People, who are long before they see a thing, when once it strikes them, see it in the strongest light. All knowledge is dangerous. It matters not that law prohibits teaching [slaves] to read. Oral instruction is as dangerous as written and the catechism is nothing but a Bible in disguise. He fell down the stairs. I am sorry I did not mean to blow up, you know how it is, you come home and you did not have a good day at work and then things are not going as expected when you get home. He just wanted to spank the baby, he is alright, isn’t he? We did not plan for the baby. He was an accident. You see, Andy caused all of the trouble, we just did not want him. I tried to keep it quiet, like before he was born, so everything would go back to normal. You know how it is when someone accuses you of hurting your baby, your skin begins to crawl and you want to cry. Sometimes you do not know you are hurting someone when you hit them. Often times, unexpected babies get in the way of adult’s junior high school fantasy. As much as we would like to believe otherwise, child abuse is wide spread and can even start before the baby is born. From 5 percent to 20 percent of children are physically abused by parents. Even if the lower figures are taken into consideration, that would mean about 17 million children abused each year, in the United States of America. And in 33 percent of all cases the child is seriously injured. Even more frightening, thousands of children are killed by their parents, 1,640 children died from abuse and neglect last year.

Child abuse is physical or emotional harm caused by violence, mistreatment or neglect. Typically, abusive parents have high levels of stress and frustration in their lives. Common problems include depression, loneliness, mental impairment, marital discord, unemployment, drug abuse, divorce, family violence, heavy drinking, and work anxieties. Some parents are aware that they are mistreating their child, but are unable to stop. Others abusive parents literally hate their children or are disgusted by them. The child’s sloppiness, diapers, crying, or needs are unbearable to the parent. An abusive mother is likely to believe that her baby is intentionally annoying her. In other cases, troubled parents expect their children to just be pink dolls, that sleep and smile and male them happy. When a child under the age of three cannot meet these high expectations and unrealistic expectations, the parent reacts with lethal anger. It is estimated that between 50-60 percent of child fatalities, due to maltreatment, are not recorded as such on death certificates. After further investigation by medical and forensic experts, approximately 50 percent of deaths reported as unintentional injury deaths are reclassified as deaths due to maltreatment.

Environmental effects reach the developing child, even before the child is born. Did you know that fetal heart rate and fetal movements change in response to stimuli such as sounds or vibrations? If a mother’s health is poor or she does not have good nutrition, does drugs, has a disease or virus, or exposed to X-rays or atomic radiation, the fetus may be harmed. The result will be a congenital problem (a defect that originated during prenatal development). Congenital problems (or birth defects) are different from genetic problems, which are inherited from parents. The core of much child hood abuse is a cycle of violence that flows from one generation to the next. Nearly 30 percent of abused and neglected children will later mishandle their own children, continuing the destructive and tragic cycle of cruelty. However, they are likely to do so when they are stressed because such parents never learned to love, communicate with, or how to properly discipline a child. Therefore, that is why many abused children grow up to become abusive adults. Those who break the chain of command, which has been instilled in their mind program, usually do so because they have received emotional support, for a non-abusive adult, during their childhood, have received therapy, as an adult, or has an emotionally supportive relationship with their mate, so they are not jealous of the pretty and shiny newborn baby getting all of the attention.

In a tragic case of events, a beautiful and bright 8 year old boy, called Gabriel Fernandez, was terribly abuse, in an ongoing saga of maltreatment. Prosecutors claim that for eight straight months, young Gabriel Fernandez was beaten and tortured so harshly, that the 8 year old wrote his own suicide note. Allegedly, 8 year old Gabriel Fernandez’s mother, Pearl (age 30), and her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre (age 34), abused every inch of their child before his gruesome murder in May 2013; they allegedly covered him covered in pepper spray, forced to eat his own vomit, gagged and locked in a cabinet, to silence his chilling cries for help, just days before his mother and her boyfriend purportedly beat him to death. Approximately 70 percent of children that die from abuse are under the age of 4. Many public agencies now have teams to pin point abused children. The courts can take custody of the children, or the parents can place the children in foster care, but even then there is a chance for a child to get hurt. Because child abuse often starts before a child is born, it is recommended that if you are considering having a child to take child development and communication classes, so you can know what to expect and how to respond.

However, when it comes to disciplining your children, all I can say is try to talk to them and make sure you treat them well before they are born to reduce psychological or behavioral problems. Widespread acceptance of physical punishment creates an atmosphere in which angry parents can easily lose control and abuse their children. Even parents who would never strike a child may fall prey to the shaken baby syndrome. In such cases, an angry parent violently shakes an infant (often one who will not stop crying). The result can be brain injuries that cause mental retardation, blindness, or even death. Experts recommend that a parent, who is tempted to shake or strike a crying child, should try the following: hug the child, and remember how you felt at that age, and in that situation. Leave the room, but make sure the child is safe and call a friend to comfort you and the crying baby. Put some soothing music on like Celine Dion “A New Day has Come,” or Aaliyah “I Care for You” or maybe Diana Ross “Missing You.” These soft voices should help to relax you and baby. Take 10 deep breathes and clam yourself. Then take 10 more deep breaths and think of all the things you are thankful for. Move to another room and meditate or do yoga. Take a shower or relaxing bath. Sit down, close your eyes, and vividly imagine yourself in a pleasant place. Put some cartoons on for baby, they love bright colors and happy sounds, the Smurfs, Beverly Hill’s Teens, Gummy Bears, Mickey Mouse or Ducktales may get the babies attention and make him or her stop crying. Check to see if the baby needs a diaper change, maybe the climate or air needs to be adjusted, the baby may be thirsty or hungry, or might just want to be held.

Fetal Child abuse is abused that occurs, even before the baby is born. No direct intermixing of blood takes place between a mother and her unborn child. Yet some substances—especially drugs—do reach the fetus. If the mother is addicted to morphine, heroin, or methadone, the baby may be born with a drug addiction. Some drugs that reach the fetus are known to be teratogens (teh-RAT-uh-jens): substances capable of causing birth defects. Just one hit of cocaine taken by a pregnant woman can injure her fetus. Cocaine babies often suffer from tremors, hyperactivity, and listlessness, slowed language learning, and disorganized thinking. Many will never be normal. Most common prescription drugs also reach the fetus. Damage may be done by general anesthetics, cortisone, tetracycline, excessive amounts of vitamins A, D, B6, and K, cocaine, some barbiturates, opiates, tranquilizers, liquor, tobacco, caffeine, steroids, and synthetic sex hormones, even some aspirin, a seemingly safe drugs, has been linked with lowered infant IQ, when taken during pregnancy. In short, when a pregnant mother takes drugs, the baby does, too. Repeated heavy drinking by pregnant women cause the fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), and affected infants have low birth weight, bodily defects, and facial malformations, small non-symmetrical head, short nose, a flatted area between the eyes, oddly shaped eyes, and thin upper lip. Many of these features become less noticeable by adolescences. However, mental retardation and other problems commonly follow the FAS child into adulthood. During pregnancy, even small amounts of liquor can cause problems—just one drink is all it takes to ruin an unborn baby’s life. Considering that information, pregnant women or women thinking of becoming pregnant, needs to entirely avoid drinking alcohol. That child did not ask to be born, and it is up to you as parents to protect it and make sure when it is born, it is happy, healthy, safe and loved. Keep the baby warm and let it know that it is loved, even before he or she is born. The tragedy of FAS is that it is completely preventable.

Tobacco is also harmful, even second hand smoke can harm a fetus. If women smoke during pregnancy, Infant death rate is 27 percent higher. A pregnant woman, who smokes 2 packs of cigarettes a day, blocks an estimated 25 percent of the oxygen supply to the fetus. Any use of tobacco, especially heavy smokers, run a much higher risk of miscarrying or giving birth to a premature and underweight baby. Children of smoking mothers score lower in language skills and general mental ability. However, optimal caregiving is exhibited by proactive maternal involvement (warm, educational interactions between mother and child). Proactive mothers talk to their babies more and help the, explore their surroundings. The father’s health, prior to contributing to the conception of a baby is also important. If the father does heavy drugs and drugs a lot, or if he is elderly, his sperm may not be the best quality and could also cause the child to have health issues or a mental disturbance. Yes, in fact, fathers make a unique contribution that differs from mothering. Part of the answers lies in critical periods, these are times of increased sensitivity to environmental influences, and may permanently alter the course of the development of the child. Babies seem to like when their father’s act as their playmates when the baby is an infant. Some fathers do not even pay attention to a newborn baby because they do not know what to do, and mother usually handles all the care, but let the father play with the baby, so he grows to like it and becomes more comfortable, after a while, he will learn to also be a caregiver and mother can have more time to play with the baby.

As long as a father is active in the baby’s life, which is what really matters. Overall, fathers can be as affectionate, sensitive, and responsive as mothers are. There is no single profile of a perpetrator of fatal child abuse, although certain characteristics reappear in many studies. Frequently, the perpetrator is a young adult in his or her mid-20s, without a high school diploma, living at or below the poverty level, depressed, and who may have difficulty coping with stressful situations. Fathers and mothers’ boyfriends are most often the perpetrators in abuse deaths; mothers are more often at fault in neglect fatalities. Nevertheless, infants tend to get very different views of male and females. Females, who offer comfort, nurturance, and verbal stimulation, tend to be close at hand. Males come and go, and when they are present, action, exploration, and risk taking prevails. It is no wonder, then, that the caregiving styles of mothers and fathers have a major impact on children’s gender role development. As a person grows, there is a constant interplay or interaction between nature and nurture—children are a product of their genetic heritage and the environments in which they have lived. Growing up brought responsibilities, and events did not rhyme quite as one might have thought. Nature’s logic was too horrid for one to care for. That mercy towards one set of creatures was cruelty toward another sickened his sense of harmony.

 

Lately, Midtown Sacramento, California USA is being inundated by pine bark beetles, however, these beetles are not only living in pine trees, but they are also living in our historic camphor trees, which are about 125 years old, 98 feet tall and three feet white. Sacramento, California is known as the city of trees, yet nothing is being done to protect out trees from this serial killer known as the pine bark beetle, which does not discriminate on which type of trees it likes to ravage, on its blood thirst for the bark and sap of our beloved trees. These pine beetles pose a significant risk to the tress as they will eat them from the inside out, causing them to become sick, dry out, die and maybe fall down in the winter from dry rot. It is not that the trees are old that causes them to fall over, it is because they are not properly maintained. These beetles will also eat at the root system of a tree, making it weak. Of these pests, the southern pine beetle, is characterized by a short, dark reddish brown winged body, they look like snake bugs and are the most serious threat to all of Sacramento, California’s trees.

 These beetles breed in all species of trees. Southern pine beetles will attack healthy trees and can kill several hundred acres, during a single outbreak. Affected trees are characterized by browned tree crowns and S-shaped galleries under the bark. Southern pine beetle infestation usually kills trees by attracting a blue stain fungus that weakens the connective tissue, of the tree, and renders it useless for cleaning the air or shade. Each year, southern pine beetles kill trees worth hundreds of millions of dollars; good forestry management practices are the best defense against all three varieties, as weak or damaged trees are always attractive hosts. Over 600 species occur in the United States and Canada with approximately 200 in California alone. The most common species infesting pines in urban landscapes and at the wild land-urban interface in California are the engraver beetles, the red turpentine beetle, and the western pine beetle. Because the beetles live in the protected habitat beneath the bark, it is difficult to control them with insecticides. If trees or shrubs are infested, prune and dispose of bark beetle-infested limbs. If the main trunk is extensively attacked by bark beetles, the entire tree or shrub should be removed.

 Unless infested trees are cut and infested materials are quickly removed, burned, or chipped on site, large numbers of beetles can emerge and kill nearby host trees, especially if live, unattacked trees nearby are weakened or stressed by other factors. Never pile infested material adjacent to a live tree or shrub. Avoid injuries to roots and trunks, damage and soil compaction during construction activities, and protect trees from sunburn (sunscald) and other abiotic disorders. Irrigation may be important during dry summer months in drought years, especially with tree species that are native to regions where summer rain is common. Also, dense stands of susceptible trees should be thinned (complete removal of some of the trees) to increase the remaining trees’ vigor and ability to withstand an attack. Sorry to say, but this California drought is causing some major and unexpected problems. The trees beetles like to strike when the air is hot and dry and water in the ground is low. Many Americans would like to thank Governor Jerry Brown for running the state of California. If you happen to see these tree beetles in your area, get a can of raid bug spray and take them out before they kill your precious trees, which are helping to keep moister in the ground and clean the air you breathe.

 

 

Part of a child’s self-concept develops through modeling behavior. Modeling behavior is the process of trying to copy those we admire or see as ideals. It occurs in a variety of behaviors, from speech and style of writing to adoption of complex philosophical. From observing one’s parents, other children, and perhaps a hero of some sort, one is able to chisel out an image of how to dress, speak and behave. Our cultural ideas of beauty heavily influence an individual’s ideal physical self-image. Most of us need to be liked and accepted by other. We many enjoy meeting different people, whose background and attitudes are vastly different from our own, but we tend to feel more comfortable around those who share our traditions and general backgrounds. A feeling of competency means feeling good enough about oneself, respecting your abilities enough to keep on trying, even though you certainly do not consider yourself perfect or infallible. Groups of all kinds tend to have leaders—those with authority to get things started and keep them running. How an individual relates to those, in authority, is one of the most important parts of socialization.

 There is some evidence that what we have in these brains of ours, when we are born, is a lot of potential for learning and thinking. Society has a great many needs and goals. In order for these to be realized, people in positions of leadership must get certain ideas to become part of our everyday thinking. It is very important how we frame a generation, as it will dictate how people view them and they view themselves. It seems necessary for every child to learn certain attitudes and beliefs about the values of their society and loyalty to the larger nation in which one lives. Since we are dependent on each other, we must learn attitudes about others that allow for sharing, social concern, and trust. Many of the youth of today have so much potential because they have access to tools that many others did not. For example, Tyler Dikman, was twelve years old eighth, and he was so good with technology that he was able to fix computers, at a rate of $15 an hour to fix computers. Many corporations love young talent because they can groom them and keep them for a while, help them develop their skills and both parties gain new skills, technology, ideas and revenue. The talent of Tyler Dikman was admired by Merrill Lynch executives, and he was hired by Malcolm Taaffe, at age 15.

Shortly after, Tyler Dikman started his own business, Cooltronics, repairing computer and making millions. Tyler Dikman is now 30 and he is making about $3.25 million a year. So do not let anyone discourage you and ignore the unemployment numbers. As long as you are focused and driven, you will succeed. During adulthood, the healthy, full-functioning person is motivated by self-actualization needs—needs to expand the self, to explore the dimensions of identity, to take one’s place in society, to love, to work, to create and to take responsibility. In later years, these become needs for greater cognitive and aesthetic experiences. So all kinds of mental activities—including fantasy and dreaming—can result in learning, but the greatest mistake you can make in life is to continually fear you will make a blunder. An error does not become a mistake until you refuse to correct it. By now, we are aware that perceptions and attitudes are an important part of being human. You may be all ready to go at the business of living a successful life. To be effective, organizational goals and objectives should be specific, measurable, relevant, challenging, attainable, and time limited.

 

 

 

 

No change of generosity can alter the sentiments of a generous heart. TV is not fair or balanced, but we are on the way there! Over the summer, I was watching network Television and noticed that we do not have many African Americans, on Network TV, nor do we have any African American shows. However, every other culture is well represented. Without cable, you can get Univision, which is a Hispanic station, and you can even get a channel, which is dedicated to Mandarin Chinese, but not African American stations, or shows, without cable. Luckily, ABC solved this problem. ABC is producing a new TV comedy called “Black-ish,” starring Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross.

 This new series is about a successfully married, upper-middle class, African American family, with children, who may be of mixed ethnic background (hence the name Blackish). I believe this show is like a modern spin on the successful Cosby show of the 1980s and 1990s. Many are very excited to see this comedy because it will give some insight into the lives of a successful African American; you that they are just like everyone else in the World. They have jobs, go to school, are happy and love family. The show is expected to be an immediate hit with the audience, and it will make you laugh. Producers thought this was an important show because since President Obama took office, all Black shows were removed from network TV, and no one talks about Black culture, unless it is something negative. So this show will present the other side, the good side of African Americans. Black-ish will air, Wednesday, 24 September 2014, at 9.30pm. We are all of us great geniuses. We never say so because we are modest as we are great.

 

Love is a special kind of attitude with strong emotional and good behavioral components. When you love someone, you care for them deeply and want to protect them and make them happy. Violence is not fun, and it is a problem that every human being, everywhere on this planet, unfortunately faces. Human nature is not instinctively violent—we all start out neutral in this regard. However, it is the learning that occurs in the classroom, the playgrounds, in the streets, institutions, at work and sometimes what people learn in the home makes them violent. Nonetheless, there are other factors, which can make people want to react viciously. Much violence is spawned by frustration. Frustrations will always be found where an individual’s basic needs go unsatisfied. Some people get so enraged by events, and cannot control their anger, and they might react to the news of their girlfriend breaking up with them by shooting her through the bathroom door. Or after a night of drink, a man maybe frustrated that his girlfriend was dancing with another guy, and when she tries to draw closer to him, he knocks her out cold, and then drags her out of the elevator to a private room, where she can wake up. Intimate partner violence is a serious and preventable issue. Intimate partner violence (IPV) includes rape, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault, by a current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend. Intimate partner violence accounts for 15 percent of all violent crime.

 However, violence by an intimate partner is hard to measure because it is usually done in private and goes unreported. People fear reporting the event because they are afraid of being punished by their partner or losing a much needed second income to pay the bills. Between 21-60 percent of victims of intimate partner violence lose their jobs due to reasons stemming from the abuse. Where poverty is the frustrator, it is not only up to the government, but also to individual citizens and groups to pressure for the eradication of poverty. It is organized violence, at the top, which creates individual violence at the bottom. It is the accumulated indignation against organized wrong, organized crime, organized injustice, which drives the offender to act. If one gets ahead at the expense of another individual—or of whole groups of people—that inequality pollutes the society, and I cannot be surprised at the violence that results. Nonetheless, individual responsibility is the key. Every year, more than 20 million men and women are victims of physical violence by an intimate partner. As it stands, 50 percent of women report IPV and 20 percent of men report IVP events. Some violence is created by mental and emotional disorders, for which successful treatment is sometimes available. You may think that your personal relationship problems are no big deal because they just involve you and your spouse, and you are in love. While love is the soul of harmony, the connecting chain that links the whole frame of being; it is the glory of nature, and the very perfection of humankind, love can also be dangerous if you are being abused. Where the heart is really attached, one can be little pleased with the attention of anybody else.

 Everything is insipid, uninteresting, which does not relate to the one you are in love with, and when you break up, you are not interested in anyone else, for any reason. You just want to be alone and heal. Deeper than melancholy lies heartbreak, when love ends, one does not lust after another, their sex drive perishes, with their broken heart, as love is not the same as lust. Love is beauty. Love is of the spirit and knows not death. When people find love, they do not want to let go, and sometimes allow themselves to stay in an abusive relationship. Yet, keep in mind that 1,300 people die each year from an abusive relationship. People need to learn to communicate and talk their issues out, so it does not result in violence. What is learned about human behavior and aggression need to be effectively shared. Many people wonder why they are being abused by someone they love, and if it is not because the aggressor has a mental problem, it could be that the aggressor has control issues. Some people believe that because you are their intimate partner, they have dominion over you and can do as they please. Sometimes, if your intimate partner is not the focus of your attention, he or she may get upset and want to have a physical altercation. Other confuses violence with an expression of love. Your partner may be violent toward you because they blame you for their outward performance, at work, on sports teams or in video games. Or when someone suspects you cheated on them or has proof, they may react violently. Men have reported that they have hit their spouses in the past because she did not know when to shut up. Or she ran up on him and got in his face and as a reflex, defense mechanism, he knocked her out.

 These are not excuses or anything, but sometimes it is best, even for a woman, to just let the man have the last word and walk away. And men, if you feel the need to hit anyone, also try to walk away. It is not about being right, it is about protecting yourself for being hit or killed. Furthermore, it is not always men who are abusive, sometimes it is also women. Also, many people have stereotypes of masculine men as abusive, but sometimes women are abused by women or men they considered kind and gentle, so we cannot generalize. People can still be really good at heart, and sometimes they make a mistake. However, if you do not find out the reason your partner hit you, and you stay with them it is likely they will do it again. It is recommended that you find out what happened, so you can avoid that action, which got your spouse upset. This does NOT justify the abuse, but just like if you get selected to take a random test at work, you are going to want to know why. That is all. Love, in general, arises from the pleasure which all individuals naturally take in whatever they judge or perceive to be good and perfect. To be wise ad love is hardly granted to the gods above. Love is as ingenious to torment as to flatter. When you are in love with someone, you want to spend time with them, you compliment them, tell them how beautiful they are. However, if one does not love at once, it takes a long time to teach that person what love it. Do not become forceful or impatient. As soon as a one awakens another’s passions, one begins to idealize you and there is no limit to the virtues this individual will be made to carry. However, just keep in mind there are two paramount ingredients of love and affection, and they are knowledge and acceptance—get to know the person you love and get to know them well and make sure you accept them and they accept you. One thing that is often missing in abusive relationship is friendship and real love. There are a thousand familiar disputes, which reason can never decide.

 

 

There are two types of people in this World, them that ask questions and them that will not answer them. It has long been an illegal work ethic that you defend your coworkers, no matter what, but that school of thought could land you in prison. Businesses are expected to compete fairly and honestly and not knowingly deceive, intimidate, or misrepresent customers, competition, clients, or employees. While most companies operate within the boundaries of the law, some do knowingly break the laws or take questionable steps in their zeal to maximize profits and gain a competitive advantage. Six sworn deputies, retired Lieutenant Gregory Thompson (age 54), Lieutenant Stephen Leavins (age52), Deputy Gerard Smith (age 42), Deputy Mickey Manzo (age 34), Sergeant Scott Craig (age 50), and Sergeant Maricela Long (age 46), who were working in the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, attempted to influence witnesses with bribes and use of cell phones in jail. These officers also threatened an FBI agent with arrest, and concealed an FBI informant, who should have been turned over to federal authorities.

The plot began in 2011, when the six suspects, who were law enforcement officers, learned that a jail mate was an FBI informant and was acting as a cooperator, in a federal investigation, into corruption and Civil Rights violations in the jail. As part of the conspiracy, records were altered to make it appear as if the cooperator had been released, but he was re-booked under different names, so to hide him from the FBI. Then Sergeant Scott Craig and Sergeant Maricela Long confronted an FBI special agent, at her residence, in an attempt to intimidate her into providing details about the investigation, and to tried to deter the FBI from conducting the federal investigation. The sergeants falsely told the special agent, and later her supervisor, that they were obtaining a warrant for her arrest. The FBI uncovered the plot and arrested All six of the defendants: retired Lieutenant Gregory Thompson (age 54), Lieutenant Stephen Leavins (age52), Deputy Gerard Smith (age 42), Deputy Mickey Manzo (age 34), Sergeant Scott Craig (age 50), and Sergeant Maricela Long (age 46) and they were convicted of participating in a broad conspiracy to obstruct justice. Prosecutors and the judge came down hard on the team because they broke the law, actively engaged in corruption, and tried to impede a federal investigation. Many were surprised that the crew, who got a job to uphold the law, threw their careers away, and are now serving jail time. Their sentences range from 21 months in prison to 37 months. Justice teaches us not to love punishment but, fly it for necessity.

http://www.fbi.gov/losangeles/press-releases/2014/six-current-and-former-los-angeles-sheriffs-deputies-sentenced-to-federal-prison-for-obstructing-federal-civil-rights-investigation

 

An individual capable of reflection, where a beautiful young creature is in question, can have no soul nor vitals. As Hiroshima, Japan burned in 1945, the World recoiled in horror from the destructive potential of nuclear energy. Optimism replaced horror as nuclear energy became publicized during the 1950s as an instrument of progress. Today, nuclear power plants are all over the World. Japan, France and other industrialized nations depend heavily on nuclear power. Yet, in most countries, plans to rely more on nuclear energy have been delayed or cancelled. The cost, efficiency, environmental impact, and safety of nuclear energy are being seriously questioned. And maybe experts were right to question the program of nuclear energy on Earth. However, by 1990, the use of nuclear energy to generate electricity, in the United States, was costing slightly more than using coal—even when the coal-burning plants are equipped with expensive pollution control devise. At present, nearly all electricity-generating methods have average cost below those of new nuclear power plants. The use of solar energy is the exception, but by the years 2017, solar energy with natural gas backup is expected to be lower in cost also. Let us cease wondering and become wonder workers.

 Radioactivity escaping from a nuclear plant during normal operation is actually less than the amount released from a coal-burning plant of the same capacity. However, there is the potential danger of a meltdown. As nuclear fuel breakdown, it releases considerable heat. Typically, water that is circulating over the fuel absorbs the heat. The heated water produces steam, which drives electricity-generating turbines. Should a leak develop in the circulating water system, water levels around the fuel might plummet. The nuclear fuel would heat rapidly, past its melting point. The melting fuel would pour onto the floor of the generator, where it would come into contact with the remaining water and instantly convert it to steam. Formation of enough steam, along with other chemical reactions, could blow the system apart, like a bomb went off. Radioactive material would be released into the surroundings. Also, the overheated reactor core could melt through its thick concrete containment slab and into the Earth, causing ground water contamination. In 2011, the potential dangers of nuclear power were brought into sharp focus when a meltdown occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi power station in Japan. The Great East Japan Earthquake, on 11 March 2011, at 2.46 pm, was a magnitude 9.0, on the Richter scale, and also caused a huge tsunami.

 This major Earthquake not only did considerable damage in the, and killed over 20,000 people, but it also caused a major radiation leak. Albert Einstein predicted this would happen in 1945, when his appeal to have the public educated on nuclear realities was ignored, by the government. Radiation was released into the atmosphere, as the plant’s containment structures, were breached. A number of people died immediately, and others died from radiation sickness, during the weeks after the accident, as more than 100 metric tons, of highly contaminated radiation water, have leaked out of a tank, in Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant, directly into the Pacific Ocean. Officials actually acknowledged that contaminated groundwater was seeping into ocean at a rate of 300 tons a day. Many people, throughout the World are still concerned about long term consequences. More than 48 percent of people tested by Japan’s Fukushima Medical University, near the damaged nuclear reactors now suffer from pre-cancerous thyroid abnormalities, primarily nodules and cysts, and the rate is accelerating. In 1986, there was a nuclear disaster, in the Soviet Union, at Chernobyl, which resulted in 1 million deaths and 69 million health causalities. Because of these statistics, there has been a sharp increase of suicides, in the Fukushima region, of Japan, since the nuclear meltdown. Reasons for the suicides range from loss of family members, as a result of the tsunami, or earthquake damage, to loss of livelihoods, due to radiation contamination, and health impacts as a result of the nuclear meltdown.

 The Fukushima Daiichi incident underscores the dangers of nuclear accidents. Nuclear fuel cannot be burned into ashes, like coal. They still contain uranium fuel and contain hundreds of new radioactive isotopes produced during the reactor operation. Taken together, the wastes are an enormously radioactive, extremely dangerous collection of materials. As the nuclear waste undergoes radioactive decay, they produce tremendous heat, and immediately plunged into water-filled pools and stored for several months, at the power plant. The water cools the wastes and keeps the radioactive material from escaping. At the end of the holding period, the remaining isotopes are still lethal, and the decay rates of some of them mean that they must be isolated for at least 10,000 years. If one kind of plutonium isotope (239 Pu) is not removed, the wastes must be kept isolated for a quarter of a million years! Recently, the United States of America’s government approved a permanent underground storage program. Radioactive wastes are to be sealed in ceramic material, placed in steel cylinders, and then buried deep underground, in supposedly stable rock formations that are free from exposure to saltwater. The first underground depository is not expected to open 31 March 2017 in the Yucca Mountain. Scientific and political difficulties may postpone the opening until much later. The development of another type of reactor—the breeder reactor—is being considered. Such a reactor breeds fuel by converting an abundant isotope of uranium into a fissionable isotope of plutonium. 

Even though a conventional reactor cannot explode like an atomic bomb, a breeder reactor could undergo a very small nuclear explosion. Besides this, breeder reactors may cost several times more than conventional nuclear reactor. Also, it may take 100 to 200 years to produce enough plutonium to fuel a significant number of other breeder reactors. Theoretically, a third nuclear power source is fusion power. The idea is to fuse hydrogen atoms to form helium atoms, as this would release considerable energy. The process is analogous to the reactions that produce heat energy in the Sun. The scientific, technological, and economic problems associated with developing fusion power are great. Without major breakthroughs, fusion power is not expected to be available to produce electricity on a commercial basis, until the 2050, if ever. Quite probably, nuclear energy has given us the means to cause a mass extinction equal to those of past geologic eras. According to one scenario, a nuclear exchange, involving about one-third of the existing American and Russian arsenals would probably kill between 40 and 65 percent of the human population, along with a good portion of most other life forms. And that is a major concern because the Russian and Ukraine conflict could draw America into a war with Russia and that is not what we want to see. We want to see World peace.

Because in the event of a nuclear explosion, not only will the death toll be high, but those escaping rapid death would have to remain in shelters for a week to three months or even longer to avoid exposure to dangerous radiation levels. The nuclear detonations would inject a huge, dark cloud of soot and smoke over the Earth. The cloud would be dense enough in the Northern Hemisphere to block out the Sun. Much of the planet would be thrown into darkness and temperatures would fall below freezing for months—an effect called nuclear winter. If the freezing lasted for a shorter time, we night have a nuclear autumn. However, even then, the cold temperatures and darkness would be well beyond the tolerance limits of many planet and animal species. Therefore, nuclear energy normally does not pollute the environment as much as fossil fuels do, but the costs and risks associated with fuel containment and with storing radioactive waste are enormous. Japan plans to build an ice wall, around their damaged reactors, but radioactive waste has been leaking into the ocean since 2011. When winds and rains do not disperse dangerous pollutants, dust, smoke, ashes, soot, asbestos, oil, bits of lead and other metals, pollutants may reach lethal concentrations. In fact, industrial smog was the cause of London’s 1952 air pollution disaster, in which 4,000 people died. It is not infallible sign of great metal refinement to be a bespatter our fellow-creatures, while every nerve is writhing in honor of our pigs, our cats, our stocks, and our stones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Suffer any wrong that can be done to you, rather than come here! Oceans cover more than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, so it is not difficult to understand why variations in ocean surface temperatures affect climate around the World. However, only within the past decade has numerical modeling begin to show how dramatic the effects maybe. In the winter 2013-2014, rainfall was below normal along the California Coast, and by Spring of 2014, strict water conservation and rationing programs were in the works. People were taking quick showers, instead of baths, cutting back on flushing the toilet, and running the dishwasher, and no longer deep-watering lawns and gardens because of the drought. However, drought is a relative term. This legality is not able to set thee free from thy burden. Health is everything. If you live in Tucson, Arizona, or another desert city like Los Angeles, California, drought is what you expect nearly year around. If you live along the Western Coast or the Mid-Western states of America and other interior continents, where semiarid conditions prevail, prolonged drought conditions can be disastrous.

 As of 18 September 2014, the King fire in Placer and El Dorado, California has burned more than 77,000 acres, 3,000 people have been evacuated, 12,000 houses are being threaten, but no homes have been destroyed yet, as 4,000 fire fighters battle this blaze that is suspected to be a case of arson. Wayne Huntsman, age 37, has been arrested and charged with willfully and maliciously starting the King fire, in California. Wayne Huntsman, from Pollock Pines, has 4 prior felony convictions and a misdemeanor. The King fire is costing $5,000,000.00 a day to fight and is destroying beautiful land and wildlife, as a result, Wayne Huntsman has been book, in jail, in a $10,000,000.00 bond for arson and desertification. Desertification refers to the conversions of grasslands. Arson, at one time, used to be punishable by death, especially if human life was lost in the fire. Special agents trained to investigate violent crimes of arson. Arson is typically committed with a carefully calculated plan to minimize the chance of detection. Arson is the act of intentionally setting fire to a building or other property, land, nature, Earth or structure. Setting off an explosive that causes a fire also qualifies as arson. Originally, the person who started the fire had to mean to destroy the building completely. However, today, when states prosecute someone for arson, they no longer have to prove such intent. Partial damage, such as smoke damage or charring, is sufficient evidence that arson was intended.

Arson is a felony, punishable by imprisonment. The length of the sentence depends on the extent of the damage and is usually longer if the building is one in which people live. Therefore, because arson is a crime, and the season is abnormally dry; be sure not to start a fire. Abnormally dry seasons have been a part of a recurring feedback relationship between the Earth and humans, in California, for the past three years. Once people complained about the rain ruining their weekend plans, now they are begging for water to shower with. Rain-fed cropland, or irrigated cropland to a more desert like state, with a drop in agriculture productivity of 10 percent or more. Worldwide, about 9 million square kilometers have become desertified over the past fifty years. At least 200,000 square kilometers are still being affected each year. Prolonged drought may accelerate desertification, as it did in the American Great Plains and The Yellow River, in China, many decades ago. Desertification could also be a result of overgrazing and over farming. In Africa, for example, there are too many cattle in the wrong places, Cattle require more water than the wild herbivores that are native to the region. This means the cattle have to move back and forth between grazing areas and watering holes.

As they do, the animals trample grasses and compact the soil surface. In contrast, gazelles, elands, and other native herbivores obtain most (if not all) of the water they require fro, the plants they eat. They also are better at conserving water; little is lost in feces, compared to cattle. Research indicates, under federally regulated standards, ranches started and are composed of antelope, zebra, giraffe, ostrich, and other native herbivores, but cattle as a controlled group had some impressive results when it came to compared cost and yielding meat. Also, the range conditions were noted to have improved, not deteriorating. So far, results are exceeding expectations. Native herds are also increasingly and steadily and yielding meat, without harming the environment. There are still some vexing problems to overcome. African tribes have their own idea of what constitutes good meat, and some tribes view cattle as the symbols of wealth in their society. Most of the World’s prime agricultural land has long been exploited for crop or livestock production. Almost 21 percent of the Earth’s land is being used for agriculture, and another 28 percent is reported to be potentially suitable for cropland or grazing land. However, its potential productivity is so low the conservation may not be worth the cost. By the year 2050, nearly 80 percent of the Earth’s citizens will live in urban settings, and the human population is expected to increase by about 3 billion people. America will need about 25 percent more lands to grow enough food on to feed the citizens. However, if traditional farming practices continue as they are practiced today, most of our food will have to be imported from other countries.

 At present, throughout the United States or America, over 80 percent of the land that is suitable for raising crops. Historically, some 15 percent of that land has been laid waste by poor management practices, drought related conditions on land, and drought-sustaining atmospheric circulation patterns. However, many innovators are now using warehouses, abandon buildings and high-rises structures as a place to get beyond the obstacles of climate change. These projects are called Vertical farms. Vertical farms are here to solve inherent issues of growing food crops in unpredictable climates, in drought and disease prone fields, and reduce pesticide usage and death from farm workers getting heat stroke. Food can be grown year-round, in high-rise urban buildings, reducing the need for the carbon emitting transport of fruit and vegetables. The planting racks, represent crops, in a vertical farm and can be fed nutrients, by water conserving, soil, which is free hydroponic systems, and lit by LEDs that mimic sunlight, and will dramatically reduce evaporation of the water, from the soil. These vertical farms are easy to control by drones or other management software, to ensure choreograph rotating racks of plants, so each member gets the same amount of light, and direct water pumps, to ensure moister and nutrients are evenly distributed. It could make food supplies more secure because production can continue even when extreme weather strikes, which will prevent price shock and supply shock.

 And as long as farmers are careful to protect their indoor farms from pests, vertical farming needs no herbicides or insecticides. They also conserve water far better than earthbound farming. Meanwhile, until American learns to use technology to control their problems, instead of letting problems control them, Mother Nature might look out for them. This winter rainy season , of 2014-2015, is expected to bring California some much needed rain, as we will experience Southern Oscillation. Southern Oscillation is basically a fluctuation in atmospheric pressure, at the Earth’s surface—specially, at Indonesia, Northern Australia, and the Southern Pacific. This area of the Southern Hemisphere is the World’s largest reservoir of warm water, and warmer, moisture-laden air raises here than anywhere else. Rainfall is also heavy here, and it releases much of the heat energy that drives the World’s air circulation system. Periodically, warm surface waters, of the western equatorial Pacific move eastward. The massive displacement of the warm water affects the prevailing winds, which accelerate the eastward movement. The movement is enough to displace the cooler waters of the Humboldt Current and prevent upwelling, causing a supply shock to the fishing industry because, and has catastrophic effects on anchoveta-eating birds as well as on the anchoveta industry. 

The interactions among the atmosphere, oceans, and land profoundly influence the World of life. There is an interrelatedness of ocean surface temperatures the atmosphere, and the land is especially clear through studies of the El Nino Southern Oscillation. This recurring phenomenon is accompanied by abnormal drought conditions, in many parts of the World. Every two to seven year, the warm reservoir of water located in the Southern Hemisphere, which is the World’s largest supply, and the associated heavy rainfall move eastward. This causes the prevailing surface winds, in the western equatorial Pacific, to increase speed. The stronger wins have a more pronounced effect on dragging the ocean surface waters eastward. Upper ocean currents are affected to the extent that the westward transport of water slows down and the eastward transport increases. More warm water, in the vast reservoir moves east—and so on in a feedback loop between the ocean and the atmosphere. The rainfall pattern in the Pacific Ocean and Indian Oceans are massively dislocated when El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) warm episodes occur. The first two months of 1998 were the warmest and wettest, at the time, in the 104-year record of temperatures and precipitation measurements for the contiguous 48 states. In the rainy season of 1997-1998, for the three-month period (December – February), the normal precipitation value for the city of Sacramento, California is 6.35 inches. California experienced vital monsoon rains.

Month after month (December, January and February), record rainfall drenched the arid and semiarid coast and valleys of California in the winter of 1997-1998. This winter’s figure was 7.96 inches, compared with the record 8.5 inches in 1932-1933. To continue show the power of Southern Oscillation–California and North Dakota had their wettest February on record for the winter of 1997-1998. Florida, Maryland, Nevada, Rhode Island, and Virginia had their second wettest February, since records began in 1895. And the warmest February, on record, too place in much of the upper Midwest and parts of the East, for this time period, including Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. Due to the temperature increase, during historically cool months, there was a Nationwide energy savings were estimated at 10 percent (i.e., 10 percent lower heating costs as compared to normal winter). These are the patterns one would typically expect the strong El Nino on top of the continuing gradual increase of temperature and precipitation set the stage for many all-time state records. Numerical models are now being used to study these and other episodes of climate change a few seasons in advance. More reliable forecasting should follow when more and better observations are made of the interrelated systems of the ocean, land, and atmosphere.

Forecasters are still calling for a 65 percent chance of El Nino conditions being met, in the next few months of 2014, by the Northern Hemisphere this winter–with a 55 percent chance El Nino Southern Oscillation will start during September, October, or November. El Niño might increase rainfall, in California, and bring relief to the severe drought there. In the western United States, drought often brings a double punch: water shortfall plus wildfires. The West of America, as a whole has experienced a relatively quiet fire season thus far, with fewer than 3 million acres burned between January 2014 and September 2014, compared to the 10-year average of 5.4 million acres typically consumed by fire. However, California is well ahead of its five-year average fire patterns. A substantial increase in fire size and area burned in the Southwest over the past 30 years; these trends are projected to continue increasing in the future. The reason is intuitive: warmer temperatures, earlier springs, and faster snowmelt are driving the increases, and these trends are expected to continue along with increasing greenhouse gas concentrations. One day, humans are going to have to grow up and learn to manage themselves and the planet. Law and all forms of law are only deductions made by the intelligence from the right instincts of the people’s heart.

 

 Ascent at Montelena

11977 Cobble Brook Drive, Rancho Cordova, California 95742

 Nothing is more important than family and having enough space to enjoy each other. The well-thought-out Plan 4 gives growing families with young children, teens, or grandparents a place of their own and plenty of room to spend time together. The first-floor bed and bath are perfect for the second generation, the loft gives extra space for the kids, and the den is ideal for those working from home. https://www.pulte.com/homes/california/sacramento/rancho-cordova/ascent-at-montelena-210916