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| Britain |
| Happy Belated 6,000th Birthday, Universe! |
| 2004-10-22 |
| Britain's geologists are about to celebrate the fact that the universe is exactly 6,000 years old. At 6pm tonight at the Geological Society of London, scientists will raise their glasses to James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh, who in 1650 used the chronology of the Bible to calculate the precise date and moment of creation. Working from the book of Genesis, and risking some speculation on the Hebrew calendar, he calculated that it began at 6pm on Saturday October 22, 4004 BC. Actually, he put the date at October 23, and then pedantically realised that time must have begun the night before, because the Bible said that "the evening and the morning were the first day." The geologists selected the anniversary for a day-long conference on some of the fakes, frauds and hoaxes that have plagued geological and palaeontological research for centuries. "It's not that we think Archbishop Ussher's date was a fraud," said Ted Nield, the society's communications officer. "It's just that it was spectacularly wrong." Dr Nield conceded, too, that in toasting the archbishop's calculations the geologists were committing another error. More than 6,000 years have passed since 4004 BC. The symmetry is only apparent. The date is a mere numerological reflection. The real anniversary passed unnoticed, in 1997. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #11 I absolutely lost it when I saw the Mozambiqui on Drudge, holding up a beer and looking drunk... Oh, American Idioooott, I think we might have your 'proof'. Two photos, no less! |
| Posted by: Pappy 2004-10-22 4:53:55 PM |
| #10 I try *ahem* to lay a little humour on ye, tae stimulate the mind *ahem*. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-10-22 4:39:10 PM |
| #9 AP - inside joke.... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-10-22 4:32:15 PM |
| #8 Seafarious---The 6000th anniversary gift is generally recognized to be undifferentiated midden. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-10-22 4:30:44 PM |
| #7 Is the 6000th anniversary gift supposed to be tin or molybdenum? After about 3950, I lose track... |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2004-10-22 3:30:36 PM |
| #6 6004AL |
| Posted by: Hiram 2004-10-22 1:55:13 PM |
| #5 Thanks .com -- I needed something to calm me down - God can help. I absolutely lost it when I saw the Mozambiqui on Drudge, holding up a beer and looking drunk, and so I posted an opinion, but I may have gone to far... |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-10-22 1:55:05 PM |
| #4 A very Joycian flow, BigEd! |
| Posted by: .com 2004-10-22 1:40:13 PM |
| #3 cripes, Helen Thomas is older than that |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-10-22 1:39:54 PM |
| #2 Finite Universe - Infinite God? Don't think so. Infinite God - No Beginning - No End Multiple Big Bangs - Ours 15 billion years +/- past. God : Initiates Big Bangs, life, self-realization (Man "like us" knows good & evil), and - placing of giants - Moses, Buddha, Jesus as true prophets, also equivalent souls on other worlds... soul immortal - Person Good/Evil in life determines afterlife where Heaven & Hell exist - physical body is mortal - Rest in Universe is up to physical laws written by God, but rarely interferred with... Genisis is parable.... Now I stuck my foot in it... |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-10-22 1:37:15 PM |
| #1 This is really a celebration of the Bishop Ussher's dedicated use of Freshman Logic. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-10-22 1:27:32 PM |