Genentically Modified Food

There has been quite a lot of tripe going around about genetically modified food lately and since it is a topic that is near and dear to my heart, you are going to get an truck load of rant on this today.
Some ignorant people are saying that GM food crops are going to be the only way to feed the world and that "organics" or traditional agriculture doesn't and will not produce enough. Let me start off with stating the fact that it is not a lack of food that has people starving all over the world(including America.) It is a lack of money. Starvation is caused by economic problems not food supply shortages. We as Americans throw away and waste enough food products to feed the world. THERE IS NO FOOD SHORTAGE! So that in itself destroys any reason for genetically altered food if they are claiming increased yields. But there is a problem with that claim. GM crops DO NOT produce more, and the crutch that they are using to prop up "conventional" corporate agriculture will make the soil unfit to produce anything ever again. Research has shown that it is not the plant that needs changing to increase yield, disease, drought, and pest resistance, but that the soil is what needs to be developed into a healthy living organism. GM crops allow corporate farms to keep up practices that strip away any health and vitality. Pisses me off to hear people say that Corporation like Monsanto are the future of farming when they obviously are so far removed from agriculture that they don't even realize that a hamburger comes from a cow.

Late night poetry

a moonless night
in a pouring rain
Drip, drip comes the pain
frightening, maddening, over insane.
enough to make wish,
that I never was again.
Am I seeing things again the same,
or just wishing that i remain.
No loss of judgment,
but still it rains
and the joy that it brings
are tears of blame.
question yourself
question everything
question the becoming
question the name
hate the beginning
worship the end
consider the speaking
as just the same
govern thoughts
so as not to seem strange
a moonless night
in a pouring rain

The Four Year Locusts

No I am not talking about an insect, I am talking about another kind of earsplitting, pest. Electioneering presidential candidates. I assert that our present system of government and party politics is nothing like what our founding fathers envisioned. Although "spirit of party" had infected politics as soon as there was George Washington, as first president, all of the framers of the United States warned against such. They said it would be the downfall of our nation.
I have never felt represented by this representative government(republic) and it is mostly because of party politics. We have two, and neither have anything in common with my thoughts or feelings on government or the "American Dream". For one thing they are all wealthy. I have never really sought monetary gain as most people do. I don't want money for the sake of having money. Sure there are things I want, things I am denied because of so called poverty, but it was my choice. That type of thinking dooms someone like me in our society. I can not live my life because I have to worry about making money. My life, liberty and pursuit of happiness is infringed upon. I know I am not in the majority in this, but I know I am not alone either and I am not at all represented. John Adams asserted that America should have an agrarian economy as opposed to a capitalistic one. Thomas Jefferson espoused the same thing. Obviously, we went the other direction. True economic wealth for a nation is typically based on how much it produces. I ask you, what does America produce now? My American dream has always been to be an independent farmer. Not a corporate farm, but a small farm that can sustain my family with food and money and a lifestyle that is healthy and active. Recent actions by our government are pushing small farmers out. It has become more difficult to be a small farmer for the past 20 years. I come from a farm family in a farm town and the local phrase is "I have to get a job to keep up my habit of farming". Not very encouraging. Very few grow a garden anymore. I remember a time when everyone grew a garden and there was plenty of food to go around. Now all of the produce comes from California, Chile, Mexico, or who knows where. So where are the political candidates on this? Why should they care? They are wealthy enough that they don't even go to the grocery store. Granted that "fame" precludes anyone in todays society from going out in public for fear of getting mobbed, but how is that an excuse for not being concerned about where your food comes from? If we are going to have "parties", then why can't we have "The Poor People's Party" or "The Small Farmers Party" or the "I Feel Totally Disenfranchised" party?
Political parties are completely run by insiders, so it is no wonder that they don't really represent anybody. Sure some people can identify with this one or that one, but unless you are an insider in that party, then you are not in control of "your" party, the party is in control of you. Most people seem to only have a loose association with a party or candidate. We as an electorate have gotten into the habit of voting for the lesser of two evils(if we vote at all) because there is not a public official that we consider as "the best person" or "a good candidate".
Our considerations are based mostly on who we think is going to do the least damage, or who has the best hair, or some other meaningless point that has nothing to do with actually representing the will of the people. The sad thing is that we have let it happen.
Our government is based on the consent of the people, ideally. In reality the government requires nothing from us because it has grown to such monstrous proportion that it invades and controls every function of our lives. Our consent was assumed because through the years we have said nothing, done nothing but trust that someone else would take care of it for us. And so they are, whether we like it or not....

politics and energy

I would love to see a revolution of the structure of physics. A new ultimate source of energy to make all things for humanity possible. I am referring to an article left in the comments of my last post. http://www.physorg.com/news131101595.html Unfortunately, I am a severe skeptic when it comes to human nature. Politics and those who have something to lose if cold fusion is successful will squash this like a bug, just like all the rest of the revolutionary energy producing technologies that have come and disappeared. Tesla was very near to transmitting electricity without wires until his backers found out that was what he was doing. The question was "where would we put the meter to be able to get paid for it?" It will all boil down to where is the monetary gain? There will never be a possibility of "free" energy as long as there is monetary gain. The only way is if enough people can produce their own power. It has to be cold fusion "in the garage". The do-it-yourselfers have to be able to reproduce it otherwise it will be controlled by the large corporations and no one will ever see the technology in our life times. I know that sounds skeptical, but it is the truth. Solar is extremely expensive, but a person can do-it-themselves. Micro-hydro electric is very cheap but you have to be in the right situation to generate all your electricity. Transportation is still not covered by solar or hydro or wind, so tech like cold-fusion would be awesome. Again I will refer back to the old master Tesla. Rumor has it that he assembled a set of circuits into a box and powered a Roles-Royce Phantom that had its engine replaced with an electric motor,with no batteries or other known power source. Or how about a resistor that outputs 110% of the power inputted? A so called over-unity device. Sounds fantastical, but its not. The over-unity resistor has been invented at least three times that I have heard of from as long ago as 1900 to as recently as last year. Where is this technology and why isn't being used? Politics and energy are a bad combination....

Indiana Jones part 4

Indiana Jones fan, That's me! I liked the 4th. I thought it was very good. Much better than the "prequels" to the star wars movies. I hated those.
So within a city water system every time someone flushes a toilet, electricity could be generated. Every time some one rinses a dish, electricity could be generated. Anytime any one uses water pressure, electricity could be generated. With as simple as something as a back-flow preventor(which is already mandated,) we could have a generator that produces electricity every time flow is produced in a city water system. This is still a thought that is based on "little things", and contrary to popular belief the little things do matter and most times it is the little things that matter most.
Attic heat could generate electricity. Every attic creates heat, that is why it is recommended that the bulk of insulation is placed between the attic and ceiling. I know that they say it is to keep heat in, but I have been in a lot of attics and it is just as hot in winter as in summer. Homeowners install fans that consume electricity to dissipate heat. Why not instead use the attic itself as a large heat exchanger?
Enough for now. Much more to come...

energy to the world

I made a phone call this morning that was two weeks overdue. Turns out I should have made this phone call two weeks ago. "Alternative" energy needs a champion around here and it turns out I just found one.
The inherent blockade with any solar project has been cost. No one wants to or has the ability to pay $30,000 to $100,000 to install solar panels on their domicile. I can't blame them. I don't have solar and I will never have solar because I am in the unique position of having a spring 1,500 feet above my house with plenty of flow. So for me hydro-electric is the way to go. But that has little to do with all of the houses I have built over the years for other people. I have preached energy efficiency to these contractors and home owners till I was blue in the face. "You should be building these houses with solar panels as a selling point." "If this whole subdivision had solar inter tie systems then there would a net power generation to reduce overall costs." Blah, blah, blah. No one listens to me.
Well that brings me to my phone call. I have now met with a successful civil engineer who has this exact thing in mind. He wants to start with his own house as a "test" project and continue on building whole subdivisions, parks, and communities. He has the money and political connections and I have nothing but information, skill and a need to do something correct. There is another mutual friend that is heavily involved with a new DC/AC inverter that has had its patents granted last year and is preparing to enter the production phase. It is a complete breakthrough as far as inverters go. Half the weight, twice the longevity, 99% efficient, multi-phase, and runs cooler than other inverters.
The tech is there, it just needs a few brave rich souls to move it into the mainstream. Cross your fingers, by next year we may have a whole new paradigm in a whole new economy.

The Little Things That Matter

I am a being of electricity. My father built power lines, my grandfather built power lines. Electricity is the power of the universe(along with sound). The worlds energy needs are limited to scavenging electricity from dead dinosaurs. This is very limited thinking. People knock wind, solar, and hydroelectric power generation for very simplistic reasons. The wind doesn't blow all the time, the sun doesn't shine all the time, to dam a river takes too much resources to make it feasible. Bah. What is missing from these arguments is a balanced conglomeration of all possible choices.
Let us start with wind. Large scale natural blowing wind is not necessary for power generation. Man made wind from roadways and buildings would be a good start to generating a significant amount of electricity. If low speed, high torque rotors were placed upon all of the worlds high trafficked roads then there would be a constant supply of electricity(especially in the U.S.) In large cities the vortex of wind that surrounds current buildings could be harnessed for even more generation of power. These generators would not have to be large landscape blighting structures. If the shear number of them were put into place then that would suffice for one segment of the overall energy need.
Solar is the easiest to rationalize. If every domicile around the world had solar power then a complete decentralized power generation system is achieved. I have never been a big fan of solar energy, but this is a no brainer in the new energy economy. Large fields of photovalics are not necessary if all residences and businesses have them installed already.
Hydroelectric is a tinderbox of controversy. I live in east TN, home of the TVA, one of the largest hydroelectric projects on the planet. 80% of our power is still provided by coal. It is not in any way rational or practical for this to be the status quo. The myth of hydroelectric is that we have to dam up rivers and destroy whatever was there just to generate electricity. Decentralize. Electricity can be generated with the natural flow of water in any creek, river, spring, lake, and ocean, without the large ecological repercussions.
All of these "little things" could add up to a lot if people would get out of the way of themselves and adopt a change in the basic structure of living.