The Truth is Out There

This post will be devoted to answering several recently received emails and to share recent developments related to subjects written about in other recent posts. To begin, I wrote in the post of October 14, Georgia Chess News, “I recently noticed an announcement in the local Decatur Dispatch for a chess club at the Tucker library on the second and fourth Tuesday evening in which it is stated, “No children. Please.” I did not have the tabloid in front of me when writing and was working from memory. I will be the first to admit my memory, especially short term, is not what it used to be. It has been pointed out to me that the word “children” was not used in the announcement. This is correct. The announcement reads, “For adults 18 and older only, please.” I stand corrected.
There is an article by John Markoff, Making Robots More Like Us, in the NY Times. “In a shift from robots made for factories, designers are putting the “human” into humanoids so they can interact in public.” I especially like the way robots “interacted” with humans in the Terminator movies. You can find the article here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/29/science/making-robots-more-like-us.html?hp&_r=0
This goes hand in hand with, “A Chip In The Head: Brain Implants Will Be Connecting People To The Internet By The Year 2020,” By Michael Snyder, on October 29th, 2013. http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/a-chip-in-the-head-brain-implants-will-be-connecting-people-to-the-internet-by-the-year-2020
The odds are I will not be around then, and neither will the game of chess. I do not see how the game can withstand the melding of man and machine. What will be the point if every player has ready access to a program rated 6666?
One of the received emails was in regard to the post of October 20, Chess Has Been Fukushimaed. Although I regret having “upset and frightened” a reader, I must admit to also being upset and “frightened out of my wits” at the implications and possibilities caused by the disaster. I must, though, take exception to the reader when he writes, “If it were as bad as you say, I would have seen something about it on CNN, or the other national news stations.” Please! The corporate controlled so-called “news” programs are nothing more than infotainment desperately seeking viewers to satisfy sponsors just as any other program on any other station. They are content in titillating viewers with the latest on Broccoli Spears and her Basic instinct moment; Lady Google in all her Gaga glory; and Smiley Virus, the latest in a long line of good girls gone bad. Fortunately for We the People there is the internet. But for how long, I cannot help but wonder…
Because of the email I decided to make a point of asking people what they knew of Fukushima. I questioned people, usually much younger, in restaurants, coffee shops and book stores. Although not what one would consider a scientific poll, and much too small for any kind of random sampling, it was the best I could manage. The answers received were mostly that it was off the radar. Most were under the impression it was “not a problem.” Or that it, “had been cleaned up.” When I told them a little of what I have learned, they refused to believe it, telling me it could not possibly be true or else they would have heard about it from the media. The few who were interested, and had their gizmos handy, checked out several websites I mentioned, read the headlines, and said things like, “This is sooooo spooky!” This was from a young woman near Emory University. None of the Emory students with whom I talked was even vaguely aware there was a problem.
On the Coast to Coast AM radio program on the night of October 27, Helen Caldicott, “talked about the devastating nature of the Fukushima disaster as well as the dangers of nuclear power in general.”This is the worst industrial accident ever to occur, but it’s not over,” she cautioned. Caldicott explained that two of the Fukushima power plants are crumbling and, should another earthquake strike the area, one building could collapse and release massive amounts of radiation into the atmosphere. Meanwhile, at the other building, over 250 tons of highly radioactive uranium sits 100 feet above the ground in a cooling pool, which could come crashing to the ground, causing massive fires and releasing irradiated water into the Pacific Ocean.
Aside from the potential danger, Caldicott said, 400 tons of radioactive water is currently being emitted into the ocean every day as thousands of additional tons have being collected in faulty tanks which are both faulty and susceptible to future earthquakes. She stressed that the unprecedented complexity of the disaster, as well as political and economic interests, have resulted in an inadequate response to both solving the crisis and raising awareness over the dangers still posed by it. She accused the Japanese government of “cutting corners” in an effort to save money in the disaster clean up and also blamed national pride for the lack of requests for international assistance. “This is a global, ongoing public health catastrophe and no one’s attending to it,” she lamented.”-From: http://www.coasttocoastam.com/show/2013/10/27
How about this headline:
The California coastline is becoming like a dead zone.
“If you haven’t been to a California beach lately, you probably don’t know that the rocks are unnaturally CLEAN – there’s hardly any kelp, barnacles, sea urchins, etc. anymore and the tide pools are similarly eerily devoid of crabs, snails and other scurrying signs of life… and especially as compared to 10 – 15 years ago when one was wise to wear tennis shoes on a trip to the beach in order to avoid cutting one’s feet on all the STUFF of life – broken shells, bones, glass, driftwood, etc. There are also days when I am hard-pressed to find even a half dozen seagulls and/or terns on the county beach. You can still find a few gulls trolling the picnic areas and some of the restaurants (with outdoor seating areas) for food, of course, but, when I think back to 10 – 15 years ago, the skies and ALL the beaches were literally filled with seagulls and the haunting sound of their cries both day and night…
NOW it’s unnaturally quiet. (And especially at night.)” From-http://planet.infowars.com/outdoors/california-coastline-becoming-like-dead-zone-fukushima-to-blame
This is not something that may occur in the future, but is happening NOW! For example, “Yale Professor Charles Perrow is warning that if the cleanup of Fukushima is not handled with 100% precision that humanity could be threatened “for thousands of years“…
“Conditions in the unit 4 pool, 100 feet from the ground, are perilous, and if any two of the rods touch it could cause a nuclear reaction that would be uncontrollable. The radiation emitted from all these rods, if they are not continually cool and kept separate, would require the evacuation of surrounding areas including Tokyo. Because of the radiation at the site the 6,375 rods in the common storage pool could not be continuously cooled; they would fission and all of humanity will be threatened, for thousands of years.” From-http://thetruthwins.com/archives/28-signs-that-the-west-coast-is-being-absolutely-fried-with-nuclear-radiation-from-fukushima
There you will also find a film that has been posted on YouTube, Fukushima And The End Of Humanity. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH3AlPmavDk You will also read, “Every single day, 300 tons of radioactive water from Fukushima enters the Pacific Ocean.”
If you go to the website of Helen Caldicott (helencaldicott.com) you will find an article, Endless Fukushima catastrophe: 2020 Olympics under contamination threat. http://www.helencaldicott.com/2013/09/endless-fukushima-catastrophe-2020-olympics-under-contamination-threat/#more-614 There you can read the comments left, including this one: “Rafi Metz on October 24, 2013 at 8:30 pm said:
In a recent video I heard Ms. Caldicott saying that it may be necessary to evacuate the entire Northern Hemisphere. If that happens, who will maintain all of the hundreds of nuclear power plants throughout that hemisphere? The answer is: “No one.” They will all eventually melt down. Fukushima is just the beginning.”
Or is it the end? Humans cannot exist when the oceans die, and the radioactive water from Fukushima is killing life in the ocean. Those in control have absolutely no idea what to do other than continue pumping life killing radiation into the life giving ocean. What happens to the game of chess pales in comparison. At this point I am thinking of the end of one of my favorite songs from youth. It is by Country Joe and the Fish. The name of the song is, “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die-Rag.” It concludes with, “Well there ain’t no time to wonder why, Whoopee! we’re all gonna die.” http://songmeanings.com/songs/view/88285/

Robot Chess

After seeing the headline, “ARMY foresees robots becoming squad members,” I read the article, learning the army does not mean just a robot, but HUMANOID ROBOTS. This conjured up thoughts of the movie Terminator and the battles between humans and machines. When it comes to chess the fight is over; humans have lost the battle.
Read all about it at:
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9241038/U.S._Army_foresees_robots_becoming_squad_members
Then there is this: “Man Who Pulled Gun During Chess Game Surrenders To Robot Cop”
Underneath is the secondary headline: “No nonsense tin lawman pacifies testy intellectual with GRENADES”
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07/25/man_who_pulled_gun_during_chess_game_surrenders_to_robot_cop/
I would have put an exclamation mark at the end. I have had a few grenades launched at me while playing chess. Fortunately the only thing exploded was my position…