Glow-In-The-Dark Treasure Hunt

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In keeping with our little homeschool tradition we had our annual back-to-school treasure hunt tonight. This year’s was probably the most fun ever because we had it out on the golf course in the dark (the year we studied geology and our oldest son had to rappel down an abandoned mine-shaft to retrieve the treasure map is definitely a close second). Each boy’s treasure bag (full of new school supplies and astronomy related games, puzzles, and treats) was marked with a glow-in-the-dark star with his initial on it as well as a glow-in-the-dark bracelet that was the same color as the one he was given to wear. So decked out with flashlights and glowsticks and necklaces they followed the stars (the little plastic glowing kind you stick on your ceiling) across the fairway to their treasures. Of course the Milkyway candy bars and Starburst they found were gone before they even left the green.

By the way, “Thank-You” to Kristin C. who I stole the yearly treasure hunt idea from and who I think got it from Colleen N. It’s great having such clever friends!

God and the Astronomers

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I just finished a great book by Robert Jastrow (1925-2008), the founder and former director of NASA’s Goddard Institute and a self-avowed agnostic. In “God and the Astronomers,” Jastrow describes the scientific discoveries and the men who made them leading up to the development of the Big Bang theory. What was surprising was how begrudgingly scientists like Albert Einstein came to embrace this theory because it pointed to a single beginning of the cosmos. Jastrow finds the reactions of others in the scientific community fascinating because of the emotional ring to them.

He suggests that “…scientists cannot bear the thought of a natural phenomenon which cannot be explained.”

“There is a kind of religion in science,” Jastrow observes, and “this religious faith of the scientist is violated by the discovery that the world had a beginning under conditions in which the known laws of physics are not valid, and as a product of forces or circumstances we cannot discover. When that happens, the scientist has lost control.”

Jastrow continues, “If he really examined the implications, he would be traumatized. As usual when faced with trauma, the mind reacts by ignoring the implications –in science this is known as ‘refusing to speculate’–or trivializing the origin of the world by calling it the Big Bang, as if the Universe were a firecracker.”

Science is left with a huge problem. If they have in fact “proven that the Universe exploded into being at a certain moment,” they are now faced with the question, “What cause produced this effect?…And science cannot answer these questions…The scientist’s pursuit of the past ends in the moment of creation…[and] the barrier to further progress seems insurmountable.”

Jastrow concludes that “at this moment it seems as though science will never be able to raise the curtain on the mystery of creation. For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.”

Just a few quotes to inspire you to pick up a great book and read it!
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Happy Back-to-School!

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Thank you Lord for hot-dogs and friends to share them with!

To kick off the new school year we decided to throw a Back-to-School hot-dog BBQ and Benediction and invited the other three families in our neighborhood. The kids had fun playing together in their favorite Banyan tree followed by some rowdy fun in the pool.