How instant photography and polaroids work

The first instant photography camera, as we know it today was invented and released in 1947 by Edwin Herbert Land, the head of the Polaroid company. Apart from the fact, that initially polaroids used black and white films, the technology remained largely the same. Understanding the basics of photographic films is essential when it comes to comprehending instant photography. Color films consist of three layers. While the top layer is sensitive to blue light, the middle one is sensitive to green light and the bottom layer is sensitive to red light. When the film is exposed to light, a chemical reaction sets in, which causes the grains to form metallic silver on the sensible parts of each layer. The pattern, which becomes visible, is a chemical record of the light. In order to get a picture, the film needs to be developed. Therefore, dye couplers attach to the non-exposed areas. The color types include combined colors such as cyan, magenta and yellow. Just as it happens with slide films, the instant camera combines the colors and arranges them on the plastic sheet. As the polaroid camera has a built-in developing system, it provides all necessary chemicals for the developing process.

CAJ: Abstract & Zombie abstract

Abstract

While dangers of nuclear wars and the survival of the human race do concern us, we tend to consider natural hazards such as comets, asteroids, volcanoes, earthquakes as unavoidable. We can be certain, though  that eventually  a global catastrophy will occur. For the first time in human history there are sufficient technical skills to begin protecting the Earth from some natural hazards. The journal is intended to illustrate how the Lifeboat Foundation tries to develop efficient defense systems to prepare for such calamities, but also how it bridges the dilemma created by intrusive surveillance technologies needed to safeguard people’s security. It tries to create awareness that many details of an individual’s private life are actually irrelevant for security purposes and that there are limits to intrusive surveillance.  The Lifeboat Foundation may be hailed in future generations as a pioneer of peace and safety  with the courage to think forward when it comes to the prevention of death and destruction.

Zombie abstract

Zombies have always been fascinating and threatening to people at the same time. The paper provides possible origins for the term ‘zombie’ and a comparison of different types of zombies in the first part. The Basic model presents the relationship and characteristics of the three types 'susceptible', 'zombies' and 'removed'. In the paper the author uses equations to back up his theories concerning the probability and intensity of zombie caused outbreak of diseases. He finally suggests quarantine and treatment theories for cases in which zombie invasion has reached uncontrollable dimensions. As a conclusion a method to eradicate zombies is presented.

CAJ: About the ATSDR and tackling contamination issues

 

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) was founded in 1983. It was coined at a time when the Times Beach in Missouri was evacuated due to dioxin contamination and the necessity of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was discerned. CDC drew the attention to identified health concerns and paved the way for ATSDR. Today it is one of 11 federal agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services. The headquarter of the agency which employs 300 individuals is situated in Atlanta. ATSDR also cooperates with universities and other departments to achieve their goals.

It is estimated that one quarter of diseases worldwide are caused by environmental factors. Chemical exposures are among the most dangerous influences. Not only may they lead to lead poisoning and asthma, but also cancer and developmental disabilities. The ATSDR plays an important role when it comes to safeguarding communities from chemical exposures. The registry’s main aims include identifying potential exposures, evaluating associated health effects and trying to minimize them. ATSDR scientists are able to model areas to see whether they have been determined at some point in the past, and if so to what extend people living there are exposed to chemicals. This method is referred to as ‘bio monitoring’. Another task the scientists fulfill is to assess emerging contaminants such as perfluoro chemicals. The ATSDR is also responsible to initiate proceedings regarding the evacuation of communities and the decision about the return into the determined area.

ATSDR educates doctors, other health care professionals, and communities about the health effects of hazardous substances and how to lessen their exposure to hazardous substances. It therefore provides educational programs that teach children and parents ways to reduce lead exposure. Moreover, ATSDR conducts and funds studies on hazardous substances and has already published documents referred to as  “toxicological profiles” on many of the hazardous substances most commonly found at Superfund sites.

 

 

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/docs/APHA-ATSDR_book.pdf

  

How to kill 'Adolf Hitler'

There are several reasons why Adolf Hitler, known as the ‘Führer’ to many has become the epitome of evil. For all those, who have always dreamed of getting the chance to change history and kill the ‘Führer’ here is how you should go about his assassination.

Materials:

-      time machine

-      nurse costume
   lethal injection (with aconitum appellus, a poisonous extract that cannot be proved afterwards)

-     small towel with Gaboxadol sleeping aid

Steps:

1.    Get into a time machine in order to travel back in time to April 20^th 1889 when Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau and has not yet committed atrocities of any kind.

2.   Go to the hospital of the city disguised as a nurse and make sure you have your lethal injection with you. (make sure it is well-hidden under your nurse costume)

3.   Find ‘baby-Hitler’ in one of the beds in the hospital of Braunau. Carefully choose the right moment between his birth and the time he will be given back to his mother.

4.   Act calm and watch out for other nurses and avoid eye contact with them unless you want to be discovered as intruder.

5.  If you find Hitler have your small towel soaked with the sleeping aid ready. Press it firmly on the baby’s mouth and nose.

6.   When he is asleep it is time to perform the lethal injection into one of his shoulders.

7.      Make sure you get away from the hospital as fast and as inconspicuously as possible.

8.    Go to your time machine and travel back to our time

Camera Lucida instructions

As we thoroughly considered the quality of the set of instructions, we found it lacks some vital points. First of all, a list of materials is missing. It is not very helpful if the items needed for the camera lucida have to be guessed from the text. The next critic regards the order of the instructions. Numbers for each step would have definitely been useful. The author seemed to have taken for granted a lot of things as he wrote the instructions. Not only did he choose to put the images without referring to what exact part of camera lucida was meant, nor did he establish a clear link between the paragraphs and the visual information. We agreed that if we were asked to build a camera lucida resorting only to this very set of instructions we would definitely end up with a bad result. We recommend to tackle these problems in order to render  it  a more structured, comprehensible and therefore useful instruction.

CAJ: Comparing three abstracts about topics relating to the journal

Human Extinction and Farsighted Universal Surveillance

Mark Walker (Department of Philosophy, New Mexico State University, La Cruces, NM, USA)

Volume 3, Issue 4. Copyright © 2012. 11 pages.

Abstract

This paper bridges the dilemma created by intrusive surveillance technologies needed to safeguard people’s security, and the potential negative consequences such technologies might have on individual privacy. The author begins with a brief review of the increasing threat to human life posed by emerging technologies, e.g., genetic engineering and nanotechnology. Next, they canvass a potential technological means to mitigate some of this threat, namely, ubiquitous microscopic sensors. The author then notes that a consequence of the deployment of such technology appears to be an erosion of personal privacy on a scale hitherto unimaginable. It is then argued that many details of an individual’s private life are actually irrelevant for security purposes, and that it may be possible to develop technology to mask these details in the data gleaned from surveillance devices. Such a development could meet some, perhaps many, of the concerns about privacy. It is also argued that if it is possible to use technology to mask personal information this may actually promote the goal of security, since it is conjectured that the public is likely to be more willing to accept such invasive technology if it is designed to mask such details. Finally, some applications to Society’s current uses of surveillance technology are drawn

 

Personal Comment:

This abstract discusses a core competence of the Lifeboat Foundation’s philosophy. Protecting people from intrusive use of technology is a rather current topic in times of growing surveillance and modernization. Even if the abstract is written as a quite monotonuous summary and somehow lacks findings it still manages to give the reader a concrete idea of the papers content.

 

 

Link: http://www.igi-global.com/article/human-extinction-farsighted-universal-surveillance/74714

Protection of the human race against natural hazards (asteroids, comets, volcanoes, earthquakes)

Joseph V. Smith1

 + Author Affiliations

1Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637

Abstract

Although we justifiably worry about the danger of nuclear war to civilization, and perhaps even to survival of the human race, we tend to consider natural hazards (e.g., comets, asteroids, volcanoes, earthquakes) as unavoidable acts of God. In any human lifetime, a truly catastrophic natural event is very unlikely, but ultimately one will occur. For the first time in human history we have sufficient technical skills to begin protection of Earth from some natural hazards. We could decide collectively throughout the world to reassign resources: in particular, reduction of nuclear and conventional weapons to a less dangerous level would allow concomitant increase of international programs for detection and prevention of natural hazards. Worldwide cooperation to mitigate natural hazards might help psychologically to lead us away from the divisive bickering that triggers wars. Future generations could hail us as pioneers of peace and safety rather than curse us as agents of death and destruction.

 

Personal comment:

The abstract resorts to very persuasive language in the beginning and therefore caught my attention right from the first sentence. It provokes a feeling of concern by referring to war in first place and then compare it to the power of natural phenomenons. Furthermore, the abstract tries to referr to the way the majority tends to think about the topic only to immediately smash it by saying that one day a truly catatstrophic natural event will occur. The abstract also ends on a high note and again a great level of persuasive language. I would not hesitate a second if I was asked to read the paper tot he abstract. It really fits perfectly into the topic of my CAJ.

Link: http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/13/10/675.short

 

COMET/ASTEROID PROTECTION SYSTEM (CAPS): A SPACE-BASED SYSTEM

CONCEPT FOR REVOLUTIONIZING EARTH PROTECTION AND UTILIZATION OF

NEAR-EARTH OBJECTS

Daniel

Renjith R. Kumar

Analytical Mechanics Associates, Inc.

Hampton, Virginia USA

ABSTRACT

There exists an infrequent, but significant hazard to life and property due to impacting asteroids and comets.There is currently no specific search for long-period comets, smaller near-Earth asteroids, or smaller shortperiod comets. These objects represent a threat with potentially little or no warning time using conventional ground-based telescopes. These planetary bodies also represent a significant resource for commercial exploitation, long-term sustained space exploration, and scientific research. The Comet/Asteroid Protection System (CAPS) would expand the current detection effort to include long-period comets, as well as small asteroids and short-period comets capable of regional destruction. A space-based detection system, despite being more costly and complex than Earth-based initiatives, is the most promising way of expanding the range of detectable objects, and surveying the entire celestial sky on a regular basis. CAPS is a future spacebased system concept that provides permanent, continuous asteroid and comet monitoring, and rapid, controlled modification of the orbital trajectories of selected bodies. CAPS would provide an orbit modification system capable of diverting kilometer class objects, and modifying the orbits of smaller asteroids for impact defense and resource utilization. This paper provides a summary of CAPS and discusses several key areas and technologies that are being investigated.

Personal comment:

The abstracts builds up the first argument claiming there has not yet been a lot of research and measures to protect the Earth from asteroids. The idea to start with a scenario where there is no protection provided for a catastrophy that could potentially eradicate the earth’s population is quite shocking.

 

Link: http://www.cs.odu.edu/~mln/ltrs-pdfs/NASA-2002-53iac-ddm.pdf