Pollutant and Smog Eating Neutralizing Materials and Gadgets

Tags

Air Pollutants, air pollution, building materials, Cricket House Studios, cricketdiane, diesel exhaust, neutralizing air pollutants, new materials, pollution eating building materials, pollution neutralizing cement, pollution neutralizing paint, smog, smog eating concrete, smog eating paint

I saw something yesterday that got me thinking again.

**

XXX A new lightweight configuration and material – MIT XXX

http://news.mit.edu/2017/3-d-graphene-strongest-lightest-materials-0106

My note – it is the math and surface area it provides that could be both strength and air cleaning in a massive way for cities.  It inspired me and so I looked up things about the pollution neutralizing paints and materials / concrete / cement – which I’ve added the things that stood out to me down this list.

**

So today, I made a search in google for

pollution neutralizing paint

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=pollution+neutralizing+paint

**

From those search results –

I chose to read and think about these articles –

2015

http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/23/tech/innovation/the-smog-guzzling-buildings-pollution/

An even grander project, the Palazzo Italia, will use similar materials over 13,000 square meters across six floors when it opens in Milan in 2015. Dutch scientists have also adapted the system to roads, claiming this can reduce pollution by 45%.

The material is not prohibitively expensive — adding as little as 4-5% to construction costs. But the impact of such buildings has been limited to their immediate location, and efforts to develop the concept have led to more novel, personalized solutions.

**

2007

http://www.triplepundit.com/2007/11/tio2-paint-at-war-with-pollution/

The paint is formulated on a base of polysiloxane, a polymer consisting of silicon. The active ingredients are tiny spherical nanoparticles made up of calcium carbonate and titanium dioxide (TiO2). This polysiloxane base is porous enough to allow nitrous oxides to diffuse through it and effectively stick to the nanoparticles. In turn, sunlight provides the energy to convert the nitrous oxides into nitric acid which is either disposed of by rain or neutralized by the alkaline properties of calcium carbonate and converted into carbon dioxide, calcium nitrate, and water. These profound chemical transformations are triggered by the ultraviolet radiation absorbed by the nanoparticles.

AND

Millenium Inorganic Chemicals, a British R&D firm has developed what they intended to appropriately name “Ecopaint.” This paint utilizes the same photo catalytic process of the anti-smog cement developed and under going testing in Italy.

**

2013

http://www.treehugger.com/gadgets/nasa-designed-airocide-neutralizes-indoor-pollution.html

NASA-designed Airocide neutralizes indoor air pollution

Called Airocide, this technology “clears the air of virtually 100% of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s) – the harmful gasses emitted by products you have around your home, like aerosol sprays, cleaning supplies, disinfectants, hobby supplies, dry-cleaned clothing, building materials, paints and paint thinners, strippers, pesticides and even air fresheners. This FDA approved device also completely eliminates all mold, pollen, fungi, viruses and bacteria (all major causes of allergy symptoms) that enter the chamber,” according to the Airocide website.

AND

Gizmag reports, “Each Airocide unit incorporates a reaction chamber that contains thousands of tiny glass rings coated inside and out with titanium dioxide (TiO2). With the help of a high-intensity light, the TiO2 produces hydroxyls. When airborne organic molecules are drawn in and make contact with those hydroxyls, the carbon bonds in those molecules are broken.”

This process renders any organic compound inert. The hydroxyls cannot escape the chamber and no cleaning is needed, though the chamber does have to be replaced every year. The Airocide is currently priced at $799 and replacement chambers go for $99.

**

The technology has actually been used in places we’ve been visiting for quite some time now. Because ethylene gas causes accelerated ripening, supermarkets, florists and food packers have been using the technology since 1998, and in 2003, Airocide was introduced to hospitals, medical offices and daycare centers to prevent the spread of airborne disease.

**

Then popped from there over to this one –

2011

http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/pollution-glue-london-roads-could-improve-air-quality.html

Dust suppressants consist of calcium magnesium acetate, which is expected to glue particles to the carriageway to stop them re-circulating in the air. TfL will first sweep and jet wash the roads, then apply the solution using a modified winter gritting machine with a fine sprinkler-like system attached.

 

AND

Head on over to Business Green for the full scoop on Mayor Boris’ pollution glue plan.

which I haven’t gone to see yet, but that article was from 2011

**

Then I made another search on Google using these search terms –

smog eating concrete

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=smog%20eating%20concrete

**

These are the search returns that I picked to read –

2013

http://www.core77.com/posts/25281/pollution-killing-material-smog-eating-cement-25281

Smog-eating cement first made headlines back in 2007, when it was introduced in the U.S. by the Italian company Italcementi, whose R&D center is pictured below. The cement is called TX Active and the magic ingredient is titanium oxide. When exposed to sunlight, titanium oxide can neutralize some pollutants—basically the toxins are oxidized when they come into contact with the cement. For instance, nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxide gasses are made harmless when they are turned into nitrates or sulfates. Without the catalyst of titanium oxide, the nitrogen and sulfur oxide break down in the atmosphere creating smog and ground level ozone.

And

 

**

2014

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/why-isnt-smog-gobbling-concrete-more-popular

 

**

http://smogeatingconcrete.weebly.com/

 

**

2015

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/smog-eating-buildings-battle-air-pollution-180954781/

**

2016

http://interestingengineering.com/building-covered-smog-eating-concrete/

The concrete is made up of traditional cement mixed with titanium dioxide. This unique mixture allows air to pass through while simultaneously capturing nitrogen-oxide particles, a main component of smog. Titanium dioxide functions as a catalyst to the chemical reaction which is activated by UV light. Not only does it filter the air, but the collected smog residue washes off with a light rainfall. Don’t worry about the residue, it’s made up of inert salts that have no effect on the surrounding environment.

And

In total, it took 2,000 metric tons of the bio dynamic concrete to construct the building and it’s creators at Italcementi claim that it is stronger than the equivalent of regular concrete. This added strength allowed the architects and engineers to create the stunning linear shapes seen on the building’s facade with ease.

CHK this site to see a photo of the building – absolutely stunning and it eats air pollution.

**

Chinese activist-artist raises awareness by sucking up smog into bricks

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=Chinese+activist-artist+raises+awareness+by+sucking+up+smog+into+bricks

**

2015

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/08/asia/china-pollution-artist/

Brother Nut’s machine collected over 100 grams of pollutants, much of it made up of small particles some 30 times smaller than a strand of human hair.

He then took the dust, mixed it with clay in a mold, and turned it into an average looking brick.

The art project went viral, to the point that he now gets stopped on the street by pedestrians wanting to take photos.

However, he’s not the first artist to tout a vacuum cleaner as a possible way to clean up the city’s skies.

And

In 2013, a Dutch artist and designer Daan Roosegaarde came up with an electro-magnetic device that would pull airborne smog particles to the ground, creating columns of fresh air.

Air pollution can be made of everything from soot to heavy metals like arsenic and lead.

**

2015

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/01/chinese-vacuum-cleaner-artist-turning-beijings-smog-into-bricks

As the latest coal-fuelled “airpocalypse” engulfed northern China this week and world leaders gathered in Paris to debate the fight against climate change, Nut Brother hit the streets of Beijing hoping to raise awareness of his country’s deadly smog crisis.

For the last 100 days, the activist, whose real name is Wang Renzheng, has used the industrial appliance to extract dust and other lung-choking pollutants from the city’s atmosphere before transforming them into a dark brown “smog brick”.

And

He ordered a vacuum cleaner from a manufacturer in Shanghai and began taking it on four-hour sorties across Beijing’s urban sprawl, gobbling up pollutants as he went. Photographs published in the Chinese media this week showed him pushing his vacuum cleaner past some of Beijing’s most celebrated landmarks.

And

“You can’t tell if it is night or day!” Liu Haishan, 38, a taxi driver, complained on Tuesday afternoon as he attempted to navigate through the gloom.

Beijing authorities claimed they had forced vehicles off the roads and shut more than 2,000 polluting companiesin order to tackle the crisis.

**

2015

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/gallery/2015/dec/08/beijing-air-pollution-red-alert-smog-before-after-pictures

With pollution reaching 40 times the safe level, China’s capital has issued its first red warning, closing down schools and factories until Thursday. These images show Beijing under a layer of smog – and what it looked like on a clear day

**

Thirty Something Years Too Late To Fix Big Climate Changes

Tags

climate change, drought, Ecology, environment, extreme weather, extreme weather events, flooding, Global Warming, hottest year on record, industry, oil industry, paris climate accord, pollutants, polluting, pollution

Every other year a team of geophysicists and weather geeks told the Bloomberg administration about the storm surge that would come and why it would be exceptionally flooding to areas of the city. They explained why protection was necessary while there was still time to do something about it and why it was needed. They used charts and briefs with clear explanations but each time were sent away with nothing done, not one thing accomplished. When Hurricane Sandy came, there was no protection whatsoever.

**

In the late 60’s, the scrubbers being requested of oil industry facilities and other high polluting industries would’ve cost between $30 and $60 per smokestack and effluent release pipe – but, no – they wouldn’t do any of it and hired millions of dollars worth of lawyers, pr firms, lobbyists and “experts” to prevent having to do anything.

In the 70’s, it would have cost about $80 each to put that same filter on each stack and about $120 each for the effluent streams. In the 80’s, it would’ve cost about $300 each and $450, respectively. Then in the 90’s, it would’ve been from $600 to $3,000 depending on the system required to be placed, based upon the chemicals being discharged into the air, soil or water by the industry. But, no.

After the year 2000, some of those prices actually went down because of better and cheaper systems and materials with a much better understanding of treating whole systems in a more integrated way – but still, no. All the while, the damage was being done to the environment, to people, to communities and to entire regions of our nation.

And, all the time this damage was continuing to be done to the environment on massive scales across multiple industries, they were spending literally hundreds of millions of dollars on not doing anything. Industries, both individually and collectively as well as their industry associations spent far more on not doing anything or not being required by government to do anything than would’ve been spent if they had simply done something appropriate about it at any given point.

In some jurisdictions, in some states, EPA standards were applied but in many, many others, they were not. After 9/11 because of demand for filtration systems to prevent possible terrorist attacks or at least ameliorate them, and because the value of our US dollar having changed generally negatively, those 1960’s $30 scrubber filters would’ve cost more like $12,000 – $18,000 each even with the newer materials and methods.

Industries and industry groups spent decades of spending what became billions, maybe even trillions of dollars all told, across all of the polluting industries. These costs for attorneys’ fees, fines (occasionally), paying lawyers to appeal the fines till hell freezes over, retaining pr firms, supporting climate denial think tanks, hiring lobbyists and paying lobby firms retainers, supporting PACs, making campaign contributions to anti-EPA and climate denial candidates, and paying “experts” to discredit and decimate the reputations of climate change supporting scientists far exceed the imagination. And, industries supporting those costs spent real money far in excess by many times over what it would’ve ever cost to have stopped sending pollutants into the air, water, soil and forever altering the environment with it.

Thirty something years too late to fix it and now, they’re saying they want to be responsible corporate citizens as politicians they’ve bought are starting to say we might ought to do something about this. As our weather becomes more extreme by each day forward, as our sea levels rise and flooding entrenches entire areas of our country month after month where it had not been expected but once every hundred years or thousand years, when rains come with twenty inches or more in numbers of hours over a couple days rather than across months or weeks, and as arctic glaciers melt that have been there longer than humanity has existed – yeah, now it becomes a thing. It is too late. We have passed the tipping point and it is way too late to worry about it now.

Tree huggers they laughed and smirked, mocking the shunned hippy folks they thought them to be. But now, as it turns out – trees lower the temperature of the climate by two degrees. And, wouldn’t that be handy about now? But the corporate giants of industry cut all the old growth forest and jungles down that they could get their hands on and still to this day, what is left of them are being cut down, clear cut, burned into more carbon in the atmosphere across the globe as if there is not one reason not to do it. And today, see this if nothing else –

Fred Bentler ‏@Bentler 3h3 hours ago

“The average peak temperature each day this month has been above 104 deg. Fahrenheit, with the mercury spiking one day to 111.7F” #climate

 

Fred Bentler ‏@Bentler 17h17 hours ago

‘There Is No Doubt’: Exxon Knew CO2 Pollution Was a Global Threat By Late 1970s #climate http://goo.gl/2MhdTM 

Nick Hennen ‏@tweetbrk Apr 20

ICYMI: 2015 was the hottest year on record. 2016 is already hotter http://nyti.ms/26egOp1  images via @EricHolthaus

‘And then we wept’: Scientists say 93 percent of the Great …

https://www.washingtonpost.com/…/and-then-we-wept…

The Washington Post

Apr 20, 2016 – Australia’s National Coral Bleaching Task Force has surveyed 911 coralreefs by air, and found at least some bleaching on 93 percent of them.

Great Barrier Reef: 93% of reefs hit by coral bleaching …

http://www.theguardian.com › Environment › Great Barrier Reef

The Guardian

Apr 19, 2016 – Almost 93% of reefs on the Great Barrier Reef have been hit by coral bleaching, according to a comprehensive survey revealing the full extent ..

**

AND FOR AT LEAST ONE SOLUTION – INDUSTRY COULD NOW BE USING THIS – 

New material shown to remove CO2 from smokestack effluent and other sources

Ben Coxworth January 5, 2012

http://www.gizmag.com/polymer-captures-co2/21014/

**

Draft of Useful Ways to Harness CO2

Tags

climate change, CO2, CO2 sequestration, cricketdiane, Ecology, plastics, pollution, sustainability

Recycling Carbon Dioxide to Make Plastics | Department of …

energy.gov/…/recycling-carbon–diox…

United States Department of Energy

May 20, 2013 – Novomer’s thermoplastic pellets incorporate waste CO2 into a … has the potential to cut greenhouse gas emissions while simultaneously …

**

RESEARCH: Turning CO2 emissions into plastic with algae …

http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060023524

Environment & Energy Publishing

Aug 17, 2015 – Turning CO2 emissions into plastic with algae? It may not be as crazy as it sounds. Niina Heikkinen, E&E reporter. ClimateWire: Monday …

**

Renewable plastic made from carbon dioxide and plants …

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/…/160309135712.ht…

Science Daily

Mar 9, 2016 – Renewable plastic made from carbon dioxide and plants … CO2 required to make PEF could be obtained from fossil-fuel power plant emissions …

**

Conventional vs biodegradable plastics – UNEP

http://www.unep.org/…/Conventional…

United Nations Environment Programme

completely metabolize them to carbon dioxide (and water). … Life cycle analyses show that bioplastics can reduce CO2 emissions by 30-80 percent compared to …

**

New Plastic Could Reduce Carbon Dioxide Emissions

http://www.livescience.com/4663-plastic-reduce-carbon–dioxide–emissions.html

A plastic tweaked to mimic cellular membranes can separate carbon dioxide from natural gas and could help reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, …

**

These 5 companies strive to convert CO2 to cash | GreenBiz

https://www.greenbiz.com/…/5-companies-convert-co2-cas…

GreenBiz.com

Sep 22, 2014 – Not only is carbon dioxide readily abundant, it is three to 10 times cheaper than other feedstocks used to make plastics and chemicals, according to Cole. … Eventually, it hopes to harness carbon emissions there and convert it …

**

Artificial photosynthesis breakthrough turns CO2 emissions …

http://www.gizmag.com/artificial-photosynthesis-creates…/37160/

Gizmag

Artificial photosynthesis breakthrough turns CO2 emissions into plastics and biofuel. Dario Borghino April 23, 2015. 3 pictures. Researchers have developed an …

**

Sustainable Plastics: Environmental Assessments of …

https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1118899806

Joseph P. Greene – 2014 – ‎Technology & Engineering

The most common areas of pollution concern are for ozone layer depletion, … Atmospheric emissions can include carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, …

**

Could future chairs, clothes and even buildings be made …

http://www.theguardian.com › … › Sustainable design

The Guardian

Feb 26, 2014 – Could future clothes, bottles and chairs be made from carbonemissions? … The vast majority of plastic is produced from petroleum, which means that … By combining methane and carbon dioxide with a proprietary catalyst, …

**

Converting carbon dioxide into plastic – YouTube

▶ 4:18

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cHp368Nj6g

Feb 24, 2015 – Uploaded by ChemistryWorldUK

The world’s demand for energy, and the resultant carbon dioxide emissions, are drastically changing our …

**

State-Level Energy-Related Carbon Dioxide Emissions …

http://www.eia.gov/…/emissions/state/analy…

Energy Information Administration

Oct 26, 2015 – Energy-Related Carbon Dioxide Emissions at the State Level, 2000- …plastics are subtracted from reported emissions for the states where they …

**

Will hacking nature protect us from climate change? – CNN …

http://www.cnn.com/…/pioneers-carbon-sink-geoengineering-climate-hac…

CNN

Oct 27, 2015 – Watch this video. Could plastic trees end air pollution? … As air flows over the plastic resin sails, they grab CO2 and hold on to it. CO2 binds to …

**

Transforming pollution into sustainable polymers & chemicals

http://www.novomer.com/

Novomer

Converting Pollution Into Sustainable Polymers and Chemicals … proprietary catalyst system that transforms waste carbon dioxide (CO2) into high performance, …

**

Groundbreaking Technology Transforms Greenhouse …

http://www.takepart.com/…/plastic-bag-sucks-carbon-out-air-and-may…

TakePart

Aug 19, 2014 – … a way to make plastic from carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. ….. Ocean Plastic Pollution Costs $13 Billion a Year, and Your Face …

**

How to make the most of carbon dioxide : Nature News …

http://www.nature.com/…/how-to-make-the-most-of-carbon–dioxide-1.186…

Nature

Oct 28, 2015 – Pellets of urea fertilizer are made from carbon dioxide in a plant in … can convert CO2 emissions from coal and natural-gas power plants into useful … fuels and raw material for the manufacture of plastics and other chemicals.

**

http://www.eia.gov/environment/emissions/state/analysis/

Energy-related emissions by state, 2013 chart from US Energy Information Admin

**

The Link Between Plastic Use and Climate

Change: Nitty-gritty

https://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=30619

Worldwide, we consume approximately 100 million tons of plastic each year. From the EPA’s more conservative estimate to the more liberal one, that’s anywhere from 100 million tons of carbon dioxide emitted to 500 million tons.

**

 

Pi followed by a period Trademark articles missed the point

Tags

cricketdiane, design, new designs, pi, pi trademark, trademark, trademark of pi

When Paul Ingrisano trademarked the mathematical symbol π (pi) with a period and then had his lawyer send cease and desist letters, there were a lot of immediate responses by news articles, blogs and comments from the public about it. About a week ago, when the online print on demand publisher, Zazzle (and possibly CafePress as well) decided to pull down products independently designed with the pi symbol, they were responding to this letter sent by Ingrisano’s attorney, Ronald Millet –

 

Zazzle Pi Trademark Letter

http://www.scribd.com/doc/227367808/Zazzle-Pi-Trademark-Letter

**
It says –

“Ingrisano’s federal registration of this trademark provides him with certain proprietary rights. This includes the right to restrict the use of the trademark, or a confusingly similar trademark, in association with confusingly similar products or services. The Lanham Act (the U.S. Trademark Act) also provides numerous remedies for trademark infringement and dilution, including, but not limited to, preliminary and permanent injunctive relief, money, damages, a defendant’s profits, provisions for the destruction or confiscation of infringing products and promotional materials, and where intentional infringement is shown (as would be the case here), attorneys’ fees and possible treble money damages.”

It goes on to say, not only that all pi related products must be pulled down but that an independent audit must be made and all accounting of any and all profits made from the sale of any and all pi design products, including those pre-dating Ingrisano’s claim along with the dates of each product being placed online containing the symbol or reference to pi. (paraphrased, see the actual letter above, or in this Wired article found here – http://www.wired.com/2014/05/pi-takedown/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=this-guy-trademarked-the-symbol-for-pi-and-took-away-our-geeky-t-shirts)

In 2006, there was a case brought in Florida Federal court against 52 defendants using the words, sweet pea in their design by a person who had been issued a trademark with a simple script of the words, sweet pea followed by a period. Because there had been no letters sent demanding to “cease and desist” before making the court filing, the case was dismissed. The intention in that case was for each of the defendants to pay a $5,000 fee to the new owner of the trademark for the words, sweet pea followed by a period and the generic quality of that trademark is very similar to the one for pi followed by a period, in fact.

Here is the page describing the logos of the sweet peas that were taken to court and on the right side of the page is the logo trademark in question whose owner took them to court intending to take all profits made from sales plus damages – or a $5,000 settlement fee toward their possible obligation to the new trademark holder plus whatever else the court may have awarded if it had gone forward –

http://sourpeas.org/page3/page3.html

In January of 2006, attorney Alexander E. Barthet of Miami, Florida on behalf of his clothing company client Sweet Pea Limited, Inc. went to Federal District Court in Florida and filed a complaint claiming that 52 companies or individuals located throughout the United States were violating their trademark.

The clothing company’s lawsuit contends that using the commonly used words “Sweet Pea” in any form — not just their stylized version — on any article of clothing is in violation of their trademark rights and therefore they are entitled to millions of dollars in damages. Most of the defendants are creating original designs using the words “Sweet Pea” graphically on T-shirts and children’s clothing.

Notably missing from the list are any large defendants. All the companies being sued are one-person businesses. (etc.)

(found here – http://sourpeas.org/page7/page7.html)

**

Going back to the pi with a period trademarked by Ingrisano – his and his attorney’s intention is clearly stated in the letter they sent to Zazzle demanding them to account for every design sold with the pi used in the design, to account for any and all profits that may have resulted from those designs, to submit to (and ultimately pay for) an independent audit of those sales and profits, AND to be prepared to remit any and all of those profits to Ingrisano and his attorney along with possibly treble damages for having allowed the use of these designs, despite many of them having no relational meaning to his trademarked design.

That is the point. People are angry about this because it demands money and damages to be given to Ingrisano that he neither earned nor had any right to acquire. And, he and his attorney are using a trademark law intended for the protection of genuine, distinctive and original intellectual properties used as trademarks, in order to do it unfairly and without cause. They are claiming a loss of revenues and a dilution of his trademark, when in fact, that trademark is not an original, distinctive nor unique mark and neither is it in use in a manner that is distinctive, original, novel or unique. That is the problem. That goes to the heart of the real issue here.

It is easy enough to drop the subject now that Zazzle has re-instated independent designers’ and artists’ copyrighted designs to their online market platform, but the case isn’t actually over because inherent in the demands shown in the letter sent by Ingrisano’s attorney, Ronald Millet are the terms they had intended, and likely will continue to pursue against any and all uses of pi that they perceive may have profited. This is partly evidenced by another trademark filed by Ingrisano claiming the symbol I<3 which is commonly used around the internet and already found on a variety of products including apparel, tshirts, sportswear, sweatshirts and other things he has listed for it in the trademark application.

http://trademarks.justia.com/854/81/i-3-85481027.html

The pi symbol followed by a period trademark reference can be found here (as well as at the US Trademark database) –

http://trademarks.justia.com/857/85/pi-85785006.html

People are angry about the symbol pi with a dot trademark because Ingrisano and his attorney, Millet are working to steal profits from small and micro business owners, independent artists and designers, as well as from online print on demand companies which they did not work for, did not create, did not work to get and did not have any right to take.

The process seems to be –

• Trademark the most generic, commonly used symbol or group of words.
• Set precedent by forcing all current and previous users of that symbol or group of words to “cease and desist” using them along with accounting for all uses and profits from all uses in order to remit them to the new trademark holder
• Take all previously made profits from sales and which resulted from promotions based upon that symbol or group of words, including those pre-dating the holders registration.
• Require an independent auditor to be given access to all internal and electronic sales data concerning those which ever held or currently held that symbol, and similar symbol, or that group of words and any similar group of words which could be confused to be that group of words.
• File court orders and cases to take all profits from any and all sales of any and all products which contained any part of that symbol, any with that symbol, any part of that trademark symbol group and any use of those words both in that group combination plus anything similar.
• Demand that the court award treble damages and attorneys’ fees, court costs, independent auditing costs, plus all sales amounts and profits made from those sales of products containing anything similar to that trademark even if that trademark doesn’t apply in that context.

At the time when Ingrisano filed the trademark on November 21, 2012, a trademark for pi had already been issued very recently to a cigar company for the symbol pi. That trademark was issued on October 9, 2012.

From the USPTO database –

http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=85099235&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch

**

To have many of the articles about this in one place, here is a list of blogs, news articles and more information links about the pi followed by a dot trademark, its influence and demands on Zazzle (and possibly CafePress) along with basic information about trademark laws affecting it –

http://jezkemp.blogspot.com/2014/05/some-loser-has-tried-to-trademark.html

This article describes the originality and distinctiveness requirement of international trademark law –

http://www.internationallawoffice.com/newsletters/detail.aspx?g=55169be9-7969-4540-9e40-6e908d776c00

**

The 273 comments on this Canadian article are interesting –

http://www.cbc.ca/newsblogs/yourcommunity/2014/06/artist-trademarks-pi-symbol-enrages-the-web.html

**

The costs, fees and registration schedule from the USPTO for patents, copyrights and trademarks – the trademark registration fees are well down the page –

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/qs/ope/fee010114.htm

**

The Lanham Act (from wikipedia) – The US Trademark Law –

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_trademark_law

A trademark is a word, phrase, or logo that identifies the source of goods or services. Trademark law protects a business’ commercial identity or brand by discouraging other businesses from adopting a name or logo that is “confusingly similar” to an existing trademark. The goal is to allow consumers to easily identify the producers of goods and services and avoid confusion.

U.S. Trademark Law is mainly governed by the Lanham Act. “Common Law” trademark rights are acquired automatically when a business uses a name or logo in commerce, and are enforceable in state courts. Marks registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office are given a higher degree of protection in federal courts than unregistered marks – both registered and unregistered trademarks are granted some degree of federal protection under the Lanham Act 43(a).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanham_Act

**

About the treble damages component of the Lanham Act that Ingrisano and his attorney, Ronald Millet are attempting to claim against Zazzle, CafePress and all other users of the pi symbol in any design –

http://www.bitlaw.com/source/15usc/1117.html

**

This article has a number of interesting points on it as well –

http://everythingtrademarks.com/2014/06/01/pi-is-irrational-so-is-this-trademark-dispute/

It is interesting (though not surprising) that there is little, if any, actual use of his registered Pi mark given that it issued earlier this year (January 2014). A review of the prosecution history for Paul Ingrisano’s trademark application raises questions.

One question designers raised was how could someone own a trademark to a generic mathematical symbol … or, more often than not, they put it in the affirmative: the pi symbol cannot be a trademark.

The notion that the pi symbol (or any universal symbol) cannot be a trademark is wrong. It can be (even on its own without other word or design elements). The U.S. Trademark Office (USPTO) devotes an entire section of its manual for examining procedure to “Universal Symbols in Marks.” See TMEP Section 1202.17 et al.

This excerpt from the article link above it goes on to describe some common symbols used as trademarks having been issued those registrations at some point.

**

Apparently the artist and his supporters in Brooklyn simply do not get why people are angry that Ingrisano and his attorney attempted to monopolize all uses of the symbol pi in any design, to steal all profits made from any sales of any design with pi on it and to receive treble damages for those uses on top of that.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/death-threats-brooklyn-entrepreneur-pi-math-symbol-article-1.1820289

**

A lot of valid points were made in the comments section of this cnet article about pi and trademarking common symbols –

http://www.cnet.com/news/artist-trademarks-pi-geeks-despair/

**

Concerning the distinctiveness, originality and novelty of trademark symbols – as required in international law –

http://www.internationallawoffice.com/newsletters/detail.aspx?g=55169be9-7969-4540-9e40-6e908d776c00

Which marks may be registered?

Under Argentine law, a mark can be registered as long as it has “distinctive capacity”. This concept has two components:

• the intrinsic capacity to identify, which refers to the sign’s ability to identify when considered in itself (originality); and
• the extrinsic capacity to identify, understood as the sign’s distinguishability from other existing signs (novelty).

Certain signs lack originality, including the following.

**

 

Over 300 Dead from Tornadoes – Why weren’t there basements?

Tags

building materials, building science, cricketdiane, home safety, Inventing, Rocket Science, tornadoes

In the past few days, I’ve heard things from family members and friends that are very disturbing about the tornadoes that have devastated the nation over the weeks of April this year.

It is unacceptable. The ideas presented to me were plainly wrong. There were over 300 people whose lives were lost in the tornadoes that blasted across Alabama, and other states of the South just two days ago. The days and weeks before that have shown all of us, homes that were leveled, towns decimated and lives lost and shattered. There is no excuse for it to be that way. It is 2011.

One of the excuses I heard is that it is “2012 when the world ends that is here early in 2011” and to fight it would be senseless. Another idea repeated to me from three different people, is that there is no way to control winds, storms, things like the jet stream and tornadoes – that to do so we would have to be God. Other ideas explained to me were repeated from various broadcasts of the am radio talk shows and other online information sources who say there is no way that anyone can do anything about any of these things since it is part of the “end times” and can be expected to get worse, not better. And, along with explanations on many business shows, business journals, business and financial blogs and tv broadcasts – there are a multitude of quotes to explain how America is falling and that we cannot expect to stand up again as number one in the world. Now, wait a minute . . .

Just hold the gd phone.

Back it up and rewind that entire set of conversations. I don’t know who told these family members and friends that to do something is to not accept our place as human beings and try to do what only God can do. I don’t know exactly, although I have a pretty good idea, where these people in my life got these lines of thinking which say there is nothing that anyone can do about all this and nor should we make the effort to do so. I don’t know how the excuse that “it is the end of the world anyway,” means we are all supposed to throw up our hands and tend to our own momentary satisfactions without seeking to do much else about anything. And, I don’t care, either – where these people got these ideas. I do know they are wrong.

When it rains, we put an umbrella over our heads. We don’t just stand out there in the rain without doing anything about it simply because “God” sent rain. We make lightning rods to go on our homes and businesses, which were designed by a brilliant man in our nation’s history who saw a problem and found a way to provide a naturally based principled solution. It has saved lives, homes, families, businesses and communities where people at one time in history believed that there was no way to stop lightning – that it was what amounted to an “act of God” which no human could expect to change, alter or do anything to provide safety against. Those people were not considering even finding a way to do something about it, but one man did and now we have lightning rods on damn near every single building, structure, skyscraper, and everything else that is built to withstand the natural elements.

The building industry has known for well over a thousand years, that the basic protection for people’s lives during storms with tornadoes forming and reeking havoc, is for structures, homes, buildings, restaurants, malls, schools, hospitals, and living spaces to have a basement or storm cellar. It is not rocket science. It is a known quantity which works. At some point, the building industry, cities and towns policy makers, developers and other decision makers decided to not require basements and storm cellars for every single home and every single structure built in their communities. Well, that was wrong.

We put dams and levees up to control flooding. We don’t just sit back and say – well, if the place floods, then it was meant to be. That is called, “engineering” and is why we have those multitudes of engineering disciplines to this day. We have architectural and structural engineering disciplines that create to a better standard than throwing up a few sticks and calling it a house. And, the homes in these recent tornadoes yielded NO real harbor or safety from the storms. They acted as what they’ve become, pasteboard and brittle sticks rather than a reinforced, flexible and safe structure to protect the families and lives housed within them. That is unacceptable.

And, I don’t know what we’ll have to do – if it is to incorporate some type of polymer dip for the framing wood to give them more strength and flexibility, add re-bar to the core of brick facades which are held together by unreinforced masonry, create better building methods generally to withstand these types of extreme events, or find a way to cut those tornadoes in half and dissipate them in some manner before they get on the ground tearing up the place – but I do know that requiring basements and storm cellars to be built into every single structure is a known successful defense against loss of life.

I do know that we could do that everywhere in short order – retrofitting existing structures with storm cellars and below ground level basements – including homes, businesses, county buildings, schools, industrial plants, everything. And, I do know it isn’t just required in Kansas anymore – which has been evidenced for a long, long, long time. Why these 300 lives were lost a couple days ago, within seconds as their homes were obliterated – is no longer an acceptable excuse. And, the world has ended at least 8 or 9 thousands times according to various religious predictions across history. It isn’t an excuse to sit idly by while solutions could be applied to save lives, communities and families from known dangers with known outcomes by using either known solutions or engineering new ones that work.

– cricketdiane

***

And, there is no excuse whatsoever for anyone living in a mobile home or trailer staying in it believing there is some protection from a severe storm, extreme or damaging winds, and tornadoes. Especially in these housing types and their mobile home parks, on their individual private property where mobile home owners have set up housekeeping, and in mobile home communities – there absolutely has to be an enforceable code by every town, city and county requiring a storm cellar be added on site. For mobile home parks and communities, central community storm shelters in an underground basement at their community clubhouse or something must be required of those community owners with enough storm cellar or basement space to protect all of the people with all of their family members who live there. It has to be close enough to walk to it and get into it within a couple minutes – not sitting hundreds of yards away from significant portions of the residents’ homes.

The attitudes expressed to me over the past few days demanding that none of us give a damn about all this and insisting that no one can or should try to do anything about this – are attitudes commonly repeated and still wrong. They are based in someone not thinking through what they were saying – we do have homes because they were engineered solutions to our need as humans for protection from the elements. We did not – “just not give a damn about it” and sit out in the fields and woods never making something of a solution to protect ourselves as a species. We did, in fact – create many solutions to it and meshed solutions from many different people to have more than nature gave us in the first place. Or else we would all still be standing out in the rain without an umbrella or house in existence at all.

***

AND – people need to vote with their dollars by NOT BUYING any house or business structure that doesn’t have a basement, cellar or storm cellar in it.

When that happens, builders will start adding basements to protect people’s lives and building inspectors / county codes will require either basements or storm cellars in every structure and home in America as it should’ve been in the first place knowing what we know about tornadoes, storms, hurricanes and extreme wind events.

From what I can tell, the homeowners’ associations in many communities could have made a central storm safe space available – most have expensive clubhouses that are rarely used by anybody. They’ve paid for swimming pools – they’ve charge association fees. Surely they could add something more useful along with it – like public announcements throughout the neighborhood when tornado spawning storms are coming – or at the very least, provide a basement for people in the neighborhood to come and have some protection from those events.

But, sooner or later – there are still two parts which need serious workable solutions – one is to stop the tornadoes from spawning in the first place or after the conditions have developed to make them likely. And, as much as I appreciate the magnitude of these forces – we, as a people have changed all kinds of things in the landscape – which could just as easily also be changed to provide “wind breaks,” special heating or cooling zones in the landscape to help dissipate the storms’ power or alter them, some kind of lateral slicing through the tornado kind of thing that would act the same way as sticking a hand laterally through a whirlpool in the bathtub when the drain makes one, and/or sculptured land planning in the same manner as the buildings and heat zones of and altered air foils of cities with their skyscrapers, parking lots, freeways, streets and buildings change the likelihood of storms producing tornadoes.

Although cities are hit with tornadoes from time to time, it is far less frequently and with less running distance of damage that is somehow changed by virtue of the ways cities are constructed and contain heat or alter wind patterns and wind shear. Maybe the tall buildings force eddies in the air currents which change the dynamic or push them down or around in dividing ways – that principle which is working around cities could be used and applied for tornado development zones.  But, not just in Kansas – the dust bowl thinking of people stuck in 1930 something has got to stop. The Southern States have suffered inordinately high numbers of tornadoes for many years with the recent outbreaks of weather patterns differing in the severity and multiple development fronts. There is no reason that any state of the South should have any homes without basements in this day and age. There is no reason they couldn’t apply the massive knowledge our scientists and universities have discovered into tangible solutions – whether wind breaks or satellite looks at re-interpreting some parts of the landscape to dissipate these damaging winds when they do get started.

These things could be done.

The second thing that needs to be done – is to make our houses into safe harbors for human lives. They are not that now. It is inexcusable that our homes have become (and that includes apartments, condos, workplaces, some buildings, shopping areas, and large industrial workspaces under thin metal sheeting, etc.) – nothing but pasteboard and brittle sticks – no matter what they seem to look like on the outside. That is unacceptable.

Every structure needs to be retrofit in some way to be substantially safer along with adding basements or storm shelters/ storm cellars to all of them.

There are Geotextiles now and polymer / carbon nano fiber based fabrics that never existed before. There is a man who designed homes for hurricane prone areas which are glued and screwed rather than to allow the wind getting up into the structure tearing it apart as it goes. There are new types of cement and retrofitting systems to make unreinforced masonry into reinforced, strong but flexible structures. There are building materials, knowledge, science, engineering, materials science, structural engineering knowledge and research which 30 years ago, didn’t even exist.

Strides have been made in collecting data and information, analyzing the data and understanding the results. It has been public information available to everyone. Out of all that – it is far past the time to take it and weave new practical solutions from it to apply throughout our nation for the safety of families, children, people, young lives and old – there is no excuse for what has just happened to take these lives from all of us and from our communities by tornadoes damaging structures which weren’t much more protection than a cardboard box would’ve been. It is not acceptable for it to keep being that way.

And, where building techniques were known a hundred years ago or in 1930 something which worked to keep lives safe, but in our modern world were abandoned – those need to be brought forward and used as well.

That includes – if a house doesn’t have a basement or storm cellar – don’t buy it. Life is too precious to put up with it – there are no savings financially by getting a house or business without a basement. Dead or maimed from a tornado because there was nowhere in the house safe from it – is not a financial advantage no matter how good that house looks on the outside.

***

President Obama visits Alabama’s storm ravaged areas today – (CNN)

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/04/29/severe.weather/index.html?hpt=T1

Tuscaloosa, Alabama (CNN) — President Barack Obama arrived in Alabama on Friday, the hardest-hit of six states ravaged by a series of storms and tornadoes that killed nearly 300 people and left entire neighborhoods in ruins.

Obama was scheduled to meet with families affected by the storms as well as government officials.(etc.)

**

Photos: Nightmare scenes in Alabama after deadly storms sweep South – (CNN)

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2011/04/weather/gallery.hires.storm/index.html

Janet Pucket surveys the damage outside her home in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on Thursday, April 28, after a tornado hit the area Wednesday. (etc.)

***

Protected: a CricketDiane Brain Zap – Just Thinking . . .

Tags

cricketdiane, cricketdiane brain zap, Energy Solutions, Fukushima, nuclear power, nuclear reactors

This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

Protected: Thoughts about energy – a CricketDiane Brain Zap – Just Thinking . . .

Tags

cricketdiane, Energy, Fukushima, nuclear energy, nuclear power, nuclear power plant meltdowns

This content is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

Fukushima rears an ugly head over Japan and an idea I had for a viral video

Tags

cricketdiane, Japan, Japan earthquake tsunami nuclear power plant meltdown, Japan nuclear power plant crisis, nuclear power, nuclear reactors

So I had one of those truly great ideas – at least I thought it was – and my daughter was laughing so hard over the phone when she heard it that she couldn’t hardly talk – and that is saying something. But, then I said – now what? Who could be advantaged? Who could benefit? and obviously, how could money be made with it?

Well, the idea has to do with nuclear energy and the nuclear power plants specifically, and after thinking about it awhile – I decided to send an email to the Union of Concerned Scientists to ask how to work with them on it. I would have to say that the likelihood of anyone there getting back to me on it is probably somewhere very close to nil – however, I did it anyway.

Here is what I wrote to them –

Sent to – onsite form – 03-23-11

I’m not a member. I have an idea. It would make a viral video to make an immediate influx of income to your organization and increase membership. It isn’t vile nor violent. It would get press coverage and YouTube viral hits – and give you the opportunities to tell the public about what you do as you deserve to have – especially right now. It is a good way to get the public involved in what you have been working hard to do about nuclear power plant safety and reasonable preparations for it, to have a knowledgeable citizenry with an edge for science, using intelligence, and good conscientious engineering – things like that.

I don’t know how to make arrangements quickly with you to sell the idea to you or do it for your organization. It could yield positive air time on the news and other talk shows as well as getting the viral video status (in all likelihood.) It wouldn’t cost much to do it and could be done on a weekend – like next weekend, in fact – while people are still thinking about what happened at Fukushima Daiichi in Japan. I would like to be able to tell you about it. Please tell me how to work with you on it and who would need to decide. Thankyou, cricketdiane

(I have a blog at wordpress – at cricketdiane and have been trying to share information about the nuclear power plant in trouble over the last few days.)

This idea isn’t stodgy and I think maybe it’s time to change the glassy-eyed stare people get when nuclear reactor talk starts up . . .

**

It went to this on-site form here –
Union of Concerned Scientists
http://www.ucsusa.org/

Maybe it would be worth calling them and trying to find out who would need to work with something like this. They probably pay a small fortune already to the consulting firm that does their public relations and advertising or fundraising.

**

Too late –

CNNI 3.39am ET

TEPCO holding press conference – Reactor No. 3 being evacuated – grey black smoke pouring out – There were 500 or more workers at the facility (earlier today / yesterday Japan time – there were 660 workers reported at the facility.)

***

Earlier today, I didn’t get to post because for some reason my administration on this blog was blocked – maybe it was a denial of service attack or just a snafu on the server or something I’ve mucked up – but I only found it was fixed a little bit ago after sending the email to the Union of Concerned Scientists. (Note of great thanks to the support team at Happiness Central wordpress, thankyou.)

The wikipedia page about people interested in activism where it comes to nuclear plant safety are mostly ready to shut them all down rather than do something with the problems that still exist in them. It was also kind of unnerving to look at those people who might be served by my idea for a viral video that could be organizations that I know very little about. At least, the Union of Concerned Scientists is one whose information I’ve seen over many years and noted that it is of merit and trustworthy in its manner of peer-review, science and engineering approaches.

Unfortunately, that is probably about the same reason they won’t consider my idea, too – they have a lot of “prestigious” people involved with what they do with a great deal of seriousness about the subject matter, which well they should. These are serious matters. But – – –

But, we can’t afford for people’s eyes to glaze over as we talk to them about nuclear physics anymore. The cost has been too great to leave these matters in the hands of those we elect or the ones they appoint, many of which come from the same industries they are intended to regulate. The price for doing it that way with little understanding of the workings of it ourselves has left us at the mercy of those who may very well be serving some other agenda besides the public interest and public good. That price has become too high.

As I watched the 82 year old lady in Japan who looked younger than her years and who had toiled over the planting of her garden which now she cannot eat nor sell that I saw on a CNN segment, I thought how wrong that is for her and her neighbors – and how wrong it will be for us, as well. It is unnecessary for things to get to that stage – and in the case of Fukushima Daiichi reactors – it was definitely unnecessary for it to get to critical points that we’ve all seen.

There was a comment on a news article from an Asian news source that said, “but France sent 95 tons of boron to them at Fukushima on Thursday”. And, another comment said, “GE had offered to come in and shut the plant down on the first day. To stop it.” I couldn’t confirm whether their information was accurate because very little of those kinds of things have appeared in the Western journalism about it – however, I think it probably is correct in both statements. And, after awhile thinking about it – I have been thinking that the TEPCO decision-makers made a choice – or rather a serious of choices to not stop the plant in those ways because they were trying to save the massive amounts of fuel rods – around 80 – 90 tonnes per reactor plus as much as five times that amount per spent fuel rod cooling pool within each building.

And, maybe they entertained that fantasy about restarting the machines and the reactors with a little cosmetic work to the outside of the building and they thought the system would be as good as new to continue in the days ahead. Or – maybe it was the money, because I just read an article or three about the $35 billion dollar loan guarantees the Japanese government leaders are considering giving to TEPCO right now. Maybe it the plant were “killed” as done in other places during a critical event, they wouldn’t have been able to acquire money to fix it and stay in a healthy financial position or something.

Whatever it was that prompted their decisions, I can honestly say that the radioactive trash that is floating into drinking water, onto the land, on the gardens that have already been tilled and in some cases, are at the point of harvesting, and the cesium137 and iodine 131 that is showing up everywhere it isn’t supposed to ever be – all are the direct results of the decisions made or not made properly about this nuclear facility. The first day, before the explosion – problems of a significant nature were already known. And, there is a trail of press coverage, briefings and information concerning that with the facts which told them the event was significant and could be dire, as well.

So, instead of stopping these disasters from developing any further, they actually made them worse at a number of points along the way.

– cricketdiane

***

What is also bizarre in all this is the way that some press coverage has offered a happy, happy picture even while there was every evidence that something else was occurring.

ftenergysource FT Energy Source

Energy headlines: Tepco closer to restarting nuclear pumps http://on.ft.com/i5Gdx3

2 minutes ago

But, in real time – this has just happened –

Reuters Reuters Top News

FLASH: Japan nuclear agency: Smoke at Fukushima no.3 unit is from building that houses reactor

6 minutes ago

Well, at first I thought it was only not having seen the last bit of what happened or the latest bit of information – but then it became obvious over the last couple days especially, that nearly every economic or financial oriented news source had articles and headlines indicating the problems at the Fukushima plant were all but solved . . .

Of course, I just had to save those to compare with what everything else was saying and it is really quite phenomenal. On bloomberg news broadcast yesterday, there was a lead-in to the reporter’s story that sounded as if the power had been restored to the plant and everything was stable, then the reporter in Tokyo said the truth of it which is that the plant’s reactors No. 2 and 3 had smoke pouring out of them still and there had been high radiation readings at one point at least through the day with increased smoke. The reactors No. 1 and 2 were actually found to have more damage than was expected (by anyone looking from here, I can’t even imagine how they expected anything less,) and then he mentioned the continuing discoveries about the radioactive isotopes being found in drinking water, foodstuffs, milk and on vegetables.

People were to stop drinking the tap water in a number of areas as of yesterday, and I can’t imagine what the people have been doing to survive in the zone between 20km and 30 km who were told to stay in their homes for the last nine or ten days with the windows and doors closed, air off – probably without electricity and now, no tap water either. It is cold there and at night, very cold – over these last ten days.

And, contamination of the water supply has been found as far away as Tokyo. The drift that can happen with this radioactive “stuff” is obscene and should’ve never happened. At the very least, the plant operators and decision-makers should have treated the situation and its gravity with the seriousness due to its lethal nature.

***

Reuters Reuters Top News
FLASH: Japan agency says radiation level at Fukushima plant had been 435 microsieverts 2 hours before smoke seen

1 minute ago
(4.32 am EDT)
High levels of radiation have been found in tap water in Tokyo according to the CNN reporter quoting the Japanese officials just now.

Too late.

The situation is unmanageable now. It is too much release and too late to stop the damage it has already done. I hate that. I really, really, really hate that. It shouldn’t have happened.
– cricketdiane

***

NatureNews Nature News&Comment

Picture post: workers toil inside Fukushima’s control room http://goo.gl/fb/fmhEd

13 minutes ago

**

science science

Tsunami wave that hit a coastal city in Iwate Prefecture was 23.6 meters (77 feet, 5 inches) in height. http://n.pr/fF3rD6

58 minutes ago
**

Spent Fuel Rods stored in pools at nuclear reactors Fukushima

from Union of Concerned Scientists – Fukushima Daiichi plant

Spent Fuel Rods kept at Fukushima Daiichi plant - from Union of Concerned Scientists

http://allthingsnuclear.org/tagged/Japan_nuclear?utm_source=SP&utm_medium=more&utm_campaign=sp-nuke-more-3%2F13%2F2011-pm

**

physorg_com PhysOrg Science News

Researchers create self-strengthening nanocomposite http://tw.physorg.com/220107667

57 minutes ago

**

USAgov USA.gov

Up-to-date Japan tsunami and radiation information from @EPAgov, @FEMA, @StateDept can now be found at http://usa.gov/Japan2011

10 minutes ago

***

BreakingNews Breaking News

Neutron beam, a kind of radioactive ray, has been observed 13 times at Fukushima plant since tsunami – Kyodo http://bit.ly/gI0r2I

6 minutes ago

**

 

Discovery touches down last time – Washington Times

Tags

cricketdiane, Discovery shuttle last mission, EADS, international space station, NASA, shuttle program

Discovery touches down last time – Washington Times.

ahumanright.org plans to buy satellite and provide free Internet access for entire world

Tags

communications, cricketdiane, free internet service, global citizenship, global economic crisis, Human Rights, innovation, internet technology, social responsibility, Solutions, US economic crisis solutions

ahumanright.org plans to buy satellite and provide free Internet access for entire world.

That works – he is a quarter of the way to raising the amount of money that it will take to lease or purchase the first satellite for it. Very interesting approach to it.

Absolutely brilliant.

– cricketdiane

***