10.31.2017

Proof that the Reformation still matters

Comment: Not a fake Tweet: Related: Ten doctrines which render Rome outside of Christ

10.27.2017

Understanding Fraud Alerts, Credit Freezes, & Credit Locks






What’s the Difference Between a Fraud Alert, Credit Freeze, & Credit Lock?

The addresses:

Equifax
P.O. Box 740241
Atlanta, GA 30374
www.equifax.com
888-766-0008





Experian
P.O. Box 9554
Allen, TX 75013
www.experian.com
888-397-3742


TransUnion
PO BOX 2000
Chester PA 19016
www.transunion.com
800-680-7289


10.23.2017

Genes for skin color dispels biological notions of race



Scientists have pinpointed eight genetic variants that strongly influence pigmentation, genes that are shared across the globe. The research "dispels a biological concept of race."

Excerpt:

For centuries, skin color has held powerful social meaning — a defining characteristic of race, and a starting point for racism.

“If you ask somebody on the street, ‘What are the main differences between races?’ they’re going to say skin color,” said Sarah Tishkoff, a geneticist at the University of Pennsylvania.

Tishkoff and her colleagues showed this to be a profound error. In the journal Science, the researchers published a large-scale study of the genetics of skin color in Africans.

The researchers pinpointed eight genetic variants in four narrow regions of the human genome that strongly influence pigmentation — some making skin darker, and others making it lighter.

These genes are shared across the globe, it turns out; one of them, for example, lightens skin in both Europeans and hunter-gatherers in Botswana. The gene variants were present in humanity’s distant ancestors, even before our species evolved in Africa 300,000 years ago.

The widespread distribution of these genes and their persistence over millenniums show that the old color lines are essentially meaningless, the scientists said. The research “dispels a biological concept of race,” Tishkoff said.
Humans develop color much as other mammals do. Special cells in the skin contain pouches, called melanosomes, packed with pigment molecules. The more pigment, the darker the skin.

Skin color also varies with the kind of pigments: Melanosomes may contain mixtures of a brown-black called eumelanin and a yellow-red called pheomelanin.
Comment: See Ten Postulates on Race and ‘Caucasian’: " a completely ridiculous term":

  • There is one race: “[God] made from one man [Adam] every nation of mankind” (Acts 17:26) – Read about creation starting in Genesis 1!
  • Skin color differentiation is a false paradigm. Skin thickness varies from 0.5mm on your eyelids to 4mm or more on the palms of your hands and the soles of your feet. Color is literally “skin deep” and that’s not very deep!
  • All men (human beings) are made in the “image of God” (Genesis 9:6) and have intrinsic worth. This is true from the baby in the womb to the senile and aged cripple!

The Binary Choice: Servants of Christ or Slaves to Sin

There was a skirmish between Bob Dylan and John Lennon over this back in the late 70's. Dylan had professed faith in Christ and penned Gotta Serve Somebody. Lennon responded with the profane Serve Yourself

10.19.2017

1987 Stock market crash - 30 years on

Black Monday (1987)
  • Do I remember? You betcha
  • Where was I? Hospitalized at Craig Hospital, Denver (recovering from a broken neck)
  • Amount in the market? Basically we just had our heads above water. Not in the market

10.11.2017

My upcoming cancer treatment plan

Salvage Radiotherapy (SRT) + Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) (Hormone Therapy for Prostate Cancer)


10.04.2017

Regina Marie "Reggie" Linz



Regina Marie "Reggie" LINZ
Regina Marie "Reggie," 65, of Naples, FL and Belle Center, OH, passed away Thursday, May 7, 2015. Born and educated in Cincinnati, OH, Reggie went on to a thirty-seven year healthcare career as a surgical technologist at Grandview, Southview and Kettering Medical Centers in Dayton, OH. She was a compassionate volunteer helping people locally and abroad. She traveled many times to third-world countries assisting with free surgical care to indigent patients. Reggie's passions included skiing, scuba-diving, boating, motorcycles, sports cars, carpentry, travel, movies and music. Reggie was predeceased by her dear friend, Dr. Alison Ann Clarey, father Vincent H. Linz, and sister Margaret Linz Meyer (Roger). She is survived by her mother Virginia Linz Zettel, sister Patricia Linz Ladrigan (Terrence F.), brother Vincent A. Linz, niece Marlene E. Meyer (Greg Britton), great-niece Maggie Britton. The family will receive friends from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. Thursday, May 14, 2015 at the TOBIAS FUNERAL HOME-FAR HILLS CHAPEL, Dayton, OH. Funeral service 11:00 a.m. Friday, May 15, 2015 at Christ United Methodist Church, Kettering, OH. Interment David's Cemetery. Memorial donations may be made to Naples Botanical Garden, 4820 Bayshore Dr., Naples, FL 34112. 239-643-7275. naplesgarden.org. Online condolences may be expressed by going to www.tobiasfuneralhome.com
Comment: Another #OHHS67 classmate

Jennifer Ann Farfsing (née Chamberlain)



Jennifer Ann Farfsing

Excerpt:

Jennifer Ann Farfsing, beloved wife, mother and sister passed away on July 2, 2017 after a long and courageous battle with cancer. Jennifer was born September 15, 1949 in Cincinnati, Ohio to Donald and Jacqueline Chamberlain. After high school she attended the University of Cincinnati graduating with a B.S. in Education. She immediately began her teaching career working for the Cincinnati School System.

In 1990 she moved with her husband Joe and son Andy to Reno and continued her teaching career with the Washoe County School District, teaching at Silver Lake, Marvin Moss, Hunsburger and retiring in 2015 from Caughlin Ranch. The majority of her career was spent in kindergarten. Here is where she found her niche and dedicated herself to her student's complete education. Jennifer's car was always the first one in the parking lot and the last one to leave. Yet, once at home she continued to work preparing for her students next day's learning. Teaching was never a job to Jennifer but her life work of 40 years. She loved her classroom time.

Jennifer's other passion was traveling, particularly to the beach. She especially loved Florida and cruising the southern Caribbean over the Christmas holidays. While on her trips her students were always on her mind. Jennifer always made sure she brought home souvenirs for each of her students. She was always generous, always thinking of others and never of herself. She had compassion for everyone and everything in her life.

Jennifer is preceded in death by her parents Don and Jacki Chamberlain. She is survived by her husband Joe, son Andy, Sister Karen Hawkins (Ed) and numerous friends.

The family would like to thank and will always be grateful to all her Doctors, Nurses, Caregivers, her friends and relatives who were so helpful and compassionate throughout her struggle with cancer.

Per Jennifer's request she did not want a service, but wants everyone to know, "I will miss you all dearly, but please don't be sad, instead smile and know that I have gone to the beach….until we meet again." Neptune Society handled arrangements.

Published in Reno Gazette-Journal on July 9, 2017

Comment: One of my lovely #OHHS67 classmates. So sad!

"You're into guns - Right?!"

Not my gun safe! I don't have a gun safe! 

Responding to a comment on my previous post.

The comment: "It's time for Christians to stand up to the Alt-right gun nuts and push for gun control, now!"

As to the Alt-Right part of Anon's comment - I think tarring Biblical Christianity with the Alt-Right tag is a canard. I provided a link to respond briefly to that in a reply to Anon's comment. I was at a Reformation conference yesterday and during a break I bumped into a pastor whom I know and he sad/asked: "You're into guns - Right?!" Clarifying that:

  • I haven't shot a gun in probably 10 years
  • I used to have 4 handguns. A year ago when I thought I was likely to die soon, I sold 3 of my four guns because the wife didn't want my guns around after my demise.
  • I have my grandfather's gun only - an antique from the 30's. It has been rebuilt and shoots but I haven't shot since the rebuild
I would like to disabuse the idea that Christians have a position on gun control:
  • No Christian creed mentions guns (or self defense (they creeds predate gun technology))
  • No confession of faith (eg the Westminister Shorter Catechism, London Baptist Confession (1689), New Hampshire Baptist Confession (1833) mentions self-defense). The New Hampshire confession was written in the era of semi-modern firearms so the concept of firearms was well-know - eg the Springfield Model 1855. The Second Amendment predates the New Hampshire confession by 44 years so it could have addressed it
  • I can think of no American Christian denomination that has taken a pro-gun stand. I've considered the many brands of Baptists, non-denom's, EFCA, and Christian colleges and universities, et cetera.
  • I personally have been a member of various churches over nearly 50 years and ditto - crickets on guns.
  • I pastored 3 churches over 16 years and never took a position that I would call either pro-gun or anti-gun.
Do I have a position on gun control?
  • I am support the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
  • I support the 2nd Amendment
  • I support common sense gun control that protects both the rights of individuals to bear arms balanced with the need to protect against the madness of Mandalay Bay-like monsters
  • More on this below but - No amount of gun control will protect us from Evil!
More on Monsters

  • The image above is from the old FPS game - Doom
  • The Monsters in Doom spawn out of mid-air (I haven't played this game in years - but I can tell you it is very creepy!)
  • Our valueless society spawns Monsters!

The nearly 800 comments on this opinion piece are interesting:

See The Culture of Death
When Columbine happened in the spring of 1999, it hit me like a wave of sickness. I wrote a piece about the culture of death that produced the teenage shooters: “Think of it this way. Your child is an intelligent little fish. He swims in deep water. Waves of sound and sight, of thought and fact, come invisibly through that water, like radar. . . . The sound from the television is a wave, and the sound from the radio; the headlines on the newsstand, on the magazines, on the ad on the bus as it whizzes by—all are waves. The fish—your child—is bombarded and barely knows it. But the waves contain words like this, which I’ll limit to only one source, the news:

“. . . was found strangled and is believed to have been sexually molested . . . had her breast implants removed . . . took the stand to say the killer was smiling the day the show aired . . . said the procedure is, in fact, legal infanticide . . . is thought to be connected to earlier sexual activity among teens . . . court battle over who owns the frozen sperm . . . contains songs that call for dominating and even imprisoning women . . . died of lethal injection . . . had threatened to kill her children . . . had asked Kevorkian for help in killing himself . . . protested the game, which they said has gone beyond violence to sadism . . . showed no remorse . . . which is about a wager over whether he could sleep with another student . . .

“This is the ocean in which our children swim. This is the sound of our culture. It comes from all parts of our culture and reaches all parts of our culture, and all the people in it, which is everybody.”

We were bringing up our children in an unwell atmosphere.