Eye on Faith: March 2021

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Getting to the Point

Aerion's AS2 (Fair Use)

What’s the fastest way to get from Point A to Point B?

If Point A were Los Angeles and Point B were Tokyo, then the fastest way by the end of this decade might be to hop an Aerion AS3. This proposed supersonic aircraft would have you landing on Japanese soil in less than three hours. New York City to London would take a mere 4.5 hours.

The AS3 is set to be more eco-friendly than its supersonic predecessors, Aerion plans to use synthetic rather than fossil fuels, and to keep noise down to the level of present-day commercial planes.

Resources

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/supersonic-aerion-as3-airliner-could-fly-la-to-tokyo-in-three-hours/ar-BB1f702S

Lunar Noah's Ark

Ralph and Alice Kramden (Fair Use)

In Genesis, Chapters 6 through 9, God not only spared Noah and his family, but also two members of each animal type. These survivors would begin to repopulate Earth after the Great Flood receded.

Today’s disasters tend to be regional, but what if they weren’t? What if a nuclear holocaust were to actually occur? Would any traces of life as we know it endure?

While asking themselves such questions, scientists came up with a 21st-century solution. Why not create a moon-based Noah’s Ark? Rather than squeeze giraffes and elephants into a module, why not just ship their “cryogenically frozen reproductive cells” over to our lunar neighbor?

Storage would then occur within a solar- powered compound, and the little darlings would be tended to by “robotic lab techs.” Sounds like a plan. “To the moon, Alice!”

Resources

Monday, March 29, 2021

It followed them to school one day

(1902 Illustration by William Wallace Denslow)

These days, Mary might just as well have a little bear on her heels. With just one catch: The bear’s brain would need to be inflamed from a condition commonly known as encephalitis.

It turns out that such bears tend to exhibit puppy-like behaviors. They cozy up to humans as though they were long lost buddies. One such cub near Sacramento, California walked right into a classroom and calmly “sat in the back.”

Similar examples have been noted in other parts of the state, as well as in Nevada. One young black bear hugged a snowboarder, another comfortably hung out in “a residential backyard.” Sadly, they all seem far too docile to survive for long in the wild.

Resources

https://news.yahoo.com/bear-cubs-california-developing-unexplained-105223090.html

X marks the Brood

Up Close and Personal (Photo by Veracious Rey)

If you’re the brooding type, here’s something more to chew on (some might say literally and figuratively).

It’s the year that Brood X makes its above-ground appearance. What this means is that soon there’ll be lots and LOTS of high-protein cicadas to choose from.

You can choose to ignore them since they’ll mostly ignore you. Or you can choose to enjoy their brief presence since they won’t be back for another 17 years.

Resources

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/get-ready-brood-x-every-17-years-cicada-swarm-coming-rcna429

Saturday, March 27, 2021

Good to Go for Another 100

That's Apophis on the right! (Comparative Images by Phoenix CZE)

For those who lie awake nights fixated upon impending doom, there’s one less thing to worry about. NASA is claiming that Asteroid Apophis won’t crash our world for at least another century.

Originally thought to “pose a serious threat” come 2029, this space rock’s orbit now seems far less of an imminent danger. Calculations from the California desert’s Deep Space Communications Complex were a determining factor in arriving at this somewhat soothing conclusion.

Resources

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-analysis-earth-is-safe-from-asteroid-apophis-for-100-plus-years

A Voice in Her Dream

Olympic strength! (Pictogram by Thadius856)

Barbara Higgins wasn’t really planning to give birth at age 57. Yet shortly after her 13-year-old daughter died “from an undetected brain tumor,” Higgins began having unusual dreams.

There was a voice calling her “Mommy,” along with a consistent feeling that she was meant to have another child. This was all so compelling that Higgins took steps to make it happen. She and her husband began an in-vitro fertilization process.

Although some have great difficulties with IVF, Higgins found it to be “relatively easy.” She was already in good physical health, and even lifted weights on the very day that baby Jack was born.

To those who question the timing of all this, Higgins replies: “Who knows how I’ll be in 10 years, but who knows how you’ll be in 10 years? And why should Jack not get to be alive just because I’m old?”

Resources

https://www.today.com/parents/meet-barbara-higgins-new-hampshire-woman-who-gave-birth-57-t213029

Friday, March 26, 2021

The Scarlet C

The Scarlet Letter (1861 painting by Hugues Merle)

Public humiliation of those who defy moral codes is nothing new. Back in the mid-nineteenth century, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a novel called The Scarlet Letter. It features an adultress from a Puritan society who was forced to wear a bright red A around her neck.

These days we’re far more sophisticated, but no less vigorous. An example of this can be found within the gaming industry. Outriders will soon be branding cheaters with “a discreet but visible” watermark. Yet such visibility does not seem the least bit discreet.

Resources

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2021/03/26/outriders-cheater-watermark-branding-should-become-the-new-norm/?sh=53b5166e5f56

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

'Neither Grapes nor Nuts'

Advertisement from 1900 (Public Domain)

Never fear, grapes and nuts have been nestled on grocery shelves right along. What did disappear for a while was the popular cereal Grape-Nuts, which contains “neither grapes nor nuts.”

According to Wikipedia, Grape-Nuts began as a simple mixture of “flour, salt and dried yeast” back in 1897. Try using “dried yeast” as a brand name and see how far you get. C. W. Post therefore needed a catchy hook. Something that would reel in that hungry public.

“Grape-Nuts” seemed to fit the bill. With a little imagination, consumers might think that they’re crunching their way through nutty-tasting grape seeds. After all, they already believed that this product would make them smarter and stronger.

Things haven’t changed all that much in 2021. People were willing to pay exorbitant prices for “black-market” boxes of Grape-Nuts as the pandemic raged on. And who knows? Perhaps they also believed it would neutralize COVID.

Resources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grape-Nuts

https://www.newsweek.com/grape-nuts-shortage-black-market-jokes-erupt-restock-announced-1578392

Never mind the shrimp...

Not sugar, but TSP (Public Domain)

Comedian Jensen Karp found something fishy in his box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, which he suspects is the tail end of shrimp.

Now some folks love shrimp, just not when it shows up in breakfast cereal. So Karp was annoyed enough to air his displeasure. Sure enough, the tweet then went viral.

Pretty soon, General Mills got in on the act. The company claimed that shrimp couldn’t have possibly hightailed their way in. Such “cross-contamination” simply did not exist.

Yet what does exist may be far more frightful. The ingredient trisodium phosphate (TSP), standard in many a popular breakfast cereal, also shows up in paint thinner. It’s been deemed “Hazardous” by the Environmental Protection Agency, and has been associated with “abdominal pain, burning sensation, shock, or collapse.”

Resources

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/cinnamon-toast-crunch-shrimp-comedian-believes-his-box-of-general-mills-cereal-contained-shrimp-tails/ar-BB1eT92S?ocid=uxbndlbing

https://wholenewmom.com/trisodium-phosphate-in-cereal/

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

UFO Sounds of Silence

Passaic, New Jersey (1952 photo)

“Hark! What’s that I don’t hear? Why it must be a UFO that exceeds the speed of sound!” Such words may have been spoken by many an aircraft pilot while gazing through Earth’s blessed atmosphere.

The latest in a series of revelations has come from none other than John Ratcliffe, the former Director of National Intelligence. He recently stated that United States “Navy or Air Force pilots” have seen “objects” engaging “in actions that are difficult to explain.” Such UFOs have also shown up on “satellite imagery,” as well as on “multiple sensors.”

The public awaits a U. S. Intelligence report that is due for release by June 1, 2021. It will hopefully reveal further details about these sightings.

Resources

https://www.iheart.com/content/2021-03-22-us-has-evidence-of-ufos-according-to-former-director-of-intelligence/?mid=592471&rid=98364581&sc=email&pname=newsletter&cid=NATIONAL&keyid=National%20iHeart%20Daily%20NewsTalk&campid=headline1_readmore

Monday, March 22, 2021

Down in the Dumps

(Public Domain)

As far as the myth about recycled plastic is concerned, John Oliver’s decided to bag it.

He recently explained that “less than 9 percent of the plastic ever created in the U.S. has been recycled.” The rest simply doesn’t qualify and therefore ends up in landfills and oceans. Fish eat micro-plastics and humans eat fish, so who then ends up with a bellyful of what?

Yet isn’t there a recycling logo on so many plastics? And isn’t that a guarantee of some sort? Short answer: Not necessarily. Its number system can be quite misleading, especially when you get past 1 and 2.

Bottom line is that recycling stations are often selective about which numbered logos they’ll accept. Some seemingly green items therefore end up in the dump.

Resources

https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/foodnews/john-oliver-reveals-the-big-lie-about-recycling-plastic/ar-BB1eQvwr

Way to go, Waymo!

(Photo by Dllu)

Google’s Waymo is way more forgiving of extra stops than other car services.

Whereas the meter is running in traditional taxis while customers step out for a quick coffee, Waymo allows for one such break along the way. There is no impatient driver to dicker with; in fact, there is no driver at all.

Waymo autonomous vehicles will even wait during one longer stop. Say you’re dropping off a UPS package, but there’s a long line to contend with. Your new bestie Waymo will not charge you extra for that.

So breathe easy and hop aboard. You’ll be given an accounting in advance of just how much it will cost. There’s only one catch: Waymo is currently available in select regions only.

Resources

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/waymo-s-autonomous-taxis-now-make-multiple-stops-judgement-free/ar-BB1eQ28n

Friday, March 19, 2021

Chasing Summer

Summer Solstice Sunset (Photo by Jessie Eastland)

Ecclesiastes tells us that there is a time for everything under the sun. There is a time to avoid its glare, and there is a time to bask within its healing warmth.

For those whose lives have been defined by tight schedules, retirement is a time for easing up. As Michelle Obama poetically described it, retirement is a time for “chasing summer.”

She plans to gently shun the limelight while basking within the warmth of family. Michelle looks forward to times when she and Barack can simply “be with each other.” She is therefore engaged in training “the next generation of leaders” to carry on their work.

The former first lady shared that she and her husband “never want to experience winter again.” This sentiment is as philosophical as it is physical.

Resources

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/11/michelle-obama-retirement

Thursday, March 18, 2021

Rampant Projection

(1898 Harper's Weekly cover)

According to Carl Jung, projection occurs when people accuse others of what they themselves are guilty of. It is quite common among individuals, and sometimes plays out on a grand scale.

The latter has been recently raging between the United States and Russia. When President Biden accused President Putin of being “a killer,” Putin responded with a schoolyard comeback that essentially means this: “It takes one to know one.”

Biden cites Russia’s history of assassination and mass murder. Putin cites America's history of slavery and Native American genocide. Assuming both are correct, does rampant projection avoid such atrocities or incite them? Tit-for-tat does not seem to be a viable way for international relations to evolve.

Resources

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-56430049

Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Playing with Fire


(Photo by Awesomoman)

Fire, like any other divine gift, must be respected. Otherwise, folks will surely get burned.

This tragically occurred regarding Iran’s “annual fire festival,” a ritual which celebrates the upcoming New Year of Nowruz. Ten people died and hundreds of others were injured by the improper use of firecrackers. Many of these victims were still in their teens.

Fire can foster life or death. It therefore behooves us all to steward it carefully.

Resources

https://hosted.ap.org/herald-zeitung/article/67860e0db172b7283c7d21f230ebead6/fire-festival-incidents-kill-10-injure-hundreds-iran