Interesting News June 2, 2015

There is always a lot going on in the world, but a lot of it never makes it to the mainstream news, while on the other hand some of it does. I thought it might be interesting to review some of the events which have taken place and I would like to start with something which not many of us know anything about and that is a member of the British Parliament called for an investigation of the G20 protests in London in 2009, because he heard the police had used agents to incite the riots. So far I cannot find the results of the investigation, but I did find out the police had to settle on the matter of the death of one protester in which one of their officers was being investigated for manslaughter. The real question is were there protesters planted in the crowd who stirred up the crowd to give the police a reason to attack it and was this ultimately planned by someone who had an interest in scaring protesters so they wouldn’t protest again?

Internal combustion engines just keep improving and recently Audi has announced the development of a new 2.0 liter engine with a revised combustion cycle. The engine is scheduled to be installed in the Audi A4. It is said to be the most efficient two liter gasoline in its class. It puts out 190 hp and 236 pounds of torque at only 1,450 revolutions. This means you will get a fast response when you are slowly cruising along in traffic and suddenly a hole opens up you want to accelerate into. The engine’s intake has been reduced, because the company redesigned the angle of the crank by 60 degrees to 140 degrees. The boost pressure has been increased to compensate for this. The engine is said to have optimal efficiency and performance across its entire range. It will also heat up faster and has had its friction reduced.

It is finally going to happen. It won’t be long before our bridges, roads and medical implants will all be monitored by micro sensors. The idea is for the sensors to alert us before something fails. Hopefully there would be no more tragic loss of lives, because of a failing bridge and one of those hip replacements won’t fail on someone while they are walking around. Pilot programs are being run in many different areas and this is allowing the scientists to optimize the devices for the particular job they are imbedded for. It is being said the sensors will be able to store information and do not need batteries to function. The lead scientist discovered mechanical stress can be converted into energy and this can be used to power these devices. The sensors can be read using a smart phone and they are capable of predicting the onset of failure. It is said one of the goals of the scientists is to install a sensor into a helmet to monitor concussions.

An ex-spy chief from Romania has come out with a statement saying the United States had CIA black prisons in his country and Bucharest cooperated in letting them do this, because Romania was trying to join NATO. He went on to say Romania took no interest in the prisons and he knew of at least one of these prisons. He said he knew of a transit camp that held prisoners until they were ready to be moved to other locations. The ex-spy chief said he was positive about one prison location, but there were possibly two prisons. He went on to say it was probable people were imprisoned and treated in an inhumane manner between 2003 and 2006.

Infowars.com ran an article in 2008 asking, “The prison industry in the United States: big business or a new form of slavery?” It pertained to private prisons and nothing could have been truer as they have expanded and are now lobbying to make laws stricter so they can increase the number of inmates, because each inmate means big bucks for these private prisons. There is something very unethical about lobbying to increase the severity of laws just to make a profit and enslave people. Prisoners all over the world are being used to manufacture things and many of them are not getting paid. That tradition is being continued here as some of our biggest companies are teaming up with companies using prison labor. It is a shame when so many of us who are out of work have to compete with prison labor, since it is impossible to do. Our prison labor pool is growing every day and if things keep going the same way, it could become a tremendous economic factor.

After super storm Sandy hit New Jersey, workmen began repairing a sea wall. As they were digging they discovered an old vessel which was buried in the sand. Historians think the ship was from the 1850s and at least one expert thinks it is the Ayrshire, a Scottish brig. The Ayrshire had crashed into a sandbar in New Jersey in 1850. The ship was buried about 20 feet under the sand. It is known for sure the ship was built before the 1900s, because it had peg-like construction. There has been a debate as to whether this is really a ship or a barge. On top of the deck a windlass was found and this leads experts to think it is a ship and there may be more decks below it.

If this is true it is good news for a change. A study recently released by scientists at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Goddard Earth Sciences Technology and Research at the Universities Space Research Association states a large hole in the ozone layer is closing up. The hole has been consistently larger than 8 million square miles since 1990. The chemicals which deplete ozone in the atmosphere have decreased. It is believed the hole will shrink below 8 million square miles by 2040 and could be completely closed by 2100.

Lastly some are worrying about the earth being hit by an asteroid in 2017. The asteroid is 2012 TC4 and is thought to be passing close to the earth. The exact distance is unknown at this time. The rock is estimated to be anywhere from 12 to 40 meters in size. If you think it is too small to worry about, the meteorite which exploded over Russia in 2013 which injured about 1,500 people and damaged over 7,000 buildings was 20 meters wide. The head of the Near-Earth Object Segment in the Space Situational Awareness program office said the chances of it hitting us are more than one in a million.