Object Printing

Wanna see something that will blow your mind?



http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/92042-3d-printing-a-replicator-and-teleporter-in-every-home


This is technology that is available NOW.

Why there must be a God

So I want to tell you about a brainstorm I've been having lately. Something that I've been mulling over in my mind for the past couple of weeks. I'm sure other people have already tread this ground, but it has only recently struck home for me.

A lot of people don't believe in God because it isn't "logical" to do so; they don't understand the idea of faith. There isn't any direct evidence that He exists, therefore He must not. But it struck me the other day that NOT believing in God is even LESS logical. Here is why: it all has to do with the origin of life. The spark that began the so-called process of evolution that led the Earth to generate living beings. And as far as I understand my science, scientists DO believe it was a "spark." One of the leading theories for the origin of life deals with what scientists term a "cosmic soup," basically an environment rich with amino acids and the other things required for life to exist, this environment was barraged with lightning and SHAZZAM!!! there was a little one-celled organism complete with DNA, little tentacles to move around, with the ability to replicate itself, and in the future connect with other one-celled organisms to create life as we know it.

This, my friends, is a mathematical impossibility. I'm no mathematician, but it makes perfect sense to me. Life CANNOT spontaneously generate itself!

Can lightning strike silicon rich soil and generate a computer chip? No. And yet, even a single celled organism is infinitely more complex than a computer chip. Think about the complexity of the DNA strand found in every cell, something that the best supercomputers in the world have been mapping for decades. . .and it all generated with amino acids and electricity?

I can believe the theory of evolution, to me it makes a certain amount of sense. . .but the idea that it all began with a simple spark is preposterous. There had to be a guiding hand to set things in motion, a God.

Either there is a God, or life generated itself through a very complex set of events.

Both of these ideas are equally impossible. I guess people have to choose which impossibility they would rather believe, but in only one of these events will their faith be rewarded.

The Curious Eat Themselves

If any of you pay attention to my list of books that I keep on the side of this blog, you'll notice that this is the title of a book that I read last week while I was stationed in Slana, AK. While he's not the next Agatha Christie, the author, John Straley, spins a pretty good mystery yarn. What makes him unique (and gives me the impetus to mention him here on my blog) is that his mystery takes place entirely in Alaska. And it's pretty obvious that he knows what he's talking about when it comes to the coolest state in the union. Anyway, if you want to read a mystery novel that takes place in Alaska, this might be the book you are looking for.

Update

I've updated my progress count on my current project (The Raven) from 52% to 60%. That's right, over the last four months I've only written 8,000 words. Not much, but better than nothing I guess. In two weeks I quit my summer job, and after a 5-ish day drive through Canada, and a couple days acclimating my family to Utah, I should be able to start writing again full time. This time I'm really going to finish before Christmas! Go me!

Harry Potter

One of my friends posted a status on Facebook that gave me the overwhelming desire to fire off an acerbic reply. Instead of doing it on his Facebook wall, I'll do it here, safely in silence.

This is what he said: "I must be the only person who has NOT read a HARRY POTTER book, or watched ANY of the movies, and has no desire to."

Several other people agreed with this post, arguing how the movies are terrible, and that the books are just kids books. Here's another direct quote from this conversation: "While most people will say you are missing out on some of the best literature of our time, I say it's a kid's book, and you're not missing out on much." (This from someone who hasn't read any of them).

They are so WRONG!

First of all, I can understand not being able to get into the movies. The first few aren't that great (the good ones being 3,5,6, and 7 pt1. I haven't seen 7 pt2 yet, but I'm hearing that it's the best of the lot). But that's a ridiculous reason not to read the books. Everyone knows that a great book rarely transforms into a great movie. Bad movies are made from a lot of really brilliant books. So if the movie didn't work for you, give the book a chance.

But here's what really gets me. Why would you deliberately turn away from some of the greatest literature of our time because of a preconceived idea about genre? Stupid! That's a ridiculous attitude to have!

And, I'll point out that Harry Potter goes far beyond "kids" literature. I don't doubt that there will be college courses within the next 20 years that study Harry Potter from a serious literary standpoint.

So, in short, Harry Potter is awesome and everybody should read it. The End.

Country Feedback

So I bought myself a pretty cool recorder for doing. . .you know, recording. After letting it sit around for over half a year, I finally dusted it off and recorded a master track, a cover of REM's "Country Feedback." The mic sounds a bit muddy at times (while at the same time amplifying all the vocal mistakes), but overall, I think the recording sounds pretty good. It was fun to do, and it felt good to be feeding my art again.

My thoughts are limited

Keeping up a blog is hard work. There's a lot of pressure to keep producing posts to satisfy a group of (mostly imagined) readers. I can't come up with something interesting to say every week. . .or month. Actually that isn't true. Plenty of blog-worthy topics come up daily, it's just a matter of formulating a reasoned illumination of that topic. . .which I rarely desire to do. Most other people don't either, and that's ok. So, basically I've decided not to stress about keeping this blog active by the week (which is a "goal" that I've never achieved--though technically I think my yearly average is above that). Anyway, I don't plan on quitting, but perhaps I'll have less superficial posts along the lines of "blah, blah, blah, I'm still here, blah, blah, blah." On the other hand, I'll try to keep notes for the important topics that I do want to write about. Maybe my blog will be more thoughtful and meaningful from now on. Perhaps.