Maryland HQL and CHL Permits

Since firearms are an interest of mine I decided to obtain permits which allow me to exercise the second amendment in most states. As a resident of Maryland, these are the associated costs.

MD HQL and UT CHL class: $154.96

MD livescan: $54.50

Two fingerprint cards: $40.00

MSP HQL fee: $50.00

VA application fee: $100.00

UT application fee: $51.00

FL application fee: $112.00

Postage and money order
fees: $11.56

Grand total to exercise a Constitutional right: $574.02. This is 2.25% of my salary. Consider it a lifelong investment.

Bill Nye Debates Ken Ham

Is creation a viable model of origins in today’s modern scientific era? Yesterday Bill Nye and Ken Ham had a civil debate which addressed this question. If you have three hours to kill you can watch it here. While I am happy that creationists are actively contributing to the scientific community I have to answer no to this question.

After the debate some people had questions for Bill Nye. I decided to address these questions.

1. “Bill Nye, are you influencing the minds of children in a positive way?”

You must define positive in order to answer this question. If you simply don’t agree with his opinions then I suppose you would not consider his influence positive. You may not agree with him but recognize that the scientific method instills an ability to rationalize and analyze problems in a logical manner. Ken Ham makes the point that even as a creationist you can reap the rewards of critical thinking. While I do not disagree, I think for the general populace creationism tends to stymie critical thought.

2. “Are you scared of a Divine Creator?”

I don’t think Bill Nye is scared of the concept of a supreme being. He stated that if he were presented evidence that supports creationism he will be the first to accept it. Fear is a natural human instinct. If you claim you are free of fear due to the promise of an eternal afterlife you are dangerously removed from the natural world. This reminds me of the sentiments some nuke commanders held during the Cold War. They felt that if nuclear apocalypse were part of a higher purpose then it was okay if it occurred. I was stricken with fear when I read that.

3. “Is it completely illogical that the earth was created mature? i.e. trees created with rings… Adam created as an adult…”

Yes it is quite illogical.

4. “Does not the second law of thermodynamics disprove evolution?”

Quite the opposite, actually. According to this law, entropy of an isolated system never decreases. Entropy is a measure of disorder. An assembled car is less entropic than all of the individual parts spread across the planet.  When discussing thermodynamics it is crucial to define your system. If we define the Earth as the system and consider evolution it clearly obeys this second law. Genes are being selected for which confer an increased life span and greater reproductive ability. Both of these things ultimately lead to greater entropy. A longer life span enables organisms to exact more change on their environment. Now, this change can increase or decrease entropy but, taking into consideration all of the variables in the system, entropy will always stay the same or increase. More reproduction means more people and more changes to entropy (positive or zero). Even if you argue that overall entropy is decreasing due to the activities of living creatures on the Earth the sun will ultimately die, engulf the Earth and scatter all the atoms across the galaxy. A clear increase in disorder.

5. “How do you explain a sunset if their is no God?”

The same way I can explain grammatical errors. With reading and education. It’s cute that some people consider a sunset magical, and even I concede that nature is quite magical, but it is often easy to explain. The Earth is in orbit around the Sun due to gravity. The Earth also spins due to inertia. The sun setting is actually due to the section of Earth on which you reside rotating away from the sun. As one would expect, once it rotates all the way around the sun will rise!

6. “If the Big Bang Theory is true and taught as science along with evolution, why do the laws of thermodynamics debunk said theories?”

See number four. If you think those laws debunk the big bang theory then you cannot grasp them properly.

7. “What about Noetics?”

Well, what about it? The human mind is truly the least understood thing that humans have encountered so far but that does not mean it is above the laws on the universe. The universe is infinitely complex. Since we are made with the same building blocks it does not surprise me that we can be immensely complex as well.

8. “Where do you derive objective meaning of life?”

While people can try to be as objective as possible there is no way to be truly objective since we are the ones ultimately forming opinions. The genesis of the opinion is in our mind. Anything we use to analyze our environment was at some point connected to us. That includes the Bible. It has been rewritten by humans over the ages and is undoubtedly biased. Thankfully there are many methods to aid objectivity such as double blind experiments and peer review. Scientists are often not free from bias and it is important to recognize this when making claims.

9. “If God did not create everything, how did the first single-celled organism originate? By chance?”

Well, yeah. The universe is one big probability machine. If the trajectory of the giant body in the giant impact hypothesis were larger then we might not even be here. By the way, given the size of the universe it is probable that there are other planets orbiting stars which lay in the habitable zone. The Miller-Urey experiment demonstrated that an atmosphere containing only water, methane, ammonia and hydrogen was able to form complex organic compounds including amino acids when subjected to sparks. This environment mimicked the atmospheric conditions on early planet Earth.

10. “I believe in the Big Bang Theory… God said it and BANG it happened!”

He said it in English, did he? You can explain the universe as an invention of your God. I have no problem with that. In fact, I think the dialogue between Bill and Ken can strengthen the arguments of either camp and is important for the progression of the human race. There is an inherent danger in explaining away natural phenomenon with religion. Doing so tends to halt interest, exploration and progress of our world which ultimately hinders and threatens the existence of the human race. I know some people don’t care about such things since they believe in an afterlife. Personally, I believe this life is all we have.

11. “Why do evolutionists/secularists/humanists/non-God believing people reject the idea of their being a creator God but embrace the concept on intelligent design from aliens or other extra-terestrial sources?”

People are free to believe whatever they want. I suppose some consider that explanation more reasonable than the traditional concept of a creator God. Perhaps they have some evidence that validate their theory. In any event anyone who embraces such a concept without clear evidence while rejecting the idea of a creator God is a hypocrite.

12. “There is no in between… the only one found has been Lucy and there are only a few pieces of the hundreds necessary for an “official proof'”.”

3.2 million years provides a nice window for the elements to destroy bone. Also, the planet likely did not have a vast population of hominids back then.

13. “Does metamorphosis help support evolution?”

Yes.

14. “If Evolution is a Theory (like creationism or the Bible) why then is Evolution taught as fact.”

I would fault the teacher or institution for that. It absolutely is a theory and should be taught as such.

15. “Because science by definition is a “theory” – not testable, observable nor repeatable why do you object to creationism or intelligent design being taught in school?”

Science is not a theory. Science is a collection of knowledge accumulated through experimentation. It is the experimentation which tests theories, collects data through observation and should be repeatable in order to support a hypothesis.

16. “What mechanism has science discovered that evidences an increase of genetic information seen in any genetic mutation or evolutionary process?”

Evolution describes the flow and progress of genetic information. There is no stipulation that the amount of genetic information should be increasing. The genetic code is essentially capped for each species. What genes are expressed depends on the environment, the genes of question and the interaction of the genes with the environment.

17. “What purpose do you think you are here for if you do not believe in salvation?”

I believe we are here simply because the universe allows us to exist. Nothing more, nothing less. As far as purpose is concerned, you can view humanity as one big effort to increase entropy if you like.

18. “Why have we found only 1 “Lucy”, when we have found more than 1 of everything else?”

See number twelve. Also, how can we know how much of everything else exists? Do you know of all the species that ever existed on the Earth before this time?

19. “Can you believe in “the big bang” without “faith”?”

No you cannot. You do need faith to believe in anything. This faith does not have to be religious in nature. You do not need faith to believe facts. The big bang theory is not a fact though, it is a hypothesis. You do not need faith to believe a hypothesis regardless of whether or not it proves to be fact.

20. “How can you look at the world and not believe someone created/thought of it? It’s amazing!!!”

It just doesn’t make sense. While I do agree that the world is amazing I have never felt the need to explain it away with a creator. Why can’t nature be a creator? Why does there have to be some semblance of order? Some things are beyond our control. We are not the masters of the universe. We are not special in the eyes of nature. A black hole would gobble us up and think nothing of it. Is that scary? Of course it is but it makes perfect sense to me.

21. “Relating to the big bang theory…. Where did the exploding star come from?”

Excellent question! That infinitely concentrated mass cannot be considered a star. We don’t really know what to call it. We do not have the mathematics to fully understand it. It is truly mind-boggling.

22. “If we came from monkeys then why are there still monkeys?”

Evolution enables speciation. Speciation does not require that the ancestors of the newer species go extinct.

1988 Acura Integra LS

Through great fortune I have recently acquired a 1988 Acura Integra LS with 113,000 miles of use. A colleague bought a newer Honda Fit and bequeathed this classic diamond in the rough to yours truly. It began to overheat in past weeks and, understandably, she did not want to spend any more money on a car of such age. She had recently paid for new brakes pads, rotors and a radiator. I informed her of my suspicion that the thermostat may be stuck but have yet to verify this.

Contained within that pretty blue shell is a four-speed autotragic transmission and a 1.6 liter DOHC engine. Fabricated in 1988, the engine has slight improvements over the original D16A1 including domed pistons and lighter rods. It produces 118 hp at 6500 rpm and 103 lbft of torque at 4300 rpm. Luckily this California car has minimal rust. The top side of the engine looks to be in excellent condition. There were no signs of coolant under the valve cover or on the dipstick. What coolant I could see in the radiator and expansion tank lacked signs of oil. This is all well and good but a compression test is in order.

The moon roof is functional, the windows, seats and mirrors are manual, and the headlights pop up! I love it all. If only there were a manual transmission to be found at the local junkyard…

Lost Letter

Some years ago during my time at UMBC the library was giving away old books. Since it was related to my studies, I grabbed a molecular genetics books published in 1971. While browsing through it I discovered an old envelope with a letter inside. It turned out to be a personal letter sent from a colleague to the former owner of the book, Leonard J Schiff.

I discovered that he passed away in 2007 after a career in microbiology and virology. He was very involved in the research community and even established some cell models for cancer research. He is survived by his wife and two children.

The letter discusses work, family and sports. I guess people were the same back then. Here is the transcription:

“Dear Len,

It was good to hear from you again. I’m rather surprised to hear that you and Mary Ann are no longer in the Denver area. But in light of the situation, as you described it in your letter, I can fully understand. And as you seemed to imply, things seem to be going okay and if you’re happy that’s justification in itself. I hope that trend continues.

I was also happy to hear that you and Mary Ann are not practicing anymore, but are real, genuine parents now. I guess I was wrong about you Len – just because there’s snow on top, doesn’t mean the fire has gone out below. (Tell Mary Ann I said, “Hi”, and “Congratulations!”). However, I must disagree with you. I’m sure he’s much better looking than a “chip off the old block”.

I’ve heard several of the CSU scores – and they did not surprise me any. However, CU seems to be doing rather well.

Speaking of CSU, I saw Tengerdy and Storz at the end of June in Budapest at the Virology Congress. Storz said he would look me up in Geneva in September, but I never heard from him. I also spent one evening with two friends (postdoc’s) of mine and Maurice Green getting smashed. One of them worked once with Green. Hungary is a rather interesting country.

And obviously now I’m in Geneva (disregard the return address on the envelope). I’ve only been here 3 months so far, but everything seems quite reasonable. Research is going slowly, but seems to be picking up now. I should be able to write you more on that next time.

Today marks my 5^th anniversary – 5 years since I got out of the U.S. Army. This is about the only day of the year I think about it.

I have not heard from Tony for about 3 months, so I don’t know what he’s up to. He was back at CSU this summer for awhile.

That’s about it for now. Drop me a line when you find time and let me know how things are going.

Take care, CF”

I like that line about the snow on top and fire down below. I don’t know who CF is but may be able to find out with further investigation. I’m happy that I found this letter. I always enjoy peeking into the past as a way to see how times have changed or remained the same. I’ll have to show this to people at work since we’re all doing research as part of a pathology department.

Obama’s Gun Control Executive Orders

There are 23 in all and I have to say that I am fairly satisfied with them disregarding the loose language and possible privacy issues. These orders make genuine efforts to keep guns out of the hands of individuals who may be mentally unstable, increase safety around ownership and spearhead initiatives which keep tabs on gun owners. Privacy issue much?

Anyway, I am happy that no outright bans were part of the executive orders. He left that up to Congress and essentially tried to guilt trip them into passing laws. Of course children want something done. We all want something done. We all want safety especially for our children. Children can be smarter than we think but they probably do not understand the complexities of the 2A issue. The executive orders could be helpful in solving the safety and responsibility issue surrounding gun ownership. A ban on weapons would not be effective. Criminals do not follow laws. New York recently passed legislation which, among other things, limited the magazine capacity to 7 rounds of ammunition instead of 10. Do you think all the criminals will follow this? Do you think all the ‘high’ capacity magazines will disappear? To think so is quite foolish.

Passing laws which limit the availability of firearms to law-abiding citizens gives those who do not follow the laws (criminals) an extreme advantage when robbing, raping, murdering or otherwise threatening life and liberty while their victims wait for the law to aid them. The way I see it, giving up your powerful and often equally met tool of protection from crime is to place complete trust that humanity will not harm you and that your government and police will immediately protect you when required. Does that sound reasonable?

Please read and consider the list of executive orders signed today:

1. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system.

2. Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system.

3. Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system.

4. Direct the Attorney General to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks.

5. Propose rulemaking to give law enforcement the ability to run a full background check on an individual before returning a seized gun.

6. Publish a letter from ATF to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers.

7. Launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign.

8. Review safety standards for gun locks and gun safes (Consumer Product Safety Commission).

9. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations.

10. Release a DOJ report analyzing information on lost and stolen guns and make it widely available to law enforcement.

11. Nominate an ATF director.

12. Provide law enforcement, first responders, and school officials with proper training for active shooter situations.

13. Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime.

14. Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence.

15. Direct the Attorney General to issue a report on the availability and most effective use of new gun safety technologies and challenge the private sector to develop innovative technologies.

16. Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes.

17. Release a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities.

18. Provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers.

19. Develop model emergency response plans for schools, houses of worship and institutions of higher education.

20. Release a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover.

21. Finalize regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within ACA exchanges.

22. Commit to finalizing mental health parity regulations.

23. Launch a national dialogue led by Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan on mental health.

Guns guns guns!

I like guns. I believe that people should be able to own them for protection, sport or hobby. They are a tool not unlike hammers, knives, drills and cars. While I will admit that guns are designed to inflict harm upon other living things there is one point that some people can not comprehend. Whether guns are used offensively or defensively is based solely on the user. Hammers can kill people in the wrong hands. Knives can kill. Drills and cars can kill. It is the responsibility of the user to operate tools safely and responsibly. In the case of a gun, a responsible user will discern whether or not it should be used on another individual. Did someone badmouth you at the mall? Do not use a gun. Mechanic inform you that your car engine is blown? Do not use a gun. Arguing with your spouse? Do not use a gun. Someone broke into your house holding a hammer/knife/drill/bat/gun and is threatening you? Use a gun.

Good judgement is not difficult for those responsible enough to own a gun. I am not against regulation. Some law-abiding citizens that own guns are mentally unstable or dangerous. An outright ban is not the answer. For all those who argue that people don’t need high capacity (actually normal/standard capacity) magazines for hunting I will say this. Do you really think the founders thought about hunting when they crafted the second amendment? The reason many people own guns, besides personal protection, is explained clearly by Ben Shapiro in a recent interview with Piers Morgan. I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Shapiro.

I spotted an anti-gun comment on the HK fan page on Facebook which read:

“You are selling weapons to kill PEOPLE!!!! How can someone want to work for this company? SHAME ON YOU!!!!”

I had to comment. My response:

“There are evil people in this world that would do you harm provided the opportunity. HK makes quality products which save lives. They provide the opportunity for defense of good people. No one wants to take a life but sometimes it is necessary for self preservation. I hope I never have to use my handgun on a person but if I do I am comforted by the fact I have a powerful and reliable tool of defense. In a world of compromise, some don’t… I am proud to own a HK firearm!”

Shortly after posting, the original comment along with my response was removed or hidden from the page. I can’t tell whether it was the poster or the HK administrator but I have faith that HK would agree with me.

Hurricane Sandy

This latest ‘monster’ storm has passed here in the Northeast. People seem to forget that when a hurricane hits land it ceases to become a hurricane and morphs into a windy mess of rain. Yet another hyped storm fails to deliver the inevitable apocalyptic conditions the media seemed to suggest. I suppose it is better to be prudent and instill fear in the general populace in an effort to force preparedness and prevent needless suffering than to ignore a potentially dangerous situation. High winds and persistent rainfall are always a recipe for disaster.

It was not much of a disturbance for me in central Maryland. The power flashed a few times but there was no sustained loss of electricity. I’m sure lots of people are still without power and sustained some damage to their property. There were tragic deaths, as there usually are, but nothing so catastrophic as to resemble Katrina-like conditions…

..unless you consider a disturbance to your daily Starbucks pastry fix a catastrophe. I stopped by my local friendly store to grab a Chai tea latte on Tuesday. This used to be a routine for me but has since been denigrated to the level of rare treat after reading The Latte Factor. Not surprising, the display case was empty. This is likely due to delayed delivery on account of the recent weather. I place my order when the lady next in line says, “I don’t suppose there is any coffee cake.” The barista responds, “No ma’am our shipment has not come in yet.” Then the lady, somewhat upset, sighs and responds “Ohhhkayyyy… I just made a special trip that’s all.” She then leaves. The barista and I exchange smiles. So sorry lady! You’ll have to suffer another day without your cake. Some people are too pampered. If not getting a coffee cake upsets you that much something is wrong with you.

All suffering stems from desire. Learn to live with less and you will be happier.

Halloween Dance Party!

I had the best time at this dance party! There were plenty of people with awesome costumes. An incredible dance floor and superb DJ skills made this a night to remember. See the pics below!

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Halloween Heart Cake

Every year some friends host a Halloween party at their house. Costumes are mandatory and guests are asked to bring some consumable for everyone to enjoy. I am bringing 10 bottles of Soju (both Chamisul original and Bek Se Ju), Woodford Reserve and the creepily appropriate movie I Saw the Devil on Blu-ray. There’s even a drinking game for the movie! But that’s not all I will contribute. I present the bleeding heart cake!

I was inspired by this cake. Now it doesn’t actually beat nor does it bleed yet. I have secured some sterile IV/food grade tubing and a 60mL syringe from the lab. I plan to run the tubing under the cake and out the aorta in order to channel the contents from the syringe.

The cake is red velvet and covered with marshmallow fondant. The fondant was dyed pink with red food coloring. It was then sprayed with more food coloring. The details were done with rolled fondant, red cookie frosting and various colors of food gel. I also made cupcakes but they are pretty boring by comparison.

As for the costume? I am going with a few friends as characters from Adventure Time! I will be the Ice King and others will be Finn, Jake, Fionna and Cake the cat. Should be a fun night!

P90X

I acquired all the equipment needed for P90X last week. An exercise mat, dumbbells, pull up bar, heart rate monitor and yoga block. I will track my progress with pictures. Today is Day 1.