Airlines with Crosses not allowed over Saudi Arabia

Swiss International Air Lines is not allowed to fly over Mecca because their planes are painted with the white Swiss cross. The airline no longer flies its cross-emblazoned planes into the country of Saudi Arabia, but the spiritual leaders of Saudi Arabia cannot ban the cross of Jesus imprinted on the hearts of Muslims who accept Jesus as Lord!

(from Tom White, Voice of the Martyrs, July 2011)

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Godless theories can't explain planets surrounding other stars

An illustration of a planet with a highly
inclined orbit found around
the star HAT-P-11.

Geoff Marcy, Professor of Astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, is famous for discovering more extrasolar planets than anyone else, 70 out of the first 100 to be discovered.  So it comes as some surprise that Professor Marcy has concluded: “The more new planets we find, the less we seem to know about how planetary systems are born. We cannot apply theories that fit our solar system to other systems. In theory, other stars with planets should have gotten similar starts. But theory has implications not born out in reality.”

Planetary orbits should be circular, but many extrasolar planets have elliptical orbits. Everything should orbit in the same plane and direction, but many have highly inclined or even retrograde orbits; Neptune-sized planets should be rare, since models of our water giants require highly unusual starting conditions. But there are too many out there. Marcy told the American Astronomical Society last month: “Theory has struck out.”

Marko comments: First, Marcy's conclusions show that our wonderful Earth is indeed a Privileged Planet, just as astronomer Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez found to be true in his research, and ended up being denied tenure at Iowa State University because this ran afoul of the godless scientific establishment. Second, godless theories can't explain planets surrounding other stars. They are yet another sign of our wonderful Creator God!

(based on "Busted! Planet-Making Theories Don’t Fit Extrasolar Planets", Creation-Evolution Headlines, February 2011)

(also published in Creation Matters, a publication of Creation Research Society, Volume 16, Number 2, March/April 2011, to appear at http://www.creationresearch.org/creation_matters/pdf/2010/CM15%2006%20low%20res.pdf)

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Want a True Stimulus? Thorium Reactors instead of Oil in Just Five Years

An abundant metal with vast energy potential could quickly wean the world off oil, if only Western political leaders would muster the will to do it, a UK newspaper says. James Quinn of The Telegraph makes the case for thorium reactors as the key to a fossil-fuel-free world within five years, and puts the ball firmly in President Barack Obama's court, see his article Obama could kill fossil fuels overnight with a nuclear dash for thorium.

Thorium, named for the Norse god of thunder, is much more abundant than uranium and has 200 times that metal's energy potential. Thorium is also a more efficient fuel source -- unlike natural uranium, which must be highly refined before it can be used in nuclear reactors, all thorium is potentially usable as fuel. It is so abundant that it's almost an annoyance. Thorium is considered a waste product when mining for rare-earth metals.

Thorium-fueled MSR reactor,
click here for details.

The Telegraph says a $1.8 billion (£1.2 billion) project could lead to a network of tiny underground nuclear reactors, producing about 600 MW each. Their wee size would negate the enormous security apparatus required of full-size nuclear power plants. Thorium also solves the non-proliferation problem. Nuclear non-proliferation treaties (NPT) prohibit processes that can yield atomic bomb ingredients, making it difficult to refine highly radioactive isotopes. But thorium-based accelerator-driven plants only produce a small amount of plutonium, which could allow the U.S. and other nations to skirt NPT.

The Telegraph says Obama needs a Roosevelt moment, recalling the famous breakfast meeting when Albert Einstein convinced the president to start the Manhattan Project. A thorium stimulus could be just what the lagging economy needs.

(Summarized from Rebecca Boyle, Development of Tiny Thorium Reactors Could Wean the World Off Oil In Just Five Years, Popular Science, August 2010)

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Newer nuclear reactor designs, collectively called Generation IV, include the thorium-powered molten-salt reactor (MSR). In an MSR, liquid thorium would replace the solid uranium fuel used in today’s plants, a change that would make meltdowns all but impossible.

MSRs were developed at Tennessee’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the early 1960s and ran for a total of 22,000 hours between 1965 and 1969. “It was not a full system, but it showed you could successfully design and operate a molten-salt reactor,” says Oak Ridge physicist Jess Gehin, a senior program manager in the lab’s Nuclear Technology Programs office.

The MSR design has two primary safety advantages. Its liquid fuel remains at much lower pressures than the solid fuel in light-water plants. This greatly decreases the likelihood of an accident, such as the hydrogen explosions that occurred at Fukushima. Further, in the event of a power outage, a frozen salt plug within the reactor melts and the liquid fuel passively drains into tanks where it solidifes, stopping the fission reaction. “The molten-salt reactor is walk-away safe,” Kutsch says. “If you just abandoned it, it had no power, and the end of the world came--a comet hit Earth--it would cool down and solidify by itself.”

Because of this efficiency, a thorium MSR would produce far less waste than today’s plants. Uranium-based waste will remain hazardous for tens of thousands of years. With thorium, it’s more like a few hundred. As well, raw thorium is not fissile in and of itself, so it is not easily weaponized. “It can’t be used as a bomb,” Kutsch says. “You could have 1,000 pounds in your basement, and nothing would happen.”

 One ton of thorium: as much energy
as 200 tons of uranium

One nuclear plant provides the energy equivalent of 1,200 windmills or 20 square miles of solar panels.Without the need for large cooling towers, MSRs can be much smaller than typical light-water plants, both physically and in power capacity. Today’s average nuclear power plant generates about 1,000 megawatts. A thorium-fueled MSR might generate as little as 50 megawatts. Smaller, more numerous plants could save on transmission loss (which can be up to 30 percent on the present grid). The U.S. Army is interested in using MSRs to power individual bases, Kutsch says, and Google, which relies on steady power to keep its servers running, held a conference on thorium reactors last year. “The company would love to have a 70- or 80-megawatt reactor sitting next door to a data center,” Kutsch says.

Even with military and corporate support, the transition to a new type of nuclear power generation is likely to be slow, at least in the U.S. Light-water reactors are already established, and no regulations exist to govern other reactor designs. Outside the U.S., the transition could come more quickly.

In January 2011 the Chinese government launched a thorium reactor program. “The Chinese Academy of Sciences has approved development of an MSR with relatively near-term deployment--maybe 10 years,” says Gehin, who thinks the Chinese decision may increase work on the technology worldwide. Even after Fukushima, “there’s still interest in advanced nuclear,” he says. “I don’t see that changing.”

(Summarized from Kalee Thompson, Concepts & Prototypes: Two Next-Gen Nukes, Popular Science, July 2011)

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Sevgi, the Muslim physical therapist, finds answers

Late last year, Sevgi, a Muslim physical therapist in Asia Minor, turned on her television and stumbled upon some Christian programming. She was drawn into the message and later told her husband and daughter about it. Soon the entire family was watching the show and obtained a copy of the New Testament! Although Sevgi and her family read it eagerly, Sevgi had many questions, such as "Has the Bible really been changed as we've always been taught?" and "What is really the truth?." Sevgi longed for someone to talk with about them.

As God so often works, He used an ordinary situation to reveal the truth to Sevgi. Jeff, a young missionary, was struggling with back pain and needed to see a therapist. A co-worker recommended Sevgi. After a few appointments, God opened the door for them to talk about spiritual things. Now each therapy session concludes with a Bible study and Sevgi has been getting answers to her questions!

(from the Christar prayer letter, June 2011)

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Coal is more than fossil fuel - its Genesis Flood fuel!

For decades it has been taught that dead plants accumulate in the stagnant, oxygen-poor waters of a swamp, where they partially decay and eventually alter into combustible peat. Over vast ages under these conditions, the peat supposedly metamorphoses into coal.

But there are problems with this “story” about the unseen past. First, nowhere on earth today does peat spontaneously become coal. Second, while peats do accumulate in stagnant swamp waters, these appear nothing like coal. Surely something other than a peat swamp was involved in the formation of coal seams.

As a matter of fact, the coalification process doesn’t even require much time. In recent years, several laboratory experiments have shown that coal can form quickly, in just hours or days. Extreme conditions can accomplish it even more quickly. Heat is required, but not necessarily pressure. The process is accelerated by the presence of a volcanic clay, such as montmorillinite or kaolinite, always abundantly intermingled with coal.  

When Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, phenomenal processes were set in motion that instantly produced geologic results mimicking those we are taught to think required millions of years. After the eruption, a charred log was found with wood on one end and material on the other that under microscopic analysis proved to be a rather high grade of coal, formed essentially instantly.

The eruption of Mount St. Helens provided insight into processes operating during an even greater catastrophe, the great Flood of Noah’s day.  

Marko's comment: Surprise! Coal is more than fossil fuel - its Genesis Flood fuel!

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