| Wednesday,
Subject: The Grand SLAM: Rocketing Water to the Moon
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/060524_slam_moon.html
<http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/060524_slam_moon.html>
The greatest snowball "fight" of all time, and we
would all have a front row seat:
" strikingly simple concept would provide efficient
water provisions for human outposts/bases on the Moon. The idea is to
repeatedly clobber our already crater-rich neighbor with tons of water
ice—to establish an "anywhere, anytime" delivery system.
Not only could chucking a payload of water ice to the
Moon help sustain an expeditionary crew there, the impact mimics—in
experimental form—a comet strike. Therefore, it’s a double-whammy: A science
mission wrapped within an exploration capability test mission.
Spearheading the speculative ploy—called SLAM—is Alan
Stern, executive director of the Space Science and Engineering Division here
at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). He’s the lead scientist on another
far out, but on the way, endeavor – the New Horizons spacecraft that is
outbound for Pluto.
"I hope the SLAM idea stimulates thought and gets
people thinking a little bit more out of the box," Stern told SPACE.com.
"When we have people on the Moon, they are going to need water. This is an
exceptionally efficient, low-cost way to get it there."
Petronius
One of our insurance plans for the Moon Race
involved a one-way mission with hard-landed supplies. It's sure cheaper than
soft landing.
============
Subject: Little ice age
From physorg, "little ice age" caused by reduction in
flow volume of gulf stream:
http://www.physorg.com/news84029857.html <http://www.physorg.com/news84029857.html>
Chris Aspen Research
No group of professionals meets except to conspire
against the public at large. Mark Twain
The Greenland colonies were nowhere near the
Gulf Stream.
==========
Subject: Re: Litvinenko,NATO, etc (Mail 422, Monday)
And this:
http://russiaprofile.org/cdi/2006/11/29/4802.wbp
On 11/29/06, Alexey Goldin <alexey.goldin@gmail.com>
wrote:
> The big story is the ex-Soviet spy dying of polonium
poisoning. The Russian FSB has its fingerprints on the case.
This is new low. Polonium is easily available from
online stores, like http://www.2spi.com/catalog/photo/statmaster.shtml <http://www.2spi.com/catalog/photo/statmaster.shtml>
On top of it, Litvinenko died just before important Russia-E.U. meeting
and caused a lot of difficulties for Putin. Plus he was virtually unknown in
Russia and was only a very weak irritant. I have no idea why FSB would be
interested in this murder.
To add gasoline to fire:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/28/news/nato.php <http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/11/28/news/nato.php>
"a leading U.S. senator has called on the alliance to
come to the aid of any member whose energy sources are threatened by using
the organization's Article 5 mutual defense clause."
Many people in Russia interpret it so that NATO will
use military power if Russia stops supplying gas or oil to some country for
non-payment.
Why otherwise extremely intelligent people need to
assume the worst about Russia motives in every case? Do you really need
restart cold (or hot) war again? Is Iraq not enough?
I tend to agree with your idea that building hundreds
of new nuclear power plants would make U.S. less dependent on outside
supplies and less interested in foreign adventures, making U.S. and the rest
of the world much safer. Maybe we finally could stop being enemies, even if
we (Russia and US) can not become friends for some fundamental (unknown to
me) reason.
Alexey
===========
I received this today:
From:
unesco_chimark@jumpy.it
[mailto:unesco_chimark@jumpy.it]
Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2006 10:54 AM
Subject: Application
Our Mission The U.S. Committee for UNESCO supports the
work of the World Health Organization to improve the quality of life for
millions of people around the world by promoting democratic governance,
poverty reduction,rural development, crisis prevention and recovery, energy
and Environmental issues, and reducing the impact of the HIV/AIDS
pandemic.It accomplishes these aims by building a broad-based American
constituency that educates for international development and by identifying
U.S resources for specific WVI projects that support U.S national interests.
A. Position: Environmental Officer Location: Belgium Salary: $170,600.00 USD.
Contract: Full time They are responsible for development oversight,
management, and evaluation of programs in the following areas:bio-diversity,
conservation, forestry, wildlife management, water and coastal resources
management, environmental education, environmental policy, environmentally
sustainable agriculture, community based natural resources management, urban
and industrial pollution reduction,urban planning and management (including
such areas as housing, water and sanitation), urban and housing finance,
energy efficiency and conservation, renewable energy applications, clean
energy technologies,energy sector planning and global climate change.
Environment Officers apply both a technical knowledge of their program area
and a variety of management and program evaluation knowledge in order to
ensure that projects meet the needs of who- usa 's partners and customers in
a cost-effective manner. B. Senior Program Officer for Nutrition Location:
South-Africa/U.S.A Contract: Full time Salary:$180,678.00 USD Overall
Responsibilities The Senior Program Officer for Nutrition works closely with
Senior Child Survival/ImmWVIization. Program Managers to plan, coordinate,
implement, monitor, and evaluate child survival activities, with special
attention to strengthening nutrition program activities. Work with the
Senior Child Survival/Immunization Advisor and the State Child
Survival/Malaria Program Managers in coordinate, implement, monitor, and
evaluate the country child survival activity plan. In particular, design,
plan, implement, and evaluate nutrition actions as an integral part of
COMPASS activities. Coordinate, plan, implement, monitor, and evaluate
nutrition activities related to Vitamin A, breastfeeding promotion,
complementary feeding, nutrition activities related to WHO organization and
National Immunization Days (NIDs), Quality Protein Maize (QPM) related
issues, communications/behavior change, and community mobilization. Evaluate
the costs and effectiveness of Positive Deviance (PD)/Hearth approaches to
improving childhood health and nutrition. Identify and coordinate with
partners from The World Health Organization Children's Fund (UNICEF), World
Bank, World Health Organization(WHO), Canadian International Development
Agency/Micronutrient Initiative (CIDA/MI), Department for
InternationalDevelopment(DFID)International Institute of Tropical
Agriculture (IITA), Helen Keller International (HKI),community-Directed
Treatment and Ivermectin (CDTI) Program, other academic institutions,
Private Voluntary Organizations (PVOs), and Non-governmental Organizations
(NGOs) for the development of activities at scale to reach high geographical
coverage.
C. Program/Project Development Officer Location:
United Kingdom/U.S.A Salary:$184 ,000.00 USD Duration: Full time They are
responsible for strategy development, policy formulation, performance
reporting, project management, and public outreach. They are looked upon to
ensure that the Mission's operational procedures are designed to elicit
teamwork, emphasize shared values, make known programming priorities, and
reward innovation. Program/Project development officers must be able to
apply leadership and management skills in order to ensure that program
activities are designed and implemented to achieve stated objectives, within
resource constraints and in a timely manner
D.Executive Officers Location; France Salary;
$170,000.00 USD They oversee a wide range of administrative and logistical
support functions including personnel management, contracting, procurement,
property management, motor pool management, travel management,
employee/family housing and maintenance management. In addition to having
direct responsibility for providing the daily support of the agency's field
mission, duties include planning for future personnel and procurement
requirements at the assigned duty station.
E. Education Development Officers Location;
France/Netherlands/U.S.A Salary; $180,000.00 USD They analyze, advise, and
assist withthe development of host country education human resources and
manpowerplanning systems. Strategies are designed to improve existing
education programs as well as to promote organizational competencies and
skills acquisition related to both individual and institutional development.
Duties Include participation in Agency policy formulation, sector analysis,
program and project design,program monitoring, and evaluation of activities
in education and human resources. F. Agriculture/Rural Development Officers
Location; South-Africa/U.S.A Salary; $175,000.00 USD They advise senior WHO
and host government officials on agriculture and rural development projects.
They identify problems and propose solutions, participate in project design
and development, and manage and evaluate programs. Duties include
coordinating the flow of resources for projects,> analyzing the effects of
proposed policies, legislation, and programs and advising on
interdisciplinary rural development programs. G.Program Officer Location;
South-Africa/U.S.A Salary; $174,000.00 USD H.PROGRAMS TEAM LEADER Location;
GERMANY/U.S.A Salary;$170,000.00 USD I. Operations Director Location; SPAIN/U.S.A
Salary;$180,000.00 USD
J.Economic Affairs Location; South-Africa/U.S.A
Salary; $155,000.00 USD K.Medical Location; South-Africa/U.S.A/UK Salary;
$185,000.00 USD
GENERAL REQUIREMENTS/SELECTION Applicants are selected
on the basis of academic credentials , experience and other relevant
factors. Successful Applicants are invitedto come to Washington, for an
interview/ Training Candidates are interviewed on their related knowledge,
skills and abilities. Application is open to all interested applicants from
any nationality.
HOW TO APPLY Please send your resume/CV to:
recruitment@us-fr.it.st Dr.Brown Smith Recruitment Officer UNESCO Liason to
WHO United Nations Population Fund 18745 Sioux Drive spring Lake 49456 MI
FAX -1-206-339-2977
I have no comments on authenticity, but the
salaries do not astonish me.
=========
Subject: No good deed goes unpunished
The law of unintended consequences will now prevent
the helping of those less fortunate. Even if not completely sanitary, surely
it would be better than “dumpster diving” or not eating at all!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/
article/2006/11/28/AR2006112801583.html
Freshly Baked Handouts Forbidden in Fairfax
County Says Health Of Homeless Is at Issue
By Jacqueline L. Salmon
<http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/email/jacqueline+l.+salmon/>
Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday,
November 29, 2006; Page A01
The casserole has been canned.
Under a tough new Fairfax County policy,
residents can no longer donate food prepared in their homes or a church
kitchen -- be it a tuna casserole, sandwiches or even a batch of cookies
-- unless the kitchen is approved by the county, health officials said
yesterday.
They said the crackdown on home-cooked
meals is aimed at preventing food poisoning among homeless people.
But it is infuriating operators of shelters
for the homeless and leaders of a coalition of churches that provides
shelter and meals to homeless people during the winter. They said the
strict standards for food served in the shelters will make it more
difficult to serve healthy, hot meals to homeless people. The
enforcement also, they said, makes little sense.
"We're very aware that a number of homeless
people eat out of dumpsters, and mom's pot roast has got to be healthier
than that," said Jim Brigl, chief executive of Fairfax Area Christian
Emergency & Transitional Services. "But that doesn't meet the code."
County officials estimate that about 2,000
people are homeless in Fairfax. They are served by a network of shelters
that swells to more than three dozen over the winter. FACETS, a Fairfax
nonprofit group, coordinates most hypothermia shelters, which are set to
open Friday in two dozen churches and other facilities.
The crackdown came after the county Health
Department received a complaint about food being served to the homeless
population that was bedding down at area houses of worship as part of
the wintertime hypothermia program that began last year. Health
officials took a closer look at what shelter residents ate and where the
food came from.
Under state and county code, food served to
the public must be prepared in a kitchen that has been inspected and
certified by the county Health Department. Those standards are high: a
commercial-grade refrigerator, a three-compartment sink to wash, rinse
and sanitize dishes and a separate hand-washing sink, among other
requirements.
Health officials said they weren't aware
that food from unapproved kitchens was being served in homeless
shelters.
"We're dealing with a medically fragile
population . . . so they're more susceptible to food-borne illnesses
than the general population," said Tom Crow, the county Health
Department's director of environmental health. "We're trying to protect
those people."
To help the churches prepare, the Health
Department is waiving a $60 fee for certification and is holding
additional safe food-handling classes for church volunteers. It is also
giving churches that do not have approved kitchens a list of other
houses of worship with such facilities.
"We're not trying to come across as being a
heavy-handed government," Crow said.
Nonetheless, ministers from several of the
two dozen participating churches said they oppose the crackdown and hope
the Health Department backs off.
"We see the reason for being certified.
They want to ensure people's health and safety," said the Rev. Keary
Kincannon of Rising Hope United Methodist Mission Church in the
Alexandria portion of Fairfax County, which will open as a hypothermia
shelter for four months starting Friday.
"On the other hand, how much do you have to
be a stickler with that?" Kincannon asked. "What's more important:
whether we're open to have somebody get in out of the cold and get a
meal? There's kind of a balance there."
The Rev. Judy Fender of Burke United
Methodist Church said 50 volunteers had been planning to cook beef stew,
pork loin and other nutritious meals in the church kitchen when it hosts
the hypothermia shelter Dec. 17 through 23.
But she found out this week that, because
the kitchen is not Health Department-approved, it will have to prepare
its food elsewhere.
It will be a logistical nightmare, Fender
predicted, and is an insult to members who have cooked meals for years
in the church kitchen without any problems.
"Why do [they] think that the traditional
way of fixing a home-cooked meal is going to poison people off the
street?" Fender asked.<snip>
The Iron Law of Bureaucracy at work.
===========
Subject: Fwd: Fw: Is Apple Computer Insulting Islam?
Jerry:
Is there anything that doesn't "offend" somebody? If
so, I'm sure somebody can be found to fill that vacancy......
--Jim
<<<---BEGIN FORWARD--->>>
Is Apple Computer Insulting Islam?
By Kemal Silay
TCS Daily, November 14, 2006
http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=111406A
Last month the Middle East Media Research
Institute (MEMRI) reported that "an Islamist website posted a message
alerting Muslims to what it claims is a new insult to Islam" [MEMRI,
Special Dispatch Series, No. 1315]. As reported by MEMRI, the Islamist
site claims that the Apple Store, Fifth Avenue "is meant to provoke
Muslims" because it is called the "Apple Mecca" and "is intended to be
open 24 hours a day like the Ka'ba, and moreover, contains bars selling
alcoholic beverages."
This "new insult to Islam" is a cube-shaped
building where customers enjoy test-driving the various lines of Apple
computers and peripherals in an ultramodern but cozy environment. Within
the store, they can even stop by the "Genius Bar," not for a shot of
scotch but to benefit from the knowledge of an expert Apple support rep.
Who would have guessed that the Islamist thought police could so
foolishly and maliciously interpret this building as too closely
resembling the cube-shaped Ka'ba in Mecca, thereby finding in it a
"blatant insult to Islam"?
Islamism is the most dangerous global
phenomenon of our time, and the Wahhabism within it occupies a special
space for its violent and barbaric reactions to objects. We have seen
ample evidence of this violence in Muslim lands such as Afghanistan,
Saudi Arabia, Bosnia, and Turkey.
I have been researching the "form fetish"
preoccupation of personal computer manufacturers for more than a decade
now and never have I noticed that Islam or its icons had played an
important role (if any) behind the research and development principals
of computer hardware or the stores where computers are sold. Among all
the key figures in the creation and development of personal computers,
Steve Jobs stands out as the most dedicated when it comes to the
aesthetic and marketing aspects of the computer. For him, the computer
is not just a machine helping the user accomplish a particular task. It
is, or can be, a work of art.
The techno-fetish aspects of a Mac are as
important to Apple as the functionality and quality of the chips inside
it. According to the Silicon Valley biographer Alan Deutschman, "Jobs
had an obsession with the visual and the physical"; "he wanted to create
the Porsche of computers" and viewed Apple engineers as "artists." Jobs
was obsessed with the design and looks of his beloved NeXT cube, for
exmaple. "Even the hidden electronic guts of the Next computer... had to
have a clever, visually appealing design. 'Who is going to see the
inside?' one of the NeXT designers asked. 'I will,' Steve said." Jobs'
obsession with the Cube was an outcome of his love for the "perfect"
machine he wanted to imagine and create, and certainly had nothing to do
with any kind of religious icons, especially those of Islam. The
cube-shaped Apple Store in New York is a reflection of Jobs' artistic
and technological endeavor to make the failed NeXT Cube and the G4 Cube
a success, at least in the form of a building.
While Western civilization is inventing
scientific and artistic marvels, the other wings of Islamism are
preoccupied with inventing provocations in the hope of mobilizing
otherwise ordinary Muslims. We have seen this before: the Muhammad
cartoon controversy exhibited the same faulty reasoning but
unfortunately it succeeded in turning thousands of Muslims to violent
protests. This latest incident is one more in a growing list of examples
of Muslims over-reacting, over- and mis-interpreting, jumping to
conclusions and causing controversy over something innocent or
innocuous.<snip>
It is interesting to watch a great
civilization collapsing. We are of course concerned lest we offend...
=========
Jerry
Whoever said elections don't count?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/
content/article/2006/11/27/AR2006112701287_pf.html
"most Sunnis now believe it would be unwise to count
on or help U.S. forces because they are seen as likely to leave the country
before imposing stability."
- a direct consequence of US election results, I
think. No wonder Al-Qaeda counted it as a win.
Ed
==========
Subject: Agricultural Doomsday
Good evening Dr. Pournelle, I have been reading with
great interest the folks who have commented about the end of oil and its
effect on agriculture because this is something I have pondered myself.
The reason I have thought so much about this is
because I do a little farming (hay for the horse market) as a side business.
I don’t make a great deal of money at it, but it has been enough to make it
worthwhile for me to continue with it (not to mention it helps me keep my
sanity). I have read your There will be War anthologies and I remember
reading several stories that involved life after various catastrophes that
brought our technological society to a screeching halt. I don’t recall the
authors or the specific story names, but there was one about aliens putting
something in orbit that caused internal combustion engines not to function
and several others about the Russian engineers who hijacked the steam
locomotive that set me to thinking.
If something like that had happened in 1900, we as a
society would not have even noticed.
In 1940, we would have been inconvenienced, but life
would go on.
In 1960, we would been seriously inconvenienced, but
after a period of adjustment (dragging Grandpa’s harness out of the barn and
asking him how to hook up the plow) life would have went on. No doubt some
people in the big cities would have starved, but if there were a widespread
famine in the United States, I don’t think it would have lasted very long.
Fast forward to now. Grandpa is gone, so he can’t help
you with how things were done back in ‘33 anymore... Becky the mule’s
harness has long since rotted and there is a Stop n’ Rob (convenience store)
on top of the pasture where grandpa buried poor Becky. Not to mention there
is a subdivision where grandpa’s corn used to grow and your cousin is using
grandpa’s turning plow to mount his mailbox on (if it didn’t get sold for
scrap 50 years ago).
In the late 1930’s, animal-powered farm machinery
probably reached its technological height, even though tractors had been
around for many, many years. (Mechanization was more common in the Midwest
than here in the south... neither of my Grandfathers ever owned a tractor,
but farmed all their lives, one row-cropped with mules and the other started
with row crops and then moved into livestock as cattle and chickens were
less labor intensive).
In 1935, one could buy machinery that would do ALMOST
anything that modern machinery can do... and it was ALL horse and mule
powered. Granted, it was a lot slower, and you could plan on using (roughly)
a third of your crop (in the form of feed or money to buy feed) to keep your
animals fed, but it could be done, and it was done for generations... with
far more primitive equipment than what was available in 1935.
But going back to the old way of doing things isn’t
really an option (as attractive as that might be to some of the tree
huggers... I think spending a day staring a mule in the ass in July heat
might disabuse some of them of their notions...), sure there are a few
people around that could theoretically farm the old fashioned way, but there
damn sure aren’t enough of them to feed the country.
Some of your readers have pointed out that the
biomass/ethanol/biodiesel plants are springing up in farm country, which is
a good point, because that might be the only thing to keep the machinery
running if something crazy were to happen. I noticed a couple of days ago
while kicking tires, that New Holland (formerly Ford tractor) has came out
with a new line of tractors that are rated to run on the various flavors of
biodiesel. I think several of the other manufacturers are starting to push
this too (not because I think they are expecting the end of oil, but because
it’s another marketing gimmick... farm machinery is pretty cutthroat these
days).
Propane a very popular fuel for farm machinery back in
the 50’s and 60’s. I saw a (new) John Deere utility tractor that had been
converted to run on propane at the Sunbelt Expo (farm show) in South Georgia
a couple of years back. Who knows? Propane might make a comeback for
agriculture.
Anyway, the rambling point I was getting to, is that
there are a lot of people, much smarter than I, who have been thinking about
this too. The big boys (Deere, Case NH, AGCO) are looking at all kinds of
stuff that can make them money, not just here, but in developing countries
with no infrastructure to support mechanized farming. Between new
technologies and the old technologies, I think there is enough to work with
for agriculture to survive the end of oil, but whether agribusiness survives
it is another question.
I throughly enjoy your site and I appreciate your
taking the time to read this. My apologies for taking so long to get to the
point.
Thanks Dave
My father brought the first tractor (a Case,
not a John Deere) to our part of rural Tennessee. I drove it at age 10. Most
of the farm where where I grew up was done with mules, and most earth moving
was done with mules and slip shovels.
Farming with chicken squat for fuel...
Might be a great thing.
=========
Dr. Pournelle,
NORAD (yes, www.norad.mil) has an official site up for
kids to track Santa on Christmas Eve: NORAD Tracks Santa <http://www.noradsanta.org/index.php>
.
If you feel like giving me credit, my post is at
http://www.robinjuhl.homelinux.net/weblog/pivot/entry.php?id=1136. <http://www.robinjuhl.homelinux.net/weblog/pivot/entry.php?id=1136>
Best Regards, Robin Juhl
TOP
CURRENT
VIEW Wednesday
|
