Verisoph

Retconning is junk science, too. It's completely contrary to known laws of space, time, and consumer confidence.

I'm happy to be of service. Cartoons can provide good relief for an overtaxed brain, just be careful that you don't fall for the junk science that they too often try to push, like in Dexter's Lab and Spider-Man (radioactive spiders won't give you super powers).

Hello, Sam. Welcome to the forum! Here this might help explain things: Evolving snake fangs

I found Salman Rushdie's book, The Satanic Verses, to be pretty uninteresting. It was rather like a Bollywood movie, and I don't really care much for those. But, that's just me. For whatever reason, the book never mentions The Satanic Verses - those are a few verses which were recited by Mohammad, and were originally part of the Koran. They acknowledge the existence and power of gods other than Allah. Mohammed later recanted these verses whereupon they were removed from the Koran and banned. One version of the explanation for this is that Mohammed was possesed by Satan when the verses were delivered.

2012 - Answers from Mr. John Zion

I'm amazed at some of the claims I've heard about dark matter and dark energy. I guess they just sound so mysterous that they're begging to be abused. Eventually someone might figure out what, and even if, these things really are - I suppose then they'll get proper names. It seems that the more uncertainty there is about something, the easier it is to make spurious claims about it. ------ It's been 23 years since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster's massive release of radioactivity into the environment. Do you ever wonder where all the superheros are that must have been created by this event? It's a known fact that Putin has hiding them from the world so that no one will know their weaknesses. His plan is to unleash them on the US, Latvia and Lithuania during the chaotic cataclysms of 2012. The evil media magnates know of this plan, but they've been promised large kingdoms to rule over and concubine clones of Scarlett Johansson as a reward for their silence. They greatly desire these things and that's precisely why they're keeping us in the dark matter.

The alignment that you're talking about is between the earth, the sun, and the galactic center. In fact, it happens every single year, without fail. The idea that this is significant was introduced by John Jenkins in his book "Maya Cosmogenesis 2012." His claim is that in 2012 the alignment will occur on the day of the Winter Solstice (that is a rarity). Even if that did make any real difference in regards to us "entering those areas of space where high and unusual energies are found," it's important to note that Mr. Jenkins botched the math. The exactly timed alignment to which he refers happened on December 21, 1997. We've been there, we've done that. If you'd like the skinny on this alignment try here: Maya Galactic Alignment 2012

I was born in April, but not on the first.

Thanks for taking the time to introduce a bit more real science into the thread. --- Really? No doubt about that? Golly! Wow! No doubt about that too, huh? And the Mayan calendar proves all this? Amazing! Please see the fallacies of Argument By Prestigious Jargon and Argument By Gibberish.

Shame on you Samuron, don't you know that real science doesn't apply to 2012 threads?

Great stuff, Great Cthulhu! Will your book contain any tales of the Cthulhu mythos?

Ten dollars

Good stuff! Sorry if it's off-topic, but I get a kick out of this one: Careful, it's one of those songs that can make you hate your head if it gets stuck there.

I used to be an evil man, my heart as black as coal, then I became a ULC saint, ten dollars healed my soul.

I'm sorry, it was not my intention to make you feel the need to defend your poem. It's quite good as is.

Very well done, cursuswalker! It's certainly thought provoking. Perhaps you could somehow work in to this the idea that from the photon's perspective it strikes your eye at the exact same moment that it leaves Aldebaran. That might requre a shift away from its first-person narrative.

I've got to hand it to you, RevRainbow, you post some great stuff. Even though I'm not a Christian, there's still much for me to learn from your words of compassion and wisdom. Now if you can put it in verse form, maybe make it rhyme, I know this publisher......

Smoke a few Marlboros and then say, "Hey you, bugger off!" Works like a charm.

Thanks, I'm sure it's greatly appreciated.

I talked to a friend who talked to Decline two days after his surgery. So, he made it through the surgery, but I'm not sure how successful it might have been.

Looking over what I wrote earlier, I think I didn't do a very good job of saying what I was trying to say. Decline has requested any positive energy that might be sent his way. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't do such a thing without being very worried about his surgery. Fawzo, if the birds raised your spirits, that alone is a very good thing. I know Decline well enough to think that he would not want anyone getting bummed out about his situation. The more positive your positive energy is, the better it is. What I'm asking is that you not decide that seeing a flock of birds means that everything is okay, and stop sending your positive energy now. I'll make some phone calls tomorrow and see if I can find anything out.

Decline and I used to play Dungeons & Dragons together. I've been wondering about him, too. I'm comforted by the knowledge that the success rate of this particular operation is very high. Sounds like a flock of birds to me. But hey, what do I know? In the interest of accuracy, cardinals are omnivores. They eat a lot of bugs. That, in itself, is a positive thing in my book.

Nice pictures!

Best wishes to you, my friend. And a Merry Christmas.

You don't strike me as a Korn fan - what WERE you playing with a monster like that? Such a bass needs to carry a huge warning label: ULF ALERT! MAY CAUSE SERIOUS SPEAKER DAMAGE AT BEST AND START AVALANCHES AND EARTHQUAKES AT WORST! Don't feel like the Lone Ranger. For as long as I've been playing, and as much as I've played during that time (6 to 12 hours every day through many stretches), I should be a lot better than I am. I was a very slow learner. Taylor makes some fine classical guitars. They're probably the most popular available for under $3000. Anyone who is serious about their playing though, and who has the money, will go for a handmade guitar built to their own specifications. Those start at around $6000, and can easily go as high as $20,000 or more. Usually, but not always. I play mine in open tunings quite a lot. I'm pretty fond of DADGAD, as well as open G. But then I'm not above playing blues, and even slide, on a classical guitar (when I say that I got over being a snob, I DO mean entirely). Like you, I get a kick out of seeing people who don't know that there's such a thing as alternate tunings try to play one of my guitars when it's tuned weird. I was playing at a party one time and had a guy come up to me and tell me that he thought I was really good. Between sets, he asked if he could try out my guitar. As I handed it to him, I warned him that it was in open G. He told me that was okay, and I thought he knew what I was talking about, but such was not the case. He tried to play a few different songs, and with each one, the look on his face became more and more perplexed. Finally, he just put the guitar on the floor - he didn't even hand it back to me. His face became pale and his hands started shaking. I was worried about him, and kept asking if he was okay. Finally he looked at me, something he'd been avoiding doing, and he demanded to know how I could play like I did on a guitar that was completely out of tune. The poor guy was convinced that I'd made some sort of deal with the devil. I very much like classical music, I was raised around it. I like the warm sound of the strings and the wide variety of timbres that can be achieved by changing the position and angle of my right hand and even the amount of arch of my right hand fingers. I like the wide neck (typically about twice as wide as an acoustic) and the feel of nylon strings under my fingers. Classical guitars are much lighter than acoustic guitars and this causes the neck and body to resonate strongly when played - I like the way that feels in my hands and against my torso. I prefer an electric guitar when I'm improvising. Two drawbacks to classical guitar strings are a lack of sustain, and an unresponsiveness to bends. Sustain and bends are pretty handy expressive devices if you don't want your lead phrasing to be all quarter and eighth notes.