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Black Dynamite...the cartoon...the disaster

Posted by Andre Bowen on August 2, 2012 at 8:30pm

Remember when they were hinting about having one.  Then you saw the movie and the hot animation  and was like, hell yeah...make that animated series.  I waited patiently for this to come about.  Then you saw it was coming up on adult swim and was like oh man...can't wait....

And then you saw it....and then you saw it....ahhh yeahhh....

What can I say...What can you say....I was really disappointed...I'll tell ya why...Hold on..Don't rush me...

It didn't have the same feel as the movie...Black Dynamite was too damn serious, no change in the expression that you loved in the movie....Shoot...I thought it was just me but no one is talking about it...............................................................

With all the things I thought could be done with the story line...

What's your take?  Do You have one? Do ya even care.

That's what I got...Signing off...And not matter what I love ya and there's nothin you can do about it...

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When Questioning is Controversy...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on August 2, 2012 at 6:38pm

The FIRST statement will cause controversy:

Technology Review

Many climate models suggest that heat waves and droughts will increase as greenhouse-gas levels increase in the atmosphere (see "Planning for a Climate-Changed World" and "How Coders Can Help Fight Climate Change" ). But are the current conditions—and other extreme weather like the drought in Texas last year—related to climate change?

 

Technology Review asked the prominent climate scientist, Thomas Karl, director of the National Climatic Data Centerin Asheville, North Carolina, to weigh in.

 

1. What's causing the recent heat waves and droughts?

 

This heat wave has a contribution from human activities, and you can expect these kinds of things to become even more extreme during both your and my lifetimes as we continue to increase greenhouse gases. As temperatures warm, they affect extreme weather events. It's quite clear that we're seeing, not only here in the U.S., but across the globe, events that we've never before witnessed in our instrumental record, and it's quite apparent there's a human contribution.

 

Technology Review: Is Climate Change to Blame for the Current US Drought?

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"A Career on the Fence"...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on August 2, 2012 at 12:00am
Dr. Mark J. T. Smith

...in quotes because I did not come up with the title/clever double entendre.

Elizabeth Pain, July 27, 2012: With the 2012 Olympic Games set to kick off in London, Science Careers decided to have a chat with electrical and computer engineering researcher and former fencing athlete Mark J. T. Smith about what it's like to combine science and serious sport. Smith served as head of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University, West Lafayette, in Indiana, for 6 years and is now dean of the university’s graduate school. Smith was the national fencing champion of the United States in 1981 and 1983 and a member of the U.S. Olympic fencing team in 1980 and 1984. He carried the Olympic torch toward the opening ceremonies in the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, one of the last torch-carriers. The following highlights from the interview were edited for brevity and clarity.
 
What attracted me was not only the diversity, but that fencing is similar to my martial arts activities (30+ years and counting). My father started me in western boxing, then I gravitated to Kung Fu, Japanese/Korean Karate, Silat and Jeet Kune Do. I'm currently studying [a type of fencing in] Filipino Kali. As I recall, Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson used to wrestle, among other social activities. If you know a 'nerd,' they're not usually one-dimensional, tied to their video game console, nor inept at social skills.
 
Besides, for the less evolved of the species, it's good to have some mastery of defensive skills.
 
More of the interview, and the relation science has to fencing:
 
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BLACK LIFE SUPERHEROES ( BLSH )

Posted by CAP BLACK RLSH on July 31, 2012 at 3:59pm


Black life superheroes ( BLSH ) are part of the broader, media-labeled real life superhero ( RLSH ) movement while also being apart from it in some instances.  

Civil rights activists who faced down state-sponsored terror from the first captive African who rebeled on these shores to epic change agents in the mid-10th Century are all BLSH.
Unlike our great peers who commute into our unsafe, need overrun inner city, Black life superheroes either come from these desperate places or have family still imprisoned within them.

BLSH isn't about separatism- it's about defending your community alone and alongside any good person who comes to help!

If urban crime could create the great fictional Batman the real life inner city should be over run with caped crusaders???!!!
Black life superheroes ( BLSH ) are the community caped/cape-less crusaders Black America has been waiting for to save the inner city from within!
We have no other choice.
Famous BLSH of our era include Martin Luther King; Malcolm X; Rosa Parks; Nelson Mandela; Clarence Thomas, etc.
Notable BLSH you may not readily know include:

James Farmer, whose 1966 March Against Fear
is something every creative activist should
know. 


Fannie Lou Hamer, whose Mississippi
Freedom Democratic Party pushed voting
rights under threat of death.



Medgar Evers, Mississippi NAACP field secretary assassinated
June 12th, 1963 to silence him- which didn't work!



Herman Wrice, " the John Wayne of Philadelphia " whose white hard hat and bull horn closed many crack houses across America.

Joe Clark, the no-nonsense high school principal immortalized
by icon Morgan Freeman in the 1989 hit movie, " Lean On Me "




Black life superheroes ( BLSH ) started out fighting external enemies. Now the enemy is alot closer to home!



Nadra Enzi
Cap Black Anti Crime Activist

NADRA ENZI AKA CAP BLACK promotes creative crime prevention. (504) 214-3082.

nadracaptblack@gmail is where Pay Pal donations can be sent to assist my citizen patrol efforts which support civic duty and due process.

 http://moveonup.ning.com/profiles/blogs/chocolate-klansmen-alert-sp...
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King Arthor and the Bible, a tale and a tool.

Posted by Arnold L. Johnson on July 31, 2012 at 2:58pm

Don't want to start no mess, but then again.......but I will say don't shoot the messenger. You know how selective we can be in searching the Internet. We steer around the knuckleheads, dingbats and the weirdos as fast as a mouse click. And then I came across a researcher named Joseph Atwill who has shocked the bejibers out of me. Said the New Testament and other biblical books were entirely or partly written by Josephus Flavius and/or his family. Well, in any case all you folks who claim Hebrew origins plus that the bible is your book, you need to weigh in. But the real sticking point is what happened to all the various parties involved between 60 AD and 325 AD. The Roman government, the Hebrews, the so-called Christians, and the Jews (distinct from the Hebrews). To think a family of Jewish/Roman aristocrats who were also wordsmiths, concocted a tale that has deluded the whole world for 2000 years. The idea was to make a passive Jewish hero to stem the tide of a militaristic Hebrew culture that would not bow to Caesar (the god). The end result was a compromising Israel, Hebrews killed and scattered and the birth of Christianity (the Roman religion).

This would be simple if Rome didn't have a habit of looting and burning libraries across Europe and North Africa. All non-Rome supportive literature had to go. So there is a huge vacuum of recorded histories for that time period. But it just so happens that the Flaviuses one of whom is Josephus, just happens to be the Roman govs chief historian. What?, he wrote the battle plan into the text of the NT (as an autobiography and prophecy), then recorded the play by play (the wars of the jews)!! And some aftermath stuff to boot.

The power of the story upon the unassuming masses? OK check out Joseph Atwill's 'Caesar's Messiah and the True Authorship of the New Testament. Both downloadable as PDF files. One thing is a story as a tool of control even to the empire level. The other thing is the truth hidden and misaligned. You are suppose to have blind accepting faith, unquestioning, unwavering, the Caesar said so, he after all is God in the newer part of the book. But the Jews who left Jerusalem and fled into Africa and only have the Torah even after all these years, are they.........? who said a pen is mightier than a sword? or was that the s-word?

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Dislocations in Graphene...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 31, 2012 at 10:06am
Nanotech Web

Researchers in the UK and Japan have succeeded in tracking dislocations in graphene – a sheet of carbon atoms just one atom thick – with unprecedented resolution using electron microscopy. The work may help scientists better understand plasticity in 2D structures and how dislocation motion affects the mechanical properties of this, and other technologically important materials.

Specifically, Scanning Tunneling Microscopy/Tunneling Electron Microscope (TEM). Shows a 3D image by using a stylus a given distance from a prepared sample.
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Six Weeks of Reading In Black

Posted by Deatri King-Bey on July 30, 2012 at 8:34pm

Hello,

Our Fantasy and Sci-Fi/speculative fiction presenters need help on their genres. If you know of movies, books, conferences... you can point me to, please send the information on and I'll forward it on.

I you hope you can join us in this event. We are trying to raise awareness in the group genres. The more people who participate, the more we can all learn from each other.

THANKS.

Dee deatrikingbey@yahoo.com

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Hitting a Little Close to Home...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 30, 2012 at 8:20am
Science Blogs

...could put a strain on not only Helium supplies (less birthday balloons), but it would affect industries involved in the manufacture of things you hold dear, like: the I-Pad, laptop, mobile device you may be reading this blog on, or the next generation Xbox could get a little tricky to produce. Beyond that, I'd be getting too detailed. Read excerpt from the article below:

“We may be heading for a crisis in many industries if we don’t face up to this issue” warned Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ), Ranking Member on the House Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee at a July 20 hearing on the nation’s helium supply. Holt’s opening comment came at the start of a hearing entitled “Helium: Supply Shortages Impacting our Economy, National Defense and Manufacturing" that received testimony from an official of the Department of the Interior and industrial and scientific witnesses.

This was the second hearing that has been held this year on the nation’s supply of helium, driven by the very real concern that a legislative mandate will worsen already significant supply and price fluctuations. In May, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a hearing on S. 2374, the Helium Stewardship Act of 2012. This 15-page bill, introduced by Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) would require changes in the management of the nation’s federal helium reserve in Texas. Indicative of the interest there is in this problem are the nineteen Democratic and Republican senators, with a wide range of political philosophies, who have cosponsored this bill.

The July 20 House hearing demonstrated similar bipartisan concern. In his opening comments, Subcommittee Chairman Doug Lamborn (R-CO) spoke of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) helium reserve and its impending closure, calling helium “vital to national security,” and warning of the “significant economic disruption” there will be to American manufacturers. Of note, he spoke of a global shortage of Helium-3. “The impending shortage of helium and H-3 could have disastrous consequences for U.S. industries that are dependent on helium to innovate, manufacture, and provide jobs for Americans,” Lamborn said. “Having identified these issues, the question is what is the solution? Clearly, Congress cannot simply allow this huge economic dislocation and national security threat, when action can be taken on alternatives. However, neither can Congress simply continue along in the process that has resulted in this critical juncture.”


Panic = bipartisanship. We'll take it anyway we can get it, ladies and gentlemen.

American Institute of Physics: FYI: House Hearing on Helium Supply

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Reducing CO2...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 29, 2012 at 5:44pm
Climate Lab

With a series of papers published in chemistry and chemical engineering journals, researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology have advanced the case for extracting carbon dioxide directly from the air using newly-developed adsorbent materials.



The technique might initially be used to supply carbon dioxide for such industrial applications as fuel production from algae or enhanced oil recovery. But the method could later be used to supplement the capture of CO2 from power plant flue gases as part of efforts to reduce concentrations of the atmospheric warming chemical.



In a detailed economic feasibility study, the researchers projected that a CO2 removal unit the size of an ocean shipping container could extract approximately a thousand tons of the gas per year with operating costs of approximately $100 per ton. The researchers also reported on advances in adsorbent materials for selectively capturing carbon dioxide.

As much as I want to "stand up and cheer": technology has never been the issue. Do we have the political will to carry out - in this climate (pun intended) - such an audacious enterprise? Capturing CO2 from the air could mean things like: jobs for those suitably prepared. But, for those invested heavily in the science or the lobby pro/con climate change, it announces [to me] an inevitable fight, that in our effort to score "sound bite points," that by the time any compromise is reached, we all in the end may lose.

 

Georgia Tech Research News: Reducing CO2

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Mott Transistors...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 28, 2012 at 8:33am
Physics World - MottFET

Ideal Transistor

An ideal transistor would be a total insulator in the off state and a perfect conductor in the on state. Therefore, an important measure of the quality of a transistor is the ratio of the on current to the off current. However, with a standard field-effect transistor (FET), this change in conductivity is influenced by only a thin layer close to where the current flows between gate and drain. This limits the ratio of on current to off current that can be achieved.

 

Scientists have suggested that it might be possible to improve this ratio by exploiting Mott insulators in transistors. Mott insulators are materials that should behave as metals according to conventional band theories but that act as insulators under certain conditions owing to quantum-mechanical correlations between neighbouring electrons. For reasons that are complex and not entirely understood, however, sudden phase transitions can be induced between the insulating state and the metallic state. Among other things, this metal–insulator transition can be induced by an electric field. While the gate voltage in an ordinary transistor simply modulates the resistance of a semiconductor, the gate voltage in a Mott transistor could turn an insulator into a metal.

Physics World: Prototype 'Mott Transistor' developed
Physics arXiv: A heterojunction modulation-doped Mott transistor

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Curiousity...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 26, 2012 at 6:36pm
NASA Mars Science Laboratory

Today (25 July 2012), the Mars Science Laboratory's terminal descent sensor is being checked out in preparation for Curiosity’s entry, descent and landing. The sensor is a radar system that is mounted on MSL's descent stage. Following separation of MSL's heat shield at an altitude of approximately 5 miles (8 kilometers) and a velocity of approximately 280 mph (125 meters per second), the sensor begins collecting data on the spacecraft's velocity and altitude in preparation for landing.

Sometimes, I think we forget we're still exploring deep space, with the eventual goal of manned missions to at least Mars for starters.

Some proposed ideas I've heard in the past: terraforming the Martian atmosphere with - smog, of all things - to warm it up a bit for human habitation, an ironic positive effect of warming a planet, i.e. if we can control it.

 

For more on the countdown:

NASA - Mars Science Laboratory

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Franken-Jelly...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 25, 2012 at 6:52pm

Title from the article. Sometimes these things write themselves. Smiley


Krystnell A. Storr, ScienceNOW: Now Frankenstein can have a pet jellyfish. A team of scientists has taken the heart cells of a rat, arranged them on a piece of rubbery silicon, added a jolt of electricity, and created a “Franken-jelly.” Just like a real jellyfish, the artificial jelly swims around by pumping water in and out of its bell-shaped body. Researchers hope the advance can someday help engineers design better artificial hearts and other muscular organs.

"One small step for man..." can be kind of gross! Probably not going to be one of my wife's favorite postings (ironically born in the Chinese year of the rat).

 

Wired: Jellyfish Made From Rat Cells Swims Like the Real Thing

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CAN BROTHERS HELP THE NEW ORLEANS POLICE OR ANY DEPARTMENT?

Posted by CAP BLACK RLSH on July 24, 2012 at 9:00pm


I'm a brother on some quiet Batman Sh@t!

Batwing DC Comics Unveils a Black Batman

Bat Wing character courtesy of DC Comics

I will call 911 on you on the low to preserve discreet information gathering or directly act if the situation is too hot to wait for police to arrive.

This is the new Black male citizenship paradigm I  ( and others ) practice and promote. It's the antidote to thug addiction intravenously pumped into brothers minds by adults and (un) popular culture. I know jails are overcrowded but so are morgues with chocolate klansmen's only gift tot he community!

My contribution to our embattled community is a brother they can trust to advise them on safety and the long hard grind called seeking success without being a criminal.

When it comes to glacial police/community relations here in New Orleans and nationally the logical question is, "  can brothers who are against crime help NOPD? "

Hmmm?

" Yes " in theory.

" Maybe " in application.

Black men commit most of our street crime.  Reasonable observers would gather that uniting police and Black men opposing street crime is a no-brainer.

Not quite.

I have relationships with officers as do other anti crime brothers. Such scattered informal associations aside there is no formal coalition specifically uniting Black men with the police ( my Brothers & Badges Together model comes to mind, hint hint lol ). http://moveonup.ning.com/profiles/blogs/brothers-badges-together 

Again, most New Orleans street crime is a majority Black male affair. Getting Black men and cops on the same team isn't a " racist " response- it's realist.

Either we as a society see Black men as more than suspects ( unless employed by law enforcement agencies, etc ) or we don't.

Keeping anti crime brothers at arms length makes them wonder if liberal accusations about police being eternally biased are true?

I'd like to see Black male/police relations evolve to resemble a real world version of what Adam West's Batman enjoyed on his famed TV show.



It's a looong shot but worth the work I and others in this chocolate Klansmen era are making because there is no other decent choice!

All we have is the public safety miracle of all time waiting in the wings if we pull this off!Surprised smile


Think about it. BE about it!

Same Black-Time! Same Black Channel!
Nadra Enzi
Cap Black Anti Crime Activist
 
 
NADRA ENZI AKA CAP BLACK promotes creative crime prevention. (504) 214-3082.

nadracaptblack@gmail is where Pay Pal donations can be sent to assist my citizen patrol efforts which support civic duty and due process.

http://moveonup.ning.com/profiles/blogs/chocolate-klansmen-alert-sp...

” EITHER YOU’RE A GOOD BLACK MAN- OR A MEMBER OF THE CHOCOLATE KLAN! “
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Quantum Dots and Cells...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 24, 2012 at 8:31am

From the article:

Physics Central

Quantum Dots

The study of quantum dots began in the 1980s. Quantum dots are very small amounts of semiconductor material (nanoparticles) whose size affects the allowed energy levels of the material. The electrons of the material usually reside in the lowest band of energy levels called the valence band. When the electron absorbs energy it is excited to a higher band of energy levels, levels called the conduction band, leaving behind an empty spot known as a hole. When the electron returns to the lower valence energy level it emits energy. How far apart the valence band and conduction band are depends on the size of the particle. The size of the particle controls what is known as the confinement energy, Figure 1. This means that the size of the particle can be used to control the different types of light the particles absorb and emit. Quantum dots have been created that absorb ultraviolet light and emit all of the colors of the rainbow depending on their size, rather than just what it is made of.

Quantum Dots and Cells

How does the quantum dot make a neuron fire? When a quantum dot is excited by light shining on it, it becomes polarized so that one part of the material is more positive and the other is more negative. This in turn sets up an electric field, which can interact with a neuron or other cell of interest. How strong that interaction is depends on how close the polarized quantum dot is to the cell. The closer it is, the stronger the interaction. The strength of the interaction also depends on the type of ion channel on the cell membrane. If the field set up by the quantum dot is strong enough, it can cause the ion channels to open and a transfer of ions out of and into the cell. For a neuron, this is "firing" the neuron or switching it on.

Physics Central: Quantum Dots and Cells

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E-books and finding a solution that is right for me.

Posted by Haneef B on July 24, 2012 at 2:30am

I'm trying to get away from vendor lock-ins, which includes the kindle. I want to be able to have access to my e-books locally not just in the cloud. I want to be able to use any variation of software or device to read my favorite sci-fi and fantasy books. The Ideal file format would be .epub. I have begun my search for a viable replacement for Amazon's kindle book store. The problem is that none of my favorite titles from the folks here are on these new sites? What's going on people? What gives? How many of you make your books available to more than just people with a Amazon or Barnes & Noble account? I really would love to continue reading great stories from you all, but I won't continue to buy my books from Amazon. Here are some sites I'm going to; kobobooks.com ,ebooks.com , and epubbooks.com. I hope to see your publishings there.

Wikipedia: Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. →

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A Loss of One...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on July 23, 2012 at 5:08pm
Google Images

Sally K. Ride (Ph.D.)

NASA Astronaut (former)

PERSONAL DATA: Born May 26, 1951, in Los Angeles, California. Her mother, Joyce Ride, resides in Pasadena, California. Her father, Dale B. Ride, is deceased. She enjoys tennis (having been an instructor and having achieved national ranking as a junior), running, volleyball, softball & stamp collecting.



EDUCATION: Graduated from Westlake High School, Los Angeles, California, in 1968; received from Stanford University a bachelor of science in Physics and a bachelor of arts in English in 1973, and master of science and doctorate degrees in Physics in 1975 and 1978, respectively.



EXPERIENCE: Dr. Ride was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in January 1978. In August 1979, she completed a 1-year training and evaluation period, making her eligible for assignment as a mission specialist on future Space Shuttle flight crews. She subsequently performed as an on-orbit capsule communicator (CAPCOM) on the STS-2 and STS-3 missions.

She was one of the examples to young women of matriculating into STEM careers. I recall a country-western song dedicated to her. She died after a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer. She was a physicist, an astronaut, a pioneer and a professor. She will be missed.
Smiley
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when are we in the future?

Posted by Arnold L. Johnson on July 23, 2012 at 10:17am

I have struggled my whole life to get a livable wage, secure the american dream and a decent retirement. Things have "went south" as they say. Was thinking of my dependency on all the systems and materials promoted my whole life long to make retirement as comfortable as when I had a good job. Then I started talking to ones a tad bit ahead of me and ones retired for a while, I am no longer optimistic about retirement. I am actually thinking about home scale garden plots, solar energy, wind energy, greenhouses, micro-farming, urban villages, all the ways to use technology to sustain life without sharecropping on the "grid". Supermarkets sell engineered and prepared foods to our bad health so that the healthcare industry is booming. The media is so mind-bending and mind-blending today, an indigenous culture is become an odd throwback. Jobs today require so much education only the poor can afford to ignore it. Don't worry, in the future we will have figured it all out so that every person can push the button. Er, ah, what's does this button do?

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