Sunday, October 21, 2012
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Whirlpool Galaxy
Source: The Telegraph:
Australian based photographer Martin Pugh has claimed the top prize in the Royal Observatory’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition for the second time, after originally winning the accolade back in 2009. As well as securing the £1,500 top prize, his image takes pride of place in the exhibition of winning photographs opening at the Royal Observatory Greenwich on 20 September.
Pugh impressed the judges in this year’s competition with the depth and clarity of his winning shot depicting the famous Whirlpool Galaxy (M51). The image combines incredible detail in the galaxy’s spiral arms with the faint tails of light that show M51’s small companion galaxy being gradually torn apart by the gravity of its giant neighbour; a closer look also reveals more distant galaxies beyond.
Deep Space category winner, and overall winner: M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy by Martin Pugh (Australia)
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Greek and Spanish Tragedies?
It seems more apparent than ever -- see A Greek Tragedy -- that Greece and Spain should have withdrawn from the Euro Zone. There is something bizarrely wrong with an economic and political theory that holds it is worth throwing countries into depression instead of making adjustments to the Euro.
Symbols are sometimes pernicious things.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Vote for Obama - It's...
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Clint Eastwood's Show
Am I the only person on earth who found Clint Eastwood's "rambling" talk clever, witty, and cutting? Of course, it's true Eastwood didn't say anything of substance. But neither did anyone else. Clint Eastwood's talk was "memorable" and it will be remembered -- and that, presumably, is why gave the performance he did.
I don't think Eastwood rambled. I think his talk was carefully designed (by Eastwood).
It would probably be better if most of these Presidential nominating conventions were not held at all. They are almost pure show.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Neil Armstrong
Statement of family on death of Neil Armstrong:
We are heartbroken to share the news that Neil Armstrong has passed away following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures.
Neil was our loving husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend.
Neil Armstrong was also a reluctant American hero who always believed he was just doing his job. He served his Nation proudly, as a navy fighter pilot, test pilot, and astronaut. He also found success back home in his native Ohio in business and academia, and became a community leader in Cincinnati.
He remained an advocate of aviation and exploration throughout his life and never lost his boyhood wonder of these pursuits.
As much as Neil cherished his privacy, he always appreciated the expressions of good will from people around the world and from all walks of life.
While we mourn the loss of a very good man, we also celebrate his remarkable life and hope that it serves as an example to young people around the world to work hard to make their dreams come true, to be willing to explore and push the limits, and to selflessly serve a cause greater than themselves.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
A Great Mistake: Paul Ryan
See David Kendall & Ryan McConaghy,
The truth is that social welfare programs, including medical care programs, cost large amounts of money and this brute fact cannot be avoided. Yes, medical costs must be controlled. But Ryan's proposed program is a shabby way, a terrible way, of doing that.
N.B. If you do not believe in social welfare programs, don't bother reading the above publication.
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The dynamic evidence page
Medicare in the Ryan Budget: What it Would Mean for You
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Death of James Elliot, Astronomer
I just learned of the death of James Elliot in 2011. Jim led the team
that discovered the rings of Uranus. He was a high school classmate of
mine. He tried to learn spoken Russian from my mother.
The dynamic evidence page
Friday, July 13, 2012
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Mitt Romney: Incrementalist -- and Imperialist?
The dynamic evidence page
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Monday, June 25, 2012
Latvian Victory at Wimbledon
Latvian victories are rare. (I still recall Latvia's defeat of Turkey in soccer back in 2003 or 2004 or so.) So I thought I would trumpet this Latvian tennis player's defeat of a seeded player in the first round of Wimbledon:
Gulbis comes good to stun Berdych
I know, I know: it's not really much of a story. But ... er ... this is just an obscure blog, so why not?
The dynamic evidence page
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Presidential Power, the Constitution, Civil Liberties, War, and the Nobel Peace Prize
Ross Douthat, a conservative columnist, observes (in the NYTimes, June 23, 2012):
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The dynamic evidence page
Obama campaigned as a consistent critic of the Bush administration’s understanding of executive power — and a critic with a background in constitutional law, no less. But apart from his disavowal of waterboarding (an interrogation practice the Bush White House had already abandoned), almost the entire Bush-era wartime architecture has endured: rendition is still with us, the Guantánamo detention center is still open, drone strikes have escalated dramatically, and the Obama White House has claimed the right — and, in the case of Anwar al-Awlaki, followed through on it — to assassinate American citizens without trial.
These moves have met some principled opposition from the left. But the president’s liberal critics are usually academics, journalists and (occasionally) cable-TV hosts, with no real mass constituency behind them.
The majority of Democrats, polls suggest, have followed roughly the same path as the former Yale Law School dean Harold Koh, a staunch critic of Bush’s wartime policies who now serves as a legal adviser to the State Department, supplying constitutional justifications for Obama’s drone campaigns. What was outrageous under a Republican has become executive branch business-as-usual under a Democrat.
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N.B. I am one of those addled academics who, despite not being terribly left-wing, believes that Obama has acted unconstitutionally on major questions on perhaps a score of occasions. I genuinely believe that the civil liberties of Americans stand in peril. I also think that the scope of the President's claim of unilateral authority to make war anywhere in the world is, not only breathtaking, but also dangerous in the long run to the entire planet. And to think that Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize! (But the Nobel Peace Prize committee has made other odd choices -- for example, Henry Kissinger.)
The dynamic evidence page
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Leukemia
Nicholas Bakalar, Leukemia, 1899 (June 4, 2012):
Leukemia, a malignant cancer of the blood, was first described in 1845 by Dr. Rudolf Virchow, a German politician whose wide-ranging interests led him to significant discoveries in cell biology, pathology and anthropology. Although Dr. Virchow’s name appeared often in The New York Times, mostly in the late 19th century, his discovery of leukemia was not mentioned until Feb. 22, 1970, in an article by Dr. Lawrence K. Altman.
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Today, more than 100 years after the first mention of the disease in The Times, treatment is complex, involving the skills of many specialists — hematologists, medical and radiation oncologists, pediatric leukemia specialists, nurses and dietitians. The many types of leukemia can be successfully treated, and sometimes cured, with chemotherapy, stem cell transplants and biological therapies that enhance the body’s immune system.
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The dynamic evidence page
The dynamic evidence page
Saturday, June 16, 2012
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