Starwars as prophecy

Tatooine

Remember the moisture vaporator that Luke was tending in Starwars?  It is what allowed him to live and make a living on the desert planet of Tatooine.  In 1978 it was an impossible concept, placed in the fictional world of George Lucas to support the plot.

Moisture absorption prototype

Now, it’s real.  Yes, you really can distill unlimited water, using only the sun, from the driest desert air (or any other air on earth) using what are called metal-organic frameworks (MOFs).  There are 20,000+ of them Continue reading “Starwars as prophecy”

Thomas Times Newsletter – More from TT

This is the promised addendum to our 2017 news update.  Hope you enjoy it!

As my parents began to forget things and struggle mentally a number of years ago, it became clear that they would need a more intensive “at home” care than we had planned on.  When both were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, I remembered what Dad had done for his mother-in-law in a similar situation, and then realized Beth and I were going to start a business we weren’t qualified or trained to pull off: a mini-nursing home.  This past year, after Dad died in June and Mom in August, our careers Continue reading “Thomas Times Newsletter – More from TT”

President Hussein (Ozbama)- “…not who we thought he was.”

UPDATE: Here’s a post I wrote in 2009, and then decided not to publish.  I supposed it was the “Oz” factor – this idea that our current president was larger than life, and that I would be scoffed at because I suspected something funny was going on behind the curtain.  Now that we are less than a month before the potential re-election of our emperor (that’s a future blog post), the WSJ has prompted me to pull this post out.  It seems, according to William McGurn, that the curtain has been pulled back.  In fact, Ozbama the Magnificent is not actually Continue reading “President Hussein (Ozbama)- “…not who we thought he was.””

Thank you, Nancy Pelosi

Here’s a true statement: 100% of eligible voters in the US breath, eat and eventually get some sleep.  Yet only about 1/2 of them vote.  This includes God’s people, the followers of the Lord of both this world and the next, who are clearly commanded in Romans 12 to obey their leaders (who beg people to vote).  Why don’t they vote? Continue reading “Thank you, Nancy Pelosi”

Pandora

In the myth of Pandora, all the evils of the world wait in the box, biding their time.  In the reality of WikiLeaks, the whistleblowers of the worldGreek jar showing wedding procession (whose motives are unknown) wait to pour the secrets of governments into the box through a special door, which only opens for them.  In this version, Pandora is an amalgam of a visible founder, unknown volunteers and the government of Iceland, which has particularly aggressive laws for the protection of whistleblowers (and, we must assume, few secrets).  Pandora did slam the lid back on the box immediately after her sin, but Continue reading “Pandora”

Right or Wrong?

They say that information has to be free.  They’re right.

In this article, the Wall Street Journal discusses a welcome change (in my mind, at least) for some of the country’s top law firms– the recession is forcing them to move to “flat-fee” billing.  Of course, you don’t know the details, unless you subscribe to WSJ Online.  I don’t.  But wait… click on this link, then click Continue reading “Right or Wrong?”

Pathos and heartbreak

Kamin MohammadiThree months ago all I could see was the hard shell of Iran.  Violent, ruthless, cunning and almost nuclear– it was Islamic jihad on steroids, it was effectively killing our troops overseas with specialized IEDs and it was the greatest external threat to the stability and prosperity of the west that I knew of.  It was not the beautiful Persian journalist you see here (picture courtesy of The Guardian).

The stolen Iranian election of June 12th has changed all that.  I have spent hours blogging, reading and posting tweets, doing some tech support for the Iranian resistance and practically memorizing the sights and sounds of Tehran.  Today I read this— raw, full of pathos, even heartbreaking, about a people and culture who have Continue reading “Pathos and heartbreak”

Our president, the “assassin”

And we should be glad he is, and hope he will continue to be.

FACT:  The Predator Drone is working against al-Qaeda’s efforts to organize their attacks, by continuing to take out their leadership.  In the process, regrettably, innocent civilians have also been and will be killed, namely the ones who live with the al-Qaeda leadership (some unwillingly).  This is one of the wretched facts of war; this, of course, is another one.

FACT:  If the war on terror is merely a law enforcement action, and not a war which could threaten our security and integrity as a nation, then international law declares that Pres. Hussein is assassinating innocent foreigners, and the International Criminal Court at The Hague could have him Continue reading “Our president, the “assassin””