Go where the evidence leads

Tea party supporters are more scientifically literate than the general public?  And it surprised the researcher?  I'm sure this prof will also be surprised at how much they know about economics too.

The admission in this article is very telling.  I'm glad Prof. Dan Kahan was at least willing to accept where he was wrong, change his views, and was man enough to admit it to the world!

A Different Approach

Instead of waiting to figure out what I should write, I should just write.  I've been inspired to restart this blog.  Every single day (or as often as possible), I'll write on a topic for exactly 30 minutes.  I won't make corrections until afterwards for about 10 minutes.  The following 20 minutes will be logging what I did for the day in my other blog.

Catching a simple thought

I'll work this out somehow.  At some moments, I get this feeling of fulfillment, of pride in who I am as a Christian, of being part of something when I think of simplifying my life to the point of almost being like a monk in a Shaolin monastery.  I can't seem to catch a permanent sense of it, but when I do, I feel a sense of something unique and holistically satisfying when I think of being a monastic, to be away from the world for a while, but at the same time living simply while living in the world.  I see myself in simple, comfortable clothes, almost like a tai chi outfit, barefoot most of the time or in sandals, and in a constant deep meditative state in whatever I'm doing.  I don't want to mix any type of paganism into my Christianity.  I'm well aware that shared aspects of Zen and Christianity are merely a bridge to begin dialogue.  Superficially similar, fundamentally different - worlds apart.  Though, whenever I think of Zen, I'm reminded of the emphasis on simplicity in how I should live my life, the simplicity of Jesus.  Not that I'm making life simple, as if I'm making an artificial existence, a make-believe world.  But there is one simple way to live life, the way Jesus lived - allowing the Spirit of God to move me, to be in step with Him, to be in line with Him, His flow, His movement in the world.  To be truly one with Him and inevitably to be one with His Body.  Obviously not in the monistic sense that some Christians have adopted.  My brothers and sisters who subscribe to that are being misled, thinking that the oneness mentioned in Zen and other thoughts with a monistic worldview is the same as the oneness that Jesus spoke of, the oneness of being united with Him, of being one with the Father.  It's not in the likeness that we have with each other, but in the unity of being in Him, in what He did and continues to do for us.  We are not all connected, but we are connected once we acknowledge Jesus for who He is - the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the Creator, the Source.  So how do I live my life so I can be in line with Him, to be in step with His will, while acknowledging that I am a unique individual?  Submitting to the Head of Christ as I am part of His Body.  I have to be sensitive to His move, listening to His still small voice in the innermost part of me, like a limb responding naturally to the electrical current from the brain.  How simple!  
Now the question is, when do I begin?  

Zen and Christianity intro

Zen Buddhism - a worldview and lifestyle combining a simplified version of learning theory, performance psychology, intuition development, and observations of nature and human behavior all expressed in mystical and monistic terms.

There are universal ideas that Zen and Christianity share, but they are merely a bridge to begin dialogue. The essence of both worldviews are worlds apart. The human experience is the biggest reason why they have anything in common. Whatever observations made about human nature and thought patterns were fused with the monism found in Hinduism. Buddhism in certain ways is Hinduism lite, even though it's an evolved version of Hinduism. Zen Buddhism is still Buddhism, but it's also Buddhism lite, which reflects its roots in its convergence with Taoism.

What would you do?

Last Monday, I covered the Ross Township shooting soon after it happened. Media from New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia descended on the area and the story hit CNN and Fox that evening. For those who haven't heard, a man who had been in conflict with the township for a number of years over his property was finally forced to give it up and he thought he had nothing else to live for. He shot his way into the supervisor's meeting killing three men and i...njuring several others. One of those he killed shielded a woman from getting shot. One person who ran away kept a kid from coming in to the building to get his dad. The newspaper reporter who was there ran away also and hid behind his car. It was his first ever assignment being a new hire for the local paper. A township official tackled the gunman and a resident helped to keep him down immediately after. When I heard all of this, I thought, what would I have done? There are consequences for any action you take. There is no wrong way to respond in a case like this, especially if you survive. But what are you prepared to do? In the case of Dave Fleetwood, whose life was all about helping others, he instinctively sacrificed himself to shield that woman. Bernie Kozen took a great risk by tackling the gunman because he could've been shot also. Instead the gun was angled toward the gunman who accidentally shot himself in the leg.
Some of you may know this about me already: wherever I go, I almost always assess the layout of the place I enter and quickly create options for myself in case of an emergency. I'm not being paranoid, I'm just being safety conscious. It's an awareness habit I've developed over the years and I hope you start to develop it too. As you do so, continue to ask yourself what you would do in a case like this and settle it in your heart. And if you have some training under your belt, even better! It's not a guarantee, but it increases the odds of you surviving. Your instinctive response will save your life and the lives of others, or if you choose, give up your life protecting another.

New Year's Note 2013

Posted on Bacerra Academy FB page:

Resolutions are meant to be broken.  Or really, people have a tendency to make unrealistic goals for themselves and then don’t follow through on them.  Goals should be challenging and yet reachable and realistic.  It should make you work for them and get you outside your comfort zone.  As the old adage goes, anything worthwhile doesn’t come easily.

If goal-setting and reaching for those goals through consistent activity is already an ingrained habit for you, then great!  Keep it up!  It took some time for me to develop those habits, so if you’ve already developed it early in life, then all the better for you.  If you haven’t, then I suggest you start doing something about it.  Most of you on this page are relatively young, so it’s not too late to change your habits.  For those who have been around me long enough, you know certain basic things about goal-setting, that it takes a whole lot of effort to achieve your goals; that consistent effort bit by bit is better than large effort once in a great while; that you should have an overall goal and a number of mini-goals and milestones leading you up to that major goal.

Losing weight and getting fit is a common goal.  One of the highlights from this past year for me was losing 20 lbs.  I had to work-out hard and I had to cut back on certain foods.  It wasn’t a New Year’s resolution but in late January, I was motivated to act when I saw pictures of my fluffy self in Puerto Rico.  I made my decision and I knew I was in for a crazy ride.  Then I made an end date so I didn’t prolong the process - I will weigh 170 lbs by June 30, or lose about 4 lbs a month, a realistic monthly goal.  There were a number of things I had to do to make sure I kept to my goal: have a few family members keep me accountable, have a number of mini-goals for myself (which changed often, by the way), and keep track of my progress (myfitnesspal helped a lot).  There were days when it was enjoyable and I made it as fun as possible.  But there were even more days when it was just not fun at all!  Regardless of my feelings, I HAD to push through.  This is the rub for most people - when it stops being fun, they give up.  Understandable, but it’s just not a good excuse.  My sisters and cousin helped a lot and seeing students who successfully lost weight with my guidance motivated me to keep going as well, especially when it was so easy to let myself go!  Even with injuries, getting a cold, and being stressed out at work, by God’s grace, I was able to pick up my activity level, control the eating, and lose the weight.  In the final two months, I was a little behind, but knowing I needed to reach the goal, I worked even harder and the whole experience was even WORSE!  The last week before June 30 was the craziest week of the year physically for me because the last three pounds for two weeks didn’t budge.  Finally, on June 29, a day before the end-date, I reached my goal of 170!

So to summarize what I did:
- motivation (negative, seeing a picture of my fat self, or positive, a mental image of my fit self)
- set a goal - with a date
- set up the help that you may need, preferably people who will encourage you to follow through
- make mini-goals to reach your overall goal, which may change over the course of the program
- “dig deep” as coaches would say, when things get tough

Goal setting, keeping healthy, martial arts training, are not just good ideas and hobbies, they’re lifestyle habits.  They become part of what you do normally and it’s not just an extra thing you do.  If it’s just another activity for you, fun or not, you’ll most likely quit by February.  So if you’re going to make a resolution, it shouldn’t just be the superficial activities.  The best resolution to make is in the change to your mind as you incorporate the new lifestyle habits.

What will you do this year to create a lifestyle change that will develop you into someone better than you were last year?

Encouraged, Edified, and Enlightened

I want to share my heart with you on this page. My hope is that you will be encouraged, edified, and enlightened as you read these updates. (Yeah, the three point message is a little cliched, but it makes it easier for me to explain and remember.) In Ephesians 4, the last half of the chapter is the encouragement I'm talking about - putting off the old self and putting on the new. Some may say it's to become better than you were before, which is true. But more specifically, it's an encouragement to be Christ-like. For those who were with me for any length of time, you should know becoming Christ-like is not a call to be religious. It's a whole different focus - to develop a trusting friendship, a growing relationship with Jesus. Yes, I will encourage you in other ways, like if you need support in some way, I'll find a way to encourage you. But the encouragement will be in the realm of changing the attitude of your heart and mind, which will inevitably bring helpful change to other areas of your life. I'll continue with the other two ideas soon.

Message

God has been prompting me ever so gently over the past few months of continuing to serve you all through updates like these. I'm finally following through with it. We may not be able to get together because of one reason or another, but we can still communicate through FB. I've invited former members of youth group as well as those who were only guests but who I'm friends with, to be part of this group. Everyone needs guidance, whether you're in high school or in college or out in the real world. I know I needed the most help and guidance while I was in college even more than when I was in high school. So this is an opportunity for you to keep learning from God's word if you're not doing so already and to have someone who is a little ahead on life's road as a signpost to point you to the Architect Himself. Life is crazy enough, it's always good to seek guidance from the One who made the blueprint. And it's easy to jump ship because of who may be here or that there's an emphasis on Jesus, but I hope you've gotten past some of those old hurts (and if not there's always private messaging) and that you're open to seek the truth. I know we can all get along while we're here. Hope to hear from you!

Pacquiao vs. Bradley Round by Round Quick Analysis

When I heard Pac lost, I was taken aback!  So I had to watch and analyze as soon as I was able.

1st
Pac defensive, TB aggressive but no lands.  Pac ends well.
Winner: Pac, although can make a case for TB

2nd
A little more even throughout with aggression but Pac landed more.
Winner: Pac

3rd
Whoa!  Pac clearly dominated with aggression and lands.  TB close in the end but not enough.
Winner: Pac

4th
Pac clearly won on all counts.  TB got a few but not enough.
Winner: Pac

5th
Pac once again clearly won.  TB looked hurt.
Winner: Pac

6th
Pac way more aggressive but can tell both getting tired.
Winner: Pac

7th
Both slower and TB hurt.
Winner: Pac

8th
Slow round for both, definitely tired now.  Pac seems to be having fun whileTB frustrated and stumped.  Didn't attack!
Winner: Pac

9th
Pac listened to his coach - uppercuts!  A little more action finally!  Second wind!
Winner: Pac

10th
Wow!  A little action from TB finally!  But Pac not hurt.  Neither are taking advantage of shots.
Winner: Pac, but can make a case for TB (saw replay of 4th - TB hurt his ankle while stepping)

11th
(Note: from previous fights and this one Pac keeps dropping his hands to fix his shorts, leans forward way so far that he's on one foot for a second, other hand doesn't guard well and sometimes drops, and from MMA standpoint, ducks too much)
Fairly even, good defense by TB.  Pac still aggressive.
Winner: Pac

12th
Even, but Pac got it with his drive
Winner: Pac, but can make a case for TB

I don't know what the officials were looking at, but it definitely wasn't the fight in front of them.  If I were being generous by giving Bradley 3 rounds where he showed a little spirit, Pac would still win.  Just about everyone was confused and some even thought conspiracy.  Pac was definitely disappointed, but he flowed with it.  "I did my best, but I guess my best wasn't good enough," was the statement of the night.  No, you were robbed, Pac, plain and simple.  Too bad you can't really do anything about it.

Dim Mak Poison Hand Touch of Death

Been looking at some Dim Mak and Kyusho Jitsu videos again.  I know it's not the best thing to depend on, but I can see the validity in some of the moves and points.  No, I'm not about to seek out Dillman or Cameron for their knowledge and I'm not about to brush up on my Montaigue books either.  But it's nice to look into it every now and then to study the weaknesses of the body to enhance my training.  I've been studying some of Pantazi's stuff recently and it's got my interest.  Mainly I seek the practical, head-hunting stuff rather than the body shots.  I'm still a big fan of researching the science of the knock-out.

Between Stomach 4 and 5 (Mental nerve) - on the jaw between chin and jaw hinge (obvious one, seen in boxing and UFC all the time, much like the rest of these).
Gall Bladder 1 -  Behind eye, above cheek bone
Gall Bladder 4 - Top of the temple, behind hairline
Gall Bladder 14 - Just above the eyebrow to the outside
Gall Bladder 12 and 20 - Behind earlobe, 12 on hairline, 20 just behind it
Triple Warmer 17 - Behind and under ear lobe
Triple Warmer 23 - Forward of temple, outer point of eyebrow
Stomach 9 and 10 - 9 side of Adam's apple, 10 about an inch below
Large Intestine 18 - Side of neck, in the middle, just anterior of frontal plane
Small Intestine 16 - Side of neck, in the middle, just posterior of frontal plane
Governor Vessel 15-19 - 15 top of the neck, 16 right above it, two inches above 16 is 17-19 roughly two inch separation between each
Below Conception Vessel 24 - middle point of chin
Bladder 10 - Hairline, back of head, side of spine


Slapping GV 13 and 14, which is the bottom of the neck top of the back, will help revive.

Biblically Hostile

Great article listing concrete evidence that Obama's faith really isn't in the God of the Bible.

The Motto for Guiding and Counseling Others

“We are both broken, we are both on the journey, and we are both fellow pilgrims.”

- Pastor Ed Dobson

Upside down

"We're in an upside down world!  You can't be silent anymore!"
- Glenn Beck

Barna Year in Review

“Not surprisingly,” he continued, “our research found that a majority of churchgoing adults are uncertain as to what their church would define as a ‘healthy, spiritually mature follower of Christ’ and they were no more likely to have personally developed a clear notion of such a life.

“It may well be that spiritual evaluation is so uncommon because people fear that the results might suggest the need for different growth strategies or for more aggressive engagement in the growth process. No matter what the underlying reason is, the bottom line among both the clergy and laity was indifference toward their acknowledged lack of evaluation. That suggests there is not likely to be much change in this dimension in the immediate future. In other words, as we examine the discipleship landscape, what we see is what we get – and what we will keep getting for some time.”

Death by Coveting

Atheism has killed more people in the past 200 years than religion, any religion, has in the past 2,000.  I wanted to put that phrase up on my Facebook update but it seemed a little too incendiary.  My FB isn't serious and if it is, it's for immediate pressing concerns, nothing that would cause debates - political, religious, or otherwise.  Besides it's not really about the dichotomy between Atheism vs. religion, but differences in worldviews and people abusing their authority vs. true Biblical authority.  As I taught in Life Group recently, our coveting is what causes wars and conflicts.

From the website The Road to Emmaus:

"The Bible states that the person who says he loves God, but hates his brother, is a liar. There are many people through history that have done horrible things in the name of Christianity, but Jesus' words, "you will know them by their fruit" tell the real story regarding their love for God and whether they follow the commands of Jesus Christ.

The second point to make is that, yes, people who claim to love God do kill, but nowhere near to the extent that the lack of religion does. According to University of Hawaii political scientist Rudolph J. Rummel, the total number killed in all of human history is estimated to be about 284,638,000. Of that number, 151,491,000 were killed during the past 100 years. The single largest killer in all of human history is, by far, atheistic Communism with a total of 110,000,000 … over 1/3 of all people ever killed! If we add to that number just two other regimes where religion of any sort was strongly discouraged, Nazi Germany and Nationalist China, the number rises to 141,160,000. Almost 50% of all the killings in human history were committed in the past 100 years by regimes that either actively promoted atheism or strongly discouraged religion. We have not considered the over one billion abortions, where Christianity seems to be particularly unwelcome. When the murders of history are tallied up, it is very clear that atheism is the most dangerous philosophy ever embraced by humanity. The most effective restraint on mankind's inherently evil tendencies is faith in God through Jesus Christ, a faith that actually follows the teachings and commands of Jesus Christ as a daily way of life.
http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NOTE1.HTM (all stats have come from this site)"

Architects of Ugly

I read an article on the Blaze about the controversy over these towers, how they looked too much like the WTC in mid-explosion.  After reading the back and forth between so many people, I didn't see any comment about what the motives were of MVRDV, the Dutch architectural firm who designed these buildings.  People were either for or against and only assumed these architects' motives.  After a little research, I put in my two cents:

They may not have meant to offend, but they admitted that the WTC was part of their creative process in designing this monstrosity.  They said about their firm that they like pushing boundaries and to be Michael Moores of architecture.  So this Dutch firm either wanted to jab at America "we're just joking but your country does suck" or was truly ignorant, "saw a pic of an exploding building and I was inspired."  Much like the fashion designer who was inspired by Holocaust victim prison attire as something avante garde and yet she didn't mean to offend anybody.  But it was offensive nonetheless, especially if these designers knew where they were getting their inspiration from.  Aside from the obvious 9/11 connection, this is just aesthetically displeasing!  I appreciate art - beauty and balance are important to me.  These towers barely had either!  A few of their organic looking buildings are nicely designed but for the most part, in their effort to be on the edge creatively, they fell off the cliff!

Daniel of the Year

"It's not rocket science. You don't have to have a counseling degree to bring somebody to Jesus and walk them into a place of wholeness. But you do have to have a lot of patience because it's not going to get all cleaned up immediately." 
"God is 100 percent grace and 100 percent truth.  If we fail to represent any part of that then we fail to represent Christ."
- Alan Chambers, President of Exodus International, 2011 Daniel of the Year Award Recipient

Coexist

I've always wanted to write my own article about this bumper-sticker, but someone else beat me to it!

You’ve seen these, right? They make me mad. Why? Because they don’t really mean what they say.

Let’s break it down. We’ll call each worldview by the letter it’s supposed to represent. So:

• C = Islam
• O = Pacifism
• E = “Gender equality” (=the LGBT agenda) 
  
• X = Judaism
• I = Wicca / Pagan / Bah’ai
• S =Taoism / Confucianism
• T = Christianity

And let’s assume a very broad definition of “coexist”: living together without calling for the destruction of each other. Here are the problems with that:

• C wants to kill E, X, T, and (by implication) O. If they achieved the world they wanted, I and S would also no longer exist.
• O doesn’t allow for effective resistance or defeat of C.
• E stands in direct opposition to C, X, and T, and accuses those who speak against them of hate speech. Also, they’re trying to edge X and T out of public schools in favor of their own agenda. (They’re afraid C will be offended, so they get less trouble.) E is actually very, very intolerant.
• X’s existence is threatened not only by C but also by O, who invariably supports C over X.
• I and S are statistically insignificant and are mainly on there to complete the bumper sticker.
• T is who the bumper sticker is really arguing against, but poses no physical threat to any of the others.

Historically, T has brought about more tolerance– “coexistence” if you will– than any other movement. But the kind of “coexistence” the people who make this sticker envision is one where at least X and T are completely marginalized.

http://wisertime.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/coexist/

Notes on Cholesterol

'A nice adaptation of conditions will make almost any hypothesis agree with the phenomena. This will please the imagination, but does not advance our knowledge.' J Black, Lectures of the elements of Chemistry 1803

In truth, the current ideas on plaque formation used to keep the cholesterol hypothesis afloat are complex nonsense. But the entire area is now protected by a ring-fence of scientific jargon that frightens off all but the most dedicated seeker after truth.


Dr Malcolm Kendrick is a medical doctor who has spent many years researching the causes of heart disease. He has been critical of the 'cholesterol hypothesis' for many years, and more of his writing on the area can be found on the website of the International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics. This is an edited version of a chapter in Panic Nation? Unpicking the myths we're told about food and health, edited by Stanley Feldman and Vincent Marks (buy this book from Amazon (UK) or Amazon (USA)).

Cholesterol research paper

Inadvertently started something

My friend Cheyenne posted a video on a Facebook update of a pro-abortion person berating the peaceful protest of pro-lifers.  Cheyenne was supportive of the pro-abortionist's outrage, even though she's neutral on the issue.  But she inadvertently started a discussion thread concerning the video.  In italics is a friends of hers who responded to the video and then I responded afterwards:
   

"Without talking about the issue of whether aborting the baby was right or wrong, this isn't a very christian way to approach abortion. Even if you believe the act was a sin, it would do well to remember the addage 'hate the sin, love the sinner' and these people have no sympathy or love in them, there is a way to say you disgaree with abortion without acting like this. It's not like they just decided one day, 'hey we should have an abortion and kill a baby'. Perhaps they should have got a second opinion but, working with the information they had their child would have had a brief life of intense suffering, in my opinion the humane thing to do is kill the child. One might argue that we are 'playing god' but if you take that stance why use medicine at all? If god gives somebody cancer, don't treat them they must deserve it. Either way you are altering the 'natural' cause of events Even more puzzling is the pro life camp's stance on stem cell research the US is far behind the rest of the industrialized world (whats new?) in this promising area of research because people are scared of using non-sentient cells that would just be frozen in a lab or discarded. If medical research on stem cells is playing god, then fine, we are gods"

The Christian way to approach the abortion issue is to do so in a loving way, be it protest like this or on a personal level. Don't know about these two women, but I have been to a protest where everyone was civilized on both sides except for a few pro-abortionists who weren't even part of the event. If a person believes that aborting a baby, or for that matter assisted suicide, is an option to "prevent suffering" then it just shows a lack of understanding about the meaning of life and a total disregard of the greater possibility that the "suffering" is temporary, which is usually the case in the abortion decision (check CDC and medical records, in nearly all cases, there is only emotional "suffering" rather than an actual medical emergency). It's not a case of natural vs. preventative, but rather a case of the preservation of life no matter what vs. terminating life because of suffering, or worse, "possible" suffering. This even includes the nonsensical example where you state "why use medicine at all? If god gives somebody cancer, don't treat them they must deserve it. Either way you are altering the 'natural' cause of events."  The issue is beyond the ideas of "if god gives somebody cancer" and "natural cause of events," which misses the point.  The issue is "preservation of life" and the emphasis is seeing God at work through the difficulties and tragedies that we brought upon ourselves from the very beginning and still bring on ourselves today.  To allow this thought process of "preventing suffering" to succeed on a federal level is even more deplorable because it will go down a slippery slope to a worldview in which government will determine life or death and will even hold the information to such a decision. To bring it back to the pertinent, there are always options besides abortion especially if you have more information and not just the opinion of those who believe in their rather limited ideas. Quickly, concerning stem cells, embryonic stem cells aren't effective in treating disease and to keep trying because the theory sounds good on paper is to waste precious resources, not to mention actual lives. Adult stem cells are still the most effective in treating a variety of diseases and ailments and the US is among other industrialized nations ahead in that respect.