Power From Your Septic Tank, Part 1

I have been putting off writing this post for awhile because someone was negotiating with me about writing it for their blog and paying me. Apparently they gave up on their blog, so I am going to go ahead and write it. Approximately one quarter of Americans live in homes with septic tanks for sewage treatment. A properly operating septic tank uses anaerobic bacteria to digest the sewage. This produces methane gas, one of the worst of greenhouse gases. The treated sewage water is safely allowed to soak into the ground because this process destroys pathogens. It should not be allowed to flow into surface water because it is rich in nutrients but it will produce nice vegetation. The methane is mixed with carbon dioxide and water vapor in what is known as gobar gas. In some third world countries this is utilized for cooking and refrigeration or to power fuel cells for electricity.

I am looking for people to help in fostering a movement to begin the conversion of septic tanks to capture that energy. I will publish more information on the subject in the next few weeks, but I would appreciate any comments on the subject in the meantime.

How Can a Blind Man Hunt Ducks?

Recently Phil Robertson, one of the stars of the television show Duck Dynasty, has been getting a lot of publicity because of his statements about race and homosexuality. His statements about homosexuality are getting the most note, but his statements about race relations in the days of Jim Crow are so purely ignorant as to deserve pity. I suspect that Phil has always had "colored" friends and he probably has homosexual friends (the term "gay" suggests that homosexual men prance around giggling, just as the term "faggot" suggests that all gay men work as night-club singers). I also suspect that he would be appalled by some of the very-unChristian hate expressed by some of his supporters.

It should be pointed out that none of the teachings of Jesus express any anti-homosexual bias and that there are some passages of the New Testament that seem to allow for homosexuals to be members of Christian churches. A few months ago I saw an article referring to the "Queen James" bible and passages which seem to allow for homosexual couples to be church members. So much other stuff is on the web now about this translation that I haven't been able to find the article that I remember.

I suspect that the reaction on both sides of the  issue is out of proportion to the man and his statement.  I believe his statements on race deserve more attention. I was in Louisiana during Jim Crow days, as well as several different parts of the South. I can assure you that "black" people were not happier. His black friends didn't complain to him because he was white. They didn't want to be hung from the nearest tree and probably didn't want to see him suffer from the wrath of racist groups. In the early 70's I had an older black man talk about how when he was younger he would visit white friends. He would go to their back door so that he wouldn't be lynched and his friend's house burnt down.

I am sure that many homosexuals support the right of the man to express his views, even though they disagree with at least most of what he said. Perhaps the debate will be healthy.

I also would like to mention the recent extreme reaction to Paula Deen's admission that about 30 years ago she had used the "N word" after being robbed at gunpoint by a black person. Notice that all the complaints came from "white" people. I would classify myself as  "liberal", but I am embarrassed by the reaction. Most of the black people I know would have used the same term and don't blame her. The question is "how does she behave today?".

Olympic Weightliftng

I just wrote an artcle for a powerlifting site, writing about Olympic Style weightlifting. Back in the 1960's I was a member of the Lower Peninsula Weightlifting Club and trained under Bob Crist. Bob later became national chairman of the AAU weightlifting committee.

For many years the United States virtually dominated international weightlifting under the leadership of Bob Hoffman, owner and president of York Barbell company. The Soviet Union and some of the other Communist countries began to employ steroids and Bob Hoffman began to slow down in his later years. Professional bodybuilding began to grow under the leadership of someone who hated American weightlifting.

Traditionally, weightlifting, powerlifting, and bodybuilding had been part of a sports community called "the iron game". Most people in the sport did some of all of it. John C. Grimek won major titles in bodybuilding and represented the U.S. in weightlifting in the 1936 Olympics. When I was competing in the mid 1960's in Virginia the dominate 148lb lifter was also the dominate bodybuilder for several years. Powerlfting was just becoming established as a separate sport and most powerlifters also competed in weightlifting.

I think I will add weightlifting to the subjects for this blog.Look for some more on the topic.

One of my Poems from 1994

Fading from my sight

   As the rain cleansed the mountains

            From my vision

      I watched the parting

               Of the mists,

        From which I see

                The Earth is born.

And God whispers so

      Gently,

Filling the mountains

    With the

     Quietness

  Of  His  Voice

Far more fully

     Than the roaring

         Of thunder

copyright 

1994 atop Rich Mountain

Think I got it now

While writing a guest blog for Vernayaweightlifting I think we figured out how to paste from my word processor into my blog. I had the opportunity to write an article on the two-hand snatch, one of the surviving Olympic lifts. I notice that the rules have been changed to allow cheating. I will save that for writing on that blog. I should be able to get a new real post done in the next day or two.

Nelson Mandela Takes His Place in Hstory

Today saw the passing of one of the greatest statesmen of the 20th century, Nelson Mandela. His wisdom  in leading the end of apartheid allowed South Africa to become one of the World's major powers. Many African nations that were heavily colonized by white Europeans saw all the wealth and civilization created by the white colonists plundered and destroyed when those white regimes fell. Mandela chose a different path for his nation.  That was a path of reconciliation. He lead the black South Africans to say to the white and Asiatic South Africans "We don't want to take what you have built. We want to share. We want to work with you to build a nation we can all be proud of."

Today South Africa is a nation sometimes referred to as the "rainbow nation" because of the way all of its people work together. I remember a time when one of my friends (with the knowledge to act on his plans) expressed a desire to "nuke" Johanessburg. Today only racist extremists look down on South Africa.

Africa also produced another great twentieth century world statesman, Haile Selassie, also known by some people as Ras Tafari.  Tafari was his given name and Ras is the title of nobility he held before he became Emperor.  He gained great respect on the world stage when he denounced the aggression of Axis Italy. A minor religion, Rastafarianism, considers Ras Tafari to be the second coming of Jesus. Some alternate interpretations of this aspect of Rastaferanism exist. Rastafarianism is also noted for their great musical tradition and use of copious amounts of marijuana as a sacrament. The religion is popular as an artistic movement. The world has gained much from the cultural impact of this movement.

Old Roof on an Old House

I just wanted to add an update to the roofing article I posted a day or two ago. About 40 years ago I lived in a house that was built about 80 years before. It had the original wood shingle roof. the roof was in perfect repair and had never needed repair. The shingles were hand split and were attached to 1x3 purlins spaced at 12 inches on center. These were attached to 4x8 beams.  If you stood in the attic during daylight hours you would see sunlight shining through spaces in the shingles. If you were in the attic during the heaviest of Florida rainstorms you would find no leaks. This type of roof lasts a very long time. Part of the secret of this type of roof is that the back side of the shingles were open to air so that they could dry. The other important factor is that the shingles were split and not sawn.

pasting article into blog

For some reason the window or whatever it is for pasting an article into my blog does not like to have articles pasted into it. I'm sure there is a technique, but I have noticed job offerings on odesk commenting on the problem. My other blog is on wordpress and their program really makes a mess of it. I gave up trying to post articles in the Ghostblogger site.    Why these people don't understand that people use word processor programs escapes me. At least tell us how to do it. (I found out how. Use notepad)

article on metal roofing

Metal roofing

One of the most critical components of a house is a sound roof. Unless you live in a totally rainless part of the world a leak free roof is essential to the continued integrity of house since moisture can lead to mildew and even rotting of structural elements of the house.  

The top surface of a roof may be thatch, shingles, tiles, built up, or metal sheeting of some type. Metal roofing systems may be steel roofing or aluminum or copper. Beneath the top layer there is frequently a layer of felt. Beneath that there is usually either sheathing or purlins. All of this will be on some type of framing. Each type of roofing requires specialized techniques for any repairs.

Most houses in North America will have either some type of shingle, built up, or metal roofing. Thatch and tile roofing repairs are usually handled by specialists in that type of roofing. Those types of roofing are usually either used in very special historical settings or in areas such as Florida, Arizona, or California where specialized roofers are readily available. Repairs on these types of roofs should never be attempted by someone who is not experienced at working on that type of roof.

Roofing is one of the most dangerous of occupations. It is very easy to slip and fall off a roof when working on one. Be sure that any person hired to work on your roof is completely insured. If you are considering working on your own roof, be certain that you are aware of all safety procedures and follow them assiduously. 

Any roofing work requires that all layers must be sound and appropriate. Wooden shingles are often laid on spaced purlins on older homes. This type of shingle roof may survive well over a hundred years and repairs require roofing experts who understand that type of roof. The best option is probably to sheath it with plywood or OSB board. Some roofing systems such as built-up may have to be removed before being replaced. Built up roofs are usually used on flat or very low slope roofs and may be the only option for those roofs short of major structural work to change the slope of the roof.

 Most tile roofs are built on specially strenghtened roof systems because of the weight of the tile. These roofs usually last indefinitely and should br repaired when possible. One of the best options for most other homes would be metal roofing systems. The most economical type of metal roofing system would be steel roofing. Steel shingles offer a stylish and durable answer to re-roofing a modern home. They can be applied over most existing roofs if the existing roof is in good repair. This is a decision that should be made by someone well experienced in roofing. A reputable roofing company can guarantee their work. The cost of a new roof is great enough to warrant being sure that it does not need replacement for a very long time.  

Other Blog

I just realized that I have had another blog for about six months. I didn't realize that I had created this other blog. I call it Pendrake's Other Passions. It really will cover the same stuff, but I may reword stuff. I may write different articles. I'm trying to figure it all out . Probably will get a blog post out on bicycling as an alternative energy concept. I guess I'll have to write two versions

Barnraising for Alternative Energy

    I'm working on an article about barn building. This made me think about the old-time American/Canadian tradition of barn raisings. In case you don't know much about American history, a barn raising was when the community would come together as a group of volunteers to help build a barn, frequently for a newcomer to the community. Some groups continue to hold barn raisngs, and such groups as Habitat for Humanity continue the tradition in a broader sense.

    It occurred to me that there just might be a need for a similar movement in the alternative energy community. I am hereby issuing a challenge to the alternative energy community.People, someone get a movement going. Contact me if you know of any such movement or if you want to get something going.
 

Is Fracking Any Different From Fragging?

   I got busy trying to make a few dollars to survive on and it has taken me longer than I thought to get to this post. My apologies. When I started thinking about the subject of fracking my creative-divergent intellect immediately noticed the similarity between the verb to frack and the verb to frag. Those of us who come from the Vietnam war era remember fragging as the practice of killing fellow soldiers with the use of fragmenting grenades. The question is if the practice of fracking is all that different.

    Fracking is the practice of injecting water, sand, and assorted chemicals designed to facilitate the flow of water into gas and oil bearing rock to fracture rock and allow oil and gas out. In the early 1970s I was actually involved in some of the early research associated with the process. The experiment involved measuring viscosity of chemicals that were highly sensitive to detergent. I was shocked to discover that the chemical engineers did not know that cleaning lab glassware in highly purified water would leave detergent on the glassware because the detergent would bond to the sodum in the glassware. This is taught in analytical  chemistry, a second year chemistry course. I was hired because they could not get consistent measurements. These are the guys who do the fundamental research on the safety of fracking.

    It should be mentioned that fracking unquestionably makes available large quantities of cheap oil and natural gas. This is not clearly a good idea even though it seems good to consumers. The bad side of this is that cheap hydrocarbon fuels prevents development of renewable, environmentally positive energy
alternatives. Politicians who are the lap-dogs of environmentally insensitive energy concerns look for any reason to keep killing children for profit. Many petroleum companies are concerned about the future and even honestly see natural gas as one step towards a cleaner and healthy future. It sure beats radioactive coal. All coal is radioactive. Coal also has a whole lot of other environmental poisons.  The mere act of coal mining releases large amounts of methane into the atmosphere. Methane is 25 times as dangerous pound for pound as carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. The EPA estimates that coal mining is responsible for 11% of U.S. methane emissions. Methane is the second most significant greenhouse gas.

      Fracking has been implicated in increases in earthquakes in some areas where it has been practiced.  So far it has not blamed for serious earthquakes, but wastewater injection wells have caused earthquakes as strong as 5.6 on the Richter scale.  This was caused by injecting wastewater into earthquake faults. I wonder what genius decided to try that. I guess the reasoning was that the earthquake producing fault would hold lots of dangerous wastewater.

     In some places where fracking has been practiced ground water has become toxic due to the injected chemicals and  ruined the wells of the residents. In many cases the water wells have become methane wells. It is inconvenient when the water coming out of your kitchen sink becomes explosive.

     Another concern with fracking is the environmental damage done on the surface by the well site and operation. Fracking requires the injection of millions of gallons of water and chemicals into the ground to fracture the rock bearing the gas and oil. Much of that highly polluted water comes back up and has to be dealt with.   Perhaps there may be an earthquake fault nearby to inject it into.  

    Obviously we will not be free from fracking in the near future. Well designed regulation based on competent research  conducted by competent scientists not funded by industry concerns will reduce the dangers from this practice. Better yet, alternative energy development will reduce the perceived need for
this type of energy source.

Fracking Article to Come

I am getting ready to do several articles about alternative energy sources. I am going to start with an article about fracking, the practice of fracturing mainly shale stone deep underground in order to   facilitate natural gas extraction. My ex-daughter-in-law also writes  content online and was asked to write a positve artcle about the subject. She began to research for the article and had to turn it down because she had trouble finding anything positive to say about it. She turned down the job offer.

Fracking has caused the price of natural gas in America to plummet. The United States sits on massive  stores of natural gas, much of it easily accessed by fracking. The current practice of fracking has caused serious environmental problems in some areas. I suspect that improvements in the techniques used or  new approaches to fracking could eliminate or minmize most of the hazards. Areas in which fracking can produce earthquakes may never be useful. The best solution is to develop those energy sources that do  not require net production of carbon-dioxide.

More tomorrow.

Do Spiders Have Psychic Powers?

About six weeks ago I wrote about a Golden Orb spider (Nephila claviceps) that lives out my back door. I have  also written about the Marbled Orb Weaver (Araneus marmoreus) for someone else. I assume it was published  under someone else's name. 

Orb weaver spiders are generally considered as harmless to people but tend to weave their lovely webs in  places where people want to walk. This habit is inconvenient to both people and spiders. Another orb weaver I am  fond is the Spiny Orb Weaver, Gastrocantha cancriformis, also called crab spider occasionally. I like to call it   "smiley face" since the female has a rather charming smiley face on it's back.

A Marbled Orb Weaver has recently shown up in my back yard. I was trying to get a photo of it, which is a little hard  because it is shy and hides during the day. The Marbled Orb Weaver is a somewhat scary looking critter, much like  the Golden Orb spider. To me, all three spiders just feel friendly. They don't invite you to hold them, unlike the  jumping spiders, who can be rather friendly.

The first time I ran into a papal cross spider I felt it behind me, even though it was trying to remain unseen. Folk lore frequently has spiders having psychic powers of some sort. I know of many people who assert that they can sense  certain types of spiders. Some spiders just seem to say "lets be friends" while others just reek of evil. Many people  just hate all spiders. It is called "arachnophobia", which actually refers to an irrational fear of spiders. Some fear of  spiders is perfectly rational, depending of the spider. 

The point of this article is not all that much about spiders and whether or not they actually have psychic powers. What is signicant is that the concept is widespread in societies that have no common history for tens of thousands of years. 

Carl Jung wrote of the concept of synchronicity, which is when unlikely events occur at times that are very   coincidental, such as a scarab beetle crashing into his office window just as a patient was talking about a dream  involving a scarab beetle. Another related concept is the Pauli effect, named after the great theoretical Physicist  Wolfgang Pauli. Experimental Physcist found that equipment broke when Pauli visited their lab. Once a piece of  equipment broke when Pauli was on a train that stopped for a few minutes at the train station in the city where the  laboratory with the equipment was located at the same time when the equipment broke. 

The fact that unlikely coincidences occur with unlikely frequency suggests that certain phenomena have explanations that are outside known explanations. I know people who routinely reach for phones before they ring. Many times I  have thought about people I hadn't seen or thought of for years only to unexpectedly see or hear from them. 

Some people refuse to believe in psychic phenomena or God or flying saucers because they believe that no proof 

for these concepts exists. They call themselves skeptics. A skeptic would also refuse to disbelieve. Most Atheists 

refuse to believe in God because they say no proof exists for God and that is proof that there is no God. 

Besides the fact that many physical facts point to the likelyhood that there is no God is about one part in a number  with more than 30 decimal points, the greatest mathematical logician of the twentieth century, Kurt Goedel,   posthumously published a logical proof of God.  The mathematical likelihood that there is no God has been  compared to the likelihood that you would end up wth the complete works of Shakespeare if you took a set of the  encyclopedia Britannica and blew it up with dynamite and waited for the pieces to settle. Don't hold your breath. 

Atheism is a belief system based on pure faith. Sounds like a religion to me.

Is the Datil Pepper the Most Flavorful Pepper?

Datil peppers are among the hottest varieties of pepper known to be eaten by humans. Consider this blog posting to be under the alternative energy heading for my blog. Datil peppers are generally regarded as being a variety of the Capsicum chinese species of pepper and are often classed as a variety of the habenero peppers, which they    resemble both in appearance and hotness. 

The datil variety differs from other habeneros in its distinctive fruity flavor which is almost as intense as its heat.  Datils vary in heat between 100,000 to 300,000 Scoville units. The Scoville scale is based on content of capsicum, the hot chemical of peppers. By comparison, a jalapeno will vary between 2,500 and 10,000 Scoville units and a  tabasco pepper will be about 50,000 units.

My first memory of a tabasco pepper comes from a time when was about three or four years old. I found a tabasco  pepper on a neighbors lovely plant and managed to touch the pepper to my lip. I actually had a blister on my lip. Datils are hotter. 

Datils and tabasco peppers have one trait in common. They have intense flavors. If you add a dash of Tabasco sauce to a scrambled egg (before cooking) the rich, hearty flavor of the pepper will be distinct without any noticeable heat. Many datil hot sauces have the distinct fruity flavor while not being hotter that Tabasco brand hot sauce, or  even not as hot.

Fresh datil peppers are available in central Florida, especially near St. Augustine, and can be purchased online  elsewhere. Most Datil peppers are produced within 50 miles of St Augustine. Datil peppers are usually associated with the Minorcan settlers near St. Augustine. Legend says that the Datil pepper will not grow elsewhere, but that is  not true. It is possible that peppers grown elsewhere will vary in flavor. Datil pepper plants will vary some in flavor  and are available in different varieties. Those labeled as Minorcan will have the most authentic flavor, but varieties  developed by the University of Florida may be easier to grow away from the St. Augustine area. 

The most famous datil dish is Minorcan clam chowder, or Minorcan conch chowder. The clam chowder recipe is  made by substituting clam for conch. Conch can be purchased legally at a rather steep price, or it can be purchased on the black market at the risk of a serious felony conviction. Minorcan clam chowder recipes can be found online.  Here is my older son Henry's recipe for a glaze for chicken or fish, or anything else that strikes your fancy.

                                BroHank's Datil Glaze

Ingredients:

1. 1 small to medium datil pepper

2. 1/3 cup citrus honey (lemon or lime if you can get it) Use raw local honey of any  variety if you wish. Raw local  honey has health benefits beyond those of commercial honey. Be aware that linden blossom honey is sold in  Europe as Lime Blossom Honey. 

3. 2/3 cup lemon or lime juice, plus zest to taste if desired. Key lime would be great.

4. About 1 cubic inch of fresh ginger root

Wearing gloves, remove seeds and pith from pepper. Do not touch any sensitive part of body, especially on face. If you can tolerate extremely hot foods, just toss whole pepper in blender. Add honey, juice, and ginger and blend until all solids are thoroughly pureed. Let sit for at least an hour, overnight would be good.  

For chicken or fish, marinate for about 20 minutes, and then bake or grill while continuing to baste to produce a glaze to taste. This will be zesty. 

Is Deism Still Alive in America?

      Deism is a belief system that is based on the idea that God is revealed to man through nature and natural law  and not through Divine Revelation.  Theism is another similar belief system that differs in having the belief that God is a single personal being who is involved in the day to day state of the universe, including human history.

     Historically many prominent scientists, especially Physicists, have been Deists, or at least considered as such. The term Theist would probably be more appropriate in many of these cases.  Many of these people were also not only church members, but devoted church members. I use the term church to mean any type of practicing religious congregation.

     Recently some preachers of the religion of Atheism have  become convinced that they have the right to ram their beliefs down the throats of everyone else. They have become like militant pseudo-Muslims with their swords in hand demanding that we convert or die. Bear in mind that true Muslims don't behave that way.

•      What can be, must be  Richard Feynman is widely credited with quoting the principle from particle Physics that any particle not forbidden by the rules of Particle Physics must exist. Ontological arguments eventually seem to be equivalent to the concept that the lack of proof that God does not exist means that He must exist. They usually use different terms but that is what they mean. 

       Personally I feel that divine revelation can come from logic, at least to some of us. That is probably most true for people with a trace of Asperger's syndrome.  When I was a student at William and Mary  on a Physics Scholarship one of my professors related an anecdote about a Physics Professor who would walk down the hallway studying a book and with his right index finger on the wall. If a classroom door were left open he would circumambulate  the room and proceed down the hallway.  One day he walked into a graduate mathematical physics class where they were trying to prove some high-power problem. They stopped him and asked if he could help them. He looked at the problem and wrote down the answer, which they already knew.  The class professor thanked him but asked if he could show them how he arrived at the solution. He looked at the problem and wrote down the solution again. When the class professor again explained that they were looking for how he found the solution he replied "What do you want, I  solved it two different ways!"  Some things are obvious to one person but not to another.

• Deism does not conflict with religions other than Atheism   Many of our American founding fathers were Deists. Most of them were also devout Christians. Some were Jewish. Remember that the basic tenets of Christianity came not by Divine Revelation but by the teaching of Jesus. St Paul stated that the fact of God was revealed in nature to primitive peoples. Many religious people object to intelligent people seeking revelation by reason. That is because their faith is weak.Not everyone can slay the Existential Dragon.

      

still trying to figure out how to get post to fit screen correctly

I'm still trying to figure out the mechanics of making my posts fit the space without a lot of editing after I complete the article. I will have a new post in the next day or two. I just noticed that after I changed the look of my blog some of the posts need to be edited to fit the page.

Artificial Lighting and The Quality of Human Life

When we talk about the history of lighting and humans we need to understand that humans include all hominids. People first began using fire about 800,000 years ago. Fire was used for lighting, heat, and cooking. The use of fire for cooking vastly improved  the diet of humans and resulted in rapid evolution of the human brain. The availability of light from fires changed sleep patterns of humans. The necessity of keeping camp fires burning all night also helped change sleep patterns. Camp fires kept dangerous animals away. Camp fires also probably had an effect on the evolution of dogs since they evolved from camp followers who became domesticated.

The development of better light in the form of oil lamps and candles helped develop civilization. Large cities don't function very well with nothing but wood fires for lighting. Various oil lamps and eventually kerosene lamps had an immense effect on civilization. Whale oil drove a large industry for several centuries and the petroleum industry still dominates much of world economy.

Although electric lighting was first developed in the early 19th century it was not until the early 20th century that it began to be widely distributed. The broad distribution of electric power and lighting was funded by the  American people through their government to the considerable profit of a number of wealthy industrialists, much as with the rail system and a number of other industries. Electric lighting came in several different forms. The  primary form was incandescent lighting, which uses a filament usually  made of metal heated by electrical current. Close behind that was  fluorescent lighting, followed by gas-discharge such as neon  lighting, and arc lighting.

By the mid 20th century two other forms of lighting began to emerge. One of these, electroluminescence, is primarily used for lighting instrument  panels and advertising displays. It is not very useful for lighting even  though electroluminescent night lights were available until light emitting  diode technology began to develop. 

By the beginning of the 21st century developed nations began to try to      phase out the use of incandescent lighting because of the extremely poor  efficiency of incandescent lighting, usually about 5%. That means that only about 5% of the energy consumed by the lamp is converted into visible light with most of the rest being converted into heat. This compares to up to  60% efficiency for compact fluorescent light bulbs. Many incandescent  lights produce so much heat that they can be a fire hazard. Some  incandescent bulbs are used for heating purposes.

The initial push to replace incandescent light bulbs was centered on the  compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb. Tube type fluorescent lights have  long been used for commercial lighting. A compact fluorescent bulb  produces about five times as much light as an incandescent bulb consuming the same amount of electricity. The   compact fluorescent lasts about seven  to eight times as long. The one environmental concern with all fluorescent lights is that they contain mercury, a toxic environmental concern. Of  course, coal burning power plants release mercury and other serious toxins so the danger of accidental release of mercury from fluorescent lights is at  least partially offset by the reduction of environmental harm from power  plants.

Recently the move to eliminating incandescent lighting has begun to shift to the use of light emitting diodes or LEDs. These lights are almost twice as  efficient as CF Ls and last at least 5 times longer. Currently an LED bulb is more expensive than a CFL but considerably cheaper in the long run. Just as the price of CFLs has plummeted in just a few years the cost of LEDs is  rapidly falling.

One type of LED fixture which is particularly more efficient is the troffer. Troffer fixtures are the 2'x2' or 2'x4' recessed fixture found in so many  commercial settings. LED lights direct all their output in one direction so  that none of the output is wasted. In a lighting fixture such as a troffer  that means that the efficiency is even greater than the difference  between the basic "bulbs". LED lights have several other advantages over  fluorescent fixtures. They do not fade, flicker, or buzz and they can be  dimmed. They also operate over a wide temperature range. Unlike both  fluorescent and incandescent lights they are not affected by being turned  on and off frequently. This means that they are particularly suited to use in commercial freezers with motion sensors. Many grocery stores now use   such lighting in frozen food displays. 

LED Christmas lights are now becoming common. No fire hazard and  replacing burned out bulbs. However, your bubble lights still need  incandescent bulbs.

Be Sure You"re Right: Davy Crockett vs. Nike

   When I was young Walt Disney reminded us of the legendary American hero Davy Crockett. One of the things Crockett was known for was his motto "Be sure you're right, then go ahead." In recent years we have been hearing a lot of the motto "Just do it."
    I have actually been told that it is better to do something wrong than to take time to think about what I'm doing, to be sure that I am right. I actually have had several people tell me the same thing. I should point out that they were all small time contractors. I emphasize small time.
    I have also known some very successful people, including contractors and military leaders. They were in the habit of being sure. I have also known many academicians, who tended to try to be sure that they were right. I have also known a number of politicians. They so very often don't give a hoot about whether or not they are correct.
    The senior President Bush and Senator McCain come to mind. For much of their careers they tried to follow a path that they seemed to actually believe in.Then running for the office of President came along. Each of them then spent a few years not seeming to do what they believed in. Bush senior eventually did seem to do what had to be done, and Senator McCain has begun to act for what is right instead of what pleases a handful of radicals.
    Global warming is a real threat. When you concentrate wealth, you diminish wealth. American wealth has been founded on government handouts to business. We the people funded the railroads. The Constitution says that we are supposed to "promote the general welfare." The Federalist Papers says that that means, among other things, what we now know as Social Security and universal health care. By the way, the Bible also says that we should take care of our fellow humans.

Have You Been Hacked?

Just a word of warning. Microsoft does not call you to tell you you're having problems with your computer. There are some real shysters out there looking to take advantage of you. I've been re-formatting computers all day and am not through yet. I had other stuff I was wanting to write about. Another day.

How Accurate Does Pi Need to Be?

I just want to make a little clearer what I was just writing about when I was speaking about a quantum mechanical limit to the value for pi. The calculation for pi assumes a purely Euclidean geometry. The real world seems to follow the geometry of General Relativity (Riemannian geometry). Euclidean geometry works as a good approximation in low gravity for short distances.  That means at some point quantum mechanics and general relativity conspire to mean that pi needs only be accurate up to that point.

Some physicist who is up to the math should look at this It probably turns out to coincide with a known  phenomenon. Perhaps someone else has already done the work and I just haven't run into it yet.

What is The Life of Pi?

  Just wanted to comment on the movie " Life of Pi." I am intrigued by the many digit form of the number pi shown early in the movie. It occurs to me that Quantum Physics says that such a long version of pi is meaningless because of the uncertainty principle. In reality, nothing can be measured to that degree of certainty.Which version do you prefer?  I am actually asking the same question that Pi did at the end of the movie. I hope someone has the understanding to comment on this. Or at least to say " Say what?"

Is the Cannabis Cup in America a Sign of Progress?

   Yesterday I wrote an article about the 2013 High Times Cannabis Cup, a  combination festival and trade show celebrating marijuana. After 25 years  of being held in Amsterdam it was held in Seattle this September 7-8.

   Whether this is a positive or a negative development is a subject for  debate, as it has been since William Randolph Hearst sought to protect his newsprint interest from competition from the hemp industry. Because marijuana use in America was associated  with African Americans, Mexicans,and Hindus it was easy to bring race into the debate. Much of the debate in Congress centered on the color of the skin of marijuana smokers and the need to "protect our children from exposure to dark-skinned people."

   Extracts from the cannabis plant have a long history in healing practices  (medicine) of many different cultures. Cannabis products also have a long  history in religion. Marijuana has a very complicated chemical  composition. Two chemicals, cannabidiol and tetrahydrocannabinol, are  the primary drug and psychoactive components of marijuana.

   Cannabidiol, known as CBD, has become of interest in medical marijuana circles because strains of marijuana high in CBD and low in THC (tetrahydro-cannabinol) are very effective in treating pediatric epilepsy. Because these strains do not have strong psychoactive characteristics, they are               considered more suitable for treating children. 

It is interesting to note that the only negative side effect to marijuana based medicines ever mentioned is "a mild feeling of euphoria." Other  medicines may list such things as death, paralysis, heart attack, blindness,  sterility, impotence, hallucinations, or any number of very undesirable  consequences. As long as they don't make you feel good, they get       approved.

An interesting observation is that the one technologically advanced   nation fostering serious medical research on cannabis is Israel. It has been  suggested that the phrase "a land flowing with milk and honey" means "a  land with much marijuana" since milk and honey refers to a common way  of consuming cannabis and early Palestine is known to have had abundant  cannabis. Go to the site of the Zion Coptic Church for more on this subject.   

Does Your Back Door Have Insect Guards?

Nephila clavipes
photo by Thomas Pendrake This lovely lady lives near our back door light and helps keep the bug population in control. She measures about four inches. She is a golden orb spider and I understand it is possible to make one bite you if you try hard enough. They are called golden orb spiders because they create silk covered egg sacs using their golden silk. This silk is one of the strongest fibers known.

Scientists who play with genetics have bred milk goats using gene splicing to add spider silk genes to a line of milk goats in order to bee able to produce fibers of spider silk from goat milk. In one experiment the protein was mixed with human skin cells to produce bullet-proof human skin.
   Spider man fans and the military-industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned us about probably like the idea, but it does kindly creep me out. (kindly is cracker speak)
     I used to keep milk goats so I worry about these goats getting into the gene pool. Goat milk is enjoyed by more humans that any other kind of milk. I am allergic to cow milk.

    A couple of days ago I watched a different moth get caught in this spider's web. The moth immediately stopped moving and the spider did not realize it was there. After a few minutes it managed to fall free of the web. I am willing to bet that this moth fought to get free of the web.

     I'm suspect that the moth who got away had ancestors who got away. If not, maybe it will have descendants who will.  

What Is Content Writing and How Does it Relate to the Hygiene Hypothesis?

   I just finished writing an article for a blog for a company called Pure Citizen which is a marketing site for products which are either organic, free of synthetic chemicals, or at least ethically produced and marketed. The article I just wrote was about organic kid's clothing. It seems I had to discuss the hygiene hypothesis. Wikipedia seems to think this is a fairly new topic. Hahnemann pretty much laid out the concept about two hundred years ago.
   The hygiene hypothesis ( I believe it used to be called the hygienic hypothesis) first began to be a mainstream concept when the polio epidemic arose. Polio was a common mild disease for thousands of years. Before modern sewage practices were developed everyone was exposed to very mild versions of polio at a very young age. Kinda sounds like the Sabin vaccine dispensed by God/nature/whatever name. God knows his name and how you may pronounce it. After modern sewage systems were developed the natural communal immunity to polio vanished and virulent strains developed.
   The human immune system developed in an environment filled with potential pathogens which the immune system readily handles. If a child is not exposed to enough of these it may become unable to respond properly to other substances and may also turn its attention to its own body. Allergies and auto-immune diseases may result.  Folk-lore has "Mommy's Babies" more prone to asthma.
   Expect more on this subject.

AP style vs. academic style

   I would like any comments on the AP style guidelines compared to the style I was taught in Honors English at William and Mary.

Where is the Garden of Eden?

      Back on August 5 I mentioned that the Garden of Eden is under 300 ft of water. Some people have postulated that the Garden of Eden was located in an area that has been inundated by rising sea waters after the period of flooding   following the massive release of methane due to underwater landslides into methane clathrates.  Methane clathrates are a form of ice with methane and other hydrocarbons locked into the structure. Methane clathrates are unstable and disturbances can result in the release of large amounts of methane.This phenomenon has resulted in the disappearance of ships in the "Bermuda triangle" and the North Sea. Minor earthquakes in this area can result in the release of significant amounts of methane.  If this occurs when a ship is above the release the ship will suddenly sink. One explanation for the disappearance of the Sulphur Queen in 1963 relies on this phenomenon. This subject is a cause for debate in academic circles. Methane releases are known to occur in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida.  If the release of gas results in an explosion because of static electricity it can result in a shock wave that feels like a small earthquake. These shocks occur a few times a year.I live twenty plus miles inland and they are quite noticeable. I don't know if all experts agree as to the explanation of these shocks, but I know that it seems to be the best available one.

Power From My Septic Tank

   Sorry its been a few days since I have posted anything new but I have been busy worrying about my electricity bill.   Sure makes me wish I had solar  cells on my roof and gobar powered fuelcells operating off my    septic system. We have enough wind here in Florida that an electric windmill would be a good investment too.

   Unfortunately septic tank fuel cells don't seem to be designed for  American homes. Most work done on the subject of energy from home  waste is designed for third world extreme rural settings or for commercial waste systems and frequently uses gobar or biogas for heating or cooking or producing fuel for vehicles.

   My first experience with fuel cells came when my father helped my older brother built one for science fair project about 1960.  We used  a   potassium hydroxide solution and  electrodes made from  carbon rods  scavenged from dry-cell batteries. Holes were drilled through the rods.  One rod was simply open to the air and the other was supplied with   butane from a blow-torch bottle. As I remember, the cell was  simply connected to a voltmeter to show that it did produce a voltage.

   Much of the early work on fuel cells was done by scientists who were also working on the development of electrical cells or batteries. This is logical since the primary difference between electrical cells and fuel cells is that  conventional electrochemical cells and fuel cells is that the fuel is built  into the cell and is used up in the conventional cell and is supplied  from outside in the fuel cell and can be replaced continuously. A  rechargeable cell can have the fuel replaced by running an electrical  current in the reverse direction and undoing the chemical process in the  cell.

   The earliest known fuel cells were made around 1839 by William Robert  Grove based on research by Christian Friedrich Schonbien. The first  commercial use of fuel cells was in the U.S. space program for project  Gemini. 

   Some fuel cells use bacteria to produce electricity but are not very  efficient. The one real benefit is that the process yields pure water from wastewater at a very low cost. Australia has done the most work on this   type of fuel cell because of their ability to purify water. 

     

   The use of gobar or biogas to power fuel cells is a much more successful  proposition than bacterial fuel cells. Many manufacturing installations have installed gobar powered fuel cell plants to process waste from their  installation. The cost of these units are coming down and the hope is that  this will lead to the development of small units. Perhaps someday I'll be  able to have my septic tank fuel cell.

What is the Difference Between Energy and Power?

   The study of the concepts of energy and power is one of the cornerstones of the science of Physics. Think of Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein when you think of Physics. Don't forget Archimedes. It is easy to say "Energy is the potential to do work".  What  do we mean by "work"?

    Probably the first scientific definition of work came from the Greek philosopher Archimedes, force times distance. One example would be to lift a pound of weight one foot. This is one foot pound of work. If you have to move a one ton box from one side of a room to the other, it takes less work to move it if it is on wheels than it does if you have to slide it across the floor(unless the floor is very slippery).

   Power is the rate at which work is done. One horse power is 33,000 foot pounds per minute (depending on how you define horsepower).  A watt is another measure of power, and a Kilowatt hour is another measure of energy. A physicist will have a much more complex understanding of what energy is. The science behind the atom bomb comes from that understanding.
 
   Consider 20 gallons of gasoline. Gasoline has energy stored in it (mostly originally derived from sunlight by ancient primitive plants). All methods of extracting that energy are less than perfect. Fuel cells are probably the most efficient, while internal combustion engines are pretty inefficient. Any system that burns gasoline is limited in its efficiency.

   Modern hybrid cars may be able to travel 2,000 miles on that 20 gallons of gas. A 1950 King Midget car will be able to go well over 1,000 miles on it at maybe 40 mph, while a top quality drag racer will be able to do a few quarter mile runs on it in a few seconds per run. What would be really nice is a powerful car that is efficient. An electric car with fuel cells has that possibility.

   A fuel cell is like an electric battery that converts the the energy stored in various fuels directly into electrical energy. A fuel cell provides electricity as long as it has fuel. The efficiency rates are high but the power output of fuel cells still needs improving . This sounds like a subject for another blog.

Since I am trying to get this blog going so that I can make a little (or even a lot) of money I need to write something with keywords in it. I need to mention SEO, solar energy, solar power, green, dogs, foster dogs,
environment, and all the Stuff I am passionate about. Proof of God is another good one. Family and children are good topics. These are all topics which will be covered in this blog. Of course, when I say green, I am thinking about energy, industry, homes, farming, and any number of topics which can either be environmentally friendly or not.

Let me know if you have any particular topics along these lines you particularly want to hear about. I will also be willing to consider submissions by other writers.

I seem to have figured out how to correct first posting

  Perhaps this is a very minor thought, but did you know that a regular microwave oven is just a box when it isn't running? It makes very little difference whether something is sitting outside the oven or in it once it goes"ding". If you just microwaved some water, you may want to let it sit a few seconds in case it is superheated. You may have heated water to above the boiling point and moving it may cause it to suddenly boil. Otherwise, if someone is waiting to heat their coffee cup and you just cooked some noodles and the noodles need to sit for 90 seconds, they don't have to rest in the oven.

   Perhaps the reason so many people are telling Al Gore that he shouldn't be building an Ark for all those animals is somehow related to this. I realize that most people may have trouble seeing the connection, so I will drop a few hints. Common belief is that Noah was ridiculed for building the Ark, but there is no biblical record of that concept. Since the story of Noah is one version of an ancient story that has been part of human oral history for a very long time and the folk version has the builder of the ark being ridiculed it is likely that he was. The fact is that in the popular version of the story he is, so let's stick with it.

   The point is that  people are frequently not too bright when it comes to simple science. The history of the greenhouse effect on Earth and its effect on the weather is extremely well established fact.  The only realistic debate about the effect of Mankind's influence on global warming since the beginning of the industrial age is whether it is totally the influence of mankind or perhaps as little as 80%.  The current scientific debate is whether or not we have passed the tipping point.

   About 10 or 11 millennia ago there was a tipping point that occurred  due to a release of methane caused by undersea landslides which resulted from the gradual global warming associated with the ending of the last ice age, a process that is still ongoing. The sudden warming associated with that methane incident resulted in a rise in sea levels at a precipitous rate. Numerous mythologies from around the world tell of a great flood. The Golden Age of mankind ended. The Garden of Eden is under 300 feet of water. Civilization was probably set back several thousand years.

   That the Human race is facing world wide rise of sea levels is inevitable. Whether it takes another 10,000 years for sea levels to rise another several hundred feet or if it only takes 100 years is pretty much in our hands. If we continue our wicked ways of poisoning our atmosphere we can expect that the Power which rules over us will let our race once again feel the consequences  or our sins.

   If you insist of only thinking of that Power as natural law, we are still on the same page. God knows his name. Frankly, God is god by any name. The Bible says that He knows when people call upon him by any name. He (or She) also knows when we don't. Don't don't.

Just Some Thoughts

   I was just thinking about some of my favorite books and movies. I noticed that I was fond of books and movies classified as  Dystopian . When I studied these books in college they were classified as Utopian along with those stories now classified as Utopian. I think that probably this is because in the case of idealized societies beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Adolph Hitler thought that he was building a Utopia, not a Dystopia.

  I am still trying to figure out how to edit the stuff I have already posted to correct the problems I have had with a couple of posts.

I noticed that the site for posting my blog does a lousy job of copying what I paste to it. I did not split up words the way it did. I will try to be more careful in the future.

What is This Blog All About?

Blog 1

The primary subjects of this blog will be safe sources or power (such as 
solar power to produce electricity), good stewardship of our environment, a little about music and art in general, sanity in politics, and whatever else I may be moved by. Maybe a little about dogs. Perhaps any news about the Hobbits. But first, a little digression.

I recall when I was an undergraduate at William and Mary a reporter at the College newspaper interviewed my professor Dr. Rolf Winter, the newly 
appointed chairman of the Physics department. The reporter basically stated that Dr. Winter said science disproved the existence of God. Dr.
Winter immediately wrote  that  nothing contained
in the article pertained to anything he had said and nothing he said was 
contained in the  article.   

For some reason ignorant reporters and preachers seem to think that there
is a conflict between science and religion. Science was born in religion and throughout history many prominent scientists have been religious  people. The exact nature of their faith has varied. Many of them have
been Deists or of similar beliefs.

I think it is noteworthy that the recently installed atheist monument at the Bradford County courthouse has quotes from 3 prominent Deist Founding Fathers and one atheist.

The quote by Madalyn O'Hair was about how atheists would prefer to see
hospitals built instead of churches. Considering how many hospitals have 
been built by atheists and how many have been built by 
religious groups, it is hard to place much value in that quote. In fact, until
Benjamin Franklin built an independent hospital in Pennsylvania all 
hospitals were part of churches. 

In case you don't know what Deism is, it is basically the belief that God is
revealed by nature and reason, not divine revelation. It is interesting that 
the period of history in which Deism in America was so prominent was
followed by transcendentalism.

I was just trying to get something on this page. In the next day or two I will start adding other stuff. Feel free to send me your thoughts. Please try to make them rational and coherent.