“There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people…religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin.” Linus from Peanuts.
Author: lenbilen
Retired engineer, graduated from Chalmers Technical University a long time ago with a degree in Technical Physics. Career in Aerospace, Analytical Chemistry, computer chip manufacturing and finally adjunct faculty at Pennsylvania State University, taught just one course in Computer Engineering, the Capstone Course.
2 Peter 1:12-21. The Apostle Peter reminded the faithful of his approaching death and kept emphasizing the trustworthiness of the prophetic word.
Proverbs 21, Proverbs of Solomon. Yes, there is a difference between a wise and righteous man, and an evil, foolish and lazy man, thinking only about himself and his pleasures, and “It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman.”
Psalm 123, a Song of Accents. This is a short but fervent prayer for mercy.
Psalm 124, a Song of Accents. This one is of David. Thank God! Only He can do the impossible.
Psalm 125 is a song of Ascents, sung by pilgrims on the way to Jerusalem to one of the three yearly prescribed feasts.
Psalm 126 likewise is a Song of Ascents. One verse: “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.”
2 Peter 1:1-11. The Apostle was greeting the faithful, urging them to be fruitful in the faith as they apply the eight godly virtues. Peter reminded them of his approaching death and kept emphasizing the trustworthiness of the prophetic word.
Joel 3. In this final chapterof the prophet Joel God judges the nations, bringing war to the valley of Jehoshaphat: “Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.” And afterwards God will bless His people.
Psalm 120 is a song of accents, that means it was sung as the people went up to Jerusalem on their way to celebrate one of the Jewish festivals.
Psalm 121, a Song of Accents. Psalms 120 to 134 were sung on the way to Jerusalem during the festivals.
Psalm 122, a Song of Accents. This one is of David.
Bad news about the dangers that mRNA vaccines may pose to the heart and blood vessels keeps coming.
A new study of 566 patients who received either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines shows that signs of cardiovascular damage soared following the shots. The risk of heart attacks or other severe coronary problems more than doubled months after the vaccines were administered, based on changes in markers of inflammation and other cell damage.
Patients had a 1 in 4 risk for severe problems after the vaccines, compared to 1 in 9 before.
Dr. Steven Gundry, a Nebraska physician and retired cardiac surgeon, presented the findings at the Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association’s annual conference in Boston last week. An abstract is available in Circulation, the AHA’s scientific journal.
My conclusion from that statistics is that vaccines are beneficial if you are over the age of 46. Because of the coarseness in the age-related data, only 4 categories, the uncertainity is +- 5 years. This is one more argument that speaks for the conclusion that if you are young, you are better off getting COVID-19 and acquiring natural immunity, rather than take the vaccine and be stuck with booster shots every 6 to 8 months. The vaccine itself is experimental, and we do not yet know the long term effect of it, much less the long term effect of the booster shots.
1 Peter 5. Elders, shepherd the flock, not for filthy lucre, but being examples of service and submission to God, in due time receiving a crown. Resist the devil, look to God “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” The letter ends with farewell greetings.
Joel 2 tells of the Day of the Lord. God gave a stern call to repentance. After that warning God gave this promise: “28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: 29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. 30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come. 32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.“
Vaccinated English adults under 60 are dying at twice the rate of unvaccinated people the same age
And have been for six months. This chart may seem unbelievable or impossible, but it’s correct, based on weekly data from the British government. The brown line represents weekly deaths from all causes of vaccinated people aged 10-59, per 100,000 people. The blue line represents weekly deaths from all causes of unvaccinated people per 100,000 in the same age range. This graph is correct. Vaccinated people under 60 are twice as likely to die as unvaccinated people. And overall deaths in Britain are running well above normal. The basic data is available here, download the Excel file and see table 4:
This new data set indicates a sharp rise in overall mortality from all cases as people get older it was given as 2 categories, unvaccinated and those having received 2 doses of vaccine, broken up in 10-60, 61-70, 71-80, and 80+ years age groups, coarse but usable categorization. This indicates a decrease in deaths of 45% for people 61-70, 46% for the age group 71-80, and 33% for people 80 and over. All these numbers jump widely so the confidence interval is only about 10%. Massaging the data as best I could with this limited set I came up with the age of 46 years as the crossover point, above which vaccines are preferable.
The conclusion is this: People over the age of 46 should be encouraged to get vaccinated, people under the age of 46 should only get vaccinated if they are in the vulnerable category, and only with a physician’s recommendation.
1 Peter 4:12-19. The apostle reminded the believers to not be surprised when they suffer, remember it will be much worse for those who do not believe.
Joel 1. The Word of the LORD told Joel of the great locust attack, the drought and the land laid waste. Lament for the land, for the day of the LORD is near.
Psalm 119 is a meditation on the excellence of the Word of God. It it anonymous, but is most probably a collection made by David and put in its final form during the time of Ezra. The Psalm is in the form of a true acrostic with eight verses for every letter of the Hebrew alphabet, totaling 176 verses. The acrostic form makes it possible to memorize, and so the students learning the Law did, even during Jesus’ time.
Leg 7 of the Trans-Rocky-Mountain aqueduct. From the Abiquiu Reservoir to the San Juan River, a distance of 55 miles.
Elevation 6270′ Water storage 200,000 acre-ft, max. capacity 1,369,000 acre-ft.
After delivering some water to Rio Grande and other drop off points, the sixth leg has a capacity of 8500 cfs. It starts out at 6270′ and climbs to 7400′ over a distance of 25 miles. This requires a maximum power of (7400-6270 + 2x 25) = 1180′ times 8500 cfs. Assuming a pump efficiency of 92% this comes to a power of 900 MW. From the top it then descends to 5590′ over 30 miles. This will generate a power of (7400-5590 – 2x 30) = 1750′ times 8500 cfs. With generator efficiency of 92% this comes to 1,100 MW. This last leg will generate up to 200 MW power, thus reducing the total power need for the aqueduct.
Once joining the San Juan River there may be some levies put in to protect the people having built their homes in the flood plain. The river once was unregulated and subject to seasonal floods, and periods of very low flood, but once the San Juan Reservoir was built, the ecology of the river changed drastically. The addition of the aqueduct’s water would further stabilize the flow, but not add to the risk of seasonal floods.
The San Juan River would then add a maximum of 8,500 cfs. of water to the Colorado River, but especially during the summer months much water will be delivered en route to thirsty communities, such as Albuquerque and even Santa Fé, and some water will help the greening of the surroundings of the aqueduct and even save aquifers, especially the Ogallala aquifer, so the real average flow will be more like 5,000 cfs. This will translate to an additional yearly inflow of 3.6 million acre-feet into the Colorado River.
1 Peter 4:1-11. The apostle urged the believers to serve God as the end of all things is near. He told them to practice hospitality to the glory of Jesus Christ.
Proverbs 20, more proverbs of Solomon. Don’t be lead astray by alcohol! Who can find a faithful man? Dishonest weights are an abomination to the Lord. Do not love sleep, or you will become poor. These are timeless proverbs, some quoted even today.
Psalm 117. The shortest Psalm of them all with only two verses, but they are full of praise.
Psalm 118. This is probably the best example of Hebrew poetry with verses repeated with only small variations. It is quoted in the New Testament in many places, even by Jesus directly.
Leg 6 of the Trans-Rocky-Mountain aqueduct. From Trinidad Lake to Abiquiu Reservoir, a distance of 90 miles.
Lake Trinidad, elevation 6230′ Water storage 100,000 acre-ft
From Lake Trinidad the aqueduct will carry up to 10,000 cfs.
Elevation 6270′ Water storage 200,000 acre-ft, max. capacity 1,369,000 acre-ft.
The aqueduct will start at Lake Trinidad and follow the river up to Stonewall, where from an elevation of 8450′ it will tunnel under the Rocky Mountains for 7.5 miles and exit 3 miles s.e. of Chama.
From there it will be finding best way to the Rio Grande Canyon, where a dam with culverts for Rio Grande will be built at an elevation of 7490′. The canyon may or may not be a reservoir, dependent on the wishes of the local community. There will be a provision for supplying Rio Grande with some water during the growth season. On the West side of Rio Grande it will gently descend to 6000′, but with occasional rises of up to 100′ . Finally it will climb 270′ to Abiquiu Lake. There will be a provision to supply the river with water , especially during the dry summer. The total climbs for this leg is (8450 – 6230 + 150 + 270)’, plus the 2feet drop per mile times 25 miles. This comes to 2690′. The power required to pump 10,000 cfs 2690feet is 2.4 GW, assuming 92% pumping efficiency. Some of the power is regained on the downhill part, Total downhill is (8450 – 6000 + 100)’ = 2550′ minus the 2feet drop per mile times 65 miles. This comes to 2420′ Power regained from 10,000 cfs dropping 2420′ is 1.8 GW assuming 92% generating efficiency. The total power requirement for this leg is 600 MW. This can best be provided by having 6 100MW Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors, they are carbon neutral. The reason for small reactors is that they can be built in assembly line fashion and the core reactor can be shipped on a flatbed truck. The reactors will provide power to pump as much water as needed, but will stop pumping water when peak power is needed and start acting as a virtual hydro-storage. For this leg seepage and evaporation losses will be less than 2%.
1 Peter 3. The apostle speaks of submission, and it is mutual, both for husbands and wives, joint heirs with Christ. We are called to be a blessing, even during suffering for doing right, “be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” Remember Christ’s suffering and our redemption through his death and resurrection. Remember also Noah, 8 in all were saved to new life.
Hosea 13. The LORD shoed His anger and there was to be be judgment on Israel.
Hosea 14. God promised that when Israel repented it would be restored.
Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment. 