In an essay written two years before dying, Dick described how he learned from his Episcopalian priest that an important scene in the novel was very similar to a scene in the Acts of the Apostles. Richard Linklater talks about this novel in his movie Waking Life, which begins with a scene reminiscent of another Dick novel, Time out of Joint.
"A Scanner Darkly" (1977) is a bleak mixture of science fiction and police procedural novels. In its story, an undercover narcotics police detective begins to lose touch with reality. This is because he becomes a victim of the drug he should have fought against. This drug is called "SubstanceD". It permanently changes the mind of the people who take it. Substance D is instantly addictive. It starts with a pleasant euphoria. This feeling is quickly replaced with increasing confusion, hallucinations and eventually total psychosis. It was adapted to movie by Richard Linklater.
"VALIS," (1980) is perhaps Dick’s most postmodern and autobiographical novel. It looks at his own unexplained experiences. Some people also see it as his most academic work. It was made into an opera by Tod Machover. "VALIS" was voted Philip K. Dick‘s best novel at the website philipkdickfans.com.
His later works, especially the "VALIS trilogy", were heavily autobiographical.The word "VALIS" is the acronym for "Vast Active Living Intelligence System"; it is the title of a novel. The theme can be found in at least three more novels. Later, PKD thought that VALIS was both a "reality generator" and a means of extraterrestrial communication.
Dick has had a big impact on modern philosophy. The things he wrote about postmodernity have been noted by many philosophers. Among them were Jean Baudrillard, Fredric Jameson and Slavoj Žižek. Žižek is especially fond of using Dick's short stories to articulate the ideas of Jacques Lacan. For Baudrillard, Dick is the ultimate articulation of hyperreality:
"It is hyperreal. It is a universe of simulation, which is something altogether different. And this is so not because Dick speaks specifically of simulacra. SF has always done so, but it has always played upon the double, on artificial replication or imaginary duplication, whereas here the double has disappeared. There is no more double; one is always already in the other world, an other world which is not another, without mirrors or projection or utopias as means for reflection. The simulation is impassable, unsurpassable, checkmated, without exteriority. We can no longer move "through the mirror" to the other side, as we could during the golden age of transcendence."
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a NASA research center in Pasadena, California.
Renewable energy commercialization
Renewable energy commercialization involves many different technologies, including solar photovoltaics, solar thermal power plants, solar heating and cooling systems, wind power, hydroelectricity, geothermal power, biomass, and ocean energy systems. Each is at a different stage of development, yet the market is growing for many renewables.
Renewables contributed 19 percent to our energy consumption and 22 percent to our electricity generation in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Both, modern renewables, such as hydro, wind, solar and biofuels, as well as traditional biomass, contributed in about equal parts to the global energy supply. Worldwide investments in renewable technologies amounted to more than US$214 billion in 2013, with countries like China and the United States heavily investing in wind, hydro, solar and biofuels.
Renewable energy resources exist over wide geographical areas, in contrast to other energy sources, which are concentrated in a limited number of countries. Rapid deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency is resulting in significant energy security, climate change mitigation, and economic benefits. In international public opinion surveys there is strong support for promoting renewable sources such as solar power and wind power. At the national level, at least 30 nations around the world already have renewable energy contributing more than 20 percent of energy supply. National renewable energy markets are projected to continue to grow strongly in the coming decade and beyond.
While many renewable energy projects are large-scale, renewable technologies are also suited to rural and remote areas, where energy is often crucial in human development. Globally, an estimated 3 million households get power from small solar PV systems. Micro-hydro systems configured into village-scale or county-scale mini-grids serve many areas. More than 30 million rural households get lighting and cooking from biogas made in household-scale digesters. Biomass cookstoves are used by 160 million households.
Climate change, pollution, and energy insecurity are significant problems and addressing them requires major changes to energy supply and use. Renewable energy technologies are essential contributors to the energy supply portfolio, as they contribute to world energy security, reduce dependency on fossil fuels, and help to reduce greenhouse gases. Climate-disrupting fossil fuels are being replaced by clean, climate-stabilizing, non-depletable sources of energy:
In global public opinion surveys there is strong support for promoting renewable sources such as solar power and wind power, requiring utilities to use more renewable energy, and providing tax incentives to encourage the development and use of such technologies.
EU member countries have ambitious renewable energy goals. In 2010, Eurobarometer polled the twenty-seven EU member states about the target "to increase the share of renewable energy in the EU by 20 percent by 2020". Most people in all twenty-seven countries either approved of the target or called for it to go further.
As of 2011, new evidence has shown that there are large risks associated with traditional energy sources, and that major changes to the mix of energy technologies is needed. Several mining tragedies globally have underscored the human toll of the coal supply chain. New EPA initiatives targeting air toxics, coal ash, and effluent releases highlight the environmental impacts of coal and the cost of addressing them with control technologies. Events at the Fukushima nuclear plant have renewed doubts about the ability to operate many nuclear plants safely over the long term. Cost estimates for “next generation” nuclear units continue to climb, and lenders are unwilling to finance these plants without taxpayer guarantees.
Mapudungun
Mapudungun is a language isolate spoken by Mapuche people, in Chile and Argentina. Even after the arrival of the Spaniards, ethnic groups in Argentina adopted Mapudungun, for instance Patagonians or Tehuelche. This process is named araucanization. Today, its speakers number 260,000, with 250,000 in the Central Valley of Chile and 10,000 in the Argentinian region of Patagonia.
The name of the boldo tree comes from the Mapudungun word "foldo". The word "Poncho" was adopted by Spanish and many other languages. It may have come from the Mapudungun word "pontro" or from the Quechua word "punchu".
Impurity
Something that has impurity is not pure. For example, water that is clean would be called pure water. Water that is dirty would be called impure water. This may result in a change in melting point or boiling point.
Impurities may be harmful. For example, an engine works bad when its fuel is not pure.
Impure materials are useful sometimes. Alloys are metals with impurities. Solar cells are made of silicon crystals, but a very small amount of impurity (0.001% to 0.01%) is needed in them to work.
Queen's Hall
The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Central London, England. It opened in 1893. It is best known for being where the Promenade Concerts were started by Robert Newman in 1895.