Dr. Francis Collins new head of NIH and his wonderful book
I just thought I'd share this information, if you haven't already heard. Obama nominated Francis Collins to be the head of NIH (National Institute of Health), and he was confirmed in the position. If you get the C3 enewsletter, you probably already saw this. His name rang a bell with me because of a reality show on TLC I'd seen on the disease progeria. This is the disease that causes premature aging- the show featured a British girl with progeria. In the show, they talked about "going to the States to visit Dr. Collins"- well, this is the man!
He's also done research in many other areas. I'm sure you could google his name and read about more if you're interested.
What made me post this on the religion/spirituality board is what you may not know about Dr. Francis Collins... that he was a strong atheist who ended up becoming a Christian, and wrote a book about his change in beliefs and how he believes he found scientific evidence that there has to a Creator- and how discovering this is what converted him. Though most scientists today seem to not believe in God, Dr. Collins was one of those who's research and scientific discoveries lead him to believe there most definitely has to be a God. He wrote a book titled "The Language of God- A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief".
I had heard from a friend it's very interesting reading & so I just ordered myself a copy from Amazon.com and am most anxious to read it when it comes in.
Just thought I'd share this-
Lisa
Comments
-
Thanks Lisa
I just did a search on this because I thought I had heard that many scientists do in fact believe in God and I found this blurb from livescience.com
"About two-thirds of scientists believe in God, according to a new survey that uncovered stark differences based on the type of research they do.
The study, along with another one released in June, would appear to debunk the oft-held notion that science is incompatible with religion.
Those in the social sciences are more likely to believe in God and attend religious services than researchers in the natural sciences, the study found.
The opposite had been expected."
I am not familiar with Dr Collins but I do think it's been a misconception that if you believe in science then you automatically can't believe in God or a higher power. There are many misconceptions about this and also about the teachings of different religions that people have or were taught.
-phil0 -
the book just came in the mail todayPhillieG said:Thanks Lisa
I just did a search on this because I thought I had heard that many scientists do in fact believe in God and I found this blurb from livescience.com
"About two-thirds of scientists believe in God, according to a new survey that uncovered stark differences based on the type of research they do.
The study, along with another one released in June, would appear to debunk the oft-held notion that science is incompatible with religion.
Those in the social sciences are more likely to believe in God and attend religious services than researchers in the natural sciences, the study found.
The opposite had been expected."
I am not familiar with Dr Collins but I do think it's been a misconception that if you believe in science then you automatically can't believe in God or a higher power. There are many misconceptions about this and also about the teachings of different religions that people have or were taught.
-phil
Hi Phil,
His book just arrived in the mail today. I'm in the middle of another, so I probably won't start it for another week or two. I'll let you know if it's worth passing on or not. I was just so interested also in his work on progeria. If you hadn't seen the special I mentined above, I bet you could google progeria Dr. Collins. I have no tie to progeria, but I have been intrigued by it since seeing the special of the little 9 yr old girls who had the body of about a 70 yr old.
Anyhow, I thought it was interesting. Thanks for your info too.
Lisa0 -
Then he must be cool2bhealed said:You forgot to mention....
that he was also homeschooled until 6th grade AND he plays a mean guitar!
As a homeschooling mama I love hearing that, and I thought Phil would like to hear about the band gig.
:-)
peace, emily
if he plays guitar :-)
My sister in law is an example of homeschooling failure unfortunately. I can't say a total failure, her 14yr old does well in school so she got 1 out of 3 right. One has to have the commitment and knowledge to do it, she didn't. I do know of mostly success stories though.
Sort of off topic but I just thought I'd through that in there.
I will add too I am getting tired of this site. It wears me out. I find it more interesting and a little less clique-ish here. Over there it's the same old same old stuff that goes through the colon so to speak. I will most likely lurk and post when needed...
I'd rather be swimming, kayaking or on FaceBook0 -
I've heard that term usedPhillieG said:Then he must be cool
if he plays guitar :-)
My sister in law is an example of homeschooling failure unfortunately. I can't say a total failure, her 14yr old does well in school so she got 1 out of 3 right. One has to have the commitment and knowledge to do it, she didn't. I do know of mostly success stories though.
Sort of off topic but I just thought I'd through that in there.
I will add too I am getting tired of this site. It wears me out. I find it more interesting and a little less clique-ish here. Over there it's the same old same old stuff that goes through the colon so to speak. I will most likely lurk and post when needed...
I'd rather be swimming, kayaking or on FaceBook
I've heard that term used before for message boards-clique-ish. I don't understand it because anyone can answer any post. Do you mean when certain people only respond to certain people? Maybe it only seems that way.
I like to lurk too and post when not needed. If it was needed someone else would be sure to beat me to it.0 -
FBPhillieG said:Then he must be cool
if he plays guitar :-)
My sister in law is an example of homeschooling failure unfortunately. I can't say a total failure, her 14yr old does well in school so she got 1 out of 3 right. One has to have the commitment and knowledge to do it, she didn't. I do know of mostly success stories though.
Sort of off topic but I just thought I'd through that in there.
I will add too I am getting tired of this site. It wears me out. I find it more interesting and a little less clique-ish here. Over there it's the same old same old stuff that goes through the colon so to speak. I will most likely lurk and post when needed...
I'd rather be swimming, kayaking or on FaceBook
You gonna "friend" me on FB there Phil??
I love to play on there too.
It's the best way to know what my kids are up to in their adult lives.
Sorry about your SIL's failure. There's always someone to put a bad name to something. But my feelings about education are not the norm either....oh surprise! HA! Won't go into that here and now though.
See ya on FB?
peace, emily0 -
FB2bhealed said:FB
You gonna "friend" me on FB there Phil??
I love to play on there too.
It's the best way to know what my kids are up to in their adult lives.
Sorry about your SIL's failure. There's always someone to put a bad name to something. But my feelings about education are not the norm either....oh surprise! HA! Won't go into that here and now though.
See ya on FB?
peace, emily
Hi Emily, If I could "friend" you, and only you I might consider it but I REALLY want to keep this world and that world separate. If people think I'm a troublemaker on the CSN site, wait until they get a load of me on FB. I have little in common with most everyone with the exception of having cancer. So...that being said. I don't see it happening unless I create a separate account and use an alias.
You are still one of my favs though Em...
Yes, one person can give home schooling a bad rap. One has to know what they are doing to do it right. There are pros and cons to both in my opinion. I also do not have the patience to do it and I have enough on my plate.
-phil0 -
Clique-ishMarcia527 said:I've heard that term used
I've heard that term used before for message boards-clique-ish. I don't understand it because anyone can answer any post. Do you mean when certain people only respond to certain people? Maybe it only seems that way.
I like to lurk too and post when not needed. If it was needed someone else would be sure to beat me to it.
I think there is some of what you say, it also seems like there are certain...how shall I put it? ...ways of life or ways of thinking that if you disagree with them, you are looked upon as trouble or not one of them. The racial, political, religious diversity seems to be lacking a great deal on the "main" site in my opinion (and a few others I've spoken to also). It's like how the country is only this is a small select of people who have cancer too.
People can certainly post whatever they want and do whatever they want, sometimes though I feel like I am the only one (who will post) something different than what everyone else posts. Yeah, I'm an instigator and/or troublemaker but it's not just to be different. I feel very strongly about the things I post about. I feel like it's the FOX network and I'm tuned into The Daily Show.0 -
RightoPhillieG said:FB
Hi Emily, If I could "friend" you, and only you I might consider it but I REALLY want to keep this world and that world separate. If people think I'm a troublemaker on the CSN site, wait until they get a load of me on FB. I have little in common with most everyone with the exception of having cancer. So...that being said. I don't see it happening unless I create a separate account and use an alias.
You are still one of my favs though Em...
Yes, one person can give home schooling a bad rap. One has to know what they are doing to do it right. There are pros and cons to both in my opinion. I also do not have the patience to do it and I have enough on my plate.
-phil
Alrighty. I understand. You're just so fun......
re: homeschooling--for me it was an extension of my attachment parenting philosophy and had nothing to do with religion or feeling like I could give them a superior education. So my agenda is different than most. I didn't want my kids institutionalized and I wanted them to have childhoods, to play, to discover who they were outside of the cookie-cutter public realm as children. When one is older and comfortable with who s/he is, then by all means, but as youngsters I didn't want to hand them over to the lowest common denominator.
The cool thing is that my kids thank me for allowing them to stay home and play and read and discover, and delve deeply, and fantasize and act them out, and dress up, and dream and be unique. As a result they can carry on an adult conversation that isn't riddled with like, ya know, like, um, yeah. Can they rattle off algebraic equations. Not on your life! HA! But rather than play video games they sit and read. So it's been a good thing. I haven't personally seen any bad apples in the three homeschooling communities that I have been involved with, but I'm sure they're out there....like anything.
Glad you're on here speaking your mind. ;-)
peace, emily0 -
I feel that way sometimesPhillieG said:Clique-ish
I think there is some of what you say, it also seems like there are certain...how shall I put it? ...ways of life or ways of thinking that if you disagree with them, you are looked upon as trouble or not one of them. The racial, political, religious diversity seems to be lacking a great deal on the "main" site in my opinion (and a few others I've spoken to also). It's like how the country is only this is a small select of people who have cancer too.
People can certainly post whatever they want and do whatever they want, sometimes though I feel like I am the only one (who will post) something different than what everyone else posts. Yeah, I'm an instigator and/or troublemaker but it's not just to be different. I feel very strongly about the things I post about. I feel like it's the FOX network and I'm tuned into The Daily Show.
I feel that way sometimes too. We live in an area that is lacking in diversity. I believe this is where we are supposed to be though. We do like it here and once in a while meet someone with our same views. When you get upset try meditation. Really makes you feel better.
As for posting, I do it to try and help others. So I try not to take others comments personal. Besides I don't need the stress.
I enjoy your comments though so hope you will continue to post. I don't think you are a troublemaker.0 -
Diversity and Adversity (I just like how it rhymes)Marcia527 said:I feel that way sometimes
I feel that way sometimes too. We live in an area that is lacking in diversity. I believe this is where we are supposed to be though. We do like it here and once in a while meet someone with our same views. When you get upset try meditation. Really makes you feel better.
As for posting, I do it to try and help others. So I try not to take others comments personal. Besides I don't need the stress.
I enjoy your comments though so hope you will continue to post. I don't think you are a troublemaker.
I work for a company that is very diverse which I enjoy a lot. Where I live is somewhat diverse but most people stick with their own kind and are mostly tolerant of others. I have used meditation or what I enjoy even more is to go out on the lake in my kayak. I don't do that enough though. I get too tired at times. I don't get really upset here, I get more frustrated dealing with the same hot topics over and over. I could just ignore it but then this site might become the 700 Club which I do not want to see happen at all. There are sites where people can talk about that all they want with others who want to hear it and share it. That's great. I don't want to read scripture while I'm here dealing with cancer which isn't always the case, but it has been the case on a few occasions. I know it's a free country and I can not read it but it often gets in threads that I am otherwise involved with so I exercise my freedom to express my feeling that it doesn't belong in that part of the site. It is a cycle that will continue because others have the right to post what they want so on and on we go...
I'm glad you enjoy my comments, I try to offer advice from my experiences. You probably don't think I'm a troublemaker because we possibly see things from a similar point of view.0 -
I'd like to make anPhillieG said:Diversity and Adversity (I just like how it rhymes)
I work for a company that is very diverse which I enjoy a lot. Where I live is somewhat diverse but most people stick with their own kind and are mostly tolerant of others. I have used meditation or what I enjoy even more is to go out on the lake in my kayak. I don't do that enough though. I get too tired at times. I don't get really upset here, I get more frustrated dealing with the same hot topics over and over. I could just ignore it but then this site might become the 700 Club which I do not want to see happen at all. There are sites where people can talk about that all they want with others who want to hear it and share it. That's great. I don't want to read scripture while I'm here dealing with cancer which isn't always the case, but it has been the case on a few occasions. I know it's a free country and I can not read it but it often gets in threads that I am otherwise involved with so I exercise my freedom to express my feeling that it doesn't belong in that part of the site. It is a cycle that will continue because others have the right to post what they want so on and on we go...
I'm glad you enjoy my comments, I try to offer advice from my experiences. You probably don't think I'm a troublemaker because we possibly see things from a similar point of view.
I'd like to make an observation that might help. I was on another messasge board lurking about and one poster made a comment that she would not join the CSN message board because it was full of religous talk and if she wanted that she'd go to church. Now I've been a member here for a couple of years and I had not noticed that. I went to the way-past postings and read some and saw what she meant. I went back to the recent postings and if you look at when people have joined, most are more recent. It seems for the most part, people get tired of cancer talk and go have a life. A few stick around. So the dynamics change all the time.0 -
It's CyclicalMarcia527 said:I'd like to make an
I'd like to make an observation that might help. I was on another messasge board lurking about and one poster made a comment that she would not join the CSN message board because it was full of religous talk and if she wanted that she'd go to church. Now I've been a member here for a couple of years and I had not noticed that. I went to the way-past postings and read some and saw what she meant. I went back to the recent postings and if you look at when people have joined, most are more recent. It seems for the most part, people get tired of cancer talk and go have a life. A few stick around. So the dynamics change all the time.
I'm sure it goes in cycles and it may even depend on what type of cancer you have. I see that yours is more "woman" oriented than the colon cancer threads. Lately it has not been bad at all with the comments but there are other comments that were directed to a poster that got out of hand. He was a contributor to it also but the name calling and some of the "kneeing him in the balls" talk was just pathetic in my opinion. Looking at the source of the comments though it makes sense. I sound like I have this "holier than thou" stand (funny choice of words for me to use) but just as I rub people the wrong way at times, they do the same to me. I've made my share of dumb comments I'm sure but the cancer talk gets old like you said.
-phil0 -
Home School2bhealed said:Righto
Alrighty. I understand. You're just so fun......
re: homeschooling--for me it was an extension of my attachment parenting philosophy and had nothing to do with religion or feeling like I could give them a superior education. So my agenda is different than most. I didn't want my kids institutionalized and I wanted them to have childhoods, to play, to discover who they were outside of the cookie-cutter public realm as children. When one is older and comfortable with who s/he is, then by all means, but as youngsters I didn't want to hand them over to the lowest common denominator.
The cool thing is that my kids thank me for allowing them to stay home and play and read and discover, and delve deeply, and fantasize and act them out, and dress up, and dream and be unique. As a result they can carry on an adult conversation that isn't riddled with like, ya know, like, um, yeah. Can they rattle off algebraic equations. Not on your life! HA! But rather than play video games they sit and read. So it's been a good thing. I haven't personally seen any bad apples in the three homeschooling communities that I have been involved with, but I'm sure they're out there....like anything.
Glad you're on here speaking your mind. ;-)
peace, emily
It sounds like it's working out very well for you, I'm glad. I hear you with the lowest common denominator part. Our oldest has been bored throughout most of his school years. He is a creative kid and our youngest it too. So much of "regular school" depends on what we, as parents, do with our kids too. It's not like we hand them off and in 12 years expect to get perfect adults by any means. We get involved as much as we can.
My sister in law is unique ;-)0
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