My Thoughts on Technology and Jamaica: August 2011

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

THC Extract as a prescription pain killer - A Limitless Long Term Bio-Fuel Future for Jamaica

No bird has ever uttered note
That was not in some fits bird’s throat;
Since Eden’s freshness and man’s fall
No rose has been original.

T.B Aldrich, Originality

In my last article on the phenomenon of e-cigarettes as the long-term savior of the local Jamaican company Carrerras Group of Companies, I pointed out a hidden danger: it’s possible to modify the cartridges to use liquid THC (Tetra Hydro Cannabinol), the extract from Marijuana (Cannabis Sativa) instead of liquid nicotine.



My blog article entitled Carerras and e-cigarettes - THC Thanks You for Smoking The Next Big Thing” pointed out that Carrerras Group of Companies would have to modify their cartridges to avoid persons modifying them as such. But as this is unavoidable in the long run, what about just simply making THC legal?

After all, it is a plant with numerous medicinal properties, but only got a bad rap due to its abuse as a narcotic. Yet it is an oft prescribed narcotic for extreme pain, bested only by another drug in the same class of hallucinogenic drugs, Morphine.



It would be best to aid is mass extraction and legitimize its use under Doctor’s advisement i.e. prescription, as with the coming of e-cigarettes from Carrerras Group of Companies, a legitimate Tax complaint Business, to save their fledgling cigarette business, Jamaica may start seeing increases in cases of Marijuana possession cases.

As is now the case, Marijuana (Cannabis Sativa) is an illegal drug and possession of it is a criminal offence. However, its extract THC (Tetra Hydro Cannabinol) is used in the making of Canasol, an eye drop medication based on the plant.

With a plethora of other applications for Marijuana (Cannabis Sativa) aside from its abuse as a drug or religious sacrament by Rastafarians, the Government of Jamaica may be missing the train as it relates to monetary gains from its extracts. Thus a simple suggestion is to maintain the possession of Marijuana illegal with the exception of its use as a starting material for the extraction of THC.

This can be easily done by rendering the Marijuana (Cannabis Sativa) in a form that cannot be smoked by pyrolosis i.e. decomposing the plant under a hard vacuum or low pressure of about 1 atm with gentle thermal heat such a radiation focused from sunlight through a vacuum chamber that is constructed of glass. This as THC is a volatile compound and the fumes may overpower the Chemist, thus necessitating this is done in a well ventilated area.

Once in this decomposed organic “soup” from, it can be safely transported to a pharmaceutical company registered with the Government of Jamaica to go through the process of extracting the THC and making it available as a prescription painkiller for hospital usage, but on a larger scale than is currently possible, enabling export to other countries.

The left over organic matter can then be processed into Bio-Fuel such as Bio-Diesel for Flex-fuel Vehicles that are sure to be imported by ATL Automotive and other New Car Dealers as state in my blog article entitled ATL Automotive to benefit from Low-Sulphur Diesel in 12 Months Time - Bio-Fuels Resident Evil Apocalypse” thus preventing abuse of the material.

This is a far more environmentally friendly way to get rid of Marijuana (Cannabis Sativa) than burning, as the Jamaican Constabulary Force aka the Jamaican Police are prone to do. Granted, the above would require legislative and regulatory framework to achieve and consultation with the Government of the United States of America.

California, in the US of A, which curiously is also seeking a solution to its usage as mentioned in my blog article entitled “Salvia, THC and Shared Dreaming - Altered States meets Inception” has already legalized Salvia, made famous by Miley Cyrus’ video showing her attempting shared dream with friends. THC (Tetra Hydro Cannabinol) would have done the hidden video some justice, albeit there may not be a next time if Apple has their ways as prognosticated in my blog article entitledApple iPhone Infrared Camera Sensor Patent - Miley Cyrus' Privacy in The Adjustment Bureau”.

In short legalize the extract THC (Tetra Hydro Cannabinol) for medicinal use as a prescription pain killer but maintain the illegality of Marijuana (Cannabis Sativa). The leftover organic material from the extraction process can be used to make Bio-Fuel for Motor Vehicles, slated to come to Jamaica in significant numbers in the First Quarter of 2012AD. After that the possibilities are Limitless (2011).

Monday, August 29, 2011

JRC Trains and JUTC Buses coming in Fourth Quarter of 2011AD - Fifth Dimension's Up, Up and Away

Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon
Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon
We could float among the stars together, you and I
For we can fly we can fly
Up, up and away
My beautiful, my beautiful balloon

Excerpt from the song Up, Up and Away by the Fifth Dimension

Signs now appear that the Senator Mike Henry, Minister of Transport and Works may be about to keep his promise and make every Clarendon and Manchester High School Student who attends a Kingston School come to pass in the Fourth Quarter of 2011AD.





Not to mention give Jamaicans more luxurious options as it relates to travel to Kingston and St Catherine, complete with Rolling Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) powered by LTE (Long Term Evolution) Backhaul from either Telecom Provider Digicel or Telecom Provider LIME as stated in my blog article entitled “JUTC and the Downtown Municipal Transport Centre - Planes, Trains & Automobiles”.

The JRC (Jamaica Railway Corporation) is considering extending the Passenger Railway Train Service to Clarendon and Manchester as stated in the article “Transport ministry considers extending train, bus service to central Jamaica”, published 28-08-2011 14:22:26 Go-Jamaica and the article “Limited Rail Service to Remain Until New School Year Begins”, published MONDAY, 22 AUGUST 2011 08:29 by Jamaica Information Service.

Straight from the horse’s mouth!!

Effectively by September 2011AD or further along in the Fourth Quarter of 2011AD, when the new school term begins, these are the intended JRC routes:

1.      Kingston to Spanish Town
2.      Spanish Town to Linstead
3.      Linstead to May Pen
4.      May Pen to Scott’s Pass


Thus the JRC is fulfilling the expectations of Scott’s Pass Residents in Manchester and May Pen Residents in Clarendon as to the resumption of Train Service as suggested in the article Scotts Pass Residents want Train Service”, published Tuesday April 26, 2011 by Nedburn Thaffe, Gleaner Writer,The Jamaica Gleaner.

Also, in a double-dip ice cream treat, the Minister of Transport and Works is considering the extension of the JUTC (Jamaica Urban Transportation Corporation) Municipal Bus service, characterized by those Buses sporting the Jamaican flag colours that traverse Kingston and St. Andrew Municipality to also expand their service to the rural areas, inclusive of Clarendon and Manchester as noted in my blog article entitled “JRC, Scotts Pass and Senator Mike Henry – Molly Wood Keeping up with the Kardashians”.

JRC ticket sales for various classes of passenger can be supplemented via Advertising and contracting the services of a Canteen Concessionaire within the Trains. Rolling Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) services powered by either Telecom Provider Digicel or Telecom Provider LIME can serve as a VAS (Value Added Services) for the Passenger Trains as per my blog article entitled JRC, Scotts Pass and Senator Mike Henry – Molly Wood Keeping up with the Kardashians”.



But it is the introduction of a Freight service to carry goods and produce that may make both the JUTC and the JRC Passenger Railway Train Service profitable. The use of LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) that may make the JUTC and the JRC Passenger Railway Train Service fuel efficient.

This as LNG would reduce their fuel consumption and maintenance costs, being as LNG burns cleaner, has more energy per Kilogram is better for the engine. A cue taken from the People’ Republic of China, who are in the process of making their Public Transport system use LNG being as it is more fuel efficient as stated in my blog article entitledJUTC, Challenger and LNG - Journey to the Center of the Earth”.


Can travel to Kingston and St. Catherine from Manchester or Clarendon get any better than this, The Fifth Dimension Up, Up and Away style? Christmas looks bright again as the Fourth Quarter of 2011AD approaches………if this promise is kept!

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Google TV making push into the EU – Motorola Mobility Purchase Die Another Day


For every sin, I'll have to pay
I've come to work, I've come to play
I think I'll find another way
It's not my time to go

Excerpt from the Madonna soundtrack for the James Bond Movie Die Another Day

Looks like I was right on the money in my article on the Google purchase of Motorola Mobility on the Geezam Blog entitled “Google Acquires Motorola Mobility – Weapon of Choice in the IP and Set-Top Box Wars” folks! Google’s purchase of Motorola Mobility was only partially about acquiring a war chest of seventeen thousand (17,000) plus patents or advancing their interests into the hardware side of the smartphone business.





It was really about advancing Google TV, their lackluster IPTV Set-Top Box platform that Hollywood has snubbed, scared off by Google’s lack of guarantee of content infringement protection. Motorola’s expertise in Set-Top Box gear should re-engender trust with Hollywood bigwigs.

Signs were apparent when Google announced a SDK (Software Development Kit) for Google TV to work with Google Android 2.3 aka Gingerbread as per the article “Android developers can start writing Google TV apps”, published AUGUST 22, 2011 3:26 PM PDT By Stephen Shankland, CNET News - Deep Tech.

This as Google’s Eric Schmidt has announced on Friday August 26th 2011AD at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International TV Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland that they are launching Google TV in the First Quarter of 2012AD as state in the article “Schmidt says Google TV heading to Europe”, published AUGUST 27, 2011 4:30 PM PDT By Edward Moyer, CNET News - Digital Media.

Please note this is the sanitized news as presented by CNET News Editor Edward Moyer. The REAL source of the News is a lot more bluntly expressed in the Reuters article entitled “UPDATE 2-Google TV to launch in Europe next year” published Friday August 26, 2011 7:31pm EDT By Georgina Prodhan, Reuters. As blunt as was my assertion: Google realizes that Television is just too big an arena to ignore, hence their push towards the EU after the Hollywood blocking content streaming to their Set-Top Boxes.

Telco 2.0/STL Partners analyst Keith McMahon is blunt as the British can get but expresses it best, quote: “If his ambition was to go there and convince the TV people he wasn't a big threat, I don't think he achieved it. The message I got was that TV is such a big market that Google can't ignore it. They're never going to give it up.”.

This forced their partner-in-crime, Logitech, to drop the price of their Set-Top Box, the Logictech Revue to US$99 as stated in the article “Five reasons why you should buy the $99 Google TV”, published August 1, 2011, 3:00pm PT by Janko Roettgers, GigaOM as nobody was buying their Set-Top Box platform with blocked or inaccessible content.




Roku is still the IPTV streaming Set-Top Box darling while Apple’s iTV, a “hobby” of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, is quietly doing testing, only recently discovering, to their surprise, that people prefer to buy programs, even at higher prices as opposed to renting them for US$0.99 as per the article “Apple cancels iTunes TV rentals” published August 26, 2011, 2:40pm PT By Erica Ogg, GigaOM




Please note that these are not the only IPTV Streaming Set-Top Boxes, just the most profilic of the lot. This as the profit margins are better for streaming than regular Pay TV, as per the statistics of Strategy Analytics as shown below when Video on Demand (Pay-TV) is compared to Broadband Services offered by these Triple Play Providers:



Thus Silicon Valley, despite their technical prowess is very much in the dark as to what customers want. Meanwhile Television’s future among the Triple Play Providers both in the US of A and Jamaica appears to be increasing tied to Broadband Internet as stated in the article Forget TV — broadband is the future of cable, published August 26, 2011, 10:40am PT By Ryan Lawler, GigaOM.

Not to mention threatened by IPTV Service Providers such a Netflix, now with expansionist plans including Latin America as stated in my blog article entitled “Netflix coming to Latin America - Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer”. Google TV is thus following suit, as Netflix also has plans to conquer the EU. Although Netflix is an IPTV Services Provider, Google TV’s desire to be both the IPTV Set-Top Box and IPTV Service Provider indicates their ambitious is dominance of this as yet untamed frontier, now with the technical expertise of Motorola Mobility in their back pocket.




Prognosis to the Triple Play Providers: Follow the example of Triple Play Provider ComCast 1GBps XFinity and Triple Play Provider FLOW 300MBps upgrade coming this Fourth Quarter of 2011AD and adopt a IPTV Streaming Platform strategy to counter the growing threat of IPTV. Free-to-Air Broadcasters both American and Jamaican need to go DVB-H urgently as well, inclusive of interactive Red Button Service to make Television more like Radio as per my blog article entitled “Traditional News Media vs Broadband Telecoms - GigaOM's Avoiding ELE After Deep Impact”.

This as IPTV is using the Telecoms Providers and Triple Play Providers OWN Broadband access against them as stated in my blog article entitled “FLOW goes 3D HDTV as Netflix cometh - XFinity follow-on indicates Streaming's Deep Impact” as Google TV has decided to Die Another Day (2002).

Powering Gadgets by Recycling Waste Energy - Alice's Windmills in my Mind Through the Looking Glass

Like a clock whose hands are sweeping
Past the minutes on its face
And the world is like an apple
Whirling silently in space
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind

Excerpt from the soundtrack of The Thomas Crowne Affair (1968)

I have been quite surprised this week by the sudden surging interest in my blog article entitled “uBeam's Perry & Dweck Ultrasonic Power Transfer - Rafe Needleman's Hidden Village of Sound” on the use of Ultrasonic Sound waves with their Ultrasonic Power Transfer Technology to power electronics gadgets developed by University of Pennsylvania graduates Meredith Perry and Nora Dweck and their start-up uBeam.

Good to note it’s NOT my idea; I merely added to it by suggesting partnering graduate student Sang-Woo Kim from the Institute of Nanotechnology at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, South Korea to develop his technology of using ambient noise as the power source, as the environment has a lot of Sound Energy generated, which is analogous to Heat Exchangers in an Industrial plant using waste heat to do other work.

Thus I decided to pen a short note to highlight various Technological innovations to reuse Wasted Sound, Kinetic, Solar, Radiation and Chemical Energy to achieve the dream of every Telecoms and Power Technician: Recycling Wasted Energy!
My article on uBeam segwayed from reusing Wasted Energy in the form of Sound Waves to Kinetic Energy from general walking or running motion by humans in a device designed by Tremont Electric which could have put some of Congress’s Energy wasted on negotiations to good use as I had joked in my blog article entitled “Tremont Electric nPower PEG Kinetic Charger - Showgirls Flashdance Energy”.

Ditto too the use of Solar Panels, effectively a reuse of Solar Energy to power Gadgets as tabled in a 2010AD patent filings by Apple as stated in my blog article entitled “Apple iPhone 5 and its Design - Of Gods, Critics, Lemmings, Sheep and Men” and my Geezam Blog article entitled “Towards a cheaper Apple iPhone – Batteries Not Included”.

Still hoping for this innovation not only on the Apple iPhone and the Apple iPad but on a revamped Apple iPod and its cousins, the Apple iPod Touch, the Apple iPod Nano and the Apple iPod Shuffle.

This increased performance, after optimizing the design of any gadget to use less power, now means that engineers must turn their attention once again to improving battery technology as intoned in my blog article entitled “Apple iPad, PC Makers and Battery Life - Lost in Space and The AppleByte”.

These innovations above are for powering Apple MacBook Airs and their Intel-prescribed copycats the Ultrabooks, which are also in need of a common Power Adaptor standard as stated in my blog article entitled “Apple MacBook Airs and Intel UltraBooks cometh – Time for a Common Standard on Power Adaptors” as Mobile smartphones and Gadgets already have a common Power Charger Standard.

The PC can also be saved too by becoming more power efficient via either DMFC (Direct Methanol Fuel Cells) as stated in my blog article entitled “Chrome OS Cr-48 and the Mobion Fuel Cell Generator - Green Lantern” or Liquid Metal Battery Technology as stated in my blog article entitled “Prof Donald Sadoway and the Liquid Metal Battery - VC Bill Gates Evanessence”.

There may even be use for Crook’s Radiometer, once scaled up to size to not only power gadgets but an entire house once scaled up to size as stated in my blog article entitled “Alternative Energy and the Solar Generator - Pitch Black”.

The same is true for all of the above Waste Energy concepts: it’s all a matter of imagination and scale, Alice Through the Looking Glass (TV 1998) style.

Patent developments that are VERY necessary, as every addition to these electronic gadgets needs more power and there is only so much power you can squeeze out of Lithium-polymer batteries. Thus, do not be surprised if you seen smaller SMT (Surface mount Technology) or nanoscale versions of the above mentioned featured in a next gadget under Apple CEO Tim Cook’s leadership as per my blog article entitled “Apple CEO Steve Jobs Resigns as Apple Becomes No 1 - Rihanna Cheers from Apple iMac to Apple iPad”.

Much as the song implores us explore the Windmills of our Minds, The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) Style!


Windmills of your mind - Thomas Crown Affair

All these innovation brings us close to cutting the Analog Power Cord and Power Adaptor, the last vestige of Electronic Gadgets that still has not made the switch to Digital as per my blog article entitled “Alternative Energy and Solar Power - Die Another Day”. 

Friday, August 26, 2011

DARPA HTV-2 and 100-Year Interstellar Travel Research – Diamonds are Forever in the Stars

Fame is the perfume of heroic deeds
Socrates quoted by Plato


DARPA’s HTV-2 vehicle successfully hit Mach 20 for three (3) minutes based on nine (9) minutes of Telemetry data received from the craft as designed based on the report in the article “DARPA releases video of HTV-2 hypersonic glider flight”, published August 25, 2011 By JOHN ANTCZAK, Associated Press, PhysOrg.



Hopefully too, DARPA may focus the Research towards the Design of a Extra-solar Vehicle fit for space travel as per their recent grant of US$500,000 to breathe life into the 100 Year Starship Study co-sponsored by NASA (National Aeronautical Space Administration) by November 11th 2011AD as stated in the article “DARPA offering $500,000 grant in November to fund Starship research”, published  AUGUST 18, 2011 by JEFF HUGHES, DigitalTrends


Director Regina Dugan has declared thus: “According to a preliminary review of the data collected prior to the anomaly encountered by the HTV-2 during its second test flight.HTV-2 demonstrated stable aerodynamically controlled Mach 20 hypersonic flight for approximately three minutes. It appears that the engineering changes put into place following the vehicle’s first flight test in April 2010 were effective. We do not yet know the cause of the anomaly for Flight 2.”

My article caught up with this exciting development and speculated the HTV-2’s failure may have been a communication problem with the vehicle at Mach 20, which is speeds approaching relativistic speeds at which Time Dilation begins to affect communications as per my blog article entitled  “DARPA's Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 - Learning To communicate and Walk Before Running”.

I suggested the use of a Laser-based communication system coupled with IBM Watson and its Natural Language capabilities to ease controls of the test vehicle in flight. I knew prior to the Second Test vehicle being launched, the problems that cause the first failure had been addressed in HTV-2’s design, namely by:

1.      Adjusting center of gravity
2.      Decreasing the angle of attack flown
3.      Using the onboard reaction control systems to augment vehicle flaps

Air Force Major Dr. Chris Schulz, DARPA HTV-2 Program Manager in the article “TEST FLIGHT #2 a SUCCESS for DARPA’s Falcon HTV-2”, published August 21 2011 by Greg in SD stated thus, quote: “We’ve confirmed that the HTV-2 made impact with the Pacific Ocean along its flight trajectory as planned in the event of an anomaly. This flight safety system is a significant engineering advance in that the system prompts a vehicle to monitor the parameters under which it is operating and exercise safety protocols completely autonomously should those parameters be breached.”

DARPA is yet to have the problem it its latest toy identified. So before anybody jumps the gun on me, I call dibs on the communication problem and solution as per my blog article entitled “DARPA's Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 - Learning To communicate and Walk Before Running” to help this modified SCRAMJet cum glider learn to come to a stop.

And why not? 



If we could design an extra-solar vehicle that can kick it up to Mach 20 and higher, there are entire planets out there made up of diamonds waiting to be mined as stated in the article “Astronomers discover diamond planet”, published AUGUST 26, 2011 RICK MARSHALL, DigitalTrends and the article “Astronomers: We've found a planet made of diamond”, published AUGUST 26, 2011 10:14 AM PDT By Chris Matyszczyk, CNET News - Technically Incorrect.

First stop: The Moon as the Moon Express as stated in my blog article entitled “Obama and Dr. Pell's Moon Express - Fly Me To the Moon, I''ll Drink To That”.




Thus far, it is a SERIOUS technical achievement to even be able to communicate at those speeds. A controlled landing instead of a splash down would be a history making event, as it would herald the dawn of Hypersonic Flight, piloted by AI!