Now you see me . . . now you don’t

Ever dreamed of being invisible? Well, keep dreaming. This article doesn’t say that invisibility is possible. But they have found a way to bend light around objects. So maybe by the year 3000, your great grandkids will disappear.

no, it’s not a robot

d30. sounds like R2’s estranged cousin, but as it turns out it’s something much cooler. but first lets take a trip back into your childhood. do you remember cornstarch? that good ol’ non-newtonian fluid that was like a liquid without pressure, but a solid when pressure was applied? wacky huh? just imagine cornstarch, except this cornstarch can stop bullets. d30. apparently when made rigid (by application of force) this stuff can reduce the strength of a bullet by half. that along with the classic standby of Kevlar you have a pretty dynamic duo. not to mention that the producers of d30 are working with other retail people in making products like gloves, pants, and hats that can take a hit like you have football pads on. there’s even a video on youtube of a guy getting hit in the head with a shovel, to no avail though. this stuff apparently was designed  “to work in synergy with the material properties in areas where there are high levels of geometric change (e.g. elbows) such that the texture “densifies” on flexure to optimize the protection afforded.” pretty intense in my book. all I can say of all of this is . . . I want some.

new york, new york

Last week was the annual academy mission trip to new york. I attended for the second year in a row (last year as a SONS member). it started out saturday night with a trip to the promenade (read: mla-ma-mla as opposed to promenaad). we got a sweet view of downtown manhattan  and good ol’ lady liberty and other such things. sunday we heard the first message brought by evangelist kent prain. we then headed to the rockefeller center to get a cool view from the top of the rock. it was fairly crowded, so it took a while to get up there and get back down, but the view was still awesome. monday we went and helped out another pastor in the area by handing out tracts and helping him with his street preaching ministry. tuesday we had a kids rally that was attended by twelve kids and was a bunch of fun. wednesday we walked down wall street, saw ground zero, the NYSE, AMEX,  and NASDAQ buildings. we hit up pier 17 for lunch (tasty chinese food) and then walked across the brooklyn bridge before riding the subway back to the church. thursday we walked across the street to an old folks home where we gave a small service to those who would come. (I got volunteered to sing at one of their weddings, but I don’t know when). we also had another kids rally that was attended by a little over twenty kids and was very fun, probably more so than the one on tuesday (the green team dominated). friday we took chinatown by storm, wherein I got a sweet pair of aviators and some little elephant figurines. we saw guys carrying gutted pigs into a cellar, heard random guys sining unintelligibly on the sidewalk, offered fake ID’s, and were asked every few feet if we were interested in buying a rolex. needless to say our chinatown experience was complete. all throughout the week we would go to the nearby parks and public schools to play soccer, basketball, 4-square and the like with people and hand out tracts and invite them to the services. we ate out a pizza joint that night, before hearing the final message and then beginning the long bus ride back home. overall it was a good week, a lot of fun, and good memories were made.

Take a Deep Breath . . . And You Might Grow A Tree

This article states that a Russian surgeon was removing what he thought was a tumor. Apparently, it turned out to be a fir tree. It might be a hoax because it does seem pretty unbelievable.

more like slaveground

Last friday (march 20th) marked the end of a bleak period in history. I will attempt to accurately chronicle it for you. I’m of course talking about the Electronic Playground physics labs. I must admit that when I signed up for physics, this project was in the forefront of my mind. “It’ll be pretty cool” was what I would think maybe even “sweet.” could I have been more wrong. . . probably, but still. we get handed a cardboard stand with 2 led’s, an antenna, many capacitors, resistors, a variable resistor, a transformer, a 9V battery, and a myriad of wires with which to connect all of these fascinating electronic devices. we then are handed 4 labs, apptly named labs A, B, C, and D. you might think: “four labs!? that thing must be jam-packed with all sorts of fun and excitement if it needs four labs!” I thought something similar, until I looked through these labs. of the huge aforementioned list of devices, we used led’s, resistors and the battery. you can imagine my shock, horror and disappointment. meaning you had to stare longingly at the transistor-radio-that-could-be but not for too long, or you might accidentally hook up your ammeter in parallel to the circuit and blow its fuse, cutting that night’s lab work unmercifly short. needless to say I probably spent to many lab days during 6th hour building a morse code device or what-have-you instead of measuring the voltage on a complex circuit of resistors. you had to be careful when continuing a lab later on though, because some of the lab work drained the voltage out of the battery to a dangerously low level, and if you start a lab with 9V but then finish it later with 8.7V the difference could be devestating. all in all it was a fun experience that gave me newfound respect for people working in powerplants and such for when the power goes out as they struggle running various tests to figure out how best to fix it quickly. they always seem take their sweet time though. . .

How much is a trillion dollars?

This is amazing.  This guy uses Google Sketchup to provide a visual illustration of a trillion dollars.  You are expeciting it to be a lot…It will be more than you expect.

Nifty pic of the inauguration

I found this nifty pic of Obama’s inauguration. This guy pieced together this 1,474 megapixel photo. You can zoom in and see peoples’ faces. It’s pretty neat-o. I’m pretty sure that there’s an African American gentleman sitting behind Obama who’s sleeping through the stimulating address. Take a look it’s sort of fun to zoom in and out.

a veritable barren wasteland

or so it seems it has become here. of course I place the blame squarely on school. but you know how that goes . . . one of the more notable things in the near past is the inauguration of our new el presidente (spanish for: the presidente) the swearing in however, had a very hard act to follow. namely one of, if not The best violinist and cellist (along with a pretty good clarinetist and pianist) playing simple gifts (a personal fav of my own.) this is hard to top. even with the live demonstration of dropping a mobile home full of grape jell-o from a height of 200 feet. also, another notable thing was the beginning of the aforementioned school. which for me means a changed schedule, and more unrelenting, unmerciful, uncaring, unimaginable, unmentionable, and un-credible homework giving. only one full week of school has past and I’ve already given a speech, done 3 physics homework assignments and a lab and read an article concerning physics and wrote a summary, done a graded pantomime, and won a basketball game. don’t get me wrong I’m not saying college, med-school, and trying to sell your house (along with whatever else it is you do) don’t keep you busy. just saying that the busy season has begun. much to my chagrin. in other words. I’ve got physics to do . . .

mobile paaahsting

greetngs from the frozen north, brosefs. i’m currently testing my new phones paaahsting abilities.

right now there is a little snow on the ground, but hopefully we’ll get some more tonight. there isn’t much i want to say and there is even less that i havee the patience to say on this phone.

i’d give it a meh+ for awesomeness and a meh- for speediness. so with that . . . peace out, brosefs.

Many Thanks BJU

I don’t have as much time as I would like to devote to this post.  I am in the middle of finishing up a sermon for tomorrow morning (which will undoubtedly become a post or series).  But I wanted to say that I am extremely proud of my alma mater today.  In the past couple of days, they have issued a statement apologizing for the racially discriminatory policies that the institution has held in the past.  It was a great demonstration of humility and grace demonstrated by the administration of BJU, led undoubtedly by Stephen Jones, the current President.

BJU’s history has been chiefly characterized by striving to achieve those goals; but like any human institution, we have failures as well. For almost two centuries American Christianity, including BJU in its early stages, was characterized by the segregationist ethos of American culture. Consequently, for far too long, we allowed institutional policies regarding race to be shaped more directly by that ethos than by the principles and precepts of the Scriptures. We conformed to the culture rather than provide a clear Christian counterpoint to it.

In so doing, we failed to accurately represent the Lord and to fulfill the commandment to love others as ourselves. For these failures we are profoundly sorry. Though no known antagonism toward minorities or expressions of racism on a personal level have ever been tolerated on our campus, we allowed institutional policies to remain in place that were racially hurtful.

I am very thankful for the leadership of Stephen Jones, and for the Christ-honoring humility with which this statement was written.  It also serves as a reminder to me to examine my life for areas in which I fail “to accurately represent the Lord and to fulfill the commandment to love one another.”

1 Timothy 4:16   Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.