LIFE ON EARTH: 3.2 BILLION YEARS AGO:

Who is this "John Galt" person, Ophiolite?
Not an Ayn Rand fan, or one of those "Atlas Shrugged" libertarian folks, are you? Very funny, pretending to be an academic. You had me going.

FYI, a person matching this description has been banned from many a forum for exactly the sort of remarks Ophiolite is making. Check "banned users" for sock puppet aliases.
 
danshawen said:
There's lots of iron in Mercury. Iron makes no difference to fusion processes, because it contributes no energy.
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I didn't ask you about iron, but go ahead and and divert the conversation away from areas of your ignorance.

danshawen said:
Composition does matter.
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Maybe yes, maybe no, but go ahead and ignore my specific questions that probe into your areas of ignorance.

danshawen said:
The amount of mass in a Venus or Earth sized planet may extend the fusion life of the Sun by a million years, give or take.
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No, it won't, for the reasons I have provided earlier. Being ignorant is one thing Dan. Persisting in that ignorance when you have the opportunity to learn is just foolish.

Evolutionary genetics / biology is a much more active area of academic interest. The details are mind-boggling, even if many Young Earth Creationists reject them wholesale.
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Oops! Careful Dan. You just diverted the conversation away from one area of your ignorance to another area of your ignorance.

Who is this "John Galt" person, Ophiolite?
Not an Ayn Rand fan, or one of those "Atlas Shrugged" libertarian folks, are you? Very funny, pretending to be an academic. You had me going
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1. In the context of this forum John Galt is one of the pseudonyms I use on some forums.
2. I am an immense Ayn Rand fan based almost exclusively on "Atlas Shrugged".
3. Any extrapolation you might make about my politics based on that fact are almost certainly going to be wildly wrong.
4. At no time was I pretending to be an academic. Doing proper literature searches, avoiding unsupported and absolute statements, and having a sound understanding of some aspects of science are not characteristics restricted to academics.
5. It's a shame you don't have some of those characteristics.

FYI, a person matching this description has been banned from many a forum for exactly the sort of remarks Ophiolite is making. Check "banned users" for sock puppet aliases.
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The only forum I have ever been banned from was a Creationist site, called the Fairytale of Evolution, or something of that sort. I've been banned from it twice - and when I get a chance will go for a third effort. I doubt I would be banned here for pointing out that you mainly blow hot air, but go ahead and report this post if you wish. If you are accusing me of being some banned sock puppet please come clean and specify who you think I was. The mods will be able to check that easily and disabuse you of that notion.

paddoboy, my apologies for taking your interesting thread so far off topic, but I believe you share my distaste for blowhards and will forgive me.
 
danshawen said:
Who is this "John Galt" person, Ophiolite? Not an Ayn Rand fan, or one of those "Atlas Shrugged" libertarian folks, are you? Very funny, pretending to be an academic. You had me going.
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I was a member of the Libertarian Party and voted Libertarian for 30 years. I don't see any important differences between the two branches of the Republocrat Party. The Democrats want to take away our money first while the Republicans want to take away our rights first, but they both want to take away ALL of our money and ALL of our rights eventually. Other than that, the only other major difference is that the Republicans have a frightening platform that will never become reality, while the Democrats have a rather charming platform that they don't know how to implement.

Before the Libertarian Party appeared, I voted Peace and Freedom. Next year I'm voting Green. I don't know how good they might be at governing, but they couldn't possibly be any worse than the cabal currently in charge, and unlike them they at least they understand what our most important problems are.
FYI, a person matching this description has been banned from many a forum for exactly the sort of remarks Ophiolite is making. Check "banned users" for sock puppet aliases.
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Ophiolite has been a member in good standing on this website for more than ten years.

Fraggle Rocker
Moderator
Linguistics
Arts & Culture
 
Well, that just explains a lot. At the risk of running a thread about life on Earth in the distant past / distant future off the rails,

I have plenty of friends who are also libertarian. Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia Owner) is one, and he also defends the Ayn Rand article in Wikipedia a little too much, IMHO.

I actually would be interested in YOUR references, Ophiolite, if you had any. But I already know one "reference" of yours, the Ayn Rand book, is something I take issue with. It's a fact, Ayn Rand died on welfare (sucking the wealth out of the John Galts of this world, if you really believe what she wrote), and also was treated for her chain smoker lung cancer at public expense. I see nothing to admire in her description of Objectivism, nor much else to admire about Ayn Rand.

No one ever gets to be a John Galt on his own efforts. The people who work for him make it possible for him to garner wealth, and the government they pay taxes to support provides the opportunity AND the liberty needed for him to succeed. He is no "Atlas". He is standing on the backs of a lot of little guys. If they shrugged, Galt is the one who would take a tumble, not the fictitious world he believes himself to support. More to the point, this tome of Rand's the epitome of arrogance, a trait which you continue to say that I am promulgating here.

You have amply demonstrated your own arrogance in other forums and suffered the consequences. Now at least I understand where some of it comes from. Consider all of your future remarks ignored.
 
danshawen said:
I actually would be interested in YOUR references, Ophiolite, if you had any..
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My references for what? The scientific points you have botched in this and other threads. My academic references? Specify and I shall provide, unless they represent an unwarranted intrusion into my privacy.

danshawen said:
But I already know one "reference" of yours, the Ayn Rand book, is something I take issue with. It's a fact, Ayn Rand died on welfare (sucking the wealth out of the John Galts of this world, if you really believe what she wrote), and also was treated for her chain smoker lung cancer at public expense. I see nothing to admire in her description of Objectivism, nor much else to admire about Ayn Rand..
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I see I need to add reading comprehension to your list of difficulties. I told you already that "Any extrapolation you might make about my politics based on that fact are almost certainly going to be wildly wrong". I thought Atlas Shrugged was a cracking good story. I know its style does not appeal to all, but I liked it: it's up there with The Count of Monte Cristo, Lord of the Rings and Dune, in my all time favourite novels. My liking for those novels does not mean I think revenge is a good thing, women are unimportant and drug use is a good thing. And my liking for Atlas Shrugged does not mean I admire Ayn Rand's social and political views. In fact, ever since reading it almost half a century ago I've dabbled with writing a similar novel that completely deconstructs and destroys her philosophy. So please don't attempt to tar me with the same brush.

danshawen said:
You have amply demonstrated your own arrogance in other forums and suffered the consequences.
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I have never denied being arrogant. (It's one of my charms.)

Now, please specify what consequences I have suffered from this arrogance. I have not been banned from any forums. You imply that I have. And this "flattering" interest you are taking in me, suggests we have crossed swords before. So, where and under what user name have we met. Or you can run and hide.
 
It's good to clear the air. You and I differ greatly on what is a "cracking good read", and also take different things from what we read. I have no objection to that, nor to any of the criticisms you have made.

The Ayn Rand's Mike Wallace interview was very revealing.


There's a reference for you, John Galt.
 
So please address the questions:

Now, please specify what consequences I have suffered from this arrogance. I have not been banned from any forums. You imply that I have. And this "flattering" interest you are taking in me, suggests we have crossed swords before. So, where and under what user name have we met.

My references for what? The scientific points you have botched in this and other threads. My academic references? Specify and I shall provide, unless they represent an unwarranted intrusion into my privacy.
 
Ophiolite said:
So please address the questions:

Now, please specify what consequences I have suffered from this arrogance. I have not been banned from any forums. You imply that I have. And this "flattering" interest you are taking in me, suggests we have crossed swords before. So, where and under what user name have we met.

My references for what? The scientific points you have botched in this and other threads. My academic references? Specify and I shall provide, unless they represent an unwarranted intrusion into my privacy.
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Never mind...
 
But I do mind. You have leveled accusations at me. You have implied behaviours and events in my online "life" that are negative. You cannot now simply walk away from those accusations. That is impolite and arguably against forum rules.
 
Indeed, people have, in the past, been infracted for failing to substantiate their accusations.
 
Trippy;

This is low hanging fruit. Anyone who can use a google search engine can find out exactly what I did about Ophiolite ('John Galt') that I did. Be that as it may, the reverse accusations he has leveled at me here do not yet rate a suspension.

You may suspend me, if you think this is appropriate. The hijack of this thread to discuss a new member of the discussion is over as far as I'm concerned. I have never used another identification other than my proper name, even on usenet in the days of Archimedes Plutonium (with whom I also found I could not discuss anything that made any sense, like soft landing the moon at the South Pole so that it couldn't get away).

You didn't like my (Gilda Rander) Roseanne Rosannadanna impression?
 
danshawen:

I suggest that if you have specific allegations you want to make concerning Ophiolite, you make them, providing appropriate links.

Otherwise, perhaps now would be a good time to cease your stalker-like behaviour.
 
danshawen said:
Trippy;

This is low hanging fruit. Anyone who can use a google search engine can find out exactly what I did about Ophiolite ('John Galt') that I did.
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We are only concerned with our members here and how they behave here. Therefore your comments about him in regards to other sites, means, to put it bluntly, sweet fuck all as far as we are concerned. As for your so called interest that has led you to research his posts on other sites as Ophiolite or any other names on other sites, well, that is just weird and borders on the creepy. But to use these and make what appear to be unfounded accusations against him, well, that is just wrong as far as I am concerned.

You have one of two options. Provide evidence for any allegations you wish to make about Ophiolite or retract them entirely and apologise to him.
 
I respectfully and formally refuse to provide anyone a link or reference to such profanity on forums as I saw. Search for them at your own risk. It is inappropriate to provide such content on any forum, including this one. If you find googling forum membership creepy, you may find it interesting to note that no one else here is in any manner as disturbing as this case. If you are not availing yourself of such resources in the social media world of the 21st century, perhaps you should reconsider. People research other people for much more than shopping habits and social contacts. On more occasions than anyone thinks, you may happen across an obscure denizen of the Encyclopedia of American Loons. FYI, even Oprah is in there.

As for providing references for the statements I make on these forums on subjects that are JUST AS SPECULATIVE among academics as it is among laymen;

I have not been in an academic setting since Spring 2008. I still have some limited access to scientific journals from that and previous academic experience, but I have not kept up with the PAID SUBCRIPTIONS necessary to maintain access. For responding to someone like Opiolite, who complains about lack of references for basically any response on forums such is these, frankly, it would not be worth the money. We do not even marginally agree about fiction (or philosophy) we have both read.

As I understand it, access to these and other forums are free to anyone with an internet connection and a computer, whether or not they have unfettered access to professional scientific journals. Until or unless the terms of use are amended to be more along the lines of forums moderated like the stack exchange forums, I am here to learn from people with more expertise than I possess and lightly comment on their content whenever I don't understand something.

If there is any problem with anything I have posted, there are effective venues available for dealing with it. Take all of these posts straight to the Cesspool, because that is where it belongs. I am open to suggestions for keeping more posts out of there from anyone except Opiolite.
 
danshawen

You have no right to continue to make or infer such accusations about him on this site and then have the gall to refuse to support your accusations.

As I explained in my previous post, no one here cares about Ophiolite's language or any other names he may go by on other sites. The only thing we are concerned with is how he conducts himself on this site. Thus far, even in my run ins with him on this site, I have not seen anything like you are accusing him of based on what you allegedly found on other sites. We only go by what we know of here. If your behaviour on this site warrants comments from others, or you post things that are questionable and refuse to support your claims, then yes, people will call you out on it, even those who may or may not have accounts on other forums. What matters is how you and the rest of us conduct ourselves on here.

But if you are going to lob any personal accusations at anyone on this site, you had better be able to support said accusations with actual evidence. And no, telling me to google it is not good enough. You either provide links or retract and apologise.
 
Ophiolite isn't welcome to sue me for libel, but no one here is at liberty to do anything other than to suspend or ban me for not tendering an apology. This is a fact.

I do not apologize,
 
Ophiolite;

You are a fine and knowledgeable geologist / geophysicist, and it is possible I have misjudged you. Please stay with us, and if you can. forgive my own brand of arrogance. I have a history of a short fuse when it comes to bad moderation, which so far, I have not even come close to encountering here. Google me also if you like. There is nothing anywhere on the internet that I am personally ashamed of, since my first (Atari 800) computer, MicroPhone and my dialup Prodigy account through Erols, about 1979.

I have done some work with geophones and boreholes associated with ground penetrating radar. This is a fine way to make a living, but some of the limitations one needs to work with can be frustrating for a scientist. This is one reason my extended career in that area was a very short one. The reason it ended also had to do with arrogance and jealousy, but it was not on my part, I can assure you.

I also understand that this occupation entails a good deal of research on the reasons (some of them biological) for geological phenomena, and this is controversial, not only in geophysical circles but also in the field of evolutionary biology. You are far more likely to have insight into such science than I, which makes you a valuable asset to these forums.

You are under no obligation to do anything here other than ignore me, at your own discretion.
 
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jabbaska said:
I've no idea what happened on this thread but it quickly deviated from it's intended goal I think.
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Ya think? ;)

Why don't all of you try to return to the topic of "life on Earth 3.2 billion years ago"? This so-called "discussion" sounds like a bunch of twelve-year-old kids. If I were the Moderator of GS&T, I would delete the entire thread! It's embarrassing.
 
Fraggle Rocker said:
Ya think? ;)

Why don't all of you try to return to the topic of "life on Earth 3.2 billion years ago"? This so-called "discussion" sounds like a bunch of twelve-year-old kids. If I were the Moderator of GS&T, I would delete the entire thread! It's embarrassing.
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I was planning something along those lines once it had sunk a little further into obscurity.
 
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