Because it matters

Just the other day, I was telling the Lord that I don't seem to have enough time for everything. By His mercy, He gives me enough strength and wisdom to get through each day without collapsing. So all was good... until the day got shortened by the Chilean earthquake that happened a few days ago! After massive rocks shifted at the time of the earthquake, the earth's axis shifted. As a result, now an earthling day is 1.26 microseconds shorter than before!!! What am I going to do??! (panicking) ......
Oh, I know I can cut down on the time I spend blogging by 1.26 microseconds a day and it won't be a problem. Whew.

Here at Taksuyama.com we reported the tragic breakdown of toilets at the International Space Station (ISS) earlier and we even prayed for those poor souls that were facing unimaginable possibilities in the middle of NOWHERE (see the post). I'm happy to report some good news regarding the ISS this time. Internet access on the ISS went live this morning! The crew now has full browsing capability (they've even tweeted). But on the other hand, I'm worried about the astronauts' productivity at ISS... Oh, I should get back to work, too.

BBC news reports that "the main toilet has broken down on the International Space Station (ISS), currently home to a record 13 astronauts, Nasa said." That must be the worst nightmare of all time: you are all isolated in space with a dozen other people who have urgent priority needs (#1 and #2) and the only toilet breaks down!!!
Fortunately, they have a backup toilet on the Russian side of the space station, I have heard. But if I were one of them, I'd have anxiety attacks about the backup toilet breaking down before the main toilet comes back online. I never thought I'd be motivated to pray for the astronauts in the ISS, but now I am.

For more information:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8158350.stm

Let's not take things for granted here on earth.

So June 19 was my "defense" day and I defended my PhD dissertation. +6 years ago, when I wasn't a believer, I thought it would be the biggest day in my life when I obtain the doctorate status. However, it is amazing how a brand new world view changes how you feel about things. In the eternal perspective that I now have thanks to the Holy Spirit, this is an insignificant thing and every time people asked me how I felt about getting this degree, I had to be honest: Read the rest of this entry »

Of all the stories we've reported here, this one has to be the biggest so far.
In 2006, Dr. Kent Hovind from Creation Science Evangelism and his wife Ms. Jo Hovind were arrested for bogus charges. Both of them are now in federal prisons separately. And the implications of this case should concern everybody. Read the rest of this entry »

Acetonitrile is an organic solvent that is widely used in organic synthesis and HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography). Because it is one of the few solvents that is practically UV-transparent (does not absorb UV light), it is an excellent solvent for liquid chromatography where the detection is done with UV absorbance.
A major manufacturer of acetonitrile was damaged when hurricane Ike hit Texas. Also apparently China shutdown their production for the 2008 Olympics. As a result, the price is more than doubled at the moment (see the VWR quote below). Read the rest of this entry »

I am saddened to report that a fellow chemist has died from the injuries she suffered from an accident involving a commonly used reagent in a chemistry lab at UCLA. The reagent is called t-butyllithium and I have used it several times before myself. It is so reactive with water that it reacts with trace moisture in the air, and that reaction being so exothermic, it spontaneously ignites. Read the rest of this entry »

This is the first part in the 2-part series of sermons I did at Calvary Chapel Albany in July 2008. I have promised before to post the audio and so here it is. I am currently working on a video for these messages because Powerpoint presentation was heavily used to make the points (no pun). I'm thankful for these opportunities since giving these messages led to spreading the creation message even further here in San Diego. Praise the Lord for His creation!

So what is this about? It's about the things we may want to know about God's creation and creationism in the last days. There are scoffers that may negatively influence your faith (and adoration) in the Lord Jesus, who is not only our Saviour, but also the Creator. It is also good for us to remember the Lord's last global judgment (the Flood) as we face His very last global judgment on mankind. The messages will be based on 2Peter 3:1-9. Please click the link above and enjoy!

God bless,
Tak

I have been contemplating on doing a post on this topic for a while. Then I remembered I had bookmarked this article a while ago. This author explains my position on the "controversy" of evolution vs creation so eloquently that for now, I feel no need to write my own article. However, there are some more technical and theological points I'd like to explore in mine when I get around to writing it. So stay tuned. Most likely it will be a series of different articles:

1. Gene shufflings and modifications occur, but not "evolution" of an entirely new gene + the meaning of the word "evolution"
2. Why should I (Christian) believe in creation? Would God help me to believe?
3. The danger of wearing glasses (well, metaphorically) when you read the Bible or when you study science
4. Quotes from the American evolutionists' poster child: Steven J. Gould
5. Age of the universe: when you put Einstein into the equation; concepts that traditional naturalists and atheists never knew
6. Different flavors of persecution from the world: then it was cannibalism and now it's anti-rationalism!
7. And more....

But for now (and later too), I highly recommend the article I mentioned earlier. Praise God for such an articulate believer in His name!

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I am planning on writing a review on different 2D chemical structure editor (CSE) programs that are available to Linux (there is one comprehensive article on this, but it's a bit outdated). In the mean time, I want to say that most of them have made tremendous progress in the last year or so. Big thanks to all the developers!

Here in this article, I want to focus on GChempaint, one of the most prominent CSE's of the day IMHO. Read the rest of this entry »