Natural Disasters

The Myanmar cyclone has claimed more than 30,000 lives, in part due to the (in)action of the Junta.
Today, an earthquake in China killed more than 10,000 and many more are missing.

The presence of personal evils in the world, the suffering inflicted upon persons by other persons, is understandable. But the natural disasters of the world, or natural evil, is difficult to stomach.

Just this past Sunday I taught a class as part of a series on the so-called "Problem of Evil." How can there be evil in this world if there is a loving, all-knowning, all-powerful God?

A defense is one thing; I think I can speak with someone who wants to argue that God does not exist based upon the argument that bad things happen. The mere existence of bad things does not mean God doesn't exist. But explaining why God would allow bad things, a theodicy, would be more satisfactory.

Perhaps I should post the work that my friend and I have done for this class (it's mostly his stuff). But what I want is to be able to explain why, or failing that to explain why I cannot give the reason but still be convincing to others when I say that God is good, loving, wise and powerful. *sigh* That will be a lot of work.

Clyde Cook

Not many of those who read this blog will have had to privilege of meeting Dr. Clyde Cook. Nonetheless, his passing is both a sad and glorious thing. Biola has a tribute site for Dr. Cook.

I graduated from Talbot in 2000 and 2008. Biola found me in 1991 and I began attending in 1992. Dr. Clyde Cook was there for my entire Biola and Talbot experience. I was very pleased to hear he was retiring and it gave me joy to think that this wonder servant of God spending well-earned time with family and friends.

I heard about his passage into glory the day after; good friends and fellow Biolans told me. Strangely, while I felt sorrow for Anna Belle Cook, I smiled with the realization that Dr. Cook was received in celebrated in heaven.

"Well done, good and faithful servant." If I have known any man about whom I could confidently assert would hear these words upon meeting our Lord and Savior, it is Clyde Cook.

Great... my dad's bank is owned by Wachovia

Wachovia bought the bank my father used several years ago. Now I read that Wachovia knowningly did business with people who committed wire fraud and scammed people. Great.

VIA Internal Docs Prove Wachovia Knew About Telemarketer Rip-Offs All Along
[Consumerist]
SOURCE "Papers Show Wachovia Knew of Thefts"
[New York Times]
RELATED "infoUSA Marketed Lists Of "Gullible" Seniors To Known Scammers, Wachvoia Processed The Unsigned Checks"
[Consumerist]

Remembering 9/11/2001

Today is the six-year anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center in New York. I was driving back to the office about noon when I heard it on the radio.

Where were you?

Taiwan to be struck by Super Typhoon Sepat

Per this Reuters article, Super Typhoon Sepat is going to hit Taiwan today (interactive map).

I don't remember what year (maybe 1990), but there was this one typhoon season when we had three separate storms cut right across Taiwan, just like this one is supposed to do but from west to east. We had high winds, hard rain, flooding... school was naturally canceled, and I remember trying to ride my bicycle and getting pushed all over the road. If I remember right, that was the same year I saw a car floating down the street.

Typhoon Sepat has caused a lot of trouble for the Philippines... I hope Taiwan fares better.

Harry Potter, Loud Music, and Vocabulary

Harry Potter: I'm not very current on what's popular from day-to-day. I have yet to see "The Passion of the Christ" and I have yet to read a single "Harry Potter" book (although I watched two movies, I think). Nonetheless, I found this article in the Washington Post both interesting and sad (sorry about the print-preview version, the main article requires subscription). The line that hit me was the author's daughter asking, "Do we have to keep reading this?" Frankly, it doesn't sound like a children's story to me (comparisons to Narnia and Middle Earth seem to me, at best, a reach), and even the movies don't interest me. The recent Newsweek review of the latest film doesn't make me reach for my mail-order DVD queue, either.

Ripping Music: I've ripped almost all of our CDs and burned them as data discs for my wife; she has just about every album we own in her car, right now, neatly in a 10-CD case. As I was listening to some of the music, attempting to hit them into logical collections on a single CD, it struck me that some music just didn't sound good. Not that the musicians were bad, but the music just didn't "strike a chord," as it were. Then I came across this video, which argues that today's record companies use too much compression; makes sense to me. This is probably why I prefer live performances.

Nonetheless: I first used the word "nonetheless" when I was required to do a paper in 4th grade (I think; his initials were W.W.W.) of a certain length, so I looked up big words in the thesaurus. My teacher chided me for using words in my paper that I wouldn't use in everyday conversation; little did he know that paper sparked an interest in expanding my vocabulary. I find it ironic, then, that I don't like Harry Potter, and struggle to use shorter words when composing sermons.

Cat & Dog wet food recall

Menu Foods, which manufacturers quite a few brands of cat and dog foods, has issued a recall.

Some of the wet food is calling renal failure in pets! An unknown number of cats and dogs had suffered kidney failure and about 10 died after eating the affected pet food, the company said.

Menu Foods is recalling dog food sold throughout North America under 48 brands and cat food sold under 40 brands including Iams, Nutro and Eukanuba. The food was distributed by major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Kroger and Safeway. Two other companies — Nestle Purina PetCare Co. and Hill’s Pet Nutrition Inc. — said Saturday that as a precaution they were voluntarily recalling some products made by Menu Foods.

For Recalled Cat Product Information, call 866-895-2708
Here's a list for your convenience (link to MSNBC list)...

Cat Food Americas Choice, Preferred Pets Authority Best Choice Companion Compliments Demoulas Market Basket Eukanuba Fine Feline Cat Food Lion Foodtown Giant Companion Hannaford Hill Country Fare Hy-Vee Iams Laura Lynn Li'l Red Loving Meals Meijer's Main Choice Nutriplan Nutro Max Gourmet Classics Nutro Natural Choice Paws Pet Pride Presidents Choice Price Chopper Priority Save-A-Lot Schnucks Science Diet Feline Savory Cuts Cans Sophistacat Special Kitty Canada Special Kitty US Springfield Prize Sprout Total Pet Wegmans Western Family White Rose Winn Dixie

Dog Food Americas Choice, Preferred Pets Authority Award Best Choice Big Bet Big Red Bloom Wegmans Bruiser Cadillac Companion Demoulas Market Basket Eukanuba Food Lion Giant Companion Great Choice Hannaford Hill Country Fare Hy-Vee Iams Laura Lynn Loving Meals Meijers Main Choice Mighty Dog Pouch Mixables Nutriplan Nutro Max Nutro Natural Choice Nutro Ultra Nutro Ol'Roy Canada Ol'Roy US Paws Pet Essentials Pet Pride - Good n Meaty Presidents Choice Price Chopper Priority Publix Roche Bros Save-A-Lot Schnucks Shep Dog Springsfield Prize Sprout Stater Bros Weis Total Pet Western Family White Rose Winn Dixie Your Pet

Update: The risk is 1 in 6 pets who eat get sick. The contamination appears to come from a new distributor of wheat gluten. See this link for more...

Update: Rat poison! The source was probably rat poison on wheat gluten bought from China.
Yes, another update: it was probably melamine, used in plastics and pesticides, not rat poison.
Update, 04/06/07: There's a new theory that the melamine was added by a manufacturer... see this link.

Daylight Saving Time

Note: this is an email I sent my church staff. I figured it would be helpful for those of you reading the blog.

Daylight Saving Time rules have changed. Feel free to pass this along to anyone else who may need to read it.

In August of 2005 the United States Congress passed the Energy Policy Act, which changes the dates of both the start and end of Daylight Saving Time (DST). This law goes into effect in 2007. Starting this year DST will begin three weeks earlier (2:00 A.M. on the second Sunday in March) and will end one week later.

As a result of this change, Daylight Saving Time will begin on March 11, 2007, so please review your appointments so you can prepare for this change before that time. Pay special attention to:

1. appointments between the Second Sunday of March and the First Sunday of April
2. appointments between the Last Sunday of October and the First Sunday of November
3. appointments with recurring schedules

If anyone has a large amount of appointments which require modification, use this link (http://www.microsoft.com/DST2007) to get the patch for your computer.

References:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/timezone/dst2007.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/DST2007
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931667

恭喜發財 - Happy Chinese New Year

Today is Chinese New Year. The traditional Chinese greeting is Gōngxǐ fācái (恭喜發財), which sounds like Gung-Shee-Fah-Tsai. It means "congratulations, may you become rich."

Cathy and I were married on a Lunar New Year, so we tend to celebrate whichever anniversary is more convenient, although I believe we are biased toward the Gregorian calendar. I think we'll go out for Chinese food today...

Free "An Inconvenient Truth" DVD

Speaking of weather... Regardless of what you may think of Al Gore's position on global warming, you have probably seen the DVD "An Inconvenient Truth" laying around grocery stores and video outlets. Well, you can get the DVD for free at Share the Truth.

• For the trailer, try this Google search.
• For positive reviews, try this Google search.
• For responses to the science of the movie (up and down), try this Google search.
  

Official Site of the movie: http://www.climatecrisis.net/
The free DVD of "An Inconvenient Truth" at Share the Truth

Voting on Machines

Here are my electronic voting after-action thoughts...


powered by ODEO

Most electronic voting machines in use today are manufactured by either Diebold Election Systems, Election Systems and Software (ES&S), Hart InterCivic or Sequoia Voting Systems.

For access security, machines require the voter validate the voting process, either by inserting a card or device given to you by an electrion official, or with an access code you receive from an official.

Direct recording electronic (DRE) voting machines record your choices when you touch the screen, so they are touch screen DREs. On other voting machines you make your choices with a scroll wheel, like those on an Apple iPod.


My city used the Hart InterCivic eSlate, which utilizes the scroll wheel and buttons. Let's see... here's voting instructions for the eSlate.

Here's a picture of the button pad on the eSlate.


You move you the screen's focus (the highlighted part) with the wheel and press ENTER when the focus is on your choice, which marks the choice. The confusing part is the that the highlight also stops on titles and descriptions, and (at least at my booth) the wheel took several clicks to advance between choices. I can see people thinking, "ok, I want the next choice.... CLICK ENTER... Oh crud, it didn't go forward!"


Thankfully, there was a long and uninspired ballot summary screen to let you confirm your choices. This is useless without your sample ballot, and they don't have those just lying around. With traditional paper ballots you can look at your choices and review the description of the ballot or office at the same time. *sigh*


I was gratified to see the "secured" printer next to the voting machine. Instead of just telling me my ballot was cast, it printed each page as I confirmed it, which fed into the ballot box. This seemd like a suitable "split the difference" approach to recording my vote, since I see the paper ballot deposited, just like I used to deposit my ballot into a box.

One last confusing thing, though... the "cast ballot button." All this time I have been "wheeeeel, ENTER" and now they want me to "wheeeeel, CAST BALLOT". Well, the instructions were on the screen, at least.

Other thought hit me afterwards... how on earth would you do a write-in candidate? That would be tedious, at best. Not that it affected me, but wouldn't different age groups and cultures be somewhat encumbered by digital voting? It wasn't even intuitive for me, and I like computers.

Overall, I don't mind electronic voting machines; I just don't trust them. Also, I saw too many stations marked "broken", and it took way too long for people to vote. We've used scantrons in school for ages, if we're going to go electronic, just switch to having a scanning machine for the scantrons at a polling location. With some tweaking, hanging chads and errors in voting could be eliminated right there as you exited your polling station, and you would know you cast your vote. There you have it, my electronic voting after-action report!

Election Day Thoughts

I haven't been to my polling place yet, but I think I'll be wishing I had gone this morning rather than after work.

To follow up on my earlier post regarding electronic voting, not only do you have to worry about hackers during the election, but you also must secure the voting machines before and after the election, just like you would lock up paper ballots. Ed Felton found some voting machines, unattended, days before the election. And he wasn't looking for them. *sigh*

From TechDirt:

One of the issues concerning e-voting machines, and Diebold in particular, is how they've responded to all the criticism and vulnerabilities -- with the company often being accused of covering up, ignoring or denying the problems... back in 2003, Maryland commissioned a study on the Diebold machines... Diebold demanded two very broad concessions: no source code access, and they reserve the right to redact out any proprietary information... The final "redacted" report came out weighing in at a lightweight 38 pages... Someone high up has leaked the original documents which weighs in at 200 pages meaning that someone (most likely Diebold) was able to knock out 162 pages of info on vulnerabilities... how many of the many, many vulnerabilities discussed in the report were actually dealt with before the 2004 election and how many were dealt with before today's election(?)...

In the meantime, if you're looking to feel confident about e-voting companies and their tech ability, Chief Elf writes in to let us know that he went to check out the company, Advanced Voting Systems, that built the e-voting system he used this morning, and found a nice big error message right on their home page. I just checked and it was still there, but in case they fix it, here's a screenshot. It's tough to trust these companies to build competent voting machines when they can't even correct database/PHP errors on their own website on election day.

From Slashdot:

Neovanglist writes "CNN, FOX, and MSNBC are reporting that voting machines in three states (Ohio, Indiana, and Florida) have already been showing issues, both in the machines themselves and in the training of poll attendants, causing many districts to switch to paper ballots."

So... time to get out and vote. Hopefully, the future will not mirror the satirical sites such as Fix-A-Vote. I'm signing up for absentee ballots.

Can You Think of Anything Scarier?

Bill Amend is a funny guy. He draws FoxTrot, prefers Macs, and occasionally pokes fun at current events. The Sunday strip from Oct 29th illustrates something I have been following with great interest for almost three years: electronic voting.


What's interesting about this strip is that everything Jason Foxtrot says is true. The unamed machine is manufactured by Diebold Election Systems, and Jason is wearing the Diebold AccuVote-TS.

If you do not yet know, Diebold's voting machines have been mechanically unstable and security flaws have been pointed out from day one. Diebold has become infamous in other parts of the country for practially ruining elections. California actually sued Diebold (and won).

To give the alleged security flaws some street cred for the highly educated, you can check out the Security Analysis of the Diebold AccuVote-TS from Princeton. For the rest of us, just reading the headlines from Techdirt on "Diebold" should give you a taste of the flaws which have plagued Diebold voting machines from the beginning.

And yet, people really don't seem to care. I suppose when voter turnout is already low, it shouldn't surprise me that this kind of thing does not concern people. With Halloween around the corner, I think the comic is timed very well.

White & Nerdy

Every heard (of) Weird Al? He is a very funny man, and his MySpace page has this video, as well as a muted attack on the RIAA.


Get this video and more at MySpace.com

Dude, Exploding Dell Laptops!

via Gizmodo

You may have heard about the exploding Dell laptop batteries (or you may not have). Well, it happened again, this time in an Illinois office. The link to the original post and photos is getting hammered by the traffic, but here is the Google cache of the post.

The one in Japan happened a month ago and was on a desk. This happened on a desk, too, but imagine this on your lap... ouch! I'll stick with my Toshiba for now, thanks!

For a demonstration of an exploding battery, see this Google Video of an over-charged Lithium Ion Polymer (LIPO) battery.

NY, GA Reject Gay Marriage

The Story: The highest courts of New York and Georgia ruled Thursday that same-sex couples are not entitled to marry.

Georgia said a 2004 ballot referendum banning gay marriage was legal. The vote in 2004 was passed by 76% of the voters, and Georgia's top court reinstated the ban Thursday, ruling unanimously that it didn't violate the state's rule for ballot measures.

The New Your Court of Appeals ruled 4-2 against the same-sex couples challenging the state's statute limiting marriage only between a man and a woman. The court found is allowing that any change should come from the Legislature.

Massachusetts allows gay marriage, while Vermont and Connecticut allow same-sex civil unions. Another 45 states have either constitutional amendments or statues banning gay marriage.

Comments: I understand arguments for protecting marriage. I do not think homosexuals are being unfairly targeted or marginalized; their influence far outweighs with numbers.

However, in the rush to "preserve the sanctity of marriage," there is a good point that homosexuals have made: if marriage is so sacred, why do Christians allow for such a high rate of divorce?

There's something to think about. If we are going to defend marriage, then let's truly hold it as a sacred institution. Marriage is not something to be entered into lightly, nor broken easily.

The Da Vinci Code Movie - Big Deal

Yes, I read the book; who hasn't? When I first heard that The Da Vinci Code was "highly controversial" I knew that mean it would contain some kind of factual error regarding Christianity, and that this would be a central point. Still, I figured, "big deal" and ignored it.

Frankly, the written version wasn't all that wonderful, and I doubt it would have sold as many copies if people hadn't made such a fuss about it. Ever heard of the Streisand Effect?

Regarding "What is the big deal, anyway?", the problem isn't The Da Vinci Code but how some people react to lousy history as though their faith depended upon a novel. If you are a Christian and you are reading this, do me a favor (in fact, do Christ a favor): don't get too worked up. Yes, read the book. Yes, make sure you know where it is wrong and know how to answer it. But don't have a cow.

Sure, Dan Brown actually believes what he writes in the book is true, but he does terrible research for his books; Cathy is reading Angels and Demons and Brown has American Indian beliefs all wrong. The sheer amount of bad and confused history in TDVC actually gave me a headache. He gets dates, places, and events mixed up and conflated, and he does bad math on top of that. Is it too much to ask for people to do a little homework? To quote Tom Hank's goofiest line of the movie, "I've got to get to a library -- fast." I only wish Dan Brown had spent more time in one.

In hearing and reading the movie's reviews, it seems that the critics find the movie version a yawner. Even the positive reviews sound weak, and I found one clearly negative review so funny that I couldn't finish reading it out loud to Cathy.

For the record, I'm going to wait for the DVD version. I don't see the point in spending the money to see a movie nobody recommends and the plot of which follows the book religiously (haha). I didn't like the book enough to pay to be bored by it on screen.

Get Better Gas Mileage

Improving Gas Mileage (Edmudns.com & About.com)

1. Slow down.
   Driving the speed limit, rather than 5 to 10 miles over it, can have a significant impact on gas mileage, especially at highway speeds. If you're not sure what speed to travel, a good rule of thumb is to "Drive like you have a soon-to-be licensed teenager in the passenger seat and there is a police car following you."
2. Gradually slow for stop lights.
   Rather than rush up to a red light, start slowing down in advance of the light. This may allow the light to turn green before you reach it, meaning you can cruise right through. It takes less fuel to accelerate a car that is in motion than one that is at a dead stop.
3. Avoid abrupt accelleration.
   The "jack rabbit" start is one of the biggest fuel wasters. Accelerating smoothly yet briskly accomplishes the task of getting a car up to speed without using as much gas. Drive at an even speed, whenever possible.
   
4. Don't let your car idle for long periods of time.
   While it may be nice to have your car's interior temperature at the "perfect" setting the moment you step in, the unnecessary idling means results in zero miles per gallon during the idling period.
   

A couple of other tips for better saving money on gas:

• Buy gas before the weekend. Gas prices seem to go up after business on Friday.
  
• Eliminate unnecessary cargo. Hauling heavy loads in the trunk or inside the car will lower your gas mileage.
• Go into the store rather than sitting in the drive-through.
• Comparison shop for cheaper gas. Try your local Costco or Sam's Club and check an online service like GasBuddy.
• Link several short trips together, starting with the farthest away trip first. Linking trips together helps keep the car at operating temperature. Starting with the farthest away trip allows the engine to have more time to get up to operating temperature.
  

Other Good Ideas (that don't really affect gas mileage)

• Regularly check your tire pressure.
• Keep your car properly maintained. Blocked air filters, dirty oil, and lack of attention to other maintenance items all decrease performance.
• Calculate your gas mileage on a regular basis. By being more aware of your gas mileage, you are more likely to make changes. Sometimes it may mean a change of driving habits. Other times it may mean a change of cars.
• Purchase a fuel consumption gauge. A fuel consumption display can help you see, in real time, how your driving habits are impacting your gas mileage. If your car does not already have one, you can purchase an aftermarket gauge that plugs into your car. There are many available on the market, such as ScanGauge.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Sunday is Chinese New Year. It happens to be the Year of the Dog, so I guess Oliver's "birthday" is Monday.

Cathy & I married on Chinese New Year, so we sort of have two anniversaries. I'm not sure what we'll do tomorrow, but probably not much. If we were in Taiwan, I would be getting together with all my family and having a very large lunch.

Maybe we'll hit a Chinese restaurant after church. It is too bad I don't have any Chinese-speaking friends around to say traditional blessings to, like "congratulations and may you get rich", "may you always have leftovers" as well as "Happy New Year." :-)

Update: Yup, we had Chinese for lunch... it was great, and Cathy impressed the server with her recitation of "Happy New Year."

New Theory of Gravity May Dispense of Dark Matter

A modified theory of gravity that incorporates quantum effects can explain a trio of puzzling astronomical observations: large scale structures, the horzon problem and the Pioneer anomaly.

The theory, called scalar-tensor-vector gravity (STVG), adds quantum effects to Einstein's theory of general relativity such that quantum fluctuations can affect the force felt between interacting objects. It does depend on a hypothetical particle called a graviton – which mediates gravity – appears in large numbers out of the vacuum of space in regions crowded with massive objects such as stars.

Any theory of gravity must explain the development of large-scale structures in the universe, and most importantly, the afterglow of the big bang called the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation (see "#2 Horizon Problem" of "13 things that do not make sense").

I am going to keep my eye on STVG, as it may offer a viable alternative to Big Bang Inflation theories of the variations in the speed of light and other universal "constants".