Cajon Pass Update ReadMe

This update, for Cajon Pass, enhances the sidings and adds mileposts to the route.
All of the sidings have been given names and also have had markers added to them.
Not all the names are prototypical, but nonetheless, it still adds to the route. There are
approximately 490 sidings to work on this route.  The markers have been extended to the 
full length of the sidings to allow creating activities with pickups and setouts.
I sincerely thank Patrick Wise for allowing this update to be posted.


Instructions:

Unzip the file to any temporary directory. 
Make a backup copy of the Cajon Pass Route in case something goes wrong, or 
you want to revert back your original install.
Copy the updated files to their respective folders.

Original route by Patrick Wise

Update by Don Klaebel and Jim Meindl

Jim Meindl  07/19/2007
jrmeindl@yahoo.com



Original ReadMe by Patrick Wise:

ATSF - Cajon Pass
With 1.6 Bin, I can run this route without crashing after 5 mins, so I decided to upload it.  It ain't finished, but it's darn close. 

Download CP.zip, CP.exe, CP.D01, CP.D02, CP.D03, CP.D04, and CP.D05  
to a temporary folder. Run CP.exe to install the route. Follow the instructions in the installer. 
If you wish to run the activity copy all the consists from the "cons" folder to the MSTS "Consists" folder and have the 1.2 default cars installed.  (i.e. the Cement car, Reefer, and BN caboose)



Patrick Wise
pcwise555@earthlink.net


Stuff I got from the Train-Sim.com library.  Thanks :)

John Chambers - Intermodal Crane
Alan (Romerails) Garrett - 4 big industrials
Flag pole guy
Rich Garber - Tutorial
Enocell - Tanks & buildings
Conn McCarthy and Hank Sundermeyer - signals.
Ron Spalding (ChooChoo) - Desert Plants.
Steve Thompson - Cottonwood Trees
Ron Picardi- Bridges / chain link fences 
Jim Ward  - Weeds/Track Textures 
MS Trainstop.com - Piper Arrow 
Russell Beer - Refinery
Ron Paludan - Spanish style house
Bret Wilfong - Old House
Chevy Suburbans - Ted Curphey.
Bill Bzak  - Steelmill structures kit
Jim Jendro - Blast furnace model 
 

Sorry if I left anyone out. 

 
 
 

//////////////////////////////////////



My thoughts on a book written by Sam Harris entitled "Letter to a Christian Nation"

As a Christian, I felt obliged to read Harris' book.  In it he argues that the Bible is false and Christians are stupid etc.   All the standard atheist rhetoric, but he asserts that there is "insufficient evidence" for the Bible and with this, I must say, I disagree completely.  Back in the day, we used to gamble quite a bit.  Pocket billiards became the game of choice because with a modicum skill you could increase your odds of winning consistently.  In games of chance, the odds are overwhelming stacked against you.  If the odds of some event happening exceed 10e50, said event is considered impossible.  The odds overwhelming favor the Bible to be exactly what it claims, the word of God, the one and only creator of the universe.    


In the Beginning
  As a Christian, I believe in miracles.  Not the ones on TV, where some buffoon calls out healings or knocks people over with weird hand motions, but rather in the creation of the universe and I view big bang cosmology as evidence for it.  The materialistic world view holds that a sub-atomic particle exploded itself to create the universe.  Given these two choices, the biblical view is by far the lesser of two miracles.  Arguably, the odds favor God.
  
Anthropic fine tuning
Over 200 parameters had to be precisely set for physical life to even be possible.  Stuff like the speed of light, gravity, rotation speed of the Earth, etc.  had to be spot on, if any one of these things were off by even a slight amount, life on Earth would be impossible.  It has been said that the mass density of the universe is so finely tuned that if the mass of a single dime were added to or subtracted from the total mass of the universe it would throw off the balance enough so that physical life would be impossible.  The probable odds that these 200+ parameters just came about at random are about 10e214, or beyond the realm of possibility.  Arguably, the odds favor God.       

Early Life
The oldest known rocks are 3.9 billion years old, it is doubtful life existed prior to rocks. Fossilized microbes have been discovered that date back to 3.5 billion years. Kerogen and graphite are byproducts of biological activity and samples have been dated back to 3.86 billion years.  I'm no expert on cells, but from what I've read, cells that are capable of reproduction and oxygenic photosynthesis are extremely complex(i.e. billions of chemical processes per second).  There simply wasn't enough time for the spontaneous generation of life, also there is no chemical evidence for any "pre biotic soup" to be found in the geological record.  Arguably, the odds favor God.


Why the Bible God, and not any of the millions of other gods.  The odds, of course.  The bible doesn't make arguments, it makes statements and statements are either true or false.  Here are just a few...  

Hayflick limit 
Gen:6:3 - 120 years max lifespan.  

Life in the Blood
Gen:9:4 -   There is no cause of human death except for the interruption of blood flow or the alteration of blood chemistry.  

Innumerable Stars
Gen:15:5 - The number of known stars was less than 8000 for centuries. 

Dietary Fat
Lev:7:23 - Don't eat fat, it's bad for you.

Don't touch a dead body
Num:19:11 - Jews, by law, never touched dead bodies.  When plagues swept through Europe some noticed that Jews weren't dying off as fast as everyone else, therefore they reasoned the Jews were behind it all and unjustly killed many of them.

What are the odds that the bible authors got lucky with these?

The bible claims to predict the future, unlike Jean Dixon, bible prophecies are very specific.  Here are some concerning Jesus 

Micah:5:2  - gives the place of his birth
Hosea:11:1 - his flight to Egypt
Zechariah:11:12,13 - the price of his betrayal, 30 pieces of silver and how the money was spent.
Psalms 22 - specific crucifixion details
Psalms 16:10 - His Resurrection

These are but a small handful of the 300+ prophecies about Christ, and it should be noted that some of  the disciples who were eyewitnesses to the brutality of crucifixion were themselves crucified for testifying that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies noted above.  What possible gain would they have had to pay such a high price?  The odds that the 300+ prophecies about Christ alone could be true of any one person far exceed 10e50.  To make the case that all Christians are arrogant, Mr. Harris makes the following argument (presumably a Christian speaking) "the creator of the universe takes an interest in ME, approves of ME, loves ME, and will reward ME after death; my current beliefs, drawn from scripture, will remain the best statement of the truth until the end of the world; everyone who disagrees with ME will spend eternity in hell...".  At the very best, this is a straw man fallacy.  God created man with complete freedom to do whatever he wishes, good or evil.  God also gave his law with the admonition, keep it and live, break it and die.  We can't even keep traffic laws 100% of the time, let alone God's law, so the Bible position is we are all doomed from the outset.  No one will spend eternity in hell for failing to agree with me, but rather, for not keeping all those "thou shalts" and "thou shalt nots" that most folks can't even name.  Since God loves, takes an interest in, and wishes to redeem, ALL human beings, he chose to create a plan whereby anyone who wishes to be reconciled to himself, can be.  According to God's law, a lost inheritance could only be redeemed by one near of kin.  So God left the throne of heaven, struck a tent in human flesh called Jesus of Nazareth, who became our "kinsman" redeemer.  Now, anyone who calls upon the name of Jesus can be saved, the punishment for their sin falling on Christ, the 100% perfection required by the law of God being imputed to them in exchange for their faith.  If this belief makes one arrogant, then so be it, but I can't help but notice that nearly all atheists I've read use terms like stupid, moron, idiot etc. to describe folks who disagree with their position.  This could be taken as arrogance or it could be that their arguments are so weak they require this type of manipulation.      
    
Reasons to believe    
http://www.reasons.org/       