Year: 2014 Page 8 of 13

Graduation visitors

On Monday, May 12, 2014

Day 991 of 1000

Grandpa Milo, Aunt Julia, and Gladys visit for the kids graduation in North Carolina I am going to write a few posts over the next few days about the graduations that occurred on May 9^th (Christian) and May 10^th (Kelly). We thoroughly enjoyed all of it. I thought I would start off with our visitors. Aunt Julia was very kind to fly out with Grandpa Milo. It would not have been possible otherwise. We were very much humbled and impressed with the care Aunt Julia showed toward Grandpa Milo with the current state of his memory. She gave us a very good lesson in how to think about all this and particularly, how to treat a person with this condition and enjoy them in their current frame of mind. For his part, Grandpa Milo was an enormous addition to the celebration. We can only imagine how much impoverished the event would have been without his presence.

Grandma Sarah, the great higher education advocate in our family could not attend, but was here in spirit. Even though our dear friend Gladys would have been a fabulous addition to the party if Grandma Sarah would have been able to make it, she was absolutely essential in Grandma Sarah’s absence. She is so kind and accomplished in her treatment of people, especially in these kinds of celebrations, we could not have done it this nicely without her. Beside listening to everyone, helping out in every way she can, and always saying the uplifting thing, she (as always) did one other thing that brought great joy to the festivities: She truly enjoyed herself and had a smile on her face the whole time.

I will talk a little bit more about the events of the weekend in subsequent posts, but for this post, we just want to thank Grandpa Milo, Aunt Julia, and Gladys who made such a great effort to be with us to celebrate the kids graduation.

Betty Blonde #112 – 12/19/2008

Click here or on the image to see full size strip.

Why not skip high school? (Part 11) The fact sheet (how we did)

By Dad

On Thursday, May 8, 2014

In General

This is the eleventh and last post in a series of posts on the benefits of skipping high school and going straight to college. The introductory post and index to all the other posts in the series is here. You can see their undergraduate results and post-graduate (PhD) chase here. I try to keep the results updated as they occur.

[Previous post in series]
[Next post in series]

With the graduation coming up, I thought it might be good to provide some of the kids’ graduation facts as the final post in the why not skip high school series. It is also a follow-up to all the posts we wrote about our homeschool and particularly the series on skipping high school, Sonlight homeschool curricula, CLEP testing, and homeschool socialization.

Christian

Department graduation ceremony May 9, 2014 (SAS Hall, NCSU Campus, Raleigh, NC)
Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics (Honors)
Summa Cum Laude (GPA: 3.93)
Dean’s list all semesters for which the course load made him eligible
Will attend the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University for a PhD in Electrical Engineering
Awarded Dean’s Fellowship (Full scholarship and stipend for four years)
Supplementary first year fellowship
Research sponsorship provided by MIT Lincoln Labs (where Christian will perform research during the summers)
Entering his PhD program at age 18 after skipping high school
Earned PhD in EE at age 23 with research in Information Theory and three refereed journal articles

Kelly

Department graduation ceremony May 10, 2014 (Ephesus Baptist Church, Raleigh, NC)
Bachelor of Science in Statistics
Magna Cum Laude (GPA: 3.64)
Dean’s list all semesters for which the course load made her eligible
Will attend Michael G. Foster School of Business at the University of Washington for a PhD in Marketing
Awarded TA/RA funding for four years
Supplementary fellowship for duration of PhD
Awarded funding for training and conference attendance by the PhD Project of the American Marketing Association
Enter her PhD program at age 20 after skipping most of high school
Mastered out at age 22 with MS in Marketing Strategy

No job offers for people with no hard science in their degrees

By Dad

On Thursday, May 8, 2014

In culture, Education, Work

I am always amazed when a hard left rag like The Minneapolis Star-Tribune publishes a column like this one written by a medical device company CEO explaining why he is unable to hire liberal arts graduates from the local “Big State U”, in this case University of Minnesota. His company had a need for someone in technical communications. Here is what he wrote about that student:

[He} took college classes in karate, guitar, Latin dance, handball, saber fencing, golf and master gardening. Then, for some of his core curriculum, he took courses in team leadership, Internet tools, visual rhetoric, intimate relationships, proposals and grants, exploring the universe, and technology and self.

So for a degree in scientific and technical communication, this student had no hard science, very little technical learning and only a “visual” communications course on his transcript. Even though we would like to hire an additional apprentice for our medical communications department, we didn’t hire this graduate because, despite the title of his degree, his curriculum failed to develop the ability to learn and communicate any subject even remotely as scientific or technical as a medical device.

And by no means was this student the exception. Other U graduates we interviewed had loaded their schedules with courses in honeybee management, personal leadership in the universe and my personal favorite, “cash or credit,” with the stated goal “to help students decide whether or not they want to apply for a credit card.” One credit awarded.

I am glad he added additional commentary about the fact that he did not expect the University to be a trade school. His company expected them to train people on hard technical stuff, but not on stuff specific to his company and industry. His company just needs people, even liberal arts majors, with a technical base that can only be achieved only through a classical liberal arts education which includes substantive courses in “science, math, literature, composition, and speech.” Come to think of it, I believe we got more of that even in homeschool than many of today’s liberal arts students get during their entire undergraduate degree.

Graduation ceremony guests arrive today

By Dad

On Thursday, May 8, 2014

In Education, Family

Day 987 of 1000

We are sad that Grandpa Lauro and Grandma Conchita will not be able to be here from Monterrey for the graduation. We have planned a special trip to visit them in Mexico later this summer to celebrate the graduation, but it would have been so nice if they could have been here. We hope to get some video and pictures of the ceremonies so we can send them and plan to call as soon as the ceremony is over.

Aunt Julia, the kid’s über-aunt is flying out from Oregon today with Grandpa Milo so they can attend Christian’s graduation ceremony on Friday and Kelly’s graduation ceremony on Saturday. She is filling the place of Grandma Sarah who at age 83 really has gotten past the ability to take cross country trips. We are so glad both Aunt Julia and Grandma Sarah were willing for this as Grandpa Milo now has some memory issues and would have a struggle to make it on his own. We hope to send video and images back with Aunt Julia to show to Grandma Sarah. Grandma Sarah has been the principle cheerleader and advocate in our family for higher education. She did not do so bad either. All four of her living children have Bachelors degrees and three of them have Masters. After this weekend all six of her grandchildren will have Bachelors degrees one of which has a Masters degree and two more will be starting PhD’s in the fall. Not bad for a lady who picked strawberries and beans in the summer to support herself through a Pharmacy degree, one of the first three women to complete the degree at Oregon State alongside the first black man. She graduated in 1952 when it was still Oregon State College, not Oregon State University.

We are so grateful Gladys from Oregon will arrive this afternoon, too. She is a very dear friend and honorary grandmother to Kelly and Christian. It is just amazing she was kind enough to make the effort to be here. Of course, every place she goes is better off for her presence, but this is especially gratifying because of the huge and unique role she has played in our family for two generations now.

Betty Blonde #111 – 12/18/2008

Click here or on the image to see full size strip.

Kelly’s last writing class: The” Why study Statistics?” video

By Dad

On Wednesday, May 7, 2014

In Education

Day 986 of 1000

Kelly and a friend were required to do a video for their Technical Writing Class. Not brilliant, but not bad either. I am putting it here for posterity.

Betty Blonde #110 – 12/17/2008

Click here or on the image to see full size strip.

My new, new favorite singer: 8 year old Angelina Jordan from Norway

By Dad

On Tuesday, May 6, 2014

In Music, Weekend Music Video

Day 985 of 1000

Betty Blonde #109 – 12/16/2008

Click here or on the image to see full size strip.

Cinco de Mayo flame war on NCSU facebook pages

By Dad

On Monday, May 5, 2014

In Education

Day 985 of 1000

The commie professor--last day of school What a great way to finish her undergraduate career–defending her cultural heritage against all enemies, foreign and domestic. There were some pretty powerful accusations made against NCSU Dining services for featuring sombreros and chocolate mustaches. Kelly and Christian defended their cultural heritage against these whining, perpetual victims and their racist invective. It reminded me of the commie professor and was great fun. Here are a just a few excerpts:

First, the bigoted invective:

To my Wolfpack Family,

Our NCSU Webpage states:
“At NC State, our diversity makes us strong. We will continue to initiate academic curricula and courses, research areas, outreach programs and a campus culture where diversity of ideas and people is embraced.”

Words cannot describe the tremendous pride I felt this past summer when I served as an Orientation Leader with NC State New Student Orientation. I had the opportunity to welcome over 4,000 first year students, transfer students, and their families to our Wolfpack community. We presented an open script play and then led a discussion which focused on diversity, stereotypes, and the community we would like to build at NC Sate. The “Cinco De Case-o” event in which sombreros and fake mustaches were given to students goes completely against NCSU’s statement and the efforts of our students and faculty who are attempting to truly create an inclusive community. A community in which everyone is respected and accepted for who they are.

I know every single student and faculty member at one point or another have felt excluded or ridiculed. I want you to think back to that moment, to relive the emotions and thoughts that were going through your head. That is exactly how the students who associate themselves with the Mexican culture currently feel. The fact that NCSU Dining has reflected and downgraded the rich Mexican culture to simply “sombreros” and “mustaches” is not only “uncool” but completely disrespectful.

It is not okay to make a mockery out of a culture. It is not okay for our institution to support and celebrate stereotypes. We are the future leaders of our Nation. If we are unable to create a welcoming, inclusive environment on this campus how will we be able to create it for our nation?

I hope that we can all take this event and transform it into something positive. I hope this can serve the purpose of making our students and faculty realize that we are far from having “a campus culture where diversity of ideas and people are embraced.”

Respectfully,
Yaseline Muñoz

Kelly’s response:

As a Mexican-American woman I find it incredibly offensive that people view the “sombrero/mustache” thing as a hurtful, negative stereotype. It’s fun! It’s not a mockery, it does not exclude or make anyone feel unwelcome. In fact I think it is amusing! It’s a celebration. I figure any positive attention to Mexico, no matter how superficial, is a positive thing. It opens a dialogue about culture. When we start getting offended at something as innocuous and well-intentioned as this, that dialogue shuts down fast.

More invective:

Kelly Chapman if you do not take offense to the Mexican culture simply being portrayed with “sombreros and mustaches” that is good. I am glad that you can look at this issue in a positive manner.

However, the problem here is the fact that we are supporting stereotypes and encouraging them among this university that is filled with scholars and the future leaders of our Nation.

More of Kelly’s response:

Are you saying we can’t have fun with hats and still be scholarly? Oh dear, oh dear, what a horrible stereotype you are making of Mexicans!

Christian’s response:

I for one am Mexican & am outraged at the fact that this isn’t available every day.

At least the Irish get to drink green beer without a bunch of PC moralization on WPS

It went on like this for quite some time. Kelly and Christian absolutely won the Facebook “like” vote and fun was had by all except the pseudo-victims.

Betty Blonde #108 – 12/15/2008

Click here or on the image to see full size strip.

Christian’s last final

By Dad

On Friday, May 2, 2014

In Education

Day 982 of 1000

He is in it right now. It is in a class called MA 426 Mathematical Analysis II. Actually, Christian has to take one more online, five-week class to finish up this summer, but will graduate with his class in about a week, so this will be his last real final. He is turning in his last research paper at the same time. I will post those papers online with the other papers, probably tomorrow. We are now working to get ready for the graduation events that will take place at the end of the week next week.

Betty Blonde #107 – 12/12/2008

Click here or on the image to see full size strip.

Matt Walsh: Homeschool socialization

By Dad

On Thursday, May 1, 2014

In Homeschool

Day 981 of 1000

Matt Walsh takes on the government schools and the “socialization” that takes place there. He nails it. You can read it all on his blog here.

‘Socialization’ — in the public school context — means that your child will simply absorb behavioral cues from her peers. She learns to socialize by aping her friends, who are themselves only copying other girls. She learns to repress the parts of her that don’t fit in, and put on an exterior designed to help her fade into the collective. I’m not theorizing here, this IS the social process in public school.

…

There is nothing positive about any of this. Nobody is better for it. Nobody benefits. The psychological damage can be lasting, maybe even permanent. Again, this is not my theory. This is just the way it works.

Betty Blonde #106 – 12/11/2008

Click here or on the image to see full size strip.

Last day of class for Kelly at NCSU

By Dad

On Wednesday, April 23, 2014

In General

Day 974 of 1000

Today is Kelly’s last day of class at NCSU. Tomorrow and Friday are reading days followed by finals week next week. Christian will graduate at the same time as Kelly, but take one more class during the first summer session, finishing his time at NCSU at the end of June. Kelly turns in here last big paper of her undergraduate degree (Macroeconomics) and has only two finals left before she is done. Christian gives a speech on his Honors Mathematics research at 4:00 PM, but will have a few more days before he has to turn in the formal research report written with LaTeX. There is so much academic pressure on them right now, there is little time for melancholy, but I am sure that will come. I plan to post these final to undergraduate reports along with their homeschool reports as soon as both of them are available.

Betty Blonde #105 – 12/10/2008

Click here or on the image to see full size strip.

Math Honors ceremony with Dr. Paur

By Dad

On Tuesday, April 22, 2014

In Education

Day 973 of 1000

Math Honors ceremony at NCSU

Christian’s academic adviser, Dr. Sandra Paur, hosted a small ceremony yesterday to honor the graduating Mathematics Honors students at NCSU. Kelly was there and took the picture at the right when it was Christian’s turn. Dr. Paur talked a little bit about what each student had done and where they were going next. Because this was the math department, most of the students were going on to Math or Statistics degrees at an impressive array of schools. Christian was the only one going on to an Engineering degree.

We learned several interesting things from the event. First, many very big name schools value North Carolina Mathematics graduates. Several students were going on to PhD’s in Mathematics and Statistics at Stanford and Berkeley. Several of those students had been awarded NSF grants for their Mathematics research at the undergraduate level. Almost all the students who had received those awards had spent their entire four years at NCSU and were better versed in the way the system works for those kinds of things than us. Some of the other students also were able to start sequences in their first two years that were not available to Christian at the community college, so he had to scramble the whole way through to get all the material he wanted. I still believe that the kids were profoundly better served for many reasons to have attended community college for their first two year, but I can see the benefit of learning and working within the system over the entire four years.

Secondly, all the other students who were going on to graduate school were continuing to Mathematics or Statistics degrees. That is great and I think Christian was a little torn about that. He would have loved to study more Mathematics. Still, in the case of both Kelly and Christian, their Mathematics and Statistics undergraduate degrees have served them extremely well in preparation for graduate work in other areas. I am very happy they studied Mathematics and Statistics and I am even happier they are going on to graduate degrees in other areas, Engineering and Business, where the application of the skills they learned will be applied to real world problems as opposed to the development of tools to apply to other people’s problems as is generally the case in Mathematics and Statistics research.

Finally, Dr. Paur let the cat out of the bag about Christian having skipped high school. I did not understand the extent to which Christian kept this a secret. I knew that Kelly had told their fairly small circle of friends at the beginning of this year and they were all pretty shocked. Kelly was in the room when Dr. Paur made the announcement and she said many of the professors there were very surprised with the revelation. I have never met Dr. Paur. I have tried to stay completely out of the way of the kids college education because I feel it is important that the kids “own” what they do at school. So I am very gratified that Christian has had such a stellar academic adviser. Dr. Paur is not only a great teacher, but was just perfect in the way she helped and guided Christian through his degree. I hope to meet her to express my thanks at the graduation.

Betty Blonde #104 – 12/09/2008

Click here or on the image to see full size strip.

The route to a PhD in Business is usually a long one

By Dad

On Friday, April 18, 2014

In Education

Day 969 of 1000

We often spoke about vocation when the kids were in Jr. High and High School. Our idea was that it was important to follow a vocation for love, but if that vocation was something like Business, Psychology, Sociology, or some other social science, then it would help a lot to first get a technical Bachelors degree in something like Mathematics, Statistics, Chemistry, or some such with possible a minor or second major in the field of interest. That would be followed by at least a Masters degree in the social science or business. I have already talked about this a number of times because we are so thrilled this worked so well for Kelly as she has decided she wants to go on to a Business PhD. The concept was never really tested with Christian because he was technical from the get-go.

I said all that to lead up to this: Kelly skipped two years of high school to graduate with a Bachelors degree two years early from college. I repeatedly told her that is a really big deal, but it was always overshadowed somewhat by the fact that Christian skipped all four years of high school to graduate from college four years earlier than normal. So now something kind of cool is happening for Kelly. It turns out that most Business PhD students at tier one Universities got into the program by first getting an undergraduate degree in Business. Even if they knew they wanted to go on to a PhD in Business, they have to work for 4-6 years in industry so they can get accepted into a good MBA program. Only then do they start to apply for PhD programs. So typically, a student would be 22 years old when they graduate with their Bachelors degree. The five years experience takes them to 27 years old. An really good MBA program usually takes two years. So most of the people who apply are in their late twenties or early thirties.

On the other hand, Engineering PhD’s often start right out of their Masters degree at 22 or 23. Of course there are a good number of older students, but it is a lot more normal for engineering students to start their PhD in their early 20’s. Christian will start his PhD at age 18. Since Kelly is starting her PhD in Business at age 20, that means there will be a significantly greater difference in age between Kelly and her classmates than Christian and his classmates. In addition to that, their schools are 1400 miles apart. Kelly will almost certainly not have to deal with that overshadowing thing anymore!

Betty Blonde #103 – 12/08/2008

Click here or on the image to see full size strip.

Lorena takes a snap of one of the Google Maps Street View camera cars

By Dad

On Thursday, April 17, 2014

In culture

Day 968 of 1000

Lorena was genuinely excited this morning on the way home from dropping the kids off at NCSU. She took this picture close to the intersection of Hwy 401 and Tryon Road. She feels pretty famous now.

Betty Blonde #102 – 12/05/2008

Click here or on the image to see full size strip.

Our house for sale on Realtor.com

By Dad

On Wednesday, April 16, 2014

In Christianity, House and home

Day 967 of 1000

Here is the link to the house on Realtor.com. It all seems official now. Christian came up, looked at the pictures and got a little sad. We have to wait to see if it sells before we can really think about leaving, but I am headed out to Arizona to work again today and Lorena will follow me on a house hunting next week. With graduations, house selling, house buying, 3000 mile moves, and graduate school at new Universities, life is pretty much in upheaval right now. We hope the dust will settle by July or so. Our real estate agent says this house is priced right and looking at comparable houses, we might even be a little bit low. The point, though, is to get the house sold with the minimal hassle possible and we think we have a great agent. His wife came over to put up the sign and the lock box. She is a very, very sweet Southern Christian lady. Before she left, she took Lorena’s hands and prayed with her. That was very emblematic of our stay here in North Carolina as well as a very kind gesture.

Betty Blonde #101 – 12/04/2008

Click here or on the image to see full size strip.

Our house goes on the market on tax day

By Dad

On Tuesday, April 15, 2014

In House and home

Day 966 of 1000

Our house in North Carolina goes on the market today. We have enjoyed this one more than any other place we have lived. It was perfect for homeschool because we had a large kitchen opening into a large open area with a fireplace. It was perfect for Community College because it was literally five minutes away from Wake Techincal Community College. It was perfect for University because it was twenty minutes away from North Carolina State University on the way to CostCo and Trader Joes so Lorena could kill two birds with one stone. Lorena (of course) got her Thermador professional restaurant stove and hood and Bosch dishwasher in a granite counter top kitchen with two ovens and a great view of the forest behind the house when she was at the kitchen sink.

We loved everything about the house from the downstairs master bedroom suite, to walk-in closets in every bedroom, to the bonus room where we worked and studied every evening, to the screen porch with a gorgeous view of the acres and acres of woods behind us. We are going to miss it a lot, but it is time to go and we hope to sell it quickly.

House goes on sale today

Betty Blonde #100 – 12/03/2008

Click here or on the image to see full size strip.

Switching to Opera

By Dad

On Wednesday, April 9, 2014

In culture, Politics, Software

Day 960 of 1000

Due to Mozilla’s unconscionable and extreme treatment of their former CEO, Brendan Eich, I have decided to kick Firefox to the curb. Daniel Greenfield explains the issue quite well in his blog post at Frontpage Mag. He also makes a great case for why Chrome is a bad choice for a replacement. I thought I would try Opera first because I have heard so many good things about it. I am writing this post from the ScribeFire extension that I used previously in Firefox. I have been able to import all my bookmarks and am blocking ads with AdBlock Plus. The browsers is noticeably faster. I will have to retrain myself to use the Opera layout, but that does not look to be too onerous. So far, admittedly only one day, I am quite happy with the change. I will leave Firefox installed for a few more days to easy the transition, but will put up a post when I am Firefox free.

Betty Blonde #99 – 12/02/2008

Click here or on the image to see full size strip.

Christian finally pulls the PhD trigger

By Dad

On Monday, April 7, 2014

In Education

Day 958 of 1000

Lorena wrote just about all that needs to be said on her facebook wall yesterday:

Congratulations to Christian! It was a hard choice, but he accepted the selective Dean’s Fellowship from the Fulton School of Engineering for a PhD in Electrical Engineering at Arizona State University. The award includes a full scholarship for his degree coupled with a first year research grant. Christian will will receive sponsorship by MIT Lincoln Labs for his research and will work there during the summers while he is getting his degree. Ken and I think it was easily the best choice.

Betty Blonde #98 – 12/01/2008

Click here or on the image to see full size strip.

Interesting people on the airplane

By Dad

On Friday, April 4, 2014

In culture

Day 955 of 1000

This is the second time in a row I sat by a semi-almost-famous person on the flight from Charlotte to Phoenix. On the last trip I sat by an old English guy who had a career as a professional ballroom dancer. He spent most of his time traveling around teaching people how to dance and judging dance competitions. I did not know whether to believe him or not, but then he pulled out his iPad and showed me a bunch of pictures of himself with famous people. It turns out he trained some of the Dancing with the Stars dancers–not the celebrities, the dancers that danced with the celebrities. He was a very nice guy and we had a nice chat most of the way to Phoenix.

Yesterday I sat by a guy whose day job is a high school art teacher. He was a very nice guy. When I asked him where he was going, he told me that he was traveling to Reno, Nevada to be some kind of a monitor for the Nevada Gaming Commission of a Mixed Martial Arts fight. It turns out that he does that one or two times per month. He broke out his iPad and showed me some pretty amazing pictures of events he had worked for different gaming commissions monitoring fights for the UFC and other organizations. He sits in the front row about three feet from the cage and monitors whether the fight is being judged fairly.

One of his pictures was of the front row of people watching a fight in St. Petersburg, Florida. It include Vladamir Putin, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and several other famous people. Another was of himself with a guy name Calvin Ayre of Bodog notoriety at the after-party. He was a nice guy and I had a nice chat with him, most of the way to Phoenix, too.

Betty Blonde #97 – 11/28/2008

Click here or on the image to see full size strip.

How to be a REAL rebel on campus — revisiting the Commie Professor

By Dad

On Thursday, April 3, 2014

In culture, Education

Day 954 of 1000

The commie professor comes up in conversation I like to read the Thinking Christian blog. There are some blog posts there about a recent movie that featured a college Philosophy professor who asked all his students to state their unbelief in God. Some contrary commenters to those poses objected to this portrayal as, in a rough paraphrase, an unfair stereotype. The blog author rightly stated that the movie is a work of fiction and so what.

I agree with that assessment, but at the same time, it reminded me of the blog posts I put up here about Kelly’s and Christian’s “commie professor” for Freshman Composition. I think they were the only ones in their class who consistently argued against this professors laughable logic. There were a few who agreed with them but did not say anything. There were others that agreed with the professor most of the time, but with Kelly and Christian on a few things.

This professor was anti-God, anti-gun, pro-abortion, anti-traditional marriage, pro-drug legalization, etc., etc. It does not take much effort on most college campuses to take those positions. All you have to do is go along with the zeitgeist. If you want to be a rebel, you need to stand with the opposite of all those positions. I went to college in the mid-1970’s. Not much has really changed. The people who think they are free-thinking, inclusivist rebels aren’t.

Betty Blonde #96 – 11/27/2008

Click here or on the image to see full size strip.

There is some stuff we do not know and that is OK

By Dad

On Monday, March 31, 2014

In Christianity

Day 951 of 1000

I remember with joy the days when Kelly and Christian were little and I could give them a satisfying answer to all their questions. Those days are now long gone. They both have deeper knowledge in their respective fields than I could ever hope to attain in my limited remaining time on this earth. I make heavy use of both math and statistics in my work, but that use is confined to algorithms that apply to my little corner of image analysis, manufacturing, and feature based classification. Their knowledge is not only deeper, but broader and it makes use of the most modern math and statistical tools (Maple, SAS, R, etc.).

So I frequently have to say, “I am really sorry, but I just do not know the answer.”

It frustrated all of us for awhile when the kids first had to hear that answer. The kids had to look someplace for an answer and I had to admit I did not know, nor did I have the time or sometimes even the intelligence and resources to figure it out. There is just too much stuff to know and some stuff is just unknowable, at least for now. I got to thinking about it all when I read this article about creation. Of course I believe in creation by God; I am a Christian. Some people actually get offended because one does not take the correct position as either an old earth or young earth creationist claiming an understanding of scripture and/or science that must be accepted to be right with God. That smells somewhat like gnosticism to me.

The reality is that I lean toward one and not the other, but I know that I do not really know. I am pretty well convinced that the whole neo-darwinist creation story (evolution by gradual natural selection, universal common descent, etc.) did not happen, but it has nothing to do with whether that is compatible with my Christian beliefs. Even in that, I am comfortable with the fact that I do not know nor do I have much chance of finding it out in this lifetime. The thing is, neither does anyone else.

Betty Blonde #95 – 11/26/2008

Click here or on the image to see full size strip.