[Fyron]

Jack:

Correct would refer to the entire range of values - one million years +/- one million years is correct if the real age is 20 years,

Krsqk -
You are exactly right - a date of 1 million for a Mt. St. Helens rock historically known to have been formed two decades ago would still be "correct" if the listed marig of error was 1 million years or more, as that would include the proper age of a little over two decades - but they don't come back that way. Instead, the results often come back more along the lines of one milion years +/- one hundred thousand years, a decidedly false result.

You can not use radio-isotope dating on objects that are only 20 years old. It was never designed to be used on such "young" objects, so stating that is completely irrelevant to the testing system. The eruption of Mount Saint Helens is not a valid test.

If it doesn't work on objects of known age, clearly the method hasn't been properly calibrated.

Radio-isotope dating is not meant to work on "young" objects. There are always inaccuracies in the levels of isotopes in any object. When there has been a very long time since the object was buried, these inaccuracies tend to average out, so you get relatively more accurate results. But, you can not accurately use any radio-isotope dating on objects that are less than a few thousand years old (this threshhold changes depending on what the half-life of the particular element is). That is not how the testing is designed to work. An example of this is that if an object is exposed to fire, it gets a lot more Carbon-14 in it, so it throws off the calculated age based off of Carbon-14 dating. This is part of the reason why Carbon-14 is not a good isotope to use. Another reason would be that its half-life is only a few thousand years, so it can not be used to test the age of objects that are millions of years old. This is why elements like Uranium are used for older objects; Uranium isotopes ahve very long half-lives. But, Uranium can not be used for dating of objects that are less than a few hundred thousand years old, because of the inherent inaccuracies of radio-isotope dating. This is why legitimate scientists do not use it to date "young" objects. There are some other elements that can be used for objects of different possible ages, but I do not remember what they are at the moment.

Keep in mind, I do not know the exact half-lives and such, so don't bother pointing out that I am off on the values a bit. Take my post in relative terms, and there will not be a problem.

Chronon:

My point was more specifically about our mythology discussion, where it was more about an interpretation than a misreading. But, I won't deny that sometimes Posts are misread as well.

Yes, there can be misinterpretations. But in this case, it was a misreading, not a misinterpretation.

I guess what I was trying to say (perhaps not directly enough) is that if you really want to convince someone of your point of view, taking the reader to task is usually counter-productive. Why not simply rephrase you argument, and try again?

I tried that, actually. Whenever I tried it, the same people misconstrued my words again to make them mean what they wanted me to say, instead of what I had actually said.