.Lasers in the Jungle

This is the end 2

2009-07-01T14:13:00.001Z

This is the end of this blog

Since the Google translation engine is so good I will post only in Portuguese and you can translated to English (or other available language) at your will

I will use this blog only in rare occasions.

See you in my other blog:

http://lasers-na-selva.blogspot.com/

This is the end

2009-07-01T12:01:00.018Z

(continues here:)

(chaotic lyrics):
Come on, turn the lights out, man
Turn it way down
Hey Mister Lightman
You gotta turn those lights way down, man!
Hey, I'm not kidding, you gotta turn the lights out
Come on!
[or] What do we care...?

This is the end, beautiful friend
This is the end, my ownly friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I'll never look into your eyes again

Can you picture what will be
So limitless and free
Desperately in need of some stranger's hand
In a desperate land

Come on, baby!

[What?]

And we were in this house and there was a sound like
Silverware being dropped on linoleum, and then
Somebody ran into the room and they said
'Have you seen the accident outside?'
And everybody said:
'Hey man, have you seen the accident outside?'

Have you seen the accident outside
Seven people took a ride
Six bachelors and their bride
Seven people took a ride
[Sever people died]

Don't let me die in an automobile
I wanna lie in an open field
Want the snakes to suck my skin
Want the worms to be my friends
Want the birds to eat my eyes
As here I lie
The clouds fly by

Ode to a grasshopper...
I think I'll open a little shop,
A little place where they sell things
And I think I'll call it 'Grasshopper'...

I have a big green grasshopper out there
Have you seen my grasshopper, mama?
[I'll be] [Looking] real good...
(Oh, I blew it, it's a moth)
That's alright, he ain't got long to go, so we'll forgive him.

Ensenada
The dog crucifix
The dead seal
Ghosts of the dead car sun
Stop the [card] [car]
I'm getting out, I can't take it
Hey, look out, there's somebody coming
And there's nothing you can do about it...

The killer awoke before dawn
He put his boots on
He took a face from the ancient gallery
And he...he walked on down the hallway, baby
Came to a door
He looked inside

Father?
Yes, son?
I wanna kill you
Mother...I want to...
Fuck you, mama, all night long
Beware, mama
Gonna love you, baby, all night

...........................

Come on, baby, take a chance with us
Come on, baby, take a chance with us
Come on, baby, take a chance with us
Meet me at the back of the blue bus
Meet me at the back of the blue bus,
Blue rock,
Blue bus,
Blue rock,
Blue bus,
Blue rock,
Blue bus
Blue rock

[come on]

Kill! Kill!

This is the end, beautiful friend
This is the end, my only friend, [the end]
Hurts to set you free
But you'll never follow me
The end of laughter and soft cries [lies]
The end of nights we tried to die
This is the end

U.S. Rejected Aid for Israeli Raid on Iranian Nuclear Site

2009-01-11T12:57:00.001Z

In:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/washington/11iran.html?pagewanted=3&_r=3&ei=5065&partner=MYWAY

We can find:

U.S. Rejected Aid for Israeli Raid on Iranian Nuclear Site

By DAVID E. SANGER

Published: January 10, 2009

WASHINGTON — President Bush deflected a secret request by Israel last year for specialized bunker-busting bombs it wanted for an attack on Iran’s main nuclear complex and told the Israelis that he had authorized new covert action intended to sabotage Iran’s suspected effort to develop nuclear weapons, according to senior American and foreign officials.

White House officials never conclusively determined whether Israel had decided to go ahead with the strike before the United States protested, or whether Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel was trying to goad the White House into more decisive action before Mr. Bush left office. But the Bush administration was particularly alarmed by an Israeli request to fly over Iraq to reach Iran’s major nuclear complex at Natanz, where the country’s only known uranium enrichment plant is located.

The White House denied that request outright, American officials said, and the Israelis backed off their plans, at least temporarily. But the tense exchanges also prompted the White House to step up intelligence-sharing with Israel and brief Israeli officials on new American efforts to subtly sabotage Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, a major covert program that Mr. Bush is about to hand off to President-elect Barack Obama.

This account of the expanded American covert program and the Bush administration’s efforts to dissuade Israel from an aerial attack on Iran emerged in interviews over the past 15 months with current and former American officials, outside experts, international nuclear inspectors and European and Israeli officials. None would speak on the record because of the great secrecy surrounding the intelligence developed on Iran.

Several details of the covert effort have been omitted from this account, at the request of senior United States intelligence and administration officials, to avoid harming continuing operations.

The interviews also suggest that while Mr. Bush was extensively briefed on options for an overt American attack on Iran’s facilities, he never instructed the Pentagon to move beyond contingency planning, even during the final year of his presidency, contrary to what some critics have suggested.

The interviews also indicate that Mr. Bush was convinced by top administration officials, led by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, that any overt attack on Iran would probably prove ineffective, lead to the expulsion of international inspectors and drive Iran’s nuclear effort further out of view. Mr. Bush and his aides also discussed the possibility that an airstrike could ignite a broad Middle East war in which America’s 140,000 troops in Iraq would inevitably become involved.

Instead, Mr. Bush embraced more intensive covert operations actions aimed at Iran, the interviews show, having concluded that the sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies were failing to slow the uranium enrichment efforts. Those covert operations, and the question of whether Israel will settle for something less than a conventional attack on Iran, pose immediate and wrenching decisions for Mr. Obama.

The covert American program, started in early 2008, includes renewed American efforts to penetrate Iran’s nuclear supply chain abroad, along with new efforts, some of them experimental, to undermine electrical systems, computer systems and other networks on which Iran relies. It is aimed at delaying the day that Iran can produce the weapons-grade fuel and designs it needs to produce a workable nuclear weapon.

Knowledge of the program has been closely held, yet inside the Bush administration some officials are skeptical about its chances of success, arguing that past efforts to undermine Iran’s nuclear program have been detected by the Iranians and have only delayed, not derailed, their drive to unlock the secrets of uranium enrichment.

Late last year, international inspectors estimated that Iran had 3,800 centrifuges spinning, but American intelligence officials now estimate that the figure is 4,000 to 5,000, enough to produce about one weapon’s worth of uranium every eight months or so.

While declining to be specific, one American official dismissed the latest covert operations against Iran as “science experiments.” One senior intelligence official argued that as Mr. Bush prepared to leave office, the Iranians were already so close to achieving a weapons capacity that they were unlikely to be stopped.

Others disagreed, making the point that the Israelis would not have been dissuaded from conducting an attack if they believed that the American effort was unlikely to prove effective.

Since his election on Nov. 4, Mr. Obama has been extensively briefed on the American actions in Iran, though his transition aides have refused to comment on the issue.

Early in his presidency, Mr. Obama must decide whether the covert actions begun by Mr. Bush are worth the risks of disrupting what he has pledged will be a more active diplomatic effort to engage with Iran.

Either course could carry risks for Mr. Obama. An inherited intelligence or military mission that went wrong could backfire, as happened to President Kennedy with the Bay of Pigs operation in Cuba. But a decision to pull back on operations aimed at Iran could leave Mr. Obama vulnerable to charges that he is allowing Iran to speed ahead toward a nuclear capacity, one that could change the contours of power in the Middle East.

An Intelligence Conflict

Israel’s effort to obtain the weapons, refueling capacity and permission to fly over Iraq for an attack on Iran grew out of its disbelief and anger at an American intelligence assessment completed in late 2007 that concluded that Iran had effectively suspended its development of nuclear weapons four years earlier.

That conclusion also stunned Mr. Bush’s national security team — and Mr. Bush himself, who was deeply suspicious of the conclusion, according to officials who discussed it with him.

The assessment, a National Intelligence Estimate, was based on a trove of Iranian reports obtained by penetrating Iran’s computer networks.

Those reports indicated that Iranian engineers had been ordered to halt development of a nuclear warhead in 2003, even while they continued to speed ahead in enriching uranium, the most difficult obstacle to building a weapon.

The “key judgments” of the National Intelligence Estimate, which were publicly released, emphasized the suspension of the weapons work.

The public version made only glancing reference to evidence described at great length in the 140-page classified version of the assessment: the suspicion that Iran had 10 or 15 other nuclear-related facilities, never opened to international inspectors, where enrichment activity, weapons work or the manufacturing of centrifuges might be taking place.

The Israelis responded angrily and rebutted the American report, providing American intelligence officials and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with evidence that they said indicated that the Iranians were still working on a weapon.

While the Americans were not convinced that the Iranian weapons development was continuing, the Israelis were not the only ones highly critical of the United States report. Secretary Gates, a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said the report had presented the evidence poorly, underemphasizing the importance of Iran’s enrichment activity and overemphasizing the suspension of a weapons-design effort that could easily be turned back on.

In an interview, Mr. Gates said that in his whole career he had never seen “an N.I.E. that had such an impact on U.S. diplomacy,” because “people figured, well, the military option is now off the table.”

Prime Minister Olmert came to the same conclusion. He had previously expected, according to several Americans and Israeli officials, that Mr. Bush would deal with Iran’s nuclear program before he left office. “Now,” said one American official who bore the brunt of Israel’s reaction, “they didn’t believe he would.”

Attack Planning

Early in 2008, the Israeli government signaled that it might be preparing to take matters into its own hands. In a series of meetings, Israeli officials asked Washington for a new generation of powerful bunker-busters, far more capable of blowing up a deep underground plant than anything in Israel’s arsenal of conventional weapons. They asked for refueling equipment that would allow their aircraft to reach Iran and return to Israel. And they asked for the right to fly over Iraq.

Mr. Bush deflected the first two requests, pushing the issue off, but “we said ‘hell no’ to the overflights,” one of his top aides said. At the White House and the Pentagon, there was widespread concern that a political uproar in Iraq about the use of its American-controlled airspace could result in the expulsion of American forces from the country.

The Israeli ambassador to the United States, Sallai Meridor, declined several requests over the past four weeks to be interviewed about Israel’s efforts to obtain the weapons from Washington, saying through aides that he was too busy.

Last June, the Israelis conducted an exercise over the Mediterranean Sea that appeared to be a dry run for an attack on the enrichment plant at Natanz. When the exercise was analyzed at the Pentagon, officials concluded that the distances flown almost exactly equaled the distance between Israel and the Iranian nuclear site.

“This really spooked a lot of people,” one White House official said. White House officials discussed the possibility that the Israelis would fly over Iraq without American permission. In that case, would the American military be ordered to shoot them down? If the United States did not interfere to stop an Israeli attack, would the Bush administration be accused of being complicit in it?

Admiral Mullen, traveling to Israel in early July on a previously scheduled trip, questioned Israeli officials about their intentions. His Israeli counterpart, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, argued that an aerial attack could set Iran’s program back by two or three years, according to officials familiar with the exchange. The American estimates at the time were far more conservative.

Yet by the time Admiral Mullen made his visit, Israeli officials appear to have concluded that without American help, they were not yet capable of hitting the site effectively enough to strike a decisive blow against the Iranian program.

The United States did give Israel one item on its shopping list: high-powered radar, called the X-Band, to detect any Iranian missile launchings. It was the only element in the Israeli request that could be used solely for defense, not offense.

A New Covert Push

Throughout 2008, the Bush administration insisted that it had a plan to deal with the Iranians: applying overwhelming financial pressure that would persuade Tehran to abandon its nuclear program, as foreign enterprises like the French company Total pulled out of Iranian oil projects, European banks cut financing, and trade credits were squeezed.

But the Iranians were making uranium faster than the sanctions were making progress. As Mr. Bush realized that the sanctions he had pressed for were inadequate and his military options untenable, he turned to the C.I.A. His hope, several people involved in the program said, was to create some leverage against the Iranians, by setting back their nuclear program while sanctions continued and, more recently, oil prices dropped precipitously.

Mr. Gates’s spokesman, Geoff Morrell, said last week that Mr. Gates — whom Mr. Obama is retaining as defense secretary — believed that “a potential strike on the Iranian facilities is not something that we or anyone else should be pursuing at this time.”

There were two specific objectives: to slow progress at Natanz and other known and suspected nuclear facilities, and keep the pressure on a little-known Iranian professor named Mohsen Fakrizadeh, a scientist described in classified portions of American intelligence reports as deeply involved in an effort to design a nuclear warhead for Iran.

Past American-led efforts aimed at Natanz had yielded little result. Several years ago, foreign intelligence services tinkered with individual power units that Iran bought in Turkey to drive its centrifuges, the floor-to-ceiling silvery tubes that spin at the speed of sound, enriching uranium for use in power stations or, with additional enrichment, nuclear weapons.

A number of centrifuges blew up, prompting public declarations of sabotage by Iranian officials. An engineer in Switzerland, who worked with the Pakistani nuclear black-marketeer Abdul Qadeer Khan, had been “turned” by American intelligence officials and helped them slip faulty technology into parts bought by the Iranians.

What Mr. Bush authorized, and informed a narrow group of Congressional leaders about, was a far broader effort, aimed at the entire industrial infrastructure that supports the Iranian nuclear program. Some of the efforts focused on ways to destabilize the centrifuges. The details are closely held, for obvious reasons, by American officials. One official, however, said, “It was not until the last year that they got really imaginative about what one could do to screw up the system.”

Then, he cautioned, “none of these are game-changers,” meaning that the efforts would not necessarily cripple the Iranian program. Others in the administration strongly disagree.

In the end, success or failure may come down to how much pressure can be brought to bear on Mr. Fakrizadeh, whom the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate identifies, in its classified sections, as the manager of Project 110 and Project 111. According to a presentation by the chief inspector of the International Atomic Energy Agency, those were the names for two Iranian efforts that appeared to be dedicated to designing a warhead and making it work with an Iranian missile. Iranian officials say the projects are a fiction, made up by the United States.

While the international agency readily concedes that the evidence about the two projects remains murky, one of the documents it briefly displayed at a meeting of the agency’s member countries in Vienna last year, from Mr. Fakrizadeh’s projects, showed the chronology of a missile launching, ending with a warhead exploding about 650 yards above ground — approximately the altitude from which the bomb dropped on Hiroshima was detonated.

The exact status of Mr. Fakrizadeh’s projects today is unclear. While the National Intelligence Estimate reported that activity on Projects 110 and 111 had been halted, the fear among intelligence agencies is that if the weapons design projects are turned back on, will they know?

David E. Sanger is the chief Washington correspondent for The New York Times. Reporting for this article was developed in the course of research for “The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power,” to be published Tuesday by Harmony Books.

2009 - International year of astronomy

2009-01-02T15:02:00.003Z

Too Much Heaven On Their Minds

2008-12-28T12:22:00.002Z

Sorry. I do not have any recipe to solve the "Israel-Arab" conflict.

But why is not anyone speaking about the possibility of an Hamas attack from the north (from Lebanon).

If Israel commit ground troops to the Gaza Strip, that is the next step. It will be an illogical move (because they do not have any air power), but they can move a few kilometers south, under surface to air missiles protection.

And again that may be what Israel is waiting for.

View Larger Map

The Shape of Things to Come

2008-11-29T00:53:00.002Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1ds_beYwKY

EU Council refuses to release secret ACTA documents

2008-11-10T13:28:00.001Z

EU Council refuses to release secret ACTA documents

Brussels, 10th November 2008 - The EU Council of Ministers refuses to release secret Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) documents. The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) had requested these documents to make public and parliamentary scrutiny possible. After the Council's refusal, the FFII sent in a confirmatory application, for the EU Council to review its position, as allowed by Article 7(2) of the regulation dealing with public access to such documents.

ACTA's secrecy fuels concerns that the treaty may give patent trolls the means to extort companies, undermine access to low-cost generic medicines, lead to monitoring all citizens' Internet communications and criminalize peer-to-peer electronic file sharing.

The EU Council refuses to release the secret documents stating that disclosure of this information could impede the proper conduct of the negotiations, would weaken the position of the European Union in these negotiations and might affect relations with the third parties concerned.

The FFII reaffirms its application stating that the legislative process in the EU has to be open. If the agreement will only be made public once all parties have already agreed to it, none of the EU's national parliaments nor the European Parliament will have been able to scrutinise its contents in any meaningful way. To prevent this from happening, it may be necessary to renegotiate ACTA's transparency.

The FFII's confirmatory application letter questions ACTA's secrecy in no uncertain terms: "The argument that public transparency regarding 'trade negotiations' can be ignored if it would weaken the EU's negotiation position is particularly painful. At which point exactly do negotiations over trade issues become more important than democratic law making? At 200 million euro? At 500 million euro? At 1 billion euro?What is the price of our democracy?"

The Canadian government released documents under the Access to Information Act that provide additional insights into the secretive nature of the negotiations.

If the EU Council again refuses to release the secret documents, the FFII can take the case to the European Court of Justice. An earlier case on transparency of EU legislation took 6 years. By that time ACTA may long have entered into force.

Ante Wessels, FFII analyst, says: "We do not have so much time. The only solution we see is that the parliaments of Europe force the Council to publish the texts by making Parliamentary scrutiny reservations."

Are they running an old version of Photoshop?

2008-11-07T14:35:00.002Z

(click the photo to enlarge)

Lasers inside CNN

2008-11-05T21:24:00.002Z

Amazing!

A smile from a veil?

2008-11-01T15:05:00.002Z

Great Gig in the Sky

2008-09-16T11:37:00.006Z

Richard Wright (1943-2008)

So
So you think you can tell
Heaven from hell
Blue skys from grey
Can you tell a green field
From a cold steel rail
A smile from a veil
(Yeah) do you think you can tell

Did they get you to trade
Your heros for ghosts
Hot ashes for trees
Hot air for a cool breeze
Cold comfort for change
(Yeah) (and) did you exchange
A walk on part in this war
For a leading role in a cage

How I wish, how I wish you were here
We're just two lost souls
Swimming in a fish bowl
Year after year
(We're) running over the same old ground
What have we found
The same old fears
(Well) (I) wish you were here

CUT HERE ---------------

I said I wish you were here yeah
Oh how I wish you were here
How I wish you were here
Hey and I wish you were here
Hey my rock star
How did you get so turned around
My rock star
How you did you get so turned around
Oh my rock star
(how did you get so turned around)
Did you get so turned around
Hey my my rock star
(how did you get so turned around
Inside out
Cut it all out now
Cut it all out now
Cut it all out now
Cut it all out now
Cut it out now
Cut it out now
Cut it out now
Cut it out now
Cut it all out now
Cut it all out now
Cut it all out

Results from the Russian Invasion of Georgia

2008-08-17T12:04:00.003Z

Ukraine offers West radar warning

...Ukraine has said it is ready to make its missile early warning systems available to European nations following Russia's conflict with Georgia...

...Last week, Kiev limited the freedom of movement of Russia's Black Sea Fleet...

...Ukraine's foreign ministry said that because the country was no longer party to the 1992 agreement with Russia on the use of its radar stations, it could now "launch active co-operation with European nations"...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7566070.stm

US and Poland sign defence deal

Poland has signed a preliminary deal with the US on plans to host part of its new missile defence shield.

Under the agreement, the US will install 10 interceptor missiles at a base on the Baltic coast in return for help strengthening Polish air defences. ..

...At a press conference in Moscow, the deputy chief of general staff, Gen Anatoly Nogovitsyn, said US plans for a missile base in Poland "cannot go unpunished".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7561926.stm

Back in the URSS (aka Georgia on My Mind)

2008-08-11T14:13:00.005Z

"And Moscow girls make me sing and shout. That (They?) Georgia's always on my ... mind"

I'm say Georgia / Georgia / A song of you / Comes as sweet and clear / As moonlight through the pines"

No Coments

2008-07-17T13:49:00.004Z

from: http://www.hudson.org/files/pdf_upload/Excerpts_from_Saudi_Textbooks_715.pdf

and http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/021810.php

2007-2008 Academic Year
Excerpts from Saudi Ministry of Education Textbooks for Islamic Studies: Arabic with English Translation

...

When God sent his Prophet Muhammad, He abrogated with his law all [other] laws and He commanded all people, including the people of the book, to believe him and to follow him. The people of the book should have been the first to believe him because they find him in their scriptures. Their prophets had informed them of Muhammad's mission. But most of them denied and rejected him.
The clash between this [Muslim] nation and the Jews and Christians has endured, and it will continue as long as God wills. In this hadith, Muhammad gives us an example of the battle between the Muslims and the Jews.

Narrated by Abu Hurayrah: The Prophet said, "The hour [of judgment] will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them. [It will not come] until the Jew hides behind rocks and trees. [It will not come] until the rocks or the trees say, 'O Muslim! O servant of God! There is a Jew behind me. Come and kill him. Except for the gharqad, which is a tree of the Jews.’"

Al-Bukhari: 103/6, number 2926. Volume: Jihad; Chapter: Fighting the Jews. But it does not contain "except for the gharqad..." [The hadith is also cited in] Muslim, including said expression: 2239/4, number 2922. Volume: Pertaining to the turmoil and portents of the last hour; chapter: The hour [of judgment] will not come until a man passes by a man's grave and wishes to take the place of the deceased.

Why oil is so expensive / The cold fall of 2008

2008-07-04T16:03:00.009Z

"Israel must be wiped off the map"

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

[ disclaim: I do NOT possess any privileged information about the subject]

Let us start by with a rule: Israel has always managed to stop any development, in nearby countries, of any weaponisable nuclear technology. They have done that in the past with the Osiraq Iraqi reactor and recently with a Syrian reactor made with North Korea assistance.In both cases the plans have been executed flawless with no loss of hardware and no casualties in the Israeli side.

In some sense this is the continuation of Kennedy doctrine from the '60s ( Cuban Missile Crisis ). Any possible nuclear weapon would be considered real and pointed the ours head (and the heads of ours friends) and that it will be used in appropriate conditions. Until proved otherwise.

This seems to contradict our western concept of "innocent until proved guilty", but in a nuclear age, where a target can be n-bombed in a few minutes, without any warning and without any possible defense, that makes sense (although questionable). By the way, that was the principle behind the USA invasion of Iraq, although never clearly stated.

As a result any middle east country with ambition to produce weaponisable materials will take countermeasures against a foreseeable attack. Syria defend itself using camouflage and buying a new generation of radar. The camouflage failed completely, as the intelligence ( Israeli and/or American ) managed to get, not only excellent satellite images, but also amazing pictures, taken from the ground. Apparently the radar network was not operational yet ( and this is a hint about the importance of timing ).

What about Iran? Iran is now mastering the capacity of enrich uranium. With highly enriched uranium it can make ( if it choose to ) atomic bombs. Uranium bombs are relatively ease to build compared to plutonium bombs. If we have learn anything, we will now that Israel is going to try to destroy Iranian facilities.

What is Iran doing? Theoretically Iran could choose to prove that it is not going to build a bomb, submitting itself the "no proliferation treaty" (NPT) - it has signed - inspections. That path has not be chosen.

Iran is building its facilities underground, for two reasons. First this keep the facilities hidden, second it turn them more resistant to bombs. Also it has bough, from Russia, surface-to-air, short and medium range, Tor missiles and it is probably installing S-300 long range missiles. In the near future it will have S-400 missiles , ( see also http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=21983&sectionid=351020602 )

What is Israel going to do? It sure could use some support from the United States. Soft-support and/or hard-support.

In the soft side it needs intelligence and permission and protection to refuel (in air or at the ground) over or in Iraq. In the hard side it could use a couple of stealth bombers or a few radar seeking missiles.

However the new Russian S-400 missiles seem to have technology to counterbalance the American hardware.

After installing S-400 missiles, Iran will be invulnerable to an air strike and, in reality, to a ground attack, even from American strikes. Then it would be free to use its nuclear facilities to enrich uranium to a weapons-grade quality and make a few atomic bombs. This is why Iran has been trying to make some kind of a agreement with USA and/or UE, because they know that only after having S-400 missiles ready, they can proceed to make weaponisable uranium.

So let us look at the time line

past - Tor missiles installed
2008 Nov 04 - USA Elections
2009 Jan 20 - Inauguration Day (New USA president)
2009 ??? ?? - S-300 installed (Iran invulnerable to an Israeli air attack)
future ???? - S-400 installed (Iran invulnerable to an American air attack)

Is improvable an attack before the USA elections, since that will help the democrat candidate (and Israel prefers the republican candidate). Is improvable an attack after the Inauguration Day, since Israel can be dealing with a less favorable president (even if it is a republican) and may be dealing with some S-300 already installed.

So Israel must attack before, 2009 Jan 20, probably after 2008 Nov 04, with or without American hardware. Without American hardware Israelis may face some casualties due to Tor missiles.

The result? Iranians will target any civilian (or military) ship in the Hormuz strait probably with modified Silkworm missiles that can traverse the strait.

The price of oil will double overnight and we could have supply problems in many western countries.

Probably USA will attack Iranian shore-based launchers, probably with UN security council support. But they would have to destroy silkworm bases again and again to turn the Hormuz strait in a relatively safe place.

I know that a lot of people know this, and this is why the price of oil is already so high.

More links:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7486971.stm

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/06/29/us.iran/index.html

Obama on religion

2008-06-25T18:56:00.003Z

I confess that I was not impress by Obama campaign, words like "Change", "Hope", "Yes we can" seem too much abstract and vague.

However I now admire his courage to say the thing we can listen in the video linked bellow. Just remember that he is a chosen candidate to the USA presidency. Where radical Christians are said to make and unmake presidents.

To see the video just click:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IHQr4Cdx88

George Carlin Is Dead

2008-06-23T17:22:00.005Z

Lot of videos (of shows) here:

http://youtube.com/results?search_query=george+carlin&search_type=&aq=f

From Mars

2008-06-21T18:29:00.002Z

The Earth (and the Moon) as "seen" from Mars - picture taken on October 3, 2007, by the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Physics for future-biologists or future-physicians - Part 3

2008-06-16T00:32:00.005Z

Physics for future-biologists or future-physicians who what to learn the least possible of physics, but still menage to finish university.

This text is free for everybody to use under the “Attribution + ShareAlike” Creative Commons license.
See http://lasers-in-the-jungle.blogspot.com/2008/06/attribution-sharealike.html

Part 3

Q) What is the plural of nucleus?

A) Nuclei.

Q) What is “nuclear fission”?

A) The splitting of the nuclei of atoms into two fragments. Each of the resultant parts has a low mass number and the results are of approximately equal mass (mass number).

Q) What are the principal uses for “nuclear fission”?

A) The nuclear fission of heavy elements, i.e., elements with high atomic number (usually uranium or plutonium) is accompanied by conversion of part of the mass into energy. That is the principle in which is based the nuclear reactors and the atomic bomb (A-bomb).

Q) Are “nuclear fission” and “nuclear splitting” the same thing.

A) Almost. The correct wording is “nuclear fission”, although we could use “nuclear splitting” in colloquial language. However it is correct to use spit when we need a verb. So we would say: in nuclear fission we split (verb) the atom.

Q) Can all elements be subjected to fission?

A) Theoretically yes (except element n.1, hydrogen) but only the fission of elements with atomic number greater then 26 can produce energy (the element with atomic number equal to 26 is called iron). However, on earth, we only use uranium (element n. 92) or plutonium (element n. 94 – yes is a transuranium element, an artificial element).

Q) What are nuclear reactors used for?

A) Usually to produce energy. But also to create various radioisotopes, such as americium-241 for use in smoke detectors, and cobalt-60, molybdenum-99 and others, used for imaging and medical treatment, has we have seen before. Some nuclear reactors based in uranium also produce large amounts of plutonium.

Q) Are nuclear reactors the only way to produce radioisotopes?

A) No, they can also be made using accelerators (particle accelerators).

Q) What is “nuclear fusion”?

A) It is the fusion of atomic nuclei into a nucleus with heavier mass number element. Just the opposite of nuclear fission (verb: fuse fused fused)

Q) What are the principal uses for “nuclear fusion”?

A) The nuclear fusion of light elements, i.e., elements with low mass number (usually hidrogen-2 and/or hidrogen-3) is accompanied by conversion of part of the mass into energy.

The energy produced is enormous, but mankind has not yet learned how to use it as a source of usable energy. However the principle is used to build hydrogen bombs (H-bombs) that are usually much more powerful that A-bombs. (the exact mechanism of H-bombs is a well guarded secret).

Our Sun, at this moment, produces its energy fusing hydrogen into helium.

Q) Can all elements be subjected to fusion?

A) Theoretically yes but only the fusion of elements with atomic number less then 26 can produce energy (the element with atomic number equal to 26 is called iron). However on earth we only fuse hydrogen, and only by a very short period of time.

Q) What about element n. 26 (iron)? Can it be used on fission or fusion?

A) No. It is a special element on that regard. It can be split or fused, but no energy is produced in the process.

Q) What about the famous Einstein equation E=mc2?

A) It explains the conversion of mass to energy, both in fission and fusion.

Q) What is c2? (read: c-squared)

A) The square of the velocity of light in the vacuum.

Q) What is the velocity of light in the vacuum?

A) 300 000 000 m/s

Q) That is the visible light?

A) Not only. Every form of light, visible or not visible, propagates in the vacuum at the same velocity.

Q) What is a telescope?

A) Is an instrument composed, mainly, of lenses and/or mirrors, that allows people to see distant objects, that could not be seen with a naked eye.

Q) How important was the telescope for the start of “modern science” in XVI and XVII centuries?

Q) Our knowledge of the universe had remained quit constant (and WRONG) since the Greek civilization. The possibility open by the use of the telescope by Galileo, allowed us a much more detailed view of stars and planets, and was the fundament of changing our view of the solar system from a geocentric view (with earth at the center), held by ancient Greek and Chinese astronomers, to a heliocentric view (with the sun at the center) which is the modern concept.

Q) Can you explain in more detailed the construction of the telescope?

A) No. There are hundreds of different types of telescope using different types of lenses and different types of mirrors assembled in diverse ways. Explaining all that will take ages.

Q) Do the telescopes work only with visible light?

A) When we speak about telescopes we are using speaking of optical telescopes, which work with visible light. However there have been built telescopes that work with radio waves (radio telescopes) as well as telescopes working with infrared, telescopes working with X-rays and telescope working with gamma rays. Those are non-optical telescopes and are build in a very different way, if compared with optical telescopes.

Q) What is a microscope?

A) The microscope is similar to a telescope but upside down. Usually only lenses are used (no mirrors). With a microscope we can see small things, not visible at naked eye.

Q) That is the optical microscope (visible light). Isn’t it?

A) Yes. We can also build infrared microscopes, ultraviolet microscopes and X-ray microscopes, which are more complex and we are not going into details.

Q) Other types of microscopes?

A) Yes. More common: “Electron microscopes” and “scanning probe microscopes”. They are the most powerful microscopes and they do NOT use any electromagnetic radiation.

Q) What is “electric current”?

A) Is a flux of electrons flowing through a conductor (conductor: explained latter).

Q) That is “beta radiation”? Isn’t it?

A) No. “Beta radiation” and “electric current” are very different concepts. Although both are “stream of electrons” (yes. Physics is hard).

Q) So can you tell me the difference between “beta radiation” and “electric current”?

A) “Beta radiation” is generated by radioisotopes, fission reactors or particles accelerators. “Electric current” is usually generated by batteries or electrical generators (as used in power generation stations).

This is the same that saying that beta radiation comes from inside the nucleus (yes, I know that we do not have electrons inside the nucleus, however in certain conditions a neutron divides itself into an electron plus a proton...). Beta radiation is nuclear physics.

Electric current comes from disturbing the electrons that orbit the nucleus. That’s classical physics.

Also:

In “beta radiation” the electrons move very fast and are very energetic. Not so in “electric current”.

“Beta radiation” propagates very well in vacuum or in the air, not so well in solids. “Electric currents” do not propagate in vacuum, propagates very hardly in the air (lightning in a thunderstorm) and propagates very well in solids called conductors.

Q) What is, finally, a conductor?

A) Usually conductor is the same of “good conductor” and the opposite of “bad conductor” A conductor is an element or alloy or mixture can that easily conduct “electric current”. A “bad conductor” is usually called an isolator.

Q) Can you give me example of conductors (good conductors)?

A) Yes. Usually metals are good conductors (very used conductors: cooper, iron). But also graphite, which is not a metal, is a very useful conductor.

Q) Is water a good conductor?

A) Pure water is a very BAD conductor. However with something dissolved it can became a good conductor.

Q) What is a superconductor?

A) It is a conductor that is a perfect conductor where the electric current circulates with absolutely no opposition.

Q) Is it easy to obtain a superconductor?

A) Is difficult because known superconductors only operate at very low temperatures. Finding superconductors at room temperature would be a revolution in human society.

Q) Are superconductors important in applied science?

A) Yes. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) are based in superconductivity. Most accelerators are also based in superconductors.

Q) How do we obtain the (very low) temperatures to obtain superconductivity?

A) Using liquid helium

Q) Is easy to manipulate liquid helium?

A) No. Liquid helium is expensive and needs a careful manipulation. However modern equipment can maintain the helium inside with minimum maintenance. Sometimes a “refill” can be needed. Any unexpected escape of helium can be an hazard.

Q) What is a semiconductor?

A) That is the hardest question in this notes :-)

Semiconductors are an essential part of our lives today. Computers, cellular phones, MP3 players, modern radios and televisions, even part of the motors of recent cars are based on “chips” also called “integrated circuits”, “microchips” or “silicon chips”.

A chip is just a complex composition of a very large number of semiconductors (and other elements). Same chips have more then 100 000 000 (an hundred million) semiconductors.

Q) You have not answered my question. What is a semiconductor?

A) Is a material that can, depending of the circumstances, behave like a conductor, behave like an isolator, or behave as something in between. It can sometimes amplificate the (an) electric current.

Q) Which are the simplest devices composed of semiconductors.

A) The transistor and the diode.

Q) What is a transistor?

A) The simplest semiconductor device that can amplify an electric signal.

Q) What is a diode?

A) A device that conduces electricity in one direction but not in the other.

Q) What is “pressure”?

A) Pressure is the force, applied over a surface, divided by the area of that surface. The surface can be real or imaginary. The pressure is measured in pascal (abrev: Pa). a kPa is equal to 1000 Pa. And old unit of pressure is “millimeters of mercury” (Abrv: mmHg, Hg been the chemical symbol of the element “mercury”) another unit is “atmosphere”.

Q) Just one useful exercise, can you calculate the pressure in the base of a column of mercury, 120 mm high?

A) Sure. Let’s see.

Suppose the base is is 1 mm2 (I am writing mm2 as mm-square, because I have problems writing upper-indexes).

The volume is 120x1 = 120 mm3 = 0.120 cm3

The density of the mercury is 13.534 g/cm3 so the mass is 0.120x13.534 = 1.624 g=0.001624 Kg

So the weight (force) is equal to0.001624x 9.8 = 0.01590 N

[Remember p=mg, g=9.8 m/s2]

Pressure = force (weight) / surface

Pressure = 0.01590 N / 1 mm2 = 0.01590 N / 0.000001 m2 = 15900 Pa = 16.9 kPa

Q) What if the surface is NOT 1 mm2?

A) The result is the same. Just try.

Q) What is the other name of mercury?

A) Quick Silver. You should NOT use this name in science. It is an old designation.

Q) What is blood pressure?

A) Is the pressure inside the body, in the blood.

Q) Does the blood pressure vary inside the human body?

A) Yes. It varies with the type of vessels and also varies with the movements of the heart.

Q) How should we measure the blood pressure?

A) I read that we should measure it at an artery. We should identify a maximum and a minimum of the pressure. In the artery. However that should be learned with a specialist not with a physicist.

Q) What are the normal (healthy) human limits?

A) They are 120 mmHg (16 kPa) and 80 mmHg (11 kPa), I read someplace. This is usually called 120-80. The value is very variable with a lost of circumstances very very beyond physics, I just leave this as an example so you have a notion of the values involved.

Q) Which unity should I use to measure blood pressure?

A) That is your choice. Just do NOT mixed up. Probably mmHg is the most used, but perhaps kPa is the future. Now you know how to convert one into the other.

1 kPa = 7.5 mmHg

Q) What is thermodynamics?

A) Is the study of “heat” (thermo) in transit (dynamics).

Q) What is the most obvious “object” of study in thermodynamics?

A) The “internal combustion engine”.

The “internal combustion engine” burns something and gives us energy in the form of movement.

Q) What is an “internal combustion engine”?

A) The “thing” that takes fuel and make my car run.

Q) Can I use the “motor” instead of the word “engine”?

A) Yes, but that may sound a little strange for a native speaker.

The rules are quite confusing, so if you are referring to an “internal combustion engine” use always engine. However a “car” with an “engine” is a “motorcar”. Go figure.

Q) So thermodynamics only applies to engines?

A) No. Although (modern) thermodynamics started studying engines, today it managed to by applied to a lost of disciplines, namely “biology” and “medicine”.

Q) What are the bases of thermodynamics?

A) The five laws of thermodynamics and the concept of “potentials”, Entropy is also an important concept.

Q) What is the most know potential?

A) Enthalpy.

Q) What is “heat”?

A) The everyday life concept is mostly appropriate. Just remember that “heat” is just a form of energy and that “heat” and “temperature” have always different meanings.

Q) What is the difference between “heat” and “temperature”?

A) Just an example. If you have a campfire (outdoor fire) you can have a few people heating themselves around. If you have two similar campfires you double the heat (the double of the people can heat themselves) but the temperature is the same.

Q) Other example please

A) If you can comfortably heat a room with an electrical heater (radiator), you need two similar heaters to heat a biggest room to the same temperature. So the temperature is the same but you have needed the double of heat.

Q) What are the units for “heat” and “temperature”?

A) Heat is a form of energy, so it is measured in joule (abrev: J) as any energy. And old unity may still be in used, is the calorie. 1 calorie = 4.18 J. Calorie is only used in “heat” context.

Q) What is a “big calorie”?

A) 1000 (one thousand) calories.

Q) That is easy. Isn’t it?

A) No because some people abbreviate “big calorie” to “Calorie” (note the capital “C”). So “calorie” and “Calorie” are different things – a mess. Use joule instead.

Q) Could somebody mess up?

A) Do you remember coca-cola adds? Just 1 calorie? Wrong. Just 1 Calorie, 1000 times more.

Q) What about temperature?

A) Temperature is, most of the time, measured in “º” (read: degree) or “ºC” (read: degree-centigrade or degree-Celsius) or just “Celsius”. Aglo-Saxonics also use “degrees Fahrenheit”.

Q) What is absolute temperature?

A) Just add 273.15 to the temperature measured in ºC. The absolute temperature is measured in “º K” (read: degrees-Kelvin).

In physics, most of the times, we use ºK. It is an important conclusion of thermodynamics that we cannot have a temperature bellow 0 ºK (read: zero-degrees-Kelvin).

Physics for future-biologists or future-physicians - Part 2

2008-06-11T14:30:00.006Z

Physics for future-biologists or future-physicians who what to learn the least possible of physics, but still menage to finish university.

This text is free for everybody to use under the “Attribution + ShareAlike” Creative Commons license.
See http://lasers-in-the-jungle.blogspot.com/2008/06/attribution-sharealike.html

PART2 – Radiation (includes: sound, optical spectrum, radioisotopes)

Q) What is radiation?

A) Radiation is something that radiates.

Q) Can you give more details?

A) I can list the type of radiations we are going to describe here. Electromagnetic radiation, alpha radiation, beta radiation, sound radiation. We are not going to speak of another type of radiation (just an example: neutrino radiation).

Q) What about gamma radiation, x-ray radiation, ultraviolet radiation, light radiation, infrared radiation?

A) They all are forms of “electromagnetic radiation”. More about that soon.

Q) Alpha, beta, gamma. Are those Greek letters?

A) Yes, and you can use the Greek letters instead. But I do not have Greek letters in my keyboard, so I must write them as I am doing NOW.

Q) What is the other possible name for “electromagnetic radiation”?

A) Light! I agree that this is difficult to understand because we are used to think in “light” as something we associate with vision. But that is not always the case. We can see violet, but we cannot see ultraviolet. We can see red, but not infrared. Believe me there are a lot of other “types” of light we cannot see - but can be detected by our instruments or apparatus. We will call “visible light” to the type of electromagnetic radiation we can see with ours yes, and simply “light” to all kind of electromagnetic radiation.

Q) If there is a lot of “types” of light, was is the difference between then?

A) Frequency. To be more precisely range (or interval) of frequencies.

Q) I began to see, but can you systematize?

A) Here we go. A list of different type of light (or electromagnetic radiation), and their interval of frequencies:

Radio (TV, etc) from 3 Hz to 300 GHz

Infrared – from 300 GHz to 400 THz

Visible light - from 400 THz to 790 THz

Ultraviolet – from 790 THz to 30 PHz

X – rays – from 30 PHz to 30 EHz

Gamma rays – from 30 EHz to 300 EHz (or more)

(But nobody know those numbers by heart)

As you could imagine those divisions are a little arbitrary and, a lot of sub-divisions are possible and are use in specific fields of work or research. But here we would try to keep things as simple as possible. Just an example, microwave ovens work with a radiation near 2.5 GHz, in a band called “microwaves”, but for us, at the moment, is just radio.

Q) What is a “band” (in this context)?

A) That one is easy to understand. Is just a range or interval of frequencies.

Q) What happen below 3Hz?

A) Nothing really interesting or useful (as far as we know at the moment). So no specific name.

Q) What above 300 EHz?

A) We continue to call them gamma rays.

Q) I suppose visible light is an important subject. Can you give us more details?

A) Sure. Visible light is a band between 400 THz to 790 THz, but can be considered divided in smaller bands. Those bands are simply the “rainbow colors”, i.e., red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet (mnemonic: ROY G. BIV - or - "Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain”).

Q) What does the word “optic” mean?

A) Although we rarely use that word alone, that mean something related to the visible light (the word has the same root of optician)

Q) What is an “optical spectrum”?

A) Just the “rainbow colors” set aside exactly the way they appear in rainbow. The rainbow itself is a good example of the optical spectrum.

Q) What is the plural o spectrum?

A) Spectra.

Q) The rainbow is an example of a spectrum. Are there other spectra?

A) The rainbow is the spectrum of the sun (white) light. Other sources can have different spectra. In physics sometimes we can know the composition of a source of light just studding carefully the spectrum of the light coming from it.

Q) Everybody can see those colors well?

A) Most normal people can see the colors, but usually indigo is quite difficult to differentiate from blue or violet (some people are better at that that others, but most people do not know if they themselves are sensitive to indigo).

Q) What is “color blindness”?

A) Is the inability to perceive differences between some (or all) of the colors that other people can see.

There are some different types (forms) of “color blindness”. In the most severe form people cannot differentiate any color. Some times people can differentiate some (but not all) colors

The word “Daltonim” is also used, but it's mean is no exactly the same, so it's meaning should only be used in a more detailed context. “Color blindness” is, or can be considered, a disability. Problems with “indigo”, as described above, are not considered “color blindness”.

Q) You mean a color blind cannot see one (or more colors)?

A) No. He or she can see, but cannot DIFFERENTIATE the colors although they see them. It's like looking at a black-and-white picture. You can see everybody in the picture but it is impossible to know if a person is using it's red or blue dress.

Q) We are speaking about human, what about other animals.

A) We, as human have a quite good color vision. Some other animals could be considered “color blind” if comparer with humans.

Some animals can see frequencies we cannot see. Some insects can see the radiation just above violet (in a range called ultraviolet). Some reptiles can sense infrared (frequencies just below red) – but not using their eyes.

All in all most animals can see only the colors we see, with small differences. To be all to differentiate them all is a different thing. Some other animals have, however, better color vision then we do (some birds, fishes, etc).

Q) But there are some colors mission from the “rainbow colors”. Like pink, purple, magenta, brown. Why?

A) They are combination of different “rainbow” colors.

Q) What is “white”?

A) The mixture of all rainbow colors in the same proportions seen in the rainbow.

Q) What is “black”?

A) The absence (nonexistence) of ANY rainbow colors (or others colors).

Q) I would like to see the rainbow colors, but I do not have the time to wait for a rainbow.

A) In most laboratories you can find a not expensive apparatus called a “prism”. If you see some light to one of its faces you can probably see the rainbow colors from other face (some try and error could be necessary to find the right positions). Just remember to use a white source of light (sunlight is OK).

Q) What is “intensity”?

A) Is the scientifically correct word for what we can call, in colloquial speech, "amplitude", "strength" or "level".

Using an example with visual light is easier. Now I have a 50 W light bulb over my desk. It's OK. But if I change to a 100 W light bulb I double the intensity of the light in my desk.

The correct definition is “energy divided by time (duration), divided by surface”.

Q) What does mean “wave”, “ray(s)”, in this context.

A) Without going into more details, means the same thing as radiation.

Q) What is the effect of electromagnetic radiation in the human body?

A) We will see that is more details, but it depends of the “type” of radiation, the intensity and the duration of the exposition as is easy to understand. As a rule all radiation is harmful. Also, as a rule, the greater the frequency the more the damaging, but this is just a rule, that does not work all time.

There is a lot of research (an controversy) about radio waves. The radio frequencies used by cellular phones, and wireless computer networks, are not very far from frequencies use by microwaves ovens. So, in a sense, each time we use our cellular we “microwave” (like in “microwave oven”) our brain. HOWEVER most specialists will tell you that the intensity of the radiation is too small to cause you any harm. I keep the use of my phone as short as possible. It is less expensive this way.

Q) So radiation is always dangerous?

A) Yes, but sometimes the destruction can be useful if you destroy unwanted tissue (s). Also sometimes radiation is used in a resourceful way.

For example (we would see more soon) x rays are dangerous, but very useful to take “pictures” of the inside of your body. Since one received only a few seconds of exposition every year (or something around that) we are not at danger, and x-rays are very useful for diagnostic (however someone operating the machine day after day requires some appropriate protection, usually in the form of distance from the machine, special vestiary, protective walls, etc).

Sun light (visible light, plus some infrared and ultraviolet), if used in a controlled way is healthy.

Q) What are “photons”?

A) We sometimes describe the electromagnetic radiation (also known as light) as a stream of particles called photons (same root as photography). We will not explore a lot that concept here.

Q) What time of radiations has not been explained yet?

A) Sound, alpha radiation and beta radiation - are NON-electromagnetic radiation.

Q) What is sound?

A) Well, almost everybody knows the meaning of sound and the common perception is right. In the physical context sound can be considered to be changes in pressure (more on pressure, late).

Q) We have “frequencies” in sound?

A) Yes.

Q) Can we ear all frequencies?

A) No. The human audio range is between 20 Hz and 20KHz, but that’s a very good audition. Some people can listen only between 70 Hz and 13 KHz. Also with age same lost of audition is usual.

Q) Can you explain the change of sensibility with age?

A) Some young people use high pitched (high frequency) tone ring in their phones, so adults cannot ear and are not aware of what is going on. Some old people use high-pitched sound, with high intensity, to “repel” young ones.

Q) How do we sense “frequency” related to sound.

A) As pitch (in colloquial terms: highness or lowness of sound). For example, in a piano, when we strike different keys, we get different frequencies. On the left we got low frequencies (low sound, low pitch). On the right we get high frequencies (high sound, high pitch).

Q) And what about other animals?

A) That changes a lot. Just two examples. Dogs can ear above 25 MHz, sometime to 45 MHz. A dog whistle works around 25 MHz, so dogs can hear, but people cannot. Bats can ear frequencies as high as 80 KHz, or even more, but they use the sound for the purpose of locating things around, like sonar, used by boats to locate fish.

Q) What is the beta radiation?

A) Just a flux of electrons at high velocity (we exclude were a more exotic form of beta radiation, which include an exotic particle called positron, just forget).

Q) What is alpha radiation?

A) Just a flux of alpha particles

Q) OK, but what is an alpha particle?

A) It's a particle that consists as two neutrons plus two protons. It sure looks like the nucleus of element n. 2 (which, by the way, is called helium).

Q) What is a radioisotope (also known as radionuclide)?

A) Any isotope that radiate some kind of radiation

Q) What kind of radiation radiates a radioisotope?

A) (Sounds funny) A radioisotope can radiate radiation alpha beta and/or gamma (other “things” can be radiate, but we are not going to talk about that).

Q) What is radioactive decay?

A) The process a radioisotope goes through when it radiates.

Q) What is the importance of radioisotopes?

A) There are a lot of radioisotopes (some natural, most artificial). Choosing the right isotopes we can usually get the kind of radiation we need for a specific task. The radioisotopes are just the way the nuclear industry arrives to the laboratory, to medicine and to the industry – and to the home.

Q) Do people have radioisotopes at home?

A) Probably – If they have a fire/smoke detector. Most of the times radioisotopes should be handle with extreme care, always using a protocol for the given source.

Q) Are gamma rays dangerous?

A) Gamma rays are usually the most destructive radiation. It can “burn” the tissues, but also alter the DNA of the cells, which eventually leads to cancer and other anomalies.

Q) Are gamma rays useful?

A) Yes. They have a lot of useful applications. It can be used to sterilize medical equipment. It can be used to kill bacteria in the food, preventing that stuff to go bad in a short period of time (however consumers have some kind of reserve about eating irradiated food – if they have the choice)

Also we can use gamma radiation to destroy cancer tissues, or other kind of tissue harmful to the patient. The main problem is to keep other tissues from the gamma rays. Usually the source is cobalt-60, an artificial radioisotope of cobalt (element n.27).

Gamma rays are hard to shield. We need 1 cm of lead or 5 cm of concrete, just to reduce to 50% the intensity of a beam.

Also people can receive the radioisotope technetium-99, which irradiates gamma rays. While the technetium circulates through the body if, it radiates gamma rays, that are recorded, from outside, with a camera that records gamma rays. This allows a diagnostic of many problems in the patient.

Q) Are x-rays dangerous?

A) Yes. The some kind of danger of the gamma rays, but they are not so damaging.

Q) Are x-rays produced by radioisotopes?

A) No. Radioisotopes do not generated X-rays. X-rays are created within a sort of light bulb, but very different inside (and much more complex) that a normal light bulb.

Q) Is beta radiation armful?

A) Yes, it can do the same of gamma rays.

Q) Is beta radiation useful?

A) Yes. It is not very different from gamma. The source of beta radiation is usually the Strontium-90.

Q) Is alpha radiation armful?

A) Most of the time is not, because it is not very penetrating, and does not penetrate the skin. However if someone managed to swallow a source of alpha radiation, that can be very damaging because the alpha particle is shouted to cells at very short distance.

Q) But is easy to swallow an alpha source?

A) The smoke detectors in the houses have a radioisotope, americium-241, that irradiates alpha. Manipulation the americium is not dangerous because the skin protects us from the rays. However it would be very damaging if we ingest the alpha source.

Q) Is alpha radiation useful in medicine?

A) Not really.

Q) Any other way to produce radiation?

A) Particle accelerators. They have been used more and more on medicine. X-rays produced by accelerators have been replacing gamma-ray treatments (that, see above, use usually a cobalt-60 radioisotope as source). The radiation is more precisely delivered and the source is more reliable.

However accelerators are big.

Q) Does the human body radiate visible light.

A) It does not. That is why we cannot see ourselves in the dark.

Q) Does the human body radiate any radiation?

A) Yes. It, the human body, as any hot-blooded animal radiates in the infrared. Although we cannot see it, some cameras record it and translate the different frequencies of infrared to the visible range (which is called false color). Recently they have used this kind of cameras to fast detection of people with flu (with temperature above normal) in some airports.

Physics for future-biologists or future-physicians - Part 1

2008-06-08T22:09:00.006Z

Physics for future-biologists or future-physicians who what to learn the least possible of physics, but still menage to finish university.

This text is free for everybody to use under the “Attribution + ShareAlike” Creative Commons license.
See http://lasers-in-the-jungle.blogspot.com/2008/06/attribution-sharealike.html

Part1 - INTRODUCTION

Introduction 1 – modern physics

Q) What is “modern physics”

A) It's the physics developed in the XX and XXI centuries

Q) What are the highlights of modern physics

A) “quantum mechanics” and “relativity”

Q) quantum mechanics and relativity are easy subjects?

A) No, they are difficult. They are usually only taught at physics courses

Q) What else important brought us modern physics?

A) The modern concept of “atom” and its inside, i. e. “atomic physics” (or “atom physics”) and “nuclear physics”.

Q) What the name of physics that is not modern physics?

A) Classical physics

Introduction 2 - frequency

Q) What is “frequency”?

A) The number of times a phenomenon repeats itself in a unity of time (usually in each second).

Q) What is an hertz (abbreviation: Hz)?

A) The most usual unity of frequency. If something repeats itself twice each second, we say that it has a 2Hz frequency. Three times a second = 3 Hz, and so on.

Q) Why Hz starts with a capital “H” and hertz does not?

A) Nothing really important there. Just the rules. Please take care that if you are speaking about somebody called Hertz, or about a car rental company called Hertz, you should always use a capital “H”. Once again that just the (grammar) rules.

Q) What is a EHz, PHz, THz, GHz, MHz, kHz ?

A) The letter before Hz is just a short way to write a lot of zeros. There is also a name (prefix) for each case. The prefix is use when we are not using the abbreviation of hertz.

E=18 zeros (prefix: Eta)
P=15 zeros (prefix: Peta)
T=12 zeros (prefix: Tera)
G=9 zeros (prefix: Giga)
M=6 zeros (prefix: Mega) [aka million]
k=3 zeros (prefix: kilo)

so, for example,

1 EHz = 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 Hz = 1 Etahertz

1 MHz= 1 000 000 Hz = 1 Megahertz = 1 million hertz

1 kHz = 1 000 Hz = 1 kilohertz

Q) What is a million

A) 1 000 000. So one million hertz = 1 000 000 Hz = 1 MHz

Q) What is a billion?

A) Run away from that word as hell. In Europe nobody ever agrees with the meaning of a billion.

In the USA a billion is a thousand millions, i. e., 1 000 000 000.

In Europe some (most?) people claim 1 billion is a million of millions, i. e. 1 000 000 000 000.

Introduction 3 – The atom

Q) What are the atoms made of?

A) Electrons, protons and neutrons. Electrons have a negative ( - ) electric charge, ~~protons~~ neutrons have no charge and protons have a positive ( + ) electric charge. Electrons, protons and neutrons are often called “particles” in this context.

Q) How are electrons, protons and neutrons arranged inside an atom?

A) The protons and the neutrons are inside the central part of the atom (the nucleus). They do not move a lot. The electrons circulate around (OUTSIDE) the nucleus in complex orbits.

Q) That is all?

A) No :-). But understanding the true inside of the atom is only possible if you know your quantum mechanics and relativity which is too complex to use were. So let us stick with the simple model describe above. It has to make do.

Q) How many electrons, protons and neutrons, are there inside an atom?

A) Different atoms have different numbers. We have atoms with zero neutrons, but it has to have at least one proton, to be an atom.

Q) And how many neutrons?

A) Usually the number of neutrons is equal to the number protons, so the electric charge of each pair compensates exactly and the atom as an all do not have an electric charge. However the atom can lose one (or more) of its electrons and became positively charged or can gain and extra electron (or more) and became negatively charged.

Q) What is an ion?

A) Is a atom electrically charged as described above.

Q) What is the simplest possible atom?

A) An atom with only one proton in the nucleus and one only electron around it. It's called Hydrogen. It can even lose its only electron and became a positive ion of Hydrogen (with only one proton).

Q) How much do those particle ( electrons, protons and neutrons) weight?

A) The exact amount is not very important now. Just remember that a proton weight the same as a neutron and a electron weight much, much less. In physics we rather speak about the mass of the particles in the atom, but the concept is similar, the masses of the neutron and a proton are similar, and the mass of the electron is much lower.

Q) What is the mass number of an atom?

A) The mass number (A), also called atomic mass number or nucleon number (nucleon is a collective name for neutrons and protons) , is the number of protons and neutrons in an atom.

Q) What is the atomic number?

A) The atomic number (also known as the proton number) is the number of protons found in the nucleus of an atom. It is traditionally represented by the symbol Z.

Q) What is greater, the mass number or the atomic number?

A) The mass number is always greater then or equal to the atomic number, as everybody could figure out, reading carefully the previous lines.

Q) What is an element?

A) Is a chemical substance that can not be found to be composed of other substances. Examples of elements are: hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, gold, helium, uranium, etc.

Q) Is water an element?

A) No because it has been found that is composed of two substances, oxygen (abbreviation: O) and hydrogen (abbrev: H). Remember high school “water = H2O”.

Q) So water is a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen.

A) NO. Water is a compound of oxygen and hydrogen. The difference between mixture and compound is very important, but we would not talk more about that here. That is stuff for chemistry.

Q) At the atomic level, what defines an element?

A) The atomic number. The atomic number can even be use instead of the name of the element. For example the element “carbon” has 6 protons. So it can be called “element 6”, instead of carbon.

Q) Does the mass number describe an element?

A) No. If two atoms have the same atomic number, but different mass numbers it can be considered atoms of the same element, although different atoms.

Q) Confusing. Can you give me an example?

A) Sure. Let´s go back to the hydrogen. The must common form of hydrogen atom is composed of a proton an an electron and it is called hydrogen-1 (it is also called protium, or “light hydrogen”, but forget that, nobody uses that names any more). However it can be found hydrogen in other type of atom, with one extra neutron. That is called hydrogen-2 (also called “deuterium”, or “heavy hydrogen”). Other form of hydrogen is the hydrogen-3 (also called “tritium” or “triton”), with two extra neutrons (i. e. with one proton, two neutrons, in the nucleus).

Q) So, what is meaning of the number in hydrogen-1, hydrogen-2, hydrogen-3 ?

A) The number is the mass number, i. e. , the number of protons + the number of neutrons.

Q) Is there a common name for hydrogen-1, hydrogen-2, hydrogen-3 ?

A) Yes. They are called hydrogen isotopes.

Q) So what is an isotope?

A) Is one the the possible atoms types of a substance. For example, the element hydrogen, can have 3 different type of atoms, hydrogen-1, hydrogen-2, hydrogen-3, all of them can be called hydrogen and are referred as hydrogen isotopes.

Q) So hydrogen-2 is the “element number 2”?. Isn't it?

A) God's gracious NO! Read again the above text! The TWO as in “element n. 2” refers to the element with two protons in the nucleus (which, by the way, is called helium). The hydrogen has always 1 proton in the nucleus, so it is “element n. 1”. However the number of neutrons in hydrogen can vary, been zero in hydrogen-1, one in hydrogen-2 and two in hydrogen-3.

Q) What are the first and last elements?

A) The first element, obviously, in the element hydrogen, which is element n. 1. The last NATURAL element is element n. 92, called uranium.

However men managed to build elements with a ~~mass~~ atomic number greater then 92. Those elements are, of course, artificial, and are also called transuranium elements ( or transuranic elements) since they are “after” the uranium.

The last transuranium element, as far as I know, is the “element n. 122” called “unbibium” (symbol: Ubb) but that is not important because they may as well “build” an atom of “element. n. 123” today.

When I first study this “things” the last transuranium element was “element. n. 104”, called today rutherfordium (but this is not important, just one more example).

Q) Are isotopes common?

A) No. Usually one isotope for each element is common, all other are rare. For example in the oceans of Earth, approximately, if we have 6500 of hydrogen-1 we have 1 atom of hydrogen-2. Hydrogen-3 is even more, much more, rare.

Q) Can we have artificial (men made) isotopes?

A) Yes. Sometimes it is possible to build artificial isotopes even of natural (not man made) elements.

Q) Can you give me an example.

A) My pleasure. Cobalt. Cobalt is the element n. 27, meaning every cobalt atom has 27 protons. Natural cobalt has only one isotope, named cobalt-59 ( an element with only one isotope is called a monoisotopic element, as you could imagine).

However men can create cobalt-60, an artificial isotope of natural cobalt-59. Cobalt-60 is used a lot in medicine and biology, for several purposes (more on that later).

Q) So what's inside a cobalt-60 nucleus.

A) If you have read the previous text you know by now that inside a cobalt-60 nucleus we have 27 protons and 33 neutrons. (27+33=60).

Q) There are not much about electrons in the previous text, isn't it?

A) Yes. Electrons in not very important in what we said, that why this kind of physics is call atomic or NUCLEAR physics (nuclear, from nucleus = no electrons, only protons and neutrons).

However electrons are important in other fields of physics, for example in electricity that belongs to classical physics, not to modern physics (electricity and electron are words of common origin).

Q) What is a nuclide?

a) Is a type of nucleus. The concept is not very different from isotope, since isotopes have different kind of nucleus. We will not use the word “nuclide” a lot in this notes, but someone may like to know (or ask).

Q) What is the atomic mass?

A) Too complex to explain here. Not very different from mass number.

Q) What is the atomic weight?

A) Again: Too complex to explain here. Not very different from mass number (or atomic mass).

Q) I saw a symbol of an element with superscript or subscript (indexes). What do they mean?

A) Although we have always use correct ways to write our text, that is another way to write mass numbers and atomic numbers with superscript or subscript (indexes). The superscript give us the mass number and the subscript give us the atomic number. That is not easy to write superscripts or subscripts in a computer, so I am not using that.

Q) Where can I find a table with the number of electrons/protons/neutrons, mass numbers, atomic numbers, atomic masses atomic weights of each known element.

A) Go to you next library or bookshop and ask for a “periodical table of elements”. We would start from there.

Attribution + ShareAlike

2008-06-08T21:23:00.003Z

This work by lasers in the jungle is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

take a look at this link

2008-05-27T20:05:00.004Z

http://www.sivacracy.net/2008/05/oh_four_tuna.html

Just play the film

MarsPhoenix

2008-05-23T16:23:00.004Z

Next Sunday (march, 25) Phoenix, an American probe, will touch the Mars surface at 23.53:52 UTC (aka GMT) near the North Pole - If everything goes according to planning.

All times are "Earth-receive time", i.e., it has been taken into account the time the radio signal takes to travel to Earth (15 minutes and 20 seconds).

Time can change up to 2 minutes, depending on local conditions.

Things (7bits ASCII)

2008-02-24T18:51:00.005Z

Part of a program I once wrote. Note the even number of holes in each row.

Watch This

2008-02-06T16:26:00.001Z

(click on the fig. to blowup)

Watch the graphic (updates itself - thanks to usa today) until the end of the year. The result of the USA presidential elections will depend heavily on it.

I'm a Pastafarian

2008-01-07T17:06:00.001Z

Links:

http://www.venganza.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastafarian

MERRY Newtonmas

2007-12-22T16:35:00.001Z

December 25, 2007 will be Sir Isaac Newton's 365th Birthay.

Newtonmas is a time to celebrate all his achievents. His laws of motion explain the kinematics of our movements. His explanation of the color of light explains the rainbow. From the myth of the apple falling on his head and his theory of gravitation to the invention of The Calculus he has influenced all our lives.

From: http://blog.wired.com/geekdad/2007/12/its-beginning-t.html :

"With the profusion of Christmas-related decorations, sales, and music, I thought it would be nice to offer a different kind of holiday suggestion, either instead of (if you don't celebrate Christmas) or in addition to (if you do) the coming holiday.

Sir Isaac Newton was born on December 25, 1642 (old style), so it seems natural to take advantage of that complete coincidence and celebrate his life and works as Newtonmas. This idea was first introduced to me by my high school Physics teacher, who said that, since we were in a public school and thus couldn't celebrate any religious holidays, we would celebrate Isaac Newton's birthday by singing physics carols ..., and doing some fun experiments. It was long enough ago that I don't remember everything we did, but I recall figuring out what the effect of flushing the toilets in the bathroom above the classroom was on the water pressure in the classroom sink, figuring out how long it would take a Slinky to make it down a set of the school stairs, and—my favorite—watching a Road Runner cartoon to make note of everything that happened that defied the laws of physics.

So it's my suggestion to seize the opportunity to teach your kids some basics of physics. If you have older kids, you could try teaching them the basics of calculus, too. Of all the sciences, I've always thought that physics was the easiest one to teach in a fun way (did you ever do the monkey in a tree lesson?), mostly because you're not generally working with volatile substances or dead animals, so safety is less problematic"

Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton

http://www.upto11.net/generic_wiki.php?q=newtonmas

http://homepage.mac.com/redbird/iblog/GWPublications/C1045275013/E664819225/

http://www.mansfieldschools.com/MHS/physics/Newtonmas%20Carols/Newtonmas%20Carols.htm

for old times' sake

2007-12-12T22:40:00.000Z

A new generation

2007-12-04T14:38:00.001Z

Just replace my old portable USB disk (100 GB), on the left, with a new one (250GB)

Tsiolkovsky, Goddard, Oberth

2007-11-08T20:22:00.003Z

Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsiolkovsky

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_H._Goddard

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Oberth

Take that :-)

2007-11-08T12:40:00.000Z

Links:

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/11/07/health/20071107_FAT_GRAPHIC.html

http://science.slashdot.org/science/07/11/07/1614254.shtml

Oct. 30, 1938: The Martians Have Landed in New Jersey!

2007-10-30T22:25:00.001Z

Here I have a photo taken in the exact location.

Links:

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/10/dayintech_1030

http://lasers-in-the-jungle.blogspot.com/2006/08/my-chronicles-from-sprawl-5n-grovers.html

Big Bridge & Small Waves

2007-10-30T17:03:00.001Z

Location:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=pt-PT&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=38.691707,-9.177318&ie=UTF8&ll=38.692779,-9.177318&spn=0.013432,0.039911&z=15&iwloc=addr&om=1

The Old RADAR

2007-10-17T16:04:00.001Z

map:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=pt-PT&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=38.777950,+-9.141000&ie=UTF8&ll=38.77795,-9.141001&spn=0.001991,0.004989&t=k&z=18&iwloc=addr&om=1

before the students arrive

2007-10-12T20:32:00.002Z

map:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=38.755750,-9.158100&ie=UTF8&ll=38.755874,-9.158102&spn=0.001694,0.004989&t=k&z=18&iwloc=addr&om=1

12!

2007-10-10T16:59:00.001Z

I've got a new camera

Canon PowerShot G9

Links:

http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Cameras/Digital_Camera/PowerShot/PowerShot_G9/index.asp

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/canon-g9/

Liberate your documents

2007-07-27T17:49:00.001Z

from: http://www.redhatmagazine.com/2007/07/25/odf-the-inevitable-format/

ODF: The inevitable format
by T. Colin Dodd

In 1999, a scientist wanted to look at some data from soil samples collected on Mars in 1975 by the Viking lander. He wanted to test a theory about detecting the existence of Martian bacteria and microbes–in other words, finding life on Mars. The scientist thought he would find what he needed on a NASA website somewhere, but it wasn’t that easy. The original data had been misplaced, and when the huge magnetic tapes that stored the data were found, they were “in a format so old that the programmers who knew it had died.” Someone finally found a ream of paper printouts propping a door open and humanity’s understanding of the universe expanded a bit more. The tragic sense that would have accompanied the loss of this knowledge is echoed in accounts of the destruction of the Library at Alexandria, and probably why book-burnings are seen as a sure sign that a society is unhealthy

Of course, not all lost or inaccessible data holds clues to life on Mars, and not every shred of information needs to outlive its creator. Many unreadable documents will never be missed, but responsible public policy demands that government documents–contracts, deeds, or court records that remain in force for decades or even centuries–must be archived and accessible. Whatever the case, when data is stored and shared on legacy or defunct proprietary formats, over time it will either become expensive to access or disappear entirely.

When it comes to digitally creating, sharing, and storing documents, the technology to prevent format-based decay already exists and is in wide (and growing) use. It’s called the Open Document Format (ODF) and if you’re not currently using it, someday you will.

The ODF, an XML-based document markup language, was first developed in 1999 by Stardivision and then by Sun Microsystem’s Openoffice.org project. Conceived as an open alternative to the proprietary document handling software, which then dominated the world, the driving force behind the ODF was the need for a vendor-neutral document format independent of any single application, readable and writable for all, without any royalty of licensing “encumbrances.” It was promoted on the basis that business and taxpayers would save money. An open format would create competition in the document application sphere. All documents could be read and shared by everyone. Nothing could be lost to time or changes in proprietary code or licensing requirements. Matters of great public interest - census data, weather data, public health statistics, investigative reports, court records and basic scientific research, all paid for by taxpayers, would no longer be encoded on a single, proprietary closed-standard format, requiring citizens to pay twice for access to their own information. Using ODF, proponents said, would keep public documents public.

The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) was formed in 2002 to standardize the format, which was recognized by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 2006. The Open Document Format Alliance was formed in March of 2006 to promote the format, making the public, legal and political case for the adoption of open technology standards to governments and public institutions.

“Red Hat was a founding member of the ODF Alliance and Tom Rabon [Vice President of Corporate Affairs] serves on the executive committee,” says Stephanie McGarrah, outgoing Red Hat Public Policy Manager. “Red Hat works with other executive committee members to coordinate efforts to talk with governments around the world about ODF.”

Although the ODF was launched with a great gust of common sense blowing at its back, the momentum of widespread adoption has been hindered by bureaucratic inertia, local politics, persistent misconceptions (reinforced by opponents) about ODF’s viability and the “dangers” of adoption. Most of the fear, uncertainty and doubt has emanated from one source, on whose proprietary formats most of the world’s documents currently reside.

Opponents of the ODF do not concede its inevitable adoption, and actively lobby against it. It’s not that anyone is against the ODF in and of itself, or finds any real reason to question its necessity. The logic behind the ODF and the transparency of its creation is fairly unassailable. Rather, it is the open standards on which the ODF is based that are most attacked. From the detractors’ point of view, things are just fine the way they are now. The “standard” is theirs. They own the document “market,” and think of it as “territory” they “won” fair and square. They can’t foresee a future without them (that’s not in their business plan), and as long as everybody is already using their applications and formats, why change? Opponents of the ODF devote considerable resources to lobbying legislatures and executive branch IT advisory boards in an attempt to convince them that the adoption of the ODF actually limits choice and harms market-driven efficiency by “locking out” vendors like them. They say migration is expensive, and even argue that adoption of the ODF will limit public access by cluttering the environment with too many “incompatible” formats. And who really trusts all this “free stuff,” anyway?

But proponents like the ODF Alliance have arguments of their own, and most of them come from “Actually, the opposite is true…” school of refutation.

The ODF Alliance contends that open standards actually promote choice and vendor competition by leveling the playing field. The standard is open and freely available for anyone to implement. There is no competition over the format, just the application used to handle it. In this universe, the best applications win. The ODF alliance also points out that implementing or migrating to ODF is no more complicated or costly than periodically upgrading from one version of a proprietary application to the next, and by obviating the need for future upgrades, real money is saved over time. As for accessibility, Open Office (and other ODF-compliant applications) are freely down-loadable and ready to use now. There are no actual compatibility issues, they say, only non-cooperation issues.

“I think that some governments either aren’t aware of ODF or don’t have the technical staff in place who understand the value of ODF,” McGarrah explains. “So, it’s the alliance’s job to spread that message to the people in government who make those decisions.”

But the unshakable argument in favor of using ODF for public documents is the fact that it’s a better deal for citizens and taxpayers in the long run. Using closed-standard, proprietary software for public documents is like buying the proverbial $10,000 toilet seat, or prohibiting the federal government from negotiating better drug prices with pharmaceutical companies on behalf of Medicaid and Medicare patients, or trying to feed an army and rebuild a warzone by awarding secret, non-competitive, no-bid contracts. It’s non-competitive in the worst sense.

Despite opposition, adoption of the ODF is making slow but inexorable headway, and as a greater understanding of the issue is reached by policymakers, the ODF will challenge the standing ubiquity of proprietary formats. Moving the issue forward, Japan recently required that all its ministries contract with software vendors whose applications are built around open standards. Brazil, Poland, Malaysia, Italy, Korea, Norway, France, The Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the Dehli State Government in India have all made commitments in principle to adopting the ODF and, perhaps more importantly, recognizing the imperative of using open standards. The ODF Alliance continues to arm and enlighten policy-makers with the information and tools they need to make recommendations and change policy, but no one promoting the ODF think its widespread adoption is imminent. It will take time.

“These decision makers have a lot of other issues to deal with (i.e. Health care, education, transportation, poverty…) so technology decisions aren’t usually at the top of their lists,” says McGarrah. “Progress has been made on the wider adoption of ODF. Several governments have adopted ODF and are working to implement the standard, but there is a lot of work to do.”

More information
Spread the word, share this ODF artwork by Michael Pittman

This entry was posted by T. Colin Dodd on Wednesday, July 25th, 2007 at 2:01 pm

the underground caves of mars

2007-06-07T14:32:00.001Z

In "http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070528.html"

we can read

"Black spots have been discovered on Mars that are so dark that nothing inside can be seen. Quite possibly, the spots are entrances to deep underground caves capable of protecting Martian life, were it to exist. The unusual hole pictured above was found on the slopes of the giant Martian volcano Arsia Mons. The above image was captured three weeks ago by the HiRISE instrument onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter currently circling Mars. The holes were originally identified on lower resolution images from the Mars Odyssey spacecraft, The above hole is about the size of a football field and is so deep that it is completely unilluminated by the Sun. Such holes and underground caves might be prime targets for future spacecraft, robots, and even the next generation of human interplanetary explorers."

Perhaps Paul French (aka Isaac Asimov) knew something.

Coda:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070528.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Starr%2C_Space_Ranger

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Starr_series

Do no give away your password 3/n

2007-05-03T17:30:00.001Z

life size table football in my University

2007-04-21T14:51:00.001Z

This blog is censored in the People's Republic of China

2007-04-18T17:04:00.001Z

coda:

greatfirewallofchina.org

From the cold

2007-04-04T08:06:00.001Z

I had the privilege to meet 2 friends from Scandinavia

(The picture was taken with my PDA, so the quality is poor)

We meet here:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=38.713880000,+-9.138780000&layer=&ie=UTF8&z=18&ll=38.714033,-9.13878&spn=0.001833,0.006748&t=k&om=1&iwloc=addr

and had dinner here:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=38.751450000,+-8.967600000&layer=&ie=UTF8&z=18&ll=38.751607,-8.967601&spn=0.001832,0.006748&t=k&om=1&iwloc=addr

Do no give away your password 2/n

2007-04-04T07:00:00.001Z

Now I am receiving spam from Where Are You Now (WAYN)

Apparently someone I know has been tricked to give then the password of his email account.

Do no give away your password

2007-03-08T12:12:00.001Z

Recently I have received spam from zorpia.

The explanation: Apparently some people are giving away their webmail passwords (hotmaill, gmail, yahoo, aol, etc) , so zorpia managed to search people's email and collect all the addresses in the emails, addressbook, calendar, etc. (with the password they can do almost all they like).

Pretty scaring its it?

(a month ago I have been spammed by "names database")

Sunshine, or true meaning of the word solarisation

2007-02-25T13:33:00.001Z

Picture1: Film poster

Picture2: Oxigen Generator

Thanks to a nice invitation of Castello Lopes Multimedia I had the fun to go to an avant-avant-premiere screening of the SF film "sunshine".

The film is OK.

I am not going to tell the story, but just to answer to my answers to a serie of question that crossed my mind during the projection.

Q - To lose communications BEFORE the orbit of Mercury. Isn't that completely preposterous

A - Yes with today Sun. Not necessarily with the altered Sun of the movie.

Q - How do they braked the ship after the gravitational slingshot at Mercury, to dock with Icarus I.

A - By heliobraking (cf. aerobraking, lithobraking)

Q- How could some one name Icarus I and Icarus II spaceships send to the sun

A- They are absolutely ignorant of the Greek mythology

Q- Any homage To Kubrik / Clarke

A- Several. First, the strange scenes near the end. Second, "2001", "Thus Spoke Zarathustra", "Friedrich Nietzsche", "God is dead". Third the solarisation.

Q- In the film the sun suffers strange phenomena. Wouldn't such phenomena be detectable in other stars?

A- No necessarily, if it is a rare and transient phase.

know (one of) your enemies

2007-02-11T22:24:00.001Z

You know the Bible 80%!

Wow! You are truly a student of the Bible! Some of the questions were difficult, but they didn't slow you down! You know the books, the characters, the events . . . Very impressive!

Ultimate Bible Quiz
Create MySpace Quizzes

Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_God_Delusion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_Your_Enemy

my Chronicles from the Sprawl (20/n) - First We Take Manhattan

2007-01-27T13:19:00.000Z

I hadn't been to New York for almost 20 years (They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom?). Not even to the airport, in transit - nowadays most flies to the West Cost, from Europe, are direct, over Canada.

And there are so many things to do, so many places to visit.

But last August I land again in the JFK airport and my son took this picture of N.Y. (in the far, far, background) while we were crossing the Bronx Whitestone Bridge, going to Massachusetts (I would eventually return to New York, but only a few weeks later)

Where the picture was taken:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=40.81000,-73.83500&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1&iwloc=addr

Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_We_Take_Manhattan

Coda:

Leonard Cohen - First We Take Manhattan - 1988 album "I'm Your Man"

They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
For trying to change the system from within
I'm coming now, I'm coming to reward them
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

I'm guided by a signal in the heavens
I'm guided by this birthmark on my skin
I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

(Chorus:)
I'd really like to live beside you, baby
I love your body and your spirit and your clothes
But you see that line there moving through the station?
I told you, I told you, told you, I was one of those

Ah you loved me as a loser, but now you're worried that I just might win
You know the way to stop me, but you don't have the discipline
How many nights I prayed for this, to let my work begin
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

I don't like your fashion business mister
And I don't like these drugs that keep you thin
I don't like what happened to my sister
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

(Chorus:)
I'd really like to live beside you, baby ...

And I thank you for those items that you sent me
The monkey and the plywood violin
I practiced every night, now I'm ready
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

(Chorus:)
I am guided

Ah remember me, I used to live for music
Remember me, I brought your groceries in
Well it's Father's Day and everybody's wounded
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin

Dalits

2007-01-20T20:14:00.001Z

So much talk about India. So little talk about the Dalits, perhaps the secret behind the "Indian Success Story"

Why nobody asked the people burning an effigy representing organizers of "Celebrity Big Brother," in Patna, India, Jan. 17, what they think about the Dalits?

Links:

http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=348409&ssid=50&sid=BUS

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6282883.stm

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/06/0602_030602_untouchables.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,,-6352459,00.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalit

Yes

2007-01-19T14:07:00.001Z

(click on the image for a high-resolution version)

Links:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/AbortionLawsMap.png

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_law

http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/2003monitoring/WorldPopMonitoring_2002.pdf

http://europa.eu/bulletin/en/200207/p102001.htm#anch0010

my Chronicles from the Sprawl (19/n) - Edward Dean Adams Power Station

2007-01-19T11:59:00.000Z

I have posted some scenic pictures of he Niagara fall before, but this one is different.

The fall are the far side of the water plane (Canadian Falls, 1/2 far left, Goat Island, 1/2 far right) , and we can not see then because we are at the level of the upper part. Canadian buildings, in the other side of the falls, are very visible in the far side though (the mist in the air, seen near the buildings, is the signature of the falls).

But the main interest of this picture is that it shows the entrance of the in-let canal for the former "Edward Dean Adams Station".

Build near the beginning of last century this was the turning point of the adoption of electricity as one of the main process of redistributing energy.

The place itself is quite abandoned and I had to use some old maps (also shown) and some math to find the place.

Satellite Photo (arrow in the place were I took the picture):

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=43.078553,-79.046719&ie=UTF8&z=14&ll=43.078543,-79.046717&spn=0.031409,0.107975&t=k&om=1&iwloc=addr

Links:

http://freenet.buffalo.edu/bah/a/nf/adams/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Currents

My New Mobile Phone

2007-01-03T21:07:00.001Z

I have a new (smart)phone!

I have also a new cellular number.Just call my previous number and you will find a message announcing the new number :-)

Happy new year to everybody!

Quick dirt and cheap(?) narrowband Internet connexion

2006-12-26T18:43:00.001Z

a letter from Knuth to the U.S. Patent Office in Sept. 2003.

2006-12-18T09:44:00.001Z

Letter to the Patent Office
From Professor Donald Knuth

Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks
Box 4
Patent and Trademark Office
Washington, DC 20231

Dear Commissioner:

Along with many other computer scientists, I would like to ask you to reconsider the current policy of giving patents for computational processes. I find a considerable anxiety throughout the community of practicing computer scientists that decisions by the patent courts and the Patent and Trademark Office are making life much more difficult for programmers.

In the period 1945-1980, it was generally believed that patent law did not pertain to software. However, it now appears that some people have received patents for algorithms of practical importance--e.g., Lempel-Ziv compression and RSA public key encryption--and are now legally preventing other programmers from using these algorithms.

This is a serious change from the previous policy under which the computer revolution became possible, and I fear this change will be harmful for society. It certainly would have had a profoundly negative effect on my own work: For example, I developed software called TeX that is now used to produce more than 90% of all books and journals in mathematics and physics and to produce hundreds of thousands of technical reports in all scientific disciplines. If software patents had been commonplace in 1980, I would not have been able to create such a system, nor would I probably have ever thought of doing it, nor can I imagine anyone else doing so.

I am told that the courts are trying to make a distinction between mathematical algorithms and nonmathematical algorithms. To a computer scientist, this makes no sense, because every algorithm is as mathematical as anything could be. An algorithm is an abstract concept unrelated to physical laws of the universe.

Nor is it possible to distinguish between "numerical" and "nonnumerical" algorithms, as if numbers were somehow different from other kinds of precise information. All data are numbers, and all numbers are data. Mathematicians work much more with symbolic entities than with numbers.

Therefore the idea of passing laws that say some kinds of algorithms belong to mathematics and some do not strikes me as absurd as the 19th century attempts of the Indiana legislature to pass a law that the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter is exactly 3, not approximately 3.1416. It's like the medieval church ruling that the sun revolves about the earth. Man-made laws can be significantly helpful but not when they contradict fundamental truths.

Congress wisely decided long ago that mathematical things cannot be patented. Surely nobody could apply mathematics if it were necessary to pay a license fee whenever the theorem of Pythagoras is employed. The basic algorithmic ideas that people are now rushing to patent are so fundamental, the result threatens to be like what would happen if we allowed authors to have patents on individual words and concepts. Novelists or journalists would be unable to write stories unless their publishers had permission from the owners of the words. Algorithms are exactly as basic to software as words are to writers, because they are the fundamental building blocks needed to make interesting products. What would happen if individual lawyers could patent their methods of defense, or if Supreme Court justices could patent their precedents?

I realize that the patent courts try their best to serve society when they formulate patent law. The Patent Office has fulfilled this mission admirably with respect to aspects of technology that involve concrete laws of physics rather than abstract laws of thought. I myself have a few patents on hardware devices. But I strongly believe that the recent trend to patenting algorithms is of benefit only to a very small number of attorneys and inventors, while it is seriously harmful to the vast majority of people who want to do useful things with computers.

When I think of the computer programs I require daily to get my own work done, I cannot help but realize that none of them would exist today if software patents had been prevalent in the 1960s and 1970s. Changing the rules now will have the effect of freezing progress at essentially its current level. If present trends continue, the only recourse available to the majority of America's brilliant software developers will be to give up software or to emigrate. The U.S.A. will soon lose its dominant position.

Please do what you can to reverse this alarming trend. There are far better ways to protect the intellectual property rights of software developers than to take away their right to use fundamental building blocks.

Sincerely,
Donald E. Knuth
Professor Emeritus

Links:

http://lpf.ai.mit.edu/Newsletter/programming.freedom.11.html

http://lpf.ai.mit.edu/Patents/knuth-to-pto.txt

http://www.pluto.it/files/meeting1999/atti/no-patents/brevetti/docs/knuth_letter_en.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Computer_Programming

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Knuth

http://www-cs-staff.stanford.edu/~knuth/

http://www.digital-copyright.ca/discuss/1104

http://swpat.ffii.org/gasnu/knuth/swpatknuth.en.pdf

http://swpat.ffii.org/gasnu/knuth/index.en.html

Book

2006-12-15T21:14:00.001Z

Those pictures are from the public presentation of a book, a friend of mine wrote.

Not it first book, but only one and half year after the first.

link:

http://www.pedepagina.pt/gato8.htm

http://lasers-in-the-jungle.blogspot.com/2005/05/book-presentation.html

UPDATE:

Satellite Photo:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=38.746649,-9.18275&ie=UTF8&z=17&ll=38.746645,-9.182746&spn=0.004192,0.013497&t=k&om=1&iwloc=addr

The (Silver) Cock and the Clock

2006-12-12T12:08:00.002Z

(aka Lucan’s Tower)

The location can be seen in a map recently publish in this blog, in

http://lasers-in-the-jungle.blogspot.com/2006/12/monsanto.html [look for number 19!]

some links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto_%28Idanha-a-Nova%29

http://viajar.clix.pt/com/tesouros.php?id=513&lg=en

http://www.golisbon.com/portugal/cities/monsanto.html

http://maps.yahoo.com/broadband/#mvt=m&trf=0&lon=-7.115493&lat=40.045325&mag=4

Monsanto

2006-12-10T19:43:00.001Z

(high resolution version)

Although in a governmental publication about one of the most publicised tourist destination, the map does does not have a "compass rose", not even a "north symbol". And no scale too.

So it is very difficult to compare it with other map(s).

Postcard from Tomar

2006-12-09T15:36:00.001Z

Manueline Window of the Chapter House of the nave of the Convent church

Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convent_of_the_Order_of_Christ

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/265

31+ years ago

2006-12-04T21:40:00.001Z

I have lived in this house, for a month, back in August 1975 (Agosto de 1975, 1975 hot summer)

I have never return, until yesterday. Driving in the nearby E802/A23/IP2 highway I decided to take a 12 kms detour and take this picture.

All the place was changed, as you might as well guess, but I managed to find the spot.

BUT from the picture we can see that the house has been VERY closed to be consumed by fire very recently. We can see burned trees as far as 10 meters.

Satellite photo of the house:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=40.05653,-7.53219&ie=UTF8&z=18&ll=40.056001,-7.53381&spn=0.002037,0.006748&t=k&om=1

P type geographic features

populated place
a city, town, village, or other agglomeration of buildings where people live and work
Louriçal do Campo (1.4Km)
Torre (1.4Km)
São Fiel (3.4Km)
São Vicente da Beira (3.4Km)
Casal da Fraga (3.4Km)
Paradanta (4.6Km)
Soalheira (4.6Km)
Pereiros (4.6Km)
Castelo Novo (4.7Km)
Vale de Urso (5.6Km)
Barroca do Mercado (6.2Km)
Sobral do Campo (6.2Km)
Partida (7.1Km)
Vale de Figueiras (7.3Km)
Souto da Casa (7.6Km)
Alpedrinha (8Km)
Enxabarda (8Km)
Mourelo (8Km)
Alcangosta (8.6Km)
Catraia e Candais (8.6Km)

H type geographic features

stream
a body of running water moving to a lower level in a channel on land
Ribeira de São Vicente (3.4Km)
Ribeiro da Partida (6.8Km)
Ribeira das Enguias (7.1Km)
Ribeira da Enxabarda (8.6Km)
Ribeiro da Borralheira (8.6Km)
Ribeiro do Mioso (8.6Km)

T type geographic features

mountain
an elevation standing high above the surrounding area with small summit area, steep slopes and local relief of 300m or more
Alto da Praça (5.7Km)

mountains
a mountain range or a group of mountains or high ridges
Serra da Guardunha (4Km)

A type geographic features

first-order administrative division
a primary administrative division of a country, such as a state in the United States
Distrito de Castelo Branco (6.2Km)

second-order administrative division
a subdivision of a first-order administrative division
Concelho do Fundão (9.7Km)

S type geographic features

abandoned railroad station
Castelo Novo (6Km)

My Telecom ProblemS

2006-11-27T11:44:00.001Z

My professional email is malfunction, for the last 4 or 5 days.

Also my mobile phone is not working for 2 weeks (I got the recorded messages through the Internet....)

If you send-me me something important in the last 2 weeks, please send it again

The email of this blog is OK (see in the headers...) USE IT

Also: help me choose a new mobile phone
(details: http://wifi-pda-phone.blogspot.com )

YOU have been warned!

2006-11-10T23:42:00.001Z

...Mohammed sees women strung up by hooks thrust through their tongues by a green demon. Their crimes were to "mock" their husbands and to leave their homes without permission. Persian, 15th century

2006 Transit of Mercury (November 8)

2006-10-31T08:07:00.001Z

Not a GREAT show, I am afraid.

Interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_drop_effect

http://www.aas.org/publications/baas/v35n5/aas203/26.htm

http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/OH/transit06.html

UPDATE: But a good day to discuss the results of the american elections

my Chronicles from the Sprawl (18/n) - Lost in Translation

2006-10-20T17:26:00.000Z

I saw this billboard in the L'Enfant Plaza metro station, in Washington. A few dictionaries and encyclopedias latter I haven't figure out yet the meaning of the word "score" in this context.

Satellite Photo:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=38.88390,-77.024964&ie=UTF8&om=0&t=k&z=17&ll=38.883901,-77.024964&spn=0.004126,0.013475

(

a photo of the Lincoln Memorial - and link to the Satellite Photo - is here:

http://lasers-in-the-jungle.blogspot.com/2006/09/my-chronicles-from-sprawl-15n.html

)

UPDATE:

"A group of twenty units is often referred to as a score"

cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20_(number)

Victoria Opportunity

2006-10-14T18:20:00.001Z

I bet the "Opportunity" will be around between 6 and 12 months

A question of kilotons (kt)

2006-10-11T07:59:00.001Z

As can be seen from the pictures is very difficult to confirm with seismological data explosions below 2 kt even with close seismic stations. Seismology easily estimate the magnitude of the explosion/earthquake, but not its nature. Morever good results could take a couple of weeks to publish.

Keep in mind that North Korea has an tradition of announcing achievements nobody else managed to see.

(see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwangmy%C5%8Fngs%C5%8Fng )

I believe that a small robotic plane, charged with chemical detectors, lunched by the US from S. Korea or from the sea will be able to detect nuclear explosions with less then ONE kt (even if underground).

Saying that I must add that, in my opinion

(a) any exposition below 2 kt (some will say 10kt) is probably a failure because large quantities of chemical explosives (in the range of 10 - 20 t) are typically used in crude devices to detonate the plutonium in the 2kt - 20kt range, except if highly sophisticated technology is available to detonate small amounts of plutonium with small amounts of explosives.

(b) using chemical explosives to simulate a SMALL nuclear explosion is insane, costly and dangerous (but possible). We are speaking of 1-2 kt of conventional explosives that could be coupled with a plutonium device, just in case it works or not, keeping always below seismic decrimination (i.e. 1 - 2kt)

(c) China in between a rock and a hard place. If it supports Pyongyang, as it usually does, Taiwan will have a REALLY nuclear bomb in less then 2 years (Japan, South Korea and the Republic of China could develop a fission bomb in less then 6 months, including lunching capacity).

(d) In 2 weeks those matters would be much more clear.

more links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_North_Korean_nuclear_test

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korea_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_North_Korean_nuclear_test

Victory!

2006-09-30T08:59:00.001Z

Don't be fooled by the picture, the crater, known as "Victoria Crater" is approximately 750 meters wide (about 7 football fields) and 70 meters (the height of a 20 stories building) deep.

my Chronicles from the Sprawl (17/n) - Korean War Memorial

2006-09-28T13:19:00.000Z

Photo: Korean_War_Veterans_Memorial. Please not the false reflections drawn in the background wall.

Between the "Washington Monument" and the Potomac river we can see a lot of memorials.

Probably the least know but, in my opinion, one of the nicest is the "Korean War Memorial".

Satellite Photo:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=38.89955,-77.05548&ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&z=19&ll=38.887822,-77.047819&spn=0.001031,0.003369&iwloc=A

More links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Memorial

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt_Memorial

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_memorial

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_Memorial

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_Memorial

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DC_World_War_Memorial

my Chronicles from the Sprawl (16/n) - Watergate I & II

2006-09-22T18:42:00.000Z

The Watergate Complex is linked to at least two very known presidential scandals.

Photo 1: The "Watergate Hotel" (Watergate complex).

Photo 2: 700 New Hampshire (Watergate complex). In the background, the "Kennedy Center for Performing Arts".

Satellite Photos:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=38.89955,-77.05548&ie=UTF8&z=19&ll=38.89955,-77.05548&spn=0.001031,0.003369&t=k&om=0

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=38.893972,-77.036605&ie=UTF8&t=k&om=0&z=19&ll=38.898097,-77.054753&spn=0.001031,0.003369&iwloc=A

Link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monica_Lewinsky

my Chronicles from the Sprawl (15/n) - Washington DC in Science Fiction III

2006-09-20T18:19:00.000Z

Planet of the Apes (2001)

Photo 1: Lincoln Memorial

Photos 2 e 3: Frames of the 2001 film, "Planet of the Apes"

Satellite Photo:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=38.889367,-77.050091&ie=UTF8&t=k&om=0&z=17&ll=38.889367,-77.050091&spn=0.004125,0.013475

More links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_memorial

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_the_apes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_the_Apes_%281968_film%29

my Chronicles from the Sprawl (14/n) - Washington DC in Science Fiction II

2006-09-18T19:16:00.000Z

Logan's Run (1976)

Photo 1: Reflecting Pool (and, on the background, the Washington Monument and - far away - the Capitol dome).

Photo 2: A frame of the 1976 film "Logan's Run".

Satellite Photo:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=38.893972,-77.036605&ie=UTF8&t=k&om=0&z=19&ll=38.889338,-77.045075&spn=0.001031,0.003369&iwloc=A

More links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Monument

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Capitol

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logans_run

my Chronicles from the Sprawl (13/n) - Washington DC in Science Fiction I

2006-09-16T14:56:00.000Z

Film: The Day The Earth Stood Still (aka Klaatu barada nikto)

Photo 1: The Ellipse as seen from the top of the Washington Monument (the White House is near the center of the picture).

Photo 2: The Ellipse in a frame from the film.

Satellite Photo:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=38.893972,-77.036605&ie=UTF8&z=17&ll=38.893972,-77.036605&spn=0.004125,0.013475&t=k&om=0

my Chronicles from the Sprawl (12/n) - Smithsonian IV

2006-09-14T12:28:00.000Z

National Air & Space Museum (Washington, DC)

Apollo 11 Command Module

Satellite Photo:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=38.88831,-77.019863&ie=UTF8&z=17&ll=38.88831,-77.019868&spn=0.00415,0.013475&t=k&om=0

another link:

http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/gal100/apollo11.html

my Chronicles from the Sprawl (11/n) - Smithsonian III

2006-09-13T13:27:00.000Z

National Air & Space Museum (Washington, DC)

Photo 1: "Sputnik I" and "Pioneer 10" (replicas)

Photo 2: "Sputnik I" and "Voyager10 " (replicas). Also seen "The Spirit of St. Louis" on background and a "X15" in foreground right (originals).

Satellite Photo:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=38.88831,-77.019863&ie=UTF8&z=17&ll=38.88831,-77.019868&spn=0.00415,0.013475&t=k&om=0

more links:

http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/gal100/sputnik.html

http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/gal100/pioneer.html

http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/gal100/stlouis.html

http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/gal100/X-15.html

my Chronicles from the Sprawl (10/n) - Smithsonian II

2006-09-12T07:11:00.000Z

National Museum of Natural History (Washington, DC)

Photo 1: Dinosaurs

Photo 2: Washington Smithsonian Museums - as seen from the top of the Monument.

Satellite Photo:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=38.891171,-77.025871&ie=UTF8&t=k&om=0&z=17&ll=38.891175,-77.025876&spn=0.00415,0.013475

my Chronicles from the Sprawl (9/n) - Smithsonian I

2006-09-11T11:57:00.000Z

National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC)

Photo1: Mind Power? No, just the flash reflexion.

Photo2: Classic Antiquity.

Satellite Photo:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&amp;q=38.891446,-77.019997&ie=UTF8&z=16&ll=38.891446,-77.019997&spn=0.008301,0.026951&t=k&om=0

More Links:

http://www.si.edu/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_antiquity

my Chronicles from the Sprawl (8/n) - Nine Eleven

2006-09-09T11:16:00.000Z

Ground zero through a protective wire mesh laid in place, probably, by the reconstruction workers.

(advanced topic for signal processing: lookout for Nyquist's - De Moivre's - patterns at different magnifications).

Satellite photo:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=40+42+41.32+N+74+00+43.92+W&ie=UTF8&z=17&ll=40.711478,-74.0122&spn=0.004042,0.013475&t=k&om=1

my Chronicles from the Sprawl (7/n) - Imagine

2006-09-07T13:50:00.000Z

Photo 1: Strawberry Fields Memorial

Photo 2: Dakota Building (entrance)

Imagine
John Lennon

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

Satellite photos:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=40.77573,-73.97526&ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&z=17&ll=40.775732,-73.97526&spn=0.004038,0.013475

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=40.77637,-73.97665&ie=UTF8&z=17&ll=40.776374,-73.976655&spn=0.004038,0.013475&t=k&om=1

also of interest:

http://www.centralparknyc.org/virtualpark/southend/strawberryfields

[ In July to October, 2006, I plan a series of posts celebrating the 20th anniversary of the William Gibson "Sprawl Trilogy". This is one of such posts. To find the other posts just search for the link near the upper right corner of any page of this blog. Click HERE for more details ]

my Chronicles from the Sprawl (6/n) - Marcel Duchamp @ Philadelphia Museum of Art (revisited)

2006-08-26T21:07:00.000Z

see also:

http://lasers-in-the-jungle.blogspot.com/2006/07/marcel-duchamp_08.html

Satellite photo:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=philadelphia&ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&z=19&ll=39.965336,-75.180586&spn=0.001022,0.003369

[ In July to October, 2006, I plan a series of posts celebrating the 20th anniversary of the William Gibson "Sprawl Trilogy". This is one of such posts. To find the other posts just search for the link near the upper right corner of any page of this blog. Click HERE for more details ]

my Chronicles from the Sprawl (5/n) - Grover's Mill Pond, NJ

2006-08-26T20:20:00.000Z

Satellite photo:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=40.312624,-74.60563&ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&z=19&ll=40.312624,-74.605633&spn=0.001016,0.003369

my Chronicles from the Sprawl (4/n) - Masonic Boston

2006-08-26T17:41:00.000Z

satellite photo:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=43.6,-79.3&ie=UTF8&om=1&t=k&z=19&ll=42.357484,-71.061837&spn=0.000985,0.003369&iwloc=A

my Chronicles from the Sprawl (3/n) - Postcards from THE falls

2006-08-26T17:28:00.000Z

Satellite photo:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=43.6,-79.3&ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&z=15&ll=43.081302,-79.070663&spn=0.015578,0.053902

my Chronicles from the Sprawl (2/n) - The North

2006-08-26T17:03:00.000Z

Toronto (Canada) - The farthest north point in my journey.

Picture: Downtown Toronto with the CN Tower - the World’s tallest building [ http://www.cntower.ca/portal/ ]

satellite photo:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=43.6,-79.3&ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&z=18&ll=43.641825,-79.387314&spn=0.001929,0.006738

my Chronicles from the Sprawl (1/n) - Have car, will travel

2006-08-16T12:34:00.000Z

Have car, will travel

The house was not included :-(

Kandinsky & Dali

2006-08-03T20:33:00.000Z

His offices were located in a warehouse behind Ninsei, part of which seemed to have been sparsely decorated, years before, with a random collection of European furniture, as though Deane had once intended to use the place as his home. Neo-Aztec bookcases gathered dust against one wall of the room where Case waited. A pair of bulbous Disney-styled table lamps perched awkwardly on a low Kandinsky-look coffee table in scarlet-lacquered steel. A Dali clock hung on the wall between the bookcases, its distorted face sagging to the bare concrete floor. Its hands were holograms that altered to match the convolutions of the face as they rotated, but it never told the correct time. The room was stacked with white fiberglass shipping modules that gave off the tang of preserved ginger. "You seem to be clean, old son," said Deane's disembodied voice. "Do come in."

William Gibson, "Neuromancer", 1984

[ In July to October, 2006, I plan a series of posts celebrating the 20th anniversary of the William Gibson "Sprawl Trilogy". This is one of such posts. To find the other posts just search for the link near the upper right corner of any page of this blog. Click HERE for more details ]

1939/45 (those who do not know history are condemned to repeat it)

2006-07-30T18:21:00.000Z

Possibly 62 million people lost their lives in World War II—about 25 million soldiers and 37 million civilians, with estimates varying widely. This total includes the estimated 12 million lives lost in the Holocaust.

un resolutions 425/1391/1496 (those who do not know history are condemned to repeat it)

2006-07-30T09:01:00.000Z

In May 2000, more than 22 years after United Nations Security Counsel Resolution 425 was passed, Israel withdrew its troops from southern Lebanon. Prior to the withdrawal, opposition voices inside Israel were putting high pressure on the Israeli government to withdraw from Lebanon as they saw no valid reason for staying there and having to sustain the Lebanese resistance attacks.

Lebanon had not lived up to its end of the Resolution which called for the Lebanese government to assert its control over the southern region.Lebanon was called on by UN Resolution 1391 of 2002 and urged by UN Resolution 1496 of 2003 to do so.

As a result of Lebanon's inability to assert control of the region, Hezbollah,funded by Iran holds de facto sovereignty over much of South Lebanon.

World War 4

2006-07-29T16:44:00.000Z

Thursday, July 27, 2006
Associated Press

In the message broadcast by Al-Jazeera television, Ayman al-Zawahiri, second in command to Usama bin Laden, said that Al Qaeda now views "all the world as a battlefield open in front of us."

The Egyptian-born physician said that the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah and Palestinian militants would not be ended with "cease-fires or agreements."

"It is a Jihad for the sake of God and will last until (our) religion prevails ... from Spain to Iraq," al-Zawahiri said. "We will attack everywhere." Spain was controlled by Arab Muslims until they were driven from power at the turn of the 16th century.

He also said that Arab regimes were complicit in Israeli fighting against Hezbollah and the Palestinians. "My fellow Muslims, it is obvious that Arab and Islamic governments are not only impotent but also complicit ... and you are alone on the battlefield. Rely on God and fight your enemies ... make yourselves martyrs."
...

1947/48/49 (those who do not know history are condemned to repeat it)

2006-07-23T12:30:00.000Z

In 1947, following increasing levels of violence together with unsuccessful efforts to reconcile the Jewish and Arab populations, the British government decided to withdraw from the Palestine Mandate. The UN General Assembly approved the 1947 UN Partition Plan dividing the territory into two states, with the Jewish area consisting of roughly 55% of the land, and the Arab area roughly 45%. Jerusalem was planned to be an international region administered by the UN to avoid conflict over its status.

Immediately following the adoption of the Partition Plan by the UN General Assembly on November 29, 1947, David Ben-Gurion tentatively accepted the partition, while the Arab League rejected it. Attacks on civilians chiefly by Arabs but also by Israelis soon turned into widespread fighting between Arabs and Jews, this civil war being the first "phase" of the 1948 War of Independence.

The State of Israel was proclaimed on May 14, 1948, one day before the expiry of the Palestine Mandate.

Following the State of Israel's establishment, the armies of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq joined the fighting and began the second phase of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. From the north, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq, were all but stopped relatively close to the borders. Jordanian forces, invading from the east, captured East Jerusalem and laid siege on the city's west. However, forces of the Haganah successfully stopped most invading forces, and Irgun forces halted Egyptian encroachment from the south. At the beginning of June, the UN declared a one-month cease fire during which the Israel Defense Forces were officially formed. After numerous months of war, a cease fire was declared in 1949 and temporary borders, known as the Green Line, were instituted. Israel had gained an additional 26% of the Mandate territory west of the Jordan River. Jordan, for its part, held the large mountainous areas of Judea and Samaria, which became known as the West Bank. Egypt took control of a small strip of land along the coast, which became known as the Gaza Strip.

During and after the war, then Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion set about establishing order by dismantling the Palmach and underground organizations like the Irgun and Lehi. Those two groups were classified as terror organizations after the murder of a Swedish diplomat.

Large numbers of the Arab population fled or were driven out of the newly-created Jewish State. (Estimates of the final refugee count range from 600,000 to 900,000 with the official United Nations count at 711,000.) The continuing conflict between Israel and the Arab world resulted in a lasting displacement that persists to this day.

Immigration of Holocaust survivors and Jewish refugees from Arab lands doubled Israel's population within a year of independence. Over the following decade approximately 600,000 Mizrahi Jews, who fled or were expelled from surrounding Arab countries and Iran, migrated to Israel.

Turn on red

2006-07-14T17:39:00.000Z

For someone from Europe driving in the USA probably to most weird thing about traffic laws is the fact that quit often you can cross a red light if you are turning right (and some times if you are turning left).

Unfortunately the exact law varies from state top state and sometimes changes from one part of the state to another.

Also a large collection of traffic signs supersede or, sometimes, reeenforce the generic laws.

You Crazy Diamond !

2006-07-11T15:18:00.000Z

(Pink Floyd, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn) - Astronomy Domine

Astronomy Domine

Lime and limpid green, a second scene
A fight between the blue you once knew.
Floating down, the sound resounds
Around the icy waters underground.
Jupiter and Saturn, Oberon, Miranda and Titania.
Neptune, Titan, Stars can frighten.
Lime and limpid green, a second scene
A fight between the blue you once knew.
Floating down, the sound resounds
Around the icy waters underground.
Jupiter and Saturn, Oberon, Miranda and Titania.
Neptune, Titan, Stars can frighten.
Blinding signs flap,
Flicker, flicker, flicker blam. Pow, pow.
Stairway scare Dan dare who's there?
Lime and limpid green, the sounds around
The icy waters under
Lime and limpid green, the sounds around
The icy waters underground.

Syd Barrett (1946-2006)

Marcel Duchamp

2006-07-08T20:12:00.000Z

La mariée mis à nu par ses célibataires, même

"Straylight reminded Case of deserted early morning shopping centers he’d known as a teenager, low-density places where the small hours brought a fitful stillness, a kind of numb expectancy, a tension that left you watching insects swarm around caged bulbs above the entrance of darkened shops. Fringe places, just past the borders of the Sprawl, too far from the all-night click and shudder of the hot core. There was that same sense of being surrounded by the sleeping inhabitants of a waking world he had no interest in visiting or knowing, of dull business temporarily suspended, of futility and repetition soon to wake again.

Molly had slowed now, either knowing that she was nearing her goal or out of concern for her leg. The pain was starting to work its jagged way back through the endorphins, and he wasn’t sure what that meant. She didn’t speak, kept her teeth clenched, and carefully regulated her breathing. She’d passed many things that Case hadn’t understood, but his curiosity was gone.

There had been a room filled with shelves of books, a million flat leaves of yellowing paper pressed between bindings of cloth or leather, the shelves marked at intervals by labels that followed a code of letters and numbers; a crowded gallery where Case had stared, through Molly’s incurious eyes, at a shattered, dust-stenciled sheet of glass, a thing labeled — her gaze had tracked the brass plaque automatically — “La mariee mise a nu par ses celibataires, meme.”

She’d reached out and touched this, her artificial nails clicking against the Lexan sandwich protecting the broken glass. There had been what was obviously the entrance to Tessier-Ashpool’s cryogenic compound, circular doors of black glass trimmed with chrome. She’d seen no one since the two Africans and their cart, and for Case they’d taken on a sort of imaginary life; he pictured them gliding gently through the halls of Straylight, their smooth dark skulls gleaming, nodding, while the one still sang his tired little song. And none of this was anything like the Villa Straylight he would have expected, some cross between Cath’s fairy tale castle and a half-remembered childhood fantasy of the Yakuza’s inner sanctum"

William Gibson, "Neuromancer", 1985

[ In July to October, 2006, I plan a series of posts celebrating the 20th anniversary of the William Gibson "Sprawl Trilogy". This is one of such posts. To find the other posts just search for the link near the upper right corner of any page of this blog. Click HERE for more details ]

links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Large_Glass

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Museum_of_Art

http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/51474.html

Joseph Cornell

2006-07-05T19:07:00.000Z

Les Constellations Voisines du Pôle, 1961

"Bone and circuit-gold, dead lace, and a dull white marble rolled from clay. Marly shook her head. How could anyone have arranged these bits, this garbage, in such a way that it caught at the heart, snagged in the soul like a fishhook? But then she nodded. It could be done, she knew; it had been done many years ago by a man named Cornell, who’d also made boxes"

William Gibson, "Count Zero", 1986

[ In July to October, 2006 I plan a series of posts celebrating the 20th anniversary of the William Gibson "Sprawl Trilogy". This is one of such posts. To find the other posts just search for the link near the upper right corner of any page of this blog. Click HERE for more details ]

my Chronicles from the Sprawl (pilot post)

2006-07-01T21:15:00.000Z

In the mid 80's (last century ) William Gibson wrote a series of books - "Neuromancer", "Count Zero" and "Mona Lisa Overdrive" - they late have become collectively known as the "sprawl trilogy". Some believe the zenith of "cyberpunk".

Another (short stories) book, "Burning Chrome" fits well in the "sprawl trilogy" too, and, by the way, is my favorite.

But what is "the sprawl"? The main (certainly not the only!) location of the trilogy is what the author calls the "Boston-Atlanta Metropolitan Axis" (BAMA) - Aka " ***THE*** sprawl ".

The BAMA does not exist yet. The close we can get is the BosWas Sprawl, a place were we can drive almost 1000 Kms, between Boston and Washington, without leaving a populated area making it - argumentably - the biggest city in the world (55 millions inhabitants?)

The second part of the BAMS (the ChAtlanta) is yet somehow late in its development :-)).

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of "sprawl trilogy" I plan to drive - with a couple of travelling companions - the BosWas Sprawal, with only a couple of the detours (guess where!) and write "my Chronicles from the Sprawl".

Photo 1: The North America West Coast Sprawls (from a VERY recent article of the July 3-10, 2006 issue of "Newsweek").

Photo 2: The BosWash Sprawl (colour=population density)

from: [ http://www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/s/s0668900.html ]:

SPRAWL

sprawl [ sprôl ]v. sprawled, sprawl·ing, sprawls v. intr.

To sit or lie with the body and limbs spread out awkwardly.

To spread out in a straggling or disordered fashion: untidy tenements sprawling toward the river. v. tr.

To cause to spread out in a straggling or disordered fashion. n.

A sprawling position or posture.

Haphazard growth or extension outward, especially that resulting from real estate development on the outskirts of a city: urban sprawl.

Some OTHER links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BosWash

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gibson_(novelist)

http://www.antonraubenweiss.com/gibson/gibson1.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_sprawl

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sprawl

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuromancer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sprawl_trilogy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Count_Zero

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa_Overdrive

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberspace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Mnemonic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Rose_Hotel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Rose_Hotel_(1998_movie)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abel_Ferrara

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_95

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_1

http://geography.about.com/cs/urbansprawl/a/megalopolis.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highways_along_the_BosWash_corridor

[ In July to October, 2006 I plan a series of posts celebrating the 20th anniversary of the William Gibson "Sprawl Trilogy". This is one of such posts. To find the other posts just search for the link near the upper right corner of any page of this blog ]

Clandestine at Chernobyl

2006-06-24T18:50:00.000Z

At Chernobyl there are, It seems, a lot of clandestine people. Probably because it is ease to find abandoned - by sometimes workable - housing, and because plots of land for food cultivations are plenty and unused.

For the local farmers, I think, the perils of radiation are far fetch compared to the hardship of the daily live.

Myself, with a couple of colleagues, we have been inside this house (without external doors) - the sort of action I do not recommend because door less houses collect a lot of old (i.e. more radioactive) dust.

We found 2 very different rooms inside the house (see pictures). Also a picture of the same house from the outside where nice curtains could be seen.For privacy reasons I do NOT publish a aerial photo - or the coordinates - of this house.

now with satellite photos

2006-06-06T10:06:00.000Z

I edited the previous posts and now, for most of the photos shot in Kiev and Chernobyl, I have links to satellite photos over the exact spot I photographed.

Tanks to maps.google.com

A familiar face

2006-05-25T07:15:00.000Z

Although I have return from Kiev for more then a month now, I still have a few pictures to post.

This one has been kindly sent to me by Mikhail Y. (Russia)

The Golden Gates of Kiev

2006-04-26T09:32:00.000Z

What reminds you the word "Kiev"?

If you are about my age, and are a rock fan, probably the first meaning that comes to your head comes from Emerson Lake and Palmer album "Pictures at an Exhibition" itself inspited in a Mussorgsky's piano suite.

Photo 1: "Pictures at an Exhibition" album cover

Photo 2: A (possibly inaccurate) reconstruction of the gate of Kiev

Photo 3: The nice (and depth) metro station of "Zoloti Vorota" (means: "golden gates") near the reconstruction.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Gate_%28Kiev%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pictures_at_an_Exhibition

UPDATE (Coordinates & Satellite Photos - added in 2006-May-31):

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=50.448791,30.51334&ll=50.448791,30.51334&spn=0.001701,0.006738&t=k&om=1>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pictures_at_an_Exhibition_%28album%29

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000033P1/ref=pd_sim_m_4/102-1182921-5266521?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=5174

The Great Gates of Kiev
(Mussorgsky, Lake - in "Emerson Lake and Palmer" album "Pictures at an Exhibition")
-----------------------

Come forth, from love spire
Born in life's fire,
born in life's fire.
Come forth, from love's spire

In the burning, all are (of our) yearning,
for life to be.
And the pain will (must) be gain,
new life!

Stirring in, salty streams
and dark hidden seams
where the fossil sun gleams.

They were, sent from (to) the gates
Ride the tides of fate,
ride the tides of fate.
They were, sent from (to) the gates

In the burning all are (of our) yearning,
For life to be.

There's no end to my life,
no beginning to my death
Death is life.

Twenty Years After, Plants (part 12 of 12)

2006-04-26T07:47:00.000Z

At the end of 1986 a "sarcophagus" was erected in Chernobyl reactor 4 over bags of sand and lead thrown out by helicopter crews.

However those structure is crumbling and the rain get inside, becaming loaded with radionuclides (became "radioactive"). Kiev is downstream, through the Pripyat and the Dnieder Rivers.

(Also the radioactive dust release in the few days after the accident is still contaminating water in Chernobyl and Belorrusia adjacent areas)

Dams have been build to try to stop the water but its success is debated.

Photo 1: This is what is left of Chernobyl reactor 4, that exploded April 25, 1986 (UTC date) or April 26 (local date), 20 years ago today (this is generally the closest a TV crew or photographer can come)

Photo 2: Tow cooling towers (one unfinished)

UPDATE (Coordinates & Satellite Photos - added in 2006-May-31):

Photo 1:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=&t=k&om=1&ll=51.389646,30.099739&spn=0.002196,0.004694

Photo 2:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=&t=k&om=1&ll=51.376723,30.131829&spn=0.004447,0.009978

(As ususal, you can change the zoom using the rule near the left margin and/or pan using the left click of the mouse)

Twenty Years After, Wild Horses (part 11 of n)

2006-04-26T07:24:00.000Z

Chernobyl area has became a animal reserve. With human population at a very low level, animals (and plants) seem to be recovering very well.

Photo 1: Wild horses

Photo 2: (Digital) blow-up of photo 1

Photo 3: Russian video crew (working for a japanese TV network)

UPDATE (Coordinates & Satellite Photos - added in 2006-Jun-04):

The place where I was, when I took photo1:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=51.227150,+30.141783&ll=51.227189,30.142531&spn=0.001448,0.005364&t=k&om=1

UPDATE (Coordinates & Satellite Photos - added in 2006-Jun-05):

The picture 3 was taken near the point

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=51.27357,+30.21960&ll=51.273605,30.219601&spn=0.001446,0.005364&t=k&om=1

(the large building was the place were we hold the meetings, change to "radiations cloths" and where I had lunch that day. It is also the headquarters of the administration of the "Chernobyl Area")

Twenty Years After, Instruments (part 10 of n)

2006-04-25T09:14:00.000Z

In Chernobyl area instruments to measure radiation are popular. Most are Geiger type detectors and a lot use a classical "click, click, click..." audio warning, usually along with a numerical display.

Likely they all measured "absorbed dose" which is the easy to measure. I believe that all the instruments I saw were measuring the dose in rad/hour (the russian word for "hour" looks like "4AC", with a "4" open in the upper part as usual in "4" draw by hand - (we can see that word on photo 1).

Roentgen/Hour is a obsolete term that means more or less the same.

Photo 1: Observation room. Absorbed dose = 1.23 rad / hour (?). Probably the sensor was on the building but outside.

Photo 2: Downtown Pripyat (counter in close contact with the mud). Absorbed dose = 1.264 rad / hour (?). Out of the mud the dose halved.

Other photo of a similar intrument in the exact same spot:

http://www.neatorama.com/2006/03/29/ghost-town-chernobyl-photoblog-by-elena-filatova/

Those value are generally considered "very high radiation area" the higher possible classification when dealing with nuclear security. However those values are not particularly useful to access risk. I explain.

First, the values of the "absorbed dose" should change very rapidly from point to point, so a few "hot spots" are not dangerous if rare.

Second, the main danger comes from radionuclide we inhale for the environment and from dust we collect with our body (mainly by our hair, beard, nails), that can later irradiate our body from inside (i.e. at very close range).

Added in 2006-May-25: I think that some TV crews mistakenly took my GPS for a sort of "radiation meter" so they film it a lot :-)

UPDATE (Coordinates & Satellite Photos - added in 2006-May-31):

Photo1:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=&t=k&om=1&ll=51.391179,30.095249&spn=0.001667,0.004989

UPDATE (added in 2006-Jun-2):

Photo2:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=&t=k&om=0&ll=51.407652,30.055214&spn=0.004444,0.009978

Advance topics:

All the instruments I've seen measured the "radiation" in rad/hour (although they should be using the SI unit gray/second, i.e. Gy/s).

1 Gy = 1 J/kg = 1 m2·s–2 = 100 rad

Try not confuse with "dose equivalent" (in rem/hour, SI: sievert, 1 Sv = 100 rem). Of course they have the same dimensions and, in some cases, similar values.

Rem/hour are probably more useful but more difficult to measure.