Alan McDougall

Lets return to the question, Is Islam a religion of peace?

To answer your question above, I must do some research , I don't know what the results would be, but if I come across any meaningful info I will come back with it later.

Some suggest if the internet or indeed any extremely advanced computer, feared for lack of a better word, been switched off and dismantled, it would have crossed the barrier between the living sentient animated entity and that of just being a very sophisticated calculator.

How can you be so sure many great computer scientist and brain experts say it will over time , maybe not in my lifetime? http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20121121-will-the-net-become-conscious The internet is a new life form that shows the first signs of intelligence. So says brain scientist and serial entrepreneur Jeff Stibel. He argues that the physical wiring of the internet is much like a rudimentary brain and some of the actions and interactions that take place on it are similar to the processes that we see in the brain. At the same time, he says, it is forcing us as humans to interact and think in new and different ways. But, he tells BBC Future, this is just the beginning. The internet is only going to become more and more intelligent, changing humans and society in ways which we are not yet able to understand.

Thanks!

I am sure we all know this, thus the use of the symbol c. Experiments in different mediums have got light to move at a few miles per hour, I will come back with citation! http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/1999/02.18/light.html

I was responding to your statement about "politically maturity" not civil unrest. I admire the USA Constitution and its checks and balances that prevent your President from becoming a dictator!

http://www.science20.com/news_articles/now_we_can_see_if_cat_alive_or_dead_peeking_inside_schrodingers_box-128037 Now We Can See If That Cat Is Alive Or Dead: Peeking Inside Schrodinger's Box Direct measurements consists of two types of measurements performed one after the other, first a "weak" measurement followed by a "strong" measurement. In quantum mechanics the act of measuring a quantum state disturbs it irreversibly, a phenomenon referred to as collapse of the wave-function. The trick lies with the first measurement being so gentle that it only slightly disturbs the system and does not cause the wave-function to collapse. "It is sort of like peeking into the box to see if Schrodinger's cat is alive, without fully opening the box," said lead author Dr. Mehul Malik, currently a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Vienna and who was a PhD.D. in Boyd's group when the work was performed. "The weak measurement is essentially a bad measurement, which leaves you mostly uncertain about whether the cat is alive or dead. It does, however, give partial information on the health of the cat, which when repeated many times can lead to near certain information as to whether the cat is alive or dead." Very interesting?

My question was about the time dilation effects on each object approaching each other at say your 9.9999999995 c ?

Thus must we expect societies that are political immature, or dominated by theocratic dogma to to be in a state of civil unrest? I doubt if political maturity exists in any society, take the recent shut down of the USA Government, due to immature bickering and intrigue amongst Congressmen and Senators, in a supposedly mature and secularized country free of religious domination. I doubt if it is going to remain this way, Kemal Ataturk the great Turkish statesman politics prevented Turkey from becoming an Islamic dominated society or theocracy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustafa_Kemal_Atat%C3%BCrk%27s_personal_life

What would the time dilation effect be in two hypothetical objects accelerating towards each other, at 99.999% c? SR allows for an object to get as close as 99.99 % c thus , both object could be traveling through space at said speed?

Again I repeat the thread is about civil unrest and violence in the last few decades, not the ancient history. Your comment saying that the whole thread seems to be premised on selection bias , special pleading and no true Scotsmen makes no sense, please elaborate?. Moderator imatfaal warned us all not to compare Islam to any other religion and here you are doing it again albeit in past times?

This is a simple test of logic, nothing more, accept it as posed by the person who thought it up! You stated that There Are Two Errors in the the Title of This Page is a correct statement. (No there is only one error, the extra "the" therefore, it is an incorrect statement)

How would the force of gravity differ in an Antimatter Universe?

I take the moderators warning on the chin and accept it as valid and will not repeat my error again! However, the thread is about Islam, whether it can be said to be a religion of peace and we need the word of the Prophet Mohammed to establish this, because 1.2 billion people follow his teaching as reflected in the Qur'an. During the last decade most of civil unrest appeared to have come from countries that are predominantly Muslim, the Arab Spring is an example, Syria is another. 9/11 was a disaster perpetrated by Islamic "radical fundamental extremists" not the average Muslim who are mostly good people , I repeat! I will avoid comparing Islam to any other religion, but the question of the who?, why? in relation to the actual true "source and cause" of "present day violence and civil unrest" in the world remains unanswered, in a logical calm and objective manner by the forum members, in my opinion! Maybe we should list the reasons, like some of mine below. 1) Dislike of Western Civilization and values. (Logical or illogical)? 2) Conversion of all peoples to Islam as a duty of every Muslim? 3) Create a Islamic world theocracy? ? ? Add your own please to the list!

The finding of the Higgs Boson , completes the discovery of all the predicted fundamental particles of the Standard Model.

Those are the teaching of the Old Testament or Hebrew bible the Tanakh, Christianity is supposed to be a new covenant between God and man. Yes! Jesus respected the laws of the Hebrew Scripture because he was a Jew, but according to Christian Doctrine he took all those laws and punishment for breaking them onto his own self on the cross, by dying as a perfect sacrifice to free humanity from the power of the law and ultimately free humanity from eternal death. This is what Christians believe about their prophet Jesus, that he was a man of peace , love and forgiveness. I am not saying Muhammad, did not have these attributes also , but they are harder to find in the Qur'an, than in the New Testament.

http://www.answering-islam.org/Silas/founders.htm Perhaps we should compare the saying of the two prophets that started Islam and Christianity and make up our own minds on who preached peace and who did not! "If you claim to be a Christians you should never, ever sprout hatred and spite, because this is opposite of what Jesus preached during his life" (Those are my comments above Alan McDougall) http://www.answering-islam.org/Silas/founders.htm JESUS/ MUHAMMAD? A COMPARISON OF THE FOUNDERS OF THE WORLD'S TWO LARGEST RELIGIONS by Silas INTRODUCTION Jesus founded Christianity, Muhammad founded Islam. These are the two largest religions in the world with about 1.8 billion and 1.1 billion members respectively. Without a doubt, these men have affected humanity in a powerful way. As religious leaders they laid down many principles to live by. Both religions have much in common, but differ strongly in other aspects. What were the founders' characters like? How do they compare with each other? What does the Bible and the Quran say about Jesus? What did their teachings and actions induce their followers to do? This article answers these questions by comparing and contrasting some of their actions and teachings. NOTE: I will use the Bible, usually the New International Version (NIV)[1] as the source for Jesus' words and actions. I will quote from the Quran, usually N.J. Dawood's translation [2], and the Hadiths of Bukhari [3] and Muslim [4], the "Life of Muhammad" [5], which is a translation done by A. Guillaume of Ibn Ishaq's "Sirat Rasulallah", the "History" of Tabari [6], and the Sunan of Abu Dawud [7]. Generally, the Hadiths of Bukhari and Muslim are the sayings and deeds of Muhammad, and are recognized as the most authentic by Islamic scholarship. Ibn Ishaq's "Sirat Rasulallah" is recognized as the best extent biography of Muhammad, and Tabari's "History" is the best historical account of Muhammad and the early Islamic community available. SOME OF THEIR LAST WORDS JESUS: "Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." Luke 23:34. (said while dying on the cross at Calvary after being betrayed and sentenced to die for no legitimate reason). MUHAMMAD: "May Allah curse the Jews and Christians for they built the places of worship at the graves of the prophets." Bukhari, Vol. 1, #427 [Muhammad had been poisoned years earlier by a Jewish woman whose husband was killed by the Muslims and the poison had slowly worked its effect. He said this while dying in the arms of his wife Aisha]. COMMENT by Author As I've studied both of these men's lives, I find that the above comparison details some of the strongest character differences. Here are their dying words, words that will mark the end of their lives. Christ asks God to forgive His enemies, while Muhammad utters a bitter curse against those who rejected his assertion of prophethood. Wouldn't it have been more appropriate for Muhammad to ask Allah to guide the Christians and Jews while he was dying? SLAVERY JESUS: had no slaves. Jesus taught to do to others as you would have them do to you. Jesus had no slaves, and it is apparent from His teachings that He would not have slaves. He freed men, not enslaved them. No one wants to be enslaved against their will. Further, Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 1:8-10, "We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers..." From these verses, we see that forcibly enslaving people, and trading in slaves, are against Christian teachings. MUHAMMAD: was a slaver. He owned and sold many slaves, both male and female. He said Allah allowed him and his Muslim followers to have sex with their female slaves when the men wanted to. Reference the Quran, Sura (chapters) 33:50, 52, 23:5, and 70:30. Slaves are considered "booty" for Muslims when taken in raids, thus they are Muslim's property. Muhammad felt proud and conceited enough to enslave thousands of people. The great Islamic historian Tabari wrote regarding Muhammad's sexual intercourse with his slave Mariyah; "he had intercourse with her by virtue of her being his property." [Tabari, Volume 39, page 194]. Muhammad made slaves out of the people he raided and fought against. Most notable were the women and children survivors of Muhammad's massacre of the 800 males (young teens and up) of the Jewish Banu Quraydhah, Sura 33:26. The Sirat Rasulallah - the earliest biography of Muhammad, gives much more detail on pages 461 and on. Shortly after massacring the Jewish males Ibn Ishaq wrote on page 466: "Then the apostle divided the property, wives, and children of the Banu Qurayza among the Muslims, and he made known on that day the shares of horse and men, and took out the fifth", (Muhammad and his family got one fifth of all the spoils of war). . . Then the apostle sent Sa'd . . . with some of the captive women of Banu Qurayza to Najd and he sold them for horses and weapons." Bukhari also documents Muhammad owning many slaves - vol. 5, # 541 & vol. 7, # 344. Muhammad had Negro, Arab, Egyptian, male, female, Jewish, Christian, and pagan Arab slaves. Muhammad also allowed slaves to be harshly beaten. When his wife was being examined as to whether or not she committed adultery, Muhammad's son in law, Ali, brutally beat Aisha's slave in front of Muhammad, in order to insure that she tell the truth about Aisha. Here is the quote from Ibn Ishaq's "Sirat Rasulallah", translated as "The Life of Muhammad", by A. Guillaume, (page 496): "So the apostle called Burayra (Aisha's slave) to ask her, and Ali got up and gave her a violent beating saying, "Tell the apostle the truth,".... Muhammad did not stop Ali from beating the slave. Muhammad also allowed newly captured female slaves to be used for sex. From the Hadith of Sahih Muslim vol. 2, #3371 Abu Sirma said to Abu Said al Khudri: "O Abu Said, did you hear Allah's messenger mentioning about al-azl (coitus interruptus)?" He said, "Yes", and added: "We went out with Allah's messenger on the expedition to the Mustaliq and took captive some excellent Arab women; and we desired them for we were suffering from the absence of our wives, (but at the same time) we also desired ransom for them. So we decided to have sexual intercourse with them but by observing azl" (withdrawing the male sexual organ before emission of semen to avoid conception). But we said: "We are doing an act whereas Allah's messenger is amongst us; why not ask him?" So we asked Allah's messenger and he said: "It does not matter if you do not do it, for every soul that is to be born up to the Day of Resurrection will be born". And vol. 3, #3432 Abu Said al-Khudri reported that at the Battle of Hunain Allah's messenger sent an army to Autas and encountered the enemy and fought with them. Having overcome them and taken them captives, the Companions of Allah's messenger seemed to refrain from having intercourse with captive women because of their husbands being polytheists. Then Allah, Most High, sent down regarding that: "And women already married, except those whom your right hands possess (Quran - 4:24), (i.e. they were lawful for them when their Idda (menstrual) period came to an end). COMMENT Jesus' teachings would preclude people from forcibly enslaving people. "Do to others as you would have them do to you" - Luke 6:31. On the other hand, Muhammad and his soldiers went out and attacked many people and forced them into slavery. PUNISHING SINNERS WHO WERE WILLING TO REPENT JESUS From John 8:2-11 At dawn He (Jesus) appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They were using this question as a trap in order to have a basis to accuse Him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with His finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" "No one sir", she said. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin." MUHAMMAD From the Hadith of Abu Dawud, #4428 "Buraidah said: "A woman of Ghamid came to the Prophet and said: "I have committed fornication", He said: "Go back". She returned and on the next day she came to him again, and said: "Perhaps you want to send me back as you did to Maiz b. Malik. I swear by Allah, I am pregnant." He said to her: "Go back". She then returned and came to him the next day. He said to her: "Go back until you give birth to the child." She then returned. When she gave birth to the child she brought the child to him, and said: "Here it is! I have given birth to it." He said: "Go back, and suckle him until you wean him." When she had weaned him, she brought him to him with something in his hand which he was eating. The boy was then given to a certain man of the Muslims and he (the prophet) commanded regarding her. So a pit was dug for her, and he gave orders about her and she was stoned to death. Khalid was one of those who were throwing stones at her. He threw a stone at her. When a drop of blood fell on his cheek, he abused her. The prophet said to him: "Gently, Khalid. By Him in Whose hand my soul is, she has repented to such an extent that if one who wrongfully takes an extra tax were to repent to a like extent, he would be forgiven". Then giving command regarding her, prayed over her and she was buried."" COMMENT Here is a stark contrast between the two men. When Jesus dealt with the adulterous woman, He did not condemn her. He commanded her to go and sin no more. He gave her a chance for redemption – the very model of mercy. How many people have started out down the wrong street, but years later were able to turn their lives around? Not only in that, but they have been able to help others turn their lives around as well? Jesus offered this chance to the woman. Under the law, the Jews could have stoned the woman to death, but Christ's love and compassion was much greater. Muhammad’s approach was much different. At first, he tried to dismiss the adulterous woman. She confessed her sin to him, but he refused to hear her and deal with it. Instead, he told her to go back. This occurred three times. Three times Muhammad ran from dealing with the situation. Finally, after the women's consistent confession, Muhammad was forced to confront her sin. He allowed her to give birth, suckle and then wean the child, which could have taken 1 to 3 years. Then she returned and Muhammad had her killed. This woman not only confessed, but she repented. She was a good mother to her child and she was a responsible member of her community. Couldn't Muhammad have forgiven her as he had so many other types of sinners? Muhammad allowed many others off for the sins they committed. Even people who had killed his family members were forgiven if they confessed he was a prophet of God and there was only one God. But Muhammad was unable to deal compassionately with the woman. He couldn't see beyond his nose. He couldn't see that she had turned her life around, properly raised her child, and was doing the right thing. Muhammad's shortsightedness caused her death. Muhammad did not even deal with it after Judaic law. In Moses' law, the adulterer was to be stoned to death. Muhammad did not do so, he gave the woman several years to live. Even if you take into account the respite to give birth to a child, Muhammad waited until the woman weaned the child. Surely there were other women who could have nursed the child. Muhammad simply dealt with the situation as best, (or not best) as he could; Muhammad made up his own rules as he went along. WAR - TREATMENT OF ADVERSARIES JESUS: In Luke 9:54, 55 Jesus rebuked His disciples when they wanted to destroy a town that rejected Him. Also, in Luke 22:52, Jesus' disciples started to fight against those that came to arrest Jesus, He stopped them, and healed a man injured in the fight. MUHAMMAD: told his followers to aggressively make war on non-Muslims: 9:5, 29. Sura 9 was one of the last Suras given by Muhammad. Initially, when Muhammad's group was weak, he ordered his followers to try to get along with other people. After the Muslims became powerful, he ordered them to spread Islam by force. Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman continued his wars of aggression. A few of Muhammad’s actions include: The massacre of approximately 800 Jewish male captives: (noted in Sura 33:26). He ordered the execution of 10 people when he took Mecca. Three of these people were slave girls who had previously made fun of Muhammad. Refer to "The Life of Muhammad", pages 551 and 552. He attacked the Jewish city of Khaibar where he took one of the Jewish leaders and tortured him to force him to tell where some buried money was. After the man refused to talk, and was near death, Muhammad ordered that his head be cut off. Refer to "The Life of Muhammad", page 515. COMMENT No one would envision Jesus ordering the execution of slave girls for mocking him years earlier. He brought a better message and a better way of life. No one would imagine Jesus having a man tortured to reveal buried money. His life was free of greed. Muhammad could be a very brutal man. Does killing a few slave girls for mocking him seem justified?. Is having them killed for that justified? Does it seem rational or sensible? Does torturing a man just to get money portray the type of man society should follow, obey, and emulate? WOMEN & MARRIAGE JESUS: was not married. He healed women, forgave women, and encouraged women. The New Testament teaches that husbands should love their wives and not be harsh with them: Col. 3:19, Eph. 5:25, that men and women are equal in Christ - Gal 3:28, that they should be treated with respect - 1 Pet 3:7. MUHAMMAD: commanded his male followers to beat their disobedient wives. He gave men the right to beat their wives who persistently disobeyed them. Sura 4:34 "As those you fear may be rebellious admonish, banish them to their couches, and beat them." The above verse was revealed in connection with a woman who complained to Muhammad that her husband slapped her on the face, which was still marked by the slap. At first Muhammad said to her "Get even with him", but then added 'Wait until I think about it". Later on the above verse was revealed, and Muhammad added, 'We (He and the woman) wanted one thing, Allah wanted another. The Hadith also said much about women: Muhammad said that women are generally so evil, that they will make up the majority of people in to hell. Continuing with Bukhari, Vol. 1, #301: "O women! Give alms, as I have seen that the majority of the dwellers of Hell-fire were you (women). They [women] asked, "Why is it so, O Allah's Apostle?" He replied, "You curse frequently and are ungrateful to your husbands." Bukhari Vol. 1, #28: "The Prophet said, "I was shown the Hell-fire and the majority of its dwellers were women who were ungrateful." It was asked, "Do they disbelieve in Allah?" (or are they ungrateful to Allah?), he replied, "They are ungrateful to their husbands and are ungrateful for the favors and the good done to them...." Sahih Muslim says they are the minority in Paradise: Volume 4, #6600: "Imran Husain reported that Allah's messenger said: Amongst the inmates of Paradise the women would form a minority." By putting these two Hadith together, we find that Muhammad said that women were the minority in Paradise, and the majority in hell. Therefore it is not a statistical ratio due to the possibility that there are more women than men. Muhammad viewed women as more sinful than men. And the reason more women are in hell is because the women were ungrateful to their husbands! Muhammad also declared that women are less intelligent than men: Bukhari, Volume 1, #301: ". Then he (Muhammad) passed by the women and said, "O women, give alms as I have seen that the majority of the dwellers of Hell-fire were you (women)." they asked, "Why is it so O Allah's messenger?" He replied, "You curse frequently and are ungrateful to your husbands. I have not seen anyone more deficient in intelligence and religion than you. A cautious sensible man could be led astray by some of you." The women asked, "O Allah's messenger, what is deficient in our intelligence and religion?" He said, "Is not the evidence of two women equal to the witness of one man?" They replied in the affirmative. He said, "This is the deficiency in her intelligence....." COMMENT Christ's teachings show that women and men are equal in God's sight. "There is neither male nor female in Christ". Socially, Christ dealt with them according to the Father's mercy. Muhammad positioned females as in between slave and free. Even today in Islamic countries women are regulated to being second class and controlled by the males. This is because of where Muhammad placed them in his teachings. PRAYER JESUS: taught His disciples to pray simply, and from the heart. God listens to the heart, not the outward form: Matt: 6:5-13: "But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words..." Jesus taught that true prayer was an expression of relationship and communication with a heavenly Father. MUHAMMAD: taught formalized prayer ritual: (quotes are from Bukhari, Vol. 1) 488 - passing in front of a praying person annuls his prayer 489 - it's a sin to pass in front of someone while they're praying 660 - don't raise from prayer before the Imam {Muslim cleric leading the formal, ritualized prayers), or God will turn your face into a donkey's face 685 - if the prayer rows (of men) aren't straight, God will alter your faces 690 - if the prayer rows aren't straight, the prayer is not good 717 - if you look up during prayer, you'll lose your eyesight 759 - if you don't perform the bowing perfectly, your prayers are not accepted These men were quite different. Both have left their marks upon the world. Christians follow Christ, Muslims follow Muhammad. Both claimed to have been from God, but their teachings and actions contradict each other. BIBLIOGRAPHY [1] The New International Study Bible, pub. by Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. [2] The Quran, translated by N.J. Dawood, pub. by Penguin Books, London, England. [3] "Sahih Al-Bukhari" - "The Translation of the Meanings of Sahih Al-Bukhari", translated by Dr. M Khan, pub. by Kitab Bhavan, New Delhi, India. [4] "Sahih Muslim", translated into English by A. Siddiqi, pub. by International Islamic Publishing House, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. [5] "Sirat Rasulallah" - "The Life of the Prophet of God", translated as "The Life of Muhammad" by A. Guillaume, pub. by Oxford University Press, London, England. [6] "The History of Tabari", published by SUNY, Albany, New York, USA. [7] "Sunan of Abu Dawud", published by Al-Madina Publications, New Delhi, India. ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Of course it is not a paradox, just a test of how observant one is!

Your rhetoric is very unpleasant , who are these SMUG MORONS you dislike so intensely?

The puzzle must be accepted as posed, not skewed by all sorts of possibilities outside the wording and boundaries stated in the original puzzle. Such as the liar deciding to only tell the truth, this defeats the whole objective of the prisoner finding out the right door to go through. Of course the guards must know which door leads to where, how can you mess up the whole idea of this logic question with all those meaningless assumptions? Why cant they post paradoxes, I find them fascinating?

The two errors are "the, two two's (error 1) and the statement that there is only one error" (error 2)

http://www.rochester.edu/College/phl/puzzles.html There Are Two Errors in the the Title of This Page 1) On the Island of Knights and Knaves: On the island of Knights and Knaves, every inhabitant is either a knight or a knave. Knights always tell the truth. Knaves never tell the truth; any sentence uttered by a knave is false. A stranger came to the island and encountered three inhabitants, A, B, and C. He asked A, "Are you a knight, or a knave?" A mumbled an answer that the stranger could not understand. The stranger then asked B, "What did he say?" B replied, "A said that there is exactly one knight among us." Then C burst out, "Don't believe B, he is lying!" What are B and C? 2) One day I went to the island of knights and knaves And encountered an inhabitant who said, "Either I am a knave or else two plus two equals five." What should you conclude? (Knights and Knaves puzzles by Raymond Smullyan) 3)The Surprise Test: One day the professor came into the class and announced, "Next week I will give you a surprise test. It will be a surprise, because you won't be able to figure out on which day it will occur until the class meets on the day of the test. It could happen on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, but I won't tell you which day." The class were clever. They reasoned as follows: "She can't give the test on Friday, because then it wouldn't be a surprise; we'd know after class on Thursday that the test hadn't yet occurred, and hence we'd figure out that it would have to be on Friday. So we know the test can't be on Friday. But then it can't be on Thursday either, because if it were, we would know after class on Wednesday that it would have to be on Thursday, since it wouldn't have happened yet, and we have already shown that it can't be on Friday." Reasoning in this manner, the students concluded that the test could not occur on Wednesday either, nor on Tuesday, nor on Monday. Having concluded that a surprise test was impossible, the students didn't study. They were very disappointed and very surprised on Wednesday when they got a test. Where did the students' reasoning go wrong? 4) The Problem of the Light Switch: I have an ordinary light switch connected to a light. When the switch is closed, the light is on. When the switch is open, the light is off. At two minutes to noon, the light is on. At one minute to noon I flip the switch, turning the light off. At half a minute to noon I flip it again, turning the light on. At a quarter of a minute before noon I flip it again, turning the light off. I continue in this way, cutting the time between flippings of the switch in half each time. Now this will be an infinite series of flips. The switch flippings will occur closer and closer to noon, but will all be completed before noon. Will the switch be on or off at noon? 5) The Super Bullet: The Acme Arms Company has invented a Super Bullet: a Super Bullet penetrates anything it hits. But the Adamantine Armor company has invented a Super Strong Armor Plate: nothing that hits a Super Strong Armor Plate penetrates it. The army is planning to shoot a Super Bullet at a Super Strong Armor Plate. What will happen? 6) The monkey: Hanging over a pulley there is a rope with a weight at one end; at the other end clings a monkey of equal weight. The rope weighs 4 ounces per foot. The sum of the ages of the monkey and its mother is eight years, and the weight of the monkey is as many pounds as its mother is years old. The mother is twice as old as the monkey was when the mother was half as old as the monkey will be when the monkey is three times as old as its mother was when she was three times as old as the monkey was. The weight of the rope and weight is half again as much as the difference between the weight of the weight and the weight plus the weight of the monkey. How long is the rope? Paradox (This version of the classic story was written by Earl Conee.) The Malfunctioning Transporter: You step into the Transporter on the Star Ship Enterprise to be transported down to the surface of the planet Duplo. However, while you are being transported, an unfortunate energy surge occurs, with surprising results. Two copies of you materialize on the planet's surface instead of one. Each is a molecule-for-molecule duplicate of you as you were when the transporting process began. Each of the duplicates claims to be you, but they can't both be right. For if each is identical to you, they are identical to each other, because things identical to the same thing are identical to each other. But these two duplicates are obviously not identical: they are two distinct people. On the other hand, it is very difficult to think of any basis for saying that one of them is you and the other isn't, for any relation to your earlier self that the one has the other has as well. Of course, you could say that neither one is you, but why? Each of them has as much claim to be you as you have after any other transporter journey. What has happened to you? Answers to the puzzles are available on the web. Answers to the paradoxes are not so easy to come by, but you could always take a philosophy course or two and see what you can figure out.

In that case must I in future use my "own subjective judgment" as to how much I can past out of an article, that did not have its origin on this site? Or restrict it to a link to an article that I think the other members might find interesting, also?. What about inviting traffic to our forum? I am not trying to be difficult just clear up some misunderstandings!

http://www.livescience.com/42791-supernova-star-explosion-amateur-photos.html?cmpid=514627_20140124_17471054 I did not intentionally leave out the link, I had copied the article into a word document, without the link so it was an oversight on my part, not an attempt to claim any right to the article.! How can it be a copyright infringement if I include the link to the article even if a copy and past most of the article?