The Law of The Jungle
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:'
<![CDATA[ `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:
<![CDATA[ '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:
<![CDATA[ '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:
<![CDATA[ `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:
<![CDATA[ '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:
<![CDATA[ '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.)