Saturday, December 24, 2016

MADMAN IN CHARGE?

Nine Nations, United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France, Israel, Pakistan, India, China and North Korea possess a total of 16,300 Nuclear weapons.

President-elect Trump is proposing a new arms race. To what purpose? What kind of madness propels this man's thinking? Michael Moore has predicted rightly: "This man is gonna get us all killed."

A mind boggling contradiction: Rick Perry, who vowed to eliminate the energy department during a debate, is appointed to head the department by Donald Trump. Nuclear energy is one of the responsibilities of the Energy Department. Go figure.

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

ELECTION WOES

My Dear Trill,
Author’s note: Trill is a fictional female acquaintance who makes it possible to write in a style that is comfortable for me.

      You feel like screaming? I Understand. An 1893 painting by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, titled “The Scream” comes to mind. Why has the country, in your words, in this election year, taken on the appearance of an upside down wastebasket? I suggest it is because events conspired to allow a populist, ego  driven candidate hypnotize enough of the population, though not a majority, into selecting him to become their leader.
      Thinking about how he came to power, a single tactical error by Hillary Clinton may have cost her the presidency when she told the coal industry that it has come to the end of the road, without telling it why, or expessing sympathy or telling how she will go about achieving allternative and better ways of earning a living income. So they flocked to the candidate who promised, without telling them how, the industry will thrive again.
      Hillary Clinton failed to explain, as she could have, that the industry is the victim of changing times, and that every effort will be made to introduce new industries to the coal mining territories.              Much as coal burning locomotives evolved into diesel electrics becasuse they were more efficient and cheaper to operate, coal burning power plants, the major users of coal, are, upon being retired, replaced with plants that burn natural gas, which are both cheaper to build and operate more efficiently. Natural gas is also favored over coal because carbon emissions are reduced, and so are toxic emissions. In Addition, coal exports are in rapid decline. Canada, for example will no longer use coal after 2030.
     She could have explained that in the long run this is good for the physical welfare of the community, especially for the men who work all day in the mines.
     Now, it seems, we have bought the farm.
     Samuel Adams wrote to a fellow revolutionary in 1780: “If ever the time should come, when vain & aspiring Men shall posssess the highest Seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced Patriots to prevent its Ruin, There may be more Danger of this, than some, even of our well disposed Citizens may imagine. If the People should grant their Suffrages to Men, only because they conceive them to have been Friends to the Country, without regard to the necessary qualifications for the Places they are to fill, the administration of government will become a mere Farce, and our pub-lick Affairs will never be put on the Footing of solid Security.”
     Early warning of what is to come is manifested in the coterie of individuals selected for important posts in the administration, and the dossiers they bring with them:
A business executive with world wide petroleum interests, whose company funded studies to debunk scientific data on global warming, who has no prior governing experience, who has made serious end runs around US policy, for Secretary of State
A Neocon war hawk who championed the Iraq war for Assistant Secretary of State
A fast food CEO for Labor Secretary with a record of not being able to keep his employees happy and who opposes increasing the minimum wage.
A neurosurgeon with no governing experience to head HUD. 
A mortgage predator as Secretary of the Treasury
A fierce climate change denier to head the EPA.
An anti-women’s rights governor for Vice President
A man who has ridiculed paid sick leave policies and opposes $15 minimum wage to head the Department of Labor
A woman who is a vocal proponent of school vouchers and private schools, and who has contributed heavily to the Trump Foundation, to head the Department of Education.
A hardliner on immigration and other matters for Attorney General.
A controversial retired general as Defense Secretary. (Defense Secretaries by law must be civilians),
A governor and formerly candidate for the presidency who vowed to abolish the Department of Energy, to head the Department.
(Frightening, since the Department manages nuclear power.)
     I don’t know, Trill, this is all so surreal, so bizarre. Maybe it will turn out to be handy to have a neurosurgeon around. 

Monday, December 12, 2016

TROUBLING TIMES

It should be troubling to Americans  that the president-elect has little use  for intelligence briefings, asserting that he is "smart", when within memory, another president  chose to ignore a briefing  that warned of an imminent attack by terrorists, opting instead to go back to cutting brush on his Texas  ranch. He could have said, "Not on my watch," and headed back to Washington. We all know of the horrific misjudgment that followed the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers, unwarranted invasion  of Iraq and tremendous cost in lives lost, and dollars misspent.

Sunday, December 4, 2016

FORDSON TRACTOR

      A hundred years ago, in 1917, Americas was engaged  in  World War I, the “War to end all wars,” 
While fighting was going on overseas, industriy and transportation advancements within  the nation were manifold. led by giants like inventor, engineer and automobile executive Henry Ford, who was busy making the famous Model-T. Upon observing that the Model-T was often adapted to farm chores, Henry Ford decided to produce a dedicated farm tractor, in a move some characterized as “emancipation of the plow horse.”  His success was shortly followed by competitors Case, Allis Chalmers, John Deere, Massey Harris and International Harvester.
The fascinating history of the Fordson tractor is in full display on Wikipedia and need not be covered here.
I have a personal aquaintance with the Fordson, as my father purchased one at the going price of $325 in the early 1920’s. It was little used at first except to cut cordwood into smaller pieces with a  circular saw that was attached to the front end. My father was not about to part with his fine team of horses. 
The Fordson became our sole power source as the horses aged. It was a fearsome machine, hard to start, hard to steer, hard to shift. It had no brakes but relied on its worm gear drive to stop when the clutch was depressed. I spent many hours of my early years on the iron seat, wrestling with the steering wheel.
The tractor was responsible for hundreds of deaths due  to its tendency to upend itself and fall on its back, killing the driver. That could occur, for instance, when a plow would strike  an immovable obstacle, like a root or a rock. Decades later, Ferguson, a Fordson manufacturer in the UK, developed a three-point hitch that solved the problem and is now standard on all tractors. I encountered the problem in two separate instances, but  was nimble enough to kill the throttle and jump free.  

The Fordson tractor was hot, odiferous, noisy and dangerous. I cannot say how happy I was when the implement dealer arrived in the farmyard with a shiny new Farmall Tractor, made by International Harvester, equipped with brakes, a muffler and a self starter. Thereupon the Fordson was parked in the rear of the implement shed, where it slouched for years, gathering cobwebs and dust. 

Saturday, December 3, 2016

EBONY

 
Think music.
Think keyboards.
Think Mozart, Pete Johnson,
nimble fingers on satin smooth keys,
sounds of Cesar Franck roaring
through open church doors.

Think ornaments
in the dark sarcophagus
of an Egyptian princess,
black bangles on bronze arms
of Bantu women.

Think carvings of black idols,
pachyderms and primates,
warm to the touch
from sucking up the sun.

Think Kachin jungle,
where nocturnal tigers prowl,
where black hearts leap
at the thought of you.


- E. Hujsak

Friday, December 2, 2016

PROMISES TO KEEP

      The small segment of the work force that constitutes the coal industry, which includes miners, coal processors, coal transportation and coal burning power plant operators, estimated to be upwards of 166,000 people, together with the service industries that support them. as well as sympathizers with the coal industry, and investors, are in for a big disappointment.
         Donald Trump cannot come through on his promise to restore the coal industry. A combination of economics and the imperative for global warming abatement spell the end of the industry. Natural gas power plants are replacing coal fired plants as the latter are rapidly being retired. Most coal fired plants were built before 1980 and are approaching end of life, an average of 58 years. Of 66 proposed coal fired power plants proposed in the 2002-2015 time period, 43 were cancelled. Ninety-four plants were shut down in 2015 and forty-one were scheduled for closure in 2016.
Driving forces for conversion to natural gas are reduced construction and operating cost, low cost of natural gas, 25% better thermodynamic efficiency than coal, reduced carbon emissions and near elimination of toxic emissions. Moreover there is now a general awareness that natural gas is available in prodigious amounts, stored in underground fissures and dissolved in hot brine deposits around the globe. An additional factor is  the lowered cost of renewable energy sources. For example, wind energy is getting competitive with building new coal fired plants. Whatever the benefits are of “clean coal,” added cost would rule that out, unless the government engages in massive subsidies to the industry,
All this means means curtains for the coal industry and disappointment and distress for workers who believed a man with a reputation as a con man and arguably provided the critical votes that squeaked him into the White House. The consequences could get severe when jobless workers are left twisting in the wind, forced to face the problem of feeding and sheltering their families. One thing is for sure: not many coal miners will be retrained to operate computers.
       Unemployment insurance doesn’t last long. Beyond that, there are few options for coal industry blue collar workers. Perhaps, as some believe, with the onset of the Fourth Industrial Revolution we are approaching an era when people are provided with a living stipend, eliminating the specter of possible joblessness.

Friday, November 25, 2016

ALLIGATORS IN THE SWAMP

Author's Note. Trill is a fictional female acquaintance who makes it possible to write in a style that is comfortable for me.

My Dear Trill,

Like you, Trill, I am both dismayed and amazed. Americans have chosen a litigious, scorched Earth businessman to run the country, along with his businesses, with his kids assisting. How this will all play out one can only imagine. The last time a businessman held the office was in the administration of Herbert Hoover, and we all know what occurred then. But hang on to your hat and hope for the best. There may be a rough ride ahead.




Friday, November 18, 2016

DEAR SENATOR

Author's note:  Letter sent to Senators Sanders, Warren, and Feinstein.

Dear Senator:

I want to tell you of my concern regarding Congressman Ryan's  plan to gut Medicare and replace it with what he calls a Voucher System. In other words, telling the elderly population: "Here's some money. Now go find yourself a medical plan in the private sector," at once  ballooning costs because Medicare doesn't  bear the expenses of overhead, advertising, profit and excessive executive salaries common to private insurance companies.
While this may not be a difficult thing to do for those just entering eligibility for Medicare, it creates an enormous problem for the huge population of seniors who are living in care homes, retirement homes, etc., who need to rely on others to make judgments of this sort for them. Ryan's plan opens the door to rampant fraud, ranging from the emergence of countless "entrepreneurs" that are bound to spring up to "assist" elders, to the managers of care facilities who find themselves channels for a new source of Federal money that are too good to ignore.
The Ryan idea is riddled with opportunities for fraud. Not that the existing system is free of it.
A better plan would be Medicare for all. It could be styled so people would be entitled to a partial refund if they took care of their health and didn't use Medicare. That way everyone wins. The nation gets healthier.

Sincerely,

Edward Hujsak


Wednesday, November 9, 2016

TRUMP AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Author’s note: Trill is a fictional female acquaintance who makes it possible to write in a style that is easy for me. 

My Dear Trill,

      Discouraging, isn’t it, global warming and the Sixth Extinction are upon us, some say already at an irreversible stage and we have placed a climate change denier, someone who says climate change is a hoax perpetraterd by the Chinese, in the White House; someone who promises to restore and elevate the coal industry.
This will likely occur without his assistance, as the EPA (an agency that the future president  promises to abolish, but probably will meet resistance) has recently instituted a program to accelerate the number of charge stations in the country, thus easing a problem  for an ever growing number  of electric cars, which it recommends. This of course will increase the demand on the grid, causing energy suppliers to build more power plants. which will probably be coal burning because they are cheap to build. 
So you see, Trill, electric cars will turn out to be largely coal burners. Moreover, they will hasten global warming because the overall thermodynamic efficiency of an electric car is much lower than the gasoline powered cars being produced today, when its batteries are charged from power plants that burn fossil fuels. 
Admittedly, in some cases they make sense, for example where power is provided  from hydro, geothermal,wind, solar, and arguably nuclear. But all those put together provide only a third of the U.S. power generated.
      I sincerely doubt that in the next four years much will happen to abate climate change. The United States and China are the world’s biggest coal consumers for power generation and China has not stopped building more power plants, Japan is accelerating the building of new plants and the United States is expanding existing capability and has new plants under construction or in planning.

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

THE ELECTION



Author’s note: Trill is a fictional female acquaintance who makes it possible to write in a style that is easy for me. 

My Dear Trill,

       Such an outburst! I never expected to find you so emotional about the election. You need to relax a little. Hopefully, there are many  presidential elections ahead. Getting too wrapped up in any of them risks losing your charm.
I’m not surprised at all that the upcoming election has you thoroughly confused, facing a choice  between a narcissistic, egocentric, sexual predator  and a woman of considerable experience but  having a history of using her husband’s presidency, together with her husband, to acquire substantial personal wealth.
        Hillary Clinton will probably win the election, possibly by a wide margin. There is one reason I believe she will make a decent president. It will be upon her to validate the idea of a woman president. If she fails, the future will be bleak indeed for the success of another woman having a run at the office. She knows this, because above anything else, this will be her legacy.
Here’s the way I see it. Donald Trump would lead  the country into danger. How else can you interpret his question: “We have nuclear bombs. Why don’t we use them?” As a strong nation, it is commonly believed that the office of the presidency is also the office of the leader of the world. Donald  knows little of politics and has demonstrated nothing regarding relationships with foreign countries and their populations.
On the other hand, Hillary Clinton has a thorough knowledge by virtue of her tenure as Secretary of State. She will have better support in Congress than Obama did. Senator Sanders. Senator Warren, and Senator Feingold  (if he gets elected) will be a strong supportive force for a progressive agenda.

Monday, October 10, 2016

REFLECTIONS


Now in our countdown years
the consequences of our actions can be weighed.
The measure of a person’s candor is revealed, writing one’s
own obituary.
It says nothing of wrong turns, what might have been.
Nor does it aver to having
lived a road to redemption.
In the best of circumstances
the text would read:
We did no harm, or tried not to. We tried to do good.
We had many friends
and spent our days productively. We apportioned time
to relax and play.
We loved someone dearly. 

Saturday, October 1, 2016

ROCKET PREDICTIONS

      In my 1994 book, “The Future of U.S Rocketry” there is a section on ultra large launch vehicles (ULLV).  Included is a design concept for a launch rocket wth a 600,000 pound payload to low earth orbit. Also included are ideas on how a manned journey to Mars could be accomplished with three  launches to low earth orbit of spacecraft elements, including propellants, that would be assembled to accomplish the mission.
      Interesting is Elon Musk’s recent presentation to  the International Astronautical Congress on September 26 of his plans for a manned journey to Mars. It would involve launching three ultra large launch vehicles with a payload lift capability to low earth orbit of 600,000 pounds each, followed by assembly in orbit of the spacecraft elements and loading propellants necessary for the mission.

      Not everything that was predicted came to pass, but that’s how it goes with predictions. The book shows a concept for the follow-on to NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) which is right on the money.

Monday, September 12, 2016

NUMBER ONE

  Flash Fiction    


Stanley backed the boxy twelve seat trans-orbit packet slowly away from its berth on the orbital Amazon fulfillment station. He jockeyed the craft to  the propellant storage outrigger where  an array of fluid and gas tanks were secured like tits on a hog and  “gassed up.” He checked the system status board on his craft, then punched in the coordinates for  US Station 12, a quarter orbit distant from his present location. Stanley was a skilled pilot and the orbital mechanics for transfer within the orbit had become second nature, but this time he wasn’t taking any chances. He would let the Orbital Positioning System (OPS) determine a least-energy route. It was his final mission, and considering the value of the payload at Station 12, it was understandable. Stanley hoped that Julia would be packed and ready for departure. He hadn’t heard from her recently. Busy winding things up, he thought. He turned on a Mozart recording and relaxed. The proximity beacon at Station 12 would wake him, should he fall asleep. 
The Third Presence in space began at about the time the International Space Station was abandoned. Russia peeled off its modules to establish its own smaller station and NASA maneuvered the remaining  part of the station into a fiery trail that ended in the Pacific Ocean.
At the same time, China, Russia and the United States concluded independently that the answer to a robust presence in space is in a community of small stations, about the size of the original Skylab. They would occupy the same 500 mile orbit. They would be turnkey stations to avoid years of expensive orbital assembly time and weigh within the lift capability of heavy lift rockets under construction in Russia, China and the United  States, The stations would be styled for various purposes - research and development, manufacturing, hospitals, observation and tourist destination. All would be serviced by a common orbitial fulfillment center, which , in addition to  providing food and supplies, berthed a fleet of transfer craft called packets, designed to both provision the stations and return materials, trash and waste to the center for deorbiting to Earth.
Earth to otbit routine transfer was solved by the successful development of Skylon by the  English firm, Reaction Engines. Two were built. Each  made a bi-weekly trip to the fulfillment center, carrying material, passengers and propellants. 
Skylon 1, presently being loaded for the return trip to Earth, was due to depart within twenty four hours. Stanley gave little thought to the likely tumultous reception upon Skylon’s next arrival at Cape Canaveral. We’ll just have to wing it, he’d said to Julia. 
Stanley became aware that he was was closing in on  Station 12 when an audio warning began beeping. Still, he  had nothing to do, as docking and securing were fully automated.
Julia was waiting just inside, fully suited for the trip except for head gear. She was surrounded by smiling well-wishers, aware they were taking part in a historic event.
Julia smiled as she handed Stanley a transparent acrylic box in which Stanley junior lay snuggled, fast asleep, wrapped in a soft blanket - the first baby born in space.




Tuesday, September 6, 2016

OBSERVATIONS

So much of modern sculpture appears to be just an assemblage of previously created objetts that in and of themselves had a use and assembling them into a disorderly collection, or taking a collection of  disparate found objects and assembling them into an orderly collection. 

More articles are appearing almost daily about automobile companies succmbing to the  idea that  a driverless car society will be better and safer. I sincerely doubt it. They even plan for driverless trucks. Somehow I can’t picture an eighteen wheeler backing down a delivery alley by itself. It takes remarkable skill to back a trailer under any condition.


Sunday, September 4, 2016

FAVORIITE SOUNDS



Steam locomotive starting up

Fog horns

Burbling brooks

Harley motorcycle accelerating

Harley motorcycle idling

Bugle sounding taps

Hallelujah Chorus

Hand plane smoothing wood.

Aeolian tones from telephone wires.

White noise from aeolian tones in pine forests

Horses snorting

Horses whinneying

Horses galloping

B-36 drone from engines and propellers

Wolves howling

Bowing a cello

Baby laughing

Whip-poor-wills and Loons



Friday, August 19, 2016

WHATEVER IT TAKES

Author’s note: Trill is a fictional female acquaintace who makes it possible to write in a style that is comfortable for me.


My Dear Trill,

Congratulations! You are growing more and more perceptive, as with your recent question, “What’s wrong with this tale? A grieving father is subverted at the Democratic convention by the same woman  who supported a contrived war that got his son killed.” It’s a page right out of ancient Greek drama, catapulted into the muck of present day politics.
The cynical side of me believes that a deal was probably struck in the form of a  job offer once she becomes president. I find it hard to believe that a man would allow himself to be used in this manner, but level of intelligence may be a factor, or in some way, his personal tragedy may have, as they say, “driven him off the rails.” I know nothing of the man. These are just personal observations.

But the incident does tell us to be watchful. I was particularly disappointed when a favorite legislator,  Elizabeth Warren, appeared to have abandoned what seemed to be synergy with Bernie Sanders,  to support instead a candidate with a history of opportunist activity within her job, and with whom she has not much commonality other than being a woman. It would be great if the two Senators could continue work amiably in the new Senate, but I would not blame Sanders if he were a bit distrustful after  experiencing Warren’s decision to support the Clinton camp.

Sunday, July 31, 2016

WHO GETS MY VOTE?


Author’s note: Trill is a fictional female acquaintance who makes it possible to write in a style that is comfortable for me.

My Dear Trill,


     It is not surprising that you ask about my preferences regarding the coming elections. I am flattered that you will keep my opinions in mind when you make your choices.
     To begin, I don’t have a history of fidelity to any party, whether Democratic, Republican, Independent, Libertarian, Tea, Green or Green Tea. (The last is a lame joke, I will admit).
     Throughout the primaries, I favored Bernie Sanders, mainly because he seemed a genuine populace candidate, much in the mold of Franklin Roosevelt, who was the first president I remember and whom I admired greatly. 
     I do not have a high opinion of Hillary Clinton, even though she has experience as a Senator and Secretary of State. With her husband, Bill, the pair used the office of the presidency to gain enormous personal wealth. In contrast, President Harry Truman, who had deep respect for the office,  bought his own postage stamps for his personal letters. Moreover, Bill Clinton’s poor judgement was on full display when president. His deregulation of the banking industry led directly to the near financial collapse of 2008. but he happily disowns any responsibility. Hillary Clinton claims that as president she will not reinstate the Glass Steagall Act, which served the nation well since the Roosevelt administration. She said she will rely on her husband for advice on the economy and other critical issues. That should worry everybody.
      My biggest fear, though, is that a Clinton machine has been created in the form of the Clinton Foundation, which reputedly takes in millions of dollars in contributions by foreign countries and individuals. These contributions can only be construed as being in expectation of future favors. A perversion of the centuries old practice of buying indugencies of the Pope, but in this case the Pope is the US President. A Clinton presidency, in my mind, would only be acceptable with the dissolution of the Foundation, with the money all directed to charity and education.
      Donald Trump, the most unstatesmanlike person imaginable, is best described, in my view, as peripatetic.... a throwback to teachings of Aristotle  which characterized people who are unsettled, who tend to journey hither and thither. A caricature, spiced with absurd observations, bigotry, bias and mis-information.Whether he could lead a nation is doubtful in view of rash promises he has made. A promise to nominate conservative judges to the Supreme Court is downright frightening, in view of decisions made by the existing Court such as Citizen’s United. This would be reason enough to elect Hillary Clinton, but other factors fail to sway me.
     In my view, it is incumbent on both candidates to divest themselves of all side investments and interests and promise to be full time presidents. There is no indication thus far that either candidate has that intent.
     Trill, I cannot advise you to vote for either candidate. They are both badly flawed, in my opinion. If I decide to vote my conscience, it will be a write-in for Bernie Sanders. 

Friday, July 22, 2016

LETTER FROM SCOTT PETERS

I wrote  to Representative Scott Peters and other  legislators addressing how Obamacare stuck it to the working people and gifted insurance companies  with huge benefits, like allowing them to write policies with large deductibles. Here is Scotts' answer.


Dear Mr. Hujsak,
Thank you for contacting me to share your views on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). I appreciate hearing from you.
I was not in Congress when it passed the ACA, and, like almost everyone, I recognize that the law is flawed in many ways—no law ever is perfect. This is why I am focused on making sure that we do what we can to fix the law where and whenever needed. Like you, I was frustrated
by the rocky roll-out of ACA, and by the cancellation of health care plans that people had been satisfied with. That’s why I crossed party lines and voted to enforce President Obama’s promise – again and again – that if you like your health care, you can keep it.
The ACA is a massively ambitious effort to remake a broken American healthcare system, and
in many ways it is making progress. It’s prevented insurance companies from denying cover-
age because of preexisting conditions and it’s allowed kids to stay on their families’ plans until they’re 26. It’s moving us away from a system where too many people go to the emergency room for their care or lose their homes because of medical bankruptcy. The California exchange has been successful in enrollment, and the federal website has recovered from its early and serious problems. And if, over time, the ACA can move us from a sick-care system focused on treatment and procedures to a health care system focused on health and prevention, we would save taxpay- ers a lot of money.
There is still a lot of work to be done to make health care affordable. And any of us might have come up with a different approach from the ACA. However, it is folly to think that this law will actually be repealed by the whole Congress, or that the President would agree to start again from scratch. Speaker Boehner himself acknowledged that the ACA is ‘the law of the land.’ It is past time to stop the politics of false solutions like repealing the Affordable Care Act and get Congress to work toward solving the problems the law creates for the people of San Diego, and Americans around the country.
That’s why, over the past two years, I have voted for several measures that address the flaws we’ve seen with the rollout, and provide common-sense fixes to the policy. In each of these cases, I have shown a willingness to buck my own party in order to get the law right. I voted to allow Americans to keep their current health plans. I voted to delay the individual mandate tax until the federal website — which is responsible for enrolling people in 36 states — gets it act together. Finally, to help small businesses and their employees, I voted to change a definition in the law that forces companies to provide healthcare to employees working more than 30 hours a week—the bill I supported would change it to 40 hours.
I’m open to any policy idea—Republican or Democrat—that will make the ACA better for employers, employees and families. I’ve received too many messages from San Diegans about how health care is costing them for me to sit idly. I support policies that increase patient access to care, increase quality, and drive down cost. The ACA is a tremendous undertaking and will require more fixes as we continue to work through its implementation. 





Tuesday, July 19, 2016

HERE'S AN IDEA


          News of progress with molten salt reactors (MSR’s) frequently appears in industrial journals, in news clips on the internet, as well as in other media that are concerned with energy in all its aspects. Interest in development of thorium reactors is worldwide, mainly because they promise better safety than uranium reactors, and because thorium is far more plentiful than uranium. Reactors would be more economical to build and operate. According to the World Nuclear Association, five nuclear energy companies in Canada and the United States are developing molten salt reactors: Terrestrial Energy (Canada), Thorcon Power (Florida), Terrapower (Washington), Flibe Energy (Alabama), and Transatomic Power (Massachusetts).
           The idea is this: The nuclear powered merchant ship Savannah, now inactive, docked at Pier 13 in Baltimore, MD. What better place to showcase a MSR, producing an ability to demonstrate the technology worldwide?
            Research and development will eventually result in a demonstrator reactor, typically in a building on the back lot of development laboratory. More spectacular and appealing would be a real application that would rapidly gain public appeal and support. The Savannah offers a way to do this.
            The Merchant ship Savannah had its origin in 1955 in President Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” program. The ship was designed by NY architect George C. Sharp Inc. Construction was funded by Government agencies; The Maritime Administration (MARAD), The Atomic Energy Commission and the Department of Commerce. It was launched in 1959 and was then fitted with a nuclear power plant by Babcock & Wilcox Corporation.
           The ship carried passengers and cargo between 1962 and 1965, then later only cargo until it was decommissioned in 1971. It had sailed a total of 450,000 miles. The reactor fuel was removed but the reactor remains in place. The Savannah was subsequently towed from port to port for exhibition and maintenance. Finally in 2008 it was towed to pier 13 in Baltimore, where it awaits an unknown future in dry dock.


                Savannah rests in drydock in Baltimore, MD

           Will it be just another maritime museum or will it have a new life, powered by a MSR?
           The fifty thousand or so world merchant fleet represents a fertile area for gains in cimate change abatement. Ships are heavy fuel consumers and in the aggregate, substantial contributers of carbon dioxide emissions. Merchant ships consume from 140 to 150 tons of fuel for a seven day excursion. Taking the lower number, every day, per thousand ships at sea, total carbon dioxide emission is calculated to be over 60,000 tons (a hundred and twenty million pounds). Thus, conversion of the merchant fleet to nuclear power could contribute measurably toward abatement of global warming.
          President Eisenhower could as well have had a vision for use of atomic power for abatement of global warming, but in those times there was only an awareness of pollution, which appeared to be regional. The Keeling curve, which warned of rising carbon dioxide concentration and ensiung climate studies that confirm an onset of global warming, were still in the future. 
          Savannah operating on Thorium……..could be as world-shaking as Watts' improvement on the steam engine.

Saturday, July 16, 2016

MAGNOLIA

I have this thing about trees, as I'm certain others do….it borders on reverence.

Gray hared woman,
the scent of my outrageous blooms
has drawn you here, hasn't it?
Or has a long past lover's tryst
awakened need to place your hands
on something more than memory?

I see you searching for the heart
you outlined with your fingers,
then watched its carving by his hand,
so deft; you couldn't know the trail
of broken hearts he'd left behind.

You will not find it now.
Like you, I'm scarred with age.
But sit, together we'll remember
gas lights lit around the garden,
soft laughter, clinks of crystal goblets,
strains of Straussian waltzes.

- E. Hujsak

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

GRIEF AND TRIUMPH



Soon enough, there will be no one alive who remembers The Great Depression, the 1930’s, when human failing, poverty, joblessness and Nature converged to give Americans a really bad time. Unemployment in the United States rose to 25%. People were hungry and lean and restive.
I lived in New Hampshire then, so that is where my memory takes me. In different regions of the country  grief and misery took many paths. In the the midwest it was a time of prolonged drought, over-tilling of the land and an ensuing dustbowl. The nation was witness to mass migration from the midwest to the west coast. `
Fortunately, after the 1929 financial collapse, populace president Franklin D, Roosevelt took the reins and with courage and strength led the nation into recovery. The preamble to the Constitution  clearly states that a duty of the government is  “to promote the general Welfare." That was the legal backbone for forming the Workers Progress Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC). 8.5 million WPA jobs were created  for building bridges, dams, roads, public buildings and public parks. There were even programs to support the arts in music, drama, art and sculpture. (Long after World War II I had the good fortune of coming into possession of a 1.25 plaster bust of President Roosevelt, executed from life in the White House by artist/sculptor Charles Farrar under a WPA assignment. But that is another story).
The CCC employed young, unmarried men who lived in camps under a military discipline. The CCC  created many of the nation’s  public parks, planted trees, built roads, built buildings, and improved rural firefighting ability. A fortunate  outcome  of the CCC was to provide disciplined, trained manpower for the approaching war. 
Many sought to earn a dollar in unexpected ways. A large number became junkmen who scoured the country for scrap metal that included abandoned and aged factory and farm machinery and old automobiles. They sold their  truckloads of metal to junk dealers, who in turn loaded the metal onto rail cars bound for the west coast. From there it was  shipped to Japan. In Japan the metal was turned into Japan’s war machine, into ships, aircraft, mobile  equipment and guns that in a few years would be brought to bear against the United States in the ensuing far East war. So you see, in a large part, the Japanese war machine came out of the US Depression.
The Great New England Flood of March, 1936 was unexpected. A southerly wind and heavy rains  melted away the winter’s snow and caused massive flooding of the Merrimack and Connecticutt rivers. River ice broke up, piled  against and smashed bridges. Roads were washed out. The Merrimack River rose high above its banks, carrying buildings, lumber, furniture, oil drums and debris to the Atlantic. In Merrimack, my home town,  the Boston and Maine railroad, factories and homes were under water. 
In the years following the flood, the Army Corp of Engineers built dams and reservoirs along the rivers’ upper waters, to avert further flooding disasters.
But Nature wasn’t done. In September, 1938, a hurricane dubbed the Long Island Express struck Long Island and barrelled across New England, causing enormous damage. Houses were blown away, coastal settlements disappeared. One of the incredible sights, if you happened to be watching a pine forest, was to see an entire growth keel over, the sound drowned out by the roaring wind.
The government stepped in again to fund a harvest of the fallen trees. If left lying, pine borers would ruin the logs in a single season. That was when, at 14, I learned the pain and sweat of  wielding one end of a two-man crosscut saw,  the backbreaking feel of rolling logs up a sawmill ramp with a cant hook.  I grieved at the loss of my best friend who fell into the path of runaway rolling logs.
A fortuitous outcome of the hurricane was the creation of a store of lumber to construct barracks for military camps and internment centers for the upcoming war, as well as shipping crates for iend-lease articles.
Throughout the decade nations watched as Japan and  Germany prepared for a war they felt sure was coming. It began with the Japanese invasion of China in 1937, followed by invasion of Poland by German and Russian armies in 1939. We had little idea then, that in  two years the United States would be catapulted into a major worldwide conflagration that would take the lives of sixty million people. 

Sunday, June 26, 2016

THE MUSICIAN

The Steinway stands silent
In the living room.
I keep it tuned for you.
You practiced far into the night.
Who dares play Hindemith’s
Ludus Tonalis beginning to end,
As you did,
Before a stunned audience?
Your Bach was masterful
And the harp accompaniment
To Britten’s Ceremony of Carols
In the Padres’ ancient mission
Brought me to tears.


From"The Year of the Daisy"
by E Hujsak

Sunday, June 19, 2016

CHANGING PLANET




Author’s Note:  Trill is a fictional female acquaintance who makes it possible to write in a style that is comfortable for me.


My Dear Trill,

What an exciting time to be alive! We have front row seats to witness  Earth ending one epoch and slipping rapidly into another. The last epoch, the Pleistosine, lasted 2.6 million years, ending with the Fifth Extinction. Scientists are not sure why, but are quite certain that it was sudden and enormously destructive. Earth was home to many big animals then, revealed by various digs like the La Brea Tar Pits in California. Humans were not making much of a mark, but somehow survived to begin the Holocene Epoch about 11,700 years ago. It is an age in which the species dominates over all others and plunders, pillages and pollutes the planet to the point that Holocene may be the shortest ever, a mere12,000 years, to introduce  another era. It seems a short time, but already there are predictions of the Sixth Extinction, brought about by a prolifiration of the human species. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution human activitty has proven sufficient to cause a global warming that will have dire effect on all living things. The Anthropocene Epoch, the Sixth Extinction, as the new era is commonly termed, is our future. Some scientists, including noted astrophysicist Stephen Hawking,  predict the onset in as few as one hundred years from now. Others insist that it is going on now and has been going on since the beginning  of the Industrial Revolution in the late 1700’s.
I take the apocalyptic view because in my opinion not much can be done about it. World population continues to increase, exacerbating an already serious situation. (Birth rate is approximately 4.3 per second, whereas death rate is only 1.8 per second). 
Admittedly, an important movement is now taking place toward abatement of climate change, but lacking enforcement, sadly, it will  only postpone disaster by a few years.
In the end, although it will matter little, Earth’s ruin may ultimately be traced to politicians and climate change deniers and their intransigence regarding taking action now to avoid  the consequences of global warming. It will be said, though, that some did try.
The Paris Accords, sponsored by the United Nations, brought together a meeting of representatives from 195 nations and produced a non-binding agreement to jointly reduce emissions in the coming years at a rate that will hopefully limit the damage. Every five years they would meet again to see how well they had done. The language calls for limiting the temperature growth to 2 degrees centigrade over the next 100 years: an admission that reducing the rate of climb, or even reversing it, is beyond reach. The United States, which is responsible for 18 percent of the world’s emissions, is tacitly assumed to take the lead, though France has already shown the way,  providing 90% of its energy needs from renewable sources and nuclear energy, If the United States fails, then other nations will feel less compelled  to comply with the objectives that were agreed to and published.
The  challenge is formidable, because there are many legislators who believe that global warming is a hoax. Some have ties, financial support and orherwise to special interests. For example, Senator McConnell, leader of the Senate, reports to interests in Kentucky, his home state, where coal mining is a major industry. More disturbing, the Republican candidate for the presidency, Donald Trump scorns the warnings  about global warming. Then there are companies like ExxonMobil who wilfully fund studies that undermine  scientific data on climate change history and trends for the future.
Another powerful contradiction lies with the person who considers himself a champion for climate change  abatement, who may be the single greatest polluter of all.... President Obama, and I would add to this, President  George W. Bush before him.
The president habitually takes his annual Christmas vacations at taxpayer expense in Hawaii,  about 5000 miles from Washington, or a round trip distance of 10,000 miles. The media refer to these trips in a bemused way as “costing millions” and leaving “a big carbon footprint” and lets it go at that. But for each such adventure, involving up to three 747 sized aircraft, 3 million pounds (1500 tons) of carbon dioxide is generated. 
In contrast, a typical automobile operator, over a driving lifetime of 50 years, will generate less than 20% of emissions created by President Obama’s  single vacation trip.
The super rich, for whom the whole world is a playground, cannot be excluded from the list of excessive polluters. 
Other conditions exist  that contribute to climate change that appear beyond control.  An example is the refinement of Canadian tar sands oil. The refinement process produces a nasty combustible coke byproduct which cannot be burned in the United States because it is so polluting, but it is welcomed as cheap fuel in India and China. If, in the next administration, the Keystone Pipeline is approved (and it probably will be ), then mountains of foul burning coke will be produced in Texas  refineries and exported to foreign countries. 
Nothing will stop the exploitation of the tar sands. Plans are already in place for a pipeline to the west coast, known as The Northern Gateway, for loading tar sands crude oil into ocean tankers. It will then be shipped to Asia, and possibly toTexas.
There are many deceptive assurances that some activities, for example, replacing gasoline powered cars to grid-powered electric cars, will mitigate the problem. In this case it is  a false notion, since  two thirds of grid power is provided by fossil fuel burning power plants.
So you see, Trill, we are headed toward untold disaster, caused by human behavior, and are unlikely to make a course correction. This disparate species will never come together and measure up; not so long as the most powerful and privileged among us continue to pursue their profligate ways and employ fraud and deception to assure the public that there is no problem. 

Welcome to the Anthropocene Epoch......the Sixth Extinction.

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

BLISS

This poem was posted onYourDailyPoem.com on June 2, 2016


 
There is a stillness here,
a cathedral ambience.
Song birds silently flit by,
A yellow butterfly flutters
aimlessly about and
two Painted Ladies twirl as one.
Hummingbirds pause briefly,
sipping at the colored feeder, and  
a raven tops the eucalyptus tree,
then swoops northward
toward the University,
to audition, perhaps,
for a playhouse Poe recital.

Plant life, both deeply rooted,
and pampered into pots,
speaks quietly to me.
Tall trees ache to dance in the wind.
A Hibiscus shrub flaunts
its crimson blossom
and a Ficus tree, newly shorn,
glows golden in the noonday sun.
Were you to ask,
“Which way to heaven?”
I would reply:
“We are there. We are there."

-by e. hujsak

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

A BEER WITH BERNIE

     Sooner or later, in this political season, or perhaps it has already occurred, the arguably frivolous question will be asked: “Who would you rather sit down with and have a beer?’ I would take a pass if the only choices were the odious  pair who are currently favored by  their respective parties. Still, there may be merit in posing an alternative simple  question: “With which candidate would you feel comfortable, were that person to become mentor, or, heaven forbid, a presidential example for your children?” Neither! In my view, however, Bernie Sanders comes close. I think I would even enjoy having a beer with him.

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

A FINE 1930'S SUMMER EVENING



Siblings gather on the front porch steps,
Engage in small talk and soft laughter. 
A crimson sunset  fades  into dusk.
Someone says, “Sunny day tomorrow.”
A bugle sounds taps
From the direction of Cheever’s Woods.
A World War I veteran pays respects
To his fallen comrades.
Crickets, peepers and tadpoles suffuse the air
In a  combined chorus.
A whip-poor-will calls from a nearby tree.
Its mate cries back from afar.
A captured firefly passes through cupped hands,
Faintly illuminating our faces.
We wonder how bats, flitting by,
Home in on night-flying insects.
Radar hadn't been invented yet.
So many stars -
How could you tell which one
Would come through on our wishes? 

-e. hujsak

Sunday, May 1, 2016

DECEPTION



Author’s note: Trill is a fictional female acquaintance who makes it possible to write in a style that is comfortable for me.

My Dear Trill,
A good  question, Trill. You are getting to be quite perceptive. You don’t find deception among the seven deadly sins. Yet, as practiced by individuals, merchants, companies, corporations,  armies, governments and even internationally, it may well be the deadliest sin of all.

Sadly, deception and its consequent companions, corruption and fraud, have come to be a way of life, locally, nationally and internationally, at the highest levels of government and corporations. Entire economies can come crashing down as the result of deceptive practices by financial houses in order to acquire personal or corporate riches. Journalists have fertile fields for investigating and revealing activities that run counter to a smooth running society. 

Fraud cannot exist without deception. It occurs on a massive scale in government funded programs. For example, a physician billing Medicare for foot surgery when a patient appeared for treatment of a sprained ankle. On a much larger scale is the case of Jacques Roy, who created a bogus health care organization that  fleeced the government of $375 million in falsified Medicare billings. He was caught and jailed for life, but the money cannot be found. Similarly, within the military, officers have been bribed for directing naval repair services to foreign shipyards. Deception was rampant during World War II in the arms industry until Harry Truman took the corporate leaders to the woodshed. 

Deception does have a proper place in entertainment. That’s how magicians make their living. It has a place in filmdom, drama, and literature. It also has a place in games, where the person most skilled in deception is likely to come out the winner. It is a common tool of warfare, dating back to the famous Trojan Horse and  previous conflicts between warring parties and nations and carried on in various ways to the present.

On the darker side, it is common among married couples, or partners, feeling the urge to experience adventure, to pursue purient interests, or  simply a change from a humdrum life. This may be seen to reside within the definition of fidelity, or infidelity. Its affect is local,  mostly confined to individuals, but distress often extends to immediate families and friends.

Likewise, it is common in the drug and alcohol addiction culture, often creating a path of wreckage in what otherwise would be normally functioning families.

Revealing deception is difficult, because so much of what goes on is secretive. So when whistle blowers appear like Edward Snowden, the as yet unknown person who released the Panama Paapers, and Thomas Drake and John Kiriakou), who blew the whistle on the secretive 9/11 investigations (they were jailed for it), accolades may be  due for their courage.  They obviously have little to gain, and may be putting their lives on the line, Sure, the injured will predictably trumpet that great damage  was caused, national security was compromised, but the greatest damage  is arguably loss of faith by citizens in the various operatives who have been revealed to have self interest as first priority, or a false sense of what should be kept from the public, the public be damned. Wouldn’t it be interesting to know what is contained in the missing twenty eight pages of the post 9/11 investigation? Why shouldn’t we know? Deception is at work at the highest levels.  

Deception is practiced  blatantly in the commercial world. False advertising is illegal, but it is widely practiced, protected by cleverly crafted nuances. Morality has no place in this venue. Money is everything. Examples are the recently revealed  Volkswagen  machinations in tricking their automobile computers in order to pass emissions tests and more recently, Mitsubishi’s falsification of fuel economy in their automobiles, General Motors  response to ignition switch and break failures, and the claims of electric car manufacturers that their cars are emissions free, though plug-in cars are dominately supplied by fossil fuel burning power plants and oil companies funding climate change denial papers.The list is long, in constant flux, and does not exclude the millions spent by industry to deny climate change, or the cigarette companies who fund studies to prove that smoking does not cause cancer.

Deception appears strongly in the advertising of pharmaceuticals, in which the media  have become modern day drug pushers. A prime example is the marketing of  blood thinner Equilis by Bristol Myers. Bristol-Myers replaces its own products, Plavix and  Warfarin, but benefits, if any, are hard to detect. Plavix and Equilis have similar side effects. However, Equilis dosage is recommended at two pills a day, thus doubling income, as well as ballooning the cost to the consumer. Accompanying their advertising is a bad-mouthing of their own product, Warfarin, which is far less profitable.

At our level, I would contend that any statement that follows the introduction “To be honest with you,” or “Let me be honest with you,” or “To tell you the truth,” labels the speaker as a practiced  deceiver. You don’t know when or what  to believe, so caution is advised.

For better or worse, Trill, this is the world we live in. A world shaped by human inventiveness, both good and bad. You cannot escape it, so develop your skills to make the best of it, keeping in mind, always, the “eight deadly sins,” especially Deception.

Saturday, April 23, 2016

BAOBAB

This poem about the Baobab tree was posted on yourdailypoem.com April 22 in recognition of Earth Day.




Ancient one, you have watched
over a hundred generations of my kind.
Your ugliness is softened only
by bird nests that hang like pendants,
and greening when the spring rains come.

You are an oasis in the desert.
You pocket water in hidden cavities
for thirsty travelers, who make
lemonade of the powder in your seeds
and drink it to calm their ailments.

You are the eternal shelter to all creatures.
This morning school children gathered
in your shade for lessons.
Tonight a leopard will stretch
across your loins and sleep.

- Edward Hujsak

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

DEAR SENATOR

Dear Mr. Hujsak:

Thank you for writing to express your support for the "Stop Corporate Inversions Act of 2015" (S.198).  Your correspondence is important to me, and I welcome the opportunity to respond. 

As you may know, on January 20, 2015, I joined 11 of my Senate colleagues to cosponsor legislation authored by Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL), the "Stop Corporate Inversions Act of 2015."  This bill would increase the required share of foreign ownership a corporation must have to move its tax headquarters overseas from the current 20 percent to 50 percent.  Furthermore, S.198 would mandate that merging companies continue to be treated as domestic companies for tax purposes if the management and control of the company remains in the U.S., or if a quarter of its employees, sales, or assets are still located in the U.S.  This legislation is currently awaiting consideration by the Senate Finance Committee, of which I am not a member.  Companion legislation (H.R.415) was introduced in the House of Representatives by Representative Sander Levin (D-MI).  

I share your concerns that Congress must do more to prevent companies from using tax loopholes to avoid paying their fair share of taxes and to help our economy by reviewing and simplifying the current tax code. The tax code, as it stands today, is enormously complex, with expensive deductions and loopholes that have been carved out over time by influential special interests.  The rate of corporate taxes as a share of the federal tax revenue has decreased from about 21 percent in the 1960s, to the current rate of 10 percent.  I support corporate tax reform that protects small businesses, supports job creation, and ensures that all corporations pay their fair share.  

Please know that I appreciate hearing of your support for the "Stop Corporate Inversions Act of 2015," and I will keep your thoughts in mind should this bill or similar legislation come before the full Senate for consideration.

Again, thank you for writing.  If you have any further questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact my Washington, D.C. office at (202) 224-3841.  Best regards.

Sincerely yours,


  Dianne Feinstein
         United States Senator

Note: Senator Feinstein replies at length to letters about different issues. In contrast, Senator Boxer
seldom replies, and when she does, it is a banal letter telling how well she is doing her job.

Monday, April 18, 2016

ROSE MADNESS



Shades of red, from violet 
to crimson to pink.
Velvety petals curl
erotically in the sun. 
How could you know
you are so beautiful?
How could you know
your sharing
is a human delight?
How could I know if
the snip of your stem
brings anguish, or joy
at being abducted?
How could you know
your disrobing,
one petal at a time
are tears dropping?
For I feel now you have 
taken up my sorrows.
How could you know?

-e. hujsak

  

Thursday, April 14, 2016

EARTH

     I have spent half a lifetime, without much success, to pursuade poets and writers to write “Earth,”  and not “the earth.” One does not write “the mars,” or “the jupiter” or “the saturn.” Oddly enough, they frequently get it right in the expression: “What on Earth?” 
     Earth! Earth! Earth! Doubtless,  Goddess Earth would approve.

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

LETTER TO BERNIE

Senator Bernie Sanders
1 Church St.
Burlington, VT 05401 

Dear Bernie:

Sometimes I wonder, am I wasting my money?
Isn’t it about time to turn up the heat? Get a little rough?
The Clintons used, dishonored and perverted the United States Presidency to get rich - forty some-odd million dollars worth.
Now it appears that Hillary Clinton has both surreptitiously and blatantly co-opted your line.
Example: Hillary says, “I will go after Wall Street!’
Seriously? Hillary Clinton IS Wall Street. She has family ties to Goldman Sachs. She takes quarter million dollar stipends for speeches to Wall Street. Those guys are smart. They don’t need her advice. This has all the earmarks of an ancient practice with the Pope - the buying of indulgences. The public should know what wisdom was imparted in those speeches. The media gives her a pass, standing to one side, somewhat bemused. 
Bill Clinton signed a bill  gutting Glass Steagall near the end of his administration, opening the gates to financial mischief that caused the near collapse of 2008 and a charge to taxpayers of $750 billion bailout money. Hillary says she will not reinstate Glass Steagall. Her citing Dodd Frank doesn’t do it. Not by a long shot.
If Hillary ends up winning, you can bet many Sanders supporters will swing to Trump, handing him the Presidency. So much hinges on whether or not you up the game.

Sincerely,


Edward Hujsak 

Saturday, March 26, 2016

THE CENTENNIAL PROJECT

Author’s note: Trill is a fictional female acquaintance who makes it possible to write in a style that is comfortable for me.

My Dear Trill,
     An interesting tale about your young nephew, who, at his tender age, is interested in interstellar travel. That generation is so bright. I have high hopes for it. Could he have been inspired by Star Trek and Star Wars films? Of course, they are science fiction, rife with implausible tricks. We should be amazed that Scotty, on the Starship Enterprise, was never commanded to reduce Warp Speed. So the Enterprise must still be speeding along in space somewhere, maybe by now in another galaxy, with no idea about how to slow down and return.
     Seriously though, what has caught your nephew’s enthusiasm has a wide appeal, for the most part resting in those that view interstellar travel as part of the great human adventure. Only a few are concerned about a genuine need, for instance in the event that Earth becomes non- habitable, struck by a huge  asteroid or swallowed by a wandering black hole. To preserve the species, the argument goes, we had better be prepared to settle some people elsewhere. 
     The concern is found not only in the general population, but also at levels where you would expect knowledgeable opinion. In the past few months opinions have been expressed by two noted British astrophysicists, Stephen Hawking and Robert Rees, that humanity could become extinct in a thousand years, and possibly in as few as a hundred years. Climate change is viewed as a possible cause, rendering the planet unliveable, but also worries exist regarding appearance of a nut who is a skilled technician in nano-technology and virus creation, who might decide that it is time to eradicate all humanity. 
     In the more distant future, the sun is predicted to increase in diameter to the point that Earth and other planets , Venus and Mercury, are engulfed. That is the ultimate fate, but too far in the future to worry about.
     Assuming the case can be made for interstellar travel, the initial and driving premise is that a propulsion system can be developed to attain speeds that enable reaching a destination in a reasonable time. Even at the speed of light, it would take approximately four years to reach the nearest star, Alpha Centauri. Should the James Webb telescope discover a liveable planet much more distant, It could take generations to reach it......and generation ships have appeared in the literature.
     Historically, there have been extended trips: The voyage of the Beagle, a British explor- atory voyage, on which Charles Darwin sailed for five years; The Lewis and Clarke expedition in 1804 which lasted for two years.
     Sometimes I think about how one would go about the discovery and development of a propulsion system. There is little doubt that it would require breakthrough physics, as nothing currently exists that comes near to doing the job. Appropriations by the Congress would be risky. This project could take a hundred years, and Congress has a habit of axing programs that don’t show great progress. But how, assuming that it would take that long, would one go about funding a Centennial Project? One idea is to take a small percentage of the budgets of the various agencies. NASA, EPA, NSF, DARPA, etc. NASA alone, at 5% of its annual budget, could provide the annual billion dollars it might require per year for a hundred years.
     Another way is to approach the five hundred billionaires in the country and seek funding via a crowd funding scheme that would yield a billion dollars a year. That would be interesting. Under this scheme, billionaires would invest in  funds that would yield the proposed annual amount. They would lose nothing, as the principle would remain intact.
     Worth noting is the “One Hundred Year Starship” project now being funded by DARPA and NASA, a study funded to ex-astronaut Mae Jemmison at a $500,000 level. It is hard to imagine that this will produce knowledge beyond that already produced by the British Interplanetary Society (Daedalus) and contributors to the Tau Zero Foundation, an organization dedicated to breakthrough propulsion. But the objective of the study is only to determine the organization of an effort, if undertaken, to develop a Star Ship within a period of 100 years.
     The design of a Star Ship will fall into place once a propulsion system is available. Present day design of cruise ships and submarines already provide an experience base for provisioning and for accommodation of crew and passengers.  However, for comfortable travel, artificial gravity would be a must. Conceptually, a gravity ship might be comprised of two spheres, connected by a long tube. After acquiring transfer velocity, the Star Ship would rotate, end over end, providing a gravity field for crew comfort and well being. A major engineering task will be to provide on- board power......in all liklihood nuclear. Heat rejection is a major design issue.
     Again, the key to interstellar travel is propulsion. Nothing available today comes close to being adequate. Solving it calls for breakthrough physics, and so far as I know, there is nothing in play that offers a possible answer.
Good luck to your nephew, Trill. I will mail to you books I have written that may help him in making a career choice - All About Rocket Engines, The Future of U.S. Rocketry, and All About Clean Energy. I hope they will be helpful. 

Friday, March 11, 2016

NEW WORLD II



Why had the prophets missed this,
the long moment of the great awakening?

Almost too late, the phenomenon of selflessness
replaced the dominance of avarice and greed.

It was the suffering that did it,
and the unexpected winter of the great die-off.

Now we know immortality is a shared experience,
the thread that runs from generation to generation.

In these happy lands rockets and submarines
lie buried at the bottom of the ocean.

Cathedrals, temples and mosques have been dismantled
to make homes for the weary.

Mecca and places like it are archeological curiosities
scattered beneath  the desert sands.

The Vatican is preserved.
We have made it a museum for false gods.

The labyrinths of Mars have revealed
the tenacity and fragility of life.

The internet has brought all people together.
Notions of class have been erased.

Evenings, when work is done, 
poets read their works to tell how things are.

Musicians arrive, unpack their instruments
and everyone dances.


  - E. Hujsak