cofty

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Posts by cofty

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  405

  Origin of Life

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  in recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet.. how do you think theists will respond when it finally happens?

  as a former christian i know my reaction would have been something like "well that just goes to show that it takes intelligent life to make life", but for two reasons that defense doesn't work.. firstly it would prove that life is not an ethereal force that originates with god.

  there is no 'ghost in the machine', no elan vital.

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  cofty

  JW believers and their atheist counterparts seem to share the same belief ... - SBF

  Troll

  It's literally impossible to have an interesting conversation without you spouting your usual bullshit. So fucking boring.
• 
  405

  Origin of Life

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  in recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet.. how do you think theists will respond when it finally happens?

  as a former christian i know my reaction would have been something like "well that just goes to show that it takes intelligent life to make life", but for two reasons that defense doesn't work.. firstly it would prove that life is not an ethereal force that originates with god.

  there is no 'ghost in the machine', no elan vital.

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  cofty

  In recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet.

  How do you think theists will respond when it finally happens? As a former christian I know my reaction would have been something like "well that just goes to show that it takes intelligent life to make life", but for two reasons that defense doesn't work.

  Firstly it would prove that life is not an ethereal force that originates with god. There is no 'ghost in the machine', no elan vital.

  Also the excuse doesn't work because origin-of-life researchers are simply working to recreate the conditions that existed in a prebiotic earth to observe how life arose without intelligent agency.

  "Life is nothing but an electron looking for a place to rest" - Albert Szent-Györgyi.
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  39

  Is changing the "truth" / presenting "new light" really so bad?

  by Zana in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  playing devil's advocate here.... what's the difference between the gb changing bible interpretations compared to parliaments all over the world changing laws?

  although the us constitution (=bible) remains untouched, congress passes i don't know how many new laws every year.

  and of course people are expected to follow them.

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  cofty

  Is changing the "truth" / presenting "new light" really so bad?

  Yes
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  35

  Is the Jesus of religion conservative, and the Jesus of the New Testament liberal?

  by Fernando in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  is the jesus of religion conservative, and the jesus of the new testament liberal?.

  your thoughts?.

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  cofty

  Really? He said "you must be perfect". You don't get any more demanding than that.
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  35

  Is the Jesus of religion conservative, and the Jesus of the New Testament liberal?

  by Fernando in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  is the jesus of religion conservative, and the jesus of the new testament liberal?.

  your thoughts?.

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  cofty

  Jesus is the ultimate sock puppet.
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  34

  Found Another Medieval Coin This Evening

  by cofty in

  1. social
  2. physical

  i got in an hour metal detecting this evening and found this almost immediately.. it is a silver penny of henry ii minted in london by "davi" between 1180 and 1189. this adds a king i didn't have in my collection.

  i now have the series of henry ii - john - henry iii - edward i - edward ii - edward iii.. i now need richard the lionheart to fill in the gap.

  he was the brother of john and reigned after the death of henry ii.

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  cofty

  Landy - I found it. Got me 3 minutes on the jet wash
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  38

  What novels have you been reading recently? Recommend any?

  by LoveUniHateExams in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  i've always been a bit of a reader - but only reading about topics i find interesting, e.g.

  natural history, dinosaurs, etc.. recently i've started to select, buy and read novels.. this year i've bought and read frankenstein (mary shelly), dracula (bram stoker), the hound of the baskervilles (a. conan doyle), 'salem's lot (stephen king), jurassic park (michael crichton) and the firm (john grisham).. i have an inclination towards horrors and thrillers.. what fiction have you been reading?.

  could you recommend anything?.

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  cofty

  Thomas Harris' four part series on Hannibal Lecter is very good.

  Early John le Carre is good but not so much his recent stuff IMO
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  34

  Found Another Medieval Coin This Evening

  by cofty in

  1. social
  2. physical

  i got in an hour metal detecting this evening and found this almost immediately.. it is a silver penny of henry ii minted in london by "davi" between 1180 and 1189. this adds a king i didn't have in my collection.

  i now have the series of henry ii - john - henry iii - edward i - edward ii - edward iii.. i now need richard the lionheart to fill in the gap.

  he was the brother of john and reigned after the death of henry ii.

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  cofty

  have you ever scoured beaches, or is it not worthwhile? - The Searcher

  Your username would be perfect for a detecting forum!

  I haven't done beaches but it is quite popular. You will find modern coins and jewelry and a lot of fishing tackle. I'm more interested in history. It would be an option in the spring and summer when all the fields are under crop.

  Blondie - Series 1 was very good. They captured a lot of the nuance of detectorists who are somewhere between amateur archeologists and stamp collectors. Second series was disappointing.

  Tornapart - Finding a trove is always the dream. It was not uncommon to bury hoards in order to keep them safe. Then the owner died and it was never recovered. Yes I love TIme Team. I reckon they could do a good episode here where I live.

  was the place inhabited before 1066, i.e. would there be any chance of finding Anglo-Saxon objects?

  Yes it is listed in the records along with two other local villages as part of a Saxon "Thanage" I have yet to find anything Saxon but I am confident it will happen. There is also a crop mark of an Iron Age enclosure on the boundary of the estate. You can see part of the circular double ditch & ramparts in the pic below.

  
  

  Here is a flint knife, probably paleolithic that I found about 50 yards from where I am sitting now. You can see the percussion marks where it was shaped by a hammer stone. I found one of those too! Amazing to imagine somebody walking by this spot and dropping their favourite penknife before some people even believe humans existed. It is a beautiful fit in my hand.

  
  
  
  
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  34

  Found Another Medieval Coin This Evening

  by cofty in

  1. social
  2. physical

  i got in an hour metal detecting this evening and found this almost immediately.. it is a silver penny of henry ii minted in london by "davi" between 1180 and 1189. this adds a king i didn't have in my collection.

  i now have the series of henry ii - john - henry iii - edward i - edward ii - edward iii.. i now need richard the lionheart to fill in the gap.

  he was the brother of john and reigned after the death of henry ii.

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• 

  cofty

  SBF - The biggest challenge to getting started is finding permissions from landowners. A lot of people buy detectors and then realise they have nowhere to use them. I got a machine because I live in the countryside and had the ok to detect anywhere on the 1400 acres of the estate.

  One way around that is to join a club who organise rallies. You could google where the closest is to you. They will be more inclined to welcome you if you come with some permission you can share though. For me I prefer to detect alone. It's a great way to relax after work for an hour walking in the countryside. If you find something interesting that's a bonus.

  Machines range in cost massively. Mine is a mid-range Garret AT Pro. The problem with cheap machines is a lack of discrimination. I have a good idea what the signal is before I dig it but with the basic detectors you will end up digging a lot of rusty scrap.

  There are some that boast about having a lot of depth but the reality is most of your finds will come from the plough soil which is no deeper than the blade of a normal spade. It is considered bad form to dig deeper than that as you are potentially disturbing archaeology.

  Legally everything you find belongs to the landowner. I show everything interesting to him and he is going to set us a display cabinet in the "big house". If it is a valuable item you are entitled to 50% of its value and of course there are laws about what you must declare as treasure. In Scotland the laws are far more restrictive than in England.

  For me a big part of the hobby is building up a picture of the history of this one location. It features a lot in historical records so I have been able to put together a timeline.

  Edited to add - That David coin is a beauty. I have a coin of the Scottish king William the Lion who was captured at Alnwick by Henry II. Not as valuable as that one sadly.
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  52

  how can navigate if our desire is for absolute truth...

  by Ruby456 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  or do we give in to social constructivism?

  to relativity?

  or is there a way to be real and then to say whats real that everyone agrees to?.

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  cofty

  That has no connection to the conversation.

  Why on earth did you post that? You Google keywords and copy-paste stuff you don't understand.

  I am opting out trying to interrupt your frustrating monologue.