So What? On the Radio

With Bill Bennett on Benghazi and also our own Civil War (the latest one).

So What?

Democrats are claiming that Republicans are using the Benghazi hearings for political reasons.
That they are an attempt to derail Hillary in 2016.
They say that like that's a bad thing.
Given what we know about her actions so far, why would she be, in any way, qualified for the Presidency?
Ignoring Obama's lowering of the standard.
But there is, of course, the fact that the Democrats would never use anything like this for political purposes.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
I crack me up.

The Post I Wrote a Prologue To

Man, I've been so exhausted lately from long hours at work (those projects are successfully implemented now) and repair work around the house.
That and playing with the new toy Scherie bought me, a 7" Samsung Android Tablet.
Not as intuitive as I thought it would be.

Well: the rest of the story about Toronto, before it gets so long ago, I don't remember it.

We got up that morning to the sound of a pile driver (Jess, you have an alibi?) outside the building.
We went out on the balcony, and surrounding us, in every direction, was building construction!
Somebody's economy is booming.

Our son drove me to the building my class would be in and then went back to get his mom for their day of adventure.

Entering the classroom I was greeted by the instructor, a gentleman of Romanian background. He is the laser safety officer for University of Toronto and very knowledgeable.
Our class was of about twenty. I was the only member without a four year degree minimum.
Most of these students were of foreign (to North America) extraction, so they were representative of the student population as I saw it on the street.
They were post graduate and doctoral students using lasers in very esoteric applications.
The thrust of the course was to protect users from "open" research laser uses.
I've been using lasers for years, but always in a safety enclosure.
Only infrequently have I needed to be in a room or enclosure with exposed laser radiation for troubleshooting purposes.
We were taken to the lab of the instructor (if you read the link to his bio, you'd see that he's more than an "instructor"), an open table top with mirrors and lenses and the opportunity to accidentally deflect a beam to a sensitive tissue, the most sensitive of which is the eye.

We talked a lot about the eye, it's composition and the frequencies it's sensitive to.
We had a diagram projected that showed the makeup of the eye.
The fabulous, remarkable, amazing design of the eye.

Design.

Folks, I don't want to insult you, but if you were to look at the eye and how it works, unless you were heavily invested in denying the existence of a Creator, you would say Design.

The cornea, the pupil, the iris, the vitreous fluid, the rods and the cones.
The optical nerve which some say is really an extension of the brain.

Even the instructor commented that many would look at it and say what a marvelous design it was. Realizing of course what that implied, he then remarked that many would say a Creator did a fine job.
He then said that an evolutionist would of course say that things came together very well.
He then elaborated on how evolution of the eye might have occurred, given that it is so well suited to our environment (the spectrum of sunlight in particular).

I raised my hand and he acknowledged it, whereupon I said that when Darwin saw a sea creature that was photo-sensitive, he wrote that it would be the evolutionary pre-cursor to the eye.
In Darwin's Black Box by Michael Behe, Mr. Behe points out the complexity of the eye, something unknown to Darwin, or he may never would have made that observation.
Some of the students looked like they had never heard such a thing and looked curious.
I had not made a religious statement, just one of fact, a fact they were presumably unaware of.

Later, the concept that the eye was an adjunct of the brain was mentioned.
The instructor said that the eye was only a sensor and that the brain did all the interpretation of data. There are people who have had some brain damage and could no longer detect stair treads because they only saw them as lines, not steps.

Once again, I raised my hand and he acknowledged it.
I said that along those lines, there was a story in the Bible where Jesus was asked to heal a blind man, and the blind man said "I see men as trees, walking".
Jesus then prays for him again, and it appears Jesus got it right the second time.
Or so thought men for years.
It turns out that Jesus healed the sensors the first time, and the brain, the second.
In other words, science has shown us since that the eyes might work, but the brain can't always process what it sees.
A friend of mine's daughter showed an article about this to me a few years ago that astounded me, and clarified that Bible verse for me. Read it, it's short.

The other students actually turned, looked at me as if they'd never heard such a thing and some smiled, not derisively, but as if they'd heard something in a new light.

And the instructor was cool with that, as I'd only reinforced his point.

We had a test at the end of the day, some math, some principles, and I must have passed, or they wouldn't have sent me a certificate later.

Our son and Scherie came and got me and we crawled along for an hour in city rush hour traffic.
They told me about their day and experiences and the wonderful time they had together.
We had dinner at a McD's on the way home and arrived about 11 pm.

When we crossed the border, the US Border guy asked some questions, and then some more and then some more and finally, I got it, and I volunteered that our son had a different last name because he's my step-son.
The officer smiled, gave me our passports and welcomed us back.
At least I learned a lesson going into Canada and used it coming back.

So that's it.

A couple comments unrelated to this story.
It took me three hours to compose this post to my satisfaction.
I had to pull out my old laptop to do it.
Posting on a 7" pad is very limiting.

Have a great weekend, I'll see you at your blogs.

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream...

My dreams are so disjointed and confusing.
Only a few times in my adult life have I had a pleasant dream.
I'm an automation engineer.
One night, I spent most of the night dreaming that there were industrial robots in the hallway outside our room.
Their controller was my alarm clock.
I mentioned this to another (brilliant) engineer the next day.
I said I spent most of the night "programming" my clock radio.
He said, "You do that too?".
And the problem solving is always unsolvable.
It seem's it's common among us.
I don't have nightmares.
I just have restless nights of trying to make sense of something, that upon awakening, I realize is senseless.
Then I fall back asleep and continue doing it.

I hadn't intended when I started writing this to make the following comment, but it begs to be made.
"When will I wake up from this present political climate that makes so little sense.?"

A Prologue to Another Post I've Yet to Post.

First, I'd like to say that I have ADD to some degree. Long posts lose me.
I love Tools of Renewal and Brigid (among other blogs, including yours, and yours, and of course, you too).
But they get long.
It's me, not them.
The writing is phenomenal.
I started to write a post that was getting long.
Then I decided t break it up.
My writing is not phenomenal.
So this is the first part.
After it, take a break, go for a walk, re-fill your coffee.

I've been heavily involved with lasers (as an industrial tool) for years.
More than thirty.
I'm now the Automation Engineer and acting Maintenance Manager for a startup plant (automotive supplier) that's growing fast.
We use lasers.
Now we need a Laser Safety Officer.
I work for Magna and it's headquartered in Toronto.
The Laser Safety Training occurs at the University of Toronto.
That's a five hour road trip, across the Canadian Border at the Ambassador Bridge.
I've had to postpone it twice this year because of product launches.
It got re-scheduled for this last Thursday.
Then our son, who just qualified as Chief-of-the-Boat (think Harvey Keitel in U571) and who is now  on orders to Japan for two years starting next week, decided he'd fly in to visit before leaving, rather than us fly out to Groton this weekend.
So he joined us for the trip to Toronto.
I'd be in class, and his Mom and he would be going up in the CN Tower and sightseeing.

We had dinner with my wife's Dad and his wife, who drove in from Kalamazoo to see our son.
We then left for Toronto.
At the border, somebody's ex (that's a polite way to say "witch from hell") greeted us.
She asked where we were going and I said Toronto, that we'd be sightseeing.
She asked what we were going to see and I said Toronto.
She asked where we'd be staying. I said the Towne Inn.
She nastily said that they are all over Canada.
I said the one in Toronto.
She asked for an address.
I said it was on my phone.
There was more along that line, but her whole attitude seemed to be summed up by:
"I don't have any idea why you would want to infest my country with your presence.".
She said to drive to the immigration window, exit the car (which they searched) and get in line.
The hour and a half line.
During that time, I went to the bathroom and threw away my switchblade.
The officer at the counter asked a lot of questions.
Where we were staying.
I got no reception so I couldn't tell him, but I gave him the phone number and he looked it up.
He appeared pleased.
Finally, it boiled down to the officer asking that with our relationship to each other, why we had different last names.
I said, he was my stepson, her son from a previous marriage.
You could almost see him slap his forehead mentally.
He then asked when was the last time I'd been to Canada and I told him a few months ago for my company, to see a mold tryout.
He asked what mold shop and I told him I couldn't remember the name. That seemed an issue.
I told him I still had the letter of business in my briefcase somewhere.

He started typing.

Then he said, "You work for Magna?" as if that was a good thing.

I said yes and he handed us our passports.

He was very friendly all of a sudden.

So I asked him to stamp my son's passport, something he had wanted before we crossed but which I had said we wouldn't have time for.

Wish I'd kept the blade.

We got to our room about midnight.

OK. If I was reading this, I'd being skipping stuff by now.

More later.

An Atrocity.

I think the perpetrators of that horrific killing of all those innocent people should face the full force of the law.

So much for those abortionists in Philadelphia.

I think the perpetrators of the horrific killing in Boston should be punished too.
I wish the press had made as big a deal over the first as the second.

Turn Your Radio On, Turn Your Radio On.

I was on the Bill Bennett Show Friday about Dr. Ben Carson declining to speak at the John Hopkins Commencement he had been invited to.