The Virtues, Strike That, Virtue of Top 40 Music

I am largely not a fan of top 40 music.  Sure I had my phase as an adolescent when I bought a KDWB tank top at the state fair but for a long time now the top 40 has bugged me, a lot.  There are a few obvious reasons; like the degrading and overly mature lyrics that are daily piped into the school busses my kids ride, or the asinine melodies that are addictingly popular but increasingly similar, and the repetitive and commercial nature of the format itself. 

Just the other day a song came on and my oldest joyously proclaimed, “This song is always on!” to which he started singing and my wife knowingly smirked as I looked over to her, eyebrows raised, shaking my head.  Even country music isn’t immune to the top 40 tripery.  Tonight I heard an autotuned pop country song. Autotuned!

But this post isn’t about the breakdown of society through commercial music it is about the virtue (yes singular virtue) of the top 40. The top 40 makes my family happy.  There are few greater joys than to hear three boys belting out lyrics with passion and delight and for that reason I’ll forgo my news or talk for silly lyrics, autotuned voices and drum machine beats.

70 or 170

Imagine you have just wrapped up with a routine physical at your doctor. You ask, “What’s the prognosis doc?” and your doctor tells you, “Well, there is no easy way to tell you but… based on the results from your exam… I’d say you have about 120 more years to live.”

Would you live any different knowing you had twice as long to live? Would you live slower? Would you take on different projects? How would you approach your work? Interesting to think about, I’m not sure if it’s practical though.

Jazz Writing – Pretty Cool if You Can Handle It. Ya Dig?

Over the last 3 days, in between all of my other duties at work, I have been working on an article. The content doesn’t matter for this post; it was the process that intrigued me. 

On Tuesday I didn’t have a feel for the angle or arc of the story I was telling but I was on a short deadline so I wrote some all-purpose paragraphs that could be used pretty much anywhere in the text.  On Wednesday I attended an event that would be the subject for the article which I had written in regards to in generalities on Tuesday.  After Wednesday when I sat at the keyboard Thursday morning the story was more clearly defined and I wrote an introduction that set the stage and moved some of Tuesdays paragraphs around to fill it out.  I planned to tie it all together Thursday afternoon after teaching but when I checked my email at lunch I learned that the article was finished. 

It was pretty cool.  I read the email and the finished draft and saw that all of the things I would have had to work to say were said.  The other author saw the framework I had established, riffed off of some of the melodies I had laid down and set the hook to real our audience in with a line cast by the rhythm of our shared experience at Wednesdays excursion.  It was like writing in jazz and it was cool man.  

With deepest regrets

Regretfully I did not log any time on the couch today. But alas, tomorrow is another day.

I Briefly Considered a Retraction

Tonight I was stranded 6 miles from home so I pointed myself north and ran until I got to my couch.  Ok to be more accurate I was at a sports potluck with the family and decided to run home rather than join the others on the drive (but you have to admit the first one sounded way cooler).

In the first half mile I thought back to my sixth post ofthis blog in which I said I think I could run a marathon distance if I was 26.2 miles away from home and had a little food and water on the way and an iPod full of podcasts . I had my reasons, and I still do, but the first half mile of tonight’s run I seriously considered retracting that sixth post, at least partially.

By the end of the second mile I had slipped into a rhythm and my focus shifted from discomfort to the witty insights from the hosts of the How Stuff Works podcast.  When I reached my couch there was no doubt that I had just exerted myself but I could have continued too.

I’m looking forward to my marathon run, whenever it happens. I only hope tonight’s run doesn’t taint the purity of my unprepped run.

Resolved but not Identified (Definitively at Least)

My John Galt problem from yesterday’spost is resolved for now but the question is yet unanswered.  As I promised I replaced the front tire and tube on my bike in hopes of resolving a nagging flat problem.  I’m pleased to report that after gassing the tire up with a 78-21-1 mixture of Nitrogen Oxygen and other trace gases respectively, the pressure held overnight and survived a brief exercise up and down the alley. I’m planning to make the first commute of 2012 tomorrow morning and I am cautiously optimistic that all will go well.

Yet John Galt’s anonymity remains.

You may think that the tire and tube definitively answer the flat question but I didn’t tell the whole story. There was an inclusion. 

Replacing the tire and tube on a 700c wheel is relatively simple but that doesn’t mean it is easy, especially when you’re not that good at it. The basic idea is to unseat (or remove) the tire from one side of the wheel, pull the tube out, put a new or repaired tube back into the tire, then put the loose side of the tire back into the wheel.  The problem is that the tire fits really, really tight into the wheel and it has to stretch beyond its natural diameter in order to get off and then on again.  I’m pretty sure that every time I have replaced a tube I, at some point in the process, have thought, “I’ll never get this thing off (or on) I don’t know why I think I can do any of my own bike repairs.”

There is typically quite a bit of jostling and cajoling, perhaps even negotiation and pleading.  Needless to say I typically don’t get the tire on or off on the first try.  Last night as I pried and twisted the tire I started to hear a rattle. It didn’t register right away but soon my efforts shifted from replacement to investigation.  I removed a semi-flexible band that conceals the spoke tightening bolts and rotated the wheel until finally something fell out.  I found the particle, examined it and found it to resemble a twisted shard of metal.

Eureka! You might think. Surely the twisted shard must be the offending agent that claimed so many good tubes. But I can’t.

As you have likely recognized two variables were changed in this tires tale.  I can’t conclude in favor of the tire or the shard because both were changed at once.  If I was conducting an experiment I would be stoned or burned at the stake by an angry hoard of scientists for my lack of variable control or perhaps if my life was spared I’d likely be forced to wear a scarlet V as a constant reminder for my crime against science.

Fortunately I just want to ride my bike and my repair isn’t going up against peer review.

Why Won’t My Tires Hold Air? Who is John Galt?

I’ve been plagued by my bike tires since some time last summer.  I’ve repaired tubes, replaced tubes, inspected the tire for sharp objects, checked the wheel for intruding spokes and jagged edges but the tire won’t hold air. Why won’t my tire hold air seems to be asymptotically approaching the question: Who is John Galt?

I think a little explanation is in order. After finishing Deception Point I was faced with the decision of what fiction I would add to my current reading list. I decided on Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.  I had the book in queue for some time and with a vacancy in the fiction section of my current stable of active books I decided to give it a try. I really didn’t know anything about the book except that people read it and it is somewhat well known.  Now, 3.32% in, I have two observations.  First – the text is an amazingly descriptive piece of writing. Second – “Who is John Galt?” is a reoccurring question that symbolizes a question or situation with no clear or even knowable answer.

There is no clear or perhaps even knowable answer for why my bike tires won’t hold air.

I nearly bought new wheels and a drive train to put on my bike to bypass my John Galt problem but I’ve decided to try one more thing.  I have been holding the original tires and tubes from the bike so I’ll see if they can provide any answers.  We’ll see.  If not, the next thing to do may be to throw some money at the problem.

The Best Analogy Ever (Part 2)

The best analogy ever has to be “activation energy.”  Of course, as described earlier, activation energy is a real thing too but as an analogy it is as ubiquitous as a concentration gradient in a cell.  The expression can take many forms but in the end it all comes down to indicating the little extra push that results in a chain reaction and a big impact. Activation energy can be dished out as a swift kick in the pants or accumulated as a boulder is pushed toward the precipice of a hill.  It can be the spark that lights a fire in you or the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

Three Things

Three things make things that are not real look real. Shadow/lighting, texture/opacity, oblique views.  Look around, you’ll see what I mean.  

Thanks Again Worms – You Inspire Me*

Muscle cells come in 3 main varieties – skeletal, smooth and cardiac.  As you might expect skeletal muscles are those that attach to the skeletal system and provide the contractile forces that let us (and other animals) move around. Not all animal locomotion is generated by skeletal muscles. Smooth muscles in worms generate a peristaltic contraction that results in the characteristic worm squirms. Peristaltic contraction is cool to watch. 

The basic principle is that the ring-like muscles squeeze one after another so that the contraction propagates down the length of the worm and it moves forward.  This would be like moving a sausage by squeezing it at one end then sliding your hand down the length of it.  With a sausage you might make a mess as the increase pressure of meaty goodness accumulates against the end of the casing and eventually bursts. 

With peristaltic contraction the action doesn’t work on moving a gooey meaty center but rather works to push the adjacent muscle forward a little bit.  It rained throughout the day today in the Minneapolis area and there are quite a few worms out.  I definitely recommend watching them move, it is pretty awesome. 

Worms aren’t the only place you can observe smooth muscles in action, in fact all you have to do is look in your own gastrointestinal system. I suppose this is easier said than done but if you pay attention you can at least feel the effects a little bit.  Smooth muscles line the intestines and their characteristic peristaltic contractions are responsible for squeezing the digested food further and further down the GI pipe.  You can’t feel this in action but you can feel it secondarily a little bit earlier on in the digestive system if you pay attention.

If you’ve ever taken a really big bite of food, upon swallowing you may have experience the awkward sensation of that food being “stuck in your throat”.  A common reaction to this is to drink something in order to force the food down or make a few hard swallows.  If you didn’t take that big swig or do some forced swallows in the still of your post bite moment you may have  start to feel the food inch its way down further and further. That is peristalsis. 

Swallowing is, for the most part, an involuntary reaction and once the food is just a few inches beyond your mouth it is out of your control.  Imagine a conveyer belt that is wrapped around to make a cylinder. Once the food is on the conveyer belt it is on a one way trip to its next GI destination.  The conveyer belt example falls apart a bit because the conveyer is ultimately arranged as a circuit the moves along with the transported item until it reaches its end then is returned, usually below and out of site to the beginning of the transport area. The smooth muscles don’t move along with the food, they stay in place and just push it farther along. 

A better example is a pitching machine.  Imagine a pitching machine with its two large rubber wheels spinning in opposite directions.  After you manually feed the ball into the hopper it is committed and it gets shot out the other end while the rubber wheels remain in place.  If you lined up a bunch of pitching machines in series so the ball was continually fed into the adjoining set of spinning wheels that would be more like peristaltic contraction.  It would also be awesome to see. Perhaps not as awesome as watching a worm move across the ground, but pretty close.

*In fairness I must also thank my lovely wife for pointing out the great congregation of worms we had in our yard tonight. Thanks for knowing what I like!

#ancient analogies

Would you rather be like:

a)      A shelter in a vineyard

b)      A hut in a melon field

c)       A city under siege

d)      All of the above

e)      None of the above

According to Isaiah 1:8 the answer is a resounding e.

I was reading the first chapter of Isaiah tonight with a 10 year old buddy of mine and we read it very slowly. After reading the first verse and the funny names of the king he told me he was going to say “huh?” a lot and he was true to his word.

Late in the second verse I read, “they have rebelled” and he said, “huh?”.  I said, “they fought against God” and he nodded in understanding and I continued.

Early 3^rd verse I read, “manger” he said, “huh?”  I said “the barn where the donkeys sleep” and he nodded, I continued.

Mid 4^th I read “given to corruption!” he said, “huh?” I said, “lying, cheating, stealing” he nodded, I continued.

This went on for about 20 minutes and in total we read 16 verses. The biggest hang up was in verse 8 when we were presented with the shelter hut and city scenarios described above.  Both a and b seemed like good options, especially in light of c.  We were confused because the sentence listed them together as if they were all negative.

We sought the wise council of some other adults in the area.  We presented each scenario individually and without context and they all agreed that a and b sounded rather nice and c unanimously awful.  After we showed that the adjective statements were grouped together the wise council had a similar reaction to ours; the three circumstances were meant to reflect a negative situation but we weren’t sure how. After some speculation the conclusion was that further research was in order.

Thank you Google

After a quick search I learned that a shelter in a vineyard and a hut in a melon field were temporary structures built in their respective locations (as you might expect) to provide protection from the sun for those who stood guard in the field protecting the crops from thieves.  These structures were usually isolated and therefore prone to attack. Thus the melon hut and vineyard shelter do fit in nicely with a city under siege.

Ahh… I’m glad that’s settled,

If you were hoping for part two of TheBest Analogy Ever you will have to wait, maybe tomorrow will be the day for that exciting sequel.  Today’s events however, may have moved the hut and shelter into my top 100 all time analogies and I think it could crack the top 10 if we all try to bring them back into our collective lexicon.  So next time you are feeling vulnerable or if you are being literally or figuratively attacked, rather than saying “Eek – I am under attack” perhaps try, “Oh my – I feel like such a melon hut right now.”

Who knows, if it hits Twitter and Facebook we could take this thing viral!

The Best Analogy Ever (part 1)

In order for chemical reactions to occur they usually need a little help. This help comes in the form of activation energy.  Burning is a familiar chemical reaction.  If you look around just about everything you see could burn, but it doesn’t.  The stuff doesn’t spontaneously combust because the molecules that make them are bound together in relatively stable forms.  The rug is made of rug molecules that are chosen for their stability (though the rug store would likely sell more rugs if they simply dissolved into the universe but on the other hand they probably wouldn’t sell any rugs once the word got out about their instability).  Either way, under normal circumstances the rug will passively lie on the floor for a long, long time. Unless…activation energy. 

In the case of the rug the activation energy could come in the form of a tipped candle or a smoldering cinder from a fireplace but, with just enough heat, the rug will burn.  Once the burn reaction has started it will provide the heat for the adjacent rug area and the reaction will spread.  Eventually the fire might spread to the couch, the cabinet, the walls and eventually the whole house will be up in flames.

This may seem obvious but the important point is that the raging inferno was started by a tiny flame, just enough energy, to get it going.  Activation energy is the little push that gets reactions moving but it is also the best analogy ever.

Expression of the huplanCON4 Gene in Island Dwelling Species

I woke with a start and an instinct for action.  Some unsensed signal had penetrated my sleep at the exact moment I was almost too late.  Checking my watch, and converting for Pacific Time, I knew unseen activities were already underway, upstream and down.  As I broke for the door and into the dark, my pace quickened from cautious to conclusive within a few steps.  In this period of acceleration I also set, without thinking, the course I would take to join paths with the other agents already in action.    

Winding down the wooded road I lobbed a stream of wave and particle out in front of me.  It is important to note that my movements were no longer in my control.  The physical structure of the road simply pitched me forward and dictated my diversions.  Of course my legs played their part but whatever energy they contributed was like that of an actin filament marching along an intercellular matrix. The intelligence at work was long established and outside of myself.

Now down the path some distance I approached a beacon that was established from a source moving in my direction.  As we met a signal of confirmation was exchanged and the globular assembly of journeyers like me folded open and I was incorporated into the structure. 

All of the players in this globular assembly have a tale like mine.  Their journeys till now won’t be told here but it is certain that, while the details may differ, they are written by the same author and their structure and syntax are conserved across this narrative.   

On the final morning of my week on Galiano Island I found myself one of eight adventurers (seven humans and Sir Gibby the sheep dog) packed into the fuselage of the Wilkinson’s Prius.  The cargo we carried would transport us across the solar system, bouncing from planet to planet until our terrestrial atmosphere and relentlessly waxing sun drowned the subjects of our gaze in a flood of light and color. 

We left the Huntington farm in pursuit of the elusive horizon which hosted the planets Venus, Mars, Mercury and Jupiter.  We drove on into the fleeting darkness of the morning; our cylindrical payload filled with lenticular glass and mirrors was draped across our conjoined laps. Our concern was not with the early hour or the cramped conditions but with overlapping our expression with a narrow band of time and space. 

We reached our destination suddenly as a window to the horizon presented itself. When our guides confirmed the suitability of the location we poured into the morning like linked amino acids streaming out of a ribosome conforming into purpose as it encounters the aqueous environment of a cell.  The dynamic conditions of our earthly cytoplasm coordinated our movements as we folded into purposeful action with unspoken entropic efficiency. 

Scanning the horizon we passed binoculars among us while we alternately bowed and paused at the ocular of our interplanetary transporter-  looking for fleeting points of light increasingly consumed by the overwhelming regularity of our closest star.

Months later, connected once again through technology and common interest, I’d learn from that mornings guide that there were no full viewings of the quadruple conjugation all across Canada. “We might have been better off closer to the equator.” he said, but I can’t think of any better place to miss a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Further Evidence against the Domestication of Cats

Why do the bad guys in movies so often sit in high back chairs and stroke white cats? It could very well be that cats are naturally inclined to evil and that the bad guys are soothed by the animal that is most like them. 

I know that this may be a controversial opinion but the implications extend beyond my own preferences so I think I have to press forward.  Of particular concern is the impact on impressionable young people. I am constantly faced with the conundrum of sharing the insights I have acquired about cats and letting people discover truths in their own time.

What adds additional complication is when young people have already established their own affinity for cats.  In these situations I need to remember that it is not my place to transfer my view (even though I think it is correct) but I also don’t want to let opportunities for conversation and mutual understanding pass by.

As I said earlier, it is a conundrum.

Range

Two weeks ago we had our last broomball tournament. Today we are running the air conditioner and spent a few hours outside playing tennis. Crazy.

The Essentials: Striped Horses, Oversized Monkeys & Other Telling Observations

People of all walks, ages and experience notice similarities in organisms.  When looking at zebras in a zoo a little kid might ask, “Why do the horsies have stripes?” and who hasn’t called an orangutan or gorilla a monkey.  My favorite is when someone calls any old insect a bug. Sure a bug is an insect and they are related but that doesn’t mean all insects are bugs (to dig deeper into this entomological nerdery Google Hemiptera).  The point here is that we naturally see connections between different organisms.  Evolution is a theory that says –“Yes organisms are definitely connected - here are some nice examples to illustrate the point…” then goes on to show in great and diverse detail that organisms are connected in lineage to each other and to all other organisms from the deep past. 

The Essentials: Let’s Do This Thing

The topic of science can invoke fear in the hearts of the young and old because it has a reputation for being hard to understand, boring or both.  Evolution can raise trepidation and dread in the hearts of many, especially some Christians because it has a reputation for being a threat to God and the Bible and is perceived to question our relationship with both. This alarm has many sources and one is a misunderstanding of what evolution is and what the theory claims to be.

Many have been tempted to say that evolution is “just a theory” and therefore something that can be easily dismissed.  At best saying evolution is “just a theory” reveals that the person making the claim simply doesn’t understand what a scientific theory is or at worst shows that the person is being sneaky to advance their point of view. 

It is easy to see why there is some confusion about the term theory.  Often when someone says they have a theory they don’t have a lot of evidence to back it up. For example we were having problems with a wireless device at work. Someone had a theory that the sensors for the automatic lights were interfering with the wireless signal.  This was a pretty good explanation so we created a little test to see if the theory was true. 

To test the theory we covered up the light sensors then tried out the wireless device.  It turned out that we experienced the same problem with the device even when the light sensors were covered.  The theory was a reasonable explanation but it was also easy to dismiss once we checked it out.  These guesses and checks go on all of the time and are actually an important part of science but not a theory in a scientific sense.  In science we would call the guess a hypothesis and the check an experiment. 

There are other words that can be understood differently depending on how they are used.  If I said, “I used to be a hockey player” you would probably know what I mean.  If I said, “Wayne Gretzky used to be a hockey player” you would also know what I mean, but you wouldn’t assume that I meant the same thing.  Wayne Gretzky has a 20 year career in the NHL with a mountain of records as evidence for what kind of hockey player he was.  I have a bag of equipment in the rafters of my garage as evidence for what kind of hockey player I was.  A scientific theory is like the Wayne Gretzky of explanations. 

A Dash of Science with a Hint of Romance (Part 2)

In a way fossils represent adventure and ancient buried treasure.  I remember as a kid thinking about hunting for fossils or wondering what I would find if I dug deeper and deeper in the back yard.   There is also a sense that fossils and specifically the fossil record are critical when making, or breaking, the case for evolution.  In The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution (which I reviewed earlier on this blog) Richard Dawkins suggests that, while fossils are a nice bonus, they are wholly unnecessary for making the case for evolution. 

Dawkins asserts that fossil evidence for evolution is very strong but this doesn’t mean it is complete.  Because of the extreme unlikelihood of fossilization and the necessity of finding them under layers and layers of earth it would be unrealistic to expect we would find a completely unbroken chain of forms leading from ancient to modern organisms.  However, that gaps do exist becomes a source of significance for antievolutionists but as in other cases, arguments from gaps are increasingly fragile.

Say you were a big fan of the popular prankster card game 52 card pick up. In the game a deck of cards is presented to an unwitting player. The prankster asks the player if they want to play 52 card pick up. If the player agrees to engage in the game the prankster proceeds to quickly unfurl the card into the air causing them to fly around and come to rest on the floor. The prankster informs the player that they should pick up the cards and says something to the effect of, “OK pick up the cards.  Get it, 52 card pick up.”  Eventually someone picks up the cards but inevitably some get lost.

If the same deck was used for games of 52 card pick up multiple times it would be easy to see how gaps between runs of cards would become evident.

Where we would expect there to be:

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 J Q K A

After several games of 52 card pick up we might find:

2 3 4    6 7 8 9 10       K A

If you came across the deck of cards and examined them it would be silly to conclude that this particular deck was made with the appearance of gaps or that the absence of the 5 J & Q somehow disproved the principles of poker, slap jack or rummy.  Yet this is the same type of argument that is made about gaps in the fossil record.   The deck is stacked against these types of arguments because when it comes to conclusions from natural evidence science plays by the rules and, like in cards, the dealer always wins.

The Essentials: A Healthy Portion of Science with a Dash of Romance (Part 1)

In light of the efficiency in which decomposers process a dead body the reality of fossils is really quite striking.  Worms, bacteria fungus, beetles and other animals looking for an easy meal all consume the dead as soon as they can gain access.  In order for a dead thing to become a fossil it has to be insulated from all of its possible afterlife attackers and be in a geological position to be preserved. Yet we do have fossils. Furthermore people often have a rare and special relationship with fossils and what they represent that is unusual for topics that come out of science or history.  Fossils can evoke thoughts tied to adventure, mystery, controversy and continuity and they need to be dealt with in discussions around faith, science and evolution.

Urban Farmer- (Saving Up for a Pet Store)

I recently learned that my oldest brother has been farming worms for the last year or so.  That is so cool.  Equally cool, but even more surprising, is that when I suggested we keep worms in our basement my wife didn’t immediately recoil but actually inquired more about the logistics of the venture. 

Before describing the theory and methods behind urban worm farming you may be wondering why farm worms in the first place.  There are actually a few good reasons to keep worms.  Worms are decomposers, meaning that they break down dead organisms and therefore are the last stop on the food chain.  Really it could be better said that worms are the first step in reintroducing useable molecules to primary producers and therefore squirm round at a pivot point where the food chain begins and ends. It is this molecular hinge function that motivates a worm farmer. 

As with anyone, urban worm farmers produce waste in the form of uneaten and discarded food.  Apple cores, egg shells, coffee grounds, etc. These are all forms of food that we are unable to, or in some cases are unwilling to eat, but for a worm they represent nutrient rich food sources. It may seem like an odd form of worm heavy altruism to keep worms on hand only to provide a food source for them but they give more thank they take. 

Of particular interest is nitrogen.  Nitrogen is a key nutrient for plants to grow but it is also a limited resource.  The atmosphere is 78% nitrogen but all of that is inaccessible to plants.  Worms are handy because as they consume the discarded organics around them they process the complex molecules and break them down into more simple parts.  In this way the nitrogen locked in a banana peel or a fallen oak leaf becomes accessible to the plants in the form of delicious and earthy worm poop.

I haven’t been over to check out my brothers operation but as he describes it, it sounds like a pretty simple and elegant set up.  The farm consists of two large Rubbermaid tubs with holes cut out of the bottoms. The tubs are filled with dirt and stacked on top of each other.  Plant based foods are buried in the bottom of the top container along with a few dozen red worms. The worms eat and process the food waste until it is gone.  At that point the worm filled bin is moved to the bottom and food is buried in the new top bin.  The worms make their way through the holes toward the food in the top bin leaving the nutrient rich worm castings (poop) in the bottom bin.

Simple, awesome, worms.

The Anatomy of Perfection

I suspect that stratification is an element in the anatomy of perfection.  There are many things that are stratified; layers of skin, layers of earth, layers of cake (now we’re getting closer) layers of butter alternating with garlic, bread dough, parmesan cheese and basil.  Yes, I submit that the anatomy of perfection is layered, constrained to Bundt form and baked at 400⁰ F for 45 minutes.

An Apple Tree a Day- But Can You Throw a Hat Through It?

One of life’s great experiences is being perched at the highest possible point of a tree.  I had the great fortune of spending several hours climbing trees today as I helped friends reclaim some mistreated apple trees to a form more fitting to the Malus genus.  These trees had obviously been given some harsh and unwise treatment by their previous stewards and our efforts today had us meandering across a line between art and science.

The University of Minnesota Extension has great resources for how to trim a tree and we went into our venture with a firm grasp of the scientific identification and reasoning behind various pruning remedies.  Once in the trees we were struck at how the diagrams and description came to life before our eyes in the form of rubbing branches, sucker growth, closely spaced branches, weak and narrow crotches and water sprouts. Oh the water sprouts!

Water sprouts are a clear consequence of topping a tree.  The practice of topping is much like it sounds.  In order to control the growth of the tree the top portion is simply cut off, usually as a flat or snowball shape.  This type intervention removes a lot of foliage from the tree while also creating large wound areas. As the tree begins to recover its ability to secure food through photosynthesis is diminished by the lack of leaves. This is a bad time in the life of the tree for a food shortage because there so many wounds to heal because of the dramatic topping that has occurred.  In an effort to grasp at every solar resource possible the tree produces vertical shoots high above the original tree top. The resulting accumulated growth, termed water sprouts, resembles a disheveled straw man whose hat has blown away in the wind.

Aesthetical harm is not the only result of water sprouts. These quick growing vertical shoots bring with them the other problems mentioned above which ultimately reduce the structural integrity of the tree and prevent regular and healthy growth patterns. The science of tree trimming has an answer for water sprouts and other harmful malformations – amputation.

Paging Dr. Lopper, Dr. Cindy Lopper.

Enter the amateur arborists with their cunning arborist humor and variety of human powered tools.  With three trees in front of us we walked out the door with a plan of attack, remove any deadwood then cut by the book. See a water sprout – cut it. Spot a tight crotch – cut it.  Detect a rubber – cut it.  The plan worked beautifully until the owner of the trees began to voice concerns about the dramatic effect the surgery was having on the patient. The tree was losing a lot of branches and once removed only time and patience could replace them.

The problem was that under the previous tyrannical tree cutting regime the trees had been forced into such high degrees of unnatural adaptations that once all of the problem areas were removed it appeared that there wouldn’t be any tree left. The concern was well founded and rooted in multiple implications. How would the view to the neighbor’s yard be restricted with only a few broad trunks to block the way? How would the view from the neighbor’s yard be restricted? What branches would produce the fruit that gives the tree its name? THE FRUIT! WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO THE FRUIT?

Needless to say the production of brush slowed at that point to consider the implications and the next course of action.  Leaving some of the vertical poles was considered and several were left for a time but those gave way to the fact that they just looked weird. Eventually a system in which the wives stood on the ground and pointed to branches to be removed developed.  This modified approach worked well because it took into account the arboreal theories we were all committed to but also provided a broader visual perspective for how each cut impacted the look of the trees.  I must say I also liked the arrangement because it spread the blame for ruining the tree if it went really bad. 

In the end the trees look a lot more like other apple specimens than they did at the beginning of the day and I got spend several hours with great people and climbing trees.  

The Essentials: What Is Essential?

After finishing a great Star Talk podcast on The Big Bang Theory (the TV show not the theory for how the universe as we know it got its start) the next episode in the queue was about ghosts.  I wasn’t too excited about the topic but Joe Nickell, the main guest who was billed as a paranormal investigator, was surprisingly good. The investigator took a different approach to ghost busting, practicing his craft in the form of neutral skepticism.  In other words he took a scientific approach.   

By this point in the blog the faithful readers and those others who know me well might be saying, “Oh you know Ben, he loves science so of course he’d agree with someone who took a scientific approach to ghost busting.”  Of course you would be dead right but I content that, even more so, Nickell’s approach appealed more to my heightened affinity for common sense.

The important point from this paranormal investigator was that when we approach a particular effect we must be neutral to the possible causes that can explain it.  In other words if a door swings open and the cause is unknown, neither the natural or supernatural hypotheses should be immediately rejected. This isn’t to say we can claim either hypothesis to be correct. It is only to say that by not preconditioning our investigations with limits on the possibilities we open ourselves up to seeing the actual causes.

For this to happen, Joe Nickell adopts a suspension of disbelief when faced with a case.  Surely this isn’t easy but it is essential.  This neutral posture is important because just as a strong belief can sway thinking so can a strong disbelief, just in a different direction.  Beliefs can easily lead to being misled and being misled is often a result of dulled skepticism.

Skepticism often gets a bad rap but it is important to be skeptical.  Skepticism is one of the cardinal traits we parents hope to instill in our children.  We might not say it this way but it is true. We say “Don’t talk to strangers.” Because we think, “Be skeptical that their interest in you is malicious.” We say, “Look both ways before crossing the street.” Because we think, “Be skeptical of every driver’s level of attention and care for pedestrians.”

We train our kids to be skeptical so they can be safe and grow into maturity but how does this relate to what we teach them about belief. In a way we teach our kids to have faith in our own skepticism, we ask them to believe but how do we teach them to not be misled?

The Essentials: In the Style of Twitter

In billions of years genes evolved and organisms have come and gone. Populations change over time. Hard to observe - not impossible.

The Essentials: Observations in Brief

We have a very brief time here on Earth, so limited in fact that there are certain events that we have no possibility of perceiving.  The planet itself is a giant dynamic system that moves and shapes itself into continents, mountain ranges and expanses of ocean.  Unfortunately we don’t notice any of this stuff happening in front of us because we are not around long enough to see it unfold (in any significant way).  From birth to death the overall composition of the Earth is pretty much the same.  North America is an ocean away from Europe to the east and an ocean away from Asia to the west and has been for a really, really long time. 

While we can’t see the movements of the Earth in our lifetimes there are ways we can know that the continents have been otherwise arranged in the past.  Many people look at the world map and recognize that the continents look like they could fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.  In fact the continental boundaries that look like they fit together show evidence that at one point they really did.  As one example, similar rock layers and even fossils are found on the edges of separated continents where the land used to meet.  Modern laser guided, space based measurements show that continental movement is measured in centimeters per century so it is no wonder that we can’t see it happening in front of us.

Evolution faces a similar challenge because it occurs over extremely long periods of time.  When we look around we see a collection of animals, plants and other organisms that seem to always be the same.  Really in terms of the short time we are on Earth the collection of animals, plants and other organisms are pretty much the same. It takes a really long time for change to accumulate in a population just like it takes a really long time for an entire continent to drift thousands of miles away from land it used to be connected to. But just because there are challenges to observing super long term events doesn’t mean they haven’t happened or that they can’t be detected.

The Essentials: Knots (Part 3)

I want to tread lightly on the whole area of knot heads.  Urban Dictionary's definition clearly states that the term is not always, or even typically, used as a positive description.  Indeed encounters with some extreme advocates on either side of the evolution creation discussion can yield close encounters of the knot head kind.

The urban dictionary page is quite useful in describing the various forms of knot head, one of which illustrates a potential cause for the condition, namely circular thinking.  Attempts at reading some of both creationist and evolutionary evangelists can be painful exercises in circular thinking because many authors are so convinced of their position that they rely heavily on their correctness to prove their position.  This goes for both evolutionists and creationists and is most unfortunate.

A knot head isn’t something anyone would prefer to be characterized as and not usually what you think of when you think of smart and educated people.  We need to be careful to actually look at the progressions of evidence in front of us while being aware of ourselves, and the bias we bring, to see if we are reading the evidence or admiring the reflection we might be seeing in it.

The Essentials: Knots (Part 2)

There is no doubt that the topic of evolution is ubiquitous in our society.  It is hard to watch TV, read magazines or newspapers or listen to the radio and not hear about evolution or its implications. Evolution has stretched beyond the biological sciences into psychology, economics and philosophy.  Evolution has certainly been overused and strained beyond its useful limits when making claims about religion and the existence, or non-existence, of God.

This stress is felt in particular for folks who seem at times to live in the two worlds of Christianity and evolution.  It seems that around every corner is a potential for conflict.  For that reason I have held my tongue rather than spoken my mind and ultimately carried the unspoken stress like knots in my shoulders.

However, I have learned that like a knot the stress of living in two perceived worlds is best worked out with firm and constant pressure.  The therapeutic pressure for me has come in the form of books by authors and conversations with friends who have faced the realities science and theology present.  It has only been through listening to what others have to say, and enduring some painful moments as the knots have been massaged out, that I have come to where I am today. 

The Essentials: Knots (Part 1)

Knots are interestingly used to describe human conditions in several different ways.  If you have a knot in your stomach it describes a feeling of nervousness perhaps due to an uncomfortable situation.  If you have knots in your shoulders you have muscular pain in your trapezius or scapula area which is often caused by tension, stress or overuse.  If you are a knot head urbandictionary.com says you are a person who has trouble thinking in a logical progression, this is usually caused by a profound amount of circular reasoning tying your brain into a knot.

These knotty conditions can be caused by many things but I have found all three are commonly brought on or associated with discussions around creation and evolution.  I know that I have experienced all three but today I’ll just concentrate on the first. The topic of creation and evolution can give you knots in your stomach.

I can’t count the number of times I have had a knot in my stomach over this topics.  One of the most significant  times was when, early in my days as a Christian, my biology professor said that nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.  I’ve already described this event so I won’t go into its impact here (you can follow this link if you want to read about it).  I’ll just say that it made me really uncomfortable and even caused me to question if I could continue pursuing biology.

There have been other times that have been extremely uncomfortable.  There was a time I was invited to a small group meeting with a speaker who specialized in young earth creation apologetics. It became clear to me early in that evening that I was alone in the crowd in my disagreement with the speaker. That night, after I asked the speaker to consider the possibility that Genesis’s genre might not necessitate a literal six day creation, I was forcefully reprimanded by the speaker for not taking God’s word seriously and told that I was being worked on by the devil by another person in attendance.  Needless to say that was not a very comfortable evening. 

While they didn’t feel good at the time these moments have helped shape my perspective on the topic of creation and evolution. Maybe you have been uncomfortable at times reading this blog. Maybe this is a good thing.  Distress can be a good motivator.  We can be motivated to never encounter the offending condition again or we can be moved to examine the situation further.  In seeking the source of our discomfort we can learn about ourselves, including the strengths and weaknesses of our position. 

Anecdotal Evidence Log 3.3.12

Previously I described a hypothesis stating that ice scoured by boots increases in slipperiness.  While a formalized and fully controlled experiment has yet to be accomplished more anecdotal evidence was accumulated today. At the start of a broomball event held on the backyard ring the ice was so rough you could maneuver with ease. By the middle and especially the end of the event the middle and most used section of the rink was slicked to a degree that play became extremely challenging.  This observation was independently reported by several players in attendance. 

The Great Gender Relations Council of Excelsior

Before I begin I'd like to thank everyone who has been reading for the last 2 months with me.  I really appreciate your feedback and encouragement.  Over the course of 60 posts we are almost to 1000 page views.  Thanks again to the readers and to anyone who has shared the blog with friends.  Feel free to do so if you think anyone else would enjoy reading it. Or hate reading it that could really get the comments going!

And now, let the good times roll!

Tonight I participated as a panelist in the Great Gender Relations Council of Excelsior.  As a condition of my participation I requested a glass of water, a name placard and a microphone with a flexible handle so that I could palm the head of the mic and push it away when I needed to have a private word with a fellow panelist.  All of the conditions of my participation were met (to varying degrees) and the council proceeded and concluded with great success.

In actuality the gathering was put together by a friend for her girls discipleship group.  The girls, all sophomores at a Christian high school wanted to ask questions about teenage boys and be answered by people who used to be teenage boys. Their main goal was to relate better with boys and also avoid difficult and potentially regrettable situations. 

What struck me most was just how smart these teenagers were.  The simple act of asking questions and listening to answers showed so much about their desire to learn and their ability to engage in productive conversations.  I had the chance to talk with a few of the teens about their classes at school and it turned out that evolution is the topic of study in biology right now.

I learned just a bit about how the subject is being addressed at the school (which has been described to me as “pretty conservative”) and I was surprised to hear that it was pretty much being taught as is and without comment.  The student I talked to suspected that at the end of the unit the teacher would draw some conclusion about how the science of evolution exists with the Christian faith, especially as it relates to the creation accounts in the Bible. 

My final question was about the tenor of the learning.  The mood was described as more tense than harmonious because the scientific ideas seem to be contrary to what the student had been taught for so long.  I’m interested in following up on this and I think it is past due time for me to talk with some more teens about their perspectives.  I’ll report more as those conversations materialize. 

The Essentials: Spoiler Alert – Take 2

Please forgive me for yesterday’s randomness and lack of content/clarity.  I started out wanting to write something about fossils and ended up writing a brief synopsis of a fun book I read.  The book came to mind because the main tension in the story surrounds a meteorite found buried deep within the ice in the Arctic Circle.  The meteorite is a fossil, in a sense, in that it is a preserved artifact buried under layers of sediment.  In this case the layers of sediment are formed by ice and snow.  This particular meteorite also fits the category of fossil because it contains traces of organisms.  

(Note: It has been a while since I last read the book so details are a bit fuzzy.  Rest assured that I am reviewing the text and will correct any inconsistencies in my recollection as I find them.)

As stated above, fossils are bits or traces of organisms that have been long buried and are then dug up. One of the interesting things about fossils is that they are pretty rare.  This rarity is due to the unlikelihood of fossilization to occur.  For an organism to be fossilized it has to be buried before it is eaten by scavengers or decomposed by detritivores*, buried in such a way that it is not decomposed while underground (which is where a lot of the decomposers hang out), be positioned in a place geologically that will allow for its tissues to be replaced by minerals and finally survive the heaving and weathering that takes place under the subtle yet relentless motions of the earth.

With all of these required conditions it is a wonder that we have any fossils at all.  But, especially considering the enormous timescales that span natural history, fossilization conditions have and will exist and there is an ever growing collection of fossils.  This collection, when considered collectively, is known as the fossil record. 

Like the conclusions drawn from the da Vinci Code  (sorry I just can't give up the Dan Brown references) some of the conclusion from the fossil record have been controversial or, maybe better said, disagreed about.  However there are a few things about fossils that are generally agreed upon.  One is that if you find a fossil in old rocks the fossil is also old.  Another is that there are uncanny connections in structure between older fossils, newer ones and modern day organisms.  A final agreement about fossils is that the fossil record is incredibly incomplete. 

This last point is often cited as proof that evolution is a misguided, unsubstantiated guess put forth by humanistic scientists.  Unfortunately this conclusion is simply wrong.  The rarity of fossilization events to occur actually predicts that there would be limits to the fossil record.  Most unfortunate about the mischaracterization of the fossil record is that it makes those who purvey that viewpoint appear unreliable.  That unreliable quality is then all too easily transferred to other areas such as statements of faith in an all powerful God, who came to Earth as a human, defeated death and provides salvation for anyone who believes.