Yesterday I posted part of an interview with Scott Klusendorf, author of The Case for Life: Equipping Christians to Engage the Culture. Here is a later part from the same interview where Scott talks about some of the alternatives to Embyronic Stem Cell Research (ESCR). The bottom line is that there are positive ways to continue stem cell research without destroying human embryos in the process.

Not only is embryonic stem cell research immoral, but it may be unnecessary. First, numerous peer-reviewed studies indicate that adult stem cells are more effective at treating disease than previously thought. Unlike embryo stem cell research, we can extract these adult cells without harming the donor. Critics of the pro-life view, like the late actor Christopher Reeve, insist that these adult cells won’t work. However, the evidence suggests just the opposite. So far, adult stem cells are outperforming their embryonic counterparts.

Second, new research suggests we can pursue embryo cell treatments in morally acceptable ways. Altered Nuclear Transfer (or ANT) is one new technology which seeks a morally acceptable means of producing pluripotent stem cells (the functional equivalent of embryonic stem cells) without the creation and destruction of human embryos. Instead, researchers will use biological entities that have some of the properties of embryos, but are not living organisms. In 2007, researchers in Japan and the United States, using slightly different methods, successfully coaxed ordinary adult skin cells to function just like pluripotent embryonic ones. This remarkable breakthrough demonstrated that pluripotent cells can be obtained without destroying human embryos. This should come as thrilling news for everyone in the cloning debate intent on using embryo cells.

Here is an interesting video clip from Oprah where Doctor Oz proclaims the stem cell debate closed and explains the benefits of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Research (IPS Cell Technology) to Oprah and fellow guest Michael J. Fox. This new technology takes skin cells and makes them embryo-like, thus avoiding both the moral problems of destroying embryos for research as well as the practical problems involved with using embryonic stem cells, such as the risk of tumors in the recipient. (Video length: 3:13)

Related posts:
    • Scott Klusendorf on Embryonic Stem Cell Research
    • They’re Going to Die Anyway

This is neat. The Hancock Wildlife Foundation has live webcams (Pacific Time) of eagles in their natural habitat. They were pretty active when I tuned in, but this is wild and this is live, so you may have to be patient.

The mission of the Hancock Wildlife Foundation is to promote the conservation of wildlife and its habitats through science, education, and stewardship. You can view more wildlife web cams here.

HT: Don Surber

The Bigsby Show has a great video and song to help children (and adults) learn the books of the Bible. Music is a great way to memorize. I still use the song that I learned as a child for the New Testament books to get the order right (and that’s after going to seminary!).

(Video length: 2:57)

• You can download the video for $1.99 here.
• Guitar chords are available for free here.
• The performance track mp3 is available for free here.

Need some more Bigsby before you go? Here’s “Frogs, Frogs, Frogs” from the Lake Charles show. (Video length: 1:11)

HT: Ministry-to-Children.com

Can’t wait for the new Hobbit movie in 2012? The Hunt for Gollum releases May 3, 2009.

‘The Hunt For Gollum’ is a ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Fan Film made by fans for fans. Inspired by notes in the appendices from ‘The Lord of the Rings’ book, ‘The Hunt For Gollum’ follows Aragorn as he sets out to find the creature Gollum and discover the truth about the Ring … (TheOneRing.net)

The Lord of the Rings trilogy is one of my favorite book and movie series. So I am looking forward to this fan-made film made for, well, fans like me! The production values look impressive for a home-made film. (I read somewhere they did this for only $3,000? That doesn’t seem possible.) Started over two years ago, the 40-minute film will be available for free download or live streaming at the official Hunt for Gollum website on May 3, 2009.

Update: Commenter Theresa corrects the $3,000 amount to £3,000 (approx. $4,500). Thanks Theresa!

Click here for more Tolkien related posts.
Related post: Storming Omaha Beach on a Shoestring

I was watching some of this on the news last night. It is really amazing.

(Video length: 1:38)

An undersea volcano in the South Pacific is spewing stunning columns of smoke, steam and ash thousands of feet into the air. The eruption began Monday after a series of earthquakes near Tonga, a 170-island archipelago between Australia and Tahiti, residents told the Associated Press. There were magnitude-5.0 quakes there Sunday night and Monday afternoon, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Though the Wellington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) issued an advisory for the area, the plume isn’t endangering island residents and so far hasn’t hurt fish or other animals, according to the AP.

Yesterday a plume rose to between 15,000 and 25,000 feet (4.6 to 7.6 kilometers), the Smithsonian’s Global Volcanism Program reported. “It’s a very significant eruption, on quite a large scale,” Tonga’s chief geologist, Kelepi Maf, told the Times of London. This is not unusual for this area and we expect this to happen here at any time.” (Scientific American)

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

(Video length: 8:32)

Here is a great feel-good story out of Milwaukee:

Milwaukee Madison senior Johntell Franklin, who lost his mother, Carlitha, to cancer on Saturday, Feb. 7, decided he wanted to play in that night’s game against DeKalb (Ill.) High School after previously indicating he would sit out.

He arrived at the gym in the second quarter, but Franklin’s name was not in the scorebook because his coach, Aaron Womack Jr., didn’t expect him to be there.

Rules dictated Womack would have to be assessed a technical, but he was prepared to put Franklin in the game anyway. DeKalb coach Dave Rohlman and his players knew of the situation, and told the referees they did not want the call.

The referees had no choice. But Rohlman did.

“I gathered my kids and said, ‘Who wants to take these free throws?’” Rohlman said, recounting the game to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Darius McNeal put up his hand. I said, ‘You realize you’re going to miss, right?’ He nodded his head.”

McNeal, a senior point guard, went to the line. The Milwaukee Madison players stayed by their bench, waiting for the free throws. Instead of seeing the ball go through the net, they saw the ball on the court, rolling over the end line.

“I turned around and saw the ref pick up the ball and hand it back to the player,” Womack said in the Journal Sentinel. “And then [McNeal] did the same thing again.”

Said Rohlman: “Darius set up for a regular free throw, but he only shot it two or three feet in front of him. It bounced once or twice and just rolled past the basket.”

“I did it for the guy who lost his mom,” McNeal told the newspaper. “It was the right thing to do.”

Update: Here is the video report (length: 6:24).

 
Click here for more Sports related posts.

I only just recently heard of Tommy Emmanuel, but I am already enjoying his music. Tommy is an Australian guitarist whose career spans more than four decades. He started playing guitar at age 4 (!) and was already working as a professional musican by the age of 6. Here’s a fun video where he explains and demonstrates his thumb technique on the acoustic guitar.

Tom’s Thumb Master Class (Video length: 4:17)

 

You can find a lot of his music on YouTube along with some “slowed-down video explanations” of the songs. In the meantime, check out his great version of Arthur Smith’s Guitar Boogie (with video explanation below).

Guitar Boogie (Video length: 3:52)

 

Guitar Boogie “Explanation” (Video length: 3:20)

Here is the video and full text of Rick Warren’s invocation given at Barack Obama’s inauguration earlier today:

(Video length: 4:44)

Almighty God, our Father: Everything we see, and everything we can’t see, exists because of you alone. It all comes from you, it all belongs to you, it all exists for your glory. History is your story. The Scripture tells us, “Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is one.” And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.

Now today we rejoice not only in America’s peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time, we celebrate a hinge point of history with the inauguration of our first African American President of the United States. We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where the son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven.

Give to our new president, Barack Obama, the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity, the compassion to lead us with generosity. Bless and protect him, his family, Vice President Biden, the Cabinet, and every one of our freely elected leaders. Help us, O God, to remember that we are Americans—united not by race or religion or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all.

When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you—forgive us. When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone—forgive us. When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve—forgive us.

And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitude—even when we differ. Help us to share, to serve, and to seek the common good of all. May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy, and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet. And may we never forget that one day, all nations—and all people—will stand accountable before you.

We now commit our new president and his wife, Michelle, and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care. I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life—Yeshua, ‘Isa, Jesús, Jesus—who taught us to pray:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen.

Here is a neat simulation from the BBC of last week’s US Airways crash landing on the Hudson River in New York (Airbus A320; Flight 1549). This simulation gives you the pilot’s view from the cockpit. (Update: I have added a second video below along with the actual audio from the flight.)

(Video length: 2:25)

UK Company Just Flight Recreates ‘Miracle on the Hudson’ Landing For BBC And ITN Reports (Monday 19th January)

Millions of viewers around the globe watched incredible scenes unfold as Captain ‘Sully’ Sullenberger performed a miraculous emergency landing. Reports of this astonishing event were augmented by graphical footage provided by British flight simulator company, Just Flight.

Just Flight’s experts sprang into action to recreate the spectacular A320 landing manoeuvre for both BBC’s 6 O’clock and News at Ten bulletins last Friday – and then ITN’s 11pm news programme. They assisted with reports on the crash by providing a simulation reconstruction after a call came in from the BBC early Friday morning. BBC reporters then visited Just Flight’s offices to write their stories and the footage was constructed in time for lunch.

Using their software, Just Flight was able to simulate the incident in astonishing detail, including the full-engine failure and resulting fires at 3,000 feet, the dramatic turn at the George Washington Bridge at 1,000 feet when both engines had cutout and the final ditching opposite the 48th Street Pier on the Hudson River. This event recreation highlighted for viewers the heroic skills of Captain Sullenberger.

And here is another view along with the actual flight audio:
(Video length: 2:07)

Josh Harris has some positive things to say to young men on the topic of “Don’t Waste Your Sexuality.”

(Video length: 2:54)

Don’t waste your sexuality … in just our modern world I think that most people would say that our sexuality is our own, it’s all about our own pleasure, our own desires. And yet when you realize that all of life belongs to God, it’s for God, it really transforms your view. And so I think to waste your sexuality is to think that it’s only about this moment, or it’s only about just satisfying an urge. But our sexuality is such a rich thing … as a single person your sexuality is telling you something. It’s telling you that marriage is a good thing, it’s driving you towards something.

And so I think about young men that I interact with, and you know, trying to be godly and holy when it comes to sex can feel like such a burden, like, “Does God have a bad sense of humor? He gives me all these desires and then he says, ‘But don’t do anything with it.’” And the truth is, no, he does call you to restrain yourself and to preserve yourself for marriage, and yet you are supposed to do something with it. And what you’re supposed to do with it is to allow that desire to drive you, to say first of all, “I’m going to get my life in gear. I need to get a job, I need to start working hard to be a man of maturity and spiritual insight and discernment so that I can lead a family, a wife …

And then you get married, and you realize that your sexuality and the joy of that in marriage is something that’s constantly bringing you back to intimacy, constantly driving you to the good work involved with preserving intimacy and just bonding a husband and wife together. All these [are] different ways that God uses this gift to fulfill his purposes and to direct us and guide us, and when we engage our sexuality for him, it becomes a beautiful thing. It has purpose … and it’s not just about trying to seek some greater and greater thrill.

Look at the emptimess of our pornography-saturated world, and just how it becomes more and more meaningless. It literally is wasted and poured out for nothing. And yet when you look at God’s plan, you see not only pleasure, but delight and purpose that ultimately points us back to the giver of that good gift.

I love this video. It is a remarkable blend of musical, lyrical and visual arts working together as the artists reflect on the bittersweet (but mostly sweet!) transition from single to family life from a Christian perspective.

Andrew Peterson, “Family Man” (Video length: 4:05)