8.24.2012

Friday Summary Report, August 24


(1) After having a couple of weeks of relative calm as summer wrapped up, things have started to get busy again as my grad school classes for the fall semester have started up. My struggles studies in Greek continue, as this semester I take a course with a heavy emphasis on translating readings from the New Testament, and I’m also in a Global Evangelism class.

(2) Things have also been busy at work, as, in addition to regular duties and the start of my classes, I preached last week, am preaching again this week, and have also had various tasks to do to help with preparations for our upcoming year of Thursday Bible School.

(3) Here is an interesting report on the demographics of social network users. Did you know that the average age of Facebook users is over 40 (and getting older!)? Meanwhile, the average age of Twitter users is 37, and is getting increasingly younger. A lot of other interesting information is in the linked article.

(4) I’ve thought for some time that natural evidences for the existence of God don’t do much to convince people who aren’t already believers. Basically, if you already have your mind made up that God doesn’t exist, then you can look at countless examples from nature that scream Intelligent Design to the rest of us (believers) and find some other ways to explain it. But, if you, like me, find that “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19.1), then you’ll enjoy this article on Why Giraffes Don’t Have Brain Damage. The complexity and wonder of God’s creation never ceases to amaze me!

(5) The big news from the world of sports is that Lance Armstrong has decided to quit fighting the doping allegations that have been made against him for years (while maintaining his innocence), and that he will likely have his 7 Tour de France titles stripped from him as a result. I don’t know whether Lance is guilty or not, but I do know that he has been tested constantly for years without ever failing a test, and that there are a lot of people who have been working obsessively to try and tear down his legacy. He might be as guilty as he can be, but there are a lot of elements to the saga that resemble a witch hunt.

5 comments:

Justin and Heather Bland 8/24/12, 10:18 AM  

Um, the giraffe link was awesome. I love comparative physiology.

2) I am tired of the allegations, I have decided that my hero athletes are innocent until they tell me otherwise and in some cases not even then (Floyd Landis is still innocent to me - what people dont understand is that there is no way the Landis was the only one who took something that enhances performance that day- AND he crushed them all), other athletes that I don't particularly care for are always guilty. Obviously, there exists some inconsistencies in what I will call my athletic belief system, but I will be the first to admit it.

Will 8/24/12, 1:29 PM  

Witch hunt is an entirely appropriate term for what has been going on. I am not sure Armstrong is innocent but the USADA is not a government agency I like. Can they really tell UCI or any other group to take away titles? Does this mean USADA will go back after Rodger Clemmons, threaten jail time for former MLB players unless they testify, and and make MLB vacate the Yankees World Series?

Justin and Heather Bland 8/24/12, 2:39 PM  

Solid points Will.

I find it interesting they are not trying to take down Flo Jo's records as well (that case is much more obvious than Armstrong's, because she retired just before the mandatory drug screening was implemented... interesting)

Luke Dockery 8/27/12, 9:54 AM  

Justin and Will,

I appreciate the comments and largely agree with them.

As a side issue (which I have no solution for), I lament the fact that we have created a culture (in cycling, in baseball, in the Olympics, whatever) where winning is so important that rules don't matter. Integrity isn't even a part of the culture, and you hear that even from the non-cheaters—they generally don't avoid PEDs because it's wrong, but because it could be harmful to their bodies or because they could get caught.

Basically, for most athletes, even the clean ones, the "integrity of sport" is a joke. To me, it's not, and I hate the discrepancy.

Will 8/27/12, 2:30 PM  

Interesting article on the subject http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20120825,0,4618562,full.column

He also questions the integrity of sport (near the end) but asks at what point do we draw the line. Why are certain enhancements allowed, but other not?

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