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Day’s Verse:
A gentle answer turns away wrath,
Buta harsh word stirs up anger.
Proverbs 15:1
~~~

The Big News: Ian and I have signed the lease on a 1,000-square-foot apartment in Marlborough. We visited the complex, a place called Avalon Orchards that reminds me of all the homogeneous apartment complexes I hated to see bulldoze their way into empty (but for the trees, grasses, and wildlife) plots near my home, on Wednesday. Despite its homogeneity, we found the complex and the apartment itself irresistable: 5 miles from Raytheon in Sudbury, walking distance to bank, pharmacy, and grocery store, with a small plot of what the manager called “conserved land” behind it. We ignored the rotting Halloween costumes in the “conserved” bushes and imagined the walking, running, and biking possibilities. Continue Reading >>

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Day’s Verse:
A wise man is cautious and turns away from evil,
But a fool is arrogant and careless.
Proverbs 14:16
~~~

In my Philosophy and the Environment class, our professor sought to show us how the creation story according to the Bible separated the creation of earth from natural phenomena. He pointed out that God has only to speak, according to the Genesis account, to bring things into being. The professor then asked the class,

Have any of you ever seen anything created from nothing?

Silence, since none of us are God. The a student spoke up: Continue Reading >>

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Day’s Verse:
The one who guards his mouth preserves his life;
Theone who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.
Proverbs 12:3
~~~

I took this picture of colored dice in the bright sunset light yesterday evening. There are a series of the photos; you can see the whole set here.

I belog to a group on Flickr called DeleteMe, and to have your photo saved there is high praise indeed. I think one of my dice photos may be good enough for DeleteMe, but I cannot decide which one to submit (I can, of course, edit any of them before submission). My request is that you, my readers, vote on which photo in the set you like best to help me decide which one to submit to DeleteMe. Continue Reading >>

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Day’s Verse:
He who trusts in his riches will fall,
But the righteous will flourish like the green leaf.
Proverbs 11:28
~~~

Friday: Yantra Interview

You are taking a moving escalator in the Bangalore airport. You go down the 26 steps in 30 seconds the first time. Then you go down again, this time with 34 steps in 18 seconds. How many steps are there total?

You have only two ropes and a lighter. The ropes burn at random rates, but each takes exactly one hour to burn completely. For example, the first quarter of a rope might burn in 3 minutes, half the rope in 15 minutes, and the last quarter in 42 minutes. How can you use these tools to calculate exactly 45 minutes? Continue Reading >>

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Day’s Verse:
Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another.
2 John 1:6
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The joke happened in Philosophy and the Environment today.

“Philosophy,” quoth Gottlieb, “is like pornography. You deal with lots of unrealistic fantasy situations.”

Silence in the class. Pens scratch.

“That was a joke.” Slightly aggrieved.

Polite laughter.

“You know that’s not real don’t you? Nobody has that much fun.” Continue Reading >>

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Day’s Verse:
Wise son, glad father;
stupid son, sad mother.
Proverbs 10:1 (the Message)
~~~

The edge of a cliff, with an untested parachute. Behind the wheel of a car with no driving experience. Ordering from a menu written in Japanese. The moment before saying “I do.” I could construct almost endless word pictures to describe the feeling of this situation, the delicate indecision of balancing, waiting, and wondering.

Sure, I’ve seen friends graduate and move on, making their new lives as they see fit. I’ve seen adults—not counting myself among them yet, although I graduate days before my 22^nd birthday—moving through a cycle of workdays and weekends, their pace unfamiliar to my academic-calendar mindset. Continue Reading >>

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Day’s Verse:
Bless the Lord, O my soul!
O Lord my God, You are very great;
You are clothed with splendor and majesty,
Covering Yourself with light as with a cloak,
Stretching out heaven like a tent curtain.
Psalm 104:1-2
~~~

Why do people want to have kids? If you have children, what were you thinking when you got pregnant? If you intend to raise kids one day, what drives that desire?

I ask because having children is such an optimistic decision, for many reasons. By bringing a child into the world, you implicitly state your belief that there will be something to live for even after you are long gone. You’re saying that the world will offer something to people in fifty years, that it won’t be all pollution and overpopulation and UV rays and rising sea levels and extinct species and jobs in Asia. You’re believing that the human race has hope, a future beyond the immediate spreading darkness (of which you may or may not be aware. Soon you will be, though. Expect a long blog on environmentalism in the near future). You’re saying that maybe people will stop focusing on themselves, start living globally, sustainably, honorably. That maybe U.S. citizens won’t consume a ridiculous amount of the world’s resources in vast, endless, consumerist binges. You’re saying there’s hope for your child to live a good life. Continue Reading >>