Science of "Watchmen"

Here is a video from YouTube that shows the Physics Consultant on the film talk about Dr. Manhattan's powers and the theoretical science beneath the fiction. Very, Very interesting!

Parodying Christian Bale

You may have heard about this already but a few weeks ago, an audio recording surfaced of Christian Bale going ballistic on the set of Terminator 4. Apparently someone made a mistake and he went on a tirade of cursing and belittling and insulting people and threatening to leave the set and never coming back. There are several versions of it on YouTube and there have been a couple of very funny parodies of this.

If you want to hear the original tirade, just type in "Christian Bale" into the search box in YouTube and you can see it, but I won't post it because it's just too much profanity and I could not find an edited version.


Here is the Family Guy parody



Here is the Marvel Comics parody

Black Women and Flight

I received an e-mail this month stating that the only flight where the entire flight crew is black and female it seems that one of the crew started the e-mail chain. It got me thinking about the first black woman to hold a pilots license in the United States and internationally. Her name was Bessie Coleman. She was awesome. I'm going to make sure my daughter knows about her. Read this link to find out all about her life. It is very complete. Bessie's picture is on the upper left of this post and the all-black-female flight crew is on the right. Below is the e-mail as I received it.

VERY COOL!

Possible First All Female African-American Flight Crew

Very Motivating..

Our African-American women continue to demonstrate professionalism, intelligence and unlimited potential as they contribute to our overall struggle for
unlimited freedom, access and opportunity in America. The sisters on Flights 5202 and 5106 (a jet owned by Atlantic Southeast
Airlines) have proven that African-American women can do anything if just given a fair opportunity.

Their aviation success is a very proud moment for us all.

I'm not 100% sure, but I'm almost positive that we might have made history on Thursday, February 12, 2009. I was a part of an all African American female
crew. I'm attaching the photos and you can pass them along to whomever.
We were so excited!

We operated flight 5202 from Atlanta to Nashville and flight 5106 from Nashville back to Atlanta .



The crew included Captain Rachelle Jones, First Officer Stephanie Grant, Flight Attendants Robin Rogers and Diana Galloway!

This was just this month! The pictures of the crew are on this post

New Watchmen Motion Comic on DVD

A few weeks ago, I posted an article about "motion" Comics. It's where comic book art is animated. I am planning to attend the Wondercon Convention this Saturday and I'm planning to see if i can get the Watchmen graphic novel, but this DVD would be another cool way to experience the story. It Comes out 03-03-09 I admit that Warner Brothers and Fox are attempting to milk us for all they can. That being said...I can't wait for the movie, the motion comic, and the animated companion movie called The Black Freighter on 03-24-09. Also I wanna see Watchmen in IMAX. Looks like a movie that must be seen in IMAX.

Comments on Turek/Hitchens Debate

I enjoyed the debate between Frank Turek vs Christoper Hitchens. I blogged about it a few months at the following link. As you probably know Dr. James White has been busy with his own debates but he has finally commented on the Turek/Hitchen debate. It is interesting to hear someone who is an accomplished professional debator comment. I'm amazed. He pointed out something very important that I missed: although Hitchens is an atheist he was able to point out a flaw in Turek's argument: He tried to go from general theism (belief in the existence of some God) to arguing for the existence of God in the view of Judeo-Christianity without explaining how he did it! Here are Dr. White's commentes:

MLK Oratory winner 2009: Gerra Gistand

A little girl gives a speech on the following question: If Dr. King were alive today, what do you think he would say about current events? It is a great answer!

Challenging Islam

Here is a video I saw on YouTube that is very interesting...as well as humorous without being completely irreverent and I hope will not offend anyone. It raises questions as to how if you look at the life of Mohammad and what he taught in the Koran that you can conclude that Islam is a religion of peace? Take a look. All of the information presented I have seen in other sources.

Alan Keyes Warning

There is no love lost between Alan Keyes and Barack Obama. They have been rivals for years. To be honest, had Keyes been running against Obama, I would have voted for Keyes. They are both politicians, but Keyes' is a black man who shares my world views much more closely than Obama. Considering their history I'm not surprised that he disagrees with Obama's economic policies. Listen to what he has recently said



The one thing that stand out to me about what Keyes points out the question about how is a bankrupt government such as ours going to bail out anyone? Where is the money going to come from? I don't agree with Keyes saying that Obama is telling people not to pay their mortgages because the government is going to pay for it. I have never heard that suggested by the Presidential administration. Another problem is that Keyes repeated the lie that Obama cannot prove that he was born in the United State. Unfortunately, instead of offering alternative he really rips into Obama - his character and his abilities to be President. Obama said that he would listen to other opinions. I wonder if the two have talked?

UPDATE: I just read an article from Newsmax in which they report this very same story. One thing that I have noticed about Newsmax is that they are conservative Republicans and have been against Obama since day one. As for Keyes the article does point out that he is wrong about raising doubts about Obama's citizenship. Here is what is pointed out in the article:

Obama has stated he was born in Hawaii. His campaign has released his Certificate of Live Birth - not his actual birth certificate. Hawaii state officials said they reviewed the actual birth certificate and that Obama was born in the state of Hawaii.

Also, Obama's family placed a legal advertisement in a Hawaii newspaper days after he was born.

You can't fake a legal advertisement dated 40 years ago with the intention that one day the boy would be President in a country where his father would have been murdered in some places for race mixing! Let's get real. Newsmax did not have anything positive to say about Keyes either because let's face it some white Republicans are scared by him even more than by Barack Obama.

Marriage Video from West Virginia

Here is a good video framing what is at stake with redefining "marriage". It is good to watch. It's poignant for me in light of what my own marriage means to me and my parents' 51st anniversary which is today.

Malcolm X Assassination: 02-21-1965

Today, 44 years ago, Malcolm X was assassinated. I'm not going to comment much now because his life and legacy deserve more space than I am prepared to make at this time. For now here are some great videos I have found that showcase who he was. You can purchase much of his speeches, video and audio, and transcriptions at http://malcolmxfiles.blogspot.com/

Apologetics 315: Kyle Butt vs. Dan Barker Debate MP3 Audio - Does the God of the Bible Exist?

I think that a debate on "Does the God of the Bible Exist?" is very important. Dan Barker argued "no" and he claims that he used to be a believer. However all his arguments not only were new but boiled down to the idea that he did religion is based on the belief that there is something broken or missing from humanity and he rejects the idea that he needs to be saved from himself and refuses to serve or believe in God that would condemn anyone to hell for thinking for himself or herself. I thought Kyle Butt did the correct thing to not challenge Barker on everyone of his Bible "contradictions". Kyle was right, those "contradictions" can be reconciled and reasonably shown not to be contradictions. This is a good debate to listen to.

Apologetics 315: Kyle Butt vs. Dan Barker Debate MP3 Audio - Does the God of the Bible Exist?

Poll: Is the New York Post's Cartoon Offensive?

This post goes along with the polls in the side bar. I wrote a post yesterday called Eric Holder is Correct where I discussed an editorial cartoon that really angered me as racist. The truth is that I read a post today by an author, Peter David, whom I admire who happens to White. He did not see the same problems with the cartoon.

My response to the cartoon itself is twofold:

First, it's the New York Post. Were they attempting to slam Obama personally, associating him in a racist fashion with a monkey? Possible. Then again, there's the old notion that if you put an infinite number of monkeys in a room with infinite typewriters and give them an infinite amount of time, they could produce the works of Shakespeare. So it could be argued that a dead monkey is an editorial cartoon shorthand for something that anyone could have produced, in a random fashion, and not particularly well.

Second, and more important...it's the New York Post! Why does anyone give a damn what they say about anything? Before they produce the works of Shakespeare, the infinite monkeys will probably produce an issue of the Post. It should be accorded exactly that amount of respect and concern.

He thinks that Sharpton jumps the gun attributing racism to the editorial staff and artist at the New York Post. I don't agree with how he understood the cartoon. I don't see it. It got me thinking: Do all black people see the cartoon the way I do? What do other people see when they see it?

Here is the cartoon again:

I'd like to see some comments about what you believe the cartoon is saying. If you don't want to comment and vote in my poll, please just vote. I think the results could be interesting.

Eric Holder is Correct

Today Eric Holder, the first black Attorney General of the United States, gave a speech for which he has received a considerable amount of criticism. He said that despite the fact that we consider ourselves a "melting pot" a diverse races, cultures, and viewpoints we are a nation of cowards when it comes to seriously discussing race. Here is what he said in his own words:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

I don't understand why that would make people angry because he was telling the truth. How do I know he was telling the truth? What proof do I have? Well also today the New York Post ran a political cartoon that was based on the shooting of a pet chimpanzee that went "ape" and severely injured a woman in Conneticut and on the Obama's new Stimulus Bill. For anyone who did not see the "ape" story here it is:



For the record, I don't know what set the monkey off. I have no idea of what caused the attack. But for sure, the monkey tasted human blood. When an animal attacks and injures a human being, that animal by-and-large must be killed. The thing was 200 lbs and even those smaller, cute, chimpanzees that we normally think of are several times stronger than a normal human being. The woman did not have a chance. I said all that to get to this next point: the cartoon that the New York Post ran:



Okay, personally, this really offended me. I mean what were they trying to say. Obama is black. He just wrote a stimulus package. Racist white people used to (and still do) call black people "monkey". You've got two white cops standing over a dead monkey that they just shot talking about needing someone else to write another stimulus package. Duh!!! Are we not to get implication that they are saying a monkey was responsible for the stimulus bill and that monkey should be put down? What other interpretation should we get? I'm truly confused and don't understand how the New York Post could defend printing this! How could they be so "cowardly" to not admit that this is racially offensive to a lot of people. This is why I'd say Eric Holder is right. On top of this, it's Black History Month! I have yet to hear an alternate interpretation of how the editorial staff interprets what this cartoon is saying! Instead they suggest Al Sharpton is just trying to garner publicity when he spoke out against them this morning! Here is what Al Sharpton said:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Is the cartoon racist? In a word: "Yes!"

First Female Dictator Hailed As Step Forward For Women

Before I post the following video, I thought that it was amazing how much it comments on the state of feminism and cries of "equal" rights. This video is a humorous parody of what would happen if a woman became dictator of a third-world country. Most of the comments are applied to any woman who is "first" to be something or do something traditionally dominated by men. It's strange to hear those same comments being applied to being a dictator and engineer of genocide and persecution as those comments praising a woman for excelling at being an executive or successful at something good. Have we really gone that far at praising women for everything...good or bad? Something to think about. Personally, I don't have a problem with women having and welding authority and power as long at they do it according to the will of God. That being said men and women are different...neither is better or worse than the other. God said so.

Some People Don't Grow Up

I saw this on YouTube and it shocked me. This woman is acting like a two-year-old little girl throwing a tantrum (trust me I know what that looks like!) I felt bad for her husband who looked like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming vehicle. Scary! To be fair maybe they was a reason for her reaction, I just can't imagine what that could be!

Wolverine Clips: "Outcast"

Here is a trailer for the new Wolverine showing a lot of how they are handling his youth.

Cool European Car Commercials

Here are examples of how American and Japaneses cultures influence Europe. These are commercials for cars made by Citroen.





These almost make me want to buy one of these cars.

Obama on Science

I've recently found a clip on YouTube from two speeches from Barack Obama before he took the Presidential Oath. In them, he calls for our government and society to commit to supporting science and innovation. To not just give money, but encourage and support education so that we can have new generations of scientists and engineers to return and keep America at the leading cutting edge of science. I agree. Here is the video.



The only thing I find that I disagree with is that he seems to suggest that science can be stymied or curtailed by religious ideology. The truth is that I think that history can bear out that economic concerns derail science just as much as religious ideas. Los Angeles is an example. Just after World War II, plans for giving the Los Angeles region of California a subway or light-rail system was abandoned because the powers-that-be decided that they could make more money selling cars and building highways in Southern California, resulting in some of the worst traffic and smog the world has ever seen. There are other examples.

Obama urges us to have open minds when considering science and being open to possibilities. However, we find more and more examples of people deciding to close their minds to the scientific and logic evidence against the theory of evolution. Some of which I have discussed in this blog with more to follow. There are legitimate scientists and engineers who interpret the data and come up with different legitimate conclusions! I am one of them. Let me just end this by quoting the title of one of Norman Giesler's greatest works: "I don't have enough faith to be an atheist!"

Recent Comments on the Stimulus Plan

As you probably have heard, the passage of one the economic bills Obama has proposed has been passed into law. I have no idea what it all means but I thought that it would be good to post what Obama said about it:



Here is what John McCain had to say about the economic bailout

Embedded video from CNN Video

All I can say for sure is that something needs to be done. Only time will tell if what Obama is doing will prove to be right or not. The best we got, is to trust God and not in any one single man to save us from this mess. We also have to be prepared to accept what ever God decides for us because however or whatever that is will be what will happen and we need to just keep doing what we know we have each been called to do.

Valentine's Day 2009 Post

Well instead of multiple posts today I thought I would write a single post containing what I would like to say today. We are only about 6 weeks into 2009, but there has been so much going on.

The first thing I would like to write about today is that I thank God to see my 34th Birthday today. I'm very grateful. I still remember seeing the statistic when I was 17 in high school that said that I had a better chance to be dead or incarcerated by 25 being a black male in Oakland,CA than earn a degree from University of California. God said "No." At age 34, I have 3 college degrees, two of them from the University of California, Berkeley. I have a beautiful wife, Mitsouky, and wonderful daughter, Makayla, and a son, Mathias on the way. There is much to thank God for. I have a picture of picture of us at the top left and a picture of Makayla on the top on the right.

All that being said 4 things have happened in the news that deserve comment.
One of those is that there was a devastating fire in Australia. We need to pray for them. I have never heard of anything so horrendous ever in my lifetime. I mean we have forest fires in California all the time, but I have never seen anything like it.



Next, I have read an interesting article called The Elephant in Room: Intimidating the Critics of Islam. It makes some very interesting points. It turns out that -

last month's story about a Dutch court's ruling that Geert Wilders [pictured on the right] was "inciting hatred and discrimination" - and that "it is in the public interest to prosecute" him - understandably didn't make the American news.

I was amazed when I read the reason why:

...he's a member of the Dutch parliament, and his precise villainy was releasing a 15-minute film. Entitled Fitna, it suggests a direct link between certain verses of the Koran and acts of terrorism.

Not to be outdone, the United Kingdom this week banned Wilders from entering the country. Its reasoning: His "presence in the U.K. would pose a genuine, present, and sufficiently serious threat to one of the fundamental interests of society." A letter from the home secretary went on to tell Wilders that "your statements about Muslims and their beliefs, as expressed in your film Fitna and elsewhere, would threaten community harmony and therefore public security."

I was floored. I think one characteristic of a cult is that a cult discourages scrutiny and investigations of the claims the organization makes. I'm not insinuating that all Muslims do that. In fact some so-called Christians do the same. If you can't explain what you believe and why you believe it, I think you need to re-think your claims. We are seeing in European countries such as the Netherlands and in England a fear of any criticism of Islam being seen as racism or persecution of the people who practice it. In trying to protect them from persecution, these governments are curtailing the freedoms of Christians. Christianity says many different things completely opposite from what Islam says. By saying that Christians cannot say things opposite to what Islam says or for Christianity to raise objections to Islam is effect silencing Christians. Why should we care in America? Simple. Some people are trying to do the same thing here. Christianity is open to investigation and invites scrutiny by anyone. Ask whatever you want. It's been 2000 years, there is no way anyone can raise an objection or ask a question that there is not an answer. Some well-meaning Christians and some not-so-well-meaning "Christians" have said that asking questions show a lack of faith. I disagree. More importantly, God disagrees. Christians believe that the Bible was written under God's inspiration. Therefore we must accept that the following came from God in 1 Peter 3:15-16:

But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

We are obligated and mandated to provide a reasonable defense for the faith which we have pledged our lives.

And now for the last thing. Today, I saw an article on AOL.com that reports that a 13 year-old boy in Britian has become a father to a baby, and the mother is 15. The article talks about the boy not knowing what "financial" means when he was asked how he was going to financially support the baby. Apparently, teenaged pregnancy is just as big a deal in Britian as it is here. It seems like the decision to help the situation there is to start offering basic sex eductaion to kindergarteners. As the father of a two year-old girl, I don't want that here. I'm amazed that there are boys at the age of 12 and 13 are even considering sex. When I was that age I did not know what sex is and at two, I really don't want my daughter to be thinking about it either. I think education is important and needed. The question is what should be taught? I have never seen an educational program for sex education that was Biblically based (meaning teach what the Bible teaches about sex, not what it teaches about salvation) being tried in public schools. I think that would work to change our whole society for the better.

Here are two video. It can be found in the following article.

2009 Inauguration Redux

It turns out that Microsoft's Photosynth is not the only way to come up panoramic HD pictures. If you recall, CNN used Photosynth to put together thousands of photos of the moment Barack Obama took the oath to become President of the United States in to a single high-def image. Turns out that there is another competing software out there that allows you do the same thing. It's called GigaPan. It not only allows you to find and share high-def panoramic pictures in a user committee like Facebook or Filckr, but also allows you to learn how to make your own. To be honest, the GigaPan way seems more intensive than than Microsoft's approach. Here is how GigaPan describes it's process. With Photosynth, the software does most of the work and you can take photos from different sources.


The GigaPan process engages with you in four steps:

1. Explore

Starting right now, you can search, browse and explore all of the panoramas that are available on the GigaPan sharing site. Dive into the panoramas to explore for yourself, or explore other users' snapshots to see what others have found.

2. Discover

As soon as you create your free user account, you can not only explore, but you can also annotate and share your discoveries by creating new snapshots and describing what you have found. This is a way to take part in the GigaPan community even if you have not done panoramic photography yet.

3. Create

We are pleased to announce that large-scale production of the GigaPanTM robotic camera mount is underway. The GigaPanTM robotic camera mount is capable of capturing multi-gigapixel, explorable panoramas with many compact digital cameras. The GigaPanTM robotic camera mount is manufactured and sold by GigaPan Systems.

You don't need specialized GigaPan hardware to take your own panoramas. If you have lots of patience, a high-quality digital camera, and a good tripod (or very steady hand!) you can take hundreds or thousands of overlapping, zoomed-in pictures for a gigapixel-scale panorama, then use off-the-shelf stitching software to combine the images into one very high-resolution panorama for upload.

4. Share

Once you create your free account, you can download our free upload tool to enable you to take any panoramic, high-resolution image and add it to the GigaPan sharing site for community exploration, annotation, and discovery.

Here is an example from their site - a shot of the Inauguration by David Bergman.

More Genius Viral Marketing: Watchmen

Here is a great video put together as a Public Service Announcement set in the same world where the movie Watchmen takes place.

Word-of-Faith Infiltration

As our economy worsens, I have noticed more people gravitating to Word-of-faith teachings. The thought that God wants everyone to be rich is heretical and unsupportable from scripture. Some even take it to the level of teaching that if you aren't rich then you are not pleasing God so he is not blessing you. This bother me so much. There is no way to get that out of scripture! We cannot allow this teaching to continue unchallenged. Hank Hanegraaff wrote Christianity in Crisis documenting the problems with these teachings. Don't believe that this is a problem. Look at an e-mail I received announcing a new book by Richard Briley (picture in the upper left).

Does God Want YOU
To Be a Success?

Special OFFER! Go Here Now.

When God wants something done, He always gives it to ONE PERSON to do — a Moses, a Peter, a Paul, a David, a Gideon, a Mary. Had you noticed?

In Pray and Be Rich, Dr. Richard Gaylord Briley reveals a startling Biblical truth that has great implications for your life:

One person, committed to a goal, is all God needs to change the world.

He’s done it many times. And if history turns many more pages, He’ll surely do it again. At the very least, you and God together can change your world.

The new audio program — Pray and Be Rich — is about one person — YOU — and the success plans that God has for all who believe, pray and act on the message of the Bible.

To start, to get the most from this sensational audio program and find daring faith to act upon your God-given potential for success, you must already believe that:

* The Bible is more than humanity’s oldest book of living wisdom — though it is at least that.
* Life has meaning and purpose.
* Your life has a special purpose, even if that purpose and a plan to achieve it are not yet clear to you.

Get Pray and Be Rich's "Steps to Success" Go Here Now.

Scared yet? Pray...Pray...that people don't fall for this. Yes, God wants us to prosper but it is on God's terms not ours!

Marvel Motion Comics

Marvel.com has announce a new direction Marvel - a hybrid of comic books and animation. They call it "Motion Comics". What it is an online product that takes the flat artwork of comics and add animation and voice and music. It reminds me of the first cartoons based on Marvel Comics characters, only better animated. I like the idea. I want to see more. Here is trailer for the technology

Review: Hulk Vs

Well I got the Hulk Vs DVD and I've got to admit that it was great! I loved it. They were great stand-alone stories. To be honest, I liked the Wolverine story better because I think Wolverine was captured perfectly as well as the Hulk. Wolverine took a huge beating but he gave as good as he got. I thought Thor was too wussy. He got his can kicked and handed back to him a lot more than I expected.

I found a link on the blog below that lists some of the Hulk's best battles against other Marvel characters.
Secret Wars on Infinite Earths: The Comic Book Fight Club

I believe that I would say that the Hulk won both battles on the DVD and he fought more than just Thor and Wolverine. He fought all of Weapon X and the army of Asgard and beat all of them.

An Apple Tablet

I just found the following on G4TV's Blog

Is Apple working on a tablet computer? The fine folks at Gizmodo seem to think so. The site has examined an Apple patent and has come to the conclusion that the company has a tablet computer in the works.

"The patent describes several forms for these displays -- most of them already in use in current Apple laptops --, describing displays attached to portable computers. However, one of the claims describes the display as a 'housing for a computer device', which would include the computer electronics within the display housing, sandwiched between front and back shells."

I was a proud Newton user in the '90s. I loved the device's handwriting recognition, especially when watching my friends struggle with Graffiti on their Palm IIIs. I'd love for Apple to reenter the market with an elegant, portable-computing device that features the company's lauded user interface.

I want one.

Kent Brandenburg vs James White

I'm amazed about the criticism James White has received concerning his debate against Bart Ehrman. I have to wonder did they hear the same debate I did?! On his blog, White points out the following example:

Alan Kurschner reviewed a KJV Only article yesterday, and the author [Kent Brandenburg] (who wrote his first post without having listened to the entire debate, completed his review. The level of bias flies past the level of sheer bigotry, as seen in this amazing paragraph:


In fairness to Ehrman, even though I hate the work that he does, he has a higher standard for text that comes from God than White does. White acts like any of us should expect errors. I think it is White's Calvinism---God wanted errors in the text because of the greater good there would be (something like that). The reason Ehrman, it seems, is willing to trust Tacitus more than the Bible, is because Tacitus doesn't claim inspiration or preservation. The Bible does.


Well there you go! Remember that a few months ago I played clips from a KJV Only radio program and demonstrated that the KJV Onlyists hold Ehrman's position, right along with the Muslims: "We need a variantless text, no matter what the realities of history are." And here you see it again. Of course, one can only imagine what an encounter between one of these folks and Ehrman would look like, but that's another issue.

Because King James Only advocates refuse to see that the King James Version is not divinely inspire, but the original Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic texts were they cannot really stand against Ehrman's criticisms. I mean look at Erhman's argument: "You don't have a single original copy on which to authoritatively base your beliefs." The KJV onlies think that the KJV Bible is superior to the older manuscripts but can't prove that it is. The men who translated the KJV admitted themselves that their translation was not perfect. So what can they say yo someone like Bart Ehrman? Nothing. They have no logical apologetic, yet they refuse to let go of their presuppositions instead of just studying and researching the facts. There is a logical explanation and a defense for every criticism Ehrman levies against the Bible. James White, with the help of the Lord, did a powerful job defending the faith.

Here is the Preface of the King James Bible from 1611.

New Super Computer

The fastest computer in the world today was built last year. It's can run a 1 trillion calculations in a second (petaflop). Thank God that it's one of ours!

I just read on G4 TV's Blog:

By 2012, the government and IBM will have built Sequoia, a computer that's 20 times more powerful than that.

Um, that will be twenty trillion calculations in a second! 20 Petaflops!!!! That's insane. They are going to be using it mathematically model nuclear explosions and predict weather patterns! Again, thank God that is one of ours!

The specs on this things are as follows:

Sequoia

* 3,400 square feet
* 1.6 million processing cores
* 1.6 petabytes of memory
* 96 racks
* 98,304 computing nodes
* Uses 6 megawatts of power a year: Enough energy for 500 American homes!

I want one.

History of the Internet

I found a great video explaining how we got to the Internet we see today. It traces it's development over the past 50 years! If you wanna know how we got the current level of information technology, this is the video to watch! Really, Really well done and matches what I have already learned.

Apologetics 315: Bart Ehrman vs. James White Debate MP3 Audio

I wanted to make it a point to comment on the debate James White did recently against Bart Ehrman. I have bought the debate and listened to the debate myself and i gained a great deal from it. I would suggest that anyone who wants to interact with the question of whether or not the Bible we hold in our hands is an accurate copy of the texts that were inspired by God. The debate question was: "Did the Bible Misquote Jesus" taken from the title of Ehrman's book Misquoting Jesus. I think that Ehrman was condescending and unprepared. I agree with James White's analysis that Erhman did not adequately prepare for the Debate but I don't think he adequately met any of the White's challenges. Ehrman's main point is that there are so many variations in copies of the New Testament that there is no way to get back to what the original authors really wrote. He then concludes that God had not preserved the New Testament. People, like atheists and Muslims, further take that and conclude that the New Testament is full of errors and not inspired by God. During the debate, Ehrman, tried to distance himself from the conclusion drawn from his work saying that the was not responsible and that his conclusion that the texts are not inspired was based on his own opinion and not by his research. Thankfully, White called him on that.

In my opinion, James White did a great job explaining that Ehrman's conclusions are wrong. We do know what the original texts say although we don't have the original copies.

Apologetics 315: Bart Ehrman vs. James White Debate MP3 Audio

Apologetics 315: History of the English Bible - Daniel Wallace MP3 Audio

The blogger at Apologetics 315 has done it again! These are important for anyone who want to know how we got today's English translations of Holy Scripture.

Apologetics 315: History of the English Bible - Daniel Wallace MP3 Audio

Nancy Pelosi Very Mistaken

While I realize that the following video was posted on YouTube by a conservative (using a picture of Ronald Regan for your profile is a dead give away), I've got to admit that Pelosi really stepped in it. Watch:



There are not 500 million people living in the United States. She is obviously Mistaken.

Ten New Amphibians Discovered

There are ten new species of amphibians discovered in the mountains of Columbia - including three kinds of poisonous frogs and three transparent-skinned glass frogs. That is amazing. It's dangerous to assume we have found every single living species on the earth. We keep finding new ones. The variety of life on our world is mind boggling. I'd like to know how would transparent skin helps a frog survive out there. I'd like to know how would people who believe in evolution would explain their transparent skin. Science is unable to answer these questions because we just found the animals. I'm amazed. I believe that God created those frogs and salamanders, gave them their abilities and habits, and placed them where they live. He did the same for every living thing on earth. I'm sure that there is a good reason for transparent skin for those frogs other than feeling us with awe and wonder, but it does that too!

Embedded video from CNN Video

A new Planet!

An exciting discovery has been made: a non-gaseous planet orbiting a sun-like star about 457 light-years away. The COROT space telescope was used to observe the planet. Very little is known about the planet, they have named: COROT-Exo-7b

1. Orbits its star about once every 20 hours
2. Temperatures ranging from 1,832 to 2,732 degrees Fahrenheit (1,000 to 1,500 degrees Celsius)
3. Could be covered in lava or water vapor.
4. Estimated to be 5.7 to 11 Earth masses (means 5.7 to 11 times the mass of earth) in other words they are debating its size and density.

I found a site with some more information on COROT-Exo-7b.

Here is the source article.

Raining Shoes?!

I just heard that Wen Jiabao, the Chinese Premier, was heckled February 2, while delivering a speech about the world economy at Cambridge University in England. A protester threw his shoe! Fortunately, he missed the Premier by several feet. The man was apparently upset about Chinese policy towards Tibet. The man shouted:

“How can the university prostitute itself with this dictator? How can you listen to these lies?”

Before throwing his shoe and his forcibly being removed. I think that Wen Jiabao handled the situation with much more class than George W. Bush did. He said:

“This despicable behaviour cannot stand in the way of friendship between China and the UK.”

I got to admit I'm floored by the way people are choosing to protest these days.



Source

The Black Snob's "Cute Black Girls Are Everywhere, You Idiots" campaign

On Danielle Belton's blog, The Black Snob, she has alerted everyone to the reality that advertising companies are scrambling trying to find several black girls to model in the wake of the Obama family's popularity. Like her, I'm surprised that they think that there is a "shorage". I've got lots of relatives too. I meran there are black folks all over the planet.It's like they've never been to a playground. In case she is serious about sending them potential candidate's model, here is my suggestion: my two year-old daughter, Makayla, in a candid video. I'll send the picture on the right in an e-mail. I might even send a newer one later on.

Apologetics 315: Gnosticism: Past & Present MP3 Audio

I'm sure that anyone who reads my blog has noticed that I like the Apologetics 315 blog. It is regularly updated with apologetic information...including debates and scholarly lectures. Here is a get one on Gnosticism.

Apologetics 315: Gnosticism: Past & Present MP3 Audio

Another Look at Genetic "Evidence" for Human Evolution

I found a great video in which a scientist is lecturing on the merits of the conclusion that humans and chimpanzees are 99.5% the same. He draws different conclusions based on the available data, and considering that number in percentage of simularity in human and chimp DNA is not being confirmed in other more current studies I think that it's not tenable to base the "reality" of macro evolution in general or human evolution in particular on this evidence. Listen to what Dr. Dr Richard Buggs said:




Philip Cunningham, who posted the video, wrote are really good summary point. I will paste it below:

From 1964 to 2004, it was believed that humans are almost identical to apes at the genetic level. Ten years ago, we thought that the information coded in our DNA is 98.5% the same as that coded in chimpanzee DNA. This led some scientists to claim that humans are simply another species of chimpanzee. They argued that humans did not have a special place in the world, and that chimpanzees should have the same 'rights' as humans.

Other scientists took a different view. They said that it is obvious that we are very different from chimpanzees in our appearance and way of life: if we are almost the same as chimpanzees in our DNA sequence, this simply means that DNA sequence is the wrong place to look in trying to understand what makes humans different. By this view, the 98.5% figure does not undermine the special place of humans. Instead it undermines the importance of genetics in thinking about what it means to be a human.

Fortunately (for both the status of human beings and the status of genetics) we now know that the 98.5% figure is very misleading. In 2005 scientists published a draft reading of the complete DNA sequence (genome) of a chimpanzee. When this is compared with the genome of a human, we find major differences.

To compare the two genomes, the first thing we must do is to line up the parts of each genome that are similar. When we do this alignment, we discover that only 2400 million of the human genome's 3164.7 million 'letters' align with the chimpanzee genome - that is, 76% of the human genome. Some scientists have argued that the 24% of the human genome that does not line up with the chimpanzee genome is useless 'junk DNA'. However, it now seems that this DNA could contain over 600 protein-coding genes, and also code for functional RNA molecules.

Looking closely at the chimpanzee-like 76% of the human genome, we find that to make an exact alignment, we often have to introduce artificial gaps in either the human or the chimp genome. These gaps give another 3% difference. So now we have a 73% similarity between the two genomes.

In the neatly aligned sequences we now find another form of difference, where a single 'letter' is different between the human and chimp genomes. These provide another 1.23% difference between the two genomes. Thus, the percentage difference is now at around 72%.

We also find places where two pieces of human genome align with only one piece of chimp genome, or two pieces of chimp genome align with one piece of human genome. This 'copy number variation' causes another 2.7% difference between the two species. Therefore the total similarity of the genomes could be below 70%.

This figure does not take include differences in the organization of the two genomes. At present we cannot fully assess the difference in structure of the two genomes, because the human genome was used as a template (or 'scaffold') when the chimpanzee draft genome was assembled.

Our new knowledge of the human and chimpanzee genomes contradicts the idea that humans are 98% chimpanzee, and undermines the implications that have been drawn from this figure. It suggests that there is a huge amount exciting research still to be done in human genetics.

The author is a research geneticist at the University of Florida.

======================================================

Human and chimp genomes differ by more than one percent

http://www.creationwiki.org/(Talk.Origins)_Human_and_chimp_genomes_differ_by_more_than_one_percent

excerpt:

If you measure the number of proteins for which the entire protein is identical in the two species, humans and chimpanzees are (only) 29 percent identical.

=======================================================================

Chimp genome sequence very different from man

by David A. DeWitt, Ph.D.

http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2005/0905chimp.asp

excerpt:

However, assuming they did for the sake of analyzing the argument, then 40 million separate mutation events would have had to take place and become fixed in the population in only ~300,000 generations' a problem referred to as 'Haldane's dilemma.' This problem is exacerbated because the authors acknowledge that most evolutionary change is due to neutral or random genetic drift. That refers to change in which natural selection is not operating. Without a selective advantage, it is difficult to explain how this huge number of mutations could become fixed in the population. Instead, many of these may actually be intrinsic sequence differences from the beginning of creation.

========================================================

To dramatically underscore the fantasy land Darwinists live in, even evolutionists agree that the vast majority of mutations are not beneficial (They say that most mutations are neutral, which is of no use to a Natural selection scenario, whereas Sanford, Spetner, Behe and others hold that all mutations studies at least have a "slightly negative effect)!!! (Genetic Entropy; Sanford 2005). Thus how in the world can you get from ape to man if you have no scientific demonstrated mechanism in which to do so? It is incredible that crushing facts as these are simply brushed aside as if they do not matter by evolutionists. To put it mildly this is not rigorous science, but rampant psuedo-science supported by your tax dollars!

Genesis 1:27 And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

I agree with Phillip. Putting this together with my post on the Dover Trial, I've got to ask how can evolution account for insertions, deletions, or in the case or Dr Miller's testimony during the Dover fiasco - chromosomes joining into one? Mutations are one thing. But stable mutations that bring on beneficial traits to an organism, that can be passed on to succeeding generations is quite another. Even if you grant that its possible, then you have to prove that is what happened and that it explains the differences between chimps and people. The other thing I found in Phillip's posts of great interest is that the 99.5% simularity of Chimps and Human DNA was first published in 1964, but none of the other teams' findings on the same subject have seen wide publication, nor what their data bodes for the theory of Evolution. Sounds like fear to me.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I agree with the title of that book: I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist.

Even An Atheist Agrees

I found a very interesting video on YouTube the other day. In it, the author asserts that Intelligent Design is just Creationism and it's a logical argument. I agree. It makes no sense to argue that aliens created us because you have to go backwards to infinity asking who created each successive species. I agree that because the Universe is finite and not eternal this means that there must be a being with the same attributes the Bible ascribes to God: omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, personal, and transcendent. Of course the author is an atheist so he concludes that there is no God because there in testable way to prove it. Here is the video:



I've got to ask, what is worse: an untestable hypothesis or a hypothesis that has been proven wrong? Supporters of evolution admit that their theory does not cover everything or answers all questions. Humanity has been keeping records for a long time...why haven't noticed any gradual change, that left unchecked, would result in one species evolving into another. I realize that the counter argument is that it take millions of years of gradual change. Grant it. But wouldn't you expect to see something on a genetic level where mutations would lead to another species? Since we don't I would infer that macro evolution does not correctly predict or explain anything and that there must be some other rational explanations for the data we observe.

As for how do we know God created everything, the Bible tells us.

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.
By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. Hebrews 11:1,2

Considering that there is so much that macro evolution cannot explain and it must be inferred that species like humans and apes, whales and land animals, amphibians and fish, and birds and reptiles have common ancestors, what is the difference between faith in God and faith in macro evolution. I keep hearing that tired old drum, we have evidence, but they refuse to consider other interpretations and evidence that kills the theory of evolution. The Bible on the other hand is uncontravertible and can't be proven wrong. Which do you want to put your faith on?

Heroes: The Recruit

Well, all 5 parts for The Recruit have been released and with Volume 4 just five days away, Here is the last webisode series in a single playlist. I really enjoyed the series. I hope we see more of Private Mills in volume 4.

Calm down, Putin

Yesterday, I heard of an exchange between Vladmir Putin (pictured), the Prime Minister of Russia, and Dell CEO, Michael Dell. I think Putin overreacted to a simple question.

Michael Dell:

How can we help you?" (in regards to expanding information technology in Russia)

Vladmir Putin:

"We don't need help. We are not invalids. We don't have limited mental capacity."

Talk about getting your hand bitten when you are only trying to offer a hand up. I think Putin has an inferiority complex or something. Where did the defensiveness come from? I looked up in another source to see if I could find out what happened so that I could why Putin was so rude. Another post on a different blog, suggested that some of the hostility came from over-paid consultants from America dispensed really bad advice after communism ended. The article also stated the following:

The slapdown took many of the people in the audience by surprise. Putin then went on to outline some of the steps the Russian government has taken to wire up the country, including remote villages in Siberia. And, in a final dig at Dell, he talked about how Russian scientists were rightly respected not for their hardware, but for their software. The implication: Any old fool can build a PC outfit.

Ouch!

source

Apologetics 315: Are All Religions Created Equal? Doug Groothuis MP3 Audio

Here is a great lecture about to distinguish between religions and how to test if what they are saying is true. By Doug Groothuis (pictured)

Apologetics 315: Are All Religions Created Equal? Doug Groothuis MP3 Audio

Murder/Suicide - Indicative of Hopelessness

We live in a society in which so many people fear the future. Many people have lost the security that they hold on to that give life their meaning. I was reminded of this because I heard today that in the Los Angeles area about a man, Ervin Lupoe, who killed his whole family - 5 young kids, wife - and killed himself. He even faxed a letter into the local television station explaining his actions. He was distraught because both he and his wife lost their jobs at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center West Los Angeles as medical technicians. The letter has been released in a redacted form, but still shows just how distraught Lupoe was. He thought that there was no hope and no one cared. In the letter, Lupoe contended that his boss told him and his wife had been better off if they had blown their brains out rather than show up for work that morning. Kaiser will not confirm this but if that had happened it could have only worsened their situation. Here is a video report:

Embedded video from CNN Video

Here is copy of that letter and here is a report. I think that we need to really ask ourselves what could have driven this man and woman to this level of despair, that you loose all hope that even your children's lives can't be improved. Because of the economic downturn, we are going to see more people loosing the things they hold on to. Ask: What do you hold on to? Your job? We all know that can be gone in an instant. What do you hold on to? What reason would you have for not giving up no matter what valley you find yourself in?

It's easy to judge. It's easy and true to say those 5 children did not deserve to die at the hands of the one who was supposed to protect them. The fact that he thought that he could not do that, could have been what sent him over the edge. With the way things are going, I have to say again, we will have more of these things go on. None of us know what we will do in a given situation. That's why I can't judge. Only by the grace of God go I. What I can say for sure is that my hope is in the one who sustains and keeps me and my family safe. Like David wrote in Psalm 37:25, I can agree:

I was young and now I am old,
yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken
or their children begging bread.

Hope is important for anyone. What is yours? Who do you turn to when life falls apart (and it will to some degree of another)? I turn to the author and finisher of my faith. Jesus.