CLIMATE :

 As discussed above, generation of heat is a function  of  gravity, which in turn depends on mass. As long as the mass of the earth is constant, the quantity of geothermal energy produced is also constant. Initially, heat is transferred to the  seas and, thence, to the atmospheric H2O, and  ultimately to the outer  space, when the latent heat is   released on formation of water droplets which form clouds. Simultaneously, heat is being radiated continuosly from the surface of the earth ,both land and sea, as the outer space is considerably cooler  than the earth.

The heat generated by the earth is converted into kinetic energy in a big way, when ocean currents are working round the clock. The volume of water involved in this process  is thousands of times  more than that of  all the rivers of the world.

Earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes  etc. also eat up considerable quantity of geothermal energy. Diffusion of water in the seas takes place continuously because of hot bottom and cool Polar regions. Part of the energy is also used up by cyclones, tornados etc. (the circumstances in which these are caused by hot steam emanating from the seas will be discussed in BUT-Volume III).

If the total quantity of geothermal energy is T, the energy converted into kinetic form is K and heat lost by radiation R,

T – K – R = the net increase or decrease in the warmth of the globe

From the table given below, it is clear that during the last 200 years there has not been any appreciable change in the warmth of the globe.

For a proper study of this subject, a distinction has to be made between the temperature of the earth and the temperature of the atmosphere. The latitude-mean temperature graph fairly represents the temperature of the earth, as the sea surface is not much affected by weather conditions. On the other hand, land stations will be subjected to violent fluctuations in the weather like extreme summers and winters, especially if the stations are much above the sea level.

The land mass contains lakes, surface soil water, water chambers, sub-terrainian water channels etc. which retain considerable quantity of water. Because of the peculiar structure of the H20 molecule, heat is retained in water for a longer period than other materials. This is the reason why summer extends much beyond the date 21^st June in the northern hemisphere. In the absence of water on the earth the peak temperature will end on that day and we may experience pleasant weather by August. Similarly, but for snow and the water layers lying just below the surface of the earth, the winter will start waning right from 21^st December.

In spite of these differences, data in respect of land stations, too, prove my contention that the globe is not warming!

When we look back

“It is an inquiry of some interest, whether the general temperature of the globe is stable, or is gradually undergoing change through diminution or addition. We have no means of deciding this point, because our thermometrical determinations are confined to a comparatively modern date. The instrument was not brought to perfection until the year 1724, by Fahrenheit, and therefore beyond that period we are dependent upon the recorded experience and sensations of observers, and upon the details of agricultural failure or success, for our knowledge of temperature in former times. We are not warranted to infer from these casual notices any changes of physical climate generally within the era of authentic history, though in particular localities, there is strong reason to suppose that an alteration has taken place; but this has been the very reverse of an impressions that once prevailed respecting it. The existence of a colony on the east coast of Greenland cut off from communication with the external world, and destroyed by the gradual accumulation of the ice upon its shores –the fact of immense forests anciently clothing the highest parts of Britain, and other northern countries, where a tree now can scarcely be made to grow –of the period of the vintage formerly commencing several weeks earlier in France than at present-of vineyards having been planted in the south of England during the time that the Romans held possession of the island, where hops can only be raised with difficulty- and of the sides of the Scottish hills bearing evident traces of the plough, which have long been surrendered to the heaths as incapable of cultivation;-these circumstances have been appealed to, as evidence of a milder and more genial climate having once characterized the northern regions of Europe. Sir John Leslie has remarked upon these details, “that a patch of wood will not thrive in cold situations, merely for want of the shelter which is afforded by extensive plantations. In Sweden and Norway, which are mostly covered with natural forests, it has become an object of police to prevent their indiscriminate destruction. The timber in those sylvan countries is cut at stated periods of its growth, and in detached portions; the vacant spaces being left as nurseries, embosomed amidst an expanse of tall trees.  Some places in Sweden, where the forests have been accidentally destroyed by fire, present the image of sterility, and of wide desolation. It is probable, the vines grown in ancient times were coarser and hardier plants than those which are now cultivated. A similar observation extends to all the productions of gardening. A succession of diligent culture softens the character of the vegetable tribes, and renders them more delicate, while it heightens the flavor of their fruits. The Roman soldiers stationed in Britain would naturally prefer wine, their accustomed beverage, however harsh and poor, to the cervisia, or unpalatable ale brewed by the rude arts of the natives. The marks of tillage left on our northern hills evince only the wretched state of agriculture at a remote period. For want of a proper system of rotation, and the due application of manure, the starving tenantry were then tempted to tear up with the plough every virgin spot they could find, and after extracting from it  a pitiful crop or two of oats, to abandon it to a lasting sterility”. With reference to the colony supposed to have been planted on the east coast of Greenland, now an uninhabitable region of glaciers, there is reason to believe that its name, Oestre Bydg, the eastern settlement, simply refers to its position in relation to another settlement, both of which were on the western coast, now occupied by the Danish factories. From the name of Snowland, afterwards supplanted by that of Iceland, given by the roving pirates of the Baltic to that island upon its discovery in the ninth century, it may certainly be concluded that the climate of the north was then analogous to what it is at present.

A different opinion, that the climate of the midland part of the temperate zone, especially in Europe, is less rigorous now than it was sixteen or seventeen centuries ago, appears to be supported by sufficient evidence. After making allowances for inaccuracy and exaggeration in the statements of the classical writers, they will still be found descriptive of a cold in various districts, as a feature of the ordinary temperature, which is not realized at present. The epistles written by Ovid from Pontus, whither he was banished by order of Augustus, describe the rigour of the climate there, in terms which suit the winder of Hudson’s Bay. He mentions, among other instances of the extreme cold, The Euxine Sea being frozen over, so as to bear men and cattle upon it. Tertullian, one of the Christian fathers in the second century, writing in the style of the fierce zealot and florid rhetorician, against the herectic Marcion, thus refers to the same region:- “That tract, which is called the Pontus Euxinus, the hospitable sea, has been refused all favours, and is mocked by its very name. The day is never open, the sun never shines willingly, there is but one atmosphere- fog; the whole year is wintry; every wind that blows comes from the north; liquors are only such before the fire; the rivers are blocked up with ice, the mountains are heaped higher with snow; all things are benumbed, all things are stiff with cold, nothing but cruelty has there the warmth of life; that kind of cruelty, I mean, which has supplied the stage with fables concerning the sacrifices of the Tauri, and the loves of Colchis, and the tortures of Caucasus. But there is nothing so barbarous and miserable in Pontus, as that it has given birth to Maricion; he is more savage than a Scythian, more unstable than the wild inhabitants of a wagon, more inhuman than the Massageta, more audacious than the Amazon, darker than the mist, colder than the winter, more brittle than the ice, more treacherous than the Danube, more precipitous than Caucasus”. Virgil refers to the winter on the banks of the Ister of the Greeks, the modern Danube, in the third Georgic, in a manner which at present is inapplicable to any part of its course:-

“ The sun from far peeps with a sickly face,Too weak, the clouds and mighty fogs to chase,

When up the skies he shoots his rosy head,

Or in the ruddy ocean seeks his bed.

Swift rivers are with sudden ice constrain’d

And studded wheels are on its back sustain’d;

A hostry now for wagons, which before

Tall ships of burden on its bosom bore,

The brazen cauldrons with the frost are flaw’d.

The garment, stiff with ice, at hearths is thaw’d.

With axes first they cleave the wine; and thence

By weight, the solid portions they dispense.

From locks uncomb’d, and from the frozen beard,

Long icicles depend, and crackling sounds are heard.

Meantime perpetual sleet, and driving snow,

Obscure the skies, and hang on heards below.

The starving cattle perish in their stalls;

Huge oxen stand enclos’d in wintry walls

Of snow congeal’d; Whole heards are buried there

Of mighty stags, and scarce their horns appear.

The dexterous huntsman wounds not these afar

With shafts or darts, or makes a distant war

With dogs, or pitches toils to stop their flight,

But close engages in unequal fight;

And, while they strive in vain to make their way

Through hills of snow, and pitifully bray,

Assaults with dint of sword, or pointed spears,

And homeward on his back the joyful burden bears.

The men to subterranean caves retire,

Secure from cold, and crowd the cheerful fire:

With trunks of elms and oaks the hearth they load,

Nor tempt th’ inclemency of heaven abroad.”

The allusions to the climate of Itay in the Georgics, referring to the Augustan age, are in several respects irreconcilable with its present character. The writer speaks of the freezing of the rivers in the southern part of the peninsula as an ordinary occurrence, and gives frequent directions for the protection of sheep and goats from snow and frost, as if addressing a shepherd of the plains of Holstein or the highlands of Scotland. It is a well-attested fact, that the savage inhabitants of Gaul and Germany usually selected the winter-season for their warlike incursions into the Roman provinces, on account of the facility afforded by the ice for the transport of their armies, horses and baggage, across the grate rivers, which have never been frozen in modern times as to admit of such an occurrence. In the time of Ceasar, also, the rein-deer, now confined to the colder regions north of the Baltic, was found, along with the elk and the wild bull, in the Hercynian forest, which then over-shadowed a grate part of Germany and Poland. A volume published at Vienna in 1788, contains some remarkable passages concerning the state of the weather for more than a thousand years back, gathered from the old chronicles, which detail the state of the harvest, the quality of the vintage, or the endurance of frost and snow in the winter. From this work, Sir John Leslie, in an article furnished to one of the public journals, quoted the following record of excessive winters and summers, to which some additions have been made.”

NOTES:

1. All quotations are from the phenomenon known as Rev. Thomas Milner, M.A’s Physical Geography, re-published in Delhi in 1975. I could not find any other details about his life.

      In the next instalment – TEMPERATURE  DATA

I’m sure most of you are familiar with these images that have been circulating the blogosphere:

First, let me point out that Al Gore has failed at proving that Global Warming exists. That’s like trying to prove that Santa exists. Sure, wouldn’t it be dandy? But facts are facts and fiction is fiction. So, what does a has-been politician do when his life’s work has been proven time and time again to be a fraud? Well, if this has-been politician is Al Gore; he resorts to Photoshopping “evidence”. I mean, Photoshop trumps science, right? Wrong. Sorry, Al. It doesn’t. Just like whining about pregnant chads doesn’t win an election. YES, we all remember your whiny ass complaining about pregnant chads and dimples on ballots.

In the images above you can clearly see that several massive hurricanes have been Photoshopped. It’s been proven that hurricanes are at a 30 year low. Here are some graphs I found at Watts Up With That:

Both Northern Hemisphere and South Hemisphere AND therefore overall Global hurricane activity has continued to sink to levels not seen since the 1970s. Even more astounding, when the Southern Hemisphere hurricane data is analyzed to create a global value, we see that Global Hurricane Energy has sunk to 30-year lows, at the least. Since hurricane intensity and detection data is problematic as one goes back in time, when reporting and observing practices were different than today, it is possible that we underestimated global hurricane energy during the 1970s.

Using a well-accepted metric called the Accumulated Cyclone Energy index or ACE for short (Bell and Chelliah 2006), which has been used by Klotzbach (2006) and Emanuel (2005) (PDI is analogous to ACE), and most recently by myself in Maue (2009) , simple analysis shows that 24-month running sums of global ACE or hurricane energy have plummeted to levels not seen in 30 years.

Why use 24-month running sums instead of simply yearly values? Since a primary driver of the Earth’s climate from year to year is the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) acts on time scales on the order of 2-7 years, and the fact that the bulk of the Southern Hemisphere hurricane season occurs from October – March, a reasonable interpretation of global hurricane activity requires a better metric than simply calendar year totals. The 24-month running sums is analogous to the idea of “what have you done for me lately”. During the past 6 months, extending back to October of 2008 when the Southern Hemisphere tropical season was gearing up, global ACE had crashed due to two consecutive years of well-below average Northern Hemisphere hurricane activity. To avoid confusion, I am not specifically addressing the North Atlantic, which was above normal in 2008 (in terms of ACE), but the hemisphere (and or globe) as a whole. The North Atlantic only represents a 1/10 to 1/8 of global hurricane energy output on average but deservedly so demands disproportionate media attention due to the devastating societal impacts of recent major hurricane landfalls.

Interesting, indeed. Visit Watts Up With That for more information. Unless you’re a liberal. From what I understand; you liberals aren’t all that interested in facts and information. But, it’s there if you ever decide to quit being morons.

If you look at the second image I posted; the one with the faux-hurricanes… you’ll notice that the Arctic has magically disappeared! Funny, since the Arctic ice is currently at the SAME levels as 1979. The good people at Daily Tech pointed this out.

(click to enlarge)

Rapid growth spurt leaves amount of ice at levels seen 29 years ago.

Thanks to a rapid rebound in recent months, global sea ice levels now equal those seen 29 years ago, when the year 1979 also drew to a close.

Visit Daily Tech for more information.

Also, NASA points out that the average temperature of the water near the top of the Earth’s oceans has significantly cooled since 2003. CLICK FOR NASA ARTICLE

BBC has found that we have not observed any increase in global temperatures for the last 11 years. Yes, that’s over ONE DECADE. CLICK FOR BBC ARTICLE

So… tell me… Why does Florida appear to be dissolving in Al Gore’s lame Photoshopped images? What the hell happened to CUBA? Last time I checked; Cuba still exists. Also; look at the SIZE of those faux-hurricanes. Anyone who actually believes this Global Warming bullshit simply WANTS to. There is no other conclusion.

Here’s something fun:
Letting Al Gore know we aren’t falling for his junk science, Portland, Oregon 11/18/09

Wake up, people. He’s cashing in and making BILLIONS off of easily influenced MORONS.

THE COOLING EARTH

Nowadays it is fashionable to talk and write about global warming; so much so that it may sound like blasphemy if I say that the Earth is cooling. But it is a simple fact that all members of the solar system except the Sun are in fact cooling off continuously from the time of inception. Any hot body will shed its heat until its temperature corresponds to the temperature of its environment. If we consider the Earth as a whole, including its atmosphere, the temperature may be roughly 250 degree C more than the outer space. It’s inevitable that the earth must cool off, for a considerable time to come.

 Heat received by the Earth from the Sun is neglible, beyond 55 degree north and 55 degree south latitude. The slanting sunrays will not produce any worthwhile heat. Again, the heat received in the middle region up to 8 am and after 5 pm can be ignored. Whatever heat is absorbed between 8 am and 5 pm is lost during the night! All this is in summer. In winter sunlight has no effect at all.

 “But we have striking and sufficient evidence that the superficial shell of the globe is not only heated above that of the ambient air, by the action of its own deep-seated fires”  (Physical Geography by Thomas Milner)

 How does the earth remain warm? We must look inwards for an answer. The interior of the earth is very hot (The reasons have been explained in the article below on Gravity). The temperature may be thousands of degrees C. Slowly this heat seeps outwards. As we go down the earth it becomes extremely hot. Heat may be transferred from the interior to the surface of the earth by the process of conduction. Heat is also transferred by water molecules. If there is no water in the oceans, the ocean beds would be extremely hot. But actually the temperature of the water in ocean beds may be of the order of 3 degree C. This is because of convection currents caused by the ice caps in the Polar Regions and the hot cauldron of sea bed below. This can be proved by a simple experiment.

 A drum filled with water may be heated from below and cooled by a block of ice floating above. If you measure the temperature, you may find the water slightly warmer below the ice block than the water at the bottom of the drum. Water molecules, absorbing heat at the bottom, travel up and ice cooled water from the top comes down. In the same way hot water from the sea bed goes up and water (at 0 degree C) below the polar ice cap travels down towards the sea bed. This way heat from the interior of the earth is slowly transferred to the sea water. Eventually this heat is transmitted to outer space.

 There is another less known mechanism of heat transfer, from the interior of the earth. Water molecules are driven towards the ocean beds under tremendous pressure. We know how it is, if it rains continuously for a few days! What if it rains for 365 days? Or imagine a water tank constructed in a field (bottom being earth without water) the height of the tank being 6kms. Well, this is how the ocean bed is! The constant pounding of the ocean bed by the pressure of up to 1000 atmospheres, makes the earth pulpy and water infiltrates down. Marine geologists tell us that the terrain below the ocean is not much different from the terrain of the continents. When the surface temperature of the earth was higher than 100 degree C, there was no water in the seas. There was no difference between land and sea. It was all land. The sea bed was normal height of the plain. The continents are merely plains of greater height like Tibetan plateau we are familiar with. There are mountains and valleys in the ocean beds also. Tunnels and caves we find in the continent are there in the sea beds too. These will get filled with water; under high temperature, acquired from geo-thermal energy and high pressure, the water becomes super heated steam. Water goes down but steam presses up and ultimately finds its way to the ocean. There are about 30 thousand volcanoes and any number of hot springs in the ocean through which heat continuously comes out. This may, perhaps, be the source of hot currents in the ocean.

 The oceans can never be heated from above. The warm layer of water formed by sun rays cannot travel down and will become cool before the next day break. The ice cold water from the Polar region will sink to the ocean bed, never to rise up, unless heated by the earth. Ultimately, the whole ocean will become a block of ice if the earth is heated only from above by the Sun.

 Let us now look at a strange thing about the Earth. The Arctic Circle is comparatively well populated with Eskimo’s etc living permanently there. The corresponding region in the Antarctic Circle is extremely cold and inhospitable. Man makes his presence felt in this region only in the southern summer. The reasons are obvious. The Arctic region being land locked, there are any number of hot springs there, (see my article on Saraswati ) warming the atmosphere. On the other hand the Antarctica is surrounded by deep oceans : the Pacific ocean on one side and the Indian ocean on the opposite side. There must be hot springs in this region also; but being too deep the warm waters get cooled.\

From the above discussion one thing is clear – the earth is kept warm by geo thermal energy, and not by the heat from the Sun. Today life forms depend very much on sunlight; but the bottom of the sea too contains even developed life forms. Tomorrow if the sun suddenly disappears, I am sure mother Earth will continue to nurture her children, giving the warmth from her own bosom.

 If you look at the map of the world, you will find that the whole of the hemisphere on the Pacific side and 90 % of the southern hemisphere is water. Comparatively few points of the continent comprise of urban areas. Industrial activity in these urban centers can contribute but a miniscule percentage to global warming, which has been going on much before industrialization. (see para on CO₂)

 Therefore, all this hullabaloo about global warming may be unwarranted.

According to one theory, ‘Ice Age’ occurs every 18,000 years or so. The warming earth melts the polar ice cap, and the ice cold water comes down to northern Canada, Europe and northern Siberia. This will cause severe winter and the whole area will be covered with ice ushering in another ‘Ice Age’. The cycle repeats itself.

So I took some paper, some new rice paper, some recycled, and made FRAMED PRINTS!

I was thrilled to have sold my San Fransisco one within 24hrs of posting it to Etsy.

KISSING FOOLS

LONDON CALLING

HEMISPHERE

Jupiter the giant ruler of Sagittarius

This year the heavy burden of change in earth’s systems, world governments and weather patterns is sometimes laid at Scorpio’s door. But a much greater force was at work: Saturn, the great planet of sidereal change, slowly and inexorably moved out of the communicative and meticulously-ordered earth-sign of Virgo, where he has ruled, written in stone, made careful lists and acted in a predictable manner for the last three years. On October 29th 2009, he entered Libra, the zodiac sign of partnerships, cooperative ventures, balance and – above all – change.

Changes at the end of the year are expected as we in the Northern hemisphere descend into winter; but Saturn’s influence is huge. Just as the moon affects earth’s ocean tides, the ringed giant’s great orb reaches from its distant position in the sixth solar orbit to touch and move this little world of ours in the third planetary belt round the sun.

At the beginning of November this huge astrological catalyst of change had already joined forces with the sun in Scorpio and world mayhem, freak weather systems, and cultural upheaval were apparent: floods, tsunamis and out-of-season storms added to wars and conflict, famine and a breakdown in communications in both Old and New worlds. We are only now recovering from the effects of drought and starvation in some African regions and deluge and homeless scenarios in the North.

Saturn the planet of change and upheaval

It is a surprise and relief when, following the double Scorpionic portion dished out to us in mid-November by the New Moon, that Saturn’s new position in Libra should be accentuated by the sun’s transition on November 22nd into jovial Sagittarius. This zodiac sign is ruled by abundant Jupiter. It allows us a respite, a time to remember our place on the planet, our blessings, our way forward. But it, too, heralds change.

Sagittarius is a fire sign, sent to melt the icy waters Scorpio dragged in with its lethal tail. The archer, sunny of disposition and sending arrows presaging abundant flow to come, allows the glow of Thanksgiving and a glimpse towards the festivities of midwinter, but he reminds us that more work is round the corner as we are moving into a New Age. It helps to know, however that his ruler, Jupiter presently stands with Neptune, the planet of change and the spiritual, the mystical and unknown in forward-looking Aquarius; so our path, while difficult, is overseen by angels.

A trusted astrologer friend says:
“November 22-30: This is a highly creative time. Pay attention and focus on the little signs. Push the boundaries of what you perceive possible. Stretch your imagination. Resist the temptations of the status quo. Ask the right questions, ‘why not’ and ‘what if’. Be brave.

“Mostly just be in your own spirit, take time to meditate, try to remember that the Universe is ordering things in right timing; that in moving from a place of trusting, your own ability and power to create will open up. Spend time with others you like to be around and keep cutting clutter and non-essentials from your life.”

As the month draws to a close, we are being challenged to seek even greater clarity and depth of meaning in life, in our relationships, in our day-to-day interaction with others, work colleagues, family and strangers alike, so that we start to evolve in spiritual understanding of our place on this special planet Earth.

And at month-end, as we move into December, Mercury aspects challenge us to release stress and restore clarity of thinking. Mercury the messenger and communicator-par-excellence may get us through the hard part.

December begins with a powerful double-whammy: a Full Moon in Gemini on December 1st coincides with giant Uranus’ turning direct.

Changes and new directions are on the cards – in spades.

But we have help. Angels and giants are around to help us through.

This is an occasional astrological blog posting, as we move through the year. I am aware that many are familiar with the Western zodiac and its implications. However I hope to encourage a friend who understands the ramifications of the Vedic astrological system of the Indian sub-continent to join me in the next blog post. It is a fascinating system, with many parallels with Western and even Chinese texts. I think it will be something to look forward to.

Transmission remains active and geographically widespread in places like the United States… From VOA. Full story

This site may contain information about: virus. The blog is also related to: virus.

Let this one think I am a tyrant.  And this one think I am a king.  This one will be afraid of me.  And this one worry I won’t live long enough to see her wed.  And that one never understands.  Which hurts me most.  I will name her Sea.  And she, the quiet one, is Flood.  My favorite I call Moon.  We pace the house.  Even when she is supposed to be asleep, she wakes and comes into my room.  Her flimsy gown almost invisible.  She must be cold, but she is good and, though I never believe such stories, she says she has bad dreams.  Come walk with me tonight, but only for tonight.  Tomorrow, the sun dispels the dark, and you have another hemisphere to light.  And so we lived as long as we could.  Then she went her way, and I went mine.  This will be the only kind of parenting I know.  The shaping of the moon in lines.

The Scriptures are the standard against which any arguement for a Christian should stand or fall. Without such a standard to compare with, any attempt to prove a thing becomes futile, subject to misinterpretation.

Think for a moment! How would you prove that a rug you bought was 9 by 12 feet? You would need a ruler, a standard to measure by. How would you know the ruler to be correct? The final word on the matter would come from the Bureau of Standards in Washington which keeps masters on hand for every weight or measurement.

Now how will you check the new moons? Are you certain the first day of the month is in the correct place or should it be a day or two earlier? Where is the master, the standard to go by?

Here is the answer! What advantage did Paul have being a Jew? “Unto them [the Jews] were committed the oracles of God” (Romans 3:1,2). Oracles are communications from God. These must be our final authority in the problem with regard to new moon dates. The question now arises, where is the oracle which will solve the problem of new moon dates? Is the Jewish calendar such an oracle?

Who gave the Jewish people their calendar? Suppose you found it to be the same person who preached for 3 1/2 years, chose 12 disciples to be apostles and then gave His life on the cross, to be resurrected three days later. Would you be willing to hear Him?

Notice Stephen’s testimony to the High Priest concerning Moses and Christ, “This is he [Moses], that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel [or messenger — Christ] which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us” (Acts 7:38).

How to Prove It

Now consider this: The One who became Jesus Christ spoke to Moses and Aaron (not to the entire congregation) saying, “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.” These two men were to instruct the people to use this Sacred Calendar.

GOD gave the Calendar. Man is to use it. Is man to stand in judgment of God as to whether this divine communication, this oracle, is proper or not? Hardly.

The knowledge of the inner working of the Calendar was retained by God’s appointed physical priesthood until the year 360 A.D. In that year the Jewish leaders published the information for all to know, so the broken and scattered Jewish nation (and Christians as well) would be able to continue the observance of God’s Feast Days in accordance to the new moons as calculated from Jerusalem.

Jerusalem was always the point from which the new moons were observed and sanctified. It was the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, that determined when the new moon was apparent. And it was their responsibility to notify the Jewish communities of the beginning of the months.

However, by 360 A.D. when oppression and persecution threatened the continued existence of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish leaders took an extraordinary step to allow the scattered Jews to keep the new moons, festivals and Holy Days always at the same time. They then made public the system of calendar computations that hitherto had been an apparently guarded secret of the priesthood.

Thus, all Jews (and Christians) throughout the world could know when the new moon would occur according to Jerusalem time and consequently they could celebrate the same day all over the earth in unity.

It should be obvious now how to prove all things. Check them against the Oracles of God. What are these Oracles preserved by God through the Jewish people? Three: The Scriptures, The Sabbath, and The Calendar.

It was God’s prerogative to give these communications and commands. It was God’s responsibility to see that they were preserved down to our time. It was God’s judgment that a stiff-necked, rebellious, unchanging Jewish people should be given the assignment to preserve His Calendar, His Sabbath, His Scripture. With God behind them you may be sure that they carried out this task.

Do the Jews Obey?

The matter of whether the Jews have obeyed these Scriptures, rested on this Sabbath, kept the correct days in the correct manner on this Calendar, is an entirely different question.

There is no need to follow the Jews in their rebellion. Stephen continues, “Our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt.” In rejecting Moses, they rejected Christ whom he represented.

If you reject Moses today, if you reject the Oracles given through Moses, you also reject the One who sent him. The overwhelming majority of those of you who read this had ancestors who did reject Moses and Christ as their leaders and were condemned to die in the wilderness.

The real reason now becomes apparent why it is so hard for us to turn our hearts and minds to the true way that God has given to us. We have inherited this same stiff-necked rebellious nature.

Questions Answered

Doesn’t the faint crescent of the new moon become visible at an earlier time to the observer in California than to an observer in Jerusalem?

Yes, it does and for a number of reasons.

Mainly that the day travels from east to west across the globe. A day starts on the eastern coast of China or Australia (or even earlier with the islands just to the west of the International Date Line). It requires 24 hours to make a complete circuit arriving once more at the International Date Line. The moment of sunset thus travels westward across the earth. It would occur in Jerusalem 10 hours earlier than in California, which is 10,000 miles farther west.

This 10 hour difference would allow the moon to move 5 degrees eastward through the background of stars away from the sun’s position. The crescent of the new moon could thus be seen one day earlier by California observers about 40 per cent of the time. What are God’s instructions? If the people of Jerusalem, where God’s permanent headquarters are to be, cannot see this crescent of the moon following sunset, then the entire world east and west of that city must delay beginning the month till the following sunset.

This is the ordinance as it was given by God. We are not free to begin earlier because of the way we see it.

Another 6 hour difference as to the date for the new moon is introduced by the practice of delaying the ending of a day till midnight. Your almanac and Roman calendar “new moon” dates follow this pagan practice. This factor alone would shift the date of the new moon one day earlier 25 per cent of the time. Yet this pagan source is the one that many of you have used to check God’s Sacred Calendar. Isn’t it time we shift our allegiance to God’s Oracles and away from the customs and terminology of the heathen?

Still another factor makes this crescent of the new moon visible earlier in California. Just as the path of an eclipse of the sun moves from west to east across the earth so the moment at which the crescent would become visible (if the observer’s time were just after sunset) also moves from west to east across the globe and for the same reason. Up to 6 1/2 hours are required for this moment to cross the earth.

Thus while the day comes to us from the east, the month (or the moment the month might begin) sweeps across the earth from the west. It is natural for the western observer to want to begin his month too early. But it is God’s calendar and His month based on that calendar that we ought to follow.

A Difference in Latitude

Another question: Does one’s latitude also make a difference in his ability to see this crescent of the new moon in the west just after the sun goes down?

Yes, this also affects the problem on all except two days of the year, the day of the spring equinox (March 21) and of the autumnal equinox (September 23).

On these two days the sunset line runs straight north and south on the surface of the earth from south pole to the north. Latitude thus makes no difference in sunset time on these two days. Sunset would be six o’clock (sun time) for everyone. (The fact that standard time is commonly used for an entire time belt and is based on mean solar time would mean that the time shown by our clocks might vary up to 50 minutes and in certain localities over an hour from sun time.)

During the summer months the sunset line curves toward the northeast with a portion of the north Polar region in continual sunlight. During the winter months the sunset line curves toward the northwest with a portion of the north polar region in darkness 24 hours a day. (These statements are for the northern hemisphere only. The conditions are reversed south of the equator.)

The moment at which an observer at any point on the earth might see the crescent of a new moon and want to begin his month varies widely. Even the factor of whether the moon is north or south of the ecliptic, slightly affects the ability of the observer to see the crescent, especially in the extreme latitudes.

Conjunction or Crescent

A third question: Is the new moon noted on the Roman calendar or in an almanac or astronomy book the same term as the new moon on God’s Sacred Calendar? Not at all. The term “new moon” from these secular sources refers to the conjunction (or molad) of the sun and moon rather than the visible crescent which could first be seen about six hours later.

The astronomer’s “new moon” is the moment an eclipse of the sun might occur. (The moon is usually above or below the sun rather than in front of it. Thus eclipses do not occur at each of these “new moons”.) But remember that this conjunction occurs at least 6 hours before any observer anywhere can see the new moon crescent with his eyes.

God’s new moon on the other hand is the beginning day of a month, a day that begins at sunset at least 6 hours after this conjunction. Both the conjunction and sunset must be calculated for the Jerusalem area not for our local area. Then the first day of the new month moves west across the earth.

Delay for Preparation

A fourth question: Isn’t the first day of God’s Sacred Calendar sometimes delayed for special reasons?

Yes. One reason for delaying the beginning of a month is to prevent the day of Atonement (Annual Sabbath) from falling on a Friday which is a preparation day. Another is to prevent any of the autumn annual festivals from falling on a Sunday. All feasts which follow Pentecost represent the SECOND PART of God’s Plan. They must not fall on Sunday which would represent the FIRST part of God’s Plan which began 1300 years ago.

Timed for the Future

A final question: Don’t the Jews themselves admit that the computation of the length of the month and length of the year upon which this Sacred Calendar is based are not quite in perfect accord with the present day figures provided by the very exacting measurements of our modern astronomers?

Yes, this is true. It would be more surprising if it were not true. There are slow accumulative changes in the length of the month and year over centuries of time.

This minute variation which makes 13 Sacred Years slightly longer than 19 astronomical years is a very important clue to chronology. But that subject is too long for this article! This variation, however, does not affect the mathematical calculation of new moons.

Is it unusual that the One who planned the Sacred Calendar should be one step ahead of both the astronomers of the time of Moses and the present twentieth century? With a perfect understanding of the movements of the heavens as well as the needs of man, God looked forward over a six thousand year period and prepared a Calendar that would keep in harmony with the heavens throughout the entire time.

It was this system that was restored to the children of Israel as they were being freed from bondage and it is this system that is preserved for us today by God through the Jewish people.

No need exists for any change or alteration in the Sacred Calendar prior to Christ’s return and we look for no such change from the Jewish people. The published dates of the Jews and of our Sacred Calendar which cover the entire twentieth century are absolutely correct.

Source: Good News, October 1957

We won a gold award for our work with BeWILDerwood. For a little agency like ours, this is amazing for it to be recognised by the very top people in our industry and beyond. The awards are given for the effectiveness of the work, rather than just how good it looks. It’s always been our target to get one or two, so for our first to be a gold is just fabulous.

But we had to win, because Simon Egan from BeWILDerwood had his awards suit on. It looks suspiciously like the one he wore here.

Simon and Mich in the cab - as you can see, Simon has his award suit on

We met our good friends from Hemisphere who won a Silver award for their work with Manchester Central Convention Complex.

Our good friends from Hemisphere

And then after all the celebrating was over, we went back to the hotel, where I noticed that Simon Egan talks with his hands more when he has had a few drinks. This is a snapshot of one such conversation.

Simon gesticulating - Part One

Simon gesticulating - Part Two

Simon gesticulating - Part Three

As you can see, I have my pint and a whisky and ginger in front of me too. I’m not sure from the way I feel today that I should have had that last one.

I have just received some pictures of Hemisphere in Falmouth at he Pendennis Yard, England but I promised not to publish them so if any one of you gets the chance to go by the yard I would be really happy to receive new pictures.

I hope everything goes all right now for the largest cruising catamaran in the world and we get a chance of seeing her sailing soon.

I heard (and introduced) a great talk today on Re-Inventing our approach to hemispheric studies. Of course some of the potential pitfalls include reinscribing the Monroe Doctrine at this late date by using US as a location to launch hemispheric studies and the possibility for ignoring the conditions that made the Monroe Doctrine come into existence (ie, ignore European and other influences on the hemisphere). But I think at the very end of this discussion about how hemispheric studies move our discipline outside of the periods in literature, we come to something very interesting: the possibility to teach our students based on genre or theme and show how the BIG IMPORTANT UNIVERSAL themes aren’t limited to blue blooded New Englanders. In some ways I’m trying to do this too with my dissertation, although maybe the only chapter that is truly hemispheric is the one that does engage a blue blooded Yankee–Stephen Crane and his forays into Mexico.

Some examples given today included Absalom, Absalom! by Faulkner and how in this text the West Indies (Haiti) I think factor into the narrative as a significant condition for the fate of the characters. Can you think of other texts that we think of as canonical that in fact engage hemispheric discourse on a larger scale?

Bonjour !

Bon alors j’ai acheter cette semaine un convertisseur pompe pour mon stylo Waterman Hémisphère avec lequel j’écris depuis 2 ans maintenant.

C’est un système qui remplace la cartouche d’encre en plastique traditionnel en France (parce qu’en Angleterre c’est l’inverse) et permet de recharger le stylo par la plume dans la flacon d’encre…

Ça marche niquel c’est vraiment mieux qu’une cartouche : écologique et économique mais on évite aussi le moment désagréable quand on vient de changer de cartouche et que l’encre arrive difficilement à la plume.

Enfin bon, j’ai donc acheter un flacon d’encre Waterman dont la qualité surpasse toutes les autres marques du style Carrefour pour ne pas citer de noms et surtout qui donne une couleur bleu nuit magnifique, pas comme l’encre Parker qui fait un bleu altéré en fin de vie illisible.

Je vous conseil alors les stylos et encre Waterman (non je ne suis pas sponsorisé) pour une superbe écriture… Perso j’ai une plume Fine et ça va super.

I am doing an update of the luxury catamaran for the December issue of Multihulls World and just found this picture of the 145 footer Hemisphere out of the Derecktor shipyard. She is really big.

A well-known asymmetry in humans is the right ear dominance for listening to verbal stimuli, which is thought to reflect the brain’s left hemisphere superiority for processing verbal information. This preference for hearing with the right ear is also found in rats, Japanese macaques, harpy eagles, sea lions and dogs.

However, the left ear (and right brain) excels at picking up emotional cues. When it comes to music, pitch, timbre and loudness are discriminated better with left ear (right hemisphere), but duration is better discriminated with the right ear (left hemisphere).

These findings may explain why people are not entirely satisfied when using hearing aids for only one ear. Ideally, BOTH ears should be aided. BUT, if one had to choose between two equally deaf ears, the right ear would be the preferred side.

Read the article here.

Read the research article abstract here.

Translated from the original blog post at http://www.LiYeSen.com

I had mentioned in my earliest post on ‘Introduction to Traditional Chinese Medicine – Part 2‘, explaining about ‘The Unity of Human and Nature’. This is another important concept of Traditional Chinese Medicine. While Solar Terms Moxibustion 节气灸 (JieQi Jiu), is a great model of explaining and carrying out this concept.

(1) The Meaning of Solar Terms 节气 (JieQi)

Solar Terms 节气 (JieQi),  is one part of the Chinese Calendar. There are 24 Solar Terms in  one year, with 2 Solar Terms at each month. The first Solar Term in the month is named as ‘Major Solar Term’ 节气 (JieQi), while the second one is named as ‘Minor Solar Term’ 中气 (ZhongQi). Both are now collectively referred to as Solar Terms.

For example, in the first month of Chinese Calendar, there are 2 Solar Terms, the ‘Start of Spring’ 立春 (LiChun) and ‘Rain Water’ 雨水 (YuShui). ‘Start of Spring’ is the Major Solar Term, while ‘Rain Water’ is the Minor Solar Term.

(2) The History of Solar Terms

Based on the period of revolution for sun, moon and earth; human (especially the Chinese) had established the year, the month, the day and a seasonal law (spring, summer, autumn, and winter) that complies with nature and four seasons. Thus, it then later formed the calendar.

In the world, China is one of the earliest country that invented the calendar. One of the traditional chinese calendar is the Chinese Agricultural Calendar 农历 (NongLi). It is also known as the Chinese Lunar Calendar 阴历 (YinLi).

For the Chinese Agricultural Calendar, it is an integrated lunisolar calendar or integrated lunar-solar calendar 阴阳历 (YinYang Li) that incorporates both elements of a lunar calendar with those of a solar calendar 阳历 (YangLi). This means that it embraces both the movement of the moon as well as that of the Sun. In Chinese Agricultural Calendar system, it takes into consideration of the moon orbiting the earth for one cycle, known as one ’synodic month’; and the characteristics of seasons changes represented by the 24 Solar Terms.

The Lunar Orbit

The 24 Solar terms are compartmentalized according to the position of the Sun in the ecliptic 黄道 HuangDao (i.e. the orbit of Earth around the Sun). Starting from the first point, ‘vernal equinox’ 春分 (ChunFen) (i.e. ecliptic longtitude at 0°, the Sun irradiate vertically at the equator 赤道 ZhiDao), every movement of 15° is considered as one Solar Term. When orbits one cycle, returning back to ‘vernal equinox’ point, it is known as the ‘Tropical Year’ 回归年 (HuiGui Nian), with total of 360°. Thus, it is divided into 24 Solar Terms within 360°, with 15° difference.

(3) The Compartmentalization of 24 Solar Terms

There are 24 Solar Terms in one year, with 6 Solar Terms in one season. Each synodic month has 2 Solar Terms, i.e. the Major Solar Term, and the Minor Solar Term. The date of each individual Solar Term found on the solar calendar is relatively fixed. For the early of the half year (January till June), the Major Solar Term falls on 5th of each month, and the Minor Solar Term falls on the 21st of each month. As for later of the half year (July till December), the Major Solar Term falls on 8th of each month, and the Minor Solar Term falls on the 23rd of each month. The difference between the date for Major Solar Term falling on early of the half year and on later of the half year, is just 1~ 2 days.

The naming of each Solar Term is also very intersting. There are 4 seasons in a year. Thus, having the 4 different Solar Terms, showing the beginning of each season. They are the ‘Four Starts’ 四立 (ShiLi)- ‘Start of Spring’ 立春 (LiChun), ‘Start of Summer’ 立夏 (LiXia), ‘Start of Autumn’立秋 (LiQiu), and ‘Start of Winter’ 立冬 (LiDong).

There are 2 solstices for both the summer and winter, ‘Summer Solstice’ 夏至 (XiaZhi) and ‘Winter Solstice’ 冬至 (DongZhi). From astronomical view, solstice means the extremes of both summer and winter. On ‘Summer Solstice’, this day, there is direct splar radiation at the Tropic of Cancer 北回归线. It is the longest day time in a year for the northern hemisphere. Although it’s a day with longest day time, highest Sun elevation angle, it is still not the hotest day of the year. While on this day, ‘Winter Solstice’, the direct splar radiation at the Tropic of Carpricorn 南回归线. It is a day with the shortest day time in a year for the nothern hemisphrere, but it might not be the coolest day of a year.

The ‘Vernal Equinox’ 春分 (ChunFen) and ‘Atumnal Equinox’ 秋分 (QiuFen)  are collectively known as ‘Two Equinox’ 二分, having the meaning of equal length of day and night. While other Solar Terms that show the changes in temperature are: ‘Minor Heat’ 小暑 (XiaoShu), ‘Major Heat’ 大暑 (DaShu), ‘Limit of Heat’ 处暑 (ChuShu), ‘Minor Cold’ 小寒 (XiaoHan), and ‘Major Cold’ 大寒 (DaHan) 5 Solar Terms. There are 7 Solar Terms that reflect the weather phenomena: ‘Rain Water’ 雨水 (YuShui), ‘Grain Rain’ 谷雨 (GuYu), ‘White Dew’ 白露 (BaiLu), ‘Cold Dew’ 寒露 (HanLu), ‘Frost Descent’ 霜降 (ShuangJiang), ‘Minor Snow’ 小雪 (XiaoXue), and ‘Major Snow’ 大雪 (DaXue). The 4 Solar Terms that reflect the phenological phenomena: ‘Awakening of Insect’ 惊蛰  (JingZhe), ‘Clear and Bright’ 清明 (QingMing), ‘Grain Full’ 小满 (XiaoMan), and ‘Grain in Ear’ 芒种 (MangZhong).

The sequence of 24 Solar Terms following the 4 seasons are: Start of Spring, Rain Water, Awakening of Insect, Vernal Equinox, Clear and Bright, Grain Rain; Starting of Summer, Grain Full, Grain in Ear, Summer Solstice, Minor Heat, Major Heat; Start of Autumn, Limit of Heat, White Dew, Autumnal Equinox, Cold Dew, Frost Descent; Start of Winter, Minor Snow, Major Snow, Winter Solstice, Minor Cold, and Major Cold. This is can be easily remember with the help of a poem:

春雨驚春清穀天, chūn yǔ jīng chūn qīng gǔ tiān,
夏滿芒夏暑相連; xià mǎn máng xià shǔ xiāng lián,
秋處露秋寒霜降, qiū chù lù qiū hán shuāng jiàng,
冬雪雪冬小大寒. dōng xuě xuě dōng xiǎo dà hán.

The 24 solar terms and the 12 zodiac constellations.

(4) The Effect of Solar Terms on Human Body

These Solar Terms are established from the orbits law of the Sun, the Earth, andthe Moon. It is the important symbol of the seasonal changes. The spacial position of the Sun, the Earth, the Moon, and other celestial bodies are always in an irregular, continous changes. At the same time, this also cause the energy of the universe to change continuously. While this kind of changes is very obvious volatile  before and after of a soler term. According to the concept of Traditional Chinese Medicine – “The Unity of Human and Nature”, any changes of the “Nature ” will inevitably affect the human body. And, Solar Terms affected human body from two aspects.

1. The climate changes are relatively large during the period before and after a solar term.

Because of changes, a person with a old wound or suffering from chronis illness, his ability to adapt and his body resistibility become weak. This person always has a tendency to get sick or worsen of his  illness. According to some medical statistics, heart disease, stroke, asthma and other diseases happened at the time before and after a solar term, and during midnight. Human get sick when his body’s strain ability cannot afford the external climatic changes. This is as mentioned in The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon 《黄帝内经》<<HuangDi NeiJing>>, “When pathogenic evils arise, the human’s vital energy, Qi is weaken”

2. The universe’s energy or cosmic’s energy changes are relatively large during the period before and after a solar term.

If at this time, we use some special methods to intervene, transforming the universe energy into our own use. It would have a multiplier role. Solar Terms Moxibustion is a great model that carries out the concept of succesfully transforming the universe energy into own use, under the guidance of Traditional Chinese Medicine’s theory.

When treating a disease using Solar Terms Moxibustion, we can achieve the best result, at the same time increase our body’s immunity and body’s resisting power to diseases. Thus, when there are changes in external environment, weather, climate and others factors, human will not easily fall sick. This has tally with the statement in The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon 《黄帝内经》<<HuangDi NeiJing>>, “Keeping the vital energy, Qi in body, exogenous pathogens can’t invade our body”.

(5) The Effect of Solar Terms on Different Regions

Solar Terms is one of the elements of Chinese Agricultural Calendar. It was originated from more than 2000 years ago, China’s central region. Thus, it can accurately reflects the climatic changes and the weather changes of this region. But it doesn’t means that the effect and the usage are just only for China’s central region or even China. The effects of universe energy’s changes is at every corner on the Earth, no matter it’s south hemisphere, north hemisphare, east hemisphare or even west hemisphere. This is because solar terms are arised from the regular orbits patterns of the Sun, the Earth, the Moon, and other celestial bodies.

(6) Moxibustion, Solar Terms Moxibustion

Moxibustion is a method that put the burning moxa on the skin accordingly based on different acupoints. It is a method of disease prevention and treatment, by utilizing the heat for stimulation and moxa herbs for the function of warming meridians, dispelling cold, and relieving pain.

I was putting a moxa stick according to a patient's acupoint.

Moxibustion, its Chinese name – 灸法, having the word “Jiu” “灸”, was explained in the book ‘Word and Expression’ 《说文解字》<<ShuoWen JieZhi>> as “Burn”. It has the meaning of “burning” the body as to cure diseases. Among all the famous monograph on Traditional Chinese Medicine, moxibustion was found at the earliest in the book HuangDi NeiJing 《黄帝内经》. Moxibustion is not only good and effective for Asthenia syndromes and cold diseases. At the same time, moxibustion is also a good way of health care. There are few different ways of moxibustion, such as moxibustion with moxa cone, moxibustion with moxa stick, moxibustion with warming needle, moxibustion with medicines or herbs, solar term moxibustion and others. When different ways of moxibustion are applied based on different condition of sickness, it usually gets miraculous effects.

Solar Terms Moxibustion on a child.

Solar Terms Moxibustion is a special moxibustion method. It utilizes the specific Solar Term, to have moxibustion on different acupoints according to different body conditions, under the guidance of Traditional Chinese Medicine’s theory.

(7) The Role of Solar Terms Moxibustion

Solar Terms Moxibustion utilizes the heat stimulation from the of burning Moxa, and the Moxa herb itself to warm the channels and meridians. This is to strenghten thestimulate the vital energy, Qi of the channels; regulating the body potentials energy; transforming the universe energy for body own use; establishing a relation between the human’s balance system and the natural’s system. All these lead to curing of diseases and improving the body’s resistance to disease and adaptability.

(8) The Clinical Usage of Solar Terms Moxibustion

The usage for Solar Terms Moxibustion is very wide. It can be used in treatment for various sicknesses and diseases, particularly in the treatment of chronic diseases. This is also a natural cum highly effective way of health care.

Solar Terms Moxibustion is commonly used in the treatment for the following diseases…

1. Internal Diseases (surgical diseases): treat and prevent stroke, high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, asthma, stomach pain, bloating, diarrhea, hiccup; diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol, hyperthyroidism, impotence, chronic nephritis.
2. External Diseases (clinical diseases): Cervical spondylosis, acute and chronic lumbar sprain, all kinds of arthritis, urticaria.
3. Gynecologic Conditions: dysmenorrhea, uterine fibroids, ovarian cysts, infertility.
4. Pediatric diseases:  Infantile anorexia, children with enuresis, children are stunted.
5. ENT diseases: Allergic rhinitis (allergic rhinitis).

Depuis quelques semaines tous les pays occidentaux France, Canada, E.U s’inquiètent et nous inquiètent: la rentrée sera difficile, l’automne sera dangereux et l’hiver risque d’ être catastrophique. Doit on les croire ? Doit on en rire ou en pleurer ?

‘

Le fait est que dans l’hémisphère sud de la Terre (Australie, Nouvelle Zelande, Argentine ) on est encore en hiver jusqu’au 21 septembre. L’hiver, les froids, les grippes, et pourtant   rien de contagieux, rien de particulier, la grippe normale comme d’habitude . Alors le H1N1 ne serait il contagieux que dans l’hémisphère nord?  Si oui,  nous pourrons échanger nos vacances d’hiver  pour des vacances d’été dans  l’hémisphère sud et ainsi échapper à la contagion.

‘

Se faire vacciner? c’est la question, personne ne sait aujourd’hui si cela réduira le nombre  de malades ou au contraire les augmentera.

‘

Une chose est sure c’est que si contagion il y a, elle débutera dans les écoles.   Pas de problème on fermera les écoles et on ouvrira les écoles  virtuelles du web, facebook, twitter, html , h1n1 ect..

et n éternuez pas tous ensemble

Enfin cette histoire me rappelle qu’il n’y a pas bien longtemps  au siècle dernier,  on nous avait fait peur avec le bug informatique de l’an 2000,  puis avec le 29 février 2000,  car   2000 est une année  bissextile mais divisible par 400,  donc pas de 29 février.  Bref on a nous a fait peur pour rien, mais l’économie informatique en a profité  tout comme aujourd’hui l’économie pharmaceutique.

Mais pendant qu’on nous faisait peur avec le bug de l’an 2000, un certain Ben Laden se préparait en toute tranquillité pour nous surprendre un beau matin.

Si le H1N1 n’est qu’une répétition du bug 2000,  quelque chose se prépare en coulisse, tout doucement, sans faire de bruit et risque de nous surprendre un de ces matins.

‘

Enfin il faut distinguer la virulence (la force du virus) de son infectiosité, (sa capacité à se transmettre d’un individu à un autre), donc  tout au plus nous serons 500,000 à éternuer en même temps  à Montreal, 10,000,000 à Pekin et  300,000 à Jerusalem . Tous ensemble cela ressemblera plutôt à la bombe A qui a touché  Hiroshima :  la bombe H1N1 à coté c’est de la rigolade!

Articles connexes: humour h1n1

ATLANTA – Since it first emerged in April, the global swine flu epidemic has sickened more than 1 million Americans and killed about 500. It’s also spread around the world, infecting tens of thousands and killing nearly 2,000.

This summer, the virus has been surprisingly tenacious in the U.S., refusing to fade away as flu viruses usually do. And health officials predict a surge of cases this fall, perhaps very soon as schools reopen.

So how worried should you be and how do you prepare? The Associated Press has tried to boil down the mass of information into 10 things you should know to be flu-savvy.

1. No cause for panic.

So far, swine flu isn’t much more threatening than regular seasonal flu.

During the few months of this new flu’s existence, hospitalizations and deaths from it seem to be lower than the average seen for seasonal flu, and the virus hasn’t dramatically mutated. That’s what health officials have observed in the Southern Hemisphere where flu season is now winding down.

Still, more people are susceptible to swine flu and U.S. health officials are worried because it hung in so firmly here during the summer — a time of year the flu usually goes away.

2. Virus tougher on some.

Swine flu is more of a threat to certain groups — children under 2, pregnant women, people with health problems like asthma, diabetes and heart disease. Teens and young adults are also more vulnerable to swine flu.

Ordinary, seasonal flu hits older people the hardest, but not swine flu. Scientists think older people may have some immunity from exposure years earlier to viruses similar to swine flu.

3. Wash your hands often and long.

Like seasonal flu, swine flu spreads through the coughs and sneezes of people who are sick. Emphasize to children that they should wash with soap and water long enough to finish singing the alphabet song, “Now I know my ABC’s…” Also use alcohol-based hand sanitizers.

4. Get the kids vaccinated.

These groups should be first in line for swine flu shots, especially if vaccine supplies are limited — people 6 months to 24 years old, pregnant women, health care workers.

Also a priority: Parents and caregivers of infants, people with those high-risk medical conditions previously noted.

Swine Flu Vaccine

5. Get your shots early.

Millions of swine flu shots should be available by October. If you are in one of the priority groups, try to get your shot as early as possible.

Check with your doctor or local or state health department about where to do this. Many children should be able to get vaccinated at school. Permission forms will be sent home in advance.

Read More…

Qype does London » Straddling the Prime Meridian

Prime Meridian.

Longitude 0 – postcard from the Prime Meridian. Hello! I am in Brighton now.I enjoy meeting with my friend, going to the pub, food, weather, everything!! I love England, I love Brighton. I want to stay more. …

Prime Meridian.

Longitude 0 – postcard from the Prime Meridian. Hello! I am in Brighton now.I enjoy meeting with my friend, going to the pub, food, weather, everything!! I love England, I love Brighton. I want to stay more. …

QB: You realise, of course, that the prime meridian is completely arbitrary and totally imaginary and that it could just as well be shifted 5 meters east and all the lines of longitude shifted accordingly and that if you&re keen you …


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Question 4

What is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere?

a)Haiti

b)Cuba

c)El Salvador

d)Guatemala

Answer is a, Haiti

There ’s been a discussion on the MindPlace User Forum about the virtues of alternate-eye flashing, AKA Expand Mode. Early on in the discussion I announced that I found it annoying and that it was more gimmicky than useful. Well, having been lured back into alternate-eye flashing by the iLightz, I’ve gone back to the Sirius with monocolour glasses and I’m sold. The visual effects achieved with the expand mode are spectacularly different to those in the focus mode between 8Hz and 18Hz. Below 8Hz I still find the effect irritating. Above 18Hz the flashes start to merge and the effect diminishes rapidly. My big mistake was to use monocolour glasses with the Proteus on some sessions designed for the standard Proteus Red/Green glasses.

Anyway, enough background. The question that was never quite settled is whether alternate-eye flashing should be at the same rate as both-eye, or whether it should be doubled.

Example – 10Hz flashing both eyes, both eyes see 10Hz; 10Hz flashing alternate eyes, each eye sees 5Hz.

We need to look at how the eyeballs deal with the left and right visual fields, and where the pictures from each eye go in the brain.

Visual Fields, Fig 10.3, Neuroscience; Bear, Connors, Paradiso

As can be seen from the image from my favourite reference book, each eye contributes to each visual field, with the right hand side of each retina feeding the right hemisphere, and the left hand side of each retina feeding the left hemisphere. Ahh, but doesn’t the left side of the brain look after the right side of the body, and vice versa? Remember, the image is laterally inverted by the lens, so the right hand side of each retina is seeing the left hand side of the visual field.

The upshot of this is that 10Hz both-eyes and 10Hz alternating-eyes both deliver exactly the same stimulus rate, but at reduced intensity, as only one eye is contributing with each flash. A flash over the left eye stimulates both hemispheres and a flash over the right eye stimulates both hemispheres – 5Hz over the left eye + 5Hz out of phase over the right eye = 10Hz at the visual cortex.

From here you can have all sorts of fun trying to work out how our depth perception mechanism is affected differently by both- and alternate-eye flashing. It’s hard to resist imagining the different layers of the striate cortex having copies of the flash-images, offsetting the copies and new images to find the overlaps, filling with patterns from our pattern-recognition library, trying to find information in an image that contains no data.

Trying to recognise the mechanisms behind the extraordinary visuals that can arise with AVS is one of my favourite pastimes whilst ‘meditating’. A practice recommended during one phase of my magickal training was to formulate a machine and visualise it in all its motions. Pattern matching in the brain is a fun one to model. I also enjoy motion of the planets and internal combustion engines.

Cheers,
Craig