Peru! Lost Civilizations! God’s Creation!

Have you been to Peru? Me neither.

However, my daughter recently returned from a children’s ministry trip to Peru. The team that she was on went to Lima and Cusco. You may also visit her site for pictures from the trip as she posts in the upcoming days. Don’t miss the ones of Machu Pichu! Even though Wikipedia isn’t the last word on everything, the site has a picture very similar to one of Amy’s. What a wonderful example of God’s Creation and man’s use of it.

As a boy, I liked to read about mysterious things. One book in particular stood out in its presentation of Lost Cities and Vanished Civilizations. It was written by Robert Silverberg, who was also a science fiction writer. His writing in this book was captivating. I became more interested in the Incas than the Mayans or Aztecs because of this book. Machu Pichu sounded like a terrific place to see. I haven’t, but at least one of my children has.

What became of the Incas, Mayans, and Aztecs? Did they mysteriously disappear, as some believe? What happened to the Mayans after the collapse of their civilization? I think, along with a lot of other folks, that they were assimilated into surrounding peoples or relocated. They didn’t disappear; they just moved and resettled.

The scenery in part of Peru is stunning. And Amy was able to share the gospel of Christ with many young people there.

Multiplication with lines

Another topic my wife showed me. Multiplication by drawing lines. As she pointed out, this would get cumbersome (or worse) with numbers of several digits, but it’s interesting anyway.

Here’s a video.

Here’s a written example.

Why does this work? Nobody knows! OK, somebody does. This site also suggests how to do this multiplication when some of the digits are zero. How do you draw a “missing” line? Dots easy!

Arthur C. Clarke

Arthur C. Clarke has died at the age of 90. Clarke, Asimov, and Heinlein were much of my non-fiction reading list in my youth. His science writing was exciting to read, too. Lots of ideas presented to a youngster. These three writers have influenced 2 or 3 generations of scientists, writers, and others. Many reminiscences can be found on the Internet, among them is this one. Although I haven’t read much science fiction in the last 15 years or so, I can still remember many of the stories. I also remember watching 2001: A Space Odyssey in Cinerama. End of an era.

Scientific Test: Dog is man’s best friend

You’ve heard those warnings after watching something potentially dangerous on TV: “blah blah blah done by professionals. Don’t try this at home”.

Well, here’s something you can try at home.

Hypothesis: A dog is truly man’s best friend.

Experiment: Perform the following steps:

1. Put your dog and your wife in the trunk of the car for an hour.
2. When you open the trunk, which one is really happy to see you?

(Modified from an email from my wife via a friend via who-knows.)