Month: January 2013

Alan Grayson returns to Congress and immediately calls Republicans terrorists.

7:22 pm

Leftwing civility: Democrat Alan Grayson returns to Congress and immediately calls Republicans terrorists.

That Democratic voters were willing to re-elect this vicious hateful guy back into Congress is proof to me that these voters really have no good will, are eager to demonize the opposition, and would possibly even approve violence against that opposition to achieve their ends. (Among Grayson’s many offensive acts, he once appeared uninvited at an opponent’s rally and refused to shut up, closing the entire event down. I just can’t find the link at this moment.)

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The Byrds – Turn. Turn. Turn.

6:01 pm

An evening pause: The words, except for the very last line (inserted by Pete Seeger), are from the book of Ecclesiastes.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.

Read it all, especially the King James version. It is one of the most profound and beautiful poems ever written.

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Astronomers have discovered that a large number of dwarf galaxies are orbiting Andromedea in a flat plane, like our solar system, contrary to all predictions.

10:40 am

The uncertainty of science: Astronomers have discovered that a large number of dwarf galaxies are orbiting Andromedea in a flat plane, like our solar system, contrary to all predictions.

The study reveals almost 30 dwarf galaxies orbiting the larger Andromeda galaxy in this regular, solar system-like plane. The astronomers’ expectations were that these smaller galaxies should be buzzing around randomly, like bees around a hive. “This was completely unexpected,” said Geraint Lewis, one of the lead authors on the Nature publication. “The chance of this happening randomly is next to nothing.” The fact that astronomers now see that a majority of these little systems in fact contrive to map out an immensely large – approximately one million light years across – but extremely flattened structure, implies that this understanding is grossly incorrect. Either something about how these galaxies formed, or subsequently evolved, must have led them to trace out this peculiar, coherent, structure.

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The House passed legislation Monday proposing to rename the Dryden Flight Research Center in California after Neil Armstrong.

10:00 pm

Don’t they have better things to do? The House passed legislation Monday proposing to rename the Dryden Flight Research Center in California after Neil Armstrong.

As much as I think Armstrong should be honored in as many ways as possible, it seems cheap and inappropriate to take the honor away from Hugh Dryden, whose work helped make Armstrong’s lunar mission possible. Moreover, Armstrong, being a very modest man himself, would likely be quite appalled by any action that would rob someone else of a memorial in order to give it to him.

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New research suggests that the high radiation experienced by astronauts on interplanetary journeys could accelerate the onset of Alzheimer’s.

9:32 am

New research suggests that the high radiation experienced by astronauts on interplanetary journeys could accelerate the onset of Alzheimer’s.

Some caveats: This research was done on Earth with mice. It also assumes that it will be impossible to protect astronauts from all types of radiation while on their journey.

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