Saturday, December 31, 2011

Twisted Perception -- Serialized Post # 10

Chapter Three






            Elliot grabbed a cup of coffee and a bagel from the break room then went to his desk. Beaumont still worried him. He couldn’t figure the captain’s fondness for Beaumont. Beaumont was sharp on theory, but he was no good in the field. He’d gotten them into trouble a few weeks back. He and Elliot had tracked down a meth lab operator who’d decided to take out the competition, his brother. When the suspect reached for his weapon, Beaumont hesitated just long enough for three of the guy’s associates to come rushing out of a back bedroom. Elliot had been forced to act, killing one of the suspects and dropping another. He wound up with a short hospital stay and a reprimand for using excessive force. He didn’t mention Beaumont’s error in the report.

            Tossing the bagel, Elliot picked up the coffee and leaned back in his chair. He sat in a cubicle that served as an office in the bull pen that played host to the homicide squad. To Elliot’s left was a computer monitor, and in front of him one of the half walls lined with notes he’d stuck there. There was a five-drawer filing cabinet on his right that served not only as a storage area, but a barrier as well. When he leaned back, the action left him exposed, outside the protective mass of the filing cabinet. Beaumont sat across the aisle in an identical, mirror-imaged cubicle. He glanced over only to see Beaumont leaning back as well, staring at him with a blank look on his face.

            Elliot sipped his coffee. Within a few blocks of the department, a victim of murder had been left in the street, but Elliot’s thoughts were elsewhere. The small town of Porter was in another lifetime, but from that murky past a cold finger had reached out and touched him. He closed his eyes, conjuring images of Carmen Garcia. The sight of her in that pale yellow dress with her dark eyes sparkling had nearly taken his breath away.

            My parents are gone, Kenny. Stay with me tonight.

            Nerves crawled in Elliot’s gut at the memory. He drained his coffee and crushed the cup. He looked up to see Captain William Dombrowski leaning against the filing cabinet, staring at him. “You got a minute?”

            Elliot followed Dombrowski into his office, stopping behind the chairs in front of the desk. Dombrowski gestured for Elliot to sit while he studied him with intense gray eyes.

“What’s on your mind, Captain?”

            Dombrowski lit a cigar then watched a stream of smoke curl toward the ceiling. “I hear you were pretty shaken up this morning.”

            “Who told you that?”

            “It doesn’t matter. I need my cops sharp, impartial. If you’ve got a problem, I need to know about it.”

            Elliot didn’t like what he was hearing. Dombrowski’s concern seemed way out of proportion. “I don’t have a problem. Maybe someone else does.”

            “This isn’t the first time I’ve had complaints about your behavior, and they’ve all been recent. This isn’t like you. What’s going on?”

            “There’s nothing going on.”

            Dombrowski pushed back from his desk, his chair protesting from the burden of his weight. “Come on, kid. It’s me you’re talking to.”

            Elliot rubbed his temples. He and Dombrowski had worked a couple of cases together when they were both detectives. Dombrowski had been captain for less than six months and he was probably just as uncomfortable as Elliot was. Elliot glanced at a bookcase by the wall. Alongside an array of law books sat a hand painted ceramic mug and a plaster imprint of a small hand, things Dombrowski’s kid had made him. “I haven’t been sleeping well,” he said. “Nightmares, that sort of thing.”

            “Work related?”

            Stay with me tonight, Kenny.

            “I’m not sure. Probably not.”

            “Well, I’m a little more inclined to think that it is. You had a close call last month.”

            “It wasn’t that bad.”

            “Jeez, Elliot. You were shot. There’s no shame in being shaken up over that. Maybe you should take some time off.”

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

God and Science - Part II

God and Science - Part II

As indicated in God and Science – Part I, the code embedded within DNA is an actual language, containing billions of genetic letters.
When you turn on your computer, it brings up programs that, hopefully, do what you instruct them to do. However, if you were to observe the actual language or code behind the operating system that allows the computer to work, you would see a logical arrangement of 1’s and 0’s, the binary code, which computer languages are based on.

On a much more intricate level, DNA stores information, such as instructions for building proteins, using a four character digital code. For a code to be considered a language, it must have an alphabet or coding system, and a proper way of sequencing those symbols to create and convey logical meaning. The genetic code definitely meets those qualifications.

The only codes, other than the genetic code, that have been proven to be true languages, are all of human origin, that being human languages and artificial computer languages. Computer guru, Bill Gates, put it like this: “DNA is like a software program, only much more complex than anything we’ve ever devised.”
Are we to believe that a system more sophisticated than the latest computer programs came about by accident, through mutation and natural selection?

I don’t think so. It simply is not logistically feasible. Even one of the discoverers of the genetic code, the agnostic, Francis Crick, after years of studying the subject stated that, “an honest man, armed with all the knowledge now available, could only state that in some sense the origin of life appears to be a miracle, so many are the conditions, which would have had to been satisfied to get it going.”

Evolutionists believe that through chance mutation and natural selection living things evolve, but they are at a loss to explain how information, such as the genetic code, got into our biological systems. In fact, most information theorems predict that such a thing might never be possible.

Simply put, science cannot explain the origins of our complex biological systems, even on the molecular level. Patterns, like snowflakes and sand dunes might occur naturally, but complex codes and languages only happen by design.

I’ll continue the discussion in my next post. Until then, please let me know what you think by leaving a comment.
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Wednesday, December 21, 2011

God and Science - Part I

God and Science
A few days ago, something unusual happened. My wife and son were out running errands together, which left me home alone – sounds like a good title for a movie – to fend for myself. This does not happen very often and I must to admit to, with a slight bit of guilt, looking forward to the prospect of getting some work done.
After a conference call with my web person, JP at Collipisis.com, I posted to my new blog – actually it’s the same blog, but now it’s on my website – then crunched in a bit of editing on my long overdue third novel, Footprints of a Dancer. I certainly hope to have the book finished soon.
A few hours later, I turned off the computer and switched on the television, reveling in the idea of watching whatever I wanted. I was not to be disappointed. I stumbled across a program, on the History channel, which grabbed my attention. It was already in progress, but the gist of the piece was whether or not, through mathematical calculations and other applied sciences, God could be proven to exist. The short answer, in my humble opinion, is no. If God wanted everyone to know, without a doubt, of his existence then it would be that way. However, that would negate the need for faith, a crucial element of Christianity. Bearing that in mind, I still enjoyed the program, which had been constructed using several parallel storylines that the narrator would weave in and out of – a study, which explored the possibility that the belief in God, or some form of deity, is coded or hardwired into our DNA; a search to identify an element of matter, a crucial component of the “Standard Model” of physics, which explains how the cosmos works, known as the Higgs boson, or God particle; an expedition to locate and prove the existence of the Ark of the Covenant; and – get ready for this one  -- a study comparing the similarities of brainwave functions between subjects given hallucinogenic drugs and those involved in intense prayer sessions.   
Let’s expand on the above topics beginning with DNA. All civilizations and cultures have exhibited a belief in God, gods, or some form of religion. The idea that people are predisposed to believe in a higher power comes as no revelation to Christians. However, the indication that this tendency might actually be hardwired into our makeup is intriguing.
The study began 59 years ago when, in 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the existence of a structure within the nucleus of human cells, a genetic material known as deoxyribonucleic acid, more commonly known as DNA. Scientists studying DNA probably suspected early on that the double-helix structure contained some type of genetic data. However, recent discoveries indicate the material is embedded with a complex code capable of storing incredible amounts of information. In an article titled, DNA: The Tiny Code That’s Toppling Evolution, published in Good News Magazine, author, Mario Seiglie, explains it like this: “A molecule two millionths of a millimeter thick contains enough information to fill 12 sets of encyclopedias. A teaspoon full of DNA, according to molecular biologist, Michael Denton, could contain all of the information needed to build the proteins for all the species of organisms that have ever lived on the earth and still have room for all of the information contained in every book ever written.”
For me, that classifies as a Wow, Shazam.
I’ll continue the discussion in my next post. In the meantime, I’d love to hear what you think about the subject. Please leave a comment.
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Thursday, December 08, 2011

What happened to Christmas

I don't usually repost the same content on various sites -- okay maybe I do at times -- but I like this one:


Dreaming of a White Christmas



A few days ago, on the way home from work, I was coerced into shopping. My wife, Kathi, had been scouring the town, looking for something to wear to our company Christmas party, (They now call it a Holiday party) and she wanted to check a certain discount store. Knowing that if given a choice between the two, I’d choose to suffer through reruns of I Love Lucy, Kathi had called her sister to share in the experience. However, since dear sister was unavailable, I was called to task.

I entered the domain of doom, clutching a copy of Writer’s Digest, hoping to sit with the magazine in the waiting area and pull myself into its pages. At best, it was an ill-fated attempt. As writers, we observe our surroundings, but for some of us, once the switch is thrown it’s difficult to turn off. I glanced at the smartphone in my hand and I was reminded of a conversation I’d had with a dear friend, Valerie Gawthrop. “So much has changed since I first began writing,” she’d said. Her elegant use of understatement overwhelmed me, and I removed my attention from the pages of the magazine.

Something in a language I could not understand, which, to me, more resembled chanting than music, played through the intercom system, echoing through the rows of shabby clothing, where shoppers, some with desperation in their faces, some with anger, and still others with indifference, searched through the rubble, hoping to find that rare gem, a blouse with its buttons intact, a dress with no missing sequins. An elderly lady scooted past with her shopping cart and smiled. It was all I could do to keep from crying.

Things have changed all right, Val. Who among us veterans of the pen would have ever, in our most outlandish imaginations, dreamed that in our country someone’s grandmother would be reduced to this, or that a store would be worried about or afraid to play the music of Christmas?

Merry Christmas everyone, and may God bless.

Please check out my new website: http://www.bobavey.com
It's the same address, but I've had it revamped. I think it looks pretty good. What do you think?