It isn't every day that you get an email with "The Devil" as the subject. I almost didn't recognize that the source was the production company filming the commercial for Secondhand Sight. We're about to start an advertising campaign on Comcast, to see how things go. Until this point, the focus has primarily been kept on writing new books. Technically, my tenure as the Atlanta Creationism Examiner was both marketing and writing material for another book. After all, much of the content developed for the Examiner was also incorporated into Counterargument for God. Now, the focus is almost entirely on finishing Premonition, the sequel to Coastal Empire. There are even sketchy plans for a sequel to Secondhand Sight. I have plans for many future books. I only need to live long enough to write them all. However, we've decided that it's time to try to develop a readership. When it comes to the characters in my novels, I know my heroes. I can tell you exactly what, or more specifically who private detective Robert Mercer looks like -- actor Jim Caviezel. His sidekick Nick Mason reminds me of a young Johnny Depp, when I try to describe him for the reader. The first person that comes to mind when I think of John Sutlive will always be Denzel Washington. I also really like Anthony Mackie -- loved him as Harry in The Adjustment Bureau, but I think he might be a little too young to "be" John Sutlive. On … [Read more...]
Characteristics of an intelligently designed world
Over 47 square miles in diameter and with more than 35,000 total employees, Disney World in Orlando can be described as a miniature, intelligently designed artificial world. The main thing this alternate reality lacks is free will. Nothing is free in Disney World. It costs about $90 just to walk through the security gates. A cheap plastic sword or plate of nachos are both $7. Mickey Mouse has many mouths to feed. One cannot help but marvel at the forethought and planning invested into this massive entertainment complex. There was a lot of hard work making the Magic Kingdom a magical experience for a young child. No one could possibly question that intelligent design was at work. Frankly, I wish I'd paid more attention in my Management Science class at UGA, so I might more fully appreciate the skill exhibited at queuing people in lines and shuttling them around to desired destinations. The temptation to walk serpentine still lingers, days after our return home. Disney elevated the basic amusement park experience to an art form. The variety and quality of transportation was very impressive. There are regular buses, shuttle buses, boats, moving sidewalks, and of course, the Monorail system. Disney knows how to attract customers as well as distributing them to their desired destinations. The attention to detail from Disney is unparalleled. Special accommodations have been made for handicapped customers on every ride. Even boat rides such as The Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, and It's a Small World have special boats outfitted to handle … [Read more...]
Really big and very small numbers
During my recent sojourn in Disney World, I began thinking about really big numbers as I tried to calculate the total value of that enterprise as a whole. I knew the Magic Kingdom theme park was built in the early 1970s, at the cost of roughly $331 million dollars. More than two decades later, Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park was added at the cost of a cool $1 billion. Epcot cost about $1.4 billion to construct, more than twice its estimated budget. Golf courses, hotels, shopping malls, Hollywood studios, infrastructure: it was pretty easy to estimate the net worth of the forty-seven square mile intelligently designed world of alternate reality would run into the hundreds of billions, perhaps as much as $1 trillion dollars. Mickey Mouse is worth a considerable amount of money. We're talking about some really big numbers. Given the fact that advocates of evolution seem to frequently argue that I fail to grasp the significance of a really big number, as I rode around on the monorail and pondered the value of Walt Disney World, the idea for writing this article popped into my head while I watched a river of cash flow through the Magic Kingdom. If only that were the case...I almost wish that I couldn't grasp the concept of a really big number. After all, ignorance can be bliss. The sad truth is that I’m constantly worried about big numbers. I'm painfully aware that the amount of outstanding federal debt for the United States is currently well over $16 trillion dollars. Granted, it is more money than I've ever seen, but the numbers do follow a … [Read more...]
