copyright (c) 2016
Wm Schaeffer
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Sunday, January 31, 2016
Saturday, January 30, 2016
Friday, January 29, 2016
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Monday, January 25, 2016
Sunday, January 24, 2016
Saturday, January 23, 2016
Daily Lotto
"My luck today is that I get to see the sun,
and I get to breathe the air." - Mr. Atwater
and I get to breathe the air." - Mr. Atwater
copyright (c) 2016
William Schaeffer
Friday, January 22, 2016
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Monday, January 11, 2016
Why Life Exists
There
is a very simple reason why “life” exists, or living organisms exist, and that is entropy. Entropy
is an unusual physics concept that is really just another word for
“disorder.” Entropy is a measure of disorder.
The greater the entropy then
the greater the disorder there is.
For
example, if a number of shoe boxes are neatly stacked in a regular and organized
pile in the center of the room, there is less entropy in the room (i.e. less disorder) than if the boxes are
thrown about the room haphazard and their contents are all spilled out.
The
Universe appears to follow the Three Laws of Thermodynamics. According to the Second Law of
Thermodynamics, every event that occurs in the Universe increases the entropy of the Universe. Every event that occurs increases the “disorder”
of the entire Universe. Even if it seems
we are creating “more order” locally we are also creating more disorder
elsewhere. For example, building a house
seems to “create order,” but finding and transporting the raw materials; and then
“cleaning up” afterward creates much more disorder overall. Therefore, building a house increases the entropy of the Universe, no matter how
organized the house itself may be.
Einstein
once said that, “The Second Law of Thermodynamics is perhaps the only immutable
law of nature.” What he probably meant
was, our understanding of all the other laws of nature can possibly be refined
and revised, but our knowledge of entropy
is complete.
And
this is why life exists: Life creates more entropy
than “non-life.” One hundred pounds of
living matter causes more movement in the environment and more distribution of
atoms than one hundred pounds of inert matter.
AND -- One hundred pounds of “intelligent goal directed self-aware”
living matter causes even MORE movement in the environment and even MORE
distribution of atoms.
The
development of life and living organisms was inevitable and unavoidable. The development of intelligence and
self-consciousness was inevitable and unavoidable. (By the same line of reasoning, the
development of psychic powers, super consciousness, and machine consciousness
is probably also unavoidable.)
It
has nothing to do with God, or luck, or Fate, or any mystical super-natural intervention
or cosmic loop hole; it is just cold hard mathematics. Life destroys things faster, and moves the
parts about more, than “non-life” ever will.
This is entropy.
That is life.
This is entropy.
That is life.
Copyright©2016
William Schaeffer
Friday, January 8, 2016
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Sunday, January 3, 2016
The Largest Living Thing on Earth
The largest living animal is the Blue Whale. With an average weight of 110 tons and a maximum weight of 190 tons; this is a huge animal. With an average length of 79 feet the Blue Whale is the largest animal on Earth.
It is much larger that the African Elephant which is the largest land animal. Weighing 4.9 tons with a maximum of 12.7 tons the African elephant stands tall at 18 feet tall.
~
The largest plant is the General Sherman Giant Sequoia Red Wood Tree in California. It is the largest single stem tree on Earth. Standing at 275 feet tall, it is 2300 - 2700 years old. It has a Diameter of 25 feet and a Bole Volume of 52,513 Cubic Feet.
However this is NOT the largest living thing on Earth.
~
The largest single organism on Earth is a Honey Fungus in the Malheur National Forest, in the Blue Mountains of Oregon. It lives underground; beneath the floor of the forest. This fungus is 2400 years old and takes up 2,200 acres of land. It is 2.4 miles, or 3.8 kilometers across, at the thickest part.
This Honey Fungus is the largest living thing on Earth. It is one of several species of fungi in the Armillaria Genus. This is one big mushroom.
facts checked in Wikipedia
copyright(c)2016
William Schaeffer
*
Saturday, January 2, 2016
The Oldest Living Thing on Earth
The longest lived organisms on Earth are the Aspen Groves in Colorado. The entire grove grows from a single root system that can be as old as 60,000 - 70,000 years old. These trees are so old that they can no longer propagate by seeds. The climate has changed so much during their life span that the "proper" environmental triggers no longer exist in their habitat and they never go to seed.
copyright(c)2016
William Schaeffer
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