Viscosity and painting
This afternoon, Li-Xia and I went to the
eye doctor to hear about the results. It turned out that all test had returned
normal, except that the viscosity of her blood is higher than average, but still
within the normal range. It turned out that her vision in her left eye had
become worse. The doctor did make an appointment with an internist for over two
weeks. Afterwards we went into the city to have a look at the painting of Billy
Foley. She had no opinion about it, did not know if she thought it was good or
not. She has not been exposed to modern art and generally has not been
interested in it. For this reason she has not learned to look to art and to have
an opinion about it. We have not made a decision yet.
When I came home, I saw that most of the flower on our Magnolia had opened,
while none was open this morning when I left. It has started to blossom
again. It was a relatively hot day.
(follow-up)
04-04-04
A Special date again.
47 out of 50
I scored 47 out of 50 on this
Dr. Phil fun test. I understand that Ophra scored 38 when she
took this test. Should I be proud of myself now?
Hereby some critical reviews with respect to the movie:
It seems that the movie is more based on
the writings
of Anna Catherine Emmerich
then on the bible, while it pretends to be historical correct. For me this is
strong reason to condemn the movie, because it brings a false gospel. What
bothers me most is that many Christians seem not to recognize this.
The Passion of the Christ (Cont'd)
Some more interesting links:
74.8 Kilo
This morning, my weight was 74.8 kilo. This means that I
have achieved the goal when I decided to reduce weight last year. To be honest, I
have become a little worried that my weigh continue to get lower and lower with
my current diet. I have become used to my diet, and I do
not feel like changing it. Should I start adding more calories again, or just
let it drop further.
Tonight, Annabel and I watched a movie on
the life of Jesus on Dutch TV. Actually, this was the last part of
a mini-serie with the
title Jesus on TV. (I saw both part in April 2000). Even Annabel noted that this adaptation
was not very accurate with respect to the bible. One of the most
annoying things is this encounter with Satan in the garden
of Getsemane. There is not a single indication in the bible that
such an encounter did take place. Still, I do find that the way
Jesus is represented in this movie is a very interesting one.
He seems to be so full of energy and joy, but yet at the same
time as someone with authority and compassion.
Kohlinar
This morning in church the elder leading the service asked, right
after the preaching, if there was some one wanting to give a witness.
Almost immediately, I heard the sound of someone walking firmly to
the front of the church. It appeared to be someone visiting our
church and normally going to a charismatic church in Amsterdam.
After the first introduction ("The Holy Spirit told me that I was
going to give a witness, this morning"), I did not feel at ease.
The witness that was given was rather chaotic, and filled with
emotions. Afterwards everyone clapped. I did not. I wonder why
so many people base their faith on their emotions, and why any
attempt to build your faith on science seems to fail. If I hear
how many Christians are going to counselors for solving their
problems nowadays, it really makes me wonder if their is any reality
in faith. It looks like the role that faith is playing is reduced
evermore.
While I was considering this, I felt like I was different from most
(if not all) people in church. I almost feel like I am like the
Vulcan
Mr. Spock from the Star Trek, who through Kohlinar tries to
ban out his emotions and achieve a state of pure logic. The Vulcans
already try for many ages to achieve peace through the reduction of
emotions. However, it seems that what makes people psychopats is that
they are without the proper emotions that would otherwise prevent them
from acting like they do. Or is it just that they lack the ability to
take into account the long-term consequences of their deeds.
Annabel wins again
Tonight, Annabel won from me when
playing Go. She won
because she managed to kill a big group of mine. It looks like she has been
improving again, because some weeks ago, I always won from her. I think her
tactics are becoming stronger, strategically she is still much weaker than me. I
still have the impression that she thinks in groups instead of area. But she has
becoming much stronger in playing corners. I am considering to by a 19x19 board
now. I have promised her that if she continues winning from me that she will be
allowed to go with me to the Go club.
Playing against Ton again
Yesterday evening, I played a game of Go against Ton again,
like four weeks ago. This time, I clearly won. It seems
I have become stronger in the past weeks. He blamed it on me playing against Annabel.
Quite possible. I am now around 18 kyu.
So far nobody has been able to proof that the paranormal
exists, according to the One
Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge made by James Randi. On the JREF online
newsletter of February 20, 2004, I found
short article with the
title: Genesis of the Bible, which suggest that the bible we have now is
a translation of a translation of a translation of a translation. This is one of
these modern myths. I was rather surprised about this article, so I wrote Mr.
Randi the following email:
Dear Mr. Randi,
in your newsletter of Februari 20, 2004 you had an item about a song by
Nick Annis under the title "GENESIS OF THE BIBLE".
Although you do not
agree with the contents of the Bible and have some doubts about how it came
into being, that still does not give you the right to use an incorrect account
of how modern English translations came into being. It is well know fact that
the King James Bible was based on the Greek text that Erasmus (a great Dutch
scientist) wrote based on a number of Greek manuscript that were available to
him. Since that time many more manuscripts and paparii have been discovered
and analysed by scolars, and not all of these scolars were devoted christians.
(For an introduction to New Testament Textual Criticism see:
http://www.skypoint.com/~waltzmn/intro.html)
It is true that we do not have the original text of the bible available, but
there is sufficient evidence, also from the Dead Sae Scrolls, that the version
we have is pretty accurate to the texts that were available in the first
centuries, and with respect to the Old Testament even earlier. Of course, that
still does not prove
I believe you do not live up to your scientifical
standards by spreading messages that are factually incorrect with respect to
the genesis of the Bible, nor does it do good in establishing your credibility
with respect to making statements about the contents of the Bible.
kind regards,
Frans
He replied with:
Mr. Annis is an artist. He spoke not as an historian, but as an artist. He
was pointing out that multiple opportunities for error in the Bible existed.
It is a flawed document -- as are all such documents, even history books.
But history books do not claim to be divinely written....
James Randi
I find it rather weak that he is hiding behind the
artistic liberties argument, especially because he seems to endorse the
correctness of the statements with his introduction. And he is not an artist, I
presume. It is also true that historic accounts are less reliable than
scientific experiments, but that still does not rule out the possibility that
the Bible is from a divine source. Although no scientific proof for the
existence of God has been given, neither no proof of his non-existence has been
given. It would not surprise me that the hypothesis about the existence or
non-existence of God is outside the scientific realm.
This morning we went
to see the internist. We talked with her for almost an hour. It is still not
clear what is the problem. She told us that there is a problem with the blood
flow from the eye back to the heart. This is a rather rare condition. Most of
the time it is the blood flow to the eye that is reduced. It might be that she
has Temporal
Arteritis (or Giant Cell Arteritis), but the internist agrees that
Li-Xia does not have all
the symptoms. Her Temporal artery also feels normal. (Personally, I am not very
convinced, that this might be the case.) Another possibility is that her thyroid
is working to slow. Her TSH levels have gone up. The last them when it was
checked it was on 5.7. There was a remark that this should have been check again
after half a year. Apparently this has not happened. The first step is to
perform additional blood testing with respect to the cell counts, chemicals,
proteins, and sedimentation rate. If the sedimentation rate is high, she will be
scheduled for a biopt of the temporal artery within the coming days, as a high
sedimentation rate is be a very strong indication for Temporal Arteritis.
(follow-up)
Hundred leaves
This weekend, Annabel told me that her
chestnut tree had a hundred leaves. That is quite
possible, because each "big" leave consists of five smaller leaves. We have now
five little chestnut trees in our garden. The two in the front garden are smaller
than those in the back garden. The one that I had thought had died has some small
leaves again, to my surprise.
Second Dutch in space
This morning, the second Dutch, André Kuipers, was
send into space with a Soyuz TMA-4 spacecraft as part crew going
to the ISS. He is only going to stay for nine days. Here in Enschede
is one of the five schools that will have
direct radio contact with André Kuipers during his flight.
This evening, Annabel and I played a game
of Go with the magnetic 19x19 Go game that
we bought on November 5, 1993
during our honeymoon. Early in the game, I lost some stones by not
looking careful, and then I had some trouble fighting back. At the
end it turned out that she won by one stone.
Three mice
This afternoon, Annabel came home with
three mice, a cage, and enough food to keep them alive for some months. She won
the second price in the contest of the "sports and game" activity that she joins
every Wednesday in the Helmerhoek
(Dutch). This contents is part of some special
celebrations because they exist so many years. Both Li-Xia and I felt that
she should return the mice to the shop. And that is what they did. She too
agreed that it would better to put the money in her saving account.
Blood tests
At noon, Li-Xia had an appointment with the internist
of last week. She told us that all the blood test had
returned normal. Even TSH level had dropped a little. So the good news is that
Li-Xia does not have any serious problem, the bad news is that the cause
for the reduced blood flow is unknown, and that she cannot offer us any
treatment. The last thing she could come up with is to check her
homocysteine levels.
So that is what we decided to do.
(follow-up)
Drum sounds
It looks like the AKI has started with it
annual drum sounds making days. Just like last
year June. I guess the sounds are related to the AKI Festival.
School camp
Today, Andy has gone on school
camp for the first time of his life. He will be away for two nights. It is also
the first time he is not sleeping at home (not counting those nights he spend in
the hospital). Annabel is a little
jealous, because she never went on a school camp. But she did several times with
my mother or sister for one or two weeks. So she has no reason to complain. This
evening we are going out for dinner in the city. The weather is nice. Tomorrow,
Li-Xia can go with us (or with Annabel alone) to the Go club, something she has
never been able to do before. Today, Andy is going to the zoo in Nordhorn. On
"De Huifkar" they go school camp every
year.
I just received an email from a Dutch television program called
DolceVita, which airs a daily
talk show from 17:45 to 18:30. They are doing a talk show about diary writing
on May 4 and are looking for four studio guests to answer questions. Sounds
interesting. The thing that I fear most is the increase of traffic to my
web site this may cause. I think I will have to take some pages down.
(follow-up)
It is not often that I am shocked by some news report. This evening, I read
that this afternoon a seven year old, mentally handicapped boy was raped in
Kerkrade. Around a quarter past four, he came home crying. From a medical
examination it appeared that he was being raped by a main. According to
the police this happened shortly after he was dropped by the school bus.
It is unclear whether this happened in the street or at home with someone.
Maybe this is shocking news to me, because Andy
is about the same age and also has a mental handicap.
Going to the Go club
Yesterday evening, we went with the three of us to the Go club.
Li-Xia came with us, because
Andy is still on school camp.
Both Annabel and I lost our games. Annabel
played against Ton. I played against Marco. I lost with about sixty
points. I woke up very early and had a busy day at work. I am also getting
the impression that Marco is stronger than his current rating in the
competition. He made some very strong moves.
Yesterday, I discovered that Windows also sends mouse move events during
a click. The is a similar problem to the one I discovered before with
respect to single and double clicks. Move
events within a short time after a mouse button down event should be
delayed until the single click time. If a mouse button up occurs, within
the single click time, the mouse move event should be ignored, otherwise
it should be send.
At the moment, there are howling sounds about every minute to be hear coming
from the direction of the AKI building. It
is amazing what people will do in the name of science. But I have to admit,
that some of the artists of the AKI do use technology. Last Tuesday when I
came back from the city after dinner, there was a man outside with a painting
robot being acting as a MIDI device and being controlled from a music source
made "random" drawings on the street. It would not surprise me if the howling
sounds are made by some technical device controlled in some clever way through
external signals.
(I was right. It turned out the sounds were produced by flutes connected
to vacum cleaners that were controlled by microphones attached to bottles
hanging in a tree.)
Queen's day
Early in the morning, I went to the city. Around nine o'clock there were already
many people selling things on the street. I bought
three things. First an ISA network card for € 2.50, then a small
monitor (Axion MV-0951) for
€ 6, and finally a calender with pictures from the Eastern
fair for children with mental handicaps of 2003. We also went with
Andy, but we were not in the pictures. It costed € 5.
Andy was very happy with it when he saw it
when I came home. Of course, I did try out the small monitor. It worked
okay when I attachted it to annabel (after reinstalling the graphic card, which having some problems with poor
contacts, I am afraid).
(follow-up)
This months interesting links
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