Manchester United's Crisis (Sports News)

Despite 4 straight 1-0 victories in a row (including the victory at Sporting Lisbon), one question remains about the world's most popular soccer club(argubly)-- When will they score more than a goal in a match?

For this season so far, the highest-scoring club in English history just cannot seem to score. Luckily for them, they have yet to face a tough opponent yet. One can only wonder when the floodgates will open.

CDI

The Alternative: Noticing patterns in randomness

Alternative Answers (Science and Technology)

What are the flaws of evolution? What is the case of a mitochondria Eve? Did dinosaurs live along side men?

We all think that we know the obvious answers, but www.answersingenesis.com begs to differ. In fact, they list convincing arguments for alternative views on conventional science, and much of it is convincing. So we at The Alternative endores this website. Read it, and you'll be stunned.

Dr Storm

The Alternative: Just when you thought you had all the answers.

Heroes Return (Entertainment)

"Heroes", the ever popular TV series will return in its 2nd season on 24th September 2007. The show, which revolves around a group of people with special abilities such as accelerated healing factors, self-propelled flight or telepathy, is one of the highest rated of all time. Despite being stabbed at the twilight of the first season, the arch-nenemis, Slyar is set to return.

Well, why is this show so popular. Maybe it is because the world seems to be lacking of a moral figure to look up to as a "hero", especially after Mother Theresa admitted in her diraries that she did not find the "peace of God".

Torch;D

The Alternative: Finding hope in the hopeless

China to be blamed for everything? (International News)

It seems that everything seems to be China's fault nowadays. What do I mean? Well, the spread of avian flu, rise in mercury poisoning, rise in food poisoning, the rejection of Mattel's toys and even the hacking of the Pentagon's military files.

Well, is it fair to really blame China? Or is it just coincidence? Maybe it's a global consipircy to undermine China's growing influence in the world stage. My advice-- don't ponder too much.

In other news, China to to be blame for Singapore's increasing suicide rates, the increasing crime rates in Malaysia.....

The Alternative: Righting wrongs and Wronging Rights

Ben Tan

The flaws of Carbon Dating (Science and Technology)

[Editor's note (26/09/2010): I wrote this post when my understanding of theology was juvenile and of science, even worse. At the time I made this post, I should have heeded the advice of not writing about something I knew nothing about.

I have since rejected that creationsim as scientific, but I choose to keep this post in its original form to remind myself of how ignorant I once was.]



How do you tell how old a fossil is? Or how long a body is dead? Or the age of the earth? Well, one method is to use carbon dating.

As any good upper secondary physics student should know, carbon dating works using the principle of radioactive decay of carbon-14. Most carbon on earth exist as carbon-12 but a small percentage exists as carbon-14. So even some of the carbon we eat of we breathe is radioactive. Yes, you my friend, are radioactive.

So when the the organism dies, it stops taking in carbon. The carbon-14 slowly decomposes with a predictable rate similar to the graph above. (The y-axis represents radioactivity/mass of carbon-14, while the x-axis represents time.) Hence by finding out the radioactivity of the subject, we can deduce the time of death.

However, there are many flaws to this method. For one, it assumes that the ratio of carbon-12 and carbon-14 in the atmosphere is constant throughout the ages. Well that is not really true. We have to concede that at certain periods in history, the ratio is significantly lower due to the the Industrial Revolution, the comsic flares from the sun,the atomic age and if you believe it, the Genesis flood.

Secondly, it assumes that organismes take up carbon-14 at the constant rate. Some plants do not, and we definitely cannot be sure for fossils.

So do not be so eager to accept whatever your textbook says. In other words, the world could only be a few thousand years old.

The Alternative: better than any newspaper or textbook.

Dr Storm

Armed NSF caught at Orchard Road (Local News)

Corporal Dave Teo Ming was arrested at Orchard Road at 8 pm yesterday after a 20 hour manhunt. The full-time National Serviceman had gone missing during his own guard duty and possessed a SAR 21 rifle and some ammunition with him.

I cannot believe that someone who would finished his service in the army in a month's time would commit such a moronic act. I simply cannot comprehend it.

Ben Tan

Taliban releases Korean Hostages (International News)

On the 30th of August 2007, the last of the Korean hostages was released by the Taliban. Captured on the 19th of July 2007 while travelling in a bus during a missionary trip, the fate of the Koreans was left to chance until the Korean government enterred talks with the terrorists. Despite losing two of their number, the remaining twenty-one have returned safely to Korea.

Now the problem is a new one. Although I glad and relieved for the Koreans, we have seen that a sovereign government was willing to negoiate with known terrorists. We see a new standard and compromise set. Whether money was involved is not an issue; instead we must wonder in this day and age if that counts as a compromise or a moral choice. I personally am not too sure where I stand on this issue.

Natasha Romanov