Small Asteroid to Pass Within Earth-Moon System Tuesday
via Bad Astronomy
Tiny rock to buzz Earth Tuesday
Leave a reply
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Good Questions
Ann Althouse looks at Joshua Green’s Why is This GOP House Candidate Dressed as a Nazi? and asks:
How evil is it for a candidate to play the role of a Nazi in war reenactments? How evil is it for a journalist to write about that and bury — in the 13th paragraph — the news that the same man — Rich Iott — has also done reenactment as a Civil War Union infantryman, a World War I doughboy and a World War II American infantryman and paratrooper?
More at Witch! Whore! …Nazi!
FWIW, a few years ago, at an event in Iowa, I met some people who reenact a Soviet unit in the “Great Patriotic War.” It never occurred to me to think about their politics in 21st century America.
A ring, a curse, and J.R.R. Tolkien
Chicken Cordon Blues
We have a vegetarian in the house, and are adjusting our family meals to meet her needs. I am OK with this, but I have these occasional thoughts ….. Well, long ago Steve Goodman expressed them much better than I will ever be able to:
(Lyrics)
Went to a Wedding
Today mia_mcdavid, carpe_noctum_93 and I went to the wedding of a friend from colgaffneyis. Thoughts on the ceremony
Tom Lehrer’s “The Elements” in Japanese
- Animated!
- Updated!
Via BoingBoing, with commentary.
Hollywood and Facebook
Mark Zuckerberg’s Take on “The Social Network”
“We build products that 500 million people see… If 5 million people see a movie, it doesn’t really matter that much.”
Via Ann Althouse.
Monday night Irish class, October 4, 2010
Irish Class, October 4, 2010
Rang Gaeilge, an 4ú lá Mí Dheireadh Fómhair 2010
<!–
Fadas: áéíóúÁÉÍÓÚ
–>
First night as a member of Will’s class!
Frozen dwarf planets
Frozen World of Eris Looks a Lot Like Pluto
The frozen surface of the dwarf planet Eris looks a lot like that of its smaller neighbor Pluto, new research has found.
Both frozen worlds are covered predominantly with nitrogen ice, a research team announced Tuesday (Oct. 5). The find could help astronomers get a better handle on the history of the outer reaches of the solar system….
Eris, discovered in 2005 by planet-hunting astronomer Michael Brown, has one known moon called Dysnomia.
Eris is larger than Pluto — about 1,600 miles (2,581 kilometers) across, compared with 1,430 miles (2,306 km) — and about 27 percent more massive. Eris’ bulk effectively forced astronomers to strip Pluto of its planethood and rebrand it a “dwarf planet” back in 2006.
The ensuing controversy over Pluto’s demotion makes Eris’ name quite fitting: Eris is the Greek goddess of discord and strife, who stirred up jealousy and envy among the goddesses, leading to the Trojan War.
Eris circles the sun from about 9 billion miles (15 billion km) away, making it about twice as remote as Pluto.
From Hilbert Space to Dilbert Space, and beyond 