Proceeding into Mass Communication

Hey, what is a missionary? That\u27s what I want to know. What is a missionary? Anybody? Bueller. Bueller. Anybody? What is a missionary, sir? Oh, he just volunteered. Oh, you\u27re pointing to someone. What does that mean? Somebody just got pointed out as a missionary. Why is that? My friend, you\u27re the one doing the pointing. Goes out into the world, spread the word of Jesus Christ. What do you think, folks? Boo. Okay, who\u27s got a better one? What\u27s? Missionary, sir? Okay, an ambassador for whatever faith they are. Now that\u27s an interesting question. So, what are you implying, my friend? There are Mormon missionaries. All right? Anybody? Any other kinds? [00

Nolan’s Inception

This is a review of Inception (2010)

Divine Film Comedies: Biblical Narratives, Film Sub-Genres, and the Comic Spirit

This is a book review of Terry Lindvall, J. Dennis Bounds and Chris Lindvall, Divine Film Comedies: Biblical Narratives, Film Sub-Genres, and the Comic Spirit, New York: Routledge, 2016

James Cameron\u27s Cathedral: Avatar Revives the Religious Spectacle

This is a review of Avatar (2009)

Theology, News and Notes - Vol. 52, No. 02

Theology News & Notes was a theological journal published by Fuller Theological Seminary from 1954 through 2014.https://digitalcommons.fuller.edu/tnn/1153/thumbnail.jp

FIRE SUPPRESSION AND IGNITION WITH UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES

An unmanned aerial vehicle ( UAV ) can be configured for fire suppression and ignition . In some examples , the UAV includes an aerial propulsion system , an ignition system , and a control system . The ignition system includes a container of delayed - ignition balls and a dropper configured , by virtue of one or more motors , to actuate and drop the delayed - ignition balls . The control system is configured to cause the UAV to fly to a site of a prescribed burn and , while flying over the site of the prescribed burn , actuate one or more of the delayed - ignition balls . After actuating the one or more delayed - ignition balls , the UAV drops the actuated one or more delayed - ignition balls from the UAV onto the site of the prescribed burn

Shotgun metagenome data of a defined mock community using Oxford Nanopore, PacBio and Illumina technologies.

Metagenomic sequence data from defined mock communities is crucial for the assessment of sequencing platform performance and downstream analyses, including assembly, binning and taxonomic assignment. We report a comparison of shotgun metagenome sequencing and assembly metrics of a defined microbial mock community using the Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) MinION, PacBio and Illumina sequencing platforms. Our synthetic microbial community BMock12 consists of 12 bacterial strains with genome sizes spanning 3.2-7.2 Mbp, 40-73% GC content, and 1.5-7.3% repeats. Size selection of both PacBio and ONT sequencing libraries prior to sequencing was essential to yield comparable relative abundances of organisms among all sequencing technologies. While the Illumina-based metagenome assembly yielded good coverage with few misassemblies, contiguity was greatly improved by both, Illumina + ONT and Illumina + PacBio hybrid assemblies but increased misassemblies, most notably in genomes with high sequence similarity to each other. Our resulting datasets allow evaluation and benchmarking of bioinformatics software on Illumina, PacBio and ONT platforms in parallel

One Step Closer to Mars with Aquaponics: Cultivating Citizen Science in K12 Schools

The Microbial Ecology and Biogeochemistry Research Laboratory at NASA Ames Research Center focuses primarily on the nutrient cycling and diversity of complex microbial communities. NASA is interested in the composition and functioning of microbial mat communities as these processes fundamentally shape the form and function of these analogs for the earliest forms of life on Earth (3.6 billion years ago), and likely will on other planets as well. Aquaponics systems are supported by microbial communities who perform many complex ecosystem services, including cycling nitrogen. Microbes are integral to the stability and productivity of aquaponics systems, which are analogous to microbial communities in food production systems that are essential for building efficient life support systems for long-distance space travel. Students at Meadow Park Middle School created 10 parallel aquaponics systems and took temporal microbial samples to characterize whether any macro-ecology variables impacted or changed the microbial diversity of these systems. Students additionally created a website so that other classrooms can pursue similar projects in their own schools (https://go.nasa.gov/2uJhxmF). Our lab at NASA Ames has sequenced water samples from each of the 10 tanks at 3 timepoints using a MinION sequencer. MPMS students will be involved in the analysis of the bioinformatics data generated through this collaboration. Our ongoing collaboration aims to collect and analyze data in the classroom setting that has utility for research scientists, while involving students as collaborators in the research process

iGods: How Technology Shapes Our Spiritual and Social Lives

Today the world is literally at our fingertips. We can call, text, email, or post our status to friends and family on the go. We can carry countless games, music, and apps in our pocket. Yet it\u27s easy to feel overwhelmed by access to so much information and exhausted from managing our online relationships and selves. Craig Detweiler, a nationally known writer and speaker on media issues, provides needed Christian perspective on navigating today\u27s social media culture. He interacts with major symbols, or iGods, of our distracted age--Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Pixar, YouTube, and Twitter--to investigate the impact of the technologies and cultural phenomena that drive us. Detweiler offers a historic look at where we\u27ve been and a prophetic look at where we\u27re headed, helping us sort out the immediate from the eternal, the digital from the divine. (Publisher\u27s website)https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/combooks/1001/thumbnail.jp

Don\u27t Stop Believin\u27: Pop Culture and Religion from Ben-hur to Zombies

Elvis Presley. Andy Warhol. Nike. Stephen King. Ellen DeGeneres. Sim City. Facebook. These American pop culture icons are just a few examples of entries you will find in this fascinating guide to religion and popular culture. Arranged chronologically from 1950 to the present, this accessible work explores the theological themes in 101 well-established figures and trends from film, television, video games, music, sports, art, fashion, and literature. This book is ideal for anyone who has an interest in popular culture and its impact on our spiritual lives. Contributors include such experts in the field as David Dark, Mark I. Pinsky, Lisa Swain, Steve Turner, Lauren Winner, and more.https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/combooks/1000/thumbnail.jp