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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Should Pluto be re-established as an honorary planet?

« on: 16/07/2016 02:51:43 »

Pluto

As an amateur astronomer, I would often try to imagine what that distant little world actually looked like, maybe it was but a featureless ball or frozen desert world, but the reality completely both surprised and amazed me, as to the almost unimaginable complex and beautiful this distant world proved to be, when the first photos were published all over the media.

The recent flyby and the amazing images of this unexpectedly beautiful complex little world, makes me feel we should really consider giving it the status of an honorary planet.

What are your thoughts on the matter?

Alan

2

Just Chat! / What you might not know about South Africa?

« on: 16/07/2016 02:05:35 »

http://www.thesouthafrican.com/the-top-10-south-african-inventions/

South Africa

Has a first world infrastructure?

Produced 9 Atom Bombs more powerful than the one that destroyed Hiroshima.

Invented the "Cat Scanner"

Has a huge nuclear powered Power Station, just outside Cape town.

Elon Musk born and raised in South Africa

Mark Shuttleworth was one of the first civilians to pay his way out of his own pocket and go to the  International Space station.

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http://www.thesouthafrican.com/the-top-10-south-african-inventions/

South Africans can be incredibly creative in order to help other people and make our lives better.

Here’s our list of the most innovative South African inventions – and many of their inventors are from pretty unassuming places too!

CAT Scan

The Computed Axial Tomography Scan or CAT was developed by Cape Town physicist Allan Cormack and his associate Godfrey Hounsfield. He provided the mathematical technique for the CAT scan, in which an X-ray source and electronic detectors are rotated about the body and the resulting data is analysed by a computer to produce a sharp map of the tissues within a cross-section of the body. This resulted in a Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine.


Oil from Coal (Sasol)

When the South African government realised that South Africa had minimal oil reserves, this led to the South African Coal Oil and Gas Corporation (Sasol). Sasol is the world’s first – and largest – oil-from-coal refinery and it provides 40% of the country’s fuel.

Heart Transplant

The world’s first heart transplant was performed by Dr Chris Barnard in Cape Town on 3 December 1967. The patient Louis Washkansky was suffering heart failure at the time and Dr Barnard took the chance to operate him. After that, Barnard became an international celebrity. He went on to perform more than 10 other heart transplants, with one of the recipients surviving a further 23 years.

Kreepy Krauly

The swimming pool vacuum cleaner was invented by Ferdinand Chauvier from Springs. Chauvier tried to figure out a way to take the hassle out of pool cleaning. The result was the Kreepy Krauly and the first one was created in 1974. Our dads have been happy ever since.

Pratley’s Putty

George Pratley invented Pratley’s Putty while trying to create a glue that would hold components in an electrical box. Pratley’s Glue had a part in the success of the Moon Landing. In 1969 the substance was used to hold bits of the Apollo XI mission’s Eagle landing craft together.

Dolosse

Create by Eric Merrifield, Dolosse are large, unusually shaped concrete blocks weighing up to 20 tons. The structures are designed to break up wave action and protect harbour walls and coastal installations.

South African flag on giant dolos

Q20

Q20 was invented in 1950 in Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal by a Mr Robertson, as a product to displace water from the distributor caps on the old VW Beetle, which was notorious for stalling in wet weather. It was an effective water repellent, kept rust at bay, eased squeaky door hinges, and made it easy to release rusted or seized nuts and bolts. Initially he did not know what to call it but he told his neighbour that it certainly had 20 answers to 20 questions.

The secret behind Q20 is that it is heavier than water. Since oil floats on water, simply oiling the area will not resolve the problem. But because Q20 has a specific gravity of 1.154, it can displace water which only has a specific gravity of 1. Once Q20 is sprayed on water, it sinks to the bottom, where it acts as a water displacer and lubricant on the problem area.

Retinal Cryoprobe

Selig Percy Amoils, a specialist in retinal diseases, created a new method of cataract surgery. He developed this method at Baragwanath hospital in Soweto. Amoils achieved wide recognition for his invention and in 1975 received a Queen’s Award for Technological Innovation. His cryoprobe has since been on display in the Kensington Museum in London.

Speed Gun

This invention could only come from a cricket loving country. Henri Johnson invented the Speedball in 1992. The device accurately measures the speed and angles of speeding objects such as cricket and tennis balls.

Smartlock Safety Syringe

Smartlock safety syringes provide improved protection against needlestick injury and contamination by Ebola virus, Hepatitis and HIV. This invention has saved countless lives.

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Actors/Actresses

Sandra Prinsloo, South African actress (born 1947) (The Gods Must Be Crazy, Quest for Love (1988 film)) stage(afrikaan adaption of Miss Julie which saw the first on-screen kiss between a black man and a white woman)

Peter Cartwright, actor (born 1935)

Sharlto Copley, actor, (District 9) (born 1973)

Tanit Phoenix, actress (Death Race: Inferno, Lord of War, Safe House, Femme Fatales, Mad Buddies) (born 1984)

Embeth Davidtz, actress (born 1965)

Willie Esterhuizen, actor

Brett Goldin, actor (1977–2006)

David James, actor, stage, television, and film actor (born 1972)

Sid James, film & television actor (1913–1976)

Adhir Kalyan, actor (born 1983)

John Kani, actor, entertainer and writer (born 1943)
Alice Krige, actress (born 1954)

Sean Michael (South African actor), (born 1969)

Patrick Mynhardt, actor (1932–2007)

Winston Ntshona, actor (born 1941)

Sasha Pieterse, actress (born 1996)

Basil Rathbone, actor (1892–1967)

Stelio Savante, actor (born 1970)

Hennie Jacobs, actor (born 1981)

Clive Scott, actor (born 1937)

Antony Sher, actor, author and painter (born 1949)

Cliff Simon, actor (born 1962)

William Smith, TV teacher and presenter

Janet Suzman, actress (born 1939)

Charlize Theron, actress (born 1975)

Pieter-Dirk Uys, political satirist and entertainer (born 1945)

Musetta Vander, actress (born 1969)

Arnold Vosloo, actor (The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, 24) (born 1962)

Maps Maponyane, actor (born 1990)


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And much more?

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Nobel Prize Winners

Max Theiler, (1899-1972.) Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1951 for vaccine for Yellow Fever. "for his discoveries concerning yellow fever and how to combat it"

Allan McLeod Cormack (1924-1998.) Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1951 for x-ray tomography. Born and studied in SA. X-ray work started in Cape Town before emigration to USA. Co-inventor of the CT scanner."for the development of computer assisted tomography"

Albert Lutuli, Peace, 1960. Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).

Aaron Klug (1926-). 1982 Nobel prize in Chemistry for his development of crystallographic electron microscopy and his structural elucidation of biologically important nucleic acid-protein complexes. Born Lithuania, raised and educated in SA, moved to UK in 1950s to pursue research work.

Desmond Tutu Peace, 1984

Nadine Gordimer Literature 1991 "who through her magnificent epic writing has - in the words of Alfred Nobel - been of very great benefit to humanity"

Nelson Mandela Peace 1993 and

FW de Klerk Peace 1993 "for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa"

Sydney Brenner Physiology or Medicine 2002 for work in RNA biology."for their discoveries concerning genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death'" Born and educated in SA, moved to England to pursue research work.

J. M. Coetzee, Literature, 2003 "who in innumerable guises portrays the surprising involvement of the outsider"

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South African scientists

Andrew Geddes Bain, geologist (1797–1864)

Peter Beighton, geneticist (born 1934)

Wilhelm Bleek, linguist (1827–1875)

Robert Broom, palaeontologist (1866–1951)

Sydney Brenner, biologist, 2002 Physiology or Medicine Nobel Prize winner (born 1927)

Phillip Clancey, ornithologist (1918–2001)

Allan McLeod Cormack, physicist (1924–1998)

Clement Martyn Doke, linguist (1893–1980)

Mulalo Doyoyo, professor and inventor (born 1970)

Alexander du Toit, geologist (1878–1948)

Robert Allen Dyer, botanist (1900–1987))

J. W. B. Gunning, zoologist (1860–1913)

David Lewis-Williams, archaeologist (born 1934)

Lucy Lloyd, anthropologist (1834–1914)

Thebe Medupe, astrophysicist (born 1973)

Hans Merensky, geologist (1871–1952)

Austin Roberts, zoologist (1883–1948)

Peter Sarnak, mathematician (born 1953)

Ramotholo Sefako, astrophysicist (born 1971)

Buyisiwe Sondezi, physicist (born 1976)

Basil Schonland, physicist (1896–1972)

J.L.B. Smith, ichthyologist (1897–1968)

Phillip Tobias, palaeontologist (1925–2012)

Just the tip of the iceberg really

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Physiology & Medicine / Are you aware of Synesthesia increasing human perception?

« on: 15/07/2016 04:10:41 »

Dear Moderator if I put this thread in the wrong place, please move it to where it should be

Thanks Alan

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Synesthesia is the combined sensory state I have been trying to convey in an article research paper I have been working on .

Synesthesia is often dismissed as a product of overactive imaginations, synesthesia has larely grudgingly come to be accepted by scientists in recent years as an actual phenomenon with a real neurological basis.

The ability to become a Synesthesiac was to develop new neural connections within  the brain and by this means remove the boundaries and barriers that normally exist between the five senses. To learn to unravel the collective chatter of sensory perception previously isolation, into one large sensory interconnected sensory organ, namely the human body/soul.

It has been postulated that babies do not use their five distinct senses separately but rather one all-encompassing combined sense, that responds to the total amount of incoming stimulation. So when a baby hears her mother's voice, she is also perceiving it and smelling it.

All of us should be able to perceive the world as a unified whole because there is a complex interaction between the senses in the brain, the thinking goes.

Once we have progressed to the point of been able to utilize all of our sensing abilities and perform as one complete interconnected composite entity of trillions of self-aware cells, our dormant awareness will wake up allow us to reach out to the unimagined sources of joy, love peace, and health. Then we would never cease to be amazed at new wonder and reality of the world around us, in all its true blazing vivid multi-colored beauty.

We are evolving into sentient beings of a higher order, Homo Superior if you like. Once formerly locked doorways into the truth of total reality are opened, the eternal light of infinity will reveal to you, the full unimagined beauty of creation. We do not experience the real beauty of creation because it has been hidden from us,  because of limitations of the capacity of human sensory perception. (There are, however, exception to this rule that all of us experience, the very special never- to forget- events when a door into total reality momentary opens during our lives)

During moments of  the finely tuned enhanced state of awareness, I realized that as far as I knew that up to 99.998% of people, myself included, never came remotely aware of what a truly almost infinite precise instrument a human's whole body can become.

It is not only the brain that perceives reality but it each cell does its own work, as an individual aware vital part our bodies. In fact, our bodies should work as one composite whole entity instead of responding to separate sensory impulses.

If humanity were to achieve this goal of altering the bodies inbuilt programming to react as one composite intelligent entity of trillions of cells working together for the good of the whole being then our material earthly realm could become  a heaven on earth, with unimaginable potential for growth, both in this life and the next.

With practice it is possible to entire a state of synesthesia which allows one, for example, to switch to perceiving with ears, tasting with eyes, listening sense of taste smell and feel. Every atom every cell every organ of a person’s physical body existing as one harmonious whole as one intelligent composite living being.

In a sharpened and enhanced state of awareness, it becomes possible to observe much more of creation, even down extreme detail of the minuscule and retain this data in our needed and precious memories, instead of overlooking or ignoring or shrugging off important messages and information, that might have been profound and necessary for human survival progress.

Who knows what is possible if one could plug our conscious minds into the universe at large and then download from its advanced technology and join communities of stars singing the songs of  creation.

After we have learned by constant practice of extreme concentration effort and deep profound meditation, one will become exceptionally aware of every sound sight touch image or vision and be able to block out the impulses of unnecessary garbage and utilize our bodies as one sensory instrument of amazing precision.

We know that bats, whales, and some insects use sound, ultrasound as a means of location and guidance. It has now being proved that ultrasounds input into the brain as specific spots can modulate and improve, heighten sensory perception in humans.

Our perception of time is hugely relative, Albert Einstein quoted that a day with a beautiful girl will seem to pass in a brief moment while waiting for a doctor in his consulting room even for twenty minutes could seem like  a day.

Time perception could be an article on its own, but  the aim is to come up with a means of changing our perception of time according to our needs and requirement. If for instance, we could slow down time during a university examination it might help one get a better pass mark.

It becomes possible in a state of extreme heightened, fine-tuned and enhanced awareness, to keep so still and focused that one is able to hear the chirp of a billion bird like impulses, which are like little darting quantum particles dancing before the throne of God.

"More if interest is shown"

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Just Chat! / Where does science and metaphysics meet?

« on: 15/07/2016 03:56:28 »

Few of the truly great scientists of this or any other era would ultimately deny the importance of these mystical components in their own creative capabilities.

What is much more problematic and controversial is whether modern science has the technical, epistemological, and intuitive capacity to demonstrate, comprehend, and incorporate such elusive factors in any rigorous and systematic fashion within its own analytical paradigm.

Max Planck, a founding father of quantum physics: “Scientists have learned that the starting-point of their investigations does not lie solely in the perceptions of the senses and that science cannot exist without some small portion of metaphysics.

Modern Physics impresses us particularly with the truth of the old doctrine which teaches that there are realities existing apart from our sense-perceptions and that there are problems and conflicts where these realities are of greater value for us than the richest treasures of the world of experience.”

The belief in miracle is a very important element in the cultural history of the human race. Is there, in the last analysis, some basically sound foothold for this belief in miracle, no matter how bizarre and illogical may be the outer forms it takes?

All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind.

This mind is the matrix of all matter.

I call it Almighty God

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Just Chat! / What is our true reality?

« on: 14/07/2016 09:37:29 »

What is our true reality?

Author Alan McDougall 2007

(This is an imaginary essay about what I think might reflect the truth of how we humans fit into reality)

The essential you, or your whole real essence, is a field of pure primordial energy we call awareness. It is the I am that which interacts with its own self (Soul) and then becomes both mind/brain and body.

The Universe is said to exist because some consciousness is looking at it

In other words, you are consciousness or spirit, which then conceives, constructs, governs, and becomes the mind/brain and the body. The real you is inseparable from the patterns of intelligence that permeate every fiber of creation, however, our universe was created as a duality, therefore, we can choose to do good or choose to do evil.

At the deepest level of existence, you are a finite Being that will inherit the universe because in fact, and you are nowhere and everywhere at the same time. There is no other “you” than the entire cosmos. The Universe + cosmic mind creates as an every gone path all that there is in our the physical universe, changing state, over and over again as our personal mind/brain (Soul) experiences it.

In truth, the cosmic mind and our personal mind are both permeated by “the Universe of Infinite Consciousness”. “the Universe the Infinite Consciousness” is our source, and all manifestation is inherent within it.

“the Universe the Infinite Consciousness” observing itself creates the notion of an observer or the soul; the process of observation, or the mind; and that which is observed, or the body and the world.

The observer and the observed create relationships between themselves; this is space. The movement of these relationships creates events; this is time. But all these are none other than the “the Universe the Infinite Consciousness” itself.

In other words, we are “the Universe the Infinite Consciousness” with a “localized point of view” An aspect or facet of the great reality we call the Universe.

The “the intellect of the physical brain” imprisons us momentarily in a cage of fictitious images, a web of space, time, and causation. As a result, we lose touch with the true nature of our reality, which is powerful, boundless, immortal, and free.

The intellect of the brain”. Mistakes the image of reality for reality itself. It squeezes the soul into the volume of a body, in the span of a lifetime, and now the spell of mortality is cast. The image of the self-overshadows the unbounded Self, and we feel cut off or disconnected from “the Universe the Infinite Consciousness”, our source.

Although you now exist in the clothing of your soul, (your mortal body) ,you are in reality a non-material soul and therefore not subject to the limitations of space, time, matter, and causation.

The soul, the consciousness is, in fact, the true reflection of who you really are

 In this very moment, you are surrounded by a pure consciousness. Pure consciousness illuminates and animates your mind and body, and it is powerful, nourishing, invincible, unbounded, and free. Pure consciousness, “the Universe the Infinite “

Eternal Spirit”, animates and sustains everything in existence, which means it is omniscient (all knowing), omnipresent (present in all locations simultaneously), and omnipotent (all powerful). “And when we learn and grow and evolve into understanding we shall be all those things also, indeed co- creators with the Universe

By Alan McDougall 2008

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Large Hadron Collider, how did know they saw the Higgs Boson?

« on: 14/07/2016 08:46:36 »

As a crude comparison if we collided two cars at an enormous speed and the task was to find a piece of the carburetor among the shattered remains if we searched long enough we would find it because we would know exactly what we were looking for. The same goes for the "Black Box" of airplane disasters.

We have been informed that the LHC scientists that they have found (identified) the elusive Higgs Boson, but how did they know that among the billions of hadrons that among them were/was a Higgs Boson,(s) having never observed this unique animal before??

Alan   

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Are you aware of the use of Lagrange points for the James Web Space Telescope

« on: 12/07/2016 21:57:33 »

As an amateur astronomer I of course knew about the five Lagrange points of stability that exist between the earth and moon , but never though I would see the day when these were to be used as a practical solution such as for the James Web telescope to by launched into orbit in a few years if all things go smoothly

(My Comment Alan McDougall)


 http://webbtelescope.org/webb_telescope/technology_at_the_extremes/overview.php

The James Webb Space Telescope is an infrared-detecting observatory that will soar through space at the Second Sun-Earth Lagrange Point, an orbit far beyond Earth's Moon. Webb's giant sunshield will protect it from stray heat and light, while its large mirror enables it to effectively capture infrared light, bringing us the clearest picture ever of objects that emit this invisible radiation — early galaxies, just-forming stars, clouds of gas and dust, and much more.

Webb has an ambitious design that tackles the two main challenges for an infrared telescope: it has to have a large mirror, in order to best capture the long infrared wavelength; and it has to be kept cold, in order to keep unwanted sources of infrared from interfering with the emissions it attempts to detect.

"WEBB'S ORBIT"

Lagrange points, named after their discoverer, Joseph Louis Lagrange, are five special points around two orbiting bodies where gravity allows a third, smaller body to orbit at a fixed distance from the larger bodies. In our case, these two bodies are the Sun and the Earth. The Webb telescope is being sent to one of these stable orbital points via rocket.

Webb's planners have several good reasons for this choice. At the Second Lagrange Point L2), 940,000 miles (1.5 million km) from Earth, the telescope will be able to keep its tennis court-sized sunshield between its sensitive equipment and the Earth, Sun and Moon, yet remain in an orbit that makes operations and communications easy. Just as important, Earth won't obstruct the telescope's view.

Although an L2 orbit offers several advantages, the most important is its location out beyond Earth. Warm objects emit infrared light in great amounts. That means the infrared detectors in Webb's instruments must operate at very cold temperatures (about -375 degrees Fahrenheit, or 40 Kelvin or -233.3 degrees Celsius). Without cooling, these instruments wouldn't be able to see beyond the radiation they generate on their own. Webb would be unable to carry enough of its own coolant and fit inside its rocket, so a cold orbit around the Sun offers an ideal solution.

"RUGGED DESIGN"

At this distant orbit, the Webb telescope is too far from Earth to have the protection of our planet's magnetic field, which blocks high-energy cosmic rays. Cosmic rays can interfere with the telescope's signals or even build up electrical charges that can create the equivalent of small lightning strikes on the telescope. Such sparks can hurt sensitive equipment or damage the telescope's materials. Webb has been engineered to take this into account, with extra shielding for detectors and conduction areas in the sunshield to prevent voltages from accumulating.

Webb doesn't look like your typical telescope. This is because it's not enclosed in a tube or dome. Telescopes that see primarily visible light, like Hubble, use tubes to keep stray light from entering their instruments. But Webb's infrared detectors have to be protected primarily from heat sources, so it uses an open design that allows heat to dissipate easily into space. Webb's sunshield, which unfurls after Webb is released from its rocket, consists of five layers of a heat-resistant material called silicon-coated Kapton. Each layer further deflects any heat or light that penetrates the previous layers.

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Just Chat! / Let us lighten up and tell a few jokes or exaggerations for amusement?

« on: 09/07/2016 02:45:24 »

We had this very large apricot tree which hundreds of birds sat on eating our precious fruit.


So my dad decided to put bird lime (glue) on every branch and leaf of the tree.


He first shouted and shook the tree until all the birds flew off in fright


We then waited in great anticipation for all the bird to return.


On the return of  all of the birds when all of them roosted on our precious tree again!


We both then let out a great roar and to our utter amazement all the birds took off taking the whole tree roots and all with them


By Alan McDougall

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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Why Linear Time "Flow" insists that the universe must be finite?

« on: 07/07/2016 18:02:33 »

Why Linear Time "Flow" makes it impossible for the universe to be eternal?

It goes something like this in a hypothetical eternal universe the "Start" point of time would be pushed back into the infinite past which would mean the arrow of time could never reach the present a real paradox.

Like the original photon of light or moment of time, which flow or speed are both finite, being pushed back into the eternal past. With the result of time never reaching the present, meaning the part of the universe we exist in, (namely our solar system) could never have come into existence

Without a beginning of time there would be no zero entropic state , because entropy could not increase because it can only increase in conjunction with the arrow of time "shooting" from the present into the future (in fact entropy would not/could not be a fundamental reality in an eternal universe)

I have a headache guys correct me if my logic is wrong I am a mere mortal!

Regards

Alan

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Just Chat! / A Poem I wrote for those who might fear death!

« on: 07/07/2016 17:20:15 »

A Poem I Wrote for those who fear death

Infinity Road by Alan McDougall
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as I approach the infinite long dark night
I resist and resist it with all my might
I try and try to comprehend this end
to which all men must descend
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is it a sleep that all must take?
or is it an eternal end that all must make?
I like to dream of awakening in light not dark
or a beautiful place to which all righteous men depart
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do we sleep the sleep of forever?
or do we awake some other place altogether?
does this answer the ultimate question?
the final process of eternal redemption
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then one glorious day from timeless sleep I awoke
and heard a beautiful and kind voice that sweetly spoke
faithful son at last you came to understand
exactly your place in this troubled land
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
you, my beloved, have truly never ceased to seek
the infinite destiny that in eternity for you I keep
so for you and your family, no eternal death await
because of your zeal to know your fate
(and therefore I never forsake)
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soon I bring you all to this holiest place
and it is there you will find your eternal place
you shall hear my sweet calling of you, out from your dark into the light
come, come into the holy glory to me the father of mighty might
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walk in the cool of evening along sweet meadows you have never seen
smell the fragrances of grasses that have never been
strange golden streams of crystal water flow
as the blue glory of mighty skies above glow
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I searched the long forgotten memories in the attic of my mind
along the twisted channels the very depth soul of things I could not find
now last I see things so wonderful I knew from long ago
why did I puzzle over the enigma of not knowing what I did not know?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
out there far beyond the knowledge of any man now revealed
all the great mysteries of which my heart had appealed
why have I on this one thing so many years stalled?
the beauty and wonder of the infinite knowledge that should no be appalled
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
in joy, I walked on through the shade of great trees of eternal life
I hear the sweet forgotten voice that gave me everlasting life
in the beauty of this glorious place, the beauty new grasses do grow
as great rivers of transparent waters chuckle dance, sparkle, and flow
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By Alan McDougall (Copyright 2009)

11

Physiology & Medicine / test

« on: 06/07/2016 00:05:08 »

test

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Radio Show & Podcast Feedback / Could you help I am not getting full format?

« on: 05/07/2016 23:49:50 »

For the past week or so I have noticed that the facility to enclose quotes, underline comments. change font colors etc is missing/absent above the mathematic symbols where it always appeared. Only partly formatted

Also,my ignore opinion facility does no longer work and I still see what they have posted .

Could someone help?

Thank you

Alan

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Guest Book / All replies to my posts are ending up in my spam , instead of my inbox?

« on: 04/07/2016 14:44:50 »

All replies to my posts are ending up in my spam , instead of my inbox?

Can some one please help?

Alan

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Guest Book / Why cant I save my profile settings?

« on: 03/07/2016 13:04:36 »

Why cant I save my profile settings?

Alan

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Just Chat! / Do you think the Shroud of Turin is a fake or real

« on: 03/07/2016 12:59:49 »

Do you think the Shroud of Turin is a fake or real?

The Shroud of Turin or Turin Shroud , a length of linen cloth bearing the image of a man, which is believed by some Christians to be the burial shroud of Jesus of Nazareth.

Whatever it is it is amazing!

What do you think?

Alan

16

New Theories / Bill Nye Believes we are living in a matrix created by an supercomputer?

« on: 29/06/2016 16:12:53 »

http://bigthink.com/videos/bill-nye-questions-if-we-live-in-a-matrix?utm_source=Big+Think+Weekly+Newsletter+Subscribers&utm_campaign=bd5b50f5ae-Newsletter_0629166_28_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6d098f42ff-bd5b50f5ae-41133881

Bill Nye Believes we are living in a matrix created by an supercomputer of unimaginable power I do not believe this and think it is nonsense, you might as well call his matrix creating unimaginably powerful supercomputer God, because their capabilities are identical

In my opinion it is ridiculous nonsense!

But that is just my opinion and as a fallible being I could be wrong

Thus please tell us what you think?

Alan

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Physiology & Medicine / Is there a case for positive euthanasia for end stage Alzheimer sufferers?

« on: 29/06/2016 15:53:27 »

Is there a case for positive euthanasia for end stage Alzheimer sufferers?

Is it possible to maintain a youthful brain in an aging body?

Or are the two bound up with each other inclusively?

Alzheimer disease is the most frightening disease known to man, because it causes the complete destruction of a personality.

Would you want to be kept alive?,

My answer as a 76 year old man is an emphatic "NO".

I do not fear death and my wish would be that they give me a fatal injection and allow me to die peacefully and with dignity!!

18

Just Chat! / There is no god and Richard Dawkins is his prophet?

« on: 29/06/2016 14:21:41 »

There is no god and Richard Dawkins is his prophet?

A modern day Evangelist doing to others what he despises in them, forcing his beliefs down their throats a prime example of a hypocrite, what is he trying to achieve? He should go home and spend valuable time with his family and grandchildren, instead of going all over the world, convincing the already converted, who already are atheists like him.

"In a billion years he will never get a fundamentalist to convert to his belief, what a huge waste of time and effort"

He does make fools of the religious fundamentalists, "but how easy is that"?, to make fools of those ignorant in basic science, but being ignorant does not mean they are stupid, they just do not know things he knows.

As a scientist he should know he simply cannot prove that god does not exist, so until he can he should go home and shut up and stop irritating people .

He is in his 70,s and has just had a stroke, so maybe he should reconsider his position as far as the existence of god goes and the possibility that there just might be an afterlife?

Alan

19

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Does gravity attract masses in space, or does it curve space between them?

« on: 29/06/2016 02:29:08 »

Does gravity attract masses in an existing space, or does it curve the space between them?

The answer to this question is much more complex than meets the eye?

20

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Can one estimate how many stars there are in the universe?

« on: 28/06/2016 22:49:50 »

Can one estimate how many stars there are in the universe?


Give it a go

Alan