I would tend to go with the principle of least astonishment when it comes to the 14C signal. We know the sun is capable of producing large flares such as the Carrington event. Melott & Thomas demonstrated that it need only take a flare that is only moderately larger (20 times the Carrington event if I remember correctly) than the Carrington event, or indeed a series of large flares over a
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JonnyMcA
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Laboratory
Hi Chris,
While liquid helium is a prime example of a superfluid, supefluidity is a general term to describe a particular state that occurs in integer spin quantum systems. In neutron stars, this superfluidity is thought to occur from a form of "cooper pairs" of neutrons (each of which have half integer spin but when in a cooper pair state forms a integer spin system (1/2 + 1/2 = 1)
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JonnyMcA
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Laboratory
Hi Bernard,
Thanks for taking the time for providing all this information, it is much appreciated.
Jonny
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JonnyMcA
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Ancient History
Thank you all for this information. So it seems based on this small sample of scholars, that while we know why some civilisations have a zero point (for want of a better terminology)), there is little consensus as to why the current cycle of 13 baktuns begins in 3114 BC, but they suspect that it has something to do with some celestial cycle.
Of course three authors may not reflect academic
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JonnyMcA
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Ancient History
Hi Bernard,
Thanks for teh information. I ill have to chase the references down. I note though that your information does not address the question as to why 3114 BC was the start of a "new creation". Obviously the date is a form of retrocalculation, but what was the starting point of this calculation, that produced the 3114 BC date. A calendar after all has to have some anchor po
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JonnyMcA
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Ancient History
Mike is not saying in the paper that the 2720 and 1142 BC are a true periodic event, but rather he is stating that here are two events that occurred during the time of the maya and their ancestors, and that based upon those two events the Maya created a calendar.
The 2720 and 1142 BC NH4 events could be entirely uncorrelated with each other, being part of the stochastic influx of cosmic bodies
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JonnyMcA
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Ancient History
Ive been through the process myself (both as submitter and reviewer) quite a few times so know all about it. The editor can turn away a paper for many reasons, such as they deem it not appropriate or prestigious enough for their journal, or that they dont think it fits the remit of the journal, or they think the thing bonkers and fringe work.
The actual raw data in this case though is quite
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JonnyMcA
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Ancient History
Even if Bernard could give an overview of the mythology involved in the calendar construction, Long count, Haab and or tzolkin, I wont be too worried about lack of rigorous referencing or citation. For example, we know that the long count began in 3114 BC, which by all practical purposes is considered a "retro-calculation" into the mythical past, but is there a particular myth associat
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JonnyMcA
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Ancient History
Hi Hermione,
i was wondering whether someone here would like to summarise the mythological origin of the Mayan calendar. I for one would be interested in knowing more about it.
Jonny
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JonnyMcA
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Ancient History
Indeed, Mike did submit it for review to a number of journals, but I think it got turned away by the editors before it reached the peer review stage. In many regards, by releasing it to the internet, it does at least get some form of critical review.
Jonny
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JonnyMcA
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Ancient History
Hi Rick,
Just to clarify something. This isnt my hypothesis, but rather it was Mike who originated the hypothesis, and noticed the apparent correlation of the ice core with baktun transitions, and so all credit should be his. He just happened to share his findings with me as we had been discussing the possibility of periodicities in tree ring data (again something Mike had been looking at)
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JonnyMcA
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Ancient History
Hi Rick
This is another strange point to consider but not one that can be addressed very easily. Both Christian and Islamic calendars year zero starts with a particular significant event. However with the Mayan long count, they decided to mark year zero 394 years before 2720 BC. There is no evidence in the ice cores of any particular event occurring at 3114 BC. Why if there was a cosmic e
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JonnyMcA
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Ancient History
Hi Hermione,
I have been "sitting" on this since Mike showed me it in February, and had a few discussions with him on it. You will note that the "Jonny" in the comments section is me, and the points on this article still stand, the most important one being the integrity of the ice core dating, since any correlation with the Mayan calendar requires this to be correct. I re
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JonnyMcA
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Ancient History
As of the third rotation no debris cloud or scar is evident on the cloud tops of Jupiter. This would seem to imply it was a small impactor.
Jonny
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JonnyMcA
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Laboratory
True, but it also deliberately sends a few our way too. See comet lexell for example. A long period comet, it encounter Jupiter which sent it into a short period orbit and passed earth at a miss distance of 0.15 AU in 1770. This is the closest confirmed comet ever recorded (the comet of 1491 may have come closer at 0.0094 AU, but there is still a large uncertainty in its reconstructed orbit).
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JonnyMcA
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Laboratory
Oh yes undoubtedly it does if some authors can push the deadline for a pre-december release!
Jonny
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JonnyMcA
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Laboratory
Another impact observed on Jupiter
Jonny
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JonnyMcA
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Laboratory
I can only comment upon some of these images which are based upon artistic interpreation of celestial and atmospheric phenomena.
Crucifixion of 1350
These are two comets, most likely inspired by a comet that passed within 0.05 AU of earth on 31st July 1345 on its way to perihelion. Alternatively two comets were recorded in the years 1348 and 1349. The 1340's were quite a decade for r
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JonnyMcA
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Humanities
Hi Hermione,
Indeed, one must ask how accurate the internal chronology of the bible actually is, and even if it reflects real events. After all the writers had no problems extending the life spans of the anti-diluvian patriarchs. Also of note is the fact that many reigns or time frames of events last for 20 years and 40 years etc which seems rather unlikely.
Traditionally, an absolute c
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JonnyMcA
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Ancient History
What seems evident is that that these events appear to be global, and at the very least hemispheric, in that it appears that trees around the world all respond poorly at the same time. Bristlecone pine for example grows at high altitude in California, and it shows frost rings and poor growth during the 1159 BC event. The 1628 BC event is very prominent in the bristlecone pine data, so much so t
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JonnyMcA
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Ancient History
Some do try to link the event to volcanoes, but if one were to look at the Sulphate index in GISP2 ice core, there is evidence of an erruption occuring around 1157 +/- 2 BC, but the largest climate disruption appears at 1151 BC in the Irish oaks, and with Bristle cone pine frost rings occuring in 1150 +/- 1 BC, during a time when the sulphate signal is indistingusihable from background. It seems
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JonnyMcA
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Ancient History
Lets not forget that the greatest victory Science has had over religion, was when they started putting lightning rods on top of church steeples!
Jonny
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JonnyMcA
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Laboratory
Georges Lemaître was a jesuit priest and theoretical physicist. He was the first person to come up with the idea of an expanding universe from a "primeval atom" (what we would recognise as Big Bang Theory, but in a primitive form) . In an interview he was asked how he could reconcile his role in the church and his role as a theoretical physicist and particularly in light of his theory
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JonnyMcA
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Laboratory
Bizarre isnt it? Who would have thought it would have other uses than being played with!
Jonny
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JonnyMcA
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Laboratory
Here is me and my daughter Aeryn doing messy science with corn flour and water mixture
I even had some old physics friends over last week and we ended up in the kitchen playing with teh stuff. Its so much fun.
Jonny
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JonnyMcA
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Laboratory
A fifth moon of Pluto has been discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope
Jonny
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JonnyMcA
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Laboratory
I think it is a bit strong to say they found the Higgs boson. I think it safer to state they have found a Higgs boson, or even more safe to say a Higgs-like boson (or a particle consistent with a Higgs boson). There is still a lot of work to do before any statement of finding THE Higgs boson is valid.
Jonny
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JonnyMcA
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Laboratory
Update
QuoteFabiola Gionotti of ATLAS experiment says that her collaboration also observes a Higgs-like particle to a 5 sigma sigificance.
Jonny
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JonnyMcA
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Laboratory
Just published on facebook/twitter feed
QuoteJoe Incandela of the CMS experiment at CERN says they have a "5 sigma" result in the search for the Higgs. They have found a new particle.
Jonny
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JonnyMcA
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Laboratory
This is the problem with history, as it is often subjective to the propoganda of the time etc. Some sources (usually from UFO sites) state that fire rained down upon the gathered armies, but I have not seen allusion to an original source that backs this claim up. At most, it usually states that the army were frightened by the signs in the sky and ran, and killed each other ot get away etc.
H
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JonnyMcA
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Laboratory