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Archive for July 2008

Trans-Dimensional Travel

18 July 2008 by admin.

These articles deal with the fringe in that I was addressing the “science” behind so called UFO’s.

Frank Drakes formulas are a testament to that. The only reason that his formulas are used to “prove” life exists is because of the enormous quantities of tries that nature has to get it right in the observable universe and over so much time.

One potential perspective is that what may be visiting us, as “UFO’s” could be a race or several races of beings that are 500 to 25,000 years or more advanced than us. Given the age of the universe and the fact that our sun is probably second or third generation, this is not difficult to understand. Some planet somewhere was able to get life started before Earth and they are now where we will be in the far distant future.

Stanley Miller proved that life, as we know it, could form out of organic and natural events during the normal evolution of a class M planet. But Drake showed that the chances of that occurring twice in one solar system is very high against it. If you work backwards from their formulas, given the event of earth as an input of some solution of the equations, you would need something like 100 million planets to get even a slight chance for another planet with high‑tech life on it.

Taken this into consideration and then comparing it to the chances that the monuments on mars are natural formations or some other claim of extraterrestrial life within our solar system, you must conclude that there is virtually no chance for life in our solar system. Despite this, there are many that point to “evidence” such as the appearance of a face and pyramids in Mars photographs. It sounds a lot like an updated version of the “canals” that were first seen in the 19th century. Now we can “measure” these observations with extreme accuracy - or so they would have you believe.

The so‑called perfect measurements and alignment that are supposedly seen on the pyramids and “faces” are very curious since even the best photos we have of these sites have a resolution that could never support such accuracy in measurements. When you get down to “measuring” the alignment and sizes of the sides, you can pretty much lay the compass or ruler anywhere you want because of the fuzz and loss of detail caused by the relatively poor resolution. Don’t let someone tell you that they measured down to the decimal value of degrees and to within inches when the photo has a resolution of meters per pixel!

As for the multidimensional universe; I believe Stephen Hawkin when he said that there are more than 3 dimensions however, for some complex mathematical reasons, a fifth dimension would not necessarily have any relationship to the first four and objects that have a fifth dimension would have units of the first four (l,w,h & time) that are very small ‑ on the order of atomic units of scale. This means that according to our present understanding of the math, the only way we could experience more than 4 dimensions is to be able to be reduced to angstrom sizes and to withstand very high excitation from an external energy source. Lets exclude the size issue for a moment since that is an artifact of the math model that we have chosen in the theory and may not be correct.

We generally accept that time is the 4th dimension after l, w, and h which seem to be related as being in the same units but in different directions. If time is a vector (which we believe it is) and it is so very different than up, down, etc, then what would you imagine a 5th dimension unit to be?

Most people think of “moving” into another dimension and it being just some variation of the first 4 but this is not the case. The next dimension, is not capable of being understood by us because we have no frame of reference.

Hawkin makes a much better explanation of this in one of his books but suffice it to say that we do not know how to explore this question because we cannot conceive of the context of more than 4 dimensions. The only way we can explore it is with math ‑ we can’t even graph it because we haven’t got a 5-axis coordinate system. I have seen a 10 dimensional formula graphed but they did only 3 dimensions at a time.

Whatever the relationship of a unit called a “second” has with a unit called a “meter”, may or may not be the same relationship as the meter has with “???????” (Whatever the units of the 5th dimension are called). What could it possibly be? You describe it for me, but don’t use any reference to the first 4 dimensions. For instance, I can describe time or length without reference to any of the other known dimensions. The bottom line is that this is one area that even a computer cannot help because no one has been able to give a computer an imagination ……..yet. However, it is an area that is so beyond out thinking that perhaps we should not speculate about them coming from another dimension.

Let’s look at other possibilities. To do that, take a look at the other article on this blog titled, “Intergalactic Space Travel”.

Posted in Science...."Fiction?", Future History, Maybe True | 1 Comment »

Achieving the Speed of Light NOW

18 July 2008 by admin.

Scientists have been telling us for some time that it is impossible to achieve the speed of light. The formula says that mass goes to infinity as you approach C so the amount of power to go faster also rises to infinity. The theory also says that time is displaced (slows) as we go faster. We have “proven” this by tiny fractions of variations in the orbits of some of our satellites and in the orbit of Mercury. For an issue within physics that is seen as such a barrier to further research, shouldn’t we see a more dramatic demonstration of this theory? I think it should so I made up one.

Let us suppose we have a weight on the end of a string. The string is 10 feet long and we hook it up to a motor that can spin at 20,000. The end of the string will travel 62.8 feet per revolution or 1,256,637 feet per minute. That is 3.97 miles per second or an incredible 14,280 miles per hour. OK so that is only .0021% of C but for only ten feet of string and a motor that we can easily create, that is not bad.

There are motors that can easily get to 250,000 RPM and there are some turbines that can spin up to 500,000 RPM. If we can explore the limits of this experimental design, we might find something interesting. Now let’s get serious.

Let’s move this experiment into space. With no gravity and no air resistance, the apparatus can function very differently. It could use string or wire or even thin metal tubes. If we control the speed of the motor so that we do not exceed the limitations imposed by momentum, we should be able to spin something pretty fast.

Imagine a motor that can spin 50,000 RPM with a sting mechanism that can let out the string from the center as the speed slowly increases. Now let’s, over time, let out 1 mile of string while increasing the speed of rotation to 50,000 RPM. The end will not be traveling at nearly 19 thousand miles per hour or 2.82% of C.

If we boost the speed up to 100,000 RPM and can get the length out to 5 miles, the end of the string will be doing an incredible 188,495,520 miles per hour. That is more that 28% the speed of light.

What will that look like? If we have spun this up correctly, the string (wire, tubes, ?) will be pulled taunt by the centrifugal force of the spinning. With no air for resistance and no gravity, the string should be a nearly perfect vector outward from the axis of rotation. The only force that might distort this perfect line is momentum but if we have spun this setup slowly so that the weight at the end of the string is pulling the string out of the center hub, then it should be straight.

I have not addressed the issue of the strength of the wire to withstand the centrifugal force of the spinning weight. Not that it is trivial but for the purposes of this thought experiment, I am assuming that the string can handle whatever the weight size we use.

Let us further suppose that we have placed a camera exactly on the center of the spinning axis facing outward along the string. What will it see? If the theory is correct, then despite the string being pulled straight by the centrifugal force, I believe we will see the string curve backward and at some point it will disappear from view. The reason is that as you move out on the string, its speed is going faster and faster and closer to the C. This will cause the relative time at each increasing distance from the center to be slower and appear to lag behind. When viewed from the center-mounted camera, the string will curve.

If we could use some method to make the string visible for its entire length, its spin would cause it to eventually fade from view when the time at the end of the string is so far behind the present time at the camera that it can no longer be seen. It is possible that it might appear to spiral around the camera, even making concentric overlapping spiral rings.

If synchronized clocks were places at the center and at the end of the string, and then we placed a camera at both ends but could view the two images side-by-side at the hub. Each one would view a clock that started out synchronized and the only difference would be that one is now traveling at some percentage of C faster than the other. I believe they would read different times as the spin rate increased.

But now here is a thought puzzle. Suppose there is an electronic clock at the end of the string as described by the above paragraph but now instead of sending its camera image back to the hub, we send its actual reading by wires embedded in the string back to the hub where it is read side-by-side with a clock that has been left at the hub. What will it read now? Will the time distortion alter the speed of the electrons so that they do NOT show a time distortion at the hub? Or will the speed of the electricity be constant and thus show two different times? I don’t know.

Posted in Science...."Fiction?", Future History, This IS True ! | 1 Comment »

That isn’t an itch you feel!

18 July 2008 by admin.

I am writing this because I am hoping that publishing this story, people will begin to understand what is going on. It won’t make any sense unless I start at the beginning.

I got struck by lightning. Well, actually I wasn’t struck but I was on wet ground near where it struck and the power of the strike passed thru the ground into four others and me while we were playing soccer. I was out for perhaps 5 hours and have felt weird ever since. I told the doctors that it felt like I was being poked with pins but they just said that it was the random firing of over stimulated nerve endings. It made me jump and jerk every time it happened. That was two years ago.

The pinpricks have continued at random intervals but about six months ago, I began to feel something else. It felt like someone was touching my skin and then rubbing it. Sometimes it felt like someone was tapping my leg or arm and when I jerked my head to look, it stopped. This went on for weeks at all times of the day and night and began to drive me nuts. I tried creams and different kinds of clothes but nothing helped. One evening when I just couldn’t get to sleep, I shouted out, “Leave me alone!” as loud as I could. I was astonished that the feelings stopped immediately and did not return for two whole days.

I was confused and thought about all kinds of silly answers from aliens to fantastic mind control powers but finally decided it was sort of a mental placebo effect of mind over matter. When the rubbings and tappings started again, they were different. Softer and gentler. I also began to realize that the feelings were making patterns on my skin. It was hard to tell what they were because I usually moved when it started.

One night, while lying in bed, and out of idle curiosity, I pulled up my shirt and said out loud, “ Do it here”, offering my chest and stomach. Almost at once, the rubbing sensation started on my bare stomach and chest in the form of much bigger patterns. Slowly, I realized they were letters written upside down. I said “A” and I felt the feeling as a letter “A” was being rubbed on my stomach. I looked around and tried to see if this was a joke or prank but I was really alone. Other than the annoyance of the rubbing, I had never been hurt by “it” so I wasn’t afraid but I was curious. I tried out several more letters and they all resulted in the same thing. Then I asked a question, “Who are you”. I got no answer. I asked dozens of questions and got no answers. Then I said, tap once for yes and twice for no – “are you ghosts”. I felt a single tap in the middle of my chest!

I can’t remember or type all of the hundreds of questions I asked over the next few hours but I began to get a picture of who or what I was dealing with. It was dead people – real ghosts – or rather their spirits. Here is what I learned.

It seems that String Theory is correct; there are several dimensional universes in our space-time continuum. The spirit or essence of life force is virtually immortal. While we live that force is expressed as emotional energy. That is why people feel weak after an emotionally trying event. Large emotions can even make us faint but women faint more often because they give up their spirit energy faster than men do. It has something to do with passing or sharing all that spirit energy at child birth.

I also found out that these spirits can move from one dimension to another through a complex process that involves just the right amount of emotional energy. This usually happens at the moment of death or near-death experience. Those that have described near death experiences, in which they seemed to leave their bodies, really did leave their bodies, as spirits. If the spirit energy is not just right, then they stay within this dimension but can move outside of their bodies. When the spirit energy is just right, they can move freely between dimensions.

Through a lot of yes and no questions, I found out that these spirits are so much outside of our dimensional universe and our space-time continuum that they cannot interact with our material universe except for a few isolated exceptions. They can interact with each other freely and they can hear and see us but cannot be seen by us or make sounds.

They could not move or influence anything until about one “lifetime” ago. It took me a long time to realize that one lifetime was in their terms and equated to 1000’s of years in our universe. They began to be able to focus their spirit essence on a single point but could do no better than to change the electrical properties at that one tiny little point. The amount of change is so small that it is not enough to change anything electrically powered but they eventually discovered that if they did this on the nerve endings of someone, the person would feel something. For thousands of years they have been doing this in an attempt to communicate but most humans or animals do not see these small sensations as anything recognizable as communications.

It is the rare situation that someone, like me, gets hypersensitive to these pinpoint electrical changes and can receive these messages more clearly and easily. My lightning experience made me a better “receiver”.

I found out that this spirit movement between dimensions is not without risks and effects. When these spirits come into what we know as our universe, they lose all memory of past history and are sucked into a sort of vortex that exists around every newborn infant. At the moment of birth or close to it, any spirit that is nearby is sucked into the life force of the infant with a completely clean slate for a mind. Most often it happens because that is exactly what the spirit wants to do and they came here to do that - I called these the good spirits.

I found out that sometimes there is some vague awareness of these past lives and experiences and this comes out as faint feelings and thoughts as adults. This agrees with several religious beliefs about reincarnation and angels and it may account for sudden changes of direction in cultures and religious thinking over the ages. The feeling of deje’ vue comes from this carry-over awareness of past experiences.

But once in awhile, this being sucked into the life force of the infant happens to those spirits that have just left a dead body and are trying to get back to one of the other dimensions. They get snatched back into another newborn and are unable to escape until the body gives up the spirit. I called these the angry spirits.

When the body does die and the spirit is released, almost all of the learning of that person’s life is added to all of the wisdom and learning that occurred before entering the body and it all comes back to the spirit as fresh and recalled memories. At that moment, they realize who they really are and what has happened to them. Those that did this willingly, have enjoyed the experience but those that got caught, exit into the spirit realm angry and want to escape back to one of the other dimensions as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, therein lies the problem. I didn’t get the exact mix of emotional energies that must be present to move between dimensions but it seems that the exact mix is happening less and less often and the spirits that are released upon death are piling up and cannot get back to one of the other dimensions. As some of these spirits that want out are pulled back into bodies and released after a human lifetime, they get more and more angry. These bad spirits are now piling up, waiting to go back to one of the other dimensions and trying to avoid the newborn vortexes.

It was these angry spirits that were poking and prodding me so much when I was sensitized by the lightning. Only after I made myself heard, did some of the good spirits come to my rescue and chase away the bad spirits and tried to communicate with me in a nicer manner.

Now that I have told you how all this got started, let me tell you the problem that is developing. The bad spirits have learned to expand their ability to interact with our bodies. Their electrical prod rods, as I called them, are getting better at poking into people to give them headaches, pains and bad thoughts. They can create blind spots in people’s vision and create the sensation of sounds. They are doing this more and more out of anger and disgust with being stuck in this dimension.

It may seem like a small response to all of that bent up anger and it certainly is not like what Hollywood would have you believe is the typical ghost haunting but it is, after all, all they can do right now but they are learning more each day. It is only a matter of time before they can fiddle with DNA or genes to turn on or off genes that do us harm. It is becoming a war between the good and bad spirits but the tide of battle is turning against the good guys.

The affect on our universe is that more people are getting weird pains, feeling depression and hearing sounds and seeing things that are not there or not seeing things that are there. How many car accidents and deaths are being caused by these angry spirits? How often have you heard a noise and nothing was there? How often do you get a sudden sharp pain or an itch that seems to have no cause? It’s them. But what is worse is that after you die, it might be you.

Posted in Did I Dream This?, Maybe True | No Comments »

Longevity

18 July 2008 by admin.

January 10, 1987

As for longevity, there has been some very serious research going on in this area but it has recently been hidden behind the veil of aids research. There is a belief that the immune system and other recuperative and self‑correcting systems in the body wear‑out and slowly stop working. This is what gives us old‑age skin and gray hair. This was an area that was studied very deeply up until the early 1980’s. Most notably were some studies at the U. of Nebraska that began to make some good progress in slowing the biological aging by a careful stimulation and supplementation of naturally produced chemicals. When the AIDS problem surfaced a lot of money was shifted into AIDS research. It was argued that the issues related to biological aging were related to the immune issues of AIDS. This got the researchers AIDS money and they continued their research, however, they want to keep a very low profile because they are not REALLY doing AIDS research. That is why you have not heard anything about their work.

Because of my somewhat devious links to some medical resources and a personal interest in the subject, I have kept myself informed and have a good idea of where they are and it is very impressive. Essentially, in the inner circles of gerontology, there is general agreement that the symptomology of aging is due to metabolic malfunction and not cell damage. This means that it is treatable. It is the treatment that is being pursued now and as in other areas of medicine in which there is such a large multiplicity of factors affecting each individuals aging process, successes are made in finite areas, one area at a time. For instance, senility is one area that has gotten attention because of the mapping to metabolic malfunction induced by the presence of metals along with factors related to emotional environment. Vision and skin condition are also areas that have had successes in treatments.

When I put my computer research capability to look at this about a year ago, what I determined was that by the year 2024, humans will have an average life span of about 95‑103 years. It will go up by about 5% per decade after that for the next century, then it will level out due to the increase of other factors.

Posted in This Happened or Will !, Future History | No Comments »

Lucid Dreams

18 July 2008 by admin.

May 14, 1999 One of the factors I have researched using Plato is my dreams. About 3 years ago, I mastered the technique of lucid dreaming. I can control not only what I dream about but I can control and direct the dream while I am in it. I have conjured up people or computers and posed questions to them and had dialogs about complex issues. When I wake up, I try to remember and save the same logic. Most often I talk to HAL, which is my mental combination of the computer on the 2001 Space Odyssey movie and the one on Star Trek. It was actually pretty spooky when I saw episodes on the new Star Trek that were remarkably similar to my controlled dreams. Way before Geordi or Data did their things on the Holodeck, I had my own holodeck of sorts, in my mind. What I believe I am doing is taping into using more of my brain than I can while I am awake. I almost always arrive at an answer but I am not always able to remember everything I did or how to relate it once I am awake. I have also discovered that I have an incredible ability to see into my own body. I have “traveled” inside my body and seen a cut in the skin from the inside. I “knew” that I had a cholesterol problem before I had a measurement made because I had “seen” it. Actually pretty gross, yuck. What I am working on now is a modification of the BEAM (Brain Electromagnetic wave Analysis Monitor) to get a direct link between body and computer. It sounds wild but I have designed it several times in my dreams. The current technology can easily get wave patterns from a variety of machines (electroencephalogram, electromyogram, electroculorgram, and others). I have focused on the stage 3 or delta sleep phase because delta waves are slow and strong so they are easy to work with. At issue is the assignment of intelligence to these waves. We know, for instance that a sound wave pattern represents a sound that can be heard. Television crews will tell you that a similar looking pattern on an oscilloscope is a particular TV pattern or image. It is just that we do not know how to assign the relationship to the delta wave pattern. I think I know how. I have already gotten it to respond to binary queries such as yes/no, 1/2, true/false and on/off. Now I am working on the shades between these two. Last week I was able to make a brainwave choice among five menu items! I thing I will be able to relate the alphabet and numbers if I keep at it. The mechanism is a simple EEG that I got at a surplus auction and a very sensitive A‑to‑D (analog‑to‑digital) interface to the computer. The program lets me interpret the 3 to 14 hertz waves that are being detected. I put in a programmed band‑pass filter to cut off above 5 Hz to limit the response to delta waves for my at‑sleep experiments and to cutoff below 8 Hz to get alpha waves for my awake experiments. These are the two easiest to detect. I started out by coding the program to respond with a specific answer when it detected a wave of a specific freq and amplitude. Since this was a simple discrimination of above or below a certain wave pattern, it was easy to detect. I simply changed my thoughts until I achieved the pattern that made the right signal. Awake, relaxed was yes and think hard was a no. Then I started making sweeps while recording, mentally what I was dreaming. This allowed me to discover that a concentrated thought of “yes” was a specific pattern different than a concentrated thought of “no”. I set these two patterns into the program and voila! Brainwave responses. The pattern recognition algorithm is adopted from the acoustic pattern recognition software that the Navy uses for identifying a submarine’s sonar “signature”. This is a very well developed algorithm and is used in a number of other areas of science. I obtained that algorithm as a math model and adopted it to my A‑to‑D interface.

The discovery of what a pattern looks like as compared with what I am thinking continues. I believe that just like in language development, I will be able to soon join these individual images and brain patterns into “sentences” of computer recognizable images. At first the images will be discrete letters and numbers, then words. Once I get to words and can link them into real word sentences, it is an easy matter to relate the word phrases to images. Using a neural or expert system and an image generator, I can now imagine how animated figures and scenes can be “thought up”.

This lucid dreaming stuff is really a kick, you ought to try it!

Posted in Did I Dream This?, Maybe True | 1 Comment »

Snipers Save Lives Also

18 July 2008 by admin.

October 15, 2002As you may already know I have been a SWAT Sniper for about 3 years. My specialty is Counter Sniper for executives and dignitary or high profile protection. What this basically means is, I am posted at certain locations looking for a sniper/assassin. Once a threat is detected, I am charged in countering his/her ability to attack by early detection and neutralizing (killing) him/her. Now on to business…This Sniper killing people in the DC Metro area is a skilled sharpshooter and very calculated. Unfortunately he appears very disturbed and has just left a calling card stating he was God. What that probably means is he may escalate the matter by increasing the rate of killing in each attack because he acknowledges the police’s hot pursuit. This sniper knows it’s a matter of time before he is discovered. He thinks he is superior to everyone, but knows eventually he will be caught. He is playing a very sick game that he feels he is winning. He will probably want to sensationalize his confrontations with the police and eventually stop running and have a standoff. The police may be his future targets.

It is very important that you adjust your regular routine because this is a very deadly individual. I am going to give you my Personal/professional advice on the matter. The Sniper’s MO (his methods) are the following.

a. 1st wave of attacks were concentrated in an area the suspect was very familiar with.b. It appears these initial attacks were closer, probably less than 100 yards away. Witnesses were hearing loud cracks. c. He definitely is showing off. He is trying to maintain 100 %, one shot for one kill. (Sniper’s creed).d. He is probably not shooting the first person that appears. He is looking for the highest probable kill. This encompasses distance, position, and movement of the individual and excludes physical barriers (vehicles, tress, columns, etc).

e. He is shooting from areas adjacent to major roadways, thoroughfares, highways, etc. (quick egress). First group was within a couple of miles from the beltway. Child shot in Bowie was a block away from the US 50 on the 197. f. He went up to northern Virginia (70 miles away) to throw police off his trail (diversion, used by snipers for stalking targets and eluding enemy).

g. He is making this to be a giant ‘Stalk’ around the Metro area. It is a game now. He wants them to come after him (like he is in his own war against the enemy). h. He is probably using any foliage (tree line, woods, bushes) that is around the malls, shopping center, gas stations, and parking lots.

i. He is able to shoot accurately out to 500 yards (5 football fields) with a scope (depends on individual’s abilities). j. The farther out he/she is, the more difficult of course it is to detect or pinpoint location. This aids in egress as well. (He knows this).

My advice is to consider the following. 1. Avoid unnecessary errands.2. Bring someone along.3. Do not stand outside your vehicle grabbing things out the car.4. If you go to the store, put items in back seat of car (nothing in trunk) so that you can grab items and exit quickly.5. When slowing down or at a stop, keep windows closed (glass deflects bullets, he knows this and he is not shooting through glass anymore).6. Never walk straight to a door more than 20 feet away. Zig zag and walk at angels. The shooter is setting up on doorways/entrances and waiting for victims to line up on entrance. The hardest shot for a sniper is a target traversing laterally to his/her position (perpendicular)6. Walk between cars, use them for protection, and NEVER walk in a straight line to a doorway. Park as close as possible.7. Be mindful of wooded areas and any bushes around establishment. More than likely surrounding areas. Look for reflections (glare of the scope or weapon).8. Use drive-thru at fast food9. Look around and make it obvious (looking over your shoulder in the distant) he may hesitate if they think someone notices him. Point to what you are looking at as well. You want to telegraph yourself to others and get them involved.10. Keep clear of abandoned vehicles, but concern yourself with them. He is probably parking along roads and walking to his shooting position.11. You are probably safer inside the DC area only because congestion will prevent him an easy egress for the sniper. So if there is a toss up for a store then pick the inner city (not the outer boundaries). The main thing is being careful. Everyone is at risk even the police. He is able to pick the time and place so he has the overall advantage over the police; however, his greatest advantage is that he has no particular target. He can take what is called “targets of opportunity”. This means that if he thinks a shot isn’t going to be a clean kill shot, he will wait for one that will be. That may be the next person of 50 people later. Some additional considerations:You are safer on a windy day than on a calm day. It is harder to shoot accurately in the windContrast and a clear edge makes for a good target: At night try not to let yourself be backlit. A solid dark backlit shape is a high contrast target and is easy to sight-in on.

· At night, wear dark colors. If you are not backlit, then you will have a very low contrast with the background and hard to sight in on.

· In the day, wear light colors but not loud or bright colors. You do not want to attract attention or provide a high contrast target.

· Wear scarfs, long coats, hats, loose clothes, carry bags, etc. Anything that will make it hard to detect the exact aim-point on the torso or head.

The one-shot, one-kill credo often causes the shooter to go for a headshot, as has been the case several times so far. If a zigzag walking path is not possible and dodging and weaving would make you feel like a weirdo, then try just moving your head. Rubbing your neck while you move your head looks natural and still makes for an almost impossible headshot from any distance.

Posted in This Happened or Will !, Maybe True | No Comments »

Plato Rises!

18 July 2008 by admin.

This is one of two email exchanges I had with some other writer/scientists in which we explored the outer edge of science. You have to remember that way back then, there were some ideas that have since died off - like the monuments and face on Mars and the popularity of UFOs.

Some of this is part of an on-going dialog so it may seem like there is a part missing because this is a response to a previously received message. I think you get the gist of what is going on. Despite the fact that this is mostly from 9 years ago, the science described and projected then is still valid or has not yet been proven wrong. You might find these interesting.

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October 13, 1998

I want to thank you for letting me post your article about gravity shielding that appeared in the March ‘98 WIRED magazine. Your comments on my article about lightning sprites and the blue-green flash are also appreciated. In light of our on-going exchange of ideas, I thought you might be interested in some articles I wrote for my BBS and WEB forums on “bleeding edge science” that I hosted awhile back. Some of these ideas and articles date back to the mid-90’s, so some of the references are a little dated and some of the software that I use now is generally available as a major improvement over what I had then.

What I was involved with then can be characterized by the books and magazines I read, a combination of Skeptical Enquirer, Scientific American, Discovery and Nature. I enjoyed the challenge of debunking some space cadet that had made yet another perpetual motion machine or yet another 250 mile-per-gallon carburetor - both claiming that the government or big business was trying to suppress their inventions. Several of my articles were printed on the bulletin board that pre-dated the publication of the Skeptical Enquirer.

I particularly liked all the far-out inventions attributed to one of my heroes - Nikola Tesla. To hear some of those fringe groups, you’d think he had to be an alien implant working on an intergalactic defense system. I got more than one space cadet upset with me by citing real science to shoot down his gospel of zero-point energy forces and free energy.

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These articles deal with the fringe in that I was addressing the “science” behind UFO’s.

I have done some analysis on life in our solar system other than Earth and the odds against it are very high. At least, life as we know it. Even Mars probably did not get past early life stages before the O2 was consumed. Any biologist will tell you that in our planet evolution, there was any number of critical thresholds of presence or absence of a gas or heat or water that, if crossed, would have returned the planet to a lifeless dust ball. Frank Drakes formulas are a testament to that. The only reason that his formulas are used to “prove” life exists is because of the enormous quantities of tries that nature has to get it right in the observable universe and over so much time.

One potential perspective is that what may be vesting us, as “UFO’s” could be a race or several races of beings that are 500 to 25,000 years more advanced than us. Given the age of the universe and the fact that our sun is probably second or third generation, this is not difficult to understand. Some planet somewhere was able to get life started before Earth and they are now where we will be in the far distant future.

Taken this into consideration and then comparing it to the chances that the monuments on mars are natural formations or some other claim of extraterrestrial life within our solar system, you must conclude that there is virtually no chance for life in our solar system. Despite this, there are many that point to “evidence” such as the appearance of a face and pyramids in Mars photographs. It sounds a lot like an undated version of the “canals” that were first seen in the 19th century. Now we can “measure” these observations with extreme accuracy - or so they would have you believe.

As for the multidimensional universe; I believe Stephen Hawkin when he said that there are more than 3 dimensions however, for some complex mathematical reasons, a fifth dimension would not necessarily have any relationship to the first four and objects that have a fifth dimension would have units of the first four (l,w,h & time) that are very small ‑ on the order of atomic units of scale. This means that according to our present understanding of the math, the only way we could experience more than 4 dimensions is to be able to be reduced to angstrom sizes and to withstand very high excitation from an external energy source. Lets exclude the size issue for a moment since that is a result of the math model that we have chosen in the theory and may not be correct.

Hawkin makes a much better explanation of this in one of his book but suffice it to say that we do not know how to explore this question because we cannot conceive of the context of more than 4 dimensions. The only way we can explore it is with math ‑ we can’t even graph it because we haven’t got a 5-axis coordinate system. I have seen a 10 dimensional formula graphed but they did only 3 dimensions at a time. Whatever the relationship of a unit called a “second” has with a unit called a “meter”, may or may not be the same relationship as the meter has with “???????” (Whatever the units of the 5th dimension are called). What could it possibly be? You describe it for me, but don’t use any reference to the first 4 dimensions. For instance, I can describe time or length without reference to any of the other known dimensions. The bottom line is that this is one area that even a computer cannot help because no one has been able to give a computer an imagination ……..yet.

Because of my somewhat devious links to some medical resources and a personal interest in the subject, I have kept myself informed and have a good idea of where they are and it is very impressive. Essentially, in the inner circles of gerontology, there is general agreement that the symptomatology of aging is due to metabolic malfunction and not cell damage. This means that it is treatable. It is the treatment that is being pursued now and as in other areas of medicine in which there is such a large multiplicity of factors affecting each individuals aging process, successes are made in finite areas, one area at a time. For instance, senility is one area that has gotten attention because of the mapping to metabolic malfunction induced by the presence of metals along with factors related to emotional environment. Vision and skin condition are also areas that have had successes in treatments.

_____________ Are They Really There? ___________ Life is Easy to Make:

Since 1953, with the Stanley Miller experiment, we have, or should have discarded the theory that we are unique in the universe. Production of organic life and even DNA and RNA have been shown to occur in simple mixtures of hydrogen, ammonia, methane and water when exposed to an electrical discharge (lightning). The existence of most these components has been frequently verified by spectral analysis in distant stars but, of course, until recently, we can’t see the star’s planets. Based on the most accepted star and planet formation theories, most star systems would have a significant number of planets with these elements and conditions.

Quantifying the SETI

A radio astronomer, Frank Drake developed some equations that were the first serious attempt to quantify the number of technical civilizations in our galaxy. Unfortunately, his factors were very ambiguous and various scientists have produced numbers ranging from 1 to 10 billion technical civilizations in just our galaxy. This condition of a formula is referred to as unstable or ill‑conditioned systems. There are mathematical techniques to reduce the instability of such equations. I attempted to do so to quantify the probability of the existence of intelligent life.

I approached the process a little different. Rather than come up with a single number for the whole galaxy, I decided to relate the probability to distance from Earth. Later I added directionality.

Using the basic formulas Drake used to start, I added a finite stochastic process using conditional probability. This produces a tree of event outcomes for each computed conditional probability. (The conditions being quantified were those in his basic formula: rate of star formation; number of planets in each system with conditions favorable to life; fraction of planets with on which life develops; fraction of planets that develop intelligent life; fraction of planets that develop intelligent life that evolve technical civilizations capable of interstellar communications and the lifetime of such a civilization).

I then layered one more parameter onto this by increasing the probability of a particular tree path inversely to the relation of one over the square of the distance. This added a conservative estimate for the increasing probability of intelligent life as the distance from Earth increases and more stars and planets are included in the sample size.

I Love Simulation Models

I used standard values used by Gamow and Hawking in their computations, however, I ignored Riemannian geometry and assumed a purely Euclidean universe. Initially, I assumed the standard cosmological principles of homogeneity and isotropic distributions. (I changed that later) Of course this produced 1000’s of probable outcomes but by using a Monte Carlo simulation of the probability distribution and the initial computation factors of Drake’s formula (within reasonable limits), I was able to derive a graph of probability of technical civilizations as a function of distance.

But I Knew That

As was predictable before I started, the graph is a rising, non‑linear curve, converging on 100%. Even though the outcome was intuitive, what I gained was a range of distances with a range of corresponding probabilities of technical civilizations. Obviously, the graph converges to 100% at infinite distances but surprisingly, it is above 99% before leaving the Milky Way Galaxy. We don’t even have to go to Andromeda to have a very good chance of there being intelligent life in space. Of course, that is not so unusual since our galaxy may have about 200 billion stars and some unknown multiple of planets.

Then I made It Directional

I toyed with one other computation. The homogeneous and isotropic universe used by Einstein and Hawking is a mathematical convenience to allow them to relate the structure of the universe to their theories of space‑time. These mathematical fudge‑factors are not consistent with observation in small orders of magnitude in distance from earth ‑ out to the limits of what we can observe ‑ about 15 billion light years. We know that there is inhomogeneous or lumps in the stellar density at these relatively close distances. The closest lump is called the Local Group with 22 galaxies but it is on the edge of a super cluster of 2500 galaxies. There is an even larger group called the Great Attractor that may contain tens of thousands of galaxies.

By altering my formula so that I took into account the equatorial system direction (ascension & declination) of the inhomogeneous clustering. Predictably, this just gave me a probability of intelligent life based on a vector rather than a scalar measure. It did however, move the distance for any given probability much closer ‑ in the direction of clusters and super clusters. So much so that at about 351 million light years, the probability is virtually 100%. At only about 3 million light years, the probability is over 99%. That is well within the Local Group of galaxies.

When you consider that there are tens of billions of stars and galaxies within detection range by Earth and some unknown quantity beyond detection - it is estimated that there are galaxies numbering as many as a 1 followed by 21 zeros - that is more that all the grains of sand in all the oceans, beaches and deserts in the entire world. And in each of those galaxies, there are billions of stars! Now you can begin to see that the formula to quantify the number of technical civilizations in space results in virtually 100% no matter how conservative you make the input values. It can do no less than prove that life is out there.

Posted in This Happened or Will !, Maybe True, This IS True ! | No Comments »

My Inventions!

18 July 2008 by admin.

Independently developed designs, concepts, applications and inventions

The following are my inventions. These are real devices or ideas that have been created, designed, modeled and/or researched enough to know that they will function or perform as stated. Over the past 25 years, I have tried numerous times to get someone interested in these ideas without success. I have even written to several offices with the Department of Defense and Homeland Security offering some of these ideas for free – no strings attached. Still no bites. Anybody interested?

1. A rifle scope that can be used with long range sniper rifles such as the .50 Cal M82A1/2/3, AS50 and the M107. The scope can be sighted in at 100 yards and remains sighted in out to 6,000 yards.

2. A rapidly deployed access/entry screening system that not only detects explosives, drugs and firearms while not impeding the flow of traffic, it also will automatically capture any suspect in which there is an alert from the detectors.

3. *A rapidly deployed foolproof identification system that allows issuance while not impeding the flow of traffic but cannot be copied, duplicated or spoofed.

4. *A battlefield activity detection system that will allow for completely passive detection and identification of equipment and people regardless of the type or method of camouflage used. It can be deployed from an aircraft completely undetected and provides is information without any detectable emissions.

5. **A novel extension of current RFID technology to cost-effectively allow identification of the entire contents of ships, trucks, containers, pallets, boxes and crates with currently used and deployed technology.

6. A novel use of an in situ nationwide data network to deploy NBC detectors nationwide without the expense of building a new network. System would require only minor changes in existing system and addition of NBC detectors.

7. *An automatic and computerized method to detect stress in airframes, buildings and ships before they become visible or cause structural weakness. System is easy and cheap to deploy and would work as a warning or diagnostic tool.

8. **A relatively simple addition to the management of the Ready Reserve and National Guard forces that will provide an advanced national technology capability in response to emergencies or threats to our technological infrastructure. This method will increase Reserve and Guard recruitment, improve our national response capability, significantly reduce our costs for high technology skills and improve employment on a national level.

9. *An improvement to sailboat hull design that significantly reduces weight, improves performance, increases speed and improves stability.

10. An improvement in propeller design that allows for rapid adaptation from fast powerful and high speed thrust to quiet, no cavitation thrust and from forward to reverse while maintaining shaft speed in one direction.

11. **A design and plan for the cost-effective deployment of a secure wireless computer networking on military bases in support of: (1) base-wide networking (to and within buildings that would otherwise be too expensive to wire into a network); (2) field training using computer aided training (CBT) and computer aided instruction (CAI); (3) base-wide facility management (inspections, work order requests, reports, supply, vehicle tracking, etc.) and (4) inexpensive and automated monitoring and physical security with motion-activated or event activated video/audio recording; (5) delivery of internet access to base housing and barracks.

12. *A design and plan for the cost-effective deployment of a method to reduce the cost of the use of electricity on military bases. Method applies the use of an “energy profile” against power rates to optimize loads and energy use.

13. *Business and technical plan for the improvement of science and math teaching effectiveness in grade school and high school while offering the potential for improved recruiting, lower educational budgets and increased employment of retiring military members.

14. **A design and plan for the implementation of a web-based mentoring system of retired and active military to provide advise, insights, information and moral support for junior active duty members and potential recruits. Method is based on proven effectiveness in similar applications.

15. **A design and plan for the improved analysis of the “Personnel Pipeline” from recruiting management, through training to force readiness. Method uses a dynamic, real-time, 3-D graphical representation of data in an intuitive visual presentation that greatly improves demand and trend analysis. Plan uses a highly sophisticated software designed for 3-D graphical representation of data that is already created, in use and owned by the US government.

16. **A design and plan for the rapid sorting, categorization and improved analysis of the freeform text of intelligence reports from all sources. Design allows for the immediate cross connection of multiple agency computer systems without regard for the processor, language, encryption or network protocols while allowing for greatly improved identification of trends, developing issues, pattern recognition of events and emphasis tracking and analysis of targets. Method uses a combination of methods derived from document management systems and visual data representation for automatic pattern recognition. It uses dynamic, real-time, 3-D graphical representation of freeform data in an intuitive visual presentation that greatly improves demand and trend analysis. Plan uses a highly sophisticated software designed for 3-D graphical representation of data that is already created, in use and owned by the US government.

17. A unique solar panel that is made from discarded parts of old appliances but will create enough heat to boil water with only about 2 sq feet of panel surface. Entire solar heater system design will heat a garage without any externally added energy.

18. Simple device to allow any cordless phone to be used as a remote computer modem creating an inexpensive ($20) home network without using NIC’s, hubs or routers.

19. Design for a simple and inexpensive geo-thermal heating system that is totally passive (no externally added energy, no maintenance, no controls, no need for any attention, no moving parts) but will remove snow and ice from driveways, sidewalks and roads. It also can be used to reduce (but not replace) home heating costs.

20. New design for a clock that uses colors to relate time value in an intuitive analog manner that can be artistically matched to a décor’s color scheme while providing a novel modern version of a “grandfather clock”.

21. Design for a device that will automatically “scan” and create detailed architectural drawings of old buildings, caves, tunnels, etc. It will create a 3-D wire-frame and a fully surface texturized exact scale renderings from which accurate measurements can be taken (of the graphic model) that will be within .001” of the real surface.

* = Report, proposal or design ** = PowerPoint presentation or software developed

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Plato – The Birth of an Automated Research Tool

18 July 2008 by admin.

In the early 80’s, I was in Mensa and was trying to find some stimulating discussions of the outer limits of science. I was an R&D manager for the Navy and was working for NRL in some very interesting but highly classified research. I was careful to avoid any talk about my work but I really wanted to explore areas that I could talk about. This was one of several attempts to do that. I sent the message below to a young professor at Lawrence Livermore National Labs, who was running a Mensa discussion forum on ARPANET, in the hopes of getting something started. He was working with artificial intelligence in math and robotic systems at the time.

Remember, this was written in 1984. The Apple Mac was one year old. TCP/IP has just been introduced on ARPANET. Windows 1.0 was introduced in 1884 but I did not begin using it until version 3.1 came out. The fastest processor was an Intel 286. Most all software ran in DOS. This message was originally sent via UUCP but I saved it as ascii text onto tapes and then later translated it to disks with the idea of someday writing a book, but I never did. Enjoy…..

Dennis,

This is my first contact with one of the Mensa discussion forums. I found a few guys that were willing to talk to me but it seems I ticked off a lot of others by my lack of due respect for puzzles and my references to the “wing nuts and space cadets” that inhabit and comment on most of the Mensa forums. I eventually formed my own forum, web site and discussion groups and a bunch of us proceeded to talk our way into a lot of business together.

===================================================================== September 9, 1984

Hi. I’m new to this board but I have an interest in the subjects you discuss. I’d like to open a dialog with some of you about your ideas and what you are interested in and have analyzed or studied that may be interesting. I’m no Mensa guru but I do like a mental challenge and the application of science but more importantly, I think there is a difference between knowledge and wisdom. I seek the latter.

Who am I: I guess what I need to do first is try to tell you who I am and perhaps try to establish a little credibility so that you won’t think I’m really am a National Enquirer writer or some wing nut with wild ideas. Then I’ll present some simple but somewhat radical ideas to start with and see how it goes. If there is any interest in going further, I’d love to get into some really heavy stuff about life, existence and the future. I am particularly interested in discussing cosmology and the human animal, but that is for later.

I’ve been developing a methodology for predicting events and narrowly defined aspects of certain subjects based on social and technical inputs from a vast information correlation program I use……But that should wait until I find out if anyone is even interested in this stuff.

I have been working near the Washington DC area for a number of years. I am a researcher that deals in analysis and logic. I enjoy a mental challenge similar to what I perceive that many Mensa types like but I don’t enjoy the meaningless math puzzles or secret decoder ring stuff. I prefer to ask or pursue the real mysteries of life and nature.

I have a few technical degrees and have traveled and been schooled all over the world. That was mostly a product of my parents being in the military and my early jobs. I became interested in computers as soon as they came out. I helped build an ALTAIR at the University of New Mexico’s engineering fair in 1971-2. That was where the first “microcomputer” was created. The Altair came a few months later. It introduced me to computers but I immediately switched over to the software aspects of computers rather than become a hardware hacker. I got an EE degree first, so I understand the hardware, I just think its secondary to getting the job done. Then I got a CS degree and began to see the possibilities. I did 40 credit hours of studies in computer simulations and loved it. I was using math so much in my CS degree that I discovered that for one more semester, I could also get an BS in Applied Math – which I did. Then I discovered that with just one more semester, I could get a degree in Physics so I did that too. By then my parents were out of money and I had to get a job. Ever since then I have been messing with computers. I was particularly fascinated by the speed of computers. I won an award one time for being the only student that solved a particular math problem using an algorithm that would fit into 2K of RAM. I did it simply by adding one to a variable and checking to see if that solved the equation ‑ if it didn’t I added one more. It worked. While working on one of the first OCR studies, I was captivated by the fact that the computer could find any text, no matter how much it had to search, in seconds that might take a person years to find. That has been a driving force every since.

What is my Resource Tool? I liked software but I wanted to get to the things that I could see that a computer could do ‑ not spend my time writing code. I became good at modifying and interfacing existing software to do what I wanted. I found that this was much easier than writing my own code. I got the original WordStar to talk to Visicalc and dBASE on an old CP/M Kaypro so that I could get automatic documents that self‑updated themselves. That was fun but I wanted to apply the efforts more to real world applications.

The programming was slow because I tend to think in pictures and I wanted the programming to think in pictures also. I found a program that would reverse engineer a source code listing into a flow chart of the program. It was crude but it worked. I figured it would be even better if you could go the other way ‑ input a flowchart and get a compiler to write the code. I bought a flow chart program and a Fortran compiler and made them talk to each other so that I could use the graphics of the flow chart program to create a chart of my program flow and then feed it into the compiler to get object code. I have improved on it for the last several years so that I can input natural language variables and verbs and it interprets for me. If it doesn’t understand some variable relationship and can’t figure it out by seeing it in context, it stops and asks me. I now can spend most of my time Using a program instead of writing it.

CLICK! Necessity if the Mother of Innovation

The first real application of this program was when I became a player in the stock market and discovered it was easy to improve my investment decisions if I could get my hands on the right information. The information was available, there was just no way to find it, link it and give it structure and purpose using the speed of the computer. That was the start of my effort to create a better information search and retrieval system.

The Hardware + Software

In short, I created some special searching software that helps me find anything about anything and then it automatically identifies links, relationships and implications for me. I know that sounds like a bunch of pie in the sky but it really isn’t all that hard to do. There are, in fact several programs on the market now that do the same thing, only I did it first on a Radio Shack TRS‑80 in 1979. Then again on an Apple II+ in 1983 and again in 1987 on a Mac and most recently on an MS‑DOS machine (from PC to XT to 286 and now a 386).

My method has evolved over the years and now uses some fuzzy logic and thesaurus lookup techniques along with a smart indexing and interfacing to my CD‑ROM and hard disk databases. I built it over several years in modular form as I added new hardware or new processing capabilities. The flowchart compiler helped me move the code from one machine to another since the source code (the flow chart itself) remained essentially the same, only the compiler code changed. I now have a mini‑LAN of four computers and it will pass tasks to other computers, in the form of macros, so I can get parallel searches going on several different information resources at the same time. That also lets me proceed with the analysis while some slow peripheral, like the tape deck, is searching.

De Facto Credibility

This search software will also interface into script files for on‑line searches like IQUEST, DIALOG and about 270 others including several military and government databases and gateways (NTIS, DTIC, FEDLINK, etc. ) that I have access to as a function of my job. For the CompuServe Information System (CIS), the command structure that programs like TAPCIS uses makes it easy to initiate an on‑line search. The slowest part of it is waiting for the on‑line responses from the dial‑up service that I am using but at work I can use some really fast lines on ARPANET.

I also have access to a few foreign databases that are the equivalent of our UPI, AP and CIS’s IQUEST. The European (based in Germany) databases have lots of technical data and the Japanese databases have collated worldwide news reports from about 30 nations. I use some lines from Cable & Wireless that I am able to bill to my job. The translation services allow me to issue a search in English and read the response in English but the data searched is in one of several languages. I can get into a lot of this stuff for free but there is also a lot that costs money. That’s one of the reasons I got permission and started using all these resources at work.

Plato is Born

Still, the on‑line search costs are why I tried to build up my own research capabilities. I use a page‑feeder scanner and OCR software to read in books and other texts to add to the info databases that I can search. There is a used bookstore near me that sells books dirt-cheap or will take trades for other stuff (non‑books). This makes it possible for me to buy a book, rip it apart and feed it into the page‑feed scanner. Then I can throw the book away. Since I never, ever let anyone else use the database and never quote directly out of the texts, its not a copyright violation.

400 CD‑ROMs, 90 (14 inch) laser disks, 250 or so tapes and perhaps 5000 disks of compressed (zipped) text files gives me immediate access to my own database of about 500 gigabytes of text or about 500 million pages. Some of this has line pictures but most of it is just pure text because the OCR software does not translate the images – just the text. That is a loss but if I think the image is important, I scan it and save it on a disk. Add to this on‑line access to about 3500 databases, including some I can get to at work, containing perhaps 50,000 times as much as I have, and you get some idea of how powerful my search capability can be. I call my search program, “Plato”.

Concept Searches: With Plato, I am able to input a search “concept” instead of a search “syntax”. It will automatically cross‑reference and expand the search into related subjects based on parameters I set. It took a long time to learn hour to phrase my search syntax but I usually get back just the data I want. Plato saves the search paths, resources and references in a bibliography format if I need to refer to the source.

When you think about it, it is all pretty simple and commonly used techniques used in lots of commercially available software. The search of compressed (zipped) text data is done real well by Lotus Magellan. Lots of search software is available but I found a mix of GOPHER and FOLIO VIEWS with some added fuzzy logic and thesaurus lookup techniques that I enhanced after seeing some spell checkers that looked up words phonetically and with missing letters. The interfacing was simply a matter of finding hooks in other programs or putting front‑ends on them to get them to talk to each other. If all else fails, I just use a script file and/or keyboard macro in a BAT or BIN file to simulate the manual typing in and reading out of text. That always works. Linking Information Resources:

There are lots of programs that can search one database or a selected set of data sources. All I did was add a few extra features (script and macro files) to make it move from one reference to another, to quantify the validity of the data and added some interfacing software that I wrote to make other programs, that already do parts of this, work together. Using some of the research techniques and capabilities that Plato allows, I have been able to identify some very interesting linkages and cross‑references to concepts that may be of interest to people in this forum. I have also been able to fairly easily dismiss some of the quackery and screwballs that sometimes frequent these idea exchanges.

And Then What?

I am a serious and scientific researcher and I am not interested in some of the nuts and liars that grab scientific or technical words at random and make up their own versions of reality. On the other hand, I consider the majority of science to be somewhat boring. I may not KNOW everything but I don’t need to if I can find out what I need to know in only a few minutes on the computer. Besides, even if the answer to any question is right there on the screen, I still have to read it and after awhile, that mounts up to a lot of reading.

It’s like having a dictionary. Anytime you wanted to know what a word means you’d look it up, but most people wouldn’t sit around all day looking up words just for fun. Now imagine the same thing with a very good set of encyclopedias. There would be a lot more information but after awhile, just knowing that you can find it would be enough. Now imagine a set of encyclopedias that contains 87 billion, 500 million pages of text! That’s how big my dictionary is. Ok so its not really that big but we are talking about the size of hundreds of libraries. The one advantage that I think I have over many people is that I believe that the answer to most of our questions are out there somewhere. Many people don’t even think to ask if they really believe that the answer is not available. Let me give you an example. I worked as a part-time consultant to government contractors for a while and I often dealt with clients that were preparing a proposal for a contract. When I tell them that I can get detailed information about what their other competitors are doing, most think I can’t or it would be done by illegal means. I can and it’s legal. I can, in many cases get not only what the competitors are going to bid but their cost structures and their past performance. I can even get the salaries of the people doing the bidding. After awhile, my clients start asking me to get information that it would never occur to them to ask for before I came on the scene.

Monotony: Getting back to that incredible large dictionary, it might be fun to look up stuff for a while but pretty soon you would stop looking up random subjects and try to find some real challenges. I got to that point about 4 years ago, shortly after I finished the prototype for my first PC based search software. I have expanded its capabilities as new databases became available. The addition of the scanner to read in hardcopy text was a big improvement. I was able to select books in topic areas I wanted or to fill in gaps in coverage. The scanner(s) has been going, on average, at about 2‑4 hours a day for the last several years.

The Hawking Incident

As I added new data, it was fun for a few days to search for some incredibly minuscule detail. Or to try out a fuzzy search and chase down some concept. I particularly liked writing to Steven Hawking and telling him I thought I had determined the size of the universe. He was very polite when he said, “I know!”.

That incident was one of many where I began following a trail of information that made me believe I had “uncovered” some new idea or concept that “I” had not heard before only to find out that upon deeper research, it has already been discovered. With all this information, it is a very humbling thought to realize that someone out there knows at least some part of all of it. I guess there is something to be said for being able to consolidate and cross‑reference all of this information and focus it down for a single person. It has the net effect of allowing me to ask questions that lead me into areas that I would never have known to follow into.

It is very useful to integrate across scientific study areas. For instance, medical people seem to know very little about electronics or physics and vise versa. The result is that scientists in each field limit their view of the world by only seeing it from their own field of study. Only in the last few years has there begun to be a cross mixing. Things like a tiny pill made of SMD (surface‑mount devices) that a patient swallows. The pill has a sensor array and a transmitter that sends data to a receiver outside the body. The term non‑invasive gets redefined. It seemed like ages before they began to introduce virtual reality to medical systems and robotics and yet it seemed to me to be a perfectly natural mix. I felt that as soon as a movie like TRON was made, that it would be only a matter of time before robotics, animation and computer graphics would be combined into a 3‑D viewer but it seems that it is just now catching on.

But What Has this all got to do with you?

Now it is at this point that I must chose a topic to discuss with people of this forum. I enjoy almost any intellectual discussion from religion to cosmology to the human potential but I prefer a topic that is perhaps a little further out than most of these and that mixes a lot of hard-core science and math with some logic and speculation.

I am very curious about the fringes of science. The areas where conventional science is afraid or unwilling to conduct real research but that has an unusual following of “believers”. _____________________________________________________________ So, Dennis, what do you think?

___________________________________________________ 2007 Update:

In the late 1990’s, I updated Plato with a modern windows GUI interface and OOPs OCX files and modules. I expanded into a Dbase DBMS engine and SQL interfaces. I was able to multiplex multiple modems using some ISP software so I could use multiple lines of input. Later, I extended this to multiple computers on a TCP/IP network using broadband. It still relied on macros and keyboard simulators to interface with other commercial and proprietary software but its parallel operations equated to massive procession power. I have continued to make use of a lot of web sites and online services that I can access as a result of my government work and that gives me a huge increase over simple web searches. I also have improved the bi-directional translation capability so I can tap into databases created in other countries.

I have also since expanded its ability to search for themes, concepts and related ideas while improving its ability to quantify the relevance of those findings. It still takes hours to resolve most of my searches but I let it work overnight and sometimes over the weekend to find and resolve my searches. The end result is a very useful tool that I find helpful but, as noted above, it is not perfect and still falls far short of the human mind.

Posted in Introduction, Science...."Fiction?", Maybe True | 1 Comment »

Welcome to the 21st Century World of Science and Fiction

18 July 2008 by admin.

Welcome to the world of near fiction or perhaps it is near science. The best stories are those that are true but maybe not totally true - We readily accept this idea in writings like docu-dramas and historical novels. So why not in science. The following stories are true or not - only you can decide but don’t to quick to judge until you check it out. YOu might be surprised.

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