cofty

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Posts by cofty

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  291

  Evolution is a Fact #1 - Protein Functional Redundancy

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i intend for this to be one of a series of bite-sized ops on the evidence for evolution.. introduction to dna genes are sequences of dna made up of words (codons) each of which are three letters (bases) long.

  there are only four letters in the genetic alphabet (acg&t) each word or codon is the recipe for one amino acid.

  there are 20 different amino acids in living organisms.

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  cofty

  I think I understand your question. You think there is a danger of circular reasoning and confirm bias.

  I am typing slowly on my phone at the moment. I will answer your question later when I get home.
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  291

  Evolution is a Fact #1 - Protein Functional Redundancy

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i intend for this to be one of a series of bite-sized ops on the evidence for evolution.. introduction to dna genes are sequences of dna made up of words (codons) each of which are three letters (bases) long.

  there are only four letters in the genetic alphabet (acg&t) each word or codon is the recipe for one amino acid.

  there are 20 different amino acids in living organisms.

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  cofty

  Hooby - The DNA evidence for common ancestry is the same sort of evidence used used prove paternity and familial relationships.

  If you read the OP again more carefully you will serve that it contains irrefutable evidence that all living things evolved from a common ancestor. If we then look at this multiple other molecules as well and examine their amino acid sequence and drill down into their nucleotide sequence the proof becomes astonishingly powerful.

  I hope you refuse to do jury duty on the grounds that genetic evidence conflicts with your religious beliefs.
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  10

  More than 75% of the human genome may be 'junk' DNA.

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  making little or no difference to our daily lives, comes the claim that most of our human genome is not functional.. dan graur an (evolutionary) biologist at the university of houston and other academics made the claim in a paper published in an online journal, genome biology and evolution.. the group's calculations suggest that not more than 25% of the human genome is functional - the rest is seen as 'junk' dna,.

  see science dailys coverage of the report at: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170714140234.htm .

  coverage of similar research at the uk's oxford university (reported in the guardian aust.

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  cofty

  ENCODE dishonestly misused the word "function" in order to make their results look more significant.

  I know Perry won't read the following paper but here it is anyway.

  On the Immortality of Television Sets: “Function” in the Human Genome According to the Evolution-Free Gospel of ENCODE.
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  10

  More than 75% of the human genome may be 'junk' DNA.

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  making little or no difference to our daily lives, comes the claim that most of our human genome is not functional.. dan graur an (evolutionary) biologist at the university of houston and other academics made the claim in a paper published in an online journal, genome biology and evolution.. the group's calculations suggest that not more than 25% of the human genome is functional - the rest is seen as 'junk' dna,.

  see science dailys coverage of the report at: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170714140234.htm .

  coverage of similar research at the uk's oxford university (reported in the guardian aust.

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  cofty

  The vast majority of our genome is free-loading junk.

  This is also true of most other eukaryotic species but not of prokaryotes.

  There is a species of very ordinary onion Allium ursinum that has a genome ten times as large as the human genome - lots and lots of parasitic code.

  Consider one type of non-coding DNA known as the ALU element. These tiny bits of parasitic code, just 300 base pairs long, don't code for anything they just hitch a free ride in the genome of all primates. Imagine highlighting 300 characters in a bit of computer code, pressing Ctrl+C, then clicking at a random place and holding down Ctrl+V. Sometimes called "jumping genes", ALU elements have done this so many times that they now make up 10% of the 3 billion letters in our genome.

  Most of them are harmless but some land in the middle of important genes and are associated with diseases such as hemophilia, leukemia, breast cancer, heart disease and anemia.

  Since ALU elements are found in all primates and since their location in the genome is random, they provide a perfect opportunity to study human relationships with other primates. If two identical ALU elements are found in analogous places in the genome of different species it would be evidence that they share a common ancestor.

  The results of this work brilliantly confirmed the common ancestry of humans with other primates. Looking at just one gene, the alpha-globin cluster, seven separate ALU elements have been discovered. All seven of them are found in precisely the same location in the corresponding chimpanzee gene. This puts the evolutionary relationship between humans and chimpanzees beyond all reasonable doubt.

  Anybody who rejects this evidence for human evolution ought to be consistent and refuse to serve on a jury where forensic evidence will be presented.
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  83

  Russell's Pyramidology Originated In Edinburgh Scotland

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the edinburgh city observatory sits atop calton hill at the east end of the city centre adjacent to burn's monument, scotland's national monument modelled on the parthenon, and nelson's monument with the time ball that falls at 1pm every day except sundays.. .

  the second astronomer royal of edinburgh was charles piazzi smyth (jan. 1819 - feb. 1900).

  smyth was a man of many and varied interests including meteorology, producing weather observations that still form an important part of uk climate records to this day.. building on the work of james taylor, smyth became fascinated by the great pyramid of egypt at giza.

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  cofty

  Hi Rachael. Thank you for your detailed information. I assure you I was not offended but perhaps I misread your initial comment as dismissive.

  Best wishes, Bill.
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  83

  Russell's Pyramidology Originated In Edinburgh Scotland

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the edinburgh city observatory sits atop calton hill at the east end of the city centre adjacent to burn's monument, scotland's national monument modelled on the parthenon, and nelson's monument with the time ball that falls at 1pm every day except sundays.. .

  the second astronomer royal of edinburgh was charles piazzi smyth (jan. 1819 - feb. 1900).

  smyth was a man of many and varied interests including meteorology, producing weather observations that still form an important part of uk climate records to this day.. building on the work of james taylor, smyth became fascinated by the great pyramid of egypt at giza.

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  cofty

  "Lo! millions now living have yet to learn that a prophet of the Lord has been among them."

  Some prophet!
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  83

  Russell's Pyramidology Originated In Edinburgh Scotland

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the edinburgh city observatory sits atop calton hill at the east end of the city centre adjacent to burn's monument, scotland's national monument modelled on the parthenon, and nelson's monument with the time ball that falls at 1pm every day except sundays.. .

  the second astronomer royal of edinburgh was charles piazzi smyth (jan. 1819 - feb. 1900).

  smyth was a man of many and varied interests including meteorology, producing weather observations that still form an important part of uk climate records to this day.. building on the work of james taylor, smyth became fascinated by the great pyramid of egypt at giza.

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  cofty

  Cofty lashed out at Vienne for pointing this out - ILTATT2

  What a ridiculous characterisation of my actual comment.

  Go back and read it again. I replied with some sarcasm because he/she dismissed the OP with the aloof remark "None of this is news". I did not respond to the information about the tombstone/memorial until later.

  Anybody can read my actual response here and decide if I "lashed out".
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  83

  Russell's Pyramidology Originated In Edinburgh Scotland

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the edinburgh city observatory sits atop calton hill at the east end of the city centre adjacent to burn's monument, scotland's national monument modelled on the parthenon, and nelson's monument with the time ball that falls at 1pm every day except sundays.. .

  the second astronomer royal of edinburgh was charles piazzi smyth (jan. 1819 - feb. 1900).

  smyth was a man of many and varied interests including meteorology, producing weather observations that still form an important part of uk climate records to this day.. building on the work of james taylor, smyth became fascinated by the great pyramid of egypt at giza.

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  cofty

  You said that the pyramid is Russell's tomb, it is not. - TATT2

  Whether it is his tombstone or a memorial to him and his colleagues adjacent to his grave - erected later by his followers - is an interesting detail but it makes little difference to the OP. My statement that Russell imitated Smyth in death is incorrect but surely nobody is suggesting the pyramid has no connection to Russell. .

  I was not aware that Smyth - who compiled the data Russell used for his pyramidology - already had a pyramid grave marker at his grave in England in 1900. I thought that fact was interesting.

  Edited to add - Interesting article here linking Smyth, Menzies, Russell and George Storrs...
  
  
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  11

  Isis and failed prophecy

  by snare&racket in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hi everybody, hope you are all well!

  i read this today and thought of the jw's and you guys.. it's an article from today's paper about isis and a recent victory over the town of dabiq.

  isis have long claimed that this will be the city where good will face evil i.e islam v christianity/western powers.

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  cofty

  Hi Snare & Racket. Great post. It's good to see the Iraqi army finally doing the job. The US spent billions training and equipping them and they ran away and left all the guns and tanks behind for ISIS.

  With Dabiq retaken and if it is confirmed that al-Baghdadi is dead then there is going to be a period of disarray for ISIS. Oaths of loyalty bayah to the Caliph from the multitude of Islamist groups are not given to the organisation but to the individual leader. All of those oaths are now dissolved and up for grabs.

  Can Iraq now govern itself without the sectarianism that caused the rise of ISIS?
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  83

  Russell's Pyramidology Originated In Edinburgh Scotland

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the edinburgh city observatory sits atop calton hill at the east end of the city centre adjacent to burn's monument, scotland's national monument modelled on the parthenon, and nelson's monument with the time ball that falls at 1pm every day except sundays.. .

  the second astronomer royal of edinburgh was charles piazzi smyth (jan. 1819 - feb. 1900).

  smyth was a man of many and varied interests including meteorology, producing weather observations that still form an important part of uk climate records to this day.. building on the work of james taylor, smyth became fascinated by the great pyramid of egypt at giza.

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  cofty

  Sparky1 - Thank you very much for the information about Robert Menzies.

  Jaydee - My wife and I visited Nelson's Monument just in time for the start of an illustrated talk on the history of Astronomy in Edinburgh. I can't remember the name of the historian. I was more than surprised when Smyth's diagram of the measurements of the Great Pyramid appeared on the screen followed by a picture of his tombstone.

  surely you must have come across this sort of info before in that 8 years ?

  Come across what exactly? If I have ever heard the name Charles Piazzi Smyth before or of his connection with Edinburgh and his influence on Russell then I have no recollection of that. I did discover Russell's dishonesty about the measurements when I read his books more than 20 years ago. The OP is a combination of stuff I heard yesterday, stuff I knew already and stuff I discovered researching the OP last night.

  I thought it was interesting, I'm not pretending I made discovery.