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Searching for Truth

SEARCHING FOR TRUTH

In the mid-nineteenth century, John Sutter, a European immigrant from Baden, Germany had been granted almost 50,000 acres of generally wooded land by Mexico just northeast of Sacramento, California with the intention of establishing a colony of Europeans loyal to Mexico and committed to keeping Americans from moving in and taking the land. As the leader of the colony, Sutter needed a sawmill to provide lumber for the settlers to build homesteads.  Since there was no electricity then, Sutter needed water...

ON BEING SANE IN UNSANE PLACES

If you’ve taken General Psychology in the past, you may have had to read an essay by D.L. Rosenhan called “On Being Sane in Unsane Places.” It is a wonderful, timeless, humorous, insightful article. I’ve taken some liberty here with the subject and setting of Rosenhan’s story. The original setting in his article was a lunatic asylum, but for those of you are high teachers, have supervisors with Type “A” personalities or who are observers of contemporary politics, you will...

What we lose by ditching DEI

WHAT WE LOSE BY DITCHING DEI

I remember the first time I saw a truly handicapped person working in public. He was a young man with Downs Syndrome who worked at the local WalMart store as a greeter. People would come in and he would wave at them and smile. Don’t bother asking him where the loungerie department was or whether there was still a sale on studded snow tires. He would not be able to process sophisticated questions or anything other than very basic communication....

Hypothesizing hyperspace

HYPOTHESIZING HYPERSPACE

A PERSONAL JOURNEY Among people in the community who follow the news on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), I have a reputation of being at once a believer and at the same time, a skeptic.  I’m fairly convinced that there are likely “alien” drones, probes and/or possibly “manned” ships in our atmosphere on occasion.  I believe this for a number of reasons.  First of all, trained, professional military personnel, airline pilots and others are reporting such phenomena in ever increasing numbers (possibly, because we have...

IS YOUR SPIRITUAL LIFE SALT-FREE?

We encounter all sorts of labels whenever we go to a grocery store. There are carbonated drinks that are sugar-free. Other soft drinks are caffeine-free. There is whole milk, and then there is fat-free milk. Certain types of products such as pasta are gluten-free, and then there are soups and such that are advertised as “low sodium” or “salt-free.” I did a post four years ago on the metaphor of salt as used in the New Testament. It was not...

UNEXPECTED GIFTS

The sun was starting to rest over the meadows. Gil, the head farmer, and the little boy called the cows together, “Come Boss, come Boss.” Babe was a huge Guernsey who loved to eat apples out of the young boy’s hand. Snowball, a Holstein, was whiter than the first snowfall, a bit older and moved slower than Babe. Jumping onto the gate, the boy got his bib overalls caught on the hinge. “Let’s go boy, we still need to milk...

Roots

ROOTS

In his parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1 ff.), Jesus explained to His audience the importance of roots in agronomy. Yet, this wasn’t a strictly practical scientific presentation but rather a spiritual one. Jesus saw a correlation between a healthy root system on a plant with a healthy spiritual life in a person. While Jesus knew much better than I what His point was, I wonder whether it might be possible to coax a bit more nuance from the parable,...

Steinbeck on human behavior

STEINBECK ON HUMAN BEHAVIOR

One of the three “giants” who influenced my life was John Steinbeck.  I was introduced to him in high school when we were assigned to read “Of Mice and Men,” but I was bitten by the bug and hungrily read every book he wrote (including “Travels with Charley: In Search of America“) over the next two years.  Every book, that is, but one. Somehow, his work “The Log from the Sea of Cortez” slipped through the cracks.  But before I go any further, let me explain...

The SARS-CoV-2 virus

INFLUENZA AND COVID UPDATE

This is a good time to mention the flu and COVID, both of which are filling up emergency rooms across the country.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention anticipates that the avian influenza A (H5N1) virus, or “H5N1 bird flu,” in dairy cows, poultry and other animals will be the chief flu strain in the U.S. this coming winter. September is approximately the month that seasonal vaccines come out, and I encourage everyone who reads my blog who can be...

SENTINEL EVENTS: WARNINGS FROM WITHIN

Deena and I have been focusing on the word “sentinel” lately, in the context of her aneurysm. This is a word that has largely escaped me, probably because we used the term “precursor” back in the day. “Sentinel,” seems slightly more romantic to me, however. Yet, there is nothing romantic about the problem your sentinel wants you to be aware of. One of the hallmarks of a teacher is the desire to share something new and interesting with the “class.”...

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