I guess I never got around to posting my sources for the Creationism-rant...oh well, if you've got a really big beef with my rant, leave a comment.
PT was a breeze this morning...it's the last day of school before Spring Break, so naturally, we were missing a very large portion of the battalion. Our Cadet Sgt. Maj proposed a Game Day, and it went through. Basketball, Soccer, and Dodgeball...our group did well in basketball and dodgeball...not so well in soccer. It was a really good send-off for break though.
Speaking of which, I will be spending mine in Florida. The family of one of my housemates recently moved to Jacksonville, and we as a collective decided to spend some time there, given that none of us has ever gone on a "road trip" over break, discounting family trips. It should be fun and relaxing...I can't wait to hit the beach.
I finally turned in my pre-qualification application for the Army. Big, long form...lots of trick lines of question...ie: 1) Have you ever had a headache 2) Have you ever had frequent or excrutiating headaches? 3) Have you ever suffered serious
head trama? 4) Have you ever had brain cancer? ...crazy stuff like that. Pretty entertaining though...and I did get to carry around my entire existence in a plastic bag for a short time (social security card, high school diploma, college transcripts, birth certificate...)
So the next step is waiting for registration for the fall, so I can get a letter from the University stating that I can't be shipped off to basic in the middle of the term because I will in fact be a student. After that, MEPS...I can't wait!
That's all for now. Exspect something political tonight after I finish packing.
Peace out.
Friday, March 9, 2007
Monday, March 5, 2007
Nice weekend...and Creationism
This weekend was a whole lot of fun...climbed, hung out with close friends, and just had a good time over all. And only one week until Spring Break.
We had a game day in PT this morning as we do after every Friday APFT. We played the Air Force guys in War Ball...it's like dodge ball but with more people and more fun.
So, my political rant for today will be about something close to a great many Conservative's hearts...Creationism.
I'm just going to say it up front. Creationism is not science.
I consider myself a good Christian. I believe in God, and I believe that He plays as much of a part in our world today as he did eons ago when time began. I am very open to the fact that the Big Bang was probably God turning on the lights...
However, the idea that every species that our world has ever seen was in fact around at the time our world came to be is ridiculous...even laughable.
Fossils are age-tested to a very particular degree...are they 100 percent accurate? No...but we can be absolutely sure that they are older than 10,000 years. And what about the stars? We know that light travels at precisely 299,792,458 metres per second. That is a definition, not a measurement. If the universe is only 10,000 years old, how can we see the stars? It can indeed take millenia for star light to travel to our planet.
The theory of evolution is indeed a "theory." So is gravity...
Problems with linguistics and our understanding of the meanings of words are not ample justifications for dismissing all of the observations scientists have accumulated pointing to the truth behind evolution.
The science behind Intelligent Design is anything but intelligent. In a very important legal battle, Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District (2005), Michael Behe testified that "no scientific evidence in support of the intelligent design hypothesis has been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals." Michael Behe is an advocate for intelligent design. Apparently, they bury themselves.
How does creationism account for vestigle organs? I for one no longer have an appendix...did God really just shove an organ into humans who's sole purpose was to burst and cause pain? NO! The appendix is an organ that was at one time used in the digestion of cellulose; humans don't need it anymore because we have evolved. "Old world" monkeys still use theirs, though it has a different name, cecum. There are people born without appendices...and wisdom teeth! I actually personally know of at least three people who come from familes who simply do not grow wisdom teeth...they are what we would call "higher life forms," heh.
Creationists are entitled to their opinion that God created the world...but to deny the evidence that is right in front of their faces is ignorant.
God and science don't have to be separate. Many people like myself neither deny the existence of God or evolution. We believe that a process as complex and far-sighted as evolution could only be have originally thought-up by the big-guy. Why are you so close-minded?
I don't mind religion class...believe me...I've been attending it since I was 6...but keep it out of my science classes please.
I didn't cite any sources tonight...I'm at work without a whole lot of time...at some point tonight, I'll try my best to throw up a second post with links to evolution and creationist stuff.
Time to close...peace out
We had a game day in PT this morning as we do after every Friday APFT. We played the Air Force guys in War Ball...it's like dodge ball but with more people and more fun.
So, my political rant for today will be about something close to a great many Conservative's hearts...Creationism.
I'm just going to say it up front. Creationism is not science.
I consider myself a good Christian. I believe in God, and I believe that He plays as much of a part in our world today as he did eons ago when time began. I am very open to the fact that the Big Bang was probably God turning on the lights...
However, the idea that every species that our world has ever seen was in fact around at the time our world came to be is ridiculous...even laughable.
Fossils are age-tested to a very particular degree...are they 100 percent accurate? No...but we can be absolutely sure that they are older than 10,000 years. And what about the stars? We know that light travels at precisely 299,792,458 metres per second. That is a definition, not a measurement. If the universe is only 10,000 years old, how can we see the stars? It can indeed take millenia for star light to travel to our planet.
The theory of evolution is indeed a "theory." So is gravity...
Problems with linguistics and our understanding of the meanings of words are not ample justifications for dismissing all of the observations scientists have accumulated pointing to the truth behind evolution.
The science behind Intelligent Design is anything but intelligent. In a very important legal battle, Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District (2005), Michael Behe testified that "no scientific evidence in support of the intelligent design hypothesis has been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals." Michael Behe is an advocate for intelligent design. Apparently, they bury themselves.
How does creationism account for vestigle organs? I for one no longer have an appendix...did God really just shove an organ into humans who's sole purpose was to burst and cause pain? NO! The appendix is an organ that was at one time used in the digestion of cellulose; humans don't need it anymore because we have evolved. "Old world" monkeys still use theirs, though it has a different name, cecum. There are people born without appendices...and wisdom teeth! I actually personally know of at least three people who come from familes who simply do not grow wisdom teeth...they are what we would call "higher life forms," heh.
Creationists are entitled to their opinion that God created the world...but to deny the evidence that is right in front of their faces is ignorant.
God and science don't have to be separate. Many people like myself neither deny the existence of God or evolution. We believe that a process as complex and far-sighted as evolution could only be have originally thought-up by the big-guy. Why are you so close-minded?
I don't mind religion class...believe me...I've been attending it since I was 6...but keep it out of my science classes please.
I didn't cite any sources tonight...I'm at work without a whole lot of time...at some point tonight, I'll try my best to throw up a second post with links to evolution and creationist stuff.
Time to close...peace out
Friday, March 2, 2007
APFT #2 - March 2, 2007
I've got to say I'm pretty proud of myself today. I managed to improve my push up count and my run time significantly.
This time around, I scored a 286 out of a possible 300.
86 points on the pushups (63 total...up from 45 on my last test).
100 points on the situps (82 total...same as the last test).
100 points on the two-mile run (12 min 40 sec...down from a 13 min 25 sec time last time!)
I'm excited about the pushups because I'm always the most worried about them...I didn't fall this time before the two-minutes were up, so that was great too.
I'm most proud of the run time...I kept a much better pace this time around thanks to two friends of mine in the program.
Still a long way from basic training...I think I can bring those pushups up to 75 to reach the max before next January...
I never got my record check done this week...I absolutely have to do that before break next week so I can meet with my recruiter. My anticipation of my trip to MEPS is nearly unbearable...enough school! Bring on the ARMY!
Ok, I'm at work, so it's time to get some work accomplished.
Peace out.
This time around, I scored a 286 out of a possible 300.
86 points on the pushups (63 total...up from 45 on my last test).
100 points on the situps (82 total...same as the last test).
100 points on the two-mile run (12 min 40 sec...down from a 13 min 25 sec time last time!)
I'm excited about the pushups because I'm always the most worried about them...I didn't fall this time before the two-minutes were up, so that was great too.
I'm most proud of the run time...I kept a much better pace this time around thanks to two friends of mine in the program.
Still a long way from basic training...I think I can bring those pushups up to 75 to reach the max before next January...
I never got my record check done this week...I absolutely have to do that before break next week so I can meet with my recruiter. My anticipation of my trip to MEPS is nearly unbearable...enough school! Bring on the ARMY!
Ok, I'm at work, so it's time to get some work accomplished.
Peace out.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Hypocrisy
Ok boys and girls...today, we're going to learn something about hypocrisy.
Al Gore managed to reach Left Wing Nirvana today through justification of his over-the-top energy usage. Gore, like the rest of the elite-Lefts from which he spawned, believes that he can save the world by shoveling money at any problems that cross his path...and also like most elite-Lefts, he will never practice what he so vehemently preaches.
Just to re-emphasize my point, Google tells us that "Last August alone, Gore burned through 22,619 kWh — guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year. As a result of his energy consumption, Gore’s average monthly electric bill topped $1,359."
He justifies his ridiculous consumptions at his Nashville residence (one of a number of houses he owns...) by paying for "green power."
Apparently, there are companies that allow you to give money so that other people will use alternative energy so that you won't be inconvenienced. "Guilt free..." is what I'm told they say.
Does it measure up? No.
According to Google News, "Gore has been purchasing green power for $432 a month since November. Gore purchases 108 such blocks every month at $4 per block, covering 16,200 kilowatt-hours and helping subsidise renewable energy sources."
So, that's a pretty good amount of energy...much more than the average American uses per year...trouble is that Mr. Gore is still in the red by 6419 kWh...and of course< all the money in the world won't change the fact that he's doing exactly the opposite of what he's telling other people to do. *sigh* and people defend this guy...
My second example comes from my school's student-run newspaper. A letter to the editor in this week's issue was laughable in it's finger-wagging at the American way of life.
The author is a "Scholar" at the school...meaning he is in the upper-echelon of the honor's system...it also means that in all likelihood he received some hefty scholarship.
This young man believes that because there are simply not enough resources on this planet to bring the rest of the world up to America's standard of living, we as a people do not have the right to live at the standard we do. Throughout his article, he makes arguments, but never offers a solution.
This argument is belched out time and time again by people of all shapes and sizes, but the fact that a well-to-do, college scholar is telling the rest of America that it is too well-off is pretty...sad.
First of all, not everyone falls into wealth. A lot of people work extremely hard to get far in life. Who is this author to tell legitimate people that built private companies through their own sweat, blood, and tears that somewhere, there is a child going hungry, so he doesn't have a right to his own hard-earned successes?
We don't have a right to the freedoms our fathers fought for to ensure our futures? We students don't have a right to the education we pay for with our own money?
Sorry son, that's not how we do it here in America...
I would say that rather than working hard to limit our own capabilities, we should strive to remain the world's foremost supplier of humanitarian aid, food, services, and education to foreign nations without the means to better themselves.
This author really needs to stop taking preaching lessons from the likes of Al Gore.
If you're going to get up on a soap box, make sure you can back up your fiery words with action, not just cash or finger-wagging. So Al Gore...let's see you cut that bill by 19/20ths...and author, go spend a year or two in a real third world nation...or better yet, downtown L.A. ...and then tell me that you still want your nation to give up its hard-earned successes.
Lead lab on company formations tomorrow...count down to APFT: one day.
Peace out.
hy·poc·ri·sy /hɪˈpɒkrəsi/ hi-pok-ruh-see] –noun, plural -sies.
1. a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.
2. a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude.
3. an act or instance of hypocrisy.
Al Gore managed to reach Left Wing Nirvana today through justification of his over-the-top energy usage. Gore, like the rest of the elite-Lefts from which he spawned, believes that he can save the world by shoveling money at any problems that cross his path...and also like most elite-Lefts, he will never practice what he so vehemently preaches.
Just to re-emphasize my point, Google tells us that "Last August alone, Gore burned through 22,619 kWh — guzzling more than twice the electricity in one month than an average American family uses in an entire year. As a result of his energy consumption, Gore’s average monthly electric bill topped $1,359."
He justifies his ridiculous consumptions at his Nashville residence (one of a number of houses he owns...) by paying for "green power."
Apparently, there are companies that allow you to give money so that other people will use alternative energy so that you won't be inconvenienced. "Guilt free..." is what I'm told they say.
Does it measure up? No.
According to Google News, "Gore has been purchasing green power for $432 a month since November. Gore purchases 108 such blocks every month at $4 per block, covering 16,200 kilowatt-hours and helping subsidise renewable energy sources."
So, that's a pretty good amount of energy...much more than the average American uses per year...trouble is that Mr. Gore is still in the red by 6419 kWh...and of course< all the money in the world won't change the fact that he's doing exactly the opposite of what he's telling other people to do. *sigh* and people defend this guy...
My second example comes from my school's student-run newspaper. A letter to the editor in this week's issue was laughable in it's finger-wagging at the American way of life.
The author is a "Scholar" at the school...meaning he is in the upper-echelon of the honor's system...it also means that in all likelihood he received some hefty scholarship.
This young man believes that because there are simply not enough resources on this planet to bring the rest of the world up to America's standard of living, we as a people do not have the right to live at the standard we do. Throughout his article, he makes arguments, but never offers a solution.
This argument is belched out time and time again by people of all shapes and sizes, but the fact that a well-to-do, college scholar is telling the rest of America that it is too well-off is pretty...sad.
First of all, not everyone falls into wealth. A lot of people work extremely hard to get far in life. Who is this author to tell legitimate people that built private companies through their own sweat, blood, and tears that somewhere, there is a child going hungry, so he doesn't have a right to his own hard-earned successes?
We don't have a right to the freedoms our fathers fought for to ensure our futures? We students don't have a right to the education we pay for with our own money?
Sorry son, that's not how we do it here in America...
I would say that rather than working hard to limit our own capabilities, we should strive to remain the world's foremost supplier of humanitarian aid, food, services, and education to foreign nations without the means to better themselves.
This author really needs to stop taking preaching lessons from the likes of Al Gore.
If you're going to get up on a soap box, make sure you can back up your fiery words with action, not just cash or finger-wagging. So Al Gore...let's see you cut that bill by 19/20ths...and author, go spend a year or two in a real third world nation...or better yet, downtown L.A. ...and then tell me that you still want your nation to give up its hard-earned successes.
Lead lab on company formations tomorrow...count down to APFT: one day.
Peace out.
Morning workout
PT went ok this morning...could have been better.
I climbed pretty hard yesterday night...I knew it'd bite me in the ass this morning.
Push ups and situps were a chore. Way subpar...I hope that's not an early indication of how the test of Friday's going to go.
I ran with the "fast" group for the first time ever today. I'm going to make a regular habit of that from now on. Best way to get the run time down another 25 seconds or so...
The MS4s had their APFT today. They ran inside on the track, though I hear we're going to be outside, which will be a glorious change of pace, despite the fact that I despise running outside in the elements...we've been inside for just under 2 solid months now...bleh
I had two classes canceled today so that my professor (same for both...back-to-back classes in the same room...ick...he's good though, so it's not so bad) could attend a presentation/Q&A given by Justice Thomas in Washington D.C. A couple students were attending too. It's got to be a great experience.
So, in light of the two extra hours I have today, I've decided to use the time to take care of some things I need to get done for my pre-qualification application...namely, scheduling an appointment with my adviser to get a letter from the University stating that I am in fact on track to graduate in December, and getting a copy of my transcripts...after that, I only need my police record and HS diploma...fun times.
Alright, that's all I've got time for now. News to come later today.
Peace out.
I climbed pretty hard yesterday night...I knew it'd bite me in the ass this morning.
Push ups and situps were a chore. Way subpar...I hope that's not an early indication of how the test of Friday's going to go.
I ran with the "fast" group for the first time ever today. I'm going to make a regular habit of that from now on. Best way to get the run time down another 25 seconds or so...
The MS4s had their APFT today. They ran inside on the track, though I hear we're going to be outside, which will be a glorious change of pace, despite the fact that I despise running outside in the elements...we've been inside for just under 2 solid months now...bleh
I had two classes canceled today so that my professor (same for both...back-to-back classes in the same room...ick...he's good though, so it's not so bad) could attend a presentation/Q&A given by Justice Thomas in Washington D.C. A couple students were attending too. It's got to be a great experience.
So, in light of the two extra hours I have today, I've decided to use the time to take care of some things I need to get done for my pre-qualification application...namely, scheduling an appointment with my adviser to get a letter from the University stating that I am in fact on track to graduate in December, and getting a copy of my transcripts...after that, I only need my police record and HS diploma...fun times.
Alright, that's all I've got time for now. News to come later today.
Peace out.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Follow up
It's a day old, but apparently Al Gore's private home runs up a utility bill 20X that of the average home owner. Thank you, Drudge Report.
So, we're gunna invite Iran to the party...Let's hope all goes well.
That's all for now...leaving work soon.
Peace out.
So, we're gunna invite Iran to the party...Let's hope all goes well.
That's all for now...leaving work soon.
Peace out.
Monday, February 26, 2007
This morning in PT
PT went well this morning. We did a three-station-rotation...lower body, upper body, and track...based on run-ability. I always feel like I get a solid workout when we do this.
No running outside yet...too much ice apparently. Maybe wednesday...it'd be nice to get a chance to do so before the PT test on Friday....we shall see.
I'm turning in my military science midterm tomorrow morning...it wasn't bad at all. Took me about an hour to do. Suprisingly interesting stuff, even if I never get the chance to apply it as an officer. The patrolling and OP Order stuff will certainly help when I get to basic.
I've got a lot of homework to do tonight for other classes, so I'm gone.
Peace out.
No running outside yet...too much ice apparently. Maybe wednesday...it'd be nice to get a chance to do so before the PT test on Friday....we shall see.
I'm turning in my military science midterm tomorrow morning...it wasn't bad at all. Took me about an hour to do. Suprisingly interesting stuff, even if I never get the chance to apply it as an officer. The patrolling and OP Order stuff will certainly help when I get to basic.
I've got a lot of homework to do tonight for other classes, so I'm gone.
Peace out.
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