Friday, January 30, 2015

astro video for the day/ Paleoworlds Homo Erectus again

Panning over a VLT image of the cometary globule CG4



My link to this before has been taken down; but, now, someone else has put it up all in one video instead of split into parts one and two!

Another post of mine pointed out one of the last places Neanderthals lived - Gibralter rock and the caves.  The recent Febuary 2015 Scientific Amercian magazine shows Neanderthal abstract language and/or some kind of symbolism.  This isn't just natural language.  I don't know if it's mathematics; but, it's definitely abstract symbolism of some kind.


photo courtesy of Stewart Finlayson of the Gibraltar Museum.

This engraving goes back 39,000 B.C. in Gorham's cave, Gibraltar.

- Below is a new Homo Erectus spinoff species like the Neanderthals - intelligent species that lived at the same time other intelligent species lived - Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens for about a hundred thousand years; both and now a third almost certainly evolved from Homo Erectus, a species that overcome it's ecological boundaries to conquer the known world(came out of Africa).


Image credit - Y. KAIFU

- This Big-Toothed Fossil May Represent A Primitive New Human Species

"Anthropologists have learned that Neanderthals, Denisovans and Homo floresiensis (a.k.a. the "Hobbit Human") lived in Europe and Asia within that time frame. Penghu 1, which is described in the latest issue of Nature Communications, adds to that already impressive list and might have co-existed — and even interbred — with our species"

- The reasons mathematics developed in the Human species is still a mystery!

Monday, January 19, 2015

astro picture for the day/first images of Ceres


Image Credit: 

NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/PSI
 
Ceres, the largest asteroid of our solar system is finally going to be get properly imaged and analysed in the coming months. I'm really not sure how long they plan on staying there.  The spacecraft orbiting and studying Ceres previously studied Vesta.  Vesta turned out to be more interesting than even the scientists thought. Tomorrow promises to be even more exciting!
 
For those who might not know; Pluto is about to get imaged in may/June time period as well!  Pluto happens to have like five moons!  Including a substantially large one - Charon! 
 
I remember when the ill fated Galileo spacecraft imaged Gaspra, the first asteroid image back in like 1992.  Asteroids have proven exciting ever since!  Astronomers have found lots of Neptunians in Uranus/Neptune lagrangians.  Lagrangians are stable points of gravitation.  There, objects can stay in one place. 
 
Another recent finding, but not likely to be imaged for awhile is an asteroid with boulder rings around it.  It's out in the Neptune range of our solar system.
 
Astronomers have also theorized that there maybe two or more Earth sized objects way out in the far Kuiper belt of comets. These maybe the Nemesis object, or as it turns out Nemesis objects!


Found this Dawn documentary, narrated by Star Trek's Spock, or Leondard Nimoy!

astro picture for the day


ESA/NASA Hubble Space telescope image


This ancient Stonehenge like ruin is called Rujm El-Hiri.  It's a Canaanite Stonehenge of almost 3000 B.C.


Here's Nabta Playa, a Nubian Stonehenge.  Some date this much earlier.  Maybe, but seems few rigorous archaeologists get down there to do serious science on it.

Regardless, we have clear evidence for astrotheology(these solar/lunar observatories were almost certainly mixed with religion along with learning about the heavens), from Nubia all the way to England with Stonehenge.

Sunday, January 18, 2015

thought for the day/ Barnabas and his epistle


I thought it more fitting to show a picture of the church of Antioch than some astro picture.  I can't seem to find enough pictures of the inside, imo.  There's a few corridors and things inside.

Quote for the day,

"Now the assistants of our faith are fear and patience." - Barnabas(epistle of Barnabas 2:2)

{ acts 4:13 has people marveling that John and Peter were ignorant men}

Barnabas is considered a Jewish Cypriot(a kind of Greek island,maybe where the iron age first started). Acts 4:36 And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus,

Acts 14:14 Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, hence Barnabas is an apostle of Jesus Christ according to Acts.  Barnabas and Paul, in chapter 14 here are with a priest of Jupiter.  The Jupiter priest does something, which is rather unclear, and Paul and Barnabas come out screaming why bother with this Jupiter religion? Paul gets stones but survives anyways.  Paul and Barnabas go back and forth from Antioch. Today, there's a well known church built into the side of a cliff overlooking the city of Antioch.

Acts interestingly enough says the Gentiles accepted the new Christian message because the Jews rejected it.

Barnabas is traditionally identified as the founder of the Cypriot orthodox church.  Note, Barnabas dates to early first century along with Paul, so this is very early for the Cypriot church.

Colossians 4:10 Aristarchus my fellowprisoner saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas,  Here, Barnabas is a cousin of the author of the gospel of Mark.  He's spelled here Marcus.  Iraneous mentions a Marcus, and Mark is spelled Marcus in Empress Prescillus tomb.

His Hellenic Jewish parents called him Joseph.  Some people make much of Jesus Christ being born or associated with a  father named Joseph - they suggest this is shortened version of Josephus.  Here, we could see that Jesus Christ is born(written into history) by Barnabas!

In acts 9, Paul is Saul.  He more or less learns of the Christ idea from an Anias priest; he has his vision.  Then, Barnabas, in acts 9:29 brings him to the apostles of Christ.

11:22 Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch.  And of course, Acts 11 is famous for saying the first Christians were so named in Antioch - Acts 11:26

Acts 13:14 has Paul and Barnabas on missions together.  Acts 13:1 has amongst Barnabas as a preacher of christinaity, a Herodian of Tetrarch.

Acts 13:6 says they found a false prophet names Barjesus.  Of course, there's no explanation of why he's considered a false prophet. 13:8-11 has Paul pissed at another supposedly false prophet/sorcerer. Saul/Paul somehow makes the man blind and others are awed at Paul's magical powers.

13:21 has a contradiction. God gives Saul a king of he tribe of Benjamin; but, Genesis says god gives a king of the tribe of Judah(49:10)

Gal. 2:9-10, Well, Gal 2:1 Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also.  Emperor Vespasian's son Titus was with Paul and Barnabas.  Back to 2:9-10, 2:9 And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.  James the Just and some others of the 'Odd Judaism' gave the keys to Paul and Barnabas to lead the way for Christianity.

Acts 15:37-41 have Paul and Barnabas in a little bit of a disagreement.  Barnabas wants to being John Mark along, but Paul doesn't.  He chooses Silas(Silas of the Da Vinci Code; well, the character is named after him.  Silas is a Herodian if you read Robert Eisenman's "James brother of Jesus) instead.

Galatians  2:12-13 has Paul showing more disagreement with Barnabas.  Barnabas seems willing to hang out with James the Just.  Once again, if you read Robert Eisenman's "James brother of Jesus" you'll see that Paul and James the Just were in competition for making the new 'Odd Judaism.'

Clement of Alexandria makes Barnabas one of the seventy followers of Jesus Christ as pointed out in Luke.(Stromata, ii, 20).  Clement is from Alexandria, and other sources also suggest some relation of Barnabas to the city of Alexandria. Original church fathers Origen, Eusebius, and Jerome all consider Barnabas epistle to have been read in the city/library of Alexandria.

Barnabas doesn't seem to know of a Gospel of Mark(or any other gospel), but he mentions many ideas if not similar ideas to a Gospel of Mark(and Jesus Christ). And what do we find in there?

The introduction chapter has a lot of trying to win over converts without saying anything substantial.  I like this quote which shows the type of thinking I've found amongst the religious,

"Even a 400 A.D. Bishop of Constantinople Gregorius of Nyssa noticed this type of thinking and complained,

"People swarm everywhere, talking of incomprehensible matters, in hovels, streets and square, marketplaces, and crossroads. When I ask how many oboloi I have to pay, they answer with hairsplitting arguments about the born and the unborn. If I inquire the price of bread, I am told that the father is greater than the son. I call a servant to tell me whether my bath is ready; he rejoins that the son was created out of nothing.""

For instance, Epistle of Barnabas chapter 1:5, "For which cause brethren, I also think verily that I love you above my own soul : because that therein dwelleth the greatness of faith and charity, as also the hope of that life which is to come."


- After the quote that starts this, Barnabas turns around and says science and knowledge are o.k - a contradiction

- Chapter 2 of Barnabases epistle is mostly about anti-sacrifice. This is kind of interesting is you know Frazer's "The Golden Bough" which shows much of ancient religion/mythology was about sacrifice to appease the gods. Jesus Christ is to kind of make a easier friendlier sacrifice. Frazer, in his Golden Bough, mentions a Roman emperor who gets some slave to go through some cult groups tortuous mysteries to see what those mysteries are without going through the sacrifice himself!. 

It's interesting how the Hebrews did make some thought progress beyond most cultures before them in argueing that idols were not gods themselves. My favorite story is that of Rachel in Gen 31, who hides idols and images. Well, maybe that doesn't exactly argue against idols, but they later would.

4:13 has what I consider the smoking gun for making up Jesus Christ. "Then he clearly manifests himself to be the son of god. For had he not come in the flesh, how should men have been able to look upon him, that they might be saved? - There were many sungods throughout history - Osirus, Dionysus, Bacchus, but they never came in the flesh. Here we see that the Christians came up with a logic to midrash the old testament.  They needed to tease out of the old testament Jesus Christ to see what properties he had and maybe even what he said. I do believe it's called carnalisation.

Barnabas doesn't appear to know of any gospels, and neither does Clement of Alexandria, so who after them could have make the Gospel of Mark?  We know the epistle of Barnabas came after the first Jerusalem temple destruction because he mentions it(as does the Gospel of Mark, and everyone here knows).  And we know that Barnabases epistle was read in the city of Alexandria.  So, it has to be some Alexandrian who made the first Gospel of Mark(probably proto-Mark; or wasn't completed till the council of Nicea).

Barnabas says in his Epistle that the name jesus comes from gematria - VIII:11-14 . . . 10 and 8 are I and H, which he says are linguistically Jesus(well, he just says they 'denote Jesus').

Chapter VII:5 has the twelve followers of Jesus Christ being twelve because that's the number of the tribes of Israel.  As Josephus points out, the twelve tribes of Israel are just the twelve constellations of the zodiac.

So, in the Epislte of Barnabas we have an argument for a Gospel of Jesus Christ, or Mark(assuming Mark is the first Gospel), and that it's probably written in the city of Alexandria.

Saturday, January 10, 2015

astro picture for the day . . . "We will achieve Victorious peace!"


Image Credit & Copyright: CHART32 Team, Processing - Johannes Schedler

Quote for the day,

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." Albert Einstein

Many people take on the idea that the American civil war was about rascism. But as Alvin Toffler in his 'Third Wave'(if I'm remembering correctly; either that or Powershift) argues the civil war was about the new industrial north versus the agricultural south. The whole rascism and slavery thing was a side issue.  I agree.  When the industrial north won, opportunities for change was opened up.  They botched it!  At least in terms of civil rights, they did.

They came up with a 'separation but equal' doctrine, or at least they thought. The Plessy v. Ferguson supreme courth decision established it. This was in 1896, so that's a ways from the end of the civil war. Basically, the Plessy v. Ferguson instituted segregation! Out of good intent, came bad! I'd almost bring up computer programming.  You think you've written the computer program, but until you run it, you don't know if it works as you thought it was going to. Similarly, the Apollo program thought they had the life support systems thought out in a nice tidy package, but the 1967 fire that killed three astronauts in a routine check proved them wrong real quick. the audiotapes of that event are still not readily available!

Unless people prove deductively what they think they're doing, they're most likely hiding assumptions.  Usually, these assumptions are based on personal problems and inner fears that they dare not look at. The nanotechnologists today think their so rational and perfect little human beings. They have all these ideas of 'disruptive technology'(by Eric Drexler himself), and this empathy craze, where you're not allowed to criticize people(as far as I can tell!  You try to talk to them, and they don't say anything). I remember a Chris Peterson of the foresight institute getting all excited about some scientific idea that suggested if a certain part of the brain is too small, then you get what are called psychopaths; for her, that was it; problem licked! End of discussion!  Seems to me we have a bunch of 'separate but equal' doctrine like ideas amongst these super duper intellectual futurists. 

Another idea, this time from Hollywood, comes from H.G. Well's "Things to Come", still the best rationalists/scientific humanist sci-fi movie ever.  In it, he points out the screwy logic of a local warlord after a world war puts the world into a dark ages.  His rule is "We will achieve Victorious peace!"

Seems that at the turn of the nanotech revolution, we're missing out on our chance for social change for the better. Don't worry, these things always come to a tipping point!

Monday, January 5, 2015

astro picture for the day


ESA/NASA Hubble Space Telescope image

-


a dna nano-machine . . .

Found this article about these new dna nanomachines --> Ohio State researchers create DNA ‘Transformers’  While they make the official scientific paper about biomedical applications, there's more than an indication that they think they could make a nanomanufacturing system - "“You’ll be able to put some of these pieces together to be able to make a more-complicated molecular robot,” LaBean said."

There's been plenty of dna nanomanufacturing news I haven't posted.  Some MIT researchers reported making better cad/cam software.  CAD/CAM kind of predicts and draws up any design you tell it to.  Or, you could just draw it up yourself.

Saturday, January 3, 2015

astro picture for the day


Credit: Josh Marvil (NM Tech/NRAO), Bill Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF), NASA

The above is a radio light picture of a galaxy

"ignorance is bliss where folly is to be wise" - Thomas Gray

One, actually, both Star Trek, the original t.v. series that I meant to post a long time ago, are now up on youtube - the Cage(the first ever Star Trek episode and one of the best), and 'Private Little War.'  I posted a link in the replies for the Cage.  My Star Trek post is 4/28/14