A blog by Tom Sheepandgoats (aka Tom Harley)
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Blood Transfusion, Oxygen, and Nitric Oxide
As if offering a pinch of incense to the gods, the article begins: “Blood transfusions have saved millions of lives.” But doesn’t the very next phrase almost douse the flame? “yet stored red cells may be less effective than hoped for because they can quickly lose much of their ability to deliver oxygen.” They can? They do? If so, blood transfusions haven’t saved as…
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Start Your Own Religion!
At the Whitepebble Religious Institute, awed students hang on every word dropping from the lips of esteemed and pious instructors like Tom Weedsandwheat, Tom Loavesenfish, and even Tom Pearlsandswine. These guys make the religion game look so easy that students begin to imagine they can do it too. Of course, they can't, so when the inevitable handful of pupils timidly approach an instructor to ask…
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Kepler, Newton, Galileo, and God
"God wrote the universe in the language of mathematics"….Galileo That about sums up [HA! pun intended] how early scientists felt about mathematics. They cherished it, they advanced it, they found in it an essential tool in revealing just how God worked. And that was their motive: to uncover the design of God and thereby give him praise. We've all seen those math formulas in which…
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The Death and Rebirth of the Placebo
For just a brief moment, there was no placebo; there was no such thing. Just for a day. Placebo had its 15 minutes of antifame. And then the day passed, placebos resurfaced, and they've ruled ever since, just as before. That day was May 24, 2001, and the front page read Survey Finds Placebo Effect Imaginary. From the Associated Press: "One of the most strongly…
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Atheists….the Next Generation!
Is there a trend hotter today then atheism? When Christopher Hitchens penned "God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything," his publishers thought 40,000 copies was more than enough. That's how many they printed. Since then they're printed 256,000 to keep up with demand. And a rival publisher has engaged the same author for a follow-up: 'The Portable Atheist.' Sam Harris, who City! gushed over for…
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Reining in the Parachurch
I knew he’d have a field day with this, but I didn’t know when that day would start. The ink wasn't dry on that September Kingdom Ministry when Vic Vomodog was peppering my blog with comments, haranguing me. It’s a good thing I can screen comments. Otherwise, he’d write on my blog more than I do. “Did ya see it, Tommy? Hah, did ya? It’s right…
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Tom Sheepandgoats Rated R!
In the time-honored bloggers' way of wasting time, I discovered a colleague bloggerwho's blog is rated G. He crows about it. And he gives the website where you can rate your own blog. Of course, this is irresistible, so I entered my own url. Surely, if this fellow gets a G, then my blog….pure and clean and beautiful….will also score a…. I'm rated R! R!!!!…
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Earning Salvation and Playing Chess with God
Some stories you just don't forget. Like this one from Isaac Bashevis Singer (the title of which I forgot) about a man who viewed life as a chess game with God. Accordingly, he knew he'd always be the loser in any situation, eternally in check, and after being toyed with an adequate time, checkmated without mercy. And yet there was an upside. It was a…
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The Grumbling Slave
"I never thought I'd ever be this old." The circuit overseer was addressing a circuit assembly. He looked at his hands "I didn't think I'd have wrinkles or my hair would turn gray. I thought this present system of things would long have passed, but isn't it fine that many people have come into God's organization over the last decades?" The notion went over well.…
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John T Gatto and Growth without Educators
When did we lose teachers and gain educators? Isn't that new word pretentious? Doesn't it imply that we'd all have empty heads without them? It's just just the opposite. It's hard to prevent children from learning. Witness their ability to pick up a language. Without any instruction at all, they absorb whatever language is spoken in the home. If two languages are spoken, they absorb…