Tag: United Kingdom

The Renewable Resource of Urine Powered Electronics

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Urine is rich in minerals and it is believed that this resource will be able to be harnessed and extracted efficiently and cost effectively at some point in the future to produce electrical energy. At the Bristol Robotics Laboratory in the U.K., urine is being studied as a potential energy resource for residential use within the near future (e.g. used to charge a smartphone etc.). Charging a smartphone with urine requires battery like fuel cells with Professor Ioannis Leropoulos (pronounced “yan-iss lee-raw-po-lis”) having developed a system capable of meeting this requirement. The application itself is referred to as “microbial fuel cell” technology, a system which leverages live bacteria to generate electrical current. Urine contains carbon, phosphorus, potassium, sulphur, magnesium, and creatinine, all elements which microbes require to continue living and growing which is why this technology functions as it does. The microbial fuel cell’s central tube is porous ceramic, allowing urine to permeate the tube and microbes to colonize it. As the elements of urine are consumed, electrons generated by the microbes are picked up by the cells of opposing wire coils, creating a battery. Not just any microbe will suffice however, as specific microbes are required for this process to be effective. To source the correct microbes, scientists leverage a plethora of microbes available within the natural environment (e.g. lake, pond, river sediment etc.). Each fuel cell produces 1.5 volts of electrical current, and when linked together in series, output can be increased to a level which is useful for daily activities. The system is able to be scaled so that it can be built into future homes, allowing for individuals and families to recycle urine as a means of generating electrical energy. Leropoulos’ work has been funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as well as by the European Commission among others and is close to becoming commercially available as of 2020. For this system to benefit users, separate urinals would be installed but with redirected plumbing to funnel urine away from becoming mixed with common sewage and into a collection container, providing an on demand resource which can be utilized when needed

The Development of Modern Institutionalized Psychological Torture as a Means of Interrogation

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In the 1950’s, Scottish psychiatrist Ewen Cameron started experimenting upon his own patients which ushered in the modern age of the psychological techniques leveraged by governments to extract information from high value targets and low level targets alike. In 1951, the U.S., the U.K., and Canada began developing the Survival Evasion Resistance Escape program, abbreviated as “SERE” (pronounced “sear”) designed for when domestic soldiers became captured by enemy forces (e.g. aircraft shot down over enemy lines) as well as techniques which could be used against captured Soviets. This research became dominant within Canadian universities for almost a decade, with researchers beginning similar psychiatric experiments within psychiatric hospitals in the U.K. In the U.S. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency dominated most research and had over 160 secret projects within 80 institutions, comprising a total of $25,000,000 ($25 million) allocated for human experimentation. This project was code named “MK Ultra”. In 1963, many of Cameron’s psychological experiments were codified for the first time and compiled within the Kubark Counterintelligence Interrogation hand guide, a book which is now declassified and freely available online. The term “kubark” is a cryptonym, the name for the Central Intelligence Agency itself. This content became the foundation for the method of psychological interrogation and psychological torture which the Central Intelligence Agency disseminated across the U.S. intelligence community and worldwide among allies for 30 years after its initial release. Since the 1950’s, confirmed cases backed by evidence and testimony of these techniques of torture being used have been recognized or admitted to by governments in 28 nation states including Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Borneo, Brazil, British Guyana, British Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Cuba, the UK, Guatemala, Honduras, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lithuania, Morocco, Northern Ireland, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Thailand, Turkey, Uruguay, Vienna, and Yemen

Whilst I rarely if ever will submit an opinion upon this blog, I feel that it is important to state that the Kubark Counterintelligence Interrogation hand guide is now declassified and been made public. To educate yourself so that these techniques cannot be used against you, click here to read the Kubark Counterintelligence Interrogation hand guide

Societal Changes Within the United Kingdom Which Occurred​ After World War I

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Post World War I in the United Kingdom, many battle hardened veterans no longer viewed themselves as servants to the wealthier classes of society and demanded social equality, suddenly realizing that work in factories and within dense city populations could provide a better standard of living than within small economically cut off villages. Suddenly, without warning, aristocratic estate owners went from paying 6% on their income tax, to a much higher rate in line with what a common person would pay. Due to this massive increase in the amount of income now required to continue the running of an estate, many were demolished during the 1950’s and 1960’s and much of the artwork within these homes which initially would have been passed down throughout subsequent generations as family heirlooms, were sold to the U.S. as the U.S. was the wealthiest nation in the world during the era and had the ability to help once wealthy families avoid complete financial ruin. Most aristocratic dynasties simply gave up with the introduction of these new income tax policies as the cost of maintenance was simply too great for what an estate could reasonably generate

Charity of the British Royal Family

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Charity within the royal family has been documented as far back as 300 years ago, with King George visiting debtors prison and absolving those within it of their financial debts. Queen Victoria was an avid help to those living in London during the Industrial Revolution, and used both state and private funds to help those in squalor. Eventually Queen Victoria’s acts translated into legislative changes which made it illegal to provide living conditions which were unfit for human use. The United Kingdom has 180,000 charities with 10,000 of those being of a significant size. Between these charities approximately $91,000,000,000 ($91 billion) is raised per year, accounting for 4% of the total gross domestic product of the United Kingdom, which means that British charities raise approximately double what the government spends on military defense each year. The United Kingdom has been ranked the most charitable nation in Europe. The royal family sponsors approximately 3000 charities, with 1500 being Queen Elizabeth’s and Prince Phillip’s responsibility, and the remaining being taken care of by the younger members of the royal family