bohm

Joined

• started 191 topics
• posted 7,847 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by bohm

• 
  49

  Mill Hill - Chelmsford, reduced capacity, any news on Chelmsford plan revision

  by Lostandfound in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  chelmsford looks to have much less work than in mill hill complex, if gb spirit guided why did they allow massive plans for new site when such significant changes must have been in discussion, planning , or contemplation.

  knee jerk reaction to things looks to indicate someone or more on gb has instituted changes almost overnight.

  my dog plans his day better, get up, walk, sleep, eat, walk some more, eat some more, and sleep again.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  bohm

  Formerbrother: Operated underground or stored underground? Is this private communication or is there a link?
• 
  27

  JW TV, this month about evolution

  by bohm in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this month the last segment is about evolution.

  one is with a sister with a university education in biochemistry who (presumably) teaches at a highschool or public school.

  she says that left handedness of amino acids indicates life was created because "if it was a random process half would be right handed and half left handed" (paraphrased).

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  bohm

  On the positive side, the question of left-handedness of amino acids is fascinating. Talk origins give a good summary:

  http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CB/CB040.html

  Response:

  1. The amino acids that are used in life, like most other aspects of living things, are very likely not the product of chance. Instead, they likely resulted from a selection process. A simple peptide replicator can amplify the proportion of a single handedness in an initially random mixture of left- and right-handed fragments (Saghatelian et al. 2001; TSRI 2001). Self-assemblies on two-dimensional surfaces can also amplify a single handedness (Zepik et al. 2002). Serine forms stable clusters of a single handedness which can select other amino acids of like handedness by subtituting them for serine; these clusters also incorporate other biologically important molecules such as glyceraldehyde, glucose, and phosphoric acid (Takats et al. 2003). An excess of handedness in one kind of amino acid catalyzes the handedness of other organic products, such as threose, which may have figured prominently in proto-life (Pizzarello and Weber 2004).
     
     
  2. Amino acids found in meteorites from space, which must have formed abiotically, also show significantly more of the left-handed variety, perhaps from circularly polarized UV light in the early solar system (Engel and Macko 1997; Cronin and Pizzarello 1999). The weak nuclear force, responsible for beta decay, produces only electrons with left-handed spin, and chemicals exposed to these electrons are far more likely to form left-handed crystals (Service 1999). Such mechanisms might also have been responsible for the prevalence of left-handed amino acids on earth.
     
     
  3. The first self-replicator may have had eight or fewer types of amino acids (Cavalier-Smith 2001). It is not all that unlikely that the same handedness might occur so few times by chance, especially if one of the amino acids was glycine, which has no handedness.
     
     
  4. Some bacteria use right-handed amino acids, too (McCarthy et al. 1998).

  Basically, living things function badly with a mix of left and right-hand amino acids. This creates a selection pressure towards organisms that uses either eventually causing one form to be dominant. On top of that there are other factors that favors the production of left-handed acids (they are more commonly found in space than their right-handed counterpart, see http://www.nature.com/news/force-of-nature-gave-life-its-asymmetry-1.15995) thus it is not unexpected (and certainly not difficult to explain!) why we have mostly left-handed amino acids in life today; its more about choosing the right explanation from a set of competing explanations.

  It is therefore either dishonest or grossly incompetent when it is claimed that this somehow proves creation...

  Btw. did anyone notice the "left-handedness of amino acids" argument is lifted directly from the "Life? How did it get here" book?
• 
  27

  JW TV, this month about evolution

  by bohm in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this month the last segment is about evolution.

  one is with a sister with a university education in biochemistry who (presumably) teaches at a highschool or public school.

  she says that left handedness of amino acids indicates life was created because "if it was a random process half would be right handed and half left handed" (paraphrased).

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  bohm

  CookieMonster: If evolution goes in you have to give up the literal Adam and Eve... I realize you can do that in liberal theology (and the end-result is better than the mess of the WTBS), but allowing major parts of the bible to be allegories is just such a major shift in thinking I don't see it happening.
• 
  27

  JW TV, this month about evolution

  by bohm in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this month the last segment is about evolution.

  one is with a sister with a university education in biochemistry who (presumably) teaches at a highschool or public school.

  she says that left handedness of amino acids indicates life was created because "if it was a random process half would be right handed and half left handed" (paraphrased).

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  bohm

  well, at least one of the scientists they found had good teeth, so that's something.
• 
  27

  JW TV, this month about evolution

  by bohm in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this month the last segment is about evolution.

  one is with a sister with a university education in biochemistry who (presumably) teaches at a highschool or public school.

  she says that left handedness of amino acids indicates life was created because "if it was a random process half would be right handed and half left handed" (paraphrased).

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  bohm

  DS: Apparently it was the events in Kosovo in the 90s which made him return and not science...

  no big surprise there.

  BTW here is his linkedin profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davey-loos-1340247
• 
  17

  Gorby wishes you a happy convention! (picture)

  by Gorbatchov in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  gorby has been offline from jwd for some weeks, and it made my situation not better, have had some serious problems with the fading, much pressure, i have nothing new to say, it must be very similar to the situation of many faders here.. so, i had so much pressure, that we have had to change our holiday booking so we are able to visit the convention, due to family reasons, you all know what i mean.. please wish me (and us) much luck for this summer.

  it is not my best summer season in life.. this is how i feel:.

  .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  bohm

  Hi, Sorry that your fade has run into problems, are you fading with your wife or is that the problem?

  That picture cracks me up. someone should add thought bubbles to that picture.
• 
  27

  JW TV, this month about evolution

  by bohm in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this month the last segment is about evolution.

  one is with a sister with a university education in biochemistry who (presumably) teaches at a highschool or public school.

  she says that left handedness of amino acids indicates life was created because "if it was a random process half would be right handed and half left handed" (paraphrased).

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  bohm

  Crazyguy: They are actual interviews with JW scientists, so they are properly not taken too much out of context.
• 
  27

  JW TV, this month about evolution

  by bohm in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this month the last segment is about evolution.

  one is with a sister with a university education in biochemistry who (presumably) teaches at a highschool or public school.

  she says that left handedness of amino acids indicates life was created because "if it was a random process half would be right handed and half left handed" (paraphrased).

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  bohm

  The bad news is that what they are presenting is not google-safe...

  Some unsuspecting dub might be impressed by the PhD scientist who says that all fossils are exactly as in their present day form and decide to look for himself what a fossil bird looks like...
• 
  27

  JW TV, this month about evolution

  by bohm in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this month the last segment is about evolution.

  one is with a sister with a university education in biochemistry who (presumably) teaches at a highschool or public school.

  she says that left handedness of amino acids indicates life was created because "if it was a random process half would be right handed and half left handed" (paraphrased).

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  bohm

  This month the last segment is about evolution. One is with a sister with a university education in biochemistry who (presumably) teaches at a highschool or public school. She says that left handedness of amino acids indicates life was created because "if it was a random process half would be right handed and half left handed" (paraphrased). Not only does this miss that there are right-handed amino acids in some living things, but all one needs to consider a slight selective pressure towards amino acids with the same handedness and there is simply no argument.

  The other interview is with Davey Loos, a PhD in biochemistry. He is a real scientist but sells lasers today according to his linked in profile. He hints he was not allowed to question evolution during his education and then gives his scientific argument: "based on the theory of evolution we would expect to see an abundance of transitional forms to be present in the fossil record. But when we do look at the fossil evidence we just don't see it. We see that the major species come into existence at specific times and their form and structure is still exactly the same as their form and structure today." (not paraphrased). It is quite amazing to think he has a PhD and haven't bothered to google such an easily debunked lie. Then he gives the usual line about how biochemistry is just very complex.

  So yah, that's it. Cut to music video.
• 
  99

  The Greatest Intellectual Scam of All-Time: French Postmodernism

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  sbf you annoyed me enough to deserve this.. gad saad's comments on the nonsensical gibberish of jacques derrida, michel foucault, and jacques lacan.

  charlatanism of the highest order.

  .... the first quote from derrida starts as 2:50.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  bohm

  SBF: Okay, just a few clarifying questions:

  Constructionists accept the ordinary use of language and respect its usefulness. What we object to is the idea that this usefulness equates to identity with reality.
  

  Two questions: Firstly, when a person say "the earth is round", that would then be a true statement in ordinary language? So if you were to object to it, you would in principle have to prefix your objection as: "Not speaking inordinary language then.."? If this is not the case, what determines ordinary language?

  I agree words and abstract concepts are not reality.

  What it means instead is a recognition that the everyday sense of words can be overturned at any time.

  That's an interesting idea. What is the evidence that it is true? Could you outline a plausible scenario in which the everyday sense of the word "banana" could be overturned? Like an actually plausible everyday scenario where the everyday usage of "banana" would become something quite different?

  I would object and say that since the everyday meaning of words remain quite stable over time, the "overturning" of the meaning of a word is a rare occurrence and when the meaning of a word changes it is usually insignificant as the two speakers realize they are talking about different things and therefore begin to use synonyms.

  It's an approach to language a bit like wishing for a sterile operating theatre. We would want the theatre to be completely sterile for our operation. In the real world 100% sterile theatre cannot be achieved.

  Okay but here is the problem: Cofty (for instance) don't step into the operating theater. He stays outside where words have the common-sense meaning and where you too are living most of your life. But then once in a while you choose effectively to analyze what Cofty says from the "operating theater" perspective despite you knowing well enough that Cofty is making common-language statements. Can you see why this might be a bit annoying?