Thursday, September 27, 2007

Quick thinking saves lives

The 156-tonne Gimli Glider

The above article summarizes in detail the historic flight from Montreal to Edmonton which never made it to its destination. It crash landed in a small Royal Canadian Air Force station in the town of Gimli. The story is full of human mistakes, computing errors and design errors all leading to the eventual lack of gas needed for the long trip from Montreal to Edmonton.

Interwoven between the negative chain of events is the amazing story of the pilot who crash landed the plane successfully in that tiny town of Gimli. The story is well known and only this brief summary is given here. The pilots, Captain Bob Pearson
and First Officer Maurice Quintal, did some rather unusual yaw and pitch slowing for common with a glider to slow the plane enough to make a landing. The unusual tactics combined with broken front landing gear provided enough deceleration to crash land the plane.

Besides the obvious good news of a successful crash landing, there is a hidden element in this artical which, I believe, qualifies it for the Hope Chest. We have learned the intesnse desire of humans to survive in the most difficult of circumstanses. Life is to be treasured, valued and respected. Stories of heros like the pilots of flight 143 show us what people are capable of to sustain life. In those dire situations, people will always look with hope for the best possible outcome. That inborn desire for success, for good news, and for life is the hope we already have in us. We just need to do better at reminding everyone.

Hope Chest Delivers

I consider myself an extremely optimistic person. It's so easy to focus on the negative people and problems of life. This blog was created to look for the positive decisions and happy possibilities amidst the negative. That being said, here is the first huge Hope Chest find!

France President Nicolas Sarkozy backs the United States

In this article many responses from key leaders of the free world comment on the Iranian nuclear development program. What makes this article worthy of a spot on the Hope Chest? For one, the relations between France and the United States have been strained ever since the second Gulf War. France had several trade rights with Iraq and disagreed on invasion as an acceptable solution. Two, a growing anti-American spirit among the French people seemed to prevail in its leaders at most world communication levels.

Say hello to change! After the newly elected President France Nicolas Sarkozy has taken office one could argue that anti-American rhetoric is way lower from the confines of France. He himself is pro-American and that seems to be rubbing off on at least some of the public.

Now say hello to big news! In the above posted article President Nicolas Sarkozy of France calls for immediate "firmness and dialogue," to resolve the international standoff we now face with Iran's nuclear program in the middle East. This is not only important for the people of France, it's a huge step towards better relations between France and the United States and as such deserves this spot on the Hope Chest!

-cs404 Current Event

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

God's Footprint in Technology

Two different groups of people might be moving in opposite ways in relation to our current explosion of technology. One group says, "How can God exist in this scientific world of communication and understanding?" The other group wonders, "How can God not be present in this rapidly changing era of discovery?"

I believe God has a footprint in history, and further, that studying history without God is pretty foolish. Even if you don't believe in God, the world does and most of history is shaped by religions and their actions in honoring their God. While that may not be an all inspiring, provoking statement, this one might be.

If God has a footprint in history for believers and non believers, God certainly has a footprint today even amidst this silicon-ian euphoria! As a believer it would be strange to admit God is all loving and yet have difficulty watching him reach his own children through the best forms of communication available. Just as it would be silly to admit he is all knowing and pretend he couldn't instruct his followers to make some sense of HTTP. Does God have a web page?

Well God does love all people, and he is trying to send his gospel to them all, and he does indeed help his followers make sense of HTTP. And he does very literally have a web page, and more than one. Here are some web pages I have found with God's footprint in them:

Mormon.org
FamilySearch.org
LDS.org

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Sunday, September 16, 2007

From 3 am...

(not cs404 related)
Well I woke up today with Cari elbowing me as usual. Having been up till 3 am the night before with Boomer Hawks and Tom playing SSBM, I was unconvinced that 8:00 in the morning was, in fact, the start of a new day. Regardless, it was a day to be remembered. I had promised Cari she could take a test today since she is a week late. If I had known she would go for the 8:00 am slot I would have clarified the promise with a more specific time. I also made her promise she couldn't take a test without me present so that if negative I could provide as much comfort as a tired insomniac could give...

I woke up again to more elbowing. It felt like I had slept another hour, but Cari reassures me it wasn't more than a minute. Yes, Cari was/is pregnant! I don't remember much else and soon fell back asleep happy to be entering the next phase of life. I'm not sure I convinced Cari of my excitement. But in my defense, I didn't know I was a father until after I stayed up to 3am :-)

Well to sum things up, by the end of the day, I was completely convinced I had not dreamed Cari's pregnancy test and the expensive pee tester had still refused to insert "not" in front of the word pregnant. In addition, our news was overpowered by Nicoles Knutti's engagement announcement! Andrea Scott is also getting married in December and will require us to fly into Washington DC as she is from Baltimore. If Nicole decides to have a white Christmas as well, the PHX extravaganza might be a little difficult to attend. We will know a little better when dates are finalized.

These names are final:
Girl - Hazel Marie Wall
Boy - Speed Zadok Wall

Twins Boys -Speed Zadot Wall
-Dash Allen Wall

Twin Girls - Hazel Marie Wall
Ester Marie Wall

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

"but not enlightened"

http://www.rand.org/multi/parallels/gehl.html
by John Gehl

"And so maybe it will be okay if we surrender our thinking (or most of it) to machines." John's end conclusion in this article seems to be a polarized view of a society that will either be enlightened or made idle. Further, an underlying bitter tone seems present, he being almost offended that readers are no longer dependent on a journalists, such as himself, to get information.

The worry that information and technology will corrupt a nation is not new. Some people were always and will always be afraid of television, radio, microwaves, and anything else that can do a human function with less thought or muscle. Their fear is not misplaced in my opinion. It is however limited in judgment. Both sides must be considered.

Idleness has always been a malefactor of civilization. Perhaps less visible when, if lazy, they did not eat. The group of those who become complacent with the quest for the knowledge or the lack of desire to serve are complimented. Many use every technology possible to accomplish more in their day. They are not distracted by the ease of life, but empowered by them.
So, John Gehl's conclusion should be modified to reflect both sides. He asks. "Which will it be? ...

"an information age will yield to an age of knowledge, when surfers of fact will become seekers of truth."
OR
"the Internet will devolve into the mindlessness of television, creating a citizenry that can't think or read, is unfit for jury duty, and can be entertained (just barely and only momentarily) but not enlightened."

His points are valid and his conclusion correct, but the question of "which" should be changed to the statement of both.


Tuesday, September 11, 2007

The Hope Chest

Why is it called the hopechest?