astronomy picture for the day

this picture is copywrited Don Goldman.  I think I'll post a link to his astronomy pictures website as well! http://dg-imaging.astrodon.com/
There's reflection nebula and emission nebula. This appears to be an emission nebular(although there's some reflection as well).  These nebula extend many lights years in dimension(this one is as much as forty light years on a side).  That's the thing about astronomy.  The astronomy is astronomical.  Outside of the mystery and complexities of life, we're just small things to this vast universe.  This is why I want to put up astronomical pictures!

thought for the day/stonehenge

Archaeological evidence suggests that there was a kind of wooden stonehenge before the stone stonehenge.  So, we know that those who lived up in today's Great Britain were studying the stars and making their monuments long before(archaeolgical evidence suggests as early as 8000 B.C.  This timeframe is almost before agriculturalism!) say the Egyptians were putting up their Pyramids.  So, posting about stonehenge is the next logical thing to do.

Despite some who would say that the cave painters drew some star like patterns in their caves, for the most part, the sun and stars were not part of their consciousness.  By the time of stonehenge(clearly!), the stars were a central part of the human consciousness.  Perhaps that is the most significant thing to be noted here besides the fact that they appear to have figured out things like the solstices and equinoxes - all great stuff considering the time periods. Clearly, there was great intelligence that far back in time.  But, notice the stones; they are as they were dug up; they are not shaped in any kind of way.  More on this probably tomorrow!

quote for the day

"Modern mathematics deprecates mere ingenuity and seeks underlying general principles . . . An isolated solution obtained by ingenious artifices is more likely to be  evidence of incomplete understanding than a testamonial to perspicacity. The ingenious solver of special problems may still be a useful member of mathematical society, in that he turns up mysterious phenomenon for abler men to strip of their mystery" - E. T. Bell

astro picture for the day

I had a sizable collection of astronomy pictures in my previous blog.  With this picture of a globular cluster, I guess I'm going to go ahead and start this up again!

Globular clusters present astronomers with some mysteries.  They don't know how they formed.  Most clusters are called open clusters(if you take even a moderate powered binoculars to the milky way and the galactic arms that are seeable in sufficient dark skies, you can fine lots of open clusters); and they get dispersed in time and become one with the rest of the stars in the Galaxy.  Globular's on the other hand have been around since the beginning of the formation of this galaxy and probably all other galaxies.

thought for the day/agriculturalism and the beginning of civilization

I forgot to mention something about the beginning of agriculturalism yesterday(no doute there's plenty more that I havn't thought of!).
The jump from hunter gatherors to agriculture seems to be an almost impossible bridge to leap.  Yes, our ancestors did! Nobody knows how they willingling decided to try to just stop hunting and gathering and just start farming. Like I've said, the knowledge gap is too large.  One thing seems to me for sure; the ability to jump this knowledge gap to farming was human imagination.

You'll probably have to watch maybe midway to get to his beginnings of civilization.  Also, if you want to, you could start from the beginning and watch his points about humanity's dependence on technology.   He also happens to start around the Twin towers brought down in a terrorist attack.

quote for the day

"It must not be imagined that the sole function of mathematics-"the handmaiden of the sciences"-is to serve science. Mathematics has also been called "the Queen of the Sciences." If occassionally the Queen has seemed to beg from the sciences she has been a very proud sort of begger., neither asking nor accepting favors from any of her more affluent sister sciences. What she gets she pays for." - E. T. Bell

youtube for the day/Jacob Bronowski "Ascent of Man" episode 2/harvest of the seasons

The next major things to talk about after the Cave paintings is the beginnings of agriculture.  This is also the beginning of civilization.  I've actually already mentioned some stuff about what agriculturalism has done for humanity in my post "nature and origin of mathematics."  I'll let Jacob Bronowski point out much about it.