Hydrogen = Hot Air?

My son stopped by earlier today, and we got into a discussion on fuel prices, gas, alternative energy sources, and it included a lot of BS. Not from me certainly, but...

He mentioned how he had seen a piece on TV about a guy who has developed a means of extracting hydrogen from water in amounts plentiful enough to supplement gasoline and thereby improving mileage from 10% all the way up to 100%. Big claims, that.

So, as is my way, I dived into the net to see what was out there. As it turns out, there are many varieties of hydro supplement out there. Most use an electrolysis method and then combining the resultant gases (hydrogen and oxygen) into the intake side of the engine to assist gasoline or diesel burn more cleanly and efficiently. Claims and proofs vary from lots of claims and no proofs, to modest claims and supposed proofs based on their testing.

I'm far from an expert and in fact in this case I can't even spell "expert" in connection with my name. But,... Many of the claims seem improbable to impossible. One thought that comes to my mind is, if these devices are so good, why aren't big name companies making and selling them? Why aren't some big "aftermarket" auto parts company testing and building these things. If the devices are so good, why aren't the auto manufactures putting them on the cars and trucks. Don't jump up and speak "that" word. Yeah, you know the word, "Conspiracy." If all this hydrogen stuff is so easy, why hasn't it been used years ago. Electrolysis has been known for a long time. In fact, it was discovered shortly after water and electricity were discovered. OK, maybe that was an exaggeration.

I'm just thinking a lot of this is flim-flam. People who rush out to buy this stuff are probably throwing their money away. Time will tell. When a reputable company comes out with the units for retrofit to existing cars and trucks, then I'll believe it.

Perry O. Dollia

Pareidolia, the trick the mind plays on one that allows one to see faces or objects in things like clouds, stains on walls, etc. Many people see religious oriented pareidolia - the face of Mary, or the Christian Cross, or something that those people interpret as a sign from God. The ability to see pareidolia is common because the mind tries to fit unrecognisable or random visual stimuli into recognisable objects. Having a modicum of imagination helps too.


Well, the BA, Dr. Phil Plait, is an astronomer and widely spoke/written debunker of bad science and the edge of sanity thinkers. He has a web site: http://www.badastronomy.com/ where he has written several pieces on pareidolia. He has shown several examples of pareidolia.


I like to cruse the Internet for the odd and unusual. There is more than enough of it out there in web-land. So, this morning I was out in the net and found this cartoon. It is a spoof on the whole concept of religious pareidola and well stated. Herewith I stick it in the blog.



















If you are offended by this, I suggest that you think about how Jesus would show his care for the world. It is unlikely that a grilled cheese, or a stain, or an oddly shapened plant, or any other unusual visual appearance would be the Blessed Virgin, or Jesus, or any message from God. More likely, you allow your mind to deceive you with improper recognition rather than seeing what it is in fact. Critical thinking is necessary in this life. Think people, think!

I need to make appoligies to all the readers. You see I used the cartoon thinking it was in public domain. It is not. The cartoon comes from the "Saturday Morning Breakfast Ceral" found at: http://www.smbc-comics.com/ It was my mistake to use another author's work without citing it and giving credit. I'll try to not let that happen again. And a thanks go to "josh" for pointing that out.

Recant

OK, so I've pulled your leg long enough. The world IS NOT shrinking. The world is of finite size. What happens is the Mid-Atlantic trench is spreading (as are some other smaller spreading trenches). The pace is in step with all the subduction going on. There are other subduction zones in addition to the Asian area. The reason there are not a lot of earthquakes is the spreading is a form of oozing that is slow and smooth for the most part. Imagine over filling a slice of bread with peanut butter and folding it over then squeezing it. The peanut butter oozes out at the edges. Notice it's a slow ooze. Notice also there was no peanut/bread quake while it oozed?

So, the earth is not shrinking. Good news, that. We are crowded as it is. If we don't stop over populating the world there will be no room anyway. We don't need "The Incredible Shrinking World" (a spoof on the titles of "50s-'60s scifi movies). Let's all take a deep breath and relax.

Shrinking World

Ok, I've noticed something. The world is shrinking. How do I know? I mentioned it in an earlier blog, about checking on earthquakes from this site: http://www.iris.edu/seismon/ a couple of times a day. The site shows where earthquakes 4.0 and bigger occur. The most active area is the Asian side of the "Ring of Fire." The name "Ring of Fire" comes from, in part, the earthquakes. Earthquakes also accompany volcanos, which produces the "fire" in the name.

Anyway, to get back to the shrinking. When you look at the display almost all of the earthquakes are on the Asian side. This is due to subduction. You know, where one tectonic plate is sliding under another plate. Well, when the one slides under the other, it melts and over time becomes magma. Some of it, very little of it, comes back up as volcanic spew. The rest just stays down sorta like those spicy BBQ ribs you ate and are now rumbling around in your belly.

Now, think about this. If one plate is sliding under another, and not coming back up, the world must be getting smaller. "Oh!", you say, "What about the Mid-Atlantic trench?" Well, there are almost no earthquakes from that area. Just think about this for a moment... If the trench is spreading, shouldn't there be earthquakes as the world splits open along the trench? You bet! But, NO! No such earthquakes are happening. Therefore, the world is shrinking. Someday in the far,far future, Japan will be an island just off the West Coast. Sorta like Catalina is now. People will take day trips to Japan for the Saki and sushi.

I can't wait.

What was I going to write...

I had a really good blog in mind and by the time I got logged in, it had disappeared. Well, like the subheading reads, rambles, may not make sense...

If I remember it later, I'll come back and post.

HELP ME! I'M MELTING!

Global warming or not, South Texas can be very hot in the summer. Not as hot as Phoenix, but hot enough to keep me inside. Retired folks like me don't have to go out like poor working stiffs. Went out this mid-morning to do some chasing around - pricing new seat cover for my car, getting some new shirts, car wash, buying lotto tickets - and got back home before it really heated up. Now, at 20:48 Coordinated Universal Time (15:48CDT - 3:48PM) I'm sitting at my computer SWLing. Mid afternoons are a bitch for the lower freqs. A lot of man-made static from power lines, appliances, TVs, other computers - mine as well, and just general noise on the bands. Still, if one tunes around, one can almost always get Evangelical rants from well meaning, but greatly misled individuals who, I suspect really want our money and don't care about our souls.

One of the things I do about once a week on the sjortwave receiver is check with the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Time) time check to see how far off my computer and wrist watch have drifted. The computer has a NIST program that will update the internal clock at a key stroke. The wrist watch must be set manually. I find my watch, a SEIKO, "Railroad Approved" model will drift off about one (1) second a month. Damn and Blast! Why can't I find a watch, at a reasonable price, with better time keeping abilities than that. There are many things in life that upset me, one is a watch that won't keep accurate time. Still, this is the best watch I've had for keeping time, I just wish it were better.

Here's a tip. Next time you are out, buy a bottle of "SoBe" soft drink in the Pina Collida flavor. Don't drink it all, save some for when you get home and pour some Rum, or Vodka, or whatever into the remaining portion. Not bad for home made.

OK, so that's it for now. C U later.

At the end of the day...

Coming up on 10pm CDT and news time. Spent the day child sitting my two younger granddaughters. Then went to a Japan Steak House for hot meal. Hot in the sense that the temp was up because of sitting next to a hot griddle. The wasabi was hot too. Good meal fixed by an Hispanic young man claiming to be from Syracuse, NY. Claimed he was Oriental, but no. He didn't sound like he was from NY either. Still, a good meal.

Tomorrow the daughter and the girls and husband take off for Disney World for the week. That means no child sitting. More time to run the "net."

Things happening all over. Big quake in Honshu, Japan (6.5), Celtics won last night, Mars dirt in the oven, the arrow of time presses forward, but may have not always done so. Pineapple based wine is tasty, chilled. Will sleep in tomorrow, maybe as late as 7am or even 7:30am.

News comes on in a minute. C U later.