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Wednesday, 09 January 2008

  • BAN DHMO

     Ban Dihydrogen Monoxide!

    The Invisible Killer

    Dihydrogen monoxide is colorless, odorless, tasteless, and kills uncounted thousands of people every year. Most of these deaths are caused by accidental inhalation of DHMO, but the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide do not end there. Prolonged exposure to its solid form causes severe tissue damage. Symptoms of DHMO ingestion can include excessive sweating and urination, and possibly a bloated feeling, nausea, vomiting and body electrolyte imbalance. For those who have become dependent, DHMO withdrawal means certain death.

    Dihydrogen monoxide:

    • is also known as hydroxyl acid, and is the major component of acid rain.
    • contributes to the "greenhouse effect."
    • may cause severe burns.
    • contributes to the erosion of our natural landscape.
    • accelerates corrosion and rusting of many metals.
    • may cause electrical failures and decreased effectiveness of automobile brakes.
    • has been found in excised tumors of terminal cancer patients.

    Contamination Is Reaching Epidemic Proportions!

    Quantities of dihydrogen monoxide have been found in almost every stream, lake, and reservoir in America today. But the pollution is global, and the contaminant has even been found in Antarctic ice. DHMO has caused millions of dollars of property damage in the midwest, and recently California.

    Despite the danger, dihydrogen monoxide is often used:

    • as an industrial solvent and coolant.
    • in nuclear power plants.
    • in the production of styrofoam.
    • as a fire retardant.
    • in many forms of cruel animal research.
    • in the distribution of pesticides. Even after washing, produce remains contaminated by this chemical.
    • as an additive in certain "junk-foods" and other food products.
    Companies dump waste DHMO into rivers and the ocean, and nothing can be done to stop them because this practice is still legal. The impact on wildlife is extreme, and we cannot afford to ignore it any longer!

    The Horror Must Be Stopped!

    The American government has refused to ban the production, distribution, or use of this damaging chemical due to its "importance to the economic health of this nation." In fact, the navy and other military organizations are conducting experiments with DHMO, and designing multi-billion dollar devices to control and utilize it during warfare situations. Hundreds of military research facilities receive tons of it through a highly sophisticated underground distribution network. Many store large quantities for later use.

     

    Hey All,

    As I'm sure you probably figured out by reading this, DHMO is water, plain and simple.  While I wasn't necessarily trying to put one over on you, it is very important that we research things carefully before jumping on bandwagons. This applies not only to scientific theories and concepts such as global warming, but also to other things where we may be tempted to make hasty judgments! Jesus commanded us to be as "wise as serpents and innocent as doves."

    Bye for now,

    Dory

Tuesday, 18 December 2007

  • My Own Little Christmas Miracle

    EDIT: I just realized I hadn't put up any Thanksgiving pictures, so without further ado...

    Girl Night with Abby

     

    Kathryn, Abby, and I

    Elsie Kisses showing off her blue-eyed attitude

    Brian Marcus

    Noah and his big brown eyes... Awww

    Fabulous Abulous

    Seth and Noah playing piano

    Brian Marcus, Ethan, and Abby playing

    Don't ask me why he looks so serious

    Ruthie liked playing the piano with Uncle Seth...

    ...but she preferred turning pages

     

    Abby and Elsie in their orange T-Shirts

    Ruthie finally smiles for Aunt Lydia

    Noah finally smiles period

    Abby and I

    Scrabble with my sisters

    Yes, she fell asleep like that

    Elsie gets involved in the game

    Ethan

    Interested in Kathryn? I'm afraid you'll have to go through these two first

    David...goofing off...as usual

    That would be Renee's Ruth impersonation in case anyone was wondering

     

    Rufus

    Ruthie, Abby, Ethan, Brian Marcus

     

    As most of you guys know, over the past several months I've had an incredibly hectic work and school schedule. It's been difficult because I've had to miss youth functions at my church a lot and I haven't had much time for social events. This past Sunday (the 16th) our church was putting on its annual Christmas program. I really wanted to go, but I was scheduled to work that evening.

    "Why can't you come?" my friend Beth whined to me the Sunday before.

    "I have to work." Even to me, the excuse sounded lame.

    "You always have to work," she told me. "When I get a job, I'm going to lay down the law and tell them when I will and won't work."

    I nearly laughed. Wouldn't be nice to live in a world where you got to pick and choose what days you were going to work? I don't think I'd be working at all. But then, I have a honking college tuition that I have to save up for next fall at UNT, so picking and choosing isn't an option for me, let alone not working at all.

    As I thought about it, though, I realized I might be able to make it to the program, if one of the girls I worked with switched shifts with me. With this faint glimmer of hope, I told Beth that I maybe might be able to work it out.

    On the ride home, however, I began having doubts. For one thing, the girl I work with would have to be willing to switch shifts with me, something I highly doubted she would want to do. For another, I'd heard from Arthur (don't ask me why I would listen to him) that this girl would pretend to be happy about taking over your shift (more hours!!) and then turn around and say nasty things behind your back. Another thing was that if I wanted to do this I would have to have transportation to my 12:30 shift because my parents wouldn't be able to get back from our church on time. That meant I would have to convince Rebekah to bring me from her church. I wasn't horribly thrilled with the idea of going to an unfamiliar church, and I was pretty sure Rebekah wouldn't be horribly thrilled about bringing me to work. I decided to let the shift change thing go.

    The next afternoon while I was working, I got a phone call from the girl I had wanted to switch shifts with.

    "Would you check the schedule and see if I'm working Saturday?" She asked me.

    "Yeah, you come in at six," I said, glancing at the schedule.

    "Well, I have my class until five on Saturday, and I really don't want to work," she replied. "Do you think you could work Saturday night for me and I'll work your Sunday night?"

    Sounded good. One small thing: I was already scheduled to work from 9-5 on Saturday. If my boss agreed to this, I would be working 13 hours on Saturday.

    Eventually, it was agreed that I would work all day Saturday and Danell would work my Sunday evening. I was very excited.

    Wednesday night though, my virus, which I thought had been getting better, came back with a vengeance. I woke up Thursday (and every morning since then) with a nasty sore throat. Additionally, I was wheezing and coughing a lot. Saturday morning was no different.

    I got to work feeling feverish and dizzy. I could barely talk to the customers, my throat hurt so bad. Time dragged on slowly, but eventually five o'clock arrived and with it came Hillary, my backup for the night. I immediately went to the back for my break. An hour later I was back to work and wishing the day was over. At 9:58 pm (yes, two minutes before we were scheduled to close the store) a few customers came in.  At this point I was just hoping my church's Christmas program was worth my long day. FINALLY, about 15 minutes after 10pm, my day was done. Exhausted, I went home, and promptly dropped off to sleep.

    Sunday morning, I went to church.

    Beth nudged me before the meeting started. "Are you coming tonight?" she mouthed.

    I shook my head.

    When the first service was over, Beth poked me. "Why aren't you coming tonight?"

    I shrugged. "I told you I would probably have to work."

    She scowled at me. "Traitor."

    Seth and Kathryn had a hard time keeping their faces straight.

    I left church that afternoon (haha, after being severely harrassed by Beth for several minutes ) and went Christmas shopping with my dad. We finished up early so we were at the church for the Christmas program about an hour early. I went inside to the bathroom. As soon as I entered the bathroom, there was a scream.

    "LYDIA!!! YOU'RE HERE!!!" And Beth flung her arms around me. "I'm sooooo happyyyy!" (Seriously, I think she was more excited than I was).

    "Surprise!" I eeked, hugging her back.

    I was not at all disappointed with the production. In fact, the whole show was OUTSTANDING (Go ELBC!!!)! The youth group had put on a musical to which they had written their own lyrics and music. The last song was the best (He's Alive! Hallelujah!), but I was incredibly impressed with the quality of the music overall! The effects, props, and settings were very cool. In short, it definitely made up for my long, tedious Saturday!

    I wish I had some pictures to post, but mine turned out really bad, and I'm waiting on some good ones from other people.

     

Thursday, 13 December 2007

  • Gotta Love Economics

    Yesterday was a really rough day for me. I was very encouraged, however, when my economics professor came up to me, and gave me a hug before the exam.

    "Lydia," she said, "You are a bright student. Don't give up on your education."

    Aside from the fact that I'm sure I looked like an emotional wreck, she had no idea of what I was going through, but she was still very encouraging!

    The next few words out of her mouth were not as promising.

    "Are you married? Do you have children?" she asked.

    "Oh no," I replied swiftly.

    "Why not? Now is the time."

    I was about to tell her to stick with teaching economics instead of giving advice, but, considering my grade, I laughed. "Oh, I'm definitely not ready for that yet."

    Anyways, this professor is always going on about how we should make the most of our resources, especially time. I guess that's what she was getting at when she told me that I should get married and have kids.

Tuesday, 11 December 2007

  • Well, this week has been a typical finals week. Up late at night cramming for tests, writhing around my bed dreaming of inexplicable C's and D's on my transcript, and taking the tests with butterflies in my stomach. I'm very very tired and not really sure how well I'll hold up the rest of the week, but I am almost at the end, and for that I am incredibly thankful.

    I had plans to go home after I get out of work early Friday afternoon and crash before I go back to work all day Saturday at the video store. Unfortunately, one of the girls who works at my store needs to go train at another store we're opening, and so I was asked to fill in for her. Because I can always use the extra hours, I agreed to do it. I probably won't get much sleep until Sunday night because, as I said, I work all day Saturday (which will be nice on the paycheck, but I'm going to be exhausted).

    In the midst of all of this I have a Sunday afternoon/evening off since I first started at the video store!!!  This means that's I'll be able to go see my siblings and some of my friends in our church's Christmas play! Yay!

    Well, I'm going for now.

Monday, 10 December 2007

  • Science

    You know, I love science. This semester, as most of you know, I'm taking a Geology class. For the most part it has been interesting, and I love the labs. Unfortunately, as I'm sure you can imagine, it is a subject frought with evolution and misconceptions. An excerpt from the text:

    "Before we explore the origin of the Universe, we must ask an even more fundamental question: Did it begin at all? One possibility is that the Universe has always existed, and there was no beginning, no start of time. An alternative hypothesis is that the Universe began at a specific time and has been evolving ever since."

    The book goes onto describe the big bang, an explosion of ... well, nothing really ... that "instantaneously created the Universe."

    I was shocked! Don't get me wrong, I was aware of the Big Bang Theory and what it taught. What shocked me was that a group of scientists admitted they were not sure about the origin of the Universe, and then went on factually explaining the Big Bang Theory as if it were the only alternative. Science always supposed to be based on observation, not unproven hypotheses. Since life was allegedly not created until billions of years after the Big Bang, I wonder how they are so sure of what happened.

    Even more amazing is the spontaneous creation of something from nothing. Apparantly, according to my scientists who weren't even  there, there was a big bang, an explosion of nothing. A trillionth of a trillionth of a billionth second later (no, I'm not kidding), radiant energy from this explosion of nothing spontaneously began producing fundamental particles, which evolve and create matter and stars, planets, and ultimately, life, billions of years later.

    Sadly, there is no hope. If global warming does not first produce an ice age and completely wipe out life on our planet (yeah, ask me about that sometime), our 5-billion year old Sun will die in approximately another 5-billion years and become a red giant, wiping out our entire solar system. Then one of two things can happen: The Universe can go on banging and expanding into space, eventually dying out and becoming a massive black whole (I'm curious as to why more solar systems can't just *snaps fingers* evolve along the way, but that doesn't seem to be an option); or it can snap back together (it's called the Reverse Big Bang Theory) and bang out again.

    So, you're probably wondering how global warming can produce an ice age, right? (Don't worry, it's not nearly as complex as the Big Bang Theory). First, we emit carbon dioxide (a pollutant) which becomes trapped in the atmosphere. Heat from the sun is reflected back and forth from the earth's surface to the atmosphere, creating more heat. Eventually, so many pollutants become  trapped in the atmosphere, it blocks out solar energy, things freeze, and we all die.

    Pretty much, if it's not one thing that wipes us all out, it will be another.

    Meanwhile, I'm done with my geology lecture class. I have the lab (mi favorita) final tomorrow.

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