http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/11/01/trump.flag.ap/index.html

I want to say I couldn't believe it when I saw this article on CNN today, but sadly given the state of affairs here in the US, I can believe all too easily.

All I have to say is way to go Donald Trump! Not exactly a phrase I expected to hear myself ever utter... Oh well, in this case it's a pleasant surprise...

On other news: I hope that given Kerry's latest 'insert foot into mouth' comments regarding the intelligence of our soldiers overseas that this means people will finally see him for what he really is.

Anyway, hopefully I'll manage to post more later.
-Jon

Greetings all, sorry for the delay I've been stuck traveling a lot for my job lately.

Update about the biz: I've gotten a few more leads and am tracking them down, other than that no real bites at the moment.

Update on general career: A possible new position has opened up, so we'll see how the interview process goes. If so, things could definitely start improving for us, and a Yeah God would be in order. ;)

Random Thought of the Day:
Is Daylight Savings outdated?

I would say the answer for most Americans that it is a resounding, Yes. I would argue to keep us on Daylight time (summer) rather than Standard time (winter). I don't know about where you are but here in Oregon the winters tend to be long, wet and gloomy (strangely enough as a native Oregonian, I normally like it--well the rain at any rate) and an hour of daylight after work would be wonderful. Otherwise, we tend to be stuck with it being dark out when we leave for work and dark out when we get home. Thankfully in my current position, I have an office with a view, so I can enjoy the daylight, however most of my career that has not been the case, and it can definitely start to get you down by the end of the week.

I would also argue that the past arguments for daylight savings have primarily been rendered moot at this point. Farmers plow, etc in the dark just as often in the daylight anymore and for most other jobs there doesn't appear to be a good reasoning for it as those positions that require daylight tend to adjust their schedules to match it regardless.

Any thoughts?
-Jon

(Hello all from "the spouse" of the Zebra :-). When the man's away, the wife will play!)

So he's from Texas, that don't mean he don't know much about them there teknologees. :-)

I loved reading his speech to the October Energy conference. I'm not quite as optomistic that Hydrogen (read, Hindenberg) will be that common so quickly, but at least it's pushing us all off the bottle as it were. (see also this)

Blessings out there in blog-land,

AG

I'm currently re-reading Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle's Motie books "Mote in God's Eye" and "The Gripping Hand." They remind me of a report I did back in college referring to Giordano Bruno's concept of the universe. I will need to re-read some of his works since I am no longer familiar with them. I'll see what I can find on Gutenberg.org (which by the way is a wonderful resource). [Oddly enough there wasn't anything on Gutenberg.]

The main point I'm working towards here is the concept of Christ throughout the universe. I have seen it in George MacDonald's 'Lilith' (one of my favorite fantasy books, because it presents some very interesting questions that you can see sparked some of C.S. Lewis' excellent works on Christianity), and even Ted Dekker's Circle Trilogy.

One must of course discount the Lilith concept, after looking through Wikipedia.org I was able to trace more of the concept to better understand it. I'm not going to get into discussing 'Lilith' yet, recently when I re-read it again, I went through it twice simply because there is so much going on. I haven't had a chance to reflect on the notes I took at that time--in particular since I didn't have the Blog up and running yet.

The point I'm working on is that Christ died for all mankind, if there is another inhabited planet out there somewhere--unlikely, but who knows? Christ might have had to die at the same time on that other planet in order to save them too. Christ was God and therefore capable, but would He need to? But then reading C.S. Lewis' Perelandra series, the planet Venus is akin to another Garden of Eden, so I'm left postulating nonsense, and yet it's an interesting mental exercise. For an infinitely large universe that is constantly expanding, despite the rigorous requirements in order for a planet to meet the criteria for life (eloquently described in Lee Strobel's "Case for Christ"), would the 'people' on that planet already be saved because of the death of Christ here on Earth and thus not know sin, or would they know sin as we do, but know that there is salvation through Christ? That is the one major problem I have with Ted Dekker's Circle trilogy. Christ already died for us, why would He need to do it again? He conquered Death when He rose again, as He said 'It is finished.' (John 19:30)

Anyway, the point I was trying to get at, is that in the 'Motie' books, a race of aliens is discovered that must breed (they die if they don't), thus once they escape their system, how will it impact the rest of the universe? They also threw in a character--primarily restricted to the first book--who is a catholic priest, and his thoughts on how to reconcile the existence of another sentient species to Christianity. I can't say I agree with all of what they say, but it is interesting none the less. Imagine an exponentially expanding population, searching for worlds to inhabit. It also would throw a wrench in the concept of marriage, but since that is clearly defined in the Bible, I would not expect God to change His mind should He choose to create another sentient species, since God doesn't change His rules. That is the problem with trying to rectify secular fiction to Christianity, It just doesn't work. ;)

Niven did display the consequences (see 'Crashlander') of what happens to the legal concept of marriage, should the rules be opened to same sex, and multiple partner marriage. You end up with marriage contracts, terminating after a certain timeframe. Of course, he doesn't go into the emotional turmoil that would result and the further fragmentation of society as familial lines blur. Yet another reason for me to be grateful that I'm happily married and that I was able--with God's help, of course--to abstain from sex until I was married.

The thing that I like about Larry Niven is that the science in his science fiction at least sounds plausible on the surface, unlike so many of them out there. My wife absolutely loves to debunk movies when they start making up science as they go. Sad thing is, is that most people don't realize how far off the science is in most movies. That really says something about our education system.

[Oh, and for those that are curious my wife got her degree in Botany, and worked as a Plant Geneticist for a while and she has had no problem reconciling true science with her faith, as to be compared with science as its own religion. You have to ignore the basic fundamentals of science in order to further your own agenda to not follow the evidence of the world towards God. Modern science arose out of attempting to reconcile our understanding of the natural world with the word of God, not to debunk it. This is why I tend to laugh when I see people with Darwin and Science stickers on their cars, as if they are attempting to say that they are smarter than the rest of us. I guess they are attempting to say that they have access to secret or gnostic knowledge that the rest of us are unaware of--I wonder how they would react to that statement? Hmmm. Of course, I would have to explain the whole gnostic movement to them and they would get flustered and irritated long before I got to my point, but such is life.]

I'm still trying to determine if there is a point I'm trying to get at or not. We'll see as I finish up the second book here soon and get a chance to reflect on it. It's been a decade since I last read it, and definitely worth reading again in the future. For the most part here, it's just my random musings, as I contemplate God, the Universe and Everything. :D

-Jon

After posting my first post I realized I left something out. Namely, why the heck did I choose the name Zebra?

Well, throughout middle and high school I raced RC cars and trucks, and for some reason I decided to paint them in a zebra stripe fashion. The nickname stuck.

I have been informed in the past that the term zebra is derogatory in certain middle eastern languages, however that is not my intent. So to cut off any possible backlash from that quarter, all it means to me is an animal with a nifty coloring.

Later
-Jon

Greetings all,

I've finally decided to take my wife's advice and start a blog of my own. I guess
she's tired of me venting my opinions to only her. :D

Well, I suppose I should tell you all a little about myself so that you know what
this Blog will be about, my background, etc.

Let's see.

Education: Bachelor's of Science in History from Oregon State University. Masters
of Science in Library Science from Drexel University.

I actually started out in Engineering, but hit a metaphysical brick wall when I
hit upper division Calculus (I.e. when they took away the numbers) and so I
switched to Computer Science (which again was too abstract for me, although by
that point I had been programming for several years already) and ended up in
History. I had already determined I would go back for my Masters in
Library Science so I figured that I would pursue something I enjoyed for a
change. It also gave me a chance to polish my wiriting skills.

During my time at OSU, I got involved in Ballroom dancing and was on the
Performance team there called CoolShoes, which did everything from Latin
(including Argentine Tango) to Swing and the traditional American and
International Ballroom Dances. This was also where I met my wife who was
finishing up her Honor's Thesis in Botany (B.S.) and worked for a while as a
plant geneticist.

My Masters at Drexel focused on the IS side of Library Science, since I already
had a solid understanding of the traditional aspect of Library Science, as I have
worked a total of ten years as a Cataloger at both OSU and PSU. This program
included a focus on Competitive Intelligence and it was here that I finalized
several of my theories on the Alternative Fuels industry, including ways to make
it more economical. However, these items were never truly finalized on paper
until this past year when I finally wrote my business plan.

My main goal of starting an Alternative Fuels company is to construct a Christian
company that can solidly display what stewardship of the environment really
means. God has continally put me back on this path over the years and I only
really get anywhere when I follow His lead.

My professional experience is hard for most people to understand, but it makes
sense to me, in particular when I look back on it. These are the positions that
I've held: Lab Assistant performing Corrosion experiments, Cataloger at two major
Oregon universities, Technical writer, Web Designer, Long Haul Truck Driver (i.e.
driving a Semi across country--sorry for expounding on this, but some people I've
found actually don't know what that means), and Analyst.

As far as reading preferences, I enjoy a wide span of what my wife jokingly calls
boring subjects. History obviously (meaning the primary sources, and occasioanlly secondary sources), textbooks on various subjects (most recently it was Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry), 19th century literature (I enjoy the command of the language that authors used to have), and of course your generic science fiction, etc.

Therefore, I will be covering everything from General Science, Literature, Religion, Alternative Fuels theory and application, and everything in between. Narrows it down a bit, huh? ;D

I hope I can keep you all interested and hopefully keep this Blog updated on a semi-regular basis. Oh, and by the way until this business takes off--God willing--I'm in the market for a new position, that doesn't require a 3.5hr commute everyday. If you want to take a look at my full resume, it's on my site www.allnaturalzebra.net, under About Us.

-Jon