Posted by barb on May 11, 2005 in
Science Musings I love the weeks I spend answering questions for Ask a High Energy Astronomer (soon to be just “Ask an Astronomer”). Why? In part because I get to enlighten people who are curious about astronomy, but mostly because of the websites I run across while searching for resources to pass on in my answers.
Usually I come across crackpot science webpages (and today is no exception, see below), but today I also discovered a cool page, No Answers in Genesis. NAiG is a site devoted to pointing out the inaccuracies and inanities present in the creationist dogma. Much of the site is devoted to evolution and Darwinism, but there are a few things about cosmology and the origin of the Universe.
In the same web search, I also found a crackpot site, TruthBook.com. This site contains the text of The Urantia Book, which is a book containing “religion, history, science, and philosophy, and includes the life and teachings of Jesus.” The authors of this book?
No human being is listed as author of The Urantia Book. The Urantia Book refers to the authorship as a collaborative effort by many superhuman, celestial beings, all of whom brought to this endeavor individual areas of knowledge and expertise. [From the FAQ]
I stumbled upon this site through a quote on our Sun:
Your sun is now passing out of its six billionth year. At the present time it is functioning through the period of greatest economy. It will shine on as of present efficiency for more than twenty-five billion years.
Really? 25 billion more years? Five times more than the currently accepted estimate, based on solid science? But then, this comes down from superhuman, celestial beings, so it must be true.
The best quote, though, in the Sun section is this:
The larger suns maintain such a gravity control over their electrons that light escapes only with the aid of the powerful X rays. [From chapter 41, section 9]
That’s right, it’s gravity that keeps light from escaping from stars, not the incredible density of the central regions. I suppose that means that black holes are just larger suns that have run out of X-rays? And, of course, X-rays are separate from light, right?
Ugh.
Here’s a cute Interview with Sol by Robert J. Nemiroff (from 1987, so a bit old, but the information is still good).
AM: When did you decide to have planets?
Sol: Very early in life, although I’m not exactly sure when – that part of my life was very nebulous. I didn’t really plan to have planets because I never had a steady companion. They just sort of spun off of my care-free early life style.
Tags: rant, science
Posted by barb on May 10, 2005 in
Memes, Etc.
Which Website are You?
(Blame Mushi)
Tags: dumb fun
Posted by barb on May 9, 2005 in
Random Thoughts I’m still here — I’ve just been taking a bit of a break from blogging as I catch up on the rest of my life. That, and I haven’t had much of interest to say. I’m plugging away on my thesis, scrapbooking the wedding, biking with Andrew, exercising, trying to get into healthier eating habits, and preparing a poster for the AAS meeting starting Memorial Day.
Tags: comfort
Posted by barb on May 8, 2005 in
Movies 1.5/5 stars
This documentary charts the path of Enron from conception to its downfall in 2001. I was lost for the first 15-20 minutes of this documentary. Granted, I don’t know much financial jargon, and don’t have much clue when it comes to financial matters and institutions, but then this film is not geared toward those already sophisticated in these matters. I sort of followed the goings-on after that, but in talking with Andrew afterwords, found that the film didn’t really highlight some of the most egregious things done by Enron. In addition, they misrepresented the weather-options that Enron had started to get into (the way it was portrayed in the documentary was that Enron was going to either control the weather or “trade” weather among regions).
Stylistically, I was bothered that every single interview was set up so that the camera cut off the subject at the forehead. Every last one of them. And, for some reason, 99% of the zooms on a photograph also cut the subject off at the forehead. Why? What purpose did that serve? One purpose was to bug me…
Can’t say I recommend this one — the information is likely better obtained through a book.
Tags: reviews
Posted by barb on May 5, 2005 in
Random Thoughts I haven’t had a chance to update my blog with our escapades in Myrtle Beach, but I just posted our pictures in my photo album: Myrtle Beach Pictures. Hopefully I’ll get around to chronicling our exploits soon…
Tags: trip report
Posted by barb on May 1, 2005 in
Movies 4/5 stars
Nicole Kidman plays Silvia Broome, an interpreter at the United Nations who overhears a threat against a soon-to-be-visiting dignitary. The secret service begins an investigation, headed by Tobin Keller, played by Sean Penn, and as they dig deeper, we learn more and more about Broome’s questionable past.
I’m never sure if I’m going to like a Nicole Kidman film, but the promos for this one sucked me in. I’m glad I went, because it was rather good — there were a lot of twists, as there should be in a good thriller. I’m not sure that I saw the end coming, though there were certainly clues there (again, as a good thriller should have).
Tags: reviews
Posted by barb on Apr 30, 2005 in
Movies 1/5 stars
While Andrew disagreed, this movie had the feeling of a SciFi Channel horror flick.
The general story is that a guy wakes up from a 28-day coma and finds that everyone in the city is gone. Well, not everyone — the people that he finds are insane — infected with something, and out to kill anyone who is not infected.
The quality of the film itself was better than a SciFi Channel movie, the filming, pacing, and situations felt much like the formulaic flicks on SciFi. The music was distracting at times, often not at all in-line with the happenings of the film (or the overall tone of the film). And, basically, I was bored (yet too tired to actually move away from the TV…sigh, that’s pathetic).
Tags: reviews
Posted by barb on Apr 28, 2005 in
Random Thoughts Fla. Agency Gets Teen’s Abortion Blocked
The state’s social services agency was granted a court order to block an abortion for a pregnant 13-year-old girl living in a state shelter, prompting an emergency appeal Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union.
So, a 13-year-old isn’t old enough to make a decision about legally ending a pregnancy, but she’s old enough to go through pregnancy and childbirth?
This case reminds me of a play called Keely and Du by Jane Martin. The premise of the play was that a young woman, Keely, is kidnapped on her way to an abortion clinic. Her kidnappers are members of a fundamentalist group who plan to hold her handcuffed to a bed until she cannot legally get an abortion. The play centers around the relationship between the Keely and her caregiver, Du. It was a very powerful play, to say the least.
Of course, in the case of the 13-year-old, the fundamentalist group is DCF, and they aren’t handcuffing her to a bed. No, they’re using the legal system. DCF should be ashamed.
[Via Bitch. Ph.D.]
Tags: causes, rant
Posted by barb on Apr 23, 2005 in
Travels …and a bit of mini-golf.
We’re heading off for a long weekend, so things will be quiet around here until Wednesday or Thursday. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves. Topic: How can the moon be compared to a giant block of cheese?
Tags: comfort
Posted by barb on Apr 22, 2005 in
Random Thoughts …going to grab some quick lunch, then hop in bed with at least one fuzzy kitten.
Tags: comfort, work