Comment

Comment by Joseph P on August 23, 2014 at 10:23am

Yup, that's one of the things that you pick up from dealing with creationists a lot.  They abuse the hell out of the language and deliberately misrepresent things.  The best way to combat that is to be very precise with your own verbiage.  It's a habit you develop, after a while.

Comment by Joseph P on August 23, 2014 at 9:58am

Yeah, I vaguely remember that story.  Fun stuff.

I had to go to worse places, with that job.  There was one lady who was just up on the other side of the Appalachian Trail.  I was up in snake-handler territory on that run, literally.

It's amazing how far some people were willing to drive to work in the Winston-Salem office, and when they were looking for people to work from home, so they could close some of the offices, the people out in the middle of freaking nowhere were always the first to volunteer.

Comment by Joseph P on August 21, 2014 at 2:41pm

Oh, and welcome, neighbor.  I've been to King a few times.  We had a few work-from-home employees in King, when I was a field technician for Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Comment by Joseph P on August 21, 2014 at 2:34pm

Is Evolution a fact or just a theory?

Both.  Biological evolution is an observed fact.  The theory of Natural Selection (as opposed to Lamarck's (falsified) hypothesis of Acquired Characteristics) explains how biological evolution happens.  Punctuated Equilibrium is a reformulation of the previous gradualistic model of Natural Selection.  It's still Natural Selection, just a slightly different model.

Also, you should really lose the JUST a theory phrasing.  That's the sort of thing that creationists say.

A theory is more powerful than a mere fact.  Theories explain facts.  Theories are supported by many facts.  A theory is pretty much the ultimate aspiration for an idea, in science.

Comment by Jerica Self on August 21, 2014 at 11:36am

William- Christians say that God existed before time, and don't explain how he came to be... "it's not for us to know, he exists, and that's that. Don't doubt him." Another atheist noticed how in Genesis God says on the first day "Let there be light!" and there was light, even before there was the sun and other stars. That atheist (can't remember his name or where he said it) noticed how the wording of the Bible of the first day seems to suggest the Big Bang itself (an event of great light, an explosion of the universe as it is born). The Big Bang would be the only way that light existed without the sun or stars, since the universe was in utero. 

Comment by Joan Denoo on May 5, 2014 at 11:36pm

From four young lads from the United Kingdom, Happy Birthday to you!

Comment by Joan Denoo on May 5, 2014 at 11:25pm

Thank you Al and Alan. This photographer, Rogelio Bernal Andreo, does some remarkable work. He labels himself as a Spanish-American astrophotographer. He is recognized for his photographs of deep sky objects. NASA recognized him with their Picture of the Day.
Looking at his work fills me at a very deep emotional level with a sense of wonder. 

Comment by Alan Buchanan on May 5, 2014 at 6:07pm

That is the most beautiful picture I have ever seen. Looking at it, it is no surprise our ancestors created gods, beauty such as that touches your heart, makes you spiritual. The human mind just cant comprehend how anything so extraordinary can come to be. I am stunned by it. 

Comment by Al Cross on May 5, 2014 at 6:06am

I don't think that I could have expressed
this any more eloquently myself. Beautiful
picture.

Comment by Joan Denoo on May 4, 2014 at 4:47pm

There is something about this photo that strikes a deep cord in me, coming from nothing, to the existence of space and time, and the evolution of the universe to this scene of nature, available to me, not because of something I did, but because I exist as part of the story of life in the universe. 

That Night over Half Dome 

Image Credit & Copyright: Rogelio Bernal Andreo (Deep Sky Colors)

Astronomy Picture of the DayAstronomy Picture of the Day: That Night over Half Dome by Rogelio ...

"Explanation: Captured one night last May this eight frame mosaic starts on the left, down Northside Drive through Yosemite National Park. It ends thousands of light-years away though, as the arc of the Milky Way tracks toward the center of our galaxy on the right, far beyond the park's rugged skyline. That night was still moonless when the storm clouds retreated, so the rocky faces of the surrounding mountains are lit by campfires and artifical lights. Yosemite Falls is at the left. The granite face of Half Dome juts above the far horizon, near the center of the view. The remarkable flash above it is a bright meteor. Part of the annual Eta Aquarid meteor shower the colorful streak is moving up, its trail pointing directly back to the shower's radiant, low in Aquarius. This year's Eta Aquarids should peak in the moonless early morning hours of May 6 as the Earth sweeps through dust from the tail of Comet Halley.

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