Universe's 6,000th birthday ...

Hey guys!  I received this news and I thought it was interesting enough to 
share it with you:

Tim Radford / Friday October 22, 2004 The Guardian 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1333008,00.html

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Britain's geologists are about to celebrate the fact that the universe is 
exactly 6,000 years old. 

At 6pm tonight at the Geological Society of London, scientists will raise 
their glasses to James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh (below), who in 1650 
used the chronology of the Bible to calculate the precise date and moment 
of creation. 

Working from the book of Genesis, and risking some speculation on the 
Hebrew calendar, he calculated that it began at 6pm on Saturday October 
22, 4004 BC. 

Actually, he put the date at October 23, and then pedantically realised 
that time must have begun the night before, because the Bible said that 
"the evening and the morning were the first day." 

The geologists selected the anniversary for a day-long conference on some 
of the fakes, frauds and hoaxes that have plagued geological and 
palaeontological research for centuries. "It's not that we think 
Archbishop Ussher's date was a fraud," said Ted Nield, the society's 
communications officer. "It's just that it was spectacularly wrong." 

Dr Nield conceded, too, that in toasting the archbishop's calculations the 
geologists were committing another error. More than 6,000 years have 
passed since 4004 BC. The symmetry is only apparent. The date is a mere 
numerological reflection. The real anniversary passed unnoticed, in 1997. 

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Happy Friday!

Peter Vidal
PALL Corporation
SR Programmer Analyst
5775 Rio Vista Drive, Clearwater, FL 33760-3137

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful 
servant.  We have created a society that honors the servant and has 
forgotten the gift."
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)