I am a meteorologist and a former youth leader at church…I have a lot to say on both subjects…and then some
I’ve been into science for a long time. I’ve been a Christian for a long time. I’ve been an adult leader at a church youth group for almost 10 years now. A long time ago I found a book on my dad’s bookshelf called ,”How to Lie with Statistics.” I was a bit young to read it, but after having two statistics classes in college, and dealing with statistics in my job all the time, I see how people do this all the time, both intentionally and unintentionally. After a few years of the kids are out of control mantra, by some, hard data is beginning to refute that.
Two sociologists in Philadelphia, Kathleen A. Bogle, of La Salle University, and Maria Kefalas, of St. Joseph’s University, both specialists in teen sexual behavior, told Parker-Pope that they’d had to struggle mightily to get people out of their “moral panic” mindset, and make them understand that teens are not “in a downward spiral” or “out of control.” The Myth of Lost Innocence – Judith Warner Blog – NYTimes.com
I work with teens, trying to build relationships and helping to guide them through that time of life that I would never want to go back to. I have to say that the students seem to be pretty healthy with most of their attitudes, and that it’s only a few kids that are the “at risk type.” My experience has been that the kids are all right. It isn’t time to panic.
The last several years have been a turning point in the band wagon effect that I have suffered from my youth. I’m beginning to question everything I read and hear on the internet and test it all. From things that come out of religious circles like the 4% generation, to some man made global warming thoughts. My dealings with the media in the past to not tell the whole story, from the reporter being a flawed human being to the editor trying to sell newspapers or TV ratings. I have even seen and remember people pushing their own agenda, that was out of selfish motivation and not for the common good.
I looked on at the last presidential campaign and saw things on both sides of the spectrum that had little to do with anything. From the “is Barack Obama a natural born citizen to the Sarah Palin downs syndrome baby was really her daughter’s. All of which have been proved false, but to this day continue on into the concious thought of the American public.
So, if people call me conservative, it is because that I think that we should slow down and not rush to judgement and question all of the things that people say. If people call me liberal, it is because I have looked at the raw data for myself and agreed that there is a problem that we need to combat now. That is why on my Facebook page, I list myself as, “A Little to the Right but not by much.” Slow down people think about the crap in the media that is shovelled. Some is right, but some is wrong.
My main point that I guess that I’m trying to make is that my opinons have come to me over a long period of time. I try to remain open to new data, but I question it, and I question the old data, as well. I respect other people’s opinions and try to arrive at my conclusion by using the scientific method. However, I am a flawed human just like the rest of us. I realize that I can be fooled by people, and that I need to remember to question everything.
Thursday night Kaleb had another conference meet. It was at Nubs Nob north of Harbor Springs. Brandon was able to go, and said that Kaleb clipped a gate in the slalom so he did not finish. However, he finished first in GS. The whole story is here: Traverse City Record-Eagle – Article: Ski Roundup: Glads, Rams claim meet
The Daily reading from a podcast and a separate website that I read for Today (Jan. 29)…
Mark 4:21-25
Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Would you bring in a lamp to put it under a tub or under the bed? Surely you will put it on the lamp-stand? For there is nothing hidden but it must be disclosed, nothing kept secret except to be brought to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen to this.’
He also said to them, ‘Take notice of what you are hearing. The amount you measure out is the amount you will be given – and more besides; for the man who has will be given more; from the man who has not, even what he has will be taken away.’
A statement in the podcast was, (paraphrasing here) Jesus would heal someone and then tell them to remain quiet about it, as if to hide it, but they never seemed to be able to do it. It was as if He was the living example of this passage. “Would you bring in a lamp to put it under a tub or under the bed? Surely you will put it on the lamp-stand? For there is nothing hidden but it must be disclosed, nothing kept secret except to be brought to light.” He could no more keep himself hidden because He was a light to the world.
Are you being a light? So if you tried to remain quiet about things that you do that would please God, would they be shown to the world anyway?
Petoskey News-Review – Sports – Prep skiing: Northmen fourth, fifth at T.C. Central Invitational
It was a day race this week, so we didn’t get to go. Kaleb finished fourth in Slalom and 5th in GS. This time he was up against bigger schools from TC, Cadillac, and Manistee.
Way to go Kaleb!
Every once i awhile I see things that seem pretty cool. Here is one, although I admit, I missed the better picture about 15 seconds earlier as I was driving home this morning. In this case the smoke from a chimney is going up until the gases and particles cool. The light wind just above the surface then push the particles downstream. At this point the temperature was -17 degrees F.
From the Petoskey News-Review:
Kaleb McNamara paced the Boyne boys as he finished second in GS and third in slalom.
After all the controversy of his first run of the slalom, he still managed to place 3rd! Very cool!
Love him or hate him, President Bush did some things that most people would have thought him impossible to do. Here’s one and it has gotten little press:
The information director at the UM sponsored Africa University has written an interesting article for UMNS with thoughts from some of the students about what an Obama presidency means for Africa. I had many differences with President Bush over the years, but I never quite understood why most of the people who hate him never gave him credit for what he did for Africa. During his time in office, he more than tripled humanitarian aid to the continent, and he made AIDS and HIV a huge priority. Tens of thousands (maybe more) of people are alive today because of his policies, and it would be good to see his detractors at least give him props for this.
I hope that President Obama can do more.
Mary beat me to posting the race results. So, I’ll send the traffic over there to see all of the details, including why we have no video. 🙁
I listen to a podcast, where the host can get a little conspiratorial at times. He claims that Obama, McCain, and Bush are all reading off of the same script provided by the same people that run the shadow government. Well, I don’t buy that, but when you see this, you have to wonder…
This is the ski meet we missed on Monday. I Twittered about it that day. The previous post was about his second meet.
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High school boys’ skiing: Opener no smooth sailing for defending …
Petoskey News-Review, MI – Boyne City had a pair of individual medalists in Kaleb McNamara and Sterling Adgate. McNamara was eighth in GS, Adgate was 10th in slalom. … |
