Blessing 2023

Have you noticed the trend of dystopian movies and books? The "Hunger Games" series and the "Divergent" series come to mind.

A fear of bad things in our future is more evident in our culture now than it's ever been in my lifetime. Faith - not only in God but even in our institutions - is way down today compared to decades ago. There's a lot of scary trends you could be afraid of, including lying politicians, artificial intelligence, increasing childhood depression.

Don't you think we need help from God? Let's pray for our nations, as the UK churches did:

Unintended 7

Results of the widespread lockdown during Covid are still being studied. Unintended consequences descended heavily on children, including mental health issues.

Learning progress declined when schools were shut down according to the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) despite the Zoom alternative where kids could still watch virtual classes on their computers. 

A study has been completed by the Hoover Institution at Stanford University to assess how that loss of learning will affect both the students themselves and their states economically. Overall, for instance, the state of California will lose GDP of $1.7 trillion because it.

But persons who were in school during the pandemic lockdowns will feel it personally. When all factors are considered over their earning lifetime, the financial loss resulting from the learning loss could amount to $70,000 less (than what they would have made).

from Economic Loss of the Pandemic

Kids' faith 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Good news - children seem to be "hardwired" to believe in God. So the advice of yesterday's therapist to bring them up with that faith is well-founded and natural.

"Are children predisposed to belief in a transcendental being?" A developmental psychologist at Oxford University has been researching that question for years. Now her research and her conclusions are published.

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It will be a surprise to many, perhaps, but her research indicates that it's likely that children (of whatever ethnicity) are "hardwired" to believe in God.

Both children and adults can be talked out of it. Famous atheist Richard Dawkins tries his best to do that, as do others.

Re-post

Kids' faith 1

If you care about your kids - and you certainly do care - then you need to help them build on their faith in God. If you neglect to help them in this way and they grow up without that faith, they are more likely to experience depression according to this therapist.

"One of the most important explanations--and perhaps the most neglected--is declining interest in religion. This cultural shift already has proved disastrous for millions of vulnerable young people."

Studies have shown for years that people of faith tend to be happier in comparison to most people. So her view on this point is mainstream.

“Children or teens who reported attending a religious service at least once per week scored higher on psychological well-being measurements and had lower risks of mental illness. Weekly attendance was associated with higher rates of volunteering, a sense of mission, forgiveness, and lower probabilities of drug use and early sexual initiation,” she noted of the latest studies on the impact of religion on the mental health of children and teenagers.

But what if the parents themselves don't believe in God? Easy. She advises them to lie.

from WSJ

Re-post

Interact

Radical, this Christmas concept - that God the Most High wants to interact with us. That was His big purpose in sending his Son to that manger on earth.

In scripture, He lets us know the sort of relationship He has in mind:

from YouVersion

Message

Celebrate

"Immanuel," God with us, that's what happened on that "holy night" of the Christmas song. It's the event which the shepherds were told about, a "great and joyful event," when Jesus Christ was born into the world of humanity.

He was full of grace and truth. The world began to change.

You, who have decided to believe in every bit of Christmas, can celebrate the season right alongside the nonbelievers who can only enjoy the beauty and fun that goes with it twenty centuries later.

Human design 1

Voices advocating for atheism are strong in our modern culture. Sometimes those voices go beyond reason to claim that "science has proven there is no god." That's just not the case, because it can't be done. It's an unscientific claim.

And . . neither can it be proved that God does exist. You have a personal choice to make, either for or against faith in God, even after all the breathtaking advances science has made to understand the material/natural world we live in.

From time to time I publish evidence that supports a rational choice for faith in the God of the Bible and I love to do that, to give you reasons to believe. 

There's a new book on evidence that the human body and the natural world are engineered to work elegantly together. We'll be looking at it in weeks to come. 

The point is, your free moral agency, your choice to believe or not, should not be bullied. If at Christmas or any other time you are moved to put your faith in God, you are rationally justified in doing that.

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Bocelli

World-famous tenor Andrea Bocelli is now singing and recording with his son and daughter. The Bocelli Family partnered with a capella group Pentatonix for a single of Christmas song "Do You Hear What I Hear?"

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Restored

You may remember the story of the child Landon from 2019. Three years ago he was picked up by a stranger and thrown over a three story balcony in the Mall of America. His mother, a woman of Christian faith, started praying for him immediately.

It's a story of recovery. In the hospital for four months, racking up a hospital bill for $1.7 million, Landon today is restored and healthy. Doctors say it's a miracle. Thank God.

Don't skip it

We human beings look for the meaning of things; we want to understand and know the truth. The search for meaning is a feature built into our very nature by our Creator. 

But yes, it's possible as a human being to deny meaning and transcendence, to insist that there's nothing beyond the material. That's what atheism teaches.

Re-post from six years ago:

Atheists have a new billboard campaign for the season. Their theme is "Make Christmas great again. Skip church!"

So I wonder how this works. Was Christmas great in the past when God was no part of it? If we all skip church, will Christmas be great again? But there's never been a time when the season was empty of God. Since the beginning, its central core has been the birth of Jesus Christ on earth.

photo: mine

I'm glad if atheists can enjoy decorations and traditions. But the joy of Christmas would not last if God were taken out of the season. Eventually nothing would be left but cynical materialism.

There are lots of  cynics who don't have a merry celebration. The good will and beauty of Christmas are just cloying if there's no meaning in it. 

Library's tree

According to a Massachusetts public library, someone or some people were uncomfortable with the library's traditional Christmas tree. So the library chose to cancel it this year.

What about people uncomfortable with the lack of the tree? Don't they count? I wonder if the obvious question was asked: what makes you uncomfortable with a Christmas tree?

Un-woke people like myself are uncomfortable about dissenting against decisions like this one. You can be cancelled at your job or in your club or neighborhood when you stand up for what you really think. 

But the community didn't back down in this case and the tree went up. A local woman says, "[T]his Christmas tree has brought out just a beautiful unity of different voices, people that I think come from different political ideologies, different ethnicities, different religions. But they all got behind this, and it’s a beautiful thing." 

from Washington Examiner

Dark sky

 "Protecting the night from light pollution," that's what the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) has been doing since 1988. 

To those who would question their mission, they say: "When used indiscriminately, outdoor lighting can disrupt wildlife, impact human health, waste money and energy, contribute to climate change, and block our view of the universe."

My husband and I for many years have camped in a tent on the North Shore of Lake Superior. This beautiful, natural ecosystem alongside the world's biggest lake has a few small towns but no big cities and little artificial light. The nights are really dark and the stars are glorious. On clear, warm nights we uncover the mesh roof of our tent and fall asleep looking into space.

It's an experience you can't get in a city. I hope you have a good way to enjoy the dark, starry night sky.

Moon photos

Here is a view looking back at our beautiful blue planet from 57,000 miles away, a clear shot from the tip of one of Orion's solar arrays on the first day in space (click on it to enlarge):

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You know what the moon looks like: white and scarred, not blue and swirly white. It's scarred because rocks and meteorites have slammed into it for billions of years, and there was no atmosphere or weather to soften the edges of impact craters. 

We have some close photos taken by Orion showing a rougher surface than we may picture:

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from Mashable (more lunar surface pics here)

Artemis 2

Artemis 1 was un-crewed. But Artemis 2 will have a crew, now that they're confident that they have a deep space transportation system that works.

Four astronauts will fly to and around the moon, staying about ~5500 miles above its surface. New spacesuits are being designed to protect them from higher radiation than they experience here in low earth orbit. The same rocket (SLS) and the same craft (Orion) will be used. 

After all the data from Artemis 2 is analyzed, NASA will be ready for Artemis 3 - the mission that will actually land astronauts on the moon's surface. SpaceX's Starship will perform that historic landing.

If everything goes well, Artemis 2 will launch sometime in 2024 and Artemis 3 may launch sometime in 2025. 

Here is the splashdown of the Artemis 1 mission on Sunday:

from Space

First one done

Artemis 1, first of the Artemis Program missions, accomplished what it was supposed to do. Space Launch System (SLS), that long-delayed and way-over-budget Boeing rocket, was a success. It worked well with the Orion capsule and with NASA's ground systems.

NASA people are said to be super happy. Here is a photo taken yesterday from Orion as it neared its home planet:

It splashed down in the Pacific near California. The Artemis 1 mission manager clarified the future significance of this success by saying: 

"We now have a foundational deep-space transportation system." 

That's a big deal: the foundation for future transportation into deep space. Fans of space travel will be thrilled.

from Space

Dumb choice

If you were going to rob a store, you would pick a time and place where you could probably get by with it. Not all criminals are as smart as you. Especially a guy named Brad.

Here's the story from the police department Facebook post:

"Seriously we just can't make this up. Brad decided to steal from our good neighbors and partners at Walmart in St. Cloud while we were conducting the Shop With a Cop event with the children of our community. Bad news, Brad! The store was full of deputies, almost 40 . . ."

Talk show host Jay Leno used to say, "I love stupid criminals!" 

Her MPD story 3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

MPD's third precinct looked like a war zone after that day in 2020, and the neighborhood didn't calm down for a month. Peaceful protest is a protected tradition here in America, but lawless riots and burning and violence and looting of businesses must not be protected. Businesses destroyed (the life's work of many) eventually amounted to 1500.

The mayor of Minneapolis ordered the police to stand down, to watch instead of protect -- all in violation of the oath of office. You have to wonder who pressured him.

Lund made urgent calls for help to leadership, to city and state government; all went unanswered. She realized that no one had her back or the backs of her men and women. It looked like Benghazi to her.

Lt. Kim Lund quit her job about six months later and moved to Florida.

Her MPD story 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

She's haunted in her sleep now by that nightmare. 

Sixty years ago Minneapolis Police Lieutenant Kim Lund began her audacious life in a small blue-collar town. As a teenager, she was captain of the cheerleaders and yearbook editor, racing motorcycles and snowmobiles. 

She followed the path indicated by an aptitude test and got a two-year criminal justice degree. Jobs in police work were rare for women. But eventually her toughness and hard work brought respect and promotion to her in the MPD.

In dangerous environments of gangs, robberies, drugs, she gained her experience. Finally she landed in the 3rd precinct, the most ethnically diverse precinct with the highest crime rate in the city. Bike give-aways and lemonade/popsicle stands were an effort to bond with the neighbors in this tense  community.

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That's where she worked on Labor Day of 2o20 when the chaos began which would end the only kind of life she knew.

(cont'd tomorrow)

Her MPD story 1

George Floyd died (May of 2020) while being held down by a Minneapolis Police Department officer, who was convicted and is in prison for what he did. More evil soon followed. Minneapolis residents saw their city blow up with fire and violence.

One of MPD's first female lieutenants was a commander at Precinct 3, right in the middle of the chaos. One night the building was attacked and destroyed by thugs. This is how her nightmares began and here is what they look like:

"I am inside. Shielding myself, balancing on a chair away from the windows in my darkened office. The sooty sky is choked with smoke and blazing orange. Flames as far as I can see; the looted Target; the ransacked liquor store; police cars melting; the earth scorched.

"Exploding M-80s, bricks and frozen water bottles are pelted at officers protecting my second home, the 3rd Precinct. Snipers fire rubber bullets at the crowd of thousands. The grotesque and deafening of humankind encroach the barrier. They swarm, surge and blast through torching the building."

from Human Events

(cont'd tomorrow)

Waukesha parade

This year the Waukesha Christmas Parade went beautifully. The people of this Wisconsin community could have cancelled, given the circumstances, but instead called on their virtues of resilience and courage.

Why did the annual parade require more resilience and courage than usual? Because a year ago, six people died in this celebration. A murderer used his vehicle to slam down random victims. You could hardly imagine a more incongruous setting than a Christmas event for such a crime.

A child and five adults died last year, while dozens more were injured. The murderer was convicted in October of first-degree homicide and sentenced to life in prison.

Watch the local news report on this year's parade:

Drug money

Importing, distributing and selling illegal drugs is a big business in the U.S. A key person responsible for enabling these crimes in Chicago has lost his freedom. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison a couple of weeks ago. He's 55 years old. 

Luis Garcia set up a network of warehouses and fake companies to hide thousands of kilograms of cocaine in pallets of products like laundry detergent. They were also used to mask a total of $50 million in payments to Mexican drug cartels. It's called money laundering.

At 1.0-1.5 grams per use, every kilogram would represent 670-1000. Multiply by the thousands he hid with ordinary household products, and he's given many thousands of uses of cocaine to  the people of his city, his neighbors.

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Conviction and sentencing of criminals is essential.  A U.S. attorney puts it this way:

“Anyone who is considering partnering with the [drug] cartels to move their products from Mexico to the streets of this country must know that they will face the severest of consequences.”

from U.S. Department of Justice

Royal wealth 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

If you have wealth beyond imagination, what shall you do with it after your needs and reasonable wants are satisfied? This family has it and here's a few ways that they spend it.

Watch incredibly expensive supercars getting some attention on the streets of London or Monaco, cars with a name like Bugatti or Lamborghini or McLaren:

Their personal airplane was designed to carry 467 passengers on a commercial flight. It's a Boeing 747 jumbo jet:

Go here for more conspicuous consumption items.

from Luxury Launches