Earth In High-Def

Last month NASA released high resolution images of Earth, which have been heralded as the most detailed images yet. From the UK Telegraph, March 2, 2010:

"Perfectly capturing the fragility of the Earth in one remarkable shot, the composition shows the entire North American continent, Central America, the northern half of South America, Greenland and the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

[Beautiful, yes! Fragile, well, see my earlier post...]

"The space agency produced the stunning series of images using thousands of satellite-based observations hundreds of miles above the planet.

"The images of the earth’s land surface, oceans, coastlines and clouds were then stitched together by scientists to create the seamless mosaic of Earth.

"Astronomers at the Goddard Space Flight Centre produced the series, called 'Blue Marble', using the Terra satellite more than 435 miles (700km) above the Earth's surface.

"They also produced an accurate example of the Earth's topography, ocean depths and Arctic and Antarctic ice.

"After capturing images every eight days – to compensate for clouds that might block the sensor’s view – the composition has even left NASA experts astonished.

"'This image is the most detailed image of Earth to date and which shows the beauty of our small planet," a NASA spokesman said.

"The imagery, which is used by Apple as the iPhone’s default icon, was compiled by NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imagining Spectroradiometer (MODIS), which is on-board the satellite Terra.

The high resolution image can be seen here.

Happy Earth Day! Ain't she a beaut?!

The Earth Is Not Fragile

Today is Earth Day - hurrah! Honestly, though, spare me all the psycho-babble about 'saving the Earth' because quite realistically, we humans are but a gnat on the arse of this great planet of ours. Probably the best perspective on this can be found in the prologue of the late Michael Crichton's best selling novel, Jurassic Park, which follows:

"You think man can destroy the planet? What intoxicating vanity. Let me tell you about our planet. Earth is four-and-a-half-billion-years-old. There's been life on it for nearly that long, 3.8 billion years. Bacteria first; later the first multicellular life, then the first complex creatures in the sea, on the land. Then finally the great sweeping ages of animals, the amphibians, the dinosaurs, at last the mammals, each one enduring millions and millions of years. Great dynasties of creatures rising, flourishing, dying away - all this against a background of continuous and violent upheaval. Mountain ranges thrust up, eroded away, cometary impacts, volcano eruptions, oceans rising and falling, whole continents moving, an endless, constant, violent change; colliding and buckling to make mountains over millions of years. Earth has survived everything in its time. It will certainly survive us.

"If all the nuclear weapons in the world went off at once and all the plants, all the animals died and the earth was sizzling hot for a hundred thousand years, life would survive, somewhere: under the soil, frozen in arctic ice. Sooner or later, when the planet was no longer inhospitable, life would spread again. The evolutionary process would begin again. Might take a few billion years for life to regain its present variety. Of course, it would be very different from what it is now, but the earth would survive our folly, only we would not. If the ozone layer gets thinner, and ultraviolet radiation sears Earth, so what? Ultraviolet radiation is good for life. It's powerful energy. It promotes mutation and change. Many forms of life will thrive with more UV radiation. Many others will die out. You think this is the first time that's happened? Think about oxygen. Necessary for life now, but oxygen is actually a metabolic poison, a corrosive gas, like fluorine.

"When oxygen was first produced as a waste product by certain plant cells some three billion years ago, it created a crisis for all other life on Earth. Those plants were polluting the environment, exhaling a lethal gas. Earth eventually had an atmosphere incompatible with life. Nevertheless, life on Earth took care of itself. In the thinking of the human being a hundred years is a long time. A hundred years ago we didn't have cars, airplanes, computers or vaccines. It was a whole different world, but to the earth, a hundred years is nothing. A million years is nothing. This planet lives and breathes on a much vaster scale. We can't imagine its slow and powerful rhythms, and we haven't got the humility to try. We've been residents here for the blink of an eye. If we're gone tomorrow, the earth will not miss us."

Beware Of W.A.T.E.R.

Environmental activists have long sought to thwart technological advances and breakthroughs intended to improve human life on earth. The folly of their tireless campaigns is exemplified through the parody that follows. Attributed to Norman Mischler, Chairman of the British branch of Hoescht AG (now Sanofi-Aventis), the parody makes light of the extent to which 'good intentions' trump society's best interests.

"ICI has announced the discovery of a new firefighting agent to add to their existing range. Known as WATER (Wonderful And Total Extinguishing Resource), it augments existing agents such as dry powder and BCF (bromine-chlorine-fluorine) which have been in use from time immemorial. It is particularly suitable for dealing with fires in buildings, timber yards and warehouses. Though required in large quantities, it is fairly cheap to produce.

"It is intended that quantities of about a million gallons should be stored in urban areas and near other installations of high risk ready for immediate use. BCF and dry powder are usually stored under pressure, but WATER will be stored in open ponds or reservoirs and conveyed to the scene of the fire by hoses and portable pumps.

"ICI's new proposals are already encountering strong opposition from safety and environmental groups. Professor Connie Barrinner has pointed out that, if anyone immersed his or her head in a bucket of WATER, it would prove fatal in as little as three minutes. Each of ICI's proposed reservoirs will contain enough WATER to fill 500,000 two-gallon buckets. Each bucket-full could be used 100 times so there is enough WATER in one reservoir to kill the entire population of the UK. Risks of this size, said Professor Barrinner, should not be allowed, whatever the gain. What use was a fire-fighting agent that could kill men as well as fires?

"A local authority spokesman said that he would strongly oppose planning permission for construction of a WATER reservoir in this area unless the most stringent precautions were followed. Open ponds were certainly not acceptable. What would prevent people falling in them? What would prevent the contents from leaking out? At the very least the WATER would need to be contained in a steel pressure vessel surrounded by a leak-proof concrete wall.

"A spokesman from the fire brigades said he did not see the need for the new agent. Dry powder and BCF could cope with most fires. The new agent would bring with it risks, particularly to firemen, greater than any possible gain. Did we know what would happen to this new medium when it was exposed to intense heat? It had been reported that WATER was a constituent of beer. Did this mean that firemen would be intoxicated by the fumes?

"The Friends of the World said that they had obtained a sample of WATER and found it caused clothes to shrink. If it did this to cotton, what would it do to men?

"In the House of Commons yesterday, the Home Secretary was asked if he would prohibit the manufacture and storage of this lethal new material. The Home Secretary replied that, as it was clearly a major hazard, local authorities would have to take advice from the Health & Safety Executive before giving planning permission. A full investigation was needed and the Major Hazards Group would be asked to report."

- from Hazardous Cargo Bulletin

7s Seize The Day

Seven days ago the number 7 came up big time in Pennsylvania's Big 4 Drawing. Appropriately enough, the winning combination was 7-7-7-7, and it resulted in the state paying out $7.77 million to some 3,000 winners.

But the real kicker to the story is that on the same day, the state's Super 7 jackpot was $7.3 million, while the Cash 5 kitty stood at $770,000.

Divine intervention? Perhaps. Since the state paid out about $7.2 million more than it took in, this was certainly a case of "Caesar rendering unto us..." The complete story can be read here.

Oschter Haws & Other Easter Traditions

"Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!"

So goes the Christian proclamation on Easter - a holiday that is more powerful, more important to Christians than Christmas. Yet, while I know some of the history behind Christmas traditions, I've wondered about the traditions of Easter (e.g - the Easter Bunny?) Ted Olsen of Christianity Today has some historical insights to these traditions in his piece "Why Easter?" An excerpt follows:

Why 'Easter'?

"The fact of the matter is no one knows for sure, but our best bet comes from Bede ('The Venerable'), a late-seventh-century historian and scholar from Anglo-Saxon England. He says Easter's name comes from the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre, associated with spring and fertility, and celebrated around the vernal equinox. So there you go. As Christmas was moved to coincide with (and supplant) the pagan celebration of winter, Easter was likely moved to coincide and replace the pagan celebration of spring.

"And while we're at it, the Easter Bunny comes from these pagan rites of spring as well, but more from pagan Germany than pagan Britain. Eighteenth-century German settlers brought 'Oschter Haws' (never knew he had a name, did you?) to America, where Pennsylvania Dutch settlers prepared nests for him in the garden or barn. On Easter Eve, the rabbit laid his colored eggs in the nests in payment. In Germany, old Oschter lays red eggs on Maundy Thursday. If anyone knows why children in an agrarian society would believe a rabbit lays eggs, please tell us or a historian near you. We're all dying to know.

"But enough of the pagan side of Easter. You want to know about Christian history:

"Thursday commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus, getting its name from the Latin translation of Jesus' saying that evening, 'A new commandment I give to you.' It is marked by foot washing and the blessing of the oils. But in various parts of the world, it has other traditions as well. The German word 'to mourn' (grun) is very similar to the word for green (grÜn). So in Austria, Hungary, and much of Germany, today is GrÜndonnerstag: a day to eat spinach and green salad. This is not the only reason for eating greens: Passover is celebrated with karpas (a green vegetable, usually parsley) and bitter herbs. In old England, men used to shave their beards on Maundy Thursday, as this was a time to cleanse the body as well as the soul to prepare for Easter.

"Friday, of course, is Good Friday. (The Orthodox call it Great Friday, but they're not celebrating Holy week until next week.) A strange day, Good Friday. Christians commemorate Jesus' death and call it 'Good.' It used to be that Good Friday was observed even more than Easter, but for a while Protestants ignored it. Oh and by the way, hot cross buns are a Christianized pagan custom, too—from the Eostre celebrations. On one Good Friday, a nineteenth-century missionary to Bermuda had difficulty explaining the ascension of Jesus, so he launched a kite with an image of Jesus on it and cut the string. Kite-flying is now a Bermuda Good Friday tradition.

"Another Bermuda fact: it's where Easter lilies came from. They were brought to America from the island in the 1880s (and, for once, not a Christianized pagan symbol). They're now associated with Easter because it grows from a bulb that is 'buried' and 'reborn.' So this Easter, consider the lilies. And what they represent.

Palestine: The Historical Jewish Homeland

"I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." [Genesis 12:2-3, NIV]


As this map shows, the Arab world is more than 500 times the size of Israel, which is some 40 miles at its widest point, and roughly half the size of San Bernardino County, California. Yet, this sliver of land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River has been the source of conflict for decades, despite the Jews' 3,000-year history in the land. Why?

Conventional wisdom holds that Israel has long been the obstacle for peace in the middle east, strong-arming the much weaker, hapless Palestinian minority. Unfortunately for the proponents of this charge (i.e. - the mainstream media, academia, and Muslim apologists), history does not support their oft-cited (and false) claims.

First, at no time in history has there ever been a nation of 'Palestine,' nor has there ever existed a Palestinian people. The original name of this disputed land is Judea (go figure, Jews from Judea - a possible connection?), and it was renamed 'Palestine' by the Roman Empire in its efforts to wipe out all Jewish association to the region. As Professor Bernard Lewis points out, cartographers continued to use the regional name 'Palestine' up until the birth of modern day Israel shortly after WWII.

However, counter to the League of Nations mandate, which reserved all of 'Palestine' as the "national home for the Jewish people," Great Britain subdivided the region into sections east and west of the Jordan River. Arabs were granted about 75% of the region to the east, which was named Transjordan, and is now modern day Jordan. The Jews were allotted the area to the west of the Jordan River, and they declared their independence in 1948 as the nation of Israel.

Since its founding, Israel has defended its very existence in five wars initiated by its Arab neighbors, the first of which commenced the day after declaring its independence. Nonetheless, more than 1 million Arabs currently reside in Israel (about 20% of the population), and all are granted voting rights and the ability to serve in parliament (the Knesset). Furthermore, Arabs have complete religious freedom and full access to Israel's legal, health, and educational systems. And yet, Israel has never cited its Arab population as a hindrance to lasting peace in the region.

By contrast, (ill-conceived) conventional wisdom deems the construction of Jewish 'settlements' (or 'homes' in common parlance) in East Jerusalem or the West Bank as an act of aggression and an obstacle to peace. By the numbers, this adds up to about 300,000 Jews living among some 3 million Arabs - quite the outrage, huh?

News of the latest home construction projects in East Jerusalem came to a head during Prime Minister Benjamin 'Bibi' Netanyahu's recent White House visit with President Obama. British media (go figure?) reported that the icy meeting between the two allied heads of state consisted of Obama ordering Netanyahu to concede to 13 demands (which Obama could then take to his upcoming meeting with the Arab League), and when Bibi refused, Obama left him waiting to go have dinner alone, chiding him with, "Let me know if there's anything new."

Diplomacy at its best, I suppose (or as Investor's Business Daily calls it, "Oafish Diplomacy")...and with our closest ally in the middle east, no less!

Contrast this with Obama's willingness to negotiate with Iran - a sworn enemy of the United States, and whose fanatical leader has openly called for the destruction of Israel, and declared that the Holocaust is a myth! Do we live in upside-down times, or what?

Unfortunately for the beleaguered 'Palestinian refugees,' their Arab home countries refuse to repatriate them, and they have continued to remain political pawns for 70 years in the Arab effort to destroy the only democratic country in the region. Only 10 years ago, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered to meet virtually every one of PLO leader Yasser Arafat's demands, making Israel only 9 miles wide at its narrowest point. Arafat refused, and initiated his infamous intifada against Israel, demonstrating that it is Arab hate towards the Jews that fuels this decades-old conflict. It is the Arabs, after all, who refer to Israel as a 'cancer on the Arab body.' I guess so-called 'land-for-peace' doesn't work either...

Drawing upon biblical teachings surrounding God's chosen people, and considering the current administration's enmity towards Israel (and its anti-American agenda as a whole), is it any wonder that a recent Harris poll found that 14% of Americans believe that Obama is the Anti-Christ?

Outrageous? Provocative? Well, yes. God's admonition, however, that "I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse" provides fair warning to those hell-bent on destroying this Jewish state.

Swim For Your Lives - Guam May Capsize!

Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) expressed his concerns last Thursday over the U.S. Navy's planned influx of 8,000 Marines and their families to the island of Guam. His exchange with Admiral Robert Willard can be seen below:



No comment.

Rep. Johnson has now issued the following statement:

"The subtle humor of this obviously metaphorical reference to a ship capsizing illustrated my concern about the impact of the planned military buildup on this small tropical island."

And this from the U.K. Telegraph:

"Sailors on the island reportedly took the comments in good humour [sic]. One is said to have shown up for his duty posting wearing a life vest 'just in case.'"