|
||
Intermarkets' Privacy Policy Support
Donate to Ace of Spades HQ! Recent Entries
Economists Predict Recession in 2024; Oil Likely to Hit $100 Per Barrell Again
The Immigration Agent Who Celebrated the 10/7 Attacks -- And Who Had the Job of "Vetting" Her Terrorist Cousins -- Uses Her Paid Time off to Threaten US Military Officials Surprise! One of Hunter Biden's Shell Companies Made Direct Payments to Joe Biden's Bank Account Was the Ceasefire Worth It? [Diogenes] Mid-Morning Art Thread The Morning Report — 12/5/23 Daily Tech News 5 December 2023 Monday Overnight Open Thread (12/4/23) Be An Elephant Not a Smellephant Cafe Quick Hits Absent Friends
westminsterdogshow 2023
Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022 Dave In Texas 2022 Jesse in D.C. 2022 OregonMuse 2022 redc1c4 2021 Tami 2021 Chavez the Hugo 2020 Ibguy 2020 Rickl 2019 Joffen 2014 AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published.
Contact OrangeEnt for info
Cutting The Cord And Email Security
Moron Meet-Ups
|
« Late NFL Game Open Thread: Steelers vs. Bengals [OregonMuse] |
Main
| Overnight Open Thread (12-15-2013) »
December 15, 2013
Spaced-Out Challenge: Reflecting on an Unchanging SkyApologies for a shorter edition of the astronomy thread this week, we will be back with the Winter Sky guide next Sunday. Since the ONT will be upon us in a bit, no Open Thread below. But I wanted to share some personal thoughts, along with a rather incredible 16,000 year old artwork. Taurus is a large, bright, and ancient constellation, positioned just east and north of Orion in the celestial sphere, with the bright star Aldebaran blazing as the bull's red eye, the beautiful open cluster Hyaades forming his face and mouth, and the infamous Seven Sisters riding his back. The constellation and it's various components have been documented in ancient Chinese texts and the Bible, but to get an idea just how far back we have recognized the "Great Bull" in the sky, take a close look at this image from the caves at Lascaux: ![]() Notice a sizable bull, with "dots" in it's face, and a cluster of dots just above his back? Dr Michael Rappenglueck of the University of Munich certainly thought it was more than just coincidence the "dots" happen to line up with more modern depictions of the constellation Taurus. Much of the rest of that painting (not depicted in the small photo above) seem to indicate the placement of the Summer Triangle and even the Belt of Orion, all features that would have been readily visible to cave-dwelling observers. ![]() The stars are our common heritage, and the careful observation of them made our very civilization possible. The ancients kept careful watch: the heavens came and went with the seasons, and one ignored them at their own peril. On a human timescale, they certainly were the closest things to eternity, always and without fail rising in the east and setting in the west. We have advanced quite a bet in the seven hundred generations since this paint brushed a wall, and yet the stars still fascinate us. Be it the stars themselves, the moon, a meteor shower, planets or a comet, there's something up there that captivates all of us, even for just the smallest moment. It seems hard-wired in us as a species. Call me crazy, but they also connect us to our past, and in a surprisingly personal way. Consider this: the stars you see at night are almost exactly identical to what your parents, grandparents, etc could see. Perhaps the light pollution has blotted out a few, but from a darker site, it's the same. Christmas hasn't exactly been the same for me since the death of my grandmother a few years back. She would occasionally go outside her house in the country, drink in hand, and look up. Knowing my interest in astronomy as a child, she asked me a question I haven't thought about for some time: "do you ever just look up and appreciate it for what it is? I do." It brought me comfort, looking up in the sky on a clear night last week, that the sky above me is the same as it was when she asked me. It felt like that was a moment frozen in time, and I was experiencing that all over again, but with a greater appreciation that I could have ever possessed twenty years ago. Perhaps there's a loved one no longer physically with you. Go outside on a clear night this week, and do what I did: look up and appreciate it for what it is. At some moment in their life, they did too, and in a cosmic sense, they still are. Regular thread returns next week. | Recent Comments
Romeo13:
"Posted by: SMOD at December 05, 2023 02:13 PM (RHG ..."
Dorcus Blimeline: "TRUMP lied to our President of Color and that is w ..." jim (in Kalifornia): "231 Being the least qualified for the job is now a ..." Sam Brinton: " Being the least qualified for the job is now a pr ..." jim (in Kalifornia): "229 The congressional investigators made three con ..." SMOD: "The congressional investigators made three conclus ..." jim (in Kalifornia): "225 Being the least qualified for the job is now a ..." jim (in Kalifornia): "222 Shrub was on drugs? Well, that explains a l ..." ShainS -- CISA Cognitive Security Agent [/b][/i][/s][/u]: "There was a "volunteer" team too, The Cyber Threat ..." Admiral 'Rachel' Levine: " Being the least qualified for the job is now a pr ..." NYT, AP, CNN & Reuters: "We will not kneel to right-wing intimidation and c ..." Humphreyrobot: "My religion says I can fuck you. ..." Recent Entries
Economists Predict Recession in 2024; Oil Likely to Hit $100 Per Barrell Again
The Immigration Agent Who Celebrated the 10/7 Attacks -- And Who Had the Job of "Vetting" Her Terrorist Cousins -- Uses Her Paid Time off to Threaten US Military Officials Surprise! One of Hunter Biden's Shell Companies Made Direct Payments to Joe Biden's Bank Account Was the Ceasefire Worth It? [Diogenes] Mid-Morning Art Thread The Morning Report — 12/5/23 Daily Tech News 5 December 2023 Monday Overnight Open Thread (12/4/23) Be An Elephant Not a Smellephant Cafe Quick Hits Search
Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Primary Document: The Audio
Paul Anka Haiku Contest Announcement Integrity SAT's: Entrance Exam for Paul Anka's Band AllahPundit's Paul Anka 45's Collection AnkaPundit: Paul Anka Takes Over the Site for a Weekend (Continues through to Monday's postings) George Bush Slices Don Rumsfeld Like an F*ckin' Hammer Top Top Tens
Democratic Forays into Erotica New Shows On Gore's DNC/MTV Network Nicknames for Potatoes, By People Who Really Hate Potatoes Star Wars Euphemisms for Self-Abuse Signs You're at an Iraqi "Wedding Party" Signs Your Clown Has Gone Bad Signs That You, Geroge Michael, Should Probably Just Give It Up Signs of Hip-Hop Influence on John Kerry NYT Headlines Spinning Bush's Jobs Boom Things People Are More Likely to Say Than "Did You Hear What Al Franken Said Yesterday?" Signs that Paul Krugman Has Lost His Frickin' Mind All-Time Best NBA Players, According to Senator Robert Byrd Other Bad Things About the Jews, According to the Koran Signs That David Letterman Just Doesn't Care Anymore Examples of Bob Kerrey's Insufferable Racial Jackassery Signs Andy Rooney Is Going Senile Other Judgments Dick Clarke Made About Condi Rice Based on Her Appearance Collective Names for Groups of People John Kerry's Other Vietnam Super-Pets Cool Things About the XM8 Assault Rifle Media-Approved Facts About the Democrat Spy Changes to Make Christianity More "Inclusive" Secret John Kerry Senatorial Accomplishments John Edwards Campaign Excuses John Kerry Pick-Up Lines Changes Liberal Senator George Michell Will Make at Disney Torments in Dog-Hell Greatest Hitjobs
The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny More Margaret Cho Abuse Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed" Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means Wonkette's Stand-Up Act Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report! Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet The House of Love: Paul Krugman A Michael Moore Mystery (TM) The Dowd-O-Matic! Liberal Consistency and Other Myths Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate "Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long) The Donkey ("The Raven" parody) |