Category: Journal ISSN 1078-1935

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John Robb: Radical Energy Innovation Here Now

05 Energy, Blog Wisdom
John Robb

RC ENERGY TIDBIT: Leveraging the Earth for Heat/Cooling

Resilient energy leverages the terrain.

Resilient guerrillas/warriors leverage the terrain they are fighting on to the max.  In our case, we want:

  • plentiful, low cost (hyper efficient) energy that
  • uses a process that's inexpensive to maintain and is
  • under our control (not subject global supply chain factors and limited to locally available labor).

The way to do that is through the installation of geo-exchange systems.  These systems run water through plastic pipes buried in the ground.  Since the ground (below six feet or so) remains at a constant temperature (50-65 degrees) year round (it's a heat sink), this circulation process will heat or cool water to the ground's temperature.  This allows heat pumps that run 2-3 times more efficiently and cooling that is dirt cheap.  For example:

Here's a note from Australia on a recently built hospital. Lithgow hospital uses 1/3 less energy as any other hospital in the state and it's heating/cooling system requires less maintenance.  It also eliminates noise and the risk of Legionnaires disease (an added bonus).

See Also from John Robb:

“Reinventing Fire maps pathways for running a 158%-bigger U.S. economy in 2050 but needing no oil, no coal, and no nuclear energy.”

Virtual power plant market set to zoom.

International Academy of Astronautics says we need to start building an orbital solar power system.

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Chuck Spinney: Washington Remains Clueless

07 Other Atrocities, Corruption, Government
Chuck Spinney

NOVEMBER 14, 2011

Only Washington Remains Clueless

The Passing of the Postwar Era

by ANDREW BACEVICH, Counterpunch

This article was originally published by TomDispatch.

In every aspect of human existence, change is a constant. Yet change that actually matters occurs only rarely. Even then, except in retrospect, genuinely transformative change is difficult to identify. By attributing cosmic significance to every novelty and declaring every unexpected event a revolution, self-assigned interpreters of the contemporary scene — politicians and pundits above all — exacerbate the problem of distinguishing between the trivial and the non-trivial.

Read full article.

Phi Beta Iota:  This is one of Bacevich's best pieces.  He frames and then itemizes four converging vectors:  the collapse of the freedom agenda; the Great Recession; the Arab Spring; and Europe's demise, this time without an American rescue being possible.  He quite adroitly illuminates the idiocy, ideology, and insipidness of all of the Republican candidates, while dismissing the incumbent in passing.  What he does NOT cover is the depth of the corruption that created these four vectors, or the deep white-hot anger among the 99% that are now awake to the treason committed by their elected officials–not just in the USA, but across the Western world less the Nordics and The Netherlands.

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Steven Aftergood: Defense Science Board Slams CIA…

Corruption, Government, IO Impotency
Steven Aftergood

A NEW INTELLIGENCE ORG ON CLIMATE CHANGE IS NEEDED, DSB SAYS

The U.S. intelligence community needs an organization that can assess the impacts of climate change on U.S. national security interests in an open and collaborative manner, according to a new report from the Defense Science Board (DSB).

The Director of National Intelligence should establish a new intelligence group “to concentrate on the effects of climate change on political and economic developments and their implications for U.S. national security,” said the DSB report on “Trends and Implications of Climate Change for National and International Security” (large pdf).

The Central Intelligence Agency already has a Center on Climate Change and National Security.  So why would the Intelligence Community need an entirely new organization to address the exact same set of issues?

Continue reading “Steven Aftergood: Defense Science Board Slams CIA…”

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Patrick Meier: CrisisMappers 2011 Opening Speech

Advanced Cyber/IO, Communities of Practice, Hacking
Patrick Meier

My Opening Speech at CrisisMappers 2011 in Geneva

As many of you already know, the CrisisMappers Community is an informal network of members who operate at the cutting edge of crisis mapping and humanitarian technology. We are not a formal entity; we have no office, no one location, no staff, and no core funding to speak of. And yet, more than 3,000 individuals representing over 1,500 organizations in 140 countries around the world have joined this growing and thriving network.

Five recurring themes:

01  Validation  . .  02  Security  . .  03  Formal-informal partnerships  . .  04  Need to scale up  . .  05  Mainstreaming Crisis Mapping

Read full speech.

 

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Chuck Spinney: Koch Brothers & Grand Theft Media

Commerce, Corruption, Media
Chuck Spinney

Below is an informative historical vignette describing one of the 19th Century root systems underpinning the ideology that shaped the emergence of winner take all political economy over the last 30 years. Note particularly the central role of private debt played in the rise of oligarchy and the concomitant impoverishment of the masses.

Koch Family Empire Building

By Yasha Levine, The Texas Observer, 12 November 11

Yasha Levine is an investigative journalist and a founding editor of The eXiled Online. He lives in Venice, California.

The Koch brothers have bankrolled a broad attack on progressive government programs. Their grandfather's history in Texas helps explain why.

Read full investigative article.

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Seth Godin: Adversity and the route to success

Blog Wisdom
Seth Godin

Adversity and the route to success

Resource-rich regions often fall behind in developing significant industrial and cultural capabilities. Japan does well despite having very few resources at all.

Well-rounded and popular people rarely change the world. The one voted most likely to succeed probably won't.

Genuine success is scarce, and the scarcity comes from the barriers that keep everyone from having it. If it weren't for the scarcity, it wouldn't be valuable, after all.

It's difficult to change an industry, set a world record, land big clients, or do art that influences others. When faced with this difficulty, those with other, seemingly better options see the barrier and walk away.

Why bother? The thinking is that we can just pump some more oil or smile and gladhand our way to an acceptably happy outcome.

On the other hand, people who believe they have fewer options take a look at the barrier and realize that even though it will be difficult to cross, it's the single best option they've got.

This is one of the dangers of overfunded/undertested startup companies. Without an astute CEO in charge, they begin to worry more about not losing what they've already got than the real reason they started the project in the first place.

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Marcus Aurelius: NYC Police State Blows Up Muslims

Corruption, Government, Law Enforcement
Marcus Aurelius

Angry over spying, Muslims say: ‘Don't call NYPD'

By EILEEN SULLIVAN and CHRIS HAWLEY, Associated Press 16 mins ago

NEW YORK – Fed up with a decade of police spying on the innocuous details of the daily lives of Muslims, activists in New York are discouraging people from going directly to the police with their concerns about terrorism, a campaign that is certain to further strain relations between the two groups.

Muslim community leaders are openly teaching people how to identify police informants, encouraging them to always talk to a lawyer before speaking with the authorities and reminding people already working with law enforcement that they have the right to change their minds. Some members of the community have planned a demonstration for next week.

Read full article.

Phi Beta Iota:  We have been saying for some time that the US Government no longer represents We the People.  In NYC under Mayor Mike Bloomberg, a privatized CIA has flourished, and NYC is now a police state in every sense of  the word.  When the law becomes unjust, unethical, and plain nuts, it is no longer legitimate.

noble gold