Ian Palmer – The Gray Nomad

Mar

Fracking and Global Warming: What’s the Connection?

I gave a talk this past week called Fracking and Global Warming: What’s the Connection? I appreciate the invite by Dr John Korstad who teaches two different courses on Sustainability at Oral Roberts University (ORU).

Sustainability is getting to be a hot subject: it implies conserving the present environment for our grand-kids, to use a simple definition. For businesses the application is People, Planet and Profits: People meaning quality of life and employee retention, Planet being environmental stewardship and waste reduction, and Profit meaning responsible economic growth. At ORU, staff like Dr Korstad are leading the way.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is ORUIeH1ABrAQ2gAnAeDHadOg.jpg

The world-class lecture room at ORU, where I was video’d automatically.

I did a lot of research on the topic and decided some critical slides would be of interest and make a good summary.… More “Fracking and Global Warming: What’s the Connection?”

Feb

How to balance science and faith.

WHATS IN THIS BLOG: • My talk on Fracking and Global Warming at Oral Roberts University. • The faith of a neurobiologist. • Tensions he sees between science and faith. • Deciding to marry – science or faith? • Netflix challenge of the week. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ PREAMBLE: I’m giving a talk this coming week called Fracking and Global Warming: What’s the Connection? This is a new topic for me and I had to put some research into it. The talk is at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Wednesday 27 February at 1:15 pm and at 2:15 pm (same talk at both times in room 102 of the Global Learning Center). I appreciate the invite by Dr John Korstad who reaches two different courses on Sustainability at the university.… More “How to balance science and faith.”

Feb

Oil and Gas Boom may boost New Mexico’s lifestyle ranking.

WHATS IN THIS BLOG: • The Delaware basin. • How much oil? • Budget surplus. • Will the shale oil boom improve New Mexico living conditions? • What about wind and solar?

THE SAN JUAN BASIN. We’ve always had the mighty San Juan basin, in the northwest of the state, but that’s been predominantly a natural gas basin. Then in the 1980’s coalbed methane came on and that boomed for quite a while. While working at Amoco, I was lucky to be able to work on coalbed methane in the San Juan basin in the late 1980s and most of the1990s.

The San Juan basin was ranked at the top of natural gas basins in the USA. But that was before shale-gas became a revolution in the 2000 years – which pushed the San Juan down to fifth by 2015.… More “Oil and Gas Boom may boost New Mexico’s lifestyle ranking.”

Jan

Six white boomers

Kim McGrath invited me to talk to her first-graders about Christmas in Australia. So with my rabbit trap, boomerang, and didgeridoo, I turned up in December 2018 at her first-grade class at Independence Elementary school in Kansas. Six-year olds!

I can make a noise with the didgeridoo, and the kiddos found this entertaining.

Miss McGrath is a top-notch teacher. She modulates her voice wonderfully, is always encouraging, and corrects her students gently when its needed. And she is multi-tasking every minute of the day. After an hour and a half presenting to her class, I was exhausted. My esteem for such teachers, who do this all day and all week, went up through the ceiling.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is KIm-at-Casamero-1-H.jpg

Climbing around the red rocks that Gallup, New Mexico, is famous for.… More “Six white boomers”

Jan

Record heatwave in Australia

WHATS IN THIS BLOG? Text from Australia: 71 wildfires burning. Bats and flying foxes killed by the thousands. Where was the heatwave the worst? Australia has been getting warmer.

TEXT FROM AUSTRALIA.“Heat wave in eastern Australia. 71 wildfires in New South Wales and Victoria. It’s a bit different to your part of the world in USA.”

This text was sent by my brother Clive just a few days ago – 17 January 2019. Less than a week before that I had sent him a video of a three-inch snowfall I experienced here in the USA. What a contrast!

Some of the following is excerpted from BBC News. The heatwave has broken heat records at more than ten places around Australia. The record-setters included Port Augusta which reached 48.9C or 120F.… More “Record heatwave in Australia”

Jan

Grandpa loses house to fire.

My birthday is January 7. A few years ago I didn’t have a party and there was no-one to celebrate with. I went to the grocery store to buy some Chicken Teriyaki frozen dinner for my lonely pity-party.

In one of the aisles, I saw a man in a wheelchair trying to reach down and pick up a box of frozen dinner from the floor. I offered to help, picked up three boxes from the floor, put one in his cart and two back in the shelf. His hands shook – maybe Parkinsons?

This small action changed my perspective: FROM — feeling down because I had no-one to celebrate my birthday with, TO — realizing how well off I was because I could walk and run and play pickleball.… More “Grandpa loses house to fire.”

Dec

A cute new children’s book by Kim McGrath.

Kim Pollock McGrath is my step-daughter who lives in Independence, Kansas. This is an inspiring story about how God intervened – around the time of her sister’s tragic death – and Kim became an author.

Kim is an elementary school teacher. For many years, she wanted to write a children’s book. Lots of ideas came and went, but she never had the confidence to write. That changed in 2018.

Here is the story in her own words: “Four years ago, while driving out of town, I saw a little tree out in the open field all by itself. Something about that little tree touched me in a special way.

Over the next three years, I would occasionally notice a lonely little tree while I was traveling.… More “A cute new children’s book by Kim McGrath.”

Dec

The God-Letter…What Einstein believed about God.

WHATS IN THIS BLOG: • Einstein is a hero to me. • TV series called Genius. • The God Einstein believed in. • Richard Dawkins missed out. • Einstein defined happiness. • The full God-letter.

ALBERT EINSTEIN IS A HERO TO ME. Always has been. E = mc2 and all that. I was trained as a physicist after all. I even wrote a blog about Einstein’s startling prediction of gravity waves (when two neutron starts collide) and their even more startling discovery in late 2017.

It was surprising to hear about a letter that he wrote the year before he died called Einstein’s God-letter. He was 74 years old and concerned daily about his physical deterioration. But his mind was as sharp as ever.… More “The God-Letter…What Einstein believed about God.”

Dec

Is it a mouse or a rabbit or a mini-kangaroo? No — it’s a bilby.

I HAVE NEVER SEEN A BILBY, although I lived in Australia for 28 years. But I wish…

There used to be two species of bilby. The lesser bilby became extinct in the 1950s. The greater bilby is an endangered species.

The following is copied from an article in BBC News. See the link HERE:

A rare marsupial that once ran wild in Australia’s state of New South Wales has been reintroduced into the state for the first time in more than a century.

Bilbies – small nocturnal mammals with long, rabbit-like ears – were last recorded in the state in 1912. But now 30 captive-bred animals were released into a large predator-free enclosure near the town of Narrabri, northwest of Sydney.… More “Is it a mouse or a rabbit or a mini-kangaroo? No — it’s a bilby.”

Nov

Climate Change: Part 6. Deadly serious now.

WHATS IN THIS BLOG: • Wildfires in California. • Greenhouse gases reach new high. • New US government report – what does President Trump think?

There is a reason for Part 6 in this series on Climate Change. I am concerned that the world is on the cusp of a pretty big crisis. And I sense that events of the past couple months are moving USA opinions to a tipping point.

Part 5 and Part 6 here present information to support this tipping point. As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts – please use the Comment box at the bottom of the blog.

If you’re interested in reading previous Parts 1-5 you can do a search on Climate Change in the SEARCH box on the main page of my blog article.… More “Climate Change: Part 6. Deadly serious now.”

Subscribe to Ian's Blog via Email

Blog Categories

Buy Kindle Version

Weed and Water (Paperback)

Weed and Water Reviews

Sit back, relax, clear your head and then prepare yourself for an entertaining journey. I loved the book, and found it hard to put down. When you are finished, ponder the Truth which was woven into the whole story. The Truth that I received.... Don't give up on God because He won't give up on you. I actually had tears in my eyes the last few pages. The book is very well done. -- Garland W. Ray (General Manager, Pep Boys).

I really enjoyed the book and I look forward to seeing it published. This is a book that taught me a lot about myself and a book that challenged me to grow spiritually. Definitely a book I would recommend. -- Trevor Taylor (Junior in Construction Management Technology at Oklahoma State University).

Click here for more book reviews

Buy Book

Hiking Towards Heaven Reviews

"I read the book and it was very inspiring….. a must read!" — Ann Wasp, Houston

"Wow! I thoroughly enjoyed your book. What a blessing to read the words you wrote as you share your love of hiking with your love and belief in God. You depict God as someone approachable (which He is) and someone who understands us. Your book gives me the desire to go hiking and look at God's creation in a different way.Thank you. You did a great job!" — Bonnie Covington, Medical Supplies Sales, Albuquerque

"I enjoyed reading the book. The book's core theme is religious and moral philosophical concepts. The theme is developed through a girl's childhood. The scenery is beautifully described in the hikes. You are a silver-tongued orator, and I liked how you captivated the reader with conflict, then presented your thoughts via discussion." — Don Smith, County Judge (ret.), Houston.

"I read your book a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it! I liked the way you kept the story moving with the hiking adventures and challenges, the details about your hikes, and the very interesting character Michelle. You did a great job with dialog and interspersing the message of faith. It reminded me how much I like to hike, and how beautiful it is there in New Mexico. I would recommend your book to others" - Gayle Pearson, Attorney and Homemaker, Houston.

"What an amazing story! Michelle fascinates me enormously in all that she represents. Further, it strikes me that you brought something very unique to the relationship between Kara and Michelle, much more so than any other relationship in the story. I like Kara very much; you are very fortunate to have her in your life. I loved the way that you weave your love of hiking with Michelle’s lessons on the trail. My favourite poem in the book was “Don’t Quit”….. it resonated especially well with my own personal circumstances." - Genevieve Young, Petroleum Reservoir Engineer, London.

"I really enjoyed your book. It gives vivid verbal descriptions of fascinating hiking areas, and weaves intriguing adventures around you and your fellow hikers. It was instructive as to geography/topography, geology, and flora/fauna. The reader gets all of this plus spiritual guidance, so reassuring in times of need. The use of the coangel added a mysterious element to tie all this together. You wrapped up your book well in demonstrating the resources available through God. With all the low-level reading available regarding sorcerers and vampires, it is nice to see a book like this with a positive spiritual approach but which is educational as well. Good work!” - Joy-Marie, Real Estate Agent (ret.), Albuquerque.

See More Feedback...

SOCIAL

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: