How to Build a Compost Pile

Compost piles are piles of organic waste that are decomposed in a relatively controlled manner. Such “piles” have many benefits. They provide natural, nutrient rich soil additives, are fun yard projects and provide a way to safely rid one’s self of unwanted yard waste. They are simple and easy to build and maintain.

Compost piles can be scaled from large wire bins to small 5-gallon buckets. I’ve had great success with a five-gallon bucket in central Arizona.

If you would like to build a “5-gallon pile”, it is very simple and cheap to make.

You will need:

(1) 5-gallon pail

(1) ¼ inch drill bit

(1) Drill motor

(1) Old t-shirt (for hot climates)

(1) Stapler (for t-shirt)

Steps:

1.)    Drill 8 holes an inch from the bottom of the bucket 3 inches apart.

2.)    Fill with yard waste, such as grass, seedless weeds, leaves or branches.

3.)    If in a hot, dry climate, add the t-shirt with the collar stapled every 1 or 2 inches to help keep the moisture in and to facilitate airflow.

Tips:

1.)    If you want to speed up the rate of decomposition, add fresh green plant matter, such as leaves, grass, lettuce and plants of that source. The green matter holds nitrogen, which is a vital nutrient for the microbes that munch away. Urine is also a readily available supply of nitrogen (found in the uric acid) and may be added if desired.

2.)    If the pile begins to smell, add brown material (dried leaves, dried sticks or anything that used to grow and is brown) add/or stir up the pile. This smell is the result of incomplete decomposition or too much greens. Mixing the pile adds oxygen and helps propagate decomposition.

3.)    There are many, many different composting techniques. Some will calculate the proper ratio of greens to browns. This can be done, but “winging it” is much easier. It may not be the fastest way to complete a batch of compost, but it is a whole lot easier.

4.)    Any container can be used for the compost; plastic bins, buckets, any heavy-duty plastic container will work. However, don’t use any metal. They can release heavy metals and if you plan to use the compost on vegetables or fruits and intend to eat them, such heavy metals can be toxic.

5.)    Theoretically, anything made from organic material, such as paper, can be used and counted as a brown. However, I’ve found this stunts the rate of completion due to the highly processed nature of the paper.

6.)    Do not add seeds of plants that you do not want to grow. They will not be sterilized, as the pile is too small to generate sufficient heat to kill them. When you spread out the compost, all those seeds will be thoroughly entrenched with you your prized petunias.

7.)    I avoid using tap water to keep the pile moist. The microbes will thank you when they’re not fighting the chlorine and fluorine additives.

The Industrial Revolution’s Damage to the Working Class

The Industrial Revolution brought forth a torrent of scientific engineering. Hundreds of new inventions were flooding European while industrial growth progressed at breakneck speeds. The rate of expansion was unprecedented. Unfortunately, all great advances in human history have their price. The agricultural revolution and consequent rise of civilization led to the earliest military slaughters. The Industrial Revolution is no different. The Industrial Revolution greatly hurt the working man through poor health, mistreatment of workers and limited education.

The work embarked on by workers resulted in serious medical problems. “Their limbs slender, and playing badly and ungracefully…Great numbers of girls and women walking lamely or awkwardly with…spinal flexures” (Document 1). Coal haulers within the mines are forced to pull massive loads in small, cramped shafts. These conditions can easily lead to malformed bodies, especially if this occurs during late childhood while the body is still growing. Hauling heavy loads in general can lead to unnatural stress on the human body. Those injuries may also result from mutilations whilst working. A steam powered belt or other driven devise could easily fracture bones, thus causing limping, if the belts are not safely secured and the bone not properly reset.

Workers were cheap and easy to find. Employers don’t care about worker’s rights. If an employee loses a finger or limb, they are simply fired and another peasant hired. Many poor and homeless persons are willing to accept these conditions and work for the meager compensation the employment provided. Urbanization brought large farm families to the cities, and with these families came children. Children were considered property of the parents and seen as less than human. Children had little say in their lives and consequently became common sources of labor. Parents would send their children to work in factories to help bring income. Unfortunately, their abuse by employers was worse than adults. “Sarah Gooder, aged 8 years…I have to trap without a light and I’m scared. I go at four… in the morning, and come out at five and half past. I never go to sleep” (Document 5). Children were things, not old enough to be human.

Joshua Drake, from his questioning before the Sadler Committee, stated that his children worked in deplorable conditions. “Then you would not allow your children to go to these factories under the present system if it was not from necessity? No” (Document 3). The Industrial Revolution brought a new fervor of capitalism throughout Europe. “The necessity compels a man that has children to let them work” (Document 3). Factory workers were paid near nothing; when coupled with high food and housing costs due to skyrocketing demand, children labor was the only option for many families.

Other factors within industry made working miserable. The use of machines has increased the abuse of labor. Machines allow people to work more efficiently. Factory managers, being the capitalists they were, figured that the more hours workers contributed with the more efficient machines, higher output could be achieved. The potential profits were too high to ignore, and thus became a common practice. “…improvements in machinery have gone on…prompted many to exact more labour from their hands than they were fitted by nature to perform” (Document 4). Any workers who wish for labor reform would be faced with either silence or job loss. The factory owners have ultimate control over their workers. They also have the law of their side. For the greater half of the nineteenth century, labor laws were non-existent and misuse of the workers was rampart.

Many of the injuries could be prevented by installing safety precautions or through education of the workers. However, this would cut into the profit margins of the factory owners and worker incentive would suffer. By telling the workers how to safely operate equipment, they lose the majority of the fear of becoming injured. These fears contribute to a solid work ethic, else they be replaced by someone more productive.

The health conditions within the cities were horrible. The cities were not designed to handle the influx of people as a result of urbanization. Cities swelled to many times their original population. City services failed to keep up. Vital services, such as water and sewage management, fell into disarray. “…the removal of all refuse of habitations, streets, and roads, and the improvement of the water supply” (Document 6). Dirty cities are nothing new. However, it is the volume of people within the cities that made them historically important. A city of one hundred thousand is easier to keep clean than a city of two and a half million residents, as was the case with London. The earliest medieval planners could not have foreseen the future populations and cramping was the result.

Education among children was deplorable. The earlier machines and mills required little or no training. The children would remain uneducated without the means of self-improvement. As they grow up, they develop the mentality of money is scarce and it requires much work to obtain. This is exactly what the entrepreneurs want. A working class bent on working long hours with little pay is gold; the hard part of convincing them to work for less is already accomplished. As these child workers grow up, marry and propagate, this mentality is passed on. A class of hard working, low pay expecting laborers emerge, catalyzed by the Industrial Revolution. Education improves somewhat as the technology powering the Revolution becomes more complex, but the polarized focus on the mechanical arts limits the growth of the individual. When individuals focus too much on the mathematical precise, they lose sight of the emotionally free, such as art and philosophy. If man were meant to be a machine, then emotions would be a useless waste of time and simply would not exist.

In this sense, education is another form of abuse. The workers were only taught enough to man the machines. If a worker wanted to switch to a more enjoyable profession, they would need to learn a new trade. Many workers could not afford this downtime from work. It also helped to ensure management’s control over the workers. The workers need to me smart enough to efficiently run the industrial equipment but not smart enough to begin demanding rights.

The Industrial Revolution caused many detrimental problems to many of those who were involved. Early workers were mistreated, abused and treated as an infinite, never ending supply. Health conditions were revolting within the cities. Limited education allowed worker control by factory managers. The Industrial Revolution saw numerous worker violations. These same abuses can now be seen in Asian sweatshops; as they become more industrialized cheap labor is ever more important. Eventually, Asia will see the same worker reforms as Europe saw in the late eighteen hundreds. Capitalism will then move to the next cheep labor pool, most likely Afghanistan and the neighboring vicinities and Africa. As harsh as these worker abuses are, they seem to be a vital component of modern capitalism. Either the global economy must drastically change or society acknowledges that these working conditions are, unfortunately, the cornerstone of America’s beloved capitalism.

The Relationship Between The Scientific Revolution And The Enlightenment

The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment are among the most influential periods in history. The Scientific Revolution brought a newfound respect for logic and the scientific process. Science would now be taken as a serious field of study. The Enlightenment reaped some of the greatest philosophical works ever to be contrived by man. Many new ideas of freedom and government sprung forth from this hotbed of intellectual activity. The Enlightenment was dependant on the Scientific Revolution to prepare Europe for new intellectual thought, to crack the Church’s monopoly on and to provide the inspiration for the new philosophy through science.

The Scientific Revolution broke the ice for Locke and others and saved them from the punishment of the scientists. The scientists helped to prepare European society for the new birth of philosophies of the Enlightenment. The scientists were the trailblazers; they swept aside the initial wave of Church assaults through disproving the Church on fundamental levels. The scientists took the brunt of the retaliation exercised by Church officials. One of the most infamous cases of Scientific Revolution era injustice can be seen was Galileo. The Inquisition tried Galileo with heresy and, to no surprise, successfully convicted him. Galileo was then placed under house arrest until his death. His trial, if replicated in the time of Locke, would have sent serious repercussions throughout Europe. The Inquisition’s reign of suppression was ending. They lost the power that was held and prevented other crimes against the later philosophers. The ideas of the Scientific Revolution spread and people began to question the validity of the Church. The vacuous space of doubt created by the discoveries of science provided ample room for the Enlightenment to flourish. This thawing intellectual glacier that was once Europe gave the philosophers a dry and desperate audience for their bold, audacious and absolutely brilliant ideas they were sculpting.

The exchange of the geocentric model for the heliocentric model provided the fuel for John Locke’s theories on freedom and revolt. The Church was the domineering force of philosophy up to this point. Thanks to the strong-arm tactics of the Church, secular philosophies never became prevalent. The Church cornered philosophy to prevent any possible resistance from “rogue” freethinking individuals. As the Scientific Revolution passed, however, the Church’s control on philosophy was potently challenged. Galileo Galilei had thoroughly proved that the geocentric model of the universe that the Church had been pushing was utterly false. His discovery of the Jovian moons and the phases of Venus abruptly ended the geocentric model. This disproval created a fissure so deep within the Church’s philosophical monopoly that brave individuals started speaking out against the Church and promoting other, secular theories. It was only natural that, under the reign of an oppressive and domineering religious estate, new ideas of freedom and rights would spring forth from a repressed Europe. John Locke happened to be one of these men. Locke needed the initial momentum supplied by the Scientific Revolution to allow him to develop his “extreme” political theories.

Locke’s theories included the justification of popular revolt. “Political power is that power, which every man having in the state of nature, has given up into the hands of the society…” (Document 7). Political power was a force the Church knew well. It used politics as a means to forward its agenda and keep itself in control through many wars, treaties, rebellions and a Reformation. According to Locke, political power is ceded by Man. Therefore, Man must have owned it prior to its surrender. If Man can give up this power, then surely Man can reclaim it. It is this reclamation that the Church feared because the Church knew its position was incredibly feeble. Locke’s philosophies gave the citizens of Europe a sound reason for a rebellion and rebellion the Church gravely feared.

Jean Jacques Rousseau was another man born of liberation of Catholic control. “…Until on the violation of the social compact, each regains his original rights and resumes his natural liberty…” (Document 8). Rousseau had similar believes as Locke in the regard of the social contract the governing made with the governed. Rousseau was intentional in his vocabulary when he wrote The Social Contract. The idea of a “natural liberty” implies a fundamental liberty shared be all men. This idea of a fundamental quality is a borrowed concept from the Scientific Revolution. Many of the scientists were either looking for or had found fundamental aspects of nature. Keller discovered that all of the planets’ orbits were elliptical; Newton discovered the three laws of motion. Since science was now discovering these fundamental facets of nature, could it be also applied to human rights? Many Enlightenment philosophers successfully answered that question.

The relationship between the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment is undeniable. The Scientific Revolution prepared Europe for the coming philosophies. The validation of the heliocentric model caused a crack in the monopoly of philosophical ideas controlled by the Church. The Scientific Revolution provided many Enlightenment authors the basic principles from which they would create their greatest works. Art and science have always been close companions. Great advances in science or usually paralleled by advances in art, and visa versa. It is then natural to find that there is a bond between the two fields as close as any maternal bond. Parallel advances imply that both fields are describing the same knowable concept, each through a different set of eyes. It was then not unexpected to find such an upwelling in philosophy shortly after the huge strides that occurred in the field of science. With this in mind, the real question is not of liberty or governmental constraints or of calculus or science. The real question is what are the works of Locke, Rousseau, Galileo and Newton all describing and how will this object, each portrayed by these different directions of thoughts, give Man a greater understanding of the true nature of reality.

Manufacturing Sodium Acetate

Sodium acetate, apart from being a food additive and a base used to neutralize sulfuric acid, can be used to create something known as “hot ice”. A super-saturated solution created by boiling water and adding sodium acetate until no more dissolves. The solution is cooled in a fridge. When it is cool, a small starter crystal of sodium acetate is placed on a finger and touched with the solution. Rapid crystallization will occur as will the creation of heat.

All you will need is:

1 Measuring cup

2 volume oz (not weight) of baking soda

5 1/2 cups of 5% vinegar

A container (like a clean milk jug or water jug) to mix the chemicals in

Steps:

1.) Measure the baking soda and pour into the jug

2.) Mesaure the vinegar and slowly add it to the jug, else it will spray stuff everywhere

3.) When the reaction has stopped, pour into a pan or something of the like and put on heat to drive off the water

When the water is gone, you should have sodium acetate.

Tips:

1.) Use distilled vinegar. Do not use the fancy organic stuff. All you care about is the acetic acid so buy the cheap stuff.

2.) If you have a different concentration of vinegar, use this formula to figure out how much you will need:

(5% Solution (or .05)) x (5.5 Cups) = (Your concentration) x (Your volume to use)
The math works out as a proportion.

This is text for the right side

Why does China want Taiwan?

Taiwan’s contract with China expires in 2008. It also happens that Taiwan is rich. Not only is it rich, but it is a creditor country. Taiwan holds approximately $500 billion of foreign reserve and is the largest exporter of computer monitors and a major exporter of PC components (98% of Taiwan’s exports are industrial goods). Taiwan’s exports area is a direct reflection off their technological achievements, as can also be seen in Taiwan’s industries; major industries include electronics, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. This entire economic powerhouse is contained on an island slightly smaller than the sum area of Maryland and Delaware.

China’s own generals have stated that they would see no part of an independent Taiwan. “…We will effectively perform our glorious mission of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity in accordance with the will of the motherland and the wishes of the people” (Honest to God this is exactly what he said). How does the rest of the world know that the “people” are honestly in favor of such action? Remember the “Great Firewall of China”? Do the citizens of China know the whole story regarding Taiwan? Do they know the truth?

Of course, any mother country has the right to resist independence movements within their borders. It’s a right of that country to maintain its current stature. But to “get well-prepared for military struggle” doesn’t quiet seem like simple resistance. China has done something wrong and Taiwan wants to be independent.

I believe that China wants this war not only to affirm their control of this gold nugget of an island, but also to challenge the United States for global supremacy. The US has traditionally been the global peacekeeper, pushing US foreign policy around the globe. China would love to have one tenth of that kind of power. Even if Taiwan was technically a US territory, as some will argue, the US has no military might available for a Chinese tea party. We are stretched too thin in the Middle East Quagmire. We just don’t have the manpower available for a new campaign. A third war in Taiwan would be disastrous. How could the United States even remotely maintain a war in both the Middle East and Taiwan? The most obvious answer is a draft, a very unpopular one at that.

The chances of US involvement in a Chinese invasion of Taiwan are low given our badly depleted army and that the US is non-supportive of any Taiwanese independence movement.

With that said, the Chinese government will probably invade Taiwan in 2008 for its economic importance, to finalize its claim of Taiwan and because neither the UN nor the US can do a thing about it. Any proposed sanctions or other action punishing China would be vetoed thanks to the Chinese seat on the Security Council.

If China was smart, they would let Taiwan separate and pass trade legislation in Taiwan’s favor. Having a strong economic ally, possibly progressing to a political ally, is much better than a subjugated state simply because an ally can’t over through your government and their dissentious population is their problem and not yours.

The question becomes, if the US can’t help Taiwan, then who will? Most of you would wonder about Japan. Well, Japan can’t do anything. Really, they can’t. Their constitution very plainly forbids any form of aggression against any country for any reason. The only reason they could fight a war is in self-defense. And frankly, their military isn’t that good. I don’t think there’d be much of a contest between China and Japan. It is worth noting that Japan is an island, which may give them a half a sneeze’s worth of a chance against a Chinese invasion.

South Korea perhaps? Not a chance. They are even closer to China than Japan and they don’t even have enough troops to guard their own border. They must rely on robotic sentries to do the work for them. How would they be able to launch, let alone maintain, an offensive campaign?

We can’t forget about Russia, can we? Well yes, we can. Russia has been selling the Chinese military hardware for a while now and began military training exercises with them for building friendship or something like that. That puts the Russkies out of the game.

So, who would have the military to repulse a Chinese invasion of Taiwan? It would have to be somewhere in Europe. They are currently the only force capable of fighting the Chinese. Most of their armies remain intact, except for Britain, whose state of military affairs is wretched at best. Eurocorps might help Taiwan under a UN peace mission or other means, but China will probably find a way to veto it. Besides, their operational goals are based closer to Europe. The European Union couldn’t act as an entity as they don’t have a unified army. It’s possible that they could organize a defensive force for Taiwan, but I don’t see that happening.

China, you have an open door into Taiwan. Bon Appetite.

Turquoise

Turquoise has been used for jewelry and decoration for thousands of years. The turquoise on the right is typical turquoise, while the sample on the left has had the copper replaced by iron. Iron can also cause yellow turquoise. Turquoise is usually altered to improve either its color or hardness, as it is a porous mineral and easy to alter. Unaltered turquoise is hard to find.

Color: Sky-blue, blue-green, apple-green

Color of streak: White

Moh’s hardness: 5-6

Density: 2.31-2.84 grams/cubic centimeter

Cleavage: None

Fracture: Conchoidal, uneven

Crystal system: (Triclinic) seldom; grape-shaped aggregates

Chemical composition: CuAl6(PO4)4(OH)8•5(H2O); a copper containing basic aluminum phosphate

Transparency: Translucent, opaque

Refractive index: 1.610-1.650

Double refraction: +0.040

Dispersion: None

Pleochroism: Absent

Absorption spectrum: (460), 432, (422)

Fluorescence: Week, green-yellow, light blue

Sulfur

One of the most commonly known attributes of sulfur is its smell. Its infamous aroma is caused a reaction between the sulfur and water, creating hydrogen sulfide (H2­S). Its most common use is the production of sulfuric acid but it is also used in fertilizers and other agricultural products, gunpowder, matches, detergents and preservatives for wine and dried fruit.

Sulfur found naturally is written chemically as S8 as this allotrope of sulfur is most stable.

Sulfur is the tenth most abundant element in the universe.

The speckles in the upper right hand corner of the picture are small fragments of the sulfur. When I placed the samples on my scanner, the sulfur crumbled. You can see the results in the image.

Color: Bright yellow

Color of streak: Yellow

Moh’s hardness: 2

Density: 2.07 grams/cubic centimeter

Cleavage: Very poor in two directions

Fracture: Conchoidal

Crystal system: Orthorhombic

Chemical composition: S8 (Sulfur)

Transparency: Transparent to translucent

Refractive index: None

Double refraction: None

Dispersion: Unknown

Pleochroism: Unknown

Absorption spectrum: Unknown

Fluorescence: Unknown

Purity: >95%

Sodalite

Sodalite is a rare mineral. Hackmanite is an important variety of sodalite exhibiting tenebrescence. Originally discovered in 1806, it was not until vast deposits of good grade sodalite were found in Ontario that it became popular. It is used for ornamental objects, such as cabochons, beads and carved animals.

Color: White, blue and grey

Color of streak: White

Moh’s hardness: 5½-6

Density: 2.14-2.40

Cleavage: Indistinct

Fracture: Uneven, conchoidal

Crystal system: (Cubic) rhombic dodecahedra

Chemical composition: (Na4Al3(SiO4)3Cl) Sodium aluminium silicate with chlorine

Transparency: Transparent to opaque

Refractive index: 1.48

Double refraction: None

Dispersion: .018 (.009)

Pleochroism: Absent

Absorption spectrum: Not diagnostic

Fluorescence: Strong orange

Rock Crystal

Rock crystal is the official name given to what most people call quartz (“Quartz” covers a large umbrella of different minerals. Varieties of quartz are distinguished only by differences in the individual crystals on a molecular level). It is the most common mineral on the planet, since most sand and other rocks are made of rock crystal.

One interesting thing about rock crystal is that it is piezoelectric. This feature gave rock crystal’s first commercial success as phonograph needles. It is most commonly used today in watches, internal clocks for computers and as frequency stabilizers for radio transmitters.

Color: Colorless

Color of streak: White

Moh’s hardness: 7

Density: 2.65 grams/cubic centimeter

Cleavage: None

Fracture: Conchoidal, very brittle

Crystal system: Hexagonal prisms

Chemical composition: SiO2, silicon dioxide

Transparency: Transparent

Refractive index: 1.544-1.553

Double refraction: +0.009

Dispersion: 0.013 (0.008)

Pleochroism: Absent

Absorption spectrum: None

Fluorescence: None

Rock crystal can be synthetic.

Pyrite

Pyrite is most commonly known as “Fool’s Gold”. Pyrite is a secondary source for sulfur. During WWII, deposits of iron pyrite were mined for its sulfur and iron. Pyrite could be used as an ore for iron, but hematite and magnetite are more economical to mine and therefore they are primary ores.

The brightly colored reds, blues and greens are an optical anomaly. They are not a characteristic of pyrite under normal viewing conditions.

Color: Brass-yellow, gray-yellow

Color of streak: Green-Black

Moh’s hardness: 6 to 6 1/2

Density: 5 to 5.2 grams/cubic centimeter

Cleavage: Indistinct

Fracture: Conchoidal, uneven, brittle

Crystal system: Cubic, pentagonal, dodecahedra, octahedral

Chemical composition: FeS2, iron sulfide

Transparency: Opaque

Refractive index: Cannot be determined

Double refraction: None

Dispersion: None

Pleochroism: Absent

Absorption spectrum: Not diagnostic

Fluorescence: None

Amethyst

Amethyst is the most valuable variant within the quartz family. The crystals are always anchored to a base. The base is usually agate. The purplish color of this sample of amethyst is caused by atomic impurities found inside the crystal. Geologists do not know what these impurities are, but manganese, iron and sulfur are likely culprits.

Amethyst can be found in geodes and alluvial deposits.

Color: Purple, violet, pale red-violet

Color of streak: White

Moh’s hardness: 7

Density: 2.65 grams/cubic centimeter

Cleavage: None

Fracture: Conchoidal, very brittle

Crystal system: Hexagonal prisoms

Chemical composition: SiO2, silicon dioxide

Transparency: Transparent

Refractive index: 1.544-1.553

Double refraction: +0.009

Dispersion: 0.013 (0.008)

Pleochroism: Weak, reddish-violet, gray-violet

Absorption spectrum: (550-520)

Fluorescence: Weak, bluish