The J&M artist doesn’t lose any time! Shades of Rabbi Yoffie . . .
h/t: John
Jesus ‘n’ Mo are timely
February 25, 2011 • 7:30 am
Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
I have the ‘pale blue dot’ image framed in my snooker room. Truly inspirational, staggeringly wonderful, and yet remarkably humbling.
Despite its age and granularity it has a timelessness that, for me, is difficult to put into words.
It should adorn the wall of every public building.
…& every snooker room! Misspent youth eh?!
I don’t have to put up with one speck of this nonsense because … “according to Scripture, the evidence for God is overwhelming”!
Haha. Good one.
“Space is big. Really big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space…” –The Hitchhiker’s Guide
Just too big to contemplate? Tiny minds.
What’s wrong with being a tiny speck?
It’s the massively narcissistic ego of the “faithful” that is the problem. No matter how you frame it, in the end it’s always about “ME ME ME ME ME!!!!”
More a direct attributed quotation than “shades of”!
I think Jesus ‘n Mo’s author is a regular here.
Of course he is.
He’s anonymous but not mysterian – he comments at J&M, and he can be emailed from there. He’s way more knowable than god.
Also, he is a she. Right?
With god we are nothing, the universe is a small piddly little place and god is the only important thing.
Without god the universe becomes this huge, wonderful magnificent place and we are an integral part of it.
Gods diminish both the universe and us, we are better off without them.
It’s a small world, but a large universe.
Timely enough I’m winding down from two days of seminars where among other things new Kepler data was discussed publicly for the first time. Geoffrey Marcy, one of the lead investigators presented soon-to-be-published data extraction from the previously released raw data, accounting for geometric and noise effects of the measurements.
– Planets are more common for smaller radius: confirms earlier Kepler transit data & radial velocity shift data).
– Planets are more common for larger orbits: new observation, erases earlier small sample effects.
– Planets are more common for smaller stars: confirms earlier exoplanet statistics.
To sum up: not only are planets embarrasingly common @ ~ 10^10 in our galaxy alone. The most common type may be Earth sized, at Earth orbits, around Sun (or smaller) type stars.
Caveats:
– Common planets may be Neptune like, with a large supply of volatiles.
– Common planet systems may be chaotic, not as plane and many-planetary as ours.
But the punch line is that every 20-50 system may have an Earth analog, aside from many, many other possibly habitable planets. There are a lot of possibilities for tiny Jeb & Mo specks in a vast universe.
“- Can you say “Not So Rare Earth” hypothesis? – No-o-t S-s…? – Good religidiot!”
I think the last few paragraphs from the first chapter of Pale Blue Dot should be required reading for everyone. Perhaps even switch it with the pledge of allegiance?
I’ve thought for a long time that that’s what we could do with churches when they’re no longer being used for their original purpose. People can still meet in some of those quiet places with lovely windows. Paper-rock-scissors decides who will stand up to read those very paragraphs from Pale Blue Dot. Then silence–20 minutes, or 30. Doesn’t matter. Then somebody else stands and says the only line from the Book of Common Prayer worth keeping: “Send us now into the world in peace.” And then coffee, and talk, and calm, and peace. That once a week would actually do people some good, I think.