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![]() Newsletter of Project Renaissance and Win Wenger September 2007 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ IN THIS ISSUE: * Quote of the Month * Announcements, Books, News Items * Events, Workshops * FEATURE ARTICLE: A Really Big Problem to Solve, by James Blodgett * Comments, Feedback Win Wenger on the CERN collider experiment Win Wenger on desalination projects * Organizational Notes * Links ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ QUOTE OF THE MONTH Do not train boys to learning by force and harshness, but lead them by what amuses them, so that they may better discover the bent of their minds. — Plato, The Republic, VII [circa 370 B.C.]
........................................................................ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ANNOUNCEMENTS, BOOKS, NEWS ITEMS ~~~ WELCOME to all new members who have joined us recently. We hope to hear from you and to give you much food for thought. Back issues available upon request - just add the month to the subject line: mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=BackIssues Or see the online archives: http://www.winwenger.com/strmlist.htm ~~~ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| PROJECT RENAISSANCE'S NEW COREBOOKS www.winwenger.com/corebook.htm A series of compact handbooks of Win Wenger's key techniques. The first four volumes are now in print and easy to order from the publisher: * SUPER SKILLS FOR STUDENTS by Isa McKechnie * WIN WENGER'S IMAGE-STREAMING by Charles Roman * END WRITER'S BLOCK FOREVER! by Mark Bossert, Win Wenger * DYNAMIC TEACHING by Harman Benda and Win Wenger Order from the CoreBook storefront: www.lulu.com/ProjRen - great gifts! |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ~~~ SMART PEOPLE CHOKE UNDER PRESSURE www.livescience.com/humanbiology/050209_under_pressure.html People perceived as the most likely to succeed might also be the most likely to crumble under pressure. A new study finds that individuals with high working-memory capacity, which normally allows them to excel, crack under pressure and do worse on simple exams than when allowed to work with no constraints. Those with less capacity score low, too, but they tend not to be affected by pressure. ______ Win Wenger comments: Obvious common sense - those with high working-memory capacity who let themselves be distracted by pressure have not only that pressure to contend with but the unaccustomed unavailability of that high working memory, which is absorbed by concerns about that pressure and its distraction. Double-stress. A little work with Calm-Breathing Patterns - www.winwenger.com/part28.htm and www.winwenger.com/part29.htm - or perhaps EFT tapping, should solve or prevent that difficulty. ~~~ HONEYBEES ARE LEADERLESS, NOT CONTROLLED BY A BREEDING QUEEN www.physorg.com/news100798568.html Contrary to the popular conception of a colony controlled by instructions from its breeding queen mother, the research shows a picture of the queen as a passive egg layer whose own behavior is programmed, with changes dictated by signals delivered by older workers. Critical strategic choices, such as the assessment that it is time to divide the colony and swarm, appear to be decided by the dynamics of the group itself. Social interactions, environmental pressures or group dynamics in some still- unknown way initiate a string of behaviors that effectively manage the complex group activities. ~~~ GIVING VOICE TO FEELINGS EASES EMOTIONAL LOAD http://www.lifeline.org.nz/Giving_voice_to_feelings_117.aspx Putting feelings into words makes sadness and anger less
intense, brain researchers said in a finding that explains why talking to a therapist - or even a sympathetic bartender - often makes people feel better. ... they found that when people attached a word like angry to an angry-looking face, the response in the amygdala portion of the brain that handles fear, panic and other strong emotions decreased. ___________ Win Wenger ( mailto:wwenger101@aol.com ) comments: I think you might find this particular offshoot of our Principle of Description quite interesting, a further justification of key portions of our work. Enjoy. ___________ Kate Jones ( mailto:kate@gamepuzzles.com ) adds: Indeed. And the reason it works this way is that the demand to launch the naming faculty will trigger the higher conceptual and abstract thought process. The amygdala's job is the first response to stimuli, the primitive survival diagnostic. Once it passes its memo up to the higher authority to handle, it can relax again. ~~~ DEADLY POISONS FROM THE DEEP www.fishinghurts.com/HealthConcerns.asp Around the world, fish are accumulating toxic mercury in their flesh as a result of industrial pollution. Fish absorb and ingest mercury and store it in their tissues. If you eat fish, your body will absorb mercury from the fish’s flesh, and the accumulation of this toxin can lead to serious health problems. "It is worth noting that consumption of fish and other sea animals is the sole source of human exposure to methyl mercury." — ~~~ ARE WE FAILING OUR GENIUSES? http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1653653-1,00.html Win Wenger comments: Best article in years on special educational needs of gifted children - I think that many here have reason to find this interesting.
~~~ GIFTED EDUCATION PRESS QUARTERLY www.giftededpress.com/gepqaccess/GEPQNEWISSUE.htm Gifted Education Press is offering a complimentary copy of their Fall 2007 Online Quarterly issue. To read and print the current and previous issues of Gifted Education Press Quarterly, please do the following: 1. Go to www.giftededpress.com 2. The Home Page will show their name and address, etc., farther down a tree, and several choice buttons. 3. Scroll all the way down to the next to last cell in the first column - "Click Here to Enter Your Special Access Codes" - and click it. 4. Type in the following User Name in small letters - gepq 5. Type in the following Password in small letters - gep621 - click OK. Keep your User Name and Password for future access to the GEPQ Web page. All future issues will be available on this Web page at the beginning of September, December, March, June. Happy reading! Publisher, Maurice Fisher, Ph.D. mailto:gifted@giftededpress.com ~~~ Translators wanted - in any language, to translate selected contents of the Project Renaissance website, the new CoreBooks series, and certain books by Win Wenger. Please contact Win at mailto:wwenger101@aol.com if you are able and interested in collaborating on these projects. ~~~ ........................................................................ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| EVENTS ~~~ THE FIREBIRD: Creativity, Danger and Transformation An evening of Story and Song Wednesday, December 12, 2007 7:00PM-? (however long you stay!) Presented by: Seth Kahn, change leadership specialist and master storyteller www.SethKahan.com and Laura Baron, award-winning singer/songwriter www.LauraBaronMusic.com Join us for wine, food and fun...and bring your business cards! $20 at the door - $15 with a dish to share Please RSVP to Michelle James, mailto:michelle@CreativeEmergence.com Capitol Creativity Network http://www.capitolcreativitynetwork.com ~~~ January 4 - February 22, 2008 A Professional and Personal Development Program Led by Michelle James, CEO of The Center for Creative Emergence A One-of-a-Kind Program - Practical, tangible outcomes and offerings will emerge from the inside-out over the course of 7 weeks. 4 Fridays over 7 weeks - 9:00am to 5:00pm - in January 4, January 18, February 8 and February 22 If you have to miss a day you will get an individual make-up session. $1200 for independent consultants/self employed/entrepreneurs. $1500 organizational rate. Early Bird Rate: $100 off if paid in full by December 24. This program is limited to only 6 people and fills up each time - $100 non-refundable deposit reserves your space. Credit cards accepted. Payment plans also available - call 703-760-9009. For complete details and registration, go to http://creativeemergence.com/page10.html Email: mailto:michelle@creativeemergence.com - Phone: 703-760-9009 The Center for Creative Emergence www.creativeemergence.com ~~~ February 1-3, 2008 - Invention-on-Demand Training Workshop with Win Wenger and Chuck Roman,
in www.winwenger.com/iodtrain08.htm ~~~ May 23-29, 2008 - Annual Double Festival - Mark your calendar now! 16th Annual Conference on Creative Problem-Solving Methods and Enhanced/Accelerated Learning Techniques and Spring Workshops of Project Renaissance www.winwenger.com/upcoming.htm#DF ~~~ ........................................................................ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Feature Article:
A REALLY BIG PROBLEM TO SOLVE by James Blodgett mailto:bjames1@nycap.rr.com Win Wenger has a worthy ambition. He wants his problem-solving methods to be used for large problems. Risks that may extinguish our species qualify as large problems. A few of those risks exist right now. One is particularly acute, as it is due to operate next year.
A massive physics experiment is planned to start in 2008. A new particle collider more powerful than any yet seen will commence operation at the CERN research facility in particles it is expected to create. Two of the particles it might create could be dangerous, so dangerous that they could destroy the entire earth. The probability of this danger is controversial. Physicists have posted two papers listing multiple safety factors [see References 1 and 2 below]. CERN's Chief Scientific Officer, Jos Engelen, was quoted as instructing CERN scientists to say that the risk is zero [3]. However, recently published physics papers put many of the safety factors in question. With luck some of the safety factors will work despite these questions, but it is clear that the risk is not zero.
I will limit the science to a single paragraph. The two potentially dangerous particles are black holes and strangelets. A black hole could swallow the Earth. A strangelet, in which quarks are arranged differently than they are in normal matter, could catalyze conversion of normal matter into more strangelets, turning the Earth into a small ball of strangelets. The safety factors are as follows: 1) Black holes creation is said, in [1], to require energy beyond the reach of any collider. But new string theory has led to the prediction, if that theory is true, that colliders will create a black hole every second. [4] 2) Black holes are supposed, in [2], to evaporate in a puff of Hawking radiation. However, two good new papers question whether Hawking radiation, which has never been seen, really works as expected. [5,6] 3) A collection of strangelets is supposed to be electrically positive on its surface, and therefore not attract normal matter. However, a recent paper says that a collection of strangelets can be electrically negative on its surface. [7] 4) An analogy between colliders and cosmic rays is supposed to demonstrate safety. If colliders can create black holes or strangelets, cosmic rays should be able to do so also. Cosmic rays have been around for billions of years and have not killed us, therefore colliders should be safe. Unfortunately the analogy is not precise. Cosmic ray collisions differ from collider collisions in important ways. It is possible to construct a model in which colliders are dangerous and cosmic rays are not. [8]
The real problem is that few people care very much. They are confused by the difference between personal risk and risk to our species. People accept small personal risks every time they drive a car. Risks to our species should be taken more seriously than personal risks. Sometimes we know this. We spend billions to avoid risks we have learned to fear. Sometimes we do not know this. It is easy to ignore risks that with luck will not happen. We want to believe what some scientists say, that nothing can possibly go wrong.
What can readers do? Part of the problem is that the problem has a low profile. It is not yet on the public agenda. Discussing the problem in public forums can help. Be prepared for physicists to disagree. Most are not aware of the dissolution of safety factors. Also Dr. Walter Wagner, the physicist who first raised the problem in his letter to Scientific American in 1999, plans a lawsuit to require a risk assessment and is requesting donations. See his website at www.LHCdefense.org .
How do we discuss this problem? How do we check it out? Should we be concerned? How do we get others to be concerned? How do we solve the problem? Let us apply Dr. Wenger’s methods, and see if they help. ______ References:
[1] W. Busza, R.L. Jaffe, J. Sandweiss, and F. Wilczek; "Review of Speculative ‘Disaster Scenarios'" Brookhaven, 2000
[2] J.-P. Blaizot, J. Iliopoulos, J. Madsen, G.G. Ross, P. Sonderegger, and H.-J. Specht, "Study Of Potentially Dangerous Events During Heavy-Ion Collisions At The LHC: Report Of The LHC Safety Study Group" CERN, 2003
[3] Elizabeth Kolbert, "Annals of Science: Crash Course," The New Yorker, May 14, 2007
[4] Many recent papers predict black hole production at colliders, including even [2] above. The following two papers predict one per second: [a] Steven Giddings and Scott Thomas, "High energy colliders as black hole factories: the end of short-distance physics," Physical Review D 65(5) (2002) 056010. [b] Savas Dimopoulos and Greg Landsberg, "Black holes at the Large Hadron Collider," Physical Review Letters, 87(16) 161602, (2001).
[5] Adam D. Helfer, "Do black holes radiate?" Reports on Progress in Physics. Vol. 66 No. 6 (2003) pp. 943-1008.
[6] William G. Unruh and Ralf Schützhold, "On the Universality of the Hawking Effect," Physics Review D 71(2005) 024028.
[7] G. X. Peng, X. J. Wen, Y. D. Chen, New solutions for the color- favor locked strangelets. Physics Letters B 633 (2006) 314-318.
[8] See www.risk-evaluation-forum.org. ------------------------------------ To send feedback privately to James Blodgett, email to: mailto:bjames1@nycap.rr.com?subject=Collider To send your comments about this article to The Stream, write to: mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=Collider |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ........................................................................ COMMENTS and FEEDBACK ~~~ Win Wenger ( mailto:wwenger101@aol.com ) writes: We got lucky, very lucky, once. A raging dispute among scientists, as the test drew near, belied the quiet of the theory to suggest that the pending A-bomb test would ignite the whole atmosphere and incinerate the whole Earth. Their opinion was brushed aside on the grounds that we had to have the Bomb before Hitler developed it. Fortunately, in that instance the majority was correct. What is bothersome is that so many of the scientists regarded the chance that the others could be right, and that the entire Earth could be incinerated by what they were about to do, as an "acceptable risk." This time there is no imperative to beat Hitler! Yet again we have a majority of scientists pushing ahead with an experiment which might obliterate the entire Earth and us with it, as an "acceptable risk." Come next spring or summer, if the majority theory is correct, we will know it because we'll still be around. If it is not, everything will go in a split second and we will never have time to know it. I'm the last one to want to slow the progress of science, but in the instance of CERN we, the public and the various governments involved, should require a comprehensive review before allowing the experiment to go ahead. But the public doesn't even know about it, and as for the governments involved, the billions already spent on setting up CERN are their own economic and political imperative. I am open to suggestions and problem-solving ideas as to how we might usefully change this situation. I note that we don't have much time if a winning solution IS found. Please respond quickly. - Win Wenger ( mailto:wwenger101@aol.com?subject=Collider ) ~~~ Win Wenger ( mailto:wwenger101@aol.com ) writes: The longer the weather anomaly lasts next year, the worse that drought conditions will be throughout
the southern www.kiplinger.com/businessresource/forecast/archive/la_nina_likely_to_linger_071116.html If you live in the southern climate people are predicting yet another year of heat and drought for you. You should know that prices are way down on the advancing technology for de-salting water. desalination plant as part of the municipal water supply, could readily be adopted by cities all the way up and down the Eastern Seaboard if people only knew about it. You should pass the word if you want to have conditions remain convenient or even livable where you are. The long- term climate people are not optimistic about normal rainfall ever being restored in your part of the country - maybe a hurricane every now and then, but not much in-between. then, also. If each major seaboard city south of DC were to start building desalination plants now, this would stretch out water supplies for a very long time, allowing time for further adaptations to prevent the region from becoming yet another of Earth's many spreading deserts. So you just might want to put a bee in someone's bonnet today, where you are. ______ And most or all of those 3100+ fatalities in today had what I proposed in September 2001 been implemented. (See www.winwenger.com/part53.htm .) However, my hat is off to the emergency and planning services there for the tens of thousands of lives they have saved this time - they've done a truly heroic and praiseworthy job. A similar cyclone a few years back, same strength and placement, cost more than 100,000 lives there. So some progress HAS been made! In these and many other regards, including the climate contingencies conferences we've been discussing here and our proposed system to boost world protein production with something like our invention for oceanic fish farming (see www.winwenger.com/part59.htm ), some issues are overwhelmingly obvious and need to be taken seriously. Go on as we have been, and we will continue to get the kind of results we have been. Please see these timely articles in the Project Renaissance website: http://www.winwenger.com/part90.htm http://www.winwenger.com/formats.htm http://www.winwenger.com/newbasis.htm http://www.winwenger.com/part99.htm ______ PostNote: We've gathered further information on the state of the Water desalting plant in of object lesson. The plant has operated below capacity since it was built, for a number of reasons but not, apparently, any fault of the technology. The following problems were encountered: 1) Legal and environmental, over concerns that the extra-salty brine left over from the desalting would negatively impact the bay.
A pipeline out to sea and a readier dispersal point would have fixed this problem. Some cities up and down the seaboard would have faced similar problems and others not, depending upon the configuration of coastline and sea currents. The whole endeavor could be made more economical by inventing commercial uses for that extra salty brine. Perhaps we will give that some attention in our Invention-On-Demand training workshop during the February 1-3, 2008, weekend - www.winwenger.com/iodtrain08.htm 2) Cost-cutting measures during construction, which substituted materials that were susceptible to salt-water corrosion. This "penny-Wise and pound-foolish" approach has led to expensive breakdowns and more-expensive replacements. Every municipality wants to save money, and inappropriate cost-"savings" is an impulse that has to be carefully watched in other cities up and down the seaboard which undertake a water-desalting plant. 3) The short-cuts to screen out the organisms and other particles which clogged the intake system before the water is desalinated. This also led to expensive breakdowns and replacements of parts. This form of cost-"saving" also has to be carefully watched and guarded against if other water-desalting plants are to be built along the Despite the above problems, the desalting plant in times, operated near capacity and reportedly is now being brought up to full speed. The plant is expected to reach full capacity in its operations during 2008. Two articles which can tell you much of the story are: From the beginning: http://archives.cnn.com/2000/NATURE/04/20/desalination
Mainly on the problems: http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:kmcvrGxK6HoJ:pacinst.org/reports/
In summary: The technology is sound and HAS gotten surprisingly less expensive. In the teeth of the deepening drought across what is becoming the desert Southeastern of our great cities and should be looked into. However, much greater care should be taken in the selection and supervision of contractors, and in the selection and supervision of operators. Also, such municipalities should watch closely their own propensity for seeking false economies. Unless a better technology comes along for water desalting, there isn't GOING to be a solution to the long-term water woes of the region. There may be some relief 2-3 years from now when El Nino turns to La Nina again, and from an occasional passing hurricane, but long-term water conditions in the region are expected to get even much worse than they are now. If you live in the region, you need to contact the appropriate authorities and strongly encourage them to take a long close look at all sides of the water-desalting issue. - Win Wenger ( mailto:wwenger101@aol.com?subject=Desalination ) ~~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To send your comments to The Stream for possible publication here, write to: mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=Comments ........................................................................ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ORGANIZATIONAL NOTES ~~~ IMAGE-STREAMING PARTNERS Project Renaissance is organizing a partners' bureau or real-time chat resource online via Skype, msn or yahoo messenger for people looking for partners with whom to do live Image-Streaming. If you're interested in joining this resource, please send your contact information and preferences, such as time of day, language, type of Image-Streaming, and we will add you to a cross-reference index of partners to talk online. Contact: mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=PartnersOnline If you have already signed up, we will let you know as soon as the program goes live. ~~~
INTEREST GROUPS * wonders if there is anyone in
the practise Image-Streaming. * at mailto:gerald.hawkins@gmail.com about starting a problem-solving and idea-testing group in the * attending meetings of Project
Renaissance members in the * in attending meetings of Project
Renaissance members in the area. * LOS ANGELES - Ray Croney ( mailto:croneyr@hotmail.com ) seeks Image- Streamers in the * NEW interested in joining an
Image-Streaming group in the area. * would like to meet with other members of Project Renaissance in the Dallas/Fort Worth area of * would like to practice Image-Streaming with a live listener in his area. * is interested in learning and practicing Image-Streaming, in Italian or English. Please contact him if you are already knowledgeable in this technique and in the ~~~ TOPICAL INTEREST GROUPS: Our membership is large and diverse, and many of you have expressed an interest in communicating with other members who share your topic of concern or research interest. If you'd like us to share your email address with other interested members, and to supply theirs to you, please email your name, email address and subject/topic to: mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=InterestGroups Your communications will be private. ~~~ ADDRESS CHANGE? If your email address changes or your email box is full or your spam filter blocks us, we can't get The Stream to you. Please, before that happens, make sure you notify us of any change and put winwenger.com on your safe senders list. Write to: mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=AddressChange Please do not use the unsubscribe link in such a case, then entering a new subscribe message. This makes extra work for you and your registrar and may result in deletion of all your personal information from our records. Put any other updated information you'd like us to have about you into the same address-change message. ~~~ SUBSCRIBER OR MEMBER? If you currently only subscribe to The Stream, you can upgrade your participation in Project Renaissance to full membership, free. Membership in Project Renaissance entitles members to additional benefits. If you're not yet a member, please register now, here: www.winwenger.com/regmem.htm or from the link on the homepage, www.winwenger.com . ~~~ DUPLICATE MAILING? If you received two (or more?) copies of this issue of The Stream, please let us know by replying to: mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=duplicate ~~~ HOW YOU CAN PARTICIPATE... * The long-established, popular Image-Streaming egroup is here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/imagestream - requires Yahoo sign-in. * Submit articles, comments or questions for possible inclusion in The Stream: mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=TotheEditor * Send questions or comments about the website, www.winwenger.com , to the webmaster, mailto:kate@gamepuzzles.com ........................................................................ LINKS * Back issues of THE STREAM by email upon request from mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=BackIssues * Index of feature articles in The Stream archives: www.winwenger.com/strmlist.htm Starting in January 2007, the archived copies have a special cover photo masthead courtesy of Elan Sun Star. Do take a look - they're gorgeous and restorative. * Archived copies of Capital Ideasmiths are here: www.winwenger.com/Capitalidea/capidea1.htm * Project Renaissance homepage: www.winwenger.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UNSUBSCRIBE: If you do not wish to continue receiving this newsletter from Project Renaissance, please send an email to mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=TheStream-unsubscribe ~~~ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Project Renaissance home page | The Stream Index |