Breaking Arctic Blast Newses!

As if in answer to the warmer than normal December, today's temperature went down to a feels-like of -8F! Flurries all day, and tomorrow. Little snow powder falling down all day long.

Another news, Bill Meier said he would step down this July, to move on to another ministry. Kinda sad. He is a good man and pastor. He shared that he felt that he had completed all that God had led him to do at TCBC. And this was God's calling for him to move on. May the peace of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit go with him.

The Wii is sold out at Target and Meijer's. It is supposed to be selling at $250 USD. Hopefully it will be in stock again in a couple of months. In the meantime, save up.

What is this thing at the back of the Beckman?

Well, its acherly a liquid nitrogen tank lah. The water tend to steam around the pipe, so when its cold, the ice accumulates like that. See, it accumulate until it come out of the fence.

Winter Shots of Champaign

Here are some pictures I took while walking around. The best depiction is the movie clip in the post a few days back, but these capture the idea pretty well too. From left to right, UIUC Quad facing south, the Boneyard creek in Engineering Quad UIUC, outside my apartment, my apartment parking lot.

Birthday 2007

Aiyah, lau liao lah. Sa chap huei! Acherly hor, is not so bad lah. It was a nice celebration. People many many. And we eat steamboat. Very re nao. And "Wife Swap" was on TV. Good cake, good food, good friends. What more can you ask for?

Photos not I take one, but I got them and put them on my photo site anyway, see them here.

What is consciousness = What am I?

I am a wave of existence/influence in the medium of space and time. I have a defined peak and full-width-at-half-maximum. I change the medium through my existence in it, as it, in turn, limits me.

Walk through Champaign in the snow

Finally ah, the snow all lau chut lai liao. See, white. About 2 inches only lah. So I think not very much...last year got a lot more. So we walk walk through West Side Park and downtown, Champaign, Illinois. Got people making snowman, snow things, really chia bah bo si zo you know. By the way hor, its still snowing lor...on and off. I think this winter is very bu san bu si lah. Like ai chut mai chut like that. I mean, if you want to snow, then let it all out, but if you like that, then people very frus, dunno whether should believe you or not. So in this movie we take a walk and see the pretty sights of this tiny town. Warning, it is a large file. I recorded with my Samsung z230. I make on mac. Also, since it is handphone video, the quality is of course not top notch lah. So watch too long might give you headache. Don't say I never say ah!

[Download movie]

John 2:13-25

"Zeal for Your house has eaten me up". "Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise".

These events occured after the water to wine miracle in Cana. Thus, we assume that Jesus and His disciple made another trip back to Jerusalem for this Passover, but this was before His final trip to Jerusalem for His crucifixion.

During the Passover, a sacrifice was made. This was the Passover lamb that was eaten in remembrance of the Israelite exodus from Egypt. The lamb symbolized a few things: substitution of the object of judgment on sin (the lamb for the Israelites), forgiveness of sins, identification with God, protection (from God's judgment), grace, providence, cleansing, and probably many other wonderful things. It is therefore interesting to see how Jesus is the complete fulfillment of all these symbols, as the actual thing rather than just a symbol. Back to the passage, a sacrifice was made during the Passover, and therefore, since not all were farmers, and not all could afford lambs, and also, because there were other types of sacrifices to be made at the temple other than the Passover sacrifice, people bought animals from others, conveniently around the temple at Jerusalem.

It is apparent from Jesus' reaction, that this practice of buying animals for the sacrifice was being abused. What was the main problem of buying and selling animals at the temple, since sacrifices were needed? Note, there were also money changers doing business! The sacrifice was a ritual that was to bring about remembrance and worship of God. But in elevating and playing off the role of money, the sacrifice came to be ironically cheapened. It no longer became about God, but about money and men profiting off a holy ritual. Consider this, a family tradition such as a reunion dinner, and the commercialism that surrounds the food required for the dinner, how that affects the meaning of the actual dinner and tradition if we are not careful. Case in point, think about Christmas and Easter, and New Year celebrations.

Futhermore, the temple of Jerusalem is the footstool of God, and the house of prayer, God's house. God of the universe. The Most High. Do you sell and change money for profit in the house of such a being? How atrocious. Men substitute the most holy and meaningful of all things that has intrinisic value, with value of something else that is in fact meaningless, money. What is money that we should want it so much at the expense of the real thing, God? What is any other value in life that we should want it so much at the expense of the ultimate creator and source of all true values, God?

Jesus' anger is obvious and reminiscent of how God chases and drives out the inhabitants of a land who's sin has disgusted Him. Recall, the Israelites war on the Canaanites, driving them out from the Promised Land because of the sins of the Canaanites. Recall, the Babylonians and Assyrians driving Israel out from the Promised Land because of the sins of the Israelites. Now, Jesus drives out the people from the temple. The place is made holy because of God. Unholy men with their deeds have no place there.

And as if they thought they Jesus' actions were unjustified, they had the gall to challenge Him for a sign to appease them since He has done these things! John uses this to illustrate the blindness of the people (the Light has come, but the world did not know Him), and mentions this later on in Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus. For they did not understand His sign of the raising the temple in three days, nor did they see who He truly was (since He kept Himself from them, v24) even though He performed many signs while in Jerusalem at this time.

How many times, when we are going on with our daily profiteering, as subtle as it can be, we are being in stark opposition to the holy purposes of God? And how often we refuse to believe because we are too proud to acknowledge the higher and most valuable of values, that God has put into place.

Winter Trip to Starved Rock

Took a trip to Starved Rock Park about 1 and half hours away. So what happen here is the Indians had a fort on the rock. Then they kena got war lor. Then they retreat to the top of the rock to defend themselves. But then, the enemy surround them and basically they cannot get supplies to eat or anything. So slowly all of them die. I think they dig up about a hundred bodies. Ok, not say the bad part, the park itself is quite good lah. Got canyons and got bluffs. I never bluff you. They is got many bluffs. Is not bluffing. Then the waterfalls in the winter they turn into ice. But then ah, you know lor, this winter is very the gu-niang one, so not cold enough. The waterfall still falling water. Not complain lah. Is still quite chioh looking. Then got nice pub there to get a beer after a long hike. I recommend you to go lah. Oh by the way, entrance is free. Check out my movie and my latest photo album.

Parklab Singapore Trip

Ok ok, so I know this all look like we do nothing but eat and eat, but then, you have to understand lah. Singapore is small country, don't eat then do what? We got work also lah. Anyway, we go Sentosa to relax a bit on the beach, then eat then work then eat and work again. In this movie, you will see the lab people eating various Singapore cuisine. We had sushi at Sushi Tei (Far East Plaza, 5th floor), Frog Legs Porridge (Geylang Lor 3), Tow Huay and You Tiao (Geylang Lor 9), Durian (Geylang between Lor 3 and a bit off), Thai food at Sukothai (Boat Quay), Zhi Cha at corner coffeeshop (off Cantonment Rd), Bak Kut Teh at Ah Hua Rou Gu Cha (Tanjong Pagar). Don't worry, its all good for your brain. All very healthy, cooling and heaty in the right places and in the right amount.

Free Will?

Interesting article about free will.

NY Times article

John 2:1-12

"On the third day... Cana of Galilee..."

The actual location of Cana is not certain, however, we do know that it is situated somewhere around Galilee. Possibly a few kilometers north of Nazereth, Jesus' hometown. Cana is also Nathanael's hometown (John 21:2). In any case, Jesus, His disciples and Mary, His mother, were guests at this wedding, so they must have been at least acquaintences with the wedding party. This event happened the day after Jesus met Philip and Nathanael. So they had made the trip since then.

This is the first miracle sign in John's gospel revealing the divinity of the Christ. The exchange is interesting, almost telling of the relationship between Jesus and Mary as one in which the mother is conversing with her Lord, both familiar and at the same time not. The miracle itself was not made public during the wedding, and unlike other miracles, it was not about healing or a demonstration of authority of nature. Rather, it was simply about providing wine to a party that had run out of it. But this description is still included as a sign that manifested His glory, and that led to belief in the disciples. Perhaps this is related to what Jesus told Nathanael the day before since he is from Cana? Nevertheless, this sign serves as a buttress to testimonials of the identity of Christ.

We are not told what the significance of the six waterpots of stone according to purification manner means. However, John the author states this for the purpose of informing his non-Jewish readers.

Following this wedding, Jesus and His troupe went to Capernaum, a city by the north-west coast of the Sea of Galilee. Interestingly, this was the city of Peter, James, and Andrew (see other gospels), rather than Bethsaida. However, it could be that they moved from place to place around the coast, as these cities were quite close to each other along the northern coast of the sea. Capernaum was the center of Jesus' ministry subsequently, but later on, they rejected Him and He uttered a curse on the city. Note that this city was cursed later, despite the miracle that was done. Consider this for yourself, how quick we are to blind ourselves to what God does right before our eyes.

Noise Cancellation Earpieces

Here's another idea. I think BOSE already made it, but I don't know how theirs work. My idea though is simple. We simply have a earpiece that takes in sound from the current environment, and reverses it, and play it back into the earpiece. Then because the two sounds will cancel out, we will hear nothing.

Brain Calisthenics

New York Times article
Interesting article about "exercising" your brain.

Quality of representation: PhD Proposal

Here is an idea that I am toying with for my PhD research.

In aging, the idea is that neural representations change in several ways. Right now, we know there are changes, but we don't know what they are exactly, or why they happen the way they do. One obvious objective change we are pretty certain of is that, with age, processing speed slows down.

Now, is this a result of nerve conduction changes? Or is this more to do with changes in the processes themselves. That is, neuronal connectivity is changing, so the process computation changes as well, and changes in a way that results in slowing of the process. In addition, connectivity may also be changing in terms of a reduction in neural plasticity, the ability of neurons to form (or prune) connections based on experience.

One test I propose is related to ascertaining if the observations about neural changes with age relate to changes in processes vis a vis changes in connectivity. If neural representations are poorer with age, then it also means that they are less able to dissociate between similar representations. That is, aging reduces distinctiveness between neural representations. We should be able to measure this using the adaptation paradigm. In theory, if two representations are similar, the adaptation should be greater. To the extent that two representations are distinct, there will be less adaptation. Thus, with younger adults, there should be less adaptation to similar but different stimuli, or, there should be adaptation only when stimuli are very similar. In older adults, adaptation should happen at a lower threshold of similarity, for stimuli that are in fact quite distinct compared to that for the young.

In addition, since the neural representational quality in the lower perceptual areas feeds the cognitive processes that operate on them downstream (e.g. perceptual matching, target identification, memory, attention, decision-making etc) then it stands that if the neural representation is poorer, the cortex involved in working on these representations will either work harder to produce the same result, or be incapable of producing the same result if the representations were clearer. So, this could be measured as a correlation of frontal cortex activity with the degree of adaptation in the posterior, more perceptual areas.

The Nativity Story

This is a brilliant movie. It is well done, and the dramatization does not compromise scriptural integrity. The acting is moving. The script is delightful and thoughtful, every word has weight. And the cinematography captures the holy land in all its facets. A must see. I am making this a family tradition, to screen this every Christmas.

Movie website, IMDB website

John 1:35-51

The Calling of the Disciples

Note that all these events in these few chapters occur around Bethany. Bethany is reputedly in the south east area (3 miles away) from the Mount of Olives, which is to the east of Jerusalem (check out Google Earth around the Jerusalem area with the "relief" option on to get an idea of the topography and geography). So John was baptizing in this area, Jesus had come to this area too from His home town of Nazereth, and the disciples he gathered here, Andrew, Simon Peter his brother, Nathanael, and Philip, and one other unnamed were staying in this area currently with John the Baptist. However, Andrew, Peter and Philip were from Bethsaida, a city by the north-east coast of Galilee. Two of them, Andrew and the unnamed disciple were followers of John the baptist, up to this point. Note also that these events occured in a matter of days. It appears that first, Jesus came to the area where John was baptizing, and He had lodgings there. On the day John baptize Jesus (from the gospels), John saw the vision of the dove descending on Him and identified Him as the Messiah (but we also know that John was aware of Jesus' identity for before He was baptized and John saw the vision, John already expressed humility in that he was hesitant to baptize Jesus because of his knowledge of His divinity). Note also that John adds translations of Hebrew words into Greek, perhaps being aware that his audience may not be fully Jewish.

Thus the two followers of John must have heard from John himself talk about the coming Messiah. It is therefore no surprise that when John identified Jesus as the Messiah, the two would follow Him. It also appears then, that Jesus did not just arrive on the scene out of nowhere, but that people had already a fair knowledge of His background, who He was as a person, being from Nazereth, and perhaps, He had already showed a little of His thinking in His conversations. For John was "looking at Jesus as He walked". Consider this for yourself, what are you looking at in life?

Perhaps, this event occured over a few hours, where as the two followers were with John, John talked about Jesus, and they considered what John was saying, and then decided to follow Jesus themselves. Regardless, the followers were rewarded by Jesus turning and asking "What do you seek?" This is perhaps a very difficult question for some. What do you seek in life? Some have no aim, or seek nothing. Some seek something that is material, some even seek after something that is spiritual. But perhaps, as long as that which we seek is not God, they all fall short of the ultimate desire. How interesting then, that the disciples' reply was to first acknowledge Him as teacher, and then apparently stating that they seeked to know where He stayed. But even that is enough. To know where the Divine stays. And they saw and stayed with Him. We can only guess the wonderful conversations they must have had during this time in the evening, for it was the tenth hour from sunrise.

The first response from this interaction for Andrew, was to find Simon, and to inform him that he had found the Messiah. Note again, everyone at that time was probably teetering on their toes looking for the Messiah, so this claim from his brother must have caught Simon's attention in some way. To his credit, Simon followed and was immediately declared prophetically by Jesus to be Cephas, or Peter, the rock.

Following this, Jesus wanted to return to Galilee, nearer His hometown. He had apparently come down south for certain reasons, perhaps the baptism, but had completed His purpose here for the moment. We are not told when the 40 days of temptation fit in, but presumably it was after the baptism and before He went back to Galilee. But prior to returning, He found Philip, who was from the same city as Andrew and Peter. So it appears these disciples were not random people, but people who had interacted with Jesus on various other occasions, and were chosen probably partly based on these interactions.

Philip's call to Nathanael again centers around Jesus being the Messiah. And Nathanael's response reveals the attitudes present towards Nazereth, and the inconsistency of a Messiah coming from there, since the Messiah is supposedly good.

The interaction between Jesus and Nathanael is somewhat a mystery, because it seems to be specific to Nathanael's experience. Nevertheless, John the author placed this section here, perhaps to emphasis how the disciples were convinced of Jesus' identity, and how Jesus revealed Himself to them. In Nathanael's case, it was through Jesus revealing His divine knowledge about him in a prophetic manner. Did Nathanael see something under the fig tree? Was he asking about something then? We are not told. But we are told that Jesus promised that he would see even greater things that this simple revelation of the Messiah through a prophetic word. He would see the Messiah Himself in His reconciliatory role (the angels of God ascending and descending are reminiscent of Jacob's vision of the ladder) and in glory.

Pork Rib and Lotus Root soup

Very very healthy soup

Ingredients
1 Lotus Root (get from oriental market, its a smooth pale-colored root, if you open it up, you'll see some holes. Its like someone took a shot gun and shot through it)
A bunch of pork ribs
A handful of peanuts
If you have baby squid even better!

Method
Just cut up the lotus root into slices, then put it all into a pot of water with the meat, peanuts and squid, and boil boil boil. Keep boiling, then when you think its done, boil some more. Do this for at 3 hrs, the longer the better. Add salt to taste. Then after you've boileded it, you can drink the soup dish with rice.

Teochew Porridge

Teochew Mui
One of the easiest meals to make. Just boil the rice for a very very very long time. Boil until the rice become soft. Then just buy some canned preserved food. Like sardine lah, salted vegetables lah, salted eel lah, sweet peanutes lah, pickles lah, spicy cabbage lah, even kimchi also can, salted egg lah, century egg lah. Then just open and eat direct, or warm up in hot water before you eat, also can. Also can. All also can.

Winter comment

Acherly hor, this winter so far very the wimpy lah. Snow little little, then no more already. But then is a bit the cold lor. Like that how can!?!? Then cold for what? You want to cold, then you must snow, if not then just hot lah. Waste the cold. Anyway, maybe I speak too soon lah. Maybe suddenly the snow will all lau chut lai. So no pic or movie today. Because, nothing to see!

John 1:29-34

"The next day..."

The day after the Baptist was questioned by the priest and Levites sent from the Pharisees, Jesus comes towards John. Perhaps He was already in the vicinity, and people were curious as to who He was. Even John said "I did not know Him", but identified Him as the Lamb of God after he saw the Spirit descend and remain on Him.

This is John the Baptist's testimony as John the author reports it. John was sent to baptize with water, to make straight the path in the wilderness for the coming of the Lord. To prepare people so that the Lord can walk through the wilderness. His baptism and preparation centered around instructing people to repent of their sins and to be cleansed. This is then how John the Baptist summarized the role of Jesus in this section. Jesus is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. He is also the One who will baptize us with the Holy Spirit. Thus, there is the taking away of sin, as well as the cleansing and purification of our hearts.

This is the testimony of John the Baptist about Jesus. John's Baptism, where did it come from?

Jesus, where did He come from?

We are now faced with this mystery. The Incarnation. God with us, in the flesh, in Jesus. The sacrificial Lamb, like all the lambs sacrificed for the atonement of sin at the Jerusalem temple. And the Holy Spirit in us? Note, previously in the Old Testament, prophets and individuals were anointed, and at times, it is recorded, the Holy Spirit came upon them, for certain works. But here, we are baptized with the Holy Spirit. This is something more than just "coming upon". This is indwelling. This is the Divine in us.