I came across an interesting factoid the other day which challenged on of my assumptions about space-time. Although I knew that the rotational velocity of the earth is slowing, I didn’t consider how that may have had an impact on the creation story. Genesis 1:5 says: “And God called the light Day and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.” The Hebrew word used here is yom (ש”ע) יום .
According to the article on Wikipedia; The length of one day about 4.5 billion years ago was about six hours. It was 21.9 hours 620 million years ago as recorded by rhythmites (alternating layers in sandstone). Because of the way the second is defined, the length of a day is increasing by about 1.7 milliseconds per century.
Depending on how literal you want to be about the creation story, this would have the effect of speeding up the “daily” rate of progress on the infant earth by about 400%, since a day is the time interval between light and darkness.
The daily news is full of commentary and observations about the current financial crisis. Today’s hot button is the proposal to give new (first time?) homebuyers a break by offering them loans at 4.5% interest. That’s not a bad place to start, but it doesn’t go far enough IMHO. The problem is that it doesn’t really solve the real problem, which is that with $10.5 Trillion in mortgage debt, assuming 4.5 percent interest and a term of 30 years the interest alone totals 30 trillion dollars. That’s got to come from somewhere and the where is *you* working for the next 30 years to pay off the principle and twice that in interest.
It amazes me to hear people talk about “the government” giving money to business to help them survive. Where do people think that money is coming from when the National Debt is already 10.6 Trillion dollars? It’s another loan ie; more debt. A more effective solution would be to cut interest rates to zero and let *everyone* refinance for a limited time, say, 7 years. That way we all don’t end up paying three times more for our houses than they are actually worth. Once you’ve done that, the payments can be reduced to a reasonable level. The result; *everyone* gets out of debt sooner. This would dramatically change banks’ business model for a while, but it lets everyone openly share the burden - which we’re all going to have to do anyway. It beats the alternative; bankruptsy.
The news outlets are carrying a story that the California’s Fair Political Practices Commission says it will investigate allegations that the Mormon church failed to report non-monetary contributions to the Yes on Proposition 8 campaign. In an effort to get the facts straight, here are a few relevant points:
The California Fair Political Practices Commission administers the Political Reform Act.
The Political Reform Act requires government officials to file “Statements of Economic Interest” in order to disclose possible financial conflicts of interest. The main point of the act is that a public official may not take any part in a governmental decision in which the official has a disqualifying conflict of interest.
The act requires officials to report investments and ownership interests in business entities, real property, sources of income and gifts. The Political Reform Act applies only to financial conflicts of interest of public officials, It does NOT apply to other types of conflicts or biases. It was written to give voters in California some sense of comfort that their elected officials were not influencing legislation that would personally benefit them.
How Californians Against Hate is going to torque this law around to pertain to volunteer efforts by members of the LDS Church, or even active involvement by church officials, is a hard for me to understand, but I suppose where there’s a willing attorney, there a way. On their web site the Knights of Columbus, New Haven, CT is listed as the top donor at $1,425,000. (The LDS Church doesn’t even make the expanded list.)
If you’d like to know what the California State Attorney General has to say about the purpose, application and scope of The Political Reform Act click here.
I came across a YouTube video this morning which I thought was very balanced in it’s position on Proposition 8. Being of a curious nature, I decided to check on the reference to California Family Code Section 297.5. I had heard that the rights of same sex couples were already protected and was interested to see if this was true. I’m not an attorney, so I can’t offer an informed opinion as to the interpretation of the statute. Both the video and the text of the California Family Code were worth a look, IMHO.
This issue reminds me of an interaction that’s described in Matthew 22 when the Saducees asked Jesus which of seven brothers who’d “had” a woman would be married to her in the resurrection - which they did not believe in. Jesus replied: “Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.” The reference is Deuteronomy 25; 5 & 6:
“If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband’s brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband’s brother unto her. And it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel.”
The Saducees missed it on a number of points, the first being in the details of the law, the second being the reality of the resurrection and the last being the sealing power of God.
Last night the Barbara Walters Special featured Thomas Tracy, who achieved notariety for supposedly being the first man to have a baby. Thruout the interview, Ms. Walters referred to Thomas as a man, although Tracy obviously has a uterus. During the program it was also divulged that the Beaties are execting again and there are a few dozen other transgendered individuals who have successfully delivered in the last 30 years.
Without resorting to any scriptural authority, I’d simply like to point out that everything Thomas Tracy Beatie did to achieve this was literally “man made”. (S)he was born female. (S)he competed in the Miss Teen Hawaii USA beauty contest 20 years ago. (S)he began a lesbian relationship when (s)he was 24, and in 2002 had “sex reassignment surgery” including breast removal. When (s)he became pregnant, the donor sperm was bought on eBay.
I don’t question Thomas Tracy’s right to do these things. If a man wants to have himself castrated or a woman wants to get a hysterectomy that’s also their choice. If a woman wants to dress like a man or a man wants to dress like a woman and they can find clothes that fit they can certainly do so. HOWEVER I strongly object to lying about who or what they are. If we looked at Thomas Tracy’s genes I’m fairly sure she’d lack the typical male markers. In fact, the Y chromosome is a very reliable predictor of gender, so much so it is regularly used in forensics.
Like Proposition 8, the problem here is honesty. Tracy may have had a miserable home life and very unhappy parents. (Her mother committed suicide.) Tracy may have hated what was expected of her as a girl. She’s gone to a lot of effort to appear to be a man BUT genetically she is a woman. What she and others like her are doing is fraud. There is no amount of polite pandering by the press or Barbara Walters that can change that fact.
The news tonight featured a story about the protests that are scheduled for downtown Salt Lake tomorrow, for and against “equality in marriage”. Maybe I’m just getting a bit dense in my old age, but it seems to me that these folks are missing some very basic stuff about interpersonal relationships. As a rule we put them into three broad categories: friendships which are freely chosen associations, family which is based on a biological connection and commitment, and romantic which are based on physical and emotional intimacy. Over the years we’ve given names to variations on these themes; Roommates share our rooms but not our beds. Fornicators share sex with other singles outside of marriage. Adulterers share sex with someone they aren’t married to. In addition to that, the gender of each participant has an effect. We have brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers. Marriage has been defined as being between adults of different sexes. Man + woman + sex = marriage. (or fornication or adultery depending on the circumstances) Similarly, man + woman + sex => children. Children need parents to love and protect them and teach them what they need to know about life. Parents + children = family. Parents without children = couple. Is this really all that hard to understand?
This item came across the UPI wire the other day. Turns out the location of the solar system may not be as fixed as we all assumed. Adds some sauce to the question of how we got here and from where.
Published: Sept. 16, 2008 at 1:34 PM
Sun might be a long-distance traveler
SEATTLE, Sept. 16 (UPI) — U.S.-led scientists say the sun might have traveled far from where it formed, contradicting a belief that stars generally remain static. University of Washington researchers used a supercomputer to create simulations that show, at least in galaxies similar to the Milky Way, stars such as the sun can migrate great distances.
If that’s true, scientists say it might change the theory that there are parts of galaxies — so-called habitable zones — that are more conducive to supporting life than other areas.
“Our view of the extent of the habitable zone is based in part on the idea that certain chemical elements necessary for life are available in some parts of a galaxy’s disk, but not others,” said Rok Roskar, a doctoral student in astronomy and lead author of the study. And, he added, if the idea of habitable zones doesn’t hold up, it would change scientists’ understanding of where, and how, life could evolve in a galaxy.
The research that included Thomas Quinn of the University of Washington, Victor Debattista of the University of Central Lancashire in England and Gregory Stinson and James Wadsley of McMaster University in Canada appears in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.