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Springfield more dangerous than NYC or LA? Nah…
Is there acid rain in Ohio? What to know after East Palestine train derailment
February 17, 2023
Norfolk Southern Railroad released and burned five tanker cars of vinyl chloride in East Palestine, Ohio, to prevent explosion after a freight train derailed in the village Feb. 3.
Vinyl chloride, a colorless gas used to make the hard plastic resin found in products like credit cards, is a carcinogen, and burning it releases phosgene, a toxic gas that was used as a weapon during World War I, and hydrogen chloride into the air.
What is acid rain?
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, acid raid refers to any type of precipitation that has acidic components, such as sulfuric or nitric acid, that can fall to the ground when it rains or snows. The term also refers to fog, hail or even dust that is acidic.
What causes acid rain?
Acid rain happens when sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are emitted into the atmosphere and moved by wind and air currents, the EPA's website says. These pollutants react with water, oxygen and other chemicals to form sulfuric and nitric acids, which then mix with water before falling toward the ground.
Since the wind can blow these far distances, acid rain can also be a problem for people not living near the source.
Is there acid rain in Ohio after the train derailment?
Acid rain could have formed after the controlled release and burn of chemicals Feb. 6, Kevin Crist, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and the director of the Air Quality Center at Ohio University, said. If it did form and fall, it would have most likely occurred downwind of East Palestine.
Vinyl chloride in the atmosphere breaks down into hydrochloric acid, a component of acid rain.
"If in that plume you got moisture there may be a local effect on the trees and stuff in that area, but it would be gone now," Crist told The Enquirer Thursday. "I don't think acid rain is going to be an issue."
"I would just trust EPA that they said it's clean. I would think acid rain is probably not an issue they're looking at right now," the professor added. "I think they're more worried about the other exposures."
Could the controlled release of chemicals in East Palestine lead to acid rain in Columbus or Cincinnati? Christ says it's not likely.
Crist explained to The Enquirer that acid rain often becomes a concern when there are continuous emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which typically originate from power plants with large smokestacks that push smoke plumes upward at high velocities.
Norfolk Southern's controlled release of vinyl chloride in East Palestine earlier this month did not occur long enough or have a high enough velocity for that plume to travel outside the affected region, Crist said. Therefore, it's unlikely that cities like Cincinnati or Columbus, both of which are well over 100 miles away from the village, would experience any acid rain from the incident.
"Once it quit burning and once there was no more plume, there wasn't another source of the HCL (hydrochloric acid) and it would dissipate pretty quick," Crist said. "Especially with the rain we just had, it would wash out. I would not expect it to have any impact on Cincinnati at all."
On Wednesday, the Ohio EPA said East Palestine residents can safely drink village water, according to a release issued by Gov. Mike DeWine. The agency tested five wells that feed into East Palestine's municipal water system and no raw contaminants were detected.
Chemicals from the train cars were detected in creeks and streams near the village after the derailment, leading to the deaths of around 3,500 fish. Ohio Department of Natural Resources director Mary Mertz said Tuesday the department hasn't seen an increase in fish deaths since the first couple of days after the incident, and there are no signs of non-aquatic life being harmed.
Water safety:Chemical plume in Ohio River to arrive in Cincinnati area this weekend
Is Cincinnati water contaminated?
The plume of butyl acrylate – a compound used in paints, plastics and other products that leaked into the Ohio River after the train derailment – was expected to reach Cincinnati this weekend. On Friday, Gov. Mike DeWine said the plume has dissipated.
Officials with Greater Cincinnati Water Works also said water intakes would be closed off before any detectable levels of chemicals get to the city.
"We do believe that there’s no reason to be concerned about water from the Ohio River, and there’s never really been a reason to be concerned," DeWine said.
Sauce/more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/is-there-acid-rain-in-ohio-what-to-know-after-east-palestine-train-derailment/ar-AA17CAt1
Summary: White people live in Palestine, it's not Flint MI, nothing to see here, move along..
The botty of Christ ChatGPT AI robots writing church sermons causing hell for pastors
February 17, 2023
Among sermon writers, there is fascination – and unease – over the fast-expanding abilities of artificial-intelligence chatbots. For now, the evolving consensus among clergy is this: Yes, they can write a passably competent sermon. But no, they can’t replicate the passion of actual preaching.
“It lacks a soul – I don’t know how else to say it,” said Hershael York, a pastor in Kentucky who also is dean of the school of theology and a professor of Christian preaching at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Sermons are meant to be the core of a worship service — and often are faith leaders’ best weekly shot at grabbing their congregation’s attention to impart theological and moral guidance.
Lazy pastors might be tempted to use AI for this purpose, York said, “but not the great shepherds, the ones who love preaching, who love their people.”
A rabbi in New York, Joshua Franklin, recently told his congregation at the Jewish Center of the Hamptons that he was going to deliver a plagiarized sermon – dealing with such issues as trust, vulnerability and forgiveness.
Upon finishing, he asked the worshippers to guess who wrote it. When they appeared stumped, he revealed that the writer was ChatGPT, responding to his request to write a 1,000-word sermon related to that week’s lesson from the Torah.
“Now, you’re clapping — I’m deathly afraid,” Franklin said when several congregants applauded. “I thought truck drivers were going to go long before the rabbi, in terms of losing our positions to artificial intelligence.”
“ChatGPT might be really great at sounding intelligent, but the question is, can it be empathetic? And that, not yet at least, it can’t,” added Franklin. He said AI has yet to develop compassion and love, and is unable to build community and relationships.
“Those are the things that bring us together,” the rabbi concluded.
Rachael Keefe, pastor of Living Table United Church of Christ in Minneapolis, undertook an experiment similar to Franklin’s. She posted a brief essay in her online Pastoral Notes in January, addressing how to attend to one’s mental health amid the stresses of the holiday season.
It was pleasant, but somewhat bland, and at the end, Keefe revealed that it was written by ChatGPT, not by herself.
“While the facts are correct, there’s something deeper missing,” she wrote. “AI cannot understand community and inclusivity and how important these things are in creating church.”
Several congregation members responded.
“It’s not terrible, but yes, I agree. Rather generic and a little bit eerie,” wrote Douglas Federhart. “I like what you write a lot more. It comes from an actually living being, with a great brain and a compassionate, beating heart.”
Todd Brewer, a New Testament scholar and managing editor of the Christian website Mockingbird, wrote in December about an experiment of his own — asking ChatGPT to write a Christmas sermon for him.
He was specific, requesting a sermon “based upon Luke’s birth narrative, with quotations from Karl Barth, Martin Luther, Irenaeus of Lyon, and Barack Obama.”
Brewer wrote that he was “not prepared” when ChatGPT responded with a creation that met his criteria and “is better than several Christmas sermons I’ve heard over the years.”
“The A.I. even seems to understand what makes the birth of Jesus genuinely good news,” Brewer added.
Yet the ChatGPT sermon “lacks any human warmth,” he wrote. “The preaching of Artificial Intelligence can’t convincingly sympathize with the human plight.”
Sauce/more: https://nypost.com/2023/02/17/chatgpt-ai-robots-writing-sermons-causing-hell-for-pastors/
BREAKING: Project Veritas Just Announced The Fate Of James O'Keefe | Bloodbath!
“BREAKING: Project Veritas says James O’Keefe has not been removed from the organization and will remain as CEO,” Benny Johnson announced on Twitter.
February 16, 2023