This is the side of the moon we can never see from Earth.
From the flickr.com blog
Uncategorized
“Impossible” Engine
This is either a completely new form of propulsion previously unknown or a load of rubbish. It’s a worry when devices appear to defy conventional laws of physics.
From the SMH:
‘Impossible’ propellantless engine appears to work despite breaking laws of physics
- J
It took New Horizons more than nine years to reach Pluto, but a craft powered by an EMDrive could make it in less than two. Photo: NASA
Ridiculed as impossible by the scientific community, the electromagnetic propulsion engine – which could supposedly take a craft from Earth to Pluto in just 18 months without the need for rocket fuel – has apparently been confirmed by an independent scientist as working.
German scientist Martin Tajmar, who has a history of debunking fanciful propulsion systems, claims in a paper he has tested a copy of NASA’s experimental device (known as the EMDrive) and that it does produce thrust. This is controversial because the theory that has been used to explain the device violates conventional physics and the law of conservation of momentum.
The EMDrive is complete crap and a waste of time.
Sean Carroll
The EMDrive theoretically works by converting electric power into microwaves which bounce around inside an enclosed cavity, using the difference in radiation to move through an environment. This violates the laws of physics, which state that if something moves forward it must also push something back, as no propellant is expelled to balance the engine’s momentum.
The original EmDrive was invented nearly 15 years ago, but its use has been consistently ridiculed as scientifically impossible.
Despite appearing to contradict our understanding of physics, NASA’s tests of the device (which has been described by overenthusiastic media as an attempt to make a Star Trek warp drive) inexplicably produced a thrust in 2014. If the results were accurate, a much larger version of the device could have incredible implications on future space travel and colonisation, as well as on vehicles and buildings.
Tajmar’s tests were apparently an attempt to replicate NASA’s work and see the results for himself. He was careful to state his testing cannot explicitly confirm or refute the claims of how the EMDrive works, only that the thrust produced is consistent with those claims, even in a vacuum.
“We do observe thrust close to the actual predictions after eliminating many possible error sources that should warrant further investigation into the phenomena,” Tajmar says.
Predictably, many in the scientific community remain unconvinced.
“My insight is that the EMDrive is complete crap and a waste of time,” American physicist Sean Carroll told tech site io9. “Right there in the abstract this paper says, ‘Our test campaign can not confirm or refute the claims of the EMDrive’, so I’m not sure what the news is. I’m going to spend my time thinking about ideas that don’t violate conservation of momentum.”
Professor Tajmar presented his paper, which is not peer-reviewed, at the 2015 American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics’ Propulsion and Energy Forum and Exposition this week.
Motor Vehicles- Eco-Saviours of the World
Because our lives are dominated by petroleum-fuelled motor vehicles we often overlook their tremendous contribution to our health, wealth and even to the environment. Yes, the motor vehicle, even in its pre-1970’s polluting state, catalysed huge improvements in urban living, cheaper and more sustainable food production and played a part in the reforestation of continents.
Far from being the evil machines portrayed by environmental activists, cars, trucks and other modern transportation methods make our environment much healtheir than it would otherwide be.
Pierre Desrochers writes:
The rise of petroleum-powered transport was an environmental boon.
Laura Ingalls Wilder’s The Long Winter is generally regarded as the most historically accurate book of her semi-autobiographical Little House on the Prairie series. The Long Winter tells the story of how the inhabitants of De Smet (present-day South Dakota) narrowly avoided starvation during the severe winter of 1880-81, when a series of blizzards dumped nearly three and a half metres of snow on the northern plains – immobilising trains and cutting off the settlers from the rest of the world. Faced with an imminent food shortage, Laura and her neighbours learned that a sizeable amount of wheat was available within 20 miles of their snow-covered houses. Her future husband, Almanzo Wilder, and a friend of his risked their lives in order to bring back enough food to sustain the townspeople through the rest of the winter. With the spring thaw, the railroad service was re-established and the Ingalls family enjoyed a long-delayed Christmas celebration in May.
The Long Winter is a valuable reminder of how lethal crop failures and geographical isolation could be before the advent of modern farming and transportation technologies. Not too long ago, subsistence farmers across the West had to cope with the ‘lean season’ – the period of greatest scarcity before the first availability of new crops. As some readers may know, in England the late spring (and especially the month of May) was once referred to as the ‘hungry gap’ and the ‘starving time’. One problem was the cost and difficulty of moving heavy things over often muddy and impracticable dirt roads; three centuries ago, moving a ton of goods over 50 kilometres on land between, say, Liverpool and Manchester was as expensive as shipping them across the north Atlantic.
The development of coal-powered railroads and steamships revolutionised the lives of our ancestors. Among other positive developments, landlocked farmers could now specialise in what they did best and rely on other farmers and producers for their remaining needs. The result was not only more abundant food at ever-cheaper prices, but the end of widespread famine and starvation, as the surplus from regions with good harvests could now be shipped to those that had experienced mediocre ones. (Of course, a region that experienced a bumper crop one year might have a mediocre one the next.)
In time, petroleum-derived products such as diesel, gasoline, kerosene (jet fuel) and bunker fuels (used in container ships) displaced coal because of their higher energy density, cleaner combustion and greater ease of extraction, handling, transport and storage. Nearly two thirds of the world’s refined petroleum products are now used in land, water and air transportation, accounting for nearly 95 per cent of all energy consumed in this sector. Despite much wishful thinking, there are simply no better alternatives to petroleum-powered transport at the moment. For instance, despite very generous governmental subsidies, battery electric, hybrid electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles have repeatedly failed to gain any meaningful market shares against gasoline-powered cars. This is because of their limited range and power, long charging time, bad performance in cold weather, security concerns (especially in collisions), and inadequate electricity production and delivery infrastructure.
While the convenience of cars is obvious, few people grasp their historical significance in terms of public health and environmental benefits.
Read the rest here
Eye Drops For Cataracts
This would truly be a life-changer for millions of people.
From the ABC:
Cataracts could be treated with eye drops instead of surgery in future, study says
An eye drop tested on dogs suggests that cataracts, the most common cause of blindness in humans, could one day be cured without surgery, a study has said.
A naturally-occurring molecule called lanosterol, administered with an eye dropper, shrank canine cataracts, a team of scientists reported in Nature.
Currently the only treatment available for the debilitating growths, which affect tens of millions of people worldwide, is going under the knife.
While surgery is generally simple and safe, the number of people who need it is set to double in the next 20 years as populations age. And for many, it remains prohibitively costly.
The chain of research leading to the potential cure began with two children — patients of lead researcher Kang Zhang of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China — from families beset with a congenital, or inherited, form of the condition.
Dr Zhang and colleagues discovered that his patients shared a mutation in a gene critical for producing lanosterol, which the researchers suspected might impede cataract-forming proteins from clumping in normal eyes.
In a first set of lab experiments on cells, they confirmed their hunch that lanosterol helped ward off the proteins.
In subsequent tests, dogs with naturally-occurring cataracts received eye drops containing the molecule.
After six weeks of treatment, the size and characteristic cloudiness of the cataracts had decreased, the researchers reported.
“Our study identifies lanosterol as a key molecule in the prevention of lens protein aggregation and points to a novel strategy for cataract prevention and treatment,” the authors concluded.
Cataracts account for half of blindness cases worldwide.
“These are very preliminary findings,” said J Fielding Hejtmancik, a scientist at the US National Eye Institute, who wrote a commentary also published in Nature.
“Before there are any human trials, the scientists will probably test other molecules to see if they might work even better,” he said.
Apple Could Have Bailed Out Greece
From the SMH:
Apple could have bailed Greece out twice
- July 14, 2015 – 12:16PM
- 538 reading now
- Read later
A deal reached overnight will allow Greece to stay in the Eurozone. Photo: AP
If you needed any more proof of the size of Apple’s pudding — and the absurd brand power the tech giant wields upon millions of iFans the world over — chew on this.
At last count, Apple had $US194 billion ($A262 billion) in cash and securities.
That’s enough to cover the €86 billion ($A128 billion) Greek bailout deal struck overnight twice over — with a cool $6 billion still left over to spend on gyros and ouzo.
Record sales of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have fuelled Apple’s stock price. Photo: Bloomberg
And it’s all thanks to the iPhone.
According to wealth management firm Canaccord Genuity, in the first quarter of 2015 Apple reaped a whopping 92 per cent of the total operating income of the top eight smartphone manufacturers in the world, The Wall Street Journal reports.
That’s a 65 per cent jump on the previous year, fuelled by the September 2014 release of the iPhone 6, which produced record sales.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has stepped up the company’s charitable efforts, but they look tiny compared to its profits. Photo: Robert Galbraith
Apple’s biggest competitor, South Korean manufacturer Samsung, reaped 15 per cent of profits out of the top eight manufacturers.
(No, we’re not numerically challenged; Cannacord says Apple and Samsung’s combined profits exceed 100 per cent because some of the top eight makers actually lost money on smartphones, including HTC and Microsoft, which just sacked thousands of staff from its mobile division).
While we’re on the topic of charity, it’s worth noting that Apple isn’t selling more smartphones than its competitors — its just charging (arguably) extortionate prices.
Tim Cook’s spare change could buy a Greek island or two. Photo: NYT
In fact, it has less than 20 per cent of the global smartphone market, per unit sold.
Telsyte managing director Foad Fadaghi says market share is a contentious point for Apple because it’s often measured in terms of how many handsets are sold, rather than the total profit reaped.
“This piece of [Canaccord] research is exactly the way Apple likes to see its market share, rather than by units,” he says.
Apple’s iron grip on its supply chain and bulk buying power allows it to reduce the prices of components, while its cornering of the “premium” smartphone market means it can get away with charging top dollar.
Its less about ripping people off, Fadaghi says, and more about tapping into the allure of “status” — and consumers’ undying desire to pay for it.
“If you look at other luxury brands they don’t convey the message of being ripped off to their consumers,” he says.
Apple’s not all smartphones, it’s true — it sells a few MacBooks here or there — but its gargantuan share price primarily hinges on those very profitable iPhone sales, Fadaghi says.
Despite its healthy profit margins, Apple has been criticised in the past for not being more philanthropic, particularly under the leadership of late co-founder Steve Jobs.
Since Tim Cook stepped up as chief executive in 2011, however, the company has been a little more generous — a few mill here, a few mill there; including more than $US50 million for organisations promoting diversity in the technology sector, announced in March.
Cook himself is also opening up the purse strings, pledging to give his $1 billion fortune to charity.
It could buy quite a few Greek islands, but it’s not nearly enough to stop the Greek economy sinking into the Agaean.
Today’s Sermon
Leap Second: Necessity or Disaster?
From the ABC:
Leap second: Is one second difference in time too much?
Question: When is a minute not a minute?
Answer: At 2359 Greenwich Mean Time today (9:59am AEST Wednesday), when the world will experience a minute that will last 61 seconds.
The reason for the weird event is something called the leap second.
That’s when timekeepers adjust high-precision clocks so that they are in sync with Earth’s rotation, which is affected by the gravitational tug of the Sun and the Moon.
Few of the planet’s 7.25 billion people are likely to be aware of the change and even fewer will have set plans for how they will spend the extra moment.
But for horologists, or timekeepers, the additional second is a big deal and there is a wrangle as to whether it is vital or should be scrapped.
Service of the Rotation of the Earth (SRE) director Daniel Gambis admits “there is a downside”, the poetically named branch of the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS), is in charge of saying when the second should be added.
The leap second is not something that needs to be added to that old clock on your mantlepiece, but instead its importance is for super-duper timepieces, especially those using the frequency of atoms as their tick-tock mechanism.
At the top of the atomic-clock range are “optical lattices” using strontium atoms, the latest example of which, unveiled in April, is accurate to 15 billion years – longer than the Universe has existed.
Outside the lab, caesium and rubidium clocks are the workhorses of Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites, which have to send synchronised signals so that sat-nav receivers can triangulate their position on Earth.
On Earth, big-data computers may be less manic than atomic clocks but still need highly precise internal timers.
The internet, for instance, sends data around the world in tiny packets that are then stitched together in micro-seconds.
Some algorithms in financial trading count on gaining a tiny slice of a second over rivals to make a profit.
There have been 25 occasions since 1971 when the leap second was added in an effort to simplify Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the official moniker for GMT.
But over the last 15 years, a debate has intensified about whether the change should be made, given the hassle.
Roland Lehoucq of France’s Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) said critics argue it has become difficult to manage given the amount of equipment today that has internal clocks.
“The problem is synchronisation between computers. They do sort things out, but sometimes it can take several days,” he said.
Full story here
Grrr!!! More US Centred Gay Propaganda
WordPress decided that I should be forced to celebrate the US Supreme Court decision by putting a rainbow banner across their pages today.
We know that it is not about reminding people of God’s covenant with Noah- the real meaning of rainbows.
I will be boycotting WordPress until this abomination is removed.
The Hazards of “Socialised Medicine”
Gay Sharia
They keep insisting that recognising gay “marriage” won’t affect anybody else, but the facts are different.
Bill Muehlenberg writes:
More Islamic and Homosexual Sharia
In an earlier piece I noted the frightening similarities between the Islamic war on faith, family and freedom, and the homosexual war on faith, family and freedom. The attempt to push Islamic sharia law throughout the West is destroying democracy and liberty, but so too is the attempt to force everyone to embrace and promote the militant homosexual agenda.
Thus it is now not even worth bothering to differentiate between the two, since both are totalitarian movements designed to crush all opposition and silence all critics. So here I will simply offer more examples of Islamic sharia in action and homosexual sharia in action.
Let me start with the ugly Big Brother activism of the homosexual lobby. They and their buddies in the courts and the media are doing a great job of smashing freedom and destroying genuine debate. Let me begin with a Christian bakery forced to close down because homosexual militants sued them in court for not making them a cake.
Rachel and Laurel Bowman-Cryer sued Aaron and Melissa Klein of Sweet Cakes Bakery, forcing it to close its doors and won damages which will bankrupt the family. The Bowman-Cryers claimed they felt “mentally raped” in a list of 88 symptoms of emotional distress at being refused a cake. Rachel and Laurel Bowman-Cryer were awarded $135,000 for damages.
A similar case occurred in Iowa where another Christian business was forced to close down by the hate-brigade:
The owners of a Christian family run business is being forced to shut their doors after being charged with discrimination against a homosexual couple. Betty Odgaard and her husband, Richard, have been the owners of Görtz Haus Gallery since 2002, when they purchased a 77-year-old stone church and transformed it into a bistro, flower shop, art gallery and wedding venue. On August 3, 2013, a homosexual couple from Des Moines asked to rent Görtz Haus for their wedding, and because of their Mennonite faith, the Odgaards told the couple they couldn’t host their wedding.
The couple immediately filed a discrimination complaint through the Iowa Civil Rights Commission, and knowing their business was going to be in trouble, the Odgaards ended their wedding business in order to avoid the probability of another complaint and the associated fines and penalties. After leaving the wedding business, Görtz Haus struggled to survive, but the Odgaards felt they had no choice. The risks were simply too great.And consider this appalling case of homofascism from Boston:
On March 30, a major Harvard-affiliated hospital in Boston, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), expelled a well-respected urologist from its medical staff because he voiced concerns about the unhealthy nature of homosexual behavior and objected to the hospital’s aggressive promotion of “gay pride” activities.
Dr. Paul Church has been a urologist on the BIDMC staff in Boston for nearly 30 years. He is a member of the Harvard Medical School faculty. He has done research on diagnosing prostate and bladder cancer, and has been a frequent volunteer for medical mission projects in Mexico and Africa. He has also spoken before educational and civic groups on the subject of high-risk sexual behaviors.So telling the truth about the health risks of homosexuality will now get you fired. So much for tolerance, acceptance, inclusion and diversity. So much for medical and scientific truth. Now the only thing that matters is if you don’t hurt the feelings of a homosexual. Truth can be damned as the militants and their agenda get preferential treatment.
Read the rest here
New Life Narrabri 