Plug
A quick self indulgent post to plug my other space on the net:
A bit less science focused and more personal blog filled with music, and inane rambling on various topics by myself.
Branson & Pluto
Richard Branson has bought Pluto and intends to have it reinstated as a planet.
Sir Richard Branson is setting his sights on the final frontier in his latest business venture announced today.
In a universal first Sir Richard has revealed that he has bought the former planet of Pluto for an undisclosed sum.
As a firm supporter of small businesses Sir Richard is hoping to set an example for struggling entrepreneurs facing setbacks by having Pluto reinstated as an official planet, after its declassification by the International Astronomical Union in 1996.
-Branson buys Pluto, reinstates as planet
I was so bewildered and somewhat annoyed when I saw this until, of course, I noticed the date.
Hyakutake over Rabbit Island
Comet Hyakutake makes a visit by The Rabbit Island
By: Richard Wainscoat
I once wrote in a New York Times book review, “It is absolutely safe to say that if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in evolution, that person is ignorant, stupid or insane (or wicked, but I’d rather not consider that).” That sentence has been quoted again and again in support of the view that I am a bigoted, intolerant, closed-minded, intemperate ranter. But just look at my sentence. It may not be crafted to seduce, but you, Lawrence, know in your heart that it is a simple and sober statement of fact.
Ignorance is no crime. To call somebody ignorant is no insult. All of us are ignorant of most of what there is to know. I am completely ignorant of baseball, and I dare say that you are as completely ignorant of cricket. If I tell somebody who believes the world is 6,000 years old that he is ignorant, I am paying him the compliment of assuming that he is not stupid, insane or wicked.
Ignorance is no crime. To call somebody ignorant is no insult. All of us are ignorant of most of what there is to know. I am completely ignorant of baseball, and I dare say that you are as completely ignorant of cricket. If I tell somebody who believes the world is 6,000 years old that he is ignorant, I am paying him the compliment of assuming that he is not stupid, insane or wicked.
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| — | Richard Dawkins in ‘Should science speak to faith?’ by Lawrence M. Krauss & Richard Dawkins (via cosmosweednlife) |
Galaxy Garden
This Galaxy Garden is the world’s first large-scale, walk-through scale model of the Milky Way, mapped in living plants and flowers. Different plants represent stars, globular star clusters, and nebulae and are placed in their actual galactic locations. At the center of the garden is a fountain representing the black hole at the Milky Way’s heart. All the stars visible without lenses in Earth’s sky are one foot or less away from the Sun’s perch on a single leaf in the Galaxy Garden.
Garden by Jon Lomberg; Kite Aerial Photography by Pierre and Heidy Lesage
