“Our milieu is fantastically expanded in every direction and there is crisis on every side. Our horizons for comprehension, for planning, for control, are receding faster than we can conceive. No wonder that I see red: it must be a Doppler effect.” – Stafford Beer
Yes, I know the old saw that when you point your finger there are three pointing back at yourself.
“The technologies which have had the most profound effects on human life are usually simple. A good example of a simple technology with profound historical consequences is hay.
Nobody knows who invented hay, the idea of cutting grass in the autumn and storing it in large enough quantities to keep horses and cows alive through the winter. All we know is that the technology of hay was unknown to the Roman Empire but was known to every village of medieval Europe.Like many other crucially important technologies, hay emerged anonymously during the so-called Dark Ages.
Noted scientist Stephen Wolfram shares his perspective of how the unexpected results of simple computer experiments have forced him to consider a whole new way of looking at processes in our universe…
“However, I’d [Brandon Keim]like to suggest another way of looking at the findings below, which range from the moray eel’s remarkable second jaw to the unexpected plumage of dinosaurs. They are, quite simply, wondrous — glimpses through an evolutionary frame of life’s incredible narrative, expanding to fill every possible nook and cranny of Earth’s biosphere.”
“It promises to be the tipping point of tipping points. As I argue today on Internet Evolution, 2009 is going to be the year in which the old print media industry — newspapers, magazines, even books — collectively falls off the cliff: “
“Astronomy is arguably the most beautiful of the sciences. I’m biased, of course, but it’s nearly impossible to gaze upon a picture of a galaxy, a moon, a nebula, and not see in it something compellingly artistic. Sometimes it’s the color, sometimes the shape, and sometimes it’s the knowledge that we can understand the subject of the picture itself.”
40 Years Ago today, the Astronauts of Apollo 8, the first humans to circumnavigate the moon, finally turned their eyes from the lunar surface (on their fourth orbit) to observe the “earthrise.” Writing about it in “Happy Birthday, ‘Earthrise‘ ( NY Times), Andrew C. Revkin includes a video he compiled to mark the occasion.
As Frank Borman shifted the orientation of the capsule to see the horizon Bill Anders was moved to blurt out “Oh my God, look at that picture over there. Here’s the Earth coming up!”
“We have become, by the power of a glorious evolutionary accident called intelligence, the stewards of life’s continuity on earth. We did not ask for this role, but we cannot abjure it. We may not be suited to it, but here we are.”— Stephen Jay Gould
When delays with the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) threatened to slow the program (which was trying to meet JFK’s audacious goal of putting a man on the moon ‘before decade’s end’) NASA decided to rewrite several mission plans and sent Apollo 8 on a circumnavigation of the moon (without the LEM) on the first manned launch of the Saturn V rocket.
“Those thinking that online social networking is a substitute for face-to-face interactions might want to think again. Recent research in psychology suggests there are some benefits to real-life socializing that the Internet just can’t provide; researchers at Stanford University have published a report in Psychological Science called “Synchrony and Cooperation” that indicates engaging in synchronous activities (e.g., marching, singing, dancing) strengthens social attachments and enables cooperation”
NASA astronauts Scott Altman and Mike Massimino of the STS-125 mission visit the New York Stock Exchange to support the release of Hubble 3D, the newest IMAX film, which documents the mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope and features never-before-seen 3D flights through Hubble imagery such as the Orion Nebula. In honor of the occasion, Altman and Massimino ring 'The Closing Bell' ending the day's trading at the Exchange on Thursday, March 18, 2010. Image Credit: NYSE (Used by permission) Read More
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“Those thinking that online social networking is a substitute for face-to-face interactions might want to think again. Recent research in psychology suggests there are some benefits to real-life socializing that the Internet just can’t provide; researchers at Stanford University have published a report in Psychological Science called “Synchrony and Cooperation” that indicates engaging in synchronous activities (e.g., marching, singing, dancing) strengthens social attachments and enables cooperation”