In a short video available on Google Video, the Cambodian Norry railroad story is presented in an enjoying short video..

Bamboo Railway - Battambang, Cambodia

The story of how the Cambodian people could recycle pieces from the weapons of a genocidal war to fashion a working means of communication with the help of critical U.N. technical assistance in the form of gasoline engines shows how U.N operations can be effective with little cost. This railway operation benefits from the Cambodian ingenuity and cooperative values.

The very simple design of the rail car is economical in use of materials, only the basics beyond the gasoline engine. It's one use of gasoline where its an amazing and appropriate energy source. These engines are simple, rugged, and effective. The use of a stick on the axle as a brake is, perhaps, not enough safety for me however.

One wonders what they will do when the supply of abandoned battle tanks runs out that provide the wheels for the Norry. The absence of bumpers requires a certain fatalism from the passengers. Low speeds and the lack of rail traffic make this system practical.

Since the car must be taken off the tracks when a "REAL TRAIN" comes along or one Norry must pass the other, the design has parts that can be moved by at most two people, even one. Obviously the passengers are expected to help with taking the car on and off the tracks..... This limitation in the design is quite a challenge. The bamboo in the car platform deck is a locally grown resource and lightweight

I found this web video after following a link from a Facebook posting to a video by Gib Cooper where a Mexican master craftsman shows how to bend bamboo culms with heat. From there the YouTube suggestions with keyword bamboo had this video. I love railroads and bamboo, so I went there. What a gem!

The vision to create this informal rural rail system had huge and lasting beneficial impact on the lives of the survivors of the Khemer Rouge genocide. The U.N. is a vital part of our international community when it acts in this way. A catalyst and an enabler of the things that make life better.

My grandmother said that the hardest part of growing older was loosing friends. She lived to be 102, and by then, had lost all her friends though she still had our family. She passed away while my mother was in Europe with her husband, and I think that she had to go when Mom wasn't there. They were very close, and even though Grandmother lost some of her cognative powers as she aged, that love never faded.

For me, growing older has been good in some ways, as I'm married again, and happier than before. My values are more clear, as what's important comes through the noise as I age. Indeed Grandmother was right, friends are so important, and making new ones is both a pleasure and a challenge.

With my first wife, there was a time of closeness, family, learning and the shared dreams. The shared visions and values were corroded as fundamental incompatibilities in our core values came through, turning raw emotional sores into deep wounds.

My own immaturity was a factor in some dumb choices when I was young, but I did the best that I could and many of my choices were good. Now 60, my first wife died some 27 years after we divorced. She left me and precipitated a crises in my life, upending my story, in a painful episode that cauterized some aspects of me. It also caused me to seek counseling and to question many of my assumptions, and I changed in some important ways. Fortunately we were able to forgive each other before she passed away, and she was honest about some things that I suspected but never knew that happened during our marriage. She confirmed that my intuition was right, that my deepest self knew what I didn't want to know. She was able to grow and before she passed away, she was able to bring love to the forefront, and to give her daughter that unconditional love that is the gift that never dies.

So for me, living long enough to get some perspective on those painful events so long ago, to forgive and be forgiven, to learn and to understand has been a great gift. I learned about some of my unrealistic expectations and choices, and how some of my values and choices meant so much to those around me. That validation of who I am and my worth has been a comfort, and one that could only come with the perspective of time.

Even under the stress of loosing my marriage, I held to certain core values and personal decisions about how I would live my life. Those core values have been life saving, in ways that I never imagined. Indeed, it was only later that I learned that a slightly different choice could have been deadly for me, as I could have been exposed to disease that later killed her. Of course, her passing was the confluence of many things, and the lifelong alcoholism wasn't going to "work out". It's not a feeling of superiority that I'm talking about, rather the experience of amazing grace.

The grace that got me through those tough times and is with me today. The grace that got me through being with my dear partner Peggy when she passed away from cancer and the grace that lead me to open my heart again to my wife today. Amazing grace, thanks for the grace in my life! Thanks for this morning, for this breath. Thanks.

As the American Indians pray, "all life is sacred".

for all my relations,

thanks.

Combining the use of sophisticated room mapping laser scanner data models with acoustic sensors that report acoustic signals from many locations at the same time is an improvement that I thought of while discussing how to map room acoustics. There are existing systems that don't use computer room mapping and computer sensor geolocation but that use optical techniques to visualize room acoustic performance.

One application of the present system uses dozens of small sensor modules that read sound pressure and spectrum, reporting the data using led sensors, and viewed either directly or through a camera with a high scan rate.

What would be especially useful is to be able to have a direct data set of the generator waveform/spectrum as well as having access to processed waveform data from many discrete point in a room. If you are setting up for a concert, the sound sources can be balanced rapidly with existing equipment.

This additional improvement would allow designers to incorporate real world data, in models of how the space might be modified and how that modified space would perform. With this equipment, the first process is to made a digital model of the space, using the laser-scanner technology ( such as produced by Leica Geosystems) to measure the space and locate objects in the room). Then the sensors are activated, the sound source emits the test acoustic signal, the data is recorded both as a data packet, but also as a visual record.

From a design point of view, the proposed system provides both a mathematical model of the space, but since it knows the location of each sensor, the software can visualize the acoustic picture in a three dimensional way. as well as interacting with design software.

Once the model of the existing space is created ( perhaps using autocad) textures of the surfaces may be identified, then the designer can change dimensions or materials, and check performance using conventional modeling software.

The equipment can also display the patterns in real time, which can help in the tuning of a space as loudspeakers are aimed, baffels adjusted, mics placed, delays adjusted.

10-31-2009

Fast Ignition Fusion is being tested in several laboratories around the world this year and next. The main idea is to use lasers to spark a fusion burn, after the fuel is compressed by other means. While nature doesn't give up secrets easily, and there is much to learn, it's exciting that the field has such vitality.

Already there are potential spin offs, with the use of tiny laser accelerators to do heavy ion radiotherapy a very real possibility in the near future. Using lasers with very high intensity pulses, a beam of protons can be generated that only has a short range, but it could be used to treat cancers, and is potentially less expensive than the RFQ accelerators now used in hospitals.

The fast ignition fusion systems that are now contemplated may have a high enough repetition rate when combined with z-pinch technology to generate enough neutrons to extract energy from some of the nuclear waste that we now argue about where to store.

We could have a new generation of reactors that could extract power now locked up in spent reactor fuel. To do so takes an inexpensive source of an intense neutron flux. When generated by an inherently unstable source, it is easy to control the reaction as the fission process is driven by the more controllable fusion process.

This sort of reactor was invented by Carlos Rubbia (Nobel Prize Winning CERN physicist) in the context of an accelerator driven sub-critical device. Carlos pointed out that a useful reactor could use a small barrel of U233 or Thorium driven by an accelerator bean to produce useful amounts of energy. The same approach can substitute a fusion neutron source, possibly using fast ignition technology.

The present generation of lasers don't have a duty cycle that would be fast enough for a pure fusion power plant, but this approach could significantly relax the repetition rate requirement.

These hybrid reactors utilize a burst of neutrons to initiate fission, and the time scales are quite different. Fusion burns are short unless you contain them as in the sun, maybe on a time scale of 10e-10sec, while fission occurs on a time scale of pico seconds 10e-6sec, and fission doesn't happen at the same time to an ensemble of fissile atoms. So you could have a series of bursts of fission that would drive a more drawn out fission burn, and if controlled well, you could manage the fission power level to keep it at a manageable level. With enough neutron intensity, the present nuclear waste could be burned to a combination of isotopes that would be easier to manage.

Now I know that the idea of handling something labled as nuclear waste for power generation is a controversial subject, but the technology isn't all that far fetched and could be an environmental boon. While there will be scare mongers who object with knee-jerk predictability, thoughtful environmentalists will recognize that producing energy while addressing the legacy of the first generation nuclear power plants is smart, and can help address the climate warming due to fossil fuel use.

Research should be accelerated to investigate this technology in parallel with the fusion program. While this research isn't directly relevant to weapons, it is relevant to national security. Our security is enhanced when our energy production is combined in a reduction to the threat that storing large amounts of nuclear waste for generations now poses.

With the repository in Nevada effectively blocked, and billions spent on the unused repository in the southwest, a modest program to study a transmutation power reactor is a smart investment, one that the two U.S. National labs are well equipped to cary out. Some work is already underway at Lawrence Livermore and at Los Alamos, but the program is not focused, doesn't have clear leadership and isn't likely to produce a coherent message that can attract the sort of sponsorship needed to develop the concepts, engineering and technology needed to make hybrid reactors a reality soon.

Spirit of Place August 29 2009

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Submitted by bruce on Sat, 08/29/2009 - 10:12.

I'm working on a show that grows out of a performance of a dance at Stern Grove choreographed by Marin's Anna Halprin called "Spirit of Place" on May 3, 2009.  Lawrence Halprin designed the renovated theater. This performance explores the space that he created and honors his design.  We hope to air the shows starting in October 2009 on Marin Public Access cable Channel 26.

Five volunteers from the Community Media Center of Marin collaborated with two other videograpers to videotape the two performances.  The performance area was almost 100 yards wide and 50 yards deep, making the taping very challenging.  We used 4 camera's and were constantly challenged since this dance had many  activities going on simultaneously across the extraordinarily wide performance area.  Editing is also quite challenging. Anna Halprin is actively involved in the production process.

It's wonderful to be working on a production at the new media center with such creative and skilled people.

We also interviewed Anna Halprin about the development of the piece, and the "back story".  Lawrence ( a well known master Landscape Architect) also spoke with us about ideas incorporated in the design of the amphitheater.  He and Anna have been working and performing at Stern Grove since the early 1950's. It's a whole new place for performances since he redesigned it in 2003 and it was rebuilt in a 15 million dollar renovation of the park. This dance shows off the imported Chinese stone work and reminds of of the possibilities, of dimensions beyond the usual. 

Light rain kept the crowd to a minimum,  though it also made for a unique performance of the piece during the morning. We also taped an afternoon performance.  There were over 30 performers, many of whom have worked with Anna for years, some from her dance workshops, some local residents from the Stern Grove area.

 


For additional information on the Community Media Center of Marin you can check out their website: Marin.TV

California may have made a public statement about settling the budget, but the impacts of the decisions made are just starting to ripple through the state and it's obvious that the Governor and legislature took an ax to the "safety net".

We do foster care for some of the most innocent, vulnerable people in the state, the children displaced by family tragedy. The new state budget won't provide child care for these infants and kids, so working families who are willing to provide foster care are now asked to subsidize the state welfare system from their own pockets.

Many who provide foster care will not be able to continue to support this system, leaving many kids without good temporary homes when they are without their own families.

How can the Republicans justify this heartless attack on the most vulnerable? What political principals hold that our society should not care for our little kids who are homeless through no fault of their own. Some of these kids are traumatized, all are vulnerable. Some semblance of a system remains, but the guts are being cut out in the name of "no new taxes" or "tax cuts for the rich!".

There was rhetoric about how some people made money doing foster care, but in my experience knowing many foster care families, no one is getting rich off the system, most foster care families do so out of love for children, and most foster care providers were putting in more than they got out of the system. No doubt, as in any system, there may be some folks who game the system, but instead of addressing those few problems, the whole system was cut back. Our county also lost social workers, case loads increased, and expenses were shifted to private citizens and groups. It's the kids and the families who bear the immediate cost, but it is society that will ultimately feel the cost of kids who's needs were not met, kids who didn't get therapy, kids who grow up bitter and sad, kids who won't know compassion.

While this is the tiny area that I can see, it is clear that there are hundreds more examples of cuts that target the ill and infirm, the powerless.

Maybe it's a Republican value to change our society into the sort of third world place where the powerless are not even seen, where hopelessness and cruelty are taken for granted, where "justice for all" and basic human needs are available only for the rich and strong. For most of my life, it wasn't a party thing, we all believed that our society should provide basic human needs for the least amongst us.

Sad, but this is the reality here in California in August 2009.