You Can't Account for Nuthin 'Yo

You Can't Account for Nuthin 'Yo


It's time that I, as a Confessional Lutheran, tip my cap to some Calvinists. After all, I used to be a pretty dogmatic one. In my opinion, one thing the Calvinists do better than us Lutherans is apologetics involving atheism. They're much more involved in that sphere, and I think they do an excellent job of it.

There are two basic types of Christian apologetics approaches. The first one is called evidentialism or empiricism. That is to say, people look at all the visible evidence and argue for the existence of God. Or, in more general terms, they argue for the existence of intelligent design, or a Creator. Some Calvinists argue in this manner. R.C. Sproul would be a good example. The formidable Christian apologist William Lane Craig would be another example, although Craig is clearly not a Calvinist.

The other - and in my opinion better - apologetic approach toward athsism is called presuppositional apologetics. Presuppositionalism cuts directly to the heart of the matter in places where evidentialism fails.

Evidentialism surely has its place in apologetics; especially where evidentialism argues for Christ and not just for some random "god." Arguing from the historicity of the resurrection would be one such example.

The reason presuppositionalism is proper when doing apologetics with atheists is that evidentialism fails. We can present all the evidence in the world and we're going to point out that it points to the existence of God, while the atheist is just going to interpret the evidence in a different manner.

The bottom line is that since we both will look at the same evidence and argue for different conclusions - we must look directly at the root of the worldviews. If the atheist is going to try to force a "burden of proof" on us, and ask for irrefutable empirical evidence, well, they can't offer any either. And in effect, this "burden of proof" demand is nothing more than a silly canard.We can give them all the proof they need but they'll deny it. Not only that, but they're actually making the same claim, just in a negation sort of way. To put it bluntly, we have every right to ask for "burden of proof" too. In short, these demands are nonsense.We both will look at the evidence and come up with what our underlying worldview says the evidence means. That's just human nature. Then they'll fall back on science. Well, Christians aren't against science, you know. The irony of it is that the atheist really has nobasis whatever for using science or logic or reason or mathematics. Of course, they use such things and they are right to do so, because the laws of logic, mathematics, and science are absolute. As an example, 1+1=2 in all times for all people.

But therein lies the folly and internal disaster of atheism. They can't account for any of these things. Their worldview does not allow for it.
Are the laws of mathematics absolute and unchanging? Well, yeah, they are. What about logic? That's the same too. So when the atheist attempts to say that the laws of logic and mathematics are societal conventions, they've committed a major error in one of two directions. First, they could be admitting without realizing it, that the laws of mathematics and logic can change, because people change. And if we invented these as conventions in the first place, what happens when someone comes up with a new convention? That's silly of course, and the atheist would say as much. The other problem is that they could be asserting that human reason is absolute in its deductions. But herein lies a massive double-edged sword. Yeah, human reason changes and sees things differently about different things and such. That's true. But human reason did not create the laws of mathematics or logic. We discovered them perhaps, but they already existed and were already absolutely true.

So, what made those laws absolutely true? Why are they like that? The atheist has no answer. In fact, the atheist ultimately cannot account for anything. The Christian does and can.

Presup. It's what's for dinner.

The U.S. Air Force Cannot Keep It's Pilots

The U.S. Air Force Cannot Keep It's Pilots


U.S. Air Force Capt. Derrick Baker, left and U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Devon Neil perform a preflight inspection of a KC-135R Stratotanker aircraft for a refueling mission over southern Afghanistan, Nov. 6, 2013. Baker, a pilot, is assigned to the 340th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, and Neil, an avionics technician, is assigned to the 340th Aircraft Maintenance Unit. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Ben Bloker
Fanning: Air Force Having Trouble Keeping Pilots, And Pay Isnt The Problem -- Tom Shoop, Defense One

The Air Force is offering big bonuses to keep its pilots in the service, but theyre not taking them because budget constraints are forcing the service to limit both current flying hours and opportunities to fly the next generation of aircraft, acting Air Force Secretary Eric Fanning said Thursday.

Over the summer, the Air Force began offering its pilots payments of $25,000 per year as an incentive to stay on, up to a maximum of $250,000. But “pilots arent taking them,” Fanning said at the Defense One Summit in Washington. The main reason is that “were going to have flying hour issues for the foreseeable future,” he said, with rolling groundings of two to three months per squadron.

Pilots “want to fly,” Fanning said. And with the airline industry facing a wave of forced retirements of pilots, opportunities for them are opening up in the private sector.

Read more ....

My Comment: It is hard for the Air Force to compete .... especially when the private sector is willing to give better salaries, better working conditions, stability, and .... more importantly .... having no one shoot at you. Mind you .... driving a bus that flies in the air does not match the excitement of piloting a jet fighter.

Sherlock has risen before you know ...

Sherlock has risen before you know ...


Shameless plug alert!

Let us not forget that Sherlock "died" and rose before. Read all about it in my book An Entirely New Country - Arthur Conan Doyle, Undershaw and the Resurrection of Sherlock Holmes. Contains a foreword by a certain Mr Mark Gatiss. Go on, you know you want to and you'll be helping Undershaw too.

Amazon UK

Amazon.Com





Written by Alistair Duncan
Buy my books here

NOT CLAY. But still mini, Chocolate filled DONUTS!

NOT CLAY. But still mini, Chocolate filled DONUTS!



YUMMMM!!!! My cousin and I baked some chocolate filled mini-donuts yesterday! This is the first time we've ever tried working with yeast, and it was really, very easy! I wanted to write a little about it, but couldn't decide where to document it, and since alot of personal stuff winds up on this blog anyway, here it is! KEK


Cousin is quite a fan of the ones at IKEA, and since I'd never been to her new place, we decided to try out baking (or in this case, frying) donuts on my first visit!

A quick search on Google turned up this recipe:http://bakerbettie.com/chocolate-filled-mini-donuts/

I had always wanted to try making my own breads, but was afraid of messing up as I had read horror stories about how yeast was quite a beast to control. Buried in the back of my mind was a reminder to try and procure more current stocks of yeast, and to avoid less popular stores to ensure this. Made a trip down to Phoon Huat at Hougang Central to pick up baking soda (in case we had time to make cookies, we didn't :( ), yeast and cinnamon. The rest of the ingredients were obtained at a Giant supermarket.

The above photo was taken about an hour after mixing everything together.


We were supposed to put the mix in the fridge to rest 2 hrs after mixing, but thought to just stick it in after 1.5 hrs as it had risen quite a fair bit. This was the result after returning from our swim + dinner....approx 3.5 hrs after mixing!


Time to roll out the dough! It flattened a little after we removed the glad wrap. It was a warm, humid day, and perhaps that helped the yeast along....Initially I had thought the dough too soft, and that perhaps I had skimped on the flour (or perhaps the humidity made everything alittle more wet), but with enough practice we managed to roll out quite a number of mini donuts :) No photos of that as by then our hands were sticky and messy......Cousin did the nutella centred ones, and I stuck to the easier-to-roll semi-sweet chocolate chip ones :P


The instructions indicated to rest for approx 20 mins after rolling, and the donuts continued to puff up a little. WAY TO GO, YEAST! :D We managed to get about 3 batches of the above number of wee little donutsu~!


Furai~ Furai~ Furai~ Canola oil was used (it's a high smoking point oil?) and OOOOH LOVE THE INDUCTION STOVETOP so easy to clean, and a cinch to use! By the time we were done it was really late, and as usual when we have fun, forgot to take photos of the finished -____-" in fact, by the time I got a lift to the station, it was close to 11.30pm and thank goodness I didn't miss the last train wahaha. Did forget to take with me my swimming costume though =3="""""

We made a date to try out perhaps muffins next week. Or cinnamon rolls! OR DARE WE, BREADS?!??!? nyahahahaha. And of course, swim, while we wait for the yeast to do its work :)




Cooking aside, I also worked on a custom request, you can view the blog entry over on my doll blog here:

http://clover-tea.blogspot.sg/2013/11/13-vs-16-new-vs-old-rose-cupcakes.html

This week has been an up-and-down-and-up one. BF surprised (shocked?!) me with some pretty good news, that's brewing and will take a long time to mature, so....haha. just wanted to note it down :) All-in-all, a fantastic week!


Weekend is here! Hope you have a great weekend!!

Law Firm Atlanta

Law Firm Atlanta


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Google Earth Latest

Google Earth Latest


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day before Thanksgiving

day before Thanksgiving

It's not unusual for me to take my turkey on the road, so to speak. I've packed turkey racks and meat thermometers and basters and traveled with them to Chicago, even to D.C. in the past. Where there are daughters, there will be Thanksgiving -- is my working slogan.

But there is a catch: if I take the turkey out of the farmhouse, Ed will not follow.
You go be with your girls, he'll tell me.
But they like you and wish you were there too!Focus on them. You know you miss them...

And so I wake up on this cold cold day...







...make sure I have everything with me (sprigs of freshly cut rosemary -- check; Wisconsin cheese -- check; Wisconsin cranberries -- check...), have a rushed breakfast with Ed...







...and head for the bus for Chicago.


Of course, I'm not the only one. Living in a university town, you get used to the emptying out that happens around holidays. Kids go home. In all directions they scatter, the faster and earlier the better. Still, the bus is comfortable -- too comfortable in fact. It now has plug outlets and WiFi and I have no excuse not to work on proofing my exams. Three hours later, I am done (with the first proofing -- there will be more of this) and we are pulling into Chicago's airport, where I take the EL to where my girl lives.







And I walk in on her baking crackers for tomorrow's platter of afternoon foods (hello, cheese from Wisconsin, etc.)!







We have a grocery store outing before us -- and of course, it seems that all eight million Chicagoans are shopping too, but that's okay. The atmosphere is jovial. I claim the big bird -- he's my responsibility, and some things for breakfast. She picks up her ingredients for whatever she and her guy are making and truly, it is as if we were living in the same town again. Shopping together with a daughter is a rare treat.

We take the bus back to her place -- she, me and mr. turkey...







-- and I fuss with the bird now, so that it will be at least partially brined and ready for the oven tomorrow.

A few more errands, and stops, and then it's time for dinner. It's the three of us: she, her fiance, me -- again, these meals are so rare now, that they feel like a holiday when they do finally come to pass. We go to Azzurra, an Italian place right in their neighborhood. Remember when having an Italian place around the corner was warm and comforting, especially on a blistery November night? It's like that now.






We walk home and talk about who gets the oven when tomorrow, and for how long.

I truly hope that every one of you has a beautiful Thanksgiving holiday. Large or small, turkey or no turkey -- it hardly matters. Stay happy and focused on the one(s) you love.

AT THE DIRTY DOG JAZZ CAFE, BEBOP LEGEND, BARRY HARRIS, BLESSED THE NEW HOUSE PIANO

AT THE DIRTY DOG JAZZ CAFE, BEBOP LEGEND, BARRY HARRIS, BLESSED THE NEW HOUSE PIANO



Barry Harris
If youve ever hung out at the Dirty Dog Jazz Café
after a show there, you likely overheard a musician complain about the house piano. Listening to world-class
jazz pianists Johnny ONeal, Charles Boles, Gerald Clayton, Aaron Diehl, Claude
Black, and Cliff Monear played the house piano. It would've been impossible for a layman to tell it needed tuning. Those guys could make a toy piano sound amazing.The
owner of the Dirty Dog, Gretchen Carhartt Valade, must have gotten wind of the
complaining. Recently, she bought a 7 Steinway piano and flew in one of the
greatest bebop pianists, of all-times, Barry Harris, to christen it.Harris,
83, is a native Detroiter. During the 50s his Detroit home was sort of a bebop
training ground where he schooled then newcomers jazz musicians like Donald
Walden, Charles McPherson, Lonnie Hillyer, Teddy Harris, and many others.In 1960, Harris moved to New York, joined Julian
“Cannonball” Adderlys band, made some great bebop albums for Riverside Records
like Barry Harris at the Jazz Workshop, PreminadoandChasin the Bird, and over time grew into an internationally sought
after performer and jazz educator. To this very day, he remains such. At
the Dirty Dog, Tuesday evening, people paid $50.00, a steep cover charge for one set of music.
But the people are ultra Barry Harris fans. If asked to donate a kidney to
hear Harris live, in all likelihood they would have obliged. As customary, Harris played oldies like “Tea for Two,” “All God Childrens Got
Shoes,” “Ruby My Dear” plus songs by his idols
Bud Powell, Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. Amazingly, the concert never felt like a ceremony.
Harris chatted with old friends, well-wishers
and the media before the concert began. The Detroit Free Press jazz critic Mark
Stryker, radio personalities Judy Adams and John Penny, and the Detroit Jazz
Festivals Artistic Director Chris Collins were in the house.Gretchen Carhartt Valade sat at the bar next
to Tom Robinson the CEO of Mack Avenue Records. Occasionally, Valade cheered Harris on, whistling as if she was court side at a Detroit Pistons game. Photographer
John Osler, whose excellent book “Detroit Jazz Documenting the Legacy of
Gretchen Valade” was recently released, snapped photos of the concert. Harris,
obviously, was elated to be home. It showed in his performanceAt 7:00pm sharp, the house lights dimmed. Harris sat
at the Steinway. He bounded with it right away, handling it attentively and
lovingly like a first date. He opened the concert with a fly take on
Staryhorns “Lotus Blossom,” followed by George Shearings “She”.

Then Harris
introduced his longtime band-mates drummer Leroy Williams and bassist Ray
Drummond.Harris tied the subsequent songs on his set list with a story about a make-believe married couple Judy and George who started out madly in
love but after making nine kids ended up divorced.Harris been working such antics
into his concerts for decades. At times, last nights concert felt like a vaudeville show, especially
when he made up the song “7,5,2, Dirty Dog” on the spot. He's a showman. Though he's up there in age, his playing is still vibrant, lucid and beautiful.

Near the end of the
concert, he played an Ellington medley. Then Harris finally spoke about the significance
of the christening—or as he put it—blessing the Steinway. Harris has a closet filled with honors. It was the first time he was invited to christen a piano. He he performed as if it was the highest honor he's received.