Florian Deltgen – Quick Abacus

August 22, 2024 Science and Philosophy

Chicken Licken says: Climate Dooms Day is Coming

Alexandria Ocasio Cortez said during a TV interview in 2017:
“The world is gonna end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change.”
A few months after her statement the clock in Union Square was changed to function as a “climate clock” indicating how much time mankind still has until global warming becomes an irreversible run-away phenomenon.

On August 18, 2024, when this was written, the dooms day clock showed 4 years, 338 days, zero hours, 30 minutes and zero seconds till dooms day.
In October of 1958, the New York Times wrote:
“Some scientists estimate that the polar ice pack is 40 percent thinner and 12 percent less in area than it was a half century ago, and that even within the lifetime of our children, the Arctic Ocean may open, enabling ships to sail over the North Pole.”
The article mentions that the arctic ice shield was on average about 7 feet thick then and today, it is still on average about 7 feet thick.

August 6, 2024 Economy

The Peace Dividend — A missed Opportunity

US Army statistics show that, during the Vietnam war, it took the US soldier about 200,000 rounds of 5.56 (.223) ammunition to incapacitate one threat soldier. The near-miss distance by which the average US soldier missed a threat soldier was about 51 cm (about two feet). The waste of ammunition was enormous and expensive.

Currently, all man-portable combat weapons still use cased ammunition. The shells are still mainly made from brass, which is an alloy of copper and zinc, both relatively expensive strategic metals of limited availability. All shells from fired rounds are wasted. In war, they end up somewhere in the environment and they can only be recycled when used under controlled conditions e.g., on a shooting range. The brass shell constitutes about 50% of the value of the .223 round. It also makes up over 50% of the space or volume a round consumes.

March 28, 2024 Political Ideologies

They only served the law – “Justice” as a political weapon.

When Stalin wanted to get rid of his political rivals or just of people he feared or disliked, he often sent agents of the secret state police, the Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел (NKVD), a euphemism, meaning People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs. Mostly, the person he disapproved of would just be arrested, whisked away, and executed in a dark cell of the Lubyanka prison or disappeared in a Siberian GULAG.

But eventually, Stalin wanted something more spectacular. A procedure that would crush and destroy his adversary and mark him in the eyes of the Soviet population and the global public (the world press) as a common criminal, whose destruction is well deserved by his unlawful actions. This was typically accomplished by a political show trial.

March 21, 2024 Science and Philosophy

Motorcycle Riding – a Moving Addiction

I have been riding motorcycles since I was 16. Since then, there have not been two consecutive years in my life when I did not own and ride a motorcycle. I had them all. BMW, Zündapp, NSU, Horex, Münch, Laverda, Benelli, Moto Guzzi, Ducati, Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Suzuki, you name them, and of course, Harley-Davidson. I went through rigorous training in Germany, where my Yugoslav riding teacher even taught me how to act in the event the bike slips on slick autumn leaves or on wet cobble stones. I am now 83. I never had a serious accident, and I am still riding my Harley-Davidson Softail Heritage Custom 200th Anniversary Edition.

I ask myself often: why am I still doing this? It is clearly dangerous, and I know I should quit and yet I would rather sacrifice a few years of my life than give up motorcycle riding. Stupidity? Old-age blockheadedness? Lack of responsibility? Give me liberty or give me death?

March 14, 2024 Culture and Religion

Christian Non-Violence and the Sermon of the Mount

During the Sermon of the Mount Jesus is reported to have said this:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.”

This passage has been interpreted in many different ways.

March 7, 2024 Culture and Religion / Political Ideologies

What is Hamas?

Hamas is an Islamist militant movement and one of the Palestinian territories’ two major political parties. It governs more than two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, but the group is best known for its armed terrorist actions against Israel.

Hamas has fired rockets and mortars into Israel since the group took over the Gaza Strip in the mid-2000s. Iranian security officials have said that Iran provided some of these weapons, but that Hamas gained the ability to build its own missiles after training with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and proxies.

In recent years, Israel estimated that Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups in Gaza had about thirty thousand rockets and mortars in their arsenal. Hamas militants have flown balloons carrying incendiary devices toward Israel, which have sometimes caused fires. The group has also carried out incursions into Israeli territory, killing and kidnapping soldiers and civilians.

February 27, 2024 Political Ideologies / World

Tucker Carlson’s Interview with Vladimir Putin

Carlson’s interview avoided the key confrontational issues. The opening question should have been: “Mr. Putin, why did you order the invasion of a sovereign neighboring country, a UN member state?” Judging from Putin’s other responses he would probably have replied: “Ukraine is not a sovereign country. It has always been part of Russia. Both politically and culturally.” That reply would not have been supported by the historical facts. But what else could Putin have said?

When Carlson asked Putin if he would invade Poland, Putin said he would not do that because it “is not in Russia’s interest”. In other words: Putin deems any action he takes as justified as long as the action reflects the best interest of Russia – or what he thinks that is. This shows clearly that Putin is a “Realpolitiker”: He acts within the limits of what his power allows him to do. Considerations such as the right of a nation to exist as an independent nation state or limitations of international law are irrelevant to him.

February 8, 2024 Culture and Religion / Economy

The Marginalization of African Americans through Illegal Immigration.

When I look at the endless stream of young male illegal immigrants flowing across our southern border, I have to ask myself, what the likely consequences might be of this ongoing event. Proponents of illegal immigration typically make no difference between legal and illegal immigration. Their most frequently heard arguments in favor of illegal immigration are approximately these four:
No human being is illegal. These are just undocumented immigrants.
Illegal immigrants are fleeing from political persecution.
Illegal immigrants fill all those jobs in our economy that pampered Americans do not want to have.
Illegal immigrants are only illegal because our laws make them illegal. Therefore, we must find ways to citizenship for them.

Let me discuss these arguments.

February 1, 2024 Political Ideologies

Trump = Hitler ?

Two days before the New Hampshire Republican Primary, my old friend, Richard Feldman, former Executive Director of the American Shooting Sports Council, and current President of the Independent Firearms Owners’ Association, wrote me an email stating that he kept silent too long and that he now needs to endorse Nikki Haley. He wrote:

“Firearms owners across the country demand that an American President stand firm in support of our cherished Bill of Rights, including the 2nd Amendment that protects our right to keep and bear arms. Donald Trump will not be such a President. While on occasion he has sought the votes of firearms owners, he has elsewhere made it painfully clear that he will “terminate all rules, regulations and articles, even those found in the Constitution” to have his way on any issue. Trump has stated he intends to be an absolute dictator on day one of his administration. Just one day, one is one too many! His unprincipled “Art of the Deal” mentality and his oft demonstrated lust for unrestrained personal power means that no Trump commitment to any position can be trusted. … In simple terms, we have no confidence in Trumps’ pledge to uphold and protect the gun rights of law-abiding citizens”.

I answered:

January 25, 2024 Culture and Religion

Was Muhammed a white man with “blackophobia”?

As of July 1, 2020, African Americans represented 13.4 % of the total population of the USA. But approximately 24% of all Muslims in the USA are African Americans. This means that African Americans are nearly 100% overrepresented among Muslims. It would seem that the conclusion is not inappropriate that Islam must have a special attraction for African Americans.

If so, I cannot help but finding this rather odd, since Muhammed was probably white and had an aversion against everything black and since Islam did not only play a major role in the history of international slave trade but is also the only world religion that still endorses slavery, if only implicitly.

If you believe that my assertions are untrue, read the following explanations that are all based on accepted Hadith texts, the Hadith being the accepted stories about the life of the Prophet. I am providing the narrator, i.e., the person who reported the fact, and the reference. i.e., the Hadith source, where the text can be found. If you doubt the correctness of the English translation I am using, I can provide the Arabic text.