I tend to be a swinging voter…my world view i would like to think, is quite ecclectic.
I have my biases obviously, but i do like to “stomp on cockroaches”, “call a spade a spade”…so whilst some of what AIG preach is terrible theology, some of what they preach is sensible to me. I am the same with my own religious denomination, politics, work…even marriage! (ssh dont tell my wife or ill be “sleeping n the dog house” for days
Now the reason i criticise AIG theologically…I do believe that it is our espistomology that drives us…so if we have a poor philosophical position, everything else is tarnished by that from the get go. (i recognise that could be grounds for a chicken or the egg argument)
For a capacitor, the rate of discharge is proportional to current, while the voltage across it is proportional to its charge. So if you’re discharging it through an ideal resistor that obeys Ohm’s Law, then yes, the rate of discharge will be exponential.
Things get a bit more interesting if you’re discharging it across a circuit of semiconductors, where Ohm’s Law does not apply. You’ve got me thinking about all sorts of interesting experiments I could do with some Zener diodes for instance. Or what happens if you discharge it through a wire whose resistance depends on its temperature that heats up as the current passes through it? (I was asked a question similar to that one at my Cambridge interview all those years ago.)
For batteries, their voltage doesn’t change much as they discharge (at first at any rate) so they would discharge linearly under an ideal resistive load. It’s a different matter when they’re nearly empty though.
Tar (bitumen or asphalt) is well known both present and past to be the area of the Dead Sea, and has been used by the local population for ages. Here is an article discussing: https://www.cryforjerusalem.com/post/dead-sea-asphalt
I would seriously challenge the implication in the article that “asphalt was used in the tower of Babel construction”.[paraphrased]..that is highly unlikely given that the most common method of making mortar was out of the same stuff the bricks themselves are made out of…the clay itself. We have exellent referfencing for it not being used on a grand scale by looking at Egyptian pyramid construction …as well as other ziggurats around the world.
A more recent, however, still very old method was of course using lime mortars.
a bit of a sidetrack now…for those who may not know, modern cement is actually made from limestone. The limestone is processed and then fired at high temperature to produce the cement product we commonly use today. Cement - Wikipedia
And all of those locations had a local source for tar? Lacking transportation builders tended to use what was at hand. In Egypt that would be mud and stone.
Good for you all! Too much consumerism is a common problem in the church.
I had plenty of leech encounters in Queensland myself.
I’m not too sure how increased CO2 and associated warming would tend to lower the condensation level. On the one hand, warmer temperatures produce more evaporation and more moisture in the air, but also warmer temperatures means that you have to go higher to cool down to a given temperature. In reality, warming is producing more precipitation in some places and less in others. Some plants grow better and some worse. If temperatures get too high, photosynthesis is messed up by oxygen more than it works properly (photorespiration) and plants can’t function.
Perhaps a more basic problem is that, although it is true that eventually the earth will probably reach a new balance (if nothing else kicks in to disrupt it again first), how do we deal with the problems in the meantime? How long will this self-regulation take?
There’s increasing evidence that the claims about Tall el-Hammam having experienced a cometary disaster are badly flawed. The advocates are promoters of the claim that disasters from space objects are common and we need to be more focused on them. While I would agree that it’s a worthwhile topic for NASA investigation, the group is excessively promoting the position and tends to be rather unreliable. On the other hand, some of the criticisms have been “it’s wrong because it supports the Bible”. (Actually, it doesn’t; the date that they reported does not mesh with the dates possible for Abraham.)
Please quote the verse in genesis where it says that…and to be fair to biblical consistency and referencing, provide the concordance links to other supporting texts.
THEN
to stay true to your observational scientific approach to Christianity, show me the Egyptian pyramids where aspahlt was used for mortar…or any significant biblical building…or city wall.
I think you are ignoring your own demand for scientific proof in making that statement.
BTW, as i worked in the building and construction industry for more than 15 years, i have worked with asphalt often enough with my earthmoving equipment. i can give other very simple practical reasons why asphalt would not be used for mortar in preference clay or lime:
it becomes very viscous at quite low temperatures…in hot regions this is all bad for building integrity
it deforms easily under compression even when not hot
the most obvious…its flamable
its incredible messy to work with and cakes tools used to work with it making them heavy and useless
apshalt is good for road usage only when it is adequitely supported by a decent road base. Anyone who has hit a pothole in a car understands what i mean there.
Genesis 11:3 NIV: 3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.
Some version use asphalt, KJV uses slime.
If you accept that Genesis was put in its final form after the Exile, the editors and redactors would have personal knowledge of it being used as a construction adhesive in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon if the article is correct.
