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A great leap backwards
From The Economist print edition ^ | Apr 11th 2002 | staff

Posted on 04/11/2002 1:49:22 PM PDT by Phil V.

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1 posted on 04/11/2002 1:49:22 PM PDT by Phil V.
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To: x; medved;spoosman; ObjetD'art; Nachum; Galloway; Michael2001; The Documentary Lady; jmp702...
Any comments/thoughts WRT M.E. End Times "theory" VS scientific "speculation"?
2 posted on 04/11/2002 1:53:08 PM PDT by Phil V.
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To: Phil V.
Geologists believe that Rodinia (whose existence is generally accepted) disintegrated about 750m years ago and then reformed into Pangaea after a period of fragmentation that, once again, lasted for roughly 500m years.

Looks like the Rodinians are getting ready to sue the Pangaeans for reparations.

3 posted on 04/11/2002 1:55:50 PM PDT by Willie Green
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To: Phil V.
This is great! No more expensive air fares. Just stand on the beach until your destination comes by, and step aboard.
4 posted on 04/11/2002 2:03:52 PM PDT by Born to Conserve
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To: Phil V.
Cycles. More and more, we become aware of cycles on a grand geologic -- even universal -- scale.

As if The Creator is going to keep trying...until He gets it right.

5 posted on 04/11/2002 2:09:36 PM PDT by okie01
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To: Phil V.
Well, there goes the neighborhood.
6 posted on 04/11/2002 2:10:06 PM PDT by Noumenon
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To: Phil V.
I read all of this with some amusement. I believe there is only so much we can know for sure and some of these theories get rather extravagant. I do believe there may have been one super continent, but going beyond that is rather incontinent, and up wind I might add.
7 posted on 04/11/2002 2:16:41 PM PDT by DoughtyOne
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To: Phil V.
Dr Rogers thinks that Rodinia and Pangaea resulted from the aggregation of a few large masses that continually shuffle around.

Kind of like the thing in the Lampoon parody where Sam Ervin asks Segretti or one of his henchmen where he got the bag with the $500,000 in twenties in it and the latter replies "I found it". I don't believe in that sort of thing myself, i.e. I don't believe that #### just happens; I believe that when #### happens, there's a reason for it.

Likewise, the entire continental mass of the planet doesn't just end up in one place for no particular reason; when that happens, there's a major, serious reason for it. The continental mass of the Earth ends up in one place when some major force of attraction, gravitational or electromagnetic or both, pulls it into one place. Such in fact was the nature of the antique solar system. This is the thing about the so-called "Saturn theory" which you see "Junior" and one or two others trying to make into a strawman on FR occasionally.

8 posted on 04/11/2002 2:17:56 PM PDT by medved
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To: okie01
. . . until He gets it right.

I'm a more than a little surprised that He got it "Wrong". More likely, every instant - from the distant past and on into the infinite future - is EXACTLY the way it is Supposed to be - perfect in every detail. . . .Except that we small slivers of His Creation fail to appreciate that HE IS STILL CREATING!!!!!!

9 posted on 04/11/2002 2:22:48 PM PDT by Phil V.
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To: Phil V.
HE IS STILL CREATING!!!!!!

Amen.

10 posted on 04/11/2002 2:26:05 PM PDT by okie01
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To: DoughtyOne
I read all of this with some amusement. . .

Amusement suggests a foundation upon which one stands, evaluates and smiles knowingly with superior knowlwdge. I admire your faith.

11 posted on 04/11/2002 2:30:34 PM PDT by Phil V.
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To: Phil V.
Superior knowledge? No, I'd say it's more an acceptance that there just may be some things that I'll, make that we'll never know. I wasn't trying to give you a hard time Phil.
12 posted on 04/11/2002 2:34:15 PM PDT by DoughtyOne
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To: medved
. . . when that happens, there's a major, serious reason for it. . .

Convection?

Have you ever melted a pot of lead and observed the floating slag converge?

13 posted on 04/11/2002 2:35:45 PM PDT by Phil V.
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To: medved
So you're trying to point to this as support for your Velikovskianism? Does Velikovsky agree with this:

Judging from this evidence, the rifts formed about 1.5 billion years ago. Dr Rogers and Dr Santosh reckon that Columbia began to break up around then. About 500m years later, its pieces reassembled to form yet another supercontinent, called Rodinia. Geologists believe that Rodinia (whose existence is generally accepted) disintegrated about 750m years ago and then reformed into Pangaea after a period of fragmentation that, once again, lasted for roughly 500m years.

I thought Velikovsky put Saturn atop the Earth a few thousand years ago, rather than hundreds of millions.

Or is there some other aspect of Velikovskianism that this aligns with?

14 posted on 04/11/2002 2:36:22 PM PDT by Iota
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To: Phil V.; Willie Green
Actually, some folks on college campuses have had some fun by hosting demonstrations to "Re-unite Pangaea, Now". Seems some liberals will fall for anything.
15 posted on 04/11/2002 2:41:01 PM PDT by DugwayDuke
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To: Phil V.
Interesting article. It goes back too far in time to even try to imagine how the earth was really formed. The continental drift theory has always made sense to me.

I can't figure out where and how life appeared in your scenario. Did it evolve independently on isolated land forms or did it appear on a super continent and the species isolated when the original land mass broke up?

There may not have been the moon at that time and gravity may have affected earth's surface differently, with other forces factored in. In a general sense, the explanation in the bible (probably not six literal days as we know them in our solar system, but rather sort of six epochs) works just as good as anything else the scientists have postulated to date.

16 posted on 04/11/2002 2:50:17 PM PDT by Aliska
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To: DugwayDuke
"Re- unite Pangaea, Now".

Pangea enjoyed prosperous stability until they were balkanized by massive illegal immigration from Gondwanaland.

17 posted on 04/11/2002 2:51:14 PM PDT by Willie Green
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To: Iota
The billion yeas exist only in the guy's mind.

Catastrophism


18 posted on 04/11/2002 2:52:43 PM PDT by medved
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To: Willie Green
Hey, all those Gondwanalanders wanted was to make a better life for their larva. LOL Hey who comes up with these names anyway? Sounds like the same guy who came up with Quansa.
19 posted on 04/11/2002 2:58:50 PM PDT by DoughtyOne
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To: Aliska
. . . , the explanation in the bible (probably not six literal days as we know them in our solar system, but rather sort of six epochs) works just as good as anything else . . .

I'll not quibble with that!

What I find curious is the literal interpretation - the one that suggests that God DID ALL HIS WORK in a short period of time then "cashed in His 401K, sat back and sipped iced tea . . . just observing.

I suppose that I am too influenced by my workaholic father who never saw much use in idle time. He literally died with his "boots on". Work is NEVER done. I find comfort in the notion that God never went into "retirement" - that he is still shaping, refining, (evolving) His Creation. (Just my Wish)

Thanks!

20 posted on 04/11/2002 3:07:02 PM PDT by Phil V.
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