Nikola Tesla on Aether

The inventor responded thus to an article by Laurence M. Cockaday:

“I have read the article, and I quite agree with the opinion expressed – that wireless power transmission is impractical with present apparatus. This conclusion will be naturally reached by any one who recognizes the nature of the agent by which the impulses are transmitted in present wireless practice.

“When Dr. Heinrich Hertz undertook his experiments from 1887 to 1889 his object was to demonstrate a theory postulating a medium filling all space, called the ether which was structureless, of inconceivable tenuity and yet solid and possessed of rigidity incomparably greater than that of the hardest steel. He obtained certain results and the whole world acclaimed them as an experimental verification of that cherished theory. But in reality what he observed tended to prove just its fallacy.

“I had maintained for many years before that such a medium as supposed could not exist, and that we must rather accept the view that all space is filled with a gaseous substance. On repeating the Hertz experiments, with much improved and very powerful apparatus, I satisfied myself that what he had observed was nothing else but effects of longitudinal waves in a gaseous medium, that is to say, waves, propagated by alternate compression and expansion. He had observed waves in the ether much of the nature of sound waves in the air.

“Up to 1896, however, I did not succeed in obtaining a positive experimental proof of the existence of such a medium. But in that year I brought out a new form of vacuum tube capable of being charged to any desired potential, and operated it with effective pressures of about 4,000,000 volts. I produced cathodic and other rays of transcending intensity. The effects, according to my view, were due to minute particles of matter carrying enormous electrical charges, which, for want of a better name, I designated as matter not further decomposable. Subsequently those particles were called electrons.

“One of the first striking observations made with my tubes was that a purplish glow for several feet around the end of the tube was formed, and I readily ascertained that it was due to the escape of the charges of the particles as soon as they passed out into the air; for it was only in a nearly perfect vacuum that these charges could be confined to them. The coronal discharge proved that there must be a medium besides air in the space, composed of particles immeasurably smaller than those of air, as otherwise such a discharge would not be possible. On further investigation I found that this gas was so light that a volume equal to that of the earth would weigh only about one-twentieth of a pound.

“The velocity of any sound wave depends on a certain ratio between elasticity and density, and for this ether or universal gas the ratio is 800,000,000,000 times greater than for air. This means that the velocity of the sound waves propagated through the ether is about 300,000 times greater than that of the sound waves in air, which travel at approximately 1,085 feet a second. Consequently the speed in ether is 900,000 × 1,085 feet, or 186,000 miles, and that is the speed of light.”

~Nikola Tesla

H/T PG Truspace

Snow Crystals

Wilson A. Bentley (1865-1931)

“Snow, the beautiful snow, as the raptured poet sang, winter’s spotless and downy blanket for forest and field, has ever challenged pen to describe, and brush to paint, its marvelous mass effects.

Nor is the aesthetic urge of its very tiniest flake or smallest crystal that gently floats from heaven to earth any less compelling. It is even more insistent – doubly more – for it not only quickens that response to the dainty and the exquisite that makes us human, but equally arouses our desire to understand, our curiosity to know, the how and the why of this purest gem of surpassing beauty and of a myriad myriad forms.

But it is so tiny, so fragile, and so evanescent save in the coldest of weather, that few, very few indeed, have come to know the snow crystal at first hand.

All the rest of us must get our knowledge of this endless gallery of Nature’s design through the careful drawings and faithful photographs, microphotographs, by that devoted few whose enthusiasm never wanes and whose patience never tires.”

~W.J. Humphrey

Andrea Rossi Energy Catalyzer: March Update

Andrea Rossi ECAT – March update

"There is only one thing that counts for me: to work and to make a valid product. If there will be competition, whomever they are, they will have to fight against a very tough competitor. We will be very tough to be beaten." ~Andrea Rossi

Here is a summary of the latest ECAT developments made by Andrea Rossi:
•Andrea Rossi has developed a new design of the ECAT Home unit which is 33cm x 33cm x 6cm and can be put vertically or horizontally. Total weight is 10 kg
•The technology is completely changed, new patents have been applied for, an intense testing program is going on with very good result
•Leonardo Corp will defend its Intellectual Property against copycats in all necessary courts
•The new ECAT Home unit has two simple connections for input and output of water
•No pictures will be released until the product is for sale
•By law a customer has 60 days of time to give back the device if unsatisfied, and Leonardo Corp give all the guarantees required by the law
•Production capacity of new factory is one million units per year
•The hydrogen canister has been removed and the hydrogen is now stored inside a solid material due to safety reasons
•There is a new control system for both the ECAT Home unit and the ECAT 1MW Plant which are made from an undisclosed supplier, not National Instruments
•The only certified places to pre-order an ECAT are either Info@leonardocorp1996.com and/or via the order form at ECAT.com
•Certification from UL – Underwriters Laboratories is in process
•The highest temperature that could be achieved in the reactor of the domestic ECAT is just below the melting point of Nickel
•No radiation has ever been detected outside the ECAT
•The ECAT has already got important authorizations
•The COP (Coefficient of Performance) is 6
•Licenses to sell and market ECATs has been granted to licensees, not yet published
•When Leonardo Corporation will execute the commercial strategy, the entire network of the licensees will be published
•Andrea Rossi anticipates that an air conditioned generator and a electricity generator will eventually be suitable accessories for the ECAT
•Siemens has shown an electricity solution for Andrea Rossi with 33% efficiency for 25MWe at 250C, 40bar and a smaller version with 30% efficiency for 5-8MWe also at 250C, 40bar in the secondary circuit

http://ecat.com/news/andrea-rossi-ecat-march-update

Attributes and Mysteries of Life: Symmetry, Twinning, Hemihypertrophy*, and Gynandromorphs; from the Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 1921

  Comment: This interesting paper from the Archives of Neurobiology and Psychiatry brushes on several topics which are easily taken for granted; one of them is the symmetry of life. The article raises questions about the possibility of a single individual actually being a pair of twins. (There are cases of individuals called chimera who have two blood types and are considered to have been a pair of twins who fused.) The article also raises an interesting question about the differences and similarities between the process of bilateral symmetrical development, and twinning. This excerpt ends with the case of the beautiful bee that is a winged male on one side, and a wingless female on its other side. I doubt if modern medicine is any closer to discovering the enigma of the source of the symmetrical development of life. Probably, it is further than ever. (:

“‘By twinning we mean production of equivalent structures by division.’ This statement is taken from the biologist Bateson, who regards the power to divide as a fundamental attribute of life. The tendency to symmetry, to bilateral equivalence or mirror imaging is so general that it  also must be regarded as a fundamental of biologic mechanics. Hemihypertrophy accordingly may be conceived as some profound inaccuracy in the natural process of developmental duplicity. It is not as monstrous as the double monster but it may have a related morphogenesis. At any rate, we can safely assume that hemihypertrophy is not an artifact really consisting in a hemi-atrophy. It is evidently a mild unilateral gigantism of an individual whose lesser somatic half is normal.

In a certain biologic sense we may regard every bilateral individual as being a pair of twins. H. H. Newman, in his fascinating work on the ‘Biology of Twins,’ holds that monozygotic twinning – where a single egg produces two offsprings – is a phenomenon that should be considered as only a phase of the much more general phenomenon of symmetrical division. The development of the right and left hand homologous organs in a bilateral organism is essentially a twinning process. This also observes that ‘the whole matter of bilateral development appears to be quantitative in nature, in that the same type of process may go not so far or farther than normal.’ Just as there may be an inhibition of the normal culmination of the process of bilateral division…so there is frequently an excess of division resulting in the two bilateral structures becoming completely segregated, as when a single individual develops two heads or two tails, while the remainder of the organism is a more or less normal individual. Newman, like Bateson, regards the phenomenon of twinning as a fundamental process which is almost universal in the field of biology.

From this point of view, hemihypertrophy may be interpreted as an atypical or imperfect form of twinning, a variant of the same process which may produce a double headed [creature] or a perfectly, ordinary normal individual – an ordinary individual being an organism in whom there has been a precisely balanced inhibition on the biologic process of bilateral doubling.

The actual mechanism of this regulative control over symmetry of size and form remains somewhat enigmatic in spite of much biologic investigation….

Newman has made suggestive researches into heredity and organic symmetry in armadillo quadruplets. He has noted some cases in which ‘one lateral half of the body has quite a different number of scutes from the other half, and one of these halves resembles the maternal condition.’ Since each set of quadruplets have the same genetic constitution as they arise from one zygote, he concludes that some irregularity in the mechanism of the mitotic cell-division is responsible for the anomalies of symmetry….

Another form of asymmetry, even more startling and drastic than hemihypertrophy is that of gynandromorphism. A gynandromorph is an animal that is male on one side and female on the other. This differentiation may include the reproductive organs, gonads and ducts. Usually it is longitudinally bilateral, but it may be anteroposterior.

This curious phenomenon is most frequent in insects but has been reported in birds and in a few mammals. A beautiful case was described in a mutillid wasp in which the male half of the body was black and winged like the male while the female half was rich red and wingless.”

~Arnold Gisell

*”Hemihypertrophy is a unilateral enlargement of one side of the body, and is one of the rarest among developmental anomalies.” Many people with this growth defect live happy and productive lives. Some undergo a surgery in the larger leg to inhibit its growth. It is more common that the right side is larger.

“Discours sur les révolutions de la surface du globe”

Georges Cuvier (1769-1832) Image: purchase this fine giclee print online

 

 

 

“There is no longer anyone who does not know that the earth we inhabit shows everywhere clear traces of large and violent revolutions; but it is not yet possible to unravel the history of these upheavals, despite the efforts of those who have collected and compared their documentation.”

~Georges Cuvier, 1798

 

“Crystals of Golden Proportions”

Figure 1. Dan Shechtman’s diffraction pattern of a quasicrystal, previously thought to be an impossible or forbidden symmetry - for which he won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

‘“Eyn chaya kazo”, Dan Shechtman said to himself. “There can be no such creature” in Hebrew. It was the morning of 8 April 1982. The material he was studying, a mix of aluminum and manganese, was strange looking, and he had turned to the electron microscope in order to observe it at the atomic level. However, the picture that the microscope produced was counter to all logic: he saw concentric circles, each made often bright dots at the same distance from each other (figure 1).

Shechtman had rapidly chilled the glowing molten metal, and the sudden change in temperature should have created complete disorder among the atoms. But the pattern he observed told a completely different story: the atoms were arranged in a manner that was contrary to the laws of nature. Shechtman counted and recounted the dots. Four or six dots in the circles would have been possible, but absolutely not ten. He made a notation in his notebook: 10 Fold???”‘

~read more here:  http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2011/popular-chemistryprize2011.pdf

Comment: At first, Dr. Shechtman was rediculed for his “impossible” discovery, and given a textbook on crystallography to study. Eventually, his boss asked him to leave the research group. But as his paper gained some circulation and the results were repeated, he was vindicated for believing the observations, rather than the textbooks.

You see, things really do turn out right in science sometimes!

The Gift of Fire to Mankind: A Mythical Study on the Spiritual Significance of Coal, Part 7

Introduction:  According to native myths and legends found the world over, there was a time when man did not possess fire. In these legends fire is remembered and celebrated as a divine gift. It is given by the respective gods of the peoples to lift them from their primitive state.

But within the myths, there is also great hostility and opposition to fire and the prosperity it brought to mankind. Sometimes it had to be stolen from vain or hoarding Spirits.

In our modern times there is a great hostility towards the combustion of hydrocarbons, and in particular towards coal, which burns much more efficiently and hotter than wood. European countries have committed to carbon dioxide emissions reductions agreements which legally bind them to get 80% of their electricity from renewables by 2050. Many of the so-called “renewables” never overtly use combustion – while behind the scenes they are intermittent, and require an uninterrupted power source like a coal or gas power plant. Should the people of the world be convinced that fire is now harmful for the planet, and must be regulated and taken from them? Or is fire a divine blessing which is foundational to all cultures? And isn’t it interesting that so many of the wise stories of old included the warning that some of the powers wished to suppress or deny this sacred gift of fire, and prevent it from benefitting mankind?

We have looked at myths from several continents, and are now surveying the legends of the North American Indians.

The Theft of Fire

“Long ago, in the beginning, people had only stones for fire. In the beginning everyone only had that sort of firestone. ‘Do you hear? There is fire over there. Where Pain lives, there is fire.’ So Coyote went, and came to the house where Pain lived. The children were at home, but all the old people were away, driving game with fire. They told their children, ‘If anyone comes, it will be Coyote.’

Coyote went into the house. ‘Oh you poor children! Are you all alone here?’ said he.

‘Yes we are all alone. They told us they were all going hunting. If anyone comes it will be Coyote. I think you are Coyote,’ they said.

‘I am not Coyote,’ he said. ‘Look…way back there is Coyote country. There are none here.’ Coyote stretched his feet out towards the fire, with his long blanket in which he had run away. ’No, you smell like Coyote,’ said the children. ’No, there are none about here,’ he said.

Now, his blanket began to burn, and he was ready to run. He cried to Chicken-Hawk, ‘You stand there! I will run there with the fire. I will give it to you, and then you run on. Eagle, do you stand there! Grouse, do you stand there! Quail, do you stand there!’ Turtle alone did not know about it. He was walking along by the river. Now, Coyote ran out of the house; he stole Pain’s fire. He seized it and ran with it. Pain’s children ran after him…[A chase ensues in which the fire changes hands between many creatures, and then is given to Turtle, who is shot at and dives deep in the water with it. The Pains gave up, and Coyote was very angry. Turtle in the end emerged, telling Coyote, "You keep quiet!" - and "threw the fire all about."]

Now everybody came and got fire. Now we have got fire. Coyote was the first to get it, at Pain’s that way. That is all. That is one story.”

~Edited and Compiled by Jarold Ramsey

How Coyote Stole Fire, additional story: http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/How_Coyote_Stole_Fire-Shasta.html

The Gift of Fire to Mankind: A Mythical Study on the Spiritual Significance of Coal, Part 6

Nahookos bokhoh, the Fire Star, a gift of the Holy People of Navajo legend. The man and woman constellations revolve around the Fire Star, to remind the people of the laws of life and the principles for health, happiness, and haromony. Image via APOD, copyright Daniel Lopez.

Introduction: This is a legend from the Navajo tribe of North Amercian Indians, speaking of the gift of fire to man and woman. They were meant to light it and sit together in its glow in their hogan in the evening. The legend is quoted in its entirety because I did not wish to truncate it.

“The Holy People made the sun from a perfect piece of turquoise and the moon from a perfect piece of white shell. Each was adorned with crystals for light,* feathers for flight, a spirit for life, then placed in the sky.

After Sun and Moon had been completed, there were bits of crystal remaining. Considering what might be done with these, the Holy People laid them out on a buckskin. It occurred to them that these brilliant gems might be used to help the people, yet to be created, know, understand and remember principles for health, happiness and harmony in balance with everything.

With this in mind, they arranged the crystals in patterns to represent the laws of life.

After discussing the matter, it was decided that the crystals should be placed in the sky where they would not be interfered with and where they could be seen by everyone in order to be constantly reminded, with beauty, of how they should behave. Constellations would be made in pairs with each pair representing important principles.

First they put up Nahookos bokhoh, the Fire Star (now commonly called Polaris, in Ursa Minor) where it would always be visible to guide people. On one side of the fire they placed Nahookos bika’ii, Revolving Male (Big Dipper in Ursa Major), and on the other side Nahookos ba’aadii, Revolving Female (Cassiopeia). This pair, parents of the other stars, demonstrates the balance by their positions, and, along with the Fire Star people are reminded of the importance of spending time at home, in their hogans, with their families, doing the things they should do together.

Coyote saw the sky begin to change: brilliant jewels shining off to one side. Disturbed at being left out of this important work, he went off looking for those who were doing it.

Meanwhile Black God put op his own stars, the ones shown on his mask, naming them Dilyehe, the seven stars (Pleiades). They symbolized all the stars thet were being created. They added Atse’ets’ozi, First Slim One (Orion), keeper of the months. This pair would be key to the calender…A common Navajo saying is ‘Never let Dilyehe see you plant.’ If you plant before the Pleiades disappear in the western evening sky, late frost might kill the young plants. If you wait until after they are back in the early morning sky as day breaks, you will likely not get a mature crop before freezing weather comes in the fall.

Coyote found the Holy People and watched as they placed another pair in the sky: Hastiin Sik’ai’i, Man With Legs Ajar (Corvus and other stars) and Atse’etsoh, First Big One (front part of Scorpius and other stars), the pair representing divination of illness, clear seeing, and long life and happiness through good living into old age.

Moving among them Coyote expressed dismay in being shunned in this work, demanding a star that he could put up. The others were reluctant, knowing that Coyote tended to create chaos where order was intended. However, Coyote was a Holy Person in those days, and they could not deny him. He placed his star in a peculiar place, down low in the south where it would just hump over the horizon ever so briefly, then set again.

‘Isn’t it beautiful,’ he said, ‘that is So’doo ndizidii, Coyote Star.’ The others paid him little attention, being busy putting up Gah heet’e'ii, Rabbit Tracks (tail of Scorpius), the hunter’s guide. There remains debate about the identity of the Coyote Star, but it is likely Canopus….

The Holy people rested, admiring what they had done and thinking about how they should complete the work. Coyote rested too, for that was his favorite activity, but he was thinking, ‘this shouldn’t take so long, it isn’t very difficult.’ He crept over and looked down at the buckskin where the remaining crystals lay. Stooping, he took hold of the corners, then, swiftly flung the rest of the stars in the sky. ‘There,’ he pronounced loudly, arousing the others, ‘it is finished, and a fine job too. My way was faster than yours. Aren’t you glad I came along?’

The Holy People were not glad. They were devastated. Coyote had spoiled it again, as he always did. There were some proper patterns that would guide the people, and it was, indeed, finished. It would remain that way, partly ordered and partly chaotic. The mark of the Holy People was there and the mark of Coyote was there as well.

Without knowing it, Coyote had written and important principle onto the sky. His motion spread most of the stars in a pathway bisecting the heavens: Yikaisadahi, ‘Awaits the Dawn,’ the luminous trail that represents the principle that one should arise early and walk in first light, saying prayers, spreading meal and pollen in a motion that resembles the Milky Way in the sky, and contemplating things that should be done in order to live a long and happy life, enjoying balance and harmony with all things.”

~Von Del Chamberlain

A mother and daughter color Coyote in Central Oregon

The Gift of Fire to Mankind: A Mythical Study on the Spiritual Significance of Coal, Part 5

“In the mountains of this province, they mine a sort of black stone. There are big seams of it. When lit it burns like charcoal and gives off much more heat than wood and will burn throughout the night and still be going in the morning. The stones flame a bit when first lit but then glow, giving off considerable heat. Abundant and cheap in a country where admittedly there is also an abundance of wood, these stones make possible the continous firing of stoves and baths. Warm baths are taken by everyone at least three times a week and daily in winter if a person can afford it.”

~Marco Polo (d. c. 1324)

Comment:  We continue our study of “The Gift of Fire to Mankind” as passed down through the myths and traditions of the people of the world.

It may be protested here of course that Marco Polo was a historic figure and portions of what he wrote about his travels in Asia in the 1200′s have

Marco Polo wrote from his prison cell about abundant black stone used for fire in Asia, making possible "the continuous firing of stoves and baths." Image Life Mag archives.

since been verified to be accurate observations. Yet Marco Polo’s writings were met with such astonishment, disbelief, and derision in Europe that he was imprisoned for a time, his name in use as a household slang term for lying or making up wild tales out of whole cloth.

And so I have taken the liberty of including Marco Polo’s report of coal fire and the prosperity enjoyed by regions of Asia, because it was at one time treated as a legend and a myth by the poor Europeans of the Medieval Ages.

It is now reported that Great Britain has not built coal fire power station since the construction of Drax in 1986. The country is instead committed to a policy of carbon dioxide emissions reductions. Dozens of coal power plants have been demolished,  others are scheduled to be shut down, and the beautiful English countryside groans under the increasing weight of giant wind turbines, sometimes measuring 200′ high and possessing 130′ blades. So far these have produced only a “half a percent of the power” needed, despite the £200 billion  investment in their use.

It is logical to ask if at the present rate of power generation reductions, and with the dousing of the country’s bright and efficient coal fires, only the wealthiest of the British will be able to bathe 3 times a week.

The Gift of Fire to Mankind: A Mythical Study on the Spiritual Significance of Coal, Part 4

'Come and eat breakfast.' Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah

Introduction:  This week we are surveying myths, legends, and faith traditions which celebrate the gift of fire to mankind. We looked at an ancient Greek myth from the European continent, which reflects a theme of divine benevolence and care for man, and a delight in the progress and wealth that fire brings. But we also noted in Zeus’ response a theme of spiritual hostility and rage in the heavenly places at the elevation of man’s physical life brought by the power of fire.

Today we turn to Asia, to a little country on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea called Israel.

“Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others…were together. Simon Peter said to them, ‘I am going fishing.’ They said to him, ‘We are going with you also.’ They went out and got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing.

But when the morning had now come, Yeshua stood on the shore:  yet they did not know that it was Yeshua. Then Yeshua said to them, ‘Children, have you any food?’ They answered Him, ’No.’

And He said to them, ‘Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish.

…Then, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread. Yeshua said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish which you have just caught….Come and eat breakfast.’” (NKJV)

Comment:  In this New Testament account from the ancient world, we see the expression of divine care and love towards a very confused, grieving, and hungry group of individuals, shown both through the catch of fish, and the little fire of coals laid out with fish and bread.

This appearance of divine love involves fire. Therefore, this passage sanctifies of the combustion of hydrocarbon fuel and the energetic as well as chemical reactions from the fire – including the combination of carbon atoms with oxygen atoms to create carbon dioxide, which we now know is necessary for the respiration of plants. This passage from a sacred text reflects and reaffirms the spiritual and physical divine care of all mankind as expressed through fire, which is to be used for the purposes of cooking, heat, light, hospitality, gathering together, and for communication.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all.