Technology is all around us, we use it everyday when we turn on an electric light, start our car, turn the water tap, or any of a dozen other things. Technology is applied knowledge. Using the principles of electricity, we generate power to run our computers, heaters, toasters, and lights. Using the principles of mechanics and combustion cars and other vehicles are built that get us from point a to point b, that’s more often than not, home to work and back again. Modern medicine is based on modern chemistry and the many techniques learned from fixing bodies involved in combat or accidents. Along with many machines and a whole range of pharmaceutical drugs, this is modern medical technology. Technologies are simply (!) applied knowledge. A model of how things work and a recipe for applying the principles to make cars or drugs or energy or any of a million other things. Technology is often a double edged sword. It provides a solution, not necessarily the best solution, and often comes with unexpected side effects. Most of the technology we have today has developed from the science available at the end of the second world war. We’ve used the models and understanding of how things work known at that time and we have gone far. We have also discovered that there are side effects and unpleasant unexpected results from many of the products of conventional modern technology.
Many other roads have been bypassed or are no longer used. Some alternative ideas about how things work have been suppressed as well. The main purpose of this site is to explore and present products, services, and information about these roads not taken. Many of them are making a come back. Alternative approaches to medicine such as homeopathy, acupuncture, and herbs are based on somewhat different models or ways of understanding how things work than the modern methods and products. Organic gardening and farming have a quite different view of how to raise crops and animals and the nutritional value of foods than modern agribusiness and the fast food industry. The means of producing electricity and what you can do with it as explained by Nicola Tesela and the approach of teh modern energy industries is quite different. Green technologies such as solar power and recycling take a different approach to energy generation and resource management than established energy companies and manufacturers.
I invite you to explore these roads not taken. As this site develops, you will have the opportunity to try alternative products and methods, invest in alternative technologies, find alternative services, and learn about alternative technologies. There is a wide range of alternatives from the ‘that makes sense lets see if it works’ to the ‘that’s pretty strange but why not try it’. Many of these technologies can make you healthier, save you money, deliver products and services more effectively, or make you wealthier. All of them offer you the opportunity to widen your thinking and improve the quality of your life.
The poet Robert Frost (to whom I’m informed I am distantly related) has some relevant words on the topic.
The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
-Robert Frost
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Political Thoughts
Political Thoughts
It is clear that the United States and probably the World is in serious political and economic difficulty. Not since the Crash of 1929 have there been such high rates of unemployment and the levels of debt are astronomical. There are voices on the right and the left that propose various radical solutions. But so far, few if any have faced the roots of the problem.
The first cause of our current difficulties is the decoupling of production from local or at least national control. Multinational corporations can locate where they will and retain the benefits of the nation in which their headquarters is located. These same corporations have the financial clout to buy and sell politicians. The prosperity and well being of towns and cities rises and falls practically overnight based on corporate decisions made at great remove and with little sensitivity to the impact of those decisions, except on their bottom line. If the trend continues we will live in a corporate state and perhaps a world state within the next 20 to 50 years or so. The alternative is locally controlled production and enforced corporate responsibility.
The second cause of our current difficulties is simply unmanaged population growth. Many of the social issues we face : increased violence, increased homosexuality, increased insensitivity to suffering, overloaded systems, increased demand for resources, increased pollution; all stem from this source. Resolving this issue will be very difficult due to religion, tradition, and natural human tendencies. The visions of Malthus do come to mind. In a state of nature, populations wax and wane in response to the natural abundance or scarcity of resources and predators. Ours is not a natural state and most societies insulate their populations from natural balancing mechanisms. Historically, war has been a frequent human response but in an age of nuclear weapons, war as we have known it is not an option.
Both of these issues highlight the question of liberty. The question of balancing the needs of the community against the needs of the community is the core social and political issue. Most advocates of radical measures whether right or left seek a reduction of individual rights in favor of powers vested in governments. In the past this has led only to totalitarian regimes and eventually to economic disaster or revolt.
It must also be kept in mind that while most people simply want security and to be left alone, there are the Princes (as Machiavelli calls them) who want to have power and make a name for themselves. At whose expense are these great names made ?
For my part, I do not claim to have the answers or even answers that can be implemented given current political conditions. And yet, it seems to me that there are some practical measures that could be taken to correct the present situation.
A couple of ‘modest proposals’ follow :
1) A Limited Debt Moratorium coupled with a reduction in entitlements
This measure is intended to give individuals, families, and small businesses breathing room to adjust financially and reduce their debt. At the same time, with a reduced tax base, it is unrealistic to think that we can support financial entitlements at current levels. So, the pain is widely distributed at least and does give some hope of improvement.
Debt Moratorium : Mandate the suspension of interest on all outstanding loans and revolving credit for a period of 5 years. Reduce all outstanding loans and revolving credit balances by 20%. Any new loans or revolving credit would be capped at a maximum of 20% interest.
Entitlements Reduction : Unearned entitlements such as welfare benefits and Medicaid and all others whose sole requirement is poverty to be reduced by 50%. Social Security and Medicare (excluding part D for prescription drugs which is really a subsidy for pharmaceutical manufacturers) would be untouched since they are earned retirement benefits. Social Security and Medicare would also be removed from the general fund and administered as private accounts.
Although it is a partially earned entitlement, the earned income credit should also be reduced. I’m thinking somewhere on the order of 20% to 50%. This is based on observation and experience and anticipation of the relief that other measures outlined below would provide.
2) Local Reindustrialization Programs
There are thousands of buildings lying empty across the nation that were once used for manufacturing operations of one kind or another. These could be converted to locally owned producers of things like textiles, furniture, autos, trucks, agricultural processing – organic or commercial, and other such marketable items. These would have three partners – the employees who would also be coowners, the municipality where they are located (limiting the possibility of their sudden removal or closure), and the Federal Government (with limited oversight and eventual repayment). The wages and benefits offered would be lower than industry standard but there would be a profit sharing plan and the security of regular employment. This would also make competitively priced, locally produced merchandise available in presently depressed markets. After some years when the Federal investment is repaid, the business would be an employee/municipality operated producer of quality value priced merchandise and a source of local prosperity.
This would also provide an alternative to imports and corporate merchandise at a usually lower price. It would make demands on the workers and the city government which would also make them more self reliant and conscientious. And there is no reason why so called ‘green industries’ could not be included provided that the principle of local control is included.
3) Actually Enforce the Anti-Trust Acts
As we have seen since the 70s and 80s, mergers mean fewer jobs, higher prices, and less diversity in the market place. Since the 80s particularly, the trend has been for large businesses to buy and sell smaller ones to increase their dominance of the market. This has largely destroyed the traditional small business and decreased employment. Vigorous enforcement and a review of mergers and buyouts over the past few decades would cause some disruption in the current corporate business community but, even in the short to medium term, would greatly increase employment and market diversity. There are limits to the economy of scale and monopolies tend to restrict the market.
4) Declare Energy a Strategic Resource
Coordinate and direct the activities of energy companies to insure reasonable consumer prices and the provision of national requirements. This includes gas and oil, coal, biofuels, nuclear, and the research in progress on fusion. Make the people a partner in their operations and a regulator of and sharer in their profits. The agency responsible should be independent of the government but act in conformity with national needs. Coupled with this measure there needs to be s policy supporting and encouraging individual and community energy independence. Let’s see more windmills and environmentally friendly chimneys – fire wood is a renewable resource, more solar panels, more steam heat in public buildings – and let’s give tax incentives for it and require the energy agency to buy excess kilowatts. This will decrease consumer costs and encourage not only national but also community and individual energy independence.
These four measures could go a long way toward restoring employment, returning prosperity, and increasing independence across the nation. While it is true that some areas would benefit more than others, all would benefit except perhaps the entitlement recipients but, they too would eventually benefit from the increased prosperity. Who knows, they might even find jobs.
While there is little that can be done about over population directly, we can encourage smaller families, later marriages, the use of birth control (abortion only in extreme cases as its excessive use is damaging to health and its indiscriminate use is offensive to many religions). We can also deport illegal aliens and build that fence along our southern border. We can also limit welfare support to three children – more children than 3 does not mean any more money or support.
Not perfect and the details will be difficult but something that certainly could help, and help a great deal. Politically it may be impractical but then politicians may someday find advantage in it. If you happen to like it, if it makes sense to you, have your congressman look at it, spread it across the internet, tell your friends. Otherwise write it off as just another crackpot notion. Certainly there are powerful interests that won’t like it, unfortunately they are in many cases the same powerful influences whose actions and inactions led to the present state of affairs.
It is clear that the United States and probably the World is in serious political and economic difficulty. Not since the Crash of 1929 have there been such high rates of unemployment and the levels of debt are astronomical. There are voices on the right and the left that propose various radical solutions. But so far, few if any have faced the roots of the problem.
The first cause of our current difficulties is the decoupling of production from local or at least national control. Multinational corporations can locate where they will and retain the benefits of the nation in which their headquarters is located. These same corporations have the financial clout to buy and sell politicians. The prosperity and well being of towns and cities rises and falls practically overnight based on corporate decisions made at great remove and with little sensitivity to the impact of those decisions, except on their bottom line. If the trend continues we will live in a corporate state and perhaps a world state within the next 20 to 50 years or so. The alternative is locally controlled production and enforced corporate responsibility.
The second cause of our current difficulties is simply unmanaged population growth. Many of the social issues we face : increased violence, increased homosexuality, increased insensitivity to suffering, overloaded systems, increased demand for resources, increased pollution; all stem from this source. Resolving this issue will be very difficult due to religion, tradition, and natural human tendencies. The visions of Malthus do come to mind. In a state of nature, populations wax and wane in response to the natural abundance or scarcity of resources and predators. Ours is not a natural state and most societies insulate their populations from natural balancing mechanisms. Historically, war has been a frequent human response but in an age of nuclear weapons, war as we have known it is not an option.
Both of these issues highlight the question of liberty. The question of balancing the needs of the community against the needs of the community is the core social and political issue. Most advocates of radical measures whether right or left seek a reduction of individual rights in favor of powers vested in governments. In the past this has led only to totalitarian regimes and eventually to economic disaster or revolt.
It must also be kept in mind that while most people simply want security and to be left alone, there are the Princes (as Machiavelli calls them) who want to have power and make a name for themselves. At whose expense are these great names made ?
For my part, I do not claim to have the answers or even answers that can be implemented given current political conditions. And yet, it seems to me that there are some practical measures that could be taken to correct the present situation.
A couple of ‘modest proposals’ follow :
1) A Limited Debt Moratorium coupled with a reduction in entitlements
This measure is intended to give individuals, families, and small businesses breathing room to adjust financially and reduce their debt. At the same time, with a reduced tax base, it is unrealistic to think that we can support financial entitlements at current levels. So, the pain is widely distributed at least and does give some hope of improvement.
Debt Moratorium : Mandate the suspension of interest on all outstanding loans and revolving credit for a period of 5 years. Reduce all outstanding loans and revolving credit balances by 20%. Any new loans or revolving credit would be capped at a maximum of 20% interest.
Entitlements Reduction : Unearned entitlements such as welfare benefits and Medicaid and all others whose sole requirement is poverty to be reduced by 50%. Social Security and Medicare (excluding part D for prescription drugs which is really a subsidy for pharmaceutical manufacturers) would be untouched since they are earned retirement benefits. Social Security and Medicare would also be removed from the general fund and administered as private accounts.
Although it is a partially earned entitlement, the earned income credit should also be reduced. I’m thinking somewhere on the order of 20% to 50%. This is based on observation and experience and anticipation of the relief that other measures outlined below would provide.
2) Local Reindustrialization Programs
There are thousands of buildings lying empty across the nation that were once used for manufacturing operations of one kind or another. These could be converted to locally owned producers of things like textiles, furniture, autos, trucks, agricultural processing – organic or commercial, and other such marketable items. These would have three partners – the employees who would also be coowners, the municipality where they are located (limiting the possibility of their sudden removal or closure), and the Federal Government (with limited oversight and eventual repayment). The wages and benefits offered would be lower than industry standard but there would be a profit sharing plan and the security of regular employment. This would also make competitively priced, locally produced merchandise available in presently depressed markets. After some years when the Federal investment is repaid, the business would be an employee/municipality operated producer of quality value priced merchandise and a source of local prosperity.
This would also provide an alternative to imports and corporate merchandise at a usually lower price. It would make demands on the workers and the city government which would also make them more self reliant and conscientious. And there is no reason why so called ‘green industries’ could not be included provided that the principle of local control is included.
3) Actually Enforce the Anti-Trust Acts
As we have seen since the 70s and 80s, mergers mean fewer jobs, higher prices, and less diversity in the market place. Since the 80s particularly, the trend has been for large businesses to buy and sell smaller ones to increase their dominance of the market. This has largely destroyed the traditional small business and decreased employment. Vigorous enforcement and a review of mergers and buyouts over the past few decades would cause some disruption in the current corporate business community but, even in the short to medium term, would greatly increase employment and market diversity. There are limits to the economy of scale and monopolies tend to restrict the market.
4) Declare Energy a Strategic Resource
Coordinate and direct the activities of energy companies to insure reasonable consumer prices and the provision of national requirements. This includes gas and oil, coal, biofuels, nuclear, and the research in progress on fusion. Make the people a partner in their operations and a regulator of and sharer in their profits. The agency responsible should be independent of the government but act in conformity with national needs. Coupled with this measure there needs to be s policy supporting and encouraging individual and community energy independence. Let’s see more windmills and environmentally friendly chimneys – fire wood is a renewable resource, more solar panels, more steam heat in public buildings – and let’s give tax incentives for it and require the energy agency to buy excess kilowatts. This will decrease consumer costs and encourage not only national but also community and individual energy independence.
These four measures could go a long way toward restoring employment, returning prosperity, and increasing independence across the nation. While it is true that some areas would benefit more than others, all would benefit except perhaps the entitlement recipients but, they too would eventually benefit from the increased prosperity. Who knows, they might even find jobs.
While there is little that can be done about over population directly, we can encourage smaller families, later marriages, the use of birth control (abortion only in extreme cases as its excessive use is damaging to health and its indiscriminate use is offensive to many religions). We can also deport illegal aliens and build that fence along our southern border. We can also limit welfare support to three children – more children than 3 does not mean any more money or support.
Not perfect and the details will be difficult but something that certainly could help, and help a great deal. Politically it may be impractical but then politicians may someday find advantage in it. If you happen to like it, if it makes sense to you, have your congressman look at it, spread it across the internet, tell your friends. Otherwise write it off as just another crackpot notion. Certainly there are powerful interests that won’t like it, unfortunately they are in many cases the same powerful influences whose actions and inactions led to the present state of affairs.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
2012 : Smoke and Mirrors?
For the most part 2012 doesn’t look of much more interest than any other year. Astrologically that is. But, the New Age community is making a lot of noise about it which seems to have something to do with the ‘end’ of the Mayan Calendar. These same folks have a view of the Maya that appears to be quite different than what the archeologists have been able to dig up and piece together so far. It’s an interesting contrast.
Traditional astrologers don’t see much in 2012 and moderns note some important aspects and move on. Using a fusion of traditional methods and modern discoveries, it may be possible to get a better idea. First it will be useful to digress for historical background.
In the mid 19th century, America gave rise to 3 new religions. These were Spiritualism, Christian Science, and Mormonism. All three have remained on the margins although Spiritualism enjoyed considerable attention through the 1920s and Mormonism is thriving, at least in Utah and among Federal civil servants. Spiritualism had some step children so to speak. A stream called Spiritism split off early on with the publications of Alan Kardec. This stream became popular in some French and Spanish speaking countries and is sometimes called the Latin branch. Perhaps more importantly, the Latin branch became quite popular in Brazil. Here it combined with Catholicism and Voudou to give rise to Santeria. All these developments appeared at the same time as the discovery of the planet Neptune. Other events of the time were the Opium Wars in China and the introduction of medical anesthetics. These developments appeared between 1840 to 1860 with Neptune discovered in 1846. The main focus of activity for Spiritualism was and remains, America and Great Britain. For Spiritism and its offshoots, Brazil. It should also be noted that Japan was reopened to the West in 1854 by America.
Moving forward a little over a century, a visible nova appeared in Pisces in the summer of 1975. This ‘coincided’ with the conclusion of the Portugese colonial war in Africa and a coup in Portugal which over threw the military government in favor of a socialist one. Also in 1975, America completed withdrawal from Vietnam ending another 10 year colonial war. There have also been a series of prophecies and events centered on Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal. Portugal has Pisces for an astrological signature.
What ties these threads together is that Neptune will return to the sign in which it was discovered in 2012. That sign was Pisces and connects with Portugal but, due to both astrological and historical considerations, also with the United States whose signature if Gemini, and Brazil whose signature is Virgo.
During the period when Neptune is in Pisces (2012-2026), Neptune will join a very bright fixed star called Fomalhaut. Due to the powerful dignity of Neptune (it is in both domicile and quadruplicity) and the proximity to the fixed star and later conjunction, this is a period in which a great spiritual leader or movement could emerge. It will also be a period of floods, deceit, treachery, and poisonings. Of course there is also likely to be resurgence of the movements which appeared with the discovery of Neptune and the usual mixed bag of Pisces frauds, mystics, artists, and garden variety nuts. The influence is likely to be most active in the US, Portugal, and Brazil. Look for new drugs, new religions, and new scams; and it won’t always be easy to tell truth from fiction.
In Copan Guatemala, a Maya site, there is a strong possibility of seismic disturbance. Probably an earthquake or volcano. The Yucatan and Central America generally fall under a Scorpio signature although it is likely that Nicaragua is more Pisces and another place to watch.
If visible comets or another nova appear in any of the mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, or Pisces), there will be additional disruption and more specific notable events.
It remains to look at the figures of the inception of the movements appearing with Neptune and the locations of their centers for a more specific consideration of how they will fare. Obviously charts for Joseph Smith’s revelation and the establishment of the state of Utah are of interest, the establishment of the centers connected with spiritualism : Lily Dale, NY, Camp Chesterfield, IN, and Casadaga, FL as well as the publication of Davis’ and Kardec’s works and Eddy’s for Christian Science. The Our Lady of Fatima events assume greater interest as does the emergence of Santeria. National Capitals of Portugal, United States, and Brazil at ingress and eclipse times will also be revealing. Yet, one can only do so much at a time.
2012 then, without too much detail looks important due to the return of Neptune to the sign it occupied when discovered. The influence is liable to be stronger and far reaching than one would normally expect for a change of sign but, this is due to the presence of a bright fixed star. Considerably more can be explored by looking at the charts associated with publications, organizations, and places which played a role in the initial wave of manifestation of Neptune. There is a good chance that an influential religious leader or movement is indicated but also a spectacularly good swindler or scam artist. So keep your eyes open as we move into the second cycle of Neptune since its’ discovery.
~Jonathan Flanery
Traditional astrologers don’t see much in 2012 and moderns note some important aspects and move on. Using a fusion of traditional methods and modern discoveries, it may be possible to get a better idea. First it will be useful to digress for historical background.
In the mid 19th century, America gave rise to 3 new religions. These were Spiritualism, Christian Science, and Mormonism. All three have remained on the margins although Spiritualism enjoyed considerable attention through the 1920s and Mormonism is thriving, at least in Utah and among Federal civil servants. Spiritualism had some step children so to speak. A stream called Spiritism split off early on with the publications of Alan Kardec. This stream became popular in some French and Spanish speaking countries and is sometimes called the Latin branch. Perhaps more importantly, the Latin branch became quite popular in Brazil. Here it combined with Catholicism and Voudou to give rise to Santeria. All these developments appeared at the same time as the discovery of the planet Neptune. Other events of the time were the Opium Wars in China and the introduction of medical anesthetics. These developments appeared between 1840 to 1860 with Neptune discovered in 1846. The main focus of activity for Spiritualism was and remains, America and Great Britain. For Spiritism and its offshoots, Brazil. It should also be noted that Japan was reopened to the West in 1854 by America.
Moving forward a little over a century, a visible nova appeared in Pisces in the summer of 1975. This ‘coincided’ with the conclusion of the Portugese colonial war in Africa and a coup in Portugal which over threw the military government in favor of a socialist one. Also in 1975, America completed withdrawal from Vietnam ending another 10 year colonial war. There have also been a series of prophecies and events centered on Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal. Portugal has Pisces for an astrological signature.
What ties these threads together is that Neptune will return to the sign in which it was discovered in 2012. That sign was Pisces and connects with Portugal but, due to both astrological and historical considerations, also with the United States whose signature if Gemini, and Brazil whose signature is Virgo.
During the period when Neptune is in Pisces (2012-2026), Neptune will join a very bright fixed star called Fomalhaut. Due to the powerful dignity of Neptune (it is in both domicile and quadruplicity) and the proximity to the fixed star and later conjunction, this is a period in which a great spiritual leader or movement could emerge. It will also be a period of floods, deceit, treachery, and poisonings. Of course there is also likely to be resurgence of the movements which appeared with the discovery of Neptune and the usual mixed bag of Pisces frauds, mystics, artists, and garden variety nuts. The influence is likely to be most active in the US, Portugal, and Brazil. Look for new drugs, new religions, and new scams; and it won’t always be easy to tell truth from fiction.
In Copan Guatemala, a Maya site, there is a strong possibility of seismic disturbance. Probably an earthquake or volcano. The Yucatan and Central America generally fall under a Scorpio signature although it is likely that Nicaragua is more Pisces and another place to watch.
If visible comets or another nova appear in any of the mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, or Pisces), there will be additional disruption and more specific notable events.
It remains to look at the figures of the inception of the movements appearing with Neptune and the locations of their centers for a more specific consideration of how they will fare. Obviously charts for Joseph Smith’s revelation and the establishment of the state of Utah are of interest, the establishment of the centers connected with spiritualism : Lily Dale, NY, Camp Chesterfield, IN, and Casadaga, FL as well as the publication of Davis’ and Kardec’s works and Eddy’s for Christian Science. The Our Lady of Fatima events assume greater interest as does the emergence of Santeria. National Capitals of Portugal, United States, and Brazil at ingress and eclipse times will also be revealing. Yet, one can only do so much at a time.
2012 then, without too much detail looks important due to the return of Neptune to the sign it occupied when discovered. The influence is liable to be stronger and far reaching than one would normally expect for a change of sign but, this is due to the presence of a bright fixed star. Considerably more can be explored by looking at the charts associated with publications, organizations, and places which played a role in the initial wave of manifestation of Neptune. There is a good chance that an influential religious leader or movement is indicated but also a spectacularly good swindler or scam artist. So keep your eyes open as we move into the second cycle of Neptune since its’ discovery.
~Jonathan Flanery
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