Facing Disasters

Most of us are lucky enough to get up every morning and be able to go about our day with a normal routine and no problem other than whether to eat a salad for lunch or a nice juicy hamburger. Sugar or not for our coffee?

Sometimes we may wake up in the middle of the night to a tornado, the dam up-river may burst, the volcano next door may erupt, or some other unexpected disaster may occur. How to prepare for a hurricane may be common knowledge for a 5th generation Floridian such as me, and earthquake preparedness may be natural for a long term Californian, but many disasters come unexpectedly.

Paranoia can be a poison eating at your very soul, but there is a reasonable state of disaster preparedness that includes awareness and even participation in volunteer groups that help those who have suffered from a disaster.  Pay attention to local and world news and check such sites as Disaster.com  for advice.  If you live in tornado alley, you need to know how to prepare for a tornado.  Many areas of the country need to know how to prepare for a drought, or prepare for a blizzard.  How to prepare for an Asteroid or a nuclear disaster may be beyond most of us, but there are always general steps.

Volunteering to help with disaster recovery efforts can be a rewarding experience, or even an important part of surviving a disaster that you are part of.  It can even be justified as selfish self-interest as a means of insuring help when you may need it yourself.  Frequently donations for disaster relief may be all that you can do.  Look at how much was pledged to Haiti after the Hatian Earthquake of 2010 (much of which has yet to arrive).

I have mentioned that I write on a number of forums.  Disaster.com is one that I am proud to be part of.  Check it out.

gun forums

One thing that I have been doing to help build traffic has been to write on a number of forums. I got into this after someone posted a spurious job offer on a well-known online work site.  I get pad a ridiculously low amount for these postings through Postloop forums.  I have had one bad experience on a gun forum called Revolver Forums and a rather different one on Firearm Addicts.

 I was banned from the Revolver Forum after the owner got upset because I thought that incidents such as the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary was one more proof that we need to control the availability of weapons and magazines designed to allow for the easy murder of large numbers of people.  He stated that the death of those children was fine with him as long as he could have his guns (paraphrased, not direct quote).

The owner of Firearm Addicts politely said that he could not continue to pay for my posts since some of the other members had complained, but he welcomes a variety of views.  I have decided to continue to post on that forum, since I am an advocate of reasonable, responsible gun ownership.

I know that my Grandfather, my Father, myself, my sons, and at least some of my grandchildren are or were gun owners.  I don't know about all my past relatives.  Some of my ancestors were prominent Quakers, so they probably weren't, but I am sure that many of my ancestors were gun owners.

taking longer

I am working on a new post that is taking longer than I expected.

I have been ill for a while, but am better now and will be creating a new post in the next few days.  I wanted to talk about an experience on a forum about revolvers. I made the comment that revolvers, because they are not suited for mass murder killing sprees, are a good weapon to own.  The moderator of the site accused me of being some kind of monster and said   that the death of 20+ children was fine as long as he could own his assault weapons.

I believe that such nonsense is the greatest threat to the second amendment. The NRA will bring an end to gun rights in America unless it quits being a pawn of arms manufacturers.

Quasi-Atheists

I recently made a post on a religious forum about atheism being a belief based on blind faith. A number of agnostics under the mistaken belief that they are Atheists became somewhat irrational in their argument that just not believing that there is a god makes them an Atheist. Despite the fact that these people are pretty much rabid in their condescending approach to defending their belief that they refuse to acknowledge, they choose to ignore any of the arguments for the existence of God, except to  look down their noses at them and imply that I am intellectually deficient for making arguments that I have not made and have no intention of making.

I should add that no one claiming to actually believe that there is no god has commented on the subject. I suspect that the self-styled Atheists are people desperately struggling with their beliefs. If they simply don't believe in a god, they wouldn't make a big deal of it. And I guess it sounds good at parties to say "I am an Atheist."  Very stylish these days.

What is Meant by Solar Energy ?

In popular usage the term solar energy is usually used to refer to usable forms of energy, especially electrical energy, derived from sunlight. Sunlight can be used to provide usable energy in three ways. The first and most obvious way is through the heating effect of light. Frequently heating is an undesirable effect of sunlight. Fortunately the heating effect can be used to provide the power to cool or do other useful things. The heating effect of sunlight is also responsible for wind, which can be used as a power source,

The second way that sunlight can be used to provide power is through photosynthesis or other photochemical reactions. Photosynthesis first appeared on Earth about 3.4 billion years ago. Photosynthesis is the process by which the energy from light is used by plants and some other micro-organisms to produce carbohydrates such as sugar. Sugars are used by most life-forms on Earth to supply the energy for growth and most life-functions.

The third way that sunlight energy can be captured is through the photovoltaic effect. The photovoltaic effect converts light energy directly into electricity. The first known photovoltaic cell was developed by A.E. Becquerel in 1839. Photovoltaic cells were basically a laboratory curiosity until about 1960 because the technology to produce them at any reasonable price did not exist until the space race of the late 1950s forced the development of an industry which had a need for such technology. It is worth noting that this program was a project funded by the people through their state, not by private industry. Of course, a large and powerful industrial complex profited by this program, but it was paid for by the people.

Today we are in a situation similar to the space race. Now we are in an energy race. Barring some scientific breakthrough in an unexpected area, development of large scale renewable solar energy collection technology is the most likely solution to the energy technology needed for the future survival of mankind.  I use the term renewable solar energy because most fossil fuel is, in fact, stored solar energy which is not  easily renewable.

For billions of years after photosynthesis appeared on Earth life was dominated by simple organisms that could survive in the harsh conditions that existed on the primeval Earth. Vast amounts of carbon was removed from the atmosphere and stored in the form of bio-mass, coal, oil, and natural gas. At the same time, much Oxygen was freed into the atmosphere, making modern life possible.

When fossil fuels are used to produce power they remove oxygen from the atmosphere and release carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide into the atmosphere. We need oxygen to survive. Carbon dioxide at increased levels becomes toxic to humans. Carbon monoxide is toxic at virtually any level.

Carbon dioxide is also what is called a greenhouse gas. When sunlight heats the Earth the Earth tries to radiate heat back into space by way of infra-red light. Greenhouse gasses trap that infra-red light, which keeps the heat energy on Earth .When photosynthesis began to remove significant amounts of carbon from the atmosphere the average temperature on Earth began to fall because there was less carbon dioxide to trap the heat. When coal and shale-oil are mined large amounts of methane are released into the atmosphere because methane is trapped in the geologic formations holding coal and shale oil. Methane is a far worse greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide . Utilizing solar energy can help combat global warming, as it has in the past.

Are OIl-Spill Clean-up Jobs What We Want?

The report on the Keystone Pipeline project is out and, apparently, the lies from the proponents of the pipeline. The Sierra club has released a report that says the report shows that the increased pollution from the mining would be equivalent to adding over 5 million cars (non electric) to our highways. In addition, remember that the company supposed to build the pipeline comes with a 100% major leak guarantee. Do we really want to create oil-spill cleanup jobs?