The Prison - Part 1

It was my time.

I marched on ahead of the watchman who had come for me. The morning had been strangely smooth, as though rehearsed. I’d gotten dressed, eaten breakfast with my family, and gone outside to start work.

And there he was.

“John Barnhill?” He asked, but I knew it was more of a statement.

“I am he.” I replied.

“I have come for you.” He said simply.

“May I say goodbye to my family?”

“You may. Not everybody is granted that request, but since you are so close to home, you may.”

I called inside for my family. They rushed out, hearing the urgency in my voice. They stopped short when they saw the watchman, but then my father rushed to my side and grasped my hand.

“Son, listen to me. Do you know the way to escape the Dragon?”

“Yes sir, the Rock will save from the Dragon.”

“Do you believe that?” He asked, his face pale, and somehow fading.

“Yes, of course.” I replied, squinting as he seemed to become transparent.

“No, no, John, that’s not what I mean. Do you believe that?”

“Yes.” I replied.

My father smiled, and then faded away as if a mist. The rest of the world remained completely visible, but looking around, the villagers, my family, and all other living things faded away, except the watchman. I turned to him, he motioned down the street with his hand, and I began walking.

Nobody knew the way to the prison, but everybody knew it existed. Nobody exactly knew what it meant, but that didn’t stop stories from being told. Everybody went to the prison eventually, but nobody had ever come back.

Many people fought the watchmen when they came, but it never stopped them, and the only result was that the unfortunate prisoner was dragged away, usually crying miserably. I had purposed long before to not go in such a way as that.

Some said the prison was really a paradise, which is why nobody ever came back. Others shuddered and said it was full of torture chambers, where all of our life crimes were paid for. Others still declared adamantly that there was nothing at the prison – just blackness where the prisoners slowly faded into nothing. But in my heart, I knew what the prison held.

Engineer's World Post ln[e^(2)]

Engineer's World Post -(i^2 )

Much Ado about Nothing

Please pardon my lack of posting as of late - life has been somewhat hectic with everyday things, so while there is not much to post about in the very near past, there has been plenty to keep me from posting. Quite ironic, isn't it?

Well, since last post, many moons ago, a few events have occurred, from which I have been prevented from posting about due to the busyness of, you guessed it...

School!

I'm feeling totally blessed again this year. Even though I had to switch classes (I am not only taking classes with "my" senior classmates, but also some Juniors), I've found some great Christian guys to work with in those classes that have just come up from Clark College. I have a lot of classes (15 credits worth, that is), but nonetheless have managed to keep my head above water... so far.

But that's what's been keeping me from posting. Now, what's happened...

Family Camp! I promise to scrounge up some photos from my sisters or other photographers that were there, because, being the un-photographer type that I am, I didn't get any. It was a great time though - we had some neat visitors from California and Arizona, sang hymns quartet-style (even though there were 5 of us), round-the-campfire-style, and in-a-very-echoey-gym-style. We played volleyball, basketball (ok, I was more of a bystander that happened to be standing on the court for that one), Settlers of Catan, pinochle, and so much more. Had some great speakers (on the big screen) that talked about dealing with bitterness, among other things. I always love Family Camp - even though it was a smaller group than years past, we still had a great time!

Next post - Campfires and Candlelight! What I was doing back in the 1840's last Saturday.

WSU-V photo - http://www.salem-news.com/articles/april112007/vet_grant-41107.php

A Post of Firsts

Yes, yes, yes, it’s been a VERY long time since I posted last. However, with school up and running, I’m hoping to settle into the new schedule and allow for posts on Fridays. This post will be a bit of a summary of my summary in terms of “firsts”.

The American Olypmics team took first place in the number of gold medals! (Ok, I had nothing to do with that, but it also helps explain the picture)

This is my first post since June 17.

I had my first engineering internship this past summer, running from May 7 to August 10.

My first paper got accepted to an international ASMEconference, to which I am planning on traveling this November to present its contents. (The SMOC Project worked!)

We had our first guys (dad + bros) weekend traveling to Yellowstone!

I got my first smartphone!... but I had to return it since it was a work phone. L

Hope you all are having a great summer!

Ben

I Want You to Help Me

Joseph had a lot of siblings.

Honestly, he didn't even know all of them. There were some with whom he was very close, some were acquaintances, but the vast majority of them he had never even met. They were all united by a common purpose, despite a few minor differences, and they all lived to serve their Father.

Their Father had adopted them all, snatched from different dangers to come and live with Him in safety. Some had been adopted from as young as five and six, while others had silver hair before the adoption papers had been signed. All had different skills and varying levels of talents in each of those skills. Joseph was not terribly skilled at anything in particular, but he was more learned than a good number of his siblings.

The greatest ongoing project of the family was “the house”. It was an enormous structure that had been worked on for longer than any of the siblings had been alive, and could easily go on for decades, maybe centuries. Father included all of the siblings on it whenever He could.

Joseph was excited to work on the house. At times, Father would even leave entire jobs to him – Joseph had completed electrical circuits in whole rooms of the house, had lumber cut and ready for use when his Father arrived, and could set up or tear down equipment after any job was finished.

But as time went on, the house never seemed to end. Joseph would arrive at home, and Father would be sitting by the door.

“Joseph, would you like to go work on the house?”

If Joseph had had a good day, he would reply “Sure!”, but if he’d had a long or tiring day, he would say “I guess… let me go get ready.” with little or no enthusiasm.

Every day he would come home, and every day Father would be waiting for him.

“Joseph, would you like to go work on the house?”

And Joseph would more and more predictably reply “I guess… let me go get ready.” And as time went on, he was never ready by the time Father had left for work. Joseph would sigh apologetically, and would generally end up wasting what was left of the day.

At this point, whenever Joseph did come to the job site, his work was more foreign to him. He didn’t understand the pattern, and he didn’t always understand his Father’s instructions. As a result, work was slower, and he would always get frustrated. He used this as an excuse whenever he didn’t make it to the site. “It’s always inefficient when I’m around. Father works faster with a different sibling, or even by Himself.”

One day, during a relatively frustrating project, Joseph threw his tools down and raised this point to his Father, who sat down across from the exasperated son.

“Joseph, it is true, I can build this house on my own, and yes, you have siblings that are perhaps more skilled than you. I don’t need you to help Me, but I want you to help me. With this house, not only can it provide shelter for those who need it most, but while you and I work on it, it is where you learn to know me the most, and where you learn to grow the most. I love these times, Joseph, and even on the days where you may not enjoy it, I wouldn’t trade a moment of it.”

The SMOC Project: A Series of Events Which Some May Dub as Laborious, Others as Amazing, and Others Still as Rather Insane – Part II

The email came – that herald of doom that told us a whole semester of work would be thrown away in an instant with no hope for redemption… ok, maybe not that bad in retrospect, but man, we were pretty worried.

So we threw together a game plan – we listed out the experiments we would need, when we could be in the lab, and who was going to do what.

Experiment 1 – dvdt: this experiment had been planned since March, but due to its complexity and continual material failure, it had never occurred. First, one material was too weak. Second, the material was strong enough, but had bad thermal qualities. So, we decided upon a hybrid material that would combine both by fusing the two together. What could go wrong? Well, turns out we needed more material, and wouldn’t you know it, it wouldn’t get here in time (it is now sitting upstairs in my room). 

Experiment 2 – frictionless confirmation:  This experiment should have been pretty cut and dried. Basic equations of kinematics that we learned last year… blah blah blah… we start calculations, and our numbers are off in la-la-land. After banging our head against a table (and a bench, and the wall, and each other), our professor said he would take the data and look at it.

Experiment 3 – T vs. P: We’d already done this experiment… probably gathered over 300 data points. Unfortunately, our data was qualitative instead of quantitative. It wouldn’t be hard to collect quantitative data, but we still were going to have to plot all those points again, and from previous experience, we knew that was going to take a lot of time…

God was really looking out for us those two weeks. There were so many things that could have gone wrong, so much time that needed to be spent that very few of us had. But you know what? God does neat things: He put it into the head of undergrads to spend their precious evenings and weekends in the lab running experiment after failing experiment after experiment; He put it into the head of a graduate student to pull late (as in 1:30 in the morning) and all-nighters; He put it into the head of a professor to stick with the project even when thing weren’t coming together. We are so grateful to Ali and Dr. Xu for their awesome help! We are planning to submit our work to a scientific journal this summer! Wahoo!

And now... to prove just how crazy we were... (In case you needed any proof)

PS - Some of the experiment descriptions are vague, and that's on purpose. I'm not sure how much our prof wants published just yet...

The SMOC Project: A Series of Events Which Some May Dub as Laborious, Others as Amazing, and Others Still as Rather Insane

For any of you who didn’t know, the last two weeks of my life have been relatively swamped… ok, they’ve been really swamped. Whoever said summer was supposed to be relaxing? The last two weeks have been busy due to my new internship at Longview Fibre, and... finishing up the SMOC Project, a research project that me and my buddies have been working on for the past semester, and if the title did not convince you of the many points of view from which the last two weeks of this project may be… well… viewed, allow me to break it down for you in a slight calendar fashion.

Two weeks ago.

All was well. The school year was over, and only one experiment remained to be done. The team needed three major points for the paper. Two of them were completed and checked with the professor for necessary accuracy. The paper wasn’t due until May 25^th, so some evenings in the lab combined with Saturday experiments should be more than enough to finish the last experiment and write up the results.

Nine days ago

With our mindset of relaxation and ease, I received this email from our professor. He’s been helping us a lot from beginning to end, from getting grants to helping open doors in research for us. I was more than shocked up this email showing up in my inbox:

I am really worried about this project. We planned to submit the paper next Friday [A full week before we thought it was due], however we still haven't achieve any meaningful results yet. Usually, three well-presented results are needed for a paper. The [first point you had] is useless… Then we can start to work on other two results - which we have no clue yet.

Is anyone of you willing to work nights and weekends to get the paper done? I can be around any time you want. Otherwise, I am afraid we have to withdraw the paper...Please let me know who can work on this project and when.

Thanks,

After I woke up from my faint, I began to panic: we thought we had two out of three of these points done… and now it seemed we had none. Instantly, my calendar began getting full: I had no free evenings. Not to mention that this was on top of work, which required me to leave home at 6:00, and now I was getting home at about 10:00. I know that this is a normal day for some people, and I now have a great respect for them: I was completely not expecting this type of schedule though… I had no idea if we would make it, but now, we are more than making it… we are now finishing up the final edits, with the paper being submitted to a conference and to a scientific journal... but you'll have to read the next post to find out what happened to get us here...

Part II will be in a few days… now that I have time to post!

Ever Have One of Those Days Where You Just Can’t Win, Eeyore?

Who would have thought that the first day out of school would be such a downer? The team and I worked from 8:30-3:30 in the lab on our famous LeidenCart (Ok, maybe not that famous, but humor me), and we got no results: nada, zilch, noodle.

Of course, I guess that maybe I didn’t fail, I just found way 2 out of 1,000 how not to make this light bulb work.. but I bet Thomas Edison felt the same way... hence the quote...

Particularly when it was supposed to work.

Particularly when you have a deadline three weeks away.

Particularly when you’re about to start a full-time job. (i.e. time will once again become a scarce commodity)

Anyways... on the bright side of town, I have finished my finals!!!

Maybe there is a little smackerel of sweetness in the week!

Why I'm Not Posting Today

WSU-V Update

Every student on the WSU-V Campus will have developed this disorder in the next two weeks. For this purpose, I will not be posting next week. What, you may ask, has caused this sudden outbreak?

Finals.

Next week is dead week, which far from meaning everybody is dead because of lack of motion, it means everybody is dead because EVERY TERM PAPER/PROJECT OF THE SEMESTER IS DUE THAT WEEK. Not that we haven't known it was coming, but there are always a million things that go wrong last minute. And of course Finals Week is the week which, by definition, we are all finally finished - some "finished" as in terminated, and others "finished" as in passed the class. I hope to be in the latter category, personally.

However, some amazing things have been going on lately.

1) My research team and I got a Sigma Xi grant for $500 to continue research on our "frictionless" Leidenfrost surfaces. Hooray!

2) My research team and I achieved the "Top Three Category" in a research showcase! 28 undergraduate research projects were presented, and we made the top 3! Wahoo!

Anyway, now that you've heard my prophecy of doom for the next two weeks as well as a slight bit of cheeriness in my life, I shall leave you to debate next Friday as to whether or not the lack of Ben posting has made the week better, or worse.

Hmmm...

The Happening at Salem - Part II

It was the kickoff of the festival. I was feeling very holy and spiritual thinking all the right thoughts. That afternoon, large crowds were assembled in the streets, and I decided to go join in. I had never been in Salem, and I assumed that this was customary. Being a stronger fellow, I pushed my way to the front of the crowd to get a clear view of what appeared to be a procession.

My first thought was that I didn’t know the Tiberians took part in the festival. My second thought was that I didn’t remember any sort of flogging of people as part of the ritual. My third thought was “Rats, I’ve run into an execution ceremony, not a religious one.”

Immediately, I recoiled. I tried to back up into the crowd, but apparently, it was a one-way crowd. You only pushed your way forward, not backward. Simultaneously, there was confusion in the procession. Somebody had stumbled, and no wonder. His back was covered in blood, He was being flogged mercilessly whenever He slowed down, and was carrying an enormous wooden “thing”. He stumbled, and the Tiberians began looking around the crowd, which started mumbling about “somebody to carry His cross”. A big, nasty brute of a Tiberian scanned the crowd and his eyes rested on me.

Rats.

I was jerked out of the crowd into the open. They dragged me over to where the Man had fallen, and ordered me to pick up the “cross”. Having little other choice, I did so. The crowd jeered at me along with the fallen Man the whole way. I was exposed, in trouble, and hated for it. What I wanted more than ever was to go and hide, away from the public’s spiteful eye, which hated me for what I was doing. But for the sake of the Man with the crown of thorns, I knew I needed to do it.

I don’t like to be despised. I like to have a good reputation among my peers and friends, and while I’m ok standing out in the crowd with friends nearby, I like to be accepted, or at least low-profile if I’m alone. Unfortunately, we’re not guaranteed that comfort or acceptance, in fact, we’re told that “…you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures will be saved.” (Matt. 10:22) There are points where we’d like to compromise or back down, but for the sake of the Man with the crown, you need to do it.

The Happening at Salem - Part I

I generally tried to stay out of trouble.

I always had. My country laid waste by the Tiberians nearly 150 years ago, our economy destroyed, and our religion all but underground, I tended to keep a low profile. It wasn’t just for me though – I have a family, including my two little boys Alexander and Rufus that I need to take care of. If something were to happen to me, I don’t know how they would cope.

I don’t know what I was thinking when I decided to go to Salem for the religious festival. I mean, it was a long trip, and talk about walking right into the middle of a bee’s hive – Salem was the center of unrest. It had only just recently been conquered by the Tiberians, and the people that lived there were very antagonistic to their rule – religious radicals by all accounts. Even though I professed to the same religion, hence my attending the festival, I wasn’t as crazy as all that.

Anyway, I arrived in Salem, and the city was in uproar. Some preacher was coming in from the surrounding countryside, and the city was ecstatic. Apparently, he was going to lead a revolution against the Tiberians, and the city was ready to go up in arms to help him.

Not my cup of tea.

Instead, I checked into a nearly-full inn and went to prepare for the festival: a lot of rituals, but I like that – makes me feel like I’m a part of something bigger. I planned to attend to my rituals, be very spiritual the whole week, and go home a better person.

If only I were so lucky.

How It All Began...

This happened about a year ago - the first project with my current research team!

For lack of anything else to talk about, I'll simply post this video and let a lot of pictures be worth a few thousand words. If anybody is by any chance at Fort Vancouver tomorrow, drop on in! There will be a lot of us in costume volunteering in different capacities around the fort.

See ya!

The Strong Must be Able to Bow

I tell my little brothers stories. In fact, I tell them a lot of stories: everything from historical fiction, to Narnian side-stories, to futuristic solar-system wars. We’re quite diverse in our selection. Regardless of the location or time period, all of the stories have heroes: usually a team of individuals with diverse skills that will inevitably lead the good guys to victory. Usually, these characters have varying degrees of admirable qualities: bravery, intelligence, loyalty, and the occasional sacrificial mindset where they value others more than themselves.

That’s great, right? I mean, what more could you want in a hero? Well, as time progressed, I began to realize that my characters lacked a very important aspect: God. I was creating larger than life heroes that had no need for God in their lives. Sure, they followed His moral code, but no recognition was given to the One would have brought them through it all.

The title is indicative of a new trait my characters have. Those who recognize God’s sovereignty are the ones that generally do well, not just on the battlefield, but as well as moral decisions and values. Those who do not have God in their lives, or have not completely surrendered, tend to have more problems.

So what does that mean? No, my heroes do not become Moseses where they can call down the plagues on their enemies and decimate them. It does not even mean they are more victorious in battle, because we are not guaranteed that as Christians, but a difference is shown. The Christians are brave because they have no fear of death because Jesus triumphed over the grave; they are loyal because they love the country and friends that God gave them, and value them as such; they will sacrifice themselves for others because “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Those who are non-believers tend to be brutal, because they will do anything to prevent death; they are not loyal because loyalty costs a lot – a price they are not willing to pay; they will sacrifice others for themselves because they are selfish. Before, I wasn’t showing this difference, but I think a difference needs to be shown.

The strongest must be willing to bow - I think the good men are the ones that recognize they are inherently evil, the greatest men are the ones that recognize they are small, and the strongest are the ones that recognize they are weak, and the only solution to our state is God. This is a great truth, and one I should consider when thinking about role models or heroes in my own life.

Let's Build a Spaceship...

Because, since, I'm on spring break, I have by definition nothing better to do with my time.

1) Before construction can begin, the drawings have to be made. Carefully add dimensions in feet, meters, inches, millimeters, centimeters, or miles.

2) Let's add the third dimension! We'll extrude the shape equal amounts in both directions and give ourselves a nice block of metal.

3) Navigation systems are a must-have to prevent taking the wrong turn at Albuquerque, Jupiter, or Vulcan, all of which could have disastrous results. To prevent such occurrences, we'll put a nice, spacy cockpit right at the front, and 7 trans-solus engines in the back, now with 9,000,000,000...ish horsepower.

4) Since this monster is too heavy to land on a planet (but of course, you knew that), we'll have to put in hatches so smaller craft can board. Also, to fight off any nasty pirates that get the idea to come after you, steal your cargo, and make you walk the plank (in space? Wow, that would be an interesting experience: "Jump!"... "Captain Bionic-Hook, he's not sinking! He just keeps floating up, up, up..."), we'll put three guns in the front. Stand back Spee! (Smee + Space)

5) Too plain? No worries. We'll add some nice curves and chamfers onto it, guaranteed to let you sail the stars in style.

6) Now, for your own personal touch. While your engines will almost always burn red, cockpit vacuum-shields (since there's no wind, it can't be windshield) come in three colors (brown, green, and blue), and don't let the black paint pictured fool you - your exterior can come in almost any color in the spectrum!

7) Finally - see this baby in space! Look at how it glides... well, ok, maybe you can't see it glide, but look at the picture of it... um... gliding. Beautiful site isn't it?

8) Military personnel - need a semi-medium weighted ship for escort purposes? This ship will do the job! Neither too heavy or too light, it's a perfect medium-weighted ship! No fear of cargo being stolen when this ship is in the escort!

And that's all folks! Thanks to the wonderful world of solidworks, you can let your imagination soar to outer space! This has definitely got to be one of my favorite toys... and my license expires in a few months... :(

Hope you enjoyed the building process/ad! Have a great day!

Breaking News!

After weeks, and weeks, and weeks of searching for a job, and submitting application, after application, after applications, I finally got, and got, and got, a job offer!

Ok, maybe the triplets tend to over-dramatize things, but the general message remains the same. I have submitted my resume to over a dozen companies looking for an internship over the summer, and Longview Fibre responded and said they could use me!

So, starting mid-May, I will become an employee of a Longview-based plant, which will mean the following:

1) I am going to get real tired of the tunes on my iPod
2) I am going to get more literate via books on tape (or, on iPod as the case may be)
3) My sisters are going to use my new-found taxi services to visit their friends as often as is practical, and then some
4) I am going to get a lot of hands-on engineering experience that will help a ton in the future
5) *Optional* I may become the partial owner of a new vehichle with which to drive myself!

All that to say, God is good; He provides for us. In an economy where lots of people can't find work, He provided me with this job over the summer that not only helps my experience, but also helps a lot financially. I am very grateful!

I'll keep you posted as I find out more about the job, not that you would want to hear it of course, but if you did, stay tuned!

Most Recent... Thing...

Music - I love it. I love multiple genres, from classical to soundtracks to hymns. I love listening to it in multiple capacities, from school, to fun, to worship.

But is all music good? What I don't want to come across as is a "conservative nut" that simply brands certain music as bad; there needs to be reason for everything. That said, I think that certain types of music are bad, and generally this music can be summed up in one genre - Rock.

I know this is an age-old argument, which is one reason I've been interested to study it some more. The reasons I have for cleaning up my playlists are as follows:

1) Origins

True, simply because something started as bad does not necessarily guarantee that it is in and of itself bad, or that it cannot be used for good. But rock music, in America, began as a form of rebellion. It was not acceptable to the older generation, the authorities, and hence listening to such a genre was simply a form of rebellion. Note that "...Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as the iniquity of idolatry." (I Samuel 15:23) So... I would steer clear of this personally... who wants anything to do with something that began on the same magnitude of "badness" as witchcraft?

2) Spiritual Implications

When rock music starts blaring, you feel different. Invigorated, yes. In a Godly way? I doubt it. One interesting thing to do when a song starts playing is to see how a little child will respond. They can't hear/understand the words, so they will only react to the music. I was listening to some "Christian Rock", that was actually pretty calm. Little sister walks in, and starts "dancing like she's at a party"... and for a six-year-old, that's certainly what she was doing. Our bodies react negatively to rock music, because music is spiritual - it will either effect us for good, or bad.

In addition, the spiritual world is not immune to music's influence either. A missionary story I once heard told about a recently converted witch doctor, who upon hearing "Christian Rock" being played asked the Christians why they were calling up the evil spirits. But we listen to this in our churches?

3) Cultural Implications

What music is played at a rave? I can assure you, its not hymns, folk, or even classical. What music is most heavily associated with drugs, immoral behaviors, and rebellion? Again, we find rock music as the culprit. When people hear rock music, this is automatically the implications that come to mind. Also, this is not just the words; lyrics are another discussion. I am talking purely about the music. No lyrics are necessary to carry meaning.

So what does this mean? One common excuse for the use of rock music is to get non-believers in the church. In other words, "Let's play this worldly, rebellious [witchcraft-related] music that affects people in a negative way and may even have impact on the spiritual world around us. Oh, but we'll change the words and call it good." Wake up call modern-Christian America! Who are you fooling? Will modern culture accept it? Sure, but so what? Our modern culture is one that hates God... but we got their acceptance, so it must be good, right?

Wrong.

You Know You're In Heat Transfer Class When...

1) It's not strange to ask your professor for his mass, density, surface area, and specific heat for a problem

2) It's amusing when the professor relates electrical circuits to somebody catching hypothermia

3) Solutions are always more complicated than the problem

4) You use the Greek alphabet more than the English one

5) It's no longer possible to find the exact right answer; just approximations

6) You find yourself posting about Heat Transfer class as though it was one of the most exciting things happening in your life

What If? - Atlantis Part II

So sorry this is late... but nonetheless...


All of Atlantis stretched before us. The entire continent was amazingly flat, so I could see from coast to coast from my vantage point.

The four rivers flowed in a general southwest direction. They sprang from the Fountain of Youth, which originated in the Garden of Everlasting Light. Now that was a topic that could generate discussion at a feast. You see, our oldest traditions say that a god guards the entrance to the garden, barring our entrance to it. However, when the Great Ones came, they claimed to be greater than the god that guarded the entrance, and that as a result, we ought to listen to them on all matters spiritual and religious. In physical strength and stature, there were definitely greater than those of us who were native Atlanteans, but the Nephilim, as they call themselves, seemed to have few answers.
East of the garden was the land of Nob, where the herdsmen, the Jabaleans, live. They are as protective of their knowledge of animals as we are of our knowledge of metals. Only their animals are considered “clean”, all other breeds being inferior in health and quality; they enjoy a relatively high status as a result.I clicked to Enta again and we flew west. We crossed two of the rivers, Gihon and Hiddekel, and landed on the far side of Hiddekel.

There was quite a crowd assembled who came, they said, to dissuade the Preacher, but in reality, I think they were interested to hear what he had to say… and to see the “project”.
It was huge. Utterly massive - an enormous wooden box that stretched hundreds of paces in every direction, including up. It was not its sheer size that astonished people, for many of our temples were just as big or bigger, but its construction and its alleged purpose. It was entirely of wood, save where metal attachments were required. Its purpose was what fascinated people.
“Beware, my friends!” came a voice. I recognized that the Preacher had momentarily stopped his work to respond to the jeerers. “God’s judgment is coming! This is the only safety!”

“Which god?” Called one person, with snickers and laughter surrounding his comment. “We’ll just get the other ones to protect us from it.”
“Like the Nephilim said!”
The Preacher opened his mouth again, but he was cut off.
“What are you going to save us from in your little wooden box? Dragon fire would incinerate it, rams would crash through it, and an orichalcum axe would hew a timber in half!”
The Preacher’s response was drowned out by laughter. I dropped off the clasps with one of the workers and went back to Enta. The crowd was dispersing now, the midday meal coming on, and many of them passed me as I mounted. I caught random comments from the different spectators as they walked by.
“He’s crazy.”
“He can't know what he’s talking about.”

“Yeah. Crazy old Noah.”

What if? - Atlantis Part I

“Athryntos!”
I shook my head, clearing the dizzying nothingness that hinted of sleep, and ran to where my master stood, tapping his foot impatiently.
“Yes, master?” I inquired.
“Falling asleep again, weren’t you?” He queried.
“No, of course not.” I replied.
Tyvros shook his head, obviously not believing me. “Young fools. You always stay at the feasts late and expect that there will be no repercussions the next morning. Don’t lie to me again.”
“But master, I – “
I got no further as he cuffed me on the side of my head, sending me sprawling to the ground.
“In all of Atlantis, there is no lad as thick-headed as you.” He sighed, still shaking his head. “Take the clasps to the “preacher” and hurry back here. There’s a lot to be done.”
I nodded and went to the back room, where a new set of clasps had just been made. I picked one up an inspected it, marveling. It was made of orichalcum, the precious metal considered to be second only to gold. Only those of my clan, the Kan-Tubaleons, know how to work it. Yes, between orichalcum and iron, our position in society is secured; few others have learned our secrets, and as far as I know, few ever will.I replaced the clasp in the wooden box and closed the lid. Carrying it out back, I whistled loudly, calling for Enta. After a few moments, he came flapping down from some unknown roost, of which there were many in the city. Enta was a simple flying dragon that Tyvros maintained to deliver orders. As our craft was required throughout the entire continent, it was good to have a swift mount on hand. Enta was not as strong as the battle-dragons, which walk on two feet.But he was not as feared as leviathan, the massive sea-dragon that few legends spoke about, but everybody knew about. He breathed fire, swam swiftly through the water, and could defeat a dozen warriors with ease. Even weapons made from our precious orichalcum could not penetrate his scaly armor. These were only a few dragon breeds among hundreds, but by far the most well-known. I strapped the chest to Enta and climbed onto his back. Picking up the reins, I clicked to him.
“Up Enta, let’s go.”
Enta warbled and lifted his massive wings, 30 cubits from tip to tip. With a few flaps of his wings, we were airborne, circling above the city to gain altitude. We dodged the spire of one of the temples, and I briefly had Enta land on its roof before we continued.

How I Met My College Buds - Part II

Ben finally spotted a familiar face in the crowd. This being his second class period, he had already gone through the disappointment of being a loner in a crowd of engineering students, and he hoped that Calculus would be a different story. He slid into a seat next to his friend, Ryan Hill, and the two exchanged greetings. An unfamiliar face leaned over from the other side of Ryan.
“Are you, Ben Coder?” He asked.
“Yes, I am.” Ben replied, his mind racing about the identity of the stranger.
“I’m Grant. I know the Quartos, and they told me to look for you.”

* * *

“Hey Paul, can you help me with this?”
It was a common thing to hear in the mechy [mechanical engineer] corner. Up on the second floor with a great view of the campus, the mechies could always be found doing homework, reading up in their textbooks, or chatting in a few minutes break.
Paul was the “resident genius”. He was a year ahead of most of the other mechies, and was always willing to help explain a foreign concept to the freshman. What’s more, he was good at it.
Paul left a conversation and came over to the table to help the helpless student. Suddenly, Ben looked up.
“Paul, did you do track with Coach Frank Schmidt?” He asked.
Paul raised an eyebrow, “Yeah… a long time ago.” He said slowly.

* * *

Ben decided to risk it. He was potentially setting himself up for failure, but he was getting enough push from home he decided to try it. After class was over, Ben walked over to the quiet Jonathan.
“So… I hear you had dinner with the Cashes last night.” Ben queried, referencing an event that he’d heard from “the sisters”.
“Yeah… do you know them?” Jonathan asked.

So in the end, Jonathan Spafford was not the “Other Jonathan”, the Airsoft Squad Leader turned out to be as good at engineering as he was at airsoft, and Paul will be designing real space probes one day.

How I Met My College Buds - Part I

A little, 11-year old Ben sat near the track. Sighing, he recognized it was bound to be another afternoon of dullness – running miles in the hot sun up and down Padden Parkway while everybody else did the easy 100-meter sprints, the turbo-javelin, and shot-put (all near the shade and water bottles, of course).
He sat near the sandbox and talked with his friend, Michael, about the newly-landed Martian Rover Spirit. As an engineer to be (though he did not yet know it), he was fascinated by the prospect of robot probes scouring the surface of an unknown planet.
Another boy came up to the twosome; he had been stretching a few feet away and joined the boys’ conversation. After much exciting talk, the boys decided to draw their own robot probes and meet back the next week with their drawings.

That new boy’s name was Paul.

...

A nervous, 15-year-old boy awaited his orders from his team's captain.

“Alright Ben, that’s your squad leader.” Came the announcement as the captain pointed toward a stranger. The squad leader was muscular, dressed in full camo gear and a tan baseball cap. He wore reflective sunglasses and handled his “large” rifle with an ease that only comes from years of experience. This was Ben's first major airsoft engagement, and he was eager to prove himself, though with only a shotgun and two hours experience.

“Ok guys, listen up.” The leader told his squad (most of which were the inexperienced type like Ben), “Let’s move out, and just have fun!”

The squad leader’s name was Grant.

...

An annoyed, 17-year old Ben groaned as a whiny voice rose from the general discussion in the classroom.

“But Tina, actually that’s wrong.”
An audible groan went up from the class as Jonathan tried to correct the professor again.
“Nobody cares Jonathan.” Came a different voice from the crowd of students, followed by a snickering, as the rest of the class agreed with the emotion.
“Please, no!” Ben thought. Somewhere in this classroom was a boy named Jonathan; the Cashes, old time friends for years, knew him and had found out that he and Ben were in some of the same classes. People in both his family, as well as the Cashes, were urging Ben to meet this fellow student.
He just had to urge himself. There were two Jonathans in the class. One was quiet and said nearly nothing. Ben knew almost nothing about him. The “Other Jonathan” wouldn’t shut up. He constantly corrected the professor, had no social skills, and a beard that would suit a caveman.

He was also homeschooled.

What I’ve been doing lately.

Well, school is underway! Here come the cascades of homework, quizzes, studying, grasping of foreign concepts, late nights, early mornings, and, and…!

*cue long pause*

Well, I don’t have a homework assignment due until next Thursday.
Most of this material (at this point) is review.
I’ve been keeping up with, and upon occasion ahead of, the reading.

*cue another long pause*

What, may I ask, have I been doing? Or perhaps, the sentence would better read “What, you may ask, have I been doing?”; I think I like the second version much better.

*cue yet another long pause*

I think, as I am new to blogging, that it would be best if I did not muse on grammatical technicalities during the blog post, but perhaps it would be best to perform such corrections previous to the actual posting.

*cue yet another long pause*

Um, anyways, attached is a bit of music I’ve been working on. It is called Britanniarum Regnum, or the Latin term for Great Britain. It is the second movement in a piece of music I’m working on called the World War II Symphony. I’m planning to enter it into a composition competition. This is probably the last I’ll be able to work on it for a while :)

Enjoy!

PS - the music quality isn't awesome, but it's a work in progress

Have You Ever Wanted to Read an Ancient Dcoument?

I mean ancient, not just ancient. I mean something that was written by the people who built the pyramids, or the hanging gardens, or maybe Hammurabi who ordained the first written law code of the ancient world, something from a lost civilization like the Olmecs, or the people of Angkor Wat, or the civilization of Mohenjo Daro. Why in the world would anybody besides a total history geek (referring to myself, of course) want to waste his or her time pouring over a scrap of paper from people long gone? What is the purpose or fascination for such things? I suppose it would vary from person to person. For my part, I would like to learn something new, something that would tell us more about these amazing ancient constructs. Why did the people of Mohenjo Daro leave? How were the pyramids built with less than 1 cm difference in the length of sides? Why did Hammurabi design his law code the way he did? Maybe these people had a bit of wisdom they could leave behind for us; something that could help us today.
Guess what! I have in my personal possession a document, not original – but I wouldn’t be able to read it if it was – that dates as far back as 1500 B.C.! Not only that, but it also recounts events in detail 2500 years before that! This document outlines the history of a people that have been scattered throughout the entire earth, and had their own conflicts with Egypt, Assyria, Aramea, Babylon, Persia, and Rome to name a few, mentioning conflicts and kings that were not found in the archaeological record until recently, and some that have yet to be found. It lists specific recipes for their very advanced medicinal practices that were not fully understood by science until the 19th century, almost 2500 years later! Most importantly, it contains the secret to save all of humanity from impending doom, a doom far worse than a plague, an invading army, or some cosmological disaster. It recounts very concisely the solution to all of humanity’s problems, summed up in this one small passage:
God was manifested in the flesh,
Justified in the Spirit,
Seen by angels,
Preached among the Gentiles,
Believed on in the world,
Received up in glory.
There – the solution to mankind’s problems summed up in 6 lines. No Egyptian document could tell me that, and Hammurabi likely as not had no idea what was coming, or even why his law code might be considered “just”.
I have in my personal possession the most valuable document in history, something preserved for thousands of years with practically no variation, something that can not only help save my eternal life, but also those around me.

We call it the Bible.