Take it on faith

So, in our science that operates on "facts" versus faith, the following appeared in numerous news web sites today:

1. A planet that has characteristics that can support life (based on what on earth supports life) has been identified "near" the earth. (actually, we can't see it, we can only assume (is assume like faith at all?) its presence by anomalies in what we observe of its sun)

2. It is about 20 light years away...meaning that if we traveled at the speed of light it'd take 20 years to get there. (that is "near" the earth?) (and, how exactly do we "know" it is that many light years away...no one has traveled a light year)(...and...the light we are observing occurred 20 years ago on that assumption...any faith there?)

3. It is "100%" certain to have the characteristics that would allow it to have abundant liquid water, a statement the discovering scientist is "nearly certain" of.

And they think we people of faith make some big leaps...

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2010-09-30-planet30_ST_N.htm

Interesting discussions

I had an interesting discussion with one of my teens today about evolution versus creation. She really wanted the fast answer, of which, of course, there is none. I asked her which she thought took more faith to believe.

Creation.

OK, how did we get the creation story?

I dunno.

We have it written in a book that has been used for at least 3 thousand years of human history, including the 3 biggest belief groups in the world, that was written by someone who was there, stating it happened around 5-6 thousand years ago, and was carried forward in oral-then-written form so accurately it has never been contradicted by archeology.

OK, and now how did we get the evolution story?

It was written by theorists over the last 200 years or so about things that, if true, would have to have happened billions and hundreds-of-millions of years ago. What actually happened and how it happened have been the subject of dynamic theorizing since the theory was developed in the 18th century.

Which believer has to have the greatest faith in his version of the beginning?

Ohhh.

Aliens?

Funny how the search for extraterrestrial life has moved from the H.G.Wells War of the Worlds flavor to the certain satisfaction the geniuses would feel if they found 1 live virus under a rock somewhere in space. What a gift we have in this perfectly balanced earth...

huh...huh...huh...huh....?

So there are certain kids who assume that when you answer them with something other than what they want (like "no") what you really mean is "ask me again sometime". And, invariably, that kids will be back, often within minutes, asking the same questions looking for a different answer. Sometimes they are clever, and change the question slightly as if you might think differently if they ask differently.

Our democracy seems to be taking lessons from those kids. Watching the news we see that if something is voted "no" in the Senate, they will wait a couple of days, then try again....and again...and again...till they (the majority party) get what they wanted in the first place.

Like the kid, the question for the Senate seems not to be "is this right?" or "is this what the people want?". Instead, it is "will you vote yes now or later?"

It is a form of misrepresentation that annoys mne

Politics or Values

As we muddle through the divisions in this country I wonder how we can maintain our values and not sell them out for the political gain. Winning is the political piece, integrity is the values piece. Each is important, but I propose that the values piece trumps. What good is it to give way on our values for a political win? We sit in the seat weakened...often in leadership and affected by our sellout.

I see our society doing this even in our public schools. We can't tell the students the truth because of a political point...we want the money so we sell the truth short....we rationalize that truth might not - in fact - be truth...("truth for you might not be truth for me..").

The problem with letting this go to the schools is that we are indoctrinating a generation, and as that generation indoctrinates it's young people, they will have weaker values, watered down by the weakness of their predecessors. How can we stop the madness?

I wonder if he read it or heard about it like our Attorney General

The following is a clip from the news today talking about the Mexican President's visit to our Congress:

"The Mexican leader also told lawmakers reluctant to take up the immigration issue this year that comprehensive immigration reform is crucial to securing the two countries' common border.
Calderon, the first foreign national leader to address Congress this year, said he strongly disagrees with the Arizona law that requires police to question people about their immigration status if there's reason to suspect they are in the country illegally.
"It is a law that not only ignores a reality that cannot be erased by decree but also introduces a terrible idea using racial profiling as a basis for law enforcement," he said to cheers, mainly from the Democratic side of the chamber."

Huh?

It is wrong for police to ask people to show that they are in the country legally? Has anyone ever been to Mexico? Seen their police in action? He was on a visit to the President of the US, not the Governor of the sovereign state of Arizona. The people of Arizona, not the people of the US chose this direction, largely because of the failed policies of the federal government whose job it is to manage immigration, whose failed policies are directly threatening the people of Arizona. A law that ignores a reality? I think not. It looks to me like it actually recognizes a reality.

What!?

So the fact that a "typo" could make the stock market lose 10% of its value in less than 5 minutes should be more than a little frightening. The guy typed "billion" instead of "million", which is equivalent to what would happen to my checking account if I typed "thousand" instead of "hundred" when paying my electric bill. Of course we are expected to say "oh dang" while our 401Ks hit the skids. I wonder if my bank would do the same if I made the "typo"...

Time keeps on slipping....

As the time slips away we see it's already May. I don't even have enough time left in May to review my calendar. Go figure that. For people with eternity we sure fret such things.

Today I looked forward to when I can get back out in my beehives. I wonder if they are waiting for me? Probably not. They just know there's nectar to be gathered and brood to rear. Maybe I could focus on the same and end up with a totally sweet outcome.

In plain sight

So our beneficent federal government has suggested 2 more ways they can offer us little people relief from the big-scary-meanies who roam about our free world..

First, it seems that one senator wants legislation to prevent airlines from making us pay for checked baggage. This is in response to an airline who wants to lower all ticket prices and then let those who need overhead space to pay extra for it. OK. Who cares? Don't go on that airline if it gets you in a lather. How is this the business of the US Legislature?

Second, the President suggested that the federal government can make it so that people won't die in mining accidents anymore. Where has he been all our lives? All we need is a federal law that makes it illegal to die in a mine! Wow. How'd we miss that? Lets see...thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of people have been mining since ancient history, and, odds are, NONE of them wanted to die doing so. Same odds are that most of them thought of EVERY possible way to avoid dying, and tried to implement that. And all it took all along was for our federal government to tell us how to do it. Wow.

Where in the US Constitution is it written that either one of these things are what we are paying these people to worry about? I suggest they take a look and focus on what we can do for ourselves (most) and what we need from them (least).

New neighbors

It was pretty interesting yesterday, put new bees in their new hives. The way its done is they are put in the box with a very small opening, and the bees crawl out to explore their new home. After they have acclimated to the new place they are supposed to come out through a small hole in the hive to orient to the new place.

One colony of bees just went crazy, flowing out of the hive and flying all over the place and looking everywhere for the hive entrance, getting lost and being stupid.

The other colony was more conservative. It was interesting. Two bees walked out side by side from the entrance. They looked around for a second or so, and then they rubbed antennae together as if they were talking...one went inside and the other sat at the entrance, guarding.

This morning I went out to check on them. Outside of colony number one there were 3 dead bees...looks like they never made it home.

Hive number 2 - one live bee guarding the entrance.

i hope it wasn't the same one.

Spears

Went out to the neglected vegetable garden area today after mowing. Found several spears of asparagus valiantly standing against my neglect. I am very glad for them, as it has inspired me to clean things up to put in new veggies. We'll either feed the deer again or enjoy some produce from our own ground.

Dirty Job

There is a season for everything. I think the season for starting back to blogging is appearing.

I remember when I was in junior high my dad built a cesspool in our yard. Actually, I'm not 100% sure what it was, except that it was a solution to an overflowing septic system. It was a giant hole, and in the hole he stacked cinder block with their holes facing out.

He gave me the job of hauling rocks from a pile on the other end of the yard to this hole. The idea was that I would fill the space between the sides of the hole and the cinder block. The rock pile at the other end of the yard was something like 100ish feet from the destination. I used a red wagon, one of the big ones, to haul the rock. I hauled and hauled. The thing I remember most about the job was how important I felt being chosen to haul the rock. It was a big job I was big enough to be in.

Today by 12 year old son got his first big job. My oldest son at home had dug a new fire pit for us for burning brush and for our backyard camping expeditions. The result of his very fine job was 2 large piles of clay-ish fill dirt and 4 decent piles of topsoil. When I showed him what to do, I showed him other large digging jobs his predecessors had done; two shed foundations, a couple of utility trenches, and, of course, the fire pit. His job - move the piles to a long term storage spot about 30 feet away.

To my surprise he worked without complaint all afternoon and actually moved about 1/3 to 1/2 of the dirt. He never spilled the wheel barrow, and he even put his tools away. I think he's on to something. Life goes on.