All posts by Peter Terezakis

Earth, Something to be excited about (in not a good way), Sustainable Energy

Devil’s Bargain

Plans to export US natural gas stirs little  debate

“U.S. producers are poised to ship vast quantities of gas overseas as energy companies seek permits for proposed export projects that could set off a renewed frenzy of fracking.

Expanded drilling is unlocking enormous reserves of crude oil and natural gas, offering the potential of moving the country closer to its decades-long quest for energy independence. Yet as the industry looks to profit from foreign markets, there is the specter of higher prices at home and increased manufacturing costs for products from plastics to fertilizers.

Companies such as Exxon Mobil and Sempra Energy are seeking federal permits for more than 20 export projects that could handle as much as 29 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day.”

The billions of dollars invested by foreign corporations into fracking operations within the United States in January of 2012 ought to have made every citizen in the United States sit up and take notice.  It didn’t.  China’s purchase of Canada’s largest petroleum company in 2012 and the dramatic push for the ongoing development of oil found in tar sands

I cannot believe the way that the American public is swallowing the lies, deceit, and double-speak spewed by the media and our incontrovertibly corrupt elected representatives who are little more than sock puppets for foreign interests.

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 signed by then President George Bush exempted hydraulic fracturing operations from the Safe Drinking Water Act, freed drilling companies from the obligation to disclose the chemicals injected into deep shale formations to shatter shale and convey gas back to the well.  Below is a screen capture of the actual document:

SEC. 322. HYDRAULIC FRACTURING. Paragraph (1) of section 1421(d) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300h(d)) is amended to read as follows: `(1) UNDERGROUND INJECTION- The term `underground injection'-- `(A) means the subsurface emplacement of fluids by well injection; and `(B) excludes-- `(i) the underground injection of natural gas for purposes of storage; and `(ii) the underground injection of fluids or propping agents (other than diesel fuels) pursuant to hydraulic fracturing operations related to oil, gas, or geothermal production activities.'.
Signed by President George Bush: Energy Policy Act of 2005 • Click the image to read the entire document.

The good news for Chinese, French, and multi-national  corporations whose oil extraction efforts utilize fracking is that the EPA has a way for them to circumnavigate the use of diesel fuel in fracking operations:  “Any service company that performs hydraulic fracturing using diesel fuel must receive prior authorization through the applicable UIC program.” – EPA.gov   Which means it is now permissible  to inject diesel fuel into groundwater – as long as the paperwork is filled out before hand.

If a terrorist plot to inject industrial waste into federal park lands, ranches, farms, and watersheds had been discovered one would think that the FBI would be on this in a heartbeat.   It may be that  this is already going on with very little attention (they were released!!) being given to possible terrorists.

What the hell is wrong with our elected officials who are supposed to be acting in the best, long-term interests of our country?  Has approbation been purchased like the companionship of an anonymous partner?   Better yet: why aren’t citizens who are invested in the welfare of this great land picking up the telephone and calling for enforcement of common sense actions?

America’s political activism has flat-lined to coma levels of inactivity. Media-dulled senses, the desire for comfort at any cost, and the effortless embrace of apolitical correctness, has created a nation of perfect patsies.

 

NYC

Old school hacking of technology

A
DIY construction of an
electrochemical cell
for hacker-based investigation of
phenomena associated with
Condensed Matter Nuclear Science
•
Peter Terezakis
ITP Master’s Candidate Tisch School of the Arts, New York University
Class project • Energy and Sustainability • Jeff Feddersen Instructor • Spring 2013
 Past as Prologue:
 “And what will they burn instead of coal?””Water,” replied Harding.

“Water!” cried Pencroft, “water as fuel for steamers and engines! water to heat water!”

“Yes, but water decomposed into its primitive elements,” replied Cyrus Harding, “and decomposed doubtless, by electricity, which will then have become a powerful and manageable force, for all great discoveries, by some inexplicable laws, appear to agree and become complete at the same time.

Yes, my friends, I believe that water will one day be employed as fuel,that hydrogen and oxygen which constitute it, used singly or together, willfurnish an inexhaustible source of heat and light, of an intensity of which coal is not capable. Some day the coalrooms of steamers and the tenders of locomotives will, instead of coal, be stored with these two condensed gases, which will burn in the furnaces with enormous calorific power. There
is, therefore, nothing to fear. As long as the earth is inhabited it will supply the wants of its inhabitants, and there will be no want of either light or heat as long as the productions of the vegetable, mineral or animal kingdoms do not fail us.

I believe, then, that when the deposits of coal are exhausted we shall heat and warm ourselves with water.
Water will be the coal of the future.”

“I should like to see that,” observed the sailor.

“You were born too soon, Pencroft,” returned Neb, who only took part in the discussion by these words.
— Jules Verne, (Mysterious Island) 1889
 Condensed Matter Experiments are the ultimate Hydrogen cells: Energy derived from water.
Spawar1stGenCFCell Pons and Fleischmann in their lab., France, 1993 cold-fusion-cell 250px-Cold-fusion-calorimeter-nhe-diagram
 “The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.”
– Arthur C. Clarke
LENR, Sustainable Energy

$3.5 – $24 Billion Fusion Projects
vs. Table Top Cold Fusion

3 Comments

The National Ignition Project(NIF) began construction in 1997 under the Clinton Administration.  It was (and still is) an attempt to duplicate the fusion process by which our sun produces energy.   The accepted, current, traditional approach requires the creation, containment, and manipulation of plasma (fourth state of matter) at temperatures between 100 million (NIF) and 150 million (TOKAMAK) degrees Centigrade (90,000,032 F and 270,000,032 F) and pressures 100 billion times that of earth’s atmosphere.

Creating and controlling these conditions has required a substantial amount of new technology to be invented, developed and implemented.  Constructing the project also required a substantial, long-term investment in growing and maintaining the physical and intellectual infrastructure.  Constructed at a cost of $3.5 billion dollars, the NIF currently employs a thousand people and has an annual budget of $140,000,000.   With its hardware occupying a building ten-stories high and three football fields long, this is one of the larger science experiments ever undertaken by man.  While the United States has been working on it’s approach to fusion, other nations have invested a combined $20 billion dollars on a different approach to fusion the called the TOKAMAK:

What started as a civilian project with military undertones will be transferred to military control for weapons development.
NatureWhere the TOKAMAK uses a dynamic toroidal suspension of plasma for fusion experiments the National Ignition Facility’s plan is to use successive one shot technique to generate power, not dissimilar from the model of a one-cylinder piston engine (just a lot faster).

As of April 20, 2013 the National Ignition Facility has failed to yield any ash (Helium), hasn’t been turned on past one third power, and has some significant operational problems:

The managers of the National Ignition Facility (NIF), a giant laser fusion lab in California, have admitted to Congress that they don’t understand why the $3.5 billion machine is not working. And they cannot guarantee that it will ever work.
“At present, it is too early to assess whether or not ignition can be achieved at the National Ignition Facility,” wrote Thomas P. D’Agostino, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in a report requested by Congress that was submitted last week.

$24 billion dollars invested in hot fusion research — without any demonstrable nuclear by-products or yield of energy in excess of system input.  That’s a lot of money invested no matter what the spin-off technologies produced.

Enter/re-enter a different conversation.  In 1985 two electrochemists experienced an event which burnt a hole in their concrete floor and made a general mess of their lab.  Intrigued, they invested $100k of their own money to continue their research into this phenomenon.  What they didn’t know at the time was that this anomaly had been seen before.

In 1927 Swedish scientist J. Tandberg applied for a patent, “to produce helium and useful reaction energy.”  His claim was that he had discovered a method to fuse of Hydrogen into Helium within an electrolytic cell using Palladium electrodes.  His patent was denied as he could not adequately explain the process.  Sixty-two years later (1989) at the University of Utah, Fleischmann and Pons also used Palladium as an electrode in their experiments.

Fleischmann and Pons held a press conference announcing that they had created a process which resulted in heat in excess with respect to the amount of energy that was applied to a closed system at room-temperature and pressure.  They went on to state that the experiment had produced signatures of a nuclear event including the presence of Helium, neutrons, and Tritium.  The press termed their work “cold fusion.”

At the time, Martin Fleischmann was one of the world’s most respected elecrochemists who at one time held the Farady Chair of Chemistry at the University of Southampton where he had been a professor. Stanly Pons earned is Ph.D. in Chemistry under Fleischmann.

What happened afterwards isn’t so dissimilar to what happened to van Leeuwenhoek when he announced the presence of single-celled organisms, or the refusal of the press to publish news of the Wright Brothers heavier than air flight.

What was different was the campaign to discredit their research at the highest levels of government and academia.  Eugene Mallove was originally a science writer at MIT, which published results which seriously damaged the credibility of Fleischmann and Pons research.  After seeing the original data from MIT and that which was published, Mallove resigned from his position at MIT in protest.

Published data

Actual data
Actual data
Both sets of data
Both data sets

Eugene Mallove, controversial and outspoken critic of mainstream opinion, was murdered in 2004.

That which started out being termed cold-fusion is now referenced as a Low Energy Nuclear Reaction, Lattice Enhanced Nuclear Reaction, Muon-catalyzed fusion (μCF), Sono-fusion (fusion through cavitation), and a few other terms, all once considered fringe or junk science have been heavily published and continue to be researched.

Basic Analog Circuits

Binding Posts and Banana Jacks/Plugs

I’ve been using binding posts, banana jacks/plugs since childhood. Rumor has it that they have been around since 1924. They come in a few different styles but they all pretty much do hte same thing. The caveat is that the ones that I like to use all have “flattened sides.”
bindingpost • 7004-7005 • 77691

This means that if you want to use them without their rotating in the panel, you need to drill a hole and then do a lot of filing. “Double-D” punches either do not exist, or the salespeople at Digi-Key, Newark, McMaster-Carr, and a few other places, don’t know their stuff.

I was fortunate to be able to use a laser to cut out a faceplate with double-d geometries, and indicator lights, and a hole pattern for mounting on to a standard 1900 (4″ square) electrical box. Send me a note if you would like the illustrator file.

Peter Terezakis
ITP Master’s Candidate
Tisch School of the Arts
http://www.itpme.info
http://www.terezakis.com

All Keystone binding posts are designed to prevent accidental contact with current carrying parts. They feature a “limited opening” captivated head to insure safety. Ideal for audio circuitry, R.F. circuitry, oscilloscopes, power supplies and various other applications.

  • MATERIAL:
  • Stud: Brass per QQ-B-626
  • Plating: Nickel Plate
  • Insulation: Nylon
  • Current Rating: 15 Amps, 1000V AC Working

These multi-purpose binding posts feature high current rating, captivated heads and anti-rotation stud mounting.

Note: Binding Posts accept .175” (4.5) Banana Plugs, .080” (2.08) Tip Plugs, Spade Lugs, Alligator Clips,Wires and EZ hooks.

NYC

Escher, 2013

This project had little to do with my “Fashion and Technology” class except that I was thinking about patterns in nature and those created by man.  I admit to missing the lizards I would see almost every day at my home in San Diego and the desert.

This intellectual meandering was my excuse to learn to use both Illustrator and the laser cutter.  Someplace I have photos of nested lizards in different colors and thicknesses cut out of plastic
and paper.

 

epiVA, Something to be excited about (in a good way)

Self and Other:
An investigation in real-time double-duplex telepresence

“I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.
– Lennon-McCartney

Self and Other is a computer mediated double duplex telepresence apparatus to redefine the limits of the sense of self.   — By Peter Terezakis and Vitor Freire based on the research of Henrik Ehrsson

Current work exploits the brain’s need to determine the location of a test subject’s body in physical space in order to recreate a physical identity separate from the actual body. Our goal is to use two subjects who will each experience the other’s body as their own.

Altered States of Consciousness • Edited by Charles T. Tart • Anchor / Doubleday • Publication Date: 1972Background:

In my junior year of high school Charles Tart’s
Altered States of Consciousness introduced me to a world of academic research into the nature of reality.

A year later I discovered R.L. Gregory’s observations in Eye and Brain. This text introduced me to a nether world where I discovered that it was no longer possible to trust what my brain told me my eyes were seeing.

In 1974 I developed what was to become a life-long friendship with Joseph Shapiro, O.D. who was working on a book whose focus was the distinction between sight and vision. The distinction between those concepts took me nearly thirty years to both appreciate and include in my works of art.

Last semester I wrote an essay which referenced Gregory’s seminal work on vision and consciousness. In it I referenced the physics of image creation as it occurs within the structure of our eyes and how our brains then reinterpret raw data to conform the “observer’s” perception of the physical world (e.g. up and down) in a manner which best allows for the successful negotiation of daily life.
Optical data is both inverted and reversed on interior curve of the eye. Image under license.

In December of 2012 Joseph introduced me to the research of a friend’s colleague through a YouTube video. The experiment I saw set me thinking about a new feedback and measurement system which might be used to isolate the mechanism which so radically reinterprets – and homogenizes – what we perceive as reality.

Fellow ITP classmate Vitor Freire and I met to discuss possible final project ideas for James George‘s class in Emerging Concepts in Video Art.

After some discussion, I suggested my permutation of Henrik Ehrsson’s (MD, PhD) experimental mechanism as a method to begin to investigate the sense of self. Up until now, researchers have been using simplex communication between a subject and the outside world. Using a lot of DIY, parts from Amazon, and OpenFramworks software, we are constructing a double-duplex VR system designed for two subjects to wear and experience simultaneously.

Each subject wears a VR goggle with cameras mounted on the front, looking out at the other. Subject “A” would be seeing what Subject “B” would be “seeing.” Subject “B” would be “seeing” what subject “A” would show. Simply changing a visual point of reference is not enough to create the condition we seek. If it were this easy, every film would be an out-of-the-body, spiritual experience.

The stressor to the system is to use multiple deceptive cues with as little latency as possible. This is analogous to the reason why jiu-jitsu techniques are so effective. Most joints in the human body are meant to bend in one direction. You can even twist a joint a little and still be within limits. But bend AND twist at the same time, and a visceral wave of panic will flood the body. Through low video latency (bend) and haptic (twist) cuing, it may be possible for the two subjects to experience a transfer of the sense of body awareness from one body to another.

The premise of the experiment is not to pilot a machine with consciousness, or to examine the relationship between consciousness and computational media. We are interested in exploiting some of the cues which the brain uses to determine where it is in physical space in order to create a transference of the sense of self to that of another body.  Experiments will explore the limits of what is currently known. Application of this technology may redefine experiences in play, romance, war, and work.

For this reason we are open to testing on wide segment of the population. Tests with same gender and similar physiognomies would most likely give rise to predictable experiences. For this reason we are interested in documenting same and mixed age, culture (language), gender, race, and physical disability trials.

LIMITS:
• Not recommended for children or a mixed adult-child partner.
• Not recommended for individuals with with gender and/or race issues.
• Not recommended for individuals who experience anxiety or panic attacks.
• Not recommended for individuals suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
• Not recommended for fundamentalists (of any persuasion), individuals who are delusional,paranoid, recreational drug-users, schizophrenics, or those under psychiatric or psychological care.

References:
http://www.ehrssonlab.se/
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/23/science/23cnd-body.html
http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2007/0823out_of_body.shtml
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQA6TleIiLQ&feature=youtu.be
http://www.nature.com/news/out-of-body-experience-master-of-illusion-1.9569#/body

Afterword:

Coo coo ca choo

Terezakis
ITP
Tisch School of the Arts
http://www.ITPme.us
http://www.terezakis.com