Tuesday, November 30, 2010

How Have You Improved Yourself Today?

What have you done today to make yourself a better person? This is a key thing all of us should keep in mind. Our most limited asset is our time and we need to use it the best we can.

Make sure you do something each day, however small, to improve yourself. Take a step toward being the person you want to be!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

How Certain is "Natural History"?

I was watching a show tonight on the beginning of the oceans (I missed the first part). It was full of tiny bits of facts stuffed with lots of "scientific imagining" at its own admission. (I may have the exact word wrong, but they basically admitted to making a lot of it up.)

It is amazing how certain they are of so many things, without any solid evidence to back them up, just their own guesses.

It was interesting to note their focus on the shift to plate tectonics. They noted the clever "everything fits together" without noting the size differences of the continents. Its kind of like taking the pieces from several different sized puzzles and then insisting they all fit together. Though perhaps they did, that doesn't prove the stories they weave.

Clearly, the plates move, but they were quite far from proving that all we can see can be explained by slow gradual processes. It is ironic that they claimed the alternative was a belief that "God made it static" when that doesn't fit with what even the most hard core Creationist believes. (Check out the Flood of Noah for lots of shifting, for example. See also the Mount St. Helens eruption for fast-forming canyons.)

My wife asks me why I watch these shows. I like true science, yet find little of it. Lots of myth telling though. I am not sure, though maybe she is correct when she says it is so I can argue with the TV! :)

Brad

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Today's Election

I have tuned out of a lot of political hype in the past few years. I used to be a lot more concerned about things, truly believing the idea that my vote mattered. I no longer am convinced it really matters, except as much as it is following the overall trend in our culture.

Right now many voters are "mad" about some things and many felt they were sold a bunch of junk with our current president. However, I am not convinced that most of those really want the radical cut back of government that would be required to have a more balanced society.

We rely on government to do to much for us, not realizing that we are ultimately responsible for ourselves. A big danger is that many will step forward claiming they can help us manage things better, in spite of reality.

The only time letting someone else handle things is appropriate is when you are a child. The modern American citizen needs to grow up and stop being a child. We all need to realize that while we should personally help each other out, our own future is pretty much in our own hands. No one can manage it better, nor should we ever give up our freedoms to attempt to reach that.