One believer’s view.
I no longer support efforts to restore the lobo to its rightful habitat in the wildlands of New Mexico. Yes, the blood-thirsty, cold-hearted sons-of-bitches can have their way, just like well-armed babies. Yes, the late-comers who claim they own all public lands can deny the majority its will. Yes, a small number of cowardly dimwits can determine the fate of the ecosystem.
Now and then, ugly, stupid, mean, and wrong triumph. I’m tired of the slaughter of decent animals by indecent ones.
I like “we are star stuff” (Sagan?). Great minds sometimes think alike (the truth can be found in the overlapping subsets). “We are a way for the Cosmos to know itself.” Carl Sagan.
Neil DeGrasse Tyson – The Most Astounding Fact
[Question]
What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?
[Neil deGrasse Tyson, Ph.D. (October 5, 1958)] Source: LYBIO.net
The most astounding fact is the knowledge that the atoms that comprise life on Earth the atoms that make up the human body are traceable to the crucibles that cooked light elements into heavy elements in their core under extreme temperatures and pressures. These stars, the high mass ones among them went unstable in their later years they collapsed and then exploded scattering their enriched guts across the galaxy guts made of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and all the fundamental ingredients of life itself. These ingredients become part of gas cloud that condense, collapse, form the next generation of solar systems stars with orbiting planets, and those planets now have the ingredients for life itself. So that when I look up at the night sky and I know that yes, we are part of this universe, we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the Universe is in us. When I reflect on that fact, I look up – many people feel small because they’re small and the Universe is big – but I feel big, because my atoms came from those stars. There’s a level of connectivity. That’s really what you want in life, you want to feel connected, you want to feel relevant you want to feel like a participant in the goings on of activities and events around you That’s precisely what we are, just by being alive…
Neil DeGrasse Tyson – The Most Astounding Fact
The Most Astounding Fact (Neil DeGrasse Tyson) – YouTube
Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson was asked by a reader of TIME magazine, "What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?" This is his answer. Now w/ subtitles (click CC)! Watch in HD!
A poem popped into my RSS reader and lead me down memory lane to revisit the three poems I most vividly remember my Mom reading to me, time and again. [Some may recall I loved to quote this first one years after I learned it.]
The Owl and the Pussy-Cat by Edward Lear : The Poetry Foundation
"O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!"
The Owl and the Pussy-Cat by Edward Lear : The Poetry Foundation
I still have the giant book from which my Mom first read this to me. The book has lush illustrations we both loved. (I still remember the smell of its slick pages.)
CatStuff: The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat
The Duel
by Eugene FieldThe gingham dog and the calico cat
Side by side on the table sat; …
CatStuff: The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat
I think this was my Mom’s favorite.
The Swing by Robert Louis Stevenson
How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!
Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
River and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside–
Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown–
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!
Age of Reason , “Every atom in your body came from a star that…
"Every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics. You are all stardust. You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded. Because the elements, the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars. And the only way they could get into your body is if the stars were kind enough to explode. So forget Jesus. The stars died so you could be here today." — Lawrence Krauss
Age of Reason , “Every atom in your body came from a star that…
Miley Cyrus Tweets on Science & Religion – Science and Religion Today
Miley Cyrus Tweets on Science & Religion
A few days ago, Miley Cyrus posted this picture to her Twitter account, calling it ”Beautiful”:
And some of her critics—and fans—responded, by attacking Cyrus and accusing her of no longer being a Christian.
Earlier today, Cyrus responded with two more tweets:
“Miley, we’re so proud of you for standing up in your new tweets about your beliefs that the world was created through evolution, even though you were attacked by some livid fans!” veteran editor Bonnie Fuller posts on Hollywood Life.
She writes: “Your message to your haters is that #1, science and religion can co-exist, and #2, that love is what’s important and #3, to bring hate into religion is a terrible thing. We couldn’t agree more, Miley! Good for you for standing up for your beliefs and for not allowing yourself to be pushed around by haters who have called you horrible names!”
Miley Cyrus Tweets on Science & Religion – Science and Religion Today
Quote by Marcus Aurelius: "Live a good life. If there are gods and they are j…"
“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.”
? Marcus Aurelius
Quote by Marcus Aurelius: "Live a good life. If there are gods and they are j…"
Saw this one embedded in an image recently. Good thought. (There are no gods, only myths and lies and desperate hopes.)
I ran into myself in the park again this morning. Last time, Future Mark got out of a car and shuffled over to a bench. There he sat, smoking a cigar, in contemplation. It was a fatter cigar than I currently like, but tastes change over the years. I intuited that this was a ritual for him/me to get away from some less-than-ideal living situation. Perhaps, Future Mark lives in a small apartment or shares space with a friend. More likely, he lives in a warehouse for the not-yet-dead. In the park, with a good smoke, he reclaims our independence, however briefly.
Back then, I avoided contact with Future Mark out of fear of some time paradox. Since then, apparently, I will learn that’s not a problem, because this morning Future Mark approached me, or, more correctly, Luke. Mark held out his hand for Luke to sniff. Luke looked back and forth between us and managed to reconcile the situation; dogs live in the now. Mark looked me in the eye as if delivering a message just for me: "Our dog lived to be 16." (Good news that has a bitter end.) "I can’t imagine ever replacing him." I tried to comfort him what little I could: "We felt that way about Lucky. Then, when the time was right, Luke came along." Cold comfort, to replace grief with delayed grief, but we have only one other choice: love nothing. Besides, the warehouse probably forbids pets.
A few minutes later, I saw Future Mark bend over stiffly to brush some leaves off a memorial plaque beneath a tree. Then, he passed us, staring straight ahead, his face at once rigid and fluid with grief. I knew his pain. I didn’t dare look at the name on that plaque.
I just bought a radiometer. I’ve wanted one for years but couldn’t remember the name, so I’ve looked in vain in toy stores. Today, we went to a 60th birthday party at Explora!, an interactive museum intended to stimulate scientific curiosity in kids. In doing so, Explora! provides no information at all, so those kids had better be mightily stimulated and capable of seeking reliable sources of information outside the exhibits.
I mentioned my search for a whatchamacallit (wow, spell check indicates I got that right) to the gift store cashier and she said, “oh, that’s a radiometer; we have them over here.” I’d walked right past the boxes looking for one out in the sunlight. I bought it and it is spinning away in the bright kitchen.
So, when I read the back of the box at home, I was flummoxed that it claimed the radiometer worked because of “heated air molecules” (not 100% complete). But I’ll be damned: I thought the radiometer proved photons have mass because they move the vanes. D’oh! On closer inspection (see How does a light-mill work?; I love the name ‘light-mill’), I was in the good company of Maxwell himself, but how did my head hold a “fact” that had been discredited over 100 years ago? I had a similar … “rude awakening” (everything you know is wrong) not long ago when a friend question my confident assertion that rabbits are rodents. Not since the early 1900s (it took her one second with a search engine to confound a 47 year old certainty). When did I go to school? I’m open to learning new stuff but not too keen on learning I’m wrong.
Sometimes, I feel I’ve slipped between universes. I learned this stuff over there. But the food is better here.
