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.

April 23, read through the Holy Bible in a year in Power-point, with comments.

Today we read one chapter in the Acts of the Apostles and two chapters in 1 Samuel.

April 23: Acts 4, 1 Samuel 9, 1 Samuel 10 (click on the chapter to begin reading)

Acts 4. Peter and John were arrested and hauled before the Sanhedrin, were told not to speak about Jesus anymore. Their response? “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” They were let go and continued telling about Jesus and his resurrection, and a good time was had by all, sharing all things.

1 Samuel 9. Saul  was a tall and handsome man, his father had lost some donkeys, so he sent Saul and his servant to look for them. Not finding them for three days they went to the prophet Samuel, God tells Samuel to meet them, and so they meet up, and thus Saul was chosen to be King.

In 1 Samuel 10 Saul was Anointed King and proclaimed King over all Israel.

Earth day 2020, the 150 year birthday of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, a.k.a. Lenin. A Limerick.

We celebrate Lenin’s old birth day

in what is now renamed the Earth Day.

It’s a globalist plot;

it’s the climate change: Not!

It’s capitalism besmirch day.

When I came to the U.S. as a green card immigrant  from a beautiful, clean Sweden in the spring of 1968 I was horrified at what I found. In Sweden they were worried about the fact that some lakes were fertilized four times more than the agricultural fields, acid rain killed the trouts in the already acid lakes and  seeds laced with Mercury as a preservative killed off most of the eagles and owls. None of this seemed to bother the Americans. Coming in to Rochester in N.Y the stench from the dead fish washing up on the shore of lake Ontario was strong, I read of a river catching on fire in Ohio and the smell of coal burning power plants without scrubbers was bad, almost as bad as in the coal and steel region of Germany. It was also the height of the Vietnam wars, and people were protesting. Many of the protestors were communists at hart, and they also turned to pollution. The aerosol pollution led to a decrease in global temperatures, so the mantra was: The ice age is coming! The worst prediction I read was that the global temperatures would be then degrees Fahrenheit lower by the year 2000! Most predictions were not that wild, but they all pointed down, ice age, here we come! The urge to clean up the pollution grew stronger and the Earth Day movement was formed, but they had to find just the right day to have the first. Since this was to become a global movement they decided on the birthday of Lenin, his 100th, very fitting for a globalist movement.  That was 1970 in Philadelphia, featured Ira Einhorn (The Unicorn Killer) as master of Ceremonies.

Now fifty years later the mantra has changed to climate change, specifically carbon pollution and carbon footprint. As the scientists were wrong then, the ice age is coming soon, so they are wrong now. The rise in CO2 causes climate change all right, and it would be really bad unless something else also changes as the CO2 concentration changes. Water vapor is a strong greenhouse gas, much stronger than CO2, and they both add to the greenhouse effect, but only at temperatures below freezing. In the tropics there is 50 times as much water vapor as there is CO2, so the tropics is not affected at all by rising CO2 levels. In the Arctic the situation is quite different. Water vapor is also a condensing gas, and forms clouds in the atmosphere. Clouds cool by day and warm by night, but the effect of cooling by day is much larger than the cooling by night, so clouds act as the major temperature regulator on earth. That is why the temperature was about the same as now when the CO2 level was over 10000 ppm, 25 times as large as now hundreds of millions of years ago. There is zero risk of overheating, there is no “tipping point” on the warm side, the clouds tale care of that. On the other hand we know that because we have too little CO2 in the air we will have a new ice age. When will it come? Not in the next thousand years, in fact, by increasing the CO2 levels we will delay the onset of the next ice age. What will happen at the Poles? There will be less cold in the winters, it will snow more but the summers will be about the same, melting more snow.

As to the corona virus the scientists predictions have so far been way off the mark, which just goes to show that making models before all facts are known produces faulty predictions every time. As Yogi Berra once said: “’It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future’” “… never make predictions – especially about the future”.

 

April 22, read through the Holy Bible in a year in Power-point, with comments.

Today we read one chapter of the Acts of the Apostles and four chapters in 1 Samuel.

April 22: Acts 3, 1 Samuel 5, 1 Samuel 6,  1 Samuel 7, 1 Samuel 8 (click on the chapter to begin reading)

In Acts 3 Peter healed a crippled man sitting at the Beautiful Gate with these words:  “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.” Then Peter preached at Solomon’s Portico.

1 Samuel 5, the Ark of the LORD brought nothing but trouble to the Philistines.

So in 1 Samuel 6  the Ark was returned to Israel together with a guilt offering of five gold tumors and five golden rats.The Ark was brought back as far as to Kirjath Jearim.

1 Samuel 7. Samuel grew up and became Judge over Israel. He subdued the Philistines at Mizpah, and there he raised his Ebenezer (stone of help). He judged Israel all the days of his life.

1 Samuel 8. Samuel’s sons were not following the Lord, so Israel demanded a King. Samuel complained to the LORD, but He answered : Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king.”

There is a better green new deal. And this one will work and save the environment

We have immense environmental problems. CO2 is not one of them. There is a great need for a green new deal, but that involves cleaning up the earth, not destroying it even further. Cleaning up the earth requires a lot of electric energy. There is only one solution to this dilemma, renewables alone will not even begin to solve it, only Liquid Fluoride Thorium nuclear reactors, and in the future fusion power will have a chance to carry us through the next ice age, which will come when we have used up all available fossil fuels. We must save the bulk of it for our great grand-kids.

My suggestions for the green new deal are quite different from what is commonly proposed. Here are some suggestions:

Do harden the electric grid so it can sustain an electro-magnetic-pulse, either from a nuclear EMP-bomb or from a solar storm like the Carrington event of 1859. Make the grid safe from malicious hacking.

Do not build more wind-turbines except in areas where there are no raptors. The allowable kill of bald eagles per year is 4200, and if we build many more we risk to eliminate the bald and golden eagles as well as other rare birds. More here.

Do fill up fully the strategic petroleum reserve, taking advantage of the low, below cost crude oil prices due to lack of demand. This will be important and avoid price spikes and shortages should the strait of Hormuz be cut off. By eliminating that threat it will ensure that it will not be cut off. Peace is the final goal. (Note: This is already happening, at $10 a barrel)

Make all dams producing profitable hydroelectric power fully equipped to pump up water from a pool downstream to refill the dam during low power demand and provide extra power during peak demand. This is important, since that peak demand otherwise would be satisfied by burning coal and natural gas, and even using diesel-powered generators.

Do plant trees where-ever practical, especially in urban environments. They help immensely to alleviate the urban heat island effect, and are good for mental health, and provide habitat for birds and squirrels. They have to live too. In rural areas abandoned farms, like in upstate New York should be planted with managed forests.

Encourage protection and reforesting of the tropical rain forests. Plant a few billion trees worldwide. The Arbor Day Foundation operates worldwide and is reasonably efficient.

Do serious research on how to clean waste water including removing antibiotics and hormones such as birth control medicine. This is necessary in arid areas, water must be reused since the aquifers are already exhausted in much of the arid west. It will require a lot of energy  to implement and run water recycling plants, but it is necessary to secure clean water, not only for ourselves, but also for aquatic life downstream.

Do not build any more large solar power installations until our dependence on Chinese rare earth metals is eliminated.

Do eliminate  the regulation that Thorium is a source material and subject to nuclear regulations for mining. With this regulation eliminated we can again be independent from China on rare earth metals mining and refining.

Do not build any more Uranium based nuclear power stations. Even before we sold 20% of our uranium mines to Russia we were the world’s biggest importer of Uranium, and vulnerable to supply disruptions.

We must start immediately a large research and development effort into Liquid Fuel Thorium Reactors. China, India and Russia are way ahead of us, and China is grabbing IP rights as fast as they can. There is a million years supply of Thorium available, far more than anything else we are mining, and enough Thorium is already mined! Thorium reactors produce one ten-thousandth of the nasty TRans-Uranium waste products compared to a Uranium reactor, and the TRU it produces is Plutonium-238, used in space travel. Thorium waste products cannot be used for nuclear bombs, only dirty bombs, and the waste products radiation lasts only about 300 years, rather than 100000+ years. It is a good isotope producer for medical treatment and research.

Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors are inherently earthquake safe, operate under atmospheric conditions, have a large negative temperature coefficient, making it very stable and easy to control, and  they can never have a meltdown, the salt is already molten!

LFTR reactors can be placed nearly anywhere, does not need an evacuation zone because of its inherent safety, uses very little cooling water, produces very little waste, scales beautifully from very large power plants to small portable plants for small communities, can be run at variable power output with a small reaction time, all of this lessens the need for an expanded power grid.

The U.S was once the leader in Thorium reactor technology, but bombs were more important, and so we lost out on safety. Nuclear accidents like Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima could not have happened with Thorium reactors.

LFTR can produce electricity at about 4c/kWh, a very competitive cost.

And lastly, it can, in a slightly different configuration be used to eliminate spent nuclear fuels and nuclear bombs. They will have to be placed away from urban areas, not because of safety, but because nobody want to transport spent nuclear fuel or nuclear bombs through city streets.

This is a tall order, but it can eliminate all fossil fuel used to produce electricity.

About four years before all fossil fuel is eliminated as electricity producer, then and first then is the time to move over to electric cars and trucks. Before then, you are really using fossil fuel anyway, putting additional pressure on the national power grid with all its inefficiencies.

This is but a short list of the opportunities for a real green new deal, but these are the most important parts.

April 21, read through the Holy Bible in a year in Power-point, with comments.

Today we continue reading one chapter in the Acts of the Apostles and two chapters in First Samuel.

April 21: Acts 2, 1 Samuel 3, 1 Samuel 4  (click on the chapter to begin reading)

Acts 2, at the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit arrived, and that day was many languages spoken by the disciples, at least 15 different tongues that the listeners understood. Peter stood up and delivered his first sermon, a powerful one that led to about 3000 new converts. The following few weeks were good times and the believers were in good fellowship with each other.

1 Samuel 3 tells of Samuel’s first prophecy, a prophesy against Eli and his sons, because Eli failed to restrain them.

1 Samuel 4. The Philistines captured the Ark of God. Soon after that Eli died, and Phineas died and his wife gave birth to Ichabod, which means “No Glory”,  for the glory had departed from Israel.

A perfectly preserved tunic from Roman times uncovered from melting glacier proves the climate was warmer then. A Limerick.

The tunic at Lomseggen pass

a garment of very high class

got preserved in the ice

glaciers grew, then demise

the climate change sure shows pizzazz

This tunic was made in the third or fourth century A.D. It is made of wool, and like all good tunics of that time it was never washed. The original sheep tallow in the wool made it a very good water repellent, so it was warm enough to wear when going over the short pass in snow in the winter. The oldest artifacts found, stone arrow points are about 6000 years old

and the newest are from viking times around 1200 A.D.

The Landbreen Glacier in central Norway grew, and from about 1400 to 2000 A.D. the pass was under the ice pack of the glacier. This proves that the climate was warmer  in roman and viking times than it was up till the 20th century. To prove this point we can see the temperature records from the Greenland icecap, at about the same latitude. (The temperature is in degree Celsius)

As we can see, there is a negative correlation between CO2 and temperature. This is counter-intuitive, but far more important than the amount of CO2 to affect the climate is the amount of clouds, the amount of snow they contain and when and where they occur. It turns out that clouds are the main temperature regulator for the climate, and we are eventually and slowly entering another ice-age. The recent rise in CO2 from 280 ppm to 405 ppm will delay the onset of the next ice age, surely arriving in the next 10000 years. Right now we are almost back to the conditions of the Medieval warm period, but still much below the ideal conditions during the Roman warm period. The climate is getting better.

April 20, read through the Holy Bible in a year in Power-point, with comments.

Today we begin reading the Acts of the Apostles and two chapters of 1 Samuel.

April 20: Acts 1, 1 Samuel 1, 1 Samuel 2 (click on the chapter to begin reading)

Acts 1 begins with the disciples watching Jesus’ Ascension, but before he left Earth he promised they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them. While waiting for the Holy Spirit to come Matthias was chosen to replace Judas.

1 Samuel 1 begins with telling of the birth of Samuel. Elkanah had  two wives, one was fruitful and the other, Hannah, was barren. As always with polygamy there is strife, but Hannah prayed and gave her vow that if she conceived a son she would give him to the LORD. Her wish came to pass and so Samuel was born and dedicated to the LORD.

1 Samuel 2 starts out with Hanna’s Prayer, a beautiful piece of poetry. Then is recorded the story of the wicked sons of Eli, they took and ate the fat that was supposed to be burned!  It tells of Samuel’s childhood ministry and finally a man of God gave a prophecy against Eli’s household, both his wicked sons would die on the same day.

April 19, read through the Holy Bible in a year in Power-point, with comments.

While still waiting to begin reading the Acts of the Apostles we read one Psalm and the whole book of Ruth, a most enjoyable reading.

April 19: Psalm 28, Ruth 1, Ruth 2, Ruth 3, Ruth 4 (click on the chapter to begin

reading)

Psalm 28, of David. As so often with David, he began with a petition, asking for deliverance, then turned to praise.

Ruth 1.Elimelech’s family went to Moab, and all men die.  Naomi returned back to Israel with Ruth, a Moabite. The famous quote from Ruth 1: “Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:”

Ruth 2, Ruth met Boaz.

Ruth 3, Ruth’s Redemption was Assured.

Ruth 4, Boaz redeemed Ruth, and that’s how Ruth came to be in the genealogy of David and Jesus.

April 18, read through the Holy Bible in a year in Power-point, with comments.

Four Old Testament. chapters today, the end of Judges.

April 18: Psalm 27, Judges 19, Judges 20, Judges 21 (click on the chapter to begin reading)

Psalm 27, of David. “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”

Judges 19 tells in painful detail about the Levite’s Concubine and Gibeah’s crime, probably the most gruesome story in all the Bible. The Bible is honest and tells it as it was, totally wicked.

Judges 20 describes Israel’s War with the Benjamites. Another horrendous chapter.

In Judges 21 they had killed nearly all so the Israelites had to find wives for the Benjamites. The book of Judges ends fittingly: “In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes,” in other words, anarchy.