Don't like your adopted kid? Return 'em!

Recently a story about the adoption of a Russian child and his rather abrupt return to Russia has been bugging me. The "mother" (I am not sure that is the right word for the woman) has said that the child (seven years old) had emotional issues and was dangerous.
So let's see if I have the facts right: she adopted a child who had to learn a new language, become part of a new culture, learn how to interact as a member of a family, and expected him to not have any issues with that. And he was to do all of this in seven months, since they had just adopted him in September. She also changed his name to Justin, after he had been Artyom for seven years.

I do not condone the actions of the child, but he is a child. We are not to expect him to act as an adult would. Yes, he does have emotional issues. But that is part of being a parent. You do not simply get to choose to have a perfect child (regardless of what my in-laws may say) and never have any issues. The degree of the issues does not matter. She legally adopted Artyom. Sending him back, alone, on a flight from Washington State to Moscow should be considered child abandonment. A stewardess is not a suitable supervisor for a seven year old child with emotional issues. Nor is it acceptable to "send" back a child, for any reason, whom you have legally adopted.

The ancient Romans understood something that this woman does not. In their legal system, when you adopted a child the record was changed to show that this had always been your child, with the same rights as any other child. This is what Paul was referring to in Galatians 4:4-6.
Torry Hansen (the "mom") has failed as a parent. She does not deserve the last name that she has. Hansen literally means son of Hans (which is Germanic and Scandinavian for John). But Hans comes to us from the Hebrew via Latin, Greek, and the European languages over the years. In Hebrew John is Yochanan (if you are curious Strong number H3110). As is common with Hebrew words, this word is made up of two separate words. Yo refers to YHWH, and chanan means to have mercy on/be gracious to (H2603). So the name all together means the Lord is gracious. Which is who needs to have grace upon her, because right now I am feeling a bit more Old Testament towards her as opposed to New Testament and forgiving.

Scientists confirm a new species of dragon!

Science can make me laugh.
Take this story, for example.
Scientists have confirmed a type of fruit eating lizard as a new species.
Of course, it is not really new, but new to scientists. People living in the Philippines have been hunting this creature for its flesh already. Hard to call something that has been dinner for probably thousands of years a new species, but the science types do anyway.
They also call the lizard the size of a dragon. But it is only six feet long and weighs 22 pounds.

THAT IS NOT DRAGON SIZED!

Dragons are supposed to be huge. Dozens of feet tall, with tails equal to the length of their body. Forty feet or more of wingspan is typical for a fearsome dragon. The fact that the Catholic Church has a Saint named George that killed a dragon would indicate that killing a dragon is a big deal. Killing a 22 pound fruit eating lizard may put food on the table but fails to impress compared to killing a fire breathing (mythical) creature.
Anyway, scientists need to get their facts straight.
This is serious.
Dragons are big.
And if a group of people regularly hunt a creature as a food source it probably is not a new species.

Human echolocation

I recently read an article in Psychology Today about people that are blind that use echolocation to go mountain biking. To me, that sounded a bit crazy. I never thought of people being able to "see" like a bat does. Well, here is a video of a guy that pioneered the technique apparently.


Note: the video is from some TV show and the host of the show believes in psychics and other "rubbish". The video is interesting, just be aware the host is a bit out there.

Happy April First

Saw this at Politico and thought others might enjoy it.