Posts by cosmic

10

Scientists Find Water on Saturn Moon

by bavman in

the cassini spacecraft has found evidence of liquid water spewing from geysers on one of saturn's icy moons, raising the tantalizing possibility that the celestial object harbors life.

the surprising discovery excited some scientists, who say the saturn moon, enceladus, should be added to the short list of places within the solar system most likely to have extraterrestrial life.. recent high-resolution images snapped by the orbiting cassini confirmed the eruption of icy jets and giant water vapor plumes from geysers resembling frozen old faithfuls at enceladus' south pole.. "we have the smoking gun" that proves the existence of water, said carolyn porco, a cassini imaging scientist from the space science institute in boulder, colo.. if enceladus does harbor life, it probably consists of microbes or other primitive organisms capable of living in extreme conditions, scientists say.. the findings were published in friday's issue of the journal science.. david morrison, a senior scientist at nasa's astrobiology institute, cautioned against rushing to judgment about whether the tiny moon could support life.

scientists generally agree habitats need several ingredients for life to emerge, including water, a stable heat source and the right chemical recipe.. "it's certainly interesting, but i don't see how much more you can say beyond that," morrison said.. scientists believe mars and jupiter's icy moons might have or once had conditions hospitable to life.. saturn is around 800 million miles from earth.

cosmic

Oh yeah, I pulled this pic off another site while I was looking around today. Most interesting. It is a pic from Iapetus showing a monolith. If I can get the thing to show up.

10

Scientists Find Water on Saturn Moon

by bavman in

the cassini spacecraft has found evidence of liquid water spewing from geysers on one of saturn's icy moons, raising the tantalizing possibility that the celestial object harbors life.

the surprising discovery excited some scientists, who say the saturn moon, enceladus, should be added to the short list of places within the solar system most likely to have extraterrestrial life.. recent high-resolution images snapped by the orbiting cassini confirmed the eruption of icy jets and giant water vapor plumes from geysers resembling frozen old faithfuls at enceladus' south pole.. "we have the smoking gun" that proves the existence of water, said carolyn porco, a cassini imaging scientist from the space science institute in boulder, colo.. if enceladus does harbor life, it probably consists of microbes or other primitive organisms capable of living in extreme conditions, scientists say.. the findings were published in friday's issue of the journal science.. david morrison, a senior scientist at nasa's astrobiology institute, cautioned against rushing to judgment about whether the tiny moon could support life.

scientists generally agree habitats need several ingredients for life to emerge, including water, a stable heat source and the right chemical recipe.. "it's certainly interesting, but i don't see how much more you can say beyond that," morrison said.. scientists believe mars and jupiter's icy moons might have or once had conditions hospitable to life.. saturn is around 800 million miles from earth.

cosmic

Saturn is such a bizarre place. I've always thought that if I were going to leave something somehwre, I'd leave it well marked. Saturn is a definitive location within our solar system

This comming January may prove really interesting as Cassini does another fly by of Iapetus. I'm not pro or con on this, but it is an interesting read:

http://www.enterprisemission.com/moon1.htm

103

"Help! my dad is watching Pornography" Cries of a JW teen.

by Dune in

jw
friends

as some of you may know, i'm still an active witness and i'm still in the planning stages of my "escape".

i met a sister at a district convention a year ago and i've been talking to her on aim for a while.

i think she is very amusing considering that she is very intelligent and often voices her views on the doctrinal falicies of the wtbs, but when its my turn to give my two cents she makes it seem as if i'm the only poztate.

cosmic

Don't be fooled. There's a LOT of really bad porn out there. You know, out of focus, no depth of field, not even a hint of composition! I mean, what was the photographer thinking? Oh. Yeah.

Isn't it curious how westerners sit in front of their TV sets for hours and hours watching human beings kill each other in ever inventive ways, but watch two people (or more if its really good) having sex? Would you rather go to war or f**k?

I look at it this way, if somebody is reading porn, I don't have to look. But some blathering retard ruining lives because of lies he is mindlessly, shamelessly, and (often) knowingly repeating, oh, that's okay. Its for God.

5

Is There a Creator Who Cares?

by SickofLies in

i noticed that there is a lot of information out there on the net about the life: how did it get here?

book and about the book the bible: gods word or mans?

but i havent seen anything talking about the newest book released by the society is there a creator who cares about you?

cosmic

No disrespect, but that's really 2 questions.

15

Why does religion fail?

by cosmic in

i'm not used to starting threads, but i ran across a web site the other day that set my mind churning.

the site was called "the atheists manifesto", and i think i heard about it from someone on this board.

but, anyway, it mentioned a couple of things that seemed compelling:.

cosmic

Thank you for your replies, I am humbled.

15

Why does religion fail?

by cosmic in

i'm not used to starting threads, but i ran across a web site the other day that set my mind churning.

the site was called "the atheists manifesto", and i think i heard about it from someone on this board.

but, anyway, it mentioned a couple of things that seemed compelling:.

cosmic

I'm not used to starting threads, but I ran across a web site the other day that set my mind churning. The site was called "The Atheists Manifesto", and I think I heard about it from someone on this board. But, anyway, it mentioned a couple of things that seemed compelling:

1. When it comes to Thor and Zeus and

Quetalcoatl, we are all atheists. This seems important, but I can't firmly grasp why.

2. Our world is a hose job, not because we are necessarily hosers; but, because of religion. We have left fixing the place up to "God". Therefore, unless we all become atheists, the world will never be improved.

The question that has came to mind about that time is whether religion is strictly for the individual, that is, was only designed to be implemented on an individual basis and, therefore, begins to break down and become worse than useless when humans attempt to apply it on a group scale. It hadn't previously occurred to me that, prior to baptism, I was treated as an individual (as I gather from this site that, many also were) and it was only after baptism, that is, when I became part of the group, that things began to be "expected". It was no longer my personal choice to attend a meeting, it suddenly became mandatory, for at the very least I was expected to "show my support" for the group.

Thinking back over the Bible accounts, all of the prophets were treated an an individual basis, each "good " example of a "righteous" person was listed by name and/or otherwise set apart as a singular person; political/national boundaries were set aside by God in his determination of individual fate(s). Now, I know there are examples of God killing national groups, like the Philistines, and so forth, but does that negate the rest?

Any how, all that blathering aside, my question is this:

As Prot, from the planet KPAX, eloquently noted, "All intelligent creatures know right from wrong.", and it seems that religion on an individual basis lends credence to each individual that, in essence, "virtue is its own reward"; but, at what point does religion begin to fall apart? Is it population dependent? (okay if less than 3, 30, 300, 3000? A waste of time for larger groups?) It doesn't appear to be diety linked (less Thor would still be the guy)? Why is it that no matter what the religion, what the god, the reward, the cost, the hope, the past, etc. religion has always failed us, or, at least, failed to deliver on its promises?

32

New Wine in Old Wineskin's - Watchtower Updates its Lies

by unclebruce in

the watchtower bible and tract society encourages all jehovahs witnesses to deceive when it suits their purpose.

this it calls "theocratic war strategy".

the watchtower 1957 may 1 p.285.

cosmic

Thanks, unclebruce, excellent job. It caused me to wonder:

Original Lie: "You positively will not die."

The New Lie: "Millions now living will never die.", uh wait a minute, uh, try this, "Millions Now Living May Never Die.", no, that's not quite it either, I know, "Millions now living have the opportunity to gain everlasting life in a righteous new system." Yeah, yeah, that's it.

25

Apostasy defined in the Elders Manuel

by gumby in

for those unfamiliar with the societys veiws on what apostasy is, this is from the elder manuel under.

..."elders ruling for justice itself".. apostasy.. apostasy is a standing away from, a falling away, defec-.

tion, rebellion, abandonment; it involves teaching false.

cosmic

If it is clearly established that the person has joined

another religion and intends to remain with it, the

elders would make a brief announcement to the congre-

gation that such- one has disassociated himself. (w86

10/15 p. 31 )

Not to be picky, but what if I started going to, say, a Mormon Church, and when/if some elder asked me about it and I were to reply: "Oh, don't worry, it's not permanent. I'm just doing research.(or, "I'm undercover") Would that be okay?

20

How long were slaughtered animals to be bled for?

by Gill in

in the topic of 'jws and dairy products' i was beginning to wonder why there were no guidlines in the bible as to 'how long' and animal had to be bled for when it was killed.

was there a specific time mentioned in the bible...or in the end, the fact that there was no specific time instructed, supposedly by god' must prove that the no blood sanction was just a symbolic gesture?

it is totally impossible to bleed every last drop of blood out of a creature, surely.

cosmic

I'm not positive about sheep and goats, but I once watched a Venezualan rancher prepare a cow for barbeque. I expected him to shoot the animal in the head, or, at the very least, club it in the head. But he had a thing that resembled a huge hypodermic needle ( although it was a min of 2 cm in diameter) that he jabbed into an artery in the cows neck ( I assume it was comparable with a human's carotid) and it took about 7 minutes for the thing to bleed to death, as the blood simply squirted out onto the ground. The animal was then hung up and butchered for the roasting. I don't know how much actual blood was left in the animals circulatory system, but I don't think there was very much. Assuming that the Israelites followed the same procedure (or approximated it) I don't think there was a lot of worry about any blood left in a sheep either. Whereas, if the animal was "strangled" (I would not want to be the clown trying to strangle a cow) I could see that a lot of blood would be left. Why would someone strangle an animal for food? Was this a common practice?

5

Saul (Paul) vs Hitler. What was the difference ?

by google_mE in

what was the difference between saul (later called paul) and hitler ?.

both had a hand in persecuting and killing people.

both thought they were doing the work of god.

cosmic

Interesting question. John Toland started his (generally accepted) definitive biography of Adolph Hitler by recounting an incident that happened to Hitler while in hospital recovering from a mustard gas attack while he was on the front line in Belgium. According to Toland, Hitler (who was temporarily blinded) learned of the armistace and capitulation by the German High Command and became severely depressed. Hitler later told others that he quickly fell into a deep sleep caused by his extreme state of depression, and while asleep he had a "vision" where an angel appeared to him and told him that he would lead Germany out of the Abyss.

Hmmm, go figure.