Richard V. Rupp

February 23, 2022

Good Wednesday morning. I'm author Richard V. Rupp, writing from Burbank, California. Welcome to RUPP'S NOTES/FBI SPECIAL AGENT HARTMANN SERIES posts.

 

I wish I could continue commenting about my Rams winning the Super Bowl or how much I loved watching curling at the Olympic Games. It's been a fun couple of weeks.

 

Where is my mind today? I wish I could say I was thinking about commenting on a crazy, wild, fictional story in a new Tom Clancy novel (one of my favorite authors) that I was reading. But I'm not. I sit here writing this as the drums of war once again beat in the real world. It appears we are in the throes of a "hot war" with Russia with a "cold war" component that may unite Russia and China against us. And unfortunately, our own Nation is divided like it has not been divided since the Civil War. Some actually suggest that our country be split in two because of the extreme differences between our very vocal crazy conservative and liberal tribes. 

 

You want to set back the recent advances to fight climate change and the true understanding of diversity, then start a war. And this new form of warfare with cyberwarfare and drones could quickly get out of hand. Believe me, it will not stop with sanctions.

 

On January 31 of this year, Glenn Oeland, Senior Editor of the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, published an article titled "History and Culture," which started out by asking, "How close is humanity to destroying itself?" The answer was, "Alarmingly close, according to the BULLETIN OF THE ATOMIC SCIENTISTS." The following is quoted from the article –

 

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"Founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein and other scientists who developed the first atomic weapons, the Bulletin created the symbolic Doomsday Clock two years later to convey the risk of an atomic Armageddon.

Every year since the Clock's creation, the Bulletin's experts have come together to gauge whether the world is safer or in greater peril and to reset the time accordingly. Back in 1947, when the Clock debuted on the cover of the Bulletin's first bound issue, they set the time at seven minutes to midnight—midnight representing planetary apocalypse. Back then, the scientist-editors "were concerned solely with the likelihood that atomic bombs would soon rain down on the world's capitals," Newcott writes.

Over the past 75 years, however, serious threats to our species' survival have multiplied, and the Clock's timekeepers must now factor in such dangers as climate change, COVID-19, and disruptive technologies. As a result, for the past three years running, they've set the time at a mere 100 seconds to midnight —the closest the Clock has ever been to Earth's inglorious end.

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Think about the fact that the article was written before the recent increase in hostile rhetoric, Russian troop movements, and increased tribalism. I think we may be at 50 seconds to midnight.

 

My upcoming novel SKYWARD has a group of Millenials, Gen X and Z, thinking the same way as the Doomsday Clock. This sets them in motion to colonize space for humanity to survive. Much of the funding for their adventure into the new frontier is provided by gains from blockchain/cryptocurrency transactions. A recent LOS ANGLES TIMES article about cryptocurrency transactions suggests going to a website to view the frequency and size of these transactions. It is unbelievable to see what is going on. If you want to check out the transactions on this cryptocurrency website, go to - Blockchain Explorer - Search the Blockchain | BTC | ETH | BCH

 

Spring is around the corner, but I'm not sure if seasons exist any longer with climate change. We have been on a rollercoaster ride here in Burbank for the past few weeks. Just a few days ago, we had temperatures in the 80s. Today is freezing, with the snow level in our local mountains down to 2,500 feet.

 

As a writer of crime novels, I keep up with what's happening in law enforcement. This is from Tampa Bay television station WTSP - On Monday, the St. Petersburg Police Department in Florida announced that rather than sending in a vulnerable K-9 or a human officer into a dangerous situation, they'll now be sending in "Spot" — a yellow robotic dog, equipped with a camera and speaker connected to a police operator, that can walk over rough terrain, climb stairs, and even open doors. St. Petersburg Chief Anthony Holloway detailed to the press that even he "never saw this day coming" where the technology, first introduced by Boston Dynamics in 2016, would reach his community — but added that this tool can save lives in situations where a perpetrator is violent or agitated, or even in a hostage situation to see and communicate throughout the developing situation. It's good to know that Spot is not weaponized and will "never go out just to go out" and will not be used in routine calls, crowd control, or intelligence gathering. That's what he says now. My intuition tells me we will be seeing more bots and "Spots" coming into law enforcement.

 

Note our military now has battle-ready "Spots" or bots. Will they come into play in Ukraine?

 

My space colonies in SKYWARD have a very advanced technology-oriented law enforcement system, overseen by FBI Special Agents Dick and Coleen Hartmann. If you have a criminal mind, I would avoid traveling to them.

 

I recently visited my optometrist for my yearly checkup and discussed my novel SKYWARD with him. He advised me that there is evidence that long-term space travel may cause blindness. It turns out that NASA has admitted deep space travel may cause blindness or visual impairment in astronauts. NASA is not sure why, but one theory suggests that zero gravity causes fluids in the body to rise. All the extra fluid in the skull may create pressure on the back of the eye. I think my colonists on the Moon and Mars are okay because of the gravity they create. But, for extended periods of space travel, I will have to create gravity by rotating the spacecraft. The adventure of finding a new "Earth" involves multigenerational space travel (50-100+ years).

 

Until next week.

 

Cheers,

 

Richard V. Rupp, Author

Website – www.richardvrupp.com

Email – rupprisk@gmail.com

Copyright©2022 by Richard V. Rupp