SPEED LIMIT 186,000 miles per second

Call me crazy, but I like to think about things that make your head spin. I can remember when I was younger my father telling me that if you park your car north to south that it is longer that if you parked it east to west. But, do not bother to measure this, because the device you use to measure the length of your car will be affected the same. Makes you think.

I have been reading about Albert Einstein and many of his contributions to science. I have read a few books on his special and general theory of relativity and they are all a little bit hard to understand. One was written by Einstein specifically for those with lesser mathematical abilities. Well, even that was a little confusing. I have found that if you read a little on these theories in physics, astronomy, and physical science texts first, it become a little easier to understand. Einstein made great contributions to the understanding of light. Growing up I always wondered if you were traveling at the speed of light and you had a flashlight in your hand and turned it on, would the beam of light proceed out at twice the speed of light? I always thought that this would be the case. After all, if you are driving in your car at a steady rate of 40 mph and threw a ball out of the car forward at 40 mph the ball would travel at 80 mph relative to the ground. After reading Einsteins work on relativity he has proven that the speed of light is the cosmic speed limit. Nothing can travel faster than light. So, if I travel at the speed of light and turn my flashlight on, my light will not travel twice the speed of light. So, the speed limit is 186,282.397 miles per second or 983,571,056.4 feet per second. Pretty fast huh!

Last night I began to think about light and light speed, as I think we all often do at night. I took my thoughts on the flashlight a little further. What if I were traveling at the speed of light, as you can see I often think about doing this, and I had a little hand mirror with me. While traveling at the speed of light I place the mirror in front of me to view my reflection. Will I see my reflection in the mirror? Think about this for a moment. ?????????????? What to we view when we look at something or someone? We see the reflection of light off of the object we are viewing. So, the answer would be no. The light would not be reflected from your face toward the mirror in front of you because of this cosmic speed limit. Think About it!

Y"IKE"S!

Get the hell out of there! Why do people think that they can fool with "Mother Nature?" Nature's furry is more powerful than most think. As I have studied natural disasters I have gained a great respect for the power of the Earth. Also having studied emergency management issues I have seen many disasters and the death and injury that comes with these events. Many deaths and injuries could have been avoided if individuals had taken evacuation measures seriously. I am amazed at how stupid (see photo below) some of the people in the path of hurricane Ike are. (Hurricane Ike is a very large storm in area. The photo above can show you scale. This image is take from the International Space Station. Yes, that is the curve of the Earth at the top of the photo. ) I believe that the media makes the category of a hurricane the most important issue. Yes, the category is important as far as wind speed goes, but the most destructive part of a hurricane is the storm surge and the flooding that this causes. Not only is water forced in by the winds of a hurricane on the northeast side of the eye, but also the oceans are actually elevated because of the intense low air pressures associated with hurricanes. The air pressure is so low in a hurricane that there is actually a dome of water that lifts up under a hurricane (cool huh!). This also aids in the flooding of land. What is particularly concerning about Ike is that it is very similar to a hurricane in Galveston in 1900. This hurricane basically wiped Galveston off of the map. This hurricane started to flood Galveston before the storm surge hit. Ike started to do this while it was still some 140 mile off of the coast. Yes, they have elevated Galveston some 15 ft and built a seawall, but we are no match for the power of "Mother Nature." The Earth is in charge. If it wants to move something it can and will.

There is a group of people at a bar in Galveston that are going to ride the storm out close to the shore. (see photo above) They have been warned by the National Weather Service that if they stay they will most likely die. I am happy to think that these individuals will most likely be so drunk that this will help to ease their pain in death. Others in the area said they were going to ride the storm out, but soon changed their minds when the winds began to blow water in ahead of the storm surge. These are the lucky ones. There is a point of no return. There is a point where if you have not left, well, say a prayer and hang on you are pretty much screwed. Individuals need to take evacuation orders seriously. Emergency management officials do not order evacuations just to see if they can tie up roads and cause panic. These are given well in advance and ordered to save lives. Yes, many evacuations have turned out to be not needed, but better safe than sorry. I know this is why many people do not evacuate, they feel it is a false alarm. We saw not long after hurricane Katrina that most of the people in the Houston area took the evacuation orders seriously for hurricane Rita, but turned out to not to be so bad. I hope that this is the case with Ike, but conditions are not looking good. GOOD LUCK! for those who have chosen to stay.

I tend to get a little fired up about these issues. After all, this is what I went to school for and what I do. I am intrigued and fascinated my natural and technological hazards and disasters, but I do not like to see people get injured and killed by these events. I love to watch volcanoes erupt, tsunamis crash on shore, tornadoes tuchdown, but not death. These events will continue and will increase with magnitude and intensity. This is why I started my business in emergency and disaster planning. I understand the earth science behind theses events and know what can be done to help reduce injury and death by preparing and planning for such events. It does not matter where you live, there is something that nature or man will throw your way. Get prepared.

Let me, if you will, tell you of the "Perfect Storm" that could happen from this hurricane Ike. The chances of this are very small, but just humor me and "Think About It." You may not know, but there is a tropical storm "Josephine" in the Atlantic moving WNW at 5 mph (lookout). That could possibly turn into a hurricane. We also have Ike of course that will move onto land and move up through Texas and into Arkansas. As Ike move onto land dumping large amounts of rain it is also meeting a large cold front moving in from the west. Well, cold air and warm moist air are not a good combination. This will bring even more rain and more intense thunderstorms and tornadoes. Lets forget about the tornadoes and just focus on the rain. Well, this is going to cause flooding across Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana, and some other states. These states all have something in common. All of these states waterways drain into the Mississippi river. The Mississippi river drains into the Gulf of Mexico right near a city, that in my opinion, people should not live there. Yes, New Orleans should be used for shipping, oil, industry, and agriculture, but not for living. Something about living below sea-level that close to the ocean just concerns me, call me crazy. Okay, back to my scenario. All of these flood water is going to drain down the Mississippi river just as Josephine gains strength into a category 5 hurricane, not that the category matters, and the eye hits just west of New Orleans. WOW! All of that flood water combined with the surge of hurricane Josephine will make Katrina look like the fictional Coriolis force on the flush of your toilet. All of this floodwater will be backed up from the storm surge and cause catastrophic flooding and damage. And the Mississippi river will be set free once again as in many years past to choose its path of least resistance and flow freely along the Gulf of Mexico. Yes, this is very, very unlikely to happen, but that would make for a great Hollywood movie. But, then again New Orleans, strike one Katrina, strike two Gustav, and strike three Josephine and "Your Out!" Think About It.

Winter? Where is fall?

We woke up to snow in the mountains today. Not unusual for Utah this time of year, but it sure lets you know that the seasons are changing. This was taken from my back yard in Lehi, Utah looking toward the east to Mt. Timpanogos. Better that a hurricane though.

GO UTES

The Utes got it done today. They beat Michigan 25 to 23, even though they played like BYU toward the end and tried to lose, they got it done in the "Big House." GO UTES! They also have the best record for a non-BCS team for beating BCS teams. Also they are tied for the most consecutive bowl game wins. Can you tell I am a little happy? Congrats to the Cougars who also won. Perhaps the Mountain West will get some recognition this year, probably not, but we can only hope. Good luck to BYU. I hope BYU can win all but two games this year. I attended both the University of New Mexico and the University of Utah. So I hope you know which two games I hope BYU does not win.

Moral Decay

If case you have not noticed, the world is a mess. There is still a lot of good in the world, but the world is going downhill fast. I am currently reading a book written by one of my hero's, Albert Einstein. This book talks about some of his inner thoughts and also some of contributions to science (of course this is my favorite). One of the sections talked about moral decay. I must remind you that the writings in this book took place between 1934-1950. Even back in these days he was able to see that there was some moral decay. I can not even start to think what he would have to say if he saw our society today.

A couple of days before I started reading this book and came across the chapter on moral decay my wife Shari and I were able to go on a date with some free movie tickets that we had received. We decided to go see the new batman movie (for those of you in Utah, we did not leave our kids in the car, another case of moral decay). This movie was rated PG-13, not that that is good these days, so we thought it might be a good movie. We had heard from so many people how good it was. Well, in our opinion it was a very dark and evil movie. Many of the previews at the beginning of the movie gave me the creeps and a very dark feeling. During many of the murder scenes in the movie you could hear people laughing at these scenes. During this movie I began thinking about how the morals in the world were decaying. I know that this is a fictional movie, but the situations and the graphics in the movie are nothing to laugh at. I think that many people these days become very numb to the movies that they watch. I know that Hollywood is aware of this too. They reel you in little by little. You get a little taste of the violence and then you want more and more. I believe that this is just a small fraction of the reason for moral decay in this world. If you do not agree with me about the batman movie then perhaps you have become numb to what you are watching (the truth may hurt a little).

I have seen many people close to me go down this road and that are going down this road, the slippery slope. Satan does not take you all at once. He takes you a little at a time. You can clearly see this in movies. Many people will try to justify what they watch and say, well it is PG-13, but that is not safe. One movie may be a little much for you to take and then you get home or talk with friends and then you may feel okay with it, but what next? One that is even worse and the slippery slope has begun. Since viewing this movie I have wondered what rating this movie would have had received just 10 years ago. I would bet an R rating. Satan is not stupid, he knows what he is doing.

Moral Decay. I can see it all around. I know that times are going to get worse, but look around. IT IS BAD RIGHT NOW. As I have talked about the numbing we get by watching movies, we also get this numbing by the world we live in. We watch the violence all around the world and in our own towns. We hear about it all the time and then it does not shock us anymore. Stop and take a look at what is going on. Put up your walls around your homes. If you do not put up these walls and keep the evil out, it will get in. Once it is in, it is harder to get it back out.

I could go on and on on this subject, but I urge everyone to look at the world around them and take an inventory of the evil and good around them. Yes, there is a lot of good, but please be aware of the moral decay that is around. I said it before, the world is going to get a lot worse, but it is bad right now. Don't be fooled or tricked with what is out there. There are too many people being taken, great people that are being tricked and taken down the wrong path.

I have really been thinking about the moral decay of our world since reading Einsteins chapter on the subject. I think of what my kids are going to have to face and deal with. I hope and pray that they will be able to handle all that comes their way. I will do everything to teach them how to fight these temptations. I urge everyone again to look around and not ignore what is around, but do whatever you need to do to put up your walls to fight this decay that will continue. Think about it!

College Girl

There is something that has been on my mind for a few weeks. I feel that I need to get this out in the open. I have been having a relationship with a college girl for quite some time now and things went a little far. I hope everyone does not think different of me after I tell you what has happened. Well, I have gotten a college girl pregnant. Some may think that this is not something that a man in his late thirties should do, but things happen. I have talked with my kids and they are okay with it and are quite excited. I have even talked with my parents about this situation and surprisingly they too are okay with it and are also quite excited. As for Shari my wonderful wife, she has been a little sick over the whole situation, but I guess she has a good reason to be sick. The baby will be due sometime in April. I hope that everything works out for the best. Please pray for us and the baby. Oh! by the way I forgot to mention that Shari starts back to school on the 27th.

Light Experiment

I have been feeling a little under the weather the past few days, but still wanted to post something for those of you who just can't wait to see what I have to say. I feel that some of you may not have grasped the idea on visible light (my first post). For those of you that don't really get it I have a simple experiment for you, also those that do get it can try just for fun. Once again our eyes can only view the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum, but some other lenses can aid us in viewing other wavelenghts. For this simple experiment you will need a digital camera, or even a camera phone and a remote control device. This can be for a television, stereo, or just any remote. Take your remote and point it at your camera while you are viewing the remote through your camera. As you view the remote through your camera press any button on the remote and hold it down. You will be able to take a glimpse into the world I speak of in viewing all wavelenghts of the electromagnetic spectrum. CAUTION! This can be very addictive. And who knows, years down the road may even cause cancer of the retina. Think about it.