Obfuscation-to cloud over; obscure; make dark; or unclear; to muddle; confuse; bewilder. [Webster's New World Dictionary, 1982, P 980]
Studies, surveys and research are the epitome of obfuscation. It is ironic then that little is done on a local or national level unless a study, survey or research project has been done. Before a traffic light can be installed in certain intersections there needs to be a study done to document the number of car crashes, and number of lives lost. However, if the number of car crashes or lives lost doesn't meet a 'predetermined' number-Sorry, No can do!
Hm-m-m, one life or one person's car isn't important enough to consider that based on the nature of the car crash there is a problem that needs to be remedied by installing a traffic light? The nature of the car crash is not sufficient to spend the money to save other lives or cars according to officials in any town or municipality. If the number of car crashes meet the predetermined number, Voila! a light is put in. How the number of car crashes necessary to warrant a traffic light is determined is a well guarded secret.
Why, am I talking about this mundane topic? The topic is a simple example of what we, as managers of our society, have decided is acceptable criteria for addressing or solving any societal issue. For any societal issue to be addressed, a study needs to be done, statistics submitted and criteria for addressing the issue developed. Herein lies the dilemma, who decides what the criteria needs to be on any given issue? And who decides the best method to gather data which is unbiased and/or accurate? You guessed it researchers, submitting data to politicians, government officials (elected or appointed), and people who have a vested interest in the issue. Insidiously, the vested interest might not be to benefit the afflicted.
The intended topic of this article is-violence, rape, spousal abuse, physical or sexual child abuse. Violence, rape, spousal abuse, physical or sexual child abuse is society's worst scourge. Why? Because we have created and sanctioned the same obfuscation system which rules traffic light installation. Contrary to a car crash at an intersection, these scourges impacts everybody's life for many years, rather than only the few who have a car crash at a particular intersection. It is tragic we use the same methods to determine whether we need to address these societal issues.
-62% of females are sexually abused by age 18. Finkelhor, David and J. Dziuba-Leatherman. "Victimization of Children." American Psychologist Vol. 49:3 (1992): 173-183.
-31% of males are sexually abused by age 18. Ibid.
-More than 60 million adult survivors of incest and sexual child abuse live in America. *Note these are only reported cases. It is believed as great as 50% of sexual child abuse is unreported. Forward, 1993
-99% of sexual abuse survivors know their perpetrators
-80% are abused by family members, 19% are abuse by other trusted adults. CCPA, 1992
-Of 50 male sexual abuse survivors, many were as young as 8 years old. FBI Uniform Crime Report, 1991.
-96% of female rape survivors were younger than 12 years old and knew their attackers. U.S. Department of Justice, 1992.
-A study of 10,000 female children under age 18 raped in 1992, reports that 3,800 girls were under 12 years old. U.S. Justice Department, study conducted in 11 states and the District of Columbia, June 1994.
-Of teenage, unwed mothers, 60-67% were incest survivors. Los Angeles Times survey, 1993
-96% of teenage prostitutes were sexually molested in childhood. CCPA, 1992. *Almost 80% had become prostitutes before age 18. Ibid. *60% of prostitutes were 16 or under; many were younger than 13. Ibid.
-Over 80% of the mothers of incest survivors were also sexually abused.
-57% of sexual child abuse and incest perpetrators are survivors of sexual child abuse. Goldstein-Harte Study 1973: Carter, et al.
-A perpetrator abuses an average of 117 children. National Institute of Mental Health, 1988.
-extensive evidence substantiates the fact that sexual child abuse has taken place for centuries. D. Corwin (1990) cites that in London many believed that sexual "congress" with a child would cure venereal disease. Of capital rape prosecutions between 1730 and 1790, 35 percent of the cases involved victims younger than 10 years old.
-1896 in The Aetiology of Hysteria, Freud discusses his "Seduction Theory" acknowledging the sexual abuse and incest of children.
In the U.S. in 2000 over 3 million child abuse and neglect reports were filed and one million were confirmed. There are 3,000 children abused each day and four of them will die. Forty percent of these children were under the age of six. The age group with the highest abuse rate is 0-3 years. Nationally the highest form of abuse is neglect followed by physical abuse. In March of 2001 when President Bush declared April National Child Abuse Prevention Month he stated the cost of child abuse and neglect in the U.S. was $258 million dollars a day. This includes the price of intervention, the treatment of children who have been emotionally, physically or sexually abused as well as the indirect costs of the long term consequences both for the child and our society. Prevent Child Abuse America.
In 2000, there were 261,000 victims of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault. [2000 National Crime Victimization Survey. Bureau of Justice Statistics.] Of these 261,000, 114,000 were victims of sexual assault, 55,000 were victims of attempted rape, and 92,000 were victims of completed rape. [2000 NCVS.]
Because of the methodology of the National Crime Victimization Survey, these figures do not include victims 12 or younger. While there are no reliable annual surveys of sexual assaults on children, the Justice Department has estimated that one of six victims are under age 12. [Child Rape Victims, 1992]
"Have you heard about crime declining? It's true (as best we can tell). While figures for any single year are considered somewhat unreliable because they are based on a small sample size, the more-reliable long term trend looks good. Since1993, rape/sexual assault has fallen 52%." Here are more figures for recent years.[2000 NCVS.]
Dr. Frank Putnam of the National Institute of Mental Health and Dr. Martin Teicher of Harvard Medical School studied 170 girls, 6-15 years old--half had experienced corporal punishment, half had not--for seven years. The girls who experienced corporal punishment had symptoms such as:
-abnormally high stress hormones, which can kill neurons in brain areas crucial for thinking and memory
-high levels of an antibody that weaken the immune system
Teicher completed a series of brain studies on 402 children and adults, many of whom had corporal punishment. His findings revealed that corporal punishment creates:
-arrested growth of the left hemisphere of the brain which can hamper development of language and logic -growth of the right hemisphere of the brain (the site for emotions) at an abnormally early age.
The AMA ignores these studies. Why does the AMA ignore these studies? The answer lies within the obfuscation theory and other noted researchers work, such as: Judith Herman, M.D.
Judith Herman, M.D. author, Father-Daughter Incest undeniably confirms obfuscation abounds with regard to protecting woman and children from society's worst scourge: "As in the case of other crimes against women and children, for too long the power of the justice system has protected the men who victimized them... As long as the justice system remains a male preserve, it can hardly be expected to reform itself... The initiative for those reforms that have already been carried out has come almost entirely from women: from the rape counselor, the child advocate, and the small minority of women who work within the system-we look forward to a time when women, who are so frequently the victims and rarely [research reveals women are more frequently the offender than previously reported] the offenders, adjudicate the majority of domestic and sexual crimes."
Statistics and studies notwithstanding, physical and sexual abuse and incest against female victims is so common it can be considered an epidemic.
Claire R. Reeves, President/Founder of MASA (Mothers Against Sexual Abuse) says, it best in her foreword to-If I'd Only Known...Sexual Abuse in or out of the Family: A Guide to Prevention, Dorothy M. Neddermeyer, in her statement:
"If a disease affected our children in these enormous numbers we would declare a national emergency. Monies for research to find a cure would be made available immediately. Sadly, this is not a platform that you will find popular with politicians or a topic of conversation at a social gathering. Americans have always taken the stance that what happens in the family is a 'family matter.' Family values are the platform of many elected officials without looking at the real issue, 'What constitutes a family?'"
In summary, we can not afford to continue to do the same thing over and over and expect different results. Voltaire said, "We are not only responsible for what we do, but also, for that what we don't do." Sartre stated, "Those who ignore the past are condemned to repeat it."
We have been ignoring information regarding the aftereffects from violence since the beginning of time. To continue to ignore these aftereffects is being part of the problem and the purveyor of obfuscation. It is never too late to change what isn't working.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/22529
Monday, 8 February 2016
Looking through Terri Schiavo's Eyes
I'm a chaplain, and I thought some of you might be interested in a very different point of view about this. I'm not suggesting that you believe me, nor am I arguing for a "side." This is just what the Sanctuary teaches, and this is what I believe.
Terri's soul is alive and well, and it's still attached to her body. The essence of Terri, her soul, is not in some state of limbo. Her soul is aware of everything going on around her just like near-death experiencers can be aware of their surroundings. Terri is actively participating in a spiritual change in society. This is a test for us...to see if we are spiritually mature enough to do the right thing.
And what is the right thing in God's eyes? God gives life, and He brings it home when it's time.
To withhold food and water from any living creature with a soul is unthinkable. Even though Terri's brain might not be aware of it, and even though she might not suffer physically from it, our society would be held accountable for its choice. Food and water is not a matter of artificially extending life. It's an act of mercy. If Terri is given food and water, her body will digest and metabolize it. When it's time for Terri to die, her body will stop doing that.
We all understand the difference between being humane and artificially extending life. When Terri's lungs stop functioning, it will be because her soul has shut them down. When she stops metabolizing food and water, it will be because her soul has shut down her digestive system.
The Sanctuary teaches that the soul is the "living" part of us. The physical body is just a temporary chemistry and physics lab. When the soul detaches, the body dies. The soul is not "inside" the body. It interfaces with the body at the autonomic nervous system.
The soul is the source of all our thoughts, comprehension, imagination, and memories. (Neuroscientists have recently discovered that those are not in the brain. They're still trying to figure it out.) Terri, the living, thinking, remembering part of her (her soul) is not horrified with the condition of her body. It's not important to her anymore. What is important to her is the spiritual growth that can come out of the furor going on all around her.
And she's praying for us.
Copyright 2005 RobinRenee Bridges
RobinRenee Bridges has been a chaplain and officer in The Sanctuary for more than thirty years. She is the author of “A Bridge of Love between Heaven and Earth: Self-Induced Contact in the Afterlife.” For more articles about death, dying, and the afterlife visit her web site at: [http://www.spirit-sanctuary.org]
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/22849
Terri's soul is alive and well, and it's still attached to her body. The essence of Terri, her soul, is not in some state of limbo. Her soul is aware of everything going on around her just like near-death experiencers can be aware of their surroundings. Terri is actively participating in a spiritual change in society. This is a test for us...to see if we are spiritually mature enough to do the right thing.
And what is the right thing in God's eyes? God gives life, and He brings it home when it's time.
To withhold food and water from any living creature with a soul is unthinkable. Even though Terri's brain might not be aware of it, and even though she might not suffer physically from it, our society would be held accountable for its choice. Food and water is not a matter of artificially extending life. It's an act of mercy. If Terri is given food and water, her body will digest and metabolize it. When it's time for Terri to die, her body will stop doing that.
We all understand the difference between being humane and artificially extending life. When Terri's lungs stop functioning, it will be because her soul has shut them down. When she stops metabolizing food and water, it will be because her soul has shut down her digestive system.
The Sanctuary teaches that the soul is the "living" part of us. The physical body is just a temporary chemistry and physics lab. When the soul detaches, the body dies. The soul is not "inside" the body. It interfaces with the body at the autonomic nervous system.
The soul is the source of all our thoughts, comprehension, imagination, and memories. (Neuroscientists have recently discovered that those are not in the brain. They're still trying to figure it out.) Terri, the living, thinking, remembering part of her (her soul) is not horrified with the condition of her body. It's not important to her anymore. What is important to her is the spiritual growth that can come out of the furor going on all around her.
And she's praying for us.
Copyright 2005 RobinRenee Bridges
RobinRenee Bridges has been a chaplain and officer in The Sanctuary for more than thirty years. She is the author of “A Bridge of Love between Heaven and Earth: Self-Induced Contact in the Afterlife.” For more articles about death, dying, and the afterlife visit her web site at: [http://www.spirit-sanctuary.org]
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/22849
The Secret Spies Of The Future, The CIA In 2025, Sure They Look The Same?
The CIA robotic spies will look like you and I, talk, walk, eat, act and even make mistakes like us. But these will not be living, breathing organic humans. The Labs around the country are working on them now, by 2025 they will be everywhere. It is time to a have a serious discussion on artificial intelligence and the future of clandestine spies using artificial intelligence robotics.
Isaac Asimov had artificial organic robots in his books. We all saw the movie AI. Will we be fooled in the future by robots posing as people? Will we care? This might be a great opportunity for spying? Create a robot which looks and acts like a person and is controlled through tele-robotics or constantly monitored through sensors watching the target by TV Screen and putting in controls and feeding in topics of conversation? Realizing that this technology will be available in our lifetimes, should we be thinking ahead of how best to use this technology for CIA Clandestine efforts.
Today we have technologies such as putting a cell phone in someone’s false teeth. They can then meet with a source and be fed instructions as to what to say and ask. Today we have built Haptic enabled ‘robotic faces’ to mimic the person it interfaces with, based on a known human trait of personality called mirroring. Mirroring is often used in the spy industry, police investigations, good guy bad guy routines, dating, sales, negotiation and politics. Whether we realize it or not, we all mirror people we are talking with, it is extremely hard not to do this simply by habit. Robotics researchers and psychologists designing robotic companions and humanoid type robots, have taken this into consideration. Robots, which learn through these interactions will learn how to mimic human interaction and become quite good at cultural norms when on duty as spies. However currently we fall way short even trying to train new CIA recruits to learn cultural norms to those outpost regions in which they have never traveled. It is hard enough for them to learn the variations in language dialogue, slang and accents.
Cultural norms, language and behavior is not the only thing that is difficult to teach and in the future we will need to teach the robots to make human type mistakes, laugh and understand when a joke is told, before we can release them autonomously. This is why tele robotics will come first when using robotic spies. In the future we will have a tough time teaching robots to be random or rather appear random as humans often seem to be. The only way to attempt to achieve the randomness of human interaction will be to have simultaneous algorithms running all at once and a couple more algorithms controlling which algorithm will reside in the decision to vector of a conversation or interaction with a human being otherwise the human will become suspicious as they often are anyway.
We might be better off to wait to send in robotic spies until we have partial human, partial robot units or transhumans with additional capacities and assisted brain power. Eventually we may find as we develop our species to include more advanced robotic systems, which become “part of us” that we may lose our abilities to be random in pure humanly terms. Organic humans are very random but not completely, it will be most difficult to fool a human who is interacting with a robot until well off into the future. Even if we study the target subject completely, recording previous conversations, writings, emails and have a complete LifeByte virtual file on the target subject, we may find it difficult to conceal the non-organic robotic spy. This is because humans will recognize patterns of mirroring and mimicking which are unnatural to human interaction and be able to tell that the robotic spy is not acting like humans act.
There will someday be a crossing point I suppose where there are enough human beings with non-natural parts that it might be difficult to tell which are totally human, which are partly human and which are cyborgs or a combination of species created through biological DNA, RNA manipulations. As more non-100% humans interact and society changes the humans will begin to mimic the average mean behavior of their societies to keep from being left out of the social structure. Robots will be programmed to also mimic the average gestures, posture and behavioral slant.
Humans are innately social and have a sense of need to belong. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs predicts respect from your fellow man at near the top of those human needs. Will Robotic Researchers in the future be able to adapt these units to interact without detection first or will the merging of man and machine change human interaction in society and civilization first. The overwhelming complexity of mimicking human behavior and interaction is being studied by researchers of Artificial Intelligence, they are taking on the challenge, but being able to fool a human might be tougher than we think. Will all this studies one day just all come together or will it be a long drawn out process over a number of years or possibly decades. Will the time frame be so far off in the future that we may not ever notice the change at all and then one day we cannot tell?
There are other possibilities and those are that humans may evolve into a completely different species by modifying the on-off switches of our own DNA to the most desirable attributes skipping over the alluring challenge to create non-organic robots for transhumanism modifications and manipulations. Many species have attributes we do not possess, but that does not mean with a little genetic manipulation that we cannot also know these things:
[http://worldthinktank.net/wttbbs/index.php?showtopic=176]
Think about it, you could swim like a fish, communicate like a dolphin or have the strength and agility of a tiger, yet still possess the brain of the world’s smartest human? Once a set pattern of perfection is established will we see widespread cloning to make more perfectly desirable humans. Here are some thoughts on the advantages and costs of cloning on society and the farming of:
[http://worldthinktank.net/wttbbs/index.php?showtopic=321]
Would it be wise to clone a set of clandestine spies? Organically superior human spies or is it better to create non-organic robots to do our spying? The future of the spying industry will be changing, some downsizing will occur and robotic spies with upgrades may never be retired. Will there be a time when robotic spies are spying on neighboring nations robots not knowing that they are spies too? Even if we can fool a human, will robots be able to fool other robots?
Think it's SCI FI? Think again as artificial intelligence robotic labs are breaking barrier after barrier on their way to make indistinguishable units. The DOD, CIA have already been looking at this future and funding it. Do you think you can tell the difference? Some say they may already be here amongst us? But all of us know they will be here soon.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/23114
Isaac Asimov had artificial organic robots in his books. We all saw the movie AI. Will we be fooled in the future by robots posing as people? Will we care? This might be a great opportunity for spying? Create a robot which looks and acts like a person and is controlled through tele-robotics or constantly monitored through sensors watching the target by TV Screen and putting in controls and feeding in topics of conversation? Realizing that this technology will be available in our lifetimes, should we be thinking ahead of how best to use this technology for CIA Clandestine efforts.
Today we have technologies such as putting a cell phone in someone’s false teeth. They can then meet with a source and be fed instructions as to what to say and ask. Today we have built Haptic enabled ‘robotic faces’ to mimic the person it interfaces with, based on a known human trait of personality called mirroring. Mirroring is often used in the spy industry, police investigations, good guy bad guy routines, dating, sales, negotiation and politics. Whether we realize it or not, we all mirror people we are talking with, it is extremely hard not to do this simply by habit. Robotics researchers and psychologists designing robotic companions and humanoid type robots, have taken this into consideration. Robots, which learn through these interactions will learn how to mimic human interaction and become quite good at cultural norms when on duty as spies. However currently we fall way short even trying to train new CIA recruits to learn cultural norms to those outpost regions in which they have never traveled. It is hard enough for them to learn the variations in language dialogue, slang and accents.
Cultural norms, language and behavior is not the only thing that is difficult to teach and in the future we will need to teach the robots to make human type mistakes, laugh and understand when a joke is told, before we can release them autonomously. This is why tele robotics will come first when using robotic spies. In the future we will have a tough time teaching robots to be random or rather appear random as humans often seem to be. The only way to attempt to achieve the randomness of human interaction will be to have simultaneous algorithms running all at once and a couple more algorithms controlling which algorithm will reside in the decision to vector of a conversation or interaction with a human being otherwise the human will become suspicious as they often are anyway.
We might be better off to wait to send in robotic spies until we have partial human, partial robot units or transhumans with additional capacities and assisted brain power. Eventually we may find as we develop our species to include more advanced robotic systems, which become “part of us” that we may lose our abilities to be random in pure humanly terms. Organic humans are very random but not completely, it will be most difficult to fool a human who is interacting with a robot until well off into the future. Even if we study the target subject completely, recording previous conversations, writings, emails and have a complete LifeByte virtual file on the target subject, we may find it difficult to conceal the non-organic robotic spy. This is because humans will recognize patterns of mirroring and mimicking which are unnatural to human interaction and be able to tell that the robotic spy is not acting like humans act.
There will someday be a crossing point I suppose where there are enough human beings with non-natural parts that it might be difficult to tell which are totally human, which are partly human and which are cyborgs or a combination of species created through biological DNA, RNA manipulations. As more non-100% humans interact and society changes the humans will begin to mimic the average mean behavior of their societies to keep from being left out of the social structure. Robots will be programmed to also mimic the average gestures, posture and behavioral slant.
Humans are innately social and have a sense of need to belong. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs predicts respect from your fellow man at near the top of those human needs. Will Robotic Researchers in the future be able to adapt these units to interact without detection first or will the merging of man and machine change human interaction in society and civilization first. The overwhelming complexity of mimicking human behavior and interaction is being studied by researchers of Artificial Intelligence, they are taking on the challenge, but being able to fool a human might be tougher than we think. Will all this studies one day just all come together or will it be a long drawn out process over a number of years or possibly decades. Will the time frame be so far off in the future that we may not ever notice the change at all and then one day we cannot tell?
There are other possibilities and those are that humans may evolve into a completely different species by modifying the on-off switches of our own DNA to the most desirable attributes skipping over the alluring challenge to create non-organic robots for transhumanism modifications and manipulations. Many species have attributes we do not possess, but that does not mean with a little genetic manipulation that we cannot also know these things:
[http://worldthinktank.net/wttbbs/index.php?showtopic=176]
Think about it, you could swim like a fish, communicate like a dolphin or have the strength and agility of a tiger, yet still possess the brain of the world’s smartest human? Once a set pattern of perfection is established will we see widespread cloning to make more perfectly desirable humans. Here are some thoughts on the advantages and costs of cloning on society and the farming of:
[http://worldthinktank.net/wttbbs/index.php?showtopic=321]
Would it be wise to clone a set of clandestine spies? Organically superior human spies or is it better to create non-organic robots to do our spying? The future of the spying industry will be changing, some downsizing will occur and robotic spies with upgrades may never be retired. Will there be a time when robotic spies are spying on neighboring nations robots not knowing that they are spies too? Even if we can fool a human, will robots be able to fool other robots?
Think it's SCI FI? Think again as artificial intelligence robotic labs are breaking barrier after barrier on their way to make indistinguishable units. The DOD, CIA have already been looking at this future and funding it. Do you think you can tell the difference? Some say they may already be here amongst us? But all of us know they will be here soon.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/23114
Missile Defense Strategies, Hit to Kill Ratios, and UAV Survivability
First I would like to make a statement:
"Governments Number One Job is to Protect the People"
So then here are some thoughts on Missile Defense Strategies and Hit to Kill ratios and UAV Survivability. Think of these ideas as a topic opener comment and thought.
Let's discuss using old technology and flight characteristics of antiquated flying objects and birds and insects to make it difficult to hit in the case of an offense rebuttal and reciprocal response to an ICBM being launched against us. I believe that an object which flies randomly during flight like a butterfly may be harder to hit, shoot down or catch. This is significant for UAV survivability and understanding how to shoot down older technology in SAMs, older ICBM, SCUD missiles and other onerous weapons and even the now ancient V-1 and V-2 rockets.
Knowing these characteristics and knowing our capabilities will also help us achieve higher kill ratios in missile defense systems to protect the American People and our allies if not the entire free world eventually. Missile Defense strategies and hit to kill ratios increased by use of science;
[http://www.winbmdo.com/scripts/sbir/abstra...=02&firm_id=111]
Therefore the best weapon would have a random vertical fin with it’s own algorithm that would osolate and not allow an adequate fix on itself by the seek and destroy air to air kill projectile. This is a problem with a primitive V-1 or V-2 type rocket or the later SCUD missiles, the old technology will wobble in flight and therefore is un predictable and will be harder to hit. We must develop offensive weapons which seek random characteristics and provide innate tendencies of unpredictability and therefore you have a weapon that cannot be hit as easy. For instance a direct hit would be less probable. With wobbling flight characteristics. Just like a stinger or patriot surface to air hand held or from small launch vehicle will be unable to hit it directly.
Defensive weapons, which only have to be close, like in hand grenades or horseshoes can attain adequate shoot and kill ratios and score direct hits with far superior accuracy. Defense weapons only need to explode in front of such a random flying target with a scattered group of projectiles, which explode on impact. Nano technology can do this similar to the flying mechanical insects with explosives we can now put at the end of a runway and they get caught in the jet intakes of the enemy on take off. Also such technology can be added to unmanned submarines and surveillance aircraft to make them harder to hit as a target. After all have you ever tried to get away from an alligator? Do you know why bunnies run zigzag? Why squirrels have start and stop patterns? Why the free safety cannot catch a running back? Think about it.
Change the flight characteristics and patterns to algorithms, which change like they do in security network software. A saying we had in soccer, when asked by the other team what our play was. We do not know exactly but the final touch of the ball will be towards the open goal line and it only purpose is to score. And this is why we never lost a game, only sometimes we ran out of time. Think about it, who cares how long it takes to get to the target, as long as the target is destroyed? (Offensive mission statement and scenario).
Defensive mission statement; allow for any type of projectile, with any type of flight characteristic. Surround the target or it's path. Multiple missiles can disperse projectiles in any direction to kill the target, no matter which way it goes such as a helicopter, flying saucer, or in the case of a unmanned fighting machine seeking out a fleeing terrorist on foot. Projectiles make all possible paths obsolete, you win by default. The enemy is cornered and must surrender or risk incineration if he moves. Or in the arena of a fair war, if the enemy retreats he is free to go, and thus the will to fight has been accomplished and so is the need for human conflict as per Von Clauzewitz memos.
We must remember that stealth is good for offense and surprise, but also inexpensive technologies and older technologies often make it easier for opponents to use when your sophistication is far advanced. A properly thrown stone could cause a jet engine to bend or break a fan jet engine causing it to come apart and crash. The stone is free; the jet aircraft was 30 million dollars and if the pilot does not eject in time that is another 500K in training lost, not to mention the loss of life. A UAV which flies like a butterfly, bird or bat has a better survivability ratio and an ICBM which has a bent fin on it has a better chance of not getting a direct hit from a missile defense system, which need four satellites in perfect synchronicity to pin-point, track, intercept and kill, due to GPS issues with Earth Wobble and electromagnetic interference and gravity components of various areas.
So there are many other important factors such as pre-release ball bearings, liquid metal or shotgun type munitions in the predicted path of said incoming object. The problem being is that the prediction is necessary and must be accurate to make the kill. This is bad if you are on the receiving end of a weapon, good if you are on the offensive play.
Either way the true trajectory of an object may be the simply answer to survivability, which is a cheaper solution to stealth technologies and other radio jamming devices which require lots of power. Even shooting down an object with an E-5 Airborne Laser unit is difficult if you cannot track the target exactly. The smaller the target the harder and the more power needed to approximate vicinity since you cannot be sure exactly where it is.
The best strategy maybe to simply have an unpredictable flight path, the more unpredictable the better. However even the most advanced methods of such can be over come by huge numbers and grid pattern fire power and algorithms predicting future flight path. A super computer on a grid could calculate by pinpointing previous osolations and flight path to predict the areas, which are most likely to correspond to future paths. So you can win the game by massive calculations and speed of fire and zone defense. Such as, if you know someone is within a football field so you use a C-130 gun ship and you simply eliminate anything showing up in that grid. You could even shoot down a funny shaped spinning meteorite, which has already hit the Earths atmosphere, a UFO (pretend I did not say that, since I am very pro-higher intelligent species, the human race is still questionable? Judging by the Jerry Springer Show and Darwin Awards and Los Angeles Freeways) or a SCUD missile, which has a bent tail. Or a UAV of an enemy which is bouncing up and down by wind currents as it flies over mountains, roads, rivers and canyons where low and high pressure and heat and cool air rise and fall.
An autonomous UAV flying and bouncing along would be hard to hit, but far from impossible to hit. May as well understand these ideas in order to further you defensive kill ratios or improve you survivability for maximum advantage for mission completion and/or recovery for another round.
Today we are now even seeing the emergence of space as another territory to control and or defend. Even the original grid satellite project Iridium used a perfect grid to allow data and messaging throughout the world. Bush’s Missile defense system breaks the grid in to three dimensions and each grid is defended by satellite, geo points and triangulation to down an incoming ICBM missile. We have coverage on air, land, and sea and now space. We do not only control the air we control all that is above the Earth. Someday we will be able to shoot down or even deflect meteors or comets.
As things change in the atmospheric battle space it might be Another reason why it is not such a bad idea to send unmanned fighter planes into a battle zone to fight and why it is necessary to have a missile defense system set up at our perimeters.
Rapidily advancing algorhthymic flight characteristics will make hit to kill ratios nearly impossible for defeating incoming nuclear ICBMs. Are we really safe?
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/23083
"Governments Number One Job is to Protect the People"
So then here are some thoughts on Missile Defense Strategies and Hit to Kill ratios and UAV Survivability. Think of these ideas as a topic opener comment and thought.
Let's discuss using old technology and flight characteristics of antiquated flying objects and birds and insects to make it difficult to hit in the case of an offense rebuttal and reciprocal response to an ICBM being launched against us. I believe that an object which flies randomly during flight like a butterfly may be harder to hit, shoot down or catch. This is significant for UAV survivability and understanding how to shoot down older technology in SAMs, older ICBM, SCUD missiles and other onerous weapons and even the now ancient V-1 and V-2 rockets.
Knowing these characteristics and knowing our capabilities will also help us achieve higher kill ratios in missile defense systems to protect the American People and our allies if not the entire free world eventually. Missile Defense strategies and hit to kill ratios increased by use of science;
[http://www.winbmdo.com/scripts/sbir/abstra...=02&firm_id=111]
Therefore the best weapon would have a random vertical fin with it’s own algorithm that would osolate and not allow an adequate fix on itself by the seek and destroy air to air kill projectile. This is a problem with a primitive V-1 or V-2 type rocket or the later SCUD missiles, the old technology will wobble in flight and therefore is un predictable and will be harder to hit. We must develop offensive weapons which seek random characteristics and provide innate tendencies of unpredictability and therefore you have a weapon that cannot be hit as easy. For instance a direct hit would be less probable. With wobbling flight characteristics. Just like a stinger or patriot surface to air hand held or from small launch vehicle will be unable to hit it directly.
Defensive weapons, which only have to be close, like in hand grenades or horseshoes can attain adequate shoot and kill ratios and score direct hits with far superior accuracy. Defense weapons only need to explode in front of such a random flying target with a scattered group of projectiles, which explode on impact. Nano technology can do this similar to the flying mechanical insects with explosives we can now put at the end of a runway and they get caught in the jet intakes of the enemy on take off. Also such technology can be added to unmanned submarines and surveillance aircraft to make them harder to hit as a target. After all have you ever tried to get away from an alligator? Do you know why bunnies run zigzag? Why squirrels have start and stop patterns? Why the free safety cannot catch a running back? Think about it.
Change the flight characteristics and patterns to algorithms, which change like they do in security network software. A saying we had in soccer, when asked by the other team what our play was. We do not know exactly but the final touch of the ball will be towards the open goal line and it only purpose is to score. And this is why we never lost a game, only sometimes we ran out of time. Think about it, who cares how long it takes to get to the target, as long as the target is destroyed? (Offensive mission statement and scenario).
Defensive mission statement; allow for any type of projectile, with any type of flight characteristic. Surround the target or it's path. Multiple missiles can disperse projectiles in any direction to kill the target, no matter which way it goes such as a helicopter, flying saucer, or in the case of a unmanned fighting machine seeking out a fleeing terrorist on foot. Projectiles make all possible paths obsolete, you win by default. The enemy is cornered and must surrender or risk incineration if he moves. Or in the arena of a fair war, if the enemy retreats he is free to go, and thus the will to fight has been accomplished and so is the need for human conflict as per Von Clauzewitz memos.
We must remember that stealth is good for offense and surprise, but also inexpensive technologies and older technologies often make it easier for opponents to use when your sophistication is far advanced. A properly thrown stone could cause a jet engine to bend or break a fan jet engine causing it to come apart and crash. The stone is free; the jet aircraft was 30 million dollars and if the pilot does not eject in time that is another 500K in training lost, not to mention the loss of life. A UAV which flies like a butterfly, bird or bat has a better survivability ratio and an ICBM which has a bent fin on it has a better chance of not getting a direct hit from a missile defense system, which need four satellites in perfect synchronicity to pin-point, track, intercept and kill, due to GPS issues with Earth Wobble and electromagnetic interference and gravity components of various areas.
So there are many other important factors such as pre-release ball bearings, liquid metal or shotgun type munitions in the predicted path of said incoming object. The problem being is that the prediction is necessary and must be accurate to make the kill. This is bad if you are on the receiving end of a weapon, good if you are on the offensive play.
Either way the true trajectory of an object may be the simply answer to survivability, which is a cheaper solution to stealth technologies and other radio jamming devices which require lots of power. Even shooting down an object with an E-5 Airborne Laser unit is difficult if you cannot track the target exactly. The smaller the target the harder and the more power needed to approximate vicinity since you cannot be sure exactly where it is.
The best strategy maybe to simply have an unpredictable flight path, the more unpredictable the better. However even the most advanced methods of such can be over come by huge numbers and grid pattern fire power and algorithms predicting future flight path. A super computer on a grid could calculate by pinpointing previous osolations and flight path to predict the areas, which are most likely to correspond to future paths. So you can win the game by massive calculations and speed of fire and zone defense. Such as, if you know someone is within a football field so you use a C-130 gun ship and you simply eliminate anything showing up in that grid. You could even shoot down a funny shaped spinning meteorite, which has already hit the Earths atmosphere, a UFO (pretend I did not say that, since I am very pro-higher intelligent species, the human race is still questionable? Judging by the Jerry Springer Show and Darwin Awards and Los Angeles Freeways) or a SCUD missile, which has a bent tail. Or a UAV of an enemy which is bouncing up and down by wind currents as it flies over mountains, roads, rivers and canyons where low and high pressure and heat and cool air rise and fall.
An autonomous UAV flying and bouncing along would be hard to hit, but far from impossible to hit. May as well understand these ideas in order to further you defensive kill ratios or improve you survivability for maximum advantage for mission completion and/or recovery for another round.
Today we are now even seeing the emergence of space as another territory to control and or defend. Even the original grid satellite project Iridium used a perfect grid to allow data and messaging throughout the world. Bush’s Missile defense system breaks the grid in to three dimensions and each grid is defended by satellite, geo points and triangulation to down an incoming ICBM missile. We have coverage on air, land, and sea and now space. We do not only control the air we control all that is above the Earth. Someday we will be able to shoot down or even deflect meteors or comets.
As things change in the atmospheric battle space it might be Another reason why it is not such a bad idea to send unmanned fighter planes into a battle zone to fight and why it is necessary to have a missile defense system set up at our perimeters.
Rapidily advancing algorhthymic flight characteristics will make hit to kill ratios nearly impossible for defeating incoming nuclear ICBMs. Are we really safe?
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/23083
The Shameful Secret of Illiteracy in America
The word is not just a sound or a written symbol. The word is a force; it is the power you have to express and communicate, to think, and thereby to create the events in your life. - Don Miguel Ruiz
One New Jersey woman, "Maria," read at a third grade level. She held a job and fudged her way through everyday tasks without reading. When she would go to a restaurant, she would order what she knew was on the menu - a hamburger, salad or grilled chicken - or point to someone else's plate at the next table and ask "for what he's having." Maria even went so far as to keep her illiteracy a secret even from her husband of ten years. Because she could not read the mail, she would pretend that she forgot her glasses at work or say that she had been too busy to open the mail and ask her husband to do it. One day, they were walking past a shop window with a sign in it. As they looked at the display, the husband suddenly realized that his wife could not read. Maria was embarrassed and humiliated. But she sought help and now reads, works on a computer and teaches others to read.
In 2002, before the Subcommittee on Education Reform Committee on Education and the Workforce, United States House of Representatives, actor James Earl Jones testified: "92 million Americans have low or very low literacy skills - they cannot read above the 6th grade level. To be illiterate in America - or anywhere for that matter - is to be unsafe, uncomfortable and unprotected. For the illiterate, despair and defeat serve as daily fare. Can any of us who do know how to read really understand the sadness that is associated with the inability to read? Can we truly relate to the silent humiliation, the quiet desperation that can't be expressed, the hundreds of ways that those who cannot read struggle in shame to keep their secret? The struggle out of illiteracy ... is still a part of the story of America."
Today, our nation faces an epidemic that is destructive to our future. The disease is functional illiteracy. According to the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), it has overtaken one-third of America's children by the fourth grade - including two-thirds of African-American students and almost half of all children in the inner cities.
The basic definition of literacy is the ability to read and write. So the basic definition of illiteracy is the inability to read and write.
Beyond the basic definitions, there is significance in the shocking statistics about the functionally illiterate. What illiteracy means is that millions may not be able to understand the directions on a medicine bottle, or be able to read their telephone bill, make correct change at a store, find and keep a job, or read to a child.
Illiteracy has long been viewed as a social and educational issue - someone else's problem. However, more recently we have come to understand the economic consequences of the lack of literacy skills for America and American business.
Illiteracy has a significant impact on the economy. According to Nation's Business magazine, 15 million adults holding jobs today are functionally illiterate. The American Council of Life Insurance reports that three quarters of the Fortune 500 companies provide some level of remedial training for their workers. And, a study done by the Northeast Midwest Institute and The Center for Regional Policy found that business losses attribute to basic skill deficiencies run into the hundreds of millions of dollars because of low productivity, errors and accidents.
In addition, as reported in the 1986 publication entitled Making Literacy Programs Work: A Practical Guide for Correctional Educators (for the U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Corrections), one-half of all adults in federal and state correctional institutions cannot read or write at all. Only about one-third of those in prison have completed high school.
Evidence indicates that the problem begins at home. A National Governors' Association Task Force on Adult Literacy reported that illiteracy is an inter-generational problem, following a parent-child pattern. Poor school achievement and dropping out before completing school are commonplace among children of illiterate parents.
The reasons for illiteracy are as varied as the number of non-readers. The adult non-reader may have left school early, may have had a physical or emotional disability, may have had ineffectual teachers or simply may have been unready to learn at the time reading instruction began.
Because they are unable to help their children learn, parents who can't read often perpetuate the inter-generational cycle of illiteracy. Without books, newspapers or magazines in the home and a parent who reads to serve as a role model, many children grow up with severe literacy deficiencies. Clearly, there is no single cause of illiteracy.
Adults have many reasons for requesting reading help. Many are prompted by the need for increased levels of literacy in their jobs. Others may wish to read to a child, read the Bible or write to a family member for the first time. All express a hope for a better quality of life through higher levels of literacy.
According to Barbara Bush, "It suddenly occurred to me that every single thing I worry about - the breakup of families, drugs, AIDS, the homeless - everything would be better if more people could read, write and understand."
Let us all do what we can to make illiteracy not a part of the story of American today but a part of America's past.
Penni Wild is the Executive Director of New Jersey Reads. New Jersey Reads was established in 2002 by a group of literacy advocates dedicated to encouraging literacy among adults and children throughout the state. Currently, almost 40 percent of New Jersey adults cannot read medicine labels, roadway signs, or job applications, and illiteracy rates in six major New Jersey cities are more than twice the national average. As a champion of literacy for all in New Jersey, New Jersey Reads seeks to obtain funding and resources for literacy initiatives from individuals, corporations, and foundations. For more information about New Jersey Reads, visit www.newjerseyreads.org or call 609-394-5416.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/23757
One New Jersey woman, "Maria," read at a third grade level. She held a job and fudged her way through everyday tasks without reading. When she would go to a restaurant, she would order what she knew was on the menu - a hamburger, salad or grilled chicken - or point to someone else's plate at the next table and ask "for what he's having." Maria even went so far as to keep her illiteracy a secret even from her husband of ten years. Because she could not read the mail, she would pretend that she forgot her glasses at work or say that she had been too busy to open the mail and ask her husband to do it. One day, they were walking past a shop window with a sign in it. As they looked at the display, the husband suddenly realized that his wife could not read. Maria was embarrassed and humiliated. But she sought help and now reads, works on a computer and teaches others to read.
In 2002, before the Subcommittee on Education Reform Committee on Education and the Workforce, United States House of Representatives, actor James Earl Jones testified: "92 million Americans have low or very low literacy skills - they cannot read above the 6th grade level. To be illiterate in America - or anywhere for that matter - is to be unsafe, uncomfortable and unprotected. For the illiterate, despair and defeat serve as daily fare. Can any of us who do know how to read really understand the sadness that is associated with the inability to read? Can we truly relate to the silent humiliation, the quiet desperation that can't be expressed, the hundreds of ways that those who cannot read struggle in shame to keep their secret? The struggle out of illiteracy ... is still a part of the story of America."
Today, our nation faces an epidemic that is destructive to our future. The disease is functional illiteracy. According to the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), it has overtaken one-third of America's children by the fourth grade - including two-thirds of African-American students and almost half of all children in the inner cities.
The basic definition of literacy is the ability to read and write. So the basic definition of illiteracy is the inability to read and write.
Beyond the basic definitions, there is significance in the shocking statistics about the functionally illiterate. What illiteracy means is that millions may not be able to understand the directions on a medicine bottle, or be able to read their telephone bill, make correct change at a store, find and keep a job, or read to a child.
Illiteracy has long been viewed as a social and educational issue - someone else's problem. However, more recently we have come to understand the economic consequences of the lack of literacy skills for America and American business.
Illiteracy has a significant impact on the economy. According to Nation's Business magazine, 15 million adults holding jobs today are functionally illiterate. The American Council of Life Insurance reports that three quarters of the Fortune 500 companies provide some level of remedial training for their workers. And, a study done by the Northeast Midwest Institute and The Center for Regional Policy found that business losses attribute to basic skill deficiencies run into the hundreds of millions of dollars because of low productivity, errors and accidents.
In addition, as reported in the 1986 publication entitled Making Literacy Programs Work: A Practical Guide for Correctional Educators (for the U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Corrections), one-half of all adults in federal and state correctional institutions cannot read or write at all. Only about one-third of those in prison have completed high school.
Evidence indicates that the problem begins at home. A National Governors' Association Task Force on Adult Literacy reported that illiteracy is an inter-generational problem, following a parent-child pattern. Poor school achievement and dropping out before completing school are commonplace among children of illiterate parents.
The reasons for illiteracy are as varied as the number of non-readers. The adult non-reader may have left school early, may have had a physical or emotional disability, may have had ineffectual teachers or simply may have been unready to learn at the time reading instruction began.
Because they are unable to help their children learn, parents who can't read often perpetuate the inter-generational cycle of illiteracy. Without books, newspapers or magazines in the home and a parent who reads to serve as a role model, many children grow up with severe literacy deficiencies. Clearly, there is no single cause of illiteracy.
Adults have many reasons for requesting reading help. Many are prompted by the need for increased levels of literacy in their jobs. Others may wish to read to a child, read the Bible or write to a family member for the first time. All express a hope for a better quality of life through higher levels of literacy.
According to Barbara Bush, "It suddenly occurred to me that every single thing I worry about - the breakup of families, drugs, AIDS, the homeless - everything would be better if more people could read, write and understand."
Let us all do what we can to make illiteracy not a part of the story of American today but a part of America's past.
Penni Wild is the Executive Director of New Jersey Reads. New Jersey Reads was established in 2002 by a group of literacy advocates dedicated to encouraging literacy among adults and children throughout the state. Currently, almost 40 percent of New Jersey adults cannot read medicine labels, roadway signs, or job applications, and illiteracy rates in six major New Jersey cities are more than twice the national average. As a champion of literacy for all in New Jersey, New Jersey Reads seeks to obtain funding and resources for literacy initiatives from individuals, corporations, and foundations. For more information about New Jersey Reads, visit www.newjerseyreads.org or call 609-394-5416.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/23757
Water Resources - Infrastructure Does Not Grow On Trees, It Helps You Grow The Trees
Arizona and water issues for the future are an interesting issue as the Governor and her Drought task force move into a long-term workable plan. Such a compromise is necessary is AZ is to continue growth without devastating its food processing, farming and distribution and transportation industry in trade for housing and construction.
This issue is on everyone’s mind in AZ as the Bark Beetles is eating up the forests near Prescott, Fires have burned down thousands of acres in Show Lo and outside Tucson. As Yuma explodes in Population, as CA desert farmers use an abundance of water, housing continues to grow in San Diego’s North East County, Eastern side along the 8 and in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. Coupled with the intense growth of Las Vegas in suburbs of Green Valley, Summerlin, Centennial, Seven Hills, North Las Vegas and Anthem. In Tucson seeing housing growth on the West side and also heavy growth in and around the Oro Valley area.
In Phoenix much like Las Vegas the growth is staggering, unbelievable really. More golf courses using up to 10% of the water including Trillium in Queen Creek, Cave Creek Area, Another Anthem, Sun City Expansion, Glendale, Goodyear and surround areas and Awautukee Hills. Growth also in cities bordering the tri-sate area places like Lake Have a Brew, Bullhead City, Laughlin and all the way down river to around Parker, AZ. What do all these areas have in common? They all draw from the Colorado River, which is seeing stresses in it’s availability to supply the growing demand. So what is AZ to do? Well they have the SRP – Salt Water River Project. Which is really a river that is thousands of years old, unpredictable during certain periods of the year. That was until around 300 B.C. yes three hundred B.C., looks like Columbus did not discover anything except a whole bunch of people who were already Natives. In AZ Cortez could have come about 2500 B.C. and found whole civilizations roaming what are now the western United States.
The ancient Hohokam Indians were skilled farmers by that time of 300 B.C. and they over the years had built a series of gravity fed canals all the way from Flagstaff to Tucson if you can imagine that. And why not, Look at the Egyptians, Chinese and Roman and Greeks. They too were well adapted to building canals and aquaducts. All this during the European Feudal system, the tribes continued to modify and adapt their water flow to meet seasonal demand and flow rates needed for farming. The Hohokam like the Indians of the Four Corners regions who vanished around 1200-1350 AD, also left their lands in 1400s. Why? No one knows except maybe the Mountainous Indians might have come down for food and water after warring tribes taxed their infrastructure and they over populated their resources.
Mankind has always tried to manage his resources as the Earth is a hostile planet for any species living in the desert or anywhere on the surface of this little blue Planet. There are flows and cycles and logistical needs which must be met as Maslow would agree in his view of what is needed to reach such a pinnacle of society to find your self and your people self actualized.
The Hohokam had developed such an intricate system of water delivery in canals, dams, reservoirs, it rivaled Mullhollands project in CA, including the Fillmore dam, which has its own story: http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/lat021603.htm.
The Chandlers, must have seen this and used these techniques along with Mullholland to assist in the California Acquaduct. The Hohokam had more than 200 miles of irrigation ditches on top of the river system. After they left, a drifter named Jack Swilling revitalized the canal system. Named the dam thing the Swilling Irrigation Canal Company, but folks in the region simply called it the Swilling Ditch. And a ditch it was as it brought water throughout AZ, some 1500 years after the Hohokam had mysteriously vanished. The Company was located in what is now and industrial section of Phoenix, but was once the main downtown area. 1868-1870 the ditch did very well, but Swilling died in a Yuma jail in 1870. The community kept adding canals and miles to the system and eventually it was 42 miles long, which was no real feat compared to the Tribal and ancient Indians.
Water is gold. Look at Saudi Arabia, Kuwait even Baghdad for that matter. Without water you have nothing. Water is gold. I recently talked with the Mayor of San Marcos TX who told me that the Oil of this century in Texas was water. He is not alone in his predictions as Billionaires have been buying up water rights in TX as fast as they can. Enron was trading water futures and why not. The Rio Grande does not have water flow the Gulf of Mexico anymore and TX, NM, NV, CO, MT, AZ all seed the clouds not. Sure beats the ancient ones and their rain dances, which we all ought to learn, after all it worked for them. The Hohokam left the area, why? Were they in periods of long droughts also and being farmers could not do without periods with no water? Without food to grow and animals to hunt on the open desert plain, what could they harvest or trade to live? William Bradford and Edward Winslow found ways to trade with the Indians to get the things they needed for the pilgrims.
Indians in such civilization had big trading needs and were able to get things to make their lives easier from other tribes and cultures. In 1902 many western leaders went to Washington DC to lobby for funds to build the infrastructure and in that year Roosevelt signed the National Reclamation Act. The Valley in PHX immediately worked to secure a loan to take advantage of that legislation and built the first of many larger dams and later reservoirs, The first of which was a huge dam in the Tonto Basin and the locals formed the Salt River Valley Water Users Association. The reason for this was due to the inconsistent problems such as the Flood destroying parts of the canal in 1891.
Then the drought of 1897-1904 brought even more havoc to the region, thus is my view for believing that these droughts are basically the 100 year drought cycles, the Indians without the huge dams and giant reservoirs were marvelous in normal years, but lacking in the drought periods. Coupled with fires from Lightening in Monsoon seasons across the PHX plain. Having water flow like the Colorado River Rapids in the beginning of the year and then dry in the late summers would not support year round life in a desert. About 12 people died building the dam and Apache Indians helped too, but were segregated in tents. This is why the Boeing named the Apache Attack Helicopter since they were the same Indians living in that region previously with ancestors still there today, some running casinos and making much money.
Typhoid swept through the work camp during the years it took to build the dam. The damn dam was completed in 1911 and thus Phoenix was free to grow big. The dam named Roosevelt dam was the first of several reservoirs. Mormon Flats, Horse Mesa, Stewart Mountain all dams and were used to generate electric power, some 53,000 kilowatts. After Tesla proved he could power up the world with water and deliver it via power lines until which time he could figure out a way to deliver it wireless.
During the Depression AZ had found it difficult to make payments on these enormous projects. AZ at one time developed more power than all the other reclamation projects combined. SRP, kept growing and delivering, it was formed as a restructuring move to catch up on payments. By generating electricity the desert has been able to keep water prices lower for the valley to have expotential growth. SRP is the third largest utility in the country. We will discuss some of the others in future studies including, Hoover Dam, nigara Falls, Bonneville Power and the Nuclear Gerators of our country and all the coal driven generation and the power and politics struggle between oil, natural gas, as well as the Tennessee River Valley Authority. SMUD and so many others in our upcoming study. In the case of SRP years of water rights fights continued and was finally settled with 35 original water rights owners claiming some 500 billion gallons which included Indians, farmers, municipalities, families all in Central AZ. SRP has other huge holding such as the Navajo Generating Plant which is coal fired in Four Corners Region.
SRP also has in place a 336 canal system hooking the PHX and Tucson areas to the Colorado River, which is now a large part of the water supply this was only put in recently in the 1980s, but has allowed the growth to continue and become even more strong, thus Maricopa and Pima Counties together rival that of Las Vegas Area growth, and folks that is friggin huge let me tell you, WOW. Today SRP has a 17% stake in Palo Verde, which is operated by APS and has contractors such as Betchel leading the charge in upgrades to make Palo Verde, which was once the largest Nuclear Generator in the Free World, the largest generator by a factor of 2. On Valentines day in 1980 the Roosevelt dam had its spillways running at 180,000 cubic feet PER SECOND, as the area was hit by ten inches of rain in three storms in five days, the level of water was averaging four inches from overflowing for 24 hours. SRP to the rescue. WOW. If that dam overflowed it would have created a waterfall 284 feet high, about twice that of Niagara Falls. No kidding. After that 400 million was spent to renovate and SRP has always been there for Phoenix residents. For information on this project and SRP after they celebrated their 100 year anniversary in Feb. 2003 click here;
Today SRP serves over 800,000 plus customers within a 2900 square mile radius. About 5000 people work for SRP, this is not a little project, this is a big deal for AZ and this is why they have been able to sustain the growth they have over the last many decades. Many issues are critical now with water levels down in the reservoirs ion NV feeding the lower Colorado River and the levels in the Roosevelt dam area, namely fish are more concentrated and less water means higher temperatures and many will die. But the problem is not as bad as many Salmon habitat rivers which are low or the minnows in NM.
The Rio Grande another story in itself. With the cut-throat and Apache trout populations. Mother nature has a way of balancing things out, but with mankind’s need for water and appetite for green lawns in deserts, golf courses and washing cars, it appears we are still going to need San Diego and Los Angeles to De-salinate like Tampa Bay. Jeb Bush and his team were really looking ahead as the drained everglades were threatening eco-system, farming industry and development on the world’s largest sand bar with no mountains, you might call it FL
It is truly amazing. I hope you can appreciate all this great nation has to offer and understand that infrastructure cannot be taken for granted and that it does not grow on trees. Be thankful America, of everything you take for granted. I am thankful of SRP for allowing such a wonderful market to come into existence so we can live well and wash cars. Without water and power you would have no city, no people, no roads and need no cars to drive on thus, washing is irrelevant. Thanks SRP and all those who came before me and made it so. Any one care to comment on the importance of water infrastructure projects, please post below, water is life, without the flow of water, we cannot sustain civilization.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/24212
This issue is on everyone’s mind in AZ as the Bark Beetles is eating up the forests near Prescott, Fires have burned down thousands of acres in Show Lo and outside Tucson. As Yuma explodes in Population, as CA desert farmers use an abundance of water, housing continues to grow in San Diego’s North East County, Eastern side along the 8 and in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. Coupled with the intense growth of Las Vegas in suburbs of Green Valley, Summerlin, Centennial, Seven Hills, North Las Vegas and Anthem. In Tucson seeing housing growth on the West side and also heavy growth in and around the Oro Valley area.
In Phoenix much like Las Vegas the growth is staggering, unbelievable really. More golf courses using up to 10% of the water including Trillium in Queen Creek, Cave Creek Area, Another Anthem, Sun City Expansion, Glendale, Goodyear and surround areas and Awautukee Hills. Growth also in cities bordering the tri-sate area places like Lake Have a Brew, Bullhead City, Laughlin and all the way down river to around Parker, AZ. What do all these areas have in common? They all draw from the Colorado River, which is seeing stresses in it’s availability to supply the growing demand. So what is AZ to do? Well they have the SRP – Salt Water River Project. Which is really a river that is thousands of years old, unpredictable during certain periods of the year. That was until around 300 B.C. yes three hundred B.C., looks like Columbus did not discover anything except a whole bunch of people who were already Natives. In AZ Cortez could have come about 2500 B.C. and found whole civilizations roaming what are now the western United States.
The ancient Hohokam Indians were skilled farmers by that time of 300 B.C. and they over the years had built a series of gravity fed canals all the way from Flagstaff to Tucson if you can imagine that. And why not, Look at the Egyptians, Chinese and Roman and Greeks. They too were well adapted to building canals and aquaducts. All this during the European Feudal system, the tribes continued to modify and adapt their water flow to meet seasonal demand and flow rates needed for farming. The Hohokam like the Indians of the Four Corners regions who vanished around 1200-1350 AD, also left their lands in 1400s. Why? No one knows except maybe the Mountainous Indians might have come down for food and water after warring tribes taxed their infrastructure and they over populated their resources.
Mankind has always tried to manage his resources as the Earth is a hostile planet for any species living in the desert or anywhere on the surface of this little blue Planet. There are flows and cycles and logistical needs which must be met as Maslow would agree in his view of what is needed to reach such a pinnacle of society to find your self and your people self actualized.
The Hohokam had developed such an intricate system of water delivery in canals, dams, reservoirs, it rivaled Mullhollands project in CA, including the Fillmore dam, which has its own story: http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/lat021603.htm.
The Chandlers, must have seen this and used these techniques along with Mullholland to assist in the California Acquaduct. The Hohokam had more than 200 miles of irrigation ditches on top of the river system. After they left, a drifter named Jack Swilling revitalized the canal system. Named the dam thing the Swilling Irrigation Canal Company, but folks in the region simply called it the Swilling Ditch. And a ditch it was as it brought water throughout AZ, some 1500 years after the Hohokam had mysteriously vanished. The Company was located in what is now and industrial section of Phoenix, but was once the main downtown area. 1868-1870 the ditch did very well, but Swilling died in a Yuma jail in 1870. The community kept adding canals and miles to the system and eventually it was 42 miles long, which was no real feat compared to the Tribal and ancient Indians.
Water is gold. Look at Saudi Arabia, Kuwait even Baghdad for that matter. Without water you have nothing. Water is gold. I recently talked with the Mayor of San Marcos TX who told me that the Oil of this century in Texas was water. He is not alone in his predictions as Billionaires have been buying up water rights in TX as fast as they can. Enron was trading water futures and why not. The Rio Grande does not have water flow the Gulf of Mexico anymore and TX, NM, NV, CO, MT, AZ all seed the clouds not. Sure beats the ancient ones and their rain dances, which we all ought to learn, after all it worked for them. The Hohokam left the area, why? Were they in periods of long droughts also and being farmers could not do without periods with no water? Without food to grow and animals to hunt on the open desert plain, what could they harvest or trade to live? William Bradford and Edward Winslow found ways to trade with the Indians to get the things they needed for the pilgrims.
Indians in such civilization had big trading needs and were able to get things to make their lives easier from other tribes and cultures. In 1902 many western leaders went to Washington DC to lobby for funds to build the infrastructure and in that year Roosevelt signed the National Reclamation Act. The Valley in PHX immediately worked to secure a loan to take advantage of that legislation and built the first of many larger dams and later reservoirs, The first of which was a huge dam in the Tonto Basin and the locals formed the Salt River Valley Water Users Association. The reason for this was due to the inconsistent problems such as the Flood destroying parts of the canal in 1891.
Then the drought of 1897-1904 brought even more havoc to the region, thus is my view for believing that these droughts are basically the 100 year drought cycles, the Indians without the huge dams and giant reservoirs were marvelous in normal years, but lacking in the drought periods. Coupled with fires from Lightening in Monsoon seasons across the PHX plain. Having water flow like the Colorado River Rapids in the beginning of the year and then dry in the late summers would not support year round life in a desert. About 12 people died building the dam and Apache Indians helped too, but were segregated in tents. This is why the Boeing named the Apache Attack Helicopter since they were the same Indians living in that region previously with ancestors still there today, some running casinos and making much money.
Typhoid swept through the work camp during the years it took to build the dam. The damn dam was completed in 1911 and thus Phoenix was free to grow big. The dam named Roosevelt dam was the first of several reservoirs. Mormon Flats, Horse Mesa, Stewart Mountain all dams and were used to generate electric power, some 53,000 kilowatts. After Tesla proved he could power up the world with water and deliver it via power lines until which time he could figure out a way to deliver it wireless.
During the Depression AZ had found it difficult to make payments on these enormous projects. AZ at one time developed more power than all the other reclamation projects combined. SRP, kept growing and delivering, it was formed as a restructuring move to catch up on payments. By generating electricity the desert has been able to keep water prices lower for the valley to have expotential growth. SRP is the third largest utility in the country. We will discuss some of the others in future studies including, Hoover Dam, nigara Falls, Bonneville Power and the Nuclear Gerators of our country and all the coal driven generation and the power and politics struggle between oil, natural gas, as well as the Tennessee River Valley Authority. SMUD and so many others in our upcoming study. In the case of SRP years of water rights fights continued and was finally settled with 35 original water rights owners claiming some 500 billion gallons which included Indians, farmers, municipalities, families all in Central AZ. SRP has other huge holding such as the Navajo Generating Plant which is coal fired in Four Corners Region.
SRP also has in place a 336 canal system hooking the PHX and Tucson areas to the Colorado River, which is now a large part of the water supply this was only put in recently in the 1980s, but has allowed the growth to continue and become even more strong, thus Maricopa and Pima Counties together rival that of Las Vegas Area growth, and folks that is friggin huge let me tell you, WOW. Today SRP has a 17% stake in Palo Verde, which is operated by APS and has contractors such as Betchel leading the charge in upgrades to make Palo Verde, which was once the largest Nuclear Generator in the Free World, the largest generator by a factor of 2. On Valentines day in 1980 the Roosevelt dam had its spillways running at 180,000 cubic feet PER SECOND, as the area was hit by ten inches of rain in three storms in five days, the level of water was averaging four inches from overflowing for 24 hours. SRP to the rescue. WOW. If that dam overflowed it would have created a waterfall 284 feet high, about twice that of Niagara Falls. No kidding. After that 400 million was spent to renovate and SRP has always been there for Phoenix residents. For information on this project and SRP after they celebrated their 100 year anniversary in Feb. 2003 click here;
Today SRP serves over 800,000 plus customers within a 2900 square mile radius. About 5000 people work for SRP, this is not a little project, this is a big deal for AZ and this is why they have been able to sustain the growth they have over the last many decades. Many issues are critical now with water levels down in the reservoirs ion NV feeding the lower Colorado River and the levels in the Roosevelt dam area, namely fish are more concentrated and less water means higher temperatures and many will die. But the problem is not as bad as many Salmon habitat rivers which are low or the minnows in NM.
The Rio Grande another story in itself. With the cut-throat and Apache trout populations. Mother nature has a way of balancing things out, but with mankind’s need for water and appetite for green lawns in deserts, golf courses and washing cars, it appears we are still going to need San Diego and Los Angeles to De-salinate like Tampa Bay. Jeb Bush and his team were really looking ahead as the drained everglades were threatening eco-system, farming industry and development on the world’s largest sand bar with no mountains, you might call it FL
It is truly amazing. I hope you can appreciate all this great nation has to offer and understand that infrastructure cannot be taken for granted and that it does not grow on trees. Be thankful America, of everything you take for granted. I am thankful of SRP for allowing such a wonderful market to come into existence so we can live well and wash cars. Without water and power you would have no city, no people, no roads and need no cars to drive on thus, washing is irrelevant. Thanks SRP and all those who came before me and made it so. Any one care to comment on the importance of water infrastructure projects, please post below, water is life, without the flow of water, we cannot sustain civilization.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/24212
Robotic Fish, What Will They Think of Next?
As Unmanned Underwater Vehicles become better and use mimicked techniques, which resemble sea life fluidity of motion it will be much easier to disguise them and virtually impossible to tell the difference. Simply paint a couple of eyes on them and paint them to look just like a fish, shark, whale or dolphin and let them swim a few meters away from you and you will not be able to know what is real.
These robotic fish, which Universities, US Navy, Researchers and Oceanographers are making, now will have many uses. They can patrol underwater pipelines, cables, bridge structures, piers, docks, shipyards and Earthquake Faults or perhaps even Underwater Volcanic Activities. They might also be incorporated into underwater sensors for Tsunami, by swimming quickly to the surface to contact the satellite, resting dormant at the bottom of the ocean floor until needed. Then they can return to the oceans floor again to conserve energy. These sensors will also be able to detect and protect our coastlines from underwater threats from hostile nation submarines, which wish us ill or are testing our abilities to catch them and then perhaps saving that information for some devious future endeavor.
Robotic Fish, which mimic sea life, is a helpful technology to blend into the background of our vast oceans so we can better understand the planet, fishing dead zones, needs of other species and protection of the American People.
RoboTuna Project is real and these fish are really here. The future of virtual fish is now.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/24221
These robotic fish, which Universities, US Navy, Researchers and Oceanographers are making, now will have many uses. They can patrol underwater pipelines, cables, bridge structures, piers, docks, shipyards and Earthquake Faults or perhaps even Underwater Volcanic Activities. They might also be incorporated into underwater sensors for Tsunami, by swimming quickly to the surface to contact the satellite, resting dormant at the bottom of the ocean floor until needed. Then they can return to the oceans floor again to conserve energy. These sensors will also be able to detect and protect our coastlines from underwater threats from hostile nation submarines, which wish us ill or are testing our abilities to catch them and then perhaps saving that information for some devious future endeavor.
Robotic Fish, which mimic sea life, is a helpful technology to blend into the background of our vast oceans so we can better understand the planet, fishing dead zones, needs of other species and protection of the American People.
RoboTuna Project is real and these fish are really here. The future of virtual fish is now.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/24221
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