Steam Engine and Thermodynamic Theory

• Thermodynamic theory and steam engines
• Vacuum and atmospheric pressure
• Christian Huygens & Denis Papin (1673) small charge of gunpowder exploded in cylinder, vacuum causes cylinder to be pushed downwards by air pressure, lifting 1600lbs through 5 feet
• Steam engine: piston covers chamber, steam pushes it up, cooling the steam causes it to condense, creating vacuum, and weight of atmosphere presses down
• Thomas Newcomen: steam engine in 1712
• Newcomen engine inefficient, demonstrated that a vacuum could be harnessed
• James Watt introduced a separate condenser for steam, improved efficiency
• No significant scientific contributions to the early development of steam engine

Thermodynamic Theory

• Joseph Black: specific heat and latent heat
• Specific heat: different substances are heated to different degrees by the same amount of heat
• Latent heat: when you heat a material and it changes phase the temperature does not increase for a time, as the energy is used to change it from one phase to another, this energy is latent in the material
• Heat is a substance found inside of things, imponderable, like light or electricity
• Sadi Carnot: first person to quantify heat transformation into work
• Conservation of energy, heat, motion and electricity are different forms of energy

Engineers and Machines

• Machines to build machines (lathes), precision metal working, performance and efficiency improvements, later interchangeable parts and mass-production
• Steelmakers and informal methods for altering carbon content
• Hot air in the ironworking process, ass production of steel, stronger, more durable machines and structures

Electricity

• Electricity an imponderable fluid, passed through certain substances, and not others, stored in objects called Leyden jars
• Storage of electricity and experiments
• Benjamin Franklin: electricity has a charge, lightning and electricity the same
• Coulomb measured electricity with a magnetic needle, electricity and magnetism and inverse square laws
• Patterns: energy was convertible, different forces (gravity, electricity, magnetism) behaved according to inverse square laws
• Alessandro Volta –a damp cloth between two pieces of metal could produce electricity, first battery
• Electricity used for different purposes: medical, decomposition of materials
• Oerstead - connection between electricity and magnetism
• Michael Faraday: moving electrical current produces a magnetic field, and vice versa
• Currents can be produced by moving magnets, basis of electric motor

Chemistry

• Chemical processes:
• Rusting of metal
• Calcination: add heat to metal and get ashen calx
• Calx can be transformed back to the original metal by heating it with charcoal
• Mixing solutions can change their color
• Distillation for purification

Combustion, Experiments with Fire

• Progress and the problem of combustion
• Combustion is a primary process in chemistry and alchemy
• Aristotle’s 4 element theory
• Fire as a weightless fluid with small particles that penetrate other substances
• 1703 Ernst Stahl borrowed from alchemical theory to explain combustion
• Alchemical theory: three kind of earth: terra pinguis (fatty earth), terra terra mercurialis (mercurial earth), and terra lapidea (stony earth)
• Terra pinguis, escaped during combustion, something was emitted
• He called the substance released phlogiston (Greek phlogistos, meaning burnt)
• Phlogiston and combustion (fire, heat, light)
• Combustion a loss of phlogiston, leaving ash behind
• Air supports combustion, absorbing phlogiston, to saturation
• Phlogisticated air is saturated and will not support combustion
• Dephlogisticated air will support combustion
• No combustion in a vacuum, as it cannot absorb phlogiston
• Weight gain on combustion, phlogiston has negative weight, or levity

Pneumatics, Experiments with Air

• Vacuums used to develop scientific theories, liquids evaporate in a vacuum, water boils at lower temperature
• Experimental isolation of different kinds of air
• Henry Cavendish: immersed metals in acid to produce gas, inflammable air, or phlogiston
• Mixing two kinds of air together (common and inflammable) with a spark produced a liquid
• Dephlogisticated air also produced liquid when sparked
• Water – compound: phlogiston and dephlogisticated air
• 2 volumes of phlogiston + 1 volume of dephlogisticated air = water
• Joseph Priestly: heating the calx of mercury produces respirable air, or dephlogisticated air

Lavoisier and the Revolution in Chemistry

• Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, beheaded during Terror of French Revolution
• 1789, Elements of Chemistry, a fundamental change in chemistry
• Lavoisier’s work standardized quantitative laboratory methods in chemistry
• He applied “methods of physics”, i.e. Newton, to chemistry
• “Balance approach”, weight of products and reactants to be equal

Lavoisier and Combustion:

• Certain metals (mercury and lead), gained weight when heated
• Objects heated in air would combust
• Lavoisier reversed phlogiston theory; air was absorbed during combustion, rather than phlogiston being emitted
• When you burn a metal it absorbs oxygen and becomes a metallic oxide
• Calx’s are thus metal + oxygen
• “Eminently respirable air” or flammable air, was found in acids, named it “oxygen”, or “acid begetter” in Greek
• Water is a complex substance made up of two kinds of air or gasses

Nomenclature

• Substances named according to known components, using Greek and Latin names
• Standardization in textbooks
• Element: whatever was left over after analysis, an experimental definition

Science and Capitalism

• “… science was affecting the development of capitalism, enabling it to turn away from the individualist free competition of small-scale industry to the large monopolist undertakings with deliberately planned and scientific production methods.” p 658
• Science and understanding of world, science and changing or manipulating world
• Scientists and tradesmen, and the availability of capital allow shift

]]> http://jesusandtheorangutan.wordpress.com/?p=8 Sun, 13 Apr 2008 18:33:59 +0000 carolineinthewoods http://jesusandtheorangutan.wordpress.com/?p=8

Is there an environmental problem? A background on evangelicals and the environment.

Mention Evangelicals and most people conjure up images of angry, red-faced televangelists such as Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, or perhaps the creepy Joel Osteen. Perhaps it’s rightly so, for these megaliths lead millions of people all the way to the voting booths. Largely, Evangelicals have supported conservative politicians - the more conservative the better - due to stances on homosexuality and abortion. They come out in droves to vote on these issues - 30% of votes for Bush in 2000 were Evangelicals1.

Hey, it’s a free country, and they can vote on whatever issue they want - however, in this case, it appears that there is an underlying lack of understanding of theology at work. The anti-environmentalism sentamentalism (say that five times fast) present in many evangelical circles is hindering deeper concern and understanding for conservation, good stewardship and proper discussion of how best to follow God’s will.

Jerry Falwell said that September 11^th happened because God removed protection from the US because of His anger over homosexuals, abortions and liberal groups.2 If someone is going to argue this, why would God not also remove protection from the US due to our unwise stewardship of God’s creation? Falwell and other evangelical leaders in his vein have missed the boat on this one; which causes more poverty, health issues, and injustice for people - homosexuality or rampant pollution?  Obviously, it’s pollution.  Jesus welcomed the marginalized, but he was angered by those who treated people unjustly.  Evangelical leaders have largely missed this gigantic opportunity to minister to the poor, sick and marginalized through environmental stewardship.

Of course, there are also many evangelicals who are concerned about the environment and stewardship principles, including those who started the Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN), through which hundreds of evangelical leaders signed a petition to have higher concern for environmental issues.4 Environmentally-minded Christians see conservation and stewardship as a means to serve God and fix many of the problems that plague people today.

Christian Divide

Of course, it’s not just the focus on hot-button issues that prevent many evangelicals from supporting wise stewardship of the environment. There’s the whole brouhaha over whether there actually is an environmental problem. This can extend from “I don’t believe climate change is human-induced,” to a lack of knowledge of how prevalent pollution is in our world and bodies, to even a theological viewpoint that negates the importance of stewardship. For example, an Evangelical high school history textbook argues that overpopulation and conservation are not issues because “the Christian knows that the potential in God is unlimited and that there is no shortage of resources in God’s Earth. The resources are waiting to be tapped.”5

*Cringe.* This quote shows a lack of sound theology and for Christian environmentalists, raises 2 concerns. 1) Nowhere in the Bible does God say that there are unlimited Earthly resources. Yes, God will always provide to His followers (Luke 12: 20-32) but that does not give us license to relentlessly press for resources. There are many Biblical commands to be good stewards. The Sabbath principle extended to the land in ancient times - why do we not let our lands rest?

God gave the world to us for safe-keeping, and animals and people are dying, falling ill and being ‘taken away’ (extinction). We are looking, and we are documenting it all happening. Will God accept this? Will we pay restitution?

So who’s against who?

So what does this mean for stewardship? Is it simply the anti-environmental evangelicals vs. the pro-environmental ones? It is even more complex than that. Some evangelicals, such as the infamous James Watt, Reagan’s Secretary of the Interior, who regularly brought end-times speech into his politics, have stated that they believe in ‘conservation’ and ‘stewardship’, but their actions do everything to the contrary. Watt wrote an article to The Washington Post entitled “The Religious Left’s Lies” in which he defended himself against ‘extreme environmentalists and liberals’ who argue that he exploits the environment without concern due to the coming end-time. In response to attacks, he said that his belief was “The Bible commands conservation — that we as Christians be careful stewards of the land and resources entrusted to us by the Creator.”6 Yet one must only look at his track record to realize there is a disconnect. As Secretary, he refused accepting private donations of land for public parks, wanted to open up all federal land to mining and drilling in 2000, leased a record amount of public land to timber and coal companies at a large loss, and boasted openly about opening up the entire coastline for oil drilling.7

It is not a simple problem. Perhaps there is a misunderstanding of environmental issues, or perhaps there is a political battle at stake, but either way, this blog aims to show that there are environmental and human health issues from industrial agriculture, what they are, and the Biblical and theological impetuses for why Christians should not support such a system.  

Pernahkah anda berpikir bahwa tulisan teman, saudara atau orang terdekat anda adalah tulisan terbaik?

Lantas, pernahkah anda merasa bahwa anda menjadi tidak berkualitas dengan mereka bila dibandingkan dari segi tulisan?

Selanjutnya anda menjadi tidak percaya diri apabila tulisan anda dibaca oleh mereka?

Pemikiran yang salah....

Sampai kapanpun dan berapakalipun, James Watt tidak akan berhenti mencoba lampu buatannya walaupun selalu gagal dan gagal, selalu diperolok dan dianggap tidak berkualitas hingga dia benar-benar menemukan lampu terbaik yang tercatat dalam sejarah. Perjuangan dia hendaknya selalu mengingatkan kita bahwa perjuangan tidak akan berhenti saat orang-orang sekitar anda berpikir dan mengatakan bahwa anda tidak berkualitas. Menulis tidak akan selesai walaupun banyak orang yang mengatakan bahwa tulisan anda tidak bermutu. Tulisan akan bisa menunjukkan kualitas seseorang tetapi tidak akan bisa membunuh imajinasi seseorang seburuk apapun.

Be creative!!!

A photograph, actually it is a photogram, known as "leaf" is coming up for auction at sotheby's on April 7th. and could be possible the oldest photographic representation found.

It has been previously attributed to William Henry Fox Talbot who is one of the founding fathers of photography. He made a number of leaf pictures and this one is thought to be made by him at 1839.

But new research suggest it might be made in 1790 by Thomas Wedgwood, Humphry Davy or James Watt who are all know as experimenters in photography.

" ... Sotheby's says research by a leading photo expert suggests otherwise - that several early photo experimenters could be the authors, including Thomas Wedgwood, James Watt and Humphry Davy, who worked in the medium decades earlier. If that theory is true, it means the photo could have been made as early as 1790.

The work of Wedgwood, of Wedgwood china fame, Watt and Davy was documented in their day and cited in standard histories of photography, but no examples have ever been identified, Sotheby's said. ..."

More at CBC

Sir Isaac Newton defined gravity

On 20th March 1413 King Henry IV of England died.

On 20th March 1727 Sir Isaac Newton died. Newton had defined the laws of gravity, as well as heading the Royal Mint and serving as an MP. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.

On 20th March 1780, James Watt began work on the first duplicator. He had invented this device to help ease the burden of office work which his steam engine business had generated.

Este segundo video nos muestra una maqueta de la máquina de vapor de Stuart en funcionamiento.

Lás máquinas térmicas, según la forma de realizar la combustión, pueden ser de dos tipos:

1. De combustión externa, emplean combustibles fósiles como el carbón el ejemplo por excenlencia es la máquina de vapor, en la que la combustión sucede fuera de la máquina para calentar un fluido, como el agua que, en forma de vapor, moverá algún mecanismo.
2. De combustión interna, emplean combustibles fósiles, como el petróleo, que producen el movimiento al arder en una cámara dentro del propio motor. Existen motores de combustión interna sencillos, ligeros y de poca potencia, como los de las motocicletas, y otros que desarrollan gran potencia , como las turbinas de gas de los aviones.

Máquina de vapor de James Watt

Animación de la máquina de vapor

Ahora en vivo y en directo.

Otra más.

Otro modelo.

Y ahora en la vida real, aplicado a la agricultura.

El último.

Whether or not we agree with everything we read, it's good to be informed and take into account all possibilities for our unfolding future. The more aware and awake we are the less likely we are to blindly follow the suicidal insanity our "leaders" continue to roll out in their laws and policies that benefit the elite few (who really pull the "leaders" puppet strings) at the expense of all others.

From Disclosure Project:

WHEN DISCLOSURE SERVES SECRECY

by Steven M. Greer M.D.

Copyright 1999

Ending the secrecy surrounding the UFO/ET subject is a laudable goal. It is long overdue. It would transform the world in ways both simple and profound.

And yet it is fraught with danger.

The covert projects which have been running UFO related programs for nearly 60 years are not interested in a disclosure which upsets their apple cart. They want such a disclosure to transform their apple cart into a freight train. And they potentially have the power and connections to do it.

There are multiple scenarios attending the disclosure of the UFO subject-and not all of them have the best interests of humanity at heart. Elsewhere, in the new book ‘Extraterrestrial Contact: The Evidence and Implications' I write about the kind of disclosure the world needs. An honest one. An open one. One which replaces secrecy with democracy. A disclosure which is peaceful, scientific and hopeful.

But then there is the disclosure the powers that be would like to see:
Manipulated. Calculated to consolidate power and engender fear. Configured in such a way that chaos and a deepening need for Big Brother is carefully inculcated into the masses.

We have seen the plans and it is not a pretty picture.

I write this as a warning. A warning that the wolves in sheep clothes are very cunning indeed. And have almost limitless resources. Most who work with them do not even know they are wolves. Indeed, it is likely that many of the wolves have been convinced that they are sheep.

The UFO matter is not so much a mystery as a matter deliberately obfuscated and mystified. Confusion and a lack of clarity serves the larger covert goal of keeping it off the long- range radar of society while power and plans are consolidated quietly. And the one thing more dangerous to society than all this secrecy is a planned, contrived disclosure run by the keepers of the secrets.

For years such plans have been made - to be unfurled at just the right time. During a time of great expectation. Of social confusion. Perhaps of millennial madness?

I have personally met with a number of people who are very involved with such plans. I do not speculate here. Be aware: The disclosure of UFO reality is being planned very carefully. It will assiduously follow a scheme to spin the subject in just the right way - the only way which will further redound to the glory and power of the secret-keepers. It will be a false disclosure - one born out of the age-old bane of human existence: selfishness and greed. Greed for power. Greed for control. Greed for domination.

We must be mature and informed on such matters. Only a vigilant and informed public can see through such deceit - and correct it should such a plan be unfurled. Every citizen needs to know that great good can come from the truth being known. But the mature citizen must also recognize that the ‘truth' can be spun and spun again - until the goals of those who crave secret and overt power are met.

Consider: One scenario for disclosure is that the UFO and Extraterrestrial subject is acknowledged in a way which is scientific and hopeful. Excessive secrecy which lacks executive branch and congressional oversight is ended. Humanity begins to entertain open contact with other civilizations, with peaceful engagement as the goal.

Technologies which are currently suppressed are allowed to be disseminated: Pollution ends. An economy of abundance and social justice is firmly established. Global environmental destruction and mind-numbing world poverty become a faint memory. Zero-point based energy devices transform the world. Electro-gravitic devices permit above ground travel without paving over the world's precious fertile farm land. As an ET once told Colonel Philip Corso, " Its a new world, if you can take it...". This is the disclosure which we are working for.

But the disclosure envisioned above could have happened in 1950. It did not - Why? For such a disclosure would lead to the total transformation of the status quo.

Centralized energy systems would be obsolete. Oil would be useful only for lubricants and synthetics. The geo-political order of today would be a thing forgotten: Every country and people on Earth would have such a high degree of progress and advancement that all nations would have a seat at the global table.

Power would need to be shared. Peaceful acknowledgment of life from elsewhere would make the Earth seem like the very small, organic homeland which it is. The vast trillion dollar global military - industrial sector would be reigned in. And a universal spirituality might dawn...

But remember, there are hugely powerful interests who dread this scenario. For them, it is the end of the world as they know it. The end of centralized, elite power. The end of a controlled geo-political order which today leaves nearly 90% of the people of Earth barely one step out of the stone age. And they do not wish to share the power they wield.

Now, let me describe the ‘disclosure' which would make these covert control programs happy. This is the false or contrived ‘disclosure' which has only one clear goal: The further consolidation of their power and their paradigm. It has to do with fear, not love. With war, not peace. With division and conflict, not unity. It is the dominant paradigm - but it is slipping away slowly. And a carefully orchestrated disclosure of the ‘facts' of the UFO and ET subject could secure their power. This is the disclosure which is to be dreaded. This is the disclosure to watch out for. This is the disclosure which is already occurring.

My meetings over the past 9 years with covert operatives who have worked on UFO related programs have introduced me to some characters right out of a spy novel - and then some. Whether in private high tech industry, at the Pentagon or at a midnight meeting in a private mansion, a theme has emerged.

It is one of immense, though currently hidden, power. It transcends government as we know it (at this point the government of ‘We the people...' has been made irrelevant on this issue). And the theme has two main strands - the eventual covert militarization of the ET subject and a weird covert religious strain which can only be viewed as bizarre.

Here, we find some very strange bed-fellows indeed. War mongers and militarists in cahoots with industrialists who share a certain bizarre eschatological bent: A dark view of the future, featuring an extraterrestrial Armageddon - or at least the threat of it. Such a theme supports retrograde and fanatical religious causes as well as deeply covert military-industrial plans to expand the arms race into space.

In fact, the big players in the so-called ‘civilian UFO community' are tied into such beliefs and agendas. It strains credulity, I admit, but here is what we have found by penetrating these operations.

From a military-industrial perspective, the disclosure of choice is one which frames the UFO/ET issue in a threatening manner. If a threat from space can be established (as President Reagan liked to say) then the entire world can be united around the need to fight such a threat. This would ensure trillion dollar plus military - industrial spending well into the next century, and beyond. If you think the cold war was costly, wait until you see the price tag for this ‘protection' from the ‘threats' in space: The trillions spent on the cold war will look like a blue light special.

Retrograde and fanatical religious groups, similarly, have great vested interests in fulfilling the promise of Armageddon. An eschatological paradigm, well enshrined in the belief systems of those running covert UFO projects, is supported by the portrayal of a cosmic conflict in the heavens. Voila! We have the necessity of spinning the UFO/ET issue in the evil invading aliens (translates in religious terms as demons) direction. Indeed, this has already been accomplished, courtesy of the ‘civilian UFO community' and the tabloid media (which at this point is virtually all media...).

Additionally, there is a subtext which can only be viewed as thinly veiled racism. You will note that part of the ‘new myth' regarding UFOs involves the ‘good ET s' , which invariably are described as ‘Pleidians' who are ‘handsome' white, blue-eyed Aryan appearing types. Naturally, those ‘evil, bad ET s' are darker, shorter, look funny and smell funny. Please. Such clap-trap would have us trade age-old human racism for an extraterrestrial variety. This nonsense and propaganda could only make Hitler proud.

In one lengthy meeting with a multi-billionaire, I was told that he gave great support to UFO activities which propel the so-called ‘alien abduction' subject into public awareness because he wanted humanity to unite around fighting this ‘alien threat'. Later, this very influential figure informed me that he believed these demonic ET s were the cause of every set back in human history since Adam and Eve. Sound familiar?

Military interests, which are heavily involved in covert projects which hoax ET events, such as human military- related abductions, have a shared goal of demonizing the UFO/ET phenomenon. Doing so lays the foundations for the fear and dread necessary for an organized opposition to all things ET.

And this subserves the longterm need to provide a rationale for an expanding global military even should world peace emerge. In fact, under this scenario, ‘world peace', or strictly speaking peace on Earth, could be secured by the world uniting, eventually, against the ‘threat from space' referred to by President Reagan. (By the way, personally I believe Reagan was the victim of disinformation specialists who surrounded him and who manipulated him into the statements he made on this subject.)

Under this scenario, currently being gamed and 'disclosed' courtesy of the trial - balloon UFO ‘community', we would get peace on Earth - in exchange for inter-planetary conflict. One step forward, ten steps back. Wonderful.

Such a false and contrived ‘disclosure of the truth' regarding UFOs and ET s would, then, subserve agendas held by powerful covert interests in both the military - industrial sector and those of a strange collection of religious fanatics, who pine for Armageddon - and the sooner the better.

Lest the reader think such a strange amalgam of militarists and cult-like religious interests are unlikely, remember the weird views of the Third Reich. Or more recently, the views of one US Department of the Interior cabinet secretary during the Reagan years named James Watt.

It was he who, not knowing a microphone was still on and recording his comments, stated in the 1980s that we did not need to worry about all these environmental problems since Armageddon was coming soon and the world would be destroyed anyway... This bizarre view, held by a man who shaped and applied policy for the Interior Department of the US Government, was later reported in the general media.

At the time a comical footnote perhaps. But what does it say about the degree to which such beliefs may be shaping covert UFO policy - and specifically disclosure plans? We have found that such views - bizarre as they may seem to most - are heavily represented in covert policy development on the UFO subject.

And most disconcerting of all: This strange mixture of military cosmic saber-rattling and bizarre religious beliefs are the dominant forces shaping both the ‘civilian UFO community' and the planned eventual ‘spin' on UFO disclosure. Let the buyer beware.

To the rational and intellectual, such views seem ridiculous. Why, you might ask, would anyone want a cosmic war in space, an Armageddon and the destruction of the Earth? To comprehend this, you have to get inside the head of people who hold such beliefs - people like James Watt. In his case, why worry about a little bit of deforestation, air pollution and areas of dead oceans if the entire world is going to be destroyed in a couple of years anyway?

But the thinking goes further than this. Because such fanatical thinking has within it the concept that as a result of the Armageddon we will see the return of Christ- and with it the good people's salvation. Now, people are free to believe what they want. But what we have found is a deliberate influencing of covert policy on UFOs by such beliefs. Some of these people want Armageddon - and they want it ASAP.

Strictly speaking, the militarists and war-mongers, itching to ‘kick some alien butt' as it was said in the movie Independence Day, may actually only want a pretext to justify their existence and get the world to eventually spend huge sums of money on a perceived (if contrived) threat from space.

But in some cases - high up on the food chain of the covert entity running UFO secrecy - the two views meet. A place where militarism and eschatology merge. Where Star Wars and Armageddon join.

In tracing the history of both the UFO civilian community and the covert policy-making group concerned with UFOs, we have found a growing penetration of the latter into the former. So much so that at this point there are projects which ostensibly are innocent civilian initiatives but which in reality are totally controlled and financed by ‘cut-outs' from ultra-secret projects.

Moreover, our careful penetration of such projects yielded the disturbing finding that deep-cover black project operatives are working closely with alleged civilian researchers, journalists and UFO glitterati. CIA and military intelligence operatives are working with civilian ‘think tank' heads, alongside very wealthy business people who are eschatologists, and being advised by ‘civilian' technologists and scientists - who are themselves proponents of bizarre religious belief systems involving the end of the world -- and ETs....

Thus, the new ‘chosen ones' have been assembled. They are planning your disclosure on the UFO/ET subject. They are owned by the money whores and power brokers doing the bidding of the secret entity which runs UFO projects to begin with. And it all looks like a civilian initiative. So innocent. So well-intended. So ‘scientific'. And by the way, the sky is falling courtesy of ET and we need your money and your souls to defend against it.

Do not be deceived. You need to be awake to the darker scenarios which some would like to thrust upon the world. And you need to know that there are alternatives. If a ‘disclosure' is unleashed on the world which is xenophobic, militaristic and terrifying, know that it comes from the spinmeisters of secrecy - regardless of how respectable the person or group may appear to be.

And remember: Part of this disclosure plan involves the use of UFO look-alike devices made by humans in an attack on Earth or military assets of Earth. This would be a well-orchestrated use of advanced human technologies to hoax an ET attack - all for the purpose of disclosing the truth with the desired military-oriented spin. In such a scenario, most of humanity will be deceived into believing the threat from space has arrived - and that we must fight it at all costs. This is nothing more than long-term social security for the military-industrial complex. There must be people who can expose this fraud.

But why should we wait for these darker scenarios to be unleashed on an unsuspecting world?

Here is another idea: Why don't ‘we the people' unite and launch a disclosure which resembles the first one described above. An honest one. One which leads to peace, not war. To a sustainable and beautiful world, free of pollution and brimming with abundance, of all types. One which reaches out into the unknown, instead of firing particle beam weapons into the darkness of space.

Additionally, we welcome those who can come forward with first hand knowledge of the machinations referred to in this paper and who wish to expose such madness to contact us at http://www.cseti.org. The one thing the darkness of secrecy cannot tolerate is a spotlight shining right on it. And the more of us holding the light, the better.

Evil steps in when good people do nothing. This is a lesson taught through thousands of years of human history. We stand at the beginning of a new time, and a new world awaits us. But we must embrace it, and help create it. For if we are passive, others will have their way - at least in the short run.

Steven M. Greer M.D.
CSETI Director
Albemarle County, Virginia
21 October 1999

Part1 | Part2 | Part3

Quarry Bank Mill

Looking at an OS map of Manchester, we will see that is great city of Industrial Britain presents a thick urban profile. Roads, buildings and railway lines are packed together almost without gaps. The M60 motorway circumscribes the city neatly but the reach of Manchester is like a monster throwing out its tentacles into its suburbs and satellite towns. Much of Manchester, like Birmingham, Liverpool, Bristol, Cardiff and Lancaster to name a few, is the result of the Industrial Revolution.

Fortunately for me, I did not need to penetrate this urban monster. I would have been lost. I would have not known where to start or focus on anything precise. Yet I could sample the elements of history that made Manchester by a visit to Quarry Bank Mill, a cotton mill started in 1784, not many miles south of Manchester. I took a train from Chester, changed at Crewe and arrived at Wilmslow. From here it was pleasant walk by the river Bollin to the mill.

At Levant, I have seen the workings of a Cornish beam engine. Along the Oxford Canal, I have seen for the first time the workings of a canal lock. At Ironbridge, I have seen the world's first iron bridge. At Coalport, I learnt from an expert guide the making of porcelain. At Nottingham, I learnt about lace making and the hosiery trade. At Southwell, I learnt about the workhouse. At Coventry, I traced the more modern evolution of the motorcar. At Ironbridge, I saw a replica of the world's first steam locomotive built at Coalbrookedale for Richard Trevethick. But nowhere have I come close to realising the great changes of the Industrial Revolution than today at Quarry Bank Mill. The visit has been truly inspirational for me. I believe every student, be it of history, sociology, or science, will find his inspiration in this mill.

My greatest inspiration came from the machines that fill the mill. These machines are not static displays. They are regularly operated by qualified staff and volunteers. The mill is still active today and produces yarn and cloth but not in any commercial scale. To some extent, my inspiration from these machines came from my early exposure to their names in school. I have heard of the "spinning jenny", the "water frame" and the "mule". I have heard the names of their inventors. Yet school history was something I had studied with only a half-interest. Such study had never been an inspiration. To see the machines in operation, to study the intricacies of the processes, to understand the motivation of their inventors and to witness the factory floor come alive noisily as the threads twist and wind, is something else!

Traditionally, spinning had been done by hand and this was adequate to satisfy market demand, to consume the cotton produce and to match the speed at which cloth was woven from handspun yarn. In 1733, John Kay invented the "flying shuttle". Previously, the shuttle had to be thrown by hand across the breadth of the loom to weave the weft. The weaver or his assistant had to catch the shuttle manually and bring it back across for the next weave. With the flying shuttle, the shuttle was by a thrown across by a jerk of a cord. A single weaver could weave much faster and could produce a broader cloth of a greater quality.

Knowing that necessity is the mother of all inventions, with the increased speed of weaving, the demand for yarn grew and the spinning process had to find its own inventors. First came James Hargreaves with his spinning jenny in 1765 followed by Richard Arkwright in 1769 with his water frame. Until the water frame, all these processes were carried out in the villages as a cottage industry. Middlemen used to deliver the raw materials to the villages and collect the finished cloth of the previous round. An entire household would be involved in the process - cleaning, carding, spinning and weaving. The water frame, on the other hand, needed water power to drive it. Mills as Quarry Bank Mill became established along rivers. The women and children had to commute to these mills for work while the men stayed at home weaving. This was the beginning of industrial factories and the death of cottage industries.

It was not long before men had to move to these factories. While spinning progressed with increased mechanization, weaving had to catch up with its own invention. The invention came surprisingly from another source: the steam engine from James Watt. It was a novel concept to see that heat and work were both forms of energy that could be converted from one to another. In 1784, Edmund Cartwright applied the principles of steam power to create the power loom. This took a few more years to reach industrial perfection. With the introduction of the power loom, the traditional weaving done by men for generations was no longer needed.

The causes of the Industrial Revolution are many. The Agricultural Revolution that preceded it laid the ground work. As population increased and less people were employed on the land, labour became more commonly available. The availability of raw materials from the colonies, that were also ready markets for the finished goods, provided the necessary economic sense against which investments could be made. The Bank of England was established in 1694. Financial markets as we know them today began to take shape. Loans could be obtained. Investors were willing to take calculated risks. Non-conformists as Samuel Greg of Quarry Bank Mill were independent thinkers who turned to commerce. As demand grew for goods, the pace of industrialization accelerated. Inventions added fuel to this growing pace. Factories grew in size and number, along with migration of people from villages to towns. The power of steam made transportation easy, both of people and of goods. Each invention, small or big, had a chain effect and triggered its own set of challenges, changes and growth.

This visit also brought out many social aspects of life and living. While in the middle ages it had been a common practice to undergo a period of training that led to trade, children were indentured for a fixed term during which time the mill owner provided food, clothing, lodging, basic education and a small wage. The parish was often thankful to get these extra mouths off their registers. It is said that workers at this mill were paid a little less than those at Manchester but their working conditions were better. Issues of health and safety were often debated. We can read reports of fingers caught in the machinery, workers made deaf by the constant noise or breathing polluted air. The Factory Act of 1833 sought to redress some of these evils but it took many more years to put them into practice. The introduction of machines naturally deprived many of gainful employment. They could not return to farming as the parliamentary acts of enclosure left many of them landless. Being disgruntled and jobless, they often destroyed machines and damaged factories. The Luddite riots of 1811 are noteworthy in this regard.

The highlight for me lay with the machines on the factory floor, in particular the "spinning mule", made by Samuel Crompton in 1779. Before the process moves to the mule, cotton passes through a number of machines, many of which can be seen in operation at Quarry Bank Mill. While all these machines are static in their structures, the mule is an impressive machine that moves. A moving carriage consisting of the spindles moves away from the main structure that gives out the rovings. This carriage moves for about seven feet and as it does, it draws the thread and twists it at the same time. While the rovings stop, the carriage continues to move away for a little distance. The thread, now stretched between the carriage and the roller, flickers at the tip of the spindle for the final twist. As the carriage returns, the thread is wound on the spindle. With this movement of the carriage, we can see many such threads stretched in parallel and the spindles spinning together as if executing a perfectly choreographed dance. The voice of this noisy machine is music to a 21st century worker; his everyday noise is the spin of the hard disk on his computer.

I am inspired by these great inventors and the thrill of living in that age of early industrialization. I feel compelled to contribute something of a similar nature to this world. Only few of these inventions are really revolutionary in concept. All others are enhancements to a basic principle. Yet these little enhancements made the inventions much more practical for widespread acceptance. Take for example, the Thomas Newcomen's steam engine. It was revolutionary yet it was James Watt's invention that became popular due to many reasons. His engine with a separate condensing chamber was more efficient. He exploited the geometric properties of a parallelogram by which he could convert the up and down motion of a piston into rotary motion. He introduced the centrifugal governor, a simple addition based on the principle of feedback. Feedback is something we use even today in all automated systems, both electrical and mechanical.

For many decades now, we have not seen anything revolutionary happening. The growth of the Internet has been perhaps the only major thing but even that is generally viewed as an evolution rather than a revolution. Here it must be added that the people of the Industrial Revolution did not see themselves in a revolution. It was a termed coined much later by late Victorians. There are other parallels. Patenting inventions was a common thing. Arkwright's patent prevented others copying his invention until many years later when his patent was cancelled. In other cases, inventors failed to patent their inventions. If the "mule" had been patented, the cotton industry might have taken longer to reach its potential. The same can be said of the Internet today. The Free Software Foundation has accelerated the development of good software from a wide knowledge base. Programs, including source code, can be downloaded for free. The world desires progress and it contributes to it by its own free will and dedication.

Leaving the mill, many things I have learnt in my travels seem to fall into place. Fine cotton cloth has long been a priced export from India. The British East India Company profited from its trade at the expense of Britain manufacturers. By early 18th century, Indian-made printed calicoes (derived from Calicut), chintz and muslin became popular in Britain and Europe. The British industry sought protectionism against these cheap and colourful Indian imports. Meanwhile, the British cotton industry grew and overtook wool and linen. Cotton began to be imported from across the Atlantic instead of from India for various reasons, not least of which was that it formed one side of the triangle in the Slave Trade. It was not long before India became an importer of cotton cloth from Britain. British cotton cloth was cheap and good but could never compete against the superior quality of Indian cloth. But the "mule" changed all that and the Indian handloom industry was destroyed for good. In this manner, India became a market for cloth rather than a source of cotton and cloth. Given this background, it is understandable why the spinning wheel became a forceful symbol of non-violence and civil disobedience. It was a symbolic weapon in India's struggle for independence. Gandhi's call for swaraj and swadeshi are seen visibly in the revival of the spinning-wheel and the making of khadi. Because British cotton industry was dependent on the Indian market, this had a direct effect. Many mills in Lancashire had to be closed within a few years. I can still recall an early black and white video of Gandhi's visit to one of these affected mills. Today I have learnt that some of these machines were shipped to India where they continue to be used. There may be many differences between Indians and the British, but a simple thing that binds us together is a cotton thread.

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