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From a young age, I’ve been curious about the big questions.
Why am I here? What’s the point?
For the past several years, I’ve shared a thread on Christmas about the implications of Jesus. Last year’s is below.
This year I want to get personal about my unexpected journey from ardent atheism to faith that shook the foundations of my life and changed it forever.
Merry Christmas!
— Brent Beshore (@BrentBeshore) December 25, 2019
Today, my family and billions of others celebrate the birth of a poor refugee who taught for three years, died disgracefully, and changed the world forever.
If you\u2019re confused by Jesus, as I was for a considerable time, I\u2019d encourage you to study him. pic.twitter.com/6GimdnZS1c
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From a young age, I’ve been curious about the big questions.
Why am I here? What’s the point?
But, everyone else seemed to be into it and they had tasty snacks, so I might as well roll with it.
On the topic of faith, I'd say I finished high school confused but curious.
As I started law school, I became obsessed with money and achievement. I got into reading “new atheist” authors and quickly adopted their condescending views of religion and faith.
Smart people, like me, weren’t distracted with feel-good fairy tales.
Humanity was the random product of Darwinian evolution, descendants of pond scum and apes, so therefore we should try to be good people.
Life’s purpose is to make your own meaning, have fun, and fight for what’s right.
My cause was whatever was fashionable, whatever made me look look good, got me praise, or opened doors. Good works were a stepping stone to success.
I didn’t know what love was, but “loved” the slogan. And frankly, I didn’t do the hard work of contemplating the logical conclusions of my atheism, despite reading Nietzsche.
I got lucky a few times in business and ended up in my late 20s with a successful and growing firm, a beautiful wife who loved me, and a gnawing sense of emptiness, anxiety, and frustration.
They broke all my assumptions. They were funny and loving, kind and humble.
They helped the helpless with no desire for recognition or expectation of reciprocity.
Wasn’t Christianity just a convenient white Western man’s religion? (It’s not.)
Aren’t all religions basically the same? (They’re not.)
Didn’t becoming a Christian make you a stick-in-the-mud bigot? (Oh, heck no and, frankly, the opposite.)
I had a patient group of mentors who were much further along in their journey, much wiser, and far better read than me. They started feeding me books and taking me to lunch.
Am I very much still a work in progress? Just ask anyone who knows me, especially my wife, kids, and co-workers.
But has my life been unmistakably and positively impacted? Yes, and in ways I couldn’t have even imagined.
I awkwardly poured out my fears and hopes and doubts. And while there was no grand event, something changed. God changed me and, gratefully, that work continues.
Just know that the Creator of all humbled himself, took on human flesh and died so that you may have abundant life. He loves you more than you'll ever know and wants a relationship with you.
He's our light in the night. https://t.co/rQBkn6CZ1C
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The Nashville Operation - A Battle in the War
A thread exploring the Nashville bombing in the context of the 2020 Digital War (via SolarWinds) against the United States perpetrated by our enemies, likely China, Iran and/or Russia.
SolarWinds Hack
A digital "Pearl Harbor" moment for the United States, whoever was responsible had access to the keys to the kingdom for months during 2020, including sensitive military infrastructure. This is war!
SunGard + SolarWinds
SolarWinds software company is owned by same company that owns SunGard, which essentially provides data center services. A secure place to host internet servers with redundant power and "big pipe" data connections.
https://t.co/U3P3SrrkM1
SunGard Data Center
In Nashville, around the corner from their "big pipe" connection, AT&T. Like any data center, highly secure. Only authorized personnel can enter, and even fewer can access the actual server rooms. Backup generators are available in case of power failure.
If the SunGard hardware was being used to "host" critical command and control software related to SolarWinds, the US powers would be very interested in gaining special access keys that are stored on the hard-drives of specific servers.
A thread exploring the Nashville bombing in the context of the 2020 Digital War (via SolarWinds) against the United States perpetrated by our enemies, likely China, Iran and/or Russia.
SolarWinds Hack
A digital "Pearl Harbor" moment for the United States, whoever was responsible had access to the keys to the kingdom for months during 2020, including sensitive military infrastructure. This is war!
SunGard + SolarWinds
SolarWinds software company is owned by same company that owns SunGard, which essentially provides data center services. A secure place to host internet servers with redundant power and "big pipe" data connections.
https://t.co/U3P3SrrkM1
SunGard Data Center
In Nashville, around the corner from their "big pipe" connection, AT&T. Like any data center, highly secure. Only authorized personnel can enter, and even fewer can access the actual server rooms. Backup generators are available in case of power failure.
If the SunGard hardware was being used to "host" critical command and control software related to SolarWinds, the US powers would be very interested in gaining special access keys that are stored on the hard-drives of specific servers.
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THREAD: 12 Things Everyone Should Know About IQ
1. IQ is one of the most heritable psychological traits – that is, individual differences in IQ are strongly associated with individual differences in genes (at least in fairly typical modern environments). https://t.co/3XxzW9bxLE
2. The heritability of IQ *increases* from childhood to adulthood. Meanwhile, the effect of the shared environment largely fades away. In other words, when it comes to IQ, nature becomes more important as we get older, nurture less. https://t.co/UqtS1lpw3n
3. IQ scores have been increasing for the last century or so, a phenomenon known as the Flynn effect. https://t.co/sCZvCst3hw (N ≈ 4 million)
(Note that the Flynn effect shows that IQ isn't 100% genetic; it doesn't show that it's 100% environmental.)
4. IQ predicts many important real world outcomes.
For example, though far from perfect, IQ is the single-best predictor of job performance we have – much better than Emotional Intelligence, the Big Five, Grit, etc. https://t.co/rKUgKDAAVx https://t.co/DWbVI8QSU3
5. Higher IQ is associated with a lower risk of death from most causes, including cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, most forms of cancer, homicide, suicide, and accident. https://t.co/PJjGNyeQRA (N = 728,160)
1. IQ is one of the most heritable psychological traits – that is, individual differences in IQ are strongly associated with individual differences in genes (at least in fairly typical modern environments). https://t.co/3XxzW9bxLE
2. The heritability of IQ *increases* from childhood to adulthood. Meanwhile, the effect of the shared environment largely fades away. In other words, when it comes to IQ, nature becomes more important as we get older, nurture less. https://t.co/UqtS1lpw3n
3. IQ scores have been increasing for the last century or so, a phenomenon known as the Flynn effect. https://t.co/sCZvCst3hw (N ≈ 4 million)
(Note that the Flynn effect shows that IQ isn't 100% genetic; it doesn't show that it's 100% environmental.)
4. IQ predicts many important real world outcomes.
For example, though far from perfect, IQ is the single-best predictor of job performance we have – much better than Emotional Intelligence, the Big Five, Grit, etc. https://t.co/rKUgKDAAVx https://t.co/DWbVI8QSU3
5. Higher IQ is associated with a lower risk of death from most causes, including cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, most forms of cancer, homicide, suicide, and accident. https://t.co/PJjGNyeQRA (N = 728,160)
1/x Fort Detrick History
Mr. Patrick, one of the chief scientists at the Army Biological Warfare Laboratories at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md., held five classified US patents for the process of weaponizing anthrax.
2/x
Under Mr. Patrick’s direction, scientists at Fort Detrick developed a tularemia agent that, if disseminated by airplane, could cause casualties & sickness over 1000s mi². In a 10,000 mi² range, it had 90% casualty rate & 50% fatality rate
3/x His team explored Q fever, plague, & Venezuelan equine encephalitis, testing more than 20 anthrax strains to discern most lethal variety. Fort Detrick scientists used aerosol spray systems inside fountain pens, walking sticks, light bulbs, & even in 1953 Mercury exhaust pipes
4/x After retiring in 1986, Mr. Patrick remained one of the world’s foremost specialists on biological warfare & was a consultant to the CIA, FBI, & US military. He debriefed Soviet defector Ken Alibek, the deputy chief of the Soviet biowarfare program
https://t.co/sHqSaTSqtB
5/x Back in Time
In 1949 the Army created a small team of chemists at "Camp Detrick" called Special Operations Division. Its assignment was to find military uses for toxic bacteria. The coercive use of toxins was a new field, which fascinated Allen Dulles, later head of the CIA
Mr. Patrick, one of the chief scientists at the Army Biological Warfare Laboratories at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md., held five classified US patents for the process of weaponizing anthrax.
2/x
Under Mr. Patrick’s direction, scientists at Fort Detrick developed a tularemia agent that, if disseminated by airplane, could cause casualties & sickness over 1000s mi². In a 10,000 mi² range, it had 90% casualty rate & 50% fatality rate
3/x His team explored Q fever, plague, & Venezuelan equine encephalitis, testing more than 20 anthrax strains to discern most lethal variety. Fort Detrick scientists used aerosol spray systems inside fountain pens, walking sticks, light bulbs, & even in 1953 Mercury exhaust pipes
4/x After retiring in 1986, Mr. Patrick remained one of the world’s foremost specialists on biological warfare & was a consultant to the CIA, FBI, & US military. He debriefed Soviet defector Ken Alibek, the deputy chief of the Soviet biowarfare program
https://t.co/sHqSaTSqtB
5/x Back in Time
In 1949 the Army created a small team of chemists at "Camp Detrick" called Special Operations Division. Its assignment was to find military uses for toxic bacteria. The coercive use of toxins was a new field, which fascinated Allen Dulles, later head of the CIA