Artificial Pollination By Robobees

Posted: 6/28/2019

The age of artificial pollination may have arrived!

“And with that, Harvard University’s Robobee became the lightest vehicle ever to achieve sustained untethered flight. … creating extremely lightweight power circuits, and integrating high-efficiency solar cells” (S1)

“In all, the final vehicle, with the solar cells and electronics, weighs 259 milligrams (about a quarter of a paper clip) and uses about 120 milliwatts of power” (S1)

However, the robobee may not yet be capable of flying outdoors. So we have to wait a bit longer!

Sources (S):

1. The Robobee flies solo / To achieve untethered flight, the latest iteration of the Robobee underwent several important changes, including the addition of a second pair of wings. (published 6/26/19)

Tiny robot bee powered by light takes flight Machine carries ultra-lightweight solar cells — and weighs less than a paper clip (published 6/26/19)

Straight Pride Parade In Boston

Posted: 6/27/2019

Whether a counter parade is a good thing or not, I am not sure! A counter parade, in my opinion only reenforces the special status of the colorful, alternative, hip, glamorous vanity lifestyle LGBTQ tribe!

“John Hugo, the president of the “Super Happy Fun America” organization that’s putting together the event planned for Aug. 31, has said the parade is aimed at protesting “some serious heterophobia” in Boston.”

Sources (S):

1. Straight Pride Parade gets permit to march in Boston – but flag won’t fly at City Hall (published 6/26/19)

English for Trippers: Boris Johnson Socks or sucks

Posted: 6/27/2019 

Best joke of the day! A post by Professor Michael Scott (a classicist) on Facebook today pointed out that Boris Johnson was seen wearing certain socks alluding to famous King Ashurbanipal of Assyria. There is actually a current exhibit about this king at the British Museum in London.

Boris Johnson, the next Ashurbanipal of the UK, conquering Europe by Brexit! That would be something! Stay tuned!

P.S. Please do not interpret my title of my blog post as a pun of words or some kind of word play. By all means, I really did not mean to say that Boris Johnson sucks. That would be so mean of me! (English for trippers). In my opinion, perhaps Boris Johnson will turn out to be a capable leader, something the UK so urgently needs in these trying times.

Sources (S):

1. PULL YOUR SOCKS UP Your socks say more about you than you might think – just ask Boris Johnson/BORIS Johnson has been working his socks off to get into number 10 recently — apparently without changing them.

YouTube Recommendations Deteriorated

Posted: 6/27/2019

For about the past two weeks or so, I noticed a significant deterioration in the selection of videos that YouTube would recommend to me to watch.

E.g. lately I watched some music videos of different genres and now YouTube is flooding my daily suggestions with music videos. However, I only occasionally watch music videos. Most of the time I watch distinctively other videos that can be easily classified into very few categories, e.g. history documentaries, biography documentaries, political news etc.

The Outrageous Wind Power Scam

Posted: 6/27/2019

Recently, I have blogged here about the The Outrageous Electrical Cars Scam. Let’s have a look at the global scam of wind power generation.

For our purposes here, we will focus on one of the largest onshore wind power farms in the world and the largest wind power farm in the U.S.:

Alta Wind Energy Center (AWEC) in California:

1. Total capacity: 1,550MWh (this is roughly the continuous output (not capacity) of 1.5 typical U.S. nuclear power reactors; translates into 13,392,000 MWh per year)
2. Construction started in 2010 and it was completed in 2013 (S1)
3. “Spread across 3,200 acres in the foothills of the Tehachapi Mountains in Kern County” (S1)
4. Average electricity generation per year is 3,179,263 MWh (over the period 2014-17; S2)

The scam/boondoggle consists of:

1. Average production of electricity is only about 24% of total capacity. Or in other words, four times as much capacity of a wind power generation has to be built to compensate for the uncertainty of wind
2. To generate the total annual electricity consumed in California you would need to build over 48,500 wind turbines (of the AWEC type). This translates into at least 1 wind turbine for every 800 inhabitants of California. For the entire U.S. it would be at least 1 turbine for every 470 inhabitants (It appears that California is more energy efficient than the rest of the U.S. or California does not have as much significant electricity consuming industries)
3. Ridiculous government subsidies for this form of energy generation

In Germany, even the world famous tree huggers and the zealots of environmentalism have allowed huge areas of natural landscape to be spoiled and ruined by gigantic onshore and offshore wind power farms. Thousands of birds and bats die every year! The sound emissions from wind power farms are probably not entirely harmless. The production and maintenance of these wind mills is by far not environmentally friendly. Beautiful hill tops inside protected forests were sacrificed to the religion of renewable energy. And so on ... 

Are there any studies on the influence of large wind power farms on local weather? I would posit that large wind power farms interfere with the flow of air if not more.

Initially, I presumed it was the extraordinary land/area use of wind power farms that would expose the scam, but it turned out it is the per head of population count of wind turbines.

P.S. I meant to add a tableau of figures that were underlying my calculations here, but for lack of time … Hope, my calculations are not completely off.

Sources (S):

1. https://www.power-technology.com/projects/alta-wind-energy-center-awec-california/
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alta_Wind_Energy_Center
3. https://www.energy.ca.gov/tour/alta/
4. https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3
5. https://www.eia.gov/electricity/annual/html/epa_02_08.html

Statue Of Responsibility On The West Coast

Posted: 6/25/2019

Yesterday, I was watching again a biography documentary by the excellent Biographics channel on YouTube. This time it was about the life and works of Viktor Frankl.

Among many other things, Frankl apparently made also the astonishing proposal to mirror or bookend the Statue of Liberty on the east coast of the U.S. with a Statue of Responsibility on the west coast of the U.S. I was immediately intrigued by his foresight and insight into the meaning of life! Indeed, there is no true freedom without genuine responsibility! Many of our contemporaries like to forget or are ignorant of the responsibility part of the duality! 

Here is the relevant screen shot from the above documentary:

Que Vadis Switzerland?

Posted: 6/23/2019  Updated: 7/1/2019

Update Of 7/1/2019

In my original post below, I overlooked to mention that the Swiss people apparently are also more willing to make severe and detrimental concessions to the gun control obsessed EU (S1). 

More recently, the EU is forcing its stricter capital markets and stock exchange rules on Switzerland. Unfortunately, it seems Switzerland is again caving in! 

Original Post

I have been in awe for decades about this little country Switzerland that managed so well to survive in peace for several hundreds of years. Stories like the famous Wilhelm Tell and the Rütlischwur are still resonating today.

Switzerland A Paragon In More Than One Way

Let’s briefly remind us again why Switzerland is so important to the world:

1. Switzerland is a paragon of limited and small government: E.g. Switzerland has consistently one of the lowest levels of government spending as a share of the economy among the OECD countries
2. Switzerland is a paragon of federalism and decentralized government power: The Swiss have genuine federalism and decentralized government
3. Switzerland is a paragon of self defense: Switzerland has one of the highest gun ownership rate in the world. It also has one of the lowest lowest homicide rate in the world 
4. Switzerland is a living laboratory of direct democracy. Referenda are frequent and the outcomes are in most cases very reasonable 
5. Switzerland has been for centuries a master of reason, common sense, and pragmatism in politics

Too Many Things Went Wrong

But all is not well in recent times with this small country to my great dismay.

Switzerland has succumbed to too many really bad compromises to please e.g. the U.S. or the European Union:

1. The famous Swiss bank secrecy law was watered down
2. The hegemon EU has directly or indirectly imposed lots of its burdensome regulations on Switzerland. Most recently, the Swiss voted for tighter gun control in a referendum

I have previously blogged about Switzerland here, here. I had planned a few more posts on Switzerland in the past, but never got around it. Therefore, e.g. some of my sources below are a bit dated.

Giving Up Economic Freedom For What!

Over the last two or three decades, Switzerland has unnecessarily given up substantial economic freedoms to conform with EU laws and regulations that are actually stifling economic freedom (see S3). It is totally incomprehensible that the citizens of Switzerland agreed to this subjugation! Wilhelm Tell is spinning in his grave!

“Dieses Recht [EU Recht] ist oft unternehmensfeindlich und schützt einseitig die Konsumenten, die Anleger und die Arbeitnehmer.” (S3; translated: The law of the EU is often adversarial to businesses and biased in protecting consumers, stockholders, and employees)

Abuse Of Direct Democracy

There are reports that the famous direct democracy in Switzerland has been perverted to promote the expansion of centralized government and a larger socialist welfare state in Switzerland (S2).

One of the reasons reported why it was possible to subvert the direct democracy in Switzerland is the low threshold of initiating a referendum, which used to be for many years 100,000 signatures (S2).

Swiss Bank Secrecy

Finally, it seems it dawns on the Swiss people how foolish they were to give in to pressure from the U.S. and Europe to relax the famous bank secrecy laws in Switzerland.

It appears it was in particular the most unlawful U.S. president since Nixon and the most socialist U.S. president since Franklin D. Roosevelt, i.e. Barack Obama, who pushed the Swiss over using means like extortion! What a disgrace for the Switzerland! (see S4). As the author of Source No. 4 points out this was a complete disaster for Switzerland! Not only that, e.g. the Isle of Man (a notorious tax haven) fought back much more effectively than Switzerland! It would have served Switzerland so much better to oppose this pretentious President Obama full force!

Apparently, Switzerland had several so called whistle blowers that purportedly exposed the illegal dealings of Swiss banks! Here again, the Swiss failed to defend their businesses!

Sure a significant number of infamous and lesser known, bloody dictators and their cronies have hidden their ill gotten money in Switzerland. On the other hand, many honest and reasonable people were able to protect their assets by moving them to Switzerland!

Sources (S):

1. Why the Swiss Voted for More Gun Control (published 6/19/2019)
2. Die Schweiz: Freiheit oder Mehrheitsdiktatur? (published Nov. 2018)
3. Verteidigung der freiheitlichen Wirtschaftsordnung Das internationale Recht beeinflusst zunehmend die Wirtschaftspolitik. Die Selbstbestimmungsinitiative gibt hier Gegensteuer (published 4/13/2015)
4. Geschichte eines kollektiven Versagens Zwar war der internationale Druck enorm, trotzdem ist die Schweiz am Ausgang der Affäre um das Bankgeheimnis selber schuld. Eine kritische Aufarbeitung tut not. (6/15/2015)
5. Die Schweiz spielt mit dem Feuer (7/1/19)

Eisenhower's Farewell Address & Warnings

Posted: 6/22/2019

Many are probably very familiar with President Eisenhower’s stark warning 

of the industrial military complex. Here is the prescient quote: 

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” (emphasis added)

I bet very few are familiar with his other, even more prescient warning just a few paragraphs below the above one:
“Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades.

In this revolution, research has become central; ... A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government. ...

In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. ...

The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded.

Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.

It is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system-ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society.” (emphasis added) 

I find the second warning in Eisenhower’s Farewell Address much better fleshed out and it is so true in our time! Thanks President Eisenhower!

Sources (S):

Transcript of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Farewell Address (1961)

Compensated Emancipation Of Slaves

Posted: 6/22/2019

An Unnecessary War

I have long and repeatedly argued here that the American Civil War was totally unnecessary and unconstitutional! Secession of states was legal, but the preservation of the union by any means including war was blatantly illegal!

The negative ramifications of the American Civil War have been many and they still affect today. Big Government is one of the consequences of this civil war!

Compensated Emancipation

I have to thank Larry Elder to direct my attention to this subject in one of his recent Facebook posts. However, Larry Elder quoted the Independent article (S1) in support of defeating those ridiculous compensation claims by the left!

Whether you like it or not, compensated emancipation (S2) was certainly one way to end slavery without blood shed! In their great wisdom, Great Britain and other countries chose this route to end slavery! “The British Empire enacted a policy of compensated Emancipation for its colonies in 1833, followed by Denmark, France in 1848, and the Netherlands in 1863.” (S2; emphasis added)

So the U.S. Congress as well as the northern states egregiously failed to pass legislation to compensate slave owners despite the obvious lessons of these European countries! So failed the abolitionists to come together and offer to buy slaves in large numbers or to compensate individual slave owners to give up slavery!

“Only in the District of Columbia, which fell under direct Federal auspices, was compensated emancipation enacted. On April 16, 1862, President Lincoln signed the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act. This law prohibited slavery in the District, forcing its 900-odd slaveholders to free their slaves, with the government paying owners an average of about $300 for each.” (S2; emphasis added)

Sources (S):

1. Britain's colonial shame: Slave-owners given huge payouts after abolition
2. Compensated emancipation