New Covenant

On fossil fuel dependence, new technology, and predicting the future

Technological Innovation is an interesting phenomenon (not to mention that it is mind-driven, and intelligence-based). It's through such innovation that we have been able to progress from crossing the country in a covered wagon, to using a jet airliner. Yet, what of our dependence on fossil fuels, and the implications of such dependence? Current alternatives render electricity as a viable power source, yet current technology limits the means with which we can provide ample electrical power.

Consider, if you will, a future in which powerful batteries are small, very long lasting, and essentially universal in application. Would such a technological environment spell the demise of the domination of fossil fuel technology?

Enter three very interesting posts at ScienceDaily. In Sweet Nanotech Batteries: Nanotechnology Could Solve Lithium Battery Charging Problems, we read,

Nanotechnology could improve the life of the lithium batteries used in portable devices, including laptop computers, mp3 players, and mobile phones. Research to be published in the Inderscience publication International Journal of Nanomanufacturing demonstrates that carbon nanotubes can prevent such batteries from losing their charge capacity over time.

And in New Nanowire Battery Holds 10 Times The Charge Of Existing Ones,

Stanford researchers have found a way to use silicon nanowires to reinvent the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that power laptops, iPods, video cameras, cell phones, and countless other devices.

...The greatly expanded storage capacity could make Li-ion batteries attractive to electric car manufacturers. Cui suggested that they could also be used in homes or offices to store electricity generated by rooftop solar panels.

Finally, in Newly Discovered Fundamental State Of Matter, A Superinsulator, Has Been Created,

Scientists could eventually form superinsulators that would encapsulate superconducting wires, creating an optimally efficient electrical pathway with almost no energy lost as heat. A miniature version of these superinsulated superconducting wires could find their way into more efficient electrical circuits.

Imagine, powerful, small batteries, capable of holding large charges for long periods of time. Will there be a time when one buys a laptop computer never expecting to have to recharge the battery? Will there be a time when one makes their monthly stop at the local "filling" station to  exchange a standard battery pack for their electric powered vehicle?

Would people, in such a time, view the internal combustion engine as quaintly as we now view the covered wagon?

Science Saturday: Progressive design of the internal combustion engine

As a follow-up to my February 9th post, Science Saturday: Declaring the existence of transitional species post, I'd like to give you a lesson plan (of sorts), with the purpose of illustrating the concept of gradual, progressive engineering and design.

The Last 2 percent (v. 4)

(Human - Chimpanzee) = 0.02

If humans share about 98 percent of our genetic makeup with chimps, then why are we so far apart in terms of behavior, agility, cognitive skills, etc.?

What is it that makes up The Last 2 percent?

What Gives Us Fingertip Dexterity?

Quickly moving your fingertips to tap or press a surface is essential for everyday life to, say, pick up small objects, use a BlackBerry or an iPhone. But researchers at the University of Southern California say that this seemingly trivial action is the result of a complex neuro-motor-mechanical process orchestrated with precision timing by the brain, nervous system and muscles of the hand.

...

"Our data suggest that specialized neural circuitry may have evolved for the hand because of the time-critical neural control that is necessary for executing the abrupt transition from motion (tap) to static force (push)," he said. "In the tap-push exercise, we found that the brain must be switching from the tap command to the push command while the fingertip is still in motion. Neurophysiological limitations prevent an instantaneous or perfect switch, so we speculate that there must be specialized circuits and strategies that allow people to do so effectively.

Chimpanzees May Build Their 'Cultures' In A Similar Way To Humans

Socially-learned cultural behaviour thought to be unique to humans is also found among chimpanzees colonies, scientists at the University of Liverpool have found.

Historically, scientists believed that behavioural differences between colonies of chimpanzees were due to variations in genetics. A team at Liverpool, however, has now discovered that variations in behaviour are down to chimpanzees migrating to other colonies, proving that they build their 'cultures' in a similar way to humans.

Tool-wielding Chimps Provide A Glimpse Of Early Human Behavior

Chimpanzees inhabiting a harsh savanna environment and using bark and stick tools to exploit an underground food resource are giving scientists new insights to the behaviors of the earliest hominids who, millions of years ago, left the African forests to range the same kinds of environments and possibly utilize the same foods.

...

The new study demonstrates that "the understanding and capability to exploit these resources were very likely within the grasp of the first chimp-like hominids," argues Pickering. "It was widely believed that it is a uniquely human adaptation to use tools to dig these things up."

Explaining the benefit of communion with God

From last October, at Telic Thoughts, The Neural Correlates of God, in which Joy tells us,

Scientific American has published in its October 2007 issue a lengthy review of past and present neurophysiological research - using everything from EEG to fMRI and everything in between - in the scientific quest to understand God's interactions with human beings. Or maybe just understand human beings' communion with God.

The naturalist can only approach the phenomenon of "communion with God" from the worldview of naturalism. Such a viewpoint, because of its self-imposed limitations, can only ascribe deterministic causes for the God aspect. As such, scientists will typically search for beneficial reasons for explaining why someone would engage in communion with God. Hence, we have such statements, from the paper Joy references,

Such efforts to reveal the neural correlates of the divine—a new discipline with the warring titles “neurotheology” and “spiritual neuroscience”—not only might reconcile religion and science but also might help point to ways of eliciting pleasurable otherworldly feelings in people who do not have them or who cannot summon them at will.

...

Artificially replicating meditative trances or other spiritual states might be similarly beneficial to the mind, brain and body. Beauregard and others argue, for example, that such mystical mimicry might improve immune system function, stamp out depression or just provide a more positive outlook on life.

Of course, attempting to explain communion with God, from a purely pragmatic and utilitarian point of view, falls flat when pitted against the actions of self-sacrifice. Do Christians seek communion with God because of the pleasure it brings? Does such communion enhance our fitness for survivability?

I wonder what beneficial and pleasurable feelings (otherworldly, at that) we could partake in were we to experience the pleasure of being beaten for the name of Christ?

Amazon dot com, and customer service

An interesting article (registration req'd.) on the power of Amazon's customer service. From Joe Nocera,

It has been years since I looked in on Amazon. Once upon a time, of course, it was a highflying Internet stock, one of the handful of Internet companies — along with Yahoo, eBay and AOL —whose stock only seemed to go in one direction: up. Henry Blodget made his bones, in no small part, by being a screaming Amazon bull.

Then came the bust, and Wall Street began to see Amazon in a decidedly different light. It was just another retailer, the bears said, that happened to sell goods online — and had immense, unanticipated infrastructure and technology costs. Its founder and chief executive, Jeffrey P. Bezos, spent huge sums of money on such “frills” as free shipping, which depressed its operating margins. Indeed, those margins — which got as low as 3 percent — were more akin to Wal-Mart’s than that of a big-time tech company. At one point, in mid-2000, a bond analyst named Ravi Suria made his bones by predicting that the company could run out of cash. The stock dropped into single digits.

...

There is simply no question that Mr. Bezos’s obsession with his customers — and the long term — has paid off, even if he had to take some hits to the stock price along the way. Surely, it was worth it. As for me, the $500 favor the company did for me this Christmas will surely rebound in additional business down the line. Why would I ever shop anywhere else online? Then again, there may be another reason good customer service makes sense. “Jeff used to say that if you did something good for one customer, they would tell 100 customers,” Mr. Kotha said.

I guess that’s what I just did.

The Advent Season: J.I. Packer, charity, & Ilona

Some powerful words from J.I. Packer's Knowing God,

It is our shame and disgrace today that so many Christians - I will be more specific: so many of the soundest and most orthodox Christians - go through this world in the spirit of the priest and the Levite in our Lord's parable, seeing human needs all around them, but (after a pious wish, and perhaps a prayer, that God might meet them) averting their eyes, and passing by on the other side. That is not the Christmas spirit. Nor is it the spirit of those Christians - alas, they are many - whose ambition in life seems limited to building a nice middle-class Christian home, and making nice middle-class Christian friends, and bringing up their children in nice middle-class Christian ways, and who leave the sub-middle-class sections of the community, Christian and non-Christian, to get on by themselves.

Indeed, during this "Holiday Season", we would do well to make a concerted effort to help those in need, whether individually or through para-church organizations.

Consider some of the following organizations, as you prepare your house and hearts for Christmas:

• The Sheepfold (home for battered women and children)
• Latin America ChildCare
• Project Rescue
• Stand to Reason
• Reasons to Believe
• Grace Elliott Prenatal Clinic

And for those of you who love Christmas... the true meaning of Christmas. Please visit the site Loving Christmas, from True Grit / Intellectuelle author Ilona. It's a site loaded with a plethora of ideas, links, crafts, etc., all related to the Advent season.

Engaging our culture: equipping our youth for adulthood

Last Sunday night, my wife and I attended a Stand to Reason event titled, Engaging Our Culture. It was sponsored by Wheatstone Academy, and presented by Greg Koukl and Brett Kunkle. Their intention were to provide youth leaders, or those involved with teaching youth, how to equip Christians to better defend their faith, and bring the gospel to a hurting world.

Here are some of the notes I jotted down during the talk:

Greg Koukl -

He's here to bring us the "bad news" - culture thinks that religion (Christianity) is intolerant and bigoted. In other words, religion is the problem.

The secular answer is that we should adopt an attitude of religious doubt (a pluralistic type of view). Especially for any religion that is arrogant enough to think it is right!

In the church: 91% of youth are moral relativists.

Brett Kunkle -

The inarticulateness of our youth with regards to expressing their faith - he quoted an interview from the book Soul Searching (by Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton) re: "our personal religious beliefs".

3 Points of attack we must focus on:

1) elevate expectations: We must raise the bar, challenge our youth, understand that they are capable of much more than we give them credit for.

2) equip minds: We must reevaluate the typical messages we give our youth in the church. Our young people need deep theological and apologetic training. We must understand Romans 12:1-2 as our being transformed by the faculties of the soul.

Innoculate vs. Isolate: we cannot, and should not, expect to raise our children in boxes, and then let them loose on the world. We must expose them to the culture on our terms.

When faced with apathy, provide "intellectual discomforts" (e.g., a visiting atheist who confronts their belief systems, forcing them to think through their faith). We must teach our youth to take ownership of their faith - to be able to answer the basic question of "Why do I believe what I believe?" We must allow them to be open to express their doubts - to be able to express such doubts within the home and the church - a safe environment. We must teach this basic training by using questions to get them to learn how to defend their beliefs.

3) engage in experiences: Get involved, understand the manner in which the media in our culture presents its worldview. Some ideas: Take the time to slow down the images that speed by our culture - have a movie nite, use the pause button to zero in on worldview issues that permeate today's media (whether movie or music or current events); "Missionaries @ the door" - purposely invite Mormon missionaries over in order to engage discussion about other religions; "Campus surveys" - engage college students in surveys about "moral & religious opinions" in order to discuss secular worldviews; "Museums" (art, tolerance, etc.).

It is interesting to see the intersection of ideas, from the religious and the secular realm, with regards to the notion of the case against adolescence. In asking to "raise the bar", we have come to a realization that young adults (those between ages 13 - 19) are just that - young adults. They are capable of much more than simply having fun. Homeschoolers have been aware of this for quite a while... it's nice to see others realizing it as well. (sidenote: from a comment that Brett Kunkle made, it appears that he and his wife are considering alternative methods for their children's education (homeschooling?).)

It is so very reassuring to hear someone preach that good, solid theological and apologetic instruction is needed within the church (especially for our youth). Inoculation provides our youth with the means to combat the attacks they will face in the secular realm.

In our efforts to teach our youth, we would do well to engage in experiences. Learn by doing is the motto at the university I attended, and just about any homeschooler will tell you that one of the most effective ways to teach your children is by having them engage experience. Active participation is a wonderful methodology.

Wheatstone Academy, sponsor of the event, gave a pitch for their week-long summer series, for young adults aged 15 - 19. Their program appears to have matured and grown into a highly developed and intense "boot camp" designed to challenge Christian youth on just about all fronts. From the pitch they gave, the program looks to be a fantastic opportunity (indeed, how can it not be, what with the likes of J.P. Moreland?).

Flat tires & homeschooling: on the lookout for educational opportunities

A flat tire is an event for which there seems to never be a welcome time or location. It was the end of a work week, recently, and while my fellow colleagues and I were joyously leaving the building, in anticipation of our respective weekends, I walked up to my truck only to find the right rear tire completely flat.

So I spent the next half hour removing the flat and putting on the spare. Luckily, for me, the weather was not inclement.

After getting home my youngest daughter (2nd grade) started asking me some questions regarding the flat tire. Questions such as:  How did you change it? Where did you get the new tire?

Homeschoolers should always be on the lookout for educational opportunities. Your child's education is not merely accomplished by following the outline in your curriculum. One of the creative writing tasks for my youngest is to practice explaining and describing an activity. So, the next day, I had her watch me change the spare tire out for the newly plugged existing tire. With her 2 mp camera in hand, she also recorded several photos of the activity (all photos shown on this post were shot by her).

It wasn't a big deal, but it was an opportunity, nonetheless.

Follow the "continue reading" to see a few other photos she took.

Gunpowder, July 4th, & Homeschooling: finding the interesting to be informative

Not far from our home, every Independence Day, there is a big fireworks show. It's close enough to our house that we can sit in our driveway and enjoy it.

This year, our oldest child set up her point-and-shoot digital camera on a tripod and shot some images of the fireworks show (an example of one of her photos is on the left).

The day after the show we took a walk down to the park where the fireworks are shot from. We walked down to a running track, at the local school, and found a section where it appeared the fireworks were set up. Littered about were spent shell casings, fuses, wires, and burned bits of cardboard. Some labels were still legible and we saw many with the word "peony" on them. As we stopped, to examine the material, many questions arose: "What is this piece?", "Is that gunpowder?", "Will it still explode?", etc. Left to themselves, they would have gladly collected armloads of spent fireworks to bring home and fiddle with.

As it was, I let them bring a select few pieces (see photo to the right) home to pore over and examine. Once we got home, I did a quick Google search on fireworks and was able to find a video explanation of how fireworks operate as well as some nifty diagrams of the components of various fireworks. We were able to ascertain that the half shell shown in the lower right of the photo is the outer shell casing of an aerial shell (see diagram below). We also noted that the label indicates a 3" shell that was to be launched from a mortar tube. And we noted that the fireworks were made in China, the birthplace of gunpowder.

It's experiences such as these that homeschoolers strive for - the wonderful, and unexpected, opportunities for our children to do some serendipitous learning. At the end of the day our children were left wondering just which of the brilliant explosions they saw, on Independence Day, was caused by the spent casings they now held in their hands.

Abstract Zen

Calla lily, in black & white.

Sometime close to Christmas, 2005, I shot a series on several calla lily flowers in my backyard. Most of the shots I kept in color, however this particular shot seemed to call out to be imaged monochromatic. I decided to go with a tighter crop, excluding a full shot of the flower, as well as shooting the image with a vertical orientation. One of the things I like best about the image is the general flow, from top to bottom, of white to black.

I was fortunate to have the image selected to be featured in the weekly contest Weekly Shot under the category of Zen. Being a concrete-sequential thinker, I sometimes have a difficult time addressing topics such as... Zen. The idea (and the photographic results) seem to be a bit too subjective in nature and much too open to personal interpretation. That said, how does one actually get an image selected as indicative of Zen? Is it simply a matter of the consensus of other subjective opinions as to what constitutes Zen? Who is to say that this image qualifies as Zen in the same manner that another image would qualify for the category Hands?

Perhaps, just perhaps, the spiritually stagnant secular notion of Zen is but a glimpse of the enigmatic experience of Joy as expressed by C.S. Lewis, in the quote,

The very nature of Joy makes nonsense of our common distinction between having and wanting.

Joy, as defined by Lewis (and, in many respects, the Bible), is not equivalent to happiness and it certainly isn't equivalent to fun. While Zen, as an attainment of awakening, may attempt to understand Joy, such an attempt is bounded by the ever present limitations of our human existence.

Maybe, as Lewis said,

If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.

Weekly Shot Feature

Image - © 2005 A. R. Lopez

It's a small world, after all: how abundance, automation, & Asia will affect our future

A couple of months ago, a friend from work pointed me to an e-mail of a speech by Herbert Meyer who "served during the Reagan administration as special assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence and Vice Chairman of the CIA's National Intelligence Council." The text of Meyer's speech can be found at this post of The Braden Files.

In the speech, a Global Intelligence Briefing for CEOs, Meyer proposed that there are four major transformations that are affecting, or will affect, the socio-political climate of the West:

1. the war in Iraq,
2. the emergence of China,
3. shifting demographics of Western civilization and,
4. the restructuring of American business

I found his proposals intriguing not simply for their clarity, but for their congruence with points made by Daniel Pink in his book A Whole New Mind (and, many thanks to Joe Carter for recommending this book to me). In A Whole New Mind, Pink predicts that to thrive in the future economy of the West, one must embrace new paradigms in the way we will work. The key factors to be aware of, according to Pink, are that our economy and culture is now driven by Abundance, Automation, and Asia.

Pop semiotics, uses for live cats, A.R.T. Syndrome & spam: did you mean to do that, or is it... art?

Joe Carter has a post (of some sort) titled, Pop Semiotics: Cat Macros as Communication. (note: I used to think that Joe was a very busy man... now I'm not so sure)

As Joe writes,

As the Wikipedia entry explains, lolcats-- a portmanteau of "lol" and "cat"--are photos of cats with comedic captions created for the purpose of sharing with others on imageboards and other internet forums. The caption is characteristically formatted in a sans serif font such as Impact or Arial Black, usually in white letters with a black outline. (In fact, this type of lettering has come to define the genre, so much so that the use of other fonts and colors seem like a violation of an unwritten aesthetic code.) The caption is intentionally written with deviations from standard English spelling and syntax featuring strangely-conjugated verbs. Despite the odd construction, the syntax has, as Anil Dash notes in a post on the topic, a "fairly consistent grammar."

Okay. Check out the art images for yourself. And then check out my post on A.R.T. Syndrome (especially the section on TARTS).

One new bit of information I got out of the post was the phrase "leetspeak", defined as, [a] written form of slang used primarily on the Internet, but becoming increasingly common in many online video games, which uses various combinations of alphanumerics to replace proper letters. An example of leetspeak is the "word" Pr0n, which is defined as,

Leet slang for p*rn*graphy. This is a deliberately inaccurate spelling/pronunciation for p*rn, where a zero is often used to replace the letter O. It is sometimes used in legitimate communications (such as email discussion groups, Usenet, chat rooms, and internet web pages) to circumvent language and content filters, which may reject messages as offensive or spam.

Okay. Just for grins, now check out my old post on $Þǻm dε†эc†iδή

The complexities of saving the planet...

Back in March I linked to a February post from the Belmont Club which noted that an increase in the use of ethanol, as a fuel, would result in higher corn-based food prices.

Ouch.

Now The Insider catches up with the post, The Consequences of Ethanol. We read,

Here in the USA, higher corn prices translate into more costly meat and poultry, and even more pain for livestock producers, who already are suffering as corn farmers rejoice. They also mean higher prices for crops that are being planted less.

And not only here in the USA. From the Belmont Club post,

The jump in corn prices is already affecting the cost of food. The most notable example: in Mexico, which gets much of its corn from the United States, the price of corn tortillas has doubled in the past year, according to press reports, setting off large protest marches in Mexico City. It's almost certain that most of the rise in corn prices is due to the U.S. ethanol policy, says David Victor, director of the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development at Stanford University.

There will be Global Warming, in the near future, but the warming will be the result of people protesting the fact that their food is being turned into fuel.

Update: see this L.A. Times article on rising food costs.

What's at stake: the human embryo...

Something is happening to the pro-choice argument: it's being dealt a blow of reality.

As Albert Mohler states,

The public discussion about the power of ultrasound and modern imaging technologies has revealed something fascinating -- the pro-abortion movement does not want us peering into the womb. The view inside the womb transforms the moral debate over abortion. Once that image is seen, the vocabulary necessarily changes.

I would say that the vocabulary not only changes, it succumbs to the power of the obvious.

From National Geographic,

with the caption,

3D CG image of a 28-week-old fetus. Over the next four weeks, its nervous system will become as advanced as a newborn's. Image courtesy David Barlow  (emphasis added)

Oh, I should also mention the contrast found in this Touchstone post on the God-Politics of the christian Peace & Justice movement.

Homeschooling as socialization...

"What about socialization?" The single, most repeated question that every homeschooler gets.

Before I was married, I remember talking with a friend who related an incident in which some friends of his showed up at his house, with their homeschooled daughter. Their daughter, according to my friend, was the epitome of ignorance, with regards to social behavior. A few years later, I recall hearing from another friend who questioned whether or not homeschooled children would garner the ability to interact properly with other (read: normal) children. His analysis was based, primarily, on his observations of two homeschooled children while he was an assistant leader in a church youth group.

Initially, my response to such inquiries would be to cite off the many and varied opportunities our children have to interact with other children (e.g., church activities, homeschool group events, sports teams, etc.). Yet, as I began to watch my children's development, especially when compared to their peers who were being socialized in the public school system, I noticed that they're social abilities tended to follow the bend of their particular personalities. What's more, it seems that the social environments they are placed in, due to homeschooling, are more diverse than those of their peers. My sixth grader's public school educated friend has, essentially, a classroom full of other sixth graders (and one or two adult teachers) with which to form her social mores.

From FRC Blog, Day Care Study regarding socialization,

For years, stay-at-home parents have been trivialized by feminists who wrongly believe that a mother or father's care is replaceable. However, a new study by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at NIH proves the feminist ideology wrong. The most expansive research of its kind, the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development found that putting a child in day care for a year or more increases the chances that the child will become disruptive in class--a trend that persists through the sixth grade.

Are we really prepared to let our kids get their socialization skills from other kids? Are we really prepared to let our kids learn from other kids?

From Areopagitica, a link to a Tony Woodlief post, and a caustic quote,

But don’t believe the data if you’re not inclined, just listen to teenagers talk. I don’t mean your own teens, who I am sure are brilliant, but other people’s teenagers. Go to the mall and just listen. People knock homeschoolers for not exposing their children to “socialization,” but maybe it’s a good thing. Being socialized into a society of idiots is not exactly great preparation for life success. (emphasis added)

Perhaps it's the homeschoolers who should be asking question, "What about socialization?"

Update: Doug, at Stones Cry Out, links to an editorial, by Linda Whitlock, in the Roanoke Times. Whitlock states,

...But one significant benefit to home schooling, and one of the reasons many parents make the choice, may surprise you. It's the socialization.

Yes, I do mean socialization. Far from being a drawback to home schooling, as the myth would have it, socialization is actually one of home schooling's greatest virtues.

Like their public school counterparts, home school students have plenty of opportunities to mingle with their peers. They belong to organizations like Boy Scouts and 4-H. They participate in sports. And many are involved in church youth activities and volunteer work.

But unlike public school students, who spend the greater part of each day almost exclusively in the company of people their own age, home school students, whose days are often spent in the company of people of various ages, are less likely to depend on their peers for validation of their choices and values.

The Iranians, the British, the Americans, & the Teton Sioux...

In September of 1804, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led their Corps of Discovery up the Missouri River into country controlled by the Teton Sioux who acted, essentially, as river pirates. On the 23rd of the month, the Corps of Discovery made first contact with the tribe. Tension was high between the two groups and, on the 25th, came to a decisive head. From Clark's own account, regarding an altercation with one of the Sioux chiefs,

...his justures were of Such a personal nature I felt My self Compeled to Draw my Sword (and Made a Signal to the boat to prepare for action)  at this Motion Capt. Lewis ordered all under arms in the boat,  those with me also Showed a Disposition to Defend themselves and me,

...Most of the Warriers appeared to have ther Bows strung and took out their arrows from the quiver.  as I (being surrounded) was not permited to return, I Sent all the men except 2 Inps. [Interpreters] to the boat,  the perogue Soon returned with about 12 of our determined men ready for any event.  this movement caused a no: of the Indians to withdraw at a distance, [emphasis added]

Sgt. Ordway, another member of the Corps, also kept a journal and, from his entry,

...they then began to act as if they were Intoxicated    with Some difficulty Capt Clark got them to Shore.  they then began to Show Some Signs of Stopping or attempting to Stop us.   one of them Stayed on board the pearogue when Capt Clark & the chiefs went out of it.  the head chief the Black Buffaloe, Siezed hold of the cable of the pearogue and Set down. Capt Clark Spoke to all the party to Stand to their arms   Capt Lewis who was on board ordered every man to his arms.  the large Swivel [was] loaded immediately with 16 Musquet Ball in it the 2 other Swivels loaded well with Buck Shot [and] each of them manned.  Capt Clark used moderation with them told them that we must and would go on and would go.  that we were not Squaws, but warriers. [emphasis added]

While the Corps of Discovery had immensely better weaponry than the Teton Sioux, they were also immensely outnumbered. A firefight would have likely generated significant casualties on their part but, since many of them were on boats, they probably would have been able to limp back to St. Louis. Some historians have suggested that the Teton Sioux were well aware they could have plundered the party, but when the Corps acted like warriors instead of squaws, the Sioux backed off, realizing that their losses would have also been great.

Two hundred years later, we find another group of American military personnel in a face-off with an Iranian platoon. The Americans fought back.

The recent capture of 15 British Marines and Sailors, by the Iranian military, and their subsequent release, has generated some questions regarding just why the Brits didn't fight back or, at least, make an attempt to take a stand. HotAir highlights the fact that the British Captain stated that "fighting back was not an option."

Whether or not these specific British troops acted like squaws instead of warriors remains to be seen, but perhaps the Teton Sioux would have rather encountered a softer adversary, that September day.

Update - see also:

Question: What ever happened to "Let's Roll?" Malkin

What ever happened to "Let's Roll" Barnett

The British Sailors: Stockdale Syndrome  HotAir

Update 2:

"Fighting Back Was Not an Option" Revisited  Barnett, in which Barnett shares some tactical analysis by Austin Bay, as well as comparisons to the Iranian takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran

Lowes' feet, and the cost of kid's entertainment...

Homeschooling is a lot of work and, typically, it's the homeschooling mom who bears the responsibility for getting it all done. As with any high stress job, a break is needed every once in awhile. One especially exhaustive day, last week, I decided to give my wife a bit of a break by taking the kids to... Lowes. Yes, Lowes.

Our trip to Lowes was a win-win-win situation, and here's how: 1) it was a win for my wife because it gave her some time, in the evening, to herself; 2) it was a win for me because I needed to pick up some home improvement items anyway, and 3) it was a win for my kids because they like going to Lowes - it's sort of an adventure for them.

It was only a couple of years ago that my kids coined the term "Lowes' feet". It seems that they got a kick out of going to Lowes because, as they told me, they'd get Lowes' feet. After some questioning, I found out that Lowes' feet is the phenomenon of having a whitish dust, all over the soles of your shoes, after walking the aisles at Lowes.

The simple pleasures.

But it doesn't stop there. In addition to the Lowe's feet, my kids were entertained by:

• Paint chips. Paint chips are a hit with my kids (it takes time to carefully pick out the best five chips from which they're allowed). Of course, any free specialty catalogs are fair game as well (e.g., outdoor playsets, grills, etc.).
• Lawn mowers. Especially those of the ride-on variety. You'd be amazed at how much fun it is to test out the driver's seat of each one.
• Outdoor furniture. Everything from patio furniture to stainless steel cooking units. It provides them with the opportunity to pretend that there are burgers on the grill.
• Kitchen arrangements. Have you ever opened up and inspected every cabinet and drawer in those model kitchens they have at Lowes? My kids have.
• Toilets. I never realized how fascinating floor-model toilets were to little kids.

Sure, I had to pay for the items I was going to get anyway, but the cost of my wife's relaxation and my kid's entertainment was zero.

And, to top it off, we all got Lowes' feet.

Making deals with kidnappers...

Counterterrorism Blog reports on the Italian / Taliban hostage deal with Italian Hostage Swap - Not So Simple. Michael Kraft states,

When the Italian government this week completed a deal in Afghanistan to obtain the release of an Italian journalist hostage, Daniele Mastrogiacomo, for five Taliban prisoners, the spokesman for Italian Prime Minister Roman Prodi was quoted as saying it was a simple issue of saving a life.

Further on, Kraft writes,

The danger of making deals with kidnappers, as the U.S, and other governments have found in the past, is that the short term goal of saving one hostage can be met, but often at the long term price of endangering other citizens when terrorists conclude that they can get away with taking more hostages in the future.

What Kraft writes, I think, should be obvious to any clear thinking person. We "make deals" with local merchants whenever we exchange items we both consider to have relatively equal value. "Making deals" with kidnappers should be an oxymoron.* Any deal the kidnapper proposes indicates that he has objectified the human soul - parsing it down to a mere commodity.

Is it really so difficult to see that the terrorists we deal with are devoid of the honor we then expect of them? Apparently not, as seen in a quote from a Reporters Without Borders representative,

"We call on the Taliban leaders ... to once and for all abandon attacks on the press and kidnappings of journalists, which are contrary to humanitarian law," the group said in a statement.

Eyes wide open - seeing nothing (and, one has to wonder, why they did not call for the Taliban to abandon attacks on innocent women and children?).

* This is not rocket science. Even a kids' program, such as the 1960s TV series Gilligan's Island covered, in comedic fashion, the futility of making deals with a kidnapper (played by Don Rickles).

Visualization - Family Structure...

Visualization* (consider the methods: synergy map, systems dynamics, and cognitive mapping)

At the Evangelical Outpost, Joe Carter posts a Family-First Conservative Manifesto. He states,

I believe that while ultimate sovereignty belongs to God alone, He delegates authority throughout society to various institutional structures (i.e., churches, businesses, the state, etc.). Naturally, these institutions are not immune to the effects of sin or human depravity but they still retain the legitimate authority given to them by our Creator. Although each of these institutions is important, the most essential is the family. My political philosophy could be called “family-first conservatism” for I believe that the institution of the family should be given pride of place in decisions about public policy.

Now, cognitively visualize this bit of information as it flows into another post by Joe, this time at FRC Blog, in which he points out a report which states, 

higher levels of father involvement were associated with less aggressive and anti-social adolescent behavior, and partially accounted for the impact of family structure on adolescent behavior.

Considering the reported effects of family structure in conjunction with father involvement, it is no surprise to visualize the post by Albert Mohler, titled A Cry From the Heart of a Generation -- The Pain of Divorce. He links to an essay written by Kenneth Lowe, a university student, in which Lowe gives his account of the narcissism found in today's youth. Lowe writes,

If there's one thing I need no citation or research to prove, it's that our parents have done a pretty horrendous job bringing us up. I mean this as a whole, and not necessarily every single parent individually. And though I need no citation, I'll do it anyway, just to rub it in to those readers who disagree. According to a Jan. 16 New York Times article, 51 percent of U.S. women now live without a spouse.

...

Marry late, and marry once, and don't have kids until you can love them, nurture them, pay for them and teach them there is such a thing in life as two people who cannot be severed.

And now, through dynamic simulation, visualize Kirsten Powers reporting on Madonna, of all people, telling her 10 year-old daughter not to dress so provocatively. Powers writes,

The chickens are coming home to roost in the Madonna household. Apparently little Lourdes picked up the idea that flashing body parts is sexy.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. It would seem that living in the golden age has hardly improved our emotional well-being to the point where a child is unaffected by his parent's divorce. The structure of the family, as old as humanity itself, bestows upon us the solid foundation with which to build our future; a conclusion that even a strict naturalist must see. Yet, pragmatism aside, whether it be the heartfelt cry of a broken youth or the protective love of a concerned parent, we cannot escape, through chance or by will, the reality of our human experience.

*****

* Joe Carter linked to a website which lists examples of Visualization Methods. This Periodic Table of Visualization Methods groups various visualization methods into the following categories: Data, Information, Concept, Strategy, Methaphor, and Compound. The properties of these visualization methods can help one approach an issue from more than one perspective, thereby providing an opportunity for one to see the manner in which multiple topics are related as well as seeing potential synergistic conclusions.

Innovation...

An interesting post, at the Technology Liberation Front, on the difference between invention and innovation.