma of Forest Heights Collegiate a free trip to their national conference in January.
Zach Elgood of Courtland Avenue Public School got honourable mention in earth and environmental science.
---
http://news.therecord.com/article/354044#=rss
73.2. Fodder
[algae energy and sequestration of carbon and fodder; energy and sequestration, if required for sequestration, is a win-win situation, though of course any form of thermodynamics based burning energy is hardly optimal...when there are other options that entirely remove the thermodynamic dependencies on energy (like air car, water car, the videos in the original post above as well, etc.]
Possible Fix For Global Warming?
Environmental Engineers Use Algae To Capture Carbon Dioxide
April 1, 2007 — Engineers have designed a simple, sustainable and natural carbon sequestration solution using algae. A team at Ohio University created a photo bioreactor that uses photosynthesis to grow algae, passing carbon dioxide over large membranes, placed vertically to save space. The carbon dioxide produced by the algae is harvested by dissolving into the surrounding water. The algae can be harvested and made into biodiesel fuel and feed for animals. A reactor with 1.25 million square meters of algae screens could be up and running by 2010.
Global warming's effects can be seen worldwide, and many experts believe it's only going to get worse. In fact, America is by far the largest contributor to global warming than any other country -- releasing a quarter of the world's carbon dioxide -- the primary cause of global warming. But now engineers have found a natural way to eliminate one of the worst contributors to our environment's decay.
What's coming from power plants, traffic jams and industrial smog is causing our ozone to disappear, ice caps to melt, and temperatures to rise. The latest international report says carbon dioxide responsible for 60 percent of the greenhouse gases.
Now engineers say a simple, sustainable and natural solution may come from algae. "If this sort of technology can be developed, it can be deployed anywhere there's sunlight," David Bayless, a professor of mechanical engineering at Ohio University in Athens, tells DBIS.
Bayless, with a team at Ohio University, created a photo bioreactor that uses photosynthesis to grow algae just like a plant would take carbon dioxide up and, through the energy of the sun, convert that into oxygen.
"That passes the carbon dioxide over these membranes," Ben Stuart, an Ohio University environmental engineer, tells DBIS. "These membranes are fabric just like your shirt. It's a woven material, and as the carbon dioxide pass by them, that carbon dioxide dissolves into the water."
That carbon dioxide is broken down by the algae.
Nitrogen and clean oxygen are released back into the atmosphere.
But to capture the CO2 created from a power plant, algae would have to fill a building the size of Wal-Mart.
"The size of these things would be enormous, about an acre worth of land space. And so the flu gases would run through this huge building and the algae would be growing on the suspended vertical surfaces." Stuart says.
But what makes it cost effective? The algae can be harvested and made into biodiesel fuel and feed for animals.
Bayless says, "You are talking about definitely home-grown fuel, a win-win thing. You know, you are taking a potentially very negative thing in carbon emissions and turning it into a fuel that we can use domestically." He says a full-scale reactor with 1.25 million square meters of algae screens could be up and running by 2010.
There are already some test facilities working right now -- and just in time! In the past 50 years, the U.S. carbon dioxide emissions have almost doubled. Texas ranks first in the nation for the highest emissions ... And just remember, once carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere, it stays there for about 100 years.
The American Geophysical Union, American Society for Microbiology, and the Optical Society of America contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.
---
http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2007/0407-possible_fix_for_global_warming.htm
78.5. Levitation
[another technique 'inverted Casimir effects']
Physicists have 'solved' mystery of levitation
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
Last updated: 2:10 AM BST 07/08/2007
Levitation has been elevated from being pure science fiction to science fact, according to a study reported today by physicists.
Physicists have 'solved' mystery of levitation
In theory the discovery could be used to levitate a person
In earlier work the same team of theoretical physicists showed that invisibility cloaks are feasible.
Now, in another report that sounds like it comes out of the pages of a Harry Potter book, the University of St Andrews team has created an 'incredible levitation effects’ by engineering the force of nature which normally causes objects to stick together.
Professor Ulf Leonhardt and Dr Thomas Philbin, from the University of St Andrews in Scotland, have worked out a way of reversing this pheneomenon, known as the Casimir force, so that it repels instead of attracts.
Their discovery could ultimately lead to frictionless micro-machines with moving parts that levitate But they say that, in principle at least, the same effect could be used to levitate bigger objects too, even a person.
The Casimir force is a consequence of quantum mechanics, the theory that describes the world of atoms and subatomic particles that is not only the most successful theory of physics but also the most baffling.
The force is due to neither electrical charge or gravity, for example, but the fluctuations in all-pervasive energy fields in the intervening empty space between the objects and is one reason atoms stick together, also explaining a “dry glue” effect that enables a gecko to walk across a ceiling.
Now, using a special lens of a kind that has already been built, Prof Ulf Leonhardt and Dr Thomas Philbin report in the New Journal of Physics they can engineer the Casimir force to repel, rather than attact.
Because the Casimir force causes problems for nanotechnologists, who are trying to build electrical circuits and tiny mechanical devices on silicon chips, among other things, the team believes the feat could initially be used to stop tiny objects from sticking to each other.
Prof Leonhardt explained, “The Casimir force is the ultimate cause of friction in the nano-world, in particular in some microelectromechanical systems.
Such systems already play an important role - for example tiny mechanical devices which triggers a car airbag to inflate or those which power tiny 'lab on chip’ devices used for drugs testing or chemical analysis.
Micro or nano machines could run smoother and with less or no friction at all if one can manipulate the force.” Though it is possible to levitate objects as big as humans, scientists are a long way off developing the technology for such feats, said Dr Philbin.
The practicalities of designing the lens to do this are daunting but not impossible and levitation “could happen over quite a distance”.
Prof Leonhardt leads one of four teams - three of them in Britain - to have put forward a theory in a peer-reviewed journal to achieve invisibility by making light waves flow around an object - just as a river flows undisturbed around a smooth rock.
Story from Telegraph News:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1559579/Physicists-have-%27solved%27-mystery-of-levitation.html
82. Light/Electromagnetic-Proof
New Metamaterial Proves To Be A 'Perfect' Absorber Of Light
Researchers have engineered a metamaterial that uses tiny geometric surface features to successfully capture the electric and magnetic properties of a microwave to the point of total absorption. (Credit: Image courtesy of Boston College)
ScienceDaily (Jun. 2, 2008) — A team of scientists from Boston College and Duke University has developed a highly-engineered metamaterial capable of absorbing all of the light that strikes it -- to a scientific standard of perfection -- they report in a recent edition of Physical Review Letters.
The team designed and engineered a metamaterial that uses tiny geometric surface features to successfully capture the electric and magnetic properties of a microwave to the point of total absorption.
"Three things can happen to light when it hits a material," says Boston College Physicist Willie J. Padilla. "It can be reflected, as in a mirror. It can be transmitted, as with window glass. Or it can be absorbed and turned into heat. This metamaterial has been engineered to ensure that all light is neither reflected nor transmitted, but is turned completely into heat and absorbed.
"It shows we can design a metamaterial so that at a specific frequency it can absorb all of the photons that fall onto its surface."
In addition to Padilla, the team included BC researcher Nathan I. Landy, Duke University Professor David R. Smith and researchers Soji Sajuyigbe and Jack J. Mock.
The group used computer simulations based on prior research findings in the field to design resonators able to couple individually to electric and magnetic fields to successfully absorb all incident radiation, according to their findings.
Because its elements can separately absorb the electric and magnetic components of an electromagnetic wave, the "perfect metamaterial absorber" created by the researchers can be highly absorptive over a narrow frequency range.
The metamaterial is the first to demonstrate perfect absorption and unlike conventional absorbers it is constructed solely out of metallic elements, giving the material greater flexibility for applications related to the collection and detection of light, such as imaging, says Padilla, an assistant professor of Physics.
Metamaterial designs give them new properties beyond the limits of their actual physical components and allow them to produce "tailored" responses to radiation.
Because their construction makes them geometrically scalable, metamaterials are able to operate across a significant portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.
---
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080529190038.htm
83.1. Sound-proof materials
Experts unveil 'cloak of silence'
A working device could be used to enhance the acoustics of concert halls
Being woken in the dead of night by noisy neighbours blasting out music could soon be a thing of the past.
Scientists have shown off the blueprint for an "acoustic cloak", which could make objects impervious to sound waves.
The technology, outlined in the New Journal of Physics, could be used to build sound-proof homes, advanced concert halls or stealth warships.
Scientists have previously demonstrated devices that cloak objects from microwaves, making them "invisible".
"The mathematics behind cloaking has been known for several years," said Professor John Pendry of Imperial College London, UK, an expert in cloaking.
"What hasn't been available for sound is the sort of materials you need to build a cloak out of."
Sound shield
The Spanish team who conducted the new work believe the key to a practical device are so-called "sonic crystals".
These artificial composites - also known as "meta-materials" - can be engineered to produce specific acoustical effects.
Acoustic cloak simulation
Sound waves are channelled around an object by sonic crystals
"Unlike ordinary materials, their acoustic properties are determined by their internal structure," explained Professor Pendry.
These would be used to channel any sound around an object, like water flowing around a rock in a stream.
"The idea of acoustic cloaking is to deviate the sounds waves around the object that has to be cloaked," said Jose Sanchez-Dehesa of the Polytechnic University of Valencia, one of the researchers behind the new work.
He believes a material that consists of arrays of tiny cylinders would achieve this effect.
Simulations showed that 200 layers of this metamaterial could effectively shield an object from noise.
Thinner stacks would shield an object from certain frequencies.
"The thickness depends on the wavelength you want to screen," he told BBC News.
Sub systems
Dr Sanchez-Dehesa now wants to make and test such a material in the lab to confirm the simulations.
But researchers, such as Professor Pendry, believe the initial work is already an important first step.
Acoustic cloaks could be used to make soundproof rooms or buildings
"It's not an unrealistic blueprint - it doesn't demand that we do extraordinary things," he said. "This is something that can easily be manufactured."
If a material could be commercialised, both researchers believe it could have many applications.
Walls of the material could be built to soundproof houses or it could be used in concert halls to enhance acoustics or direct noise away from certain areas.
The military may also be interested, the researchers believe, to conceal submarines from detection by sonar or to create a new class of stealth ships.
However, the material may need to be optimised first.
"You don't want to wrap a submarine in something that is heavy and several inches thick," said Professor Pendry. "It would add quite a lot to the Navy's fuel bill, I think."
Light touch
The research builds on work by scientists from Duke University in North Carolina, US, and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Invisibility cloak Image: Duke University
Duke University researchers created an invisibility cloak in 2006
Earlier this year, independent teams from the two institutions demonstrated the mathematics necessary to create an acoustic cloak.
Other scientists have shown that objects can be cloaked from electromagnetic radiation, such as microwaves.
For example, in 2006, scientists at Duke University showed how a small copper cylinder could be rendered invisible from microwaves.
The technique used a metamaterial consisting of 10 fibreglass rings covered with copper elements, to deflect the microwaves around the object and restore them on the other side.
To an observer it looked like the microwaves had passed straight through the cylinder.
Other researchers hope to build the holy grail of cloaking: an invisibility device that would channel light at wavelengths normally visible to the eye. [Perhaps already long ago done in the U.S. military black projects, particularly in the Stealth aircraft under certain electrified wing operating conditions...]
However, this technology is in a more primitive state, according to Dr Sanchez-Dehesa.
"We believe the acoustic cloak is more feasible than a similar device for light," he said. [Particularly because the similar device for light would certainly be classified immediately if it is yet to already exist as classified right now.]
---
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7450321.stm
84.1. Insect Repellents
[repost]
WNV And Insect Repellants
From Dr. Gayle Eversole
6-29-2008
Regarding the CNN about the CDC official who got West Nile...
"There is no effective treatment for the virus. In more serious cases, the CDC recommends that patients be hospitalized so they can receive supportive care with intravenous fluids.
Researchers are working to develop a vaccine, but Petersen notes that it will be years before it is available to humans.
The best way to stop the spread of West Nile virus is through prevention, he said.
"Wear mosquito repellent, especially around dawn and dusk, which are peak mosquito biting times," Petersen suggests.
He says bug sprays that contain concentrations of the chemical DEET up to 50 percent work the best. Be sure to read the label or check with a doctor regarding the acceptable concentrations for children.
Spraying repellent that contains permethrin on clothing is another option. Experts caution not to put the chemical directly on exposed skin."
I would like to make the following comments -
It is possible for a product called Millenium CF may be effective in helping to defend against this viral disease in addition to supportive care and the need for IV fluids to protect from dehydration secondary to vomiting. I wouldn't encourage getting a vaccine for this or any disease.
http://www.beyondpesticides.org/mosquito/documents/permethrin.htm
Permethrin is made from marigolds but it can be very toxic and has been labelled a carcinogen, especially in the synthetic form.
It is highly toxic to bees and fish.
As far as DEET goes you might want to consider the information in this article I wrote for publication later this week in a print publication that runs my herb column every month.
Bug Me Not With Home Grown Plants
by Gayle Eversole
Natural Notes On Health
Bugs have been in an overabundant supply around these parts in case you haven't noticed.
To keep them from biting you, most mainstream sources provide information suggesting the use of DEET based insect repellants.
This information is spread widely through various media outlets but does not include the dangers of DEET.
DEET is a neurotoxin and is unsafe for children. It may not be safe for adults, pets or the environment. Avoid using repellents containing DEET.
DEET, or diethyl-metatoluamide, can cause an array of health problems ranging from dizziness to death.
After application to the skin DEET is absorbed into the bloodstream, and remains up to several months or more depending on one's ability to detoxify. Side effects may include rashes, skin eruptions, nausea, dermatitis, scarring, muscle cramps, irritability, lethargy, seizures, cerebral swelling, cardio-respiratory arrest, and fatal encephalopathy.
The American Academy of Pediatrics state that DEET is not considered safe for any child under the age of 5.
Poison Control Centers reported more than 6700 reactions to insect repellents in 1995, with 4300 related to children 6 and under.
A 26 year old man died after using DEET twice according to ABC news.
An 8 year old boy suffered seizures after being sprayed twice with DEET. DEET is toxic to children when it is used in the home by others.
Never combine insecticides with each other or use them with other medications. Even so simple a drug as an antihistamine could interact with DEET to cause toxic side effects.
Don't spray your yard for bugs and then take medications.
Until we have more data on potential interactions in humans, safe is better than sorry."
Some things you can do include eliminating standing water, and using select plants, birds, bugs, fish, and amphibians - gifts of nature - that help control mosquitoes and other pests.
Safe Mosquito Repellent
Yarrow tincture - when outdoors spray skin every hour. You can also make a healing ointment with yarrow flower tops and oil or fat. Yarrow oil is antibacterial, relieves pain, and helpful in healing all types of wounds.
A US Army study showed yarrow tincture to be more effective than DEET for repelling ticks, mosquitoes and sand flies.
Peppermint is known to repel ants, mosquitoes, ticks, spiders, mice, et al.
Planting mint near your doorway acts as a repellent. Placing clay pots planted with mint close to your doorways works too.
Eating bananas draws mosquitoes by increasing the amount of carbon dioxide given off when you breathe.
Mosquitoes are attracted by this gas.
To make a safe insect repellent you will need:
Pure Peppermint Essential Oil
Distilled Water or carrier oil of your choice. Avoid selecting oil sold in plastic bottles.
Glass or PET plastic spritzer bottle
To make a 2% solution place 2 ounces of distilled water in the spritzer bottle. Add 25 drops of pure peppermint essential oil to the bottle.
To make a 5% solution, add 50 drops of pure peppermint essential oil to 2 ounces of water.
Shake well and spray into the air, near doors, along the baseboards, or on your skin.
The 2% solution may be used for pets. Spray it on your hand and rub it gently on your pet, or take a piece of cotton fabric and tie it on your pet's collar, then apply the repellent to the cotton.
We also suggest Green Ban herbal powder for people and pets.
The American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society, and an Iowa State University research group discovered that catnip also repels cockroaches.
Nepetalactone, catnip's active ingredient, is about 10 times more effective than DEET.
Most commercial insect repellents contain about 5 percent to 25 percent DEET. Presumably, much less catnip oil would be needed in a formulation to have the same level of repellency as a DEET-based repellent.
Using DEET in repellents is extremely troubling.
Catnip is a member of the mint family and can be used in the recipe above. Other pure essential oils that are helpful in repelling insects are Neem, Basil, Lemon Grass, Citronella, Lemon Eucalyptus (high in the same compounds as citronella) and Palmarosa.
And at Chreating Health Institute we offer exceptionally pure therapeutic grade essential oils for making repellents and other uses.
Gayle Eversole, DHom, PhD, MH, NP, ND
Founder and Director, Creating Health Institute and The Oake Centre for natural health education
http://naturalhealthnews.blogspot.com
85. Contraceptives
This might be within the area of 'medicine' though I think it is different enough in use to be a separate category of social material use.
There are different herbs historically known for contraceptives, as well as female and male pills for contraceptives (the latter, based on cotton extracts).
86. Breathable Air
[oxygen tanks, proper percentages of breathable air]
Composition of
dry atmosphere, by volume[5] ppmv: parts per million by volume
Gas Volume
Nitrogen (N2)780,840 ppmv (78.084%)
Oxygen (O2) 209,460 ppmv (20.946%)
Argon (Ar) 9,340 ppmv (0.9340%)
Carbon dioxide(CO2)383 ppmv(0.0383%)
Neon (Ne) 18.18 ppmv (0.001818%)
Helium(He) 5.24 ppmv (0.000524%)
Methane(CH4) 1.745 ppmv (0.0001745%)
Krypton(Kr) 1.14 ppmv (0.000114%)
Hydrogen(H2) 0.55 ppmv (0.000055%)
Not included in above dry atmosphere:
Water vapor (H2O) ~0.40% over full atmosphere, typically 1% to 4% near surface
Minor components of air not listed above include[citation needed]
Gas Volume
nitrous oxide 0.3 ppmv (0.00003%)
xenon 0.09 ppmv (9x10-6%)
ozone 0.0 to 0.07 ppmv (0%-7x10-6%)
nitrogen dioxide 0.02 ppmv (2x10-6%)
iodine 0.01 ppmv (1x10-6%)
carbon monoxide trace
ammonia trace
How easy to neglect what is all around us and required with every breath.
The fish definitely forgets it lives in a world of water for it to appear this late in the list. Perhaps it's an appropriate cap to the list (if this is truly the close of the list...there may be more categories), to ponder how we wrap ourselves and the commodity ecology in the gaseous chemical effect from ecological relations, unconsciously everyday.
Breathe a network of the whole commodity ecology, the air.
Drink in a network of the whole commodity ecology with water.
Raise your food in a network of the whole commodity ecology in the way the soil is treated in human agriculture and industry, etc. (huge demineralization over the past century in industrialized agriculture is slowly raising systemic disease levels; though there are solutions that are known and posted under the 'soil/dirt' category, read there).
KEEP IN MIND that all 'services' of oxygen production are dependent upon the 'accidental' history of the ecology in which we have come to be dependent.
Oxygen is 'not natural.'
Oxygen is a biological product of the history of the larger ecology as a whole.
Clean oxygen upon which we depend for our every breath really is a 'biological pollutant'. Developed as 'industrial waste' by early chlorophyll-based life on the planet (for green plants were industrious in expanding all over the face of the planet), this oxygen 'waste' is instrumental currently of our healthy ecology because of all the other creatures that depend on this 'biological waste', oxygen. Ecology itself historically developed like ecological modernization--taking wastes into itself and associating 'cradle to cradle' forms of production instead of letting oxygen wastes be unintegrated in life.
Oxygen-based life production then became another whole level of life as it became a durable infrastructure making up 20% of the atmosphere. (It was a pollutant because it killed off a lot of early bacteria that hated oxygen, which receded into the depths of the earth or deep underwater, or as most people know it, through forms of food poisoning from anaerobic bacteria that only grow in the lack of oxygen.)
Oxygen waste became so stable, that reptiles and mammals started to take advantage of the free oxygen service. These forms of life flowed from the seas (with its dissolved oxygen in the water), then this mobile life went into the land later.
Oxygen wastes from plants still flows into all of us, and oxygen is the chemical which we are the most dependent upon as mammals I would argue.
Moreover, mess up the durable percentages (i.e., more CO2 (carbon dioxide), CO (carbon monoxide), or more ozone (O3), or less oxygen) and we die or our health is impaired. Ask the canary in the coalmine. Ask the emphysema patient.
74.2. Shock-absorbents
[more on d3O]
Military to use new gel that stops bullets
A new "bullet-busting" shock-absorbent gel is set to save the lives of British soldiers by substantially reinforcing their helmets.
By Thomas Harding Defence Correspondent
Last Updated: 2:34PM GMT 27 Feb 2009
d3O gel: New gel to stop bullets
Richard Palmer invented the D3O shock absorbing material that locks instantly into a solidified form when it is hit at high impact
Photo: REUTERS
The Ministry of Defence has awarded £100,000 to a small company that has developed a special substance that hardens immediately on impact.
It is hoped that the shock-absorbing substance will soon be fitted onto the inside of soldiers' helmets reducing in half the kinetic energy of a bullet or piece of shrapnel and hopefully making them impenetrable.
The gel, called d3O locks instantly into a solidified form when it is hit at high impact.
"When moved slowly, the molecules will slip past each other, but in a high-energy impact they will snag and lock together, becoming solid," said Richard Palmer, who invented the gel. "In doing so they absorb energy."
The d3O gel has already expanded into a range of sporting goods and is found in ski gloves, shin guards, ballet shoe pointes and horse-riding equipment. The substance relies on "intelligent molecules" that "shock lock" together to absorb energy and create a solid pad. Once the pressure has gone they return to their normal flexible state.
The gel is stitched into clothing or equipment that is supple until it stiffens into a protective barrier on impact.
If the product is taken on by defence contractors it could be used to reduce the current bulky and restrictive armour used by troops in on the frontline with gel pads inserted into key protective areas.
Mr Palmer said it was the equivalent to comparing "cumbersome" RoboCop to Spiderman with the latter's protection "nimble covert and flexible".
---
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/4862103/Military-to-use-new-gel-that-stops-bullets.html
The numbering is off. I'll figure out why later. Though I have a draft paper with #87 as breathable air instead of #86 as breathable air (in this web version). So I continue with:
#88: desiccants
#89: moisturizers
89 different social uses for materials, and the list as I said keeps growing as I look around our social world of materials to make the list of social uses of materials as comprehensive as possible.
#90: Life-Extension (opposite of earlier poisons category, i.e., life curtailment)
There is a whole consumptive use category to certain materials for life extension. This is more than basic foods, as people are directed toward many other things (or even food reduction as a social choice) besides foods in a quest for longevity.
When I put up the poisons category, it failed to occur to me that life extension is its required opposite. So we've reached #90.
Interesting work on methionine
Vegetarian low protein diet could be key to long life
A vegetarian diet could be the key to a long life, a new study suggests.
By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent
Published: 7:30AM GMT 03 Dec 2009
Reducing consumption of a protein found in fish and meat could slow the ageing process and increase life expectancy, according to the research.
Scientists have long believed that an ultra low calorie diet - aproximately 60 per cent of normal levels - can lead to greater longevity.
But now a team of British researchers have discovered that the key to the effect is a reduction in a specific protein and not the total number of calories.
That means that by reducing foods that contain the protein - such as meat, fish and certain nuts - people should live longer without the need to cut down on meals.
Dr Matthew Piper, from the Institute of Healthy Ageing at University College London, said that a vegetarian diet could be one way to achieve the effect.
Studies in animals including monkeys have shown that reducing food intake can benefit health and increase lifespan.
Researchers have found that reducing calories by as much as 30 per cent could reduce risks of developing heart disease or cancer by half and increase lifetimes by nearly a third.
The extreme diets - just above malnutrition levels - add an extra 25 years to the average life in Britain with the vast majority of people living to their 100th birthday
But in a series of new experiments on fruit flies, scientists discovered that simply varying the mix of amino acids in the diet affected lifespan.
Further study revealed that one particular amino acid, methionine, made all the difference. [It's similar in basic metabolism to tryptophan, both have only one codon, so two basic metabolistic paths?: "Methionine is one of only two amino acids encoded by a single codon (AUG) in the standard genetic code (tryptophan, encoded by UGG, is the other)."]
Although flies and people are very different, the researchers believe the effects are likely to be conserved throughout a wide range of different species including humans.
Dr Piper said: "It's not as simple as saying 'eat less nuts' or 'eat more nuts' to live longer - it's about getting the protein balance right, a factor that might be particularly important for high protein diets, such as the Atkins diet or body builders' protein supplements."
Methionine is essential to the formation of all proteins. It is naturally abundant in foods such as fish and meats as well as sesame seeds, Brazil nuts and wheat germ.
Humans have around four times more genes than the fruit fly, but both share many similar genes with basic biological functions.
Therefore, even though the fruit fly does not on the surface resemble humans, many findings about its basic biology can be extrapolated to humans.
"This work was done on flies but similar results have been found in mice," said Dr Piper. "If it turns it has the same effect on humans, then the message is avoid high levels of methionine." [tests like this are undone so far, so keep that in mind]
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
health/healthnews/6710896/
Vegetarian-low-protein-diet-could-be-key-to-long-life.html
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