Sunday, October 02, 2011

Geeky Science for Born Again Christians

“We won’t be messed with or used as a Tool

And most of us got high marks in School”

- - - - - - - - - - -

“OK Mr. Born Again scientist. We’ll start off with a simple question. Define the word “Domension”.

“Well one time I saw the word DIMENSION in a FORTRAN computer program”

“I think I’ll give you 30% credit for that pathetic answer.

OK, another question. If I take my gun out into a big field and for purposes of discussion let’s assume I’m an infallible marksman and always hit what I aim at- - then how many different directional trajectories can I aim my gun and have success?”

:I cannot answer that question”

“Ok, don’t feel bad. One final question. How many different elements are there in a ten dimensional array consisting of ten elements each?

“One hundred?”

“I have one more suggestion for you. Don’t quit your day job”

Well Judy, God bless her, recommended that geeky science program again on channel 50.3. She thought I’d be smart enough to understand the things the instructor was saying. Well guess what? I wasn’t. What I did understand didn’t pan out. The instructor said that the speed of light is important in determining whether life formed anywhere in the Universe. I don’t see how and I doubt he could tell you if you asked him the direct question. I have a feeling he’d say something like, “I don’t know- - it’s just here in the script. He also stated he had “proved “deism” and the next week he was going to get into true Theology. Organized religion has not been able to make that link in five thousand years of trying, I hardly see how he is going to do it next week. People from Dr. Levy to Chuck Smith to Neil Savedra said “You can’t probe God. It’s just a matter of Faith. It’s a Decision you make personally”. Some of the other constructions of the show were a little silly such as universe creating machines with all sorts of dials on them to adjust the physical laws. The host points out “even such postulated machines would have to be made by Somebody”. Some of his “questions” could be answered by a bright fifth grader with a sense of humor. Abraham Lincoln was once asked, “How long should a man’s legs be”? Do you remember his answer? He said, “They should be long enough to reach the floor”. Some of the commentary on physical laws could degenerate into such silliness of “Just think how chaotic math would be of triangles didn’t have three sides or if squares didn’t have four”. As to his remarks on the gravitational constant I think of “Q” remarks on Star Trek in an episode after he’d lost his powers. Captain Piccard said “If we don’t do something that space station is going to crash into the planet when orbital decay takes its course” and “Q” just said, “Well that problem is simple; just change the gravitational constant”. If you change the gravitation of a planet causing a satellite’s orbit to decay, the solution is simple. Just supply more rocket power to the satellite so that it can stay in orbit. If we had less gravity we would have bigger stars and bigger, slower planetary orbits. If we had more gravity we would have smaller stars, and faster planetary orbits. So what’s the problem? The host spoke of “a host of such problems” but he didn’t get to the sixteen others on his list. He talked about string theory and multiple dimensional theory, neither topic I suspect he knows squat about. As to its “It couldn’t happen without God” declaration. Do you remember an axiom Stewart Sutcliff lived by when he came up with his multiple dimension theory. The axiom is “Anything that CAN happen HAS happened in some universe”. I don’t know about you but the word ANYTHING seems pretty all inclusive to me. If there is anything I’ve missed when I post these remarks feel free to register in comments. When I read comments they are usually trying to push some business venture or employment opportunity, or else pitch some new product. Maybe I should answer all those individual readers who took the time to write. But for now, the host’s doctrine of “Complicatedness” eludes me.

AND NOW FOR THE REST OF THE NEWS

I made coffee in the morning and turned on KNX 1070. Obama’s speech actually wasn’t bad. The President said it isn’t a matter of one side “winning” or “losing” but whether the American people win or lose. That’s easy for we adults to see, but you know how petty these tea baggers are. They are like Christians. If they even think they might be losing an argument they’ll throw a tantrum and blame you. Basically the President needs to do more zingers like this to make his audience think. If he points out the Obvious, he will prosper. We had oatmeal for breakfast with a fried egg and toast and butter and jelly. The Republican response was on the subject of eliminating all these vast new business regulations. OK, you convinced me. Then it was that fish and crill oil combo and Astezanten and how it speeds up your brain and gives you good skin. OK there was another one at nine or something that talked about super energy fat burning so animals never gain weight. Anyhow, Astezanten has 60 times the anti-oxidant power of Vitamin C. And I guess half the fat cells of your brain consist of it. In between I had the computer on reviewing blogs. I know at eight thirty I switched the radio off and just lay on the bed a bit. And then I grabbed my wallet and my Chase debit card and went to the ATM at the liquor store and got the minimum of twenty dollars. It took a while to process. Then I bought coffee creamer and two packs of John Black cherry. I don’t imagine I’ll be spending any more money till Tuesday. There’s no need. I’m still a little fuzzy on what I did when. I also read up on Lee Michaels. He is from San Francisco not the South. And he was originally into surf music and not gospel. He knew a guy from the Grass Roots and also the Turtles’ drummer, I believe. And that John Baretta who drummed on the Airplane’s last album “Long John Silver” in 1972 and went on for years with the Starship.

Amanda Knox has been undergoing a murder trial in Perugia, Italy for the murder of her roommate four years ago. It was a British co ed named Merideth. The police broke down the door and she was stunned. The Police previously had DNA evidence, but then some court said that the DNA sample was tainted and they wouldn't allow the court to use it. Now the defense claims there is only "circumstantial" evidence. Her parents are visiting her from Seattle. She has been in prison all this time. None of us wishes the innocent harm. The verdict is expected to come on Monday. People have been saying this whole trial was unjust from the start. We should thank God in such cases at least Italy doesn’t have the death penalty.

Andy Rooney is 92 years of age and prides himself on being a "grumpy old man". He has the very same persona off camera as he does on camera. He says he used to be against War but then he ran into the Nazis and he changed his mind. They say that you know a liberal from a conservative, because the conservative is the guy who's been mugged. He says that if he had the last thirty years to do over again that he would be doing exactly the same thing. Well, we here in the blogisphere salute Andy. He is truely one of a kind and he'll be missed.

Some people have asked me "Marcus, how come you're so darned smart?" Well, I tell you a little secret. I remember what I learn. When I read a book or take a college course I make a point to remember it. Other people don't. Their minds are like a siev. When a preacher gives a sermon I remember it. Others don't. They go into some kind of spiritual trance, all right, but they don't remember anything substantive they could be given a test on. A lot of the incidents or many will say "stories" I relate to you readers are incredibly vintage. Many of the ones I choose NOT to relate are incredibly vintage. We we hear things and we forget them and for some reason they assume relivence later on in life, like trying to remember what you learned in higher math in high school. I just remembered that mystery "last name" that starts with an R. It wasn't Ramsey, it's Renkin, or Renkyn. OK that's a technicality. We forget that the Sunday morning show on KFI is called "radio theater". It isn't reality; it's theater. Just like Star Trek is theater. It's entertainment. If you're lucky you can pull away the occasional lesson from it. You have to remember that certain people such as Dennis Prager and Neil Savedra pride themselves NOT on their spirituality or "psychic enlightenment". Rather, they take pride in themselves in that they are "Religious". I had the idea of doing a biography on C S Lewis and calling the book "The Lying King". That title is not original with me. Rush Limbaugh must take credit for that one. The song "The lion sleeps tonight" seems to be a take off on an even earlier story I heard as a small child about a lion sleeping and forgetting the secret word to a magic tree. And the word was close to "Un-wung-ga-weah". But the lion was too proud to admit that he'd forgotten the real word and so made up a word and said it many times to the tree. And of course nothing happened. There was no dropping of the magic fruit. Some old people pride themselves with the expression "You know, I've forgotten more on that subject than you'll ever know". If I were them I wouldn't be too public about admitting it. People have another "Meme" that somehow "Loss in life is irrelivent". You get this particularly in Christian circles. Many people seem to pride themselves on what they've Lost almost more than what they Have. If a heart valve is leaking blood it needs medical attention. Some math whizzes say that investment "loss" will prevent the regular compounding of interest and principle, by which you can save up and accrew money. The secret to my own parent's success more than any other- - is that they were extremely tight with a buck. But contrary to what so many Christians believe, you ultimately are not measured in life by what you Have, but by what you Give. People like Gene Scott never seem to have this reality dawn on them. People should not "Trust" in objects, and for many God is a "Thing" to them. It's something they "Have". But rather we need to learn to trust our fellow man, as Jimmy Stewart said in that famous speech to Mr. Potter in "It's a Wonderful Life". If we can do this, we will Do Well. (Selah)

People fall into mental traps. Many people develope phobias they can't really explain but have no intention of altering. Many people believe that if they can just Avoid certain things that all will be well in their lives. But if Satan is really out there, don't you think he's smart enough to implant some fear in your mind that isn't your Real problem, and so that you invest time trying to avoid That Thing, and meanwhile you are ignoring the fact that you are screwing up every day in a thousand other ways. So you try and avoid fats, when it's carbohydrates that turn out to be the real problem. They claim to have trouble reading the road map but meanwhile they are so stoned at the time they don't know what they're doing anyway. People on the tea party right pride themselves on not violating the tenth commandment. This is the one about not coveting your neighbor's goods. Don't they think for one minute that a powerful business man bent on driving his enemies into the poor house is also violating the tenth commandment? Suppose you fixate on a belief system that seems to "work" for your neighbor and fixate on that and say "I want what he has". Aren't you too violating the tenth commandment of "coveting your neighbor's religion?" A wise person said to practice "Moderation in everything - - including moderation". Extremism in defense of your own moral convictions is no vice but moderation in the pursuit of Truth is no virtue. People who don't trust themselves have themselves as their own worst enemy, whom they are never able to get away from. (Selah) Many preachers fill your head with all these false ideas. They will say to you "I have secret knowledge - - but I know you're not ready to hear it yet and you just have to sit and listen attentively at my knee and trust me while I try to remember something I haven't made up yet." It is of little use if they say that the secret knowledge lies over in that THING over there and we'll call that THING God. You still have the same problem. As Dylan said long ago, but it's well worth remembering, "Do you take me for such a fool to think that I'd make contact with one who tries to hide what they don't know to begin with?" (Selah)

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