Thomas Carlisle's Blog (9)

It is 11:55 pm, December 31st, 2019. The celebrations are going strong in Times Square like they do every year. People seem excited, but not just for the usual ringing in of a new year. 2020 will be the first new year that the city is completely powered by a pair of brand new breeder reactors. It took years of research, planning, and legislation, but the first one finally lit up early in the year, with the second one following a few months later. Suddenly the low buzz of conversation halts as… Continue

One of my favorite books of all time is Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison. My favorite character in the novel is Sol, a retired army engineer. What makes this character stand out, and what makes this relevant to Evoke (other than the nature of the novel itself) is Sol's invention, a Bicycle power generator. He used this generator to charge a bunch of old car batteries, which he used to power appliances around his apartment.



Now the… Continue

I know, odd title right? Let me begin this article with a brief explanation on what a TI civilization is. Type I, or T1, is part of the Kardashev scale. The Kardashev scale refers to how much power a civilization can harness or produce, going from Type I to Type III. Type I is a civilization that can harness all of the power available on a given planet, Type II all the power produced by a star, and Type III all the power produced by all the stars in a galaxy. Some scientists have placed… Continue

Every year my family plants a small personal garden. It is usually a mix of vegetables and flowers, but recently they chose to only plant vegetables that they can use. Unfortunately, the past few years have produced a poor yield. I made the drive to their home this weekend to see if I could figure out what the problem is. I tested the pH levels of the soil, and it would seem that the levels were a bit high, around 7.1-7.5 in some areas. Most plants thrive at a pH level of 6.2-6.8 (not all… Continue

It is a particularly hot summer day, in 2020. Even the wind blowing off the lake is hot and muggy. One man has his SUV backed up to a barbecue pit and is busy unloading coolers of food. He pauses briefly to wipe the sweat off his brow and checks his watch. The others will be here soon, he thinks, best to finish unloading now. Almost the instant he has that thought another car pulls up. Its passenger gets out and moves to assist him in preparing.



"Hey John!" the second man says as he… Continue

When one thinks of the United States and food security at the same time they tend to assume that hunger is not a problem there. It is one of the most developed countries in the world, has plentiful resources, and a population wealthy enough to afford enough food to eat. Even a "poor" college student like myself can afford to eat fast food almost on a daily basis. But such assumptions could not be further from the truth. Yes most Americans can afford whatever food they want (the alarmingly… Continue

I have never been one who is big on hero worship. Maybe it's because of my introverted nature, or perhaps my cynical outlook on things. Whatever the case, I can rarely see past the individual motivations of any given person. An idea, however, can be much larger than any single person.



A single concept or idea can inspire more people to innovation, lead a larger population to action, and bring ruin or prosperity to a greater area than any single person can hope for. One person may be… Continue

In 10 years I imagine I will be working as a computer and electronics engineer or technician within the industry on some level. Computers and Electronics are what I know, and at this point in my life I doubt I will be working in any other field. Perhaps I will have something published by this time, a book or graphic novel, but if I do it will be a side thing. The advancements being made now, and on the immediate horizons, are key to human survival over the next century. While they are a bit… Continue

The best method that I know, and would be able to affect myself, would be to provide skills to using technologies as well as providing the technologies themselves. A great example of such is computers and the varied amount of difficulty members of different generations have learning to use them. By having people with professional knowledge of computers teaching those who have difficulty learning to use them we could bridge part of the generational gaps and help others learn to communicate… Continue