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Great Flood

2007-05-15T22:49:41Z

Ian St John: /* Crustal Displacement Theory */ link

[[Image:Michelangeloflood.jpg|thumb|300px|right|''The Flood'', by Michaelangelo, detail from the Sistine Chapel, 1509.]]
Cultures around the world record a world-destroying '''flood''' in their oral or written histories. Dr. [[John Morris]] wrote regarding the existence of a past worldwide the following: "One of the strongest evidences for the global flood which annihilated all people on Earth except for [[Noah]] and his family, has been the ubiquitous presence of flood legends in the folklore of people groups from around the world. And the stories are all so similar." <ref>http://www.icr.org/article/570/</ref> Today 60% of Americans accept as true the Biblical account of the Great Flood.<ref>http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040216-113955-2061r.htm</ref>

== The Flood accounts ==

The best known of the flood accounts are, the two intermeshed versions found in the book of [[Genesis]], and the version found in the [[Gilgamish Epic]]. Both are written accounts.
The Genesis account is the most detailed of any of the accounts, and the one against which others are usually compared.
It has also been studied the most, with a number of terms used in reference to it, including the '''Flood''', '''Noah's Flood''', the '''Deluge''', the '''Great Flood''', and the '''Noahic flood'''.
The terms ''pre-diluvian'' and ''post-diluvian'' are used to refer to the times before and after the flood respectively.

A table comparing specific details in a number of different flood accounts can be found [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3107 here].

== The Genesis account ==

The Genesis account is the most detailed account.
In it, God warned Noah that He was going to destroy the world with a flood, because of the wickedness of mankind. Noah was to build an ark and take on it his family and representatives of all air-breathing, land-dwelling creatures. The ark was to be 300 cubits long by 50 cubits wide by 30 cubits high<ref>''Genesis'' 6:15</ref> (approximately 450 feet long, by 75 feet wide, by 45 feet high), have three decks, and rooms.

God brought the animals and birds to Noah, and there were, per Gen 7:2 two of the "[[unclean (animals)|unclean]]" animals and seven (or seven pairs) of the "[[clean (animals)|clean]]", and per Gen 6:19-20 "two of every sort".

After Noah and his family and all the creatures were on board, God shut the door of the ark.
The flood was brought on by the eruption of subterranean water ("''the fountains of the deep were opened''"), and rain.
The rain lasted nearly six weeks (40 days and nights).
The flood waters apparently continued to rise for 150 days, but it was just over a year before the waters had receded enough for the occupants of the ark to leave.

The ark is recorded as having come to rest on the mountains of Ararat, taken by many today to be the existing mountains of that name.
God put a rainbow in the clouds, and said that it was to be a reminder that he would never again destroy the world in a flood. (Genesis does not say that this was the first ever rainbow.)
He also told Noah that it was now okay to eat meat.

All people alive today are descendants of [[family of Noah|Noah and his family]].

== The Gilgamish Epic account ==

The council of the gods decided to destroy mankind with a flood, but Utnapishtim was warned by the god who had made man, Ea, to build a boat to take all living being. The length, width, and height were each 120 cubits (about 180 feet). It had seven stories.

The gods got frightened by the flood and retreated to heaven where they cowered and wept.
The flood lasted six days and seven nights, and was accompanied by wind and storm.
Utnapishtim send out a dove followed by a swallow, but both returned, unable to find land. He then sent a raven, which didn't return.

Dr. Jonathan Sarfati comments on the Gilgamish Epic:
:It is common to make legends out of historical events, but not history from legends. ... For instance, in Genesis, God’s judgment is just, he is patient with mankind for 120 years (Genesis 6:3), shows mercy to Noah, and is sovereign. Conversely, the gods in the Gilgamesh Epic are capricious and squabbling, cower at the Flood and are famished without humans to feed them sacrifices. That is, the human writers of the Gilgamesh Epic rewrote the true account, and made their gods in their own image.<ref Name="JS_GE" />

== Other ancient references ==

The Assyrian King [[Ashurbanipal]], who lived in the seventh century B.C., recorded, "I have read intricate tablets inscribed with obscure Sumerian or Akkadian...inscriptions on stone from before the Flood."<ref>[http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1032092 Ashurbanipal]</ref>

== Common Themes for Flood Accounts ==

=== Cause ===

Many of the accounts say that the flood was caused by God or some equivalent being.
In Genesis, it was Yahweh<ref>Genesis 6:3</ref>.
In the Gilgamish Epic, it was the council of the gods <ref Name="JS_GE">[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3107 Noah’s Flood and the Gilgamesh Epic] by Jonathan Sarfati, ''Creation'', vol. 28 No. 4 pp.12-17</ref>.
In the Bundaba (Australian aboriginal) flood story, it was Ngowungu, the Great Father. <ref>[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/1468 Australian Aboriginal Flood Stories], ''Creation'' Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 6-9.</ref>
The Greeks recorded it as being [[Zeus]].<ref name="Greek">[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#Greek Greek], in ''Flood Stories from Around the World'' by Mark Isaak.</ref>

=== Purpose ===

When the cause of the flood is attributed to a god, the reason is frequently said to be for [[mankind]]'s wickedness.
Genesis adds that "every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time".<ref>Genesis 6:5 (NIV)</ref>
The Miao account from China says, in verse, "These did not God's will nor returned His affection. / But fought with each other defying the Godhead. / Their leaders shook fists in the face of the Mighty."<ref>[http://www.icr.org/index.php?module=articles&action=view&ID=341 Genesis According to the Miao People], by Edgar A. Truax, ''Impact'', April 1991</ref>
A Navajo account says that it was because of "their sins of adultery and constant quarreling". <ref>[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#Navajo Navajo (Four Corners area)], in ''Flood Stories from Around the World'' by Mark Isaak</ref>

=== What saved the people ===

People were generally saved either by floating out the flood, or fleeing to the top of a mountain. In the former case, the vessel took a variety of forms.
A Hopi Indian story has them surviving in the hollow stems of giant reeds<ref name="Hopi">[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#Hopi Hopi], in ''Flood Stories from Around the World'' by Mark Isaak.</ref>
The Greek story has them surviving in a chest. <Ref name="Greek" />
In Genesis, Noah was instructed by God to build an ark to dimensions and other specifications included in the account.

=== Who was saved? ===

The survivors were often a single family.
An Australian aboriginal account has Ngadgja, the Supreme One, telling Gajara to take his wife, his sons, and his sons' wives.<ref name="Wunambal">[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/1467 Aboriginal Flood Legend], by Howard Coates, ''Creation'' Vol. 4 No.3, pp.9-12</ref>
The Masai account from East Africa has Tumbainot taking his two wives, his six sons, and their wives.<ref name="Masai">[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#Masai Masai (East Africa)], in ''Flood Stories from Around the World'' by Mark Isaak.</ref>
A Hawaiian story has Nuu taking his wife and three sons. <ref name="Hawaii">[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#Hawaii Hawaii], in ''Flood Stories from Around the World'' by Mark Isaak.</ref>
Noah took his wife, his three sons, and their wives.<ref>Genesis 7:13</ref>

=== Birds sent out ===

Genesis describes Noah sending out birds to see if there was yet dry land.<ref>Genesis 8:6-12</ref>
Initially this was unsuccessful, but a subsequent attempt was successful when a dove didn't return. In the Hopi account also, they unsuccessfully sent out birds to find land.<ref name="Hopi" />
An Australian aboriginal account has a cuckoo not returning because it found land.<ref name="Wunambal" />
The Masai account has Tumbainot sending out a dove, which returned because it had no place to rest.<ref name="Masai" />

=== A rainbow ===

The Masai account has four rainbows signifying that God's wrath was over.<ref name="Masai" />
A Hawaiian account has the god Kane leaving a rainbow as a perpetual sign of his forgiveness.<ref name="Hawaii" />
From an Australian aboriginal story comes this account:
:Ngadja, the Supreme Being, put the rainbow in the sky to keep the rain-clouds back. The rainbow lies bent across the sky; he ties up the clouds behind it and the rain does not come. The rainbow keeps the clouds back and protects us so that the rainfall does not rise too high. Our people understand the significance of it. When we see the rainbow we say, ‘There will not be any abnormally heavy rain.’<ref name="Wunambal" />

Genesis says that the rainbow would be a reminder that God would never again destroy the world with a flood.<ref>Genesis 9:12-17</ref>

=== Criticisms ===

''See also criticism in [[Noah's Ark#Controversy|Noah's Ark]] and [[Flood Geology#Controversy|Flood Geology]].

Critics of the global flood suggest that the flood accounts are unrelated accounts of local floods, or stories influenced by the arrival of missionaries.

However, Nozomi Osanai responds that "''...the detailed nature of the widely spread statements has common elements to the Bible. In fact, even people who live far from the sea or in mountainous areas have flood traditions which are similar to the Genesis account.''"<ref>[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/4089/ A comparative study of the flood accounts in the Gilgamesh Epic and Genesis, chapter 7], by Nozomi Osanai.</ref>

And Murray Adamthwaite responds regarding the missionary influence, "''...that explanation fails since in many cases secular anthropologists gathered the stories before missionaries reached these tribes with the Gospel. In other cases missionaries have related how they indeed told the story of Noah, only to find that the tribal folk already had a similar tale in their own legends.''"<ref>[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/2538 Animals, a Deluge and Noah’s Ark]</ref>

== Modern explanations ==

===Black Sea theory===
In 2000, explorers discovered evidence that humans lived where the [[Black Sea]] now is and speculated the sea was created during a great flood <ref>http://archives.cnn.com/2000/NATURE/09/13/great.flood.finds.ap/</ref>. Dr. Robert Ballard expanded on this theory, postulating that the Black Sea was much lower during the Ice Age (including the finding of a beach thousands of feet underwater), and when the walls holding back the Mediterranean Sea at the Bosporus broke, the sea rushed in and drowned the inhabitants; those who survived told the tale orally, and according to Ballard this became the basis for the flood accounts of Genesis and Gilgamesh [http://www.nationalgeographic.com/blacksea/ax/frame.html]. This theory is for a local flood, and not the world-wide flood as recorded in Genesis and many other cultural traditions. It also doesn't fit with many other details of the Genesis account.<ref>[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3392 Proof of Noah's Flood at the Black Sea?] by Creation Ministries International.</ref>

===Crustal Displacement Theory===
In ''When the sky fell: In search of Atlantis'' (1996), Rand Flem Ath <ref>http://www.flem-ath.com</ref> expanded on Professor [[Charles Hapgood]]'s theory of crustal displacement whereby the entire earth's crust moved with respect to the core. The suggested date for this was about 10,000 years BC. If a displacement had occurred then it would have caused enormous disruption to the the earth's oceans with massive tsunamis and heavy rain. Although the book was nominally about the disappearance of [[Atlantis]], the theory of crustal displacement not only explains the discrepancies in ice thickness in Greenland and Antarctica but also the sudden demise of the mammoths. This theory could also potentially explain the widespread existence of flood accounts throughout different cultures.

== Flood geology ==

''See main article: [[Flood Geology]]''

Flood geology is the study of the Earth's geology from the point of view that the Genesis account is true and accurate, and that evidence of the Flood can be found in the geology of the Earth.

Until the rise of [[uniformitarian]] geology in the early 19th century, most geologists accepted the Noahic deluge as part of geology.
But [[James Hutton]] proposed in 1795 that geology ought to be based on the processes that we see happening now, thereby automatically ruling the Flood out of consideration.
During the 19th century a number of "[[scriptural geologists]]" held out against the rising acceptance of Hutton's principles,<ref>The Great Turning Point, by Terry Mortenson. See also a series of articles in the ''Journal of Creation'', commencing with "British scriptural geologists in the first half of the nineteenth century: part 1" by Terry Mortenson, ''Journal of Creation'' Vol. 11 No. 2 pp. 221-252.</ref> but they fought a losing battle and interest in flood geology virtually died out by the end of the 19th century.

However, in the second half of the 20th century, interest was revived amongst people keen to show that the biblical account was correct, and a small but growing number of geologists are now studying this field again, although the vast majority of geologists still reject the idea of a global flood on Earth.

Flood geologists propose that such a world-wide, year-long flood would have caused massive erosion, sedimentation, and geological movements, and leaving extensive evidence in the [[geology|geological]] record.
Many propose that there was a single continent before the flood that broke up during the flood.
The idea of tectonic plate movement was proposed by creationary scientist Antonio Snider in 1859,<ref>[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3670 What About Continental Drift], Chapter 11 of The Answers Book Updated & Expanded, Don Batten (Ed.)</ref> although it was not until several other scientists had proposed similar ideas that the idea was adopted by mainstream scientists in the last few decades of the 20th century.

According to flood geologists, the flood resulted from subterranean water erupting to the surface ("''the springs of the great deep burst forth''"—Genesis 7:11, NIV), combined with 40 days and nights of rain.
Although the rain stopped after 40 days, the flood waters continued to rise for 150 days, and lasted just over a year before Noah and the others on the boat were able to leave.<ref>The flood began on the 17th day of the second month of the 600th year of Noah's life (Genesis 7:11) and the ark's passengers alighted on the 27th day of the second month of the 601st year of Noah's life (Genesis 8:13-15)</ref>
During the flood, there was massive tectonic activity, including some land rising up and other land dropping, such that the waters ended up in newly-deepened oceans.
All the animals and birds (except those on the ark), and large numbers of sea creatures perished, and many of them were buried so quickly that they became [[fossil]]s, accounting for the vast majority of fossils existing today.

Flood geology also proposes that the flood waters swept together and buried large mats of vegetation ripped from the surface of the Earth, forming the [[coal]] beds that are mined today.

===Creationist Scientists Defense of Flood Geology ===
Creationist scientists assert that there are multiple lines of evidence from the field of geology showing that flood geology is correct. <ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/geology.asp</ref><ref>http://www.creationism.org/topbar/geology.htm</ref><ref>http://www.grisda.org/georpts/gr11.htm</ref><ref>http://www.nwcreation.net/geologylinks.html</ref><ref>http://globalflood.org/</ref> Creationist scientists also state that there was enough water to cause a worldwide flood and various other objections to a worldwide flood are invalid. <ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/Home/Area/AnswersBook/flood12.asp</ref><ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/flood.asp</ref>

==External Links==

*[http://www.maicar.com/GML/Flood.html Greek Myths: Deucalion and the Flood]
*[http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/tab11.htm Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet 11 (Flood Story)]
*[http://www.nwcreation.net/geologycolumn.html Geological evidence from Northwest Creation]
*[http://www.genesisfiles.com/Library.htm#B Genesis Files website]
*[http://www.searchgodsword.org/enc/isb/view.cgi?number=T2631]
*[http://www.answersingenesis.org/Home/Area/AnswersBook/global10.asp Was the Flood Global? Answers in Genesis article]
*[http://www.nationalgeographic.com/blacksea/ax/frame.html Black Sea theory, from Dr. Robert Ballard and National Geographic]
*[http://www.ilhawaii.net/~stony/lore64.html Native American flood story]
*[http://wovoca.com/myths-flood-1.htm Collection of Flood myths]

== Notes ==

<references />

Great flood

2007-05-15T22:46:05Z

Ian St John: Created page

#REDIRECT [[Great Flood]]

Alfred Nobel

2007-05-15T22:33:34Z

Ian St John: /* Commercial Success */ sp

'''Alfred Nobel''' (1833-1896) was a Swedish chemist, engineer and armaments manufacturer. He is noted for the invention of dynamite and the inauguration of the [[Nobel Prizes]] for achievements in the fields of science, literature, medicine, economics and peace.

==Early Life==
Alfred Bernhard Nobel was born in Sweden on October 21, 1833. He was the third son of Immanuel Nobel, the inventor of modern plywood. At the age of 9 his family moved to St. Petersburg where his father founded a factory to make naval mines for use in the Crimean War. As a wealth and successful industrialist Immanuel was able to give his sons a first-class education by [[homeschooling|private tutors]]. In Russia, Alfred studied chemistry under Professor Nikolay Nikolaevich Zinin. He also achieved fluency in five languages; Swedish Russian, English French and German. Alfred had a wide variety of interests ranging from chemistry and physics to English literature and poetry. In order to widen his son's horizons, Immanuel Nobel sent Alfred abroad for further training in chemical engineering and in a two-year period he visited France, Germany, Sweden and the United States. Paris became his favorite city and whilst working in a private laboratory there he met Ascanio Sobrero, the inventor of the volatile and unpredictable, powerful explosive; nitroglycerine. Alfred took an interest in this unstable compound for which he saw great potential if it could be tamed.

==The Invention Of Dynamite==
Alfred was requested to return to Russia in 1852 in order help with the family business which was booming because of the munitions being delivered to the Russian Army. In Russia Alfred worked with his father to develop a stable version of nitroglycerine. However, with the end of the war Immanuel Nobel's business was forced into bankruptcy leaving the two eldest sons, Robert and Ludvig, to salvage the company. Returning to Sweden in 1863, Alfred continued his development of nitroglycerine. After several explosions, including one that killed hs brother Emil, the authorities prohibited his research within the Stockholm city limits and he moved to a barge anchored on Lake Mälaren. After starting commercial production of nitroglycerine in 1864 Nobel experimented with different additives. He discoverd that by mixing it with ''[[kieselguhr]]'' the volatile liquid became a realtively stable paste which could be shaped into cylinders for insertion into drilled holes. He patented this material in 1867 under the name '''[[dynamite]]'''. In order to produce an explosion from the stable compound he also invented the detonator or blasting cap, which could be triggered by the ignition of a fuse. The parallel invention of the diamond drilling crown meant that the costs of major civil engineerng works were drastically reduced.

==Commercial Success==
The market for Nobel's products grew rapidly and Alfred proved to be a skilful businessman as well as a scientist. By 1865 his factory in Germany was exporting nitroglycerine explosives throughout the world. Eventually he built 90 laboratories and factories in 20 different countries. While basing himself in Paris, France he continued to travel widely and was described by [[Victor Hugo]] as "Europe's richest vagabond". Not content with developing explosives, Nobel registered 355 patents including materials such as synthetic rubber, leather and silk.

Baku in Azerbaijan had long been famous for its oil seeps and in 1872, the Tsarist regime in Russia started to auction off sections of the oilfield. With his two older brothers, Robert and Ludvig, Alfred began the process to turn Baku into one the first large-scale commercial oil-fields in Europe. After visiting Baku in search of walnut wood to make rifle stocks for the family's armaments factory in St. Petersburg, Alfred ended up buying tracts of oil-bearing land. Bringing in six Pennsylvanian drillers, Nobel transformed Russian oil-field technology. However, the remoteness of Baku meant that transporting wooden barrels full of crude oil to the western markets was a difficult task. But by 1880 Nobel had constructed the first oil pipeline in Europe to deliver the oil to Baku and with the profits from their enterprise they not only launched the world's first oil tanker, the ''Zoroaster'', but also built the first continuous-process refinery as well as a railway to transport the crude to St. Petersburg. At one time a single well form the ''Apspheron'' oil-field could produced 4.5 million litres, far surpassing any well in the United States. It was only the quantity of oil from Baku that prevented [[John D. Rockefeller]]'s Standard Oil from establishing the same monopoly position in Europe that it had in the United States.

==Personal Life==
Alfred Nobel's dedication to his work and travel did not leave much room for family life. Feeling like an old man at the age of 43 he advertised in a newspaper - "Wealthy, highly-educated elderly gentleman seeks lady of mature age, versed in languages, as secretary and supervisor of household." The position was taken by the Austrian, Countess Bertha Kinsky. She worked a short time for Nobel but returned to Austria to marry Count Arthur von Suttner. Despite this, she and Alfred remained firm friends and corresponded with each other for many years.

==War And Peace==
Nobel became one of the first proponents of MAD (mutually-assured destruction) when he said :

"My dynamite will sooner lead to peace than a thousand world conventions. 
As soon as men will find that in one instant, 
whole armies can be utterly destroyed, 
they surely will abide by golden peace."

However, his friend Bertha von Suttner became increasingly critical of the arms race and wrote a seminal book, ''Lay Down Your Arms'' which undoubtedly influenced Nobel. When he died in [[San Remo]], [[Italy]] on December 10, 1895 his last will laid out the proposal that his estate be invested in a fund, the interest of which was to be distributed amongst five prizes. These were to be awarded for Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Physiology or Medicine, and Peace. The first prizes were not awarded until 1901. In 1905 the Peace Prize was awarded to Bertha von Suttner.

Alfred Nobel

2007-05-15T22:32:25Z

Ian St John: link

'''Alfred Nobel''' (1833-1896) was a Swedish chemist, engineer and armaments manufacturer. He is noted for the invention of dynamite and the inauguration of the [[Nobel Prizes]] for achievements in the fields of science, literature, medicine, economics and peace.

==Early Life==
Alfred Bernhard Nobel was born in Sweden on October 21, 1833. He was the third son of Immanuel Nobel, the inventor of modern plywood. At the age of 9 his family moved to St. Petersburg where his father founded a factory to make naval mines for use in the Crimean War. As a wealth and successful industrialist Immanuel was able to give his sons a first-class education by [[homeschooling|private tutors]]. In Russia, Alfred studied chemistry under Professor Nikolay Nikolaevich Zinin. He also achieved fluency in five languages; Swedish Russian, English French and German. Alfred had a wide variety of interests ranging from chemistry and physics to English literature and poetry. In order to widen his son's horizons, Immanuel Nobel sent Alfred abroad for further training in chemical engineering and in a two-year period he visited France, Germany, Sweden and the United States. Paris became his favorite city and whilst working in a private laboratory there he met Ascanio Sobrero, the inventor of the volatile and unpredictable, powerful explosive; nitroglycerine. Alfred took an interest in this unstable compound for which he saw great potential if it could be tamed.

==The Invention Of Dynamite==
Alfred was requested to return to Russia in 1852 in order help with the family business which was booming because of the munitions being delivered to the Russian Army. In Russia Alfred worked with his father to develop a stable version of nitroglycerine. However, with the end of the war Immanuel Nobel's business was forced into bankruptcy leaving the two eldest sons, Robert and Ludvig, to salvage the company. Returning to Sweden in 1863, Alfred continued his development of nitroglycerine. After several explosions, including one that killed hs brother Emil, the authorities prohibited his research within the Stockholm city limits and he moved to a barge anchored on Lake Mälaren. After starting commercial production of nitroglycerine in 1864 Nobel experimented with different additives. He discoverd that by mixing it with ''[[kieselguhr]]'' the volatile liquid became a realtively stable paste which could be shaped into cylinders for insertion into drilled holes. He patented this material in 1867 under the name '''[[dynamite]]'''. In order to produce an explosion from the stable compound he also invented the detonator or blasting cap, which could be triggered by the ignition of a fuse. The parallel invention of the diamond drilling crown meant that the costs of major civil engineerng works were drastically reduced.

==Commercial Success==
The market for Nobel's products grew rapidly and Alfred proved to be a skilful businessman as well as a scientist. By 1865 his factory in Germany was exporting nitroglycerine explosives throughout the world. Eventually he built 90 laboratories and factories in 20 different countries. While basing himself in Paris, France he continued to travel widely and was described by [[Victor Hugo]] as "Europe's richest vagabond". No content with developing explosives, Nobel registered 355 patents including materials such as synthetic rubber, leather and silk.

Baku in Azerbaijan had long been famous for its oil seeps and in 1872, the Tsarist regime in Russia started to auction off sections of the oilfield. With his two older brothers, Robert and Ludvig, Alfred began the process to turn Baku into one the first large-scale commercial oil-fields in Europe. After visiting Baku in search of walnut wood to make rifle stocks for the family's armaments factory in St. Petersburg, Alfred ended up buying tracts of oil-bearing land. Bringing in six Pennsylvanian drillers, Nobel transformed Russian oil-field technology. However, the remoteness of Baku meant that transporting wooden barrels full of crude oil to the western markets was a difficult task. But by 1880 Nobel had constructed the first oil pipeline in Europe to deliver the oil to Baku and with the profits from their enterprise they not only launched the world's first oil tanker, the ''Zoroaster'', but also built the first continuous-process refinery as well as a railway to transport the crude to St. Petersburg. At one time a single well form the ''Apspheron'' oil-field could produced 4.5 million litres, far surpassing any well in the United States. It was only the quantity of oil from Baku that prevented [[John D. Rockefeller]]'s Standard Oil from establishing the same monopoly position in Europe that it had in the United States.

==Personal Life==
Alfred Nobel's dedication to his work and travel did not leave much room for family life. Feeling like an old man at the age of 43 he advertised in a newspaper - "Wealthy, highly-educated elderly gentleman seeks lady of mature age, versed in languages, as secretary and supervisor of household." The position was taken by the Austrian, Countess Bertha Kinsky. She worked a short time for Nobel but returned to Austria to marry Count Arthur von Suttner. Despite this, she and Alfred remained firm friends and corresponded with each other for many years.

==War And Peace==
Nobel became one of the first proponents of MAD (mutually-assured destruction) when he said :

"My dynamite will sooner lead to peace than a thousand world conventions. 
As soon as men will find that in one instant, 
whole armies can be utterly destroyed, 
they surely will abide by golden peace."

However, his friend Bertha von Suttner became increasingly critical of the arms race and wrote a seminal book, ''Lay Down Your Arms'' which undoubtedly influenced Nobel. When he died in [[San Remo]], [[Italy]] on December 10, 1895 his last will laid out the proposal that his estate be invested in a fund, the interest of which was to be distributed amongst five prizes. These were to be awarded for Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Physiology or Medicine, and Peace. The first prizes were not awarded until 1901. In 1905 the Peace Prize was awarded to Bertha von Suttner.

Alfred Nobel

2007-05-15T22:31:43Z

Ian St John: /* Personal Life */ sp

'''Alfred Nobel''' (1833-1896) was a Swedish chemist, engineer and armaments manufacturer. He is noted for the invention of dynamite and the inauguration of the Nobel Prizes for achievements in the fields of science, literature, medicine, economics and peace.

==Early Life==
Alfred Bernhard Nobel was born in Sweden on October 21, 1833. He was the third son of Immanuel Nobel, the inventor of modern plywood. At the age of 9 his family moved to St. Petersburg where his father founded a factory to make naval mines for use in the Crimean War. As a wealth and successful industrialist Immanuel was able to give his sons a first-class education by [[homeschooling|private tutors]]. In Russia, Alfred studied chemistry under Professor Nikolay Nikolaevich Zinin. He also achieved fluency in five languages; Swedish Russian, English French and German. Alfred had a wide variety of interests ranging from chemistry and physics to English literature and poetry. In order to widen his son's horizons, Immanuel Nobel sent Alfred abroad for further training in chemical engineering and in a two-year period he visited France, Germany, Sweden and the United States. Paris became his favorite city and whilst working in a private laboratory there he met Ascanio Sobrero, the inventor of the volatile and unpredictable, powerful explosive; nitroglycerine. Alfred took an interest in this unstable compound for which he saw great potential if it could be tamed.

==The Invention Of Dynamite==
Alfred was requested to return to Russia in 1852 in order help with the family business which was booming because of the munitions being delivered to the Russian Army. In Russia Alfred worked with his father to develop a stable version of nitroglycerine. However, with the end of the war Immanuel Nobel's business was forced into bankruptcy leaving the two eldest sons, Robert and Ludvig, to salvage the company. Returning to Sweden in 1863, Alfred continued his development of nitroglycerine. After several explosions, including one that killed hs brother Emil, the authorities prohibited his research within the Stockholm city limits and he moved to a barge anchored on Lake Mälaren. After starting commercial production of nitroglycerine in 1864 Nobel experimented with different additives. He discoverd that by mixing it with ''[[kieselguhr]]'' the volatile liquid became a realtively stable paste which could be shaped into cylinders for insertion into drilled holes. He patented this material in 1867 under the name '''[[dynamite]]'''. In order to produce an explosion from the stable compound he also invented the detonator or blasting cap, which could be triggered by the ignition of a fuse. The parallel invention of the diamond drilling crown meant that the costs of major civil engineerng works were drastically reduced.

==Commercial Success==
The market for Nobel's products grew rapidly and Alfred proved to be a skilful businessman as well as a scientist. By 1865 his factory in Germany was exporting nitroglycerine explosives throughout the world. Eventually he built 90 laboratories and factories in 20 different countries. While basing himself in Paris, France he continued to travel widely and was described by [[Victor Hugo]] as "Europe's richest vagabond". No content with developing explosives, Nobel registered 355 patents including materials such as synthetic rubber, leather and silk.

Baku in Azerbaijan had long been famous for its oil seeps and in 1872, the Tsarist regime in Russia started to auction off sections of the oilfield. With his two older brothers, Robert and Ludvig, Alfred began the process to turn Baku into one the first large-scale commercial oil-fields in Europe. After visiting Baku in search of walnut wood to make rifle stocks for the family's armaments factory in St. Petersburg, Alfred ended up buying tracts of oil-bearing land. Bringing in six Pennsylvanian drillers, Nobel transformed Russian oil-field technology. However, the remoteness of Baku meant that transporting wooden barrels full of crude oil to the western markets was a difficult task. But by 1880 Nobel had constructed the first oil pipeline in Europe to deliver the oil to Baku and with the profits from their enterprise they not only launched the world's first oil tanker, the ''Zoroaster'', but also built the first continuous-process refinery as well as a railway to transport the crude to St. Petersburg. At one time a single well form the ''Apspheron'' oil-field could produced 4.5 million litres, far surpassing any well in the United States. It was only the quantity of oil from Baku that prevented [[John D. Rockefeller]]'s Standard Oil from establishing the same monopoly position in Europe that it had in the United States.

==Personal Life==
Alfred Nobel's dedication to his work and travel did not leave much room for family life. Feeling like an old man at the age of 43 he advertised in a newspaper - "Wealthy, highly-educated elderly gentleman seeks lady of mature age, versed in languages, as secretary and supervisor of household." The position was taken by the Austrian, Countess Bertha Kinsky. She worked a short time for Nobel but returned to Austria to marry Count Arthur von Suttner. Despite this, she and Alfred remained firm friends and corresponded with each other for many years.

==War And Peace==
Nobel became one of the first proponents of MAD (mutually-assured destruction) when he said :

"My dynamite will sooner lead to peace than a thousand world conventions. 
As soon as men will find that in one instant, 
whole armies can be utterly destroyed, 
they surely will abide by golden peace."

However, his friend Bertha von Suttner became increasingly critical of the arms race and wrote a seminal book, ''Lay Down Your Arms'' which undoubtedly influenced Nobel. When he died in [[San Remo]], [[Italy]] on December 10, 1895 his last will laid out the proposal that his estate be invested in a fund, the interest of which was to be distributed amongst five prizes. These were to be awarded for Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Physiology or Medicine, and Peace. The first prizes were not awarded until 1901. In 1905 the Peace Prize was awarded to Bertha von Suttner.

Alfred Nobel

2007-05-15T22:30:29Z

Ian St John: Part 2

'''Alfred Nobel''' (1833-1896) was a Swedish chemist, engineer and armaments manufacturer. He is noted for the invention of dynamite and the inauguration of the Nobel Prizes for achievements in the fields of science, literature, medicine, economics and peace.

==Early Life==
Alfred Bernhard Nobel was born in Sweden on October 21, 1833. He was the third son of Immanuel Nobel, the inventor of modern plywood. At the age of 9 his family moved to St. Petersburg where his father founded a factory to make naval mines for use in the Crimean War. As a wealth and successful industrialist Immanuel was able to give his sons a first-class education by [[homeschooling|private tutors]]. In Russia, Alfred studied chemistry under Professor Nikolay Nikolaevich Zinin. He also achieved fluency in five languages; Swedish Russian, English French and German. Alfred had a wide variety of interests ranging from chemistry and physics to English literature and poetry. In order to widen his son's horizons, Immanuel Nobel sent Alfred abroad for further training in chemical engineering and in a two-year period he visited France, Germany, Sweden and the United States. Paris became his favorite city and whilst working in a private laboratory there he met Ascanio Sobrero, the inventor of the volatile and unpredictable, powerful explosive; nitroglycerine. Alfred took an interest in this unstable compound for which he saw great potential if it could be tamed.

==The Invention Of Dynamite==
Alfred was requested to return to Russia in 1852 in order help with the family business which was booming because of the munitions being delivered to the Russian Army. In Russia Alfred worked with his father to develop a stable version of nitroglycerine. However, with the end of the war Immanuel Nobel's business was forced into bankruptcy leaving the two eldest sons, Robert and Ludvig, to salvage the company. Returning to Sweden in 1863, Alfred continued his development of nitroglycerine. After several explosions, including one that killed hs brother Emil, the authorities prohibited his research within the Stockholm city limits and he moved to a barge anchored on Lake Mälaren. After starting commercial production of nitroglycerine in 1864 Nobel experimented with different additives. He discoverd that by mixing it with ''[[kieselguhr]]'' the volatile liquid became a realtively stable paste which could be shaped into cylinders for insertion into drilled holes. He patented this material in 1867 under the name '''[[dynamite]]'''. In order to produce an explosion from the stable compound he also invented the detonator or blasting cap, which could be triggered by the ignition of a fuse. The parallel invention of the diamond drilling crown meant that the costs of major civil engineerng works were drastically reduced.

==Commercial Success==
The market for Nobel's products grew rapidly and Alfred proved to be a skilful businessman as well as a scientist. By 1865 his factory in Germany was exporting nitroglycerine explosives throughout the world. Eventually he built 90 laboratories and factories in 20 different countries. While basing himself in Paris, France he continued to travel widely and was described by [[Victor Hugo]] as "Europe's richest vagabond". No content with developing explosives, Nobel registered 355 patents including materials such as synthetic rubber, leather and silk.

Baku in Azerbaijan had long been famous for its oil seeps and in 1872, the Tsarist regime in Russia started to auction off sections of the oilfield. With his two older brothers, Robert and Ludvig, Alfred began the process to turn Baku into one the first large-scale commercial oil-fields in Europe. After visiting Baku in search of walnut wood to make rifle stocks for the family's armaments factory in St. Petersburg, Alfred ended up buying tracts of oil-bearing land. Bringing in six Pennsylvanian drillers, Nobel transformed Russian oil-field technology. However, the remoteness of Baku meant that transporting wooden barrels full of crude oil to the western markets was a difficult task. But by 1880 Nobel had constructed the first oil pipeline in Europe to deliver the oil to Baku and with the profits from their enterprise they not only launched the world's first oil tanker, the ''Zoroaster'', but also built the first continuous-process refinery as well as a railway to transport the crude to St. Petersburg. At one time a single well form the ''Apspheron'' oil-field could produced 4.5 million litres, far surpassing any well in the United States. It was only the quantity of oil from Baku that prevented [[John D. Rockefeller]]'s Standard Oil from establishing the same monopoly position in Europe that it had in the United States.

==Personal Life==
Alfred Nobel's dedication to his work and travel did not leave much room for family life. Feeling like an old man at the age of 43 he advertised in a newspaper - "Wealthy, highly-educated elderly gentleman seeks lady of mature age, versed in languages, as secretary and supervisor of household." The position was taken by the Austrian, Countess Bertha Kinsky. She worked a short time for Nobel but returned to Austria to marry Count Arthur von Suttner. Despite this, she and Alfred remained firm frends and corresponded with each other for many years.

==War And Peace==
Nobel became one of the first proponents of MAD (mutually-assured destruction) when he said :

"My dynamite will sooner lead to peace than a thousand world conventions. 
As soon as men will find that in one instant, 
whole armies can be utterly destroyed, 
they surely will abide by golden peace."

However, his friend Bertha von Suttner became increasingly critical of the arms race and wrote a seminal book, ''Lay Down Your Arms'' which undoubtedly influenced Nobel. When he died in [[San Remo]], [[Italy]] on December 10, 1895 his last will laid out the proposal that his estate be invested in a fund, the interest of which was to be distributed amongst five prizes. These were to be awarded for Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Physiology or Medicine, and Peace. The first prizes were not awarded until 1901. In 1905 the Peace Prize was awarded to Bertha von Suttner.

Alfred Nobel

2007-05-15T21:28:07Z

Ian St John: sp - continue editing

Alfred Nobel

2007-05-15T21:25:39Z

Ian St John: Created page - Part 1

Great Flood

2007-05-15T11:09:51Z

Ian St John: /* Crustal Displacement Theory */

[[Image:Michelangeloflood.jpg|thumb|300px|right|''The Flood'', by Michaelangelo, detail from the Sistine Chapel, 1509.]]
Cultures around the world record a world-destroying '''flood''' in their oral or written histories. Dr. [[John Morris]] wrote regarding the existence of a past worldwide the following: "One of the strongest evidences for the global flood which annihilated all people on Earth except for [[Noah]] and his family, has been the ubiquitous presence of flood legends in the folklore of people groups from around the world. And the stories are all so similar." <ref>http://www.icr.org/article/570/</ref> Today 60% of Americans accept as true the Biblical account of the Great Flood.<ref>http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040216-113955-2061r.htm</ref>

== The Flood accounts ==

The best known of the flood accounts are, the two intermeshed versions found in the book of [[Genesis]], and the version found in the [[Gilgamish Epic]]. Both are written accounts.
The Genesis account is the most detailed of any of the accounts, and the one against which others are usually compared.
It has also been studied the most, with a number of terms used in reference to it, including the '''Flood''', '''Noah's Flood''', the '''Deluge''', the '''Great Flood''', and the '''Noahic flood'''.
The terms ''pre-diluvian'' and ''post-diluvian'' are used to refer to the times before and after the flood respectively.

A table comparing specific details in a number of different flood accounts can be found [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3107 here].

== The Genesis account ==

The Genesis account is the most detailed account.
In it, God warned Noah that He was going to destroy the world with a flood, because of the wickedness of mankind. Noah was to build an ark and take on it his family and representatives of all air-breathing, land-dwelling creatures. The ark was to be 300 cubits long by 50 cubits wide by 30 cubits high<ref>''Genesis'' 6:15</ref> (approximately 450 feet long, by 75 feet wide, by 45 feet high), have three decks, and rooms.

God brought the animals and birds to Noah, and there were, per Gen 7:2 two of the "[[unclean (animals)|unclean]]" animals and seven (or seven pairs) of the "[[clean (animals)|clean]]", and per Gen 6:19-20 "two of every sort".

After Noah and his family and all the creatures were on board, God shut the door of the ark.
The flood was brought on by the eruption of subterranean water ("''the fountains of the deep were opened''"), and rain.
The rain lasted nearly six weeks (40 days and nights).
The flood waters apparently continued to rise for 150 days, but it was just over a year before the waters had receded enough for the occupants of the ark to leave.

The ark is recorded as having come to rest on the mountains of Ararat, taken by many today to be the existing mountains of that name.
God put a rainbow in the clouds, and said that it was to be a reminder that he would never again destroy the world in a flood. (Genesis does not say that this was the first ever rainbow.)
He also told Noah that it was now okay to eat meat.

All people alive today are descendants of [[family of Noah|Noah and his family]].

== The Gilgamish Epic account ==

The council of the gods decided to destroy mankind with a flood, but Utnapishtim was warned by the god who had made man, Ea, to build a boat to take all living being. The length, width, and height were each 120 cubits (about 180 feet). It had seven stories.

The gods got frightened by the flood and retreated to heaven where they cowered and wept.
The flood lasted six days and seven nights, and was accompanied by wind and storm.
Utnapishtim send out a dove followed by a swallow, but both returned, unable to find land. He then sent a raven, which didn't return.

Dr. Jonathan Sarfati comments on the Gilgamish Epic:
:It is common to make legends out of historical events, but not history from legends. ... For instance, in Genesis, God’s judgment is just, he is patient with mankind for 120 years (Genesis 6:3), shows mercy to Noah, and is sovereign. Conversely, the gods in the Gilgamesh Epic are capricious and squabbling, cower at the Flood and are famished without humans to feed them sacrifices. That is, the human writers of the Gilgamesh Epic rewrote the true account, and made their gods in their own image.<ref Name="JS_GE" />

== Other ancient references ==

The Assyrian King [[Ashurbanipal]], who lived in the seventh century B.C., recorded, "I have read intricate tablets inscribed with obscure Sumerian or Akkadian...inscriptions on stone from before the Flood."<ref>[http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1032092 Ashurbanipal]</ref>

== Common Themes for Flood Accounts ==

=== Cause ===

Many of the accounts say that the flood was caused by God or some equivalent being.
In Genesis, it was Yahweh<ref>Genesis 6:3</ref>.
In the Gilgamish Epic, it was the council of the gods <ref Name="JS_GE">[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3107 Noah’s Flood and the Gilgamesh Epic] by Jonathan Sarfati, ''Creation'', vol. 28 No. 4 pp.12-17</ref>.
In the Bundaba (Australian aboriginal) flood story, it was Ngowungu, the Great Father. <ref>[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/1468 Australian Aboriginal Flood Stories], ''Creation'' Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 6-9.</ref>
The Greeks recorded it as being [[Zeus]].<ref name="Greek">[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#Greek Greek], in ''Flood Stories from Around the World'' by Mark Isaak.</ref>

=== Purpose ===

When the cause of the flood is attributed to a god, the reason is frequently said to be for [[mankind]]'s wickedness.
Genesis adds that "every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time".<ref>Genesis 6:5 (NIV)</ref>
The Miao account from China says, in verse, "These did not God's will nor returned His affection. / But fought with each other defying the Godhead. / Their leaders shook fists in the face of the Mighty."<ref>[http://www.icr.org/index.php?module=articles&action=view&ID=341 Genesis According to the Miao People], by Edgar A. Truax, ''Impact'', April 1991</ref>
A Navajo account says that it was because of "their sins of adultery and constant quarreling". <ref>[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#Navajo Navajo (Four Corners area)], in ''Flood Stories from Around the World'' by Mark Isaak</ref>

=== What saved the people ===

People were generally saved either by floating out the flood, or fleeing to the top of a mountain. In the former case, the vessel took a variety of forms.
A Hopi Indian story has them surviving in the hollow stems of giant reeds<ref name="Hopi">[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#Hopi Hopi], in ''Flood Stories from Around the World'' by Mark Isaak.</ref>
The Greek story has them surviving in a chest. <Ref name="Greek" />
In Genesis, Noah was instructed by God to build an ark to dimensions and other specifications included in the account.

=== Who was saved? ===

The survivors were often a single family.
An Australian aboriginal account has Ngadgja, the Supreme One, telling Gajara to take his wife, his sons, and his sons' wives.<ref name="Wunambal">[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/1467 Aboriginal Flood Legend], by Howard Coates, ''Creation'' Vol. 4 No.3, pp.9-12</ref>
The Masai account from East Africa has Tumbainot taking his two wives, his six sons, and their wives.<ref name="Masai">[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#Masai Masai (East Africa)], in ''Flood Stories from Around the World'' by Mark Isaak.</ref>
A Hawaiian story has Nuu taking his wife and three sons. <ref name="Hawaii">[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#Hawaii Hawaii], in ''Flood Stories from Around the World'' by Mark Isaak.</ref>
Noah took his wife, his three sons, and their wives.<ref>Genesis 7:13</ref>

=== Birds sent out ===

Genesis describes Noah sending out birds to see if there was yet dry land.<ref>Genesis 8:6-12</ref>
Initially this was unsuccessful, but a subsequent attempt was successful when a dove didn't return. In the Hopi account also, they unsuccessfully sent out birds to find land.<ref name="Hopi" />
An Australian aboriginal account has a cuckoo not returning because it found land.<ref name="Wunambal" />
The Masai account has Tumbainot sending out a dove, which returned because it had no place to rest.<ref name="Masai" />

=== A rainbow ===

The Masai account has four rainbows signifying that God's wrath was over.<ref name="Masai" />
A Hawaiian account has the god Kane leaving a rainbow as a perpetual sign of his forgiveness.<ref name="Hawaii" />
From an Australian aboriginal story comes this account:
:Ngadja, the Supreme Being, put the rainbow in the sky to keep the rain-clouds back. The rainbow lies bent across the sky; he ties up the clouds behind it and the rain does not come. The rainbow keeps the clouds back and protects us so that the rainfall does not rise too high. Our people understand the significance of it. When we see the rainbow we say, ‘There will not be any abnormally heavy rain.’<ref name="Wunambal" />

Genesis says that the rainbow would be a reminder that God would never again destroy the world with a flood.<ref>Genesis 9:12-17</ref>

=== Criticisms ===

''See also criticism in [[Noah's Ark#Controversy|Noah's Ark]] and [[Flood Geology#Controversy|Flood Geology]].

Critics of the global flood suggest that the flood accounts are unrelated accounts of local floods, or stories influenced by the arrival of missionaries.

However, Nozomi Osanai responds that "''...the detailed nature of the widely spread statements has common elements to the Bible. In fact, even people who live far from the sea or in mountainous areas have flood traditions which are similar to the Genesis account.''"<ref>[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/4089/ A comparative study of the flood accounts in the Gilgamesh Epic and Genesis, chapter 7], by Nozomi Osanai.</ref>

And Murray Adamthwaite responds regarding the missionary influence, "''...that explanation fails since in many cases secular anthropologists gathered the stories before missionaries reached these tribes with the Gospel. In other cases missionaries have related how they indeed told the story of Noah, only to find that the tribal folk already had a similar tale in their own legends.''"<ref>[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/2538 Animals, a Deluge and Noah’s Ark]</ref>

== Modern explanations ==

===Black Sea theory===
In 2000, explorers discovered evidence that humans lived where the [[Black Sea]] now is and speculated the sea was created during a great flood <ref>http://archives.cnn.com/2000/NATURE/09/13/great.flood.finds.ap/</ref>. Dr. Robert Ballard expanded on this theory, postulating that the Black Sea was much lower during the Ice Age (including the finding of a beach thousands of feet underwater), and when the walls holding back the Mediterranean Sea at the Bosporus broke, the sea rushed in and drowned the inhabitants; those who survived told the tale orally, and according to Ballard this became the basis for the flood accounts of Genesis and Gilgamesh [http://www.nationalgeographic.com/blacksea/ax/frame.html]. This theory is for a local flood, and not the world-wide flood as recorded in Genesis and many other cultural traditions. It also doesn't fit with many other details of the Genesis account.<ref>[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3392 Proof of Noah's Flood at the Black Sea?] by Creation Ministries International.</ref>

===Crustal Displacement Theory===
In ''When the sky fell: In search of Atlantis'' (1996), Rand Flem Ath <ref>http://www.flem-ath.com</ref> expanded on Professor Charles Hapgood's theory of crustal displacement whereby the entire earth's crust moved with respect to the core. The suggested date for this was about 10,000 years BC. If a displacement had occurred then it would have caused enormous disruption to the the earth's oceans with massive tsunamis and heavy rain. Although the book was nominally about the disappearance of [[Atlantis]], the theory of crustal displacement not only explains the discrepancies in ice thickness in Greenland and Antarctica but also the sudden demise of the mammoths. This theory could also potentially explain the widespread existence of flood myths throughout different cultures.

== Flood geology ==

''See main article: [[Flood Geology]]''

Flood geology is the study of the Earth's geology from the point of view that the Genesis account is true and accurate, and that evidence of the Flood can be found in the geology of the Earth.

Until the rise of [[uniformitarian]] geology in the early 19th century, most geologists accepted the Noahic deluge as part of geology.
But [[James Hutton]] proposed in 1795 that geology ought to be based on the processes that we see happening now, thereby automatically ruling the Flood out of consideration.
During the 19th century a number of "[[scriptural geologists]]" held out against the rising acceptance of Hutton's principles,<ref>The Great Turning Point, by Terry Mortenson. See also a series of articles in the ''Journal of Creation'', commencing with "British scriptural geologists in the first half of the nineteenth century: part 1" by Terry Mortenson, ''Journal of Creation'' Vol. 11 No. 2 pp. 221-252.</ref> but they fought a losing battle and interest in flood geology virtually died out by the end of the 19th century.

However, in the second half of the 20th century, interest was revived amongst people keen to show that the biblical account was correct, and a small but growing number of geologists are now studying this field again, although the vast majority of geologists still reject the idea of a global flood on Earth.

Flood geologists propose that such a world-wide, year-long flood would have caused massive erosion, sedimentation, and geological movements, and leaving extensive evidence in the [[geology|geological]] record.
Many propose that there was a single continent before the flood that broke up during the flood.
The idea of tectonic plate movement was proposed by creationary scientist Antonio Snider in 1859,<ref>[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3670 What About Continental Drift], Chapter 11 of The Answers Book Updated & Expanded, Don Batten (Ed.)</ref> although it was not until several other scientists had proposed similar ideas that the idea was adopted by mainstream scientists in the last few decades of the 20th century.

According to flood geologists, the flood resulted from subterranean water erupting to the surface ("''the springs of the great deep burst forth''"—Genesis 7:11, NIV), combined with 40 days and nights of rain.
Although the rain stopped after 40 days, the flood waters continued to rise for 150 days, and lasted just over a year before Noah and the others on the boat were able to leave.<ref>The flood began on the 17th day of the second month of the 600th year of Noah's life (Genesis 7:11) and the ark's passengers alighted on the 27th day of the second month of the 601st year of Noah's life (Genesis 8:13-15)</ref>
During the flood, there was massive tectonic activity, including some land rising up and other land dropping, such that the waters ended up in newly-deepened oceans.
All the animals and birds (except those on the ark), and large numbers of sea creatures perished, and many of them were buried so quickly that they became [[fossil]]s, accounting for the vast majority of fossils existing today.

Flood geology also proposes that the flood waters swept together and buried large mats of vegetation ripped from the surface of the Earth, forming the [[coal]] beds that are mined today.

===Creationist Scientists Defense of Flood Geology ===
Creationist scientists assert that there are multiple lines of evidence from the field of geology showing that flood geology is correct. <ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/geology.asp</ref><ref>http://www.creationism.org/topbar/geology.htm</ref><ref>http://www.grisda.org/georpts/gr11.htm</ref><ref>http://www.nwcreation.net/geologylinks.html</ref><ref>http://globalflood.org/</ref> Creationist scientists also state that there was enough water to cause a worldwide flood and various other objections to a worldwide flood are invalid. <ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/Home/Area/AnswersBook/flood12.asp</ref><ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/flood.asp</ref>

==External Links==

*[http://www.maicar.com/GML/Flood.html Greek Myths: Deucalion and the Flood]
*[http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/tab11.htm Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet 11 (Flood Story)]
*[http://www.nwcreation.net/geologycolumn.html Geological evidence from Northwest Creation]
*[http://www.genesisfiles.com/Library.htm#B Genesis Files website]
*[http://www.searchgodsword.org/enc/isb/view.cgi?number=T2631]
*[http://www.answersingenesis.org/Home/Area/AnswersBook/global10.asp Was the Flood Global? Answers in Genesis article]
*[http://www.nationalgeographic.com/blacksea/ax/frame.html Black Sea theory, from Dr. Robert Ballard and National Geographic]
*[http://www.ilhawaii.net/~stony/lore64.html Native American flood story]
*[http://wovoca.com/myths-flood-1.htm Collection of Flood myths]

== Notes ==

<references />

Great Flood

2007-05-15T06:28:30Z

Ian St John: /* Crustal Displacement Theory */ changed book

[[Image:Michelangeloflood.jpg|thumb|300px|right|''The Flood'', by Michaelangelo, detail from the Sistine Chapel, 1509.]]
Cultures around the world record a world-destroying '''flood''' in their oral or written histories. Dr. [[John Morris]] wrote regarding the existence of a past worldwide the following: "One of the strongest evidences for the global flood which annihilated all people on Earth except for [[Noah]] and his family, has been the ubiquitous presence of flood legends in the folklore of people groups from around the world. And the stories are all so similar." <ref>http://www.icr.org/article/570/</ref> Today 60% of Americans accept as true the Biblical account of the Great Flood.<ref>http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040216-113955-2061r.htm</ref>

== The Flood accounts ==

The best known of the flood accounts are, the two intermeshed versions found in the book of [[Genesis]], and the version found in the [[Gilgamish Epic]]. Both are written accounts.
The Genesis account is the most detailed of any of the accounts, and the one against which others are usually compared.
It has also been studied the most, with a number of terms used in reference to it, including the '''Flood''', '''Noah's Flood''', the '''Deluge''', the '''Great Flood''', and the '''Noahic flood'''.
The terms ''pre-diluvian'' and ''post-diluvian'' are used to refer to the times before and after the flood respectively.

A table comparing specific details in a number of different flood accounts can be found [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3107 here].

== The Genesis account ==

The Genesis account is the most detailed account.
In it, God warned Noah that He was going to destroy the world with a flood, because of the wickedness of mankind. Noah was to build an ark and take on it his family and representatives of all air-breathing, land-dwelling creatures. The ark was to be 300 cubits long by 50 cubits wide by 30 cubits high<ref>''Genesis'' 6:15</ref> (approximately 450 feet long, by 75 feet wide, by 45 feet high), have three decks, and rooms.

God brought the animals and birds to Noah, and there were, per Gen 7:2 two of the "[[unclean (animals)|unclean]]" animals and seven (or seven pairs) of the "[[clean (animals)|clean]]", and per Gen 6:19-20 "two of every sort".

After Noah and his family and all the creatures were on board, God shut the door of the ark.
The flood was brought on by the eruption of subterranean water ("''the fountains of the deep were opened''"), and rain.
The rain lasted nearly six weeks (40 days and nights).
The flood waters apparently continued to rise for 150 days, but it was just over a year before the waters had receded enough for the occupants of the ark to leave.

The ark is recorded as having come to rest on the mountains of Ararat, taken by many today to be the existing mountains of that name.
God put a rainbow in the clouds, and said that it was to be a reminder that he would never again destroy the world in a flood. (Genesis does not say that this was the first ever rainbow.)
He also told Noah that it was now okay to eat meat.

All people alive today are descendants of [[family of Noah|Noah and his family]].

== The Gilgamish Epic account ==

The council of the gods decided to destroy mankind with a flood, but Utnapishtim was warned by the god who had made man, Ea, to build a boat to take all living being. The length, width, and height were each 120 cubits (about 180 feet). It had seven stories.

The gods got frightened by the flood and retreated to heaven where they cowered and wept.
The flood lasted six days and seven nights, and was accompanied by wind and storm.
Utnapishtim send out a dove followed by a swallow, but both returned, unable to find land. He then sent a raven, which didn't return.

Dr. Jonathan Sarfati comments on the Gilgamish Epic:
:It is common to make legends out of historical events, but not history from legends. ... For instance, in Genesis, God’s judgment is just, he is patient with mankind for 120 years (Genesis 6:3), shows mercy to Noah, and is sovereign. Conversely, the gods in the Gilgamesh Epic are capricious and squabbling, cower at the Flood and are famished without humans to feed them sacrifices. That is, the human writers of the Gilgamesh Epic rewrote the true account, and made their gods in their own image.<ref Name="JS_GE" />

== Other ancient references ==

The Assyrian King [[Ashurbanipal]], who lived in the seventh century B.C., recorded, "I have read intricate tablets inscribed with obscure Sumerian or Akkadian...inscriptions on stone from before the Flood."<ref>[http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1032092 Ashurbanipal]</ref>

== Common Themes for Flood Accounts ==

=== Cause ===

Many of the accounts say that the flood was caused by God or some equivalent being.
In Genesis, it was Yahweh<ref>Genesis 6:3</ref>.
In the Gilgamish Epic, it was the council of the gods <ref Name="JS_GE">[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3107 Noah’s Flood and the Gilgamesh Epic] by Jonathan Sarfati, ''Creation'', vol. 28 No. 4 pp.12-17</ref>.
In the Bundaba (Australian aboriginal) flood story, it was Ngowungu, the Great Father. <ref>[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/1468 Australian Aboriginal Flood Stories], ''Creation'' Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 6-9.</ref>
The Greeks recorded it as being [[Zeus]].<ref name="Greek">[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#Greek Greek], in ''Flood Stories from Around the World'' by Mark Isaak.</ref>

=== Purpose ===

When the cause of the flood is attributed to a god, the reason is frequently said to be for [[mankind]]'s wickedness.
Genesis adds that "every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time".<ref>Genesis 6:5 (NIV)</ref>
The Miao account from China says, in verse, "These did not God's will nor returned His affection. / But fought with each other defying the Godhead. / Their leaders shook fists in the face of the Mighty."<ref>[http://www.icr.org/index.php?module=articles&action=view&ID=341 Genesis According to the Miao People], by Edgar A. Truax, ''Impact'', April 1991</ref>
A Navajo account says that it was because of "their sins of adultery and constant quarreling". <ref>[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#Navajo Navajo (Four Corners area)], in ''Flood Stories from Around the World'' by Mark Isaak</ref>

=== What saved the people ===

People were generally saved either by floating out the flood, or fleeing to the top of a mountain. In the former case, the vessel took a variety of forms.
A Hopi Indian story has them surviving in the hollow stems of giant reeds<ref name="Hopi">[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#Hopi Hopi], in ''Flood Stories from Around the World'' by Mark Isaak.</ref>
The Greek story has them surviving in a chest. <Ref name="Greek" />
In Genesis, Noah was instructed by God to build an ark to dimensions and other specifications included in the account.

=== Who was saved? ===

The survivors were often a single family.
An Australian aboriginal account has Ngadgja, the Supreme One, telling Gajara to take his wife, his sons, and his sons' wives.<ref name="Wunambal">[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/1467 Aboriginal Flood Legend], by Howard Coates, ''Creation'' Vol. 4 No.3, pp.9-12</ref>
The Masai account from East Africa has Tumbainot taking his two wives, his six sons, and their wives.<ref name="Masai">[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#Masai Masai (East Africa)], in ''Flood Stories from Around the World'' by Mark Isaak.</ref>
A Hawaiian story has Nuu taking his wife and three sons. <ref name="Hawaii">[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#Hawaii Hawaii], in ''Flood Stories from Around the World'' by Mark Isaak.</ref>
Noah took his wife, his three sons, and their wives.<ref>Genesis 7:13</ref>

=== Birds sent out ===

Genesis describes Noah sending out birds to see if there was yet dry land.<ref>Genesis 8:6-12</ref>
Initially this was unsuccessful, but a subsequent attempt was successful when a dove didn't return. In the Hopi account also, they unsuccessfully sent out birds to find land.<ref name="Hopi" />
An Australian aboriginal account has a cuckoo not returning because it found land.<ref name="Wunambal" />
The Masai account has Tumbainot sending out a dove, which returned because it had no place to rest.<ref name="Masai" />

=== A rainbow ===

The Masai account has four rainbows signifying that God's wrath was over.<ref name="Masai" />
A Hawaiian account has the god Kane leaving a rainbow as a perpetual sign of his forgiveness.<ref name="Hawaii" />
From an Australian aboriginal story comes this account:
:Ngadja, the Supreme Being, put the rainbow in the sky to keep the rain-clouds back. The rainbow lies bent across the sky; he ties up the clouds behind it and the rain does not come. The rainbow keeps the clouds back and protects us so that the rainfall does not rise too high. Our people understand the significance of it. When we see the rainbow we say, ‘There will not be any abnormally heavy rain.’<ref name="Wunambal" />

Genesis says that the rainbow would be a reminder that God would never again destroy the world with a flood.<ref>Genesis 9:12-17</ref>

=== Criticisms ===

''See also criticism in [[Noah's Ark#Controversy|Noah's Ark]] and [[Flood Geology#Controversy|Flood Geology]].

Critics of the global flood suggest that the flood accounts are unrelated accounts of local floods, or stories influenced by the arrival of missionaries.

However, Nozomi Osanai responds that "''...the detailed nature of the widely spread statements has common elements to the Bible. In fact, even people who live far from the sea or in mountainous areas have flood traditions which are similar to the Genesis account.''"<ref>[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/4089/ A comparative study of the flood accounts in the Gilgamesh Epic and Genesis, chapter 7], by Nozomi Osanai.</ref>

And Murray Adamthwaite responds regarding the missionary influence, "''...that explanation fails since in many cases secular anthropologists gathered the stories before missionaries reached these tribes with the Gospel. In other cases missionaries have related how they indeed told the story of Noah, only to find that the tribal folk already had a similar tale in their own legends.''"<ref>[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/2538 Animals, a Deluge and Noah’s Ark]</ref>

== Modern explanations ==

===Black Sea theory===
In 2000, explorers discovered evidence that humans lived where the [[Black Sea]] now is and speculated the sea was created during a great flood <ref>http://archives.cnn.com/2000/NATURE/09/13/great.flood.finds.ap/</ref>. Dr. Robert Ballard expanded on this theory, postulating that the Black Sea was much lower during the Ice Age (including the finding of a beach thousands of feet underwater), and when the walls holding back the Mediterranean Sea at the Bosporus broke, the sea rushed in and drowned the inhabitants; those who survived told the tale orally, and according to Ballard this became the basis for the flood accounts of Genesis and Gilgamesh [http://www.nationalgeographic.com/blacksea/ax/frame.html]. This theory is for a local flood, and not the world-wide flood as recorded in Genesis and many other cultural traditions. It also doesn't fit with many other details of the Genesis account.<ref>[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3392 Proof of Noah's Flood at the Black Sea?] by Creation Ministries International.</ref>

===Crustal Displacement Theory===
In [[When the sky fell: In search of Atlantis]], Rand Flem Ath proposed<ref>http://www.flem-ath.com</ref> a theory of crustal displacement whereby the entire earth's crust moved with respect to the core. The suggested date for this was about 10,000 years BC. If a displacement had occurred then it would have caused enormous disruption to the the earth's oceans with massive tsunamis and heavy rain. Although the book was nominally about the disappearance of [[Atlantis]], the theory of crustal displacement not only explains the discrepancies in ice thickness in Greenland and Antarctica but also the sudden demise of the mammoths. This theory could also potentially explain the widespread existence of flood myths throughout different cultures.

== Flood geology ==

''See main article: [[Flood Geology]]''

Flood geology is the study of the Earth's geology from the point of view that the Genesis account is true and accurate, and that evidence of the Flood can be found in the geology of the Earth.

Until the rise of [[uniformitarian]] geology in the early 19th century, most geologists accepted the Noahic deluge as part of geology.
But [[James Hutton]] proposed in 1795 that geology ought to be based on the processes that we see happening now, thereby automatically ruling the Flood out of consideration.
During the 19th century a number of "[[scriptural geologists]]" held out against the rising acceptance of Hutton's principles,<ref>The Great Turning Point, by Terry Mortenson. See also a series of articles in the ''Journal of Creation'', commencing with "British scriptural geologists in the first half of the nineteenth century: part 1" by Terry Mortenson, ''Journal of Creation'' Vol. 11 No. 2 pp. 221-252.</ref> but they fought a losing battle and interest in flood geology virtually died out by the end of the 19th century.

However, in the second half of the 20th century, interest was revived amongst people keen to show that the biblical account was correct, and a small but growing number of geologists are now studying this field again, although the vast majority of geologists still reject the idea of a global flood on Earth.

Flood geologists propose that such a world-wide, year-long flood would have caused massive erosion, sedimentation, and geological movements, and leaving extensive evidence in the [[geology|geological]] record.
Many propose that there was a single continent before the flood that broke up during the flood.
The idea of tectonic plate movement was proposed by creationary scientist Antonio Snider in 1859,<ref>[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3670 What About Continental Drift], Chapter 11 of The Answers Book Updated & Expanded, Don Batten (Ed.)</ref> although it was not until several other scientists had proposed similar ideas that the idea was adopted by mainstream scientists in the last few decades of the 20th century.

According to flood geologists, the flood resulted from subterranean water erupting to the surface ("''the springs of the great deep burst forth''"—Genesis 7:11, NIV), combined with 40 days and nights of rain.
Although the rain stopped after 40 days, the flood waters continued to rise for 150 days, and lasted just over a year before Noah and the others on the boat were able to leave.<ref>The flood began on the 17th day of the second month of the 600th year of Noah's life (Genesis 7:11) and the ark's passengers alighted on the 27th day of the second month of the 601st year of Noah's life (Genesis 8:13-15)</ref>
During the flood, there was massive tectonic activity, including some land rising up and other land dropping, such that the waters ended up in newly-deepened oceans.
All the animals and birds (except those on the ark), and large numbers of sea creatures perished, and many of them were buried so quickly that they became [[fossil]]s, accounting for the vast majority of fossils existing today.

Flood geology also proposes that the flood waters swept together and buried large mats of vegetation ripped from the surface of the Earth, forming the [[coal]] beds that are mined today.

===Creationist Scientists Defense of Flood Geology ===
Creationist scientists assert that there are multiple lines of evidence from the field of geology showing that flood geology is correct. <ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/geology.asp</ref><ref>http://www.creationism.org/topbar/geology.htm</ref><ref>http://www.grisda.org/georpts/gr11.htm</ref><ref>http://www.nwcreation.net/geologylinks.html</ref><ref>http://globalflood.org/</ref> Creationist scientists also state that there was enough water to cause a worldwide flood and various other objections to a worldwide flood are invalid. <ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/Home/Area/AnswersBook/flood12.asp</ref><ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/flood.asp</ref>

==External Links==

*[http://www.maicar.com/GML/Flood.html Greek Myths: Deucalion and the Flood]
*[http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/tab11.htm Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet 11 (Flood Story)]
*[http://www.nwcreation.net/geologycolumn.html Geological evidence from Northwest Creation]
*[http://www.genesisfiles.com/Library.htm#B Genesis Files website]
*[http://www.searchgodsword.org/enc/isb/view.cgi?number=T2631]
*[http://www.answersingenesis.org/Home/Area/AnswersBook/global10.asp Was the Flood Global? Answers in Genesis article]
*[http://www.nationalgeographic.com/blacksea/ax/frame.html Black Sea theory, from Dr. Robert Ballard and National Geographic]
*[http://www.ilhawaii.net/~stony/lore64.html Native American flood story]
*[http://wovoca.com/myths-flood-1.htm Collection of Flood myths]

== Notes ==

<references />

Great Flood

2007-05-15T05:55:59Z

Ian St John: Undo revision 161503 by Special:Contributions/Philip J. Rayment (User talk:Philip J. Rayment) Please read the book before arbitrarily dismissing an edit

[[Image:Michelangeloflood.jpg|thumb|300px|right|''The Flood'', by Michaelangelo, detail from the Sistine Chapel, 1509.]]
Cultures around the world record a world-destroying '''flood''' in their oral or written histories. Dr. [[John Morris]] wrote regarding the existence of a past worldwide the following: "One of the strongest evidences for the global flood which annihilated all people on Earth except for [[Noah]] and his family, has been the ubiquitous presence of flood legends in the folklore of people groups from around the world. And the stories are all so similar." <ref>http://www.icr.org/article/570/</ref> Today 60% of Americans accept as true the Biblical account of the Great Flood.<ref>http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040216-113955-2061r.htm</ref>

== The Flood accounts ==

The best known of the flood accounts are, the two intermeshed versions found in the book of [[Genesis]], and the version found in the [[Gilgamish Epic]]. Both are written accounts.
The Genesis account is the most detailed of any of the accounts, and the one against which others are usually compared.
It has also been studied the most, with a number of terms used in reference to it, including the '''Flood''', '''Noah's Flood''', the '''Deluge''', the '''Great Flood''', and the '''Noahic flood'''.
The terms ''pre-diluvian'' and ''post-diluvian'' are used to refer to the times before and after the flood respectively.

A table comparing specific details in a number of different flood accounts can be found [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3107 here].

== The Genesis account ==

The Genesis account is the most detailed account.
In it, God warned Noah that He was going to destroy the world with a flood, because of the wickedness of mankind. Noah was to build an ark and take on it his family and representatives of all air-breathing, land-dwelling creatures. The ark was to be 300 cubits long by 50 cubits wide by 30 cubits high<ref>''Genesis'' 6:15</ref> (approximately 450 feet long, by 75 feet wide, by 45 feet high), have three decks, and rooms.

God brought the animals and birds to Noah, and there were, per Gen 7:2 two of the "[[unclean (animals)|unclean]]" animals and seven (or seven pairs) of the "[[clean (animals)|clean]]", and per Gen 6:19-20 "two of every sort".

After Noah and his family and all the creatures were on board, God shut the door of the ark.
The flood was brought on by the eruption of subterranean water ("''the fountains of the deep were opened''"), and rain.
The rain lasted nearly six weeks (40 days and nights).
The flood waters apparently continued to rise for 150 days, but it was just over a year before the waters had receded enough for the occupants of the ark to leave.

The ark is recorded as having come to rest on the mountains of Ararat, taken by many today to be the existing mountains of that name.
God put a rainbow in the clouds, and said that it was to be a reminder that he would never again destroy the world in a flood. (Genesis does not say that this was the first ever rainbow.)
He also told Noah that it was now okay to eat meat.

All people alive today are descendants of [[family of Noah|Noah and his family]].

== The Gilgamish Epic account ==

The council of the gods decided to destroy mankind with a flood, but Utnapishtim was warned by the god who had made man, Ea, to build a boat to take all living being. The length, width, and height were each 120 cubits (about 180 feet). It had seven stories.

The gods got frightened by the flood and retreated to heaven where they cowered and wept.
The flood lasted six days and seven nights, and was accompanied by wind and storm.
Utnapishtim send out a dove followed by a swallow, but both returned, unable to find land. He then sent a raven, which didn't return.

Dr. Jonathan Sarfati comments on the Gilgamish Epic:
:It is common to make legends out of historical events, but not history from legends. ... For instance, in Genesis, God’s judgment is just, he is patient with mankind for 120 years (Genesis 6:3), shows mercy to Noah, and is sovereign. Conversely, the gods in the Gilgamesh Epic are capricious and squabbling, cower at the Flood and are famished without humans to feed them sacrifices. That is, the human writers of the Gilgamesh Epic rewrote the true account, and made their gods in their own image.<ref Name="JS_GE" />

== Other ancient references ==

The Assyrian King [[Ashurbanipal]], who lived in the seventh century B.C., recorded, "I have read intricate tablets inscribed with obscure Sumerian or Akkadian...inscriptions on stone from before the Flood."<ref>[http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1032092 Ashurbanipal]</ref>

== Common Themes for Flood Accounts ==

=== Cause ===

Many of the accounts say that the flood was caused by God or some equivalent being.
In Genesis, it was Yahweh<ref>Genesis 6:3</ref>.
In the Gilgamish Epic, it was the council of the gods <ref Name="JS_GE">[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3107 Noah’s Flood and the Gilgamesh Epic] by Jonathan Sarfati, ''Creation'', vol. 28 No. 4 pp.12-17</ref>.
In the Bundaba (Australian aboriginal) flood story, it was Ngowungu, the Great Father. <ref>[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/1468 Australian Aboriginal Flood Stories], ''Creation'' Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 6-9.</ref>
The Greeks recorded it as being [[Zeus]].<ref name="Greek">[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#Greek Greek], in ''Flood Stories from Around the World'' by Mark Isaak.</ref>

=== Purpose ===

When the cause of the flood is attributed to a god, the reason is frequently said to be for [[mankind]]'s wickedness.
Genesis adds that "every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time".<ref>Genesis 6:5 (NIV)</ref>
The Miao account from China says, in verse, "These did not God's will nor returned His affection. / But fought with each other defying the Godhead. / Their leaders shook fists in the face of the Mighty."<ref>[http://www.icr.org/index.php?module=articles&action=view&ID=341 Genesis According to the Miao People], by Edgar A. Truax, ''Impact'', April 1991</ref>
A Navajo account says that it was because of "their sins of adultery and constant quarreling". <ref>[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#Navajo Navajo (Four Corners area)], in ''Flood Stories from Around the World'' by Mark Isaak</ref>

=== What saved the people ===

People were generally saved either by floating out the flood, or fleeing to the top of a mountain. In the former case, the vessel took a variety of forms.
A Hopi Indian story has them surviving in the hollow stems of giant reeds<ref name="Hopi">[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#Hopi Hopi], in ''Flood Stories from Around the World'' by Mark Isaak.</ref>
The Greek story has them surviving in a chest. <Ref name="Greek" />
In Genesis, Noah was instructed by God to build an ark to dimensions and other specifications included in the account.

=== Who was saved? ===

The survivors were often a single family.
An Australian aboriginal account has Ngadgja, the Supreme One, telling Gajara to take his wife, his sons, and his sons' wives.<ref name="Wunambal">[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/1467 Aboriginal Flood Legend], by Howard Coates, ''Creation'' Vol. 4 No.3, pp.9-12</ref>
The Masai account from East Africa has Tumbainot taking his two wives, his six sons, and their wives.<ref name="Masai">[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#Masai Masai (East Africa)], in ''Flood Stories from Around the World'' by Mark Isaak.</ref>
A Hawaiian story has Nuu taking his wife and three sons. <ref name="Hawaii">[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#Hawaii Hawaii], in ''Flood Stories from Around the World'' by Mark Isaak.</ref>
Noah took his wife, his three sons, and their wives.<ref>Genesis 7:13</ref>

=== Birds sent out ===

Genesis describes Noah sending out birds to see if there was yet dry land.<ref>Genesis 8:6-12</ref>
Initially this was unsuccessful, but a subsequent attempt was successful when a dove didn't return. In the Hopi account also, they unsuccessfully sent out birds to find land.<ref name="Hopi" />
An Australian aboriginal account has a cuckoo not returning because it found land.<ref name="Wunambal" />
The Masai account has Tumbainot sending out a dove, which returned because it had no place to rest.<ref name="Masai" />

=== A rainbow ===

The Masai account has four rainbows signifying that God's wrath was over.<ref name="Masai" />
A Hawaiian account has the god Kane leaving a rainbow as a perpetual sign of his forgiveness.<ref name="Hawaii" />
From an Australian aboriginal story comes this account:
:Ngadja, the Supreme Being, put the rainbow in the sky to keep the rain-clouds back. The rainbow lies bent across the sky; he ties up the clouds behind it and the rain does not come. The rainbow keeps the clouds back and protects us so that the rainfall does not rise too high. Our people understand the significance of it. When we see the rainbow we say, ‘There will not be any abnormally heavy rain.’<ref name="Wunambal" />

Genesis says that the rainbow would be a reminder that God would never again destroy the world with a flood.<ref>Genesis 9:12-17</ref>

=== Criticisms ===

''See also criticism in [[Noah's Ark#Controversy|Noah's Ark]] and [[Flood Geology#Controversy|Flood Geology]].

Critics of the global flood suggest that the flood accounts are unrelated accounts of local floods, or stories influenced by the arrival of missionaries.

However, Nozomi Osanai responds that "''...the detailed nature of the widely spread statements has common elements to the Bible. In fact, even people who live far from the sea or in mountainous areas have flood traditions which are similar to the Genesis account.''"<ref>[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/4089/ A comparative study of the flood accounts in the Gilgamesh Epic and Genesis, chapter 7], by Nozomi Osanai.</ref>

And Murray Adamthwaite responds regarding the missionary influence, "''...that explanation fails since in many cases secular anthropologists gathered the stories before missionaries reached these tribes with the Gospel. In other cases missionaries have related how they indeed told the story of Noah, only to find that the tribal folk already had a similar tale in their own legends.''"<ref>[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/2538 Animals, a Deluge and Noah’s Ark]</ref>

== Modern explanations ==

===Black Sea theory===
In 2000, explorers discovered evidence that humans lived where the [[Black Sea]] now is and speculated the sea was created during a great flood <ref>http://archives.cnn.com/2000/NATURE/09/13/great.flood.finds.ap/</ref>. Dr. Robert Ballard expanded on this theory, postulating that the Black Sea was much lower during the Ice Age (including the finding of a beach thousands of feet underwater), and when the walls holding back the Mediterranean Sea at the Bosporus broke, the sea rushed in and drowned the inhabitants; those who survived told the tale orally, and according to Ballard this became the basis for the flood accounts of Genesis and Gilgamesh [http://www.nationalgeographic.com/blacksea/ax/frame.html]. This theory is for a local flood, and not the world-wide flood as recorded in Genesis and many other cultural traditions. It also doesn't fit with many other details of the Genesis account.<ref>[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3392 Proof of Noah's Flood at the Black Sea?] by Creation Ministries International.</ref>

===Crustal Displacement Theory===
In [[The Atlantis Blueprint]], Rand Flem Ath proposed<ref>http://www.flem-ath.com</ref> a theory of crustal displacement whereby the entire earth's crust moved with respect to the core. The suggested date for this was about 10,000 years BC. If a displacement had occurred then it would have caused enormous disruption to the the earth's oceans with massive tsunamis and heavy rain. Although the book was nominally about the disappearance of [[Atlantis]], the theory of crustal displacement not only explains the discrepancies in ice thickness in Greenland and Antarctica but also the sudden demise of the mammoths. It would also explain the widespread existence of flood myths throughout different cultures.

== Flood geology ==

''See main article: [[Flood Geology]]''

Flood geology is the study of the Earth's geology from the point of view that the Genesis account is true and accurate, and that evidence of the Flood can be found in the geology of the Earth.

Until the rise of [[uniformitarian]] geology in the early 19th century, most geologists accepted the Noahic deluge as part of geology.
But [[James Hutton]] proposed in 1795 that geology ought to be based on the processes that we see happening now, thereby automatically ruling the Flood out of consideration.
During the 19th century a number of "[[scriptural geologists]]" held out against the rising acceptance of Hutton's principles,<ref>The Great Turning Point, by Terry Mortenson. See also a series of articles in the ''Journal of Creation'', commencing with "British scriptural geologists in the first half of the nineteenth century: part 1" by Terry Mortenson, ''Journal of Creation'' Vol. 11 No. 2 pp. 221-252.</ref> but they fought a losing battle and interest in flood geology virtually died out by the end of the 19th century.

However, in the second half of the 20th century, interest was revived amongst people keen to show that the biblical account was correct, and a small but growing number of geologists are now studying this field again, although the vast majority of geologists still reject the idea of a global flood on Earth.

Flood geologists propose that such a world-wide, year-long flood would have caused massive erosion, sedimentation, and geological movements, and leaving extensive evidence in the [[geology|geological]] record.
Many propose that there was a single continent before the flood that broke up during the flood.
The idea of tectonic plate movement was proposed by creationary scientist Antonio Snider in 1859,<ref>[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3670 What About Continental Drift], Chapter 11 of The Answers Book Updated & Expanded, Don Batten (Ed.)</ref> although it was not until several other scientists had proposed similar ideas that the idea was adopted by mainstream scientists in the last few decades of the 20th century.

According to flood geologists, the flood resulted from subterranean water erupting to the surface ("''the springs of the great deep burst forth''"—Genesis 7:11, NIV), combined with 40 days and nights of rain.
Although the rain stopped after 40 days, the flood waters continued to rise for 150 days, and lasted just over a year before Noah and the others on the boat were able to leave.<ref>The flood began on the 17th day of the second month of the 600th year of Noah's life (Genesis 7:11) and the ark's passengers alighted on the 27th day of the second month of the 601st year of Noah's life (Genesis 8:13-15)</ref>
During the flood, there was massive tectonic activity, including some land rising up and other land dropping, such that the waters ended up in newly-deepened oceans.
All the animals and birds (except those on the ark), and large numbers of sea creatures perished, and many of them were buried so quickly that they became [[fossil]]s, accounting for the vast majority of fossils existing today.

Flood geology also proposes that the flood waters swept together and buried large mats of vegetation ripped from the surface of the Earth, forming the [[coal]] beds that are mined today.

===Creationist Scientists Defense of Flood Geology ===
Creationist scientists assert that there are multiple lines of evidence from the field of geology showing that flood geology is correct. <ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/geology.asp</ref><ref>http://www.creationism.org/topbar/geology.htm</ref><ref>http://www.grisda.org/georpts/gr11.htm</ref><ref>http://www.nwcreation.net/geologylinks.html</ref><ref>http://globalflood.org/</ref> Creationist scientists also state that there was enough water to cause a worldwide flood and various other objections to a worldwide flood are invalid. <ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/Home/Area/AnswersBook/flood12.asp</ref><ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/flood.asp</ref>

==External Links==

*[http://www.maicar.com/GML/Flood.html Greek Myths: Deucalion and the Flood]
*[http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/tab11.htm Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet 11 (Flood Story)]
*[http://www.nwcreation.net/geologycolumn.html Geological evidence from Northwest Creation]
*[http://www.genesisfiles.com/Library.htm#B Genesis Files website]
*[http://www.searchgodsword.org/enc/isb/view.cgi?number=T2631]
*[http://www.answersingenesis.org/Home/Area/AnswersBook/global10.asp Was the Flood Global? Answers in Genesis article]
*[http://www.nationalgeographic.com/blacksea/ax/frame.html Black Sea theory, from Dr. Robert Ballard and National Geographic]
*[http://www.ilhawaii.net/~stony/lore64.html Native American flood story]
*[http://wovoca.com/myths-flood-1.htm Collection of Flood myths]

== Notes ==

<references />

Talk:Ice age

2007-05-14T23:30:03Z

Ian St John: /* Reason for rollback */

== Actually Sourcing the Article ==
Ames, we don't post opinion as fact here. If you would like to present factual evidence here on the talk page then we can work off it and improve this entry.

For starters, this entry should denate that the Ice Age is a relatively recent theory, and explain why it developed.--[[User:Aschlafly|Aschlafly]] 11:12, 28 April 2007 (EDT)

:Andy, National Geographic is a scientific journal. It's not opinion, and you can't call it opinion just because you don't like it. I'm reverting with explanation & categorization of the dispute.-'''AmesG'''[http://www.conservapedia.com/User_talk:AmesG yo!] 11:19, 28 April 2007 (EDT)

: Ames, we've been round the track several times before on this. Journalists' opinions are not to be restated here as fact. National Geographic is journalism, if you didn't notice.--[[User:Aschlafly|Aschlafly]] 12:14, 28 April 2007 (EDT)

National Geographic is popularized science - it's still science. I didn't see you having any citations for your statements. Please don't patronize me, either, by saying I didn't "discuss" it first - you ''deleted'' the comments that I made so it looked like I hadn't discussed it! If you actually want to settle this objectively, please add some real, scientific citations to your comments on the article. I'll wait until you've had a chance to do so until I revert or perform any other action.

I'd like to also note that you can't make the facts go away by calling the "opinions," reverting, locking & blocking. You can just make the facts go away from ''you''. To think of an educator employing such draconian tactics to hide ''science'' from his students!-'''AmesG'''[http://www.conservapedia.com/User_talk:AmesG yo!] 12:38, 28 April 2007 (EDT)

:I have to agree, if AiG is considered an acceptable source on this site, then the National Geographic has to be considered reliable as well: it's one of the most distinguished and respected scientific journals in the world.[[User:Middle Man|Middle Man]]

::I wouldn't go quite that far. National Geographic's online masthead characterizes it as a magazine, not a journal; their style guide refers to the publication as "a magazine," or, "the magazine," etc. Insofar as it is a journal in the vernacular, it is just the journal of the National Geographic Society--not a scientific (=research) journal. Their articles are vetted by editors, not by masked review. Sometimes that has come back to bite them--look at the recent chicken dinosaur from China.
::That said, I still think National Geographic is a more scholarly, reliable, authoritative source than many cited on this site.--[[User:All Fish Welcome|All Fish Welcome]] 13:07, 28 April 2007 (EDT)

:::National Geographic is about on a par with Popular Mechanics, but it lacks the academic standards of ''Scientific American''. We need an article on [[scientific methodology]]. We also need articles on [[Peer review]], [[Academic standards]], [[Junk science]] and so on. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 12:51, 30 April 2007 (EDT)

::So do you think it's fair to revert it, MiddleMan?-'''AmesG'''[http://www.conservapedia.com/User_talk:AmesG yo!] 12:55, 28 April 2007 (EDT)

You mean putting the NGC link back?
Yes, of course.
If the linked article is relevant to this topic it should be included, even if it does not agree with Mr. Schlafy's view.[[User:Middle Man|Middle Man]]

:AllFish's critique is correct (I shouldn't have called it a journal - not peer reviewed), but I think his conclusion is, too - the publication is still more scientific than the current "no publication" citations on the page. I'll add another citation.-'''AmesG'''[http://www.conservapedia.com/User_talk:AmesG yo!] 13:20, 28 April 2007 (EDT)

Andy, why'd you yell at me for removal without discussion, and then remove information without discussion?-'''AmesG'''[http://www.conservapedia.com/User_talk:AmesG yo!] 16:28, 28 April 2007 (EDT)

== Geography ==

"[L]arge islands such as Cape Cod and Long Island" caught my attention. Cape Cod is not an island, it is, as the name implies, a cape, or a peninsula. Although one could technically argue that it is a [[man-made]] island due to the canal cut across it, that would make one silly. Perhaps it should read "large deposition formations such as Cape Cod and Long Island" [[User:Human|Human]] 14:22, 28 April 2007 (EDT)

== article locked to protect the young ==

It should be reverted all the way back to my original version. It was succinct and young earth-friendly. It also wasn't clunky and clumsy.

The current version spend more time explaining what one isn't than what one is. [[User:Human|Human]] 18:38, 28 April 2007 (EDT)

:I have unprotected the article (with the agreement of the protecting sysop). Serious contributions are welcome. Vandalism and ideological contributions presented as true are both not welcome. [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 10:47, 1 May 2007 (EDT)

== An "Ice Age" is an age, not a theory ==

Can we at least have a version of this page which doesn't claim that an ice age is a theory? They're ages (time periods) which may or may not have occured. That first sentence just hurts my head. --[[User:Jtl|Jtl]] 02:24, 29 April 2007 (EDT)

== factual conflict with GW page ==

"The Earth has experienced numerous ice ages over the past two million years, during which global temperatures dropped approximately 6 degrees Celsius and then returned to normal." <ref>http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Global_warming&oldid=135746#Natural_variability_of_the_climate_system</ref>

On eof the two articles needs to be substantially altered so they apply to the same planet. [[User:Human|Human]] 18:53, 29 April 2007 (EDT)

== Oh dear oh dear oh dear ==

Here we have Human writing an article which he describes as "young earth-friendly", despite his original version subtly mocking the YEC view. And we have AmesG trying to push the secular view using an appeal to popularity ("The overwhelming majority of the scientific community agrees..."). And we have Ed Poor (tentatively) and Aschlafly arguing that creationists don't believe in an ice age. Sorry, they do.

Sigh, another article that I'm putting on my to-do list for when I get time.

[[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 22:53, 29 April 2007 (EDT)
:Sigh. If it seemed subtly mocking (and of course it is ancient history now), all it had to have done was a rewrite. I just get tired of the endless "creation scientists think..." phrasing. Why can't it simply be asserted? Anyway, the article has become chaotic now, by all means, when you get that copious free time (I asked for some for Christmas last year), I hope you can make it much better! [[User:Human|Human]] 23:16, 29 April 2007 (EDT)
::Umm, it got a rewrite, didn't it? I agree, however, about the "endless 'creation scientists think...' phrasing". Did Santa give you some free time like you asked? [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 00:09, 30 April 2007 (EDT)
:::Ironically, the first rewrite it got was to delete the part that said none ever happened. As opposed to rephrasing it to remove any subtle mocking. Ah, free time. I suspect I will pay for it later, since I don't remember paying in advance. And TANSTAAFL... I love the way the article starts now, though. No subtle mockery in "An Ice Age is a theory that..." just, well, a lack of mastery of English grammar. I'd fix it, you know, this being a wiki and all, but for some reason the article is locked. [[User:Human|Human]] 01:12, 30 April 2007 (EDT)

== Biblical references ==

If we accept the Young Earth Creationist viewpoint, shouldn't an ice age that lasted 700 years after the great flood (more than 10% of recorded human existence) command more than a single quote from Job? [[User:Ian St John|Ian St John]] 16:53, 14 May 2007 (EDT)

== Reason for rollback ==

I rolled back the edit of the correct statement that supporters of evolution and an old earth were the first to propose a (massive) Ice Age. That is factually true and should not be deleted. I'll find a reference.--[[User:Aschlafly|Aschlafly]] 18:27, 14 May 2007 (EDT)
: Andy, I'm a geologist and don't consider evolution to be linked to geology. I can see that someone trying to espouse a particular doctrine might try and link the two but scientifically they should remain separate. [[User:Ian St John|Ian St John]] 18:36, 14 May 2007 (EDT)

:I see you posted a reference to Charles Lyell as support of the evolutionist support for an Ice Age. Yet [[Louis Agassiz]] was the main proponent and he was firmly anti-evolution. Lyell was a reluctant convert to evolution as he was a steady-statist and he was also a late convert to glaciation as it went against his steady state hypothesis. So to use Lyell as the sole justification for stating that ice-ages are related to evolution when there are creationists who believe in an ice age after the flood seems disingenuous. [[User:Ian St John|Ian St John]] 19:30, 14 May 2007 (EDT)

User talk:Conservative/Conservapedia-runningstats-1

2007-05-14T23:15:09Z

Ian St John: Link them

Thanks for keeping this archive. [[User:MountainDew|MountainDew]] 20:00, 10 April 2007 (EDT)

== Link them ==

Maybe you could wikilink them so that people could get to them easier from this page. [[User:Ian St John|Ian St John]] 19:15, 14 May 2007 (EDT)

Doppler Effect

2007-05-14T22:55:28Z

Ian St John: Rephrased

The '''Doppler Effect''' is the apparent change in frequency observed by an observer moving towards or away from a sound or light emitter. When the relative motion of an observer is towards the source a higher frequency is observed but when an observer is moving away from the source the frequency is lowered.

This is commonly experienced in the passing of a train where a bystander hears the pitch of the whistle change as it passes sounding like '''''deee-daah'''''.

In the case of light, when the observer and light source approach each other, the the wavelength of the light decreases, shifting the observed light to the blue end of the [[spectrum]], known as a blue shift. Conversely, when the observer and light source move away from each other, the light shifts to the red end of the spectrum, known as a red shift.

The effect was named after Austrian [[Christian Johann Doppler]], who provided the first technical explanation of the phenomenon in 1842.

[[Category:Physics]]

Talk:Ice age

2007-05-14T22:36:37Z

Ian St John: /* Reason for rollback */

Talk:Ségolène Royal

2007-05-14T21:52:31Z

Ian St John: Good-looking?

== Good-looking? ==

Hardly an encyclopedic description. I'm sure we can do better than this. [[User:Ian St John|Ian St John]] 17:52, 14 May 2007 (EDT)

Ice age

2007-05-14T21:44:33Z

Ian St John: evolution is a biological theory, old earth geologists are not neccessarily evolutionists

An '''Ice Age''' is a modern theory first proposed by supporters of an old earth to explain anomalies such as the existence of the [[Great Lakes]]. The theory suggests that there were one or more periods of [[Earth]]'s history when [[ice]] sheets covered a much larger part of the [[planet]] than is currently the case.

Earth and rock worn and smoothed by ice sheets, along with U-shaped [[valley]]s and termination deposition debris, are the main evidences for an Ice Age, and there is evidence of such [[glacier|glaciation]] covering northern [[Europe]] (including most of [[Britain]]), most of [[Canada]], and into the northern parts of eastern half of the [[United States]].<ref Name="WBE">Ice Age, World Book Encyclopedia 2000 CD ROM</ref>

During an Ice Age, lowered sea levels due to the water being tied up in glaciers and ice caps would result in [[land bridge]]s in some places where there are now [[ocean]]s and [[strait]]s.

According to secular [[geology]], there have been several Ice Ages, the oldest being 2.3 [[billion]] years ago, and the most recent finishing around 11,500 years ago.<ref name="WBE" /><ref name="CAB">Batten, 2007</ref>
[[Young Earth Creationism|Creationary scientists]] believe that there was a single Ice Age that lasted around 700 years following [[Great Flood|Noah's Flood]].<ref name="CAB" />

If the Earth cools down, [[evaporation]] and therefore [[precipitation]] are reduced, so little [[snow]] will fall onto land to form ice sheets. If the Earth heats up, evaporation and precipitation are increased, but the precipitation falls as rain rather than snow, or melts rather than forming ice sheets.<ref name="CAB" />

Creationists argue that the post-Flood environment provides the best explanation for an Ice Age, with the oceans being warmed by the addition of hot [[subterranean]] water, but the land being kept cool by [[volcano|volcanic]] dust in the [[atmosphere]] reflecting much of the sun's [[heat]] back to [[space]]. Thus evaporation and precipitation would be high, without the snow melting because the land was cooler.<ref name="CAB" /><ref>Wieland, Carl, [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/643 Tackling the big freeze, Interview with weather scientist Michael Oard,] ''Creation'' 19(1):42–43, December 1996.</ref>

The [[Bible]] perhaps mentions this Ice Age:
{{Bible quote|From whose womb comes the ice?     Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens when the waters become hard as stone,     when the surface of the deep is frozen? |book=Job|chap=38|verses=28-29|version=NIV}}

==See Also==

[[Date of Creation]]

== Bibliography ==

* Batten, Don, et. al., 2007, [http://www.creationontheweb.com/images/pdfs/cabook/chapter16.pdf ''What about the Ice Age?''], ''The Creation Answers Book'', Chapter 16
* Oard, M.J., 1990. An Ice Age Caused by the Genesis Flood, Technical Monograph, Institute for Creation Research, El Cajon, CA,

== Notes ==

<references />

[[Category:Earth science]]

Average

2007-05-14T21:20:08Z

Ian St John: spelling & grammar

'''Average''' is the sum of a group of numbers divided by the number of values in the group. For example, the average of 3, 5, and 7 is <math>15 \div 3=5</math>.

Another term for average is the [[arithmetic mean]].

The other two common types of average are the median and the mode.
*The median is the value which splits the group of numbers in the middle: half are higher, half are lower.
*The mode is the most common number.
[[category:Mathematics]]

Great Flood

2007-05-14T21:14:31Z

Ian St John: Crustal displacement theory

[[Image:Michelangeloflood.jpg|thumb|300px|right|''The Flood'', by Michaelangelo, detail from the Sistine Chapel, 1509.]]
Cultures around the world record a world-destroying '''flood''' in their oral or written histories. Dr. [[John Morris]] wrote regarding the existence of a past worldwide the following: "One of the strongest evidences for the global flood which annihilated all people on Earth except for [[Noah]] and his family, has been the ubiquitous presence of flood legends in the folklore of people groups from around the world. And the stories are all so similar." <ref>http://www.icr.org/article/570/</ref> Today 60% of Americans accept as true the Biblical account of the Great Flood.<ref>http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040216-113955-2061r.htm</ref>

== The Flood accounts ==

The best known of the flood accounts are, the two intermeshed versions found in the book of [[Genesis]], and the version found in the [[Gilgamish Epic]]. Both are written accounts.
The Genesis account is the most detailed of any of the accounts, and the one against which others are usually compared.
It has also been studied the most, with a number of terms used in reference to it, including the '''Flood''', '''Noah's Flood''', the '''Deluge''', the '''Great Flood''', and the '''Noahic flood'''.
The terms ''pre-diluvian'' and ''post-diluvian'' are used to refer to the times before and after the flood respectively.

A table comparing specific details in a number of different flood accounts can be found [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3107 here].

== The Genesis account ==

The Genesis account is the most detailed account.
In it, God warned Noah that He was going to destroy the world with a flood, because of the wickedness of mankind. Noah was to build an ark and take on it his family and representatives of all air-breathing, land-dwelling creatures. The ark was to be 300 cubits long by 50 cubits wide by 30 cubits high<ref>''Genesis'' 6:15</ref> (approximately 450 feet long, by 75 feet wide, by 45 feet high), have three decks, and rooms.

God brought the animals and birds to Noah, and there were, per Gen 7:2 two of the "[[unclean (animals)|unclean]]" animals and seven (or seven pairs) of the "[[clean (animals)|clean]]", and per Gen 6:19-20 "two of every sort".

After Noah and his family and all the creatures were on board, God shut the door of the ark.
The flood was brought on by the eruption of subterranean water ("''the fountains of the deep were opened''"), and rain.
The rain lasted nearly six weeks (40 days and nights).
The flood waters apparently continued to rise for 150 days, but it was just over a year before the waters had receded enough for the occupants of the ark to leave.

The ark is recorded as having come to rest on the mountains of Ararat, taken by many today to be the existing mountains of that name.
God put a rainbow in the clouds, and said that it was to be a reminder that he would never again destroy the world in a flood. (Genesis does not say that this was the first ever rainbow.)
He also told Noah that it was now okay to eat meat.

All people alive today are descendants of [[family of Noah|Noah and his family]].

== The Gilgamish Epic account ==

The council of the gods decided to destroy mankind with a flood, but Utnapishtim was warned by the god who had made man, Ea, to build a boat to take all living being. The length, width, and height were each 120 cubits (about 180 feet). It had seven stories.

The gods got frightened by the flood and retreated to heaven where they cowered and wept.
The flood lasted six days and seven nights, and was accompanied by wind and storm.
Utnapishtim send out a dove followed by a swallow, but both returned, unable to find land. He then sent a raven, which didn't return.

Dr. Jonathan Sarfati comments on the Gilgamish Epic:
:It is common to make legends out of historical events, but not history from legends. ... For instance, in Genesis, God’s judgment is just, he is patient with mankind for 120 years (Genesis 6:3), shows mercy to Noah, and is sovereign. Conversely, the gods in the Gilgamesh Epic are capricious and squabbling, cower at the Flood and are famished without humans to feed them sacrifices. That is, the human writers of the Gilgamesh Epic rewrote the true account, and made their gods in their own image.<ref Name="JS_GE" />

== Other ancient references ==

The Assyrian King [[Ashurbanipal]], who lived in the seventh century B.C., recorded, "I have read intricate tablets inscribed with obscure Sumerian or Akkadian...inscriptions on stone from before the Flood."<ref>[http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1032092 Ashurbanipal]</ref>

== Common Themes for Flood Accounts ==

=== Cause ===

Many of the accounts say that the flood was caused by God or some equivalent being.
In Genesis, it was Yahweh<ref>Genesis 6:3</ref>.
In the Gilgamish Epic, it was the council of the gods <ref Name="JS_GE">[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3107 Noah’s Flood and the Gilgamesh Epic] by Jonathan Sarfati, ''Creation'', vol. 28 No. 4 pp.12-17</ref>.
In the Bundaba (Australian aboriginal) flood story, it was Ngowungu, the Great Father. <ref>[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/1468 Australian Aboriginal Flood Stories], ''Creation'' Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 6-9.</ref>
The Greeks recorded it as being [[Zeus]].<ref name="Greek">[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#Greek Greek], in ''Flood Stories from Around the World'' by Mark Isaak.</ref>

=== Purpose ===

When the cause of the flood is attributed to a god, the reason is frequently said to be for [[mankind]]'s wickedness.
Genesis adds that "every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time".<ref>Genesis 6:5 (NIV)</ref>
The Miao account from China says, in verse, "These did not God's will nor returned His affection. / But fought with each other defying the Godhead. / Their leaders shook fists in the face of the Mighty."<ref>[http://www.icr.org/index.php?module=articles&action=view&ID=341 Genesis According to the Miao People], by Edgar A. Truax, ''Impact'', April 1991</ref>
A Navajo account says that it was because of "their sins of adultery and constant quarreling". <ref>[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#Navajo Navajo (Four Corners area)], in ''Flood Stories from Around the World'' by Mark Isaak</ref>

=== What saved the people ===

People were generally saved either by floating out the flood, or fleeing to the top of a mountain. In the former case, the vessel took a variety of forms.
A Hopi Indian story has them surviving in the hollow stems of giant reeds<ref name="Hopi">[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#Hopi Hopi], in ''Flood Stories from Around the World'' by Mark Isaak.</ref>
The Greek story has them surviving in a chest. <Ref name="Greek" />
In Genesis, Noah was instructed by God to build an ark to dimensions and other specifications included in the account.

=== Who was saved? ===

The survivors were often a single family.
An Australian aboriginal account has Ngadgja, the Supreme One, telling Gajara to take his wife, his sons, and his sons' wives.<ref name="Wunambal">[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/1467 Aboriginal Flood Legend], by Howard Coates, ''Creation'' Vol. 4 No.3, pp.9-12</ref>
The Masai account from East Africa has Tumbainot taking his two wives, his six sons, and their wives.<ref name="Masai">[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#Masai Masai (East Africa)], in ''Flood Stories from Around the World'' by Mark Isaak.</ref>
A Hawaiian story has Nuu taking his wife and three sons. <ref name="Hawaii">[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#Hawaii Hawaii], in ''Flood Stories from Around the World'' by Mark Isaak.</ref>
Noah took his wife, his three sons, and their wives.<ref>Genesis 7:13</ref>

=== Birds sent out ===

Genesis describes Noah sending out birds to see if there was yet dry land.<ref>Genesis 8:6-12</ref>
Initially this was unsuccessful, but a subsequent attempt was successful when a dove didn't return. In the Hopi account also, they unsuccessfully sent out birds to find land.<ref name="Hopi" />
An Australian aboriginal account has a cuckoo not returning because it found land.<ref name="Wunambal" />
The Masai account has Tumbainot sending out a dove, which returned because it had no place to rest.<ref name="Masai" />

=== A rainbow ===

The Masai account has four rainbows signifying that God's wrath was over.<ref name="Masai" />
A Hawaiian account has the god Kane leaving a rainbow as a perpetual sign of his forgiveness.<ref name="Hawaii" />
From an Australian aboriginal story comes this account:
:Ngadja, the Supreme Being, put the rainbow in the sky to keep the rain-clouds back. The rainbow lies bent across the sky; he ties up the clouds behind it and the rain does not come. The rainbow keeps the clouds back and protects us so that the rainfall does not rise too high. Our people understand the significance of it. When we see the rainbow we say, ‘There will not be any abnormally heavy rain.’<ref name="Wunambal" />

Genesis says that the rainbow would be a reminder that God would never again destroy the world with a flood.<ref>Genesis 9:12-17</ref>

=== Criticisms ===

''See also criticism in [[Noah's Ark#Controversy|Noah's Ark]] and [[Flood Geology#Controversy|Flood Geology]].

Critics of the global flood suggest that the flood accounts are unrelated accounts of local floods, or stories influenced by the arrival of missionaries.

However, Nozomi Osanai responds that "''...the detailed nature of the widely spread statements has common elements to the Bible. In fact, even people who live far from the sea or in mountainous areas have flood traditions which are similar to the Genesis account.''"<ref>[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/4089/ A comparative study of the flood accounts in the Gilgamesh Epic and Genesis, chapter 7], by Nozomi Osanai.</ref>

And Murray Adamthwaite responds regarding the missionary influence, "''...that explanation fails since in many cases secular anthropologists gathered the stories before missionaries reached these tribes with the Gospel. In other cases missionaries have related how they indeed told the story of Noah, only to find that the tribal folk already had a similar tale in their own legends.''"<ref>[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/2538 Animals, a Deluge and Noah’s Ark]</ref>

== Modern explanations ==

===Black Sea theory===
In 2000, explorers discovered evidence that humans lived where the [[Black Sea]] now is and speculated the sea was created during a great flood <ref>http://archives.cnn.com/2000/NATURE/09/13/great.flood.finds.ap/</ref>. Dr. Robert Ballard expanded on this theory, postulating that the Black Sea was much lower during the Ice Age (including the finding of a beach thousands of feet underwater), and when the walls holding back the Mediterranean Sea at the Bosporus broke, the sea rushed in and drowned the inhabitants; those who survived told the tale orally, and according to Ballard this became the basis for the flood accounts of Genesis and Gilgamesh [http://www.nationalgeographic.com/blacksea/ax/frame.html]. This theory is for a local flood, and not the world-wide flood as recorded in Genesis and many other cultural traditions. It also doesn't fit with many other details of the Genesis account.<ref>[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3392 Proof of Noah's Flood at the Black Sea?] by Creation Ministries International.</ref>

===Crustal Displacement Theory===
In [[The Atlantis Blueprint]], Rand Flem Ath proposed<ref>http://www.flem-ath.com</ref> a theory of crustal displacement whereby the entire earth's crust moved with respect to the core. The suggested date for this was about 10,000 years BC. If a displacement had occurred then it would have caused enormous disruption to the the earth's oceans with massive tsunamis and heavy rain. Although the book was nominally about the disappearance of [[Atlantis]], the theory of crustal displacement not only explains the discrepancies in ice thickness in Greenland and Antarctica but also the sudden demise of the mammoths. It would also explain the widespread existence of flood myths throughout different cultures.

== Flood geology ==

''See main article: [[Flood Geology]]''

Flood geology is the study of the Earth's geology from the point of view that the Genesis account is true and accurate, and that evidence of the Flood can be found in the geology of the Earth.

Until the rise of [[uniformitarian]] geology in the early 19th century, most geologists accepted the Noahic deluge as part of geology.
But [[James Hutton]] proposed in 1795 that geology ought to be based on the processes that we see happening now, thereby automatically ruling the Flood out of consideration.
During the 19th century a number of "[[scriptural geologists]]" held out against the rising acceptance of Hutton's principles,<ref>The Great Turning Point, by Terry Mortenson. See also a series of articles in the ''Journal of Creation'', commencing with "British scriptural geologists in the first half of the nineteenth century: part 1" by Terry Mortenson, ''Journal of Creation'' Vol. 11 No. 2 pp. 221-252.</ref> but they fought a losing battle and interest in flood geology virtually died out by the end of the 19th century.

However, in the second half of the 20th century, interest was revived amongst people keen to show that the biblical account was correct, and a small but growing number of geologists are now studying this field again, although the vast majority of geologists still reject the idea of a global flood on Earth.

Flood geologists propose that such a world-wide, year-long flood would have caused massive erosion, sedimentation, and geological movements, and leaving extensive evidence in the [[geology|geological]] record.
Many propose that there was a single continent before the flood that broke up during the flood.
The idea of tectonic plate movement was proposed by creationary scientist Antonio Snider in 1859,<ref>[http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3670 What About Continental Drift], Chapter 11 of The Answers Book Updated & Expanded, Don Batten (Ed.)</ref> although it was not until several other scientists had proposed similar ideas that the idea was adopted by mainstream scientists in the last few decades of the 20th century.

According to flood geologists, the flood resulted from subterranean water erupting to the surface ("''the springs of the great deep burst forth''"—Genesis 7:11, NIV), combined with 40 days and nights of rain.
Although the rain stopped after 40 days, the flood waters continued to rise for 150 days, and lasted just over a year before Noah and the others on the boat were able to leave.<ref>The flood began on the 17th day of the second month of the 600th year of Noah's life (Genesis 7:11) and the ark's passengers alighted on the 27th day of the second month of the 601st year of Noah's life (Genesis 8:13-15)</ref>
During the flood, there was massive tectonic activity, including some land rising up and other land dropping, such that the waters ended up in newly-deepened oceans.
All the animals and birds (except those on the ark), and large numbers of sea creatures perished, and many of them were buried so quickly that they became [[fossil]]s, accounting for the vast majority of fossils existing today.

Flood geology also proposes that the flood waters swept together and buried large mats of vegetation ripped from the surface of the Earth, forming the [[coal]] beds that are mined today.

===Creationist Scientists Defense of Flood Geology ===
Creationist scientists assert that there are multiple lines of evidence from the field of geology showing that flood geology is correct. <ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/geology.asp</ref><ref>http://www.creationism.org/topbar/geology.htm</ref><ref>http://www.grisda.org/georpts/gr11.htm</ref><ref>http://www.nwcreation.net/geologylinks.html</ref><ref>http://globalflood.org/</ref> Creationist scientists also state that there was enough water to cause a worldwide flood and various other objections to a worldwide flood are invalid. <ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/Home/Area/AnswersBook/flood12.asp</ref><ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/flood.asp</ref>

==External Links==

*[http://www.maicar.com/GML/Flood.html Greek Myths: Deucalion and the Flood]
*[http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/tab11.htm Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet 11 (Flood Story)]
*[http://www.nwcreation.net/geologycolumn.html Geological evidence from Northwest Creation]
*[http://www.genesisfiles.com/Library.htm#B Genesis Files website]
*[http://www.searchgodsword.org/enc/isb/view.cgi?number=T2631]
*[http://www.answersingenesis.org/Home/Area/AnswersBook/global10.asp Was the Flood Global? Answers in Genesis article]
*[http://www.nationalgeographic.com/blacksea/ax/frame.html Black Sea theory, from Dr. Robert Ballard and National Geographic]
*[http://www.ilhawaii.net/~stony/lore64.html Native American flood story]
*[http://wovoca.com/myths-flood-1.htm Collection of Flood myths]

== Notes ==

<references />

Talk:Ice age

2007-05-14T20:53:45Z

Ian St John: Biblical references

Musical terms

2007-05-14T20:26:15Z

Ian St John: link

Classical music often uses [[Italian]] terms to describe the mood or tempo of a movement in an orchestral work.

Commonly used terms are:
:'''[[Adagio]]''' - slow 
:'''Adagissimo''' - very slow 
:'''Afettuoso''' - effectionate, with tender emotion 
:'''Agitato''' - agitated, restless and wild 
:'''Alleggretto''' - moderately quick movement, somewhat slower than ''allegro'' 
:'''Alleggro''' - lively (sometimes used with other qualifiers) 
:'''Andante''' - a moderate tempo (walking pace) 
:'''Forte''' - loud 
:'''Fortissimo''' - very loud 
:'''Largetto''' - slow and broad but less so than ''largo'' 
:'''Largo''' - slow and broad 
:'''Piano''' - soft, abbreviated 
:'''Pianissimo''' - very soft and abbreviated 
:'''Presto''' - originally lively, but later the fastest speed in normal use 
:'''Prestissimo''' - the fastest speed possible 
:'''Vivace''' - lively

Musical terms

2007-05-14T20:25:31Z

Ian St John: sp

Classical music often uses [[Italian]] terms to describe the mood or tempo of a movement in an orchestral work.

Commonly used terms are:
:'''Adagio''' - slow 
:'''Adagissimo''' - very slow 
:'''Afettuoso''' - effectionate, with tender emotion 
:'''Agitato''' - agitated, restless and wild 
:'''Alleggretto''' - moderately quick movement, somewhat slower than ''allegro'' 
:'''Alleggro''' - lively (sometimes used with other qualifiers) 
:'''Andante''' - a moderate tempo (walking pace) 
:'''Forte''' - loud 
:'''Fortissimo''' - very loud 
:'''Largetto''' - slow and broad but less so than ''largo'' 
:'''Largo''' - slow and broad 
:'''Piano''' - soft, abbreviated 
:'''Pianissimo''' - very soft and abbreviated 
:'''Presto''' - originally lively, but later the fastest speed in normal use 
:'''Prestissimo''' - the fastest speed possible 
:'''Vivace''' - lively

Musical terms

2007-05-14T20:24:51Z

Ian St John: Created page

Classical music often uses [[Italian]] terms to describe the mood or tempo of a movement in an orchestral work.

Commonly used terms are:
:'''Adagio''' - slow 
:'''Adagissimo''' - very slow 
:'''Afettuoso''' - effectionate, with tender emotion 
:'''Agitato''' - agitated, restless and wild 
:'''Alleggretto''' - moderaltely quick movement, somewhat slower than ''allegro'' 
:'''Alleggro''' - lively (sometimes used with other qualifiers) 
:'''Andante''' - a moderate tempo (walking pace) 
:'''Forte''' - loud 
:'''Fortissimo''' - very loud 
:'''Largetto''' - slow and broad but less so than ''largo'' 
:'''Largo''' - slow and broad 
:'''Piano''' - soft, abbreviated 
:'''Pianissimo''' - very soft and abbreviated 
:'''Presto''' - originally lively, but later the fastest speed in normal use 
:'''Prestissimo''' - the fastest speed possible 
:'''Vivace''' - lively

Adagio

2007-05-14T20:01:20Z

Ian St John: Created page

'''Adagio''' ''(Italian: "at ease")'' is a [[musical terms|musical term]] for slow. Often used to describe a slow movement in a symphony, concerto or sonata.

George Gershwin

2007-05-14T19:55:45Z

Ian St John: sp

'''George Gershwin''' (1898-1937) was an American composer and pianist of the 1920s and 1930s. He often collaborated with his brother [[Ira Gershwin|Ira]] who wrote most of the lyrics.

He started as an employee of a music-publishing company where he began to write songs and later a series of musical comedies. He also wrote a series of concert works, ''[[Rhapsody in Blue]]'' (1924) for piano and jazz orchestra, Piano Concerto in F major (1925) ''[[An American in Paris]]'' (1928), ''[[Second Rhapsody]]'' (1932) and ''[[Cuban Overture]]'' (1934).

In 1935 his [[opera]] ''[[Porgy and Bess]]'' (an African-American version of the Carmen story), was first staged on [[Boston]] has since been performed all over the world.

Many of Gershwin songs have become standards in what musicians call the "Great American Songbook" and have become [[jazz]] classics.

Famous songs by Gershwin include "Summertime" (from ''Porgy and Bess ''), "The Man I Love", and "It Ain't Necessarily So".

[[Category:Composers|Gershwin, George]]

George Gershwin

2007-05-14T19:55:15Z

Ian St John: sp

'''George Gershwin''' (1898-1937) was an American composer and pianist of the 1920s and 1930s. He often collaborated with his brother [[Ira Gershwin|Ira]] who wrote most of the lyrics.

He started as an employee of a music-publishing company where he began to write songs and later a series of musical comedies. He also wrote a series of concert works, ''[[Rhapsody in Blue]]'' (1924) for piano and jazz orchestra, Piano Concerti in F major (1925) ''[[An American in Paris]]'' (1928), ''[[Second Rhapsody]]'' (1932)and ''[[Cuban Overture]]'' (1934).

In 1935 his [[opera]] ''[[Porgy and Bess]]'' (an African-American version of the Carmen story), was first staged on [[Boston]] has since been performed all over the world.

Many of Gershwin songs have become standards in what musicians call the "Great American Songbook" and have become [[jazz]] classics.

Famous songs by Gershwin include "Summertime" (from ''Porgy and Bess ''), "The Man I Love", and "It Ain't Necessarily So".

[[Category:Composers|Gershwin, George]]

George Gershwin

2007-05-14T19:54:57Z

Ian St John: Expanded

'''George Gershwin''' (1898-1937) was an American composer and pianist of the 1920s and 1930s. He often collaborated with his brother [[Ira Gershwin|Ira]] who wrote most of the lyrics.

He started as an employee of a music-publishing company where he began to write songs and later a series of musical comedies. He also wrote a series of concer works, ''[[Rhapsody in Blue]]'' (1924) for piano and jazz orchestra, Piano Concerti in F major (1925) ''[[An American in Paris]]'' (1928), ''[[Second Rhapsody]]'' (1932)and ''[[Cuban Overture]]'' (1934).

In 1935 his [[opera]] ''[[Porgy and Bess]]'' (an African-American version of the Carmen story), was first staged on [[Boston]] has since been performed all over the world.

Many of Gershwin songs have become standards in what musicians call the "Great American Songbook" and have become [[jazz]] classics.

Famous songs by Gershwin include "Summertime" (from ''Porgy and Bess ''), "The Man I Love", and "It Ain't Necessarily So".

[[Category:Composers|Gershwin, George]]

Mockery

2007-05-14T19:32:35Z

Ian St John: spelling

'''Mockery''' is a kind of [[jeer]]ing or showing [[contempt]] by [[derision]] or [[parody]], often in the form of a composition that imitates somebody's style in a [[humor]]ous or [[satire|satirical]] way.

Mockery is not always a sign of a defect in the thing being mocked. The tactic of mocking someone or their work is multi-pronged.

It is used to dismiss the person's work, so that others don't even take a look at it. It is often used as a political tactic to distract people from seeing the real [[fact]]s. It's a variant of [[ad hominem]], like saying [[scientist]]s who disagree with the [[United Nations]] are "in the pay of Big Oil".

It is used to make the person lose confidence in what they are doing. "Ha, ha, you're [[stupid]]! Give up! You'll never succeed!" The idea is to bring someone down to one's own level, i.e., a "do nothing".

Mockery is also used to create confusion. Each of the books on Bushisms published during the 2000 and 2004 election campaigns was a subtle blend of [[gaffe]]s and digs. The gaffes were just verbatim transcripts of the sort of error any [[politics|politician]] makes when replying too quickly to a reporter's question. "One of my concerns is that the health care not be as good as it can possibly be." (Obviously by ''not be'' he meant ''is not'') There is no reason to collect and show these for one politician while never showing the same kind of error made by another politician, unless you are trying to make the '''false point''' that your candidate is infallible and your opponent is incompetent. The digs were [[grammar|grammatically]] correct statements of fact, which the author of the book simply disagree with. The point of including them among the [[malapropism]]s and slips of the tongue is to insinuate that these statements were indications of incompetence. Actually, they only reveal the [[prejudice]] of the author.

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*[http://www.answers.com/topic/mockery a dictionary definition] ''Scornfully contemptuous ridicule; derision.''

Mockery

2007-05-14T19:32:14Z

Ian St John: Generalized political categories

'''Mockery''' is a kind of [[jeer]]ing or showing [[contempt]] by [[derision]] or [[parody]], often in the form of a composition that imitates somebody's style in a [[humor]]ous or [[satire|satirical]] way.

Mockery is not always a sign of a defect in the thing being mocked. The tactic of mocking someone or their work is multi-pronged.

It is used to dismiss the person's work, so that others don't even take a look at it. It is oftne used as a political tactic to distract people from seeing the real [[fact]]s. It's a variant of [[ad hominem]], like saying [[scientist]]s who disagree with the [[United Nations]] are "in the pay of Big Oil".

It is used to make the person lose confidence in what they are doing. "Ha, ha, you're [[stupid]]! Give up! You'll never succeed!" The idea is to bring someone down to one's own level, i.e., a "do nothing".

Mockery is also used to create confusion. Each of the books on Bushisms published during the 2000 and 2004 election campaigns was a subtle blend of [[gaffe]]s and digs. The gaffes were just verbatim transcripts of the sort of error any [[politics|politician]] makes when replying too quickly to a reporter's question. "One of my concerns is that the health care not be as good as it can possibly be." (Obviously by ''not be'' he meant ''is not'') There is no reason to collect and show these for one politician while never showing the same kind of error made by another politician, unless you are trying to make the '''false point''' that your candidate is infallible and your opponent is incompetent. The digs were [[grammar|grammatically]] correct statements of fact, which the author of the book simply disagree with. The point of including them among the [[malapropism]]s and slips of the tongue is to insinuate that these statements were indications of incompetence. Actually, they only reveal the [[prejudice]] of the author.

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*[http://www.answers.com/topic/mockery a dictionary definition] ''Scornfully contemptuous ridicule; derision.''

Lebensraum

2007-05-13T15:15:54Z

Ian St John: redefined

'''Lebensraum''' was a [[German]] term made popular by [[Adolf Hitler]] and the [[Nazis]], which literally means "living space". Lebensraum is a policy of expanding the territory of [[Germany]], particularly to the east. Under Hitler's rule, lebensraum became the political rationale behind the Nazis conquest of territories lost by the [[Treaty of Versailles]], which ended [[World War I]].

[[Category:World War II]]

Talk:Philip

2007-05-13T14:29:09Z

Ian St John: Move!

This page needs to discuss which Philip is being discussed.

I agreed, it needs to be moved to St. Philip or Philip the Apostle. [[User:Ian St John|Ian St John]] 10:29, 13 May 2007 (EDT)

Talk:Andrew

2007-05-13T14:27:10Z

Ian St John: Recommend move

This is an odd page title. I recommend that it be moved to St. Andrew or Andrew the Apostle. [[User:Ian St John|Ian St John]] 10:27, 13 May 2007 (EDT)

Uranium

2007-05-13T14:18:23Z

Ian St John: formatting

{{merge|nuclear fuel cycle}}
''See also [[Radioactivity]]'' 
Uranium is a radioactive element, atomic number 92. It is a dense, metallic substance, and its compounds are highly toxic.

[[Category:Elements]]

Uranium

2007-05-13T14:18:05Z

Ian St John: added link

{{merge|nuclear fuel cycle}}
''See also [[Radioactivity]]''' 
Uranium is a radioactive element, atomic number 92. It is a dense, metallic substance, and its compounds are highly toxic.

[[Category:Elements]]

Sadism

2007-05-13T13:48:20Z

Ian St John: Rephrased

{{merge|evil}}
'''Sadism''' is self-gratification through inflicting pain or suffering on others. Bullies do this. Many torturers have done this.

Talk:Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

2007-05-13T13:39:48Z

Ian St John: Improvement

Wow! This is about the most biased article I've read on here. I'd try to change it, but I'd just get blocked. [[User:Czolgolz|Czolgolz]] 09:20, 13 May 2007 (EDT)

This is not an article about the IPCC but a diatribe against it. I'll make a copy and see if I can separate the arguments and facts into separate sections. [[User:Ian St John|Ian St John]] 09:39, 13 May 2007 (EDT)

Jamestown, Virginia

2007-05-13T13:36:51Z

Ian St John: Grammar

'''Jamestown''', [[Virginia]] was the first permanent [[England|English]] settlement in [[America]]. The first persons landed on May 14, 1607, one year before the establishment of the City of [[Quebec]] in [[Canada]]. About 104 persons were sent by the [[London Company]] to leave in three ships, the Sarah Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery. They came to Virginia to establish a trading post and to search for gold and silver. After five months at sea,the pioneers sighted land at the entrance to the [[Chesapeake Bay]] on April 26, 1607. They sailed about 32 miles up the [[James River]],and then chose a little peninsula as the site for their settlement. They named both the river and the settlement after [[James I|King James the First]] of England.

==Economics of Jamestown==

Initially, from 1607-1608, the Jamestown settlement lived under socialism, whereby the group shared its food with everyone no matter how much or little he worked. This economic system was a complete failure as no one had any incentive to do any work.{{fact}} In September 1608, John Smith was elected president of the governing council. He ruled for a year and installed a conservative economic system: "don't work, don't eat!" Under this new system, food production increased and by 1614 there was plenty to eat.

But Jamestown settlers were there to find fortune, and there was not any gold or silver. [[Native American|American Indians]] had discovered tobacco and [[Europe|Europeans]] were beginning to become addicted to it. Many Europeans recognized that tobacco was bad for them, and some wanted to prohibit it. In 1613, Englishman John Rolfe, who married the Indian Pocahontas in Virginia, began growing tobacco to export to [[Europe]]. The King banned the growing of tobacco in England, so Rolfe had no competition. Cash began pouring in for the tobacco, and this so-called "cash crop" became highly profitable for the Jamestown settlers.

Despite profiting from the sale of tobacco, the Jamestown settlement had other difficulties. It had made peace with Indian Chief Powhatan, whose daughter Pocahontas married settler John Rolfe. But after Powhatan died, his brother led a sudden attack on the settlers in 1622, massacring 357 out of a total of only 1200.

But Indian strife was only one of many problems. Labor was in short supply for working the fields. Settlers began importing indentured servants, who received free travel to the colonies in exchange for a promise to work for seven years. But Virginia also turned to a cheaper approach to labor: importing slaves from West [[Africa]] beginning in 1619 to work the crops.

==Poles in Jamestown==

According to Narod Polski, the publication of PRCUA (Polish Roman Catholic Union of America), a year after the settlement of Jamestown, six [[Poland|Polish]] setters arrived. They were Zbigniew Stefanski, a glass expert, Jan Bogdan, a tar and ship building expert, Jan Mata, a soapmaker, Michael Lowicki, a nobleman and workers Stanislaus Sadowski and Karol Zrenica.

The colony was intended to be guided by the Church of England but the Poles were Roman Catholic. Each settler was required to attend Anglican services or be punished. However, because of the skills and work ethic of the Poles, they were exempt.

[[Category:US Towns and Cities]]

Polar Bear

2007-05-13T13:33:17Z

Ian St John: Grammar

[[Image:polarbear4.jpg|thumb|right|250px|A polar bear.]]

The '''Polar Bear''' (''Ursus Maritimus'') is a large species of [[bear]] found in the Arctic and are noted for their white fur. They are capable of surviving extreme cold, as well as sea ice, snow and frozen land.

They have thick blubber to keep warm and white fur for camouflage. Polar bears [[hibernate]] through much of the winter, usually in an excavated snow den. Their normal diet consists mainly of [[seal]]s, though in Canada they have been observed to take prey as small as [[lemming]]s.

They are one of the only natural predators of humans. For this reason they are greatly feared by arctic travelers.

The current world population is estimated at around 22-27,000.<ref>http://www.naturecanada.ca/climate_change_polar.asp</ref>

Polar bears also starred in a series of [[Coca-cola]] advertisements that ran during the 1990s. These were not actual polar bears, but were digital animations.

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Bears]]
[[Category:Dangerous animals]]

Polar Bear

2007-05-13T13:32:26Z

Ian St John: Citation added

[[Image:polarbear4.jpg|thumb|right|250px|A polar bear.]]

The '''Polar Bear''' (''Ursus Maritimus'') is a large species of [[bear]] found in the Arctic and are noted for their white fur. They are capable of surviving extreme cold, as well as sea ice, snow and frozen land.

They have thick blubber to keep warm and white fur for camouflage. Polar bears [[hibernate]] through much of the winter, usually in an excavated snow den. Their normal diet consists mainly of [[seal]]s, though in Canada they have been observed to take prey as small as [[lemming]]s.

They are one of the only natural predators of humans. For this reason they are greatly feared by arctic travelers.

The current world population is estimated at around 22-27,000.<ref>http://www.naturecanada.ca/climate_change_polar.asp</ref>

Polar bears also starred in a series of [[Coca-cola]] advertisements that ran during the 1990s. These were not actual polar bears, but were computerized.

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Bears]]
[[Category:Dangerous animals]]

Human rights

2007-05-13T13:27:04Z

Ian St John: clarified meaning

'''Human rights''' is an intellectual concept that everyone has specific privileges simply because they are human beings.

The U.S. [[Declaration of Independence]] says that people are "endowed by their [[Creator]] with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are [[Life]], [[Liberty]] and the pursuit of [[Happiness]]."
<ref>http://www.law.indiana.edu/uslawdocs/declaration.html]</ref>

This is based on the statement that every man is entitled to "life, liberty and the pursuit of [[property]]", but was altered to "happiness" to avoid conflicts with [[slavery]] (slaves could not own property).

The [[United Nations]] and [[Amnesty International]] have developed a list of some thirty human rights they deem inherent and inviolable.<ref>http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html</ref>

However, these lists are at odds with Christian and democratic principles on several points, and even where they are in accord with them are used as a [[double standard]] to whitewash human rights violations.

==References==

<references/>

Petra

2007-05-13T13:14:49Z

Ian St John: Added carved out buildings

'''Petra''' is an ancient city in southern Jordan. It was created by the Nabateans. Exact dating of the site is dificult but it is thought to have been in use from the 6th century BC until 363 AD when an earthquake destroyed the water supply. It was famously described as "a rose-red city half as old as time" in a sonnet by John William Burgon. The unique feature of Petra is that most of the buildings are carved into the red sandstone cliffs rather than being free-standing.

Petra was an important stopping point on the ancient caravan routes but started to experience a decline in Roman times with the rise of sea-transport.

Talk:Polar Bear

2007-05-13T13:09:26Z

Ian St John: over-reaction?

Unsourced claim:

:Changes in the Earth's climate are threatening the polar bears habitat and the survival of the species.

Sounds like liberal propaganda to me, and self-contradictory at that. Didn't polar bears "evolve" several ice ages ago? Where do they go during periods of slightly warmer weather? (4 to 6 degrees Fahrenheit) --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 08:48, 13 May 2007 (EDT)

*http://www.naturecanada.ca/climate_change_polar.asp
Nature Canada makes the claim, but offers no evidence. It is therefore a political source, not a scientific source.

We can include their claim in a [[Politics of global warming]] article, as a verifiable "claim". That is, we know for a fact that Nature Canada ''makes that claim''. It is a documented position they espouse.

The thing claimed, however, is not a fact. We would need to see population data, and an estimation by a [[scientist]] of the future prospects of the species. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 08:52, 13 May 2007 (EDT)

The claim that their survival is under threat because of threats to their habitat is entirely justified - threats to any creature's habitat could result in extinction, particularly if they cannot adapt (or evolve). I think you are reading too much into the statement to argue that it's "liberal" propaganda. Climate change is indisputable, what is up for debate is the mechanism and how far the change will go. There have been many climate changes in the past which have caused extinctions. [[User:Ian St John|Ian St John]] 09:09, 13 May 2007 (EDT)

Polar Bear

2007-05-13T13:00:11Z

Ian St John: Grammar

[[Image:polarbear4.jpg|thumb|right|250px|A polar bear.]]

The '''Polar Bear''' (''Ursus Maritimus'') is a large species of [[bear]] found in the Arctic and are noted for their white fur. They are capable of surviving extreme cold, as well as sea ice, snow and frozen land.

They have thick blubber to keep warm and white fur for camouflage. Polar bears [[hibernate]] through much of the winter, usually in an excavated snow den. Their normal diet consists mainly of [[seal]]s, though in Canada they have been observed to take prey as small as [[lemming]]s.

They are one of the only natural predators of humans. For this reason they are greatly feared by arctic travelers.

The current world population is estimated at around 20-25,000

Polar bears also starred in a series of [[Coca-cola]] advertisements that ran during the 1990s. These were not actual polar bears, but were computerized.

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Bears]]
[[Category:Dangerous animals]]

Bronze Age

2007-05-13T10:52:05Z

Ian St John: sp

{{stub}}The period in a [[civilization]] when that civilization became skilled in working all kinds of [[metal]] and used [[copper]] or [[bronze]] tools. It began in 3500 BC in the [[Middle East]] and spread across the world. The exact time and place of the invention of bronze are controversial, earliest findings of tin bronzes are those from areas now known as Iran and Iraq.

[[Category:anthropology]]
[[Category:Archaelogy]]

Petra

2007-05-13T10:51:10Z

Ian St John: Created page

'''Petra''' is an ancient city in southern Jordan. It was created by the Nabateans. Exact dating of the site is dificult but it is thought to have been in use from the 6th century BC until 363 AD when an earthquake destroyed the water supply. It was famously described as "a rose-red city half as old as time" in a sonnet by John William Burgon.

Petra was an important stopping point on the ancient caravan routes but started to experience a decline in Roman times with the rise of sea-transport.

History of rugby

2007-05-13T09:51:46Z

Ian St John: /* International */ sp

[[Image:Boston College Rugby Running With Ball.jpg|right|thumb|300px|A Rugby match at Boston College.]]
'''Rugby Football''' (or just '''Rugby''') originated at the English public school of the same name.

It was suggested in the 1890s that [[rugby]] was invented during a game of Association Football ([[soccer]]) when one of the pupils, [[William Webb Ellis]] foresook the laws of the game and picked up the ball and ran. This is highly questionable and is now regarded as a myth. The game of soccer was not codified until the 1860s and handling of the ball was commonly allowed in the game during the early nineteen centuary, furthermore the idea that it would have been considered a new set of rules rather than a simple cheat seems far fetched. Webb Ellis himself is nto recorded to have made any mention of inventing a new game, and the first time he is credited with the game is some period following his death.

The laws of the game were later codified by the [[Rugby Football Union]] so that a team comprised 15 players and games were played over two halves of 40 minutes. An alternative version with 13 players per team was developed by the [[Rugby League]] which was formed in 1893. Historically, Rugby Union was played at southern English public (private) schools - though it also had a stong following in industrial areas such as south Wales and mining districts in south-west England - and the senior teams comprised strictly amateur players. Rugby League was mainly played in working class areas of northern England and used professional players.

==Schism==
Rugby League was popularized in the south of England by northern commentator [[Eddie Waring]] with catchphrases such as "Its an up and under", and "it looks like he's having an early bath" when a player was sent off before the end of the game. In Australia in has traditionally been the predominant sport in [[New South Wales]] and [[Queensland]].

The game of rugby was one game, until 1895, when the clubs in the North of England formed a breakaway from the Rugby Football Union. At the time this was not seen as a dramatic step with the new body referring to themselves as the [[Northern Rugby Union]] to suggest the difference was merely one of geography.

However, the roots of the schism were deep. The Northern clubs had come to dominate the game of rugby, with [[Yorkshire]] dominating the county championship and the majority of the England team being supplied by Northern clubs. However, the development of soccer from a private school game to a working class game had alarmed many in the rugby authorities, who were determined that rugby should not fall into the same trap. The rugby authorities were therefore determined to clamp down on professionalism within rugby.

It must be emphasized that professionalism in this sense applied to working class people. It was accepted that middle and upper class people would be payed to play, however, as they did not need the money they were still playing for pleasure and were therefore amateur. As working people would often need the money that would be lost in time off to play the game, money to then was essential to their playing the game and they were therefore seen as professional mercenary players, something unacceptable to the majority of South of England rugby clubs, but essential for the operation of many northern clubs.

As votes to accept some payment for [[broken time]] were rejected, twenty-two clubs broke away from the rugby football union to form professional rugby. The restrictions on professionalism in the new rugby authority were actually stricter than for the rugby union, with a listed profession essential to being permitted to play the game. Initially the new game was played by identical rule to rugby union, but as the ruling body remained separate, a new game developed as both sports diverged from their ancestor - just as American football and Canadian Football separated further.

As soccer gained in popularity in the north of England, alterations to the game of rugby were made by the Northern Rugby Union to make the game more spectator friendly. Line outs were abolished, the ruck simplified and the number of players on each team reduced to thirteen. These alterations enabled the new game of rugby to retain popularity, while the towns in the North of England that remained with the Rugby Union, such as [[Liverpool]] and [[Manchester]] became predominantly soccer towns.

In 1907, a tour of a southern hemisphere team to Britain exposed them to the new rules played in the north. A tour, dubbed the 'All Golds' was organized, which was a great commercial success. The new game was taken to Australia, where it quickly became the predominant team sport in New South Wales and then Queensland.

==International==
Despite its English origins, rugby gained popularity amongst the smaller British nations of Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Through emigration, British colonies in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa developed also a strong following. Unusally, the game was also adopted in France who formed one of the "Five Nations" teams that compete in the annual northern hemisphere competition. This has recently been expanded to Six Nations with the addition of Italy. Other countries where the game is popular include Argentina and various southern Pacific islands.

Mini versions of the game have also been developed, such as Rugby Sevens, where only seven players are in a team. Rugby has typically been a physical contact sport for men but alternative versions such as touch rugby where a player is obliged to release the ball when touched rather than physically tackled have also been developed. Since the 1980s women's Rugby has been growing in popularity.

[[American Football]] is derived from rugby and started to codify its own rules during the 1880s.

==External Links==

American National Rugby League [http://www.amnrl.com]
[[category:sports]]

History of rugby

2007-05-13T09:51:06Z

Ian St John: /* International */ removed redundant phrasing

[[Image:Boston College Rugby Running With Ball.jpg|right|thumb|300px|A Rugby match at Boston College.]]
'''Rugby Football''' (or just '''Rugby''') originated at the English public school of the same name.

It was suggested in the 1890s that [[rugby]] was invented during a game of Association Football ([[soccer]]) when one of the pupils, [[William Webb Ellis]] foresook the laws of the game and picked up the ball and ran. This is highly questionable and is now regarded as a myth. The game of soccer was not codified until the 1860s and handling of the ball was commonly allowed in the game during the early nineteen centuary, furthermore the idea that it would have been considered a new set of rules rather than a simple cheat seems far fetched. Webb Ellis himself is nto recorded to have made any mention of inventing a new game, and the first time he is credited with the game is some period following his death.

The laws of the game were later codified by the [[Rugby Football Union]] so that a team comprised 15 players and games were played over two halves of 40 minutes. An alternative version with 13 players per team was developed by the [[Rugby League]] which was formed in 1893. Historically, Rugby Union was played at southern English public (private) schools - though it also had a stong following in industrial areas such as south Wales and mining districts in south-west England - and the senior teams comprised strictly amateur players. Rugby League was mainly played in working class areas of northern England and used professional players.

==Schism==
Rugby League was popularized in the south of England by northern commentator [[Eddie Waring]] with catchphrases such as "Its an up and under", and "it looks like he's having an early bath" when a player was sent off before the end of the game. In Australia in has traditionally been the predominant sport in [[New South Wales]] and [[Queensland]].

The game of rugby was one game, until 1895, when the clubs in the North of England formed a breakaway from the Rugby Football Union. At the time this was not seen as a dramatic step with the new body referring to themselves as the [[Northern Rugby Union]] to suggest the difference was merely one of geography.

However, the roots of the schism were deep. The Northern clubs had come to dominate the game of rugby, with [[Yorkshire]] dominating the county championship and the majority of the England team being supplied by Northern clubs. However, the development of soccer from a private school game to a working class game had alarmed many in the rugby authorities, who were determined that rugby should not fall into the same trap. The rugby authorities were therefore determined to clamp down on professionalism within rugby.

It must be emphasized that professionalism in this sense applied to working class people. It was accepted that middle and upper class people would be payed to play, however, as they did not need the money they were still playing for pleasure and were therefore amateur. As working people would often need the money that would be lost in time off to play the game, money to then was essential to their playing the game and they were therefore seen as professional mercenary players, something unacceptable to the majority of South of England rugby clubs, but essential for the operation of many northern clubs.

As votes to accept some payment for [[broken time]] were rejected, twenty-two clubs broke away from the rugby football union to form professional rugby. The restrictions on professionalism in the new rugby authority were actually stricter than for the rugby union, with a listed profession essential to being permitted to play the game. Initially the new game was played by identical rule to rugby union, but as the ruling body remained separate, a new game developed as both sports diverged from their ancestor - just as American football and Canadian Football separated further.

As soccer gained in popularity in the north of England, alterations to the game of rugby were made by the Northern Rugby Union to make the game more spectator friendly. Line outs were abolished, the ruck simplified and the number of players on each team reduced to thirteen. These alterations enabled the new game of rugby to retain popularity, while the towns in the North of England that remained with the Rugby Union, such as [[Liverpool]] and [[Manchester]] became predominantly soccer towns.

In 1907, a tour of a southern hemisphere team to Britain exposed them to the new rules played in the north. A tour, dubbed the 'All Golds' was organized, which was a great commercial success. The new game was taken to Australia, where it quickly became the predominant team sport in New South Wales and then Queensland.

==International==
Despite its English origins, rugby gained popularity amongst the smaller British nations of Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Through emigration, British colonies in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa developed also a strong following. Unusally, the game was also adopted in France who formed one of the "Five Nations" teams that compete in the annual northern hemisphere competition. This has recently been expanded to Six Nations with the addition of Italy. Other countries where the game is popular include Argentina and various southern pacific islands.

Mini versions of the game have also been developed, such as Rugby Sevens, where only seven players are in a team. Rugby has typically been a physical contact sport for men but alternative versions such as touch rugby where a player is obliged to release the ball when touched rather than physically tackled have also been developed. Since the 1980s women's Rugby has been growing in popularity.

[[American Football]] is derived from rugby and started to codify its own rules during the 1880s.

==External Links==

American National Rugby League [http://www.amnrl.com]
[[category:sports]]

Stickleback

2007-05-12T19:06:07Z

Ian St John: formatting

A '''stickleback''' is a small fish with spines in its dorsal fin. Common in Northern Europe.

Stickleback

2007-05-12T19:05:47Z

Ian St John: Created page

A '''stickleback'' is a small fish with spines in its dorsal fin. Common in Northern Europe.

Polar Bear

2007-05-12T17:46:57Z

Ian St John: Added fur clolor

[[Image:polarbear4.jpg|thumb|right|250px|A polar bear.]]

The '''Polar Bear''' (''Ursus Maritimus'') is a large species of [[bear]] found in the Arctic noted for their white fur. They are capable of surviving extreme cold, as well as sea ice, snow and frozen land.

They have thick blubber to keep warm and white fur for camouflage. Polar bears [[hibernate]] through much of the winter, usually in an excavated snow den. Their normal diet consists mainly of [[seal]]s, though in Canada they have been observed to take prey as small as [[lemming]]s.

They are one of the only natural predators of humans. For this reason they are greatly feared by arctic travelers.

Changes in the Earth's climate are threatening the polar bears habitat and the survival of the species.{{fact}} The current world population is estimated at around 20-25,000

Polar bears also starred in a series of [[Coca-cola]] advertisements that ran during the 1990s. These were not actual polar bears, but were computerized.

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Bears]]
[[Category:Dangerous animals]]