This obsession with the end times isn’t exactly new. If you google anything that has to do with end times, you will find that throughout history various people (mostly cults) have “predicted” the end of the world. Some Christians believed that June 6, 1666 will be the end of the world because of the 666 in the book of Revelations. There was also one instance that I know of where a comet (hale bopp, I believe, correct me if I am wrong) that came close to the earth sometime around 1997 and it inspired a cult known as the “Heavens Gate Cult” to commit mass suicide because they believed that the comet was a spaceship that came to take away the “faithful followers” and everyone else would die in some horrible disaster. The truth is, they’re the only one that died.

Then there is the 2012 Mayan prediction. Somehow in the last two years there was the idea that the Mayan calendar will end in December of 2012 and life as we know it will end. There are somehow the idea that ancient civilizations knew more than we do regarding the end times, perhaps due to aliens? The idea was that planet X or Nibiru will come around and cause all sorts of disaster. Some even suggested that the planet will collide with Earth and kill mankind, while others suggested that a comet will hit the earth, or that solar activities will plunge mankind into a dark age.

I believe we have been deceived by Satan, who owns this world. Death comes from Satan and he is obsessed with death because he knows he is going to be in hell for eternity, and therefore hates us for it. So he tempted the first man and woman to sin and therefore bring death into the world. For thousands of years, we came to accept death as a “necessity” and it’s just a fact of life. Then Jesus came and defeated death at the cross and reconciled us with God. Obviously Satan isn’t happy about this so he fills our head with the idea that everyone will die soon for whatever reason, in order to keep us away from what God truly wants us to experience, which is life.

I have met many Christians who would happily take a bullet between the eyes for the sake of the Gospel, yet would hesitate at the thought of actually living for the gospel. God’s plan for us is to live a fulfilled life, so that our lives would be a testimony of what God has done in our lives. Some Christians would go to dangerous countries, where being a Christian is a capital crime, seemingly for the chance to be martyred for the Gospel. I do not think it’s what God wants us to do.

God gave each of us gifts and talents in various areas, and he did so in order that we may work as a team, and life a happy and fulfilled life in doing so. Some are called to be doctors, others to be lawyers, scientists, construction workers, relief workers, social work, store clerks, entrepreneurs, and many more. I believe we are to live missional lives but it doesn’t necessarily have to be “missions” work or even purposely put ourselves in situations where we may have to die for the sake of the Gospel. There are other religions that preach similar things (like Islam) but every religion leads to death, because it gives false hope to have a relationship with God while denying the very thing that we crave and need.

So please, LIVE for the Gospel, because it is what God wants. Find out what you like doing, what you’re gifted in, and make every effort to make a career out of it. I assure you God will use that to accomplish great things.

Introduction

Object: To find the correlation between cannon angle and distance achieved.

Hypothesis: There are little correlation between angle fired and distance achieved, due to the randomness of the “obstacles”.

There is a game known as kitty cannon on the internet. The object of the game is to basically control the angle of the cannon with the up or down arrow key, then press space bar to fire. There is a red bar that goes in and out which indicates power. When the cannon are fired, the poor helpless kitty is shot out and will encounter the following obstacle:

Spike: The spike impales the kitty and ends the shot.

Venus fly trap: The fly trap eats the kitty, and ends the shot.

Trampoline: The trampoline will bounce the kitty up, however the bounce is exactly like a trampoline, which means the faster the kitty comes in, the faster it bounces out.

TNT: The crate of explosive causes the kitty to fly higher. Incoming angle or speed does not affect the amount of boost, but a kitty with a faster horizontal velocity gets a faster boost, whereas a slow kitty just gets shot up in the sky.

Bomb on a balloon: Has the exact same effect as the TNT, but the balloon hovers at random height. It does not matter if the kitty hits the bomb on the way up or down, the effects are the same (which defies the law of physics).

The premise is to get the highest horizontal distance possible (there are also challenges for the lowest horizontal distance possible). The natural question is, does the angle of the cannon affect the distance obtained in any way, and what angle would give the best chance of getting the 4000+ feet some have claimed to get?

Therefore the purpose of this experiment is to find out what is the best angle to shoot from, assuming maximum power is used.

Experiments

The experiment is conducted on an Acer 5920G laptop, with 2Gig of ram, Intel T7300 CPU, ATI HD 4950 video card with 512 GDDR3, and a 160G SATA hard drive. The game used is found on http://www.addictinggames.com/kittencannon.html .

Ten trials are used, with an interval of 5 degrees, from 10 degree (minimum) to 60 degree (maximum). To ensure constant power, the first result is discarded since there is no way to ensure that the power will be exactly the same for each trial. However the game allows a way of ensuring constant power, by pressing and holding space after each trial, the game will fire the kitty at 90% power. However there is no way to adjust the angle which is why the first result is always discarded.

No kitten or cats are harmed during this experiment.

Result

Conclusion

It would appear that there are little correlation between cannon angle and distance achieved, as it is just a matter of luck. However, the average distance achieved peaks out at around 35 degree, possibly due to the attribute of some of the obstacles. Moreover, it appears that very large distances are possible on any angle, given enough luck. Therefore there are little correlation between maximum distance achieved and angle of the cannon; however it appears that 35 degree gives the best chance of having a high average distance.

I have been praying and researching about a possibility of leaving Taiwan again in pursuit of opportunities to reach out to Muslims, but to experience other cultures at the same time. I have a few options however I want to commit this to prayer. I am sure that God would be delighted for me to leave Taiwan and receive opportunities to reach out to Muslims, and also to live the life that I am meant to live, and use the gift that are given to me by God for the benefit of mankind. My options now is to study for a master’s degree in either Geology or Chemistry. I hope to do this in Europe because the tuition of some countries are very low and it allows me the opportunity to get to know other students, many of whom will be Muslim, in order to fulfill the goals of reaching out to them, but also developing my God-given gifts to its fullest potential. In order for me to study in Europe, I must learn their language and take a language test (similar to TOEFL, but for German, French, Danish, etc.). My options now are to get enough money for 2 months of language study tuition, which I have, and enough for the cheapest forms of accommodation that are available for a period of time (2 months) even if it means sacrificing certain comforts. I have found a language school in Berlin which only requires around 300 euros a month for intensive language studies which is enough to get a language study visa. Some have suggested studying language in Taiwan, which I will while I am still here, if a free language class is available in German, however I will attend the Spanish class next week at the rock. I do feel however in order to be most effective in learning German, I must be in an environment where using German is mandatory, and not many people speak English in Berlin which is the perfect environment for this kind of thing. My plan is to study language for around 1 year, then take language tests and apply for a university.

Now I want to request a prayer from you guys. Please pray for God to reveal to me the proper timing for this kind of thing, because I have to make the plan at least 6 months ahead of time in order to allow for things such as visa and other administrative work, and I would prefer to go during an off season in order to save on travel costs (and alleviate any possible headache from not being able to find a flight). Also pray that if God wants me to go now (I can set things into motion now, might not be able to leave tomorrow but I should be able to in 3 months) that God will provide me financially during my time there, either through donation, goodwill, work opportunities, or even something as amazing as manna (like a YWAM base in China finding over 10,000 USD inside a loaf of bread they bought with the last money they had).

Finally I ask for your forgiveness for anything that I might have said, or done that is not within the character of Christ.

Amen.

Please view the pictures here:

http://s107.photobucket.com/albums/m320/rahimiiii/Les%20paul%20custom%20repair/

In the Bible we hear stories of many prophets, and Old Testament laws have sections dedicated to prophets. One law says that a false prophet should be put to death, and that if the things a prophet does not come to pass, then he should die. Of course there are many obsessions about the prophecy concerning Jesus, and the end of days in the book of Daniel, Isiah, and Jeremiah, and Revelations. The fact is, these doomsday prophecies, and even prophecies concerning the Messiah only makes up less than 1% of the prophecies in these books! I learned in a church sermon that the purpose of a prophet is to edify and strengthen the people of their time, that means prophets like Isiah and Jeremiah and Daniel wasn’t sent for future generations, but for their generation! I will not go into the specifics of their prophecy but it’s safe to say that most of the things in their books deals with things that are happening in their time. Some people have the gift of prophecy too, not just people with “qualifications”. For example I was prayed for by the pastor’s wife of a Philipino church in Taiwan. The thing she prayed it was almost as though she knows that I was called into missions, even though she doesn’t know me (I had only been there for the first time) and certainly she did not know of my blog nor did anyone tell her that I wanted to preach to Muslims. It was very edifying, unlike many prayers I have heard before.

What I am trying to say is, don’t be so concerned about doomsday prophecies, because the Bible clearly says not to worry about tomorrow for today has enough evils of its own. I would be more concerned about finding out what God wants you to do today, and how can I build the Kingdom of God rather than listen to Hollywood and its doomsday messages that are designed to put fear into the people’s heart in order to sell more movies. Someone said it best when he said that yesterday is gone, and tomorrow might never come.

Image is shrunk to save space (on the page) and bandwidth. If you want to view a larger version look at my facebook profile (my name is Tai Fu) or email me for the raw files if I still have it…

This is done with a point and shoot (Canon Powershot A620), ISO 100, 15 sec exposure (maximum allowed). Image is VERY noisy, brightening makes it worse, and sharpening it makes it look like clown

This is done with a DSLR, ISO 400, 15 sec exposure, the difference is huge! These images are brightened and sharpened with Lightzone

Different angle, ISO 100

Same as above

I really love night shots though, and this camera opened a lot of possibility. Night shots are difficult, even with a DSLR, and most likely impossible with a point and shoot (unless you are really good) because you need long exposure times, big aperture and very steady hands (or a tripod). With a DSLR things are a little easier since you not only have more control, but with a fast lens like the 50mm f/1.8 you can hand hold most shots if you are shooting something illuminated with a street light, anything darker and you will require a tripod, since you’d have to expose for many seconds or longer…

Taken with a light behind the tree

No flash, just lights that illuminates the object

Flowers taken without flash, again not so good at macro...