archived blog entries

U.S. administration falsified Iraq pre-war threat

It is amazing what the fight for energy (crude oil) compels people and governments to do.

I found this Associated Press article both interesting and upsetting, it is titled, Study: False statements preceded war. It is worrisome to think of a U.S. president "making up" statements in order to implement a war agenda that has killed tens of thousands of people (both Iraqi and American). Saddam Hussein is dead, George W. Bush and his administration have taken control of Iraqi oil, and now the Americans need to leave Iraq before things get worse. Ah, the shameful things people do when they are desperate for oil.

The U.S. government should have taken the billions or trillions of dollars spent on the war to develop alternative energy sources, like developing 99% efficiency neutron energy that may become viable for harvest one day. Such technology, if commercially viable, would be far more powerful than any of today's nuclear power plants, and would provide enough energy to power the entire world. NASA could perhaps even build spacecraft with a neutron engine for a journey to Mars (and beyond) one day. Just as long as the people involved don't blow us all up in the process. It might be a long ways away still, but I do hope serious alternative energy sources are found in my lifetime -- before the oil runs out -- and before we destroy the planet through CO2 global warming, which the Bush administration still categorically denies. Shame on them for their misguided agenda.

Coming up: some thoughts on Geiger counters and some basic physics behind nuclear radiation - a pet project of mine. I own a Gamma Scout geiger counter, which is very sensitive and measures ionizing gamma radiation up to 1000.00 micro Sieverts per hour (which is just 100 mR/hour - a non-lethal dose). Enough range to know when to jet (or run) if there is a nearby nuclear accident or attack one day.

Is low-level radiation beneficial to humans?

It might be. Targeted radiation therapy is used in hospitals all around the world. And some scientific studies suggest that low-level radiation can even harden one's immunity to higher forms of radiation - perhaps the analogy is, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger." I've even read that some forms of radiation can perhaps reduce health problems including cancer, rather than make them worse. Who knows for sure? Other scientific studies say that all forms of radiation are still harmful and cause cancer. There are truly two sides to this debate. I'll try to present both sides of the story with citations I have found and bookmarked from various scientific papers I've read... one day when I get more time to build a radiation-centric web page. Yes, I take my geiger counter with me when I travel.

Mac software

I just created a new page on Mac OS X software, in case you're using a Mac and would like to expand its software features. So many people have moved to Mac these days, the computers are so fun and easy to use (plus, they are fast). I wish I'd moved to Mac years earlier, to fill that wide gap between Amiga and Windows. Here are some cool programs I've found, maybe you will find them useful too. If you like it and find it a nice page, please link to that page from your own blog or web page, if you have one. Perhaps one day soon I'll publish my Secure FreeBSD Web Server guide, focusing on building a simple security infrastructure and customizing your environment with Unix.

printed 22-Nov-07

An October evening landscape

This image was taken at Dinosaur Provincial Park in the badlands of southern Alberta, Canada. No wonder they found so many dinosaur bones here... this was a tropical watering hole millions of years ago. I love seeing the ancient landscape there.

workingithard
printed some time, somewhere on the bitstream. 2007

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