Reconfigure Your Car For Efficiency

Americans have been concerned with gas prices and efficiency for years. Four years ago there was an article in the New York Times about a restaurant owner who reconfigured his car--a Ford Excursion with a turbo-diesel engine--so that it would run on the waste vegetable oil his restaurant used for cooking french fries.

Why not? The fuel was free. Otherwise, this oil would have been thrown out at the end of the day. The vehicle ran as smoothly after as before and there was no sign of engine damage. A big plus: very little pollution. You could have called it pollution free if you didn't mind the faint smell of french fries.

Most fuels have drawbacks. Typically, they're dirty--coal. They're dangerous--nuclear fission and to some extent coal. They are running out--natural gas. They are of limited use--hydroelectric.

Now we address the energies that better fit the common notion of what we mean when we talk about alternative energies. These are the energies that come from limitless natural resources, that are renewable, and seemingly nonpolluting. At the top of the list are wind, sun, and hydrogen from water. It is hoped from these will come energies of the future.

Wind Propellers: These kids have the right idea

The entire Midwest part of America is a natural wind tunnel. Some people say if we could harness the wind effectively enough, we wouldn't need Middle East oil. If we could capture sunlight efficiently enough, we wouldn't have to worry about global warming. Nor would we have to worry about economic growth or inflation. A lot of problems would be solved.

Most of the above have been with us a long time. For example, think of the Netherland windmills. This, and solar, are the epitome of clean renewable energies. But so far they make up only one-tenth of one percent of all
energy used. It will take massive inputs of money and other resources for us to make the above renewable energies more highly regarded and used in our country and throughout the world.

Solar
Today solar energy is used in a wide variety of applications, from solar-powered calculators and watches to emergency radios, from utilizing lightning and the pumping of water to solar panels on roofs of buildings.


By far, the most prevalent bulk material for solar cells is crystalline silicon (abbreviated as a group as c-Si), also known as "solar grade silicon". Bulk silicon is separated into multiple categories according to crystallinity and crystal size in the resulting ingot, ribbon, or wafer.

Lightning
I'm not sure how one utilizes lightning. Perhaps one of our scientific readers could enlighten me on that. Between Tampa and Orlando Florida is one of the most active lightning areas of the country--if not the world. If we somehow could harness lightning and convert it to energy, we would be able to power a lot of Florida air conditioners and other machines in the Sunshine state. I don't know--has anyone ever done it?

The following about lightning comes from research done in Sweden.

Uppsala university : Faculty of Science and technology :

Lightning Research

Since time immemorial humans have looked at lightning with awe and fear. They considered it as a supernatural phenomenon and assigned it responsibility to mythical gods. In the year of 1753, however, Benjamin Franklin showed that lightning flash is nothing but a very strong electrical discharge taking place between the cloud and ground. Indeed, today we know that the lightning flash encompass much more sciences than electricity.

A complete study of the lightning flash and its interactions requires contributions from Physics (to understand how the electrical energy is converted mainly to heat energy in the lightning channel), Chemistry (to understand production of trace gases in the air heated by the lightning), Mathematics (to model how the temperature and the pressure of the lightning channel vary with time), Meteorology (to understand the charge structure and initiation of lightning), Engineering (to protect the electrical systems from lightning), Environmental physics (to understand how the trace gases produced by lightning affects the atmosphere) and medicine (to understand the lightning caused injuries).

The lightning flash is a natural phenomenon around which all the sciences invented by humans can join hands and make common contributions. At a given time there are about 2000 active thunderstorms around the globe. These thunderstorms produce lightning flashes at a rate of about 100 flashes per second. During a lightning flash the air in the lightning channel is heated to a temperature of about 30,000 Celsius. The energy dissipated during a lightning flash amounts to about two billion Joules and each year they dissipate about 170 Terra Watt Hours of energy in the Earth’s atmosphere. The annual energy requirement of Sweden is about 150 Terra Watt Hours.

The research work carried out on lightning flashes at Uppsala University can be divided into three main parts: a) The study of electromagnetic and optical radiation generated by lightning flashes. (b) The generation of Nitrogen Oxides and Ozone from electrical discharges and lightning. (c) The interaction of lightning flashes with very complex electrical systems.

The concentration of ozone in the atmosphere is influenced by the presence of oxides of Nitrogen. Lightning is one of the main sources of nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere. In order to understand the nitrogen oxide production in lightning flashes, researchers at Uppsala University create electrical discharges at different pressures in the laboratory with various energies and measure the amount of Nitrogen Oxides produced by them. They take part in the measurement of nitrogen oxides from lightning flashes triggered in Florida, USA, by the University of Florida scientists by shooting rockets towards thunderclouds.

One recent discovery in lightning research is the observation of lightning like atmospheric discharges called, sprites and blue jets, taking place between the top of the clouds and the upper atmosphere. Another recent discovery is the detection of X-rays from lightning discharges. Lightning research group in Uppsala is conducting studies to understand the physics behind these observations.

In addition to evaluating the lightning protection systems of electrical networks including power lines, telecommunication lines and railway signalling system, a main research activity of the Uppsala research group is to develop an accurate method to design the lightning protection system for buildings and telecommunication and power distribution systems. Moreover, providing information and advice concerning lightning to the public and industries is an important activity of this research group.

The lightning research group at Uppsala is also responsible for maintaining the only international journal dedicated to lightning research – The Journal of Lightning Research (http://www.jolr.org/).

Solar Panels
Florida is also great for solar panels. So are most states, but particularly southern states where it is sunny 12 months of the year. On sunny days these panels can capture the light that falls on them and convert it into electricity that can turn on electric lights, run dishwashers and air conditioners and other appliance. They can be connected to a utility-serviced electric grid. In that case, solar energy becomes the energy source when the sun shines.

The grid takes over at other times. Excess energy produced this way can be transmitted to the utility for dispersal to other customers--further reducing fosil fuel usage and helping to defray costs for the solar-panel-owning homeowner.

Technology to harness sunlight and convert it into electricity requires solar cells, known as photovoltaic or PV cells. The idea is that sunlight is directed onto light-absorbing material in such a way as to "excite" that substance's electrons and result in electrical power.

Do you recall the old photography light meters. They worked on solar cells. In the 1950s scientists at Bell Labs took the technology a lot further. Using silicon, they produced cells that could convert 4 percent of the energy in sunlight into electricity. In a short time, solar cells were being used in the space program.

Let's Work On Cost Effectiveness
We have a lot of work to do. We need to reduce the cost of effectiveness of photovoltaic cells. It is essential if solar energy is to play a major role in the future. We have two challenges: First, bringing down the cost of the cells and second, improving their effeciency so that they convert a greater proportion of light to energy. Experts project ahead 30 years before they believe solar cells will be competitive with natural gas and coal. But that's assuming that the federal government doesn't come in and make available massive amounts of aid and support to fund this enterprise.

Even if the funds are there, there is no guarantee of results. An additional problem we hope researchers will address is the great amounts of toxic waste that is expelled into the ground and atmosphere when these cells are produced. Authors Richard Rhodes and Dennis Beller, quoting an article in Foreign Affairs of January/February 2000, written buy Physicist Alex Gabbard that says it is believed it will take half a century to really produce a global energy solution, and it would consume a major chunk of world iron production. Given the existing technology, it's clear that solar energy is nowhere near being ready to meet the world's need for energy.

Coal
Dr. Gabbard also comments on the use of massive amounts of coal. He notes that "collection and processing of coal ash for recovery of minerals...can proceed without attracting outside attention, concern, or intervention." He believes that coal presents a lesser known problem that it can contribute to nuclear proliferation. He says one good-sized coal-burning electric plant releases enough radiative material in a year to build two atomic bombs. This very serious problem was pointed up in Foreign Affairs noted above. Who needs threat of more nuclear proliferation.

Do We Have Enough Room In America For Solar Power?
It is believed that we would have to set aside an area the size of Nevada to install the free-standing solar instruments and equipment needed to have solar energy take a commanding role in providing this country's needs. As Stephen and Donna Leeb point out in their 2004 book, The Oil Factor, though this is a large area it is less than one-fourth of the area the country has devoted to roads and streets.

That is a good comparison for the sake of comparison, but it is doubtful we will give up our roads and streets when we become energy independent, or will we? Most experts today are predicting in 50 years we may still be oil dependent and the internal combustion engine is here to stay. Maybe someone will invent an efficient personal airlift to take the wives of America to the supermarket. and we can eliminate the cost of roads.

Maybe what we need is to utilize the moon or some close planet for installation of solar instruments, and then we can beam or transmit our energy to earth without experiencing energy creation pollution problems.

The Future Is Here--Is It?

Photo by Andy Manis for The New York Times
John Schwartz of The New York Times testing a jetpack to be unveiled Tuesday at an air show in Wisconsin. The inventor, Glenn Martin, left, and Ray Thomsen guide him.

OSHKOSH, Wis. — The New York Times has spotlighted a New Zealand inventor who believes he has the makings of a futuristic technology. It is to enable man to rise off the ground wearing a jetpack and to "feel the force of dreams. Very, very noisy dreams."

On Tuesday, an inventor from New Zealand plans to unveil what he calls “the world’s first practical jetpack” at the EAA AirVenture, the gigantic annual air show here. The inventor, Glenn Martin, 48, who has spent 27 years developing the devices, said he hoped to begin selling them next year for $100,000 apiece.

“There is nothing that even comes close to the dream that the jetpack allows you to achieve,” said Robert J. Thompson, the director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University. He called it “about the coolest desire left to mankind.”

For Mr. Martin, the jetpack is the culmination of a dream that began as a 5-year-old in Dunedin, New Zealand. For those who still remember childhood dreams of flying and comic-book visions of the 21st century, the jetpack suggests the possible fulfillment of the yearning for those long-promised gifts of technology.

Buck Rogers and James Bond used jetpacks, and since the 1960s, several real jetpack designs have been built from metal, plastic and propellant. None has flown more than a minute. Mr. Martin’s machines can run for 30 minutes.

At first sight, parked in the back of the U-Haul van Mr. Martin used to cart it to the air show, it did not look like the classic jetpacks of science fiction. It stands about five feet tall and its rotors are encased in two large ducts that look a bit like cupcakes. It rests on three legs. Mr. Martin has somehow made the future look both sleek and nerdy.
Read More:

Does Earth Have A Twin?

Astronomers on verge of finding Earth's twin
Planet hunters say doppelgänger is almost surely hiding in our galaxy ESO.

A doppelganger is a ghostly counterpart of a living person or a living earth. Wouldn't it be interesting to see another earth just like ours here. What couldn't we learn by studying this planet, and maybe by communicating to its inhabitants.

Have it's people progressed as far (or farther) than people living on earth? What were the consequences of their adopting complex systems and leaving behind the simple form of life they may have started with? Do they have golbal warming issues? Is global warming a true concept, something that will end civilization as we know it because of greenhouse gases that warm the atmosphere six degrees?

Have they experienced a cataclysmic event that changed their planet? Oh, what a great scientific breakthrough this could be. We would want to absorb their experience, just as a boy sitting at the feet of his father absorbs the wisdom of age. I can't say it enough, oh, would that be interesting--maybe even earth- and population-saving.

An artist's impression shows a trio of super-Earths detected by an European team after five years of monitoring.

See highlights from the shuttle Discovery’s flight, the Phoenix Mars Lander mission and much more in June’s roundup of cosmic pictures at Space.com

Three super-Earths found around one star! Imagine that!

Planet hunters say it's just a matter of time before they lasso Earth's twin, which almost surely is hiding somewhere in our star-studded galaxy.

Momentum is building: Just last week, astronomers announced they had discovered three super-Earths — worlds more massive than ours but small enough to most likely be rocky — orbiting a single star. And dozens of other worlds suspected of having masses in that same range were found around other stars.

"Being able to find three Earth-mass planets around a single star really makes the point that not only may many stars have one Earth, but they may very well have a couple of Earths," said Alan Boss, a planet formation theorist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington in Washington, D.C.

More

Google Helping MIT Find Earth-Like Planets

In an article by David Chandler, MIT News Office on March 19, 2008, scientists announced that they were designing a satellite-based observatory that they say could for the first time provide a sensitive survey of the entire sky to search for planets outside the solar system that appear to cross in front of bright stars. Chandler said the system could rapidly discover hundreds of planets similar to the Earth.

Google is the Internet search powerhouse. But it's mission has expanded to include mapping of the stars as well as the surfaces of the moon and Mars and has an ongoing collaboration with NASA's Ames Research Center.

Google provided a small seed grant to fund development of the wide-field digital cameras needed for the satellite. Because of the huge amount of data that will be generated by the satellite, Google has an interest in working on the development of ways of sifting through that data to find useful information, something it is well prepared to do after being successful in organizing millions and millions of information bytes in the computer world.

Read More

There Are More Earth-Like Planets Out There Than We Thought

A new era in search for 'sister Earths'?
Space & Earth science / Astronomy

A Jupiter-sized planet passes in front of its star in this artists impression of a transiting exoplanet. Photo: NASA ESA and G. Bacon

Research presented at a recent astronomical conference is being hailed as ushering in a new era in the search for Earth-like planets by showing that they are more numerous than previously thought and that scientists can now analyze their atmospheres for elements that might be conducive to life.

When we work with this a lot more, we're likely to find that earth-like planets are almost as numerous as the stars.

Math And Science Take Center Stage

WHITE BOARDS
By Don White
A couple of weeks ago I wrote how Barak Obama had overlooked science and math in American schools and said the important thing was to learn a foreign language. When he comes home from his expensive campaign trip to Europe, Iraq, Israel, and Afghanistan he will probably say we should all learn Arabic.

Cooler minds across party lines in America have laughed off this pretender’s patois and are going forward with tuition free public charter schools that teach science and math. Soon they will speak the jargon of the educated scientist, instead of someone off the streets or that of a certain junior senator when he returns to his Illinois electorate for donations.

Orlando, Florida is one of those areas of enlightenment. They call them Orlando Science Schools (6-12) grades…”serving greater minds.” You can get details at www.OrlandoScience.org and if you have a school child you may want to hop right on it because limited spots are available for the 08-09 school year. I’m sure that’s the case throughout the country where these charter schools are springing forth faster than beefsteak tomatoes on a vine.

These schools are this country’s answer to America’s critics who say we are in decline, that we don’t have enough scientists and mathematicians to carry us into the new age of scientific achievement and beyond. Their goal is to ensure that students develop the skills needed for the long learning. The academic environment is designed to promote high expectations of each student in pursuit of high excellence through participation in many competitions and contests, including:

· Science Olympiad
· Math Olmpiad
· Spelling Bee
· Geo Bee
· Odyssey of the Mind
· Science Fair and more

Here’s an example of the emphasis these kids will get. Orlando Science Middle School will use a variety of student assessments to evaluate teaching and learning processes and to improve the school environment on a consistent basis which includes:

· State assessment programs
· Locally-developed unit tests
· Classroom-based assessments
· School wide competitions

Schools are heralding the advent of what they call “21st Century Classrooms.” Orlando’s science middle school will have classrooms with SMART Board interactive whiteboard systems to serve the students better with the help of technology. What are they?

Students can do a lot of things interactively with Smart Boards. These Numonics Digital boards and Quarte's IdeaShare Interactive Markerboard. are for connecting to the PC given each student in the special school. The teacher can digitally projector the material she has developed for use any program on your computer while standing at the board. Students will be able to see the material up close, work with concepts, work problems and use such accessories as portable tablets, board stands and extra interactive cordless pens. How much of this high-tech stuff will greet the students on the first day is up to the various school districts’ budgets.

Here is a description of one of the boards, for example. The Numonics Digital Presentation Markerboard above connects to the teacher’s PC and projector and helps her conduct interactive, engaging lessons. She can use images from her PC and access computer applications directly from the whiteboard. The teacher simply touches the electronic multimedia pen to the board surface and draws or takes notes to save later. Presumably in some cases, students will have a small version of the board and/or a laptop on his or her desk on which they can save presentation data. Teachers can tap the icons to use the pre-loaded presentation tools. The durable hard Formica surface has a matte finish that prevents hot spots. This interactive markerboard is incredibly simple to set up and is compatible with Mac and Windows operating systems. It includes a cordless electromagnetic pen. The board above is 63.3" x 45.6" and sells for about $1,400.

But just the fact that schools are now concentrating on math and science should give this country a huge step forward for the years to come. Maybe we can even catch up with Finland who lead the world in this area. Of course there is one thing Finland does that we neglect. That is concentrating our schools on learning, not playing.

Currently, American High Schools are structured to have student athletic teams, cheerleaders, performing bands and choral groups, and student body officers with dances, assemblies and a lot of wasteful fluff that could be eliminated to make American schools academically competitive.

Our schools should not be training grounds for Major League Baseball, the NFL and the NBA. Who cares if we don’t field the best track and field team in the world, have the best swimmers, skiers, runners, and players of all sports? Schools are for learning and math and science is of paramount importance

How The LHC Will Be Powerful Enough To Transmit Data Faster Than Today's Web

The network, dubbed the Grid, has been set up by the Cern labs in Geneva to tap into the processing power of computers in 12 countries.

The aim of the project is to handle data from an experiment on how the Universe began.

Cern believes the Grid could eventually provide people access to a vast pool of processing power from their desktops.

Next-gen net

The idea behind Grid technology is to link up computers around the world over the internet to create a new generation of enormously powerful machines.

The networks are needed because some problems in science are just too large for any one machine to tackle by itself.

Cern's Grid will initially be used to handle the terabytes of data generated by an upcoming particle accelerator called the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

The technology now being deployed for particle physics will ultimately change the way that science and business are undertaken in the years to come
Ian Halliday, PParc

The LHC is going to test the Big Bang theory by smashing protons together at high energies.

The data generate by the experiment are expected to fill the equivalent of more than 20 million CDs a year and some 70,000 computers would be needed to analyse the data.

With the LHC Computing Grid project, scientists will be able to access computing resources across the world as though they were on their machine.

"The Grid enables us to harness the power of scientific computing centres wherever they may be to provide the most powerful computing resource the world has to offer," said Les Robertson, project manager at Cern.

'Profound effect'

The first phase covers processing resources from research institutes in 12 countries - the UK, the US, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Russia, Spain, and Taiwan.

The final goal of the Grid is to bring together the computing power of scientific centres across the world to create a virtual supercomputer network.

In the long-term, Grid technology is predicted to revolutionise the world of computing. Ultimately it is expected to be able to provide huge processing power on tap to anyone.

"The technology now being deployed for particle physics will ultimately change the way that science and business are undertaken in the years to come," said Ian Halliday, Chief Executive of the UK's Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, (PParc).

"This will have a profound effect on the way society uses information technology, much as the worldwide web did."

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is being built in a circular tunnel 27 km in circumference. The tunnel is buried around 50 to 175 m. underground. It straddles the Swiss and French borders on the outskirts of Geneva.

It planned to circulate the first beams in May 2008. First collisions at high energy are expected mid-2008 with the first results from the experiments soon after.
Large Hadron Collider: The Discovery Machine

A global collaboration of scientists is preparing to start up the greatest particle physics experiment in history

Computer Support For Large Hadron Collider

Next-Gen Net
Large Hadron Collider (LHC) Superfast internet may replace world wide web

The LHC Computing Grid was constructed to handle the massive amounts of data produced by the Large Hadron Collider. It incorporates both private fibre optic cable links and existing high-speed portions of the public Internet, to get data from CERN to academic institutions around the world.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), expected to be completed in August, 2008 at CERN near Geneva, is the largest scientific instrument on the planet. When it begins operations next month, it will produce roughly 15 Petabytes (15 million Gigabytes) of data annually, which thousands of scientists around the world will access and analyse.

The mission of the LHC Computing Project (LCG) is to build and maintain a data storage and analysis infrastructure for the entire high energy physics community that will use the LHC.

The internet could soon be made obsolete by a new "grid" system which is 10,000 times faster than broadband connections

The distributed computing project LHC@home was started to support the construction and calibration of the LHC. The project uses the BOINC platform to simulate how particles will travel in the tunnel. With this information, the scientists will be able to determine how the magnets should be calibrated to gain the most stable "orbit" of the beams in the ring.

Could Mere Operation of The LHC End It For Us Due To The Black Hole Effect?

Safety of particle collisions

Main article: Safety of the Large Hadron Collider

Concerns have been raised regarding the safety of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) on the grounds that high-energy particle collisions performed in the LHC might produce dangerous phenomena, including micro black holes, strangelets, vacuum bubbles and magnetic monopoles.[15] In response to these concerns, the LHC Safety Study Group, a group of independent scientists, performed a safety analysis of the LHC and concluded in a report published in 2003 that there is "no basis for any conceivable threat".[16] In 2008, drawing from new experimental data and theoretical understanding, the LHC Safety Assessment Group (LSAG) published a report updating the 2003 safety review, in which they reaffirmed and extended its conclusions that LHC particle collisions present no danger.[17][18][19] The LSAG report was reviewed and endorsed by CERN’s Scientific Policy Committee (SPC),[20] a group of external scientists that advises CERN’s governing body, its Council.

On 21 March, 2008 a complaint requesting an injunction to halt the LHC's startup was filed by a group of seven concerned individuals against CERN and its American collaborators, the US Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation and the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, before the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii.[22] The plaintiffs demanded an injunction against the LHC's activation for 4 months after issuance of the LHC Safety Assessment Group's (LSAG) most recent safety documentation, and a permanent injunction until the LHC can be demonstrated to be reasonably safe within industry standards.[23] The US Federal Court scheduled trial to begin June 16, 2009.[24] Following the publication of the LSAG report,[17] the US Government called for summary dismissal of the suit against the government defendants, and the court set Sept 2, 2008 for a hearing on the motion.

Large Hadron Collider

LHC Operational safety

Even at the local level, the size of the LHC constitutes an exceptional engineering challenge with unique safety issues. During operations, the total energy stored in the magnets is 10 GJ, and the two beams carry an overall energy that reaches 724 MJ. For comparison, 724 MJ is the kinetic energy of a TGV running at 222 km/h (139 mph), or the detonation energy of approximately 173 kilograms (380 lb) of TNT. 10 GJ is about 2.4 tons of TNT. In more everyday terms, burning about 80 gallons of gasoline will liberate about 10GJ of energy as heat.

Loss of only 10−7 of the beam is sufficient to quench a superconducting magnet, while the beam dump must absorb an energy equivalent to a typical air-dropped bomb. These immense kinetic energies are even more impressive when one considers how little matter is carrying it. Under nominal operating conditions (2808 bunches per beam, 1.15×1011 protons per bunch), the beam pipes contain about 1.0×10-9 grams of hydrogen, which, in standard conditions for temperature and pressure, would fill a volume of roughly 0.01 mm3.

Large Hadron Collider, LHC

LHC in popular culture

* Decipher by Stel Pavlou features the Large Hadron Collider and describes it to significant accuracy in even though the novel was published in 2001, seven years before the LHC was finished being built.
* Flashforward (novel) by Robert J. Sawyer begins at the LHC. Also written some years before the LHC had finished being built.
* Angels & Demons by Dan Brown involves dangerous antimatter created at the LHC used as a weapon against the Vatican. CERN published a "Fact or Fiction?" page discussing the accuracy of the book's portrayal of the LHC, CERN, and particle physics in general. [32] The movie version of the book had footage filmed on-site at one of the experiments at the LHC; the director, Ron Howard, also met with CERN experts in an effort to make the science in the story more accurate

Giant Hadron Collider

Will The New Hadron Collider Create Black Hole?
Twenty member states contribute to The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known by its French acronym, CERN, a vast laboratory located 100 meters (328 feet) beneath the surface of the French-Swiss border. The structure in this photo is used for exhibitions and other events.

The new Franco-Swiss supercollider could fill gaps in scientific knowledge or create a black hole

Are there other worlds, extra dimensions we have not yet discovered occupying space right alongside ours? One bleak outcome of the Giant Hadron Collider is discovery of a black hole, but it is unlikely. Scientists say they evaporate almost as fast as they come forth.

The LHC may take us back to the beginning of the worlds. If you go back to those early times all there is are a few structures, something very simple, and then we can see how it all evolved into the complex system we have today. Perhaps, then we can see what is the theory of life--if, indeed, there is one theory of life and of everything.

A theory of everything? The Large Hadron Collider may take us to that point. It is absolutely key to understanding our origin. Scientists may be on the verge of solveing it, unraveling the mystery of life.

Get The Must-Read Book SELLING FAST

Get your hands on a PDF or email copy of Don and Carolyn White's topical and timely new real estate book called "SELLING FAST: We Sold Our House In One Day And You Can Too"
email Don at dusanotes@yaho0.com and hit the PayPal key below and use your credit card. Your cost buying it this way is $9.99.

Don and Carolyn White have written an excellent, easy to read book that outlines five secrets of selling your home in any market. You should not even try to list your home before you read this book. It can make you thousands of dollars more than you would otherwise, it's that good.

A recent reader said: "It is a very good book. I recommend it. It's an easy read and very well written." ML, Florida

Go to Amazon.com for your Kindle version, just $6.39 for a limited time at that low price. You will need the Kindle reader for that version. A Kindle is like a palm pilot, it stores up to 200 manuscripts or books. Read at Amazon.com why so many people are reading their material on their handy Kindles.
http://www.amazon.com/Selling-Fast-Sold-Our-House/dp/B001AEFEG0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1212154790&sr=1-1


Get your hands on a PDF or email copy of Don and Carolyn White's smash new real estate book called "SELLING FAST: We Sold Our House In One Day And You Can Too"
email Don at dusanotes@yaho0.com and hit the PayPal key below and use your credit card. Your cost this way is $9.99.

Go to Amazon.com for your Kindle version, just
$6.39 for a limited time at that low price. You will need the Kindle reader for that version. A Kindle is like a palm pilot, it stores up to 200 manuscripts or books. Read at Amazon.com why so many people are reading their material on their handy Kindles.
http://www.amazon.com/Selling-Fast-Sold-Our-House/dp/B001AEFEG0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1212154790&sr=1-1

Bertha--First 2008 Hurricane Is Headed This Way

Monday, July 7, 2008
Orlando--We’ll hear a lot about Hurricane Bertha in the next two or three days. Recording wind speeds of 75 mph, Bertha was about 845 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands headed west-northwest at about 17 mph.

That means if it continues it’s current course it will hit the Florida east coast in two or three days. But there are plenty of things that can push it in one direction or another and as of yet the National Hurricane Center has given no indication of high pressure troughs coming from Texas or Louisiana that could force it back out to sea.

Meanwhile, Floridians and Gulf Coast residents should get their 72-hour survival kits and food storage in good shape. The last time Central Florida felt the effects of a hurricane was four years ago, in 2004, when three hurricanes damaged homes and took out power, affecting hundreds of thousands of homeowners. However, weather officials say it is too early to tell if this storm will hit land.

In 2004 Floridians received $5.5 billion in federal disaster assistance. Homeowner's insurance rates in Florida are the third highest in the country, only behind that of Texas and Louisiana. The obvious factor for the high rates is due to hurricane risk

The first named storm this year, Arthur, formed in the Atlantic the day before the season officially started June 1 and soaked the Yucatan Peninsula

Scientists Are Now PROVING How

http://www.naturecity.com/lp/images/aloecran-header-DELICIOUS.gif
Aloecran for your Good Health!
Do you laugh at these drug commercials on TV… the ones with all the happy smiling faces and people dancing around because the drug has supposedly made life great?

Then – while they’re still dancing and smiling – the narrator reads you the long list of the 30 or so side effects that the drug may cause. These commercials make me chuckle and shake my head each time I see them.

That’s because the fact is you don’t have to hurt your body while trying to help it. And this is especially true when it comes to helping your digestion and gastrointestinal system function normally – which is critical to your good health. Read the story: http://www.naturecity.com/lp/aloecran.php?utm_source=Newsmax&utm_medium=tpe&utm_term=080625&utm_content=open&utm_campaign=aloecran

McCain Wants Prize Money For Efficient Battery Operated Autos--And Why Not?

McCain calls for $300 million auto battery prize
David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, is calling for a government-funded $300 million prize to build an advanced battery to power plug-in hybrids, while sharply criticizing luxury carmakers who don't meet fuel economy requirements.

McCain also said he would back a $5,000 dollar tax credit for zero-emission vehicles.

"We will encourage heroic efforts in engineering, and we will reward the greatest success," McCain said, according to an advance copy of prepared remarks. "I further propose we inspire the ingenuity and resolve of the American people by offering a $300 million prize for the development of a battery package that has the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars."

McCain noted the figure was " one dollar for every man, woman and child in the United States -- a small price to pay for helping to break the back of the nation's dependency on oil -- and should deliver a power source at 30 percent of the current costs."

McCain noted that America's cars and trucks use 60 percent of the oil and raised questions about whether the current system of fines for not complying with fuel economy requirements was sufficient.

"Yet the CAFE standards we apply to automakers -- to increase the fuel efficiency of their cars -- are lightly enforced by a small fine," McCain was expected to say at a speech at Fresno State University at California, according to excerpts provided by the campaign. "The result is that some companies don't even bother to observe CAFE standards. Instead they just write a check to the government and pass the cost along to you. Higher-end auto companies like BMW, Porsche, and Mercedes employ some of the best engineering talent in the world. But that talent isn't put to the job of fuel efficiency, when the penalties are too small to encourage innovation."

The energy bill passed last December doubled fuel economy fines. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced late last year that it had issued more than $40 million in fines for six manufacturers, with then DaimlerChrysler AG paying $30.3 million.

McCain criticized automakers for not ramping up production of vehicles than run on flex-fuel vehicles, while also criticizing government subsidies for ethanol.

"Innovation in the use of alternative fuels in transportation presents the greatest opportunity for energy independence," McCain said. "Some, such as ethanol, are on the market now, and new sources of ethanol are on the horizon that will not require the use of so much cropland. Corn-based ethanol, thanks to the money and influence of lobbyists, has been a case study in the law of unintended consequences. Our government pays to subsidize corn-based ethanol even as it collects tariffs that prevent consumers from benefiting from other kinds of ethanol, such as sugarcane-based ethanol from Brazil."

He said taxpayers -- which gave ethanol $3 billion in subsidies last year -- were paying too much. "The result is that Americans take the financial hit coming and going. As taxpayers, we foot the bill for the enormous subsides paid to corn producers. And as consumers, we pay extra at the pump because of government barriers to cheaper products from abroad."

McCain said automakers should ramp up production of vehicles that can run on E85, a vehicle that runs on 85 percent ethanol.

"This can be done with a simple federal standard to hasten the conversion of all new vehicles in America to flex-fuel technology -- allowing drivers to use alcohol fuels instead of gas in their cars," McCain said. "Automakers that helped Brazil make the change say it will take them longer to reach the goal of 50 percent new flex-fuel vehicles for America. But I am confident they can do more, and do it faster, in the interest of our energy security. And if I am elected president, they will. Whether it takes a meeting with automakers during my first month in office, or my signature on an act of Congress, we will meet the goal of a swift conversion of American vehicles away from oil."

Get Angry About Too Much Sugar
by
Don White


Science fiction guru Isaac Asimov in 1966 at the height of the Cold War wrote a thriller called Fantastic Voyage. It had to do with new technology that scientists had developed (fiction then) to miniaturize doctors and send them inside the vessels of the body to correct defects of man.

That was the fantastic voyage, not space travel, for Asimov, one of the greatest and most prolific novelists we have ever known. The miniaturization had one fatal flaw, it wore off quickly. Professor Benes develops the breakthrough that overcomes this limitation. But before he is able to communicate his crucial insight he falls into a coma, with a potentially fatal blood clot in his brain.

Against a backdrop of the continuing time limitation and international intrigue, our side sends in a submarine with five specialists using the still time-limited miniaturization technology to travel inside Benes body and destroy the blood clot.

Likely you read the book or saw the exciting movie. Moviegoers are treated to a genuinely fantastic voyage through the vessels of the human body as the intrepid team battles enormous white blood cells, insidious antibodies, annoying platelets and other threats as they work to achieve their goal before the miniaturization catastrophically wears off.

What's the point? Only that in 1966 medicine had no idea that Asimov's fiction would largely come about. Not that people are made small enough to go into the blood stream, but that we have developed medicine and vitamins that can do the job for us.

A futurist, Ray Karswell, has written some books about what to expect in travel in the future and health. The latter book is about health. In fact on page 3 his subtitle is: IMMORTALITY IS WITHIN OUR GRASP

If there are Christians in the "house" and I offend anyone who believes Jesus Christ has already done that in his atonement--and I am one of them--please bear with us. Kurzwell is zany, but his point was well taken. If we "eat well enough" people say we can do that. No--it isn't what we eat, but what we digest, that's most important.

There is an enemy in our quest to live longer. Who is it? It is sugar.
Never when I was growing up did I suspect that sugar was the prime cause of cancer, one of the biggest threats to long life. Keep sugar down in your diet and you'll live a long while--and I mean actual sugar, not the kind you get from raw apples or other unsweetened fruit.

Listen to Kurzwell: "It is wise to consider the process of reversing and overcoming the dangerous progression of disease as a war. As in any war, if the enemy is at the gates--or inside the gates--it's important to mobilize all the means of intelligence and weaponry that can be harnessed. That's why we'll advocate that key dangers be attacked on multiple fronts. For example , we'll discuss ten approaches that should be practiced concurrently for prevention of heart disease..."

Who is the enemy? Put yourself at the top of the list. Until the onset of symptoms, most people do not focus on prevention of disease, so health officials give limited advice until something is severe...usually.

The second enemy is the disease process, itself.

As time goes on we'll give you more specifics on how sugar can expand cancer in the human body, instead of reduce it. You know, don't you, that all of us have cancerous tissues and cells inside our bodies. But because our bodies are healthy, our good cells fight and beat down the cancerous ones so that cancer never really gets a foothold. But what happens when you eat too much sugar and don't get enough vitamin D-producing sunshine is that these bad cells multiply and become a big cancer, taking over vital body functions.

Enough for now. Just remember, if you drink coffee maybe you need to consider taking it without sugar--or with less sugar. If you drink herbal tea, honey is a lot better for you than granulated white sugar. Spend more time outside, until we talk again.

"The Weather Outside Is Frightful"

Is the bad weather intensifying?



Orlando,FL June 22, 2008--It doesn't take a genius to figure it out. Weather patterns are at their most severe the past 100 years, and you can count on the Al Goreites to blame "Global Warming."



The actual truth is that this earth is in a cooling cycle, has been the past couple of years. Greenhouse gasses have nothing to do with anything.



Read the following headlines around the world this Sunday morning.



1. Floodwaters from the Mississippi River surround mailboxes and a house on



Saturday, June 21, 2008 in Foley, Mo. At Foley, more than half of the homes in the town of 200 residents were under water. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)AP - Amid the battle to hold back the swollen Mississippi River, some towns in northeastern Missouri and Illinois got an unwelcome surprise Saturday as river levels rose higher than projected.



2. Calif. firefighters wrestle with hundreds of blazes

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080622/ap_on_re_us/wildfires(AP)href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080622/ap_on_re_us/wildfires">



(AP)http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080622/ap_on_re_as/philippines_typhoon

3. 700 missing after Philippines typhoon sinks ferry (AP)



4. The U.S. National Weather Bureau said Dr. Gray has predicted 16 hurricanes, nine of a severe nature, this year. That may or may not be significant. He did the same the last couple of years, but in Florida at least those predictions did not pan out. Just the same, people should be on guard and be ready with their 72-hour survival kits and extra food storage in case the worst occurs.

Wireless Internet Is Inflight Reality

The following ideas are from Walt Mossberg of the WSJ.
The Wall Street Journal has announced that beginning this summer wireless Internet access will arrive in the passenger cabins of some commercial U.S. airliners.

On these Internet-equipped planes, any passenger with a Wi-Fi enabled laptop -- or a cellphone with Wi-Fi -- will be able to do almost everything he or she could do online at home or at the office.

That includes surfing the Web, using email, having instant-messenger text chats, downloading and uploading files, and streaming video and audio.

In fact, I did all these things a few days ago on a test flight using the new system, called Gogo. During the flight from San Francisco to Denver, on a small test jet, I could operate online as if I were sitting at my desk, or in a Starbucks. I used Dell and Apple laptops, a BlackBerry, a Windows Mobile phone and an iPhone to perform all the most common online tasks, while soaring over majestic mountains and glorious national parks.

I sent and received emails on Microsoft Outlook and Apple Mail, including messages with hefty attachments. I conducted IM chats on AOL Instant Messenger and Google Talk. Using all the major Web browsers, I called up dozens of Web sites, and watched video clips on Hulu and YouTube. I downloaded photos, songs, PDF files and Microsoft Office documents. I used all the Internet functions on the iPhone, and on the Wi-Fi-equipped BlackBerry and Windows Mobile phone.

One important caveat: Gogo is a data-only system. It doesn't allow phone calls and will block all services that allow voice conversations to be made over the Internet.

Gogo will launch on three American Airlines routes, likely in July. The first planes to use it will be American's 15 Boeing 767s flying between New York and Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami. Later in the year, Gogo will be available on all of Virgin America's small number of routes, and possibly additional American routes, if the first deployment works well. It's supplied to the airlines by a Denver-based company called Aircell, which says it is in negotiations to offer the Gogo service on several other major U.S. airlines by next year.

The Gogo service will cost a flat fee of $12.95 for flights of three hours or longer, and $9.95 for shorter trips. You log into Gogo as you would any commercial Internet service, registering on a special Web page. Aircell plans to allow advance sign-up, so you'd only have to enter an ID and password on the plane. No add-on software, hardware or cables are required.

A few Web functions will be offered free from Gogo, including access to the American Airlines Web site, to Frommer's online travel guides and to a limited selection of articles from The Wall Street Journal.

Gogo isn't the first in-plane Internet service. A few years ago, Lufthansa offered a satellite-based service from Boeing, mainly on over-ocean flights, but it was canceled.

The service operates at respectable, if not blazing, speeds -- similar to what you'd get on a cellular broadband service or a slow home DSL line. On my test flight, download speeds varied from 266 kilobits per second to about 1.4 megabits per second, with the most typical speeds hovering between 500 and 600 kbps. Upload speeds were between 250 and 300 kbps. I found that most of the tasks I tested, except for streaming video, felt smooth and normal.

Speeds could degrade on a large plane with scores of people online simultaneously. But Aircell claims it has the technology to make my experience representative for anyone doing common tasks, such as Web surfing and email. During my test flight, eight laptops and six Wi-Fi-enabled smart phones were using the system simultaneously. All registered decent speeds, except for a couple of minutes when the plane was crossing between the zones controlled by the company's ground-based towers.

Aircell gets Internet access to the planes through a network of 92 towers scattered across North America. These essentially are cellphone towers, carrying a high-speed cellphone data signal, except that the Aircell antennas point up, into the sky. A receiver on the underside of the aircraft picks up the signal, which is then distributed through the plane via Wi-Fi.

The companies say Gogo is safe and won't interfere with the plane's operation. It is government-approved, and pilots can shut the system off should they deem it necessary.

Gogo has some limitations. The service plans to allocate its capacity so that low-bandwidth activities like Web surfing and email take priority over high-bandwidth ones like streaming video. That means you may find video to be slow and halting.

And Gogo is a North American, land-based service only. It won't work over the oceans and, for now, it won't work on other continents.

But for U.S. travelers who want to stay connected in the air, Gogo does the job.
• Find all of Walt Mossberg's columns and videos online, free, at the new All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com. Email him at mossberg@wsj.com.

Allergies

I have included part of a fine article by Stan M. Gardner,MD with a link to Meridian Magazine so that you can read the entire article if you choose. I don't offer it here because I believe this article is a cure-all or a seminal type of breakthrough article, but that each of us needs to absorb as much knowledge as possible in many fields if we truly intend to stay abreast of life and how to cope with it. Don White


Recently a young woman came into my office with a common complaint: With the advent of pollen season, her eyes were watering and itchy; she was congested and miserable and unable to sleep, sneezing constantly. Many of you relate.

In order for us to understand an immune system gone awry (which is what allergies are all about), we must first understand the normal immune response. When any foreign particle enters our body, a host of defenders rushes to the site. These defenders are called “white blood cells,” and they perceive the foreign substance as the enemy.

We call the foreign substances “antigens.” These may be infectious agents, pollen in the air, dander from animals, mold spores, chemicals, or other allergens.

Some of the defenders are called “macrophages.” They are capable of digesting the foreign material, much like PacMan. Another white blood cell, called a “basophil,” releases pro-inflammatory substances. In medical jargon, these pro-inflammatory substances have names like interleukins, cytokines, prostaglandins, and histamines. These cause inflammation, pain, and swelling at the local site.

These basophils also stimulate the immune system, which attracts antibodies and T lymphocytes to the area. The antibodies bind to the infectious agent and create what we call an antigen-antibody complex. All that means is that the antigen and the antibody have connected to each other. The liver destroys these antigen-antibody complexes.

The other thing the antibodies do is initiate a series of steps called a “complement cascade,” which causes the lysis, or destruction, of the antigen.

This cascade will also digest the dead parts and release more pro-inflammatory substances. The T lymphocytes consist of three different types: one has a memory that remembers the previous exposure to this particular (usually infectious) agent. This is similar to when we get exposed to a virus as a child. Our body creates these memory lymphocytes that immediately attack that same virus in later years, so the virus cannot cause symptoms of an actual infection. There are also T lymphocytes that are called helper cells that assist in the overall destruction of these foreign agents.

Perhaps the most important of the T lymphocytes are called killer cells. Why are they called “killer cells?” Because they have the capability of providing the final blow to kill infectious agents and cancer cells.

When the immune system is functioning properly, it provides an excellent protection against the many foreign substances that exist in our world. When, however, the reaction to these foreign substances is prolonged or overwhelming, we see the abnormal immune response that may create allergies, autoimmune disease, recurrent infections, or even cancer.

For more on Allergies, read the entire article at Meridian Magazine:
http://www.ldsmag.com/healthyoutlook/080617allergies.html

Some Energy Web Site Talk

[DIY] Practical Guide to Free-Energy Devices - Chapter 2
Monday, June 16, 2008 3:17 AM
From:
"Dale"
DoIt_Yourself@yahoogroups.com

I am presently involved in a type of hydrogen R and D, and what you see
here does in fact work, however keep in mind that when you break water
into its two parts you have a highly explosive mixture. Hydrogen when
combined with 30% oxygen, which is H2/O you have a ready made bomb and
certain precautions need to be adhered to. I spent a number of years on
Nuclear Submarines and we made our own oxygen by a similar process,
discarding the hydrogen to the surrounding water. A standing serious
joke was that any failure of the equipment could and often would result
in an explosion, and at least one man I know of was killed to attest to
this theory.

We were working in a situation where money for development was not an
object and as such our equipment was highly sophisticated as compared to
what can be built in the average home work shop. I would recommend a
search on the subject of Hydrogen, Brown's Gas, HHO Gas, Water
Propulsion, Etc. There are a number of video clips available on U-Tube
showing what others are doing, and some of it is dangers, some is
ludicrous, and some is even novel, but you have to admire folks for
being willing to try.

The big drawback with most of what is being done is that there has been
little attention devoted to actual use of accepted standards of
measuring performance except to watch the bubbles they are making vs the
amount of current the device is drawing.

The short and the long of this is, if you want to have some fun and
accept the fact that you can create unexpected explosions, go for it.
Who knows, you could wind up being the next Thomas Edison "or NOT".

Dale

Bill Chmelik wrote:
>
> OK, take a lot and see if this might be fun to try, have no idea if it
> works or not, so I figured I would hit as many folks as possible --- a
> real do it yourself
> http://www.free- energy-info. co.uk/Chapt10. html
>
>
> --
> Bill Chmelik
> East Central Mississippi
>
> "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
> Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!" - Benjamin Franklin
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Check Out Don White's New Must-Read Book SELLING FAST: We Sold Our House In One Day And You Can Too. dusanotes@yahoo.com
Click on Amazon.com where it is published and sold.
[DIY] Practical Guide to Free-Energy Devices - Chapter 2
Monday, June 16, 2008 3:17 AM
From:
"Dale"
Add sender to Contacts
To:
DoIt_Yourself@yahoogroups.com

dusanotes@yahoo.com

Does God or Science Control The Weather?

Get hold of Don and Carolyn White's successful new book,a must read for our economic times, "SELLING FAST: We Sold Our House in One Day And You Can Too."


CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - The Cedar River poured over its banks Thursday, forcing the evacuation of more than 3,000 homes, causing a railroad bridge to collapse and leaving cars underwater on downtown streets.

Officials estimated that 100 blocks were underwater in Cedar Rapids, where several days of preparation could not hold back the rain-swollen river. Rescuers had to use boats to reach many stranded residents, and people could be seen dragging suitcases up closed highway exit ramps to escape the water.

"We're just kind of at God's mercy right now, so hopefully people that never prayed before this, it might be a good time to start," Linn County Sheriff Don Zeller said. "We're going to need a lot of prayers and people are going to need a lot of patience and understanding."

Go here for the remainder of the AP story:


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-dams-flooding-jun12,0,3170273.story

100-Mile-Per-Gallon Car

Here's Part of Paul Jacob's article from Townhall.

100 Miles a Gallon
Episode Number: 2047
Publication Date: Tuesday, April 15, 2008

*
*
* digg this story
* Listen to Audio (MP3)
* PDF Version

Categories: Free markets

Everybody who wants a car that gets 100 miles per gallon, raise your hand.

Me too.

The Progressive Automotive X Prize is an international competition that will award ten million dollars to the first team to produce and market an affordable 100-mile-per-gallon car.

Many groovy possibilities are in the works. One prototype would be powered by compressed air. Another is an all-electric automobile slim as a motorcycle. Another runs on gas fumes.

I like the contest even though I dislike some of the ideas of some people who also like the contest. Modern “green” activists — as opposed to blue or yellow — too often pursue their goals by trying to block human exploitation of nature that they disagree with. They often treat property rights as an annoying impediment.

Free markets are vibrant because they provide so many ways for producers to reach us with goods we are willing to pay for. We are willing to pay for something when we’re persuaded it would be of value to us. So, it’s great when economic entrepreneurs test new products in the marketplace. Not so great it when political entrepreneurs try to impose new products on us by force. Or try to stop us from using viable alternatives.

Frankly, I’d go for a decent-priced car that gets 100 miles a gallon even if politicians and environmentalists weren’t trying to tax oil and gas out of existence.

That’s just — well, this is — Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
View Full Version http://www.samadamsalliance.org/common_sense/100-miles-a-gallon

Babies At Risk Comparison By State

Underweight U.S. Babies Rises To Highest Levels In 40 Years

By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer

NEW YORK - The percentage of underweight babies born in the U.S. has increased to its highest rate in 40 years, according to a new report that also documents a recent rise in the number of children living in poverty

The data on low birth weights is worrisome because such babies — those born at less than 5.5 pounds — are at greater risk of dying in infancy or experiencing long-term disabilities.

The findings were released Thursday in the annual Kids Count report on the health and well-being of America's youth, which measures the states in 10 categories. Overall, the report found progress, as well as some setbacks.

"Well-being indicators have largely gotten better for teens, and they've gotten worse for babies," said Laura Beavers, coordinator of the Kids Count project for the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation.

The report documented improvements in the child death rate, teen death rate, teen birth rate, high school dropout rate, and teens not in school and not working. There was no change in the infant mortality rate, while four areas worsened: low-birthweight babies, children living in with jobless or underemployed parents, children in poverty, and children in single-parent families.

In composite rankings for all 10 indicators, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Utah ranked the highest, while Mississippi, Louisiana, New Mexico, Alabama and South Carolina ranked the lowest.

Read the entire story by clicking here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080612/ap_on_he_me/med_kids_count