Posts by HAL9000

23

Chernobyl Legacy. (Mature Content)

by Sparkplug in

no i was not there, but i always have to watch this intro and then the actual document over and over in my dreams at night.

i have a hard time believing how horrible we humans can be.

doing something for the sake of seeing if we can do it and never stoping to think that maybe we should not be doing it.

HAL9000

Chernobyl was a disaster of mammoth proportions - we will be living with its legacy for who knows how long. Sparkplug's comment

"doing something for the sake of seeing if we can do it".

also pretty well sums up the way humanity gets itself into these situations: a significant contributing factor to the Chernobyl disaster was fact that an experiment went very very wrong and that many / most of the control / safety systems were disabled.

Science and its allied technologies are great, but without controls they can be disasters waiting to happen: many scientists / businesses / governments seem to be either oblivious to the consequences of their actions or are uncaring of those consequences.

Sparkplug, I feel your dismay at what happened there, but it is even more frightening to realise that it is really just the very prominent tip of an environmental iceberg.

Think also of Bhopal and other similar places - they have similar sorry stories to tell. Exposure, regardless of whether it is nuclear, chemical or biological is an apalling thing to inflict on anyone or anything, and the path back from that exposure can be either difficult or impossible.

h9k

Information on Chernobyl is on the International Atomic Agency Website at www.iaea.org - Search on Chernobyl

13

How to optimise the learning / knowing curve?

by Fe2O3Girl in

jw
friends

watching my son grow is amazing.

he is into everything, thoroughly enjoying exploring, growing and learning every day.. i was reflecting how as each day passes, he learns more and he knows more; and thinking back to my childhood.

the more i learned, the more i knew.

HAL9000

The most important lesson that I have learnt in the past 20 years came about through working with one of my former University lecturers. When I was a student we were all in awe of this guy - he was the truest academic that you could imagine and had the most phenomenal knowledge of his area of expertise.

He was also, I found out 20 years later, one of the humblest people that I have known.

His secret to learning & gaining knowledge? He was always willing to listen to others - someone can always teach you something worthwhile, no matter how good or how brilliant you think you are.

Be prepared to say "I'm dumb - please tell me what you know"

You may be surprised at what you might learn!

h9k

40

Whats your worst household chore.........?

by vitty in

jw
friends

......................mine has got to be the weekly grocery shop....................oh how i dread and hate it.

i used to think it was the ironing but id rather do a ton of ironing if i didnt have to shop.. its so boring, same food week in week out.................loading it onto the conveyer belt, packing it putting it in the car.........taking it out of the car...........putting it into cupboards then saying " what shall i cook for dinner?

" but by then i just can face the food.. so whats yours?, mowing the lawn and cleaning the car are included .

HAL9000

We live on a rural block - no sewer, but have a small sewage treatment plant.

My worst job is to go into the treatment tank & clear out tree roots that have infiltrated the tank. Very dirty, very smelly once every 6 months.

h9k

20

Carbon dating and the Watchtower

by Gill in

HAL9000

A couple of quick observations (before retreiving my wife from the Kingdoom Hall....)

1) Skeptic2 Agree with your observation re taking advantage of the readers through the convoluted discussion

2) The dissemination of pseudoscientific babble is all too common in the JWs and other fundamentalist groups. Sources are sometimes misquoted; old, irrelevant articles are quoted; discredited "experts" are quoted. Not all people with the title "Doctor" or "Professor" are worth taking the slightest attention of.

3) The "mystique" of the sciences is used to confuse - those unfamiliar with science & its discipline are unable to discriminate between scientific fact and scientific fraud. And they accept whatever is served up to them.

h9k

20

Carbon dating and the Watchtower

by Gill in

HAL9000

I have noticed that the JWs and some other groups attempt to discredit techniques such as Carbon dating (and other dating techniques) through whatever means possible.

Carbon dating techniques have changed markedly in the past few years: a lot of the "anti" literature does not take this into account. Some of the so-called expert opinions that I have seen are dubious - I seem to recall that "Popular Mechanics"was quoted at one time- and this is certainly not an authoratative source.

I am time constrained at the moment which prevents me putting up much more information, but leading edge carbon dating techniques use a technique known as accelerator mass spectrometry - and sites using this technique generally give more timely information on this technique.

h9k

42

OMG OMG OMG... I am freaking out (just a bit)

by Sparkplug in

jw
friends

i got a call back for the position i applied for at the university.

now to figure out how to get there.

it is during the hours i work.

HAL9000

I hope that things look up for you soon. Sometimes it is difficult to even contemplate a change in job due to family pressures. While I don't have kids, other family pressures have meant that I have stayed in my current organisation long beyond my "use-by" date (much to my own frustration).

Always look at interviews as a learning experience - and how to do better at them. How to have a "good" interview was something that I had to learn.

h9k

42

OMG OMG OMG... I am freaking out (just a bit)

by Sparkplug in

jw
friends

i got a call back for the position i applied for at the university.

now to figure out how to get there.

it is during the hours i work.

HAL9000

OK, looks like they are testing "initiative" - leaving an appropriate message is good. Probably wanted to see if you would leave a message to get followup (good customer relations).

Be certain that if a HR consultant was involved it would have a twist.

Re the seniors, guys of that age can be complete arseholes - they push the limits and often go beyond. I have taught guys that age (technical college) and have had some real challenges! If your baby gal has even one tenth of your nature, she will do OK against these pests. At least she does talk to you about it......

Take care

9k

94

What's Your Opinion Of Cops Making Roadblocks Just 2 See If Someone's Drunk

by minimus in

jw
friends

are you for it or against it?

HAL9000

In NSW Random Breath Testing has been in force since the early 80's - with no real community outcry. The general limit is 0.05 but goes down to nil for inexperienced drivers: as it is a quantifiable measure of blood acohol no questions re weight etc come into this. SOme people do "seem" to drive better after a few, but pray like hell that nothing out of the ordinary happens.

I prefer RBT to continue rather than have the continuation of the alcohol fuelled carnage that was prevalent before - it enforced resonsible behaviour on all drivers and has (I believe) altered community behaviour. Yes, you do get the criminals who drive while disqualified, but they are soon picked up.

IMHO please find some other bandwagon when it comes to civil liberties - I do not wish to be killed or seriously injured by a criminal (which is what we regard drunk drivers as) simply by venturing onto the road as a driver, passenger or pedestrian.

9k

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