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Servant's Scholarship

M45-S265



Intel® Pentium® M Processor 735, 15.4" Wides-screen XGA Trubrite display, 100GB (5,400rpm) HDD and DVD burner!

Intel® Pentium® M Processor 735 (1.6GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 533MHz FSB)

Microsoft® Windows XP Home Edition

512MB PC4200 DDR2 533MHz SDRAM (Both memory slots may be occupied)

15.4" Diagonal Widescreen XGA Display w/TruBrite Technology (1280x800)

Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 900 with 8MB-128MB dynamically allocated graphics memory

100GB HDD (5400rpm) Ultra ATA Toshiba MK1032GAX

DVD SuperMulti (+/-R Double layer)
Matshita DVD-RAM UJ-831S

Intel® Pro/Wireless LAN 2200BG (802.11b/g)

My Job at the airport

This opening for a position as wireman at the airport serves here to illustrate what exactly I do on my job.

Requisition # 2157
Job Title: Wireman
Department: Aviation Maintenance
External or Internal Posting: External
Hourly: $33.50
Location: Sea-Tac Intl Airport
Grade/Step: 04/1
Exempt/Non-exempt/Wage: Wage
Weekly Standard Hours: 40.0

Filing closes Friday, 01/27/2006, at 4:00 p.m.

PURPOSE: To perform electrical maintenance, operation, and installation work at Sea-Tac International Airport in support of the Aviation Maintenance department.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS: The operation, installation, and maintenance of all medium voltage substations: breakers, vaults, cables and terminations, power centers, power and lighting panels, airfield lighting, emergency generation, HVAC motor controls, PLC, watt hour and demand metering, automated monitoring and control systems, fault indicators, capacitors, regulators, and surge suppression devices.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, ABILITIES, OTHER WORK CHARACTERISTICS: Must have a working knowledge of the National Electrical Code, OSHA, WISHA, and Port of Seattle safety requirements. Qualified candidates will posses excellent interpersonal and troubleshooting skills. Must be able to use power and hand tools, meters, splice and terminate high voltage cables, and weld. Must have the ability to work independently utilizing critical thinking and judgment in defining, analyzing, and resolving problems. Able to take initiative and be responsible for completion of assigned tasks with limited supervision in an expedient, timely fashion. Must possess proven skills denoting attention to detail and accuracy. Excellent time management, prioritization, and the ability to multi-task. Must possess the ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS: Completion of a Washington State approved electrical apprenticeship or equivalent program. Must have a valid Washington State EL01 electrician's certificate. A valid Washington State driver's license, or the ability to obtain one, is required. Must be able to obtain a Commercial Driver's License (CDL) if required.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS: Five years of working experience as a journey person wireman/electrician in a maintenance environment. Strong background with electronics, PLCs, ladder logic, VFDs, and GPUs. Strong Windows-based computer knowledge and radio communication skills. Certified cable splicer.

ENVIRONMENT: This is a maintenance environment and is a 24/7 operation. Must be willing to work any five day shift, including weekends. Will generally work in a shop environment, as well as outside in all types of inclement weather, confined spaces and from elevated positions such as manlifts, ladders, bucket trucks, towers, and buildings. Must be available to work overtime to respond to electrical outages and emergencies as required.

COMMENTS: There are two full-time positions available. Candidates selected for interview may be asked to submit to a written test demonstrating understanding of systems listed previously in this advertisement. Will be fingerprinted for a criminal history background check with the FBI. Must complete and pass the Security Identification Display Area (SIDA) and Aircraft Operation Area (AOA) training courses. Must comply with all Aviation Maintenance work rules, shop safety requirements, and personal protective equipment (PPE) requirements, including wearing approved footwear complying with ANSI Z-41 standards with EH (electrical hazard) protection. Must provide appropriate personal hand tools. Must be a member in good standing or join Union-Local 46 within 30 days of employment. This position is subject to an 18-month probationary training period.

Lord's Day Worship 01222006

"Te Deum laudamus: te Dominum confitemur.
Te aeternum Patrem omnis terra veneratur.
Tibi omnes Angeli; tibi caeli et universae Potestates;
Tibi Cherubim et Seraphim incessabili voce proclamant:
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth.
Pleni sunt caeli et terra maiestatis gloriae tuae.
Te gloriosus Apostolorum chorus,
Te Prophetarum laudabilis numerus,
Te Martyrum candidatus laudat exercitus.
Te per orbem terrarum sancta confitetur Ecclesia,
Patrem immensae maiestatis:
Venerandum tuum verum et unicum Filium;
Sanctum quoque Paraclitum Spiritum.
Tu Rex gloriae, Christe.
Tu Patris sempiternus es Filius.
Tu ad liberandum suscepturus hominem, non horruisti Virginis uterum.
Tu, devicto mortis aculeo, aperuisti credentibus regna caelorum.
Tu ad dexteram Dei sedes, in gloria Patris.
Iudex crederis esse venturus.
Te ergo quaesumus, tuis famulis subveni: quos pretioso sanguine redemisti.
Aeterna fac cum sanctis tuis in gloria numerari.

V. Salvum fac populum tuum, Domine, et benedic hereditati tuae.
R. Et rege eos, et extolle illos usque in aeternum.

V. Per singulos dies benedicimus te.
R. Et laudamus nomen tuum in saeculum, et in saeculum saeculi.

V. Dignare, Domine, die isto sine peccato nos custodire.
R. Miserere nostri, Domine, miserere nostri.

V. Fiat misericordia tua, Domine, super nos, quemadmodum speravimus in te.
R. In te, Domine, speravi: non confundar in aeternum."



Thus the call to worship.



Confession of Sin

The approximate number of dead unborn babies in the USA since Roe Vs Wade:

47,000,000 –almost the entire population of Italy or the Ukraine


We beg You, O God, to forgive those national sins which beset us: our heedlessness of those who come after us, if only we be served; our love of money, our contempt for small things and our worship of big things; our neglect of others; our complacency; and our pride of life. For these wrongs done to our land and our heritage, as for right things left undone, forgive us, O Lord. Almighty God, give us grace to contend always for what is true and right, and to be ready if need be to suffer for it. Give us not over to fearfulness of soul, but lift us into that love which casts out fear, so that we may glorify and enjoy YOU now and for ever; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.



Assurance of Pardon to those Faithful who are Truly Repentant:

“He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." --Psalm 103:10-12


Continued worship…….


Concluding Prayer:

Grant us, Lord we beg You, to think and do what is right; so that we, who cannot do anything good without You, may be enabled to live according to Your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.


“O God, we praise Thee, and acknowledge Thee to be the supreme Lord.
Everlasting Father, all the earth worships Thee.
All the Angels, the heavens and all angelic powers,
All the Cherubim and Seraphim, continuously cry to Thee:
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts!
Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of Thy glory.
The glorious choir of the Apostles,
The wonderful company of Prophets,
The white-robed army of Martyrs, praise Thee.
Holy Church throughout the world acknowledges Thee:
The Father of infinite Majesty;
Thy adorable, true and only Son;
Also the Holy Spirit, the Comforter.
O Christ, Thou art the King of glory!
Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.
When Thou tookest it upon Thyself to deliver man,
Thou didst not disdain the Virgin's womb.
Having overcome the sting of death, Thou opened the Kingdom of Heaven to all
believers.
Thou sitest at the right hand of God in the glory of the Father.
We believe that Thou willst come to be our Judge.
We, therefore, beg Thee to help Thy servants whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy
Precious Blood.
Let them be numbered with Thy Saints in everlasting glory.

V. Save Thy people, O Lord, and bless Thy inheritance!
R. Govern them, and raise them up forever.

V. Every day we thank Thee.
R. And we praise Thy Name forever, yes, forever and ever.

V. O Lord, deign to keep us from sin this day.
R. Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us.

V. Let Thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, for we have hoped in Thee.
R. O Lord, in Thee I have put my trust; let me never be put to shame.”

What God has to say

PSALM 2
1 Why do the nations rage,
And the people plot a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,
3 “Let us break Their bonds in pieces
And cast away Their cords from us.”

4 HE who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
The LORD shall hold them in derision.
5 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath,
And distress them in His deep displeasure:

6 “Yet I have set My King
On My holy hill of Zion.”
7 “I will declare the decree:
The LORD has said to Me,
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.

8 Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron;
You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ ”

10 Now therefore, be wise, O kings;
Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear,
And rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
And you perish in the way,
When His wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

The true nature of fascism

Everyone seems to have an opinion about what Fascism is; there is a much more balanced understanding brought out in the book, "Modern Fascism: Liquidating the Judeo-Christian Worldview"
By Gene Edward Veith, Jr.

Lewis W. Spitz, Professor of History, Stanford University writes about this book:

It turns out that fascism is not merely German jingoism or a romantic delusion about the superiority of the Aryan race. Fascism is a philosophy which came to full form in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, but whose roots reach much further back into history and which continues to send out its tendrils into modern Western culture. It is marked by its love of death, its hatred of transcendence, its insistence that individuals surrender their individual rights for the sake of the state, and its exaltation of raw power.

The preface of the book explains the importance of understanding fascism:

We must know what fascism is so that we can recognize it when we see it. This will mean undoing certain misconceptions. Fascism is not conservatism. It is not the “right wing” as the polar opposite of the “left wing.” Such simplistic definitions and neat dichotomies may carry some truth, but they hide more than they reveal. Specifically, they hide the modern-ness of fascism, its appeal to progressives and the avant-garde. Fascism has always been on the cutting edge.

It is particularly important to know, precisely, why the Nazis hated the Jews. Racism alone cannot explain the virulence of Nazi anti-Semitism. What did they see in the Jews that they thought was so inferior? What was the Jewish legacy that, in their mind, so poisoned Western culture? What were the Aryan ideals that the Nazis sought to restore, once the Jews and their influence were purged from Western culture?

The fascists aligned themselves not only against the Jews but against what the Jews contributed to Western civilization. A transcendent God, who reveals a transcendent moral law, was anathema to the fascists. Such transcendence, they argued, alienates human beings from nature and from themselves. Fascist intellectuals sought to forge a new spirituality of immanence, focused upon nature, human emotions, and the community. The fascists sought to restore the ancient pre-Christian consciousness, the ancient mythic sensibility, in which individuals experience unity with nature, with each other, and with their own deepest impulses.

Fascism was essentially a spiritual movement. It was a revolt against the Judeo-Christian tradition, that is to say, against the Bible.

The claim made by Veith in that last paragraph is the genius of this book, the unifying principle that enables him to make his case that fascism was not only not destroyed, it has continued to thrive and flourish in that it provides a philosophical framework those who would pursue the liquidation of the Judeo-Christian worldview—a goal that most of us would agree is high on the cultural agenda in these postmodern times.

As you puzzle over the resurgence of paganism, the satisfaction that our culture takes in the slaughter of forty million unborn children [now 47,000,000], the developing ethic that will grant continuing life only to those whose “quality of life” merits such, the pragmatism that approves of our bending the rest of the world to our will simply because we have the power to do so, the suspicion of anyone who appears to question any aspect of the American Way of Life, the hope with which the evangelical community looks to its Commander in Chief to handle a situation which they are certain that God Himself was incapable of preventing—as you puzzle over these things, consider that they are all manifestations of the fascist philosophy, and as such are part of an ongoing effort to eradicate Christian thought from society.


Read this book before you start writing about the subject.

On MARY

Notes from a speech given by Kathleen Nielson on December 10, 2005

by Dawn Darby, edited by Jim Irwin.


Why is Mary called "blessed" in Luke ch.1?

Mary's blessing is intimately connected to her regard for God's Word.

Our God is a God of words. In the beginning God speaks.

Niel Nielson says, "We're not carnivores or herbivores, we are verbivores."

We are word creatures, like our Creator.

Mary was young, but she understood the importance of words.

Mary was "greatly troubled at the saying"; she took words seriously. She believed that the angel's words were true. Mary's question, "How will this be?" showed curiosity as to the method of the Great Event to be accomplished because she believed. Contrast this question to Zechariah's response; he too was troubled when he saw the angel. He wondered what the angel's word meant to him when he said, "How shall I know this?" [Zechariah let the reality of his and his wife's advanced age (never mind the story of Abraham and Sarah) get in the way of his faith.] Mary was troubled at the words because she believed them. In Luke 1:42ff, Elizabeth blesses Mary for believing the word that was spoken to her. So important is the Word that when later in Luke a woman cries out to Jesus, "blessed is the woman who bore you..." Jesus answers, "Yes, but rather blessed is the one who hears my words and keeps them."

Women these days are very concerned with identity; our thinking is shaped by our culture, but Mary offers a lesson on how to get our identity straight, "I am a servant of the Lord." And then she says, "...let it be to me..."; this is submission. If we could get our identities straight, our lives would be so much simpler.

Mary's words in the Magnificat directly echo many Old Testament passages. It is saturated with God's word; and so it is beautiful. We know the words were inspired by the Holy Spirit, but her mind and heart were involved also. Her song doesn't just focus on herself, but is large and includes Gods whole family.

Also, look at Elizabeth and Mary together. Their meeting was filled with joy. "And the baby (John) leaped for joy in Elizabeth's womb.

What was Mary's blessing?

It was believing the word of God.

Mary was an ordinary woman who so filled herself with God's word that God was able to use her in extraordinary ways.

Semi-Essay on Ada Lovelace

Ada Lovelace, Enchantress of Numbers

By

Jimmie R. Irwin Jr.
January 16, 2006
Math 106

under

Prof. John Kellermeier


I. Who was this person? Where and when did they live? What was their life like?
Augusta Ada Byron was born on December 10th, 1815 in Piccadilly, Middlesex (now in London), England to the English poet George Gordon Noel Byron (Lord Byron) and Anna Isabella Millbanke Byron. Ada had to suffer almost from birth, a dysfunctional family; her parents were married January 2, 1815 but separated on January 16th, 1816 only a month after she was born. On April 25th of that year Lord Byron went abroad never to return again to England. When Lord Byron died in Greece, Ada was eight years old; she had never seen her father in person. Ada’s mother devoted much energy to organizing Ada’s education, but she seems to have spent very little time with her. Ada’s mother, Anne, had been interested in the study of mathematics and considered it a good subject for training the mind and developing discipline. Through various tutors, Ada “…studied math and the sciences to the exclusion of…literature and poetry” (Ortiz, p1). Although Ada was not given much encouragement or time to study literature and poetry, she was permitted to study music for its practical social value. “Music, Lady Byron [Anne] believed, was a topic that provided a girl with the right social skills so this was also emphasised in Ada’s education [sic]” (O’Connor, p1). Despite the misgivings of other members of the extended family that Ada might be driven too hard, “Lady Byron ignored these concerns and kept a constant pressure on her daughter to work hard and long at her lessons” (O’Connor, p2). Some of the pressure took the form of solitary confinement and the requirement to write apology notes for every mistake. Despite this strange upbringing, Ada did show a passion for mathematics and quickly reached the limits of her tutors’ ability with mathematics.
At the age of seventeen, Ada was presented at court and on June 5th of 1833 met Charles Babbage at a party. “Two weeks later Ada and her mother visited Babbage’s London Studio where the Difference Engine was on display. Ada was fascinated and, according to Sophia Frend, William Frend’s daughter and later De Morgan’s wife, wrote that Ada: ‘…young as she was, understood its working, and saw the great beauty of the invention.’” (O’Connor, p2) This meeting was to become pivotal in the development of the idea of a stored program for a computer.
At the age of eighteen, Ada met and received tutoring from Mary Somerville--the first female member of the Royal Astronomical Society. Mrs. Somerville was also friends with Charles Babbage and had known him for some years. Although they enjoyed attending mathematics and scientific demonstrations together, Mrs. Somerville and Ada also shared a love for music and attended many concerts.
On July 8, 1835 Augusta Ada Byron married William King and went on to have three children, Byron, Annabella, and Ralph Gordon. William King was made Earl in 1838 and Augusta Ada Byron King became Countess of Lovelace. In 1841, Ada Lovelace began advanced study in mathematics under the tutelage of Augustus De Morgan. This is where Ada’s mathematics career really begins to take off. [This thread of the story continues under the answer to yet another question in this project.]
Ada’s life concludes as tragically as it has begun; in the background of her accomplishments her personal life began to fall apart. Her use of alcohol and opiates increased and she gained an addiction to gambling which served to wipe out her entire estate. She finally died of cancer at the age of 36 or 37, ironically about the same age that her father died.


What kind of mathematics did this person do? What did they or others do with their mathematics?
In the year 1843, ten years after first seeing Charles Babbage’s mechanical computers, Ada translated a memoir written by an Italian mathematician on Babbage’s analytic engine. She added extensive notes in the form of seven essays running to forty pages long which became an invaluable set of complex instructions for the operation of the Analytical Engine. But as Ms. Yount points out,
"It was not considered proper for a woman of Lovelace’s class to put her name on a public document, so her work, published in a collection of scientific papers in 1843, was signed only with the initials A.A.L. For 30 years no one knew that she was the author." (Yount, p128)
This work is still important, because it involved an instruction set for the mechanical computer to compute Bernoulli numbers. O’Connor and Robertson quote Charles Babbage on how this came about:
‘Some time after the appearance of [Menabrea's] memoir on the subject in the "Bibliothèque Universelle de Genève," the late Countess of Lovelace informed me that she had translated the memoir of Menabrea. I asked why she had not herself written an original paper on a subject with which she was so intimately acquainted? To this Lady Lovelace replied that the thought had not occurred to her. I then suggested that she should add some notes to Menabrea's memoir; an idea which was immediately adopted.
We discussed together the various illustrations that might be introduced: I suggested several, but the selection was entirely her own. So also was the algebraic working out of the different problems, except, indeed, that relating to the numbers of Bernoulli, which I had offered to do to save Lady Lovelace the trouble. This she sent back to me for an amendment, having detected a grave mistake which I had made in the process.
The notes of the Countess of Lovelace extend to about three times the length of the original memoir. Their author has entered fully into almost all the very difficult and abstract questions connected with the subject.
These two memoirs taken together furnish, to those who are capable of understanding the reasoning, a complete demonstration - That the whole of the developments and operations of analysis are now capable of being executed by machinery.’

In the annotations, which were called "Notes", Ada Lovelace described how the Analytical Engine could be programmed and gave what many consider to be the first ever computer program (O’Connor, p3).
Ortiz summarizes the significance of this accomplishment in the following way:
Ada concentrated on what today we could call the "software" applications of the Analytical Engine. In this sense, one can call Byron a true visionary, for she was able to foresee that the Babbage's engine could have vast applications in the area of graphics, artificial intelligence, and the composition of complex computer music. All this more than a century before these disciplines were revolutionized by the modern computer! (Ortiz, p2).

It was more than a hundred years later that the concepts and ideas envisioned by Ada finally came to fruition with the advent of the electronic computer age. Ada was very dependant upon Babbage and others for encouragement and if given this encouragement would have gone on to analyze many other mathematical problems and perhaps published many more interesting papers. Unfortunately Babbage himself had become depressed with his lack of success in getting financial support to build his Analytical Engine. The mechanical computer age never came and Ada’s unique contribution was relegated to a footnote in mathematical history.

What else did they do with their life?
Ada’s life came to an ignominious conclusion, but it is worth noting that despite her dysfunctional life as Ortiz writes: “[Ada] Byron’s accomplishments took place during an era that saw women as unfit for scientific pursuits.” (Ortiz, p2). Ada’s husband thought highly of her ‘beautiful mind’ and as O’Connor and Robertson point out:
Her husband wrote:
Her mind was invigorated by the society of the intellectual men whom she entertained as guests. ... She mastered the mathematical side of a question in all its minuteness ... her power of generalisation was indeed most remarkable, coupled as it was with that of minute and intricate analysis. Babbage was a constant intellectual companion and she ever found in him a match for her powerful understanding, their constant philosophical discussions begetting only an increased esteem and mutual liking. [sic] (O’Connor, p4-5).

Why should we know about them?
It is worth knowing about Ada Lovelace because her life shows that whatever limitations one has—and the limitations of the mind can perhaps be the worst—one can still be caught up in the discovery of great ideas and enraptured by the joy of mathematics and its practical applications. Ortiz says it well when he writes:
The field of computer science, and the computer revolution, owes much to the interpretative insight that Ada Byron contributed in her notes to Babbage's Analytical Engine. Like all true visionaries, Byron overcame the limitations of her era, and the results of her work appear everywhere, from the Internet to the concert hall. (Ortiz, p2).


What did you find most interesting about this person?
In the world today you will find a few people who are theoretical geniuses and a few more who are practical geniuses, but rarely do you find a mind who can immediately see the theoretical principle of a thing and then quickly envision the practical applications of such a revolutionary idea. Ada made the intuitive leap when she quickly understood the genius of Babbage’s mechanical computers and she was finally posthumously acknowledged for this vision when the Department of Defense named a programming language after her in 1979. This programming language was ADA.

Bibliography

Ortiz, Edward. SCIENCE HERO: AUGUSTA ADA BYRON.
05/07/2005. 01/16/2006 http://www.myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=adabyron

O’Connor, JJ, EF Robertson. Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace.
August 2002. 01/16/2006
http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Mathematicians/Lovelace.html

Yount, Lisa. A to Z of Women in Science and Math. New York: Facts on
File, c1999