All posts tagged: Existence

'The very existence of LGBTQI people is seen as obscene', Turkish activist says

'The very existence of LGBTQI people is seen as obscene', Turkish activist says

Published by Sam Flores

Turkish police on Sunday swooped into gay bars and the homes of LGBTQ activists, arresting at least 60 people in raids authorities said were aimed at boosting traditional family values, officials and activists said. Turkey’s LGBTQ community has frequently been targeted by the government, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan labelling it as a “deviant movement” of “perverts” responsible for the falling birth rate. In this edition, FRANCE 24’s Monte Francis speaks with Yildiz Tar, Editor-in-Chief of KaosGL.org. Source link

Astronomers Discover the Existence of a Black Hole Star

Astronomers Discover the Existence of a Black Hole Star

Published by skeptic

When Soundgarden Wrote “Black Hole Sun,” they may have inadvertently been onto something. In a new paper in Nature, scientists have chronicled a “black hole star” that’s the size of our solar system and glows bright red in the depth of space. The findings are based on observations from the James Webb Space Telescope, which continues to change how astronomers think about the cosmos. Researchers focused on some of the most distant observable phenomena in the universe, which appear to be something like a star in disguise. Based on the light they emit, they appear to share some characteristics with giant stars, but astronomers suspect they are actually black holes shrouded in an extraordinarily dense and luminous gas. These hypothetical objects have been dubbed black hole stars, and the new research, published Wednesday, lays out the case for them. The signal that’s at the center of the study comes from a time when the universe was just 660 million years old. (It’s now almost 14 billion years old.) In the JWST images, the object appears …

Astronomers discover the existence of a ‘black hole star’

Astronomers discover the existence of a ‘black hole star’

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. The strange bright red dots are visible in nearly every image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). However, the frequency of their cosmic cameos didn’t make them any more explicable to astronomers. But after four years of analysis, researchers now believe they know why it was so difficult to identify these mystery subjects: they’re an entirely new astrophysical source. “Our picture of this object is evolving very rapidly,” Rohan Naidu, an astrophysicist at MIT, said in a statement. What is a black hole star? Meet black hole stars. As the name implies in a study published today in Nature, these previously unobserved entities are an amalgamation of space-time collapse and stellar forces. Picture (if you can) a gigantic, dense gas cloud …

Archaeology and Written Records Confirm the Existence of the High Priest Caiaphas – OpentheWord.org

Archaeology and Written Records Confirm the Existence of the High Priest Caiaphas – OpentheWord.org

Published by Sam Flores

The reported ossuary discovered in 1990 of the high priest, Caiaphas, at Jerusalem’s Israel Museum. Credit: deror_avi, Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 In 2011, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced the discovery of an ossuary that confirmed the existence of one of the Gospel’s most infamous characters, Caiaphas the high priest, according to the Bible Archaeology Report Caiaphas was the one who asked Pilate to execute Jesus. An ossuary is a small limestone box used to store the bones of the deceased once the flesh had rotted away. It was common for bones of multiple individuals to be stored inside one box. At times they inscribed the name(s) of the individuals on the outside of the ossuary. How rich and important you were also determined how elaborate the box would be. According to the Gospels, Caiaphas was the high priest at the time Jesus was crucified. The plot to secretly arrest Christ during Passover was hatched in the courtyard at Caiaphas’ home (Matthew 26:3–5). In that meeting they expressed fears about arresting Jesus publicly, since the …

The Nature of Existence and the Existence of Nature

The Nature of Existence and the Existence of Nature

Published by Sam Flores

I would argue that existence and nature are synonymous and, as Aristotle would say, “self-evident.” However, there are definitive so-called “laws of nature” that define existence, are immutable and govern all things across time and space from the very largest to the very smallest. The most profound and puzzling question that has no straightforward answer is how and/or why does anything exist at all? This question has never been satisfactorily answered by Aristotle or anyone else up to and including present time. Leaving aside this unfathomable mystery leads me to consider a more pragmatic issue: What is our role in nature as we search for meaning and purpose in our existence? From the geological record, humankind evolved on planet Earth from ape-like ancestors a few million years ago. As our enlarging brain capacity to think has evolved, we have tried to explain our presence on Earth through myth, religion, philosophy and, more recently, science. All things, whether animate or inanimate are subject to the universal laws of nature; a rock and an animal both must …

Ancient Jewish Historian Josephus Confirms the Existence of James, the Brother of Jesus – OpentheWord.org

Ancient Jewish Historian Josephus Confirms the Existence of James, the Brother of Jesus – OpentheWord.org

Published by Sam Flores

Martyrdom of James, the Lord’s Brother by Master of Winkler’s Epitaph, 1470, Wikipedia, Public Domain Josephus, an ancient Jewish historian who died in 100 AD, wrote several books on Jewish History. On two occasions, Josephus referred to Jesus Christ. We discussed the most extensive mention in a previous article. But his second mention is equally intriguing. In his book, Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus referred to Jesus in the context of the stoning of James, the Lord’s brother: Ananus, who, as we have told you already, took the high priesthood, was a bold man in his temper, and very insolent; he was also of the sect of the Sadducees, who are very rigid in judging offenders, above all the rest of the Jews, as we have already observed; when, therefore, Ananus was of this disposition, he thought he had now a proper opportunity [to exercise his authority]. Festus was now dead, and Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled the Sanhedrin of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was …

As UFOs go mainstream, the jury is out on what the existence of alien life might mean for religion

As UFOs go mainstream, the jury is out on what the existence of alien life might mean for religion

Published by Sam Flores

LOS ANGELES (AP) — In “Disclosure Day,” out Friday, Steven Spielberg is once again inviting audiences to ponder the existence of extraterrestrial life — and the implications it would have for religion on Earth. But Spielberg is hardly the only one making headlines of late about UFOs and the possibility of life on other planets. What was once considered fringe or conspiratorial has in recent months popped up everywhere from the White House to the Catholic Church, as public fascination with unidentified anomalous phenomena — or UAPs, as the government calls them — becomes more mainstream. The Pentagon in May made public large swaths of UFO files with very little context, leaving curious sleuths to piece together their own interpretations. The dump came just weeks after former President Barack Obama set off a media frenzy for stating unambiguously in an interview that aliens are real, though he later tempered that take. “Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there,” the former president, who made a surprise visit to …

Can We Talk the Hard Problem of Consciousness Out of Existence?

Can We Talk the Hard Problem of Consciousness Out of Existence?

Published by Jenni Sidey

Theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli, reflecting on his own discipline, has said some valuable things. For example, he critiques the continuing efforts to overturn principles of physics, pointing out that they misrepresent the intentions of, say, Thomas Kuhn (1922–1996) and Karl Popper (1902–1994). But recently he fell into an all-too-common trap for creative thinkers. He offered an opinion on a subject outside his discipline. At thinkmag Noema, he tells us, “There is no hard problem of consciousness.” What? All those puzzled students of the human mind — thousands of them — are just wasting their time? To defend his view, he trots out Darwin’s evolution theory: Many felt confounded or degraded by the idea of sharing a family tree with donkeys. The cultural history of modernity is dotted by similar ideological rearguard battles, wherein old worldviews fight in retreat against novel knowledge to save some concept held dear. Amid the current cultural backlash against progressive ideas, today’s debate on consciousness reflects our human fears of belonging to the same family as inanimate matter and losing our …

Business says new Labour plan ‘regulates flexible work out of existence’ | Personal Finance | Finance

Business says new Labour plan ‘regulates flexible work out of existence’ | Personal Finance | Finance

Published by Sam Flores

Peter Kyle, the business secretary, has been asked to tone down the new plans (Image: Getty) The Government should not regulate flexible jobs “out of existence” with reforms which will scrap zero-hours contracts, retail industry leaders have warned. Last week, ministers laid out details for proposals which could ensure guaranteed hours for workers. It started a consultation over potential new rules which would require employers to offer staff on zero hours or short hours contracts a minimum number of hours each week on regular working hours. The consultation on how to implement the changes, which are due to come into effect next year, flagged that the Government would prefer workers to be guaranteed a minimum of between eight and 20 hours per week, if current contracts are at or below that level. More than 1 million people in the UK are working on a zero-hours contract basis – where a worker is not guaranteed a minimum number of working hours – in areas ranging from working in pubs and restaurants to warehouses and hospitals. Peter …

You Can Imagine Your Best Life Into Existence, According To A New Brain Study

You Can Imagine Your Best Life Into Existence, According To A New Brain Study

Published by Jenni Sidey

A new study found that our brains have the legitimate power to imagine everything we’ve ever wanted into existence. Some of you might call it wishful thinking. However, the science speaks for itself.  According to an article published by ScienceNews, which explained the study’s findings, neuroscientists found that the brain cells people use to imagine things are the exact same ones that process real-life experiences in front of you. Who says we can’t use this ability to manifest our wildest dreams into reality? You can imagine your best life into existence, according to a new brain study There are those out there who swear by the saying, seeing is believing. However, if we can actually see things with the mind’s eye, the study shows it’s no different than seeing those things in real life. Our brains literally cannot tell the difference between what is real and what is imagined. voronaman / Shutterstock A way to harness this power to get what we want out of life is by manifesting. Spirituality expert Gabby Bernstein defines manifesting …