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Our Daily Thread 12-27-13

Good Morning!

It’s Friday! 🙂

On this day in 1831 Charles Darwin set out on a voyage to the Pacific aboard the HMS Beagle. Darwin’s discoveries during the voyage helped him form the basis of his theories on evolution. (I didn’t discover this fact until I’d already picked the quote from Pasteur, but the link with the quote responds to some of those theories, and how they were easily proven wrong. Pasteur was an interesting fellow, so check out the link below if you’d like to read more, you know, in case there’s a test…. 😉

In 1845 Dr. Crawford Williamson Long used anesthesia for childbirth for the first time. The event was the delivery of his own child in Jefferson, GA.

In 1900 Carrie Nation staged her first raid on a saloon at the Carey Hotel in Wichita, KS. She broke each and every one of the liquor bottles that could be seen. 😯

In 1904 James Barrie’s play “Peter Pan” premiered in London.

And in 1947 the children’s television program “Howdy Doody,” hosted by Bob Smith, made its debut on NBC.

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Quote of the Day

“Never will the doctrine of spontaneous generation recover from the mortal blow struck by this simple experiment.”

Louis Pasteur

More on Mr. Pasteur here, from AnsweringGenesis.org. He’s an interesting fellow.

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Today is James Mead’s birthday. So yeah, Kutless. 🙂

And it’s Matt Slocum’s, so SixpenceNonetheRicher

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Anyone have a QoD?

72 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 12-27-13”

  1. Peter L,

    I’m looking to put up a football post for the major bowl games starting Monday or Wednesday, thru the National Championship game on the following Monday. Do you want to put it together, or should I? Either way works, just let me know here or in an email. I’d like to post it later tonight or tomorrow. Thanks Peter.

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  2. AJ- I was going to ask which games you wanted. I have plenty of time, so I’ll get something to you later today. I’m thinking of the games especially involving Top 10 teams, even though Oregon State is in one of those “whatcha-ma-callit” bowls.

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  4. I spent most of the morning thinking it is Monday. I even got into an argument about coming to the Y on Wednesday, when it turns out, Wednesday is next week.
    When you reach 80, your brain shrivels up.
    😥

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  6. Wow, is everyone in post-Christmas meltdown? Or still enjoying time with family? I am at our missionary guesthouse for a week. We arrived yesterday afternoon in a 3 car convoy after driving 200 miles to go 40. 😦

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  7. Amos woke me up at 6:30. I can’t just let him out and back in, I have to let Lulabelle out too. I closed off the doors to the bedrooms so Mr, P could sleep. No point in both of us being up and cranky and Lou whines until she can get to him. He has spoiled her, she definately has him wrapped around her paw. What this means is that I am the one she mostly obeys.
    Anyway, I tried to get them both to lie down next to the sofa and give me a little more “quiet” time. It really didn’t work. I was awake so I played soduko on my phone. Something I haven’t done in a long time.
    So now the coffee is made and I am on my first cup. Trying to decide what the day will bring.

    Ajisuun,, I am glad you are getting some time away. Enjoy the down time.

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  8. AJ, since you mentioned Crawford Long, that is the name of the hospital in Atlanta where my husband was born.

    My brother just showed us an old photo from an album my mother had which had a picture of our parents and a friend standing in front of the hotel on top of Lookout Mountain in 1947. As it turned out that hotel eventually became the first building of Covenant College when it relocated to Lookout Mountain. It is where our son just graduated from in May.

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  10. My brother is a strong believer in giving my husband and son socks and underwear for Christmas. My brother uses bleach in his laundry so everything wears out much more quickly than at my home. So we usually have some socks and underwear to return to Walmart. I tried to tell my brother this year, but did not tell him in time so we will do the Walmart shuffle again this year.

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  12. I got another shirt for Christmas. A real nice Tommy Hifliger. I first checked to see if it has a pocket. Some of those don’t. I need one for my glass case.
    It has a pocket. I’ve only returned one thing in all my life. That was when I was in college, and I dolnt remember what it was. I think it was a wedding gift that I had no use for at all.

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  13. fNo kidding KBells, I couldn’t recall the name of the town Chuck works in this morning. High Point is part of the tri-city area, Greensboro, High Point, Winston Salem which makes a large metropolitan area.

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  14. The Pasteur article is very interesting and informative.

    I don’t believe anyone would argue that disproving the ideas of abiogenesis or spontaneous generation, and developing the germ theory of disease was not an extremely important discovery, from which we all benefit. The swan-necked flask experiment is definitely elegant, in the way in which it prevents air-borne microbes from contaminating the experiment.

    However, I don’t believe it disproves the evolutionary models, on a couple of fronts.

    First, I’m not sure that it accurately recreates the conditions on earth 4.5 billion years ago. Was it a “primordial soup”, surface chemistry (and on what substrate), what were the energy inputs into the system, and so forth?

    Second, I think having “germs” pop into existence from basic elements doesn’t match the sequence of events that evolutionary theory now claims. Instead, we would expect to see first, simple self-replicating molecules. I’m not versed enough in current theories to know what comes next, but it seems that it is a longer, and more complex chain than the models of abiogenesis that were in fashion 150 years ago.

    But, where I really think there is a fundamental mistake, is in this quote:

    “God as Author of life would then no longer be needed. Matter would replace Him. God would need to be invoked only as Author of the motions of the universe.”

    I think this statement is seized on by both supporters and deniers of evolution, as kind of a strawman to be knocked down.

    Supporters of evolution (I’m refering only to those of the athiest stripe – there are plenty of Christian believers I know who accept the scientific explanation of evolution, and plenty of scientists I know who are believers) use it to claim, “Ah HA! There is no God!” I don’t believe they’ve proven any such thing.

    Deniers use it to state, in effect “If this is true, there’s no God. But, we know there is a God. Therefor, this cannot be true.”

    What is left out, is the possibility that our understanding of both God, and of evolution, is too limited. Just as he let us use our brains and rationality to discover the laws of gravitation, thermodynamics, relativity, etc. that He uses to run the universe, I believe he has and is allowing us to use our brains and see how he created life, and how it evolves.

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  15. I don’t have to return anything–though I’ve already lost the backing on one of the beautiful earrings my husband gave me. But both daughter and son have an opportunity to visit Best Buy, which they are reluctant to do.

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  17. Nothing to return here. However, this is the time of year I set out in search of birthday presents for the grands. Several of them have birthdays in the next few months.

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  18. Wasn’t Pasteur the guy who did the “spontaneous generation” experiment with dirty rags, thinking they might produce mice?

    I guess since mice often used old rags lying around in corners or closets for nesting, the thinking was that maybe mice were somehow “created” in the icky pile. ?

    I should read the article posted here, maybe that’s discussed. But I do remember hearing that in school once and thinking “Ewwwww.”

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  19. Okay, Michelle, I tried it again. Let me know if you don’t see it. (I put my real name — a movie star name 😉 — in the name box, instead of my screen name, 6 Arrows (although I did include that name in the text of my message). Hope it goes through this time!

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  22. I don’t have anything to return. My husband started the first of November. I got furniture, jewelry, bath stuff and Christmassy stuff that I picked out. He listens. BG gave me a framed photo of herself that I hadn’t had time to go get printed out. A photographer friend took photos of her from Homecoming back in October. Step-son gave me bath stuff as well.

    My friend D and I will exchange presents later. I probably need to buy something else for her.

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  23. Nothing to return, but lots to buy before I go back. Nothing huge, just vitamins and things that are hard to get there. A few electronic things, like chargers. Had to make a list “what do I need this year?”
    Driving 200 to go 40??? is that through mountains??

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  24. Nothing to return — but, boy, was that mall parking lot packed yesterday, on the day after Christmas (our office is next door). Cars for miles. Of course, a lot of it is people cashing in on the after-Christmas sales. I had a roommate once who did that every year, she and a girlfriend would always take Dec. 26 off and then head out at the crack of dawn to score some deals.

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  25. No returns here…still getting use to this new contraption! Kids gave me bath stuff and candles.
    Snow is melting and I plan to take everything down but the nativity scene on the mantle….it is going to be cleaning day here….that should clear everyone but me from the premises!!!!

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  26. Janice’s QoD: The new shoes I got for Christmas have to be returned. My feet feel confined by shoes after a year of bare feet and sandals; but the real problem is my high instep, which makes a lot of these stylish
    shoes with cross straps a tight fit.

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  28. Wow! I am impressed by the lack of returns here! That is how it ideally should be. We don’t ever have returns generated by our immediate family. I have gotten a few books or CDs that are repeats but since they are Christian, I can donate the extras to Christian Library International. I have gotten our son into the habit of putting together a big basket of food items for my brother because that kind of thing is easy to shop for at the grocery and mostly there is no worry about if something will fit or not. Grocery items are easy to exchange if necessary. Brother usually finds something wrong with what we give so he returns items most every year.

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  29. Nothing to return for me, either.

    To continue last night’s conversation, I ate the frog this morning! Having decided, why wait until Monday to begin the first project as I’d originally planned, I jumped right into tackling that never-ending job which is decluttering our basement. I made good progress, and when my husband came in from doing some outside projects, he commented on how much better it looked. 🙂 Yay!

    I’m actually looking forward to eating more frog tomorrow. 😉

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  31. BTW to AJ: The email is on the way.

    No returns here, at least on my part. We always ask people for specifically what they want so as to deter returns. If they ask for clothing, we give them a gift card to the store and let them get it. They can try things on that way.

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  32. I haven’t bought Elvera clothes in years. I always do something wrong. I bought her a negligee back when she could do justice to it. She said, “I can’t wear that around here”.
    A few years I bought her a pair of Ugs. She has worn them about twice.
    She now buys everything she wears.

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  35. If not, Kim knows my name and address; perhaps she might have better luck getting it to you. Me and technology don’t always get along. 😉

    I used the same form yesterday as the one you linked today. Yesterday, though, after I typed it out and hit Submit, the words “Go Back” appeared in red ink. Thinking that was like the back arrow to take me back to this blog, where I had just come from, I clicked on it. I wonder if doing that caused my message to not be submitted? So today, I wrote a brief new message, pasted my original message, which I had saved yesterday, and resubmitted it, but DID NOT click on “Go Back” when those words appeared again!

    So I’m hoping you’ve received it now! (I sent today’s a little after 8:00 your time this morning.)

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  36. Fun quiz here to see your “personal dialect map,” how similar you are in the words/pronunciations you use compared to people in other parts of the U.S.

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  39. 6 Arrows: I have a lot of fun with dialect quizzes, as I was raised in Arizona with New York parents, so I have a lot of Southwest and a little New York. And now I live in Missouri with its slight twang. Plus, I pick up accents such that after visiting NYC I have that accent for a few days, and if I even think about friends down South I start drawlin’.

    But I took the test and I am most like Louisville, Kentucky, a place which I have never been.

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  40. I have a brother-in-law who has lived in Missouri for the last 20 years or so, and he definitely has that “slight twang” to which you refer, Peter. It didn’t take him too long to pick that up, either, as I recall. (He’s originally from the Upper Midwest.)

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  41. I took the test yesterday, and, not surprisingly, the Upper Midwest was deep red on my map. Not surprising because that is where I have lived my whole life. What was interesting, though, was that none of the three cities listed for me were places I’d ever been. (That’s pronounced “ben”, BTW, not “bin” or “bean”.) 🙂 And those cities were in states in which I’d never lived.

    I notice that today some of the 25 questions are different than yesterday’s. My results today included the largest cities in three different Upper Midwestern states: my current state, the state in which I grew up, and one other. So my map today, in that sense, is more accurate, as the two cities with the closest match are in my current and former states.

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  42. As I just mentioned on the prayer thread, Forrest is finally home, safe & sound. All of us adults are breathing a big sigh of relief.

    Turns out that after R took the bandage off Forrest’s finger yesterday, he didn’t bother to put any antibacterial ointment nor another bandage on it. So the cut looks redder today. The pediatrician was on her way out to do a couple home visits, so she suggested Emily take Forrest to a walk-in clinic. They said it looked pretty good, but just to be safe, gave her a prescription for an antibiotic ointment.

    While at R’s place, Emily decided to finally get around to picking up her Gramma’s (my mom’s) Corelle dish set & Corning Ware. That had all been left behind when she left him, & then he moved it all with him when he moved out to the other town. It’s been boxed up in his garage (he & his sister live in a condo owned by their grandmother).

    She had to pay him 20 bucks to get it back. But she says it’s worth it to her to get them back, even if it is ridiculous he demanded payment.

    And he still does not pay child support.

    Emily will soon contact a couple people who may be able to point her in which direction to go for legal help.

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  43. Peter L,
    You should have started earlier…my son and I picked them all and I’ve only missed two…btw, if you include the Oregon State bowl, put me down for them…they already played and won :). Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

    No funnies?

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  46. My answers to the dialect test were all in the middle of the country (Oklahama City, Springfield, Houston, or something like that), all far from anywhere I’ve ever lived . . . but I suppose it makes sense since it is “averaging out” my three regions (Southwest, South, Midwest), and the reality is that my “geographic history” pretty much has to take into account my odd family history. (Mom was born in Connecticut, Dad in Arkansas, they met and married in Nigeria. Their oldest child was born in Nigeria, their next three in three different U.S. states, and their final three–including me–in Phoenix.)

    And what am I supposed to answer when I’m asked whether I say “freeway” or “highway” (or other such choices)? Growing up in Phoenix, it was “freeway,” but no one in the South or Midwest says that, so of course I now say “highway.” And we grew up saying “ahnt” but not because others in Phoenix said that; they didn’t. We grew up saying “pop,” but now I probably would usually say “soft drink” just because that’s clear. I have no idea what term is used in the Southweast, in the Midwest, or in the South. I just know that no one around me says “pop” anymore, and so I either say what brand I want or something more generic.

    But we also said “rubbish” growing up, and got laughed at for that one. With our heritage, it’s really a mixed bag, not any one region.

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  47. Michelle and Six I hope I have connected you.

    Mr. P and I went to see Saving Mr. Banks today. It was very good and I highly recommend it. It will make you look at Mary Poppins in a different light. It is somewhat sadder than the Mary Poppins movie but as the adult child of an alcholic, I identified with it. Tom Hanks delivers a great Walt Disney.

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  48. I didn’t see a question that had “rubbish” as a possible answer. Unless you’re talking about rummage sales, which my husband calls “rubbish” sales. 😉

    BTW, where is the “Southweast”? 😛

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  50. The funnies? Oh, yeah, it is Friday, isn’t it. I’ve been off for a week and king of lost track. How about Saturday funnies tomorrow instead?

    Oh, and Mumsee- The Oregon State game INBO mentioned was against Boise State. OSU won it.

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  55. I haven’t posted in a long time, but I occasionally eavesdrop. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

    Sooooo, King Peter, what is the plan for healthcare overhaul?….And what is your position on the trade deficit, taxes, the debt, rising ocean tides and warming glaciers…Or, closer to (my) home, the rising feral dog and cat problem and the issue of chickens within the city limits (gotta LUV Chatt’nooga). :–)

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  56. We’ll I took the quiz…it was pretty much right on. Lexington/Louisville/Knoxville…my Daddy’s people were from Kentucky..and I did marry a Kentucky boy. 🙂 (not to mention they call the town in which I was raised “hamiltucky”!!!

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  57. Hi Debra, nice to see you again. 🙂

    Hey all, I just did something crazy…guess what?

    Okay, maybe not crazy — I’ll get some flack for saying that. 😉 Something unusual for me.

    (Check out the sports thread.) 😯

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  58. I’;m glad it wasn’t me. I searched the entire thread a couple of times for the funnies and didn’t see them.
    Not a big deal, just on Peter’s name, but sometimes he has it disguised.
    🙂

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  59. Earlier today I had my furnace check for the season. It was coincidental to the dialect quiz that S the technician was about to leave I asked where he was from since I noticed he had a Southern accent. He told me a town in Georgia outside of Atlanta. The he told that he and a sibling were once visiting in a place far from home in the NW and a guy recognized their Georgia accents because he was originally from about twenty miles from their home.

    Now I need to take that thar quiz.

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  62. Janice – I’m a bit confused. I thought you lived in the south, so why would you notice a southern accent? Am I wrong about you being in the south?

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  64. Okay, I took the quiz and my three cities are Birmingham, Atlanta and Winston Salem. My mother was from Alabama so Birmingham makes sense. My husband’s folks were from NC so maybe I have picked up on some of that, too.

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  66. Karen O, I noticed the Southern accent because I live in the Atlanta area and a true Southern accent seems rare in this area. We have a lot of people from all over inside the perimeter. You are nearly as likely to hear an Indian or Hispanic accent as a Southern accent. When I went to Georgia Southern College for my first two years of college I noticed a very different Georgia accent down in the area not far from Savannah than the accents I heard in the Atlanta area.

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  67. Apparently, I am from Rockford, Illinois. I have never actually been there, though my husband was born there. He was partially raised in Wisconsin. I was born in Idaho and my parents came from California.

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  69. Friends are not going to take Miss Bosley. Looks like she is ours. Not such a bad deal. I had wanted a Rat Terrier dog but the reason I wanted one was because the one I once sat with was a lap dog that seemed cat like. So, why not have a cat?

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  70. No, I got the toaster oven. It did a fine job on the tenderloin and apples. Thanks.

    We have a rat terrier, He eats birds and mice. One might think he is a cat.

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