Something to read

Hello faithful followers. It's been a long while since the last post. I was recently asked to contribute to a friends blog called, "Blogging though the Bible". My first contributing post went up today and was on Luke 1-3. Check it out if you'd like. And thanks for hanging out with me in 2012. Those were good times.

http://blogthroughbible.wordpress.com/2013/06/03/i-am-writing-you-to-give-you-an-account/

What Ray Lewis and Jason Whitlock taught me about Justice

I've got a real problem with justice. I want it and want it how I want it. As a result my desire for justice lends itself toward a tendency to judge, which ultimately isn't up to me.

No where has this been more true for over a decade than with Ray Lewis.  I absolutely hated that he "got away with murder" as I frequently lamented whenever the Ravens were on TV. My desire to be right spilled out tonight a I watched the game tonight with my wife and my three boys. The boys were super interested in the story and ready to jump on the judgement bandwagon. I was pleased and then just as quickly startled by what I was passing on to my boys. Instead of preaching Ray's redemption I was passing on my own tainted tendency.

Justice is by no means a bad thing and certainly something I hope my boys will desire too. But I need to be right in how I determine righteousness, primarily that it is not up to me to determine. By all accounts Ray has found righteousness in the only way that matters,in Christ, and that is something I should celebrate - not suppress.

Tonight as my mind was changing I appreciated my wife's level headedness and this article. Go Ravens! Go Ray!

Unresolved Issues

This post marks the completion of a resolution.  I resolved to write every day in 2012 and post that writing on this blog. In many ways I am happy with the accomplishment.  Simply sticking with something for a year is always satisfying but I also know there are elements of the year that still feel undone.

There are posts like O Tanenbaum that need to be finished and many topic lists from the year that went unwritten. I wanted to establish some discipline as a writer which happened in some aspects but I also developed new skills in pretty lame productivity.

A big goal for the blog was for the productivity to spill beyond public posts and accumulate in other writing projects. I did have the opportunity to write for another site once or twice which was nice. I didn't finish my book. I'm not going to resolve to do that becuase I'm on a role with completed resolutions and I dontwant to ruin that. That's not to say that I don't want to finish the book, I just know its been in the air for a few years now and after a year of writing I feel like I still don't know how to start writing, again.

In 2013 I won't have daily posts on the Resolution blog. I hope to still be writing on a semiregular daily basis but use that time to generate more substantial pieces and post every 7-10 days. I also really do hope to have some real productivity and progress on the book. Over the year there have been instances and interactions that have confirmed the need for communicating a harmonious existence between science, evolution and Christianity. There is definitely a lot of good work already out there but both my writing partner and I think there is still an underserved audience in young people.

So with 2013 only about five minutes away if I do have a formalized resolution it will have something to do with juicing. My dad pointed me In the direction of a good deal on the Jack lalanne juice at Costco but if anyone has other recommendations, or even better a good juice that you don't use anymore:-) I'd be happy to hear about it.

Cheers to all and thanks for reading in 2012.  Happy New Year!

Everybody Wins

A mediator usually seams like some one or something that tries to bring two parties to an agreement or final outcome that is acceptabe to both. Inflammatory isn't really a quality that is valued in a mediator unless it leads o an outcome that is acceptable to both parties. 

Inflammatory Mediators are responsible for the cold symptoms that accompany infection of a cold virus. When the cold virus makes contact with certain receptors in nasal tissues inflammatory mediators are also signalled to get to work. As the virus makes copies itself the virus mediators are busy making mucous around the virus receptor sites on the cells and consequently all over the rest of the cell a well.

The mucous and inflammation manifest themselves as cold symptoms but also prevent access to receptor sites and therefore ultimately bring on the end of the cold.  It may seem that cold symptoms are an unfair price doled out by the mediators but considering that viruses kill every cell they infect, the trade off seams pretty reasonable to the host.  This perspective  may lead you to think that the mediators are unfair to the viruses by depriving them of billions and billions of potential cells to infect but the mediators have something to sweeten the deal. Along with the inflammatory and mucous producing properties the mediators trigger the cough and sneeze reflexes which deliver the viruses to a whole world of potential hosts.

Everyone Wins! Further evidence that mediation works. 

Delicious tasteless food

The fate of a stuffy nosed eater.

Resolution Season

It's that time of year again. Christmas is over and the new year is looming which means the resolution season is upon us. Two years ago I hadn't thought of what to resolve on for 2011 until about 10:30pm on December 31 2010. Together with my wife and two friends we decided to give up burgers, and fries. The year went really well and I didn't have a burger or fries or fast food until a few months into 2012. For 2012 I decide I wanted a more active resolution so I decided to blog everyday form a year.  This blog is in fact the product of that resolution.  The genesis of this resolutions can be reviewed in more detail by returning to the very first post. The overall success of this resolution can be judged by reading all the entries. I myself think it has had varying degrees of success but I'm confident that the writing and productivity has definitely suffered since the tragic loss of my laptop and subsequent use of a tablet for writing and posting. 

Anyway, the resolution season is upon us and I'm in the market for something new. So far at the top of the list is juicing but there are still a few days until R-day and I am open to suggestions.

Expression you're not likely hear everyday

The platform, usually almost deserted at this hour, was like a
London platform on a bank holiday.

So it should probably be clear at this point that I really like reading. I heard a great interview the other day with an author walked about the value of fiction, even or maybe even especially for people with serious jobs command things to think about. The interview was with Abraham Verghese on mpr. I tried to link it here but this device (yes the same one that provides cryptic  and comical predictive text insertion) is being quite stubborn.

Maybe ill try to link later (which the predictor thought should have been "like reading")