Threads 2.
3 10/23/08
Threads
Contents
Editorial
-A Note From My Desk
Page One
- A world beyond fuel
Page Two
-A world beyond fuel cont’d
-The dark side of financial
crisis
Page Three
-Dark side continued
-Dear Atlas
Page Four
-The new space race
-In the news
A NOTE FROM MY DESK:
A
fter last week’s work
putting together 2.2, I
have decided that for
now, eight pages will be the
exception and not the rule for
Threads. So I am reverting back
to the standard four pages for
this issue.
I personally would like my
readers to feel as if they’ve
learned something with each
issue. But I really do encourage
feedback, because without it, I
don’t know if I’m doing
something wrong.
This issue I fear will just make
deadline as I am simultaneously
working on the reformatting of
Threads 2.4, so the next issue
will look a bit different. I’ve
decided to start with small
changes, and focus on the larger
ones later.
But that is all for now, as always,
this one is for you… Enjoy.
2.3 “Mediocrity kills”
A world beyond fuel
There is no question that
there is a dependency on
fuel in the world. Although
gasoline prices have
recently been going down, some automobile
Above: The companies
Magnetic Air Car, Below: the Seatare
making a push to eliminate Brisa
the use of the fossil fuel
altogether using
renewable resources is on
the rise.
As large auto retailers
focus on manufacturing
hybrid and electric
powered cars, smaller
companies around the world are thinking out side of the standard
alternative fuels. Pretty soon, the same elements that humans
require to live will also power our vehicles.
Magnetic Air Cars Inc, a company based in San Jose, California is
currently developing a car that will be the first fuel-less car.
Although the exact technology behind the cars is not known, the
car will have a battery made up of "an electrolyte of silicon [that]
uses chemosynthesis to deliver a more environmentally friendly,
high-capacity, quick-charging, [with a] 10-year life."
The car however will be powered using magnetic technology and
compressed air. The air will be channeled through the engine,
according to enviromentalgraffiti.com, and the resulting air flow
will be [through an unknown process] converted to torque which
will power the axis and move the car. This process will be powered
by the battery.
A car running on air is not a new idea however, the first air car that
was conceptualized can be traced all the way back to the 1890's
with General Herman Haupt who seen Robert Hardie's air
powered locomotives that would run on the streets of New York
City and believed the same would work for cars.
In 1937 the first U.S. Patent (#2,030,759) was made for an air
powered engine. Bob Neal, a shoemaker from Arkadelphia
 Threads 2.3 10/23/08
Beyond fuel Continued
Arkansas created the engine which worked using a series
of high and low pressure valves. Neal had to fly his
invention to the Patent office in order to prove that his
engine really worked and wasn't another perpetual motion
machine.
But the first working Air Car was built by Bill Truitt in 1920.
Although the initial design wasn't perfect, by the 1970's he
had corrected his earlier mistakes and gave the rights to
his vehicle to NASA and the Army. Truitt released all but
two aspects of his design in a disclosure, these two
"aspects" of his design he kept confidential.
In the 21st century however, a car powered by
compressed air still has not been successfully developed.
India car maker Tata Motors was set to be release the first
air powered car, called the Air Car in India this year, but it
hasn't happened yet.
"The Air Car still requires nearly two years of work, to
refine its technology." said Tata Motors corporate
communications leader in January of this year.
But there is a lot of skepticism behind cars powered by air.
Numerous people find the concept of a car that runs on air
unlikely, and perhaps even a scam.
The Dark side of the financial Crisis
The financial crisis that is sweeping the nation and the
world is having a horrific effect on many people. Financial
troubles are causing many people to feel they have no
where to go to get out of the situation that they are in,
and many across the country are resorting to desperate
measures, including suicide.
On October 6, in a small gated community called Sorrento
Pointe in Los Angeles California, an unemployed man,
facing mounting financial issues shot and killed his wife,
his three sons ages 19, 12 and 7, his mother-in-law then
shot himself. The man had an advanced finance degree
and had recently lost his job at Pricewaterhouse Coopers
and Sony Pictures. They family had lived in the home for a
year but they did not own it.
In Taunton Massachusetts, 53 year old Carlene Balderrama
faxed a short note to her insurance company that was
about to put her home up for auction. The note read; "by
the time you foreclose on my house, I'll be dead."
Balderrama's body was found by the police after getting
notified by the insurance company of the note. She had
fatally shot herself with her husbands rifle.
In Prineville Oregon, 71 year old Raymond and 69 year old
Deanna Donaca committed suicide after losing the battle
to keep their home. The couple started the engine on their
"This concept has been going nowhere for the last 10
years, they make promises that are never kept. They prey
upon investors fantasies of owning an auto factory. Their
business plan itself is flawed, but it is flawed for a reason,"
said one commenter on the Popular Mechanics website. "
The car has never traveled more than a few miles in tests,
but they are always claiming to be ready to go to
production. If you take all of the information and videos
ever disseminated by these "inventors" you will see many
contradictory statements, and reasoning that defies logic,
and performance claims that defy the natural laws of the
universe. Compressed air is a very low energy content
storage medium, the size of the air tank claimed for the
car will never move the car the distances claimed."
Despite the criticism, several companies like Magnetic Air
Cars Inc still push forward with their ideas. Another car
company however is developing a car that runs exclusively
on solar energy.
The three wheeled Seat Brisa has an exoskeleton made
out of solar panels which is converted to energy to propel
the car. The car was designed exclusively for leisure driving
and in the event the sun weren't out, the Seat Brisa does
have a back up source of energy; a battery that can be
charged beforehand.
1981 Cadilac Eldorado, shut all the windows and doors and
let the carbon monoxide kill them and their four golden
retrievers.
In Bay City, Michigan, David and Sharron Hetzel, both 56
lost their home due to foreclosure. David sent a letter of
apology out to his family then later in the evening hit
Sharron who was sleeping, over the head with a golf club
then stabbed her numerous times with a kitchen knife.
David then proceeded to start parts of his home on fire
and laid down next to his wife and killed himself.
And in Ohio, 90 year old widow Addie Polk shot herself in
the chest as she was about to get evicted from the place
she called home for the past 38 years. Polk is currently
being treated in the hospital. She was losing her home
after falling prey to a lending company.
Stories similar to these have been making head line news
all across the country. The Suicide and Crisis Center of
North Texas experiences 400 calls a day, a majority of
them of people facing foreclosures, mounting debt and job
loss. With no other way to turn, many desperate people
are making calls to local suicide hotlines for support. The
Samaritans of New York have seen calls rise over 16
percent due to the financial crisis and the Switchboard of
Miami has received more than 500 calls related to
foreclosures to date.
 Threads 2.3 10/23/08
Financial Crisis Continued
"A lot of people are telling us they are losing everything.
They're losing their homes, they're going into foreclosure,
they've lost their jobs," said Virginia Cervasio, executive
director of suicide resource center in southwest Florida's
Lee County.
As these stories begin to emerge throughout the country,
more bad news erupts as the Organization for Economic
Co-operation and Development released a report stating
that the gap between the rich and the poor is increasing.
The report indicates that things are not getting easier for
people.
"What will happen if the next decade is not one of world
growth but of world recession? If a rising tide didn't lift all
Opinion
Dear Altas
An excerpt from Ayn Rand's book Atlas Shrugged was on
my mind this past week as I went through the work week,
the portion where Francisco d' Anconia is speaking to Hank
Rearden about the martyrdom of industrialists.
"If you saw Atlas, the giant who holds the world on his
shoulders, if you saw that he stood, blood running down
his chest, his knees buckling, his arms trembling but still
trying to hold the world aloft with the last of his strength,
and the greater his effort the heavier the world bore down
upon his shoulders - what would you tell him to do?" Asks
d'Anconia.
"I … don't know. What … could he do? What would you tell
him?" replied Rearden.
I've written this quote out six different times, each time
replacing Atlas' name with the name of one of my friends,
putting myself in Hank Rearden's place as Francisco d'
Anconia spoke to me - and questioned me. What would I
tell a friend who carries with them such a heavy burden?
I did my best to out smart d'Anconia's answer, writing
potential responses on scrap receipt paper at work, or
jotting down potential responses next to the quote I had
transcribed at home.
"I'd help them with the burden"
"Encourage them"
"Nothing"
There was something about my first set of responses that I
did not find plausible. I knew that some burdens only
weigh on the backs of those who possess them - so
"helping' a person - or friend with a burden doesn't always
boats, how will they be affected by an ebbing tide?" said
Oxford University economist Anthony Atkinson.
The report says that the United States has the highest
poverty and inequality rates, after Mexico and Turkey, of
the 30 countries studied.
With growing inequality among the people due to the
financial meltdown, finding a solution will inevitably
become tougher. But Atkinson does offer a solution that
could potentially cure this financial strain; job creation.
"If the government can take on the role of lender of last
resort, then we should think about the government taking
on the role of employer of last resort. Put bluntly,
governments have to step up. Step up to the plate as
Roosevelt did in the Great Depression," said Atkinson.
work. My other two responses I felt were quite heartless. I
do not know how encouraging a person who carries with
them such a heavy load would do any good. Personally I've
found receiving encouragement can be a two-edged sword
when under that sort of pressure, meanwhile simply
offering "nothing" seemed quite cold.
There is no way that I could look upon the face of Atlas - or
a friend in similar distress and simply do nothing. I
continued to ponder the question, it nagged on me,
instead of simply changing names I began to look up
images of Atlas on the internet, after finding one that I
liked, I began to imagine the faces of my friends in the
place of his.
I scribbled more potential responses on receipt paper at
work;
"Somehow lighten the load"
"Endure it"
"Move it"
As I looked over these suggestions when I got home from
work I realized not one of these would actually help a
friend in such circumstances. It seemed I was attempting
to avoid the most plausible answer. I asked myself the
question put forth in the quote again. This time while at a
friends apartment. "What would I tell Atlas, or a friend in
the same position to do?" Then it became clear, the only
way for someone to be relieved of such a burden is to rid
themselves of it, reluctantly I conceded to d'Aconias
answer.
"To shrug" - that's what I'd tell them, get the burden off
their back, this is the only way to guarantee relief - but, I
felt this wasn't enough - I'd also have to provide them a
place of rest once the burden is gone, not to mention aid
to fix the wounds the burden created.
 Threads 2.3 10/23/08

Bring it on! The new space race!

Before Wednesday there had been only five
successful lunar space launches, the United States,
Russia, Europe, Japan and China, but now a sixth
launch can be added to that list, India. One year ago
China launched its first unmanned lunar rocket, and
at 6:22am Indian time, India launched their own.
"China has gone earlier, but today we are trying to
catch them, catch that gap, bridge that gap," said
Bhaskar Norayan, a director at the Indian space
agency.
The first Indian lunar rocket, Chandrayaan - 1
(translated means "Moon Craft - 1) will be carrying
with it two devices from NASA, the Moon
Mineralogy Mapper (M3) that will collect moon
samples and the Mini-SAR that will look for ice
deposits in the moons polar regions.
Chandrayaan - 1 lifted off from Satish Dhawan Space
Center, which is on the island of Sriharikota in
southern India yesterday. The mission is expected to
last one and a half years.
"Chandrayan - 1 is India's first spacecraft mission
beyond Earth's orbit. It aims to further expand our
knowledge about Earth's only natural satellite - the
moon," said a spokesman for the Indian Space
Research Organization (ISRO)
In The News
• Georgia believes Russia is massing
troops along their borders
• Foreclosure filings spike 71%
• Nine Somali Pirates captured by
French Navy
• South Africa’s anti-crime unit to be
disbanded
• A fireworks blast in India kills 25
• Atheist’s get first ad campaign on
buses in Britain.
• China arrests 6 in the role of
contaminated milk
• Oil rises to $69 a barrel
• States target sex offenders before
Halloween
• Al Qaeda supports John McCain
• 15 California State University
campuses to get solar energy
• Leukemia drug may reverse the effects
of Multiple Sclerosis
• Food allergy in children up 18% in the
US
• Middle age suicide rate rising

One part of the mission will be an attempt to locate

deposits of Helium 3 which could be used for fuel of
the next generation of fusion reactors. The ISRO
would also like to be able to put men on the moon in
the next decade.
Suggestions?
India is quickly becoming the world leader in science
and technology, and this launch is considered Critiques?
another breakthrough in that direction. India wants
to be considered one of the emerging technological
Submissions?
players in Asia.

"When completed, the mission will put India in the

Send them to:
very small group of six countries which have thus far
sent space missions to the moon. Our scientific C.HELLER.RUN@GMAIL.COM
community has once again done the country proud
and the entire nation salutes them." said India's
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Thank you.