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Heart of the Matter

Heart of the Matter: How Not to Be Shallow (1 Sam. 16:6-7) Chris Altrock – July 2, 2017

This entry is part [part not set] of 4 in the series The Heart of the Matter

The book Hidden Figures, which was made into a critically acclaimed movie, tells of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in Virginia.[1] Housed at NACA, the precursor to NASA, Langley was where production and experimental aircraft were developed and tested, especially during and after World Word War II. Langley helped develop the first supersonic aircraft in the U.S. Langley also participated significantly in the development and testing of the first U.S. spacecraft.

All of this work required extremely high levels of mathematics. Data from tests had to be processed by hand–much of this was before the advent of modern computers. Thus human computers or mathematicians were hired by the hundreds. They spent their days crunching all the data gathered in the lab’s wind tunnels and other tests. As the space race ensued, these human computers calculated the trajectories of the Mercury and Apollo missions as well.Read More »Heart of the Matter: How Not to Be Shallow (1 Sam. 16:6-7) Chris Altrock – July 2, 2017

Heart of the Matter: Leaving the Land of Forgetfulness (1 Sam. 7) Chris Altrock – June 18, 2017

This entry is part [part not set] of 4 in the series The Heart of the Matter

 

There are a small number of people in the world diagnosed with hyperthymesia.[1] Essentially, these are people who remember everything–everything. Alexandre Wolfe is one of them. In an interview for NPR, Alexandre described how she can recall every detail of a mundane activity like driving to Target for groceries more than ten years ago. She can recall what she wore and ate every day for the past decade. She remembers if the fan in the bedroom was running on this date last year.

This hyper memory could be helpful. Imagine never forgetting another birthday or anniversary or special occasion. Imagine never forgetting another important fact while you are at work or school. Imagine studying for a test and remembering everything you studied. Imagine being able to win every trivia game.Read More »Heart of the Matter: Leaving the Land of Forgetfulness (1 Sam. 7) Chris Altrock – June 18, 2017