Christmas 2003

Technology is changing the world fast. It's a truism. But, how fast? 

Here's a partial list of things that didn't exist on Christmas just 15 years ago:

iPhone
Facebook
YouTube
Twitter
Instagram
iPad
Netflix streaming
Google Maps
Snapchat
Spotify
Android
Uber
Lyft
Alexa
Airbnb
App Store
Google Chrome
WhatsApp
Fitbit
Waze
Slack
Square
Dropbox
Pinterest
Venmo
Bitcoin
Hulu
Kindle

One Jew's view

A Jewish man in Boston loves to see Christmas celebrated:

"I’m an Orthodox Jew for whom Dec. 25 has zero theological significance. My family doesn’t put up a tree, my kids never wrote letters to Santa, and we don’t go to church for midnight Mass. But while I may not celebrate Christmas, I love seeing my Christian friends and neighbors celebrate it. I like living in a society that makes a big deal out of religious holidays. Far from feeling excluded or oppressed when the sights and sounds of Christmas return each December — OK, November — I find them reassuring. To my mind, they reaffirm the importance of the Judeo-Christian culture that has made America so exceptional — and such a safe and tolerant haven for a religious minority like mine.

"Ioffe [Jewish woman] writes that being told “Merry Christmas,” even once, is “ill-fitting and uncomfortable.” Hearing it for weeks on end is almost more than she can bear. “It’s exhausting and isolating,” she writes. “It makes me feel like a stranger in my own land.”

"Is it really the Christmas cheer that makes her feel so alienated? That certainly isn’t the reaction Christmas evoked in other Jewish immigrants and their children. Not only were many of the greatest Christmas songs composed by Jewish songwriters , but several of those songwriters were themselves first-generation Americans. Irving Berlin (“White Christmas”) was born in Russia. So were the parents of Mel Torme (“The Christmas Song”). Edward Pola (“It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”) was the son of immigrants from Hungary . . .

"As an observant Jew, I don’t celebrate Christmas and never have. Do the inescapable reminders at this time of year that hundreds of millions of my fellow Americans do celebrate it make me feel excluded or offended? Not in the least: They make me feel grateful — grateful to live in a land where freedom of religion shields the Chanukah menorah in my window no less than it shields the Christmas tree in my neighbor’s. That freedom is a reflection of America’s Judeo-Christian culture, and a central reason why, in this overwhelmingly Christian country, it isn’t only Christians for whom Christmas is a season of joy. And why it isn’t only Christians who should make a point of saying so."

Liberty & Lewis

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

C.S. Lewis was a proponent of civil liberty, for much the same reason that I am: who is to say that one person (or some group) will make better decisions for your life than you? Who is so superior that we should trust them to run our lives for us?

He's talking about oppressive government, socialism/dictatorship - power seized by "a small, highly disciplined group of people  . . I do not think any group good enough to have such power. They are men of like passions with ourselves."

image of King James VI of Scotland

"For every Government consists of mere men."  Think of some past European monarchs who claimed a "divine right" to their throne, their rule over other men and women. No one thinks today that they were superior beings. They were at least as flawed as me and you.

The traditional American way is the way of free and civil debate, grounded in personal virtue and a conscience trained by churches that teach the Bible. Note to my global readers - as you may know, this is less and less a description of today's America.

Liberty so far

"Free debate" will not continue to be the American way if Christianity loses much more of its influence and moral authority in American society. 

There's a movement in the U.S. to replace the traditional American way with more coercive government. Voluntary virtue and faith are widely derided today. As they lose public support, something else will have to suppress bad behavior for society's sake - and that something else will be the government. 

China's government sets itself in that role of moral authority. As the enemy of religion, it destroys churches, captures believers, forcibly changes minds - until the religion submits itself to the rule of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party). 

At the very beginning of America, John Adams said: "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people." This founding father of America knew that it would work only for a people whose Christian faith was their primary influence.

Watch a video about the historic "Old North Church" in Boston, built in 1723.


(cont'd tomorrow)

Oratorio

Last year I discovered Bach's Christmas Oratorio.

I listened to it many times on my laptop and through the big speakers. I looked up the lyrics, learned the alto part, sang it loudly with the recorded choirs; my hair stood on end.

Trumpet brilliance, baroque precision, harmonic color - all elements of the music. Words of goodness--truth--beauty.

Listen and see if it lifts your spirit on this Christmas Day.



Christians be joyful! And praise your salvation.
------For today your redeemer is come!
Cease to be fearful, Forget lamentation.
Haste with thanksgiving to greet this glad morn!

Kids tell it

Enjoy!

Conformity

Dissent of viewpoint & religion has always existed in the United States. America tolerates an enormous amount of dissent. That is glaringly obvious from today's politics.

China must think we're mad to allow it, because they certainly don't.  All religions in China have to affirm the Chinese Communist Party and the Government under Pres. Xi. Freedom of thought/conscience is not valued. Conformity is valued. Obedience to state is demanded.

Heavy-handed government coercion is their concept of a good society. The American concept is free debate & discourse . . with a Christian emphasis on personal virtue, conscience, and personal responsibility.

But will that continue into America's future? Not if Christianity continues to lose its influence.

Have a good weekend as you get ready for Christmas. Here is a Catholic believer's take on that (Advent).

photo

Re-education

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Uyghurs are a mostly Muslim ethnic minority in Xinjiang. China has denied detaining hundreds of thousands of them in Xinjiang but now admits it: 

"Xinjiang quietly legalized "vocational skill education training centers" on October 10, which the law said would be used to "carry out anti-extremist ideological education."

Human rights advocates are calling these training centers "re-education camps." The "detainees" are treated to round-the-clock brainwashing and, according to authorities, come out happier.

Crackdown

CNN reports that human rights advocates are watching a progressive "crackdown" on religion in China.

"Sam Brownback, the US ambassador at large for international religious freedom, cited the actions against the Early Rain Church and the reports from Xinjiang when announcing that China was one of ten countries designated a "country of concern" when it comes to religious freedom Tuesday.

"Under President Xi, the government has further tightened control over Christianity in its broad efforts to 'Sinicize' religion or 'adopt Chinese characteristics' -- in other words, to ensure that religious groups support the government and the Communist Party," Human Rights Watch said."

Chinese government wants to control not only Christians, but other religious minorities:

"China has been accused of carrying out a systematic campaign of human rights violations against hundreds of thousands of Muslim Uyghurs in the far western region of Xinjiang."

image

(cont'd tomorrow)

Arrested pastor

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Pastor Wang Yi knew that the government would never allow him to go on speaking against their aim to bring speech and thought under their control. "Freedom of speech," "Freedom of conscience" are not permitted. Pres. Xi's government will decide what's permitted.

Read his letter here. Some highlights:

"As a pastor of a Christian church, I have my own understanding and views, based on the Bible, about what righteous order and good government is. At the same time, I am filled with anger and disgust at the persecution of the church by this Communist regime, at the wickedness of their depriving people of the freedoms of religion and of conscience."

"I hope God uses me, by means of first losing my personal freedom, to tell those who have deprived me of my personal freedom that there is an authority higher than their authority"

photo

Bravest pastor

China's ruler Xi Jinping is still ramping up his persecution of churches. 

Last week it was the Early Rain Covenant Church of Chengdu. Its Pastor Wang Yi and 100 congregants were arrested, and the freshmen of its college were sent to "re-education camp."


Xi is exercising his enormous power to silence dissent. Wang was in his cross-hairs not only because the church is not registered with the government, but because he openly opposes Xi's totalitarian controls. He published a call for Christians to resist regulations that contradict Christianity.

"Communist authorities have used the regulations as tools to carry out Jinping’s vision of sinicizing religion in China — which is to force all religions in the country to submit to the authority and teachings of the Chinese Communist party."

"He’s the bravest pastor in China today,” Rev. Hong Yujie, a friend of Wang in Vancouver, told WSJ.

(cont'd tomorrow)

Product designer

A "dyslexic kid from the segregated South," who became Sears' first black executive back in 1961, passed away this month.

"Sears hired him to join the product design and testing laboratory after his application to work for the company was denied a few years prior, all on the sole purpose of his race. From there, the rest is black history."

Charles Harrison worked on over 700 products including baby cribs, see-through measuring cups, trash cans, sewing machines, electric mixers, etc.

He  "became the first African American designer awarded the Lifetime Achievement National Design Award by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, a recognition that cemented him as a respected icon of industrial design and an unsung hero of household products."

photo: blackenterprise

Thanos 3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Though the earth has seven times as many people as it did when Thomas Malthus was writing, we have many times as much material wealth as people had then. Population has grown massively, and material wealth has grown even more massively right along with population.

Huge population growth did not lead to famine. 

Thanos and Malthus were wrong. The material wealth of the world is not fixed and unchanging. Material wealth grows when people make discoveries, find better ways to provide what people need, what their customers need.

For example, take petroleum (as the video explained). It was a worthless nuisance -- until people discovered something world-shaking:  how to tap the energy already within it. The resulting uses of petroleum created prosperity and improved lives all over the world.

Thanos 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Thanos thinks that there's only a finite amount of resources (like iron ore, petroleum, etc.) which must be divided up among all the people. "Too many mouths" means they will "face extinction" unless he murders half of them.

Thanos is not the only one who believes this. Way back in 1798, Thomas Malthus wrote an essay with the same idea: "The power of population is so superior to the power of the earth to produce subsistence for man, that premature death must in some shape or other visit the human race."

The earth had about a billion people in his time and he thought they were in trouble. But in the 300 years since then earth's population has grown to over 7 billion -- and we are much wealthier in material goods than his generation was.

What happened? Why do people have more material wealth today, in spite of the population being 7 times bigger?




(cont'd tomorrow)

Thanos 1

Warning: If you haven't seen the movie "Avengers: Infinity War" but you want to and you don't like spoilers . . watch it, and THEN read this post and tomorrow's. 

Thanos is more powerful than any avenger/god/hero in the Avengers movies, and really evil. 

He claims to be the only one in the universe who clearly sees the need to destroy half of all living beings and has the iron will to carry out this macabre plan.

It's a good idea, he claims, because then the remaining life forms will have a more comfortable life. To repeat that - he wants to kill half the lives in the universe. So the other half gets all their stuff.

Yup, he's evil. And he's wrong.

image

(cont'd tomorrow)

Hollowed out

"It's easy for governments to confiscate money, but eventually there's no more money to confiscate." 

This woman tells how "my beloved Venezuela" became a "hollowed out" failed state.

Dec. 7

They found a few people at the University of Minnesota who know about Pearl Harbor Day, Dec. 7, 1941 - glad to hear it. 

You sometimes have to wonder how much history is really being taught - especially if you've seen those interviews Jay Leno did with people on the street.

I wish you well

The late George H.W. Bush, 41st president of the United States, lost his bid for a second term in 1993 to Bill Clinton. 

After being president for four years, he walked into the oval office one last time to leave a beautiful note for his successor. You'll find no resentment in it, just kindness and civility.

Dear Bill,

When I walked into this office just now I felt the same sense of wonder and respect that I felt four years ago. I know you will feel that, too.

I wish you great happiness here. I never felt the loneliness some Presidents have described.

There will be very tough times, made even more difficult by criticism you may not think is fair. I'm not a very good one to give advice; but just don't let the critics discourage you or push you off course.

You will be our President when you read this note. I wish you well. I wish your family well.

Your success now is our country's success. I am rooting hard for you.

Good luck - 

George

Neanderthal

Sometimes you hear claims that "Neanderthals" were human, that homo sapiens descended from them. Some say that they "possessed the capacity for language and the ability to make art, music, and jewelry. Other studies claim that Neanderthals ritualistically buried their dead, mastered fire, and used plants medicinally."

But evidence found by Japanese researchers leads to different conclusions.

Studying the cranial cavity of both Neanderthal and human skulls has shown that the brains are different. The right side of the cerebellum in Neanderthals is smaller.

image

"[T]he researchers argue that the reduced size of the right cerebellar hemisphere in Neanderthals limits the connection to the prefrontal regions—a connection critical for language processing. Neuroscientists have also discovered that the parietal lobe plays a role in visuo-spatial imagery, episodic memory, self-related mental representations, coordination between self and external spaces, and sense of agency."

"On the basis of this study, it seems that humans either outcompeted Neanderthals for limited resources . . .or simply were better suited to survive than Neanderthals because of superior mental capabilities."

90% poverty #2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Father Romero sees needs everywhere. "Our work is about helping others go to heaven. Yet evangelization goes beyond declaration. We feed those who are hungry. Every week, we care for 300 to 400 homeless kids who have been taken off the streets. Other programs prevent people from falling into poverty."

But to keep this ministry going in a country of 90% poverty . . is difficult.

"Recently, many institutions offered help but the state is putting up barriers. It is not allowing them to come and help. Needs have increased. Three to four million Venezuelans have emigrated to neighboring countries. Today, 60 percent of the population lives off money that comes from other countries. It is a disaster."

"[Our] 94 priests want to help. That motivates them to be occupied in running soup kitchens, taking care of the sick and reinvigorating society. But there are limitations. Many are sick, and there is no transportation. . . Sometimes they get desperate because they don’t have the resources to do those things."

"[I]n Venezuela, they practice a 21st century type of socialism. The majority of the population does not accept this. I do not believe in this socialist system. This system of socialism humiliates and degrades people. There are those who want to divide us and assault the dignity of the human person."

90% poverty

"Be the kind neighbor & generous friend you wish you had," that's the goal yesterday's author hopes to accomplish in his new home.

In Venezuela, priest Fr. Miguel Romero is taking that challenge on an institutional level. Because the Venezuelan people are desperate for the basics of life, including food.

He says, "When we tell the story of our country, most people don’t believe what is happening. Venezuela has a lot of rich resources and oil. But in the 20 years since this complex political process began, it has destroyed the country — especially institutions and relationships between people."

Last August inflation had reached over 82,000%, and the International Monetary Fund thinks it could be a million percent by the end of this year. It's "hyperinflation" and it looked like this four months ago: somebody "quite literally would have needed a wheelbarrow full of cash to buy some meat and vegetables at the supermarket."

"[A] recent survey [found] that 90 percent of the country's population now live in poverty . . ." So many are leaving their country. The BBC video below explains where they go.




(cont'd tomorrow)

Not just STEM

Science/Technology/Engineering/Math education training gets a lot of attention because there's a big need for this expertise in today's job market. But that's only part of what's needed.

Employers want much more than just STEM training. Along with that, they are looking for future employees with these non-cognitive skills: 

Listening, problem-solving, teamwork, integrity, and dependability

• Employers report a need for employees with these skills and place a higher value on them than on job-specific skills.

These skills are "are rooted in infancy and early childhood experience and develop across the life cycle."

So . . how important is family life to society? Building character in your children is vital to their lives and vital to the function of the community.

Good news -- as you develop your own character along these lines, you'll be positioned for growth in your career.

Loneliness #3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

It's easy to be around old friends. They have survived learning about your strengths and weaknesses. Since they know your story, you don't have to explain yourself to them.

But many of us are not surrounded with old friends. We are in job after job, location after location, and spending time with old friends isn't part of our lives. Loneliness sets in.

Last Friday's post told the story of an immigrant to the U.S. who, though she sometimes struggled in a new country, said "yes" to invitations to an American holiday every year. She did the right thing by saying "yes." As did this introvert in a new home.

Arthur and his wife fear lonely isolation when they go to their new home too. But this book has given them a strategy to overcome it:

"It isn’t about how I feel about any place I have lived, nor about my fear of isolation in a new city. It is about the neighbor I choose to be in the community I wind up calling my home.

"And there lies the challenge to each of us in a country suffering from loneliness and ripped apart by political opportunists seeking to capitalize on that isolation. Each of us can be happier, and America will start to heal, when we become the kind neighbors and generous friends we wish we had."

photo

Loneliness #2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

"Steady work" used to be commonplace among Americans, but the nature of work has changed to a sequence of jobs that are not held long enough for relationships to mature. So one source of "people who know me very well" is gone.

A sense of belonging to a certain place - a sense of hometown - used to be commonplace among Americans, the feeling some still get at the "hometown gym on a Friday night," a love for neighbors and community. But how mobile are Americans today.

Author Arthur Brooks says, "I asked myself where I might get that hometown-gym feeling, where I have natural roots . . No specific place came to mind . . not even Seattle, my hometown, which is a perfectly nice place, but one I unsentimentally left behind 35 years ago."

Jobs and homes are often short-lived. Social media "friendships" are shallow. Americans need to be more intentional about building relationships and overcoming loneliness. 

(cont'd tomorrow)

Loneliness #1

According to a big study done by a major health care provider, "Nearly half [of Americans] say they sometimes or always feel alone or “left out.” Thirteen percent of Americans say that zero people know them well."

In one way, I wonder, "Is that all?" Because most (or maybe all) of us feel alone sometimes. But it shouldn't be "always." 

Manipulators have an opportunity in the lonely void. The “outrage industrial complex” provides a sense of community with polarized political tribes. "Essentially, people locate their sense of “us” through the contempt peddled about “them” on the other side of the political spectrum."

(cont'd tomorrow)

Meal cost

American Farm Bureau Federation has kept track of the cost of a roast turkey meal for 33 years. Would you guess that we pay more for our food today than we did in 1986? Or less?

We pay 26% less in inflation-adjusted dollars than we paid in 1986. 

Thankful

My annual critique of Black Friday is already published 😏 

But I am publishing again today, because I found a story too good to ignore. 

Olga was an exchange student from Eastern Europe when she experienced her first American Thanksgiving in Texas. She was in the "honeymoon" phase of getting to know a culture that she eventually embraced for herself as an immigrant.

Through all the ups and downs of various life stages over the last decade and a half, one constant in my life has been Thanksgiving. Without exception, every year that I have lived here [in the U.S.], someone has always invited me over for a Thanksgiving meal. Someone has always welcomed me at their table.

Black Friday

Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday! The whole point of it is to be thankful for the blessings we enjoy. There should be no objection to that, no politics.

But it may take a back seat to "black Friday," especially when the shopping frenzy starts late afternoon of Thanksgiving Day.

The sale prices may not be that good, poor retail employees have to report to work on the holiday, and "It's making us crazy rather than thankful."

Restraint would be appropriate! Restraint - from opening on the holiday, from bad behavior, from overspending -  would improve Black Friday. 

PJ's, thank you

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

U.S. Air Force pararescuemen conduct helicopter hoist training on Nov. 5, 2018, at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan

Thousands of American warriors are spending Thanksgiving week in Afghanistan. Thank you, pararescuemen, for training and serving so "that others may live."

Pararescue

"That Others May Live" -- it's the motto of some of the "most highly trained emergency trauma specialists in the U.S. military. "

If you're in combat, and really in trouble, these are the guys you want to see show up.

photo: military

A parajumper (PJ) is "a personnel recovery specialist, with emergency medical capabilities in humanitarian and combat environments. 

"PJs deploy in any available manner, to include air-land-sea tactics, into restricted environments to authenticate, extract, treat, stabilize and evacuate injured personnel. 

"PJs participate in search and rescue, combat search and rescue, recovery support for NASA and conduct other operations as appropriate."

(cont'd tomorrow)

Xi attacks

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

President Xi of China is being called "Emperor Xi" because of his growing grasp of power. He sees religion, all kinds, as a threat to his hold. Christian churches have been destroyed, even those that were supposedly approved. Thousands of crosses (symbols of Christianity) have been torn from churches. 



Fear creates social pressure:

"In one school in Xinjiang, 200 students in one high school identified themselves as Christians. After three rounds of threats and intimidation from parents, teachers and headmasters, only one 14-year-old had the strength to admit he was still a Christian. Everybody else was forced to deny their faith."

Xi oppression

Remember China's surveillance plan and the 600 million cameras for watching people?  The government judges behavior and they literally keep score. 

photo: stuff.co.nz

Now Pres. Xi is putting a facial-recognition camera on the pulpit of every "approved" church. 

So . . everyone who dares to go to church will be looking at the camera looking at them.

Oppressive much?

(cont'd tomorrow)

Resilient

"In case you hadn’t noticed, life is difficult and unpredictable. So, how do you move forward in such a complex and confusing world? UCLA Medical School psychiatrist Dr. Stephen Marmer offers 5 tips for coping with life’s unwelcome surprises"



Resilient . . not fragile.

De-monetize 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

So Peter Diamandis sees both energy and information becoming nearly free in the future, thus the possibility that basic needs will also become very cheap and maybe free - attainable without money, de-monetized.

In this video of the talk by Diamandis, Elon Musk shares his vision of ubiquitous self-driving cars (1:00) and roofs made of solar panels (about 5:40) . For a fully electric economy, he estimates that the world will need about one hundred "gigafactories" like he has built in Nevada to produce electricity-storing lithium batteries.



So, Musk is at the forefront of the solar panel/lithium battery wave that Diamandis thinks will de-monetize energy, and contribute to a future abundance.

Maybe I should issue a disclaimer at this point. Like Jonas Berg says at the end of this video (he put it together), nobody really knows what is going to happen. Diamandis and Musk are just technology elites, offering their opinion.

De-monetize 1

Multi-talented Peter Diamandis founded the XPrize Foundation ("incentivizing great minds to make a difference"), Singularity University, plus many other projects. And he's very optimistic about the future. This post is from a talk he did a year ago.

His latest book (2012) was Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think.  He thinks that the world is moving toward "de-monetization," a state in which everyone can get the things they need with little or no money. Sounds . . crazy. 

Why would he think that? (There's a clip of Elon Musk also saying in this video "Everything will get very cheap.") 

According to Diamandis, the cost of things is a function of the information (the how-to), the energy, and the raw material required to make them. If those factors are nearly free, then things/stuff will be nearly free.

If you remember a time with no internet, you know what a revolution it was when the internet made information nearly free.

What about energy? Diamandis says the sun pours energy onto the earth in the amount of 8000 times what humanity currently needs. He thinks that solar cells will improve and multiply to the point that energy is nearly free.

(cont'd tomorrow)

Border moms

Border control is a hot issue in the U.S. How about the viewpoint of those who actually live on America's southern border? It's not just a political football for them. It's personal.

"One mom [told the interviewer] that she doesn’t let her kids go outside, or even walk the two blocks to school. “I’m afraid all day long when they’re at school,” the mom said. That family had to get rid of their swimming pool, since illegal immigrants were constantly bathing in it."

"Between 2:00 and 3:00 o’clock in the morning, every morning, the family’s German shepherds “go crazy” because that’s when illegal immigrants walk through their property. “I don’t know who they are, I don’t know where they’re from,” said the mom. “I don’t know what they want. But they’re almost all men. You’ve got these random men coming through your property, sleeping in your sheds.”

Vets Day parade

When a young freshman was dropped off for the first time at Yale University by his dad, he got a sudden change in perspective. It had nothing to do with going to college. 

He remembers that moment with his father every time he watches a Veterans Day parade.

"This week I will do what I’ve done every year since I moved to Dallas. I’ll stand on Main Street and watch the bittersweet march of veterans young and old. I’ll bring along some tissues, since I know that I’ll end up blubbering — probably when the survivors of World War II start to pass me by. That’s the war my father served in, toward its end . . .

"I’ll never forget when my dad dropped me off for the first time at Yale. I hadn’t even visited the place, and now I was thoroughly nervous about living there in those Gothic dorms. For petty, silly reasons. I imagined that I’d look foolish to the “rich kids” whom I’d room with. I only had $50 a month in spending money. My clothes were garish and shabby by “preppy” standards. As I nattered on about all this, Dad wiped the sweat from his brow. (A burly letter carrier, he’d been schlepping all my stuff.) Here’s what he said: “When I was your age, I was sitting on a troop ship, puking through North Atlantic storms, on the way to serve in Germany.”

That put things in perspective."