Snowflake Theory - Snowed?

Wednesday morning Men's Fellowship took a turn when the two scientists in our group corrected my cheesy statement of the wonder and beauty of every snowflake being different.

PHOTO: Ken Libbrecht

Had my memories of Abstract Algebra and Group Theory about Crystallographic Groups and the associated mathematical proofs been mixed up and confused with the elementary teacher claim of snowflake uniqueness?  Was it my lack of physics knowledge ( I was never really good at physics anyway) that created this misconception.

Using his smart (alec) iphone, J.B.  used Siri to resolve the dispute.   Yes,  Siri said that this claim was wrong!  While very improbable (10^24) there is a probability two could be identical.  Wow - that struck my Statistics nerve!

Off to the internet I independently went.  Only to find no real answer:

Decoded Science - No Two Snowflakes are Alike
Huffington Posts -  It's True That Now Two Snowflakes are Alike
NBC News -  Two Snowflakes may actually be alike
CBC TV - Chasing Snowflakes

Just like arguing about Global Warming - how can one "prove" and find the truth?

Regardless of the source there is always a way to weasel out of the facts.  As Kenneth Libbrecht, Professor of Physics at the California Institute of Technology and the world's foremost expert on snowflake formation -
"It really depends on what you mean by snowflake and what you mean by different".


So -  I will continue to believe in the wonder and beauty and state the uniqueness of snowflakes until someone shows me a duplicate.  Yet another question for God when you arrive at the pearly gates.

Darkness is my closest friend

I call a coincident -  a God Wink  (first learned this from Rock R.).  I have been listening to Tim Keller Sermons (Get his Free Sermons Here) now for two years (in my car). Monday, "Heman's Cry of Darkness" began playing and seemed to be the whisper from God to me about my feelings last week.  The last word in Psalm 88 (in the original Hebrew translation) is translated - Darkness.  In the ERV translation the last line translates to  "Now darkness is my closest friend".  Very unusual for a Psalm to end in darkness, without any hope.

Keller flips the dark and hopeless view of this Psalm into the very opposite view - that Darkness is also the cry to God - your closest friend. God's friendship is a choice - are you just a friend for his utility, or are you his friend regardless of anything - unconditional!

https://pixabay.com/en/at-night-gloomy-clouds-pale-141458/

Keller uses Tolkien's Christian Mythology Mastery to illustrate this darkness paradox:

“ ….the place near the end of The Lord of the Rings, where Sam Gamgee is with Frodo and they’re going to the mountain and suddenly Sam realizes, “We’re going to die. No matter what happens we’re going to die.” The thought comes to him, “Well, then, just give up. Curl up in a little ball over here and go to sleep.”

Then the text says (this is in the text, not the movie), “But even as hope died in Sam, or seemed to die, it was turned to a new strength. Sam’s plain hobbit-face grew stern, almost grim, as the will hardened in him, and he felt through all his limbs a thrill, as if he was turning into some creature of stone and steel that neither despair nor weariness nor endless barren miles could subdue.”

When he said, “I’m going to go to the end. I’m going to do what I’m supposed to do. I don’t care the consequences, I don’t care if there’s no hope; I’m going to do it,” he felt through all his limbs a thrill as if he was turning into some creature of stone and steel that neither despair nor weariness nor endless barren miles could subdue. It’s in the darkness you’re most able to become a great heart, a brave heart, something of greatness.”^[1]

---

^[1] Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.

The vast and infinite valley of darkness can be a place you can forever fall.  It takes words of encouragement, a helping hand and voice of love to light the way. That - is a friend.

Kinfolks Always Welcome

Jenna and I had an hour long discussion with my oldest Cousin, K.W., who has had Type 1 Diabetes for over 30 .  K.W. like his dad (my only Uncle) is funny, direct, and open.  Just what we both needed.  He provided the good, the bad, and the ugly stories of his own journey spiced with tips and encouragement about the worst is in the rear view mirror.

A conversation like this shows the power of sharing your vulnerabilities with others - a gift of therapy, compassion, and service.  We are made to help each other and it is when we isolate ourselves under the guise of independence that our souls decay.  A gift that is the mystery of love - transactional because it requires someone in need (a gift requiring courage to ask for help) and someone to help (the gift of providing service to someone requesting help).

In some cases it becomes a trinity - with an intermediary connecting the two.  In philanthropy it is called the Artful Asker (see 3/3/2010 "Artful Asker") - grateful recipient, joyful giver, and Artful Asker.

At the end of the conversation, I told K.W. that for the near future, I would be traveling to Florida on likely a regular basis and would likely show up at his door at anytime requesting and delivering a hug.   His response - Kinfolks always welcome!

Diabetes Downer

It has been quite a week of emotional challenges for the family.  Jenna now faces Type1 Diabetes and the family now enters a new journey of learning and support for this chronic condition.  Like first learning a new vocabulary word, buying a new model car, or any other newly learned (or acquired) item, suddenly the incidence of occurrence all around you seems greater than ever before.  Almost as common as every other part of your life.

For Diabetes the numbers are large but still a small percent of the population - 422 Million (2016) or 8.5% of adults. 90% of those have Type 2 so those with Type 1 are more rare  (1.25 Million in the USA).  Even with so small a number, as people we know have compassionately reached out to us, we have found numerous friends and their families with Type 1 Diabetes (8 and counting). Even though Type 1 is usually diagnosed at an early age (Juvenile), our connections were all diagnosed in their 30's.

Causes of Type 1 are unknown, but they have found some genes (HLA genotypes)  that influence the risk.  Other theories include environmental factors - possible viral infection or diet (gliaden a protein present in gluten).  But there is no real evidence for any of these yet.

As I told Jenna, knowing the cause (without any cure - preventative or post) does the person with the condition no good. Any anger associated with it just becomes self defeating and an unproductive use of time. Better to move as quickly from this emotion and from grief (which will occur)  to an emotional equilibrium with this new condition and hope for achieving the best future possible.

Easy to say (especially from a person that doesn't have the condition), but in reality everyone of us has some condition or weakness (inherited or created) that we must live with, cope with, and use to the best of our ability to achieve the purpose we were created for by God.  We maybe equal in the eyes of God, but we are all unequal in our own eyes. Only when we look at others, are we tempted to judge our own circumstances.  We can either let envy flood our thoughts or compassion redirect our attention into service and humility for our blessings.

The Need for Speed

Paying attention to phone (cellular and wireline); internet, TV services has become a yearly exercise.  My run in with Time Warner (now Spectrum) years ago (well documented in ripoff reports and other internet sites) was reinforced when I had to intervene to correct the billing situation for Dad with Cox Communications.  I would have cancelled Cox (like I did Time Warner) in a heart beat if it had been my personal account.

In all cases, it takes persistence, negotiation capabilities, and in some cases threats of ending service to get the best deal possible.  For my personal situation using Cincinnati Bell, the end of year call resulted in a lower bill by $35/mth and increased internet speed from 50 Mbps to 500 Mbps.  But the promotional price I was given is only promised for one year which will require another year end call around 2019 to get the best deal.

Luckily Cincinnati Bell doesn't realize that my threats of discontinuing service would never happen as I promised to never ..... ever become a customer of Time Warner again.

My first task today was to determine if I was actually receiving the 500 Mbps negotiated speed.  That is tough since most speed test applications are 50 Mbps.  I found a site the record speeds up to 1Gbps www.openspeedtest.com .   My speed is only showing 96Mbps.  That will require a follow-up phone call with Cincinnati Bell. 

When I asked my Tennis buddies what speed they are getting - the common answer "Don't know, Don't Care, its good enough for what I need".   I'm just not satisfied with that!

As Tom Cruise said in Top Gun..... 

                     Maverick -  "I feel the need"
                                                                    Goose - "The need for speed"

Password Hell

Source:  http://www.stevemasters.co.uk/general-thoughts/user-friendly-passwords/

I try to be very organized about passwords.  Careful not to use a common password for all things, I keep a list of them available just in case (and it is always the case) that I forget to update a password that a web-site requires me to change.

Such was the case with HSA Bank.   Trying desperately to reset using their system of email retrieval was constantly being stopped by a message of "inactive timeout" on the logon screen.  UGH!!!  Then calls to the call center are at the worst time (beginning of the year) and during a major snowstorm in Wisconsin (I later found out).

After four dropped calls (each of 30 minutes on hold) at end of day a representative was able to send me an email with a temporary password.  The reset required 12....  yes 12 characters with at least one Capital and one special character.   Who can remember 12 characters!!!!

Naturally they also will not allow a previous password either.

I wonder how much wasted call center time occurs in companies that have over securitized their web sites!   That in addition to the unproductive time of all of us that forget passwords.  Even trying to remember Dad's (now 93) stuff becomes a yearly exercise in effort.

I have a new definition of what my version of Hell will be (no longer untangling Xmas lights attempting to find the one bulb out).  It will be losing all my passwords and needing to access all the accounts rapidly.

Welcome to Hell.....  please enter your username and password :)

Amateur Night

2019 will be the 10th year of blogging (my first entry 8/2009).  What has happened over the 10 years?   The interesting blog development curve shows the classic exuberance followed by sustaining entries that tail off at about year 5 (both entries and page views).  At about the 1000th entry my blogging energy started to wane as illustrated by the yellow line of diminishing returns.   Or could it be running out of things to say?

Last night was fun with M&M L. hosting the New Year Dinner with friends.  Plenty of laughter and discussion.  There was a round table of New Year's Resolutions with prizes (MegaMillion Lottery tickets) for the best resolutions.  A winning ticket would erase the blues of 2018 stock market performance.  Susan and I continued our streak of sleeping through the New Year - leaving the party early.  As J.R. always said -  get home early because New Year's Eve is "Amateur's Night".