Selvio DeAngeles - Dead West FLC

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‘Nuclear Savage’ Film Review (Final)

‘Nuclear Savage’ by Adam Horowitz is an excellent film. It depicts what can only be called war crimes by the U.S. committed against Marshall Islanders during nuclear testing in the 1950s. The United States turned the Marshallese people into human guinea pigs. The film left me on the edge of being disgusted to be an American as it explains the blanket of cover-ups the U.S. government told to hide the monstrosities they had committed.

In the Cold War fanatics, the U.S. dropped 67 nuclear bombs in the Marshall Islands One of those bombs was 1,000 times more powerful than both dropped in Japan at the end of WWII – the Bravo bombing. Both events at Japan and the Marshall Islands had one thing in common; they left the people in radioactive fallout, ruining their lives and homeland. Children would be born with deformities for centuries, the people wouldn’t be able to return to their homes for years to come, and the people exposed are slowly dying off from various cancers.

The film also highlights the Marshall Islands’ call for help. Rightfully feeling that they were wronged, the country has been seeking reparations to help the sick and dying people due to the fallout. Showing their fight for help really makes you feel for the people of the islands, a great move on Horowitz’s part. Normally with a government exposure exposes, it comes off as a crazy conspiracy theory so I was pleasantly surprised to find that instead, this film just makes you focus on the people first; emphasizing that they’re human like the rest of us. Of course conspiracy can be found in this film though, centering on the planning of the tests.

Secret project 4.1 was originally intended to test radioactive fallout on human beings in the Marshall Islands. The wind pattern “unexpectedly” changed the day of the bombing and caused incredible damage to a few islands. Later documents changed the tittle to add the word ‘accidental’ in it, and although the Marshallese people feel attacked, the United States makes no plans to assist in further recovery.

The film shows that the U.S.’s actions would be considered war crimes if anyone else tried them. Comparing it to the Nazi regime, Horowitz says we can’t see the error in our way. These bombs impacted over 20,000 people and Horowitz grabs our emotions through the one-on-one’s with the Marshallese people re-living the horrors they have been through. One local described the fallout day as a rain of white ash that burned away at the skin. What they didn’t know at the time was that they were just dusted with a radioactive cloud.

Who gives us the right to make those choices, or use these weapons? ‘Nuclear Savage’ answers that question by setting a mistrusted scene featuring the United States – holding the biggest supply of bombs. It seems the Marshall Islands will never receive retribution for the inhumane treatment they faced in nuclear testing.

[selviodeangeles-blog]

Movie Review - Nuclear Savage

I think ‘Nuclear Savage’ by Adam Horowitz is a well done piece of film, mirroring the atrocious war crimes the U.S. committed through nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands. The United States turned the Marshallese people into human guinea pigs. The film left me on the edge of being disgusted to be an American as it explains the blanket of cover-ups the U.S. government told to hide the monstrosities they had committed.

In our Cold War fanatics, we dropped 67 nuclear bombs in the Marshall Islands, including one that was 1,000 times more powerful than the two dropped in Japan at the end of WWII – the Bravo bombing. The bombings at Japan and the Marshall Islands had one thing in common; they left the people in radioactive fallout, ruining their lives and homeland. Children would be born with deformities for centuries, the people wouldn’t be able to return to their homes for years to come, and the people exposed are slowly dying off from various cancers.

The film also highlights the Marshall Islands’ call for help. Rightfully feeling that they were wronged, the country has been seeking reparations to help the sick and dying people due to the fallout. Showing their fight for help really makes you feel for the people of the islands, a great move on Horowitz’s part. Normally with a government exposure exposes, it comes off as a crazy conspiracy theory so I was pleasantly surprised to find that instead, this film just makes you focus on the people first; emphasizing that they’re human like the rest of us. Of course conspiracy can be found in this film though, centering on the planning of the tests.

Secret project 4.1 was originally intended to test radioactive fallout on human beings in the Marshall Islands. The wind pattern “unexpectedly” changed the day of the bombing and caused incredible damage to a few islands. Later documents changed the tittle to add the word ‘accidental’ in it, and although the Marshallese people feel attacked, the United States makes no plans to assist in further recovery.

The film argues that if anyone else tried to do what we did, they would be tried with crimes against humanity. We can see the evil in Germany’s acts of using the gas chambers, but can’t recognize our own mistake when we’re impacting thousands. These bombs impacted an upwards of 20,000 people and Horowitz grabs our emotions through the one-on-one’s with the Marshallese people re-living the horrors they have been through. One local described the fallout day as a rain of white ash that burned away at the skin. What they didn’t know at the time was that they were just dusted with a radioactive cloud.

Who gives us the right to make those choices, or use these weapons? ‘Nuclear Savage’ answers that question by setting a mistrusted scene featuring the United States holding the biggest supply of bombs.

[selviodeangeles-blog]

Literary Analysis Final 11/9/2015

Rough Draft:

More interesting than the unique features insects possess is the development in the use of insect ecology as a weapon in modern warfare, from bee catapults to insect cyborgs and roboflies. We used these creatures as a tool and weapon until the Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention put a stop to using any living organisms as weapons in March of 1975. Over the following years, we have developed technology based off these insects, and for good reason; “a cockroach dashing along at 50 steps per second is the equivalent of a human running the high hurdles at 200 miles per hour.” (Lockwood, 292) Can we harness the unique abilities only certain insects hold? The better question is, how have we?

“History reveals an unholy trinity of strategies—transmission of pathogenic microbes, destruction of livestock and crops, and direct attacks on humans—through which six-legged soldiers have wreaked havoc on human society.” (Lockwood, I) It is assumed that insects were first used as weapons during the Upper Paleolithic period, 100,000 years ago. It would be another 90,000 years until we saw real progress though, with the discovery of the smoke sedative to bees, allowing hives to be transported easier – resulting in the use of “bee bombs” between 1000 and 1300 BCE. A nest would be launched into battle resulting in swarms of angry bees and wasps ravaging the war field. (Lockwood, 10)

The Romans discovered that on average it only takes 27 wasp stings to kill an adult male, making these insects one of the first species captivated by man to deliver deadly toxins to an enemy, a historical landmark for biological warfare. Another early example of toxic warfare can be seen with the Sans people of Africa, the earliest inhabitants of Southern Africa, with a history stretching back 20,000 years. 1 Poisonous chrysomelid beetle larva were smeared on arrow heads, making them so deadly that a small animal would die in seconds, and larger animals like giraffes in a matter of hours.

One insect in particular, the Paederus beetle has sparked interest since the fifth century BCE. Found in Northern India, this beetle has one of the strongest natural poisons to man. Their venom, “is more powerful than the venom of the black widow spider, which is itself 15 times more potent than cobra venom.” (Lockwood, 31) The venom known by ancient Greeks as legendary became a topic of interest again when the Indian Defense Ministry began identifying natural chemical weapons derived from ancient texts in 2002. One of the most profound things about this chemical is the breakthroughs in cancer treatment research it has provided. Psymberin, an analogue of Pederin, “displays potent growth inhibition against numerous cancer cell lines.” (green, 53)

As Europe was on fire during WWI, insects made their mark on humanity through diseases and infection. Russians suffered six times as much death from insect plagued disease than those who died in battle, 2 typhus being the largest contributor. Lice also impacted the soldiers in the trenches, as they breed anywhere with a lack of hygiene and people living in close quarters, bringing these diseases to the battlefield.

Another carrier, the flea, reintroduced diseases such as the bubonic plague to war games around the WWII era. With its partner in crime, the house fly, this pair would be used by Japan in a serious of entomological warfare, spreading both the plague and cholera. The “maggot bombings” of Yunnan and Shandong took more than 410,000 lives, twice the amount of death brought by the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.3

Insects have proven again and again to be one of the most effective tools in warfare, especially in regards to becoming a bioweapon. How far should it be pushed? Is it morally right to infect huge populations of people using something so small that no one would notice? The first eight articles of the agreement within the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) outline the ban on toxic weapons as means of warfare.4 In March of 1975, the rules went into force, and the United States joined in with the passing of the Bioweapons Anti-Terrorism Act in 1989.

The Korean War provides another recent example of entomological warfare. Research began on a variety of insects to create disease vectors, with the possibility to wipe out massive populations – focusing on mosquitos, ticks, mites, lice, fleas, and flies. In the years to follow, China and North Korea would accuse the United States of entomological warfare and spreading disease. Those accusations would also end in a cycle of false alarms and investigations, with a counterattack on communism – fueling war tempers (Lockwood, 167)

Another aspect of the insect can make or break a nation at war, the herbivorous insects. Take a plant eating insect, infect it with disease, sprinkle it on enemy crops, and watch as food shortages and economy collapse kick in. Americans dropped thousands of Colorado potato beetles during world war two, and again with the sap-sucking leafhopper in the Cold War against Castro’s crops (Lockwood, 210)

Today, we should be living in a world free of the use of insect ecology within warfare. That’s only half the case.

Move forward a few years to the post – 9/11 wars, and you can see yet another use of insects in the field – this time on the defensive side. A unique ability to sense substances on a heightened level can be seen across a wide variety of species. Jake Kosek’s Ecologies of Empire: On the New Uses of the Honeybee expresses the transformation of the honeybee in becoming a military tool, allowing them to function as new-age ‘sniffer’ animals. Describing their strength, Kosek says, “With military grade TNT, this tongue response is 99 percent accurate.” (Kosek, 660) Alternate tests proved the honeybee to be an exceptional tool in detecting substances in a given area. While they’re purpose was to test for radionuclides, plutonium, and uranium – the application of the bee’s sensing abilities exceed that. The bees are able to provide a collection of data from chemicals in an ecosystem through gathering of pollen and returning it to the hive. Tests can then be done on the honey to see exactly what was in the area that it was collected in.

“Mad Honey” was the product of what happens when you put bees in an area with poisonous and psychoactive plants. The honey is really a product of grayanotoxin from rhododendron and scopolamine from belladonna, but since the bees carried the chemicals that are active in miniscule doses back, Romans and Greeks considered the honey cursed by Medea, “a mythical sorceress known for her powerful poisons” (Lockwood, 32)

One of the biggest problems training the bees were that they are disobedient, they won’t fly past the fruit to smell the bomb. A researcher out of Iowa State University decided to get rid of the insect all together and just use the piece he wanted; the antennae, creating an “insectan cyborg for locating land mines” (Lockwood, 288) The tests resulted in failure, as a unique response to elements such as TNT could not be found.

Where are we today? The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is the leading agency in the militarization of insect ecologies. We have created the roboflies and spy insects of science fiction. We CAN be a fly on the wall. The Micro Autonomous Systems and Technology (MAST) program out of the Army Research Laboratory reported to have created tiny drones such as this in a FOX news release.5 Steven N. Fry writes that we have successfully reverse engineered the fruit fly based on speed responses to finally craft high-level flight control in micro-air vehicles (MAV).6

We have also made breakthroughs in the “scurry” of insects, modelling our land-based robotics off of the one creature known to live through it all; the cockroach. The study led to the development of the very first articulated robotic hexapod.

What will come out of today’s investments in this technology? We can see the development as a means of surveillance, but who would be able to stop this technology from getting into the wrong hands? Imagine a fruit fly with enough venom to take down an army, or an entire war fought through swarms of mechanical fury. We step forward into a new age of entomological warfare, one without the use of insects at all. We model our war machines on these creatures, taking only their deadliest abilities, and in turn have continued the barred practice off the insect ecology in modern warfare.

Final Draft:

     As a child, we hear stories like the one of the princess and the pea. No matter how many mattresses, the discomfort can be felt – all stemming from this miniscule thing. When I think of the unique features held by insects, I can’t help but associate that story into the recreation of the insect’s deadly weapons – something so small and seemingly harmless can create problems larger than us. More interesting is the development in the use of insect ecology as a weapon in modern warfare, from bee catapults to insect cyborgs and roboflies. Creatures so small can have some of the largest implications to human health ever recorded, so what better than to model our systems of death and war around them? We used these creatures as a tool and weapon until the Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention put a stop to using any living organisms as weapons in March of 1975. Over the following years, we have developed technology based off these insects, and for good reason; “a cockroach dashing along at 50 steps per second is the equivalent of a human running the high hurdles at 200 miles per hour.” (Lockwood, 292) Can we harness the unique abilities only certain insects hold? The better question is, how have we?

     “History reveals an unholy trinity of strategies—transmission of pathogenic microbes, destruction of livestock and crops, and direct attacks on humans—through which six-legged soldiers have wreaked havoc on human society.” (Lockwood, I) It is assumed that insects were first used as weapons during the Upper Paleolithic period, 100,000 years ago when man first started to throw inanimate objects. It would be another 90,000 years until we saw real progress though, with the discovery of the smoke sedative to bees, allowing hives to be transported easier – resulting in the use of “bee bombs” between 1000 and 1300 BCE. A nest would be launched into battle resulting in swarms of angry bees and wasps ravaging the war field. (Lockwood, 10) It really is terrifying to think about, that is being caught in this swarm – or a mist – of buzzing and stings until eventually your body succumbs to the sedative effects of the sting and you fade.

      The Romans discovered that on average it only takes 27 wasp stings to kill an adult male, making these insects one of the first species captivated by man to deliver deadly toxins to an enemy, a historical landmark for biological warfare. Another early example of toxic warfare can be seen with the Sans people of Africa, the earliest inhabitants of Southern Africa, with a history stretching back 20,000 years.[1] Poisonous chrysomelid beetle larva were smeared on arrow heads, making them so deadly that a small animal would die in seconds, and larger animals like giraffes in a matter of hours.

     One beetle in particular, the Paederus beetle has sparked interest since the fifth century BCE. Found in Northern India, this beetle has one of the strongest natural poisons to man. Their venom, “is more powerful than the venom of the black widow spider, which is itself 15 times more potent than cobra venom.” (Lockwood, 31) Known by ancient Greeks as legendary, the venom became a topic of interest again when the Indian Defense Ministry began identifying natural chemical weapons derived from ancient texts in 2002. One of the most profound things about this chemical however, is the breakthroughs in cancer treatment research it has provided. Psymberin, an analogue of Pederin, “displays potent growth inhibition against numerous cancer cell lines.” (Green, 53) Even a slightly higher dose (counted by the hundred thousandth of a gram) can cause immensely painful and festering lesions.

     As Europe was on fire during WWI, insects made their mark on humanity through diseases and infection. Russians suffered six times as much death from insect plagued disease than those who died in battle[2], typhus being the largest contributor. Lice also impacted the soldiers in the trenches, as they breed anywhere with a lack of hygiene and people living in close quarters, bringing these diseases to the battlefield.

     Another carrier, the flea, reintroduced diseases such as the bubonic plague to war games around the WWII era. With its partner in crime, the house fly, this pair would be used by Japan in a serious of entomological warfare, spreading both the plague and cholera. The “maggot bombings” of Yunnan and Shandong took more than 410,000 lives, twice the amount of death brought by the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.[3]

     Insects have proven again and again to be one of the most effective tools in warfare, especially in regards to becoming a bioweapon. How far should it be pushed? Is it morally right to infect huge populations of people using something so small that no one would notice? The first eight articles of the agreement within the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) outline the ban on toxic weapons as means of warfare.[4] the convention was brought together to “ban the development, production, stockpiling, acquisition and retention of microbial or other biological agents or toxins” and in March of 1975, the rules went into force – the United States joining in with the passing of the Bioweapons Anti-Terrorism Act in 1989.

     The Korean War provides another recent example of entomological warfare. Research began on a variety of insects to create disease vectors, with the possibility to wipe out massive populations – focusing on mosquitos, ticks, mites, lice, fleas, and flies. In the years to follow, China and North Korea would accuse the United States of entomological warfare and spreading disease. Those accusations would also end in a cycle of false alarms and investigations, with a counterattack on communism – fueling war tempers (Lockwood, 167)

     Another aspect of the insect can make or break a nation at war; the herbivorous insects. Take a plant eating insect, infect it with disease, sprinkle it on enemy crops, and watch as food shortages kick in. Americans dropped thousands of Colorado potato beetles during WWII, and again with the sap-sucking leafhopper in the Cold War against Castro’s crops.

     Eastern Germany often accused the United States of trying to start an “economic collapse” due to the sheer effectiveness of the Colorado potato beetle in destroying food crops. To put the beetle in perspective, the United Nations had to weigh in, claiming that it brings so much damage that up to 80 percent of a crop is guaranteed to fall – and to continue its use would wreak long term havoc. (Lockwood, 136) On a national scale, food shortages can be felt, eventually resulting in an economic collapse due to shortage of agricultural exports. It’s important to remember that without food, there wouldn’t be anything left for the latter insects to spread disease to.

     We should be living in a world free of the use of insect ecology within warfare after the BTWC ban on these kinds of weapons. However, that’s not exactly how things play out.

     Move forward a few years to the post – 9/11 wars, and you can see yet another use of insects in the field – this time on the defensive side. A unique ability to sense substances on a heightened level can be seen across a wide variety of species. Jake Kosek’s Ecologies of Empire: On the New Uses of the Honeybee expresses the transformation of the honeybee in becoming a military tool, allowing them to function as new-age ‘sniffer’ animals. Describing their strength, Kosek says, “With military grade TNT, this tongue response is 99 percent accurate.” (Kosek, 660) Alternate tests proved the honeybee to be an exceptional tool in detecting substances in a given area. While they’re purpose was to test for radionuclides, plutonium, and uranium – the application of the bee’s sensing abilities exceed that. The bees are able to provide a collection of data from chemicals in an ecosystem through gathering of pollen and returning it to the hive. Tests can then be done on the honey to see exactly what was in the area that it was collected in.

     Not only do bees pick up the manmade elements in nature, but also natural ones, including “Mad Honey” (known to the Romans and Greeks as cursed honey by Medea, “a mythical sorceress known for her powerful poisons” (Lockwood, 32) The honey was the product of bees in an area with poisonous and psychoactive plants. The honey is really a product of grayanotoxin from rhododendron and scopolamine from belladonna. It’s this ability that made bees such an amazing sentinel species.

     One of the biggest problems training the bees were that they are disobedient, they won’t fly past the fruit to smell the bomb. A researcher out of Iowa State University decided to get rid of the insect all together and just use the piece he wanted; the antennae, creating an “insectan cyborg for locating land mines” (Lockwood, 288) The tests resulted in failure, as a unique response to elements such as TNT could not be found.

     Where are we today? The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is the leading agency in the militarization of insect ecologies. We have created the roboflies and spy insects of science fiction. We CAN be a fly on the wall. The Micro Autonomous Systems and Technology (MAST) program out of the Army Research Laboratory reported to have created tiny drones such as this in a FOX news release.[5] Steven N. Fry writes that we have successfully reverse engineered the fruit fly based on speed responses to finally craft high-level flight control in micro-air vehicles (MAV).[6]

     We have also made breakthroughs in the “scurry” of insects, modelling our land-based robotics off of the one creature known to live through it all; the cockroach. The study led to the development of the very first articulated robotic hexapod, or the first six-legged, walking robot.

     What will come out of today’s investments in this technology? We can see the development as a means of surveillance, but who would be able to stop this technology from getting into the wrong hands? Imagine a fruit fly with enough venom to take down an army, or an entire war fought through swarms of mechanical fury. We step forward into a new age of entomological warfare, one without the use of insects at all. We model our war machines on these creatures, taking only their deadliest abilities, and in turn have continued the barred practice off the insect ecology in modern warfare.

[1] South African History Online. "The San." South African History Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2015. <http://www.sahistory.org.za/people-south-africa/san>.

[2] Tschanz, “Typhus Fever on the Eastern Front in World War I”; and Robert K. D. Peterson, “Insects, Disease, and Military History,” American Entomologist, 41 (1995):147–160.

[3] "Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament." The Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2015. <http://cnduk.org/campaigns/global-abolition/hiroshima-a-nagasaki>.

[4] "CONVENTION ON THE PROHIBITION OF THE DEVELOPMENT, PRODUCTION AND STOCKPILING OF BACTERIOLOGICAL (BIOLOGICAL) AND TOXIN WEAPONS AND ON THEIR DESTRUCTION." BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2015. <http://fas.org/nuke/control/bwc/text/bwc.htm>.

[5] Barrie, Allison. “Insects Inspire Military Mini Drones.” Fox News. FOX News Network, 18 Sept. 2014. Web. 01 Oct. 2015. <http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2014/09/18/insects-inspire-military-mini-drones/>

[6] Fry, Steven N. "Experimental Approaches Toward a Functional Understanding of Insect Fl." Springer Berlin Heidelberg, n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2015. <http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-540-89393-6_1>.

[Other citations]

Lockwood, Jeffrey Alan. Six-legged Soldiers: Using Insects as Weapons of War. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009. Print.

Kosek, Jake Ecologies of Empire: On the New Uses of the Honeybee, 2006. Print.

Reflection:

peer review partner: Xiomara (Z)

One of the SLO’s I really wanted to accomplish by the end of this was writing as a social act. I specifically picked this one apart when looking at the herbivorous insects used during the Cold War and near the end of WWII. The local issue was obviously the creatures that were devouring crops, but take a step further back and you can see the social implications of the attack. I looked into the subject a little more to show the international feelings on the issue, and the implications on a national level (lack of food and economic collapse). Z, (my peer reviewer) also felt that I lacked in the description of the Colorado potato beetle, so I decided to beef it up and make it address the SLO mentioned above.

Another point she brought up is that I needed to work on some of the transitions [specific example in the paragraphs about bees and ‘mad honey’]. The way I had it phrased before made it seem like a random fact I threw in when I was trying to demonstrate the capability they have to pick up chemicals. I think my re-phrasing cleared that issue up.

This really brings in the Grammar and Usage SLO. I know that sometimes I write too fast or don’t think about what I’m putting down and think back to myself, “there’s no way I wrote this” because of how confusing it turns out. I really wanted to lay it out clearly this time. Having read it 10 times, plus a peer review and “family” review, I feel I cleared this one.

The research SLO was probably my biggest struggle with this project though. This was something that really intrigued me since we talked about bees being a sentinel species, but we never talked about. The majority of this paper was finding the material to add to it because we never really discussed insect ecology as a means of warfare, except through Kosek’s bees. Everything I had to find on my own, including the 300 page piece by Lockwood that I read in its entirety as my main puller for the project. Biological warfare was a heavy topic within mine so I had to get a basic knowledge of how all that works, on top of having to look up cancer relieving benefits of the Indian beetles, and etc. etc. Really it was the hardest because I knew nothing about it beforehand, but I do have to say, with the help of library.unm.edu and google scholar, I was able to only pull from reliable sources, making my life way easier.

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National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

     Just past the massive “USA” branded nuclear warhead off Central and Eubank is Albuquerque’s National Museum of Nuclear Science & History. The impression the museum intends to express is that of a world powered by the atom, yet the only impression received is nervousness as I’m surrounded by the history of the world’s deadliest force made to reflect our greatest breakthroughs. The “wow” factor as some might call it, is overshadowed by the severe disregard for the health impacts and volatile components of nuclear energy and fission. One of the smallest pieces there, the waste disposal section, appears at a glance to be a fool-proof, solved method for disposing of nuclear waste. In the far corner, tucked behind the children’s zone is where you’ll find the large steel container, filled with barrels of nuclear waste and two small signs assuring the viewer W.I.P.P. has the situation handled, although not many people enter that museum knowing the impact disposal plants like that have on people and the environment.

     The rest of the displays were either a representation of World War II fanatics or cold war hysteria. In the propaganda littered World War section, the museum explains why our scientists were capable of accomplishing the bomb, while the Nazi’s also researching lost, attributing the failure to lack of resources and internal conflict. One piece I found interesting in the overwhelming displays “Glory and Humiliation” discusses the bombs creator, Oppenheimer, lobbying for control over atomic energy, knowing a nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union was at stake.

     The museum tries to focus on the positive side of nuclear energy, featuring an environmental cost section; comparing it to some of the alternate energy sources. The pros of nuclear energy outweighed the cons eight to five in their section, although none of the alternative method got more than five points, most with only four. Not only did they give extra pros to nuclear energy, but framed it to look like the only feasible option, saying solar power isn’t reliable, hydroelectricity won’t work because its limited and we’ll effect the life in the waters, and wind power – like solar power – can be unpredictable. Nowhere on the nuclear chart does it mention the deadly impact radioactivity or nuclear waste has on humans, and considers nuclear spills and accidents a minor “public concern”

     Even in the section with our “broken arrows” or nuclear warheads that malfunction, sheds no light on potential harm we’re faced in handling these weapons. Thirty two of these broken arrows fell on U.S. soil, none of which did any harm, however two broken arrows in Spain and Greenland resulted in “widespread dispersal of nuclear materials.” The rest of this section, plus a small growth chart in the energy section show the extreme safety measures taken in using this power. History, however, has proven that these buildings can fail, consequently doing harm to us. But that hasn't stopped us yet from becoming the Children of the Atom, and that is what the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History represents.

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Precis 10/30/15

In “Legal Terrror and the Police Dog” Tyler Wall calls trained police dogs “Instruments of organized coerscion and bloodletting” and claims that the use of them is an exercise of state power and a  symbol for terror. He does so through the histories of police dog violence and the fear induced in the victims, while also explaining the lethal use of these dogs in war. The reason for this article is to show that police dogs do more harm than good, but continue to be used as a fear tactic to keep social order.

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Literary Worksheet

1) Which do you find most interesting about the articles? Why? Do they have anything in common that is significant?

I find the development in the use of insect ecology in warfare incredible. Specifically the movement from bugs alone to disease infested Biological Weapons. In Lockwood’s “Six-legged Soldiers : Using Insects As Weapons of War”, the author brings us back to medieval times when bees, wasps, and hornets are thrown from catapults, then to early 19th century Central Asia’ emir of Bukhara stocked with assassin bugs that slowly ate their victims alive” (5), to WWII infected fleas, to the Vietcong’s scorpion boxes, through the cold war, and how we base our technology now off of these insects. As Lockwood also mentions, “The Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) forbids using living organisms, presumably including insects (although not explicitly named), as weapons.” (298) so we’ve begun creating our technology to replicate these creatures and how they act. From swarming, to size, movement, and senses; we’ve begun to master the insect, something only really talked about in movies or video games. All the articles either focus on the development of these technologies or their use in biological and normal warfare.

2) Consider the different players and what they contribute to the narrative. Describe the similarities and differences.

Lockwood is my big puller for information because of how much history is put into his 300 page piece, covering almost anything the other articles even mention. It’s out of Oxford University and the author frames the bugs in an amazing light, adding to the wonder of how these creatures work, then how we’ve taken that and turned it into out weapons.

In Eneh’s piece, the issue focused on isn’t directly about insects in warfare. It focuses on how Biological Weapons work and their effects on populations, but briefly discusses the use of insects infected with Biological Weapons. It’s interesting to think of how the insect’s natural movement can spread these extreme chemicals, infecting huge populations.

Along with those, I want to expand on the building of technologies that mimic insect behavior, seen in The Scalable Design of Flapping Micro-Air Vehicles Inspired by Insect, some of the news articles, and the first piece by Lockwood. I can also pull some similar points out of Kosek’s Ecologies of Empire with one of the researchers who studied moths, but instead of training them, he cut the antennas off and built a technology to “sense” for it.

3) Consider the different settings (both time and place). How might the locations and histories be central to these issues?

Again, another reason I really want to push the Lockwood piece is because it’s relatively recent – 2009 (and it was really long and I read a lot of it.)

With all but two coming from 2009 on, we can see a relatively fresh take on the issues, while I have my articles from 2001 and back that describe some of the initial interest of this topic; news articles for public interest and Hagerman – Endicott for the scholarly side.

4) Consider the language and tone of the different texts. How does the way a story is told change your reading? In other words, how does the author reveal his/her bias or objectivity?

The news articles all paint the advancements of this technology in a glorious light, showing how our military scientists plan to use this super-stealth robot to “used to detect and track people or to locate threats such as explosives and bomb making materials.” as Alison Barrie from FOX News describes it. It seems that Lockwood has a greater understanding of the potential harm this technology could face us if a hostile force had the same. He depicts acts of biological warfare through insects, while displaying a knowledge of how that is against all laws now, resulting in us creating an artificial insect, capable of disbursing deadly chemicals, surveillance, and stealth.

5) Which major themes, ideas, and/or concepts are similar across the articles? How do the authors address them similarly and differently?

It’s the adaptation of something we don’t know all that much about – insects – into a weapon. Insects have been studied for decades as these tiny creatures across the world but taking their strengths and using them in warfare is an invention of man. Man’s creation of an insect – human war has become a reality described in the articles.

6) What questions are you still left with?  Consider issues that still confuse you or something that you disagree with. Identify three questions/concerns.

I really want to expand on that last point I made in question 5. It’s a Sci-Fi wonder to have a war of insects, man vs. giant ants, or killer tarantulas, etc. I wonder if I can make the argument that in some cases, and possibly the future with robotics, war has been fought as man and insect. What will the hornet inspired drones be capable of? Could we be faced with surveillance spiders or fight wars with scorpion robots? It might sound a little farfetched, but it’s something that is actually used today.

One that confuses me (for lack of subject matter knowledge) is biological warfare. I get the basics but I wasn’t able to find a modern (last 20 years) use of insects in that field. What I’m really hoping to find is some information on current acts of combining the two, more so in the robotic insects developed and how they can be used as a weapon.

The last concern I have is that this isn’t something we really covered in class. I mean, we talked about bees and other animals, but insects in general is kind of broad. I might want to narrow my focus down a little more or make sure I know what I’m talking about because unlike whales, dogs, and dolphins, I haven’t had real discussion with this

[selviodeangeles-blog]

War of the Whales Book Review

     Today, the ocean is a war zone for both humans and marine mammals. In War of the Whales, author Joshua Horwitz explores the importance of using our oceans in a way deemed safe to life both in and out of the water. He does so through the beliefs and experiences of environmentalists and Navy personnel fighting over the rights to our oceans. On one side there is a strong belief that the use of sonar is essential to securing our borders, while the other claims the same technology is impacting and killing huge populations of marine mammals across the world. Through the conflicts and resolutions outlined in this book, the reader gains a deeper knowledge in what is actually happening past the shoreline.

      In the prologue of the book, Joshua Horwitz starts his first paragraph claiming the two most successful hunters in the history of our planet – the whales and humans – we’re bound to collide. The reason whales reigned dominant in the ocean for over 40 million years is the exact reason they’re suffering now; Biosonar capabilities. Man’s development of that force has been adopted by the Navy and military forces around the world to better understand our ocean. The problem Horwitz attempts to look at is that while this sonar helps our Navy protect its waters, it has drastic impacts on the life below the surface. A small ping to us, is a wave of acoustic pressure to whales at insane volumes, causing hearing trauma, brain hemorrhaging, and distress to the point where whales will either die or beach themselves in an attempt to get away from the excruciating blasts of sonar.

       What’s more important, being environmental stewards or making sure your armed forces have the biggest stick? The author, while siding with environmentalism, explains the honest need for sonar use and tells us the reality of its impact on marine mammals. In the description of the tests conducted on the days prior to the stranding, Horwitz solemnly describes the power of sonar to creatures under the water, “They couldn’t distinguish their own panicked calls from those around them, couldn’t find the morning light from the water’s surface, couldn’t tell up from down. They were drowning in sound.” (279) He goes on to describe the only choices the whales have at this point; beach themselves on land away from the sound, suffer hearing damage which is essential to their life, or drown in the water unable to resurface. This book revolves around this struggle to protect the environment or protect the soldiers. Without the Navy using sonar, our armed forces would be at a serious disadvantage when it comes to submarine warfare. It’s a reality we have to face and Horwitz does an excellent job at describing the pros and cons of sonars use through the character’s internal conflicts though out the book.

      The book follows a retired Navy member that conducted undercover sonar tests and currently researches marine mammals, Ken Balcomb. Balcomb discovered the beached whales after an atypical stranding where over 15 whales beached threw themselves on the sands of the Bahamas. Numbers like those aren’t seen in a year, so Balcomb dug deeper into this phenomenon.

      Balcomb and later mentioned individuals, Gisiner and Reynolds, hold the middle ends of the spectrum (between environmental extremists and the military) when debating the use of sonar in warfare. Joel Reynolds, an environmental attorney who fought the navy and won over a depth charge lawsuit, followed by a series of win’s and compromises for environmental advocacy, understood the military’s use for sonar, but wanted to hold them accountable for what they were doing by requiring them to follow the proper procedures in assessing environmental impacts. Bob Gisiner on the other hand worked for the Office of Naval research under the Navy in the Marine Bioacoustics Program. As a close friend of Balcomb, Gisiner offered what he knew at the beginning of the story and helped Balcomb research the incident. After Balcomb told the public about the Navy’s involvement, Gisiner cut relations with Balcomb until after the navy admitted fault, sympathizing with Balcomb over the fight that would inevitably end in the military wins. Balcomb had attachments to both sides, seeing the Navy’s actual need for sonar technologies in national defense and the impact it had on Marine mammals, his field of study and research for over 25 years.

     While these figures had biases toward one side of the issue or the other, they represent that larger issue of environmental stewardship or national defense. Will the militarized ecology of the ocean destroy the creatures they were taught from? Horwitz finishes with a Navy victory, but shows that progress can be achieved toward a more environmentally sound future.

[selviodeangeles-blog]

Afternoon with the White Rhinoceros at the Albuquerque BioPark Zoo

The White Rhino, a creature that’s been poached for over four centuries to near extinction, is displayed to the people of New Mexico at the Albuquerque BioPark. Adult rhinos Bertha, Lulu, and Bernie share the small area with Chopper, a recently acquired rhinoceros from Florida’s White Oak Conservation Center. The reason for the transfer is posted near the enclosure, saying that Chopper was, “Unable to establish a strong bond with his mother”. When researching the white rhinos at ABQ BioPark, I found that Chopper was transferred only two weeks of being born and that, “Bully, a male rhino on loan from the BioPark to White Oak Conservation Center, is Chopper's father. As part of the loan agreement, the calf belongs to the BioPark.” A calf pulled from its mother and father to be a tourist attraction for the next 35 – 40 year upset me as a viewer, coming into the scene having known the struggle for this creature’s life.

The zoo itself used the baby rhino as an attraction, creating an adored response from visitors. They even let their followers on Facebook name the rhino calf, deciding on Chopper after Jimmy “Chopper” Abalos, a local softball player who sponsored years of little league teams called the Rhinos.

Another thing that intrigued me about the depiction of White Rhinos at the ABQ BioPark were the signs, accepting the extinction of the rhino. While the signs explained that there was success in conserving rhino populations in South Africa, the “Countdown to Extinction” brings the rhinoceros count from 100,000 to only 10,000 and a loss of over 97.6% according to the African Wildlife Foundation.

Rhino horns are the leading reason for poaching due to very high demands in Vietnam and China. The World Wildlife Fund states,

“Powdered horn is used in traditional Asian medicine as a supposed cure for a range of illnesses – from hangovers to fevers and even cancer... Poaching gangs use increasingly sophisticated methods, including helicopters and night vision equipment to track rhinos, and veterinary drugs to knock them out.”

 While the Southern White Rhinoceros (the ones displayed at the BioPark) are starting to recover, the Northern White Rhino has been hunted to the brim of extinction, with only four confirmed alive – all in captivity.

As for quality of the captivity, I would say that the BioPark lacks. Naturally the rhino is a “lone wolf” and want their own space. Having four within confined spaces can lead to conflict, eventually resulting in violent fights. Rhinos also naturally graze on grasses, something they’re not able to do in the confinements of the park. In all of the pictures I’ve seen researching and my own experience at the park, there seemed to be a lack of shade, something white rhinos need for protection.

Found on Trip advisor pictures

[selviodeangeles-blog]

Annotated Bibliography for research paper

Griggs, Mary Beth. "The Insects That Changed History." Popular Mechanics. Hearst Communications Inc., 13 July 2011. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/animals/a6843/the-bugs-that-changed-human-history/

This is an interview with author Amy Stewart of ‘Wicked Bugs: The Louse That Conquered Napoleon’s Army & Other Diabolical Insects’. The author comments on his section “Bugs of War”, explaining a little bit of the history behind the use of bugs in war; from ancient bee-hive chucking to World War II’s plague infested flea bombs. After the history, she answers some of the more detail oriented question of the book.

I feel like this article, or more specifically the book it’s sourcing from, is great to pull some of the history from. At the very least it gives a few leads to previous uses of insects in warfare.

Press, Bloomberg. "Enlisting Insects in the Military." Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg, 4 Nov. 2001. Web. 23 Oct.

http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/stories/2001-11-04/enlisting-insects-in-the-military

This article discusses a few of the insects being studied for military purposes. First up is the honeybee. It has been used to detect landmines, with shockingly accurate results, however has never been tested in a real landmine situation. Another advancement can be seen inspired by the movement of a cockroach. This robotic cockroach mimics its running style to easily run over rough terrain. Last up is the Beetle, where it’s being studied for its unique fire sensing ability, spotting forest fires up to 40 miles away.

This is exactly what I’m going for with my paper. This gives a few examples of how bugs have been used and how they inspire military. There are some great examples that I can look for more scholarly sources for.

En, Onyenekenwa Cyprian. "Biological Weapons-agents for Life and Environmental Destruction." Research Journal of Environmental Toxicology Research J. of Environmental Toxicology 6.3 (2012): 65-87. Acedemic Journals Inc., 2012. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.

http://docsdrive.com/pdfs/academicjournals/rjet/2012/65-87.pdf

In a research journal out of the University of Nigeria, Onyenekenwa Cyprian Eneh delves into the topic of Biological weapons; “Micro-organisms that infect and grow in a target host, producing a clinical disease that kills or incapacitates him” (65) The article goes on to explain basic characteristics of biological weapons and the different category system where they all fit, the risks posed today, some history, and how it bioterrorism is something we all face.

While this isn’t directly about insects in warfare, it mentions infecting bugs with these biological weapons. It’s interesting to think of how the bug fits into these extreme chemicals, using the bugs to scatter and infect households and huge populations with something so deadly to us.

Nancy Bradshaw, Stefan Jongarius, David Lentink. "The Scalable Design of Flapping Micro-Air Vehicles Inspired by Insect." Flight. N.p., 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 24 Oct. 2015.

http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-540-89393-6_14#page-1

Abstract: Here we explain how flapping micro air vehicles (MAVs) can be designed at different scales, from bird to insect size. The common believe is that micro fixed wing airplanes and helicopters outperform MAVs at bird scale, but become inferior to flapping MAVs at the scale of insects as small as fruit flies. Here we present our experience with designing and building micro flapping air vehicles that can fly both fast and slow, hover, and take-off and land vertically, and we present the scaling laws and structural wing designs to miniaturize these designs to insect size. Next we compare flapping, spinning and translating wing performance to determine which wing motion results in the highest aerodynamic performance at the scale of hummingbirds, house flies and fruit flies. Based on this comparison of hovering performance, and our experience with our flapping MAV, we find that flapping MAVs are fundamentally much less energy efficient than helicopters, even at the scale of a fruit fly with a wing span of 5 mm. We find that insect-sized MAVs are most energy effective when propelled by spinning wings.

This has some great material to pull from. While I can only see the preview version, (before it finishes ‘legally’ downloading) it’s got some examples of how vehicles are being modeled after insects to improve efficiency. This effects our military as well as the MAV’s we play with at home, unless you don’t know the joy of a quadcopter.

Barrie, Allison. "Insects Inspire Military Mini Drones." Fox News. FOX News Network, 18 Sept. 2014. Web. 01 Oct. 2015.

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2014/09/18/insects-inspire-military-mini-drones/

This FOX news article talks about the creation of a small surveillance drone created by the Army Research Laboratory. These aren’t just you’re average commercial drone though, these robots are designed after insects and animals, ranging from the appearance of a Quadra copter to spiders and lizards. These drones will be used as a reconnaissance tool, detect or tract people, and search areas where GPS isn’t available, like underground, and can provide 3D mapping and navigation. The drones also know where their counterparts are and also swarm as part of a drone team.

We discussed the military’s attempt to make drones with the artificial intelligence of a bee, but this is the reality of that (or at least the beginning of it). They take the movements and proportions on insects like scorpions and bees and create machines that can act the same way.

Edward Hagerman, Stephen Endicott. "The United States and Biological Warfare." Google Books. Indiana University Press, 1998. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.

https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=P8HgoMBKi0YC&oi=fnd&pg=PR8&dq=insect+warfare&ots=mU2b_riLAw&sig=oTQDKrvlr7kYYaBEGs5U7S3G1LY#v=onepage&q&f=false

I plan to use this as a source but can’t find a full version yet, so I can’t provide an accurate summary.

Lastly I plan to use Jake Kosek’s Ecologies of Empire, however its 11:45 PM, I just got off work and had to turn this in.

[selviodeangeles-blog]

Annotated Bibliography 10/21/15

Bienaimé, Pierre. "The US Navy's Combat Dolphins Are Serious Military Assets." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 12 Mar. 2015. Web. 21 Oct. 2015. http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-navys-combat-dolphins-are-serious-military-assets-2015-3

This article begins by describing how the dolphin became an interest to the military. Dolphins were deployed in Vietnam and Iraq-Iran and returned to the Persian Gulf in 2003. (AUTHOR) goes on to explain the unique abilities dolphins had in this environment and how the Navy used that to their advantage. It ends by mentioning other countries, such as Ukraine and Iran, who have invested in militarized dolphins and the current efforts to evolve our technology to make the dolphins obsolete.

The article itself was published this year, showing some current interest over the issue. This article was also very Navy-sided, showing the advances of dolphin warfare and how it is needed to win wars. I also think a few of the pictures (especially the laser-arm one) would be cool to pull off of this article.

Perry, Tony. "Dolphins’ and Sea Lions’ Important Role in Guarding Against Terrorism." Dolphins' and Sea Lions' Important Role in Guarding Against Terrorism. Los Angeles Times, 8 Apr. 2015. Web. 21 Oct. 2015. http://www.emergencymgmt.com/safety/Dolphins-Sea-Lions-Train-Navy-Deployment.html

The biggest advantage of using sea lions over water is that they are amphibious and can travel in a small boat, where dolphins require tanks and slings. They guard Kings Bay, Ga., and Bangor, Wash. While also serving in the Persian Gulf. A few problems mentioned in the article were that, “Dolphins are prone to respiratory problems, [and] sea lions to cataracts.”

This article focused a little bit more on sea lions, something mentioned in the readings, but never explained. This in addition to more sea-lion articles could be useful, as they worked side by side with the dolphins.

"Iran Buys Kamikaze Dolphins." BBC News. BBC, 08 Mar. 2000. Web. 21 Oct. 2015. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/670551.stm

Russian dolphins trained to attack warships and frogmen have been sold to Iran. The Russian handler claimed that he could no longer afford the expenses to care for the 27 animals (including walruses, sea lions, seals, and a white beluga whale along with the dolphins). The dolphins were trained in attacking frogmen and dragging them to the surface, and kamikaze strikes against enemy ships.

This article, from BBC news, is interesting because it shows some of the military conflicts around dolphins as weapons, or as the article calls them, “mercenaries”. The US had concerns about these military sales and opposing militaries now hold the same power that we solely held at one time.

[selviodeangeles-blog]

War of the Whales Review (Draft)

     Today, the ocean is a war zone for both humans and marine mammals. In War of the Whales, author Joshua Horwitz explores the importance of using our oceans in a way deemed safe to life both in and out of the water. He does so through the beliefs and experiences of environmentalists and Navy personnel fighting for the rights to use our oceans. On one side there is a strong belief that the use of sonar is essential to securing our borders, while the other claims the same technology is impacting and killing huge populations of marine mammals across the world. Through the conflicts and resolutions outlined in this book, the reader gains a deeper knowledge in what is actually happening past the shoreline.

     In the prologue of the book, Joshua Horwitz starts his first paragraph claiming that the two most successful hunters in the history of our planet – the whales and humans – we’re bound to collide. The reason whales reigned dominant in the ocean for over 40 million years is the exact reason they’re suffering now; Biosonar capabilities. Man’s development of that force has been adopted by the Navy and military forces around the world to better understand our ocean. The problem Horwitz attempts to look at is that while this sonar helps our Navy protect its waters, it has drastic impacts on the life below the surface. A small ping to us, is a wave of acoustic pressure to whales at ungodly volumes, causing hearing trauma, brain hemorrhaging, and distress to the point where whales will either die or beach themselves in an attempt to get away from the excruciating blasts of sonar.

     What’s more important in our society, being environmental stewards or making sure your armed forces have the biggest stick? The author, while making environmentalists the heroes and the navy antagonists, explains the honest need for sonar use while also telling us the reality of its impact on marine mammals. In the description of the tests conducted on the days prior to the stranding, Horwitz describes the power of sonar to creatures under the water, “They couldn’t distinguish their own panicked calls from those around them, couldn’t find the morning light from the water’s surface, couldn’t tell up from down. They were drowning in sound.” (23.279) He goes on to describe the only choices the whales have at this point; beach themselves on land away from the sound, suffer hearing damage which is essential to their life, or drown in the water unable to resurface. This book revolves around this struggle to protect the environment or protect the soldiers. Without the Navy using sonar, our armed forces would be at a serious disadvantage when it comes to submarine warfare. It’s a reality we have to face and Horwitz does an excellent job at describing the pros and cons of sonars use through the character’s internal conflicts though out the book.

      The book follows the character Ken Balcomb, a retired Navy member that conducted undercover sonar tests and currently researches marine mammals. Balcomb discovered the beached whales after an atypical stranding where over 15 whales beached threw themselves on the sands of the Bahamas. Numbers like that aren’t seen on a yearly basis, so this event caused Balcomb to dig deeper after seeing a naval warship.

      Balcomb and later characters, Gisiner and Reynolds, hold the middle ends of the spectrum (between environmental extremists and the military) when debating the validity of free use of sonar in warfare. Joel Reynolds understood the military’s use for sonar, but wanted to hold them accountable for what they were doing by requiring them to follow the proper procedures in assessing environmental impacts and ask the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for permits when necessary. Reynolds was an environmental attorney who fought the navy and won over a depth charge lawsuit, followed by a series of win’s and compromises for environmental advocacy. Bob Gisiner on the other hand worked for the Office of Naval research under the Navy in the Marine Bioacoustics Program. As a close friend of Balcomb, Gisiner offered what he knew at the beginning of the story and helped Balcomb research the phenomenon. After Balcomb told the public about the Navy’s involvement, Gisiner cut off relations with Balcomb until after the navy admitted fault, sympathizing with Balcomb over the fight that would inevitably end in the military wins. Balcomb had attachments to both sides, seeing the Navy’s actual need for sonar technologies in national defense and the impact it had on Marine mammals, his field of study and research for over 25 years.

     While these characters had biases toward one side of the issue or the other, they represent that larger issue of environmental stewardship or national defense. Will the militarized ecology of the ocean destroy the creatures they were taught from? Leaving room for future preservation endeavors, Horwitz ends on a Navy victory, but showed that even in their loss, environmentalists set higher restrictions on military actions and can continue to make a difference.

[selviodeangeles-blog]

Off the Charts at 516 ARTS

     Off the Charts is an exhibition, held by 516 ARTS as part of a larger event regarding climate change. The pieces in this gallery depict the world through alternative visual processes, that result in a better understanding of the world around us and the impacts we make on it. The artists show us our developing world through massive fictional maps, repeating patterns of data, and how our political views shape the way we look at the world around us. Together, these pieces show the greater, interconnected nature in which we live.

Photo of “Jerry’s Map” being put together at 516 ARTS (Photo credit: Jerrysmap.com)

     As one enters, they’re greeted by a massive artwork known as Jerry’s Map covering the walls of the gallery entrance area. This piece is accompanied by a video where artist Jerry Gretzinger explains his process and the 50 years it took to turn a doodle on a single sheet of paper into the 2,000-foot fictional map it is today. Governed by random commands and complicated rules, this map has become more than a piece of art to Gretzinger. Whatever’s lacking, whether it’s farm land, means of transportation, hospitals, or other major facilities, the artist builds. The process Gretzinger uses takes into account floods, fires, and the mysterious ‘Void’ card, that completely erases a section of the map. The artist asks, will nature (the void) take back the environment, or can we learn to coexist? This piece left me in awe as I was so overwhelmed at not only the size, but the detail put into each page. This piece shows us our developing world, through a sped-up, simplified process and could hint at what our system will eventually turn into.

Section of “A Duet of Blizzards”, Nathalie Miebach

     Mitchell Marti and Nathalie Miebach are two artists displayed in this gallery that use collected data to show trends and designs in things we experience every day. Nathalie Miebach takes data collected from weather observations, compares them to historical events and process them into functional sculptural music scores. Marti similarly collects data but then shows that data through lithographs. He takes responses in streaming to create these snapshots, taking into account speed, scale, and other variables. These two artists collect data on things that happen every day, from streaming videos to the weather we experience through images, allowing the viewer to see the trends and loops we experience in the real world.

Mary Iverson’s “Shipbreaking, Mt. Rainier”

     Another artist featured in the gallery, Mary Iverson, takes an activism based approach to depict, “collateral damages of the shipping industry, and ultimately, commercialism.” Her pieces show the wreck from shipping containers woven throughout two of America’s National Parks. She portrays these pieces here because American’s often take advantage of low consumer prices, while the only way to do that is to cut back on other costs, such as shipbreaking, which have huge impacts on third world and developing countries, where safety and the environment isn’t their biggest issue. Connecting our views and way of lives with others leads me to the next two pieces; A Liberal Map of the World and A Conservative Map of the World. These maps by Sandow Birk and Elyse show the altered views people have of the world based on their beliefs. The liberal map describes Alaska with words/phrases like “Indigenous peoples” and “Oil production threatening wildlife and wilderness” – where the right-winged map shows it as “Oil” and “(NORAD)”. Even the borders show a glimpse into important places to both parties, Liberal showing national parks, equality, and peace while the Conservative map shows big government, gun manufacturers, and religion. These maps, and the first piece by Iverson, give the spectator a glance at how their opposite looks at the world. What one person see’s as a precious area or need it to survive, another might see it as an oil reserve, or lumber yard – or a dump in the case of shipbreaking.

Sandow Birk and Elyse Pignolet’s “A Conservative Map of the World”

Sandow Birk and Elyse Pignolet’s “A Liberal Map of the World”

     Together these pieces show completely new sides of the world to the viewer and will hopefully cause a sense of open-mindedness to the issues discussed in the pieces. This exhibit embodies the ever changing world around us and how blind we are in certain areas. If you’re passing through downtown Albuquerque before October 31st, 2015, Off the Charts is a must-see.

[selviodeangeles-blog]

Precis 3

In Ecologies of Empire: On the New Uses of the Honeybee, Jake Kosek expresses the transformation of the honeybee, both in becoming a military tool and in the bee itself to better suit our needs. He does this by explaining the process by which bees are trained to sense sensitive materials; from TNT to radionuclides, and by explaining the rise and fall of honeybee “empires”, showing bee-society’s relation to our own. He does this in order to establish a better idea of how we form our own nature while addressing the impacts we leave on the bee species.

[selviodeangeles-blog]

Annotated Bibliography 9/30/2015

Gillam, Carry. "U.S. Court Finds EPA Was Wrong to Approve Dow Pesticide Harmful to Bees." Reuters. Thomson Reuters, 10 Sept. 2015. Web. 01 Oct. 2015. http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/10/us-epa-agriculture-honeybees-idUSKCN0RA2CQ20150910

This article discusses a huge, recent win for American environmentalists. After a recent U.S. appeal, the court found that an insecticide that was approved by the EPA is actually extremely harmful to honey bees. The EPA approved three insecticides by DOW ArgoScience in 2013, despite having the wrong data and no evidence that these chemicals were safe for honeybees. In light of recent findings, these insecticides has a chemical known as Sulfoxaflor, which is highly toxic to honeybees.      I think article is a great resource to pull from because it’s an issue that is active today and because it finds another reason over the decline in honeybee populations. Kosek discusses the honeybee decline and the impacts it would have on us, and this shows that we’re still only scratching the surface of honeybee decline three years later. In general this case is a huge win for the honeybee issue too because this can spark questions about other insecticides or pesticides and whether their harmful, or even the cause of the decline completely.

Press, Associated. "Federal Government Announces Plan to Bolster Honeybee, Butterfly Populations." Fox News. FOX News Network, 19 May 2015. Web. 01 Oct. 2015. http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/05/19/federal-government-announces-plan-to-bolster-honeybee-butterfly-populations/

This article discusses the federal government’s attempt to reduce the harm it may do to the honeybee population by limiting the pesticides used on federal land. One of the White House science advisors said that bees account for over 15 billion dollars in value to the us economy already and they will be preparing “All hands on deck” to do something about the problem. The current plans laid out call for more than 7 million acres of bee habitat over the next five years. This article also briefly mentions the same issue faced with butterflies, and the U.S. – Mexico monarch sanctuary expansion and plans to help them strive.      This article, like the last, discusses the issue of harmful pesticides used by humans and recognizes that we’re doing harm with the pesticides currently being used. I thought this article could be supplemental to the one listed above because it shows that in May, people we’re getting fired up over pesticides (as they have for a few years) but now, in September, we’re actually outlawing the chemicals that were doing the harm in the first place.

Barrie, Allison. "Insects Inspire Military Mini Drones." Fox News. FOX News Network, 18 Sept. 2014. Web. 01 Oct. 2015. http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2014/09/18/insects-inspire-military-mini-drones/

This FOX news article talks about the creation of a small surveillance drone created by the Army Research Laboratory. These aren’t just you’re average commercial drone though, these robots are designed after insects and animals, ranging from the appearance of a Quadra copter to spiders and lizards. These drones will be used as a reconnaissance tool, detect or tract people, and search areas where GPS isn’t available, like underground, and can provide 3D mapping and navigation. The drones also know where their counterparts are and also swarm as part of a drone team.      I feel like this is something Kosek was also leading up to. We discussed the military’s attempt to make drones with the artificial intelligence of a bee, but this is the reality of that (or at least the beginning of it). They take the movements and proportions on insects like scorpions and bees and create machines that can act the same way.

[selviodeangeles-blog]

OFF THE CHARTS at 516 ARTS (DRAFT)

Off the Charts views the planet we live on through visual art and the process the artists use to create the pieces that result in a better understanding of the world around us. These artists focus on the developing world around us, whether it’s a fictional place, historical events, or our political views on the world. These pieces together, show the greater, interconnected nature in which we live.

Section of ‘Jerry’s Map’

As you enter, you’re greeted by a massive artwork known as Jerry's Map covering the walls of the gallery entrance area. This piece is accompanied by a video where the artist, Jerry Gretzinger, explains his process and the 50 years it took to turn a doodle on a single sheet of paper into the 2,000-foot fictional map it is today. Governed by random commands and complicated rules, this map has become more than a piece of art to Jerry. Whatever is lacking, whether it be farm land, means of transportation, hospitals, or other major facilities, the artist builds – creating a functional world in theory. This piece left me in awe as I was so overwhelmed at not only the size, but the detail put into each page. It leaves the impression this isn’t just a map to the artist, but an actual world that may show us something about the way we live.

Section of ‘A Duet of Blizzards’

Mitchell Marti and Nathalie Miebach are two artists displayed in this gallery that use collected data to show trends and designs in things we experience every day. Nathalie Miebach takes data collected from weather observations, compares them to historical events and process them into functional sculptural music scores. Marti similarly collects data but then shows that data through lithographs. He takes responses in streaming to create these snapshots taking into account speed, scale, and other variables.

Mary Iverson’s ‘Shipbreaking, Mt. Rainier’

Another artist featured in the gallery, Mary Iverson, takes an activism based approach to depict, “collateral damages of the shipping industry, and ultimately, commercialism.” Her pieces show the wreck from shipping containers woven throughout two of America’s National Parks. She portrays these pieces here because American’s often take advantage of low consumer prices, while the only way to do that is to cut back on other costs, such as shipbreaking, which have huge impacts on third world and developing countries, where safety and the environment isn’t their biggest issue. Connecting our views and way of lives with others leads me to the next two pieces; A Liberal Map of the World and A Conservative Map of the World. These maps pick at the political views of both ends of the political spectrum. Sandow Birk and Elyse Pignolet show the altered views people have of the world based on their beliefs. The liberal map describes Alaska with words/phrases like “Indigenous peoples”, “Caribou”, and “Oil production threatening wildlife and wilderness” – where the right-winged map shows it as “Oil”, “Eskimos”, and “(NORAD)”. From South America’s “Socialist tendencies” vs. “Social inequalities” to Australia’s “Outback” vs “Coal, and not much else” these maps give the spectator a glance at how their opposite might look at the world. Even the borders show a glimpse into important places to both parties, Liberal showing national parks, equality, and peace while the Conservative map shows big government, gun manufacturers, and religion.

Sandow Birk and Elyse Pignolet’s ‘A Liberal Map of the World’

Anne Gilman’s pieces display ideas of time, balance, brain function, word usage, deception, and illusion contrasted by her theme of language and communication. She demonstrates this through writing in Spanish and English on her massive manuscripts, drawing definitions from both languages into her central theme.

Anne Gilman’s ‘Random Occurrences’, ‘Text Edit’, and ‘Ajustes, for practical reasons’

Together these pieces show completely new sides of the world to the viewer and will hopefully cause a sense of open-mindedness to the issues discussed in the pieces. This exhibit embodies the ever changing world around us and how blind we are in certain areas. If you’re passing through downtown Albuquerque before October 31st, 2015, Off the Charts is a must-see.

[selviodeangeles-blog]

Annotated Bibliography 9/23/2015

Steinle, Mia. "Los Alamos Underestimates Radiation Leak Risk." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 11 July 2012. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mia-steinle/los-alamos-nuclear-safety_b_1664810.html

This articles relates to another fear of catastrophe at LANL; earthquakes. The facilities are close to geological fault lines, found in a seismic analysis of the building in 2007. The articles goes on explaining the struggle to obtain safety information from the labs since 2007, the lab always giving incomplete information and faulty processes.

    My assessment: this article really calls the LANL on not taking responsibility to account for something that could cause devastation to thousands of people with no warning. I would really want to include that they have been beating around the bush for years and have not been able to complete a risk analysis for a nuclear weapons facility.

BANDA, P. SOLOMON. "Los Alamos Nuclear Lab under Siege from Wildfire29." Yahoo! News. Yahoo!, 29 June 2011. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.

http://news.yahoo.com/los-alamos-nuclear-lab-under-siege-wildfire-221015279.html

Banda takes the reader through the spill threat at Los Alamos National Laboratories, where “thousands of outdoor drums of plutonium-contaminated waste” were almost exposed to the public in a fire that took place in 2011. The fire grew to 95-square-miles and caused the evacuation of roughly 11,000 Los Alamos citizens. The article then explains the history behind the facility and its 15,000 employees. The article finishes with a brief history of the fire in May 2000, where 30 Los Alamos structures were destroyed and the evacuation of 12,500 residents was called.     My assessment: This relates to the article because it basically calls the Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL) a ticking time bomb. Kosek describes a situation not too far from this. This piece shows that every spark that flies near Los Alamos causes the public to question nature and how the labs make it worse.

Bowers, Cynthia. "Los Alamos fire moves away from nuclear waste." CBS News. N.p., 29 June 2011. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/los-alamos-fire-moves-away-from-nuclear-waste/

This article like the one above, also sets the scene for the 2011 fire that caused worry near Los Alamos. When questioning the 10,000 55-gallon drums of nuclear waste, Terry Wallace (LANL Spokesperson) assures the listeners that they’re safe, claiming,

“Those drums are in outdoor domes made of reinforced steel covered with a plasticized fire retardant. But lab officials insist this site and two others containing additional radioactive materials are safe. More radioactive waste is stored in concrete tubes buried deep in the ground; plutonium and uranium are stored in vaults inside hardened concrete buildings.”

    My assessment: I think this article would strengthen a case in regards to one of the articles providing unclear/misinformation. One calls them open, outdoor drums, however this one mentions that they’re in secured buildings/domes. It would be interesting to see which article is correct on the storage of these drums.

[selviodeangeles-blog]

Precis #1

In Welcome to Albuquerque: Nuclear Meltdown Capitol of the World, David Correia explores the threat nuclear waste stored at the Sandia Mixed Waste Landfill (MWL) poses to New Mexico. He does this by contrasting the Sandia MWL’s claims at the ground water contamination with NMED, while stressing the importance and danger of the chemicals found in that waste site. The author drafted this article after a public meeting on Sandia’s permit application to store toxic waste, in order to give the public a better idea of the Sandia MWL’s improper procedures and how that can affect the environment.