1/11/11

OPED on the Tucson Shootings and Political Feeding Frenzy

Political killings of vulnerable American politicians are an historical fact of life. From Abraham Lincoln to McKinley and mayoral candidate Moscone of San Francisco unusual reason emerge to send assassins forward with whatever weapon is convenient to terminate the object of their interest. The mass shootings in Tucson Arizona including a U.S. Representative, Federal Judge and a nine year old are part of the price of a free society.

Just across the Mexican-American border in a society with tight gun controls more than 30,000 people have been killed in a narco turf war the past four years. One of the reasons that violence dominates in that gun controlled society is that much of the vigorously healthy and intelligent Mexican working force flees northward to Arizona to take jobs. As many as 4000 Mexicans cross each day into Arizona on their way to seek work in Tucson, Phoenix, Main, South Carolina, Chicago, California and elsewhere.
U.S. politicians and left-leaning media commentators ask for tighter regulation of the rabble and gun sales that threaten the continuing concentration of wealth in the United States. Mayor Bloomberg of New York-A billionaire has demanded stricter gun controls on those that threaten the concentration of wealth and peoniozation of the populace. Incredibly, many commentators believe that political rhetoric causes the eccentric shooter to move to kill a politicians rather than prevailing social conditions.

In a nation with 10 to 20% real unemployment, with 20 to 30 million illegal aliens and not much hope for many American youth for prosperity and with a concentration of wealth supported even by the Democratic Party in the recent approval of continued tax cuts for the super-rich it does not seem strange that at least one youth would statistically break free and throw away his future in a society in which he may believe their is no manifest employment destiny.

Jared Lee Loughner may be a left-leaning loser snapping after the tax cuts for the rich and Democratic support for amnesty for illegal aliens or not. Each of America's major parties is supportive of the rich and of globalism. The media is owned by the rich and is just a two sides of the same coin bickering back and forth playing with the rights and welfare of the poor and lower middle class. Neither presents a competent prospect for readjustment of the national economic infrastructure to move toward full employment-a concept evidently lost in the 1970s with Hubert H. Humphrey.

Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline Flow Reduced 95%

The trans-Alaska oil pipeline flow from the North Slope to Valdez Alaska and tidewater has been 95% halted because of a leak at pump station # 1. The pump stations begin with one on the North Slope and increase in number toward Valdez.

The oil pipeline has been sendiing about 630,000 barrels of Alaska sweet crude each day south giving the state of Alaska a royalty fee of about 18 million of the 50 million dollar value of each day's flow. With the pipeline flow radically reduced to just 5% of the usually while an effort is made to construct a bypass pipeline around the leaking spot under pump station number one the dependence of the Alaska state government upon oil corporation payouts and federal flummery is too plain.

Even Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) is complaining out the reduction in oil flow and state oil income. Alaska should have superconducting storage loops, geothermal and solar power hi-tech instead of all the carbonic fossil fuel reliance. The United State has a similar reliance upon OPEC oil and illegal alien labor acting as governors on the U.S. economy preventing prosperity for the nation's poor.

1/9/11

The Spiritually Homeless

Such Sunday topics as beheadings and head shots are unfortunate. The 3rd century Christian father Origen was tortured with his legs pulled apart three paces on the rack. I guess we can thus recognize political discourse on a Sunday as reasonable in a time when so many of us are spiritually homeless in America.
If all of the members of Congress were shot through the head the collective I.Q. might not decrease much. If the U.S. Congress were not such a bunch of wealthy and out of touch people they might comprehend why poor Americans care that illegal aliens roam at will over the border to take jobs.
In prior times revolutions occurred that liquidated inherent politicians. In America today such though it unthinkable as it would sully the profitable lifestyles of the rich and famous.
A church built with a priesthood of believers would give the spiritually homeless someplace to go. The churches of greed are full of SUV's and people wishing like a Sokka Gakki meeting for material things. The spiritual well being of the faithful should have a reflecting social, work and well being network able to share without obvious charity except in mutual service the produce of their labors. Spiritual savings and material savings ought to have a priesthood of believers savings bank tithed by the people of the priesthood.
There are many paradoxes about a nation as wealthy as the U.S.A. that runs a 14 trillion dollar debt and has a political class that does not feel the pain of the unemployed. One might wish for an ideal, utopian society of free enterprise, full employment, secure borders and a recovering national environment and gets a lot of loutish globalists without any sort of nationalistic, patriotic good sense.
Mexico has more beheadings than Al Qa'eda, more people killed in the past four years per capita than did America in Vietnam and the Korean conflicts combined, and the U.S. congress supports tax cuts for the rich, concentration of wealth and dim prospects for employment for the young and old.
Republicans in Congress should design their own, better health care system and try to advance it before just cancelling the corporatist, omnibus health care slop the Democrats foisted upon the nation (leaving the poor out in the cold generally).
It is a tragedy that political violence serves to remind the public of the pervasive, incompetent incoherence of congressional budgeting and national economic defense since the end of the Regan administration. I hope the Speaker of the House does not cry tearfully in speeches in the House ahead. Men crying in politics are not at all helpful, really.
The skull and crossbones nature of the U.S. economy and its concentration of wealth through globalism, corporatism and an absurdly low 36% tax rate could be paralleled by unloyal citizen entrepreneurs. An equivalent video game equivalence of outsourcing of industry might be a 'Kill the Millionaire' game in which points are won for shooting millionaire footballers, basketballers, CEO's, Congress and business people in their own 'work' environments with a variety of weapons. Yet if someone wrote up such a game and became a millionaire themself they might run the risk of be perceived as hypocritical if they are not included in the game. Real millionaires and congresspersons ought to really consider the real financial interests of their constituents too in failing to prioritize their real interests. If it weren't for the fact that it costs more than a million to run for congress, voters might exact political corrections at the ballot box.

About a Ten Dimension Universe

One might wonder where the extra six dimensions-and an extra six directions- are. Analytical geometers can construct a theoretical hyper dimensional object and make consistent inferences regarding its properties such as relatively speaking, the Pythagorean Theorem provides for triangles and object constructed from them. The particles and waves of quantum mechanics haven’t got a comprehensive, in depth mathematical explanation quite yet that tie in to gravity and other large, solid state physics features of the universe, so the mathematics of hyper-dimensional geometry has taken its turn (ref. the Shape of inner Space by Yau and Nadis 2010).

What one finds in reading about extra dimensional space-presently generally thought of as ‘small dimensions’ are a world of ideas of construction of dimensions generally.

Our three ‘large’ dimensions of space may be tied onto a string of smaller dimensions like leaves, or not. Myriad analogies exist to describe the way an extra six dimensions of space fundamentally made of strings could cohere in association with our three dimensions of space. It may be that the dimension of time transcends the nine dimensions of space in what fundamentally could be a ten dimensional universe.

Like the tip of an iceberg compared to the mass-energy of these three dimensions the bulk of matter and energy may be hidden below the surface in these smaller, extra six dimensions. Its’ only one theoretical approach however, and the limits of such extra-dimensional constructions of geometry could be unlimited and of course presently unknown.

Geometrical models of the quantum mechanical world must be internally consistent and then find some consistence with observed behavior of quanta. Some string theory actually predicts gravity in addition to just describing a formula relation to space-time, mass and energy. With mass and energy flowing into six extra dimensions the possibilities of its behavior in that realm is unknown too. If size is relative, could there be corresponding real echo world realities within those six dimensions albeit of a smaller comparative size?

It is something of a paradox than any dimension might be regarded as being ‘small’ if they are infinite yet compact. One would expect the smaller dimensions to change in scale in a way comparable to the expansion of our three spatial dimensions.

The basic particle of string theory is said to be a string. String may combine or be stretched out in different dimensions to form sheets, spheres, loops, branes, membranes and hyper-dimensional Calibi-Yau manifolds or non-Kohler structures. One might obviously ask ‘what is a string made of ?’.

Basically one has a quanta of being-the string- and nothingness. The string or abundance of strings at the beginning might have been cut from the same ball of yarn into myriad little pieces that reassemble as best they can forming complex hyper-dimensional shapes in the process that seems to be the three dimensions of space-time we live in. Time is something of an enigma. As a dimension without space dimensions what would it be?

The vast number of potential configurations of strings as basic quanta that may serve to assemble cosmological theories and large-scale units of assembly can be narrowed down a bit by requiring that their math and geometric structures agree with observation. The equivalence of string and dimensions seem to agree in some why, I think, in as far as math regards the properties of real things rather than dimensions as things for themselves. Physicists may use a Calibi-Yau manifold as a given structure or shell in which strings, loops and branes exist with the math of those surfaces and strength of units of string energy have a rational though complex reality subject to mathematical description. The number of dimensions that could exist in any universe may or may not have a limit. If geometers can imagine, or computers design 1000 dimension Universes in theory what would stop them from existing in fact-Occam’s razor?

So math and cosmology has entered this intriguing period of conjecture and observation. Just 15 years ago cosmologists thought they were approaching some sort of a conclusion to scientific learning about the Universe. It was believed a big bang just exploded, or inflated space-time into existence maybe from nothing, or perhaps recurring in cycles in a never ending or beginning process (that later sounds improbable). Now it seems that there are a trillion possible structures to explain observations of the quantum world, of the WMAP Cosmic microwave background of the early universe, numerous new theories of gravity, space and time, possibilities that extra dimensions may warp our three dimensions of space and that local warps might be measured and compared to a hypothetically correct metric for the extra-dimensional relationship.

It is a good time to be interested in cosmology and in theology too, for one may yet find the Word of God issuing reality a ready to contemplate paradigm for the way strings were created to start with. Theological considerations of a universe before inflation or creation of dimensions still leaves an eternity of time as a dimension that contains temporal dimensions and membranes as they occur occasionally. One wonders about such phenomenalities occurring within a timeless eternity perhaps a complex structure of dimensions grounding spiritual existence temporally. It is an interesting time to consider space and being.

1/7/11

Amphibious Tank Faces Cut From Defense Budget

The project would cost nearly 12 billion dollars and the Secdef is trying to kill it. Much as I dislike agreeing with that particular SecDef he is right-the era of beach landings should be decreasing with other means of entry and delivering of explosive power increasing. Defense weapons need to be good if they are to be an effective deterrent.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704055204576068090692201036.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

A better vehicle to pursue would be a low-profile combination jet-ski-hydrofoil/hovercraft for one or two marines. Such a vehicle would also be simpler to air drop anyplace. High speed mobil insertion of special operation forces far beyond the beach would be more likely. Stand off and remotely or intelligently guided conventional weapons systems are also increasing as are the ways to detect comparatively hard to conceal amphibious tanks. The Marines ought to look ahead as well as behind in selecting innovative weapons systems useful from pole to pole and around the globe.

Reason Why a Palin Presidency Would Be the Jewel in the Crown for BP, Exxon, Connoco-Phillips

Alaska may be the prime jewel in the chocolate box of goodies in the United States that global corporate resource extraction businesses wish to exploit. Without a senior senator such as Ted Stevens in their pocket, and with U.S. Representative Don Young as their best bet for levering resource extractions from the federal government the reasoning behind a Palin presidency becomes fairly obvious; maximize the immediate potential resource extraction value for corporate profit.

With an oil corporation loyalist President from Alaska all federal restraints on resource development could be thrown to the winds. Discretionary executive protection on land, sea, sky and wildlife might be cast aside like hindrances upon a closing out sale on sensitive areas such as Bristol Bay, the Arctic national wildlife refuge and innumerable river systems. Sarah Palin has thus far demonstrated no reluctance to serve as a yes woman for plundering the national and world wildlife and ecology treasures of Alaska. Even global warming concerns could be dismissed and full development of the Arctic coast for offhore oil exploration and highway construction given the red state light.

One of the helpful things about apocalyptic religious beliefs is their potential to be used as Gnostic excuses for apocalyptic ecology practices.
Exxon maintains a low profile in Alaska and now does BP. Presently Connoco-Phillips is the high profile oil corporation with hard hat wearing executives in their large downtown Anchorage office building-at least until they to join the ranks of those maxi-scale polluters that must skulk away for a time. There are numerous corporations seeking to build vast mines in Britol Bay, dam the Susitna River or otherwise insult and injure Alaskan fisheries. The effort to conserve world ecological health would be serious adversely impacted with a Palin led federal government.

Four Dimensional Universe Could Expand to Ten

String theory has provided numerous striking insights into the potential and actual behavior of the physical Universe. Fields Medal winner Shin Tung Yau has co-authored a book published in November 2010 in which he describes ‘The Shape of Inner Space’. Yau’s work at constructing geometrical shapes of hyper-dimensions following on the work of another mathematician named Calabi provided the famous Calibi-Yau manifolds that presently best exemplify what a six dimensional geometric shape might be like.

The Calibi-Yau manifolds are a mathematical construction and valuable for-themselves in the progress of geometry. Yau mentions that a new geometry may be needed for the very small realm of quantum mechanics. Such geometry might work in the realm of quantum uncertainty.

Physicists have applied the Calibi-Yau shapes to string theory cosmology. Strings instead of particles are thought to be the irreducibly smallest component of matter. Strings viewed end on seem like points, and from other points of view can be viewed as circles or ellipses, branes or membranes. If matter can be compacted and folded into six extra dimensions it could better explain gravity and other aspects of mass and energy.

The extra dimensions have energy and were tightly bound near the start of this universe. Their energy could be flexing and providing the recently observed acceleration of space. The six dimensions could decompact suddenly and the Universe would then have ten dimensions disrupting all present forms of matter in the phase transition. The six extra dimensions may locally warp the three full size-dimensions of space. Time as a dimension may transcend all the other nine spatial dimensions.

There may be a hundred years of research ahead in math and physics measuring space carefully to discern the effects of extra dimensions, if not construct a few; would it be possible to construct a ten dimensional object in three dimensional space?

Pragmatism , Utilitarianism and Taking a Poisoned Pawn En Passant

  The war in Ukraine, from the Biden-Blinken perspective, is necessary for two or three reasons of a dubious moral character. One is that fu...