What Can We Do?

Discussion in 'Religion Archives' started by truestory, Oct 17, 1999.

  1. truestory Registered Senior Member

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    There are other sites which show global trends... I recently read that deep quakes have risen from approximately 100 to almost 600 annually over the past decade or so... At any rate, I'll post them here over the next couple of days as I do my research..

    [This message has been edited by truestory (edited October 20, 1999).]
     
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  3. Vanja Registered Senior Member

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    Oxygen, JMitch, and DaveW-I have a thing about earthquakes. They terrify me. How can you be so calm about the possibility of the earth shaking, and possibly opening, beneath your feet? Yikes!
     
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  5. Oxygen One Hissy Kitty Registered Senior Member

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    Vanja-Have you ever been in a building that shakes a little when a truck rolls by? That's an average size for an earthquake in my neck of the woods. They're actually more like tremors.

    The schools I went to practiced earthquake drills where an alarm would sound and we would get under our desks or else underneath a sturdy table. The biggest threat would be coming from the ceiling in the form of tiles and light fixtures, so were taught not to look up. The windows around here are actually built to shatter outwards, so they are not much of an issue to anybody indoors. We were also taught to head for doorways and interior corners. During Loma Prieta (October 1989) my house slid around on it's foundation, which caused a lot of things to fall off of shelves, but in an average sized earthquake, it's your own furniture that you have to worry about. Bookcases will topple over and kill you before the house collapses, so we molly-bolt them to the wall. They aren't going anywhere. If you're outside, head for an open space away from trees and powerlines. I've seen folks dash for the park. Whatever you do, don't go for your car. Driving during an earthquake is like driving with all four tires flat.

    As far as the ground opening up and swallowing you, it's possible, but not likely. You'll have plenty of warning before it opens up wide enough. Buildings take the most damage from this kind of effect, as their foundations spilt open. In the event the ground actually DOES open up beneath you, push yourself to one side and hang on. Do not go straight down. You could get wedged, and the next tremor may start the thing closing. At least these things don't just snap shut.

    Modern buildings around here are designed with earthquakes in mind. They are made of lightweight material (since we don't have to worry about tornadoes and such) and are designed to roll right along with the ground. This reduces structural damage as the building doesn't resist the quake. The pipes for gas and water are being replaced even as I write this with flexible tubing strong enought to deliver the goods but flexible enough to twist and bend with the ground.

    An earthquake specialist would tell you that it's the period after the shaking stops that is the most dangerous. Things like buildings and powerlines may be ready to fall. They can come to rest with their center of gravity off-kilter and fall without a moment's notice. Some poor guy got killed when he thought to move his car away from the precariously leaning brick wall. The mere vibration of the car starting was enough to bring it down on top of him. The rescue workers on the Cypress Structure had to abandon the people trapped on the behemoth because they felt the thing shaking. Screams for help had to go unanswered for a time while tremors stopped and it quit shaking.

    If you are ever in a big one (I am assuming you were not here for Loma Prieta, 7.1, which was the biggest I've ever been in) panic will be your worst enemy. Educate yourself before it happens. Know what you will need to survive, because the power can get shut off for days on end. I used to get kidded a lot because I keep odds and ends of military surplus gear around, including MRE's (rations). After the quake we set up our cots outside, checked the gas lines for everybody on the block, and had ourselves a camp-out, complete with music thanks to my portable Victrola and a stack of Big Band 78s!

    Education and training can take the terror out of an earthquake, but you should never lose your fear. It keeps you alive.

    I could go on forever about this subject, and I'm sure some of you feel I already have, so I'll shut up for now.
     
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  7. SkyeBlue Registered Senior Member

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    I grew up in Long Beach, and went through my share of earthquakes as a kid.

    I remember one 'quake I was in (I think it was 6.something) I was playing in my bedroom with one of those Matchbox car-garages - one of those ones with the ramps and multiple levels. All my cars started falling off the top level, so I looked around. My bedroom door was swinging back & forth, my overhead light was swaying... I thought it was my dad shaking the house as a joke...until he came running in and grabbed me and took me outside. (We had a big yard with an open 'safe' spot in the middle) That memory still makes me laugh - I thought my pop was strong enough to shake our whole house!

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    I've never feared earthquakes, I guess just because I went through quite a few as a kid. Now Hurricanes - THAT's some scarey weather!!
     
  8. m-cyber Registered Member

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    Hello im m-cyber a armchair ufologist.My research has lead me to the bible and folklore.Here are some Very interesting verses in the bible.Please read them and tell
    me what you think.(even if you dont like to
    read the bible,check this out it wont hurt you.
    John 8:23
    Ezekiel chapter 1,9,10:1
    Psalms 18:10
    Sammuel 22:11
    Daniel 7:9
    2nd Kings 2:10,14
    Isaiah 6:1-2
    Genesis 15
    Jeremiah 4:13
    Acts 1:9-11
    Numbers 13:32-33
    Zechariah 5:1-2
    Genesis 4:14-17 City east of eden?CITY?
    This has changed my whole view on god and the
    bible.Have aliens been apart of the human
    species from the dawn of man?
     
  9. Oxygen One Hissy Kitty Registered Senior Member

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    m-cyber-I, too, have been curious about Nod, the land east of Eden. Who created it? Who lived there? Who did Cain and Seth marry? (I have a book that says (tongue in cheek)Cain and Seth married chimps, hence the theory of evolution, but given that it's entitled "Science Made Stupid"... Ah, it's a hoot of a book. I recommend it for a laugh.)

    I believe that extraterrestrials have been visiting this place for quite some time. I don't believe that they are our "creators", however. I believe that when this planet was first discovered by a star-faring race, there was some interaction with the locals that led to the current systems of faith. At some point, I believe that an order was given that this planet was "hands off", and that it should be allowed to advance naturally. Scientists being what they are, however, had to study the populace's progress, hence the abduction phenomenon. Contrary to popular belief, "abductees" represent a good cross-section of society, just the sort of thing a zoologist would want from a group of social animals. Why is nobody famous ever abducted? They are under too close a watch and would be missed too quickly. The goal is natural progression, remember.

    I believe that the study of this planet is a work in progress. Extraterrestrial ecologists, I imagine, have convinced their governments or whatever leadership they answer to that this planet should not be colonized and that the ground-digging apes that developed higher brains should be allowed to evolve without interference. Some, however, may be farmed out to the genetics lab, as long as they have no recollection of the incident to contaminate the project. Results of the genetic project might then be either kept in the lab or else released into the wild (if they don't look too different, as history has shown this animal type to react violently to differences in the pack).

    That's a summary of my theory. I could be wrong.

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    I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will fight, kill, and die for your right to say it.
     
  10. Boris Senior Member Registered Senior Member

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    1,052
    Oxygen,

    I don't criticize out of meanness, but your theory is a bit flaky. It would sound ok if the aliens were roughly equivalent to us in intellect, scientific knowledge, analytical powers, and aspirations. But, I doubt very much that would be the case.

    Our own methods of study in animal biology have advanced dramatically over the mere last couple of centuries. Scientists used to piece data together from hunter tales, and make wild conjectures based on arbitrary analogies. Now, we possess systematic methodologies; our biological science has differentiated into diverse fields, such as genetic, biochemical, developmental, ecological, behavioral, anatomical, etc. Within a century, I would expect any studies of biology to actually occur inside massive supercomputers capable of simulating entire ecosystems at biochemical levels of detail. All you would need is samples of genetic material, and then you could expediently run centuries or millennia worth of simulations on hundreds of diverse scenarios. It is hard to imagine what science will be like even within a couple of centuries from now, and even among us humans. So I'd be very careful how far I'm willing to go in conjecturing possible motivations, methodologies or actions of extraterrestrial scientists that are likely at least millennia, if not millions of years (if not billions of years!) ahead of us (even aside from the fact that they likely have entirely different, more powerful, as well as functionally unlike human, brains and sensory modalities.)

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    I am; therefore I think.
     
  11. Oxygen One Hissy Kitty Registered Senior Member

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    Well, it was just a thought. I mean, the patterns of abduction do seem to me as though an extraterrestrial Marlon Perkins is bagging and tagging specimens.

    Oh, I don't know if you're old enough to remember, but Marlon Perkins hosted a weekly wildlife documentary sponsored by Mutual of Omaha, an investment/insurance firm, called "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom". The way they would knock out these animals and stick transmitters on them and in them is highly remeniscent of a typical abduction report. I can't help but wonder what the leopard told his buddies when they found him wandering around in a daze talking about strange lights from a big roaring thing, then feeling a sharp pain, getting all woozy, and waking up under a tree with an implant.

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    ------------------
    I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will fight, kill, and die for your right to say it.
     
  12. m-cyber Registered Member

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    oxy,
    Thats a very good point about the tagging of
    animals.Please read my post i left(you know where).
     
  13. Peter Dolan Registered Senior Member

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    113
    Hey, I use to watch that show "Wild Kingdom." I always thought it would be kind'a neat if one of those fierce animals got the better of Jim (remember him?) and Marlon Perkins would go on narrating "Well lucky for Jim and his dependents, they were covered by Mutual of Omaha's accidental death and dismemberment policy...you too can get this policy for yourself and your dependents..."

    [This message has been edited by Peter Dolan (edited February 19, 2000).]
     
  14. tablariddim forexU2 Valued Senior Member

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    Peter,
    more irony please, I like it!

    ...

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  15. cyberoidx Registered Member

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    6
    How does it even matter that how and when u are going to die?? And why should it matter to us that all of us are going to die? You talk of christianity, what about other religions, and athiests??
     
  16. whitewolf asleep under the juniper bush Registered Senior Member

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    3,112
    Interesting that this thread got brought up.... The initial post made me laugh.

    Well, there was a hurricane and an earthquake, but in many other parts of the world the weather was nice, the sky was gem-blue, and life was slow and perfect in the eyes of many.

    Similarly, someone is going to die, perhaps I am going to die, sooner than others expect. And?
     
  17. ElectricFetus Sanity going, going, gone Valued Senior Member

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    The religious implications of the thread starter made me move this thread, sorry, God commandith!
     
  18. Cris In search of Immortality Valued Senior Member

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    You might also like to know that Truestory (the real person behind the name) died some weeks after that post.
     
  19. (Q) Encephaloid Martini Valued Senior Member

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    Cris

    How did you find out that info?

    I suppose he has his answers now.
     
  20. ElectricFetus Sanity going, going, gone Valued Senior Member

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    Seriously Cris, you have evidence? Was it for religious reasons, thought the world was ending?
     
  21. Cris In search of Immortality Valued Senior Member

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    There were several posters here in those early days that knew each other outside the forums. They let us know the sad news. I don't have any further details although I believe tablariddim had some. I don't believ it was anything sinister or religious, just natural causes.
     
  22. (Q) Encephaloid Martini Valued Senior Member

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    Thanks Cris - that is sad.
     
  23. Tiassa Let us not launch the boat ... Valued Senior Member

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