...Matt Damon film, 'Elysium', a typical leftwing paranoiac entry, but there was something in the story that I found enticing. On the utopian Elysium space station, there was an MRI device that could cure whatever illness the patient inside was suffering from without invasive surgery. Sounds very futuristic but the fact is- not really.--Alicia ColonI saw the film at a local IMAX theater. You have to take everything in these movies with a grain of salt. But that bit about curing everything with just one machine is more than a bit interesting. Besides that, a space station isn't a century away, either. That is, unless something bad happens. In that case, there may never be any space stations at all. We are all living on a tight rope. Great things or awful things are possible.
Al Fin: "Cowboy Commentary", aka "Eat your veggies" The Flag banner is posted in order to defy those who would make patriotic symbols illegal or disreputable.
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Our Future Could Be Awesome If Only...
American Thinker
Industrial Heat, LLC Has Acquired Rossi’s E-Cat Technology
PESN
Yeah, I've been noticing a little flurry of activity on the cold fusion front. At the moment, I have no comment on the acquisition because I don't know too much about them. Peswiki has some info here, so that's a start.
Where's my E-cat? I want my e-kitty now. Here kitty kitty.
Okay, I don't want to make too much fun of this. This could be a big deal. A very big deal. As always, we have to wait and see.
Yeah, I've been noticing a little flurry of activity on the cold fusion front. At the moment, I have no comment on the acquisition because I don't know too much about them. Peswiki has some info here, so that's a start.
Where's my E-cat? I want my e-kitty now. Here kitty kitty.
Okay, I don't want to make too much fun of this. This could be a big deal. A very big deal. As always, we have to wait and see.
Predictions are really hard, especially about the future
That may be attributable to Yogi Berra, who is well known for his humorous malaprops.
I was thinking of predictions and how hard they are. That's because of a number of factors, of which boils down to one basic thing--- stuff you don't know about.
The presumption is that if you had enough data you can predict the future with some accuracy. That may be true, but it is also true that you may not be able to get the information that you need.
This is what intelligence services are about. This is what spying is all about. Governments can afford this, private citizens not so much. How can a private citizen avoid being run over by a freight train? You may decide to stay away from the railroad tracks. Or, if you do play the game with the big boys, you may need something to equalize your odds. Otherwise, you may end up as roadkill.
I'm always looking out for information. I'm not roadkill yet, but the game is still on.
I was thinking of predictions and how hard they are. That's because of a number of factors, of which boils down to one basic thing--- stuff you don't know about.
The presumption is that if you had enough data you can predict the future with some accuracy. That may be true, but it is also true that you may not be able to get the information that you need.
This is what intelligence services are about. This is what spying is all about. Governments can afford this, private citizens not so much. How can a private citizen avoid being run over by a freight train? You may decide to stay away from the railroad tracks. Or, if you do play the game with the big boys, you may need something to equalize your odds. Otherwise, you may end up as roadkill.
I'm always looking out for information. I'm not roadkill yet, but the game is still on.
Some organizing principles
Themes
Another way of being as it relates to societal decline: solving problems v managing conflict. Our leadership wants to manage conflicts, it doesn't work diligently enough to solve problems. Either the quality and attitude of the leadership improves, or we should change the leadership.
The odds of this happening? At this point, the former doesn't look good, but the latter looks like a real possibility. However, there's no always or never to this stuff.
Standards
The truth is a slippery thing, but it seems that most conflict revolves around people who have taken a rather rigid position based upon their notion of what truth is. The "gold standard" should be the truth, but truth is the first casualty in war. When a war breaks out, anything can and does happen. It is generally not a good idea to start one, or be surprised by one. It is a good idea to be as prepared as possible for one, while doing the most possible to avoid one.
Goal:
To make money. I'm attempting to be of service to readers who are doing what they can about the situation for their own interests, or even for decision makers who are looking for a better way of dealing with society's problems.
This may sound like it is presumptuous and way over my pay grade, but I have done a few projects that have worked over the years. It hasn't led to fame nor fortune, but it has been a modest success. What makes me qualified to claim these ideas will work? I don't make that claim, but I'll make my best judgment, and you can take it from there.
Previous
Another way of being as it relates to societal decline: solving problems v managing conflict. Our leadership wants to manage conflicts, it doesn't work diligently enough to solve problems. Either the quality and attitude of the leadership improves, or we should change the leadership.
The odds of this happening? At this point, the former doesn't look good, but the latter looks like a real possibility. However, there's no always or never to this stuff.
Standards
The truth is a slippery thing, but it seems that most conflict revolves around people who have taken a rather rigid position based upon their notion of what truth is. The "gold standard" should be the truth, but truth is the first casualty in war. When a war breaks out, anything can and does happen. It is generally not a good idea to start one, or be surprised by one. It is a good idea to be as prepared as possible for one, while doing the most possible to avoid one.
Goal:
To make money. I'm attempting to be of service to readers who are doing what they can about the situation for their own interests, or even for decision makers who are looking for a better way of dealing with society's problems.
This may sound like it is presumptuous and way over my pay grade, but I have done a few projects that have worked over the years. It hasn't led to fame nor fortune, but it has been a modest success. What makes me qualified to claim these ideas will work? I don't make that claim, but I'll make my best judgment, and you can take it from there.
Previous
Absolutely brutal (and correct) assessment of Wendy Davis’ core political problem
Legal Insurrection
comment:
The news of Wendy Davis' political demise may be wildly exaggerated. Although this is Texas we're talking about here, things are also going downhill in this state as well. It is only a little better here than elsewhere.
comment:
The news of Wendy Davis' political demise may be wildly exaggerated. Although this is Texas we're talking about here, things are also going downhill in this state as well. It is only a little better here than elsewhere.
Using this blog to make money
As a ribbon to tie up the whole package of posts that describe for a reader the reason why they should read this blog, I present this post.
It is a part of a series, ex post facto the other posts. These will be updated to include this one and put up on the left sidebar under the series heading. Call this the first one, which is actually the last one, and it will go in reverse chronological order. The last post is here.
Since the theme for the day is what the blog is about, of course, it is about making money.
There may be a money making opportunity right now in the markets. Playing the markets may be the best way for a schnook like me to make money. At this point in my life, it is too late to become a rocket scientist or a nuclear engineer. Or to become---whatever. Like what Flip Wilson used to say, what you see is what you get, honey! That means to write about it in a blog. The blog is IT.
I could be wrong about the markets, and often am, but this market may be about to take a fall. A big one.
This is not investment advice by any stretch of the imagination, but it could be an investment idea. The trouble is, if you haven't done this already, you may be too late. However, there still could be some time.
The idea is to go short. I won't be a stock picker here, though. Do your own due diligence. What you could do is to do a short etf. If you don't know about that, look it up. I won't be giving tutorials here.
Naturally, you may want to be long on precious metals. But if you were reading this blog all along, you should have figured that out already.
Update:
Next
It is a part of a series, ex post facto the other posts. These will be updated to include this one and put up on the left sidebar under the series heading. Call this the first one, which is actually the last one, and it will go in reverse chronological order. The last post is here.
Since the theme for the day is what the blog is about, of course, it is about making money.
There may be a money making opportunity right now in the markets. Playing the markets may be the best way for a schnook like me to make money. At this point in my life, it is too late to become a rocket scientist or a nuclear engineer. Or to become---whatever. Like what Flip Wilson used to say, what you see is what you get, honey! That means to write about it in a blog. The blog is IT.
I could be wrong about the markets, and often am, but this market may be about to take a fall. A big one.
This is not investment advice by any stretch of the imagination, but it could be an investment idea. The trouble is, if you haven't done this already, you may be too late. However, there still could be some time.
The idea is to go short. I won't be a stock picker here, though. Do your own due diligence. What you could do is to do a short etf. If you don't know about that, look it up. I won't be giving tutorials here.
Naturally, you may want to be long on precious metals. But if you were reading this blog all along, you should have figured that out already.
Update:
Next
Ideas for energy that I like
This is a post a lot like the other one I did yesterday about space. Since the blog is handicapping potential solutions to big problems, the other big one, which is energy, should not be left out.
I will follow the same conventions as I did with that one, but will add a couple new twists. One twist is to handicap it as to its likely adoption in the future. A second twist is that I will say what I don't like about it, or put in some negatives about it. Like before, this is in no particular order.
For the record, I positively do not like solar, wind, and other so-called renewables. These are huge wastes of money and time as they will definitely not work. At least not on the ground. Solar energy may work in space.
Update: Part 2 of a series. Part 3 here. Part 1 here.
I will follow the same conventions as I did with that one, but will add a couple new twists. One twist is to handicap it as to its likely adoption in the future. A second twist is that I will say what I don't like about it, or put in some negatives about it. Like before, this is in no particular order.
- Molten-salt reactors What I like Proven in the lab. Only one step from commercialization. What I don't like Politics is against it. Nuclear energy, especially fission energy, is becoming almost forbidden. To put it more accurately, I don't like the leadership on the issue, not the technology itself. Odd of success? Maybe 50-50. With appropriate leadership, it's a can't miss prospect.
- Focus Fusion ( aneutronic fusion method ) What I like It is also on the list for fusion propulsion for space travel. Very, very elegant energy solution. What I don't like People do not see the value of this proposal. To put this one more accurately, what I don't like is the failure of leadership on this issue as well, not the technology itself. However, this may be changing for the better. Odds of success? Technology wise maybe less than 50-50. Otherwise better than 50-50.
- Polywell Fusion ( aneutronic fusion method) What I like Very elegant. What I don't like May not work. The original inventor of the idea has died. There is nobody to move it forward like Robert Bussard could have. Odds of success? Less than 50-50.
- Cold fusion What I like Even more elegant solution than aneutronic fusion. What I don't like It may be a futile quest for the Holy Grail of Energy. In reality, there may not be any clean and safe source of energy at all, and the risk is that the quest could be a big waste of time. Odds of success? Less than 50-50.
- Muon catalyzed fusion What I like It almost works, so somebody may figure it out and make it work someday. What I don't like This one is like Focus Fusion. It is a technology that is being overlooked. It's not a technology problem, it's a people problem. Odds of success? Less than 50-50.
- Hydrogen fuel cells What I like It can work today. What I don't like Again, nothing wrong with the tech, it's the failure of leadership that's the problem. Odds of success? Less than 50-50 because of poor leadership, as for the technology itself, it already exists.
- (updated) Fracking What I like It works today. What I don't like If there's anything here that causes concern, it that we can't burn fuel in the atmosphere forever. This changes the atmosphere. Do we really want to do that? Odds of success? N/A since it already works and is in production. Long term prognosis is uncertain.
- (updated) Ethanol and Flex Fuel Vehicles What I like It works today What I don't like It doesn't include methanol, but ethanol could be produced cheaply soon from methane with new GTL methods. Odds of success? N/A because it already exists, but ethanol from natural gas doesn't exist yet. The odds of that are better than 50/50.
For the record, I positively do not like solar, wind, and other so-called renewables. These are huge wastes of money and time as they will definitely not work. At least not on the ground. Solar energy may work in space.
Update: Part 2 of a series. Part 3 here. Part 1 here.
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