Only knowledge from above... by Terry Dashner

Only knowledge from above... by Terry Dashner

Only knowledge from above can Move us forward.

On Christopher Columbus fourth voyage to the New World in 1503, he and his crew became stranded on the island of Jamaica. Columbus food supply was almost gone, and his ship was too badly damaged to repair [worms had eaten through the wooden hull].

At first, the Jamaicans gave Columbus and his crew food and supplies. When Columbus and his crew were not rescued after many months, the Jamaicans finally refused to give them any additional food.

Columbus did not want his crew to starve, so he came up with a plan. Columbus could tell from his navigational tables that there would be a total lunar eclipse on February 29, 1504. He decided to schedule a meeting with the Jamaicans for that night.

At the meeting, Columbus told the Jamaicans that God was not happy about how they were treating him and his crew, so God was going to take away the Moon as a sign of his unhappiness! After Columbus told this to them, the lunar eclipse began. This terrified the Jamaicans! They pleaded with Columbus to bring back the Moon, and they said he could have all the food he wanted.

Columbus told them that he would have to go talk to God. Instead, he snuck away to watch an hourglass that he had timed so he would know exactly when the eclipse would end. Right before the lunar eclipse ended, Columbus returned and told the Jamaicans that God would give back the Moon. And, of course, the Moon reappeared.

The Jamaicans gave food and supplies to Columbus and his crew until they were rescued and returned to Europe. I guess one could say that knowledge from above or about the above is a good thing to have.

I find it very interesting that the Bible declares from the beginning that God created the lights in the sky. The greater light refers, of course, to the sun. The lesser, on the other hand, refers to the moon. What I want to say is this: It wasnt until man became knowledgeable of the cosmos that he began to make strides forward in religion, philosophy, science, literature, and discovery. So pardon the pun, but its true. Knowledge from above can move us forward. Let me explain, please.

Before Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) defied the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church by saying that the earth moves around the sun (the church believed that the earth was the center of the universe and the sun and stars revolved around it), he was risking his life.

But Copernicus was not afraid to speak out about his knowledge of the heavens, and the world of modern science owes him a debt of gratitude (Copernicus was a scientist and devout Christian). At the time, government and religious officials did not encourage original thought for fear that new ideas would create unrest. So, a free thinker like Copernicus had to come along with his knowledge of the stars in order to move us forward in our thinking.

Before Columbus could sail to a New World, there had to be a greater knowledge of the seas and navigation. When the ancient Phoenicians took to the seas, they hugged the coastline to keep from getting lost at sea. When the Vikings took to the seas a few centuries before Columbus, they were using primitive (caged ravens to determine proximity to shore), but albeit greater knowledge and technology than the Phoenicians.

There were two basic inventions during the Renaissance that made Columbus journey to the New World possiblethe magnetic compass and the astrolabe (forerunner to the modern sextant). Only by knowledge of the sun, moon, and stars, with a few simple instruments that measured distance between sun, moon, and stars did Columbus succeed in navigating the high seas. Here again, knowledge from above was necessary to move man forward.

Remember the importance of the stars to the wise men from the east when Jesus was born? Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 24 about His second return? What did He say would foretell His appearing? He told us the sun would turn dark and the stars would fall from the heavens. Thats interesting. Again, knowledge of the stars above will point to the soon coming King of Kings.

Now what am I saying? Im saying that God put the stars in the sky for a purpose. Yes, they are beautiful, but there is more to them than just their beauty. The Bible declares that all His creation declares His glory. Even the stars in the sky speak of their Creator. Why cant man do this? Why does man remain the only rebel in Gods creation who refuses to worship and adore his Creator? The Bible says that a man who says in his heart that there is no God is a fool.

There was good reason why the three wise men were called wise--they looked above them for guidance and it came to them in the form of a star. It just so happened that the star they discovered was the Christ child. The wisest discovery of all time.
(Sources cited are available)

About the Author
Pastor of Faith Fellowship Church in Broken Arrow, OK. (918-451-0270)

The Measurement Problem in Quantum Mechanics by Sam Vaknin

The Measurement Problem in Quantum Mechanics by Sam Vaknin

Arguably the most intractable philosophical question attached to Quantum Mechanics (QM) is that of Measurement. The accepted (a.k.a. Copenhagen) Interpretation of QM says that the very act of sentient measurement determines the outcome of the measurement in the quantum (microcosmic) realm. The wave function (which describes the co-existing, superpositioned, states of the system) "collapses" following an act of measurement.

It seems that just by knowing the results of a measurement we determine its outcome, determine the state of the system and, by implication, the state of the Universe as a whole. This notion is so counter-intuitive that it fostered a raging debate which has been on going for more than 7 decades now.

But, can we turn the question (and, inevitably, the answer) on its head? Is it the measurement that brings about the collapseor, maybe, we are capable of measuring only collapsed results? Maybe our very ability to measure, to design measurement methods and instrumentation, to conceptualize and formalize the act of measurement and so onare thus limited and "designed" as to yield only the "collapsible" solutions of the wave function which are macrocosmically stable and "objective" (known as the "pointer states")?

Most measurements are indirect - they tally the effects of the system on a minute segment of its environment. Wojciech Zurek and others proved (that even partial and roundabout measurements are sufficient to induce einselection (or environment-induced superselection). In other words, even the most rudimentary act of measurement is likely to probe pointer states.

Superpositions are notoriously unstable. Even in the quantum realm they last an infinitesimal moment of time. Our measurement apparatus is not sufficiently sensitive to capture superpositions. By contrast, collapsed (or pointer) states are relatively stable and lasting and, thus, can be observed and measured. This is why we measure only collapsed states.

But in which sense (excluding their longevity) are collapsed states measurable, what makes them so? Collapse events are not necessarily the most highly probablesome of them are associated with low probabilities, yet they still they occur and are measured.

By definition, the more probable states tend to occur and be measured more often (the wave function collapses more frequently into high probability states). But this does not exclude the less probable states of the quantum system from materializing upon measurement.

Pointer states are carefully "selected" for some purpose, within a certain pattern and in a certain sequence. What could that purpose be? Probably, the extension and enhancement of order in the Universe. That this is so can be easily substantiated by the fact that it is so. Order increases all the time.

The anthropocentric (and anthropic) view of the Copenhagen Interpretation (conscious, intelligent observers determine the outcomes of measurements in the quantum realm) associates humans with negentropy (the decrease of entropy and the increase of order).

This is not to say that entropy cannot increase locally (and order decreased or low energy states attained). But it is to say that low energy states and local entropy increases are perturbations and that overall order in the Universe tends to increase even as local pockets of disorder are created. The overall increase of order in the Universe should be introduced, therefore, as a constraint into any QM formalism.

Yet, surely we cannot attribute an inevitable and invariable increase in order to each and every measurement (collapse). To say that a given collapse event contributed to an increase in order (as an extensive parameter) in the Universewe must assume the existence of some "Grand Design" within which this statement would make sense.

Such a Grand Design (a mechanism) must be able to gauge the level of orderliness at any given moment (for instance, before and after the collapse). It must have "at its disposal" sensors of increasing or decreasing local and nonlocal order. Human observers are such order-sensitive instruments.

Still, even assuming that quantum states are naturally selected for their robustness and stability (in other words, for their orderliness), how does the quantum system "know" about the Grand Design and about its place within it? How does it "know" to select the pointer states time an again? How does the quantum realm give rise to the world as we know it - objective, stable, certain, robust, predictable, and intuitive?

If the quantum system has no a-priori "awareness" of how it fits into an ever more ordered Universehow is the information transferred from the Universe to the entangled quantum system and measurement system at the moment of measurement?

Such information must be communicated superluminally (at a speed greater than the speed of light). Quantum "decisions" are instantaneous and simultaneouswhile the information about the quantum system's environment emanates from near and far.

But, what are the transmission and reception mechanisms and channels? Which is the receiver, where is the transmitter, what is the form of the information, what is its carrier (we will probably have to postulate yet another particle to account for this last one...)?

Another, no less crucial, question relates to the apparent arbitrariness of the selection process. All the "parts" of a superposition constitute potential collapse events and, therefore, can, in principle, be measured. Why is only one event measured in any given measurement? How is it "selected" to be the collapse event? Why does it retain a privileged status versus the measurement apparatus or act?

It seems that preferred states have to do with the inexorable process of the increase in the overall amount of order in the Universe. If other states were to have been selected, order would have diminished. The proof is again in the pudding: order does increase all the timetherefore, measurable collapse events and pointer states tend to increase order. There is a process of negative, order-orientated, selection: collapse events and states which tend to increase entropy are filtered out and statistically "avoided". They are measured less.

There seems to be a guiding principle (that of the statistical increase of order in the Universe). This guiding principle cannot be communicated to quantum systems with each and every measurement because such communication would have to be superluminal. The only logical conclusion is that all the information relevant to the decrease of entropy and to the increase of order in the Universe is stored in each and every part of the Universe, no matter how minuscule and how fundamental.

It is safe to assume that, very much like in living organisms, all the relevant information regarding the preferred (order-favoring) quantum states is stored in a kind of Physical DNA (PDNA). The unfolding of this PDNA takes place in the physical world, during interactions between physical systems (one of which is the measurement apparatus).

The Biological DNA contains all the information about the living organism and is replicated trillions of times over, stored in the basic units of the organism, the cell. What reason is there to assume that nature deviated from this (very pragmatic) principle in other realms of existence? Why not repeat this winning design in quarks?

The Biological variant of DNA requires a biochemical context (environment) to translate itself into an organisman environment made up of amino acids, etc. The PDNA probably also requires some type of context: the physical world as revealed through the act of measurement.

The information stored in the physical particle is structural because order has to do with structure. Very much like a fractal (or a hologram), every particle reflects the whole Universe accurately and the same laws of nature apply to both. Consider the startling similarities between the formalisms and the laws that pertain to subatomic particles and black holes.

Moreover, the distinction between functional (operational) and structural information is superfluous and artificial. There is a magnitude bias here: being creatures of the macrocosm, form and function look to us distinct. But if we accept that "function" is merely what we call an increase in order then the distinction is cancelled because the only way to measure the increase in order is structurally. We measure functioning (=the increase in order) using structural methods (the alignment or arrangement of instruments).

Still, the information contained in each particle should encompass, at least, the relevant (close, non-negligible and non-cancelable) parts of the Universe. This is a tremendous amount of data. How is it stored in tiny corpuscles?

Either utilizing methods and processes which we are far even from guessingor else the relevant information is infinitesimally (almost vanishingly) small.

The extent of necessary information contained in each and every physical particle could be somehow linked to (even equal to) the number of possible quantum states, to the superposition itself, or to the collapse event. It may well be that the whole Universe can be adequately encompassed in an unbelievably minute, negligibly tiny, amount of data which is incorporated in those quantum supercomputers that today, for lack of better understanding, we call "particles".

Technical Note

Our Universe can be mathematically described as a "matched" or PLL filter whose properties let through the collapsed outcomes of wave functions (when measured) - or the "signal". The rest of the superposition (or the other "Universes" in a Multiverse) can be represented as "noise". Our Universe, therefore, enhances the signal-to-noise ratio through acts of measurement (a generalization of the anthropic principle).

References

Ollivier H., Poulin D. & Zurek W. H. Phys. Rev. Lett., 93. 220401 (2004).

Zurek W. H. Arxiv, Preprint http://www.arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0105127 (2004).


About the Author
Sam Vaknin ( http://samvak.tripod.com ) is the author of Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited and After the Rain - How the West Lost the East. He served as a columnist for Central Europe Review, PopMatters, and eBookWeb , and Bellaonline, and as a United Press International (UPI) Senior Business Correspondent. He is the the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory and Suite101.

Alternative Energy Series Fast Burn Conversion by Ed Howes

Alternative Energy Series Fast Burn Conversion by Ed Howes

The best candidates for fast burn conversion are spark ignited piston engines with adjustable spark timing. Those with carburetors as original equipment do not have computers that control additional automotive functions besides fuel metering and spark timing. The fast burn engine cant use computer management as a low cost conversion option. If an idle circuit similar to that of a carburetor is added to a fuel injection throttle body as a spacer plate, a throttle body might be able to serve as a basic carburetor for cold vapor fuel. Many modern fuel injected engines can be owner retrofitted with carburetors and aftermarket or used factory intake manifolds for use with carburetors.

The traditional multi circuit carburetor is not required for vapor fuel, but is less expensive than producing new twin circuit carburetors designed specifically for vapor fuel. All carburetor air vents should be plugged so engine vacuum signals draw only from the unvented carburetor fuel bowl, which is connected to the fuel bubbler in the tank or racing fuel cell. The fuel float and needle valve assembly is removed. Any accelerator pump is removed and the enrichment hole is plugged. In carburetors that use vacuum power valves, such can be used to fine tune vapor flow according to vacuum signals. The idle circuit must retain adjustment from barely open to wide open.

Rod and jet enrichment systems such as used on Carter and Rochester carburetors can also be used to fine tune vapor mixtures. Go as lean as you can without the engine stumbling under load on the power circuit and richen slightly for best throttle response. If the max power metering is sufficient with selected main jets, which flow much more vapor than liquid, we can regulate the maximum fuel supply by means of an adjustable valve in the supply line. Start the fast burn engine with the idle mixture screw open wide and quickly close it after the engine starts. Back the adjustment screw off one turn after you stall the engine for lack of idle fuel. Too much idle fuel could melt engine parts as easily as too much fuel in the power circuit. If we never meter more fuel than can burn in half a power stroke, we avoid meltdown while maximizing power and fuel economy, minimizing exhaust emissions.

With fast burn, we want to retard initial spark timing to between sixty and eighty degrees after top dead center. On a V-8 we can move each wire in the distributor cap forward one position on the cap in the direction of rotor rotation. This will retard timing 90 degrees from the standard initial timing. A timing light on the number 8 cylinder will allow you to set initial timing with the stock timing marks. Setting number 8 cylinder for ten degrees advance would have number one cylinder firing at 80 degrees after top dead center. 20 degrees advance would have number one firing at 70 degrees ATDC, etc. An aftermarket timing tape, when available, is another way to accurately set spark timing. Otherwise, one can remove the crankshaft dampener or pulley with timing marks, measure the circumference, divide by 4 and mark at 90 degrees ATDC, 85, 80, 75, 70, 65, and 60 degrees. Marking all the way back to 30 degrees ATDC is a good idea. This is the most advance likely practical for max fast burn power and allows one to check for total mechanical or electronic spark advance. Optimum timing for best performance and economy, like fuel mixture, must be worked out by road testing the converted vehicle.

Fully vaporized fuel is likely to be combustible over a wide range of air/fuel ratios. As a safety precaution it makes sense to install a PCV valve or something similar. Should a timing chain let go or an intake valve bend, we dont want fire in the intake manifold to find its way back to our bubbler and explode it. Better that a fuel supply line disconnect or rupture under the hood from combustion back pressure.

The bubbler where our vapor is made by engine vacuum, is a modified fuel tank or racing fuel cell. Our tank/cell must be vented to atmosphere. We want our air pick up filtered with something like a lawnmower air filter and mounted higher in or outside the vehicle, than the outside of the fuel filler tube, which is the most convenient place to tap our tank/cell for a very rich vapor.

On the typical fuel tank, our air vent can be easily installed where the original fuel supply line attached. We want another PCV valve near our air supply filter to seal the tank from atmosphere when the vehicle is not running and the tank/cell is pressurized by atmospheric heat. Gas expansion in our tank now moves fuel through the carburetor into the intake system, where it allows instant starts, as with fuel injection.

Bubbler design is guesswork. Whatever supplies the most consistent air/vapor mixtures from a tank 3/4, 1/2, 1/4 and 1/8 full, is what we want. Variations in vapor from the tank will make engine tuning difficult and variable. Consistent mixture from the bubbler is important. If the air supply is opposite the vapor supply line, we would expect a richer vapor than if the air supply line was near the vapor supply line. We want the air supply line to lie on the bottom of the tank, below whatever fuel we have. We never want the fuel tank full, so a drain in the air supply line will be handy for accurately checking fuel economy. You add ten gallons to an empty tank and drive until a working fuel gauge goes below 1/4 tank and you then drain the remaining fuel from the tank into gallon jugs. Subtract the remaining fuel from the ten gallons you started with. Divide the gallons used, into the miles driven and we will know our MPG.

We never want to fill our fuel tank to filler nozzle shut off, as that would give us a minimal surface area from which to vaporize our fuel and our mixture could then be too lean to run our engine. However, if one wanted to build a vapor chamber and install it above the top of the fuel tank and filler tube, there might not be much difference when the tank is overfilled. One thing we definitely want to avoid is liquid fuel in our vapor supply line. Though it is unlikely the liquid fuel would reach the carburetor, the more it wet the vapor supply line, the richer the mixture would be at the carburetor.

I envisioned a tri Y air bubbler on the fuel tank floor, to evenly distribute air in the tank. The line connecting to the old fuel supply line, inside the tank would split into two equal length lines of the same diameter from a Y or T connector. The two lines are then split into two more equal length tubes (fuel proof, of course) and porous air bubblers to make small bubbles moving through the fuel. This would give us a richer mixture at the fuel supply line, than a single tube with no air diffusers. I would terminate my air supply lines with those bronze fuel filters many carburetors used just ahead of the needle and seat assembly at the end of the supply line. Short term tests I did several years ago showed that the ceramic bubbler filter for fish aquariums gave very fine air bubbles and did not seriously deteriorate in gasoline. They were not very expensive.

I can only guess at supply line sizes. My guess is that the filtered air supply line need be no more than a quarter inch ID. The vapor supply line probably needs to be no greater than three eighths inch ID.

These are the basics of a cold vapor, fast burn fuel system. I would expect improvements to come rapidly following road testing. When we know the typical optimum spark timing and air/fuel mixtures, we can apply this knowledge to small engines with fixed spark timing, like lawn mowers, snow blowers and electrical power generators.

My expectations of fast burn performance is between two and three horsepower per cubic inch displacement, which would make fast burn conversion the best power bang for the dollar. No other modification can come close in dollar costs. Under most racing rules, fast burn would be legal for the allowed fuel and add more power than supercharging or nitrous oxide injection. Yet, these power boosters will add a lot more power to a fast burn engine than to a slow burn engine. Hence, the fast burn conversion will out perform slow burn by a wide margin, regardless of class allowed modifications. The fast burn conversion can also be camouflaged to look stock by plumbing the supply line through a non functional fuel pump.

As to economy, Charles Pogue exceeded 200 MPG with his hot vapor, 37 V-8 Ford, which would rarely yield 20 MPG in slow burn configuration. Uniform cold vapor might have allowed him to achieve the 300 MPG economy he was shooting for, while more than doubling stock power output. When fast burn conversions become common, performance and economy contests will lead to rapid improvements in the very simple technology.

As to emissions, if we are consuming less than 10% of the fuel per mile driven, emissions will be less than 10% of the slow burn equivalent. Burning 100% of the fuel on a shortened power stroke, will further dramatically reduce emissions, probably to less than 5% of slow burn engines. In addition, the much higher power outputs of fast burn engines allows engine downsizing. A 300 cu. in. slow burn engine can be replaced with a 140 cu. in. fast burn engine and still provide a power increase. Economy is improved, along with emissions. Big cars and trucks Americans favor, in fast burn configuration will easily exceed hybrid electric cars in economy and reduced emissions, as well as power. On the other hand, a fast burn hybrid could top 400 MPG if we want to go that far.

I would love to hear from any individuals or groups already doing fast burn conversions and learn what they have learned. While the piston engine has had a bad rap for efficiency due to the liquid fuel systems, the Tesla Turbine, seldom used as a combustion engine, can be built as a very lightweight, compact, multi stage, supercharged, exhaust scavenged 30 horsepower per pound, fast burn engine. The Tesla Turbine with only one moving part is cheap and easy to manufacture in a small machine shop. The turbine requires no drive train except the connection to the drive wheels. No gear reductions, instant tire spinning torque and instant rotational reversal for engine braking. Stay tuned for more on the potential of this remarkable engine, developed early in the 20th Century and virtually ignored by industry ever since, except for vastly superior pumps.

About the Author
Freelance writer published on many websites and newspapers.
justanotherview.com
edhowes@hotmail.com