Testing the Test

I am back in classes and read this from G. K. Chesterton from his work The Common Man last night, so I'm sharing it with you to get your thoughts.

...man is always influenced by thought of some kind, his own or somebody else's; that of somebody he trusts or that of somebody he never heard of, thought at first, second or third hand; thought from exploded legends or unverified rumours; but always something with the shadow of a system of values and a reason for preference. A man does test everything by something. The question here is whether he has ever tested the test.

Intriguing question indeed. 

Do I think for myself? 

What is my test?

Do I test the test?

Do you test the test?

Jewish Apocalypticism in the Second Temple Period: Literature, Sociology and Theology

I have just finished my paper on Second Temple Jewish Apocalypticism. It is a bit of a broad overview of the topic. I have published it to GoogleDocs for anyone who is interested.

The paper can be found here.

Fantasy Cycling: Final Update

So, for those of you who have been checking back incessantly, so as to find out how my fantasy cycling team did...well, I'll give you a hint: I got beasted. Yep, that's pretty much how it went down, Trinity even did better than me. I had a few good stages, but nothing spectacular and overall in my league of 3 I was last place.

Next year will be better though. Next year...

Fantasy Cycling: Update 2

So, the first 4 stages of Le Tour de France are now done. Today was the individual time trial (ITT) and it shook things up quite a bit. I did much better today, though, earning 247 points by having 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 9th place as starters on my team today (you only get points when riders place in the top 15 riders on any particular stage).

After today's stage, though, the rosters get locked in everyone is reset to zero. In case anyone is wondering, my 15 riders are:

David Millar

Fabian Cancellara

Denis Menchov

George Hincapie

Damiano Cunego

Alejandro Valverde

Filippo Pozzato

Yaroslav Popovych

Robbie McEwen

Jens Voigt

Jose Ivan Gutierrez

Christopher Froome

Egoi Martinez

Inaki Isasi

David De La Fuente

It's not too late to join the fantasy cycling challenge. Just go here. However, you do need to put your team together before midnight tonight, as that's when it gets all locked up.

Fantasy Cycling: Update 1

So, after the first stage of the Tour de France I racked up a woping 46 points. You may be thinking, "Thomas, that doesn't sound too bad." Well, I would think that too, if the first place team didn't have 529 points and I weren't in 617th place.

Oh well, the first 4 stages are practice rounds. I'm trying to work out the kinks and be ready for stage 5.

More updates to come.

Fantasy Cycling?

That's right, there really is such a thing as fantasy cycling. I guess it was only a matter of time.

I've never done any other fantasy leagues before, but am stoked about this one. I've put my team together for the 2008 Tour de France, which starts Saturday. 

2008 Tour de France Route

You can check out the fantasy cycling challenge here. 

I've created a league, so if you're interested leave a comment with your name and e-mail address and I'll send you the league name and password.

For more Tour information check out the Versus website.

Who is your favorite for this year's Tour?

Energy Crisis, Or Lack Thereof

As some of you know, I try to stay up on environmental issues like global warming and the like. Though this is not exactly an environmental issue, it falls in the same part of my brain for some reason. I was sent a link to a video 2 days ago of a lecture by Lindsey Williams on what he calls the Energy Non-Crisis. I have my opinions of it, but wanted to see what you thought. 

Williams essentially says that there is a group of men who determine how much oil can be used and how much it is going to cost. He also says that they have found probably the largest oil field in the world on the Alaskan North Coast, but that the government isn't letting them pump oil out of it, but instead making us buy oil from the Middle East because of a deal made in the 60s or 70s.

Anyway, the video can be found here.

It is a long video, 1 hour and 15 minutes, but please watch it and share your thoughts.