Category Archives: Technology

Making Your Civilian Drone Stealthier

This article is written for drone users that use their drones to film wildlife. Many species of wildlife have far better hearing and sight than humans so a stealthier drone is necessary to film them effectively. The main stealth capability of military drones is their ability to circumvent radar. Visibility and noise are not that important because military drones operate too high up to be seen or heard. Wildlife do not have radar. Civilian drones operate at dramatically lower heights than military drones and can be both seen and hear at these lower heights. This article will focus on how to decrease visibility and noise. Civilian drones are generally quadcopters and this article focuses on quadcopters but a most of the advice would apply to any civilian drone.

1) Visibility – Paint Job

Most drones that advertise as stealth drones are quadcopters that have bodies and propellers made of black plastic. Black is a great color if you are going to use your drone at night but then you need to deal with the limited visibility of your target. The wildlife you want to film might also be asleep at night and not worth observing. Research in aircraft camouflage studies done during WW II found that “sea grey” was the best color for daytime camouflage. Paint your drone sea grey! The night camouflage studies found that matte black is marginally less visible at night than glossy black.

2) Visibility – Transparent Body

A paint job is a five dollar and two-hour solution to the problem of visibility but not the best solution since a paint job that works for the day does not work for the night and vice versa. The advantage of a transparent drone is that the drone will be less visible in both the day and the night. At least that’s what Wonder Woman thought when she rode her invisible plane.

The Hiro Action Sports Airframe is super tough and more important for the subject of this article is transparent! The picture below shows a Hiro Action drone with black wires and a black engine.

Great for the night but not so great for the day. For the day time one could use wires that are as close to sea grey as possible. Painting the engine sea grey is a possibility for a stealthy day drone. Also, transparent quadcopter propellers are available online.

3) Noise Suppression

Off the shelf quadcopter engines and propellers are noisy! Stealth capability is severely compromised because of noise. Visibility issues can be dramatically resolved through relatively cheap, straightforward and easy solutions. There are no easy answers to the problem of noise suppression. I am not going to pretend to be an expert on this very technical subject and instead will refer the reader to several excellent articles on the subject listed below.

Award for Drone Noise Reduction Technology

How to reduce propeller sound of drone – Quora

This Bladeless Drones Eliminates Buzzing Noise!

You can also download my autobiography of my struggle with a bipolar condition on  Am I Kitsune on my Google Drive.

WereVerse Universe Baby!

Google Drive Link: WereVerse Universe

Am I Kitsune?

Extending China’s One Belt One Road Initiative to Latin America

China’s One Belt One Road Initiative connects Asia to Europe. However, visionaries have wondered how to connect China to Latin America as part of this initiative. China-Latin American trade has increased by 1,200% or from $10 to $130 billion between 2000 and 2009.  The challenge is physical. There is a vast Pacific Ocean separating China from Latin America. China has the ability to create islands in record time with the MV Tian Kun Hao. Hawaii has acted as a gateway to Asia for the United States. What about the equivalent of a Chinese Hawaii from a strategic point of view? The author proposes that China will create an island in the Pacific that is more or less equidistant from China and Latin American. This island will act as an extension of the One Belt and One Road Initiative.

Would the island be sovereign Chinese territory? If China builds the island on the high seas beyond any national jurisdiction, 200 plus nautical miles from a nation, then China may construct artificial islands that according to Article 87 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea treaty (UNCLOS) would be sovereign Chinese territory! If China was building a military base in the middle of the Pacific Ocean then the US would be opposed to such a project regardless of legality. However, the island proposed in this essay would have peaceful goals!

The island could be named after Zheng He the admiral who might have arrived in the Americas before Columbus. The Island could also be called “Lucky Eight Island” for reasons that will become apparent later in this essay. I think the Zheng He name could be the more official formal name for Chinese audiences and Lucky Eight could be the more vernacular informal name for none Chinese audiences. This island will have both commercial and educational goals.

Commercial Goals

A traveler traveling from Beijing to Mexico City wastes a lot of time using hub airports that do not support the goal of connecting these two cities. The traveler has to go to hub airports in the US such as Dallas, Vancouver, Chicago, Los Angeles and even Amsterdam that are out of the way. The island will act as a hub airport connecting Chinese cities to Latin American cities. The distance from Beijing to Mexico City is 12,450 km.  The Boeing 777, the most common airplane in the world, has a range of 9,704 to 15,844 km. An island more or less 6,000 km from Beijing and Mexico City would allow a Boeing 777 to reach just about any city in China or Latin American from that island. A Boeing 777 has a speed of 950 km/h. In theory with a one hour layover, a traveler could travel from Beijing to Mexico City in 14 hours via the island versus the usual 18-20 plus hours the traveler now has to travel.

The Chinese cities the island airport hub serves might include Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenzhen. The following Latin American cities are economically important to China. Bogotá, Lima, Mexico City, Panama City and São Paulo. There are students from five Central American countries that could easily go to the island from Mexico City or Panama City.   The diplomatically important countries are Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

The traveler to cities in China other than Beijing or Shanghai can arrive at other Chinese cities with only one layover rather than two or even three layovers as is currently the case. As a specialized hub airport, layover times should be minimal but longer layovers are inevitable. The airport should be designed with pod style accommodations as a design priority rather than a design afterthought.

Japanese tourists go to Guam to buy US goods! Could the Chinese island be a place where Latin Americans go to buy Chinese goods? Conversely, could the island be a place where Chinese go to buy Latin American goods? Business to customer sales are part of any airport. However, could business to business also be done on the island?

The island will have advanced communication infrastructure that connects China with Latin America either via satellite and/or an underwater fiber optic cable connection. The island could house a submarine branching unit connecting Chinese cities to Latin American cities. Chile and China are already working on an underwater fiber optic cable connection.

Educational Goals

The island will provide a place in which Chinese and Latin Americans can learn together and from each other. The island will house a trilingual university. The best and the brightest Chinese learn Spanish. The best and the brightest Latin Americans learn Chinese. English is used as a transitional language in the first two years but eventually the students move to all Chinese classes for the Latin Americans and all Spanish classes for the Chinese. Trilingual graduates will be in demand in any number of fields. However, the university could focus on creating top of the line aviation management, environmental studies, logistics, telecommunications, translation studies and tourism-hospitality departments. The aviation management students can do internships in the airport. The logistics students will act as leaders that have the skills to increase trade between China and Latin America. The tourism students will acts as leaders that can increase tourism between China and Latin America.

The foreign language department will focus on Chinese, English and Spanish. There will be a further emphasis on translations studies and computer-assisted translation in particular. The wide spread use of applications like Google Translate show that ultimately computers will play a larger and larger role in translations tasks. The department may also offer classes in Portuguese and Japanese for those students interested in becoming quadrilingual.

The advanced communications infrastructure capability on the island could be used to promote distance learning between China and Latin America. This distance learning project includes regular and guest professors from China that are on the island teaching students throughout Latin America and vice versa. An advanced communication system will also allow Chinese and Latin American researchers to communicate with each other more effectively. The university can act as a convenient physical space where researchers can finalize research face to face that has already been done largely in cyberspace. The university should be able to host international conferences involving the Americas and China. The university hotel can be used by university guests. The tourism and hospitality students will do internships in the university hotel.

A university affiliated online educational TV station based on the island will take advantage of the communications infrastructure. Telecommunications majors will do internships in the television station. The TV station will send Chinese television shows, with educational and/or cultural merit to appropriate Latin American audiences including students and academics in Latin America. The students in the translation studies program will translate the Chinese shows into Spanish for Latin American consumption. Latin American television with educational and/or cultural merit will in turn be translated into Chinese and aimed at appropriate audiences in China. The translations studies students gain valuable real life translation experience via this project. Large audiences in China and Latin America gain a broader international outlook from this programming.

Later, original programming made by students under the direction of professors at the island university could be part of the project. The student made programming could focus on Chinese-Latin American connections. A series of modules designed to teach Spanish speakers Chinese could be one of the projects of this television station. Also, a series of modules designed to teach Chinese speakers Spanish could be a project of this television station.

Culture shock is always a problem when students study abroad but distance acts as a remedy of sorts for the students in the college. The location of the island means Chinese students are more or less seven hours from home in China. Obviously the Latin American students are also more or less seven hours from home. This means students can more conveniently go home and recharge than if home was 14 to 20 hours away! The communications infrastructure could be used to allow the students easy two way video communication with friends and family back home. The university should obviously have a rich extracurricular environment. Busy students have less time to be homesick!

Student electives and student clubs can act as extensions of the cross-cultural focus of the university. Classes in Chinese cuisine and Latin American cuisine would be logical electives. Chifa is a fusion of Chinese Cantonese cuisine and Peruvian cuisine and could be the signature cuisine of the university. A cooking club could be an outgrowth of these classes. The faculty sponsor should probably be a member of the tourism and hospitality department and the students of this department should take a lead role in the cooking club. Latin American students teach Chinese member Latin American dishes and vice versa. The creation of original fusion dishes that combine Chinese and Latin American elements should be encouraged.

China is of course famous for wushu and classes in wushu make sense in this university. Latin America does have some very effective martial arts such as the Brazilian martial art capoeira, Colombian grima, and juego del garrote.  The author of this paper does have some martial arts experience in both Chinese and Latin American martial arts. I think Chinese and Latin American martial arts would complement each other. Latin American martial arts are more modern than wushu and reflect modern realities such as the use of modern weapons like machetes for offense and specialized moves that act as a defense against firearms. The use of hand stand techniques in capoeira seem fantastical until you realize that shooting a moving leg is a difficult task compared to shooting someone in the chest. A leg wound is also less likely to lead to death than a chest wound. In contrast, Chinese martial arts use more ancient and even exotic weapons and generally provide no defense against firearms but have no equal in terms of variety of weapons and variety of techniques. A martial arts club might be a good place for students to explore a fusion of these martial traditions. Surfing and scuba diving could both be classes and clubs that do not serve a cross cultural function but take advantage of the island location. The elective classes act as introductions to an area of interest while the clubs with the appropriate faculty sponsorship allow the student to gain additional expertise in their interest area.

As a central Pacific Ocean outpost of China, the island could make soft power inroads among Pacific island populations. The children of local Pacific island elites could receive substantial scholarships to attend the university or even have full-tuition scholarships depending on circumstances. There will be a need for custodial labor and clerical workers on the island. Most Pacific islands suffer youth unemployment that is estimated at being around 23 percent! The educational television station could broadcast TV shows over the air that are of value to Pacific island populations.  China probably has a special interest in better diplomatic relations with the following Pacific islands: Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.

Description of the Island

In an earlier megaproject proposal, I suggested there are several advantages to a donut shaped island. Belgium has suggested a donut shaped island can store energy generated by wind power as described in Wired. The center of the donut is a fresh water lake. This provides a source of drinking water, fresh water fish and a shark free area to practice water sports such as sailing and scuba diving.

If you have two donut shaped islands side by side and touching then you get a figure eight shaped island! Eight is a lucky number in Chinese culture! One donut shaped island is used for the airport. The airport island is bigger because airports use up a lot more space than universities. Plus, there is always the possibility that the island grows from being a hub airport connecting China and Latin America to becoming a hub airport that connects Asia and the Americas as a whole! The other donut shaped island is used for the university.

The B2B center, B2C mall and government services center sit where the two islands meet. Perhaps the building housing both the B2C mall, B2B center and government service center are in an eight story building.  The top floor of the building allows a view of both lakes as well as the Pacific Ocean and houses a 5 star fusion seafood restaurant as well as many other restaurants. The B2C mall occupies the lower floors and the B2B center occupies the top floors. Can a floor of the mall be designed so that virtual reality entertainment is more immersive than in a less modern mall.

The area where the two islands meet provides natural shelter for ships and yachts. My own experience with harbors is that big cruise ships and relatively smaller ships such as yachts should be kept separate to some extent but both types of ships need access to similar supplies. The cruise ship harbor and the marina for small boats should have equal access to the B2B center/B2C mall. Hopefully the island becomes a trilingual outpost in the Pacific that attracts both cruise ships from Asia and the Americas and smaller boats from neighboring islands. The marina with student interns from the tourism department can offer tours in Spanish/Chinese and/or English of surrounding Pacific islands.

Security at the Eastern B2B center/B2C mall exits can prevent unauthorized personnel from exiting into the university island. In general I would say the university island should be off limits to all but university related personnel. Do you really want random travelers from the airport, harbor and/or marina wandering around the university? The students of course have free access to both islands with their student IDs. There could be a K12 boarding school next to the university and that extra layer of security will make the parents happy. Cameras can be mounted on the outside of the B2B center/B2C mall. The external cameras mean that the airport, harbor, marina and university can be observed to some extent with these cameras.

One floor of the building should be dedicated to government services including city hall type functions, customs, the police station and the coast guard. I would suggest a hardened basement for the government services. Typhoons are common in the Pacific Ocean. The basement facility should be strong enough to survive even a super typhoon. The people of the island need leadership no matter how bad the situation.

Dubai is planning to create an underwater theme park. The airport island could have a similar type of park from an infrastructure point of view but with a different theme! Swimmers and scuba divers can explore Chinese and Latin American man made wonders of the world underwater. The following Chinese wonders of the world could include wonders of the world underwater from China and Latin America. China has several man made wonders that merit inclusion in the underwater theme park including the Terracotta Army, the Hanging Temple, the Great Wall of China, the Leshan Giant Buddha, Shibaozhai, and the Forbidden City. Latin American is more famous for scenic wonders than man made wonders but the two big ones that would look incredible underwater is the Pyramid of the Sun and Machu Picchu.

Another potential tourist attraction could be a recreation of the Glass Beach of Fort Bragg, California but on a much larger scale. Glass is made of silicon just like sand. Glass left on a coast will be pounded by the waves and turned into smooth rounded pieces! I doubt that China needs to bring glass waste all the way from China. I suspect there is plenty of glass waste all over the Pacific that populations will be more than willing to donate to China! The Glass Beach in California was created by accident.

The new Glass Beach could have one beach that is a rainbow of glass but how about having other beaches that use glass sorted by color. The most common colors for sea glass are kelly green, brown, and white (clear) because many bottle are made of these colors. So building three beaches of these common types of glass should be relatively easy. I would call the beach made of brown colored glass the gold beach. I would call the beach made out of the clear glass the crystal beach. Less common types of colored glass are jade, amber (from bottles for whiskey, medicine, spirits, and early bleach bottles), golden amber or amberina (mostly used for spirit bottles), lime green (from soda bottles during the 1960s), forest green, and ice- or soft blue (from soda bottles, medicine bottles, ink bottles, and fruit jars from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, windows, and windshields). The less common types of sea glass could be sold in stores and used in jewelry also sold in stores. There could be a place in the mall were tourists can make their own sea glass jewelry. The pieces of glass in loose form or converted into pieces of jewelry would be a unique souvenir. Below is a picture of the Glass Beach in California.

One lake could have an aquaculture area that farms high value edible Chinese freshwater fish. Another aquaculture area could farm high value edible  Latin American freshwater fish used in cooking. Fish of course is also available from the surrounding Pacific Ocean. The university cooking club and the B2C mall restaurants will have an incredible diversity of fish to use for fusion recipes! Fish produce feces! I don’t want to swim in fish feces or drink fish feces. The second lake is used for water sports and drinking water.

The center of the lake in the university side of the island will have a giant statue of Confucius since Confucius is considered a great teacher. The statue uses Luminor paint. Luminor paint uses electroluminescence technology. Electricity passing through the paint causes the paint to glow like a light bulb. In the day, the statue looks like a giant statue painted gold but at night the activated paint glows! Paint of different metallic hues could be used to give the statue more dimensionality. The center of the lake on the airport side of the island could have a statue of Zheng He since Zheng He is considered a great traveler.

With the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on climate change, China has become the global leader in dealing with climate change. The island could be have an environmental center. Since the island is in the Pacific, the Great Pacific garbage patch is one problem the center could tackle. The Ocean Cleanup project is in interesting approach but I am sure Chinese and Latin American researchers can come up with an improved version of this solution. In particular, Marcus Eriksen et al. (2014) have found 92% of plastic pieces in the ocean is smaller than microplastic and cannot be caught by The Ocean Cleanup’s system. College students from all over the world could be awarded internships to act as crews on university ships based on the island that travel to different parts of the Pacific and perhaps all over the world in order to clean up the world’s oceans.

The island could have a casino!  After all the island is shaped like a lucky eight!  The island could even have a five star resort area that allows recreational marijuana usage.  The potential revenue could be huge and that revenue could in turn fund the loftier goals of the university.  A wall could separate the interesting part of the airport island from the rest of the island.

The university offers dual degrees. You get a bachelors from a Chinese university and a Latin American university. The students become trilingual. These are significant academic advantages that other universities around the world cannot offer. Latin American middle class students will probably be happy with the academic advantages. However, students that come from Latin American elites and have the money to study in Western countries and party would be valuable to China but might find the island “boring”.

If the five star resort had a three day minimum occupancy then Latin American students could go to the resort to “blow off steam” during a three day weekend. Marijuana will remain illegal on the airport island and the university island except for the resort area. Marijuana is only legal at the resort and you have to stay at the resort for at least three days or at least you have to pay for three days at the resort. Chinese students with mainland China passports could be barred from going to the resort or maybe not. Overseas Chinese that have passports from other countries other than China can stay at the resort just like Latin American students. Wealthy Overseas Chinese are another group that could be valuable for the projection of Chinese soft power.

The rise of Frankencracy in the US means the US has given up on its traditional leadership role in the Americas. The unilateral attack of NAFTA by the US means the Americas can no longer trust the US as a reliable long term partner in regional development. The rise of Frankencracy also means the demise of a potential tripolar global order. New political structures need to be created for a prosperous global future. China’s One Belt One Road Initiative will bring prosperity to millions in Asia and Europe.  Hopefully this proposal means that Latin American can also benefit from China’s One Belt One Road Initiative

Megaproject Ideas

Airship Powered from Space

Pay for the Thai Canal with an Island Next to Bangkok!

Should Maglevs be Upgraded to Vactrains?

Space-based Solar Power for Defense + Desalination + Energy Independence

My Articles About China and/or Chinese Culture

16 Basic Desires: China versus US

35 Accomplishments of Modern China

36 Stratagems

Acronym for Eight Types of Chinese Regional Cuisine

American versus Chinese Culture

American versus Chinese Culture

Astrology Chinese

Chinese Astrological Analysis of Nations

Chinese Astrology 60 Year Cycle

Chinese Do’s and Don’ts

Chinese Dream and American Reality

Chinese vs. Western Astrology

Confucius in Thailand 2012

Extending China’s One Belt One Road Initiative to Latin America

Table of Chinese Astrology 19th – 21st Century

The 36 Stratagems as Portrayed in Comic Books

Virtual Chinese Reunification Palace

WereVerse Universe Baby!

Am I Kitsune?

Pay for the Thai Canal with an Island Next to Bangkok!

The Thai Canal, also known as the Kra Canal, is a proposal to connect that would connect the Gulf of Thailand with the Andaman Sea across southern Thailand. The canal would provide an alternative to transit through the Straits of Malacca and shorten transit for shipments of oil to Japan and China by 1,200 km. China thinks of the canal as part of China’s 21st century maritime Silk Road. Two of the biggest problems of building such a canal are cost and what to do with all the soil generated from digging the canal. In my plan the soil is used to build an island off the coast of Bangkok and this island generates income to pay for the canal on top of the income the canal will already generate from ship traffic.

Thailand is the land of islands but unfortunately there is no island getaway for Bangkok residents that can be a day trip. Koh Larn, Koh Si Chang, Koh Samed and Koh Khram Yai are all over two hours to five hours away and are subject to the vagaries of traffic. Due to traffic problems even weekend trips to these islands are difficult to execute. An island that is about an hour away would allow Bangkok residents and foreign tourists to come to Thailand and enjoy fun in the sun. This island would generate income from land sales, land rental and additional tourist income! Bangkok desperately needs the green space. Bangkok only has 3.3 square meters of land per resident according to the Economist. Bangkok is too built up for other ways to increase green space. The lack of green space seriously undermines the livability of Bangkok and probably means Bangkok can never truly be a world class city that attracts the best and the brightest from around the world. The new island can be Bangkok’s equivalent of New York’s Central Park.

The size of the island is subject to planning. Using sand from the ocean floor would deepen the Bangkok Bay and in general this is a good thing since a deeper bay can accommodate bigger ships. If the land shipped from the canal is mostly used for top soil then a much larger island can be created. How large is a topic engineers are better off figuring out than this lowly English teacher!

Belgium wants to create a donut shaped island in order to store energy created by wind power as described in Wired. Regardless of the energy storage possibilities, a donut shaped island is unique, iconic visually, more or less doubles waterfront views and the doughnut center could be used to store fresh water. Last but not least such a shape means the soil available can be used to make a much larger island. They say a picture is worth a thousand words and I tend to agree with this view.

Megaproject Ideas

Airship Powered from Space

Extending the One Belt One Road Initiative to Latin America

Should Maglevs be Upgraded to Vactrains?

Space-based Solar Power for Defense + Desalination + Energy Independence

Thai Links

000 Spanish Syllables Thai Version

001a Spanish Basic Phrases Thai Version

001b Spanish Basic Phrases Thai Version

003 Spanish Alphabet Thai Version

008 Spanish Numbers Ordinals Thai Version

17 Types of Thai Smiles

A Great Statue to Honor a Great Man

American versus Thai Culture

Pay for the Thai Canal with an Island Next to Bangkok!

Thai Colors of the Day

Thai Nicknames and their Meanings

Thailand Do’s and Don’ts

The King of Thailand – Eight Areas of Accomplishment

WereVerse Universe Baby!

Google Drive Link: WereVerse Universe

Am I Kitsune?

Able2Extract Professional 11 Review

able2extract-professional-11

The PDF format is not editable by nature, thus the need for PDF conversion software has been growing a lot over the years. Nowadays, you can find numerous tools to help you convert your PDF files into a desired editable file format.

One such tool is Able2Extract, whose latest version (version 11) was released on December 5. Able2Extract Professional 11 is a powerful, all-in-one PDF solution designed to address any issues you might encounter with PDF documents.  You can create password-protected documents in just a couple of clicks. Upon PDF creation, Able2Extract 11 provides a complete document encryption and decryption toolkit, designed to keep your documents safe. This is a new and much needed feature that helps you configure passwords and share your documents more securely.

With Able2Extract’s 11 upgraded PDF editing engine you can quickly edit text, remove sentences, change font size, color and much more. Now you can add images to a document without converting it to other file format. In this latest version, you can also add vector shapes and even your own images. Some of the supported file types are: jpg, bmp, jpeg, png, gif and more. Another brand new feature is the redaction option which will permanently blacken out sensitive information from your documents, allowing you to securely share it online.

As in all previous versions, with Able2Extract Pro 11 you’ll be able to convert your PDF documents to a wide range of editable file formats. The tool is empowered with an improved OCR engine that enables you to convert scanned PDF documents with ease. Simply open your PDF, select the area of the content and click on the desired format. Able2Extract 11 supports more than 10 file conversions.  One of the biggest features in the latest release, PDF annotations allow you to more easily collaborate on PDFs. Easily add various annotations to your existing document, using an intuitive annotations panel.

You can also download my autobiography of my struggle with a bipolar condition on  Am I Kitsune on my Google Drive.

WereVerse Universe Baby!

Google Drive Link: WereVerse Universe

Am I Kitsune?

Should Maglevs be Upgraded to Vactrains?

Should Maglevs be Upgraded to Vactrains Table

There has been a great deal of discussion of whether the future of high tech transportation will be maglevs or hyperloops. Hyperloops can theoretically travel around 600 mph. Maglevs can theoretically travel around 300 mph. However there is a third alternative that is being ignored. Theoretically if you build a vacuum tunnel around a maglev system then you create a vactrain and can achieve theoretical speeds of up to 8,000 mph. Vactrains could more or less ten times faster than hyperloops! China, Japan and Germany have already invested billions of dollars on maglev lines. Can maglev lines be retrofitted to be vactrains? Instead of replacing maglev, a proven technology, with a new technology that is only twice as fast, maglevs can be upgraded and be made 20 times faster! The following points provide a starting point for this discussion.

1) Pipeline Design

If maglev upgrade is the purpose of vactrain design then the pipeline probably needs to be designed to be more modular to fit around an existing maglev.

2) Pipeline Fabrication

China is facing an industrial output surplus. Can any existing factories be modified to make vactrain pipeline instead?

3) Pipelines and Solar Power

China is a major user of fossil fuels. China is also a major manufacturer of solar panels. Can pipeline be fitted with solar power panels in order to cut down on fossil fuel use and also provide a market for Chinese solar panels?

4) Pipelines as National Nervous System

The world faces growing terrorism, more extreme weather and nuclear proliferation. Can the pipeline double as a hardened nervous system of the nation?

5) Pipelines as Robotic Project

The next big space project will be a city on the moon. The next big rail project will be creating pipeline that can link continents via underwater pipeline. Humans are not designed to operate underwater or in a low gravity vacuum. The conquest of inner space via robots can be a precursor of the conquest of outer space with robots. Sooner or later robots will be needed to build in space on any sort of large scale. Building pipeline underwater with robots is a technical challenge that naturally leads to technological advances that prepare China to create megastructures in space.

Handout at:

Megaproject Ideas

Airship Powered from Space

Extending the One Belt One Road Initiative to Latin America

Pay for the Thai Canal with an Island Next to Bangkok!

Space-based Solar Power for Defense + Desalination + Energy Independence

WereVerse Universe Baby!

Google Drive Link: WereVerse Universe

BEST Zombie Gear by Category

BEST Zombie Gear by Category Blood Spatter

The focus of this article is to identify the BEST gear by category to survive Z day regardless of cost. This article is not about the best value. A lot of the gear listed here is extremely expensive but that’s often the case with the best product of any type! Looking at the best is not a bad idea even if you are going to get something less expensive. You become familiar with the specs of the best and then search for something that has similar specs but is a better value.

1) Backpack

Eberlestock X3 LoDrag Pack is designed to carry your long gun around better than any other backpack in the world! Unlike a soldier, much less a camper, you might be roaming for months or even years in a zombie world and if you lose your rifle and/or shot gun then you lose your life. I have been a nomad my whole life and have learned the hard way that if you are on the move and can’t pack it well then you are you are going to lose it! In the pre-zombie world this applies to your passport more than anything else (Passport Pocket for Cargo Pants).

Eberlestock X3 Low Drag Pack with scabbard

2) Clothing

If you in a zombie world then you are doing lots of things that damage your hands including gathering wood, chopping through brush, breaking into stores to get supplies and punching out people that don’t understand English. An injured hand means you are severely incapacitated so you need to protect your hands with gloves. Also, I am pretty sure a punch to the head of zombie can do the job in many instances but you need the right gloves for the job! Punch that zombie with Blackhawk Men’s S.O.L.A.G. HD Glove with Kevlar.

Blackhawk S.O.L.A.G. HD gloves with KEVLAR

Zombies don’t shoot! Zombies bite! Guess who else bites? Sharks! A shark suit is designed with bites in mind and is light weight compared to anti-ballistic body armor.

Neptunic’s NeXt Generation Sharksuit

Neptunic Sharksuits tests 2006

The Sharksuit is well suited for zombies but not for a non-zombie world. There are some interesting variations in body armor including Dragon Skin and Liquid Body Armor.

body armor dragon skin

Liquid body armour proves to be bullet proof

3) Communication

Ham radio is the best way to communicate with the world when the phone cell towers go silent. However, there is a lot more than just gear involved and Ham radio requires an investment in time to learn how to use and maintain the equipment. Also, Ham radio flunks the portability test.

The second route is focus on communication with friends and loved ones using a Walkie Talkie. However, until the cell phones go dead you want to use your cell phone! Why choose? The Motorola i355 (Nextel) is both a cell phone and a Walkie Talkie.

Emergency Communications: Motorola i355 Review

4) Fire Starters

When it comes to zombies you can never have too many knives! Maybe the zombies attack when you are making a fire! The Tool Logic SL3 Tactical Folding 1/2 Serrated Knife with Magnesium Fire Starter is a fire starter and a knife in one package!

Tool Logic SLP2 Tactical Folding 1/2 Serrated Knife With LED Flashlight, Magnesium Fire Starter and

5) Fishing Gear

I am assuming you already have rifle and/or shot gun so you have hunting game covered. However, there are an awful lot more fish in the world than game and fishing makes a lot less noise than shooting game! What needs to be understood is that your fishing to survive not have fun and nets allow for passive trapping unlike fishing poles and take up a lot less space so throw out the fishing pole and go with a fishing net. The Survival Gill Net Best Glide ASE is compact and durable!

Best Glide Survival Fishing or Gill Net – Scout Prepper

6) Light

The MPOWERD Luci is an inexpensive solar charged lantern that can produce 80 lumens of light for a 15 square feet area.

MPOWERD Luci Light Review

7) Medical Kit

I think gear needs to be related to your overall strategy. The number one plan should be to get to a beach and head for an islet. Hopefully you identified the islet and prepositioned your supplies. The Adventure Medical Marine 300 Kit deals with many scenarios you would handle on the seas and also deals with wounds.

Adventure Medical Marine 300 Medical Kit mfg#0115-0300

8) Multi-Tool Kit

One big division between multi-tools is big ones that need fit on your belt and little ones that fit on your key ring. If you are going to go big then go all the way with the Power Tech Fire Talon. The Power Tech Fire Talon is tough and most of all has two LED lights so you can work at night!

“How To” Video for the Power Tek Fire Talon Multi-Tool

The best small multi tool is the Titanium Utility Ring because it doesn’t look like a multi-tool and lets you play James Bond when the bad guys take you captive. Additionally, a punch is all the more effective with any ring on and this ring, with one of the blades out, will do even more damage.

Gear Review : Custom “Man Ring” Multitool

9) Survival Tent

There is no sense surviving the zombies but dying of exposure to the elements. The Trango 3.1 tent from Mountain Hard Wear is portable and extremely sturdy.

Mountain Hardwear Trango 3-Person Camping Tent

10) Transportation

The zombies arrive and you need to get out to an unpopulated area fast! Cities are great pre-Z Day but Z-Day means all those people in the cities are just going to be thousands of zombies that will soon be millions of zombies, if you wait too long! The problem is the roads are bumper to bumper. If at all possible then your plan should be to go to the sea shore and get to an uninhabited islet from the sea shore. As mentioned before, you had this strategy all alone and prepositioned supplies on the islet so you can travel light. If only you had a boat that fit in your small garage or cargo area of your truck, is easily transported to the seashore and is easy to use! WoKart does the job!

Hugh Fox WoKart Resized

WoKart YouTube

Not all of us have the luxury of being next to the sea shore so you are going to hit the road. Redundancy is good especially when it comes transportation. I would start with a truck to get me out of the city for starters because I can fit plenty of supplies in the cargo space but I would also like some sort of off road vehicle in that cargo space if the road becomes impassable. That’s where the Defender HD8 XT comes in handy.

Introducing the 2016 Can-Am Defender HD8 and HD10

11) Water Purifier

You can only really last a 2-3 days without water. There is a theory that the reason there are so many Chinese is because early on they boiled water while the West did not boil water.   If you drink bad water then sooner or later you will get sick and even die and people need to drink a lot of water. There are several excellent products out there but I would go with the Sawyer Mini Water Filtration System because the system only weighs two ounces and most of all the product can filter 100,000 gallons despite the low weight. In contrast the very popular LifeStraw Survival Water Filter only filters 264 gallons and is also about two ounces.

Sawyer Mini Water Filter Kit – Preparedmind101

12) Weapons (Melee)

Sure you can get a cheap machete at Walmart but don’t go crying to mommy when the handle shatters and the wood shards cut your hand in the middle of a zombie fight. You need sturdy equipment that isn’t going to break and that’s what the Gerber Apocalypse Kit promises.

Gerber 30-000601 Zombie Apocalypse Survival Kit

13) Weapons (Ranged)

You did your research and realized that the best fire arm is a shotgun. You need to hit the head and might not have time to aim carefully. If price is no object then the Beretta 1301 tactical shotgun is probably the best tactical shotgun out there.

Beretta 1301 Tactical – Overview

Suddenly you are surrounded by fifty zombies! You aren’t going to shoot your way out of this one even with a tactical shotgun! I bet you wish you had a flame thrower and guess what you can turn your shot gun into a flame thrower with Dragons Breath! This is one dangerous weapon and you will burn a lot of zombies but if you aren’t careful you might burn yourself as the video below shows:

Dragons Breath Shot From Saiga-12 BE SAFE WITH THIS UNIQUE 12GA SHELL!

The shot gun is great but boy it’s noisy and sometimes you want to take out the zombies from afar quietly and that’s when the PSE Tactical Crossbow comes in handy!

PSE Tactical Assault Crossbows TAC15, TAC10, TAC15i, & TAC10i in HD

What do you think? I welcome comments from readers!

Document at:

https://www.scribd.com/doc/294144015/BEST-Zombie-Gear-by-Category-Document

You can also download my autobiography of my struggle with a bipolar condition on  Am I Kitsune on my Google Drive.

WereVerse Universe Baby!

Google Drive Link: WereVerse Universe

PDF Converter Elite 4 Software Review

PDF Converter Elite 4

As blog content provider I often need to convert files to a blog accessible format. In particular I sometimes need to convert PDF files into text files. I generally use free online PDF file converters but have run into one software package that does a better job than the free online converters and is worth a little extra money. PDF Converter Elite has three main advantages including ease of use, speed and versatility.

EASE OF USE

I generally skip documentation and just try to figure out the software on my hand. Good software should be intuitive enough that you can do this. PDF Converter Elite is super easy to use and I was able to figure out what to do in under five minutes. Most jobs can be done with four clicks on easy to understand icons.

SPEED

Online sites are generally slower than installed software packages.   Free is good but fast is also important. PDF Converter Elite was able to convert extremely large PDF files very quickly. I converted a 100 page plus document in seconds.

VERSATILITY

PDF Converter Elite converts a wide variety of files including: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Image, HTML, AutoCAD (.dwg, .dxf) and OpenOffice.

CONCLUSION

PDF Converter Elite is not perfect and I still needed to tweak the text converted from a PDF file. You end up with a lot of tabs that you don’t want when you convert PDF to text but this problem was lot less prevalent than with online sites I have used before. Overall, I would say this software is good value for the money.

The product can be bought at:

Products

Hugh Fox III - Alpine

You can also download my autobiography of my struggle with a bipolar condition on  Am I Kitsune on my Google Drive.

WereVerse Universe Baby!

Google Drive Link: WereVerse Universe

Image

M1 Abrams vs. Armata Architecture

M1 Abrams vs Armata-page-001

Hugh Fox III - 3D Outline Tangerine

You can also download my autobiography of my struggle with a bipolar condition on  Am I Kitsune on my Google Drive.

WereVerse Universe Baby!

Google Drive Link: WereVerse Universe

List of XBox 360 Four Player Games

Key: + = rank of 8.5 or more, – = rank of < 5

Aegis Wing

Alien Homnid HD – Live +

Avatar: The Burning Earth

Baja Edge of Control

Band of Bugs

Battle Star Galactica

Beijing 2008 –

Bomberman Live – Live +

Burnout 3: Takedown

Call of Duty 3

Call of Duty 4

Call of Duty: World at War +

Carcassonne

Cars Mater-National

Castle Crashers

Colin McRae: DIRT

Command & Conquer 3

Commanders Attack of the Genos

Conflict Denied Ops

Dead Block

Dead or Alive 4

Def Jam: Icon

Doom

Earth Defense Force 2017

Eets Chowdown – Live

Elements of Destruction – Live

Every Party

Fantastic Four –

Far Cry Instincts Predator

Fatal Inertia

Feedin Frenzy 2 – Live

FIFA 06: Road to Fifa World Cup

FIFA Street 3

Fuzion Frenzy 2

Gauntlet

Gears of War

Geometry Wars 2

GEON

Golf: Tee it Up

GripShift

Guilty Gear 2 –

Hail to the Chimp

Halo 3 +

Hardwood Spades

Heavy Weapon – Live

Heavy Weapon: Atomic Tank

Karaoke Revolution: American Idol

Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom

Kung Fu Panda

Left 4 Dead

Lips

Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal –

Lost Cities

LOTR – Battle for Middle-Earth II

Mad Tracks –

Madagascar 2

Madden NFL 07

Madden NFL 08

Marathon: Durandul – Live

Marvel Ultimate Alliance +

Monster Madness

Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia

N+ – Live

NBA 2K6

NBA 2K7

NBA 2K8

Need for Speed Undercover

NHL 08

NHL 2K8

Perfect Dark Zero +

Pirates vs Ninjas – Live –

Pro Evolution Soccer 2008

Pro Evolution Soccer 2009

Ratatouille –

Rayman: Origins Rayman Raving Rabbits

Rock Band

Rock Band 2

Rocketmen – Live

Rocketmen: Axis of Evil

Rocky and Bullwinkle –

RooGoo

Rumble Roses XX

Scene iT: Box office smash

Scente iT: Lights, Camera, Action

Scott Pilgrim vs the World

SEGA Superstars Tennis

Skate 2

Small Arms – Live

Smash Court Tennis 3

Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe

Splinter Cell: Double Agent +

SpongeBob SquarePants Underpants Slam – Live

Street Fighter II’ Hyper Fighting

Street Trace: NYC

Summer Athletics

Surf’s Up

Tales of Vesperia +

Talisman

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Live

Tenchu Z

Tenchu: Shadow Assault

Tetris Evolution

The Lord of the Rings Conquest

Thrillville: Off the Rails

Tiberium Wars

Ticket to Ride

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07

TMNT: The Video Game

Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground

Top Spin 2

Track & Field – Live

UEFA Euro 2008

Uno

Uno Rush – Live

Viva Pinanta Trouble in Paradise

Viva Pinata +

Viva Pinata Party Animals

Wall-E

Warlords

Wits and Wagers –

Worms (2007 video game)

Worms 2: Armageddon You’re in the Movies –

Handout at:

https://www.scribd.com/doc/254247105/List-of-XBox-360-Four-Player-Games-Handout

Hugh Fox III - Adventure

You can also download my autobiography of my struggle with a bipolar condition on  Am I Kitsune on my Google Drive.

WereVerse Universe Baby!

Google Drive Link: WereVerse Universe

Space-based Solar Power for Defense + Desalination + Energy Independence

The cost of  Space-based solar power (SBSP) is enormous and a major cost based rationale is needed for such a project.  What if SBSP could be used for defense, desalination and energy independence?  If SBSP could solve several strategic problems of the US at the same time then this technology might be cost effective.

I have already explored the possibility of an Airship Powered from Space.  SBSP allows for an airship to be an airborne aircraft carrier that can project military power in a way that is not currently available.  An airborne aircraft carrier may be the perfect tool for combating threats like ISIL abroad.  I actually think this is the least important use of SBSP technology since the US already possesses huge military capacity.

NASA has already explored the use of space-based solar for desalination.  The US is already losing millions of dollars in lost agriculture dollars, especially in California, due to land that does not have enough rainfall due to global warming.  Global warming will only exacerbate this problem.  Agriculture accounts for more or less 1% of total GDP or 170 billion plus.  As global warming decimates agriculture around the world our share of the agricultural market could increase dramatically since we took prudent steps to guarantee our water security early on!

The most obvious use of SBSP is the possibility of endless clean energy.  The National Space Society has already explored this issue in its article Space Solar Power Limitless clean energy from space.  One could argue that the US has been involved in costly wars with little return in Afghanistan and Iraq because of a lack of energy independence.  Energy from space means the US has more strategic freedom.  The US also spends billions of dollars on oil from outside the US that would be better spent on building our own SBSP energy infrastructure.  According to the EIA the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) countries accounted for 56% of U.S. net imports.  This is a massive fiscal bleed that we can solve with SBSP.

The availability of cheap energy may also cause a resurgence of manufacturing in the US.  The US can increasingly use robotic technologies that are energy intensive to offset cheap labor abroad.  The development of SBSP technology means robots in space building the satellite, military robots using the airborne aircraft carrier as a base, and robots in manufacturing that use cheap energy.  Taking the lead in SBSP technology means taking the lead in robotics and taking back the future that now appears lost!

The US is facing major problems including military challenges of a terrorist nature, the destruction of agriculture due to global warming and dependence on foreign oil that forces us into military situation that are a lose/lose.  The US has traditionally used technology to be at the forefront of all nations.  From the Manhattan Project to sending a man to the Moon, the US has stayed ahead through bold technology projects that are only possible at the national level.  The rest of the world is catching up with the US technologically and the time has come for the US to once again focus on a bold project that will assure our economic and military supremacy as well as safeguard our security!  The US is now in a dark place but I see a future in which that US has global supremacy for the next hundred years or more that surpasses any global role we had in the past!

Megaproject Ideas

Airship Powered from Space

Extending the One Belt One Road Initiative to Latin America

Pay for the Thai Canal with an Island Next to Bangkok!

Should Maglevs be Upgraded to Vactrains?

You can also download my autobiography of my struggle with a bipolar condition on  Am I Kitsune on my Google Drive.

WereVerse Universe Baby!

Google Drive Link: WereVerse Universe