Here is a link to my most recently published article:
Livestock clinic helps kids with projects
The article is on page 3. The link will only be active until next Friday when it will be replaced by the newest edition of Intermountain Farm and Ranch.
This article was a lot of fun to write. I enjoyed hanging out and talking with all the farm kids and learning about ultrasound for carcass traits and how they do 4-H projects. It was great!
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Friday, February 14, 2014
Monday, December 9, 2013
Double standard in environmentalism?
Wind power and ethanol ... the wave of the future, the salvation of mankind. Right? Wrong! I have always been taught to take care of the earth. My parents taught me to take care of our animals, to not waste water, to avoid eroding the soil and to not throw garbage anywhere but in the garbage. And for being anti-environmentalist, my parents are actually remarkable recyclers. They believe in taking care of nature. But they don't believe in the power struggle and corruption that describes the current environmentalist movement.
Here are a couple of articles that my husband found that represent, to me at least, the double standard that is in our current brand of environmentalism.
The secret environmental cost of ethanol
Wind farms can kill eagles without penalty
Here are a couple of articles that my husband found that represent, to me at least, the double standard that is in our current brand of environmentalism.
The secret environmental cost of ethanol
Wind farms can kill eagles without penalty
Sunday, December 8, 2013
A Sunday citation
Last week I posted a quote about evolution and creationism. At the end it mentioned that it was sad that people aren't educated about the other scientifically viable theories for the beginning of the earth. I was only taught one, and as far as I knew, there was only one. But there are more. Here is a theory I found in the Old Testament institute manual that I find fascinating:
"A second theory argues that Abraham was told through the Urim and Thummim that one revolution of Kolob, the star nearest the throne of God, took one thousand earth years (see Abraham 3:2-4). In other words, on could say that one day of the Lord's time equals one thousand earth years. Other scriptures support this theory, too (see Psalms 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8). If the word day in Genesis was used in this sense, then the earth would be approximately thirteen thousand years old (seven days of a thousand years each for the Creation plus the nearly six thousand years since Adam's fall). Some see Doctrine and Covenants 77:12 as additional scriptural support for this theory.
"Although the majority of geologists, astronomers and other scientists believe that even this long period is not adequate to explain the physical evidence found in the earth, there are a small number of reputable scholars who disagree. These claim that the geological clocks are misinterpreted and that tremendous catastrophes in the earth's history sped up the processes that normally may take thousands of years. They cite evidence supporting the idea that thirteen thousand years is not and unrealistic time period. Immanuel Velikousky, for example, wrote three books amassing evidence that worldwide catastrophic upheavals in recent history, and he argued against uniformitarianism, the idea that natural processes in evidence now have always prevailed at the same approximate rate of uniformity. These books are Worlds in Collision, Ages in Chaos, and Earth in Upheaval."
"A second theory argues that Abraham was told through the Urim and Thummim that one revolution of Kolob, the star nearest the throne of God, took one thousand earth years (see Abraham 3:2-4). In other words, on could say that one day of the Lord's time equals one thousand earth years. Other scriptures support this theory, too (see Psalms 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8). If the word day in Genesis was used in this sense, then the earth would be approximately thirteen thousand years old (seven days of a thousand years each for the Creation plus the nearly six thousand years since Adam's fall). Some see Doctrine and Covenants 77:12 as additional scriptural support for this theory.
"Although the majority of geologists, astronomers and other scientists believe that even this long period is not adequate to explain the physical evidence found in the earth, there are a small number of reputable scholars who disagree. These claim that the geological clocks are misinterpreted and that tremendous catastrophes in the earth's history sped up the processes that normally may take thousands of years. They cite evidence supporting the idea that thirteen thousand years is not and unrealistic time period. Immanuel Velikousky, for example, wrote three books amassing evidence that worldwide catastrophic upheavals in recent history, and he argued against uniformitarianism, the idea that natural processes in evidence now have always prevailed at the same approximate rate of uniformity. These books are Worlds in Collision, Ages in Chaos, and Earth in Upheaval."
Sunday, December 1, 2013
A Sunday citation
Here is a great quote that I found in the Old Testament institute manual. This quote is by Dr. Harold G. Coffin, who was (I don't know if he's still there) a professor of paleontology and research at the Geoscience Research Institute, Andrews University. For those wanting to read the full quote with all the evidence he presents, click here.
"On a television panel celebrating the centennial of Charles Darwin's book, Origin of Species, Sir Julian Huxley began his comments by saying, 'The first point to make about Darwin's theory is that it is no longer a theory, but a fact. No serious scientist would deny the fact that evolution has occurred, just as he would not deny the fact that the earth goes around the sun. [Sol Tax and Charles Callender, eds. Issues in Evolution, p. 41.] This is a confusing statement that tells only part of the truth. First, the word evolution must be defined.
"The world itself merely means 'change,' and on the basis of this definition, evolution is a fact. However, most people understand evolution to mean progressive change in time from simplicity to complexity, from primitive to advanced. This definition of evolution is not based on fact. The study of inheritance has revealed principles and facts that can prove evolution--if we understand evolution to mean 'change.' But the obvious minor changes occurring to living things today give no basis for concluding that limitless change has happened in the past. ...
"Yes, new species of plants and animals are forming today. The almost endless intergradations of animals and plants in the world, the fantastic degeneration among parasites, and the adaptations of offense and defense, lead to the inevitable conclusion that change has occurred. However, the problem of major changes from one fundamental kind to another is still a most pressing unanswered question facing the evolutionist. Modern animals and plants can change, but the amount of change is limited. The laboratories of science have been unable to demonstrate change from one major kind to another, neither has such change happened in the past history of earth if we take the fossil record at face value.
"Constant exposure to one theory of origins, and only one, has convinced many that no alternative exists and that evolution must be the full and complete answer. How unfortunate that most of the millions who pass through the educational process have little opportunity to weigh the evidences on both sides!" (Coffin, Creation, pp. 13, 15.)
"On a television panel celebrating the centennial of Charles Darwin's book, Origin of Species, Sir Julian Huxley began his comments by saying, 'The first point to make about Darwin's theory is that it is no longer a theory, but a fact. No serious scientist would deny the fact that evolution has occurred, just as he would not deny the fact that the earth goes around the sun. [Sol Tax and Charles Callender, eds. Issues in Evolution, p. 41.] This is a confusing statement that tells only part of the truth. First, the word evolution must be defined.
"The world itself merely means 'change,' and on the basis of this definition, evolution is a fact. However, most people understand evolution to mean progressive change in time from simplicity to complexity, from primitive to advanced. This definition of evolution is not based on fact. The study of inheritance has revealed principles and facts that can prove evolution--if we understand evolution to mean 'change.' But the obvious minor changes occurring to living things today give no basis for concluding that limitless change has happened in the past. ...
"Yes, new species of plants and animals are forming today. The almost endless intergradations of animals and plants in the world, the fantastic degeneration among parasites, and the adaptations of offense and defense, lead to the inevitable conclusion that change has occurred. However, the problem of major changes from one fundamental kind to another is still a most pressing unanswered question facing the evolutionist. Modern animals and plants can change, but the amount of change is limited. The laboratories of science have been unable to demonstrate change from one major kind to another, neither has such change happened in the past history of earth if we take the fossil record at face value.
"Constant exposure to one theory of origins, and only one, has convinced many that no alternative exists and that evolution must be the full and complete answer. How unfortunate that most of the millions who pass through the educational process have little opportunity to weigh the evidences on both sides!" (Coffin, Creation, pp. 13, 15.)
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Nicolas Copernicus and understanding truth
I was reading The Story of the World vol. 2 a couple of weeks ago when I came across a most intriguing story. It was about a man named Nicolas Copernicus, who was born in 1473.
Copernicus was a Polish scientist who went to study at the University of Bologna. At the time, people believed that the sun and stars rotated around the earth, and the Catholic church believed that this meant that man was at the center of God's plan. This theory mainly came from the writings of a man named Claudius Ptolemny, who was born about 90 A.D.
But Copernicus found errors in Ptolemny's writings, and from his observations, he hypothesized that the earth rotated around the sun. He even wrote a book about it and published it just before he died.
The Catholic church denounced this theory and claimed that it proved that man was not the center of God's plan, and therefore couldn't be true. They put the book he wrote on a list of literature good Catholics should never read.
This story intrigues me. It shows me how narrow humankind can be, and just how little we know. The Catholic church was right that man is at the center of God's plan. From modern revelation, we know that God's work and glory "is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (Moses 1:39) And because they didn't understand everything, they rejected a very important truth ... that the earth went around the sun, not the other way around.
We also now know from modern revelation that God has created worlds without number, and that His works and glory have no end. His plan for man is far bigger and grander than anything the people in the 16th century could have understood without divine revelation.
This teaches me something, and it reminds me of a quote I once read:
"I regularly encounter students (Latter-day Saints, Baptists, Muslims, atheists--students of all sorts) who are so determined to shield their faith and their perspectives that they seem closed to fundamental discovery. They believe it their job to hold onto their secular or religious faith as if holding their breath, no matter what they experience. Some avoid, fight, or tip-toe through certain courses, not really engaging in them, afraid or angry that they may confront a topic or a fact that threatens their understanding. ...
"Faith is a precious thing, the first principle of the gospel. I sympathize with this impulse to protect it at any cost. However, spiritual and mental tragedy can come not only through loss of faith, but also through inauthenticity, ignorance, and fear.
"Faith does not exist in a vacuum, and not all faith is healthy or righteous. After all, terrorists, on the basis of faith, fly airplanes into tall buildings filled with innocent people. What is wanted is not the rigid, uninformed, closed, and cocksure faith assertions of the fanatic, but a thoughtful and open trust, an organic and living faith, born of love and welcoming of growth, inquiry, new perspectives, and adjustment.
"In this light, it helps to remember that our Father in Heaven is the Lord of Truth. ... For if our God were not a God of truth, He would, as the Book of Mormon puts it in another context, 'cease to be God.' Even if powerful, such a god would be worthy of neither our trust nor our worship. 'But God ceaseth not to be God' (Alma 42.23). Among other things, this means that God is unafraid of truth, including any human truths we might encounter in our study.
"Of course, alleged facts can be dangerous for inexperienced minds lacking sufficient context and means of testing and explaining them. It is essential to realize that what we take to be facts are properly contested in the academy. One purpose of an education, indeed, is to deepen the ability for informed and critical thought that is increasingly able to discern the credibility of arguments, alleged facts, and their proper contexts. Moreover, to accept something as "fact" is not the same as assigning that fact a meaning. 'So what?' is an excellent question. We should be wary of our own and others' (including our teachers') perceptions, weaknesses, tendencies to leap to conclusions, or sneering or condescending attitudes that may cast a false pale over even legitimate facts. But the proper response to all this is further study, conversation, testing, experience, thought, discipline, and prayer--not avoidance. The ongoing pursuit of truth--rather than an expressed or unstated boast that we already possess and comprehend it in its fulness--can and should be at one with hungering and thirsting after righteousness. God and truth are perfectly aligned." (Barlow, Phillip, "Balancing the life of the mind and spirit on campus," A Twenty-Something's Guide to Spirituality. 2007. 138-139.)
There are absolute truths that God has given us through His prophets and His scriptures. Because we know He is all-knowing and that He is teaching us on a level that all can understand, we can use those truths as guides when we seek for truth in other areas of study. We know that knowledge is complete when it is in line with God's revealed truths. If they seem inconsistent with God's revealed word, we know that we are either only seeing part of the truth or misconstruing the truth, and there is more to discover.
Anyway, we have to be careful of closing our minds to truths that we don't understand. It can actually undermine our faith and leave us in confusion in the end.
Copernicus was a Polish scientist who went to study at the University of Bologna. At the time, people believed that the sun and stars rotated around the earth, and the Catholic church believed that this meant that man was at the center of God's plan. This theory mainly came from the writings of a man named Claudius Ptolemny, who was born about 90 A.D.
But Copernicus found errors in Ptolemny's writings, and from his observations, he hypothesized that the earth rotated around the sun. He even wrote a book about it and published it just before he died.
The Catholic church denounced this theory and claimed that it proved that man was not the center of God's plan, and therefore couldn't be true. They put the book he wrote on a list of literature good Catholics should never read.
This story intrigues me. It shows me how narrow humankind can be, and just how little we know. The Catholic church was right that man is at the center of God's plan. From modern revelation, we know that God's work and glory "is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (Moses 1:39) And because they didn't understand everything, they rejected a very important truth ... that the earth went around the sun, not the other way around.
We also now know from modern revelation that God has created worlds without number, and that His works and glory have no end. His plan for man is far bigger and grander than anything the people in the 16th century could have understood without divine revelation.
This teaches me something, and it reminds me of a quote I once read:
"I regularly encounter students (Latter-day Saints, Baptists, Muslims, atheists--students of all sorts) who are so determined to shield their faith and their perspectives that they seem closed to fundamental discovery. They believe it their job to hold onto their secular or religious faith as if holding their breath, no matter what they experience. Some avoid, fight, or tip-toe through certain courses, not really engaging in them, afraid or angry that they may confront a topic or a fact that threatens their understanding. ...
"Faith is a precious thing, the first principle of the gospel. I sympathize with this impulse to protect it at any cost. However, spiritual and mental tragedy can come not only through loss of faith, but also through inauthenticity, ignorance, and fear.
"Faith does not exist in a vacuum, and not all faith is healthy or righteous. After all, terrorists, on the basis of faith, fly airplanes into tall buildings filled with innocent people. What is wanted is not the rigid, uninformed, closed, and cocksure faith assertions of the fanatic, but a thoughtful and open trust, an organic and living faith, born of love and welcoming of growth, inquiry, new perspectives, and adjustment.
"In this light, it helps to remember that our Father in Heaven is the Lord of Truth. ... For if our God were not a God of truth, He would, as the Book of Mormon puts it in another context, 'cease to be God.' Even if powerful, such a god would be worthy of neither our trust nor our worship. 'But God ceaseth not to be God' (Alma 42.23). Among other things, this means that God is unafraid of truth, including any human truths we might encounter in our study.
"Of course, alleged facts can be dangerous for inexperienced minds lacking sufficient context and means of testing and explaining them. It is essential to realize that what we take to be facts are properly contested in the academy. One purpose of an education, indeed, is to deepen the ability for informed and critical thought that is increasingly able to discern the credibility of arguments, alleged facts, and their proper contexts. Moreover, to accept something as "fact" is not the same as assigning that fact a meaning. 'So what?' is an excellent question. We should be wary of our own and others' (including our teachers') perceptions, weaknesses, tendencies to leap to conclusions, or sneering or condescending attitudes that may cast a false pale over even legitimate facts. But the proper response to all this is further study, conversation, testing, experience, thought, discipline, and prayer--not avoidance. The ongoing pursuit of truth--rather than an expressed or unstated boast that we already possess and comprehend it in its fulness--can and should be at one with hungering and thirsting after righteousness. God and truth are perfectly aligned." (Barlow, Phillip, "Balancing the life of the mind and spirit on campus," A Twenty-Something's Guide to Spirituality. 2007. 138-139.)
There are absolute truths that God has given us through His prophets and His scriptures. Because we know He is all-knowing and that He is teaching us on a level that all can understand, we can use those truths as guides when we seek for truth in other areas of study. We know that knowledge is complete when it is in line with God's revealed truths. If they seem inconsistent with God's revealed word, we know that we are either only seeing part of the truth or misconstruing the truth, and there is more to discover.
Anyway, we have to be careful of closing our minds to truths that we don't understand. It can actually undermine our faith and leave us in confusion in the end.
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