Russian Meteor VIDEO - Looks like SciFi flick

Night Skies - Yosemite

Hypatia - Carl Sagan and Stephen Greenblatt

I am currently reading The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt and it is fantastic in my humble opinion. Many thanks to Jack for the high recommendation. 

I have just finished the section of the book where Greenblatt tells the story of the great library at Alexandria and the demise of its last librarian, Hypatia in 415 C.E. I was reminded of the above video from Carl Sagan's Cosmos series. There are a few differing details in the two accounts; Sagan says the mob used abalone shells, Greenblatt says they used broken pottery. Either way the scene painted marks a terrible inflection point in history. 

A woman of legendary beauty and intellect, Hypatia's death epitomized the decay of natural philosophy in the wake of spreading Christian fundamentalism. In the moment of her death as a mob of zealous Christians carved her flesh the pendulum of history began a millennium of descent into fear and superstition. 

I can not help but think of the current state of natural philosophy here in the United States. It scares me that people I run into on a daily basis probably are not aware that the inclusion of "under God" in our national pledge of allegiance, the inscription "In God we Trust" on our currency, and the adoption of the same phrase as our national motto all happened in the year 1952! 

These tacitly Christian phrases were injected into our national identity as a result of McCarthy era fear-mongering. A perceived spread of communism pushed the US government to pass reactionary legislation echoed by the Patriot Act.

The founding fathers were more like thinkers in the great library of Alexandria when they adopted the inclusive motto "E Pluribus Unim." 

My question is, when did our Hypatia die? 

Today, it is the height of irony to pull out a nickel and see this!

Ed Brayton, fellow freethinker and blogger posted this on Facebook a few days ago and it has been resonating in my head ever since. Ed writes the blog Dispatches from the Culture Wars.

What is the Higgs field?

Could it be that Healthcare in the United States is approved AND the Higgs boson is discovered in the same week? Maybe.

I am watching with great anticipation this week as my favorite physicists tweet their way all the way to Switzerland for a big announcement from CERN at the Large Hadron Collider.

Sean Carrol, physicist and blogger just tweeted he was boarding a plane bound for CERN and several prominent physicists notorious for not keeping their mouth's shut have been bursting at the seems awaiting the announcement expected this Wednesday July 4th.

UPDATE: Peter Higgs, the theoretical physicist who originally imagined his namesake particle is also en route to CERN!  

All this indicates some new data about the Higgs boson has been collected and is ready for public display.

If you are unfamiliar with this particle it is at the crux of all matter in the universe - hypothetically.

The following video is the least woo-woo explanation I can find out there describing what the Higgs field may be. High praise to the creators for not mentioning the "God Particle" once. Tough to resist the trendy pop-culture label.

Ancient Greek Computer Alive in Legos

Thanks to Nick for the tip on this! :)

Desktop Diary

This video from Sciencefriday.com displays the habitat of Dr. Brian Greene, author of The Hidden Reality. He is a new hero of mine.

The concept of infinity has always frightened me a little. The thought of numbers so big they are impossible to ever count has caused me to look at my limitations as a human on numerous occasions. One time after I had my appendix removed, I remember lying in the hospital bed crying for my mother because I had had a bad morphine dream. The dream was of the upper half of my body being smothered by a planet that was growing infinitely out of control. My legs were sticking out the bottom with an orb of infinite size squeezing the life from my upper half. It was horrifying.

Anyway. Brian Greene does a wonderful job in his book of laying out the concept of an infinite universe. He almost makes infinity seem comforting in a way. If the universe is indeed infinite, then there should be an infinite number of configurations of particles and that said, there is another person on another earth in another solar system out there who is exactly like me, who is dropping his first post on John Paine's Ghost. That makes the universe seem less lonely.

With a strong recommendation snag a copy.

Perspective

A scientific understanding of the cosmos begins by gaining a sense of perspective.  Thanks to Mary and Claudia for digging this out of their memory banks.

Debate Simulcast

Highlights -
As an example of "wasteful" government spending McCain cites Obama's request for federal money to repair a Chicago planetarium's overhead projector. In other words he thinks talking about about this --->
is important enough to mention when the economy is "cratering." This speaks to how out of touch McCain is with the world outside the bubble of his 7 houses. Also, I see it as ironically metaphorical that he talks about a science museum's overhead projector with disdain. This is a tool of education - a light - an instrument of understanding. You know, the type of thing Bush and McCain fear the most. If McCain and Palin are elected we might have it taught in public schools that the earth is 6,000 years old. Kids don't need planetariums, because if they knew how many light-years wide our galaxy is their brains would explode from confusion.

McCain on Obama's nuclear policy - "He said it had to be safe... or somethin like that."

(I'm paraphrasing in all quotes below )

On Science...
McCain - "Government research projects should be turned over to the private sector."
Obama - "The computer was invented within a government research project."

On Health Care...
McCain - "If Obama's health care plan passes he will fine struggling single moms struggling to insure their kids."
again using fear to take a jab at Obama's character.
"I don't know but I may need hair plugs."
yeah I'm sure the people at serious health risk because of the state of
health care in the US were rolling around on the floor at that one.

On Foreign Policy...
McCain - Trying to quote Teddy Roosevelt - "Talk softly and carry a big stick"
Obama - Softly correcting him "SPEAK Softly" - This is the actual verb Teddy used.