via House of Eratosthenese:

The Scale of the Universe

One Small Step

Revisiting the first Lunar landing.

Flare

From FoxNews:

...A preliminary inspection of SOHO/STEREO imagery suggests that the CME will deliver a strong glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field on Jan. 24-25 as it sails mostly north of our planet," SpaceWeather’s bulletin read.

 

It could also affect navigation and the power grid.

The solar flare spat out late Sunday, Jan. 22, at 10:59 p.m. EST was rated an M9-class eruption -- nearly an X-class flare, the most powerful type of solar storm.

NASA spokeswoman Kelly Humphries told Space.com the six spaceflyers currently living and working on the orbiting outpost are not in any danger.

"The flight surgeons have reviewed the space weather forecasts for the flare and determined that there are no expected adverse effects or actions required to protect the on-orbit crew," Humphries told SPACE.com in an email.

More here and here.

Perspective

Very interesting post by Dr Mercury at Maggie's Farm on Perspective.

From macro to micro...

What are the Odds?

Have you ever wondered how likely - or unlikely - it that you exist?

Intelligent Design

I link quite a lot to Mr Vanderleun's American Digest, and with good reason.

He is an accomplished writer of prose and poetry, and has wide-ranging interests.


This a a "must-read" post about Intelligent Design.
Beautiful.

Are you in there?

.."we are people, not brains," and brain scans tell us little about our personhood.

Maggie's Farm.

Via KaCHING, Mr Vanderleun's collection:

Few butterflies have a wingspan this big. The bright clusters and nebulae of planet Earth’s night sky are often named for flowers or insects, and NGC 6302 is no exception. With an estimated surface temperature of about 250,000 degrees C, the central star of this particular planetary nebula is exceptionally hot though — shining brightly in ultraviolet light but hidden from direct view by a dense torus of dust. This dramatically detailed close-up of the dying star’s nebula was recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope soon after it was upgraded in 2009. Cutting across a bright cavity of ionized gas, the dust torus surrounding the central star is near the center of this view, almost edge-on to the line-of-sight. Molecular hydrogen has been detected in the hot star’s dusty cosmic shroud. NGC 6302 lies about 4,000 light-years away in the arachnologically correct constellation of the Scorpion (Scorpius).

That's what it looked like 4,000 years ago. I wonder what it looks like today.

Genomes

Meditation on "being human" at Fr. Ted's Blog.

Excerpt:

“… there is not the slightest hint in the composition of the genes of fly or man to account for why the fly should have six legs, a pair of wings and a brain the size of a full stop, and we should have two arms, two legs and that prodigious brain. The ‘instructions’ must be there, of course, for otherwise flies would not produce flies and humans humans...

The deaf hear...

Not exactly like what the Lord did in Israel 2,000 years ago; but He has given His creatures minds and skills to come up with something like this.

3-D printer

Artificial blood vessels made on a 3D printer may soon be used for transplants of lab-created organs.

Until now, the stumbling block in tissue engineering has been supplying artificial tissue with nutrients that have to arrive via capillary vessels.

The whole story here.

And in related news, what every girl needs:

Chocolate lovers may soon be able to print their own 3D creations thanks to work by UK scientists. 

A 3D printer that uses chocolate has been developed by University of Exeter researchers - and it prints layers of chocolate instead of ink or plastic.

Although still a prototype, several retailers have already expressed interest in taking on the device.

3D printing using plastic and metal is already widely used in industry to speed up design work.

Lead scientist Dr Liang Hao told BBC News that chocolate printing, just like any other 3D printing technique, starts with a flat cross-section image - similar to that produced by ordinary printers turning out images.

"Then you do a 3D shape - layer by layer, printing chocolate instead of ink, like if you were layering 2D paper to form a 3D shape," he said. 

Once a layer is completed, it solidifies, and the machine moves on to the next layer.

Scam

 

"Follow the money," as they say. It's a power-play.

 

Piers Corbyn Weather Action

H/T: Climate Realists

ALERT! ALERT! ALERT!

Scientists Trace Heat Wave To Massive Star At Center Of Solar System 

 

PASADENA, CA—Groundbreaking new findings announced Monday suggest the record-setting heat wave plaguing much of the United States may be due to radiation emitted from an enormous star located in the center of the solar system. 

 

via Tom Nelson

Psalm 8

O LORD, our Lord,

How majestic is Your name in all the earth,

Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!

From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength

Because of Your adversaries,

To make the enemy and the revengeful cease.

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,

The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;

What is man that You take thought of him,

And the son of man that You care for him?

Yet You have made him a little lower than God,

And You crown him with glory and majesty!

You make him to rule over the works of Your hands;

You have put all things under his feet,

All sheep and oxen,

And also the beasts of the field,

The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea,

Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.

O LORD, our Lord,

How majestic is Your name in all the earth!

 +++

Here is a photo of the "Sombrero" galaxy, from this site.

Just take a moment to look at it. See all the points of light surrounding the Sombrero?

Now look closer. All those points of light are other galaxies. There are some that look like streaks of light; those are galaxies like our own Milky Way, with arms.

Look at the bottom left, you can see two galaxies that look like they are merging. Astronomers say they just look that way, and that they are probably very far apart.

Click on the image to see a large version.

Tornado

Excellent about tornadoes, tornado safety at this NOAA site.

More good disaster-preparedness information here.

When I was a kid, I conflated tornadoes and Cold-war nuclear bombs. (Funnel clouds and mushroom clouds look alike.) It made for horrifying childhood nightmares.

Old Books

I love books. I always have and always will.

I love the content, surely, but I am much more persnickety these days. I cannot tolerate spending time and money on something not worth that time and money.

But...holding the thing. Especially Old Books. The texture and color of the cover and spine. The feel of the paper. The color of the paper. Old Books.

I love Old Books. I enjoy seeing what previous owners wrote on them. I like the idea that the book has a history with another human being, who, for the older books, are no longer with us.

How did that person receive the book: a gift? a purchase?
Why was this possession let go? Purging? moving? loss? death?

I love used bookstores. Walk into a good one, and the feeling in the very air is different. There's a certain weight in the atmosphere, and emanations from the books themselves.

Then there's the smell. Bliss.

And now we know why that smell is blissful: lignan.

Lignin, the stuff that prevents all trees from adopting the weeping habit, is a polymer made up of units that are closely related to vanillin.

via the Green Apple Core.