It's been a long time...

The fact that I have yet to update my blog in 2010 pretty much tells the story of my life for the past three months. This quarter has been the busiest, most stressful 11 weeks of my life thus far, and unfortunately some things have been neglected. Between my 18 credits at Bellevue College, AP Language, a class at co-op, youth group/student leadership, tutoring, and worship band, other stuff slid.

I haven't cracked open my World Religions textbook. I haven't worked on organizing the next issue of our co-op newsletter. My guitar needs new strings. My room is a mess.

I haven't spent enough time with Jesus.

In times like these, it's my quiet time that takes the hardest hit. It's in times like these that I need it the most. With some of the biggest decisions of my life thus far being made in the next month, it is more important than ever that I am spending time in the Word and in His presence, listening for His voice and tuning my heart to His.

A couple days ago I made a list of all the epic things I wanted to do over spring break, but I think I want to remember this spring break not by the games of Ultimate Frisbee or movie marathons, but by the time I spent communing with my Savior.

"come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." mark 6:31

Visual Argument

Sources:

"Transformers Special Edition Camaro." Photo. chevrolet.com 18 Dec. 2009.

"BRAVIA HD Television." Photo. sonystyle.com 18 Dec. 2009.

Fabio. "Boeing 787 Dreamliner." Photo. aviationspectator.com
18 Dec. 2009.

"iPod Nano." Photo. apple.com 18 Dec. 2009.

"Glass of Water." Photo. wordpress.com 18 Dec. 2009.

"Russian Boy." Photo. donate.worldvision.org 18 Dec. 2009.

"Orphan Boy." Photo. donate.worldvision.org 18 Dec. 2009.

"African Children." Photo. donate.worldvision.org 18 Dec. 2009.

"Little Girl." Photo. donate.worldvision.org 18 Dec. 2009.

"Business Man." Photo. pcx.net 18 Dec. 2009.

Note: The text was taken from a talk I heard given by Walter Bradley, professor of engineering at Baylor University. I'm not sure how to cite it.

A fat...that burns fat?

I was reading in a Popular Mechanics article about a fat called brown adipose tissue, or brown fat, that could be an integral part of the future of weight loss. Brown fat is common in infants and generates body heat by burning calories from normal fat(white adipose tissue). Levels of brown fat decrease in adults, but deposits are still present. The interesting thing about brown fat is that, when using Positron Emission Tomography, it is easier to see when exposed to cold. Studies show that you can lose 9 or more pounds a year just by activating your brown fat. That was an encouraging thought as the Seattle area had multiple days of record low temperatures...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_adipose_tissue
http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20090407/can-brown-fat-make-you-thin

Yes Virginia...

...There is no God.

Last week, the Freedom from Relion Foundation unveiled 100 such ads on Seattle buses. This ad is a play on the "Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" answer given to an 8-year-old girl in the New York Sun newspaper in 1897 when she asked "Is there a Santa Claus?" In addition to the 100 exterior ads, the FFRF is also sponsoring 300 interior ads featuring the quotes of famous atheists from Richard Dawkins to Katherine Hepburn.

"Faith is believing what you know ain't so" -Mark Twain

"I don't believe in God because I don't believe in Mother Goose" -Clarence Darrow

Protesting is pointless, they have free speech. So what can we as Christians who believe there is a God do to counter their lies with the Truth?

Bibliography

So my research paper is about race in college admissions...here's the bibliography.

It's a really interesting topic that brings up a lot of interesting questions- do minorities deserve special treatment in college admissions? is affirmative action effective in giving minorities equalizing opportunities? does racial preference unfairly take spots from other deserving candidates???

Stay tuned and find out...

Affirmative action. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven, 2005. Print.

"Anti-Asian Bias in College Admissions?: Part 2 In support of affirmative action." Web log post. Reappropriate. 14 Oct. 2009. Web. 3 Nov. 2009. .

Clark, Kim. "Do Elite Private Colleges Discriminate Against Asian Students?" U.S. News and World Report. U.S. News and World Report, 7 Oct. 2009. Web. 2 Nov. 2009. .

Jaschik, Scott. "New Arguments on Affirmative Action." Inside Higher Ed. Inside Higher Ed, 21 June 2006. Web. 3 Nov. 2009. .

Kirsanow, Peter. "The Non-Preferred Minority." National Review Online. National Review Online, 19 June 1993. Web. 3 Nov. 2009.

Schmidt, Peter. Color and Money:How Rich White Kids Are winning The War Over College Affirmative Action. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. Print.

Takagi, Dana Y. The Retreat From Race. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1992. Print.

Wise, Tim J. Affirmative Action. New York: Routledge, 2005. Print.

Just Chill...

So I saw a beverage bottle the other day with a really cool quote:

"As in life, chill for best results."

It was a great reminder, because college applciations and all the decisions that come with those have been getting me stressed out and worked up...

'Pull the Plug'

Yesterday there was an article published about naturalist Christ Packham saying that "Conservationists should 'pull the plug' on giant pandas and let them die out." He believes that we should spend our conservation money on animals that have a better chance of survival.

I've always wondered how people who believe that we have just evolved from lower life forms can care so much about saving endangered species. It's just natural selection in action, right? I don't agree with it, but here I finally see someone taking their stance to it's logical conclusions. Unfortunately, if he continues to take it further- we're next.

If we as humans are just evolved from monkeys (and pandas and whatever), what would health care look like if we applied Packham's opinion? With his reasoning we wouldn't waste our time treating older people- we would use those resources for those with a "better chance." If that's not scary or freaky, listen to what else Packham says:

"I reckon we should pull the plug. Let them go, with a degree of dignity ..."

Sounds like what proponents of euthanasia have to say...but that's another debate. It'll be interesting to see where the future takes us in regards to health care...