Archive for August, 2020

PSALM 5

Now it is time for another PSALM.

This time, however, I did not make it. Gamma did. This one was titled “Taking Out the Trash” by him. And it was done on an iPhone 5c, I think. It is slightly wobbly, but pretty good considering he made the iPhone holder also out of Legos.

Now only 145 more to go.

For it is You who blesses the righteous man, O Lord,
You surround him with favor as with a shield.

Psalm 5:12

Hairy Plotter

Here is a series of book titles and cover art that I’ve put together for what would happen if a famous boy wizard were an old-school pen plotter instead.

Book 1: Harry Plotter and the Sources of Toner

image of the book Harry Plotter and the Sources of Toner, a spoof of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

This is the most technically-incorrect title of the series, as a pen plotter does not use toner. And astute readers might notice that Harry Plotter is trying to catch containers of ink, not toner. But you get the idea.

And this is the book for American readers. British readers get “Harry Plotter and the Philosopher’s Toner”, which is not an engaging a plot as his search for the sources of toner. Spoiler alert: there are rivers of toner under the school, hidden under a trapdoor and guarded by Fluffy.

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Conservation of Matter

In science class, you should have learned about the conservation of energy. Or the conservation of matter. Or both – they’re connected anyway.

Matter can be neither created nor destroyed. Same for energy – it can change forms but that’s it.

For some reason, I got to thinking “why?” Science can answer the “how” question quite well, describe it with equations, but the “why” is iffy at best. Most of the answers are along the lines of “that’s a fundamental/basic law of physics”. Science describes how things are, and can answer “why” questions that are really more a form of “how” questions.

I did come up with a reason why energy and matter have to be conserved – because only God can create. That might be more of a theological answer than you were expecting, but when scientists say “that’s just how things are” then theology is all that’s left. Of course, theology applies before that point too – it’s not mutually exclusive with the rest of science.

But if it were possible to create matter or create energy, then people could consider themselves creators and that would reduce the honor and glory due God as The Creator.

And of course, a number of theological discussion of why some things are they way they are also end up the same way as the scientists’ questions of why – because that’s how God set it up. The non-Christians might use a term such as “fundamental law of the universe”, but doesn’t that really mean the same thing as “because God said so”?

An interesting rabbit trail related to this is one’s soul. If a person does not have a soul until he physically exists, then at some point (i.e. conception) his soul must be created. But since the soul is neither matter nor energy, no laws of conservation were broken.

It is I who made the earth, and created man upon it. I stretched out the heavens with My hands And I ordained all their host.

Isaiah 45:12

Chocolate for Breakfast, Part 4

My earlier post had been about a new chocolate cereal. We found another chocolate cereal that has joined the breakfast game: Chocolate Life.

image of Chocolate Life cereal

Officially, it is chocolate-flavored Life. I think that sounds better than other cereals that bill themselves as chocolately, since chocolately makes it sounds like it’s fake chocolate. I think both terms (chocolate-flavored and chocolately) mean the exact same thing though, as they both have cocoa as an ingredient. Probably the best way around it is just to call your product cocoa-whatever, as that is both true and doesn’t sound fake. In this case, Quaker went with chocolate instead of cocoa.

It doesn’t really matter though.

It doesn’t taste like chocolate, or cocoa, or chocolatiness. It tastes pretty much like regular Life cereal does. Which is not a bad thing, but don’t pay extra for this just because it says chocolate.

Still, it’s better than Special K with Chocolately Chunks.

You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.

Matthew 5:13