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Tour all 47 National Parks
Posted in Projects, Travel
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The City College CUNY Class: EAS 10600 Earth System Science
Professor: Karin Block
The Smithsonianmag.com article on James Hutton 1726-1797 (Father of Modern Geology) certainly drew my interest in the subject: "The genealogy of these ideas ... goes from Hutton to Playfair to Lyell to Darwin."
Then Catastrophism vs. Uniformitarianism (Hutton's view) is introduced.
This is also interestingly referred by Answers in Genesis. There seems to be a well documented history of the views on Earth's age. For example, Gap Theory was introduced not by Vos (as I had previously thought from reading Vos' commentary), but by someone earlier, Thomas Chalmers (1780–1847).
The professor did refute young-earth creationists view (Earth is not 6000 years old).
I supposed the most important challenge is the glossary.
Definitions Training is for this class is now available on Memrise.
Posted in Geography, Projects
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The City College CUNY Class: MATH 34500 Number Theory
Professor Jay Jorgenson
Starting with modular arithmetic.
Ascii code for ≡ is 240. (Alt-240). No need Latex for this.
± is 241.
≥ is 242.
≤ is 243.
And I think I'll use % for mod. Simpler.
Posted in Mathematics, Projects
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Preach by living a good example?
There are those Christians who do not want to preach the Gospel verbally. They say: I preach by living a life of good example. There has been always something wrong about this notion, however, the best critic I've heard is this:
Other than Christ, no one is not perfect. So how can you by your good living example amount to anything worthy of the Gospel? You may win over some friends and strangers by default, with pretense or not, but you certainly cannot win someone who knows you well in your family or circle of relatives over to the Gospel.
Source: Pastor Mike Abendroth on "Evangelical White Lies" on Janet Mefferd's Show 9/2/16.
Posted in Theologization
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When Church leaders say "Don't be Consumer Christians"
When this is said, it automatically means something's wrong with the church. Though it is not a call to leave the church, one must be aware.
This kind of statement basically says: I don't want to get to know you better as a leader, period. You either serve or get out. If you serve, I will merit you with recognition...or not.
So what's wrong with the church? They do not care about honest fellowship among the saints. Sure, there are friendship networks, helping each other in secular matters. But I am talking about cherishing God's presence, His words, His everything together, not just some social club which even the Buddhists and the Muslims can do better.
Servitude in a church is more than just voluntary. When one serves, one sees it as an opportunity to serve God, oneself, not by persuasion of others. God's works are not for merits.
It is even sinful to ask someone else to "serve God" and assume wrongly that someone believes he/she is serving God. Why? If you do not know, why would you test the Lord? Is not the Holy Spirit the one and only who calls, who moves a soul. So why would you test if you are a co-knower of the Holy Spirit if you aren't sure in the first place?
Posted in Theologization
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Quotes on voting politics
Though I'm open to justifying not voting, these are interesting classic quotes:
"Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote" ~ George Jean Nathan
"All that is required for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing" ~ Edmund Burke
"The people who vote for corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves and traitors are not victim, but accomplices" ~ George Orwell
Posted in Quotes
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Oldies music: Down memory lane
Two effective tools for recalling title of a song/music:
- Shazam (android app): I think it must listen to original recordings and not someone's voice or humming. Works in general.
- http://www.watzatsong.com/ You post a sample, the world listens and identifies it for you. Very effective. Found two songs for myself.
With watzatsong, I found two long lost songs which I could only remember bits and pieces:
Jenni Rivera"Yo Estare Contigo Cuando Triste Estes" / Freddy Tender "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" / Conway Twitty This song I heard as a child at night over cassette tapes of romantic songs of I think my father.
"Via Dolorosa": I can't believe the fact that I don't remember this is a Christian song.
Posted in Music
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Rocky Mountains Tour 2016 (10 Day Wild Wild West Tour)
8/1 9:30AM flight delayed til 12:30PM. Jetblue gave us $10 voucher each for the trouble. Arrived Denver at around 4PM, got our red Maxima from Avis at around 5PM.
Since it's late, thanks to Jetblue, we skipped the scenic highway of 82 to the West.
Drove to eat Chinese Buffet dinner (Ultimate Buffet) in Colorado Springs at around 8PM.
From Denver to Best Western Movie Manor hotel: 269 miles on Route 25, arriving around midnight.
8/20 checked out by 10 AM, 1 hour drive via scenic route 160, to Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, CO.
Around noon-1pm, left Sand Dunes, 1 hour drive to Del Norte, passed by circle crop farms. Ate late lunch/dinner at Subway in Del Norte. Then continue 6-7 hour drive on scenic route 160 through Rio Grande National Forest, to the Arches National Park, UT.
It was too late for Canyonlands National Park so we stayed
To be continued...
Posted in Travel
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Short Article Review: The Responsibility of the Church in Our New Age by J. Gresham MacHen
Recommended by Dr. Stephen Nichols' podcast (5 Minutes in Church History) on Machen (1881 - 1937).
Source: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1018160?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
This 10 page work deals eloquently in matters of church and liberalism with simplicity.
Machen immediately contrasts post-modernism influence in churches with the "primitive" church (the true church). Essentially, the primitive still is, while the new age was 2000 years ago in Plato's Republic (we gave into bureaucratic control). The focus of the entire article is always gospel centered (The need of Christ).
From tyranny to tyranny, this is the legacy of liberty by human attempt without God.
Machen then emphasize the few distinctions of a true church:
1. Radically doctrinal
2. Radically intolerant
3. Radically ethical
This leads to attack from outside as well as from within of the church. But they are nothing new, just in different forms throughout history. The preservation of the true church's characteristics is a covenantal kind.
Then there's warning against involving church with non-christian programs (placing Bible in schools in order for students to have moral vs. the redemptive core of scripture) and partnership with the state in politics in carnality - The church's weapons against evil are spiritual, not carnal.
At the end, under "What the church should do", Machen described the kind of good churches one would expect: not by numbers, human authority, etc. The message/sermons of a true church is a paradoxical one in secular social ethics. In the end, it is a matter of destruction and life.
Posted in Reviews, Theologization
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Plot batch of addesses on Google Map conveniently/elegantly
There are quite a few ways to do this. I could start a project like this to plot CL alumni around the globe.
Great resources: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/maps/baw9A5LuS3o
An example: http://onlinecustommaps.com/
API might be another way, using Javascript and such.: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/examples/marker-simple
Posted in Geography, Projects
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