Everyone knows that both the Israelis and the members of the Arab states are willing to talk peace, this has been shown that they have talked about different things until they were blue in the face on both sides but when it comes to actually living up to what they promised each other is a different story.
The problem lies with the fact that both sides have been fighting each other for many generations going back hundreds if not thousands of years over the same plot of land. this one plot of land is where three major religions were born and each religion that is still a dominate force over in that region insists that they are owed that land citing the same reasons.
The only way both sides are going to actually do what it takes to attain peace there is to acknowledge that both can co-exist there as equals since they share the same family tree, they started at the same place with the same family but the family members chose a different path in the way they practiced their religious beliefs, therefore creating multiple religions.
They need to have faith in their common beliefs even if practicing those beliefs are different before they can move forward with the peace process for the middle east.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Thursday, November 22, 2007
in response to atlanta's worsening drought, a reworking of something I wrote
Water Pipeline, solar energy, water desalinization and desert farming
By no means is water desalinization a cheap way of producing clean drinkable water but it has to be seriously considered and transporting the water in the quantities needed also has to be addressed when it comes to bringing clean drinkable water to people who need it, in an attempt to get around the geographical barriers like mountain ranges such as the Rocky Mountains of North America, and the mountain range that goes down the western side of the African continent that has made much of the African continent that acts like a barrier keeping the clouds from moving into the arid areas which are growing in size at least in Africa, I hope this is a workable idea that could be used but the people that have the capability to get it done.
In areas that are desert terrain due to mountain ranges being too tall to permit rain clouds to move past them, build water pipelines that travel over and through the mountain ranges to large desalinization plants in the deserts.
Power the desalinization plants using the technology currently being used in the solar one project (thermo-trough solar arrays) or another large scale solar power array so as not to use any type of fossil fuels.
Each desalinization plant would need to be large enough to exceed the needs of the population of the desert communities that they would be serving them to account for the water loss due to the excess heat of the desert.
In an attempt to contain the water and to provide climate controlled farming for these desert communities, build greenhouses that are based on the bio-dome concept, while compensating for the excess carbon dioxide that is more than the plants can handle in the self contained environment, install a bioreactor based on the design tested by MIT for GreenFuel Technologies Inc. which uses algae to collect carbon dioxide.
When deciding what to farm in the bio-dome style greenhouses, for crops grow food that the communities traditionally eat and would be willing to eat along with breeding what they traditionally call farm animals that have the ability to roam anywhere in the facility that is used for growing plants except for where the crops for the communities are grown.
Utilizing some of the extra desalinized water and extra growing space, provide greenhouse services for the communities specializing in plants, bushes and trees indigenous to the specific region with a section geared towards the rare foliage in an attempt to keep the plant, bush or tree species going.
When designing the system as a whole, design it to permit a minimum or maximum amount of water loss and design it to be a water dispensary so that a predetermined amount of water can be distributed to other areas in the desert communities and to create and maintain periodic placements of water facilities for travelers.
Any brine that is unusable either pipe it back into the ocean if it has little to no negative impact on the regions it is being placed into even if it means dispersing it over a wide area, or allow it to dry out to provide sea salt to those who use sea salt.
By no means is water desalinization a cheap way of producing clean drinkable water but it has to be seriously considered and transporting the water in the quantities needed also has to be addressed when it comes to bringing clean drinkable water to people who need it, in an attempt to get around the geographical barriers like mountain ranges such as the Rocky Mountains of North America, and the mountain range that goes down the western side of the African continent that has made much of the African continent that acts like a barrier keeping the clouds from moving into the arid areas which are growing in size at least in Africa, I hope this is a workable idea that could be used but the people that have the capability to get it done.
In areas that are desert terrain due to mountain ranges being too tall to permit rain clouds to move past them, build water pipelines that travel over and through the mountain ranges to large desalinization plants in the deserts.
Power the desalinization plants using the technology currently being used in the solar one project (thermo-trough solar arrays) or another large scale solar power array so as not to use any type of fossil fuels.
Each desalinization plant would need to be large enough to exceed the needs of the population of the desert communities that they would be serving them to account for the water loss due to the excess heat of the desert.
In an attempt to contain the water and to provide climate controlled farming for these desert communities, build greenhouses that are based on the bio-dome concept, while compensating for the excess carbon dioxide that is more than the plants can handle in the self contained environment, install a bioreactor based on the design tested by MIT for GreenFuel Technologies Inc. which uses algae to collect carbon dioxide.
When deciding what to farm in the bio-dome style greenhouses, for crops grow food that the communities traditionally eat and would be willing to eat along with breeding what they traditionally call farm animals that have the ability to roam anywhere in the facility that is used for growing plants except for where the crops for the communities are grown.
Utilizing some of the extra desalinized water and extra growing space, provide greenhouse services for the communities specializing in plants, bushes and trees indigenous to the specific region with a section geared towards the rare foliage in an attempt to keep the plant, bush or tree species going.
When designing the system as a whole, design it to permit a minimum or maximum amount of water loss and design it to be a water dispensary so that a predetermined amount of water can be distributed to other areas in the desert communities and to create and maintain periodic placements of water facilities for travelers.
Any brine that is unusable either pipe it back into the ocean if it has little to no negative impact on the regions it is being placed into even if it means dispersing it over a wide area, or allow it to dry out to provide sea salt to those who use sea salt.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Social Security and Presidential candidates
it is good that the presidential candidates are taking up the issue of Social Security since it has been a hot topic for the past couple of years. Unfortunately the proposed remedies no one wants to hears.
the first proposal is geared towards people who make more than $97,500 in annual income. The proposal is to raise the cap on taxable income for the Social Security tax for which the people who make more than that amount does not want to hear. it may not be something that will correct everything that is ailing the Social Security Administration but it does add money to it which is badly needed given that the benefits will eventually exceed the money going in.
the only other proposal on the table is to reduce benefits, which for many people already on Social Security would cause financial hardships. Given the current state of the economy, there is no viable way of reducing benefits and still having the retirees be financially capable of taking care of themselved.
The benefits need to keep up with the economy otherwise we force retirees to go back to the workforce to help suppliment their benefits which would cause even more problems one of which is the fact that retirees are penalized for making money beyond a specific dollar amount or beyond a set amount of hours worked each week. another thing is that they would be competing for jobs which would flood the job market with more potential employees which would add to the problems with job market.
the first proposal is geared towards people who make more than $97,500 in annual income. The proposal is to raise the cap on taxable income for the Social Security tax for which the people who make more than that amount does not want to hear. it may not be something that will correct everything that is ailing the Social Security Administration but it does add money to it which is badly needed given that the benefits will eventually exceed the money going in.
the only other proposal on the table is to reduce benefits, which for many people already on Social Security would cause financial hardships. Given the current state of the economy, there is no viable way of reducing benefits and still having the retirees be financially capable of taking care of themselved.
The benefits need to keep up with the economy otherwise we force retirees to go back to the workforce to help suppliment their benefits which would cause even more problems one of which is the fact that retirees are penalized for making money beyond a specific dollar amount or beyond a set amount of hours worked each week. another thing is that they would be competing for jobs which would flood the job market with more potential employees which would add to the problems with job market.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
The economy
Regarding the economy of the U.S., the president feels that we are in a great position, which is true in some areas but the exact opposite is true in others. The economic indicators that are traditionally used are saying that the amount of jobs in the U.S. is stable if not growing, what these indicators are not saying is a fact of live for many which is the jobs being created are needed jobs but at the same time jobs with lower wages than those that had been lost due to factors like 9/11 and outsourcing jobs to other countries.
in areas where the cost of living is high such as the Northeast and parts of California, this creates a problem for families due to the fact that these lower paying jobs may not pay enough to support ones family at the current cost of living in a specific region forcing the parents to have multiple jobs to stay afloat.
in areas where the cost of living is high such as the Northeast and parts of California, this creates a problem for families due to the fact that these lower paying jobs may not pay enough to support ones family at the current cost of living in a specific region forcing the parents to have multiple jobs to stay afloat.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
education and volunteering
given the fact that everywhere you go every company is asking for some sort of experience in order to qualify for a position, volunteering should be a prerequisite for high school students especially for the students in the major cities. Volunteering will give them some of the experience needed to enter the work force whether or not the student finishes high school. whether you call it volunteering or internships it is needed in todays society due to the fact that the students will not be able to gain the needed experience if they do not have the opportunity to attend a college or university.
If the high school students are not taught the skills in school then they have to be taught elsewhere otherwise all they will qualify for are the jobs that require no skills, pay little money in return and that shows no real promise unless you show an ability to move up to a managerial position. If we are to effectively fight poverty in this country we have to ensure that all high school age children have the needed skills to enter the work force.
If the high school students are not taught the skills in school then they have to be taught elsewhere otherwise all they will qualify for are the jobs that require no skills, pay little money in return and that shows no real promise unless you show an ability to move up to a managerial position. If we are to effectively fight poverty in this country we have to ensure that all high school age children have the needed skills to enter the work force.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
an idea for school based websites
I am by no means an educator but I do know that there are some communities which have websites for the schools regardless of whether they are elemenatry, middle school/junior high or high schools. I do have one idea based on the fact that some communities have websites for their schools. My idea is based solely on the expansion of the websites for the individual schools that would hopefully promote a better interaction between the students and their parents with the individual school at all levels. For good or bad this is just an idea that I had and could be tied into programs that help put computers in the hands of students in communities that have such programs.
Here is what I mean:
- Set up websites for individual schools that don’t already have them and expand on the ones that already have them by setting up pages specifically for the individual teachers that would list by class what is currently being taught and an archive of pasted projects during that school year.
- Set the students up with blogs to be used specifically for school purposes ranging posts to keep track of progress with any reports and projects to being able to turn in homework when they can’t turn in the homework in person. When setting up the blogs tie them into the school website and would only be viewable to the student, their parents, the student’s current teachers and the school administration with making sure that the students are the only ones capable of making changes to the posts but allows commentary from the appropriate teachers.
- When setting up the website and blogs set them up so that on the blogs of the individual students, a link for each of the teacher that student has during the current school year and set up so that the student has to mark the post for a specific teacher and has an RSS feed to that teacher and identifies the student by name and specific class that he is in.
- Set up the website to have interactive tools including resources for the students based specifically on the curriculum and grade that would be accessible to the students, their parents and the teachers.
- Set the website up to automatically email the parents of the individual students regarding any issues or periodically to let the parents know what is going on in specific classes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
