FUTURE FACTS - FROM THINK LINKS

DID YOU KNOW THAT…

• The increasing complexity and interdependency of society is making civilization ever more vulnerable to a “digital doomsday”, the loss of knowledge because we store it in ever more fragile and ephemeral forms.
• According to Craig Hogan, who has just been appointed director of Fermilab’s Center for Particle Astrophysics, our world may be a giant hologram.
• Researchers have developed a microbe that can produce an advanced biofuel directly from biomass.
• China, the United States and Russia are among 20 countries locked in a cyberspace arms race and gearing up for possible Internet hostilities.

PUNCTUATIONS
by John L. Petersen

Hope you had a happy Valentine’s Day . . . if you celebrate this rather American holiday. It’s one of those days where you don’t get any time off, but lots of flowers, chocolate, dinners, and cards get sold. If you’re in a part of the world where you have no idea what I’m talking about, this is a day for remembering your sweetheart - whoever that might be. I give my wife a heart made out of some mineral every year for Valentines Day- quartz, jasper, crystal, jade, etc. She has quite a collection now.
The news in this part of the world has been dominated by the weather for the last two weeks. We’ve now had 40-some inches of snow around Washington, Baltimore and here in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia. We’re in the mountains and don’t get that much very often, so it takes a good while for them to clear the roads. Here’s a delightfully lyrical piece from the New York Times summarizing the scale and effect of this storm.

February 7, 2010 New York Times
A Storm Part Crippling and Part Enchanting
By ROBERT D. McFADDEN

On the National Mall in Washington, cross-country skiers and children on sleds moved through the storm like ghosts, padded and muffled to the eyes. Sounds were distant and subdued. The trees were magical: dark limbed, looped and netted, with flourishes of white lace. And in the distance, the Capitol standing like a sentinel in the storm.

Reporting was contributed by Liz Robbins in New York; Scott Shane and Rebecca Corbett in Baltimore; Jeff Zeleny, Janie Lorber and Ron Nixon in Washington; Robert Strauss in Trenton, N.J.; and Lisa Bacon in Richmond, Va.

And then another storm came and dumped an additional 10 inches on all of us.

And now, as I head to the airport to fly to sunny California . . . another two days of snow is supposed to top things off with 4-6 more inches. The climate is certainly different HERE.

As mentioned in the NYT piece, a fascinating thing happened in Washington in the middle of the first storm — they had a big snowball fight. Got organized in on FaceBook and Twitter in a matter of hours and an estimated 1000 showed up to battle each other. Nice video here. Wonder what else could be organized like this in the future.

The snow certainly provided a few good opportunities for book reading - since we couldn’t get out to do much else. A couple of the four or five books that I’m working through bear mention.

One powerful little antique (or classic) from 1944 that a friend recommended is FEELINGS is the Secret, by Neville. Neville was apparently a well-known spiritualist and mystic around the time of my birth who wrote very clearly and compellingly about the process and technique of influencing your future and manifesting your desires. I was impressed with the clarity of this little 53 page book. If a bunch of people read this book and learned how to effectively internalize the processes that are presented here, they could literally change the world.

Solar Rain: The Earth Changes Have Begun by Mitch Battros, which I believe I mentioned earlier, makes a very compelling case for the sun (and events on the sun like coronal mass ejections) being the principal drivers of this planet’s climate. It makes a lot of sense to me that this star, which has more effect on life here than anything else, would also influence our weather. The earth’s magnetic field is deformed in the face of these huge mass ejections and the new magnetic patterns in turn effect the weather systems on the surface. It’s a very interesting theoretical framework for both explaining and predicting climate and weather. Lot’s of big ideas.

The book, by the way, was written in 2005 at which time Battros had already identified that the IPCC had cherry-picked and manipulated the data that they were using to suggest that the earth was warming.

Jeane Manning and Joel Garbon’s BreakThrough Power: How quantum-leap new energy inventions can transform our world, probes the leading edge of what looks like an emerging energy revolution that could change how everything works. This revolution has been brewing for more than a decade now and I’ve seen enough real, hard examples of technology that have the potential to break through the over-unity barrier to continue to believe that a new energy world is inevitably coming our way. Books like this are always useful to me in that they survey a broad spectrum of what’s out there, providing a more comprehensive picture of things.

And speaking about energy, my architect friend Stu Rose has written a new book about his experience in developing and building his extraordinary highly sustainable, zero net energy homes down in the Norfolk, Virginia area. Stu and Trina Duncan, his wife, are building a little subdivision of seven homes — Garden Atriums — that are all zero net energy buildings. These atrium structures produce all of the energy that they use over a period of a year and are the most delightful places that I know. They’re like a little jungle inside. Stu’s book, Sustainability, tells his story of building their highly sustainable community and then he dabbles with prognosticating a bit about the future.

INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE

Firm Brings Gene Tests to Masses
Digital Doomsday: The End of Knowledge
Who Owns Your DNA?
New Seastead Design

Firm Brings Gene Tests to Masses - (New York Times - January 28, 2010)
Silicon Valley start-up Counsyl is selling a test that it says can tell couples whether they are at risk of having children for 100 inherited diseases, including rare inherited diseases. Some genetic testing of prospective parents is done now, but only for a few diseases like cystic fibrosis and Tay-Sachs, and only for certain ethnic groups. Each test can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Counsyl’s test costs $349 for an individual or $698 for a couple.

Digital Doomsday: The End of Knowledge - (New Scientist - February 6, 2010)
Even as we are acquiring ever more extraordinary knowledge, we are storing it in ever more fragile and ephemeral forms. If our civilization runs into trouble, like all others before it, how much would survive? Of course, in the event of a disaster big enough to wipe out all humans, such as a colossal asteroid strike, it would not really matter. But suppose, however, that something less cataclysmic occurs. The increasing complexity and interdependency of society is making civilization ever more vulnerable to such events. Whatever the cause, if the power were cut off to the banks of computers that now store much of humanity’s knowledge, and people stopped looking after them and the buildings housing them, and factories ceased to churn out new chips and drives, how long would all our knowledge survive?

Who Owns Your DNA? - (Newsweek - February 4, 2010)
Ever since the first human gene was patented in 1982, there’s been a near-universal “What??!!” when people hear that it’s legal for someone to own the rights to our DNA. Blame the Constitution, which empowers Congress to give inventors “the exclusive right” to their discoveries;” the patent office, which interprets “discoveries” as including genes; and the courts, which have said similar patents “promote the progress of science”. However, in the first lawsuit of its kind, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Public Patent Foundation of Cardozo School of Law argued last week in federal court in New York that patents on breast- and ovarian-cancer genes held by Myriad Genetics are unconstitutional because they restrict research and thus violate free speech.

New Seastead Design: The Gyre - (Al Fin - February 8, 2010)
Work in progress: initial design for a deep sea floating port. The Gyre is an upside-down skyscraper floating on the surface of the ocean. It is like an iceberg in that most of its mass is beneath the surface, but more stable than an iceberg since the underwater ballast will not melt. The Gyre is essentially an inverted underwater skyscraper, diving down to a depth of 400 m (1,312 ft) and would be about the same height as the Empire State Building. Four arms extend from the center spire (1.25 km in diameter) and act to buoy the structure as well as create a safe inner harbor and port large enough to accommodate the world’s most titanic ships.

NEW REALITIES

Our World May Be a Giant Hologram
Why Water Is So Weird

Our World May Be a Giant Hologram - (New Scientist - January 15, 2010)
According to Craig Hogan, who has just been appointed director of Fermilab’s Center for Particle Astrophysics, an experimental procedure looking for gravitational waves (GEO600) has stumbled upon the fundamental limit of space-time - the point where space-time stops behaving like the smooth continuum Einstein described and instead dissolves into “grains”, just as a newspaper photograph dissolves into dots as you zoom in. “It looks like GEO600 is being buffeted by the microscopic quantum convulsions of space-time,” says Hogan. “If the GEO600 result is what I suspect it is, then we are all living in a giant cosmic hologram.” The idea that we live in a hologram probably sounds absurd, but it is a natural extension of our best understanding of black holes, and something with a pretty firm theoretical footing. It has also been surprisingly helpful for physicists wrestling with theories of how the universe works at its most fundamental level.

Why Water Is So Weird - (New Scientist - February 3, 2010)
Water’s odd properties are vital to life. Despite that, no single theory had been able to satisfactorily explain its mysterious properties - until now. The controversial ideas expand on a theory proposed more than a century ago by Wilhelm Roentgen, the discoverer of X-rays, who claimed that the molecules in liquid water pack together not in just one way, as today’s textbooks would have it, but in two fundamentally different ways.

GENETICS/ HEALTH TECHNOLOGY

Mice Tail Turned into Brain Cells in Feat Possible for Humans
Brain Imaging Lets Vegetative Patient Communicate
Locked-in Man Controls Speech Synthesizer with Thought

Mice Tail Turned into Brain Cells in Feat Possible for Humans - (Bloomberg - January 27, 2010)
In just two weeks, 20% of the skin cells from the tails of mice had morphed into neurons able to form connections crucial to brain function. The Stanford University scientists who performed the feat said it should work with human tissue. The work provides a more efficient way to make neurons from the skin of people with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases than a method developed four years ago by Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University in Japan. Yamanaka’s breakthrough showed that skin cells from mice or humans could be made into stem cells and manipulated again to become any cell in the body. “That means reprogramming doesn’t only go backward, but can occur in any direction,” Wernig said in a Jan. 22 telephone interview. “If you extrapolate from this, you could probably turn any cell in your body into any other cell if you just know the right factors. A year ago, I would not really have believed this was possible.”

Brain Imaging Lets Vegetative Patient Communicate - (Technology Review - February 4, 2010)
Some people thought to be in a vegetative state–a persistent lack of awareness following brain injury–may be more aware than previously thought, even able to communicate, according to new research. One patient in the study was able to correctly answer a series of yes or no questions, his responses interpreted via brain imaging. The research highlights how difficult it can be to diagnose people in this condition and how new technologies may be able to help. It also opens new avenues for communicating with those thought to be lost to the waking world, and raises a host of ethical and philosophical questions over the definition of consciousness and how to assess it.

Locked-in Man Controls Speech Synthesizer with Thought - (New Scientist - December 15, 2009)
A paralyzed man has “spoken” three different vowel sounds using a voice synthesiser controlled by an implant deep in his brain. If more sounds can be added to the repertoire of brain signals the implant can translate, such systems could revolutionize communication for people who are completely paralyzed. A brain implant, which requires invasive surgery, may sound drastic. But lifting signals directly from neurons may be the only way that locked-in people or those with advanced forms of ALS, a neurodegenerative disease, will ever be able to communicate quickly and naturally. Devices that rely on interpreting residual muscle activity, such as eye blinks, are no good for people who are completely paralyzed, while those that use brain signals captured by scalp electrodes are slow, allowing typing on a keyboard at a rate of one to two words per minute.

CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

In Portland, Growing Vertical
Dry Cold
Ocean Acidification
6 Ways Mushrooms Can Save the World
Trend #6 for 2010

In Portland, Growing Vertical - (New York Times - January 30, 2010)
In Portland, OR, the federal government plans to plant its own bold garden directly above a downtown plaza. As part of a $133 million renovation, the General Services Administration is planning to cultivate “vegetated fins” that will grow more than 200 feet high on the western facade of the main federal building, a vertical garden that changes with the seasons and nurtures plants that yield energy savings. “They will bloom in the spring and summer when you want the shade, and then they will go away in the winter when you want to let the light in,” said Bob Peck, commissioner of public buildings for the G.S.A. Irrigation from rainwater, captured on the roof, and perhaps even “gray water” recycled from the interior plumbing are possibilities, the architects say. But they concede that they are still figuring out some of the finer points of renovating the Wyatt Federal Building, which was completed in 1975 and is currently 18 stories of concrete, glass and minimal inspiration.

Dry Cold - (Economist - February 1, 2010)
The lower stratosphere has, it seems, been drying out. Water vapor is a greenhouse gas, and the cooling effect on the Earth’s climate due to this desiccation may account for a fair bit of the slowdown in the rise of global temperatures seen over the past ten years. Plugging the changes in water vapor into a climate model that looks at the way different substances absorb and emit infrared radiation, researchers conclude that between 2000 and 2009 a drop in stratospheric water vapor of less than one part per million slowed the rate of warming at the Earth’s surface by about 25%.

Ocean Acidification - (Congressional Research Reports - July 2, 2009)
With increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, the extent of effects on the ocean and marine resources is an increasing concern. One aspect of this issue is the ongoing process whereby seawater becomes acidified (i.e., ocean acidification) as more CO2 dissolves in it, causing hydrogen ion concentration in seawater to increase. Scientists are concerned that increasing hydrogen ion concentration could reduce growth or even cause death of shell-forming animals (e.g., corals, molluscs, and certain planktonic organisms) as well as disrupt marine food webs and the reproductive physiology of certain species.

6 Ways Mushrooms Can Save the World - (TED - May 8, 2008)
Mycologist Paul Stamets studies the mycelium and lists 6 ways that this astonishing fungus might help save the planet, such as cleaning polluted soil, making insecticides and treating smallpox.

Trend #6 for 2010 - (21st Century Waves - January 26, 2010)
Tucked among 10 Space Trends for 2010 is one in particular - #6 - that bears special notice. 2009 was the year that Global Warming politics showed significant decline in response to Climategate, new science results, and the public’s rejection of this negative vision of the future. The Climategate scandal showed that most scientists - including those associated with the IPCC who didn’t want to publicly admit it - agree that global warming ended in 1998, that temperatures have declined in recent years, and that global climate models based on CO2 effects cannot account for the current lack of warming, and thus cannot be scientifically used to forecast climate in future decades. The Climategate scientists also speak privately of manipulating temperature data sets to emphasize warming.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Best Seat in the House: You’re Virtually There
U.S. Considers Internet Access for All
Malleable Maps, Artistic Robots and Bubble Interfaces

Best Seat in the House: You’re Virtually There - (H Plus Magazine - (December 30, 2009)
Let’s jump to about five years from now. The celestial jukebox, now realized through search engines specialized for streaming music, has dealt a fatal blow to conventional music sales. Like most other entertainment media, music is now in the business of creating social experiences, rather than leasing licenses on intellectual property. Music sales continue in the form of interactive multimedia album packages, but most of the action takes place at concerts. And concerts don’t look like they used to. When I get to the theater I am half an hour late, but that’s okay because my friends and I took a taxi and have been watching and listening through our glasses on the ride down. Our tickets - purchased and redeemed online - grant us access not only to the building, but also a secure server where other concertgoers are streaming live feeds from their own glasses.

U.S. Considers Internet Access for All - (Live Science - January 28, 2010)
In February, the United States will introduce a national program aimed at giving every American access to a fast Internet connection, raising the standard from a dial-up connection to broadband. the right to access the Internet might pale in comparison to other basic human rights, such as the right to life, freedom of expression and equality before the law, but the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights also includes the right to education and the right to work, which may hinge on Internet access. The United States is currently the only industrialized nation without a national policy for Internet access. Estonia, Greece, France and Finland have recognized Internet access as a basic human right in accordance with the United Nations recommendation.

Malleable Maps, Artistic Robots and Bubble Interfaces - (Technology Review - January 29, 2010)
At the Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction conference, technologists and designers from around the world gathered to demonstrate projects exploring the blurring of physical and digital user interfaces. Check out some of the most interesting projects from the conference.

AUGMENTED/ ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Robots Display Predator-Prey Co-Evolution, Evolve Better Homing Techniques - (Popular Science - December 28, 2009)
At the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems in the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale of Lausanne, Switzerland, evolving robots have learned how deceive other robots about the location of a resource. Since then, their robots have continued to evolve, learning how to navigate a maze, beginning to cooperate and share, and even developing complex predator-prey interactions.
The Swiss scientists placed within the robot’s operating system both basic instructions, and some random variations that changed every generation in virtual mutations. After each trial, the code for the more successful robots got passed on to the next generation, while the code for the less successful robots got bred out.

ENERGY DEVELOPMENTS

Scientists Grow Cheap Biodegradable Solar Using Tobacco
Microbes Produce Fuels Directly from Biomass
Can the Myth of Clean Coal Become a Reality?

Scientists Grow Cheap Biodegradable Solar Using Tobacco - (Tree Hugger - January 29, 2010)
Researchers at UC Berkeley have hacked tobacco plants to grow synthetic photovoltaic cells which can then be extracted and sprayed onto any substrate to create solar cells. The scientists tweaked a few genes within the tobacco mosaic virus to build tiny structures called chromophores. Once the plant is sprayed with the virus, the new chromophores will group into tightly coiled formations. Chromophores are structures that turn light into high powered electrons.

Microbes Produce Fuels Directly from Biomass - (Science Daily - January 31, 2010)
Researchers collaborating with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute have developed a microbe that can produce an advanced biofuel directly from biomass. Using synthetic biology, the researchers engineered a strain of Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria to produce biodiesel fuel and other important chemicals derived from fatty acids. “Given that the costs of recovering biodiesel are nowhere near the costs required to distill ethanol, we believe our results can significantly contribute to the ultimate goal of producing scalable and cost effective advanced biofuels and renewable chemicals.”

Can the Myth of Clean Coal Become a Reality? - (Tri Cities - February 7, 2010)
In the past two years, the U.S. Department of Energy has announced $6.7 billion in funding initiatives for “clean coal” research projects. A step beyond scrubbing power plant emissions of harmful chemicals, the clean coal projects are aimed at removing carbon dioxide - a gas produced from the burning of fossil fuel and blamed in many scientific circles for global warming. Once the carbon dioxide is removed from power plant emissions, the goal is to inject it into the ground for permanent storage.

NANOTECHNOLOGY

Liquid Glass - (Nanopool - no date)
“SiO2-ultra thin layering” is the technical term for Liquid Glass. If you visit certain hospitals in the UK you are touching it. If you see an unusually clean train you are probably looking at it, and if you wonder how your white settee looks so clean, you may be sitting on it. All of these surfaces have been coated with invisible glass. The flexible and breathable glass coating is approximately 100 nanometers thick (500 times thinner than a human hair), so it is completely undetectable. It is food safe, environmentally friendly (winner of the Green Apple Award) and it can be applied to almost any surface within seconds . When coated, all surfaces become easy to clean and anti- microbially protected (Winner of the NHS Smart Solutions Award ). Houses, cars, ovens, wedding dress or any other protected surface become stain resistant and can be easily cleaned with water. The coatings are now also recognized as being suitable for agricultural and in-vivo application. Vines coated with SiO2 don’t suffer from mildew, and coated seeds grow more rapidly without the need for anti-fungal chemicals.

TERRORISM, SECURITY AND THE FUTURE OF WARFARE

Cyber ‘War’ Costs Companies Millions per Day
China, US, Russia in Cyber Arms Race
US Matrix-style Cyberwar Firing Range

Cyber ‘War’ Costs Companies Millions per Day - (Business Journal - January 28, 2010)
A survey of 600 IT security executives worldwide showed that more than half have already suffered large scale attacks or stealthy infiltrations from organized crime gangs, terrorists or nation-states with an average estimated $6.3 million cost of downtime associated with a major incident. 55% believe that the laws in their country are inadequate in deterring potential cyberattacks with those based in Russia, Mexico and Brazil the most skeptical; 45% don’t believe that the authorities are capable of preventing or deterring attacks.

China, US, Russia in Cyber Arms Race - (UFP - January 28, 2010)
China, the United States and Russia are among 20 countries locked in a cyberspace arms race and gearing up for possible Internet hostilities, according to the head of web security firm McAfee. Dave DeWalt, chief executive and president of the US firm said the traditional defensive stance of government computer infrastructures has shifted in recent years. “This movement from a defensive posture to a more offensive posture is just very obvious,” he said. Pointing to the recent attack on Google, DeWalt noted that it illustrated a shift from espionage and attacks on government infrastructure to an offensive on structure that is “commercial in nature.”

US Matrix-style Cyberwar Firing Range - (Register - January 12, 2010)
US plans to develop a virtual network world - to be populated by mirror computers and inhabited by myriad software sim-people “replicants”, and used as a firing range in which to develop the art of cyber warfare - have moved ahead. It has been specified that the Range is to be able to simulate a cyber world on the same scale as the entire internet or the US military Global Information Grid. The Range’s unprecedented tech is to be able to create simulated computers, nodes and other network entities of any type - if necessary duplicating a never-before-seen piece of kit “rapidly”. Even more resemblance to a Matrix-esque artificial world is to be achieved with the provision in the Range of “replicants” representing human users, sysadmins and so forth, who will show fear and stress just as real humans do - reacting and changing their behavior as the frightful code pestilences, mutating malware plagues and other cybergeddon phenomena to be tested in the Range sweep through their universe.

TRENDS OF GOVERNMENT

Shadow Government Statistics - (ShadowStats - no date)
ShadowStats presents figures for unemployment, inflation, GDP etc. which it claims are based on reporting methodologies that used to be used by the US government but have been gradually changed (for whatever reason) since Reagan and particularly Clinton, with the effect that today’s official figures make the US economy look much healthier than it really is. As regards joblessness, for example, it asserts that the real number experiencing distress because of un- and underemployment is over 20%, i.e. more than double the figure which grabs the headlines.

CONTACT AND THE EXPLORATION OF SPACE

10 Space Trends for 2010
Hubble Sights Strange Spaceship-Shaped Object
   Traveling at 11,000 MPH

10 Space Trends for 2010 - (21st Century Waves - January 26, 2010)
The U.S. space program exists at the intersection of long-term trends in economics, geopolitics, and domestic politics, and thus the space trends for 2010 are best understood in the context of those for 2009 and previous years. Economically, 2010 will be a year of uncertainty, but long-term trends continue to show we’re on schedule for a New Global Space Age starting near 2015.

Hubble Sights Strange Spaceship-Shaped Object Traveling at 11,000MPH - (Daily Galaxy - February 3, 2010)
First discovered on ground based LINEAR images on January 6, an odd X-shaped object appeared unusual enough to investigate further and call in the big guns last week - the Hubble Space Telescope. What Hubble saw indicates that P/2010 A2 is unlike any object ever seen before. Knowing that the object orbits in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, a preliminary hypothesis that appears to explain all of the known clues is that P/2010 A2 is the debris left over from a recent collision between two small asteroids. The orbit of P/2010 A2 is consistent with membership in the Flora asteroid family, produced by collisional shattering a few hundred million years ago. (One fragment of that ancient smashup may have struck Earth 65 million years ago, wiping out the dinosaurs.) But, until now, no such asteroid-asteroid collision has been caught “in the act.”

DEMOGRAPHICS

The World Clock
Five Myths about America’s Credit Card Debt

The World Clock - (Poodwaddle - no date)
A website with constantly updating statistics on such things as population, environment, energy, illness, food production and more. See also the Earth Clock.

Five Myths about America’s Credit Card Debt - (Washington Post - January 29, 2010)
They’re yuppie food stamps. They give new meaning to the question “paper or plastic?” And they’re in everyone’s wallet. Americans have nearly 700 million all-purpose bank credit cards, plus nearly 500 million retail store cards - and they have transformed how we live and consume. Here are the myths that muddle our understanding of how we’ve racked up so much credit card debt.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Global Supply of Rare Earth Elements Could Be Wiped out by 2012
When Will the Recession End?
Bloggers Call It Like They See It
America as Texas vs. California, U-Haul Version

Global Supply of Rare Earth Elements Could Be Wiped out by 2012 - (Natural News - January 26, 2010)
The rare earth bubble is due to pop in 2012, potentially devastating the industries of western nations that depend on rare elements such as terbium, lanthanum and neodymium. 97% of the world’s supply comes from mines in China, and China is prepared to simply stop exporting these strategic elements to the rest of the world by 2012. What industries would be impacted? The automobile industry uses tens of thousands of tons of rare earth elements each year, and advanced military technology depends on these elements, too. Lots of “green” technologies depend on them, including wind turbines, low-energy light bulbs and hybrid car batteries.

When Will the Recession End? (Smart Economy - January 30, 2010)
Well hidden, camouflaged government lies, revisions, over hype, paradoxes, deceptions and omissions may be creating a false image of economic prosperity and an illusion that “we’re back to normal times.” Take China-the fastest growing economy in the world…well maybe? There are serious questions about the accuracy of Chinese GDP growth number. On the other hand, the Chinese consumer market is the largest in the world. And it is under-provided. Chinese consumers have historically not been prominent players in the global economy because of their relatively lack of wealth.However, this is changing rapidly.

Bloggers Call It Like They See It - (Public Radio - February 2, 2010)
About 80 econ bloggers were surveyed. About half of bloggers said economic conditions were worse than official statistics indicated. Only 6% said they were better. 33% said the economy was weak, seven % said it was strong. The remainder said it was mixed. When asked what the government should be doing, the only policies with more than 50% support were: increase high-skill immigration and increase legal immigration at all skill levels. Two policies stood out sharply with near-unanimous opposition: increasing business regulation and raising barriers to international trade.

America as Texas vs. California, U-Haul Version - (Enterprise Blog - January 8, 2010)
The article offers two measures of economic performance that can be used to compare our two most populous states, unemployment statistics and U-Haul rates. Bottom Line: According to the jobless rates over the last three years, the Texas economy has clearly been out-performing both the rest of the country and California’s economy. People vote with their feet and will move away from high-cost, high-tax states with high unemployment rates to states with better job prospects and more favorable economic conditions; one-way U-Haul rates capture these migration patterns. Here is an examples from U-Haul of its current one-way rental rates for a 26-foot truck: From Dallas to San Francisco: $734. From San Francisco to Dallas: $2,116

JUST FOR FUN

Vacation on Mars: Antarctica’s Dry Valleys
Shocking Climate Scandal Finally Revealed
Bottlenose Dolphins Mud-ring Feeding

Vacation on Mars: Antarctica’s Dry Valleys - (Mental Floss - no date)
Most of Antarctica has about 2 1/2 miles of ice covering it, and that cold, white wasteland is what most people picture when they think of the South Pole. But a series of dry valleys in Antarctica, about 4,000 kilometers square, have no ice on them at all. The moisture is sucked from the dry valleys by a rain shadow effect - winds rushing over them at speeds up to 200/mph - leaving a bizarre landscape, which looks more like Mars than the rest of our planet. These photos, by scientists and researchers who’ve been there, are fascinating.

Shocking Climate Scandal Finally Revealed - (Al Fin - February 8, 2010)
Hackers have broken into the US Postal Service email servers to discover a shocking conspiracy to cover up the real cause of climate change: inflation in US Postal charges over the past 100 years. Yes, that’s right: postal charges!

Bottlenose Dolphins Mud-ring Feeding - (You Tube - October 29, 2009)
One pod of bottlenose dolphins off the coast of Florida have developed a remarkable hunting strategy in order to catch fish. More surprising still: only one female in the pod understands how to create the “mud-ring” that startles their prey into fleeing - right into the dolphins’ mouths.

A FINAL QUOTE…

“The only certain thing about the future is that it will surprise even those who have seen furthest into it.” — E. J. Hobsbawm, British historian

CONTACT US

Edited by John L. Petersen
johnp@arlingtoninstitute.org
www.arlingtoninstitute.org

PRIVACY POLICY: We don’t share your information with anyone.

FUTURE FACTS - FROM THINK LINKS

DID YOU KNOW THAT…

• Rogue genetic elements previously dismissed as “junk” DNA may play a role in the development of some cancers, or at least act as a marker of the disease’s progression.
• Satellite imagery of the deforestation of the Amazon basin has revealed the vast remains of an unknown civilization.
• Cars that run on hydrogen, get the equivalent of 300 miles per gallon, are leased rather than owned, and are produced under an open source business model will be in test use in 2012 in the UK.
• By its own admission: the statement by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its 2007 report reporting that Himalayan glaciers could disappear by 2035 had no scientific basis.

PUNCTUATIONS
by John L. Petersen

I’ve been thinking about our president lately and his efforts to get his administration back on the track. My assessment of Barack Obama is fundamentally colored by having read his book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream back during the election campaign.

In one of my earlier incarnations I spent a significant amount of time around some presidential candidates and I have a sense about how some of them look at the world and how the inside of the American political system works. This experience and then reading Obama’s book convinced me that at his core, this is a good man who is very bright and had some deep, fundamental ideas about what needed to be done set this country off in a desirable, new direction. He was different from most politicians. Not since Gary Hart had there been as thoughtful a candidate in the race.

Regardless of the criticisms of the brevity of his campaign mantra pitching “just” change, a majority of the American electorate saw in Obama these very basic, good qualities and even if they hadn’t read the book, sensed that he perceived himself, the country, and the world in quite a different way than his predecessor. There really was a chance for a new world this time.

That’s what gave many of us hope. That’s what radically changed the perspective of the U.S. around the world. Most Americans don’t understand how poorly we were thought of outside of our borders during the previous administration - how that what we were doing in the war on terror, etc., was seen as fundamentally at odds with what everyone had come to believe we really stood for. They were quite saddened by the torture and other stuff. The turn to the dark side sent shivers around the world, raising ominous questions in the minds of our friends about the future for our country and by extension, the world.

It’s no wonder why the Nobel Foundation gave him the Peace Prize. His campaign and victory radically changed feelings about America and the future of the world across the planet.

It’s not nationalistic to suggest that in the big picture, the U.S., unlike any other country provides extraordinary hope for the future of humanity. Look around the world. Certainly there are many other wonderful, perhaps even more enlightened nations, but none has the size and ingenuity coupled with a basic sense of goodness that America has. At least, that’s what I am told when I travel out of the country by many thoughtful folks who hail from all over the globe.

Obama very clearly connected with that sense of goodness that many of us have. He gave us hope. But, delivering on that hope has been quite a different issue.

The problem is our government. James Fallows, in a very provocative piece in the latest issue of The Atlantic asks, “Is America going to hell?” In the end, he argues that the pieces for getting back on track are there . . . except for our government (the senate, in particular). He doesn’t see a way out without changing an integral piece of our form of government.

Now that the Supreme Court has ruled that corporations cannot be limited in their ability to influence our elective process with contributions, the issues with legislators has been exacerbated. In ways like they were unable to do before, senators can now say that representing the interests of corporations is equivalent to (and important as) representing individual citizens. I’ll be quick to say that I don’t have any ideas about what to do about that.

But, there’s another piece that is also a problem - especially for Obama. Our government is extraordinary complex and arcane. Lots of moving parts and many places where someone inside of the system can effectively hijack it for their own interests if one doesn’t know what is going on. You need people in senior places who have experience in being in government or they won’t know how to manage this complexity, or so the argument goes. The result is managers, not visionaries, in places of high responsibility and influence. Their objective is not to change the world or the country, their job is to manage their parts of the government.

Because they were in government before, these senior people have often earlier been associated with producing the structures, processes - and problems - that now exist. One could reasonably suggest that it would be hard for a person to come up with the motivation to dramatically change an organization that he or she had helped to build. Vision, and the significant change that necessarily accompanies it, is not part of that equation.

Obama, on the other hand, was elected to be a visionary. The people wanted change, and it would be hard to read his book and not believe that this man had a vision to produce that change. (This all presumes he wrote the book, of course.)

Here’s the rub: in a sense, the president doesn’t know much. He hasn’t been the president before. It’s the biggest job in the world. He’s responsible for more dynamic pieces than any global corporation that exists and thousands of highly paid lobbyists are working every angle possible to see that they get a chunk of the proceeds. He has to make decisions about things in which he clearly doesn’t have a background (and perhaps an interest). In this case, he’s operating in significantly uncharted financial, energy, and climate territory. So, he is very highly dependent upon his staff and advisors.

My experience is that most advisors and managers that come out of the government are risk-adverse. They’re much better at telling you why something could fail and what you can’t do (legally, politically, because of the stock market, geopolitically, etc.), than trying to be creative in defining the world in new ways. The natural inclination of the system is not to push too hard; there will always be more voices against significant change than for it. This is particularly the case if there is not a sense of urgency and clear personal incentives in place to encourage those who must lead the change down into the organization.

This is a problem in these unprecedented times. We’re at a hinge point in history where big pieces of the global system that supports human activity are in serious flux. Whether it’s climate change, a transition to a new era in energy, or dealing with the likely next dip in the financial system, we’re talking here about the need to change.

I believe the American people intuitively resonate with this need to evolve - to move on to the next level of development. They know that every week the present system is working less well and that the problems are systemic - they cannot be fixed at the margins. Sure, there are some who are change-adverse and will oppose anything, but the great upwelling of support for Obama was not just related to him as an individual; it was contextual -a resonance with the underlying need.

This is a special time of immense opportunity that calls for leadership - bold leadership - that captures the evolutionary need for progress, realizes that the past cannot be sustained, and begins to rapidly move humanity to a new way of living. That’s easy to say and much harder to do. But you can’t do it without doing it. You must engage.

Obama is the visionary and he needs to get into the space where he trusts the larger process, hard as that might be. He has to believe that if his vision, motives and objectives are right, the rest of the world will necessarily reconfigure itself to meet them . . . if he always does what’s right. He has to trust his intuition and not his staff. He must motivate those around him to see and embrace the vision but not make decisions based on the possibility of failure. Focusing on how things might go south encourages the likelihood of that happening. He’s got more help than he knows and it will all show up if he really changes direction.

This can only be done by transcending - by operating at a different level than that of the present system. If the president believes that he is operating within the constraints of the political system, (which of course his experience and staff will tell him), then that will be the reality. But, if he decides that what he is here to accomplish is greater than politics and bigger than the past, he will engage the citizenry and world at a higher level of idealism . He will play a different game by different rules. If he does that, the country and the rest of the world will jump to their feet in support . . . and those playing by the old rules won’t know what hit them. Nothing will make sense to them.

That’s the change that Americans voted for, whether they knew it explicitly or not. That’s what they’ll support.

There’s an extraordinary opportunity here Mr. President. I hope that you reach up and help us all to manifest it.

INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE

An E-Book Buyer’s Guide to Privacy - (Electronic Frontier Foundation - December 21, 2009)
E-readers are starting to transform how we buy and read books in the same way mp3s changed how we buy and listen to music. Unfortunately, e-reader technology also presents significant new threats to reader privacy. E-readers possess the ability to report back substantial information about their users’ reading habits and locations to the corporations that sell them. And yet none of the major e-reader manufacturers have explained to consumers in clear unequivocal language what data is being collected about them and why. For example, Google’s new Google Book Search Project has the ability to track reading habits at an unprecedented level of granularity. In particular, according to the proposed Google Books Privacy Policy, web servers will automatically “log” each book and page you searched for and read, how long you viewed it for, and what book or page you continued onto next.

NEW REALITIES

Sea Slug Surprise: It’s Half-plant, Half-animal
Physicists Tie Light in Knots
If You Think a Crow is Giving You the Evil Eye

Sea Slug Surprise: It’s Half-plant, Half-animal - (MSNBC - January 12, 2010)
A green sea slug is the first critter discovered to produce the plant pigment chlorophyll. The sneaky slugs seem to have stolen the genes that enable this skill from algae that they’ve eaten. With their contraband genes, the slugs can carry out photosynthesis - the process plants use to convert sunlight into energy. “They can make their energy-containing molecules without having to eat anything,” said Sidney Pierce, a biologist at the University of South Florida in Tampa. The slugs accomplishment is quite a feat, and scientists aren’t yet sure how the animals actually appropriate the genes they need. “DNA from one species can get into another species, as these slugs have clearly shown,” Pierce said. “But the mechanisms are still unknown.”

Physicists Tie Light in Knots - (Science Daily - January 18, 2010)
Optical vortices can be created with holograms which direct the flow of light. In this work, the team designed holograms using knot theory — a branch of abstract mathematics inspired by knots that occur in shoelaces and rope. Using these specially designed holograms they were able to create knots in optical vortices. This new research demonstrates a physical application for a branch of mathematics previously considered completely abstract. Professor Miles Padgett from Glasgow University, who led the experiments, said: “The sophisticated hologram design required for the experimental demonstration of the knotted light shows advanced optical control, which undoubtedly can be used in future laser devices.”

If You Think a Crow is Giving You the Evil Eye - (New Scientist - January 26, 2010)
Wild crows can recognise individual human faces and hold a grudge for years against people who have treated them badly. This ability - which may also exist in other wild animals - highlights how carefully some animals monitor the humans with whom they share living space. John Marzluff at the University of Washington in Seattle and colleagues donned a rubber caveman mask and then captured and banded wild American crows. The birds’ antipathy to the caveman mask has lasted more than three years, even though the crows have had no further bad experiences with people wearing it.

GENETICS/ HEALTH TECHNOLOGY

‘Junk’ DNA Linked to Aggressive Cancers
Baby Boomers Not Losing Hearing as Fast as Parents
Why Your DNA Isn’t Your Destiny
Is There Really Life After Death?
Video Game Success May Be in the Mind
Aerobic Exercise Grows Brain Cells

‘Junk’ DNA Linked to Aggressive Cancers - (New Scientist - January 6, 2010)
Only about 3% of the human genome actually encodes instructions to RNA for making proteins. About 17% of our DNA is made up of recurrent sequences called L1 elements. Many geneticists had dismissed L1 elements as molecular parasites that do nothing but further their own survival, but recent studies have hinted that they are sometimes transcribed into RNA too. Rogue genetic elements previously dismissed as “junk” DNA may play a role in the development of some cancers, or at least act as a marker of the disease’s progression.

Baby Boomers Not Losing Hearing as Fast as Parents - (Life Extension Daily News - January 15, 2010)
Though they were the first generation to endure rock concerts, boom boxes and iPods, the baby boomers have lost less of their hearing than their parents, according to a study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. While everyday life may be getting noisier, actual hearing loss from one generation to the next has declined, said Weihai Zhan, lead author of the study. More stringent rules about workplace noise and fewer people working in noisy industries such as mining and manufacturing also may be contributing to less hearing loss in the younger generation. Reduced smoking may also play an indirect role, since smoking increases the risk of heart disease, which can lead to less blood flow to the inner ear.
Another factor may be better health care and antibiotics resulting in less inflammation and infection.

Why Your DNA Isn’t Your Destiny - (Time - January 6, 2010)
Epigenetics is the study of changes in gene activity that do not involve alterations to the genetic code but still get passed down to at least one successive generation. These patterns of gene expression are governed by the cellular material - the epigenome - that sits on top of the genome, just outside it (hence the prefix epi-, which means above). It is these epigenetic “marks” that tell your genes to switch on or off, to speak loudly or whisper. It is through epigenetic marks that environmental factors like diet, stress and prenatal nutrition can make an imprint on genes that is passed from one generation to the next. For decades, we though DNA was an ironclad code that we and our children and their children had to live by. Now we can imagine a world in which we can tinker with DNA, bend it to our will. It will take geneticists and ethicists many years to work out all the implications, but be assured: the age of epigenetics has arrived.

Is There Really Life After Death? (Impact Lab - January 25, 2010)
Is there life after death? Radiation oncologist Dr. Jeffrey Long says if you look at the scientific evidence, the answer is unequivocally yes. Drawing on a decade’s worth of research on near-death experiences - work that includes cataloguing the stories of some 1,600 people who have gone through them - he makes the case for that controversial conclusion in a new book, Evidence of the Afterlife. Medicine, Long says, cannot account for the consistencies in the accounts reported by people all over the world.

Video Game Success May Be in the Mind - (BBC News - January 20, 2010)
US researchers found they could predict how well an amateur player might perform on a game by measuring the volume of key sections of the brain. Writing in the journal Cerebral Cortex, they suggest their findings could have wider implications for understanding the differences in learning rates. Certain parts of the brain can be disproportionately larger which may explain some differences in cognitive ability - between individuals as well as species.

Aerobic Exercise Grows Brain Cells - (Phys Org - January 20, 2010)
Neuroscientists working on mice showed that even a few days of running stimulates the brain to grow new cells in a part of the brain involved in memory and recall. The scientists divided the mice into two groups: one of which had a running wheel they could use at any time, and the other of which did not. In subsequent memory tests the scores of mice with access to the running wheel were almost double those of the non-running group.

DISCOVERIES ENABLED BY NEW TECHNOLOGY

Evidence of Ancient Amazon Civilization
Giant Cattle to Be Bred Back from Extinction

Evidence of Ancient Amazon Civilization - (Sphere - January 8, 2010)
As a result of the deforestation of the Amazon basin, the vast remains of an unknown civilization have been found. Satellite imagery was used to discern the footprint of the buildings and roads of a settlement believed to span more than 150 miles. This sophisticated, pre-Columbian society probably had a population of around 60,000 people. The discovery of these ruins overturns the previously held belief that the upper Amazon basis had always been uninhabited.

Giant Cattle to Be Bred Back from Extinction - (Telegraph - January 18, 2010)
Aurochs, huge cattle with sweeping horns which once roamed the forests of Europe, have not been seen for nearly 400 years. Now Italian scientists are hoping to use genetic expertise and selective breeding of modern-day wild cattle to recreate the fearsome beasts which weighed around 2,200lb and stood 6.5 feet at the shoulder. Breeds of large cattle which most closely resemble Bos primigenius, such as Highland cattle and the white Maremma breed from Italy, are being bred with each other in a technique known as “back-breeding”. At the same time, scientists say they have for the first time created a map of the auroch’s genome, so that they know precisely what type of animal they are trying to replicate.

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

Climate Change Authority Admits Mistake
IPCC’s Himalayan Glacier ‘Mistake’ Not an Accident
Pachauri: the Real Story Behind the Glaciergate Scandal
Are Strange, Illicit Sinkings Making the Mediterranean Toxic?
Major Antarctic Glacier is ‘Past Its Tipping Point’
What’s Keeping the Earth Cooler Than Expected?
It’s the Sun, Stupid!
Extreme Waves Increase Dramatically in Pacific Northwest

Climate Change Authority Admits Mistake - (Technology Review - January 21, 2010)
One of the most alarming conclusions from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a widely respected organization established by the United Nations, is that glaciers in the Himalayas could be gone 25 years from now, eliminating a primary source of water for hundreds of millions of people. But a number of glaciologists have argued that this conclusion is wrong, and now the IPCC admits that the conclusion is largely unsubstantiated, based on news reports rather than published, peer-reviewed scientific studies.

IPCC’s Himalayan Glacier ‘Mistake’ Not an Accident - (Science News - January 24, 2010)
A London newspaper reports today that the unsubstantiated Himalayan-glacier melt figures contained in a supposedly authoritative 2007 report on climate warming were used intentionally, despite the report’s lead author knowing there were no data to back them up. Until now, the organization that published the report - the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - had argued the exaggerated figures in that report were an accident: due to insufficient fact checking of the source material. Uh, no. It now appears the incident wasn’t quite that innocent.

Pachauri: the Real Story Behind the Glaciergate Scandal - (Telegraph - January 23, 2010)
Last week, the IPCC, led by its increasingly controversial chairman, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, was forced to issue an unprecedented admission: the statement in its 2007 report that Himalayan glaciers could disappear by 2035 had no scientific basis, and its inclusion in the report reflected a “poor application” of IPCC procedures. What has now come to light, however, is that the scientist from whom this claim originated, Dr Syed Hasnain, has for the past two years been working as a senior employee of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), the Delhi-based company of which Dr Pachauri is director-general. Furthermore, the claim - now disowned by Dr Pachauri as chairman of the IPCC - has helped TERI to win a substantial share of a $500,000 grant from one of America’s leading charities, along with a share in a three million euro research study funded by the EU.

Are Strange, Illicit Sinkings Making the Mediterranean Toxic? - (Scientific American - February, 2010)
Processing and safely storing waste from the chemical, pharmaceutical and other industries, including radioactive waste, can cost hundreds, even thousands, of dollars per ton-which makes illegal disposal highly profitable. According to the Italian environmental organization Legambiente, some waste shippers that have operational bases in southern Italy have been using the Mediterranean as a dump. Physicist Massimo Scalia of the University of Rome, contends that 39 ships were wrecked under questionable circumstances between 1979 and 1995 alone; in every case, he adds, the crew abandoned the ship long before it sank. An average of two ships per year suspiciously disappeared in the Mediterranean during the 1980s and early 1990s, according to Legambiente-and the number has increased to nine wrecks per year since 1995.

Major Antarctic Glacier is ‘Past Its Tipping Point’ - (New Scientist - January 12, 2010)
Pine Island glacier (PIG) is one of many at the fringes of the West Antarctic ice sheet. In 2004, satellite observations showed that it had started to thin, and that ice was flowing into the Amundsen Sea 25% faster than it had 30 years before. Now, the first study to model changes in the ice sheet in three dimensions shows that PIG has probably passed a critical “tipping point” and is irreversibly on track to lose 50 per cent of its ice in as little as 100 years, significantly raising global sea levels.

What’s Keeping the Earth Cooler Than Expected? - (Daily Galaxy - January 21, 2010)
The planet has warmed much less than expected during the industrial era based on current best estimates of Earth’s “climate sensitivity” - the amount of global temperature increase expected in response to a given rise in atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide. Stephen Schwartz, team leader at the Brookhaven National Laboratory attributes the reasons for this discrepancy to a possible mix of two major factors: 1) Earth’s climate may be less sensitive to rising greenhouse gases than currently assumed and/or 2) reflection of sunlight by haze particles in the atmosphere may be offsetting some of the expected warming.

It’s the Sun, Stupid! - (Climate Sceptics - no date)
The sun, a million times larger than the earth, is the nuclear power station that controls the climate of the Earth and every other planet in the solar system. The popular belief that human activity is the main cause of catastrophic global warming is essentially a return to the religious, guilt-ridden mythology of the pre-Copernican age. World temperatures peaked in 1998 - ten years ago - and the downward cooling trend has been unmistakable since about 2002. It’s now official that 2008 has been the coldest year this decade. The world has continued to cool whilst CO2 levels in the atmosphere have continued to rise.

Extreme Waves Increase Dramatically in Pacific Northwest - (Daily Galaxy - January 27, 2010)
A major increase in maximum ocean wave heights off the Pacific Northwest in recent decades has forced scientists to re-evaluate how high a “100-year event” might be. The findings raise special concerns for flooding, coastal erosion and structural damage. The new assessment concludes that the highest waves may be as much as 46 feet, up from estimates of only 33 feet that were made as recently as 1996. Using sophisticated techniques that account for the “non-stationarity” in the wave height record, researchers say the 100-year wave height could actually exceed 55 feet, with impacts that would dwarf those expected from sea level rise in coming decades. Increased coastal erosion, flooding, damage to ocean or coastal structures and changing shorelines are all possible, scientists say.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Skype Calls Coming to LG and Panasonic HDTVs
Kurzweil Unveils e-reader with Full-color Multimedia Across Various
   Platforms

Skype Calls Coming to LG and Panasonic HDTVs - (PC World - January 5, 2010)
Skype users can now make high-definition video calls as long as they have an HD webcam and sufficient bandwidth and processing power. Skype also announced that HDTVs will ship later this year with its Internet calling software embedded on them. The HD capability is included in the beta version of Skype 4.2 released for PC users in early December but Skype didn’t disclose the HD features at the time. Skype says around one-third of its calls made between PCs now include video.

Kurzweil Unveils e-reader with Full-color Multimedia Across Various Platforms - (Kurzweil AI - January 6, 2010)
The free Blio eReader is the first to preserve the image-rich format of books and magazines, including their layout, typesetting, images, color and graphics, while also supporting full media functionality, including video, graphics, and web links. The Blio software application will be available for desktop and tablet PCs, netbooks, and mobile devices (including iPhones and iPods); users can download Blio at blioreader.com in late January 2010. A read-aloud feature provides further distinction from other eReaders. A synthesized voice synchronizes with follow-along word highlighting, so the consumer can look and listen in tandem, an attractive feature for travelers, language learners, young children and the vision impaired.

ENERGY DEVELOPMENTS

Open-source Hydrogen Car - (Ecologist - January 20, 2010)
Imagine cars that run on hydrogen, get the equivalent of 300 miles per gallon, are leased rather than owned, and are produced under an open source business model. One company has now created a car with the future in mind and its business model is challenging the very architecture of the auto industry. Riversimple’s network electric car is a hydrogen fuel cell powered car, with unique technologies that enable it to run on a 6kW fuel cell, with greenhouse gas emissions at 30g per km - less than a third of that from the most efficient petrol-engine cars currently available. And the business model is brilliant.

GLOBAL EPIDEMIC

MRSA Superbug Strain Tracked Via Genome - (BBC News - January 21, 2010)
Researchers have developed a technique for precisely tracking the spread of the superbug MRSA in hospitals. Scientists used new high-throughput DNA sequencing technologies to compare MRSA samples from patients to show how they were genetically related. They were able to spot single-letter differences in the genetic code. They found that the MRSA strain studied acquired about one single-letter change in its genetic code every six weeks. The rate of mutation apparently supports the theory that MRSA emerged in the 1960s at the time of widespread antibiotic use.

NANOTECHNOLOGY

Plug Your iPod into Your T-Shirt for Power? - (Science News - January 25, 2010)
Wearable electronics represent a developing new class of materials with an array of novel functionalities, such as flexibility, stretchability, and lightweight, which allow for many applications and designs previously impossible with traditional electronics technology. A new process has been developed for making E-textiles that uses “ink” made from single-walled carbon nanotubes. When applied to cotton and polyester fabrics, the ink produced e-Textiles with an excellent ability to store electricity. The fabrics retained flexibility and stretchability of regular cotton and polyester, and kept their new e-properties under conditions that simulated repeated laundering.

TERRORISM, SECURITY AND THE FUTURE OF WARFARE

Stealthy Personal Flyer Half Airplane, Half Helicopter
Pentagon Report Calls for Office of ‘Strategic Deception’
Counterterrorism In Shambles; Why?

Stealthy Personal Flyer Half Airplane, Half Helicopter - (Al Fin - January 20, 2010)
This pretty little personal flyer lets you take off and land vertically (VTOL) in a stealthy manner, using electric motors. Called the “Puffin”, it is NASA’s answer to the US Marines’ Osprey VTOL airplane. In theory it can cruise at 150 miles per hour and sprint at more like 300 miles per hour. Since the craft is electrically propelled it doesn’t need air intake, so thinning air is not a limitation, meaning it can reach - again, in theory - 30,000 feet before limitations on battery power force it to descend.

Pentagon Report Calls for Office of ‘Strategic Deception’ - (Wired - January 26, 2010)
The Defense Department needs to get better at lying and fooling people about its intentions. That’s the conclusion from an influential Pentagon panel, the Defense Science Board (DSB), which recommends that the military and intelligence communities join in a new agency devoted to “strategic surprise/deception.” the DSB notes in a January report (.pdf) first unearthed by InsideDefense.com. “In an era of ubiquitous information access, anonymous leaks and public demands for transparency, deception operations are extraordinarily difficult. Nevertheless, successful strategic deception has in the past provided the United States with significant advantages that translated into operational and tactical success.

Counterterrorism In Shambles; Why? - (Anti-War.com - January 7, 2010)
In this interview, former CIA analyst Ray McGovern is asked to respond to three questions regarding recent events involving the CIA, FBI, and the intelligence community in general. His answers are informed, insightful and free of rhetoric. For example, he points out to truly address terrorism, “…there is no getting around the necessity to address the root causes of terrorism or, in the vernacular, “why they hate us.”

TRENDS OF GOVERNMENT

Attack on Canada and the United States is Attack on Muslims Too
China to Scan Text Messages to Spot ‘Unhealthy Content’
Commentary: Global Fatigue and Trust Deficit
One Day We’ll All Be Terrorists

Attack on Canada and the United States is Attack on Muslims Too - (Islamic Supreme Council of Canada - January 8, 2010)
Twenty Imams affiliated with the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada have issued a Fatwa (religious edict) declaring the attacks on Canada and the United States by any extremist will be considered an attack on the freedom of Canadian and American Muslims. Full text of the Fatwa is included in the link.

China to Scan Text Messages to Spot ‘Unhealthy Content’ - (New York Times - January 20, 2010)
As the Chinese government expands what it calls a campaign against pornography, cellular companies in Beijing and Shanghai have been told to suspend text services to cellphone users who are found to have sent messages with “illegal or unhealthy content,” state-run news media reported. China Mobile, one of the nation’s largest cellular providers, reported that text messages would automatically be scanned for “key words” provided by the police, according to China Daily, a state-controlled English-language newspaper. Messages will be deemed “unhealthy” if they violate undisclosed criteria established by the central government, the newspaper said.

Commentary: Global Fatigue and Trust Deficit - (UPI - January 21, 2010)
This op-ed piece notes: There is a growing chorus of geopolitical deep thinkers and intellectuals who favor a strategic retreat from the imperial posture of the Cold War, where we are now fighting terrorist cells on a planetary scale, and a reassessment of priorities. One of the Democratic Party’s champion fundraisers, speaking privately, said, “At times I feel that we’re exhausted, sitting on the sidewalk, applauding the inevitable as Team China marches by.” We are now saddled with a dysfunctional system of government that raises the key question for the 21st century: Have we allowed ourselves to become ungovernable with a Congress that seems prone to micromanage everything into unworkable policies, courtesy of a system that has moved from no child left behind to no lobbyist left behind.

One Day We’ll All Be Terrorists - (TruthDig - December 28, 2009)
Our First Amendment rights have become a joke; habeas corpus no longer exists and we torture, not only in black sites such as those at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan or at Guantánamo Bay, but also at the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in Lower Manhattan. Radical activists in the environmental, globalization, anti-nuclear, sustainable agriculture and anarchist movements are already being placed by the state in special detention facilities with Muslims charged with terrorism.

CONTACT AND THE EXPLORATION OF SPACE

Religion Could Survive Discovery of ET, Survey Suggests
The Search for Earth’s Twin
Hello ET, We Come in Peace
Space Shuttles for Sale

Religion Could Survive Discovery of ET, Survey Suggests - (New Scientist - January 26, 2010)
A survey, designed by a professor at the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California asked 1300 people whether they thought the discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence would shake their individual belief, the strength of their religion as a whole or would adversely affect the beliefs of other religions. The survey included both religious and non-religious people, and most respondents were based in the US. Of the 205 people who identified themselves as non-religious (either atheists or those who describe themselves as spiritual but not religious), only 1% thought it would affect their atheist or spiritual outlooks. But 69% thought the discovery of ET could cause a crisis for other world religions. An average of only 34% of religious people shared that belief.

The Search for Earth’s Twin - (Daily Galaxy - January 27, 2010)
According to Dimitar Sasselov, professor of astrophysics and director of Harvard University’s Origins of Life Initiative Project, believes that life is probably common in the universe. He said that he believes life is a natural “planetary phenomenon” that occurs easily on planets with the right conditions. “It takes a long time to do this,” Sasselov has said at a recent Harvard conference. “It may be that we are the first generation in this galaxy.” Though it may be hard to think of it this way, at roughly 14 billion years old, the universe is quite young, he said.

Hello ET, We Come in Peace - (New Scientist - January 21, 2010)
Should we break our interstellar silence? In the 50 years we have been scanning the skies in search of extraterrestrial intelligence, all we have heard is a whole lot of nothing. We have even sent a few hopeful transmissions into space, to no avail. Now some SETI researchers are suggesting that we take a more active approach and systematically advertise our existence to the cosmos. Others say this would be rash, and that to shout into the dark is unwise when we have very little idea who, or what, is out there. There’s a good evolutionary argument that any intelligent alien species is likely to be predatory. Cosmic culture shock is a more likely consequence.

Space Shuttles for Sale - (New Scientist - January 18, 2010)
Space shuttles for sale, fully loaded, air conditioning, one careful owner. It’s the ultimate bargain. NASA has cut the price of a space shuttle to $28.8 million. NASA had hoped to get $42 million for each vehicle but lowered the cost in the hope of sealing a deal.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Time For An Audit…Or Some Competition
Somali Sea Gangs Lure Investors
IMF & World Bank Warnings of a Double Dip Recession in 2010

Time For An Audit…Or Some Competition - (Chris Martenson - January 13, 2010)
The Fed will return about $45 billion to the U.S. Treasury for 2009, according to calculations by The Washington Post based on public documents. That reflects the highest earnings in the 96-year history of the central bank. The Fed, unlike most government agencies, funds itself from its own operations and returns its profits to the Treasury. For those who understand the very simple idea that the Federal Reserve prints Federal Reserve Notes (or their electronic equivalent) out of thin air, the concept of ‘earnings’ on those same thin-air money units is intellectually challenging. And since we have no idea to what extent the Fed is sitting on massive losses, or even what they are sitting on in many cases, the concept of P&L ‘earnings’ are as completely irrelevant as anything can possibly be. Thus, promotion of the idea of Fed ‘earnings’ is not just erroneous, it’s misleading.

Somali Sea Gangs Lure Investors - (Reuters - December 1, 2009)
In Somalia’s bustling town of Haradheere, the sea gangs have set up a cooperative to fund their hijackings. “Four months ago, we set up this stock exchange. We started with 15 ‘maritime companies’ and now we are hosting 72. Ten of them have so far been successful at hijacking,” said one local participant. “The shares are open to all and everybody can take part, whether personally at sea or on land by providing cash, weapons or useful materials … we’ve made piracy a community activity.” Mohamed Adam, the town’s deputy security officer noted, “Piracy-related business has become the main profitable economic activity in our area and, as locals, we depend on their output. The district gets a percentage of every ransom from ships that have been released, and that goes toward public infrastructure, including our hospital and our public schools.”

IMF & World Bank Warnings of a Double Dip Recession in 2010 - (Smart Money - January 20, 2010)
The managing director and chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in this past week, warned that the world economy could soon be heading back into a double dip recession. This is largely due to the 100 or so asset or debt bubbles around the globe that could burst in 2010 sending the world into a double dip recession. The World Bank’s chief economist Justin Lin echoed similar concerns: “The foundation for the recovery is very fragile… We may have a double dip,” he said, citing excess global capacity that could linger until 2014. In an environment of low interest rates and excess capacity, most of the liquidity could go into speculative investments, he said.

FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH - articles off the beaten track which may - or may not - have predictive value.

Flight 77 Cockpit Door Never Opened During 9/11 “Hijack”
Lost Generation
What Do the Plastic Recycling Numbers Mean?
PurinaCare Offers Pet Insurance as Group Benefit to Employers

Flight 77 Cockpit Door Never Opened During 9/11 “Hijack” - (Rock Creek Free Press - December 15, 2009)
Pilots for 9/11 Truth has reported that the data stream from the flight data recorder (FDR) for American Airlines flight 77, which allegedly struck the Pentagon on 9/11, shows that the cockpit door never opened during the entire 90 minute flight. The data was provided by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which has refused to comment. There are numerous other oddities and contradictions about AA77’s black boxes. While it was widely reported in the media that the FDR for AA77 was found at 4 am on September 14, 2001, the file containing the FDR data was dated over four hours earlier. In other words, we are asked to believe that the data from the FDR was downloaded prior to the FDR being found.

Lost Generation - (You Tube - November 30, 2007)
A palindrome reads the same backwards as forward. This minute, 44 second video reads the exact opposite backwards as forward. It was submitted by a 20-year old for a contest sponsored by AARP titled “U @ 50″ and won second place.

What Do the Plastic Recycling Numbers Mean? - (EcoVillageGreen - April 1, 2009)
There are seven numbers you will find on plastic containers, reflecting seven different types of plastic available in the market. The number is a resin identification code associated with the type of plastic used in the container. Some plastics are healthier and more environmentally friendly, some less so. Some are easier to recycle, some less. Here’s a guide to what the numbers mean, whether they’re safe, and how easily recyclable they are.

PurinaCare Offers Pet Insurance as Group Benefit to Employers - (Biz Journals - January 25, 2010)
PurinaCare created a Group Benefits Department that will offer employers and associations group discounts for providing their employees and members with pet health insurance. Pet insurance is a coverage program designed to pick up the tab on the high cost of vet bills. A report by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association showed that last year dog owners spent $785 on average on vet bills while cat owners spent $516. Another survey by the same association showed that despite the recession, 80% of pet owners continued to spend the same level of money on their furry friends.

JUST FOR FUN

The Coming Revolution in Audio Design - (D Visible - September 28, 2009)
A revolution in design shakes both inner and outer worlds - and rarely is this more apparent than with new media technologies that reshape the sensory environment of our everyday lives. One such innovation - a radical twist in the world of sound engineering - immediately spun into speculation on a bizarrely probable near-future world… It’s 2015. I’m attending the premiere performance of the Houston Audioplanetarium, a marriage of science and art that guides the audience by the ears on a tour of our night sky’s celestial bodies. Sonic qualities of each signal are modulated to trick our brains into assigning a specific, independent position, distance, and velocity for every sound source - animating the simulated sky with a vast choir of outer space’s spooky resonances as if we were actually listening to the night.

A FINAL QUOTE…

“My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there.” — Charles F. Kettering (American engineer, inventor of the electric starter, 1876-1958)

CONTACT US

Edited by John L. Petersen
johnp@arlingtoninstitute.org
www.arlingtoninstitute.org

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A Vision for 2012: Planning for Extraordinary Change by John L. Petersen Former senator and presidential candidate Gary Hart has said “It should be required reading for the next President.”

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