Pro Liberi

I’m not a big fan of movies that use time travel as a key component of the plot.   It makes my brain hurt, a simple process, going through all the options and considering the results, if, if, if…… With time travel part of the equation you can justify anything and yet at the same time prove it can’t be so.   Aargh.

Now I come across this article on quantum mechanics which is doing the same thing.    The article says that ‘we may live in a world in which windows un-break and cold cups of coffee spontaneously heat up’   It is explained by quantum entanglement but goes against every bit of logic and science that I now of.   It even has a nice little twist of erasing your memory so you never remember the episodes.    Now I’m sure that if a cold cup of coffee heated upon a regular basis, even if our memories are wiped we would have a big queue at hospitals where people were in for scalding or if windows repaired themselves we would have a lot of pissed off glaziers who had been called out for nothing.    I just find it too far fetched to believe. Like God we are expected to take a leap of faith and accept this as fact.

Apparently this has been proved mathematically but when you get down to this level very few understand the math and it is easy to prove anything.  Luckily though his maths managed to erase your memory as well so you don’t remember it.    I think this guy is in the wrong field, there must be room in the climate change camp for someone like this.   He can mathematically prove that the temperatures at the monitoring stations spontaneously increased, our memories have been erased but the readings were recorded electronically and quantum entanglement is not yet aware it needs to erase computer memory as well.

I think I need a job like this guy.  I have theories on many things.  Where can I apply?

Now wouldn’t it be embarrassing if the theory works out to be true and I read, understood and was happy with it but had simply had my memory erased.   Oh wait.  My brain is hurting again.

Like everything in life we no sooner jump one hurdle than we come across another.

Green issues are no different.    Once we reduced CFCs so they no longer depleted the ozone layer we had a new No. 1 and its no laughing matter, it is Nitrous Oxide.  Don’t worry though we will solve that and then something else will be next and a threat to our planet.

Its a bit like progress with living longer.   We used to die because of lack of shelter, predators and nutrition.   Then as we learnt to protect ourselves, clothe ourselves and feed ourselves the biggest cause of death was from injuries.   We learnt to heal ourselves and then the biggest cause of death was government and so on.  Now we die from diseases that only a hundred years ago were almost unknown because few people lived long enough to get them.  Cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s are common now.

When we cure those there will be others along to take their place as the No. 1 killer and it will go on and on and eventually when we cure all illness and everyone is immortal we will be back to accidental deaths like sports accidents, space accidents etc. and suicides. 

The steeplechase only ever ends in death.

Just watched the remake of the old sci-fi classic ‘The day the Earth stood still’    I can see why it bombed it was rubbish.    Story was pretty much as it was in the original but they had to try and spread the Save the Earth gospel and humans are bad.   The original was much better but of course without all the latest special effects and CGI.

At least we got to see some cool flying nanites eating all our buildings, vehicles and humans.    It is on the list for one of the ways we destroy the planet so its probably interesting just for that.   Not a bang but a whimper.  Just like the remake.

The remakes have the advantage of the latest technology so why is it that the remakes are not as good as the originals?

In the movie Robocop an advert in the film had a car thief getting electrocuted when he tried to steal a car.    Everyone cheered and thought that’s what we really want.  Something to teach thieves that whats our is ours.  Since then of course we have discovered that the biggest thieves are our own government and there really is no hope of any justice in this country.

Even back then though I was always a bit of a thinker and I remember thinking about the number of times I have sat in my car and the alarm went off.   Not a problem when you can just curse and then unset the alarm but more of a problem when you are being electrocuted while you attempt to do so.

So as you can probably guess I’m very much against automated systems for many defensive or most offensive actions.    I don’t believe that you should set traps on your doors or inside your house that can incapacitate or kill you because most of the time it will be you or yours that get the sharp end of the stick.   People you expect come into your property many many more times than a burglar.   In fact most places have never been visited by burglars but I’m sure we all know people who set off their own alarms all the time.   I have two homes around here who have done it for years.

Not that there is not a place for defensive tools in your home but you need to be very careful where you put them.   Don’t, as one person suggested, put crossbows at the top of the stairs to stop burglars.    Just imagine you feel ill in the middle of the night and need to go downstairs feeling unwell or that a fire happens and you need to rush downstairs.    Even worse of course is if you need help and someone comes to help you.   Nope automated systems are a bad way to go. 

The only way I would use automated systems, (non lethal he says covering his bottom), is in an area where you won’t be coming from and rarely need to go through.   For example to provide protection on windows or doors which you never come in without going out first.   You disable the protection and go out, do what you want and come back in and then re-enable the protection.     You should also be able to ensure that when it is deactivated that it gives a visual and audio warning.   So when you come back you don’t find someone has switched it back on. Of course all this is hypothetical because I don’t know anywhere where you are allowed to set traps in your own home.   It interferes with Plod.

It’s much better to actually make sure all the doors and windows are covered by sheet metal to stop people getting in than setting traps all over the place.  Most people don’t want that of course, they want to fit in.  Set CCTV to cover the spots where the intrusion is likely to come from and make sure that the alarms are set by default.   Draw a plan of the entire area and then attack it from all sides, put protection in place to cover each area, concentrating on the weak points like doors and windows.   Put cameras in place to cover all the approach points and feed the signals into a secure area where they can be recorded.   Have the alarm system send SMS messages to your security company and yourself.  There are many tools you can use, microwaves, IR, pressure mats and all have their uses.

Never forget though that a determined intruder will get anywhere they want.  No system is perfect.   So all you can do is try and make it so difficult for them that it isn’t worth it.   Being worth it of course means what they get away with.   Your jewel collection, your latest TV or a tin of beans in a Katrina situation.

Technology nowadays means you can do all this from home without seeing an expert.   It also means that you could spend all that money and leave holes in the system to be exploited so you need to be careful.

Much better to get a suppressed Glock and keep it by the bed where you legally can of course.  The suppressor is so that you don’t frighten the neighbours.  You can check the locks and windows, go back to bed and sort it out in the morning.

If we ever want to get off this planet and travel even the shortest distance in interstellar terms then we need to improve our application of closed eco systems. The nearest star remember is over 4 light years away and that is just outside our door in interstellar terms. Closed in this context means entirely self contained except for energy, which all ecosystems get from the sun either directly or indirectly.

We know this and recycling air and water has always been one of the basic things we can do already. Unfortunately, it is not enough for longer journeys as animals, and that is what we are, are very hard on food resources and require a significant amount of space to grow enough food for our survival. There are ways of reducing the requirements for space and new techniques are being tried on a regular basis. We will need to have a completely closed system to ensure safe journeys in any venture outside our solar system and preferably within to save of the amount of foodstuffs we have to take with us.

I’ve always had an interest in nature and in particular fish where I have had several tanks of fish of all types mainly tropical whilst I was younger and then marine fish when I was older and earned my own money. One thing I’ve always wanted is an Octopus. These creatures are one of the most intelligent on the planet and can solve puzzles, like the cute tree rats, and can be taught things as they have long term memory. One day I’ll get around to purchasing one.

Home fish tanks however are not complete ecosystems, they are simply subsets of a marine ecosystem because they require inputs beyond energy, food for the fish and replacement water, and output, cleaning of debris and dirty water removal. These are being improved and the larger the water volume the more it approaches a closed system. If you have really big tanks or a decent sized outdoor pool then you can create a closed ecosystem yourself.

I have an interest in ecosystems because despite my skepticism on global warming I do believe that we should take care of the environment, recycle what we can and minimise our impact on our planet. I was taking bottles, plastics and newspapers down to the local recycling area before it was corrupted and became a cash cow for our political class. Plus, I’m pretty hopeless at looking after things and all the plants, animals etc. that fully rely on me die.

Creating a simple closed ecosystem is actually quite easy, providing you do not have any complex animals in it. There are several projects out there where you can create an entire closed ecosystem in a jar or a 2lt pop bottle. You can even buy sealed containers with the ecosystem already built on the web. These ecosystems can last years as long as they are set up correctly and get some light. It does not matter how little there is of some of the components, moss, ferns, etc. as the ecosystem will quickly come into balance and then stay there.

Of course ecosystems that are comprised of invisible creatures, ferns and moss are pretty boring. A quick look and you have seen it all. Even the ones with brine shrimp in are unlikely to keep your attention long. I want something a bit more interesting.

I read somewhere about someone coming across a complete, non enclosed, ecosystem in an old bath. It was partially filled with water, had a family of frogs, some snails and a snake. Mosquitoes, one of the few inputs, laid the eggs which the frogs ate, the frogs had tadpoles which the snake ate and it seemed to be nicely balanced. I wanted to replicate this is a large tank I had but we don’t have many snakes here and it isn’t really self sustaining having only one snake never mind the problem with getting the mosquitoes. It would have been interesting though having a snake and not having to feed it directly.

I suppose though that if I want a complete ecosystem in something the size of a fish tank, even a large one, we are looking at animals no bigger than beetles, ants, spiders etc. Anyone know how to train a spider to do tricks?