Zark's

High Tech Rescues

Coast Guard training operations off the coast of Venice, Calif
Image Credit: U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Cory J. Mendenhall

It is called SARSAT, or Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking.  The SARSAT system uses NOAA satellites to detect and locate pilots, mariners, hikers, etc, in trouble.  The NOAA satellites relay weak signals from an emergency beacon to the U.S. Mission Control Center in Suitland, Maryland.  (It is in between Ronald Reagan Washington National and Andrews Air Force Base.)

There are three types of emergency beacons to hail SARSAT.  They are Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRBs) for ships, Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELTs) for airplanes, and Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) for terrestrial applications.  They have a 406 MHz transmit signal to the satellite and a low-power homing signal at 121.5 MHz that assists rescue teams in the last 2-3 miles.  As an example, the ACR Aqualink 406 PLB with GPS and a 5 year battery sells for $381.40 on Amazon.  Mmm.  I love technology!  U.S. citizens are requested to register their locators in a data base that permits faster response.  At the end of 2011, there were 329,000 registrations.

Total rescues in the United States for 2011 were 122 people at sea, 14 aviation rescues, and 71 PLB rescues. Although they don't provide numbers, false alerts make up the majority of all alerts received by the rescue center.  Most of these, as you might guess, are from the personal locator beacons.

The Search and Rescue Satellites are: the Low-Earth Orbiting Search and Rescue (LEOSAR) Satellites and the Geostationary Orbiting Search and Rescue (GEOSAR) Satellites.  SARSAT is a single instrument package aboard a large NOAA satellite.  The LEOSARs are only 528 miles high and complete an orbit every 100 minutes.  The GEOSARs lack the accuracy of location, but provide an early alert that can have rescue teams moving before a LEOSAR can provide an accurate location fix.  Using Doppler processing, the LEOSAR can locate a beacon within a mile even if the beacon does not have GPS or if its GPS view is blocked.

 

 

In Florida, the Pythons are Winning

Burmese Python
Image Credit: Skip Snow, National Park Service, Bugwood.org

Pythons have stranglehold on Florida Everglades ecosystem tells the bad news.  Where the pythons have established, marsh rabbits and foxes cannot be found.  Similarly raccoons and white deer are increasingly scarce.

The small mammals and birds of the Florida ecosystem have no natural fear of the large snakes because the pythons are a foreign invader. They may succeed in killing the ecosystem, something the sugar plantation owners didn't quite succeed.

A recent study suggests that the pythons may not stop at the Florida Everglades, but could slither all the way through the south. 

Mmm.  I wonder whether they could eat kudzu, which is also a foreign invader.

 

The Scientists Who Know Too Much

General influenza virus
Image Credit: CDC/ Doug Jordan, M.A.

Perhaps you don't remember the Alfred Hitchcock film, "The Man Who Knew Too Much", but you would probably recognize the theme song, "Que Sera, Sera".  The title though, says it all - is there knowledge that we shouldn't have? 

Think back to 1939.  Would the world be better today without the Manhattan Project's successful conclusion with the atomic bomb?  (The morals of the bomb are a completely separate discussion.  I had an uncle who was deployed in the Pacific at the end of World War II.  Henry claimed he would have been killed on the beaches of Japan during an invasion without the weapon's success.)

But would the world be better off today without the knowledge of atomic energy?  Although I am an advocate of atomic energy, I must confess that it has been more of a distraction than positive benefit for the world. 

Caution Urged for Mutant H5N1 Avian Flu Work explains that a collection of flu researchers have declared a 60 day pause in creating lab variants of the influenza.  During this pause they are urging governments and policy makers to develop a strategy on how such genetic engineering can be monitored and regulated.  There is urgency, because a research team in the Netherlands published a paper showing how only 5 mutations of H5N1 resulted in a virus that would spread rapidly among ferrets.  Under pressure from the U.S. government, the publisher withheld the scientific details, fearing genetic proliferation.

Scientists argue they will learn valuable information about protection against pandemics if they proceed.  (I can imagine teenagers arguing that they could learn something from playing with dynamite.) 

Mmm.  Remember Dr. Ian Malcom's declaration from the film, Jurassic Park:

I'll tell you the problem with the scientific power you're using here: it didn't require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done, and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don't take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could, and before you even knew what you had, you, you've patented it, and packaged it, you've slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now you're selling it.
(From IMDb.)

It seems counter-intuitive, doesn't it?  As knowledge has become cheap or inexpensive, civilization has become more vulnerable.

 

The Creaks of Capitalism

I didn't know about Davos until I read David Rothkopf's Superclass: The Global Power Eleite and the World They Are Making.  The World Economic Forum meets annually at Davos, a mountain retreat in the eastern Alps.  About 2500 of the world's elite meet to discuss global economics.  These 2500 are the wealthiest and most influential in the world. 

Didn't make it to Davos? tells the hottest topics and ideas this year.  Jim Frederick explains one that has most agreeing - Capitalism Needs a Fundamental Overhaul.  As I have articulated over the past couple of years, the fundamental forcing function of capitalism - is its strength and weakness.  Pure capitalism always seeks to maximize income. There is no compassion or moral compass.

The U.S. has been here before with capitalism.  The robber barons and labor exploitation required regulation and control.  Perhaps in 50 years we will recognize this was another such moment. 

 

The New and Warmer Alaska May be Cooling

BERING STRAIT - An Air Station Kodiak HC-130 Hercules aircrew flew over more than 15 villages along the west coast of Alaska to check for any damage from a severe storm Nov. 10, 2011
Image Credit: U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan Lally

Mmm.  It is  minus 12 degrees Fahrenheit in Barrow Alaska, the farthest North American City.  The Barrow Sea Ice Webcam shows snow and highway lights.  The sun set in Barrow on November 20, and will not climb above the horizon until January 24 at 1:07 PM.  They won't get much of a suntan - the sun will set at 2:11 PM. 

A warmer and wetter new 'normal' for Alaska weather tells that temperatures have been warmer, but most noticeably in winter.  The new 'normal' for Barrow is 1.3 degrees warmer than when most of us were in primary school.  Meteorologists also tells that Alaska is receiving more rain, between 2 and 15 percent, depending upon the city.  What is puzzling is that these warmer conditions seem to match a phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, which lasts between 20 and 30 years.  The temperature changes are very dramatic.  The last 'switch' occurred in 1976/1977, when temperatures changed an average of 3 degrees.  Again, the winter increases were much greater.

Scientists have correlated the oscillation to tree-ring records in Baja California.  So what happens next?  Mmm.  The researchers don't seem to be going out on a limb, (or thin ice).  But it might just be that temperatures are going to start cooling once again in Alaska.  Or they might not. 

 

Why Do We Want to Create a Drug Problem Greater Than Oxycodone?

Brain regions and neuronal pathways
Image Credit: National Institute of Drug Addiction

The orange pathway on the left is activated when a person receives positive reinforcement for certain behaviors.  It is also activated with an addictive drug such as an opioid.

There are opiate receptors in the brain which react to drugs such as Oxycodone.  They send a signal to the dopamine terminal to release more dopamine.  Tolerance develops such that the receptors do not react as strongly to drugs.  Dependence develops when receptors no longer function normally and require drugs to function. 

The FDA tells that it approved OxyContin as a prescription narcotic pain reliever in 1995.  The active ingredient is oxycondone, a derivative of opium.  The prescription drug is formulated to slowly release oxycodone, but because it can produce euphoria, people attempt to intensify the sensation.  Euphoria is the primary reason why opioids are abused.

Hydrocone painkillers 10 times stronger than Vicodin are being readied by drug companies scares me.  Vicodin contains hydrocondone, like Oxycontin, but also contains an acetominophen.  The NewYork Daily News article tells that four companies have begun patient testing.  Zogenix, Perdue Pharma, Cephalon, and Egalet are all developing versions of a super pain killer. 

America's Largest Painkiller Advocacy Group is Almost Entirely Funded by Drug Companies tells that OxyContin achieved $3.1B in sales last year, a substantial portion of the $8.5B of narcotic painkillers sold in in the U.S.  The Business Insider quotes the head of CDC declaring overdoses from opioid drugs an "epidemic".  CDC data shows poisoning deaths now exceed motor vehicle traffic deaths and 90 percent of poisoning deaths are caused by drugs and 40 percent of those in 2008 were opioid analgesics. 

Mmm.  There is likely someone within a couple of degrees of you (people-you-know-who-knows-another) that has a prescription drug problem.  Most of us have sufficient will and self-control to avoid an addiction.  Unfortunately, too many of us view addiction as self-inflicted, and not deserving attention or compassion.  I know at least one person who developed a serious addiction after a vehicle accident.  Others have been innocently hooked.  It wrecks families, not just individuals, and they too, need compassion and assistance.  Painkiller addiction is a disease our civilization needs to confront.  I am disturbed about this super pain killer.  I'm not sure of the benefit to our culture.

 

Christmas 2011

Christmas is here!  I wish everyone a merry, happy, Christmas!

Mmm.  I cannot resist.  Yes, after breakfast, we plan to walk on the beach.  It is a beautiful morning in southern Florida. 

Wherever you are, have a merry Christmas!  Even if it is not a white Christmas!

Christmas Island

Pronounced “Ki-ris-mas,” Kiritimati Island
Image Credit: Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Laboratory at Johnson Space Center

I forget.  Does the southern hemisphere celebrate Christmas in July?  Mmm.

Christmas Island is a territory of Australia, about 1600 miles northwest of Perth.  (Singapore is actually closer on the northern side, though.)  Wikipedia tells that it was named by Captain William Mynors of the British East India Company when he sailed past on Christmas Day in 1643.

The island has a notable lagoon visible from the photograph, and is about 52 square miles in area.  (That is a little smaller than St. Petersburg, Florida.)  The Christmas Island website explains the island is the summit of a submarine mountain, composing the island of almost all volcanic rock.  As a mountain summit, the island has a coastline that is almost continuous sea cliff, up to 65 feet in height.  Better pack an umbrella, it receives 76 inches of rain a year.

Over 60 percent of the island's area is a national park.  The rainforests and and fringing reef are protected by the Australian government.  There are 16 types of ferns found only on Christmas Island. 

Christmas Island has rich phosphate deposits from eons of dead marine animals when it was underwater.  The mining operation was closed in 1987 after the deposits were depleted.  It has since been reopened with many of the former workers as part-owners.  Other than that, the primary industry is tourism.  You can check out the available accommodations at the Christmas Island Tourism Association.

 

Do People Brush You the Wrong Way?

In What Happens When Rats Feel Crowded, I described some of the symptoms that John B. Calhoun observed when he intentionally subjected rats to increasing overpopulated environments.  Eventually, the rats check-out.  They lose all interest in life and don't even procreate.  As a behavioral scientist, he was convinced the human race would respond similarly when we reached overpopulation levels. 

National Geographic has a website dedicated to overpopulation.  It tells that in 8000 BC, the Earth's population was about 5 million - equivalent to today's population of Papau New Guinea (an island just north of Australia).  Africa's population has tripled since 1960 and Asia's population has doubled.  Today's world population is 6.98 billion.

The horrible predictions of overpopulation from the 1960s have not come to pass.  I believe the efforts of Monsanto and other agricultural companies have increased the food supply so that we can feed almost 7 billion without severe overshortages.  Yet, observation of nature suggests that someday we will reach a tipping point where the Earth can no longer sustain the size of the human population.

Along the way, perhaps we will experience some of the symptoms of rat overcrowding noted by John B. Calhoun.  Holiday Shopping: Why Does Rubbing Elbows Turn Customers Off tells that if customers are brushed or elbowed within a store, it is darn unlikely they will purchase something.  A study by Brett A.S. Martin of Queensland University of Technology revealed that if a customer was brushed by a stranger while studying a possible purchase, they developed a negative perception of the product and left without buying it. 

He suggests that shop owners should acknowledge this human behavior and increase aisle space, even if it reduces the merchandise that can be displayed.  Being bumped by strangers is apparently a turn-off for consumers.

 

The 21st Century Needs 20th Century Industrialists

Train crossing the San Andreas Fault at Cajon Pass, CA
Image Credit: Don Becker , U.S. Geological Survey

I must confess.  I was bummed by Albert Pujols' decision to leave St. Louis in the rear-view mirror.  (For those that don't pay attention to professional sports, the former first baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals decided that he needed a $254M contract in Los Angeles instead of remaining in St. Louis where he was beloved.)  How much money is enough? Unabashed greed by professional athletes, bankers, and corporate executives depresses me.

I have been re-reading Henry Ford's My Life and Work. (Yes, it is a free book on Kindle.)  First in response to Albert Pujols' decision, I quote Ford, "Good-will is one of the few really important assets of life.  A determined man can win almost anything that he goes after, but unless, in getting he gains good will he has not profited much."  I wish decisions such as Pujols' would be criticized in the media, so that we change expectations and lift our moral tide.

In his autobiography, Ford writes at length about the need for work.  Noteworthy is, "Work is our sanity, our self-respect, our salvation.  So far from being a curse, work is the greatest blessing.  Exact social justice flows only out of honest work."  He also writes, "For the day's work is a great thing - a very great thing!  It is at the very foundation of the world; it is the basis of our self-respect."

The great industrialist would be appalled at the high unemployment within the U.S., and indeed most of the western world.  He would argue that something needs to be done - that it is the breeding ground of behavior and futures that the world should avoid.

As I read his philosophy, I am troubled by the contrast with today's industrialists and 21st century financiers.  He writes, "What good is industry if it be so unskillfully managed to return a living to everyone concerned?  No question is more important than that of wages - most of the people of the country live on wages."  Henry Ford believed that industrialists, and even everyone, should be servants of each other and that we should provide real service and value to others, not setting prices to maximize profits.  "So it has been my policy to force the price of the car down as fast as production would permit, and give the benefits to users and labourers with resulting surprising benefits to ourselves."

He also writes at length about expectations for employers.  "If it at any time became a question between lowering wages or abolishing dividends, I would abolish dividends.  ... It is bad financial policy to reduce wages because it also reduces buying power."  Note this is very different from today's executives which believe their only responsibility is to their stockholders.  In my review of Bill Clinton's Back to Work: Why We Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy, I observed Clinton argues that corporations have stakeholders such as employees and communities that should be considered in all decisions.

Henry Ford was not a saint.  He was also not a socialist, yet he believed that people should serve each other and assist one another.  He would be dismayed with increasing gap between the haves and have-nots.