RogerDuke

Well Brian, the good news is.... you and I are prime examples of that old saying.... "You're only young once but you can be immature forever."

Thanks Brian. I tend to be long winded on the subjects of astronomy and religion because I love them so much and I'm sure you'll keep an eye out to keep me on the right track. I won't be offended if you tell me "don't go there." Even though I'm a Christian I won't promote any particular religion but will only talk about how it relates to science. I'll probably drop the subject if it looks like people are losing interest so I'd appreciate feedback from other folks in addition to CDoherty. But for now, let me deal with the above quote. There's a good possibility we are talking about the same show CDoherty. As I recall they said that the Mayan calander ends when the Sun, Earth and center of the galaxy is going to line up. There are three major flaws to that. 1) The Mayans didn't even know what a galaxy was. Nobody knew until Edwin Hubble (of Hubble Space Telescope fame) discovered in the 1920s that the small blobs in the sky they were observing weren't part of our galaxy but were galaxies seperate from our own. The Mayans DID know about the Milky Way because they had no light pollution and could see it perfectly. They didn't know where the center of the Milky Way was because they didn't know WHAT the Milky Way was. They might have suspected that the center was in (what we now call) Sagittarius because there's a lot more stars there. 2) The "scientists" (and I use the term losely) on the show in question claim that the trouble is going to happen when the center of the galaxy, the Earth and the Sun all line up. The problem with that theory is that they line up once a year. They never perfectly line up and they never will but it makes you wonder why the world hasn't been destroyed every year since its existence. 3) Which brings me to the third point. The idea is that the Mayans ended their calander because (although those three things won't line up perfectly) they'll be as close as they can get to lining up. The problem with that is that this is simply an astronomical cycle that will repeat itself and is nothing to worry about. I'll explain with an analogy that I made up. Imagine you're in a room with someone who speaks English but knows nothing else about our ways. You show that person how a calander works but forget to explain that Jan 1 repeats itself after Dec 31. You explain that this is June 7 and leave the room. They flip though the calander and see that it ends on December 31. They then have a panic attack because they think the world is going to end then. In other words, the astronomical cycle of things lining up, then drifting apart, then lining up again isn't going to stop. It's simply going to end another normal cycle and start again. The people trying to sell you books want you to think it is because if they wrote a book saying nothing bad is going to happen it would be too boring to make them rich. Okay, that covers part 1. I still have more subjects to cover concerning those two posts so stay tuned folks. In the meantime, if you have questions ask away.....

Columbus Day

Wow, I'll respond to CDougherty and Brian's posts later. I need to get some sleep because I have a big day planned tomorrow. I know if I get started typing I won't stop until I've written a book since I love this subject so much. There are four different subjects in those two posts that will all require some time to talk about but I'm not sure how much I'm permitted to discuss religion. I suppose I'll just give my opinion and hope that I don't step over the line. I'm sure the moderators will let me know if I do. It's going to be tough to talk about this stuff without talking about religion. Science and religion blend together so much it's hard to keep them seperate. What do you think moderators? Do I have the green light to discuss religion if I keep it in a scientific context?

That's a really good question. I know the Dukes grew corn because if Jesse really needed funds he took it from his "seed corn" money. I can't think of anything else. It would be interesting to watch the first five episodes (that were filmed in Goergia) to see if they mention anything besides corn.

Thanksgiving

LOL The year before I turned 50 I started getting things in the mail from AARP. At first I thought it was a mistake or some prankster had turned my name into them as a joke but then I found out that they do that to everybody after they turn 49. AARP's supposed to be a good organization but they ruined my life. Before they started sending me stuff that reminded me I'm getting old I felt like I was young. I'd sue them for emotional suffering for depressing me but every time I get out of my rocking chair to call my lawyer I trip over my false teeth and kick them across the room. By the time I find my glasses to locate my teeth I can't remember what I got out of my rocking chair for.

Has anybody heard how the stunt show went?

I saw one of those shows and they didn't have a single person on there presenting the other side of the story even though it was on a reputable station. They did have five different guys who were predicting that the world was going to end soon and....GUESS WHAT!?....they all had written at least one book about it. They didn't blatently advertise their book but I'm sure they want people to buy it. If they really believe the world is going to end what are they planning on doing with their money? There is a Biblical version of the future but I'm not sure how the moderators would feel about posting it here. I know we're not supposed to talk about politics but we can talk a little bit about religion since the Dukes were Christians (Methodists). Still, I suspect the moderators wouldn't be comfortable with "Biblical Last Days" prophecies. As a Christian, I can say that there's another side of the story. You should look into it before you go believing the media's current and upcoming hype. I'm not exactly a PHD in anything but I do know quite a bit about one other thing besides the Dukes...and that's astronomy. I can tell you that the December 2012 prediction that you're talking about has absolutely no validity in an astronomical sense. If you're interested I'll take the time to write a lengthy post about it.

I don't think you should be giving someone advice on how to get away with a fake ID Brian but we've disagreed before just like all friends do and I'm sure this won't affect our friendship. It's always good for folks to hear both sides of the story and (as a play it by the rules guy) my advice is not to make a fake ID for any reason unless your life depends on it. Also, remember that everything you put on a forum is pretty much public information. It's not a good idea to say that you're going to do something wrong then post your picture. Things in cyber space can come back to haunt you, especially if you ever want to get a job with a security clearance.

Thanks for the update but.... Where's our two guys Garrett?

butter

Which of these were on the show? Dottie West OR Dolly Parton Sugar Maple Swamp OR Cotton Lake Hogg's Dynamite Emporium OR Hazzard Hunting Club

sour cream

Garrett's right. With quote's like this you sure sound like you belong here. Welcome to Hazzard County!

I noticed something is missing from your post Garrett. You didn't mention that my man David Ragen finished 35th. You did mention that your man finished 7th but now I'm starting to wonder if you didn't mention Ragen because at the time you posted the top 10, Ragen was still racing. I have to admit he was a mite slower than I expected. Oh well, he's young and already has a win (even though it was last year) so I'm going to give him time to develop. In the meantime, Jeff Gordon is almost as old as Jesse Duke and his reflexes are slowing down so it's only a matter of time before the #6 car will be keeping up with him on a regular basis...so enjoy this while you can.

Ditto! Happy Memorial Day everyone. Hmmm....hey Hoss, do they have a version of Memorial Day over there on the other side of the Atlantic Swamp?

Congratulations B.L., your gamble paid off. I'm not sure if you were swayed by K-Duke's opinion or not but either way, you got all three right. Nice job with the assist K-Duke.

I like to tease you Garrett but don't let me fool you....I really do like the Cubs. In fact there's very few teams besides the Pirates that I would enjoy seeing win the World Series. The Cubs are one of them. I admire your loyalty. My Pirates have 19 losing seasons in a row but I still love them. Dukes fans are loyal to the things they love and folks like us are proof of that. Now, back to the teasing.... Ya didn't happen to notice that the Pirates have beaten the Cubs three games in a row this weekend, did ya?

Okay, we have a contest. It's best out of three. So far you're leading in fantasy baseball and I'm leading in the Pirates-Cubs series. It looks like this Memorial Day battle will be settled on the racetrack....sounds like the makings of a Dukes episode.

You missed one B.L. Do you want to leave your answers as they are and accept the one miss... OR do you want to try again and get them all correct or possibly miss two?

shake