What do you do when you are not on this Forum?

Now you know, Vermin. Being a mayor can be dangerous. Don't step in a bight, and stay away from netty-looking places!

Mark

Overheard somebody talking 'squeeze',eh. Guess that's my job, huh...

Chris, a little fun is fun, such as your post here. I don't have too much to say about catching politicians in nets, but I'm sure someone out there has some great ideas about it. So I listen, read and learn.

There's a lot of good information on this blog, and a lot of really smart guys posting. Even though there's a bit of joking around, I'll bet there are more inventive minds, yours included, playing in this internet playground, than on any other blog, anywhere. If there's a better place for us to hang out, please let me know where that is because people here are certainly way above the Mensa level from what I've read.

Yes, I read between the lines. I joke around, and probably to excess. For that you have my sincere apologies because I do not mean to offend. But if we talk about the real issues all the time, we may get depressed and not have enough energy left to invent cool stuff and change the world. Like what you are doing. I think there's something to be said for friendly banter between like minds. Behind each smiling face on this blog is a super intelligent engineer, working to change the world in his own way.

This blog gives me faith that someone out there is making a difference, even today.

Jules

Working as an sales engineer(Mechanical Engineer) in Dubai leaving my family members in India, very boring in evening, the same outings,same friends,same football ground,same beer. any sugestion please (to learn or to do creativity) in spare time

Get a mistress, life will get exciting, will your wife find out? Will her murderous sheik husband find out and have you staked in te desert for the ants?

Yes, very exciting...

Namaste Guest,

Are the Monsoons supposed to be on time this year?

I used to work out of Mumbai and Cochin. I remember the torrents of rain every day........for weeks at a time.

netmaker

Hey Dubai-guy,

learn to play ping-pong. REALLY play. You'll be fitter than you could imagine and meet lots of other cool people. Or badminton. But pong is more compact...

RF_guy

Morning Jules

I generally take what the engineer designs, (This is no dig to engineers, Ive just seen some lazy ones that don't always maintain a grip on their project) and make them work. You'd be suprised how many OOOPS!!! I've seen. My dream job would be extreme sports and location photographer. I've always had a camera with me since I was about ten and refuse to put it down.

This is what we do in our spare time, paddle and garden.

Is that John Peel in the raft?

That's me steering and my husband Jerome up front. He's about to get smacked in the face with a fat wave of water as we dump into a hole at the Gap. A minor annoyance in the name of having fun.

Jules

The guy who took the picture must be all wet...

The vine picture here, is a true beauty.

Got lucky with that pic. It's a close up of the snow peas on their cattle panel, beginning their laborious glorious climb up to the sky.

Hi Jules,

I work in the tool making - enginering industries for the past 47 years , now a sales project engineer, just turned 64 & am still flat out, currently building a small house on our property in my spare time -read Saturdays & a bit on Sundays- alongside the existing one, been an owner/builder as well for a good 35 years. This time I bought a slide compound saw & a pneumatic framing nail gun, was getting "Estwing elbow & shoulder" from swinging a hammer & bent back carting the big old circular saw around.

Got to keep off this forum, cuts into my sleep time!!!

Brien.

I don't tell. I'm funny this way. If I told you, it would spoil the mystery and tag me as this and that, and influence the sincerity of the replies I get, to my post.

My hobbies are people, animals, and meditation.

For any further info you may try my mailbox, to which I may or may not reply.

That last one... It's code for taking naps, correct?

Not telling.

What do you do when you are not on this Forum?

You mean there is something other than CR4.

Wash you mouth out and write the following Σ2⁶⁴! times o the whiteboard,

CR4 is everything, there was nothing before CR4 and there will be nothing after CR4.

Masu, you overshot here. Some of us old-goats, would like to pretend there is, and here you come and shove truth to our bewildered face... O-behave!

Masu, you sound like the Master of CR4. Will you please find out what Yuval does and get back to us?

Jules

Jules, He won't tell. Ozzies do, but not tell.

You know Yuval, I'm gonna find out....the men in black are watching you.

Am I not one?

I am waiting to hear back from my sources to be certain. You could be a double agent.

That, my dear, only the double knows, unless he's a patsy.

Besides, it's not as much about what you do, as it is about what you are.

INTERROGATION ROOM - CLOSE ON CAMERA MONITOR

A wide angle view of a white roon, where Yuval is sitting at
a table alone.

We MOVE INTO the monitor, ENTERING the room as if the
monitor were a window.

At the same moment, the door opens and the agents enter.

E sits down across from Yuval. A thick manila envelope
slaps down on the table between them.

Yuval glances at the name on the file: "Anderson, Thomas
A."

AGENT E
As you can see, we've had our eye
on you for some time now, Mr.
Anderson.

He opens the file. Paper rattling marks the silence as he
flips several pages. Yuval cannot tell if he is looking at
the file or at him.

AGENT E
It seems that you have been living
two lives. In one life, you are
Thomas A. Anderson, program writer
for a respectable software
company. You have a social
security number, you pay your
taxes and...
you help your land lady
carry out her garbage.


AGENT E
The other life is lived in
computers where you go by the
hacker alias Yuval, and are guilty
of virtually every computer crime
we have a law for, including the
unauthorized use of the D.M.V.
system for the removal of
automobile boots.

Yuval feels himself sinking into a pit of shit.

AGENT E
One of these lives has a future.
One of them does not.

He closes the file.

AGENT E
I'm going to be as forthcoming as
I can be, Mr. Anderson. You are
here because we need your help.

He removes his sunglasses; his eyes are an unnatural ice-
blue.

AGENT E
We know that you have been
contacted by a certain individual.
A man who calls himself Morpheus.
Whatever you think you know about
this man is irrelevant to the fact
that he is wanted for acts of
terrorism in more countries than
any other man in the world. He is
considered by many authorities to
be the most dangerous man alive.

E leans closer.

AGENT E
My colleagues believe that I am
wasting my time with you, but I
believe you want to do the right
thing. It is obvious that you are
an intelligent man, Mr. Anderson,
and that you are interested in the
future. That is why I believe you
are ready to put your past
mistakes behind you and get on
with your life.

Yuval tries to match his stare.

AGENT E
We are willing to wipe the slate
clean, to give you a fresh start
and all we are asking in return is
your cooperation in bringing a
known terrorist to justice.

Yuval nods to himself.

YUVAL
Yeah. Wow. That sounds like a
real good deal. But I think I
have a better one. How about I
give you the finger --

He does.

YUVAL
And you can cram that file up your
Secret Service sphincter.

Agent E puts his glasses back on.

AGENT E
You disappoint me, Mr. Anderson.

YUVAL
You ain't seen nothing yet.

AGENT E
The irony of your situation is
that you have no choice.

YUVAL
You can't scare me with this
gestapo crap. I know my rights.
I want my phone call.

Agent E smiles.

I knew it, you've uncovered Yuval's secret! As I had suspected, he carries out garbage for little old ladies, and it's about time someone caught onto his ploy. There's no hiding from the men in black at CR-4. Yes friendly readers, there are others like us out there who have found this forum.

I think we should trade secret protect the whole thing...someone could be watching us and taking notes...someone who's a double agent. Someone like....

Nicely put. LMAO

europium,

Besides your obvious talent for theatricality (I remember your cannibal ship of fools - #20), I must admit this was right to the point, but only to those really involved with what I'm about, which is why I'm amazed.

Jules hinted some vague notions following the man in black suggestion, nice analogy I'll give her that, and the double agent bit, but you with this Matrix analogy, pretty much nailed it to the realm it deserves, the realm where my dreams revolve around.

Don't ask me to explain, It's only a gist, a spirit of things, not a particular plot I remember, and it's been so ever since my childhood, a weird feeling that I know exactly what's going on to it's minutest detail, and at the same time being completely out-of-the-loop.

This gist also drove my fascination with science, and the inner workings of nature and life.

This is brilliant on your part, and you must have a keen eye for my psychological make out. Have you participated in my dreams, you would have seen why I'm stating this. Have you participated in my karma, you would see what my aim is about.

(Sigh) since both are probably beyond our reach, I'm left amazed at your deep insight, less you are a participator in my weird, unexplained karma, in which case, nothing there requires further explanation.

Yuval, it's becoming more and more obvious to me that you are Morpheous. But don't worry, you are safe, those of us who know your secret who won't turn you in to the Authorities.

Trading steak and wine for a cramped submarine full of dirty guys floating in a sewer with Robo Creatures just isn't worth it. Your secret is safe with us.

Jules

"...Yuval, it's becoming more and more obvious to me that you are Morpheous..."

Don't I wish it was that simple. Seen the movie, knows what to do, etc.

Again: the movie, was a misleading analogy. My reply to europium was on a more personal level, since he seem to crack my psychology past my web persona.

Ok enough of frivolity and cynical comments, I am a retired control, computer and communications systems engineer. Although I spent most of my working life looking after super mini computers working with control systems and PLC would be my favorite job.

When the sun is up I like doing this.

It's not me in the photograph but it is the aircraft I most often fly. Unfortunately I havn't been able to fly for a while but it is an oversight that I intend to rectify in the not too distant future.

When the sun goes down I am an extremely novice astronomer and like to play with my telescope and learn about the night sky.

masu, is that Australia in the background? It looks like paradise!

a beautiful aeordone fly in th e sky!

who make it?

you are in the south hemisphere and can view different stars from our place, which constellation do you favourite?

when I was younger, I used to view them at night. but use my own eyes.

Gidday rcapper & cnpower,

"masu, is that Australia in the background?"

It certainly is Australia. This photograph is taken about 70 Km north of Adelaide, the capital of the state of South Australia looking roughly west. The water you can see in the distant background is Gulf St Vincent. The photograph was taken in early spring which is easy to tell because the fields show signs of green. Adelaide and the surrounding regions get most of their rain, well the little they get, during winter so as soon as it starts to warm up the rain stops and everything turns brown. Adelaide is touted as the driest city in the dries state and it can be very dry and hot during summer. Mind you this can produce massive thermals and you will get at least half a dozen days during summer with thermals to way higher than I have ever gone. I took this particular glider to 13,500 feet in a thermal that was giving me a height gain of 800 to 1,000 feet per minute in a perfectly clear sky. The only reason I stopped was that I didn't have oxygen and technically you are not supposed to go above 10,000 feet without it but we stretch that a bit it the conditions permit. Besides it was close to 0° C at that altitude and I was only wearing a light flying suit so it was getting a little chilly.

"a beautiful aeordone fly in the sky! who make it?"

The glider is a H-206 Hornet and was built by a company called Glasflügel who unfortunately went out of business after its founder was killed in an accident. It has a 15 m wing span with retractable undercarriage and all fiberglass construction. It is a surprisingly good aircraft especially considering it is over 30 years old. It can be a little bit of a handful landing and taking off but if you practice it's not a problem.

"you are in the south hemisphere and can view different stars from our place, which constellation do you favourite?"

I am still learning and but one of the things I make a point of looking at is a start called η Carinae (eta Carinae) which is a super giant about 100 times the size of our Sun and relatively close at 10 Kly. The thing that makes it interesting is that it has been behaving in a very erratic manner but in a surprisingly similar way to an almost identical star in a distant galaxy. Last year the distant cousin decided it had had enough and blew itself to pieces becoming the most violent supernova astronomers have ever seen. For a short time producing more energy and shone brighter that all the other stars in its galaxy combined. η Carinae is part of the milky way and normally you would expect to see a supernova ever 50 to 100 years and that puts the next one about 300 years overdue. So, as you can imagine, everybody has a look at η Carinae whenever they get a chance just in case. If it dose become a supernova it will be bright enough to read by at night and will be clearly visible during the day.

I have also been experimenting with a digital camera that I had and mounting it on the telescope I attached it with some blue tack and with a bit of guesswork managed to get a few good pictures of the moon. I have posted this image on other threads but if you havn't seen it before it shows a crater call the Bay of Rainbows and was taken on the 12^th April.

This was only a test and I am now trying to construct a better enclosure, proper mount and focusing mechanism.

I've done a bit of gliding myself, mainly in a winch launched K7 but also in an old open cockpit side by side 2 seater, (can't remember the name) that's quite an experience.

That's an awesome photo! What kind of camera? I won't ask you about the blue tack because I know that's probably your invention and trade secret protected....

Jules

"...What kind of camera?..."

Masu, Don't tell.

Remember: "What's done in the bush, stays in the bush ..."

Hi photonicgirl,

"What kind of camera?"

The camera was a 1.3 Mp Concord digital camera that I purchased about 4 years ago. The telescope it was attached to was a 125 mm diameter 1,900 mm focal length Makustov-Cassegrain telescope. This particular telescope has a separate port for the camera and eyepiece with a mirror that can be flipped into place to select which port is in use. The telescope actually acts like a thumping great telephoto lens and you need to remove all the optics from the camera and just use the electronics. That means there is no IR filter and so the camera tries to correct the shift with software hence the unusual colours. To take this photo the camera was held in place with blue tack and the delayed exposure was used to take the photograph. I needed to use the delayed exposure because touching the camera to press the button to take an image was enough to move the telescope and blur the image.

Removing the optics, however, introduces the problem of focusing as the telescope needs to be focused differently for the camera and eyepiece and the small screen on the camera doesn't have the resolution to focus the telescope correctly. It was a sort of trial and error process with this being the best of a whole host of blurry, smudged and out of focus images.

This brings me to the current project which is a proper enclosure and mount for the camera plus a digital focusing mechanism.

One of the problems with CCD devices is electrical interference and heat. Both introduce noise and dramatically limit the exposure time to fractions of a second. I am building an aluminium enclosure that also has a fan to cool the CCD and hopefully this will enable me to overcome the noise problem and extend the exposure times.

For the focusing I plan to use a stepper motor that I pulled out of an old Printronix line printer where it was used to advance the paper by half a row of dots per step. The good thing about a stepper motor is that if you keep track of the steps you know exactly where the shaft of the motor is. The plan is to use the stepper motor with a toothed belt and pulley system to drive the focusing mechanism. Once I know exactly where the best focus is for the camera it is only a process of keeping track of what the stepper motor has done and telling it to step through the appropriate number of steps to focus it for the camera.

When I run out of topics on my An Engineer's Look at the Future of Energy blog I thought I might turn it into an amateur astronomy blog and start a thread each week on what I have learnt and what is worth looking at. What do you all think about that?

Astronomy is an incredibly interesting subject and one that most people can get involved in to some level, but be warned, it is easy to get hooked and end up spending bucket loads of money and many nights looking at the night sky. You know you are spending too much time on astronomy when your end up with a body clock like mine that thinks it's not time to go to bed till the sun comes up.

Nice! Thank you for ignoring that man in black. I'll have to share this with my hubby as he's also an amateur astronomer.

Jules

"When the sun is up I like doing this..." (cut to shot of glider)

-----

I am not worthy.

Well, second time I post to CR4 and let me tell you, this is the plalce where I find people like me.

I wish what I would do when not reading this forum would be working online for a foreign company, anyone needing an electromechanical engineer from El Salvador.

I also have an invention for saving energy on home refrigerators, that would need to be developed and marketed, I have not patented it yet so I can not say much about it for now, any sugestions?

Yes. Patent it now. No kidding. Worry about licensing it and selling it later. Patent first. [Keep the number of claims in your patent document to a minimum, as more claims make the patenting process more expensive.]

Mark

Thanks Mark, sorry due to my english, what are claims? what I claim the invention to do?

http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/howtopat.htm

This is the website from the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that leads you to all the information you need to know. You can file your patent with the USPTO even if you are not a United States Citizen.

They also have a "Provisional Patent" process that will let you submit your idea before the patent is actually done on correct forms, and will protect you for one year while you write up the correct style of application.

Good Luck.

Excelent, thank you. I never patented anything and I believe the tiem has come to do it.-

Cuyanausul writes: "I also have an invention for saving energy on home refrigerators, that would need to be developed and marketed, I have not patented it yet so I can not say much about it for now, any suggestions?"

-----

An excellent resource is Patent It Yourself, which you can purchase online in electronic (pdf) format for about 25% less than the hard-copy cover price. Please note that this resource covers getting U.S. patents only. The patent process in El Salvador may be (and probably is) quite different.

Europium:

Thank you very much. Though what I actually am looking for is that may buy my ideas, and in this countries for an engineer, saving 3000 dollars is a real dream.-

Yes, one idea was stollen once over internet from me!

Hello Jules,

I spent 15 years is the sheet metal trade doing commercial HVAC work. 3 years ago I left that to go to work for a friend of mine who patented a formula for a unique elastomer we came up with by accident in my shop one night. So now I am Senior chemist and factory manager for a small company (about 20 employees).

My hobbies used to be chemistry and stock car racing. Since chemistry is now part of my job, stock car racing and sheet metal work are now my hobbies.

I make art, live and breathe, dream and take on all life's challenges as engineering problems, preferring to begin with low-tech, sustainable approaches whenever possible. I am cobbling together a desert habitat completely out of recycled/repurposed materials in an uncontrolled former military base wedged between a bombing range and a national wildlife refuge. For the little money I need I do electronic and mechanical assembly and testing in my little fab/lab. Work = play = science = art; the boundaries are disintegrating before my eyes.

Many things are disintegrating before our eyes --- not just those you mention -- Privacy and freedom are going away in the USA all in the name of anti terror. Not that the gov't shouldn't protect us, only how much of what we are told is actually true?

I am willing to do anything to protect the USA but the people who represent us are becoming very hard to believe. I truly belive that within 20 years the US will be a 3rd world style country. How does this affect the rest of the world?

Sorry for being negative. An old guys prespective -- remembering when you cold be imaginative and succeed. Now there are so many gov't fees and regulations there is no or very little incentive to venture out. Even in a small business or invention type of venture.

There are still very many wonderful things to do but the USA is losing all manufacturing, many new businesses al because of corporate greed. I call it "Capitalism Unbridled" Why does a corporation need 500% + profit?

Soap box done ---SORRY

You don't need to get off the soapbox, only to share it, or find out where we can get more soap boxes...

The USA has a significant effect on Canadian policies as well, and I agree with you 100% that this is the road to complete state domination of the individual, and the plan is not just for the US, but the world... and who will stop this New World Order...

IMHO, the plan, operating principles and money are all in place, and the game is played upon those with everything to lose (us), and no significant means to fight it. It will be worse than national socialism when its done, for there will be no hope for the despairing. It will soon be too late to stop it. Already the voting systems have been effectively neutralized, as demonstrated with Bush and the florida vote counting game.

What can an individual do against organized domination, with billions to spend? Orwell's 1984 rather pales against the impending realities.

THANK YOU --- When I speak of these things at work I am percieved as negative. People still actually TRUST our representatives and will defend them vehemently. I still think there is a way, but all free world folks must be able to speak with the authority that says "This is my country, My world". I will leave, to them, what I accept as right or wrong for my children and grandchildren "Please listen to what I say". I may be wrong but please listen.

Is this one of those Conspiracy Theory thingamees?

Mark

Mark,

with all due respect....

What is a conspiracy theory? Just information you don't want to hear about, because if you did learn it, and it forced a shift in your perception of the game, then life wouldn't be simple and safe anymore. I don't have a problem with honest people like yourself who become involved in politics for the betterment of society.. but yes, there are others whose goals are different than yours, and with enough money and influence, and evil desire, they will take our freedoms and gain more power doing it.

I don't claim to have 'all' the information, as it is a compartmentalized game, but I am a conscientious analytical person, and I have studied a lot of information regarding these subjects. If that makes me a nut, then so be it. (BTW, labelling people as quacks because they dare to think different than the herd, is a standard technique of mental fencing cast around us for control purposes. It is a fine art with the medical profession)

I would say that this is no more a 'conspiracy theory thingamee' than most people's 'fairy tale living" thingamee. It is a standard protocol for a criminal to attempt, in planning and execution, to prevent anyone from knowing a crime has been committed, until it is too late. This might be why you don't know... think about it.

Chris.

Well, in some respects I guess you're correct. I don't agree with the economic stuff, but I know that most proselytizing religions are after the hearts and minds of people who can either afford to contribute to their coffers, or can't afford to, and are being helped into self-sufficiency by missionaries so they can in the future. The really sad thing about that particular variety of domination and power-seeking (in the control of a few) is that many of the dominions of change are sincere and believe they are doing the things they do for the betterment of the world. And maybe they are, who knows?

Which brings up a parallel thought: are the forces for economic power control that you claim into it for world betterment because they don't know any better as well, or are they just plain ol' forces of evil? Are they just human like the rest of us, or are they superhuman and sociopathic in some way...completely lacking in character and above it all?

Mark

Mark,

I don't know, but humanity is a problem. If you look at the movie "Master and Commander", The Captain character states emphatically "Men must be ruled!" and I don't agree with that either. Without effective leadership, mankind will overpopulate this planet, and the consequences will not be pretty. Its possible that the 'New World Order" believes itself to be this leadership. Its possible that it fosters war to decrease world population, and thinks that this is a solution... Again.. I disagree with this strategy, however effective it may be. The same argument goes for the creation of the FDA, and its very evil influence in Health and Nutrition. It works well to kill us, control us, disinform us, and to concentrate power into the hands of the few.

I think that any group that practices evil.. is evil, regardless of the nobility of its ultimate goal. The ends do not justify the means.

Chris

The FDA (which is local to the US, isn't it?...each major world power has its own equivalent, I believe) was not established as a force of evil, or with evil intent. Quite the contrary.

It was established to protect people against bogus and harmful drugs, and to ensure that new drugs entering the market would be either harmless or accompanied by instructions intended to minimize potential harm they might cause.

However, some time after its initiation, it was corrupted by big pharmaciutical business. Realizing this, it has developed its own watchdog to ensure that that corruption is not repeated.

Time will tell whether it has begun to work for us again or not.

In the meantime, the FDA is not the only institution doing its work. All kinds of curative processes are being developed, studied and classified by research universities all over the world, often supported by those same big businesses, who unerringly get their asses sued off when they goof up.

New medicines have always had an ancestry in folk medicine, and that has not stopped.

Mark

http://www.lef.org/featured-articles/consumer_alert_042707.htm

I personally am a firm believer in putting my money where my mouth is because every dollar counts. Buy locally, support what's left of small businesses, learn where your food comes from, your clothes and their accompanying RFID tags...

Who we gonna call after eating the red pill? Where's Morpheous when we need him?

"...Who we gonna call after eating the red pill? Where's Morpheous when we need him?..."

The whole Morpheus-Matrix hype was made to convinced some confused kids that the real scandal in this seemingly-normal life is that it's just a long viscous dream. That life is not real. Not really. That we are a bunch of virus-like creatures, finally controlled by some clever machines who Will finally bring some order to this chaotic sphere of delusion.

Now, tell it for real: Did you buy it?

For me at least, life is real, and very precious. I'm funny that way. I live in my little odd world of reality. Real reality.

Any smart-alack remarks about the reality of reality, or the validity of reality, is a tell, a givaway, of someone not quite sure of it. You first experience, then tell, not the other way around.

I...uh...I squeeze BioOil out of straw...rice straw, wheat straw, xxx straw, you name it. When in good mood, I squeeze bark and sawdust as well...not just for fun but also for living...

Call me when you figure out how to squeeze out a Mercedes Benz...I have investors.

Uh Mercedes Benz...so you are talking about solid stuff not liquid, eh. Okay give me time building my muscle...

Anaerobic thermal decomposition followed by condensation?

Yes you are almost there! Actually it's called fast heat pyrolysis process which heat up the biomass in a LEAN OXYGEN condition where we don't want too much air involve in the process. Then, ya you are right, we condense the gasified biomass to liquid, or BioOil, and solid,Charcoal. The non-condensable gas which still contains heating value is used as fuel for the process itself, making the system energy sustainable.

Thanks!

Wow Larry, I was a rice producer a few years ago in my family business, and I know the many tons of straw that are left in the fields after the crop.

Could share the system you use to get the oil from it please?

Sure thing, Cuyanausul - I am more than happy to share with you my system and see how it can work out for ya. Actually we are not only talking about many tons but 200 tons per day. (see how strong a muscle I've got, huh?)

You may like to send me an email as a start: larry.lai@dynamotive.com

Thanks!

Larry

Ietech wrote:

"Many things are disintegrating before our eyes --- not just those you mention -- Privacy and freedom are going away in the USA all in the name of anti terror. Not that the gov't shouldn't protect us, only how much of what we are told is actually true? "

No one has felt the sting of big government or their mismanagement then we have here in Louisiana after the Katrina and Rita fiascos.

However, I now temper my criticism of the government after a scary overseas trip a few years ago.

I woke up in a "hotel" one morning to the sound of gunfire. I was the only American and the only "guest" in this building. I was 10,800 miles from home and was in the middle of a riot between 2 opposing religious factions.

The company kept saying there was no problem but they drove me back and forth to my job at 95-100 kph and with the lights out on the car. I had to stay in the factory until 8 PM -9PM every night before leaving.

There was ;

No CNN

No Fox news

No Marines

No 911

No other Americans

When I was able to leave I had a 7 hour drive across 2 mountain ranges to get to the airport. There was never any news coverage on any of this as it was considered rather common place .

I've sunk a boat in a tropical deression, got caught in a gasoline explosion on another, been 'rubbed' by a Bull shark ,bitten by a water moccasin , rode out 3 CAT 4-5 hurricanes and married for 31 years (real scary eh?) ....................but I was never so scared as this. I knew no one was coming if things got any worse......no one.

Say what you will, but God Bless the good ol' USA . If it takes me giving up something NOT to have to live in fear like those folks.....then I'll gladly give in a little.

netmaker

No argument there -- but blind following without the possibility of input to the future of our country is not the way to go. What you describe could very well exist right here at home. As I said in my first post I would defend the USA with my life and my family's lives. But not for the reason to accelerate corporate greed. I think as a contractor in a foreign place, that you were well aware of the risks. The money is very good, at least I am told by friends who are contracted to companies in Iraq for example; Corporation being Bechtel (sic) if you go for the buck then so be it. Maybe this wasn't the case for you -- maybe you went without compensation, not like the others who saw a good opportunty. Everything in life has a risk apparently you met your match.

This is not meant to be a disrespectful response to you as a person -- but as you said I will defend my country with my life, but I will not support deception, blindly, without question. This is your right and mine as a human being not to mention an active member of the USA society -- and oh yea since globalization -- an active member of th world community. Just because you had hard times doesn't mean you should follow blindly where things don't threaten your life daily.

This is certainly a great country. Unfortunately: "All governments are liars and murderers." the late Bill Hicks.

Part of the reason those places are in such turmoil is the policies of the world bank and IMF, which funnels money to warlord in 3rd world countries, whilst hanging the repayment debt around the necks of the people of those countries. This has been the plan since the development of the Bretton Woods agreement after WWII. The US is the signifcant player in this game.

chrisq288

Love to learn the "rules" of that game, which must be entitled something like "How to derive joy from really grinding the poor and oppressed into the ground by making bad investments to their oppressors". Tell me: how, where and when do the bad guys get together to plan all this? And why does the world bank and/or the imf sometimes forgive loans to needy countries? Isn't that counter-productive to world domination?

Hey, c'mon! Do you really believe all that stuff??? It's really obvious to even the casual observer that prosperity makes more money for the banks than utter poverty.

You can't, for example, collect on loans or gouge folks for more money if they haven't got it to begin with!!

And haven't you heard that for several years now, the rules of international lending require due diligence to prevent just what you described before one red cent is loaned?

I think your "information" sounds more like a belief system; and is at the very least 'way out of date (perhaps even a couple of centuries harking back to the slave trade), chris!

Mark

Mark,

The game is about power. For this reason, they give the money to third world countries to put them into debt. As I said before, the people are the ones who will pay. This makes a large percentage of their earnings go to pay the national debt. In addition to this, it helps prevent the formation of private capital, except in the hands of the warlords who are the puppet controllers of the country. This situation makes the citizens of third world countries unable to respond to the real control being exerted, as they have to spend all their time and resources fighting the warlords. This is world domination by terror and impoverishment. It puts the power in the hands of the few, and obscures the source of the problem. They are masters at the communications game too, but they can afford the best. You won't find a more professional, smooth and polished appearing organization. The IMF itself is a front for the true players of the game.

Chris

Well put.

"Power", chris?

What kind of power do you get by preventing private capital, when that's the stuff that pulls people out of poverty and puts them into the money markets? As you are aware, here in Canada and in the United States as well, a large part of earnings goes into paying off the national debts, and we have really nice, elected warlords.

Now, Suppose the baddies were able (or even wanted ) to achieve "power" and dominance over, for example, domestic multinationals (many of which are currently owned by the big banks and lend their money from identifiable wealthy entrepreneurs who are depending upon the ability of our economy to pay them back). Wouldn't that be far juicier than power over the impoverished? Who are you going to sell a coke or a camry to if they can't buy it?

Not reality.

The game of the wealthy is never about power (an unprofitable side-track). It is about points, and making them by scoring more weath. You can't score wealth by taking on a liability.

Even the US, when it invades an oil-rich country to redistribute some of its product away from other destinations back to domestic consumers, isn't interested in the poverty-stricken folks who live there. (The latest popular alternative seems to be "Let's get them their own "democratic" government so we can leave without smelling too bad!")

Imperialists have always just been after the goodies. What goodies have warlords got to offer? A bunch of poverty-stricken workers bringing in the poppy crop? Where is the "power" --or any other benefit-- in that, when drug addiction adds to the cost of making money at home? Hence the actions in Columbia and Afghanistan to curtail the drug crops.

I do recall, however, the popularity of world-domination-seeking megalomanialcal baddies in the James Bond flicks. No wonder they have to resort to seeking domination by force. No right-minded world bank or imf would give them any money: it's against their very rigid rules of lending; and even unscrupulous lending entrepreneurs (if there were such a thing) would immediately see the potential for a biiiiig loss.

Perhaps by "power" you mean the gain of additional real estate. That's why some countries provide weaponry to militiae in others: so they can foment strife; and by it extend their borders, or at least expand their influence.

Mark

"The game of the wealthy is never about power (an unprofitable side-track). It is about points, and making them by scoring more weath. You can't score wealth by taking on a liability"

I disagree.

Fair enough. I agree to disagree. Peace.

Mark

This is just a summary.. there is an abundance of information from a variety of sources, including questionable sources. but a growing body of information, if you choose to study.

http://www.converge.org.nz/pirm/elite.htm

On the other side of the coin, here is a very literate defense of the Fed.

http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Embassy/1154/flaherty.html

A really simple yet insightful look at the Fed is "The Creature From Jekyll Island"

by G. Edward Griffin. http://www.realityzone.com/creature.html. (book, audio, video)

After reading all of the responses it dawned on me that there are thousands of years of deversified experience and talents here -- I never thought of this forum in that way before --- I am not only impressed but humbled.

Hi Jules,

I work for a multinational here in the Philippines, specifically in the island of Mindanao. I happen to be in one of the safest places in the island for which I am truly thankful.

I was trained to be a radio/tv technician but only got to work in that field for about one year. I'm still in the field of electronics but have moved on to electronics design (left that one too), fire alarm, security systems and sound systems. Then I got into instrumentation and controls about 22 years ago and never left it. At present I am an electrical and instrumentation supervisor (maintenance). I used to have time for building electronic projects but not anymore.

Is it a dream job? Now, that's a good question. I enjoyed my jobs no matter what it was. I was good at it and got recognized for it. After getting promoted, it just started to go downhill.

No more time for electronic projects / limited opportunities for getting to do the job yourself (as supervisor you assign people to do the jobs) / paperwork / calls in the middle of the night (there's a problem here in the plant...) / calls while on vacation (there's another problem here at the plant...).

Of course, there are ups to counter the downs but I must not have been thinking straight when I accepted the position. It's not that I don't want the responsibility but the time taken from doing what I want. Fortunately, I've found something else.

I've been a Toastmaster for four years and I seem to have found a new love (additional, not a replacement ). I've been seriously thinking of making a career out of the skills I've learned in public speaking and have taken a few steps in that direction. I'm still working in the factory but that won't last for very long. Helping others find their voice is fun and fulfilling too!

Vulcan, thank you for your very interesting response. I hear you on the promotions, they seem good on the surface but when you actually are in the job you push more paper and work on less projects. Not too fulfilling for an engineer as most engineers on this blog are also inventors.

It sounds like you are taking what you learned and sharing it with others to help them get ahead in their lives. Since I'm not completely clear on what a Toastmaster is, would you mind elaborating? Is this like Life Coaching or something specific to engineers?

Jules

Toastmasters...the going joke about us is that we are a bunch of people with drinks in their hands toasting one another.

Well, from what I know about our history, that's how it all started. A toast is a mini-speech. The first toastmasters probably met to see who can deliver the best toast-speech among themselves (nowadays we've removed the necessity of having a drink in hand ).

Out of that grew Toastmasters whose members aim to develop themselves, as well as help others, in the art of public speaking. We are organized into clubs that holds meetings with the main purpose of hearing our co-members deliver speeches. We are further organized into areas, divisions and districts. Each year we hold speech competitions in different places culminating in the World Championship for Public Speaking. This year it will be in Phoenix, Arizona.

Delivering speeches is not all we do. We also teach others to listen analytically. Each speaker is assigned an evaluator who determines if the speaker has structured his speech properly, has held his listeners attention effectively, utilized gestures, words and the tone of his voice to enhance the effectiveness of his speech. We also have a language evaluator who listens for instances of the misuse (and abuse) of the English language as well as those words and phrases that made the speech more interesting.

Then there's leadership. This is taught by giving you the chance to be an officer of the club, area, division or district. You learn how to conduct meetings, conferences, etc. However, since leadership, speaking and listening are closely bound together, you'll learn these anyway.

I wish I could go on typing but I'll just refer you to the organization's website www.toastmasters.org. If you can, I'd encourage you to find a Toastmasters club near your area (there's a find-a-club search in the website) and just visit as a guest. You may get to like it.

Vulcan

"We also have a language evaluator who listens for instances of the misuse (and abuse) of the English language as well as those words and phrases that made the speech more interesting."

YAHOOOOOOO!!! May God bless the toastmasters for preserving the language. Do you have outreach programs for young folks living in urban ghettos to assist them to recover the mangled parts? Where can I donate?

Mark

Toastmasters doesn't accept donations, as far as I know. We pay membership dues just like any club. We do, however, have an affiliate organization, the Gavel Club. There's just a few requirements to qualify for a Gavel Club.

Toastmasters accept people who are 18 years of age and above. Gavel clubs are open to:

• young people 17 years or below (students mostly)
• people in institutions who are not gainfully employed like senior citizens in nursing homes, or inmates of prisons
• people 18 years or more but not gainfully employed

The major difference between a Toastmasters club and a Gavel club (other than the ones I just mentioned), is that Toastmasters pay $54 each per year in membership dues. A Gavel club pays $48 per year for the whole club. Therefore, the more members, the less they pay.

If you wish, you can contact a local Toastmasters club and ask them if they are willing to sponsor a Gavel club in their area. Or contact a civic organization to sponsor them under the guidance of the local Toastmasters club.

Setting up a Gavel club in the urban ghettos is a good idea and I commend you for that. You can find a club in your area by either asking around of checking the website.

Hello Jules,

Having enjoyed the 'men in black' bantering about Yuval's occupation and hobbies, I wonder about an inverse problem: after looking at a member's postings, can you make a guess at his/her fields of knowledge or interest?

I have enjoyed the banter about the men in black and everything else. And whether or not anyone buys the Matrix, most of us have seen it.

Guess what everyone does? It's pretty challenging actually. To me the most important thing is what people LOVE to do, hence the dream job question. Good answers from the group!

Jules

I suppose my Dream Job would be writing Oscar-winning movie scores. Something akin to what James Horner does for a living.

What about being in charge of the casting couch?

Not if prancing pirate Johnny Depp is on it. Btw, POTC II was a total waste of celluloid, IMHO.

There is room for all.

You displayed some of that passion. It's possible to develop while doing something else for a living. I developed a passion for poetry while making a living doing something else.

Well, with all said, I guess we each have a 'story' to tell and a trail to follow.

It is because we live in the USA that we can each state our differences and not be afraid.

Just to set the story straight, my misfortunes were never thought of as hardships.....they were simply scary adventures. Like anyone who works outdoors, I gots lots of 'em!

As for being a private contractor in a foreign country.............I was never told there was even a chance of being in harm's way. Big business, even overseas , often neglects to tell us the truth.

Oh yea, I made $500 a week teaching the local netmakers to build the new designs for local fishermen.

Ietech , no harm no foul. I enjoy hearing your view point as everybody has a right to have one. Yours is well taken. I always respect an honest ,upfront critique. Believe me when i say I am not offended in the least.

Back to work tomorrow. Lots of lil' fishes that need to be caught and tagged by the big bad researchers.........

Les se les bon temp rolle chere!

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention my dream job. I want to be CEO of Galactic Propulsion Enterprises. That will be the name of the company I form if I ever fulfill my life-long dream of developing a new form of propulsion. I know it's a long shot but I think I was left on your planet by mistake and I can't even phone home.

Dear Earthling Rcapper,

As chair-lifeform of Galactic Propulsion Enterprises, I invite you to apply for the position of senior designer which is shortly becoming vacant.

Please present yourself (or an appropriate virtual representative) for interview at the following address. Sometime prior to todays date.

Architrave 26496734,

Grand triangle

Abutilon 5

To hearing people do their interesting job is a very interesting things.

I discuss others transaction at other forums, help and learn from them.

I can only spend, at most, a half a hour at the cr room in average from 2- friday when I was in my office. I wish I could stay longer when I will retaire.

by the time I wish I have a dream job in another country. to travel, to learn their custom and culture, I can teach them our chinese. of cuase can teach their work some skills. however, I more or less know some tech.

I think its a dream job. can the job come ture?

cnpower,

It is good to have positive dreams. These I call ambitions. I too have only a limited time scale for access to CR4, and, like you I find them very enlightening and often amusing.

I would agree with your desire to teach the world your language as China is the manufacturing power house of the 21st Century. The west (or at least Europe) will need to ally themselves to both their former antagonists as we will be beholding to Russia for energy supplies and China for manufactured products. Certainly here in the UK we are running out of both with a government dithering over which way to turn.

I wish you well in your quest

Hi,Hydroscot,

Thank you for your encourage. Although I dont familiar with your field, I think you concern about manufacture in the world all the time, include our china.

China has developped gradually to a greater manufacture country, but most of them are spreaded at labour type. and high tech manufacture begine to entry now. thats why more and more other countries people start to learn chinese. I wonder if I could distribute to the field.

Im more familiar some tech than most of chinese teachers. it may convinient for me to link with others.

but I dont familiar with how to contact with those who need people like our ordinary level.

Hey nothing is impossible, pal. I had the same dream some 10 years ago and now here I am ~ having a dream job (squeezing straw dosen't count) in another country. to travel (sometimes way too much...jet lag thing etc.), and I do learn a lot from the people around me, and, hay, I teach them our language, huh.

So keep up and follow your dream. Email me if you like, for a chat...in...eh...Chinese?