Again with the whole “we are star dust” thing

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!

The Most Astounding Fact (Neil DeGrasse Tyson) – YouTube

The poems of childhood linger long after

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 Field

The 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!

The Swing by Robert Louis Stevenson

Hyperpolyglots with “a restless linguistic promiscuity” — admirable, enviable

I’ve never heard of “hyper”-polyglots. Wondering now about hyperpolymaths and hyperpolyhistors. [hat tip to dangerousmeta]

A Teenage Master of Languages Finds Online Fellowship – NYTimes.com

By JOHN LELAND
Published: March 9, 2012

[A] small but vibrant subculture of language geeks, one made possible only by the Internet.

The linguist Michael Erard, in a recent book called “Babel No More: The Search for the World’s Most Extraordinary Language Learners,” describes these autodidacts as a “neural tribe,” joined not by common language but by a restless linguistic promiscuity. As English dominance has made it possible to navigate more and more of the world with just one language, these hyperpolyglots are no longer isolated in their passion for learning dozens or more. …

Do you know what ergativity is?” he asked her, referring to a property of some languages, including Hindi, by which a verb’s subject changes case when the verb is intransitive. [mjh: damn!] …

One day, discussing Turkish, he asked a visitor if he knew what an agglutinative language was. (It is a language in which new words are created by adding prefixes and suffixes.)  …

Hyperpolyglots have been the objects of curiosity at least since the 19th century, when Cardinal Giuseppe Mezzofanti of Bologna was said to have mastered more than 50 languages. For nearly as long, people have debated whether their ability was innate or learned.

A Teenage Master of Languages Finds Online Fellowship – NYTimes.com

“The stars died so you could be here today.” — Lawrence Krauss

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

The day Internet porn ended

In the interest of fairness, Rush Limbaugh released his own sex tape today. “Who wants to watch a lumpy wanker shake is limp wang at a JC Penney’s ad while chanting, ‘Come on, Viagra!’?,” wrote the one volunteer brave enough to watch the video, in his suicide note. Overnight, the Internet crashed as ditto-heads uploaded their own wank-flicks.

"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." — Sam Adams