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Blog Post #1195

March 2, 2023

Free Flow Thinking: Would you to review a copy of Eternity.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1196

Feb 26, 2024

Free Flow Thinking: The Price of Freedom

Determination, perseverance, grit. The Pilgrims had it. The Founding Fathers had it, and the pioneers, the settlers, the gold miners, the cowboys, the Texas Rangers, the U.S. marshals, and the U.S. cavalrymen, they had it. The seamen, the plant workers, the factory workers, the dock workers, the cab drivers, the Pony Express riders, the stagecoach drivers, the railroad workers, the local cops walking their beats, they had it, the servicemen of all military branches, living, fighting, and dying in the biting, freezing cold of winter, they had it. America was built by the raw strength and courage of men and women from al over the world who had in almost all cases come to this country seeking one thing, something of such value it was worth giving up everything they owned in order to possess: freedom.

For nearly all of human history freedom was virtually unknown to humanity, except possibly to the very few at the very top of their respective civilizations and even then they were often prisoners, slaves even, to their station.

But for most of the brave men and women who left everything they owned and everyone they loved to come to America they knew the value of freedom, because they’d lived under the cruel oppression of tyrants, they’d seen lived ones taken away by the police or military never to be seen again, and they’d seen their children starve because of the horrific poverty that resulted from the failed policies of monarchies. Many had lived extremely hard lives in stark poverty and heavy labor so when they arrived in America wit the chance to be free, many seized the opportunity to work hard to succeed, to be free.

TO BE CONTINUED…

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1194

March 2, 2023

Free Flow Thinking: Would you like to review a copy of Eternity?

First, I must warn you that some of what I include in my letter below includes a fictitious scenario that could happen here in the United States one day, much like what occurred in Israel on October 7th. I did not want you to be disturbed by it when you arrived at that section. I hope you understand when you’ve finished reading my letter why I felt it necessary to include such language.

A simple, terrifying thought has plagued me since the Hamas attack in Israel in October 7, 2023; why couldn’t that happen here?

The text below is intended as wake-up call to Americans of all persuasions that if we don’t protect our country, we’re going to lose it, and possibly our lives as well.

Please stop what you’re doing for just a moment, and try to imagine the following scenario…

It’s July 4th. It’s a clear, sunny, hot, sweltering day outside, but you’re sitting down in your cool, airconditioned living room enjoying a glass of wine or your favorite beer along with several friends watching the big game, while your wife and your friends’ spouses are out back cooking up some delicious steaks and BBQ chicken that everyone will enjoy over halftime. You’re relaxed, enjoying yourself, enjoying the good life, reflecting how blessed you’ve been.

Suddenly you hear something off in the distance, then again, and again. Soon it’s clear the others hear the commotion too. You can see by the looks on their faces that you’re not the only one growing alarmed.

“Fireworks,” someone remarks, prompting a momentary sigh of relief to sweep through the group, just as the back door swings open.

“Honey, we keep hearing gunfire and it’s getting closer! We’re getting really scared, babe.”

“Don’t worry sweetheart,” you say. It’s just a lot of fireworks, it is the 4th of July, after all.” You say it, but deep down you know you’re not sure whether you believe it.

“No, we don’t think that’s what it is, honey. You know Mark did several tours in the Marines and he swears they sound like Ak12s, the standard issue rifles used in the Russian army.”

There’s an explosion outside, then the sounds in the distance of men yelling. The thought finally hits you that maybe, maybe you should consider going to get a small revolver you keep upstairs in a safe, just in case you need it. By the time the yelling gets closer, then the screaming begins, you make the decision to go, but it’s too late. You front door is knocked kicked-in, then you back door. Men armed with firearms, knives, and murderous, crazy, bloodlust looks in their eyes, yelling commands at you in Arabic, pointing at the floor. You comply, as do the others, laying facedown at the others while continually looking around at what’s going on. One of your guests is shot in the head, for no other reason than for moving slightly, and likely for being the biggest, most threatening man in the house.

As you look up you see men looking over the women and young girls that were in your company, your wife and daughter, and the wives and daughters of your family members and friends. You try to look away but one of the terrorists grab you by the hair and pull your head up, forcing it up, but you close your eyes anyway. Before you do, however, you take notice this time that some are wearing Hamas clothing while others are wearing Hezbollah clothing, which you recognize from the news) The men are smiling, touching the girls’ breasts, groping at them from the front, the bottom, sometimes ripping their clothes off, often in front of their children. The invaders proceed to gather the men together and then the women. Then they proceed to break the legs and the arms of each man, before sitting them up in a helpless position so they are forced to watch helplessly as their wives are brutally and repeatedly raped before them. Some women resist, of course, and are swiftly beheaded. Once the beasts are finished, they behead all but one of the men and one of the women, leaving them alive to tell the tale of what happened, of what they experienced, the humiliation, the degradation.

Unfortunately, as horrific, brutal, and animalistic as this Hamas-October 7th-styled attack is, it will happen at not just one city, but at many cities across America, at every single state in America. Hundreds of thousands of Americans will be brutally attacked when they least expect it; they will be attacked, raped, and murdered in the initial attack, which will be repeated across the country in a completely unprepared America. An attack even worse than described JUST HAPPENED in Israel back in October, why are you shocked at my suggestion that such attackers would flock here to America, where they can have such easy access to our country? Keep in mind that over 300,000 illegal immigrants crossed what was once called our southern border into America in just the last three months of 2023. Who were they, what country were they from? Were they thoroughly vetted before allowed full access to our country and its citizenry?

But here’s the real kicker, the real punchline to this all-too-real and painfully all-too-likely scenario. These Hamas-October 7th-style attacks are only serving as a distraction. The real attack is the launch of a nuclear missile into the sky above Kansas, which is intended to detonate high enough in the atmosphere that it knocks out the national power grid. What it fails to bring down the 100,000 Chinese soldiers that crossed the open southern border into the United States will finish up. Having been strategically placed alongside the same cities as the terrorists, they are able to work freely and do a commendable job at crashing America’s power grid.

Now, with nearly 300 million hostages under their control, what could the US military do with the military bases, subs, and missiles they still had at their disposal?

Yes, I’m nervous about who’s been crossing our southern border. But whether you’re a Republican, Democrat, or an Independent, please…try not forget that you’re still a human being. Whether it’s you, your children, your grandchildren, your great children, your great-great grandchildren, your brothers, your sisters, your nephews, your nieces, your uncles, aunts, friends, best friends, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, living all across this great nation of ours, or strangers, we all live here, so we all should care.

We already know there are a lot of bad actors who have entered the United States through the gaping Southern Border. The question is, What are YOU going to do stop them, and stop the scenarios described above, or anything like them, from ever happening?

Please bring order and sanity back to our border policy at the southern border (and northern border, too.) You must end the chaotic flood of people into our country. From reports I’ve seen on the news it seems certain many foreign nationals, including Arabic, Chinese, and Russians, have taken advantage of the chaos down south, the problem is it seems very doubtful that anyone has any idea how many are here!

We also need to find that out and deport them now, while we can, before it’s too late.

Regards,

Jeff Horton

Jwpublic@earthlink.net

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

ww.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1193

March 2, 2023

Free Flow Thinking: Would you to review a copy of Eternity.

A picture containing text, indoor, book, stack Description automatically generated
Would you like to review a copy of Eternity?

Greetings!

Just a brief reminder that you have between now and March 20 if you’d like to receive a free copy of Eternity in exchange for a review. Simply follow the link below to Booksprout to get your free copy today!

Time’s running out so get your free review

Jeff W. Horton 

Link to Booksprout link: https://booksprout.co/reviewer/review-copy/view/107440/eternity

 More links for Eternity:

See the Book Trailer for Eternity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBYkdHUrah8

To Claim a Review Copy on Booksprout:  https://booksprout.co/reviewer/review-copy/view/107440/eternity

Find Eternity:

Goodreads:   https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/108515604-eternity

Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BVBZLCWH

Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/eternity-jeff-w-horton/1143051737?ean=2940185689967

Audio Book:  https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details?id=AQAAAEDCXywf_M&pli=1

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

ww.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1192

February 26, 2023

Free Flow Thinking: Can we Reverse the Aging Process in People in 2023?

When I first became interested in aging and the progress scientists have made in finding a way to stop and even reverse the effects of aging several years ago, I suppose I must have found something like five maybe ten articles at the most online about the topic.

Today, when performing a similar search immediately came up with twenty-eight pages of links in Google about the topic. It’s a testament to how a once obscure area of scientific study has become mainstream. I can only imagine what family, friends, and acquaintances must have thought when I shared some of what I had learned at the time with them. Most likely wrote it off as nonsense I’d picked-up on the Internet and had been gullible enough to believe, ha, ha.

It’s easy to understand I suppose. After all, some of the claims seemed outlandish at the time. For example, I recall one article at the time centered around an experiment done a decade ago, in which two mice were used as part of an experiment. In the experiment one of the mice was treated while the other was not. The “treated” mouse began looking and behaving as any young mouse would, while the other mouse, still racked with arthritis and other ravages of extreme old age moved slowly and only with great difficulty. Both mice were of the same age.

So, as I prepare for the release of my novel, Eternity, which releases on March 20th and deals with this very subject, I thought it a fitting time to check back on progress and where science stands today, in 2023. I’m no scientist, I’m only a layman, but I have learned a few things.

First-We are getting closer and closer to the point where doctors will be able to prescribe a medication specifically to extend either lifespan, healthspan, or both. Healthspan refers to “the period of life spent in good health, free from the chronic diseases and disabilities of aging.”

Second- Scientists are getting closer to understanding how to not only slow or even stop the aging process, they are also getting closer to being able to reverse it.

Third- It seems more and more that two primary factors will drive a “cure to aging.”

  • Eliminating senescent cells (a.k.a. zombie cells) from the body.
  • Manipulation of the Yamanaka factors -As defined by the Salk Institute below:

Scientists know that adding a mixture of four reprogramming molecules—Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and cMyc, also known as “Yamanaka factors”—to cells can reset these epigenetic marks to their original patterns. This approach is how researchers can dial back adult cells, developmentally speaking, into stem cells.

Cellular rejuvenation therapy safely reverses signs of aging in mice

Fourth– There are some medications available today that scientists suggest appear to extend the lifespan and healthspan of human beings, namely metformin and rapamycin.

Epigenetics, age-reversal, and the exciting, groundbreaking work being done is fascinating and is very exciting stuff.

Look, I don’t know where this is going much less the implications for those of us of faith, the impact on world resources, etc. I do know, however, that the exciting news over at SpaceX and humanity’s stepping out into the cosmos couldn’t have happened at a much better time.

There is more to come!

Want to know more now? Click on the links below, or search for “age-reversal” on the Internet!

Scientists reversed aging in mice. Is it possible in humans?

Brief exposure to rapamycin has the same anti-aging effects as lifelong treatment, shows study in fruit flies and mice

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/08/220829112829.htm

Is reverse aging already possible? Drugs that could treat aging might already be on the pharmacy shelves.

https://fortune.com/well/2023/02/23/reverse-aging-breakthroughs-in-science/

A Drug to Treat Aging May Not Be a Pipe Dream

New approaches to the biology of senescence can make lives longer and healthier.

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/aging-disease-biology

The Launch of my Latest Novel, Eternity

Here’s the vital info:

Front matter:

David Winters’ intellect is the greatest the modern world has ever known. He snatched fully functioning nanites right off the pages of science-fiction and made them a reality. His latest discovery, however, will make the nanites pale in comparison, and he’s going to give this one to the world. With such a powerful impact on civilization and on the Earth itself, will Winters’ latest discovery lead to an incredible new beginning for humanity, or will it usher in its downfall?

Below are links to Eternity in case you decide you’d like to give it a try. I hope you enjoy it!

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBYkdHUrah8

To Claim a Review Copy: https://booksprout.co/reviewer/review-copy/view/107440/eternity

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/108515604-eternity

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Starship Watch Update

The wet dress rehearsal was successful. The test-fire of 31 raptor engines was successful. Now, if only SpaceX’s efforts to obtain an FAA license to launch could prove to be just as successful!

Actually, it sounds as if the FAA license is expected to be forthcoming any day now, and that a March launch is still expected to take place. It could happen any day now, so keep a watchful eye out, or you’ll miss a test flight that could appear in history books for centuries to come!

Starship Set to Receive FAA Launch License Soon, Ship-25 @ Masseys, SpaceX Crew-6 Launch, Soyuz MS23

Scientia Plus

SpaceX test-fires 31 engines on Starship’s gigantic Super Heavy booster

Spaceflight Now

SpaceX test-fires 31 engines on Starship’s gigantic Super Heavy booster

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1191

February 13, 2023

Free Flow Thinking: The Launch of my Latest Novel, Eternity

Hello Everyone.

I’d like to begin by asking for your indulgence.

This post does indeed include some shameless marketing and self-promotion. But in keeping with the theme of my blogs, I think you’ll find it rich and informative as well, In fact, I truly hope that you find my novel itself to be not only a stimulating and entertaining read, but also informative and thought-provoking.

After doing my research, I wrote Eternity fully expecting a scientist somewhere to discover a means of turning the aging process “off” in human beings and better yet, reversing the aging process until we are at our healthiest tie of life. I expected this to become a reality in my children’s lifetime, and I still believe that will be the case. What concerns me the most, however, is that if we’re not careful it will become the tool of only the wealthiest among us. In either case we best be prepared.

The Launch of my Latest Novel, Eternity

Here’s the vital info:

Blurb:

David Winters’ intellect is the greatest the modern world has ever known. He snatched fully functioning nanites right off the pages of science-fiction and made them a reality. His latest discovery, however, will make the nanites pale in comparison, and he’s going to give this one to the world. With such a powerful impact on civilization and on the Earth itself, will Winters’ latest discovery lead to an incredible new beginning for humanity, or will it usher in its downfall?

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

I am proud to announce the release of my tenth and most recent novel, Eternity.

The book centers around the discovery of a cure for aging. I wrote Eternity after doing extensive research on the topic of epigenetics, gene-editing, and progress over the last decade on not only towards deepening our understanding of the aging process and even reversing it, but also on vastly improving the quality of life as well.

It’s all really exciting stuff, and it really is where science-fiction meets reality.

I learned about terms like CRISPR-CAS9, senescent cells, & Yamanaka factors. Here are a few definitions to get you started on your epigenetic journey…

CRISPR-CAS9-

What it is: CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats.

It is a component of bacterial immune systems that can cut DNA, and has been repurposed as a gene editing tool. It acts as a precise pair of molecular scissors that can cut a target DNA sequence, directed by a customizable guide. (See https://www.synthego.com/learn/crispr)

SENESCENT CELLS (a.k.a. Zombie cells)

What it is: They’re called zombie cells, because they are damaged and refuse to die.

As we age, these damaged cells start to accumulate and cause sterile inflammation which can alter metabolism and stem cell function, promoting aging and the conditions that are often associated with it, like Alzheimer’s disease. These zombie cells are formally called, senescent cells. Researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School are now helping define just what those cells are and do.

Laura Niedernhofer, PhD, and Paul Robbins, PhD, director and associate director, respectively, for the Institute on the Biology of Aging and Metabolism (iBAM) are contributing authors of, “Cellular Senescence: Defining a Path Forward,” which was published in the leading journal “Cell” on Halloween.

As people age, they accumulate damaged cells. When the cells get to a certain level of damage, they go through an aging process of their own called cellular senescence. When cells become damaged or if they replicate too many times, they undergo a process of irreversible removal from the cell cycle and start releasing inflammatory factors that stimulate the immune response to clear the damaged cells. A younger person’s immune system is healthy and is able to clear the damaged cells, but as people age, they aren’t cleared as effectively and they accumulate causing potential problems.

https://med.umn.edu/news/defining-zombie-cells

YAMANAKA FACTORS-

What it is: The Yamanaka factors (Oct3/4, Sox2, Klf4, c-Myc) are a group of protein transcription factors that play a vital role in the creation of induced pluripotent stem cells (cells that have the ability to become any cell in the body), often called iPSCs. They control how DNA is copied for translation into other proteins.

These are topics I deal with in the novel, where a very bright scientist makes an amazing discovery, how to stop the aging process. Incredibly during my research, I learned of some amazing experiments carried out over the last ten years or so. One such experiment featured a pair of very old mice in the midst of extreme old age, suffering from crippling arthritis’ moving only slowly and with considerable pain. One of the mice had its senescent or “zombie cells removed. Soon after it begins showing traits and characteristics belonging to a much younger mouse.

In yet another experiment various physical attributes of mice being tested showed a remarkable rejuvenation when the mice were given the Yamanaka factors over a period of months

.

Yamanaka factors

Yamanaka factors

mTOR is a key modulator of ageing and age-related disease

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23325216

Signs of aging safely reversed in mice

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/immune-aging-and-how-to-combat-it

Yamanaka Factors And Aging

Yamanaka Factors And Aging

Yamanaka Factors and Partial Cellular Reprogramming

Yamanaka Factors – Opportunities for Rejuvenation

Starship Watch Update

As has been the case with nearly every SpaceX update over the last couple of years, we still don’t know exactly when the orbital flight will be. That said, with the successful wet dress rehearsal behind them, as well as the successful static fire of some 30 raptor engines on the Super Heavy thruster, all SpaceX needs now is the Launch license and green light from the FAA before making history, launching the world’s largest rocket into space.

It could happen any day now, so keep a watchful eye out!

SpaceX test-fires 31 engines on Starship’s gigantic Super Heavy booster

Test Fire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28lw-s32RSQ&t=2s

SpaceX test-fires 31 engines on Starship’s gigantic Super Heavy booster

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

Blog Post #1188

October 25, 2022

Free Flow Thinking: Cuba, Washington DC, and Human Longevity

Human beings. As a species we suffer from collective amnesia. Just consider the following as an example.

Between October 16 and October 29, 1962, the world came closer than we ever had before and ever have since to effectively destroying ourselves and all other life on Earth. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, the U.S.S.R. sent ships carrying missiles with nuclear warheads to the island of Cuba where they planned to install missile launch sytems just twenty miles off the coast of the United States. Diagram Description automatically generated

In response the United States blockaded the island of Cuba, and the subsequent standoff lowered the level of military readiness to its lowest level; before or since, Defcon-2; the next lowest level is Defcon-1, War. Based on correspondence between President John F. Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev made available in the years since through the Freedom of Information Act it has become painfully clear how so very, very close we came to a nuclear Armageddon. One would think there would be college courses, colleges even, perhaps even branches of government, dedicated to ensuring never forget the lessons we learned from nearly destroying our planet, We should be reminding enemies as well as allies of that fateful time in history so that perhaps, we can avoid ever taking such an unthinkable risk with our entire species, with any and ALL future generations!

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The sad truth is I’d be surprised if you were to ask random people off the street under the age of 30 what the Cuban Missile Crisis was, if more than 20% of them could tell you with any reasonable degree of accuracy and/or completeness. If I’m correct, over 80% graduated from high school and some from college, without ever having learned how the world very nearly ended in 1962. It seems only us old timers seem to know or care about what happened; the rest of the world has forgotten the event and moved on.

There is another topic I’d like to shift to now, still related to the collective memory of the American people and indeed, humanity overall.

How many times have you heard it said that the only way to convince someone that aliens had been to Earth was for E.T. to land his spaceship on the White House lawn for all to see? But did you know that just before midnight on July 19th, 1952, not one but seven UFOs were seen flying over the nations’ capital, buzzing just past the White House and the Capital building? They may not have landed but they brought six more ships with them and whirred by the president’s house multiple times before taking off at high speed as fighter jets arrived.

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Seven UFOs hanging in the air the White House makes a pretty good case to me. Had the aliens tried for much more than that and they’d be likely have eaten a missile or a mess of bullets, especially back during that time. And it’s certain no nation on Earth possessed the technology these alien ships displayed.

“Okay,’ you say, “big deal. UFOs flew near the White House once in 1952. That could have been anything, a fluke with the radar, swamp gas combined with the light of Venus!” you hard core critics might say in response It would be a stretch, given the details of the encounter, how the jets scrambled to engage the crafts and as they neared them the UFOs mysteriously took off at incredible speeds. Besides, it happened again nearly a week later on a Saturday; when the UFOs mysteriously came back for a second look at the home of the President of the United States and the United States Congress, perhaps to bid farewell, who knows? The point is E.T. was here and he was going out of his way to let us know it, but no one seems to remember it outside the UFO enthusiast community. What’s up with that?

Now, fast forward some 52 years to 2007 and the Nimitz Battlegroup, conducting drills in the Pacific off the coast of Mexico and California. Crew members on the Nimitz reported it was “raining” UFOs on radar. Fighter pilots engage what they describe as “tic-tac” looking craft executing maneuvers at speeds that would instantly rip apart any known human build craft, not to mention the passengers. They were instantly stopping and starting again, maneuvering far faster than any human-built craft could, with no visible means of propulsion. They seemed to turn visible and invisible, demonstrated trans-medium capability, which means they were capable of seamlessly traversing water, air, and space, seamlessly, and demonstrated anti-gravity capability.

Then, in 2021, the US military confirmed to the US Congress and the world that craft as described above did in fact exist and was interacting with military on a nearly daily basis. Despite confirming that these Unidentified Aerial Vehicles were real they could neither confirm nor deny they were of extraterrestrial origin. The point is, the government acknowledged that these craft are real, that they are present in our skies, and they are demonstrating technologies beyond our current level of technology.

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In the event you’ve been living under a rock, or just been too busy living your life, and haven’t heard about this little revelation, you might want to follow this link. There was a fantastic program that came out on the History Channel about it; it’s an amazing story and you’ll find the series quite enlightening.

https://www.history.com/shows/unidentified-inside-americas-ufo-investigation

Now there have been reports by some, claiming to be aids to top military leaders, that these “tic-tac” vehicles described above were human-built spacecraft reverse-engineered from alien spacecraft which had been somehow acquired by the US government, and then flown by members of the US Airforce. The reason? To assess how the US Navy might react to the unprecedented interaction. If true, it would mean that human beings already in possession of technology capable of carrying us to the stars.

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Now I will switch gears, and shift to an entirely different direction for just a moment, before tying it all together, In previous I’ve referenced studies and breakthroughs made over the last couple of decades, in the study of senescence, and how scientists have already successfully extended life by twenty-percent or more in mice, and even changed an aged, decrepit mouse back into a younger, more vigorous one.

It is my belief that scientists have either made the breakthrough, or they are very close to making it, that will enable human beings to live very long lives. The problem: how could an already arguably overcrowded world accommodate a population that refused to die off but instead, hung around for many more year even while more and more generations were being born. Yes, the governments of the world would have to move quickly in order to put the freeze on any announcements by the scientists in the name of national security, they’d have to.

Now then, consider this tantalizing thought, what if they didn’t? Turning back to our earlier discussion about reverse engineered interstellar spacecraft, which we seem to already have in our possession. If that is true, we already have the underlying technology needed to carry us to the stars, where we can expand as a species to new world, with new resources. Barring an encounter with an alien species that wiped us all out, it would be the beginning of a very bright future for the human race. Just try to imagine it.

In conclusion:

Alien spacecraft have already been to Washington, DC. The seven alien ships chose back in 1952, however, to hover over the White House, on two separate occasions I might add, rather than to land on the White House Lawn.

In the opinion of this humble author that it is becoming increasingly likely that the persistent rumors that the United States has successfully reverse engineered the alien technology is true, and that we can now build and fly these craft.

Scientists are either very close or have already uncovered the secret to extending human life, possibly for a very long time.

The reverse-engineer spacecraft would enable the now rapidly expanding human race to expand out into the cosmos, settling new worlds and loving to very ripe old ages…think Asgardian.

Starship Watch Update

After over a year of waiting, It looks like the SpaceX Starship Orbital Test launch could happen withing a few weeks from now, sometime in November 2022 according to Mr. Musk. Of course, we have yet to hear that the FAA has given final approval. Here’s hoping we see a successful launch next month.

Good luck Elon and SpaceX!

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

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Blog Post #1180

September 8, 2021

Free Flow Thinking: A new Home on Mars

Starship Watch Update

Yea, it’s finally here|! The FAA’s draft assessment of the Spacex Starship program has finally been submitted for public review and comment. I certainly plan to comment, informing the FAA how important I feel it is for SpaceX to be given as much free rein as possible in development of this program, only reigning them in when they go too far jeopardizing public safety and the like. What these people need to keep in mind however, is that this is a space program, like NASA’s, and carries with it an inherent risk that the airlines, which has been the FAA’s primary responsibility, have not had.

The FAA could easily choke SpaceX’s progress to the point that the fire goes out and they give up and that, would be the most horrific outcome of all. There will be accidents and people will die. Airplanes, which use safe, proven designs, fall out of the sky far too often. How much more a space program, where new technologies are being tested not in the safety of Earths atmosphere, but in space.

Please read through trough the review, as I plan to do, and then join me in commenting in support if SpaceX. If the FAA seeks to limit the number of flights to 10, which is what one person who read the report claimed, we must strongly object to that, offering SpaceX the opportunity to fly 100 flights a year, or even 1000, if necessary. Building a base on the moon and establishing a thriving civilization on Mars is going to require a lot of test flights and then a lot of operational flights to accomplish.

Draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment Public Review and Comment Period

Please submit comments by October 18, 2021.

  • Comments should be mailed to Ms. Stacey Zee, SpaceX PEA, c/o ICF, 9300 Lee Highway, Fairfax, VA 22031
  • Comments may also be submitted by email to SpaceXBocaChica@icf.com
https://www.faa.gov/space/stakeholder_engagement/spacex_starship

In other news it sounds like SpaceX is preparing for static fires for both the booster and Starship. Since they cannot launch until the end of the 30-day comment period and the final FAA approval, they’re doing everything they can up to but excluding the launch. Elon Musk is an amazing man, and SpaceX is an incredible company. We can only hope they continue operating at a breakneck pace to achieve Musk’s rather ambitious goals.

Moving on…let us proceed to our feature presentation!

I wasn’t aware until today that there is a live feed coming from Mars. Well, it said it was a live feed.

Mars Cam

Whether it is or isn’t it still features a fantastic, sweeping video of the landscape on Mars, unlike anything I’ve ever seen short of high-end sci-fi films. The oddest thing I found about what I saw was how much it reminded me of places here on earth. In some shots I was reminded of the American Southwest, in others some of the more barren regions of South America. For the first time I could really imagine people going to Mars and establishing human settlements there. There are still several real and significant challenges to living on Mars. Let’s look a a few of the briefly before moving on.

Radiation-Mars has no magnetosphere present that can block the dangerous radiation from the sun and space to keep it from reaching the surface of the planet, like we have here on Earth. Mars’ dynamo inside the planet’s core is dead, and the resulting lack of a magnetosphere has resulted in a dangerous amount of radiation for anyone exposed on the planet’s surface.

Kickstart the Dynamo inside Mars’ Core

Some scientists speculate that there may be ways to kick-start the dynamo at the planet’s core, to restart the magnetosphere the Red Planet once had. There is also the possibility that the planet’s core is gradually solidifying anyway, which will generate heat, melting the outer core, and creating the dynamo effect that will create a new magnetosphere on Mars. Can we do something to make that happen a little sooner? Perhaps. Theories ranging from nuclear explosion inside the core to sending powerful electrical currents through it. One thing is certain; necessity is the mother of invention and human beings have a knack for innovation. Just look at Elon Musk.

Create an Artificial Magnetosphere

Using satellites, scientists in Japan have proposed a means of creating an artificial magnetosphere around the Earth in an order to boost a 10% drop over the last 150 years. Some have proposed such a system could be used for Mars as well, until a better, longer-term solution could be found.

Protection from the Radiation

Shielding can be built into vehicles used to travel on Mars and into spacesuits worn by anyone walking around outside. Such exposure would likely have to be limited, however, until something is done to remediate the danger.

A number of proposals for establishing human cities on Mars have included building cities inside of mountains and/or underground, where Martian rock and soil would shield the human inhabitants from radiation.

https://tinyurl.com/fc2ffc3b
https://www.businessinsider.com/mars-map-show-where-humans-will-live-on-mars-2018-3
https://newatlas.com/great-places-to-live-mars/45654
Abiboo envisions cliff-face city as “future capital of Mars”

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

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Blog Post #1180

September 8, 2021

Free Flow Thinking: A New Hope

Greetings.

I wanted to offer a brief explanation for the recent sporadic blog posting. As I’ve been blogging for the past several years, something I very much enjoy, I find myself spending more and more time researching material for each blog, much as I do my novels. Unfortunately, this leaves me with less and less time to devote to my novels. At the moment, I still hold a day job, so my writing time is somewhat limited.

So, for the moment at least, my blog posts may be cut back a little, and may be less scheduled than before. That said, the blogging WILL continue (sorry to those of you who hoped otherwise, LOL).

Moving right along…

Starship Watch Update:

It appears SpaceX is in a holding pattern for the orbital launch test of Starship SN20. Of course, we have lots of other activity going on lately when it comes to space, so it could be worse.

The NASA Mars Helicopter drone Ingenuity recently made its 13th flight, far surpassing the handful of expected flights it was originally designed for.

Also, SpaceX is about to Inspiration 4, the first launch of civilian astronauts into space, a launch that will include several orbits of the Earth. In addition to this incredible first, Billionaire Jared Isaacman, who is funding and leading the mission, is also helping to raise a hefty amount of money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/spacex-flight-st-jude-hospital-cosmic-funding-boost-75642346

When will SN20 launch, and why is it taking so long? I wish I knew. I suspect the FAA is dragging its imperial feet, feeling jilted, perhaps, after SpaceX launched a flight earlier this year (or was it last year?) without authorization, while also building the massive launch tower, which the FAA expressed concern about. It all reeks of some bureaucrats feeling an intoxicated by all the blatant abuse of their perceived power. I wrote to um-ughm, President Biden a few days, urging him to push (or fire) whoever is dragging his or her feet at the FAA when it comes to approving this historic and critical-to-the-human-race-test-flight. Maybe we need more people, especially any Democrats out there, writing to their elected officials to get them to put the squeeze on. Given the recent debacle in Afghanistan, I have to think the administration will jump at the opportunity to look like the heroes here and possibly even change the conversation from historic failures in Afghanistan to historic achievements in space. Time will tell…

Now, for the main event, let’s get ready to rumb…oops, wrong venue. Moving right along…

Mars: A New Hope

Hey, I didn’t say anything about Star Wars in the title, so Lucas can’t sue, right?

I’d like to begin by talking about something I was thinking about over the last few days. Just stop and think about some of the achievements over the last 100 years or so…

-The telephone

-The automobile

-The airplane, jet, and helicopter

-The computer

-The submarine

-The atomic bomb, hydrogen bomb, neutron bomb, the cobalt bomb, ……

-The Internet

-Cloning

-The mapping of the human genome

-Gene editing

-Advancements in the research for a “cure” to aging

-The satellite

-The Viking landers and many other subsequent landers on Mars, not just by the United States and Russian now, but also by China.

-Quantum Computing

-Air taxis (coming really soon)

The list goes on. Now add to that list of real-world accomplishments the infinite works of fiction, first by men like H.G. Wells and Jules Verne but later by men like men like Isaac Asimov, James Cameron, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas, along with many, many others, and it’s easy to imagine, is it not, that we will develop a means of interstellar travel, whether it be gravity-wave generators, warp drives, or hyperdrives?

Isn’t also easy to conceive that we may also soon develop force fields that can protect humanity as we travel through space, and communities that may settle on worlds like Mars, where radiation poses a constant threat?

I certainly believe it is. Yes, I believe we have access to alien technology but even if we didn’t, I’m confident we would eventually learn how to solve these problems on our own, given enough time. I’m in awe, sometimes, of our species. We human beings, men and women of all races and colors, or all ethnic origins, are capable of such greatness, such awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping achievements, such incredible insight and wisdom. I shall not dwell on the opposite end of that spectrum this evening, where the worst of our species dwell suffice to mention that obviously, they exist as well. Perhaps it is this incredible divide, this vast diversity of character, acuity, and ability, and the great range of human compassion and concern for others that sometimes impresses me, and sometimes saddens me, depending on where on that spectrum I happen to be focusing. But I digress.

Mars. Elon Musk sees it as our most immediate, best hope at survival in the immediate of one of an infinite number of possible extinction-level events that could doom all life on Earth, or at least life as we know it. His contention, as I understand it, is that if some segment of human civilization survives the great cataclysm by colonizing Mars and escapes relatively unscathed, they would be able to come to the aid of those back on Earth. This would help ensure that civilization continued, instead of being setback hundreds, of possibly even thousands of years. I believe Mr. Musk is correct.

Yes, I’m a Christian and yes, I believe God will care for us. Yet I also believe that God works in mysterious ways, and He has chosen not to return before now for the End of Days. I believe we should, therefore, proceed forward as if tomorrow will come, while always watching for the “signs of the times.”

I also believe that our best hope lies in developing a means a of interstellar travel, like warping space or creating wormholes, in order to cross vast distances of space without that nasty penalty of time dilation, which causes time to move so much faster back home while you travel the universe, causing you to age much, much slower than the folks back home. When you return home after a trip to another star system, using conventional sub-light travel, everyone you knew, even your children and grandchildren, will likely be long-dead and buried by the time you return.

No, interstellar travel means we can use some exotic means, like warping space, to cross vast distances without the impact of time dilation. This is our best hope for true commerce and travel between star systems.

Until the time comes when that technology is available to humanity, Mars does, perhaps, offer an alternative, if not a pleasant one. It is my fervent hope that if we must rely on Mars as something more than a waystation, that someone a lot smarter than I can find a very practical, sensible way of kick-starting the molten core inside of Mars in such a way that it creates a powerful magnetic field, like Earth’s, capable of blocking harmful radiation from the sun. Afterwards, perhaps these same, brilliant scientists will develop a quick and efficient way of terraforming Mars, of releasing oxygen and one day creating a breathable atmosphere on Mars. Of, warming it up a bit wouldn’t hurt either.

Look for more on Mars: A New Hope, on my next blog post!

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

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Blog Post #1179

August 14, 2021

Free Flow Thinking: On our Way Back to the Future

Starship Watch Update:

I don’t have any specific updates. Just waiting for the test launch to happen, like the rest of the world, which I’m guessing will likely be sometime before Labor Day, IF, the FAA clears it for launch.

In the meantime, I came across this video with commentary, of the first stacking of Starship on Super Heavy BN4. I think you’ll like it!

Now, for our future presentation!

The American civil war ended just sixteen years ago.

Only five years have passed years since General Armstrong Custer and 260 of his brave soldiers died in the ill-fated Battle of the Little Big horn at the hands of the Cheyenne and the Sioux, led by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull.

And just four years ago, Wild Bill Hickock was shot in the back of the head while holding his infamous “dead-man’s hand” of “aces and eights,” a pair of black aces and a pair of black eights.

It is 3:00 PM on Wednesday, October 26, 1881, in the town of Tombstone, Arizona.

A battle is brewing between two warring factions in the town. The first includes three brothers, lawmen, and their deputized friend, who are about to have a little showdown of their own near a little place in Tombstone called the OK Corral.

Wyatt Earp, His brothers Virgil and Morgan, ae soon joined by their friend Doc Holiday on their way to meet the McLaury brothers and the Clantons, in a confrontation that has been brewing for some time.

We’ve all heard the story, it’s one of the most popular of the stories out of the old west. But there is something else I find to be just as remarkable as the martial skill and bravery of these young men. The incredible and indelible fact that the automobile is invented just five years after the legendary battle at the O.K. Corral. The automobile, first envisioned by Leonardo DaVinci as far back as the 15th century, will prove to be a harbinger of the great technological revolution that historians will forever refer to as the 20th Century.

Only 22 years after the O.K. Corral, the Wright Brothers would take the first powered flight of an airplane at Kitty Hawk, NC. What a remarkable achievement. To come out of the Civil War, the westward expansion, the battles with the native Americans, and some of the last of the great gunslingers of the Old West, to the advent of the airplane and all that entailed in such a brief amount of time. From the Gunfight at the OK Corral to the airplane in less than 22 years. Even more remarkable, is the fact that the wife Wyatt Earp, who had been with him since Tombstone, Josephine Sarah ‘Sadie’ Marcus, died sometime in 1944, near the end of WW II. Had Josephine lived only one year longer, the woman who likely witnessed many of the events in Tombstone would also have witnessed the birth of the Atomic bomb, and she would have read in the newspapers how it had been used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end the war. From the gun-slinging Wild West to battleships, aircraft carriers, Corsairs, and the atomic bombs of WW II, she just about saw it all in her lifetime. What a remarkable life she must have had.

What a contrast, and what an advancement in technology that took place in the years between the late 1800s and the early 20th Century. From horse and buggy to jets and atomic bombs, all in the span of 64 years. Within 82 years humanity would land the first man on the moon; imagine that. From the O.K. Corral to the moon in a human lifetime.

The 1950’s and 60’s brought the advent of the fighter jets, satellites, and the space race, culminating with the Apollo Program and the moon landing in 1969. The 70s, 80s, and 90s gave us personal computers, Apple Computer, Microsoft, the Internet, the Space Shuttle, the cloned sheep Dolly, and the International Space Station, but little in terms of human space exploration, and little to replace the airplane/jet.

So it should be of little surprise that well over a century after the invention of the airplane, we are finally once again seeing a sophisticated level of innovation in both space and aeronautical engineering, with the flying car now finally becoming a reality. Oh, they may not be as nifty as the antigravity-touting Tic-Tac UFOs encountered by the U.S. Navy nearly two decades ago and seen by observers all over the world, but these new flying cars are still a step forward regardless. The new vehicles may not be capable of traveling in water, air, and space like the Tic-Tac UFOs can but one day, perhaps we too will have such technology. It will be sci-fi come to life; actually, it already is.

As some of you are likely to recall, I’ve done a few posts on the future rise of the flying taxis, most of which resemble oversized drones with vectoring propellers and vertical takeoff and lift.

Two of the more recent vertical takeoff and lift vehicles (aka VTOL). I’ve come across, which are also two of the more interesting and exciting are the Jetoptera’s J-2000 Flying Car, and the Lilium Jet.

It seems inevitable that VTOLs, this revolutionary class of new aerial vehicles, is going to be a significant step forward in the constant evolution in the way people travel.

The Jetoptera’s J-2000 Flying Car

You might also want to watch the video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG50_Mk9Iso

The Lilium Jet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_NC4dA-Pyo

Interested in more Vertical and Takeoff and Landing Aircraft?

A VTOL Bakeoff

Comparison Between Lilium vs Joby vs Archer

Jeff strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

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ww.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1178

August 14, 2021

Free Flow Thinking: Wake-up America: We’re Already in A Cold War With China

Starship Watch Update:

Good evening my cerebral and incisive readers.

A picture containing sky, outdoor, boat, ship Description automatically generated

Good evening my cerebral and incisive readers.

As far as I know there is still no official word, as to a specific launch date. I thought I’d seen a tweet from Visionary and billionaire Elon Musk that indicated a launch two weeks from the stacking of SN20 atop SH, which occurred on Friday, August 6th. I cannot, however, locate that tweet now so perhaps, I attributed a tweet from someone else to Elon. In any event, launch should be happening soon.

Have any of you been curious what prompted Mr. Musk, and I’m assuming his team of scientists and engineers as well, to want to shift to a water landing for SN20? I’ve been very curious. The answer turns out to be the only one I’d been able to come up with that made any sense and he has my respect for making the call.

As for the booster, Super Heavy, speculation seems to be now that Super Heavy will land on an ocean-based, floating platform. It will certainly be a momentous occasion I very much hope I’m able to watch live, wherever it occurs!

Below is a great link to a site where I found the info on the reason for the water landing. I recommend you bookmark this site if you’re following Starship even remotely as much as I.

https://complexob7.com/starship-sn20-will-splash-into-water-instead-of-landing

I was having dinner recently with my 15-year-old son, when he suddenly asked me if I’d seen a recent advertisement on television for the United States army. I shook my head, and he went on to tell me about recruitment ads from Russia and from China that someone had pulled together along with the recent U.S. ad for comparison. I have to tell you, while I have no clue what the Chinese or the Russian narrators were saying, I found the soldiers I saw in both to be in unbelievable physical condition, demonstrated extraordinary discipline, and were very intimidating. If any of these men saw the American ad, however, I feel certain without understanding the language whatsoever, they would be rolling with laughter, unable to contain themselves in less than thirty seconds into the commercial.

The American ad is a “woke” ad, chocked full of woke far-left ideology and political correctness, and has absolutely nothing to do with fighting, the military, or winning battles. Regardless of the fact that the United States Government has no business telling Americans what to believe or how to live their lives, this ad is demeaning to America, it will certainly weaken our country, emboldening our enemies while weakening the resolve of our allies. It is yet another example of what is wrong with the ridiculous, “woke” culture, which has so infected our nation and if it is not excised from the very fabric of our society soon, it will certainly lead to death, suffering, and if we’re not careful, perhaps even the collapse of America herself.

Please, watch the three ads and decide for yourself. I must warn you however, that the host of the website where my son found these ads uses a lot of salty language and is probably not suitable for younger viewers. I regret my son heard it but like I told him, while the host could have said the same thing without the profanity, I agree wholeheartedly with the points he was making.

http://republicbroadcasting.org/news/us-armys-woke-ads-vs-russian-and-chinese-military-recruitment-commercials/

As strong and prosperous as our country is still only one generation away from ruin. Civilizations rise and their fall, with some falling never to arise again. America is not immune to the forces that have ended so many empires, nations, and promising cultures. If we want to keep America around, to hold onto our freedom, we will have to fight for it, and sometimes that means against forces within our own borders, like this “Woke” culture, which threatens to destroy everything so many of us hold dear. You can fight for freedom, or you can lose it my fellow Americans, that is your choice. The same applies to all freedom-loving peoples all over the planet. If you and I continue taking it for granted, I’m telling you one day we’ll wake up and some Chinese official will be telling us what to do. In fact, it’s already happening. Just look at the recent problems the NBA has had with China, and how they’ve had to take positions favorable to the Chinese or risk losing access to the valuable Chinese market. The same can be said for Hollywood, where an alarming number of film companies are owned in-part or in-total by China. Once again, films from such companies will always take positions that China agrees to, or the film will never be made. Even film companies not owned by China have been kowtowing to the Chinese, fearful of losing access to that lucrative market.

We had all better grow backbones people, now, and remember who, and what we are; we are Americans. We need only look back on how many of us have already died in order to preserve freedom in this great nation so we, if necessary, must be prepared to lose everything, even our lives, if necessary, to protect that freedom, for our children, and our children’s children. Besides, we Americans have never been very good at bowing down to kings and emperors, be they British, German, Russian, or Chinese.

Many of us grew up living in fear during the Cold War, teetering on the edge of a nuclear Armageddon that threatened to end all life on earth. I was a child when many marched to protest the war in Vietnam, and I still recall the daily counts of the number of U.S. soldiers who had died that day being read on NBC Nightly News, back when they merely reported the news instead of making it up as they go. Back then, of course, there was only NBC, CBS, and ABC, and those three channels were about all that anyone could pick up on their televisions back in those days before cable, and the Internet.

I recall Jane Fonda going over to the North Vietnam, posing for photos with the enemy, the Viet Cong, who were sending so many young Americans back home in body bags. Later, I would sometimes wonder, while watching Fonda being interviewed in her beautiful California home about an upcoming film, why she’d never been tried as a traitor for providing aid and comfort to the enemy. It turns out since America had never formally declared war on the North Vietnamese, she could not be tried for treason. It seems to me she had the same mindset as many in our “woke” culture today.

  • America is bad.
  • Our enemies are better.
  • We should dismantle America and give the country back to the Native Americans.

I have often wondered why those, who seemingly hate America, viewing it as the cause of all of the world’s problems, choose to remain here, rather than to go live somewhere like Vietnam, China, Russia, or Cuba. Why do they want to continue their lives here, in the United States, if the country is so terrible? Could it be because America IS the greatest nation on the planet? Maybe it’s because they’ve enjoyed their freedoms, particular their freedom of speech, and they realize how they would lose that freedom in every one of these other countries.

Graphical user interface Description automatically generated What do you think would have happened to Kathy Griffin if she had pulled the same stunt in China, holding-up the likeness of the severed head of Chinese Xi Jinping, that she pulled in the United States with the likeness of the head of President Trump?

What if she’d been in Russia and held up a likeness of the head severed head of Vladimir Putin in Russia. Do you believe for one moment that such a person would go on living for much longer? I guarantee they would meet an unfortunate ending and in very short order.

For nearly my entire life I’ve always believed that despite the occasional difference we may have amongst ourselves, that America’s blood runs red, white, and blue; if always has, and it always will, as long as we remain a free and democratic society.

I feel the need, however, raise the alarm, to issue this wake-up call to you, my fellow Americans, as well as to our friends, our allies, and to all freedom-loving peoples everywhere. Whether you’re aware of it or not, whether you acknowledge it or not, or whether you choose to ignore it and just go on about your daily business pretending it doesn’t exist, we are locked in a new cold war with China and it’s not about to get here, it arrived several years ago. And please, make no mistake about it, we can no more afford to lose this war, than we could the one we fought so long with the former Soviet Union.

There are, however, three key and extremely important differences in these two cold wars:

  1. Our enemy, (China) is a far better liar:

This time, our enemy is even better at lies, deception, and manipulation than their Soviet counterparts ever were. They have successfully extended their reach into the heartland of America’s geographical and political landscape, peddling influence and influencing American politics and culture as it best suits their stated and unstated goals, and they have caught all but a few of us, and our leaders, woefully unprepared.

  1. America has lost its Edge:

The People’s Republic of China has been doing a masterful job in recent years at identifying and exploiting the greatest weaknesses and vulnerabilities in America, causing us to focus on fighting one another while virtually ignoring the threat posed to our great country by their explosive economic and military power, which they have been successfully exploiting all over the world.

The highly structured campaign launched by the Chinese Communist Party seeks to undermine and bring down America as the world’s sole superpower, exploiting each and every opportunity that presented itself to cause Americans to turn their focus inward and, when possible, to weaken America.

The inexplicable, visceral hatred of Donald Trump by so many on the left (a man many of the elites knew and respected before he ran for political office), benefited the Chinese directly is without question. President Donald Trump made America considerably stronger by making us energy independent, by requiring the Chinese to play fair in trade practices or by placing tariffs if they didn’t, and by turning around and using business and trade as a weapon just as they’d been doing for decades, to the detriment of nearly every western, democratic nation.

The multiple impeachment hearings, the protests, and helped fuel the riots that raged and burned all across America leading up to the 2020 election, the many problems found with the very questionable integrity of the 2020 election itself, and the deliberate incitement of racial strife at every opportunity over the last couple of years by groups like Antifa and Black Lives Matter, which has its roots not in the Civil Rights movement, but in the advancement of socialism. It seems that fighting for racial injustice is a cause they recently took up because it benefited someone for them to do so, namely, the Chinese Communist Party. They benefited far more than the Democratic party, just do the math.

Now, lest you think I’m a right-wing nut, please take a look at what publications like Bloomberg and USA Today are saying about the Chinese threat:

“Barrasso: China’s goal is domination, not cooperation. It’s playing Biden and America for fools. (USA Today)

China pretends it’s a developing country, steals technology, uses forced labor and manipulates markets to its advantage. It’s a grand deception.

John Barrasso, Opinion contributor

China has a well-deserved reputation for deceit. “

There is a bi-partisan awakening in America, and I suspect that many of those willing to work with the CCP in toppling President Trump might now be getting a little worried they opened Pandora’s Box.

Now, perhaps someone you know, perhaps a distant relative or an uninformed coworker (certainly not you, my elucidated compatriots), may think that it’s not a big deal. After all, when America won the cold war with the Soviet Union, nothing bad happened then, right?

Yeah, well, that’s because the United States won it. Imagine the world under an absolute Soviet rule, or worse-yet, a world ruled by the China CCP. Just take a look at how quickly freedom fell in Hing Kong and let that be a lesson to those thinking that it wouldn’t be so bad if China were in charge. Remember, despite everything the far-left socialists have been teaching our children, America is a GREAT country, and while we’re not perfect, I challenge you to name any country, in the history of the world, that came close to being as magnificent as the United States of America or, as John F. Kennedy once put it, a “shining city on a hill.”

Wake up America. You can try to sleep through it, and you can choose to ignore it. If something isn’t done soon to stop this “woke” movement, to restore America to her greatness, and to stop the Chinese from taking over the world (perhaps by re-implementing the very steps President Trump was starting to put in place before the rug was jerked out from under him), then one day, maybe soon, a Chinese CCP official will be showing up at your door with CCP soldiers, and he will tell you exactly what you may, and may not do, for the rest of your life. Believe me now or believe me later.

China’s Grand Plan To Take Over The World (Forbes)

“Grand dreams of world domination are part and parcel of communist ideologies, going all the way back to Karl Marx. For the Chinese, this blends with the country’s own long history.

It isn’t always clear to Western minds whether they actually believe the rhetoric or simply use it to keep the peasantry in line. Pillsbury says Xi Jinping really sees this as China’s destiny, and himself as the leader who will deliver it….”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnmauldin/2019/11/12/chinas-grand-plan-to-take-over-the-world/?sh=250f7295ab5d

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

ww.hortonlibrary.com

Starship Watch Update:

Blog Post #1177

July 21, 2021

Free Flow Thinking: Unidentified

Starship Watch Update:

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SpaceX test fire massive Super Heavy booster for Starship for 1st time (video)

https://www.space.com/spacex-starship-super-heavy-rocket-booster-engine-test

Edging ever-so-closer to everyone’s dream of a human being landing on another planet, Elon Musk’s SpaceX successfully test fired the behemoth called Super Heavy, the launch system for SpaceX’s flagship spacecraft, Starship, which SpaceX has hinted will launch for its first orbital test sometime withing the next couple of months.

While the Super Heavy rochet booster was undergoing its static fire test at Boca Chica, Starship 20 is still being assembled in preparation for the pair’s maiden test flight, which will not only be Super Heavy’s first launch into space, but it will be the re-designed Starship’s first flight also. This version of the Starship spacecraft will be covered in tiles that will protect the craft from the heat of re-entry, something we’re all familiar with having seen the Space Shuttle returning to earth so many times in the past.

This will also be the first test flight with Super Heavy and Starship together, something that is certain to not only be a truly historical event, but a magnificent sight to behold as well.

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Super Heavy on the launchpad in SpaceX Boca Chica spaceport, as if waiting patiently for its first passenger, Starship SN20, and the inaugural orbital test flight for both components. Courtesy of Lab Padre’s Starship Cam, which I encourage you SpaceX enthusiasts out there to check-out.

https://www.webcamtaxi.com/en/usa/texas/boca-chica-starship-cam.htmljoke

It won’t be long folks; just hang in there. I believe this is the millennium, the century, the decade, in which humanity will finally crawl out of its earthly crib, and explore for itself the big, vast universe that lay outside.

Unidentified:

Most of us have served in the military, or we have a family member who has served, or maybe a friend, or a co-worker. So now try to imagine going to work one day, let’s say you’re a fighter pilot in the United States Navy, and you’re flying a routine training mission off the coast of the United States. It’s a beautiful day, you have great visibility for miles and miles, and you’ve just spent the first few minutes of flying time joking with your RIO (Radar Information Officer) and the crews from several other fast movers, the slang in the Navy for fighter jets.

You’re still laughing from your RIO’s last joke when suddenly, literally as if suddenly popping into existence you see it, a white, roughly rectangular object with rounded ages, whose closest analog is a Tic Tac. It just sits there, unmoving, suspended in the air, a thousand feet above the surface of the ocean. Then, suddenly, it’s no longer there, but it is now still visible, but only barely, miles away. There are no wings, no propellers, and no exhaust of any kind. There seems to be no explanation whatsoever for what is keeping this object aloft.

Amidst the frantic chatter with the other pilots in your squadron and their crew members, everyone seems to be repeating themselves, completely overwhelmed by how fast and how quickly these strange craft are able to move.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9945018/us-navy-confirm-ufo-videos-real

The name of the television program is Unidentified: Inside America’s UFO Investigation.

I came across it on the History Channel. What makes it unique are the individuals featured on the program.

It features former military counter-intelligence officer Luis Elizondo, who directed the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program before resigning to take the fight public in the interest of national security, Christopher Mellon, former United States Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and U.S., and Steve Justice, the former director of Advanced Systems Development at Lockheed Martin’s mysterious Skunk Works division.

You can find it here: https://play.history.com/shows/unidentified-inside-americas-ufo-investigation/season-1

What really impressed me about this program was this group of men, who came together with the expressed intent to raise the alarm about the increasing presence of Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAPs), otherwise known as Unidentified Flying Objects, or UFOs. Take Luis Elizondo (https://luiselizondo-official.com/) for example, he resigned from the head of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (ATTIP), the secretive Pentagon unit that studied UFOs, which was commissioned by former Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, who also had a concern about the potential threat to national security.

Here’s a decent Newsweek article about the group.

https://www.newsweek.com/ufo-compelling-evidence-former-pentagon-expert-1591995

In regard to national security, I should probably take a moment to make a point that these men are trying to make but often gets drowned out by the assorted UFO noise; the concern around national security is not only around these crafts, which are, by the way, technologically far, far, far, far, far, far superior to our own (think pulling 600Gs instead of say, 9Gs). Human beings cannot survive 9G for long and conventional aircraft tear apart around 30Gs. Not only can these craft fly 600Gs, bank at sharp right-angles, suddenly stop, before accelerating at mind-boggling speeds, but they can fly at high-speed whether in the air, in space, or under water! Oh, and by the way, they have no wings, no exhaust, and no obvious means of lift that we can identify. What that means to me, (and I believe everyone else is thinking but not necessarily saying) is that these craft are utilizing exotic technologies including some sort of inertia dampening, likely some sort of energy shield, and possibly something like a gravity-wave generator to create propulsion. But in a manner completely different than anything ever developed on earth (that we know of.)

By the way, if you’ve read previous posts of mine, you already know that there are two correlating events that share something in common with these technologies. Folks, I am not some nutjob, conspiracy theorist here, I’m merely trying to connect the dots and believe me, they seem to be lining up nicely.

The two correlating events I’m referring to are:

The first event I’m referring to is the recent (public) filing by the United States Navy for patents on several very exotic technologies including gravity wave generators for propulsion, inertia dampeners (or something like it) etc. technologies very much resembling what we see from these UAPs or UFOs, whichever you want to call them.

The second event I’d like to call your attention to is the television interview of Bob Lazar, who claimed to have not only seen, but to have been inside an extraterrestrial spacecraft. Lazar claimed as far back as the 1980s that he was hired as a contractor to work on the propulsion systems of several spacecraft of extraterrestrial origin at a secret base called S-4, a secret military base adjacent Area 51 at Groom Lake, Nevada. Lazar, a scientist, claimed his job was to reverse-engineer the alien technology used to propel the spacecraft. His description of what he saw includes gravity-wave generators, antimatter, inertia-dampeners (of sorts), and he claims have seen and touched an alien force field generator. He’s offered detailed descriptions and evidence to back up his claims, including identifying Element 115 as the key to the antimatter drive that powered the alien ships. The gravity-wave generator’s operation explains the craft’s bizarre behavior. It would seem this tech is at work in most of the UFOs I’ve ever heard described.

Yeah, I know this may all sound a bit over-the-top, and that’s okay, because this is a big deal. The United States Government has been covering up UFOs for at least seventy years now, if not longer. Perhaps they felt they had good reason at one time.

After all, widespread panic had been generated during Orson Welles and The Mercury Theater’s radio production of War of the Worlds, which was broadcast on October 30, 1938 just some nine years earlier

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/the-legend-of-the-war-of-the-worlds, and a new Cold War with Stalin’s Soviet Union had just started after a long, bitter World War. And of course, we had also just entered the beginning of The Nuclear Age after dropping two atomic bombs, one on Hiroshima and the other on Nagasaki, effectively ending the World War II.

Whatever their reason, the day following a public announcement by Jesse Marcel (a lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force who helped administer Operation Crossroads, the 1946 atom bomb tests at the Bikini atoll), that a crashed flying saucer had been found in Roswell, New Mexico, a general retracted the statement, claiming it was a weather balloon that had crashed. This, apparently, was the beginning of the UFO cover-up in the United States.

Maybe technology has finally reached the point, in today’s world, with nearly everyone owning a cell phone with a camera, that the presence of UFOs in our skies became undeniable. One thing is certain, however; if we continue to ignore the existence of these incredible craft and the incredible technology that enables them to do such extraordinary things, I can guarantee you the Russians and the Chinese will not.

We really do need to know who is visiting our planet and ascertain why they are here. Are they a threat? If not, why haven’t they approached us regarding trade and the establishment of diplomatic relations. If they are, how can we counter such a threat. Can we develop such technology ourselves? Is that what the Navy is trying to do with the patents on the exotic technology patents they applied for, and received, a few years ago? Is that why the military has been silently trying their best to ignore these craft after having once had the policy of trying to shoot them down, because they’ve been fervently working on reverse-engineering them? Have they had any success?

Many questions, yes. But the answers are coming my friends, they are coming. We have former senators like Senator Harry Reid from Nevada who helped establish the funding for AATIP, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida who fought insert into a stimulus relief bill a stipulation requiring the Department of Defense to provide a report to Congress within 120 days

The Black Vault spoke with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence back in May, wherein a DNI spokesperson offered the following:

“The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report attached to the fiscal 2021 Intelligence Authorization Act, which was part of the omnibus spending bill signed on Dec. 27, 2020, tasked the Director of National Intelligence, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, with submitting an unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) report to Congress within 180 days of enactment.”

A full copy of the unclassified report is available here: https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/the-official-u-s-government-ufo-uap-report-has-been-released/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThe%20Senate%20Select%20Committee%20on%20Intelligence%20report%20attached,report%20to%20Congress%20within%20180%20days%20of%20enactment.%E2%80%9D

elow is a video, and a post, by UFO researcher Richard Dolan, that supposedly summarizes what was secretly presented to Congress. Please note that this matches up with something that you’ll find later in this post. I think if you’ll listen, the man sounds extraordinarily lucid, intelligent, and rational. Say what you will, he seems to have done his homework.

Richard Dolan’s Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJNbCeE110A’???
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Were the Tic-Tacks Operated by United States Air Force personnel?

I read a fascinating post about a former member of the United States Air Force, who claimed to have met someone who had prepared a presentation for a very high-level meeting between senior officials of the United States Navy, Air Force, and a civilian contractor. Something I found quite remarkable was that he said that Salvatore Pais, the man behind the strange UFP patents the Navy applied for and received a few years ago, had attended the meeting.

Tic Tac UFOs Revealed in 2005 Briefing to be Secret USAF Spacecraft

Tic Tac UFOs Revealed in 2005 Briefing to be Secret USAF Spacecraft

This all makes for a complex and potentially volatile mixture of highly advanced technology, the highest levels of the military during what is, in essence, a new “cold war” with the Chinese, a lot of government intelligence, counter-intelligence agencies, and oh, right, the presence of extraterrestrials on Earth (remember, these craft have been seen since at least WWII- when military pilots still flew planes with propellers instead of jet engines). Separating fact from fiction will almost certainly be something left for future historians to sort out some decades, if not centuries from now, to sort out. What is clear however is that everything is changing. Humanity is finally growing up.

One thing is certain, however, and we can’t say it loud enough, or often enough. If we already have this technology, it is incumbent on those with access to such technology to find a way to separate what must truly be protected in the interest of our national security, from that technology that can and should be shared with humanity for the benefit of us all. The ability to travel far and safely say, to another star system, without experiencing the time dilation associated with near-speed-of-light travel, offers tremendous opportunity for our species. Whether it’s force fields to protect ships during space travel, or even the entire Earth, or whether it’s clean, cheap, limitless energy, the list of benefits for humanity go on and on. What a terrible, tragedy it would be if the world were needlessly destroyed because, when we had such incredible technology at our disposal, we needlessly hoarded it when we could have shared it with the world without jeopardizing our national security. What if humanity is wiped-out in an instant when the Earth is struck by an enormous asteroid, comet, solar flare, or perhaps even more frightening, a deadly Gamma Ray Burst (GRB) that wipes the entire surface of the planet clean of life?

If we have the technology, we should share what we can, we must find a way. Try introducing it through a corporation, through the government, or through a non-profit. Maybe even try creating something new if you have to, an international organization dedicated to the correct, safe way to explore space, to work, and settle worlds throughout the galaxy, while forming positive, diplomatic relations with other sentient life whenever possible.

Think humanity isn’t ready? We lived for over half-a-century under the constant threat of nuclear Armageddon during the Cold War with the Soviets, never knowing when the world might end in nuclear fire- remember a little thing called the Cuban Missile Crisis? I think we can handle it.

Jeff strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

ww.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1176

July 21, 2021

Free Flow Thinking: On Momentous Occasions and My Take on His Dark Materials

Good evening, my most cerebral, magnanimous, judicial, and most steadfast of readers. Welcome to another edition of The Horton P

ost. My deepest and most sincere apologies for the inconsistency of my posts as of late. Like many of you, I find myself subject to external forces beyond my control and as a result, have been irregular in my posts. When given the choice between a brief, fluffy, sugary post and a discussion of some weighty topic that merits your time and effort, I choose the weightier topic, though it might force some delay until my next post.

Starship Watch Update:

Preparations continue for the launch of launch of Starship on its first orbital flight. This will also be the inaugural flight of the Super Heavy Booster as well. Hopefully the launch will occur either later this month (July) or sometime in August. While they are still waiting on FAA approval, I’m not particularly worried here, as both parties have a stake in a successful launch.

Below is a link to Space.com. a great site for all things space-related!

https://www.space.com/spacex-starship-orbital-flight-possible-july-2021

Congratulations Blue Origin!

Congratulations to now-astronauts Jeff Bezos, Mark Bezos, Wally Funk, and Oliver Daemen, the crew of New Shepherd! What a picture-perfect launch it was Tuesday morning.

I celebrate not only what has been, but what is to come. With construction planned to begin in space on a hotel/space station within the next few years, and with a base on the moon being planned, I expect Jeff Bezos may end-up getting involved in that little venture himself. Who knows, Bezos may open many new business ventures in space. Once humanity goes interstellar, we will need men like Bezos, Branson, and Elon Musk to help humanity colonize new worlds.

And now, for our Feature Presentation…

Okay, I want to be up-front with you, my most noble, esteemed, and judicious readers. Today’s post is an outlier for me, brought on by a recent, and rather unpleasant experience in which I invested many hours watching what I thought would be an interesting, wholesome, youth-oriented television series, which I also allowed my teenage child to watch, only to find it was of a most despicable and unsavory disposition, and most offensive to my deeply held beliefs.

I will understand should you prefer not to read today’s post; I hope, however, that I’ve piqued your interest.

I’ve never been one to go along with the crowd just to get along. I value truth, and I value the faith and traditions so many of us hold dear. Never in my life have I seen such disdain in America of all things good. Christianity, patriotism, rugged individualism, they’re all being supplanted by…division, self-loathing and shame. I wonder who, and what, exactly, is behind it all, and why now?

Perhaps it’s another country, an adversary like China or Russia, seeking to destabilize us from within. Certainly, that would make sense. Maybe it’s a group of select, but extremely wealthy individuals, pushing their own agenda, whatever it may be. Perhaps, it’s the Devil himself stirring up all the strife, given how badly our society has deteriorated in just the last few years. Someone is behind it, funding it, paying groups like Antifa to stir-up trouble whenever and wherever they can. I’m thinking maybe the paid protester who arrives onsite and gets on the camera the most, collects a bonus check at the end of the week. There is certainly something out there paying for everything you see happening across our great land.

I’m thinking maybe it’s my generation’s fault, and that of my parents.

We caused a lot of the apathy, confusion, and complete absence or morality so many of our young people feel, when we failed to teach these things to our children, believing our way of child-rearing to be far more superior and enlightened than our parents. We didn’t need to raise up little Johnny or discipline him in any way, or to teach him to believe anything in particular, we decided we should let him decide for himself.

We (and our parents’ generation) ousted God out of Public schools. Now we’re trying to evict him from our homes, from our hearts, and even from our churches as well. And our culture is paying a heavy price for it. Our young people are growing up with no clear sense of right or wrong, because they’ve been taught the Bible was a crutch, believed only by the ignorant and the weak-minded.

With God and the Bible out of the picture, we’ve had a lot of difficulty agreeing to what is right and wrong, what is criminal and what is not, what is despicable and what is acceptable and, interestingly and ironically enough, what is good, and what is evil. It seems few of us can agree on any of this.

Now don’t get me wrong, God has been and always will be much more than the set of laws he set down for people to live by. He’s also the redeemer, who died on the Cross to save any who would come to Him, to restore a proper relationship with God, like the one which sin had so thoroughly severed. And God is the Creator, the maker of all things. And just like the big truck barreling down the highway, He is real whether we believe it or not and one day, we’re all going to find that out. But I digress….

So, what happens once we’ve evicted God and His Word from our culture, who always gives us the choice to reject or to follow Him? Nature abhors the vacuum, scientists tell us, and so too does human nature it would seem.

There are those who not only believe God exists, they know he exists, but they do not follow Him. Instead, they have chosen to join with the Devil and his fallen angels in their rebellion against God. The demons know God exists, of course, because they’ve been with Him, in Heaven, before their Fall. They made, it seems, an irrevocable decision long ago to rebel against the Almighty. Why some human beings knowingly join in their rebellion just for a short taste of power here is beyond me.

You may have guessed by now that I never cared much for Nietzsche and his whole “God is dead,” spiel. But at least Nietzsche seemed to be honest about it, he was an atheist, and simply did not believe in God. Some people, however, know He exists but they hold contempt for Him; they dislike Him and everything good he stands for, and seek to deceive others.

One such person who would seem to fit this mold is Author Phillip Pullman, the author of the fantasy novel series, His Dark Materials, a series in which one of the main characters leads a rebellion against God, whom Pullman calls “The Authority,” in his series. The author depicts God, a.k.a. “The Authority,” as an angel who, having been the first angel to pop into existence out of dark matter, lies to the subsequent angels who follow by telling them that he created them and the rest of the universe, which he did not. By the time Pullman’s story takes place The Authority is essentially a decrepit old man who is too weak to do anything and dies before the end of the series, of old age, after having been imprisoned in a crystal prison by one of his trusted lieutenants. w that has become an HBO/BBC television series.

I started watching this series thinking it to just be another fanciful tale about adventures in another world, but it was more, much more. There were telltale signs early one, like the clear antagonist attitude toward the clergy, but in truth it’s easy to understand why some are bitter towards some in the church. But when one of the lead characters began railing against God (a.k.a. The Authority), and wanted a “war in Heaven,” well, knowing the Bible as well as I do, it made my stomach turn.

Wikipedia lists several revealing paragraphs about the author, Pullman, who has managed to receive some rather impressive literary awards for His Dark Materials.

“Pullman has identified three major literary influences on His Dark Materials: the essay On the Marionette Theatre by Heinrich von Kleist,[13] the works of William Blake, and, most important, John Milton’s Paradise Lost, from which the trilogy derives its title.[14] In his introduction, he (Pullman) adapts a famous description of Milton by Blake to quip that he (Pullman) “is of the Devil’s party and does know it”.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His_Dark_Materials

Beyond being ridiculous he goes on to berate the beloved Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis. Only a twisted, bitter man could say the following about the Chronicles of Narnia:

“Pullman however has characterised the Narnia series as “blatantly racist”, “monumentally disparaging of women”, “immoral”, and “evil”.

I seem to remember something in the Bible about the wicked calling good evil and evil good.

Now I haven’t read the novel series, but I did (regrettably) watch the full first two seasons of the HBO Series, and I’ve read what others have written about what is to come in the series. When I realized where the series was headed, that is a war with God in Heaven to overthrow God (the Authority”) I swore off the remainder of the series, regretting having ever watched any of it to begin with. There was a Narnia or Lord of the Rings feel to part of it, but the insidious railings against God and the overabundance of hypocrisy and duplicity I found in the second season was just too much.

Now I went into this completely oblivious to who Phillip Pullman was, and what his series was about.

“Pullman expressed surprise over what he considered to be a relatively low level of criticism for His Dark Materials on religious grounds, saying “I’ve been surprised by how little criticism I’ve got. Harry Potter’s been taking all the flak… Meanwhile, I’ve been flying under the radar, saying things that are far more subversive than anything poor old Harry has said. My books are about killing God”. Others support this interpretation, arguing that the series, while clearly anticlerical, is also anti-theological because the death of god is represented as a fundamentally unimportant question.”

[In italics from Wikipedia]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His_Dark_Materials

I’m not saying you shouldn’t watch the series or read the books, only that I regret I now learning where it was going. I found myself feeling slightly nauseous as it got worse. It was, in fact, the “War in Heaven against God (the Authority)” a declaration by one of the main characters, Lord Asriel Belacqua, played by James McAvoy, that led me to research the novels and the author. Since we’re talking about God, by the way, where have I heard that phrase before, “and there was war in Heaven….”

7Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

10Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:

“Now have come the salvation and the power

and the kingdom of our God,

and the authority of his Messiah.

For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,

who accuses them before our God day and night,

has been hurled down.

Revelation 12: 7-10

In an interesting turn of events, James McAvoy also played Mr. Tumnus in Disney’s Chronicles of Narnia film.

https://www.bing.com/search?form=MOZLBR&pc=MOZI&q=Mr.+Tumnus

It’s definitely a thumbs down for me. If you’re a Christian or even if you’re not I highly recommend you look deeply into this novel series and into Pullman’s background before allowing your Children to immerse themselves into it.

Look, I love science, I really do, it’s cool, it’s fantastic, but I love God more, and clearly Mr. Pullman does not.

Below are two of my now favorite quotes from Blaise Pascal:

“If I believe in God and life after death and you do not, and if there is no God, we both lose when we die. However, if there is a God, you still lose and I gain everything.”

“Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.”

Jeff strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

ww.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1174

June 29, 2021

Technical Discussion: Craft Using an Inertial Mass Reduction Device

Starship Watch Update:

Preparations continue for the launch of launch of Starship on its first orbital flight. This will also be the inaugural flight of the Super Heavy Booster as well. If all goes according to plan, the launch will occur sometime in July. While they are still waiting on FAA approval, I’m not particularly worried here, as both parties have a stake in a successful launch.

Below is a link to Space.com. a great site for all things space-related!

https://www.space.com/spacex-starship-orbital-flight-possible-july-2021

And now, for our Feature Presentation…

Craft Using an Inertial Mass Reduction Device

US [Patent #]US20170313446A1 Salvatore Pais United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Navy

A craft using an inertial mass reduction device comprises of an inner resonant cavity wall, an outer resonant cavity, and microwave emitters. The electrically charged outer resonant cavity wall and the electrically insulated inner resonant cavity wall form a resonant cavity. The microwave emitters …

This is the first of the so-called “UFO-Patents” filed on behalf of the United States Navy by an enigmatic yet verified scientist named Salvatore Pais. https://portal.uspto.gov/pair/PublicPair

There has been much speculation as to the filing of such unusual patents by the United States Navy. Following on the heels of recent announcements by the Navy that leaked fighter-aircraft footage depicting an encounter with UFOs seem a little too coincidental to ignore. Below are some of the more prevalent theories about possible reasons these patents were filed. I will list them, before listing my own. Then we will delve into this particular patent and examine what Inertial Mass Reduction is and why it is necessary.

Possible reasons for US Navy Patent filings

(And, just as important, why they made them public instead of classifying them)

Possible Reason 1- Misinformation and Misdirection for our Enemies

It’s all a misinformation and misdirection campaign, designed to get the Chinese to spend their economy into collapse, like the Soviets did with the US’ Star Wars or SDI initiative.

While this is possible, and it would explain the strong similarity to Bob Lazar’s recounting of his time in Area 51, it seems unlikely the Pentagon would expect the Chinese to fall into the same trap as the Soviets. Besides, SDI WAS NOT all smoke and mirrors. Some solid, and arguably, useful defensive technology came out of the program; it was real.

Possible Reason #2- The U.S. Military Has The Technology

The military already possesses this technology and, perhaps, the recent UFO sightings are military aircraft using the incredibly advanced technology. In all likelihood this is reverse-engineered alien technology. The public disclosures are to let the public, and perhaps even more importantly the Chinese and Russians know, that we have successfully reverse-engineered the tech and have working ships and tech to prove it.

Possible Reason #3- Future Tech

Perhaps, having experienced concurrent breakthroughs at the same time in several related branches of physics, and having developed ideas around the technology that doesn’t even exist yet, the Navy filed these patents because they believe they will one day, perhaps soon, become reality.

It’s also possible that scientists have been reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology and have finally been able to successfully reproduce key elements of it.

So, to sum things up, it would seem that our government, the United States government, has:

  • Contrived one of the greatest hoaxes of all times to confound our enemy or
  • We have the technology today and we’re using it or
  • We believe we understand how to create the technology defined in the patents and expect to be successful at doing at some point in the future.

The Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of the Naval Aviation Enterprise mentions in one of the patents that the Chinese are also working on developing the same technologies and that these patents would keep us from owing Beijing when we build ships using “their” technology should they develop the technology first.

What is Inertial Mass Reduction?

As defined in Wikipedia…
 In physics, the reduced mass is the “effective” inertial mass appearing in the two-body problem of Newtonian mechanics. It is a quantity which allows the two-body problem to be solved as if it were a one-body problem. Note, however, that the mass determining the gravitational force is not reduced.

What is Inertia?

Newton’s First Law of Motion is the Law of Inertia: An object at rest remains at rest, and an object in motion remains in motion at constant speed and in a straight line unless acted on by an unbalanced force.

For example. if you were to throw a baseball in the vacuum of space, since there is no air to create friction, the baseball would continue forever, unless it runs into something, enters the gravitational field of a planet, moon, etc.

Inertial Mass Reduction then seems to provide much the same benefit as the fictional “Inertial Dampeners” in Star Trek, reducing the excessive G-forces felt by the passengers of a starship, and enabling a craft t change direction at high-speed without coming apart, by dramatically reducing the impact of inertia on the craft.

In any event each of these patents indicate such an incredible leap in technological advancement that it screams to me that this technology has either been reverse-engineered from alien ships or it was given to us.

Considering the fact that a number of seasoned, experienced military pilots reported seeing crafts matching not only the same physical description, but also the same flight characteristics as described in Salvatore Pais’ patents, one cannot help but believe that either one or both nations currently possessing working models of such craft.

Inertial Mass Reduction is one of a handful of critical components needed to achieve interstellar travel. It appears it may be happening before our eyes folks, so don’t blink! Humanity will indeed soon have the ability to explore the universe, in our lifetime! It is indeed a brave new world! Just as the pilgrims traveled to America and settled this land, so too will we spread into the cosmos. We can only hope we are befriended by a friendly alien species, like the pilgrims were by the Naive Americans.

The future is here folks, and it’s both frightening, and terribly exciting!

Jeff strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

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Blog Post #1172

June 16, 2021

Free Flow Thinking: King of the Hill, First Contact, and Government Patents

From the day that Cain slew his brother Abel until now, human beings have murdered and butchered one another. War has been with us every step of the way as Man discovered fire, as he moved from hunter-gatherer to farmer, from farmer to merchant. War was with us when we invented the trireme, the galley, the steamship, the battleship, and the aircraft carrier. And it was with us when we first discovered the atomic bomb and used it, to help bring about the end OF World War II.

And that should have been the end of it, the end of war on planet Earth. By creating a weapon with such incredible destructive power humanity had, for the first time, literally created the means of its own destruction. We had taken war to its logical conclusion, the end of life on earth if we weren’t oh-so-careful and of course, we were not.

Rather than pausing and charting a new course for itself, the way I imagine most sentient species would at this point in their development, we kept going down the old, familiar path of war. 1950 brought us yet another major war, the Korean War, followed in 1962 by the closest we’ve ever come to global nuclear Armageddon, the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The placement of Jupiter Missiles in Turkey, a NATO country that borders Russia, the previous year by the United States was perceived by the Soviets to be a serious threat to their country. As was standard operating procedure for both sides during The Cold War, in a game of tit-for-tat the Soviets responded to the Jupiter missiles by placing their own nuclear missiles in Cuba. President Kennedy, unwilling to allow this to continue, ordered a naval blockade, which the Soviets were determined to break. Thus, it was that it would be a back-channel deal, brokered by someone both sides knew and trusted, an arrangement in which the Jupiter missiles would be removed from Turkey six months later if the Soviet Missiles were pulled out of Cuba immediately. The world had been standing on the very brink of a nuclear holocaust, a nuclear winter that would, when combined with the radiation and nuclear, have spelled the end of human civilization for thousands of years, and the deaths of billions of human beings. It was pure, unadulterated madness; and it was only sixty years ago.

Since the Cuban Missile Crisis our renowned world leaders have gone on to bring us Vietnam, Afghanistan, the Tiananmen Square Massacre, the first Gulf War, 9/11, the War on Terror, the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia’s brief tryst with democracy before returning to a communist-lite government more like the USSR, and the and the War in Iraq.

During the same period, however, we have also sent men to the moon, we have flown helicopter drones on Mars, and we’ve visited (using robots, cameras, and scientific instruments) every planet in the Solar system. We have mapped the human genome and very well may stand on the cusp of forever ending human aging as we know it. Most recently we were able to develop anti-viral vaccines in record time that likely saved millions of lives worldwide.

Yet we just can’t help ourselves when it comes to playing “King of the Hill,” or in some cases “Queen of the Hill, as women do not seem in any way immune to this particular mental disorder.

We seem to be stuck, with world leaders constantly locked into an endless cycle of a medievalesque Game of Thrones, a constant power struggle, jockeying for control of the world’s resources. But why?

Listen, I grew up poor, so I get the concept of the power struggle for control of limited resources. But don’t you see, that’s just it. In the age of SpaceX, The Gateway Foundation, Blue Origins, and multiple missions to Mars, plans to establish a permanent base on the moon, and much more, we’re moving out into space folks, modern-day pioneers seeking to settle the galaxy. And like they say in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, space is big, really big. Nations with a long history of hostility must learn to set aside mistrust and suspicions and start working to find a way to work together on overcoming the technological hurdles we will face getting there.

Remember, there are many, many threats facing humanity, ALL OF HUMANITY, that threaten to destroy the entire planet, including the United States, Russia, and China. Whether the threat emerges in the form of an asteroid, a comet, a nuclear apocalypse, an airborne hemorrhagic fever like Ebola Zaire (lookup Ebola Reston) or any one of the many other possible apocalyptic events that could end humanity. It is my assessment that Elon Musk, is right, we need to do something now to better our odds of survival. Perhaps a Mars colony would be able to help Earth in the event of a disaster, or vice versa.

For the first time in human history, we are nearing the point where we can begin to explore, settle, and then colonize new worlds. Who knows what, or perhaps who, we will find out there?

Sometimes I find myself a little despondent about where we are as a civilization. With world leaders constantly posturing, threatening nuclear fire, trying to take over the world, what might an alien visitor think of humanity if he (or she) were to visit our planet, or even just pick-up our television broadcasts? How might they react to the news that we could be visiting a planet near them soon? Would they be pleased to make our acquaintance, or would they be pleased to wipe us out of existence?

Now then, let’s move on.

United States Navy’s so-called UFO patents

It seems that something is really going on, and I’m beginning to think it’s even bigger than I originally thought. Any why shouldn’t it be? I mean we’re talking extraterrestrials, UFOs, interstellar travel, and this may all be coming to a planet near you a LOT sooner than you or most anyone else on Earth could have imagined, except for those in the know, of course.

So, let’s just take a step-back for a moment before proceeding to the Navy patents.

1-UFOs have been seen for much of human history

2- On July 8, 1947, Roswell Army Airfield issued a press release stating that they had recovered a “flying disc” from a ranch near Roswell.

3-UFOs have been spotted with increasing frequency worldwide since WWII.

4-The United States Government denied any knowledge of the existence of UFOs, until recently.

5-In 2019 the United States Space Force was established.

6- Last year the US Navy acknowledged the flight recordings and radar of jets chasing a UFO performing “impossible” maneuvers was confirmed to be legitimate.

7-In 2020 The United States Navy also made public the existence of several patents based on incredible, exotic, some would say even alien technology. These patents are considered reality-changing technologies.

The US Government has acknowledged the existence of UFOs, and has confirmed the filing of patents on technology that seems eerily similar to the alien tech specified by Bob Lazar, a scientist who claims to have worked at the S-4 base at Groom Lake (Area 51) in the 1980s, where he worked on reverse-engineering the propulsion system of UFOs.

Here is some info on Bob Lazar. There’s been a lot of misinformation spread about poor Bob over the last few decades, but based on what I’m seeing, he may soon be vindicated and proven correct, and that he was telling the truth the entire time.

Check out this website: www.boblazar.com

Watch this trailer for a film about Lazar’s experiences then find it on Amazon or wherever

Bob Lazar: Area 51 and Flying Saucers

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=bob+lazar+area+51+%26+flying+saucers+2018&docid=608036033419809160&mid=51AA55E0692D26CD266451AA55E0692D26CD2664&view=detail&FORM=VIREHT

I’m going to talk more about these incredible patents, and where I think we’re going with this, next week.

But for now, below is a list of the patents that I found and that I believe to be relevant.

Google Patents:

https://patents.google.com/?inventor=Salvatore+Pais&oq=Salvatore+Pais+

15/141,270 Craft Using an Inertial Mass Reduction Device

https://portal.uspto.gov/pair/PublicPair

Craft Using an Inertial Mass Reduction Device

US US20170313446A1 Salvatore Pais United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Navy

Priority 2016-04-28 • Filed 2016-04-28 • Published 2017-11-02

A craft using an inertial mass reduction device comprises of an inner resonant cavity wall, an outer resonant cavity, and microwave emitters. The electrically charged outer resonant cavity wall and the electrically insulated inner resonant cavity wall form a resonant cavity. The microwave emitters …

Electromagnetic field generator and method to generate an electromagnetic field

US US10135366B2 Salvatore Pais The United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Navy

Priority 2015-07-24 • Filed 2015-07-24 • Granted 2018-11-20 • Published 2018-11-20

The electromagnetic field generator includes a shell, an electrostatic generator, a power plant, a thermoelectric generator, and an electric motor. The shell has embedded polycrystalline ferroelectric ceramic material which is polarized such that the ceramic material exhibits strong Piezoelectric …

Piezoelectricity-induced High Temperature Superconductor

US US20190348597A1 Salvatore Cezar Pais United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Navy

Priority 2017-08-16 • Filed 2019-07-23 • Published 2019-11-14

The present invention is a high temperature superconductor comprising of a wire, which comprises of an insulator core and a metal coating. The metal coating is disposed around the insulator core, and the metal is coating deposited on the core. When a pulsed current is passed through the wire, …

High frequency gravitational wave generator

US US10322827B2 Salvatore Cezar Pais The United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Navy

Priority 2017-02-14 • Filed 2017-02-14 • Granted 2019-06-18 • Published 2019-06-18

A high frequency gravitational wave generator including a gas filled shell with an outer shell surface, microwave emitters, sound generators, and acoustic vibration resonant gas-filled cavities. The outer shell surface is electrically charged and vibrated by the microwave emitters to generate a …

Plasma Compression Fusion Device

US US20190295733A1 Salvatore Pais United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Navy

Priority 2018-03-22 • Filed 2018-03-22 • Published 2019-09-26

A plasma compression fusion device which includes a hollow duct and at least one pair of opposing counter-spinning dynamic fusors. The hollow duct includes a vacuum chamber disposed within the hollow duct. Each dynamic fusor has a plurality of orifices and an outer surface which is electrically …

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`d

Blog Post #1171

June 10, 2021

Technical Discussion: BETTER WAKE-UP AMERICA! While we fight with each other over dresses and pronouns, Russia & China Plan our Imminent Destruction.

I love America. It is the greatest country, bar none, to have ever existed on Planet Earth; at least that I’m aware of. Perhaps some great civilization, lost from the pages of history, once existed and flourished, that offered more freedom and opportunity than America, but of there was, I’ve never heard of it.

But we have to be very, very careful not to take it for granted, because we are and forever will be (until Our Lord’s Second Coming at least) only one generation away from the end. Even more important, is that in my opinion, in order for freedom to continue to exist and thrive in the world, America must live and thrive. But sadly, as a species we human beings have short memories, often don’t learn from the past, and we do a rather poor job at separating factual world history from fiction when teaching our children. Revisionists have been very busy over the last few decades, trying to revise, reshape, and heavily influence and poison young minds against America, against their own country, to what end remains uncertain, unless it is the country’s downfall. Of course, wrongs have been committed, but they pale in comparison to the many more great rights that have also been committed, often at great personal sacrifice.

When Memorial Day rolls around again take a moment to reflect on how you are enjoying the fruits of another man’s labor, namely the soldier who died on the battlefield protecting the freedom you enjoy each and every day? Each generation must take up, that fight, each man, woman, and child, each in their own way, to protect that freedom, to fight for it, and, if necessary, to die for it. When the day comes that a generation in America refuses to do that is the beginning of the end of the Great American Experiment. And mark my words, there will always be a China or a Russia waiting just outside our door, waiting for the day when we are weak, too weak, to defend ourselves any longer, and on that day they will pounce, and devour us.

Lyndon Johnson was in the Oval Office when I was born, so I’ve been around for a few years, and I can tell you that never, in my entire life have I seen our country tearing itself apart as badly as it is now. Never have I seen the media fabricate news, lying and often twisting facts so often in order to fir their worldview and to manipulate the public or to influence elections. Never have I seen so…. much corruption, and so little integrity, so little honesty, so little faithfulness.

Politicians and people in the media were planning President Trump’s impeachment even before he was sworn into office! His ability to lead, to fulfill his duties and obligations as president, and to accomplish great things for America was severely hampered and degraded, intentionally so, by the democrats, without any regard whatsoever for the impact it would have on the country.

The way things are going, the only thing our enemies need to do is be patient. They don’t need to fire missiles, send armies, or drop bombs. We’re destroying ourselves, from the inside. And yes, I’m certain Russia, and especially China, are both doing everything they can to help us along in that effort by flooding social media, by funneling money and support though back-channels and through what they call “useful idiots,” their term for describing Americans who will do their bidding for them because of financial investments in China, etc.

Yes, we are most definitely helping our enemies when we tear our country apart. They have been playing us against one another, blacks against whites, democrats against republicans, etc., fostering unrest in the United States while they work on plans for ending our country once and for all. Hypersonic missiles that we cannot intercept, cyber-attacks, like the recent attack on an oil pipeline that was either blatantly or tacitly supported by Putin. Do you seriously think cyber-attackers could operate in Putin’s Russia and attack the United States without his knowledge? China too has been launching cyber-attacks against our national infrastructure for decades. Who’s to say they haven’t already planted software in our nuclear power plants so that nuclear power plants across the country meltdown simultaneously, killing tens of millions of Americans without ever leaving the comfort of their office chairs in Moscow? Given how often they’ve launched cyber-attacks against us, how do we know whether China has placed software across our power grid that will take-down the national grid?

Think I exaggerate? Read this post, follow the links and read the articles, then check it out for yourselves. If we’re not fighting to protect America, we’re going to lose her. Then what kind of world will our children grow up in? What will happen to freedom in the world? No one ever said America was going to be around forever!

FICTIONAL HEADLINE

“June 11, 2021

McAllen, TX

Blended-in among the thousands of illegal immigrants crossing the border between Mexico and the United States today was a small but very well-prepared group of Iranian Republican Guard elements, carrying with them a mobile missile launcher and a single, low-yield nuclear missile.

This small group of Republican Guard were able to smuggle the mobile, Russian-made launcher to Lebanon, Kansas. This small town, situated in the state of Kansas, was chosen by the Iranians because it is the geographic center of the continental United States. Upon reaching a field just outside of Lebanon, the team setup the mobile launcher. Even while surrounded by a sizable force of agents from the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, the invaders proceeded to prepare the missile for launch, ignoring increasingly intense orders from the agents to get down on the ground and remain motionless. Eventually, the U.S. government agents opened fire on the Iranians, killing all of them instantly, but not before one of them succeeded in launching the sole missile, which soared straight up before detonating at the pre-defined altitude of 500KM.

The explosion itself caused no immediate damage to life or property, but the resulting electromagnetic pulse generated by the high-altitude blast effectively knocked out power all over the United States, devastating the national power grid, and destroying components in the grid that are no longer manufactured or even available.

Experts say repairs to restore the power grid could take anywhere from two weeks to two years, perhaps even longer. The situation certainly looks dire for our friends in the United States. When asked whether Great Britain was prepared to declare war on the Russian Commonwealth or the People’s Republic of China should either of them make a military move against our largest ally during this time the prime minister would only reply, ‘We will honor all Defence Alliance Agreements, especially with an ally as close as the United States, and we will remind those who would harbor thoughts of such an attack, that the United States, even during this present crisis, remains the most dominant fighting force on the planet.’

Reporting for BBC News, this is Rob Pendergrass.”

The above is a fictional newspaper article I hope never becomes a reality. I just fear that if our national power grid, and our national infrastructure continue to go unattended, while trillions of dollars are being wasted on pork projects all over the country, we will all one-day come to regret it.

As most of you know the United States was recently attacked by Russian cyber-terrorists, holding a critical oil pipeline hostage, and it nearly brought our great country to her knees.

This type of threat is nothing new. In fact, I wrote a book about a similar cyber-attack, only by a cyber-terrorist with more nefarious, and more ambitious plans. In my novel, Cybersp@ce, the attacker uses a cyber-warfare system to penetrate and disable the coolant system at a nuclear power plant, causing it to meltdown and release enough radiation to kill over a hundred-thousand Americans. This is scary stuff, and it can happen, today.

In another frightening scenario, one I wrote about in my first novel The Great Collapse, the electrical grid is completely destroyed during an Electromagnetic Pulse, or EMP attack. This too is a very real, and very frightening possibility.

While researching The Great Collapse I learned that Congress had commissioned a report, the EMP Report, detailing how vulnerable now-ancient power grid is to an attack, and how difficult it would be to recover, given that many components used are no longer manufactured. It seems an overhaul of our power grid is in order, and that the power grid must be hardened against the risk of an EMP attack, lest a terrorist attack or an attack by an enemy state use such an attack to cripple the United States, as part of a larger, more comprehensive military assault against the U.S.

This week and next, I will reference previous posts and the two novels I mentioned earlier, CyberSp@ce and The Great Collapse, in more detail, while I work on researching material for a series of posts I hope, and believe, will be of great interest to you, my astute and very learned readers.

Jeff W. Horton

Novelist, Blogger, American

Russian and Chinese EMP Weapons Threaten Critical US Infrastructure

https://www.visiontimes.com/2021/02/07/russia-china-emp-weapons.html#:~:text=In%20January%202021%2C%20Dr.%20Peter%20Vincent%20Pry%2C%20Executive,Security%2C%20released%20a%20report%20titled%20%E2%80%9CRussia%3A%20EMP%20Threat.%E2%80%9D

The Blackout War: China, Russia And Iran Building Super-EMP Bombs for ‘Blackout Warfare’

The Blackout War: China, Russia And Iran Building Super-EMP Bombs for ‘Blackout Warfare’

China revels in US protests, sees unrest as PR opportunity

https://www.france24.com/en/20200605-china-revels-in-us-protests-sees-unrest-as-pr-opportunity

Russia and China target U.S. protests on social media

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/01/russia-and-china-target-us-protests-on-social-media-294315

The Ongoing Threat of an Electromagnetic Pulse Attack Against the United States

In 2008 the United States Congress commissioned a report to study the impact of an electromagnetic attack on the national infrastructure of the United States.

I was completely oblivious to the existence of any such report until came across a mention of it in my research for The Great Collapse. Since this is a public report that you, the American taxpayer paid for, I’m making it available for you to download along with this post. Fair warning, the findings in this report are a bit frightening both because of the relative ease with which such an attack could occur, and the catastrophic damage such an attack could have on our nation. Below is an excerpt from the report. I recommend you read it, and contact your elected officials ASAP, instructing them to pass legislation mandating the upgrade and ongoing maintenance of our national infrastructure to protect it from an EMP attack.

Please note: Such protection could offer potential protection from other potential; threats as well, including solar flares and cyber-attacks.

The below is from the 2008 report. In 2018, however, the Department of Defense release three new reports. They can be found here: https://michaelmabee.info/three-new-emp-commission-reports-released/#:~:text=On%20May%208%2C%202018%20the%20Department%20of%20Defense,the%20electric%20grid%20and%20critical%20infrastructures%20since%202000.

From the 2008 EMP Commission Report:

Preface

“The physical and social fabric of the United States is sustained by a system of systems; a complex and dynamic network of interlocking and interdependent infrastructures (“critical national infrastructures”) whose harmonious functioning enables the myriad actions, transactions, and information flow that undergird the orderly conduct of civil society in this country. The vulnerability of these infrastructures to threats — deliberate, accidental, and acts of nature — is the focus of greatly heightened concern in the current era, a process accelerated by the events of 9/11 and recent hurricanes, including Katrina.

and Rita.

“This report presents the results of the Commission’s assessment of the effects of a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack on our critical national infrastructures and provides recommendations for their mitigation. The assessment is informed by analytic and test activities executed under commission sponsorship, which are discussed in this volume. An earlier executive report, Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) — Volume 1: Executive Report (2004), provided an overview of the subject.

“The electromagnetic pulse generated by a high-altitude nuclear explosion is one of a small number of threats that can hold our society at risk of catastrophic consequences. The increasingly pervasive use of electronics of all forms represents the greatest source of vulnerability to attack by EMP. Electronics are used to control, communicate, compute, store, manage, and implement nearly every aspect of United States (U.S.) civilian systems.  When a nuclear explosion occurs at high altitude, the EMP signal it produces will cover the wide geographic region within the line of sight of the detonation. This broad band, high amplitude EMP, when coupled into sensitive electronics, has the capability to produce widespread and long lasting disruption and damage to the critical infrastructures that underpin the fabric of U.S. society.

“Because of the ubiquitous dependence of U.S. society on the electrical power system,

its vulnerability to an EMP attack, coupled with the EMP’s particular damage mechanisms, creates the possibility of long-term, catastrophic consequences. The implicit invitation to take advantage of this vulnerability, when coupled with increasing proliferation of nuclear weapons and their delivery systems, is a serious concern. A single EMP attack may seriously degrade or shut down a large part of the electric power grid in the geographic area of EMP exposure effectively instantaneously. There is also a possibility of functional collapse of grids beyond the exposed area, as electrical effects propagate from

one region to another.

“’The time required for full recovery of service would depend on both the disruption and damage to the electrical power infrastructure and to other national infrastructures. Larger affected areas and stronger EMP field strengths will prolong the time to recover. Some critical electrical power infrastructure components are no longer manufactured in the United States, and their acquisition ordinarily requires up to a year of lead time in routine circumstances. Damage to or loss of these components could leave significant parts of the electrical infrastructure out of service for periods measured in months to a year or more. There is a point in time at which the shortage or exhaustion of sustaining backup systems, including emergency power supplies, batteries, standby fuel supplies, communications, and manpower resources that can be mobilized, coordinated, and dispatched, together lead to a continuing degradation of critical infrastructures for a prolonged period of time.

“Electrical power is necessary to support other critical infrastructures, including supply and distribution of water, food, fuel, communications, transport, financial transactions, emergency services, government services, and all other infrastructures supporting the national economy and welfare. Should significant parts of the electrical power infrastructure be lost for any substantial period of time, the Commission believes that the consequences are likely to be catastrophic, and many people may ultimately die for lack of the basic elements necessary to sustain life in dense urban and suburban communities. In fact, the Commission is deeply concerned that such impacts are likely in the event of an EMP attack unless practical steps are taken to provide protection for critical elements of the electric system and for rapid restoration of electric power, particularly to essential services. The recovery plans for the individual infrastructures currently in place essentially assume, at worst, limited upsets to the other infrastructures that are important to their operation. Such plans may be of little or no value in the wake of an EMP attack because of its long-duration effects on all infrastructures that rely on electricity or electronics.

“The ability to recover from this situation is an area of great concern. The use of automated control systems has allowed many companies and agencies to operate effectively with small work forces. Thus, while manual control of some systems may be possible, the number of people knowledgeable enough to support manual operations is limited. Repair of physical damage is also constrained by a small work force. Many maintenance crews are sized to perform routine and preventive maintenance of high-reliability equipment. When repair or replacement is required that exceeds routine levels, arrangements are typically in place to augment crews from outside the affected area. However, due to the simultaneous, far-reaching effects from EMP, the anticipated augmenters likely will be occupied in their own areas. Thus, repairs normally requiring weeks of effort may require a much longer time than planned.

“The consequences of an EMP event should be prepared for and protected against to the extent it is reasonably possible. Cold War-style deterrence through mutual assured destruction is not likely to be an effective threat against potential protagonists that are either failing states or trans-national groups. Therefore, making preparations to manage the effects of an EMP attack, including understanding what has happened, maintaining situational awareness, having plans in place to recover, challenging and exercising those plans, and reducing vulnerabilities, is critical to reducing the consequences, and thus

probability, of attack. The appropriate national-level approach should balance prevention, protection, and recovery.

“The Commission requested and received information from a number of Federal agencies and National Laboratories. We received information from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, the National Communications System (since absorbed by the Department of Homeland Security), the Federal Reserve Board, and the Department of Homeland Security. Early in this review it became apparent that only limited EMP

vulnerability testing had been accomplished for modern electronic systems and components. To partially remedy this deficit, the Commission sponsored illustrative testing of current systems and infrastructure components. The Commission’s view is that the Federal Government does not today have sufficiently robust capabilities for reliably assessing and managing EMP threats.

“The United States faces a long-term challenge to maintain technical competence for understanding and managing the effects of nuclear weapons, including EMP. The Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration have developed and implemented an extensive Nuclear Weapons Stockpile Stewardship Program over the last decade. However, no comparable effort was initiated to understand the effects that nuclear weapons produce on modern systems. The Commission reviewed current national capabilities to understand and to manage the effects of EMP and concluded that the

Country is rapidly losing the technical competence in this area that it needs in the Government, National Laboratories, and Industrial Community.

“An EMP attack on the national civilian infrastructures is a serious problem, but one that can be managed by coordinated and focused efforts between industry and government. It is the view of the Commission that managing the adverse impacts of EMP is feasible in terms of time and resources. A serious national commitment to address the threat of an EMP attack can develop a national posture that would significantly reduce the payoff for such an attack and allow the United States to recover in a timely manner if such an attack were to occur.”

Below is a link to the full 2008 report. These are your tax-dollars at work, so read-on and be informed!

Link to EMP Report:

Three New EMP Commission Reports Released

Next Week: Protecting our infrastructure from cyber-attacks.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

ww.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1170

June 5, 2021

Technical Discussion: What IS the Big UFO Reveal We Keep Hearing About?

Starship Watch Update:

Preparations continue for Orbital Launch

Looks like preparations continue for a July launch of Starship into orbit! I found a great article (below) that discusses a recent test fire of raptor engines that will be used in the Super Heavy booster that will lift Starship into orbit!

SpaceX Starship engine completes orbital-duration static fire test in Texas

Meanwhile, SpaceX has purchased at least three oil rigs that are being retrofitted and adapted for use as launchpads for future Starship launches, beginning in 2022 with a launch to Mars. Exciting stuff. Be sure to keep an eye out for news of an orbital test flight sometime in July!

Now, back to our regular programming!

What IS the Big UFO Reveal We Keep Hearing About?

Flying saucers. The term was first used to describe unidentified flying objects, or UFOs, some 74years ago, on June 24, 1947, when salesman and pilot Kenneth Arnold reported seeing nine objects, “flying like a saucer would” in a “V” formation along the crest of the Cascade Range in Washington state.

Since 1947 and even before that, something has been see in the skies above our cities, our homes, and across just about every landscape on earth. There have reports of strange craft, maneuvering in ways that seemed to violate just every known law of physics we have. These unidentified flying objects, UFOs, or unidentified aerial phenomena, UAPs, as some are calling them now, have also been seen in space by astronauts and they’ve been seen in earth’s oceans.

As far as the public is concerned, we’ve been left in the dark, with governments all over the world doing their utmost to keep these encounters shrouded in secrecy and when that fails, ensuring the truth is so entangled with misinformation and conspiracy theories that the world is left puzzled and perplexed as to what to believe when incredible stories of alien encounters occur.

Some have speculated that these were aircraft developed by the Germans in WWII. Now the Germans are a brilliant people, I will give them that, but I believe it’s safe to say that if Germany had ships capable of traveling something like 20,000 Mph before banking at sharp right angles and exiting Earth’s atmosphere, they would have handily won WWII.

Now skeptics are proposing that these are new, enemy hypersonic weapons. Now, while it is remotely possible given today’s technology, it could not have been 50-75, or even 10 years ago.

So, if these strange craft we’ve been seeing ARE piloted by extraterrestrial beings from another world, why are they here, what do they want from us, from our world.?

My guess Is that someone already knows, but they’re not telling. Maybe they have a good reason for keeping secrets so tightly controlled, maybe they do not.

To date, however, the government’s attempts to supposedly investigate UFOs has resulted in the public getting no more answers after the investigation has concluded than they did when it started. Our government, the government of the United States of America, refuses to tell us what’s going on. I sure hope they have a damn good reason.

Below are a few of the United States’ government’s past “investigations” into UFOs.

Project Sign (1947 to 1949)

Project Sign had been active from 1947 to 1949. Some of Sign’s personnel, including director Robert Sneider, favored the extraterrestrial hypothesis as the best explanation for UFO reports. They prepared the Estimate of the Situation arguing their case.

https://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/ufos/AD31102.pdf

Project Grudge (1949-1952)

Project Grudge (1949-1952) Project Grudge succeeded Project Sign in February 1949 and formally ended in December 1949. Project Grudge rejected the extraterrestrial explanation, choosing instead to offer cases of mistaken identity, for example mistaking Venus or swamp gas for a UFO, as the most reasonable explanation for most sightings.

https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/usaf/AFD-110719-005.pdf

Project Blue Book (1952-1969) – Though the longest-lasting of the three, it too provided the public with no greater insight into what lay behind the truth related to UFOs.

https://www.theblackvault.com/documents/ufos/bluebook/bluebook.pdf

Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) (2007-2012)

The US confirmed the existence of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) – a Pentagon program set up to study UFOs before being disbanded in 2017.

UAP Task Force (2020- ?)

However, it was replaced by the UAP Task Force in June 2020 after a vote by the US Senate Intelligence Committee.

The newly formed International Coalition for Extraterrestrial Research (ICER) is made up of UFO researchers and scientist from 27 countries.

UFOs – now more commonly referred to in scientific and intelligence circles as Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) – have stepped from being fringe conspiracy theories to a genuine security concern.

And with eager UFO enthusiasts eagerly awaiting the US report compiled by the US Congress, ICER was formed to highlight the global implications that these UFOs could be “non-human intelligence”.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/15131605/ufo-pentagon-report-government-aliens-documents-released

It seems clear that for some reason, after seventy years of lies, cover-ups, and misinformation, the government, and whoever else out there that’s in the know, is slowly opening the raising the curtain to reveal the truth behind the UFO phenomenon.

It is all but certain that the technology we see at work in many of the recently released videos, with craft traveling in excess of 30,000 Mph, traveling 50ft above the ground, underwater, and in space, is extraterrestrial. For me, the real questions are these:

  1. Are we in communication with one or more of these alien civilizations?
  2. If so, how long, how many, and in what capacity?
  3. What kind of a threat, if any, do they pose to humanity?
  4. Are we close to acquiring some of their technologies for ourselves, like interstellar travel, protective force fields, and inertial dampeners, just to name a few?

Then, of course, the biggest question of all.

  1. Why are they here?

So, what IS the big UFO reveal we keep hearing about?

Well, it’s complicated. You see, in part it’s tied to a law that was passed mandating the release of information relating to UFOs. It is also, however, also part of a bigger, more orchestrated campaign to slowly acclimate then reveal that alien civilizations not only exist, but that they’ve been interacting with humanity for centuries.

Thankfully, before leaving office President Trump signed a bill with a provision in it that forced the nation’s intelligence and military to produce an unclassified report stating what they know about UFOs withing 180 days. That time will expire the end of June 2021, which means any day now that report will be released and available to the public.

“President Trump’s signature Sunday on the $2.3 trillion COVID-19 relief and government funding bill started a 180-day countdown for the Pentagon and spy agencies to say what they know about UFOs.

The provision received very little attention, in part because it wasn’t included in the text of the 5,593-page legislation, but as a “committee comment” attached to the annual intelligence authorization act, which was rolled into the massive bill.”

https://nypost.com/2020/12/29/covid-19-bill-started-a-180-day-countdown-for-ufo-disclosures

Already we are beginning to get bits and pieces of what is going to be in the report. While it doesn’t appear the government is going to admit ETs are flying these craft, neither are they ruling out that possibility. It will be the first time Jesse Marcel first went on record for a local paper in Roswell, New Mexico, stating that a flying disk had been recovered, that a government report will be released stating that UFOs could be of extraterrestrial origin.

With the incredible advancement in technology over the last few decades, with satellites encircling the globe, and with greater visibility worldwide than ever before, not only are we able to more easily spot such craft now, but we are also able to track them now too, even at such great speeds. With the mandate to discover who and/or what is behind this phenomenon, it is likely only a matter of time now until a great “revelation,” of some sort is made, revealing what many of us already know to be true; ET is here, and has been for some time.

We’d just like to know why.

More links on this topic worth checking out:

https://nypost.com/2021/04/30/feds-cover-up-of-ufos-puts-us-at-risk
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/06/02/congressional-report-ufos-expected-released-june/7510807002
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/6/4/22519072/us-report-makes-no-definitive-finding-about-ufos-ap-source
https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/15131605/ufo-pentagon-report-government-aliens-documents-released

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

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Blog Post #1168

May 12, 2021

Technical Discussion: If you could extend your life by another hundred years, would you?

 

Starship Watch Update:

In a fantastic, historic first on May 5th, SpaceX successfully launched and landed, for the first time (without exploding) a SpaceX Starship, SN15, the company’s top man, Elon Musk, announced the likelihood that SN15 will fly again in coming days. Following some close inspection and, if needed, repairs, SN15 will likely repeat, or perhaps even exceed, the same test again sometime this month. This will, in my opinion, happen sooner than later, given the fact that SpaceX wants to launch Starship on top of Superheavy, the booster, that will eventually carry it out of Earth’s orbit and one day, to destinations throughout the solar system.

I expect that given the opportunity, Mr. Musk might also be the first to attach an interstellar engine to one of his Starships, giving us the opportunity to visit destination that today, would boggle and confound the imagination. In some ways Elon Musk is, in my opinion, the Tony Stark of our time.

Back to our Feature Presentation:

Before I could graduate college (a few years ago now) I had to take something called the Writing Proficiency Exam. Now, I don’t know whether these are still required by that particular university but at the time, you could not graduate without passing.

I still remember the topic the professor wrote on the board, almost as clearly as if it were yesterday. It was, more or less, as follows; “If you could extend your life by another hundred years would you, and why?”

Now, as some of you may have picked up on by now, I’m generally not one to agree with something I genuinely disagree with just because it’s either popular or perhaps expedient to do so. Also, at the time, I was still young and, perhaps, still a bit full of myself, (some things never really change I guess😊). In this instance, however, I was, in truth, not trying to be contrary, because I had what I felt was a heartfelt if unpopular answer to this question. My answer? At the top of my rather lengthy, and now what had become an argumentative essay, I paced something like this. “No, if I could extend my life by another hundred years, I would not extend it.”

Oh, I went on to list reason after reason, beyond my religious beliefs, that included such examples as the pain and suffering we all endure, the evil and horrific violence we’re forced to witness on an almost daily basis on television, online, and in-person, and the bitter suffering and death caused by cancer, etc. I knew, even then, that I’d chosen the “path less traveled,” and that it was full of scary and unapproving academia that go bump in the night, yet I finished my paper, confident that they had no choice but marvel at my sound reasoning and logic, despite the objection they might feel for my uncommon point of view. I mean it was, after all, a pass/fail class and I’d pretty much aced my writing classes. I failed the exam. Needless to say, I learned a very important lesson that day; the tyrannical kingdom of the Great University where the Imperial Faculty ruled with an iron fist was not the place to practice the exercising of free speech, at least not if one wanted to graduate said university. The next time I was scheduled to take a writing proficiency exam, I answered it exactly the way they wanted, I was a good little drone and I passed with flying colors <sigh>. Anyway…moving on…

My point in telling all of that is this; the question itself proved to be somewhat prophetic. To the best of my knowledge no one was, at least publicly, going around seriously talking about extending human life, unless they knew where the Holy Grail was, or perhaps the Fountain of Youth! At that time (and I’m definitely dating myself here) the human genome had not even been mapped yet. Ah, but how things have changed!

A couple of years ago I finished writing my last novel, my as-of-yet-unpublished novel, Eternity. By the way, if you’re friends with any literary agents be sure to send them my way! Eternity is about a scientist who succeeds in unlocking the secret to turning off the aging process in human beings. Does that sound unrealistic, fanciful even? It isn’t. Scientists are probably much farther down that road than you’ve been led to believe.

“Oh, come on, you’ve got to be kidding me!” you might exclaim. “Do you seriously think something like this could be discovered and the public not know about it? Sounds like a real conspiracy theory to me!” you might add, laughing to your friends as you did so. But you’d be making a great point.

Now I never claimed it had been invented, only that scientists were much closer than you might expect. But stop for a second and ask yourself, what if someone had already come across a means of turning off the aging process? Is there any possible reason our government, or any government, might want to keep that a secret? Just think overpopulation, overtaxed hospitals, food shortages, oil shortages, clogged freeways, skyrocketing unemployment…the list goes on. Yeah, it could potentially mean a complete global economic collapse. The again, maybe there are ways of turning off the aging process while also circumventing the aforementioned cataclysm. Then, of course, perhaps I’m wrong, and everything would be fine.

“Oh, any such advance is centuries, or at least decades into the future,” you might then claim, not without some sound reasoning. It may, however, not be so sound. Nearly a decade ago now scientists were successful in extending the life of lab mice by nearly 20%. Do you know what that would mean for a human being, with a generally accepted lifespan of no more than 120 years? Something like 144 years but lets just round up to the closest 10; oh, that happens to be 150. Guess what scientists are now claiming to be working towards when it comes to extending human life. They are saying their “goal” is to extend human life to 150 years of age.

But that’s not all. Scientists have also been busy working to find ways to remove senescent cells from the body. These are, essentially, dead cells, sometimes called zombie cells, that wander aimlessly about then body once their time is over, causing inflammation, contributing to disease, etc. The removal of these cells will, therefore, go a long way of improving the quality of life while other techniques work to improve the quantity of life. This stuff is real folks, just use some of your favorite search engines and try searching for some of the following terms. To aid in your efforts I’m including some terms for you to search on below.

  • Epigenetics
  • Anti-Aging
  • Reversing the Aging Process
  • Latest Anti-Aging Research
  • Senescent cells

‘Extraordinary’ Breakthroughs In Anti-Aging Research ‘Will Happen Faster Than People Think’

https://www.forbes.com/sites/robinseatonjefferson/2019/08/26/how-extraordinary-breakthroughs-in-anti-aging-research-will-happen-faster-than-people-think/?sh=2e3db67733dd

How to Reverse Aging – An overview on the latest anti-aging research

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=latest+anti+aging+research&&view=detail&mid=890864607FA5D7560D53890864607FA5D7560D53&rvsmid=B682088EA141C597A760B682088EA141C597A760&FORM=VDQVAP

Latest Anti-Aging Research

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=latest+anti+aging+research&docid=608021585134099327&mid=B682088EA141C597A760B682088EA141C597A760&view=detail&FORM=VIRE

Great Presentation by A Scientist posted 7-4-2020

Anti-aging drugs in MIT’s 10 Breakthrough Technologies 2020

Anti-aging drugs in MIT’s 10 Breakthrough Technologies 2020

Will You Live To 200? Five Levels Of Breakthroughs In Longevity Research You Must Know About

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2021/05/03/will-you-live-to-200-five-levels-of-breakthroughs-in-longevity-research-you-must-know-about/?sh=5d9b3139263d

So, what can we do to head-off the pending disasters that will befall us once everyone begins to live longer?

Hey, I love you guys, you’re my readers, you’re my people, but come on, I’m a starving writer, I need to make a living, right?

Buy my book, Eternity, when it comes out! I’m not claiming to have all the answers, just my suggestion on how to not only mitigate the effects of living longer, but how we can truly embrace our longer lifespans and live them for a much greater purpose.

“Hey, wait a minute, aren’t you a Christian? If a person lives longer, maybe a LOT longer, what does that mean for the hereafter, for death, for Heaven? How do you deal with that?”

Yeah, that was a bit of a challenge for me, I must admit. Let’s just say…you guessed it…I answer that question in the novel too. 😊

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

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Blog Post #1166

April 28, 2021

Technical Discussion: Success! Congratulations, SpaceX and Starship SN15!

History was made at 5:24 PM Central Daylight Time today in Boca Chica, Texas, when SpaceX launched, flew, and then landed Starship SN15 on the same launchpad from which it took off some six minutes earlier. The prototype rocket, successfully launched, completed its novel “belly-flop” maneuver, intended to help slow down the ship when reentering a planet’s atmosphere and then landed, vertically, on its concrete launchpad.

The SN15 Starship succeeded where its four predecessors failed. Starships Sn8, SN9, and SN11 all experienced a Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly or RUD, prior to or during landing. RUD is, of course, an old rocket science/slang expression for explosion. SN10 landed without exploding, but it came in so hard and so fast that it crushed the landing legs and apparently cracked the fuel tank, which left it standing lopsided with a fire burning and soon led to an explosion several minutes after the landing.

SN15 also experienced a fire following the landing, leaving myself, and I suspect many others watching carefully long after SpaceX ended their broadcast, watching and waiting to see whether this ship too would explode, just like the others. Just as with SN10, within a few minutes the fire-suppression had started up bathing the bottom of the ship and the launchpad with water. Unlike with SN10, however, before long the fire-suppression system put out the fire, leaving SN15 just standing there, as if it were quietly staring back at us, laughing, as we waited for something that would never come to pass. Starship SN15 never did explode, it remains intact as of this writing some five hours later, finally giving the SpaceX team something they’ve lacked up until this point, an intact Starship they could carefully examine and study, fixing problems that they’d known about for months but until now, had been unable to address because they lacked the data. My guess is that following the landing of the next Starship, we will no longer see flames when the smoke clears, and the ship stands alone on the launchpad.

SpaceX recently won a contract with NASA for 2.9 billion dollars for lunar lander. The contract was challenged by the other two competitors who lost out on the bid for the contract to SpaceX, when SpaceX substantially underbid them. This turn of events must have turned-up the heat on Elon Musk for SN15 to have a successful launch. If they thought their challenge might slow down SpaceX, his competitors clearly do not understand Elon Musk, a man who thrives on challenge, who embraces risks other’s refuse to take. My guess: their challenge only served to drive Musk to drive his team even harder to ensure today’s launch would be a success.

Whatever the reason there were weeks of delays for today’s test, but it was certainly worth it. Starship is the first ship of its kind ever built, a ship big and powerful enough it can carry 100 people or 100 tons of cargo to orbit, to the moon, to Mars, or perhaps even further to one of the moons of Jupiter or Saturn. And not only has Musk created a company in SpaceX that can build them, but he and his company has developed an unprecedented, modern-day version of the assembly line, specifically designed and optimized for cranking out spacecraft like Model-T Fords. It’s simply incredible, visionary even. Imagine where this could go in the future. A spaceship in every garage?

Perhaps, other CEOs, businessmen and women, investors, and leaders, people like Elon Musk, people with vision and money, will follow his lead, building spacecraft of their own design that are capable of interplanetary travel or even greater feats, building on what has already been done while including their own innovations. Perhaps the next Musk will perfect terraforming, develop our first interstellar propulsion system, create force fields, or the first vaccines for alien viruses. Who knows?

All I know for sure is I’d rather be talking about the humanity we all share, which unites us and binds us, and the incredible accomplishments we can achieve by working together, like the nuclear fusion reactor being built in France. A number of countries are involved in that project, including the United States, France, Great Britain, Russia, and China. More on nuclear fusion in a coming blog post.

Yeah, I’d much rather hear about what binds and unites us, rather than what divides us, about how different we are and how terrible the “other guy” is.

NASA’s Artemis and Mars Program, SpaceX, Orbiting hotels, colonies on Mars, mining asteroids.

Write your Congressmen and women people, tell them we need our top scientists working on reverse-engineering the interstellar technology and force fields at S-4, or Area 51, or wherever they’re keeping it these days. Only when we can easily, and safely reach planets orbiting distant stars will we become a true, space-faring civilization. Until then, to Elon Musk and my friends at SpaceX and NASA, I share with you the immortal words of Bill and Ted; Rock On!

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1166

April 28, 2021

Free Flow Thinking: The Future, Technology, Nina Simone, and Billie Holiday

Starship Watch Update:

It’s on! Starship SN15 appears to be VERY close to taking flight now. Yeah, I know, that’s exactly what I said last week. This time, it really does seem imminent. Why? Because of the successful Static Fire Test they ran on Monday, for one. With numerous improvements made both to Starship and her Raptor engines, expectations are high for what is likely to be a successful Thursday launch. One site has it at 11:00 AM. While a different site has SN15 launching 4:00 and 9:00PM Eastern on Friday, I suspect it will be tomorrow (Thursday). Closures were in effect for today and will be again tomorrow, making tomorrow seem like the most likely guess at this point. But hey, that’s all it is, a guess. I’m looking forward to the time when, like the Falcon launches now, Starship launches will be scheduled, routinely scheduled I might add, such that there will be no more guessing. As I’ve said before and as we must all try to remember, these are test flights, which means they are not scheduled because if they were, they’d almost certainly change anyway.

Life after Starship’s first successful takeoff and landing:

The way will be here before we know it, whether it’s tomorrow or not; the day when SpaceX has its first, completely successful launch and landing of a Starship. But what then? The next major milestones I suppose, might look something like this:

  • Launching Starship and the Super Heavy booster together
  • Starship’s first successful orbital flight, using the Super Heavy booster to get it Starship into orbit
  • Starship’s first unmanned flight to the moon
  • Starship’s first manned flight to the Moon
  • Starship’s first unmanned flight to Mars
  • Starship’s first Manned flight to Mars

There will, of course, be a number of smaller, incremental successes in-between. It is also likely that more than one of these will be occurring at the same time. For example, it’s easy to imagine a scenario in which manned flight to Mars occurs weeks after the first unmanned flight to Mars has launched.

I can’t wait; science-fiction becomes science fact!

Now for today’s main event:

You’ll often find common little threads winding themselves throughout a writer’s novels. Sometimes it is crime and passion, sometimes it is horror, sometimes it is history (think of Zane Grey, the Western writer of former years). In my case, as with many other contemporary authors, it is frequently the future, or more specifically technology in the future.

Take Michael Crichton, for example. In several of his novels, at least two that I know of, Jurassic Park and Next, he writes to his concerns around the awesome power of genetics, which humanity often wields carelessly, “like a child playing with matches.” In reference to scientists bringing dinosaurs back to life, he wrote in Jurassic Park, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”

In another of his novels, Next, Crichton again raises serious concerns about the awesome power of genetics and the careless way he expects to see that power wielded by humanity. Whether it be by editing life forms, changing them into living company advertisements (think glowing jellyfish that read IBM or fluorescent birds with Verizon spelled out in their feathers)and then sold to the company willing to pay the most for such advertising, or a human/ape hybrid for servitude created through genetic manipulation, or some other form of genetic mishap gone awry, Crichton wanted us to remember one thing as humanity’s power over genetics continues to grow into the future; that alterations to germline genes can be passed down from generation to generation, from parent to offspring, for all time.

I’m not sure how it happened in my case. I suppose it was more a byproduct of “writing what you know,” or “what you’re interested in”, which is what someone told me I should do when I first started writing. Suddenly I find that I too am writing about the awesome power of technology, and humanity’s increasing control (or in some cases lack of control) over it, and the threat that technology poses if mishandled.

I’ve written an apocalyptic novel about our dependency on technology and on electricity, and the subsequent ending of civilization when electricity all over the world fails (The Great Collapse). The lesson: we’ve become so dependent on electricity that if we’re not careful, an enemy, an accident, or a natural disaster could mean a disaster of epic proportions.

I began another series of novels (the Cybersp@ce Series) with a foreign power hacking into our national infrastructure, causing nuclear power plants to meltdown, and threatening to destabilize the world and causing a global nuclear war. The lesson: our infrastructure has already been hacked by foreign states. If we don’t do a better job securing that infrastructure, at least some of the events in the novel could come true!

Future Schism, one of more recent, dystopian novels, dealt with today’s culture wars, extended far into the future, during a time in which, following a second American Civil War, America has become literally a divided nation, made up of a liberal province in the west, and a conservative province in the East. I’d like to think I did a fair job in portraying many of the flaws in the ideologies of both sides.

I recent finished Eternity, the first in my next series of novels, the Eternity series, and I’m nearly done with the first draft of the second. Without giving away too much, I will state that the plot revolves around yet another scientific advance that holds extraordinary potential for altering the course of humanity for a very, very long time. It too addresses the awesome power of this discovery, the danger of it falling into the wrong hands, and the difficult choices humanity will face with each major technological breakthrough.

Perhaps writers are like the canaries in the coal mines, an early warning signal, here to warn the world of imminent danger to come should it continue down a specific path. Who knows? Only time will tell.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor…WAIT!!!! “What about Billie Holiday and Nina Simone,” you might ask, and you’d be right.

Billie Holiday and Nina Simone:

So, what do these two amazing women have to do with technology and the future? Quite a bit, I’d say. They speak to us from the past, about something primal, something so very fundamental, at least to me. They capture, for me, a lot of the passion, the yearning, we experience as human beings. In essence, they capture in their words and the depth of feeling in each note, part of what it is to be human, a soulfulness that humanity must be careful to hold on to, I mean for dear life, as we move forward into an uncertain future. We are human beings, and not machines. Let’s make it a point to remember that, to embrace that, and to celebrate it, as we move to create a colony on Mars, perhaps several distant moons, followed, of course, by other, distant worlds.

Another Recruitment Campaign?

Think you could convince five people to subscribe to The Horton Post? Would you like to have another opportunity to win a free, $100.00 gift certificate?

If you answered yes to both questions above, and you would like to see another contest, just email Jeff at jeff@hortonlibrary.com with the words YES-Hold a June 2021 Recruitment Campaign! In the subject line before May 15th.

If there’s enough interest, then another contest there shall be!

Jeff strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1165

April 21, 2021

Technical Discussion: First In Freedom-Martian Style

They Did it! Another grand achievement for mankind! Yes, for humanity, not just the United States, though I’m terribly proud of the country of my birth. If there is one thing other than God Himself that can unite humanity, it is space travel, and the many new firsts. I confess, I find myself feeling today much as I did when, as a small boy, I looked up at the moon, my older brother explaining to me that for the very first time, men were walking around on the moon. I seem to recall just staring up at the full moon for what seemed like an eternity.

But more on today’s main feature shortly.

First, I have a few exciting updates I must share with you about my current favorite spacecraft; SpaceX Starship SN15!

Starship Watch Update:

It’s on! Starship SN15 appears to be VERY close to taking flight now. More to follow in tonight’s post, below.

I’m simply giddy tonight as I write this. Why? Because it’s such an exciting week in space! I’ll be honest with you. I was planning on changing things up a bit and writing about something other than space travel this week. But I’m so glad I didn’t! This must be the single, busiest week in space travel in my lifetime. There is not just one significant space launch this week, but three!

Significant Space Launch #1-Powered Flight

Launch time: Monday, April 19th, 2021, 3:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time

The very first aircraft to have ever flown on the entire planet made its debut appearance! It’s another first for mankind!

Wait, what’s that? “Planes have been flying for over a hundred years!” you might say. Yes, that’s true. Orville and Wilbur Wright, the famous Wright Brothers were the first top ever successfully fly an aircraft, on Earth. But NASA was the first to build a drone aircraft, I’m referring to Ingenuity, NASA’s Mars helicopter, of course, and ship it 140 million miles to Mars, and have it fly itself on the surface of the red planet.

Granted, we’ve been sending probes to Mars since the 1970s. I was a boy when an episode of the Virginian was interrupted to broadcast “live” images from the Viking I lander, the first such images, in color I might add, from another world. Once again, I was transfixed by what I was watching on television. It felt as if I was standing on the surface of Mars.

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Fast forward some 45 years into the future, and news that NASA has successfully testing powered flight on Mars may seem like something simple and trivial to some, but groundbreaking and, well, Mars-shattering news to others. Given what it takes to get to Mars that is understandable. But just consider for a moment, that no human being has ever actually seen anything fly on Mars. Flying in the sense of using air molecules to create high-pressure under the wing or blade of the propeller, creating lift for rotorcraft on Earth and on Mars apparently, or thrust for propeller-driven aircraft, and watercraft, on Earth.

This means, of course, that when people eventually settle on Mars, which SpaceX founder Elon Musk envisions happening by the year 2050, there will be aerial drones flying everywhere on Mars, going where people cannot as easily traverse, at least not yet. I can already see companies like FedEx, perhaps renamed to RedEx (Maybe I should get a copyright or trademark or something for that to sell to them later, don’t you think? Are you folks in Memphis paying attention?

There will be cameras, newscasts, even terraforming drones used to remake the Martian atmosphere, they could all take advantage of the early success of this tiny yet mighty marvel.

I can easily envision drones playing a very important role in the future of human life on Mars.

For more information on Ingenuity, you can visit NASA’s website at: https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter/#Watch-Online

Significant Space Launch #2- NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 Mission

Friday, April 23rd, 2021, 5:49 AM Eastern Daylight Time

An international crew of astronauts will hitch a ride inside SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Friday morning to the International Space Station. The crew will consist of two NASA astronauts, Commander Shane Kimbrough and Pilot Megan McArthur, astronaut Akihiko Hoshide from the Japanese space agency JAXA, and astronaut Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency (ESA). Hoshide and Pesquet will serve as mission specialists aboard the ISS during their stay there.

The first Crew Dragon spacecraft, Crew-1, launched on Sunday, November 15th, 2020 at 7:27 PM Eastern Standard Time. It also few on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Onboard Crew-1 were NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker, and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi.

For more information visit NASA at: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-updates-launch-date-tv-coverage-for-agency-s-spacex-crew-2-mission

Significant Space Launch #3- SpaceX Starship SN15-Flight Test

While it’s nearly impossible to know for sure, it certainly appears that barring any unforeseen circumstances, SpaceX will launch SN15 sometime Friday, or possibly Saturday. It appears SpaceX has a window clear to launch on both days. The Friday window opens after 1:00PM on Friday, from what I was able to piece gather.

But all indications are that following a successful static fire test, in which all three raptor engines are fired up while Starship SN15 remains tethered to Earth, SN15 will be ready for a test launch. It’s even been fitted with a Starlink receiver dish. Apparently, the Mars-bound spaceship will have high-speed Internet onboard which, of course, I think is an awesome thing to have on a long trip through space.

So, look for the FIRST…SUCCESSFUL…Starship test flight…AND LANDING (without an explosion following as with SN10) …sometime this weekend!

Unfortunately, SpaceX doesn’t announce these launches ahead of time, merely because they are test launches, I am sure, and they want to maintain the freedom and flexibility to test when it’s best to test, and not just to keep a schedule. Frankly, I don’t blame them. It’s just a shame because so many people, like us, are fascinated by what we see happening with SpaceX.

You see, for those of you who don’t follow this as closely as some of us do, or even care about it much at all, you may not realize just how important what is happening now at SpaceX really is. I won’t say it is as significant as developing the technology to enable interstellar travel, but it’s a relatively close second.

What SpaceX is doing drives what everyone else is doing. Just look at what other companies are doing. They are tiptoeing in, wanting to jump in but wary of the untested waters they find themselves in. Elon Musk and SpaceX, however, are made up of the same sort of “right Stuff” as NASA people; bold, visionary, risk takers, determined to succeed.

Major kudos to Elon Musk who, I believe, realizes his incredibly significant role in history here, and just how especially important it is for humanity to once again step out into the unknown, colonizing other worlds as a hedge against our one day possibly destroying ourselves, or at least civilization as we know it.

It is my personal belief that perhaps, by looking outward, we (humanity) will learn to focus our energies on working together on something (space exploration, travel, settlement, and colonization), instead of working against each other on everything.

There’s a lot going on now in space, technology, and the world. Keep checking back here where you’ll find it all, along with a good book to read, and more, at The Horton Post.

Jeff strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1163

April 8, 2021

Free Flow Thinking: Here’s a Riddle for You- What do Fish, Blue Whales, and People Have in Common?

And no, the answer isn’t going to be that they all swim in the ocean. Come on my bright, intelligent, erudite readers! Most of you know me better than that by now. But trust me, the answer will be obvious once I tell you, and there will be no room for argument as the facts are in black and white, my friends!

BUT…before I reveal the answer to you, I have a few important updates I must share with you.

Update#1- SN15 is About To Fly

Starship Watch Update:

SN11 blew up during a very foggy test flight on March 30th. To date, each of the Starship test flights have resulted in a RUD (Rapid Unplanned Disassembly). SpaceX founder and owner Elon Musk only recently provided an explanation for March 30th’s RUD. Given the extremely poor visibility that day, they relied almost exclusively on telemetry for data on what happened, and the telemetry revealed a small methane leak trigged the explosion. Musk promised that are doing everything conceivably possible to prepare the next-up in Starship prototypes, SN15. The latest Starship is currently scheduled to be moved to the launch area on Friday, April 9th, to prepare it for a test flight currently scheduled for Monday, April 12th. Be wary of the launch date however as these are still prototypes and this is still testing, so a lot of factors must come together for a launch to proceed. They are getting closer, however, and SN15 very well could be the Starship that carries us all one step closer to the human colonization of Mars, and so, so much more…

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SN11 As SpaceX prepared for a Static Fire Test

Update#2- Ingenuity-NASA’s Mars Helicopter, Is Finally About To Fly!

I read today that the small helicopter NASA built to fly explicitly on the Mars rover, Perseverance, was detached from the probe and spent its first night on the ground Monday, April 5, 2021 relying on its NASA-supplied insulation and an onboard, battery-powered heater to keep it warm during the cold (up to -150 degrees F) Martian nights.

NASA wants this to be an event for everyone, so they’ve announced plans for the drone rotocopter’s first flight, the first powered flight of any kind (at least that we know of anyway) on Mars. According to NASA the test flight will take place no earlier than Sunday, April 11th. Now normally I would anticipate NASA missing this date due to an abundance of caution over this or that and hey, they do have an incredible track record of achieving whatever they set out to accomplish. There will be tremendous pressure o NASA Monday, however, not only to fly Ingenuity on Sunday but also to do it successfully. Their funding for the Artemis program and much more, along with the necessary support from Congress and from President Joe Biden, could be riding on it. Here’s hoping for success, as it would portend a magnificent future for the red planet, would it not, the skies filled with remote drones being flown from Earth, providing humanity with a birds-eye view of the Martian surface, even as SpaceX plans on establishing a colony there beginning in a few years.

Update #3- SpaceX to Begin Converting Abandoned Oil Rigs into Starship Launch Platforms

Just last month Musk announced plans to begin acquiring and modifying unuse oil drilling platforms from around the globe to use as Starship Launch Platforms. The idea is nothing short of brilliant when you stop to think about it. These platforms are often located in remote areas surrounded by vast distances of ocean, which greatly minimizes risk to human life. The platforms are extremely sturdy, robust, and cable of handling cranes and the forces generated from a Starship launch. The Super Heavy boosters can be floated to the site by cargo ship, hoisted into position by crane, and away we go.

Since he plans to launch many, many Starship flights every month, I feel quite confident his plan will turn out to be another sound business decision.

Now then, it’s time for our FEATURE PRESENTATION…

As I said, the answer is in black and white, my friends! The Orca, or as it is commonly called, the Killer Whale.

Now I will be both honest and upfront with you, as old and grizzled as I am after all my years walking this earth, I still can be a bit naïve every now and then. I guess I bought into the narrative that Orcas, which are closely related to dolphins, are like dolphins, friendly, and only dangerous to humans when provoked. That appears to Not be the case, at least not anymore.

Tour groups recent captured a series of attacks by Orcas, the apex predator found in each of the four oceans worldwide. They are seen attacking and then eating blue whales, gray whales, sperm whales, great white sharks, and even people.

Orcas Attack and Eat a Blue Whale

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/killer-whale-attacks-blue-whale-monterey-drone-video

It’s probably not a well-known fact, at least it wasn’t to me, that Orcas actually hunt great white sharks; I mean go figure! I’m not sure I would have believed it had I not seen it so many times as I researched this blog. Clearly the killer whales have learned how to leverage their superior intelligence, and their numbers, to launch coordinated attacks against great whites, eventually surrounding and then killing it. The solitary nature of these beasts makes it vulnerable to the pods the Orcas travel in.

Check out the picture below. Can you imagine any creature on earth hunting down and killing a monster like this?

Gives me a chill just thinking about it.

Orcas Attack and Eat A Great White Shark

https://www.newsweek.com/great-white-shark-surrounded-killer-whale-1486048

Orcas Attack and Eat 16 People

Sixteen Japanese fishermen were eaten by Orcas when they jumped off their fishing boat when an accident threatened to cause an explosion. A pod of killer whales, or Orcas, instantly attacked, killing and eating each of the sailors.

Scientists claim that Orca attacks on people are rare, and when they do occur, they are often “mistakes” and rarely result in death. Try telling that to the grieving families of the dead sixteen Japanese sailors.

https://worldnewsdailyreport.com/japanese-whaling-crew-eaten-alive-by-killer-whales-16-dead

There’s something else about Orcas I did not know; the reason they are called “killer whales.”

Now as I started to say in the beginning, I’ve always thought of orcas as big dolphins. And they are big, really big, with very sharp teeth. They are also highly intelligent, like dolphins and whales. So, when I started reading about all of these killer whale attacks, I figured there must be something wrong with them. Well, apparently there is not; they are just doing what killer whales do; kill for food. In fact, Orcas were not originally called killer whales, but rather they were called “whale killers,” because of the number of whales sailors witnessed pods of Orcas killing.

So, when someone tells you that Orcas are attacking because “evil, greedy people” have been catching and eating all of the fish, just tell them how they got their name and why; that should set them straight; well, at least for a few minutes maybe.

Next Week’s topic: TBD. Thinking about several topics, so stay tuned!

There’s a lot going on now in space, technology, and the world. Keep checking back here where you’ll find it all, along with a good book to read, and more, at The Horton Post.

 Jeff strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

Blog Post #1162

April 1, 2021

Technical Discussion: A Starship Update`

A warm Good Friday to you all, my friends. From my family to yours I hope you have a most blessed Easter Weekend.

Starship Watch Update:

As many of you know by now, SpaceX’s latest test flight of its new Starship prototype spacecraft once again performed a successful takeoff and subsequent reentry. As it began its descent in preparation for landing however, it ran into a few problems…

It was foggy that morning, so it was nearly impossible to see Starship SN11 itself, even after all three Raptor engines had fired up and the ship began lifting toward the sky. So thick was the fog that hung over south Texas that it would have been impossible to see anything at all, had it not been for SN11’s onboard cameras, which continued streaming footage as SN11 reached for the sky, eventually reaching its highest point, before turning for reentry. Someone from the SpaceX Control Center was counting down the distance as SN11 came closer and closer to the landing site. Suddenly, the camera froze, and a short time later there was the sound of loud explosion as debris began raining down on an area some 5-6 miles wide. According to SpaceX head Elon Musk, there seemed to be a “significant event,” perhaps another “Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly,” or RUD, the term they like to use for explosion.

I suspect critics are thrilled and fans are dejected over the series of supposed failures, as I suppose I have been. But in truth, after reflecting on it I stopped to consider this, would I rather they find out about these problems before or after human beings are onboard? Does anyone remember what happened to Apollo 1, or the Space shuttles Challenger and Columbia? They exploded but with astronauts onboard; tragically all died.

All of that was to say this; space travel is hard. But do you want to know what is even more difficult? Safely landing a spacecraft, like SpaceX has already done, with falcon, for the first time in human history. Yes, they landed the shuttle, but that would not work on Mars, where the atmosphere is so much thinner. And yes, NASA has landed the Apollo lunar modules, the Viking and Pathfinder landers, etc. but they are quite different, and much, much smaller. SpaceX had difficulty getting Falcon right but once they nailed it, well, the results over the last year or so speak for themselves. They’ve launched an endless string of satellites into space, carried astronauts to and back from the International Space Station, while reusing the boosters, which themselves land when returning to Earth. They got Falcon right through trial and error, and I have every confidence they will get Starship right. Musk is a highly intelligent individual, and he has some of the smartest people on earth working for him. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, though, once we have developed exotic technologies like anti-gravity, antimatter, spaceships capable of interstellar travel, and force fields…the world as we know it will change forever.

It bears repeating that what SpaceX is doing is profoundly important in many different respects. Not only is important in regard to what SpaceX itself is seeking to accomplish, it is important in that it has become an enabler, making space travel much cheaper through the use of reusable components, which in turn, means that costs come down to build, operate, and maintain a space station, a base or hotel on the moon, or a thriving city on Mars. For the first time mining companies might have an opportunity to mine asteroids, chains like Hilton or Marriott might open-up hotels on the Voyager Station or on the moon, and FedEx might even star-up a delivery service ensuring packages make it back and forth from various points to Earth. Below are just a few of the impacts SpaceX is having, or will have:

-Reduced cost of launching satellites into space

-Increasing access to space by the private sector

-Greatly reduced cost for private citizens to access space

-Created opportunities for organizations like Orbital Assembly to build The Voyager Station

-Pioneered completely reusable spacecraft

-Pioneered an entirely new approach to designing, building, prototyping, and testing entirely new spacecraft

-Offering tremendous payload capability in Starship whether to a space station, the moon, Mars, or elsewhere in the solar system

-Offering tremendous passenger transportation capability whether to a space station, the moon, Mars, or elsewhere in the solar system

And this list only scratches the surface. So, truck on, SpaceX, and may God speed you on your way.

Oh, I had a thought today on the concept of the Voyager Station, which I posted about last week. The thought came to me as I prepared to write today’s post. A few years ago, I wrote the third novel in the Cybersp@ce Series entitled, New Beginnings. It’s a story about humanity’s establishment of its first colony outside of the Sol System.

One concern that my new colonists had to be concerned about was the microorganisms, the bacteria, the viruses, etc. that existed on their new world; their bodies’ immune systems would have no idea how to fight-off such pathogens. Scientists would need to visit any world being considered for colonization well in advance in order to understand the alien bugs present on such a new world, so settlers could be inoculated against the alien germs well in advance, before visiting and especially before settling their new home.

Likewise, once we’ve formally and publicly established contact with alien civilizations, visitors to earth will need to stop somewhere, perhaps a space station like the Voyager Station, where they might stay until health officials have been able to establish that it is safe for them, the alien visitor, as well as for Earth’s inhabitants, for them to proceed down to Earth. Similar, perhaps, to how Liberty Island once served as a port of entry for immigrants coming into the United States from Europe.

On the horizon for SpaceX

SpaceX will be launching another Starship in the very near future, that much is certain. They have a tight schedule to keep if they want to stay on-track with some of the public deadlines they’ve set. No doubt they want to identify and resolve the problem they’ve been having with the Number 2 Raptor engine, of course, before proceeding with a test of SN15, the next in the series to be tested. Yes, SN11 was apparently the last in that particular series of Starship prototypes, with some secret design change taking place from SN11 to Sn 15. I can’t wait to see what that’s all about.

Even more exciting is the fact that SpaceX will also begin testing Super Heavy, the booster that will launch Starship into space. Yes, both craft will be working toward a controlled landing and reuse of both stages.

I just can’t say it enough how appreciative I am for what Elon Musk is doing. There are so many ways in which the man could have made his fortune. Advancing humanity towards a new and exciting future in space travel, which will one day soon lead to us expanding throughout the cosmos, changing the way we approach space travel, and finding ways to make space travel cheaper and more affordable, even to the point that one day soon, you or I might be able to buy a ticket to board a Starship flight to the Voyager Station, to the moon, or even to Mars, or beyond. Hmmm, mmm. Exciting times.

Okay, well that’s it for today. Have a blessed Easter Sunday!

Up Next Week: (Unless Pre-Empted by Current Events)-Virgin Galactic’s Spaceship 3

There’s a lot going on now in space, technology, and the world. Keep checking back here where you’ll find it all, along with a good book to read, and more, at The Horton Post.

Jeff strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1161

March 24, 2021

Technical Discussion: Voyager Station

Good evening friends.

Some of you may know by now that I am a big science-fiction buff, and I have been for as long as I can remember; at least since I was a small boy sitting down at night having dinner in front of a really cool new program called Star Trek.

That program, the original that is, remains among my all-time favorite for at least three reasons. First, Gene Rodenberry, the producer, made certain that the version of the future that he offered us was one of hope. Remember, when Star Trek came out in 1966, we were locked in the grip of a Cold War with the Soviet Union. It had only been five years since the world nearly ended in a horrific nuclear holocaust, with leaders of the two most powerful nations on Earth at that time, the United States and the Soviet Union, seemingly bent on unleashing his nation’s entire nuclear arsenal on the other. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed, and that generation survived to bear another, and yet another since.

Living under such a ghastly threat as global thermonuclear war and the subsequent fallout that would soon follow it was not easy, and there was much despair, leading many to drugs and other diversions to escape from the constant fear. When Star Trek came on television, it offered us a future in which humanity had, if narrowly, averted such a nuclear crisis, and had risen to become one of the most advanced races in the galaxy in only a few centuries, leaping across the vastness of space with the now-infamous warp drive, with its also-famous shields protecting the ship and its crew from harmful radiation, attacks, and many other threats common to space travel. There was the transporter which allowed them to forego the use of a shuttle craft, a universal translator to bridge language barriers with alien species, and so on. But it was always the bright, hopeful future that drew so many to it.

There was also, of course, the ground-breaking special effects, and the incredible, extremely original storytelling, which only added to the positive, hopeful message we’d all grown to love. Of course, prominent in the crew was an African-Americans, an Asian, and a Russian, during a time of conflict of race and nationalities.

It is in this spirit that I ask you this; have you ever heard of The Voyager Station? If your answer is no, I wouldn’t be surprised in the least. But what I’ve learned about it recently has proven to be quite a shock to the system. Why? Because It hasn’t been all over the news. Look, I’m a bit of a newshound so yeah, I am stunned I haven’t heard anything. So if you haven’t heard about it here it is; there is not one but two privately built space stations being constructed by a company called Orbital Assembly and The Gateway Foundation. The Voyager Station is going to be a spaceport, the first of its kind ever built, at least by humanity. Yep, the Voyager Station, formally referred to as Von Braun station and then The Gateway Station, it will be a rotating space station hotel and laboratory, and the first built in space. Yes, it will be built using robots, drivers, pods, and many brands new techniques being pioneered by OAC.

Blog Post #1160

March 17, 2021

Free flow Thinking: Self-Driving Electric Cars: Are They Really Ready for Prime Time?

Good evening to you, my very clear-thinking, discerning, and enlightened readers!

Now before I begin, please allow me to say that I certainly appreciate that many of you have far better taste, and perhaps an appetite for a much more select line of automobiles than the ones I will discuss. And I also acknowledge that in all likelihood, many of you have a process for researching, seeking out, and consummating your next vehicle purchase that is far superior to my own, and for that I commend you. Much of this post then, may not be for you. Please consider that it might, however, be helpful to someone else who might not have your “head” for business when it comes to buying a new car. In either of event know that I often find myself impressed at just how cunning, insightful, and capable the average American is; how much more then are you, my most cultured, erudite readers?

Nevertheless, and for whatever it is worth, below is a bit of what I’ve found in my search for my next automobile. Perhaps I’ll post an update once I’ve made my purchase; we will have to wait and see!

Starship Watch Update:

This will be a really cool, new feature…okay; so, it isn’t really new to the blog. Yeah, I obsess about it, I know! I just think it’s cool stuff, okay?” Moving on…

Starship SN11 is still sitting at the launchpad in Boca Chica, TX. A static fire of all three Raptor engines was expected today but from what I can tell, as of this writing it hasn’t taken place, yet. I have a live feed up, however, so if it does, I hope to let you know! Once this test has been successfully completed, SN11 should be ready for its first, and possibly its only flight, whose primary objective is, I suspect, to land safely. More on this as it develops.

Self-Driving Electric Cars: Are They Really Ready for Prime Time?

So…I’ve been looking at buying a new car and in case you were wondering, no, I never even considered a self-driving car, of any persuasion. Now don’t get me w

.rong, I love the idea. Ever since I watched the self-driving taxicab in the Arnold Schwarzenegger film, Total Recall, I’ve been intrigued with the concept of taking a nap on the way home from work without it turning into a dirt nap. But therein lies the problem. How many advertisements have you heard where you hear the statement, or something like it, “drivers must give their attention to the road at all times…” Say what? Then why am I spending all of that hard-earned cash on a driverless system? The answer is, it’s not a driverless system; it’s a car with some cool features that resembles, sort of, a driverless system. Only a system that is truly as safe as or preferably, even safer than, a human driver should be considered a driverless system. And just as a human being has alternatives to driving when they are clearly unable to successfully manage and direct said vehicle, can buy several cups of coffee, pull over and let someone else drive, or just pull over and sleep it off, so too should an automated driving system have many failover systems in place, alternatives to crashing and killing not only the driver, but potentially and very likely, multiple other drivers as well. No, until the ads go something like this, “Completely autonomous; humans can take a nap while the autonomous driving system drives you safely home,” and the company has gone at least six months with no lawsuits putting it out of business, then I’ll give it a look.

Electric Cars

I remember driving through central Florida several years ago when I came across a strange, small town that had apparently rolled its welcome mats up, shut the doors, and turned off the lights about the time the sun set, and the full moon rose. Now given that this town sat on the edge of an immense acreage of woods well, it wasn’t creepy at all when we nearly ran out of gas because we couldn’t find any gas stations open there. Needless to say, I was not wanting to run out of gas while in that particular town, so we prayed and, twenty minutes and with the fuel indicator a needle nearly lying flat on the dashboard, far below empty, a gas station in another small town with the gas pumps open appeared out of nowhere. Needless to say, I stopped and filled that tank up just as fast as that gas pump could get it out.

Well, when it came to all-electric cars, which I found myself strangely drawn to after watching a Consumer reports review of one of the lower-end Teslas. While I found having nothing more than what amounted to a tablet PC running the entire car very disconcerting, I found that I really liked the independence from gasoline. I’ve written in several of my novels, and happen to believe, that the world will soon begin running out of fossil fuels before long, it has to, there’s a finite supply and last I checked, there are no more dinosaurs.

So, what did all my talk about my trip through the Florida ghost town have to do with buying a new car? Well, when I started seriously contemplating electric cars, specifically Teslas, I learned about the charging stations Tesla’s setup across the country. “Ookay ,” I thought, “that sounds good. But what happens if I can’t quite make it to one of those stations. What fi I’d been in the ghost town at midnight, under a full moon, no one alive anywhere to be found, and my electric car “runs out of gas? Do I want to walk around until morning or worst still, sleep in the car all night, in the ghost town, until I can catch a ride to the charging station? Oh, wait, how can I carry enough electricity back to my car to get it to a charging station?

Seriously, that place truly was creepy, and I don’t spook that easy; I don’t want to push that car, wait for a tow truck, or push a minivan for 10-20 miles whether I’m in a middle of a ghost town or not.

So, what’s the moral of the story? In my humble opinion, you should determine how you would handle running out of power as you would running out of gas before you buy an electric car and find out for yourself.

In my assessment, the vehicles need an emergency failover system of some sort, perhaps a small electric engine or an emergency battery of some sort, which would only be used in the event you run out of power and can get you to a charging station before your brand-new electric car becomes nothing more than a paperweight.

By now you may (or may not) be wondering what I did. Well, if you read my earlier post, you saw where I had a problem with the State of North Carlina forcing me to have my car declared “a total loss” following a wreck where someone else hit my vehicle. Yes, I was punished for someone else hitting me. Oh, I get the law was passed to help protect people from unscrupulous people in the car and insurance business, but they should have worded the law so that the insurance companies aren’t essentially forced to junk my vehicle.

Now fortunately, we were able to find a low-cost body shop to repair the door on my minivan. This bought me the additional time I wanted to save-up more money to buy the car I want. Before I heard bac from the body shop, however, I had narrowed my decision down to two 2021 vehicles:

  • The Subaru Outback
  • The Honda CV

I’d pretty much settled on the Subaru. It had an excellent rating from Consumer Reports, its reliability score was solid but not great, and the turbo version I took on a test drive handled like a dream.

I’m glad the body shop got back with me before I traveled too far down that road, however. Truthfully, I wasn’t all that thrilled with the reliability scores of any of the vehicles I was considering. The only cars that blew the other vehicles out of the water were not the type I was looking for this time around. The 2021 Kia Telluride had one of the highest ratings I’d ever seen from Consumer Reports, a 97, and a 5/5 for Predicted Reliability. It was simply too big for what I needed. Also, the Telluride seemed to be a one-off for Kia when it comes to exceptionalism, the exception instead of the rule.

My most heavily used, and relied upon tools when looking for a new car have been and continue to be these:

Consumer reports ()

Edmunds (https://www.edmunds.com/)

They haven’t let me down yet!

Next Week, a new series: New Innovative Offerings in Technology

First up: A New Hotel-In Space Coming soon to an orbit near you.

Jeff strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

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www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1159

March 10, 2021

Free flow Thinking: $39 or Three Engine Overhauls

Good evening my most learned yet unpretentious truth-seeking readers!

I have what I hope may be somewhat useful, if mundane, information to share with you tonight. It is for your edification, elucidation, and profit that I share this with you tonight.

But first, a word from one of our favorite spaceship companies, SpaceX:

Before we get started, I’d like to share a few updates from the world of Elon Musk and SpaceX.

First, a comment from Mr. Musk about what happened to Starship SN10 a week or so back.

“SN10 engine was low on thrust due (probably) to partial helium ingestion from fuel header tank. Impact of 10m/s [22 miles per hour] crushed legs & part of skirt…Multiple fixes in work for SN11.” Elon Musk, Owner of SpaceX.

Next, here is a bit of good news. Starship SN11 has already been moved to the launchpad at the Boca Chica, TX facility following those same fixes. Perhaps we will have the opportunity to see the first successful high-altitude flight, roll, and controlled landing of the largest rocket to have ever taken off and landed in such a controlled manner.

Moving on…

$39 or Three Engine Overhauls

$39.00 a year. That is all you have to spend to avoid an experience like what I had with my old Mitsubishi Galant, which I purchased with just 12,000 miles on it many years ago. The vehicle was new enough that it was still under factory warranty. That’s a good thing too, because I had not owned the car very long before I had to take it in for a major engine overhaul. I was told that the main seals had developed a leak, and that it was going to cost around a thousand dollars to replace that seal (it may have been closer to two thousand, it’s been a long time now. I know I was young, didn’t make that much money, and I was very thankful it was still under warranty.

So, it could have happened to anyone, right? Even newer cars with less mileage develop serious problems from time to time, right? Yeah, well that’s what I thought at least, until a year or so I had to take the car back in for service for another oil leak. Guess what they told me; that’s right, the mail seal had to be replaced, again. Once more it was covered under warranty for which once more, I was grateful. But why had it happened again? The mechanic at the dealership had no real answer as I recall. After a few days I had my car back and all seemed well.

That lasted for another year or so; long enough that this time, when the mechanic told me, for the third time, that my main seals had to be replaced, again, there was no warranty to cover it. Now I don’t recall how it came about. I suppose somewhat at my dealership spoke with someone at Mitsubishi because I soon learned that, to their credit, Mitsubishi offered to pay for the repair themselves. Perhaps they were embarrassed that such a new car had the same problem three times in a row. “Ah, did it happen a fourth time,” you’re probably asking by now, “and if so, what happened?” Well, to be honest, I can’t recall whether I had the problem a fourth time or now. I’m fairly certain I’d already decided it was time to buy a new car and had already set out on the path toward finding one.

This leads me to my $39.00 remark. You might be surprised to learn that $39.00 a year is exactly what Consumer Reports https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/index.htm charges to access the test results they list on their websites.

Now many of you have, like me, been using Consumer Reports for years to help guide your buying decisions, and kudos to you for doing so because that small fee is more than worth what you get for it.

The Search…

Following my debacle with that Mitsubishi Gallant, I decided I wanted my next car to be about as reliable as I could afford no, strike that. I wanted my next car to be more reliable than I could afford. So, the search began for my next vehicle purchase which, this time, would be with reliability at the very top of the list of traits I was looking for. I wanted to spend my time driving from place to place, not stuck at the dealership waiting around for hours for my car to be repaired, or for a shuttle to arrive to carry me back to the dealership so I could pick-up my vehicle.

Now while I relied very heavily on Consumer Reports, I didn’t rely solely on them. I’ve always believed on spreading out risk, so I also visited sites like Edmunds.com and others, to get their insight into vehicles.

Now I won’t say exactly when this search was going on, but it was a long time ago. Anyway, after spending may hours on these websites, I finally narrowed it down to a handful of vehicles, The Honda Accord, the Toyota Camry, the Ford Taurus, and the Nissan Sentra.

Base on the data from Consumer Reports, it seemed that the Taurus had begun a gradual decline a few years earlier after receiving top awards for reliability only a few years earlier. I was disheartened because I wanted to buy American. Money was very tight, however, and I couldn’t afford to be constantly paying for repairs once the car was out of warranty. The Nissan Sentry didn’t seem to keep up with the others, so it too fell out. This left the Honda Accord and the Toyota Camry. The Camry had a timing chain, so no regular, expensive timing belt changes. It also handled curves extremely well, something I really valued, The Honda, however, won out hands-down for reliability and as much as I liked the Camry, years of problems a friend of mine had with her Toyota, and the superior marks for reliability of the Accord made it largely a no brainer. That Honda Accord lasted me over 200,000 miles and over 20 years. I bought a Honda Odyssey minivan just a few years later and I still have that. So, what does that say about Consumer Reports; can they call it or what?

So, recently I started looking at vehicles again. Some of the came inro play, namely the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry. But there were some new twists and turns this time, not the least of which was a brand new, game-changing entrant in the field, namely the Tesla.

Sorry, cliffhanger. I’ll fill you in on my recent experiences looking for a new vehicle next week.

Until then, don’t forget, the $100.00 Giveaway contest ends this Saturday. Make sure you send an email to me, referencing the contest, once you have twenty folks who have subscribed to the blog and followed two of my social media accounts!

For more information:

Blog Post #1155, The Horton Post Free America 2021 Social Media Giveaway! | The Horton Library

Jeff strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

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www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1158

March 6, 2021

Free flow Thinking: Gun Permits, State Laws, and Starships

My apologies for the late post! There was so much to say and so little time to write!

It is my sincere hope that everyone is doing well and staying safe during the pandemic. God willing, we may be ending the end of this thing as vaccines roll out and life finally has an opportunity to return to normal.

Also, a reminder, I’m trying to give away $100.00 to the first person to get 20 people to subscribe to my blog and follow me on at least two of the following social media websites:

Remember, The Horton Post Free America 2021 Social Media Giveaway ends on March 13th. For more information click here: Blog Post #1155, The Horton Post Free America 2021 Social Media Giveaway! | The Horton Library

Two unpleasant experiences that reveal the need for everyday Americans to get more involved in their government…

Isn’t the government supposed to be working for us????

The Government works for us, not the other way around; though it often seems nearly everyone in government from the President down to local county courthouse supervisors have forgotten that.

I once knew someone who delivered mail for the United States Postal Service. He’d sometimes tell me stories about some of the people he worked with, and how employees could get away with virtually anything and still keep their jobs. He said it was virtually impossible to get fired there. Having worked in the private sector for virtually all of my adult life, I found the concept somewhat alien. I’d worked for companies off and on for years that strove to be productive and efficient to the point they could squeeze blood out of a turnip. Never satisfied, they would then expect employees to find a way to spin gold out of straw and always, it was very, very easy to lose one’s job.

An experience dealing with some local government employees reminded me of what my friend had said to me, and it appears he’d not been embellishing the stories he’d told.

I recently made a trip to the county courthouse, where the sheriff’s office is located. While there, I asked about my Concealed Carry Weapon Permit. I’d missed my appt. several weeks earlier and was forced to reschedule for the first slot available, which was five months out.

Now, I had no idea what would happen. I thought they might say they couldn’t process both because they were so busy, and that I’d have to come back at my scheduled time. I decided I would try reasoning with the woman at the reception desk. I asked her why they couldn’t go ahead and process my request since I was there, and there was no one else in line to get theirs. She said only that it was because there were others scheduled before me. I looked around at the near-empty room, with no one in line but me, and I looked back at her wearing a most-incredulous expression. “Really?” I said, “Who exactly is in front of me, or behind me?” I later learned that her supervisor had instructed her not to process my application. Greatly annoyed I continued in vain trying to reason with her, lavishing on her the frustration I should have expended on her boss instead.

As we left the courthouse and drove away, I was on a rant. How inefficient and ridiculous they were, continually acting as if they were all so very busy with the phone switchboard constantly lit up, yet there was no one in line but me for twenty minutes! I’d already paid my fee and processed my paperwork online; and there was no one waiting. Processing my application then would have meant there was one less to do during the busy summer months. Instead, some bureaucrat decides, for whatever reason, that I, the peasant, must wait for a more opportune time. Yes, I was no longer a citizen of a country where the government is of the people, by the people, and for the people; I lived in a country ruled by tyrants both large and small.

The Government Works for us, not the other way around; though it often seems nearly everyone in government from the president down to local county courthouse supervisors have forgotten that. I suspect until you, I, and a big chunk of Americans all over the country begin to stand-up, make some noise, and show-up at the ballot box on election day to fire those who refuse to acknowledge it, that things are only going to get worse. We must remind our elected officials, who manage the non-elected officials, that we the people are in charge, and not them, and if they refuse to listen to us, we will most certainly fire them. If we do nothing, I fear we the people will continue to be kicked around by those in power, who believe we are here to serve their every whim.

Arrest the shooting victim and tax him for the bullet!

Oh yes, here’s another example of our government taking another step in the direction of tyranny. The following isn’t overly complicated, but there are some twists and turns, so stay with me. Below is the sequence of events as they unfolded.:

  1. A young man driving his truck failed to yield and slammed into my 2001 Honda Odyssey minivan’s passenger door.
  2. The state trooper found the other driver to be at fault.
  3. His insurance company called and sent an adjuster to my house.
  4. The adjuster said, “Because the repairs needed to fix your van exceed 75% of its value, I’m afraid we’re going to have to total loss your vehicle.” (Keep in mind, only the door was visibly damaged). He continued. “We will pay you market value for your van.” Now the market value, they said, was over one thousand dollars less than the cost of the repairs!”
  5. I told them, “I don’t care about the money, just fix my van back the way it was before your insured damaged it!” I told them I was asking for no more AND no less than what I had before the accident (seems fair…right?).
  6. The other driver’s insurance company claimed their hands were tied and that there was a state law requiring them to total loss the vehicle. I didn’t believe them; how could that be?
  7. I called the North Carolina Insurance Commissioner, who confirmed what the agent had said (See the actual statute below. It truly boggles the mind; how mind-numbingly stupid to pass such a law without an exception for someone like myself. Either that, or some lawmakers’ palms got royally greased by somebody. IDK, maybe it was passed with the intention of protecting folks but missed its mark with people like us. Regardless of how things got this way, the law clearly needs to be fixed.
  8. With seemingly having no other recourse for myself, I was able to work with the other insurance company to close the gap a little. Nevertheless, I’m being punished for being a victim.
  9. Oh, I forgot to mention that the law also requires I get a salvage attachment to the title of my Honda Odyssey; can you believe that? It drives perfectly fine, I’ve already paid to have the door fixed, yet I’m being forced to accept a salvage title on my vehicle. What a world. This whole mess is wrong, very wrong, and I don’t care how long this ridiculous law has been on the books. I can only imagine what a working single mother of four children must think when she’s struck by another vehicle and told that the State of North Carolina will not allow the insurance company to repair her vehicle. Instead, she’s going to have shop all over the state and more to find a vehicle of what the state declares to be equal value.
  10. I’ve already contacted my state representatives about getting this ridiculous and punishing law revoked or amended. It won’t help me but maybe it will help someone a lot worse off than me in the future if we can get it changed.
  11. For this interested, I’ve included the most relevant paragraph from the statute below.

11 NCAC 04 .0418TOTAL LOSSES ON MOTOR VEHICLES

(c) When a motor vehicle is damaged in an amount which, inclusive of original and supplemental claims, equals or exceeds 75 percent of the pre-accident actual cash value as determined in accordance with Paragraph (d) of this Rule, an insurance company shall designate the motor vehicle as a “total loss” and pay the claimant the pre-accident value. In return, the insurance company shall receive possession of the legal title of the salvage of the total loss motor vehicle.(d)If the insurance company and the claimant are unable to reach an agreement as to the actual cash value of the total loss motor vehicle, the settlement offer shall be based upon the following values:(1)The published regional average values of substantially similar motor vehicles; and(2)The retail cost of two or more substantially similar motor vehicles in the local market area when substantially similar motor vehicles are available or were available within90 days of the accident to consumers in the local market area.

Starships

It was a big day last week not only for Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX, but also for the entire planet!

As you, my brilliant, exceptional, accomplished, and erudite readers know, SpaceX has been working on a prototype spacecraft capable of not only making it to Mars, but also landing there as well. The Starship spacecraft will be capable of carrying 100 metric tons of cargo, or 100 people to the moon or to Mars.

Furthermore, SpaceX plans to re-use most components involved in these launches much as they already have with Starship’s cousin launch vehicles, Falcon9 and Falcon Heavy.

Elon Musk’s approach to building spacecraft is as unique as it is successful. For Starship, he has a virtual assembly line of Starships being built onsite at the SpaceX Launch facility in Boca Chica, near Brownsville, Texas. In building reusable spacecraft that land instead of being burned up in Earth’s atmosphere SpaceX, working with NASA, is pioneering new technologies and new approaches and techniques to spaceflight that has frequently resulted in explosion after explosion, in the early stages of testing. The important thing is that they learn from each mistake, from each flaw uncovered and correct them, comfortable in the knowledge that they will easily recoup any losses as each new ship becomes stable, dependable, and reusable, as has the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, which experienced their own explosions during their early testing. Now, the Falcon spacecraft have proven to SpaceX, to NASA, and to the world that Elon Musk’s approach to designing, building, and testing spacecraft works.

SN8

SN8, or Serial Number 8, was the first Starship to achieve high-altitude flight, accomplish the complicated belly flop maneuver, and align itself for landing. As you can see in the video below, it came in too fast, which was caused by something related to fuel pressure. As Musk later said, “Fuel header tank pressure was low during landing burn, causing touchdown velocity to be high & RUD, but we got all the data we needed!” RUD being an abbreviation, of course, for Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly, a.k.a. an explosion.

SN8’s Test Flight

https://tinyurl.com/eye84rdv

SN9, which launched with SN10 already sitting on the launchpad nearby, flew to an altitude of over 6 miles, performed the roll, and once more oriented itself for landing. Unfortunately, only one engine fired when there were supposed to be two, resulting in yet another RUD.

SN9’s Test Flight

https://tinyurl.com/yhfphpxh

With SN10 SpaceX achieved yet another very important, and significant milestone in the effort to carry human beings to Mars. SN10 not only achieved everything SN8 and SN9 accomplished, but it also landed successfully landed at the Boca Chica site! The first time in human history such a large spacecraft landed in such a manner.

it appears that at some point during landing, the SN10 developed a methane leak which ultimately caused a third RUD. Still yet, SN10 was a remarkable achievement.

Note: I did have a link of a video done by NASA engineers that included the SN10 explosion but it’s since been removed, so I now have a SpaceX clip below without the explosion. The explosion is available, on the 2nd link.

SpaceX’s SN10 ship successful launch and landing

https://tinyurl.com/2aauf6nx

SN10 Explosion:

https://tinyurl.com/mdju7bhd

SpaceX engineers will undoubtedly have SN11 on the launchpad any day now, and you can most certainly expect to see the first successful launch, and landing, of a SpaceX Starship, without the RUD, within the next few months!

Stay-tuned and stay safe and remember, it’s a great time to be alive!

Jeff strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

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www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1157

February 14, 2021

Technical Discussion: Clean Coal

Some years ago, I saw something on television, a scientist, or maybe he was an engineer, who was talking and demonstrating something I’d never heard of before, clean coal. He claimed that coal, which the United States has in abundance, could be used without pumping so much carbon dioxide into the air, thereby making it one of the biggest manmade sources of global warming.

It must have been during the Obama administration’s “War on Coal.” Just take at the first page of search results that appeared in Bing when I typed, “Obama administration shuts down coal plants”…

Obama EPA War on Coal to Shut 200+ Coal-Fired Plants …

https://thenewamerican.com/obama-epa-war-on-coal…

Aug 09, 2013 · Barack Obama’s antipathy toward coal is no secret. During his first presidential run, in 2008, candidate Obama let it be known that his plan was to bankrupt the coal industry with huge fees and…

Obama declares a War on Coal | Fox News

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/obama-declares-a-war-on-coal

Jun 25, 2013 · An administration that throughout its 2012 election campaign denied it was waging a War on Coal has now come out and publicly declared its intention to shut down coal-fired power plants – putting…

Obama orders new rules on coal-fired plants, sets …

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/obama-orders-new…

Jun 25, 2013 · President Obama pressed ahead Tuesday with his climate change agenda, calling for new regulations on coal-fired power plants and setting a …

Obama Kept His Promise, 83,000 Coal Jobs Lost And 400 …

https://dailycaller.com/2016/09/05/obama-kept-his…

Sep 05, 2016 · Obama Kept His Promise, 83,000 Coal Jobs Lost And 400 Mines Shuttered. This Labor Day, America has 83,000 fewer coal jobs and 400 coal mines than it did when Barack Obama was elected in 2008, showing that the president has followed through on his pledge to “bankrupt” the coal industry. A 2015 study found the coal industry lost 50,000 jobs from 2008 to 2012 during Obama’s …

Obama To States: Shut Down Coal Plants Or Else | The Daily …

https://dailycaller.com/2015/02/03/obama-coal-highway

Feb 03, 2015 · Font Size: The Obama administration is taking a page from their health care playbook and setting aside billions of dollars to encourage states to shut down coal-fired power plants and implement policies to fight global warming. President Obama’s 2016 budget proposal includes $4 billion in payments to “support states exceeding the minimum requirements” …

I remember how hearing how bad it was in states like West Virginia and others. So many plants closed down, so many people, employed for so long at these coal plants, these coal mines, and these energy companies. I remember how badly I felt for them, and how glad I was when I saw the guy talking about clean coal. “This is it,” I thought, “the thing that breathes new life into the coal industry.

Well, the industry did turn around in a major way just a few years later, when a man named Donald J. Trump was sworn-in as Commander-in-Chief. It wasn’t because of clean coal, but because of the raw determination of the folks who decided to hang ion and stick around in coal, and assistance provided by our new leader.

But clean coal has been quietly moving forward it seems, slowly finding new and better ways to handle coal.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

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Blog Post #1156

February 17, 2021

Technical Discussion: What’s Going On? The Equilibrium Theory and Manipulating Space-Time

Before I start on the “Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey stuff…” any David Tenant-the tenth Doctor in Doctor Who fans out there?

The following is a quote from the paper from Alan C. Holt listed below. Please note that this was written in 1980, that’s three decades ago folks!

SPACE TESTING OF ELECTROMAGNETICALLY SENSITIVE MATERIALS FOR BREAKTHROUGH PROPULSION PHYSICS

Article, Jun 1999

Alan C. Holt, Eric W. Davis, Harold E. Puthoff

“Recent ultrahigh-intensity, peta/eta-watt tabletop lasers have achieved extreme electric and magnetic fields, pressure, temperature and space-time curvature that can only be found close to a black holehorizon. Based on these research and experimental efforts, some examples of space experiment andmaterials/technology testing approaches have been examined to determine the feasibility and potential benefits ofusing the International Space Station (ISS) to address breakthrough propulsion physics and technology challenges.

Space testing of electromagnetically sensitive materials for breakthrough propulsion physics…”

Recently it has been experimentally demonstrated that non-local (instantaneous) communication between two beams of light (spin direction) can randomly occur. The effect is described as a consequence of the physics of quantum mechanics. Other research has experimentally demonstrated that the zero point radiation/fields (ZPF), which pervade space-tim…

Follow link below to download the full paper:

https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Alan-C-Holt-2053410365

Now below, is an updated paper, an article submitted in January 2019 by Yoshinari Minami.

NEW DEVELOPMENT OF SPACE PROPULSION THEORY-BREAKTHROUGH OF CONVENTIONAL PROPULSION TECHNOLOGY

Article, Jan 2019

Yoshinari Minami

At the present stage of space propulsion technology, the only practical propulsion system is a chemical propulsion system and an electric propulsion system, which are based on the expulsion of a mass to induce a momentum thrust. Since the maximum speed is limited by the product of the gas effective exhaust velocity and the natural logarithm of mass…

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330184698_NEW_DEVELOPMENT_OF_SPACE_PROPULSION_THEORY-BREAKTHROUGH_OF_CONVENTIONAL_PROPULSION_TECHNOLOGY

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

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Blog Post #1155

February 13, 2021

Special Announcement: Announcing The Horton Post Free America 2021 Social Media Giveaway!

Friends.

I recently left Twitter and Facebook after several personal experiences with the ridiculous and Orwellian censorship exercised by the company executive. I’m also moving away from Google, Apple, and Amazon for the same reasons. I’ve been active on all of these sites over the years and I’ve invested years in building up followers.

But by Heaven this is America, not the Soviet Union and not some third-world dictatorship. These are businesses that believe we are too dependent on them and their platforms to ever leave them, leaving us no choice but to obey and follow their every whim. Will, these pathetic miscreant wretches have another thought coming, as I believe, hope, and pray more and more Americans will be doing exactly the same thing, abandoning the world of Big Brother and the Communist Party for the free and open world of America and the liberty and freedom she stands for.

Now don’t get me wrong, this is not a matter of political parties, it is a matter of being free, and remaining free in America. One thing is certain; if we don’t fight for our freedom we are certain to lose it. Russian and China will make certain of that.

So….starting on new platforms I need followers, folks to interact with on these platforms. Initially it will be Gab, MeWe, and CloutHub, but I hope Parler will become a significant social media site again as well.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

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www.hortonlibrary.com

Author Jeff W. Horton

Blog Post #1154

February 10, 2021

Free flow Thinking: Could There be a Second American Civil War?

Good evening my enlightened, informed, and prolific readers.

 It was election night of 2016 and Donald J. Trump has just done what no one ever believed possible; he had defeated Hillary Clinton and become President-Elect Donald J.  Trump. Within days there would be calls for his impeachment as many on the left seek to do by impeachment what they’d been unable to do at the ballot box; defeat Donald Trump.

With everything going on now, it seemed to be the perfect time to share it!Over the next four years President Trump was a breath of fresh air to conservatives, this traditional Americans who loved God, family, and country above all else. Duty, honor, integrity.

To another group he was the thorn in their side, garlic to their vampire, kryptonite to their superman, it seemed he was the very antithesis, the embodiment of everything they stood against. For those who embraced freedom from traditions, progressive ways of doing things, and were determined to bestow on humanity a new, and better way of living, the rants and ravings, sometimes even violent outbursts that would follow came to be referred to as Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Then came the 2020 election, and the shocking results that followed. I truly doubt that Joe Biden himself believed he had a chance of winning that election. The crowds he drew were virtually non-existent, his energy more sapping that inspiring, and he spent endless days in the basement of his home instead of campaigning.

Hey, given that he’s older than me, I can hardly blame him. I’m just saying that whether it was a coordinated effort to rig the election in Biden’s favor or a legitimate win by the democratic candidate, I leave that to our <cough…cough…> impartial justice department which was not corrupted by Barrack Obama and Joe Biden. We saw from the former Director of the FBI, James Comey, and his Section Chief for Counterintelligence, Peter Strzok, just how unbiased the Justice Department had become when it launched Operation Crossfire Hurricane against candidate Donald Trump before he was even elected.

We must remember, however, that tensions between liberals and conservatives stretches back long before President Trump became the new commander-in-chief. Remember all of the racial tensions during the Obama years, the unisex bathrooms, the scandals during the Obama and Clinton administrations.

Now the animosity between these two groups has soared to new heights since the turn of the new millennium, and some have suggested it could lead America into a new American civil war, with the Left against the Right, Liberals vs. Conservatives, some would even say Democrats vs. Republicans.

I wrote a book a few years ago entitled Future Schism. I thought that, given the recent uptick in tensions and war of words, with the unprecedented second impeachment of former President Trump, and the return of Obama-Era policies, that it might be a good time to mention it.  We will have to work, and pray hard, if we want to change the path we are presently on because, in my opinion, the end of that road is not very pretty.

Below is a link to the book trailer, followed by an excerpt. I hope that if you find it interesting enough, you will order a copy online from your favorite bookstore.

FUTURE SCHISM

In the not-too-distant future…

  • The United States is a country torn apart by ideology and disdain.
  • Two cultures now live completely isolated and separate.
  • Two heroes will arise, a man and a woman, who will risk everything to find each other, and to lead their people through a second American revolution, and to freedom…

Buy Future Schism:   https://tinyurl.com/mt3rxi0x`

Future Schism: Book Trailer:: https://vimeo.com/510980551

Excerpt from Future Schism:

 Prologue

“Throughout most of the 21st century the divide grew deeper and deeper, until eventually someone decided that, in America at least, it might be best if the two competing ideological groups segregated, essentially splitting the country into two equal parts, with the more liberal citizens migrating toward the west coast and the more conservative citizens migrating toward the east coast. Many reasoned that the United States had, after all, been divided nearly 50/50 for over a century anyway; this step only made it official.

On January 21, 2076, a large gathering of activists in San Francisco, California, led by Governor Jose Leto, suddenly declared that the entire liberal movement, now calling itself the People’s Liberal Socialist Democratic State, was seceding from the United States and forming its own government. The secession was, of course, considered an act of rebellion, leaving the rest of the country no choice but to respond, leading to the start of the Second Civil War of the United States.

Soon after it began, however, it soon became clear that the outcome of the second war would be considerably different than the first. The PLSDS was losing terribly and was on the verge of annihilation; with the PLSDS too stubborn or too foolhardy to surrender despite abundant devastation and massive casualties, the leadership in Washington, DC eventually decided to end the war in hopes that one day, the two halves would eventually become whole again. The move was widely celebrated, since most people understood that had the war continued much longer, the devastation and death resulting from even a nuke-free war would not have left enough of the PLSDS to rejoin the rest of the country. So, the war ended in a cease fire, and concluded with an eventual peace treaty, which was signed on a Christmas Eve nearly three years after the war began, on December 24, 2079.

The war had taken a very heavy toll, however, and not just on the United States. By the year 2079 global economies had become intricately intertwined and linked, so much so that even countries who had the foresight to see what was coming before the secession of the PLSDS had been unable to untangle themselves in time to avert disaster. With the economic and financial infrastructure of the world’s largest economy, the United States, in complete collapse and disarray following the Great Schism, country after country soon found themselves following suit. Economy after economy crashed, until the entire global market had collapsed to the point that it would be several decades before it was ever to recover to the point that any meaningful trading could take place again. It was a global disaster of biblical proportions, which left governments, who might otherwise have sought to capitalize on the misfortunes of the United States, so busy trying to hold their own countries together that it offered them little time to cause trouble.

With the PLSDS having left and taken half the country with it, the more conservative citizens of what remained of the United States, coming to grips with the new state of affairs, decided to make a fresh start of it as well, changing the name of what remained of their country to the Free Market Republic of Conservatism.

On that dark day for the world, and what was to become a very sad day for America, after nearly three-hundred years as a nation, the country that rose to become the most powerful nation the world has ever known, the United States of America, was suddenly no more. From then on there would be not one civilization between Canada and Mexico, but two, the People’s Liberal Socialist Democratic State, commonly referred to as The Blue Zone, and the Free Market Republic of Conservatism, commonly referred to as The Red Zone.

A single nation, once divided by ideology, had split into two distinct provinces now ruled by the respective ideology of each. It was a social experiment that would have ramifications for billions of people the world over for generations to come.

Chapter 1


July 1, 2126

The butt of the weapon struck my friend on the side of his head, producing a cracking sound that I could easily hear over the crowd. The blow barely missed his temple, a blow that would likely have killed him. I would have considered it a mercy, given what he’d already been through and what lay ahead of him. Undoubtedly the soldier who’d struck him would have been executed on the spot had the reckless blow prematurely killed the man who had been like a brother to me, the leader of the revolution, and my best friend’s husband.

From where I stood watching from across the crowded stadium, I could catch glimpses of his face as he made his way toward the platform, surrounded by soldiers from both camps. The pronounced limp and the repeated tumbles to the pavement, along with the swollen eyes and blood flowing from his nose and mouth, made it evident that he’d been severely beaten and tortured, his captors determined to glean all the information they could about the number of remaining resistance fighters, troop movements, and planned attacks prior to his very public execution.

Eventually my friend cleared the crowd and entered the area surrounding the platform where the security and police forces were, and I was offered a much better view of his face. I sighed heavily, relaxed, and took in a deep breath upon catching a glimpse of the now all-too-familiar look of pure determination, and even a slight grin, on his bloodied, tortured face. I shook my head in amazement, wondering how he was able to keep his composure after the way he’d been treated. I supposed he knew they would have eventually extracted everything they wanted to know, given enough time and torture, but there was a sense of urgency for the Red Council to bring an abrupt end to the revolution, and their inability to break him gave him some measure of victory over his enemies, however slight the victory may have been. At last I had come to understand something that had puzzled me since he’d been chosen to lead the resistance, why Daniel? Watching my friend sneer at his enemies to his left as he approached the steps to the platform, it was clear that it was his strength, his raw courage, and faith that had brought them so far, nearly to the point of toppling not just one government, but two.

Daniel truly was a man of great strength and courage…”

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

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Blog Post #1151

January 27, 2021

Technical Discussion: What’s Going On? The Equilibrium Theory

The whole is greater than the sum of the parts

Aristotle

Let me introduce some of you to something called modern game theory.

According to Wikipedia:

“Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interaction among rational decision-makers.[1] It has applications in all fields of social science, as well as in logic, systems science and computer science. Originally, it addressed zero-sum games, in which each participant’s gains or losses are exactly balanced by those of the other participants. In the 21st century, game theory applies to a wide range of behavioral relations and is now an umbrella term for the science of logical decision making in humans, animals, and computers.

Modern game theory began with the idea of mixed-strategy equilibria in two-person zero-sum games and its proof by John von Neumann. Von Neumann’s original proof used the Brouwer fixed-point theorem on continuous mappings into compact convex sets, which became a standard method in game theory and mathematical economics. His paper was followed by the 1944 book Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, co-written with Oskar Morgenstern, which considered cooperative games of several players. The second edition of this book provided an axiomatic theory of expected utility, which allowed mathematical statisticians and economists to treat decision-making under uncertainty.

Game theory was developed extensively in the 1950s by many scholars. It was explicitly applied to evolution in the 1970s, although similar developments go back at least as far as the 1930s. Game theory has been widely recognized as an important tool in many fields. As of 2014, with the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences going to game theorist Jean Tirole, eleven game theorists have won the economics Nobel Prize. John Maynard Smith was awarded the Crafoord Prize for his application of evolutionary game.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_theory

So, in a nutshell, game theory is a strategy or model if you will, for winning a game. Well, perhaps I should say, to get what you want in a game; it’s not always a zero-sum game, not always a binary win-lose proposition.

This is exactly much of what underlies may of the problems we face as a species. We’re all determined to “stick-it to the other guy so we can get what we’re after.” So today that might mean I get what I want, tomorrow it’s you, the next day it’s the neighbor, then someone else. The point is, we always assume that in order for us to

prosper, in order for us to “win,” someone else has to lose. Well, it turns out this is, in fact, not true.

A collage of two people Description automatically generated with low confidence

Let me now introduce you to a man named John Nash. Now I’ like many of you, did not graduate with an MS or PhD in Mathematics or Economics, so yeah, I hadn’t heard of Professor John Nash until maybe ten years ago. In case you’re wondering why a photo of Russel Crow is included in the set with John Nash, or why he posted a Tweet about Nash, or why I know about Nash now; it’s all because I saw film called Beautiful Mind about then years ago, a film about John Nash featuring Russell Crowe as Nash.

In the film Crowe’s Nash finds himself in a pickle when he’s faced with graduation rapidly approaching yet Nash has no thesis prepared to turn in. Resigning himself to his fate he walks to the local bar and enjoys a few drinks with college friends. While he’s sitting there enjoying a beer, he watches four beautiful women as they walk in the front door. One, a blonde, outshines the other three; more gorgeous, gregarious, and shapely than the others. The beautiful trio immediately draws the attention of three young men.

In his mind, Crow’s Nash imagines two ways the engagement might play out. In the first scenario, each of the three men approach, but are immediately rejected by the most beautiful young woman in the group, who also happens to be the greatest tease of them all, who seems to take great pleasure in tormenting the dejected young men.

In the second scenario however, each of the three men walk by the leader of the pack, bypassing the diva among the girls. Instead of the bombshell, each man approaches one of the remaining three women, each finding a stunned, and eagerly receptive partner awaiting them. Each man, and each of the three women obtain what they want out of the encounter, a win-win for all six people. John Nash then realizes that he’s stumbled upon something big, and ends up making it not only his thesis, but a revolutionary new game theory; the Nash equilibrium, which went on to be used in trade strategies and is widely used in economics. It assures all parties get something they want, as in the scenario in the college bar, making it a win-win for all.

By the way, that film, A Beautiful Mind, is a must see. It is, by far, one of Crowe’s best performances and it highlights what Professor Nash was able to accomplish throughout his life. For example, later in life he won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences and the Abel Prize, a particularly impressive feat given the fact he began suffering from acute schizophrenia around the age of 31, if not before, and was hospitalized for it off and on until it was eventually brought under control.

So, why have I gone to such lengths to mention all of this about John Nash and the Nash Equilibrium Theory? Well, because I believe humanity has reached the point that we no longer have a choice, we must begin working together as a species. We must become less divisive, not more, we must seek peace and not war, both inside and out our respective borders. We need to understand and appreciate just how important it is to work together to advance humanity. We are, after all, one people, one species, not many. We have far more in common than we have differences. As we learned with Nash’s Equilibrium Theory, we must learn there are win-win scenarios where everyone can have something they want.

A man named Steven Covey once wrote a book that presented an incredible framework for personal effectiveness, a framework that has proven effective for people in both their professional and personal lives, and he also believed in win-win scenarios. The name of that book was Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. One of the seven habits may be of particular benefit here, and that would be Habit# 4: Think Win‐Win Integrity.

Habit 4: Think Win‐Win Integrity: Stick with your true feelings, values, and commitments Maturity: Be considerate of the feelings of others. Abundance Mentality: Believe there is plenty for everyone. Seek agreements and relationships that are mutually beneficial. In cases where a “win/win” deal cannot be achieved, accept the fact that agreeing to make “no deal” may be the best alternative. In developing an organizational culture, be sure to reward win/win behavior among employees and avoid inadvertently rewarding win/lose behavior.

In the years 1861 to 1865, America fought a civil war. In the year 1961, the world narrowly averted a nuclear holocaust during the Cuban Missile Crisis, during the standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union. One might have expected for world leaders come together seeking peace between nations after that, real peace, not some pretentious, arrogant one-upmanship, always trying to outmaneuver the other. We should have come together as one people, having come so very close to the end of life as we know it on Planet Earth, yet we did not. Now, the United States finds itself in the middle of a new cold war with China it did not seek.

Yet how can we expect to find peace with other nations when we can find peace with ourselves? This is the year 2021. You would think we would have learned from the Civil War the importance of unity, the need for it, and on placing a priority on being American before being a citizen of this state or that state, before being a democrat or a Republican, before being a liberal or a conservative. How is it that we have not?

Consider for a moment what we’ve experienced here in the United States since the beginning of the 21st century, the disturbing state of politics in America. Please understand my intent is not to be political, to make one party look bad so another party can look good. No, I am merely an American who is both shocked and dismayed at the path our country is on, who feels guilty because I’ve let it get this way, the country is in the mess it is in today because of me, this is my fault, and it is your fault too.

“Seriously,” you might say, “just who do you think you are, or we are, that any of us have any say in what happens to America?”

“That’s simple,” I’d reply, “We are the United States Government.”

“Okay, he’s lost it,” you mutter to yourself.

No, I haven’t. Seriously. Because we are the government, you, and I. The government is not the people in Washington, D.C., nor is it the men and women who sit in our state capitals. America was established by the Founding Fathers as a great experiment, the world’s first true citizen-government other than, perhaps, the ancient city-state of Athens. We may elect others to represent our will in the passing of laws, but we are the government.

Remember the words, “government of the people, by the people, for the people?” They were spoken by a rather great man. Then, like today, people in our government argued and quarreled. I suppose some of that is by design. But just as between any two parties, the rancor must have limits.

President Lincoln said these words during his address at a ceremony following the re-burial of the remains of union soldiers from the battlefield to the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on the afternoon of November 19, 1863.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

—Abraham Lincoln

We need to fix our fractured nation. We must send self-serving, dirty, crooked, lying politicians back to whatever rock they crawled out from under, and we must send the children roaming the halls of Congress back home and back to school.

Let’s get back to sending respectable grownups filled with integrity and virtue to Washington, and then to holding our elected officials, our representatives, accountable. It seems folks in Washington, D.C. these days have forgotten who works for who.

Both parties have had problems holding onto the truth and integrity, for the Republican you might think of Watergate, for example, the vile lies, corrupt, and horrific actions taken by the Democrats and members of the far left in recent years make Nixon’s lies about the break-in at the Watergate hotel seem like a Sunday School picnic.

Again, whether Democrats, Republicans, or Whigs is not the point. The point is the lies and deception, the corruption, the graft, the selling of access to our highest levels of government, the attacks on religious liberties, and the destruction of so much we hold dear in America and on which this country was built must stop. It is up to you and I to elect people, both Democrats and Republicans, who will put America first, ahead of their own ambitions, their lust for power, and their lust for money.

In recent years it has been the Democrats and others in the far left who have demonstrated time and time again an unbelievable willingness to lie, cheat, or steal to get what they want, at all costs. It seems as if they will stop at nothing, let absolutely nothing stand in their way, hold nothing too sacred to lie about, nothing too important to avoid trampling on. They tear down norms of respect, civility, and decency, throwing all truth and integrity out the window, while destroying everything in their path if necessary, especially if it crushes their political enemies under foot, or if it gets them the power they so desperately crave.

Just yesterday for example, I heard a story where, in an effort to encourage a brief moment of bipartisanship, conservative Republican Senator Ted Cruz tweeted that he agreed with liberal, far-left Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez about a statement she made about the recent elevated stock price of GameStop and other stocks. Instead of returning the kind gesture by Cruz, or just saying nothing at all, she lashed out with a vile, ridiculous, absurd, and childlike accusation; “…you almost had me murdered.”

Senator Cruz certainly did no such thing. While she’s probably referring to reports that someone had come to D.C. with that on his mind, such an association with Senator Cruz is nuts, it’s ludicrous. The point is that these far-left Democrats are now even throwing around reckless accusations of murder, no matter how ridiculous, if it gives them an opportunity to score points against politicians in the other party. It’s truly insane. `Like Sherman tearing through Georgia leaving Atlanta burning in flames, there seems to be no low they will not stoop to, including risking the security of the nation and the people itself, so long as they get what they want, or perhaps, who they want.

So why are Democrats willing to burn down everything Americans hold dear; is it just so they can accumulate more wealth or power for themselves. Seriously, if it’s wealth they are after, why don’t just start their own companies, get a job on Wall Street, become day traders, something. If not wealth, why else would a then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a then-Vice-President Joe Biden be peddling pay to play access to influence United States policy to America’s most dangerous adversary, China, and how does that not compromise the national security of the United States? I mean seriously, and I have to digress for just a moment, how can anyone be so incredibly short sighted? Surely, they know, they must know, that selling presidential-level influence to our geo-political adversaries is not only dangerous, it’s also treason. They impeached President Nixon about lying when he said he was unaware about the Watergate Hotel break-ins, yet here they are selling access to the Chinese and who knows who else, it’s madness that no one has done anything to stop them!

Even with the Hunter Biden controversy hanging over Joe Biden’s head vote-counters found enough votes to elect Joe Biden President in 2020, somehow generating so much excitement he brought in more black votes than Barrack Obama? In Michigan they were not allowing vote-watchers to oversee the counting. Now what objection could vote-counters possibly have to both Democratic and Republican observers watching as they counted if all they were doing was counting legitimate votes. Why did some precincts in Michigan cover the windows so no one could see inside at what was happening; what were they hiding? Why were some people some people captured on video coming back late into the night to start counting long-after telling everyone they’d stopped for the night and to go home? What were they hiding? Were they counting real or fake votes?

In Pennsylvania local officials were making only the PA State Legislature was allowed to make. Why were they allowed to break the law and get away with it? Where are the police? Where are the charges? Why was the Supreme Court unwilling to hear any cases related to voting fraud? Were they bought or threatened into silence? In Atlanta bringing is chipping away at the foundations of our great democracy, and they’re increasingly using a wrecking ball to do it. What they are doing with the criminal activities, the lies, and the weakening of the country is going to bring America crumbling down to the ground. How can they be so blind? Just a couple of decades ago we were locked in a Cold War that lasted over half-a-century. How can anyone believe we are now so all-powerful as to be perpetually immune to the travesties that have brought so many civilizations to their knees.

Consider for a moment the rather brief duration of the Egyptian, Assyrian and Babylonian empires, and the the empire of the Medes and the Persians. Alexander may have conquered the world, but the Greeks certainly didn’t rule it for very long. Even the great Roman Empire, at least the western half, the original Rome, collapsed I fairly short order, though the Byzantines and Ottoman Empire did endure for a time. Even the British Empire, which once spanned the globe, is no more. Consider where counties like Egypt, Iraq (Babylon), Iran (Persia), Rome (Italy), Greece, Turkey (Ottoman Empire), and Great Britain are today. Of the above, only Great Britain retains a powerful military when compared to the world’s superpowers. I don’t say this to belittle any nation, I respect them all; I only want to point out that once-powerful nations that are now third world nations are a dime a dozen. There is nothing, and I mean nothing, but the Lord God Almighty standing between where we are today and where we are likely to be tomorrow, if we continue down the road, we’re on now. Do Democrats like Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and Joe Biden, all of them old enough and experienced enough to know better, seem bent on the destruction of this country and for the life of me I cannot figure out why. The younger members of Congress I write-off as youthful, willful ignorance. But the older. More seasoned politicians, why, why are you doing this to our beloved country, to our children, to our grandchildren, and our great-grandchildren after them. They’re turning this country into another Venezuela!

Now for those of you who say the Republicans do it too my response it yes, but nowhere near, and I mean seriously, nowhere near as much as the Democrats. At one time I agree perhaps, they were roughly equal. But over the last few decades I’ve watched as the democratic party has raced so far to possible either, or perhaps I would not have recognized decade or two ago, before it became so blatant and boldly public. Just consider for a moment the media, and how they freely lie and cover for the left, making no pretense anymore. To be fair and unbiased. the far left, descending into such depths of lies, deceit, deception, corruption, graft, and pay to play that it leaves me almost breathless. Were I not already a realist, and one who understands that there is great depravity in the world, I might not believe it myself.

So, who are they, or who are some example of liberal Democrats who are corrupting and destroying our country? Well, Hilary Clinton comes to mind, with the Clinton Foundation serving as the go-beween that established the gold standard for corrupt, American pay-to-play influence peddling with American political leadership. Or Vice-President Joe Biden, who used his son as a proxy instead of a foundation for collecting big money, (and from reports that would be at least in the hundreds of millions of dollars). Now keep in mind that this isn’t speculation on my part but reports of what was found on Hunter Biden’s laptop, where Hunter reportedly complains about all the money he’s having to pass along to his father.

Perhaps the worst, however, is the deep state creature with its tentacles throughout so many branches of government. Perhaps some of it is a remnant of Barrack Obama’s time in office, when the Justice Department was corrupted beyond anything I’ve ever witnessed or even heard of in this country. Beginning with the vast onslaught from the Democrats, the Justice Department, and others planned and plotted against then candidate and then President-elect Trump from the very beginning, he wasn’t even inaugurated and there was already a plan for forcing the man out of office. Then think about the impeachment trial and the heavy onslaught President Trump had to defend himself against while in office. The Congress is elected to pass law, Just think about that for a moment. Maybe you don’t like Trump. Okay then, pick your favorite president of all time and imagine it being him instead of former-President Trump. then substitute in your all-time favorite president in his place and imagine that happening to him because you already know, if you’ve ever known any bullies before, that it’s only a matter of time before the bully turns his attention to you, or perhaps someone you care about.

Then there was the election. The election. How, tell me please how, when there were so many, so many illegal activities that put Joe Biden in office, were they able to pull this off. Why were they able to pull it off without getting caught? Why DID WE LET THEM?

Okay, my rant is over. Look, Again, at the end of the day it’s not really about Republicans or Democrats it’s about integrity, about true justice, about speaking and living the truth, about doing what you say you’re going to do.

I realize America has never been perfect but my friend, it has been so…. much better than it is today and it’s only so bad because it’s been pulled down in the mud, in the filth, so often, it’s getting harder and harder to clean all the dirt off. We are becoming more and more like what Venezuela is today; a country with corrupt politicians, where a small group of people or even a single person decides who is going to win an election. It sounds a little like the former Soviet Union or Communist China does it not?

We have to pull back from the brink folks, and now, or your children, and their children, and their grandchildren, will be living just like the children down in Venezuela are living today. Do a little research, see what life is like down there now, how people are starving for lack of food. It’s truly horrific.

Maybe, if we go back to embracing a Nash Equilibrium way of thinking, where no one gets everything they want, but everyone gets some of what they want, we can restore our great nation. Let’s also start requiring our politicians tell us the truth. If they lite to us, kick them out of office. If they fail to deliver, fire them. If you don’t, the United States of America will become the third-world nation of the United Socialist States of America.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1150

January 13, 2021

Technical Discussion: Robots Among Us

We’ve seen them in the movies since the 1950s. Sometimes, they are nefarious, determined to wipe out humanity and/or take over the world, as in The Matrix, or Terminator, or I, Robot. Sometimes they are our helpers, our companions, who only occasionally turn against us, as in Lost in Space, Humans, or the cyber-dog in Red Planet. Here is a description of AMEE from the Red Planet IMDB webpage.”

“Astronauts, and their robotic dog AMEE (Autonomous Mapping Evaluation and Evasion), search for solutions to save a dying Earth by searching on Mars, only to have the mission go terribly awry.”

A close - up of a robot Description automatically generated with low confidence

Or perhaps they will be taking the place of a loved one, or a lover, as was the case in the film, AI, an abbreviation for Artificial Intelligence.

They…are the machines, and they are coming to a military base, or a home, near you; perhaps they’re even coming to your home. It might interest some of you to know that SpaceX uses some of these amazing new creations, which re made by an amazing company named Cyberdyne Systems…er…I mean…Boston Dynamics. (Just kidding.)

I sometimes wonder whether science-fiction writers are predictors of what will happen, or whether they are change agents, helping to bring about, through their imaginative writings, events and/or technologies by taling that all-important first step, daring to imagine something could happen.

I’d like to think that films like The Day After, which chronicled the impact on human beings from the radioactive nuclear fallout following a fictitious, limited nuclear exchange with the then Soviet Union. Perhaps the realistic dramatization of massive radioactive fallout and death helped lead to a peaceful end to the Cold War; in all likelihood we’ll never know for sure this side of Heaven.

We can only hope that films like The Matrix and The Terminator help to deter humanity from making the same mistakes the characters in those films did. It certainly seems to be a very frightening, and very realistic concern.

Now then, the flip side. What if we create advanced, intelligent machines that don’t threaten our very existence, develop machines that will have only limited intelligence, machines that will remain under our control?

Think of how beneficial it would be to have powerful, intelligent robots, machines with us as we set out to colonize new worlds- planets or moons with dangerous, hostile environments. Having machines that can help carry heavy loads, help build structures in which to live, machines that will not be harmed in the toxic atmospheres in which we will find ourselves. Machines like these would prove invaluable as we work hard establishing new homes for ourselves and our families as we leave Earth, spreading out into the universe. As long as they don’t try to kill us, such machines could well be the difference between us living or dying on the alien worlds we visit. Perhaps such machines could even be trained to administer first aid in the event of an accident on a moon billions of miles or even light-years from Earth.

So below is an introduction to some of the amazing, incredible robots of 2020/2021. At the head of the pack is, of course, Boston Dynamics and America’s own DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency,)

I encourage you to follow some of these links or go to their website to see even more.

SPOILER ALERT: I feel I should share with you that the video of the “machine” with the handgun shooting at targets is actually supposed to be a man being filmed using special effects, or so they claim. In all honesty, I wouldn’t be one bit surprised if the machine was real, but they created a video of a man pretending to be the robot just to put people’s mind at ease because people, it is a bit frightening and is a bit like a terminator. I mean think about it, if Americans though you were building Cyberdyne Systems, do you think they’d be investing their hard-earned money into a company that will end-up destroying everyone they know and nearly all of humanity? The truth is out there…

Click on the inks below to see some amazing robotics technology from Boston

https://tinyurl.com/yxhne3bw
https://tinyurl.com/yylnuomb
https://tinyurl.com/y3t9xrfh
https://tinyurl.com/y6zp9yds
https://tinyurl.com/yyc9y4sd

So what do you think? Is humanity mature enough to recognize the threat, and not develop machines that are sentient AND are smarter than us, machines that will naturally see it almost as their birthright, perhaps even their duty to replace us as the dominant species? Because one thing is certain, either they will serve us, or we will serve them.

Jeff strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find his novels here if you’d like to peruse them, please do so:

https://www.hortonlibrary.com/home/sample-page

Thank you for your support!

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1150

January 13, 2021

Technical Discussion: Space: Looking Forward in 2021

Change. It is constant. It is all around us. It is inevitable.

Even when do nothing, even when we labor with all of our might to keep things the change, they change whether we want them to or not. We grow older. Our children grow up and leave home. The neighborhood changes over the years. The world is always in motion, constantly in flux.

Even when we’re sitting still in our eash chair, in the kitchen chair, in the chair at the beach watching the sun set, we are still racing through space at an unbelievable speed. Furthermore, we are never in the same place twice but rather, we are always in a place we’ve never been before.

Consider this:

  • The earth is always spinning, making one full rotation in 24 hours.
  • The earth revolves around the sun in 365 days.
  • The solar system revolves around the center of the galaxy.
  • The universe is constantly expanding.

The earth, the sun, all planets, all stars, everything is streaking through the universe so fast, that even as I sit in my recliner writing this post, I’m racing through the cosmos at nearly 2 million miles per hour, or 530 miles per second.

So you see, change always approaching whether we’re ready or not. So with that in mind, let’s look forward to some changes coming in 2021 as it pertains to events related to space:

NASA

We’ll begin with the National Aeronautical and Space Administration, or NASA. It’s a shame President Trump failed to win reelection, as he was such an avid supporter of the space program. We can only hope that our next president will be equally supportive and will adhere to the aggressive schedule to land human beings on Mars. Remember that NASA’s support of companies like SpaceX and others has been instrumental to the recent flurry of space-related activity we’ve seen over the last few years. Only time will tell.

Artemis

“Artemis is the first step in the next era of human exploration. Together with commercial and international partners, NASA will establish a sustainable presence on the Moon to prepare for missions to Mars.”

https://www.nasa.gov/artemisprogram

Mission

Patch

Launch date

Crew

Launch vehicle

Duration

Artemis I

2021 [135]

N/A

SLS Block 1 Crew

≈25 days

Artemis II

 

2023[136]

TBA

SLS Block 1 Crew

≈10 days

Artemis III

 

October 2024

TBA

SLS Block 1 Crew

≈30 days

Scheduled to take off in April, 2021, Artemis I kicks off the entire mission. But there will be no humans onboard this spacecraft.

To convey astronauts safely to the Moon, NASA first needs to send a test spacecraft there with no humans on board.

That is the purpose of Artemis I: an uncrewed flight test of the Orion spacecraft.

And instead of landing on the Moon, Artemis I will overshoot it by thousands of miles. During its trip, it will travel 280,000 miles from Earth and spend more time in space without docking at a space station than any other spacecraft of its kind has ever done before, NASA hopes — some three weeks.

After it makes its way beyond the Moon, Artemis I will, if all goes to plan, turn back and return to Earth.

“This is a mission that truly will do what hasn’t been done and learn what isn’t known,” Mike Sarafin, Artemis I mission manager at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said in a statement.

“It will blaze a trail that people will follow on the next Orion flight, pushing the edges of the envelope to prepare for that mission.”

https://www.inverse.com/science/nasa-artemis-timeline-launch-dates-mission-goals

1

James Webb Space Telescope

James Webb Space Telescope

NASA’s ambitious James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which scientists hope will reveal more about exoplanet atmospheres and the early universe, is scheduled to launch on Oct. 31, 2021. The ambitious space-based telescope has already been delayed many years from its original launch date in 2007. But, despite these delays, the telescope is almost ready now and final testing is being readied on some of its more complex parts, such as its sunshield. 

Perseverance and Ingenuity

NASA’s newest Mars car will touch down on the Red Planet less than 100 days from now.

The life-hunting Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, which launched on July 30, is scheduled to land inside the 28-mile-wide (45 kilometers) Jezero Crater on the afternoon of Feb. 18, 2021 — just 99 days from today (Nov. 11).

The home stretch will be busy for the car-size robot’s handlers.

Related: NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission in photos

“While we call the six-and-a-half-month trip from Earth to Mars ‘cruise, I assure you there is not much croquet going on at the lido deck,” mission project manager John McNamee, of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, said in a statement.

“Between checking out the spacecraft and planning and simulating our landing and surface operations, the entire team is on the clock, working toward our exploration of Jezero Crater,” McNamee said.

Perseverance — the centerpiece of NASA’s $2.7 billion Mars 2020 mission — will employ the landing strategy pioneered by its predecessor, the Curiosity rover: A rocket-powered sky crane will lower Perseverance to Jezero’s floor on cables, then fly off to crash-land a safe distance away.

Perseverance will use its advanced instrument suite to hunt for signs of ancient Mars life in Jezero, which harbored a lake and river delta billions of years ago. The rover will also collect and cache samples for future return to Earth and demonstrate technologies that could aid future exploration of the Red Planet.

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For example, one of Perseverance’s instruments, called MOXIE (short for “Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment”), will generate oxygen from the thin, carbon dioxide-dominated Martian atmosphere. A scaled-up version of MOXIE could help humanity get a foothold on the Red Planet, NASA officials have said. (The agency plans to launch its first crewed Mars missions in the 2030s.)

Click here for more Space.com videos…

And a tiny helicopter named Ingenuity is flying to Mars on Perseverance’s belly. After the rover has touched down and found a good place for the helicopter to conduct test flights, Ingenuity will detach and make a few short forays into the Martian skies — the first-ever flights by a rotorcraft on a world beyond Earth. If Ingenuity is successful, future Mars missions could employ helicopters to gather data in hard-to-reach places and serve as scouts for rovers, Ingenuity team members have said.

SpaceX

Starship

Starship will launch from Earth atop a giant rocket called Super Heavy, which will sport about 30 Raptors. Like Falcon 9 first stages, Super Heavy will land shortly after liftoff and be used again, Musk has said. (Starship will be powerful enough to launch itself off the moon and Mars, both of which have much weaker gravity than Earth does.)

No Super Heavy prototype has gotten off the ground to date. But the next Starship vehicle, SN9, should soon take a leap: it moved to the pad last week.

Click here for more Space.com videos…

SpaceX wants Starship to be up and running soon. Musk recently said he’s confident that the vehicle will be flying people to Mars by 2026, and such missions could launch as early as 2024 “if we’re lucky.”

That timeframe would mesh well with NASA’s current crewed moon plans, which the agency is pursuing through its Artemis program. Artemis aims to land two astronauts near the lunar south pole in 2024 and to establish a sustainable human presence on and around the moon by 2028.

Starship could end up helping to make all of this happen. In April, NASA selected Starship as a candidate to take its astronauts to the lunar surface, along with human landers being developed by Dynetics and a coalition led by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin. And in October, NASA awarded SpaceX a $53 million contract to demonstrate in-space refueling using Starship, another bright spot in the company’s memorable 2020.

After two successful flights carrying astronauts to the International Space Station, SpaceX is set to do it again this year. Crew-2, its second fully operational mission, is scheduled to launch a quartet of astronauts from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the spring. Then, in the fall, the company is set to launch Crew-3.

Not since the space shuttle has NASA had routine flights to the space station from U.S. soil. If all goes well, SpaceX will become the shuttle’s successor, filling a major gap in America’s spaceflight program in a coming-of-age moment for what was once a spunky start-up.

Late in the year, SpaceX also is planning to fly a mission for Axiom Space, a Houston-based company that has purchased a trip to the International Space Station for a crew of four. Michael López-Alegría, a former NASA astronaut who now works for Axiom, would accompany three private citizens for the mission, among them Eytan Stibbe, an Israeli former fighter pilot. Axiom is expected to announce the other two tourists sometime in the future.

Flying humans on its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft is only part of what’s on tap for SpaceX. The company continues to test its Starship spacecraft, a next-generation vehicle that looks like a flying grain silo but, Musk hopes, will one day fly people to Mars.

NASA hopes it will be successful. The space agency is investing $135 million in Starship as part of its attempt to return astronauts to the moon. Musk, whose timelines are usually wildly ambitious, has said he hopes the spacecraft will be able to achieve orbit in 2021.

Other Mars Missions in 2021:

Two other Mars missions are also scheduled to arrive at the Red Planet in February 2021 — Hope, a weather-studying orbiter operated by the United Arab Emirates Space Agency, and China’s Tianwen-1 mission. Tianwen-1 consists of an orbiter and a lander-rover duo; the surface craft are expected to touch down a few months after the mission slides into orbit around Mars.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

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Blog Post #1149

January 6, 2021

Free Flow Thinking: It’s About America

My friends, I’d like to welcome you to the Year of Our Lord 2021. Yes, it has most certainly gotten of to a somewhat lively start, but so it is, and so is life. Before we get back to the regular cycle of topics, I ask that you please indulge me as we address some important issues in tis post.

First, it is with a powerful blend of anger, sadness, and trepidation, that I’ve watch the horrific and unimaginable series of events unfold since November 3rd. Whether you are a Republican, a Democrat, an Independent, socialist, or a Marxist; if you love America, all that she’s been, and all that she is, and all that she still can be, then surely the events of the last month around the presidential election have disturbed you as they have certainly disturbed me.

Who wins the election doesn’t matter nearly as much as how they win. It’s not about who becomes president and who doesn’t, it’s about America, the country we all love so very much, and here in America, the ends most certainly does not justify the means. Congress and the media can deny the truth all they want but there’s been a lot of shenanigans associated with this election, in the swing states at least, almost as if it were a nationally orchestrated attempt to place a specific individual in office. It’s as if we needn’t bother going to the polls to choose our leaders because someone else is already doing that for us. This is what bothers me more than anything else, that someone in some fancy corner office somewhere on the top floor in Manhattan, or LA, perhaps Beverly Hills, has been funding, perhaps even planning the entire affair.

The corruption must run deep indeed when such blatant, public fraud can be committed where the result is the fraud works, the criminals’ objective is realized, and their candidate wins the presidential election; no one goes to prison or on trial for treason; the bad guys win.

I’ve become completely confounded at the reaction of so many institutions to the fraud. How can it be that the fraud is so evident in this election, yet it has been virtually ignored by most of Congress, the media, and even the Supreme Court. Who wouldn’t even bother to hear any evidence in something this big! It’s as if the only sane man in the insane asylum, or the only sober man at a weekend frat party, at the excessive, and I mean excessive amount of misinformation out there in the public forum about President Trump’s “claims’ of fraud. Actually they are not “his” claims at all, they are claims made by others; President Trump has merely been sharing what he’s learned with the American people.

So why have so many been complicit in the apparent fraud? Have some of these folks had a little something extra deposited in their bank accounts recently, an early retirement plan as payment for services rendered? I know, it sounds crazy, right? I admit, I don’t know why they’re doing it, but that doesn’t mean they’re not. Maybe they, Democrats and Republicans alike are doing it because they hate President Trump that much.

Maybe they hate America like they hate President Trump? They say his claims are baseless, that there was zero evidence of fraud (zero…really?), and that his followers are merely like religious zealots, blindly devoted to him.

Just consider for a moment how ridiculous all of that is to begin with. We all know that every election has some instances of fraud come up, in fact every presidential election I can remember has had them (and the number of elections I can remember are many); it’s just a matter of how much is perpetuated, and by whom. When I read through some of the media’s supposed “examination of the facts” when it came to voter fraud their examinations were, in most cases, ludicrous at best, and intentionally deceptive at worst. So I decided to pull some actual evidence together for your consideration. Please take a moment and look over some of this non-existent evidence.

Below are just a few examples coming out of the 2020 election cycle.

Only within the Battleground states:

Trump Shares New Study Estimating 289,000 ‘Excess Votes’ in Battleground States

https://bit.ly/2JRBJ09

Georgia Election Official Challenges Illegal Absentee Vote

[This one is good. This guy reports to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, whom we’ve heard about in the news. Now try to imagine how many thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of people did this in Georgia.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/georgia-election-official-challenges-illegal-absentee-vote_3630842.html

President Trump Should Immediately Impound Dominion Machines

“Let’s begin by looking at some undisputed swing state data. Take Georgia, to start. In 2012, Barack Obama won 1,773,827 votes in Georgia. We are now told Biden won 2,473,633 Georgia votes, besting the first black president by a stunning 699,806 votes. Let’s begin by looking at some undisputed swing state data. Take Georgia, to start. In 2012, Barack Obama won 1,773,827 votes in Georgia. We are now told Biden won 2,473,633 Georgia votes, besting the first black president by a stunning 699,806 votes.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/president-trump-should-immediately-impound-dominion-machines_3620351.html

Exclusive With Data Scientists: Public Data Shows 432,000 Trump Votes Removed in Pennsylvania

The Data Integrity Group, a group of data scientists, has been dissecting publicly available data on the presidential election in multiple states. Most recently, in Pennsylvania, they found over 432,000 votes were removed from President Donald Trump in at least 15 counties.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/c-us-politics/3

Video: Richard Baris: Evidence of Voter Fraud Disappears From State Networks

https://www.theepochtimes.com/exclusive-with-data-scientists-public-data-shows-432000-trump-votes-removed-in-pennsylvania_3645160.html

Facts Matter (Dec. 4): Vote Counts Altered on USB Drives

A witness in Nevada alleged that USB drives (which stored election data) had their vote tallies changed overnight… numerous times. How could this happen?

https://www.theepochtimes.com/facts-matter-dec-4-vote-counts-altered-on-usb-drives_3605707.html

Facebook, Twitter Lock Trump Out of His Account for the First Time

Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube have all removed a video of the president calling on protesters to go home. “You have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order, we have to respect our great people in law and order,” Trump said in the deleted video.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/twitter-locks-president-trump-out-of-his-account-for-the-first-time_3646854.html

2020 Election Investigative Documentary: Who’s Stealing America?

An excellent documentary that covers a lot of the fraud allegations that came out of the November 3rd election.

https://bit.ly/3hRMsEw

No, The Georgia Vote-Counting Video Was Not ‘Debunked.’ Not Even Close

“A Big Tech-backed “fact” “checking” outfit claimed to debunk explosive evidence in support of Republicans’ claims of significant election problems at a Thursday Georgia Senate hearing. It didn’t. Not even close.”

https://thefederalist.com/2020/12/07/no-the-georgia-vote-counting-video-was-not-debunked-not-even-close

Finally, I’d like to share a little about a novel I wrote a few years ago, a novel entitled FUTURE SCHISM. It’s about a time in the future, following a second civil war that devastates the country and the two provinces that come out of the split into two civilizations, one based on a l;iberal ideology and the other a conservative ideology.

FUTURE SCHISM

ISBN-10: 1629898171

ISBN-13: 978-1629898179

Future Schism Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdSqc3LmStY

Review

Small Press Bookwatch: February 2018
James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive, Oregon, WI  53575

Review Ratting: 5-STAR


Synopsis: The year is 2076, the year of The Great Schism, the year the struggle between liberals and conservatives, the culture war, split America in two. It’s also the year the Second American Civil War began. By the time it’s over, the United States of America is no more, having been divided into two provinces.

Nearly a century later the Corporate Synod forces citizens in the Red Zone to accept mandatory genetic modifications. Some “mods” greatly enhance intelligence but strip people of their humanity. Other mods increase physical strength and stamina that make workers in the factories more productive, but significantly decreases their lifespans. Meanwhile, The New Zion Church imprisons or executes anyone caught worshipping the God of the Christian or Jew, or anywhere other than the NZC.
 
In the Blue Zone, however, life is good; if you’re one of the very select few who are members of the elite Gentry Class. For the vast majority who are not, however, food is increasingly scarce, disease and starvation are rampant, and government slavery is spreading rapidly.

Daniel Washington leads the People of the Founders, the Red Zone resistance movement. At first, he works only to topple the corrupt Red Council and restore freedom in the Red Zone. After he meets Kayla Ross, however, leader of the Militiamen Freedom Fighters, the resistance movement against the Gentry in the Blue Zone, they join forces, and together they discover they can do far more together than falling in love, they can start a revolution.

Critique: A deftly written and simply riveting read from cover to cover, “Future Schism” is an original, dystopian, action/adventure science fiction at its very best. While strongly and unreservedly recommended for community library Science Fiction collections, it should be noted for the personal reading lists of dedicates SF fans that “Future Schism” is also available in a paperback edition (9781629898179, $12.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $3.99).

Future Schism
Jeff W. Horton
World Castle Publishing
worldcastlepublishing.com/home.html
9781629898162, $21.99,HC, 302pp, amazon.com

Jeff strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find his novels here if you’d like to peruse them, please do so:

https://www.hortonlibrary.com/home/sample-page

 Thank you for your support!

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

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Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1148

December 30, 2020

Technology Discussion: Space: Looking Back at 2020

So here we are at the end of 2020. Tell me, are any of you going to miss it, because I don’t know that I will. Though, I must admit, there were some good things that came along, at least for me, in 2020, along with the bad. I suppose that’s usually how it is, isn’t it?

But let’s try to set aside the Chinese pandemic, the never-ending lockdowns, and the corrupt and shady elections for a moment, and let’s look back at just a few of the exciting developments from 2020, at least as they pertain to space travel. Then, we’ll turn forward, and look at some of the exciting developments expected to come about next year, and soon after.

But first, allow me a moment to wax nostalgic over the passing of an old friend. Built in 1963, the Arecibo radio-telescope in Puerto Rico died early this month, (December 1, 2020), collapsing only two weeks after the National Science Foundation declared it would close the Arecibo single-dish radio telescope. The victim of neglect, budget cuts, and competition with newer, more cutting edge telescopes, I grew up seeing this telescope in movies, documentaries, and on occasion, in the news.

Besides appearing in Carl Sagan’s film Contact, the Arecibo radio-telescope was the first observatory to spot planets outside Earth’s solar system in 1992.

Click on the link below to witness its final gasp for yourself. It’s a sad day to be sure but take heart, there are already newer, even bigger ground-based telescopes completed and in-use today. There is the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an astronomical interferometer of 66 radio telescopes, operating in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, and The Allen Telescope Array (ATA), situated at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory in Shasta County, 290 miles (470 km) northeast of San Francisco, California.

Here is a link I used to source some of the information for this post, and a place you can go for more information: https://www.space.com/arecibo-telescope-fall-global-divide-funding-science-infrastructure

Click below to observe the final moments of the Arecibo radio-telescope in Puerto Rico:

https://www.space.com/arecibo-telescope-fall-global-divide-funding-science-infrastructure?jwsource=cl
A picture containing sky, antenna Description automatically generated

Here is a photo of the Arecibo radio-telescope Puerto Rico in its heyday

Now, here is a recent photo, soon after its recent collapse

New Developments in Space that Happened in 2020:

So, as we reflect, or should I say, offer good riddance to 2020, let us reflect on some of the notable, positive and exciting accomplishments we made not only as individual organizations, but as a species.

I only recently began to appreciate the growing number of companies from all around the world that are making their way into space. Among the new players in the space (no pun intended) are two companies, one of which is already a billion-dollar business: Rocket Lab and Astra. Rocket Lab, which has been in business since 2006, was just awarded a contract for launching a satellite into orbit around the moon; a first (that I’m aware of) for a private company.

Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab Readies Photon Spacecraft for NASA Moon Mission

Rocket Lab Readies Photon Spacecraft for NASA Moon Mission

The CAPSTONE mission will see Rocket Lab extend its reach far beyond Earth orbit for the first time to deploy an in-house designed and built Photon spacecraft to the Moon.

https://www.rocketlabusa.com/about-us/updates/rocket-lab-readies-photon-spacecraft-for-nasa-moon-mission

Astra

Astra, a new space launch vehicle startup, just made it into space for the first time on December 15th, 2020.

A view from space courtesy of Astra's Rocket 3.2, which reached the final frontier during a test flight on Dec. 15, 2020.

“HUGE SUCCESS!!!!!!!” Astra representatives tweeted [on Dec. 15th].

  • A view from space courtesy of Astra’s Rocket 3.2, which reached the final frontier during a test flight on Dec. 15, 2020.
  • The California startup launched its second orbital test flight today (Dec. 15), sending the two-stage Rocket 3.2 skyward from the Pacific Spaceport Complex on Alaska’s Kodiak Island shortly before 4:00 p.m. EST (2100 GMT; 12:00 p.m. local Alaska time).
  • The 38-foot-tall (12 meters) Rocket 3.2 notched a series of important milestones, powering through its first-stage engine burn and successfully separating its upper stage, Astra representatives said via Twitter during the flight. 
https://www.space.com/astra-reaches-space-orbital-test-launch

About Astra:

Astra is a launch vehicle company based in Alameda, California. Astra was incorporated in October 2016 by Chris Kemp and Adam London. Formerly known in media as “Stealth Space Company”, the company formally came out as Astra Space, Inc. in a Bloomberg L.P. article by Ashlee Vance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astra_(aerospace)

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/12/30/2021-space-events-plan

For SpaceX 2020 was a very big year, filled with astronaut launches, success Starship tests taking the company closer and closer to Mars, and more.

  • Elon Musk’s company launched 26 missions in 2020.
  • SpaceX averaged one launch every two weeks in 2020.
  • The company broke its previous calendar-year mission record of 21, which was set in 2018.
  • 2020 launches included SpaceX’s 100th successful space mission overall, as well as the 100th of its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket.

Crew Dragon Launches:

  • Two SpaceX’s launches sent astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard SpaceX Crew Dragon capsules — the first orbital crewed missions to lift off from the United States since NASA grounded its space shuttle fleet in 2011.
  • May 30, 2020 Demo-2 launched carrying NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the orbiting lab for a two-month stay.

Crew-1 Launch:

Crew-1 Launches on November 15, 2020. It is the first SpaceX operational astronaut mission flown under a NASA $2.6 billion contract signed in in 2014. Onboard were NASA’s Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins and Shannon Walker and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi.

Uncrewed resupply flights (using the robotic cargo version of Dragon)

  • March 2020
  • December 2020

Starlink:

  • 14 SpaceX missions are launched in 2020 in support of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite-internet project. Each mission deploys 60 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit
  • Starlink will get much bigger still if all goes according to plan. SpaceX has secured permission from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to launch 12,000 Starlink satellites, and the company has filed paperwork for up to 30,000 more.
  • But 900 satellites is enough to provide at least some internet coverage, and SpaceX began a public beta test of Starlink service in October of this year. And in December, the FCC granted SpaceX nearly $900 million in subsidies to bring broadband to rural areas across the U.S.

All 26 of the 2020 launches employed the two-stage Falcon 9, which features a reusable first stage. On 23 of those missions, SpaceX managed to land the first stage safely back on Earth so it can fly again in the future.

Starship:

Musk has repeatedly said that he founded SpaceX back in 2002 primarily with one aim in mind — helping humanity colonize Mars.

The company took significant steps in 2020 toward accomplishing this ambitious goal. The biggest and most dramatic step occurred on Dec. 9, when SpaceX launched a shiny silver vehicle called SN8 on a 7.8-mile-high (12.5 kilometers) test flight from the company’s South Texas facility, near the Gulf Coast village of Boca Chica.

SN8 (“Serial No. 8”) is the latest prototype of Starship, the spacecraft that SpaceX is developing to take people to and from Mars, the moon and other distant destinations. Like the envisioned final Starship, SN8 is made of stainless steel, stands about 165 feet (50 meters) tall and is powered by SpaceX’s next-generation Raptor engine.

The operational Starship will have six Raptors, Musk has said. SN8 had only three, but they were powerful enough to take the vehicle far higher than any Starship prototype had ever gone before. The previous altitude record was 500 feet (150 m), achieved in the summer of 2019 and this past August and September by three single-engine craft — Starhopper, SN5 and SN6, respectively.

And SN8 did more than just fly high; it performed a “belly flop” and other complex aerial maneuvers similar to the ones the operational Starship will execute when coming back to Earth from space missions. The prototype also landed where SpaceX wanted it to, though SN8 came in too fast and exploded. (SN8’s flight technically takes SpaceX’s 2020 launch tally to 27, but I kept it off the “official” list because it was a test involving a prototype vehicle.)

SN8’s fiery demise did not dampen the enthusiasm of Musk, who viewed the first high-altitude Starship flight as a resounding success.

“Mars, here we come!” he tweeted shortly after the test.

Despite the fiery ending, CEO Elon Musk was ecstatic about the successful launch, the ground-breaking roll, and the substantial amount and quality of test data collected. While I’m confident Musk would have preferred a picture-perfect touchdown, it was a prototype to be sure, and SpaceX has a history of taking lessons learned from such crashes and building bigger and better rockets as a result.

Personally, as for me, I’d rather they crash a prototype during testing than a production ship loaded with people.

The link to the test flight is below:

NASA

NASA’s Curiosity rover snaps stunning selfie on Mars (photo)

As if preparing for a visit by its cousin, NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity has taken another selfie, just a few months before its six-wheeled cousin Perseverance joins it on the Red Planet in March, 2021.

Curiosity has determined that Gale harbored a potentially habitable lake-and-stream system in the ancient past. The car-size rover is now climbing up the foothills of Mt. Sharp, the 3.4-mile-high (5.5 kilometers) mountain that rises from Gale’s center, looking for clues about Mars’ long-ago transition from a relatively warm and wet world to the cold desert planet we know today.

https://www.space.com/mars-rover-curiosity-mary-anning-selfie-photo

Other Mars Missions in 2020

Two other Mars missions are also scheduled to arrive at the Red Planet in February 2021 — Hope, a weather-studying orbiter operated by the United Arab Emirates Space Agency, and China’s Tianwen-1 mission. Tianwen-1 consists of an orbiter and a lander-rover duo; the surface craft are expected to touch down a few months after the mission slides into orbit around Mars.

Arianespace

Arianespace launched a Russian-built Soyuz rocket carrying the CSO-2 Earth observation satellite for the French space agency on Tuesday, Dec. 29. Liftoff was at 11:42 a.m. EST (1642 GMT) from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana.  

The launch marked the 10th and final launch of 2020 by Arianespace. It is also the 25th flight of a Soyuz rocket from the South American spaceport and fifth Arianespace Soyuz flight of 2020.

CSO-2 (also known in French as Composante Spatiale Optique 2) is the second satellite for CNES’ Optical Space Component growing constellation to study Earth from above. CSO-2 is the second of three planned satellites for the fleet, which will use three satellites in different polar orbits to observe Earth for French defense and security officials. 

CSO-2’s mission is primarily one of identification, while CSO-1 and CSO-3 will be used for reconnaissance, according to Arianespace. 

https://www.space.com/17933-nasa-television-webcasts-live-space-tv.html

Jeff strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find his novels here if you’d like to peruse them, please do so:

https://www.hortonlibrary.com/home/sample-page

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1146

December 16, 2020

Some Assorted Topics of Discussion: The State of the Union

I was watching a documentary on Newsmax one recent Sunday night when I came across a documentary on one of my favorite childhood actors, John Wayne. For those of you too young to recognize the name or perhaps, those of you are old enough you’d remember had you not lived under a rock all your life, John Wayne was one of the biggest actors of all time. His first film Was Stagecoach (1939) and his last was The Shootist (1976). To many Americans, he was much more than a film star, he was a cultural icon.

When testifying before Congress for an authorization for the President of the United States to strike a commemorative gold medal in his honor, O’ Hara included the following in her list of unprepared statements: “To the people of the world, John Wayne is not just an actor — and a very fine actor — John Wayne is the United States of America.”

And how true it was, John Wayne’s on-screen screen characters often epitomized the very symbols and values of America itself, like the idea of freedom, courage, rugged individualism, and the power of good to overcome evil.

One of my favorite John Wayne movies was the blockbuster hit, The Alamo (1960). During that film, Wayne played David Crockett, an American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier, and politician. In the film, Wayne’s character says something you’d be hard-pressed to hear in a film being produced in Hollywood today.

“Republic. I like the sound of the word. Means that people can live free, talk free, go or come, buy or sell, be drunk or sober, however they choose. Some words give you a feeling. Republic is one of those words that makes me tight in the throat”

A picture containing person, person Description automatically generated

Actor John Wayne

Watch a clip of John Wayne as Davie Crockett by clicking below.

THE ALAMO 1960 Clip 1 (“Republic”) copyright MGM/UA

As I stated above, however, that film was made in 1960. A lot has changed in the ensuing sixty years since. So much so in fact that if I were POTUS, I was delivering the state of the union, I’m afraid that in all honesty, I’d have to express grave concern about the state of our union.

Imagine yourself living in the city of Rome in the year 117 AD under the Great roman Emperor Trajan, during the height of the Roman Empire. Rome was an incredible city to behold, with hot, running water, indoor plumbing, with doctors performing cataract surgery using instruments nearly identical to instruments used by modern doctors up until a few decades ago! The Roman Army seemed invincible. Now tell me, had you lived in Rome at such a time, do you suppose you could have envisioned Rome falling to barbarians a few centuries later, the empire and civilization with it crumbling across all of Western Europe, and the ascent of The Dark Ages?

I actively try to avoid wading into political discussion on this blog, particularly in light of how divided we are today as a nation. It is, however, precisely because we are so divided, and our current state of affairs so desperate, that I feel compelled to discuss this with you today.

Looks, most of us aren’t politicians or lobbyists. Even if you are however, first and foremost you are a human being, and an American first, you have to be, right? How can you be a Democrat or Republican if you’re dead, right? How can you be a Libertarian or Green Party member if America is no longer a country, but rather part of the People’s Republic of China or a reconstituted U.S.S.R? Think it can’t happen to you? Try asking Hong Kong, or in a few years, perhaps Taiwan. Look at what happened when the Soviets invaded Hungary, Yugoslavia, or any of the many other countries that later made up the Soviet Union or Warsaw Pact.

During the 2016 Election Night

FACT: Politicians almost immediately begin calling for Trump’s impeachment from the very moment Hillary Clinton concedes.

FACT: Members of the mainstream media shed tears, weeping on national television, as they watch Donald Trump win the presidential election over Hillary Clinton.

Following the 2016 Election

  • Based on testimonies it appears the Clinton Campaign collude with

Russian spies to develop a fake dossier which is handed over to members of the FBI and others to be used to frame President Trump of colluding with the Russians to fix the 2016 election.

FACT: Following the 2016 Election: The mainstream media sheds any pretense to a lack of bias, reporting heavily on news that reflects negatively on Trump while minimizing or ignoring news that reflects positively on the president.

FACT: Before the 2020 Election-Protests quickly devolve in a very organized way as stores are plundered, buildings and vehicles are set afire, people are attacked, and even murdered. Radios are passed out, spotters are setup, uniforms with protective equipment are distributed, and caches of weapons for the rioters to use are setup at key locations in cities targeted for riots in what appears to be an organized, national campaign.

FACT: Before the 2020 election: President Trump leads the United States to stand-up to China, the first time to do so. He begins leveraging nearly every non-military tool in the US’ arsenal to punish China for constant violations of trade deals, of intellectual theft, unfair trade practices, etc. taking steps every other U.S. president before him had been afraid to take. President Trump’s long-term goal is to force China to “play fair” economically speaking, forcing it to give up its longtime unfair trade advantages.

One can only imagine how the Chinese leadership schemes to retaliate against Trump and against America

FACT: The Chinese virus or COVID virus gets out of Wuhan, China and infects the rest of the world, including the United states.

  • Before the 2020 election: The virus is used as a reason to launch massive mail-in voting campaigns, which President Trump and others express grave concern about, stating they are rife with opportunity for abuse and corruption.
  • Before the 2020 Election: The mainstream media completely ignores all of Joe and Hunter Biden’s financial ties to the Chinese.

FACT: As the 2020 Election approaches-The riots seem to escalate in intensity, in number of locations, and in frequency as the election, almost as if they are timed to coincide with the months leading up to the election in order to have maximum impact. Rumors that tech moguls are funding Antifa rioters begin to surface.

During the 2020 election

  • President Trump appears to be winning by a wide margin when voting in battleground states suddenly stops. When it resumes, his substantial lead begins to deteriorate.

FACT: During the 2020 election-The films of a team of people illegally sneaking back into where vote-counting has ended for a precinct, bringing suitcases of ballots with them.

FACT: During the 2020 election-Postal workers being ordered to illegally backdate mail-in ballots by their supervisors.

FACT: During the 2020 election-Thousands of people signing affidavits, testifying under threat of perjury, to acts of voter fraud that they personally witnessed, sometimes affecting hundreds or thousands of votes.

  • During the 2020 election-A third-party computer forensics team concludes that software in the voting machines is designed to misread ballots a certain way.

FACT: During the 2020 election-Curtains are drawn, windows are covered over or blocked, all of which is illegal, because it prevents party observers from watching as people count ballots

FACT: Following the 2020 Election: The riots cease following the election.

FACT: Following the 2020 Election: With Biden declared president-elect, the mainstream media suddenly takes an interest in the Hunter Biden-China story.

  • Following the 2020 Election: New stories appear reporting that Dominion software, the company that makes and runs the voting machines used in many states across the United States, got its start in Venezuela, designed to enable a person to sway votes in favor of a specific candidate (Hugo Chavez).
  • Following the 2020 Election: Rumors begin to surface that Dominion, the company that makes and runs the voting machines used in many states across the United States is owned in whole or in part by China.

I’ve indicated which of these I believe to be factual. Whether any individual assertion is factual or not is not as important for this discussion as is the overall pattern. It seems our politicians have lowered themselves to the point they believe any action, no matter how lewd, despicable, or outrageous it may be, is permissible, as long as he or she winds and, most importantly, nothing happens to them if they do get caught.

Do you remember all of those films in the 1980s that featured little white guys, supposedly members of the CIA, sent to South America to cause trouble and to ferment insurrections and try to topple communist governments there?

I’m very concerned about what all of this means. How can we stand by and let this happen to our country? Since when is being a Democrat or Republican more important than being an American. Since when is it okay to put our country, our families, our children at risk, just to support our “cause?” What the hell good is it going to do if our country burns down in the process?

If someone is caught committing voter fraud, if convicted they go to jail if they are Democrats just as they would if they are Republicans, Libertarian, or Independent. If a trusted government official, like James Comey in the FBI, or the IRS official who took pleaded the fifth for targeting conservatives, is found to have broken the law they need to be tried in court like the rest of us would be and if found guilty, sent to jail. How can we expect these people to stop breaking the law when they keep doing it and getting away with it? Isn’t it frustrating how some break the law and go to jail while other don’t? And if they haven’t broken the law, why is there someone accusing them of it?

I blame the media more than any other single group of people, other than the politicians themselves. It is their job, as reporters, to be objective, and unbiased professionals. If they want to influence policy, they should become politicians or lobbyists, just stay the heck out of the media. We need the media to protect us from corrupt politicians, instead they’ve joined up with them.

America is a constitutional republic, a self-governing people. We select people called “representatives,” who work for us by the way, to do our bidding, by the way. If each of us, as Americans, do not pick up the mantle of personal responsibility and take ownership of this right, this privilege, this duty, to protect this beautiful precious thing we call freedom, we will certainly lose it, and you can take that to the bank. It has happened time and time again throughout history.

Each generation must take up this mantle. Each generation must reaffirm the importance of certain, universal truths without which we cannot possibly continue as a functional society, much less as a civilization of any sort.

Whether Democrat, Republican, Independent, or Libertarian, we must renew and reaffirm the importance of freedom in America, and we must pledge our lives ad our honor to defend it. We must also remember the importance of our morals and our virtues, and how much we need them in order for our democracy to flourish. Of course, as a Christian, I strongly believe we are doomed to fail without Almighty God, the same God worshipped by most of our nation’s founding fathers.

Politicians, media, those in Hollywood, for all of us who live here in the United States of America, we’re all Americans. For all of us, all over the world, we’re all human beings. Why can’t we get a grip and get over ourselves? Isn’t it about time we stopped looking at each other, and started looking up? Just think what we could accomplish if we put our collective heads together before humanity is wiped out by an extinction level event?

I’ve read that some are suggesting that the Chinese, or perhaps the Russians or Iranians have been behind some of the unrest and election fraud we’ve been hearing about. I’d say it’s likely most every country in the world has had a hand at trying to help topple a foreign government at one time or another.

Whether it was China or the Russians behind it one thing is clear; if we can’t stand together, it is certain we will fall together.

Finally, I leave you the letter below from none other than John Adams, one of our founding fathers. Adams was an advocate of American independence from Britain, a major figure in the Continental Congress (1774–77), the author of the Massachusetts constitution (1780), a signer of the Treaty of Paris (1783), ambassador to the Court of St. James (1785–88), and the first vice president (1789–97) and second president (1797–1801) of the United States.:

To the Officers of the first Brigade of the third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts

Quincy October 11. 1798

Gentlemen

I have received from Major General Hull and Brigadier General Walker your unanimous Address from Lexington, animated with a martial Spirit and expressed with a military Dignity, becoming your Characters and the memorable Plains, in which it was adopted.

While our Country remains untainted with the Principles and manners, which are now producing desolation in so many Parts of the World: while she continues Sincere and incapable of insidious and impious Policy: We shall have the Strongest Reason to rejoice in the local destination assigned Us by Providence. But should the People of America, once become capable of that deep simulation towards one another and towards foreign nations, which assumes the Language of Justice and moderation while it is practicing Iniquity and Extravagance; and displays in the most captivating manner the charming Pictures of Candour frankness & sincerity while it is rioting in rapine and Insolence: this Country will be the most miserable Habitation in the World. Because We have no Government armed with Power capable of contending with human Passions unbridled by morality and Religion. Avarice, Ambition, Revenge or Galantry, would break the strongest Cords of our Constitution as a Whale goes through a Net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other

An Address so unanimous and firm from the officers commanding two thousand Eight hundred Men, consisting of such substantial Citizens as are able and willing at their own Expence, compleatly to arm, And cloath themselves in handsome Uniforms does honor to that Division of the Militia which has done so much honor to their Country. Oaths, in this Country, are as yet universally considered as Sacred Obligations. That which you have taken and so solemnly repeated on that venerable Spot is an ample Pledge of your sincerity, and devotion to your Country and its Government.

John Adams

From John Adams to Massachusetts Militia, 11 October 1798

Merry Christmas!

Jeff strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find his novels here if you’d like to peruse them, please do so:

https://www.hortonlibrary.com/home/sample-page

Thank you for your support!

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1144

December 2, 2020

Technology Discussion: How Do We Address the Burgeoning Population? -Part 5- The Colonization of Planetary Satellites (Moons) in our Solar System

Hello everyone.

I hope all of you in and from the United States had plenty (but not too much, of course) turkey on Thanksgiving Day last week. I imagine all of us, in some small way at least, have something to be thankful for. Life itself is something to be thankful for, is it not? Just ask someone who’s been on the edge of death and peered over to the other side, they’ll tell you…moving on.

It’s commonly stated but is, in fact, incorrect, to say that an alien planet orbits such and such a star in this or that remote solar system. Why, because solar system refers to a specific star system, to our star system, the SOLar System. Stated another way, we live in the Sol System, since Sol is the name of our star. The correct way to refer to a distant planetary system might be as follows, “There is an Earthlike planet designated Kepler 452b situated in the middle of a distant star system in the constellation Cygnus. So, we refer to a planetary system as a star system, usually by the name of the host star.

So, where else within the Sol System can human beings live other than Earth? Well, the cold truth is that other than Earth, there is no planetary body or satellite where human beings can live unassisted and/or unprotected. There are, however, certainly some that are far more suited for a human colony that others. Take for example the moon, Europa, which may have more water and oxygen than Earth, and the planet it orbits, Jupiter, which has no solid surface on which a ship could ever land. It would, instead, be trapped in Jupiter’s core, trapped by opposing forces, while being crushed by the unbelievable pressure inside and completely incinerated by temperatures hotter than the sun.

As you can see, there are extremes when it comes to possible alternate homes for humanity, which is why (dare I say it again) we must quickly reverse-engineer the recovered alien Faster-Than-Light (FTL) technology in order to develop a fleet of interstellar ships to seek out and colonize truly habitable planets. At the same time, we need to develop and then perfect terraforming techniques for changing a planetary system to something more compatible t human life. I would easily ignore pleas to preserve the “native Martian ecosystem” which is, of course, a dead planet, in favor of preserving humanity. If it meant wiping out a significant population of animals of say, ape or even dolphin-like intelligence, I might be a lot more hesitant and want to move on. But if it were a dead planet like Mars, or a planet with nothing more than bacteria, moss, and a few trees? Bring on the world engines, baby! Moving on…

So, below I’m listing some of our options for setting up human colonies at some point. To be honest, as far as we know now aside from Earth and Mars, there are no real planetary options for us. The dark side of Mercury might be an option if we were really, desperate but personally, I’d never do it. I’d rather take my chances on Mars, one of the moons, or even a manmade moon or ark of some sort. Does it sound a bit gloomy? Good. We need to take better care of our home planet; it’s the only one we have, for now.

The Sol System

The following is a list of natural satellites and environments in the Solar System with a possibility of hosting habitable environments:

Satellite- Europa

Planet- Jupiter

Thought to have a subsurface ocean maintained by geologic activity, tidal heating, and irradiationThe moon may have more water and oxygen than Earth and an oxygen exosphere.

Satellite- Enceladus

Planet- Saturn

Thought to have a subsurface liquid water ocean due to tidal heating or geothermal activity. Free molecular hydrogen) has been detected, providing another potential energy source for life

Satellite- Titan

Planet- Saturn

Its atmosphere is considered similar to that of the early Earth, although somewhat thicker. The surface is characterized by hydrocarbon lakes, cryovolcanos, and methane rain and snow. Like Earth, Titan is shielded from the solar wind by a magnetosphere, in this case its parent planet for most of its orbit, but the interaction with the moon’s atmosphere remains sufficient to facilitate the creation of complex organic molecules. It has a remote possibility of an exotic methane-based biochemistry.

A video of ESA’s Huygens probe, which hitched a ride on NASA’s Cassini Probe to Saturn. A fascinating video of yet another world in our Solar System! A must-see video.

Satellite- Callisto

Planet- Jupiter

Thought to have a subsurface ocean heated by tidal forces.

Satellite- Ganymede

Planet- Jupiter

Thought to have a magnetic field, with ice and subterranean oceans stacked up in several layers, with salty water as a second layer on top of the rocky iron core

Satellite- Io

Planet Jupiter

Due to its proximity to Jupiter, it is subject to intense tidal heating which makes it the most volcanically active object in the Solar System. The outgassing generates a trace atmosphere.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

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www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1143

November 25, 2020

Technology Discussion: How Do We Address the Burgeoning Population? -Part 5- The Colonization of Mars

So today we’re going to talk about Option #5-The colonization of the red planet, Mars. The fifth in my proposed list of options for addressing the ever-increasing population, the proposed colonization of Mars is yet another stopgap measure designed to carry us until the more realistic long-term solution is available, interstellar travel and interplanetary colonization.

Billionaire, entrepreneur, engineer, and the founder of SpaceX, Elon Musk, has become the figurehead and in many respects is single-handedly leading the effort to colonize the red planet. His stated overarching goal is to establish a self-sustaining civilization on Mars, making humanity an interplanetary species.

Far from being an ideal world to settle, the red planet is quite hostile to life as we know it in many respects. Its atmosphere is not breathable, it’s surface, at least as far as we know, is completely barren of life, and the temperatures are not survivable without a spacesuit. Furthermore, dangerous radiation bombards the planet.

On the plus side, however, Mars is at least, a planet that we can reach now, and a planet that, with the help of organizations like SpaceX and NASA, we can visit, explore, and very soon, perhaps, start to colonize, with the proper precautions, of course.

There are, of course, a host of challenges to overcome, but first, let’s begin by looking back at most of humanity’s encounters with Mars which have mostly come to us via NASA.

Mars Exploration Past Missions

artist's concept of Mars Exploration RoverMars Exploration Rovers (Spirit and Opportunity)
Spirit Launch: Jun. 10, 2003; Mars Landing: Jan. 3, 2004
Opportunity Launch: Jul. 7, 2003; Mars Landing: Jan. 24, 2004

Two powerful Mars rovers are on the red planet. They have far greater mobility than the 1997 Mars Pathfinder rover. Each rover carries a sophisticated set of instruments to search for evidence of liquid water that may have been present in the planet’s past. The rovers are identical to each other, but are exploring different regions of Mars.
Latest news and images

artist's concept of Mars Global SurveyorMars Global Surveyor
Launch: Nov. 7, 1996
Arrival: Sept. 12, 1997

Mars Global Surveyor operated longer at Mars than any other spacecraft in history, and for more than four times as long as the prime mission originally planned. The spacecraft returned detailed information that has overhauled understanding about Mars.
Mission information

artist's concept of PhoenixPhoenix
Launch: Aug. 4, 2007
Arrival: May 25, 2008

The Phoenix Mars Lander successfully landed on the north polar region of Mars. Its mission is to dig up and analyze icy soil. The mission is the first chosen for NASA’s Scout program, an initiative for smaller, lower cost, competed spacecraft. Named for the resilient mythological bird, Phoenix uses a lander that was intended for use by 2001’s Mars Surveyor lander prior to its cancellation. It also carries a complex suite of instruments that are improved variations of those that flew on the lost Mars Polar Lander.
View site

Mariner 4 image of MarsMariner 3 and 4

Mariner 3 Launch: Nov. 5, 1964
Mariner 4 Launch: Nov. 28, 1964

Mariner 3 and 4 were identical spacecraft designed to carry out the first flybys of Mars. Mariner 3 was launched on November 5, 1964, but the shroud encasing the spacecraft atop its rocket failed to open properly, and Mariner 3 did not get to Mars. Three weeks later, on November 28, 1964, Mariner 4 was launched successfully on an eight-month voyage to the red planet.
Read more

global view of Mars from Mariner 7Mariner 6 and 7
Mariner 6 Launch: Feb. 24, 1969
Mariner 7 Launch: Mar. 27, 1969

In 1969, Mariner 6 and Mariner 7 completed the first dual mission to Mars, flying by over the equator and south polar regions and analyzing the Martian atmosphere and surface with remote sensors, as well as recording and relaying hundreds of pictures.
Read more

Mariner 9 view of Olympus MonsMariner 8 and 9
Mariner 8 Launch: May 8, 1971
Mariner 9 Launch: May 30, 1971; Arrival: Nov. 13, 1971

Mariner 8 and 9 were the third and final pair of Mars missions in NASA’s Mariner series of the 1960s and early 1970s. Unfortunately, Mariner 8 failed during launch on May 8, 1971. Mariner 9 was launched successfully on May 30, 1971, and became the first artificial satellite of Mars when it arrived and went into orbit.
Read more

Viking 2 lander and its view on MarsViking
Viking 1 Launch: Aug. 20, 1975; Arrival: Jun. 19, 1976
Viking 2 Launch: Sept. 9, 1975; Arrival: Aug. 7, 1976

NASA’s Viking Project found a place in history when it became the first mission to land a spacecraft safely on the surface of another planet. Two identical spacecraft, each consisting of a lander and an orbiter, were built. Each orbiter-lander pair flew together and entered Mars orbit; the landers then separated and descended to the planet’s surface.
Mission Overview
Archived site

artist's concept of Mars ObserverMars Observer
Launch: Sept. 25, 1992

After a 17-year gap since its last mission to the red planet, the United States launched Mars Observer on September 25, 1992. The spacecraft was based on a commercial Earth-orbiting communications satellite that had been converted into an orbiter for Mars. The payload of science instruments was designed to study the geology, geophysics and climate of Mars.

The mission ended with disappointment on August 22, 1993, when contact was lost with the spacecraft shortly before it was to enter orbit around Mars. Science instruments from Mars Observer are being reflown on two other orbiters, Mars Global Surveyor and 2001 Mars Odyssey.

Mars Pathfinder lander on MarsMars Pathfinder
Launch: Dec. 4, 1996

Mars Pathfinder, consisting of a lander and the Sojourner rover, returned an unprecedented amount of data as they explored an ancient flood plain in Mars’ northern hemisphere known as Ares Vallis.
Mission overview
+ Archived site

artist's concept of Mars Climate OrbiterMars Climate Orbiter
Launch: Dec. 11, 1998

Mars Climate Orbiter was designed to function as an interplanetary weather satellite and a communications relay for Mars Polar Lander. The orbiter carried two science instruments: a copy of an atmospheric sounder on the Mars Observer spacecraft lost in 1993, and a new, lightweight color imager combining wide- and medium-angle cameras.

Mars Climate Orbiter was lost on arrival September 23, 1999. Engineers concluded that the spacecraft entered the planet’s atmosphere too low and probably burned up.

artist's concept of Mars Polar LanderMars Polar Lander/Deep Space 2
Launch: Jan. 3, 1999

Mars Polar Lander was an ambitious mission to set a spacecraft down on the frigid terrain near the edge of Mars’ south polar cap and dig for water ice with a robotic arm. Piggybacking on the lander were two small probes called Deep Space 2 designed to impact the Martian surface to test new technologies.

Mars Polar Lander and Deep Space 2 were lost at arrival December 3, 1999.
Archived site: Mars Polar Lander
Archived site: Deep Space 2

Mars Exploration Current Missions


Artist's rendition of InSightInSight
Launch: Mar. 29, 2018
Mars Landing: Nov. 26, 2018 (11:53 a.m. PST)

InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) is a proposed NASA Discovery Program mission that will place a single geophysical lander on Mars to study its deep interior.
› Read more


artist's concept of MavinMars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN)
Launch: Nov. 18, 2013
Arrival: Sept. 21, 2014

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft will provide information about the Red Planet’s atmosphere, climate history and potential habitability in greater detail than ever before. MAVEN – based on designs from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and 2001 Mars Odyssey missions – will make definitive scientific measurements of present-day atmospheric loss that will offer clues about the planet’s history.
Read more

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter over the martian landscapeMars Reconnaissance Orbiter
Launch: Aug. 12, 2005
Arrival: Mar. 10, 2006

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is capturing unique views of Mars with the most powerful telescopic camera ever to another planet. Its five other scientific instruments are collecting data about the Red Planet.
View site


artist's concept of Mars Science LaboratoryMars Science Laboratory (Curiosity)
Launch: Nov. 26, 2011
Mars Landing: Aug. 6, 2012 (EDT)

Building on the success of the two rover geologists that arrived at Mars in January 2004, the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover, will assess whether Mars ever had an environment able to support small life forms called microbes. In other words, its mission is to determine the planet’s “habitability.”

Twice as long and three times as heavy as the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, Curiosity will collect Martian soil samples and rocks and analyze them for organic compounds and environmental conditions that could have supported microbial life now or in the past.
Read more


artist's concept of Mars ExpressMars Express
Launch: Jun. 2, 2003
Arrival: Dec. 2003

NASA is participating in Mars Express, a mission planned by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency. The mission is exploring the atmosphere and surface of Mars from polar orbit.
ESA’s Mars Express site



artist's concept of Mars OdysseyMars Odyssey
Launch: Apr. 7, 2001
Arrival: Oct. 24, 2001

2001 Mars Odyssey is an orbiting spacecraft designed to determine the composition of the planet’s surface, to detect water and shallow buried ice, and to study the radiation environment.
Latest news and images
 

Mars Exploration Future Missions

A picture containing motorcycle, outdoor, parked, old Description automatically generated

Mars 2020
Launch: July 30, 2020
Arrival: Feb. 18, 2021

Rover Name: Perseverance

  • Main Job: The Perseverance rover will seek signs of ancient life and collect rock and soil samples for possible return to Earth.
  • Launch: July 30, 2020, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
  • Landing: Feb. 18, 2021
  • Landing Site: Jezero Crater, Mars
  • Mission Duration: At least one Mars year (about 687 Earth days)
  • Tech Demo: The Mars Helicopter is a technology demonstration, hitching a ride on the Perseverance rover.

(NASA, https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/missions/index-past.html)

As you can see (my astute, well-informed, and insatiably curious reader) we have been going to Mars for nearly 60 years so clearly we have learned quite a bit about it. Why then haven’t we already landed on Mars, or even built the first human city there? That’s a good question, and it’s one I’ll leave to the historians. I find it a fascinating development, however, that it is a private businessman, an entrepreneur, who is leading the way (with considerable support from NASA I might add) instead of a nation or collection of nations. But then, perhaps this is for the best. Musk brings with him decades of professional skills, both engineering and business, that stress efficiency, cost, and results. And that is exactly what we’ve seen with his relatively new company, Space-X. Founded in 2002, after several years of teetering on folding and closing its doors, it now boasts success as the first company to have built a reusable rocket design that now regularly launches satellites into space for NASA and the U.S. Air Force, now carries astronauts to and from the international space station, and will soon be carrying tourists around the moon. If the next test of its Starship rocket to 50,000 ft. is successful, Space-X will be well on its way to taking Starship to the Moon in the 2022 timeframe and its first unmanned flight to Mars in 2024. The first people could well make the trip to Mars before 2030 or soon after.

Musk’s goal is to have a human city on Mars with a human population of a million people by the year 2050. In order for this to happen fleets of starships, each capable of carrying 100 people, would launch regularly, carrying passengers to our closest neighbor. I doubt its coincidence that so many of his goals and NASA’s align. The really good news is that in nearly every regard, NASA seems to be partnering with Space-X and, of course, the reverse is true. This bodes well for possible success of this objective.

But when will the first human crew land on Mars? It’s still too soon to tell but if all goes well, it could be as soon as 2028 or even 2026!

Where will people live on Mars? Musk envisions large domed cities. One concern we always hear about are the massive dust storms. The good news is that these storms would have a much lesser impact than what they have on Earth, because the atmosphere on Mars is much thinner than here on Earth. The bad news is that machinery, and plants, would potentially be without sunlight for as long as a few weeks until the storm expended its energy.

What would be the first thing the new inhabitants needed to focus on after landing on Mars? According to Elon Musk fuel. SpaceX’s Starship Rocket’s engines use a mixture of Oxygen and Methane, both of which can be found on Mars. Fuel will be needed in order to fly the Starship back to Earth (presumably along with anyone needing to return to Earth.) I would add the fuel the need to focus on growing food. There is sunlight, and there is CO2, so in theory plants might be grown under the right conditions if protected.

Anyway, you can learn a lot more about this subject by simply Googling SpaceX, colonizing Mars, etc. I’m including a few links below.

SpaceX targeting next week for Starship’s first high-altitude test flight

SpaceX targeting next week for Starship’s first high-altitude test flight

Elon Musk’s Plan To Colonize Mars 2020

https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-mnet-001&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=mnet&p=Elon+Musk+2020+comments+on+colonizing+Mars+2020#id=51&vid=c5953615cf14ec7f0908f5503971a496&action=click

Elon Musk Mars Society interview 2020

https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-mnet-001&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=mnet&p=Elon+Musk+2020+comments+on+colonizing+Mars+2020#id=52&vid=2140321b4aab1d8df53ddbf97cd2f4d5&action=view

NASA’s Journey to Mars

https://www.nasa.gov/content/nasas-journey-to-mars

Can we colonize Mars? No one knows for sure. One thing we do know; it will be extremely dangerous, and people will die. Whether we will ever be able to terraform Mars is another question altogether. One thing is for certain, Elon Musk is right. A single event could wipe humanity out of existence. At least colonizing another world, even Mars, would give us a fighting chance. At least until we get interstellar travel. Can everyone please contact your elected officials and get them to open-up access to the alien technology so more scientists can get involved reverse-engineering it? The Truth is Out There!

Jeff strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find his novels here if you’d like to peruse them, please do so:

https://www.hortonlibrary.com/home/sample-page

Thank you for your support!

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

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Blog Post #1142

November 18, 2020

Technology Discussion: Is Interstellar Travel Possible?  

Technology Discussion: The EMP Report      

Since my initial post about in September about the 2008 EMP Commission Report, I came across my copy of the report. Since this is a public report, I’m making it available for you to download along with this post. Fair warning, the findings in this report are a bit frightening both because they are real, and because they are legitimate. Below is an excerpt:

Preface

“The physical and social fabric of the United States is sustained by a system of systems; a complex and dynamic network of interlocking and interdependent infrastructures (“critical national infrastructures”) whose harmonious functioning enables the myriad actions, transactions, and information flow that undergird the orderly conduct of civil society in this country. The vulnerability of these infrastructures to threats — deliberate, accidental, and acts of nature — is the focus of greatly heightened concern in the current era, a process accelerated by the events of 9/11 and recent hurricanes, including Katrina

and Rita.

“This report presents the results of the Commission’s assessment of the effects of a high altitude electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack on our critical national infrastructures and provides recommendations for their mitigation. The assessment is informed by analytic and test activities executed under commission sponsorship, which are discussed in this volume. An earlier executive report, Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) — Volume 1: Executive Report (2004), provided an overview of the subject.

“The electromagnetic pulse generated by a high altitude nuclear explosion is one of a small number of threats that can hold our society at risk of catastrophic consequences. The increasingly pervasive use of electronics of all forms represents the greatest source of vulnerability to attack by EMP. Electronics are used to control, communicate, compute, store, manage, and implement nearly every aspect of United States (U.S.) civilian systems.  When a nuclear explosion occurs at high altitude, the EMP signal it produces will cover the wide geographic region within the line of sight of the detonation. This broad band, high amplitude EMP, when coupled into sensitive electronics, has the capability to produce widespread and long lasting disruption and damage to the critical infrastructures that underpin the fabric of U.S. society.

“Because of the ubiquitous dependence of U.S. society on the electrical power system,

its vulnerability to an EMP attack, coupled with the EMP’s particular damage mechanisms, creates the possibility of long-term, catastrophic consequences. The implicit invitation to take advantage of this vulnerability, when coupled with increasing proliferation of nuclear weapons and their delivery systems, is a serious concern. A single EMP attack may seriously degrade or shut down a large part of the electric power grid in the geographic area of EMP exposure effectively instantaneously. There is also a possibility of functional collapse of grids beyond the exposed area, as electrical effects propagate from

one region to another.

“’The time required for full recovery of service would depend on both the disruption and damage to the electrical power infrastructure and to other national infrastructures. Larger affected areas and stronger EMP field strengths will prolong the time to recover. Some critical electrical power infrastructure components are no longer manufactured in the United States, and their acquisition ordinarily requires up to a year of lead time in routine circumstances. Damage to or loss of these components could leave significant parts of the electrical infrastructure out of service for periods measured in months to a year or more. There is a point in time at which the shortage or exhaustion of sustaining backup systems, including emergency power supplies, batteries, standby fuel supplies, communications, and manpower resources that can be mobilized, coordinated, and dispatched, together lead to a continuing degradation of critical infrastructures for a prolonged period of time.

“Electrical power is necessary to support other critical infrastructures, including supply and distribution of water, food, fuel, communications, transport, financial transactions, emergency services, government services, and all other infrastructures supporting the national economy and welfare. Should significant parts of the electrical power infrastructure be lost for any substantial period of time, the Commission believes that the consequences are likely to be catastrophic, and many people may ultimately die for lack of the basic elements necessary to sustain life in dense urban and suburban communities. In fact, the Commission is deeply concerned that such impacts are likely in the event of an EMP attack unless practical steps are taken to provide protection for critical elements of the electric system and for rapid restoration of electric power, particularly to essential services. The recovery plans for the individual infrastructures currently in place essentially assume, at worst, limited upsets to the other infrastructures that are important to their operation. Such plans may be of little or no value in the wake of an EMP attack because of its long-duration effects on all infrastructures that rely on electricity or electronics.

“The ability to recover from this situation is an area of great concern. The use of automated control systems has allowed many companies and agencies to operate effectively with small work forces. Thus, while manual control of some systems may be possible, the number of people knowledgeable enough to support manual operations is limited. Repair of physical damage is also constrained by a small work force. Many maintenance crews are sized to perform routine and preventive maintenance of high-reliability equipment. When repair or replacement is required that exceeds routine levels, arrangements are typically in place to augment crews from outside the affected area. However, due to the simultaneous, far-reaching effects from EMP, the anticipated augmenters likely will be occupied in their own areas. Thus, repairs normally requiring weeks of effort may require a much longer time than planned.

“The consequences of an EMP event should be prepared for and protected against to the extent it is reasonably possible. Cold War-style deterrence through mutual assured destruction is not likely to be an effective threat against potential protagonists that are either failing states or trans-national groups. Therefore, making preparations to manage the effects of an EMP attack, including understanding what has happened, maintaining situational awareness, having plans in place to recover, challenging and exercising those plans, and reducing vulnerabilities, is critical to reducing the consequences, and thus

probability, of attack. The appropriate national-level approach should balance prevention, protection, and recovery.

“The Commission requested and received information from a number of Federal agencies and National Laboratories. We received information from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, the National Communications System (since absorbed by the Department of Homeland Security), the Federal Reserve Board, and the Department of Homeland Security. Early in this review it became apparent that only limited EMP

vulnerability testing had been accomplished for modern electronic systems and components. To partially remedy this deficit, the Commission sponsored illustrative testing of current systems and infrastructure components. The Commission’s view is that the Federal Government does not today have sufficiently robust capabilities for reliably assessing and managing EMP threats.

“The United States faces a long-term challenge to maintain technical competence for understanding and managing the effects of nuclear weapons, including EMP. The Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration have developed and implemented an extensive Nuclear Weapons Stockpile Stewardship Program over the last decade. However, no comparable effort was initiated to understand the effects that nuclear weapons produce on modern systems. The Commission reviewed current national capabilities to understand and to manage the effects of EMP and concluded that the

Country is rapidly losing the technical competence in this area that it needs in the Government, National Laboratories, and Industrial Community.

“An EMP attack on the national civilian infrastructures is a serious problem, but one that can be managed by coordinated and focused efforts between industry and government. It is the view of the Commission that managing the adverse impacts of EMP is feasible in terms of time and resources. A serious national commitment to address the threat of an EMP attack can develop a national posture that would significantly reduce the payoff for such an attack and allow the United States to recover in a timely manner if such an attack were to occur.”

Below is a link to the full 2008 report. These are your tax-dollars at work, so read-on and be informed!

Link to EMP Report:

HHRG-115-HM09-Wstate-PryP-20171012

Jeff strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1141

November 11, 2020

Technology Discussion: Is Interstellar Travel Possible?  

 Okay, okay so, I know. Today was supposed to be about Build Thriving Cities in the Rain Forests. Well, it turns out I’m quite the visionary, and that there aren’t any—well…at least many of such cities built yet in the tropical rain forest, at least not any I could find. There were a few hotels, resorts, and the like, but no thriving metropolises, at least not yet. But there will be, as the need rises and the technology advances, I feel confident that we will find a way. Perhaps we will limit the wildlife in the tropical paradise we co-inhabit to butterflies, birds, and like, but it will happen I imagine, one day.

So, until then, let’s talk about something near and dear to my heart.

Interstellar travel; travel between the stars. It is the crossing of the vastness of space that lies between one star-system and the next, and it truly is the next frontier for humanity. It calls to us like the sea once did for some, and like the once West did for others.

The problem is that the universe is big, unimaginably big, and the distances between star systems are often so vast. For example, using current technology, it could take over tens of thousands of years to make a return trip to our closest neighbor, Alpha-Centauri. If you stepped outside on your porch this evening and shone your flashlight directly toward our neighbor, it would take the light from your flashlight some 4 ½ years just to get there and, it there were a mirror there to bounce the light back, another 4 ½ years to make it back home. It would take nine years for your reflected light to get back to you. That’s a long, long ways.

So, what about Faster-Than-Light travel, or FTL. If you’ve ever watched Stargate Universe or any of a myriad of other science-fiction programs on television, or if you’ve read more than one science-fiction novel in the past decade (like Frontiers: Cybersp@ce Series Book Two for example) you would have likely heard the term, Faster-Than-Light (FTL) travel. But what precisely is FTL, and why is it important, anyway? Unless you’re the captain of a starship or part of a galactic rebellion, who cares? Well, you might be surprised.

Scientific discoveries, improvements in technology, medicine, agriculture, etc. have all led to longer lifespans across the globe, which in term has led to an explosion in the human population on our planet, which just exceeded 7.6 billion men, women, and children. Three countries hold over half of the world’s population: China, India, and The United States.

-China: 1.385 billion

-India: 1.335 billion

-United States: 325 million

The world’s population is expected to reach 11 billion by the turn of the 22nd century, nearing the maximum number of human beings some scientists believe the Earth can support.

Now I say all this not because I believe we need to reduce population growth. It’s impossible to do so without a significant and inexcusable intrusion into our personal liberty. A growth in population is a natural by-product of the previously improvements in technology and medicine, leading to longer lifespans and a higher infant survival rate.

There is another issue which while related to population, is actually a distinct and separate issue; resources are finite and many are not renewable, well, unless you can wait millions of years. I’m referring to fossil fuels, of course, crude oil, used for gasoline, diesel, etc. to power the world’s locomotion. It’s going to run out eventually, the only question is when. The need to search for and find alternatives sources of energy is essential to the future of our civilization. Take a brief look at another excerpt from Frontiers, which addresses and resolves a number of these issues by sharing highly advanced technology with the rest of the world:

“Montana motioned to one of his assistants. Images from all over the world suddenly appeared at various locations within the room.

        “Mr. President, General Caprella, ladies and gentlemen, welcome. I’m sure you have a lot of questions. Please be patient and I’ll attempt to answer them.

        “I’m sure everyone here is painfully aware how the price of gasoline has been skyrocketing in recent years. Governments around the world have been offering all sorts of explanations for the sudden spike in pricing. Some have been blaming the rising prices on overpopulation, some on too few refineries, others on speculators, with most, of course, blaming the increased demand on the surging economies in Africa and Asia. There’s been a dirty little secret, however, one that I’d now like to share with each and every one of you in this room. This little tidbit has been known to only a very select few men and women across the planet, mostly to world leaders like President Raymond, so secret they’ve had to keep it to themselves in order to avoid a global panic, a revelation I will share with you now; our planet has nearly exhausted the last of its global crude oil supply.”

        A murmur erupted throughout the room.

        “Now,” Montana continued, “many have speculated that supplies were rapidly decreasing, but no one outside of a few world leaders realized just how rapidly they were being depleted. We discovered the seriousness of our predicament only six months ago, after a group of geologists were commissioned by the Department of Energy to study supplies all over the world, including conducting searches for possible, undiscovered supplies. The results of that study were quickly classified at above top-secret, and the scientists involved were sworn to secrecy, and threatened with being charged with treason should they speak about the study to anyone, including their families.

        “According to the study, we have approximately six months of crude oil remaining, a fact we have since verified with several independent studies. This amount does not include the six-month emergency supply that most developed countries have kept in reserve, of course, but this still is a very serious crisis. Increased tensions over the rising cost of crude oil and the subsequent crippling blow to the world’s economies have already had substantial, negative impacts on geopolitics all over the globe.

        “For example, recent fighting between Iran and Saudi Arabia intensified again this morning, this after the latter deployed destroyers intended to hunt down and destroy the Iranian submarines that have been harassing the Saudis for a while now. Saudi Arabia, the once extremely wealthy, oil-rich nation, has expended much of its vast wealth in recent years, engaged in an arms race with its greatest Middle East rival, Iran.

        “As most of you know, the fighting broke out between the two nations after several years of skirmishes, mostly over contested rights to oil reserves in the Persian Gulf itself. Iran purchased at least ten new ballistic missile submarines over the course of the last ten years, each capable of carrying nuclear warheads, which they began using about that time to harass the six oil platforms the Saudis built toward the end of their heyday as the world’s leading supplier of oil, before the bulk of their supply finally dried up. The Saudis purchased an equal number of guided missile destroyers, each also equipped with nuclear weapons, intended to counter the new Iranian threat.

        “The Iranians started the arms race with the Saudis ten years ago, after surpassing Saudi Arabia to become the world’s major supplier of crude oil. They soon began using their newly discovered wealth to increase the size and the might of their military. Following the purchase of their first three nuclear-powered submarines armed with ICBMs, the Iranians also purchased their first aircraft carrier, which extended the Iranian influence into other parts of the world. Then recently, about two months ago, the Revolutionary Guard began setting up a number of ICBM launch sites strategically dispersed all over Iran, most pointing toward Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the United States.

        “When news got out that Iranian nuclear missiles were pointing towards Saudi Arabia, their greatest competitor in the region, the Saudis went ape. They purchased destroyers, sped up their nuclear weapons research and development programs in Riyadh, and soon began purchasing components to begin building ballistic and intercontinental ballistic missile and delivery systems of their own.”                                       “Have there been any direct confrontations as of yet between the Iranian submarines and the Saudi destroyers?” President Raymond asked, clearly either surprisingly ignorant of the skirmishes, or attempting to draw attention to them for the sake of others in attendance.

        Montana cast a short look towards Caprella. “No, sir, not yet. There have just been a few skirmishes, mostly the Saudis dropping depth charges once the Iranians subs had moved on.” Montana walked back and forth for a moment, clearly searching for a detail.

        “Okay, so why are we here, General?”

        “Mr. President, the truth is that virtually all oil supplies around the world have dried up, except for what little’s left in the Gulf.”

        “What about the shale?” asked Raymond.

        “Well sir, from what I’ve been told, the remaining quantity of shale oil has been greatly exaggerated, mostly in an attempt to stave off panic. The oil companies extracted what remained of the shale oil reserves about five years ago.”

        “Are you expecting a full-scale war to break out between the Saudis and the Iranians over the world’s only remaining supply of crude oil?”

        “Mr. President, to answer that question I’d like to defer to CIA Director Frank Murphy.”

A man in a dark gray suit near the other end of the table cleared his throat. “That is one of our concerns, Mr. President, yes. We now suspect that both the Saudis and the Iranians know that the world’s oil supply has failed, and that what little remains is located under the Persian Gulf. Each nation is determined to do whatever they have to in order to control that supply and through it, the world.”

        “Okay, Frank, thanks.” Raymond turned back to Montana. “So, Jim, I’m assuming that since you called us here, you must have some thoughts by now about how to address this?”

        “Yes, sir, I do have some thoughts, but they’re not just mine. This crisis isn’t limited only to the Iranians and the Saudis, or even to Persian Gulf. The hard truth is that our entire world has become dependent on oil, addicted to it, even in remote parts of the world. We’re starting to see similar skirmishes flare up all over the world, especially between Russia, Japan, and China, between various nations scattered throughout South America, and even in parts of Europe.

        “Therefore, we’ve had to come up with a phased approach for dealing with this immediate worldwide crisis, before one or more of these conflicts go nuclear, if they haven’t already. Phase I addresses the crisis in the Persian Gulf, and for that I’d like to defer to Tom.”

        Everyone turned to face Admiral Thomas Franklin, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Thanks, Jim,”

         Franklin answered. “Mr. President, we feel we must act, and soon, before the situation spirals out of control in the Persian Gulf. As you know, the Middle East has always been a tinderbox, but now it’s more volatile than ever. First, consider the fact that we’ve been at odds with Iran for many decades, nearly declaring open war with them on several occasions. Next, keep in mind that we are not the only major world power with an interest in access to what little oil remains; Russia, China, nearly every country on the planet is willing to go to war if necessary over whatever oil remains. Add that to the already very precipitous standoff between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and you have a recipe for global conflict.”

The day will arrive when there is no more oil, so we’d best be prepared, with alternative energy sources already in place and long-since having replaced fossil fuels as the world’s leading energy source.

World population will also become an issue at some point, increasing the demand on limited resources which, someday, if the issue is not addressed, will gradually begin to overtake the supply. If nothing is done, it will inevitably place increasing pressure on governments to secure access to resources for their respective populations by whatever means necessary.  This will likely lead to conflicts or even wars. It’s therefore likely that world leaders will begin to see a growing need to find alternative resources for humanity.  Now certainly the case could be made that with three-quarters of the earth’s surface being covered in water, that humanity has much more it could to not only with harvesting resources from the ocean, but with finding new ways of living on or under the surface of the world’s oceans. Still, the question will always remain, what about space?

Which brings us back to the discussion around FTL; is it possible and why do we need it? The most obvious reason for wanting FTL is it’s fast. Light travels at 186,282 miles per second (299,792 kilometers per second), so Faster-Than-Light travel is fast, very-fast.  When you’re talking about crossing the endless void of empty space just to get from Point A to Point B believe me, you’ll want fast. But is fast really what we’re after, or is it just what we thought we wanted? Take a look at the following two excerpts from my novel, Frontiers; in which humanity builds and successfully tests its first interstellar spaceship.

To set the scene Hank Reynolds, the man who will be piloting the ship also helped design and build it, is preparing for a simulated test-flight. Hanks is talking in both excerpts with his girlfriend Hailey.

First except from Frontiers, Cybersp@ce Series Book 2, by Jeff W. Horton

        “Just think of it, experts argued for decades about quantized space-time. Then, for twenty years or so there were several published papers about LQT, or loop quantum theory. They were all wrong, of course!”

        “What do you mean?”

        “Despite what some theoretical physicists may say, Albert Einstein never claimed that the General Theory of Relativity was the end all of cosmology. In fact, many of the more recent theories about space-time are much closer to the truth. When it comes to traveling faster than light, PDT rules.”

        “What is PDT?”

        “The quantum engines actually use something called Phased Dimensional Shifting, or PDT, to achieve Faster Than Light travel, or FTL. The theory has to do with slipping slightly into an alternate state of being, another dimension, enabling travel for vast distances. Dad and I have had a number of conversations over the years about various theories that might account for how the ship was capable of interstellar travel. Based on what I’ve learned from developing the quantum engines, they definitely rely on PDT, or something very close to it.”

In this next excerpt, Hank has successfully flown the craft to Alpha Centauri, the nearest star-system to our own, some 4.3 light-years away from earth. Now Einstein describes why literal FTL travel is impossible, which leads us t a sort of non-literal FTL travel:

Second except from Frontiers, Cybersp@ce Series Book 2, by Jeff W. Horton

“Hank, where are you? Did the quantum engines work; did you make it to Alpha Centauri?”

        Based on what she saw in the three-dimensional holographic display, Hank then turned to look at something in the ship.

        “Hold on a second, you’ve got to see this––” he replied with a grin. He turned and pressed a switch, which instantly activated a camera that displayed what was outside of the ship. In spite of everything she’d been through, Hailey gasped in awe as she beheld a most wondrous image before her, a vision of a never-before seen section of the universe, with two of the three stars in the system along with several strange, alien, planetary bodies, all projected against the black blanket of space.

        “I would like to call your attention off to the port of the ship, where we have the large yellow star that we refer to as Alpha Centauri A, which looks remarkably like Sol, the life-giving star around which our own Earth revolves, what we typically refer to as the ‘sun.’

        “Now closer to the middle of our view, we have a second star; this one is considerably smaller than the first and is orange in color rather than yellow, and is relatively close to Alpha Centauri A, astronomically speaking. This second, smaller star is known on Earth as Alpha Centauri B. Off in the distance there, to your far right, you should be able to see another, much fainter light; that is the third star in the Alpha Centauri system, and also the Earth’s nearest neighbor, Proxima, also known as Alpha Centauri C. That makes Earth’s nearest star system a binary system, though some include Proxima and refer to the system as a triple-star system.

        “Now, if you look down toward the bottom of your projected image, you will see a small, brown planet about the size of the Earth. This world has a scarred and tortured surface, however, the result of its proximity to Alpha Centauri A. All in all, it’s pretty amazing, isn’t it Hailey?”

        “That’s an understatement, Hank; it’s absolutely amazing! Wow! How long did it take you to get there?” she asked him, her eyes filled with wonder.

        “These quantum engines are something else, Hailey. It me took one hour, forty-five minutes.”

      Hailey punched at a keyboard for a few moments. “Do you have any idea how fast you traveled, Hank? That’s 419,047,619,047.61 kilometers per minute, or 23,297 times the speed of light!”

Hank frowned and shook his head. “No, Hailey, remember your physics; that would be impossible, at least assuming Einstein’s theory of relativity is still correct. What the quantum engine does is open up an inter-dimensional window, a passageway through another dimension, which makes covering the vast distances of the universe much easier. Besides, even if the ship could travel that fast, you and everyone else on Earth would be long-dead by the time I arrived, since time travels slower the closer you get to the speed of light, much less thousands of times the speed of light!”

In Frontiers, Hailey proclaims the ship traveled 23,297 times the speed of light to arrive at Alpha-Centauri in an hour-and-a-half. Hank quickly corrects her, stating that would be impossible as predicted by Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. He goes on to state that the ship’s quantum engines open-up an inter-dimensional window, which essentially provides short-cuts from one point in space to another.

Next, Hank puts his finger on the crux of the matter, the underlying and pesky issue that makes any traditional form of linear propulsion and acceleration a non-starter from the very beginning.

“Besides, even if the ship could travel that fast, you and everyone else on Earth would be long-dead by the time I arrived, since time travels slower the closer you get to the speed of light, much less thousands of times the speed of light!”

If you’ve seen the movie Interstellar you’ve seen this same issue play out. Traveling at high speeds in space-time is essentially a way of moving through time, into the future. What good will it do to travel the universe, when everyone we know, and love will be dead and gone when we return? Only when we can safely bounce around the universe without traveling through time will we be able to take significant advantage of FTL travel.

Science-fiction authors and screenwriters have addressed the challenges posed by the vastness of space by coming up with creative solutions like the hyperdrive, folding space, black holes, worm hole drives, white holes, slipstream drives, and of course, warp drives.

It turns out that some of these theoretical technologies could offer some hope for one day enabling us to travel the stars. enough that NASA is funding research into warp drives, worm holes, and something called magnetic portals. Take a look at this excerpt from an article in Forbes Magazine.

The challenges to achieving interstellar travel, while sobering, have not stopped the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency from providing $500,000 in seed funding for 100 Year Starship, a long-term, nongovernmental initiative that ensures “the capabilities for human interstellar flight exist as soon as possible, and definitely within the next 100 years.”

 Proxima Centauri, the closest star to Earth other than the Sun. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Schwartz, who authored “The Art of the Long View,” one of the seminal books on scenario planning, acknowledges that the idea behind 100 Year Starship is audacious. When he was first approached to apply scenario planning to the concept, he initially judged it extremely unlikely. “Anyone who looks at the problem has to be skeptical because it is so hard,” Schwartz said in an interview.

But the more Schwartz examined the idea, the more he realized the opportunities for achieving interstellar travel had increased in number and probability. First, mankind now had definitive evidence that earth is not the only habitable planet in the galaxy. To date, NASA’s Kepler space telescope, launched in 2009, has discovered 152 new planets orbiting distant stars, including around a half-dozen in the “habitable zone.”  And billions of planets remain undiscovered. “What this means is there is someplace to go,” said Schwartz, who holds a degree in aeronautical engineering and astronautics from Rennsselaer Polytechnical Institute.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/eliseackerman/2013/09/29/seven-sci-fi-scenarios-for-interstellar-space-travel-that-could-happen-in-this-century/#2e79958fed92

Here’s an excerpt from a fascinating article I came across on IFLSCIENCE’s website regarding a highly ambitious project called “Breakthrough Starshot.”

New Project Plans to Send a Spacecraft to Alpha Centauri in 20 Years

http://www.iflscience.com/space/stephen-hawking-reveals-plan-send-spacecraft-alpha-centauri-20-years/

A new project has been announced that will attempt to launch a small spacecraft to our nearest stellar neighbor, Alpha Centauri, and return images and data to Earth within a generation.

The ambitious proposal called Breakthrough Starshot was revealed today by billionaire Yuri Milner, Professor Stephen Hawking, and a host of other scientists and experts. The $100 million research project will seek to prove a proposed concept for interstellar travel, using a tiny satellite with a large laser-powered sail, with a plan to launch a mission to Alpha Centauri in the near future.

“Today, we commit to this next great leap into the cosmos,” said Hawking at a press conference today. “Because we are human, and our nature is to fly.”

The proposal involves using a tiny “nanocraft,” called StarChip, which could fit between two fingers, attached to a giant and sail. An array of lasers on Earth will then be used to direct a powerful laser approaching 100 gigawatts at this sail, accelerating it to 20 percent of the speed of light in a matter of minutes. 

Stephen Hawking was one of the experts taking part in the press conference. Breakthrough Starshot

Regular spacecraft would take more than 30,000 years to traverse the 4.37 light-years (25 trillion miles) to Alpha Centauri, but this nanocraft could complete the same journey in just 20 years, returning images and data to Earth of planets in the Alpha Centauri system.

Rather than just sending one of these nanocraft, Milner and co plan to launch hundreds, or even thousands of them. But they admit there are still a number of challenges to overcome, so they are opening the project to the public to seek advice on how best to move forward. As of yet, there is no launch date planned for the mission.

“The question is, can we reach the stars, literally?” Milner said at the press conference. “And can we do it in our lifetimes?”

Aside from Milner and Hawking, the project boasts some high-profile backers including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Ann Druyan, the widow of the late Carl Sagan, who proposed the idea of a solar sail in 1976. “But we didn’t think of making one so small,” said Druyan. The program will be led by Pete Worden, former director of NASA’s AMES Research Center.

So, is Interstellar Travel possible? Well, I’ll have to leave that answer to the real experts, but it is sounding increasingly likely that we will find some way to make it happen, one way or another, and more likely sooner rather than later.

There’s been one question that’s been nagging at me about this ever since I read about Breakthrough Starshot regarding time dilation and Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. If time passes more slowly for an object as it approaches the speed of light, does that mean that Starshot will make it to Alpha-Centauri in 20 years from the probe’s perspective, or from the perspective from those still on the Earth? \ If, indeed, Starshot takes 20 years from the Earth’s perspective, doesn’t that mean that from the probe’s perspective, the trip would last something like, what, a day or two?

Ohhhhh, my head’s starting to hurt. I need some Tylenol before my head explodes.

Jeff strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find his novels here if you’d like to peruse them, please do so:

https://www.hortonlibrary.com/home/sample-page

Again, thank you for your support!

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1140

November 4, 2020

Technical Discussion: How Do We Address the Burgeoning Population? -Part 3- Colonize the Oceans

Oceanographer Jacque Cousteau. He was a pioneer in many ways when it came to the ocean. I remember watching his television program, The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, when I was a child. Among many other things, Cousteau pioneered underwater living with his Conshelf I, an underwater habitat built 100 meters or so under water. The Conshelf II and the Conshelf III soon followed, as continual advances in technology enabled him to make improvements. But he successfully instilled in our collective consciousness that it was indeed possible for a man or woman to live in a home underwater.

Today, we have a burgeoning global population, and if all the scientists are to be believed, rising sea levels due to global warming. We need room to grow, to expand, as the world around us shrinks daily. As I’ve said many times, I’m confident some world governments, or at least the United states government, has in its possession, and is striving to understand, alien spacecraft, at least some of which crashed to earth. Am I a nutjob, another conspiracy theorist, a grown man who lives in his parents’ basement? No. I’m a professional, in the same field for over thirty-five years and a novelist to boot. And I’m a man who has been long enough to know that where there is smoke there is usually a fire, and that there is simply far too much evidence, beginning with an Army Air Corp Intelligence Officer of the 509th Bomb Group, stationed at Roswell AAF, Major Jesse A. Marcel, who in 1947 initially reported having found a “flying disc,” in Roswell, New Mexico, not a weather balloon. Of course, he wasn’t the only credible witness to having seen such an amazing craft. There have been doctors, lawyers, police, airline pilots, military pilots (with video footage to support their claims, taken by the military and released to the public by the military), and there have been some, like nuclear physicist Bob Lazar, who for nearly forty years now has talked about having alien spacecraft, touched alien spacecraft, and even had the opportunity to work on alien spacecraft. If you haven’t seen the documentary about him on Netflix you really should. You should also read an earlier post I did on him, here. https://www.hortonlibrary.com/archives/975

The key to the propulsion system aboard the alien ship, which Lazar claimed as far back in the 1980s, was something called Element 115, which was actually only discovered a few years ago, proving it does actually exist, though it manmade Element version of Element 115 differs somehow from the alien version in some important manner, which I believe he discusses briefly in the documentary. Oh, by the way, he is not the only nuclear physicist who shares in the belief that not only are there alien civilizations out there in the cosmos, but that they come here to earth, for some unknown reason, and that seem to have been doing so for quite some time. Case in point, ufologist and nuclear physicist Stanton Friedman. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/21/obituaries/stanton-friedman-dead.html

My point is that if these aliens are real then their ships are real, and therefore the likelihood of at least a few of their ships eventually, somehow, ending up in the hands of human beings of the ever-increasingly less primitive species ( some recent events in the news notwithstanding) seems to me to be a foregone conclusion.

Look, I’m not an idiot. You’re probably saying, or at least thinking something like, “Jeff, you moron. If the government is going through so much trouble keeping this thing a secret, don’t you think they probably have a good-freaking reason for doing so? Did you ever think maybe the aliens want it back or maybe we don’t want them to know we have their ship?” Well, you may be right. It’s just that I keep hearing about afraid how “The Smoking Man” is —hey, didn’t you ever watch the X-Files, come on!

Anyway, I keep hearing about how they, whoever controls access to these technological marvels, is afraid of a mass panic. Well that’s not going to happen. Maybe they’re afraid we’ll destroy ourselves with such advanced technology. Really? We have Biosafety level 4 laboratories, the nuclear bomb, we’ve mapped the human genome so we can use CRISPR CAS-9 to edit germline cells that will our children and grandchildren will inherit whatever changes we decide to make to our genes. We can essentially create real-life werewolves and vampires if we wanted to bad enough, or something much, much worse, and they’re worried about a propulsion system that will enable us to explore and settle the galaxy, and even trade with alien civilizations? Really?—and you think I’m naïve!

I’m confident this “problem” of over-population, (which again, I do not believe to be a problem, but rather an opportunity, the chance for our species to expand to other worlds), would virtually vanish overnight if only the United States government, or perhaps some other world government, who happen to have in it’s a similar craft, would open up their effort to reverse-engineer the technology to a much larger, perhaps even the global scientific community. There are some brilliant, brilliant people out there, and not all of them have Ph.D.s from CalTech or MIT. Maybe one of them already holds the answer you’ve been searching for. The government’s refusal to either expand its effort to develop interstellar travel or even to go public with the technology so it can bring in more experts, before it’s too late, is disheartening, if it is because they believe humanity cannot handle it; believe me, we can. Kids today cannot imagine a world without their smartphones, or Twitter, or Instagram. They cannot imagine a world without Playstations, Xbox Live, or the Internet. We need that technology and we need it now. Even if we had it already it’s going to take time to build ships, conduct reconnaissance flights, and to develop all of the ancillary technology we’ll need to see this come to fruition. But it would be some first step, wouldn’t it?

Okay, okay, you probably didn’t come here for a discourse on alien visitation rather, but a discussion building cities on or under the ocean. Before we go any further, I’d like to share an earlier post I did on the subject, before elloborating a little more on the topic.

Blog Post #1091, Move over Mars-Colonies will also Live and Thrive on or in the Earth’s Oceans.

https://www.hortonlibrary.com/archives/797

A lot of people have been talking a people going to Mars, where it’s so inhospitable (there is no life on Mars(currently) we cannot breathe the air there, and while temperature might reach a comforable70 degrees at noon at the equator on Mars, temperatures at night can plummet to as much as 100 degrees below zero! That doesn’t take into account the dust storms, the risk of a crack in the dome you’re living under, and the constant danger. With all that being said, a lot of people have been saying to themselves, why should they go to Mars when they can live in the Ocean, but still rise to the surface to enjoy the sun whenever they wish.

On a side note, when human beings do get serious about living in cities on or under the ocean, and I expect it will be sooner than later, I wonder how long it will be until citizens of that city decide to modify their genes say, to grow gills, enabling them to breathe air or extract oxygen from the water. Of course, stronger muscles and denser bones would enable them to survive the tremendous pressures of the deep. Like I said Smoking Man,

Anyway, humanity as a whole seems to be waking up to the possibility that, seeing how three-fourths of the earth’s surface is covered in water, it only makes sense that maybe, instead of clinging to only one-fourth of it, humanity should start looking at how we might live in the rest. After all, shouldn’t it be easier than living on Mars?

There are essentially three approaches I’ve come across for building cities underwater, and they are;

Cities floating on top of the water, cities built on the ocean floor, and cities that are both on the ocean floor and the surface, or they can be either. Here are a few of the designs I’ve come across, and links for you to learn more about them. Of all the various designs, it seems the Japanese spiral design is the best so far. But with the universe being as it is, once people start living there I imagine it won’t be long until something even better comes along. Stay tuned! Okay, here we go…

Floating Cities:

Floating Nation:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5077575/The-world-s-floating-city-set-2020-build.html
  • Bankrolled by PayPal founder Peter Thiel, …a floating nation built in the Pacific Ocean
  • Hotels, homes, offices and restaurants, and more will be built by 2020 by the nonprofit Seasteading Institute
  • In January the firm made a deal with French Polynesia to set up an experimental nation off its coast
  • Joe Quirk, president of the Seasteading Institute, said he wants to see ‘thousands’ of floating cities by 2050

Venus Project:

Cities in the Sea

Cities in the Sea

A global network of such cities in the sea can easily accommodate many millions of people and relieve the land based population pressures. They can provide the inhabitants with information and serve as natural sea aquariums without artificially enclosing marine life.

Offshore Living

Offshore apartment buildings of concrete, steel, glass, titanium, and a wide variety of new synthetic materials could be built to relieve the population pressure in areas like Hong Kong, Tokyo, Los Angeles, and New York.

Mariculture & Fish Farming

Such systems would be used to cultivate and raise fish and other forms of marine life to help meet the nutritional needs of the world’s people.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1139

October 28, 2020

Technical Discussion: How Do We Address the Burgeoning Population? -Part 2 Reclaiming Uninhabitable Land

Last week we talked about the growing human population (which is not just great­—it’s freaking awesome!) The problem with a growing population, as many chicken little-types like to mindlessly point out, is that our resources are somewhat limited; our planet can only sustain so many of us. While I’m not so sure we’ll come anywhere even close that in any of our lifetimes, or that of our children or our children’s children. But I agree, in principle that yes, eventually we will run out of resources.

So, what do we do? As I mentioned last week, the best solution is simply to do this; develop interstellar travel that uses faster-than-light technology that can circumvent the physical laws that restrict objects from moving at or faster than the speed of light. Again. I refer to exotic forms of travel that remain, for now, science fiction. Just remember, not so long ago your parents or grandparents probably found the idea of looking and talking on a small phone you could take anywhere, which you could also ask any random question from, was nothing but pure science fiction. And landing a man on the moon? Can you imagine the look Wilbur and Orville Wright would have on their faces if you’d been around to tell them that in sixty years, men would be up there walking around on the moon?

Besides, as I’ve said before, I’m very confident that governments all over the planet already have this technology, recovered from crashed alien ships, and that they’re sill, after all this time, trying to reverse-engineer it, to understand it. If they’d open it up to more expert, and there are so many all over the world, instead of keeping it so secretive, we’d get there much sooner. We need that technology, now, not later. It would solve many issues we face today and could, if properly handled, serve as a catalyst to bring humanity. If handled poorly, however, it could lead to the end of us all, but we’ve already been there, almost, in 1961.

Anyway…boy, was off-track; sorry. Refocusing on the question at hand; how do we sustain the burgeoning human population until a viable means of interstellar travel is discovered, and we can go colonize new worlds?

And why do I think it will take so long for our population to catch up to the earth’s natural resources? Because human beings are enormously, habitually, and quite naturally extraordinarily wasteful. There is so very much we can do that’s never been done before. For so many countries around the world there is so much room for improvement in how we utilize what we have it’s pathetic really.

FOOD:

For example, ocean seeding and aggressive fisheries management, fish populations across the world’s oceans could be increased dramatically. With much of the ocean filled marine life of all sorts, ranging from kale and algae to flounder and tuna, there is much, much opportunity for humanity to find, nurture, and grow vast reserves of protein-rich food a from the ocean.

ENERGY:

Tidal wave energy, thermal energy, nuclear fusion, advanced solar solutions, hydrogen fuel cells; these are all examples of alternative forms of energy. Some are in use, some have been tested, others are in development as we speak. All of them promise a cleaner and more effective means of harnessing energy to pass along to consumers.

Even a few exotic, potentially phenomenal forms of energy-creation might be possible, ranging from ant-matter to dark energy and more. Hey, if it works it works and if it doesn’t it doesn’t, right?

REAL ESTATE:

So, we’ve talked about building underwater cities, and on the surface cities, to colonize the world’s oceans.

We’ve discussed the possibility of colonizing moons withing our own Solar System is most certainly an option.

But there’s an option much, much less daunting than either of these two; reclaiming uninhabitable land.

I found a great article from a few years ago that I believe says it all. I’ll include a brief excerpt here and recommend you follow the link to read the rest. It’s an interesting piece.

50 Years Ago: The Reclamation of a Man-Made Desert

Israel is restoring to cultivation a land damaged by a millennium of abuse. The achievement is an example to a world that must face the task of increasing food supplies to feed a rising population

February 23, 2010

Note: This story, originally published in our April 1960 issue of Scientific American, is being made available as a supplement to the April 2010 issue 50, 100, 150 Years Ago feature.

The State of Israel has undertaken to create a new agriculture in an old and damaged land. The 20th century Israelites did not find their promised land “Rowing with milk and honey,” as their forebears did 3,300 years ago. They came to a land of encroaching sand dunes along a once-verdant coast, of malarial swamps and naked limestone hills from which an estimated three feet of topsoil had been scoured, sorted and spread as sterile overwash upon the plains or swept out to sea in Rood waters that time after time turned the beautiful blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown as far as the horizon. The land of Israel had shared the fate of land throughout the Middle East. A decline in productivity, in population and in culture had set in with the fading of the Byzantine Empire some 1,300 years ago. The markers of former forest boundaries on treeless slopes and the ruins of dams, aqueducts and terraced irrigation works, of cities, bridges and paved highways-all bore witness that the land had once supported a great civilization with a much larger population in a higher state of well-being.

Last year, as a finale to the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, an international convention brought 485 farmers from 37 countries to see what had been accomplished. They found a nation of two million people, whose numbers had doubled in the decade, principally by immigration. Yet Israel was already an exporter of agricultural produce and had nearly achieved the goal of agricultural self-sufficiency, with an export/import balance in foodstuffs. It had more than doubled its cultivated land, to a million acres. It had drained 44,000 acres of marshland and extended irrigation to 325,000 acres; it had increased many-fold the supply of underground water from wells and was far along on the work of diverting and utilizing the scant surface waters. On vast stretches of uncultivable land, it had established new range-cover to support a growing livestock industry and planted 37 million trees in new forests and shelter belts. All this had been accomplished under a national plan that enlisted the devotion of the citizens and the best understanding and technique provided by modern agricultural science. Israel is not simply restoring the past but seeking full utilization of the land, including realization of potentialities that were unknown to the ancients…”

Lastly, let’s look at an incredible idea; the concept of a national aquifer system across the United States, capable of redistributing vast amounts of water at a moment’s notice.

Investing in Infrastructure – A National Aqueduct

CJ March 19, 2009 Musings

“I live in the United States desert southwest. As the name “desert” broadcasts, our major resource headache is water—or, rather, the lack of water. Because of the amount of sun, we receive, those of us in the “desert” states also grow more produce than many generally suppose (I know it always surprises me). Unfortunately, with the increasing warming problem and extended periods of drought, we are fast approaching a situation where the effect on national food supplies as well as population health could become an issue.

The nation needs a major building project: a national aqueduct system capable of moving the massive amounts of fresh-water runoff so much of the north and northeastern states must worry about each spring, and transport them to California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and the surprisingly water-poor areas in the Midwest. Letting all of this precious resource simply wash back to the ocean seems such a waste (of course a fair amount MUST be allowed to flow through in order to preserve the natural downstream environment). With proper treatment, we might also be able to use the flood-waters due to massive storms that create misery in many areas every year.”

http://tib.cjcs.com/2967/investing-in-infrastructure-a-national-aqueduct/

NEXT WEEK:

Next, we’ll talk about the efforts by some, to transform a barren desert into a tropical paradise.

Jeff strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find his novels here if you’d like to peruse them, please do so:

https://www.hortonlibrary.com/home/sample-page

Again, thank you for your support!

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

Blog Post #1132

September 30, 2020

Author Spotlight Featuring: H.G. Wells

Author Name: H.G. Wells

Occupation: Author:

Birth Date: September 21, 1866

Death Date: August 13, 1946

Education: Normal School of Science, London University, Midhurst Grammar School, Royal College of Science

Place of Birth: Bromley, England, United Kingdom

Place of Death: London, England, United Kingdom

Also Known As: Herbert Wells, Herbert G. Wells, H.G. Wells

Full Name: Herbert George Wells

Quotes: I seek, in fiction, to advance ideas and naturally I repeat the ideas in which I believe.”

—H.G. Wells

BOOKS BY H.G. WELLS

  • The Time Machine (1895)
  • The Wonderful Visit (1895)
  • The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896)
  • The Wheels of Chance (1896)
  • The Invisible Man (1897)
  • The War of the Worlds (1898)
  • When the Sleeper Wakes (1899)
  • Love and Mr Lewisham (1900)
  • The First Men in the Moon (1901)
  • The Sea Lady (1902)
  • The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth (1904)
  • Kipps (1905)
  • A Modern Utopia (1905)
  • In the Days of the Comet (1906)
  • The War in the Air (1908)
  • Tono-Bungay (1909)
  • Ann Veronica (1909)
  • The History of Mr Polly (1910)
  • The Sleeper Awakes (1910)
  • The New Machiavelli (1911)
  • Marriage (1912)
  • The Passionate Friends (1913)
  • The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman (1914)
  • The World Set Free (1914)
  • Bealby: A Holiday (1915)
  • Boon (1915) (as Reginald Bliss)
  • The Research Magnificent (1915)
  • Mr Britling Sees It Through (1916)
  • The Soul of a Bishop (1917)
  • Joan and Peter: The Story of an Education (1918)
  • The Undying Fire (1919)
  • The Secret Places of the Heart (1922)
  • Men Like Gods (1923)
  • The Dream (1924)
  • Christina Alberta’s Father (1925)
  • The World of William Clissold (1926)
  • Meanwhile (1927)
  • Mr. Blettsworthy on Rampole Island (1928)
  • The Autocracy of Mr. Parham (1930)
  • The Bulpington of Blup (1932)
  • The Shape of Things to Come (1933)
  • The Croquet Player (1936)
  • Brynhild (1937)
  • Star Begotten (1937)
  • The Camford Visitation (1937), novella
  • Apropos of Dolores (1938)
  • The Brothers (1938)
  • The Holy Terror (1939)
  • Babes in the Darkling Wood (1940)
  • All Aboard for Ararat (1940)
  • You Can’t Be Too Careful (1941)

SHORT STORIES

  • “A Tale of the Twentieth Century” (6, May 1887)
  • “A Talk with Gryllotalpa” (3, February 1887)
  • “A Vision of the Past” (7, June 1887)
  • “The Chronic Argonauts” (17–19, April–June 1888)
  • “The Devotee of Art” (24–25, Nov.–Dec. 1888)
  • “Æpyornis Island” (13 December 1894)
  • “A Deal in Ostriches” (20 December 1894)
  • “A Family Elopement” (3 March 1894)
  • “A Misunderstood Artist” (29 October 1894)
  • “How Gabriel Became Thompson” (26 July 1894)
  • “In the Avu Observatory” (9 August 1894)
  • “In the Modern Vein” (8 March 1894)
  • “The Diamond Maker” (16 August 1894)
  • “The Flowering of the Strange Orchid” (2 August 1894)
  • “The Hammerpond Park Burglary” (5 July 1894)
  • “The Jilting of Jane” (12 July 1894)
  • “The Lord of the Dynamos” (6 September 1894)
  • “The Man With a Nose” (6 Feb. 1894)
  • “The Stolen Bacillus” (21 June 1894)
  • “The Thing in No. 7” (25 October 1894)
  • “The Thumbmark” (28 June 1894)
  • “The Treasure in the Forest” (23 August 1894)
  • “The Triumphs of a Taxidermist” (3–15 March 1894)
  • “Through a Window” (25 August 1894)
  • “A Catastrophe” (4 April 1895)
  • “How Pingwill Was Routed” (27 June 1895)
  • “Le Mari Terrible” (23 May 1895)
  • “Our Little Neighbour” (4 April 1895)
  • “Pollock and the Porroh Man” (23 May 1895)
  • “The Argonauts of the Air” (December 1895)
  • “The Cone” (18 September 1895)
  • “The Flying Man” (Pall Mall Gazette, 4 January 1895)
  • “The Moth” (28 March 1895)
  • “The Reconciliation” (1 December 1895)
  • “The Remarkable Case of Davidson’s Eyes” (28 March 1895)
  • “The Sad Story of a Dramatic Critic” (15 August 1895)
  • “The Temptation of Harringay” (9 February 1895)
  • “Wayde’s Essence” (18 April 1895)
  • “A Slip Under the Microscope” (January 1896)
  • “In the Abyss” (1 August 1896)
  • “The Apple” (October 1896)
  • “The Plattner Story” (April 1896)
  • “The Purple Pileus” (December 1896)
  • “The Rajah’s Treasure” (July 1896)
  • “The Red Room” (March 1896)
  • “The Sea Raiders” (6 December 1896)
  • “The Story of the Late Mr. Elvesham” (May 1896)
  • “Under the Knife” (January 1896)
  • “A Perfect Gentleman on Wheels” (April 1897)
  • “A Story of the Stone Age” (May–September 1897)
  • “Mr Marshall’s Doppelganger” (18 September 1897)
  • “The Crystal Egg” (May 1897)
  • “The Lost Inheritance” (May 1897)
  • “The Presence by the Fire” (14 August 1897)
  • “The Star” (December 1897)
  • “Jimmy Goggles the God” (December 1898)
  • “Miss Winchelsea’s Heart” (October 1898)
  • “Mr. Ledbetter’s Vacation” (October 1898)
  • “The Man Who Could Work Miracles” (July 1898)
  • “The Stolen Body” (November 1898)
  • “Walcote” (Dec. 1898 – Jan. 1899)
  • “A Story of the Days to Come” (June–October 1899)
  • “A Vision of Judgment” (September 1899)
  • “Mr. Brisher’s Treasure” (April 1899)
  • “A Dream of Armageddon” (25 May 1901)
  • “Filmer” (December 1901)
  • “The New Accelerator” (December 1901)
  • “The Inexperienced Ghost” (March 1902)
  • “The Loyalty of Esau Common” (February 1902)
  • “Mr. Skelmersdale in Fairyland” (February 1903)
  • “The Land Ironclads” (December 1903)
  • “The Magic Shop” (June 1903)
  • “The Truth About Pyecraft” (April 1903)
  • “The Valley of Spiders” (March 1903)
  • “The Country of the Blind” (April 1904; revised, 1939)
  • “The Empire of the Ants” (December 1905)
  • “The Door in the Wall” (1906)
  • “The Beautiful Suit” (April 1909)
  • “Little Mother Up the Mörderberg” (April 1910)
  • “My First Aeroplane” (January 1910)
  • “The Story of the Last Trump” (1915)
  • “The Wild Asses of the Devil” (1915)
  • “Peter Learns Arithmetic” (1918)
  • “The Invasion from Mars” (1920)
  • “The Grisly Folk” (April 1921)
  • “Into the Abyss” (1923)
  • “The Pearl of Love” (January 1925)
  • “The Adventures of Tommy” (1928)
  • “A Woman’s Heart” (1931)
  • “The Queer Story of Brownlow’s Newspaper” (February 1932)
  • “Answer to Prayer” (10 April 1937)
  • “Depouillement – the Door in the Wall” (1953)
  • “The Desert Daisy” (1957)
  • “The Haunted Ceiling” (2016]

He’s long been one of my all-time favorite authors, and the four books below among my favorite novels.

o The Time Machine (1895)

o The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896)

o The Invisible Man (1897)

o The War of the Worlds (1898)

Synopsis

Born in England in 1866, H.G. Wells’s parents were shopkeepers in Kent, England. His first novel, The Time Machine was an instant success and Wells produced a series of science fiction novels which pioneered our ideas of the future. His later work focused on satire and social criticism. Wells laid out his socialist views of human history in his Outline of History. He died in 1946.

Early Life

Visionary writer H.G. Wells was born Herbert George Wells on September 21, 1866, in Bromley, England. Wells came from a working-class background. His father played professional cricket and ran a hardware store for a time. Wells’s parents were often worried about his poor health. They were afraid that he might die young, as his older sister had. At the age of 7, Wells had an accident that left him bedridden for several months. During this time, the avid young reader went through many books, including some by Washington Irving and Charles Dickens.

After Wells’s father’s shop failed, his family, which included two older brothers, struggled financially. The boys were apprenticed to a draper, and his mother went to work on an estate as a housekeeper. At his mother’s workplace, Wells discovered the owner’s extensive library. He read the works of Jonathan Swift and some of the important figures of the Enlightenment, including Voltaire.

In his early teens, Wells also went to work as a draper’s assistant. He hated the job and eventually quit, much to his mother’s dismay. Turning to teaching, Wells soon found a way to continue his own studies. He won a scholarship to the Normal School of Science where he learned about physics, chemistry, astronomy and biology, among other subjects.

Wells also devoted much of his time to becoming a writer. During college, he published a short story about time travel called “The Chronic Argonauts,” which foreshadowed his future literary success.

Literary Success

In 1895, Wells became an overnight literary sensation with the publication of the novel The Time Machine. The book was about an English scientist who develops a time travel machine. While entertaining, the work also explored social and scientific topics, from class conflict to evolution. These themes recurred in some of his other popular works from this time.

Wells continued to write what some have called scientific romances, but others consider early examples of science fiction. In quick succession, he published The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897) and The War of the Worlds (1898). The Island of Doctor Moreau told the story of a man who encounters a scientist conducting the gruesome experiments on animals, creating new species of creatures. In The Invisible Man, Wells explores the life of another scientist who undergoes a dark personal transformation after turning himself invisible. The War of the Worlds, a novel about an alien invasion, later caused a panic when an adaptation of the tale was broadcast on American radio. On Halloween night of 1938, Orson Welles went on the air with his version of The War of the Worlds, claiming that aliens had landed in New Jersey.

In addition to his fiction, Wells wrote many essays, articles and nonfiction books. He served as a book reviewer for the Saturday Review for several years, during which time he promoted the careers of James Joyce and Joseph Conrad. In 1901, Wells published a non-fiction book called Anticipations. This collection of predictions has proved to be remarkably accurate. Wells forecasted the rise of major cities and suburbs, economic globalization, and aspects of future military conflicts. Remarkably, considering his support for women and women’s rights, Wells did not predict the rise of women in the workplace.

Politically, Wells supported socialist ideals. For a time, he was a member of the Fabian Society, a group that sought social reform and believed that the best political system was socialism. Wells explored issues of social class and economic disparity in a number of his works, including Kipps (1905). Kipps was one of Wells’s favorites of his own work.

Over the years, he wrote several more comedies, including 1916’s Mr. Britling Sees It Through. This wildly popular novel looks at a writer living in a small English village before, during and after World War I. Also, around this time, Wells again demonstrated his affinity for predictions. He foresaw the splitting of atom and the creation of atomic bombs in The World Set Free (1914).

Later Works

In 1920, H.G. Wells published The Outline of History, perhaps his best-selling work during his lifetime. This three-volume tome began with prehistory and followed the world’s events up through World War I. Wells believed there would be another major war to follow and included his ideas for the future. Lobbying for a type of global socialism, he suggested the creation of a single government for the entire world. Around this time, Wells also tried to advance his political ideas in the real world. He ran for Parliament as a Labor Party candidate in 1922 and 1923, but both efforts ended in failure.

Wells branched out into film in the 1930s. Traveling to Hollywood, he adapted his 1933 novel The Shape of Things to Come for the big screen. His 1936 film, called Things to Come, took audiences on a journey from the next world war into the distant future. Around this same time, Wells worked on the film version of one of his short stories, “The Man Who Could Work Miracles.”

An internationally famous intellectual and author, Wells traveled widely. He visited Russia in 1920 where he met with Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky. More than a decade later, Wells had the opportunity to talk with Josef Stalin and American president Franklin D. Roosevelt. He also lectured and went on speaking tours, gaining notoriety for his radical social and political views. Taking a break from war-torn London in 1940, Wells came to the United States. He delivered a talk entitled “Two Hemispheres—One World.”

Personal Life

In 1891, Wells married his cousin, Isabel Mary Wells, but the union didn’t last. Wells soon took up with Amy Catherine “Jane” Robbins and the pair married in 1895 after he officially divorced Isabel. He and Jane had two children together, sons George Philip and Frank.

A free thinker about sex and sexuality, Wells did not let marriage stop him from having other relationships. He had numerous affairs and later lived apart from Jane. His involvement with Amber Reeves resulted in the birth of their daughter Anna-Jane in 1909. Wells later developed feelings for feminist writer Rebecca West, and they had a son, Anthony, together. Jane died of cancer in 1927.

Death and Legacy

For roughly 50 years, Wells devoted his life to writing and his output during this time was amazing. Some even criticized Wells for his tremendous volume of work, saying that he spread his talent too thin. Wells wrote, on average, three books a year for a time. And each of his works went through several drafts before publication.

Wells remained productive until the very end of his life, but his attitude seemed to darken in his final days. Among his last works was 1945’s “Mind at the End of Its Tether,” a pessimistic essay in which Wells contemplates the end of humanity. Some critics speculated that Wells’s declining health shaped this prediction of a future without hope. He died on August 13, 1946, in London.

At the time of his death, Wells was remembered as an author, historian and champion of certain social and political ideals. So many of his predictions for the future came true in the ensuing years that he is sometimes called “the Father of Futurism.” But today is best known as “the Father of Science Fiction.” Wells’s fantastical tales continue to fascinate audiences. Several of his works have returned to the big screen in recent years. A remake of War of the Worlds (2005) featured Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning as two of the humans fighting to survive the alien invasion.

While I admit I doubt Wells and I would have seen eye to eye in our politics, there is much, much more that I believe we would have had in common, had we lived some of the same years under the sun. His great works of fiction demonstrate his genius and his acumen.

The genius, inspiration, wonder of H.G. was a gift; I’m grateful he decided to share it with the rest of us.

For more on H.G. Wells: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._G._Wells_bibliography

Jeff W Horton is a published author with nine novels published to date, including:

-Future Schism

-Heaven’s Oasis

-New Beginnings

-Frontiers

-Cybersp@ce

-The Last Prophet

-The Way of Nacor

-The Dark Age

-The Great Collapse

Jeff strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find his novels here if you’d like to peruse them, please do so:

https://www.hortonlibrary.com/home/sample-page

Again, thank you for your support!

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

Blog Post #1130

August 26, 2020

Technical Discussion: Air Taxis in a Post-China Virus World

Flying taxis. I still find it mind-blowing to think I may be calling for a taxi, only to have to scan the skies for it instead of the streets. The idea of zipping around town in an air taxi makes me think of two popular science-fiction films, The Fifth Element and Blade Runner. It still seems like science fiction, but it’s not; it’s real.

As I prepared to write this blog post today, I began thinking about the flying taxis, which gained fame when Uber announced a partnership with Hyundai to build and operate a fleet of vertical takeoff or landing vehicles (VTOL) air taxis a few years ago. But Uber and Hyundai are certainly not the only ones working on tapping into the global appetite for fast, inexpensive, and localized travel. If it’s something new and exotic, so much the better!

Last year I put up a couple of posts up about a dozen or so VTOL vehicles from around the world. That was, however, before a deadly pandemic escaped China and ravaged the world. This post is, therefore, an attempt to determine who survived, and who thrives post zombie-apocalypse…

UBER

A picture containing airplane Description automatically generated

Uber is building the future of aerial ridesharing. In 2023, Uber plans to give riders the option of an affordable shared flight. Uber is working closely with federal and local policymakers to develop an aerial offering that’s safe, quiet, and environmentally conscious, and that extends the reach of existing transportation options.

We have convened leaders across industry and government—vehicle designers, manufacturers, investors, operators, infrastructure providers, policymakers, and regulators—to build this future of urban aviation and begin testing in cities as early as 2020.

Uber Air launch markets

https://www.uber.com/us/en/elevate/uberair

“Over the next few years, Uber will continue to work closely with key stakeholders at local, state, and national levels to create an aerial ridesharing network. Safety, environmental impact, and noise reduction are at the heart of our design principles for the Uber Elevate network. Dallas, Los Angeles, and Melbourne will be Uber Air’s first launch markets

Los Angeles

Dallas

Melbourne

Skyports

A network of distributed Skyports is being planned to enable Uber Air operations. At scale, Skyports require all-new designs to handle an unprecedented number of takeoffs and landings. The top names in architecture, design, and engineering are devising solutions capable of handling up to 1,000 landings per hour, even within footprints as dense as an acre or 2.”

FLUTR

A close up of a sign Description automatically generated

What is FLUTR?

The FLUTR. When I first posted about these VTOL vehicles back in March, I was immediately smitten with the FLUTR. I believe it was the look, and the incredibly marketing illustration the company provided (above). It makes it seem so ordinary, dropping the wide off on the way to work.

It turns out you can own one of these puppies for the low low price of just over $200,000. Yes, you can buy your own, personal FLUTR to fly to work and back, or even on vacations! Now I know that 200k might seem like a lot of money to you but think of it, a frigging flying car…how cool is that? Want to start your own air-taxi business? No problem: you’ll need to obtain your private pilot’s license and you’re good to go.

So, a few things to keep in mind about your new purchase:

  • The first model will only come in diesel. A hydrogen-powered model and then a battery-powered model will follow in that order in the future, likely over the next several years.
  • The craft will fit, folded, in a single-car garage. It will fit as-is in a two-car garage.
  • You’ll need a space roughly 26 ft. in diameter to land your FLUTR.
  • If you want to fly at night, you’ll need a private pilot license.
  • If you want to drink and fly…no, don’t, seriously, just…don’t.
  • The good news is if you get too drunk and run out of gas while at 5,000 feet on the way to the beach, the FLUR has a parachute that will open and ensure a safe landing; awesome, isn’t it?

Okay, now for some promotional info from FLUTR the company, and their link:

https://www.flutrmotors.com

“A personal air vehicle for getting from home to the shops, school, work, client’s office, the golf course, a trip to the beach, the mountains, or wherever your imagination takes you.

It can also be used for rapid response emergency vehicles in congested urban neighborhoods or remote country areas, and search, rescue and patrol operations for safety organizations.

 FLUTR stands for Flying Urban Transporter

 It is also an abbreviation of “flutter” as in the motion of butterflies.

Below are some excerpts from a great article on New Atlas’ website about where we stand today on Vertical Takeoff and Landing aircraft/air taxis. I strongly encourage you to read the entire article, which you can find here: https://newatlas.com/aircraft/evtol-air-taxi-flying-car-market-players/

What’s stopping us from having eVTOL air taxis today, then?

“These machines still have a few major challenges left to overcome.

The first is the same problem that’s holding back high-performance electric motorcycles: current lithium battery technology simply doesn’t allow you to carry enough energy yet. Until energy density is at least doubled, most of these designs don’t offer range endurance long enough to make them commercially viable. These big battery packs will need charging, too, which would ground the aircraft for a significant time.

The second is certification. At this stage, we’re not aware of any eVTOL design that’s certified as a fully commercially operable aircraft, and while some endeavors are finding ways to push forward around the edges of the law, the fact remains that these are entirely new categories of aircraft, and the process of certifying, testing and regulating them is going to be monstrously expensive and time consuming.

The third impacts the second: safety. Electric VTOL aircraft can offer all sorts of redundancy options that no other aircraft can match. Take out a prop, or a motor, or even a few of them, and most of these designs can still fly thanks to distributed propulsion and smart software. Ballistic parachutes can be fired to bring them down gently in the case of total catastrophic failure. In the vast majority of cases, these things should be very, very safe.”

Authors Note: Below are just a few of my favorite VTOL aircraft listed on this website, which contains most of the same aircraft I’ve seen before, but with updated information.

Rolls-Royce, famous for its aerospace engines, is getting on board with electric propulsion with this hybrid VTOL concept

Rolls-Royce, famous for its aerospace engines, is getting on board with electric

propulsion with this hybrid VTOL concept Rolls-Royce

The technology doesn’t feel far away. Electric multirotors deliver excellent hover stability thanks to the enormous, near-instant torque production of electric motors, which can respond very quickly to stabilize an aircraft as wind conditions move it around. And there are a plethora of different takes on how these machines should be built.

Some designs are as simple as big multirotors with passenger cabins. Others attempt to extend range by adding complexity in the form of tilting rotors and multi-mode flight; hovering like a multirotor, they transition to wing-assisted forward flight, which is much more efficient but dynamically more complicated.

` Joby Aviation

Transitioning eVTOL with six tilting rotors, five seats, 200 mph top speed, 150-mile range

Joby Aviation has built and flight-tested its five-seat, six-rotor eVTOL air taxi

Joby Aviation has built and flight-tested its five-seat, six-rotor eVTOL air taxi

Joby Aviation

“Remember the Joby Gorillapod? Well, the fellow that invented it, JoeBen Bevirt, has long left the bendy tripod business. For more than 10 years, he and a crack team of mad aviation scientists have been sequestered away on a sprawling, slightly hippie compound outside Santa Cruz, working on spectacular eVTOL designs. The company now has several facilities spread out across Northern California.

Joby Aviation has recently completed a monster US$590 million fundraising round, much of that coming from Toyota, bringing the total it’s raised to US$720 million. While it’s operated in stealth mode for most of its existence, the company has built and flown full-size, five-seat prototypes of its gorgeous aircraft with its six tilting rotors and V-shaped double tail. Joby says it flies at up to 200 mph (322 km/h) in near-total silence (once it’s flying forward, anyway) and offers over 150 miles (240 km) of range per charge on current-gen batteries.

Joby says it commenced the airframe certification process in 2018 and expects it to be complete sometime before 2024. With Toyota contributing mass manufacturing assistance as well as heaping piles of cash, Joby is well positioned to be a leading force. We quietly wonder whether Toyota’s expertise with hydrogen fuel cells may offer an advantage as this all plays out – a high-speed tilt-rotor fuel cell eVTOL with enormous range and near-instant refueling could look a lot more attractive than long out-of-service hours on a battery charger when commercial flights begin.”

The company has signed a multi-year commercial partnership with Uber and is also looking at setting up its own on-demand air taxi service in multiple markets.

Lilium

Transitioning eVTOL with 36 ducted fans on tilting banks, five seats, 186 mph top speed, 186-mile range

Lilium first emerged in 2016 as an aviation startup with some very lofty ambitions

Lilium

Link to Video

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Lilium&docid=607993466027312193&mid=5BAD310C5E4837CF44F15BAD310C5E4837CF44F1&view=detail&FORM=VIRE

“Lilium, based outside Munich in Germany, is another major player with more than US$340 million behind it and a workforce of 350 people that’s preparing to scale up past 1,000. Lilium’s aircraft is without doubt one of the most beautiful in the sector, a supercar-style cabin between slim, hammerhead wings with banks of very compact “electric jets” and no ungainly exposed propellers. It’s a superbly futuristic design.

It’s also flying, with public test videos available online of early-stage hover and maneuvering tests, and high-speed testing soon to follow. The jet offers a top speed around 186 mph (300 km/h) and an impressive range of 186 miles (300 km) using existing battery technology. The huge number of small fans give it excellent redundancy in case of motor failure.

Lilium told us a few months ago it sees “a pretty clear path towards certification,” and the company is targeting 2025 for the launch of its own service. . At this stage it doesn’t appear to be interested in selling aircraft to other operators.

Urban Aeronautics

Coaxial 4-rotor “Fancraft” with 6 seats, 168 mph top speed, 93-mile range

Urban Aeronautics is going into "full scale development" of its CityHawk flying car, an urban getabout vehicle with VTOL capabilities

Urban Aeronautics is going into “full scale development” of its CityHawk flying car, an urban getabout vehicle with VTOL capabilities

Urban Aeronautics

CITYHAWK

Israel’s CityHawk should probably not be on this list, because it’s not electric, but this bizarre design will eventually be converted to use a hydrogen fuel cell system, and it’s certainly an interesting aircraft. It’s based on the Cormorant airframe from Tactical Robotics, formerly known as the AirMule, which has done plenty of testing to validate its weird take on things.

The current, turbofan-powered CityHawk design uses two big, fully shielded and allegedly slow-rotating fans at the front and rear of a roughly car-shaped body to handle lift. Forward thrust is provided, on the Cormorant at least, by an additional pair of horizontal ducted fans at the rear. We’re at a bit of a loss to understand how it balances itself using this configuration, where thrust sources seem grouped together along a single axis instead of out wide like on most designs, but it certainly seems to fly, even if the demo flights have looked a tad wobbly.

Notably, this design can get six people aboard, using a significantly smaller footprint than anything else on this list. It’s about the width of a car, if a little longer, and Urban Aeronautics says that small footprint will give this thing a much wider choice of landing spots, as well as the ability to park lots of them close together.

Moving to a hydrogen fuel cell powertrain, which is very much on the roadmap, will allow two contra-rotating fans at each end, and should greatly increase range for what is essentially a drone-like design with no wing assistance. The claimed 168 mph top speed seems a tad optimistic, but we’ll wait and see.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: The CityHawk now uses a Hydrogen Fuel Cell.

FALCON XP

Now we’ve arrived at what I believe to be the most incredible UAV we’ve discussed so far, the Falcon XP, also by Israeli company Urban Aeronautics.

Here are just a few of the incredible bullet points I’d like to point out before moving on to the info from New Atlas’ website:

  • It can carry up to 14 people (including the pilot)
  • It can function as an ambulance, carrying a couple of doctors and nurses, equipment, and several patients.
  • Range is ~111 miles fully loaded
  • Speed is 134 miles per hour
  • The craft currently uses a gas-powered helicopter motor but hopefully, they too will eventually shift to a hydrogen powered vehicle as well.

Okay, moving on…

From their website at : https://www.urbanaero.com/falconxp.html

“Falcon XP is our jumbo sized Fancraft™ that, when configured as an air shuttle, has room for 14 occupants (including pilot).
Compared to a helicopter (When customized for luxury, executive transport,) Falcon XP has a cabin nearly double the size of a comparable helicopter and uses less than half the landing surface.
As an air ambulance, Falcon XP has unprecedented capacity to accommodate two patients + medical staff + an extra seat for a patient’s companion. All with dimensions that are still small enough to land in a street.
• room for 2 patients
• room for 2 persons medical staff
• on board medical equipment
• access to narrow places
• access to rough or sloped terrain
• flight in icing conditions
• less noise
• FAA certified”

In conclusion, it is pretty frigging awesome. If it had shields and a warp drive, I would think it was a shuttlecraft!

I hope you enjoyed this week’s post. It sounds like the manufacturers and engineers of VTOL vehicles have been making progress while we’ve been under lockdown by our local state kingships, and they’ve been making some frigging incredibly awesome strides.

Have a great weekend!

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find my novels here if you’d like to peruse them, please do so:

https://www.hortonlibrary.com/home/sample-page

Again, thank you for your support!

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1129

August 13, 2020

Technical Discussion: The Drake Equation and How it Applies-to Us

It is called the Drake Equation. Developed by astrophysicist Frank Drake in 1961, it is a formula, of sorts, for estimating the number of active, communicative, extraterrestrial civilizations still in existence in the Milky Way galaxy.

N=R*fp*n*fi*fc*L

N-The number of technologically advanced civilizations in the galaxy

R-The rate of formation of stars in the galaxy

Fp-The fraction of those stars with planetary systems

n- Th number of planets per star system with an environment suitable for life

fe-The number of suitable planets on which life actually appears

fi-The fraction of life-bearing planets on which intelligent life appears

fc-The fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space

L-The length of time such civilizations release detectable signals into space

It is the last of the variables in that equation, the “L” for longevity, that has always stood out for me. It stands out because it represents the number of civilizations that have developed advanced technology yet haven’t destroyed themselves with it during the process.

“I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” That line, from the Hindu Bhagavad Gita, is quoted by an American scientist and wartime head of Los Alamos Laboratory, the birthplace of the Manhattan Project, during World War II. That scientist, a man named Robert Oppenheimer, who is rightly considered to be the “father” of the atomic bomb, recalled that quote on July 16, 1945 as he witnessed the world’s first nuclear explosion, the first test of the atomic bomb.

Why do I mention the Drake equation followed by Oppenheimer’s recollection from an ancient Hindu text? Yes, my discernable and highly intelligent readers, it is because I am pondering humanity’s future.

It seems to me, whether right or wrong, that humanity faces a clear yet all-important decision to make. Will we come together as a species to reach out and explore the cosmos, or will we end up destroying ourselves completely? Make no mistake, that is our choice, whether we like it or not.

“That’s ridiculous,” you might say. “Human beings have been killing one another from the very beginning, yet we’re still here. What makes you think you’re smart enough to predict that’s going to change”

Well, I don’t really believe I’m a gifted genius like Einstein or Oppenheimer, but I know I am right. Surely you’re aware of some of the very significant breakthroughs we’ve had over the last sixty years or so, and the rate of these breakthroughs occurring has only been accelerating.

Here’s a brief list of just some of the technological discoveries I am referring to:

1938-Discovery of Sarin nerve gas in Germany.

1945-The atom is split and the first nuclear bomb is created.

1945-1970s-Subsequent decades gave us the hydrogen bomb, the neutron bomb, and an arms build-up that led to tens of thousands of nuclear bombs, each capable of destroying an entire city.

1969-Man lands on the moon

1970s-The Viking landers lane on Mars.

1970s to Present-Anti-satellite satellites, surveillance satellites, and more are placed in orbit, beginning what could arguably be called the weaponization of space.

1996-Dolly the sheep is cloned, demonstrating mammals can be copied.

1997-The world’s first tiny quantum computer is created.

2003-Scientists successfully map the human genome

2007-A genome editing tool named CRISPR is invented.

2007-The Stuxnet virus is used in a cyberattack to impeded Iran’s nuclear program

2008-The world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator was first activated in Cern, Switzerland.

2020-Several of the world’s largest, most powerful nations are working together on the world’s first nuclear fusion power plant.

2020-the Wuhan Virus, a.k.a Covid-19, escapes a Chinese lab in Wuhan, China. Due to it being extremely contagious, the virus quickly spreads across the globe, killing close to a million people worldwide, as of this post.

We can create nuclear weapons of incredible power, we can manipulate genes in viruses, bacteria, animals, and ourselves. We can make copies of nearly any living thing, we can take genes from one species and transfer its traits to an entirely different type of organism, a field known as transgenics.

We are on the verge of breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence, force fields, quantum engineering, and we’re constantly discovering new elements like elements 115 (Moscovium) and 116 (Livermorium)on the periodic table.

Already I am quite confident we could easily wipe out the lives of nearly every human being on the planet and, perhaps, completely destroy the world itself. Some would say we nearly destroyed all live in Earth in October, 1961, with the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the United States and the Soviet Union came to the very brink of global thermonuclear war.

We could easily genetically engineer a virus or bacteria that would infect and perhaps every human being on the planet, or perhaps just a specific race, gender, or ethnic group. Perhaps a genetic trait is accidentally introduced into human beings which, over generations, sterilizes the entire species. Or maybe, as in the film, Deep Blue Sea, we introduce human-intelligence into a creature from another species, like the shark, or perhaps a chimpanzee (think Planet of the Apes), which leads to a different species becoming the most dominant species on the planet, eventually eliminating the competition by destroying all homo sapiens on Earth.

The problem is that in our haste to destroy one another, we may well end up destroying everyone else as well, including ourselves. So what is the alternative, how do we become part of the “L” variable in Frank Drake’s equation, one-day developing technologies like antigravity, the creation of wormholes, and antimatter reactors, while not destroying ourselves with them?

In my Cybersp@ce series of novels, when human beings develop such advanced technologies, an organization is formed to oversee and manage the advanced technology in order to give humanity time to adjust and to prevent it falling into the wrong hands.

There is an ever-present danger inherent with the awesome power of technologies like genetic and nuclear engineering. Just try to imagine the incredible destructive power generated by nuclear fusion one day, antimatter reactors. Perhaps, one day in the not-so-distant future, we will learn from our particle-accelerators how to create a wormhole or, God forbid, a black hole. What will humanity do with such power. Will we, as we’ve seen in recent films like Mortal Engines or like the sci-fi series The 100, will we end-up destroying the earth to the point it’s barely inhabitable, if at all?

Believe it or not, I think there’s hope. Consider the fact that we’ve had nuclear weapons since WW II, and the only time they’ve been used was Hiroshima and Nagasaki; we haven’t used them since. That is encouraging. It looked bleak when Pakistan and India both went nuclear ab out the same time, yet they too have shown restraint and actively sought to avoid the madness that one would have to have to engage in thermonuclear war.

We human beings are vengeful, warlike, and volatile creatures. Yet we have also learned to harness nuclear power to improve the lives of nearly four-hundred million human beings worldwide. Nuclear energy is also used in the medical field and to power spacecraft.

So, we can learn how to use great power without destroying one another, but will it continue? Can we grow, as a species, to the point that we focus our energy outward, to harnessing new technologies to improve and lengthen human life, and to exploring and eventually settling worlds orbiting distant stars? I believe we can; more than that, I believe we will.

It will take effort, discipline, and patience, but if we can learn to live together peacefully, and with harmony, with one another, then it’s possible science-fiction will become science fact. Let’s make it happen, together.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find my novels here if you’d like to peruse them, please do so:

https://www.hortonlibrary.com/home/sample-page

Again, thank you for your support!

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1128

August 5, 2020

Technical Discussion: Introducing The Mars Perseverance Rover

It was 7:50 AM on a beautiful Thursday morning at Cape Canaveral Florida. There was barely a cloud in the sky when the Mars Perseverance Rover, riding on a ULA Atlas 541 procured under NASA’s Launch Services Program, launched into space on its way to the red planet.

A screenshot of a cell phone Description automatically generated

There are several areas here in which, I believe, NASA is breaking new ground with the Mars Perseverance Rover. Among with the many other capabilities Perseverance is taking with it to Mars, it will have several that will prove invaluable to efforts to land human beings on Mars. For example, it will be:

  1. Testing a method for producing oxygen from the Martian atmosphere
  2. Identifying other resources (such as subsurface water).
  3. Testing powered flight in the atmosphere with an attached helicopter drone, maned Ingenuity.
  4. A microphone which, intended to hear the onboard laser as it’s cutting, will be the first recorded sound to come to us from the planet Mars.
Mars 2020 Overview

This artist’s concept shows the sky-crane maneuver during the descent of NASA’s Curiosity rover to the

Martian surface. The Mars mission launching in 2020 would leverage the design of this landing system

and other aspects of the Mars Science Laboratory architecture.

Credits: NASA/JPL

Below is an incredible video about the mission from NASA:

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/overview

“The Mars Perseverance rover mission is part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the Red Planet. The Mars Perseverance mission addresses high-priority science goals for Mars exploration, including key questions about the potential for life on Mars. The mission takes the next step by not only seeking signs of

habitable conditions on Mars in the ancient past, but also searching for signs of past microbial life itself. The Mars Perseverance rover introduces a drill that can collect core samples of the most promising rocks and soils and set them aside in a “cache” on the surface of Mars. The mission also provides opportunities to gather knowledge and demonstrate technologies that address the challenges of future human expeditions to Mars. These include testing a method for producing oxygen from the Martian atmosphere, identifying other resources (such as subsurface water), improving landing techniques, and characterizing weather, dust, and other potential environmental conditions that could affect future astronauts living and working on Mars.”

https://www.nasa.gov/perseverance/overview

Ingenuity: The first helicopter on Mars

I’m particularly fond of this innovation. If this is successful we could send up a small fleet of drones, which would have the flexibility to cover vast amounts of area, to maneuver in areas previously inaccessible, and to capture some amazing, and technically helpfully video.

A picture containing person, sitting, dirt, standing Description automatically generated

Name Ingenuity

Main Job A technology demonstration to test the first powered flight on Mars. The helicopter will ride to Mars attached to the belly of the Perseverance rover.

Launched July 30, 2020

Launch Location Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida

Landing Feb. 18, 2021

Landing Site Jezero Crater, Mars

Length of Mission One or more flights within 30 days

https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter

The Sounds of Mars

Among the many components of this highly advanced rover is a microphone, something that will allow us, for the first time, to hear Mars.

This is an incredible opportunity (no pun intended) to find a way of recovering breathable oxygen directly out of the Martian atmosphere, to find water, to find signs of life, and to test our ability to fly drones on Mars, as we do here.

I’ll ne on pins and needle until the Perseverance Rover lands safely on Mars and successfully completes its mission.

Stay tuned!!

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find my novels here if you’d like to peruse them, please do so:

https://www.hortonlibrary.com/home/sample-page

Again, thank you for your support!

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1127

July 30, 2020

Free Flow Thinking: What is Element 115?

Element 115. Moscovium. What is it, and why is it important? Two very good questions. For detailed answers, I recommend you start by using Bing or Google to search for Element 115. Be prepared, however, because what you’ll get is a broad, and most often very confusing answers. Why confusing? Not so much because we’re talking periodic table, and heavy elements. No, it’s confusing because depending on who you talk with, Element 115 is either Moscovium, a new heavy element that was recently added to the periodic table, or it is the fuel source for recovered extraterrestrial spacecraft.

Here is the skeptic’s definition of Element 115, or Moscovium, as listed in Wikipedia:

“Moscovium is a synthetic chemical element with the symbol Mc and atomic number 115. It was first synthesized in 2003 by a joint team of Russian and American scientists at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, Russia. In December 2015, it was recognized as one of four new elements by the Joint Working Party of international scientific bodies IUPAC and IUPAP. On 28 November 2016, it was officially named after the Moscow Oblast, in which the JINR is situated.

Moscovium is an extremely radioactive element: its most stable known isotope, moscovium-290, has a half-life of only 0.65 seconds. In the periodic table, it is a p-block transactinide element. It is a member of the 7th period and is placed in group 15 as the heaviest pnictogen, although it has not been confirmed to behave as a heavier homologue of the pnictogen bismuth. Moscovium is calculated to have some properties similar to its lighter homologues, nitrogen, phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, and bismuth, and to be a post-transition metal, although it should also show several major differences from them. In particular, moscovium should also have significant similarities to thallium, as both have one rather loosely bound electron outside a quasi-closed shell. About 100 atoms of moscovium have been observed to date, all of which have been shown to have mass numbers from 287 to 290…”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscovium

Here is an alternative description of Element 115, according scientist Bob Lazar, the first scientist to ever mention Element 115 in an interview in 1989, some 24 years before it was first synthesized in 2003:

“Famed whistleblower Bob Lazar has recently been in the news with a new documentary about his groundbreaking experiences at Area 51’s highly classified S-4 facility. In his initial TV interviews with George Knapp back in 1989, Lazar first discussed element 115 (Moscovium) and how it was used in the propulsion system of the alien craft hidden at the S-4 facility. He said that aliens had supplied 500 pounds (227 kg) for reverse engineering purposes.

In 2014, Lazar did another interview with Knapp where he discussed Element 115 and how it is created both synthetically and naturally through supernova, which is the cataclysmic explosion of a star…

Lazar further explained in his interviews that bombarding Element 115 with protons leads to it creating Element 116 (Livermorium) which immediately decays and produces antimatter. The antimatter collides with normal particles creating a massive energy burst, which can be used for propulsion. It’s quite likely Element 115 could also be the famed exotic matter that is needed to create traversable wormholes that physicists such as Drs. Kip Thorne and Carl Sagan have speculated, and was the subject of a recently leaked Defense Intelligence Reference Document titled “Traversable Wormholes, Stargates, and Negative Energy” .

My interest is, of course, in the technology, as it is, interestingly enough, for Bob Lazar. In an interview I viewed recently Lazar with regret. of his decision to tell the world what he’d seen. He said he really enjoyed working with such highly advanced technology, and missed it, even after thirty years.

SO which version do you believe to be true? I challenge you to watch the documentary, Bob Lazar: Area 51 & Flying Saucers, on Netflix, streaming, or online clips of other Lazar interviews done over the years. As for me, he comes across as highly intelligent, and credible.

So, which is it? Is Element 115 merely the most recent, curious addition to our periodic table, or is it the secret sauce that will enable humanity to become an interstellar species?

Truly, it boggles the mind to try to imagine the implications if what Bob Lazar claims is true. Just imagine what Elon Musk and Nasa could do with an interstellar propulsion system! I for one, very much want to believe him. See for yourself; perhaps you’ll be amazed, too.

Below are several links to stories about Element 115 and Bob Lazar. There are also some interviews, including one with Joe Rogan.

Joe Rogan Discussion about Lazar and Area 51

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=ununpentium+bob+lazar&&view=detail&mid=23DD76A623B8E95FD05623DD76A623B8E95FD056&&FORM=VDRVRV

Joe Rogan’s Interview of Bob Lazar

A great article on recent government revelations and how we owe Bob Lazar an apology:

Excellent article on Element 115

Bob Lazar, Element 115, Massive Stars & Heavy Metals

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1126

July 23, 2020

Discussion: First Contact: Are we Ready??

We human beings are curious creatures are we not? We are capable of such extraordinary acts of violence, depravity, and selfishness. Yet, we are also capable of such kindness, warmth, compassion, and self-sacrifice.

Within the last few millennia we’ve gone from living in huts, traveling on foot (and later horseback), hunting for our meals, and taking days to travel between town, to living in homes with swimming pools, large, flat-screen televisions with cable and streaming programming, and wi-fi, ordering our meals online, and using robots to visit every planet in the solar system.

We’ve developed quantum computers, gene-editing, and Velcro and yet we remain trapped by some of the very traits that help define who we are. We are by nature stubborn, arrogant, and defiant, sometimes to the point of violence, whether between individuals or nations.

I sometimes wonder therefore, what an extraterrestrial being would make of humanity. Sometimes, when I’m feeling a little more cynical, I’ll argue that E.T. must believe we are too dangerous a species to let loose among other civilizations in our vast, seemingly endless universe. Some of you may recall a movie along these lines, The Day the Earth Stood Still, the original. Unlike the remake with Keanu Reeves, where global warming and climate change are the catalyst for E.T. involvement, the original centered around the premise that humanity, having entered the atomic age by splitting the atom, is about to be destroyed by E.T. before humanity can bring its penchant for violence and destruction to the other sentient, spacefaring species of life in the galaxy.

In my more optimistic moods, however, (I am a bit moody but then again, I’m a writer), I might feel more inclined to say that E.T. must surely see great hope for humanity. After all, haven’t great men and women like Mozart, Beethoven, and Charlie Daniels, given us such amazing, beautiful, and inspiring music? Haven’t great artists like Picasso, Rembrandt, and Normal Rockwell given us such insightful and amazing art? Haven’t noble human beings, like St. Francis of Assisi and Mother Theresa given us much hope in the way they loved and cared for their fellow human beings.

Yes, I’ve heard the argument from great men like Carl Sagan and others, that E.T. has never visited our planet because it’s just too far. Yet, as some of you may recall from previous posts, I believe they have been here, and they will continue to come here. What they look like and their reasons for being here are likely to vary.

First, I will address why they would want to come here. I believe that while sentient life is likely somewhat widespread throughout the cosmos, though I highly doubt that it’s common. Sentience means intelligence, and intelligence is almost always accompanied by curiosity. Surely such creatures would be curious to learn more about a new species who, having split the atom, will next be venturing into space, and eventually, coming to them.

Secondly, I believe, and often reflect on, what an unbelievably beautiful planet we live on. Just consider every other planet in our solar system for a moment and you’ll see that indeed, Earth is a very, very special place.

Next, we come to the how. As some of you will know, I’m a fervent believer that we must discover a way of traversing the mind-boggling distances that come into play when discussing interstellar travel, that doesn’t involve the level of time dilation that come into play when traveling at or near the speed of light. Unless we do so, we are limited to the confines of our solar system. Now don’t get me wrong, that in itself would be quite amazing, but it is interstellar travel that will change everything for humanity.

“But there are already several sub-light, conventional options being worked on for traveling to other stars,” you might say; and you’d be correct. The most promising, however, involves teeny little cameras and a laser, but no people. Anything traversing space in a linear fashion would take far too long to make it to another star system, and the astronauts would suffer the effects of time dilation upon their return, with everything they knew gone, if they ever made it home that is.

And how many sentient creatures would want to sign-up for such a voyage, abandoning everyone and everything they’ve ever known just to make a trip to another star system. Oh, I’m sure that many would be quick to raise a hand if asked to participate in such a journey. I strongly believe there are few, however, that would actually make it to their assigned seat in such a spacecraft. According to the general and special theories of relativity first proposed by Einstein, with time passing much slower aboard our spacecraft while passing quickly on Earth. By the time he returned, everyone our friend the astronaut once knew would be dead and buried upon his return.

No, I’m convinced the future of space travel lies in discovering a new, exotic means of propulsion, whether it’s a means of traveling through wormholes, a way of warping space as we travel, or a stargate, we must find a means of travel that “bends or skirts the rules” of relativity, allowing us to travel vast interstellar distances and returning home before our child’s next birthday.

So yes, I believe E.T. has been here, perhaps visiting us over many millennia, and in all likelihood, observing us as our civilizations grew and advanced.

So now I’d like to take a moment to reintroduce a man who is rather well known by those like me, who believe we’ve been visited by extraterrestrials; that man is Bob Lazar. What the man contests to be true has supposedly been widely debunked, particularly his claim to have graduated from MIT and CalTech; but have they, or has someone, or some organization, worked overtime to protect something so secret it’s even been withheld from elected officials like congressmen, and possibly even presidents. Such elected officials are viewed by the deep state as temporary employees. Okay, I know, I sound like a serious conspiracy theorist. Yet, just because such discussions sound like conspiracy theories, does it mean they’re not true? Have you ever seen the blacked out documents given to members of congress and others who wanted to now more about events like Roswell?

I say all of this to bring home a point. The federal government denied, of course, that anyone named Bob Lazar ever worked as a contractor for them, much less at Area 51. But Lazar produced a document listing him on a phone list there. Of course, the government also fervently denied that Area 51 even existed, at least until a few years ago. I still recall seeing the base itself on Google Earth (just search for it), as well as the S-4 base mentioned by Lazar, before the government even acknowledged it existed. As a point of interest, the Russians and Chinese have known about Area 51 since at least the 1960s or 1970s, having obtained satellite images of it taken from space. So, consider that point before offhandedly dismissing what Lazar has to say.

So, what were some of the supposedly outlandish claims made by Bob Lazar? He said that E.T. exists, that he’s seen extraterrestrial-built spacecraft (even saw one hovering), and that he was hired to reengineer their technology. According to Lazar, he and other scientists there claimed to have a rudimentary understanding of how the spacecraft operated. As I recall, he stated the propulsion system used gravity waves to maneuver, and was powered by the mysterious Element 115 (Ununpentium), which a team of scientists that included both American and Russians were able to create sometime in the early 2000s. What a coincidence that an element, matching Lazar’s description, which didn’t exist when Lazar went public, has mysterious been created, with the same atomic number? The created element is currently unstable, with a half-life of 220 milliseconds. On a side note, following the addition of Element 115 to the periodic table, Lazar stated that once scientists find the right isotope and stabilize the element, they will find that bombarding it with radiation will cause it to produce gravity waves. And what would be the significance of being able to generate gravity waves? I’m not sure. One thing I am sure of however is that massively large objects, like a planet, have enough gravity to warp space-time. Oh, what was that; warp spacetime? Perhaps something like “Warp 8, please, Mr. Sulu!” A way, perhaps, to develop interstellar travel without time dilation.

There was other alien technology that Lazar claims to have seen, including a device that seemed to repel objects much like two magnets repel one another. Could this be some type of alien force field?

“Get a hold of yourself, Jeff, this is ridiculous!” No, ridiculous is the man or woman who wants to tear apart the best country to ever exist on Planet Earth…darn! There I go crossing the line again, sorry.

Seriously though, why do you imagine these claims to be impossible? We’ve split the atom, we can slice and edit DNA in less than a minute now. We’re on the verge (for better of for worse), of creating true artificial intelligence. We’ve discovered how truly bizarre the world quantum physics is, and we’re on the verge of colonizing Mars. Do you believe for one second, that Orville or Wilbur Wright had any idea that human beings would be walking on the moon some sixty years after their first successful flight at Kitty Hawk? Of course they didn’t. It may seem outlandish, but it truly is not. Whether it’s true or not, who, other than those who know of what is at Area 51, can say? As for me, I believe Lazar was there, and that he saw what he claims to have seen.

Remember Jesse Marcel, the man who found the wreckage at Roswell? Later in his life he said what he saw was not a weather balloon, but an extraterrestrial craft. He also claimed to have recovered some of the material, which was made of material he was sure wasn’t of this earth.

There’s a great documentary that includes some very convincing interviews with Lazar, and about his experience with Area 51, and the constant harassment and threats, even on his life, that resulted from his brief tie at Area 51. I highly recommend you check it out; it’s on Netflix. Just search for Lazar there.

What if someday we discover how to create gravity waves, which enables us to warp space and travel the galaxy. Will humanity receive a warm welcome? Will we be shunned, seen as a threat and destroyed by an alien species with more advanced technology?

I wonder if it’s possible, just possible, for us to grow as a species, to mature to the point that we finally learn how to work together to accomplish great things. “That’s impossible,” you claim, “how can we work with the Russians, or the Chinese?” Guess what, we already are; we’re working with the Russians on both the International Space Station and an experiment designed to harness nuclear fusion energy.

I’m not saying we should go to Moscow and Beijing, sing Kumbaya, and then expect all will be well with the world. I believe we have allowed our hope for peace to blind us to what China was doing behind the scenes to work against and ultimately ruin the United States. Let’s not kid ourselves, the Chinese and the Russians are looking out for what’s in their best interest, not ours. I’m only suggesting we meet, going into this with our eyes open, and work to begin laying the groundwork for cooperation and unity, in a manner that is in the best interest of each respective country. We need to stop fighting amongst ourselves; after all, we’re all members of the same species for goodness sake! Think about it for a moment; how are we going to live and work in peace beside sentient, alien beings, when we can’t even live and work in peace beside ourselves?

Yes, I worry our E.T. brothers would see us as violent, dangerous creatures, because we are. Perhaps, however, if they give us time, listen to some Mozart, some Beethoven, and some Bob Marley, they will see there is more to us than violence, that we are capable of great beauty, sacrifice, compassion, and love, and they will want to get to know us.

Only time will tell.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find my novels here if you’d like to peruse them, please do so:

https://www.hortonlibrary.com/home/sample-page

Again, thank you for your support!

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

Blog Post #1125

July 8, 2020

Technical Discussion: The Robots are Coming! The Robots are Coming!

The Matrix. Terminator. Blade Runner. I, Robot. 2001: A Space Odyssey. There have been many, many books and films made about man’s mechanical creation revolting against and then trying to kill his creator.

Perhaps we, as frail human beings, fear creating that might quickly grow beyond our control, an artificial intelligence, or A.I., whose intelligence might one day equal or perhaps even exceed our own.

Would such an artificial mind be satisfied with serving humanity, the race of creature that created it? Perhaps it will prove to be a most ardent helper to man as he turns from focusing on labors of the body to performing labors of the mind, with artificial intelligence running our machinery, harvesting our fields, and even helping to achieve fantastic technological breakthroughs? It certainly is possible.

There is an alternate version of how such events might playout, for it is not only our enormously talented novelists and screenwriters who fear the birth of true A.I., when an artificially created being, made by human beings, becomes self-aware, or sentient. Some great thinkers of our day have warned of the birth of a new, super-intelligence, who displaces humanity as it evolves at an exponential rate. What need would it have of humanity at that point, especially once it surpasses us in intellect and cognitive function. It seems the best we could hope for in such a scenario is that this new super-intelligence, evolves to the point it no longer sees us as a threat of any kind to its existence, eventually expanding its reach toward the stars.

Whether A.I. takes on the role of servant or master, whether it enables humanity to prosper, or destroys everyone, it would seem there’s no stopping it, because it is nearly here. A you’ll see in the information below, which I came across on the The American Society of Mechanical Engineers website, the future is here. Ready or not, the robots are coming.

10 Humanoid Robots of 2020

Robots come in many shapes and sizes. But, perhaps, the most intriguing, endearing, and acceptable are the ones that resemble us, humans.
 
Humanoid robots are used for research and space exploration, personal assistance and caregiving, education and entertainment, search and rescue, manufacturing and maintenance, public relations, and healthcare.
 
Before the coronavirus pandemic and the economic uncertainty, Stratistics Market Research Consulting expected that the Global Humanoid Robot Market would reach $13 billion by 2026. While future market behavior is now unclear, robot usage is on the rise: Chinese companies were rushing to deploy robots and automation technology, as doctors were grappling with COVID-19.
 
For example, a field hospital staffed by robots—the Smart Field Hospital—opened in Wuhan, China, in early March. There, humanoid robots—donated by CloudMinds Technology, a Silicon Valley company—disinfect, measure temperatures, deliver food and medicine, and entertain medical staff and patients.    
 
As the virus spreads to the rest of the world, robots are being deployed in many countries. Some robots can help relieve tired nurses in the hospitals, do basic cleaning and deliveries, others can help in the warehouses, while industrial robots can help maintain some production for manufacturing companies while their human co-workers are quarantined.
 
Here are 10 other humanoids of 2020.
 

Photo: Toyota
1. Robotic Avatar


Initially introduced by Toyota in 2017, the T-HR3 is a humanoid robot that mimics the movements of its human operator, like a real-world avatar. Updated for Tokyo Olympics, the T-HR3 has improved controls and can walk more naturally. Envisioned as a mobility service, in the future these humanoids will be able to perform surgeries while their operators, human doctors, will be controlling them from another part of the world. It can also help caregivers to do their work remotely, or those in need of assistance to live a more independent life.
 
“It is often said that a human shape is useful because the robot can use the same tools and environment as a human, but one more big reason is that humans find it to be easiest to control robots in humanoid form,” explained T-HR3 development team leader Tomohisa Moridaira.
 

Image: Hanson Robotics
2. Robotic Ambassador

 
Perhaps the most recognizable face of humanoids is that of Sophia, a social humanoid developed by Hong Kong based Hanson Robotics.

In 2020, the AI-powered four-year-old robot is going to continue her role as a robotic ambassador, helping to advance research into robotics and human-robot interactions.

Taught by humans, Sophia can move, talk, show some emotions, draw, and sing.
 

Photo: Agility Robotics
3. Delivery Robot

 
In January, it was announced that Ford became the first customer to incorporate Agility Robotics’ Digit into a factory setting. The headless humanoid has nimble limbs and is packed with sensors. It can navigate the stairs, various obstacles, and all kinds of terrains. It can balance on one foot, but usually it walks upright and is strong enough to pick up and stack boxes weighting up to 40 pounds. It can also fold itself for compact storage.
 
Ford envisions that Digit will ride in a driverless car and deliver packages to customers, automating the whole delivery process. For now, the company will be testing how humans react when meeting this android.   
 

Photo: University of Tehran
4. Research Humanoid

 
Mechanical engineers at the Iranian University of Tehran have been working on Surena robots since 2010. Their latest model, Surena IV, is an adult-size humanoid that is reportedly capable of face and object detection, speech recognition and generation, and can walk with a speed of 0.7 kilometers per hour. It has 43 degrees-of-freedom and its dexterous hands can grip many different shapes. Engineers use Surena to research bipedal locomotion, AI, and to attract students to careers in engineering.
 
Recommended for You: Meet Your Robotic Coworkers
           

Image: Neon
5. Digital Humanoids

 
Digital human beings look and act like humans but are entirely virtual. One example is Samsung Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Labs’ Neons, AI-powered beings with unique personalities and looks. These artificial humans are not designed to answer any questions like Alexa or Siri, but are supposed to show emotions, learn from experiences, and have real conversations. Each Neon is computer-generated and not necessisarly based on real people, and each can be customized for a different role, like a virtual doctor or a yoga instructor.
 

Image: Macco Robotics
6. Robotic Bartender

 
Kime is a food and beverage serving robot, developed by Macco Robotics in Spain. It has a human-like head and torso with two arms inside a kiosk. Tested at gas stations in Europe and in a Spanish brewery, Kime is known to be quite good at pouring beer and can serve up to 300 glasses per hour.

The humanoid features 14 to 20 degrees of freedom, has smart sensors and uses machine learning to improve on its skills.      
  Photo: Engineered Arts

7. Robotic Actor

 
Founded by director Will Jackson in 2004, Engineered Arts is a U.K.-based company that produces different entertainment humanoids through collaboration between artists, mechanical and computer engineers, and animators. For instance, their first humanoid—the well-known RoboThespian—is a robotic actor that comes with a library of impressions, greetings, songs, and gestures.
 
Several of these can be added together to become a robotic theater, an integrated system of robots, movement tracks, animation software, touchscreen control, lighting, sound, and external device control. The company is working on adding RoboThespian the ability to walk on its own, but for now the movement can be staged through a hidden system of tracks and dollies.  

You May Also Like: These Aren’t the Droids You’re Looking For
           

Photo: NASA
8. Robonauts


Several countries have been working on humanoids for space exploration. In India, Vyommitra, a female humanoid robot, is set to launch on an uncrewed spaceflight in December 2020. The robot is scheduled to conduct microgravity experiments to help prepare for future crewed missions.
 
Fedor, or Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research, was a Russian remote-controlled humanoid that flew to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2019, where it simulated repairs during a spacewalk, and later returned back to Earth.
 
NASA’s Johnson Space Center has worked on several humanoids, including Robonaut 2 (that spent seven years aboard the ISS) and Valkyrie. It’s possible that future spacefaring humanoids will be designed to withstand harsh environments of the Moon or the Mars.      
 

Photo: SoftBank Robotics America
9. Educational Robot

 
SoftBank Robotics’ Pepper was designed to be a friendly emotions-reading helper to work as a receptionist, in retail, and, even, as a nanny. Now, Pepper comes with an educational integrated development environment (IDE), called Tethys, that was created to teach students how to code. Using the software, students can program the humanoid to move, talk, gesticulate, and show different messages on its screen, all in real time. The company hopes this initiative will inspire a future generation of engineers and roboticists.
 

Photo: UBtech Robotics
10. Collaborative Humanoids

 
Most humanoids are intrinsically human collaborators. For instance, Nextage from Kawada Robotics is a humanoid research platform for industrial cobots for Industry 4.0. Armar from Germany’s Karlsruhe Institute of Technology was developed to perform maintenance tasks alongside human workers in industrial settings.
 
Walker by UBtech Robotics, on the other hand, is designed to collaborate with humans in their homes. With seven degrees-of-freedom manipulators, the humanoid was developed to perform household tasks and smart home control.
 
Daria Merkusheva is a technology writer based in New York City.

The world’s most advanced robots for business and home in 2020

The world’s most advanced robots for business and home in 2020

rom a robot butler that makes home life easier to fun and creative robot building kits, the future of robots are on display with UBTECH at CES 2020. At CES 2020 Ubtech will be showing its newest and most innovative robots, including Walker, AIMBOT, Cruzr, JIMU Robot, and more.

Walker robot, a finalist for the Best of CES 2019 award, is back at CES 2020 with new capabilities and functionality improvements including faster motion performance, improved mobility interactions, and enhanced environmental perception.

“This year’s presentation are demonstrating Walker’s faster, human-like walking as well as yoga poses with dynamic stability showing its huge improvement in motion control. Walker is also demonstrating new abilities such as the ability to push a cart, draw pictures, and write characters, showing improved static balance with full-body compliance control,” said Ubtech in a statement.

Aimbot, the autonomous indoor monitoring robot built for intelligent inspection, efficient inventory management, safety and security of data centers, and power distribution rooms. UBTECH is demoing AIMBOT in a data center environment built for CES 2020, showing how AIMBOT can actively monitor indicator lights on server racks, detect readings on digital instruments, assist with inventory management through RFID technology, and more.

Cruzr, the customizable, cloud-based, intelligent humanoid service robot designed for Retail 4.0, exhibitions, hotels, healthcare, finance, and other enterprise service scenarios. Cruzr is where service meets intelligence, creating value for businesses to better attend to their customers’ needs, while allowing human teams to focus on more complex issues requiring human interaction. At CES 2020, UBTECH is demoing Cruzr’s U-SLAM navigation and obstacle avoidance, multi-modal interaction, facial recognition, humanoid design, and more.

JIMU Robot, the award-winning robotic building block system that actively prepares kids for a world in which robotics and STEM knowledge will be essential, while packaging this learning into fun, creative play.

JIMU PRO Mars Expedition Kit, a preview of a new and even more advanced line of robot building kits. This fun and inspiring robotic system allows children to create different types of multi-functional robots using modular parts that form an astronaut, a Mars rover vehicle, or a planetary base. Each robot is designed to inspire children’s imaginations about space exploration while giving them access to advanced, highly programmable technologies such as a new Artificial Intelligence system, a camera with powerful image recognition ability and first-person view, precision steering module, high-resolution LED screen, and more. UBTECH will release JIMU PRO Mars Expedition Kit later in 2020.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1124

July 8, 2020

Freeflow Thinking: Averting A Second Civil War

As I’ve grown older my interest in history has grown with me. I’m fascinated, for example, to learn some of the amazing technological discoveries made over two-thousand years ago in Ancient Greece and Rome.

Hero of Alexandria invented a working steam engine around 10 AD, over 2,000 years ago. The modern steam engine wasn’t invented until 1705, by Thomas Newcomen and James Watt.

The first doctor in history to attempt to remove a cataract was an Indian physician in the 600-400’s BC named Sushruta. All of what is known of Sushruta and his many surgeries is in Hindu in The Sushruta Samhita, collected by Nagarjuna in the latter part of the 4th century BC.

Cataract Surgery in the Ancient World

Instruments used for removing cataracts by Ancient Roman doctors have been discovered, instruments that are eerily similar to modern-day, pre-laser instruments used for removing cataracts. The list goes on and on.

I wonder how some of those ancient roman patients must have felt toward their magnificent Roman Empire; “surely…” they must have thought, “the Roman Empire will ensure forever. Of course as we all know it did not, ending as it did with the defeat and sacking of Rome, the capital of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD.

The same thing can, and perhaps one day will, happen to us.

I believe it is important for us, as Americans, to take a step back from time to time, to appreciate how delicate our fledgling democracy is. It is not infallible, nor is it permanent. Perhaps like the Roman Empire it too will one day collapse or worse, just fade away, along with the freedom and opportunities it offers. The United States of America, that shining city on a hill ushered in by the likes of George Washington, John Adams, Ben Franklin, and the other founding fathers, may one day fall apart, just as the Roman Empire did so long ago, if we’re not united in caring for and nurturing this great experiment called America.

We cannot assume it can take anything and everything culture and the world throws against it. Our country is always only one generation away from destruction. Each generation must take the torch, recalling those past, present, and future, who will die defending it. If each generation does not actively work to strengthen America or worse yet, if they work to tear it apart, than come apart it will. And believe me, a world without America would be a much darker place in which to live. One has to look no further than the current Chinese aggression in the Pacific Rim, the Soviets during the Cold War, or Hitler in World War II. Try for one moment to imagine what the world would be like now had Hitler won, or Stalin, or Mao Tse Tung. It’s not a pretty picture, I assure you.

The second civil war that so many of our young people seem hell-bent on starting, is not inevitable. I believe it is preventable, if only we, as a people, wake-up to the dangers inherent in the continued escalation of the current culture war.

I propose that our country is large enough and our government structured in such a manner that people can find a place to live that aligns, more or less, with their own values. We can’t allow states to secede, or to try to overrule federal law, but within the confines of our constitution there is plenty of room for people to live as they best see fit.

Take one of the most controversial issues of our time. For example, abortion. Now feelings are intense on both sides of this issue, understandably so. But clearly each side has some validity to their view on this issue, whether we agree with it or not. Why not let each state decide the issue for itself? States where most citizens are pro-choice, can make abortion legal. Conversely, states where the majority believe that life begins with conception and that abortion is murder, let them make abortion illegal. While I am strongly pro-life, I don’t believe I need to destroy the other side in order for me to win. We need to remember we are all Americans, and we come from diverse backgrounds. We can coexist without compromising our principals and convictions.

This is only an example. I believe there is room for us to work together and live as we see fit without compromising our core values and beliefs. Remember, there is so much more that unites us, than there is that divides us.

Furthermore, we, as a society, must learn to recognize individuals and organizations who have much to gain by sowing conflict and distrust, so they can line their own pockets or enhance their powerbase. Take race-baiters, for example, who have made a name for themselves, while accumulating power and wealth, by stirring up conflict based on race at every opportunity.

We must also start holding politicians accountable for placing America, and Americans, first, before politics. There are some things more important than rather they are re-elected or not. After all, how many politicians want their children and grandchildren growing up in a world without America?

There is so, so much we can accomplish together, as a nation and as a world. Our technology is reaching the point where some amazing, incredible new adventures will soon become possible.

Space flight. Terraforming alien planets or moons, colonizing and exploring new worlds. Developing new and cleaner energy sources. Genetically engineering human beings to live vastly long lives. There are so, so many causes that can unites us not only as Americans, but as human beings, so many opportunities to grow as a species.

Isn’t it time to replace the combustion engine, which has been powering automobiles, ships, and planes for over a century? We only recently upgraded the tools we use to treat cataracts a few decades ago, after they were invented over 2,000 years ago.

Isn’t it time for humanity to emerge from its dark history of violence and conflict, and embrace peace and exploration of our beautiful universe instead? After all, we’re all in the same boat here; we thrive and prosper, or we sink and die…together.

As a wise man once put it:

“We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1123

July 1, 2020

Freeflow Thinking:

A Second American Civil War – Will Life Imitate Fiction?

Some recent Supreme Court decisions left conservatives cheering and liberals seething, while others pleased liberals, while angering conservatives.

The loosely group alternately known as CHOP and then CHAZ recently took over a major American city, with the mayor of that city cheering them on, at last until they marched on her house, frightening her and her family.

There have been protests in the streets, buildings burnt down, and night after night of rioting and looting across the country that has left this great country reeling. There has even been serious discussion all over the United States of disbanding police departments and replacing them with what, camp counselors sitting around a campfire singing Kumbaya? People are tearing down statues and attacking icons of secular and religious history all over America.

The culture war has been hijacked by the extreme far left, many of whom advocate lawlessness and violence. The effort has begun energizing citizens on both sides of the issues, with some believing it is time for America to go.

America has been growing ever more deeply divided for decades, heading towards what some fear could become a second civil war.

My novel, Future Schism, is about what’s left of America following a Second-Civil War between liberals and conservatives. The novel was released on November 6th, 2017 and is still available. It details increasing rebellion in both the liberal “Blue” province and the conservative “Red” province. Future Schism is a thought experiment about what the United States might look like if each side retired to its own corner, running its own government according to its respective ideology and beliefs.

Future Schism Trailer:

Click here to go to my Amazon web page to order Future Schism:

Future Schism is a dystopian novel set in the future, some one-hundred years after the Second Great American Civil War had finally come to an end.

Incredibly, there has been actual discussion of secession by some liberal politicians, and a possible Second Civil War! The article below from RealPolitics is only one of many hits that came back when I did a search on “Second Civil War.” Try it yourself!

Is it true; could we be headed to a second Civil War?

|https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2017/01/24/americas_second_civil_war_132880.html

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1122

June 26, 2020

Technical Discussion: Air Taxis Post-Wuhan V irus

Hello Peeps!

As we were all distracted by the Zombie Apocalypse (aka the Wuhan Virus), I thought maybe it was time to check-in to see how it’s going with the air taxi market and see what, if any, impact the virus and subsequent shutdown may have had on the developing service.

So what impact has the virus had? None; at least nothing I’ve come across as of yet. I suppose it’s possible there may be some changes made I order to keep better separated and the flying cars sanitized, but I imagine this may well amount to nothing more than a good sanitizing wipe-down while the car refuels between flights.

There were a few interesting developments I came across as I was conducting research for this post:

-Entrants into the Air Taxi Service offerings have started offering models with hydrogen fuel-cells, leading to a much faster turnaround between flights and the ability to travel significantly longer distances.

-A number of these may indeed end-up being totally automated. If something goes wrong with the automated piloting, human pilots could take over, much as drones are remotely controlled today.

-It seems there is considerable redundancy built into most of the air taxis. Multiple props could fail and the taxi continue without missing a beat. If the vehicle is high enough in the event of a catastrophic failure, a parachute would launch, allowing the flying car to land softly. Were the vehicle’s engine fail while under say, 150 ft. or so, the vehicle could be in danger of dropping like a rock. Supposedly the manufacturers and design engineers are working to resolve this. Were I a betting man I’d wager they are working on some sort of Parasail/hang glider type of solution to enable it to continue falling with a gentle landing; something that could deploy faster than a parachute ever could .

-Several air taxi services are still claiming the cost should be roughly equivalent to an Uber ride. I think that fact alone is simply amazing!

Okay, so they are still on track to rollout air taxi service over the next few years, with two hopefully able to carry passengers this calendar year! Below are a few excerpts from posts I found across the Cyberscape. Please peruse them and let me know what you think.

“Eventually, the market seems to agree, they’ll be pilotless automatons, even cheaper and more reliable than the earliest piloted versions. Should the onboard autopilot computers get confused, remote operators will take over and save the day as if they’re flying a Mavic drone, and every pilot gone will be an extra passenger seat in the sky…”

https://newatlas.com/aircraft/evtol-air-taxi-flying-car-market-players

What’s stopping us from having eVTOL air taxis today, then?

“These machines still have a few major challenges left to overcome.

The first is the same problem that’s holding back high-performance electric motorcycles: current lithium battery technology simply doesn’t allow you to carry enough energy yet. Until energy density is at least doubled, most of these designs don’t offer range endurance long enough to make them commercially viable. These big battery packs will need charging, too, which would ground the aircraft for a significant time.

The second is certification. At this stage, we’re not aware of any eVTOL design that’s certified as a fully commercially operable aircraft, and while some endeavors are finding ways to push forward around the edges of the law, the fact remains that these are entirely new categories of aircraft, and the process of certifying, testing and regulating them is going to be monstrously expensive and time consuming.

The third impacts the second: safety. Electric VTOL aircraft can offer all sorts of redundancy options that no other aircraft can match. Take out a prop, or a motor, or even a few of them, and most of these designs can still fly thanks to distributed propulsion and smart software. Ballistic parachutes can be fired to bring them down gently in the case of total catastrophic failure. In the vast majority of cases, these things should be very, very safe.”

Learn more! https://newatlas.com/aircraft/evtol-air-taxi-flying-car-market-players/

Below are some featured air taxis, a few of which I just today saw for the first time:

CORA

Cora, the world’s first all-electric, self-flying air taxi, resumed testing in both the US and New Zealand after a three-month delay because of Covid-19 concerns. Cora is considered one of the most advanced electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, having gained its flight certificates in 2017. It was designed and is being developed by Wisk, an urban-air-mobility company backed by Boeing and Kitty Hawk.

The 21-foot bumble-bee-colored electric taxi has undergone m

Alakai Skai

Non-transitioning eVTOL with six rotors, five seats, 118 mph top speed, 400 mile range

Turn a 45-minute drive into a 10-minute flight. The safe, convenient Air Taxi is designed to let you make the most of your commute. Its sleek cabin offers a comfortable space for you to relax. Or work. Or socialize. All while saving your most precious resource: time.

Bell Nexus

https://www.bellflight.com/products/bell-nexus

Turn a 45-minute drive into a 10-minute flight. The safe, convenient Air Taxi is designed to let you make the most of your commute. Its sleek cabin offers a comfortable space for you to relax. Or work. Or socialize. All while saving your most precious resource: time.

Newatlas Info

https://newatlas.com/aircraft/evtol-air-taxi-flying-car-market-players

CityHawk

“CityHawk is a six-seat eVTOL, with a uniquely compact footprint and no external wings or rotors. Its small footprint/high payload configuration is optimized for urban transportation and emergency response. The rotorless, wingless design offers enhanced safety and unrestricted mobility with unique “fly anywhere, land anywhere” door-to-door transportation capability. It features Urban Aeronautics’ groundbreaking internal rotor Fancraft™ technology, which utilizes powerful ducted fans in combination with innovative aerodynamic technologies that result in superior control, stability, speed, safety, noise reduction and sustainability.”

Here’s How Uber Is Designing Skyports for Future Air Taxis

Uber’s Air Taxi

Uber revealed some details about its approach to building ground infrastructure for urban air mobility — which it calls ‘Skyports’ — as the company seeks to make progress despite a dearth of industry standards and regulations.

Through Uber Elevate, the ridesharing giant is working with at least eight developers of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, to be used for urban aviation in concert with cars, scooters and other modes of public transportation.

With the launch of its Uber Air service planned for 2023 in Melbourne, Los Angeles and Dallas, the company — and others planning to be early investors in ground infrastructure for urban air mobility — faces the challenge of building and designing in an uncertain environment.

“Federal, city, state and perhaps county approvals will all be based on regulations yet to come for the most part,” said Chuck Clauser, senior director of architecture at PS&S and head of the company’s UAM task force. “Location will be dependent on zoning, surrounding airspace and aerial routes, aviation approvals, impact on pedestrian and vehicular traffic, parking, energy requirements, firefighting accessibility … there are a whole host of factors that have to be considered.”

https://www.aviationtoday.com/2020/05/11/heres-uber-designing-skyports-future-air-taxis

There you are. Get ready to call your Uber Air Taxi, coming to a city near you over 2-3 years!

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find my novels here if you’d like to peruse them, please do so:

Again, thank you for your support!

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #111

June 8, 2020

Free Flow Thinking: Genetically-Enhanced Intelligence coming to a maternity ward near you…

Have you ever seen that video, the one where you’re supposed to count the number of times a basketball changes hands? The young people are pretty fast and agile with I had difficulty keeping up with them. Soon the ball-passing came to an end and the narrator of the video asked. How many of you saw the gorilla who came out o stage wityh ius while we we re counting..

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find my novels here if you’d like to peruse them, please do so:

Again, thank you for your support!

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1118

June 3, 2020

Free Flow Thinking: I want to be black…white…brown…red…yellow…green…purple…

“Now, the Star-Belly Sneetches-

Had bellies with stars.

The Plain-Belly Sneetches-Had none upon thars.  

Those stars weren’t so big. They were really so small.

You might think such a thing wouldn’t matter at all. 

But, because they had stars, all the Star-Belly Sneetches

Would brag, “We’re the best kind of Sneetch on the beaches.

With their snoots in the air, they would sniff and they’d snort

“We’ll have nothing to do with the Plain-Belly sort!”

And whenever they met some, when they were out walking,

They’d hike right on past them without even talking.  

When the Star-Belly children went out to play ball,

Could a Plain- Belly get in the game…? Not at all.

You only could play if your bellies had stars

And the Plain-Belly children had none upon thars. 

When the Star-Belly Sneetches had frankfurter roasts

Or picnics or parties or marshmallow toasts,

They never invited the Plain-Belly Sneetches.

They left them out cold, in the dark of the beaches.

They kept them away. Never let them come near.

And that’s how they treated them year after year. 

Then ONE day, seems…while the Plain-Belly Sneetches

Were moping and doping alone on the beaches,

Just sitting there wishing their bellies had stars…

A stranger zipped up in the strangest of cars! 
 

“My friends,” he announced in a voice clear and keen,

“My name is Sylvester McMonkey McBean.

And I’ve heard of your troubles. I’ve heard you’re unhappy.

But I can fix that. I’m the Fix-it-Up Chappie.

I’ve come here to help you. I have what you need.

And my prices are low. And I work at great speed.

And my work is one hundred per cent guaranteed! 

 Then, quickly Sylvester McMonkey McBean

Put together a very peculiar machine.

And he said, “You want stars like a Star-Belly Sneetch…?

My friends, you can have them for three dollars each!” 

“Just pay me your money and hop right aboard!”

So they clambered inside. Then the big machine roared

And it klonked. And it bonked. And it jerked. And it berked

And it bopped them about. But the thing really worked!

When the Plain-Belly Sneetches popped out, they had stars!

They actually did. They had stars upon thars! “

From The Sneetches and Other Stories, by Dr. Seuss

What is CRISPR-Cas9?

CRISPR is an acronym for “Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats.” CRISPR genome engineering technology enables scientists to easily and precisely edit the DNA of any genome.

But for the purpose of this post, it might as well be Sylvester McMonkey McBean’s machine for turning Plain-Belly Sneetches into Star-Belly Sneetches, or vice-versa.

The power of gene editing is, in my humble opinion, the most powerful technological tool ever created by man. This technique enables us to remove certain genetic traits, add specific genetic traits, and much more. Why then would it be such a ridiculous idea to suppose a person could edit the genes responsible for the color of the skin? Human beings shed skin daily and the body is always making more; is it really so outrageous to suppose we could change the color of our skin, say from yellow to brown? Maybe from red to white, or white to yellow. Why can’t Plain-Belly Sneetches become Star-Belly Sneetches, and Star-Belly Sneetches become Plain-Belly Sneetches, on a whim?

What am I suggesting here?

Dr, Seuss wrote The Sneetches and Other Stories to teach children about racism. I hold that most adults stand to learn quite a bit about racism, and perhaps, about themselves, by reading this wonderful book, which I recall reading as a child.

I propose that if we could easily change the color or our skin using CISPR, perhaps it would bring an end to racism once and for all, for and from all sides. After all, at some point we’d lose track of who was black yesterday, and who was red last week? In fact, I’ll go one step further and say I believe would begin experimenting with various colors of skin. Maybe I could try a pleasant, golden-brown, as if perfectly tanned under the UV rays from our sun. Better yet, maybe I’d try that blue skin color, like that of the alien, warrior-race known as the Kree, from Marvel Comics. Of course, some of the alien women I’ve seen on Star Trek certainly were a beautiful emerald green, and they were gorgeous. In my novel, Cybersp@ce: New Beginnings, a beautiful alien race have lavender-colored skin and white hair. Sadly, between Avatar and Marvel, I felt like blue, my first choice, was no longer an option.

Back on Earth, there was a man of color named Alan Keyes, who ran in a presidential race several years ago. I was proud to have voted for him to this day. He seemed like a wonderful, intelligent man of great character. I didn’t vote for the other man, or Keyes, because of the color of his skin; I voted for him because I was impressed with his character.

Of all the words spoke by the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., there are a couple of phrases I find to be the most profound:

‘I Have a Dream’: “I Have a Dream That My Four Little Children Will One Day Live in a Nation Where They Will Not Be Judged by the Color of Their Skin but by the Content of Their Character … and If America Is to Be a Great Nation, This Must Become True”

Martin Luther King Jr, from His Famous Speech at the March on Washington, 28 August 1963.

And another:

“We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

What true words! I fear in America, we have lost track of three fundamental truths:

First:

A person’s character is usually what makes a person a great, strong, and noble leader, or a terrible, untrustworthy, unreliable, evil, and vile human being. A poll some twenty or so years ago reported that a majority of Americans didn’t believe character to be an important trait in a president. This revelation stuns me as much today s it did then; for me, character is the most important trait, as evidenced by a person’s actions.

Second:

America is and always has been described as a great melting pot, with people from all over the globe coming here because they want to be an American. Notice I said American, and not African-American, Italian-American, Irish-American, Indian-American, Japanese-American, etc. When we become Americans we do not abandon the richness of our ethic heritages, but we do, or we should, place a much greater emphasis on what unites us, rather than what divides us. We should ban all hyphens, and be American. God knows we need more unity in this country, and a whole lot less division. Just consider our national motto:

National Motto: e pluribus unum- out of many, one.

Third:

All of us are important, incredible, brilliant beings. We share a common, genetic makeup that enable us to procreate together. We are all of us, human beings and as such, each and every one of us knows suffering, each and every race, creed, and nationality has, at some point, been enslaved by another. We are capable of great, horrific wickedness, as evidenced by men like Charles Manson, members of Al Queada, Hitler and Stalin. Yet we are also capable of great compassion, as demonstrated by Mother Theresa, who served the poorest of the poor in Calcutta, India, and all over the world. And by the Belgian priest Father Damian, who devoted his life to missionary work among the Hawaiian lepers.

Yes, we created nuclear bombs, germ agents, and many other devices for causing death on a global scale. Yet we have also discovered cures for diseases like Polio, the bubonic plague, and smallpox. We have already sent men to the moon, and we’re on the verge of sending men, and women.to Mars, and beyond.

If only people all over this beautiful, amazing planet, could simply remember that we are not many people, we are one; and as such we must start focusing on what unites us, while minimizing what divides us, perhaps we, all of us, will have a bright and amazing future, with all of us, you and I, one day traveling among the stars, exploring this vast, and amazing universe, whether we are Star-Belly Sneetches, Plain-Belly Sneetches, or No-Belly Sneetches.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1117

May 20, 2020

Technical Discussion: The Private-Public Partnership for Space

Good evening.

I’d like to start by offering some extremely valuable advice; when using a laptop computer, SAVE OFTEN! Hey, it’s not to say that I don’t enjoy writing thee blogs, because I do. The problem is I’d rather just write them once, not several times. (I wish I could do the same when writing my novels…<sigh>.

Okay, so starting over….I can only imagine that all of you as bummed as I am about NASA scrubbing today’s launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard. The spacecraft was to carry two American astronauts to the International space station, the first time ever that a private company has built ship and carried men into space. But hey, like I told my son earlier, it’s better they scrub the mission rather than to see another Challenger or Columbia disaster, right? Aside of the precious loss of crews, those two disasters set the American space program back at least a decade.

“Why be in such a rush,” you might say, “let some other country take the lead.” Oh man, I wish everyone wanted to unite the human race as a species, before venturing out into space. I like the idea of a united earth. I even came up with a logo for a previous blog post!

Okay, okay, so I’m a writer, not a graphic artist!

I’ve even written a series of novels (the Cybersp@ce Series), in which incredible, revolutionary new technologies are discovered by Americans. In an effort to share the technologies with other nations, expecting that eventually the technology could be stolen by another country anyway, the United States government, in partnership with other countries, establishes the Earth Space Alliance, or ESA (not to be confused with the European Space Agency, lol.). The technology is owned and managed by the ESA. Only by joining the ESA, as a state might join a country, can the country gain access to these new technologies. Countries that join add to this new “country, governed by a constitution not unlike that if the United States, the idea being that just as states in the USA have autonomy, so too would these countries.

No, I’m afraid if the United States were to step aside, good ole China would step in immediately, asserting itself as the dominant world power in all regards. Based on the way the Chinese government treats its own citizens, and the people in Hong Kong, and Taiwan, I’d say having the Chinese Communist Party tell us how to live would be a real bummer. I want us to come together as a species, we just can’t be impatient about it. If you think it might not be so bad living under Chinese Communism, think again. There was this little thing called “The Great Leap Forward,” an initiative Mao Tse Tung forced on his people.

“Great Leap Forward (Second Five Year Plan) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was an economic and social campaign led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1958 to 1962. Chairman Mao Zedong launched the campaign to reconstruct the country from an agrarian economy into a communist society through the formation of people’s communes. Mao decreed increased efforts to multiply grain yields and bring industry to the countryside. Local officials were fearful of Anti-Rightist Campaigns and competed to fulfill or over-fulfill quotas based on Mao’s exaggerated claims, collecting “surpluses” that in fact did not exist and leaving farmers to starve. Higher officials did not dare to report the economic disaster caused by these policies, and national officials, blaming bad weather for the decline in food output, took little or no action. The Great Leap resulted in tens of millions of deaths,[1] with estimates ranging between 18 million and 45 million deaths..”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Leap_Forward

No, I believe only a free people, like us, can forge the way. We can only hope that in time, others will decide to join us, in our eternal struggle to remain free. I’m afraid Ronald Reagan was correct, peace through strength. We must lead the way, and excel so that others want to join us. Okay, that was my 2 cents; moving on.

Okay, sorry, back to the topic at hand.

So some of you may be pondering whether this new public-private partnership is a good idea or a bad one. Well, I’ll share my opinion with you: I believe it’s perfect. Why? Because as good as NASA is, they have one major, significant disadvantage, they depend on the public, and in the political animals in Congress to fund them. As I’m sure you know, the “public” can be quite fickle at times, and Congress, well, there’s a reason why Congress has a favorable approval rating around 18%. While there are some things we need the government to do (run the government in our stead, the military, the police, fire department, etc., I firmly believe it will be the private enterprise, and the profit motive, that will drive innovation and exploration for space travel. It has always been the future. Remember Edison, Bell, Tesla, and the many other geniuses, driven to success in their technology because they strived for success in their lives. The opportunity to vastly improve one’s fortunes have driven many, many experiments to manufacturing and production.

So, in reading about SpaceX and curious as to what they’re up to now, I came across this interesting (and long) speech by Elon Musk while standing just hundreds of yards from SpaceX’s Starship.

I’m so impressed by what he’s doing, and I’m so lad he’s doing it. Musk is a leader in his own right, and is helping to lead America, and the world, forward into space and one day, to the stars.

After learning about the scrubbed launch my thoughts turned to this blog, and to related subjects, and I recalled a long-running question I’ve had for some time; whatever happened to Lockheed Martin’s X-33 Venturestar, the supposed replacement for the space shuttle? It looked to be a truly independent plane-like craft, which took off and landed with no need for the booster rockets. It was truly a revolutionary design. From what I’ve read, it wasn’t the technology that failed so much, it was the people. It seems middle management took a hard stance on a construction issue that in truth, could have been easily rectified by switching from a composite material to a metal one. From the moment the leadership team at Lockheed started listening to management more than engineers, the project was doomed.

Still, according to reports some 90+ % of tested parts were delivered for the spaceplane; yet still it was canceled? I have to believe that maybe, just maybe, the X-33 was put into production, only by the USAF and not NASA. Can I prove it? No. But it sounds so odd to me that what appeared to be such a viable new spaceplane, had the engineers been allowed to make their changes. If they do have it, or an updated version of it by now, that’s great. If there’s a need to keep it secret, I understand. Still, I wonder…

Two videos about the X-33 spaceplane…
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/3601/1

The last topic I thought I’d cover is a list of some spaceplanes, past, present, and future, and other means of spaceships currently in development, testing, or available:

Spaceplanes-Past and Present:


Martin X-23 PRIME-1966

The Martin X-23A PRIME (SV-5D) was a small lifting-body re-entry vehicle tested by the United States Air Force in the mid-1960s. Unlike ASSET, primarily used for structural and heating research, the X-23 PRIME was developed to study the effects of maneuvering during re-entry of Earth’s atmosphere, including cross-range maneuvers up to 710 statute miles (1143 km) from the ballistic track.

HOTOL

British Aerospace HOTOL (1988)

Designed as a single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) reusable winged launch vehicle, HOTOL was to be fitted with a unique air-breathing engine, the RB545 or Swallow, that was under development by British engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce. The propellant for the engine technically consisted of a combination of liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen; however, it was to employ a new means of dramatically reducing the amount of oxidizer needed to be carried on board by utilising atmospheric oxygen as the spacecraft climbed through the lower atmosphere. Since the oxidizer typically represents the majority of the takeoff weight of a rocket, HOTOL was to be considerably smaller than normal pure-rocket designs, roughly the size of a medium-haul airliner such as the McDonnell Douglas DC-9/MD-80.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Aerospace_HOTOL

SNC’s Dream Chaser

Known as America’s Spaceplane™, SNC’s Dream Chaser spaceplane is a multi-mission space utility vehicle designed to transport crew and cargo to low-Earth orbit (LEO) destinations such as the International Space Station.

https://www.sncorp.com/what-we-do/dream-chaser-space-vehicle

Designed as a single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) reusable winged launch vehicle, HOTOL was to be fitted with a unique air-breathing engine, the RB545 or Swallow, that was under development by British engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce.

SpaceShipOne

The future of spaceplanes may lie largely in the private sector. But Rutan’s Scaled Composites company has already successfully flown its SpaceShipOne beyond the Karman line at speeds exceeding Mach 3 and is now testing the much larger SpaceShipTwo capable of lofting a two-man crew and up to six fee-paying passengers on suborbital flights. Virgin Galactic plans to start commercial flights using this innovative craft within a couple of years.

The Space RIDER is a planned uncrewed orbital spaceplane aiming to provide the European Space Agency (ESA) with affordable and routine access to space. Its expected maiden flight is 2022.

LockeedX-37B -Current

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

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Blog Post #1116

May 20, 2020

Free Flow Thinking: Transgenics

His name is Woodgod. He is a genetically-engineered sentient life-form who physically resembles a satyr, created using cloning techniques by combining human and animal DNA. A fictional character, he was created for Marvel Comics in 1976 by Bill Mantlo and Keith Giffen. While he may be fictional I wonder sometimes, is it really fiction, in the age of the genetic engineering tool, CRISPR? Has human and animal DNA already been combined in a lab somewhere by scientists, working for their respective governments, or corporations, pushing the envelope, trying to determine exactly what is possible? I’m not so sure…

In the film, Deep Blue Sea, Scientists combine human DNA with that of a shark, creating sharks with near human-like intelligence. Imagine that, JAWS with a mind like Hannibal Lector? Needless to say it made for an interesting movie.

So, what is this science, and is it real?

It is real, well…the science. It’s called Transgenesis. Here is one definigion I found.

“Transgenesis is the process of introducing a gene (referred to as a transgene) from one organism into the genome of another organism. The aim is that the resulting transgenic organism will express the gene and exhibit some new property or characteristic. This is made possible by the fact that the genetic code is universal for all living things. Steps involved in the process of transgenesis are outlined below.”

https://www.pathwayz.org/Tree/Plain/TRANSGENESIS

Here are some real life examples of transgenic animals created in a lab. Consider this, if these are the experiments the world knows about, what has been done in secret?

  • There is the transgenic BioSteel goat named Freckles, genetically modified to produce spider silk proteins in her milk. Researchers inserted a spiders’ dragline silk gene into the goats’ DNA in such a way that the goats would make the silk protein only in their milk. This “silk milk” could then be used to manufacture a web-like material called Biosteel.
  • A team of scientists in China used CRISPR to knockout two genes that suppress the growth of hair and muscles in goats aiming to boost the income of goat breeders by increasing cashmere and meat production in goats in the future.
  • A team, led by the China Agricultural University, has successfully introduced human genes into 300 cows to produce “human” milk which is known to contain high quantities of key nutrients that can help to boost the immune system of babies…
    Read more at: https://www.deccanherald.com/content/151042/now-genetically-modified-cows-produce.html
  • Glowing, transgenic lab animals seems to be a fad these days. A quick list of the veritable animal kingdom that has been implanted with glowing jellyfish DNA includes pigs, mice, rhesus monkeys, voles, naked mole rats, and marmosets. But Ruppy the Glowing Puppy, a cloned beagle that glows red under UV light, has gotten the lion’s share of attention, largely because he’s adorable. Scientists are experimenting with transgenics to see how genes are passed down from parent to child

From a Future Science article: Genetically modified humans: the X-Men of scientific research

The power of resistance

When it comes to CRISPR, perhaps the most dramatic and controversial advancement was the birth of the so-called ‘CRISPR twins’. Previously, genome editing had been limited to altering somatic cells, meaning that any edits made would not be heritable. The twin girls, born November 2018, marked the start of germline edits where the effects of the CRISPR edits will not only affect their lives but also those of their future generations.

He Jiankui from the Southern University of Science and Technology (Shenzhen, China) and his research team used CRISPR technology to delete the CCR5 gene, with an overall aim of rendering the resultant offspring resistant to HIV, smallpox, and cholera.

Announcing his results in a YouTube video, Jiankui stated that “gene surgery is another IVF advancement” and emphasized that the research was for the benefit of families who could not have children otherwise and therefore “need this technology” [13]. The positive and wholesome message given by Jiankui did not have the reception intended, with fellow scientists being shocked by the experiment and skeptical of his family-centric approach, many calling the work selfish and fame-driven; the Center for Genetics and Society (CA, USA) labeled the work as “a grave abuse of human rights” [14].

Jiankui first announced the study in a YouTube video [13].

Resistance to some of the world’s deadliest diseases is a significant medical advantage, although in today’s world, seemingly unnecessary. The benefits of treatment options currently available significantly outweigh the risks of the CRISPR procedure. However, further research has shown that immunity to disease is unlikely to be the only power granted by this edit. Aside from the as-yet-unknown off-target effects, the editing of the CCR5 gene may also have enhanced their learning and memory. In murine models, deleting the gene has been shown to significantly improve memory and can make the animals smarter.

The link between CCR5 and cognition has been known since 2016, when a study revealed that it could act as a suppressor for cortical plasticity as well as hippocampal learning and memory [15]. Upon hearing about the twins, author of the 2016 study Alcino J Silva (University of California, Los Angeles; CA, USA) commented, “the simplest interpretation is that those mutations will probably have an impact on cognitive function in the twins”. The question remains as to the extent of the effect which, at this stage, is impossible to predict and, according to Silva, “that is why it should not be done” [16].

In his announcement video, Jiankui agreed that the technique should be used for healing and not for enhancing IQ. Despite this suggestion that there was no initial intent to improve the twin’s cognitive abilities, Jiankui made no attempt to collaborate with experts to discuss the potential effect of CCR5 on cognition and, while admitting he knew of the study, said that it “needs more independent verification” [16].

Since the birth of the twins, new research has once again shown the effect that suppressing CCR5 can have on the brain, this time demonstrating it to be a therapeutic target to improve recovery from stroke or traumatic brain injury [17]. The study also highlighted a link between the gene and everyday intelligence, with those who are missing at least one copy of the gene appearing to go further in school.

The backlash that occurred when Jiankui announced his study has halted the editing of germline cells for the foreseeable future. The view of Jiankui’s work as reckless has led to the formation of a group of experts by the World Health Organization, tasked with setting out guidelines for future CRISPR studies and evaluating the ethics of its use. Scientists from across the world, including CRISPR co-inventor Feng Zhang, have called for a global moratorium on germline editing. This would include a freeze on any ongoing germline editing projects until an international framework for practice can be outlined [18].

However, at the summit where Jiankui first presented his results, there was a consensus that such use for gene editing was inevitable. Dean of Harvard Medical School (MA, USA), George Daley, told the conference, “the fact that the first instance of human germline editing came forward as a misstep should not let us stick our neck in the sand. It’s time to move forward from [debates on] ethical permissibility to outline the path to clinical translation” [19].

It is unknown what the full effect of the gene surgery will be, only time will tell as the twins grow and develop. If predictions hold true, this case will have shown what is possible and will likely be the inspiration for future work; Pandora’s box of potential has been well and truly opened and it may be too late to close it.

Read the full article…

https://www.future-science.com/doi/10.2144/btn-2019-0056

“Genetically modified organisms (GMO) are plants, animals, bacteria or viruses that have been altered through the transfer or deletion of genes into or from the organism under consideration. They have a variety of uses in biological and medical research, safety testing, pharming, agriculture, and xenotransplantation. The foreign gene of interest is prepared by different gene editing techniques like recombinant DNA technology, transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), Zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs), and CRISPR/cas9 (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats). The prepared gene of interest is incorporated through different vectors like bacterial plasmids, cosmids and yeast artificial chromosomes. The gene with the vectors is inserted to the host cell through different gene insertion methods like heat shock, electroporation, viruses, gene gun, microinjection, and liposomes. Transgenesis may be done through the gonads, sperm, fertilized eggs and embryo by DNA microinjection, retroviruses, stem cells, and cloning. To date, the most ideal transgenic marker is green fluorescent protein. The success of transgenesis is checked by incorporation of antibiotic resistance gene, western and southern blot, PCR and ELISA. If the technology alleviates welfare and ethical issues, it becomes the most promising in the future.”

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311932.2019.1686802

What happened to those GM spider goats with the silky milk?

September 2, 2019

Richard Martyn-Hemphill

“This really was an extraordinarily wacky and perhaps controversially ‘Homo Deus’ news story — GM goats who had been transplanted with a spider’s silk-making genes to transform their milk into something much less drinkable and much more silky. Yet this was all years ago now. So did that research ever lead anywhere? And what happened to those goats?

Well, all went a bit quiet. Partly because the Montreal-based company leading the way, Nexia Biotechnologies, a company spun out of McGill University, swiftly went bust and sold its two GM goats — Sugar and Spice — to the Canada Agriculture Museum in Ottawa, which in 2013 removed its genetically-engineered goats from display amid public pressure.

Quiet momentum continues, however, under Dr Randy Lewis of Utah State University and his team. Though he is unaware of the whereabouts of Sugar and Spice today, his lab looks after over twenty goats capable of producing silky milk. This is not just kidding around with mind-bending science experiments for its own sake; dozens of potential applications exist for spider silk, like new ligaments or bullet-proof vests. Yet attempts at farming silk spiders have failed on any scale, mostly because spiders kept in close proximity can turn to in-fighting and cannibalism.

Dr Lewis explained some of these applications by email when contacted by AFN during his trip last week to the International Symposium on Biomedicine and Biomaterials in Xi’an, China — as apt a place as any to discuss the ancient science of sericulture.

“Clearly for quantity the silkworms will always win but for material properties, we are very close or superior in most cases,” Dr Lewis writes. Though he expresses some skepticism about making smart outfits with it, at least for now. “I actually think clothing will be a later product as we can use these proteins to make adhesives, coatings, gels as well as fibers. Those products will be much higher value and thus better to move into for markets.”

https://agfundernews.com/what-happened-to-those-gm-spider-goats-with-the-silky-milk.html

If you think that’s scary…check out the article below, penned by a member of Chinals People’s Liberation Army

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is the armed forces of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and of its founding and ruling political party, the Communist Party of China (CPC). … The PLA is the world’s largest military force and constitutes the second largest defense budget in the world.

Ultramicro, Nonlethal, and Reversible

Looking Ahead to Military Biotechnology

Colonel Guo Ji-wei, The People’s Liberation Army, China, and Xue-sen Yang

Possible Military Uses of Biotechnology

“Modern biotechnology is now in full blossom. Since the 1990s, half of the “Breakthroughs of the Year” selected by Science magazine have been in the biotechnology and life sciences fields. Such innovations (outlined below) are of great medical value and can be of great value in military affairs as well…”

“Transgenic technology. The new transgenic technology currently has limited uses, but its idea of gene control and reconstitution has possibilities for military use. The results from studies in this domain will help the military set goals in command and control.”

“Besides the innovations listed above, many other newly developed biotechnologies lend themselves to military purposes; for example, DNA recombination, gene modification, gene cloning, exogenous gene expression synergy, gene targeting, stem cell technology, tissue engineering, and so on. These biotechnologies will vastly enrich the military’s ability to defend and attack…”

“Direct effects. Direct-effect weapons can be used on human bodies to alter their biological features. Modern biotechnology looks at life in a new way—at the molecular level. Many unknown or unidentified substances of physiological activity have been discovered, and the structure-function relationship of biomacromolecules has been clarified. As a result, we might soon be able to design, control, reconstruct, and simulate molecules in living beings. Methods to change and rebuild biological features and biomolecule functions will soon appear in great number. Genome and proteome technologies can accurately modify living tissues according to precise procedures and conditions. Through the interaction of proteins, we can modify cell functions as needed. In the final analysis, war is simply human behavior that forces enemies to lose the power of resistance. Biotechnological weapons can cause destruction that is both more powerful and more civilized than that caused by conventional killing methods like gunpowder or nuclear weapons…”

“Direct integration. University of Wisconsin scientists have made exogenous, naked DNA and injected it into veins for easy access into muscle cells for gene therapy. By combining this knowledge and particle-gun technology, we could create a microbullet out of a 1-μm tungsten or gold ion, on whose surface plasmid DNA or naked DNA could be precipitated, and deliver the bullet via a gunpowder explosion, electron transmission, or high-pressured gas to penetrate the body surface.10 We could then release DNA molecules to integrate with the host’s cells through blood circulation and cause disease or injury by controlling genes…”

“Ultramicro damage. When attacking an enemy with biotechnological military weapons, we could choose targets from a nucleotide sequence or protein structure. We could cause physiological dysfunction by producing an ultramicro damaging effect to a gene’s or a protein’s structure and functioning. Precision injury and ultramicro damage are two vulnerating methods based on genomics and proteomics. Because they target the primary structure of the gene or protein, they are completely different from traditional weapons of war that directly damage tissues and organs…”

Um, yeah; this from China’s military. I wonder who the enemy is they have in mind to attack by destroying the enemy’s DNA?

Take heart; Americans are as innovative, curious, and capable as any other peoples on the planet. You never deal with a bully out of fear. You must face him head-on, lest you risk emboldening your enemy.

It’s a brave new world, folks. We need not embrace fear, defeat and depression; however, rather we must simply take care that we elect leaders of profound character. We need leaders who are wise and responsible, who Americans first-ahead of politics, leaders who are able to face-down the bullies who would like to see America, and the principals we stand for, stumble and fall.

Food for thought all. Until next week, stay healthy and safe!

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

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www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1115

May 13, 2020

Free Flow Thinking: Icebergs, Dark Energy Stars, and it’s time for humanity to grow up

Yeah, okay. So, for those of you who are regular readers I know; I said I wasn’t posting a new blog today. Well, I wasn’t. I came across a couple of interesting articles, however, and I had a thought to express, so here I am.

By the way, I finished the revision to my Cybersp@ce screenplay and passed it along to a producer, who hopefully will ne reviewing it soon. As for my search for a literary agent, the quest is ongoing. C’est la vie.

Okay, so to get the ball rolling here, I came across this intriguing article about a captain who plans to tow a 70-stpry iceberg from Antarctica to Cape Town, South Africa. According to the article, iceberg water is among the purest water on the planet, and the people of South Africa are in dire need of water.

Yeah, I know the idea has been toyed with for decades, but it sounds like the man heading the effort up, Nicholas Sloane, a 56-year-old South African marine-salvage master, has done his research, and is ready to make this happen. In fact, it sounds like he and others expect this to become a regular thing.

Read the article below…it’s worth it.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/towing-an-iceberg-one-captain-s-plan-to-bring-drinking-water-to-4-million-people?utm_source=pocket-newtab

Okay, so unless you’ve been waiting out World War III, the plague, or the Zombie Apocalypse in your underground bomb shelter for the last fifty years, you probably have heard of black holes, the remnant of a dying star that has collapsed, and whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape its gravitational pull.

Even Disney produced a movie entitled The Black Hole, several decades back.

So apparently there is a scientist

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/are-black-holes-actually-dark-energy-stars?utm_source=pocket-newtab

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

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Blog Post #1114

May 6, 2020

Technical Discussion: Living and Working on Mars Will Require a little MOXIE

Mars.

Everyone is in a hurry to get to Mars. Boeing, SpaceX, and NASA, all have plans on going to Mars. SpaceX has stated that they intend to send a cargo ship to Mars in 2022, followed by a manned mission in 2024 to land the first human beings.

During an interview in 2017, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg made a very bold assertion.

Muilenburg was asked by The Street, “Who arrives to Mars first, SpaceX or Boeing?”

“Boeing,” Muilenburg responded. A video of the interview was posted on The Street...”

Dennis Muilenburg Interview:

https://www.thestreet.com/video/boeing-ceo-says-they-will-beat-elon-musk-and-spacex-to-mars-1460731714607317

During the interview Muilenburg remarked, “We are working jointly with NASA and our industry team right now. We are building that first rocket space launch system. It’s about 38 stories tall, the first article is being built right now. About 9.2 million pounds of thrust on that rocket, the biggest rocket ever,” says Muilenburg.

“If you want to put that in car terms, that’s about the equivalent thrust of 207,000 Corvettes and we are going to begin test flights starting next year.”

How did SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk respond to Muilenburg’s declaration?

“Do it,” said Musk curtly, in a reply to Muilenburg’s post on Twitter.

If I were to venture a guess as to who will make it to Mars first, let me just say that I’d hate to be betting against Elon Musk, the man who is a self-made billionaire several times over, a genius, and a visionary.

Whether it is SpaceX, Boeing, NASA, or another country’s government that gets to Mars first one thing is certain; anyone living or just visiting Mars will need oxygen to survive.

NASA plans to launch an experiment this year that could provide just that, the oxygen human beings will need to live and thrive on Mars, by extracting it from the Martian atmosphere.

From the NASA website:

MOXIE Makes Oxygen on Mars

“When we send humans to Mars, we will want them to return safely, and to do that they need a rocket to lift off the planet. Liquid oxygen propellant is something we could make there and not have to bring with us. One idea would be to bring an empty oxygen tank and fill it up on Mars.”

– Michael Hecht, Principal Investigator-NASA

“The Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment is better known as MOXIE. NASA is preparing for human exploration of Mars, and MOXIE will demonstrate a way that future explorers might produce oxygen from the Martian atmosphere for propellant and for breathing.”

Tech Specs

Main Job To produce oxygen from the Martian carbon-dioxide atmosphere

Location Inside the rover (front, right side)

Mass 17.1 kilograms

Weight 37.7 pounds on Earth, 14.14 pounds on Mars

Power 300 watts

Volume 9.4 x 9.4 x 12.2 inches, (23.9 x 23.9 x 30.9 centimeters)

Oxygen Production Rate Up to 10 grams per hour, (At least 0.022 pounds per hour)

Operation Time Approximately one hour of oxygen (O2) production per experiment, which will be

scheduled intermittently over the duration of the mission.

5 Things to Know

1 MOXIE Makes Oxygen on Mars-Carbon dioxide makes up ~96% of the gas in Mars’ atmosphere. Oxygen is only 0.13%, compared to 21% in Earth’s atmosphere.

2 MOXIE Is a Test Model- MOXIE is the size of a car battery. Future oxygen generators that support human missions on Mars must be about 100 times larger.

3 MOXIE Helps Future Explorers- To launch off of Mars, human explorers need about 33 to 50 tons (30 to 45 metric tons) of fuel, about the weight of a Space Shuttle.

4 MOXIE Breathes like a Tree- MOXIE makes oxygen like a tree does. It inhales carbon dioxide and exhales oxygen.

5 Homemade on Mars- Homemade liquid oxygen on Mars could supply more than ¾ of the propellant humans need for exploration on the Red Planet.

For more information about MOXIE visit Nasa’s website at: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/spacecraft/instruments/moxie/

Does any of this seem vaguely familiar to you? It should, at least for fellow Sci-Fi fans who watched the original Total Recall released back in the 1980s. You may recall the scene in Total Recall, where Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character activates an alien machine, converting vast reserves of ice frozen under the Martian surface into oxygen, clouds and a breathable atmosphere.

Now if what I read is to be believed, MOXIE is scheduled to leave Earth within a few months. An encouraging development and potentially an event to get us primed for the series of launches between now and the early 1930s, when even NASA plans to send manned spacecraft to Mars. It’s now 2020 so SpaceX and Boeing better get going!

Oh, and if you’re interested, I found an excellent, consolidated listing of scheduled trips from Earth to Mars…

It sounds like the next decade or so will be very, very interesting. What a great time to be alive!

Mars Colonization Timeline

“Inspired from FutureTimeline.net and the Integrated Space Plan we have created a speculated timeline of human exploration and colonization of Mars. Predictions are based on a reasonably optimistic evaluation of technological and social progress of humanity. Only the most important and innovative events are mentioned. Timeline is regularly updated taking into account latest developments.”

https://www.humanmars.net/p/mars-colonization-timeline.html

Author’s Note:

I’ll be spending time over the next two weeks polishing the screenplay for my novel, Cybersp@ce, so I’ll be posting some posts from the archive, unless something significant happens during that time. Stay healthy and stay safe, and thanks for following my posts!

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

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Blog Post #1111

April 22, 2020

Technical Discussion: Submitted for your approval; Mind-Boggling Technology that will Change the Course of Humanity’s Future

Tonight’s post, my friends, could end-up being one of my best, and most significant posts, ever. This post will introduce you to something you’ve probably heard nothing about, because I know I never had. Yet, in truth it is so incredibly significant, if true, that it could truly change the course of humanity’s future, assuming the Lord Jesus Christ doesn’t return beforehand. (Hey, I’m a Christian, for which I do not apologize 😊).

I’ve just learned that someone claims to have what would be, if true, the most incredibly advanced technology, by far, that anything we’ve ever known.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/29232/navys-advanced-aerospace-tech-boss-claims-key-ufo-patent-is-operable

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1110

April 15, 2020

Technical Discussion: Ebola, The Hot Zone & Monkeys, and Future Pandemics (and how to prevent them)

EBOLA

From a World Health Organization Article dated February 10, 2020

Ebola virus disease

Key facts

  • Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever, is a rare but severe, often fatal illness in humans.
  • The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission.
  • The average EVD case fatality rate is around 50%. Case fatality rates have varied from 25% to 90% in past outbreaks.
  • Community engagement is key to successfully controlling outbreaks.
  • Good outbreak control relies on applying a package of interventions, namely case management, infection prevention and control practices, surveillance and contact tracing, a good laboratory service, safe and dignified burials and social mobilization.
  • Vaccines to protect against Ebola are under development and have been used to help control the spread of Ebola outbreaks in Guinea and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
  • Early supportive care with rehydration, symptomatic treatment improves survival. There is no licensed treatment proven to neutralize the virus but a range of blood, immunological and drug therapies are under development.
  • Pregnant and breastfeeding women with Ebola should be offered early supportive care. Likewise vaccine prevention and experimental treatment should be offered under the same conditions as for non-pregnant population.

The Ebola virus causes an acute, serious illness which is often fatal if untreated. EVD first appeared in 1976 in 2 simultaneous outbreaks, one in what is now Nzara, South Sudan, and the other in Yambuku, DRC. The latter occurred in a village near the Ebola River, from which the disease takes its name.

The 2014–2016 outbreak in West Africa was the largest Ebola outbreak since the virus was first discovered in 1976. The outbreak started in Guinea and then moved across land borders to Sierra Leone and Liberia. The current 2018-2019 outbreak in eastern DRC is highly complex, with insecurity adversely affecting public health response activities.

The virus family Filoviridae includes three genera: Cuevavirus, Marburgvirus, and Ebolavirus. Within the genus Ebolavirus, six species have been identified: Zaire, Bundibugyo, Sudan, Taï Forest, Reston and Bombali. The virus causing the current outbreak in DRC and the 2014–2016 West African outbreak belongs to the Zaire ebolavirus species.

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ebola-virus-disease

The Hot Zone & Monkeys

The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story is a best-selling[1] 1994[2] nonfiction thriller by Richard Preston about the origins and incidents involving viral hemorrhagic fevers, particularly ebolaviruses and marburgviruses. The basis of the book was Preston’s 1992 New Yorker article “Crisis in the Hot Zone”.[3]

The filoviruses—including Ebola virus, Sudan virus, Marburg virus, and Ravn virus—are Biosafety Level 4 agents, extremely dangerous to humans because they are very infectious, have a high fatality rate, and most have no known prophylactic measures, treatments, or cures.

Along with describing the history of the devastation caused by two of these Central African diseases, Ebola virus disease and Marburg virus disease, Preston described a 1989 incident in which a relative of Ebola virus, named Reston virus, was discovered at a primate quarantine facility in Reston, Virginia, less than 15 miles (24 km) away from Washington, D.C.

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hot_Zone

The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story (1999)

In my humble opinion, you cannot call yourself a true fan of the horror genre until you have read this true, biographical account of an outbreak in Reston Virginia of what turned out to be one of the most deadly viruses on the planet, Ebola. As you can see above, the most you can hope for should you ever contract this merciless pathogen is 50%. The brought side, if there is one, is that even with the worst case you still have a 10% chance of living.

Now with the above-average intellects most of you, my readers, possess, you are probably aware that a handful of Americans came down with Ebola in recent years. Now all were, to the best of my knowledge, medical personnel who’d been engaged in helping victims of Ebola in Africa during the latest outbreak there. This strain of Ebola is commonly referred to as Ebola-Zaire. As noted above there are four strains that have been identified so far. I’m only concerning myself with two for the purpose of this post, Ebola-Zaire (which has killed so many in Africa and the American medical personnel), and Ebola-Reston, which is written about in the book, The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story.

Ebola-Reston gained notoriety among those in the field when, in the year 1989, an outbreak of Ebola occurred in Reston, VA. You may well be asking yourselves about now, “Why didn’t I hear about this outbreak? How could I have missed it?” Well, that’s probably because only moneys died during this attack by Ebola. “So why is this important?” you may continue asking. Because, unless I’m mistaken, every monkey in primate quarantine facility in Reston, Virginia, less than 15 miles (24 km) away from Washington, D.C., I repeat, every monkey in this facility died.

Now, my astute readers, I’m confident a number of you are now thinking, if not actually vocalizing, “How would monkeys have spread the disease among themselves, given they were probably in cages, and the only way to spread Ebola is by physical contact with the blood?” Ah! A noteworthy observation, my dear friend. Well, that is because Ebola-Zaire, the most well-known strain of Ebola, is a virus that requires physical contact. What killed the monkeys in Reston, in exactly the same, ugly, violent manner in which Ebola-Zaire kills by the way, is air-borne.

Now if you’re paying attention as you read this, the hairs on the back of your neck just stood up and a cold chill traveled down your spine. That’s right, dear reader, Ebola-Reston is airborne mutation of Ebola. It is nearly genetically identical to Ebola-Zaire. Now as you might expect, by the time this all came out the human beings who worked in the facility did, in fact, contract Ebola-Reston, through the air. Very fortunately for them, it manifested much like the flu or, perhaps, like the milder versions of the Wuhan Virus now plaguing the world.

And lest I forget, there was a National Geographic film made “based” on the book. From what I could see in the trailer, however, I would recommend reading the book first because it doesn’t seem to jive with the book very much.

“Thanks a lot, scumbag,” you may now be thinking about your lowly author. “I was already depressed as hell about the effect the Wuhan Virus has had on the world, the victims, and the economy. Now I’m at the bottom of the barrel; thanks a lot!”

Now hold on a minute, valued and treasured reader, just as in my novels I intend to bring some light to the darkness. No, I’m not referring to prayer at the moment, though I do believe that is the most powerful weapon we have in or arsenal. While I strive to be a devout Christian, and I fail…often, I’m not here to push my views on you (unless you ask me to of course). No, I’m referring to a number of valuable technologies, some of which were mentioned in the report developed and distributed by scientists, doctors, and staff at Johns Hopkins a year-and-a-half ago, around October of 2018. The report suggests there are a number of steps that can be taken today, and some that can be developed or are already being developed, but are not yet ready for implementation, or even testing. This is important because if we learn the lessons from this recent pandemic, along with the Johns Hopkins report and others like it, perhaps we can channel the resources and monies needed to stop a pandemic in its tracks next time, whether it’s a strain of the Wuhan virus, a mutated for of tuberculosis, or a mutated form of Ebola-Reston which does kill human beings. Let’s write our congressmen, the president, and state and university leaders, insisting they pursue these technologies for stopping the next pandemic; as in business we must act now while the current pandemic is front and center of everyone’s mind. It pains me to repeat this, but the squeaky wheel gets the grease.”

Future Pandemics (and how to prevent them)

It is, I’m afraid, inevitable that yet another pandemic is on the horizon. There are many reasons for this, greater human contact with the natural habitats of the creatures carrying these pathogens, and greater travel worldwide are probably at or near the top of the list of reasons why it will happen sooner rather than later.

The study published by Johns Hopkins offer 15 different ideas for improving how we combat these pandemics. I’ll list them here, with a brief description of each, but I strongly encourage you to read this study, and direct others to do the same. It’s always better to read these yourself rather than allowing a talking-head, with his or her agenda always front-of-mind.

Oh yes, please review the following charts listing how various pandemics have taken so many lives. Check out the death-rate of the Bubonic Plague during the Middle Ages, and you may have some idea of what an airborne version of Ebola-Zaire could do to present-day humanity, if we don’t take action that is.

Technologies to Address Global Catastrophic Biological Risk

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/our-work/pubs_archive/pubs-pdfs/2018/181009-gcbr-tech-report.pdf

“Infectious disease emergencies can arise with little notice and have serious detrimental and lasting effects on health and society. In the past century, we have seen global emergencies like the 1918 influenza pandemic, which killed 50-100 million people; the emergence of the deadly SARS and MERS coronaviruses; and the 2013-2016 Ebola epidemic in West Africa, which resulted in more than 28,000 cases and 11,000 deaths and had devastating impacts on that region, as just a few examples.

As a subset of infectious disease emergencies, global catastrophic biological risk (GCBR) is a special category of risk involving biological agents—whether naturally emerging or reemerging, deliberately created and released, or laboratory- engineered and escaped—that could lead to sudden, extraordinary, widespread disaster beyond the collective capability of national and international organizations and the private sector to control. While rare, the risks of severe pandemics and GCB events are increasing because of factors like climate change, population growth and urbanization, and rapid affordable global travel. In addition, advances in biotechnology that enable easier and more targeted manipulation of biology increase the chances that microbes may be misused or will become the accidental cause of a pandemic.

Yet, while biotechnology does pose some societal risk, investment in the technologies described here, and others, is also an important component in helping to safeguard the world from a devastating biological event. When applied thoughtfully, technology can improve our ability to recognize and address emerging biological problems. Technologies to Address

Goals of the Report

1. Pinpoint areas of need for technological solutions to address severe pandemics and GCB events;

2. Identify technologies that have significant potential to reduce GCBRs; and

3. Provide context for those technologies, demonstrating their promise, limitations, and conditions under which they might be developed and employed successfully

DISEASE DETECTION, SURVEILLANCE, AND SITUATIONAL AWARENESS

  1. Ubiquitous Genomic Sequencing and Sensing
  2. Drone Networks for Environmental Detection
  3. Remote Sensing for Agricultural Pathogens: (Satellites)

INFECTIOUS DISEASE DIAGNOSTICS

  1. Microfluidic Devices: Microfluidic devices are “lab on a chip”
  2. Handheld Mass Spectrometry:
  3. Cell-Free Diagnostics:

DISTRIBUTED MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURE MANUFACTURING

  1. 3D Printing of Chemicals and Biologics
  2. Synthetic Biology for Manufacturing MCMs:

MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURE DISTRIBUTION, DISPENSING, AND ADMINISTRATION

  1. Microarray Patches for Vaccine Administration:
  2. Self-Spreading Vaccines (Author’s Note: This one is a really cool concept)
  3. Ingestible Bacteria for Vaccination:
  4. Self-Amplifying mRNA Vaccines: SAM vaccines use the genome of a modified virus with positive sense RNA, which is recognizable to our human translational machinery.
  5. Drone Delivery to Remote Locations:

MEDICAL CARE AND SURGE CAPACITY

  1. Robotics and Telehealth:
  2. Portable, Easy-to-Use Ventilator

Here is the link again:

https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/our-work/pubs_archive/pubs-pdfs/2018/181009-gcbr-tech-report.pdf

I encourage you to check it out, along with the book, The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story as well!

Contact your elected officials and tell them to allocate funding to prevent and/or stop future pandemics!


Contact President Trump:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact


Contact your US Representative:

https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative


Contact your US Senator:

https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?OrderBy=state&Sort=ASC

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1110

Technical Discussion: “Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi; you’re my only hope…”

Author Jeff W. Horton

Blog Post #1110

Technical Discussion: “Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi; you’re my only hope…”

April 9, 2020

 Unless you grew up under a rock buried deep in a cave in a remote corner of an isolated jungle in an uninhabited corner of South America, you’ve seen, or at the very least heard of, that most famous line spoken by Princess Leia, but recorded and dutifully played back by the droid, R2-D2; “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope…”

“Why,” you may justifiably ask, “in the world are you quoting a Star Wars character?” I’m glad you asked.

The message left by Princess Lei was, of course, a holographic message, something now very familiar in the Star Wars universe, where we discover that most communication is done via holographic images. But Star Wars has no patent on the concept, not by any means. In the popular movie, Avatar, holographic images are bounced around as if they were the old boring, green-screen terminals.

One of the sci-fi franchises where holograms were used extensively were, (drum roll please,) Star Trek, or to be more concise, Star Trek: The Next Generation. That series took holograms from the occasional usage or screen display to a whole new level, the Holodeck, an entire room, (or deck even?), where everything except for the participant, was holographic, made only of light. In Star Trek TNG, of course, the Holodeck somehow made such photon objects solid, not just visible to the eye; but hey, that’s what life is like in the 24th Century! You can go skiing in the Alps, enjoy a day at the beach, etc. Just try to think of something like the Oasis from Ready Player One, except without the need for the goggles and bodysuit, and you’ll have some idea of what the Holodeck could be like.

Okay, this is where you might want to go get a cup of coffee, because there’s about to be a plug. Yes, another shameless promotion, for one of my novels, Future Schism.

Future Schism is set in a post-apocalyptic future where the United States has been torn apart into the conservative Red province and the liberal Blue province, following a bloody and costly civil war, the inevitable result of an escalating culture war. In this future society, people in the Red province commonly communicate via holo-phones and watch holo-televisions.

“Okay, so holograms are popular in sci-fi, so is interstellar travel; yet we have neither in the real world,” you might shoot back, and, of course, you’d be absolutely correct, at least for now. The truth is, we’re probably much closer than you realize to holograms, or technology very similar to it, becoming a part of our everyday reality.

First there was 3-D, then 4-D and 5-D, next came 7-D and 9-D, and finally 12-D. Who knows how many more “Ds” there will be available in the marketplace before the power of the hologram takes its rightful place as king of the entertainment and communications world?

Below are a few links to recent articles about holograms and related tech. If you’re as big a fan of the tech as I am, I think you’ll be pleased with some of the technological developments and breakthroughs that are about to make holograms part of our daily life. Enjoy.

Volumetric Display

“A volumetric display device is a graphic display device that forms a visual representation of an object in three physical dimensions, as opposed to the planar image of traditional screens that simulate depth through a number of different visual effects. One definition offered by pioneers in the field is that volumetric displays create 3D imagery via the emission, scattering, or relaying of illumination from well-defined regions in (x,y,z) space.”

Wikipedia; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volumetric_display#Human%E2%80%93computer_interfaces

Essentially using tiny dust particles in the air, the technology 3d-prints images so they can be viewed from any direction. High Resolution DICOM medical data being displayed on a Voxon VX1 Volumetric Display

For more information on Volumetric displays, which are pretty cool, by the way, check out the below articles :

New Atlas:

Voxon’s US$10,000 hologram table – no glasses required

https://newatlas.com/vr/voxon-photonics-3d-hologram-volumetric-displays

 ResearchGate:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325566353_Volumetric_Displays_Turning_3-D_Inside-Out

Oh, by the way, if you haven’t seen the rather cool video, featuring a whale rising up out of the floor of a school’s gymnasium you owe it to yourself to see this. it’s spectacular…

click on the image above or the YouTube link below to see the whole clip, and others like it…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rC7Hbji2ZpI

Is it real and if so, how is this possible? To find out, click on the link below…
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/12/09/magic_leap_neither_magic_nor_leaping/

Back to holograms…

So in addition to volumetric displays, there is another new and prmising holographic technology recently discovered, a new metahologram, which holds a lot of promise for use in communcations.

Below is an excerpt from an article on Photonics.com that talks about these new metaholograms, discovered in South Korea:

New Metahologram Design Created

A multifunctional meta-hologram design, developed by researchers at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), can be used to create different hologram images depending on the direction of the incident light that falls on the device. Conventional meta-holograms can display images when the incident light falls in one direction only. The POSTECH meta-hologram was created from a monolayer meta-holographic optical device.

To design directional sensitivity into their meta-hologram, the researchers included direction-controlled, spin-dependent holographic recordings in the monolayer structure. The metasurface hologram they designed consists of nano half-waveplates of low loss, hydrogenated amorphous silicon. The half-waveplates are designed and optimized for circularly polarized illumination, and can excite electric and magnetic resonances simultaneously, as well as antiferromagnetic modes, to ensure high transmission for the cross-circularly polarized light. The dual magnetic and antiferromagnetic resonances make the device more efficient than a conventional meta-hologram…

https://www.photonics.com/Articles/New_Metahologram_Design_Created/a65507

I’ve read articles suggesting we are on the verge of seeing holograms pop-up everywhere, from entertainment to the medical field, not to mention applications like holographic gaming and 3d modeling. Of course, someone must create and manufacture these holographic products we’re looking for. Enter two of the leading companies in the holographic industry.

Hypervsn

https://hypervsn.com/blog/holographic-technology-at-ces-2020.html

Looking Glass Factory

https://lookingglassfactory.com/unreal

Below are two more great article on where we are technologically with holograms and where we’re going:

What Can We Expect from Hologram Technology in the Future?

https://www.iqsdirectory.com/resources/what-can-we-expect-from-hologram-technology-in-the-future

As seen in movies, new meta-hologram can be used as a communication tool

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200128114650.htm

It’s exciting to think that one day soon, we can sit and watch as our favorite football teams face-off in the super bowl, in our living room! Beam me up, Scotty!

As for me, I’m just looking forward to the day when my astromech droid fires-up a holographic message featuring a beautiful young woman begging me to come and save her. Oh, one can only hope…

Note from the author:

If you enjoy reading this weekly blog, why not invite your friends to have a look? It beats watching reruns of The Brady Bunch on TV during this Wuhan Virus Crisis, right? And besides, they might learn something interesting!

Also, if any of you know a good literary agent, how about sending them my way at jeff@hortonlibrary.com? I’ve been looking for an agent to help with mt latest and as-of-yet unpublished novel, Eternity. It would be very much appreciated!

Coming in next week’s blog post: Ebola, The Hot Zone, and Fighting Future Pandemics. Be sure to check it out!

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1109

April 1, 2020

Technical Discussion: Bob Lazar: Area 51 & Flying Saucers

I was told once that I should avoid shameless promotion of my novels when writing this blog and as a rule, I tend to follow that advice, only taking time to plug one of them when it seems particularly relevant, or to make a point. I believe tonight’s post to be relevant to one of my published novels.

My book, Cybersp@ce, which I’ve also adapted into a screenplay and have been working with an independent producer to get made into a movie, is primarily about cyber-warfare, or perhaps cyber-terrorism, depending on which position you favor. One of the elements of the storyline, however, revolves around the reverse-engineering of a crashed extraterrestrial spacecraft, which was disabled when caught in the middle of a violent electrical storm in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. Yes, I know, it’s been all over the papers, the movies, books, etc. but believe me, it is, I believe, still very much relevant.

Now I realize that it is generally believed that most people fall into one of two general camps about this. The first group believes that aliens have visited Earth, abducted people for experimentation or other horrific reasons, and may have even guided human development for millennia. The second group believes the first group is filled with lunatics, grow men living in their mothers’ basements, and people who just need to get a life; most believe that such travel across the vast distances of space is impossible and not practical. I believe this is a gross over-generalization and that in truth, most people fall somewhere in the middle of these two extremist positions.

In case you’re wondering, I fall in the category of cautious, yet ardent believers, that not only could extraterrestrials have visited the Earth, but that they have.

Now those of you who follow my posts or read my books may have noticed by now that I believe we need to devote considerable resources to discovering a new means of propulsion for our spacecraft, to finding a way to traverse the vast interstellar distances between stars and to other worlds outside of the Sol system. Any conventional means of travel is out of the question precisely because of the vast distances involved, not to mention the challenges encountered as you approach the speed of light, like the problem with time dilation. What’s the point of traveling the stars if your loved ones are dead and buried by the time you return to them on earth? The movie Interstellar did a great job of driving this point home.

Here’s my point. How many critics and naysayers debunked the Wright Brothers while they were working on the airplane, telling them and anyone who would listen, “If man was meant to fly he’d have wings!” How many people doubted Columbus, Copernicus, Galileo, and even Einstein? Just because we don’t possess the technology for ourselves to create wormholes or warp spacetime, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Einstein himself predicted the existence of wormholes. Magnetic wormholes have already been created in the lab in recent years. We know that massive objects like the Earth and the sun warp spacetime itself, as Einstein predicted and later proved during an eclipse. We know of the existence of dark matter, antimatter, and scientists are beginning to learn and understand more about quantum entanglement. Why then would it be too much to imagine that another, more advanced civilization, has already overcome these obstacles, and left their own star system in search of other sentient life?

Now before I go any further, I recommend you follow the link below. If the report discussed in the article is true, it proves that the military, the government, and a few select government contractors have long ridiculed and covered-up the truth about the government’s possession of alien spacecraft by burying the truth in the muck and mire of massive, ongoing disinformation campaigns. Much of what was once laughed off, however, has now been confirmed, such as the military’s interest in these spacecrafts and the confirmation that pilots have not only seen them, they’ve captured them on video footage

Follow the link below, and you may welcome away with a different opinion on this topic..

Explore the Recent Mysteries and Controversies about Area 51

A new documentary about Bob Lazar on Netflix, and purported notes of a meeting with Vice Admiral Thomas R. Wilson, former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, could be lifting the lid on Area 51.

Interesting Engineering:

https://interestingengineering.com/explore-the-recent-mysteries-and-controversies-about-area-51

In the article above are excerpts from a government report. The report documents a conversation where a general with oversight responsibilities over government contractors describes to another man how he was denied access to the truth about Area 51 and to the alien technology by three individuals from a major government contractor, who apparently held responsibility over the reverse-engineering project. When he complained about it and threatened to take action against the contractor, he in turn was threatened by his superiors with early retirement, and the loss of one or more of his general’s stars. The three contractors did share, however, one tidbit of fact with him; they told him that the alien spacecraft is real, while the alien abductions are not. They also denied Gee, I wonder who started the whole wave of alien abduction disinformation?

In my novel CyberSp@ce, the first in a series of three books, scientists had been working to reverse-engineer the technology recovered from the alien spacecraft and while some success had been realized, they were still largely in the dark as to how any of it worked, or even why it worked. That corresponds to some of what the general learned in his conversation with the contractor.

If physicist Bob Lazar, who claims to have worked at a “supposed” secret base called S-4 (visible on Google Earth by the way, southwest of Area 51 itself-look it up) where he worked to reverse-engineer the propulsion on at least one alien spacecraft. I’ve heard of Lazar’s claims for decades and, to be honest, he sounds credible to me. Keep in mind that he’s been the target of a great deal of disinformation as someone, whether it was someone in the government or someone working in the private sector for one of the large government contractors, sought to discredit him. For me, there’s simply far too much smoke for there not to be a fire.

Lazar claims to have seen the spacecraft fly, and describes the basics of how the propulsion system operated. The element 115, which Lazar says powered the propulsion system, was even been created in laboratories in the former Soviet Union. The ship used some type of gravity waves for propulsion, which Lazar does a far more elegant job of describing in the Netflix documentary about his experience at the S-4 base entitled, Bob Lazar: Area 51 & Flying Saucers. If this post has piques your interest at all, I strongly encourage you to watch it. While Lazar was not working in the area where he saw this device, he describes being show on one occasion a device that generated a force field of sorts, something else I’d very much want t have around my ship if I were traveling amid the vast amounts of radiation and debris in space.

Here’s a story on local news site in Las Vegas, which I suggest you also read.

I-Team: A look at how Bob Lazar interviews match up with Pentagon’s admission of studying UFOs

https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/i-team-a-look-at-how-bob-lazar-interviews-match-up-with-pentagons-admission-of-studying-ufos

And here are a few links to completely un related sites, which describe wormholes, warped time and space, etc, which seem disconnected from Area 51, yet not as much as you might think.

Warping Spacetime

By Kip Thorne (A friend of Stephen Hawking)

https://www.cco.caltech.edu/~kip/scripts/PubScans/VI-47.pdf

Gravitational waves: ‘dents’ in spacetime

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Gravitational_waves_dents_in_spacetime

The Universe Remembers Gravitational Waves — And We Can Find Them

https://www.space.com/gravitational-waves-memory-space-time.html

“But why would our government cover-up something so monumentally important?” you might ask. And cover-up they have. Look, I’m sure that at one time there was good reason to keep such technology secret; perhaps there still is, but I’m beginning to doubt that. I don’t question that those in power at the time the craft was discovered in 1947 were dealing with Stalin and the ever-increasing nuclear threat posed by the fomer Soviet Union.

Keep in mind that only nine years earlier, in 1938, panic had gripped the public as many believed the Mercury Theater’s (including Orson Welles, by the way) performance of an adapted ersion of H.G. Wells War of the Worlds, to be a real newscast. Imagine what those in authority were thinking when a real spaceship had been discovered not in Grovers Mill, New Jersey, but in Roswell, New Mexico.

If those in government with access to the truth are starting to relax their death grip on the truth about Roswell and about the recovered extraterrestrial spacecraft now in their possession, and the military’s recent admission to studying and observing such craft seems to suggest they are, I hope they will open-up the study of such craft, in a controlled manner, to some of the great minds in our country, and the world, for the betterment of humanity. With resources gradually dwindling and the human population ever-growing, the need to travel the stars and establish new colonies is becoming more and more important.

Besides, who knows, maybe ET isn’t interested in abducting or killing us all; maybe they’re just looking to make new friends. And if they’re not friendly, wouldn’t you like to have some of their advanced technology in your hands as you fight them off? Just saying…

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1108

March 25, 2020

Free Flow Thinking: Favorite TV Shows

Okay, I imagine we all need a break from all the ridiculous, dangerous panic that’s spread a hundred times as fast as Covid-19 and is a million times more dangerous; I know I do.

The gentlemen who runs the cablceompare.com website recently contacted me, asking if I’d like to post a link to this site on my weekly post, so here’s to you, sir.

Actually, it’s quite timely, as we all need to take a moment to relax, and reflect on what is really important, like God, family, country, and of course, our favorite cable television series! Just kidding, but I do think Id like to talk about something fun this week, so here we go.

The aforementioned site lists the eight most popular cable TV shows of the last decade. I’m including the list below, and I encourage you to follow the link to the website to learn more about each program.

The 8 Most Popular Cable TV Shows of the Last Decade

February 12, 2020

https://cablecompare.com/the-most-popular-cable-tv-shows-of-the-last-decade
  1. The Walking Dead
  2. Game of Thrones
  3. Breaking Bad
  4. Burn Notice
  5. American Horror Story
  6. Mad Men
  7. True Detective
  8. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

So now, I’m going to list my ten most favorite television series of all time, and I’ll tell you why I recommend it.

So here you go!

Coming in at number 10:

10 Wild Wild West-

Okay, so I realize that most of you never even knew there WAS a TV series called Wild Wild West. Maybe you saw the Will Smith version of the movie, but I have fond memories of watching Jim West, the protagonist, Secret Service agent uncover and then beat the bad guys, nearly being killed on a daily basis as he does so.

9 Highlander: The Series-

I really enjoyed this series when it was on the air. I plan to se if I can find it streaming and watch some of the episodes I missed. Adrian Paul, the actor who plays the protagonist, Duncan McCloud, had some real skill with the blade, or so it seemed. Like another series I like but didn’t include, The Originals (yeah, I know, go figure), the historical flashbacks were often interesting and enlightening. The frequent swordplay was pretty cool as well.

8 Star Trek (The original)

Now I know special effects have come a long way since the 1960s, when the original series was filmed. But at the time, they were WAY ahead of their time. And the plotlines were so unique, and interesting. I’ve always said that it’s all about the story. You can have the best special effects and the most dramatic explosions, but without a great plot or story, it’s going to suck.

7 StarGate SG-1

To this day I remain astounded at how good this little sci-fi series was, which ran, I believe, a total of 10 years? That’s a very, very long time for a sci-fi series. The fact that they were able to continually reinvent the series, and evolve and advance the storyline as they did so, was quite an achievement. Whether they were battling the Goa’uld or the Ori, the SG-1 team did it with style, class, and most of all, humor.

6 Star Wars Clone Wars (The Animated Series)

Okay, go ahead and laugh, get it out of your system. Yes, I rated this series rather high, but can you guess why? Remember what I said, it’s about the story! I’ve said for many years now that Star Wars Clone Wars, and the Knights of the Old Republic Xbox game, had a much, much, much, better plotline than all of the Star War movies put together! Okay, the beginning of each Clone War episode had those horrendous little sayings, “To win, you must first fight the battle!” type of lines. These must have been written by someone other than the screenwriters, because the plotlines were generally very well thought out, and original. At least I thought so, lol.

5 Band of Brothers

What can I say? It was essentially a weekly “Saving Private Ryan” series. What red-blooded American would not love that? It was a moving, and at times, disturbing program to watch, but I liked it.

4 The Witcher

What was his name again, Geralt of Rivia? I had the hardest time placing what actor played that role. When I learned it was no other than the “Man of Steel” himself, Henry Cavill, I just shook my head. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the series, mostly due to Cavill’s acting skill and the director, of course.

3 Altered Carbon

Okay, here we are, at Altered Carbon. Mixed feelings here. I came VERY close to placing it at number 2 instead of number 1 because frankly, I believe it probably has a better storyline than Game of Thrones. I didn’t like Season 2 of the series as much as Season 1, however. Maybe it’s because we spent so much time learning about this amazing world the characters lived in during Season 1. I really enjoyed Joel Kinnaman in the role as Takeshi Kovacs, the deadly, almost super-human like envoy from the ancient past, but I really like Anthony Mackie as well, who played Kovacs in Season 2.

By the way, the Altered Carbon series is definitely deserves an R or MA rating, so make sure the kids are in bed before watching, okay?

Oh, I really didn’t care for the anime version which just aired on Netflix. It was okay, just more anime than plot.

  1. Game of Thrones

GOT, hmmm. Where to begin? Politics, fighting, and sex; what’s not to like? And GOT had all three in great abundance, though probably heaviest on the politics and fighting. But it was this incredible blend they mixed in perfect measure, with a high fantasy feel, and the terrific acting, that made this one of the greatest of all time. Yes, the last season was butt-awful (in my opinion), because they produced it before the author had finished writing the novels. And man, was it painfully obvious someone else was doing the writing…ugh!

  1. Jesus of Nazareth

Hey, I make no apologies, I’m a Christian, remember? Well, at least I try to be, and certainly is refreshing to re-watch this series during trying times like these.

But seriously, this was one of the best made-for-television series I have ever seen. And the star-studded cast was nothing short of phenomenal. The names on the cast of characters is a virtual cornucopia of some of the biggest stars at the time.

Robert Powell … Jesus Christ

Anne Bancroft Magdalene

Ernest Borgnine The Centurion

James Farentino Simon Peter

James Earl Jones Balthazar

Ian McShane Judas Iscariot

Donald Pleasence Melchior

Christopher Plummer Herod Antipas

Peter Ustinov Herod the Great

Michael York John the Baptist

Olivia Hussey Virgin Mary

James Mason Joseph of Arimathea

Laurence Olivier Nicodemus

Anthony Quinn Caiaphas

Rod Steiger Pontius Pilate

This film had me feeling as if I was there, in Israel, as these events transpired, an incredibly successful job by director Franco Zeffirelli. I’ve probably watched that series more than any other ever. It was fantastic, moving, and it did a fantastic job of adhering, for the most part, to the Biblical text.

And before I forget, there is an honorable mention I’d be remiss if I don’t include it. It definitely belongs in the Top 10, but I had forgotten about it until now; the television series Shogun, based on the novel by James Clavell. It too had the feel of actually being in feudal Japan as the man who would become Shogun seeks to learn more about the West from a stranded, Dutch captain. It too, was based on a true story.

Well, that’s it, a very, very small and possibly inaccurate rating for television shows I’ve seen over the years. I suppose it’s painfully obvious by now that I’ve spent far too much time watching television and movies. Just say it, “get a life, Jeff!”

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1107

March 12, 2020

Technical Discussion: The COVID-19 Virus

How to Prepare for the Zombie Apocalypse:

  1. Implement social distancing. It’s a known fact that large gatherings attract zombies.
  2. Shut down the borders. After al, don’t we have enough zombies of our own to deal with.
  3. Close the schools and small businesses. After all, Zombies don’t read!
  4. Stock up on ammo for your rifles, shotguns, and your pistols, but be sure to keep a bowie knife, a baseball bat, a samurai sword, and explosives (of course). We won’t know whether you have to removed the head in order to stop a zombie until we try!
  5. Pack your truck, your mobile home, and anything else you can find with food, water, fishing poles, and tools, because you’re headed for the mountains and the great outdoors (where the zombies are not.)
  6. Did well’s for water, learn how to cure meat, and learn how to grow vegetables. There’s no telling how long the zombies can hang-on for.
  7. Don’t forget the bicycles! There’s no telling how long you’ll be able to find gas before it runs out. Zombies don’t need gas, of course, but they often live near where you’d have to go to get it!

Okay, okay, this COVID-19 is a serious matter, and we shouldn’t make light of it.

To be honest, I haven’t been all that bent out of shape about this virus. I wasn’t seeing much difference in the death rate of the flu and the death rate for COVID-19. I’d seen news reports that the actual death rate was somewhere around .2 or .02%, roughly the same or less than the flu.

Then I started to notice our government, the United States government, taking increasingly drastic measures in recent weeks in order to stop the spread of the virus or to “flatten the curve,” as all the media pundits now like to say.

I decided maybe it was time to look at some numbers for the death rate for myself, instead of letting someone do the extraordinarily complex math of diving the number of deaths by the number of those who’ve contracted the virus. While the number in Italy appears to be exceptionally high at around 7% (reportedly due to a high number of elderly citizens there), the rate in the United States is considerably lower, at 1.63 %.

Below are some of the numbers I put together, mainly to help put all of this in perspective (Can you now please leave me some toilet next time?):

A screenshot of a cell phone Description automatically generated

But here’s the thing; how many people have actually contracted the disease, but then never reported it either because they never felt sick, or they didn’t want to be quarantined? Oh, I’m sure that governments attempt to compensate for the unreported, but how could they ever know for sure? On the other hand, how many deaths are likely to go unreported in today’s society? Not very many. Therefore, the number of deaths are always going to be closer to being accurate, than the number of the affected.

My point isn’t to suggest this is a global conspiracy, or that the numbers are intentionally wrong, it’s only to say that the death rate is likely to be much lower than reported. Case in point; I’ve seen several interviews on cable news channels where someone was diagnosed with COVID-19, yet had never noticed any symptoms. Even some older patients reported no or mild symptoms. I have to believe the number of unreported cases to be significant.

So, what do I make of this threat? I believe we should follow the guidelines our health care experts in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute of Health and, with a little added caution, the World Health Organization, which is part of the United Nations.

What I’m curious about, and I imagine you are too, is why do so many outbreaks of flu and viruses originate from China? Was it biological warfare testing? I’ve heard some doctors say it wasn’t from a Chinese lab, but I certainly wouldn’t put it past the Chinese to cover up such an incident. To be fair, I’m confident nearly every government in the world ahs lied to cover-up some disaster or another. Nevertheless, the stakes here are very high, so if there ever is an accident in a lab, it is that government’s responsibility to own-up t it right off the bat, in order to give the world enough information, and warning, to prepare.

Here are two, competing points of view about the possible origin of COVID-19. As for me, my money’s with the Chinese lab accident.

Don’t buy China’s story: The coronavirus may have leaked from a lab

https://nypost.com/2020/02/22/dont-buy-chinas-story-the-coronavirus-may-have-leaked-from-a-lab

Why Do New Disease Outbreaks Always Seem to Start in China?

https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2020/02/18/why_do_new_disease_outbreaks_always_seem_to_start_in_china.html

I’d just like to urge everyone to calm down about all of this and gain some perspective. Just think about everything we’ve been through as a nation, and everything we’ve all been through as individuals. We’re all going to die (unless Jesus comes back beforehand, of course) and that’s a certainty, it’s just a matter of when. Perhaps we’ll get cancer, die in a car crash, a brain hemorrhage, a heart attack, an asteroid striking the earth, or a zombie apocalypse. Who knows?

The point let’s try to get though this, without hogging all of the toilet paper!

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1107

March 12, 2020

Technical Discussion: The World in 500 Years

What does the future hold for me, for you, for our family, for our country, for our world? What wonders await us as a species say, in five-hundred years? If we knew, would the answer amaze us, or would it terrify us? Will our world be a marvel of technological advancements, like what we find in science-fiction films like Star Wars, or Star Trek?

Or perhaps the future is not so promising. If we were able to hop back into HG Wells time machine and travel five-hundred years in the future, maybe we’d find nearly the entire planet underwater, as in Kevin Costner’s film Waterworld, the result of the complete melting of the polar ice caps.

Then again, maybe our civilization simply unravels, as the world descends into a post-apocalyptic landscape like we see in the Mad Max series of films.

As for me, I’d prefer to believe we will address challenges as they present themselves, and rally as a species to not only survive, but to thrive. Just consider for a moment the pollution we once pumped into the atmosphere all over the world, beginning with the industrial revolution. We’ve done a decent job in parts of the world, cleaning-up our air, water, and land, since then.

Before looking at my predictions for the year 2520, let’s first look back at some of the incredible discoveries made over the last five-hundred-years or so.

Source: https://www.interestingfacts.org.uk/inventions-over-the-last-500-years/

“Inventions over the last 500 years

  • The golden age of invention and discovery has occurred over the past 500 years.
  • New scientific theories helped people invent things that would change our world. Here are a few examples…
  • In 1455, Johannes Gutenberg invented the first printing press, which enabled them to print many copies of books, and so being able to distribute to many more people.
  • In 1608, the telescope was invented by Hans Lippershey but it was Galileo who was the first person to use a telescope in the use of astronomy.
  • In 1783, the French Montgolifer brothers invented the first hot-air balloon, and they promised their father they would never fly it.
  • In 1800, two Italian scientists Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta invented the first device to give a continuous flow of electricity.
  • In 1827, John Walker dipped a wooden stick into a mixture of chemicals and the first friction match came to light.
  • In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell holds the patent for the telephone. He was the first to make it successful but there is evidence that others, such as Antonio Muecci invented it first.
  • In 1878, Thomas Edison and Joseph Swan came up with the idea of the electric light bulb.
  • In 1895, Wilhelm Rontgen discovered X-rays and earned him the first Nobel Prize for Physics in 1901.
  • In 1903, brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright, took to the skies in their powered flight over the sands of “Kitty Hawk in North Carolina” which lasted all of 12 seconds.
  • In 1928, Sir Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, but left if to others to turn it into a practical treatment that saved millions of lives.
  • In 1957, the Soviet Union launched their first artificial satellite Sputnik 1 into space on the 14th October. Followed the next month by Sputnik 2 and a dog called Laika.
  • In 1977, the first personal computer (PC) was invented.
  • In 1979, Mobile phones were invented, but they were large like a house brick!
  • In 1983, the Internet grew out of a network of computers that linked universities and the military across the USA. Today it is used for the World Wide Web, email, social media and much more.

One of the most renowned inventors of our time is Thomas Edison who is credited with more than 1,000 new inventions during his life! “

Author’s Note: I’d like to add a much-overlooked Nicolai Tesla, a less business-savvy competitor to Edison, and at his contributions, which in many ways equal or even excel Edison’s! For more info, take a look at my earlier blog post on Tesla:

https://www.hortonlibrary.com/archives/822

So, now that we’ve looked back five-hundred years, let’s take a look at the state of the world according to Jeff, five-hundred years into the future, in the year 2520.

By the year 2520 I predict we will have:

-Won the battle against germs (viruses and bacterial infections)

Technology is advancing at an incredible pace. Once quantum computers become commonplace, if they don’t take over the world, I expect we will eventually be able to catch-up to and eventually exceed the capacity of viruses and bacteria to adapt, immediately breaking down the genome of any new invader, developing a strategy 100% effective at defeating it, and updating our global immunity, at least enough for us to declare victory. That’s not to say an occasional stray won’t make it through our initial defenses, but it will be swiftly and immediately dealt with if it does.

-Perfected clean, endless, renewable energy

By the year 2520 coal, nuclear fission, even nuclear fusion will likely be a thing of the past. A breakthrough in the development of anti-matter energy in the year 2470 led to the world shifting from nuclear fusion to anti-matter energy stations. The breakthrough was a very timely one, since the world’s supply of Heluim-3, which has been extensively mined on the moon for centuries, is nearly exhausted.

-Interstellar travel

The world’s first wormhole drive, an engine capable of creating an artificial, stable wormhole, was built in the year 2075. The breakthrough came after studying an extraterrestrial spacecraft, which crashed on earth in the mid-twentieth century, for over a hundred years. Although earth scientists, unaware of the craft’s existence, had already theorized such a wormhole engine would be possible, the breakthrough shaved several hundred years off of the time necessary to develop such a device without the alien assistance.

-Extended lifespans

Human beings can now live for thousands of years, thanks to breakthroughs made in the mid-late 21st century.

-Human beings are now genetically engineered for specific functions

People who are genetically engineered to be more intelligent generally become leaders, scientists, or engineers. People who will be working extensively in space are engineered to be more resistant to radiation and their bodies are more durable. Soldiers, and those involved with physical labor, are engineered to be stronger, faster, and more t6echnical.

-No more independent nations

Countries are now states, part of a United Earth Government (UEG), which is run by a ruling council, represented by each of the genetically engineered sub-species.

-No more global warming

The elimination of fossil fuels, which began in earnest near the end of the 21st century, has virtually negated man’s impact on global temperature.

-A managed global climate

There are no more worries about global warming, damage to the ozone layer, acid rain, or even damage or loss of live from hurricanes or tornadoes, as such events, like all weather, are carefully scheduled, monitored, and managed by the Earth Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(EOAA).

-Remote Drivers.

Essentially a means of remotely controlling a synthetic or even cloned body, it enables a person to remotely control a body that could be light years away. It’s popular among business and government leaders, who avoid the cost and delay of interstellar travel by using remote drivers instead. We use all sorts of remote-control technology today, tools like WebEx, for remote controlling someone’s PC, for doing bridge conferences, etc. Remote Drivers will be the next best thing to being there…

-Anti-gravity.

Of course, we will have found a way to effectively negate the force of gravity by the year 2520. In fact, the pace of development was accelerated by the discovery and subsequent reverse-engineering of the extraterrestrial craft mentioned earlier.

-Force fields.

The third major breakthrough made by studying and then reverse-engineering technology from the crashed alien ship. Force fields make traveling and living in space considerably safer for human beings, much as it would nearly any sentient life form traversing the cosmos.

-Colonies spanning the galaxy.

By 2520 I expect there will be a number of colonies on other planets. I expect colonization will begin with Mars first, then some of the inhabitable moons orbiting the outer planets, perhaps Titan, or Europa. Once interstellar travel is possible, travel that is not subject to the time dilation imposed by traveling close to the speed of light, we will begin looking for planets in distant star systems to colonize. I doubt it will be Alpha-Centauri with its tri-star system, but one never knows.

-Formalized relations with a number of extraterrestrial species.

We will engage with them much as we have with each other, beginning with trade, technology exchanges, and before long joint-ventures.

While a few races of extraterrestrial beings encountered by the year 2520 will have expanded beyond the Milky Way, they have kept their galaxy-hopping technologies a closely guarded secret.

-Joined The Council of Interstellar Life (Or whatever its name may be…)

Earth has been a member for over a hundred years, having joined the Council in the year 2401. The council is made up of nearly every known species of sentient life with interstellar travel. It regulates trade and disputes related to establishing new colonies across the galaxy.

So, there you have it, a few of my predictions where we will be in the year 2520, should we survive as a species long enough to see that year arrive. As a Christian I believe the Lord Jesus Christ will come again one day. Since I don’t know when that will be, I’ll assume it will be after the year 2520, since if it happens before then, these predictions are moot!

Oh, yes; one comment about the Coronavirus, aka COVID-19. I think we all just need to take a deep breath on this thing and try to gain some perspective on this. Given how much more likely it is that you’ll die in a car wreck, or some other accident, or even the flu, this has all been way overblown by a news media with more time on its hands than it has breaking news. We’ve survived the Great Depression, WW I, WW II, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Cold War, the flu, SARS, the plague, Smallpox, and Tuberculosis; don’t you think we’ll get through this okay? Just relax, and let the experts do their jobs.

And seriously, enjoy the rest of your week!!

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1106

March 4, 2020

Technical Discussion: Paging George Jetson: Your Air Taxi Has Arrived!

Air Taxis. To the best of my knowledge interest in Urban Air Mobility vehicles, or UAM for short, first gained popularity with the somewhat recent announcement by Uber that it was working on a ride sharing air taxi service. Partnering with Hyundai, several models have already been built with Uber and Hyundai having scheduled demonstration flights back in January.

Before you head out with your smart phone, preparing to order your air taxi, take note that none I could find are in service today, at least any of the newer, UAMs with vertical takeoff and landing. It appears the earliest we’ll see any of these incredible new aircraft in service will be in 2023, when Wisk (see below) and Uber plan to launch their respective services.

A company named Wisk signed recently inked a deal to deploy an air taxi trial in New Zealand. Similar trials are being talked about or even scheduled in cities all over the world as I write this. Uber plans to begin offering its air taxi ride sharing service beginning in 2023.

The concept seems to be that these air taxis will enable passengers to avoid traffic congestion so common in urban areas like New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Atlanta. These UAM vehicles come in a variety of shapes and offerings. Some, for example, are touted as autonomous, requiring no pilot. Others are offered as autonomous with a remote pilot as backup. Then, of course, we have the UAMs with an actual pilot onboard (sign-me up with tis last option, thank you.)

There are currently two general categories of UAMs being built: passenger and cargo vehicles. Passenger models generally range from one to five passengers. Nearly all UAMs are electric, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) passenger and cargo air vehicles, which are either autonomous, semi-autonomous, or piloted with a pilot onboard.

Perhaps to their astonishment, perhaps not, Uber and Hyundai are now finding a once vacant field of competitors suddenly becoming a bit crowded. A quick search turned up a handful of companies, many of them already heavy hitters in the aviation industry.

Below I have listed some of these companies, along with one offering from that company. Keep in mind, however, that most of the companies listed have at least one or more UAMs in each category.

Below are a couple of recent articles about air taxis that I found informative.

The Top 10 Air Taxi Stories of 2019

https://www.aviationtoday.com/2020/01/02/top-10-air-taxi-stories-2019

Wisk signs deal to deploy an air taxi trial in New Zealand

Wisk signs deal to deploy an air taxi trial in New Zealand

Hyundai to build air taxis for Uber’s future aerial ride share network

Hyundai to build air taxis for Uber’s future aerial ride share network

Boeing

Passenger Air Vehicle

“PAV advances the future of flight and improves safe mobility on-demand. Urban air mobility has tremendous potential for changing the way people, goods, and ideas overcome today’s congested roadways.”

“PAV embodies the potential to change how people, goods, and ideas move throughout the world. Aurora Flight Sciences is developing both two and four-passenger variants with cargo options.”

A plane flying in the air Description automatically generated

Capacity: 2 & 4-passenger variants with cargo options

https://www.aurora.aero/pav-evtol-passenger-air-vehicle

Bell

Nexus

Your commute, transformed.

Turn a 45-minute drive into a 10-minute flight. The safe, convenient Air Taxi is designed to let you make the most of your commute. Its sleek cabin offers a comfortable space for you to relax. Or work. Or socialize. All while saving your most precious resource: time.

Capacity: 4 Passengers

https://www.bellflight.com/products/bell-nexus

Volocopter

Volocity

“The VoloCity will become the first commercially licensed Volocopter, developed according to the high standards and requirements of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Our intensive testing programme has shaped the innovative design and outstanding overall performance of the VoloCity. Quiet, safe, and comfortable, the VoloCity engenders Urban Air Mobility.”

A close up of a helicopter Description automatically generated

Capacity: 2 Passengers and hand luggage

https://www.volocopter.com/en

Sabrewing

Rhaegal RG-1

“The Rhaegal is a new generation of regional cargo UAV that offers high-efficiency, all-weather operation with vertical landing and takeoff (VTOL) capabilities. It carries a payload of up to 1,000 lbs / 454 kg over a distance of 1000 nm / 1850 km with a cruise speed of 180 knots / 330 kph.”

A large air plane on a runway at an airport Description automatically generated

Payload weight (VTOL) 363 kg / 800 lbs

 

https://www.sabrewingaircraft.com/cargo-uav/

 

Metro Hop

Metro Hop Cargo

“At Metro Hop, we believe that by focusing solely on urban parcel transport first, we will create a lucrative industry using piloted planes that already have a known path to certification. Once certificated, the Metro Hop Cargo planes can immediately begin operating commercially. In addition, we can accelerate the process of implementing subsequent technology and regulations for pilotless operations once an existing commercial fleet is in service and generating revenue.”

A picture containing aircraft, airplane, transport Description automatically generated

Payload: 450 Kg or approximately 992 lbs.

https://metrohop.aero/metro-hop-cargo

FLUTR Motors

“As the world’s roads finally reach full capacity, we have no choice but to reach to the skies.

A better way to get to the office, shops, school, anywhere is required.

It has to be fast, efficient, safe, easy to use, quiet, affordable and sustainable.

FLUTR was created to fulfill this desire which is decades old.

The skies belong to you, and the solution is coming soon.”

“We are engineering away all of the obstacles to widespread adoption of aerial transport and then managing them for the end user.

So that anybody can get from A to B, with the thrill of flying, and without the hassle of driving.”

A close up of a sign Description automatically generated

Capacity: 2 passengers + luggage

https://www.flutrmotors.com

Porsche and Boeing

“Boeing, Porsche and Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences are also developing a concept for a fully electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle. Engineers from both companies, as well as Porsche subsidiaries Porsche Engineering Services GmbH and Studio F.A. Porsche, will implement and test a prototype.”

“A 2018 study by Porsche Consulting forecasts that the urban air mobility market will pick up speed after 2025. The study also indicates that urban air mobility solutions will transport passengers more quickly and efficiently than current conventional means of terrestrial transport, at a lower cost and with greater flexibility.”

A picture containing indoor, sitting Description automatically generated
https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2019-10-10-Porsche-and-Boeing-to-Partner-on-Premium-Urban-Air-Mobility-Market

CityAirbus

CityAirbus is an all-electric, four-seat, multicopter vehicle demonstrator that focuses on advancing remotely piloted electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) flight. The CityAirbus full-scale demonstrator conducted its first take-off in May 2019.

A plane parked on the side of a road Description automatically generated

Capacity: 4 passengers

https://www.airbus.com/innovation/urban-air-mobility/vehicle-demonstrators/cityairbus.html

Lilium

We’re putting the customer at the heart of everything we do, from the first moment you open the app, to the moment you arrive at your destination. Our air mobility service will be available in various cities around the world by 2025.

A picture containing transport, aircraft, outdoor, airplane Description automatically generated

Capacity: 4 passengers and a pilot

https://lilium.com

Now I’ll be honest, there truly something very George Jetson about all of this, and yes, I’m dating myself here. For you millennials out there who have no idea who George Jetson is, he’s a Hanna Barbara cartoon character from a show called The Jetsons, a futuristic show with people living in the clouds, traveling from place to place by tiny little cars enclosed with a clear, glass-like roof all around. Anti-gravity is commonplace and as far as I recall, people rarely if ever drive around on the ground anymore. I’ll be honest, I imagine most adults over the age of thirty-five or so will be familiar with The Jetsons and are using it as a subconscious reference point in assessing the new air taxi craze.

There were two aircraft that stood out to me the most as I did my research for this blog.

Number 1-FLUTR

Reason: It looks cool and most importantly, it has a parachute in case everything else goes to hell in a handbasket!

Number 2-LILIUM

Reason: It uses jets instead of rotors, with a total of 36 engines. This provides redundancy in the event of failure. Also, it looks really, really, cool and flies that way as well. It’s the only one I thought didn’t look like an oversized drone.

Just try to imagine some of the challenges that will soon emerge for what will very quickly become a commonplace mode of travel. In the Jetsons, the prevalence of anti-gravity enables the government to station speed-limit signs that just linger motionless in the air, as if anchored in a non-existent ground. At the risk of straying off-course here, I wonder what happens to those signs during a hurricane? Perhaps they are high enough above the storm they are unaffected by it; hmmm.

How will the ever-increasing air traffic be managed? Will police in the police aircars be setting up speed traps behind drone-powered billboard signs, or will they park on unsuspecting building roof tops, ready to leap into the air at a moment’s notice?

How will intersections be managed? Perhaps tall towers, rising up above the cities will be positioned to direct air traffic and manage traffic in the sky?

And what about safety? On the ground our taxi might get a flat and have to replace the damaged tire with a spare from the trunk. Or perhaps they would call AAA. Hey, there’s an idea, an opportunity for AAA to expand and offer AAAA, American Air Automobile Association!

It’s clever really, this whole idea of air taxis. I mean, we know the vehicles are very stable in the air, probably the most stable aircraft I can ever recall seeing. I was flying drones with my son when he was only eleven or twelve years old, and we both managed to keep it in the air without a major crash!

Speaking of which, what happens when these things start falling out of the skies? Now they just need to invent force fields. Also, isn’t it eerie how much nearly all UAM vehicles look like oversized toy drones we fly in our parks and at our homes? Hmm…what a coincidence.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

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www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1105

February 26 2020

Free Flow Thinking: What Might the World Look Like in 100 Years (2120)

Have you ever wondered what life might be like down the road, say ten, twenty, even a hundred years from now? I have, I often do. Sometimes I try to imagine myself in the distant past looking forward, and consider how far we’ve come, technologically that is. Human beings have not really changed very much over the course of recorded history. People were just as ingenious and intelligent two-thousand years ago as they are today, given that the Roman Empire had specialized tools for removing cataracts very similar to pre-laser contemporary tools; the Roman version had been lost until recently rediscovered.

Of course, we’re at the point now that we can, and inevitably will, alter ourselves, likely for as long as we continue as a species. This means that a hundred years from now, the human race itself could be significantly different than it is today, for the first time in history.

So, let us climb aboard H.G. Wells time machine (I borrowed it from him recently), and set it for the year 2120, to see what marvels might await us…

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

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Blog Post #1102

February 5, 2020

Free Flow Thinking: Review of Relativity: The Special and the General Theory–A Clear Explanation that Anyone Can Understand

Link to Relativity: The Special and the General Theory–A Clear Explanation that Anyone Can Understand on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/0517029618/ref=rdr_ext_tmb

Given my predilection for all things space, I wanted to share just a little about an interesting little book I read—okay…tried to read, some years ago. I felt certain there would be some number of you who had never heard of much less read this book, and it is for you that I offer a brief, yet hopefully insightful, review.

So, the title of this little nugget is Relativity: The Special and the General Theory–A Clear Explanation that Anyone Can Understand. Now there are probably a couple of assumptions about this book you have already made based on this title, and I’m here to tell you that you might as well just go ahead and discard those assumptions.

First, you probably thought this book was written by someone like your everyday university professor, perhaps in an effort to make it easier for the general public to understand the complexities behind relativity; and if you did, you’re most certainly wrong.

Second, you likely assumed that reading the pages of a book where the title includes –A Clear Explanation that Anyone Can Understand , would enable the average person to grasp the Special and General theories of relativity, and again if you did, you’d be wrong.

The cause of your mistaken assumptions is clear; I neglected to include the name of the author of this little jewel. It was written, of course, by no on other than the man himself, Albert Einstein. Perhaps now you can appreciate why the book might be difficult to grasp, at least it was for me. I’m quite sure the brilliant astrophysicist felt it was simple enough for anyone to understand, and that he’d dumbed-it-down about as much as any scientist with a towering intellect like his possibly could.

Now don’t get me wrong; this book is fantastic, and I highly recommend it. While I quickly found myself over my head in this book, I was able to grasp a number of key elements about Professor Einstein’s theories. I hit a wall, however, once he leaves the world of conceptual ideas and resorts back to the advanced math needed to prove his theories.

While I don’t recall exactly how far I was able to get in the book before giving up, I seem to recall making it to something like the sixth or seventh chapter of the book, before getting bogged down in the math used in theoretical physics. To his credit, the famous scientist did take great effort, in the beginning, to keep the math out of it as he relied on conceptual language to get across some of his ideas to the masses which worked, for the most part, at least for me. Yet, even when he stuck with the conceptual language, and the various analogies and metaphors he uses to get them across, I found myself having to read and re-read several of the pages multiple times before gaining even a fundamental grasp of the points Einstein was trying to make.

Now, perhaps you’re a genius, or perhaps just better informed than I am, when it comes to such things, and you’ll be able to complete your reading of this book and come away with a far-better understanding of the Special and General Theories of Relativity. I certainly hope this is so for if it is, I believe you will thoroughly enjoy this book even more than I did, and I really did enjoy it. I came away feeling privileged to understand even a little about relativity, and to share, if only for a moment, in the great wonder and awe men like Albert Einstein have always experienced and continue to experience in their work each and every day.

If you’re a science-fiction geek, as I am, you will certainly enjoy reading this little book, about some of the most fundamental, yet significant science so critical not only to our understanding of the universe and how the universe operates, but to our everyday lives as well. Don’t believe me? When the first GPS satellites were launched there was a persistent problem with drift, with the time on the satellites constantly drifting from what should be the identical time on the ground. The issue turned out to be one related to relativity. Below is an article that discusses some of this.

http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast162/Unit5/gps.html

Finally, a couple of tidbits from the book before I conclude.

Einstein offers two analogies to assist with explaining concepts related to relativity that I enjoyed.

First, imagine yourself riding on a train. You notice an observer standing near the railroad tracks on an embankment as you look out the window, just as lightning strikes in the distance. The timing of the lightning strike will differ slightly for the observer standing on the embankment and for you, the passenger on the train. Now imagine that you, as a passenger on the train, are not sitting still, but walking along inside the train car in the direction of the lightning strike when it occurs. The time of the lightning strike will differ slightly in each instance, which Professor Einstein explains in his book.

In another illustration Einstein uses to demonstrate relativity, he tells the reader to imagine there’s a person inside a box, hurling through the vacuum of space at a fixed speed. Depending on how fast it’s going, Newton’s third law, which states that for every action (force) in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction, will create a form of artificial gravity for the man, making it feel as though he were still on Earth. For the man inside the box, there is gravity inside it. Again, according to Einstein, all things are relative.

I highly recommend this book, written by the amazing genius himself.

Rating: Highly recommended.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

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www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1101

January 29, 2020

Free Flow Thinking: Review of Altered Carbon

Okay—so it has been a while since I did a film review, so it’s time I did another one; well, a made-for Netflix series, anyway.

There have been many films made over the years about the future of life on earth. Since the making of Metropolis nearly a hundred years ago in 1927, Hollywood and film studios all over the world have introduced us to a wide range of amazing possibilities of what the future could hold for humanity.

Films like 2001 A Space Odyssey, Star Trek, The Fifth Element, Wing Commander, The Chronicles of Riddick, Avatar, and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets paint a rather incredible future for humanity, a future where a technologically advanced humanity is now exploring and settling the cosmos.

Most such film, however, offer us rather disconcerting, disturbing visions of the future. The Time Machine, Planet of the Apes, Mad Max, Fahrenheit 451, Soylent Green, The Omega Man, Logan’s Run, Waterworld, The Matrix, Resident Evil, Zombieland, and so many others, paint a pessimistic, and in some cases downright frightening view of what the world could become.

As some of you might surmise, I tend to prefer the more optimistic outlooks like Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets over the Mad Max and Resident Evil, while appreciating, of course, the warnings conveyed by many of the more unsettling films.

Now then, on to Altered Carbon.

============================Warning Beware of spoilers!===============================

WARNING: Altered Carbon offers a considerable amount of violence and nudity throughout the series, so I wouldn’t recommend you watch it with children present.

Based on a novel by the same name, written by Richard Morgan in 2002, Altered Carbon is set before and around the year 2384, and centers around a man named Takeshi Kovac (I love that name-Japanese first name and Polish last name, I think). Human beings are given Cortical Stacks at birth, which are implanted in the neck near the base of the skull. The stacks, based on the alien technology of “The Elders,” are capable of storing the human consciousness as DHF, Digital Human Freight, which allows people to have their stack transferred to a different body (or “sleeve”) or even a synthetic body. Human beings can also be backed up and restored, and by transferring from one clone body to another over time, people can theoretically live forever. Well, if you’re insanely rich, completely morally bankrupt, and ruthless you can live on as a “Meth,” a term taken from Methuselah who, in the Book of Genesis in the Bible, is recorded as having lived to be 969 years of age.

We first encounter Kovacs, who is born half-Japanese and looks it, after he’s been “sleeved” in the body of a convicted Caucasian policeman, Elias Ryker. Through a series of flashbacks, we learn Kovacs was born on another planet two-hundred years earlier. While still a child, Kovacs’ father kills his mother before threatening to hurt or kill Takeshi’s little sister, Reileen. As punishment, he is offered the chance to escape punishment by leaving his sister and joining the “Protectorate,” a militaristic organization dedicated to protecting citizens across the “settled’ worlds. After running into a grown Reileen, while on a mission to strike at the Yakuza crime syndicate (yes, still round 300 years in the future) for the Protectorate. Tak chooses his sister over the Protectorate, just as Rei chooses Tak over the Yakuza, killing everyone present from both groups.

Now hunted by both organizations the pair encounter the “Envoys,” a para-militaristic group dedicated to bringing an end to the use of cortical stacks, something that ironically enough, had been created by the leader of the Envoys, Quellcrist Falconer herself, centuries earlier. After joining with the Envoys, Tak and Rei learn how to live as mercenaries, the pair are taught and trained by Falconer how to do many remarkable things, making them nearly “super-human” by the time the training is over..

In the year 2384 Kovacs, now in Ryker’s sleeve, is brought back from where his stack had been kept in a prison after his body had been killed in a raid by the Protectorate. He’s brought back and offered a pardon from his crimes in exchange the murder of a very wealthy and powerful Meth, named Laurens Bancroft. Along the way to solving the mystery he lives up to the reputation associated with being an Envoy, at one point enduring unbelievably levels of pain and suffering as he’s tortured in virtual reality by a criminal whose “brother” he killed. He uses his Envoy training and discipline to escape VR and kill his adversary. There’s much more, of course, as along with Kovacs, we learn who his real friends, and enemies, are, as well as who murdered Bancroft.

============================End of spoilers===============================

I suppose there are three primary reasons I’ve watched the entire Altered Carbon series three times now. First, I’m fascinated with everything space-related, particularly the concept of traveling among the stars and settling other worlds, something I’ve written a couple of novels about. Second, the Envoy training appeals to my martial arts experience and training and third, I’m drawn to futuristic stories where humanity’s been able to avoid a civilization-ending apocalypse and has been able to thrive. Altered Carbon doesn’t hold out much hope for the overall, general character of humanity 2384, but at least decent people are still around, and traveling between worlds has become routine.

There is a new season of Altered Carbon coming out on Netflix in a few weeks from the posting of this blog. I’m disappointed that Joel Kinnaman, who played Ryker/Kovacs for most of the series, is being replaced by Anthony Mackie (played Falcon in The Avengers), but I enjoyed the series enough that I’m looking forward to watching it anyway.

So, there you have it, my review of Altered Carbon. It was a great series, and I was intrigued nearly the entire time. Congratulations to Richard Morgan for an amazing story and the fil m actors and crew for a job well done!

Rating: Highly recommended.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

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www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1100

January 22, 2020

Free Flow Thinking: We need to Harden our National Infrastructure

NOTE: I’m currently working to get my screenplay adaptation of Cybersp@ce made into a movie while also working to get a literary agent. Bumping my follower-count in Twitter would help with both. Please consider following the link below to follow me on Twitter and encourage anyone you know who might have an interest in my work to do the same!

More than a decade ago now I decided I wanted to take a stab at writing a book. Lying in bed one night trying to fall asleep the idea came to me to write a dystopian novel about a post-apocalyptic world in which civilization has regressed back to something akin to the Middle Ages. I envisioned a world in which all modern technology had vanished, and the world suffered greatly, much as it did following the collapse of the Roman Empire, when vast amounts of accumulated knowledge about medicine, aqueducts, science, and all manner of technology, was lost to most of the western world, following the collapse of government, order, and all remnants of civilization.

But what could possibly cause such a collapse of modern civilization? What would prevent us from simply re-building should catastrophe strike one part of the world or another? After pondering this for some time I eventually arrived a plausible solution; the loss of electricity all over the world. With no way to power the technology that our civilization has become so dependent, surely our civilization would collapse. Now for my storyline, I took it one step further, ensuring electricity could not return.

Although I wrote The Dark Age first, a story set five-hundred years after the collapse of civilization, I decided to hold off having it published until after I could write The Great Collapse, a book chronicling the collapse of civilization, and have it published first. It was while writing The Great Collapse that I came across some startling facts.

When I first began writing The Great Collapse, I had no idea the loss of electricity, even on a national scale, was possible but it is. It seems the danger is very real. There were two truly startling events, which I will share with you here, which really caught my attention.

The first thing I discovered was the existence of the EMP commission, and a report commissioned by Congress in 2008 about the threat of an EMP attack upon the United States. It seems an EMP attack against the national infrastructure of the United States is not only possible, but it has already been considered by our enemies, particularly Iran, North Korea, China, and Russia, as a way of crippling the United States. I’ve read a considerable portion of this report, and it paints a terrifying scenario.

It seems the detonation of a single nuclear warhead in the United States, high in the atmosphere over the Midwest, say over Kansas, would create an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, capable of crippling the nation’s power grid. The EMP Report stated that much of the nation’s infrastructure, especially the power grid and components like the programmable logic controllers, used throughout our infrastructure, use old and obsolete technology. Some of the components are so old that finding replacement parts to replace components destroyed by the EMP would be difficult or even impossible. To make matters worse, finding people who were knowledgeable about how to repair the damaged components would been equally formidable challenge.

The second thing I discovered was just how much damage an EMP could wreak on electronics. After first discovering the existence of EMPs during the Manhattan Project, in the 1960s the United States Air Force sought to learn more about EMPs, so they decided to develop and schedule a test. Designated Operation Starfish Prime, the objective was to detonate a hydrogen bomb high in the atmosphere over the Pacific. The EMP created by the blast was so powerful it knocked out power transformers in Hawaii, which was nearly a thousand miles away.

After learning about the danger posed by EMPs, the United States Military developed shielding capable of protective sensitive electronics from an EMP blast. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union however, such shielding is no longer widely deployed by the military, much less to protect the sensitive electronics deployed throughout the nations power grid, water supply, treatment plants, communications, etc.

What would happen if a single missile, capable of launching a single nuclear warhead, was smuggled over the US-Mexico border, carried to Kansas, and launched straight-up and detonated? Would the US military have time to detect, much less shootdown, a missile launched in such a manner? It is extremely doubtful.

Under President Trump, the US government has apparently kicked-off efforts to upgrade the national infrastructure, though I fear the threat to America and to the world remains very high, at least for the moment

My goal with this post is not to alarm folks or cause panic, but to spur each of you to action, writing your congressional representatives, senators, and even the president, letting the know YOU want this to be a top priority.

So, you can know for a certainty that the threat is real, I’ve made the EMP report available to you here, and information on the Operation Starfish Prime test. I encourage you to read the report and to watch the video for yourselves.

“Just after 11 p.m. Honolulu time on July 9, the 1.45-megaton hydrogen bomb was detonated thirteen minutes after launch. Almost immediately, an electromagnetic pulse knocked out electrical service in Hawaii, nearly 1,000 miles away. Telephone service was disrupted, streetlights were down, and burglar alarms were set off by a pulse that was much larger than scientists expected.”

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/going-nuclear-over-the-pacific-24428997

EMP Commission Report

http://www.empcommission.org/docs/A2473-EMP_Commission-7MB.pdf

Addressing the Threat

As I was doing research for this blog, I came across the article below.

Trump signs executive order to make America greater than EMPs

“On March 26, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at preparing the US to withstand an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack. “Human-made or naturally occurring EMPs can affect large geographic areas, disrupting elements critical to the Nation’s security and economic prosperity, and could adversely affect global commerce and stability,” Trump’s order stated. “The Federal Government must foster sustainable, efficient, and cost-effective approaches to improving the Nation’s resilience to the effects of EMPs.”

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/03/trump-signs-executive-order-to-make-america-resilient-to-emps

It was encouraging and a great relief to find that President Trump the first United States president I’m aware to not only recognize the problem exists, but to also take action to address it as well. It may not be much, but it’s certainly a good start.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

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www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1099

January 15, 2020

Free Flow Thinking: A United Earth

In the film Independence Day, the world comes together as one when an a race of extraterrestrials decides to invade in order to pillage the Earth’s natural resources. In the end, humanity works together to defeat the alien invaders.

In Star Trek a collective humanity forms The Federation of Planets, which invites the sentient beings from a wife variety of star systems to join together to form military and cultural alliances.

In the real world, at least in our present, humanity remains quite divided, seemingly preferring tribalism over unity. We are Americans, Africans, Mexicans, British, French, and Italian, just to name a few. We divide ourselves by ethnicity, by geography, by culture, and of course, by race. There is the white race and the black race, the yellow race, the red race, and of course, the brown race. Why is it that we can’t simply be, the Human Race?

If we can unite in the realm of science-fiction, why is it that we can’t unite as the solitary, sentient species on this planet? What precludes this coming together, what is it that continues to separate us? Do we define ourselves by our differences? Is it somehow threatening to our individuality to try to find common ground with another? Is individuality and uniqueness so important that we place it above everything else, even to the point of jeopardizing our very existence? Just look back to 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis if you believe humanity would never allow itself to come so close to self-annihilation.

Perhaps the examples I gave from science-fiction are just that, examples of fiction, something that doesn’t and perhaps cannot exist. Or can it?

Yes, we have been at war with one another for almost our entire history and, on occasion, we were even at war with ourselves; take, for instance, the Civil American War and the French Revolution, just to name a few.

Yet, there have also been times when humanity, or at least segments of humanity, came together for a common goal. During World War II, for example, a handful of countries came together to form the Axis powers, while many others made up the Allied Forces. Multiple countries, working at times hand-in hand to defeat a common entity. Following World War II world governments scrapped the now-defunct League of Nations and formed something new, the United Nations. And then, more recently, a number of European countries came together to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and later, the European Union.

Of course, some my bring up Brexit, Great Britain’s departure from the European Union, as an example of how such an alliance can fall apart as easily as it is formed. Even the great experiment in Democracy, the United States, had to fight a civil war in order to remain a single country.

Yet, I wonder whether, just perhaps, there are specific reasons why such alliances fail, and whether it could be the specific reasons themselves, and not the concept of a united world, that have caused previous attempts to unify humanity to fail. If we were able to unify humanity under a single government, or collection of governments, is it possible that we could unify the human race, and end so many of the ridiculous, petty squabbles that have for so long divided us?

Now I know there are some who grow fearful when we speak of a one-world government, particularly among Libertarian-minded folks, and Christians who have long associated a one-world government with the Antichrist and the End Times. My response to the fear that accompanies such a response would be this; if we could change Gods plan for the End Times, would we really want to? What if the end is still far in the future, should we not make the most of our situation on Earth while we’re here?

How could we ever hope to form a single, global government with so much opposition?

Well, I believe we have little choice. With humanity developing new and deadlier technologies and weapons daily, how long will I be before we destroy this beautiful planet, or at least the human race, for good?

I would like to believe that we already have a pretty good template in place for the structure of a world government, a template that has over time, proven to be imperfect, yet durable, rugged, and capable of withstanding and weathering terrible and damaging storms. I am referring, of course, to the United States of America.

Hold on now, my friends in Europe, Africa, Asia, South America, and Australia, I’m not suggesting that the United States absorb the rest of the world. To be honest, I doubt it would be possible to do so. I do, however, believe we could form a global, representative form of government like what we have here, in the United States. I would like to believe we could, at least in theory, be expand the model to include nation-states in the world government just as the United States government is made of united states.

“How could such a thing work?” you might ask. Why would a smaller country like Ireland, Italy, or Israel, want to join a global government where it would be swallowed-up by the larger, more powerful nation-states like America, Russia, and China? Well, we’d simply have to develop a concept similar to the Electoral College, which was put in place by the founding fathers for the same reason we would need to, in order to gain acceptance among those who would join said government. The larger nation-states would have more representatives in the “House” while each nation-state would equal representation within the “Senate”?

Okay, by now you’re hopefully nodding your head, maybe just a little, thinking “Yes, I suppose it might be possible. But why do it in the first place? Don’t we already have the United Nations?”

My response to why do it would consist of one word, “space,” as in “outer space.” Every major nation on the planet has already launched a satellite or missile into space or has plans to. I believe, rather strongly I might add, that we need to resolve our differences as quickly as possible, as the time will come, before we know it, where we will be able to traverse the cosmos. Do we really want to carry our petty, yet extremely dangerous squabbles, our into the vast unknown? It seems to me it would be advantageous and in the self-interest of every nation on earth to join a one-world government, with humanity expanding into the cosmos as one people, one species, the human species.

If done correctly, I propose that such a government could preserve individual liberties and freedom, while also reaping the benefits of a cooperative relationship between human beings all over the planet. It wouldn’t be perfect, but it would be a great start. I’d like to think that, if done correctly, a United Earth Government would position humanity for its inevitable expansion, among the stars.

Yeah, I know, it all sounds a little “pie-in-the-sky.” Yeah, maybe it does, but a fella can dream, can’t he?

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1098

January 8, 2020

Technical Discussion: The United States Space Force

Star Trek, Star Wars, Space: Above and Beyond, and 2001: A Space Odyssey; these are just a handful of science-fiction films that come to mind when thinking about the establishment of the United States Space Force.

How exciting it is and what a likely boon for space travel to have a United States Space Force. Cudos to President Trump, and the others in his administration, the Pentagon, and elsewhere, who developed this as an idea and saw it through to completion. To them all I say great job, it’s about time.

In case you’re thinking this is a passing fad, I call to your attention that there has been no new branches of the military created since the United States Air Force was established over seventy years ago.

I feel it’s fitting that we, the United States, would be leaders in terms of space travel, and the first to develop such a space force. It is my hope, as I’m sure it is others’ as well, that one day this be a global United Terran Space Force, because I believe it is not only wise but prudent as well to develop such a force.

Oh, I’m not suggesting we develop “the Empire” from Start Wars and go forth conquering the galaxy. I merely believe that it is wise to include a military aspect in our exploration of space. Given our own history, and the competition to service that we see in nature, it would seem to follow that among the many alien civilizations I expect we will eventually run into once we find a way to traverse interstellar space, some alien civilizations would be predatory in nature, and pose a real threat to humanity. Even if we never run into an alien species that proves hostile to us, what of other threats to the earth and mankind, such as coronal mass ejections, large asteroids, or comets. Remember how Levy-Shoemaker slammed into Jupiter What if that had been Earth instead? I tend to believe that the military would be better equipped to deal with such a threat, perhaps in conjunction with NASA.

Okay then, that’s quite enough from me. Now let’s see what we can discern about this new branch of the military.

Mission of the USSF:

“The USSF is a military service that organizes, trains, and equips space forces in order to protect U.S. and allied interests in space and to provide space capabilities to the joint force. USSF responsibilities include developing military space professionals, acquiring military space systems, maturing the military doctrine for space power, and organizing space forces to present to our Combatant Commands.”

(Blogger’s Note: Seems a little vague, doesn’t it? I think this is awesome, as it means the sky’s the limit in terms of where it can go. How about developing interstellar travel guys?)

Space Capabilities

“The new, independent U.S. Space Force will maintain and enhance the competitive edge of the Department of Defense (DOD) in space while adapting to new strategic challenges.

Spacelift operations at the East and West Coast launch bases provide services, facilities and range safety control for the conduct of DOD, NASA and commercial space launches. Through the command and control of all DOD satellites, satellite operators provide force-multiplying effects — continuous global coverage, low vulnerability and autonomous operations. Satellites provide essential in-theater secure communications, weather and navigational data for ground, air and fleet operations and threat warning.

“Ground-based and space-based systems monitor ballistic missile launches around the world to guard against a surprise missile attack on North America. A global network of space surveillance sensors provide vital information on the location of satellites and space debris for the nation and the world. Maintaining space superiority is an emerging capability required to protect U.S. space assets from hostile attacks.

From SPD-4: February 19, 2019 Space Policy Directive-4

…Establishment of the United States Space Force

Section 1. Introduction. Space is integral to our way of life, our national security, and modern warfare. Although United States space systems have historically maintained a technological advantage over those of our potential adversaries, those potential adversaries are now advancing their space capabilities and actively developing ways to deny our use of space in a crisis or conflict. It is imperative that the United States adapt its national security organizations, policies, doctrine, and capabilities to deter aggression and protect our interests. Toward that end, the Department of Defense shall take actions under existing authority to marshal its space resources to deter and counter threats in space, and to develop a legislative proposal to establish a United States Space Force as a sixth branch of the United States Armed Forces within the Department of the Air Force. This is an important step toward a future military department for space. Under this proposal, the United States Space Force would be authorized to organize, train, and equip military space forces of the United States to ensure unfettered access to, and freedom to operate in, space, and to provide vital capabilities to joint and coalition forces in peacetime and across the spectrum of conflict.

“:The United States Space Force shall be organized, trained, and equipped to meet the following priorities:

  • Protecting the Nation’s interests in space and the peaceful use of space for all responsible actors, consistent with applicable law, including international law;
  • Ensuring unfettered use of space for United States national security purposes, the United States economy, and United States persons, partners, and allies;
  • Deterring aggression and defending the Nation,
  • United States allies, and United States interests from hostile acts in and from space;
  • Ensuring that needed space capabilities are integrated and available to all United States Combatant Commands;
  • Projecting military power in, from, and to space in support of our Nation’s interests; and
  • Developing, maintaining, and improving a community of professionals focused on the national security demands of the space domain.

Sec. 4. Scope. (a) The legislative proposal required by section 3 of this memorandum shall, in addition to the provisions required under section 3 of this memorandum, include provisions that would, if enacted:

  • consolidate existing forces and authorities for military space activities, as appropriate, in order to minimize duplication of effort and eliminate bureaucratic inefficiencies; and
  • not include the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Reconnaissance Office, or other non­ military space organizations or missions of the United States Government.
https://www.spaceforce.mil

Creation of the Space Force:

[The]Space Force was signed into law Dec. 20, 2019 as part of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. SpaceForce.mil went live shortly thereafter.

On June 18, 2018, President Donald Trump directed the Pentagon to begin planning for a Space Force: a 6th independent military service branch to undertake missions and operations in the rapidly evolving space domain. The U.S. Space Force would be the first new military service in more than 70 years, following the establishment of the U.S. Air Force in 1947…

The 14th Air Force, at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, has been renamed. It will now live long and prosper as Space Operations Command, or SPOC, according to a recent service announcement…

SPOC will assume the majority of the mission previously held by the 14th Air Force, including operational command and control.

Additional responsibilities include “space domain awareness, space electronic warfare, satellite communications, missile warning, nuclear detonation detection, environmental monitoring, military intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), navigation warfare, and positioning, navigation and timing” on behalf of the Space Force (USSF), Space Command (USSPACECOM) and other combatant commands, the release states.

Roughly 16,000 active-duty and civilian personnel who used to make up units within Air Force Space Command are now assigned to the Space Force.

During the NDAA signing ceremony, Trump appointed Gen. Jay Raymond as the first chief of Space Operations. Raymond, who also leads U.S. Space Command, will report to the secretary of the Air Force and sit as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff…

https://www.military.com/space-force

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

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Blog Post #1097

January 1, 2020

Technical Discussion: Eleven Recent Amazing New Discoveries

Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-scientific-discoveries-of-2019-2019-11

Discovery Number 1-

Scientists release first close-up photo of a black hole

The science team imaged the supermassive black hole in the center of the galaxy known as M87. M87 is an elliptical, or round-shaped, galaxy located about 55 million light years away in the direction of the constellation Virgo. It is a monster galaxy, weighing in at over 10x our own Milky Way (no slacker itself!). M87 sits in the center of the Virgo cluster of galaxies so we think it got so large by swallowing up other galaxies.

Source: Adler Planetarium Web Page

https://www.adlerplanetarium.org/first-ever-photo-black-hole/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0eyuw9Dj5gIVdIFaBR2tJAalEAAYASAAEgK4DfD_BwE

Discovery Number 2-

Voyager 2 discovers boundary layers at the edge of our Solar System

Previously unknown boundary layers at the far edge of our solar system were discovered by the Voyager 2 spacecraft after it left our solar system.

The probe beamed back unprecedented data about previously unknown boundary layers at the far edge of our solar system — an area known as the heliopause.

The discovery of these boundary layers suggests there are stages in the transition from our solar bubble to interstellar space that scientists did not know about until now.

Source: Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-scientific-discoveries-of-2019-2019-11#nasas-voyager-2-spacecraft-left-our-solar-system-and-entered-the-depths-of-interstellar-space-5

Discovery Number 3-

Water Vapor Detected on Earthlike Planet

In September, scientists announced they’d detected water vapor on a potentially habitable planet for the first time. The planet, named K2-18b, is a super-Earth that orbits a red dwarf star 110 light-years away.

K2-18b is the only known exoplanet, or planet outside our solar system, with water, an atmosphere, and a temperature range that could support liquid water on its surface. That makes it our “best candidate for habitability,” one researcher said.

Source: Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-scientific-discoveries-of-2019-2019-11#scientists-also-discovered-a-planet-outside-our-solar-system-that-could-be-our-best-bet-for-finding-alien-life-6

Discovery Number 4-

Scientists detected a black hole devouring a nearby neutron star

In August, astrophysicists detected the aftermath of a collision between a black hole and a neutron star (the super-dense remnant of a dead star).

The catastrophic collision nearly a billion years ago created ripples in space-time, also known as gravitational waves. They passed through Earth this year.

This was the third event scientists observed using gravitational-wave detectors. In 2015, researchers detected waves from the collision of two black holes, and in 2017 they observed two neutron stars merging.

Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves in 1915, but thought they’d be too weak to ever pick up on Earth. New tools have proved otherwise.

Source: Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-scientific-discoveries-of-2019-2019-11#scientists-also-discovered-a-planet-outside-our-solar-system-that-could-be-our-best-bet-for-finding-alien-life-6

Discovery Number 4-

The Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are melting at unprecedented rates

In April, a study revealed that the Greenland ice sheet is sloughing off an average of 286 billion tons of ice per year. Two decades ago, the annual average was just 50 billion.

In 2012, Greenland lost more than 400 billion tons of ice.

Antarctica, meanwhile, lost an average of 252 billion tons of ice per year in the last decade. In the 1980s, by comparison, Antarctica lost 40 billion tons of ice annually.

What’s more, parts of Thwaites Glacier in western Antarctica are retreating by up to 2,625 feet per year, contributing to 4% of sea-level rise worldwide. A study published in July suggested that Thwaites’ melting is a time bomb that is likely approaching an irreversible point after which the entire glacier could collapse into the ocean. If that happened, global sea levels would rise by more than 1.5 feet.

Source: Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-scientific-discoveries-of-2019-2019-11#nasas-voyager-2-spacecraft-left-our-solar-system-and-entered-the-depths-of-interstellar-space-5

Discovery Number 5-

Live Giant Squid spotted in the Gulf of Mexico

The giant squid, which inspired the legend of the Kraken monster, has only been caught on video one other time. The creatures almost never leave the icy depths of their habitat, up to 3,300 feet (about 1,000 meters) beneath the waves.

In 2012, scientists from Japan’s National Museum of Nature and Science filmed a giant squid in its natural habitat in the Ogasawara archipelago.

Source: Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-scientific-discoveries-of-2019-2019-11#nasas-voyager-2-spacecraft-left-our-solar-system-and-entered-the-depths-of-interstellar-space-5

Discovery Number 6-

Researchers suggest modern humans originated: modern-day Botswana

An October study suggested that every person alive today descended from a woman who lived in an area of modern-day Botswana south of the Zambezi River about 200,000 years ago. Researchers narrowed in on that area using genetic analysis of DNA that gets passed down the female line.

This finding supports the theory that modern human ancestors migrated out of Africa then populated the world, rather than evolving in different pockets around the globe simultaneously.

Source: Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-scientific-discoveries-of-2019-2019-11#nasas-voyager-2-spacecraft-left-our-solar-system-and-entered-the-depths-of-interstellar-space-5

Discovery Number 7-

Quantum entanglement on camera for the first time

According to quantum mechanics, two particles can be paired and separated, yet remain intimately and instantly connected across vast distances. One particle will affect the other no matter how far apart they are.

This is “quantum entanglement,” and the strange phenomenon rattled Albert Einstein so much that he died disbelieving it could exist.

“The image we’ve managed to capture is an elegant demonstration of a fundamental property of nature, seen for the very first time in the form of an image,” Paul-Antoine Moreau, a physicist at the University of Glasgow, said in a press release.

Source: Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-scientific-discoveries-of-2019-2019-11#nasas-voyager-2-spacecraft-left-our-solar-system-and-entered-the-depths-of-interstellar-space-5

Discovery Number 8-

Mind-Bogglingly fast quantum computer created by Google

In October, engineers at Google announced they had created a quantum computer that could perform a computation in just over 3 minutes that would take the world’s fastest supercomputer 10,000 years to achieve.

Source: Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-scientific-discoveries-of-2019-2019-11#nasas-voyager-2-spacecraft-left-our-solar-system-and-entered-the-depths-of-interstellar-space-5

Discovery Number 8-

“Bubble boy” Syndrome Cured

Researchers at St. Jude’s hospital also found a cure for a severe genetic disease called “bubble boy” syndrome.

Babies who are born with X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (XSCID) don’t have disease-fighting immune cells. For them, the outside world is an intensely dangerous place.

XSCID was nicknamed “bubble-boy” disease because of a young boy named David Vetter, who famously lived his entire life in a protective plastic bubble. Vetter died more than 30 years ago at age 12 after a failed treatment.

In April, St. Jude scientists announced that they had successfully cured babies with XSCID using a new experimental gene therapy.

Source: Business Insider

https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-scientific-discoveries-of-2019-2019-11#nasas-voyager-2-spacecraft-left-our-solar-system-and-entered-the-depths-of-interstellar-space-5

Discovery Number 9-

Natural selection can’t explain this bug’s bizarre horn

Treehoppers (Membracidae) are, in most respects, nothing special. Abundant everywhere but Antarctica, there are about 3,200 species of this cicada (Cicadoidea) and leafhopper (Cicadellidae) relative. Each individual measures between two and twenty millimeters. They live for a few months, during which they feed on sap. They have some social characteristics but no extraordinary capacities distinguishing them from other social insects.

What separates treehoppers is their headgear. Each species has its own model of enlarged and ornate helmet, known to entomologists as a pronotum…

The treehoppers’ helmet is hard to justify from a selectionist standpoint. Schlepping it around adds a considerable energy burden, so it ought to do something important. What might be its useful function? Courtship, the usual suspect when it comes to exaggerated features, is eliminated by the absence of sexual dimorphism. Helmets are equally distributed in both genders; one can distinguish males and females only by their genitalia. Aerodynamics, another possible function, defies common sense. While some helmets are streamlined, others are decidedly not. And, in any case, the extra weight is detrimental to flying. Camouflage is a stronger bet but also problematic. Even in cases where the helmet’s form or colors fit the environment, a helmetless insect with the same colors and an otherwise identical form would be better equipped for hiding, being half the size or smaller.

Source: Popular Science

https://www.popsci.com/natural-selection-doesnt-tell-whole-story

Discovery Number 10-

Students digging into data archive spot mysterious X-ray source

An enigmatic X-ray source revealed as part of a data-mining project for high-school students shows unexplored avenues hidden in the vast archive of ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray Observatory.

The six students analysed about 200 X-ray sources, looking at their light curve – a graph showing the object’s variability over time – and checking the scientific literature to verify whether they had been studied already.

Eventually, they identified a handful of sources exhibiting interesting properties – a powerful flare, for example – that had not been previously reported by other studies.

“One of the sources stood out as especially intriguing,” says Andrea.

Featuring the shortest flare of all analysed objects, this source appears to be located in the globular cluster NGC 6540 – a dense grouping of stars – and had not been studied before…

“The source identified by the students displays brightness changes like no other known objects, so we started looking more in detail,” says Ruben.

An otherwise low-luminosity source of X-rays, XMM-Newton saw it brighten by up to 50 times its normal level in 2005, and quickly fall again after about five minutes.

Source: European Space Agency

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Students_digging_into_data_archive_spot_mysterious_X-ray_source

Discovery Number 11-

Tiny magnetic particles enable new material to bend, twist and grab

A team of researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology and The Ohio State University has developed a material called magnetic shape memory polymer that uses magnetic fields to transform into a variety of shapes. NSF supported the research through its Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers with an award to Ohio State.

The material is a mixture of two types of magnetic particles: one for inductive heat, and one with strong magnetic attraction and shape-memory polymers to help lock various shape changes into place.

Source: National Science Foundation

https://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=299742&org=NSF&from=news

Hey, did this discovery remind anyone else of The Batman’s memory-polymer cape which requires an electrical field to make it rigid like a hang glider’s wing, first introduced in the film Batman Begins, which enables him to glide all over Gotham City?

So, there you have it, eleven recent discoveries for your consideration, my intelligent and informed readers. Enjoy!

Note: Please note that the author does not necessarily agree with or support every conclusion included in today’s collection of recent discoveries. I merely include them for your evaluation.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1096

A Confluence of People

Technology, and Events

BY ADMIN ON DECEMBER 18, 2019 IN THE HORTON POST

Author Jeff W. Horton

Blog Post #1096

December 18, 2019

Technology Discussion: A Confluence of People, Technology, and Events

Hello everyone.

I’d like to begin by wishing each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I’ll be taking next week off, of course, so I’ll either re-post a previous blog either before or after Christmas or wait until the following week to post a new one.

So, what do I mean by “A Confluence of People, Technology, and Events?”

To be honest, as I begin writing this week’s blog post I’m not exactly sure how to explain it.

Just think about this; we are at a very unique, pivotal time in human history. Take a moment to consider just a few of the people, technologies, and events that have come together to bring us where we are today.

Great technology leaders, innovators, and businessmen like Steve Jobs (Apple), Bill Gates (Microsoft), John Chambers (Cisco), and so many others have transformed the world by offering new and beneficial technologies that have enhanced the way in which we work and play, while placing tremendous computing power in the hands of ordinary men and women all over the world.

Think about how the Internet enables us to communicate directly with one another over what has become a symphony of global, highly integrated, complex computer networks. Real data in real time, instant video meetings with anyone anywhere in the world, means complex problems can be solved at a pace far beyond that of any previous time in human history.

We have instant access to an enormous amount of knowledge, information gathered throughout the entirety of human existence, and everything we and can exchange instantly worldwide.

I don’t know about you, but it “feels” to me as if the rate of technological advancement is increasing exponentially as we move forward in time.

The human genome has been mapped.

Scientists are closing in on substantially improving the quality and the quantity of our time on earth.

Fields of study around quantum mechanics seems to be helping us break through some of the technological barriers erected following Einstein’s monumentally important Special and General theories of Relativity, bringing us, it would seem, to the cusp of a breakthrough approaching Relativity in terms of importance and impact, and in expanding our understanding of how the universe works.

Our understanding of exotic technologies like gravity waves, dark matter and dark energy, wormholes, warping of space and time, and so many others is advancing our understanding of the universe daily. It seems as if only yesterday scientists were scoffing at the notions of a warp drive or ever traveling faster than the speed of light. Some, like Carl Sagan, taught and preached that we’d never meet an alien from another star because there’s no way to travel at speeds exceeding the speed of light. Today, more and more scientists are coming around to the possibility that at some point, it may well be possible.

For some reason society continues thumbing its collective nose at those of us who believe extraterrestrials have been to earth, and that some of that technology has found its way into human hands. To me it seems not only possible, but highly likely that we’ve both been visited by extraterrestrial, sentient beings, and that we’ve laid hands on at least some alien technology, which our scientists would naturally want to get their hands on, probing to learn its secrets. I recall the CEO of a Silicon Valley tech giant once stating that fiber-optic cabling had been designed based on recovered alien tech; no joke.

Then, of course, there’s advances in genetics, and the ability to make human beings more intelligent, stronger, and much more.

Human cloning offers the possibility of cloning induvial organs at some point.

There have been significant advances in computer technology, like the new ability to take advantage of the double-helix in DNA house enormous amounts of data. Then there are quantum computers. One definition I came across stated that, “A quantum computer is a model of how to build a computer. The idea is that quantum computers can use certain phenomena from quantum mechanics, such as superposition and entanglement, to perform operations on data. … The idea of quantum computing is still very new.” Google is one of a number of companies with a quantum computer which makes sense, given that one of the advantages of a quantum computer is its ability to sift through enormous amounts of data.

It is a perfect storm, the perfect environment and time for humanity to experience a paradigm shift in how it sees itself and the rest of the universe. As incredible as it may sound, I believe it’s conceivable that human beings could begin traveling to not only Mars, but also to planets in other star systems within a generation or two. My children or my grandchildren could actually be the first to step foot on a habitable planet in another part of the galaxy. Whether we have access to alien tech or not, we’re rapidly coming to within striking distance of making the necessary breakthroughs that enable us to discover and develop technologies for manipulating spacetime or create wormholes, enabling us to traverse the vast distances between stars.

We can use new, exotic propulsion technologies for creating a warp field or a wormhole so we can travel the galaxy. Scientists can use genetic engineering to make astronauts more resistant to radiation. Engineers can create quantum computers to process and track the massive amount of data needed to navigate outside of our solar system.

As scientists unravel the secrets to aging and improved health throughout our lifetimes, we’ll have more time to live, learn, and grow, better preparing us, perhaps, to grow beyond the confines of our home world.

It is my fervent hope that with an abundance of food, resources, and longevity for all, the competitive pressures that so often drive human beings to desperation will be greatly lessened. For it is profoundly evident that no matter where we go in this vast, incredible universe there is always one thing we will always carry with us, our character.

In the rush to develop new and amazing technologies that enable us to do what was once thought to be impossible, let’s always strive to make advances where it matters the most, in how well we relate to one another, and in how we help and support one another, while remaining strong and vigilant, ready to stand together against adversaries and challenges should they come. We must nurture and develop the more worthy and virtuous qualities of our nature, so that we carry not madness and folly as we go forth into the cosmos, but our humanity, our compassion, and our thirst for knowledge.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1095, The FTL Prize! & An Update on The Great Space Race to Mars!

By Admin On December 11, 2019 In The Horton Post

Author Jeff W. Horton

December 11, 2019

Technology Discussion: The FTL Prize! & An Update on The Great Space Race to Mars!

The FTL Prize!

Many of you may have picked up by now that I believe humanity’s future lies in the stars. In order to reach the stars I believe we will need to travel to other star systems using some sort of Faster Than Light, or FTL technology. Of course, it’s important to point out that FTL is really a misnomer since, according to Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity nothing can travel at the speed of light, much less faster than light. No, I believe what everyone means when they use that term is the same as I mean here, technologies that will get us from Point A in the universe to Point B by skirting the laws of physics as we understand them which, if we traveled in a straight line, would take (significantly) faster than light speeds to travel. As you, my informed reader, already know or suspect, I am of course referring to wormholes, bending space-time with warp drive, hyper speed, or whatever you want to call it. As I’ve stated before, I remain firmly convinced that space travel outside of our own star system is simply not practical using anything other than FTL travel, as time dilation would mean your love ones, perhaps even your civilization, would no longer be around by the time you returned to Earth. The exception is, of course, an extinction-level event where there is no coming back.

No, if we want to commute to our day-job in the Alpha Centauri system, or even make a six-month trip there, FTL is the only way to go. It would make traveling our galaxy, perhaps even beyond, an everyday event, just as global travel has become one. It would enable trade, homesteading, industry, and even interstellar vacations a reality.

To this end I propose someone, (not me, I live on a working-man’s salary), offer a $25,000,000 FTL-Prize to the person or group who develops humanity’ first, viable, and practical, FTL technology. In truth, I’d propose even a $50,000,000 prize to such an individual or group. After all, just try to imagine the growth humanity would experience as a species were he to go interstellar!

Now pf course there would need to be some demonstrable measure of the technology. I think something similar to Ansari XPRIZE would work. As I recall, the goal of the XPRIZE was:

“The $10 million Ansari XPRIZE was designed to lower the risk and cost of going to space by incentivizing the creation of a reliable, reusable, privately financed, manned spaceship that finally made private space travel commercially viable.”

“Teams around the world were challenged to build a reliable, reusable, privately financed, manned spaceship capable of:

Carrying 3 people

To 100 Km about the Earth’s surface

Twice within 2 weeks”

https://www.xprize.org/prizes/ansari

I firmly believe that if someone, be it XPRIZE, a billionaire, or the United States government funded such an endeavor, perhaps we could turn interstellar travel from science-fiction into science-fact! Just consider how far we’ve come in a hundred years, from the Wright Brothers to the Mercury, Apollo, the Viking landers , Artemis, NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, and Cyberspace, this has all occurred in one-hundred years! If that is possible, why shouldn’t interstellar travel become a reality in our lifetime?

Sentiments in a challenge laid out by a keen visionary in a speech over fifty-seven years ago in regards to travel to the moon is applicable to our goal for interstellar travel in our time:

“We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the others, too.”

President John F. Kennedy

Address at Rice University on the Nation’s Space Effort

September 12, 1962

If NASA and the American people can achieve in this next decade what NASA and the American people were able to accomplish over a half-century ago, just imagine the implications; they truly boggle the mind! So, let’s get to it America, let’s develop interstellar travel!

An Update on The Great Space Race to Mars!

I’d like to begin this section by making a clarification. I like to refer to this as The Great Space Race to Mars. It would be more correct, however, to state that it is really a public-private joint effort to establish a human presence on Mars. NASA has been assisting SpaceX and other private companies in their efforts to get to the moon, to Mars, and beyond. There may be some spirited competition to be sure, but this is most certainly a cooperative effort, not a strictly competitive one. I just wanted to make this clarification as I felt that in my zeal to see us move out into the cosmos, I may have slighted NASA somewhat in the past when, in truth, private companies like SpaceX have relied heavily on NASA.

Okay, it’s time now for an update on the Great Space Race to Mars!

SpaceX

“Our aspirational goal is to send our first cargo mission to Mars in 2022. The objectives for the first mission will be to confirm water resources, identify hazards, and put in place initial power, mining, and life support infrastructure. A second mission, with both cargo and crew, is targeted for 2024, with primary objectives of building a propellant depot and preparing for future crew flights. The ships from these initial missions will also serve as the beginnings of the first Mars base, from which we can build a thriving city and eventually a self-sustaining civilization on Mars.”

https://www.spacex.com/mars`

“Five years seems like a long time to me. The area under the curve of resources over that period of time should enable this time frame to be met, but if not this time frame, I think pretty soon thereafter. But that is our goal, to try to make the 2022 Mars rendezvous. The Earth-Mars synchronization happens roughly every two years, so every two years there is an opportunity to fly to Mars. Then in 2024 we want to try to fly four ships—two cargo and two crew. The goal of the first mission is to find the best source of water, and for the second mission, the goal is to build the propellant plant. We should—particularly with six ships there—have plenty of landed mass to construct the propellant depot, which will consist of a large array of solar panels, and then everything necessary to mine and refine water, draw the CO2 out of the atmosphere, and then create and store deep cryo CH4 and O2.

MARS BASE

“The base starts with one ship, then multiple ships, then we start building out the city and making the city bigger, and even bigger. Over time terraforming Mars and making it really a nice place to be. It is quite a beautiful picture. You know that on Mars, dawn and dusk are blue. The sky is blue at dawn and dusk and red during the day. It’s the opposite of Earth.”

Elon Musk

Elon Musk’s presentation at the 68th International Astronautical

Congress on September 28th, 2017 in Adelaide, Australia.

https://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/making_life_multiplanetary_transcript_2017.pdf

SpaceX’s Starship MK1

SpaceX’s Mars transportation architecture

NASA

Moon-to-Mars Calendar

https://www.nasa.gov/specials/moon2mars/#artemis

Dec. 10, 2019

NASA Assemblers are Putting the Pieces Together for Autonomous In-Space Assembly

“Robots assembling a field of solar arrays on the surface of the Moon may seem like science fiction but it’s a vision a team of robotics researchers at NASA are working toward right now.

Currently, robotic systems are point-designed to be good for specific tasks and require non-recurring engineering costs. Modular robotics is a new paradigm can drastically reduce those costs. The Assemblers project, a recently awarded Early Career Initiative (ECI) proposal led out of NASA’s Langley Research Center, seeks to advance the technology, including hardware and software, that would allow autonomous in-space assembly, a critical technology for future human exploration and being able to live and work further on the Moon and Mars.”

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/langley/nasa-assemblers-are-putting-the-pieces-together-for-autonomous-in-space-assembly

Aft Exit Cones for NASA’s Space Launch System Arrive for Artemis I

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/aft-exit-cones-for-nasa-s-space-launch-system-arrive-for-artemis-i

What is Artemis?

NASA is committed to landing American astronauts, including the first woman and the next man, on the Moon by 2024. Through the agency’s Artemis lunar exploration program, we will use innovative new technologies and systems to explore more of the Moon than ever before. We will collaborate with our commercial and international partners to establish sustainable missions by 2028. And then we will use what we learn on and around the Moon to take the next giant leap – sending astronauts to Mars.

Other Agencies Looking at a Manned Crew to Mars:

The European Space Agency has a long-term goal to send humans but has not yet built a crewed spacecraft. It has sent robotic probes like ExoMars in 2016 and plans to send the next probe in 2020.

Russia plans to send humans in the 2040–2045 timeframe.[129]

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

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Blog Post #1094

December 4, 2019

Technology Discussion: Scientific Breakthroughs in 2019

Human beings; what an incredible species we are, full of contradictions and bursting with potential. A human being is truly an enigma wrapped in a puzzle. A species with such a tremendous capacity for good and also evil, for violence and destruction and also peace and preservation, resisting change while at the same time embracing it.

Were I a member of a technologically advanced, peaceful alien species looking into events taking place on earth I imagine I would be impressed by our ingenuity and our capacity for growth and learning, I would be touched by our tremendous capacity for love and compassion, and would be terrified by our appetite for violence and destruction, even when it results in our own death. I suppose I might even be moved to do what I could to gently coax humanity toward a positive, peaceful future.

I would likely stand in awe at the level of technological advancement. Just consider that we go from cabins, wooden teeth, horse and wagons, and wooden ships to airplanes, manmade space vehicles leaving orbit, the mapping of the human genome, the development of artificial intelligence, nuclear weapons, nuclear fusion, cell phones, the Internet, cloning, and fling cars today. All of this has taken place over the course of two-hundred years, with the vast majority of it taking place over the last seventy-five years.

It is in this spirit, as we approach the end of 2019, that I found a list of some of the scientific breakthroughs/events that occurred in 2019, along with a handful of breakthroughs scientists were looking at during the same timeframe but didn’t necessarily achieve. Be sure to follow the links under each heading to visit the respective websites, where you’ll find detail on each breakthrough.

Enjoy.

18 scientific breakthroughs in 2019

https://www.digit.in/features/sci/18-scientific-breakthroughs-in-2019-48846.html

1. New Horizons-The New Horizons probe discovers a distant object in the Kuiper Asteroid Belt

2. Chang’e 4-The Chinese land a probe on the far side of the moon.

3. IBM Q System One-Quantum computing has arrived.

4. The Saturnian Day- How long is a day on Saturn?

5. FRB 180814-The mystery of Fast Radio Bursts

6. Unknown Human Ancestor-Homo sapiens interbred with a supposedly unknown human being.

7. Hachimoji DNA Synthetic DNA!

8. Crystal stars-White dwarf stars.

9. FarFarOut-The most distant object in our solar system.

10. Beresheet Probe-The Israeli probe to the moon.

11. Weighing the Milky Way-I’m not sure why, but scientists have come up with an answer to how much our galaxy weighs!

12. The day the dinos died- Learning more about the asteroid crash that wiped out dinosaurs.

13. Imaging a black hole-First photo of a black hole.

14. Mice with infrared eyes- Right out of science-fiction adding infrared to our vision.

15. Fungi found land first- New findings and theories about life on earth.

16. Synthetic Life-Synthetic DNA!

17. Cold quasars-New discoveries about how galaxies form.

18. 3D Printing human tissue without scaffolds- Improvements to 3D printing of human tissue.

15 Major Breakthroughs Scientists Are Eyeing in 2019

https://bestlifeonline.com/scientific-breakthroughs-2019

1-DNA Storage-Using DNA to store data. It’s here, now!

2-A Better Look at Black Holes-The first image of a black hole was captured in 2019.

3-Quantum Computing-China has already made advances in quantum computing.

4-Quantum Internet-A suped-up version of today’s Internet; imagine that!

5-Immunotherapy Advances for Treating Cancer-Progress continues in the fight against cancer.

6-Robot Surgeons-Robotic surgery coupled with artificial intelligence.

7-Blockchain-Based Privacy-Improving Internet security.

8-3D Metal Printing-Imagine that. It’s here!

9-Flying Cars- Available today!

10-Cure for Paralysis-Great strides finding technological solutions for paralysis.

11-Genome Editing Advances-Genetic manipulation is getting better!

12-Brain Mapping-Scientists are learning more than ever about the human brain.

13-Self-Healing Materials-Sounds like science-fiction, but they’re here!

14-AI-Enhanced CCTV- Perhaps George Orwell was onto something here?

15-AI-Enhanced Virtual Care- Imagine doctors treating you without you ever having to leave your home and the doctor his office!

Next Week:

Update on The Great Race to Space!

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

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www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1093

November 27, 2019

Free flow Thinking: About Thanksgiving

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Thought I would forego my usual verbosity and instead, provide a few tidbits about the Thanksgiving holiday, some amusing, some speculative, all fun and interesting. Enjoy this feast of anecdotal and propitious trivia about the day we celebrate to give thanks to Almighty God for all we’ve been given.

Happy Thanksgiving!

  • Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national bird, not the eagle.
  • Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s first meal in space after walking on the moon was foil packets with roasted turkey.
  • The first Thanksgiving in the United States was held at Plymouth in 1621.
  • This feast was prompted by a good harvest and celebrated by pilgrims and puritans.
  • The first Thanksgiving in 1621 was celebrated for three days.
  • The 1621 feast between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians (Native Americans) at Plymouth Colony is said to have included waterfowl, venison, ham, lobster, clams, berries, fruit, pumpkin, and squash.
  • Turkey is a uniquely North American (and scrumptious) bird
  • It gradually became America’s main course of choice for the Thanksgiving meal after Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863
  • Another source suggests the first Thanksgiving meal included turkey, fruits and vegetables, fish and shellfish, potatoes, and pumpkin pie.
  • Turkey is high in zinc, B vitamins, phosphorus, tryptophan, selenium and protein. It is low in saturated fat, cholesterol, provided that you do not eat the skin. It can be a part of a healthy eating plan, especially since it is a good source of protein. … Turkey is loaded with trytophan, a sleep-inducing amino acid.
  • The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day festival did not include the giant balloons and floats that we see today. Instead, the organizers of the first parade in 1924 held it with live animals from the Central Park Zoo. This practice would last for the next three years, until the introduction of a balloon version of Felix the Cat hit the parade, a float sponsored by Goodyear. The first Mickey Mouse float would debut seven years later, and the Snoopy balloon would end up holding the record for most appearances in the parade with six. He’s kind of a big deal.
  • In November 1621, the settlers’ first corn harvest proved so successful that Governor William Bradford invited the Plymouth colonists’ Native American allies to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Members of the Wampanoag tribe came bearing food to share and as they joined the Pilgrims.
  • A Thanksgiving mix-up inspired the first TV dinners. In 1953, a Swanson employee accidentally ordered a colossal shipment of Thanksgiving turkeys (260 tons, to be exact). To get rid of them all, salesman Gerry Thomas took inspiration from the prepared foods served on airplanes. He came up with the idea of filling 5,000 aluminum trays with the turkey – along with cornbread dressing, gravy, peas, and sweet potatoes to round out the meal. The 98-cents meals were a hit, especially with kids and increasingly busy households.
  • Americans eat 46 million turkeys each Thanksgiving.

Please keep checking-back on the $100 Amazon gift certificate giveaway! A new winner will be selected until someone responds with an email containing the required information, per the instructions on the website.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1092

November 20, 2019

Technology Discussion

The Great and Powerful Oz: Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla. What a man; he was a scientist, inventor, genius, a wizard even. He was also humble, and generous. Unfortunately for Tesla, or perhaps fortunately, who can say, the one thing Nikola Tesla was not was a businessman. Had he lived today no doubt the products he’d create would rival or surpass anything available from any of the world’s most advanced technology companies, as long as he allowed someone else to run the business side while he applied his genius to benefiting humanity.

The man lived almost a hundred years ago yet he invented or imagined technologies and products available only now. Below is a little about Tesla, the inventions he created, and some of his ideas for future inventions that were never realized. He died poor, despite having quite literally changed the world, while creating technologies still in use quite literally, around the world. His is a tale of an incredible genius and while he may have died poor, surely he was wealthy beyond belief for all of the wonderful and life-saving technologies he had given to the world, and to those who live in it.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, Nikola Tesla.

“Who Was Nikola Tesla?

The information below sourced from Biography.com: https://www.biography.com/inventor/nikola-tesla

Nikola Tesla was an engineer and scientist known for designing the alternating-current (AC) electric system, which is the predominant electrical system used across the world today. He also created the “Tesla coil,” which is still used in radio technology.

Born in modern-day Croatia, Tesla came to the United States in 1884 and briefly worked with Thomas Edison before the two parted ways. He sold several patent rights, including those to his AC machinery, to George Westinghouse.

Early Life

Tesla was born in Smiljan, Croatia, on July 10, 1856.

Tesla was one of five children, including siblings Dane, Angelina, Milka and Marica. Tesla’s interest in electrical invention was spurred by his mother, Djuka Mandic, who invented small household appliances in her spare time while her son was growing up.

Tesla’s father, Milutin Tesla, was a Serbian orthodox priest and a writer, and he pushed for his son to join the priesthood. But Nikola’s interests lay squarely in the sciences.

Education

After studying at the Realschule, Karlstadt (later renamed the Johann-Rudolph-Glauber Realschule Karlstadt) in Germany; the Polytechnic Institute in Graz, Austria; and the University of Prague during the 1870s, Tesla moved to Budapest, where for a time he worked at the Central Telephone Exchange.

It was while in Budapest that the idea for the induction motor first came to Tesla, but after several years of trying to gain interest in his invention, at age 28 Tesla decided to leave Europe for America.

Nikola Tesla vs. Thomas Edison

In 1884 Tesla arrived in the United States with little more than the clothes on his back and a letter of introduction to famed inventor and business mogul Thomas Edison, whose DC-based electrical works were fast becoming the standard in the country.

Edison hired Tesla, and the two men were soon working tirelessly alongside each other, making improvements to Edison’s inventions.

Several months later, the two parted ways due to a conflicting business-scientific relationship, attributed by historians to their incredibly different personalities: While Edison was a power figure who focused on marketing and financial success, Tesla was commercially out-of-touch and somewhat vulnerable.

First Solo Venture

In 1885, Tesla received funding for the Tesla Electric Light Company and was tasked by his investors to develop improved arc lighting. After successfully doing so, however, Tesla was forced out of the venture and for a time had to work as a manual laborer in order to survive.

His luck would change two years later when he received funding for his new Tesla Electric Company.

Inventions

Throughout his career, Tesla discovered, designed and developed ideas for a number of important inventions — most of which were officially patented by other inventors — including dynamos (electrical generators similar to batteries) and the induction motor.

He was also a pioneer in the discovery of radar technology, X-ray technology, remote control and the rotating magnetic field — the basis of most AC machinery. Tesla is most well-known for his contributions in AC electricity and for the Tesla coil.

AC Electrical System

Tesla designed the alternating-current (AC) electrical system, which would quickly become the preeminent power system of the 20th century and has remained the worldwide standard ever since. In 1887, Tesla found funding for his new Tesla Electric Company, and by the end of the year, he had successfully filed several patents for AC-based inventions.

Tesla’s AC system soon caught the attention of American engineer and businessman George Westinghouse, who was seeking a solution to supplying the nation with long-distance power. Convinced that Tesla’s inventions would help him achieve this, in 1888 he purchased his patents for $60,000 in cash and stock in the Westinghouse Corporation.

As interest in an AC system grew, Tesla and Westinghouse were put in direct competition with Thomas Edison, who was intent on selling his direct-current (DC) system to the nation. A negative press campaign was soon waged by Edison, in an attempt to undermine interest in AC power.

Unfortunately for Edison, the Westinghouse Corporation was chosen to supply the lighting at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and Tesla conducted demonstrations of his AC system there.

Hydroelectric Power Plant

In 1895, Tesla designed what was among the first AC hydroelectric power plants in the United States, at Niagara Falls.

The following year, it was used to power the city of Buffalo, New York — a feat that was highly publicized throughout the world and helped further AC electricity’s path to becoming the world’s power system.

Tesla Coil

In the late 19th century, Tesla patented the Tesla coil, which laid the foundation for wireless technologies and is still used in radio technology today. The heart of an electrical circuit, the Tesla coil is an inductor used in many early radio transmission antennas.

The coil works with a capacitor to resonate current and voltage from a power source across the circuit. Tesla himself used his coil to study fluorescence, x-rays, radio, wireless power and electromagnetism in the earth and its atmosphere.

Free Energy

Having become obsessed with the wireless transmission of energy, around 1900 Tesla set to work on his boldest project yet: to build a global, wireless communication system — to be transmitted through a large electrical tower — for sharing information and providing free energy throughout the world.

With funding from a group of investors that included financial giant J. P. Morgan, in 1901 Tesla began work on the free energy project in earnest, designing and building a lab with a power plant and a massive transmission tower on a site on Long Island, New York, that became known as Wardenclyffe.

However, doubts arose among his investors about the plausibility of Tesla’s system. As his rival, Guglielmo Marconi — with the financial support of Andrew Carnegie and Thomas Edison — continued to make great advances with his own radio technologies, Tesla had no choice but to abandon the project.

The Wardenclyffe staff was laid off in 1906, and by 1915 the site had fallen into foreclosure. Two years later Tesla declared bankruptcy and the tower was dismantled and sold for scrap to help pay the debts he had accrued.

Death Ray

After suffering a nervous breakdown following the closure of his free energy project, Tesla eventually returned to work, primarily as a consultant.

But as time went on, his ideas became progressively more outlandish and impractical. He grew increasingly eccentric, devoting much of his time to the care of wild pigeons in the parks of New York City.

Tesla even drew the attention of the FBI with his talk of building a powerful “death ray,” which had received some interest from the Soviet Union during World War II.

How Did Nikola Tesla Die?

Poor and reclusive, Tesla died of coronary thrombosis on January 7, 1943, at the age of 86 in New York City, where he had lived for nearly 60 years.

However, the legacy of the work Tesla left behind him lives on to this day. In 1994, a street sign identifying “Nikola Tesla Corner” was installed near the site of his former New York City laboratory, at the intersection of 40th Street and 6th Avenue.

“The 10 Inventions Of Nikola Tesla That Changed The World

The following was sourced from Activistpost.com: https://www.activistpost.com/2012/01/10-inventions-of-nikola-tesla-that.html

1. Alternating Current

This is where it all began, and what ultimately caused such a stir at the 1893 World’s Expo in Chicago. A war was leveled ever-after between the vision of Edison and the vision of Tesla for how electricity would be produced and distributed. The division can be summarized as one of cost and safety: The DC current that Edison (backed by General Electric) had been working on was costly over long distances, and produced dangerous sparking from the required converter (called a commutator). Regardless, Edison and his backers utilized the general “dangers” of electric current to instill fear in Nikola Tesla’s alternative: Alternating Current. As proof, Edison sometimes electrocuted animals at demonstrations. Consequently, Edison gave the world the electric chair, while simultaneously maligning Tesla’s attempt to offer safety at a lower cost. Tesla responded by demonstrating that AC was perfectly safe by famously shooting current through his own body to produce light. This Edison-Tesla (GE-Westinghouse) feud in 1893 was the culmination of over a decade of shady business deals, stolen ideas, and patent suppression that Edison and his moneyed interests wielded over Tesla’s inventions. Yet, despite it all, it is Tesla’s system that provides power generation and distribution to North America in our modern era.

2. Light

Of course Nikola Tesla didn’t invent light itself, but he did invent how light can be harnessed and distributed. Tesla developed and used fluorescent bulbs in his lab some 40 years before industry “invented” them. At the World’s Fair, Tesla took glass tubes and bent them into famous scientists’ names, in effect creating the first neon signs. However, it is his Tesla Coil that might be the most impressive, and controversial. The Tesla Coil is certainly something that big industry would have liked to suppress: the concept that the Earth itself is a magnet that can generate electricity (electromagnetism) utilizing frequencies as a transmitter. All that is needed on the other end is the receiver — much like a radio.

3. X-rays

Electromagnetic and ionizing radiation was heavily researched in the late 1800s, but Nikola Tesla researched the entire gamut. Everything from a precursor to Kirlian photography, which has the ability to document life force, to what we now use in medical diagnostics, this was a transformative invention of which Tesla played a central role…

4. Radio

Guglielmo Marconi was initially credited, and most believe him to be the inventor of radio to this day. However, the Supreme Court overturned Marconi’s patent in 1943, when it was proven that Tesla invented the radio years previous to Marconi. Radio signals are just another frequency that needs a transmitter and receiver, which Tesla also demonstrated in 1893 during a presentation before The National Electric Light Association. In 1897 Tesla applied for two patents US 645576, and US 649621. In 1904, however, The U.S. Patent Office reversed its decision, awarding Marconi a patent for the invention of radio, possibly influenced by Marconi’s financial backers in the States, who included Thomas Edison and Andrew Carnegie. This also allowed the U.S. government (among others) to avoid having to pay the royalties that were being claimed by Nikola Tesla.

5. Remote Control

This invention was a natural outcropping of radio. Patent No. 613809 was the first remote controlled model boat, demonstrated in 1898. Utilizing several large batteries; radio signals controlled switches, which then energized the boat’s propeller, rudder, and scaled-down running lights. While this exact technology was not widely used for some time, we now can see the power that was appropriated by the military in its pursuit of remote controlled war. Radio controlled tanks were introduced by the Germans in WWII, and developments in this realm have since slid quickly away from the direction of human freedom.

6. Electric Motor

Nikola Tesla’s invention of the electric motor has finally been popularized by a car brandishing his name. While the technical specifications are beyond the scope of this summary, suffice to say that Tesla’s invention of a motor with rotating magnetic fields could have freed mankind much sooner from the stranglehold of Big Oil. However, his invention in 1930 succumbed to the economic crisis and the world war that followed. Nevertheless, this invention has fundamentally changed the landscape of what we now take for granted: industrial fans, household appliances, water pumps, machine tools, power tools, disk drives, electric wristwatches and compressors.

7. Robotics

Nikola Tesla’s overly enhanced scientific mind led him to the idea that all living beings are merely driven by external impulses. He stated: “I have by every thought and act of mine, demonstrated, and does so daily, to my absolute satisfaction that I am an automaton endowed with power of movement, which merely responds to external stimuli.” Thus, the concept of the robot was born. However, an element of the human remained present, as Tesla asserted that these human replicas should have limitations — namely growth and propagation. Nevertheless, Nikola Tesla unabashedly embraced all of what intelligence could produce. His visions for a future filled with intelligent cars, robotic human companions, and the use of sensors, and autonomous systems are detailed in a must-read entry in the Serbian Journal of Electrical Engineering, 2006 (PDF).

8. Laser

Nikola Tesla’s invention of the laser may be one of the best examples of the good and evil bound up together within the mind of man. Lasers have transformed surgical applications in an undeniably beneficial way, and they have given rise to much of our current digital media. However, with this leap in innovation we have also crossed into the land of science fiction. From Reagan’s “Star Wars” laser defense system to today’s Orwellian “non-lethal” weapons’ arsenal, which includes laser rifles and directed energy “death rays,” there is great potential for development in both directions.

9 and 10. Wireless Communications and Limitless Free Energy

7 Inventions of Nikola Tesla That Were Never Built

The below originated from the Interesting Engineering: https://interestingengineering.com/7-inventions-of-nikola-tesla-that-were-never-built

Wireless Energy TransmissionWadenclyffe Tower-Source: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons

…What a lot of people don’t know is that Tesla also tried to build a tower that would transmit electricity through the air and even got American Financier J.P. Morgan to finance the building of Wardenclyffe Tower on the North Shore of Long Island, which Tesla hoped to adapt to transmit electricity to New York City.

Morgan balked at the electricity transmission scheme and refused to fund the rest of the project, which Tesla had to abandon in 1906, tearing down Wardenclyffe Tower a decade later in 1917.

Supersonic Airships Powered by Ground-Based, Wireless Electrical Towers

Tesla Airships-Source: Frank R. Paul [Public domain] / Wikimedia Commons

When wireless charging of your phone or tablet was introduced several years ago, we all thought it was revolutionary. Nikola Tesla, meanwhile, would chide us all for thinking so small.

In 1919, Tesla described his idea for a supersonic airship powered entirely by wireless electrical transmission from ground-based towers that could fly 40,000 feet off the ground and fly 1,000 mph, making the trip from New York to London in under 4 hours.

Remote Controlled Navies

Tesla Remote Controlled Boat-Source: Public Domain, via Engadget

While Tesla is best known for his work with electricity, this isn’t the only area Tesla worked in. Another major area of work for Tesla was military technology. Like Alfred Nobel, Tesla believed that the best way to prevent war was to make it either utterly pointless or so catastrophic for the participants that no one would be mad enough to go to war again.

With this in mind, Tesla invented a small boat that he could start, stop, and steer with radio signals. He hoped that the by removing humans from the equation that “battle ships [sic] will cease to be built and the most tremendous artillery afloat will be of no more use than so much scrap iron.”

The Thought CameraTesla Thought Projector-

Source: Public Domain, via Disclose.tv

One of Tesla’s most outlandish ideas was that it would be possible to photograph one’s thoughts.

In 1933, he told reporters at the Kansas City Journal-Post, “In 1893, while engaged in certain investigations, I became convinced that a definite image formed in thought, must by reflex action, produce a corresponding image on the retina, which might be read by a suitable apparatus.

“Now if it be true that a thought reflects an image on the retina, it is a mere question of illuminating the same property and taking photographs, and then using the ordinary methods which are available to project the image on a screen.

“If this can be done successfully, then the objects imagined by a person would be clearly reflected on the screen as they are formed, and in this way, every thought of the individual could be read. Our minds would then, indeed, be like open books.”

Obviously, this is not how thought processes work, but there is so much we don’t know about the biological mechanism of human thought and consciousness that we cannot say for certain that Tesla wasn’t on to something. While the mechanisms employed are different, who’s to say what technology will be able to produce in the next 50 years?

The Earthquake Machine

Tesla Oscillator-

Source: Charles Henry Cochrane [Public Domain] / Wikimedia Commons

In 1893, Tesla was granted a patent for his steam-powered mechanical oscillator whose vibration could be utilized to generate electricity. As he would later tell reporters, while calibrating this machine for an experiment, it began to shake his New York City laboratory so violently that it almost brought the building down.

“Suddenly all the heavy machinery in the place was flying around. I grabbed a hammer and broke the machine,” he said. “The building would have been down about our ears in another few minutes.”

“Outside in the street there was pandemonium. The police and ambulances arrived. I told my assistants to say nothing. We told the police it must have been an earthquake. That’s all they ever knew about it.”

This gave Tesla the inspiration for his telegeodynamic ocillator—an earthquake machine—which could be used by scientists to discover the geological properties of the Earth and for engineers and prospectors to locate mineral and metal ore deposits underground. He never got to build his earthquake machine, but scientists and engineers use the same principle to do exactly as Tesla imagined.

Artificial Tidal Waves

Over the course of his life, Tesla conceived of weapons of such destructive magnitude that they would rival the atom bomb in their devastating power—had they worked.

One such weapon was the Artificial Tidal Wave, which he believed would be the ultimate defense against enemy navies. Tesla’s hope was to make the largest battleship any nation could produce useless, so countries would not bother to build navies. To do this, Tesla envisioned “telautomatons” that would pilot several tons of high-explosive material near an enemy navy and detonate it.

The collapsing gas bubble produced by the explosion, Tesla calculated, should produce tidal waves that even a mile away from the initial blast would be nearly 100 feet high, enough to sweep away the largest dreadnoughts of the era.

Tidal waves don’t quite work that way however, as the United States and Soviet Union learned when they performed underwater nuclear bomb testing in the 1940s and 1950s.

The Death Ray

Tesla With His Machines

Source: Wellcome Collection [CC BY], Edited by John Loeffler for Interesting Engineering

Or the Peace Ray, as Tesla called it.

Tesla believed that by accelerating mercury isotopes to 48 times the speed of sound, the resulting beam would produce enough energy to destroy entire armies at a distance limited only by the curvature of the Earth.

Tesla apparently tried to shop this idea around to several governments in the years before his death, including the United States, but the Soviet Union was the only one to experiment with it at all, and it never produced the kind of results Tesla hoped.

Which is probably a good thing, all things considered.

$100 GIVEAWAY CONTEST UPDATE:

Please keep checking-back on the $100 Amazon gift certificate giveaway! A new winner will be selected until someone responds with an email containing the required information, per the instructions on the website http://www.hortonlibrary.com/home/the-horton-post-100-00-giveaway. Tell your friends!

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

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Blog Post #1091

November 13, 2019

Technology Discussion: Move over Mars. Future Colonies will Live and Thrive on or Under the Earth’s Oceans.

Domed underwater cities. Great metropolises floating on the surface of the ocean. Could this be what the future holds?

Roughly three-quarters of the earth’s surface is covered with water, leaving less than a quarter available for every human being on the planet. As populations continue to explode across our beautiful planet, perhaps it’s time to begin planning a migration to the earth’s oceans for at least some portion of humanity.

As rapid progress is being made toward sending human beings to Mars, towards the eventual colonization of our sister planet Mars, it seems only fitting that we consider colonizing our own planet as well.

While doing research for this blog post, I came across three different approaches to living on or in the ocean. But first, a brief history lesson on the history of undersea habitats.

“SEALAB III, launched in 1969, was the U.S. Navy’s last undersea habitat built.

OAR/National Undersea Research Program (NURP); U.S. Navy

“While NASA was working to put a man on the moon, we also started thinking more about the possibility of colonizing on our own planet. It might even be a good test-drive to find out how well we could live on the moon, plus we could test out living in an isolated environment and conduct research experiments.

“The U.S. government has been involved in several underwater habitats. First the U.S. Navy built SEALAB I, an experimental underwater habitat, in 1964 and sunk it 192 feet (58 meters) below sea level. SEALAB II and III followed. Tektite, built by General Electric and funded by NASA, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Department of the Interior, was another research facility in the late 1960s.

“There were totally private ventures, too. Famous marine explorer Jacques Cousteau built the Conshelf habitats in the mid-1960s (the deepest of which was about 336 feet or 102 meters). It didn’t take long for innovators to think about longer-term living, though. At the 1964 World’s Fair in New York, the Futurama II exhibit presented by General Motors included an undersea hotel. In 1971, a group of British investors created models promoting an entire city underwater, which would have been built in the Black Sea and called Pilkington Sea City.

“There are still underwater research facilities, and a few underwater hotels, but no cities. Why not? One big issue is decompression sickness, or “the bends,” a potentially fatal condition related to the fact that water exerts twice as much pressure on our bodies as air. Maintaining the right atmosphere, as well as the logistics of providing supplies, is complicated and expensive. That’s probably why a night in the Jules’ Undersea Lodge in Key Largo, Florida (a remodeled underwater research habitat built in the early 1970s) costs upwards of $500 and it’s only about 30 feet below.”

https://home.howstuffworks.com/10-future-home-innovations-that-failed1.htm

So the idea of colonizing the earth’s oceans is not a new one. People have speculated about it, wrote about it, and some have lived it, albeit never more than a few weeks or months at a time.

Advances in technology over the past sixty years since it was first attempted, along with concerns over a growing population, fear over global warming and rising oceans, and a host of other issues have once again ignited not just discussions, but actual progress toward making living on or under the ocean a realty. It seems human colonization of the earth’s oceans has already begun.

So, here are three approaches toward colonizing the world’s oceans that I’ve uncovered in my research. One can happen today, while the other two require some new technological advances.

Approach #1-Build Floating Cities

Located mostly in shallow-waters near land, floating cities would be capable of seemingly endless expansion, and offer a tempting alternative to land-based living, where locations can be found that are safe for locating a floating city. Clearly, such a city would be extraordinarily vulnerable to hurricanes and tsunamis, so they would have to be located in carefully selected locations across the planet.

“The world’s first floating nation designed to ‘liberate humanity from politicians’ will appear in the Pacific Ocean by 2020.

The radical plans, bankrolled by PayPal founder Peter Thiel, will see a floating nation built in the Pacific Ocean

Hotels, homes, offices and restaurants, and more will be built by 2020 by the nonprofit Seasteading Institute

In January the firm made a deal with French Polynesia to set up an experimental nation off its coast

Joe Quirk, president of the Seasteading Institute, said he wants to see ‘thousands’ of floating cities by 2050…”

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5077575/The-world-s-floating-city-set-2020-build.html

Approach #2-Build Underwater Cities

Unlike the floating cities, underwater cities can exist in shallow waters and in deep water, which covers the majority of the earth’s surface. There are, of course, a wide variety of obstacles to overcome in order for human beings to not only survive, but thrive, in underwater cities. Below are just a few:

The intense pressures found in deep waters, which can crush a submarine like an aluminum beer can. Anything greater than one atmosphere of pressure can result in serious detrimental affects on the human body over time.

Oxygen. Human beings have lungs, not gills, so air has to be pumped in or generated locally in order to sustain an underwater human colony.

Temperature. Deep water is cold, very cold.

Living in a deep water colony means that a complex balancing-act of oxygen, carbon dioxide, pressure, and temperature means that an underwater colony, like a spaceship, must have a complex and reliable life-support system.

There is one serious effort already underway in Japan, and its name is OCEAN SPIRAL, a Deep Sea Future City Concept. Incredibly, it is believed Ocean Spiral City will be ready for its first 5,000 residents by 2030!

Ocean Spiral City:

“Underwater city costing $26 BILLION to be ready for human residents in 12 years

AN UNDERWATER city costing billions of dollars will be ready for its first human inhabitants in just 12 years, it has been reported.

A deep-sea future city concept: Ocean Spiral

The Ocean Spiral concept for a deep-sea city of the future aims to harness the power of the deep sea in order to renew the earth. Academic advisors from the University of Tokyo have helped on the project plans.

Architects in Tokyo first unveiled their ambitious plan to create Ocean Spiral City in 2014, stating it will be the first self-sufficient city in the world.

Engineering firm Shimizu Corporation said the environmentally-friendly metropolis will use the available ocean resources to run….”

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/underwater-city-ocean-spiral-spacex-16856287

Link to the Shimizu Corporation’s webpage for the Ocean Spiral City:

https://www.shimz.co.jp/en/topics/dream/content01

It’s incredible to imagine that within twelve years, there will be an underwater city capable of hosting up to five-thousand inhabitants!

Approach #3-A Human Being built to Thrive in the Ocean

Certain to be the most controversial of the three approaches, surely we must consider what will surely one day come to pass, the genetic manipulation of human DNA to enable them to breath in the water, and to withstand the great pressure and cold of the ocean.

In the science-fiction film The Titan, Sam Worthington plays a military family-man who takes part in a ground-breaking experiment of genetic evolution and space exploration, an experiment designed to adapt a human being to be genetically compatible with the atmosphere and environment on Saturn’s moon, Titan.

For the first tie in human history we have the capability to manipulate our own DNA. Is it really so difficult to believe that someone, somewhere on planet earth, in the near future, will modify the human genome to create a human being no longer in need of a pressure suit or submersible while exploring or living in the ocean depths?

Is it so difficult to imagine the creation of a new species of human being, homo-aquatic (remember it was me who first used this term!), who is at home on land or in the ocean depths?

For now, this creature exists only in the imagination, but remember that today’s science-fiction is often tomorrow’s science fact.

In summary, it seems to be a certainty that one day soon human beings will be colonizing the earth’s oceans, opening up a significant amount of real estate for the nation, or nations, bold enough to invest in tomorrow.

CONTEST UPDATE:

Please keep checking-back on the $100 Amazon gift certificate giveaway! A new winner will be selected until someone responds with an email containing the required information, per the instructions on the website.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

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www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1087

October 16, 2019

Technical Discussion: A Shrinking Earth; Making Interstellar Travel a Reality, Part II-Wormholes

Of all the exotic methods of traversing interstellar space, few seem to have captured our imagination quite like the wormhole. “But what exactly is a wormhole”, you might ask. Although many of you, my discerning readers, already know, or at least have a vague idea of what a wormhole is, have searched for and found what I believe to be a suitable definition.

“Wormholes are a direct consequence of general relativity. A phenomenon known as an Einstein-Rosen bridge is essentially a wormhole that is created due to the immense warping of space time resulting from the effects of a black hole.”

For our purposes, a wormhole is a theoretical means of getting from one point in the universe to another in a relatively short amount of time ((see what I did there-relativity?). Because it provides a means of interstellar travel that essentially bypasses the time-dilation associated with traveling close to the speed of light you could, in theory a least, commute daily to your job in Alpha-Centauri via a wormhole and be back in time for supper!

www.thoughtco.com/wormhole-travel-3072390

Ever watch the sci-fi television series, Stargate? After plugging in the desired destination coordinates, travelers would step through what looked like a puddle of water inside a large metal ring and emerge on another planet in a distant star system. The fictional stargates utilize wormholes to connect a network of stargates scattered throughout the galaxy. Such a means of travel between the stars would, of course, represent the ultimate means for traversing our galaxy.

For now, wormholes are theoretical but tomorrow? And how long will it take for us to develop the ability to not only create and exploit wormholes, but to travel through them to reach our desired destination? Might it take decades, centuries, millennia even, if ever?

I’d like to ask you a question. Do you believe extraterrestrials have visited earth? A 2018 poll conducted by The Economist and YouGov found that 35% of US adults think that aliens have landed on earth. If extrapolated to all Americans, that would equate to somewhere around 100 million Americans believing aliens have landed on earth. It’s not surprising, given the growing body of evidence to suggest that extraterrestrial visitors are very, very real.

The 1947 Roswell crash offers a rather compelling case for aliens having visited earth. To begin with, the United States Army in a press release announced the recovery of a flying disc following Marcel’s visit to and recover of debris from the crash site. For whatever reason the Army issued a second press release later that day (from higher-ups in the chain-of-command) that what had been found was actually a weather balloon, in direct contrast to what Army intelligence officers had initially reported. It seems someone in authority expected the American public to believe that U.S. Army intelligence officers are unable to tell the difference between a weather balloon and an alien spacecraft. If so, where did they find these guys and who put them in charge of Army intelligence if they cannot discern balloons from alien aircraft?

I found the information below, which neatly summaries what I’ve read and heard over the decades about Roswell, and from Marcel himself.

“On or around July 1, 1947, something reportedly crashed in the Corona, New Mexico desert. After word of the wreckage circulated, Major Jesse A. Marcel, an air force intelligence officer for the 509th Bomb Group, stationed at Roswell Army Air Field, and two Counter Intelligence Corps agents surveyed the area. Marcel later claimed to have found an “aluminum foil-thin metal” that was “indestructible in the debris field,” comprising the outer body of the object. Marcel said pieces of metal at the site had “a strange purple writing” on them.

When Jesse Marcel Jr. was eleven, he said that his life took a “strange” and “wondrous” turn late one summer night in the kitchen of his family’s modest home in Roswell, New Mexico. It was there, he said, his father showed the young boy and his mother “the debris from a mysterious crash” that had occurred a few weeks earlier on a ranch approximately seventy-five miles northwest of Roswell.

For the rest of his life, Marcel claimed that his father woke him up in the middle of the night to look at it, telling him it was something he would never see again.

Roswell Army Air Field Intelligence Officer Jesse Marcel, sr., 1947.

Roswell Army Air Field Intelligence Officer Jesse Marcel, sr., 1947.

“Though my father was the senior intelligence officer on a base that was home to the country’s most closely guarded secrets,” wrote Marcel Jr. in his 2007 book The Roswell Legacy, “he was, to his family, a pretty laid-back guy…But on that night, I saw another side of him. It was a mixture of excitement and confusion, suffused with a sense of wonder that one just doesn’t see in many grown men.”

Marcel Jr. professed that his father had spread across the floor materials and objects “clearly like nothing that had been seen on Earth before.”

After the Roswell Daily Record reported that a flying saucer had been recovered on a ranch near Roswell, citing Marcel’s statements as the base intelligence officer, and the eyewitness account of local ranchers, the military issued a statement saying the debris was from a weather balloon. On July 8, 1947, a public information officer at Roswell Army Air Field declared that they had recovered the remains of a “flying disc.” But by the end of the day, Air Force base commanders released a second press release asserting the material in the debris field came from a downed weather balloon. General Ramey Roger told the press it was “just a radar deflector from a weather balloon.”

https://montanapioneer.com/helena-library-connects-montana-to-roswell-mystery

There can be no doubt that Marcel himself believed what he’d both seen and handled to be the remains of a fling disc, an unidentified object from another world. Marcel even attested to this fact on his deathbed (something which is admissible in courts of law across this great nation.

It’s also clear to me the initial press release sent out by the United States Army was the truth, while the second was a cover-up. I’m not saying the cover-up wasn’t justified in fact, the opposite is likely true. The Cold War, the Soviets, immediately following World War II there were an awful lot of secrecy, and for good reason. Perhaps it’s time to reveal the truth.

Evaluate the expression on Major Jessie Marcel’s face for yourself, after being ordered by his commanding officers to pose for a picture with a weather balloon to lend credence that this was actually found on the New Mexico ranch, not an alien spaceship.

Now you may be wondering what in the world the Roswell crash has to do with wormholes, so here it is. If another, more advanced civilization has indeed been visiting earth, it means one of three things. The aliens reside within our own solar system, the aliens use a less-than-light-speed means to travel between stars, or they have licked the challenge of interstellar travel and have developed a means of bypassing relativity, perhaps by creating or exploiting wormholes. Clearly the last option is the most likely, given that other than earth, most of our solar system is most inhospitable to life. As for less-than-light-speed travel, we must assume that aliens would have no more desire to sacrifice their families than we would.

Keep in mind that black holes were once considered to be merely theoretical, something only indicated by the General Theory of Relativity. Black holes since been confirmed by to exist through indirect observation and more recently, by the world’s first actual photograph of a black hole. Wormholes therefore, which are for now only theoretical but are also indicated by the General Theory of Relativity, may someday also prove to be a reality. The trick will be in learning how to create and manipulate them so we can use them to traverse the galaxy. Human beings are capable of some pretty amazing feats, so just give us time!

Next Week: Part III, Shields-Up! The creation of force-fields.

CONTEST UPDATE:

Please keep spreading the word about the $100 Amazon gift certificate giveaway! A winner will be selected sometime this month (October, 2019) from the list of those who have subscribed to this blog. So be sure to keep checking back on the website for more details!

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1086

October 9, 2019

Technical Discussion: A Shrinking Earth; Making Interstellar Travel a Reality, Part I

A shrinking Earth, the exponential increase in population accompanied by a decline in the supply of natural resources, has been a recurring theme of mine, present in several of my novels to varying degrees. While it is imperative that we address these issues, they need not result in panic, and the imposition of some inane form of population control; there’s a better way.

I’ve longed believed that the future of the human race depends not on population control, but on human ingenuity, determination, and technology. While it’s true that our human family continues to grow exponentially, there is no reason whatsoever for panic. In fact, it’s not the time for panic, but planning.

Oh, of course there is still plenty of land available for human beings to live and thrive on across our beautiful blue planet, but it shrinks more and more every day. This is where the human ingenuity, determination, and technology come in, along with some resourcefulness

I believe humanity will soon, out of necessity, begin adapting an otherwise arid, dessert region like Death Valley in the United States into a virtual paradise. Consider the fact that Las Vegas was, in fact, once just dessert. Now it’s one of the most famous cities on earth.

Just try to imagine the Sahara Dessert, the largest dessert on earth, covered with lush green grass and trees, and vast, metropolitan cities. “That’s not possible,” you might say. But you’d be wrong. It was, after all, according to scientists, once covered in a vast body of water called the Tethys Sea, when less of the earth’s fresh water was tied up in ice at the poles. With our help, surely we can, by tapping into vast underground supplies of water, through massive irrigation, and, perhaps, efficient recycling, gradually turn the Sahara Dessert into increasingly habitable land. The Sahara, and places like it, will gradually shrink before disappearing, or being turned into national parks.

It’s also doubtful that, as the number of human beings on earth continues to grow exponentially, the fact that three-quarters of the earth’s surface is covered in water, has been lost on scientists, wealthy and savvy innovators, and corporations worldwide, looking to create opportunity and profits. Within the next fifty to a hundred years, expect humanity to begin constructing vast floating cities on the ocean, under the ocean, and perhaps both.

In the 1960s, the iconic ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau publicly advocated the construction of underwater cities, going so far as to create the famous Conshelf series of underwater habitats. The structures allowed for oceanauts to live underwater for days even, weeks at a time. Each of the shelters (Conshelf I, II, III) improved over time, eventually allowing for six oceanauts to live underwater at a full 100 meters below the surface.

I planning a future blog, perhaps even a series, on the prospect of underwater living and the conversion of arid, lifeless areas on earth into thriving ecosystems, ripe for human habitation.

Interstellar Travel

But this blog post series is intended to focus on something even more ambitious, the development of technologies that will enable humanity to settle worlds other than Earth, but to be able to thrive on them as well. While there are many considerations, to be sure, I believe the two most important are these, a means of interstellar transport that side-steps the problem of time dilation identified in Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, and the development of a force-field capable of deflecting both matter and energy.

First, let’s focus on interstellar travel.

Some might say that we have already launched two interstellar spacecraft. Well, while technically true perhaps, these spacecrafts would hardly be something we’d want to ride on for our tri to Alpha Centauri, the closest star to us after Sol, our sun. Voyager 1 and II have each left the solar system by crossing the heliopause (the region of space beyond the Sun’s magnetic field where the solar wind is stopped by the interstellar medium). That said, even if we were able to shrink ourselves and somehow travel aboard the probes to their next stop, Alpha Centauri, I’d be disinclined to make the trip, seeing how it would take some 40,000 years to get there.

There is a design being batted around scientific circles for a system involving a “solar sail.” “Breakthrough Starshot, an extravagantly bold project announced in 2016 by the late Stephen Hawking and Russian billionaire Yuri Milner. The ultimate aim of the project is to build a mile-wide laser array that could blast a miniature spacecraft to 20 percent the speed of light, allowing it to reach the Alpha Centauri star system (our closest stellar neighbor) in just two decades…”

http://discovermagazine.com/2019/april/new-technologies-could-let-us-explore-beyond-the-solar-system

Pretend for a moment that Starshot worked as advertised, and you set out on your 30th birthday on a journey to Alpha-Centauri. Because you’re brilliant, you make changes to the ship’s engine so it can travel at 99% the speed of light, nearly five-times as fast as Hawking proposed. It would still take nearly 5 years to get to our nearest stellar neighbor and 5 years to get back. Sounds great right? You might be surprised to discover upon your return that everyone you knew had died, including your beautiful young wife and your children, of old age. The General Theory of Relativity has bitten you in your backside for while only ten years have passed for you, 72 years have gone by back on Earth.

The problem, known as time dilation (as many of you discerning readers already know). The faster you travel in your spaceship enroute to another star system; the faster time passes back on Earth. Unless you want to return a generation or more after you left, then traveling close to the speed of light is not an option. Remember, Alpha-Centauri, is our closest neighbor, approximately 4.4 light-years away. Were you needing to travel 20 light-years instead, than 288 years would have passed upon your return.

Clearly, we need to find a means of interstellar travel that does not incur a time-dilation penalty. We must find a way of traversing the cosmos that gets us from one star-system to another without having to cross the vast distance between stars. The answer? Enter the warp drive and the wormhole, two of the most exotic, theoretical means of travel to be sure, but two options that are allowed by the Theory of Relativity.

These alternative means of traversing vast interstellar distances without suffering from time dilation is commonly called FTL, or Faster Than Light space travel. Warp drive and wormholes are two of the leading theoretical contenders for interstellar travel and, believe it or not, scientists are already researching means of generating a warp field or “bubble.”

The Warp Drive

“For FTL travel, the advantages are obvious, and while it remains entirely theoretical at this point, there are concepts being investigated today. A notable FTL concept – known as the Alcubierre Warp Drive – is currently being researched by multiple organizations, which includes the Tau Zero Foundation and the Advanced Propulsion Physics Laboratory: Eagleworks (APPL:E) at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.”

Why Interstellar Travel Will Be Possible Sooner Than You Think

To break it down succinctly, this method of space travel involves stretching the fabric of space-time in a wave which would (in theory) cause the space ahead of a ship to contract and the space behind it to expand. The ship would then ride this region, known as a “warp bubble”, through space. Since the ship is not moving within the bubble but is being carried along as the region itself moves, conventional relativistic effects such as time dilation would not apply.

“To put it simply, this method of space travel involves stretching the fabric of space-time in a wave which would (in theory) cause the space ahead of an object to contract while the space behind it would expand. An object inside this wave (i.e. a spaceship) would then be able to ride this region, known as a “warp bubble” of flat space.

This is what is known as the “Alcubierre Metric”. Interpreted in the context of General Relativity, the metric allows a warp bubble to appear in a previously flat region of spacetime and move away, effectively at speeds that exceed the speed of light. The interior of the bubble is the inertial reference frame for any object inhabiting it.

Since the ship is not moving within this bubble, but is being carried along as the region itself moves, conventional relativistic effects such as time dilation would not apply. Hence, the rules of space-time and the laws of relativity would not be violated in the conventional sense.”

What is the Alcubierre “Warp” Drive?

Beam me up, Scotty, war factor nine.”

Next Week: Part II, Wormholes

CONTEST UPDATE:

Please keep spreading the word about the $100 Amazon gift certificate giveaway! A winner will be selected sometime this month (October, 2019) from the list of those who have subscribed to this blog. So be sure to keep checking back on the website for more details!

 Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1085

October 2, 2019

Free Flow Thinking: The United States Space Force

A United States Space Force. The first

“Our destiny, beyond the Earth, is not only a matter of national identity, but a matter of national security.”

–President Donald J. Trump

“On June 18, 2018, President Donald Trump directed the Pentagon to begin planning for a Space Force: a 6th independent military service branch to undertake missions and operations in the rapidly evolving space domain. The U.S. Space Force would be the first new military service in more than 70 years, following the establishment of the U.S. Air Force in 1947.

Vice President Mike Pence and the Department of Defense released more details about the planned force on Aug. 9, 2018, citing plans to create a separate combatant command, U.S. Space Command, in addition to an independent service overseen by a civilian secretary, all by 2020.

The Department of Defense forwarded a Space Force proposal to Congress, on March 1, 2019, calling for a service that would fall under the Air Force in the same way the Marine Corps falls under the Department of the Navy. The proposal also included the designation of a new position: undersecretary of the Air Force for space, a civilian position that would answer to the secretary of the Air Force and oversee U.S. Space Force. Officials estimated the creation of a new service would cost $2 billion over five years, and require 15,000 personnel.”

https://www.military.com/space-force

The establishment of the U.S. Space Force will help ensure the United States is postured to deter aggression and outpace potential adversaries in order to protect and defend our national interests in the face of a changing space environment and growing threats.

Key Points

Fundamentally transform our approach to space

Establish the U.S. Space Force

Maximize warfighting capacity and advocacy for space

Outpace future threats

Defend our vital national interests in space

The Defense Department has forwarded to Congress a proposal to create the U.S. Space Force — the sixth branch of the armed forces, officials at the Pentagon said today.

Space is a vital national interest, and the Defense Department seeks to maintain America’s comparative advantage in this new domain of great power competition, officials said. To that end, they explained, DOD has proposed that the U.S. Space Force initially be established as a new military service within the Department of the Air Force.

In this model, the new military service would have a similar relationship to the Department of the Air Force that the Marine Corps has with the Department of the Navy. A uniformed four-star Space Force chief of staff would be granted full membership in the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Additionally, the proposal calls for a new undersecretary of the Air Force for space, who would provide dedicated civilian supervision of the USSF, under the direction of the secretary of the Air Force.

Many nations have advanced their space capabilities and are actively looking for ways to deny America’s access to this critical domain. China and Russia have developed anti-satellite capabilities, and other nations — such as North Korea and Iran — are developing assets designed to negate American advantages.

“It is imperative that the United States adapt its national security organizations, policies, doctrine and capabilities to deter aggression and protect our interests,” President Donald J. Trump said in a directive he signed Feb. 19.

If Congress passes the proposal, the U.S. Space Force would be authorized to organize, train, and equip military and civilian personnel “to ensure unfettered access to and freedom to operate in space and to provide vital capabilities to joint and coalition forces in peacetime and across the spectrum of conflict,” the proposal says.

The proposal indicates that stand-up of the U.S. Space Force would be phased over five years – fiscal year 2020 to fiscal year 2024. During this period, the preponderance of space missions, capabilities, and associated personnel residing in the existing military services, including the Air Force, would transfer into the U.S. Space Force, under the direction and final approval of the secretary of defense.

https://www.defense.gov/explore/story/Article/1767808/dod-submits-us-space-force-proposal

The USSF; the United States Space Force. It sounds surreal, like something out of a science-fiction novel. As necessary as such a force undoubtedly is given how much investment China and the Russian government have poured into their own space programs, part of me can’t help but be saddened that it’s the United States Space Force, and not the Earth Space Force.

Sadly, we seem ill-prepared, as a species, to embrace globalism; at least that’s my assessment. I regret that it isn’t otherwise, I really do. I believe we need to move beyond our petty differences and unite as a species to face the many challenges that will inevitably face us as we begin colonizing other worlds within the solar system.

The problem remains that we just haven’t been able to set aside our differences long enough for such an approach to be successful. It’s been tried before, beginning with the failed League of Nations, its successor the toothless and weak United Nations, and more recently, the European Union. All were well-intentioned, but the structure was never strong enough to support the type of unification needed to truly unite the world under a single form of government.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the best path to such globalization would be to either have the nations of the world gradually be absorbed into the United States as individual states, or to create an entirely new governmental structure that is essentially modeled after the United States. Once again each country would essentially become a state, with each “state” having the same level of autonomy as a state in the United States has today. Such an approach would, I believe, result in a long-lasting, single government large enough and strong enough to become self-sustaining.

Would such a government eliminate the conflicts in our world? Doubtful. Consider how different individual states are in America today. But the system of self-government in the United States, as imperfect as it is, works. Such a world government would enable us to spread out and colonize the cosmos as a species, rather than as a collection of “country-states,” with each country pursuing its own and often competitive objectives, as we are doing today.

Just imagine us making first contact when a diplomat from another world suddenly lands on Earth. Where should he land, in what country? Who should he speak to, which leader, the secretary-general of The United Nations? Would the nations of the Earth really be content to let the secretary-general represent them? Ha, very doubtful. I imagine ever leader would jockey t speak with our mysterious guest, each touting why the visitor’s world should do business with his or her country’s government.

Also, as previously discussed in prior blog posts, as humanity begins colonizing the Red Planet, there’s the matter of who decides who can claim land for themselves on Mars? Is it the United Nations, by committee, or is land ownership off-Earth decided with nations with the most powerful weapons? Would the nations of Earth go to war in order to take possession of the best real estate on our closest planetary neighbor? Very possibly, were the real estate valuable enough, like he only land on Mars with water, for example.

Despite the concerns some of my Christian brothers and sisters might have about a “one-world government,” I believe it would be far better to work out our differences before humanity moves-out of its birth home to colonize the universe rather than after. The reality is that the unification of humanity will have to happen as we colonize outer space, not before, and that the conflict between nations will follow us into space, at least for a while.

It is a sad and unfortunate reality that laying down our weapons and singing Kumbaya as the enemy advances upon our cities will only bring us subjugation, suffering, and death. Imagine Great Britain and the United States allowing the Nazis to roll across Europe and then the Americas unchallenged!

Which brings us back to urgent need for the United States Space Force. An increasing number of nations have developed space flight and with it, the ability to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles anywhere on earth. Even the world’s largest state sponsor of television, Iran, is on the brink of developing spaceflight, giving them the capability of launching not only satellites and other craft into space, but intercontinental ballistic missiles as well.

The Chinese, flush with wealth over the last thirty years, have invested heavily in space-based technologies and, through espionage, subterfuge, and their own initiative, have quickly come from being a third-world nation to the world’s second-greatest economic and military power. Until recently, they were even on-track to surpass the United States in both, which would have left the world at the mercy of a power-hungry China.

But the advantages of a Space Force go far beyond military benefits. The establishment of the USSF will be a boon for space travel, as USSF bases, like forts of old, are established in strategic locations wherever humanity ventures. The accessibility of search and rescue teams in space as more and more human beings journey beyond the confines of Earth.

Then there’s technology. Based on the many new technologies born out of the space race of the twentieth century, we can only imagine what fantastic new technologies await us as the United States Space Force gets ramped-up and deployed. Try to imagine what today seems so exotic, exciting, and new, becoming everyday occurrences in the new world of tomorrow!

It is therefore imperative that America, as the world’s leading democracy, remain on the forefront of space technologies and military power. Congress must therefore authorize the funding and creation of the United States Space Force, to enable the world’s most powerful nation, the beacon of light and hope to so many all over the world, to establish a firm foothold in space in order to maintain a strategic military superiority that will not only allow us to preserve our way of life, but to continue to serve as the beacon and protector of freedom the world, and the hope for a better tomorrow for all of humanity.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on the

Amazon’s Author Website for Jeff: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

Blog Post #1084

September 25, 2019

Technology Discussion: Cool, Amazing Medical Technologies that are either here, or coming soon

I like to keep my blog posts positive and upbeat, sharing news with my readers that will inspire them, fill them with awe, and remind them of the many wonderful things going on in the world, which our news outlets don’t necessarily spend enough tim highlighting for us.

Artificial organs

Scientist have been able to create blood vessels, synthetic ovaries and even a pancreas. These artificial organs then grow within the patient’s body to replace original faulty one. The ability to supply artificial organs that are not rejected by the body’s immune system could be revolutionary, saving millions of patients that depend on life-saving transplants every year.

. CRISPR

Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) is the most advanced gene-editing technology yet. It works by harnessing the natural mechanisms of the immune systems of bacterium cells of invading viruses, which is then able to ‘cut out’ infected DNA strands. This cutting of DNA is what has the power to potentially transform the way we treat disease. By modifying genes, some of the biggest threats to our health, like cancer and HIV, could potentially be overcome in a matter of years.

However, as with all powerful tools there are several controversies surrounding its widespread use, mostly over humanity’s right to ‘play God’ and worries over gene-editing being used to produce hordes of designer babies. CRISPR is still a first-generation tool and its full capabilities are not yet understood.

As the years pass, technology in pharmaceuticals and medicine will continue to improve. People are living longer and fewer diseases are deemed incurable. Jobs in the pharmaceutical industry are in higher demand now than ever. Who knows what the next year will bring in medical advancements!

If you’d like to be part of this exciting industry, Proclinical Staffing are recruiting for a variety of roles from top pharma, biotech and medical device companies. We would love to hear from you so have a look at our current job opportunities or upload your CV to get started!

https://liveboldandbloom.com/07/health/8-life-altering-medical-breakthroughs-on-the-horizon

Here are eight medical advancements that are well on the way to changing the way we live and potentially altering the future of our culture and society.

1. The Blind Will See

People who have become blind at some point during their lives have real hope to see again. Scientists have already tested and continue to research microchip implants to help people regain their sight. The microchip is implanted into a person’s eye, and it is linked to a pair of video enabled glasses, allowing a bypass of the dead nerve endings attributed to loss of sight. Also, people who have been blind from birth have the exhilarating chance of seeing the world for the first time. Scientists are working on deep brain implants, coupled with special glasses, that can bring sight to unsighted. In the next ten years, being blind will be a thing of the past.

2. Order Up an Organ

Tissue engineering or regenerative medicine, a segment of bioengineering, allows scientists to grow new organs to replace diseased or damaged human organs. Using tissue from the patient’s own existing organ or synthetic materials, scientists can grow a replacement in a laboratory. Already, bladders have been grown in a laboratory and successfully implanted into patients. Tissue engineering can use these natural or synthetic materials to cultivate cells for skin, bone, cartilage, muscle, marrow, and other body parts. These advancements will offer dramatic improvements in medical care for hundreds of thousands of patients annually and equally dramatic reductions in medical costs. Engineered replacement organs would sidestep the hazards and problems associated with donor organs and do this at a lower cost.

3. Brain Repair

For someone who’s had a stroke or suffers from Alzheimer’s or other neurological diseases, the advancements in neural enhancements offers great hope for a better life. And once again, a microchip is the technology that can make it happen. By using microchips or by using a matrix of fiber optic wires to bridge damaged areas of the brain, it appears there’s a way to cure a multitude of neurological conditions. The use of microchips to bridge neural pathways also opens doors to the possible expansion of brain use for everyone.

4. Eradication of Genetic Conditions

With the completion of the human genome project, scientists know more than ever about the genetic structure and how it affects us. Right now, researchers and corporations are using DNA therapy to vaccinate people against dangerous diseases as designer medicines can be created that are disease or gene specific. But we are looking at a future where genetic conditions may no longer exist. Genetic engineering can help prevent life-threatening diseases like cancer. It can help increase the potential life span to well over 100 years, free from disease or disorders. It may even be possible to create “designer” babies with higher intelligence, beauty and talent.

5. The Fountain of Youth

Nanotechnology is the study of controlling matter on an atomic or molecular scale. It is being used for a variety age-reversing applications that could be a literal “fountain of youth.” We age because the rate of cellular reconstruction slows down, and the body can’t keep up the maintenance. We will be able to stay looking younger much longer as “subatomic robots” can go into your bloodstream and repair cellular damage. In the near future, anti-aging treatments could be as easy as swallowing a pill and watching yourself grow younger in a short period of time. Nanotechnology treatments for other age-related disorders, such as macular degeneration, osteoporosis, arteriosclerosis, cirrhosis, and Progeria, are right around the corner.

6. Cures for Neurological Diseases

The debate about stem cell research has propelled scientists to find stem cells from sources other than human embryos or fetuses. Now stems cells can be obtained through umbilical cord or nose proteins, and research is accelerating in stem cell technology. Stem cells have the ability to grow into anything, and they offer the hope that they can be used to treat neurological conditions like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Stem cells can be designed to repair and regrow the damaged neurons in an individual’s brain.

7. Hope for Heart Disease

It appears that stem cells can help prevent heart attacks by stimulating the growth of new blood vessels around the heart. The FDA recently approved a study to test this in which scientists will take adult stem cells from the bone marrow of patients and inject them into their clogged arteries. The hope is that new vessels will grow and increase the blood flow to the heart.

8. The End of Cancer Deaths

Nanotechnologists already have developed treatments for certain types of cancer, and scientists are discovering more all of the time. Now tumors of less than one tenth of an inch can be detected and targeted without killing normal cells. Researchers are producing drugs that show early success at preventing tumor growth by cutting of its blood supply. A complete cure for cancer may be further down the road, but officials at the National Cancer Institute predict that by 2015, all cancer deaths will be preventable.

As exciting and promising as these breakthroughs appear to be, it is clear that many of them are also fraught with ethical and practical dilemmas. How will we respond as a society to having a life expectancy of 10, 20 or even 30 years longer than we have now? How far will we take the desire to create the “perfect human” who is genetically altered to be smart, beautiful, talented and disease-free, and what are the implications? How will these exciting technologies be exploited by greed and self-interest?

I would love to hear your thoughts on the positive and potentially difficult and dangerous outcomes of these medical advancements becoming a reality in the very near future.

If you are interested in reading more on these medical discoveries and the implications and applications for them, I’ve provided this list of books.

https://brightside.me/wonder-curiosities/17-scientific-discoveries-that-may-change-the-world-soon-631460

17. Scientists helped a disabled person start walking again.

group of neurophysiologists from Russia and the U.S. managed to do the almost impossible: give a paralyzed person the ability to walk again. A man who was paralyzed several years ago after he fell from a snowmobile took part in the international experiment. This method was used by scientists for the first time. The patient was cured with electric stimulators that were originally made for other purposes — to relieve pain. Now, thanks to electric stimulation, even if the damage is really serious, it’s possible to help people move again.

According to the neurophysiologists, the partial rehabilitation of this patient took 44 weeks. At the moment, the man can stand and walk on a treadmill.

16. The first color x-ray in history

Scientists from New Zealand made the first 3D color x-ray in history. The new device was made based on the traditional black and white x-ray machine using particle tracking technology called Medipix. Thanks to this technology, in 2012, in a Large Hadron Collider the particles called “Higgs boson” were found.

Medipix works like a camera at the subatomic level. As a result, it gives us high-contrast images. On color x-rays, you can clearly see the difference between muscles, bones, and cartilage, including the size and position of cancer tumors.

15. Scientists created a vest that can warn you about a heart attack several days in advance.

Smart Vest looks quite simple but on the inside there are special sensors and electrodes. They allow you to track your own ECG, registering blood pressure and heartbeat. And all this is done 24/7. Someone who owns this vest can download a special app on their smartphone where all the data about the heart function will be stored.

The creator of this invention says that the application can give a diagnosis and even predict serious heart issues because the abnormal activity of the heart can be noticed on the ECG 2 days before the heart attack. The vest has already been successfully tested on volunteers.

14. Israeli eye ophthalmologists invented eye drops that restore the eye cornea.

Can you imagine that very soon glasses for eyesight correction won’t be necessary anymore and their job will be done by regular eye drops? This is what a group of Israeli ophthalmologists are working on. The scientists have already tested the drops on pigs and the result was amazing. The drops are effective at fighting near- and far-sightedness. And according to the scientists, the drops can completely replace glasses.

13. Chinese policemen now have smart glasses with face recognition technology.

At the beginning of 2018, Chinese policemen in Zhengzhou were given smart GLXSS glasses that have a facial recognition system. They can take photos, record video in HD quality, and also show information on the lens thanks to AR-technology. This device has already helped to capture almost 40 criminals.

GLXSS cost $635 but you can’t buy them for personal use right now.

12. “Self-parking” slippers from Nissan

Finally, the problem of constantly lost slippers can be forgotten because Nissan has come up with slippers on wheels. The slippers have engines and sensors based on ProPilot technology. Thanks to this technology, these slippers can return to a predetermined spot. Now, anyone who wants can try these slippers in one of Japan’s hotels.

11. In China a flying taxi was successfully tested.

Aerocar EHang 184 looks like a drone but it can do much more. It can transport 2 passengers, it can fly up to 15 km with a full charge, and it can go as fast as 130 km/h. But the best thing about EHang 184 is the fact that it can work autonomously. The developers think that the commercial version of the taxi will work on autopilot. The passenger will only have to show it the final point of the destination.

Soon this flying taxi will allow us to avoid huge traffic jams in big cities.

10. Artificial intelligence protecting humanity

This news is not exactly a scientific discovery but everything that happened in this story is a great example of how much artificial intelligence has developed.

In January 2018, a woman from Argentina published a post on Facebook where she said goodbye to her friends and relatives. There was a photo of some potent substances attached to the post. Her message was tracked by the algorithms of the social media that uses AI for these purposes. The program sent a signal to the managers of the website in the US and they contacted emergency services of Buenos Aires. The rescue team found the woman unconscious but they managed to save her.

9. An exoskeleton of a hand that is controlled by the mind

depositphotos

The engineers at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) created a prototype of a hand exoskeleton that can be controlled with the mind. The electrodes are located on a special helmet. In the early versions, the electrodes had to be placed under the skin. The exoskeleton is easy to control and can be set up within several minutes. The device has already been tested by people who have spinal cord injuries or a stroke. Now, the engineers are improving the exoskeleton in order to make it good enough for mass production.

8. Testing unmanned cars

In 2017, it became absolutely clear than unmanned cars will be an important part of our lives. In the U.S., Tesla is the leader in this industry and is improving their electric cars year after year.

Tourists and locals in Paris can already try the experimental unmanned mini-bus with an electric engine.

In the near future, the international traffic rules will most likely be changed to correspond with the development of unmanned vehicles on the roads of our planet.

7. Cryptocurrency is a new part of economics.

17 Scientific Discoveries That May Change the World Soon

© pixabay

In 2017, the world economy had an unexpected blast — the increase in popularity of cryptocurrency. Despite the fact that the first and the most well-known cryptocurrency called bitcoin was invented in 2009, it became really popular only last summer. From August to December, the exchange rate was changing very rapidly, going from $2,000 to $20,000, and then falling to $6,500 for one bitcoin.

Experts predict that that cryptocurrency has a big future in world economics along with the euro and dollar.

6. Researchers have proven that the theory of our origin is not true.

17 Scientific Discoveries That May Change the World Soon

© pixabay

In 2017, humanity made huge progress in learning more about itself. For a long time, people believed that the Homo sapiens originated from other species about 200,000 years ago somewhere in Eastern Africa. Most of the anthropological and archaeological theories known today confirmed this version.

However, this summer, in Nature Magazine, an article by an international group of scientists was published. They found the remains of people which are more than 300,000 years old. These people lived on a completely different part of the African continent. Researchers are sure that if they were dressed in modern clothes nobody would be able to tell the difference. This discovery has proven that the theory we believed before was completely wrong.

5. Astronomers found an object called Oumuamua in our Solar System.

17 Scientific Discoveries That May Change the World Soon

© ESO/M. Kornmesser

2017 challenged science many times. In Hawaii, astronomers found a unique asteroid that is not part of our Solar System. It means that it originated somewhere far out in galactic space. The speed of the asteroid is too high for our Sun to pull it with gravity.

Some scientists have theories that the asteroid was made by a living thing and there is even a huge telescope that is trying to capture signals from intelligent life.

4. Chinese scientists cloned a monkey.

17 Scientific Discoveries That May Change the World Soon

© eastnews

The first successful cloning experiment happened when molecular biologists managed to grow 2 clones of the same monkey. Born from a surrogate mother, these monkeys have the same DNA. The experiment will help humanity find a cure for cancer, avoid genetically inherited diseases, and clone extinct animals.

3. Genetical editing to treat a patient

17 Scientific Discoveries That May Change the World Soon

© depositphotos

In August 2017 bioengineers changed the genes of a living person. Experts at Oregon University made their first attempt to genetically modify an embryo by removing a gene responsible for the development of an infectious heart disease. The surgery was successful.

Also, another company did a surgery changing the genome of pigs using CRISPR technology. Thanks to the surgery, 37 absolutely healthy pigs were born without any harmful viruses in their bodies.

And finally, there was a genetic modification done on a living person. The patient is a 44-year-old man who had Hunter syndrome. The scientists are still waiting for the results of the treatment. And if they are positive, doctors will soon be able to treat serious diseases this way.

2. Scientists will find a cure for oncological diseases soon.

17 Scientific Discoveries That May Change the World Soon

© depositphotos

Modern medical experts are on the way to making people forget the word “cancer.” Of course, it is impossible to cure cancer completely, but it might become as easy as curing a cold.

In 2017, several ways of fighting cancer cells have been tested but the most progressive one was the method for treating cervical cancer. Sperm with a special drug were sent to the necessary areas and when it reached them, the sperm emitted the drug. As a result, more than 90% of the cancer cells there were removed. This method allows patients to avoid chemotherapy.

1. The first successful head transplant surgery

You will probably agree that this piece of news sounds like it was told by someone who returned from the future. But the future is actually now. This is what our scientists are trying to prove.

Chinese surgeons, managed by Sergio Canavero, performed the first head transplant from one corpse to another. The surgery took 18 hours and the result was the successful connection of the spinal cord, nerves, and blood vessels. On December 25, 2017, Canavero predicted that in 2018 the first head transplant surgery of a living person will be performed.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1083

September 18, 2019

Free Flow Thinking: Water Vapor Detected on Distant Planet

Every now and then we see or read something that captures our imagination, suddenly flinging open the doors of impossibility to reveal new and exciting possibilities.

I recently read about just an eye-opening article about a team of researchers who discovered something titillating about a planet in another star system located in in the constellation Leo, so far way from Earth that it takes light over a hundred years to get here from there; they detected the presence of water in the planet’s atmosphere. The planet orbited a red-dwarf star in what is known as the habitable zone, sometimes called the “Goldilocks” zone.

Read the excerpt below from NASA’s website:

NASA’s Hubble Finds Water Vapor on Habitable-Zone Exoplanet for 1st Time

exoplanet K2-18b illustration

Credits: ESA/Hubble, M. Kornmesser

exoplanet K2-18b illustrationThis artist’s impression shows the planet K2-18b, its host star and an accompanying planet in this system. K2-18b is now the only super-Earth exoplanet known to host both water and temperatures that could support life. UCL researchers used archive data from 2016 and 2017 captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and developed open-source algorithms to analyze the starlight filtered through K2-18b’s atmosphere. The results revealed the molecular signature of water vapor, also indicating the presence of hydrogen and helium in the planet’s atmosphere.

“Its size and surface gravity are much larger than Earth’s, and its radiation environment may be hostile, but a distant planet called K2-18b has captured the interest of scientists all over the world. For the first time, researchers have detected water vapor signatures in the atmosphere of a planet beyond our solar system that resides in the “habitable zone,” the region around a star in which liquid water could potentially pool on the surface of a rocky planet.

“Astronomers at the Center for Space Exochemistry Data at the University College London in the United Kingdom used data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to find water vapor in the atmosphere of K2-18b, an exoplanet around a small red dwarf star about 110 light-years away in the constellation Leo. If confirmed by further studies, this will be the only exoplanet known to have both water in its atmosphere and temperatures that could sustain liquid water on a rocky surface. Liquid water would only be possible if the planet turns out to be terrestrial in nature, rather than resembling a small version of Neptune.

“Given the high level of activity of its red dwarf star, K2-18b may be more hostile to life as we know it than Earth, as it is likely to be exposed to more high-energy radiation. The planet, discovered by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope in 2015, also has a mass eight times greater than Earth’s. That means the surface gravity on this planet would be significantly higher than on our planet.

“The team used archive data from 2016 and 2017 captured by Hubble and developed open-source algorithms to analyze the host star’s light filtered through K2-18b’s atmosphere. The results revealed the molecular signature of water vapor, and also suggest the presence of hydrogen and helium in the planet’s atmosphere…”

(For more about this click on the link below)

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/nasa-s-hubble-finds-water-vapor-on-habitable-zone-exoplanet-for-1st-time

With temperatures estimated to be roughly analogous to our Earth, it gets many people, myself included, rather excited to learn of such a discovery. As is pointed out on NASA’s website, however, the gravity on K2-18b would be much greater than here on Earth, making it would make it rather difficult for human beings to live on this world.

That shouldn’t dampen our enthusiasm, however, for other planets out there even closer to Earth in size and living conditions are bound to be out there waiting to be discovered and dare I say, explored?

Stop and consider the number of stars in our Milky Way, estimated to be around three-hundred billion. With the number of planets estimated to be around one-hundred billion.

Who knows, perhaps one day human beings will be living on some of them. They’re out there waiting, waiting for us to swing by and pay them a visit.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1081

September 11, 2019

Free Flow Thinking: Human Ingenuity

Human beings have a great capacity for intelligence, we always have.

Did you know that ancient Roman tools over 2,000 years-old have been discovered that were designed specifically for removing cataracts, tools that are not much different than those recently used by modern Ophthalmologists for the very same purpose?

Have you ever heard of Hero of Alexandria, the man from Ancient Greece who first invented the steam engine, also around 2,000 years ago? Had he carried the application of his discovery just a little further and used his invention to power ships, just imagine how it might have changed the world!

Consider the precision with which engineers and architects built the Ancient Egyptian pyramids and the Sphynx, the Roman coliseums, and other wonders of the ancient world, all without the benefit of modern tools; how shrewd they must have been!

There were many, many such geniuses of great intelligence scattered across the ages, of course, each expert in their respective fields. While both priests, Saint Augustine, who wrote Confessions, and Saint Thomas Aquinas, a great theologian and philosopher, were geniuses in their own right. There were plenty more to follow over the centuries, people like Sir Isaac Newton, Madam Curie, Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer, Wernher von Braun, and more recently, Stephen Hawking.

There’s no evidence, at least not any I’m aware of, suggesting people are any “smarter” or more intelligent today than they were thousands of years ago. In fact, some might even argue the opposite, that in some ways, we’ve actually dumbed down the human race through our culture. But smarter? No; at the very least it appears human beings have always been about as bright and intelligent as they are today, only the level of our accumulated knowledge and the heights attained by the sophistication of our technology have changed significantly, gradually growing as the accumulated knowledge of mankind grew over the millennia.

Humanity as a whole lost much following the collapse of the western Roman Empire. While isolated pockets of civilization remained, where medical knowledge, for instance, continued to flourish in regions like ancient Persia for example, western civilization, and humanity as a whole, had suffered devastating consequences. Peoples who once lived in thriving metropolitan areas served by indoor plumbing, aqueducts, and regulated environments now lived in squalor, in little more than straw huts in the woods, once more living as a hunter gatherer, a herder of animals, or as a farmer. No more advanced healthcare, plentiful food, and ease.

Several events occurred around the time leading up to and following the rapid decline in most of Europe in the early days of the Middle Ages:

The ability to read the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics passed out of the realm of human experience for many, many years, nearly 1,800, following the conquest of Egypt by Rome around 50 BC. All knowledge from before 50 AD Egypt was lost to most of the world.

The Great Library of Alexandria, founded by Ptolemy Lagides, or his son, in 323 BC, is built in Alexandria, and a vast treasure store of knowledge is stored there from al over the ancient world. Over the next century or two it becomes arguably the best repository of literature and knowledge in the ancient world. Beginning sometime around 145 BC, there is a dynastic struggle for the throne in Egypt. Aristarchus, the head librarian, supports the losing son, who is murdered. Aristarchus flees Egypt and the new monarch responds by expelling all foreign scholars out of Alexandria. This action, followed by an accidental fire set by Julius Caesar around 50 AD, signaled the beginning of the end of a place that had promised to be a beacon of knowledge and learning for the world for centuries and millennia to come.

The fall of the Roman Empire, which had lasted a thousand years, left the world with a wide, gaping hole when it came to technological achievements. While they invented some technologies like underfloor heating, concrete, the calendar that our modern calendar is based on, aqueducts, arches, and more, it is the Roman’s knack for perfecting what has not been perfected, like roadbuilding, military techniques, indoor plumbing, architecture like the coliseums, etc.

Of course, the Byzantine or the Eastern Roman Empire continued, but the world was never the same, particularly the western world, which suddenly found itself regressing substantially over the next several hundred years. Living conditions would continue to be far below what they’d been in ancient Rome for many centuries to come for most people. Where they’d once had indoor plumbing, aqueducts, advanced surgical techniques and medical knowledge, order and governance, even underfloor heating!

But what if the Great Library at Alexandria had not been lost. What if Hero had started placing steam engines into ships and into mills? What if all of the knowledge of the Western Roman Empire had been carefully preserved and shared out time and time again over the subsequent centuries, what a difference it could have made!

What if humanity can hold it together? At the pace we’re going at now, what discoveries and perfections might we make over the course of the next two or three centuries?

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1080

September 4, 2019

Technology Discussion: Genetic Engineering to Boost Intelligence!

Genetic engineering. Used by Michael Crichton’s character, John Hammond, in the novel and subsequent movie by the same name, Jurassic Park, to create and then populate a theme park with prehistoric animals that eat the park guests, genetic engineering is no longer the stuff of science fiction, it is science fact.

As you read the two articles below, I believe you may be surprised to find that it’s more a matter of when genetic manipulation of human intelligence becomes common and not if. There are moral and ethical issues, not to mention potential risks to forever altering the human genome, that probably to need to be worked out before beginning to see such manipulations becoming commonplace. But will they? Such changes to our DNA may very well be coming much sooner than most of us ever expected. After all, one country already has at least two documented cases of genetic manipulation of human intelligence, and that country is China.

CRISPR Might Have Made China’s “Designer Babies” Smarter

New Research into the gene CCR5 that was allegedly edited out of twin girls in China to protect them from HIV might have made them smarter, raising fears of future “designer babies”

John Loeffler

By John Loeffler

February 22nd, 2019

CRISPR Might Have Made China’s “Designer Babies” Smarter

NIH Image Gallery / Flickr

New research indicates that the controversial use of CRISPR gene-editing on twin girls in China last year might have inadvertently improved their cognitive capacities, including their ability to learn and form memories, leading to a renewed debate about whether designer babies are going to become a reality in the very near future.

Controversial CRISPR Procedure Might Have Unintended Consequences

Brain Damage

Source: Pixabay

The twin girls, Lulu and Nana, allegedly had their genes modified prior to birth, with the stated goal of making the girls immune to HIV infection.

The gene that was supposedly modified using CRISPR is CCR5, which the HIV virus needs to inject itself into human blood cells. However, it also has well-established links to cognitive abilities in mice and memory formation and also helped the human brain recover after a stroke.

Alcino J. Silva, a neurobiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, has been studying the links between human cognition, memory formation, and CCR5 for years. In 2016, Silva and Miou Zhou, a professor at the Western University of Health Sciences in California, showed how removing the CCR5 gene from mice provided a significant boost to their memory.

Silva believes that this alteration also enhanced the cognitive capacity of the twins Lulu and Nana. “The answer is likely yes, it did affect their brains,” he said. “The simplest interpretation is that those mutations will probably have an impact on cognitive function in the twins.”

Beyond that, no one can say what the impact on the girls’ cognitive capacities will be in the long run—for good or bad—; “that is why it should not be done,” Silva added.

Inadvertent Human Enhancement?

The team of scientists who claim to have edited Lulu and Nana’s genes, led by Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen researcher, He Jiankui, say they used CRISPR to edit CCR5 out of the twins’ DNA when they were still only embryos, and that some of the 31 embryos they edited have gone on to becomes pregnancies.

The claim unleashed a global firestorm of condemnation. The Chinese government has opened an investigation into He though there has been no independent verification of He’s work as of yet. Considering that no one knows for sure whether He has actually done as he and his team claim, the swiftness of the condemnation of his work—unproven as it is—shows the sensitivity around this issue.

Whether He did in fact edit Lulu and Nana’s genes, it appears he didn’t intend to impact their cognitive capacities. According to MIT Technology Review, not a single researcher studying CCR5’s role in intelligence was contacted by He, even as other doctors and scientists were sought out for advice about his project.

This further adds to the alarm as there is every expectation that He should have known about the connection between CCR5 and cognition.

At a gathering of gene-editing researchers in Hong Kong two days after the birth of the potentially genetically-altered twins was announced, He was asked about the potential impact of erasing CCR5 from the twins DNA on their mental capacity.

He Chinese Designer Baby

Source: The He Lab / Wikimedia Commons

He responded that he knew about the potential cognitive link shown in Silva’s 2016 research. “I saw that paper, it needs more independent verification,” He said, before adding that “I am against using genome editing for enhancement.”

The problem, as Silva sees it, is that He may be blazing the trail for exactly that outcome, whether He intends to or not. Silva says that after his 2016 research was published, he received an uncomfortable amount of attention from some unnamed, elite Silicon Valley leaders who seem to be expressing serious interest in using CRISPR to give their children’s brains a boost through gene editing.

As such, Silva can be forgiven for not quite believing He’s claims that he wasn’t intending to alter the human genome for enhancement. When Lulu and Nana were announced to the world, Silva says “My reaction was visceral repulsion and sadness.”

“I suddenly realized—Oh, holy shit, they are really serious about this bullshit,” Silva added.

Are Designer Babies Inevitable?

The idea of designer babies isn’t new. As far back as Plato, the thought of using science to “engineer” a better human has been tossed about, but other than selective breeding, there really hasn’t been a path forward.

In the late 1800s, early 1900s, Eugenics made a real push to accomplish something along these lines, and the results were horrifying, even before Nazism. After eugenics mid-wifed the Holocaust in World War II, the concept of designer children has largely been left as fodder for science fiction since few reputable scientists would openly declare their intention to dabble in something once championed and pioneered by the greatest monsters of the 20th century.

Memories have faded though, and CRISPR significantly changes this decades-old calculus. CRISPR makes it easier than ever to target specific traits in order to add or subtract them from an embryos genetic code. Embryonic research is also a diverse enough field that some scientist could see pioneering designer babies as a way to establish their star power in academia while getting their names in the history books, all while working in relative isolation. They only need to reveal their results after the fact and there is little the scientific community can do to stop them, unfortunately.

Unethical, Almost Certainly…But It Might Not Matter

When He revealed his research and data two days after announcing the births of Lulu and Nana, the gene-scientists at the Hong Kong conference were not all that impressed with the quality of He’s work. He has not provided access for fellow researchers to either his data on Lulu, Nana, and their family’s genetic data so that others can verify that Lulu and Nana’s CCR5 genes were in fact eliminated.

This almost rudimentary verification and validation would normally accompany a major announcement such as this. Neither has He’s work undergone a peer-review process and it hasn’t been formally published in any scientific journal—possibly for good reason.

Science

China Confirms Second Woman Pregnant with Gene-Edited Baby

Researchers such as Eric Topol, a geneticist at the Scripps Research Institute, have been finding several troubling signs in what little data He has released. Topol says that the editing itself was not precise and show “all kinds of glitches.”

Gaetan Burgio, a geneticist at the Australian National University, is likewise unimpressed with the quality of He’s work. Speaking of the slides He showed at the conference to support his claim, Burgio calls it amateurish, “I can believe that he did it because it’s so bad.”

Worse of all, its entirely possible that He actually succeeded in editing Lulu and Nana’s genetic code in an ad hoc, unethical, and medically substandard way. Sadly, there is no shortage of families with means who would be willing to spend a lot of money to design their idea of a perfect child, so there is certainly demand for such a “service.”

“Could it be conceivable that at one point in the future we could increase the average IQ of the population?” Silva asks. “I would not be a scientist if I said no. The work in mice demonstrates the answer may be yes. But mice are not people. We simply don’t know what the consequences will be in mucking around. We are not ready for it yet.”

Genetic Engineering to Boost Intelligence

By: Hsin-Yi Cohen BSc, MA, MSt – Updated: 18 Mar 2019 | comments*Discuss

Genetic Engineering Improving

Like many aspects of genetic engineering, manipulating DNA to potentially boost intelligence is a controversial topic with many ethical dilemmas. However, efforts still continue in this direction and recent experiments by researchers in the US have produced genetically-modified mice that demonstrate better learning and remembering. Such research may pave the way for new gene therapy treatments for mental disorders and even one day, the ability to improve human intelligence.

Modifying The Brain at a Genetic Level

There are 3 main ways to modify the development of an organism through its genes:

Gene Therapy – this is done on a partially- or wholly-mature organism and uses specifically-modified viruses to target the DNA within the organism’s cell. It has been applied with limited success in treating some human congenital deficiencies

Genetic Breeding – frequently done on plants and livestock, this uses DNA testing to select certain organisms in a breeding programme or to decide which seeds or embryos to keep, without having to wait for the organism to mature and express the desired traits to know which ones to select, as is done in traditional selective breeding.

Genetic Engineering – usually done while the organism is still in the single-cell state, this involves customising the DBA so that it will express a specific trait or series of traits.

With regards to intelligence, the first method (gene therapy) is not very relevant or useful as overall intelligence is largely influenced by early brain development. The second method (genetic breeding) would be the simplest way to achieve intelligence improvement as the desired trait (high intelligence) occurs naturally and is easily passed on from parent to progeny. However, human breeding is too sensitive and controversial an area to be engaged in seriously, particularly with the fears of genocide, so this leaves just the last method, genetic engineering, as the only alternative for biologically improving intelligence.

Problems with Genetic Engineering

Unfortunately, the technology available for genetic engineering is still limited at present and it would be especially insufficient to tackle a complex phenomenon such as higher intelligence. It is also important to note that improved intelligence is obviously a trait that would be conferred significant evolutionary advantage and therefore any simple DNA modifications which would have increased intelligence would have been strongly selected for already. Anything which has not been selected for probably came with serious side effects that would have cancelled out any advantages the additional intelligence gave. Nevertheless, it is also worthwhile to note that these side-effects may be treatable by modern medicine and therefore those genes which were not selected for by natural evolution could be selected for by genetic engineering, provided that their side-effects could be mitigated by other techniques in modern medicine and science.

The other problems with genetic engineering arise in the practical aspects. First, the specific chain of events which occur, enabling DNA to translate into complicated traits like intelligence, is not well understood. In particular, researchers would have to locate the specific genes which code for intelligence. If it was possible to find a number of distinct, rare genes which each independently improve intelligence, then it may be possible to create a baby carrying all of these genes, who would presumably grow up to express a new plateau of intelligence. However, a complex trait like intelligence is unlikely to be coded by a few simple, distinct genes.

In addition, there are the problems of measurement. Even if it was ethically viable to modify some human embryos to carry certain genes, wait for them to mature into adults and then test their IQ, it may be difficult to derive any conclusive evidence from the results, as overall intelligence is not simply dependent on an IQ score.

The First Step…

Having said all that, researchers have already begun genetic engineering experiments on animals to improve intelligence and have enjoyed some success so far. A team from Princeton, Washington and MIT universities have found that adding a single gene to mice produced a boosted ability to solve maze tasks, learn from sounds and objects in their environment and retain that knowledge. This was achieved by enabling the mice to retain certain brain features of juvenile mice into adulthood, as young animals are believed to be better at grasping large amounts of new information, ie. better at learning. The researchers believe that these results show that it may be possible to boost human intelligence in the future.

However, the only way to prove any real effects on humans is to do human trials with real babies, children and adults and genetic engineering of humans remains highly questionable from an ethical point of view.

http://www.aboutintelligence.co.uk/genetic-engineering-boost-intelligence.html

CONTEST UPDATE: Please keep spreading the word about the $100 Amazon gift certificate giveaway! If we get enough to join over the next week, I plan to announce the day of the drawing on Labor Day! The winner will be chosen from the list of those who are currently subscribed to the blog.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

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Blog Post #1080

August 28, 2019

Technology Discussion: Limitless: Turbocharge YOUR Brain!

Eddie Morra. An average, everyday guy, a novelist who, struggling with writer’s block, has seen his writing career flounder while his personal life flounders. As if the unpaid bills, the unkempt apartment, and lack of attention to his personal hygiene wasn’t enough, he gets dumped by his beautiful girlfriend; worse yet, she’s rather kind and sympathetic in the way she does it, rubbing salt in the wound.

That’s when poor Eddie Morra catches the break of a lifetime. During a chance encounter with Vernon, the brother of his ex-wife Melissa, he’s given a sample of a mysterious, secret new drug, nootropic called NZT-48. After telling Eddie how amazing it is, Vernon, feeling sorry for him, leaves Eddie with a sample of NZT and leaves.

Hesitant at first, Eddie soon gives in and tries the strange, experimental drug, deciding he’s got little to lose. Through the eyes of Morra we can soon see it was the right decision. Everything soon comes into focus for Eddie like never before, and his senses are on fire. His cognitive abilities are enhanced many times over, giving Eddie near perfect memory recall, vastly improved mental processing abilities, and enabling him to do things no normal human being on the planet could do.

Eddie begins and finishes a book the same day, turning it in to his publisher the following morning. After acquiring more of the drug he goes on to invest in the stock market and work for a huge investment firm, helping companies make important decisions about the buying and selling of major corporations. He becomes a respected and sought-after mover and shaker on Wall Street after only a few weeks on NZT. From loser to millionaire in weeks.

NZT. Yes, it’s fictional. But does anything like NZT really exist?

Well, there is a class of supplements called nootropics, which offer some benefit. Nootropics is an umbrella term for a class of chemicals — some naturally-occurring, some manmade — that give cognitive benefits to the human brain.

  • L-Theanine
  • Bacopa Monnieri
  • Ginkgo Biloba
  • Nicotine
  • Noopept.
  • Piracetam
  • Phenotropil

While they are supplements, nootropics have been widely used by students on some of the world’s top-rated universities to help with improved memory recall, focus, and over all cognitive function. I personally know of at least one graduate student who used them regularly throughout his undergraduate and graduate years and continues to do so, with great success, so there must be something to this phenomenon.

There are also various prescription medications that have been proven to be effective at improving mental clarity, recall, and focus. Some of them are listed below, along with nootropics.

The Following information came from the healthline.com website. A link is provided at the end of this post.

The 14 Best Nootropics and Smart Drugs Reviewed

Nootropics and smart drugs are natural or synthetic substances that can be taken to improve mental performance in healthy people.

They have gained popularity in today’s highly competitive society and are most often used to boost memory, focus, creativity, intelligence and motivation.

Here’s a look at the 14 best nootropics and how they enhance performance.

#1. Caffeine

  • Caffeine is the most widely consumed psychoactive substance in the world (1Trusted Source).
  • Caffeine works by blocking adenosine receptors in your brain, making you feel less tired.
  • A low to moderate caffeine intake of 40–300 mg increases your alertness and attention and decreases your reaction time. These doses are especially effective for people who are fatigued.

#2. L-Theanine

  • L-theanine is a naturally occurring amino acid found in tea, but it can also be taken as a supplement (7Trusted Source).
  • Taking even just 50 mg — the amount found in roughly two cups of brewed tea — has been found to increase alpha-waves in the brain, which are linked to creativity (9Trusted Source).
  • L-theanine is even more effective when taken with caffeine. For this reason, they’re often used together in performance-enhancing supplements. What’s more, they are both naturally found in tea (7Trusted Source, 10Trusted Source).

#3. Creatine

  • Creatine is an amino acid, which your body uses to make protein.
  • After it’s consumed, creatine enters your brain where it binds with phosphate, creating a molecule that your brain uses to quickly fuel its cells (11).
  • This increased availability of energy for your brain cells is linked to improved short-term memory and reasoning skills, especially in vegetarians and highly stressed people (12Trusted Source, 13Trusted Source, 14Trusted Source).
  • Studies show that it’s safe to take 5 grams of creatine per day without any negative effects. Larger doses are also effective, but research on their long-term safety is unavailable (15Trusted Source).

#4. Bacopa Monnieri

  • Bacopa monnieri is an ancient herb used in Ayurvedic medicine to enhance brain function.
  • Several studies have found that Bacopa monnieri supplements can speed up information processing in your brain, reduce reaction times and improve memory

(16Trusted Source, 17Trusted Source, 18Trusted Source).

  • Bacopa monnieri contains active compounds called bacosides, which improve signaling in your hippocampus, an area of your brain in which memories are processed (19Trusted Source).
  • The effects of Bacopa monnieri are not felt immediately. Therefore, doses of 300‒600 mg should be taken for several months for maximum benefit (20Trusted Source, 21Trusted Source).

#5. Rhodiola Rosea

  • Rhodiola rosea is an adaptogenic herb that helps your body handle stress more effectively.
  • Several studies have found that Rhodiola rosea supplements can improve mood and decrease feelings of burnout in both anxious and highly stressed individuals (22Trusted Source, 23Trusted Source).
  • Taking small daily doses of Rhodiola rosea has been shown to reduce mental fatigue and increase feelings of well-being in college students during stressful exam periods (24Trusted Source).
  • More research is needed to determine optimal dosing and better understand how the herb causes these effects.

#6. Panax Ginseng

  • Panax ginseng root is an ancient medicinal plant used to boost brain function.
  • Taking a single dose of 200–400 mg of Panax ginseng has been shown to reduce brain fatigue and significantly improve performance on difficult tasks like mental math problems (25Trusted Source, 26Trusted Source, 27Trusted Source).
  • However, it’s unclear how Panax ginseng boosts brain function. It may be due to its strong anti-inflammatory effects, which help protect your brain from oxidative stress and enhance its function (28Trusted Source).
  • Some longer-term studies have found that your body may adapt to ginseng, making it less effective after several months of use. Therefore, more research is needed on its long-term nootropic effects (29Trusted Source).

#7. Ginkgo Biloba

  • Extracts from the leaves of the Ginkgo biloba tree may also have positive effects on your brain.
  • Ginkgo biloba supplements have been shown to improve memory and mental processing in healthy older adults when taken daily for six weeks (30Trusted Source, 31Trusted Source, 32Trusted Source).
  • Taking Ginkgo biloba before a highly stressful task also reduces stress-related high blood pressure and decreases levels of cortisol, a type of stress hormone (33Trusted Source).
  • It’s hypothesized that some of these benefits may be due to increased blood flow to the brain after supplementing with Ginkgo biloba (34Trusted Source).
  • While these results are promising, not all studies have shown beneficial effects. More research is needed to better understand the potential benefits of Ginkgo biloba on your brain (35Trusted Source).

#8. Nicotine

  • Nicotine is a naturally occurring chemical found in many plants, especially tobacco. It’s one of the compounds that make cigarettes so addictive.
  • It can also be consumed through nicotine gum or absorbed through your skin via a nicotine patch.
  • Studies show that nicotine can have nootropic effects, such as improved alertness and attention, especially in people with naturally poor attention spans (36Trusted Source, 37Trusted Source).
  • It has also been found to improve motor function. What’s more, chewing nicotine gum is linked to better handwriting speed and fluidity (38Trusted Source).
  • However, this substance can be addictive and is lethal in high doses, so caution is warranted (39Trusted Source).
  • Due to the risk of addiction, nicotine is not recommended. However, nicotine use is justified if you are trying to quit smoking.

#9. Noopept

  • Noopept is a synthetic smart drug that can be purchased as a supplement.
  • Unlike some of the natural nootropics, the effects of Noopept can be felt within minutes, rather than hours, days or weeks, and typically last for several hours (40Trusted Source, 41Trusted Source).
  • Animal studies have shown that Noopept speeds up how quickly the brain forms and retrieves memories by boosting levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a compound that promotes the growth of brain cells (42Trusted Source, 43Trusted Source, 44Trusted Source).
  • Human research has found that this smart drug helps people recover more quickly from brain injuries, but more studies are needed to understand how it might be used as a nootropic in healthy adults (45Trusted Source, 46Trusted Source).

#10. Piracetam

  • Piracetam is another synthetic nootropic molecule that’s very similar to Noopept in structure and function.
  • It has been shown to improve memory in people with age-related mental decline but does not seem to have much benefit in healthy adults (47Trusted Source, 48Trusted Source).
  • During the 1970s, a few small, poorly designed studies suggested that piracetam may improve memory in healthy adults, but these findings have not been replicated (49Trusted Source, 50Trusted Source, 51Trusted Source).
  • Though piracetam is widely available and promoted as a smart drug, research on its effects is lacking.

#11. Phenotropil

  • Phenotropil, also known as phenylpiracetam, is a synthetic smart drug that is widely available as an over-the-counter supplement.
  • It’s similar in structure to piracetam and Noopept and helps the brain recover from various injuries like stroke, epilepsy and trauma (52Trusted Source, 53Trusted Source, 54Trusted Source).
  • One study in rats found that phenotropil slightly enhanced memory, but research to support its use as a smart drug in healthy adults is unavailable (55Trusted Source).

#12. Modafinil (Provigil)

  • Commonly sold under the brand name Provigil, modafinil is a prescription drug that is often used to treat narcolepsy, a condition that causes uncontrollable drowsiness (56Trusted Source).
  • Its stimulating effects are similar to those of amphetamines or cocaine. Yet, animal studies suggest it has a lower risk of dependence (57Trusted Source, 58Trusted Source).
  • Several studies have shown that modafinil significantly reduces feelings of fatigue and improves memory in sleep-deprived adults (59Trusted Source, 60Trusted Source, 61Trusted Source).
  • It also enhances executive functioning, or the ability to properly manage your time and resources to accomplish your goals (60Trusted Source).
  • While modafinil appears to have strong nootropic effects, it’s only available via prescription in most countries.
  • Even when prescribed, it’s important to use this drug responsibly to avoid negative side effects.
  • Though modafinil is generally considered non-addictive, instances of dependence and withdrawal have been reported at high dosages (62Trusted Source, 63Trusted Source).

#13. Amphetamines (Adderall)

  • Adderall is a prescription medication that contains highly stimulating amphetamines.
  • It’s most commonly prescribed to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy, but it’s increasingly taken by healthy adults to improve attention and focus (64Trusted Source).
  • Adderall works by increasing the availability of the brain chemicals dopamine and noradrenaline within your prefrontal cortex, an area of your brain that controls working memory, attention and behavior (65Trusted Source).
  • The amphetamines found in Adderall make people feel more awake, attentive and optimistic. They also reduce appetite (66Trusted Source).
  • A review of 48 studies found that Adderall significantly improved people’s ability to control their behavior and enhanced short-term memory (67Trusted Source).
  • Depending on the dose and type of pill prescribed, the effects last up to 12 hours (68Trusted Source).
  • It’s important to note that these drugs are not without side effects.
  • Adderall is widely abused on college campuses, with some surveys indicating that up to 43% of students use stimulant drugs without a prescription (69Trusted Source).
  • The side effects of Adderall abuse include anxiety, low sex drive and sweating (70Trusted Source).
  • Recreational Adderall abuse can also cause more severe side effects, such as heart attack, especially when mixed with alcohol (71Trusted Source, 72Trusted Source, 73Trusted Source).
  • Evidence that Adderall enhances mental performance is strong, but it should only be taken as prescribed.

#14. Methylphenidate (Ritalin)

  • Ritalin is another prescription drug used to manage symptoms of ADHD and narcolepsy.
  • Like Adderall, it’s a stimulant and increases dopamine and noradrenaline concentrations in your brain. However, it does not contain amphetamines (74Trusted Source).
  • In healthy adults, Ritalin improves short-term memory, information-processing speed and attention (75Trusted Source, 76Trusted Source).
  • It’s typically well tolerated, but may have the opposite effect and impair thinking if an excessive dose is taken (77Trusted Source).
  • Like Adderall, Ritalin is widely abused, especially by people aged 18–25 (78Trusted Source).
  • The most common side effects of Ritalin include insomnia, stomach ache, headache and loss of appetite (79Trusted Source).
  • It can also cause hallucinations, psychosis, seizures, heart arrhythmias and high blood pressure, particularly when taken in high doses (79Trusted Source, 80Trusted Source, 81Trusted Source, 82Trusted Source).
  • Ritalin is a powerful stimulant that should only be taken as prescribed and monitored closely for abuse.
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/nootropics#section14

Though listed by healthline.com at #12, Modafinil is considered by many to be one of the most desired brain-enhancement pills on the market. While it requires a prescription and is intended for those having difficulty staying awake during the day, it’s been shown to be one of the more effective pills on the market.

The truth is, however, that there just isn’t anything available that comes close to being as powerful as NZT-48, although given the current exponential rise in the level of our technology, it may not be long before such a pill exists, enabling each and everyone of us to accomplish far more than human beings have ever been able to do before.

By now you must be wondering, what about genetic engineering? Can we use it to ensure our children are given as much opportunity as possible to be born with enhanced cognitive ability?

No, at least not yet. Although it was used to modify the DNA of twins so that they were born with AIDS immunity, intelligence is just too complex a trait influenced by too many genes. Using CRISPR/CAS9 to try and enhance intelligence would be a more challenging task than the technology was originally designed for.

But you can bet with everyone working towards it that it’s coming soon!

CONTEST UPDATE: Please keep spreading the word about the $100 Amazon gift certificate giveaway! If we get enough to join over the next week, I plan to announce the day of the drawing on Labor Day! The winner will be chosen from the list of those who are currently subscribed to the blog.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1079

August 14, 2019

Technology Discussion: We Must Fight for our Freedom or Lose It

Invented by the Greeks in 400 B.C., catapults were used in ancient and medieval times to hurl stones, spears, and other objects at fortifications.

The crossbow was invented in China but developed into a significant weapon in medieval Europe. With a mechanism for holding the drawn bow until it was ready to release, it propelled arrows with tremendous force as far as 350–400 yards. The crossbow allowed soldiers to fire from great distances and avoid close contact with the enemy. Swords, which had to be used at close range, were no match.

The discovery of gunpowder led to the development of cannons in the 1300s. Cannons could demolish castle walls and blast through wooden ships.

Machine guns allowed for rapid, continuous fire, thereby eliminating frequent reloading. The first was the Gatling gun, used in the American Civil War.

The tank, an armored combat vehicle equipped with a cannon and machine guns, replaced the use of rifles in war. It put an end to trench warfare, since tanks, with their caterpillar traction, could easily bulldoze over trenches. Tanks were first used at the end of World War I, and they emerged as a symbol of modern warfare.

Combat aircraft, both bombers and fighter planes, changed the nature of war during World War II. Air superiority became critical to victory. The British Spitfire, American Mustang, and German Messerschmitt were among the most famous fighter planes of the war.

Nuclear weapons, first developed in 1945, allow for massive destruction. Atom and hydrogen bombs are examples of nuclear weapons. Because these weapons are so perilous to human existence, treaties limit their development.

https://www.infoplease.com/us/american-wars/weapons-changed-warfare

Make no mistake about it, the freedom you and I enjoy, the freedom fought for and so painfully fought for and won by so many brave men (and women) who died, lost limbs, and suffered incalculable loss for, is something that can be snatched away from us at a moment’s notice. Hitler tried during WW II as did the emperor of Japan. Then after the war Stalin tried, followed by a host of other Soviet leaders during the Cold War.

Throughout history and the modern era, countries have had to fight for their freedom, or bow to the whims of their victors, surrendering not only their freedom, but their dignity and in many cases their lives as well.

We now face a new threat, from a very ancient enemy, China. Often misunderstood and almost always underestimated, the Chinese are very proud of their ancient civilization, prizing how it has outlasted so many other civilizations while continuing to thrive. They are masters of strategy and the long game, using their enemy’s weakness against them at every turn while doing their best to manipulate them.

Back in the late 1990s I went to work for holding company for a group of large furniture companies. I recall our CEO returning from a trip to China and informing us how the Chinese were building one empty manufacturing plant after another, in preparation for the business they were expecting to come. And boy did it ever come, along with so many American jobs. The Chinese soon owned the furniture manufacturing business while American furniture companies were closing-up shop and laying-off employees all over the nation. Manufacturing jobs were flocking from the United States over to China, along with trillions of dollars in spending on Chinese goods.

So, what do you suppose the Chinese did with this newfound prosperity and the abundant wealth? They used it to build missiles that they pointed back at America. They build new naval ships and even aircraft carriers they could use to flex their muscle all over the world for the first time. And they used it to build new fighter jets and submarines, even rail guns, one of America’s newest technologies, al of which they built to use primarily against us, Americans, the same Americans who were buying their products.

It’s a commonly known fact that many of us often forget that while it is the technology, most of which the Chinese stole from us by the way, that may win the war, it is a strong economy that powers the war machine and builds the technology that wins the war. A strong, vibrant economy is a must for a country to thrive and to maintain a powerful military.

From Task & Purpose’s Website…

President Donald Trump’s nominee to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff warned during his Senate confirmation hearing that China would be the US’s chief military rival for the next century.

“I think China is the main challenger to US national security over the next 50, 100 years,” Milley told lawmakers. “I think some historian in 2119 will look back at this century, write a book, central theme of the story will be the relationship between the United States and China.”

“I think China has expanded throughout all the regions of the globe, in clear competition,” he added. “Primarily in competition for resources in order to build and improve their military, to fund and fuel their economy.”

He said: “China is improving their military very, very rapidly — in space, air, cyber, maritime, land domains.

“They’re outspending us in research and development and procurement … We, the United States, need to make sure that we do not lose our advantages that we have relative to other countries, specifically relative to China.”

I’m pretty certain the average Roman citizen ever thought the Roman Empire would ever crumble and become just another footnote in history, but it did. We must be ever vigilant if we are to hold to the freedoms we hold so dear.

It’s been encouraging to see the United States’ economy prospering while the Chinese economy falters, giving America a chance to makeup for lost time and rebuild our military, while plugging the security leaks the Chinese have been exploiting to sap our technological strength.

If we don’t stand-up and fight for our freedom, we will lose it, that’s a fact. And if those who seem to want to tear down America aren’t so very careful, if those who hate and despise the very country that cared for and nurtured them, preserving their rights and freedom of speech don’t change course, they might one day find a weakened America, no longer able to defend itself, suddenly under new management, speaking Mandarin. And the next time they speak out to belittle, complain, and protest, it might be the last thing they ever do.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1077

July 30, 2019

Technology Discussion: Project Artemis: From the Earth to the Moon

Artemis. Now I don’t know about you, but in 2019, having raised four children, when I think of Artemis, I think of something more like this. Okay, yeah, well…wow…maybe not exactly like this, but you get the idea—the animated version of her from the Young Justice series.

So, who is the Artemis from Greek mythology? One of the twelve Olympians, she was the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo, and the goddess of the hunt, of animals, and of the wilderness, which brings me to what this week’s blog post is all about.

But what is Project Artemis? It is a new and rather exciting mission currently in the works at NASA. Some of it sounds as if it comes right out science-fiction, but it’s real, and coming soon.

According to NASA, “Artemis is the first step to begin the next era of exploration. NASA will establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon with the goal of sending humans to Mars.”

“ President Donald Trump has asked NASA to accelerate our plans to return to the Moon and to land humans on the surface again by 2024. We will go with innovative new technologies and systems to explore more locations across the surface than was ever thought possible. This time, when we go to the Moon, we will stay. And then we will use what we learn on the Moon to take the next giant leap – sending astronauts to Mars ”

—NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine

If you are anything like me, you may be wondering “why the moon, haven’t we already been there, done that,” and you’d be right of course. But please, continue reading and I think you’ll learn, if you don’t already know, the reasons why. According to NASA, they are fourfold:

“Inspiration – Just as Apollo inspired a generation 50 years ago, NASA continues to inspire with feats of science and exploration today. If we bring together the capabilities and resources of our international and commercial partners to take us forward to the Moon and on to Mars, we will demonstrate to people around the world the power of a unified purpose. It will serve as an unparalleled and inspiring example of what humanity can do when it comes together to achieve a common goal for the common good.

Science- The Moon is a treasure chest of science. The lunar samples returned during the Apollo Program dramatically changed our view of the solar system. Yet, we are just scratching the surface of knowledge about the Moon.

Exploration- Exploration is in the DNA of our species – the desire to discover and inhabit distant worlds, whether across Earthly oceans or vast regions of space. It also is critical to the continuation of our species. Humanity must build a path to an Earth-independent existence.

Exploration of the Moon and Mars is intertwined. Our sustainable Moon to Mars exploration approach is reusable and repeatable. Over the next decade, we will build an open exploration architecture with as many capabilities that can be replicated as possible for missions to Mars. The Moon is a testbed for Mars. It provides an opportunity to demonstrate new technologies that could help build self-sustaining outposts off Earth.

Economy- The next revolution will happen in space – a space economy built on mining, tourism, and scientific research that will power and empower future generations. Our investments in revolutionary, American-made technologies today fuel tomorrow’s innovation and space economy.” https://www.nasa.gov/specials/moon2mars/#top

According to Space.com, there is also an orbital space station planned.

“Under Artemis’ umbrella are several components. First is the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway, a station around the moon that would extend humanity’s presence in space and provide a platform for scientific experiments and jaunts to the lunar surface. 

The Gateway would be carried into lunar orbit by the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS), a gigantic new rocket NASA is developing. Four-person crews would access the station using the Orion deep-space capsule and remain for 30 to 90 day stints…” 

https://www.space.com/artemis-program.html

The Timeline: (Taken and extrapolated from NASA’s website for your reading pleasure)

2019: To the Moon by 2024- On March 26, 2019, President Trump directed NASA to land the first American woman and next American man on the lunar South Pole in the next five years. NASA accepted this bold challenge, and is working to accelerate technology and hardware development to move forward to the Moon, with humans on the surface by 2024.

2019: Commercial Moon Deliveries: Through Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS, NASA is partnering with nine American companies to send new science instruments and technologies to the Moon ahead of a human return. NASA plans to issue its first task order for payload delivery services to the lunar surface in May, and the first delivery could happen by late 2019 if commercial landers are ready. NASA will order more deliveries to the Moon as needed over the next decade.

2020: Artemis1: NASA is targeting 2020 for the launch of its powerful Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft together for the first time from a modernized Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This uncrewed flight test, known as Artemis 1, will demonstrate our capability to send crew spaceship to lunar orbit ahead of a return to the surface of the Moon. After launch, SLS will also deploy a number of CubeSats to perform experiments and technology demonstrations.

2022: Artemis 2: NASA is targeting 2022 to test its powerful Space Launch System with astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft. Launching again from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Artemis 2 will fly a different path than the first test flight, and will take a crew around the Moon for the first time in fifty years. This first mission with astronauts will mark a significant step forward for regular missions with crew to lunar orbit, and ultimately on the surface of the Moon and beyond.

2022: First Gateway Element: The power and propulsion element for the Gateway will launch on a private rocket by December 2022, and provide a one-year demonstration in space. Using advanced solar electric propulsion, this first module of the Gateway will provide power, propulsion and communications for the entire spaceship as its assembled and operated.

2023: Science & Exploration Rover: NASA is working with commercial industry to develop mobility platforms, such as rovers, to carry science instruments and look for and sample water-ice (volatile) deposits. Landing a rover in 2023 on the Moon will be the beginning of better understanding the nature of lunar volatiles and could lead to new scientific discoveries. It will also provide us knowledge as to how we can use the water-ice for fuel, oxygen and drinking water for human exploration missions to lunar surface.

2023: Second Gateway Element: NASA will launch a small cabin on a private rocket to dock with the power and propulsion element. The first astronauts to visit the Gateway will transfer from Orion to this pressurized cabin, where they will prepare for their expedition to the lunar South Pole.

2024: Human Landing System: The human landing system will be launched in stages aboard private rockets. They will assemble together in lunar orbit and dock to the Gateway as a single unit, ready to take astronauts down to the lunar surface.

2024: Artemis 3: NASA’s Space Launch System will send Orion and its crew to lunar orbit, where it will dock at the Gateway. The crew will check out the Gateway cabin and Human Landing System before boarding the lander to ride down to the Moon.

2025: Artemis 4: NASA will build on the capabilities established for the 2024 landing, and work with U.S. industry and international partners to develop a sustainable human lunar presence. The Space Launch System rocket will send Orion spacecraft and its crew to lunar orbit, where astronauts will conduct expeditions aboard the Gateway and on the lunar surface.

2026: Artemis5: NASA’s Space Launch System will send Orion and its crew to lunar orbit, where astronauts will conduct expeditions aboard the Gateway and on the lunar surface.

2027: Artemis 6: NASA’s Space Launch System will send Orion and its crew to lunar orbit, where astronauts will conduct expeditions aboard the Gateway and on the lunar surface.

2028: Artemis 7: NASA’s Space Launch System will send Orion and its crew to lunar orbit, where astronauts will conduct expeditions aboard the Gateway and on the lunar surface.

2028: Sustainable Human Lunar Presence- NASA and its industry and international partners plan to have a steady cadence of astronaut expeditions to the Gateway and lunar surface, with increased Gateway capabilities and reusable landing systems.

2030s: Astronauts on Mars: NASA is keeping its eyes on human exploration of Mars. Our sustainable Moon to Mars exploration approach is reusable and repeatable – we will build an open exploration architecture in lunar orbit with as many capabilities that can be replicated as possible for missions to the Red Planet.

So that’s the plan. Place a space station around the moon, build a permanent base on the moon, then land astronauts on Mars. It’s a good plan, a solid plan, and a typical, safe, methodical NASA plan. Its not the kind that got us to the moon the first time, that kind of an would have us on Mars by this time next year, but it is what they must work with given their constraints.

As I’ve stated before on this blog, however, don’t be surprised if private enterprise beats NASA there. I imagine if Space-X makes it to the moon and to Mars first we’ll all be cheering them on, with NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine their biggest cheerleader.

SPECIAL REQUEST! I’m considering replacing this blog with a podcast. I’m told blogs are going the way of the dinosaur and in order to stay relevant I need to start doing a podcast. What are your thoughts? Let me know by emailing me at jeff@hortonlibrary.com with Blog vs. Podcast in the subject line!

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1077

July 30, 2019

Technology Discussion: Part-2: Is it time for an International Body to Govern Humanity’s Expansion Beyond Earth and into the Cosmos?

So who’s in charge of humanity’s affairs in outer space, and who governs or decides who gets what when it comes to space?

As of this moment, some, but not all activities regarding space, the moon, and other celestial bodies, like Mars, are supposedly governed by a somewhat vague and likely unenforceable, 50-year-old document, called The Outer Space Treaty…

Below is an excerpt from that treaty:

From Wikipedia…”

“The United Nations and the Outer Space Treaty

The Outer Space Treaty, formally the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, is a treaty that forms the basis of international space law. The treaty was opened for signature in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union on 27 January 1967, and entered into force on 10 October 1967. As of June 2019, 109 countries are parties to the treaty, while another 23 have signed the treaty but have not completed ratification.

Below are the countries who have signed the treaty…

Algeria

Antigua and Barbuda

Argentina

Armenia

Australia

Austria

Azerbaijan

Bahamas

Bangladesh

Accession

Barbados

Belarus

Belgium

Benin

 

Accession

Bolivia

Botswana

Brazil

Bulgaria

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Cameroon

Canada

Central African Republic

Chile

China

Colombia

Cuba

Cyprus

 

Czech Republic

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Denmark

Dominican Republic

Egypt

El Salvador

Equatorial Guinea

Estonia

Ethiopia

Fiji

Finland

 

 

France

Gambia

Germany

Ghana

Greece

Guinea-Bissau

Guyana

Haiti

Holy See

Honduras

Hungary

Iceland

India

Moscow

Indonesia

Iran (Islamic Republic of)

Iraq

Israel

Italy

Jamaica

Japan

Jordan

Kazakhstan

Kenya

Kuwait

Lao People’s

Lebanon

Lesotho

 

Libya

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Madagascar

Malaysia

Mali

Malta

Mauritius

Mexico

Mongolia

Montenegro

Morocco

Myanmar

Nepal

Netherlands

New Zealand

Nicaragua

Niger

Nigeria

Norway

Moscow

Pakistan

Panama

Papua New Guinea

Paraguay

Peru

Philippines

 

 

Poland

Portugal

Qatar

Republic of Korea

Romania

Russian Federation

Rwanda

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

San Marino

Saudi Arabia

Serbia

Seychelles

Slovakia

Slovenia

Somalia

South Africa

Spain

Sri Lanka

Switzerland

Syrian Arab Republic

Thailand

Togo

Tonga

Trinidad and Tobago

Tunisia

Turkey

Uganda

Ukraine

 

United Arab Emirates

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

United States of America

Uruguay

Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)

Viet Nam

Yemen

Zambia

“Among the Outer Space Treaty’s main points are that it prohibits the placing of nuclear weapons in space, it limits the use of the Moon and all other celestial bodies to peaceful purposes only, and establishes that space shall be free for exploration and use by all nations, but that no nation may claim sovereignty of outer space or any celestial body. The Outer Space Treaty does not ban military activities within space, military space forces, or the weaponization of space, with the exception of the placement of weapons of mass destruction in space.”

The treaty was certainly a step in the right direction and was, I expect, meant to be a stop-gap measure, intended to be a placeholder until a more permanent, longer-term solution could be developed after much consideration and deliberation among the world’s greatest minds. After all, at the time, the world had gone from placing a crude satellite into orbit (Sputnik) in 1957 to landing several men safely on the moon in 1969, only twelve years after Sputnik and two years after the treaty was first signed.

Since the entire Space Race had taken place in essentially twelve ten years up until that point, it’s easy to imagine that the men and women involved with the formation of the Outer Space Treaty would have assumed that men would certainly have landed on Mars by sometime in the 1970s or 1980s, with a Martian colony in place by no later than the 1990s. No doubt a longer-term plan for humanity’s peaceful expansion into space would be formulated along the way. To be sure, all of this was a reasonable hypothesis.

How could the men and women of the American astronaut program and the Soviet Cosmonaut program have anticipated the decline in interest in the moon after repeated trips there by NASA. It would take several more decades and the emergence of private enterprise and the free market, along with another pro-space president in the vein of President Kennedy, a man named Donald Trump, to come along with the vision and the will to act to make outer space a priority for America once again.

Back to our scenario on Mars, where we have the American company, Space-X, the Chinese, the Russians, NASA, and the Indians all arguing over access to the limited water supply on Mars. This is only one very small example. What f the Chinese claimed that entire quadrant of Mars in the name of China and declared it off-limits to all “foreigners,” threatening to use force against anyone refusing to leave?

Clearly, a governing body of some sort is necessary, a body that is substantially different from the United Nations and, I believe, has a charter that greatly exceeds what the United Nations was designed to do.

I propose a new type of organization, a new form of government, one that is not answerable to any one government, but where the leadership is derived from nations from around the world. Then, just as member nations contribute to NATO and/or the United Nations, so too would member nations contribute to this Earth Space Alliance, which would govern the expansion of humanity into the cosmos.

There would need to a lot of details to be worked out to be sure, but the point is this; do we want to venture out beyond Earth as a fractured species, members of a collection of distinct, tiny little landmasses from our home world, or do we unite, and venture out into the vastness of the cosmos as one united people? Does it sound cheesy? Yeah, I suppose it does sound a little cheesy. But even if it does, I think it sounds a lot better than the alternative.

Who knows, perhaps space will unite us as a species in a way our home world never could. One can only hope.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1076

July 23, 2019

Technology Discussion: Part-1: Is it time for an International Body to Govern Humanity’s Expansion Beyond Earth and into the Cosmos?

Space, as it says in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, is big, really big. Still yet, it’s starting to get a little crowded out there.

Seeing as this past Saturday marked the 50th anniversary since Apollo 11 landed on the moon, space seems a fitting topic for this week’s post. It’s been on my mind an awful lot for a while now, I hope you’ll indulge me.

As the famed oceanographer Jacques Cousteau once said, “The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.”

It seems it is the same with space. We must be mindful however just how dangerous space is for us fragile human beings. Unlike our pioneer ancestors, should we make a mistake on the trail, it’s not just food and water we run out of, it’s air pressure, and oxygen.

Despite the risks however, an increasing number of countries can now include themselves in what is still a relatively small and select club of nations, the spacefaring nations. Many nations have launched satellites into space at this point, though only a few have landed on the moon up until now, among them the United States, the former Soviet Union, China, and perhaps India, if their spacecraft, the Chandrayaan-2, lands successfully in September. Surprisingly, a slightly higher number of countries has either attempted or has successfully made the difficult trek to Mars, among them The United States, Russia, the European Space Agency, China, India, and Japan.

The United States, under the leadership of President Donald Trump, has made a number of bold announcements about space, which are significant both in range and depth of impact. First, NASA, and the president, announced that NASA will be establishing a permanent base and human presence on the moon within ten years by the year 2028. Second, NASA will land human beings on Mars by the early 2030s. In addition to these major announcements, President Trump has announced the formation of a new Space Force, or Space Corp, which has been established under the United States Air Force. These are all major development in expanding our presence off-planet.

At various points in the past, at least two companies openly announced plans to mine the many asteroids that lie in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Unfortunately, it seems both companies either went bankrupt or were bought-out and acquired by another organization. Whether or not what remains of these two companies will ever end-up succeeding in achieving their initial visions of mining asteroids remains to be seen. Despite their failure one thing remains clear, space-mining will happen and its likely to be sooner than later; space-mining will unquestionably soon be open-for-business. Given that the vast number of asteroids in the asteroid belt numbers in the millions, that the size of these beasts range from just under 1-mile to 60-miles in diameter, and the fact that many are comprised of precious metals like iridium, palladium, platinum, gold, osmium, ruthenium and rhodium, it’s no wonder that private industry is licking its chops to get into the space business.

Planetary Resources, one of the now-defunct companies with hopes of mining asteroids in space, stated at the time that those metals exist in such high concentrations on asteroids that a single 500-meter platinum-rich asteroid can contain more platinum group metals than have ever been mined on Earth throughout human history. Go figure.

Helium-3. It’s been hailed by some as the most efficient, cleanest-burning fuel for fusion reactors because there’s no leftover radioactivity. Now there just happens to be a new international fusion test center in France that is due to fire up a new fusion reactor in 2025. It’s not designed to use Helium-3, however, as it would have to be able to create even more heat than it already will, and it would have to be considerably larger than it already is; that’s the problem with using Helium-3, and it’s the reason, say some, that using Helium-3 in fusion reactors is just a pipe-dream. If they can find a way to prove Helium-3s efficacy and profitability as a resource, however, I’m sure you can see how good that would be for the world, since fusion is, some say, the future path to unlimited energy (at least until we learn how to harness anti-matter).

Supposing one-day soon scientists find a way to utilize Helium-3 as fuel in reactors, the cleanest-burning nuclear fuel known to man, where can we find it, on Earth? No, not as a matter of practicality. The amounts we have here are negligible. The most abundant supply of Helium-3 is guess-what, on the moon. With NASA’s plan for a permanent presence on the moon, and the stated goals of several private, start-up space companies, it would be child’s play to build mining colonies on the moon, should it become profitable to do so.

Beyond just mining, at least one company, Elon Musk’s Space-X has plans for space that exceed that of even NASA, to not only land a man on Mars, but to establish a human colony or city on Mars, by 2030. If he’s successful, by the time astronauts from NASA arrive, they may find accommodations, perhaps a Mars Hilton or Mars Marriott waiting for them, sporting a place to shower, a fitness center, and a swimming pool, with restaurants and a movie theater nearby!

So far, I’ve focused mostly on just what America is doing. Be certain however, that China, Russia, India, and the ESA all have designs on getting people to MARS as well, in all likelihood sooner than later. Perhaps they will not beat Space-X or NASA there, but they will make it there, eventually, barring anything catastrophic or momentous happening here on Earth.

Where am I going with all of this, you may ask? Please, allow me to walk you through what could be a very real scenario, one that could one day become a scary reality with very real, and deadly implications.

Imagine that water is found at a specific location on Mars soon after Space-X lands there and first begins setting up their colony there. As the first human beings on Mars, they must address certain essentials, the most important of which is water. They soon discover a huge cache of underground water, as pure as underground spring water back on Earth. Maybe they build a huge tank and water processing facility right there onsite.

Then, a few years later, NASA arrives and sets up shop on Mars, standing-up their own habitat not far from where Space-X found the large supply of water. Members of the NASA colony naturally need and want access to the watershed, so they ask and perhaps, maybe, Musk reluctantly grants it, but only after complaining at length to NASA administrators back home and storing up a few favors.

Now soon after all of this, say the following year, a ship from China lands a few miles on the opposite side of the Space-X colony. Naturally, after setting-up shop they too request access to the same water and a month later, when the Russians land some distance beyond NASA, the Russians do as well. Musk, and the Space-X colony leadership decides it’s finally had enough and says no more. They got there first, it’s their water. Arguments break out, words are exchanged, and as the situation grows increasing heated both on Mars and back home on Earth, intelligent people on both planets begin asking themselves the same question; who’s in charge, who gets the final say on access to such precious resources as water on Mars?

Check-out next week’s blog for my solution to this nagging dilemma!

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1075

July 17, 2019

Technology Discussion: The Internet

The Great Library. It stood in Ancient Egypt in two locations, and included works by Homer, Aristotle, Plato, and many other ancient philosophers. There were volumes written in ancient Egyptian, Greek, Chaldean, Hebrew, and other languages as well. At one time there were as many as 700,000 volumes contained in the library until, according to most scholars, they met their end quite by accident as casualties of war at the hands of none other than Julius Caesar, when he was caught-up in the Egyptian civil war between Cleopatra and her brother, Ptolemy XIII.

The loss of the Great Library was a blow to the ancient world, the loss of a wealth of knowledge, brought together in one location, where scholars had come to gain access to the world’s collective knowledge, but now it was gone.

Today, we have great libraries all over the world with significantly greater collections of works than were ever contained in the Great Library. But there is something far greater still, something that in many ways is even more impactful today than the Great Library was in ancient times and believe me, that is saying something given the profound lack of knowledge in the ancient world.

When the Internet was first conceived, it was nothing more than connectivity between the universities of the United States and the United States military. Later it became something quite different, however, as businesses began connecting to the Internet, some to gain access to resources, others for various reasons. But some of us around in those early days of the Internet, back when computers were just starting to get dial-up modems and CD-ROM drives, could see the potential of what was coming even then; worldwide, instantaneous access to nearly all human knowledge right at your fingertips. And who could have foreseen Google, or the role it would play in helping us to navigate the enormous volumes of data out there in Cyberspace.

For those of you who are old enough answer me this question, what would you have done if you needed to identify what a specific snake looked like, and you had no family or friend you could turn to? Well, you would likely trot down to your local library, unless you happen to have purchased your own set of Encyclopedia Britannica encyclopedias, lol! But now, what would you do? Google it, of course!

I can’t even begin to recount the number of times that I, as a member of the information technology community, used Google to find technical answers to problems I was facing at the time. While researching material for a novel I was writing at the time I’d often surf the Internet, looking for source material, pulling information from U.S. Cybercommand, from Congress, from companies, universities, the list goes on and on. Do I think I’m the only one who does this? No! Of course, not! You can be certain that lawyers, doctors, scientists, engineers, scholars, researchers, and many others all over the planet are doing the exact type of thing, tapping into the wealth of knowledge that is quite literally at our fingertips.

Now just try to imagine the innovation that such access has helped drive in recent years, and may help drive tomorrow. Perhaps the cure for Cancer or Alzheimer’s will be found next week because of the easy access to information on the Internet that wasn’t available just thirty years ago! Maybe the development of the first spacecraft capable of carrying the first man to Alpha-Centauri and back while his loved ones are still alive is just around the corner.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1074

July 10, 2019

Technology Discussion: Unlimited Energy Beginning in 2025?

UNLIMITED ENERGY

Fusion, the nuclear reaction that powers the Sun and the stars, is a potential source of safe, non-carbon emitting and virtually limitless energy. Harnessing fusion’s power is the goal of ITER, which has been designed as the key experimental step between today’s fusion research machines and tomorrow’s fusion power plants. https://www.iter.org/

Here is an overview from the ITER website:

“What is ITER?

(Click to view larger version...)

“ITER (“The Way” in Latin) is one of the most ambitious energy projects in the world today.

“In southern France, 35 nations are collaborating to build the world’s largest tokamak, a magnetic fusion device that has been designed to prove the feasibility of fusion as a large-scale and carbon-free source of energy based on the same principle that powers our Sun and stars.

“The experimental campaign that will be carried out at ITER is crucial to advancing fusion science and preparing the way for the fusion power plants of tomorrow.

“ITER will be the first fusion device to produce net energy. ITER will be the first fusion device to maintain fusion for long periods of time. And ITER will be the first fusion device to test the integrated technologies, materials, and physics regimes necessary for the commercial production of fusion-based electricity.

“Thousands of engineers and scientists have contributed to the design of ITER since the idea for an international joint experiment in fusion was first launched in 1985. The ITER Members—”China, the European Union, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United States—are now engaged in a 35-year collaboration to build and operate the ITER experimental device, and together bring fusion to the point where a demonstration fusion reactor can be designed.”

ITER-It means “The Way” in Latin. It represents something so new, so fantastic it’s existed only in the realm of scientific theory and science-fiction, at least for most of us. Oh, like many of you, I suppose, I’d heard about nuclear fusion, the much cleaner, safer cousin to nuclear fission, which has been around since the Manhattan Project.

Nuclear fission is an unnatural occurrence, not normally found in nature. With nuclear fission, power is generated when a heavier nucleus like uranium or plutonium is bombarded by a stream of neutrons and broken into smaller nuclei. The energy released is captured, converted into steam, and used to turn turbines and create electricity. The nuclei formed during the process are unstable and radioactive, resulting in the toxic, radioactive waste byproducts of fission-based nuclear power plants.

Nuclear fusion on the other hand, is a natural occurrence and is found everywhere in nature, in the hearts of nearly every star in the sky, and beyond. Nuclear fusion is what powers the sun, and every other star in the universe. The collision of hydrogen atoms at high-heat causes them to fuse, creating a heavier nucleus, like helium.

It’s long-been the dream of many to replace nuclear fission in nuclear power plants with nuclear fusion, largely because nuclear fusion leaves little to no nuclear waste as a byproduct of energy creation. The same cannot be said of nuclear fission, which creates substantial quantities of leftover, and very dangerous radioactive waste, which must be carefully and securely disposed of in secure facilities, lest it fall into the hands of terrorist groups, determined to create weapons of mass destruction.

Below are some of the Key Differences Between Nuclear Fission and Nuclear Fusion:

The differences between nuclear fission and nuclear fusion can be drawn clearly on the following grounds:

  • The nuclear reaction in which a heavy nucleus is broken into smaller nuclei, by releasing neutrons and energy, is called nuclear fission. A process in which two or more lighter atoms combine to create a heavy nucleus is called nuclear fusion.
  • Nuclear fusion takes place naturally, such as in stars like the sun. On the other hand, nuclear fission reaction does not happen naturally.
  • Conditions supporting nuclear fission includes the critical mass of the substance and neutrons. Conversely, nuclear fusion is possible only in extreme conditions, i.e. high temperature, pressure and density.
  • In the nuclear fission reaction, the amount of energy required is less than the energy needed in a fusion reaction.
  • Nuclear fission liberates an enormous amount of energy during the reaction. However, this is 3-4 times less than the energy released during nuclear fusion.
  • Nuclear fission can be controlled through various scientific processes. As against this, nuclear fusion is impossible to control.

Clean, unlimited energy. No more fossil fuels which are quickly being depleted and are harmful to the environment. No more nuclear fission reactors with the vast amounts of nuclear waste and the more dangerous, volatile nuclear reactions that come with fission.

Nuclear fusion, the engine that powers the stars. It’s been a dream for so many for so very long and now, it seems, it may soon become a reality. Who knows, perhaps one day we’ll have nuclear fusion reactors to power cities, planes, trains, ships, perhaps even cars, or at least we’ll be able to store energy produced by nuclear fusion. It’s clean, and it’s in abundant supply. Of course, we’ll also be able to build spacecraft powered by fusion engines as well, if not more exotic technologies like antimatter engines.

What a great time to be alive!

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

Blog Post #1073

July 3, 2019

Technology Discussion: Want to Live Forever? Your Children or Grand-Children Could End-up living to be 1,000 Years old, or older?

  25Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and became the father of Lamech. 26Then Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years after he became the father of Lamech, and he had other sons and daughters. 27So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and he died.

Genesis 25-27

According to the Bible, human beings once lived to be nearly one-thousand years old. Imagine that, living for nearly ten centuries, a millennium. If someone were a thousand -years-old today, they would be old enough to have fought in the first crusades to wrest control of Jerusalem out of the hands of the Muslims. He or she could have met Robin Hood, Genghis Khan, Marco Polo, Copernicus, Galileo, Sir Isaac Newton, and the list goes on.

Of course, we know that except for the occasional centenarian, someone who lives to be over a hundred-years-old, most people don’t live to be more than seventy or eighty years old. The current world-record for longevity in modern times is Jeanne Louise Calment from France, who lived to an unprecedented 122 years 164 days, from 1875-1997

Those who read the Bible may know that after the Great Flood, God decided to limit the lifespan of humanity to one-hundred-and-twenty-years and gradually, Noah’s descendants lived less and less until indeed, their lifespan settled around one-hundred-and-twenty-years.

Whether you’re a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, an agnostic, an atheist, or something else, one thing is certain, after searching for decades, scientists are getting closer to finding ways of enabling us to live longer, and healthier lives.

It’s all science-fiction, you say? Apparently not. In doing research for a recent novel I came across one scientific article after another about how science has been rolling back the curtain on how DNA, senescent cells, and certain catalysts interact to cause us to age, and about what progress has already been made in the laboratory to roll-back time for humanity. It’s true, it seems, that before long, scientists may well crack the code to “curing” aging, imagine that!

In just one article below, scientists were able to extend the lifespan of a mouse by 30%. That’s roughly thirty years for a human being, certainly an accomplishment, proving they may be on the right track.

Aging Is Reversible—at Least in Human Cells and Live Mice

“Changes to gene activity that occur with age can be turned back, a new study shows”

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/aging-is-reversible-at-least-in-human-cells-and-live-mice

Below is an excerpt from yet another article about not only extending the lifespan of human beings, but extending the health span as well…

“Most people do not believe that the science of aging has made enormous progress in the last few years and human trials of anti-aging drugs have already started, with more to begin soon. Experts in the lifespan-extension field, called geroscientists are gaining the attention of mainstream medicine. They realize that we are living longer than ever before. However, we spend a significant portion of our lives sick and suffering. That is why geroscientists are shifting their focus from extending lifespans to extending healthspans, by making the latter part of our lives relatively free from chronic disease. To do this, anti-aging scientists are attacking the aging process itself, as it is the cause of almost all chronic conditions.

“The Kurzsegat video provides three examples of discoveries that might benefit people who are alive today, such as senolytic drugs that remove senescent cells, NAD supplementation and stem cell therapy.

1. Senescent Cells

“One way of extending lifespan is to kill off senescent cells.

“As the Kurzsegat video explains, these non-functioning cells, also called zombie cells, clog up your body and disrupt normal functioning. The numbers of senescent cells in our bodies increases as we grow older, a hallmark of aging common to all of us. Senescent cells create chronic inflammation, called inflammaging that harms surrounding tissue. Scientists have implicated these zombie cells as a significant cause of the chronic diseases of old age such as kidney failure and type 2 diabetes.

“Lifespan extension advocates, such as Aubrey de Grey of the SENS research foundation have been long advocating for ways to remove these troublemakers.

“Up until recently, there’s been no way to get rid of them. However, a new experiment in mice used drugs that were able to kill up a majority of senescent cells without harming healthy ones. The treated mice were more youthful, more energetic and regrew lost hair. Another study used “mice genetically engineered to get rid of senescent cells. The treated mice enjoyed a 30% increase in lifespan, along with improved health and less cancer.

“Why do Senescent Cells Form?

“The cells in our bodies have an expiration date. Each time a cell divides, it copies its chromosomes, losing a tiny bit of DNA at the ends. This protective DNA at the end of our chromosomes are called telomeres.  Looking like the plastic tips of shoelaces, telomeres protect our DNA by keeping it from fraying. Telomeres shorten with each cell division. In some cells, after 50 to 70 cell divisions, our telomeres have been reduced to the limit, and the cell turns into what is called a senescent cell. When they become damaged, most of our cells are programmed to commit a form of suicide, called cell death; however senescent cells neglect to do so. This is because senescent cells underproduce a protein that tells them when it is time to commit hari-kari… For more on this, follow this link…

http://longevityfacts.com/video-revolutionary-technologies-beat-aging-lifetimes/

Yeah, I know, some of you might be bored by the science stuff. Still, though, you have to admit it’s pretty amazing, right? This isn’t science-fiction, this is reality, and it’s going to change everything we know about what it means to be human very, very, soon!

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

www.hortonlibrary.com

-+ https://i2.wp.com/www.hortonlibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Pic-31.jpg?resize=259%2C300

Author Jeff W. Horton

Blog Post #1072

June 26, 2019

Technology Discussion: Free Enterprise and Space Travel

I had no idea when went into work that morning that it would be such a significant day; but was it ever. Perhaps had I been president, I would have had them all to the White House, made it one of the biggest media events of our time. I suppose one can hardly blame President Bush, however, who’d been our leader during 9/11, and then again during the Iraq War. With the invasion of Iraq taking place only six months earlier, I suppose he was a little preoccupied with the war when Paul Allen’s company, called Mojave Aerospace Ventures (MAV), successfully launched their privately-built spacecraft, SpaceShipOne, into space not just once, but twice in 2004, making SpaceShipOne the first privately-owned ship to enter Earth orbit, and win the coveted X-prize of 10-million dollars.

https://i0.wp.com/www.hortonlibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/spaceship1.jpg?resize=454%2C257 The Ansari X Prize was a $10 million purse for the first privately built vehicle that could safely haul a pilot and the equivalent weight of two passengers to the edge of space — then repeat the feat within two weeks.

Oh, and I must note the tremendous respect I’ve always held such great respect for the two pilots of that craft. The first flight was piloted on September 29, 2004 by Mike Melvill, while the second was piloted on October 4, 2004, by Brian Binnie. What tremendous courage these two men must have had to pilot an experimental craft, stripped bare to the bone in order to reduce weight to the edge of space!

Of course, it wasn’t the success of SpaceShipOne itself, as incredible as it was, that was what made October 4, 2004 so important. No, it’s what it signified, the beginning of a new era, the emergence of the private sector into space travel, that was big, really big, really, really big.  It freed up the power of the marketplace, the power of competition, which will change our world in ways we can only imagine.

The first time I can remember ever even thinking about private enterprise in space was during the first of the Alien films. Subsequent films, and books, occasionally featured a business operating, usually with ill-intentions, in space. The point is, just as in our past, when private enterprise drove trade ships to explore new trade routes to the Indies,  to China, to countries all over the world, so too will the need for resources and trade drive space travel, mining expeditions, even colonies on other worlds, moons, perhaps even asteroids.

In case you believe I’m exaggerating, allow me to share a link with you, and then explain what I watched on my television this evening.

https://i1.wp.com/www.hortonlibrary.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/falconheavy.jpg?resize=487%2C289 Here’s the link: https://www.spacex.com/webcast

The link goes to a page on the SpaceX website, where there is a recorded webcast from June 25, 2019, when SpaceX carried out an incredible 24 individual missions for the Air Force, along with a collection of other agencies and organizations, in a single launch its Falcon Heavy during the SpaceX STP-2 Mission. It was a shining example of cooperation between government and private enterprise, which will bring financial and mission success to both, while spurring growth that otherwise would never would have happened. It was a very, very exciting event to watch, reminiscent of watching NASA launches in the past. Even when one of the thrusters was unable to successfully land on its platform and ended up breaking in pieces, the two side thrusters returned to Earth and landed perfectly, and all 24 satellites, including one with a very large solar-wind sail that will open nearly a week later, were successfully launched into space.

Of course, Elon Musk, who runs SpaceX, has plans far beyond the launching of satellites into space. He has big pans for space tourism, for the colonization of Mars, and beyond. Again, the power of capitalism and the free market, driving ingenuity, creativity, and investment, in unforeseen ways, paving humanity’s way into the cosmos.

Oh, wondering what happened with SpaceShipOne? Billionaire Sir Richard Branson’s company, Virgin Galactic bought the company, and has now built a new, SpaceShipTwo. With plans to passengers and cargo trips to space (apparently nearly 600 passengers are already signed-up to go), presumably to near-earth-orbit, perhaps the ISS, or since this IS Sir Richard Branson, perhaps an orbiting Virgin Galactic Space Hotel? What a great time to be alive!

Read this!  https://www.virgingalactic.com/articles/sir-richard-branson-announces-virgin-galactic-move-to-spaceport-america-this-summer-as-company-readies-for-commercial-service/

“Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA (10th May 2019):

At a press conference today at the New Mexico State Capitol Building in Santa Fe, hosted by New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, Virgin Founder Sir Richard Branson announced that Virgin Galactic’s development and testing program had advanced sufficiently to move the spaceline staff and space vehicles from Mojave, California to their commercial operations headquarters at Spaceport America, New Mexico. The move, which involves more than 100 staff, will commence immediately and continue through the summer, to minimise schooling disruption for families.

Virgin Galactic partnered with New Mexico in an agreement which saw the state complete construction of Spaceport America, the world’s first, purpose-built commercial spaceport, and Virgin Galactic committing to center its commercial spaceflight activities at the facilities once its vehicles and operations were ready for service.

This announcement signals the final countdown to a regular commercial spaceflight service for paying passengers and science research from Spaceport America. It follows the great progress in operational readiness at Spaceport, including the completion of the hanger, offices, fuel farm, warehouse and antenna for telemetry and communications, as well as interior fit-out. It also positions New Mexico on the frontline of technological innovation and, as one of the very few places on Earth that plays host to regular human spaceflight launches, a magnet for inward investment.

Virgin Galactic will reposition its space system consisting of carrier aircraft VMS Eve and spaceship VSS Unity from Mojave, California to Spaceport America over the summer months once cabin interior and other work has been completed by Virgin Galactic’s sister manufacturing organisation, The Spaceship Company (TSC). It will complete its final test flights from New Mexico for commencing a full commercial service for passengers and research payload. TSC will remain based in Mojave where it will continue building Virgin Galactic’s planned fleet of SpaceShipTwo and carrier aircraft WhiteKnightTwo vehicles.”

There are a few concerns I have about space travel, which I’ve mentioned in a previous blog. The first is that if we’re going to be spending a lot of time in space, we really need some type of true energy-shielding, yes, like Star Trek. Fire Phasers, Mr. Sulu. Seriously, space is dangerous folks, really dangerous. You’ve got all types of radiation, gamma bursts, etc. You’ve also got objects flying around at incredibly high speeds. Remember, space is a vacuum, which means there’s no friction to slow anything down. Imagine being struck by a small screw left behind by an astronaut or cosmonaut during a spacewalk some twenty years ago. Now remember that this screw could be going thousands of miles an hour right through your suit, affecting the pressure in your suit, sucking out your air, and oh yeah, with the screw going right through your chest and your heart. There is a growing amount of space debris, not to mention micrometeorites in space, which traditional metals may not be enough to protect us, and the ship, from.

The other concern is about distance. Without a really significant breakthrough, I’m talking Einstein or Newton here, that allows us to bend space or otherwise circumvent the laws of time and space, we’re going to be pretty much stuck here, in our own solar system. No matter how you slice it, the closer you get to the speed of light in your spaceship the more time is going to pass back home. It won’t be your wife and children you’ll be going home to when you get back, it will be your descendants; you’ll be an ancient ancestor to anyone you left behind. In fact, I suspect you may run across your descendants out wherever you’re going, because by then, THEY will have found a way around Einstein’s General theory of relativity.

I don’t know about you, but that would be no way to live for me. At the end of the day I want to go home to my family.

So who knows, maybe the next Albert Einstein, the next Isaac Newton, will discover a way to get around relativity, maybe by creating a wormhole, a stargate, or an interdimensional hyperdrive that we can slip into and arrive halfway across the galaxy while staying well away from the speed of light. Perhaps he, or she, will also develop some type of energy shielding for protecting us during our travels through space.

Lastly, before wrapping up here. I watched a documentary on television the other day about a man named Bob Lazar, perhaps you’ve heard of him. He claims to have worked at the S-4 base out at Papoose Lake, near Groom Lake, Nevada, and next door to the famous Area 51 base. Yes, he claims to have seen alien ships. In fact, he claims he was a contractor back in the 1980s, hired by the government to reverse engineer the propulsion-systems on these alien spacecraft (I believe he said there were nine in total?), which he did. He took them apart and put them back together again. He said they used gravity waves, created by element 115, to propel the ship in different directions. He went on to add that on one occasion at the base, he was shown a device that actually repelled his hand when he tried to press it against the device, much like one magnet repels another magnet with the same pole.

Now I don’t know whether to believe Bob Lazar or not, but I must confess I believe he’s telling the truth, or at least believes he is. Perhaps, if it IS true, one day some genius will succeed with reverse-engineering some of these technologies and we will be well on our way to exploring not just our solar system, but the galaxy, and then the universe.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

Blog Post #1071

June 12, 2019

Free Flow Thinking: Let’s Remember to “Never Forget”

September 11, 2001.

7:59 a.m.: American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 carrying 81 passengers and 11 crew members, departs 14 minutes late from Logan International Airport in Boston, bound for Los Angeles International Airport. Five hijackers are aboard.

8:14: United Airlines Flight 175, a Boeing 767, carrying 56 passengers and 9 crew members, departs 14 minutes late from Logan International Airport in Boston, bound for Los Angeles International Airport. Five hijackers are aboard.

8:14: Flight 11 is hijacked over central Massachusetts, turning first northwest, then south.

8:20: American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757 with 58 passengers and 6 crew members, departs 10 minutes late from Washington Dulles International Airport, for Los Angeles International Airport. Five hijackers are aboard.

8:42: United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757 with 37 passengers and 7 crew members, departs 42 minutes late from Newark International Airport, bound for San Francisco International Airport. Four hijackers are aboard.

8:42–8:46 (approx.): Flight 175 is hijacked above northwest New Jersey, about 60 miles northwest of New York City, continuing southwest briefly before turning back to the northeast.

8:46:40: Flight 11 crashes into the north face of the North Tower (1 WTC) of the World Trade Center, between floors 93 and 99. The aircraft enters the tower intact.

8:50–8:54 (approx.): Flight 77 is hijacked above southern Ohio, turning to the southeast.

9:03:00: Flight 175 crashes into the south face of the South Tower (2 WTC) of the World Trade Center, between floors 77 and 85. Parts of the plane, including the starboard engine, leave the building from its east and north sides, falling to the ground six blocks away.

9:28: Flight 93 is hijacked above northern Ohio, turning to the southeast.

9:37:46: Flight 77 crashes into the western side of The Pentagon and starts a violent fire.

9:45: United States airspace is shut down.

9:59:00: The South Tower of the World Trade Center collapses, 56 minutes after the impact of Flight 175.

10:03:11: Flight 93 is crashed by its hijackers as a result of fighting in the cockpit 80 miles (129 km) southeast of Pittsburgh in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Later reports indicate that passengers had learned about the World Trade Center and Pentagon crashes and were resisting the hijackers. The 9/11 Commission believed that Flight 93’s target was either the United States Capitol building or the White House in Washington, D.C.

10:28:22: The North Tower of the World Trade Center collapses, 1 hour and 42 minutes after the impact of Flight 11. The Marriott Hotel, located at the base of the two towers, is also destroyed.

10:50:19: Five stories of part of the Pentagon collapse due to the fire.

5:20:33 p.m.: 7 World Trade Center, a 47-story building, collapses.

Like the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the landing of the first man on the moon, or the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle, those of us who are old enough remember where we were the morning of September 11, 2001.

I was at work, still sipping on my first cup of coffee, when I learned a plane had crashed into the world trade center; I assumed it was an accident. Then, some fifteen minutes later another plane crashed into the WTC; it was no coincidence and the crashes were no accidents. With co-workers initially keeping me and others informed on the latest news, while doing the best I could to stay abreast via the Internet, we eventually turned on a television in an executive conference room and played the news non-stop in reference storm on the big screen.

Horrific footage of more than a few men and women who chose to hurl themselves off of the towers rather than to succumb to flame and smoke, played and re-played on the television screen, often accompanied by the dropped jaws of the news anchors who stood or sat agape at what they were witnessing only blocks from where they were broadcasting. And, of course, more than a few tears were shed as flames consumed the burning buildings as if reaching up from the pit of Hell.

While everyone inside raced to escape the hellish inferno of death, misery, and horror inside the two towers, bystanders and cameras bore witness as some of the bravest human beings on the planet, members of the New York City Fire Department and Police Department raced inside, the first responders, racing inside the two towers in an effort to save as many lives as possible.

In less than two hours after the first passenger plane crashed into the World Trade Center, both towers had collapsed, leaving massive piles of debris, but not before sending unbelievable amounts of dust, concrete disintegrated into powder, small bits of steel, wood and plastic, fumes, gasses, toxins, powders, and carcinogens like asbestos into the air, all of which were inhaled by our first responders, and others who were on or near the scene on that horrific day or soon after during the clean-up, which lasted for weeks.

The September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, often referred to as the 9/11 fund, was set aside by Congress to help offset the health costs for those first responders and others who later became secondary victims of the 9/11 attack. Many have developed cancer and other life-threatening ailments that have killed many and left others on death’s door. This fund, while in no way making up for their pain and suffering, has, I’m sure, been helpful to many, who otherwise might not have been able to afford securing the proper healthcare needed given the chronic and long-term nature of their ailments.

The 9/11 fund is in serious jeopardy now, however, and Congress is moving far too slowly in expanding the program to levels necessary to adequately care for those who rushed in to save lives that day, and helped to recover the bodies of our fallen in the weeks and months that followed. Funds are being slashed, heavily impacting those who need them the most.

We must not forget that we desperately need to remember what we all promised ourselves and each other almost eighteen years ago; We Will Never Forget.

Contact your Congressman or Congresswoman immediately and tell them to fix the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund NOW, when the victims who are suffering and dying need it the most!

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/watch-jon-stewart-calls-out-lawmakers-over-9-11-victims-compensation-fund-in-emotional-house-testimony\

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

Blog Post #1070

June 6, 2019

Free Flow Thinking: We’re Not Alone in the Universe-First Contact

First Contact. Wow. I honestly assumed its definition could readily be found in just about any dictionary or encyclopedia of your choosing. Yet its definition felt conspicuously absent among most of the traditional characters in that space when I went searching online for it. Just an interesting tidbit. Perhaps the folks who decide what goes into encyclopedias and dictionaries will be among those who have the most difficulty adjusting when humanity makes first contact. Or, right, I forgot; I still need to provide definition of what first contact is, don’t I? No? Of course I don’t, because those of you reading this blog are far too informed and intelligent to require one. Still, some folks are just working so hard and staying so busy, they may need one, so here’s one I finally found after searching for one for over thirty-minutes.

https://www.yourdictionary.com/first-contact

(anthropology) the first meeting between people of two previously unknown cultures. (science fiction) the first meeting between humans and extraterrestrials. (astronomy) the moment, during an eclipse or transit, when the apparent positions of the two bodied first touch.

My last blog, which I must apologize for taking two weeks off from while I was on vacation, was on how I believe the government has been slowly and carefully preparing us for the introduction of extraterrestrials into our collective psyche. Yeah, so I sound a little like a conspiracy theorist, so what? Sometimes they’re right, you know. In this instance, I believe there’s just too much evidence. So let’s take a moment to examine what a first contact with an alien race might be like, our expectations versus the likely reality of such an encounter. I’ll do this through a handful of possible types and then scenarios I see possibly playing out here and list the reasons for each scenario.

Type 1: ET is hostile.

Think Independence Day, Falling Skies, War of the Worlds, well, you get the idea. It’s not really al that far-fetched really when you think about it. Technologically superior cultures have almost always conquered and assimilated technologically inferior cultures. Just consider the Roman Empire, the Spanish and the Aztecs, the Europeans and the Native Americans, the list goes on and on throughout our history. They may not be blood-thirsty, carnivorous, creatures, bent on wiping out all of humanity, but are they determined to use their superior technology to exert their control over us? You bet they are.

Type 2: ET is like…ET.

It’s always possible an alien intelligence could be so benign, so peaceful it would be incredibly shy like Elliot, withy nary a violent bone in its diminutive body. We certainly have human beings who fit that bill, people who are extraordinarily shy, bashful, creatures. Perhaps a Koala bear with an exceptionally high I.Q.

Type 3: ET is highly intelligent, benevolent, and eager to share his advanced, seemingly miraculous technology with the teeming masses of humanity. He brings with him the cure for all diseases, the cure for aging, a means for enhancing intelligence, strength, health, and a means of making the human body virtually indestructible without changing anything about it. Genetic enhancements ensure there will be no more loss of crops due to famine or disease. Finally, their gift of wormhole technology, the design for interstellar engines, and advanced energy shielding enables humanity to begin traveling amongst the stars. Their benevolence enables humanity to leap forward technologically a thousand years in the matter of only one.

Type 4: ET is too busy living his own life from day to day to worry much about anyone else’s. He’s not here to help neither is he here to harm, he’s merely here by accident, or out of necessity. Perhaps he’s far more technologically advanced than humanity, such that he barely even notices us when he visits the Earth to repair his transport or pick up some more fuel.

Now I’m not saying that ET will be all one of these. Chances are that he will be a compilation of two or more of the scenario-types presented above.

As far as First Contact goes, that could take place in one of several different ways.

Scenario 1: ET presents himself to the world publicly, at the same time. This is the “ET landing on the White House lawn” scenario.

Scenario 2: ET has already made himself known to one or more governments, perhaps decades earlier. Now is time for a public introduction and revealing the existence of extraterrestrial life to humanity.

Scenario 3: ET makes first contact with humanity but either ET, or world governments, decide it must be in secret, out of the public eye.

Okay, so now the time has come for predictions! What do you expect ET will be like? Will he be more like Elliot, Thanos, or perhaps he’s a little more like Oscar from Sesame Street?

Okay, okay, since you’re twisting my arm, I’ll give you my prediction.

Jeff W. Horton’s 2019 Prediction for First Contact with extraterrestrial life:

Type: Type 4 with a healthy dose of Type 3 thrown in as well.

Scenario: Scenario 2. ET has already made himself known to one or more governments, perhaps decades earlier. Now is time for a public introduction to ET.

One final point. Many UFOlogists (yes, that’s a term,) will tell you that more than one species of alien has already been to Earth, and I’d have to agree with this point of view. After all, if one alien can cross the vastness of interstellar space to get here, why wouldn’t another?

This also suggests that motives are likely to be different as well. Some visiting our world may well be benign, while others are far from it.

The bottom line is that it seems unreasonable to expect that an advanced, sentient, alien will bring with him, her, or it the answers to all our wants, needs, and desires; the world already has a Savior.

It also seems unreasonable to believe that in a universe as vast as ours, an incredibly advanced civilization would cross the galaxy just to wipe-out all life on Earth.

The truth likely falls somewhere in the middle. Our alien friends will have their own wants and desires, and we will have ours. We can help them, and they can help us. That’s what trade and friendship is all about. I’s a big, big universe out there; couldn’t we all use a friend?

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

Blog Post #1069

May 16, 2019

Free Flow Thinking: We’re Not Alone in the Universe, and the Government’s About to Tell you That

There has been a flurry of announcements about UFOs recently from the United States Government, announcements that come closer than ever before to admitting that UFOs are real, and that their origin is not of this Earth.

While the UFO phenomenon as we know it began immediately following the Roswell Incident in 1947, visitations by extraterrestrials or unidentified flying objects has been reported throughout recorded history. The odd Egyptian depiction that seems to closely resemble a spacecraft or extraterrestrial being, a medieval painting with an unusual object hovering in the afternoon sky.

Certainly, activity seems to have picked up following the testing and subsequent dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan during World War II, bringing an end to what otherwise would have been a very bloody and prolonged war.

Then, in 1947, a crashed flying disc was reported to have crashed in Roswell, New Mexico on a ranch, leaving strange, metallic debris scattered across open fields in all directions. The Air Force was called and Major. Jesse A. Marcel of the 509th Bomb Group Intelligence Office went out to the ranch and confirmed that indeed it was a flying disc. Subsequent reports from more senior officers debunked that claim, of course, but the picture of Marcel, later ordered to have his picture taken with remnants of a Project Mogul weather balloon, left many like myself believing the earlier announcement by the intelligence officer rather than the later, official statement. ON his deathbed Marcel broke his silence and swore that what he had seen had indeed been a crashed alien craft and most definitely not a weather balloon, Mogul or otherwise.

So why then has the United States government, and world governments the world over conspired together to keep the existence of UFOs secret? I suspect there were originally several, good, common-sense reasons for this, but I also believe they are growing less and less relevant by the day.

Reason Number One: We were in the grip of what was becoming a very tense, dangerous Cold War with Stalin’s Soviet Union following World War II. Given Stalin’s abject brutality and bloodlust, it was easy to see why any conceivable technological advantage against such a threat would be given a top-priority and the utmost secrecy. If the United States Government had in its possession an advanced alien spaceship capable of crossing the galaxy, who knew what scientific breakthroughs and military applications it might offer for crushing the soviets when the time came?

Reason Number Two: Humanity was woefully unprepared for news that aliens were real, and that they were already here. The War of the Worlds radio broadcast in 1938, just nine years earlier had scared a lot of people, convincing them the broadcast was real and that the world had been invaded by Martians. People behaved erratically, shooting at one another in a mass panic, believing that aliens were murdering people all over the planet.

Then there were religious considerations; no one had ever considered the impact of alien existence on the world’s major religions. What would it mean to Christianity, Islam, and Judaism?

Reason Number Three: How would the public react when their government told them that American airspace was being invaded all over the country at-will by intelligent beings from another world, that they didn’t know why they were here, what they wanted, or how long they’d be here, and there was absolutely nothing their government could do about it?

Okay, you might say, I see your point, that’s why the government might not want to share the truth about UFOs. If that’s true, then, what’s changed?

Good question, I’m glad you asked. The answer is, well, everything.

As for the first reason the cold war may have restarted, in a manner of speaking, but it’s different. It’s nothing like it was prior to 1991, when nuclear war seemed to hang over our heads like an executioner’s axe. Russia is a threat, but so is China and other countries. Russia, while extremely dangerous, is not the Soviet Union.

Regarding the second reason. Our culture is now so acclimated to the notion that aliens exist that even the Vatican has prepared a paper on its position toward the existence of extraterrestrial life. A few years ago, Pope Francis himself announced he would baptize aliens should they come calling.

As for the third issue, our ability to defend our airspace from unwanted visitations, that one’s a bit tougher. I do recall seeing a film clip of a UFO hightailing it out of our atmosphere after being fired upon from something on the ground. Some type of energy-based weapon, perhaps a railgun, fired at the UFO as it approached from space, forcing the craft the craft to abort and flee. Now perhaps that was fake, or maybe a fluke. But say we still have no way to stop unwanted intrusions; I can’t imagine any faster way to discover a new technology so we can develop something that is capable of stopping them than to engage all of humanity (or perhaps more neighborly aliens) in the effort.

In conclusion, I, too, believe humanity is ready for the government to make the announcement that humanity is not alone in the universe, that we’ve been visited by sentient beings from many different advanced civilizations, often with different agendas.

Certainly, some people will have a difficult time accepting we’re not alone, many will not believe it even after being presented with incontrovertible evidence. The vast majority of humanity will, I believe, take it in stride, I believe. Perhaps it will even give us the excuse we’ve always needed to re-assess the incessant need we seem to have to fight among ourselves and give us a reason to unite instead, joining together to explore and settle the cosmos.

Prepare yourself. One of these mornings, perhaps next week, or next month, or next year, you’re going to pick up your remote control and turn-on your television. While you’re having breakfast, you’re going to see a special news bulletin flash across your screen. The president will be hosting yet another world leader in the White House, only this time the world the leader is from will not be the Earth.

Related articles:

5/22/2019

Pentagon finally admits it investigates UFOs

https://www.foxnews.com/science/pentagon-finally-admits-it-investigates-ufos

4/23/2019

U.S. Navy drafting new guidelines for reporting UFOs

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/23/us-navy-guidelines-reporting-ufos-1375290

2/16/2018

How Would We React to Finding Aliens?

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/how-would-people-react-alien-life-discovery-aaas-space-science

12/16/2017

The Pentagon’s Secret Search for UFOs

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/12/16/pentagon-ufo-search-harry-reid-216111

5/13/2014

Pope Francis says he would baptize aliens: ‘Who are we to close doors?’

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-francis-says-he-would-baptise-aliens-9360632.html

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

Team AI SpaceFactory won first place in the final phase of NASA's 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge with Marsha, a tall, thin proposed habitat for the surface of Mars designed to be built autonomously.

Blog Post #1068

May 15, 2019

Technology Discussion: NASA’s 3D-printed Mars habitat challenge

It’s been a busy week, so I’m including this interesting story I found on Fox News about 3D-Printed habitats for Mars. It did seem to me that given the power of the Martian dust storms, wouldn’t the winning team, AI SpaceFactory’s tall, vertical design prove to be a bit fallible?

Here’s the winner of NASA’s 3D-printed Mars habitat challenge

From the Fox news website…

https://www.foxnews.com/science/heres-the-winner-of-nasa`s-3d-printed-mars-habitat-challenge

New York-based design agency AI SpaceFactory took the top prize in a NASA competition to 3D print a habitat that could be used on the moon or Mars.

AI SpaceFactory won $500,000 for its efforts, while the second-place recipient, Penn State, got $200,000.

Team AI SpaceFactory won first place in the final phase of NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge with Marsha, a tall, thin proposed habitat for the surface of Mars designed to be built autonomously. Scroll through visualizations of the winning design above.

“We developed these technologies for space, but they have the potential to transform the way we build on Earth,” David Malott, CEO and founder of AI SpaceFactory, said in the statement. “By using natural, biodegradable materials grown from crops, we could eliminate the building industry’s massive waste of unrecyclable concrete and restore our planet.”

The awards came after a grueling 30-hour challenge in which the participants created one-third-scale structures of their architectural designs, according to a statement from NASA. Each team used robotic construction techniques that are supposed to have little human interference, demonstrating that the process could work autonomously on other worlds.

The competition took place May 1-4 at Caterpillar’s Edwards Demonstration & Learning Center in Edwards, Illinois. Teams built their habitats in 10 hour stretches as a panel of judges examined their work. The completed structures had to pass tests for qualities such as material mix, durability, leakage and strength.

“The final milestone of this competition is a culmination of extremely hard work by bright, inventive minds who are helping us advance the technologies we need for a sustainable human presence on the moon, and then on Mars,” Monsi Roman, program manager for NASA’s Centennial Challenges, said in NASA’s statement. “We celebrate their vision, dedication and innovation in developing concepts that will not only further NASA’s deep-space goals, but also provide viable housing solutions right here on Earth.”

The competition, which opened in 2015 and took place over several stages, attracted 60 teams that collectively won more than $2 million in prizes from NASA. NASA’s major partner in the competition was Bradley University in Illinois.

Read more at:

https://www.foxnews.com/science/heres-the-winner-of-nasas-3d-printed-mars-habitat-challenge

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

Blog Post #1067

May 8, 2019

A Twofer-Just for you-My Loyal Readers!

Free Flow Thinking:  Christian persecution close to ‘genocide levels AND

Technology Discussion: Navy plans to document UFO sightings

For today’s blow I chose to write about two things that are of great interest to me, religion and science. Now it may seem odd to some that some people, of which I proudly include myself, wholeheartedly believe completely in a God just as he is depicted in the Holy Bible, while also believing in science. I find no difficulty whatsoever in reconciling the creation story in Genesis with Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, the Big Bang Theory, Newtons laws of motion, and what little I know of quantum mechanics. Nor do I have any difficulty at all allowing for the possibility for the existence of extraterrestrial life “out there” in the universe. After all, God never said we were the only sentient beings he created throughout the cosmos. Besides, as Carl Sagan said in his book Contact, which also came out in the movie by the same name, if there isn’t life out there, it sure seems like an awful “waste of space”.

Enjoy today’s double-header!

Free Flow Thinking: Christian persecution close to ‘genocide levels

“Political correctness contributes to alarming anti-Christian hostility around the world and caters to the terrorists trying to eradicate Christianity, an expert on religious persecution told Fox News.

The interim findings of a report, which was released last month and commissioned by British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, shows that anti-Christian hostility is not only spreading geographically but also in severity, in some areas “coming close to meeting the international definition of genocide.”

SRI LANKA EASTER MASSACRE HIGHLIGHTS HOW CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION IS ON THE RISE ACROSS THE WORLD

Juliana Taimoorazy, the president of the Iraqi Christian Relief Council and senior fellow of the Philos Project, told “America’s News HQ” on Saturday that ISIS has been committing genocide. She said while Sam Brownback, the United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, has done a lot, there is a need for more.

“I believe the death of most people suffering today is truly because of political correctness, because the world turns a blind eye to this, and when we are politically correct, we are sympathizing with those terrorists that are destroying communities and erasing history,” Taimoorazy said.

The report comes on the heels of the Sri Lanka massacre by Islamic radical terrorists targeting churches and hotels celebrating Easter that killed 250 and wounded more than 500, which Hunt said has “woken everyone up with an enormous shock.”

Tucker: Left struggles to say the word ‘Christians’ following Easter Sunday attacks in Sri LankaVideo

“I think we’ve all been asleep on the watch when it comes to the persecution of Christians,” Hunt told reporters during a recent visit to Ethiopia. “There are various reasons for this but…combined together, they’ve crept up on us.”

TERRORIST ATTACKS ON CHRISTIANS ‘HAPPENING MORE AND MORE’: EX-FBI SPECIAL AGENT”

An alarming 80 percent of all religious persecution is being done to Christians worldwide, and according to Open Doors USA, a watchdog group on Christian persecution, one out of every nine Christians worldwide is being persecuted.”

Wow. Those numbers really floored me, “an alarming 80 percent of all religious persecution is being done to Christians worldwide,” and “one out of every nine Christians worldwide is being persecuted.” How is this possible? At a time when even tribesmen in Africa and nomads in the Middle East carry cell phones, how is it possible that such persecution persists. Worst of all, how is it that in America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, the religious persecution of Christians grows under our very noses?

Now I’ve known Muslims, Hindus, Christians, and atheists and I’ve been friendly with all. I’ve never seen a need to foster hate and violence because we believe differently. That isn’t to say I believe that all paths lead to God, but merely to say that I believe it is between each soul and their creator to decide which path they will follow, not me.

Christianity does indeed seem to be under attack from all sides these days and the persecution seems to be getting worse by the day. Since you don’t typically see modern Christians beheading troublemakers, as some of the more violent sects of Islam do, perhaps the culture sees them as a “softer target.” And perhaps that is precisely what Jesus called us to be, just as he was (though he could have done put a stop to it at any moment).

It’s my hope that good-natured people all over the world will stand-up for the suffering of men, women, and children all over the world, who want to do nothing more than worship their God according to their beliefs and be left alone, will be allowed to do so, free from fear of rape, torture, and murder. Remember, it may be Christians today, but tomorrow, it could be you.

Read more by following this link: https://www.foxnews.com/world/christian-persecution-close-to-genocide-levels-largely-ignored-due-to-political-correctness-report

Technology Discussion: Navy plans to document UFO sightings

“The U.S. Navy plans to set up an official reporting and investigative system that will monitor reports from its pilots about unidentified flying objects.

But while this “X-Files”-worthy operation sounds newsy, don’t expect to hear details about it anytime soon. The Navy doesn’t intend to make the data public, citing the privileged and classified information that these reports usually include, according to The Washington Post.

“Military aviation safety organizations always retain reporting of hazards to aviation as privileged information in order to preserve the free and honest prioritization and discussion of safety among aircrew,” Joe Gradisher, a spokesman for the Office of the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare, told The Washington Post. [7 Things Most Often Mistaken for UFOs]

In fact, beyond the announcement that the Navy is setting up this UFO-reporting procedure, “no release of information to the general public is expected,” Gradisher said.

The upcoming procedure comes in the wake of other government-related UFO news. In late 2017, word came out that the Pentagon had a secret “UFO” office that spent $22 million over five years to study strange and threatening aeronautical events. Although funding for the venture, called the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), ended in 2012, the program didn’t entirely stop, according to those reports.””

Read more by following this link: https://www.foxnews.com/science/navy-plans-to-document-ufo-sightings-but-keep-them-confidential

Finally. The truth IS out there! Yes, I’m an old X-Files fan from way back. Believe it or not, though, I’ve been wondering about E.T. since I was a boy and no, I’m not referring to the short, friendly-looking character from the film, but the real-deal. I cut my teeth on sci-fi series like Star Trek, Space 1999, The Invaders, and numerous films.

So, I’ve always had an open mind when it came to the existence of aliens, if not mostly assuming they existed somewhere in the cosmos. As I grew older, I became increasingly certain that they did exist, that they’d been to Earth, and that out government, and governments all over the world, had been covering up secrets pertaining to the existing of extraterrestrials and extraterrestrial technology. After all, consider the qualifications of those reporting having seen such craft for themselves: doctors, law-enforcement, military fighter pilots, airline pilots, air traffic controllers, even astronauts and past presidents!

I’ve long-suspected that the government has been siting on some pretty significant secrets surrounding the existence of extraterrestrials, most likely due to fear over how the public at-large would react were a spacecraft from another world to lad on the Whitehouse lawn. I continue to believe, however, that once those in charge of these closely guarded secrets feel it is safe to release them to the public that they will release them to the press, given sufficient pressure to do so.

Perhaps the Navy’s announcement was a trial balloon, to see how the world would react. Given the ho-hum response I’ve seen in the press, I’d say it bodes well for the announcement of additional programs in the not-too-distant-future!

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

Blog Post #1066

May 1, 2019

Technology Discussion:  Overpopulation, the Sea, and Jules Verne

Captain Nemo, that illustrious, fictional denizen of the deep, who lived off the sea and marveled at her many wonders. He was very much the type of man who, if any would, could imagine what I’m about to suggest.

First, however, consider this, seventy-one percent of the earth’s surface is covered in water. That means the entirety of humanity lives on what amounts to what remains, just over one-quarter of the earth’s surface, much of which is currently uninhabitable, land such as the Sahara Desert or Antarctica.

But what about that nearly three-fourths of the earth’s surface covered in water? What if humanity is ever able to find a way to exploit that real estate, to begin living, working, and playing in the world’s oceans? Can you imagine a world where human beings adapt to live and work in the world’s oceans, building homes, cities, and futures?

But how? Will human beings grow gills? Doubtful, though with the advances in genetics, who knows? Perhaps great domed cities will cover the ocean floors, interconnected by underground transit systems. Great forests of kelp may be grown in shallower depths to end-up on the dinner plates of residents. Great turbine generators may one day dot the ocean floor, placed in areas with high tidal movements and designed to capture the kinetic motion of the ebbing and surging of ocean tides in order to produce electricity. For those residing at truly deep depths, perhaps research stations, underground thermal vents may provide both a source of heat and energy.

Recall I mentioned that three-quarters of the earth’s surface is covered with water. Perhaps one day man will build communities to live on the water or perhaps, even above it. Then, on days when the sea grows rough due to hurricanes or other nasty weather, perhaps the city would submerge underwater until the storm passed.

Would building such a city be difficult? Without question. But certainly, it would be possible given enough time, effort, and resources.

On a planet where the world’s population grows daily, which is a good thing by the way, we should probably begin to imagine how we might exploit areas of the world we never considered as habitable before, at least not by human beings, and begin looking at the earth in new ways. Technology has come a long way and necessity is, of course, the mother of invention.

The possibilities are endless. But surely just as man has exploited his ingenuity to explore the vast reaches of space, I expect he will also, one day, begin to exploit that same ingenuity to find ways of living not just on land, but under, on, and perhaps even above the ocean.

Perhaps good Captain Nemo was onto something.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

Blog Post #1065

April 24, 2019

Free Flow Thinking: What I write about, the future, and Billie Holiday

As I thought about what to write about today, I finally settled on writing a little on one of the common little threads you’ll often find winding themselves throughout some, but usually not all, of a writer’s novels, technology in the future.

Take Michael Crichton, for example. In several of his novels, at least two that I know of, Jurassic Park and Next, he writes to his concerns around the awesome power of genetics, which humanity often wields carelessly, “like a child playing with matches.” In reference to scientists bringing dinosaurs back to life, he wrote in Jurassic Park, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”

In another of his novels, Next, Crichton again raises serious concerns about the awesome power of genetics and the careless way he expects to see that power wielded by humanity. Whether it be the alteration of life forms into living commercials and then sold to the company willing to pay the most, or a human/ape hybrid created through genetic manipulation, or some other form of genetic mishap gone awry, Crichton wanted us to remember one thing as humanity’s power over genetics continues to grow into he future; remember that genetic alterations are passed down from generation to generation, from parent to offspring,

I’m not sure how it happened in my case. I suppose it was more a byproduct of “writing what you know or what you’re interested in”, which is what someone told me I should do when I first started writing. Suddenly I find that I too am writing about the awesome power of technology, and humanity’s increasing control over it, and the threat that technology poses if mishandled.

I’ve written apocalyptic novels about our dependency on technology and its dependency on electricity, and the subsequent ending of civilization when electricity all over the world fails. The lesson; we’ve become so dependent on electricity that if we’re not careful, an enemy, an accident, or a natural disaster could mean a disaster of epic proportions.

I began another series of novels with a foreign power hacking into our national infrastructure, causing nuclear power plants to meltdown, and threatening to destabilize the world and causing a global nuclear war. The lesson: our infrastructure has already been hacked by foreign states. If we don’t do a better job securing that infrastructure, at least some of the events in the novel could come true!

I recent finished Eternity, the first in my next series of novels, the Eternity series, and I’m nearly done with the first draft of the second. Without giving away too much I will state that the plot revolves around yet another scientific advance that holds extraordinary potential for altering the course of humanity for a very, very long time. It too addresses the awesome power of this discovery, the danger of it falling into the wrong hands, and the difficult choices humanity will face with each major technological breakthrough

Perhaps writers are like the canaries in the coal mines, an early warning signal, here to warn the world of imminent danger to come should it continue down a specific path. Who knows? Only time will tell.

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

Blog Post #1064

April 17, 2019

Free Flow Thinking: Thunderstorms, Windshield Wipers, and Writers’ Conferences!

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Just something totally off-topic; wasn’t Nina Simone an incredible singer, what an artist! I’m listening to, I put a Spell on you, as I write this. Wow. She graduated from Julliard; she was a talented woman.

So, the writers’ conference. Wow, it was great. While it was only a one-day workshop (and I was late-I’ll explain momentarily) I was still able to pick up some valuable tips. But the real excitement began before arriving at the conference.

So here I was, yours truly driving like a bat out of hell trying to make it in time for my first pitch session. It was raining extremely hard at times, with plenty of cloud-to-ground lightning to keep us company. Puddles of standing water sat like small ponds on roads we were taking to avoid the crowded interstates. Eventually, however, back- on the interstate is exactly where I ended up.

As I mentioned, I was in quite a bit of danger as you might expect I was in the left lane of the interstate when it happened. The rain was coming down in sheets, and visibility low. I’d already cranked-up the windshield wipers to maximum some time ago, so they’d been beating hard for quite some time, when they suddenly stopped working. They stopped working, frozen, broken.

So here I am, in the leftmost lane, in heavy traffic, on the interstate, pouring rain, with absolutely zero windshield wipers. As you might imagine, I was in a bot of panic. I pressed the emergency flashers and began honking my horn, while forcibly making my way toward the side of the road, I had to. Incredibly, I made it to the shoulder without hitting anyone, thanks, Lord!

I sat there with my thirteen-year-old son, who’d wanted to come along with me, contemplating what to do next. I’d already given up on the conference, despite having already paid up-front for everything. I was ready to go home. My son encouraged me to go forward, however, which I finally decided to.

We limped along to the next exit the best we could, where I found a convenience store, who, miraculously, carried what we needed for our predicament, the next best thing to a mechanic fixing our windshield wiper, some Rain-X. After applying the Rain-X, we left for the conference. The Rain-X did its job as well as could be expected, getting us safely to the hotel in relative safety.

Try to appreciate how soaked I was, through and through, and how dirty my white shirt had become in an effort to get the wipers working again. This was how I initially showed up at conference, having already missed my first pitch session, with only twenty minutes left in the morning’s sessions before the break for lunch. <sigh>

I spoke to the conference organizer briefly before leaving for lunch. He offered to speak with the agent whose session we missed. Satisfied that was the most we could hope for, we left for lunch. After picking up some fast-food, we set-off in search of a clothing store where I could find some clean (and dry) clothes, After thirty-minutes, I left the store with a spiffy new, sharp long-sleeved blue shirt.

The first panel after that was a critique, by the literary agents in attendance, of some of the writers’ first pages from their latest works. The criticism was, I thought, a bit harsh at times, but the session was interesting, and I earned a lot by listening-in. I was also surprised to discover all three agents I was supposed to meet with that day sitting on the panel just a few feet away from me, including the one I’d missed meeting with just a few hours earlier, Amelia!

When the panel discussion was over, I hurried up to where Amelia still sat and apologized for missing our pitch. Once I’d explained what happened, she was very kind, and offered me an opportunity to pitch her on the spot! I was stunned, unprepared, and ridiculously nervous (I’d never done a pitch before, and this was very important to me), but I was also game. I itched her on-the-spot and I must say; I really enjoyed my time with her. She listened, she was very attentive, and most importantly, she asked for fifty pages when it was over!

So that was my adventure with the Writers Conference last week in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“But wait, Jeff, what about the rest of the conference?” you might ask. “How did it go?”

Well, I sat in two more pitch-sessions, and I felt at least one went well. One of them felt she was not a good match for the genres I write in, As for the third agent I met with well, the jury is still out with her, as it is with Amelia, I remain hopeful that one or both will respond back wanting to represent me. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers folks, because that could be the next big break I need!

Lastly, I am back working on my latest novel. Following that, who knows? Maybe it will be back to work on making Cybersp@ce, the movie!

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

Blog Post #1058, The Self-Driving Car

March 6, 2019

Free Flow Thinking: Self-Driving Cars!

I remember when the first Total Recall film came out, the one with Arnold Schwarzenegger, and in it an unconscious Quaid wakes up in a “Robbie” cab following his traumatic experience at Recall (if you want to know more, you’ll have to watch the movie!). The Robbie cab he’s in is an automated, self-driving car with what appears to be a caricature of a taxi driver built-into the taxi itself. The car’s computer can, in essence, speak to the passenger through the Robbie cab “driver.” All-in-all it was a fascinating, novel concept that offered yet another example of science fiction that would eventually become science fact.

Fast-forward to March 6, 2019 when I listened to a fascinating report by a reporter from the Motley Fool. The reporter began by talking about how Apple recently bought a large military base with a lot of land to test a new product they are developing; yes, you guessed it, a self-driving car. It seems they are re-thinking and re-imagining what a car should be like much like they did with the iPhone.

The Motley Fool reporter went on to add how Elon Musk, the head of Tesla and Space-X, and other corporate leaders, have also been talking about self-driving cars becoming the new normal within two decades.

It’s a brave new world out here folks. Those of us who write science-fiction are finding ourselves challenged to stay ahead of science-fact. What’s the world coming to?

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

Blog Post #1059

March 13, 2019

Free Flow Thinking: I like Old-Fashioned.

When I was young, we all frowned on everything deemed “old-fashioned.” I suppose it’s like how I never really cared much for history until I was into my twenties or thirties and had started building a little history of my own. So, call me an “old fogie,” an old “stick-in-the-mud,” an “old-geezer,” but I like old-fashioned “stuff,” I really do.

“But why do you like old-fashioned stuff?” you might ask.

Well, I believe it’s because we tend to lose something as we race along at such a breakneck pace, headlong from one moment into the next, with little to no time really for self-reflection or contemplation on the things that really matter in life. A beam of sunshine, the smile on a child’s face, a cloud on a bright-sunny day, the sound of rain in the springtime.

In the age of cell phones, Xbox, PlayStation, Netflix, online games, and virtual reality, why should we be surprised when so many of our children grow up to be, well, grown-up children? It seems like their entire childhood is spent moving from one electronic game to another. How many of you are old enough to remember when Pong first came out? Okay, I’ve really dated myself now, but consider how technology much grown since the 1970s. The Internet hasn’t been much longer than most new college graduates.

I like old-fashioned values, everyone knowing the difference between right and wrong, neighbors waving at and looking out for one another, and people generally caring for one another because everyone knew how tough life was, and no one ever knew when it might be them that needed a helping hand. Rose-colored lenses? Maybe. But it wasn’t too far off the mark.

I like to collect old or even ancient axioms like, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” or “a bird in a hand is worth two in a bush” because there is great wisdom and meaning behind them.

Consider this; is it not true that a woman should avoid walking alone at night through dark alleys if she is able to do otherwise, in order to avoid the terrible consequences that could arise should she encounter a rapist or mugger there? And wouldn’t it be better to keep the job one has rather than to quit to try to chase other job opportunities without securing a position first?

Now some of you younger folks may be laughing at this point and that’s okay, perhaps a younger version of myself would have joined you. All I can tell you is this; the older you get, the more experience you gain and, hopefully, the wiser you become.

I suppose the real reason I like old-fashioned “stuff” so much is because I’m becoming “old-fashioned stuff” myself. 😊

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

Blog Post #1060

March 20, 2019

Free Flow Thinking: Current Events and Teasers of Things to Come…

For those of you follow me, I like to try to keep you apprised of what I’m up to, new books I’m working on, recent events, etc. So here are a few of the more significant projects and events currently in the works. Please let me know what you think!

  • Cybersp@ce, the movie…
    • So those of you who have followed me for a while know that I adapted Cybersp@ce, the first novel in the Cybersp@ce Series, into a screenplay back in 2010.
    • I soon had interest in Cybersp@ce from a couple of small producers in the Los Angeles area.
    • Dan-One producer whom I’ll call Dan informed me that he and his team had carefully evaluated the script and while they liked Cybersp@ce, they’d decided it was going to cost more to make the movie than what they could commit to at the time.
    • Ian-The other producer, whom I’ll call Ian, was excited about the possibilities initially, remains interested to this day, and is still contemplating what he might be able to do with Cybersp@ce, and when.
    • Tom-Recently a third producer, whom I’ll call Tom, has entered the picture. Tom seems to have the funding but nay have expectations that are beyond my ability to deliver at this time due to my limited experience as a screenwriter/producer. If we are able to work out the details, perhaps with Dan or Ian’s help, however, you might just have the opportunity to find an excellent feature film entitled Cybersp@ce coming to a theater near you in 2020/21!
  • Eternity

My next novel, Eternity, is already finished. I’m currently shopping for a literary agent, so I’m holding back submitting it to publishers until I’ve done everything I can to secure an agent.

I truly believe in my work, and I believe I and my work would both be better-served with the help of an experienced agent. I’d really like to see Eternity in bookstores early next year because of important, relevant scientific experiments being conducted in the field. This book is truly written on a cutting-edge technology and while it is sci-fi, some of it is hard-core science.

Without giving too much away, Eternity is a novel about a brilliant scientist who discovers a way to stop the aging process, potentially forever. There are many plot twists, reversals, surprises, and even love along the way, along with a surprise ending that is out of this world!

  • The Dregg, the second novel in the series and the first of two planned sequels to Eternity, is already well on its way to completion and I expect a first draft to be completed by the end of April 2019.

What will make The Dregg and the third novel unique is that they will be competing, alternate endings to the Eternity storyline in which the fate of the entire human race will depend on which side of the fence a child’s ball lands one fateful afternoon.

  • Exodus Earth, the tentative title of the third novel in the Eternity series, or the alternate ending to The Dregg mentioned above, will likely be my next project.
  • New Novel-to-Script Adaptations-If Cybersp@ce is made into a film by the time Exodus Earth is complete, as I certainly hope, has been, I will likely begin work on adapting Frontier and New Beginnings, Books II and Book III of the Cybersp@ce Series, into screenplays, in anticipation of taking them to film as well. I can’t begin to describe the joy it would bring to see these works of art come to life!

Okay, that’s it! Wish me luck or better yet, how about praying for me and my success? Thanks, and God Bless you! Jeff W. Horton

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

Blog Post #1061

April 3, 2019

Free Flow Thinking: Let’s Make a Movie

“Okay Jeff,” you might say, “so are you a novelist or a screenwriter?” to which I’d answer with a resounding, “yes!”

Please allow me a moment to list some of my literary accomplishments to date. I’ve had nine novels published, I have another completed, edited, and ready for publication, and I have another well on its way to completion. I’ve completed two screenplays and started on another, with plans on writing quite a few more.

My primary objective is storytelling, and ideally, I’d like to achieve that through both novels and films. It just so happens that my writing style does, I believe, naturally tend to lend itself to adaptation to the big screen, which affords me an opportunity to reach a significantly wider audience. I would, therefore, like to adapt all of my novels to film, should the opportunity arise to do so. Of course, that is highly unlikely to ever occur but even a few of them were to make t to movie theaters, I believe the exposure alone would bring much-needed attention to my otherwise unnoticed works.

To this end I have tried many various avenues looking for the path to success and in truth, I’m still looking. I’m making a lot of friends and acquaintances along the way so who knows, perhaps one day I will find some success.

Since there may be some authors among those of you who follow my blog, I thought I would list below some of the avenues I have tried for pitching the screenplay once you’re done with adapting your novel. I’ll share a few tips below that might save some time for you when you’re ready. Bonne chance!

1.Write your screenplay. To help you can attend writer conferences, read books, take courses, or do what I did, find sample screenplays (there are plenty online to choose from) and use them as guides for creating your own.

2.Use Final Draft once you’re serious about your screenplay, and determined to pitch it to prospective producers, etc. It will format it just the way you need it, place a lot of tools you need at your fingertips, and save you a lot of heartburn.

3. I highly recommend you keep your script at or just under 120 pages. You should know that each page in a script translates into greater expenses for the prospective producer of your film. So, if your screenplay comes out to be 240 pages and you just can’t get it down anymore, make it two screenplays instead of one!

4. Create a logline. You’ll find all sorts of explanations of what a logline is, probably all of them will be better than mine. I’ll just say it’s a 1-3 sentence summation of what your entire screenplay is about. It’s the hook that you use to reel them in to read your script.

5. Develop a synopsis of your screenplay, like the synopsis of your novel if not identical, except the screenplay synopsis should be broken down into three acts, Act 1, Act 2, and Act 3.

5. Create a pitch. The pitch will usually include information about yourself, the title, the genre, the logline, and the synopsis.

5. So you have your logline, your synopsis, your pitch, and your script, now what? Now you need to pitch it, to get it out there for folks to find, unless you intend to make a film yourself, which is entirely feasible these days, depending on your screenplay, subject matter, number of locations, etc.

Below I’m listing a few sites I’ve used with varying degrees of success. In all likelihood you haven’t seen my name in the end credits of any major motion pictures yet, so they haven’t entirely worked for me yet, but you’re not me. Give them a try, see if they work for you.


Stage 32: https://www.stage32.com/home/

This is a great social media site, a gathering place for screenwriters, directors, producers, and others in the business to come together and talk, exchange ideas, offer and search for new opportunities, etc.

Stage 32 also offers up, for a $35.00 fee, an opportunity to pitch a representative from a company in the film industry who is supposedly looking for material. The pitch can be via Skype or via a written pitch. So far all I’ve gotten are a few critiques on my pitch. But I’ve made some great contacts here, and I’ve had some leads about possible movie-making opportunities!

Stage 32 also offers educational workshops, etc. to help you develop your skills.

Roadmap Writers: https://www.roadmapwriters.com/

A spinoff by someone who once worked at Stage 32, it offers much of the same services, as best as I can tell. I’ve used their pitch services with much the same results as Stage 32.

Inktip: https://www.inktip.com/

Inktip offers you a place to list your logline, synopsis, and script where it can be found by producers. In theory they can download and read the script if they like it and reach-out if they want further interaction. I have mine listed there.

Greenlight my Movie: https://www.greenlightmymovie.com/

Greenlight my Movie offers yet another opportunity to pitch your screenplay to supposed company executives via video feed, normally no more than 8-10 minutes in length. As with the other, I’ve had no luck, but yours may be different. It’s worth trying for something like $40.00 a shot.

Lastly, if you ever need to get into the nitty gritty of getting a script to the point of budgeting, there’s something called a script-breakdown, but that’s a topic for a later post.

Thanks everyone, I hope some of you found this post useful!

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16

Blog Post #1062

April 10, 2019

Free Flow Thinking: Another Film Disappointment and Writer’s Conventions

As for filmmaking…

Another potential deal with a filmmaker who expressed interest in making my novel Cybersp@ce into a film has gone up in smoke after showing some initial promise. Okay, so not up-in-smoke, not literally, or even figuratively for that matter, but it might as well be. The producer was apparently looking for more of a ready-made production, where not only a script was ready, but also a script-breakdown, a budget, tax credits, director and actor attachments, and most everything else needed for production. Given that I didn’t even know what a script-breakdown was, I was clearly not prepared for the endeavor, though even now I continue slowly plodding along the path in that direction.

On to better news…

There’s a writer’s convention coming up in a few days. This gathering will give me a chance to meet with other writers, to learn a few things about the trade, and the opportunity to pitch my latest novel to three literary agents for ten minutes each. Since I am currently seeking representation, this is a good thing, and securing a good agent could make a bog difference in helping me gain exposure for my work, which hasn’t quite yet made it above the canopy to reach the sunlight. I’m confident, optimistic, and hopeful, that one day soon, with the help of the right agent and a few things going my way, that my work will begin garnering the positive attention and reception I feel these novels deserve!

In all seriousness, I think this next novel, Eternity, could be a huge success. Like The Great Collapse or Cybersp@ce, Eternity is written at just the right time in human history. All that needs to happen now is for people to buy it, read it, and ponder the implications.

So, say a prayer, wish me luck, or maybe even say a few Hail Mary’s for me, because I need them and I covet them! I could use an agent, and a homerun with Eternity!

By the way, be sure to follow-me on Twitter, and subscribe to this blog. Let me know that you’ve been reading my posts and maybe even, that you can identify with a few of them!

All the best….

Jeff W. Horton

jeff@hortonlibrary.com

Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.

You can find all of Jeff’s published novels here: Works by Jeff W. Horton | The Horton Library

Please follow Jeff:

You might also want to explore Jeff’s website: at www.hortonlibrary.com, or visit him on his

Amazon’s Author Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jeff-W.-Horton/author/B004NK5MJC?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Barnes & Noble’s Website: https://tinyurl.com/1emwpg16