One question that I explored in working on my dissertation was the age structure of the ABC population. Since turning in my final draft, I have finally figured out how to use the U.S. Census Data Ferret to get the information that I wanted. The graph below shows the number of ABCs for each year of age in the 2000 census. (Click on the image for a larger view.)

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Now that my dissertation is finished, I want to share some grad school humor that I have bookmarked during the process. Here some great strips from the Ph.D. comic. For those marked as “series,” press the “next” button to continue to the end of the series):

• Writing your Thesis Outline
• Your Thesis Title
• Phd Years-to-Thesis Chapter Conversion Chart
• The Thesis (series)
  
• Raiders of the lost dissertation (series)
  

Also, I have just found this hilarious video about dissertation writing. This is done by the same talented guy who helped me make the video of my dissertation presentation.

No Dissertation from ticoneva on Vimeo.

In April I did a 2 hour presentation of a summary of my dissertation research on Reaching the Next Generations in Bilingual Chinese Churches. The audio is finally ready to share with you here.

I have set up the presentation on slideshare.net so that the audio portion is synced to the presentation slides. You can see the presentation here. I hope that this will be of benefit to those of you who were interested in the presentation be were unable to attend.  There is one place where the audio seems to skip.  That is due to a 40 second section of the file that had been corrupted, which I deleted.

Meanwhile, work is progressing on the video file. When it is ready to be viewed, I will update this post with the link.

Please share any comments or suggestions that you have on the presentation in the comments here.

A new movie opens today with Ben Stein titled “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.” This documentary explores the oppressive tactics used by the academic community to attempt to silence all discussion of Intelligent Design as an alternative to evolutionary theory. The movie reportedly includes interviews with some well know evolutionary scholars and opponents of the Christian faith.

I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I received a strong endorsement in a email newsletter from Christian screenwriter Brian Godawa:

I want to encourage you all to go see a great movie that opens this weekend on Friday.

It’s called “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.” I’ve seen it twice and it is an entertaining and eye opening film about how Intelligent Design is being systematically forced out of scientific discourse by the bigotry and intolerance of the Darwinist establishment.

This is a powerful movie about the necessity of freedom of speech, and freedom of inquiry in science that is being lost through academic censorship and punishment of legitimate scientists who merely question the dogma of Darwinism.

It is hosted by a brilliant and funny Ben Stein and is the best documentary I have ever seen on the topic.

Anti-Christian crusader Richard Dawkins apparently crashed a private early screening in Minnesota. Some of those opposed to Intelligent Design have been very vocal in attacking the movie and trying to discourage people from seeing it. The National Center For Science Education has set up a special web site dedicated to discrediting the film. Apparently there are a lot of people who really don’t want you to see this movie. That just makes me want to see it even more!

The movie opens today, and depending on how many people see it this weekend it may or may not be around the following weekend. I am trying to figure how how to fit this into my schedule, because it looks like it will be well worth seeing. The movie website includes a theater locater.

Update on 4-25-08: I saw the movie on Wed. with my family. The theater was nearly empty, but it was a Wed. night. Apparently it did fairly well over the weekend. The film is still in theaters this weekend, so you can still see it. I think that this movie is well worth seeing. It does not deal primarily with the evidence for or against evolution, but rather with the efforts by those in power in academia to silence the debate and ruin the careers of those who dare to give any credence to Intelligent Design.

When Jesus was dying on the cross, He cried out “It is finished,” signifying that He had completely paid for our sins (Jn. 19:30). The Greek term that is used in that verse has been found on first century receipts, where it means “paid in full.” Given that yesterday was Good Friday, you might think that the title of this post is a reference to that event, but actually I am writing about something much more mundane.

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It only happens once every four years, so I wanted to take the opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Leap Day. In the fall when Daylight Savings Time ends we often hear talk about what people are going to do with their “extra hour,” but I haven’t heard any discussion about what to do with the extra day. Think about it.. an entire extra day! What will you do with it?

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An article in the LA Times reports on a Pew Forum study shows that the U.S. is still overwhelmingly Christian. According to the study, 78.4 Americans are Christians according to the broadest definition of the term, which includes Roman Catholics. Not everyone on that list would adhere to core biblical beliefs, but neither are they atheists or followers of another religion. Evangelicals form the single largest religious tradition, making up 26.3% of Americans.

I just thought that some of the people in Berkeley might like to know that they are in the minority in this country. The whole country does not look much like Berkeley.