Posts by HAL9000

Suggest that you look in Wikipedia for their entry on anti-matter. It mentions the experiments in Europe that have produced anti-hydrogen (only with a life of a few seconds though).

A common application of matter - antimattter reactions is seen in the nuclear medicine technique known as Positron Emission Tomography (PET) where an artificial radioactive element such as Fluorine-18 is used. Fluorine-18 emits positrons (positive electons) that are annhilated when they encounter a "normal" electron. Energy in the form of gamma radiation is released, but given the number of positons emitted, it is not explosive, or even remotely so, but can be easily detected.

What I am saying in a long winded way is that antimatter exists, but only in very small quantities and for very short periods of time. The only antimatter explosions that we are likely to encounter (in the near future, at any rate) are in the realms of science fiction.

h9k

11

Carbon Dating Question... sort of...

by LtCmd.Lore in

ok, first of all i would like to point out that i don't fall for the lousy story of the canopy being over the earth before the flood, thus nullifying any carbon dating that dates back more that 5000 years.

but the witnesses do, so therefore it may become neccasary to confront them on it.. so here's the question.

and it may seem like a stupid one to anyone who knows anything about the subject: if there was a canopy of water covering the earth interfering with the radiation... wouldn't it reduce the amount of radiation reaching the surface, therefore making the carbon atoms degradate at a slower pace instead of faster?

HAL9000

The wood does not have to be from a live tree - Carbon dating works as well on preserved samples (even items like manufactured articles) or materials recoverd from bogs etc (peat bogs, that is). I understand that the age of some of the older samples can be correlated through various means - the power of these techniques relies in part on correlation of rrsults.

h9k

11

Carbon Dating Question... sort of...

by LtCmd.Lore in

ok, first of all i would like to point out that i don't fall for the lousy story of the canopy being over the earth before the flood, thus nullifying any carbon dating that dates back more that 5000 years.

but the witnesses do, so therefore it may become neccasary to confront them on it.. so here's the question.

and it may seem like a stupid one to anyone who knows anything about the subject: if there was a canopy of water covering the earth interfering with the radiation... wouldn't it reduce the amount of radiation reaching the surface, therefore making the carbon atoms degradate at a slower pace instead of faster?

HAL9000

The following is some background on radiocarbon dating. Keep in mind that for most practical considerations, the rate of radioactive decay does not vary and cannot be increased or decreased.

The radiocarbon clock is based on the known decay rate of the unstable isotope of carbon, namely Carbon-14, which is formed when cosmic rays interact with nitrogen in the atmosphere. The radiocarbon combines with oxygen to form a radioactive form of carbon dioxide. In today’s atmosphere one atom of Carbon-14 exists for every million million atoms of the most abundant isotope of the element - Carbon 12.

Radiocarbon enters the food chain when it is absorbed by plants during photosynthesis. The Carbon-14 concentration of living tissue is fixed as it is formed. Thereafter the cells and bone carbonate in animals are renewed slowly by metabolic processes, while radioactive decay of the fixed Carbon-14 is continuously lowering the initial level. The net result is that the Carbon-14 content lags the atmosphere by up to a few decades. In the case of growing trees, cells formation happens only in a narrow zone under the bark, so the innermost wood may already be centuries old before the tree dies. In some, but not all, species there is a clear annual ring boundary. This forms the basis of dendrochronology and explains why wood is so widely employed for radiocarbon calibration studies. The situation is different (and more complex when dating is involved) when the life form exists in the ocean due to the slow exchange of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to the ocean.

When a living organism dies, the carbon exchange stops. Hence, by measuring the residual Carbon-14 concentration in organic samples, and provided they have not been contaminated by younger material (e.g. via bacterial action, soil organic acids) or by older material (e.g. geologic calcium carbonate), it is possible to calculate the time elapsed since the material was originally formed. It takes 5,730 years for half of the radiocarbon originally present to be lost by decay.

The use of radiocarbon for dating began some 50 years ago and was based on the detection of the decay of the isotope. Nuclear particle counting techniques determine the Carbon-14 activity in a sample. In the last 20 years radiocarbon dating by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) has become the preferred method. AMS counts the atoms of the different carbon isotopes directly, is far more sensitive than the decay counting method. It can be used on samples as small as 50 mg.

Looking at LtCmdrLore's comment:

IF there was a canopy of water covering the earth interfering with the radiation... wouldn't it REDUCE the amount of radiation reaching the surface, Therefore making the carbon atoms degradate at a SLOWER pace instead of faster? And that therefore would make things seem YOUNGER from carbon dating not older....Right?

If a "canopy of water" covered the earth, yes, this would reduce the amount of radiation available to interact with the atmospheric nitrogen - so you would have less Carbon-14 formed and material dated from that time would appear to be older by virtue of the lower Carbon-14 content. BUT this effect would only last for as long as the "canopy of water" existed. This would mean that the available records from trees (dendrochronology) would show a period when there was a lower Carbon-14 abundance relative to the period before and after the "canopy" event. To my knowledge, such an event has not been reported. By the way, it is the tree rings that are measures, so a seasonal Carbon-14 picture can be built up.

h9k

93

Society's claim of Matt. 24:14 being fulfilled - What it could really mean

by Jourles in

i've had this thought for quite a while and wonder if fits with the recent talk about the wts claiming that matt.

24:14 has been fulfilled.

my thought was this --- in the wake of the recent cutbacks at bethel, scaling back of literature, and other cost cutting measures, could the wts be preparing the r&f for the complete or massive reduction of literature that would normally be placed with "householders?

HAL9000

A while ago, I made a fairly cynical observation on the future of the publishing business; conversion to PDF distribution has benefits as you can get the R&F to print out as much as they need. It would probably displease Jehovah to use dot matrix though......

Plus the fact that you can have as much new light as you want without having to reprint.

h9k

67

What is your Favorite coffee, mocha, latte, cap, etc?

by AK - Jeff in

i am a rather old fogey on the matter - just black and hot.

but i like the occasional mocha.. what use of this universal bean is your favorite?

how many do you drink a week?

HAL9000

Long Black - Arabica strong, black and preferably freshly roasted. No other additives!

I regularly go to a place that imports a range of good coffees, so it is easy to OD.

h9k

30

Please rescue me! I just got hit with a JW Mac Truck!

by truthsearcher in

jw
friends

oh my, i just had a visit from a jw who proceeded to, for an hour and half, try and cover every doctrine in the book, jump from scripture to scripture, half the time i was so confused about what was being said.

the other witness barely got a word in edgewise.

i quickly realized that there was going to be no discussion--it was sit and listen and try and look intelligent.

HAL9000

If they return why not have a kitchen timer handy - set it for 5 or 10 minutes so they know their limit.

What's the limit in TMS anyway? 5 minutes?

h9k

141

Gays Leave JWD!

by hambeak in

jw
friends

i got a phone call from a person that i gave my phone # to.

and this person said that gays are not welcome here and this is not what this board was really about.

i told them that this is only one part of the crap that the wts did to people and that we are people too.

HAL9000

Some of the worst gay haters are people who are in complete denial about their own sexuality.

I wonder if this pest is one of those.

h9k

27

Debt and the danger of comparisons

by Simon in

do you ever look at other people and think "blimey, they are doing well ... new house ... new car ... why am i not getting ahead like that?".

you will probably find out that the car is hp or bought with a re-mortgage of a re-mortgage which is interest only.

no money is going to pay off capital and they don't have any savings and are not making any provision for their pension (other than imagining that the house they are *not* paying off will somehow suffice).

HAL9000

Agree - there is a tendency to remortgage / refinance as property values increase. So a $350,000 mortgage becomes a $450,000 mortgage based on the increased value of the property - some mortgaes here are 10% of market value. This usually finances a new 4WD / SUV for the wife and a fancy car for the husband.

It is a real problem as small upward changes in interst rates can and do wipe people out as they can not afford to live.

h9k