Changes coming to the silos near my house? Glowing soybean plants? Lastly, be watchful for the Assembly’s attempts to change the initiative and amendment process.
Changes coming to the silos near my house?*
If you've read this page long enough, you'll know that nuclear weapons and the Cold War are interests of mine. I've put up more than one post about my trips to various locations relating to same (as well as interesting tidbits I find as I stumble around through my day).
The link below is another interesting find I thought I'd share.
I get the sense it's at the very least a ways off, but the Air Force is considering an update and some pretty big updates and changes (see the article for more details) to the current ICBM force we have in the States.
One of the things that I find ironic about a lot of this is the fact that, while updates to old equipment are needed**, old computers and electronics that make a cell phone look like a supercomputer are actually something of a protection for us.
You see, the system is so old that it can't be hacked. It's so old it's not even digital equipment!
Install something (and admittedly, this article is scant on details so perhaps I'm sounding an alarm that is premature) that runs on more modern software with more "connectivity" could put us at considerable risk.
I hope that the desire to get government money and jobs out doesn't trump good sense.
In the meantime, I'd like to make one more mention of the fact that, when it comes to nuclear risk (both from our own missiles and from foreign ICBMs), rural areas have always borne the brunt.
For a variety of reasons both political and geographic, it was never population centers or states back east that got to host our country's ICBM infrastructure.
*The picture attached is not from a silo or control center near my house, it is actually from a trip I took to a silo/control center up in SD. Great tour and highly recommended. A quick note: the door art you see in the picture goes back a ways actually. The Titan II silos that preceded the Minuteman had it as well. I look at it as the natural continuation of bomber nose art.
**If you know of someone with an engineering or physics bent, encourage them to look into working at a weapons lab. There is a huge need for scientists and engineers to work on stewardship of our current stockpile of nuclear weapons and that need drives lots of financing for education.
https://www.cpr.org/2023/12/11/air-force-to-update-nuclear-missiles-across-western-states-bringing-them-out-of-the-cold-war-era-but-adding-21st-century-risks/
Glowing soybean plants?
I wanted to share something with you that a friend shared with me (I'm in the mood to think about planting because one of the things I'm doing over the next few days is setting up my seed starting and planting schedule--and buying some new seeds, always new varieties to try).
The link below talks about a genetically modified soybean that fluoresces (glows) under UV light if the plant gets infected with a fungus.
The fungus that can infect soy is (as I understand it, please correct me in the comments if I've goofed) not always fatal, but any invader will stress the plant and stressed plants don't produce well, in addition to the risk that a stressed plant faces from other pathogens.
One of the keys to effective treatment is to catch it early and this engineered soybean plant will glow under UV light when the plant's immune system sees that its got an infection.
In addition, as anyone who's bought them can tell you, chemicals are expensive and it would sure be nice to not have to spray everything if there is only a small pocket of infection in a field.**
Pretty interesting idea, but I remember talking with my friend that I'm a little concerned here. I like the technology. I like that it would help farmers.
I just have some (minor) anxiety about this in the same sort of sense that you see in Jurassic Park. Who knows how this sort of tinkering will affect an unknowingly-complex biological world.
I don't have an issue eating any GMO (genetically modified organism) that has been tested for safety, but the concern is more that if these thing breed with others and that gene changes in a way that we don't have control of, or perhaps we don't monitor, what then?
In the meantime, be ready for rural areas to get a bit brighter. At least in regions where they're growing soy.
**This is part of a growing effort at what is called Precision Ag. If that sort of thing is of interest to you, check out your local schools because there are some interesting developments and it's growing ... field.
https://www.agriculture.com/innerplant-and-growmark-launch-soybean-sentinel-project-8413269?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1702078308https://www.agriculture.com/innerplant-and-growmark-launch-soybean-sentinel-project-8413269?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1702078308
Be watchful for the Assembly’s attempts to change the initiative and amendment process.
If you like a lengthy essay and consideration of the ability of states to amend their constitutions, have I got a deal for you!
In one of my wanderings, I came across the Yale Law Journal essay below and have had it my pocket to share for some time.
Not sure how much interest (or stomach) you have for the law review articles, so I'll leave it to you to read up on the topic if you'd like.
What I do want to call to your attention, however, by contrast to some of the states mentioned in the essay, Colorado offers multiple chances for we the people to do things ourselves (without needing any involvement at all by any branch of government--save for the Secretary of State's office to handle the signatures and ballot).
And, I want to call to your attention how it is important that we the people watch this right. To further that idea, here's a quote from the essay (note--I have removed the footnote numbers, but you can find them in the essay if you want to follow up on sources):
"Today, the right to amend is under attack. Across the country, state legislatures are imposing signature requirements for popular initiatives that would make the ballot-qualification process nearly impossible; introducing supermajority approval requirements; and adopting deadlines, mandatory reviews, and wording requirements for popular initiatives that do not apply to amendments the legislature itself proposes. Many of these burdens on the popular-initiative process cannot be viewed as good-government reforms. Indeed, some legislators have been quite explicit about their desire to limit the amendment power or to block particular measures supported by the people but not their representatives—the very divergence that inspired adoption of the constitutional initiative to privilege the people."
I think attack is a bit of an overstatement here, but we do need to be careful.
I remember voting for a change to the way that Colorado citizens amend the constitution years ago. There are more details and history there, but the short answer is that we voters made it harder to do a citizen initiative amendment. I still support those changes today. They are a reasonable chance to pump the brakes and double check what might be a bad idea, without seriously hampering the ability for citizens to effect change.
I am concerned, however, by recent encroachments by our Democrat-led Assembly however. Excepting from the quote above will sound familiar, "...wording requirements for popular initiatives that do not apply to amendments the legislature itself proposes"
Think, Prop HH. Think the new ballot scare language the Assembly makes us put on initiatives. These are blatant attempts to have different rules for different groups and to hamper our ability to effect change.
Our state will keep the character its had for decades if and only if we stand up to make that happen. Resist attempts to change the structure of the state constitution and/or initiative process.
https://www.yalelawjournal.org/forum/the-right-to-amend-state-constitutions#_ftnref86