Interesting topic on a bit of evolution here when you speak of dolphins. Last night, PBS(Public Broadcasting Service)had a show called Nova. They had a documentary called "What Darwin Never Knew." It spoke of what Darwin identified in nature of evolution but went much further with today's science of DNA. Now as quirky as this may sound, it showed that we had the most common DNA with chimpanzees, 99% of which is identical with the 23k pr of genes like the chimpanzee. They show that all life has exactly the same DNA but something called "hawkes genes"(not sure of the spelling for sure)is what accounts for the diversity. Those genes guide all living things to differentiate. They explained how dolphins and other ocean and land creatures evolved with DNA changes over the millenia. They showed how land creatures actually originated from the ocean, by actually finding a fish fossil near the North Pole from a very early period in earth developement history that actually showed the small arms developed much like all creatures that have forearms of today, including the chicken with it's wings. It was proven that genetic mutations occurred with these hawkes genes that accounted for creatures biodiversity so they could survive from their predators. The small armlike structures on the fish allowed the fish to pull themselves up on land to escape their predators. Mutations in evolution allowed creatures to also camoflage themselves in the environment in which they lived. This was shown even in the dark colored and light colored rock mice after identifying their genes. Fish that pulled themselves up on land eventually started to adapt to land environments. They were trying to show that Darwin's tree was indeed accurate but took it back even further now to find a common ancestor of all living creatures. They show that there are gill openings in human embryos and also discussed what it is that allows the human brain to expand and develop vs other cratures that stop after a few years. This was all fascinating but it also made me wonder where all the origins of the earliest life came from that evolved to all the biodiversity of today. So perhaps we may well have much in common with the dolphin afterall. Genetic mutations seem to be of benefit for survival. Now how can genetic mutations benefit humans when it comes to inherited diseases and evolution? Now that answer is not known yet.
If a person had no idea that he was carrying something illegal into a country, then that is something different. This can happen when something is planted on someone unknowingly. Then a person is innocent in my opinion.
But knowingly to carry heroin into a country is crazy. Considering that people die horribly from heroin overdoses, I do not think that it is unreasonable to give the death sentence to the supplier of this drug if they knowingly brought it in. It just disrupts the pipeline drug trafficing a little bit.
I personally thing the U.S. is too soft on the drug dealers in this country. Kudos to China for making a serious commitment on cracking down.
I doubt this guy went to China to make a music video.
It's good seeing you back in the forums. Wondered where you went for a few days.
Season's greetings to you up there and all your fellow Canadians. I'm going to blame you and all your fellow Canadians for our very snowy condiitons. It's all your fault that we're snowed in down here in the old Buckeye state.
Well.... I gotta blame the snow on someone and I know that you have the right sense of humor to handle it this holiday season. Seriously,now that I have your attention, I'm wishing all of you, your families and friends a safe and healthy holiday and New Year season. May you have many more to come throughout your life.
People are free to choose to believe in God or not. Spirituality is a very personal issue. What one chooses to believe in..... God, science or nature is where it's at I believe. As long as one has peace of mind and chooses not to harm the next person or force their beliefs on others is the right way to go I believe.
I don't believe in Jesus as my savior or that he died for my sins as I am not of the Christian religion. I choose to believe in God as I want and in my way. And atheists also have just as much right as any of us who believe in God to believe as they personally choose to.
To the OP...you need to not try to force your belief system on everyone else here. God or non God is a personal choice. Many of us do not believe in a human that is called God. We all have our way of interacting with what we believe to be our saviour...whether it be ourselves or some unseen spiritual guide.
I was fascinated to see a newer type meter in use on this TV show. A group of people was exploring an old inn. They sat down in this room and asked the spirit a question. It answered very clearly via the newer meter. Everyone in the room had remained silent when the answer came so this wasn't some kind a trick. I doubt it was a stray frequency to answer so clearly.
You may laugh at the thought of gaussmeters but you would not have been laughing if you had been exploring the old house and it lit up for you. Some of the meters we also used made a loud sound when we came to areas that were with spirit activity. The sound on the meter would vacilate a bit and then get real strong like a geiger counter and make a high pitch squeal. That would be the area where I shot the pictures. Strange to see the electrical rays across the picture. No orbs or outlines of a person. But my tape recorder did pick up a series of thumping in an closed off attic area where no one was around. It is very eerie to listen to still.
I have also heard the voices of the spirits although they were somewhat garbled and difficult to understand on our group leaders tape recorder. Since then, there is a much better sound meter on the market that can clearly decipher what the ghost is actually saying. Saw this on a television show earlier this year as a group of people was exploring an old inn.
Experiences with the supernatural are very unique for each person. Until you ever incur an experience of some sort, you may be a non-believer as many people would be. But when you do, you will never forget. At first, you may think WTF, am I going crazy? Then you realize you are not and you may freeze right where you are and take a look around.
I believe that there was a Pagan holiday around this time of year. And I think that there was a tree involved in the Pagan belief. So when the Pagans were forced to convert to Christianity, I think that it was easier to say the birth of Christ was around this time of year and somehow incorporate the tree eventually. That way, it coincided with the Pagan celebration and the tree custom. I also heard that it had to do with a "May Pole" pagan celebration.
I may not have this exactly fine tuned but somewhat close. I agree that Trish would probably have it much more accurate with an explanation. Looking forwards to her view when she gets time to write. I've heard that Jesus was born in a different month. I think the Russian Orthodox celebrate his birth in January. WHERE IS ALEXY? He is the expert here on Russian Orthodox traditions and historical knowledge.
Thanks Ali for your comment regarding the Pakistani ruling from a citizen's point of view. I think the ruling though was handed down from the courts was from a religious point of view. I was fully in agreement with their ruling for such a heineous crime committed. Be it a religious ruling or not. One of the other CS members was writing to wonder where you were and hoping you would write on that forum.
Not being an atheist, I don't know how atheists treat Christians on Christmas Day. However, I think that if people respect each others beliefs and don't try to push their religious or non religious beliefs on others, then I see no reason why they shouldn't greet each other with sincere peace in their lives on this day.
BTW, I have been looking for you. I put up a forum on the Current Events and Politics site hoping you would answer on it. So have some others wondering where you were. It is on a recent Pakistan ruling against a couple of men to have their ears and noses hacked off due to a heineous crime they committed against a woman. We would respect your views on this ruling from your personal and religious viewpoint. Do you think it is an appropriate justice to be metted out?
OK Sweetheart, I'd very much like to hear when you do have that experience. You may think your mind is playing tricks on you at first but be assured, it is not! Unless you would happen to be stone drunk...and even then...the spirit may play mental tricks on you. But if you are sober, then it's for real!!
Someday you may be blessed to have an encounter with the spirit of a deceased person whom you were close with in life. Don't fear it but accept it and respect it's presence. They tend to show up at special times in your life and usually when you are least expecting it. Sometimes I think that they have not finished their job on this earth or have some unfinished business and they are not ready to pass over yet....hence maybe our guardian angel or even just a restless spirit such as the young man in the house he grew up in. JMHO here based on personal experience.
Awe thanks for the compliment. I'm being very serious with these experiences. Perhaps some of us are more sensitive or receptive to these spirits. I have no fear of these spirits as they are not malevolent. I have not seen an actual ghost but only can sense their spirit is around. Sometimes, they make noise, move something, leave a scent or leave something tangible such as a penney to let me know they are there at the time. Otherwise, I would not know. It always occurs by surprise. My aunt raised me after my parents died. For years after I went out on my own, we spoke every week on the phone to say hello and I would call her after I got back home from the long drive from New Jersey to Ohio to let her know I was home safely. Well, after her funeral and when I got back home late at night, her hall tree which had coats on it suddenly tipped over in the middle of the night. Against the hall tree was a shelving unit that was full of shoes and boots. So there was no reason for the tree to tip over and knock over all the shoes and boots. The tree was very well supported in every sense of the word. The coats were not excessive on it either. It was her way to contact me and let me know everything was OK since I couldn't contact her by phone.
You may not see anything but might feel temperature changes, see or find something moved or feel something brush up or tough you. Animals can sense the presence though.
Several years ago, I joined a ghost hunting class for an evening and we explored an old supposedly haunted house. Well, I have some sounds on my recorder that came from a closed off attic area and also weird waves on pictures in my camera that I just snapped in an area where the gaussmeters showed some activity occuring at the moment. Very weird indeed! Also a set of cupboard doors suddenly slammed shut just after I walked by them. Scared me for sure at that moment.
Spirits do indeed exist. Sometimes they inhabit the place where they last lived and sometimes they will attatch themselves to a person and follow them in life, no matter where they will be. They may follow them and leave some sort of reminder that they are around.
I was very close to an elderly aunt for many years. She was a treasurer of her organization. When I have something medically perplexing me, she leaves me pennies to let me know she is there. A penney next to a mammography machine was undoubtably there for me very recently. She has also even shown herself to my next door neighbor and he gave me a message from her, also concerning medical issues. She now leaves him pennies to when he has a medical issue that he needs to follow up with. My neighbor had never met this aunt in his life but very accurately described her to me.
Also as I was assisting my son move and sweeping floors in this old country house that he was moving out of. His kitchen table that was on it's side near the front door suddenly took a full tilt and moved sideways. First I thought I must have inadvertently walked too hard in the house but when it did it again and I was standing still and I watched it occur, I knew then that there was a spirit in that house. I was by myself in the evening(not afraid)so I just said, "Hello". Also, my son's cat did an enormous amount of deep clawing at the door entryways in the kitchen and to the basement door from the kitchen. Turns out that the landlady's 15 yr old son was murdered in that house by an intruder who was planning to rob the home. He was stabbed 24 times and left to die with the knife stuck in his back. He did die shortly thereafter. I believe her son was accosted in the kitchen and by the front door. The kitchen areas had the most damage.
BTW, the murder occured in the early 1980s and the criminal is still in jail. The prosecutors are still trying to get the death sentence for this man. Perhaps the 15 yr old will not cross over until justice is served. Until then, he will not leave his home.
I personally think that in the U.S., our judicial system is too easy on perpetrators of serious crimes. I think if justice is served in a similar way to the way a heineous crime was dealt to the victim, I do believe it would be a detriment to others. Too many and much of our tax dollars go to keeping these useless scum alive at the cost of the maiming or the loss of life of the victims. Justice needs to be served and justice is due.
Now when there is a question of innocence on the part of the accused, that is a different story. The corporal punishment should not be given until it is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that the right person is convicted of the crime.
I think it is a waste to keep these vicious criminals in prison for the rest of their lives and the taxpayers get to foot the bill. I have no mercy on murderers or mutilators. Don't believe in plea bargaining for these vicious offenders. "Old Sparky" (known as the electric chair) or the firing squad is most appropriate also. Ironically, getting rid of these misfits would help balance the state and federal budgets a little bit too.
Earlier this year there was a topic that made the news about a young university age woman who had acid thrown in her face by a fellow classmate whom she did not want to marry. She was extremely difigured.
Perhaps someone may recall the story in it's entirety and what it's final outcome was for the perpetrator of this heineous crime?
There really is no money that they could pay to make restitution to this woman who suffered such mutilation. Hopefully, she is alive and is able to have transplants onto her face and head. $8300 is a tiny payment penalty and wouldn't even touch the cost of transplants or the mental anguish this woman faces for the rest of her life.
I say, "Carry on with the judges sentence and be quick about it too!" And while the criminals are being mutilated, break their legs at the same time so they can feel the pain. No need for leg chains to drag around.
I believe that the following court decree is justice well served to the criminals. Hope the sentence is carried out. Too bad we don't have that type of justice here in the U.S.
What is your view? Would this be a deterrant to crime? An "eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" so to speak.
CNN-12/23/09: Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- A court in Lahore, Pakistan, has ordered that two men have their noses and ears chopped off, after the two were convicted of doing the same to a young woman.
The anti-terrorism court also ordered that brothers Ammanat Ali, 29, and Sher Mohammed, 27, spend life in prison and pay 700,000 rupees ($8,300) in compensation to the victim, Punjab province chief prosecutor Chaudary Mohammed Jahangir said Tuesday.
The sentence was handed down Monday in accordance with Islamic law and the country's anti-terror laws, the prosecutor said.
The woman and her family had rejected an offer of marriage from Sher Mohammed, the officer who investigated the case said.
The two men attacked the woman, Fazeelat Bibi, 22, on September 28, in the village of Zafarkey, southwest of Lahore, Inspector Hakim Ali said. Along with their cousin Mohammed Ali and two other men, they hid, stopped Bibi on her way home from work, and strangled her with a wire, the officer said.
When they thought she was dead, they cut off her nose and ears, Ali said.
They mutilated her "to set an example," prosecutor Jahangir said.
Mohammed Ali, the cousin, was also arrested, while the two other men allegedly involved in the attack have not been, the inspector said.
The brothers were tried under anti-terror laws because the incident "created tyranny" in the district, Inspector Ali said.
The high court must confirm the sentence before it is carried out, and a doctor must determine that they can survive the punishment.
The high court has suspended similar sentences in the past.
You are very insightful into the inborn nature of man in regards to competing with one another. Man has challenged and killed each other for 1000s of years for various reasons.
I do agreee with you that fighting terrorism overseas does tend to keep most of them pinned in place. However, some still do infiltrate into the U.S., Canada and in Europe. Example is in Spain. And the group that was picked up recently in the U.S.
What's the matter Antjo? I didn't write googled history but just stated facts. Perhaps instead of replacing Indians for Palestinians as you have suggested, try replacing Indians for Jews of Europe, Russia and even of Yemen. Then you would realize that I am not writing anything biggoted in any way to Kanokwan.
May God send healing and spread the warmth of his angels protection over and around Wendy's son. May his healing and her safe ride proceed on a Wing & a Prayer.
Amen to your last line here Oharmon.It was very surprising that you agreeed with me on anything. However, I most certainly to also agree with you. I also would hope peace is on the horizon. And the horizon of peace..................... should be in our lifetime.
I agree, current terrorists/fundamentalists do need to be combated. But when you speak of them, please do remember that it is not the Israelis who are in our country or around the world who are plotting to blow up landmarks and spread Zionism around the world. It is much easier to keep Zionism in Israel since it is so called Zionism that rules their own country and the Jews. However, when a Muslim religious landmark or other faith's landmark is destroyed or maimed, it is usually when Muslim terrorists have chosen to hide in it and use it to attack the Israelis from. Yes, an occassional fundmentalist Israeli will go on the rampage and fire at innocent people praying in a mosque. Those actions are heineous and not ever to be condoned. Those actions are not in accordance with Jewish law whatsoever. That individual should be punished big time.
There is enough Muslim sleeper cells who plot in the U.S. and worldwide just waiting for their chance for another 911 or Madrid or Mumbi type bombing. It is they who prefer to bring down country after country and cause massive chaos. Yes? Now you cannot deny this as a fact. That is their mission.
And for the record, I do not feel the Palestinians should be wiped off the earth, but those who truly do want to live a peaceful coexistence with the Israelis and recognize the State of Israel, should have the opportunity to live in peace. But for their idiotic leaders who break every peace treaty and prove to the world that they can't be trusted.....to them they should be executed or hung by their own people. Because to keep them in power whereby they keep ordering the firing of rockets and mortar onto Israelis will mean death and destruction to their own people in the future when the Israelis get fed up and retaliate more viciously than ever.
LILLYLADY Forum Posts (1,293)
May you have many more to come throughout your life. 
RE: Atlantis - By Any Other Name
Interesting topic on a bit of evolution here when you speak of dolphins. Last night, PBS(Public Broadcasting Service)had a show called Nova. They had a documentary called "What Darwin Never Knew." It spoke of what Darwin identified in nature of evolution but went much further with today's science of DNA.Now as quirky as this may sound, it showed that we had the most common DNA with chimpanzees, 99% of which is identical with the 23k pr of genes like the chimpanzee.
They show that all life has exactly the same DNA but something called "hawkes genes"(not sure of the spelling for sure)is what accounts for the diversity. Those genes guide all living things to differentiate. They explained how dolphins and other ocean and land creatures evolved with DNA changes over the millenia.
They showed how land creatures actually originated from the ocean, by actually finding a fish fossil near the North Pole from a very early period in earth developement history that actually showed the small arms developed much like all creatures that have forearms of today, including the chicken with it's wings. It was proven that genetic mutations occurred with these hawkes genes that accounted for creatures biodiversity so they could survive from their predators. The small armlike structures on the fish allowed the fish to pull themselves up on land to escape their predators. Mutations in evolution allowed creatures to also camoflage themselves in the environment in which they lived. This was shown even in the dark colored and light colored rock mice after identifying their genes. Fish that pulled themselves up on land eventually started to adapt to land environments.
They were trying to show that Darwin's tree was indeed accurate but took it back even further now to find a common ancestor of all living creatures. They show that there are gill openings in human embryos and also discussed what it is that allows the human brain to expand and develop vs other cratures that stop after a few years.
This was all fascinating but it also made me wonder where all the origins of the earliest life came from that evolved to all the biodiversity of today.
So perhaps we may well have much in common with the dolphin afterall. Genetic mutations seem to be of benefit for survival. Now how can genetic mutations benefit humans when it comes to inherited diseases and evolution? Now that answer is not known yet.