Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Random this and that

I'm constantly amazed by Jesus. I feel such strong emotions while worshiping. I am amazed that the love of Jesus and from Jesus can be so universal, so powerful, and the desire to worship Him the best way I can is so permeating, that it transcends my very brain structure and pierces every biological limit. I feel sometimes that I love Him so much I am about to burst! I feel close to Him in a great and wonderful way.

I like to read a Pastor’s blog that has a goal of encouragement. It really does meet that goal every day, for me at least. He is a good writer and what he writes about is uplifting. It's "Pastor Paul's Blog" a pastor from LaSalle, Quebec, Canada. Yesterday he wrote about “Letting to of our victim mentality” and its main message was having strong faith and taking bold action on that faith, because Jesus is there to sustain us. The message reminded me of a person who always has the opposite message:opposite: Beth Moore, who is always telling us that we are victims. Victims of falling into pits. Victims of circumstance. Victims of our past. But I prefer the message of the Pastor who says that of anyone who could legitimately claim victimhood, Paul, when on the boat in the storm took such a bold stand for Jesus that the sailors on the ship cut away the lifeboat. They did not look at their past and moan about it. They did not look at the storm and cry about it. They looked past the storm, and chose to depend on the promises of Jesus. Now that's strength!

I watched a documentary about Fractals last night on NOVA. It was pretty interesting. I remember when I used to subscribe to Smithsonian Magazine in the 1980s, the cover at one time featured this new geometry. I read the article bug didn't understand it. I said to myself that someday I was going to study it again, and I guess that was last night. Fractals as I understand it, is a geometry that brings to visual life in this dimension the curvy geometry, as opposed to straight geometry such as Euclidean geometry. Of course, that is a gross oversimplification, but to add to the confusion, it also brings to life the half dimension. Fractal geometry isn't 2 dimensional, or three dimensional, but somewhere in between. NOVA's program description is "You may not know it, but fractals, like the air you breathe, are all around you. Their irregular, repeating shapes are found in cloud formations and tree limbs, in stalks of broccoli and craggy mountain ranges, even in the rhythm of the human heart. In this film, NOVA takes viewers on a fascinating quest with a group of maverick mathematicians determined to decipher the rules that govern fractal geometry. For centuries, fractal-like irregular shapes were considered beyond the boundaries of mathematical understanding. Now, mathematicians have finally begun mapping this uncharted territory. Their remarkable findings are deepening our understanding of nature and stimulating a new wave of scientific, medical, and artistic innovation stretching from the ecology of the rain forest to fashion design. The documentary highlights a host of filmmakers, fashion designers, physicians, and researchers who are using fractal geometry to innovate and inspire."

If you zoom in on a fractal, it will look like the bigger fractal, and zoom in again, it will retain its look, and over and over and over, to infinity. Look for yourself, an interactive fractal zoomer widget, here at NOVA.

What I found interesting is that the pattern of branching in tree growth is similar all over the tree, and the pattern of trees in the forests as they grow replicates the same pattern as tree branch growth. Also interesting is that the closer you zoom in on a fractal, the more same it is. Fractals are repetitive, iterative, and, well, here is what NOVA explained: "Applying zoom-ins and different iterative prisms to the numbers in the boundary area of the Mandelbrot set has revealed that this region is a mathematical strange attractor. The "strange attractor" name here applies to the set because it is self-similar at many scales, is infinitely detailed, and attracts points (numbers) to certain recurrent behavior."

In other words, the patterns in the numerical representation of the geometry of the fractal is orderly, and infinite. Just like God. his patterns at the visible level and the invisible level are magnificent. This orderliness did not come from chaos (like a "big Bang"). It came from an orderly mind. God's orderly mind.

At school, I was walking down the hallway leading a group of kindergarten kids. One little guy fell down. I turned to see him getting up. I asked if he was all right, and he said that he was except his hand hurt a little. I said "How did you fall down, anyway?" He said, "Like this," and proceeded to show me by falling down again. I laughed all day over that one.

At church tonight the kids were great. I am always astounded by how the kids have strong spiritual connection to the Truth. For example, I asked the kids to listen to Psalm 100. I re-read it, emphasizing all the words "His". His gates, His people, His sheep, His pasture. I asked them what they thought about what I read. That's all I said. Immediately one of the kids said, "Well, God made it all, so obviously, it's all His." These kids are seven years old.

We're closing on on another day, if it not be the rapture tonight! Have a good one, and see you tomorrow!

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Man vs. bees

Do people have a short fuse these days, or what?

Dude...

Man avenges bee-stung friend, sets hive on fire
"(AP) LYNDEN, Wash. - A Washington state fire chief says a man dumped gasoline on a beehive in a tree in retaliation for a bee sting, then ignited the hive, causing an explosion heard throughout his suburban neighborhood just a few miles south of the Canadian border. Lynden chief Gary Baar tells the Bellingham Herald that the Sunday night fire caused a large "whoosh," singed the tree and killed the bees but no people were hurt. Baar says the man's friend had been stung earlier in the day. The fire chief says, "The correct way to do that is to call a beekeeper." Firefighters explained that to the homeowner, and the newspaper says it doesn't appear that that the man will be cited."



If Syria's regime fails, what happens to its chemical weapons?

The bible prophesies that a certain battle will occur and that prophecy has not been fulfilled. It is parked intercessory prayer for Israel's victory in a battle against her neighbors, and it is in Psalm 83. We know that it has not occurred yet because the specific line-up of nations participating in the war has never happened.

In this battle, Israel is soundly vanquishing attacking enemies Palestinians, Syrians, Saudis, Egyptians, Jordanians, Lebanese, and various terrorist organizations, such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and Al-Qaeda. The victory Israel execute is firm, these nations and organizations do not rise again.

People who watch the prophecies and know the bible wonder what it will take for Israel to go into a battle such as the one described in Psalm 83. Would she be defending herself after a heinous attack Would she be executing  pre-emptive attack because of imminent threats Would it be a retaliation for an accumulated drip-drip of constant rocket and terrorist attacks unknown. But we watch and we notice what is happening int he Middle east from the vantage point of knowing the end and living it in the present. Some things are happening in the Middle East that have me concerned.

Syrian unrest raises fears about chemical arsenal
"The Middle Eastern state with the dangerous chemicals was not Libya, whose modest stockpile was thrust into the spotlight last week because of fighting there. It was Syria, another violence-torn Arab state whose advanced weapons are drawing new concern as the country drifts toward an uncertain future. A sudden collapse of the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could mean a breakdown in controls over the country’s weapons, U.S. officials and weapons experts said in interviews. But while Libya’s chemical arsenal consists of unwieldy canisters filled mostly with mustard gas, the World War I-era blistering agent, Syria possesses some of the deadliest chemicals ever to be weaponized, dispersed in thousands of artillery shells and warheads that are easy to transport."

Dr. Jill Dekker is a consultant to the NATO Defense Establishment in bio-warfare and counter terrorism. Dr. Dekker is also a member of the board of advisors of the Intelligence Summit. She gave an interview to the New English Review in December 2007. In it, she said,

"Contrary to how the US State Department and other agencies tend to downplay the sophistication of the Syrian biological and nuclear programs, they are very advanced. Syria has always had the most advanced chemical weapons program in the Middle East. The US and other western agencies have in a sense been distracted by this, but their biological programs and the “concept of use” are robust. Syria’s biological weapons capability today is closely tied to the former and current Soviet and Russian programs respectively, the DPRK, Iran and the former Iraq regime. A major concern is their strategic concept of use - which has gone from one of ‘special weapons’ to incorporation into their ‘conventional arsenal.’ That is a significant shift and one that seems to have eluded the US. The Syrians run their biological programs out of the Syrian Scientific Research Council (SSRC) in Damascus."

"They have separate wings for separate pathogens. They also have a number of programs running in Aleppo. The Syrians are 100% committed to deniable operations as their modus operandi. Biological weapons, particularly those which might occur naturally, are the ultimate in deniability, for example, their cryptosporidium program for force reduction. The Wednesday Report noted a few years ago that in terms of the Syrian anthrax program, Syria has extensive expertise in the industrial cultivation of germs and viruses for the civilian production of anthrax (and smallpox) vaccines. It also noted that Russian experts, contracted by Syria, are apparently helping them to cultivate a highly virulent anthrax germ for installation in missile warheads. Their pharmaceutical infrastructure is fully integrated with their defense structure. Syrians cannot reach parity with US and Israeli conventional weapons. However, they view their bio-chemical arsenal as part of a normal weapons program. This is a huge shift in thinking by the Syrian military. It means they condone the use of biological pathogens as 'offensive' weapons. NATO and the United States should be very concerned about that re-designation."

We know that in Isaiah 17 the prophecy says Damascus will be destroyed. The prophecy does not say when or how, just that the city and its area will be razed and unfit for human habitation.

Israel knows that Damascus is a center for bio-warfare. Israel knows that the regime handling these deadly weapons at their abutting border is fighting for its life, gasping even today. How far will Israel demonstrate restraint in the face of these threats? This week an opinion piece in the Jerusalem Post proposed that Israel should intervene in Syria.
"There is no question Israel will have to deal with a post-Assad Syria, so why not start that process now? For those who support Israel, perhaps the most ironclad principle of our diplomatic posture is non-intervention in the Arab Spring. Unless there is an active Arab attempt to drag Israel into conflict to deflect popular internal dissent – as Bashar Assad attempted on the Golan to protest Naksa Day in June – conventional wisdom has Israel withdrawn to the periphery. The argument, of course, is that a provoked Israeli response is just the tonic embattled Arab despots need to deflect attention to the old Zionist monster under the bed and stir up Iranian and leftist critiques of Israel. Further, a desperate Assad (or even post-Mubarak Egypt) might escalate to non-conventional weapons in a bid to retain power: the massive Israeli retaliation would end internal uprisings. These high-risk scenarios cultivate a conservative Israeli mindset according to which the Devil one knows is better than the Devil one doesn’t."

More at link. The devil indeed...

Is Israel rousing herself? Today, Israel sent two warships to the Egyptian border.
"Military sources tell AP Israeli Navy sent additional warships to maritime border with Egypt following intelligence indicating viable terror threat. Meanwhile, Iran set to send 15th fleet to area as well as 'to thwart pirate activity'. The Israeli Navy (INF) has decided to boost its presence and patrols near Israel's maritime border with Egypt due to a viable terror threat in the area. Israeli security sources told the Associated Press on Tuesday that two additional warships have been dispatched to Israel's Red Sea border with Egypt. Another source stressed that the operation was routine, telling Reuters that "two naval craft have been sent to the Red Sea. This is not unusual."

Sure. Sure it isn't. Keep your eyes on Israel and the Psalm 83 nations. We know the end. At some point, the flashpoint will be reached.

The costs from Hurricane Irene are outweighed by the cost of not repenting

That natural disasters are on the rise is unquestionable. The data is the data and the facts are the facts. The debate is not whether they are increasing, but is over the cause of the increase. Some people say that these disasters are increasing because of changes in the magnetosphere, which, they say, caused the aflockalypse of bird deaths at the beginning of this year. Others say the cause is from government conspiracies such as HAARP, or High Frequency Active Auroral research Program which purposely disturbs a segment of our ionosphere and measures the effects. HAARP really exists but conspiracy theorists posit that it is being used for dark purposes. Others say it is global warming, such as the author of this first article. But whatever the cause (and it is GOD) the effects are real.

In this article by Bill McKibben, he attributes the recent increase of disasters to global warming but in his article he totes up the effects, which are devastating:

"Remember—this year has already seen more billion-dollar weather-related disasters than any year in U.S. history. Last year was the warmest ever recorded on planet Earth. Arctic sea ice is near all-time record lows. Record floods from Pakistan to Queensland to the Mississippi basin; record drought from the steppes of Russia to the plains of Texas. Just about the only trauma we haven’t had are hurricanes plowing into the U.S., but that’s just luck—last year was a big storm year, but they all veered out to sea. This year we’re already on letter I—which in a normal year we don’t get to until well into October."

But then Irene hit.

In an incredible decision, all Mass Transit in NY City was closed in advance of Hurricane Irene, costing millions. There were no flights Sunday at the 5 NY-area airports; 9000 flights were canceled, and the George Washington Bridge lower level was closed in both directions. Amazing. What an incredible shut-down for our largest city. But that was not the worst of it. Upstate NY and Vermont were hammered.

Hurricane Irene flood damage stuns inland areas
"Brattleboro, Vt. -- Rippling creeks became deadly deluges. Bridges collapsed into roiling waves. Dry streets turned into fast-rising lakes, closing in around stunned towns. While Irene - first a hurricane and then a tropical storm - unleashed its initial share of damage along the sandy shores of the Eastern Seaboard, by Monday its greatest impact was felt far from the coastline, in places such as landlocked Vermont and the bucolic mountains of upstate New York. Even so, more than 48 hours after Irene made landfall early Saturday, about 4.5 million people remained without power in 13 states from North Carolina to Maine. The death toll jumped to at least 40, according to the Associated Press, and some rivers had yet to crest."

"Hundreds remained stranded in communities cut off by washed-out roads, including at least 2,500 residents of remote Hatteras Island in North Carolina, where severed utility lines also left them without power. The only access to the island was via a ferry limited to emergency use. Police in suburban Parsippany, N.J., had to rescue dozens of people who became trapped in two hotels Monday when a nearby lake spilled over its banks and sent enough water into the streets and hotel parking lots to swallow vehicles. Evacuees included guests who had fled to the hotels after heeding advice to evacuate their homes in advance of Irene."

The economic cost of the advanced protection and evacuations, the lost revenue from closed businesses, and the cleanup afterwards is incalculable.

Joel Rosenberg wrote a good piece this week titled "This was a wake up call: American East Coast shaken by Hurricane Irene." Joel write in part--

"This was a wake up call. At its peak, Hurricane Irene was the size of the State of Texas. Had it remained a Category 3 storm — or even increased in intensity — it could have created the greatest natural disaster catastrophe in the history of the United States. Fortunately, that’s not what happened. The storm is now over, and even as the clean up begins, critics are saying it was hyped up and “overblown” by government officials and weather forecasters. But did the experts really badly “misjudge” Irene, or did God hear people’s prayers and have mercy on us by weakening the storm faster than the experts had predicted? I think both are true. I am grateful to the Lord for His grace and mercy on us. I am also grateful to the forecasters and the government leaders who warned us as best they could and took decisive action to put public safety first. As I have written about several times in recent months, the Lord is shaking us, trying to wake us up and get us to focused back on Him and on His Word. We need to recommit ourselves to prayer, fasting and reading the Bible and get our hearts right with the Lord. For Bible prophecy tells us that far greater storms are coming as we steadily approach the Day of the Lord."

And another storm has formed. She is on the same track as Irene. Her name is Katia... I'll repeat Joel's good advice: "We need to recommit ourselves to prayer, fasting and reading the Bible and get our hearts right with the Lord. For Bible prophecy tells us that far greater storms are coming as we steadily approach the Day of the Lord."

Monday, August 29, 2011

Bachmann pulls a punch: says eq & hurricane was warning from God, then says she's joking

Presidential Candidate Michelle Bachmann is an evangelical conservative. This always makes the political world nervous. It makes everyone who is not saved nervous, frankly. The world does not understand our adherence to Jesus, our love for Him, and certainly does not understand submission to Him and His ways. Christians and the world are separate. (1 John 2:15; James 4:4).

We are told to be bold in declaring Jesus as savior and not to deny Him before men or he will deny us. (Matthew 10:33; Mark 8:38; 2 Tim 2:12).

Today Bachmann said the following: "While courting conservative and religious voters in Florida over the weekend, Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann used the significant natural disasters that recently hit the East Coast to jokingly make the case that God would approve of less government spending. "I don't know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians," Bachmann said at a rally, eliciting chuckles from audience. "We've had an earthquake; we've had a hurricane. He said, 'Are you going to start listening to me here?' Listen to the American people because the American people are roaring right now... They know government is on a morbid obesity diet and we've got to rein in the spending." After reports of the remarks generated some criticism, the Bachmann campaign clarified the candidate was joking."

Now, I do not believe that her comments denied Jesus, exactly. She seems to me to be a year-round believer, unlike some fair weather, political believers (calling John McCain...). But it just makes me sad to hear someone say something that's true- God is sending warnings, and when criticized, pulls back and claims she's 'joking.' That is worse. Warnings of imminent judgment are not a joking matter. Either be up front about your thoughts on God, or down't say anything at all in the public spheres.

Just once, I'd love to hear a candidate who follows Jesus say something about Him that we all know will rile the unsaved, and stand on the comment with boldness and joy. If Bachmann had responded, "Yes, I said that and I believe it. Next question, please", I'd be so much happier with her right now.

Comet Elenin info for the worried

I dunno who this guy Astro Blogger Ian Musgrave is, aside from being a knowledgeable amateur astronomer, but he seems both scientifically solid and on the up-and-up. Check out his post with Elenin facts. At his web page his article has live links to much of the information which explains more. As Elenin comes into view, and I understand that it can be seen now by amateur telescopes in the southern hemisphere, really, we have enough real events to worry about in the near term than the fabricated hype of Elenin ... like, the Federal Reserve/Treasury has to refloat the bonds coming due in Mid September, and QE3 (third round of quantitative easing, i.e. flooding the economy with freshly printed fiat money)  will be required (even though Bernanke says no QE3 is on the horizon, yet) because there are no  buyers for US Notes at present. Printing more money means that we will dig ourselves very deeply into the hole we already cannot get out of and dilute the already crumbling buying power of the dollar. Also, the upcoming vote at the United Nations to allow Palestinians their own state on Israel's lands will be an earth-shattering moment. The EU has some decisions to make about bailing out several of their member nations in trouble. Not to mention the ongoing natural disasters happening in the world every day. Forget Elenin. Pray for the real problems.

Comet Elenin: the FAQ for the worried.

Will it Hit Earth: No, its closest approach is 0.23 AU on Oct 16, 2011, where 1 AU is the distance from the Earth to the Sun. To put this in perspective, this is only a little closer than the closest approach of Venus to Earth, and roughly 100 times the distance from the Earth to the Moon. This distance is from the latest MPEC ephemeris which is based on over 100 observations from multiple observatories that have been continuously tracking the comet, so it won't change appreciably.

But its Earth MOID is only 0.03 AU! MOID stands for Minimal Orbital Interaction Distance. It is how close the orbits are together, not how close the objects are themselves. It's important for objects that have multiple return orbits, like potential asteroid impactors, but not for a one-off visitor like Elenin (well, you could wait for another 10,000 years or so). Earth and Elenin themselves never get closer than 100 times the distance from the Earth to the Moon.

Surely if Elenin Was Going to Hit the Earth NASA/the Government Would Hush it Up? Which government? The Australian Government, the UK Government? The Italian Government? The South African Government? Amateur astronomers world wide are following this comet and continually talking to each other. The have the programs to work out where the comet is going. If the comet was coming anywhere near us, the amateur community would be first to know, and there is no keeping them quite. Consider how wide spread the information is about Apophis, which is a real, if extremely marginal, hazard.

Will it Cause Earthquakes, Abnormally High Tides or Other Disasters: No, Elenin is a mere 3-5 kilometres across and has less than a billionth of the tidal force of the Moon at closest approach (as well as a negligible magnetic field). If the Moon can't cause the poles to tip, cause massive tidal floods or earthquakes, Comet 2010 X1 Elenin won't. We've been closer to other comets before with no ill effect.

But What About Mensur Omerbashich's Paper that Says Elenin is Causing Earthquakes? It shows nothing of the sort, earthquakes are no more common during comet alignments than at any other time (see here for an update, earthquakes still not caused by Elenin).

But it's bigger than Jupiter! No, that's the coma , the thin haze of gas and dust that surrounds the comet nucleus. The nucleus of C/2010 X1 Elenin is roughly 3-4 Km in diameter and Elenin has a coma around 50,000 km wide at the time of writing (which is a third of the diameter of Jupiter). The average density of the coma is about the same as the density of the atmosphere on the Moon. A coma is a feature of all comets that approach the Sun closely, for example comet 81P Wild (nucleus 4 Km diameter) had a coma of 50,000 Km and 103P Hartley had a coma of 150,000 Km. The Great Comet of 1811 had a nucleus of around 30km in diameter and had a coma nearly as big as the Sun. Comet Halley is 6x15 km and had a coma 100,000 km wide when it last approached Earth. We survived them all (and 103P Hartley came nearly twice as close as Elenin will), and we will survive Elenin without incident.

The size of Elenin has been independently confirmed (well, it's probably smaller), by observation of the orbit of the small asteroid 1999 RQ176 when it had a close encounter with Elenin.

But I Can See a Picture of it in WikiSky, it's HUGE! That is the carbon star CW Leonis.

Didn't it Just Cause Saturn's Tilt to Change? No, the author of that article didn't realize that telescopes invert the image.

Is Elenin a Moon of a Brown Dwarf Star? No.

But Brown Dwarf Stars are so Cold, you Can't See Them. No, coldest detected so far is ~370K (about the temperature of a hot cup of tea), the the warmest are around 2200 K, and most range between 500-1000 K. They may not produce much visible light, but they reflect light. Jupiter has a composition similar to those of Drown Dwarf stars. Jupiter's cloud tops are a chilly 128 K and it reflects light just fine. Any Brown Dwarf in the inner solar system would be painfully obvious.

Will Going Through the Comets Tail Affect Us? No, should the rather small tail of Elenin actually pass over us, it's doing a pretty good imitation of a vacuum (about 100 atoms per cm3). We have been through bigger and denser comet tails before with no effect whatsoever (especially the Great Comet of 1861).

Why isn't Comet Elenin in the News? For the same reason that the other 16 comets discovered in 2010 didn't get in the news, or the 5 comets discovered in 2011. They are all dim. The News is only interested in comets that are spectacular, readily visible to the unaided eye or are being visited by spacecraft. Comet 2009 P1 will be as bright, if not brighter than C/2010 X1 Elenin, but that's not in the news either. Amateur and professional astronomers are watching comet Elenin and others avidly, but the news channels don't care about our obsessions with faint fuzzies.

Why Can't I Find Information of Elenin at the NASA Website? Because NASA is not the arbiter of all things astronomical. You won't find information on C/2009 P1, C/2011 C1 or any of the faint comets discovered during 2010 and 2011. NASA does have information of comets that its spacecraft have visited, or are interesting in some other way, but it's not an exhaustive comet site like Cometography or Aerith.

I Saw Comet Elenin Near the Sun in August 2010/Now: In August 2010 only really powerful telescopes could see Elenin. You saw Venus. If you are seeing something bright near the Sun in the morning sky now, it's Venus.

How Can I Tell What IS in the Sky and Avoid The Venus Confusion? For freeware standalone programs there is Cartes du Ciel and Stellarium (my favourite). For Web based solutions Skyview Cafe, Sky-Map and GoogleEarth (KMZ file here) all work.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Fave storm reporting: Michelle Kosinski in a canoe

This clip below is not from the current storm of Hurricane (now TS) Irene. It is from 2005. But it is funny anyway and kind of representative of Irene. Now as for the blame going around regarding Irene, remember that 17 inches of rain fell on NC, 10 people died, including a fireman performing a swift water rescue, there is billions of damage, more billions in lost economies and millions without power. I think the government officials did a good job of preparing, especially Mayor Bloomberg of NYC. I understand it takes at least 12 hours from the stop order to do the things he ordered, such as evac hospitals and shut transit, so he was going on the best information at the time. They did a good job and I commend them all.

But the reporters in the storm were funny nonetheless. In one example from today's storm, "For the television reporter, clad in his red cagoule emblazoned with the CNN logo, it was a dramatic on-air moment, broadcasting live from Long Island, New York during a hurricane that also threatened Manhattan. “We are in, right, now…the right eye wall, no doubt about that…there you see the surf,” he said breathlessly. “That tells a story right there.” Stumbling and apparently buffeted by ferocious gusts, he took shelter next to a building. “This is our protection from the wind,” he explained. “It’s been truly remarkable to watch the power of the ocean here.” The surf may have told a story but so too did the sight behind the reporter of people chatting and ambling along the sea front and just goofing around. There was a man in a t-shirt, a woman waving her arms and then walking backwards. Then someone on a bicycle glided past."

And here is NBC's Michelle Kosinski-



and here is the 2005 news article about that Canoe moment courtesy of the NY Observer.
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