Anyone reading this should be familiar with the concept of the airspeed velocity of the unladen swallow. If you’re not familiar with the concept, then why do I know you? Why are you reading this? 😈 Ahem. Sorry. Naturally, oddball weights and measures have a certain appeal. Err. Naturally? Why did I use the wordContinue reading “On Weights and Measures”
Category Archives: Astronomy
On the Wonders of the Universe
Regular readers of this website picking it up off the various feed options may be unaware of a little feature of the blog — there’s a sidebar widget that shows the Astronomy Picture of the Day. It’s a nifty website where, in their words, “a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured,Continue reading “On the Wonders of the Universe”
On Wally Schirra
Wally Schirra, one of the Mercury 7 astronauts, passed away earlier today. He was 84. I hate to say, I actually don’t know much about Schirra except that he was the only astronaut to fly on Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo. And that Lance Henricksen portrayed him in The Right Stuff. The Mercury 7 now numberContinue reading “On Wally Schirra”
On Boyish Wonder
I needed to put up my car windows. I’d run out to the post office this afternoon–only to fill out a customs declaration I didn’t need–and since it was a gorgeous day I drove with the windows down. (Which is why it’s not uncommon for me to have a horribly sunburned left arm; it’s justContinue reading “On Boyish Wonder”
On Research Avenues
Sometimes research will lead one down strange alleys. I spent the afternoon doing some research into the Aristotlean and Ptolemaic conceptions of the geocentric universe. In so doing I discovered an unusual belief held by ancient Mesopotamian and Greek cultures (and written about by Plato in the Epinomis), that Saturn was a star like theContinue reading “On Research Avenues”
On New Mexico Laws
Two interesting legislative initiatives are winding their way through the New Mexico legislature. One would deal with Pluto. A law was passed declaring March 13th, 2007 “Pluto Planet Day.” An excerpt from the legislation: NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that, as Pluto passes overhead through NewContinue reading “On New Mexico Laws”
On a Carl Sagan Stamp
Star Trek author Kevin Lauderdale has made a proposal: It’s time to commemorate Carl Sagan, author of COSMOS and Contact with a postage stamp. I’ll let Kevin explain: December 20th will mark the 10th anniversary of the death of Carl Sagan. This makes him an eligible subject for a U.S. postage stamp. If, like me,Continue reading “On a Carl Sagan Stamp”
On Martian Water
Mars may have liquid water after all. Striking images taken by NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft suggest the presence of liquid water on the Martian surface, a tantalizing find for scientists wondering if the Red Planet might harbor life. The orbiting U.S. spacecraft enabled scientists to detect changes in the walls of two craters inContinue reading “On Martian Water”
On Going to Pluto
When I was very young I remember the excitement at seeing pictures taken by Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 when they encountered Jupiter and Saturn in the late 1970s. (I don’t remember any similar excitement during the Uranus or Neptune encounters–certainly nothing mainstream.) According to this article, an encounter with Pluto was a real possibilityContinue reading “On Going to Pluto”
On a Place in the Universe
Nothing puts things into perspective like seeing an image of the Earth taken from deep space, with the planet just a disc of light. No borders, no cities, just light, such as in this recent image from the Cassini space probe in orbit of Saturn. The things we worry about every day, they seem soContinue reading “On a Place in the Universe”