22 June 2003 #0325.html

The Law of The Jungle

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Dear Paul and Kate, Melanie and Jared, Bridget and Justin, Sara, Ben and Sarah, Heather, Audrey, Rachel, Matt via hardcopy, and Brian,

cc: file, Andrea, Tony Hafen, Sara and Des Penny, & Maxine Shirts

Welcome to "Thoughtlets." This is a weekly review of an idea, belief, thought, or words that will hopefully be of some benefit to you, my children, with an electronic copy to on-line extended family members. Any of you can ask me not to clutter your mail box at any time.

"After all of the excitement of our London Vacation (0324.html) I got up Tuesday morning the 17th of June and went for a run around the block. I got thinking about my discussion with Todd Staheli about having a seminar for friends who like to think, and giving you kids an opportunity to participate in some way. The following is my portion of an e-mail discussion of the idea with David Devor, the author of 'Project Mind, to get a reality check:'

`Synergism I Reasons for hosting the seminar: 1. I expect the unexpected to emerge from the interaction of a group of bright thinkers, each of whom has, in the spirit of Socrates, examined their lives. 2. I enjoy spending time with those whom I will invite. 3. I want to provide an on-going educational/enlightnment experience for my children and step/children and my my friends children who are interested in participating. Reasons for the location being the Heritage Center in Cedar City, Utah: 1. The only common thread of those I am considering inviting is they are my friends. True friends like to know about friends. My roots are Cedar City, Utah, and it is a nice place to spend some vacation time. 2. My sister, Sara, helped get the bonds to build the Heritage Center, a community theater. She is concerned about paying for it. My thought is to place the conference agenda at http://www.walden3d.com/synergism_I, and to charge those not invited who are interested in . These funds would be available to help Sara with her fundraising, for honoriums (travel), and maintenance, if participants think it is worth keeping this forum alive. Organization and Presentations: 1. I imagine levels of participation: A. Invited Panelists for each session sit on the stage. B. The front seats of the theater are for the children of the organizers (as long as they are able to sit still and listen, otherwise they will be invited to go find something else to do). C. The next rows will be those invited to participate. D. The back of the theater will be for those who pay to attend. They will be welcome to make comments during allocated discussion time. The seats will get expotentially more expensive as the theater approaches filling up. 2. Vetting and presentations: A. Those invited to attend will be asked to submit an abstract of what they wish to talk about relative to the concept of synergism. These will be reviewed and accepted or rejected by the organizers: myself, representing the scientific community; Todd Stahli, representing the business/political community; and Ken Turner, representing the artistic community (at this time I have no idea if Todd and Ken are interested or able to attend). B. Presentations would be organized into four sessions over two days, with a panel for each session. C. Abstracts will be captured in advance and will be available on the web. Presentations and discussions will be recorded and the essence put on the web. D. I expect to give two presentations: i. An introduction: built around the importance of spatial, temporal, and activity indexing as a way to help get access to information when you have a question and before forgeting the question. ii. A conclusion: summarizing what I learned, the value of this learning, and with a discussion as to whether it is worthwhile to hold Synergism II. If so, when and where.'


David said it is an interesting idea, and it would be very hard to control or direct the discussion. It was pretty obvious he was not interested in coming from Israel. I asked Melanie about having a family reunion the Fourth of July weekend of next year, staying at the Nelson cabin, and spending time together. Melanie, I'm pleased you were interested in the idea. I'm not sure if any of you will be interested now that I fill my thoughts out a little bit more. One of the first things to understand about the Law of the Jungle, is that the fittest survive. And this is one of those ideas I do not have a lot of ownership on, specifically because I have not spent a lot of time thinking about it. I think it is interesting, and I would really appreciate some feedback to learn if any of you have any interest in the idea. Thanks in advance to those who take the time to read and respond.

One of the first things do do on getting back from a week away was to read all of the e-mails. Actually, I'm getting between 50 and 100 spam e-mail messages per day, and I've got the process down to where I can quickly file the spam e-mails. Someday, I anticipate this file will be very useful as a spam filter. One of the e-mail's that touched me was sent by Hayden Hudson. I include it below:

'COLUMBINE UPDATE: This is TRUE and would you believe, you probably didn't see one word of it in any of the news media. Surprising what we don't get to see!!!!!!! Guess our national leaders didn't expect this, hmm? On Thursday, Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado, was invited to address the House Judiciary Committee's sub-committee. What he said to our national leaders during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful. They were not prepared for what he was to say, nor was it received well. It needs to be heard by every parent, every teacher, every politician, every sociologist, every psychologist, and every so-called expert! These courageous words spoken by Darrell Scott are powerful, penetrating, and deeply personal. There is no doubt that God sent this man as a voice crying in the wilderness. The following is a portion of the transcript: "Since the dawn of creation there has been both good and evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers." "The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used. Neither was it the NRA, the National Rifle Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart." "In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA - because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death. Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent." "I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy - it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. "I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best. This was written way before I knew I would be speaking here today": Your laws ignore our deepest needs, Your words are empty air. You've stripped away our heritage, You've outlawed simple prayer. Now gunshots fill our classrooms, And precious children die. You seek for answers everywhere, And ask the question "Why?" You regulate restrictive laws, Through legislative creed. And yet you fail to understand, That God is what we need! "Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, soul, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc. Spiritual presences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation's history. Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical fact." "What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs - politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties. We do not need more restrictive laws." "Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts. Political posturing and restrictive legislation are not the answers. The young people of our nation hold the key." "There is a spiritual awakening taking place that will not be squelched! We do not need more religion. We do not need more gaudy television evangelists spewing out verbal religious garbage. We do not need more million dollar church buildings built while people with basic needs are being ignored. We do need a change of heart and a humble acknowledgment that this nation was founded on the principle of simple trust in God!" "As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes - He did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in America, and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him. To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA - I give to you a sincere challenge. Dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone!" "My daughter's death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!" Do what the media did not - - let the nation hear this man's speech.'


I think this message is very straight forward, and encourage each of you to remember, experience, and encourage the practice of prayer, including in school.

There was another message which really caught my attention. It was from Sarah Johnson Nelson. She wrote:

'Okay, so I am driving to work this morning, talking to Ethan and having a good time when all the sudden Ethan yells: "TEXAS!" And I look back and he's got his left hand positioned in "hook 'em horns".... Of course, I say no, don't do that, in a joking manner and try to convince him to do "Gig 'em Aggies" and he says "No, I'm going to TEXAS!" and does the whole hand thing again... over and over. So one of three things happened -- When Melanie and Jared were up here this weekend they taught him, Ethan has delayed memory and he's just now doing what all you tu people tried to teach him awhile ago, or his friends at school taught him, or ... But alas the warped thinking did not last because a few moments later he yells "Gig 'em!" complete with thumbs up. That's our boy.... :)'


Much of Tuesday was spent sorting through mail and e-mails, and reading the papers which came while we were gone. When I went for my run the next morning, on Wednesday, my mind went to another topic Todd and I discussed. To keep you all up to speed on these thoughts, it is easiest to quote a series of e-mails with Mic Patterson, President of ASI (Advanced Structures Incorporated), where Roice had his first job out of college. The general topic is Geodesic Methane Umbrellas:

`Mic, Had something come up last week which I would like to pass by you and T.J. (I don't have T.J.'s e-mail, so I trust you to forward this). First, a paragraph summarizing the end in mind. In discussion with a long time friend, Z. Todd Staheli, about gas hydrates, an idea came up which I recommend ASI patent. I would like to be listed as a co-author, and via this e-mail am giving Todd an opportunity to make his interest known as to whether he would like to be a co-author. Todd works for Shell Oil and there might be a conflict-of-interest with him being listed on a patent. Also, via this e-mail, I am transferring the rights to this idea to ASI, with the implicit understanding I will receive a 5% royalty on any profit ASI makes on this idea (actually 2.5% for Todd and 2.5% for Walden 3-D, Inc., depending on if Todd sees it as a conflict-of-interest to receive money from this idea while he is still employed at Shell). And, if I'm right about this idea, and if you want to proceed with it, you might consider having the JV agreement state I receive 7.5% royalty, with the extra 2.5% continuing until the debt is paid off. Geologic Background In the subsurface, particularly in sedimentary rocks, methane rains upward. Gas is lighter than oil which is lighter that water, and so it is always working it's way to the surface. It gets trapped in anticlines with a non-porous seal, or against faults, and these are oil fields (ponds). Migration pathways are along layers of permeable and porous rock (like ancient beaches) and along some fault planes. Quoting from "Seal Control of Hydrocarbon Migration and its Physical and Chemical Consequences" by Dr. Larry M. Cathles at Cornell University, GRI 5097-260-3787, "... hydrocarbon retention in migration conduits is low. This conclusion requires, for example that, in the last ~13 Ma, as much hydrocarbon (~1000 Bbboe) has been vented into the ocean from one small 125 x 200 km area of the Gulf of Mexico Basin as has been produced and consumed by humans over the entire petroleum area. ... The above suggests that almost all the hydrocarbons in a minibasin may vent through a single vent." Geoscientists have known for decades how "gas chimneys" show up on seismic sections as areas of no seismic reflection data. There are innumerable known gas seep locations on the ocean floor, especially in the Gulf of Mexico. Many of these gas seeps have corals or other biological activity which is feeding on the methane seeping from the ocean floor and raining upwards into the ocean floor. Gas Hydrates At ocean depths of 1200 to 1600 feet, methane (to a lesser degree CO2 and Nitrogen) combine with water and freeze as gas hydrates. These gas hydrates are recognized on seismic because a high velocity layer due to frozen waters in the sediments. Of all of the organic carbon in Earth, over half is gas hydrates. The following summarizes this: 10,000 billion tons of carbon in gas hydrates 5,000 billion tons of fossil fuels 980 billion tons of dissolved organic matter in water 830 billion tons of land biota 500 billion tons of peat 60 billion tons of detrital organic matter 5 billion tons of atmosphere organic carbon 3 billion tons of marine biota Japan is spending millions of dollars each year to figure out how to access gas hydrates, since they have no source of hydrocarbons on the islands. (These notes are from a talk by Dr. Amos Nur of Stanford University at the University of Houston the end of February of 1999.) I've read other places that all of the hydrocarbons oil companies have discovered are only 2-3% the size of known gas hydrate deposits. I've been told there is an Australian company which is using big deep water vacuums developed to pick up magnesium nodules in the deep ocean to vacuum up gas hydrates, put them in a pipeline, and as they thaw there is methane gas and water separated. The methane gas is used for power stations to pump the slurry and the water is used for irrigation. The bottom line is there has not been a method developed to effectively mine these know methane reserves. The Proposed Patent To build geodesic umbrellas to place over a seep or over known gas hydrate deposits and to capture escaping methane as it rains up through the ocean. A name for these is Geodesic Methane Ponds, and they would be hemispheres or linear Quonset structure built along a leaking fault scarp on the ocean floor. The key innovation Todd suggested, which led to this line of thinking, is that microwaves be set up in the dome to heat up the inside of the Geodesic Methane Pond and thaw out the gas hydrates. There are a whole class of new patents which can come from this. Including geodesic spheres which connect to the Geodesic Methane Ponds, transfer the methane, and then transport it to LNG or other end-user plants. The business opportunity could be to provide these ponds to oil companies with known seeps for a percentage of the hydrocarbons they recover. Along these lines I am in the final stages of signing an exclusive contract with NASA for use of their Robonaut (see attached photo) for deep sea facility building and maintenance and for fighting oil well fires. This robot is controlled by a user wearing virtual reality head-gear which sees what the robot sees through it's television cameras, and has sensors on their hands and upper body to give feedback as the robot does various projects in remote harsh environments like space. The Robonaut is simply a remote extension of the human operator. Brotherman, maybe this is the synergistic project we have been looking for for the last 10 years. I look forward to your comments and to taking the next steps. Best Regards, Roice'


Mic's response was short and sweet:

'Roice, well, you certainly didn't need to sign this; it could only have come from one person. Pretty wild and interesting stuff. I am disadvantaged here, we have no experience at ASI with patents. I will look for a patent attorney. what are we patenting here, a concept, a process? I know a little about how it works to patent a widgit, but this is new to me. once we patent this are you planning to market it? your partner in criminally insane business pursuits, mic'


I expanded on the idea a bit in my response:

'Mic, I expect a patent would follow several lines: 1. The widgets are the geodesic umbrella, the geodesic spheres for transporting hydrocarbons, and the geodesic Quonsents for setting along faults, each of which are simply extension to what you currently build, but designed for a deep saltwater environment with cladding to keep methane from leaking. Sort of like patenting Biosphere II for deep water capture of gas instead of for keeping the atmosphere from escaping into the Tuscon desert. 2. Adding a microwave system to heat up the inside of the geodesic umbrella is something which needs to be tested, and is simply another widget. 3. The process of capturing leaking hydrocarbons at vents or as gas hydrates, would be a process patent, and probably can be part of the same patent. I have been doing some expert witness work for a patent attorney named ..., whom I like. If you are interested in contacting him he is at ..., Houston, TX 77010-3095, telephone ..., e-mail ... . As you know, I do not have the $20,000 it will cost to apply for the patent. I realize money is also tight for you guys. Maybe Todd will spring for the patent costs? In terms of marketing, once the IP is tied up, I anticipate it will be a fairly easy sale. I will make a couple of calls, get maps of where significant methane vents are located in the Gulf of Mexico, find out who owns those blocks, put together some numbers about how much gas is being vented, go to the company with a proposal to capture the gas at no cost to them other than a percentage ownership of the gas captured, get a contract, take this contract to some financial connections, and ASI starts manufacturing subsea biosphere's. Of course, what makes sense to me, doesn't always make sense to the rest of the world, and I'm sure this process will be modified as the ideas are tested and mature. The bottom line is the financial implications are significant. To be specific, a 1,000 foot radius hemisphere has a volume of 2/3*pi*1000**3 or room for 2.0944 BCFG (billion cubic feet gas). At $5/MCFG (thousand cubic feet gas), one full geodesic hemisphere is worth $10 million. Now lets say it takes a year for the vent to fill the geodesic pond, this is a $10 million per year value creation engine. If it takes a month, it is a $120 million per year value creation engine. And if there are 100 of these on the sea floor in 10 years, it makes enough money we can all go do what we want to do. Best Regards, Roice'


I debated with myself whether it is appropriate to e-mail all of this information out or not. My thought process is as follows, Most of those I send this to don't read all of the words. I continue to do spot checks, and there does not seem to be any abuse of other people reading it. Someone might be interested in it, and if they are it will provide the basis for a nice discussion when we are together. And lastly putting an indea down in writing in a thoughtlet is a means of IP (Intellectual Property) Protection, because all of you are now defense witnesses if it goes to court such ideas were stolen. I'm interested in your reaction to this logic also.

There were also some disappointing e-mails from Ajay Kalsi and his advisors. They said my work done before we went to London was poor and one British guy said 'I hope you didn't pay any real money for this work!' My reaction is they are protecting their turf, by doing their best to make sure Ajay does not get another advisor. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

Much of my week was spent putting together the basic IG (Infinite Grid(SM)) for John Bernard and Shackelford County Texas. Based on our conversations before going to London, he expected to get started on his project about the end of June. It took until the end of March, and all of our work is password protected, so I can only show you when you come and visit, if you have any interest.

On Thursday evening I went to Sea Cadets with Matt. He turned in all of the tests for his big thick book he was supposed to go through before he could go to Sea Cadet Boot Camp. He had failed three of the four chapters turned in before, and it was looking like he was not going to be able to go. I talked with his commander, and was assured he could go if he put in some effort on the Manual. We learned the next day that Matt failed all of the chapters. The Law of the Jungle was about to become fact, and Matt was about to fail at yet something else. Andrea was tough with him, and told him no TV and no games and he would be working for her every day if he didn't go to Boot Camp. I spent some time talking to him, and later he came and asked if I could help him.

So for the next five days we lived and breathed the manual. I learned more about the U.S. Navy than I ever wanted to know. And I learned some important things about Matt. Specifically I learned he can not read a manual to himself and understand it. He has to read it out loud. He does fine if he hears the words. He is as auditory as I am visual. Second, I learned he failed the test on purpose, specifically because he was afraid of going to Boot Camp. We went down to the Navy depot on Saturday and got the rest of his uniforms, and we just kept working on the manual. All of this work is one of the reasons I did not catch up on the Thoughtlets after we returned from London.

I was glad when Saturday came and Andrea and I had a chance to go out on a date. Dick Coons invited us to Cheryl's play, `The Law of the Jungle.' This was the 13th annual Night Court play put on by The Houston Bar Association to make fun of lawyers. There were Federal Judges and State Judges and environmental lawyers and Family Court Judges and on and on participating.

They had their own musical numbers. It was one of the funniest evenings I ever remember going to. We both told Dick and Cheryl that we went to go to this every year now. If some of you are in the vacinity next year, I encourage you to ask us to get tickets for you to join with us.

The basic plot was a Houston lawyer had a plane downed in deepest Africa and had insomnia. He became the judge of the jungle and the jungle animals and people loved him. Some other Houston lawyers went looking for him, and as they were about to be eaten by cannibals they were saved by his getting knocked and getting his memory back. So he goes back to Houston, and has to practice law. He is set up to lose, and with the help of all of his friends from deepest Africa, he wins his case and becomes a hero. There are scenes at Hooters, and other unsavory places. It is in good tastes, and was very, very, very, very, very, very funny. I kept telling Dick that geophysicists should do something like this to make fun of themselves. He just shrugged his shoulders. I guess this is part of The Law of the Jungle.

Sunday morning Ajay Kalsi flew into Houston from Calgary, and his partner Anil Aggarwal flew in from New York City to meet me. I wasn't sure who was coming. I thought it was his Russian partner, and when I asked Andrea to fix breakfast for an Indian and a Russian she rolled her eyes and said, 'Roice you are batting 100%. Chinese, Nigerians, Indians, and now Russians. Do you not know how to work with anyone who pays their bills?' She calmed down and made a wonderful breakfast. We had a nice conversation, and then we went in the office and Ajay showed me work that another geophysicist had done in 'same time' I spent doing my work for him. It was better. I'm still not sure if we were comparing apples to apples. And yet I stand by what I told him, 'That if this other work was so much better, he would be foolish to continue to work with me. After all it is `The Law of the Jungle.'

Needless to say, I was a little bit down during church and the rest of the day. We had our Activities Committee Meeting at Brother and Sister Caron's house in the evening. And this did cheer me up. Life goes on, even if someone is attempting to get a bunch of free work by giving you shoes and saying you didn't do as much work as someone else. It is nice to have the stability of the Gospel to help me keepin mind what is important in life, and what is not. I hope each of you find the same type of anchor in your own lives."

I'm interested in sharing weekly a "thoughtlet" (little statements of big thoughts which mean a lot to me) with you because I know how important the written word can be. I am concerned about how easy it is to drift and forget our roots and our potential among all of distractions of daily life. To download any of these thoughtlets go to http://www.walden3d.com/thoughtlets or e-mail me at rnelson@walden3d.com.

With all my love,
Dad
(H. Roice Nelson, Jr.)

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Copyright © 2003 H. Roice Nelson, Jr.