Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Look How Far We've Come!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
The Final Blog, The Blog Finale, Finally.
But not really--I will probably keep blogging.
Nummer Einz (#1):
I would call myself a synthesizing mind because I mostly compiled other people's input and sought to comment on it and make evaluations. For example, my penultimate blog post contained an excerpt from the novel the curious incident of the dog in the night-time, which I swear simply has no capitalization. While I sometimes drew somewhat original deductions from these sources, it was mostly reiteration.
Nummer Zwei (#2):
a) I think challenging my beliefs was my primary intent. I am a natural mugwump. Having concrete opinions frightens me. In this blog, I challenged myself to think extensively on topics such as the wisdom of cutting NASA funds, whether Pluto's demotion from planet status was necessary, and how the world will end.
b) By challenging my beliefs, I managed to generate a few hypotheses, which did not go unchallenged by my readers, most faithfully the Alternative Energy guru Bryan, whose vast database of miscellaneous trivia was key in The Quest for Truth. For instance, I suggested that we as society worry less about the apocalypse becasue by the time it happened, no humans would be around anymore anyway. I also hypothesized that an alien invasion of earth is sort of inevitable--a mere matter of "when"--and that this could be a more serious issue if they are anything like the European colonists were upon settling in America.
c) Finally, I read with awareness of myself and of others. I know that I am indecisive, and I took others' opinions into account in order to formulate my own. If this included admitting a piece of faulty information, I accepted that.
Nummer Drei (#3):
The piece about an alien invasion was probably the most startling. I began this blog under the impression that the most urgent matter in the Astronomy world was the potential for cuts in NASA's budget, which might be bad. Now I know that there are some who say we need to worry about territorial extraterrestrial lifeforms. I'm of the mindset that there isn't much we can do, so worrying about that would serve little purpose, but it was alarming to hear.
And now, without further ado, I conclude the AP Language chapter of my Astronomy-related blogging. I'll try to stay posted on the world of Astronomy and keep any readers I may maintain posted as well. But this is me saying "Auf Wiedersehen" to my greatest source of motivation. You stay classy.
Nummer Einz (#1):
I would call myself a synthesizing mind because I mostly compiled other people's input and sought to comment on it and make evaluations. For example, my penultimate blog post contained an excerpt from the novel the curious incident of the dog in the night-time, which I swear simply has no capitalization. While I sometimes drew somewhat original deductions from these sources, it was mostly reiteration.
Nummer Zwei (#2):
a) I think challenging my beliefs was my primary intent. I am a natural mugwump. Having concrete opinions frightens me. In this blog, I challenged myself to think extensively on topics such as the wisdom of cutting NASA funds, whether Pluto's demotion from planet status was necessary, and how the world will end.
b) By challenging my beliefs, I managed to generate a few hypotheses, which did not go unchallenged by my readers, most faithfully the Alternative Energy guru Bryan, whose vast database of miscellaneous trivia was key in The Quest for Truth. For instance, I suggested that we as society worry less about the apocalypse becasue by the time it happened, no humans would be around anymore anyway. I also hypothesized that an alien invasion of earth is sort of inevitable--a mere matter of "when"--and that this could be a more serious issue if they are anything like the European colonists were upon settling in America.
c) Finally, I read with awareness of myself and of others. I know that I am indecisive, and I took others' opinions into account in order to formulate my own. If this included admitting a piece of faulty information, I accepted that.
Nummer Drei (#3):
The piece about an alien invasion was probably the most startling. I began this blog under the impression that the most urgent matter in the Astronomy world was the potential for cuts in NASA's budget, which might be bad. Now I know that there are some who say we need to worry about territorial extraterrestrial lifeforms. I'm of the mindset that there isn't much we can do, so worrying about that would serve little purpose, but it was alarming to hear.
And now, without further ado, I conclude the AP Language chapter of my Astronomy-related blogging. I'll try to stay posted on the world of Astronomy and keep any readers I may maintain posted as well. But this is me saying "Auf Wiedersehen" to my greatest source of motivation. You stay classy.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
An Excerpt from the curious incident of the dog in the night-time, by Mark Haddon
...which one would think should have more capitalization, but it doesn't. Also, I haven't worked out how to italicize in title bars yet.
I watched the sky as we drove toward the town center. It was a clear night and you could see the Milky Way.
Some people think the Milky Way is a long line of stars, but it isn't. Our galaxy is a huge disk of stars millions of light-years across, and the solar system is somewhere near the outside edge of the disk.
When you look in direction A, at 90ยบ to the disk, you don't see many stars. But when you look in direction B, you see lots more stars because you are looking into the main body of the galaxy, and because the galaxy is a disk you see a stripe of stars.
And then I thought about how for a long time scientists were puzzled by the fact that the sky is dark at night, even though there are billions of stars in the universe and there must be stars in every direction you look, so that the sky should be full of starlight because there is very little in the way to stop the light from reaching earth.
Then they worked out that the universe was expanding, that the stars were all rushing away from one another after the Big Bang, and the further the stars were away from us the faster they were moving, some of them nearly as fast as the speed of light, which was why their light never reached us.
I like this fact. It is something you can work out in your own mind just by looking at the sky above your head at night and thinking without having to ask anyone.
And when the universe has finished exploding, all the stars will slow down, like a ball that has been thrown into the air, and they will come to a halt and they will all begin to fall toward the center of the universe again. And then there will be nothing to stop us from seeing all the stars in the world because they will all be moving toward us, gradually faster and faster, and we will know that the world is going to end soon because when we look up into the sky at night there will be no darkness, just the blazing light of billions and billions of stars, all falling.
Except that no one will see this because there will be no people left on earth to see it. They will probably have become extinct by then. And even if there are people still in existence, they will not see it because the light will be so bright and hot that everyone will be burned to death, even if they live in tunnels.
That made me think a lot, which I like in a novel. We've all feared the end of the world at some point. I have a shirt that whimsically portrays a myriad of ways we may see the apocalypse, and people who take the time to read each of the little boxes will laugh, but deep down, there's something sinister.
But more likely than not, the world won't end in 2012 because of any Mayan calendar. The world will end the way it began. And you may of course feel free to register your thoughts on the subject, but I see the beginning of the world as a God-spurred Big Bang. Thusly, I see the end of the world as a God-spurred... Big Vortex. And just as there were no humans in the beginning, there will be none in the end. And I suppose if we're determined to be concerned about something, we can worry about why that will transpire, but I say hakuna matata.
I watched the sky as we drove toward the town center. It was a clear night and you could see the Milky Way.
Some people think the Milky Way is a long line of stars, but it isn't. Our galaxy is a huge disk of stars millions of light-years across, and the solar system is somewhere near the outside edge of the disk.
When you look in direction A, at 90ยบ to the disk, you don't see many stars. But when you look in direction B, you see lots more stars because you are looking into the main body of the galaxy, and because the galaxy is a disk you see a stripe of stars.
[Insert diagram I attempted to replicate via Adobe Illustrator, then failed to upload and gave up. Blasted technology--you've thwarted me again! *shakes fist*]
And then I thought about how for a long time scientists were puzzled by the fact that the sky is dark at night, even though there are billions of stars in the universe and there must be stars in every direction you look, so that the sky should be full of starlight because there is very little in the way to stop the light from reaching earth.
Then they worked out that the universe was expanding, that the stars were all rushing away from one another after the Big Bang, and the further the stars were away from us the faster they were moving, some of them nearly as fast as the speed of light, which was why their light never reached us.
I like this fact. It is something you can work out in your own mind just by looking at the sky above your head at night and thinking without having to ask anyone.
And when the universe has finished exploding, all the stars will slow down, like a ball that has been thrown into the air, and they will come to a halt and they will all begin to fall toward the center of the universe again. And then there will be nothing to stop us from seeing all the stars in the world because they will all be moving toward us, gradually faster and faster, and we will know that the world is going to end soon because when we look up into the sky at night there will be no darkness, just the blazing light of billions and billions of stars, all falling.
Except that no one will see this because there will be no people left on earth to see it. They will probably have become extinct by then. And even if there are people still in existence, they will not see it because the light will be so bright and hot that everyone will be burned to death, even if they live in tunnels.
That made me think a lot, which I like in a novel. We've all feared the end of the world at some point. I have a shirt that whimsically portrays a myriad of ways we may see the apocalypse, and people who take the time to read each of the little boxes will laugh, but deep down, there's something sinister.
But more likely than not, the world won't end in 2012 because of any Mayan calendar. The world will end the way it began. And you may of course feel free to register your thoughts on the subject, but I see the beginning of the world as a God-spurred Big Bang. Thusly, I see the end of the world as a God-spurred... Big Vortex. And just as there were no humans in the beginning, there will be none in the end. And I suppose if we're determined to be concerned about something, we can worry about why that will transpire, but I say hakuna matata.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
A flat-out rant about Toy Story, which may or may not eventually relate to astronomy.
I left the house for a few hours on Sunday to go to my Germany Spring Break Reunion Party, and when I got back, do you know what I found?
Actually, nothing. But my sister-in-law found it in the guest bedroom closet.
Anyway, I'm sure you've guessed by now that it's Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl we found, trapped in a closet that hasn't seen a working lightbulb in living memory and suffering sensory deprivation torture thusly. And upon her rescue, she was nearly put in the garage sale pile.
Yes, I do see the parallels, thanks. I am sufficiently ashamed--perhaps excessively so, actually, and this is where the ranting begins.
Where does Pixar get off ending the movie that way? Disney-Pixar, no less! Inflicting guilt for ignoring one's' toys upon unsuspecting children--it's unjustifiable.
Rest assured that Jessie is resting comfortably in a place of honor in my bedroom now. She won't be neglected again. And perhaps that means I'm a little left of center, but such is life. Jessie and I can take turns suffering the insanity caused by the Toy Story franchise now.
So yes, the tie-in is that Buzz Lightyear is an astronaut, and they go to space.
More relevantly, The FINANCIAL released, five hours ago, that the shuttle Atlantis will begin one final voyage to the International Space Station on May 14. And I would like to point out that the ISS is neither infinity nor beyond, so what's up with that?
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