Mid-Summer Report

Well, I first thought of writing this post several days ago. You know, August had just begun, we had gone to the Fair. The middle of the Summer was a great time to put up a medium term report on my life. But then I got thinking. It seems that for some reason the beginning of August is not the middle of summer, in fact, it is rather close to the end of summer. Additionally, I had the thought not at the beginning of August, but in the middle of it. The next day I heard something suspicious about school starting soon. I confered with my Mom about it, and discovered that school would start in two weeks. So, Summer is over just as I got a handle on the whole idea. Anyways, to the report.

Several things have been started this summer. We started on the process of getting a house. We also started on the process of getting our grandparents a house. Of course, starting is a long way from finishing. So, it is a very safe bet that we won't move until this time next year. I also started on the last half of the beginning of the procuring of a drivers license process. One thing that is conspiciously abscent from the list of things I have began is the Gileskirk research paper. One thing I have completed is getting our fir trees out of blackberry reach. So, I haven't made too much progress over the summer, but if things aren't started they will never be finished.

I am deep in an apologetics discussion here. We have agreed that Christianity can be examined by reason, and now I have been challenged with doing just that. But, doing such a thing is a tremendously large job. I would be grateful if anyone could take a look at the discussion and give me some advice on how best to proceed.

Today (Except that it happened Yesterday)

Today I went to a friend's birthday party. The proper descriptive word for it would probably be, "insane." We played most sports known to (American) man. Basketball, volleyball, football, capture the flag, etc. We didn't do baseball, though, probably because there were too many windows in the area. Along with these entertainments came lots of junk food. But by far the most insane thing was the waterfight, which was interspersed with everything else throughout the day.

It began after lunch. Many people were playing basketball, but many others were not. The "others" happened to be filling water balloons and pumping squirt guns. At a very inoportune moment, the "others" started lobbing the said water balloons at the people playing basketball. As you can imagine, mass confusion resulted. Unfortunately, there happened to be a hose very near to the basketball court. The battle raged on for awhile, until someone got the brilliant idea of dumping people in the swimming pool. Well, that wouldn't be too much of a problem, everyone was really soaked anyways. But there was an added level of complexity. You see, the pool was quite dirty, filled with about as much algae as water. Oh well, pretty soon people started getting tossed in left and right. Stephen, the birthday boy, managed to get dumped four times. For some reason he kept changing into dry clothes, and for some reason those clothes kept getting soaked. Another guy got dunked somewhere around 20 times, though he never changed. (that was also the guy who went bobbing for apples in this rather green pool) But the most insane thing about the water fight was how it would erupt again after you thought everything was safe. For example, one game required that people sit on the ground with their eyes closed. Yeah, you can probably guess what happened.

Suicide, a rather nasty thing, but nastier when it is survived. Well, putting all the beverages available into one cup and drinking it may not be suicide, but it can be pretty close. Well, I made the, "Evil Suicide Drink of DOOM!" It was just a combination of the various pops and lemonades available. Not too bad, in fact, I dared drink it myself. But then I made the, "Evil Suicide Drink of DOOM v. 1.12985" This consisted of various normal beverages, plus ketchup, mayonaisse, mustard, raisins and an M&M. A bidding process resulted and someone offered seventy-five cents to anyone willing to drink it. The person drank it all and was promptly disgusted. I will not mention what was put on the suicide hot dog, but suffice it to say that no one ate it.

Another thing I discovered there was that I am a really good bluffer at capture the flag. So good, in fact, that I weasled my way to become the jail guard for the other team. It was the second round, so there was much confusion. During that annoying time when no one can decide whether the game has started or not, I stepped over the line and pretended to face off against my team. After discussing placing of defenders I assigned myself as the jail guard and things got interesting. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to create a jail-break. The game was quite short and doing such things in a convincing way takes time. Still, it was quite amusing.

Well, that bizarre rambling is the most I can remember now.

Matter and Nothingness

Smack your hand against something hard. The thing you smacked probably feels quite real and solid. But is it? Well, let us take a visit to the atoms that make up this object.

Atoms; a collection of miniscule particles. Electrons orbit around a nucleus made of protons and neutrons. Between the electrons and the nucleus sits what? Yep, a whole lot of nothing. In fact, the actual matter in an atom is almost equal to zero. And, because you and I are made of atoms, the actual matter in us is almost equal to zero. Let us look at that again:

Humans are made of atoms
Atoms are made of virtually no matter
So, humans are made of virtually no matter.

So, why did that object feel so hard? Because it's atoms, and the atoms in your hand, possess very stronge forces. In the interaction the involved atoms never touched, but the negative charges of their electrons repelled each other. The very powerful electromagnetic force is what allows us to think that objects are solid, when they are actually not.

Well, I hope this little science lesson doesn't ruin your sleep, as it did to mine last night.