Comes from the-scientist.com, so it must be true, right?

Obesity levels have risen dramatically in research animals and others living close to humans, suggesting environmental factors are encouraging everyone to gain weight, according to new findings in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

You can read the whole thing here (free subscription might be required).

So… it isn’t that you eat too much.

Or that you are a lazy couch potato.

It’s the environment. Naturally. I knew that.

I’ve just been scanning in some photos my mom took back when I was a shadow of my present self. I am glad to know that I can blame it all on the environment.

And I thought all my Yankee friends might feel better after their Thanks-gorging to know this.

You’re welcome.

I’m a little confused by Dave’s latest. I think it might be the unspecificity of ‘this and that’. I’m sort of getting lost the further he goes using these terms. Would it be too much to give some real world examples? (Oops, I said I was hoping to get away from sarcasm!)

But really, what is Dave trying to say in his post? This is what I am getting:

1. I get the part that Biblical truth is timeless. I think that is what Dave means by ‘this’.
2. I get the part that the way we use the timeless principles to address real life issues is called applications. I think this is what Dave means by ‘that’.
3. As we progress in the discussion of ‘this’ and ‘that’, it seems that Dave is saying that applications are relative, dependant on the context of the times. Does that mean that applications change over time? Could we have some examples?
4. There appear to be different categories of relationship between ‘this’ and ‘that’.
1. First, there is potential for disagreement among Christians because not everyone sees the connection between ‘this’ and ‘that’ in the same way. (And as long as we agree on the ‘this’ we need to give latitude to others on the ‘that’.)
2. Next, there is a possibility that ‘that’ could lead to a violation of ‘this’. While we should be concerned about the possibility, as long as we agree on ‘this’, we should still give latitude over differences in ‘that’.
5. When ‘that’ is elevated to the same level as ‘this’, trouble occurs, unless ‘that’ equals ‘this’, but not all agree and as long as ‘that’ doesn’t equal ‘this’, we should allow one another latitude in ‘that’.
6. If differences over ‘that’ lead to questions about motives, we err and do not the truth. Instead, differences over ‘that’ should result in ‘open, constructive debate’. (Dialogue, anyone?)
7. The key is to start talking about the Scriptures – the ‘this’. We’ll get so in harmony over ‘this’, ‘that’ will be irrelevant. Your ‘that’ is different from my ‘that’? No problem, bro, we’re in sync on ‘this’, fill your boots!

Is ‘that’ all clear? Maybe I should have said, is ‘this’ all clear? What is ‘this’, anyway? Should we be in agreement about ‘this’? How do I know? I could have been talking about ‘that’ all along while someone else is talking about ‘this’.

‘This’ is extremely confusing. (But be careful how you explain it to me, you wouldn’t want to get into the motives thing, you know.)

P.S. Please take this in a light-hearted spirit. I think I get what Dave is saying, but, wow, trying to wade through all the ‘this’es and ‘that’s is getting to me!

I’m not an International Baptist Friend. Dave is (you have to scroll through a lot of Iglesia’s and Independent’s to get to Inter-city). So is my brother!!! (albeit with an ancient address.) Dave points out this as a problem with the list. I suspect it comes from an old David Cloud listing. David C. has removed me from his listing for some reason (doesn’t like my e-mails??)

Apparently the earthquake in Chile may be to blame. According to this post from the JPL, each day may have been shortened by 6.8 microseconds. That means each year will be shortened by 2482 microseconds. (I am not exactly sure what a microsecond is.)

All I know is now I have an excuse for how much older I am feeling.

My brother and his wife just retuned from a trip to Israel. One of the things they did on the trip was ride a camel.

The camel they were on stood out from the rest. As soon as it rose to its feet, it lunged forward and tried to take a chunk out of another camel. When they arrived at their destination, all the riders safely disembarked (after the camels lay down to allow it). My brother noted that their camel was treated differently from the rest – after all the riders were off, his camel was made to stand and led away from the rest of the group. Apparently some of the other riders didn’t notice this special treatment, as they came back by the camels for pictures. My brother’s camel decided that two fellows approached too closely for its liking and tried to take a chunk out of them as well. (The fellows were also preachers…)

So, what does this tell you?

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[Aside to the humour-challenged, see disclaimer below.]

My name has a long and sometimes storied history. It belongs to a whole host of characters. According to wikipedia, it is the second most common name in the USA. Alas, in the land of my forebears (Scotland), it doesn’t even make the top 20.

As I understand it, my name originally meant that its bearers were descended from one John (Iain), son of the MacDonald, who branched off and formed his own smaller clan, the MacIains (son of John, i.e., Johnson – or Johnston as we were known in the Old Country).

My name has caused me a little trouble. Some unsavoury characters share the name. No end of mocking occasionally ensues when some Johnson publicly embarrasses the rest of us possessing the name.

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Canada has found a new punishment more horrific than capital punishment.

Those with sensitive constitutions be warned. Here is the link.