The "S" BookA Chapter by Dax Radtke Big Oil's Worst Nightmare INTRODUCTION:
WHY ARE WE COWERING?
There is a relatively small group of people on this planet who have enough money, power, and influence to control what happens on this planet. We refer to them as “Big oil.”
Big oil understands how much money is exchanged for energy. Trillions. Big oil is, for now, in control of the only (or most practical) source of raw energy available to us at this point in our planet's industrial development. We need energy to power things, and right now, the most practical (cheapest) way to get that energy is by burning oil. It has been that way for around 150 years.
Over that 150 years, big oil has learned how to protect their monopoly on energy by using the unbelievable amount of money available to them. Enough money to buy out any competitor or squelch any possibility. Enough money to buy and sell people in powerful positions... enough money to tell politicians how to vote, and how to put oil's agenda ahead of any other... Enough money to sway opinions. Enough money to change public perceptions of the truth. Enough money to influence energy-related decisions made in every nation on Earth. They have stopped the development of electric cars. They have discouraged private development of technologies that can compete with internal combustion engines. They have pocketed trillions of dollars doing it.
Let's face it, big oil is in control. Tight control. So much so, that even though everyone knows that big oil will do ANYTHING to stop the development of better options, and even though we can actually point out examples of them doing it, (What happened to electric cars?)... no one thinks it's possible to change that. No one thinks big oil can be dethroned. No one thinks things are going to change.
'Cept me.
I don't doubt that big oil is powerful. The question is: “Is big oil more powerful then America?” ..rephrased, “Can America openly compete with big oil?” Let me try that one more time... “Is big oil so powerful that they can convince an educated planet to ignore every wiser, cleaner, cheaper possibility?” ...or a similar question; “Has big oil so corrupted our power structure that they, (big oil) and NOT The People, or even the government, are in control of the future?”
...and one more question; “Is big oil powerful enough to stop America from competing openly with fossil fuel technology????”
Are we ready for a fight? THE fight?
Big oil does not play well with others. They have no conscience. No sense of right and wrong. There is no regret, no apologies, no motivation other than greed and self-preservation. I'm not a big conspiracy theorist, but history shows that in the past big oil has used every conceivable dirty trick to crush competition. It doesn't stop with buying off politicians. Big oil has crushed and killed people who have threatened them... not to mention they have no regrets regarding the millions they'll continue to kill through pollution and contamination involved in getting oil out of the ground and bringing it to market.
If we're going to take on big oil, people are going to die. If I happen to be one of the people who threatens big oil, my life expectancy goes way down. I understand that. I accept that. That's the reason I'm posting this book as I write it. If I don't get a chance to finish it, maybe someone else will take up the cause... providing the whole thing isn't just squashed. The website might disappear, the book never be published, the “S” never built.
Until reality that big oil can, and MUST be competed with, we will continue as their b*****s. (sorry). And people with better ideas will continue to disappear. And cleaner technologies and solutions will continue to be undeveloped... even unimagined.
It's not just MY life on the line here, it's yours. And your children's. If we continue to allow big oil to stop research into better solutions, their success will be purchased with a body count. Because they won't just 'off' people who write books, ... they'll fill the skies with death.
So, America,
So politicians,
Words like “Change” and “Hope” and “Yes We Can” have been said a lot lately. This is a chain of those ideas. The upside of sucess and change dwarfs any possible downside.
Is it time to compete? Dare we?
I'm not talking about competing by making grant money available to basement labs. (If one gets close, it'll be 'disappeared'.) I'm not talking about forming a committee to investigate energy policies. (It will be corrupted, like every other government-related energy legislation has). I'm not suggesting going after the bums with guns or laws. I'm not talking about establishing a new energy policy encouraging research into alternative energy by a bunch of small, secretive, privately-owned and operated groups...
Big oil is huge, it's world-wide, it's organized, it has more power and influence then any government on Earth. It has more money then the US government, and it has 150 years of experience doing what it does and protecting its exclusivity. No comparatively 'backyard' operation is going to bring it to its knees. There's only one thing that can make this right.
Only one thing can control big oil.
An in-your-face effort. Compete with big oil in the light of day. Take it on head-to-head. No apologies. State that although big oil has provided energy to us for a long time, we intend to compete with them, and we intend to eventually replace every application of fossil fuels for energy. We will set a goal, OUTLOUD, to end the usefulness of fossil fuel energy. We intend to cut big oil down to size.
Can anyone out there imagine competing with big oil right out in the open?
It's never been done. Why? That seems crazy to me. Because BO has stopped it. Crushed its competition. The closest we came seems to be when GM and other auto companies developed some pretty fancy electric cars, along with a new type battery to power them. But big oil is far stronger than a mere car company. Curiously, unlike any other instance in automotive history, each car was taken back, and each car was crushed, many even shredded into tiny pieces. Why was that necessary? Why do you suppose that is? Why would a car company buy back every car, and crush them? (More info? Google “Who killed the Electric Car?”)
Because big oil plays rough. Electric cars don't have internal combustion engines. Big oil could not afford to let them succeed. It would mean selling less oil, and that would cost big oil big money, so the new, advanced, amazing electric cars had to be 'disappeared.' and they were.
And now they're gone. Every one of them but one. (most of it) It's at the Petersen Car Museum. I'm guessing it won't be there long.
Big oil is allowed to operate under a cloak of secrecy because that is the only way they can control things. Right now, big oil has absolute power, and they are absolutely corrupt.
So how do you compete with that?
By mounting an organized, well funded, well publicized, very visible national effort to replace fossil fuels.
The “S”....
If just one time... a large (as in America-sized), unafraid (as in courageous), organized (as in all-inclusive), concentrated (as in physically in touch), coordinated (as in information-sharing), determined to succeed (as in balls-to-the-walls), visible, effort to discover and develop better solutions then oil were mounted (as in the “S”), and if it operated right out in the open... sharing everything, all progress, all experimentation, and every facet of research and discovery going on... not only inside it's walls, but right on the website... so that nothing could be lost or hidden or squelched...
...we could end big oil's monopoly.
We could replace the internal combustion engine.
We could build cars that run on water..
We could discover new kinds of energy and develop them.
We could (eventually) even build the fuelless engine. (As crazy as that sounds.)
We could make the world a better place.
What's holding us back? You.
You, the person reading this. You have got to tell someone you want to see this all happen. You have to make it clear to our shiny new executive branch that America can't afford to allow big oil to limit our possibilities anymore. You have to email a politician, or even the Obama himself.
you ...have to make it known that it's time to build the “S”.
You have to make big oil understand that you stand with the rest of America, and indeed the whole world, when you say that fossil fuels aren't our best option. We're tired of being held for ransom. We're tired of dirty air and smelly engines.
We're not going to take it anymore.
We CAN compete with big oil. We have to. What's stopping us? The alternative sucks.
It only takes one, big, organized, publicized, visible, balls-to-the-walls decision. One move.
Build the “S”
So here's my offer.
There's one way to get in on this. Join up. Sponsor your own f*****g wing of the “S”... Out do everyone! You guys already have a leg up. You've been monitoring energy solutions for a long time. You know more about the stuff you compete against then anyone competing with you. Use it to your advantage. Develop the best stuff you got.. You could be the big winners in this if you play your cards right. The SPS investor program (as proposed elsewhere in this book) will attract a whole new raft of investors, and allow you the lion's share of the profits. If you don't want to work WITH us,....
...here's another option.
Work without us. Beat us at our own game. Build the Anti “S”..... Compete with it. Competition is what America is all about. I invite you to build your place next door! You've got a few bucks laying around. Here's your chance to show off. Build a finer facility. Let's see if you've got the kahonas to compete right out there in the open. You want a SERIOUS challenge? ... See if you can put together a softball team that can beat the Skunks.
Bring it on.
The “S” Book
A proposal for America
by Dax
“We choose to go to the moon, and to do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
JFK
DEDICATION
I dedicate this book to Barack Obama, with the hope that in doing so he will read it, and with the understanding that with one stroke of his pen, this journey can begin.
...but just in case he doesn't have time to read it, I also dedicate this book to smart rich people who are not heavily invested in the oil industry, because to a lessor degree, the same is true of each of them.
...and just in case that doesn't work, I also dedicate this book to anyone in the oil industry who understands that a better option then oil brings with it a better world, AND a shitload of profit. (Just write the check, Dude.)
I also dedicate this book to conspiracy theorists all over the world, who believe that some of the possibilities in this book already exist, but are being kept from us. All I ask is that one of you crazy people go out and find it.
I also dedicate this book to the hundreds of nut jobs working in basement workshops, and are pretty sure they're getting close to a breakthrough. Bring us what you got! We promise not to steal it, but rather to continue its development, and if it works... you'll be rich.
And finally, I dedicate this book to all those who will read it, because it is one of you who will make it happen.
And your name will go down in history.
FORWARD
It is time to look at reality, and in reality the internal combustion engine running on fossil fuels cannot possibly be the engine of the future. I don't care what the automobile manufacturers say. I don't care what the oil companies say. I don't care what scientists or researchers or engineers say. The IC cannot be the end-all, be-all engine. There has got to be a better option. This book proposes that we find that better option, and it outlines a plan to do it.
Going in, I am aware that energy research is already being conducted in labs and test facilities scattered all over the world. Going in, I understand that auto manufacturers are continually improving technology that cleans up emissions from internal combustion engines and increases their mileage. Going in I know that cleaner energy alternatives like wind, solar, and others are being developed and improved by alternative energy companies, and yes, even big oil.
So how's that working for ya so far?
Today an estimated 1,000,000,000 (One Billion) internal combustion engines, and over one million industrial smokestacks, will continue to blacken the skies. The same will happen again tomorrow and every day, until we come up with a better idea.
Going in, I realize that what I propose in this book sounds impossible. So what. In the next hundred or so pages, I've strung together a few interesting facts that I am convinced lead to the opposite conclusion.
This isn't impossible....It's inevitable.
GOALS
Any good project begins by setting goals. Here's ours.
Seems easy enough to me. Let's get started.
Chapter One
STOP LAUGHING AND THINK
I know, I know, I know... but before you decide to laugh this off, consider this: After we've successfully burned up all the fossil fuels on Earth, we're going to have to figure out a way to live without them. Why not do it now? In the past, a lot of “impossible” things were laughed off. That didn't stop them from happening.
Don't you realize that big oil is sitting waist-deep in money, laughing at YOU? Already the world has paid trillions of dollars for oil, (laugh it up) and we're ready to spend trillions more (keep laughing). That allows a pretty big budget to design a new engine, and promises a TRILLION DOLLAR PROFIT to repay the costs of developing it.
Although oil is handy stuff, it is far from the only, or even the best energy source on Earth. There are several kinds of cleaner, better, cheaper energy... available in unlimited quantities... everywhere on the planet. Gravity and electromagnetism for instance, are everywhere and free. All we need is to understand them better and devise a way to tap into them. Faster, more capable computers, increased communication, and advancing technology in every area of science, are helping us define and understand the world around us, and how it all works, and why.
We can do this.
America has lost a lot of respect in the past decade. It's time to remind the world what America is all about, who we are, and what we can do. We are a nation of entrepreneurs. We make things happen.
It's time for America, and Americans, to step things up!... All America needs is a cause to rally around. A goal to accomplish. A reason to all pull in the same direction... It's time to set a goal and work shoulder to shoulder to accomplish that goal. The last time we did this, Niel Armstrong left his footprints on the moon. That was amazing... but this time , ...
... we're going for spectacular!
We're going to ignore words like impossible, and go right past it to incredible. We're going to design and build the engine of the future. And we're not going to stop there.
We're going to change the meaning of the term “alternative energy.” We're going to research and develop,--- and discover, new kinds of energy, and new ways to use it. We're going to develop whole new technologies! ... Then we're going to combine what we've learned, shuffle the deck, and design and build an entirely new class of engines. Engines that use a different source of energy to accomplish more, and cleaner, and cheaper power for our cars, our generators, our homes, and our industry.
And it can all begin at a place I call the “S”... for “Skunkworks.” (Kinds sings, doesn't it.)
Chapter Two
ENTER, THE SKUNKWORKS
I'll be referring to “the Skunkworks” all through this book. Let me share with you my vision of the “S”.
In every science fiction movie, when the camera pans around showing us a view of the city of the future, there's always one very large, very futuristic set of buildings that stands out. It has curved sidewalks snaking through park-like areas, and there's always imaginative sculptures sprinkled around the “campus.” It is obvious to the observer that big things happen here, and that on a daily basis the scientists and engineers and mathematicians who populate this compound deal with ideas and technologies at the very cutting edge of knowledge.
That's how I see the “S” ...
I envision a large, well-staffed, well-funded research facility where words like 'impossible' and 'inconceivable' make people smile, and grade school teachers point out exhibits in hushed voices to classes of kids who need to take a pee. (Sorry). I porpose that although the “S” campus is financed in part by the government, the projects and ideas developed there will belong to The People. As one 'impossible' project after another turns the corner into feasibility, industry will be offered the opportunity to invest in it, purchase it, complete its development, and profit from it... so that eventually everything originating at the “S” is handed over to the private sector for manufacture, sale, and distribution to the world.
...as the “S” staff goes to work on the next 'impossible' solution.
I picture top college grads walking in as wide-eyed twenty-somethings, schooling themselves for years while working on“S” projects, and at some point, when they near their own success, having the option of following their project into private industry, or deciding to stay at the “S” to work on the next solution.
I picture an incubator, where after ideas successfully hatch and mature, they are released out into the world to generate profits... and fuel the economy... and employ people... and make the world a better place.
I see a place where man reaches out and touches the face of God, for the benefit of Man.
Delusions of Grandeur? You bet. (No apology)
Stupid? Unbelievable? Impossible? Impractical? Unimaginable?
No.
Some things really ARE grand. (You got a problem with that?)
This book, although it proposes what I call the “S” is only going to touch on one “S” project. To make a new engine happen. When we've done that, there will be all kinds of projects the “S” will work on, many of them pertaining to how to apply our new toy wisely. It will need refining, and eventually even our amazing new engine will become obsolete, and require even better, more imaginative technology to enable Mans journey into the stars. Before that we've got a lot of work to do.
... and this stuff's going to be fun!
Sit back for a moment and think of things that are impossible. We've been reading about them in science fiction stories for years. Can we actually build transporters like Capt. Kirk has? Can a one-sided door be possible, where the entrance is in you house and the exit is at your office... or on some tropical island beach? Could we invent a telephone you could walk into and step out on the other end of the line? - then, could we make 'em cellular? Would they come in lime green?
Can we enter other universes? Make things invisible? Walk through walls? Build a sportscar that can fly?... or go into space?... or circle the world in 45 minutes? (BTW, astronauts do that already, but their sportscars are kind of pricey and they don't have fins or chrome rims.)
Can we make cities float in the air? Build forcefields? Live on Mars? Instead of snow skiing, could we sky-ski? Go cloud surfing? Can we communicate with other worlds in real time? Can we build a house out of sound or light?
Can we find out where all those missing socks went?
Eventually all these questions and more can be answered. ... but for a moment, and while you hold this book in your hands, I'm going to ask another set of questions. More important questions.
Are we intelligent enough to recognize what we need to do? Are we smart enough to to look for better solutions, or are we satisfied with how things are now? Can we, as has so often be suggested, “Invent our way out of our current situation?” If we can,... Will we? Can civilization survive headed in the direction it is headed today? Is the future safe? Will our grandchildren thank us.. or hate us... or be able to fix what we have broken? ... or be willing to forgive us? Should we do something about something? Take a few steps in a new direction?
Should we trust governments and big business to know what we need and provide it? Should we be patient and assume that answers to our questions and solutions to our problems will somehow appear when we need them? Will we get the answers in time to use them?
...or are we, like frogs, content to stew in apathy until it's too late.
You may have noticed what's not mentioned here. Bombs. If the “S” becomes reality, I have one demand. One rule. One thing I'm going to insist on if this book enables my dream.
The “S” will NOT be a tool of war. Ever.
This book poses one overriding possibility, that it is time to do something smart. Stay with that.
Chapter Three
THIS JOURNEY
... begins with the vast majority believing that what we will set out to do... is impossible, even laughable. The vast majority actually believe that there is no technology that can ever replace internal combustion engines burning fossil fuels... that the internal combustion engine is the end-all, be-all engine, and fossil fuels are the end-all, be-all energy source.
The 'end-all' part might be true.
The vast majority is standing by, watching the sky turn brown. The current plan is to burn all the fossil fuels on the planet because, well, it's wonderful stuff. It allows us to drive cars and heat our homes. It allows us to plug in our electric toothbrushes and turn on our TVs. Fuel oil, gasoline, diesel fuel, coal, ... wonderful stuff! Sure there's a downside, but hey, no pain no gain. Besides... “eventually” someone will come along and fix everything.
The vast majority believe that the world can weather the pollution and suffering brought about by fossil fuels, because we have no better option. No replacement.
Here's a thought. The vast majority needs to be thumped upside the head.
This world of ours is headed in the wrong direction. Put quite simply, the world is broken... and even though most of us understand that fact, we think there's nothing we can do about it.
BAM!
(That was me thumping you upside the head.)
There is something we can do about it. We can change it all. We have to.
...and that is the journey.
I want to thank you, the people who will read this book. You are going to change the world. Oh, not all of you. Most of you are laughing already. You think I'm a crackpot and my ideas are sheer insanity. You think I'm proposing a search for the illusive perpetual motion machine. (I'm not.) You assume that I'm going to produce some nutzo blueprint for a machine that has no chance of ever being built, much less actually work. (I'm not.) You assume that no matter what is written in the next hundred or so pages, nothing will change.
You assume that I'm Dax Quixote, and I'm railing against windmills.
Have a good laugh on me. Feel free. When you're done, look at your kids. Explain to them that inventing a clean engine is impossible, and searching for real answers is a waste of time and money. Share with them your plan to burn fossil fuels every day until it's all gone. Remind them that there's so much fossil fuel available on this planet that it will take us hundreds of years to burn it all up. Assure them that the black smoke coming from the smokestacks in your city isn't hurting anything, and that the exhaust pipe on your SUV is OK because the exhaust coming out of it just disappears into thin air. Explain that global warming is just something grown ups made up. It isn't real.
And tell them that no one needs to change any of it.
Everything's going to be just fine.
It is often said that the longest journey begins with a single step. This book can be that step. Will the journey be easy? No. Will it be cheap? No. Will it happen overnight? No. Is it logical or even possible? You'll have to read those chapters, and you will see that is is both. Is this the right time in history to do this? No. It should have been done long ago.
In his inaugural speech, John F. Kennedy said “We choose to go to the moon, and to do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
Well this is one of the 'other things' ...
...and this will be hard.
Chapter Four
CAN'T WE JUST CLEAN UP INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES?
First, I'll state the obvious; Yes, of course we could clean up fossil fuel exhausts. The entire message of this book is that nothing is impossible. But we really owe it to ourselves to consider what the practicality of that is. The fact that we could clean up the exhaust, maybe even trap all the pollution before it leaves industrial smokestacks, doesn't alter the fact that burning fossil fuels releases pollution into our environment. Maybe we can trap it before it escapes into the air, but then what?
Where do we put the crap we filter out? Where do we bury the poison and pollutants subtracted from all that 'clean' exhaust? Developing a smokestack scrubber/filter, and at the same time modifying internal combustion engines to the point they don spew s**t out their exhaust pipes, doesn't change the the bottom line.
I contend that burning fossil fuels just ain't a good idea, but let's be fair about this.
I'll throw out the facts, and you make the call....
We've been spending millions, even billions on the problem of fossil fuel emissions for a long time already, and so far we got bubkiss, or next to bubkiss. To continue to dump money into this sewer might eventually allow for clean exhaust, but as stated above, that really doesn't fix anything in the long run. Trapping and burying all that crap is not a solution... So after we spend the dough to develop 'the perfect filter' for fossil fuel emissions, we will have to continue spending billions more to figure out what to do with all the stuff we trap. And even if we can do that, (nothing's impossible) we still have one little problem.
Nothing changes.
We continue purchasing kilowatt hours from utility companies. We continue buying gas for our cars and fuel for our homes. We remain at the mercy of the oil industry and oil producing countries. International tensions continue. Power outages after natural disasters will not go away. Under developed countries will have no easier way to acquire electricity to pump water or power light bulbs. And we continue to deplete Earths limited supply of fossil fuels.
...and for what?
Here's the other side of that argument:
First, we save the billions we don't spend on further development of 'clean' fossil fuel technology. (It's a myth.) We save more money, and more real estate, by not burying the filters that clean up exhaust. With the fuelless engine, we don't need utility companies because we can each have our own private utility company right in the back yard. We don't have to worry about the price of gas because we don't need it anymore. The oil companies will not be able to hold energy for ransom, nor will the oil producing countries have any say on how much we pay for a barrel of crude. America achieves instant energy independence. One other thing, the most backward, primitive, underprivileged areas of the planet can have electricity available without building expensive power plants or paying to build the infrastructure that comes with the old methods. And finally, we save fossil fuels for future generations, who will no doubt continue to develop new and better ways to use it. ...and yes, fossil fuels hold incredible potential for good. We make all kinds of useful and good stuff from fossil fuels. That's the point! Let's save the stuff. Our kids may need it.
So you make the call. (Check one.)
___ Let's clean up exhaust and continue relying on OPEC and big oil companies. ___Let's not.
If you checked “Let's not” then by all means continue reading.
Chapter Five
WHY IS TODAY THE DAY?
I began writing this book on the night America elected Barack Obama. Something happened. Everyone everywhere seemed to understand that something had changed in that moment. There were tears of joy on the faces of millions of people all over the world. Something HAD changed. All of a sudden the impossible seemed possible. All of a sudden people all over the world felt that things could improve. That America could rebound from the downslide it was on and begin to redeem the reputation she once had.
At that moment, the impossible became possible.
There is no time like right now, and there hasn't been a time like right now for a long time. America, like the rest of the world, has been watching things deteriorate for a long time. Terrorism, suicide bombings, wars, starvation, genocide, pollution, breakdown of international relations, threats of bio-terrorism and nuclear terrorism, weapons of mass destruction in every conceivable scenario. All of that affects all of us, in every country, on every continent. Everything seemed to be spiraling out of control.
Then one wonderful moment reflected a glimmer of hope in the direction of all of us. At that moment a lot of optimism was born. Maybe the leader we'd prayed for for such a long time had surfaced. Maybe he CAN be the agent of change his speeches promised. Maybe the world can make sense again?
Well, maybe.
But just because we're in the mood to do it, doesn't overshadow the most obvious reason. Now is the right time to set about accomplishing 'the impossible' because we have a whole new set of tools to work with. Our civilization is going through a period of its history when for the first time, virtually every person on earth has access to a tool that gives them unlimited access to all available knowledge and information on any topic, by simply wiggling their fingers over a keyboard. It's called the internet, and it has already triggered advances in virtually every field of science, on almost a day to day basis. We are riding the wave of a technology explosion evidenced by changes in the very foundations of our way of thinking. We are beginning to understand that if we set our minds to it, the internet can help us accomplish almost anything we set out to do.
To give you an example of how cocky we are today, I debated for a long time whether or not to include the word 'almost' in that sentence. I still don't know if it belongs there.
Because I truly believe we can do anything we set out to do.
We've tolerated internal combustion engines and fossil fuel energy for long enough. There are better solutions, better ideas, and wiser ways to satisfy our energy and power needs. The answers are out there. The internet can help organize a world wide effort to find them.
It is time we do.
We are the stewards of our planet and all its resources. We are the ones who decide where our efforts are best used, and it is we who – right now – are making the decisions that will shape the future of life on this planet. No one has to tell us that we would be better off with cheap, clean energy. No one has to tell us that pollution is bad. No one has to point out the stupidity of environmental suicide. We already know these things.
What we don't know is how we're going to correct the situation... but right now, at this incredibly optimistic moment in history, if this book can only convince us to pull the trigger...
... we're going to find out.
Chapter Six
WHAT IS IMPOSSIBLE?
What is impossible? Well, let's start with 'It's impossible to know what's impossible.' One thousand years ago it was impossible to kill an animal from 100 feet away. Today we could drop a nuke on it from the other side of the planet while sipping green tea.
One thousand years ago it was impossible to travel one hundred miles in one day. Today astronauts travel 17,000 miles - in one hour.
Three hundred years ago it was impossible to power a light bulb... in fact, the light bulb itself was impossible to invent, because no one understood electricity. Oh electricity was there, but no one knew about it, much less how to harness it. It was impossible. Then.
Think about that for just a moment. People who lived back then lived full lives, studied the world around them, observed the same nature we observe today... and felt that they 'knew' everything they could know about the world around them. About two hundred years ago, the US Patent Office almost closed down, - because everything that could ever be invented... had already been invented! People back then were comfortable with their world and the realities and limitations of living in it. They were comfortable with what was possible – and what was impossible. They accepted the limits of possibility as they knew them.
... and at one point, it was impossible to kill an animal from 100 feet away. So one definition of 'impossible' WAS “It is impossible for a man to kill anything 100 feet away.”
Today it's not.
That means that the definition of “Impossible” has changed. The list of things that are impossible has changed. Things formerly impossible are now possible. Is it possible that impossible is impossible? (You might want to read that sentence a few times.) I don't want to beat you up with this, but only one hundred years ago sending a picture through the air was impossible. Today it's called TV.
Fifty years ago standing on the moon was impossible. Today Niel Armstrong can tell you how it feels.
Twenty years ago text messaging was impossible.
Five years ago seeing a planet outside our solar system was impossible.
One year ago, watching an African-American family move into the White House was impossible.
OMG!
One thing seems certain. That defining impossible is impossible, because a lot of impossible things, well,... aren't.
So what does that mean? It means that replacing fossil fuels as the main source of energy on this planet is not impossible. It means that replacing polluting internal combustion engines is not impossible. It means that a future with clean air and abundant, cheap energy is not impossible.
This kind of scares me, but one thing that may actually be impossible today... is convincing the world that cheap, clean energy is possible. Kind of ironic, isn't it?
That's why I'm writing this book. I believe in the impossible. With any luck, someone in a position to help me convince the world to clean up it's act will read this book, get on board, and viola'! Our journey into the impossible will begin.
As outlined above, this will not be the first journey into impossible man has undertaken... and it won't be the last. It could very well be one of the most important, though.
Chapter Seven
IS A FUEL-LESS ENGINE POSSIBLE?
The simple and obvious answer is “no.” To design an engine that creates energy on its own, using no outside influence or fuel, is not possible. Even designing an engine that continues to run on its own (never mind generating energy of some sort) without fuel would be considered perpetual motion. According to the laws of science, perpetual motion is impossible. What we are talking about might actually sound even crazier! The fuel-less engine we're going to design not only continues to run without feeding a fuel into it, it actually outputs energy!
Well that's just crazy.
Think so? The new engine will not be a perpetual motion machine. That would be useless, because a perpetual motion machine – even if it were possible – would use all its available energy simply to continue to run on its own. Fun to watch, but serve no purpose. As soon as you connect it to a generator it would begin to slow down as fast as the generator outputs energy from the PM machine. As soon as the generator has created the same amount of energy it takes to allow the PM machine to run, the PM machine would stop. In other words, even if a PM machine were possible, it would not create energy, only recycle it. According to scientists and engineers, it is physically impossible to create energy.
But that's not what we're trying to do.
All we're trying to do is make nearly unlimited “free energy” available from an engine/generator that never runs out of gas. Our fuel-less engine will (of course) require a source of energy to allow it to run. However, it won't require refills, and it will never run out of gas... because it will run without it.
Just because we're not feeding fossil fuels into it, - or any fuels for that matter, does not mean the new unit isn't being “fed” something. There is energy everywhere. The new unit will tap into an unlimited source of energy that is now either unknown, ignored, misunderstood, underdeveloped, or taken for granted.
In other words, one very good possibility is that the new unit will “suck” its fuel right out of thin air!
Thin air is filled with energy. For instance, how much gravity is available in one square foot? The answer is “more than all the energy created by burning all the fossil fuels on Earth.” What if our new unit can use the unlimited availability of gravity for its fuel? Then think about magnetism. It's also everywhere, and is always available (are you ready?) right out of thin air. Alpha, beta, delta, and a whole alphabet of “wave energy” is also everywhere. Can it power a generator? Who knows. Want another one? Between 20 and 60 miles above the earth is an envelope of energy that circles the planet. Another unlimited source of energy. Can we tap into it? Who knows. Could we orbit something that gathers that energy and 'beams' it down? Dunno.
And we'll never know until we set out to take a closer look at the possibilities, and experiment around for a while. If you are under the impression that we already know everything about energy, you never read a book about Nikoli Tesla. The guy had insatiable curiosity, and unlimited imagination. He dreamt up all kinds of experiments, had all kinds of theories, and even today scholars look at what he did in wonder.
We could use a few guys like that.
So we have to roll up our sleeves and start using our abilities and our imaginations to figure out this world of ours, and how energy plays its part. We need to look at all the possibilities, all the options, and even all the impossible stuff.
Is that possible?
No. We'll never run out of things to investigate. We'll never run out of possibilities. We'll never figure everything out. But on the way to all those things, we're going to discover (for the umteenth time) that we are only at the beginning of knowledge. Somewhere in the future there awaits a better option then burning fossil fuels. Somewhere there is even what I refer to as a fuelless engine, just waiting to be found.
Let's find it.
Chapter Eight
IT'S NOT LOGICAL
That's where you're wrong. Consider every field of science, every technology, every piece of information we now consider 'logical.'
They've all changed.
One thousand years ago, logic dictated that the universe rotated around the Earth. A few hundred years ago the universe expanded, because everything, including all five planets in the universe, rotated around the sun. A little more then one hundred years ago, the universe expanded again, and included millions of stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way. Only a few decades ago it expanded again to include millions of galaxies. Today scientists speculate that there are infinite numbers of “multiverses” out there... and infinite variations on our own reality, and possibly infinite dimensions, each with infinite multiverses of their own.
So by studying the sky, we learned that in evolving situations, logic was way off... to the point of being laughable.
Now look at advances in transportation. Logic at different points in time, changes. The best mode of transportation, for instance. From chariots, to bicycles, to cars, to airplanes, to Apollo 16 landing on the moon and Voyager leaving the solar system. Each were logical in their own times, and pretty much laughable at any other point in time ...
How about communications? From the logic of signal fires and smoke signals, yadda, yadda, yadda, to orbiting satellites used by cellphones with GPS and text messaging (and games and music and the internet).
How about raw computing? Logical for Univac filling a room, then later, just as logical for a computer that fits on your lap. The speed with which computers process data increases by a factor of 10 every few years! There is FAR more computing power in the cellphone in your pocket then there was available on Apollo 16 when it dropped of that Armstrong guy for a stroll on the moon. In fact, so does your watch, maybe even your coffeemaker.
What am I trying to say here? That technology advances in every field of study. Better yet, it advances in leaps and bounds, continually shattering 'logical' ceilings and ignoring the logic of yesterday.
Curiously, there seems to be one exception here. You guessed it. The internal combustion engine. Its basic, logical design explodes fossil fuels to expand a chamber, and push a piston up, which turns a crankshaft, which makes the wheels go round and round. It is incredibly inefficient, incredibly dirty, and is constructed of moving parts certain to wear out on a predictable basis.
Do you think that's the best we can do? Does that seem logical to you?
Of course not. If the internal combustion engine is the best we can come up with, we deserve the crap that comes along with it... and burning up all the fossil fuels on Earth is a lot of crap. So is the idea that we can't do better... isn't even logical TODAY. It'll be laughable tomorrow.
It's pretty f*****g obvious that we can do this. (Sorry, but it's true, isn't it?) ,,,
....and here at the beginning of this book I'm going to apologize for my language throughout, but I am very, very disappointed in big industry, and even more disappointed in near-sided government. I find it hard to believe that a guy struggling to make ends meet, with only a little better that a high school education, has to write this book. Logically, someone way smarter and far better equipped, and in a much better financial position then me should have taken up this cause years ago. I should be driving around in a car without a tailpipe worrying about what song I'll sing at karaoke tonight instead of writing this book... so please excuse me if I get testy from time to time while I write down my thoughts... but Geez, am I the first one to figure this out?
It is time mankind frees itself of the internal combustion model by replacing it with something far more intelligent.
BTW, I'd say the same of the 'big three' automakers, ... and most politicians. Let's find some intelligent people that can run things the right way, huh? At least once in a while I'd like to see something go right. I mean, even a blind pig finds an occasional ear of corn... It'll be interesting to see who gets behind this idea... and why. Will government grants and donations from future-minded contributors enable this plan to make the world a better place,,, or,,, will giant corporations and greedy businessmen enable the plan for profits?
Frankly, Scarlett...
... who cares? Let's just do it.
Chapter Nine
ISN'T THE CIA ALREADY WORKING ON THAT?
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha... (inhale) Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha... I laugh.
Everyone has heard the rumors about secret labs at Area 51 and other places, where they've supposedly been working on reverse-engineering UFO technology for years. Hey, I do firmly believe in UFOs and life 'out there' and all that. I'm pretty sure our government, or some government, or the military, or some secret intelligence agency with initials for a name... Someone has got at least the remains of one UFO that crashed somewhere at some point in time. Maybe several of them. Maybe several labs, in several countries. And I'm guessing whomever works there is trying to figure them out. Probably has been for years.
I'm also pretty sure these dirtbags will never show up, never share what they know, never contribute anything, and basically.... simply continue living under rocks with the other worms.
What a bunch of idiots! Again I laugh... and I say “screw 'em all.”
If indeed that stuff is true, (and after tens of thousands of reported UFO sightings, it just might be), then the people in charge are either extremely stupid, or extremely greedy, or military intelligence... or, of course the correct answer which is: “D”, all of the above.
Let's start with stupid.
If there actually are super-secret research labs that have UFO technologies they are hiding from the rest of humanity, what the hell are they thinking? If these super-secret labs are actually working on reverse engineering UFOs, one of the things they're trying to figure out is our fuelless engine. I remind you here that your typical UFO doesn't seem to have a very large gas tank. They must get their energy from... Well, thin air. The same energy they use, (whatever that is), we can use. Same engine, same design, same capabilities.
In other words, PARTS OF, OR POSSIBLY AN ENTIRE, WORKING, FUELLESS ENGINE MIGHT ALREADY EXIST RIGHT HERE ON EARTH...
I'm guessing that the materials used in building UFO 'fuelless engines' are probably not from a lumber yard or plumbing supply store, either. So that's more information about new materials and new alloys they could share with humanity...
If it's true, and someone has been hiding this precious secret behind locked and bolted doors, they should be brought up on criminal charges for crimes against humanity. Great advances in technology could be shared and developed to benefit everyone. The whole world can benefit in a huge way from a fuelless engine, and if some single entity (or government, or agency) is hording this amazing possibility so they can turn a profit someday...
I'd like a chance to punch that f****r right in the face... several times.
A small group of select scientists and engineers who are sworn to secrecy, might be stumbling around pretending they're eventually going to figure it out all by themselves. Instead of harnessing the entire scientific community on this project, and inviting every engineer in the world to check out possibilities, coordinate information at our website and add to the central database, (which is my plan), those greedy b******s are sitting on it.
Stupid people think they are smarter then everyone else. Get a few stupid people together, then give 'em a little power or a lucky break,.. like an opportunity to change the world,,,, and they'll screw it up every time, because stupid people are , well , stupid.
The most logical explanation for one of these super-secret reverse-engineering labs to be hiding all this valuable information is, unfortunately, that old favorite... “black projects.” That's right. The very government that we assume is trying to make intelligent decisions, has decided that developing the fuelless engine, solving the fuel shortages, cleaning up pollution, and providing cheap, reliable, clean power to every howsehold in America...... all of that is a security risk. So the engine technology that could make an entire new world happen...
...can't be exposed for reasons of“national security.”
Bullshit.
Is it possible that our military leaders are as useless as our politicians? Is it possible that our intelligence agencies are not? (intelligent, I mean.) Is their plan, (as usual) to use this technology to develop more weapons instead? Hey! I know! We could build bombs!!!!!
F****n' genius.
F****n' idiots!
If there really are hidden labs somewhere, - anywhere - working on all these secret projects, it is my sincere hope that one of the first things that happens when funding for the “S” comes through, is that we immediately begin a world wide search for those labs. And if we DO find one, we just might discover that serious advances toward the fuelless engine have already been made!
If so, we could immediately put the entire scientific community connected through the “S” program to work on 'em, and FEs might be on the shelves in a few years!
If nothing else in this book has convinced you that the fuelless engine can be developed, maybe this chapter will bring a little reality... or logic, into the possibility of the fuelless engine actually becoming a available. Unfortunately the reality of the situations is this; If we do uncover some wild-eyed black budget lab run by the CIA or whatever, and they ARE reverse engineering a UFO in their underground fortress of solitude, we'll probably need a couple dozen famous lawyers to get any access. And we'll probably need intelligent, well-connected politicians in high office to even acknowledge that the labs exist, and we'll in addition need reasonable military decision-makers to loose their grip on the mega-budget black op secret lab.
Don't hold your breath.
That's the reason I almost didn't include this chapter is in the book. If we have to trust the “S” project to lawyers, politicians, and the military... we're screwed. .Even if it's right under our noses.
Because we all know that we can't expect anything intelligent to happen when you have to rely on lawyers, politicians, and military intelligence. Sad, isn't it?
PS...
I'm aware there are several private research labs, and we've also all heard rumors of the CIA and other super-secret research facilities looking into energy alternatives and Tesla-esque possibilities. Each “Team” working independently, keeping vital information secret so as to stay ahead of the other guy. So how's that working so far? We got nothin'.
I'm proposing the real deal... right out in the open, the future energy technology “Skunkworks.” One, well-funded, all-inclusive, inter-communicating, information-sharing, coordinated effort, - encompassing virtually all imaginable fields of study, working together.
Not hiding under rocks.
Not working in secrecy.
Chapter Ten
WHAT WILL THE SKUNKWORKS DO? WHERE DO THEY START?
Huge question! Of course, I've got the answer for you.
To begin, the Skunkworks will be no more than a think tank. A bunch of very imaginative, very well-educated engineers, sitting around a conference table eating Krusty's donuts and talking and laughing about what is and isn't possible. Oh, they'll have a great time!
(Little secret...I'd love to be a fly on that wall.)
It's almost got to begin with discussions of ridiculous impossibilities. They'll search the internet and investigate proposed theories and designs for engines supposedly all ready to go. (What a kick in the head if one already exists!) They'll pour over pictures and diagrams. They'll order the plans, build several flops, try to decide if anything they see is worth further consideration. If so, they might actually have a place to start... maybe.
Don't hold your breath.
While all that's on the table, the subject of fuel must be addressed. What in heck could possibly serve to fuel a fuelless engine? Is gravity a fuel? Magentism? Synthetic plasma? Can a different fuel act as an agent for change in basic engine design? Is there a way to “super-energize” or “super-polarize some substance to act in a way that can provide a hitherto unexplored type of fuel or fuel reaction? Can we mix technologies to make fuel 'work' better? Can any type of fuel be 'broadcast' to an engine? What might make that possible? Must our fuel be from this world, or is there a way to grab energy directly out of space? Is there any way to orbit an “energy attractor” and beam it down? Is there a way to search for an energy portal into another dimension or even another universe? ??? ?????
In the end, just discussing every imaginable option will take some time. Narrowing interest down to a couple low-percentage possibilities is about the best we can hope for at this early stage... well, as far as brainstorming goes.
And we're just getting started.
The group will also talk about mechanical possibilities and limitations. Can a mechanical 'contraption engine' somehow be designed to use moving parts and repeating motions which allow gravity to multiply its momentum? Is an engine with moving parts even practical? Can magnets be permanently aligned in a machine without eventual weakening or depolarizing? Can a contraption mixing and matching multiple technologies and physical actions and reactions bring about more energy that it requires to run? No, not a perpetual motion design, but one that uses the constant down force of gravity.
...and eventually they'll devise experiments. Fun ones. Experiments that test the conventional knowledge, and experiments that investigate the intersections and the shadows of all these technologies.
They'll talk about things like practicality, size, power ranges, goals, and limitations. They'll consider safety, health concerns, radiations or any pollution possibilities and every other aspect of this puzzle. They'll look at municipal-scale realities and requirements, investigate industry needs and current practices. They'll check out everything they can imagine.
Is it practical or realistic to look into fractals? Why do fractal antenna work the way they do.. and how do they work? Can this new science 'adjust' the way they detect or see, or transmit, or receive things? Can a fractal design of some sort actually help us discover another available energy in the universe? Can one connected to another translate one form of signal into another.. or could two of them combine two forms of airborne energy? Could an energy antenna of any sort even be possible? Is it logical? (OK, strike 'logical').
How about our old friend cold fusion. Impossible? It is the way we understand it today, but what if a billion or so were thrown into taking a closer look? What if 20 scientists and 20 engineers worked for 20 years on the solution?
But they won't be alone. In every phase of this project, those involved with the Skunkworks will ask for input from scientists and engineers in every developed country on the planet. They'll ask for suggestions over the internet, and contact existing research facilities of all sorts to tour them and learn what they have to learn to enable them to find a way to do what it is they have to do.
They'll exhaust themselves searching textbooks and journals for clues into the answers.
...and eventually, they'll come up with a plan. Not a solution, but a plan to find solutions.
Chapter Eleven
ASK MOM
The answer to so many questions is right there in nature. She has a habit of giving us everything we need. All we have to do is find it... or figure it out. Cavemen were probably pretty excited when they found out that striking two pieces of flint together made a spark. Ben F., too, when he got a spark from a key on his kite string. Elsewhere in this book I mention that a quartz radio can be made from a rock. (Ask a Boy Scout how). What if.... What if ... mother nature has our answer already, but we just haven't found it? Sound impossible? Think of eels. They can generate a pretty serious amount of electricity, yet I've never seen one anywhere near an outlet. Could some method of bio-generating energy be out there?
How about our old friend magnetism. There are well-documented magnetic anomalies all over the place. Let's check them out. Let's figure out why a compass spins when it enters one of these places. I've got another one. If magnetism is measured at different levels at certain locations, what happens if we run a wire from that location to somewhere outside that location? Does electricity just show up on the other end?
Same deal with gravity. There are well-known gravitational anomalies, too. Why? What's different at those locations? What makes gravity vary? Is it reflected by something in the earth? Or bent? Reflected? Squeezed? Filtered? How s it changed, why does it happen?
Let's keep playing the game... If gravity is 'created' by mass, and it's a force that 'pulls' one object toward another object, then what happens if one very dense form of matter (like lead, or my brother) is placed near, or above, or below, or sandwiched between, or surrounded by,... a very, um, 'not-dense' form of matter? (I have no idea what the opposite of dense would be... Smart?) Now what happens when we add varied natural influences to one or more layers of that sandwich? Electricity or heat or vibration or friction. Can experimenting with combined natural influences unveil secrets to handling or manipulating gravity? There's hundreds, even thousands of combinations that can be plugged into that equation. Will any of them produce anything we don't already understand?
Another invisible energy is just now coming to light. Several books have been written about a gridwork or web of some sort of amazing energy circling the planet. In theory, places like Stonehenge, the Great Pyramids, and other mysterious locations were identified as energy centers thousands of years ago. Are they somehow connected to this undiscovered energy field that circles the planet?
Could this be the 'new stuff' we're looking for? ... and cavemen knew about it? Come on, if man was familiar with these energies thousands of years ago, how tough can it be to figure THAT out?
Hmmmmmm...
Let's look at another one... Is there something strange going on in the Bermuda Triangle? Could we plug a toaster oven into that?
Hmmmmmm...
Ain't this fun? There are all kinds of energy-related mysteries going on out there. (Dr. Watson, Get me my hat & pipe.) One of them is all we need to identify. Discovering one might be so easy...
Even a caveman can do it. (My apologizes to the gecko.)
Chapter Twelve
THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING
If we,... Let me correct that. WHEN... we set out to unlock the mysteries that allow us to develop a fuelless engine, the whole world will benefit from it. So why not bring everyone in right at the beginning of this adventure? Let's take a look at what happens when we ask six or seven billion of our closest personal friends to jump on board.
It begins with fun. Laughing is fun. So here's the plan. We (our website) will invite everyone to take a shot at figuring out this riddle. Not just rocket scientists and brain surgeons. Everyone. Of course established 'think tanks' and other cerebrialists are welcome. (I just made up a word right there.) But if an average guy like me can imagine up enough possibilities to write this book, then following that logic, maybe a bowling team from Indiana will be the ones who come up with the final solution?
Would that be cool or what?
The object of the game is for people everywhere to put their heads together and look at all the angles. Discuss every possibility. Dream every dream. Not every meeting will produce results, but some will actually come up with interesting questions or ideas. Those ideas can be submitted to the website and shared with other bowling teams. Maybe one of them will come up with an even more interesting question, or a different slant on the same question. Eventually maybe one of those questions will lead to something. An idea no intelligent non-bowler would even consider. Get enough bowling teams together, and laugh at enough ridiculous answers, and submit enough useless information to the website, and eventually, like the million-monkey syndrome (Sorry, bowlers) our answer will turn up.
So.... at our website we will encourage groups to get together for “S” parties. At one, everyone can bring snacks, kind of a pot-luck thing. They can listen to whatever music they like while they sit around tables wearing loud Hawaiian shirts, and simply talk it out. Anyone can suggest anything... pose any question... call each other idiots, and stumble around blindly without any clue to a solution.
They can play the “imagine this” game, guessing what will eventually happen. They can throw out insane ideas that don't have a chance in hell of succeeding, and postulate theories that a six year old could see through.
Trust me, there'll be a lot of laughing. (I kind of like that energy, if you haven't picked up on that yet.)
... and here again, I'm going to stray from topic a little. This energy thing is serious. It's been beating us up for a long time and it's caused a lot of pain and suffering, a lot of pollution, and a lot of just plain old sadness. I've been re-reading this book as I write it, and I am very aware that my thoughts, my ideas, and even this entire diatribe, can be viewed as nothing more than comedy. Light-hearted reading best suited for times spent early mornings in the sitting position.
Maybe that's so.
But another thing is happening here, or could be. We could have a lot of fun figuring this out. The idea that hundreds or even millions of goofy meetings, with goofy people, talking about goofy ideas... can produce a ton of laughter...
...well, that's pretty neat all by itself.
So I'm going to include one more crazy idea here in the “get everyone involved” chapter. I propose that on the website, there be an area for jokes. Crazy ideas. Crackpot theories. Rube Goldberg solutions. Let's have some fun with this. Maybe making the world a better place is a joke!
We WILL eventually have better solutions then we now have. And we're going to figure all this stuff out. But it's not only about the destination. If we do this right, the voyage itself can make the world a little better place. I know we can bring people with ideas together. Even better, I know they'll be laughing most of the time.
I hope this voyage can be a fun learning experience not restricted to the lofty goals set by the challenge, but inspired by the journey it will take us on..
...so anyway, three rocket scientists walk into a bar....
Chapter Thirteen
EXACTLY WHAT WILL THE SKUNKWORKS DEVELOP?
I simply cannot even guess what they'll come up with... but as that hasn't stopped me yet, let me try.
The “S” team will be looking for solutions. The problem going in is pollution. The proposed answer is a new type of energy or fuel, or a new pollution-free engine design. Maybe both. The road to that solution will go through a myriad of experimentation. While theorizing some of the more imaginative engine possibilities, it is possible we will 'accidentally' invent or discover an entire new fuel not even connected to that engine. Call it divine coincidence. We might just stumble across a possible solution on the way to an impossible solution.
It has happened before. When oil was first pumped out of the ground, it was not intended for use as gas in internal combustion engines, it was for kerosene to power lamps. At the time internal combustion engines, more specifically the diesel engine, ran on vegetable oil. We stumbled upon the whole diesel fuel thing later. (Gasoline was considered waste material at the time.)
Or take that the other direction... while designing an engine to run on proposed fuel 'A', we might find out that fuel 'B' would be the perfect solution. In other words, while looking at fuels we could stumble across an engine design... and visa-versa.
Or while trying to develop the perfect engine, we might accidentally figure out a more efficient refrigeration technology. Or while designing an antenna, we could stumble across techniques that enable a ray gun. (I giggled again there.)
Or while experimenting with fractal antennas, we could accidentally 'invent' a force field generator.
Put simply... almost any area of technology could be expanded. Almost any breakthrough, in any field, could come from the “S”.
Because the “S” will be working on every aspect of energy and where it comes from and how it works, and how to use it. Considering how little we actually know in many of the 'more imaginative' areas we will be researching, we'll allow our investigation to head off in any direction it take us. Who knows what that can lead us to? What kind of technology will come of open-ended research?
Chapter Fourteen
THE ANTENNEA POSSIBILITY
Antennae are cool. Hook a piece of wire to your radio, and it “sucks” a signal right out of thin air which your radio then translates into sound. Hook one to a TV, and you got sound AND light to translate – again, sucked right out of thin air.
Very cool.
Antennae have come a long way in the recent years. The new science of fractals is proving to multiply and expand what an antennae can accomplish. Using a fractal design, the same size antenna can “suck up” far more signals, and on a wider band than other simpler designs. Could a fractal antenna of some sort actually be designed to “suck up” magnetism and use it to power your new unit? Or gravity? Or ... whatever? There are all kinds of energy available “right out of thin air,” all we have to do is figure out how to gather it with some sort of antenna, and Alakazam! We got our new unit.
In the case of magnetism, we would literally be sucking electricity right out of thin air. It might not even require an engine! Just an antenna hooked to an outlet. Plug anything into the outlet – an' it runs.
OMG !
Could it be that simple?
Consider this...
The universe has a habit of providing for us in very simple ways.... For instance, a manufacturer builds a radio out of transistors, resistors, capacitors and wires. Then assemble all the tricky-to-understand parts into a symphony of complexities... and eventually, if everything is just right, you can pick up a signal from a transmitter far away on that radio. Pretty complicated stuff.... or...
...You can ask a Boy Scout how to build a crystal radio, basically using a rock. It does the same thing.
Nature. Very cool indeed.
It seems very possible, even certain, that somewhere out there in nature there is a very simple, very elegant, and probably very cheap way to “suck” some sort of available and unlimited energy right out of thin air. Wouldn't that be neat.
So what if we “invent” an energy antenna?
What if the frame of your car were such an antenna? Or the frame of your house? Or the frame of a train? Or the tracks the train runs on? What if energy could be gathered not by erecting a huge array of structures and wires, but instead by a small, fractal “energy sucker antenna” and made available anywhere, in any size, for any purpose?
Wow.
We're not done with the “right out of thin air” possibility yet. Consider this one: In space, a bowing ball is weightless. It has mass, and if it's moving it has momentum, but it does not “weigh” anything until it is affected by gravity. What is gravity?
Very neat stuff.
Although I am hardly at the cutting edge of science, I know that if a bowling ball weighs 16 pounds on earth, there is always16 pounds of energy (force?) sucking it toward the ground. I am also pretty sure that if my bowling ball were the same size, but weighed one million pounds, there would be one million pounds of energy (force?) available in the same space, to draw it toward the ground. Gravity. Unlimited in quantity, impossible to deplete, free everywhere.
Hmmmmm...
Really smart (scientist-type) people will remind us that gravity is considered a “weak force.” It is assumed by science that “the rest of gravity's force” is lost into other dimensions or universes. Big deal. As far as I can tell, even as a so called “weak” force, it's pretty handy stuff. But for a moment, let's assume that we mere humans are not capable of completing the graviton equation. Let's assume that it would take a particle accelerator seventeen-mile across, built at a cost of billions of dollars and staffed by insanely-intelligent, highly-educated scientists and engineers, to make any energy possible by colliding, capturing or modifying an infinitesimally-small graviton to extract its secrets. Let's further assume that it is impossible to translate actual gravity into something we can send down a wire.
Big deal again.
This leaves only the fact that gravity is available in unlimited quantity, at every location on earth, and it always pulls in the same direction. Start thinking of gravity as unlimited thrust in one direction. If we can't learn to control gravity, we can certainly work on designs that take mechanical advantage of gravity to make energy... in fact, we already are!
When electricity is generated by water flowing downhill past a dam, that's gravity power. In a bit more abstract way, when high and low pressure is built up in our atmosphere, it is gravity that makes the atmosphere seek equilibrium... and makes the wind blow. That's right, wind power is actually generated by gravity as well.
Handy stuff.
The true gravity engine probably hasn't been invented yet. That doesn't mean they're not for sale on the internet. Google “fuelless engine” (or any number of variations on that) and you will find thousands of “hits” directing you to websites that tell you about one, or even offer to sell you plans so you can build your own... or something close. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of wild-eyed “Tesla wannabes” spending their time in basement labs working on designing the gravity drive engine. Several will sell you plans showing you how to build your own gravity-drive engine or even a gravity-drive “perpetual heater” for your home or office... or basement lab.
In fact, because of what I mentioned earlier, (That nature has a way of making things work very simply), it is not too much of a stretch of imagination to believe that eventually one of these basement labs could actually stumble across the simple, probably very elegant, natural solution.
The fuelless engine equivalent of the quartz radio.
Maybe one already has!
There's one more thought that has to be jammed in here. Remember when we mentioned that scientists believe much or most of gravity's force is “lost” to another dimension or possibly “leaks” into another universe? What if we could open a portal into that universe? ..Or somehow access it to “take back” the strong gravity force missing from our universe. What if... what if... what if...
Now go with me here... Think “dimensional antenna.” ..And that opens up a whole new category of “thin air” possibilities that might be full of free energy. What if we figure out a way to connect to parallel universes, hidden dimensions, overlapping realities... Phase-shift, a time repeater, or here's a fun one.. How about a window into an absolute vacuum?
We're cookin' now!
So again we revisit our original goal: To design a fuel-less engine. All the above possibilities, if they can be built, would essentially be fuel-less. None would rely on perpetual motion, nor break any laws of physics. They would (of course) require some sort of fuel/energy to use for power, so each would draw their fuel right out of thin air... and they would never run out of gas. None would pollute in any way. None would deplete their available source of energy. None would contribute to global warming. None would require high-tension wires strung all over the countryside.
None would burn fossil fuels.
I'm only guessing here, but I'm going to go with; “None will be introduced by oil companies.”
Chapter Fifteen
MICRO NUKES, SINGULARITIES, AND MASS-TO-ENERGY CONVERTERS
Once we've got a big ol' research facility investigating the possibilities of pulling energy right out of thin air, remember that the goal is an engine that does not pollute, and never runs out of fuel. That goal can be achieved with the 'out of thin air' model... or, we can achieve that goal even if we can't figure out a fuelless 'thin air' model, by looking at another impossible-sounding class of engines. I like to refer to these as the 'self-contained' models. They are delivered new with a “full tank of gas” and will (almost) never run out.
For instance, an engine powered by a micro nuclear reaction of some sort. These engines would be designed to use energy already included in the original design, and would have enough potential energy available that they could run for five, ten, or maybe a hundred years, using only the “fuel” built into them. Maybe nuclear isn't the correct term to use here. Perhaps “atomic converter” or “mass-disassembling” model better describes what happens inside these engines.
Let's take a look at some of the possibilities in this category.
Unlike the “out of thin air” models, (Which nature itself may make obvious some day) this category of engine will require several scientific breakthroughs and crazy amounts of heretofore unimagined and probably pretty amazing technology to design and build. They will use mass of some sort as fuel, and break it down or transform this mass in a manner that transforms the molecules or atoms of that mass into energy. If you think this is impossible, you need to Google “Oppenheimer” and check out what his team of scientists and engineers figured out in only a few years.. without even using computers! In the end, his contraption converted a basketball into enough energy to erase a city in under a second. (We really don't want to do that again.)
There is an unbelievable amount of energy in a single atom... of anything. If we uncover a way to actually harness the energy of a particular mass one molecule at a time, in a controlled reaction, we wouldn't have to build-in very much mass (fuel) to allow that engine to produce energy for a long, long time. Maybe our 'mass-converter' engine could break down several (or more than one) types of mass. Maybe it would modify its fuel inside the contraption, allowing virtually any mass to be used for fuel. In this manner, when your engine runs low on fuel, you feed it another rusty nail... and it runs for three more years!
The obvious one is the nuclear-type, or atomic model, but there are several more (insane) possibilities. How about a "Zero Point" model or a “singularity engine” that has a tiny black hole in a box. Impossible? Probably, but if it is possible, it wouldn't require refueling for a long, long time. Maybe the “black hole in a box” would eventually.. um.. wear out, and you'd have to run down to the hardware store on occasion to buy a refill black hole box (BHB). OK, not fuelless, but close. I'm also guessing that recycling a BHB would work pretty well, too.
Chapter Sixteen
FORCE FIELD RESEARCH
As the “S” will be working on all areas of 'imaginative energy' it only makes sense to include the possibilities hovering around force fields. So what is a force field? That's another whole field of possibilities that will be investigated.
Any science fiction reader is familiar with the term force field. In fictional applications force fields can do almost anything... from protecting a space ship from incoming enemy superweapons to screening out unhealthy radiations from deadly natural sources.
Unfortunately, the amazing force fields of sci-fi are at this writing, only speculation. But are they possible? Of course they are. Some forms of force fields already exist... accidentally. Again, they are often the result of nature itself. For instance, if you hold a permanent magnet near a compass, the 'force field' that surrounds the magnet will interfere with the compass reading. In another example, electromagnets and even electric engines themselves, run as a result of magnetic forcefields 'encouraging' or driving the physical componenets that power the devices.
As far as what a force field can do, or what it can affect, or what it can repel... well we just don't know. What if... a force field can be artificially 'tuned' to alter the space inside it? Could that affect how things happen under that influence?... or what if... a force field could act as a mirror that reflects gravity, or bends it, or attracts it, or repels it, or multiplies it, or changes it in some manner to allow redirecting it? Or what if... a force field could intercept, change, or 'short out' gravity? Or what if.. a force field could be developed that 'traps' some form of energy inside it. Think 'invisible gas tank.' Think; 'hands-off handling' of energy. Think 'instant re-recovery of used energy'.
I could go on, but I think you get the idea. We just don't know the limits of any of this speculation. We have no idea where all these crazy questions can lead us. The one sure bet is that if we don't start investigating what we now consider to be impossible, we'll never discover what isn't.
Chapter Seventeen
LARGE FUELLESS GENERATING PLANTS
We've imagined an engine which could power cars or homes. Now let's imagine what we could do at one location, building a fuelless generator to power a city. Before I go there I should point out that if we indeed DO come up with an acceptable, portable, fuelless engine, it may not even be necessary to build power plants. It may be more practical to simply install an FE everywhere power is needed. A smallish one to power your home, a larger one to power a business or office building, and a big one to power industry. Think about it. Once the fuelless engine is available, why pay a utility company for energy when you can make it yourself cheaper?
But it will take a long time for the transition into all on-location energy makes municipal power plants obsolete. Until that happens there will be the “habit” of utility companies. Some homes will not have a FE engine for a long time. Some industry will not want to invest in new technologies right away, preferring instead the comfort of “the old ways” and paying a utility bill. So let's take a look at one.
Actually, in a way you can tour one now! Nuclear power plants are the closest thing to fuelless engines we have so far. No fossil fuels, (well alright, uranium is old, too, but you know what I mean), no air pollution, - feed 'em a little mass in the form of uranium, and they pump out shitloads of electricity. (Sorry, but that's what they do.) They don't quite qualify as clean, though, due to a couple rather embarrassing details. Their fuel breaks down into matter that can be deadly to life, it can take thousands of years to eventually be non.. or less deadly, and one other little downside, spent fuel can be made into nuclear bombs.
If it weren't for these tiny little problems, Nuke plants would rock!
There are other similar 'fuelless' power plants, too. Dams, wind turbines, tidal, geothermal, solar arrays and others. They all make clean energy available, and that's good. Unfortunately these technologies are, without exception, still more expensive then burning good ol' fossil fuels, and they also have parts that wear out. (In the case of solar, photovoltaic, the parts don't wear out from movement, but they require constant cleaning and effectively wear out with use and lose part of their ability to 'translate' sunlight into electricity. Don't get me wrong. We should pursue that stuff, too.
However, what we are talking about here is using new designs for our fuelless generating that require a building, a permanent location and a (probably pretty large) footprint. A large, in-place FE generator opens up even more categories for the big brother of our fuelless friend. Large structures and permanent positioning allows permanent placement of things like a “gravity lens” to be constructed in place, focusing gravity to (and from?) weight-based generators, (Think “dam without water”). Here's another one... a dimensional-shift generator, that somehow gets its energy by reacting or interacting with things 'not of this world.' Other dimensions, other universes, other realities, other times. (Who knows?)
Opening up our search to include large structures for our new technology allows for more cumbersome and complicated designs then the portable model. I'm reminded of the particle colliders now being used for research. Big. Miles across. Same deal with dams, or acres and acres of wind turbines or solar collectors. They all take up a lot of real estate.
Can it actually be practical to replace a coal burning facility on a few acres by building something that covers a few square miles? Oh yeah, baby. No pollution, no spent fuel, in fact, no fuel at all. Even though it's a very big structure, without the constant drain of purchasing fossil fuels to burn, it will be cheaper to run, and better for the neighbor's kids.
Just for a second, let's go back to the other 'clean energy generators.' are they really the solution? What problems do they create, what do we sacrifice having them?
We'll start with Dams. First of all, they stop fish from migrating. That screws with nature, and endangers the food supply. (Not good). They also put hundreds of square miles of real estate under water (Not good), and come with the absolute certainty of eventual collapse... and downstream devastation (Not good). You question that? There is not a man made dam in the world that will not eventually either collapse or... well collapse. Some will be weakened by geological forces including seepage or the faster scenario of earthquake. Any dam that is lucky enough to survive those inevitable and unstoppable forces of nature will, if not maintained at great expense and on a constant basis, wear out the generating equipment itself to the point it either freezes up, (in which case the dam will eventually overtop leading to collapse) or incur some sort of physical damage that compromises the dams integrity and allows water to free-flow through the damaged area... leading again to collapse.
Dams are not the solution of the future. In point of fact, at some point in the future I'm guessing every major (and possibly minor) dam in the world will be taken down, allowing rivers to run free... the way nature intended. (That's a good thing.)
Let's look at windmills. Every one of them will eventually wear out bearings and stop. Before they do that they'll kill a bunch of birds. Before that they'll obstruct the view of all who pass by.
Windmills are not the solution of the future.
How about solar? Actually solar, or at least some types of solar, ARE part of the solution. I'm not talking about solarvoltaic (as explained above), or most other solar. I AM talking about passive solar. It's a great way to heat a home or business. I'm guessing that someday passive solar will be incorporated into virtually every building design. But it'll never move a car down the road.
And nuclear energy? Tough one. IF we ever figure out a way to make it safe, so earthquakes and other disasters including terrorism (or just stupidity) can't release radiation into the environment... and IF we also find a way to 'de-radiate' or 'un-radiate' the spent fuel, rendering it harmless, then yes, Virginia, solar energy might be one of the sources of energy. In fact, if the above 'ifs' are possible, I'm guessing a micro-nuke could replace that internal combustion engine.
That would work for me. .. but it'll be a long time before that happens.. if.
So there you have it. A Rouge's Gallery of future solution 'wanna-bes' ... Let's keep looking.
The bottom line here seems to be that in the future it may (probably will) still be necessary to erect large structures for generating large amounts of electricity. Whatever type energy it is that replaces fossil fuels, will very probably be used to generate our old friend electricity..
Chapter Eighteen
AND SPEAKIN OF ELECTRICITY...
When we do eventually come up with our fuelless engine, there is a pretty good chance we'll be generating old fashioned electricity with it. Yup, we'll still plug things into a socket. Just because the electricity originates in a different manner, doesn't mean we throw away good ol' electricity.
...or does it?
Today we pretty much take electricity for granted,while using it everywhere on a constant basis. It's something in our walls, always available, relatively cheap. It seems simple enough. Little rectangle thing on the wall with slots in it. Plug something into the slots and it works. If you are one of those more technical readers... You got yer ground wire, and you got yer positive wire... and invisible stuff runs from one to the other... and eventually makes your electric toothbrush start vibrating.
It ain't quite that simple.
You see, a long time ago a guy named Ben theorized that electricity was everywhere... even in thin air! (Sound familiar?) People assumed old Ben was crazy. (Sound familiar again?) Fortunately, Ben had a pretty good day job which provided him enough extra cash to build (are you ready) a lab in his basement, and that allowed him some room to be, well, nuts in his spare time. (Sorry, historians.) When Ben told his friends what he was working on, they probably gave him an understanding smile, and continued nodding and smiling as he postulated the impossible. (BTW, Ben drank a lot, too. Hmmm)
I'd guess that he was the butt of more than one joke when he walked away. “There goes crazy Ben. Thinks energy is everywhere. Poor, disturbed b*****d.” Although it's not recorded anywhere in history, I'm just guessing that someone, after hearing his insanity once too often, told him to 'go fly a kite.'
He did. You know the results.
Many credit crazy Ben with “discovering” electricity. But Ben's particular brand of electricity was all wet. It was direct-current electricity. (OK, I'm skipping a little here, but go with that.) Direct current (DC) is great when you have an energy source right next to a lightbulb. However, if you try to send it very far down a wire, it decreases and eventually just disappears or dissipates into thin air. (Pick one). To remedy that, you have to use big wires and boost the DC electricity every mile or so... I spite of that, within a few years, DC electricity ran down thousands of miles of thick wires that in some cities, almost blocked the sun...(Birds loved that.) but having to deal with all those wires overhead, (not to mention dodging bird droppings) was still more convenient than not having any electricity at all.
After Ben came up with his DC stuff, and while they were stringing more thick transmission wires overhead, others began playing around with this new stuff. Along came guys with weird names like Edison and Tesla. They, (hard to peg which one) “invented” a new type of electricity. They discovered (maybe in their basement labs) that if the charge alternated back and forth, the same amount of electricity could be transmitted much farther, using far thinner wires. It was called AC. This was good news for the next World's Fair, but bad news for birds who had gotten spoiled by the fat wires everywhere, and had to practice balancing on thinner wires.
But I digress.......
So anyway, to make my point, maybe one of the solutions we need to make our future better is to go back to studying electricity. Let me explain.
After electricity was first, um, invented... it was researched a little and improved in a big way, becoming more practical and less expensive all at the same time. That was about a hundred years ago. Since then electricity has been generated and distributed pretty much in the same manner. Maybe there is no way to increase electricity's usefulness or practicality. Maybe sending it down wires alternating at 60 cycles/second is the absolute most efficient way to distribute it.
Maybe the tooth fairy IS real.
Come on. What are the odds that we figured out how to best use - or distribute – this marvelous stuff called electricity, within a few years of its discovery... a hundred years ago. Were Tom and Nikola at the very cutting edge of electrical knowledge? Maybe at that time, yes. But with all the science, and all the computing power, and all the developments in every other field in the past century, and all the technology that could refine electricity use,... what are the odds that what Tom and Nik came up with, is the most efficient use of the stuff?
Can electricity be handled differently for better results? After the step from DC into AC, is there another step possible? Could my electric toothbrush double as an orbital sander?
So while we're attacking this whole deal, let's revisit 'simple' electricity, too. Maybe 'complicated' electricity can be transmitted through thin air? And you know what broadcasting our new complicated electricity into thin air can lead to?...
Fuelless engines, baby.
Chapter Whatever.
YOU'RE GONNA LAUGH (This Chapter Isn't Real)
I just sat down in my writin' chair after having one of those la la experiences. I was watching another incredible Alaska sunset and making a snack, and I noticed that I seemed to enjoy the orange glow and the big, artwork sky. Not just enjoy, but I actually felt like somehow I was recharging. Receiving energy... or force,, or spiritual happy juice... And while I was standing there it hit me.
It's energy.
I live in Homer, and a lot of people here believe there is an energy of some sort concentrated here. Most refer to Homer as having an energy vortex. I've never heard anyone connect any negative energy to it. Vortex...Good thing. Makes us feel good... and a little, well, eccentric. Free thinkers, connected to the planet, unique... OK, weird. And we are.
So anyway, It started me thinking about the possible reality of a grid of energy vortexes supposedly encircling the planet? (Pyramids, Nasca Lines, Sedona, Stonehenge...) Lets go there.
FIRST Let's assume that there is a grid (or honeycomb or whatever... or a geodesic sphere??? Would THAT be cool?) and that it is, or contains, something that is described as energy. It is often described as healing energy. Call it thought energy.. or earth force, or Gia internet... whatever. So first we've got a connected, energy-stuff Earthgrid in place.
Then take a closer look at what, for one, is documented to happen in the “healing places” around the world. I was earlier watching a docuwhatever on TV about Sedona, Arizona, and people who have very positive and uplifting energy-related experiences all the time at/in/near energy vortexes. If you Google 'energy vortexes' ... It happens all over the world. All the time. There are special,... proven.. energy fields, vortexes,.. that exhibit an energy we absolutely cannot measure using instruments available to us now.
But that energy is there, isn't it...?
And it's good energy, right? Very wonderful stuff by nearly unanimous consent.
SECOND
We assume the Earthgrid stuff is good energy of some sort.
Alright, now we look at auras. They can be measured as electrical energy fields surrounding our physical bodies. Even plants have them. Some people can see them. Most of us can't. They show up nicely in photography. We can measure the electric energy, but is there any other energy surrounding your body? Any other energy coming from inside your body? Does electricity explain auras? If so, explain Phantom Limb Syndrome. The aura of a severed finger remains intact and can be seen in all the pictures. So what possible energy would have memory like that? It ain't electricity.
Speaking of auras, Have you ever heard the saying; 'he just has an aura about him' or the term 'personal magnetism'... or how about, 'lights up a room'... Do some people actually add energy to a room? Do they emanate some form of unmeasurable energy?
Have you ever said the phrase, 'I could just feel someone watching me.'... there's energy out there, isn't there..? If there was nothing broadcast, you couldn't feel it. It's just not apparent to us... Wait a minute, yes it is... we can feel it!.... We just can't put it in a box yet.
SO THIRD We assume there is another (or possibly evidence of the same) undiscovered 'energy-feeling-stuff' that we cannot measure or detect which directly affects human beings.
Stay with that. Now consider other unexplained energies around us.
REMEMBER THAT ENERGY CONTINUES TO BE ENERGY. IT CANNOT BE CREATED OR DESTROYED, AND MUST EXIST IN SOME FORM AT ALL TIMES.
How about laughter. Is it a form of energy? (Don't laugh.) Think about what happens. One guy up on stage tells a joke... and a hundred people laugh. Energy is pumped into the room. You can “feel” fun in the air.
Here's what happened.
When people laugh at the joke, energy that human bodies store as fat turns into heat in that room, and we can measure that. ENERGY AT REST STARTS AS FAT, THEN IT TURNS INTO HEAT. If we wanted to, we could reclaim that heat as it is vented out of the room, and store it in an insulated box for a while. So we could get 1 Box-0'-Heat / that guy's joke...
But that is the energy we already understand. What of the energies we cannot yet measure? Woo Woo, Spiritworld, Metaphysic stuff. The energy-stuff that in a moment, when the guy tell his joke, is released into the air as “FunFeeling”... What does unspent 'undetectable' energy like FunFeeling look like at rest? ... Is there FunFeeling Fat? After it's released into the air in the form of laughter, could we reclaim it and end up with 1 Box-O'-FunFeeling....? Why not?
(Whiny voice) Because it's on a metaphysical 'Not of this Earth' plane...! We can only 'feel' it. It's not physical.
Bullshit. If it's not on this plane, then how can it affect you,... a*****e (sorry). The problem is that you can't detect it with current technology. You can't measure it. If you say 'It's only available to those to whom it desires to include.... bullshit. If it affects people on this plane, then is somehow entering or existing here ... You DO call it 'energy' ...? ...Da? Could we get a Box-O'-that?
Now, I might be talking about more then one kind of energy up there.... or Maybe the FunFeel released by laughter, and the personal energy evidenced as aura, are both related? Maybe they, and so many other “human energies” are evidence of a greater, still undetectable energy field that surrounds the world?
Maybe the “Boxo's” energies are transmitted by, or somehow join the energy-vortex Earthgrid? Maybe the energy of joke telling is what charges the Earthgrid?
Once again... Maybe the energy of joke telling is what charges the Earthgrid?
Is laughter energy? Of course it is.
Gocha there, didn't I.
How much fun would it be to tap into that?
OK, Seriously,.. if there is an Earthgrid of energy virtually exploding out of evenly-spaced energy vortexes, Why couldn't we discover a way to detect it, then study it, and someday learn to use it? Considering the size of the planet, there would have to be an inconceivable amount of energy involved. Here's a little aside on this. If laughter is one of the energies that feeds the Earthgrid, will future environmentalists be comedians....?
Well, anyway you see my point. There is evidence of undiscovered or undetected energy all around us. We don't even know what energy is yet. We need to study all of it, and vastly expand our understanding of what is and what isn't energy. We need new instruments and better investigative methods to discover the secrets hiding our fuelless engine.
...so back to the Skunkworks... One of the “S” projects will be to observe and study laughter. If we can figure out what's happening there, what “feel-good-energy” is, and how it's released into the room in addition to the heat energy we can already measure.... if we learn to measure that energy,.. it could actually be the first step into understanding the Earthgrid energy. And once again, if the Earthgrid encircles the world, there's a BUNCH of energy there. Good energy.
...and I remind you again how nature works. She's elegant, simple, and logical, and everything is inter-related. Nature a way of providing everything we need. And we need some good energy... don't we?
BTW, this 'feelgood' energy might, or probably does, work differently then 'typical' or electrical energy works. Think of it as being on a different energy-frequency, a different colored energy. Might energy work like color? If we mixed some electromagnetic energy (yellow), with some feelgood (blue)... would we get green energy? Is there a whole spectrum of energies? Shouldn't we investigate that? Could we laugh our way out of an energy crunch?
... So three environmentalists walk into a bar....
Chapter Nineteen
HOW ABOUT THOSE ROCKET SCIENTISTS?
As a little boy, I sat in my Auntie Pearl's bedroom (where our only TV lived) and watched in glorious black and white, as John Glenn and others sat atop huge, multi-stage rockets that rode controlled explosions into space. I am trying not to giggle here, but our new engine technology might even increase our ability to travel to other planets. Today, about 90% of any respectable space rocket is fuel, and about 99% of that fuel is spent just achieving orbit. I just wonder what will happen when the weight of fuel is taken out of that particular equation?
I'm going to take a little detour here. I believe that we are not alone in the universe. Far from it. According to current understanding the Earth is about four billion year old, and universe is four times that. Over 16 billion years old. Assuming (as our friend Chucky D. theorized) that life evolved on earth in those four billion years to the level of intelligence we now enjoy... What would a civilization a few billion years older look like? Remember here, that we were just coming out of our caves 30,000 years ago... and we only 'invented' cars a little over one hundred years ago. As intelligent civilization go, we're infants! We don't know squat!
UFOs have been around a long time. I believe that they are from other places. Think about it. If we were indeed a much older, wiser civilization, capable of traveling the stars, wouldn't we be interested in watching an infant civilization go through puberty? or... and this is not good news... when we find a really stupid civilization living on a wonderful planet like Earth, would we hover near enough to move in and claim the real estate when they destroy themselves? I can guarantee you one thing. If we discovered a planet where a warrior race was at the point of leaving their home planet, we'd observe them carefully, up close.
I don't think we'd help 'em get there. (That's why they don't land in front of the White House bearing gifts.)
What we'd be looking for would be some sign that that 'intelligent' race was beginning to mature. Beginning to understand that they live on an island. Beginning to care about things other then their own personal fortunes. Beginning to understand that they are all members of one family. Beginning to work together to improve their world and add to their own understanding of what is and what can be. Beginning down the path toward a better future, not dooming their own world with immature, short-sighted moves like... well, like burning up all the fossil fuels and polluting themselves out of business. How stupid would that be?
I hate to tell you this, people, but as a young civilization, we're no prize.
Maybe we can change that. Turn it around. There's no time like the present, ... and not much time left, either. We live in a world where any morning we could turn on our TV and discover that it's over. Our infant civilization has some pretty terrifying toys to play with, and nowhere near the brains to use them wisely. Give a baby a loaded gun... big trouble
...and we've got a bunch of them.
We can blow ourselves off the planet in one stupid nuclear afternoon. We can unleash biological nightmares so numerous and so deadly that death would be preferable to survival. Today, one really stupid person can cripple or totally destroy our entire civilization.
One person.
Our big blue piece of juicy real estate could be available in a few weeks. Do you really think some advanced civilization monitoring us would step in and save us from ourselves? I don't.
But there might still be a way out of this. It could start with the easing of international tensions brought about by energy independence in all nations... (See: Fuelless engine). It could start with simply making a healthier future possible for our children.
That is one sure sign of maturity.
While writing this book, at night when I lie down to sleep I close my eyes and try to imagine a world with a fuelless engine providing cheap, clean, unlimited energy for every purpose... I imagine that same technology allowing us to leave this planet and go 'up there' .. and meet our neighbors. I imagine what their worlds look like, and what their music sounds like, and how their fish tastes fried in butter. Do they still sit in circles around fires, looking up at the sky? Do they point at a star and tell their kids 'That's where we're going on vacation this year'....?
At the same time, I think about other advancements the fuelless engine enables. I can't help but imagine how cool an orbiting city would be, and what that changes in the fields of not just tourism, but gravity-free experimentation... possibly on improvements on the fuelless generators we're going to invent here on earth. Who knows?
Sorry, I'm getting a little of topic. ..but while we're out in space...
Another wild idea... Maybe the gravity lens isn't real handy right at sea level. But out in space... what if our gravity lens could serve as a repellent as well? Kind of a two-way deal. Maybe the very thrust required to get into deep space could come from a gravity lens orbiting the Earth built to send it on its way, or even a gravity-repeller right on the ship? Could it push a spacecraft into higher orbit? Or all the way to Mars? Who knows. As we learn how to attract and repel gravity, we will certainly have better ways to travel through space. We'll be playing in a whole new game! (I giggled a little right there.)
Could we sit around a fire “out there” someday, too? ... and point at a star, and tell our new friends about the third planet orbiting it?
Well we're not going to get there using a V-8.
Chapter Twenty
WHAT DOES THE NEW FUELLESS ENGINE LOOK LIKE?
Phhht, (Hell I don't know). I do have secret goals for it, though. This is going to sound crazy, but what the heck... I'll share them with you.
It is my dream that someday there will be a little box about one foot by one foot, that replaces things like lawnmower engines or go-kart motors. With any luck, it'll sell for less than $1,000.00... There'll be a larger model that generates around 100 HP on-demand, and replaces larger engines like home generators and small outboard motors that get you to the fishin' hole and back. I'm hoping that eventually these can be purchased for under $5,000 And then there will be the car engine, maybe a little larger, at a price around $10K.
Would that work for you?
Of course, the grand daddy would be larger, not portable, and power industry. Probably pretty expensive up front, but in the long run cost only a small percentage of what an internal combustion model or coal-fired energy plant cost to run and maintain.
You want crazier?
I'm willing to bet up to $20.00 that the new fuelless engine could end up looking more like a strange-shaped antenna then what we think of as an engine. It might simply gather energy of some sort right out of thin air, and make it available to the electric motor to which it is attached. If this is the case, (are you ready for this)... they might cost almost nothing to manufacture! Oh, they'll still carry a pretty good price tag, but the ROI to manufacture them will be almost as nutzo as the original fuelless engine idea itself.
Hey investors...Have I got your attention yet?
Another good guess might be 'roundish', or spherical. I say that knowing that most UFOs seem to be roundish. I assume they have advanced engine technology that may dictate circular design. If they're not circular, you here a lot about cylindrical UFOs, too. So maybe the new engine will be round, and we end up plugging our houses into basketballs. I could live with that.
I think I can tell you what it won't look like. It won't have a big fan cooling it, and it won't have hoses and wires hanging all over it, and I'd be willing to bet it doesn't have an oil pan with a drain plug.
My guess it that it will be pretty elegant.
Chapter Twenty One
GOT PROFIT POTENTIAL?
It's no secret that there are a lot of problems in this world. Unfortunately it's also no secret that although most problems have pretty obvious solutions, those solutions cost money (read: no profitable solution), and for that reason most of those obvious solutions will never be addressed, and the problem will continue to be a problem. In the vast majority of cases, the problem will grow until even the obvious solution can't turn things around. Curiously, when a problem gets that absolutely out of control, we (the people) just accept that yup, there's a problem... and we let it go. Eventually what began as a solvable problem evolves into a sad fact that cannot be changed. Deal with it.
There's nothing you can do about it.
Too late to fix it now.
What a shame.
That's the way the ball bounces.
Tough break.
Too bad, so sad.
Everything happens the way it happens.
It's just big business screwing us all.
Big deal.
Don't worry about it.
The politicians are responsible.
Maybe tomorrow it'll fix itself.
If I were in charge things would be different, but I'm not...
........ Wanna have lunch? Ya think the Vikings will make it to the playoffs this year?
One of the biggest reasons that most problems aren't addressed is that there's no absolutely certain profit involved in fixing them. If your intention is to get rich, (or richer), then it makes more sense to invest in proven moneymakers... and if you have a lot of dough, you can make money in a whole bunch of obvious, guaranteed ways. Why spend money just to fix something?
Fortunately for me, (and everyone else), solving the particular problem I've chosen to rail against is going to turn a crazy profit. I'm going to guess in the Trillion dollar range.
And for that single reason, it just might happen!
I'm not sure if a project promising a trillion dollar return has ever even been proposed before in history. Think about that for a second. A TRILLION. That's one million, - MILLION dollars. (My two ex-wives couldn't spend that much working together – like that'd happen.)
Although cleaning up pollution and making cheap, free energy available to the world almost seems like it would motivate billions in research all on its own, petty reasons like “we could make a better world” pale in comparison to “we could make a fast buck.”
That's just the way things are.
So if money is the only motivation that will put wheels on this idea, let's talk about the money first. To begin with, this will cost a ton of dough to take to fruition. It is not for the faint of heart investor. In fact this project will take so much money that no single investor or group of investors will be able to monopolize it, and that's a good thing in my mind. When it comes to market the money will be spread around. A lot of people will benefit. Good.
Another piece of good news is this: Because of the wide-ranging benefits this invention will bring about, it will be possible to secure grant money from government and even private sources all over the place. Adding 'free' grant-supplied money in effect multiplies the investors investment, making it an even better investment.
When we come to the other end the road, and the fuelless engine comes to market, (the way I'm proposing it) although the government helps finance the foundation, there will be several industries involved in initial ramp up, manufacture, sales and distribution, and installation of the FE. And every one of these, working as hard as they can, running 24-7, won't be able to meet demand for years, probably decades.
Yes indeed, there'll be a ton of money to spread around.
Here's another great motivator; everyone who buys one of these babies will begin saving money the day it is put in place. That means they'll have money of their own to spread around just because they buy one.
Here's another one; the 'big three' auto makers, as well as every other auto maker in the world, will have motivated buyers lining up at their showroom doors – because they, too, want to save money. So the auto manufacturing companies will sell a whole new generation of cars... that never need gas! That will revive our ailing auto industry, too.
Forget the fact that energy shortages will be a thing of the past. Forget the fact that the air will start clearing up. Forget the fact that poor, undeveloped parts of the world will be able to pump water and power lightbulbs for the first time in history. Those things aren't important.
What matters is that the investors get richer. Profits. That's what will provide the motivation.
So be it.
Chapter Twenty Two
HOW DOES THE MONEY WORK IN THIS DEAL... WHO OWNS THE NEW FUELLESS ENGINE DESIGN?
Here again, like so many other places in this book, I admit that I am probably not the one to make these decisions.
... and here again, like so many other places in this book, I'm full of ideas.
...and again, a lot of them seem crazy, even to me... but that hasn't stopped me so far, and here I go.
For the sake of a starting point, I'm going to assume that the buzz stirred up bringing this idea to light will at the very beginning bring in a few “smallish” donations. Donations, not investments. They will very possibly be from friends and fellow “Homeroids” who share with me the delight of living in Homer, Alaska, aka “The Comic Hamlet By The Sea.” These far-sighted people will not turn any profit out of this... they will, however, be the ones to enable it.
Good ol' Cosmic Hamlet gang.
Their few grand will allow the next step in my diabolical plan, where an actual website replaces what I can afford on my own. In addition, emails will be sent around to news services, TV news shows, and a few politicians, including our new president. Add a few friends blogging their butts off, and a lot of phone-ins to interactive news shows, and we just might be able to bring the issue into the public's consciousness. That would be good.
Before the laughter dies out, copies of this book will be sent out to educate the sure-to-be-skeptical media and others. A few people might even buy a copy to put by the john for an entertaining morning read. (I can deal with that.)
I'm pretty sure there will be more laughter at this point... and unfortunately, I'm pretty sure that will be the end of it. (sigh). I mean come on, who's fooling who here. I know how crazy this idea is. No wise investor will donate much to anything this nuts... and considering I'm not looking for investors, but donations, my chances will hover between impossible and not-gonna-happen.
Placing the whole idea between rock and a hard place would be a better bet. .......................But what if?
Let's play the game.
I'm going to pretend that all the fuss, and all exposure, and even all the laughter generated by the insanity accompanying such a radical idea will eventually... um.. shame(?)... inspire(?).... Yeah, I like that. Inspire.. some branch of the United States of America's shiny new executive branch to make the first move to enable this. Call it PR. Think of it as a positive, but very limited, chance for a better future. Politicians like warm fuzzies. This is a warm, fuzzy project. A pet project. And like pets, although it serves little useful purpose, it costs relatively little (We're only talking a few billion to get going), and it makes those around it feel good... like at least SOME of the money government wastes is being dumped into smart holes.
...and somewhere in the back of the collective mind, there will be the possibility of it all coming true.
In reality it will almost certainly be a long time before any new and useful technology comes of this. That means the fuelless engine project will look like a money sewer for quite a while. Hey, at least the late-night comedians will have something to make fun of now that the Bush administration has gone home.
Sorry Republicans, but what were you thinking?
Then one day something we don't expect to happen... will. It won't be the engine we want, but it might be a step toward it. It may be a discovery not even remotely related to what we are working on, but a new piece of knowledge. A new or different understanding of our limits. One little positive affirmation that we may someday benefit from something in this project. On that day, we will begin to believe in the fuelless engine.
It will change everything.
...but I was talking about the patents, remember? (Are you paying attention?) We were talking about how to split up billions, maybe over a trillion bucks in sales that the fuelless engine will... “generate.” Well first off, it will not be owned by a single corporation or entity, and it won't belong to the Skunkworks financiers. In my vision, the Skunkworks is financed several ways, with the basic budget provided by the U.S. Government... and our friends.
Chapter Twenty Three
FINANCIALS:
BASIC BUDGET Opening expenses and running money will (almost have to ) be provided by grants from government(s?) and intended to finance basic operations including buildings, some equipment, basic staff, and other baseline expenses. Drawn by the fact that The Skunkworks is out to help make the world a better place, I envision not just the USA putting in money, but governments from all over the world awarding grants to open and continue support for the new “S.” If it works, every nation on Earth will reap unbelievable benefits from it's efforts. Every person on Earth will be affected. Every child born after that day will enter a better world then the one we now live in.
...and the world will indeed, be a better place.
Oh, by the way, even though the governments provide basic funding for the Skunkworks, the governments will not get a patent. (Remember? That's what we're talking about here. Try to keep up.) They'll get clean air and stuff, but they won't turn a profit from sales or anything. This is an investment in the future of the world. A government's return on investment will BE that world.
...but no patent.
REASEARCH DONATIONS Money must be donated by individuals, organizations, and industry, intended as (if you'll forgive the pun) “fuel” for fuelless engine R&D projects. Any donations will be listed on the website, and those who donate are encouraged to tell their friends that they helped finance the project. In other words, share in the warm-fuzzies. Be part of the project.
Maybe get a commemorative plate.
People with commemorative plates don't get patents.
DEVELOPMENT DONATIONS If there's a God, then once this project gets on wheels, many large corporations will see a public relations opportunity in donating scientific equipment, which tend to be pretty expensive, to the project. For their donation they will have the privilege of informing their customers that they, too, are part of the solution. And of course, some warm fuzzies.
... but again, no ownership, and no patents.
SOLICITED SPECIFIC DONATIONS Same as above, but this time money is aimed at a specific area(s) of study, or a specific solution. In all reality, many of these donations will be “bribes” expressing interest in eventually purchasing sales rights, or territory, or quantity, or something about that particular engine or technology. Early financial support will position donors to establish a financial relationship with that project or technology, giving them the inside track on eventually being financiers when investment becomes possible. Understand that this is NOT ownership at this point, as that is not available yet. Nothing exists yet. Project donations are simply a very expensive way to make yourself or your corporation 'players' in this game. A way to get in the queue for the end game.
...and no, still nothin'.
SPECIFIC PROJECT SPONSORSHIP
We're talking very big money here. This category will allow several giant corporations or mega-rich conglomerates to pursue to completion, a specific idea or technology... with a goal of bringing it to market. And if they are successful,
... these guys will get patents.
But wait again... Not the entire patent.
First of all, any fuelless engine that is developed will surely cost hundreds of millions at least to bring to market. More realistically, tens or even hundreds of Billions of dollars. No single entity can or will be allowed to handle that. We also don't want any group to have a monopoly on this technology. It's got to be available to everyone. It's got to be a win, win, win deal.
The advantages of being an SPS in our Skunkworks is total access to all developments in all fields of study. Unlike super secret labs sponsored by large corporations, or governments, or intelligence agencies, they all keep secrets, and certainly are not out to help each other. In the Skunkworks, everyone shares, everyone pulls in the same direction, everyone works together. There's another great advantage to working in the Skunkworks. Remember that labs are provided. So is a lot, or most of, the expensive laboratory and testing equipment. In fact, in most cases, even the scientists and engineers who develop the ideas will be in place long before the Specific Project Sponsor dumps money in. The SPS is effectively buying or adopting a technology already under development using finances provided at/by the Skunkworks. And they're gonna pay through the nose for it.
For this reason, almost any aspect of any project or technology may actually be purchased as an investment. However, in order to repay the early expenses of all projects originating from the skunkworks, I propose that for all of time, any technology developed in the Skunkworks will owe a one percent (1%) royalty back to the Skunkworks.
That might sound small to you. It's not. Do the math.
This enables the Skunkworks to cement its own future. Not a bad idea.
Chapter Twenty Four
END GAME FINANCES... WHO PROFITS?
The (truly unimaginable) financial rewards will be divided between SPS contributors, and trickle down. Although as stated before, I'm no financial genius, I suggest that if an independent (competing) lab or group brings something to the table the has extreme merit, it may be logical to offer a “Standard Deal” that entitles them to participate in eventual profits, assuming their idea or contribution greatly advances, or is incorporated into, the final solution. Obviously attorneys and litigators will haunt this project unless we prepare for all eventualities before they occur. If we can figure out a way to make it profitable to get involved, it will encourage open development and quicken the process.
There will be plenty to spread around.
Each contributor will (by release dates) understand their part of the deal. Each major investor will know which slice of the pie is theirs. Some may angle toward manufacturing the item. Some will want to be subcontractors, making parts and selling them to the manufacturer(s). Others will want marketing or distribution rights. Some will want to sell them on the internet. Others will transport them, install them, insure them, service them, monitor them, tune them, ... who knows?
There might be a guy named Bob who paints them to look like bread boxes.
Bottom line, when it comes out, the fuelless engine will be manufactured by several competing manufacturers, available at a ton of locations, from a ton of outlets, with a ton of peripheral support, provided by a whole new group of entities... and everyone down the line gets a chunk.
It will provide employment for a ton of people, and profits a bunch of subcontractors, etc... In other words, the profits will be spread around nicely.
Chapter Twenty Five
HOW DOES THE OIL INDUSTRY REACT?
Oh, they're going to be pissed (sorry). There's a lot of ways this could go. Right from the git-go they'll recognize that if this happens they could be looking at the end of the total dominance they've enjoyed for the last 150 years. They'll organize a very visible (and well financed) effort to convince Americans that this is nothing more than a flight of fancy, an impossible dream, a crazy idea that will never happen. The campaign will include statements like; “We'd all like to see pollution-free energy, and that's why (insert name here) has been spending millions of dollars on alternative energy solutions.” The ads will explain that oil simply cannot be replaced by 'thin air.' That's just crazy. They'll make fun of anyone who disagrees with them, and I'm guessing my name will be synonymous with 'nut job' or 'crackpot' in a matter of seconds.
..and while they're doing that, they will instruct every politician and lawmaker in their pocket to stop any legislation that could enable it. They'll flex every muscle to crush anyone who supports the “S” and invest wild amounts of money in the fight to bury the whole idea. The oil lobby holds incredible influence, and they'll use it all.
In short, they'll do everything they can to derail any effort to make this happen.
Fortunately, it won't work, and they'll know that. These guys aren't stupid. Even though they know they won't be able to stop it, they'll spend the million s to try. The best they could do would be to slow it down. Eventually their visible efforts to stop the “S” may be their downfall. Americans are tired of paying through the nose for oil. We're not exactly in love with big oil the way it is. When big oil reveals its fear of the fuelless engine actually happening, that could be the very thing that pushes funding for the “S” over the finish line. If big oil is afraid of it, maybe it IS possible...?
No matter how the 'first chapter' of this fight goes, once funding is in place and the “S” is a reality, the smart oil companies will be quietly tracking progress and every one of them will be prepared to invest in the “S” projects in a big way. They will recognize the potential and might even make moves to dominate the new paradigm like they've dominated the old one. If they play their cards right they might come out the big winners in this deal. You read that right. Oil companies may actually have the foresight to finance much of the development and research we're proposing here. (Stop laughing). That will give them the right to manufacture and market our little devices, and there's a pretty good profit in that.
Here's a wild one. They have enough money to actually compete with the “S”! Think about it. Why help someone outside their own circle? They've got the money. They know the potential profits involved in powering the world. They've been doing it for 150 years. Why wouldn't they try to beat us to it? They might even step up and volunteer to finance OUR project, effectively buying control of anything developed. They'd sell themselves as the 'good guys'...!....................?
Let's not let that happen, shall we?
In any event, and no matter what the oil companies do, eventually the fuelless engine will emerge, and demand for oil (and oil prices) will begin to go down, making it impractical to continue current practices at current volumes. This won't happen overnight. It will take decades to replace big oil. Once they see the inevitable they'll stop spending money on growth, and begin the long process of disassembling and selling off their infrastructure – at a huge profit.
That's huuuuuuuge profit.
Imagine big oil selling off what they own today! It will be the largest “Going out of business sale” in history! Just disassembling the power grid will take years, maybe decades. Imagine the employment possibilities. Sell off a lot of it as scrap. What's it worth? Millions of tons of steel and iron used as everything from drilling platforms to towers that carry power lines everywhere. Millions more tons of copper. Add a couple hundred thousand used service vehicles, and a few thousand ships big enough to convert into floating resort casinos or small cities... And we haven't even touched on their real estate holdings.
Oh boy, do they own land!
Although they might be a tad pissed at the whole “new and cheap energy” paradigm, oil executives can take some comfort in the fact that they will have to somehow figure out how to divide the bazillion or so dollars worth of real estate they control. After decades of making billions of dollars selling oil, maybe we can talk the greedy b******s into a quiet retirement?
Oh, BTW, just because we have the fuelless engine, it does not spell the end of the oil industry. Far from it. The demand for oil will certainly be decimated, but byproducts of oil are too numerous to mention. Oil will still be incredibly useful, and even though the gas pumps are gone, oil will continue to be handy stuff to have available for everything from plastics for our dashboards to asphalt for roads, and everything in between. The oil industry will be smaller, but they'll be just fine.
There's more good news for the oil guys, too. We all know that Earth is an island with limited resources. The idea of burning up all the fossil fuels on Earth in only a few centuries might sound smart to you, (well maybe not).. but a side benefit of the fuelless engine is that one of the most precious resources on earth (fossil fuels) will last much farther into the future. Maybe thousands of years, maybe longer.
So our oil billionaire friends and their kids can continue to live in the lap of luxury for a long, long time.
Chapter Twenty Six
LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT THE WORLD POST-FUELLESS ENGINE
It is a very different place. For one, people are't spending money on gas or heating fuel or electricity anymore. Cars probably don't make noise. There are few if any power lines left anywhere on Earth. No gas stations. (There will still be service stations to sell you shock absorbers, rotate your tires, and fix the electric windows on the passenger side.) There will be far less oil-pumping and transporting infrastructure. (Oil will still be in use for things other then fuel). There will be less oil spills.
And the air will be cleaner.
There will be only a minuscule amount of pollution due to burning fossil fuels. (This is good). There will be far far less global warming going on. (Al will like that) ...and there won't be a big black greasy spot in your garage under the car. (Mom will appreciate that.) ...or an oil slick in the center of every lane on the freeway, either. Every home, or at least every neighborhood, will have its own generator supplying power for anything at all, and at little or no cost. (Gotta buy the unit, install it, and probably maintain or service it once in a while, but...) ...You or your neighbors will never have to buy heating oil or electricity again.
Another way-neat thing happens here, too. Absolutely reliable power! No downed power lines. No power outages after wind storms. No living in the dark, waiting weeks or months for electricity to be restored after a natural disaster.
This one's also a kick in the butt... It will be practical – even cheap - to bring electricity to poor or isolated areas of the world. Imagine power to pull clean water out of the ground in third-world countries. Use it for drinking water, yes, but enough to bathe in! ...also to irrigate fields, bringing water from far below or far away.
That 's only the tip of the iceberg. Those undeveloped places where people live with no electricity will benefit in other huge ways... With electricity comes refrigeration, light bulbs, and the internet becomes available to struggling kids in backward situations. They will have the same access to information, knowledge, and communication as everyone else. So our little engine enables near unlimited access to education. Wow.
Educating kids living in poverty. Is that really going to happen just because fuelless engines are invented?
Let's hope so. It certainly seems like a slam-dunk to me.
Another change in the new world might surprise you.. The cost of transportation and shipping will go down – and so will the cost of stamps. Think about it. A big part of moving anything from one location to another is fuel. The costs involved in getting a product from where it's made (or grown) to where it's needed, goes way down. That means lower food prices. Lower building material prices. Lower shipping and handling prices on everything. (Except 'free' stuff in infomercials.)
Speaking of lower costs, when a new home or business is built it will not incur thousands of dollars in “specials” owed a utility company for things like transformers on nearby telephone poles, or the smelly guy with a butt crack that hooks them into the grid. You'll be able to put a FE next to the garage or in the back yard, and that's it! No muss, no fuss.
...so we're not buying gas, and we're saving money on food, homes, and almost everything else. What are we going to do with all the money we're not spending?
I'll let you figure that one out.
Chapter Twenty Seven
A CALL TO ACTION
OK... You've read the book, you think it's a good idea, so now what?
This is our time, America.* Look around. Things are getting (strike that) ... have gotten.. out of hand. We'd better do something smart pretty soon. If you're like me you would help, but no time. Here, you don't need to take any time to do it! You don't need to volunteer, you won't have to march in the streets,...
....It WOULD be neat if you made funny T-shirts....
All I'm asking you to do is make it clear to your drinking buddies that you like the “S” thing, especially if it means never filling your gas tank again,.. If some of them are bloggers, even better.
That's it!
...This is going to be so easy!
Here's where you come in... I hope some of you will blog the crap out of the idea. I guarantee there will be laughter involved, and that's alway fun... laugh it up!
All you have to do is make it clear that you want the “S” to happen. In todays world, word about crazy stuff can be spread in a heartbeat. We're going to make IC engines obsolete. If a few blogs help me out by encouraging people to read this book, that alone will start the momentum.
Then if you, The People, keep the momentum going, we'll have this in the bag in no time! All we have to do is make it clear that we want to take a shot! Who's going to come out against a fuelless engine? (I know,.. I know... that was a rhetorical question).
Once the staggering possibilities presented in this book become part of the social consciousness, it'll drive people crazy just thinkin' about it. Every time you stick a hose in your car you'll wish this thing would happen. Every utility bill you ever pay from now on you will look at as wasted time.
And when gas goes back up?......... anyone going to be thinking about fuelless engines then?
See?
All we have to do is put the possibility out there. Talk it up. If you do, trust me, it'll happen eventually.
I almost hate to go there, but this might be the forbidden fruit. If we can do something this smart just by talking it up, what else can we do? Is America ready for this kind of change?
Oh, and speaking of change...
I'm really, really, REALLY interested in seeing if the “Obama machine” will react in any way to this idea. Or how long it will take. (Your blogs could help). The very first email I will send introducing this book will be to several Obama e-addresses. I hope someone there will read it and pass it along. Maybe he will see it. (I don't have his personal email address.)
I've mentioned this before in this book. I love the optimism our new President inspires. I think about his promise of change, and I sincerely believe he can lead America to accomplish great things. (The whole “Yes, We Can” thing kind of tipped me off.)
I hope he does, and I hope this is one of them.
I, we, you, need to take action. To get involved. The first step is to talk it up. Get with your friends and discuss it over drinks. If they are not aware, give them your copy of this book, or send them out to buy one, or have them go to the website and print out a free copy. The next step is to spread the word that it's going to happen. Get exited! Get revved! Jump on board!
This train's leaving the station!
*This is your time, America... This book proposes that the “S” be physically located in America, with major funding coming through government programs. Please don't imagine it as closed to outsiders in any way. The “S” technology will be open to the World. I see several countries having their own buildings on site, and all kinds of specialists, scientists, rocket surgeons and such from every country on Earth involved at the “S”. However, I can't ask everyone in the world to get on board. (Now THAT would be grandiosity.)
Don't get me wrong, I'd love it if the whole world got involved. Maybe they will? If I need to say it here, .. Hey! World!... You're all invited on board!
(Now THAT would be cool.)
Chapter Twenty Eight
AND NOW, A WORD FOR OUR SPONSORS
It is at this point that I have to point out the obvious. If this is going to happen, it'll probably require some type of government financing to put it on wheels. I say this because I'm not sure there's much money available from the private sector to invest in anything this speculative. Oh, don't worry. Go back to the financial chapters and you will see that private investment will eventually be possible, as well as private profit from those investments. But the “S” will need a shitload of cash up front, (sorry, but it's true.) and... (I laugh here)... only the government is dumb enough to invest shitloads of cash in anything without full disclosure and a solid business plan. (See: bailout). I'm also convinced that if this “Skunkworks” is going to hatch a trillion dollar product, we don't need another situation where one single, privately-owned industry pretty much 'rules' the world, (and yes, I'm talking about the oil industry). I'm tired of the unrealistic fluctuation in prices, and frankly I'm not convinced that private industry can be trusted to act wisely. Look around. How are the privately-owned banks doing? How responsible have they been to their 'customers?' Same with the Big Three. Nuff said.
The “S” needs support from politicians and legislators who apparently have trillions of dollars in bags somewhere. In the three weeks it took me to write this book, I watched you guys give away billions, and billions, and billions, and billions, and billions of dollars... and every news commentator, on every channel, and every expert they talk to, - and even the people you gave it to - admit that it's probably not enough to solve anything. The best we can hope is that that earth-shaking “investment” helps maintain the status-quo.
The status quo? Is that the best goal you can set?
Over the same three weeks I've watched the “Big Three” auto makers, who have illustrated nothing but short-sighted thinking in the past, clamor and beg for more of those bags of money. Well here's a tip for you and them. Help us develop a fuelless engine as described in this book, and when it comes to market, tell the “Big Three” they can cram it up their engine compartments. How would that affect sales? (The answer, of course, is it would save all three.)
I might point out here that politicians who jump on this bandwagon can say things like “I truly believe in American ingenuity” and “I look for ways to make a better future for us all.” (I doubt any of them are going to say “Screw the oil companies, like they've been screwing us”, but I'll let that slide). Then when we roll out our brand new bouncing baby fuelless engine, the politicians who help make it happen are going to look like gods.
The others, not so much.
For a long time, (and until this project ramps up), the oil industry, and oil lobbists, have had nearly uncontested control of energy policy and something close to free reign when it comes to setting legislation related to energy. It is no big secret that their influence can sway votes and stop or retard almost anything that might endanger their position. I'm not going to say (outright) that big oil has several politicians in their pockets... (Oops, I just said it), and I'm not going to predict that big oil will fight tooth and nail to stop what we're trying to start in this book. And I'm certainly not crazy enough to accuse big oil of being so greedy that they would try to hold humanity's wallet in a vice grip to choke off funds that could enable the “S”...
I'm going to believe in America this time. I'm going to trust that in this particular fight, our politicians, no matter what the oil lobby tells (or promises – or pays) them, will recognize the cost to benefit ratio of developing the fuelless engine, and actually do something intelligent.
(I realize that I'm going way out on a limb here.)
I, we, need all of you politicians that “We, the People” elected to get on behind this. Every one of you, to call or email other politicians. I don't care which ones. Ask them to get on board., too. Ask them to support this effort. Ask them to propose legislation that can finance this. D****t, Man, this is important!
I'm getting carried away, aren't I.... Sorry.
To help our “far sighted” politicians out, I need everyone out there to call or e-mail politicians. Ask them to help.... but speak slowly and enunciate every word, because so far politicians don't seem to hear much.
There may be one single exception to the 'deaf politician' syndrome. Your name is Barack. Your platform is “Change.” I started writing this book on the night you were elected. In fact, I sent you an e-mail that night. You never wrote back. (What's wit dat?) Your slogan keeps going over and over in my head. “Yes We Can.”
Well, Mr. President, I believe it.
BTW...If you'd like to reply now, I've got a few minutes to talk. (Sorry about all that politician blasting up there... Nothing personal, It's just business.)
Chapter Twenty Seven
IT'S IN YOUR HAND NOW
Well there you have it. About a hundred pages of ideas pertaining to replacing fossil fuels. I don't know if any of these ideas will pan out. I don't have any better idea what the right solutions are now, then I did a few weeks ago when I started writing this book. What I DO know for certain, however, is that I haven't thought of everything.
Not even close.
I am 1/6,000,000,000th (One, six-billionth) of the brainpower available to make this happen. If I can think of all this stuff in a few weeks, then imagine what can happen if six billion brains go to work on the problem.
It staggers the imagination.
I have had a wonderful time writing this book. I'm not sure all the words came from me. There were periods where my fingers just kept tying, and I just sat there and cooperated. I'm not sure if I believe in a higher power, but if there is a higher power, for three weeks it seemed to be helping me do this.
Right now, as I write the last few sentences, for some reason I'm filled with emotions. My eyes are watering and in my head the song “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” keeps playing.
This will be the last chapter of this book. When my fingers leave the keyboard this time I will plug in my printer and print it out. From there, it's in your hands. But before I hand that responsibility over, I'm going to tell you a little story my mom told me. Please keep it in mind when you think about what I've written. It starts like this:
Once upon a time there was a little red engine... © 2008 Dax RadtkeAuthor's Note
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Added on December 14, 2008 Author
Dax RadtkeHomer, AKAboutI live on the side of a mountain overlooking Homer, Alaska. After a lifetime in "the real world" I sort of accidentally retired, and began writing the great American novel. Turns out it's a comedy. .. more..Writing
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