Monday, October 17, 2011

Answering Muslims: Bart Ehrman Explains Why He Doesn't Criticize the Qur'an

Photo of Bart D. Ehrman taken following the Gr...Image via WikipediaOh, so Dr Bart Ehrman doesn't criticize the Qur'an because he agrees with it, he won't discuss Islam because...




Looks like James White was right!


Answering Muslims: Bart Ehrman Explains Why He Doesn't Criticize the Qur'an
Enhanced by Zemanta

Planets viewed from Earth as if they were at the distance of our moon [Video]




Planets viewed from Earth as if they were at the distance of our moon [Video]
Enhanced by Zemanta

Whew!!! Faster-Than-Light Neutrinos Result of GPS Movement

Climb off that ledge, there was a mistake that allowed it to seem that neutrinos were observed traveling faster than light. It has to do with perspective and frames of reference. You have to remember to take into account when those reference frames are moving with respect to one another. This case: the neurtrinos were moving relative to earth but the satellites used to measure the neutrinos speed were moving with respect to both the neutrinos and the earth.

Although the speed of light is does not depend on the the frame of reference, the time of flight does. In this case, there are two frames of reference: the experiment on the ground and the clocks in orbit. If these are moving relative to each other, then this needs to be factored in.
So what is the satellites’ motion with respect to the OPERA experiment? These probes orbit from West to East in a plane inclined at 55 degrees to the equator. Significantly, that’s roughly in line with the neutrino flight path. Their relative motion is then easy to calculate.
So from the point of view of a clock on board a GPS satellite, the positions of the neutrino source and detector are changing. “From the perspective of the clock, the detector is moving towards the source and consequently the distance travelled by the particles as observed from the clock is shorter,” says van Elburg.
By this he means shorter than the distance measured in the reference frame on the ground.
The OPERA team overlooks this because it thinks of the clocks as on the ground not in orbit.
How big is this effect? Van Elburg calculates that it should cause the neutrinos to arrive 32 nanoseconds early. But this must be doubled because the same error occurs at each end of the experiment. So the total correction is 64 nanoseconds, almost exactly what the OPERA team observes.

Everyone can breathe now. Still nothing has been observed traveling faster than the speed of light!

Faster-Than-Light Neutrinos Result of GPS Movement
Enhanced by Zemanta

Featured Short: The Valley of Dry Bones [Video]

I wasn't sure if I was going to like this video, but it's an amazing visualization of one my favorite scriptures. My only problem with it is that the ending doesn't exactly match the ending of the passage, but that does not mean I would not recommend watching it!


Dry Bones from danDifelice on Vimeo.


Ezekiel 37:1-14

1 The hand of the LORD was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”
I said, “Sovereign LORD, you alone know.”
4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath[a] enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.
11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’”


Featured Short: The Valley of Dry Bones [Video]
Enhanced by Zemanta