I researched the bible in order to determine if an experiment had already been performed. I found one, summarized here: "Two altars are built on Mount Carmel, one for Baal and one for Yahweh. Wood is laid on the altars. Two oxen are slaughtered and cut into pices [sic]; the pieces are laid on the wood. Elijah then invites the priests of Baal to pray for fire to light the sacrifice. They pray from morning to noon without success. Elijah ridicules their efforts. They respond by cutting themselves and adding their own blood to the sacrifice. They continue praying until evening without success.
Elijah now orders that the altar of Yahweh and its sacrifice be drenched with water (twelve barrels of water). He asks God to accept the sacrifice. Fire falls from the sky igniting the sacrifice." ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elijah )
I proceeded to construct three fire rings, appx. two meters apart, and lay in them piles of wood with tender, observing proper fire construction/safety/permits/etc. The wood was seasoned (in a woodshed for 1 year), however, moisture content was not checked with a meter. The wood was cut from the same tree a year earlier.
Ring 1: Baal Ring 2: Yahweh Ring 3: control
I asked two friends for assistance, one a wiccan and the other a southern baptist. The wiccan was asked to pray to Baal and ask that he light his fire. The southern baptist was asked to pray to Yahweh and ask that he light his fire. After four hours, nothing happened. Remembering that Elijah ordered the Yahweh altar to be doused with several barrels of water, I proceeded to pour 20L of H2O from a tap onto Ring 2. Having no oxen, I laid a steak (new york strip) on top as a suitable appeasement offering. The wiccan volunteered to cut her palm and drop blood on Baal's altar for historical accuracy. This was assented to after much discussion and queasiness on my part. She made an incision into her left palm and drizzled blood onto Baal's altar. Her palm stopped bleeding after a couple of minutes and appeared to need no bandaging (miracle?).
Prayers began anew, respectively. After four more hours, and a few green bottleneck flys gorging themselves on blood and steak, I declared a halt. I then proceeded to take a box of strike anywhere lucifer matches and remove one match. I struck the match on one of the stones surrounding the control fire. Touching the lit match to the tender produced a flame. After a few minutes, the flame appeared to be growing quite nicely.
Conclusion: This one is quite difficult. The wiccan claimed a success because Baal was clearly inferior to the goddess and was probably kicking it up with Bacchus (sp?) and with all the drinking and wenching, didn't have time to bother with something so mundane. The southern baptist claimed success as his god wasn't to be tempted with such display of frivolity. Meanwhile, I managed to cook a few hamburgers and hotdogs and we all enjoyed a nice meal.
That's me, Emperor of low rollers, all hail His Majesty, the King Craptastic of chance, the Great "Aw crap!" of dnd. Numerous games, different dice, same results. I must have negative ESP or something.
Thank you, my point exactly and I agree with you and I apologize.
In regards to the OP, I happen to utilize both systems of measurement. I have absolutely no trouble conversing with scientists in other countries as we all speak the same language (math).
It's kind of ironic, I think, that the responses to the OP reveal are quite revealing in regards to current tensions between the US and other countries. It saddens me. World events are so mixed up and those who are supposed to have the clearest picture aren't communicating with those of us who don't. In the case of the US vs Iraq, for example, we are the recipients of a propaganda campaign the likes of which I've never seen. Take, for example, the website the Electronic Intifada (while unrelated to Iraq but to Palestinians, it is directly relative to our (the US) relationship with Israel - which makes it an Islamic issue and relative to current events [// note how complicated this is]). Someone suggested I browse the website and so I did. The pictures and accounts there are very troubling and stomach turning. However, when I saw the same picture of a child posted with several different accounts and locations of her death, the site lost all credibility with me. How do I know she was killed by anyone; maybe she was the victim of a vehicle accident. This is but one small example of the propaganda campaign I have seen with my own two eyes.
Note that I do not condone atrocity nor do I like war. I dream of the day when we can put aside all of our differences and come together as one. In the meantime, I am a realist and I realize that while there of zealots of any color, nationality, etc. there will never be a lasting peace, much less a world peace.
I think part of the problem regarding current tensions between the US and the world is that the world views the US as a democracy. I know that a lot of Americans seem to think that it is. The truth is, we are a constitutional republic. We elect representatives to congress and their job is to do what is in the country's best interests not, contrary to popular belief, represent the people. We have no real direct say in government which prevents majority rule. This isn't taught very well in our schools, I don't believe, or some of us weren't paying attention. Even our electoral college is representational. They can actually vote whomever they choose and completely ignore the "will of the people", at least, that's the way I understand it to be.
Again, my apologies.
Ohhhhhh, you CaNAdian. Nevermind then...
I bow to your superior numbers: launch complexes, space programs, number of probes Canada has sent to other planets, number of firsts, universities, spacewalks, moonwalks, and so forth, ad infinitum.
Oh wait! yThat's right, you work for US! Your just hired help, as per your words. My original recommendation stands firm.
Okay, that does it! How many probes did YOUR country send to mars? Hell, to anywhere? Of those, how many failed?
Now, compare those numbers with NASA.
Just how many astronauts does Europe have, anyway? Anyone? We built rockets and sent people to the moon over thirty years ago, yet I still await to hear, "Swindon, the Queen Dimpsy has landed."
Most European countries are smaller than ONE of our STATEs. For that matter, some of our states have GDP's greater than MOST countries! Your own country couldn't swing it economically, so they had to for a union. Hmm, a union, kind of like united, ergo, United STATES. Tell me this, brainiac, if America is in such sorry state, why do you imitate practically everything we do?
You accuse us of forming an empire when you actually had one! You accuse us of non-conformity with the world, yet our citizenry is composed of the most diverse group of people on the planet. Your countries has deemed you to be so unworthy of trust, you have to be monitored virtually 24 hours a day. Yet, you accuse us of ignorance when we refuse to accede to your DEMAND that we change to a metric only system.
Tell you what, genius, design and build a rocket program which can a) send people to the moon and b) actually have an actual success/failure rate on planetary probes. Having done that using 1960's technology (no cad programs for you!) then you can tell me which "standard" is superior. Barring that, you need to drink a tall glass of STFU.
[And if this mods me a Troll, so be it!]
Slashdot Mirror
Ummm, no, Deep Impact targeted a comet (Tempel 1). http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/deepimpact/main/ As for the "electric universe" theory, from my pov, it's utter bunk.
I researched the bible in order to determine if an experiment had already been performed. I found one, summarized here: "Two altars are built on Mount Carmel, one for Baal and one for Yahweh. Wood is laid on the altars. Two oxen are slaughtered and cut into pices [sic]; the pieces are laid on the wood. Elijah then invites the priests of Baal to pray for fire to light the sacrifice. They pray from morning to noon without success. Elijah ridicules their efforts. They respond by cutting themselves and adding their own blood to the sacrifice. They continue praying until evening without success.
Elijah now orders that the altar of Yahweh and its sacrifice be drenched with water (twelve barrels of water). He asks God to accept the sacrifice. Fire falls from the sky igniting the sacrifice." ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elijah )
I proceeded to construct three fire rings, appx. two meters apart, and lay in them piles of wood with tender, observing proper fire construction/safety/permits/etc. The wood was seasoned (in a woodshed for 1 year), however, moisture content was not checked with a meter. The wood was cut from the same tree a year earlier.
Ring 1: Baal
Ring 2: Yahweh
Ring 3: control
I asked two friends for assistance, one a wiccan and the other a southern baptist. The wiccan was asked to pray to Baal and ask that he light his fire. The southern baptist was asked to pray to Yahweh and ask that he light his fire. After four hours, nothing happened. Remembering that Elijah ordered the Yahweh altar to be doused with several barrels of water, I proceeded to pour 20L of H2O from a tap onto Ring 2. Having no oxen, I laid a steak (new york strip) on top as a suitable appeasement offering. The wiccan volunteered to cut her palm and drop blood on Baal's altar for historical accuracy. This was assented to after much discussion and queasiness on my part. She made an incision into her left palm and drizzled blood onto Baal's altar. Her palm stopped bleeding after a couple of minutes and appeared to need no bandaging (miracle?).
Prayers began anew, respectively. After four more hours, and a few green bottleneck flys gorging themselves on blood and steak, I declared a halt. I then proceeded to take a box of strike anywhere lucifer matches and remove one match. I struck the match on one of the stones surrounding the control fire. Touching the lit match to the tender produced a flame. After a few minutes, the flame appeared to be growing quite nicely.
Conclusion: This one is quite difficult. The wiccan claimed a success because Baal was clearly inferior to the goddess and was probably kicking it up with Bacchus (sp?) and with all the drinking and wenching, didn't have time to bother with something so mundane. The southern baptist claimed success as his god wasn't to be tempted with such display of frivolity. Meanwhile, I managed to cook a few hamburgers and hotdogs and we all enjoyed a nice meal.
you know it's bad when it's "hella-rolla-retard" time. does provide comic relief for the other players though... (sigh)
That's me, Emperor of low rollers, all hail His Majesty, the King Craptastic of chance, the Great "Aw crap!" of dnd. Numerous games, different dice, same results. I must have negative ESP or something.
OKAY!
Thank you, my point exactly and I agree with you and I apologize. In regards to the OP, I happen to utilize both systems of measurement. I have absolutely no trouble conversing with scientists in other countries as we all speak the same language (math). It's kind of ironic, I think, that the responses to the OP reveal are quite revealing in regards to current tensions between the US and other countries. It saddens me. World events are so mixed up and those who are supposed to have the clearest picture aren't communicating with those of us who don't. In the case of the US vs Iraq, for example, we are the recipients of a propaganda campaign the likes of which I've never seen. Take, for example, the website the Electronic Intifada (while unrelated to Iraq but to Palestinians, it is directly relative to our (the US) relationship with Israel - which makes it an Islamic issue and relative to current events [// note how complicated this is]). Someone suggested I browse the website and so I did. The pictures and accounts there are very troubling and stomach turning. However, when I saw the same picture of a child posted with several different accounts and locations of her death, the site lost all credibility with me. How do I know she was killed by anyone; maybe she was the victim of a vehicle accident. This is but one small example of the propaganda campaign I have seen with my own two eyes. Note that I do not condone atrocity nor do I like war. I dream of the day when we can put aside all of our differences and come together as one. In the meantime, I am a realist and I realize that while there of zealots of any color, nationality, etc. there will never be a lasting peace, much less a world peace. I think part of the problem regarding current tensions between the US and the world is that the world views the US as a democracy. I know that a lot of Americans seem to think that it is. The truth is, we are a constitutional republic. We elect representatives to congress and their job is to do what is in the country's best interests not, contrary to popular belief, represent the people. We have no real direct say in government which prevents majority rule. This isn't taught very well in our schools, I don't believe, or some of us weren't paying attention. Even our electoral college is representational. They can actually vote whomever they choose and completely ignore the "will of the people", at least, that's the way I understand it to be. Again, my apologies.
Ohhhhhh, you CaNAdian. Nevermind then... I bow to your superior numbers: launch complexes, space programs, number of probes Canada has sent to other planets, number of firsts, universities, spacewalks, moonwalks, and so forth, ad infinitum. Oh wait! yThat's right, you work for US! Your just hired help, as per your words. My original recommendation stands firm.
Okay, that does it! How many probes did YOUR country send to mars? Hell, to anywhere? Of those, how many failed? Now, compare those numbers with NASA. Just how many astronauts does Europe have, anyway? Anyone? We built rockets and sent people to the moon over thirty years ago, yet I still await to hear, "Swindon, the Queen Dimpsy has landed." Most European countries are smaller than ONE of our STATEs. For that matter, some of our states have GDP's greater than MOST countries! Your own country couldn't swing it economically, so they had to for a union. Hmm, a union, kind of like united, ergo, United STATES. Tell me this, brainiac, if America is in such sorry state, why do you imitate practically everything we do? You accuse us of forming an empire when you actually had one! You accuse us of non-conformity with the world, yet our citizenry is composed of the most diverse group of people on the planet. Your countries has deemed you to be so unworthy of trust, you have to be monitored virtually 24 hours a day. Yet, you accuse us of ignorance when we refuse to accede to your DEMAND that we change to a metric only system. Tell you what, genius, design and build a rocket program which can a) send people to the moon and b) actually have an actual success/failure rate on planetary probes. Having done that using 1960's technology (no cad programs for you!) then you can tell me which "standard" is superior. Barring that, you need to drink a tall glass of STFU. [And if this mods me a Troll, so be it!]
What's the conversion factor for cold witch's tit?