Reflections from California

Deeply Saddened

drew.mather@gmail.com (Drew Mather) — Tue, 27 Dec 2016 11:14:00 -0700

This post is also available at https://drewmatherblog.wordpress.com

A friend of mine, Tricia McCauley, whom I've known since 7th grade, was found dead today in Washington, D.C. I received a text from my sister this morning, who remembered her from our high school days together, and wanted to let me know that she had gone missing since Christmas Day. It's now been about 45 minutes since I received that text from my sister, and I am just reeling from this news. It appears that she was murdered after googling her name and automatically ‘Tricia McCauley Missing’ populated in my web browser.

Tricia was, and I hope you will agree with me by the end of this post, still IS a bright light in a sea of darkness.

It is hard to process that she is no longer with us, at least not in the sense of having hope that I might see her again at a high school reunion, give her a hug, and thank her for inspiring me in this life.

When I met her back in the early 1980s she was this very short, very friendly, very curious, very intelligent, and I would be remiss not mentioning this, very hidden from plain sight her beautiful face and eyes due to 'coke bottle-esque’ corrective lenses that she had to wear.

Tricia, Leigh Ammons, Sabrina Todd, Bradley Bannon, and I participated in a competition in the 7th and 8th grade together called 'Olympics of the Mind'. It was run by one of the teachers at Socastee Middle School in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina named Carolyn Powell. I have a fond memory of riding together with Tricia, Leigh, ,Sabrina, Brad, and Ms. Powell to some competition on a rainy Friday night, and all of us listening to the Footloose Soundtrack (circa early 80s), and all of us singing the title song at the top of our lungs, 'Now I gotta cut loose, Footloose, kick off the Sunday shoes, please, Louise, pull me off of my knees, Jack, get back, come on before we crack, lose your blues, everybody cut Footloose!'

Singing that song this morning, nearly 30 odd plus years later (not at the top of my lungs for fear of waking up my 7 year old child), with all my 46 years on this pale blue dot planet of ours behind me, makes me appreciate what Kenny Loggins was trying to communicate to us in that song, and also what Tricia McCauley was in the process of teaching me about life. We are only here for a short time, so we might as well enjoy the time we have here by doing work and things that we like to do.

So now, on this incredibly sad day of realizing that your dear classmate, someone who smiled at you when you were the new kid on the block and said, 'Hey Drew, do you want to join us for...[Insert XYZ activity]?' (I can't remember the exact details, but I'm pretty sure Tricia did that for me during my 1st year of middle school, being new and not knowing anyone except Bradley Bannon from 6^th grade), that that someone has now passed on to another realm (more on that realm in just a bit).

There are so many thoughts racing through my head right now on the life of Tricia McCauley and how she impacted my life. Most acutely I am thinking about Tricia’s immediate family members today who are experiencing a grief that is sadly not unprecedented on our planet, and a grief that is so incredibly painful to endure. All of me aches for them today. I also ache for my dear friend who had to experience violence in her last moments. Tricia was one of the nicest, kindest people that I’ve ever known. She brought goodness, peace, and light into this world, and for her to have to exit the way she did over the Christmas holiday, is simply the deepest sadness for me. There are no good reasons or answers for why such violence and hate was visited upon someone who was the antithesis of both these realities in our species.

To Tricia’s mother and father, I express my deepest condolences on the loss of your daughter. And to Tricia’s brother, as a brother to my only sibling and sister on this planet, I grieve for you today on the loss of your sister. Tricia was an inspiration to so many. And I can’t help but think that the time she spent with all of you, Mr. and Mrs. McCauley and Brian McCauley, in her early years really molded her into the amazing human being she became. Thank you for helping her realize her potential as a giving, loving, kind hearted human being. The world will never be the same because of what you gave to her and then what she gave back.

Even though my path in this life took me to California, I very much appreciated, respected, and tried my best to follow her incredible journey she made from South Carolina to Washington, D.C. and the many lives she touched through her work as an actor, and later through her work as a healer and teacher with agriculture, yoga, and sustainably produced health products.

She always invited me to her lectures and events in Washington, D.C. as it related to my interest in organics and farming and sustainability, even though I was 3,000 miles away in California. I didn’t keep in great touch with her over the years, although we did reconnect over Facebook back in 2008 or 2009 I think. We traded Christmas cards quite a few times I believe after my son was born in 2009, and we shared messages on Facebook about our times going back to grad school in our 30’s to pursue degrees in somewhat similar fields.

In closing this deeply sad letter, please let me share an experience I had very recently about life after death, and how I think it relates to the life and death of Tricia. There is a podcast that I enjoy that recently talked about death and how there is a kind of life after death that we can all help along with how we conduct our current time here. The podcast is called ‘RadioLab’, many of you may be familiar, if not, you can learn more about this incredibly well done show here: http://www.radiolab.org/

The podcast episode I'm talking about entitled, 'It's Not Us, It's You', was just released about 2 weeks ago on December 15^th, 2016, and it features a man from India talking about how this podcast, RadioLab, changed his life. At just before 11 minutes into the podcast, Robert Krulwich, one of the hosts of the show, introduces this young man, and later, at about 15 minutes into the podcast, this Indian man shares an experience of taking a road trip with his grad school classmates, and a RadioLab podcast entitled, ‘Life after Life’, is played. At one point in the podcast, the actor, Jeffrey Tambor, is relating how there are 3 deaths for humans. The first is when the atoms in your body finally stop associating with each other like they have done since you were created in your mother’s body and you are considered medically dead. The second is when you are grieved by whoever cares about you during some kind of burial ceremony. And thirdly is when your name and your story are uttered for the last time. This last death is what is so profound to me, and if you listen to the episode from December 15^th, 2016, was so profound to the Indian man telling his story.

My reason for sharing this podcast, and this one particular episode, is probably obvious, but I will state it nonetheless. My hope is that by remembering these 3 deaths, especially the last one, that all of us help this one human being, my friend, my classmate from 7^th grade, my fellow Olympian of the Mind teammate, Tricia McCauley, live forever. Please let us not forget her story, her joyful nature, the light that she brought into this dark world. Please let us not forget her parents and brother who participated so intensely in her early years on the planet to help her become the person she became. It is with a very heavy heart, but also a very hopeful resolve that we all learn something from Tricia and how she lived her life. It is my hope that we all learn to conduct our lives from this point forward like her brother, Brian, asked us to do, by holding onto each other. Thank you, Tricia. You will be missed, but your story will never be forgotten, and your life and your death will not be in vain. Peace to those who have to live on after you, especially your mother and father, and your brother.

Trying out the If This Then That (IFTTT) service

drew.mather@gmail.com (Drew Mather) — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 08:27:00 -0700

It's been a while I know...over 2 years since I last posted to this blog! Wow! Where does the time go?!

I know blogs are quickly becoming a bit passe with Facebook and Twitter taking over the majority of things posted online. Still a luddite I guess and like being able to write on this page every once in a while.

Thought I would just share something I found that I am testing out today for the 1st time, IFTTT. Heard it via a listen of the latest Harvard Business Review (HBR) podcast (great podcast by the way!)

Enjoy. Happy New Year and Belated Holiday Wishes to all!

Drew

Good for goodness sake

drew.mather@gmail.com (Drew Mather) — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 19:35:00 -0700

Hope everyone had a great Christmas.

I know I'm a day late, and many dollars short, but it just dawned on me that one of my favorite Christmas Carols has a bit of irony mixed into it that in all my 40 years on the planet I've completely missed...

You know the song...

"...So be good for goodness sake..ohhhh...you better watch out...you better not cry...you better not pout...I'm tellin' you why...Santa Claus is coming to town..."

'Good for goodness sake'...a pretty bold statement to put into a song aimed at kids if you ask me, and ironic because you're pairing goodness for goodness sake with being good because Santa's watching your every move.

Caveat- the phrase 'goodness sake' could actually be just an exclamation meaning "Goodness sake! Be good, or Santa's got it in for you!" If so, please stop reading and move on to better pastures in cyber space.

Assuming that the phrase in the song actually means 'the sake of being good', would a child really buy into just being good for goodness sake? Or would same said child be good because Santa's essentially Robert De Niro's character in 'Meet the Parents' (i.e., I'm watching you Focker!)?

My money's on De Niro.

Spoiler alert...

I don't have any answers per se about why we're good. A website that I follow has though, and here is a link from the site discussing why humans are good:

http://therecoveringchristian.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/entry-8-goodliness-is-not-next-to-god/

Also, a podcast that I love has recently tackled this topic. The folks at WNYC's Radio Lab in New York City, have just uploaded their latest program entitled, "The Good Show" (Click HERE to listen).

I think you will be challenged in whatever assumptions you have about what it means to be "good". Really interested to hear your comments on any or all of the three people profiled. Absolutely remarkable stories!

Best wishes to everyone for a wonderful, and safe New Year's Celeberation!

Thanks for stopping by,
Drew

A reply from the National Day of Prayer 'Scare Mail' Post

drew.mather@gmail.com (Drew Mather) — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 16:22:00 -0700

Happy Holidays!

This post is actually a reply to a reply from an anonymous commenter on my last blog post regarding the National Day of Prayer.

Because my reply exceeded 4,096 characters, Blogger.com wouldn't allow it. So, I thought it would be best to just post my reply in its entirety here as an actual blog post.

Here is the link to the anonymous commenter's reply (it's the 7th comment):

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=30665987&postID=3364443166124680683

So...with no further ado, here is my reply to this person's reply:

Thanks, Anonymous, for your reply.

I have to say upfront though that you still haven't addressed my main question of why Christians feel the need to have a National Day of Prayer, and have that day sanctioned by the U.S. Government.

You state in your reply that "no one wants one 'religion' to rule." I appreciate that. I agree with that. Separation of Church and State is something so precious to me that I think if we lose that demarcation we lose a great deal of freedom in this country.

You also state that "Each one of us has some kind of belief system." I agree with this statement. Whether you are a theist or an atheist, there are core belief systems for all humans on the planet. I completely agree with you.

You continue..."The Christian belief and living a Christian life is not distorted like some of yours and others put out there about what Christianity is. Christianity is a relationship with The One True God of The Bible. The Jewish, is a relationship with The One True God of the First Five Books of the Bible..."

I'm unclear as to how I and 'others' have 'distorted' Christianity. Please explain.

You go on to state the following:

"When one chooses to become a Christian, that person individually at his/her point of need comes to a realization that he/she needs help in living this life here on earth".

You also go on to state that "as hard as it may be, the believer knows because Jesus came to earth to help us all; and, because He came to us here where we live & because He could, we could, too, weather many storms that may come --that is to go about doing and living a good life here on earth".

I agree with these statements. Not that I personally hold the same beliefs, but that I believe that this is an accurate portrayal of what Christians think about their God. I would only add to your statements that Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and all the other metaphysical belief systems out there could use those same statements as recruiting tools, if you will, for their own causes.

People often turn to God when they realize that their lives are going in a direction that they don't necessarily like. This isn't always the reason people turn to God, but it's definitely a common reason. I completely understand the psychology behind this 'pull', if you will, towards the supernatural.

You continue with some statements about times in your life when you can't make it on your own strength; that prayers, angels, and God himself have helped you to weather the 'rain storms'.

I can neither prove nor disprove those claims, and would rather just grant you that in your mind and in your experience those things are true.

But what happens next is something that I do want to discuss a bit further.

You state that "God is Good and Just and He Loves us, all of us here on the earth and wishes that no one would perish".

You also start talking about 'Evil' and raise the question to me about whether there is evil in the world?

Let's start with the 'evil' question.

I do believe there is evil in the world in the sense that violent acts against human beings are perpetrated every day on this planet. All you have to do is look at a child who's been abducted, sexually assaulted, and/or killed by an adult. This one act of violence should make every human being saddened and angered that this act ever had to occur and be enough to show that evil exists.

Now, I am not a Christian, and I have granted to you in previous comments here on this website that being an 'atheist/agnostic' could be classified as a religion. I'll go ahead and proceed that my atheism/agnosticism is a religion, if you will grant me that your Christianity is a religion. I know some Christians who are uncomfortable making that concession, but I think it's a fair thing to ask in this case.

I really don't want to digress into a debate about whether my belief system is or isn't a religion, as I don't think it matters so much. Let's just equate religion with a belief system for matters of semantics.

But what DOES matter is that you have raised 4 things that I would like to address:

1. You ask "what is to be done about evil" and "who can destroy it?".

2. You say that there must be 'standards' and you have made a value judgement on my 'standards' compared to your 'standards'. You state that my standards don't "ring true when compared to Christianity, true Christianity".

3. You state that no religion even "comes close to Christianity on many levels."

4. You also ask if the evil that I concede that goes on in this world is not "God's doing"?

Actually #1 and #2 I can address together.

My standard as an atheist/agnostic on the evil act of raping and murdering a child is that it is a completely unacceptable practice in our society, or any society for that matter, and whoever perpetrates such violence should be apprehended, given a fair trial to prove or disprove their innocence, and then if the trial shows that the party involed is indeed guilty of the act, is incarcerated in a maximum security prison for the rest of their natural existence on the planet.

I am very interested to hear how my expressed 'standard' here is 'sub-standard' if you will to yours in 'Christianity, true Christianity'.

And by stating that this is my standard, this is also how one goes about 'destroying' evil. Slowly, but surely, we as a society support the criminal justice systems in place to put all human beings who perpetrate violence against other human beings in facilities that keep them from harming other human beings. Period.

Please explain your 3rd statement. I don't know what you mean by 'coming close' 'on many levels'.

And as for the 4th item, since I don't believe in anything supernatural, yes, I would say that all the evil that goes on in the world is not 'supernatural evil'. Evil comes from human beings in other words.

BUT, since you DO believe in the supernatural, I would like to get your thoughts on a few things related to the existence of evil and your God.

In your words above, "God is Good and Just and He Loves us".

Please explain how this same God who is supposed to be good, just, loving, and I would add omniscient and omnipresent, can look upon even one act of violence against a child such as I've described, and do nothing to save that child from same said egregious act of violence?

Think about what you or any human being would do if they were to see such an act of violence take place in front of them. They might be scared, but I'm pretty sure the majority of persons seeing such an act of violence would do all they could to stop the person or persons perpetrating said act of violence against a child.

If you grant that God created all things, you must grant that He created evil. And since He created evil, I cannot agree with your assessment of Him as Good and Just and Loving. These traits simply don't flow from a being who allows such violence to occur on 'His watch'.

Please remember though, I am not stating that I BELIEVE that your God exists, I'm simply stating that what YOU believe about your God is inconsistent with the violent evidence we see around us.

I know there are arguments out there from Christians that package the whole above scenario I've described as a humans gone astray from what God intended plight, but in the end, the original creation of humans is done by your God, correct?

Why would God even allow such things to happen in the first place? He easily could have created an entire universe full of peace and love where no acts of violence ever occurred and we wouldn't even need to have this conversation at all. But, sadly, your God didn't do that. And BECAUSE your God didn't do that, Anonymous, I must say, and I'm sorry if this comes across antagonistically, it really isn't meant that way...your God in my humble opinion is quite an unsavory and despicable character. Not exactly someone I would choose to have a relationship with, much less even a cup of coffee.

I'm open to hearing any and all defenses of your God. PLEASE feel free to use as much or as little space as possible to defend my accusations against Him. If you need more than 4.096 characters, email me at drew.mather@gmail.com. I'll post your response in another blogpost.

I guess I should stop here myself. I look forward to hearing your reply.

Again, I really do appreciate your comments, and would very much like to get to a better understanding of how you think about what I consider to be pretty big issues.

Thanks for stopping by,
Drew

Halloween Comes Early - A National Day of Prayer 'Scare-Mail'

drew.mather@gmail.com (Drew Mather) — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 20:52:00 -0700

I received an Un-Snopes-ified email recently that was another attempt to keep fear alive in this country about our current president.

The email, almost in its entirety, is below...but first, I'd like to share a few comments.

1. Even if the United States was brought into being from bible-believing, evangelical Christians (it wasn't, but even if it was), I would hope we would have the decency and fortitude as a people to resist putting a 'Christian' label on our Republic, and rather, insist that our government proceed in a purely secular manner.

Think about how it feels when you're the odd person out in a game or conversation. Do you really want to be that person that continues to say, "Oh, you wouldn't understand, it's a 'Christian' thing..." when asked by the person who isn't a Christian why they have to support a government that keeps having a 'conversation' or plays a 'game' that excludes other peoples of faith or non-faith not in the majority?

Thankfully the same forefathers that some Christians claim as their own had this aforementioned fortitude, and made sure that the Constitution, our one and only governing document for these United States, was a secular one, and appealed to all peoples regardless of their belief or lack thereof in a supernatural being. It could have easily gone the other way.

2. If you are a Christian, I do not begrudge you your right to practice your religion. I really don't. What I do begrudge is when you, as the practitioner of the dominant religion in this country, Christianity, try to make sure that your religion is represented at the highest levels of government. I am talking most specifically about the 'National Day of Prayer'.

3. If you have a problem with Barack Obama catering to Muslims in his administration (I'm not agreeing that he is doing this, just saying that if you believe that he is), I would ask you to consider that Christians have been the 'catered to' group for quite some time in our republic. And actually, having another religious group 'catered to' should be a wonderful 'wake up call' to any and all people that think Church and State should be brought back together.

The government has no business catering to any religious group, PERIOD. Rather it should be devoted to governing large diverse populations of people from every religious and a-religious walk of life.

4. I often hear that people think our country is going in the 'wrong direction' and we need to return to 'God'. I ask you to reconsider this romantic, in my humble opinion, Urban Legend-esque period when we were 'with God' . Was it during the late 1700's and all through the early part of the 19th century when a black person was still considered just 3/5 of a human being? Was it during the early 1900's when a woman couldn't even vote in this country? How about the 1930's, 40's, and 50's where black people in this country, under the guise of Christianity, were hunted down at night, tortured, and killed (ie. lynched) by cruel people dressed in sheets and brandishing fire crosses?

I thank our collective reasoning abilities as humans that we're not heading in those directions anymore. We're slowly but surely making this world a better place to live in and thrive. The average lifespan of a human being at the time the Declaration of Independence was written was less than 45 years. Today that same statistic is close to 67 years. And while some will claim this longetivity a miracle from God, I put forth that this is a testament to the collective human mind that day in and day out tries to answer questions about how the world works.

Let's all just take a collective deep breath, and realize just how far we've really come as a species on this planet. It's truly an amazing thing to contemplate! Truly amazing!

Let's also forget about all the things that make us think we're so different from one another. We're not. We're all pretty much the same amount of sloshing water mixed in with some minerals, protein, fat, and carbohydrates trying to acquire more of these things to keep us going. And no, that previous sentence doesn't mean life is any less important or meaningful. It's actually just the opposite, it makes living this life right here, right now, all the more prescient and important.

So with no further ado, here's the 'scary' email:

In 1952

President Truman established one day a year as a "National Day of Prayer."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In 1988

President Reagan designated the First Thursday in May of each year as the National Day of Prayer.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In June 2007, (then) Presidential Candidate Barack Obama declared that the USA
"Was no longer a Christian nation."
---------------------------------------------------------------
This year President Obama canceled the 21st annual National Day of Prayer ceremony
at the White House under the ruse Of "not wanting to offend anyone"
------------------------------------------------------------------------

BUT... on September 25, 2009 from 4 AM until 7 PM, a National Day of Prayer
FOR THE MUSLIM RELIGION was Held on Capitol Hill, Beside the White House.
There were over 50,000 Muslims in D.C. that day.

HE PRAYS WITH THE MUSLIMS!

I guess it Doesn't matter if "Christians" Are offended by this event -
We obviously Don't count as "anyone" Anymore.

The direction this country is headed should strike fear in the heart of every Christian, especially knowing that the Muslim religion believes that if Christians cannot be converted, they should be annihilated.

The words of 2 Chronicles 7:14

"If my people, Who are called by my Name, Will humble themselves And pray, And seek my face, and Turn from their Wicked ways, Then will I hear from Heaven And will forgive their Sin and will heal Their land."

We must pray for Our nation, our communities, Our families, and especially our children. They are the ones who are going to suffer the most.

If we don't PRAY May God have Mercy. IN GOD WE TRUST.

__________________________________________________________________

Snopes has a great write up for these claims in the email. Click HERE if you'd like to read it.

The claims about Obama are patently false, but that usually doesn't stop people from sending out misinformation when it disagrees with what they WANT to believe is true.

The writer of the email puts in a bible verse from II Chronicles for good measure. If only he or she had also put in the verses from Deuteronomy 7:1-2 to counter:

“When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations…then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.” Deuteronomy 7:1-2 "

The rest of the email is a plea to get people to read to the end of it so that they receive a blessing from God and forward the email on to 10 friends.

Click HERE if you want to read the rest of the email I received. It's stock 'footage' that gets appended to most emails of this sort to get people to read the message in its entirety.

I actually feel sorry for people who write this kind of stuff, and the people who buy into it. I think both types of people REALLY believe both what they are writing, and what they are reading, and I think they WANT to believe it. It's an easy solution in search of a problem that doesn't exist. It's good drama for sure, and it makes Glenn Beck a good living.

However, at the end of the day it's all just scare tactics and noise based on little semblance of reality, fact checking, or reason. Rather emails like this simply appeal to good old fashioned fear; fear of the unknown, fear of policies that aren't the policies of the previous administration, fear. If only all of us could wake up and smell this kind of nonsense for what it really is, and begin to think critically about the claims being put forth in these emails.

Again, I will keep hope alive in this regard and despite the scariness around me, will still enjoy Halloween next week :)

Thanks for stopping by,

Drew

September 11th, "Ground Zero Mosques", and Koran Burnings

drew.mather@gmail.com (Drew Mather) — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 20:57:00 -0700

I know I'm running a bit late for a commentary on the 9th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, but I wanted to chime in on a few things that I believe are prescient even two weeks out.

This latest anniversary seemed different to me than ones in the past; alot of divisiveness. I think much of this division had to do with the controversy that is still continuing over a proposed Islamic Cultural Center (aka 'Ground Zero Mosque' if you are into inciteful soundbytes from Fox News) to be constructed a few blocks away from where the World Trade Center once stood. Probably a close second was the book burning (postponed) of Korans planned by a small Protestant Church Congregation in Florida.

Before I comment further on the 'divides' though, let me say this...

The destruction and killing that took place over 9 years ago was of a magnitude and scope that most Americans, myself included, were not used to, and I think, myself included, are apt to forget.

We should never forget the people who perished in these most egregious terrorist acts of 9 years ago. The World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania were in many respects giant torture chambers for the over 2,700 people who lost their lives. Many had to make the horrific choice of jumping from 40 stories up in the air to their death, or being consumed by an unquenchable fire. These were people like you and me reading this right now who, through no fault of their own, found themselves in an impossible situation. People who went to work that day never had a chance against those hateful people who were bent on killing indiscriminately.

Now there are some people I know who would blame the religion of Islam for the lives lost on September 11th. And while I am not a fan of any religion, and think Islam does have alot to answer for in terms of its own idealogies...blaming Islam for the lives lost on September 11th is taking things a bit far in my book. Can we all just take a few deep breaths, step back from this situation, and consider a few things?

1. We have a number of ‘holy’ books that various billions of people on our planet attest to as the one ‘true’ sacred revelation from ‘God’; think Bible, Koran, Talmud, Upanishads, Vedas, etc. If we single out the Bible, surely we can find passages where genocide and retribution toward those who work against ‘God’ and ‘his ways’ are justified. I'll throw a few out...

“When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations…then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.” Deuteronomy 7:1-2, NIV.

or...

“…do not leave alive anything that breaths. Completely destroy them…as the Lord your God has commanded you…” Deuteronomy 20:16, NIV.

Now just because there are passages in the Christian Bible that approve violence, I don’t know too many Christians who would take these same passages to heart, and actually use them to commit egregious acts against an entire group of people. That's not to say that there aren't some out there who would, just that they would be in the extreme minority of Christians who would consider doing something like that today.

The fact remains though that in the Christians' ‘Holy’ book, there are passages that don’t necessarily paint a glowing picture of an all loving, yet quite peculiarly, jealous and vengeful deity.

So, let’s not just pick on the Bible, how about the Koran, Islam’s sacred text and oral traditions. I’m sure, like we did with the Bible, we can find plenty of examples where violence is sanctioned, possibly even encouraged against people who disobey God.

[3.056]
"As to those who reject faith, I will punish them with terrible agony in this world and in the Hereafter, nor will they have anyone to help."

[8.012]
"Remember thy Lord inspired the angels (with the message): "I am with you: give firmness to the Believers: I will instil terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers: smite ye above their necks and smite all their finger-tips off them."

Taken from the following website: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/k/koran/browse.html at the University of Michigan.

Not exactly the most glowing of reviews for a religion that has been purported by many as a religion of peace.

But wait, would you even guess that there are passages in the Koran that speak to treating others kindly, with dignity and respect?

Look at these passages from the same holy book:

[2.224] And make not Allah because of your swearing (by Him) an obstacle to your doing good and guarding (against evil) and making peace between men, and Allah is Hearing, Knowing.

[20.47] So go you both to him and say: Surely we are two apostles of your Lord; therefore send the children of Israel with us and do not torment them! Indeed we have brought to you a communication from your Lord, and peace is on him who follows the guidance

Obviously these two verses are not exhaustive in terms of laying out evidence that a religion is peaceful. I simply throw these out as counterweights if you will to the verses that speak to violence. You can do this all day with any "holy" text.

So getting back to our deep breaths and considerations of a few things...

2. Islam is practiced by over a billion people on our planet. Let me say that again, Islam is practiced by over a billion people. At last check, I didn’t see over a billion acts of utter carnage flowing from all corners of the world. Sure it might seem like that on a busy news day out of Iraq or Afghanistan, but day in and day out, the vast majority of Muslims just like Christians and Jews go about their daily lives in peace. Like Christians who know which verses to cherry pick and live their lives by, Muslims do the same with their Koran. We should all keep in mind that the small subset of Muslims who practice terrorism and violent tactics in some parts of the world is just that, a small subset of the entire population of people who practice the religion of Islam. And that small subset are most likely in areas of extreme economic upheaval.

Lest we forget too, remember that there were, and still are small subsets of Christians who practice acts of violence against minorities, most noteably blacks and homosexuals.

Do we need to condemn an entire religion for some of its followers who probably would kill and do bad things regardless of their belief in any supernatural being?

I say 'No'.

Rather what we should do is condemn the real threat to our country, and the world, as I see it, uneducated masses of people acting out of fear and irrationality, rather than calm and reasoning.

All religions look to gain a foothold. They all want to spread their “good news”. I’ll take a religious person every day of the week and twice on Tuesday who practices critical thinking, over an areligious person who has knee jerk reactions to stimuli.

If we want to have a better world, we need to teach our children, as well as our adults the importance of a secular democracy where church and state are separate, religious people can practice their faith without reprisal, and all people, religious and areligious, can have civil discourse and debate of ideas using logic and reasoning.

My thoughts (which are incidentally my prayers) are with the families of the people who lost their lives over 9 years ago in New York City, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania. These family members who remain come from all walks of life, and as I’m sure with the loss of any loved one, still ache for that person to return and be with them again. I lost my Dad over 2 years ago to cancer, and while I know it’s a far cry from losing someone in a terrorist attack, losing him is still as fresh today as it was 2 years ago, and I miss him more today than I did yesterday.

Thanks for stopping by,

Drew

Overkill

drew.mather@gmail.com (Drew Mather) — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 08:38:00 -0700

If you are old enough to remember 1983, and the release of Men At Work's album, "Cargo", then you're probably familiar with the song, "Overkill".

I was watching 'Scrubs' a few years ago and Colin Hay, former lead singer for Men At Work, did a cameo on the show; singing an acoustic version of this song. If you haven't heard it, click here. It's in a word...beautiful.

I can't say I was a HUGE fan of Men At Work in the 1980's. I did like their songs, and I'm pretty sure there are a few on them on my mix tapes from high school. But this episode of Scrubs woke me up to the importance this song has in dealing with difficulties in life. And in the last 6 months, with moving, buying a house, starting a new job, I have to say this song written by Hay has helped me tremendously.

I'd like to share the first part of the lyrics of Hay's song here, and just comment on a few of the stanzas that I found quite helpful...

OVERKILL Lyrics by Colin Hay

I can't get to sleep
I think about the implications

Of diving in too deep
And possibly the complications

Especially at night
I worry over situations
I know will be alright

Perhaps its just my imagination

Day after day it reappears

Night after night my heartbeat, shows the fear

Ghosts appear and fade away

Alone between the sheets
Only brings exasperation

It's time to walk the streets
Smell the desperation

At least there's pretty lights
And though there's little variation

It nullifies the night

From overkill...

The line where he says "It's time to walk the streets" and "Smell the desperation" was particularly poignant for me. I took from these phrases that in the midst of a difficult anxiety prone situation that you find yourself, to take a break from it, go for a walk outside and see that the rest of the world is experiencing probably the same if not worse stressors.

This may seem overly simplistic, but listening to this song over and over again (yes, I realize the irony that by playing "Overkill" repeatedly, I am literally making the song overkill), helped me to push past some difficult stages in the move out to California, and the stresses on our family with my new job.

Am I completely cured of the 'Ghosts' that 'appear and fade away'? No. Probably a bit early for that Mission Accomplished pronouncement. But, the 'ghosts' do appear less, and they tend to obey me when I tell them to "come back another day", as Colin Hay emphatically commands in his song.

To Colin Hay, I really appreciate you writing this song in 1983. Twenty seven years later, the reverberations are still resonating with a very grateful husband and father in California.

Also to my dear friend, Rob, thank you for directing my attention to some of Colin Hay's newer music. I'll be writing about that next. Your friendship means the world to me.

Thanks for stopping by,
Drew

Another Purpose Driven Forum - This Time for California

drew.mather@gmail.com (Drew Mather) — Mon, 2 Aug 2010 22:14:00 -0700

Over the weekend, some of California's politicians pandered, I mean, gathered at a faith forum in San Francisco hosted by the California Foundation (click below to listen).

While I don't want to say that I absolutely won't vote for a politician that attends such forums (e.g. Jerry Brown, pictured to the right who did attend), I will say that a politician's attendance at such events greatly diminishes my willingness to vote for them in the future.

In my humble opinion, a politician should do their very best to keep politics and religion separated from their governance.

I realize this isn't always an easy task. There are plenty of examples of public servants who make it their business to let everyone else know what brand of Christianity they follow. And it usually pays off for them at the polls.

But I hope for a day where people will not worry so much about what a politician says about their beliefs in a particular God, rather look at what they actually do in terms of their beliefs in how to help humanity.

It would be such a refreshing change to see a politician simply say to people who are asking about his or her faith in a particular God that it's really none of their business. What is your business is my record of helping people in this community live better lives.

I will keep hoping for such refreshment.

Thanks for stopping by,
Drew

Another interesting obituary from The Economist

drew.mather@gmail.com (Drew Mather) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 06:06:00 -0700

Mau Piaulug

I almost skipped right past the article as I had never heard of this man, but the subtitle, "master navigator" made me pause. This man could navigate on water without a compass or GPS device for thousands of miles at a time. Probably doesn't mean that much to most folks in our world of GPS enabled cell phones and other spatial devices, but as someone who has difficulty finding points on a map every day with a GPS for my job as a soil scientist, reading about someone who does this kind of thing without any device other than his brain definitely sparked my interest.

Apparently Mr. Piaulug had about a 100 constellations memorized, and could refer to these stars as they appeared above the horizon for steering his boat in the right direction. His father taught him as a young child how to do this prodigious memorization task with "cosmic" stones on a beach.

Was a good reminder to me to take some time away from the net and the technology that tethers it to make sure my son, Matthew, gets some quality time out in nature, an incredible teacher in its own right.

Thanks for stopping by,

Drew

Only from the mind of...Humpback Whales?

drew.mather@gmail.com (Drew Mather) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 06:03:00 -0700

Radio Lab has just produced probably one of the most fascinating set of animal stories I've ever heard.

Here's the link to the actual mp3 download: http://audio.wnyc.org/radiolab_podcast/radiolab_podcast701animalminds.mp3

If you like humpback whales, leopard seals, and geese, this show will especially make you smile and cry.

If you just like animals in general, the same will happen.

I hope you enjoy, and would love to hear your comments.

Sincerely,

Drew

A New Foundation to help Haitians

drew.mather@gmail.com (Drew Mather) — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 06:21:00 -0700

With the recent events in Haiti, I found a site that may be of interest to some atheists and agnostics out there.

The Haitian people are suffering immeasurably in this latest natural disaster, and I think, regardless of your faith, or the lack thereof, we can all agree that helping these people in their ‘hour of need’, so to speak, is a good thing to do.

I recently read an article in the Huffington Post, published on New Year’s Day by Valerie Tarico, that caught my attention. The article, entitled, “Hey Atheist — Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is” is about a new foundation that attempts to put a nicer ‘face’, if you will, on atheists and agnostics who are concerned about humanity every bit as much as theists and religious people. The foundation is called ‘Foundation Beyond Belief’ at http://foundationbeyondbelief.org/ and offers much information on various charities that are providing help to people in need simply because it’s the right thing to do, not because of any theistic belief system.

While I think in times like these, whatever you give to help to whatever charity is much needed and appreciated.

However, if you are not theistic in your world view, you'd probably want your donation to go to agencies who are helping the needy, and doing so without comparable theistic agendas.

This is not a ’knock’ on religious charities. You do good work, and in the end, sincerely, I am glad you exist.

I just think it’s time for, as Tarico’s article speaks to, the atheists and agnostics of the world to have a more visible 'place' to go to demonstrate that just because there is a NATURAL disaster from what is believed to be NATURAL causes (unless of course you have an insurance company that labels these events as 'Acts of God'), these same atheists and agnostics don’t just turn away from those NATURALLY affected. Atheists and agnostics want to help as much as the theists do, they just don’t ascribe any SUPERNATURAL pretense to the helping, or appeal to a SUPERNATURAL being for relief.

At the end of the day, it's really you and I, human beings of planet Earth, that are the relief. We must do our best to help our fellow human beings on the planet at all times, but especially during the most dire of times for people affected by forces beyond their control.

There should be plenty of ‘room at the table’, so to speak, for people who want to help without religion, and those that want to help with.

Thank you for reading this entry, and I hope you can find time to do something, whatever that something is, to help the Haitian people during this most difficult time.

It's all in the numbers apparently

drew.mather@gmail.com (Drew Mather) — Wed, 9 Dec 2009 20:58:00 -0700

Radiolab from WNYC is, in my humble opinion, and in every sense of the word, RADIO GOLD. At just over 31 minutes into their latest podcast, on Numbers, Jad and Robert explore the beautiful, yet odd story of mathematician, Paul Erdös, and how he defied all the odds of succeeding in this life.

His two sisters die on the day he is born. His father is put in a Soviet Concentration camp when he is very young and eventually is killed. His mother, a mathematician, and understandably overprotective about losing her last child, basically locks him away in her home while she goes off to support herself and her son. The only books in the house are mathematics books, and lo and behold, young Paul gets 'lost in the numbers'.

Paul, despite his circumstances, earns a PhD from the University of Budapest in Hungary (his birthplace). He then goes on to steroid-ally social network like nobody's business, and before Facebook was even a twinkle in Zuckerberg's eye. This lends to Erdös authoring more papers in mathematics than any other mathematician to date.

During the segment, the reporter, Paul Hoffman, rhetorically asks how someone like Erdös could have been able to rise above his circumstances, whereas so many others in similar or less adverse situations do not.

I propose that Dr. Erdös was simply one of those special human beings who possesses undefeatable will, determination, and the ability to never give up. I think we all have the ability to gain this kind of tenacity toward life, but most of us (myself included) just are not challenged enough in our daily lives to demonstrate these most precious gifts.

I hope you enjoy this most unlikely, and interesting story on numbers. And, if you aren't there yet, at least learning how to pursue life with the same tenacity as Paul Erdös.

Thanks for stopping by,

Drew

Stomach Flu - urban legend or true medical condition?

drew.mather@gmail.com (Drew Mather) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:38:00 -0700

I recently went to the doctor for what I thought was a slam dunk for food poisoning. I had some Chinese food from our favorite local restaurant on Sunday night a week ago, and within about 3 hours I was hugging the main porcelain fixture of our master bath with more gusto than I have since 7th grade when some Italian meatballs didn't want to play nice with my upper GI tract.

I have what I consider quite decent health care coverage from my employer, the U.S. Government. I pay just over $300 a month to cover myself, my wife, and my newborn son with this plan. I don't want to go into the particulars of said health care, but suffice it to say that most things are covered (80%) all the way down to emergency room visits.

Now here is why I write.

When I went to visit my physician after I had this bout with food poisoning, the nurse took my vitals before I saw the doctor. When I showed a temperature of a little over a 100 degrees F, she immediately came to the conclusion that I might have the flu. I was sketical, but didn't say anything. Thought I would just wait to see what the doctor might say.

Doctor came in, looked at my chart, listened to my chest and stomach, looked in my ears, and then made the same diagnosis; flu. He did add that he thought it was viral, not bacterial, and, to his credit, did not prescribe an antibiotic. All he gave me were stronger than Tylenol pain pills that doubled in helping to lower my fever.

I remained skeptical about this "flu" diagnosis though. I called my wife to let her know I had seen the doctor. Apparently everyone at her work thought the same thing as my doctor; flu or even more descriptive "stomach flu".

Now I am not a doctor by any stretch, but I was pretty sure my Chinese meal had something to do with the fact that I was up nearly the entire night vomiting and experiencing the most inopportune times for diahrrhea onset. But, all around me people were saying, "No, it's stomach flu".

So, I thought I would just do a very cursory look on Google for "Stomach Flu" and see if this kind of flu even exists. I thought that this term sounded a bit funny, and as it turns out, it surely is.

On my first pass, I was able to find the following link from the Centers for Disease Control, one of the most trusted sites for medical information:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/revb/gastro/faq.htm

"Viral gastroenteritis", not stomach flu, was the more appropriate term for what I had. "Flu" refers to "Influenza", a condition which affects the lungs and sinuses. I had neither of these problems at the time, just a rapid emptying of my digestive tract from the upper and lower end.

Really, in the grand scheme of things, not a big deal to call something "Stomach Flu" rather than "Viral Gastroenteritis". The main thing that bothered me was that I was led to believe that this kind of illness was going to persist like a normal flu, lasting a week or more. It only lasted about a day.

So, the next time someone tells you you might have a stomach flu, think 'Viral gastroenteritis' instead, and point them to the Centers for Disease Control website.

Until next time, thanks for stopping by!

Drew

An amazing letter

drew.mather@gmail.com (Drew Mather) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:05:00 -0700

It's been a while I know since I last wrote. Mainly the hiatus has been from taking on some very fun, yet quite exhausting new Daddy tasks. We now have a 3 month old and just when you think you've been given a moment of reprieve to do some geeky stuff like this, lo and behold, the little guy has other ideas for how you spend your time. :)

But, for the time being, I just got the 'memo' that I have about 10 minutes to blog.

Sooo, here goes...

I've finished watching the first of nine episodes of the Ken Burn's series, "The Civil War". It's literally taken me about 3 months to finish just the first DVD of the collection. And my wife has just given me the entire set for my birthday. Can't wait to finish it!

Burns is a master storyteller (see my previous post in February of this year about 'The War'). He knows just how to shrink huge world events down to individual human life sizes, while at the same time giving you reasons to care about these individual human lives.

Case in point is a letter from Sullivan Ballou (Union soldier, lawyer, husband, father, and public servant, to name a few) written to his wife, Sarah, in 1861, before the first battle of Bull Run in Manassas, Virginia. The letter is a beautiful example of both love for another human being, and love for a cause. It is also an amazing entryway into the mindset of someone who was incredibly torn between these two kinds of love.

I think Ballou's letter, and life story, can help those who are struggling with balance in their lives and now to put it in perspective. It certainly has helped me this morning just appreciate what we have here in this country in terms of freedoms, in terms of representative government, and in terms of economic opportunity for those who reside under same said representative government.

I hope you enjoy the letter and the lessons it can teach, as well as the entire Civil War series from Ken Burns.

Drop me a post if you've seen it already or are watching it now. Would love to hear your experiences watching it.

Until next time, thanks for stopping by!

Drew

An Obit That Made Me Stop Dead In My Tracks

drew.mather@gmail.com (Drew Mather) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 11:37:00 -0700

I try to read "The Economist" every week, at least a few articles here and there as time allows, and I usually just gloss over the obituaries.

This past week was different.

I was first taken by the humble photograph they printed of a woman with beautiful wrinkles in her forehead and around her eyes. The rest of her face looked smooth. Her eyes appeared compassionate, yet holding back worlds of information that could bring many a world leader to their knees.

I am speaking of Alison Des Forges, a human rights activist and historian, who worked tirelessly in the early 1990's and beyond to bring to light a growing crisis in Rwanda. She died February 12, 2009 in the Buffalo plane crash from Newark where ice build up was a factor.

The thing that really struck me about Mrs. Des Forges was just how early she'd figured out what was happening in Rwanda, while the rest of the world waited.

In 1993, she documented a smaller scale version of Rwanda in neighboring Burundi. She gave a detailed account of what happened and her title, "Leave None to Tell the Story" came from a killer's utterance during the horrors of that event.

Her life was and is an inspiration to telling the story of the human experience, both grotesque and beautiful. The world has lost a wonderful example of how to live your life with meaning; betterring the condition of those humans who are consistently forgotten.

Thank you, Mrs. Des Forges, you will not be forgotten.

An Amazing Documentary

drew.mather@gmail.com (Drew Mather) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 05:47:00 -0700

Chihiro and I just finished up a very long documentary on World War II called "The War" by Ken Burns. It was produced in 2007, and ran on a number of PBS stations.

It's going to take you a while to get through these DVDs for sure, but it is SO well worth it.

Burns tells the story of World War II through the eyes of people directly affected by it, the soldiers, their families, their friends, and townspeople who knew the soldiers. The focus is on people affected by this great conflict living in four U.S. cities; Waterbury, CT, Mobile, AB, Luverne, MN, and Sacramento, CA. Each city has its own unique history of contributing to the war effort during 1939 to 1945.

There is a fair amount of graphic violence (mostly in the way of photographs), but Burns displays these photos with tact, and chooses them carefully to tell the story of how horrible war really is. I'm not sure I would want someone under 12 or 13 watching it without an adult to supervise and answer questions. It is both heart wrenching and elating the stories told in this film. Some are so unbelievable you'd swear Hollywood got to them first. Most of the soldiers interviewed lose best friends in battle, a number lose hope altogether during those battles, and all who survived the brutal conflicts still have to live with the vivid memories of those years.

These stories and the people involved should be known to all, and never be forgotten.

In this day where the U.S. is still involved in international conflicts, the story of World War II as told by Ken Burns has many lessons for our future and current world leaders, as well as you and I who give the power to these leaders to make the choice to go to war.

I hope we never have to repeat what happened between 1939 and 1945, but in small ways it appears that we have: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rwanda, the Sudan. People still fight, and fight savagely.

This movie really affected both Chihiro and I.

I hope it will affect you too.

Please share your comments if you have seen or plan to see this documentary.

Chihiro and I would love to hear them.

Re-Reflecting on 'Reflections' and Happy Thanksgiving!

drew.mather@gmail.com (Drew Mather) — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 08:55:00 -0700

Here's to you and yours on this day of Thanksgiving in the U.S.

I've had some interesting comments and emails from a number of you about my last blog post pertaining to ending this blog.

Seems like the majority of you want it, Reflections from Wyoming, to continue. And for your comments, posted and unposted, I want to sincerely thank you.

I gave it some serious thought and came up with the following...

1. No need to report on things of a personal nature on the blog. As mentioned in my previous post, would like to reserve that for emailing all of you that I am close with.

2. Big need to continue to share, if only for myself, the stories I find interesting on a 'near' daily basis. I realize I haven't been too near that 'near' daily deal, but will edge closer in the coming months (especially since New Year's Resolutions are almost upon us).

So...going forward, my posts will be a blend of stories in science, history, religion, philosophy, technology, education, and the like that I find interesting. Some will key in on Wyoming, others will just be of an international/national approach to things. I hope you will find these new post themes interesting as well.

With no further ado, and in the spirit of bipartisanship, reaching across the aisle-ness, a quirky 'mavericky' feeling, complete 'vetted-tude', and just flat-out pure democratization...here is the return of Reflections from Wyoming.

New posts with the new theme will follow in the days ahead...

Thanks again for checking in and have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday!

Drew

A Farewell to Reflections, with a nod to a new...

drew.mather@gmail.com (Drew Mather) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:21:00 -0700

I've come to the conclusion that my original concept of Reflections has been a bit ill-conceived.

My intent was to "keep in touch" with family and friends through this blog, hoping that discussion and comments would ensue after I posted something.

What I have found though is more of a one-sided conversation.

In retrospect, I think the public nature of blogging scares a certain population away from posting. I wish I had seen that sooner. Thinking it through though now, it's not really all that inviting to have someone share events personal to them, and then expect family and friends to all respond in the public domain as if you were having a friend-to-friend conversation.

So...

...in the aftermath of these past 2 years of blogging, I have not been very good at keeping in touch with the people I care about the most. I left my "keeping in touch" with family and friends in a bit of a "latch-key situation" with the Reflections from Wyoming blog playing the role of inept parent.

Now for those of you who read the blog and posted, I offer up a sincere thanks for letting me know you were out there reading. Some didn't post, and would simply email me that they read one of my blogs. That meant a lot as well. Thank you!

Which brings me to my next conclusion...

Even in this day of blogging and social networking, the best communication tool for me remains sending and receiving emails, phone calls, and face to face meetings from people I deeply care about. Ideas, websites, podcasts, music and the like can all be shared through these mediums, same as I would do in any Facebook page or blog. I just have less hassle and less public displays of display.

Not that I don't like these new avenues...I think they are fine for what they are. I just have decided that for me, at this point in my life, with my goal of keeping in touch with family and friends, that to really have a decent discussion about something, sending an email out and waiting for a response is better than broadcasting it to the world in a blog or on MySpace.

Before you go running for the exits though, let me explain that I am not deleting this site. It will remain Reflections from Wyoming and all the archived blogpostings will stay right where they are. This post will simply be my last post on this particular avenue of cyberspace.

Which brings me to my final point...

As many of you know, I work in the environmental field. I've started up a new blog called The Soil Scientist to speak to some issues that I find interesting in the particular career field I find myself. It's a work in progress at the following link for those interested in checking it out:

http://thesoilscientist.blogspot.com

Many thanks to everyone for checking out my Reflections blog.

I look forward to talking to you all more through emails, phone calls, and hopefully face-to-face meetings.

Don't be surprised if you get a personal one of these from me in the near future.

Cheers!

Drew

Sportswannabes launch new site and podcast!

drew.mather@gmail.com (Drew Mather) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 04:25:00 -0700

My roommate and best bud from undergrad, you know him as the Misanthrope, Rob Archer, has teamed up with his old buddy from Greenville, SC, Dan Watters, to become the Sportswannabes.

Being a closet podcast geek, I agreed to help produce their new podcast and webpage.

It's been alot of fun so far. We just produced our first show last weekend, and I am just now getting around to putting it up on my own page (long week of field work, even have to pull a Saturday today to finish up the fiscal year in stride...ugh!).

Hope you'll check these guys out!

They're at http://sportswannabes.blogspot.com.

There's a link there for downloading the podcast (and on my "Podcasts of Note" links to the left).

Have a great weekend!

Drew

Some great news!

drew.mather@gmail.com (Drew Mather) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 12:11:00 -0700

It's official...Chihiro's pregnant! I know, we still can't believe it.

After nearly 5 years of trying, we are blessed with a little growing kidney bean ;) inside of Chihiro's belly.

Click on the picture above or HERE to view the video.

Enjoy!

Drew

Placing the Placebo Effect on a Pedestal

drew.mather@gmail.com (Drew Mather) — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 08:28:00 -0700

Rarely does a podcast shift my focus so dramatically that I talk about it for days with my wife. The podcast "Placebo" from an episode of WNYC's Radio Lab program did just that. You can download it by clicking HERE.

I just started listening to this podcast with hosts Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich about a month ago. They do a fantastic job with the show, setting the bar pretty high for all those podcasting. The show is very much like a This American Life with Ira Glass, just more of a science bent.

I was particularly struck by the Parkinson's disease patients and how they responded to a placebo effect trial. Wait for it...there is a twist at the end of this subfeature of the episode. There was also a boy with warts all over one of his arms who undergoes a particular type of placebo effect trial to amazing results. It's just truly remarkable how much our words and our literal touching of others play in being healthy and happy.

After hearing the show, I can feel myself making more of a concerted effort to use words that convey care and concern (not all the time, but I'm trying). Obviously, and probably like most of us humans, I wish I could take back some words I've used in the past with people I care about deeply.

Would love to hear your comments after listening.

Have a great weekend!

New Book on the Front Lines of Education

drew.mather@gmail.com (Drew Mather) — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 08:22:00 -0700

My old roomie from undergrad and best bud, Rob Archer, you know him as The Misanthrope, has just published his first book!

Rob, over the years, has given me some of his chapters to look over, and now, after years of simmering in the crockpot of writes, rewrites, hashes, and rehashes, he's put out his first paperback!

Disclaimer-I'm actually getting Facebook-like advertising coin to blog this today. I report, you decide...

Further disclaimer- Ok, not really, but MySpace is seriously considering giving me my own channel to crank out Youtube-ish videos at the rate of 3 per hour involving skateboard crashes (if I actually skateboarded) on school railings!

Seriously though, I think you won't be disappointed checking out his musings on life behind the lines of public and private secondary education.

Links to his new book and blog are below:

Click HERE for the book.

Click HERE for the blog.

Enjoy!

Obama/McCain - A Purpose Driven Forum

drew.mather@gmail.com (Drew Mather) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 19:02:00 -0700

Just saw the forum held in Lake Forest, CA with John McCain and Barack Obama. My immediate reaction was the huge difference in emotion between the two candidates. McCain was very quick, almost knee-jerk in his answers to Rick Warren's questions. Obama was more contempletive, thoughtful in his responses.

I guess this should have been no surprise to me, seeing how the two have acted on their respective "stumps". But after seeing them answer the same questions at different points in the evening, the contrasts were quite stark.

Interested in your comments.

I did a quick search to see if there was any streaming video available of the debate, but as of yet, haven't found any. Please post if you happen to find a good link. Thanks and looking forward to discussing further your reactions to this poignant moment in the campaign to date.

37 and overweight...details at 11.

drew.mather@gmail.com (Drew Mather) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 07:48:00 -0700

I know it's been quite some time since my last post. I have started and stopped a number of blogposts thinking I'd be able to upload that set of pictures to link to it, or get that science story just right. All to no avail. I have finally, this Sunday morning, gotten up the courage to post one. It's not my usual fare, a bit cheeky, but I thought worthy of some note.

This is the ad I got today in my Facebook left hand column (see picture right).

Thought it was quite telling of the immanent, if not already here in full force, tailored online advertising three ring circus.

My first reaction was…”How in the world did they get a snapshot of my 8 minute abs sans webcam powered up? Har har! If I ever get abs like that, I will have quit my day job and become an infomercial.

Then my next thought was, “They know I’m thirty seven, and because I’ve spent the last hour trying to catch up with folks on Facebook I’m gaining weight.

Third, I bemused about the "kick-ass-ness" of a green tea able to peel off layers of abdominal fat in soon to be middle aged men like myself (my wife already calls me middle aged man, but I hold on to 37 just as John Cougar (aka Mellencamp) instructed us to hold on to 16. But that’s another story altogether.

And, my final thought was, “They are going to let me try it FREE! Wow, how completely generous of them. Now I just have to figure out how to afford the $60 shipping charge (I’m kidding, it’s not that much, but I’m guessing, based on my past eBay forays that THAT is how they make their money…clever.)

Just a short Sunday snippet from a 37 year old with no green tea and little options for even 16 minute abs.

Belated Spring Equinox and Easter Wishes!

drew.mather@gmail.com (Drew Mather) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 21:22:00 -0700

Belated Happy Spring Equinox and Easter Everyone!

Hope you had a nice weekend.

Things are starting to get back to normal since my Dad's passing in February. It's still so surreal to not have your Dad around to call and talk to. I've had a few dreams with him in them, but I can't ever seem to be able to talk to him directly in the dream. Anyone had experiences like this dreaming of lost loved ones?

Really behind at work finishing up all our GIS work and data analysis from the previous field season, as well as preparing for a week long, INCREDIBLY involved, advanced soil correlation course at the National Soil Survey Laboratory in Lincoln, NE.

Chihiro and I worked on taxes all weekend, in between some March Madness basketball games.

If anyone's interested, here's a link to the mp3 file of Barak Obama's speech on March 18th, 2008 from the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, PA:

http://sundaygang.com/obama/2008/03/18/speech.mp3

It's 37 minutes and 43 seconds of some of the finest oratory you'll likely hear from a politician in this election or any in the distant future.

Obama addresses all of the concerns surrounding his pastor, Jeremiah Wright, and the comments he made that are currently supplying news sources all over the country endless soundbytes.

Regardless of who you are backing for president, I don't think you will be disappointed downloading this one to your iPod.

Have a great week!

Drew