AeroFarms

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Right now the world's largest vertical farm is in Japan. But that will change this year as a new facility comes to completion in Newark, New Jersey. AeroFarms will be nearly 3x bigger than the one in Japan.

"[It] is on track to produce 2 million pounds of food per year in its 70,000-square-foot facility in Newark, under construction less than an hour outside of Manhattan. 

"Their efficient operation, based on previous experience at similar but smaller facilities, can accomplish this astonishing output “while using 95% less water than field farmed-food and with yields 75 times higher per square foot annually.”

"“We use aeroponics to mist the roots of our greens with nutrients, water, and oxygen.,” explains AeroFarms. “Our aeroponic system is a closed loop system, using 95% less water than field farming, 40% less than hydroponics, and zero pesticides.”

(from https://weburbanist.com/2016/06/05/worlds-biggest-indoor-vertical-farm-near-nyc-to-use-95-less-water/)

Plantagon

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Plantagon City Farm's first indoor farm will be operational this spring in the city of Stockholm, Sweden. They are seeking investors to build another nine in Sweden by 2020.

The building's south side will be a 70' high greenhouse for vegetables, with the north side being entirely offices for people. Carbon dioxide from the people side will be pushed to the south side for the plants, while oxygen from the plant side will provide fresh air for people on the north side. 

It was collaboratively designed to recycle waste, water, air. They claim that they can produce on this land ten times more food than a flat farm on the ground with the same footprint.



The plan sounds good, but like all business plans it will need to produce products that customers want at prices they are willing to pay. The company's revenue will have to cover all costs with enough surplus to pay back their investors, who were willing to take a chance on them by putting up the money to get it going.

Tomorrow . . the biggest urban farm in the world

Urban ag

Earth's population will level off toward the end of this century at around 10 billion. But at this point, it's 7 billion and still growing. By 2050, some say that 70% of the world's population will live in cities. 

That's a lot more people, and transporting food into those cities is a growing challenge. It can be done, but there's a financial cost to it and maybe a cost in quality. One company working on solutions to these coming challenges puts their goal this way: 

"We need to integrate food production into city infrastructure"

Image: world.wng.org

Urban farmers have been experimenting for years with different approaches. Hydroponics combines growing greens with growing fish in a renewing water cycle. In Milwaukee and other cities, unused city lots are turned into compact city farms.

Land is more expensive in cities than in the country. More intense cultivation on less land could be a solution if the urban farm goes vertical instead of horizontal.

Tomorrow . . a Swedish firm plans to farm vertical

Calm boy

About ten days ago, a ten-year-old boy was held hostage by a family acquaintance who demanded $10,000 from his mother. The mother was able to escape without her son, who was held for 30 hours.

Police and a SWAT team tried to negotiate with the boy's captor, who held him in a running car in the garage.

"But we could not do anything - we couldn't breach, we couldn't come in - because anything that he done, any movement he made, was always with that child."

Sincere, the boy, was scared but tried to talk the man into surrendering: "I said it’s better to have a punishment than kill yourself, and I’m saying that God basically will give you another chance to become a better person in life."

"When asked what kept him calm, Sincere replied, “I just knew that God had me.”

More bennies

Starbucks is joining the ranks of companies who are passing on some of the benefits they've received from tax reform. The windfall package - including pay raises, grants of stock, and leave time - going to employees overall is worth about $250,000,000.

Other companies who have passed increase on to their workers are here.


Starbucks to boost worker pay and benefits after US lowers corporate taxes from CNBC.

Minorities plea

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

So the Federation of Northern Syria, made up of free and diverse minorities who have fought with the U.S. against ISIS, is being bombed by NATO member Turkey, another U.S. ally.

Christian church leaders distributed a letter last Saturday:

"20 January, 2018

To Whom It May Concern,

CHRISTIAN CHURCHES UNDER TURKISH ATTACKS IN AFRIN, NORTH SYRIA

As  the  Leaders  of  the  Christian  churches  in  North  Syria,  in  the  town  of  Efrin  we  hereby  confirm that we are under attack by Turkey.

The lives of our women and children are in danger. The  city  of  Afrin  is  being  bombarded  by  Turkish  airstrikes.    We  are  asking  for  intervention,  and protection against the violent attacks which are being levied against us at this moment.

Many lives are in mortal danger. We are requesting aid and assistance. We are unable to protect ourselves or our families against these attacks, neither are we able to offer assistance or shelter to the innocents.

Please help us.

In Christ’s service,

Pastor Hakim Ali Ismael

Senior Pastor/Network Leader

Turks attack

An island of human rights has risen in the Middle East.

"There are countless regimes that crush their people. Which oppress religious minorities. Which flout the rights of women. But an island of human rights has risen above the waves. . Muslims are fully respected, but sharia is not imposed. . Christians and Yazidis are safe from the rape gangs of ISIS, and murder gangs of al Qaeda. Women have full civil rights. They serve in the legislature and form their own self-defense units.

"I mean the Federation of Northern Syria. That’s the part of Syria where Kurdish Muslims and Syriac Christians, Sunni Arabs and Yezidis, fought for their freedom and won. They allied with the U.S. Then they defeated ISIS. They established precisely the kind of free, fair institutions which the U.S. tried and failed to set up in Iraq. The Federation became a magnet for refugees seeking freedom and safety for their families. . It’s a beacon to hundreds of millions in the region who seek a better life."

The Federation of Northern Syria is in the northeast corner of the map below, the light greenish part. But this island is in trouble. Turkey is bombing it. They have asked urgently for help.

photo: Thomas van Linge

(cont'd tomorrow)

Making of

(cont'd from Friday's post)

Winston Churchill was under terrible pressure to pursue a surrender of Britain to Nazi leader Adolph Hitler in May of 1940. (Today that's almost unthinkable, but it was very real at the time.) He chose - at terrible risk - to believe that they could defeat the Nazis and he committed Britain to continuing to resist assimilation.

Gary Oldman starred in "Darkest Hour" as Churchill (he received the Golden Globe award for Best Actor). He underwent hours of prosthetics and makeup every day, partly because (as he says here) it would have been unhealthy for him to put on 50-60 pounds for the part.

Above is Gary Oldman being himself on the left, and on the right is Gary being Winston Churchill. Quite a transformation.

Oldman is friends with Larry Arnn, president of Hillsdale College, and spoke there recently. He said he had the unforeseen advantage of going into makeup first, very early in the day, before other actors:

"I was ready and dressed as Churchill when the director arrived and the other actors for rehearsal. They never saw me as "Gary" for three months. They only met me as Winston. . .The background artists and extras and various people would line the corridor waiting to go on the set. I would emerge from the dressing room, made up completely as Churchill, and walk down that corridor. Some of the women curtsied; the men would come to attention and salute."

Almost Nazi

Think of it, a Europe completely under the control of Hitler: brutality, racism, war machine. All Europe's resources belong to his Nazi regime including their wealth, their churches, their farms and industry, their art. All of this came horrifically close to happening.

Brits were dying in battle and much of Europe was already under Hitler's thumb when Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of Britain in May of 1940. Within his own government he was pressured to give up the fight. Just days after he was installed in his new position of responsibility, he made a world-changing decision. That is the plot of "Darkest Hour."

For  John Zmirak's terrific review of the movie, go here.

(cont'd Monday)

Destroy church

"Rule of law" means that laws apply to everyone, that even the powerful must obey the law."Rule of man" means that powerful leaders will rule according to their own will. They are not accountable for their actions.

"Golden Lampstand Church in Linfen, Shanxi was . .an unregistered church, paid for completely by the Christians who attended it. On Jan. 9, Chinese military police detonated explosives situated in underground worship halls beneath the church and proceeded to demolish its above-ground building, leaving it shattered.

The church was built in a poor region with contributions from its 50,000 members amounting to about $2.6 million.

From the Washington Post:

"surging popularity of non-state-approved churches has raised the ire of local authorities, wary of any threats to the party's rigid political and social control."

Keenum & Diggs

If you live in Minnesota as I do, you know the name of Case Keenum, current starting quarterback of the Vikings National Football League team. After serious injuries to their two top quarterbacks, Keenum got his chance this year - and their win/loss is 14-3.

"Minnesota signed Keenum early last year for a measly $2 million, one-year contract. They didn’t realize how important Keenum would become almost immediately. The Vikings started their season without quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, then they lost Sam Bradford in week two — both were out due to knee injuries.

Last Sunday the Vikings' win ended with a spectacular play when receiver Stefon Diggs caught Keenum's pass in the last seconds. Both players reference the importance of God to their lives in the interviews they gave.

Mud

Californians are exposed to extremes. Lately, it's disasters of fire, flooding, and sliding mud.

Montecito, north of Los Angeles, was the site of at least 17 deaths. "The county coroner has listed the cause of death for each victim as “multiple traumatic injuries due to flash flood with mudslides due to recent wildfire.”

"On the stretch of the freeway by the Montecito Inn, several feet of mud and rubble collected in the road.

“It looks like a swamp — there’s so much stuff down there,” said Jose Gonzalez, a road crew worker stationed by a bridge over the 101. “Some of the locals think there’s probably bodies in there. I hope not.”

photo: reuters.com

Nouvel an

A French "tradition" of intentional car burning takes place every New Year's Eve. In just the Ile de France region around Paris this year there were 250 cars burned, plus 75 to the east in Strasbourg, and some in other cities.

It's bad, but it's been worse. NYT reported that 1067 cars were torched in France in 2013, and 940 in 2014.

New Year's weekend was also observed by assaults on police and firefighters. First to arrive at an apartment building fire in Saint-Denis, police went inside to rescue screaming children. Exiting the building with kids in their arms, they were stoned by "a bunch of young people."

The photo below of anti-riot police being assaulted by demonstrators was taken last May in Paris.

photo: time.com

As assaults on firefighters and police increase, suicides have also been rising.

Family income

American families will have more money in their pockets in 2018: according to CNN, "Generally speaking, most filers benefit from the [new tax reform] bill . ." Many plan to pay down debt or save for vacations.

But in addition to paying less to the government, about a million employees of various companies will get a bonus from their employer. Some examples:

• AT&T will pay a bonus of $1000 to 200,000 American employees
• American Airlines will pay a bonus of $1000 to each employee except officers
• Comcast will pay a bonus of $1000 to 100,000 non-executive employees
• JetBlue will pay a bonus of $1000 to all crewmembers
• USbancorp will pay $1000 to nearly 60k employees
• and some companies are raising minimum wages to $15/hour

Wherever it comes from, more income is very good news for family budgets. 

Production h--

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Last summer production started on Tesla's newest car, Model 3. Elon Musk famously said then that Tesla would be going through "production hell" to get this model rolling out of the factory.

Looks like he was right, because those Model 3's won't be rolling out in the quantities he promised for a few months yet.

EV sales 2017

Electric vehicle (EV) sales went up again in 2017, ending the year at nearly 200,000, almost 25% over 2016 sales. It's good growth but not a large number compared to the total of 17 million new cars sold in 2017.

"[Tesla] Model S, now in its fifth year of sales, remains the nation's best-selling EV with 27,060 sold, no mean feat for a vehicle that starts at $74,500.

In second place, it's the Chevrolet Bolt at about 23,000 sold. Tesla's Model X SUV came in third at about 21,000 buyers. Toyota's Prius was fourth, selling about 20,000.

So Tesla is still on top of EV sales. But the very big increase in production which was promised for the new Model 3 just hasn't happened yet.

"Tesla garnered plenty of lukewarm press on Wednesday as it revealed that Model 3 production will remain far lower than Elon Musk had been promising for at least the next quarter. Musk had set a target of 5,000 Model 3s per week by the end of 2017, a figure he now says won't happen until Q2 2018 at the earliest.

image: evannex.com

Bacon faith

(the last of the faith/science series begun last week)

In a post last week, 20th century celebrity scientist Carl Sagan demonstrated the assumption of most modern scientists that nature, the universe, is the only reality. Sometimes you hear that this is a necessary assumption for modern science, that modern science could only begin when scientists courageously left their supernatural view of reality behind. 

But that's not so. In yesterday's post, Isaac Newton's quotes demonstrated his faith in God. Today the subject is another founding father of modern science.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) is considered "the father of the scientific method." "His works argued for the possibility of scientific knowledge based only upon inductive reasoning and careful observation of events in nature. Most importantly, he argued this could be achieved by use of a skeptical and methodical approach whereby scientists aim to avoid misleading themselves."

His fact-based approach to science existed right along with his deep faith in "God, as he is eternally almighty, only wise, only good . ."

Another of his quotes: "A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion."

Finally, these words of wisdom (way off the topic):

Newton faith

True science has been a  part of modern life for hundreds of years, actually about 400+ according to the concept of the "Scientific Revolution" (1543-1687 AD). For thousands of years before that, humanity stumbled & struggled to understand how the natural world works.

Great advances in that struggle came about through individuals like Galileo, Kepler, Bacon, Newton. Today the scientific community largely assumes a materialist worldview but those giants of progress did not. They didn't break from their faith in God to make history.

Isaac Newton's famous 1687 work, "Principia Mathematica," revealed laws of classical mechanics. His quotes reveal the foundation of his non-materialist worldview:

"This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being."

"I have a fundamental belief in the Bible as the Word of God, written by those who were inspired. I study the Bible daily."

"Intensity"

If you regularly read the journal "Sociological Science," I'd be surprised. I don't either. But I did find an article there that's plenty interesting, "The Persistent and Exceptional Intensity of American Religion: A Response to Recent Research."

Some research in the last few years (example) seems to show that "American religion is fading into irrelevance" like religion in other countries (i.e. the rise of the "nones"). But this article says that it's only "moderate" religion that is declining.

They say that "intense" religion is characterized by "strong affiliation, very frequent practice, literalism, and evangelicalism."  (Oh this is fun, they're describing me and my church friends 😊) And, this intense religion in America is not declining - it's "persistent."

"We conclude that intense religion in the United States is persistent and exceptional in ways that do not fit the secularization thesis."

Yes, that's us, and we're all in.

Case for God

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

(Re-post from February 2016)

On Christmas Day of 2014, this article appeared in the Wall Street Journal. It soon set a record for the most facebook activity of any article in WSJ's history. 

"Science Increasingly Makes the Case for God." The article struck a chord.

photo: wsj.com

Given the huge odds against the existence of life in the universe, and against the fine tuning of the universe's nature, author Eric Metaxas asks, "At what point is it fair to admit that science suggests that we cannot be the result of random forces?"

(If you run into a paywall at wsj.com, google the article and try some other links. That's how I finally got access to the whole article.)

Non-materialist

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

(Re-post from December 2016)

Scientists don't have to believe that "the cosmos is all there is, ever was, or ever will be." Evidence from nature does not prove that there is no Creator or that human beings are pond scum.

As a matter of fact, Harvard astrophysicist Howard Smith claims the opposite - that humans are special and that "The universe, far from being a collection of random accidents, appears to be stupendously perfect and fine-tuned for life."

In his view, we should be "grateful for the amazing gifts of life and awareness, and acknowledge the compelling evidence to date that humanity and our home planet, Earth, are rare and cosmically precious."

Speaking as a Christian, I do thank God for life, for awareness, and for our rare and cosmically precious planet home.

Materialist

(Re-post from December 2016)

"The human race is just a chemical scum on a moderate-size planet." Science expert and extremely smart guy Stephen Hawking said this, so of course it must be true . . right? No, that's actually a big philosophical claim, not an evidence-based scientific conclusion.

Celebrities and experts can be (gasp) wrong, especially when they speak outside their field of expertise. Hawking's claim is that humanity has no transcendent meaning or importance, that there's nothing more to a human being than the chemicals that make up the body.

It's the point of view - the faith - of a materialist. Science icon and materialist Carl Sagan expressed it this way, "The cosmos is all that is, or ever was, or ever will be." His claim is backed by charisma, rhetoric, and celebrity prestige. But not by facts.



It's a faith claim coming from his chosen point of view. It's his opinion that nothing - and no One - exists except the natural universe.

(cont'd tomorrow)

Laughing

Holidays can take us out of ordinary life for a while. Just before the "holiday season" ends, enjoy this -  yet another viral video of cuteness. Because what's more fun than children laughing? 😁



Go here for nine more good news stories and videos to put a happy face on your first day of 2018.