Winter Challenge

Laying out the Challenge

Michael had no shortage of big ideas and he tended to plunge right in, regardless of the time or temperature, which helped explaned why he was 5,000 miles from home in the middle of a frozen polar night, with near frostbiten toes and negative 50° winds howling at the door.

"No, no, this is something more, outside the network, a group capable of taking risks."

"Think about the great challenges funded by prize money, the offroad robotic car challenge for one million, the low earth orbit challenge for ten million."

On the run - continued

-----

Over the next week, they drew up a list of the cutting edge science that would be wound into the challenge.

Laurence Lancroft had passed away 10 years prior, leaving his son Michael a fairly large trust in a Swiss account. It would be the perfect cover for establishing a larger pool of funds generated by the team.

"The Earth's orbit changes from close to perfectly circular to about 5 percent elongated especially every 405,000 years due to the influence of Jupiter and Venus" - The sediment in the Grand Canyon matches this pattern, showing that land and ocean heights move in cycles. Gravity of Jupiter and Venus elongates Earth's orbit every 405,000 years Does the earth's shape change during this elogated orbit, forcing water to cover more of the surface? Oceans Are Being Sucked Into Earth's Interior Through World's Deepest Trenches 2030-2040 "When there is full phase separation, we have the conditions last seen during the Maunder minimum, 370 years ago." https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150709092955.htm 87 million-year-old signature of a “resonance transition” due to Mars, but how often does the Western Interior Seaway rise and fall? https://news.wisc.edu/from-rocks-in-colorado-evidence-of-a-chaotic-solar-system/ SERIOUS QUESTION: So how come.... The KJV Only crowd doesn't talk in the King's Old English? The KJV Only crowd supports Bible Translations into other languages IF KJV is the ONLY way to go? The KJV Only crowd doesn't believe MODERN English is a different language than the old King, and thus deserving of is own translation? SERIOUS QUESTION. Open for respectful discussion. Michael
It would be cool to read the most beautiful modern renditions displayed adjacent to clearly explained translations of the original manuscripts. What's a good website for reading modern renditions of KJV, Greek and Hebrew text side-by-side? The following article observes the following about the King James version: (1) It can make the Christian faith seem out of date (2) The English language has evolved (3) It makes many mistakes in translation (4) Its New Testament is based on a poor Greek text https://oakwoodmethodist.org/blog/quit-using-kjv/ Four Reasons Not to Use the King James Version OAKWOODMETHODIST.ORG Four Reasons Not to Use the King James Version David
Michael, they make "parallel" Bibles that have multiple translations side by side with translation notes. Helps make it more understandable. I like the web site Blue Letter Bible, but only because it's the first one I discover years and years ago.

Michael
Just found this, The Message. Very readable. https://www.biblestudytools.com/msg/ https://www.biblestudytools.com/msg/exodus/1.html… See More Read the The Message Bible Free Online BIBLESTUDYTOOLS.COM Read the The Message Bible Free Online Read the The Message Bible Free Online

Michael
Some items added and removed in The Message https://www.biola.edu/.../problem-passages-in-the-message Problem Passages in The Message BIOLA.EDU Problem Passages in The Message Problem Passages in The Message · Reply · Remove Preview · 23h David
Michael
I do not like The Message at all. It changes the meaning of things that are critical. There is a difference between updating language you reject current culture and language use, so kind as original intent is kept intact. I think the Mes… See More

Michael
Combining NIV with National Geographic and other side-by-side commentary would help give the lessons context. I'd like to read about the eruption of Thera when studying exodus. https://www.livescience.com/4846-eruption-thera-changed... How The Eruption of Thera Changed the World LIVESCIENCE.COM How The Eruption of Thera Changed the World

Michael
I'd like to find a GitHub repo that provides bible verses for NIV, KJV and MSG along with literal translations of the original sources. Each verse would need to indicate which prior verses were combined. I'd fork MSG to correct the changes to meanings … See More

David
Yes, any Pastor on Sunday is telling the story of the Bible as the message does; adding color, so to speak. The do that with any version, in fact. Sounds like you have done some Bible study. I'll look at the live science article. I agree it is cr… See More

Michael
The article above doesn't mention it, but I've read the migration of multiple tribes out of Egypt spanned 300 years following the loss of Crete (indigenous European Minoans) as a trading partner. The writing tradition of the Israelites preserved their journey, and helped carry African/Egyptian narratives back to Israel.

David
Ok...so the eruption essentially caused a global climate change (I find it hilarious when history demonstrates got much more powerful nature is then man... Thigh I will confess that mankind is a persistent noise factor versus an instantaneous event). T… See More

Michael
Grand sweep of history is man and God interacting. Mankind leaves the garden and starts grazing and farming. Planet starts warming 8;000+ years ago, ocean levels rise and flood the Mediterranean basin. Added weight of the water and further melting of polar ice leads to eruptions that disrupt Egypt. Not ruling out acts of conscious intervention throughout. Every chapter of the bible repeats the pattern of Genesis, casting out and rebirth. It's a lesson for survival, it's cellular, and I would argue that there is a consciousness in the organization of outside forces working against each cell (Noah, etc.), and those external forces are the culmination of the activity of all the cellular forces that generate a survival mode that moves to the next chapter. A larger goal could be to uncover (deduce) the chapters that occurred before Genesis, before the big bounce.

David
So it is interesting that you point out the repetitive nature of scripture: people messing up and then being redeemed/redeeming themselves (through God's power). What is interesting then is when your look across religion and belief systems globally, a… See More

Michael
I think rather than being formed in isolation, each religious perspective bumped up against the others (heaven vs reincarnation, one god vs many) - forcing uniqueness in each faith as it created a tenet that could survive and establish itself. Each perspective brings unique values in confronting change. Egypt continually flipped between leaders who worshipped the sun (one God) and those worshipping multiple gods (as a means to form alliances during trade with European city-states). After Crete fell, the sun won. Marvel eventually brought back the pantheon of super beings, and now their stories suggest that individuals like Thanos can achieve powers equivalent to God's by collecting stones (the powers of others?). The Nephilim sound like wizards in LOTR, low(ish) level angels. Is there a God in the LOTR universe? One ring to control them all? Or is that a cop-out, falling back to God as a process rather than a conscious single entity. Digging around, I found that Tolkien wrote the following in letters to explain the lack of many religious institutions in his storytelling: "The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision. That is why I have not put in, or have cut out, practically all references to anything like 'religion', to cults or practices, in the imaginary world. For the religious element is absorbed into the story and the symbolism. We are in a time when the One God, Eru, is known to exist by the wise, but is not approachable save by or through the Valar, though He is still remembered in (unspoken) prayer by those of Númenórean descent."

David
Thanos achieving the equivalent of God's powers.. And then sacrificing it. But Thanos didn't come to save; he came to slay...or DID he? In his mind, the sacrifice of half assured that a much larger future would live in comfort and prosperity... Thano… See More

Michael
Thanos was a twisted environmentalist, defeated by free market innovation. The rag-tag groups have their own leader, who usually dies (Tony Stark), or gives of themselves to the cause (Bilbo). Rinse, repeat. The importance of the Trilogy is that it unified the leader, with the rebel, with the ghost. Same for the Berlin Trilogy. Leader Bowie, rebel Iggy and ghost Eno.

David
Did Bilbo REALLY give though??? Or did he take and suffer the consequences of unchecked greed? The trilogy... Good the Father/Leader, Jesus the Son/Rebel, and the ghost plays the ghost. But the musical trilogy. Hmmm.... The Beatles, Pink Floyd and I'm thinking prime time David Lee Roth Van Halen.

David
But I could be persuaded a thousand different ways depending on my mood. Heck I have play lists with Katy Perry and America's SHOULD BE New Nationally Anthem, Party in the USA by Miller Cyrus (it's sooo appropriate... Lololol)

David
Thanks if an environmentalist. Twisted? I don't know. He had empirical evidence at least. The twisted environmentalists are the ones that parrot fear of consequences that were derived by faulty computer models and consistently not backed up by data… See More

Michael
The "Berlin Trilogy" was the albums Low, Heroes and Lodger. But the album "The Idiot" produced when the three first arrived in Germany is arguably the first of the Trilogy. Thanos's logic seems like China's former one child policy. Recording the DNA of disappearing species is probably the best longterm strategy for robust response after we emerge from the current die-off. "The Earth's orbit changes from close to perfectly circular to about 5 percent elongated especially every 405,000 years [reversing our magnetic fields] due to the influence of Jupiter and Venus" - The sediment in the Grand Canyon matches this pattern, showing that land and ocean heights move in cycles. Push the planet to the point of peril, then fix it later. What's the chapter in the bible that talks about the group of 144 who restore the planet?

Michael
You're right, Bilbo and Frodo were both twisted by the power of the ring. Gandalf picked them, so they were purest of intent available. But it took Golum to bite the ring off of Frodo.

David
Michael
Revelation speaks of 144,000. The sealed from the tribe of Israel. The meaning is unclear. Some think it is Jeff who are saved during the Tribulation period when the seals are broken and God's wrath is let loose upon the wrath. The seal… See More

David
Michael
Maybe Galdalf picked them because even though they possessed innate greed they were too simple to see the power they held; thus ignorance saves them from truly wielding the corrupt power.. But that puts them on the same level as Forrest … See More

Michael
That's it, the Book of Revelation states that 144,000 men and women will go to heaven to rule with Jesus over the earth as his “little flock.” Goes on to say the majority of people will gain everlasting life in a restored paradise here on earth, but some folks will be annihilated. I'd like to explore this in detail in a week or two in a new thread. If we're still here.

David
Sounds good. I think we'll still be here...too many Christians predicting the end; Revelations says he'll come as a thief in the night... Unexpected. We aren't nearly close to the end times I think. This present plague and violence in the world is child's play relative to past "evils"

© 2024 DreamStudio