Full on the last day and Blue besides

I find it pretty amazing that we end up with a full moon on the last day of 2009 and thus the last day of the decade. And then to throw a bit of hoopla on the situation, it turns out that tonight's full moon is a Blue Moon.

Now of course everybody knows what a Blue Moon is........but just in case....a Blue Moon is a full moon that has appeared twice in the same month. It happens approximately every 2 and one half years so it ain't like watching Haley's Comet, but it's still an interesting event that will allow you to kiss your partner, or your partner's friend, a little bit harder and a little bit longer.

In my case I'll read an extra chapter of the latest Dean Koontz novel.

By the way I am available for designated driver if the need arises. Of course if you are out of town you need to pay expenses and transportation which could end up in the thousands so I suggest you either stay home or have a cab companies phone number stamped on your forehead.

With the overwhelming amount of tattoo's being applied I don't think anyone will even notice. In fact having numbers printed on your forehead might be the next big fad.

Or Equations would be interesting. Some of them are very beautiful....if of course you think mathematical things can be beautiful. Math is so abstract for me that each one I look at just boggles my mind.

Two full moons in one month is making me a bit wacky.

Like I needed any help in that department!

My New Year's wish for you and everyone else I know or will know is that you get all the help you need to achieve the greatest things that can be imagined within your reality.

In other words.....buy some of my artwork and

May all your dreams come true

Tomorrow I'll deal with the strange story of the 8 CIA agents who were killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan but for now I'll simply say.....

Happy New Year

and

Peace......if it is at all possible.

Michael Timothy McAlevey

Movies and me

The first time I went on a date my mom took me and the new chick in my life to a double feature. I think the girl's name was Glenna but I'm not really sure because I had a horse and babes were all over me.

Well, they actually were all over my horse but they had to go through me to get a ride.

I was 11 years old and the double feature was LOVE ME TENDER and APRIL LOVE.

It was early 1957 because LOVE ME TENDER had been released in November of 1956 but where we lived didn't exactly have a multi-screen complex, so when APRIL LOVE was released in 1957 the owner of the only theater in Sylmar brought Elvis and Pat into my dating life.

Keep in mind that all movie experiences in those days included two movies, a cartoon and possibly a news-reel.

I realize I'm making Sylmar sound a lot like Bozeman, Montana but in 1957 Sylmar was like Bozeman, Montana....but probably not as big. The roads were dirt and horses were everywhere....along with sheep, goats, chickens and a very large enrollment in the local 4-H club.

But on that special afternoon in 1957 there was lot of love in the air and on the screen and in my developing frontal cortex.

I think it might have been the first dark place I ever took a hot young babe. I don't remember getting slapped and I don't remember getting a kiss goodnight but I do remember hearing something about "I'll be over tomorrow for a ride."

I'm not sure my 11 year old brain thought of the different aspects regarding that comment but I might have gotten a little wood....but I doubt it.

I'm pretty sure I didn't have to confess it but then again the amount of guilt from Sister Mary Margaret might have forced me into the little tiny confessional room.

By the way Elvis trumped Pat Boone rather easily but both movies were memorable because it turns out.......I like movies.

The truth of the matter is.....I love movies.

I can usually find something worthwhile in every single film I watch. Sometimes it might just be the music over the closing credits but anything on the big screen is like a great day on the golf course....and any day on the golf course is a great day.

I look back at 2009 and realize that there were some very good days at the movies.

Each type of film leaves a different impression so therefore it's not really fair to say The Hurt Locker was a better film than Avatar. I do know that I was mentally drained after watching The Hurt Locker and visually much more pleased after watching Avatar.

I was wonderfully surprised after viewing The Fantastic Mr. Fox and quite impressed with the reality aspects of The Blind Side.

District 9 totally impressed me with it's uniqueness and UP IN THE AIR had great repeated dialogue scenes.

It's Complicated probably made me laugh more than any other comedy other than WHATEVER WORKS by Woody Allen (that apparently no one saw or even heard about)

I've yet to see Crazy Heart or Nine and from what I've heard they both should be wonderful.

All in all I think it's been a very good year for film but then again I thought 1957 was a very good year for film......and now that I think about it.......so has every year since 1931.

So.....I've got a movie problem.....all I have to say to that is...........

WHERE'S THE FREAKING POPCORN?

Michael Timothy McAlevey

By the WAY.....to the right side

If you notice on the right side of this screen the names Apple, Google and Microsoft appear.

These are current news stories from those three companies....NOT ADS.

Keep in mind that had you bought those three stocks in March of 2009 your portfolio would be up.......

HUGE!

Microsoft in March was 14.87......Today 31+

Google in March was 282.78........Today 623+

Apple in March was 78.20...........Today 212+

I started including their news feeds sometime during the summer because it was obvious to me that as they roll, so rolls......

EVERYTHING in Technology

And if someone appears on the scene that might interrupt their playing field then most likely they will be bought by one of the three.

Please note that I'm not talking about what you would have if you had bought when they started in business....

Those numbers are hard to imagine by normal investors.....

I'M TALKING SINCE MARCH OF 2009

COMBINED INCREASE OF BETTER THAN 70%

If you read the news stories that are posted on the right side of my blog you will be able to identify how and why these are the three predominate players in the Technology sector.

I'm not suggesting buying shares, because there will be times of correction and I don't want anyone bitchin at me....but if you did have these three companies in your portfolio most likely in ten years you would be a very happy investor.

Keep in mind that Microsoft and Apple have SPLIT multiple times so don't look for them to be issuing anymore shares.....soon.

GOOGLE on the other hand HAS NEVER SPLIT and my gut feeling says it's got to happen sooner than later.

Of course you could always check with Jim Cramer on Mad Money just to make sure.

Invest wisely and diversify.

Michael Timothy McAlevey

Three years

For 50 years I have been involved in journal writing. I started my first one as a teenager. My journals consist of writing and artwork and and in the 80's they started becoming something else other than a journal.

Something other than a journal?????

Three years ago today I started Mind Jazz and it is something other than a journal.

I try to write an "article" almost every day. I look back on three years and realize that out of 1095 days I only wrote 647 "articles."

And since there is a fee involved because of the Ads placed on the site, then I technically can say that I am a PAID article writer.....or an IC (Internet columnist) if that makes more sense.

But my latest expression is WGAFF

So after three years of Internet articles and fifty years of creating art

WGAFF?

How would you pronounce WGAFF?

The only thing that matters is that my daughter actually told me last week that she read my blog and thought it was quite good.

It took her three years to read it and most likely she won't read it again.

There's something strange going on when it comes to my writing...but then again you probably already knew that.

Very few family members have read any of my scripts. I realize that there are only four scripts but it's like I've been told....."Hey if it's not being made into a movie then WGAFF.

Other people I know who know people I know who know that I have written scripts.....don't have the slightest idea that I have written scripts and the only answer to that is that there is some type of "invisible" gamma clusters involved in what I do and it results in my wondering....

WGAFF?????????????????????

Well....it turns out that I GAFF and therefore Mind Jazz will continue and I will continue working on my latest script and I will keep creating art that nobody wants to see and I will process the notion that everything I do is for post production acceptance.

I can live with it because I've had a lot of practice.

In fact the body of work I've created in my lifetime is entirely due to the fact that it makes me work harder when no one seems to care.

I'm not being pitiful.... I'm just being factual, but after everything is said and done.....

WRGAFF??????

I should have been an actor instead of an artist and then I could pretend to be an artist and blame it all on the badly written script.

Three years of Mind Jazz !

I do want to thank those of you who have read it from time to time.

I realize, unlike me, that you have many other options

when it comes to reading material online.

Hopefully the substance of my "articles" will improve during this next year.

My goal is write the perfect "article" and I know that I haven't done that yet.....so onward and upward.

Again thank you very much for checking out MIND JAZZ from time to time.

I love you.

Michael Timothy McAlevey

CONTINUATION OF THE FUTURE

The future seems pretty secure with or without this participant. Certain things will happen and other things will cease.

Predicting events that will take place belongs to characters like Nostradamus, David Letterman and Lady Ga Ga.

I'm not so much into actual visualizing of destructive moments.....more like "relax and enjoy what could take place.

JEFF BRIDGES will win a couple Academy Awards before 2020.

FACEBOOK will introduce a "member fee." It won't be much but 30 percent of the users will disappear.

BARNES and NOBLE will suddenly realize that promoting E-Books was not a good idea for their core business....but by then profits will be down 40%.

McDonald's will introduce the .50 cent menu and .50 will be their spokesman.

An actor of renown (hopefully female) will discover my scripts and each one of them will make it to the screen. There will be an abundance of rewriting and the original screenwriter will be banished from the lot.

The Buss family will buy the Dodgers and decide that Los Angeles should spend the same amount every year as the Yankees. The new World Series will be the financial battle between the Dodgers and the Yankees. The actual games won't matter anymore when both teams are spending $350 million a year on payroll.

Every great player will either be on the Yankees or the Dodgers.

The rest of baseball will be reclassified as the Minor Leagues

The St. Louis Rams will move to Cuba and become the "CUBANO RAMS"

Conservative politicians and scientists will continue to deny Global Warming right up until Manhattan is two inches underwater.

My story "Aunt Martha" will win the Pulitzer Prize for best fiction of 2016

Because of the success of my story there will be extreme interest in my artwork and I will hear an abundance of...."Are those done on a computer?"

My Dad will turn 100 and still shoot his age on the golf course.

Cortney Muhlbach will decide to go on and become a doctor and start his practice at the age of 40 and retire at 85 after 45 years of private practice.

Seamus Garrity and Ryan Gruzen will collaborate on a film score and realize it should have happened a long time ago.

Afghanistan will sell itself to China and China will option it out to any countries who like to wage war in an open and desolate environment. Afghanistan will become the only territory where war is allowed.

A man-made Grand Canyon will start to be dug, with small shovels, in North Dakota by federal prisoners who have committed violent crimes and within five years violent crime will be down 80%.

A large water pipe line will be built from the state of Washington to California. Sponsored by Bill Gates and Warren Buffet it will be called the Buffet Bill Project. They will sell advertising per mile and make millions and millions.

Time to wrap stuff so I will wrap this up for now.....of course there's still a lot more things that will happen.....but then again you already knew that.

HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

Michael Timothy McAlevey

Decade and the future

I was going to pontificate on why the last decade moved so quickly but then realized the older one gets the faster a decade moves and decided WGAFF.

Obviously there were large events during the last decade and if you don't remember them then you are steps ahead of me in the process of living in the "now" or always looking forward to the next challenge or the next rainbow.

Do you actually know anybody who looks forward to rainbows? They are very hard to predict unless you have a hose and the right sun angle so I doubt if you know anybody like that. Of course you could have a relative in one of those places where rainbow sightings have nothing to do with weather.....much like nightmares have nothing to do with dreams.

Now that I've brought it up.......are there still Insane-asylums?

I realize the word has been replaced by Mental Hospital OR Nursing Home for the Wacky but I wonder when the term was removed from dictionaries?

When I was growing up there was always the Insane-asylum waiting in the background for those of us who didn't behave ourselves. But it seemed to be spelled another way. Obviously I can't verify the spelling if it no longer resides in the dictionary.

I honestly remember nuns threatening me with words like....."Timmmmy you are going to end up in an Insane-asylum if you don't start behaving."

I realize I blame a lot of my baggage on the nuns but gee-whiz they worked us like the putty we were....and lots of their bs stuck big time in certain corners of my mind.

If you are under 60 and didn't get taught by nuns then you have no idea what I'm talking about.

I wonder how many Bi-Polar people were sent to Insane-asylums back in the day? It had to be extremely weird for a Bi-Polar person to be incarcerated with totally insane people. Keep in mind that Bi-Polar people have extensive times of being "normal" during any given time period.

A "normal time period" can last for days or maybe even weeks.

This is the kind of thing that happens when I look back.

So study the last decade and determine what was the most important things for you and then grab your ass and hold on for the next one and if you are lucky you'll get through it with no scars and no visits to the Insane-asylum.

The things we have to look toward.....are much more interesting to me.

SOME BASIC PREDICTIONS FOR THE NEXT DECADE

Healthy food will be much more important to the average American.

Individual farming will be common place and land away from municipalities will be highly coveted.

Cell phones will not be placed next to the ear.........ever.

Apple computers will be so thin and large that separate rooms will have to be created for the computer. Desks will only hold the wireless keyboard.

3D television viewing will be common place and the glasses will be sold at optometry stores.....in a wide range of prices.

Tiger Woods and Michelle Obama will get married and start a special foundation for God only knows what. (That actually might not happen until the decade after the one starting next week)

Barack Obama will end up with Diane Sawyers daughter but again that might be two decades away.

Human Growth Hormones will be finally understood by the public and will be used on a regular basis by anyone who can afford them. They will be very expensive until generic HGH comes along. Generic HGH will have flaws very similar to regular human activity.

I will still not be able to break 80

Politicians will be finally figured out as being corrupt and be eliminated from decision making processes. Internet Voting will replace them regarding decisions. They will still be physically present because someone needs to fill the seats in the senate. After all it's a great room and it does have a lot of history.

I'll continue this application to the Insane-asylum tomorrow.....right now I've got to do some last minute shopping.

Oh wait a sec....it's only the 23rd. I still have tomorrow.

God willing of course.

Have you seen Avatar yet? It's only made $350 million worldwide.....Mr. Cameron needs your help so that he can enjoy the next decade in grand style.

Michael Timothy McAlevey

STYLE and ...............some of these

My blog is called MIND JAZZ for a reason. Jack Neworth, the noted local Santa Monica columnist, who suggested that term over three years ago when describing how I write, deserves full credit for the name. Whether or not Jack appreciates my style is still up for review. Since he is a literary artist I think he appreciates alternative styles.

Alternative style has always been the "glitch" in my "hitch."

The alternative "hitch" being more of the way I do certain things, particularly in my writing and my art, then in musical preferences. Therefore none of this has anything to do with music so if you need to bail.........now is the time.

Still here?

Please refer back to the end of the last paragraph to visualize where this article is headed.

Note the multiple periods, or dots, between the word bail and the word now.

Obviously the three dot ... grammatical tool is called an ELLIPSIS

I HAVE HAD

ELLIPSISGRANDEXTREMISM........... since I was a very young person.

SOMETIMES I USE FOUR PERIODS AND SOMETIMES I USE............MANY MANY MANY MORE.

You also will note that I suffer from CAPITOLGRANDEXTREMISM on a regular basis.

I also used to intentionally not tie my shoe laces when I was in grammar school because I liked the look. The nuns generally had a conniption when I explained that................. "it was my style."

I realize that whoever might be reading what I write could pause and never return to the piece.......just like the nuns would stop talking to me and send me to the nearest corner to meditate on my odd ways.

It's a chance one takes when one records anything or says something to a nun that isn't part of their daily habit.

Wkipedia insert

Ellipsis (plural ellipses; from the Greek: ἔλλειψις, élleipsis, "omission") is a mark or series of marks that usually indicate an intentional omission of a word or a phrase from the original text. An ellipsis can also be used to indicate a pause in speech, an unfinished thought, or, at the end of a sentence, a trailing off into silence (aposiopesis) (apostrophe and elipsis mixed). The ellipsis calls for a slight pause in speech.

OBVIOUSLY SOMETIMES I WANT THE READER TO PAUSE BEYOND A NORMAL AMOUNT OF TIME..........and the only way, I see that happening, is if I create that pause...........with a bunch of these....................

I think it comes down to the art of making a point........no pun intended, but one created none the less.

Interestingly enough Wikipedia states the following.

On the Internet and in text messaging

The ellipsis is one of the favorite constructions of internet chat rooms, and has evolved over the past ten years into a staple of text-messaging. Though an ellipsis is technically complete with three periods (...), its rise in popularity as a "trailing-off" or "silence" indicator, particularly in mid-20th century comic strip and comic book prose writing, has led to expanded uses online. It has been used in new ways online, sometimes at the end of a message "to signal that the rest of the message is forthcoming." ^[5]

Today, extended ellipsis of two, seven, ten, or even dozens of periods have become common constructions in internet chat rooms and text messages.^[6]

"Elliptical commas", or, commas used in plurality for the effect of ellipsis or multiple ellipsis, have also grown in popularity online—though no style journal or manual has yet embraced them.^[6]

I do try to tone down the

ELLIPSISGRANDEXTREMISM

when writing a script because script readers are usually recent college graduates and structure is extremely important to their freshly schooled minds.

Most of the time the only people who read my scripts are very close friends and they either like the story or don't like the story and I hear very little about grammatical references..........but maybe they have them and hesitate about sharing......humm.

My ELLIPSISGRANDEXTREMISM might be a problem that needs to be addressed. I wonder if there are organized meetings for this type of problem.

"Hello my name is Michael Timothy and I have..............Eliipsisgrandextremism"

The response would probably be......................"WGAFF"

If you don't know what WGAFF means.........figure it out.

Well....... back to something a bit more important....................maybe!

It's only 10 days to the end of another year and the end of another decade

Tomorrow I'll point how why this decade moved so fast.........and then listen to certain people tell me that they all move fast.

But today I just want to end on a certain .

Just one because I'm trying to work on my ELLIPSISGRANDEXTREMISM........ok?

Michael Timothy McAlevey

SPECTACULAR and really far away and a little Avatar

I've always loved this picture. I remember in 1767 when it was first discovered. That was quite a year for those of us stranded on the planet Earth.

The Sombrero Galaxy

Wikipedia information on The Sombrero Galaxy

Distance

At least two methods have been used to measure the distance to the Sombrero Galaxy.

The first method relies on comparing the measured fluxes from planetary nebulae in the Sombrero Galaxy to the known luminosities of planetary nebulae in the Milky Way. This method gave the distance to the Sombrero Galaxy as 29.0 ± 2.0 Mly (8.9 ± 0.6 Mpc).^[1]

The other method used is the surface brightness fluctuations method. This method uses the grainy appearance of the galaxy's bulge to estimate the distance to it. Nearby galaxy bulges will appear very grainy, while more distant bulges will appear smooth. Early measurements using this technique gave distances of 30.6 ± 1.3 Mly (9.4 ± 0.4 Mpc).^[25] Later, after some refinement of the technique, a distance of 32 ± 3Mly (9.8 ± 0.8 Mpc) was measured.^[26] This was even further refined in 2003 to be 29.6 ± 2.5 Mly (9.1 ± 0.8 Mpc).^[2]

The average distance measured through these two techniques is 29.3 Mly (9.0 Mpc) with an uncertainty of 1.6 Mly (0.5 Mpc).^[a]

IT'S SO INTERESTING TO NOTE THAT ACTUAL DISTANCE ISN'T STATED BUT TRUST ME WHEN I SAY THAT IT IS REALLY REALLY FAR AWAY

MORE INFO FROM WIKIPEDIA

Nucleus

The nucleus of the Sombrero galaxy is classified as a low ionization nuclear emission region (LINER).^[12] These are nuclear regions where ionized gas is present, but the ions are only weakly ionized (i.e. the atoms are missing relatively few electrons). The source of energy for ionizing the gas in LINERs has been debated extensively. Some LINER nuclei may be powered by hot, young stars found in star formation regions, whereas other LINER nuclei may be powered by active galactic nuclei (highly energetic regions that contain supermassive black holes). Infrared spectroscopyobservations have demonstrated that the nucleus of the Sombrero Galaxy is probably devoid of any significant star formation activity. However, a supermassive black hole has been identified in the nucleus (as discussed in the subsection below), so thisactive galactic nucleus is probably the energy source that weakly ionizes the gas in the Sombrero Galaxy.^[8]

[edit]Central supermassive black hole

In the 1990s, a research group led by John Kormendy demonstrated that asupermassive black hole is present within the Sombrero Galaxy.^[13] Usingspectroscopy data from both the CFHT and the Hubble Space Telescope, the group showed that the speed of rotation of the stars within the center of the galaxy could not be maintained unless a mass 1 billion times the mass of the Sun, or 10⁹M_☉, is present in the center.^[13] This is among the most massive black holes measured in any nearby galaxies.

THE MOST MASSIVE BLACK HOLE MEASURED IN ANY NEARBY GALAXY. SO FUNNY HOW THEY USE THE TERM NEARBY.

Discovery

The Sombrero Galaxy was discovered in March of 1767 by Pierre Méchain, who described the object in a May 1767 letter to J. Bernoulli that was later published in theBerliner Astronomisches Jahrbuch.^[5][6] Charles Messier made a hand-written note about this and five other objects (now collectively recognized as M104 - M109) to his personal list of objects now known as the Messier Catalogue, but it was not "officially" included until 1921.^[6] William Herschel independently discovered the object in 1784 and additionally noted the presence of a "dark stratum" in the galaxy's disc, what is now called a dust lane.^[5][6] Later astronomers were able to connect Méchain's and Herschel's observations.^[6]

HOW WERE THESE GUYS DISCOVERING ANYTHING? HOW BIG WERE THEIR TELESCOPES COMPARED TO PRESENT EQUIPMENT?

SO MANY QUESTIONS

SO MUCH SPACE TO OBSERVE

And in Copenhagen nobody can agree on how to solve our own personal problems regarding the environment.

That's why looking into Space is so cool.......

Discovery after discovery!

It's nice to know that someone like James Cameron,who is a fellow human being, can create his own world and somehow bring that vision to the screen.

AVATAR is a spectacular visual experience

Something akin to the Sombrero Galaxy and a lot closer to home......like just down the street and around the corner.

Michael Timothy McAlevey

Telling a story

Clint Eastwood tells a story on film as well as anyone working in the biz.

INVICTUS

recaptures a moment in time that many of us in America just have overlooked or ignored. Recalling the early 90's in South Africa all I remember is the constant threat that civil war was going to break out any day and that the black majority would be attempting to remove the white minority from all aspects of running South Africa.

A blood bath was apparently on the agenda.

It didn't happen, and for Clint to make a movie showing how Nelson Mandela conducted his life through the experiences of a Rugby team is truly amazing. The Rugby World Cup in 1995 was very small part of the reunification process when you look at the overall situation. I'm sure Mr. Mandela's personality was the actual peace pipe in the process and his actions allowed for both sides to step toward the middle of calmness and solutions.

But having a single moment where all people can look to one thing and cheer is truly an amazing moment.

And a moment that does not happen on a regular basis in any country.

Add the tension that had to be present at that time in that country and one can truly understand how important it was for South Africa to win that event.

I don't think 99% of us who will see this film have any idea what the rules of Rugby are but that does not matter one tiny bit.

What we do know is that certain people come along at certain times and things just seem to work out. Clint uses a film to remind us how important those people and those times can be.

Nelson Mandella was born to play an incredible role in the modern history of our planet.

Morgan Freeman was born to play Nelson Mandela.

And Clint was born to capture the whole deal on film.

Check it out!

Michael Timothy McAlevey

Conflicts of interest

RARE EARTH MATERIALS

IMPORTANT BUT......OUCH

FROM WIKIPEDIA

Technological applications

These rare-earth oxides are used as tracers to determine which parts of a watershed are eroding. Clockwise from top center: praseodymium, cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, samarium, and gadolinium.^[4]

Rare earth elements are incorporated into many modern technological devices, including superconductors, samarium-cobalt and neodymium-iron-boron high-flux rare-earth magnets, electronic polishers, refining catalysts and hybrid car components (primarily batteries and magnets).^[5] Rare earth ions are used as the active ions in luminescent materials used in optoelectronics applications, most notably the Nd:YAG laser. Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers are significant devices in optical-fiber communication systems. Phosphorswith rare earth dopants are also widely used in cathode ray tube technology such as television sets. The earliest color television CRTs had a poor-quality red; europium as a phosphor dopant made good red phosphors possible. Yttrium iron garnet (YIG) spheres have been useful as tunable microwave resonators. Rare earth oxides are mixed with tungsten to improve its high temperature properties for welding, replacing thorium, which was mildly hazardous to work with.

[edit]Global rare earth production

Global production 1950-2000

Until 1948, most of the world's rare earths were sourced from placersand deposits in India and Brazil.^[6] Through the 1950s, South Africa took the status as the world's rare earth source, after large rare earth bearing veins were discovered in Monazite.^[6] Today, those Indian and South African deposits still produce some rare earth concentrates, but they are dwarfed by the scale of Chinese production. China now produces over 95% of the world's rare earth supply.^[5]

The use of rare earth elements in modern technology has increased dramatically over the past years. For example, dysprosium has gained significant importance for its use in the construction of hybrid carmotors.^[7] Unfortunately, this new demand has strained supply, and there is growing concern that the world may soon face a shortage of the materials.^[8] In several years, worldwide demand for rare earth elements is expected to exceed supply by 40,000 tonnes annually unless major new sources are developed.^[9] All of the world's heavy rare earths (such as dysprosium) are sourced from Chinese rare earth sources such as the polymetallic Bayan Obo deposit.^[10] Illegal rare earth mines are common in rural China and are often known to release toxic wastes into the general water supply.^[11] A rare earth element mine in California is set to reopen by 2012. A site at Thor Lake in the Northwest Territories is also under development. Locations in Vietnam have also been considered.^[9]

Chinese export quotas have also resulted in a dramatic shift in the world's rare earth knowledge base. For example, the division of General Motors which deals with miniaturized magnet research shut down its US office and moved all of its staff to China in 2006.^[12]

On Sept. 1, 2009, China announced plans to reduce its quota to 35,000 tons per year in 2010-2015, supposedly to conserve scarce resources and protect the environment.^[13] Other sources of rare earth has been searched to avoid shortages and China's monopoly, mainly in South Africa, Brazil and the United States.^[14]

ON THE ONE HAND

AND THEN THE OTHER

WHAT TO DO

MY SISTER AND BROTHER

I WANT THE GOODS

BUT NOT THE PAIN

WHAT TO DO?????

Michael Timothy McAlevey