Monday, November 28, 2005

First

With every beginning comes an ending. As a general rule, I hate endings. Why is it, then, that I look forward as much as I do to beginnings? Perhaps it is those oh-so-much-smarter people who have figured this all out and have opted to simply hate change.

With beginnings come new things. One innate element of new things is the unexpected. By nature of something being unexpected, it can’t be prepared for. How then, does one prepare for the unexpected? On this question, I just had a moment. I asked God to lead me. I was overwhelmed at that moment, and even now as I write this, with how incredibly much confidence I have that God will lead me. I have this confidence because I’ve seen His hand on so many occasions leading me in this area that I know, without a doubt, that He’ll come through again. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that a few days ago I somehow just ended up doing the right thing at exactly the right time, without even knowing why it was the right time. Yup, that’s God for you. Always pulling crazy stuff like that out of His hat.

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Never Say Never Again

Narrowly escaping the mountainside mnemonic.  Barely contained in the nighttime of terror is a new spring brought since behind.  Say so, no one knows more than the least of us.  We carry one another because as a unit we forget how to walk.  It requires strength and skill, but we only see Christmas.  See more, say less.  Swing highways have no more to do with recreational christening.  Cddienan adiann norreigdy monnaskey snakatoo.

Thursday, November 24, 2005

next thought

Where’s my freakin’ palace!!?
     -- Lauren

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

thought

"Every failure is a new brick in my Palace".
-- Hoobie

I HAD Nothing to Say but "WOW"

Go to CreationScience.com and read a few articles, then go to: Evangelical Scientists Refute Gravity With New ‘Intelligent Falling’ Theory.

I’ve reached two conclusions today with reading a good portion of the Astrophysics section at CreationScience.com and this other article:

First, if all creation-scientists are as solidly scientific, soundly logical, and purely objective as Walt Brown, Ph. D. and author of In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood, the book found online at CreationScience.com, well, then I am a confirmed evolutionist.  I held a much higher regard for all of creation science before my perusal through Dr. Brown’s debacle into the world of science.

Second, so called “scientists” such as the esteemed Dr. Brown are far more of an impediment to the cause of Christ as a whole, but even more specifically, to the cause of creation science, than any sort of help… even if what they’re saying is entirely true!

Why?  The whole self-righteous tone that says, “You can’t handle the truth, so you spend your life in denial” tone combined with the creationist conspiracy theory (read: “the entire world of science is bent on the agenda of preserving the sacred evolutionary cow -- it is an ancestor, after all”).  Then… creation scientist like to say that evolutionary theory takes a greater leap of faith than believing in God and seven day creation.  Well, trying to believe what Dr. Brown is saying takes a far greater leap, a giant leap in logic – many times over.  Get this:  
“Many people, including Carl Sagan, predicted the Viking landers would find life on Mars. They reasoned that because life evolved on Earth, some form of life must have evolved on Mars. That prediction proved to be false. The arms of the Viking 1 Lander… sampled Martian soil. Sophisticated tests performed on those samples did not find even a trace of life.” (emphasis mine).  Did you catch the leap in logic?  Let me repeat a joke my Linear Algebra prof. told to emphasize the point.
     
A theoretical mathematician, an applied mathematician, and an engineer were riding together in a train.  As the train came out of a tunnel, the trio spotted a white sheep grazing beside the track.  
“Look,” said the engineer, “that sheep is white.  This proves all sheep must be white!”
“No, no, no,” said the applied mathematician, “one white sheep doesn’t prove all sheep are white.  It only proves that sheep is white.”
“You chaps are both wrong,” chimed the theoretical mathematician.  “All that we can prove is that one half of that one particular sheep appears to be white.”

Ok, now think about Dr. Brown’s statement.  A couple of samples taken from two particular soil types (that due to the constraints on landing sites were quite similar) on two locations (that we know to be some of the most inhospitable regions on Mars) on a body 1/3 the size of planet earth proves there is no life on Mars?  Using that logic I can definitively prove that there is no life on earth.  There is a desert on earth that is so dry, it is absolutely inhospitable to life.  Not even bacteria lives there!  (source: Discovery Channel.  Sorry I can’t quote date, time, and program).  If some alien culture sent a probe to earth and had it land in this desert, then did tests for life, they could just as readily conclude there was no life on earth.  I don’t know what you’re thinking right now, but whatever it was, that thought just proved Dr. Brown hasn’t got the firmest grip on this science/logic thing.  He doesn’t stop there.  He uses his ‘proof’ that life doesn’t exist on Mars as proof there is no life in the universe.

I could go on…  In fact, I think I will for awhile.  Check his references, especially where regarding what science doesn’t know about things.  For some reason, he seems to like sources from the 60s or 70s or even earlier for these quotes.  Of course, I have no idea why.

That’s quite enough for now.  I have successfully spewed far beyond the two links I was planning on posting.  I’m going to pretend to go to sleep now before I get really mad.

Passing the Pie

Little Johnny was eager to help when his parents entertained several dinner guests. When the dinner was nearly over, Little Johnny went to the kitchen and proudly carried in the first piece of apple pie, giving it to his father who passed it to a guest. Little Johnny came in with a second piece of pie and gave it to his father, who again gave it to a guest. This was too much for Little Johnny, who said, "It's no use, Dad. The pieces are all the same size."
from JustCleanJokes.com

Saturday, November 19, 2005

funky stuff


Check it Out.



Friday, November 18, 2005

think about it

Living water is the solution.

On evangelism…
Be the bullet.”
-- Owen Wilson, Shanghai Noon    

Thursday, November 17, 2005

a clue

“…telling a man not to be predictable is like telling a dog not to hump your leg.”
--David DeAngelo.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

The Red Mafia

“Senior government and Liberal party officials used public funds, false contracts and kickback schemes not only for personal gain, which would have been bad enough, but to funnel money to the Liberal party, to perpetuate their access to the public purse.  The line between government and party was erased.  And with it, so was the distinction between government and organized crime.”
                              -Maclean’s – Nov 14, 2005.  Pg. 88.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Italian Techno is da Bomb

many many times something is many times less than something else

there is this beautiful spot I know, where pleasant things like to grow.  In this spot the light is warm, and no one is surprised because that's what happens then the sun is shining through four storey high windows.  What surprises me the most is the apparent lack of familiarity the general public seems to have with this wonderfully secluded public place.  I'm ok with it.  In fact, the precise whereabouts of this place, I'm not telling.    

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

THE Final Word on Evolution and the Big Bang

That's it, I've had it. It's time for the arguments to end. I know the truth, so now everybody listen to me and put this petty bickering aside for once and for all.

Just in case you missed it earlier, I was just explaining how I had no intention what-so-ever of putting this debate to rest. In fact, I haven't reached a conclusion on the topic myself. I did, however, come to an interesting realization last night as I was reading about stellar evolution in my Astronomy textbook. I realized that if I get to heaven and God tells me that that, in fact, He did create the universe instantaneously and evolution never happened, I'm going to be quite disappointed. (...and let's not get into the theological issues of disappointment in heaven. That's not the point!) At this stage in my life and learning, I am much more impressed with God's 'creative abilities' if He designed the universe in such a way that it all started off with a 'big bang' and worked it's way from there.

I have to admit, I'm a bit of a technology junky. The more complex my most recently acquired gadget is, the happier I am (so long as it works and I'm not stuck trying to figure out how to use it :) ). So, perhaps I am a bit biased towards the evolution side (OK, I am decidedly biased, that's what this whole post is about) because I like the idea of the universe being this incredibly huge, incredibly intricate, complicated machine that works like a charm and is so slick, people have one heck of a time figuring out whether it's a machine or not.

Face it people, the universe is the best thing since sliced bread.

I think both Christians and people are drawing one great big, giant, steaming false conclusion in this whole debate. They somehow seem to conclude that evolution excludes God. (I would have pointed out here that evolution is statistically impossible and therefore requires God's supernatural intervention. However, I reached the conclusion just a few moments earlier that evolution is only statistically impossible because we don't know enough to conclude otherwise.) You may have guessed it, I disagree.

Here I am right now, marveling at God as the creator of evolution, this amazing machine that "shouldn't" work, but has been designed so well, that it does. I share the creationist's awe at God's handiwork, but this awe just doubled because now I'm also in awe at this incredible gadget He designed to make it. He didn't just build the kitchen table, He built the tools He used to craft it with. He didn't just build the tools, He gathered the raw materials to make them out of. He didn't just gather the raw materials, He constructed each one from it's smallest components... which He, Himself brought into being.

God generally works through the natural, not the supernatural (just think about how He works in the day to day activities of your life). It is only congruent behaviour for God to have brought this world and (to make it ever so much more personal) you into being through natural activity. When pondering the apparent age of the earth and universe, I also don't think it is congruent with God's nature to create something that appears to be something that it is not. This universe looks 13.6 billion years old. Yes, it is definitely well within God's power to make it look that old without it actually being that old, but the question isn't could He, but would He!?

K... so what triggered this rant? I was reading about stellar nurseries and a star's life cycle. Did you know, that the universe is composed of approximately 74% hydrogen, 25% helium, and 1% "metals"? ("metals" is an astronomy term for "everything other than hydrogen and helium") What do stars do? Throughout their entire life, they are converting hydrogen into helium and metals. The star shines through the process of hydrogen to helium nuclear fusion. Through different processes in different parts of the stars, other heavier materials are combined into being. Then, when a star cools and dies, and say, goes supernova, it seeds space with these heavier materials which are the building blocks of (NO, don't look in the mirror now!).... OK, you guessed it! If you follow evolutionary thinking, I really am one stellar guy (and I'm going to go to my grave believing it!).

Friday, November 04, 2005

An idea from Estelle's blog. You google your first name + needs (ie. "Lauren needs") and write down the best lines. Here they are: (I have made gender appropriate adjustments where required)

Lauren needs to have more female friends (or not – women can be so bitchy!)
Lauren needs to wake up and smell the coffee (this morning it was Vanilla Cream ...
Lauren needs all the nerve transmission help he can get, so we vow to improve that part of his diet.
Lauren needs to meet our new crush, the Maserati Boomerang.
Lauren needs the money.
Lauren needs us to. Until Lauren’s GI problems are solved and healed ...
Lauren needs other kids --- other kids who are struggling with their own differences, with being a square peg squeezed imperfectly into the round hole of ...
His mother thinks Lauren needs to become more responsible. His doctor thinks Lauren needs to take a mood stabilizing medication.
Lauren needs a career path
Lauren needs to attack the room in chunks.
Lauren needs to post about something completely unpredictable, like the history of his gimpy left hand.
Lauren needs a natural hazard
Help support the "Lauren needs DSL like Anna Nicole needs a spanking" fund.
Lauren needs to be a better spy
Lauren needs two stores here like he needs a hole in the head
Lauren needs to park.
Lauren needs 4 ½ cups of flour for a bread recipe
Lauren needs to know. It's more than just kiss and tell.
Lauren needs a dog.
Lauren needs to get to the point where Lauren trusts Lauren.
Lauren needs to do a wee every couple of hours and this needs to be collected (day and night).
Lauren needs a patient and loving owner, preferably a woman since he responds better to women than men.
Lauren needs to make a harem web page.

Oh dear.....

Tuesday, November 01, 2005


I'm so low, I'm high. Actually, I'm pretty sure it's the paint fumes. Paint fumes? Caffeine? actually thinking? I dunno why, but it all ends up in not sleeping. Prrrrfect.

here morrow gone farther than you could ever imagine something. do you ever wonder? wunderbar? michaelangelo... do you think he ever fell asleep on the job? sleep and paint come together again. time to listen

and sing. sing or cry. It's entirely profound, you know. The way everything comes together so far. Perhaps broken. Perhaps mysterious. Perhaps, perhaps is just happening to fill the metric. Becomming... Isn't that what it's all about? The moral dilemma. Do I learn something I've avoided learning in order to get something I've always wanted? Would I be a better person for it? I don't know how to answer that question. I would grow. I would also lose something. Perhaps only my ideals. I commented once to someone (hi steve) that idealism is an obstacle, not a solution. Ideals tend to be so out of touch with reality, that pursuing an ideal tends to be counterproductive, to say the least. Think of Canada and our ideals regarding freedom of speech. Everyone's entitled to their opinion, right? Well yeah, just so long as your opinion doesn't include someone else's being wrong. You're free to say anything, so long as you don't really care if it's true. You're free to practice any religion, so long as it is compatible with (or at least accepting of) all other religions.

BAD NEWS FOR YOU FOLKS!! I'M RIGHT, YOU'RE WRONG!! Come on now, say it with me, "....." OK, I'll say it. "You're wrong, I'm right, you're sorry!

melodious, don't you think? create a river and the streams will follow it anywhere.

excerpt from my personal proverbs: "Nothing weighs so heavily as a promise made lightly."

margarine. Freedom of expression?? OK, Canadians are just a little messed up. Better than greased up, I s'pose.

Smile and nod, and while you're at it, send away for that collector's edition, deluxe model, one of a kind (free with every purchase), 'been there, done that' T-shirt.

A holey cow being lead away?

Shot through the heart, and you're to blame. Baby. You. Give love a bad name.

I had the most profound revelation come to me in math class today. Did you know that three separate, non-collinear points define both a plane, and a circle? Weird, huh!

What is it about insanity that brings forth the most beautiful and elegant portions of the human soul? Lucy Maude, every great inventor who ever lived (except Edison, of course). Poe was crazy, wasn't he? Beethoven had a terrible temper. He just didn't have the mettle for it. (Did you catch that? temper... metal...) I shake my head at you.

Cry baby, won't you? Fly baby, don't you? You try walking, you're tired of talking, but heaven won't come down no more.

It comes down to this. ex