Over the years my mom would save items that her little darling would do. :-)
As time passed they moved to a retirement home and when dad passed away she started cleaning out boxes and giving things to my brother, sister and me.
The other day Sangad (wife) was checking some old stacks of papers and pulled out a large manila envelope that had some graduation papers and this little story I must have written for the one year of college I attended right out of high school.
(This was before the 26 years of active duty Navy that interrupted getting back to going to night school to finish up a college degree in computer science.)
All that sun out there and what to do with it?
- LRK -
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UNDER THE SUN
by
Larry R. Kellogg
May 4, 1957
B+
The scene is the living room of a ranch type house.
Two young men stand looking out a large picture window.
The desert sun beats down on the dry land that spreads out as far as the eye can see.
Tom is rather tall with dark brown hair and a lively air about him.
Jack is dark featured and a little shorter than Tom.
He is quiet and definitely bored with the surroundings.
Tom: Look out there. What do you see?
Jack: Oh, just a lot of dried up sage brush.
Tom: No! No! Look again. What do you see?
Jack: What do I see? Nothing but desert, just desert for miles. Not a single thing.
Tom: Look again. Don't you see anything else?
Jack: Look again! Man that is all I have done since we got here.
Looking out on all that barren land with the hot sun burning down.
Tom: That's it. That's it.
Jack: What's it You mean the hot sun burning down? What about it?
There is a pause as Tom thinks through what he is going to say.
When he speaks it is in a little quieter tone.
Tom: Do you know why we are here?
Jack: Sure, to work on some fool experiment for the government.
Hijacked right out of my air-conditioned office to work on some crazy idea for Uncle Sam.
Tom: Yes, but what was it that we are supposed to accomplish?
Jack: Perfect some crazy gadget that is supposed to be able to change energy into any of its forms.
Tom: Right! Think of all the energy out there. Just burning down.
Jack: Do I have to? I would much rather think of a little food.
Tom: Food! Don't you see that if this gadget, as you call it, works we will be able to make anything, just from the energy out there.
Think man!
Jack: Do you mean I could just sit here and let that hot old sun make, prepare, and serve my dinner?
Then when I am through, clean up the whole works.
Tom: Right!
Jack: Well what are we waiting for? The sooner we get that thing working, the sooner it can feed me.
Tom: I'm with you.
As Tom and Jack exit, the sun seems to shine a little brighter.
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Well we have solar conversion for power and folks knocking on my door to use my roof for their solar cells but not quite what I had in mind.
- LRK -
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Riverside County, California, USAThe 550 megawatt (MW) Desert Sunlight Solar Farm is co-owned by NextEra Energy Resources, GE Energy Financial Services, and Sumitomo Corporation of America. The project is located on land managed by the Federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM), about six miles north of the community of Desert Center. Desert Sunlight provides enough energy to serve the needs of about 160,000 average California homes, displacing approximately 300,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year—the equivalent of taking about 60,000 cars off the road.
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This is more like it. Something impossible to make and yet....
Now don't tell that bright kid you CAN'T MAKE A REPLICATOR.
Hmmm, unless maybe you want one of them to work on doing so.
- LRK -
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In Star Trek a replicator is a machine capable of creating (and recycling) objects. Replicators were originally seen used to synthesize meals on demand, but in later series they took on many other uses.
Although previous sci-fi writers had speculated about the development of "replicating" or "duplicating" technology,[1] the term "replicator" was not itself used untilStar Trek: The Next Generation. In simple terms, it was described as a 24th century advancement from the 23rd century "food synthesizer" seen in Star Trek: The Original Series. The mechanics of these devices were never clearly explained on that show. The subsequent prequel series, Star Trek: Enterprise, set in the 22nd century, featured a "protein resequencer" that could only "replicate certain foods," so an actual chef served on board who used "a hydroponic greenhouse" where fruits and vegetables were grown. Additionally, that ship had a "bio-matter resequencer" which was used to recycle waste product into usable material.[2]
According to an academic thesis: "The so-called 'replicators' can reconstitute matter and produce everything that is needed out of pure energy, no matter whether food, medicaments, or spare parts are required."[3] A replicator can create any inanimate matter, as long as the desired molecular structure is on file, but it cannot create antimatter, dilithium,
In its theory it seems to work similarly to a universal assembler.[citation needed]
...
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Not exactly energy directly to food, still ....
NASA and a Texas company are exploring the possibility of using a "3D printer" on deep space missions in a way where the "D" would stand for dining.
NASA has awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I contract to Systems and Materials Research Consultancy of Austin, Texas to study the feasibility of using additive manufacturing, better known as 3D printing, for making food in space. Systems and Materials Research Consultancy will conduct a study for the development of a 3D printed food system for long duration space missions. Phase I SBIR proposals are very early stage concepts that may or may not mature into actual systems. This food printing technology may result in a phase II study, which still will be several years from being tested on an actual space flight.
NASA has awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I contract to Systems and Materials Research Consultancy of Austin, Texas to study the feasibility of using additive manufacturing, better known as 3D printing, for making food in space. Systems and Materials Research Consultancy will conduct a study for the development of a 3D printed food system for long duration space missions. Phase I SBIR proposals are very early stage concepts that may or may not mature into actual systems. This food printing technology may result in a phase II study, which still will be several years from being tested on an actual space flight.
...
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Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK -
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