The Greenbelt

Language Liberalism Freethought Birds

Verbing Weirds Language only if you're expecting it to work in a simple way. This is a special case of the more general truth that Language Weirds.

Only when a republic's life is in danger should a man uphold his government when it is in the wrong. There is no other time.

The church says Earth is flat; but I have seen its shadow on the moon, and I have more confidence in a shadow than the church.

If we can't find Heaven, there are always bluejays.

Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Happy Birthday, all!

A number of people were born today, including Emmanuel Ax, in 1949 - I love his playing; Francis Crick, in 1916, who helped discover DNA; John W Campbell, in 1910, arguably the greatest influence on science fiction ever; and Giovanni Domenico Cassini, in 1625, who discovered the Cassini Gap in the rings of Saturn, the broad black band in the 2004 Hubble telescope's picture below...

2 comments:

Mark8:29 AM, June 08, 2011
Have you ever seen the rings of Saturn through a telescope. A friend set one up a few years ago when Saturn was in a very good viewing position and orientation. It looks like a Christmas ornament. It's hard to believe that it's actually there.
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The Ridger, FCD9:12 AM, June 08, 2011
I have, once. It certainly looks ... unreal.
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