…or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.
This is my new favourite April Fool’s joke ever.
“In a surprising and potentially troubling request, the new space station robot known as Dextre demanded that astronauts refer to it in the future at “Dextre the Magnificent.”
…philosophy teaching by examples.
I love history - a serious addict of it. So I was stoked to find that the BBC has released an interactive Timeline of British History . Fantastic for people like me, with interest in the subject, all the way through to scholars, no matter how potentially reluctant:)
…home.
The lovely (sort of;) ) Phil over at Bad Astronomer posts on the amazing shot of Earth and Moon, from Mars.
“Yeah, that’s us. That’s home. We were 192 million kilometers (115 million miles) from Mars when HiRISE turned around and took this picture.”
Wow. Just - wow.
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…we shape the world.
Watch this. I couldn find a flaw in this manś compelling argument. I challenge you. Go on. I dare you. Double dare. Whatever it takes to get you to watch.
You see, he asks a question at the very end - and I cannot answer it at all positively.
If you can´t view embedded, please go here.
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…there is a Santa Claus.
Eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York’s Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897.
“DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
Papa says, ‘If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.’
Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?”
VIRGINIA O’HANLON.
115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.
VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
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…only after humility.
Carl Sagan had it in spades - well, he had both enlightenment AND humility.
Further to the Sagan Blogathon, Nick Sagan has written a wonderful post about his father. Nick is a fantastic writer, and a published author in his own right. I heartily recommend tracking his works down!
Phil over at Bad Astronomy also has a post.
I watched Contact last night with my boyfriend[1]. The pair of us were, as always, touched by the ‘For Carl’ in the credits. We hope he would have loved this movie as much as we do.
[1] My best friend lent it to me, he also is besotted with it. He didn’t realise the date, but he loves the book and movie as much as we do. Carl touched so many lives.
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…a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous.
The second Carl Sagan Memorial Blogathon is on.I participated last year (a year, already?). As with last year, and probably even more so, the blogosphere will be full of Sagan posts on the 20th. Again, thanks to time differences, I get start earlier than most.
It is odd, a few days ago, I sat down and watched the first two episodes of Cosmos with four of my kidlets, and my dear boyfriend, an equally huge Cosmos fan (actually, it i his boxed set we were enjoying! It is one of the many things I treasure about you, sweetheart:) )
The interest it generated in the kids, all these years later, and the wonder, especially from the smaller two, mirrored my own all those years ago. Carl, Ann, the rest of the team, oh, and PBS, gave us a gift that CANNOT be underestimated [1].
To this day, I can trace my quest for knowledge, and my joy and delight in science and learning, to Carl, and to Cosmos. I am so happy to share that gift with my children again.
We miss you Carl. Thank you, Carl.
[1] Cosmos remains the most watched PBS show in the world, ever.
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…no, there is too much. Let me sum up.
Hey people, its my morning summary blog.
The solar system is dented. I always thought it was bent.
Digital survey of the Milky Way, for your wonderment. What, I wonder, do you need of god(s) when the reality is so much more marvellous?
NOT the infamous Katy Manning and Dalek picture (NSFW!) - but here is a much safer Kylie MInogue and Dalek friend 
Linux gifts for Xmas - some fine ideas from New Linux User. Add some of your own to her list!
Word of the year is W00t. Ummm - w00t!
Look, I know I have probably linked to it before through bookmarks, but it is Christmas. Give of your time. Learn new words, show off the ones you know. For every word you get right, ten grains of rice feeds someone hungry. Dammit people, it takes so little effort to help, how much more simpler can it be? You don’t even have to move your butts!
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…it always does.
Given my nature, my name, my passions, and the very name of this blog, how could I not be enthralled by this?
The Arrow of Time delves in to the very nature of time. It is a chewy, facsinating look at what time is, entropy, the universe, and other minor matters.
Tip of the blogger’s hat to Phil at Bad Astronomy Blog.
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…that their passion to figure out robs the world of beauty and mystery. But it does no harm to the romance of the sunset to know a little bit about it.
Phil over at Bad Astronomy posed for the recent Skepchick calendar. His rather umm, glamorous shot is now up. That’s one HECK of a telescope:)
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