simon17

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Posts by simon17

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  101

  Help with Mathematical Concepts, Not Arithmetic

  by Band on the Run in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my math background is embarassing.

  my public education was very sad.

  although i received good grades in college track math courses, i never understood the underlying ideas or motivations.

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  simon17

  Well yeah, from a mathematician's point of view, just simple ODEs and PDEs have been studied ad nauseam for so long now, that you have to go way higher to get on the cutting edge of REAL mathematics. But I was speaking of people that go into a field that requires math, and those people are usually not going to be applied/pure mathematicians, but rather ChemE, EE, ME, Civil, BioStats, etc and for those people those courses are going to be the foundations of what they need to practically do in their fields.

  Also not sure I agree arithmatic and algebra are on the other side of calculus! Calculus is still more advanced than those, even though we dont fully understand them when you do them in high school. After all, once you understand metric spaces and all that, then you're really ready to re-do your calculus and have some fun with Riemann Stieljes Integals and the like.
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  195

  Theistic Evolution

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  thoughtful christians including scientists like francis collins and kenneth miller accept the evidence for evolution unconditionally.

  the only thing that distinguishes their understanding of life from the views of dawkins is that they believe god planned and started the process intentionally.. just a word about the subtle but vital distinction between "theistic evolution" and "intelligent design".... over-simplifications alert - intelligent design is creationism in disguise.

  it is a modern twist on the "paley's watch" argument.

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  simon17

  There are no books under the sun that provide laboratory test results or observations of macro evolution. Dawkins tried but it is a well know fail.

  So obviously no one can show you laboratory tests of millions of years. You know that is impossible. Yes we have seen examples of speciation. Yes laboratory tests all confirm evolution happening. Has anyone ever witnessed the type of changes that take 10 million years in a lab in the last 150? You know the answer to that is no. But every possible field that can offer corroborating evidence to this happening has done so.

  Lets put it this way. Do you believe in the Theory of Continental Drift? I'm sure you must acknowledge that continental plates are drifiting a few inches every year. This theory also has only been postulated in the last 150 years. Would you deny the theory because we have only ever observed "micro continental drift" and never "macro continental drift". Would anyone be so foolish to say, "yes, a billion years ago the continents might have been a mile or two from their current positions. But surely there was never something like pangea. Never has a human being observed the continents move entirely across the globe." Most likely you find that foolish, because science has corroborated that continental drift is true from every possible related field.
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  101

  Help with Mathematical Concepts, Not Arithmetic

  by Band on the Run in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my math background is embarassing.

  my public education was very sad.

  although i received good grades in college track math courses, i never understood the underlying ideas or motivations.

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• 

  simon17

  Checkbooks, accounting, finance terms, reading management reports, understanding "math" in contracts (like a mortgage interest amortization schedule) . . . that is what needs to be emphasized to 90% of our population. Unfortunately, our education is focused on classical math.

  Maybe so, but 90% of our scientific progress comes about due an understanding of the other type of math. It seems we have far too many Wall Street people and big bankers and tax lawyers and the like who can make money off of basic understandings of things like accounting principles, economic concepts and things like these. We really need more people, especially in America, interested in science and engineering.

  The real problem with math is that everyone basically takes up to Calculus which means everyone gets these courses in basic skills, like algebra and trig and differentiation and integration and they stop, just as math is about to get really practical. The algebra and trig that so many high school (and even college) students get so hung up on is almost practically useless by itself. Its only when you get to differential equations and vector calculus and linear algebra and proabability theory that everything starts coming together to solve real world problems and model real world situations.
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  15

  My Local Congregation are Idiots

  by simon17 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  had my semi-annual jw visit and it was the local congregation giving the invitations to the upcoming dc.

  the presentation was the standard 3 second "all the information is inside--goodbye" wastes which this work has become.. .

  just one problem.... the congregation i guess didn't realize that they had to put on the time, date and address themselves!!!!

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  simon17

  "I left the invitation with an inactive witness. He was pleasant about it. May it motivate him to reactivate and do something about the truth."

  No no they don't know who I am! Occassionally I am their return visit for a week or two until they lazily stop coming... Lately they've just dropped stuff off and left. I've been nothing but pleasant. Perhaps my facial hair scared them away.
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  15

  My Local Congregation are Idiots

  by simon17 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  had my semi-annual jw visit and it was the local congregation giving the invitations to the upcoming dc.

  the presentation was the standard 3 second "all the information is inside--goodbye" wastes which this work has become.. .

  just one problem.... the congregation i guess didn't realize that they had to put on the time, date and address themselves!!!!

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  3. 
• 

  simon17

  Had my semi-annual JW visit and it was the local congregation giving the invitations to the upcoming DC. The presentation was the standard 3 second "all the information is inside--goodbye" wastes which this work has become.

  Just one problem...

  The congregation I guess didn't realize that they had to put on the time, date and address themselves!!!! So if you thought nothing could be more wasteful than the DC invitation work, how about the DC invitation work with no information on it haha omg.
• 
  195

  Theistic Evolution

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  thoughtful christians including scientists like francis collins and kenneth miller accept the evidence for evolution unconditionally.

  the only thing that distinguishes their understanding of life from the views of dawkins is that they believe god planned and started the process intentionally.. just a word about the subtle but vital distinction between "theistic evolution" and "intelligent design".... over-simplifications alert - intelligent design is creationism in disguise.

  it is a modern twist on the "paley's watch" argument.

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• 

  simon17

  guess the problem is that the word 'direction' implies an agency controlling something, which is why we try to shy away from it when talking about evolution.

  One could say it is controlled by the current environement. In that way evolution is always directed towards adaptation towards the current environement. The constant changes (in temperature, sea levels, oxygen levels, food available, predators around, amount of water, etc) are make evolution seem directionless. It has no 'goal' because its always being directed towards something different.

  I suppose you can say the end goal of evolution would be a species capable of, itself, adapating to any and all environments (including heat death of the sun).
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  59

  what is the dumbest thing you've been reproved/chided/df'd for?

  by rather be in hades in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i'm a big science nerd and i remember when we were going over the creator book, that the big bang doesn't necessarily prove there is no god.. i said this comment during book study and the conductor's jaw dropped.

  everyone was pretty uncomfortable and it didn't help that he ct me off as i was explaining the red shift and mom wasn't too happy about all that.

  i had to do a lot of bible research and write some nonsense about how the big bang was not reality or some sort...ugh.. .

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  simon17

  Do witnesses officially not believe in the Big Bang? I was always confused by that. The 'scientific' minded witnesses believed that God was the cause behind the singularity that caused the Big Bang, and that he subsequently did his creating on Earth (kind of as an exception?). But sometimes these same ones would mock how silly science was for believing in something so foolish as the Big Bang. I don't know, I never really could figure out where they stood on the science of the early universe.
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  2

  Non-Bible Believers: SAT style analysis of Bible Issues

  by simon17 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  for those that have dismissed the bible as god's word, but nonetheless sat through endless hours of jw analysis on certain major bible doctrines, i wanted to know, just based on reading comprehension, what you thought the bible was trying to say.

  now that you don't believe it, you are the most objective persons to give critical analysis of what the words say.... .

  1- hellfire:.

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  simon17

  For those that have dismissed the Bible as God's word, but nonetheless sat through endless hours of JW analysis on certain major Bible doctrines, I wanted to know, just based on reading comprehension, what you thought the Bible was trying to say. Now that you don't believe it, you are the most objective persons to give critical analysis of what the words say....

  1- Hellfire:

  a) Bible teaches god tortures people in a firey hell

  b) It doesn't

  c) Bible itself is confused

  2- Good People go to...

  a) Bible teaches they all go to heaven

  b) Bible teaches they await resurrection to paradise earth

  c) Bible teaches some go to heaven and some go to paradise earth

  d) Bible itself is confused

  3- Trinity

  a) Bible teaches the traditional trinity

  b) Bible indicates Jesus is God, but no evidence that the Holy Spirit is one with them

  c) Bible teaches God, Jesus and Holy Spirit all fully distinct

  d) Bible itself is confused
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  62

  You might think that I am a pervert this time, I do not care.

  by Iamallcool in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympics-fourth-place-medal/michelle-jenneke-australian-hurdler-dancing-sensation-042218109--oly.html.

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  simon17

  Simon, most athletic girls I have known, save cheerleaders are not that self aware when it comes to beauty and vanity.

  First off, who said anything about vanity? Just because one is beautiful and even if they take advantage of it doesn't at all make them vain.

  Second, I didn't say it was necessarily self-aware. People respond to more attractive people differently. There's scientific studies on it. Even very young toddlers respond differently to attractive vs. unattractive people. This girl has cart-blanche to be basically any which way she pleases. Thats how being young and attractive works. She can be silly or goofy or sexy or abrupt or geeky or shy or out-going or basically anything and guys will always gravitate towards her. That breeds self-confidence.
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  62

  You might think that I am a pervert this time, I do not care.

  by Iamallcool in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympics-fourth-place-medal/michelle-jenneke-australian-hurdler-dancing-sensation-042218109--oly.html.

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  simon17

  "Have you noticed that some people have a lot of personality? I recall Olga Korbit sure had a lot more personality than Nadia K. What you are looking at in that video is a row of runners whose personalities, and maybe some anxiety, made them stiffer right before a run, save one, who just let go of anxiety and let her soul soar."

  Yeah but you know what, there's something to the way she moves that you mostly only see with someone gorgeous like that. You're right, I doubt she is looking for attention during the race. But her entire teenage life has probably been a lesson on how easy she can get positive attention due to her beauty. Its given her the confidence and personality to be bouncy and sexy at all times because it always works. She probably has had positive reinforcement for years and years.

  Please note, thats not at all a knock on her, any indictment of her personality, or any insuation of motive in this pre-race warm-up.