Mark Meek's Ideas: February 2025

Thursday, February 27, 2025

Bahrain

Bahrain is an island nation not far from the coast of Saudi Arabia, in the Persian Gulf. It is connected to Saudi Arabia by the King Fahd Causeway, named for the Saudi king of that name. The royal family in Bahrain is the Al Khalifa but Bahrain is a constitutional monarchy, meaning that the king does not have absolute power. The majority of the population of Bahrain is Shiite Moslem, but the ruling family is Sunni.

Much of the population of Bahrain is foreign workers, particularly from India.

The capital city of Bahrain is Manama, at the north end of the island that faces out to sea. This is the central area of Manama. The first eight images are from Google Street View.

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >, After clicking the up arrow, you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@26.2323957,50.5822423,3a,75y,180h,110t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipPBwS7LqXP-c-sSkHCMdP6ngf8PyBQYDKgqnih7!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPBwS7LqXP-c-sSkHCMdP6ngf8PyBQYDKgqnih7%3Dw900-h600-k-no-pi-20-ya141.0578956604004-ro0-fo100!7i7680!8i3840?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MTEyNC4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

This is more of the central city of Manama. The water around Bahrain is shallow, and it looks as if quite a bit of land re-claimation has been done. The first four images are from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@26.2339424,50.5428878,3a,75y,136.5h,92.93t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipOH0CFgwviejk8s51i7PVGKkDFb1zCRJFPk-Wan!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOH0CFgwviejk8s51i7PVGKkDFb1zCRJFPk-Wan%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-2.9338646-ya94.50001-ro-0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352

This is the part of the modern waterfront of Manama known as Seef. The first four images of Seef are from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@26.2390927,50.5353175,3a,75y,76.05h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNL5htIsUz8CQ6gn5D35SuKDdoHPTWWsDN6YJi8!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNL5htIsUz8CQ6gn5D35SuKDdoHPTWWsDN6YJi8%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya74.51981-ro-0-fo100!7i11942!8i5971

Bahrain looks modern but it actually very old, going back far into ancient times. Here is a look at the older part of Manama. The first five images of the older part of Manama are from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@26.2231915,50.5870668,3a,75y,304.05h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNL8zULBDaF7SsBa8AhPf3XP2E65phshka1Hddy!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNL8zULBDaF7SsBa8AhPf3XP2E65phshka1Hddy%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi1.7999606-ya125.88576-ro0.3514314-fo100!7i5760!8i2880

Near the center of Manama, and close to the waterfront, is Bahrain Fort. This is where Bahrain really began. Buildings are believed to have existed on this site since the time of the Pyramids of Giza, in Egypt. Bahrain has been part of many empires over thousands of years, going back to Assyria and Babylon, followed by the Persians and the Greeks. This has historically been the focal point of Bahrain. The first four images are from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@26.2332172,50.5208664,3a,75y,358.1h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipO5Gl_uSMz3jH_C2ESMuOZ4NlWcQjZbn0B4mrzs!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipO5Gl_uSMz3jH_C2ESMuOZ4NlWcQjZbn0B4mrzs%3Dw900-h600-k-no-pi0-ya358.0994656422592-ro0-fo100!7i5660!8i2830?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MTEyNC4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

There was an ancient civilization called the Dilmun. They were active in trading by ship on the Persian Gulf, and part of their territory was Bahrain. The Dilmun were very important to the Sumerians and Akkadians.

This is the fort further south on Bahrain, Salman Bin Ahmed Fort and also known as Riffa Fort, that was built over two centuries ago. The first four images are from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@26.1177504,50.5628208,3a,75y,88.66h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipN_jUdVx6OERyOEcpUbNVfF2i7HfFP4shdrt92m!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipN_jUdVx6OERyOEcpUbNVfF2i7HfFP4shdrt92m%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya88.50476-ro-0-fo100!7i5660!8i2830

This is the western part of the island of Bahrain.

https://www.google.com/maps/@26.0846081,50.4960551,3a,75y,316.5h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipO8ksksTBRdHM8AQkxCpGrSy3rfH8aVx6yN52jM!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipO8ksksTBRdHM8AQkxCpGrSy3rfH8aVx6yN52jM%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya183.50002-ro-0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352

Finally, further south is the Bahrain International Circuit, where the Bahrain Grand Prix of auto racing is held.

https://www.google.com/maps/@26.0310491,50.5097539,3a,75y,322.5h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipO0l1HVFrtkGzVreEqT9UgkV2bk9SJ5idjOqngM!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipO0l1HVFrtkGzVreEqT9UgkV2bk9SJ5idjOqngM%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya50.500015-ro-0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352

The People Of The Printing Press

With attention on the Church, because the days of Pope Francis seem to be numbered, I would like to explain who the Protestants are.

One invention opened up an entirely new dimension in religion. That invention was the printing press.

All major religions have some kind of sacred scriptures. But until the invention of the printing press all such scriptures had to be handwritten. This made books very rare and valuable. A monk might spend his life making a copy of the Bible.

At Hereford Cathedral there is still a library where the books are chained to the shelf. This is because, before the printing press, books were so valuable. The following illustration and caption are from the Wikipedia article "Hereford Cathedral Library".

There was no reason for the average person to be literate because they would probably never see a book in their lifetime. Stained glass windows, in churches, were intended as a "picture book" for people who couldn't read and didn't have access to books.

This made necessary religious leaders, who had access to training in the scriptures. The average person could only go by what they were told, as far as what to believe. This meant that the religious establishment had a tremendous amount of power over people, which sometimes invited corruption.

The printing press was invented in the Fifteenth Century. The city that is most associated with it is Mainz, in Germany. The printing press changed everything. Books could be mass-produced, instead of laboriously copied by hand. For the first time, mass education became possible. Knowledge need no longer be the preserve of the very few.

The Renaissance had been going on in Europe. This is from a French word meaning "rebirth", although it wasn't called that at the time. The Renaissance was all about regaining knowledge that had been lost during the "Dark Ages", and gaining new knowledge. A major factor driving the Renaissance was the conquest of Constantinople (renamed Istanbul) by the Ottomans. This led many scholars to load manuscripts onto pack animals and move to Western Europe. This drove the intellectual reawakening.

The printing press and these new manuscripts were made for each other. The manuscripts were mass printed and many more people were educated than formerly. This changed the whole social order.

Nothing would change the social order like the mass printing of the Bible. It would change the whole world. What would become of the established church if people could read the Bible for themselves? They wouldn't need the church to "interpret" it for them anymore. Priests had always been among the few educated people but what would happen to their status if many people were educated?

The leadership of the Catholic Church felt threatened by anyone being able to read the Bible for themselves, and did all they could to stop the printing and distribution of Bibles. William Tyndale, from my native Gloucestershire, was heroic in translating and distributing the Bible in English, and was finally martyred for it.

Not only did the printing press make possible mass education and people reading the Bible for themselves, anyone could now express their opinions more widely by printing and distributing pamphlets. This included opinions on corruption in the established church.

What ended up happening is that northern Europe, with the exception of Ireland, split from the Catholic Church. This is known as the Reformation and the now non-Catbolic Christians were known as Protestants, because they were protesting against corruption in the Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church tried to stop the separation by force. It was ultimately unsuccessful but resulted in a century of warfare. This was the second great separation. Nearly five hundred years before the eastern Catholics had separated to form the Eastern Orthodox Church.

With many more people educated, and anyone able to read the Bible for themselves, religious leaders had much less of a role with the Protestants. There was no requirement to believe the same as everyone else. There was no set Protestant belief system, other than the Bible. Anyone could read the Bible for themselves and decide which church to join, or start their own church.

This was the beginning of the modern idea of freedom. From this Protestant idea of religious freedom came democracy and free enterprise. These were not new ideas but had never been implemented on a large scale until the Reformation. America, with it's emphasis on freedom, is very much a Protestant creation.

Protestants had a strong sense of progress and improvement and it is no coincidence that the Reformation, in northern Europe, was followed by the Industrial Revolution.

The risk of regimented religious services is that it will foster a "follower" mentality and, if the society should ever secularize, the people will then be prone to follow a dictator. Protestants are free and it is striking that there has never been a Protestant dictator. Adolf Hitler gained control of historically-mostly Protestant Germany, where the Reformation actually started, but he was from a Catholic family and his original power base was mostly-Catholic Bavaria.

When a religion has a power center and a powerful leader, although it may have been necessary before the printing press, it may breed conflict and corruption. Protestants have no such center or leader, everyone is free to read the Bible and think for themselves. The result is lack of conflict. The only primarily religious war between Protestants that I can think of is England's Civil War, between the Puritans and Royalists (Cavaliers).

What Protestants have, instead of an all-powerful leader, are evangelists. There are multiple evangelists, anyone can become an evangelist and people can listen to whichever ones they like. Evangelists have no actual authority.

Following the Reformation, the Catholic Church implemented it's own Counter-Reformation. This brought about many of the reforms that had been demanded in the first place. If these reforms had been carried out before the Reformation, there probably wouldn't have been a Reformation. So much of what the Catholic Church is today is the result of the Counter-Reformation. This means that the Catholic Church is a Reformed church also, and Pope Francis has praised the Reformation.

There is a downside to Protestantism that, as a Protestant myself, I am the first to admit. Protestants are the most individualistic people in the world because the printing press empowered the individual, over the establishment, as the internet is doing today. But there are people who need someone to tell them what to think and what to believe, and cannot stand not "fitting in" with other people. This is the reason for cults.

Apocalyptic Developments

Donald Trump is really shaking up the world. He has apparently sided with Russia and discontinued USAID, as well as basically telling Europe that it's on it's own. The only thing for Europe to do is to step forward and take charge of things. To do this, it will have to have one leader of it's own that can deal with the likes of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.

I am sure that Europe can come up with the greatest leader that the world has ever seen and can lead the world to paradise, well at least for a few years until it all falls apart.

It appears that Pope Francis is nearing the end of his life. John Paul II made the papacy into a powerful position and we should expect that the Pope of the time will have some role in the scenario that we saw in "The End Of The World As We Know It", December 2024. Although I am not trying to predict what that role will be.

It does look like Donald Trump is on a mission. He had to lose the 2020 Election so that he could have the present term. Satan twice tried to assassinate him during the campaign for reelection.

Are Icicles Really That Bad?

The conventional wisdom is that icicles are a symptom of wasted heat. The expensive heat supposedly leaks through a poorly insulated roof and melts the snow. But just as soon as the water flows off the roof it refreezes into icicles.

But I question this. While no roof is likely to be perfectly insulated, the angle of the roof is also a factor. The sun is low in the sky in the winter and the closer to vertical the roof is the more directly the snow on it is exposed to the sun's rays.

The roof on this shed is angled. When the temperature is around the freezing point, notice how the snow on the lower section of the roof melts first. This is because the lower section is more vertical, and thus the snow on it is more directly exposed to the sun's rays.

The same principle applies to any angled roof. It exposes the snow on it more directly to the sun's rays, which causes it to melt, but, when the temperature is not far below freezing, it refreezes as it drips off the roof.

What is an indicator of losing heat is when there is a light dusting of snow on the roof and you can see the outlines of the rafters in the snow.

The Planetary Lineup

With the planetary lineup this week, remember that there is a lot of writing here about the planets. The second and third of the following postings are book-length.

"Stargazing", February 2024.

"Our Solar System", October 2022.

"The Configuration Of The Solar System Made Really Simple", March 2017.

In other news, the tomb of an Egyptian Pharaoh was found recently. In the posting "Ramesses I", July 2016, we saw that the mummy of this pharaoh was in a museum in Niagara Falls for more than a century, but it's identity was unknown. After it was identified as Ramesses I, using modern technology, it was given back to Egypt.

I have been interested in space every since I took the following children's book out of the library at 60th Street School when I was in third grade.

Thursday, February 20, 2025

Qatar

Qatar is the small country, on a peninsula in the Persian Gulf, that is known for it's news service, Al Jazeera. The country is also known for it's wealth. In 2021, Qatar emerged from an economic boycott by it's neighbors. The general consensus is that the boycott was less-than-successful.

I read quite a few articles from Al Jazeera.

The following scenes are around an older area of Doha, Qatar's capital city, with the modern buildings in the background, built from Qatar's tremendous wealth of oil and gas. The first three images are from Google Street View.