Category: Science

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Kokomo’s LGBTQ+ Pride Day

By declaration, Kokomo Mayor Tyler Moore has designated June 28th annually to be LGBTQ+ Pride Day in Kokomo. Why? Is there going to be a companion Straight Pride Day?

We hear a lot about “Rights” from the folks that identify with the LGBTQ+ labels (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Trans-gender, Queer, and ?). This country is one of laws. There are all sorts of laws that protect the rights of everyone, so I am unclear about what “Rights” are being denied.

And I do not understand why those of the LGBTQ+ community feel a need to flaunt publicly their preferences for romance and sexual pleasures. Seems a bit strange to me.

Maybe we need a brief lesson in biology. There are only two genders for humans; male and female. That is it. Gender is determined for an individual at the moment of conception. On a genetic level, males have an X and a Y chromosome (DNA packages) and females have two X chromosomes; period. These pairs of chromosomes, XY or XX, are present in every cell of one’s body. That cannot be changed or altered. One is either male or female for a lifetime regardless of what outward physical alterations are surgically done or hormone treatments are administered.

Male and female throughout biology exist for the primary purpose of procreation; that is, creating the next generation. In our society, it is most common for a family to be formed consisting of one man and one woman committed to each other romantically and sexually with their children being cared for, loved, and nurtured to adulthood. This is strongly embedded in religious traditions.

All other romantic and sexual preferences are not from gender genetics but have more to do with attitudes and beliefs. Other adult pairings can be loving and nurturing to each other and even to children, but they cannot procreate. Individuals are certainly free to choose whatever they wish romantically and sexually as long as those choices do not infringe on others.

One issue in the forefront presently is that of trans-genders which is most frequently about one who is genetically male (XY) who wants to be considered female (XX); not the other way around. Genetically, not going to happen. And there is no case for genetic males to do anything surgically or hormonally to allow them to compete athletically with genetic females (XX). XY genetics produces different bone and muscle structure than does XX genetics. And there is no case for XY males to share locker rooms or bathrooms with XX females.

And the military. There is no case for taxpayers to pay for trans-gender medical changes. That is a personal choice that should be the financial responsibility of the person, not the military via taxpayers. The job of the military is to recruit, train, and maintain the most lethal fighting force on the planet; not pander to personal romantic and sexual preferences.

So, Kokomo is left with LGBTQ+ Pride Day. What that really means publicly will be seen next June 28th.

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Masks and Covid 19

If you are still wearing a mask for Covid 19 protection, you might want to think again. I have seen many wearing a mask while outdoors walking somewhere or in their own car alone while driving somewhere. These may be the worst cases of ridiculous and even potentially harmful mask use, but there is more.

There is a report in the Epoch Times that parents in Gainesville, Florida, were concerned about their children wearing face masks all day at school. One parent, the mother of three sons, reported her sons broke out in rashes from prolonged mask-wearing.

She and other parents decided to find out what was going on. They gathered six masks (three surgical, two cotton, and a poly) that had been worn by students and sent the masks to the University of Florida’s Mass Spectrometry Research and Education Center for analysis. The results were astonishing and scary.

Eleven dangerous pathogens (disease causing) that included bacteria that cause diphtheria, pneumonia, and meningitis were found. Various other parasites and fungi were included. One mask was found to contain a virus that can cause a fatal systemic disease in cattle and deer. Other less harmful pathogens that can cause ulcers, acne, and strep throat were also detected.

We have all of this along with knowing the naked C-19 virus particle is so small that it will pass through masks.

Still the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend that kids should continue to wear masks and socially distance until they are vaccinated.

Do your own research. There are many and serious questions with more seemingly emerging every week about both masks and the vaccines.

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Where does Carbon Dioxide come from?

[From an Internet Posting. Very interesting.]

Ian Rutherford Plimer is an Australian geologist, professor emeritus of earth sciences at the University of Melbourne, professor of mining geology at the University of Adelaide, and the director of multiple mineral exploration and mining companies. He has published 130 scientific papers, six books and edited the Encyclopedia of Geology.
 
Born:                           12 February 1946
Residence:                  Australia
Nationality:                Australian
Fields:                         Earth Science , Geology, Mining Engineering
Institutions:                University of New England, University of Newcastle, University of Melbourne, University of Adelaide
Alma mater:                University of New South Wales, Macquarie University
Thesis:                         “The pipe deposits of tungsten-molybdenum-bismuth in eastern Australia” (1976)
Notable awards:          Eureka Prize (1995, 2002), Centenary Medal (2003), Clarke Medal (2004)
Source:                        Wikipedia
 
Where Does the Carbon Dioxide Really Come From?
 
Professor Ian Plimer could not have said it better!   If you’ve read his book you will agree; this is a good summary.
 
PLIMER: “Okay, here’s the bombshell. The volcanic eruption in Iceland. Since its first spewing of volcanic ash has, in just FOUR DAYS, NEGATED EVERY SINGLE EFFORT you have made in the past five years to control CO2 emissions on our planet – all of you.
 
Of course, you know about this evil carbon dioxide that we are trying to suppress – its that vital chemical compound that every plant requires to live and grow and to synthesize into oxygen for us humans and all animal life.
 
I know… it’s very disheartening to realize that all of the carbon emission savings you have accomplished while suffering the inconvenience and expense of driving Prius hybrids, buying fabric grocery bags, sitting up till midnight to finish your kids “The Green Revolution” science project, throwing out all of your non-green cleaning supplies, using only two squares of toilet paper, putting a brick in your toilet tank reservoir, selling your SUV and speedboat, getting hit every day on your bicycle, replacing all of your 50 cent light bulbs with $10.00 light bulbs… well, all of those things you have done have all gone down the tubes in just four days.
 
The volcanic ash emitted into the Earth’s atmosphere in just four days – yes, FOUR DAYS – by that volcano in Iceland which has totally erased every single effort you have made to reduce the evil beast, carbon. And there are around 200 active volcanoes on the planet spewing out this crud at any one time – EVERY DAY.
 
I don’t really want to rain on your parade too much, but I should mention that when the volcano Mt. Pinatubo erupted in the Philippines in 1991, it spewed out more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than the entire human race had emitted in all its years on earth.
 
Yes, folks, Mt. Pinatubo was active for over one year – think about it.
 
Of course, I shouldn’t spoil this ‘touchy-feely tree-hugging’ moment and mention the effect of solar and cosmic activity and the well-recognized 800-year global heating and cooling cycle, which keeps happening despite our completely insignificant efforts to affect climate change.
 
And I do wish I had a silver lining to this volcanic ash cloud, but the fact of the matter is that the bush fire season across the western USA and Australia this year alone will negate your efforts to reduce carbon in our world for the next two to three years. And it happens every year. Just remember that your government just tried to impose a whopping carbon tax on you, on the basis of the bogus ‘human-caused’ climate-change scenario.
 
Hey, isn’t it interesting how they don’t mention ‘Global Warming’ anymore, but just ”Climate Change”  – you know why?
 
It’s because the planet has COOLED by 0.7 degrees  in the past century and these global warming bull**** artists got caught with their pants down.
 
And, just keep in mind that you might yet be stuck with an Emissions Trading Scheme – that whopping new tax – imposed on you that will achieve absolutely nothing except make you poorer.
 
It won’t stop any volcanoes from erupting, that’s for sure.
 
But, hey, relax…give the world a hug and have a nice day!

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XY and XX

In case you are wondering, there are only two genders in the human race; male and female. On the DNA level, men and women each have a full complement of genes packaged in chromosomes numbering a total of 46. The chromosomes that indicate a male are one X chromosome and one Y chromosome. In women, there are two X chromosomes and no Y chromosomes. So, men = XY and women = XX. Anything different than this is an abnormality or genetic defect.

And, let’s face it, the primary biological purpose of male and female is to produce the next generation. This is true throughout the biological world where ever males and females are found. Examples are humans, birds, fish, flowers, frogs, and on and on. Male DNA is brought together with female DNA to create what is new life. Got it. Some creatures have chromosomes different than XY and XX to indicate gender, but in humans it is XY Male and XX Female.

So, what is LGBTQ all about. One thing it is not about is XY Male and XX Female. That is fixed biology. What is left is culture and attitude, not gender biology. We have some who are XY Male thinking they want to be XX Female. They want to dress female, behave female, and compete in female sports; but they have male biology which gives them physical strength the XX female does not have. The determining factor on where one is allowed to compete in sports should be genetic; XY Male sports and XX female sports. Period.

What about sexual preferences? Here we have a real can of worms. In common terminology, there are lesbians, XX women who prefer to pleasure sexually other XX women and have nothing to do sexually with XY men. There are gays, XY men who prefer to pleasure sexually other XY men and have nothing to do sexually with XX women. Clearly, these preferences never end in the prime original purpose of male and female; production of the next generation. Their preferences are personal, but have nothing to do with biological gender identity and everything to do with sexual attitudes and sensual pleasures.

Then there are bi-sexuals: XY men and XX women who find sexual satisfaction with the opposite or same sex; both. Again, personal preferences that have nothing to do with gender and everything to do with sexual attitudes and sensual pleasures.

And transgenders, individuals who come into the world one gender, either XY or XX, but want to be the other. Again, attitude not biology. Medical science has intervened surgically and hormonally to make gender switching physically somewhat possible. Doctors can redesign the human body to some degree, but they cannot change the biological gender of XY or XX. They can only mimic to some degree the opposite gender from biological gender at birth. Every cell in the human body carries either the XY or XX gene combination. Medical science cannot change that.

Finally, there are “queers” who are really mixed up. Nothing more to say about them.

Interesting to me that there seems to be a lot of noise from the LGBTQ community about “rights”. I fully agree that ones sexual preferences should have nothing to do with one’s job qualifications, or voting rights, or anything else in society unless it infringes on the rights of someone else. When it come to competitive sports, however, genetics does make a difference. And ones sexual preferences, whether straight or otherwise, must not intrude on the work place.

As far as the military is concerned, there may be different criteria to consider when training warriors. The goals are different from general society. Preference should be to creating the most lethal fighting force, not catering to or even considering sexual preferences.

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On Covid-19

Ever wonder about the Covid-19 vaccines?

Now I get it, but still have questions. It goes like this. Traditional vaccines involve introducing to the body a degraded or debilitated version of the disease causing antigen (virus or germ). The degraded version (not strong enough to cause the disease full blown) was just enough to trigger our immune system to construct antibodies which attach to the disease particle identifying it as disease. Then the warrior cells tke over and wipe out the disease particle(s). There are also memory cells that are on alert for future infections. First sign … arms full alert and disease stopped in its tracks. No waiting for the immune system to crank up. The immune system is ready for the enemy.

Now along comes Covid-19, a virus causing disease. Science uses a completely different approach to getting the human immune system on alert and ready to fight from the onset. It does not use a degraded or debilitated virus particle to alert our immune system. Rather it has found a way to get our own cellular genetic system to manufacture a particle (protein) similar to one found on the stalk of the capsule that encloses the actual C-19 virus (RNA). The presence of that particle is enough to trigger an immune response. The cells that create antibodies are triggered into action and create the antibodies needed. The rest of the immune system action is as usual for an immune response. Hopefully, memory cells will maintain alert status, the that length of that “memory” is currently unknown.

What is being injected into muscle tissue (the vaccine) is the mRNA (messenger RNA) of the stalk protein needed to trigger a response. The vaccines must be kept at really cold temperatures or this mRNA degrades (denatures). When injected, Dendrite cells take it in. In the Dendrite cell the mRNA connects with Ribosomes (the protein factory) which uses the mRNA as a template to create the wanted stalk protein.

Production is triggered. When the product (the stalk protein) is released into the body, our body identifies it as “enemy” so cranks up the immune response and creates antibodies against it. On the system goes. Once a disease agent is tagged with an antibody, other “warrior” cells literally destroy it.

The main question I have is who regulates this system never used before for a vaccine. Once the Dendrite cells begin cranking out the protein associated with the disease, what regulates it and when does it stop? Don’t know the answer to this yet. Will the mRNA be reverse incorporated into our DNA? Will it stay active forever cranking our “disease” particles causing perpetual immune response? What happens when a similar but different variant of a virus comes along? Massive response? Who knows. Maybe scientists know all these answers, but from all indications this is a road not traveled before for a vaccine. I read mixed reports. There are medical professionals and biological scientists on both sides ….. all is well and all is not well with the vaccines.

I personally believe big Pharma prefers vaccine development rather than development of effective, perhaps inexpensive, therapeutics. And as time goes on, the medical community seems to be getting better at treatment. Death rates have fallen to very low lows.

So, get the vaccine or not. You have to make that choice.

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Toxic Agriculture

From the Organic Consumers Association:

“Industrial agriculture, with its toxic chemicals, monocultures, drugs and deforestation, is destroying the natural resources needed to sustain life on earth.”

Nothing more need be said……

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Life at Risk

The United Nations has just issued a damning report about the decline of Earth’s natural life-support systems. It states human society is in jeopardy from the accelerating decline in the biological systems upon which the planet depends. This includes human life.

Many years ago in 1978, Dr. Robert van den Bosch wrote a Prologue for his book, The Pesticide Conspiracy. I have re-printed it below. This may be the future of mankind.

“On this day in a future time, spring has returned and the sun-washed Mississippi Delta is breathtakingly beautiful under a brilliant blue sky and a mantle of lush greenery. It is a glorious season of warm days and soft nights, when the land, as it has for countless centuries, pluses with renewed life. There are the sounds of spring too: the rustling of leaves in a zephyr, the faint rumble of distant thunder, the whisper of water in a slowly flowing stream, the chitchat of small birds, the chirring of cicadas, the crackling flight of grasshoppers, the low hum of foraging bees.

But these are the voices of Nature, and they form a muted chorus compared to the crescendo of sound once heard in this vibrant season. Something is missing from this spring-time symphony; that something is the sound of man. Man is gone, and nowhere to be heard is the clatter of a tractor, the moaning power surge of a spray plane, the grinding throb of a diesel locomotive, the roar of a truck-trailer rig, the squawk of a transistor radio, the whooping voices across a field.

At some time in the past, man fashioned a catastrophe and vanished in it. Now all that is left of his brilliant doings are the decaying remnants of the things he created. Ghosted cities and towns crumbling to rubble, automobiles rusted to junk on littered streets, farmhouses and outbuildings rotting to dust, croplands tangled with brush and invaded by forest, graveyards with headstones toppled among the weeds.

Yes, man has vanished, but the insects still abound, and on this lovely day theirs is the prevailing voice an an almost silent spring.”

I am thinking Dr. van den Bosch may be a prophet of times to come. We continue to poison the planet with toxins like glyphosate (typically Roundup) and dicamba, and 2,4,D. We continue to rape the oceans causing once abundant fish stocks to crash and use oceans as waste dump sites. We cut trees and demolish rain forests that are key parts of planet climate controls. We pump the air full of poisonous fumes and products of combustion. We pave over fertile lands with concrete, asphalt, and buildings. And finally, we humans continue to reproduce like there is no tomorrow.

The message is clear. Our Earth planet home cannot sustain what we are doing to it. There is time to reverse course, but is there the wisdom and courage to do so?

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The Monsanto Dam

The dam has been breached; FINALLY! Monsanto’s Roundup poison has been judged by two juries to be cancer causing. Four years ago, the International Agency for Research on Cancer designated glyphosate, the primary ingredient in Roundup, as “probably carcinogenic to humans”. This is their highest designation for cancer causing based upon laboratory animal studies.

Two juries now have awarded judgments in favor of two people who pointed to glyphosate (Roundup) as the cause of their cancers. In the first case, DeWayne Johnson was awarded $289 million which was later reduced to $80 million upon appeal by Monsanto. The second case brought by Edwin Hardeman has now been brought to conclusion as well. The jury decided Roundup was a “substantial factor” in causing the lymphoma of the 70-year old who had used this toxic chemical on his property for many years. The award to Mr. Hardeman is also $80 million. There are thousands of law suits in waiting.

Recently, we learned that Costco, the large big-box retailer, has banned Roundup from its shelves. We also learned that Viet Nam has now banned the importation of glyphosate-based weed killers. This is the country we dosed with Agent Orange decades ago which became a never ending nightmare for the Vietnamese as well as for our veterans who served there. We have learned glyphosate residues have shown up in beers, cereals, snack bars, and some Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. France banned a version of Roundup in January due to health concerns. Several other countries have done likewise. Even the city of Miami has banned the use of herbicides containing glyphosate. Headlines say these chemicals are “killing Biscayne Bay”.

Roundup has been the most widely used glyphosate based herbicide (poison) in the United States for nearly 20 years. It is everywhere.

Why is that important to us? We are surrounded every year with fields of corn and soy beans. Most corn and soy beans here have been genetically engineered to withstand doses of Roundup and survive while the weeds in the fields are supposed to die. Roundup is sprayed on the fields around us by the hundreds or maybe even the thousands of gallons. We live in a sea of Roundup. More is used each year since “super weeds” have developed that refuse to die. More and different toxic pesticides are added each year.

And have you been to your local hardware store lately? You will see rows of Roundup on many shelves ready for you to buy and use around your homes. You will see it ready for use around schools and parks and other public property where we find both adults and more importantly, our children.

It is time for government officials, industrial farmers, and homeowners to seriously question the use of glyphosate (Roundup); a toxic chemical found to be potentially cancer causing to themselves and their families. In the meanwhile while use continues, all of us including our children could be faced with cancers that did not have to be.

Growing and pesticide season will be coming soon.

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Oceans in Trouble

Current world human population is 7,600,000,000 and increasing. Of this, more than 1 billion people worldwide depend on seafood as a main source of protein, and about 100 million people rely directly on fishing for their income according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The problem: 93% of ocean fisheries are either fully fished or over fished! It is estimated current catch is 250% of the level that is maximally sustainable. In other words, we are killing off the very resource so many depend upon. One large reason for this is subsidies from governments to industrial size operators for fuel, fishing gear, and vessel construction. The problem is not with the little guy but with those who run out miles of net and/or suck up everything from the ocean via large trawlers. This cannot continue. The piper will be paid.

Over fishing is not only a threat to fish stocks but also to the health of the oceans themselves. Healthy fish stocks are vital to health marine ecosystems and to the food security and livelihoods of billions of people. Healthy fish stocks contribute to the balance needed for the oceans to remain viable as a human resource.

Simply, there are too many boats chasing too few fish. One way to correct this is by curtailing capacity-enhancing subsidies to reduce pressure on fish stocks. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is encouraging members to adopt a binding agreement that will limit or eliminate harmful subsidies that cause over fishing.

My thought is this will not happen on any enforceable level, but the cost of inaction is high. What can happen is for the United States of America to aggressively enforce sustainable fishing limits in its territorial waters and eliminate any and all taxpayer subsidies to the fishing industry. We can do that. We can manage and allow scientifically calculated harvest of the marine resources in our waters.

There will be some who will vociferously oppose any limits for catch or exposure time. They will say it never has been so and that they are being robbed of their livelihood. But the problem as with about all environmental problems is too many people and too few resources. Hard decisions by government — the only means of control — are required.

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Final Silence

[I am working on an idea for a book. The idea has been hanging in my mind for years now. What is below is a Forward I have written for possible use. I thought I would share it in case the book does not get written.]

Astronomers tell us there are a billion stars in our Milky Way Galaxy. They tell us there are a billion galaxies. These are numbers beyond human comprehension. We cannot conceive of where the ends and the beginnings are or if they are.

Yet, here we are on what astronauts have shown us to be a beautiful, blue water planet floating in the infinity of space and orbiting around our Sun somewhere near the edge of our galaxy. We have no idea whether life, as we know it, exists anywhere else in infinity. We only guess. As far as we now know, there is no place else for our species to go. We, and the millions of other species that live with us and beside us, call Earth our home.

If we believe in God, then we must believe our home is a sacred place and a blessed gift from the Divine. It really does not matter whether we believe the Universe and Earth were created in seven days or in billions of years. Here we are. Here is now.

A curious thought crosses my mind. This is there is no sound in space. The gigantic explosions and nebulae we see with our visual or radio telescopes are silent. On Earth, we know the beauty of sound in rustling leaves blown by the breezes, in the call of birds on wing, the rolling of waves on the beach, and the crunching of dried leaves under our feet in the autumn, the sound of a water fall, of music, of voices and even of whales in the ocean. I wonder whether this will always be or whether Earth will at some time become a part of the Final Silence.

The gift of Earth to us is precious, yet we go about our daily lives behaving as if it were indestructible and limitless of resources, wildlife, fertile lands for crops, and infinite space for concrete and asphalt. Our human mantra is “growth and development” at any cost. It is expansion and domination and control. Rachael Carson poignantly pointed out in “Silent Spring” that mankind is a part of the biosphere which is beyond our control. She talked about being in balance with Nature. Dr. Durward Allen, wildlife ecologist, taught conservation of all natural resources, living and non-living, for the greatest good for the most people for the longest time. John Muir and Henry David Thoreau and countless others described the wonder of it all.

It is our sacred duty to protect and defend planet Earth from harm whether it be from within or without. Our lives and the lives of those that follow depend upon this.

According to some, the Earth has nurtured our kind for over 2 million years. She has given water, shelter, and food to countless generations like a mother to her children. Now she grieves. In the race for technology and with burgeoning numbers, we have lost connection to the Earth in consciousness and spirit. We take and take and take. We create poisons and wastes we spread on the land and water and in air. We even now tamper with the very core of life in the race for more and more. We pass to the next generation a nature that is less than we inherited. For many species, we have already created the final silence. The pace quickens.

Man has come a long way since the beginning of existence to the present. But, we are at a time now of unprecedented population growth and resource consumption, both of which continue their upward paths toward a point where Earth resources cannot forever sustain life, particularly human life, at such levels. If overshoot is great enough and the Earth’s life support systems are fatally damaged, we will inevitably ourselves reach the Final Silence.

Scientists believe there is still time for the way back. It is through leaders willing to put planet over personal gain. It is through the few who now hear voices from the past with the message that all of Creation is sacred. It is for warriors who will not be intimidated, defeated, or silenced. If we do not listen……..

To Albert Schweitzer who said…..
“Man has lost the capacity to foresee and to forestall. He will end by destroying the Earth” (a quote used in Silent Spring)

And Albert Einstein who said…….
“Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe – a spirit vastly superior to that of man.”