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By William Van Zyl (June 2021)
Vintery, mintery, cutery, corn,
Apple seed and apple thorn,
Wire, briar, limber lock
Three geese in a flock
One flew East
One flew West
And one flew over the Bionic Flying Fox’s nest.
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In the artificial nest lay two eggs – not a bird in sight. Below the nest – and interwoven in the dry grass – was a cobweb of shiny copper wire. The heat-sensing camera saw tiny waves of heat emitting from the delicate copper wires. A dim red light lit up the room. The nest was cosy-warm.
Against the wall were several charts on navigation, breeding, mating, feeding, migration, aeronautical facts, bird-decision-making, raising baby chicks, the evolution of birds, and more.
“Bird decision-making” read the title of one of the massive posters. Sophisticated sketches and annotations enlightened the detail. The different decision making patterns were dissected and grouped together in clusters — a fabulous display of bird-thinking.
The charts and posters showed mechanical gears, arms, rods, axles, electronics, lithium batteries, Bluetooth codes, Wi-Fi codes, and electrical circuits. Intricate computer code covered the third wall.
A giant computer was on display in the corner of the room – showing a large screen and motherboard. Next to it hung a ‘golden chandelier’ from the ceiling. Many cables, tubes, and wires ran from the chandelier to the computer screen. The room was cold, sterile cold—the inscription on the base of the ice-cold ‘chandelier’ read Quantum Computing IBM.
On the screen, delicate and intricate computer code ran at lightning speed across the computer screen monitor.
A ‘flying fox’ – a giant bat – hung suspended from the ceiling in bright white colours. It seemed feather-light – swaying slowly.
The bat started to move – it vibrated. Then, it opened its enormous wings. Like a delicate Protea flower, it arched its two large ’petals’. An extravagant two-meter wingspan unfolded.
That was one flew over the Bionic Flying Fox’s nest. Please wait. I have another flight planned. We will take a flight over a day – day 5 – about 4000 to 5000 years ago. I will endeavour to show you a bird’s eye view of all the birds and sea animals on our planet. Yes, you have heard right. All the millions of species in one day – all described in a couple of paragraphs. Wait for it.
But first, details about the design work of Festo in Germany.
Table of Contents
The prompt for flying more than once over Festo’s Bionic Flying Fox and Smartbird’s nest
I have been listening to a book on writing by the well-known author Roy Peter Clark – Murder you Darlings – on the Audible app. He refers to many other authors who have written books on writing. In fact, it ranges from Aristotle to William Zinsser. Excellent book on developing your writing skills. Well done, Mister Clark. Another compliment, sir – your book ‘Writing Tools’ is one of my favourites and sits proudly on my shelf close to where I can reach it.
At the same time, I have discovered the brilliant work by Festo on flying and creeping things – referring to the images and videos in this article. Festo’s implementation of technology is absolutely stunning. See links to their work in the articles: Smartbird, Bionic Flying Fox, AquaJelly, BionicWheelBot, AirRay, and more. Robots powered by lithium batteries, plastic gears, microprocessors, small electrical motors, receivers, transmitters, arms, rods, axles, and more lightweight parts and components are revealed. See the specifications sheet of the Smartbird in this article by Festo.
To reflect on Leonardo Da Vinci’s pioneering design work, here is one of his sketches: Flying Machine 1452-1519. This will place the primitive design of Da Vinci in contrast with the modern design techniques for flying things by Festo and then, ultimately comparing it to the design work of Jehovah (another flight). It is a beautiful comparison that provides just so much scientific and design insight.
Here is one of Leonardo’s earlier sketches for a flying machine.
Title: Disegni di Leonardo da Vinci
Creator: Leonardo, da Vinci, 1452-1519
Contributor: Prints by Carlo Giuseppe Gerli
Date: 1789
Published: Trieste: La Roccia, 1974 (Reprint of the 1784 edition)
Identifier: FT-21 Tavola XL c
Format: Book
Rights: Public domain
Courtesy: Toronto Public Library.
Here is a flying machine designed for a Steven Spielberg movie: “The Young Sherlock Holmes.” Human-driven: Consisting of a pedal system, including chains, cranks, pulleys, and gears. The ultimate man-made bird-flying machine.
Here is a video from Festo explaining the design process showing parts of the Smartbird. Stunning video! Excellent work, Team Festo!
For those who are interested in the specifications and data of the Smartbird:
Published in 2016 IEEE International Conference on Information and Automation (ICIA) 2016
Credit – inspiration for the freehand sketch: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Design-and-kinematic-analysis-of-seagull-inspired-Jiang-Zhou/0b208d8161675da13d0d9956bdc2d16cfc30db9e/figu
So, what does the first flight have to do with a second flight on day 5 – about 4000 to 5000 years ago?
“What do the two have in common?” you may ask. Let me explain. Let’s start with the outstanding design work of Festo.
The pioneering work by Festo on creating a flying bird is remarkable. After finding the stunning videos of Festo, I started reading about the intricate design of birds and their wings. Contrasting the work of Festo to the Story of Creation in the Bible, I reflected on the title of a book mentioned by Roy Peter Clark. Later more on the title of this article.
According to the Creation Story in Genesis:
21. So God created the great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters teemed according to their kinds, and every bird of flight after its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22. Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”… Berean Study Bible.
How did He do it all in one day?
Written by Anne Lamott – ‘Bird by Bird’ says precisely how I would like to answer the question – How did Jehovah God create all the birds and ocean animals on day 5 of creation? The answer: ‘Bird by Bird, Fish by Fish, and Creature by Creature.’ By the way, Mrs Lamott, congratulations on a brilliant title to your book on writing! The title of Lamott’s book prompted me to think about something completely different: Jehovah – according to Creation Theory – has created all 10,000 bird species on Day 5. But, wait, He also made all the sea-animals on the fifth day. Let me explain: God created the bird species Bird by Bird, and it took him probably several hours to do so. According to the Story of Creation, we must not forget that the sea animals were also made by Him – all 2. 3 million species.
“How many bird species are there?”
“Birds are traditionally thought of as a well-studied group, with more than 95 per cent of their global species diversity estimated to have been described. Most checklists used by bird watchers as well as by scientists say that there are roughly between 9,000 and 10,000 species of birds.”
In this article, I want to make the reader aware of the power that was displayed by Elohim (The God of the Bible) on day 5. But the real miracle is the science, energy and wonder of the spectacular designs of this powerful God in fractions of seconds.
Just think of all the things He had to consider when he created each species—mind-bogglingly brilliant. I am also referring to the integrated balance and equilibrium – percentages of migration, position in the food chain, life concerning the environment and other species, position in the hierarchy of species, adaptation in events that alter the natural existence of a species, biological aspects, physiology and functioning, and so much more. I am referring to the consciousness required to keep all the millions of species, plants, trees, water, and terrain in mind while creating a new species – true peripheral vision.
He had to consider the list of things – all simultaneously – the list just goes on and on. You will realise that I am just scratching the surface here. I am thinking, ‘God must have been exhausted after all that integrated design and extravagant scientific work!’ Miracle upon miracle rolled out.
Here is a reference to the creative title of the book on writing by Lamott – Bird by Bird.
A great title for a book or film makes the creative work stands out. It requires excellent writing skills, creativity and innovation. Where does the title of Lamott”s book come from? Good question.
Once, when Lamott’s older brother was 10, he struggled to write a report on birds. The teacher had given the class three months to write it, so it was hardly a surprise assignment, but this kid procrastinated. Like, big time: he waited until the day before it was due to start it. He totally panicked. Lamott’s father, a writer, put his arm around his son’s shoulders and said, “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird” (2.5). Credit: https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/bird-by-bird/analysis/title
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On the fifth day – the birds were created
Let’s calculate how long it took Jehovah (God) to create the bird species and the sea creatures – just for fun.
Firstly, we have to ask the question: ‘How many sea creature species are there? After research, here are some facts to guide us:
How many sea creatures are there?
There are 228,450 known species in the ocean — and as many as 2 million more remain a total mystery. So, the total estimate we can work on is about 2,228,450.
If we add the bird species and the sea creatures (and accept that God ‘worked’ 12 hours on the fifth day to ‘make’ them – let’s assume God rested 12 hours from His work), we will have the total of all the creatures of day 5.
Let’s calculate the time it took on average for God to create all the birds and sea creatures (assume God worked 12 hours per day). Days meaning like the days which we know today. There are 1440 minutes in a 12-hour day (working hours).
A total of 2,238,450 ocean creatures and birds.
There are 43200 seconds in a 12-hour working day.
Now let’s divide 43200/ 2,238,450 = 0.0019209721.
It means one species per every two-hundredths of a second. In other words, 50 species per second. Wow! That is lightning fast.
Just for fun: What is the fastest thing in the world?
Laser beams travel at the speed of light, more than 670 million miles per hour, making them the fastest thing in the universe.
Just for fun: What is the slowest moving thing in the universe?
The half-life of xenon-124, one isotope of xenon, was recently measured to be a trillion times longer than the universe’s age! This is the slowest process ever measured by direct observation. You might well ask who measured such a slow process. Was it a scientist who thought watching paint dry or snail migrations were too exciting? In fact, the half-life was determined as a by-product of the search for dark matter. The XENON1T dark-matter detector in Italy, containing 3.2 metric tonnes of liquid xenon, detected energy release from the decay of 126 xenon-124 atoms over a year, which allowed Aprile et al. (2019) to calculate the half-life.
Source: https://carnegiemnh.org/slowest-process-ever-observed-xenon-124/
A second fly over the bionic Flying Fox’s nest
Now that we have discovered the fantastic contrast between the design and construction work of humans to create a flying bird – let’s use the Smartbird (seagull) or bionic flying fox (bat) from Festo as an example – we will all be stunned by the work suggested in the Creation Model. How could Jehovah created 50 species per second and continue to do so for 12 working hours? Remember – according to the Story of Creation – it took 6 days in total to create our known universe by Yahweh (God of the Bible).
Where does the film title ‘One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ come from?
Good question. The title comes from a nursery rhyme read to Chief Bromden as a child by his grandmother, mentioned in the book – 1962 novel of the same name by Ken Kesey. The film’s title was derived from the familiar, tongue-twisting Mother’s Goose children’s folk song (or nursery rhyme) called Vintery, Mintery, Cutery, Corn. The ones that fly east and west are diametrically opposed to each other and represent the two combatants in the film. The one that flies over the cuckoo’s nest [the mental hospital filled with “cuckoo” patients] is the giant, ‘deaf-mute’ Chie:
Vintery, mintery, cutery, corn,
Apple seed and apple thorn,
Wire, briar, limber lock
Three geese in a flock
One flew East
One flew West
And one flew over the cuckoo’s nest.
Source: https://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question48197.html
Just for fun, I have used the very creative title ‘One flew over the Bionic Flying Fox’s Nest’ to hook the reader in. I can remember the title – not the movie – as I was a teenager. Some things just stick in our minds as we grow up. Can you think of a movie title or a book that is still stuck in your head? ‘One flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ is one of those titles for me. It contains no hidden connotations or messages – so please don’t look for something behind my title ‘One Flew over the Bionic Flying Fox’s Nest,’ it is a fun title.
This article has taken the reader on more than one flight – not only one, as the title suggests. I hope you have enjoyed the extra surprises. Flight 1 was over the brilliant work of Festo – exploring flying, jumping, and creeping things. Secondly, I have flown over the story of Creation – specifically day 5 – and considered the speed of Creation by the ‘Great I Am (Flight 2).’ Thirdly, I have taken a quick dart over writing and the art of choosing and creating catchy titles for books and movies. And, lastly, I have endeavoured to contrast man’s efforts with the efforts of Jehovah. All credit to the outstanding work by Team Festo. Congratulations on achieving such a milestone in simulating bird flight!
I conclude with two quotes.
His Name and His Fame
God is awesome and true. Isaiah 42:8 “I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images.”
And immediately, his fame [Jesus’] spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee (King James Bible). Mark 1:28
Copyright © 2021 by William Van Zyl
ONE FLEW OVER THE BIONIC FLYING FOX’S NEST
All rights reserved. This book or any portion
thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner
whatsoever without the express written permission of the
publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Published by Five House Publishing (New Zealand)
First Publishing, 2021
More ebooks and articles available at https://fivehousepublishing.com/
More about the author at http://williamvanzyl.com
