HAL9000

Joined

• started 7 topics
• posted 218 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by HAL9000

• 
  48

  Do you make mistakes?

  by Frannie Banannie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i makes lots of mistakes.

  in words and deeds.

  i'm usually flying by the seat of my pants and don't think before i say and do things sometimes.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  HAL9000

  Do I make mistakes??

  Let me count the ways!!

  H9k
• 
  50

  Loosing Moms We Never Had

  by Sparkplug in

  1. social
  2. relationships

  when my mom first came to live with me, i begrudged it.

  i was angry.

  i left home at age 14 and that was fine by me.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  HAL9000

  I don't really think she is long for this world really. It is odd how fast she is loosing her mind and capabilities physically. Just a month ago it was a LOT different.

  Sparkplug,

  It does go quickly - my father (died 10 years ago) and my wife's mother (alive, in care) both had dementia but of different types. My dad went downhill for about 5 years slowly, but the last year was like falling down a cliff. He was cared for at home until the last year, but at a a great cost to my mother. In the end, it was either him into care or her collapsing. No arguement there - she is still going at 90years +, and admits that the move to care was a killer, but saved her. I know that you are heaps younger, but the toll is severe.

  My wife's mother is a different case - really going downhill fast as she cannot care for herself & spends her days perpetually walking. Here, the emotional drain on the family was incredible, particularly as she became abusive and was perpetually running away.

  In short, if I read your post right, please get your brother to get off his butt and get her into care. It is not the toll on the parent that is an issue (as long as the care facility is good) but it the toll on those around the parent. Those changes that you are seeing will get a l lot faster in coming and even more emotionally killing. I know.

  Please take care - my thoughts are with you and especially for your family on this.

  h9k
• 
  33

  OTHERS WITH YOUR SAME NAME. CHECK IT OUT.

  by Outaservice in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  do you think your name is unique?

  you might be surprised!.

  put in your first and last name and see how many people in the united states have your same name.. http://ww2.howmanyofme.com/.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  HAL9000

  And I note 6 "Jesus Christ"s in the USA

  Surprising! Thought there would be more!
• 
  52

  What are your favorite top 5 science fiction movies of all time?

  by new boy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  1.star wars (first movie).

  2.blade runner.

  3. alien .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  HAL9000

  1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (inevitably)

  2. Forbidden Planet

  3. Dr Strangelove (or how I stopped worrying & learnt to love the bomb)

  4. Star Wars (A New Hope)

  5. The Day the Earth Stood Still

  Wish I could add Quatermass, though.....

  h9k
• 
  20

  Anti-Matter

  by choosing life in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am not a physics major, in fact, i avoided it like the plague in college.

  so maybe someone on here can answer a question that i have.

  i recently read that in switzerland there is a group of scientists that work on research, kind of like a think tank.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  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

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  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?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  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

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  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?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  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

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  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?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  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

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  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?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  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

  1. jw
  2. 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.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  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