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MODERN SLAVERY


An addictive piece of hardware-software with lots of Apps:
Calendar, Photo, Message, Phone, Maps, News, Translation, Exercise, Weather, Heart Rate, Voice Commands, Time Piece, Around me, Earthquake and Tornado Alerts, Music, Stocks, Remote for taking photos, etc.  
But so easy to use and with a lot of potential.




The INTERNET of LIES



Without wood, the fire goes out. Without a gossip, contention stops. Charcoal is to hot coals as wood is to fire; so also a quarrelsome man fuels strife. The words of a gossip are like delicate morsels; they sink down deep within. A clay vessel plated with a thin veneer of silver — that’s what smooth lips with a wicked heart are.
— Proverbs 26:20–23, ISV
A new information technology term coming into vogue is the “Internet of Things.” Another term that could be used to describe current Internet activity is the “Internet of Lies.
Imagine trying to put out a forest fire with a squirt gun. Gerber Products could identify with the analogy. The baby-food company felt they were doing just that in 1997. Someone somewhere started a false rumor about the company that spread like wildfire.
In a 1997 article written by John Schmeltzer in the Chicago Tribune, there was a rumor Gerber had been involved in a class-action lawsuit and would give a $500 gift certificate to families with children to settle the suit. According to the rumor, all the parents had to do to get the money was to send a claim form along with copies of their children’s birth certificate and Social Security number to a post office box in Minneapolis.
Once the rumor caught fire, it began to spread along channels that gave it an air of legitimacy. Notices were posted in hospitals and sent home with children by schoolteachers. One corporation even put the false notification in the envelope with their employees’ paychecks.
Gerber Products tried to stamp out the bogus story, putting an announcement on several Internet websites, tracking down sources of the rumor, and informing the media. Even so, they received over 18,000 phone calls to their toll-free telephone number in the three-week period before October 1 from people requesting the bogus claim form.
According to Schmeltzer, the cost to Gerber Products of fighting this rumor amounted to millions of dollars.

Rumors are not Harmless
Passing along a rumor may seem harmless, but the victim of the tale pays an undeserved price if we are not careful about the truth. Never underestimate the power of the tongue to do others harm.
Facebook has been a great facilitator for spreading false rumors. Someone will read an article on a blog or a satire site and pass the link on as true. The post gets picked up by their Facebook “friends” and before long the post is perceived as being true and goes viral.


Examples of false rumors on the Internet abound:
Costco moved the Bible to its fiction section;
A pastor was arrested for refusing to perform a same-sex “wedding”;
A homosexual group is suing Bible publishers to remove verses condemning homosexuality;
A woman is marrying her two cats.

Anyone Can Fall Victim to Internet Rumors
This author, who should know better, has even fallen victim to spreading a false Internet rumor.


A recent picture was floating around the Internet attributing a quote to Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) that was not true. Given the senator’s position on certain issues, it seemed to fall within the realm of possibility.
This was a good example of confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is a tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions.

Consider the Source
One needs to be careful about their sources of information. The story about pastors being arrested for turning down a same-sex “wedding” came from a website designed to look like NBC.com, but was actually NBC.com.co which is a satire site.
And the homosexual couple suing Zondervan to remove verses about homosexuality from the Bible? While the story is true, the case was not the result of President Obama’s policies or the Supreme Court’s ruling. This happened while President Bush was in office and before the Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage.
What about the woman who wants to marry her cats? There’s no way it’s happening legally, at least not anytime soon. It falls into the same category as the stories of women who “married” a dolphin, a dog, or herself. (The last story was the source of a story arc for several prime-time American TV shows.)
The rash of fake news stories prompted commentator Ed Stetzer to write, “There are real issues about religious liberty right now (and more coming). Posting links to fake ones just makes all of us look (rightly) gullible.” Stetzer is an author, pastor and the Executive Director of LifeWay Research. He has spent so much time debunking these Christian fish stories that he half-jokingly started a series titled “Faux Christian Controversy of the Week”. The debunking business has kept him busy.
Given the seismic changes that have occurred in recent months, it is easy to believe almost anything the enemies of Christ would do. We have been blasted with headlines about sex-changes, the Supreme Court’s (SCOTUS) spinning new law out of thin air, and Planned Parenthood selling aborted baby body parts. Ideas that used to be seen as ridiculous, are now being declared “mainstream.” The SCOTUS ruling on same-sex marriage has opened the flood gates for people suing in courts for a raft of new “rights.” The court will now have to take up the issue of polygamy, polyamory, incest and even pedophilia in cases that are sure to be filed.
However, as followers of a Savior Who called Himself “the Truth,” we need to stop spreading rumors. The real news is outrageous and heartbreaking enough without needing exaggeration.
We should be careful with reports about people we do not like, for our tendency is to believe the worst about such people and to enjoy reporting anything that puts them in a bad light. Even when there is no malice, there is danger in taking so much delight in “telling the news” that we hurt people, sometimes even strangers. This is one of the reasons this ministry goes to great lengths not to speak ill of other ministries.

Our Responsibility
What responsibility do we as Christians have in promoting the truth of the news permeating social media?
The first thing we need to do is check the facts. Is a fact being promoted on just one site? Is it on several sites but all with exactly the same wording? Have you checked the sites to see if they are reputable, or are they satire sites?

Don’t Post What You Can’t Confirm
Posting an incorrect story not only can lead others astray, but also hurts your credibility. Inaccuracies provide fodder for those who want to cast Christians as uneducated automatons who will blindly follow whatever path they are told to take. It plays into the stereotype of a “typical” Christian.
Transgression is at work where people talk too much, but anyone who holds his tongue is prudent.
— Proverbs 10:19, ISV
What should we do if we inadvertently spread a false story?
Ed Stetzer has this advice:
Post a retraction. Just something like this would suffice: “Hey friends, I posted a story about _______ this weekend, and it turns out it wasn’t true! Be on guard and don’t believe everything you read out there! I’ll be more careful next time.”
Don’t excuse yourself by saying, “Well, it might be true.” Or, “Well, there is something like that.” “Or, well, it will be true soon.” No, you were wrong. You fell for a hoax. Say so and move on.
Be less gullible next time. “But,” you may think, “I’m not wise. I get fooled by this stuff all the time.” That’s OK, Scripture accounts for people like us. James 1:5 says: “Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to everyone generously without a rebuke, and it will be given to him.” (ISV)
If our friends and families cannot trust us with this type of news, many will not listen when we seek to share the good news of the Gospel.
“As Christians,” concludes Stetzer, “we have a higher standard than even the journalist. We aren’t protecting the reputation of an organization or a website; we bear the name of our King.”


Bernard Working with People from Other Cultures


In my professional life as a Research Scientist, a Management Consultant and an IT Manager, I worked very closely (as a team member) with people from many different background in various countries: France, Canada and USA.



The people I worked with:

In FRANCE
- French
- Pakistanis
- Soviets
- Romanians
- Cubans
- Americans

In CANADA
- Canadians and Quebecers
- Armenians
- British
- Germans
- Swiss
- Cameroon
- Algerians
- Israelis

In the USA
- Americans
- Indians
- Chinese
- Bangladesh

From different RACES
- White
- Black or African Americans
- Asian
- Brown

From different FAITHS
- Christians (Catholics and Protestants)
- Jewish
- Muslims
- Buddhists
- Atheists
- Agnostics

Guess what? 

We always had PEACE among ourselves, NO WAR.

Can Modern Brain Research Help Society?

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The mysterious and fascinating human brain

Both of us have had some questions about how some people find themselves doing heinous things like molesting children and other out of control sexual appetites of all types or committing cold blooded murder with no feelings at all. We understand that everything we end up doing starts with a decision in the mind. We wonder how on earth could anyone make some of the choices that they obviously have made. Here are some of our thoughts.

We watched an episode of the Charlie Rose program called The Charlie Rose Brain Series for the first time a few weeks ago. This series focuses on brain research and how it might explain different aspects of a person’s life and its impact on society as a whole.

Each episode has a panel of research experts from leading Universities and Research Centers that discuss the findings of their research. The panel is led by Eric Kandel, a neuropsychiatrist who is currently a professor at Columbia University. This has been a field of study he has been fascinated with for over six decades. When he started his research there were not a lot of research tools available. However in recent years more sophisticated tools are now available to research the brain. Some of the tools provide 3D models to help identify portions of the brain and what makes the brain function properly.

The third episode we watched discussed research of the section of the brain that affects Aggression. We were stunned at the information and the tools available to determine which sections of the brain impact aggression and how proper treatment, including drug therapy and counseling, could completely reverse dangerous aggressive behavior. We also had a better understanding on how complicated and amazing our brains are. 

During this episode it was mentioned that the area of the brain that controls aggression is right next to the area of the brain that deals with sexuality. You can only imagine if those areas of the brain are not quite working right or if the needed hormones levels are low or if they are to close. This might explain how someone could become heartless and get joy in sexually assaulting someone.

Another part of the program discussed the section of the brain that controls compassion and empathy. Imagine if that part of the brain is not working well in combination with the area of the brain controlling aggression not functioning properly. This may be a possible explanation of how a person who can kill someone and not have any remorse or feeling about it.


A few days ago we watched the fourth episode of the Brain Series titled The Biology of Parenting. This one gives possible explanations of how children are positively or negatively impacted depending on the type of parenting they experience. It also brings insight as to what could be happening in the brains of parents that make them not want to nurture their children, especially when they are the most vulnerable. Postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis were also discussed. 



In society we correctly condemn bad behavior and work hard to protect society from those that have proven to be dangerous people. Our prisons have men and women incarcerated in many cases for the remainder of their lives or may have been executed for their crimes. In many cases when really heinous acts have been committed it is assumed that those people will never change in order to protect society. In light of modern brain research we sincerely wonder if the results in the future could help rehabilitate some of them.

Some people are born with brain dysfunctions. Some people acquire the same dysfunction by the way they have been treated by others, especially at an early age. Others have acquired the same dysfunction from their day-to-day behavior as adults.  

Question: Should society and the justice system treat them all the same or differently?

Let us know what you think.

Until next time.......

The empty nest

The little bird grew up and was able to vacate the nest with its parents.  Be careful of the cats around here.




We knew at some point that the bird would grow up and leave the nest to venture out on its own. However we thought the bird would be around longer that it was. 

The same can happen in our lives. We may find ourselves being unexpectedly launched into the next phase of our lives. Sometimes that launch may look scary to you as it probably did to the bird when it first tried to fly out of the nest. However when we continue pressing forward we will look back at those scary days as the pivotal moment when success began.

Birds in our backyard

One of the parents of the little bird

The little bird

The Parents of the little bird


Science Says Entrepreneurs Should Believe in God

A recent scientific study suggests that belief in God produces a greater tolerance for positive risks.
By Geoffrey James, Contributor to inc.com
Through writing this column, I've learned a lot about how entrepreneurs think. They value courage, confidence and trying making the world a better place to live. I've also observed that many, and even most, entrepreneurs believe in God.
That's why I'm not entirely surprised that a scientific study conducted at Radboud University in the Netherlands strongly suggests that belief in God can make you a more effective entrepreneur.
The study measured the amount of risk that people are willing to take. It found that believers, due to their moral compass, were LESS likely to take self-destructive risks, like taking drugs.
At the same time, the study discovered that, due to their faith in God's protection, believers were MORE likely to take risks that could result in high rewards either emotionally or financially.
For example, believers are more likely to sky-dive than non-believers because their belief in God (and an afterlife) gives them additional confidence. Apparently the same effect applies to starting a business.
Multiple studies have already shown that entrepreneurs must be not just confident but overconfident or they wouldn't dare to start their own business. Apparently, belief that one's actions are part of God's plan is a good way to create strong self-confidence.
Furthermore, belief in God may increase the ability of an entrepreneur to create a community that works well together.
Some evolutionary biologists think that religions evolved as a human trait that made the survival of the group (and not just the individual) important.
While that might be true, it may be more useful to think of community building in terms of taking a series of positive risks. It's a risk to trust somebody to get a job done. Belief in God apparently helps entrepreneurs tolerate these personal risks be more willing to trust their colleagues and coworkers.
This is not to say it makes sense to become a believer simply in order to become a better leader. It's doubtful if that kind of "conversion" would provide enough belief to positively influence behavior.
However, the study does suggest that investors should consider belief in God as a positive indicator when evaluating a founder's potential to to succeed by taking positive, calculated risks.

With that in mind, perhaps the term "angel investor" should be treated as more than just a metaphor, eh?

For more information on Entrepreneurship click here.