Month: August 2018

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion as a Possible Renewable Energy Resource

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The process of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion is a process by which warm surface sea water which is 26 degrees Celsius, is pumped through a heat exchange to vaporize low boiling point fluids like ammonia which then turns a turbine, after which the ammonia is cooled by deep sea water which is 5 degrees Celsius and returned back into a liquid state. This cycle can be performed again and again with the same water being utilized each time and produces a byproduct of hydrogen which can be used for rocket fuel and to create hydrogen fuel cells. Perhaps the most attractive aspect of this technology is that the only lasting byproduct produced is sea water, which is completely harmless to the environment. The infrastructure for this technology is already available due to the various corporations who pump oil out of the ocean floor using oil rigs. The problem with this technology however is that the United States government is intertwined with the oil industry as a whole and therefore separation of the two entities would be a difficult endeavour to achieve. Europe and China have already adopted trials of this technology because they do not have the same allegiance and ties to oil

The Origin of Shangri-La, China

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The village of “Shangri-La” was created by an author for a novel which depicted the Chinese province of Zhongjian as a land of harmony on the slopes of the Himalaya. The Chinese government adopted the name Shangri-La in 2001. The name “Shangri-La” was based off of the city in Zhongjian Province called “Zhongdian” which translated in the local dialect to “Hell life after death”. The local people are referred to as the “Naxi” (pronounced “na-shi”) which means “the people who worship the black things of the nation”. These people are suspected to have migrated from deep Tibet during the 3rd century

Strategic Naval Expansion Throughout History

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Contrary to movies and stories about naval battles, ships were rarely if ever sunk, because a ship which was boarded and overpowered, could be added to the fleet of the winning side. Ships were virtually never torched and the crew was rarely killed. Crew mates would often die in battle but those who survived would be taken as prisoners and hired as mercenaries who would then fight for the country of which the captain represented. This was a quick way to build up a naval fleet with almost no financial investment other than paying the initial fleets to go about the seas and capture ships and crews

Fast Food in Brazil Acting as a Status Symbol

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Fast food in Brazil is considered a sign of success. Fast food in Brazil costs approximately 2x as much as it does in the developed world. Fast food corporations view China, Brazil, and India as emerging markets but the way in which these markets have responded to the introduction of fast food is very different. Whilst the general public of all industrialized countries are aware that fast food is bad for health and therefore should not be consumed often, subsequently being viewed as a product which is consumed predominantly by the poor, this viewpoint is completely flipped and skewed in Brazil as Brazilians know that fast food is bad for their health, but participating in the eating of fast food is regarded as a status symbol, something that only wealthy and affluent members of society can participate in and enjoy. It’s a smaller, lighter version of what owning an iPhone or high end brand name clothing is in the industrialized world

The Evolution of Feathered Dinosaurs

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Every single feathered dinosaur ever discovered has been identified as a predatory carnivore. It is suspected by paleontologists that the Tyrannosaurus rex had feathers in various areas of its body. Feathers often serve a purpose for birds dependent of their color, and it has been theorized that this was also the case for dinosaurs. Liaoning Province, China is the world capital for feathered dinosaur fossils, with the first ever feathered fossilized dinosaur remains discovered by a farmer by complete accident as he turned the soil of his field before planting crops. It is suspected by experts that due to the increase of species and therefore competition, reptiles were required to become more and more active which inevitably required a higher metabolism. This newer and further evolved metabolism is theorized to have caused some animals to become warm blooded, which is the primary reason feathers were introduced by evolution. Long necked birds tuck their heads under their feathers to minimize heat loss and proof of this occurring tens of millions of years ago is provided by an incredibly detailed fossil of a small dinosaur in this exact pose which was found in 2004 by American palaeontologist Mark Norell, providing for the first time in the study of paleontology, compelling evidence for dinosaurs having had feathers. It has been posited that dinosaurs may have had feathers for warmth during their early years which were then shed throughout adolescence as they moved into their adult life, with the majority of the feathers which fell out being in areas which were not particularly useful in aiding a visual display to potential predators or mates

Whale vs Human Being Underwater Time Frames

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Sperm whales make some of the longest dives achieved by mammals, lasting up to 90 minutes in length, whilst dolphins (which are technically whales as well) and other various types of whale can stay underwater for approximately 20 minutes. The current record for the longest time a human being has held their breath under water is 24 minutes and 3.45 seconds, achieved by Aleix Segura Vendrell of Spain in 2016

City States Minting Currency and the System That Replaced This

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Throughout history, city states were permitted the legal status to design and manufacture their own unique currency which inevitably led to tens of thousands of different designs on both the fronts and backs of coins, throughout the ancient world. Surprisingly this chaotic monetary system was not an issue for commerce as each coin manufactured was approximately the same size and weight with the same amount of silver or gold smelted into it, making trade relatively straightforward as values rarely fluctuated and could be traded at their intended face value regardless of the geographic location they were manufactured in. This system eventually gave way to the modern day system developed during the 18th century in the United States of America which stated that only the government of a nation was legally permitted to mint currency, with the size and metals being utilized deemed irrelevant as the currency depended solely upon how valuable the currency was in comparison to the world market, a counter balance which is heavily influenced by the gross domestic product of both the import and export of every country involved in trade alongside many other smaller yet equally important intrinsic factors (e.g. political climate or instability)

Pedophilic Sex Offenders Statistics

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Statistically, 70% of sex offenders who have committed sexual acts with minors under 18 have between 1 and 9 victims, and 20% have between 10 and 40 victims. Recidivism rates for sex offenders are typically 43% and these offenders are typically re-arrested for a variety of reasons which relate to their original conviction. Sex offenders are approximately 4x more likely than non-sex offenders to be arrested for another sex crime after their discharge from a correctional institution

The Photo Recognition Ability of Plants

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Every plant on Earth recognizes that a change in light lasting longer than 4 minutes is probably not just a flicker of the light source (e.g. fluctuations due to cloud cover) and therefore increases its photosynthesis efficiency. If the plant is incorrect in its analysis, it runs the risk of burning to death by increasing its photosynthesis efficiency as the sun would consequently provide too much light. All plants must determine between what is the end of the day and what is simply a fluctuation of light due to environmental changes like animals, clouds, and other plants which are competing for light

The Fallout of the Chernobyl, Ukraine Nuclear Meltdown

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In 1986, the world’s worst nuclear accident occurred, when the Chernobyl nuclear reactor within the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic exploded releasing 400x as much radiation as the nuclear weaponry which was dropped upon Hiroshima, Japan in 1945 towards the end of World War II. The most dangerous classification of radiation which can be emitted after a nuclear meltdown or detonation of a nuclear atomic bomb are gamma rays, which like x-rays are made up of high energy photons which can travel long distances. Most gamma rays pass straight through an observer, but not all do and these free particles cause fragmentation of deoxyribonucleic acid and damage at the cellular level which can ultimately lead to cancer and subsequently death