https://www.bbc.com/news/business-48364817
“But then Facebook changed its algorithm – how it decides what to put in front of us. When social media is a big part of your life, an algorithm change can come as a shock.
Leah’s content was being shown to fewer people, and her comics started to get fewer likes.”
It is actually a scene from Novosibirsk, Russia where highly toxic chemicals from a coal-fired power station have coloured the water of a lake to look like a beach on the Maldive islands.
Of course, one must think about the presented data and not fall victim to fast conclusions. Countries with large surface areas and low populations are not necessarily big polluters.
Well, I felt a bit stupid at Alex Podolinsky’s funeral yesterday. It was a well-composed and thoughtful funeral. I knew of Alex because he created & built the Ghilgai Steiner school (http://ghilgai.com.au/) which was and is very important to us. And yet, I never spoke a word with Alex and chances are, that I never met him in person. My knowledge of what Alex did and who he actually was, can only be called “fragmented”. The thing is: I don’t really know why in 28+ years I never met Alex in person. And there I was yesterday – at his funeral gathering, where his life was celebrated so beautifully. Alex had helped and influenced local farmers in somewhat miraculous ways – or should I better say “natural ways” – using bio-dynamic principles and methods. Alex was acquainted early in his life with the work of Rudolf Steiner – an Austrian-German philosopher, engineer, scientist – in short: a polymath. Alex must have had a much more thorough introduction to Steiner’s work and hence was able to use the gained wisdom in many different ways – especially in the field of agriculture by using Steiner’s bio-dynamic approach in Australia where he farmed in Powelltown, taught and inspired others.
Video recorded a Alex’s funeral celebration in Powelltown on 9th July, 2019
As an engineering student, Rudolf Steiner one day saw a book in a bookshop which attracted his attention so much, that he finally bought it. It was Emanuel Kant’s famous book “Critique of pure reason”. As the young Steiner had absolutely no time left owing to his studies, he ended up taking the pages of the book out and pasted them into one of his study books so as to be able to read it during a class that did not require his attention. No wonder, Steiner later did not pursue and engineering career…. Well, Alex did apparently exactly the same during his graphology university studies according to his daughter Katrina. He also did not pursue a career in graphology after obtaining his degree.
I was about 28 years old when my German landlady took me to open lectures in the local Waldorf Schule (Steiner School) in South-West Germany. I absorbed the talks like a sponge and I still have the notes I made then. It was the time when I began to learn how to “really live”, if you know what I mean.
From Kahlil Gibran’s classic book “The Prophet”:
And tell me, people of Orphalese, what have you in
these houses? And what is it you guard with fastened doors?
Have you peace, the quiet urge that reveals your power?
Have you rememberances, the glimmering arches that span
the summits of the mind?
Have you beauty, that leads the heart from things
fashioned of wood and stone to the holy mountain?
Tell me, have you these in your houses?
Or have you only comfort, and the lust for comfort,
that stealthy thing that enters the house a guest, and then
becomes a host, and then a master?
The only source of energy for our earth is the sun. Coal, gas and oil would not exist without the sun. Even wind is only blowing because of the sun. Every day the sun’s power density of 1.32 kW/m^2 hits our earth during periods of full sunshine. Clouds reduce the power density but even on a cloudy day my solar panels produce a lot of electrical power from the reduced solar radiation reaching my roof. Cumulus clouds in fact increase the output of my panels because they reflect sunlight which would otherwise not hit the roof where the panels are. So, with the cloud reflection, I get both the direct sunlight as well as the reflected sunlight. I learned this by observation on bright sunny days with cumulus cloud patches looking like mountains of steam.
When my solar panels produce power in the order 4 kW, there is no sound except for the faint sound from the fan in the solar inverter during hot summer days. With the operating of a domestic solar system one gets aware of the sun’s power. As humans we experience the sun as light and heat. We normally don’t associate the sun with any amount measured in kW or kWh. Kilowatts (kW) denote power and power over a time period, say 4 kW coming down from the panels on the roof for 3 hours, gives 3h x 4kW = 12 kWh of energy. Energy can be expressed in different units. For example 1 kWh = 3.6 * 10^6 Joule or 1 Watt over 1 second = 1 Ws. One does not need to study physics for understanding solar power. A little knowledge of the major parameters involved in solar power is however useful when operating domestic solar.
In many countries a safe life is not possible. Leaving the country for seeking shelter elsewhere is not a crime. Thousands are demonstrating in Germany for and end to the policy of “let them drown” in the Mediterranean sea.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/08/this-drone-sucks-up-trash-from-the-water-like-a-roomba
Dete's Words and pics 