natural theology

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Notes

Sunday 23 February 2020 - Saturday 29 February 2020

[Notebook: DB 84 Pam's Book]

[page 163]

Sunday 23 February 2020

Looking for a panacea in the pandemonium. The current candidate is divinity: 'state of things believed to become from a supernatural power'. Not good really, because nothing is really supernatural in my concept of the divine universe, or everything is, so divinity rules is a bit like saying the supernatural rules and I don't want to say that, more like reality rules, but only if reality includes fiction as well as fact. A nomenclatural dilemma which is rather tantamount to saying 'meaninglessness = everything' rules, illusions rule as strongly as realities as we see in the Catholic Church. So back to the drawing board, still no improvement on natural theology. In a way, just write it and let reader work out their own decisions, but we need a slogan / brand for identification and the universe is divine remains among the best, saying in effect that natural = supernatural. Panacea - Wikipedia, Pandæmonium (Paradise Lost) - Wikipedia, Divinity - Wikipedia

McGrath II page xvii: 'The ultimate challenge in any world view is how it accounts for its own existence.' Alister McGrath: A Scientific Theology volume II: Reality

[page 164]

McGrath page 3: 'epistemic responsibility'.

Monday 24 February 2020

My life (I assume) is a more complex process than an equivalent mass of hard sphere gas. How does this work out in entropy and statistical mechanics terms? Cantor ordering has to come in somewhere [perhaps] more informative than Boltzmanns complexions, due (I speculate) to layering, as McGrath might say 'ontological stratification' (page 13).

We compute the entropy of a layer using the formula H = -Σi pi log2 pi [to give us the answer in bits]. How to we adapt this to compute entropy in the higher layers? Elements of the lower layer are the alphabet of the higher layer, do we can use the entropy per symbol of the lower layer as the input into the formula to compute the entropy of the next layer (stratum) up and so on. We may see the creation of the transfinite numbers as a long series of exponentiations and their inverse as a long series of logarithms, so n+1 = n!, n = logn n+1 for all 0 < n < ∞ and beyond.

Huang: Statistical Mechanics Huang

Can we make this work? We use text as an example. Consider a book of 100 000 words of five letters. If 32 letters were equiprobable they would be worth 5 bits each, but probably more like 3 bits. Given this if words were equiprobable they would be 15 bits each, but more like 10, so 100 k book has entropy of 1 megabit using this approach

[page 165]

this approach to calculation. Now thinking of a book as an organism with layers of [organs] letters, words, sentences, paragraphs, chapters and the whole book. Do we get different answer by applying the Cantor system of counting? [It seems that the issue revolves around the question of normalization, the application of the notion that the source emits one symbol at a time implicit in the requirement that Σi pi = 1.]

The accumulation of capital enables the control of action so as to be able to perform the same process without error many times over, like walking to cover long distances, repetitive manufacturing processes to produce all manner of goods from bricks to meals and all the enormously complex and interlinked processes that maintain life from moment to moment. The foundation of all this endeavour is capital in the form of symmetry and control, which introduces a time element into entropy by the application of algorithmic information, the creation for forms by algorithms like the creation of cakes by implementing the recipes (algorithms) of cooking. All of this comes down to implementing random processes by controlled processes, the information in the control being measured by the uncontrolled entropy of the process subsequently controlled, like a wild community governed or a rabble transformed into s trained and efficient army [by repeated instances of "correction" of otherwise random action]. Thomas Piketty: Capital in the Twenty-First Century

Where does a book come into this? By the repeated reading of the same text [an algorithm static in time].

Capital → increment by repetition. I live my life by repeating the same actions repeatedly from molecular actions to breathing to going to work, all made possible by the application of energy to form.

Pais Inward: 'It may fairly be said that 1897 was the year in which physicists were ready to discover the electron.' Pais: Inward Bound: Of Matter and Forces in the Physical World

I would like 2020 to be the appropriate year for theology to become scientific rather than mythological; my wish.

[page 166]

Tuesday 25 February 2020
Wednesday 26 February 2020

Now thinking of creationrules.net vs divinity rules, realityrules. What can we use instead of "rules". My favourite is now creationsomething . . . creationsaves

Net result: creationsaves.com, some analogy to Jesus saves and no overtones of divinity, god, theology etc. so lash out and spend the $US12.

Pais page 258: '[Born] also expressed beautifully the essence of wave mechanics: "The motion of particles follows probability laws but the probability itself propagates according to the laws of causality" [the quantum condition that every event is measured by a quantum of action].'

Forces: Born; 'We free forces of their classical duty of determining directly the motion of particles and allow them instead to determine the probability of states. Whereas before it was our purpose to make these two definitions for forces equivalent, this problem has now no longer strictly speaking, any sense.'

Words, in one form or another, are 'fields' that guide people's behaviour in a rather random way, another brick in the construction of cognitive cosmology, Pais page 259.

[page 167]

So I am to become a prophet for the scientific value of creation, a rewrite of scientific-theology.com.

Thursday 27 February 2020

Aristotle's doctrine of matter and form was in effect an attempt to develop a conservative theory of change. The matter and the forms all survived the changes, one form being replaced by another in the change from sword to ploughshare, for instance. Following the ideas of Plato, the forms of sword and ploughshare continued to exist, one replacing the other in the matter, often bronze. Quantum mechanics follows this paradigm to some degree. Now the matter is replaced with various conserved quantities, energy, momentum, angular momentum, charge, baryon and lepton number and so on but the forms, rather than being stored in an abstract heaven are created and annihilated, so every creation is accompanied by an annihilation and vice versa, so that the moving world is in a continual state of creation and annihilation. Does this fit the rubric creation saves, or have I once again arrived at a formula that only tells half the story. Creation saves, annihilation spends. Hylomorphism - Wikipedia, Thomas Ainsworth (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy): Form vs Matter

The layered network provides us with a picture of how 'deep' any particular act of creation / annihilation penetrates into the system, the deepest being the creation of the universe from the initial singularity and its annihilation back to a black hole. Andrew Tanenbaum: Computer Networks

Pais page 329; Einstein: '[It is] a weakness of the theory [of atomic absorption and emission of photons] that it

[page 168]

leaves the time and direction of elementary processes to chance.' Ie space-time has no control over such atomic events, it is a symmetry.

Overall what I am trying to do is to use the linguistic paradigm of using finite means to construct infinite systems to find the fundamental finite means from which the infinite universe is constructed. This is in effect the root of creation. Since the mid 80s I have felt that Cantor's generation of the transfinite numbers has a lot to do with this and a key discovery was making this process [dynamic] by mapping Turing machines onto the natural numbers and then using permutations and combinations of these computers to generate the universe [in a manner analogous to Cantor's generation of the transfinite numbers from the natural numbers]. The hard part is to map this quite exciting idea to the dynamics of all the fundamental particles that have starring roles in the Standard model. An important input to this process is breaking the Platonic mould of mathematics and using the processes introduced by Turing machines to make mathematics dynamic by giving it s mind of its own so it no longer has to rely on the minds of mathematicians for its dynamics, but is set free to create and execute itself by the transfinite neural network which needs to be mapped to quantum field theory to give us the cognitive cosmology of creation and annihilation, the mathematics of life and death. Prolegomenon to scientific theology, Georg Cantor: Contributions to the Founding of the Theory of Transfinite Numbers (Translated, with Introduction and Notes by Philip E B Jourdain)

Friday 28 February 2020

I am going back to basics, enrolled for BSc year 1,

[page 169]

an opportunity to rethink my whole intellectual life [from leaving honours on]. and place theological science = comprehensive theory of everything on a sound footing [maybe it was not a mistake to get mixed up in theology and religion - they set me up with a problem needing a lifetime of work].

Newton's three laws seem to capture the fundamental conserved values in the universe: third law, action and reaction are equal and opposite - conservation of action; action + reaction =0. First law: conservation of energy: kinetic energy: ½mv2 remains unchanged unless a force is acting. [Second law] F = ma = m dv/dt so mdv = Fdt The action of the force is resisted by the mass being forced in accordance with the third law.

Force is an intuitive concept based on our [proprioceptive] feelings of muscular effort when we lift weights, push vehicles and move ourselves around in [the gravitational potential of] spacetime. When we get down to infinitesimal detail we find that all forces involve the creation and annihilation of fundamental particles are motivated by potentials, which, in the case of gravitation and the other three fields, we see as closely related to force and we see the potentials as representable by mathematical expressions that couple action, energy and momentum. At the fundamental level we may say that these things just happen, but there is community in their behaviour which we attribute to the symmetry which is the modern expression of universality or simplicity. So we find that electrons, for instance, have a very limited range of responses to the potentials in which they find themselves, as in an atom. [This] become more and more complex as atoms become more complex as we find in the huge array of spectral lines which represent the energy changes that electrons experience as they move from state to state within the atom, building up complex vocabularies of behaviour just as we do as we master the vocal expression of our life in the world. Proprioception - Wikipedia

[page 170]

Jammer page 2: 'research is to see what everybody has seen and to think what nobody has thought.' Max Jammer; The Conceptual Development of Quantum Mechanics

Jammer page 10: Planck 'had always regarded the search for the absolute as the loftiest goal of scientific activity', meaning, presumably, an invariant relationship between two absolutes, meaning quanta of action.

page 20: Planck's constant: 'Now we have to consider the distribution of energy UN among the N resonators of frequency ν. If UN were regarded as an infinitely divisible quantity, the distribution could be performed in an infinite number of ways. We consider, however — and this is the cardinal point of the whole computation — UN to be composed of a finite number of discrete equal parts and employ for this purpose the natural constant h = 6.55 x 10-27 erg.sec. This constant, multiplied by the common frequency ν of the resonators gives the energy ε in ergs, and by dividing UN by ε we obtain the number p of energy elements which are distributed among the N resonators.'

So quantum theory was born. And maybe quantum theorists like Dirac and Feynman have killed it and so caused the disasters of quantum field theory by treating the quantum as a continuum for the purpose of applying calculus to the study of physics. Perhaps we should keep it discrete!

Saturday 29 February 2020
Jammer page 24: 'Another conceptual difficulty which prevented the general acceptance of Planck's h was undeniably the following fact. As shown by its dimension, this quantity represented an invariable unit of "action" energy × time or an "elementary quantum of action" ("elementares Wirkungsquantum"), as it was subsequently called, but it was clear that no principle of conservation of action exists in physics.'

In both classical and quantum dynamics action is not conserved but is found to be extremal in all real observable physical processes [and the maxima and minima are fixed points which guarantee, in effect, the conservation of action].

Some more sites: action rules; agere est esse; [agereestesse: to act is to be; 2actis2be, 2act2b].

Planck's absolute (Jammer page 10 above) - action / quantum of action.

How does the non-conservation of action relate to Newton's third law [Newton's third law: action + reaction = 0]? It would appear that action, expressed in classical and quantum physics as angular momentum is conserved, so a photon spin 1 causes 1 quantum of change in electron spin or orbital angular momentum when it is absorbed or emitted by an atom.

Registered actionrules.net. Now have to write a site to fit.

"By their fruits you shall know them" Mt 7:15-20, 1-29

"Matthew, 7:
1.'Do not judge, and you will not be judged;
2. because the judgements you give are the judgements you will get, and the standard you use will be the standard used for you.
3. Why do you observe the splinter in your brother's eye and never notice the great log in your own?
4. And how dare you say to your brother, "Let me take that splinter out of your eye," when, look, there is a great log in your own?
5. Hypocrite! Take the log out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take the splinter out of your brother's eye.
6. 'Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls in front of pigs, or they may trample them and then turn on you and tear you to pieces.
7. 'Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.
8. Everyone who asks receives; everyone who searches finds; everyone who knocks will have the door opened.
9. Is there anyone among you who would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread?
10. Or would hand him a snake when he asked for a fish?
11. If you, then, evil as you are, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
12. 'So always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that is the Law and the Prophets.
13. 'Enter by the narrow gate, since the road that leads to destruction is wide and spacious, and many take it;
14. but it is a narrow gate and a hard road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
15. 'Beware of false prophets who come to you disguised as sheep but underneath are ravenous wolves.
16. You will be able to tell them by their fruits. Can people pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?
17. In the same way, a sound tree produces good fruit but a rotten tree bad fruit.
18. A sound tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a rotten tree bear good fruit.
19. Any tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown on the fire.
20. I repeat, you will be able to tell them by their fruits.
21. 'It is not anyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," who will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven.
22. When the day comes many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, work many miracles in your name?"
23. Then I shall tell them to their faces: I have never known you; away from me, all evil doers!
24. 'Therefore, everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on rock.
25. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and hurled themselves against that house, and it did not fall: it was founded on rock.
26. But everyone who listens to these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a stupid man who built his house on sand.
27. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and struck that house, and it fell; and what a fall it had!'
28. Jesus had now finished what he wanted to say, and his teaching made a deep impression on the people
29. because he taught them with authority, unlike their own scribes."

The Jerusalem Bible

My wicked plan is to solve all the problems of quantum field theory by assuming that space-time is created by quantum mechanics out of pure action as understood by Aristotle and Aquinas when talking about the unmoved mover. The conservation of action means that action + reaction = 0 and this is the root of the creation of energy [which by the superposition of different frequencies becomes the alphabet of the universe. This idea is the burden of actionrules.net, the network theology that begins

[page 172]

with the Trinity.

Some features of the new [but really quite old] plan:

[0: build energy from action]
[0.1: build quantum mechanics from energy]
1. Build spacetime from quantum theory
2. Eliminate infinity and continuity in all their forms
3. All interactions are integral multiples of h
4. Complex numbers exploited for their periodic/dynamic properties
5. The world started very simple, so we should be able, at least in the beginning, to explain it simply
6: [?]

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Further reading

Books

Cantor, Georg, Contributions to the Founding of the Theory of Transfinite Numbers (Translated, with Introduction and Notes by Philip E B Jourdain), Dover 1895, 1897, 1955 Jacket: 'One of the greatest mathematical classics of all time, this work established a new field of mathematics which was to be of incalculable importance in topology, number theory, analysis, theory of functions, etc, as well as the entire field of modern logic.' 
Amazon
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Huang, Kerson, Statistical Mechanics, John Wiley 1987 'Preface: ... The purpose of this book is to teach statistical mechanics as an integral part of theoretical phyiscs, a discipline that aims to describe all natural phenomena on the basis of a single unifying theory. This theory, at present, is quantum mechanics. ... Before the subject of statistical mechanics proper is presented, a brief but self contained discussion of thermodynamics and the classical kinetic theory of gases is given. The order of this devlopment is imperative, from a pedagogical point of view, for two reasons. First, thermodynamics has successfully described a large part of macroscopic experience, which is the concern of statistical mechanics. It has done so not on the basis of molecular dynamics but on the basis of a few simple and intuitive postulates stated in everyday terms. If we first falimiarize ourselves with thermodynamics, the task of statistical mechanics reduces to the explanation of thermodynamics. Second, the classical kinetic theory of gases is the only known special case in which thermodynics can be derived nearly from first principles, ie, molecular dynamics. A study of this special case will help us to understand why statstical mecahnics sorks.' 
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Jammer, Max, The Conceptual Development of Quantum Mechanics, McGraw Hill 1966 ' This book is a critical analysis, based on a broad physical, historical, and philosophical study, of how empirical phenomena led to the renunciation of classical physics and how experimental research -- combined with mathematical thought and philosophical speculation -- opened entirely novel perspective. It offers a thorough, detailed exposition of the various phases of the development of quantum theory, analyzes the logical dependence of each stage on those preceding it, and leads the reader from the very beginning of this intellectual process to the front line positions of current foundational research in physics. "... the only full history of the Quantum Theory." -- Dr. F. Hund, Institute for Theoretical Physics, Gottingen University.' 
Amazon
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McGrath, Alister E, A Scientific Theology volume II: Reality, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan 2002 Amazon product description: 'This groundbreaking three-volume work by one of the world's best-known theologians is the most extended and systematic exploration of the relation between theology and science ever undertaken. Drawing on both his firsthand experience of scientific research and his vast knowledge of the Christian tradition, Alister McGrath explores how the natural sciences can be used by the Christian faith. This first volume sets out a vision for a "scientific theology" in which the working assumptions of the natural sciences are critically appropriated as a theological resource. It then deals at length with the important status of nature, a concept that has rarely been given the serious consideration it deserves. Responding to the view that the term "nature" is merely a social construct, McGrath gives the concept a proper grounding in the Christian doctrine of creation, exploring in the process the use of natural theology in contemporary Christian thought. A Scientific Theology is certain to become one of the most controversial and exciting theological publications of the decade.' 
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Pais, Abraham, 'Subtle is the Lord...': The Science and Life of Albert Einstein, Oxford UP 1982 Jacket: In this . . . major work Abraham Pais, himself an eminent physicist who worked alongside Einstein in the post-war years, traces the development of Einstein's entire ouvre. . . . Running through the book is a completely non-scientific biography . . . including many letters which appear in English for the first time, as well as other information not published before.' 
Amazon
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Pais, Abraham, Inward Bound: Of Matter and Forces in the Physical World, Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press 1986 Preface: 'I will attempt to describe what has been discovered and understood about the constituents of matter, the laws to which they are subject and the forces that act on them [in the period 1895-1983]. . . . I will attempt to convey that these have been times of progress and stagnation, of order and chaos, of belief and incredulity, of the conventional and the bizarre; also of revolutionaries and conservatives, of science by individuals and by consortia, of little gadgets and big machines, and of modest funds and big moneys.' AP 
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Piketty, Thomas, and (translated by Arthur Goldhammer), Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Belknap, Harvard University Press 2014 Jacket: 'What are the grand dynamics that drive the accumulation and distribution of capital? Questions about the long term evolution of inequality, the concentration of wealth, and the prospects for economic growth lie at the heart of political economy. But satisfactory answers have been hard to find for lack of adequate data and clear guiding theories, In Capital in the Twenty-First Century Thomas Piketty analyzes a unique collection of data from twenty countries, ranging as far back as the eighteenth century to uncover key economic and social patterns. His findings will transform debate and set the agenda for the next generation of thought about wealth and equality.'  
Amazon
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Raymond, Pierre, Field Theory, A Modern Primer, Westview Press 2001 'A good book to learn Feynman diagrams. A reader can learn how to compute the Green's functions and the scattering amplitudes using Feynman diagrams. The scalar Klein-Gordon field is used as a pedagogical example at the beginning. The philosophy of the path integral is used all over the book. However, the book does not emphasize the philosophy of the Wilson renormalization group and in this sense the primer is not modern. Nevertheless, Pierre Ramond is a pretty famous scientist and you can learn many things from this book.' Lubos Moti 
Amazon
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Tanenbaum, Andrew S, Computer Networks, Prentice Hall International 1996 Preface: 'The key to designing a computer network was first enunciated by Julius Caesar: Divide and Conquer. The idea is to design a network as a sequence of layers, or abstract machines, each one based upon the previous one. . . . This book uses a model in which networks are divided into seven layers. The structure of the book follows the structure of the model to a considerable extent.'  
Amazon
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Links

Action (physics) - Wikipedia, Action (physics) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In physics, action is an attribute of the dynamics of a physical system from which the equations of motion of the system can be derived. It is a mathematical functional which takes the trajectory, also called path or history, of the system as its argument and has a real number as its result. Generally, the action takes different values for different paths. Action has the dimensions of energy.time or momentum.length], and its SI unit is joule-second.' back

Adam Mortom, Great Australian Bight: Equinor abandons plans to drill for oil, ' Norwegian oil giant Equinor has abandoned plans to drill for oil in the Great Australian Bight, declaring the controversial project did not make commercial sense. The company said on Tuesday it had told federal, South Australian and local authorities it had decided to scrap the $200m project to deepwater drill in the Great Australian Bight Marine Park. It is the third major oil company to abandon plans to drill in the bight, following BP and Chevron.' back

Charles Kenny, The Case for Closing the Pentagon, ' . . . the United States needs a dramatic overhaul to adapt to the global threats of the 21st century, which should include moving away from military engagement and toward international cooperation on issues from peacekeeping to greenhouse gas reduction to global health to banking reform. Such an overhaul should also include cutting the defense budget in half by 2035, and perhaps even getting rid of the Pentagon itself. (Maybe Amazon could move in.) back

Divinity - Wikipedia, Divinity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' In religion, divinity or Godhead is the state of things that are believed to come from a supernatural power or deity, such as God, the supreme being, creator deity, or spirits, and are therefore regarded as sacred and holy. Such things are regarded as divine due to their transcendental origins or because their attributes or qualities are superior or supreme relative to things of the Earth. Divine things are regarded as eternal and based in truth, while material things are regarded as ephemeral and based in illusion. Such things that may qualify as divine are apparitions, visions, prophecies, miracles, and in some views also the soul, or more general things like resurrection, immortality, grace, and salvation. Otherwise what is or is not divine may be loosely defined, as it is used by different belief systems. ' back

Divinity (academic discipline) - Wikipedia, Divinity (academic discipline) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Divinity is the study of Christian and other theology and ministry at a school, divinity school, university, or seminary. The term is sometimes a synonym for theology as an academic, speculative pursuit, and sometimes is used for the study of applied theology and ministry to make a distinction between that and academic theology. It most often refers to Christian study which is linked with the professional degrees for ordained ministry or related work, though it is also used in an academic setting by other faith traditions.' back

George Johnson, Freeman Dyson, Visionary Technologist, Is Dead at 96, ' Freeman J. Dyson, a mathematical prodigy who left his mark on subatomic physics before turning to messier subjects like Earth’s environmental future and the morality of war, died on Friday at a hospital near Princeton, N.J. He was 96. .. . As a young graduate student at Cornell University in 1949, Dr. Dyson wrote a landmark paper — worthy, some colleagues thought, of a Nobel Prize — that deepened the understanding of how light interacts with matter to produce the palpable world. The theory the paper advanced, called quantum electrodynamics, or QED, ranks among the great achievements of modern science. . . . In his Templeton lecture, Dr. Dyson proposed that the universe is guided by “the principle of maximum diversity,” guaranteeing that it unfolds in a way that is “as interesting as possible.” Whatever its merit as a physical law, the principle goes far in describing the course of his extraordinary life.' back

Hylomorphism - Wikipedia, Hylomorphism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Hylomorphism (Greek ὑλο- hylo-, "wood, matter" + -morphism < Greek μορφή, morphē, "form") is a philosophical theory developed by Aristotle, which analyzes substance into matter and form. Substances are conceived of as compounds of form and matter.' back

Joseph Pohle, Catholic Encyclopedia: Sanctifying Grace, 'Grace (gratia, Charis), in general, is a supernatural gift of God to intellectual creatures (men, angels) for their eternal salvation, whether the latter be furthered and attained through salutary acts or a state of holiness. Eternal salvation itself consists in heavenly bliss resulting from the intuitive knowledge of the Triune God, who to the one not endowed with grace "inhabiteth light inaccessible" (1 Timothy 6:16). Christian grace is a fundamental idea of the Christian religion, the pillar on which, by a special ordination of God, the majestic edifice of Christianity rests in its entirety. Among the three fundamental ideas — sin, redemption, and grace — grace plays the part of the means, indispensable and Divinely ordained, to effect the redemption from sin through Christ and to lead men to their eternal destiny in heaven.' back

Josh Breiner, Probe Shos How Police Shot Innocent Bedouin Teacher and Left Him to Die, ' Three years have passed since Yakub Abu al-Kiyan, a Bedouin assistant school principal and teacher, was shot to death during the destruction of the village of Umm al-Hiran. “S.,” a police officer who was among the large contingent of troops deployed to destroy the village on January 18, 2017, shot at al-Kiyan’s car as he drove at a speed of just 10 kilometers an hour. The car veered off course after Abu al-Kiyan was shot and struck police officer Erez Levy, who died at the scene. Medical teams pronounced the policeman dead and remained at the scene while Abu al-Kiyan bled to death about 10 meters away, for many minutes, without receiving any medical attention.' back

Katharine Q. Seelye, Claire Bretécher, Satirical French Cartoonist, Dies at 79, ' Claire Bretécher, a satirical, fearless and lacerating French comic artist who was one of the first women to break into France’s male-dominated cartoon industry, died on Feb. 10 in Paris. She was 79. . . . Ms. Bretécher became a celebrated cartoonist in the 1970s, and her comic strips were a fixture in French newspapers and magazines for decades. . . . She brought a mordant wit to gender issues and was so incisive about the human condition that in 1976 the philosopher Roland Barthes called her the “best sociologist of the year.” ' back

NASA, Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), 'The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe is a NASA explorer mission measuring the temperature of the cosmic background radiation with unprecedented accuracy. This map of the remnant heat from the Big Bang provides answers to fundamental questions about the origin and fate of our universe.' back

Panacea - Wikipedia, Panacea - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' In Greek mythology, Panacea (Greek Πανάκεια, Panakeia) was a goddess of universal remedy and the daughter of Asclepius and Epione. Panacea and her four sisters each performed a facet of Apollo's art: Panacea (the goddess of universal health) Hygieia ("Hygiene", the goddess/personification of health, cleanliness, and sanitation) Iaso (the goddess of recuperation from illness) Aceso (the goddess of the healing process) Aglæa/Ægle (the goddess of beauty, splendor, glory, magnificence, and adornment).' back

Pandæmonium (Paradise Lost) - Wikipedia, Pandæmonium (Paradise Lost) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Pandæmonium is the capital of Hell in John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost. "Pandæmonium" (in some versions of English "Pandemonium") stems from the Greek "παν", meaning "all" or "every", and "δαιμόνιον", a diminutive form meaning "little spirit", "little angel", or, as Christians interpreted it, "little daemon", and later, "demon". It thus roughly translates as "All Demons", but can also be interpreted as Παν-δαιμον-ειον, Pandemoneios or "all-demon-place".' back

Peter Andreas, For centuries, war and opium have been entwined in Asia - sometimes assisted by the CIA, ' In an excerpt from the book Killer High, author Peter Andreas lays out how the opium poppy has been funding political parties and conflict for generations, often with the CIA’s tacit approval. . . . 'Killer High: A History of War in Six Drugs, by Peter Andreas, is published by Oxford University Press. back

Pius XII, Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus, '44. For which reason, after we have poured forth prayers of supplication again and again to God, and have invoked the light of the Spirit of Truth, for the glory of Almighty God who has lavished his special affection upon the Virgin Mary, for the honor of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages and the Victor over sin and death, for the increase of the glory of that same august Mother, and for the joy and exultation of the entire Church; by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. 45. Hence if anyone, which God forbid, should dare willfully to deny or to call into doubt that which we have defined, let him know that he has fallen away completely from the divine and Catholic Faith.' back

Pius XII: 1953, Encyclical Fulgens corona, 'The radiant crown of glory with which the most pure brow of the Virgin Mother was encircled by God, seems to Us to shine more brilliantly, as We recall to mind the day, on which, one hundred years ago, Our Predecessor of happy memory Pius IX, surrounded by a vast retinue of Cardinals and Bishops, with infallible apostolic authority defined, pronounced and solemnly sanctioned "that the doctrine, which holds that the Most Blessed Virgin Mary at the first moment of her conception was, by singular grace and privilege of the Omnipotent God, in virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the Human race, preserved from all stains of original sin, is revealed by God, and therefore to be firmly and resolutely believed by all the faithful."' (Dogmatic bull Ineffabilis Deus, of Dec. 8, 1854.) back

Proprioception - Wikipedia, Proprioception - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Proprioception, also referred to as kinaesthesia . . ., is the sense of self-movement and body position. It is sometimes described as the "sixth sense". Proprioception is mediated by proprioceptors, mechanosensory neurons located within muscles, tendons, and joints. There are multiple types of proprioceptors which are activated during distinct behaviors and encode distinct types of information: limb velocity and movement, load on a limb, and limb limits. Vertebrates and invertebrates have distinct but similar modes of encoding this information. The central nervous system integrates proprioception and other sensory systems, such as vision and the vestibular system, to create an overall representation of body position, movement, and acceleration.' back

Roman Catholic Mariology - Wikipedia, Roman Catholic Mariology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The four dogmas of Perpetual virginity, Mother of God, Immaculate Conception and Assumption form the basis of Mariology.[12] However, a number of other Catholic doctrines about the Virgin Mary have been developed by reference to sacred scripture, theological reasoning and Church tradition.[13] The development of Mariology is ongoing and since the beginnings it has continued to be shaped by theological analyses, writings of saints, and papal statements, e.g. while two Marian dogmas are ancient, the other two were defined in the 19th and 20th centuries; and papal teachings on Mary have continued to appear in recent times.' back

Silas R Beane et al, Constaints on the Universe as a Numerical Simulation, 'Abstract Observable consequences of the hypothesis that the observed universe is a numerical simulation performed on a cubic space-time lattice or grid are explored. The simulation scenario is first motivated by extrapolating current trends in computational resource requirements for lattice QCD into the future. Using the historical development of lattice gauge theory technology as a guide, we assume that our universe is an early numerical simulation with unimproved Wilson fermion discretization and investigate potentially-observable consequences. Among the observables that are considered are the muon g − 2 and the current differences between determinations of α, but the most stringent bound on the inverse lattice spacing of the universe, b−1>∼ 1011 GeV, is derived from the high-energy cut off of the cosmic ray spectrum. The numerical simulation scenario could reveal itself in the distributions of the highest energy cosmic rays exhibiting a degree of rotational symmetry breaking that reflects the structure of the underlying lattice.' back

Thomas Ainsworth (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy), Form vs. Matter, 'Aristotle famously contends that every physical object is a compound of matter and form. This doctrine has been dubbed “hylomorphism”, a portmanteau of the Greek words for matter (hulê) and form (eidos or morphê). Highly influential in the development of Medieval philosophy, Aristotle’s hylomorphism has also enjoyed something of a renaissance in contemporary metaphysics.' back

Wayne Swan, Global tax evasion us a penalty on health care, education, climate change and more. The world cannot afford it, ' Thanks to the courage and energy of journalists and whistle-blowers, global transparency has improved slightly. On average, countries have reduced their contribution to global financial secrecy by 7 per cent since the previous index in 2018. But there is still a lot to do. . . . Along with the US and Britain, Japan is one of the world’s great powers that have shown a real unwillingness to fight financial opacity. The US remains the only large centre to refuse to cooperate in the exchange of financial account information – despite demanding the same from all others, readily resorting to threats. And Britain has increased its secrecy score more than any other jurisdiction, a trend that is likely to become even more radical with Brexita reality.' back

Will Mathis, Total to Bid for Stake in $7.4 Billion U.K. Wind Farm, ' French oil company Total SA is among the final bidders for a stake in an offshore wind farm that may cost more than $7 billion to develop and operate, according to people familiar with the matter. The move is significant because it highlights growing interest from major oil companies in renewables assets. It also would be the first facility of its kind in the U.K. built without full state support, making it more risky than what’s been built to date.' back

Will Mathis & Brian Eckhouse, Super-Size Solar Farms Are Taking Over the World, ' . . . The increasing size of solar farms comes as costs fall. At the same time, there’s a growing group of buyers in the market for renewable assets, particularly pension funds and other institutional investors keen to match their long-dated liabilities with the consistent returns of solar farms. “These guys won’t get out of bed for anything below 100 million euros,” says Pietro Radoia, a solar analyst at BNEF. “The bigger, the better.” . . . In some emerging markets, legal costs are relatively steady regardless of the size of the project. That’s helped lead investors to develop mega projects such as the Benban solar farm in southern Egypt which, at 1.5 gigawatts in size, has more capacity than many nuclear power plants.' back

Zhuang Pinghiu, Chinese laboratory that first shared coronavirus genome with world ordered to close for 'rectification', hindering Covid-19 research, ' "The closure has greatly affected the scientists and their research when they should be racing against the clock to find the means to help put the novel coronavirus outbreak under control" the source said.' back

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