Racial divide

Bion Bartning's new Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR) just started in 2020, but it's grown to almost 40,000 followers who wish to stand for pro-human fairness and against the teaching of critical race theory in schools. 

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Why do they object to the philosophy of CRT? It's this: 

"Instead of teaching our children that they are unique individuals united by our shared humanity, it insists that they identify as members of racialized identity groups locked in a zero sum battle for power."

They wish to stand for gratitude instead of grievance . . to inspire optimism instead of learned helplessness . . to encourage forgiveness instead of the poison of resentment. 

Bartning is part of the movement of parents who feel a need to push back against the CRT direction being pushed in schools. He describes what alarmed him at his own kids' school in an article published in Wall Street Journal last year.

From FAIR

(cont'd tomorrow)

Shipping cost 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Container ships along the West Coast still back up at our big seaports, and the turmoil is still related to the pandemic. About 800 dock workers in Los Angeles and Long Beach CA couldn't work in January for Covid-related reasons. 

On New Year's Day there were a record 106 vessels waiting to unload. Compare that to the typical pre-pandemic number waiting: one. This is the heart of the supply chain crisis you've heard about. The system got way behind because of lockdowns and sick workers, all coming at the same time as a big increase in imported goods.

Maybe the whole complicated system (raw materials/manufacturing/distribution) will have to be tweaked to reduce vulnerability to the shipping sector. Some factories could be placed nearer either the source of raw materials or the distribution end points. But moving factories is neither cheap nor easy. Our system must run efficiently again as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, ships divert to East Coast ports to avoid that West Coast gridlock - resulting in eastern gridlock.

y

from WSJ

Shipping cost 1

Follow-up to this post

One consequence of the pandemic still in force today is shipping industry turmoil. It's big in the news because it affects prices that we all pay (the cost of shipping a product from its overseas factory must be covered by the retail price that your store charges you for the product).

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Here's how much retailers paid in overseas shipping cost to get these eight common products for you, an increase factor of about ten:

• Couch - $50 in 2020, $516 in 2022
• Fridge - $58 in 2020, $596 in 2022
• Air fryer - $0.48 in 2020, $5 in 2022
• 49" TV - $4 in 2020, $45 in 2022
• 8x10 rug - $5 in 2020, $56 in 2022
• Coffee maker - $0.50 in 2020, $5 in 2022
• Wooden desk - $2 in 2020, $21 in 2022
• Crib - $5 in 2020, $60 in 2022

from Forbes, February-March 2022, p. 94

(cont'd tomorrow)

Field hospital

Hospitals are vulnerable to bombing and medical care is disrupted, like everything else in Ukraine. So Samaritan's Purse is there. Thanks to their donors, SP has the ability to rush a field hospital to a crisis in as little as 36 hours.

From their website: "UPDATE (March 6): The DC-8 landed safely in Poland and materials for the Emergency Field Hospital have been transported to Ukraine. The Samaritan’s Purse team is now in the process of setting up the facility on the outskirts of Lviv."

Beyond humanitarian, their inspiration is to love their neighbors as Christ said. They treat everyone and don't deny anyone or "pass by any broken person in a ditch regardless of who they are," per the story of the good Samaritan. Including ICU and operating rooms, they will be able to treat up to 100 patients per day at the field hospital.

Ukraine food

World Central Kitchen and local chef partners in Lviv, Ukraine, are providing hot soup for refugees fleeing their homes. It's cold outside there, and many of these people must try to figure out what to do and where to go next. 

Putin's hideous bombing of civilians, infrastructure and military targets is mostly in central and eastern Ukraine, so it's not life-threatening (so far) to do this kind of thing here in western Ukraine.

Are these chefs motivated only by a selfish drive to get some personal payout from doing this, like a cynical materialist might assume? I don't think so. The Bible has an explanation. It says that the essential requirements of God's moral law are "written on their hearts."

We know the essentials of right and wrong, and sometimes we choose right. These chefs are choosing to employ body and brain in the service of their neighbors, according to their God-given conscience.

Fresh Manna

A former pastor at our church started a blog ("Fresh Manna") of Bible devotionals 22 years ago that grew quickly. Amazingly, it's now read by people in 224 (out of 229) countries and regions of the world! 

You don't need to log in with a password, and it's free to read. Its purpose is to encourage your faith and glorify God, and a lot of people find that it does that. Here's a sample from his latest post:

"Oh the challenges of the Christian parent that has to watch their adult child go through the stage of figuring out what they believe. You no longer have the right or say in their life that you did when they were younger . . .They are adults and you have to develop a real friendship with them . . .That’s the only way they will listen to you . . . If you preach at or yell at or condemn them, they will shut you out. Yet you can’t stand to see them make wrong choices or decisions. Welcome to God’s world. He feels the same way about us, yet He doesn’t interfere or manipulate us. (If you’ve been told He does, you’ve been told wrong.)"

SpaceX update 2

(cont'd from Tuesday's post)

Note: all of this is from the video

To build "Starship" has always been the goal of SpaceX, to create a safe and reusable system for human travel in space.

Stage one is the Super Heavy booster which will launch stage two, the space ship itself. The booster will spend two minutes in ascent and four minutes returning safely to earth ("excitement guaranteed"). They will build many more Starships (stage two) than boosters because that booster, according to plan, will be reusable and available for a new mission in just one hour.

If you're interested in its payload capacity, its new Raptor engine (half the cost and twice the thrust), how much it can carry to Mars in one mission, or how it compares to Saturn V, it's all in minutes 5-34 of the video below.

Why do all this? Elon's mission for SpaceX hasn't changed since it started: making life multi-planetary starting with Mars. It's the first time, he says, in earth's 4.5-billion-year history that this has been possible. 

"We need to seize the opportunity and do it as soon as possible to secure the future of life . . . I must be frank, civilization is feeling a little fragile these days." When the fully reusable Starship is complete and routine, it will be an "utterly profound breakthrough" with possibilities we can't even imagine now.

Ukraine prayer

Many of you are praying for Ukraine. I join you, and I'm also praying for my nephew who is now in a bomb shelter, looking for a way to get out of the country.

Here is a hand-written diagram of prayer for Ukraine that was created by a Ukrainian believer just a few days ago. Its inspiration is from Psalm 3:3 (the Lord is a shield for me) and Psalm 34:18 (the Lord is close to the brokenhearted).

Listen to this New York choir singing a hymn for the safety of Ukraine:

Lyrics of the first verse (more lyrics here):

Lord, oh the Great and Almighty,
Protect our beloved Ukraine,
Bless her with freedom and light
Of your holy rays. 

Russia pays

Note: the SpaceX update will continue after a post or two regarding Ukraine's crisis

Pres. Putin of Russia sent troops to invade and attack the nation of Ukraine to steal it from its people on February 24. The Ukrainians are bravely fighting back.

There's a price to pay for this brutality, maybe a higher price than Putin expected. 

Sanctions were placed on 26 Russian billionaire individuals by the European Union this week, in addition to sanctions on hundreds last week. New this week is a $29 billion man who owns a majority stake in a Russian steel company. The sanctions include an asset freeze and a travel ban. The EU is going after heavy-weight influencers.

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Shell Oil company, based in the United Kingdom, earned about $700 million in its investments in Russian energy projects last year, but they're going to leave the country. UK oil company BP is also pulling out, a decision which will cost the company billions.

Shell's CEO says, "We are shocked by the loss of life in Ukraine, which we deplore, resulting from a senseless act of military aggression which threatens European security . . . We cannot - and we will not - stand by."

from Forbes and CNN

SpaceX update

Hubris, "exaggerated pride or self-confidence," is a turn-off. That's the problem for many people who don't like Elon Musk. He has huge ambition and makes huge claims that are far beyond average, sometimes well beyond what can be believed, that seem inauthentic or even ridiculous.

But . . he has an enormous following all over the world because, incredibly, he has made some of his ridiculous claims a reality. His two biggest successes turned two global industries on their heads, the car industry and the space industry. So millions of people listen up when he talks about his plans and that includes investors. Because it's not hubris if you can make it happen.

He recently gave a talk from Starbase, the site of SpaceX in Texas, to sum up progress being made on the Starship project. SpaceX in its history since its startup in 2002 has completed 144 successful rocket launches and 106 successful landings. 

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(cont'd tomorrow)

Move aside 5

Follow-up to this post

Another example of parents being blindsided: 

"Non-binary biological male counselors allowed to sleep in fifth-grade girls' cabins at science camp."

Weaver Elementary School in Los Alamitos, California, organized a science camp for students. Parents were surprised to find out that adult biologically male counselors were allowed to sleep in the same cabin with their 5th grade daughters, who would be about ten years old.

They objected. What parent would think that's a good idea? The response was that they are just complying with California state law. Staff sleeps in the cabin of the gender they identify with.

Time to wake up, parents. This situation is endorsed, mandated, and coerced by your state's law. The law was established by officials voted into office by you and your neighbors. 

Dangerous 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Open Doors USA says that Afghanistan is now the most dangerous nation on earth if you are a Christian. It's always been dangerous, but things got worse last August .

Leaving Islam is shameful, so a family will reject one of their own who converts, or may even kill him or her.  That's considered justice. Or, since leaving Islam is also considered insane, the believer could be committed to a psychiatric hospital.

Open Doors talked to a man who fled from Afghanistan to another unnamed country, a challenging thing in itself. Believers are either in hiding or leaving. A couple of recorded clips of his own voice explaining what things are now like is here.

One believer describing how it was right after the Taliban took over: "Attacks . . have always been a reality for us. It’s not a matter of if, but when, and when it comes, we are almost never ready to contend with what’s before our eyes. It’s always a terrifying thought—we are afraid—but it is only by the grace and mercy of God that we are able to go on.”

Afghanistan's Taliban leader (below) says executions and amputations of hands are coming  back.

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Dangerous

Open Doors USA keeps track of persecution suffered by believers in Christ all over the world. 

They maintain a watch list of the ten most dangerous countries for Christians. This year, the previously most dangerous, North Korea, was replaced at the number one position by another.

Algorithms 3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Looks like these animals have (in their tiny brain?) a set of sequenced instructions that lead to a prescribed outcome. That's an algorithm, similar to a recipe. Every computer program is based on algorithms.

generic algorithm diagram 

When people navigate, they choose a destination and a method of finding their way - a paper map, or verbal directions, or gps, or a computerized guidance system built into the aircraft or seagoing vessel. All of these were developed with difficulty over many years of history, most recently by people with math and computer science degrees. 

We're sure not born knowing how to get to New York or anywhere else. But animals are born pre-programmed with goals and algorithms. It looks like the product of an intelligent, intentional design.  Does it prove the existence of the Creator? No, it's not proof. It is strong supporting evidence. 

The more we learn, the harder it is to assume that all life resulted from mindless, random, unplanned, undirected chance. See Charles Darwin's statement in yesterday's post.

from Mindmatters

Algorithms 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Monarch butterflies and salmon navigate thousands of miles. In fact, the butterflies require three generations to get to their destination. How do just-born butterflies know they all must complete this journey, know how to do it, know when and how to return? 

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Animals use methods that human beings eventually worked out for ourselves, like dead reckoning, sun polarization, spherical geometry and path integration. Animals keep track of their position and the distance they've gone with some program in their tiny brains. Humans use millions of lines of computer code to program similar navigation.

Genetic inheritance is easy to understand if we're talking about the color of a bird's beak, or something like that. But . . what about a command to fly to a certain location in Mexico? Or instructions on how to get there, not on roads but in mid-air? 

Charles Darwin couldn't explain this sort of in-born behavior in animals within his theory of evolution. In his Origin of Species he said that instincts are such a mystery that their origin would strike many “as a difficulty sufficient to overthrow my whole theory.”

from Mindmatters

(cont'd tomorrow)

Algorithms 1

What kind of book would be written by an aircraft navigation expert with degrees in engineering and biology? Eric Cassell's new book overlaps all three subjects: Animal Algorithms.

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Historians tell us that ancient peoples made long sea voyages successfully, like the Vikings  did, by observing stars, currents, the sun's position, birds, weather, fish, etc. Their methods were inexact at best, and the voyages dangerous. The compass, as well as new methods, improved navigational success over the centuries. 

On the other hand, people have always observed animals performing amazing navigational feats without charts or maps or the compass or distance logs or any other devices invented by humans. We referred to their ability to do it as . . instinct. Which means: we had no idea how they do it.

But surprisingly, today's sophisticated methods of aircraft and seagoing navigation have told us a lot about animals' navigation. That is, the animals had them first.

from Mindmatters

(cont'd tomorrow)

Cactus hugging 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Several years ago, actor and filmmaker Mel Gibson made anti-semitic remarks and was arrested for drunk driving. His good image was tarnished, some saying that it would never be recovered.

He apologized: "Please know from my heart that I am not an anti-Semite. I am not a bigot. Hatred of any kind goes against my faith. There will be many in that (Jewish) community who will want nothing to do with me, and that would be understandable. But I pray that that door is not forever closed." 

That's the backstory to Robert Downey's little speech in yesterday's post. It's hard to ask for forgiveness, and sometimes it's hard to grant forgiveness.

Downey asked the audience to forgive, because Gibson had been "hugging the cactus" long enough. If you didn't watch yesterday's video yet, I recommend that you do. It's that good.

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Cactus hugging 1

Here is actor Robert Downey, Jr. ("Iron Man") telling a 2-minute story with courage and love. His friend Mel stood by him and told him the truth when things were not going well, not well at all.

DeLorean

Yet another EV will soon make its appearance in 2022. You might remember it as a time machine . .

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An all-electric DeLorean luxury sports car is being built in San Antonio TX:

from Interesting Engineering

MVP 2022

Sunday's Super Bowl was, like the NFL play-off games this year, a "barn burner." 

Cincinnati was ahead by four until the Los Angeles Rams scored the winning touchdown with about 90 seconds left in the game. With everything on the line, they trusted their "unstoppable wide receiver" Cooper Kupp to save the day, and he did. 

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Kupp was named the Most Valuable Player in this year's Super Bowl.

Earlier last week he shared a bit about his walk with God:

“I think the thing that He has taught me is that you will find that you are most fulfilled, you will find the most joy, when you are rooted in your purpose, and specifically rooted in His purpose for you,” he told reporters.  “That, to me, has been one of the best things about this year.”

from Western Journal

Move aside 4

Only 38% of teachers feel well prepared when they first start to teach. "[A] mere 13% of principals and just 7% of superintendents believe certification guarantees a teacher has what it takes to be an effective teacher." So . . virtually nobody thinks the training is adequate.

Except that Ph.D. educator of last Tuesday's post.  She assures us that state training and state certification of teachers is excellent. But Hillsdale College's Chairman of the Education Department thinks it would be better to put it into local hands:

"State law should permit school leaders to hire and train teachers in a manner they determine so long as candidates have earned a bachelor’s degree from an accredited undergraduate institution and have passed a criminal background check. Schools should be encouraged to provide new teachers with on-site training . . ."

If parents want their kids educated in their values, they're going to have to take some of the power and control of certification out of the hands of politicians.

from Washington Examiner

Michele Tafoya

For the fifth time, Michele Tafoya will be reporting from the Super Bowl this Sunday. It will be the last game of her ten-year run with NBC Sunday Night Football. In the future she'll be seeing more of her family and her home in Minnesota. And there may be a new venture as well.

As one of the first women in sportscasting, she has a bit of attitude to share with other women regarding their careers: think of yourself as a person competing with other persons, not as a woman in a man's field of work.

Move aside 3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

A political campaign last fall brought the issue to national attention. A candidate for governor took his stand against parents in a similar way to the educator in Tuesday's post. Shocked parents voted "No" to his campaign, and he lost. The new governor seems to have their backs.

It came as a shock to find out that political indoctrination had replaced academic learning in their children's classes. Parents know that gender confusion, malicious new racism, declining academic standards, etc., may result in permanent harm to their kids - not the empathy/intelligence claimed by this educator.

Now we've found out that there's a sizable number of parents who are by no means ready to give away their responsibility and rights. Eventually we'll find out if enough of them will stay engaged with their children's education long term . . long enough to turn this ship around.

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Move aside 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Fortunately, there are a few Ph.D. educators who believe in parents. Dr. Keri Ingraham is one of them. She says it's time that new politicians and school boards are elected to work with parents in the education of their children -- not against them.

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It seems like parents were asleep with regard to some of their schools' policies until recently. Maybe it was watching their kids doing school on screens at home that triggered the wake-up. Maybe it was something else. But for some parents, their assumption that the school shared their values has died an abrupt death.

Parents don't want gender confusion taught to their children, for example. Kids as young as five may be taught to select whether they are girls or boys, along with a new name. Older kids can go to a "wellness center" for an abortion, or for opposite-sex hormones, all free of charge. All without parent consent, or in some cases without even their knowing about it.

Parents don't want the new racism called "critical race theory" taught to their kids either. It's why this dad made an appearance at his school board meeting to object in a very loud voice. It's why this "Mama Grizzly" goes to school board meetings. It's why this dad removed his daughter from her private New York school and sent a letter to all the parents urging them to wake up. It's how this dad feels about his babies.

from Discovery

(cont'd tomorrow)

Move aside 1

Does the government or the school board own your kids? Many seem to think:

Move aside, parents, we've got your kids. We decide what they learn and what they value. We  protect them from you. Your values and opinions are wrong. Ours are right, so you must obey our agenda. Accept it: we are in charge, so move aside.

No one to my knowledge has actually said those words, but the attitude is very real. Here are the actual words of a real Ph.D. educator:

"Parents have always tried to interfere with curricula . . . Part of the problem is that parents think they have the right to control teaching and learning because their children are the ones being educated. But it actually (gasp!) doesn’t work that way."

Their goal, she says, is to train students in "empathy, passion, intelligence and engagement," in thinking for themselves--while parents' influence would produce "the exact opposite." So, in her view, parents want their kids to be cold-hearted, stupid and isolated. 

When it comes to empathy, she seemingly has none for parents.

from NBC News

(cont'd tomorrow)

Meta loss

Last Thursday, the new Meta (formerly Facebook) company started the day with an enormous loss of market capitalization. 

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Why the huge fall of its stock price? Meta published its fourth quarter (last three months of 2021) earnings report the previous night: a shocking operating loss of $10 billion. Plus, Facebook had a loss of daily active users for the first time in its history.

It's on track to be the biggest one-day wipeout of a corporation's market value in America, ever.

from Business Insider

Lack of agency

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

William Allen describes the time of his youth in Florida as marked by genuine racism. But somehow he did not see himself as helpless or in need of rescue. Calling it a sense of agency, he knew he could still act as an agent, could build something for himself despite the environment.

"People [his black community] were not so overcome with the spirit of oppression that they lacked agency." But that's how he sees our current time. It's the spirit of the 1619 Project, that America is and always has been defined by unredeemable racism.

Some see racism as built into the essence of America. But not Professor Allen. On the contrary, he sees the antidote to racism as built right into the essence of America: 

"[W]hat looks like a tension in the United States might just as well be thought of as the explosion of a seed planted earlier. And that seed planted earlier was planted in the Declaration of Independence . . that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator . . ." 

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Received agency

Born in the American South in 1944, William Allen saw racism up close. He remembers what it was like when a black person could be "the object of contempt, derision or hatred, or even random verbal violence, which could easily happen as you walk through the streets.”

Racism was real and open in his youth. But old age invites comparison of the decades, and he has seen change. Good change came slowly after civil rights legislation, but he sees another change in today's black people that is not so good, a sort of despair.

His mother always told him, "Boy, hold your head up!" She gave him agency (definition 2), to see himself as able to act, to do something on his own behalf, to not be a helpless victim. "We knew who we were . . and we didn’t need to be rescued." Empowered by that view of reality, he was able to create a good life for himself as a college professor.

Today it's different. Certain black voices use their public platform to send a poisonous message of hopeless anger and violence.

(cont'd tomorrow)

Future foods 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

"Cell-cultivated meat" is the same as the tissue of real animals but it didn't grow on an animal. From a little sample of its flesh, the animal's living cells were isolated, fed amino acids, and grown in a laboratory. Nutritionally the same, its taste and texture have been a bit challenging.

Singapore is the first and only nation so far to approve the sale of cultivated meat. Eat Just is selling plant-based eggs there already, as well as selling them at Publix and Whole Foods in the U.S. They and other similar start-ups are pushing for U.S. approval of their cultivated meat.

Future foods 1

With more people than any other nation in the world, China is a huge potential market for business. 

So when its authoritarian government released a new 5-year plan for citizen food consumption last month, food companies paid attention. The plan includes "cultivated meat" and "plant-based eggs" for the first time.

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Yes, these foods are real. A number of companies have done the research and are producing the products. With the endorsement of the government of this enormous global market, those companies see more acceptance, more expansion and growth in their future.

Yes, it's a big market. The Chinese eat 28% of all the world's meat, including half of all the pork consumed globally. 

It may be that China is being motivated to do this by worldwide pressure to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. According to U.N. Food and Agriculture, livestock raised for food contributes 14% of global emissions.

from Time

(cont'd tomorrow)