Now why is that?
I’ve been blind-sided by Yet Another Book. Mercifully, this one is a short one, only 150 pages. It is Beauty for Truth’s Sake: On the Re-enchantment of Education. The author is Stratford Caldecott (University of Oxford), the editor of Second Spring, a Catholic publication devoted to theological reflection and cultural analysis. He asserts Who will not admit that harmony is more beautiful... [Read more]
Monsoons, North American style
I have been renting time on telescopes located near beautiful downtown Rodeo, New Mexico, in the extreme southwest corner of the state. Rodeo is nestled in a mountain valley at an altitude of 4,000 feet in an area known to astronomers for pristine skies with “good seeing.” If you have ever been out on the south forty on a clear dark summer night, you know what this means. Except for the... [Read more]
Uluru
What would I do without Astronomy Picture of the Day as inspiration for posts? Dominating the horizon of the bleak Australian landscape below is a sandstone formation called Uluru, fondly (by me) known as Ayers Rock. The picture was taken shortly after sunset, and there is a blue arch rising in the east which is the earth’s shadow, bounded above by a pinkish glow or antitwilight arch. Known as... [Read more]
Another nail
The quote below appeared on Slashdot (News for nerds, stuff that matters). It appears that another nail on the coffin of film photography is being hammered down with the last stroke in December of this year. Wired’s Gadget Lab picked up a wistful story from the Wichita (Kansas) Eagle on the processing of the last roll of Kodachrome film that Kodak produced. “Freelance photojournalist Steve... [Read more]
Two physicists
You may remember my mention of a prolific writer-theoretical physicist named Stephen Hawking. He is the author of a book (among many others) called A Briefer History of Time. It is not easy to figure out what he is talking about, even though he writes for a non-technical audience. Let me introduce you now to another theoretical physicist (I think that’s what we should call him) named Richard... [Read more]
Trees that feel like I do
Today is the first day of my 80th year in this vale of tears. I was swinging along down Maine Street, deep in thought, when I heard a voice. I glanced around, but no one was in sight. Then I heard very distinctly, “Oh, the bother of it all,” coming from the direction of an ancient, grizzled, Sycamore tree, and I caught sight of a leafy branch gesturing with the breeze, as if to wipe a... [Read more]
Ho-hum or Omigosh?
In a press release dated June 29, 2020, the Gemini Observatory announced the first confirmed planet in orbit around a sun-like star. A planet only about eight times the mass of Jupiter has been confirmed orbiting a Sun-like star at over 300 times farther from the star than the Earth is from our Sun. The newly confirmed planet is the least massive planet known to orbit at such a great distance from... [Read more]
Let’s hear it for BP!
Well, if I can use a gratuitous exclamation point for one post, I guess I can do it for another. Daughter Linda doesn’t know it yet, but she has just become an author on the Orlop. She opined as follows in an e-mail: Did someone say BP? Ah well, I must weigh in, though as per usual, I know little and am easily confused. I buy gas at BP and do not intend to stop, those folks at my corner station... [Read more]
It’s official!
Credit & Copyright: Max Alexander, STFC, SPL Although it has felt like summertime for several weeks now, it seems right to officially acknowledge the season. Baseball spring training is now ‘way back in the distant past, when I baptize my change of seasons from bummer to summer, and it won’t be long now until the All-Star break in mid-July. But today is the solstice, when the sun... [Read more]
Black holes and time warps
I have been reading Black Holes & Time Warps: Einsteins Outrageous Legacy by Kip S. Thorne. He wrote it in late 1993, and it was published in 1994. A cover blurb states, “Deeply satisfying…[An] engrossing blend of theory, history, and anecdote” –Wall Street Journal. In his Preface, Thorne explains his goal for the book. For thirty years I have been participating in a great... [Read more]
