A conscience is a terrible thing to waste!

    Back in the 1970's an ad-campaign by the UNCF (United Negro College Fund) had a very simple and catchy phrase:

Because a mind is a terrible thing to waste

    This meant that wasting anyone's mental abilities to contribute to society would hurt us all in the end and therefore we should try to help ALL people become more educated.   The campaign worked and blacks enrolling in college increased through scholarships offered by the UNCF.

     Today we may need a new ad-campaign:

Because a conscience is a terrible thing to lose

     Martin Luther, the 16th century Christian reformer, was what you might call a conscientious objector.   He was called before the Catholic hierarchy and the politicians to re-cant (take back) all he had written as he revealed how far the church had strayed from its roots and teachings.   Martin Luther asked for one day to formulate his answer and he was granted it.   After a night of prayer Marin Luther returned to the court to give his answer and here it is:

Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen.

     We owe much to his bravery to stand up to the powers as he was branded a "heretic" and had a bounty put on his head for anyone to collect.   He was given refuge by a German nobleman who agreed with his teaching and lived in his castle attic for many years while he took on the work of translating the Bible from Latin into German.   His willingness to stand up for his conscience freed many more like him who also no longer agreed with the Catholic churches teachings.

    A conscience is a very personal thing.   It is at the very heart of our Freedom of Religion and to have our own set of beliefs to follow.   It was once said that,

 "If you can't live with yourself then who CAN you live with?".   

    A dead conscience will eat you alive from the inside like a maggots eating rotting flesh of a deceased person.  A conscience drives us each to do what is right in our own eyes despite the opposition.   We've all been there at some time in our lives.  We were in a position to speak up for someone or some group and we chose to be silent.   We  remember those times vividly as we play it over and over again in our minds. We agonize over our choice knowing we chose wrong and the repercussions of us doing so were obvious.  It's a difficult thing to do.   Often it is occurrences like these that cause so many our war-weary-soldiers so much depression and guilt that it incapacitates them and prevents them from rejoining society.

     Today, people around our country are being asked to go against their consciences as well.   For example, people who own bakeries are told they MUST make wedding cakes for weddings they do not agree with.   You may not like their position any more than the Catholic church did not like Luther's.   But at odds is their conscience verses your insistence that they bow to your edicts that gay marriage is no different than traditional marriage.   Should they stuff their conscience away and never listen to it again?   What kind of country will we become if we force all of our citizens to ignore their consciences when they go counter to the governments or the majority's wishes?  Should they only care what the government believes is right and follow orders?   Should such people be jailed for having a difference in opinion or view?  Should they be put out of business for their faith?  Should the churches they attend be taxed or fined since it was those institutions that undoubtedly influenced them to have such a narrow view of marriage?

    Another thing to consider when you decide to use the blunt force of the government stick to get people to do your wishes is you build increasing amounts of anger and animosity towards you group rather than acceptance.  Of course you can force their physical bodies to perform the deeds you asked for, but their hearts and minds will be forever against you.   This will only require you to use increasing amounts of force over time to move the pendulum further to your side of the room.   But watch out for the day will come that you will not be able to push it any further and the pendulum will swing the other way and all that pent up energy will be released in ways that can be very destructive.   Other countries have witnessed this in their own countries (mostly African countries where one tribe rules another for so long and then it flips on them).    In South Africa this almost happened against the whites after the blacks gained control of the country and only by the grace of God through the work of Nelson Mandela did it get diffused.

    I am glad to see people of reason from the other side standing up for people of conscience and telling their people to "knock it off!" in attacking these people in the court of law and also the court of public opinion.     We need more of these people to come forward and I hope and pray they do.   I believe they recognize the value of a conscience and how it is one of our most basic rights as human beings to be nurtured and protected.  After all, a society of citizens whose consciences have been numbed will be a terrible place to live.

Words forgotten in the American dialect

    There are 4 (well 5 actually since one is a conjugate of 2 words) words that we seem to have gone out of style in our normal dialect that if we brought them back might solve of a lot of our problems today.   Those words are:

  IT'S A FREE COUNTRY...

   We used to hear that phrase all the time back in the 60's, 70's, and even 80's.   Anytime someone took an issue with another persons personal behavior or activities this phrase would seemingly put an end to the argument almost immediately.

   You see a person smoking....                                                     IT'S A FREE COUNTRY!
   You see a person wearing skimpy cloths ...                               IT'S A FREE COUNTRY!
   You see a person living out of their car....                                 IT'S A FREE COUNTRY!
   You see a person handing out flyers for a church...                  IT'S A FREE COUNTRY!

    When did this phrase go out of style?    When did we become such a country of nannies where everyone's business is OUR business?   So what if a person decides to send a 10-year old and a 6-year old to the park on their own... that's the parent's decision ... not yours!    So what if a parent sends their kid to school with a sandwich and a Hostess Ho-Ho for lunch.... that's their business and not yours!    So what if a high school student wants to have their rifle or archery bow in their senior picture... that's their business and it's not hurting anyone.    So what if eating fast food is not as healthy as making my own home cooked meal.... it's my body and my business.

    Imagine the different results if a person concerning themselves with each of the cases above said the words "It's a free country!"  as they contemplated what to do next.   I believe it would change their outlook and their decision making in each of the cases.   But instead we have a world where everybody has their fingers in everybody's pie and making an awful mess of things while we are at it.   There isn't a day that goes buy that you don't hear a story about some person somewhere reporting a person for some violation of their social-contract.   Either they are not raising their kids they way you think they should or you think they might possible offend someone somewhere and they should be stopped before that something happens.

    Take for example a 17 year-old girl who had cancer who wished to refuse treatment (see here ). 
The state stepped in and denied her wish to be let alone and forced her to be given medical treatment.  Her body belongs to the state in their opinion (at least until the age of 18) and they could dictate to her what must be done.   Today, her cancer is in remission and now a precedent has been laid for others to follow.  Many new cases will point to this case and say "See?  We were right about that case and so we must be right about this one as well!".   Combine this case with the topic of vaccinations and dangers to "public safety" and you will have a dangerous 1-2 punch against parental control.  If vaccinations must be enforced, then why not ADHD medicine or other psychiatric drugs?   Why not contraception or sterilization?   If the doctors are always right, then why have parents in the doctors office at all?   Since their only purpose would be to agree to whatever the doctor prescribes they could save a lot of time by just staying in the waiting room while their child is taken care of and they can pay the bills (or the government pay them).  

    Of course many will say, "I don't think that will ever happen in THIS country!"  but none of them will say it CAN'T happen.   They say, "I was just trying to help this one girl.   I didn't want to see her die needlessly".    But like the old adage goes, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions".   

When everything becomes "political"

      Yesterday, Starbucks announced their new "race together" campaign in which they encourage their baristas to engage with their customers on the topic of race relations.   They were told if they wanted to start a conversation on race with a customer they should write the words "race together" on the cup before handing it to the customer.  This seemed like an idea that came straight out of academia because it makes no business sense.  The news articles sent out on Facebook did not take the idea to kindly as many people lamented that the LAST thing in the world they want to do when they buy of cup of coffee is spend an hour discussing race with a 20-nothing who is stuck behind a counter pouring coffee.  What if I don't want to talk about anything at all and I decline their request?   Will the barista take me for a racist and as a result put a little "special sauce" (spit) into my cup?   Do I now have to order my coffee "non-political" as well as "decaf"?    Sometimes you just want a cup of joe and that is all.  

      It seems today everything we do is seen as political in nature.  Where we shop.  What we buy.  What we eat. What we do with our free time.   People want us to constantly think about our actions in terms of political repercussions.   Unions want us to boycott Wal-Mart because so much of their products come from China,  but all I want is to buy some new underwear.   Environmental groups want us to not use plastic bags because it "may" effect "climate change" when all I want to do is make sure my stuff doesn't spill out into the parking lot.   A Hollywood celebrity wants us to contemplate a topic such bullying, or domestic violence in the middle/start of a movie when all we want is to be entertained for 2 hours.   Another group wants my children to talk about the election and why I should vote Democratic at the Thanksgiving table when all I want to do is sit down with my family, make some warm memories and thank God for how he has watched over us the past year.  

      We need to stop the insanity!  Maybe we should delegate the one month before an election as "political-discussion-month" and have ALL the other months declared off limits.   We need to stop badgering people and having "conversations" (which is just a code word for "a debate to shutdown an opposing side")  and just talk to one another about whatever comes up.  Maybe it's just the weather or how you are feeling at the moment, but it's a conversation without an agenda.

     Whatever happened to just polite conversation anyway?   Have we spent too much time on our phones reading stories on political websites that we have forgotten how to initiate them?    Do we need a phone app that knows who we are coming in contact with that can look up their political, religious, and intellectual persuasions and then based on it come up with a list of 3 topics you should discuss with them?   (I could just see it now with pop-ups coming up in your Google-glass). 

     The English used to consider political discussions to not be polite in nature.  Your thoughts were your thoughts and that was all.   You were expected to be informed by books, the newspapers and various public lecturers and then make up your own mind based on the information you were given.  You were not allowed to use your neighbors house party to lecture others on their view political views.  To do so was considered to be in bad taste as you would be hijacking their friendly forum for your own purpose and thereby ruining the event.

    But such is not the case today.

   Maybe we need to bring the English way back into style again and just serve the coffee.

We need more Ambassadors

    What comes to mind when you think of an Ambassador?

    Some common attributes:

• Lives in a foreign country
• Speaks their language (if not completely... at least some)
• Seeks ways to build bridges to those cultures from our country
• Nominated by the President
• While they live there, they are always a U.S. citizen
• Communicates the Presidents Foreign Policy to their leaders
• Participates in their culture to a certain degree (parties, festivals, seminars etc)
• Maybe has a family connection to that country (ancestors came from there)

   Ambassadors play a vital role in our foreign policy so it is important to nominate people who can express those views in a way that does not offend the people he is trying to reach out to.   Also, they must be people-persons (extraverts and not introverts) who like to get out and meet people.   If they think they can just go and live in the Embassy the whole time they are there they are seriously misguided in their thinking.

   In 2 Corinthians 5:20, Paul writes:

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

    Paul could not have picked a better word (led by the Holy Spirit how could he not!).   We are ambassadors for Christ in our lives.   As we live out our lives in THIS world, we are living in a foreign land reaching out to a foreign people be receive the reconciliation that God is giving them.   Jesus in his high priestly prayer prayed for his disciples to "be in the world, but not of the world".   Like an ambassador who while living in a foreign country must always remember they are citizens of the U.S. and they represent the President at all times, we too are always God's children.  Also, while an ambassador can go to parties, luncheons and other meetings, at the same time he can not participate in activities not allowed by the US.   For example the ambassador to the Netherlands cannot use drugs or go to brothels even though those activities are legal in the Netherlands they are not legal for us in the U.S.    It is a delicate balance he must maintain at all times.

    An ambassador must also learned to speak the truth to the leaders in those countries when asked about US concerns.   He cannot for the sake of  "friendship" minimize problems we have with their country.  If an African country is committing genocide or sea-piracy we cannot pretend it doesn't matter to us in the US.   They must be told that if things don't change the US will get involved and it won't be a pretty sight.  So also, we as Christ's ambassador's must speak the truth to those around us.  We cannot pretend the Bible is mum on various topics that are of concern with them.   However we must strive to remain friends with them and be there for them when the time comes.  Like the ambassador to a somewhat hostile country staying connected to them until the day comes when a volcano erupts, or a tsunami hits their coast, or dam breaks and wipes out a village, we can be there to help and give them aid.   We too, need to be engaged with our non-Christian friends and neighbors ready to help them in there day of need.  

Be IN the world but NOT of the world!

    Embassies are like miniature US retreats for the ambassador.   Many embassies provide them with American food, books, TV and entertainment for while they live there.  In fact,even the very soil they live on is considered to be US owned and is guarded by US Marines with that conviction.  But embassies are not meant to be where the ambassador spends 100% of their time, but only serve as a retreat for him/her.    Likewise, we as Christians seek to create Virtual-Embassies where we try to separate ourselves from the world around us (man has always sought to be closer to God by separating themselves from other humans).   But this is not what God desires for his people at all ("Be in the world, not of the world").  We do this by closing ourselves off from those around us who are not Christian by creating Christian-schools (K-college), Christian-day-cares, Christian-music, Christian-radio, Christian-TV, Christian-movies, Christian-books/magazines,  Christian-clubs,  Christian-gyms, Christian-coffee-shops and even Christian-dating-sites.    How are we to reach a world we have nothing in common with?   An ambassador that secludes themselves away inside the US Embassy and never venturing out into the country they are sent to, is of no use to the President who sent them.  So also, we are of no use to God who has sent us ("As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you!"  John 20:21) if we don't engage with the world around us. 

What we an learn from Paul

    Paul writes in  1 Corinthians 9:20

²⁰ To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.

    Here we see "Ambassador Paul" giving us advice on reaching the world around us.  Nowhere in the book of Acts does Paul illustrate this better than when he was asked to speak at the Areopagus to a group of Greek philosophers.  Paul went and gave them a short dissertation on the Christian faith, but he did not quote scripture to them at all.  Instead he quoted an inscription on the base of an idle ("TO AN UNKNOWN GOD") and one of their own poets ("We are his children").   By doing this, he showed them that he was connected to them and engaged with their culture and not some nut-job-preacher from another country.   In fact he only gets to talking about Jesus until the very end of his speech to them at which point they tell him that they want him to come back later and some who heard him received the Gospel and became followers.   We can see from other writings by Paul he took part in the Gentile life as he uses analogies from athletics (running, wrestling and boxing) and even quotes Greek philosophers ("The stomach is made for food and food is made for the stomach" - 1 Corinthians 6:13).  Paul uses these worldly-props as springboards for the Gospel to reach as many people as possible.   When we choose to disengage with the world we lose these opportunities altogether.  We may try to relate our world to them but much will be lost in translation.   Like an ambassador trying to use a "American football" as an illustration to a country that knows only soccer,  they just won't understand what they are talking about.

    Will it mean that we might have our sensibilities offended some?  Probably.  Paul undoubtedly attended Olympic sporting events given the numerous times he talks about running a straight race and throwing off everything that might entangle him.   These foot races were run entirely in the nude and woman were barred from viewing them (except the Vestile Virgins).   Did Paul grow up seeing these races?  Probably not, but he obviously did now as a missionary and God was able to use his attendance to give his people a visible form of how we should conduct ourselves in our Christian life. 

Modern day opportunities

    Recently I was watching the last episode of the Matrix trilogy (for some reason I never got the chance to watch it before).   When I did I was astounded at how much of the movie's ending mirrors that of the gospel.   If you have not seen it, I urge you to go and see it for yourself.   Not only do the characters names have Christian meanings (Trinity, Neo) but also the hidden city of the free-humans is called Zion.   In the last scene when Neo is taking on Smith (who represents Satan) in the virtual world controlled by the machines, Neo is laid out on the ground in front of the mainframe (which represents God) in a cross formation with wires connecting him to the virtual world.  The machine wants to rid itself of the Smith-virus but it cannot without a human to "bridge the gap".   Neo realizes that the only way to destroy Smith is to let him kill him and destroy him from the inside.  Neo becomes Smith and then destroys Smith ("He who knew no sin, became sin for us") and the mainframe machine says "It is done!".   The people in Zion rejoice saying "It's done!  The war is over!  The war is over!".   

    What a wonderful springboard for us to reach our non-Christian friends as they will not go see a Christian-movie, but they will talk to us about one of their most popular science fiction movies of all time.  But we can't talk to them about it unless we have first seen it.   Does the Matrix contain graphic violence and foul language?  Of course it does.   But if Paul can watch naked men run across and open field, I think we should allow ourselves the opportunity to watch movies or listen to music that connect us with the world around us.

   It's time for us to venture outside the Embassy and engage with the people we are sent to share the Gospel with around us and be the ambassadors Christ wants us to be!

A lesson on "Mental Toughness"

   Okay, I admit it.  I am a die-hard New England Patriots fan.  So those of you who aren't will be quick to go on to your next blog, but I URGE you stay and read on the rest of the article as this article is not one of the "gloat in your face" type sports articles but instead is a "What can I learn from this and use in my life" type of article.
  
   I was watching the post-game interviews and one phrase kept popping up in several of the interviews of the Patriots team.  That phrase was: MENTAL TOUGHNESS.  Given that so many of the team members used it, it became obvious to me that it was because it was a concept ingrained in the team members brains. 

   So just what is "Mental Toughness"  and what is its importance it in getting a team to the Super Bowl.    From my view, mental toughness can simply be defined as:

Keeping focus on a goal despite what happens or what others say about you or your team

   What I mean by "what happens or what other people say about you" does not only mean "bad things" or "negativity".   It can equally mean good times and good things being said about you or to you as both can derail you from your ultimate goal.   We sometimes think only bad events can do this, but often people derail themselves when they make progress and get good vibes from their friends, family or other sources.   In some ways these factors can actually be more divisive than negative ones as we don't necessary recognize them for what they can do to us.  We don't see that we take our eyes off of our long-range goal to take in our short-term-feel-good-at-the-moment-strokes.   Instead of practicing and training we spend more of our time reading about how good we are or how good we played during the last game etc..   We begin to think that we are invincible and that our skills and talents will carry us through any future adversity we meet.  I call this the "Apollo Creed

Problem" for just as the character Apollo Creed in the movie "Rocky" did not prepare for his fight with Rocky because he thought himself to be so much better than this low-life-fighter-from-no-where that he spent more time with his investors than in the gym.   Negative events are more easily spotted and often force us to address them than positive events.    I believe it's for this reason that so often the Patriots team give such lack-luster interviews after their wins.   Coach Belichick is notorious for this and sports writers hate this as he gives them so little to write about.  His after-game interviews almost all go the same.  "It was a good win. We are happy for it, but we need to get ready for next week".  It's a valed effort to prevent them from becoming to cocky and reminding themselves of what really matters.  That "this game they just played" will be forgotten by next week and all that matters is the long range goal of reaching the Super Bowl. 

I see that Mental Toughness is required on 3 levels: 

Level 1: Long Term Mental Toughness (LTMT)

    The first 4 games of a season are vital to NFL teams.  It's an early indicator as to how the season may end up.  The first 4 can show trends on how the teams are fairing over all.   All the teams would love to be 4 and 0 but that can't happen.  Some will be 0 and 4 others, 1-3,2-2,3-1.    At the beginning of the 2014 season, the Patriots were a mere 2 wins and 2 losses.  For some teams that might be a good start, but not for the Patriots or their fans.  They expect to be 4 and 0 and nothing else will do.     Their last game against the Kansas City Chiefs was horrible.  They lost badly to them and Brady's effort was lackluster to say the least.  Sports writers were all saying that maybe Tom Brady should retire this year and that he just didn't seem to have the fire in the belly as in the past.   With 12

games left in the season it was do or die and the next game for them was against Cincinnati who were 4 and 0 and looking to be a contender this year.    But something happened that week and a totally different team emerged the following week against the Bengals and they won in a decisive way and ended all the speculation on Brady's career being over with.   Was all fixed?  Was the Super Bowl now in plane site?  No.  They still have 11 more games to go and they would have to face even tougher challengers along the way.  But LTMT would have to prevail and they would have to go after each game as if they were still 2 and 2.

     To end the discussion on LTMT here would be to only explore half of the problem.  For it's not just the 2-2 or 1-3 or the 0-4 teams that must deal with it, but also the 4-0 and 3-1 teams that need to use it as well.  As I mentioned before, they have an even harder problem as they are the teams on the top.  They are winning their games.  The sports writers and talk shows are highlighting all the things they are doing right and how they are all looking like contenders.  LTMT means that you have to always see yourself for who you really are: just another team/person contending for a title/trophy.  Too often the teams on the top stop seeing this and begin to think that their own talent or skill will carry them through.  Maybe they don't pay as close attention to the scouting reports or game films.  Maybe they forget that it only takes a few key players to be injured to change their fate. 

    Where does LTMT play a role in your life?   One example was in my own life.  In grade school I
was mostly a B student.  My brother, who was 4 years older than me graduated from high school with honors and I was going into high school the next year.  I remember telling myself that if Jim could do that I could do it as well.  I made a goal for myself to be a straight A student and to prove I could do it I made a goal of getting straight A's my first semester of my freshmen year.  I reasoned that if I could do it for 1 semester I could do it for 8 semesters. I accomplished my initial goal and was on my way ... one semester at a time.  Another great example is Steve Jobs.  He was fired from his own company, Apple, after he could not make the transition from entrepreneur to CEO.   He went on to start his own company Next and was re-hired by Apple years later having learned from his mistakes.  LTMT is needed to take a "dream" and make it reality by not giving up and making intermediate goals to get you there.

Level 2: Short Term Mental Toughness (STMT)

    For the NFL, this takes place on the day of the game.  Like LTMT, teams have their ups and downs during the game.  Plays that work and plays that don't.  You can be up by 7 and then down by 7.  On both sides of the field STMT requires players and coaches to stay focused and in the game.   But as the game wears on, fatigue sets in  and it becomes harder to do.  Maybe you are up or down by 20 points and its nearing the end of the 3rd quarter.   Either its looking really good for you or really bad.  Regardless of the situation STMT says to stay on focus and stay on the march for the full game and not give up.   We have all seen plenty of games where that is not the case.  For example, just in the prior game where Seattle played Green Bay.  By all rights Green Bay should have won that game but they lost focus and allowed Seattle to not only score a touchdown but also an extra 2 points on a lobbed pass high in the air with no one trying to bat it down.    STMT means you keep trying despite what the scoreboard says or what happened during the last play.   During the Super Bowl when Seattle was up by 10 points, I happened to notice Pete Carroll and Wilson having a what looked like a casual conversation during a timeout when there was just 5 minutes left in the game rather than a intense conversation of a team still in the heat of battle.  Did they think they had this one in the bag?  Was the pressure off now? 

    To illustrate this, look at the last couple of plays during the Super Bowl.  When Wilson completed an incredible pass down at the 5 yard line that was bobbled but eventually caught,  Pete Carroll threw off his headphones and ran out onto the field fist pumping and congratulating his team.  On the other side, the Patriots coach, Bill Belichick rolled his eyes but went back to work looking at what he needed to do next.   Carroll lost precious seconds with his cheerleading that he could have used to prepare his team for what they needed to do next and with only 60 seconds left in the game those seconds mattered.  Belichick could have gone on a tirade and yelled at his players for letting that happen but he didn't.  What's past is past and he needed to plan for the future. STMT requires this.  You need to forget what has happened whether good or bad and keep focused on what you need to do next because time is of the essence and you are running out of it. 

     Another example happened just 40 seconds later when Carroll called in a pass play that ultimately was intercepted by the Patriots at the 1 yard line.  Carroll ripped off his headphones and put his head between his knees for several seconds while Belichick only gave a few fist pumps into the air and then back to work.  These few seconds mattered.   What should have Carroll been doing?  Well for one, all was not lost.  He had the Patriots on the one place on the field you could want them to be with 20 seconds left: the 1 yard line.  It would have been the 2 yard line but an early celebration by the Patriots cost them 1 yard in penalties (this was a example of a failure in the Patriots mental toughness). Carroll still had 1 timeout left as well.  The Patriots could not take a knee as that would be a safety in the end-zone which would be 2 points for Seattle and the ball back.  They had to run at least 1 play to get away from the end-zone.  The Seattle defense went out on field and rather than be prepared by their coach to remain cool and not jump off sides they lined up so close on the ball it was almost encroachment before the ball was even hiked.  STMT would have allowed Carroll to stay focused on the game and not be destroyed by 1 bad play.  

    STMT is needed in regular life as well.  We get sidetracked in life by what happens to us.  It might be a relationship (good or bad).  It might be a death in the family or a job loss.  It might be a promotion you didn't get (or do get).  It might be even as something simple like a flat tire on your way to work or something someone said to you in a meeting.   STMT allows us to put the past behind us and focus on what is right in front of us.  STMT allows us to not be "defined" by bad events or even by our own bad actions.  We still need to own up to it.  It doesn't mean we become emotionless robots either.  We just need to find a way PAST the event. 

Level 3: In The Moment Mental Toughness (ITMMT)

    This was best shown on the play of Brady standing in the end-zone when the team was on the 1 yard line.   The Patriots remained motionless waiting for Tom to give the hard count.  No one moved until a player from Seattle stepped across the line.   ITMMT means you don't let your emotions or adrenaline make your decisions for you.   You could see it on the field.  The Seattle players were huddled close to the ball and were as jumpy as a bunch of wild horses waiting in the stall.  You could
see what was going to happen even before it does.   This costs them dearly as the penalty moves the ball from the 1 yard line to the 6 yard line and plenty of room for them to take a knee.   But even after that play Seattle lost their ITMMT when they chose to initiate a fight with the Patriots.  This not only cost them a key player (ejected) but also a precious timeout that they could have used to give them 2 tries at causing a mistake by the Patriots on their kneel-down. 

    ITMMT is often the most difficult to work on for anyone.  We are fighting our own bodies and emotions in these cases and run on a more primitive area of our brains.  Also, these events don't happen everyday and so it's very hard to practice what to do in these cases.  Teams try to simulate these scenarios during practices but nothing every really comes close as being on the 1 yard line with 60 seconds left in the Super Bowl.    

    In our own loves ITMMT is needed when your boss or co-worker puts down your presentation or your ideas in a meeting you have been planning for a long time.   You have to restrain yourself from calling them out as a F***ing A**hole or showing them what your middle finger looks like.  ITMMT is needed when a person knowingly cuts you off in traffic and almost causes an accident.  Yes you need to beep your horn, but you don't need to run them down and ride their tail.   ITMMT is important when your wife makes plans to visit her family without asking if you want to or not.  ITMMT is needed when sales clerk won't let you get your money back on your item.  (Looking at the state of affairs on the internet I would say that ITMMT is in less and less supply these days).

   

Bill Nye the LYING Guy

     Lately a lot of attention has been placed on the air pressure of footballs.   A subject that normally would bore the crap out of you is now suddenly the most interesting subject for sports and non-sport newscasters to discuss.   All of this because the Indianapolis Colts complained that a football used by the New England Patriots during their Jan 18th "smack down" (that's what you call it when one team beats the other by a score of 45-7), had low air pressure.   The referees were alerted and they brought the ball to the locker room and found it to be 2 psi (pounds/square-inch) lower than the acceptable minimum of 12.5 psi.    People, all over the media, demanded answers as to WHO let the air out of the balls during the game.  Countless talking-heads were brought to the airwaves to find out who measures the pressure, when do they measure it, how do they measure it,  who has access to the balls etc..    Everyone had an opinion on the matter and most pointed their fingers at Tom Brady given he would have the most to gain from doing this.

   But no one thought to blame the most obvious culprit: the cold weather.   Yes, the cold weather.  It does get cold in New England and Jan 18th was no different.  Temperatures started out in the mid 50's and by the end of the game were in the upper 30's.   Coach Belichick even tried to point this out in one of his interviews as a possible cause.

   To clarify this claim, ESPN brought in the TV personality: Bill Nye "The Science Guy".   First thing I must ask ESPN before I go on is this:  Are there no other ACTUAL scientists out there who you could pull in to your shows to answer this question?  After all, MIT is just a few miles from Foxboro.  Would it be too hard to drive over there and ask a physics or engineering professor to get their take on it or were they all too busy?  None the less, Bill Nye was their go to man on this subject and Bill decided to use some props to illustrate what air pressure and temperature do to inflated balls.  But Bill did not use actual footballs, instead he chose to use regular rubber playground balls.   In his illustration he showed that heating or cooling the balls would only change the SIZE of the balls and not the internal pressure.  He even went so far as to say "the ONLY thing to change the pressure in the balls is by inserting a ball needle and putting more air in or taking more air out".  Check out the video here

    But is that the COMPETE TRUTH?   

    Far from it...

    There is a basic equation that is used in the study of Thermodynamics he never discusses:

                   PV  =  nRT

     Where :
                  P  =  Pressure  (pounds per square inch)
                  V  = Volume  of the container
                  n   = # of gas molecules
                  R  = Thermodynamic constant
                  T  = Temperature (measured in kelvins)

     In the case of the balls used by Bill Nye, the rubber is stretchy enough to allow the volume of the

container (V) to increase.  When the ball is heated/cooled, the gas expands/contracts and pushes the walls of the ball out allowing the pressure to stay constant (unless at some point the rubber becomes harder to stretch).  But this is not the case of the football at all which is wrapped in a hard leather made of cows-hide that keeps the ball from expanding beyond its predetermined dimensions.  This means the variable V is actually a constant for a mostly inflated football. 

    So if we make V, n and R all constants (which means we don't add or subtract any air from the ball) we have the following relationship

               P =  kT     (where is k =  nR/V)

    Given this relationship,   as T goes UP .... so does P.   Likewise as T goes down....do does P

    In fact, when the refs checked the pressure indoors (which is what they do) before the game and saw the balls had P = 12.5 psi at a room temperature of 75 degrees Fahrenheit (300 degrees kelvin) the balls pressure would drop to 10.5 psi  at a temperature of 45 degrees Fahrenheit (277 degrees kelvin). 

    This accounts for 100% of  the 2 pound drop in pressure

     Coach Bill was right and Bill Nye was wrong.

     So why would Bill Nye lie about this?  Certainly he knows this equation and how it works.  The answer to that question actually comes at the end of the interview when he mentions he is a Seattle Seahawks fan and says "Go Seahawk!".

     You are so pathetic Bill.  You often lambast Christians for putting their beliefs before their science, but you put something even more lame before your science.  You put your preference on a stupid football game.   You had an opportunity to tell the truth and set the record straight.  You had a chance to exonerate Tom Brady from any mischief on the playing field.   You were the "go to person" to explain a basic scientific principle to the masses but instead you chose a pathetic answer that would keep most Americans in the dark and forever brand a player as a cheater.

    Way to go Bill!   You have destroyed your reputation as a credible person of science for nothing.  

    Our problem in our country is not a lack of air in a football, but instead a complete and utter lack of basic science by those in our sports and also in our media and a lack of integrity of those in the media who the public looks to for answers.  It angers me to see a people rush to judgment without taking into account all the possibilities as to what could happened.  But for too many their motto seems to be:
    
                   SLANDER FIRST... ASK QUESTIONS LATER.   

Why I don't plan on seeing the movie Selma

      My Uncle Carl, who was a farmer, once said, "Cow manure doesn't stink until you rake it up!".   His simple proverb simply means that we should at some point allow things in the past to settle and that going over those mistakes does not help in the healing process.

      It is for this reason that I don't plan on seeing the movie Selma.   Yes, Selma was some bad white
"shit" and it should never ever be repeated again against any race; black, red, yellow or white.  But to me it's like a 16 year-old who steals the family car, gets drunk, totals the car and gets arrested.   Later he grows up and becomes a responsible adult but every year at Thanksgiving he has to listen to the same story about how much money and trouble he cost the family in that infamous accident.   Each year, more and more gory details are conjured up by family members.  At some point he will stop coming to the family dinners because he doesn't want to be treated like that irresponsible teen he once was but is no more.  Will he ever be allowed to live it down?  Will hearing the story over and over change what happened?  Will he feel more loving towards the family or become more hostile and angry?   I think the answer is pretty obvious to anyone reading this that it won't accomplish any of those goals.

    In the same way, does Selma offer any new insight?   Nothing that I am aware of.  I have seen the news real footage of black people being beaten and gassed at Selma.  It was horrible.  I know of the tremendous courage of Martin Luther King to stand up to those in power with the conviction of "Non-Violence".  It's all there and it's all true, but that doesn't mean I have to relive it or flog myself with a scourge until I paint the floor with my own blood either.   I feel no need execute any form of penance for things neither I nor my parents or grandparents did as my ancestors came well after the Civil War and lived no where near the South or had anything to do with the KKK.  What impact will Selma have on our current generation of black youths who will undoubtedly feel anger and hatred towards non-blacks?   Will it increase the violence we see today towards our police who are only doing their job to protect our communities?  Will it foster more new violence (only this time without good people like MLK to hold them back)?   

     Every nationality or race has been discriminated against at some point in our worlds history.  The Irish were treated horribly in the 19th century and given jobs too dangerous for a slave to do because they cost so much to own.  The Chinese were looked down upon and treated horrible during the building of the railroad.   My own people, the Germans,  during WWII were treated as spies and kept from speaking their own German language (the government even made it illegal to speak German in church) and many were incarcerated wrongfully.   Were they discriminated against?  Of course they were.  But do I as a 3rd generation American need to be cognoscente of it or have our government issue some grand apology for those actions?   Of course not!

    To me, movies like "Selma" or "12 Years a Slave" are like trying to drive down the highway while looking behind you instead of ahead of you.  Of course you will see where you've been but you won't be able to avoid the obstacles coming your way.   At some point you will have to stop looking over your shoulder and start looking ahead and say

 "What's done is done.  Tomorrow will be better".

   

Freedom's Balloon

     Freedom is constantly under attack by those around us.  When you think about it freedom is a scary concept.  It requires you to surrender your need to be in control of me.   What will I do with my freedom?   That's for me to know and for you to find out.   Will I upset your little world?  Maybe.   Will my words change your long held views?  Maybe.   Will my words offend you?  Maybe.   Sadly, The ones who hate freedom the most are those we put in government to protect it.  It's almost a requirement of the job when you consider those who go into congress are there because they love to be in control and therefore they have little desire for freedom for those who put them.      

    Have you ever considered the workings of a balloon?  A balloon is pushed outward by the air pressure inside and pushed inward by the balloons rubber and external air pressure so also the pressure to expand freedoms boundaries is met with a hostile world afraid of that freedom.   Similarly when the pressure inside is reduced, the balloon does not keep its current shape.  Instead it retracts and gets smaller until someone is willing to exert the necessary force to push more air into it.   Sometimes this air escapes quickly when you let the opening open for a brief moment.  Sometimes it escapes very slowly as most rubber balloons will "leak" air through its porous membrane over a long period of time.

    Freedom is much like this balloon.   First of all, it doesn't inflate itself on its own.  Energy must be exerted by an external force to push air inside the balloon.  This internal air pressure is matched by increasing amounts of pressure exerted by the balloons material and by the external air pressure.  Freedom too takes energy to expand those freedoms.   Those who fear what those freedoms will do to them will undoubtedly push back with increasing amounts of hostility.   Of course some will "push the boundaries" further than we would like them to be pushed.   Take in point the artists of the French magazine, Charlie Hebdo, what published cartoons that made fun of Muslims and their so called prophet.   Those cartoons were meant to cause a rise in their opposition.   Some say they "took it too far", but in reality they merely pushed freedom's boundaries a little further and increased the room inside the balloon a little more for all of us whether we agree with them or not.   When we stop pushing freedom's boundary over time it will begin to shrink, because the pressure from those who oppose it will not relent.   Over time, freedom begins to "leak" as well and slowly vanishes from our midst.  This is actually the most dangerous mechanism for freedom to be lost as it happens so slowly that many don't even see it happening.  But thanks to those who do stand up from time to time and bring our attention to what is happening and are willing to sound the alarm so new air can be refreshed into its cavity and its volume increased again.

   Also it must be noted that when air is pushed in or let out, the balloon inflates and deflates evenly on all sides.   There is no way to just inflate the left or the right side, likewise there is no way to only deflate the left or right side.   When we call for bans on types of speech WE find offensive, we only hurt ourselves as the other side will find OUR speech to be offensive as well and we will be measured with the same stick we use on them.  I used to be in favor of the government stopping foul language on music albums and the like as a parent.  But now I see that I only favored such an approach because I didn't want to be the "bad guy" to my kids and restrict what they could purchase.   It's easier to call on the government to do the "dirty work" for you so you can say "It's not my fault son, the government is the one that is forcing them to do that!"    Our best bet is for all sides to call a truce in the war on speech because in this war the only winner is our government who takes away these freedoms from us. 

    Ronald Reagan once said,"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same."

   We should all say "Thanks" to the french cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo who did their part in pushing freedom's boundaries to make more room for all of our freedoms which we enjoy!