Monday, January 30, 2012

Who's important?

This image has been floating around Facebook for a little while. I dig it. 


The caption reads on the left "If you don't know who these people are..." referring to images of scientists Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Nikola Tesla, & Charles Darwin. Scientist/science popularizer Carl Sagan. American founding father Thomas Jefferson. & Authors/political activists Christopher Hitchens & Ayaan Hirsi Ali.


The right caption reads "but you know who this is?" referring to a picture of Snooki, a drunk & horny woman made famous for the reality show Jersey Shore. Take a closer look at her drink if you haven't already. That pretty much sums up her & the show. 


The bottom caption, the punchline, reads "Congratulations. You're what's wrong with this world." 


It's a sentiment that I couldn't agree with more. This does a sweet job at criticizing the priorities of the American people. Major props to the creators of this image. Thanks to them for their service to the common good & efforts in waking us from the Great Mindfuck. If we choose more meaningful content to consume & start having real conversations about real things we would be much better off as individuals & as a people. Knowledge is power!


I instantly recognized almost everyone on the poster, which I know is more than most. I don't really watch TV anymore, but I am very interested in mass phenomena when it becomes unavoidable. References to Jersey Shore were so common that I was compelled to check it out. I found the show to be shallow & a waste of time, but it is entertaining with obvious reasons for its mass appeal. So I did recognize Snooki.


The only person I didn't know is Ali & I needed help identifying her. She's an interesting lady & I know of people who fought for the same cause. 


I obsessively study too many things & recognize it would be unfair of me to trash people who didn't know about as many of these featured people as I do. But if you didn't recognize at least Charles Darwin & Albert Einstein I beg you to branch out. You'll have a great time. There are so many fascinating things out there which are much more real & entertaining than any reality show provides. Do it for purely selfish reasons as it will surely make your life better. Your effort is thanks enough. 


When I looked at this poster the first time I couldn't help but think of the people on the left side & think of a few substitutions. In my opinion Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton, & Antoine Lavoisier are each such fundamentally important scientific revolutionaries that their influence on mankind is forever undeniable. Also, if you need drama to be interested in something, these fellas sure had a heap of it. Galileo had a very famous fight with the Catholic Church. Lavoisier was executed during the French Revolution. And Newton is one of the weirdest dudes ever! Seriously, Isaac Newton is a freak show of epic proportions. 


I figure that the people who can identify at least a handful of those featured know who Galileo & Newton are. They are superstars in the truest sense. However, I would understand if these informed people didn't know Lavoisier because he is a bit more obscure & he takes a bit more explaining in order to understand. Part of me thinks it's a good thing that these 3 were not included. They all existed before photography & paintings don't seem to play well on the poster. Some people who can rattle off a few things about Thomas Jefferson don't recognize him because he is represented by a painting & not a photograph. Also, compared Galileo & Newton, Jefferson is pretty normal looking.


I don't know how the roster of people included was formed, but I do agree they are all people worth knowing. But there is someone whose absence I find particularly glaring due to his immense impact on the world as we know it. 


There is a man with several photographs who isn't on the poster but has had an immense impact on the 20th century & the modern world. From the industrialization of science, to its relationship with government, to fertilizers, pesticides, chemical warfare & pharmaceuticals - right or wrong, good or bad, he is responsible for it all. He's been called the 'patron saint of guns and butter', and rightly so. 


He has pretty much been deleted from the public memory, either by industrial propaganda or by incidental unfair treatment by the same blurbocracy of bastardizing bullshit that scrambles our brains & promotes people like Snooki. 


Here he is, pictured with one of his good friends, a young Albert Einstein. 


His name is Fritz Haber. 


Most of the time I see him referenced in popular media, he tends to be characterized as "a Jew killing Nazi Jew." This is incredibly unfair. It's an error I attribute to sloppy anachronistic misunderstanding of history exacerbated by the misuse of his products by the Nazis. He was German & a Jew by birth though he wasn't really concerned with religious matters. He was never a Nazi. He helped secure safe exits for many Jews from Germany before he himself had to flee his beloved homeland in order to save own life from the Nazis & was welcomed with open arms by the same people who founded the Jewish state of Israel in the wake of World War 2. 


It is true that Haber oversaw the massacre of thousands of people in a World War, but it was World War 1. After the Germans claimed to be attacked by chemicals they looked for a way to respond. So Haber personally oversaw the unleashing of poison clouds of chlorine gas carried by the wind to lay to waste everything in its path, resulting in high numbers of casualties (mostly French & Russian soldiers) & immense horror. Look at the pictures & you will see what I mean. 


This effort gave Haber greater standing in both the German government & German science & led Haber to research & develop more chemical weapons - including phosgene which is a more deadly efficient chlorine delivery system than even elemental chlorine gas - & also pesticides which have similar chemistry & were also needed in war time to rid insects from bunkers. 


One of his cyanide based pesticides, Zyklon B, was used years later in Nazi gas chambers against the Jews - an act that had nothing to do with Haber (who as I have already noted was forced to flee because of his own Jewish ancestry) except that he initially developed the product. In the end, Haber was in serious risk of having Zyklon B used on himself. Murderous asshole, hardcore patriot or both, Haber was certainly not a 'Jew killing Nazi Jew.'


If only being the father of pesticide chemistry (with pesticides everywhere now) & chemical warfare is not enough for you to think he should definitely be included on the poster, I can dig it. But there is much more Haber has done.


Nitrogen is a very important element with interesting chemistry which is important for the synthesis of everything from industrial fertilizers, to pharmaceuticals, to explosives, to A LOT of stuff. Luckily for us, roughly 80% of the fluid known as air is elemental nitrogen, which is diatomic - meaning nitrogen naturally combines with nitrogen to stabilize. Unluckily for us, it has a superstrong triple-bond which makes this readily available nitrogen extremely difficult for us to use. So nitrogen needed to be 'fixed' in order to make it more available for synthesis & Haber is the one who fixed it. 


Through a multi-staged process of slamming nitrogen with heat & pressure over an iron catalyst and injecting hydrogen gas the Haber-Bosch process of nitrogen fixation created ammonia, which is nitrogen connected to hydrogen instead of itself with relatively weaker bonds. It's the brute force method, but it works! Dwindling natural sources of useful nitrogen were made obsolete as an industrial source was now available which harvested air! Ever since, what has made nations powerful - including in terms of the strength of their war machines - has been their use of this process. 


Modern farming practices are flawed, wasteful, and illogical, but Haber's process has made it possible for industrial farming to keep up with demand for food. It has been estimated that the food needs of as many as half of the world's population could not be met if not for this process. 


Haber's science is not only responsible for the deaths of millions, but also for the very life of billions. It is also fundamentally responsible for the scores of products which requires nitrogen to make. If that doesn't make him more important in your mind than Snooki or even say a Christopher Hitchens I don't know what could.



























Friday, January 27, 2012

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Defending Science Blog

I have this old blog Defending Science, Scientists, & Non-Scientists.

The name for the web-address, silkworm.wordpress.com, is based on a name that I used in many science related causes, Silkworm. I felt the name suited me in these efforts in regards to the sad existence of the bombyx mori through its history of human directed evolution via over-cultivation to fill the demand for fancy garments & frilly underwear. I admit that I have a complicated sense of humor.

I haven't been to the blog in years, but I'm happy with the work I did & feel that I achieved some real goals through it. When I went on hiatus I was presented much delightful evidence that I've helped shift the scientific community into a more active role with a successful diplomatic strategy by which to engage the public. Accounts were sent to me of people in other communities (including in other nations) who attended similar events following the lead I present on my blog & were successful.

I certainly could have done better, but I assure you that I continue to evolve.

I miss the good people who helped in these efforts & I thank them for it. Out of respect I won't name them here, but I will never forget them. As I get older it becomes more & more apparent to me how unfortunately rare such people are. It takes chutzpah to fight for truth in the courts of charlatans supported by hostile crowds which have already been misdirected to hate you & everything you stand for. I admire the courage & patience they mustered in traveling with this madman into the abyss.

My life took a rough turn as I went on hiatus. My health failed & I reached a point of physical & mental collapse. After several hard years, I feel better than ever now. I continue down a similar path, but one that exceeds the boundaries of the Defending Science & intend on having greater success.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

HOW OBAMA CAN WIN MY VOTE

Dear Most Esteemed President of these United States of America,

Several really good people who I hold dear still support you & feel that I'm being too rough on you because I judge you by your actions & not just your suave style & oratory. I can't seem to convince them that you are just another authoritarian RepubliCrat Hell-bent on perpetuating the madness of this (what Raplh Nader rightly calls) corporate socialism rigged not only to steal resources from the American people as a whole & redirect them to the well-connected, to undermine the rights of Americans at their directive & to perpetuate campaigns which trade the life & liberty of peoples both here & abroad for their 'profit.'

  1. Admit your role in the NDAA in terms of its inclusion of American citizens. Admit that you have assassinated American citizens. Divorce the Patriot Act & all Bush Era policies that corrupt the rights to privacy of American citizens. Guarantee all Americans their Constitutional rights. Set up an area in the Oval Office to physically kiss the ass of every American man woman & child & say these words:

    The United States government recognizes you as a human who deserves all of the rights guaranteed by it in the Bill of Rights. I apologize for my previous denial of these rights. I realize the immense danger of my UNFORGIVABLE errors surrounding the NDAA. It would be unwise for anyone with any self-respect to support anyone who has done what I've done. But now I recognize I was wrong & I beg your forgiveness.”

    Eliminate the DHS, the TSA, & the DEA. Make the CIA publicly accountable. Reaffirm America's commitment to individual & human rights & bring ALL the troops home to illustrate America's founding principle of the right to self-rule extends to all people of the world for the sake of peace & prosperity. End all foreign aid programs in respect to their sovereignty. Force the United States federal government from this practice of making state's rights moot except in cases determined by the Supreme Court that a specific state action is unConstitutional.

    2. Admit your ties to Monsanto. Fire Tom Vilsack as the Agriculture Secretary & replace him with Vandana Shiva. Eliminate all government approvals & promotions of GMO food. Demand all GMO food be labeled. Use your office to investigate & prosecute Monsanto for any & all crimes involving their activities resulting in reckless endangerment (if not destruction) of personal property, the environment, & life. Sign an executive order banning the United States government from promoting or protecting Monsanto products both here & abroad. Sign another executive order forcing all GMO cultivation & research to be done in isolated environments to eliminate the possibility of their corruption of the world's ecosystems. Then ratify a Constitutional Amendment banning patents on life.

    3. Harshly reject SOPA, PIPA, ACTA & all of their mutations. Ratify a Constitutional Amendment banning all government regulation of the internet. Have the text of the 1st Amendment tattooed on your forehead.

    4. End this war against Wikileaks. Free Bradley Manning & award him the Medal of Honor for his role in the Arab Spring. Grant Julian Assange political asylum in the United States, award him the Medal of Freedom & make him your press secretary.

    5. Stop this love affair you have with Wal-Mart & sever all ties the United States government has with it. Prosecute it for its monopolistic practices & demand it to compensate the public for what it has taken from it. Prevent it from future expansion as punishment for its unAmerican business practices.

    6. Demand the Federal Reserve open itself to public & private audits.

There is plenty more to be done (or 'undone' in most cases), but for the sake of practicality & fairness I thought I'd stop here. You have less than a year to accomplish these goals & win my vote. Best of luck to you, Mr. President. I do sincerely wish you immense success in these endeavors. 

PS. This offer is invalidated by more war. 

Friday, January 13, 2012

BEHOLD: The Awesomeness of Vermin Supreme

While monitoring the Ron Paul campaign during the New Hampshire primary from my home in glorious Kansas, I was lucky enough to witness through several articles & web videos another truly patriotic campaign - that of Democratic Candidate Vermin Supreme.

Those unfamiliar with US federal political processes may not know that Democratic primaries are also proceeding but really more of a formality due to HABEAS CORPUS SUSPENDER Barack Obama being the incumbent. The Republican primaries proceed to select a “new” presidential candidate for the party.

The first exposure I had to Vermin's message was through this YouTube video of his appearance in front of New Hampshire Democrats, which was also broadcast on C-Span.




Vermin Supreme promises all Americans a free pony, sees dental hygiene as the right path to a better America, & has defense & energy policies that, in my opinion, are far more responsible than the status-quo. He is a gifted speaker who is a joy to listen to & I felt he did well taking questions from the panel. But the little lady & I had much discussion on whether or not the video was real. It seemed too good, too funny & smart, to be true. We retired for the evening uncertain.

When I checked to see how Ron Paul was doing in New Hampshire the next day, I took this link to an article about Paul being mobbed & found this in the text: [“Ron Paul: We have you surrounded. We are the media,” sounded the voice from a megaphone as Paul staffers ushered him into a waiting SUV, just minutes after he arrived at the restaurant. Holding the megaphone was a man dressed roughly as a wizard, with shaggy hair and tousled beard, wearing a massive black boot upside down on his head.] As I kept looking I found the same story on the Drudge Report with a picture of Vermin Supreme & that big boot on his head with a megaphone standing behind a mob of people surrounding Ron Paul & had a good laugh.

This was proof that Vermin Supreme was not only real, but he was actively campaigning in New Hampshire!

By dancing around in this circus, Vermin Supreme showed his American patriotism with highlights such as hijacking Rick Santorum's audience before the frothy authoritarian substance oozed in. Supreme delivers his platform to what appears to be a receptive audience & declares his intention to debate Santorum when he arrives. Soon, he's asked to leave. Video here . Later, Santorum's handlers apparently assaulted him. It's interesting that Santorum's handlers assaulted another presidential candidate & there seems to be no outrage. Don't fool youself. Vermin Supreme IS a legitimate candidate. He ended up 3rd with 831 votes among the Democrats (over 3 times better than Michelle Bachmann on the GOP side). Call me old fashioned, but I would have hated to see how Santorum would have handled Bachmann under similar circumstances. Bachmann is as legitimate a presidential candidate as Mr. Supreme & I'd hope he'd at least have the decency to not treat a woman so rough.

After a little more research I learned that Vermin is a veteran when it comes to politics. He has a solid history of campaigning & his unpredictable party affiliation & whimsical authoritarian policies should make him attractive to most modern moderate American voters. What appeals to me is that just as Vermin admits he is a 'friendly fascist' it is revealed that similar to Ron Paul, Vermin Supreme understands. I wish that more voters would take him seriously, but I fear that his failure to condemn right to trial, dismiss the 1st Amendment & promote mass murder campaigns overseas will limit his electability among Democrats.

I believe that when it comes to US President votes for Ron Paul are the only ones that count. All of the other candidates (the Republicrats), including Obama, all look so ridiculous that the truth that bursts through the cracks of Vermin Supreme's not-so-ridiculous message I found to be refreshing satire. Enjoy!