Lance Winslow's Real Estate Topics Blog by Lance Winslow

Lance Winslow's Real Estate Blog w/500 articles - Lance Welcomes You and Wishes You Well!

2008-02-25T15:51:35Z

A Message from Lance Winslow:

Thank you for coming to my Real Estate Blog. The Real Estate Sector is going through some tough times, but like anything, there are cycles and sector rotations, so, it will eventually recover. Depending on how closely you have watched many real estate markets in the United States go through 10-year cycles and although being at the bottom of a cycle is no fun, it is a temporary situation, it will not last forever. Individuals investing real estate long-term have made millions over time and made many of their family members quite wealthy.

One of the main reasons for creating this blog was to interact with the real estate community, the actual people who make a living working in the real estate sector, as Realtors, Agents, Home Stagers, Mortgage Brokers, Inspectors and Real Estate Service folks. Having been in the Franchising Sector, which often seems to be more about real estate than the actual business model itself, I have been involved for years in all aspects of the real estate sector. During my career as a Franchisor, I set up franchised outlets in 23-states, serving nearly 450 cities. The Real Estate side of the business gets in your blood and becomes a part of who you are.

The Real Estate Industry from building and construction to sales and services is a major part of our overall economy in the US. Thus, the happenings in and around this sector should be of interest to all because what happens here effects all corners of our society, economy and civilization. I sincerely, hope that as you read some of my 500 Blog Posts here at ActiveRain, that you will gain a greater knowledge, understanding and love for the real estate sector. I have enjoyed preparing this information for you and others who happen by. I feel it is important to share my experience, observations and knowledge with you.

I invite you to contact me, after you have read through these 500 Blog Posts or perhaps while you are working your way through them. Feel free to shoot me an email using this ActiveRain email system or look me up online, as I am not hard to find.

Oh, and one last thing; Have a totally great day, you deserve it!

Sincerely, Lance

Turning Old Car Tires into Roof Shingle Tiles Made of Rubber - An Environmental Solution Worth a Look

2008-02-25T15:28:19Z

Believe it or not used tires can be made into roofing tiles and it turns out they have many advantages over other roofing materials. Tires into roofing; old tires made into roof tiles is be is being done. There is a plant that is recycling 40,000 tires a day for roof tiles; so far it is the largest. They cut the tread into little squares and then coat them with a bunch of large granular sized sand pebbles and you stack them on the roof as tiles and they are suppose to work great. More factories are opening and a few are coming online right now.

There are many environmental groups and eco-friendly Think Tanks, which are systematically looking for solutions to the challenge of the accumulation of used tires. Their focus is to develop a strategy to deal with all the tires we throw away and using these old tires and rubber materials that meets certain criteria to make things out of. One of the concepts is to use these old tires in the building of structures.

GreenMan Technologies has 8 Processing Facilities in USA. Below are some more websites, which are worthy and where you can learn more information about the used tire tiles for roofing.

Rubber used tires are piling up in the nations dumps and along our borders with Mexico, millions of them. They create hazards because rainwater is caught inside and remains stagnant and havens for Mosquitoes to lay their eggs. The piles of tires often catch on fire and are almost impossible to put out, while the smoke coming off of the melting rubber contains some of the most toxic substances known to mankind. By re-using these tires for roof shingles, which actually out last other shingles due to their tough construction, we can solve two problems at once. Think on This!

Wireless Sensors for Lawns in Drought Areas - Professional Lawn Watering Techniques

2008-02-25T14:46:55Z

Over the years, the Online Think Tank has studied the challenges of droughts in the US. Our goal is to come up with solution to ease the pain of dwindling and over taxed fresh water supplies that our civilization so desperately needs. One concept we came up with was a scheme which used the latest in moisture sensors and net-centric WiFi systems to monitor the amount of water used on landscaping and lawns. These technology strategies can help home owners maintain lawns in drought areas using a fraction of the normal water use.

Professional Landscapers know that by burying wireless sensors on a rod in several places on a golf course to measure the exact amount of water getting to the roots. A healthy lawn only needs to be watered down to the roots and approximately three quarters of an inch below that. Any more is a waste and counter-productive for the lawns health. Professional lawn watering techniques have often been studied at length to improve efficiency in drought ridden regions and prevent the roots of the lawns from rotting out. Over watering the lawns or golf course greens does no one any good, as a matter of fact invites disease and additional problems to the lawn

Using such a system could save perhaps half of all landscape and lawn water and we know that 40% of all water used in a residence is used outside the home, thus, we can cut the water usage of the average household by 20%, and that's before employing gray water strategies. Now then, if you consider the over watering of center medians by municipalities in the middle of the night and the run off which flows into drinking water of local lakes and/or causes Algae Blooms from excessive fertilizer nitrates, then perhaps this concept could help there as well.

How does this system work? Well the sensors would be fixed to small rods not more than .3 meters long with wireless sensors in it buried a few inches deep to avoid being cut off by lawn mowers. The remote control computer gathering system mechanism would be attached to sprinkler system controls. The cost could be as little as $80.00 for the controls and as little as $8 per rod for such uses and mass production of any of these ideas. If these ideas were rendered as relevant BMPs, then perhaps the cost could go down to $35.00 per control and $5.00 per unit considering the economies of scale, since everyone would use them. In fact, they could be mass produced and sold at Wal-Mart, Lowes and Home Depot.

Currently, similar devises are used in private wells, pipelines, tanks etc. for fluid level control. The Flow of Water in this country is critical to the health and wealth of our Nation. The degree of effort we put forth now in conservation and savings will pay dividends and thus such systems are clearly worth the nominal upfront costs. These system are needed now, especially in the South and out West in drought ridden areas. This is an inexpensive solution to a major problem.

By employing innovative concepts like this we can spare our underground aquifers as well, as we are depleting these fresh water resources much faster than they are recharging. Now is the time to take action on water conservation. It has been estimated that watering of Golf Courses in many cities takes up to 10% of the total usage, so if you could cut it down by half, you get 5% of the total city's water use footprint back almost immediately. Of course, there are also agriculture applications for such a concept. With the increased growth and increased frequency of the droughts and severity of each new drought it is time to study these technologies further for the future of mankind. Please think on this. I offer the following essay as background information:

The Flow of Water: http://activerain.com/blogsview/394040/The-Flow-of-Water

Hurricane Homeowners Insurance in Florida Beach Communities - You Wish

2008-02-25T13:30:21Z

Although the most recent Atlantic Tropical Hurricane Seasons, 2006 and 2007, were relatively light, State Farm is not writing any new policies to homeowners who live within a mile from the coast. State Farm indicated that the risk is far too great and that it is "only a matter of time" until there is another big year like the 2005 Atlantic Tropical Hurricane Season. There are other preferred carriers in Florida, but State Farm is one of the largest insurers there.

In fact, State Farm is cutting coastal residence from their insurance rolls, over 50,000 of them that live within a mile from the water on either side of the state. Through a combination for policy price increases of anywhere from 50 to 150% in some cases and a trimming of high-risk customers, State Farm hopes to reduce the risk exposure to the more than 1 Million it insures in the state.

The Great State of Florida's Insurance Government Monitoring agency is looking into forcing State Farm to uphold their previous policy costs, rather than raising fees to its policy holders or perhaps sue the company on behalf of citizens and consumers. Of course, State Farm had paid out huge amounts to policy holders in 2005 and is trying to reduce its risks and reinsurance companies may not be there if another huge season wipes out a decade of policy profits.

State Farm is a business, they are in the insurance industry, their goal is to remain profitable and that means shoring up risks. A Cat V Hurricane in a highly populated area, could amount to billions of dollars in losses to policy holders, which would most likely force them to exit the market place all together. Even though there are a couple of companies that will still write policies, one has to wonder if those policies will be worth the paper they are written on in the case of the Big One?

Even worse is the problem where mortgage companies and banks require the insurance as a stipulation of the loan, if the homeowner is cancelled, the bank will secure the insurance, most likely at an even higher price than the previous policies, even with the huge increases in costs. This is problematic at a time when many homeowners are trying to stay out of foreclosure and real estate prices are continuing to slide. Scary stuff, it is like a financial economic storm, before Mother Nature even warms up for the 2008 Atlantic Tropical Hurricane Season.

Property Tax Receipts and Economic Slow Down Takes Toll on Local Governments - Layoffs On the Way

2008-02-25T12:14:15Z

As predicted and expected local governments are beginning to trim the fat and that means laying off employees. In markets where housing has taken its biggest bite out of the economy, there is an air of uncertainty. Country controllers, city auditors and local government leadership is trying to find ways to keep things moving and services strong, even with the dwindling of tax receipts from lackluster retail and auto sales, plus slow pays and property tax value re-adjustments.

The City of Phoenix, Arizona is cutting 500 employees now, with more to follow. In state governments we already read about California's hiring freeze and now Arizona is following suit, they have no choice. Most cities in both California and Arizona anticipate on cutting 5-10% out of their budgets in physical year 2008. That means no new buildings, equipment, hiring and trimming budgets, which will mean laying-off employees.

The States of Nevada and Florida are in similar positions. In Nevada they are watching their receipts hurt due to less travel from California to their casinos in the Northwest part of the state and then huge foreclosure numbers in both Northwestern Nevada and Clark County (Las Vegas), affecting property tax receipts. Las Vegas has enjoyed foreign tourism increases (due to weak US dollar) for hotels, entertainment and gambling. Although car sales are down statewide, the general retail receipts are actually up in Las Vegas, the most populated region of Nevada.

South Florida is in tough shape and small businesses are failing, due to the cascading problems of the housing crisis. Economists speculate that this scenario will be repeated in other high foreclosure housing markets first as we get through the recession. The recession will most likely be announced after it is over, as that is what the Fed and Treasury did last time.

Local Governments are also watching their costs increase as fuel costs have been taking a larger and larger chunk out of their budgets. This is also effecting education due to the costs to run school buses. It appears what has happened is no real surprise, as government generally spends whatever it takes in plus some, growing the bureaucracy incrementally, now with tax receipt income down, they are going to have raise taxes, fines and fees while reducing costs too. Maybe it is time for government to go on a diet? Of course, with increased foreclosures comes more crime too.

Meanwhile, the local governments are providing services to illegal alien and those costs are mounting as well. The challenges are intense and growing, municipalities and county governments are getting hit from all sides, as their income is reduced, their costs have increased and more folks are demanding more services, while crime is increasing too. Things are not looking too pretty right now.

Homes Near Schools, Sports Parks and Libraries Often Hold their Value Better

2008-02-25T09:48:35Z

In places like California, homeowners watched average home prices fall over 20% and in some areas like Riverside County by 25% or more. Of course, Las Vegas, Detroit, Phoenix and Southern Florida took huge hits also and indeed, home prices are still falling in these markets. Much of it is about supply and demand with inventories rising and homebuyers trying their luck with low-ball offers, and with each one accepted that causes the average prices to fall further.

Still, we must be careful when discussing average home prices because some homes are much more desirable than others. Some neighborhoods and condos that are close to shopping districts, schools, civic arts plaza, sports parks, golf course or libraries do much better. Some communities and neighborhoods are just more appealing to folks who plan on buying a home to live in and expect to live there for quite a while.

Of course, those looking to steal a home by taking advantage of a distress sale, foreclosure or just low-balling many homes until one pays off, well they are not so interested in the community or what is nearby. Real estate agents and FSBO risk takers should be marketing their listings or homes with this in mind. It is extremely wise if the home is near such a community amenity to make a note of it, because it matters to home buyers and families.

Just like all politics is local, so too are all home prices, they are very local, as in what is just around the block. A park, golf course or library will be a big plus when you go to sell, take advantage of it, as it is a prize location. Think on this.

$3.50 per Gallon Gasoline Prices Predicted by Spring 2008

2008-02-25T09:18:52Z

The Real Estate Sector is a huge drag on our economy, but then again so are the high oil prices, as high fuel costs act like an additional tax on everything you buy or any service you partake in. High gasoline prices affect families and our citizens at a real personal level. Now the Department of Energy research shows that we might be looking at $3.50 per gallon gasoline by Spring and Chicago commodity traders agree.

With home mortgage credit tight and credit card companies tightening and at least one going public at the before the credit card crash to match the subprime lending crisis, one has to wonder if all the doom and gloom predictions for a tough year in 2008 are right on the money. Of course, there are several events that will be taking place the will determine if the gasoline average prices jumps about $3.50 per gallon, as oil looks like it is moving back towards $100 a barrel.

An OPEC meeting is coming up and commodity Traders believe there will be more supply issues, as OPEC moves to cut production. Meanwhile, we have some political rhetoric coming from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, as he makes threats if the US interferes with Cuba, he will move to cut the US off from his oil. Indeed, the most troubling comments came from the Department of Energy recently predicting a $3.40 per gallon average price by Spring, but by end of year back under $3.00 per gallon.

Now then, we have the auto sector having problems, banking sector, real estate sector, retail sector and small businesses not expanding, while simultaneously strapping consumers with credit tightening, fuel costs and potential lay-offs. There are many troubling economic indicators that are all hitting us at once, this might be a good time to play it safe.

More information on the Flow of Fuel: http://activerain.com/blogsview/392696/The-Flow-of-Fuel

Droughts Causing Some Power Plants to Shut Down

2008-02-25T08:57:36Z

Shortage of water not only hurts real estate values, as people stop watering their landscaping, it is also hurts the energy generation companies. Now it might be obvious that if lack of water in the reservoirs and behind dams means that the water cannot be let out in order to use hydro-electricity generators, but that is not the only use of water in the energy generation business. You see cooling is required for power plants and without water the generators plants have to be shut down otherwise they over heat.

Fewer electricity generating plants on the grid mean that the other generating plants have to run at higher capacity to keep up with demand, which may not be possible, depending on how many generation plants have been shut down. It can get serious in a hurry. Worse, drought regions are quite large and that means many energy generating plants might have to close in the same area. How bad is the current problem?

It is getting pretty serious and there are Power Plants in GA, NC, TN, CA, FL that are now at risk of being shut down. So, far there have already been a few, but those numbers will increase as we reach Spring and Summer time where no new major rain storms are normally expected.

When drinking water is pitted against electricity generation, fresh water supplies for citizens will win. When water is rationed in Level II Drought and homeowners cannot water their own lawn or landscaping, they should not be surprised that the cost of electricity increases due to the same supply and demand issues, as the power plants are going thirsty without water for cooling.

I would like to offer the following essays for background information:

The Flow of Water: http://activerain.com/blogsview/394040/The-Flow-of-Water

The Flow of Energy: http://activerain.com/blogsview/392479/The-Flow-of-Energy

The Flow of Thought - An Essay by Lance Winslow, Part I of II

2008-02-25T05:16:10Z

What does the Flow of Thought have to do with the Real Estate Sector, and why am I posting this essay on my Real Estate Blog? Well, The Flow of Thought has to do with everything in human society, including the planning of our civilization, cities and community. In fact, you could not work, play or love without the flow of thought, think about it. Yes, that indeed, is the very first step, so shouldn't you know a little about the Flow of Thought, to assist you in your complex and challenging career?

Why are we studying the Flow of Everything we know? And why are we starting with the Flow of Thought? Without the flow of thought, the human species would not need to study anything, but rather be reduced to simply react with the stimuli around us. Luckily, the human race and the human brain has the ability to think and reason. Without debating the cognitive ability as compared with other species of the planet, we can definitely say we are amongst the top tier of intelligence of all species here on our Earth.

Scientists have studied the brain, but still have many questions yet to be answered. This Gray spongy thing seems to be able to do quite a bit more than we ever realized. Most of the current studies have to do with brain disorders. Using these disorders scientists have hypothesized how the brain works. Unfortunately most of the studies that are funded are for brain disorders instead of healthy brains. Which is interesting in that; where does a healthy brain start and an unhealthy brain end. And what is exactly is the definition of a healthy brain? We study things such as ADHD and we say these are disorders. Are they?

If so many people have this so called issue then in fact is it a disorder or is it the way many human brains work? Studying the characteristics of ADHD, I would say that it may not be a negative trait at all. As a matter of fact squirrels and other fidgety creatures are able to stay more alert and not get eaten by predators as often as other critters. Perhaps the person with ADHD ought to be the one on point guard when searching caves out for Bin Laden. They will be more alert and dwell less on one thing and able to pick up the slightest movement, sound, or sight and be able to adapt quicker and isolate the threat with force. Perhaps ADHD might be used as a tool for certain needs. Perhaps a person with ADHD would be a better direct sales person, because they can read body language, scan a room for topics of conversation and opportunity faster than a person without ADHD.

Perhaps we should make sure all of our blitz team members (Car Wash Guys Marketing Teams which set up new territories for franchisees) be diagnosed with ADHD before we hire them? Interesting observation isn't it, maybe a sales career might be perfect for an ADHD individual, as there must be a benefit here and we ought to use these traits to our advantage. If a person with ADHD is said to have learning disorder in school for study and the like, then he or she must have another set of traits that are of benefit somewhere else. Plato wrote about this in The Republic; that each member of a society ought to do what they are best at and be alleviated from responsibility of those things they are not good at, which can be done by others. The individual and the society as a whole gain the most using this methodology.

Why have we not considered this wise advice in our culture? Instead we often put people into jobs they are unsuited for in patience, competence and ability. Who benefits? Would a Football team, which actually wants to win a game do that? After all; the guy with the strong foot and lanky build ought to be the kicker, not a lineman, for he would only be good for one play on the line. Yet we are worried about hurting feelings in the real world and try to make everyone equal, people are not equal. For instance I am a terrible accountant and could be good at that but it would be a living hell for me to try. This would serve no one if I were assigned to that position, would it?

Regarding ADHD maybe we ought to study up on these things, before assigning it as a disorder and putting the kids on Prozac. We should be finding out where the superior traits can do the most good. From our studies of different people we find that lower intelligence levels find themselves happier in repetitive jobs. We know that "A Type" personalities make lousy accountants and do not like fine details. So what do ADHD people have, we know they do not have a lack of intelligence necessarily. So why is it a disorder if the person shows signs of higher intelligence, after all wouldn't that be a sign of strength and a positive attribute?

The ADHD individual may not always score the highest on the English section of the SAT tests, but we know they are not stupid. So take a person who is smart, but fidgety. What would they be most suited for? What do they excel in and what would they be most suited for as an occupation? The ADHD individuals normally do not have the opportunity to get lots of certificates or degrees, they probably hate school. It probably feels like torture for them, so then we should find a need for their genetic make-up and you win, actually we all win. Or we could continue to classify them as an owner of a deficient brain with an insurmountable disorder and then pump drugs into their body to alter the natural flow of their individual thought.

We are not paying attention close enough to the issues of ADHD and Bi-polar disorder, (there is that word again) we do not take into account the incredible amount of prescription drugs being given to our youth like Ridalin (Sp?) and Prozac and their affects on the learning ability of our children and young adults in real terms and actual intelligence levels due underutilized brain power being wasted on mood control and baby-sitting drugs as I call them at this age.

A recent report by Carnegie is interesting in that it talks about the problems of delivering productivity and ethics back to the work place by starting in the schools and in hind sight is a valuable study even though a prediction of the past and a mission for the future may not take into consideration the newest problem of the current decade; that our miss uses of drugs in the brains of our students is hurting our ability to get to that lofty goal. It is very much an optimist approach to rest the bar of productivity, ethics and expectations, yet not very real world in terms of the reality of the overall parents, teachers and publics objectives to over medicate. People just are not too concerned about these issues and we are artificially numbing the brains of millions of students each year calling it a way to calm the unruly, high energy, ADHD, Bi-polar kids. It is a noble and worthy cause to want order in the classrooms and be able to teach larger groups of students, but I do not see the long term benefits of denying what it is to be human and calling much of what is normal behavior a disorder.

There may well be 1-2% which need some type of medication, but in some schools the numbers of medicated kids is 13-17%, that is simply not good for the flow of thought in kids and teens. Middle school reform in today's metro sectors is by far the most difficult challenge. The American School Board Journal also touches on this subject and has a reading recommendation list on these topics of drug use. I believe it is possible to change the direction and current course. I suggest the books;

BAD BOYS-Public Schools in the Making of black Masculinity, by Ann Arnett Ferguson
Accountability in Action-A Blueprint for Learning, by Douglas B Reeves
Conflicting Missions?-Teachers Unions and Educational Reform, by Tom Loveless.
Motivating and Learning Strategies for College Success-A Self-Management Approach, by Myron H Dembo.
http://www.aacap.org/web/aacap/publications/factfam/disaster.htm
http://www.bcm.tmc.edu/cta/effects.htm (Traumatic Events on Children).

Also a little interesting is the mental health tip by our government:

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/violence.cfm

The reason we talk about this is because with our car wash fundraisers http://www.carwashguys.com/fund.html we build unity and on the other hand with our Neighborhood Mobile Watch patrol we help put people in jail for crimes. I certainly prefer the first idea better. After all we can build schools now or prisons later. But no matter how many schools you build you must not impede the flow of thought in the minds of kids. This means slowing down their systems artificially when it is not absolutely necessary.

What does Prozac due to kids? Well I suggest you read the book Living on Prozac in case you doubt some of what we are saying here. And it doesn't just stop in schools, 10% of the American Population takes this stuff, it is a consideration. Prozac takes 30 days to start working so obvious it is changing after the chemical reaches critical mass, which means it is changing everything. One Fraternity at a Major Medical College gets lists of females who are taking Prozac so they can date them. The Fraternity has an incredible record stating that 86% of those girls will put out on the first date. So much for these scientific white paper field studies, maybe these guys are on to something? The reasoning seems to point to a drug, which takes the edge off, reduces inhibitions and causes somewhat irrational behavior. Either that or these guys are super studs? You be the judge, but is a drug which causes such behavior worthy of our children?

The human brain generally is fully formed structurally by age 6 (debated in some research), yet there are many kids on mind-altering drugs prior to the age of six, is this wise? So first thing needed in our study of Flow and specifically the flow of thought is to allow the brain to have flow of thought and that starts in the nurturing of our students. Now then drugs are not the only thing we are doing to the human brain which effects thought. We are putting fluoride in our water too. Hitler wanted to do this to numb the minds of the people to keep them from rebelling, the area of the brain which gives you the stick-to-it-ness or will to fight is dissolved by fluoride. http://newsoutpost.com/article731.html .

We use Fluoride in small doses to supposedly help with teeth decay, although it is industrial waste, which during WWII and manufacturing of aircraft we needed to put it somewhere. The biggest problem is the Fluoride is not filtered out downstream, so once it goes through a treatment plant and is discharged into a water way, it flows to the next city, then the next and could be a huge issue at the furthest city downstream. What else do we do? Well Americans consume lots of alcohol, cigarettes and illegal drugs. All of which are killing brain cells and hurting our chances of the benefits of flows of thought within our selves. You can teach people to reason and adapt, memorize and think, but if you limit your brain capacity where are you? How bad is the fluoride? (this topic is highly debated because it does provide help in tooth decay)

How bad is the illegal drug problem here in the US? Very bad and it alters the brain's thought process and causes a problem with human interaction and our natural socializing tendencies. The drugs are so diverse and so plentiful that it touches the lives of nearly every American in some way and certainly nearly every family in this country. http://www.parthe.net/_cwg0703/00000025.htm and we must be honest with ourselves. We have legal drugs, prescription drugs and illegal drugs. Caffeine is a drug that is wide spread in America. The verdict is not completely out now, but what will we learn in the future. We already know that spiders cannot spin a web while under influence of caffeine. What is the Caffeine content in your life? What is going through most American's heads half the day? http://www.fred.net/ultrunr/caffine.html See for yourself.

No wonder people cut you off in traffic, they are in a mad tear to where? In front of you so they can hurry up and wait. Now it appears that kids are using caffeine to get high? In combination with other drugs? Think about this; The "pick me up" that most Americans use to get through the day, wake up in the mourning is penetrating other parts of society. Why? Why would this happen? Well here are some interesting stories of kids using caffeine to get a rush. We have kids taking crystal meth and killing their bodies and becoming very horrible workers as far a responsibility and work ethic go, and when they cannot keep a job and have no money to buy drugs they are trying to duplicate some sort of experience using caffeine. Wow, this is a problem really. Think of all the mood altering drugs being used Prozac one-way, caffeine the other and then all the illegal stuff in between. How is the human brain suppose to operate efficiently and develop normally with all this foreign content with such extreme ratios? Maybe some people ought to figure out a way to reduce this desire for mood enhancement?

There is much information on the Internet about this and perhaps we, as a society should be doing something to help people think about what they are doing to themselves? And to find a reason to live life to its fullest without a mood enhancements. So if we are to have caffeine as a way of life we ought to let people know that the caffeine buzz that kids are trying to get from using it is not all that great. Now this maybe a better stimulate over all to other drugs, but no drugs is the better solution. It would be better for the productivity of America, better for kids and better for long-term health.

We know that ancient cultures and Indians and the like across the globe used such mind-altering drugs to alter their states. Still today in the world we have whole cultures enslaved to drugs of some type. Heroin, Opium, Peyote, Marijuana, Cocaine, it almost appears to be a human issue, a need. Most who study such, believe that since the addictions affect the frontal lobes that it also affects the basic drives of that individual which we have all heard of when individuals will steal from friends and family to obtain more drugs. For mankind to progress we will need to maintain flow of thought in all members of the species. We have failed miserably in this regard. It affects every aspect of our lives and is tough on the business community who needs the employees mind present for productivity.

We need to be cognizant of the effect on the flow of thought in each of individual and how that affects the whole. Drugs change the flow of thought and force it into an unnatural state, which affects the flow of everything else. If we are to decide to allow this, for instance legalize certain drugs such as we have done with caffeine and alcohol then we need to realize that this in fact changes the flow of thought and will change the way mankind interacts. There are other things, which affected the flow of thought in our evolving species. Perhaps some of this is the reason that we evolved in the way we have.

The Wireless revolution is upon us and those of us who are sensitive to frequencies bands will find it difficult to have quality of life in those areas where lots of wireless activity is. A study by three Dutch government ministries found that radio signals for the next generation of mobile phone services can cause headaches and nausea. We have already found this out. But I believe this can be accounted for and corrected by use of intermittent ELF tuned to the body's natural frequency to help the body super charge the immune system. In these particular Wireless study they compared the effects of radiation from base stations used for the current mobile telephone network with the radiation effects of base stations of 3G networks. The study found that the test group exposed to third generation base station signals felt tingling sensations, got headaches, and felt nauseous.

Cognitive functions such as memory and response times were actually boosted by both 3G signals and the current signals. This is interesting and I have found this to be true when I used lots of minutes on my cell phone, especially using a 3 watt phone, before the new systems lowered the power significantly; I had more brain activity. Other studies have recently come out and said that small doses of microwave are actually good for you, of course, long usage can literally cook your brain, not good. And I have found that significant does of caffeine during periods of high cell phone use increased and stimulated brain activity to higher levels of thinking. The body's immune system may move to protect itself and react by thickening to areas that need reinforcement, if that occurs we know that brain density is a positive thing.

The ramifications of the study to Wi-Fi networks is clear: previous research into the health effects of radio frequency radiation always measured the impact of cell phones, which are held close to the head and cause high fields of radiation close to the ear and warming of the brain. I have found that it heated up the cerebellum and thus stimulated the brain, but also could cause headaches, until which time the brain got use to that frequency and perhaps even enjoyed the stimuli and was even able to pick up that signal. Meaning, just seconds before the phone rang the brain felt stimulated, in other words the brain was in fact picking up the signal and for me this even worked when the phone was in the next room. So these studies are correct and the 3D technology and the cognitive enhancement, I can vouch for is real.

The Dutch study, on the other hand, used lower a dose of radiation to mimic base station signals rather than handsets. Handsets emit stronger radiation when they are used, while base stations transmit more constant levels of radio signals, exposing everyone within range. Some are doing this for safety, we are studying this to increase the world knowledge and better the human race and realize that we will soon be able to use this data along with other significant research like this;

Why bother, well think of technologies that can be used to connect the brain to machine, increase our capacity and create artificial life with a soul being a frequency wave of RF, VLF, ELF or microwave. Connecting Man to computer or putting computers in man is almost here: HUD Heads Up Display work is currently being done by the military; http://www.parthe.net/_cwg0803/00000033.htm . The benefit to mankind will be truly significant. The truth is that Arthur C Clark in his short stories talked about groups of people being connected in real time by neuron transmitting devises below the skin. You might even have all the world's knowledge and latest research all in a chip connected to your brain. Instant Messaging is just one step away from actually hooking up to your friends in real time, via electronic brain-computer interface, after all, what is the difference if you abbreviate with your fingers symbols or just send it directly? Flash Mobs of today are already networked groups working together in real time: http://www.parthe.net/_cwg0803/00000060.htm . The "Internet in your head" so you can only imagine the opportunities. Instead of trading MP3 Player music on the Internet, you would be trading experiences in 4D, and thought using Nano-Tech computer which interfaces with the enhanced brain.

You could do real-time research with members of certain groups across the ocean and when someone made a discovery, the time to write the white paper or peer review would be instantaneous. Thus, cutting down the research time to next to zero. If you read certain books such as:

Prescription for the Future-How the Technology is Changing the Pulse of global Health Care, by Moore, Rey, Rollins

and The 500-Year Delta. Too far out for you, well, just imagine what Thomas Jefferson would have thought about computers, space flight or modern medical miracles in his day. Many innovators, scientists and entrepreneurs are working on these issues and you can see where we are headed. Some are worried about this, but I am rather intrigued on the possibilities for the betterment of mankind. Will computers be smarter than humans, the latest estimates are by 2029, but judging by Moore's Law and applying this to the field of Artificial Intelligence, it surely will not be that long. With plug in brain-computer interfaces - Computers and humans will be one in this case, so we will be equal.

Instead of file swapping or file sharing, you will be thought swapping. This will be incredible in that you can swap the thoughts, emotions or experience of someone doing an extreme sport, such as jumping off a bridge with a parachute. People will sell these experiences and the VR world will literally be in your head. Humans are a species, which studies other species that many different types of strategies such as employing ELF to communicate, use radar and sound to navigate, use all sorts of interesting methods to identify and protect themselves. But humans will finally get well beyond the communication skills, which are made through the larynx, in many ways this was surpassed a long time ago.

What an incredible leap brain-computer interface will be for mankind. Is mankind ready for these new opportunities and horizons; will we use this for the positive or the negative. It may well depend on our ability to allow the flow of thought, while simultaneously allowing a private place in our minds which will not be shared, that which makes us ourselves. In other words, we will once again get back to the tribe, society, which currently we are drifting from. Humans are social animals no doubt and derive happiness from that sense of belonging; it appears to be an innate tendency. Sharing thoughts and ideas allows for this, as it delivers to the human race; a completeness, a oneness. If you look at a Bee Hive, those bees are quite content to service to the hive and are willing to sacrifice self to do so. Imagine now a human race which works together in a Capitalistic system for the benefit of the individual, "you" in that private place in your mind which becomes self fulfilled by helping others by sharing knowledge and promoting self by that feeling of doing good and helping.

The flow of thoughts in this regard is wonderful, uninhibited instant communication. You would not give up self, but you could share that which makes you, you with whoever you wished. You could instantly communicate with all the people in the world who loved jet skiing and if they wished to, they could communicate back. Well you can imagine that there would be no more wars and if you transferring thoughts they are a universal language so that would not be an issue although those who think in terms of words would be understood since you have all the world's knowledge in a chip. When you were ready to perish, you could transfer all your experiences in 4D to your offspring, so they would not make the same mistakes that you felt you did. Think of the benefit to mankind if everyone who died and all their worldly knowledge was saved forever? Now this is what the future will be at our present rate and realize that science is moving in this direction.

With all the Bio-metrics work being done we will see the merging of information and cognitive abilities go hyperbolic in the human brain. This is good in that it will increase The Flow of Thought. Anytime you increase the flow, you increase efficiency.

This concludes the end of Part I of The Flow of Thought Essay. In Part II of The Flow of Thought we discuss Memorization, Freedom of Thought, Creative Thinking Environments and a bit of Philosophy.

The Flow of Thought Part II (Memorization, Freedom of Thought, Creative Thinking & Philosophy)

2008-02-25T05:06:47Z

To refresh the reader, in Part I of The Flow of Thought we discussed ADHD, Education, Drug Use issues on the brain, Fluoride in the water, Future Computer-Brain Interfaces and Frequency Pollution. This is: The Flow of Thought Part II (Memorization, Freedom of Thought, Creative Thinking & Philosophy)

Now I would like to discuss the value in these possible future innovations and how they will affect the changes in education. There are so many theories in schooling on the best way to teach people, but brains and people do not exactly think the same. Connections are made through memorizing by association, alliteration and rote memorization and countless other ways. What we need to be careful of brain washing our brains to think in unnatural ways and to believe that everything we learn is truth. The basic reasoning on this is that truth is relative and a relative story is the one about the elephant where if asked to describe it and you are holding onto a leg, you might say it is like tree trunk the tail a rope and the tusk a solid pointed rock. None are incorrect, but in the same regard none are absolutely correct. It is therefore apparent that blindfolds will keep us from the closest possible relative truth.

Too often we teach in schools as an absolute, the information all of it is relative and the changing truth of political correctness of history every 20 years is also an interesting phenomenon, not to mention a real problem. Why on Earth would you re-write the truth of history? Well perhaps to get closer to the truth since in the period you could not tell the truth. Well then that means that the flow of thought has been stifled and the media has been suppressed. Once the truth is feathered out, and then later it is changed again and again then it is but a mere work of fiction and brain washing. Therefore even those who study the annals of history so that they do not allow that history to repeat itself; are using the information in vain and there is an increasing possibility that they will repeat all that they fear. When we educate we should do so with an extreme conviction to tell the truth to the best of our abilities and without regard to the political correctness.

If you burn all the books of today you will surely repeat those hardships over again in the future. Every time we inhibit or restrict thought we deny the truth, suppress innate characteristics of mankind and then allow these thoughts to appear at inappropriate times and cause serious issues, which are often compounded later. If no child is to be left behind and we are serious about education then perhaps we need to pay attention to what we teach, teach the truth and have that closest representation of relative truth easily available for all. How can this be done to insure the closest possible relative truth is allowed to flow to increase thought and increase thinking without brain washing or simple memorization? We can put the information in archived bite size lessons on the Internet. Here are the reasons for my theory of Internet archived knowledge: http://www.parthe.net/_cwg0803/00000044.htm .

This is already being done at the University of Phoenix http://www.carwashguys.com/0030203_1.shtml alone with a Gen-Ed class which teaches graduating seniors who will be attending classes there to rethink how they learn? Interesting that they need to re-teach young adults who to learn in order to teach them. If this is the case shouldn't the grade, middle and High Schools be catching a clue too? And after such classes and online content, we must realize that which is memorized needs to be memorized correctly and takes into account the way the brain learns?

One way to get the proper information into the schools of this present period so that no child is left behind may be to put the content on the Internet, but of course it is not the only way or be all, end all. With this done and with every individual and school allowed to access it, you will have increased the flow of thought. Creating a seamless information flow for education while still keeping the schooling local, thus without disrupting the system. Then you can add the local mentoring programs and discussion in a classroom setting to make the program full circle; http://www.parthe.net/_cwg0703/0000007f.htm

If we fail to mentor our kids there can be some serious consequences, for instance the School Shootings in Columbine or this incident; http://www.parthe.net/_cwg0703/00000084.htm . Will this work considering what we think we know about the human brain? After all How does the human mind really work? Some say it is a random organic devise? Each brain is a little different just like no tow people have the same DNA. Here are some thoughts on Random Sequencing and the human brain. http://www.parthe.net/_cwg0703/00000081.htm . Once we have increased thought, educated our populations, taught people to think and exercise their brains then have we accomplished our task of fixing the flow of thought? No, this is simply the beginning, as the thought flow must be open to advance a civilization, culture or country. But in our study of thought and the flow the first item of business is the production of thoughts. Not simply facts or repeating the desired thought on a multiple choice test where teachers study questions and teach the answers to kids so that the kids do well, but teaching kids and adults to think. An original thought is of supreme value.

What do we do with these original thoughts? We use these thoughts to help advance mankind. Unfortunately there are barriers to thought. For instance political correctness restricting thought, rather than hashing out the issues in trade for a reality based answer to a dilemma. Some would say about certain issues that the means do not justify the ends. Well more often the ends do not justify the means. For instance if you are trying to accomplish something and know that if you do use the most approved PC methods then you cannot get to the desired results, but use those methods anyway as to not appear to offend anyone, then in the end you offend everyone by wasting their time and by failure of the project. What we must do is to protect original thoughts and not suppress them and allow them to enter the public domain for the common good without denying the producer of the thought their benefits.

The first problem we encounter in this regard is the PTO Patent and Trademark office. If someone has an idea or many ideas and cannot easily register them without undue hardship and cost, then that individual is likely to never bother to continue to have original thoughts and we all lose as a country because of it. Concept patents are outrageously expensive, take years to get approved and you for the most part need to hire an attorney to do them. All this costs money and causes a lessoning of thinking or flow of thought to the common good of mankind. One discovery in one industry will surely lead to several more in others. We need to allow for the flow of thought and not stifle the speed of that flow through a bureaucratic process. The PTO is expanding in Washington and will move into a new 600 million dollar campus, but really it needs to be a huge computer system.

If you create artificial barriers to thought then thought stops flowing. You see the most progressive Think Tanks, Brain Trusts, research facilities in companies and government, etc. do their best work by allowing free thought to flow. If the United States is to lead the world in innovation and know how, technology and invention, then we will need to repel these barriers of the flow of thought. Now then we should discuss the concept of why thought is necessary and why it is the first in our series of Flows. You see Zig Ziglar, the famous salesmen who became such by writing books and giving seminars. His premise is that nothing happens until someone sells something, which in his realm is true enough, in that no money is exchanged and no products are delivered and no services rendered until the salesman has done his job.

Why was he so adamant about this? Well he was trying to help salesman understand that the profession of sales is not a bad thing, but rather the oldest part of commerce. Even older than the oldest profession, after all, a woman selling her body has to make an offer first and thus, a salesperson in addition to the other profession. A sales man by Zig Ziglar's terms was a problem solver. I use this analogy to show that whereas, Ziggy is correct in his statement, the truth is nothing happens until a thought is produced. You see a thought is triggered in a customer's mind or a member of a species decides it wants something. Due to the fact it is hungry, cold, hot, tired, etc. Then that animal is motivated by that thought.

If it is the hunger of a Bald Eagle it means flying over the river to catch a Salmon. If it is a tourist who is cold it means going in and buying a sweatshirt. This comes first and is the reason we must first discuss the flow of thought before we attempt to fix anything else in the World we live. We must make sure that we allow for the free flow of thought and of course the freedom of thought. Just like Ziggy would defend the freedom of speech in the sales process and the freedom of trade to make that sale. A penny for your thoughts, is a very good price, you should be buying, that is definitely a buyer's market so take all you can get. Yet we do not. Different cultures feel different about the flow of thought. And even we are worried about the past freedoms, which were taken in other civilizations and have pondered what would happen with the thought police.

The movie, "Minority Report" with Tom Cruise discussing such possibilities as the thought police; to this day people are concerned from writings of science fiction writers about the thought police concept. Such possibilities would in fact be the death of freedom, civilization and what we believe to be the proper direction of the human race. In eastern Cultures the passing of thought was considered valuable, so much in fact that even to this day members of those cultures respect their elders and listen to their advice. The passing of such thoughts and concepts and philosophies is of extreme value. The Christianity religion and its followers take those stories in the bible literally, almost to an absolute truth. Much of which is an incredible gift from those who came before us and experienced their lives and had something to say and tales to help the understanding of those who would come later. Jesus in the bible talks about important concepts and thoughts of what should be done and how to live with love towards your fellow man.

The Philosophers of ancient Greece; Thales, Anaximander, Heraclitus, Pythagoras, Parmenides, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle had many interesting and valuable thoughts. Much of which helped the well studied Thomas Jefferson in his ideas as one of our most noted founding fathers. Such enlightenment has been going on for at least as long as we have been able to acquire our written history. 10,000 years of Chinese written history, 6,000 years of middle-eastern history, as the human race branches grew together, it became more apparent that different cultures learn differently and think somewhat differently.

A book called, The Seven Sister's of Eve is worthy of a read and talks about what we have learned about the flow of human beings populations through DNA research. Thus, it is safe to say that certain members of our species have developed differently and in different ways, meaning the brain also learns differently. As Scientists look at different human brains doing various tasks light up with energy as it works through different thoughts and tasks. Why does man need to think. Why does mankind feel the need to share these thoughts and concepts in their writings? It appears that the flow of thought may be the single most important part of life. The process of thought is probably the single most important part of human life. "I think therefore, I am" Are you, is that it?

So what is it with this large complex body? Is it to serve the brain? Or is the brain to serve the body? With these questions and the philosophers of prior periods and the writers and thinkers of today we can all agree that thought is one of the most important parts of self and of human life, if not the only true important part of life. Then why do we allow thought to be controlled by religion, governments, other men? If we study the dialogues of Plato, Galileo, Copernicus, etc. we see that man has often muffled thought and that often fiction is the only way to allow for truth or thought.

So, we therefore live in a world with a history of imprisoning dissenting or disagreeing views. But for mankind to move forward we need to stop this and allow free thought. As we see modern day people of deep thought attempt to bring forth their discoveries and enlightenment, we see them doing so by way of fictional works; because we as a people would shun their thoughts if they were not brought out in any other way. Let's use Ayn Rand, Bertrand Russell, Arthur C Clark, John Gresham, Ben Bova, Isaac Asimov, Tom Clancy as examples for this point. When brought forth as a fictional work it makes you think and brings out a point of contention.

If brought forth as an idea, it would quickly be squashed as not Politically Correct. In the days of Galileo, Copernicus, Plato, you would be imprisoned or killed, therefore they were forced to put them forth in dialogues instead of actual formulated ideas and in the dialogues the strongest point still had to be the prevailing view that matched the politically correct thought. Today the PC police, call them the controllers of thought, would character assassinate you even if your point so contention contained a high degree of relative truth. In Iraq you may have been killed if it went against the former Saddam's views or in contrary to the Qur'an. Cultures which allow for free thought and those individuals in the culture with freedom to the flow of thought will innovate faster.

Thus, here in the United States we have the greatest benefits of the flow of thought, but are we really fully living up to this lofty goal or are we simply the best so far; and if we are able to free the restrictions of the flow of thought and refuse to teach our children barriers to thought, we may just find that the next giant leap of mankind comes from within our countries boundaries. If we allow children to be bombarded with the "That's a dumb idea" syndrome, then they will be taught to not think, instead of to think. This will foster itself as they go through life and it will be passed onto their children and in the work place. "That's a dumb idea" why, because the boss did not think of it. And instead of defending their position, they will simply forget about any new ideas, stop volunteering ideas and the company will go stagnant.

Tom Peters talked about this in his management idea books; stating that the person on the assembly line is full of ideas to speed up the process. And subsequent other business leaders have for ever written books about it. http://www.carwashguys.com/finite.pdf . We have seen the return of the suggestion box in the near prior decades, although with the flow of thought set up correctly they would never be needed. Thus the problem that hurts the most and denies us our future is the unspoken restriction of "Not Invented Here" to the flow of thought. Man is generally a copier, with very few in the populations capable of free flowing original thoughts. Why is this? We mimic, copy, imitate that which we see. This is a common thing that all higher primates do, including us. But if we would stop and think and allow original uninhibited thought to flow without fear of being chastised, cast out, imprisoned, punished, ridiculed or made example of, then we might really come up with some great innovations which would certainly propel mankind to better quality of life and higher standard of living.

We see where Bill Gates in a brain storming exercise allows for the challenging of the flow of new idea, stating "That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard of in my life!" Challenging, the thinker to defend their idea, challenging them to passionately defend their views, debate, thus this gives them the strength of character to go against the norm and continue to come up with new ideas. If the thinking of the thought can defend their position then they have what it takes. It is not often that you find an original thinker with the strength of character to overrun the critics, politically correct society, the thought police and the "Not invented here" fiefdom-ists; but we need to instill people to think.

We need to develop a culture that is based on the thought that young people should never know or expect limitations in life and never be inhibited in the process of thought. We should encourage thinking and the exchange of ideas. We can do this by making sure that our youth can believe in themselves, have confidence in their own abilities, and think for themselves. By doing this we can insure that they are not afraid to think or to communicate these new thoughts. We can break through the confines of religion, prejudice, economic enslavement, war, education, physical limitations, and government bureaucracy all for the common good and all by simply thinking. All this can be ours if we simply teach people of all ages that it is okay to think, have ideas, "Because one person can change the world." But only if that person believes in himself enough to speak up and share their ideas without fear of being outcast.

Eventually humans will be able to communicate by thought, through computers, which will be available to everyone probably within a couple of decades. The people who can currently communicate by thought with powers of ESP who are limited in their abilities and rare in their numbers are about the only human beings with a chance of thought transfer. Couples who have been married a long time often say they can know what the other is thinking, either because they have become closer on their brain wave frequencies or have adapted to the other persons brain activity, but along with marriages and communication, without thoughts being shared and mutual respect of those thoughts a marriage will drift apart. This should be a warning of what happens in business deals, corporate brainstorming (with regards to hard earned and developed Organizational Capital) and an outcast member of society.

What is the most unfortunate situation in all of these instances is that the whole of the group loses from the possible ideas and innovations of these individuals. As we learn if we imprison, kill, ridicule, out cast, character assassinate or refuse to be open to the flow of thought, we are doomed to repeat the past. If we study people like Albert Einstein, Nikola Tesla, Galileo, Copernicus, Plato who in their days met much resistance from many fronts, we see who easy it is to stifle those with great ideas and we may in fact destroy the next innovation visionary before he or she delivers their greatest contribution to mankind. This is why the flow of thought is so important.

We are witnessing a time when we can actually change these situations in our society and if we do we will be living in the greatest period of discovery ever known in the history of our species. Can we rise to the occasion; will we dump the pettiness in order to reach for the stars? We must first remove all barriers to the flow of thought. This is the very first event in all instances, first a thought occurs before anything else. We must protect this process, otherwise we will never get to the next step. As an observer of culture and society, philosophy and psychology, innovation and invention, science and religion, industry and philanthropy; I can safely say that although we have done better than any other previous civilization or country, we can do better and we must work on the elements which are needed to improve the flow of thought. The best time to start with this thought would be now....I think? Do you? Can you? Will you? Please email me on any thoughts you have on The Flow of Thought.

What will the future of thought and wisdom be?

http://www.worldthinktank.net/pdfs/limitlessthought.pdf

The Flow of Water - the First Necessity of Human Civilizations

2008-02-25T02:22:23Z

The purpose of this essay is to assist you in understanding the importance of our fresh water supplies. What does The Flow of Water have to do with the Real Estate Sector? Everything! Without fresh water supplies a community, town, city, region, state or nation is uninhabitable. Of the most important flows in human society The Flow of Water ranks near the top, because without water you have no civilization at all.

As we travel to every city in this nation we can tell when we are coming to where a city might be located simply by the way the terrain is formed and where water might flow. The towns are all built near water. These towns were connected by dirt roads, then the railroad connected the towns near water to fill up the steam engines, then they build the highways connecting the cities. But it all starts with a river, creek, lake or well. Water determines, where and how we live.

Why is the flow of water so important to our lives? Well, we are all familiar with the cycle of water. The evaporation, rain and then the long flow back to the ocean. There is not a shortage of water on this little planet from what we can see with 2/3 of the Earth's Surface covered with it. However 97.2% of the water is salt water in the oceans. Human's need fresh water to drink and sustain life. There are tremendous amounts of frozen fresh water in the polar ice caps. There is actually more water in the atmosphere than in all the rivers. About nine times as much fresh water in the lakes than atmosphere. There is lots of ground water at about 95% of the fresh water is in the ground. There is as much water between 1 half mile to 1 mile from the surface as there is deep lying ground water which is more than a mile underground. This table will help you understand the situation better.

http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0004674.html

There is not a shortage of water in the world. There is merely a problem with its salinity. The flow of water affects everything we do. Where we live and work. What we eat and how we play. The flow of water is one of the most important flows of life on the surface of the Planet and has more to do with the evolution of life on Earth than nearly every other factor. Life seems to have begun in the shallow water and expanded into all depths and areas of the oceans. Life on land grows best where water is plentiful. These basic facts should be taught to all children and teens in school. Here is a basic course outline: http://www.utm.edu/departments/ed/cece/seventh/7I3.shtml . This will teach kids to understand the issues and why the conservation of our fresh water supply is so important.

If we are to tackle the challenges of future populations on the planet, we will need to insure adequate water supply. Our US population is growing, by one person every nine seconds; http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/popclock and with this growth the consumption of fresh water increases. The average person uses 80-100 gallons per day in the US. In many Third World countries about they use about 4-8 total. I have tested this myself; http://www.carwashguys.com/082902_2.shtml and we have studied what has to be done to insure water supplies in the future; http://www.carwashguys.com/082602_1.shtml . During these studies it became obvious that we need to start by teaching kids the facts and making sure they understand the needs for our water infrastructures for the future. Populations are expanding rapidly in desert regions, without sustainable water resources, and a very alarming situation is taking place where population explosions move in and put in lawns. It is also known that 40% of the residential water use is expended outside the home.

The reason that I personally got involved in water conservation is that I have been in the car washing industry and we know we can clean cars using as little as 3-5 gallons whereas the home owner will use up to 100 gallons washing a single car. As areas get into level two droughts more often between cycles the water supplies become critically low, and water restrictions are put into action and enforced by usually municipalities "water police." These issues of drought years and populations and the balance have been occurring in the arid regions of the South West for as long as humans have been congregating in civilizations.

These same issues then that the ancient Indian cultures were challenged with is affecting us today. Just like other Indian Cultures in Central and South America, the indigenous people of Australian outback, as well as the water ways and canals built by the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians. In the South West; SRP has conquered the problem of bringing in the water to Arizona, which is really one big giant desert.

For any region, country, culture, civilization to succeed and grow and support substantial populations it must have a stable supply and flow of water. Weather and weather cycles play a huge issue with these needs and can create very difficult challenges to over come. EL Nino and La Nina are very well known in the United States. These factors of the Pacific Ocean cycles affect nearly two-thirds of the populations of the World and causes floods and droughts here in the US.

Large population bases have the need for storage and recharging aquifers during times of excess water. Once it flows to the ocean, it may not return for several years. As populations grow there are increasing frequency and severity of these droughts. Without adequate water supply, common decency goes out the window, with water rights fights leading to court battles in the US and actual wars where countries share a river's supply. In our country we have are fighting over the means, wasting time to build new infrastructure to lessen the burdens and possible disasters. These issues fill up our courts with bogus lawsuits based on junk science on behalf of non-indigenous and so-called endangered, yet conveniently transplanted species and academia papers to prove it. These issues are preventing us from fixing the flow so we can have the water we need to live comfortably. These issues of water supply have gone on in North America for a long time.

Even after the great Indian civilizations folded due to among other things lack of water, later when the Conquistadors explored what is now Central Valley CA some 236 years ago, they wrote about the desert landscape. When the Smith family brought water into the Central Valley CA for farming and the Chandler's brought water into the Los Angeles desert area they all profited immensely. Los Angeles had nothing more than sage brush with an onshore breeze at times. It looked very much like Bakersfield, CA only a few degrees cooler in the summer time and a little higher sagebrush due to El Nino cycle rains.

The LA River ran dry part of the year, like the old rivers through Pima County in Arizona, there were flood periods in both areas that were fairly severe and often. Today both areas for the most part are covered in concrete, LA is some 460 square miles of city, solid concrete, buildings, freeways, airports, Industry and housing. In Las Vegas area along with Phoenix and most of Southern California the growth has been huge. In Las Vegas even since the days of Bugsy, was a fast growth area, sharing the water from the Colorado River and drawing energy and water from Lake Meade and the Hoover Dam.

During this last drought cycle which was only three years long until an El Nino like season came along to fill the depleted reservoirs up to 60-88% things were pretty bad all over the country, not just the Mid West and South West. This time it affected New England down to Florida Everglades. As the populations expand in Colorado outside of Denver, Las Vegas, North County San Diego, Atlanta, Phoenix, Tucson, San Bernardino, Riverside, Albuquerque, etc. The West will need to look to transferring the load of cities like Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, and San Bernardino to getting water from the ocean through Desalination Plants. At one point during the last drought states had to make a choice between fighting fires or saving the water for drinking. This could have been a serious issue in CO, MT, NM, NV and AZ.

In 2003 we have seen the Hurricane Season bring much rain fall to drought areas of Southern and South West TX, to the Carolinas, Alabama, Georgia. Along with the normal flow of storms has alleviated the drought stricken regions of the US. But realize that now the reservoirs are filled up it is business as usual and continued water wasting and lawsuits over the building of new reservoirs by the Sierra Club, reservoirs we desperately need if we are to continue to build our cities and suburbs larger. If we look at other nations, which do not have the area we do in terms of populi per acre, we can see that our incredible consumption must be mitigated with increased supply and also conservation.

If our populations in arid regions continue to expand and we continue to lose population from rural America due to economics, jobs and agriculture farming changes as well as allow immigrants legal or otherwise without proper control of the direction of the flow of water and the education of that population we are leading for a major calamity. We must protect our dams and rivers along the Colorado River from International Terrorists as well as control our thirsty appetite for this finite resource. There are issues and concerns with the flow of water in this modern era, we must not take it for granted, nor should we turn a blind eye to the serious nature of these issues. Water is life and we are not paying attention to the importance of it.

The purity of the water we drink is also at issue, but many municipal water resources are as clean or better than bottled water, as a matter fact the bottled water companies use municipal water many times and talk about a profit. We must continue to find easy, inexpensive and successful ways to keep the pollution out of our rivers and streams which are the drinking water for those downstream or might flow into underground areas where shallow wells feed fresh water to homes, schools, government offices and businesses. There are many things we can do as small business owners to mitigate such things.

If industries will continue to look towards win-win situations and non-linear decision-making, we can find ways to serve our markets better, increase profits and efficiencies and do our part to help keep our water supply clean. http://www.carwashguys.com/073102_2.shtml . There are also things our non-profits can do when they do their activities; http://www.carwashguys.com/fundraisers/ch2.html . And the government agencies can find simple ways to assist businesses rather than making complicated and costly regulations and micro manage; http://www.carwashguys.com/073102_6.shtml . Complicated regulations hurt businesses and add to the bureaucracy that builds government agencies into huge inefficient Dinosaurs, which destroy the flow of everything we know. We should also be talking about the filtration systems that lead into the fresh water supply for cities. They are not generally quite substantial, but rather rely on the volume of water to help make things safe; this along with chemical treatments such as Chlorine and Fluoride; and aeration of water on its way in.

Unfortunately, some chemicals and bacteria which combines with the H20 and/or is of a similar weight as water seems to get through in micro amounts. Generally, you have a safer chance with the water in large cities due to large budgets to filter the water. Cities like Philadelphia, Chicago, LA, Boston, Atlanta, Dallas, San Francisco and Seattle have some of the safest water to drink. As the water flows down rivers it is often used to generate our electricity and accounts for less than 20% of our electricity on the grid, in South America is over 80%. Washington State is also about 80% from hydro along the Columbian River with Bonneville Power.

If we look at Niagara, Columbia River, Colorado River, Grand Coulee Dam, Tennessee river Valley Authority and Roosevelt Dam. Tesla would be proud of these accomplishments, but remember if we are not careful with supply then we cannot afford to allow the waters out of the dams and therefore the energy costs will increase. Water Flow and the flow of water therefore is crucial to not only the life on the surface of the planet but also to the energy flow that powers up all we know.

Twenty Percent is a lot, if we fail to use water efficiently or fail to conserve and build up stream reservoirs until needed, we will find ourselves in a bad position, trading life of species of fish and our power for water to live. As we increase our populations every new soul will require increased infrastructure efficiency or expanding of the systems. The flow of clean, fresh water has to do with which way the rivers flow and the weather that delivers the water to the land by way of rain. Some day we may be able to control the weather, not just seed clouds, but completely control the weather stopping deadly storms, preventing droughts and modifying the weather to correspond with human activity, farming and planning of civilizations. Some side thoughts along this theme;

This will truly be a major accomplishment of mankind in the next three decades in the meanwhile we must not underestimate the World's need for water flows. Within the same time period the population of the World will more than double meaning the already stressed third world nations will be beyond crisis. They will need to limit population growth now otherwise there will be continued malnutrition, civil wars, mortality rates, disease, unhealthy water from sewage and death. If you look at the African Continent there are areas that are not able to sustain the current level of population much less anymore people. Millions dies in the Ethiopia drought of 1984. The West African droughts of 1972, 1975, 1984 and 1985 were blamed on EU factories and sulfur dioxide. "If the flow of water is not fixed there it will be replaced by the flow of blood as anarchy sets in due to the shortages of the most basic need to sustain life." This has been debated but the region suffered 20-50% less rain fall during those years on an already stressed situation. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2042856.stm .

In North Korea the droughts of seven years leading up to 2001 nearly sank the country. Australia also had a huge drought. Much more critical than anyone was willing to admit. Here are just a few of the industries and problems that the lack of water flow in this drought caused on their flow of products, agriculture, transportation and drinking water. http://www.abc.net.au/rural/drought2002/ . China has been having some problems on their incredible project on the Yellow River Basin to bring flow to their largest coastal cities. Makes the San Francisco Bay area wonder if they should not try to attempt their own huge project as the Chinese immigrants come in on ships and planes to the region to stay, live and work? San Francisco Reservoir; www.spn.vasace.army.mil/bmvc , but it is something they had to do to continue. The issues we deal with here are nothing compared to other countries with less land and more people per acre. They have already over stressed to the max. We have been watching the plight of the farmer in this country and fights over populated cities VS the farmer and Industry. These issues are huge and they affect our economy, industries, jobs, food supply and prosperity.

In cities across America water is an issue, the flow is sporadic, either too much or too little. We must stabilize the flow, so businesses can plan, people can feel secure and we will not be caught with our pants down during the next drought. As the droughts become more often, more severe and longer in length due to over use of supply, we must be ready.

Many cities understand the importance of water and the psyche involved in plentiful water and the innate happiness it brings to the human spirit and they have developed River Walks, boat rides, etc to encompass such water features. Cities like Oklahoma City, Tempe, AZ; San Antonio, Caldwell ID, Wichita KS, Reno, NV; etc. Many cities rely on tourism to their lakes some man-made and others natural; with these lakes down and the evaporation taking its toll, it is difficult to create a man-made lake and justify keeping it filled. Lakes like Lake Las Vegas a high-end million dollar plus home area has suffered as have areas were the lakes are down significantly making boat launching nearly Impossible and hurting tourism dollar.

Normally when air travel is down lakes do well since many people can drive to these lakes. But along with fuel prices being high and water levels being low due to the disruption of flow the problem is compounded. Companies, which work in Chemicals, refining, food processing, paper product manufacturing, growing agricultural products stand to be pitted against populations for the control of water. Depending on the voting block and the social contract of the populations to conserve in times of droughts will be in direct proportion to the survivability of those businesses and industries in those regions. This of course in terms of short term drought hysteria is a problem.

We have recently seen the possibilities of growth, building and new housing industries pitted against the thirsty populations for water in legislatures across the country, this last drought which has still not filled up the reservoirs to the appropriate levels was merely a trial run. The droughts also happened in 1985 and in 1977 and next time they could be even more severe due to the replenished water supplies are probably not going to be returned to normal levels while usage continues to climb. We must fix the infrastructure to handle to flow needed for the future. When we go through periods of droughts we also have other problems which are increased.

Things such as West Nile Virus, Bark Beetles, Disease Epidemics, Med Fly and Chronic Waste Disease and realize these diseases and problems which occur during certain weather periods are compounded when the cycles get out of control. For instance an El Nino heats up the Pacific Ocean and expands the atmosphere and the jet stream is within the temperature and range to carry insects all the way across the ocean. Birds modify their stopping points for water during migration, stay in areas longer during the year or leave earlier thus their chances of infecting more areas are greater. When Deer travel further to go to watering holes during migration the come in contact with different livestock and humans.

The Bark Beetle has a field day during droughts and the issues in Alaska, Prescott and Flagstaff, AZ are rather serious. Bark Beetle also reduces trees to fuel, which can start fire during lightening strikes. This makes diseases hard to control and viruses hard to contain. Like their feathered friends people also move and migrate, more and more each year and with them they tackle their problems to other parts of the country and like the migration of people to different regions the water also moves over man's line drawn in the sand and fought over or bought as official territory. Some of the water that we take for granted also belongs to our neighbors. In Northern Montana the river water flows into Manitoba, Canada; http://www.3rivers.net/~dbaker/gndwater.htm . This is tough because Helena, Billings, Bozeman need the water, but it flows the wrong way. http://www.washguy.com/mt/index.shtml . Along the Rio Grande River the water does not reach the Gulf of Mexico in some years, water which is shared by farmers on both sides; Rio Grande situations and South West TX http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/publications/reports/GroundWaterReports/GWReports/Brackish%20GW%20Manual/04-Ch03-HuecoMesillaBolsons.pdf . The Colorado River flows into Mexico and is called the Colorado Mexican Delta and is under constant stress and complaints.

Water supply is essential to keep civilization going strong, keep countries at peace, provide for life, food, security, peace of mind, strong economy, healthy populations and just about everything you can think of. Now then, what happens once we are done with the water we use. Some returns to the ground water, but most goes down stream to a sewer treatment plant. The United States has some of the greatest sewer treatment facilities and technologies in the world. We have some of the highest standards in the world once the water is treated and returned. We are doing an excellent job in that regard where as in third world countries people die of horrible diseases from untreated water entering the drinking water of those downstream. Water-borne diseases include cholera, typhoid, shigella, polio, meningitis, and hepatitis A and E. Human beings and animals, which drink or swim in these contaminated waters that will become hosts to the bacterial, viral, or organisms that cause these diseases.

Billions of people on the Planet have little access to sanitary waste disposal, sewer treatment plants or to clean water for personal hygiene. The average third world inhabitant in many parts of the World live on less than 4-8 gallons per day, about 3 billion people do not have a toilet and over 1.2 billion people are at risk because they lack access to safe fresh water. The problem is getting worse in many places not better as run-away population growth is not being figured into the solution. Water-borne diseases, which the WTO calls "dirty-water" diseases, that is they are caused by water that has been contaminated by human waste, animals, or chemical and industrial wastes.

The lack of sanitary sewer plants and waste disposal treatment centers and the lack of clean water for bathing, drinking, cooking, and washing costs the Planet no less than 12 million deaths annually. Diarrhea type diseases are a serious issue also, especially when, human waste is disposed of in open holes, ditches, canals, and water ways. This waste often flows directly into cropland. About 4 billion cases of diarrhea type diseases occur every year, which cause about 3.8 million deaths per year and most of those are children. We are very fortunate to live in a country, which has adequate and above average sewer treatment plants. The sewer treatment plants are not the end of the flow, much of this water is used to water golf courses, municipal parks and/or flows into rivers on its way to the ocean.

In countries where there are no sewer treatment plants the untreated water pollutes the fish which are caught and eaten and cause all kinds of bad diseases also. Some of the Rice fields of the Pacific Rim are said to be quite polluted and much of the fish are now dangerous to eat. As we rebuild Iraq and help the people of Africa and children of the world the very priority and first order of business must be to look closely at The Flow of Water. Then and only then can we move to the next item on the agenda. Without clean water and healthy bodies, there is no way to feed the brain so it can be used by the people to help themselves into a better place.

The people of these regions need the strength to work, become productive, become educated and work with us to help them help themselves. And as we look at these other countries, we need to remember that much of what we take for granted is at a stress point and simply going with the flow may lead us to a place where the flow no longer goes. We know where we have issues and challenges and we must continue to be proactive and fix them and be ready for the next drought. I hope you have enjoyed this topic on The Flow of Water. Without water there is no human life and we need to address first things first.