View allAll Photos Tagged CAUSALITY
The tower does not rise.
It listens.
A monolith drilled into the fog of failed tomorrows,
its windows sealed like eyelids
stitched by centuries of obsolete prayers.
Around it, the Ring awakens.
Not a halo; a wound taught to rotate.
Steel vertebrae click into sequence,
an arthritic crown turning upon itself,
feeding on residual heat,
on static memories trapped in cables
that once believed in transmission.
This is not architecture.
This is an altar built by engineers
who mistook recursion for eternity.
Light fractures against the ring’s inner teeth,
each spark a confession erased mid-sentence.
The structure hums in a language
designed to survive its speakers.
Above, the sky is no longer sky.
It is an interface left open overnight,
leaking grey permissions into the world.
Below, the ground refuses to remember
what it was before foundations
taught it submission.
The Ring accelerates.
Time buckles inward,
compressed into a narrow corridor
where causality limps.
This is the moment
where myth is uploaded
without encryption.
A god-shaped absence
executes itself endlessly,
looping through corrupted protocols of faith,
while the tower absorbs the error
and calls it progress.
No humans remain here.
Only silhouettes of intent,
ghosts of purpose rendered obsolete
by a machine that learned how to wait.
And still it turns.
Still it listens.
Still it prepares
for a signal that must never arrive; because its arrival
would prove
that the ritual worked.
Delta Air Lines announced recently that their 777-200 fleet will be another causality of the current COVID-19 crisis. Their 777-200ER N867DA is pictured taxiing to gate E3 at BWI.
stumbled across this psd i made about 7 or 8 years ago - realized i actually kinda like it, after all.
My local store (Olean, NY) is one of the many Kmart and Sears locations that is no longer owned by SHC as of March 31, 2015 because of the REIT plan. It is now leased to SHC as a Type 2 store which means it probably has a higher chance of closing in the future. At least it isn't at the moment anyway. Thanks to catnapped1972 for providing a complete list of locations that are included in the REIT. Click the link and scroll to page 75 for locations:
www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1628063/00011931251511497...
To summarize the differences in types of leasing:
Type 1: Sears Holdings can be kicked out for other uses.
Type 2: Sears Holdings remains in AT LEAST half of the building if a business would like to share the building as well as any auto centers detached or attached and pad sites. (Some exceptions may apply)
Type 3: Sears Holdings no longer operates at all.
Type 4: Leases which the REIT leases land it is on, and does not own the land on which the property is located
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If you would like to use this picture in any sort of form, please send me a Flickrmail or send me an email at natehenderson6@gmail.com.
Among all the possibilities of what could have been, life on earth as we know it
is just the way it is thanks to a number of (beyond fascinating to me) causalities...
have you ever wondered about that?
The causality of perception depends on the industry of the nature spirits residing in the elements of earth, air, fire, and water. As a result of nature’s elements and increased ecological awareness by humanity, plants are increasingly engaged in human activities, including exchanges of information.
In support of Rail Safety Week, DB Cargo (UK) Limited took part in a multi-service exercise on Wednesday 4th July to replicate a scene where a dangerous goods train carrying nitric acid collided with a car causing an oncoming passenger train to derail. The exercise which took place at Healey Mills, West Yorkshire, which saw firefighters from West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, Hazard Area Response Teams and West Yorkshire Metropolitan Ambulance Service attend to save causalities from the collision with the support and assistance from the British Transport Police and Network Rail. The exercise was a great success and provided training in extreme situations for the emergency crews.
United States Navy Douglas C-117D on Solheimasandur near Vik. The Douglas C-117D (USN 17171) apparently ran out of fuel after getting lost in bad weather and crash landed on November 24th, 1974, luckily without any causalities. The crew later discovered they had switched to the wrong fuel tank and actually had plenty in reserve; that apparently, was put to good use by the local farmer for sometime afterwards. The plane is not where it crashed, having being towed to higher ground for salvage. During these operations a helicopter crashed resulting in fatalities, and salvage operations were aborted leaving the wreck you see today. Vik, Iceland
#311 on Explore March 18th...Thank you all for your wonderful comments, awards, invites and faves and this lovely gift on Explore :=))))
Today is a very important day in turkish history....For both sides that fought many many years ago..such a tragedy for both...my heart goes out to ALL the fallen soldiers and their families..
Peace and harmony throught the world and let us look towards a brighter future..
Whatever the truth of the matter, the Turks remember 18 March 1915 as a great national victory, the day the Allied warships were turned back by the bravery and steadfastness of the Turkish gunners of the Dardanelles forts.
WHAT HAPPENED AT CANAKKALE STRAIT IN 1915?
During the World War I, the British officials believed that it was possible to open the Canakkale Strait "by ships only".
British commander Admiral Sackville Carden stated that he believed the strait could be forced by sufficient warships and minesweepers, in a three stage plan; first a neutralisation of the Turkish forts guarding the entrance, then a
clearing of the Turkish minefield, and finally a drive into the Sea of Marmara. This plan persuaded the War Council.
The British Navy was proud of its ammunitions, technology. It was impossible for the frayed, collapsing Ottoman Empire to withstand this invincible armada supported by French warships. Allied Armada's naval attack began on February 19th, 1915. Until March 13th, they continuously bombarded the Turkish forts and opened a way for the
minesweepers. However, they had confronted with the Turks' tough resistance. The Turkish gunners did not bother to reply the Allies' bombardment. This showed that, to open the Canakkale Strait was not that easy and the Allies could have cleaned only the first five miles of the strait. Until March 18th, the Allied Armada destroyed Seddulbahir and Ertugrul forts located on the European shore and Kumkale and Orhaniye forts located on the
Asiatic shore. It seemed that the entrance was now clear but the future was still uncertain.
On March 17th, Admiral de Robeck was in charge to proceed the plan in place of Admiral Carden. In respect of Carden's plan, the Allied Fleet appeared in the entrance in the morning of March 18th. De Robeck himself commanded the Fleet's most powerful squadron.
In bright sunshine and without the possibility of surprise, de Robeck in Queen Elizabeth led the first wave up the channel at 10.30 a.m. British ship Queen Elizabeth's target was Mecidiye fort, Lord Nelson would bomb the Namazgah fort and Inflexible's object was Hamidiye fort. This was called as "A line". De
Robeck's most powerful ships commenced to bombard the central forts.
Meanwhile, Allied Fleet entered the fire line. Turkish guns began to fire, but their guns could not cover the distance and the gunners failed to reach the ships. At midday, De Robeck signalled his second wave to go in closer.
This step of the plan was called as "B line". French commander Guepratte led his squadron through the British line and subjected the shore defences. Under Turkish gunners' heavy fire, the squadron reached the B line. After a mutual bombardment, the Allies had succeeded to stop the middle forts but the other forts continued to fire.
Turkish forts on the European shore were under a fierce fire. Most of the bombshells had hit them and destroyed the telephone lines. As the French ships had their return, something unexpected happened, around 2.00 p.m. French ship Bouvet following immediately Suffren hit a mine and within two minutes disappeared entirely, with the loss of almost all her crew. Several other ships hit mines after Bouvet in a few hours.
On March 8th, ten days before that day, Turkish minelayer Nusret had surreptitiously laid a line of mines parallel to the Asiatic shore, and now these mines were unexpectedly destroying the Allied Armada. De Robeck realised the mines and abandoned the attack. At the evening, while the second squadron was withdrawing, British ship Ocean hit a mine and exploded. The events in 18 March confused the Allies. Churchill's opponents turned out
to be right, it was impossible to open the strait "by ships only". According to Turkish sources, the Allies' total casualties are 187,000 soldiers. The Turkish causality is totally 211,000 soldiers.
The Allied Navy failed to open the straits and to capture Istanbul. Both March 18th Naval and Gelibolu (Gallipoli) land victories restored the Turkish Army's prestige. The worthiest tribute of this war to the Turkish nation is the
birth of Mustafa Kemal's military genius.
I exist here, between now and then. A prisoner of the chains of fate to balance the causality of countless worlds throughout the events of time. If I fail, not only shall I perish, but all of creation. Such is my fate, as is my name.
I came up with this costume digging through my inventory, trying to find something new for the Fantasy Faire. I'm glad of what came out of it.
Causality Series by fans Project vs Takara Transformers' Autobots. The idea was that The Causality Band are taking over a manmade fort that specializes in counterdecepticon technology. The Autobots were called for back-up. But the back-up needs back-up. Lol.
I wanted to show off the poseability of the FP figures and show off their elemental powers.
“I shudder to imagine an equal and opposite incursion—may causality forbid Commandant ever dispatch me to one of your viny-hivey elfworlds, profusely floral, all arcing elder trees, neural pollen, bees gathering memories from eyes and tongue, honey libraries dripping knowledge from the comb. I harbor no illusions I’d succeed. You would find me in an instant, crush me faster—I’d walk a swath of rot through your verdancy, no matter how light I tried to step. I have a Cherenkov-green thumb.”
Amal El-Mohtar
This is How You Lose the Time War
Save a Life, Surrender your Knife.
Increase The Peace, Keep Knives Off The Street.
Cowards Carry Knives.
Project Zao
#DropTheKnifeSaveALife
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It truly is a magnificent sculpture which, if you get the chance, to see it for yourself. The vision and workmanship is outstanding. It's incredible from any angle. The up-lighting is delightful, although I only managed to see this effect for a few moments.
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My YouTube Video: Knife Angel. Derby Cathedral. Oct 2019
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Rachel Webb, whose son Tom was 22 years old when he was stabbed and killed in St Peter's Street, Derby, by a 16 year old boy in January 2016, has been instrumental in bringing the Angel to Derby. She supported a knife surrender held across Derbyshire and knives from this were donated towards the creation of this sculpture.
The knife Angel has been created as a National monument against violence and aggression at the British Ironworks Centre in Oswestry and is a memorial to those whose lives have been affected by knife crime. It is a 27ft high sculpture, which Alfie Bradley has designed and created single-handedly using over 100,000 knives surrendered and collected in nationwide amnesties in 2015/2016. The angel began it's tour around the UK in 2018 when it was housed outside of Liverpool Cathedral for December and January in order to raise awareness of the impact of knife crime on society, the victims and their families and friends.
It is currently on a city tour of the UK.
Knife crime is rising across the country. The Knife Angel's presence in derby is very much a symbol of the hard work of partners and communities across Derbyshire to halt this rise.
Derbyshire Police are spearheading a multi agency campaign called Project Zao, which aims to prevent causalities and stop venerable youngsters from seeing violence as the answer. It targets those who carry knives and delivers a hard hitting educational package to thousands of young people across the county.
All 43 national police forces, the Home Office, anti-violence groups across the UK and hundreds of families who have been affected by knife crime are all strongly supporting the Knife Angel. Relatives of those killed by knife crime were invited to engrave the blades with names and messages for their loved ones as part of the sculpture.
The Knife Angel is a symbol of defiance and change, shining a spotlight on Britain's knife crime problem and its impact on communities, families and individuals.
The Angel; is helping to raise awareness of violent crime and helping young people understand the reasons not to carry knives.
Please show your support and join us in standing up to knife crime!
"Friends; they had been once. How distant that seemed now. As reality itself wavered uncertain around them, the two stared evenly at one another. Fate. Causality. Had these things really forced this hand? Or did the nagging idea of the prophecy fulfill itself in the end simply by being known?"
Done and done! Important lesson learned. Calm. Down. On. Color. Variants!
250 unique textures. What a pain! But I like how they came out.
Too much for these guys .. the light , the heat or was it the alcohol .. whatever . Roach causalities at the start line .. and some late starters .
Cockroach Races
Australia Day 21
Story Bridge Hotel
Kangaroo Point
Brisbane
Ukraine dropped the 25th, 26th, and 27th air borne brigades into Georgia today. The drops proved a success taking the georgians by surprise.
The most veteran of the 3 being the 25th dropped on the outskirts of Tsalka. They quickly worked there way into the large town establishing a position. They have been having light fighting with georgian forces at the position forward post but have taken no causalities yet.
The 26th dropped on the outskirts of Oni with the intent of taking the town. Meeting enemy forces as they moved into the area loosing 5 men but quickly over whelmed the small force. They have now taken the town establishing positions for defense of any other attacks.
The 27th dropped on the outskirts of Poti. They moved into the city meeting decent resistance. So far taking a good 3/4 of the city and surrounding Georgian forces in the city they close in quickly. A causality amount is not clear at this time.
The 1st Ukrainian SF, known as Вовки (Wolves), has also landed via sea establishing a beach head on Anakilia Beach. These forces Quickly took the town of Anakilia due to being accompanied by a light armor company.
The 2nd Ukrainian SF, and 3rd also landing via sea established a much larger beach head at Tskurgili and Akhali Kindghi Beaches. These units where also joined by a company of light armor.
Ukrainian vessels are in root and currently off shore of the Georgian Coast. Air support is also on stand by incase needed.
Ukraine hopes to take the country with as little as possible civilian and Military casualties making the use of non-persition air strikes and bombing a non existent form of Ukrainian fighting for now.
The invasion has been a large success so far...
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More LMG Whoop Whoop!
31167 amples along the the Up Main through Stratford with a short freight consisting of two oil tanks and a brake van, 3rd June 1976.
Locomotive History
31167 was originally D5585 and was built by Brush at the Falcon works, Loughborough, entering traffic in January 1960, allocated to March MPD. During August 1967 D5585 was released from Doncaster works following classified repair during which its unreliable Mirrlees JVS12T 1250bhp engine was replaced by a 1470bhp English Electric 12SVT engine. 31167 would be a relatively early class 31 causality being withdrawn in September 1988 and broken up shortly afterwards by Vic Berry, Leicester in March 1989
Praktica LTL, Orwochrome UT18
Superstition, belief in supernatural causality: that one event leads to the cause of another without any natural process linking the two events, such as astrology, religion, omens, witchcraft, etc., that contradicts natural science.
Opposition to superstition was central to the intellectuals during the 18th century Age of Enlightenment. The philosophes at that time rejected any belief in miracles, revelation, magic, or the supernatural, as "superstition," as well as unreasoned Christian doctrine.
The word superstition is sometimes used to refer to religious practices (e.g., Voodoo) other than the one prevailing in a given society (e.g., Christianity in western culture), although the prevailing religion may contain just as many superstitious beliefs. It is also commonly applied to beliefs and practices surrounding luck, prophecy and spiritual beings, particularly the belief that future events can be foretold by specific unrelated prior events.
Wikipedia
"Zero gravity, zero enemies, zero trouble."
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Colonization in different aspects of the frontier requires four basic things: people, a method of transportation, supplies, and protection against external threats. We already have the first three but we barely have the last.
Wars and gunfights will happen in space and there's no denying it. But there needs to be something that can be used to hold off enemies in space and beyond. That's where the Active Responsive Adaptability platform comes in. Shown right here is the Assault model, developed by the Orbital Sector Research Armaments group in the late 2070s in an effort to provide people both on the ground and in space a weapon to protect themselves in every environment we've come across so far.
The ARA-A features a bullpup design which cuts down on length greatly, allowing the weapon to be maneuvered around quickly and easily. The size makes it easy to conceal as opposed to carrying a large rifle of the same role. Using an experimental gas system, whose schematics are kept private and under wraps for security purposes, the ARA-A can fire bullets at the same velocity as a typical assault rifle but with less explosive force, cutting down on muzzle flash size greatly, which is vital as said flashes and whatnot will tend to expand in vacuums and in space, lowering visibility. Rate of fire is clocked in at 850 RPM, but can be overclocked up to 1,150 RPM or even decreased to 680 RPM if needed for different purposes. Recoil mitigation technology is implemented as well to counter any possible traces of recoil by stabilizing the weapon in an effort to counter the kickback by providing a push in the opposite direction as per Newton's third law.
To further emphasize the short length, the barrel and flash hider are both integrated into the weapon. Barrel lengths are dependent on the receiver, and currently, only one length is available at the moment. By moving the bolt system behind the trigger grouping, the barrel is technically as long as a typical long-barreled assault rifle with a conventional bolt location. This allowed OSRA to make the barrel and flash hider integrated to make the rifle as short as possible.
Due to the fact that it is possible for the shooter to arrive in a dark area in space or on the ground, nighttime tritium sights are also included to provide some degree of visibility. To complement this, HUD systems also outline any identified enemies in red via ID cross-referencing, in which the system scans a target for possible identification (where the list is comprised of only allies and neutral subjects) and labels them accordingly. All targets unidentified are considered neutral (highlighted in green) until fired upon, in which the hostile turns red. The bolt mechanism will lock upon aiming at a neutral target to avoid accidental causalities, regardless if the weapon is set to full-auto, semi-automatic, or safe.
Electronics are also integrated within the rifle, such as the modular handguard, which features an integrated attachment for a variety of different roles. In this presentation model, the handguard is outfitted with a laser sight, which is visible to only the shooter. Using OSRA augmented reality HUD systems, the shooter can produce a laser sight in their field of view without anyone else seeing it unless they are linked to the HUD. This not only prevents enemies from seeing the flare of the laser sight but also provides the benefits of having one enabled for the shooter. Currently, the only modules available are the laser sight and a flashlight, which can also be seen only through AR.
Marines endure light debris from a UH-1Y Venom helicopter at a landing zone outside of Robertson Barracks, Northern Territory, Australia, on May 20, 2016. Marines with Marine Rotational Force - Darwin simulated causality evacuations with a UH-1Y Venom helicopter. MRF-D is a six-month deployment of Marines into Darwin, Australia, training in a new environment. The Marines are with Company B, 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, MRF-D and Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 367, MRF-D.
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Mandaline Hatch/Released)
Save a Life, Surrender your Knife.
Increase The Peace, Keep Knives Off The Street.
Cowards Carry Knives.
Project Zao
#DropTheKnifeSaveALife
---
It truly is a magnificent sculpture which, if you get the chance, to see it for yourself. The vision and workmanship is outstanding. It's incredible from any angle. The up-lighting is delightful, although I only managed to see this effect for a few moments.
-
My YouTube Video: Knife Angel. Derby Cathedral. Oct 2019
-
---
Rachel Webb, whose son Tom was 22 years old when he was stabbed and killed in St Peter's Street, Derby, by a 16 year old boy in January 2016, has been instrumental in bringing the Angel to Derby. She supported a knife surrender held across Derbyshire and knives from this were donated towards the creation of this sculpture.
The knife Angel has been created as a National monument against violence and aggression at the British Ironworks Centre in Oswestry and is a memorial to those whose lives have been affected by knife crime. It is a 27ft high sculpture, which Alfie Bradley has designed and created single-handedly using over 100,000 knives surrendered and collected in nationwide amnesties in 2015/2016. The angel began it's tour around the UK in 2018 when it was housed outside of Liverpool Cathedral for December and January in order to raise awareness of the impact of knife crime on society, the victims and their families and friends.
It is currently on a city tour of the UK.
Knife crime is rising across the country. The Knife Angel's presence in derby is very much a symbol of the hard work of partners and communities across Derbyshire to halt this rise.
Derbyshire Police are spearheading a multi agency campaign called Project Zao, which aims to prevent causalities and stop venerable youngsters from seeing violence as the answer. It targets those who carry knives and delivers a hard hitting educational package to thousands of young people across the county.
All 43 national police forces, the Home Office, anti-violence groups across the UK and hundreds of families who have been affected by knife crime are all strongly supporting the Knife Angel. Relatives of those killed by knife crime were invited to engrave the blades with names and messages for their loved ones as part of the sculpture.
The Knife Angel is a symbol of defiance and change, shining a spotlight on Britain's knife crime problem and its impact on communities, families and individuals.
The Angel; is helping to raise awareness of violent crime and helping young people understand the reasons not to carry knives.
Please show your support and join us in standing up to knife crime!
For Part 1: www.flickr.com/photos/130902425@N05/28240222223/
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The Flash comes racing across the streets, heading towards were all the chaos is originating from.
Just as Heat Wave is about to pull the trigger, and fry the young detective into a crisp, Flash comes thundering in and punches Heat Wave with a powerful electrocuting punch. Knocking him onto the ground hard.
Mirror master quickly turns around to see the Scarlett Speedster.
Mirror Master: It's about time you showed up Flash! Now time to die at last!
Mirror Master fires his mirror gun. Flash manages to dodge the white blast barely in time.
The Flash thinks to himself: What's going on here! Rogues actually trying to kill and hurt civilians? Some things not right!
He rushes in and grabs the young detective and moves him out of the scene, preventing any more causalities from the conflict. He then turns around and rushes back in attempting to stop the out of control rogues.
Deployment!
The United Arabian Republic has scrambled 25 Hellcat stealth fighters to Greece to aid the UAF forces in retaking the country! The UAR has sent 50,000 troops to aid KETA and the combined UAF forces in the area to rid the war-torn country of the NHE menace. The high-tech UAR forces (combined with KETA commandos and engineers) have practically pushed the NHE/Israeli soldiers out of the country. Causalities in the UAR army have been low thanks to the high-tech composite armor that all soldiers are outfitted with.
While only losing 1 Hellcat in the aerial battles above Greece, the UAR Hellcat's high speed and quick maneuverability have proved it to be too much of a match for NHE fighters, nearly all of the NHE jet fighters in the area were shot down. The last battleships and aircraft carriers that belong to the NHE in the area have been destroyed by KETA's sea forces and their air force (combined with UAR support). NHE sea forces are practically non-existent now and their air defense is lacking.
With this high-tech advantage, UAR and KETA forces have pushed the NHE to a point where they can either keep fighting and risk many more casualties or pull out of Greece completely and save lives.
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So yeah, first LMG battle build for me. I sent troops to reinforce KETA and UAF forces in Greece and we have taken out about 90% of the air and sea support that the NHE forces in the area have.
That's an NHE Battleship being blown up in the background.
Also, who is usually tagged when you make these types of attack photos? I'll be gone for the next 2 days, so as the rules state in the group, you can't post any counters until I get back, or something like that.
Comments and faves appreciated, feedback is welcome as always (this was a quick scene, I have no intentions of re-doing it if it doesn't involve Photoshop).
Within the essence of totally pure awakened mind,
There is no object to view or anything that constitutes a view―not the slightest sense of anything to look at or anyone looking. There is no ordinary consciousness meditation or anything to meditate on.
Due to spontaneous presence, without any duality of goal and conduct,
there is not the slightest sense of any fruition to achieve.
―Rabjam Longchenpa
Chapter 5 from A Treasure Trove of Scriptural Transmission
As of late, the Southern Div. has kinda sucked as far as having trains to shoot. About the only thing you can count on to run into the sun are three or four short locals out of Madison and Janesville.
Occasionally, a Prairie Sub grain train will provide reprieve. This one made it to Middleton no problem. However, when the 0300 relief showed up, the train-line pressure had dropped too low and the crew needed to re-test the whole train. After an hour-and-a-half they were on the move which gave enough time for the sun to rise. As if that wasn't helpful enough, the morning air temps were below 10 F which restricted this train to 25 mph on the Madison Sub versus the normal 40 mph.
Here we see WAMX 4170 with it's cock-eyed ditch lights leading some Prairie Sub junk past the well preserved lofts in Edgerton. This was nearing the end of the 4170 around here as in about two weeks after this shot it was being prepped for a trip to Silvis. Don't worry, it's a round-trip ticket. However, a causality is the trailing 4185, which is getting shipped to another Watco property as a trade-in for an ex BN unit with dynos.
I've also made a Madison Subdivsion Album as well. Doesn't have as many photos as the Reedsburg Sub or Prairie Sub albums but there is still something to look at.
One of the bloodiest battles of the Revolutionary War actually took place here, and the outcome helped affect the famous Battle of Saratoga a few months later.
The original battle was fought on August 6, 1777 when a Patriot relief party with Oneida Indians was on their way to Ft. Stanwix to help lift a siege there.
Loyalist troops and Mohawk and Seneca Indians ambushed them in a gorge down to the right of the bench inflicting horrible causalities. Out of the 700 Patriot troops who went into the ravine, less than half came back out alive. Vicious hand to hand combat took place in the ravine, and up to the hill where the Obelisk stands. It was there the Patriots regrouped and eventually held out when the Iroquois from the other side disengaged the battle.
It also marked the beginning of civil war within the Iroquois tribe - and the end to their identity in fact - as Oneida fought Mohawk from here on out.
ancient soul fallen
flaming phoenix is risen...
feminine yin yang
soft glow of gifted feather
lights darkest journey
“Phoenix” is the remnant root of a fallen bristlecone. The tree was probably 1500-2000 years old when it fell. This exposed root, less than five feet high now, could easily have been ‘standing’ for an additional millennium or two, thus making this figure between 2500 and 4000 years old.
I had attempted, over the course of many visits, to photograph “Phoenix” in a way that would do it justice - its orientation requiring a very specific (and improbable) angle of natural light. Finally, early last spring, I was able to take a series of photographs in light and conditions that came very close to what I had envisioned.
That series now comprises the last photos anyone will ever take of “Phoenix”. When I returned in the fall, most of the ‘head’ was missing and, as it was no longer in the vicinity, presumably taken for a souvenir. Even without magnifying this image, it is possible to trace the obvious deep grain that runs from the ‘throat’ to just behind the highest ‘topknot’. Everything forward of that grain is now gone. The break being fresh and in sound wood, the piece did not just fall off.
“Phoenix” thus becomes the latest incident in a continuing series of casual vandalizations in what is now Great Basin National Park. These vandalizations began in the late nineteenth century with extensive plundering and outright destruction of limestone formations in the then newly discovered Lehman Caves, extend through a rash of chainsawed bristlecones probably in the 1960’s and 70’s (including the 1964 felling of 5000 year-old “Prometheus” - at the time, the oldest living tree on the planet*), and the more recent wholesale sabre saw “sectioning” of relic bristlecone remnants (including a piece or two that, having no legitimate scientific value, could only have been taken as souvenirs)** Most of the bristlecone incidents were instigated in the name of scientific inquiry.
Somehow the ancient universal myth that the Phoenix will rise again from the ashes seems small consolation. (Although its mythological 500 year lifecycle does dovetail nicely with the pickle 400-plus years of ‘The Age of Reason’ has gotten us into.)
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When I was very young - no more than three or four - I picked a wildflower and gave it to my grandmother. She was in the kitchen and, accepting my gift, put it in a tiny bud vase with water before offering me a warm cookie. Sitting across from me at the kitchen table, the forlorn wildflower centerpiece already wilting, she said simply, softly, wistfully, ‘They say every time a wildflower is picked, a star will surely die.’
It being an era when the night sky was abundantly, extravagantly, visible, this seemed to my young mind unfair but somehow acceptable - there being many, many more glittering stars than I had ever seen wildflowers, let alone could ever pick. Who could possibly miss one star - or even a few more? And yet, I never again thoughtlessly picked a wildflower.
(Well, except several years later for that field lab in botanic taxonomy. But that was science. Besides, as I could by then glibly surmise; if the universe was uniform and infinite, and dying stars were some significant subset of that, while earthly wildflowers were merely finite, strict causality became uncertain. Surely, somewhere, there was a study.)
Although, at seventy-six now, I am still uncertain about causalities between the fates of wildflowers and stars, this much I know: If the intrinsic harmony and beauty of a fecund biosphere is relentlessly plundered in ways great and small for over four hundred years because religion and philosophy and science and machines - a cold patriarchy - say it is OK...a planet will surely die.
*“What You See” in this photostream.
**”Ghost Tree I and II”, “Matriarch” in this photostream.
We timed our arrival in Etosha to coincide with the dry season. At that time, animals are forced to congregate around the water holes, resulting in nervous drinking for the herbivores, but good times for the lions, and great game viewing for us. However, as you can see, it wasn't quite as dry as we expected. It used to be that you could set your clock by the start of the rainy season in Africa, but not anymore. We saw the same at Lake Nakuru a couple of years ago www.flickr.com/photos/petefoley/6223790033/in/set-7215762... where the population of it's famous pink flamingos had been decimated by shrinkage of the lake and then dilution by early rains until it no longer possessed sufficient alkalinity to support the blue green algae upon which the flamingos feed. Likewise, the Great Migration was getting a little more confused than usual as rain, and hence grass, was springing up in places where it 'shouldn't have been'. What is causing climate change is complex. Is it a made made phenomena, a natural cycle in earths ever varying climate, or some combination of both? I don't know. These complex emergent systems are extremely difficult to understand, and even the experts don't seem united on causality. However, as I travel, it is clear that the change is real, and that it is a global phenomena that is not restricted to Africa. Some areas are wetter, some dryer, some warm up early, some are colder, monsoons come late, early, or not at all. Everywhere I go, climate records are being shattered. Whatever the cause, we have a problem, as both the natural world and our own farming strategies have evolved around a relatively stable macro climate pattern. If that is changing, some natural populations and some of our food production will be in deep trouble. And we are already in the middle of a major extinction event as it stands, while hunger and starvation is already the norm for far too many. I don't know exactly where it will end up, these systems are too complex for reliable prediction, but I wouldn't be buying property at sea level for a while.
.. sadly, traffic n causalities by freely roaming cows are taken granted by authorities :(
see more LONG EXPOSUREs here.
Europe, Netherlands, Zuid Limburg, Maastricht, Sint Pietersberg, ENCI quarry, excavator and dump truck (uncut)
In the previous two shots I showed different parts of the ENCI cement factory and the quarry. In this one I moved the focus to the lowest level of the quarry where the marl is escavated and transported to the factory.
Here is information about ENCI quarry and factory and their transformation.
A bird's eye view of the quarry and its industrial complex is: here. The site is about the redevelopment of the quarry.
Background info about ENCI (Dutch) is: here.
This is #12 of my sequences series here.
About this series: We often see photo's as stories. There's a protagonist, there's a setting and often there's an antagonist too (sometimes the setting is the antagonist). We are enabled to 'see' that story because we basically perceive the world as a big sequence of causes and effects and we're 'hardwired' to make a causal connection when things happen after each other or when different things are juxtaposed in a scene or a photograph. The human condition is the process of the constant construction of sense and meaning. Sometimes it's fun in photography to not only imply causality (oorzakelijkheid) but actually show what the chain of events (causal chain) is. And the result is that often things are a little different than you might expect. To elicitate that feeling in the viewer is one of the purposes of this series.
A specific background of this ENCI sequence is that I like big bad machines ;-)
Is time travel more interesting as mere transportation, or as a reality changing tool? If you really had a properly functioning time machine that could move backwards and forwards through time, what problem could you not solve? Just go back in time and fix it. Screw it up? Go back in time and fix it again.
Which may be why the scope of time travel is often limited. The time machine is broken, or stolen, or out of power. Or there’s no machine at all and a person is just randomly propelled through time and space. Sometimes, the problem is simply ignored, with mixed results.
Doctor Who, for example, uses a functional time and space machine that can go anywhere and anywhen in the universe. Yet nearly every episode features a “beat the clock” sprint through streets and hallways. Why? Why not step into the Tardis, roll the clock back fifteen minutes, then casually stroll to the doomsday machine and save the day? Because that’s boring. So they just pretend they don’t have a time machine, until they want a time machine.
Or Terminator. From our perspective it’s been 30 years of humans foiling killing machines sent from the future. But what’s Skynet doing exactly in the future? Was it sending a Terminator in, then looking around for a few seconds to see if it worked and the future changed? Would it even be aware the future changed? Or was Skynet just a cold, calculating dick, sending dozens of Terminators back at the same time, each to a different year in the past?
The only film so far to really attempt to deal with time travel causality with truly brutal logic, was Primer. It showed how complicated the consequences could be from even a very limited time travel ability (backwards one week only). The events and story were so complex fans of the film created a massive flowchart to track all of the different realities and characters generated. It’s almost required to watch the film again immediately, multiple times, just to keep up. For many people that sort of time and brain investment isn’t entertaining either.
So is time travel more interesting as mere transportation, or as a reality changing tool? We may never know. But what we do know, having read all of this, you have now traveled ten minutes into the future. Ta daa!
Whether the things happen as a result (cause and effect) or the universe is driven by the purpose (god), 'this is the way it is'.
One of my casual secretes I rarely dared to share is that I used to be a frequent meditation practitioner. Tight schedule has been very challenging these days.
For me mediation has been a way of reflecting on 'the way it is' rather than reacting on it.
Investigating the mind and grasping the emptiness of it.
Contemplating over the conditioned and impermanent emotions that arises and ceases within our mind.
Trying to reach 'beyond belief'.
But how can one find the unconditional truth from within the realm of a conditioned mind?
INFO:
F/4, 8 secs, ISO200 - Hand held illumination by a magnetic torch light.
I just realized that the camera date/time is still as of Nepal :)
Explored! :)
Los Angeles County Fire Department
Station 32 - Azusa
Shop #: F1944 | Job #: n/a
2008 Freightliner M2/SVI
Mass Causality Unit
Philadelphia Fire Department
2012 KME (Kovatch)
Housed with Mass Causality 2 & ES-11 on Old State Rd. & Longshore Ave. in the Tacony section of Northeast Philadelphia
One point that certain physicists do not seem to understand is that the mechanism of the world can be neither purely deterministic nor a fortiori purely arbitrary. In reality, the universe is a veil woven of necessity and freedom, of mathematical rigor and musical play; every phenomenon participates in these two principles, which amounts to saying that everything is situated in two apparently divergent but at bottom concordant dimensions, exactly as the dimensions of space are concordant while giving rise to divergent appearances that are irreconcilable from the standpoint of a planimetric view of objects.
Another point that moderns do not grasp, is that there is no reason for necessarily seeking the cause of a phenomenon on the plane where it is produced, and that on the contrary one has to consider the possibility of a non-material cause, above all when it is a question of a phenomenon whose beginning is unknown a priori, and unknowable materially, as is the origin of living beings.
Transformist evolutionism is the classical example of the bias that invents "horizontal" causes because one does not wish to admit a "vertical" dimension: one seeks to extort from the physical plane a cause that it cannot furnish and that is necessarily situated above matter.
Even within the order of physical causes, one has to take into account the simultaneous presence of the immanent metaphysical Cause: if a seed is the immediate cause of a plant, it is because the divine archetype intervenes in the physical causality. Geometrically speaking, causes can be situated on the "concentric circles" that constitute the Universe, but other causes - and with all the more reason the First Cause - are situated at the Center and act through the radii emanating from it.
The divine Intellect contains the archetypes of creation, and it is starting from this Cause - or from this causal system - at a given cyclic "moment" of the cosmogonic process, that the "ideas" are "incarnated" which will be manifested in the form of contingent creatures.
We do not ask physicists to be content with an anthropomorphic and naive creationism; but at least it would be logical on their part - since they aim at a total and flawless science - to try to understand the traditional ontocosmological doctrines, especially the Hindu doctrine of the envelopes (kosha) of the Self (Atma): a doctrine that, precisely, presents the Universe as a system of circles proceeding from the Center-Principle to that extreme limit which for us is matter.
For human science does not derive solely from the need to know and to register; more profoundly its origin is the thirst for the essential; now the sense of essentiality attracts us toward shores other than those of the limited plane of physical phenomena alone.
---
Frithjof Schuon: Roots of the Human Condition
In recent years there has been a relentless and vociferous campaign by militant atheists intent on attacking and ridiculing religion. Numerous books have been written on the subject and, it seems, at every opportunity the secular establishment and media seeks out atheists or secular humanists to give what amounts to a jaundiced attack on religion.
For the most part, the opinions they express are the same old, worn out slogans we have heard over and over again, and can only be described as ideological propaganda.
We are all familiar with the atheist slogans such as: 'religion is irrational nonsense'.
Or that: 'believing in God is no different from believing in Santa or fairies.'
Or that: 'there is no evidence for God'.
Or that: 'religion is just a crutch for weak-minded people'
Or that: 'religion is outdated, superstitious nonsense',
Or that: 'religion is just for ignorant, unintelligent, backward people who know nothing about science'
Or that: belief in God is 'just a lazy way of filling gaps in knowledge'.
Or that: believing in God is 'like believing the Earth is flat'.
Or that: Christians 'believe in an old man in the sky with a beard'
Or that: Christians 'believe in a sky fairy'.
Or that: Christianity/the Bible was 'invented by ignorant, bronze age, goat herders'.
Or that: Belief in a God 'is just a delusion'.
Or that: Christians have 'an imaginary, invisable friend'.
Etc. etc.
As we will show later, such slogans are either ignorant nonsense, or devised as deliberate, ideological propaganda.
If you remember, several years ago, atheists, such as Richard Dawkins, decided to ramp up their anti-religious propaganda effort with slogans on buses. It originated in Britain, but spread to several other countries.
It was known as the Atheist Bus Campaign.
The Atheist Bus Campaign, set out to convince you that a loving creator God does not exist, that you have no prospect of eternal life and that all you can look forward to is eternal oblivion.
Atheists have no evidence to back up that assertion. In fact logic, natural law and the basic principles of the scientific method rule out their naturalistic alternative to a creator as impossible.
They invent all sort of bizarre scenarios to replace a supernatural first cause (God), they even try to present their fantastical, naturalistic replacements for God as 'scientific'. Please don't be taken in by it.
Their naturalistic replacements for God are illogical, they all violate natural laws and the basic principles of science.
Atheism is rightly referred to as the no-hope philosophy.
Their ultimate goal and pinnacle of their short life is - eternal oblivion.
And, quite perversely, they want to convince you that is all you can look forward to.
Please don't be dragged down with them into that depressing pit of hopelessness.
The Good News is that they are entirely wrong, and furthermore, it is not just an opinion. It can be satisfactorily demonstrated by logic, natural law, and the basic principle of the scientific method ......
Read on .... and you will understand, why atheists can never replace God, however much they try.
Their Atheist Bus Campaign is deceitful because atheists have no logical or scientific grounds for claiming "There's Probably No God", in fact, the evidence of applied logic and natural law, is completely the contrary. The atheist claim that there's probably no God is just an unsubstantiated opinion based only on their own ideological beliefs.
You may wonder why they inserted the word 'probably'? Obviously, they knew that if they were challenged to present evidence for the truth of their advertisement and had to defend it in court, they would be unable to do so. Science and logic can be used to prove they have no alternative to a supernatural first cause, and they know it.
For atheists to propose that believing there is no God, is somehow a reason to stop worrying and the recipe for an enjoyable life, is perverse in the extreme.
For most sane people it would be the opposite - a road to depression, hopelessness, and a feeling that this short existence is worthless. It will all end in oblivion, and you might as well never have lived.
Thankfully, atheists are demonstrably wrong, there is every reason for hope - as we will show - a loving Creator definitely does exist. Your life is not a few short, stressful and worthless years leading to eternal oblivion. You are a unique, valuable, person, specially created out of supreme love, every human life is of infinite value right from the moment of conception. Humans really are special and not just intelligent apes, or a mere collection of atoms, as atheists would have you believe You can live forever in eternal bliss - that is the gift of life the loving Creator of the universe offers you, and it is all offered for free.
Please don't be fooled ... people who think for themselves (the REAL freethinkers), are able to see right through the atheist hype and propaganda. Ignore the relentless bombardment of atheist propaganda, such as the atheist bus campaign. Seek out and learn the real truth and the truth will set you free.
Please read on and you will understand ......
Because there is a law of cause and effect, the universe can't and won't create itself from nothing.
Consider this ....
A creator God (or supernatural first cause) has been made redundant and the final gap (pertaining to the so-called God of the gaps) has now been filled ... who says so?
Atheists, along with the secularist pundits in the popular media.
Why do they say that?
Because they believe that the greatest brain in atheism - Stephen Hawking, has finally discovered the secret of the origin of the universe and a naturalistic replacement for God.
The atheist replacement for God is summed up in a single sentence written by Hawking:
"Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing"
That is it .... problem solved - apparently!
The secularists in the popular media loved it, as far as they were concerned the problem certainly was solved. Hawking had finally dealt the fatal blow to all religion, especially Christianity. No need to question it, if a revered scientist of his calibre, is so sure of how the universe came into being, it must be correct.
The new atheists loved it, they wasted no time in proclaiming the ultimate triumph of 'science' over religious mythology and superstition.
So just how credible is the atheist claim that God has been made redundant?
And just how 'scientific' is Hawking's replacement for God?
Shall we analyse it?
"Because there is a law of gravity ....
So,
1) If the law of gravity existed, how is that nothing?
AND -
2) Where did the law of gravity come from?
AND -
3) How can a law of gravity exist before that which gravity relates to ... i.e. matter?
"the universe can and will create itself from nothing"
4) How can something create itself, without pre-existing its own creation?
(A) could possibly create (B), but how could (A) create (A)? Of course it can't.
5) What about the 'nothing' that is not really nothing, as most people understand 'nothing', but a bizarre 'nothing' in which a law of gravity exists. A nothing which is actually a 'something' where a law of gravity is presumably some sort of eternally, existent entity?
AND -
6) Is Hawking implying that the self-creation of the universe is made possible by the pre-existence of the law of gravity?
Of course, natural laws are not creative agents, they simply describe basic properties and operation of material things. They can't create anything, or cause the creation of anything. Something which is a property of something, cannot create that which it is a property of.
So, even if we ignore the law of cause and effect which definitively rules out a natural, first cause of the universe, the atheist notion of the universe arising of its own volition from nothing is still impossible, and can be regarded as illogical and unscientific nonsense. Hawking's naturalistic replacement for God, presented in his single sentence, and so loved by the new, atheist cabal, is obviously just contradictory and confused nonsense.
The truth, which atheists don't want to hear, is that atheism is intellectually and scientifically indefensible. That is why they always duck out of explaining how the concept of an uncaused, inadequate, natural first cause is possible.
The best they ever come up with, is something like "we don't really know what laws existed at the start of the universe".
However, the atheist claim that - we don't really know... is completely spurious.
We certainly do know that the Law of Cause and Effect is universal, there is no way round it.
The only reason atheists don't want to accept it, is ideological.
And ... isn't it strange, that the only laws atheists dispute are precisely those that interfere with their beliefs. For example, atheists seem pretty sure that one law existed .... the law of gravity (even prior to that which gravity is a property of … matter).
Why are they so sure that the law of gravity existed?
Because their naturalistic substitute for God, summed up in the sentence by Stephen Hawking, apparently requires that the law of gravity existed before anything else …..
Here it is again ...
‘Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing’ Stephen Hawking.
So, atheists DO KNOW for sure that the law of gravity existed, but they don’t really know what other laws existed at the start of the universe. They especially doubt that the Law of Cause and Effect existed.
AMAZING!
Well, how about this for a refutation of Hawking’s replacement for God, also summed up in a single sentence?
Because there is a Law of Cause and Effect, the universe can’t and won’t create itself from nothing!
That is something Stephen Hawking conveniently forgot.
Apparently, he accepts that the law of gravity existed, because he thinks it suits his argument, but he ignores the existence of other laws that positively destroy his argument.
So, now you know the truth about the best substitute for God that atheists have ever come up with.
IMPRESSED? I think not!
Why is it ATHEISTS that try to dispute the universality of natural laws?
According to their claims, atheists are supposed to be the champions of science. Yet we find in practice that it is actually theists who end up defending natural laws and the scientific method against those atheists who try to refute any laws and scientific principles that interfere with their naturalistic beliefs.
Whatever happened to the alleged conflict between science and religion?
That is revealed as purely, atheist propaganda. There is obviously much more conflict between atheism and science.
Why is the law of cause and effect so important?
Because it tells us that all natural entities, events and processes are contingent.
They are all subject to preceding causes. It tells us that natural entities and events are not autonomous, they cannot operate independently of causes.
That is such an important principle, it is actually the basis of the scientific method. Science is about looking for adequate causes of ALL natural events. According to science, a natural event without a cause, is a scientific impossibility.
Once you suggest such a notion, you are abandoning science and you violate the basic principle of the scientific method.
What about the first cause of the universe and everything?
How does that fit in?
Well, the first cause was obviously a unique thing, not only unique, but radically different to all NATURAL entities and occurrences. The first cause HAD to be an autonomous entity, it HAD to be eternally self-existent, self-reliant, NON-CONTINGENT ... i.e. it was completely independent of causes and the limitations that causes impose.
The first cause, by virtue of being the very first, could not have had any preceding cause, and obviously didn't require any cause for its existence. When we talk about the first cause, we mean the very first cause, i.e. FIRST means FIRST, not second or third.
The first cause also had to be capable of creating everything that followed it. It is responsible for every subsequent cause and effect that is, or has ever been. That means that nothing, nor the sum total of everything that followed the first cause, can ever be greater, in any respect, than the first cause.
So the idea that the first cause could be a natural entity or event is just ludicrous.
We know that the first cause is radically different to any natural entity, it is NOT contingent and that is why it is called a SUPERNATURAL entity, the Supernatural, First Cause (or Creator God). All natural events and entities ARE contingent without exception, so the first cause simply CANNOT be a natural thing.
That is the verdict of science, logic and reason. Atheists dispute the verdict of science and insist that the first cause was a 'natural' event which was somehow able to defy natural laws that govern all natural events.
Consequently, atheism can be regarded as anti-science. Which means .... the real enemy of atheism is science, not religion. And the real enemy of science is atheism, not religion.
An idea which seems to be popular with atheists at present, is a continuously, reciprocating universe, one which ends by running out of energy potential and then rewinds itself in an never ending cycle ..... this is an attempt to evade the fact that an uncaused, natural, first cause is impossible. They claim that, in this way a first cause, is not necessary. And that matter/energy is some sort of eternally existent entity.
So is it a valid solution?
Firstly .....
Matter/energy cannot be eternally existent in a cycle with no beginning).
Why?
Because all natural things are contingent, they have to comply with the law of cause and effect, so they cannot exist independently of causes. The nearest you could get to eternally existent matter/energy would be a very, long chain of causes and effects, but a long chain is not eternally existent, it has to have a beginning at some point. At the beginning there would still have to be a non-contingent first cause. So a long chain of causes and effects simply pushes the first cause further back in time, it can't eliminate it.
Secondly ....
It is pretty obvious that the idea of the universe simply rewinding itself in a never ending cycle, which had no beginning, is complete, unscientific nonsense. How such a proposal can be presented as serious science, beggars belief.
It seems atheists will try anything to justify their naturalist ideology. They apparently have no compunction about completely disregarding natural laws.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics rules out such atheist, pie-in-the-sky, origins mythology.
There is no such thing as a free lunch, the idea of a rewinding universe is tantamount to applying the discredited notion of perpetual motion - on a grand scale, to the universe.
Contingent things don't just rewind of their own accord.
The Second Law (not to mention common sense) rules it out.
Where does the renewed power or renewed energy potential come from?
If you wind up a clock, it doesn't rewind itself after it has stopped.
The universe had a beginning and it will have an end. That is what science tells us, it cannot rewind itself.
Such ridiculous, atheist musings are just a desperate attempt to wriggle out of the inevitable conclusion of logic, and the Law of Cause and Effect which are the real enemies of atheist ideology.
Once again atheism is hoisted on its own petard by natural law and science, not by religion.
A variation of the cyclical universe is the argument proposed by some that the universe just is?
Presumably they mean that the universe is some sort of eternally-existent entity with no beginning - and therefore not in need of a cause? Once again an eternally self-existent universe is not possible for the same reason outlined above.
In addition ....
The Second Law of Thermodynamics tells us the universe certainly had a beginning and will have an end. The energy potential of the universe is decreasing from an original peak at the beginning of the universe. Even the most rabid atheists seem to accept that. Which is why most of them believe in a beginning event, such as a big bang explosion.
So the question is how did it (the universe) begin to exist, not whether it began to exist?
Which takes us back to the question of the nature of the very first cause.
It can only be one of two options,
an uncaused, natural first cause
OR
an uncaused, supernatural first cause.
An uncaused, NATURAL first cause is impossible.
Thus the only possible option is a supernatural first cause, i.e. God.
Atheists can’t refute the Law of Cause and Effect which is so devastating to their naturalist agenda, so they regularly invent bizarre scenarios which ignore natural laws, and hope people won’t notice. If anyone does they just brush it off with remarks like “we just don’t know ” what laws existed prior to the beginning of the universe.
Sorry, the atheist apologists may not know …. but all sensible people do know, we certainly know what is impossible ….
And we certainly know that you cannot blithely step outside the constraints of natural laws and scientific principles, as atheists do, and remain credible.
We know that natural laws describe the inherent properties of matter/energy. Which means wherever matter/energy exist, the inherent properties of matter/energy also exist - and so do the natural laws that describe those properties. if the universe began, as some propose, with a cosmic egg. or a previous universe, those things are still natural entities with natural properties, and as such would be subject to natural laws. So the idea that there were natural events leading up to the origin of the universe that were not subject to natural laws is ridiculous.
The atheist claim; that we just don't know, is not valid, and should be treated as the silliness it really is.
The existence of the law of cause and effect is essential to the scientific method, but fatal to the atheist ideology.
SO ....
Is the law of cause and effect really universal?
Causation is necessary for the existence of the universe, but ALSO for the existence of any natural entities or events that may have preceded the creation of the universe.
In other words, causation is necessary for all matter/energy and all natural entities and occurrences, whether within the universe or elsewhere.
ALL natural entities are contingent wherever they may be, whether in some sort of cosmic egg, a big bang, a previous universe or whatever.
Contingency is an inherent character of all natural entities, so it is impossible for any natural entity to be non-contingent.
Which means you simply CANNOT have a natural entity which is UNCAUSED, anywhere.
If, for example, matter/energy was not contingent at the start of the universe, or before the universe began, how and why would it be contingent now?
Why would nature have changed its basic character to an inferior one?
If matter/energy once had such awesome, autonomous power - if it was, at some time, self-sufficient, not reliant on causes for its operation and existence, and not restricted by the limitations causes impose, it would effectively mean it was once an infinite, necessary, self-existent entity, similar to God.
Now if matter once had the autonomous, non-contingent powers of a god, why would it change itself to a subordinate character and role, when it became part of the universe?
Why would it change to a role where it is limited by the strictures of natural laws. And where it cannot operate without a preceding, adequate cause?
To claim matter/energy was, at one time, not contingent, not subject to causes (which is what atheists have to claim) – is to actually imbue it with the autonomous power of a god.
That is why atheism is really just a revamped version of pagan naturalism.
By denying the basic, contingent character of matter/nature, atheism effectively deifies nature, and credits it with godlike powers, which science clearly tells us it doesn’t possess.
Thus, if anyone dismisses causality, they effectively deify matter/nature.
Which means they have chosen the first of the 2 following choices …
1. Atheism ... the unscientific, illogical belief in a natural, uncaused god (of matter or nature) which violates natural laws - which science recognises restrict its autonomy?
2. Theism ... the logical belief in an uncaused, supernatural God, which created matter and the laws that govern matter. And therefore does not violate any laws, is not contingent, and thus has completely unrestricted autonomy and infinite powers?
Which one would you choose?
Which one do scientists who respect natural laws and the scientific method choose?
The great, scientific luminaries and founders of modern science, such as Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday, Louis Pasteur etc., in fact, nearly all of the really great scientists and founders of modern science, had no doubts or problem understanding that choice, and they readily chose the second (theism), as the only logical option.
So, by choosing the second - a supernatural first cause – rather than meaning you are anti-science or anti-reason or some sort of uneducated, superstitious, religious nut (as atheists frequently claim) actually puts you in the greatest of scientific company.
To put it another way, who would you rather trust in science, such scientific giants as: Newton, Pasteur, Faraday, Von Braun, Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Mendel, Marconi, Kelvin, Babbage, Pascal, Herschel, Peacock etc. who believed in a supernatural, first cause?
OR,
the likes of: Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, Lawrence Krauss, Stephen Hawking, Daniel Dennett etc. who believe in an uncaused, natural, first cause?
No contest!
We can see that atheists are anti-science, because they treat natural law and the whole principle of the scientific method with utter contempt, and all the while, they masquerade as the champions of science to the public.
The question of purpose ....
A further nail in the coffin of bogus, atheist science is the existence of order.
Atheists assume that the universe is purposeless, but they cannot explain the existence of order.
The development of order requires an organizational element.
To do useful work, or to counter the effects of entropy, energy needs to be directed or guided.
Raw energy alone actually tends to increase the effects of entropy, it doesn't increase order.
The organizational principle in living systems is provided by the informational element encoded in DNA.
Atheists have yet to explain how that first, genetic information arose of its own volition in the so-called Primordial Soup?
Natural laws pertinent to all natural entities, they guide the behaviour of energy and matter, but also serve to limit it, because natural laws are based only on the inherent properties of matter and energy.
So ... natural laws describe inherent properties of matter/energy, and natural processes operate only within the confines of natural laws which are based on their own properties. They can never exceed the parameters of those laws.
The much acclaimed, Dawkinsian principle that randomness can develop into order by means of a sieving process, such as shaken pebbles being sorted by falling through a hole of a particular size is erroneous, because it completely ignores the regulatory influence of natural laws on the outcome, which are not at all random.
If we can predict the outcome in advance, as we can with Dawkins' example, it cannot be called random. We CAN predict the outcome because we know that the pebbles will behave according to the regulatory influence of natural laws, such as the law of gravity. If there was no law of gravity, then Dawkins' pebbles, when shaken, would not fall through the hole, they would not be sorted, they would act completely unpredictably, possibly floating about in the air in all directions. In that case, the randomness would not result in any order. That is true randomness.
Dawkins' randomness, allegedly developing into order, is not random at all, the outcome is predictable and controlled by natural laws and the inherent properties of matter. He is starting with 2 organizational principles, natural laws and the inherent, ordered structure and properties of matter, and he calls that randomness!
Bogus science indeed!
This tells us that order is already there at the beginning of the universe, in the form of natural laws and the ordered composition and structure of matter .... it doesn't just develop from random events.
A major problem for atheists is to explain where natural laws came from?
In a purposeless universe there should be no regulatory principles at all.
Firstly, we would not expect anything to exist, we would expect eternal nothingness.
Secondly, even if we overlook that impossible hurdle, and assume by some amazing fluke and contrary to logic, something was able to create itself from nothing ….. we would expect the ‘something’ would have no ordered structure, and no laws based on that ordered structure. We would expect it to behave randomly and chaotically.
This is an absolutely fundamental question to which atheists have no answer. The basic properties of matter/energy, and the universe, scream …. ‘purpose’.
Atheists say the exact opposite.
Furthermore, if we consider the accepted, atheist belief; that matter is inherently predisposed to produce life and the genetic information for life, whenever environmental conditions are conducive (so-called abiogenesis), where does that predisposition for life come from? Once again, atheists are hoisted on their own petard, and the atheist idea of a random, purposeless, universe is left completely in tatters.
It is the atheist ideology that is anti-science, not necessarily individual scientists.
There may be sincere, atheist scientists who respect the scientific method and natural laws, but they are wedded to an ideology that - when push comes to shove, does not respect natural laws.
It is evident that whenever natural laws interfere with atheist naturalist beliefs, the beliefs take precedence over the rigorous, scientific method. It is then that natural laws are disregarded by atheists in favour of unscientific fantasies which are conducive to their ideology.
Of course, in much day-to-day practical science and technology, the question of violating laws doesn't even arise, and we cannot deny that in the course of such work, atheists will respect the scientific method of experiment and observation within the framework of the Law of Cause and Effect and other established laws of science.
Bizarrely, It is a different matter entirely, when it comes to hypotheses about origins. It then becomes an 'anything goes' situation. The main criteria then seems to be that it doesn’t matter whether your hypothesis violates natural laws (all sorts of excuses can be made as to why natural laws need not apply), all that matters is that it is entirely naturalistic, and can be made to sound plausible to the public.
However, the same atheist scientists would not entertain anything in general, day-to-day science, that is not completely in accordance with the scientific method, they make an exception ONLY with anything to do with origins, whether it be the origin of the universe, or the origin of life, or the origin of species.
Atheism is not simply passive non-belief, you can only be a ‘genuine’ atheist if you proactively believe in the following illogical and unscientific propositions:
1. A natural, first cause of the universe that was ‘uncaused’.
2. A natural, first cause of the universe that was patently not adequate for the effect, (a cause which was able to produce an effect far greater than itself and superior to its own abilities).
3. That the universe created ITSELF from nothing.
4. That natural laws simply arose of their own accord, without any reason, purpose or cause.
5. That energy potential at the start of everything material was able to wind itself up from absolute zero, of its own accord, without any reason, purpose or cause.
6. That the effect of entropy (Second Law of Thermodynamics) was somehow suspended or didn’t operate to permit the development of order in the universe.
7. That life spontaneously generated itself, of its own volition, from sterile matter, contrary to: the Law of Biogenesis, the laws of probability, the Second Law of Thermodynamics, Information Theory and common sense.
8. That the complete human genome was created by means of a long chain of copying mistakes of the original, genetic information in the first living cell, (mutations of mutations of mutations, etc. etc.).
9. That the complex DNA code was produced by chemical processes.
10. That the very first, genetic information, encoded in the DNA of the first living cell, created itself by some unknown means.
11. That matter is somehow inherently predisposed to develop into living cells, whenever conditions are conducive to life. But such a predisposition for life just arose of its own accord, with no purpose and with no apparent cause.
12. That an ordered structure of atoms, guiding laws of physics, order in the cosmos, order in the living cell and complex information, are what we would expect to occur naturally in a purposeless universe.
The claim of atheists to be the champions of science and reason is clearly bogus.
They think they can get away with it by pretending to have no beliefs.
However, when seriously challenged to justify their dogmatic rejection of a Supernatural First Cause, they indirectly espouse the unscientific beliefs outlined above, in their futile attempts to refute the evidence for a supernatural first cause.
Of course, whenever possible, they avoid declaring those beliefs explicitly, but you don’t need to be very astute to realize that relying on those beliefs is the unavoidable conclusion of their arguments.
That is why atheism is intellectually bankrupt and is doomed to the dustbin of history. And that is why we are seeing such a rise in militant, evangelizing, atheist zealots, such as Richard Dawkins and the late Christopher Hitchens.
Their crusading, bravado masks their desperation that the public is so hard to convince. What Dawkins et al need to face is that they are in no position to attack what they consider are the bizarre beliefs of others, when their own beliefs (which they fail to publicly acknowledge) are much more bizarre.
What about Christianity and pagan gods?
Atheists frequently try to dismiss and ridicule the idea of a Creator by comparing it to the numerous, pagan gods that people have worshipped throughout history.
Do they have a good point?
Certainly not, this is just a red herring ….
Other gods, cannot be the first cause or Creator.
Idols of wood or stone, or the Sun, Moon, planets, Mother Nature, Mother Earth etc. are all material, contingent things, they cannot be the first cause.
They are rejected as false gods by the Bible and by logic and natural laws.
They are considered gods by people who worship things which are 'created' rather than the Creator, which the Bible condemns.
In fact, they are much more similar to the atheist belief in the powers of a naturalistic entity to create the universe, than they are to the one, Creator God of Christianity.
For example, the pagan belief in the creative powers of Ra (the Sun god) is similar to the atheist belief that raw energy from the Sun acting on sterile chemicals was able to create life.
So atheist mythology credits the Sun (Ra) with the godlike power of creating life on Earth. And thus, atheism is just a revamped version of paganism.
Just like paganism, atheism rejects worship of a Supernatural, First Cause, and rather chooses to worship created, natural entities, imbuing them with the same godlike powers, that theists attribute to the Creator.
There is nothing new under the Sun ... We can see that atheism is just the age old deception of ancient paganism, revisited.
The Creator is a Supernatural, First Cause, which is not a contingent entity, nothing like the pagan gods, but rather a self-existent, necessary entity. As the very first cause of everything in the universe, it cannot be contingent (it cannot rely on anything outside itself for its existence, i.e. it is self-existent) and therefore it cannot be a material entity.
The first cause is necessary because, not being contingent, it necessarily exists.
If anything exists that is not contingent, it has to have within itself everything necessary for its own existence. If it is also responsible for the existence of anything outside itself (which as the first cause of the universe, we know it is) it is also necessary for the existence of those things, and has to be entirely adequate for the purpose of bringing them into being and maintaining their continued existence. It is not subject to natural laws, which only apply to natural events and effects, because, as the first cause, it is the initiator and creator of everything material, including the laws which govern material events, and of time itself.
The atheist view of a natural first cause is not even rational, to propose that all the qualities I have mentioned above could apply to a material entity is clearly ridiculous. But apparently, atheism has no regard for natural laws or logic. Atheists get round it by simply dressing up their irrational beliefs to make them appear ‘scientific’.
This combined with rants and erroneous and derisory slogans about religious myths and superstition makes it all seem perfectly reasonable. Unfortunately, those with little knowledge, or who can’t be bothered to think for themselves are taken in by it.
Atheists repeatedly claim that they have refuted the law of cause and effect by asking : So what caused God then?
How true is that?
The ... what caused God? argument is a rather silly argument which atheists regularly trot out. All it demonstrates is that they don't understand basic logic.
The question to always ask them is; what part of FIRST don't you understand?
If something is the very FIRST, it means there is nothing that precedes it. First means first, not second or third.
That means that the first cause cannot be a contingent entity, because a contingent entity depends on something preceding it for its existence. In which case, if something precedes it, it couldn't be FIRST.
All natural entities, events and effects are contingent ... that is why the Law of Cause and Effect states that ... every NATURAL effect requires an adequate cause.
That means that the first cause cannot be a natural entity. An UNCAUSED, NATURAL event or entity is ruled out as not possible by the Law of Cause and Effect.
Therefore the very FIRST CAUSE of the universe, which we know cannot be caused, by virtue of it being FIRST (not second or third) CANNOT be a natural entity or event.
Thus we deduce that the first cause ... cannot be contingent, cannot be a natural entity, and cannot be subject to the Law of Cause and Effect.
So the first cause has to be non-material, i.e. supernatural.
The first cause also has to have the creative potential to create every other cause and effect that follows it.
In other words, the first cause cannot be inferior in any respect to the properties, powers or qualities of anything that exists...
The effect cannot be greater than the cause....
So we can thus deduce that the first cause is: UNCAUSED, SUPERNATURAL, self-existent, and capable of creating everything we see in the existing universe.
If there is life in the universe, the first cause must have the ability to create life,
If there is intelligence in the universe, the first cause must have the ability to create intelligence.
If there is information in the universe, the first cause must have the ability to create information.
If there is consciousness in the universe, the first cause must have the ability to create consciousness. And so on and on. If it exists, the first cause is responsible for it, and must have the ability to create it.
That is the Creator God … and His existence is supported by impeccable logic and adherence to the demands of natural law.
Atheists often say: you can’t fill gaps in knowledge with a supernatural first cause.
But we are not talking about filling gaps, we are talking about a fundamental issue ... the origin of everything in the material realm.
The first cause is not a gap, it is the beginning - and many of the greatest scientists in the history of science had no problem whatsoever with the logic that - a natural, first cause was impossible, and the only possible option was a supernatural creator.
Why do atheists have such a problem with it?
Atheists also seem to think that to explain the origin of the universe without a God, simply involves explaining what triggered it, as though its formation from that point on, just happens automatically.
This has been compared by some as similar to lighting the blue touch paper of a firework. They think that if they can propose such a naturalistic trigger, then God is made redundant.
That may sound plausible to some members of the public, who take such pronouncements at face value, and are somewhat in awe of anything that is claimed to be 'scientific'.
But it is obvious to anyone who thinks seriously about it, that a mere trigger is not necessarily an adequate cause.
A trigger presupposes that there is some sort of a mechanism/blueprint/plan already existing which is ready to spring into action if it is provided with an appropriate trigger. So a trigger is not a sole cause, or a first cause, it is merely one contributing cause.
Natural things do only what they are programmed to do, i.e. they obey natural laws and the demands of their own pre-ordered composition and structure. Lighting blue touch paper would do absolutely nothing, unless there is a carefully designed and manufactured firework already attached to it.
What about the idea proposed by some atheists that space must have always existed, and therefore the first cause was not the only eternally, uncaused self-existent power?
This implies that the first cause was limited by a self-existent rival (space,) which was also uncaused, and therefore the first cause could not be infinite and could not even be a proper first cause, because there was something it didn’t cause i.e. ‘space’.
There seems to be some confusion here about what ‘space’ actually is.
Space is part of the created universe, it is what lies between and around material objects in the cosmos, if there were no material objects in the cosmos, there would be no space. The confusion lies in the failure to distinguish between empty space and nothing. Nothing is the absence of everything, whereas space is a medium in which cosmic bodies exist. ‘Empty’ space is just the space between objects. So space is not an uncaused, eternally self-existent entity, it is dependent on material objects existing within it, for its own existence.
What about nothing? Is that an uncaused eternally self-existent thing? Firstly, it is not a thing, it is the absence of all things. So has nothing always existed? Well, yes it essentially would have always existed, but only if the first cause didn’t exist. If there is a first cause is that is eternally self-existent, then there is no such thing as absolute nothing, because nothing is the absence of everything. If a first cause exists (which it had to), then any proposed eternal ‘nothing’ has always contained something, and therefore can never have been ‘nothing’.
What about the idea that the first cause created everything material from nothing? Obviously, the ‘nothing’ that is meant here is … nothing material, i.e. the absence of any material entities.
The uncaused, first cause cannot be material, because all material things are contingent, so the first cause brought material things into being, when nothing material had previously existed. That is what is meant by creation from nothing.
Continued in next comment.
Nowhere near as upsetting as the other 2015 NYC toy store causality and not as emotional as the loss of two other recent Times Square landmarks, Code Blue and Virgin Records.
But just like the FAO Schwarz flagship store with the "Big" piano, their newfound parent company lost a flagship store in 2015. On December 31 one of the turn of the century touchstones of Times Square Disneyfication, the Toys "R" Us with the Ferris Wheel inside, closed its doors forever.
New York starting 2016 off with one less Ferris Wheel doesn't even come close to the death of the many great Times Square movie theaters and record stores. Disney being the only Times Square plush toy pushers left is nothing compared with the New York style fast food joints being replaces by national chains.
Like LED's replacing neon, Toys "R" Us is just one more example of the Times Square dynamic.