tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9199848742267562587.post6731672999636170402..comments2024-02-06T10:31:24.491-07:00Comments on Watching the World Wake Up: AstroUpdate: Aldebaran, Ain, Auriga, Anticenter, AndromedaWatcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02248341788957416471noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9199848742267562587.post-7802872226194135572009-12-22T12:11:45.865-07:002009-12-22T12:11:45.865-07:00Enel- great comment. Want to follow up, but swampe...Enel- great comment. Want to follow up, but swamped rest of day. But real quick- easy instructions for embedding links in comments are right <a href="http://www.w3schools.com/HTML/tryit.asp?filename=tryhtml_links" rel="nofollow">here</a>.Watcherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02248341788957416471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9199848742267562587.post-23218294228195984192009-12-22T12:06:17.572-07:002009-12-22T12:06:17.572-07:00"Enel-The provision of the lamb I’m familiar ..."Enel-The provision of the lamb I’m familiar with, but it seems sort of in-line with my hold-you-up-then-let-you-go example, don’t you think?"<br /><br />Arguably, the provision of the ram is the point of the entire story. Traditional Christian interpretation is that the ram foreshadows the substitutionary sacrifice of the Messiah (AKA Jesus). God is the central character in the story rather than Abraham, and the point is that God mercifully provides the appropriate sacrifice. Also, that God will ultimately allow the sacrifice of the son Jesus as the ultimate appropriate sacrifice...something he did not require of Abraham. In other words, God is making a big time point here.<br /><br />Rabbinic interpretation is that Abraham thought Isaac would be resurrected because he says to his servants just before:" The boy and I will worship and then return to you." Abraham did not know what was going to happen, but he knew that his line was promised to continue through Isaac, so there had to be some resolution. In this fact, he simply believed God's promise to him and went forward. It doesn't make sense to a Greek way of looking at things.<br /><br />I personally find the distinction between Greek and Hebrew thought very interesting. Here is a little summary that does better than I could:<br /><br />"The distinction…arises from the difference between doing and knowing. The Hebrew is concerned with practice, the Greek with knowledge. Right conduct is the ultimate concern of the Hebrew, right thinking that of the Greek. Duty and strictness of conscience are the paramount things in life for the Hebrew; for the Greek, the spontaneous and luminous play of the intelligence. The Hebrew thus extols the moral virtues as the substance and meaning of life; the Greek subordinates them to the intellectual virtues…the contrast is between practice and theory, between the moral man and the theoretical or intellectual man."<br /><br />The above quote comes from a nice page here:<br /><br />http://www.godward.org/Hebrew%20Roots/hebrew_mind_vs__the_western_mind.htm<br /><br />Sorry, I don't know how to do the HTML to attach the link to the word "here"<br /><br />The most interesting thing on the above page to me, is the table contrasting Greek and Hebrew methods of thought. I submit that a lot of the Old testament does not make sense to our culture, innundated as it is with "Greek" thinking.<br /><br />Sorry if this is a major thread derail...Enelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00967981896718833776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9199848742267562587.post-16614597672409542972009-12-22T11:03:02.360-07:002009-12-22T11:03:02.360-07:00P65- Congrats! And what an awesome birthday- your ...P65- Congrats! And what an awesome birthday- your son’s birthday parties will always be full of light and warmth.<br /><br />Phil O.- I don’t have a quick answer for why the Greek mythology names stuck beyond the huge imprint Roman culture had on so much of Western civilization and how much of Roman culture originated with the Greeks. But it’s interesting to note that a majority of common star names today (Mirach, Almach, Mizar, Alcor, Phecda, etc...) are Arabic.<br /><br />SBJ- The “Jesusian” question is a great one. At a high-level I’d guess that many Bahai and Unitarians do that- follow Jesus’ core teachings without the other stuff- but I think this is more of an individual choice within the broad liberal framework of those religions. My attitude toward Jesus is sort of like my attitude toward Christmas: No, I don’t believe it was Jesus’ birthday, but I like the idea of the holiday- getting family together for celebration around the darkest time of the year- so I celebrate it. Similarly, I think just because I’m not a believer doesn’t mean I can’t gain guidance or inspiration from the New Testament. And where is that trout post anyway? It’s a fascinating topic, especially in this part of the country…<br /><br />Gold star to KanyonKris- nice fusion explanation. On my list of to-do posts is one about the Sun, where I hope to get into more detailed chemistry.<br /><br />Enel- I actually meant (and I see I was unclear now) <i>Abraham’s</i> submission (vs. Isaac’s), just as I meant Perseus’ defiance, courage and ingenuity (vs. Andromeda’s.) The provision of the lamb I’m familiar with, but it seems sort of in-line with my hold-you-up-then-let-you-go example, don’t you think?<br /><br />Colin- That’s the beauty of the ukulele- it travels anywhere! (Thanks for the idea- it really won’t take up much space at all…)Watcherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02248341788957416471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9199848742267562587.post-16466980806070649132009-12-21T21:02:50.832-07:002009-12-21T21:02:50.832-07:00Kris, clearly your memory of the He to C fusion pr...Kris, clearly your memory of the He to C fusion process is vastly superior to mine. Thanks for the refresher.Ski Bike Junkiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12295969126174565599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9199848742267562587.post-51042241217718072372009-12-21T17:04:04.991-07:002009-12-21T17:04:04.991-07:00Mega post!
Very informative.
The Hebrew (Eastern...Mega post!<br /><br />Very informative.<br /><br />The Hebrew (Eastern) and Greek (Western) worldviews are still at odds after millennia. Sort follows the Hanukkah story which was also a battle between the Greek and Hebrew worldviews.<br /><br />One corrective note: it is not Isaac's submission, nor is it Abraham's obedience that saves Isaac. It is God's compassionate provision of the ram as a substitutionary sacrifice.Enelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00967981896718833776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9199848742267562587.post-83017758824585074982009-12-21T15:55:32.772-07:002009-12-21T15:55:32.772-07:00SBJ - I thought the story of solving the "Car...SBJ - I thought the story of solving the "Carbon gap" was told pretty well in the book "Big Bang", after which I did some additional reading in Wikipedia.<br /><br />In a nutshell, fusing He produces only unstable isotopes so how is stable Carbon created? Fred Hoyle theorized the triple alpha process which fuses 2 He nuclei into unstable Be-8 which last long enough for a 3rd He to fuse and create stable C-12. From this theory Hoyle predicted the energy states that must exist in Carbon to allow this process, which were verified by experimentation (a discovery that profoundly changed Hoyle's beliefs).<br /><br />I also found it interesting that there are 2 other fusion processes: proton-proton chain reaction and Carbon-Nitrogen-Oxygen (CNO). And there are 3-4 variations for each of them depending on star temperature and other factors.<br /><br />I won't pretend to understand these subjects at anything but a superficial level, but even that amazes me. I used to think of stars as running on one simple fusion reaction. But turns out there are several processes and a host of complex but elegant mechanisms going on in stars.<br /><br />I hope Watcher will address this topic as I'm sure he'll do a better job making sense of it.KanyonKrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01954169751206336705noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9199848742267562587.post-1951594794046377632009-12-21T15:34:45.849-07:002009-12-21T15:34:45.849-07:00I hope the ukelele is not coming on the next Goose...I hope the ukelele is not coming on the next Gooseberry trip. Damn, I probably shouldn't have even brought that up.Colinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17690981291104861282noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9199848742267562587.post-82506989666045007672009-12-21T14:33:01.438-07:002009-12-21T14:33:01.438-07:00Wow, this post was all over.
The Andromeda/Isaac ...Wow, this post was all over.<br /><br />The Andromeda/Isaac tangent is your most tangential yet.<br /><br />I can only assume that IT means something different at your company.<br /><br />But the most important thing I learned from this post: Mahmoud Adinejad is learning to play the ukulele.KanyonKrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01954169751206336705noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9199848742267562587.post-88236104897070879282009-12-21T13:26:25.217-07:002009-12-21T13:26:25.217-07:00Agree with you on the Greek mythology/bible thing....Agree with you on the Greek mythology/bible thing. Old Testament stories are disturbing. The "law" was supposedly fulfilled with Jesus, yet so many "Christians" use the Old Testament law to justify their barbaric worldview. I don't get it.<br /><br />Is there such a thing as a Jesusian, one who doesn't necessarily believe that Jesus was the Christ but who likes his ideas and follows them without all the baggage of that Old Testament garbage or Paul's addenda? Cuz if there is, it seems like a good place to be. The movement probably wouldn't get off the ground--they'd have a hard time organizing themselves or establishing a religious infrastructure because they were too busy being happy and doing kind things for their neighbors.<br /><br />OK, neither of the above is here nor there to what I really wanted to comment about. And that was to make a request--would you mind blogging about how helium gets fused into Carbon? Because I know that was somewhat of a challenge for Alpher and Gamow to figure out, but I don't precisely recall how it all ended up. Or I guess I could get off my lazy butt and research and blog about it myself, but I'm not the science blog guy. My taxonomy of trout post is still on my list but unwritten and has been pretty much since the last solstice.Ski Bike Junkiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12295969126174565599noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9199848742267562587.post-89926976155608025262009-12-21T12:38:06.654-07:002009-12-21T12:38:06.654-07:00With all of the Old Testament stuff, this could be...With all of the Old Testament stuff, this could be your Hannukah post (albeit a few days late).<br /><br />Why do you think Greek mythology-related names have "stuck" for constellations? Or did they only come into favor in more modern times? Why aren't constellations named after Napoleonic battles or famous astronomers or something?Phil O.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14499273759083108847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9199848742267562587.post-77290802727740369922009-12-21T11:22:10.212-07:002009-12-21T11:22:10.212-07:00Winter Solstice! My son is 6 months old today - b...Winter Solstice! My son is 6 months old today - born on the summer solstice, the mystical fellow. Happy holidays to you all.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18311987239250712221noreply@blogger.com