A CHALLENGE TO POLISCI770

I yesterday joined the first class day of Political Science 770, ostensibly taught by Professor James Dator, but under the leadership of John Sweeney and Steve Lohse. There are about a dozen students, mostly from PoliSci, but also from other schools. The course is a tribute to Professor Ira Rohter, who shockingly passed away last year. I would like, from my perspective, to add Fred Riggs, another former PoliSci professor, for we were working together on making a difference for sustainability when he left us in 2008 at the active age of 90.

The project Fred and I conceived was to start with one university class forming small groups to produce and YouTube a set of sustainability issues. Then, expand the concept to a range of interdisciplinary courses across the campus, extending to K-12 students over time, first in Hawaii, then on to the Nation and World. Someday, perhaps even within five years, we thought there could be millions of videos in the ether educating the younger generation about Peak Oil, Global Warming and all the related externalities.

POLS770, though, affords another opportunity. They have the luxury of selecting a range of topics suited to their interests and write about them, perhaps as an op ed article or magazine contribution or whatever. I would like to suggest they take the exercise levels beyond just writing about something. First, pick the most significant issue (say, for Hawaii), all the better if this matter is being generally ignored. Develop a sustainability plan for integrating their efforts in a cohesive manner to make that crucial difference. Have an individual draft a compelling one-pager. The class can in one session discuss and finalize that document. The effort will include meeting with key individuals in Hawaii and communicating through the phone and internet with the world.

As I mentioned to the group yesterday, my lifetime of thinking about energy, environment and economy relative to Hawaii is such that the canary is our tourist industry. When the price of oil shoots past $100/barrel, jet fuel will become so expensive that tourists will stop coming to Hawaii. We will enter into a prolonged state of local depression. THUS, THE SOLUTION IS TO FIND A REPLACEMENT FOR JET FUEL AND DEVELOP A NEXT GENERATION AIRCRAFT. Of course, it's already too late, so the best that anyone might do is to minimize the pain, and the time to start is NOW.

POLS770 will not discover the optimal pathway for producing a bio jet fuel from a terrestrial or ocean crop. The students will not design the next generation hydrogen jetliner. What they can do is to catalyze the decision-making to affect change.

Thus, my blog challenge to the faculty and students of POLS770 is simply to accomplish the above. Should this be beyond their current ambition, perhaps an important first step would be for a few students (and maybe only one) to plan a course for next semester (or year) to do just that. While I'll unfortunately be somewhere around the world for the next two months, I can at any time be contacted at PatKenTak@hotmail.com.

Academics tend to write and publish, hoping someone out there will read it. I long ago came to a conclusion that the initial manuscript should be but the initial step for a call of action to do something real. Unless you reach out and touch the world, nothing happens.

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The Dow Jones Industrials reached a 15 month high today, up 54 to 10,681, with world markets mixed. Gold rose $12/toz to $1238 and crude oil fell below $80/barrel.

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Welcome, my 130th country:

IRAQ POPULATION: 28,221,180

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Background

Formerly part of the Ottoman Empire, Iraq was occupied by Britain during the course of World War I; in 1920, it was declared a League of Nations mandate under UK administration. In stages over the next dozen years, Iraq attained its independence as a kingdom in 1932. A "republic" was proclaimed in 1958, but in actuality a series of strongmen ruled the country until 2003. The last was SADDAM Husayn. Territorial disputes with Iran led to an inconclusive and costly eight-year war (1980-88). In August 1990, Iraq seized Kuwait but was expelled by US-led, UN coalition forces during the Gulf War of January-February 1991. Following Kuwait's liberation, the UN Security Council (UNSC) required Iraq to scrap all weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles and to allow UN verification inspections. Continued Iraqi noncompliance with UNSC resolutions over a period of 12 years led to the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 and the ouster of the SADDAM Husayn regime. US forces remain in Iraq under a UNSC mandate until 2009 and under a bilateral security agreement thereafter, helping to provide security and to support the freely elected government. The Coalition Provisional Authority, which temporarily administered Iraq after the invasion, transferred full governmental authority in June of 2004 to the Iraqi Interim Government, which governed under the Transitional Administrative Law for Iraq (TAL). Under the TAL, elections for a 275-member Transitional National Assembly (TNA) were held in Iraq in January 2005. Following these elections, the Iraqi Transitional Government (ITG) assumed office. The TNA was charged with drafting Iraq's permanent constitution, which was approved in a October 2005 constitutional referendum. An election under the constitution for a 275-member Council of Representatives (CoR) was held in December 2005. The CoR approval in the selection of most of the cabinet ministers in May of 2006 marked the transition from the ITG to Iraq's first constitutional government in nearly a half-century.

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Geography

You can click on the VISITORS box at the top right to view countries visiting this site.

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I took my bento lunch to Magic Island today and want to share this view:

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THE GOLDEN EVOLUTION (Part 9B)

The following continues the serialization of Chapter 5 on religion from SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Humanity, and more specifically, this is the second section regarding Jesus:

But Was There a Jesus (Part B)?

Here is one of nearly 150,000 pictures of Jesus from Photobucket:

So, therefore, place yourself back to circa 50 AD. Nothing much can be found about Jesus. Conflicting descriptions can be unearthed about this individual, but absent any miracles and the connection with Son of God. Is it possible that a group, say, the Antioch Jesus Movement, sees an opportunity to spur something called Christianity? So they pick a mortal of those days who might just fit a concept called the Messiah. They borrow selectively from early Egyptian, Indian, Chinese, Mexican (nah, scratch this, Columbus came 1500 years later) and Greek writings to create the legend of Jesus Christ around a real-life martyr. He was in his prime at the age of 30, so they choose 30 AD as the founding of Christianity. Could this incredible PR ploy have started it all? Did all this lead to the Catholic Church of today!

As the story unfolds, Jesus was born a little more than a billion minutes (if you were born in the mid ‘70’s, you arrived a billion seconds) ago. It is said that St. Francis of Assisi in 1223 AD embellished the birth site into a Nativity scene, so our Christmas enactments almost surely do not represent an accurate portrayal. Further, this term “virgin,” is liberally used in ancient texts as unmarried or young, so we don’t need to unnecessarily scoff at the ridiculousness of Mary’s condition, for the mother of your Jesus was said to be 12 or 13 when pregnant and unmarried, which, in those days, could have meant death. So, along came Joseph. And, oh, that star was probably a conjunction of planets, not a supernova or comet, for these latter two indicate a coming disaster. Then, again…

By any comparative standard, fictional or real, Jesus is as significant as any human can get, for Christmas, his birth date, is widely celebrated, and the year 2008 means 2008 years since he was born. Yet, this can get complicating, for you will find BC (before Christ), BCE (before common era), AD (anno Domini, Latin for “in the year of the Lord”) and CE (Christian or common era) in the literature. Be prepared to be confused, as more and more, you will see BCE and CE, because these tend to be religiously neutral in this day of political correctness. For the record, there is no Year Zero. Also, January 6, not December 25, is probably more accurate as his birth date, and 4 BCE was probably the year. But, who’s counting, since this could well all be a beautiful redaction, anyway.

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The Dow Jones Industrials fell 37 to 10,627 and world markets all sunk. Everything went down, as gold slid $26/toz to $1126, and gold is now down to $80/barrel.

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JET FUEL FROM BIOMASS

Doug Carlson hosted his Monday (5-6PM on KIPO, 89.3 on your FM dial) Energy Futures radio show this evening to discuss a memorandum of agreement signed by 14 airline companies, including, of course, Hawaiian Airlines. Keoni Wagner, Hawaiian Air Vice President of Corporate Communications and I were guests: The program dicussed the prospects of a sustainable replacement for jet fuel, where one candidate is Camelina sativa:

being developed by AltAir Fuels. Telephone panelists were:

Tom Todaro, CEO of AltAir Fuels from Seattle, and

John Heimlich, Chief Economist of the American Transport Association in DC

Let me at the outset express excitement that real companies are seriously taking on the matter of substituting fossil jet fuel with renewable jet fuel.  While pilot tests have already occurred in actual jet flights, Mr. Todaro pointed to 2012 when the effort will be upscaled.  Keoni Wagner described how Hawaiian Airlines' lifeblood is jet fuel, and spoke of the urgency to find substitutes.  Both Messers Todaro and Heimlich indicated, though, that this was a decadal activity, biofuels will slowly be phased into the mix and overnight relief cannot be expected.  While AltAir Fuels is only about ten years old, the American Transport Association has been in existence since 1936, and daily interacts with the U.S. Congress, Federal Aviation Administration and Civil Aeronautics Board.  Mr. Heimlich said they are now working in partnership with the Department of Defense, for they have similar needs regarding the future of aviation.

Mr. Todaro mentioned $3/gallon as a target goal for his biofuel, and while his current efforts are terrestrial, he expressed enthusiasm for microorganisms as the ultimate source of jet fuel.  There was mention of the Department of Energy and the Defense Advanced Projects Agency as highly supportive of this initiative to produce jet fuels from biomass.

Hawaii is in particular jeopardy because our economy is so largely based on tourism.  If the price of oil shoots past $100/barrel and approaches $150/barrel, I long ago predicted that we will enter into a prolonged state of local depression, for the visitor rate will plummet. My Huffington Post article this past August discusses the concept of sustainable aviation, where, in addition, I advocated the need to start now to develop a next generation aircraft, such as the Hawaiian Hydrogen Clipper.

Go to Doug Carlson's blog site and read more about this subject.  He indicated that his guests next week will be Mike Hamnet and Sharon Miyashiro of the Hawaii Energy Policy Forum.  5PM, next Monday, 89.3 on your FM dial.

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The Dow Jones Industrials rose 46 to 10,664, while world markets were mixed.  Gold went up $15/toz to $1152 and crude oil is at $82/barrel.

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Tropical Cyclone Edzani at 45 MPH popped up far east of Mauritius.

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BURJ KHALIFA*

The tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa, 828 metres (2,716.5 ft), was opened on January 4 before 400,000 people in Dubai. Burj means tower and Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahayaan, emir of Abu Dhabi, provided $10 billion to recently save the economy of Dubai.

Burj Khalifa is 1050 feet taller than Taipei 101, now #2. BF is also higher than the KVLY-TV mast (2,063 ft) in North Dakota. While officially 169 floors, the elevator will only take you up to the level 124 (1,654 ft) observation deck, which will cost you $27 (or $110 if you want to cut in line) for a trip up. The structure, at a cost of $1.5 billion, was designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (of Sears Tower fame, now known as the Willis Tower) of Chicago, and construction was led by Samsung of South Korea, which also was responsible for Taipei 101 and the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia.

Twelve thousand people will live and work in the BK, and there will be a Giorgio Armani Hotel and Residence. The cheapest one night cost of the Burj Al Arab (photo below) is $2,000, so you wonder what this first Armani Hotel will charge.

My Fall 2010 sustainability tour will include meeting with the planners of Masdar City (a $22 billion effort) in Abu Dhabi, so, perhaps a stay at one of these hotels too??

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THE GOLDEN EVOLUTION (Part 9)

The following continues the serialization of Chapter 5 from SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Humanity as Section 1:

But was there a Jesus? (Section 1)

Found in the Pyramid Texts occurring around 2400 BC was information about Osiris, King of Kings, whose mother’s name was Nut. His coming was announced by Three Wise Men, his birth signified by the star in the east (Sirius) and who was resurrected after death. The 23rd Psalm (“valley of the shadow of death”) was copied from an Egyptian text appealing to Osiris. He had a son, in a convoluted way, named Horus.

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Conceived by a virgin named Meri, with a foster father Jo-Seph, heralded by Sirius (the morning star), born on December 25 in a cave-manger attended by three wise men, with no data about his life between the ages of 12 and 30, having 12 disciples, performing miracles (including walking on water), known for a key Sermon on the Mount and self-designated God-man Savior of humanity, he died by crucifixion and resurrected three days later. His name was Horus, supposed son of Osiris. HUH??? He was born in Egypt in 1550 BC (yes, a millennium or so later, as I did say convoluted in the previous paragraph), but more than 1500 years before Jesus Christ. WHAT???

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In 1027 BC, Beddou was born of a virgin, lived in the desert until the age of 30, performed miracles…you get the idea? This was in China. From India, Virishna (Krishna) was born in 1200 BC and Indra in 725 BC of virgins, performed miracles, crucified and resurrected. Much of the above and some of the below were inspired from The Book Your Church Doesn’t Want You to Read, by Tim Leedom and Maria Murdy, earlier mentioned.

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That’s not all. Greek historian Herodotus wrote in the 5th Century BC about Greek God Dionysius, whose mother was a mortal virgin, father Zeus (King of Gods), wandered off to India, suffered like Jesus, and likewise was resurrected. In Islam, Jesus is called Isa and considered to be a prophet of God, most definitely not the Son of God, and is expected to return as a Savior. There are those who equate Jesus with Buddha, but only in principle, for the latter died from food poisoning, maybe. Oh, by the way, I should have added above that Buddha, a Hindu from Nepal, was born of virgin Maya, performed miracles, wandered around for a spell, died and ascended into Heaven somewhere between 544 BC and 383 BC. Mexican God Quetzacoatl was born about 300 BC of a virgin, wandered in the wilderness, preached, was crucified and resurrected three days later.

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You can look at this in both ways. First, God had a game plan, tried it first in Egypt, and failed, so went around the world seeking other Messiahs. After umpteen failures, He found success with Jesus. But, then, second, if this God was omni-everything, why did he fail even once?

Section 2 will continue the story of Jesus.

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Welcome visitor from the 129th country:

MONGOLIA POPULATION: 2,996,081

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Background

The Mongols gained fame in the 13th century when under Chinggis KHAN they established a huge Eurasian empire through conquest. After his death the empire was divided into several powerful Mongol states, but these broke apart in the 14th century. The Mongols eventually retired to their original steppe homelands and in the late 17th century came under Chinese rule. Mongolia won its independence in 1921 with Soviet backing and a Communist regime was installed in 1924. The modern country of Mongolia, however, represents only part of the Mongols' historical homeland; more Mongols live in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China than in Mongolia. Following a peaceful democratic revolution, the ex-Communist Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) won elections in 1990 and 1992, but was defeated by the Democratic Union Coalition (DUC) in the 1996 parliamentary election. The MPRP won an overwhelming majority in the 2000 parliamentary election, but the party lost seats in the 2004 election and shared power with democratic coalition parties from 2004-2008. The MPRP regained a solid majority in the 2008 parliamentary elections; the prime minister and a majority of cabinet members are currently MPRP members.

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Mongolia has about three times the population of Hawaii, but 5500 times more land area, although more interestingly, this country has about the same land area of the USA with 100 times fewer people/square mile. I mentioned this once before, but for those individuals who want to learn more about these visiting countries, just click on "Geography" or whatever above, and you will be linked to that site.

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