Atomic Structure?

I recently gave a presentation on some of my atomic musings to some high school students. I'm trying to discover the structure of the nucleus, if there is such a thing. View my powerpoint HERE. It will probably work best if you download the file and run through the powerpoint on your computer.

A Psalm about Creation, the Flood, and Redemption

I'm working on writing a technical paper about my theory of what triggered the Flood and what happened during and as a result of the Flood. Here is a very brief summary of that paper as a psalm:

To God the Creator, Judge, and Redeemer. A Hymn. Of Don.

Lord God, you are powerful
Your glory shines forth from the heavens
You made the earth perfect
With no death or disease or hardship
Adam and Eve were happy and warm
Walking with you in the garden
You protected them from harm
You made a shield from the sun’s damage
But after they sinned, you turned away
You cut them off before their thousandth year
When their wicked descendants multiplied
You were sorry that you made them
So you sent forth your servants
Neutrinos from a nearby star
They dissolved the elements
And the heat melted the earth
The ocean basins rose up
And the waters poured over the land
All life with breath was destroyed
Only your eight faithful servants remained
You preserved them on the ark you designed
While the earth turned as with fire deep below
Then you sent the oceans back to their place
The mountains arose and the valleys sank down
The core of the earth began melting
And your shield of protection decayed
The sun’s damage increased over time
While you sent forth your icy storms
And covered the land with mighty glaciers
But then the oceans cooled off
And your mighty volcanoes subsided
And the earth’ surface warmed up once again
But now man’s days are short
Seventy years, or eighty if they are strong
Oh Lord, you are perfect in all your works
Your ways are beyond searching out
Your thoughts are much higher than ours,
Than men’s thoughts whom you made out of dust.
Oh Lord, you are worthy of our praise
And one day every knee will bow to you
Come quickly, Lord Jesus, and restore the earth
Give us new bodies, and dry all our tears.
For you are our hope, we wait for your salvation.
Forgive our sins, that we might stand before you forever.

To the choirmaster.

A Psalm for America

For this psalm, I guess my interests of the Bible and public policy both came through. It's fairly appropriate for the 4th of July, I suppose:

A prayer to God for America. Of Don.

Oh LORD, you rule over the rulers of the Earth
You establish nations and tear them down
Nothing escapes your sight
Long ago you brought our fathers
On wooden ships, to a land of hope
They came to worship you in peace
They worshipped you, and you blessed them
You multiplied them and they prospered
Then they were oppressed and mistreated
A king far away imposed tyrannous laws
Although our army was weak,
You gave them strength
You preserved them in many battles
But now, oh Lord, have you abandoned our nation?
The people no longer worship you
We no longer esteem your Word
So we follow our own ways
In pride we rejoice in our sin
How long, Lord, until you send loving discipline?
When you rebuke us, soften our hearts
That our nation may bow to you
Remove our hearts of stone
Give us hearts of flesh and Your Spirit
That we may heed your voice
And listen to your Word.
Then may you bless us again.
Then may you grant us godly leadership,
Rulers who fear you and obey your ways.
Remove the disgrace of our endless adulteries
Cause us to repent of the murder of the unborn
Uphold marriage in our midst as one man with one woman
Eliminate divorce by teaching us your steadfast love
Lower our taxes to your limit of ten percent
Give us a sound currency, not forever inflated
Remove thieving bankers from the land
Cause us to build new wonders and products
Give us jobs for all the workers in our land
With a wage they can live on
Make a place in the hearts of children
To provide for and care for their own parents
Lower our healthcare costs, and provide abundant energy
Let our soldiers come home, and give us peace
May we teach our children your ways.
May our grandchildren know you and your Word.
Oh Lord, heal our land.

For the choir director.

A "Psalm" I wrote

So I took a class on the Psalms, and I thought I would test my understanding of the form by composing a few Psalms of my own. This first one is a lament:

When Don was overwhelmed by the burdens of life. A Song. Of Don.

Oh, Lord, you are my resting place
Where else can I turn for help?
I am overwhelmed by problems
Troubles that come from your hand
Rulers try to tear down my house
I cannot live in my home
They threaten me and make demands on me
“Build this and that and you may return,
Pay us much gold and we will go away”
Wild animals devour my flocks
My bees die of mysterious diseases
My cows neither give birth nor provide milk
The seeds of my garden do not germinate
The works of my hands break apart
My belongings are in storage;
They cannot be found when I need them
My blessings became burdens,
I am weighed down with cares.
Lord, when will you deliver me?
My God, how long until you rescue me?
I am paralyzed by the tasks you assigned me
Yet I will still trust in the Lord.
He has guided my steps and provided abundantly.
Oh Lord, solve all my problems
Remove all my difficulties
Give me work to do for you kingdom
And success in the labors you assign.
Then I will praise you, God
I will declare your deliverance to my neighbors
I will praise you on Facebook, that many might know
How marvelous you are; how you love me.
Although you teach and discipline me with cares
Your steadfast love never fails.
So I will hope in you, and trust your power
For you are from eternity to eternity
Nothing is too hard for you,
My Savior, my Friend, and my God.

To the choirmaster.

My Blog

So I probably won't be updating this very often, but like everyone else who has a blog, I want to share some of my thoughts with whatever small sliver of the world stumbles across them. In general, I hope to post a wide variety of my outside the box thoughts about science, the Bible, and public policy, and whatever other ideas I'm interested in that seem to have even a modicum of value to others. So, if you're reading this blog, I hope your thinking will be stretched.