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I know the young ones in the world esp are thinking about that hypocrisy. Thank you for the reminder Sister Justinah of our neutrality and how it could slide and stay close to Jehovah. 1st Samuel Chapter 8 has always quickly come first to my mind as a reminder -stay neutral.

I think focussing on political hypocrisy, a redundant phrase, is a slippery slope to breaking neutrality.

I am having the original version and this is what the about box tells me about the version I have. Is there a reason why I should update to the version that is linked now on the jw.org home page? Are there feature changes? I presume the data packages will still be updated for the original version?

Heavens’ Declaration — a Glimpse of Wonder entry™ — Most of us think the earth is quiet. Not silent in the way of wind or rain or traffic. We know those sounds. We live inside them. But beneath all of that, most of us imagine the planet itself as still. Solid. Mute. A stage where life happens. Yet Jehovah built something far more remarkable than most of us would ever imagine. All around the earth is a vast space between the ground and the ionosphere, and when lightning flashes around the world, that space does not simply absorb the energy and lose it. It answers, like a great chamber stirred by lightning. Lightning activity around the world continually excites waves that circle the globe and reinforce certain extremely low frequencies, creating what scientists call Schumann resonances. The main peak is near 7.8 hertz, with additional resonant peaks above it. Think about that for a moment. A storm breaks open over one part of the world. Another rolls across a distant ocean. Another flashes above jungle, desert, mountain, plain. And the planet does not merely endure that scattered activity. It is structured in such a way that this energy forms a kind of global response. Not music in the way human ears normally hear it, but order. Pattern. Structure. The earth is not randomly battered by energy. It is arranged in such a way that lightning can make the whole world ring. Maybe that is part of the wonder. Jehovah’s works are not strange in themselves. They are wise. They are precise. They are fitting. What seems strange is often only our first reaction to something far deeper than we expected. Not because there is anything odd in Him, but because there is so much depth in what He has made that we are often standing at the edge of things we barely understand. That is what moves me here. This is not just power. Power alone can frighten. This is controlled power. Measured power. Power working within boundaries Jehovah established. Even lightning, fierce and sudden as it is, is still operating inside laws that He set in place. What looks wild to us is not outside His order. “The heavens are declaring the glory of God; The skies above proclaim the work of his hands.” (Psalm 19:1) That verse feels bigger after learning this. The skies are not only beautiful when they glow at sunset or split open with white fire in a storm. They are declaring. They are proclaiming. Even when no human ear hears a thing, the world Jehovah made is still bearing witness. It tells us that creation is deeper than it looks. It tells us that what seems empty is not empty. It tells us that above us and around us are hidden arrangements, quiet laws, unseen marvels, all holding their place because He willed them there. So the next time thunder rolls away and the sky grows still again, it may not be still at all. It may be that the world is quietly answering lightning. It may be that the earth is carrying a hidden rhythm most of us never notice. And if Jehovah built even that into the very structure of our home, how much more is surrounding us every day that we have not yet learned to hear?

The irony of a known and admitted draft dodger implementing a draft is beyond rich. And, we also get bonus hypocrisy: It applies to green-card holders, refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented men. Wait, didn't the President's campaign to abolish birthright citizenship rely on the assumption that green-card holders, refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants aren't subject to US jurisdiction? If people cannot see the accuracy and truthfulness of Jeremiah 10:23, they are spiritually blind.

World anxiously waits to see if US-Iran peace talks can deliver. Here’s what we know https://edition.cnn.com/2026/04/10/middleeast/us-iran-war-talks-pakistan-what-we-know-intl-hnk

New Watchtower Library Update Bug fixes

Thank you Yvonne, I appreciate the reminders, my intent is to place these reminders in my encourage and courage files! The tenth talk, “Jehovah Will Perfectly Deliver His People at Armageddon,” 🥰

It is good to have paper and pen nearby to jot down some thoughts we would like to mention in our many conversations with our heavenly Father throughout the day. It could be a point that our friends on this forum have so painstakingly meditated on and expounded it for us to fully understand the scope of Jehovah’s love. Why Writing by Hand Is Better for Your Brain | Psychology Today Mind maps can help us to meditate on spiritual matters. It also promotes creativity and impresses upon us the weightier matters of the truth

Milankovitch cycles https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/earth-science/milankovitch-orbital-cycles-and-their-role-in-earths-climate/ https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/earth-science/why-milankovitch-orbital-cycles-cant-explain-earths-current-warming/ Milankovitch (Orbital) Cycles and Their Role in Earth’s Climate NASA Science Editorial Team Feb 27, 2020 Article (The pictures didn't work in the post. You can view the article with pictures on the link) Our lives literally revolve around cycles: series of events that are repeated regularly in the same order. There are hundreds of different types of cycles in our world and in the universe. Some are natural, such as the change of the seasons, annual animal migrations or the circadian rhythms that govern our sleep patterns. Others are human-produced, like growing and harvesting crops, musical rhythms or economic cycles. Cycles also play key roles in Earth’s short-term weather and long-term climate. A century ago, Serbian scientist Milutin Milankovitch hypothesized the long-term, collective effects of changes in Earth’s position relative to the Sun are a strong driver of Earth’s long-term climate, and are responsible for triggering the beginning and end of glaciation periods (Ice Ages). Specifically, he examined how variations in three types of Earth orbital movements affect how much solar radiation (known as insolation) reaches the top of Earth’s atmosphere as well as where the insolation reaches. These cyclical orbital movements, which became known as the Milankovitch cycles, cause variations of up to 25 percent in the amount of incoming insolation at Earth’s mid-latitudes (the areas of our planet located between about 30 and 60 degrees north and south of the equator). The Milankovitch cycles include: The shape of Earth’s orbit, known as eccentricity; The angle Earth’s axis is tilted with respect to Earth’s orbital plane, known as obliquity; and The direction Earth’s axis of rotation is pointed, known as precession. Play Video Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Eccentricity – Earth’s annual pilgrimage around the Sun isn’t perfectly circular, but it’s pretty close. Over time, the pull of gravity from our solar system’s two largest gas giant planets, Jupiter and Saturn, causes the shape of Earth’s orbit to vary from nearly circular to slightly elliptical. Eccentricity measures how much the shape of Earth’s orbit departs from a perfect circle. These variations affect the distance between Earth and the Sun. Eccentricity is the reason why our seasons are slightly different lengths, with summers in the Northern Hemisphere currently about 4.5 days longer than winters, and springs about three days longer than autumns. As eccentricity decreases, the length of our seasons gradually evens out. The difference in the distance between Earth’s closest approach to the Sun (known as perihelion), which occurs on or about January 3 each year, and its farthest departure from the Sun (known as aphelion) on or about July 4, is currently about 5.1 million kilometers (about 3.2 million miles), a variation of 3.4 percent. That means each January, about 6.8 percent more incoming solar radiation reaches Earth than it does each July. When Earth’s orbit is at its most elliptic, about 23 percent more incoming solar radiation reaches Earth at our planet’s closest approach to the Sun each year than does at its farthest departure from the Sun. Currently, Earth’s eccentricity is very slowly decreasing and is approaching its least elliptic (most circular), in a cycle that spans about 100,000 years. The total change in global annual insolation due to the eccentricity cycle is very small. Because variations in Earth’s eccentricity are fairly small, they’re a relatively minor factor in annual seasonal climate variations. Play Video Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Obliquity – The angle Earth’s axis of rotation is tilted as it travels around the Sun is known as obliquity. Obliquity is why Earth has seasons. Over the last million years, it has varied between 22.1 and 24.5 degrees with respect to Earth’s orbital plane. The greater Earth’s axial tilt angle, the more extreme our seasons are, as each hemisphere receives more solar radiation during its summer, when the hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun, and less during winter, when it is tilted away. Larger tilt angles favor periods of deglaciation (the melting and retreat of glaciers and ice sheets). These effects aren’t uniform globally -- higher latitudes receive a larger change in total solar radiation than areas closer to the equator. Earth’s axis is currently tilted 23.4 degrees, or about half way between its extremes, and this angle is very slowly decreasing in a cycle that spans about 41,000 years. It was last at its maximum tilt about 10,000 years ago and will reach its minimum tilt about 10,000 years from now. As obliquity decreases, it gradually helps make our seasons milder, resulting in increasingly warmer winters, and cooler summers that gradually, over time, allow snow and ice at high latitudes to build up into large ice sheets. As ice cover increases, it reflects more of the Sun’s energy back into space, promoting even further cooling. Play Video Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Precession – As Earth rotates, it wobbles slightly upon its rotational axis, like a slightly off-center spinning toy top. This wobble is due to tidal forces caused by the gravitational influences of the Sun and Moon that cause Earth to bulge at the equator, affecting its rotation. The trend in the direction of this wobble relative to the fixed positions of stars is known as axial precession. The cycle of axial precession spans about 25,771.5 years. Axial precession makes seasonal contrasts more extreme in one hemisphere and less extreme in the other. Currently perihelion occurs during winter in the Northern Hemisphere and in summer in the Southern Hemisphere. This makes Southern Hemisphere summers hotter and moderates Northern Hemisphere seasonal variations. But in about 13,000 years, axial precession will cause these conditions to flip, with the Northern Hemisphere seeing more extremes in solar radiation and the Southern Hemisphere experiencing more moderate seasonal variations. Precession does affect seasonal timing relative to Earth's closest/farthest points around the Sun. However, the modern calendar system ties itself to the seasons, and so, for example, the Northern Hemisphere winter will never occur in July. Today Earth’s North Stars are Polaris and Polaris Australis, but a couple of thousand years ago, they were Kochab and Pherkad. There’s also apsidal precession. Not only does Earth wobble on its rotational axis, but Earth’s entire orbital ellipse – that is, the oval-shaped path Earth follows in its orbit around the Sun — also wobbles irregularly, primarily due to its interactions with Jupiter and Saturn. The cycle of apsidal precession spans about 112,000 years. Apsidal precession changes the orientation of Earth’s orbit relative to the ecliptic plane. The combined effects of axial and apsidal precession result in an overall precession cycle spanning about 23,000 years on average. A Climate Time Machine The small changes set in motion by Milankovitch cycles operate separately and together to influence Earth’s climate over very long timespans, leading to larger changes in our climate over tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of years. Milankovitch combined the cycles to create a comprehensive mathematical model for calculating differences in solar radiation at various Earth latitudes along with corresponding surface temperatures. The model is sort of like a climate time machine: it can be run backward and forward to examine past and future climate conditions. Milankovitch assumed changes in radiation at some latitudes and in some seasons are more important than others to the growth and retreat of ice sheets. In addition, it was his belief that obliquity was the most important of the three cycles for climate, because it affects the amount of insolation in Earth’s northern high-latitude regions during summer (the relative role of precession versus obliquity is still a matter of scientific study). He calculated that Ice Ages occur approximately every 41,000 years. Subsequent research confirms that they did occur at 41,000-year intervals between one and three million years ago. But about 800,000 years ago, the cycle of Ice Ages lengthened to 100,000 years, matching Earth’s eccentricity cycle. While various theories have been proposed to explain this transition, scientists do not yet have a clear answer. Milankovitch’s work was supported by other researchers of his time, and he authored numerous publications on his hypothesis. But it wasn’t until about 10 years after his death in 1958 that the global science community began to take serious notice of his theory. In 1976, a study in the journal Science by Hays et al. using deep-sea sediment cores found that Milankovitch cycles correspond with periods of major climate change over the past 450,000 years, with Ice Ages occurring when Earth was undergoing different stages of orbital variation. Several other projects and studies have also upheld the validity of Milankovitch’s work, including research using data from ice cores in Greenland and Antarctica that has provided strong evidence of Milankovitch cycles going back many hundreds of thousands of years. In addition, his work has been embraced by the National Research Council of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Scientific research to better understand the mechanisms that cause changes in Earth’s rotation and how specifically Milankovitch cycles combine to affect climate is ongoing. But the theory that they drive the timing of glacial-interglacial cycles is well accepted. Further Reading: Why Milankovitch Cycles Can’t Explain Earth’s Current Warming

Earth's precession is a slow, continuous wobble of its rotational axis, completing a full cycle approximately every 26,000 years. What is Earth's Precession? Earth's precession, also known as axial precession, is the gradual shift in the orientation of Earth's axis of rotation. This motion causes the axis to trace out a conical shape over time, with a tilt of about 23.4°, known as the obliquity of the ecliptic, similar to the wobble of a spinning top (axial precession). The full precessional cycle takes roughly 26,000 years, during which the positions of the equinoxes slowly move westward along the ecliptic relative to the fixed stars. Wikipedia +1 Causes of Precession The primary cause of Earth's precession is the gravitational torque exerted by the Sun and Moon on Earth's equatorial bulge. Because Earth is not a perfect sphere but slightly flattened at the poles, the gravitational pull on the bulge generates a torque perpendicular to the axis of rotation, causing the axis to slowly rotate in space. Planetary gravitational influences also contribute slightly, causing planetary precession, but this effect is much smaller than the dominant lunisolar precession. Wikipedia +2 Historical Discovery The phenomenon was first identified by the Greek astronomer Hipparchus around 130 BC. By comparing his observations with older records, he noticed that the positions of the equinoxes had shifted by about 2° over 169 years, leading him to describe this motion as the precession of the equinoxes. This discovery explained why the "first point of Aries," marking the spring equinox, gradually moves through different constellations over millennia. NASA +1 Effects of Precession Pole Star Shift: The star currently near the north celestial pole, Polaris, will not always occupy this position. In the distant future, stars like Vega will become the north star. 1 Equinox Movement: The vernal equinox slowly shifts westward along the ecliptic at a rate of about 50.26 arc-seconds per year, affecting the alignment of calendars and celestial coordinates. 1 Astronomical Implications: Precession introduces a difference between the tropical year (based on the Sun) and the sidereal year (based on stars), which is important for precise astronomical observations and long-term climate studies. 1 Interaction with Other Cycles: Precession combines with other orbital variations, such as the 41,000-year tilt oscillation and 71,000-year orbital plane precession, influencing Earth's long-term climate patterns, including the Milankovitch cycles. 1 2 Sources Modern Understanding Today, precession is described in terms of general precession, which combines the precession of the equator (dominant) and the precession of the ecliptic (minor). Advanced techniques like very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) allow precise measurement of Earth's orientation relative to distant celestial objects, improving our understanding of precession and its variations. Cambridge University Press & Assessment In summary, Earth's precession is a slow, gyroscopic wobble caused by gravitational forces on its equatorial bulge, with profound effects on celestial navigation, the position of the pole star, and long-term astronomical and climatic cycles.

I am still figuring out this forums features, by the way, so could be I mix up reply with and without quote. I agree there are lots of uncertainties regarding carbon dating, but splitting decay types was just for statements like "being underwater accelerates decay" which isnt the case for nuclear decay and the change of elements. As for the uncertainties of carbon dating, even proponents themselves admit its only useful up to approximately 50,000 years. So I guess dating things like million years ago, is by other radioactive dating techniques beside carbon decay. Doesnt make you point invalid but it could be Potassium–argon dating or some other element.

Think about the case of a dog. We can use potassium to estimate when a dog died because we have direct access to the answer: we can reproduce the birth of a dog, watch its life, and verify the dating method against the known starting point. But we don't have such for things that are "1000000xxx" years ago. Taking a local decay rate and performing an extrapolation fallacy, projecting it back across millions of years with no independent reference to tell us how wrong the margin of error actually is. For ancient items, you have zero access to the beginning. The only reason the method is considered "valid" for local things is because we can verify them. The moment we move beyond human access, we lose the ability to reconcile the conclusion with reality. About carbon dating, if the method struggles with artifacts only a few thousand years old, it is irrational to claim certainty for anything older. For a dating method to be scientific, it must produce consistent, accurate results on samples where the age is already known. Yet, there are numerous studies where rocks from known volcanic eruptions (events that happened only a few years ago) were tested and gave ages ranging from 20 million to 200 million years. If the clock is that broken when we can actually check it, why should we trust it when we can't?

You must have a great number of different environments in your area to attract so many varieties of Bats.

You're welcome

I think it’s a summary from our spoiler thread about AM 2025

I consider different types of "decay" which have different causes and effects: - Biological decay: because of chemistry processes within organic matter or with its surroundings (it rots so to say, molecules interacting) - Physical decay at the "macro" level: damage to matter because of pressure, collision, breaking etc. (it breaks so to say, objects interacting) - Physical decay at the "micro" level: changing nucleus of atoms because of radioactive decay. (it changes from one element to another, protons/neutrons interacting) The last one is independant of the others in principle. Measures do have to take the purity of the sample in to account tho. So radioactive decay doesnt change when under water, under pressure or with high or low temperature. With earthly pressure and temps at least, the pressure and temp of our suns core causes nuclear fussion etc . Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-A356B met Tapatalk

If you’re new or just viewing, please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts 🥺 I really enjoy hearing everyone’s ideas—it’s helped me learn about things I never thought about before, including different kinds of work and skills. One of my wishes for this forum thread is for us to share different perspectives on what the future could be like. It gives us something hopeful and real to look forward to, especially for those of us dealing with illness or other challenges. So, I wanted to ask: What do you think “work” and learning might be like in the New World? 😊🙏🏼 I would love to hear how you imagine it.

😭I finally finished! I was using my phone to write this then realized it was becoming difficult. I also can quote using the computer easier. Then I ended up writing it out making sure every paragraph was covered... and quoted everything 😫 I really need an update for my brain because this is not it 😅 Jehovah, please have the New World come!!! 🙏

It'll be amazing to see how spotless the Earth will be when we accomplish collecting, breaking down, and repurposing all of these recyclable materials. With the satellites, I wonder if we can take a majority of them down 🤔 Do you think we will need Google Maps anymore? 😂 I looked up that there are around 15,000 of them active and inactive and 30,000 tracked pieces of orbital debris and old rocket bodies, according to NASA SVS. Sounds epic 🤩 I wonder if we can make it to where we can have them generate heat into energy because cars are going to be running over them most of the time, if that is the case. I had to look this up. I didn't realize an awning was what this is called. A very efficient use for them this can have solar panels as well. The earth has plenty of energy sources to go around and in the New World, we will no longer be charged to use or maintain them. So much to look forward to💜 I would want to plant grapes, peaches, golden apples first and enjoy the real juicy taste they are supposed to have. Even oranges! (I do not like eating fresh oranges now because they never seem to be sweet at all) Housing is difficult because I don't know where I want to live! If I must narrow it down, then I would love it to be where I can see as many terrains as possible 🥰 Clothing... now that is something. I just buy whatever fits, is comfortable, and modest. Jewel crafting: I always loved pearls, but I feel hurt for the clams we take them from 😭Others I like are Alexandrite and Moonstone. ... Who am I kidding, I love all rocks 💜Having the chance to learn at what conditions we get certain rocks fascinates me. Even more so retaining the information. I am by no means a fashion, home, jewel designer much less a decorator... But soon my brain will be able to take on these new and available opportunities to learn more and use my hands to the full! From this paragraph it looks like you might study the genes first when you get to the science topics I'm not really clear on this word" terraform" but what I get from looking it up is it's a designing tool (or software) of some sort? Most likely still referring to Terraforming... Please, can I get someone's insight on this for my clarity, if possible? I couldn't agree more!

There is a difference between reading something… and letting it stay with you.

That is cool. Thanks so much for sharing. Do they all eat the insects or are some of them Fruit eaters.

Good. I can see this one!