Ok... So we know that we are insane and we know that we can not prove that we exist by our perceptions because that is all a "matrix" like remote sensing scam... Right? If any of this is not clear to you, try going back a few posts (Don't you hate be'n dumb, I do not exist)
I mentioned that I could think of at least 4 simple arguments that I do not exist. The Matrix thing was one. A mosquito senses me totally differently than I sense me... Who is right? Neither of us experiences the reality of what we perceive but only an affect of that reality. So, now I want to move to the next argument... my microscopic self.
I really do not need to go very far to find out that I am more than what I thought I was. Some say that right now I host thousands of varieties of parasites eating my flesh. (check out http://www.essortment.com/all/humanbodyparas_rayv.htm ) Everything from internal worms, external worms, mites, bacteria, fungi... the list seems to never end! Not all of them are harmful, and I even take a dose of live intestinal "bugs" regularly. So, is that what I see in the mirror? No wonder I am not happy in the morning... Most of these guys can be seen with a microscope. But how about going a bit smaller...
What about the chemical nature of me? In the great series of books by Dr. Paul Brand and Phillip Yancy I learned a lot about my body. ("Where is God when it hurts" about leprosy, "Fearfully and Wonderfully Made," "In His Image") Dr. Brand said that every molecule in my body is different every 3 years. What??? How about bone? Yep, the blasts tunnel through, the clasts fill the holes back up with brand new stuff, and I have a new me. Incredible! That made me change my thoughts about burial. I used to think that I should keep all of my parts together, ya know? But... what parts are me? All of the parts are swapped out all the time! (The Druids put their friends bodies up on a high platform where the scavengers could eat the flesh. When only bones remained, they buried everything but the skull which they kept around so that they could remember their friend... "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him." (Shakespeare, Hamlet))
Now, speaking of death. Think a minute. My body is 65% water... so that is not going to stick around for long. Bye bye me... There are the Big 4 (including the the water) Oxygen (65.0%) Carbon (18.5%) Hydrogen (9.5%) Nitrogen (3.2%). Wow... that sounds like plastic to me. ( http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/1999-05/927309210.An.r.html). So, lets see... basically, 96% of my body will float away as CO2, H2O, Amonia, N2 and other smells. The rest is just "trace minerals" like Calcium (1.5%) Phosphorus (1.0%) Potassium (0.4%) Sulfur (0.3%) Sodium (0.2%) Chlorine (0.2%) Magnesium (0.1%) Iodine (0.1%) and Iron (0.1%), plus a few others.
Did you ever think of your self as a pile of ashes help together by water, carbon, and Nitrogen? God just breathed on a bit of dust ya know... I remember Bill Cosby had a shtick about a dead guy. Cosby hated it when people at funerals always said "Doesn't he look like himself?" He hoped he would not! He thought they should have a recording going that was made by the person before their death. "Hello, this is Bill. Don't I look like myself?"
Anyway, surely you can see that I am not what I believe myself to be. I am not a collection of chemicals... they change all the time. I am not even just myself... I have millions of friends eating me alive - ugh. So, what am I? Am I a program encoded in my DNA? If my hip bone is constantly changing, why does it keep looking like my hip bone? So, am I my hip bone, or am I the code that constructs the hip bone? I certainly do not think of myself as a program, but now I can not think of myself as having a hip bone either.
Yikes... Now, not only can I not sense myself, I actually know that I am a collection of constantly changing stuff! I am certainly do not exist as the me I see in the mirror - right? Maybe I should move on the the other 2 arguments - the Cosmos and the Condensate. We shall see if I exist there.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Chrysler ENVI is about here!
Finally! I have waited for so long! An electric drive vehicle with a small gas engine to extend the range beyond battery power. Sound like the Chevy Volt? Nope! I get to keep driving a Chrysler Mini Van! Woo Hoo! That is all I have driven since 1985 and I love them! Chrysler says they should be available by 2010. I think the Volt was saying 2015.
Unfortunately, I just bought a used 2009 Mini Van... duh... but I did not see the price on these ENVI guys (say "envy")... so I might have to save pennies for a while anyway. Maybe there will be a tax credit from Uncle Sam! Hey, if we are borrowing money from China to buy oil, why not send that to millions of US families to buy ENVIs!
A few thoughts:
- The vehicle has a single electric motor driving the front wheels. I would prefer 4 wheel electric drive. You do not need a transmission or differential/transaxle with separate motors. I am sure that will come later.
- One of the big opportunities with electric drive is regenerative breaking. This was invented 60 years ago on electric street cars. Some engineer realized that they could save a lot of brake linings by letting the drive motor become generator and dissipating the heat via a bank of resisters. Then, duh... someone finally said, "Ah... boss, why do we waste all that energy to heat when we could charge a battery and use it to accelerate later?" The boss probably got very rich... or maybe his boss... The ENVI system uses RB! Double Woo Hoo!
- Just like the Chevy Volt, the ENVIs have about a 40 mile electric range. So, for my normal day I will never hear the gas motor turn on. I just drive to work, then home, and plug it in. Hummm... I wonder how long that gas will stay good in the gas tank? Will it sludge out? Rust out? Ugh, always something.
- 60 mph in 8.7 seconds ain't bad for a Mini Van! With over 100 mph top speed, I will have just a little extra for highway passing acceleration, ya know?
Check it out:
https://www.chryslerllc.com/en/innovation/envi/specs/chrysler_vehicles.php
Unfortunately, I just bought a used 2009 Mini Van... duh... but I did not see the price on these ENVI guys (say "envy")... so I might have to save pennies for a while anyway. Maybe there will be a tax credit from Uncle Sam! Hey, if we are borrowing money from China to buy oil, why not send that to millions of US families to buy ENVIs!
A few thoughts:
- The vehicle has a single electric motor driving the front wheels. I would prefer 4 wheel electric drive. You do not need a transmission or differential/transaxle with separate motors. I am sure that will come later.
- One of the big opportunities with electric drive is regenerative breaking. This was invented 60 years ago on electric street cars. Some engineer realized that they could save a lot of brake linings by letting the drive motor become generator and dissipating the heat via a bank of resisters. Then, duh... someone finally said, "Ah... boss, why do we waste all that energy to heat when we could charge a battery and use it to accelerate later?" The boss probably got very rich... or maybe his boss... The ENVI system uses RB! Double Woo Hoo!
- Just like the Chevy Volt, the ENVIs have about a 40 mile electric range. So, for my normal day I will never hear the gas motor turn on. I just drive to work, then home, and plug it in. Hummm... I wonder how long that gas will stay good in the gas tank? Will it sludge out? Rust out? Ugh, always something.
- 60 mph in 8.7 seconds ain't bad for a Mini Van! With over 100 mph top speed, I will have just a little extra for highway passing acceleration, ya know?
Check it out:
https://www.chryslerllc.com/en/innovation/envi/specs/chrysler_vehicles.php
I do not exist
I do not exist... neither do you.
Does that make you feel any better about being insane? (If you think you are not insane, please go back 2 posts and read "Don't ya hate be'n dumb?")
There are many stories about those who argue about existence. One story goes that 2 philosophers were arguing through dinner. One held that nothing exists, so the other one began to eat the first one's cake. "Hey! That is my cake!" he protested. "How can that be if nothing exists?" the other answered and finished the cake. I searched a bit but was not able to remember or find who the antagonists were. If anyone knows, please post a comment to remind me!
Another story is about the "The head whacker society." The whacker looks for someone who thinks he does not exist, and proceeds to whack him on the head with a board. Of course the target protests, but the defense is that the wronged party does not exist, so there is no crime. This story was part of a radio ministry illustration. The point was that if a person believes that there is no objective reality, then they would naturally believe that there is no objective right and wrong - everything would be subjective. Every man would be a god unto himself. If I do not actually exist, than Christ's sacrifice is for nothing and God's truth is not absolute. If I believe God does not exist, then I really am insane... or deceived. In that sense, I believe that I exist. There is reality.
Never-the-less... sorry to say it, but that which we perceive of what exists, does not exist! Say What? I believe that I exist, but I do not believe that I am physically what I perceive myself to be... is that any easier? Let's try to get our heads around this idea. I can think of at least 4 simple arguments that "I do not exist" as I perceive myself to be. The first one is illustrated by the movie "The Matrix".
Think about it... My brain, which perceives my existence, does not experience anything. It can not feel, react to light, react to motion, smell, hear, taste. Nope... it is all remote sensing. Once a brain surgeon gets through the skin, he can perform surgery with no further anesthesia because the patients brain can not feel! I think that is what resonates with me in the movie... I can not know... for sure... How can I know that I am not plugged into some matrix? In the movie there was an occasional glitch in the matrix that gave some evidence that the people in the pods were not experiencing reality. In our perceived world, there are no such hiccups, but perhaps that is because our programmer is better than the evil ones in The Matrix. My existence is just perceived by this blob of gray stuff that interprets signals from some remote sensing devices... scary...
"Wait", you say, "just because I can not prove that I am accurately perceiving reality does not prove that I am not." I agree. This argument is simply to set you up for the other 3. I want to put you into the right frame of mind... so to speak...
Consider this... Many bugs do not see the visible light spectrum. They perceive reality totally differently than I do. Have you seen those IR cameras shots displayed on a video monitor so that you can watch yourself? My family recently spent an hour laughing at each other and our selves with the funny eyes, bright and dark patches in odd places... you know... but to a mosquito, that is what they think is reality. So, you see, there is some reality that is radiating energy. I perceive the energy that is in the visible light spectrum while the mosquito perceives the energy that is in the IR spectrum. Both of us are only experiencing an effect of the reality, not the actual reality. Is either receiver accurately perceiving the reality? See what I mean? How do I know that I am what I perceive myself to be? Tricky, isn't it?
Next - from the Matrix, to the Microscope, to the Cosmos, to the Condensate... hold on...
Does that make you feel any better about being insane? (If you think you are not insane, please go back 2 posts and read "Don't ya hate be'n dumb?")
There are many stories about those who argue about existence. One story goes that 2 philosophers were arguing through dinner. One held that nothing exists, so the other one began to eat the first one's cake. "Hey! That is my cake!" he protested. "How can that be if nothing exists?" the other answered and finished the cake. I searched a bit but was not able to remember or find who the antagonists were. If anyone knows, please post a comment to remind me!
Another story is about the "The head whacker society." The whacker looks for someone who thinks he does not exist, and proceeds to whack him on the head with a board. Of course the target protests, but the defense is that the wronged party does not exist, so there is no crime. This story was part of a radio ministry illustration. The point was that if a person believes that there is no objective reality, then they would naturally believe that there is no objective right and wrong - everything would be subjective. Every man would be a god unto himself. If I do not actually exist, than Christ's sacrifice is for nothing and God's truth is not absolute. If I believe God does not exist, then I really am insane... or deceived. In that sense, I believe that I exist. There is reality.
Never-the-less... sorry to say it, but that which we perceive of what exists, does not exist! Say What? I believe that I exist, but I do not believe that I am physically what I perceive myself to be... is that any easier? Let's try to get our heads around this idea. I can think of at least 4 simple arguments that "I do not exist" as I perceive myself to be. The first one is illustrated by the movie "The Matrix".
Think about it... My brain, which perceives my existence, does not experience anything. It can not feel, react to light, react to motion, smell, hear, taste. Nope... it is all remote sensing. Once a brain surgeon gets through the skin, he can perform surgery with no further anesthesia because the patients brain can not feel! I think that is what resonates with me in the movie... I can not know... for sure... How can I know that I am not plugged into some matrix? In the movie there was an occasional glitch in the matrix that gave some evidence that the people in the pods were not experiencing reality. In our perceived world, there are no such hiccups, but perhaps that is because our programmer is better than the evil ones in The Matrix. My existence is just perceived by this blob of gray stuff that interprets signals from some remote sensing devices... scary...
"Wait", you say, "just because I can not prove that I am accurately perceiving reality does not prove that I am not." I agree. This argument is simply to set you up for the other 3. I want to put you into the right frame of mind... so to speak...
Consider this... Many bugs do not see the visible light spectrum. They perceive reality totally differently than I do. Have you seen those IR cameras shots displayed on a video monitor so that you can watch yourself? My family recently spent an hour laughing at each other and our selves with the funny eyes, bright and dark patches in odd places... you know... but to a mosquito, that is what they think is reality. So, you see, there is some reality that is radiating energy. I perceive the energy that is in the visible light spectrum while the mosquito perceives the energy that is in the IR spectrum. Both of us are only experiencing an effect of the reality, not the actual reality. Is either receiver accurately perceiving the reality? See what I mean? How do I know that I am what I perceive myself to be? Tricky, isn't it?
Next - from the Matrix, to the Microscope, to the Cosmos, to the Condensate... hold on...
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Speedier Computers... really...
Computers are getting faster, smaller in size, and bigger in capacity. So what is next?
http://www.popsci.com/corey-binns/article/2008-09/how-your-laptop-will-just-keep-getting-faster
Popular Science has been a favorite of mine since I was a kid. They have a lot of stuff online these days and I admit to spending too many hours scanning photo galleries... although I still do most of my article reading in the good old printed magazine.
I saw a really amazing article today about 3 technological advances that should be having effects soon:
- Memsistor -- they join resistors, capacitors, and inductors as elements of a circuit. Basically, they are resistors that can change resistance and remember the last resistance when the power is off... poof! "Instant on" computers! It can pack 100 gigs in a square centimeter, are faster than flash and very energy efficient.
- Graphene -- Graphite is made of layers (yea, like ogres) and each of those layers is a single layer of honeycomb carbon atoms called Graphene. It is very conductive, is 100 times more efficient than silicon, and has been used to create the smallest transistor so far... 1 atom thick and 10 atoms wide. Yikes!
- Electron spin injection -- only electrons with selected spin (up or down) make it through a gate. If they go through you get a 1 if they scatter you get a 0. Basically, each electron can be a bit. Using this idea, semiconductor lasers can send information between computer elements 1000 times faster and more efficiently... bye bye wires.
Ain't sci-tech fun??? OK, I want 4 gigs of RAM, a 400 gig drive, and a teraHertz clock... on my wrist... now! Why not throw in brain wave control and in-air projected display (both seen this year in simple demo form).
http://www.popsci.com/corey-binns/article/2008-09/how-your-laptop-will-just-keep-getting-faster
Popular Science has been a favorite of mine since I was a kid. They have a lot of stuff online these days and I admit to spending too many hours scanning photo galleries... although I still do most of my article reading in the good old printed magazine.
I saw a really amazing article today about 3 technological advances that should be having effects soon:
- Memsistor -- they join resistors, capacitors, and inductors as elements of a circuit. Basically, they are resistors that can change resistance and remember the last resistance when the power is off... poof! "Instant on" computers! It can pack 100 gigs in a square centimeter, are faster than flash and very energy efficient.
- Graphene -- Graphite is made of layers (yea, like ogres) and each of those layers is a single layer of honeycomb carbon atoms called Graphene. It is very conductive, is 100 times more efficient than silicon, and has been used to create the smallest transistor so far... 1 atom thick and 10 atoms wide. Yikes!
- Electron spin injection -- only electrons with selected spin (up or down) make it through a gate. If they go through you get a 1 if they scatter you get a 0. Basically, each electron can be a bit. Using this idea, semiconductor lasers can send information between computer elements 1000 times faster and more efficiently... bye bye wires.
Ain't sci-tech fun??? OK, I want 4 gigs of RAM, a 400 gig drive, and a teraHertz clock... on my wrist... now! Why not throw in brain wave control and in-air projected display (both seen this year in simple demo form).
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Don't ya hate be'n dumb
I hate being dumb! I hate even more being insane... You know: "Doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result."
Sorry... but I am insane. Oh yea... so are you! You think not? Really...
Paul said in Romans "the things that I want to do I do not do and the things that I do not want to do, I do them anyway". Yep, he was a nut too. Of course, Paul was talking about sin, but isn't waste a sin? Think about the last time you washed your hands. If you are like me you turned on the water, soaped up, rinsed, and dried - right? You have heard the news this last year that you need to wash with soap and HOT water for 20 seconds -- abcdefg hijklmnop qrs tuv wx y and z. Now I know my abc's would you like to sing with me? Go ahead and sing it... Do you wash for that long? I know I don't. However... what about HOT? In a public restroom that has any traffic it is likely that when you turn on the hot spigot you actually get hot water. That does not happen at my house 90% of the time. If I let the water run long enough to get HOT I would be rinsing many, many gallons of good water down the drain. The same thing is true if you want COLD. It is all lukewarm. (Watch out Laodicea! Rev. 3:18 says you are lukewarm and will be spit out! They brougth water from hot and cold springs into Laodicea via aquaducts, but by the time the water got there it was all lukewarm! When will we ever learn?)
So, what do I do? Well, I don't want cold water, so I turn on a mix. That is really handy with the new single knob faucets that most of us have - just lift or pull right to the middle. Even if I am at a sink with 2 knobs, I usually turn on both of them. Now be honest... don't you? See... like I said, you are insane. You do that over and over expecting a different result - HOT water. You do not get it, except maybe 10% of the time... or if you are wlling to wait... which you aren't.
Like I said, I hate being insane. But, I really hate being dumb!!! Why is this dumb? It is because every time you turn on the hot spigot whether with the cold or not, hot water flows into the pipes. It just does not get far enough to reach your spigot. What do you think happens to all of the hot water? Correct. It cools off in the pipe. In the Summer it is helping to heat your home... duh... I would like to think in the Winter it does help to heat my home, but not very much. So basically, it is going to waist. One of the biggest users of energy in our homes, pumping wasted heat into the environment. Dumb!
You can help this by making plumbing runs as short as possible. In my house, most of the bathrooms are "stacked". That only helps a little and the kitchen which is a huge user of hot water is very far from the water heater. Another approach is to have a small under sink heater right where you need it. We have a hot water spigot that is separate from our main water line for hot drinks and soup, but you would not want to use that for washing your hands! We do use it for spot cleaning things and for mixing with lukewarm tap water for some washing of dishes. There are some units that heat the regular tap water... but I do not have that.
Really, just give up on washing your hands with hot water. Just use the lukewarm. NO! Do not turn on the hot! Just the cold - push that knob over to the cold side. It will not be cold - ya know?
Now I am smart... well... maybe not. I have been thinking about this pretty seriously for over 2 weeks and ya know what? I still pull to the middle! It is such a habbit that I have not been able to change! I hate being DUMB... I am insane... "Oh reched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death" (Romans 7)
Sorry... but I am insane. Oh yea... so are you! You think not? Really...
Paul said in Romans "the things that I want to do I do not do and the things that I do not want to do, I do them anyway". Yep, he was a nut too. Of course, Paul was talking about sin, but isn't waste a sin? Think about the last time you washed your hands. If you are like me you turned on the water, soaped up, rinsed, and dried - right? You have heard the news this last year that you need to wash with soap and HOT water for 20 seconds -- abcdefg hijklmnop qrs tuv wx y and z. Now I know my abc's would you like to sing with me? Go ahead and sing it... Do you wash for that long? I know I don't. However... what about HOT? In a public restroom that has any traffic it is likely that when you turn on the hot spigot you actually get hot water. That does not happen at my house 90% of the time. If I let the water run long enough to get HOT I would be rinsing many, many gallons of good water down the drain. The same thing is true if you want COLD. It is all lukewarm. (Watch out Laodicea! Rev. 3:18 says you are lukewarm and will be spit out! They brougth water from hot and cold springs into Laodicea via aquaducts, but by the time the water got there it was all lukewarm! When will we ever learn?)
So, what do I do? Well, I don't want cold water, so I turn on a mix. That is really handy with the new single knob faucets that most of us have - just lift or pull right to the middle. Even if I am at a sink with 2 knobs, I usually turn on both of them. Now be honest... don't you? See... like I said, you are insane. You do that over and over expecting a different result - HOT water. You do not get it, except maybe 10% of the time... or if you are wlling to wait... which you aren't.
Like I said, I hate being insane. But, I really hate being dumb!!! Why is this dumb? It is because every time you turn on the hot spigot whether with the cold or not, hot water flows into the pipes. It just does not get far enough to reach your spigot. What do you think happens to all of the hot water? Correct. It cools off in the pipe. In the Summer it is helping to heat your home... duh... I would like to think in the Winter it does help to heat my home, but not very much. So basically, it is going to waist. One of the biggest users of energy in our homes, pumping wasted heat into the environment. Dumb!
You can help this by making plumbing runs as short as possible. In my house, most of the bathrooms are "stacked". That only helps a little and the kitchen which is a huge user of hot water is very far from the water heater. Another approach is to have a small under sink heater right where you need it. We have a hot water spigot that is separate from our main water line for hot drinks and soup, but you would not want to use that for washing your hands! We do use it for spot cleaning things and for mixing with lukewarm tap water for some washing of dishes. There are some units that heat the regular tap water... but I do not have that.
Really, just give up on washing your hands with hot water. Just use the lukewarm. NO! Do not turn on the hot! Just the cold - push that knob over to the cold side. It will not be cold - ya know?
Now I am smart... well... maybe not. I have been thinking about this pretty seriously for over 2 weeks and ya know what? I still pull to the middle! It is such a habbit that I have not been able to change! I hate being DUMB... I am insane... "Oh reched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death" (Romans 7)
Friday, October 3, 2008
Kepler, what a buoy!
There is some amazing new technology... well if you are thinking in terms of the ice age, 400 years is not a long time... ya know?
Here is a water purifier: www.innovativetech.us/KeplerBuoy.htm
Here is a generator: http://www.anwsite.com/wdpatent.htm
Good old Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) actually invented the Kepler Buoy... imagine that! It is simple really... just put some kind of large surfaced plate on a pole under a buoy... that is about it. Hi tech - eh? So, how does it work? The buoy is coupled to the surface, so it goes up and down with the waves. The plate, on the other hand has a large surface area which resists moving against water. At only a little depth the motion of water is decoupled from the surface... there you have it... the plate moves in a completely different way than the buoy.
You can do anything with that differential motion. Why not use it to desalinate water? Why not use it to pump water? Why not use it to make electricity. Not bad Johannes. I guess he found spare time between his sessions helping Tycho Brahe with his measurements of the planets and figuring out the gravitational laws of elliptical orbits. Rocket science indeed.
Tesla had some ideas that used wave motion too, but he liked to do most of his work in his head. Maybe he actually built this, but probably not. You take some kind of open cup shaped container and anchor it in place it in a body of water so that the lip of the cup is about half way from the average water level and the average crests of the waves. In that configuration, about 1/4 of the water mass is above the lip. As the waves crest over the lip, the cup will fill up to the lip - a level higher than the average level of the body of water. That might not give much "head" in a lake, but could be significant in the ocean. If you allow the water to exit the cup through a turbine at a rate that balances with the rate of filling you have continuous power generation... well as long as there are sufficient waves to power it. Imagine a "cup" as big as the coastline of a state... You can even float it to compensate for tides. I have thought about powering a boat with this too. Water comes into a skirt that surrounds the boat. You have to be able to change the height of the skirt to optimize the water collection. Now just let the water run out of a duct on one side and the boat will move in the opposite direction... ya think? Probably not very fast but a castaway might appreciate it anyway!
Wave action shows how God seems to like to have moving surfaces interacting with each other... like wind making waves. Have you ever thought about grass - it makes waves too! Trees move in the wind in about the same way, but lets think about grass. The grass has a flexible, springy stalk. They have a shape that the wind can transfer energy to, so they bend down, which reduces the force transferred to the stalk. At some point, with the grass leaning over, the force of wind is overcome by the springiness of the stalk. The movement of the stalk has some momentum, so it overshoots the equilibrium point. After the stalk changes directions, it again overshoots the equilibrium point with its momentum carrying it into the wind. The cycle repeats and is completely self regulating. It also works in any direction and in very light wind. I figure God is collecting that energy some how... Cleaver God!
So, how can we use that in as simple a way as Kepler's buoy? Replace the grass stalk with a 4' stalk of fiberglass or carbon fiber tube like those used on bike flags and kites. I think maybe a little ball on the top might help it catch the wind like a thistle. A little way up from the bottom of the stalk attach a gimbal joint to hold the stalk but allow it to swivel any direction. Attach a spring under the stalk with a string up to the bottom of the stalk passing through a fixed ring. As the stalk moves, it pulls the string through the ring to stretch the spring up and down. The spring acts like the returning force of the stalk of grass. now the stalk should bob like a stalk of grass. Attach a magnet to the string below the ring and put a coil of wire around it. As the "grass" bobs, it generates electricity. Or, you could pump water, etc. Oh yea... if you put a flock of tiny stalks on tiny Piezo crystals you could have a tiny generator or microphone.
Imagine acres of close to the ground grass like stalks bobbing up and down generating electricity. I know! Plant it between all of those 100' tall wind turbine towers! OK, so paint it green already! Or put it on roofs...
Waves form in the stock market too! Can we float our boat there too? Why not. We need a lake... the market, some waves... the fluctuations in prices. Let's be cleaver and fill our lake with water that seems to have good waves... you know - up and down, but never too far up or down... just wavey! Say we pick 100 stocks. Take each one and find it's average (maybe with some predictable stuff removed - our boat is floating not anchored to the lake bed.). Plot it's waveyness over time and set a call to buy a bit when it goes below some level below the average. Now, when the stock makes its expected move above the adjusted average half way to the expected high, you sell the bit. That creates a value differential that pumps money into your bank account! With enough stocks you should be able to even out the non-predictable movements... like Monday 9/29/08! Just remember not to sell in a hurricane - a massive swirling low.
I suppose this system has been used for hundreds of years too, but have you ever thought of it as a wavy ocean... I bet that floats your boat...
Here is a water purifier: www.innovativetech.us/KeplerBuoy.htm
Here is a generator: http://www.anwsite.com/wdpatent.htm
Good old Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) actually invented the Kepler Buoy... imagine that! It is simple really... just put some kind of large surfaced plate on a pole under a buoy... that is about it. Hi tech - eh? So, how does it work? The buoy is coupled to the surface, so it goes up and down with the waves. The plate, on the other hand has a large surface area which resists moving against water. At only a little depth the motion of water is decoupled from the surface... there you have it... the plate moves in a completely different way than the buoy.
You can do anything with that differential motion. Why not use it to desalinate water? Why not use it to pump water? Why not use it to make electricity. Not bad Johannes. I guess he found spare time between his sessions helping Tycho Brahe with his measurements of the planets and figuring out the gravitational laws of elliptical orbits. Rocket science indeed.
Tesla had some ideas that used wave motion too, but he liked to do most of his work in his head. Maybe he actually built this, but probably not. You take some kind of open cup shaped container and anchor it in place it in a body of water so that the lip of the cup is about half way from the average water level and the average crests of the waves. In that configuration, about 1/4 of the water mass is above the lip. As the waves crest over the lip, the cup will fill up to the lip - a level higher than the average level of the body of water. That might not give much "head" in a lake, but could be significant in the ocean. If you allow the water to exit the cup through a turbine at a rate that balances with the rate of filling you have continuous power generation... well as long as there are sufficient waves to power it. Imagine a "cup" as big as the coastline of a state... You can even float it to compensate for tides. I have thought about powering a boat with this too. Water comes into a skirt that surrounds the boat. You have to be able to change the height of the skirt to optimize the water collection. Now just let the water run out of a duct on one side and the boat will move in the opposite direction... ya think? Probably not very fast but a castaway might appreciate it anyway!
Wave action shows how God seems to like to have moving surfaces interacting with each other... like wind making waves. Have you ever thought about grass - it makes waves too! Trees move in the wind in about the same way, but lets think about grass. The grass has a flexible, springy stalk. They have a shape that the wind can transfer energy to, so they bend down, which reduces the force transferred to the stalk. At some point, with the grass leaning over, the force of wind is overcome by the springiness of the stalk. The movement of the stalk has some momentum, so it overshoots the equilibrium point. After the stalk changes directions, it again overshoots the equilibrium point with its momentum carrying it into the wind. The cycle repeats and is completely self regulating. It also works in any direction and in very light wind. I figure God is collecting that energy some how... Cleaver God!
So, how can we use that in as simple a way as Kepler's buoy? Replace the grass stalk with a 4' stalk of fiberglass or carbon fiber tube like those used on bike flags and kites. I think maybe a little ball on the top might help it catch the wind like a thistle. A little way up from the bottom of the stalk attach a gimbal joint to hold the stalk but allow it to swivel any direction. Attach a spring under the stalk with a string up to the bottom of the stalk passing through a fixed ring. As the stalk moves, it pulls the string through the ring to stretch the spring up and down. The spring acts like the returning force of the stalk of grass. now the stalk should bob like a stalk of grass. Attach a magnet to the string below the ring and put a coil of wire around it. As the "grass" bobs, it generates electricity. Or, you could pump water, etc. Oh yea... if you put a flock of tiny stalks on tiny Piezo crystals you could have a tiny generator or microphone.
Imagine acres of close to the ground grass like stalks bobbing up and down generating electricity. I know! Plant it between all of those 100' tall wind turbine towers! OK, so paint it green already! Or put it on roofs...
Waves form in the stock market too! Can we float our boat there too? Why not. We need a lake... the market, some waves... the fluctuations in prices. Let's be cleaver and fill our lake with water that seems to have good waves... you know - up and down, but never too far up or down... just wavey! Say we pick 100 stocks. Take each one and find it's average (maybe with some predictable stuff removed - our boat is floating not anchored to the lake bed.). Plot it's waveyness over time and set a call to buy a bit when it goes below some level below the average. Now, when the stock makes its expected move above the adjusted average half way to the expected high, you sell the bit. That creates a value differential that pumps money into your bank account! With enough stocks you should be able to even out the non-predictable movements... like Monday 9/29/08! Just remember not to sell in a hurricane - a massive swirling low.
I suppose this system has been used for hundreds of years too, but have you ever thought of it as a wavy ocean... I bet that floats your boat...
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