Information on Many Subjects.

  

The great value of technology is enumerable. Technology has helped us wake up from sleep, organize our days, travel, and develop complex civilizations. Like always, there should be a balance. Technology is a tool that will enhance human life, but technology should never replace originality among human thinking. We should have the right to establish our own diverse intellectual displays of brilliance. Also, it is important to understand about the how not just the what. It's fine to know about what things are made of, but we need to know how things work in order to advance true innovation in the present plus the future. One of the most interesting things to discover on how is to know how cellphones work. Cellphones have an LCD screen, an earphone socket, battery connector, batter chargers, heatsinks, a piezoelectric buzzer, a buzzer control chip, an antenna connector, and other components. Advanced smartphones have heatsink for processor chips, NFC antenna connectors, infrared focusing beam for its camera, flashlight/camera flash, a quad core qualcomm snapdragon processor chip, a SIM card slot, a mircro SD card slot, lithium ion battery, a digital camera, and other parts. When a person speaks into a cellphone, there is a tiny microchip in the handset that converts the sound of the voice into a pattern of electrical signals. A microchip inside the phones turns these signals into a string of numbers. The numbers are picked up into a radio wave and beamed out from the phone's antenna. The radio waves go through the air at the speed of light until it reaches the closest cellphone mast. The mast receives the signals and passes them on to its base station, which effectively coordinates what happens inside each local part of the cellphone network, which is called a cell. From the base station, the calls are routed onward to their destinations. Calls made from a cellphone to another cellphone on the same network travel to their destination by being routed to the base station nearest to the destination phone, and finally to that phone itself. Calls made to a cellphone on a different network or a land line follow a more lengthy path. They may have to be routed into the main telephone network before they can reach their ultimate destination. So, cellphones use wireless technology. Therefore, the value of technology is evidently clear. 

 

When it is all said and done, architecture is one of the glories of the Universe. Architecture teaches us that human creativity is powerful and strong. It also gives us the truth that there are limitations of invention. Human beings are very intelligent, but we aren't omnipotent, omnipresent, and all-knowing. Only God is. Therefore, we see architecture as a glimpse into the massive creativity among human beings and the responsibilities that we have in the Universe in general. Some architecture is created for human need like shelter, forming governments, and establishing spiritual locations of worship. Other forms of architecture are established for aesthetical reasons or for the purpose of artistic representations. Engineers, construction people, and other human beings all have a role in the art of architecture. From the Neolithic age to 2022, complex architecture has spread all over the world from Africa to the Americas. As human history evolved from the Neolithic Age to other era, we saw architecture evolve into the Ziggurat of Ur, the Great Pyramids of Giza, the Pantheon (found in Rome), the Temple of Diana, the Temple at Teotihuacan, the Great Enclosure of Zimbabwe, Art Deco designs, and other structures. Contemporary architecture in the 21st century is about diversity, not making a single style being dominant, and using high tech, pro-green imagery. The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) represents modern day architecture to the fullest. David Adjaye was one architect out of many architects involved in the project to fully form the NMAAHC building. The building houses an amazing display of black American literature, artifacts, clothes, pictures, sculptures, and other displays of black culture. STEM Fields and architecture go hand in hand, because you need a great understanding of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to make architecture to come alive for real. 

 

In our generation, we must make it be known that threats to our voting rights continue, even decades after 1965. By December 6, 2019, the Democratic led House passed HR 4. This would revise parts of the gutted parts of the Voting Rights Act. HR 4 wasn't brought up for a vote in the Senate (which was controlled by the Republicans back then). It hasn't been introduced in the current Congress. After Joe Biden won the 2020 election on November 7, 2020, the voter suppression actions by many far-right Republicans have accelerated, not decreased in intensity. To be honest, black people in Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and other places in America contributed heavily to make sure that Trump lost the election. So, the big lie about the election is an attack on the integrity of black people and all freedom loving people too.  By March 3, 2021, the Democratic led House passed the For the People Act or HR 1. It still hasn't been passed by the Senate to this day. In his first speech on the Senate floor, Rep. Warnock (on March 17, 2021) spoke about the precarious state of voting rights. “We are witnessing right now a massive and unabashed assault on voting rights unlike anything we’ve ever seen since the Jim Crow era,” he said. “It is a contradiction to say we must protect minority rights in the Senate while refusing to protect minority rights in the society.” On March 25, 2021, Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp signed an anti-voting rights bill into law. It is called SB 202. It imposes new voter identification requirements for absentee ballots, allows state officials to take over local election boards, curbs the use of ballot drop boxes and makes it a crime for people who aren’t poll workers to approach voters in line to give them food and water. Democrat Stacey Abrams — who founded Fair Fight after losing to Kemp in the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial race, which was choked with controversy — has been vocal in her opposition to Georgia Republicans’ antidemocratic maneuvering. “At a time when Georgia ranks as the worst state for Covid vaccination rates, Georgia Republicans instead are singularly focused on reviving Georgia's dark past of racist voting laws,” Abrams said in a March 2021 statement.

On May 6, 2021, Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed another restrictive anti-voting rights bill into law. It's called SB 90. It has stricter voter identification requirements for voting by mail, limits who can pick up and return a voter’s ballot and prohibits private funding for elections, among other things. Mere minutes after DeSantis signed the bill, a coalition that includes the League of Women Voters of Florida and the Black Voters Matter Fund filed a lawsuit to challenge several of the new law’s provisions. Democratic state Rep. Michael Grieco saw clear parallels between Georgia’s SB 202 and Florida’s SB 90. “That bill that was passed in the state just north of us sent us a message, and the response to that bill should let us know we should not be doing this,” he said during House debate in 2021. Grieco also made an appeal, “Please do not Georgia my Florida.” On September 7, 2021, Texas Republican Governor Gregg Abbott signed SB 1 into law. It is terrible. “It specifically targets voting initiatives used by diverse, Democratic Harris County, the state’s most populous, by banning overnight early voting hours and drive-thru voting — both of which proved popular among voters of color last year,” The Texas Tribune reported at the time. Notably, SB 1 prompted the Department of Justice to file a lawsuit against Texas. “Laws that impair eligible citizens’ access to the ballot box have no place in our democracy. Texas Senate Bill 1’s restrictions on voter assistance at the polls and on which absentee ballots cast by eligible voters can be accepted by election officials are unlawful and indefensible,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division.

By December 6, 2021, the DOJ sued Texas over GOP approved redistricting maps. It was the 2nd voting rights related lawsuit that the Biden administration have filed against Texas in 2021. The maps, adopted by Texas Republicans, are accused of disadvantaging black voters and fail to recognize the growth of the state's Latino population. At least 19 states passed 34 laws that make it difficult for people to vote according to the New York University Law School's Brennan Center for Justice. On January 19, 2022, Congress failed to pass voting rights legislation. Senator Joe Manchin and Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema refuse to end the filibuster on Dr. King's holiday. Dr. King was right to say that, “the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens’ Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the White moderate who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice.” On February 7, 2022, the Supreme restored the GOP drawn Alabama Congressional map. It was a 5-4 decision. This was another bad decision. Previously, a lower court rejected the policy as it harmed black voter's electoral power in violation of the Voting Rights Act. Justice Elena Kagan of the Supreme Court dissented with the Supreme Court's decision. She was joined by Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor. Kagan wrote that, "It does a disservice to the district court, which meticulously applied this Court’s longstanding voting-rights precedent...And most of all, it does a disservice to Black Alabamians who under that precedent have had their electoral power diminished — in violation of a law this Court once knew to buttress all of American democracy.” New states have introduced bills to restrict voting so far in 2022 alone. So, we have to stand up for our democratic rights. 

 

With all of the voting rights suppression laws, we do recognize the activists fighting back for our freedom. One of the most unsung heroes fighting for voting rights is LaTosha Brown. She is the co-founder of Black Voters Matter Fund and the Black Voters Capacity Building Institute. She was one of the many human beings who have worked in Georgia to grow a coalition to make sure that Georgia was blue in 2020. Expanding voting access in Georgia is a large part of her great legacy as an activist. The 2022 midterm elections are coming up. We have to expand voting rights, fight voter ID restrictions, fight unfair gerrymandering, and harbor a love of truth. We want racial justice as well. We know about Charles Neblett, Ruth Mae Harris, and other civil rights singers advocating for freedom. Yolanda Renee King (or the granddaughter of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.) has spoken out, protested, and use great activism in defending our human rights. Cliff Albright of Black Voters Matter is continuing to fight for voting rights. Other civil rights leaders and scholars like Kim Crenshaw, Helen Butler, and other people are making the point that voting restrictions are evil plus critical race theory is not equivalent to racist extremism. Tons of people are standing up like Ruby Sales (who was part of SNCC and other groups), etc. We have to show solidarity with Crystal Mason who was in jail when she didn't know that she was ineligible to vote. The late John Lewis spoke out about how extremists who try to turn back the clock, and we won't let that happen in the future. 

 

By February 7, 2022, a lab from the World Anti Doping Agency found that there was a sample from Valieva that was found not being clean. She was suspended by the RUSADA. In early February of 2022, Switzerland's Lara Gut-Behrami won the women’s super-G event (of alpine skiing), Norway's Marte Olsbu Røiseland captured the gold in the women’s 7.5km sprint event (of the biathlon), and Finland's Livo Niskanen took the top spot at men's 15 Km classic event (in the cross country skiing event). For Short Track Speed Skating: Suzanne Schulting of the Netherlands clinched a thrilling, photo-finish gold in the women’s 1,000m event. For Skeleton: Christopher Grotheer's gold gave Germany its first ever medal in the men's event. For Snowboard: Japan's Ayumu Hirano impressed on his way to the men’s snowboard halfpipe gold. For Speed Skating: Sweden's Nils van der Poel captured the gold in the men’s 10,000m event. On Day 8, there was the mixed team snowboard cross event with America winning gold with Nick Baumgartner and Lindsey Jacobellis. Speed skating with men's 500m had gold done by Gao Tingyu (from China). Erin Jackson won the women's 500m race in speed skating, Japan's Miho Takagi won silver, and Angelina Golikova from the ROC won bronze. 

On Day 10 on February 14, 2022, Americans won much of the bobsleigh women's monobob with Kaillie Humphries winning gold, Elana Mayers Taylor winning silver, and Canada's Christine de Bruin winning bronze. Of ice dance in figure skating, France's Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron won gold, Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov won silver of ROC, and Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue won bronze from America. For women's aerials of freestyle skiing, Xu Mengtao won gold from China, Hanna Huskova of Belarus won silver, and Megan Nick of America won bronze. On Day 11, many people won from across the world. Corrine Suter of Switzerland won gold of women's downhill in Alpine skiing. Norway won gold in the individual large hill of Nordic combined with Jorgen Graabak. China won gold in the men's big air with Su Yiming of China. By Day 12 on Wednesday on February 16, 2022, we see many gold winners of men's slalom of Alphine skiing Clement Noel (of France), the Swedish team winning the biathlon women's relay (with Linn Persson, Mona Brorsson, Hanna Oberg, and Elvira Oberg), and  Norway winning men's team sprint of cross-country skiing (with the German women's team sprint team winning gold for cross country skiing). On Day 13, February 17, 2022, American women won silver in the ice hockey women's team, Canada won gold, and Finland won silver. 

By February 18 in Day 14 dealt with many events. Norway's Johannes Thringes Bo won gold in the men's mass start, France's Justine Braisaz-Bouchet won gold in the women's mass start (part of the biathlon). Later, America's David Wise won silver in the men's halfpipe, New Zealand's Nico Porteous celebrate gold, and Ale Ferreira won bronze. On Day 16, February 20, 2022, Austria won gold for the mixed team of alpine skiing, Germany won silver, and Norway won bronze. This event of the 2022 Winter Olympics had many black people and people of color playing and winning in the Winter Olympics too. It is important to show this information on Black History Month and to show the world that talent is diverse. Erin Jackson is the first black American woman to win a solo medal in speed skating during the 2022 Winter Olympics. Erin Jackson was the first black woman to be on the U.S. long track speed skating team. Erin Jackson is 29 years old. For years, Erin Jackson has been an expert althlete. Richardson Viano represented Haiti at the Beijing Olympics in 2022 as being involved in the sport of alpine skier. Mama Biney is involved in the short track being from America. Carlos Meader is from Ghana being 43 years old. Nigeria's Samuel Ikpefan is a 30 year old man involved in cross country skiing. Sylvia Hoffman is a black Olympian from America being 32 years old. Kaysha Love is 24 years old from America too. She is involved in the bobsleigh. American Hakeem Abdul-Saboor is 35 years old and Afro-Canadian is 31 years old. More black competitors in the 2022 Winter Olympics are Jamaican Shanwayne Stephens (who is 31 years old), Afro-Jamaican Ashley Watson (being 28 years old), Afro- Jamaican Matthew Wekpe, and Afro-Jamaican Rolando Reid (being 29 years old).  

 

There is the news of bobsleeder Elena Meyers Taylor making history as the most decorated black athlete in the Winter Olympics. She is 37 years old now. The title was previously held by Shani Davis who won 4 medals. Taylor won bronze at the Beijing 2022 Olympics on Saturday. USA's Elana Meyers Taylor and Sylvia Hoffman (who is a black woman too) celebrate on the podium with their bronze medals during the venue ceremony after the 2-woman bobsleigh event at the Yanqing National Sliding Centre. Elana Meyers Taylor was born in Oceanside, California, Meyers Taylor was raised in Douglasville, Georgia and is a graduate of The George Washington University, where she was a member of the softball team. Meyers Taylor is a Christian. She has said, "One of the big reasons I was put in bobsled is to help people not only reach their goals, but come to Christ. God put me here for a specific reason and I don't think it's just to win medals. At the end of the day, I'm in this sport to glorify God, so if that means I come in last place or I win the gold medal, that's what I’m going to do." 

 

From Revelation 4-5, the Apostle John sees the throne of God in amazing detail. Both chapters in 4 and 5 detail his vision of Heaven. John saw God at the right hand of God the Father as proven previously in Acts 7:55. John heard a trumpet. The Throne of Heaven looks like a jasper stone and sardius with a rainbow around the throne. The imagery of the rainbow is from Genesis 9:11-17 where God made a promise to Noah that he would never destroy the world again by a great flood. The New Testament says that a New Heaven and a New Earth will exist (Revelation 21:1, 1 Peter 3:12). The throne has 24 elders. 24 relates to the 12 tribes of Israel in the OT and the 12 Apostles of the NT showing God's representatives in both eras. It unites the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. They wear crowns of gold. John hears lightings and voices of thunders. The Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 2:4-10 mentioned that the church is a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, etc. John saw the seven lamps of fire burning before the throne representing the seven Spirits of God. John wrote about animals with full of eyes like a lion, like a calf, and the face like a man. There was the fourth being a flying eagle. Scholars believe that these beings represent angels and the glory of God. These creatures gave glory to God constantly. By Revelation 5, John saw an angel asking who is worthy to open the book and loose the seals. No one on Earth is worthy to do so. John was crying, and then things changed. Jesus Christ or the Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David opened the book and the seven seals. As King, He sits at the right hand of the throne of God (Acts 2:33-36; He 1:8-13; 1 Cor 15:23-28; Rev 3:21) and rules the universe. Revelation 5 mentions the 144,000 saints made up of believing Jewish people and believing Gentiles representing the power of the Church. 

Revelation 6-19 shows future events from the end of days to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Revelation 6 deals with a smaller cycle within the first major cycle of Chapter 6-11. The smaller cycle of the time in Revelation 6 is about the rise of the beast (or the Antichrist) until the return of Jesus Christ. Revelation 14 is the smaller cycle within Chapter 13-19 that gives an overview of the Great Tribulation until the return of Jesus Christ showing different details. The first 6 seals start in Revelation 6. This seal comes from the rider on the white horse. It comes when the Beast or Antichrist comes on the scene. The Beast is a world leader found in Revelation 13 and 2 Thessalonians 2. Once, the antichrist is revealed, Revelation teaches that within that person's lifetime, Christ will return. No one knows the day or the hour of the end except the Father only as mentioned in Matthew 24:36. The 2nd seal is a person on the red horse and the third seal is a rider on a black horse (representing famine and starvation). The fourth seal is on a pale horse representing death and Hades. Many people in that time go hungry.  The Antichrist comes into power and Revelation 13 exists. Satan will have his power over this Beast and a falling away happens. Many people of the world's religion leave their religions to worship and follow the beast being part of the great deception (2 Thess 2:4). Many saints are martyred for refusing to submit to the beast and the false prophet. This is about the Great Tribulation (post trib rapture) that comes about in Revelation 6:9-11, Rev. 7:9-14, and Rev. 13:7, 9, 10, and 15). The fifth seal deal with the Great Tribulation, and the 6th seal is about God's wrath on the beast, the beast's kingdom, and the beast's follower. This is a short period of time lasting about three and a half years. This culminates into Christ's return and the end of the age. By the 2nd Coming, the Beast, the false prophet, and his kingdom is gone. 

God protects the saints. The trumpet and bowl judgments of God take place. In Revelation 8 and 9, the seventh seal brings silence for half an hour. Seven trumpets and 7 angels are at the throne. The prayers of the saints come to God. In Revelation 10-11:14, we see the angel with the scroll measuring the Temple of God in Heaven. We have the 2 witnesses preaching judgement for three and a half years in the Earth. There is a Great Earthquake. This takes place during the sixth seal. In Revelation 11:15-19, we see the seventh trumpet, the return of Christ, and the world being the Kingdoms of Christ. The dead are judges and saints are rewarded. 

Revelation 12 is heavily filled with symbolism. It talks about the Dragon going after the woman's child. The Dragon is Satan trying to destroy Christ, but he fails. The child is symbolic of Jesus Christ. Later, Satan is after Israel in the ages of history from 70 A.D. to the return of Christ. Revelation 13 shows a recap of the rise of the Antichrist with more details. It shows the first 5 seals. Revelation 14 outlines the Great Tribulation, 144,000 born again Jewish people with Jesus on Mount Zion (sealed and preserved by God during the Great Tribulation). The first angels show the Gospel to the world to worship Christ not the beast. Revelation 14:8 talks about the fall of Babylon (or the Beast's Kingdoms). Revelation 16 and 17 outlines God's judgement and the protection of God's people. Revelation 17 shows Babylon being gone. The vision shows bowl judgements. It shows the beast as having 7 heads meaning 7 kings or world kingdoms. This is from the book of Daniel. Revelation 18 shows the Fall of Babylon during the 6th seal because of the bowl judgments of God. The destruction of Babylon is fast taking place in one hour. Revelation 19 shows the great multitude of heaven of every color celebrating the end of time. There is the wedding supper of the Lamb. The Second Coming of Christ comes. The battle of Armageddon exists with the destruction of the Beast, the false prophet, and the followers of the Beast. This is shown in many New Testament scriptures like Matthew 24:29-31 and 2 Thess. 2:1-8. This comes at the end of the 6th seal. Later in Revelation 20, Satan is bound for 1000 years. There is the first resurrection of the righteous, and the 2nd one is of the unrighteous. After the 1,000 years Satan comes to get many nations against the saints to surround Jerusalem for a final battle. Yet, they lose the battle. Satan is cast to the Lake of Fire where he and the beast plus the false prophet are punished forever and ever. The unrighteous have the 2nd resurrection where they are judged at the Great White Throne Judgment of Christ. They are cast into the Lake of Fire which is the Second Death. 

In Revelation 21, the New Heaven and New Earth is revealed. 2 Peter 3:10-13 shows how the first heaven and first Earth have passed away. The Holy City or the New Jerusalem comes to Earth. The Bride, the Lamb's wife and the city of God are in bliss. The chapter of Revelation 22 shows the River of Life and the Tree of Life.  The Revelation of John is concluded. There are final words for believers in God to get ready for His return and to not add or take away from the prophecy too. 

 

Out of all of the books of the Bible, the book of Revelations is probably the most fascinating book, because it describes prophecies about the end of human existence as we know it. The Bible is clear that the rapture happens after the Tribulation. This is found in Matthew 24:29-31. It mentions that immediately after the tribulation, that the Son of God comes from Heaven with power and glory. After that, Jesus Christ sent his angels with a great sound of a trumpet to gather the elect from the world. According to the Bible, the wrath of God is different from the Tribulation. The New Testament in Matthew 13:21, Mark 4:17, and Romans 2:9,5:3 mention that God's children will endure tribulation not wrath. As we are seeing, we witness a new generation filled with people openly embracing New Age heresies (as advanced by Helena P. Blavatsky, Annie Besant, Manly P. Hall, and others. New Age teachings are form the ancient Mystery teachings. These same teachings have been found in esoteric secret societies, Roman Catholicism, Mormonism, Scientology, and other creeds), overt anti-Christ bigotry shown by many people (including old school Christ haters like Friedrich Nietzsche who bashed Christianity and God overtly in literature), false religions being advanced, and evils being glorified. The Apostle Paul predicted New Age lies being commonplace in society, "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power." (Colossians 2:8-10). This is a time where our morals and our integrity matter. No one is perfect. Yet, we do have a responsibility to be better people, repent, and follow on a course to spread the Gospel so human beings can wake up to the knowledge of the truth. Therefore, the book of Revelations always has a special place in my heart. 

By Timothy