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Archive for July, 2007

Jul 31

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Outer Space and Inner Peace

I went to the Smithsonian Air and Space museum this weekend in Washington, D.C. Since I’ve been there about 90 times, you would think that I would get tired of going, but I never seem to. Some of the technology there has been used to destroy, though much of it was done for the good of humanity and pure scientific curiosity. There is no national strategic interest in exploring Saturn or Venus. Nevertheless, we have. The Air and Space museum reminds me of the amazing things we have done in just the past 100 years and inspires me to wonder what will come next.

I always make a trip to the Lincoln Memorial when I’m in Washington. It’s like a pilgrimage. For me, it’s not so much just about Lincoln as it is about the larger issue of civil rights. Watching old video of the March on Washington where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered “I Have a Dream” is one of those rare moments in American history when truth triumphed over ignorance. Standing on the steps where MLK once stood, looking out over the landscape, seeing the Vietnam, Korean, and WWII memorials, the Washington Monument and in the distance, the U.S. Capitol really is an amazing site. And to see that people from around the world are still coming to visit offers hope that the perhaps the American dream is alive.

Jul 28

The Thugs of India

At its root, the word “Thuggee” means “deceivers,” and this name hints at the methods employed by the cult. Bands of Thugs traveled across the country posing as pilgrims, merchants, soldiers, or even royalty, in groups numbering anywhere from a few men to several hundred.

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Jul 27

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The Physics of Extraterrestrial Civilizations

The late Carl Sagan once asked this question, “What does it mean for a civilization to be a million years old? We have had radio telescopes and spaceships for a few decades; our technical civilization is a few hundred years old… an advanced civilization millions of years old is as much beyond us as we are beyond a bush baby or a macaque.”

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Jul 25

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What Is Serendipity?

If you’ve read even a little bit of Jung, you are familiar with the term, “synchronicity“. Wikipedia defines this as, “the experience of two or more events which occur in a meaningful manner, but which are causally inexplicable to the person or persons experiencing them.” Serendipity refers to finding something unexpected where you were not even looking.

Imagine walking on the beach at night, just enjoying the moonlight, looking up at the night sky and just by chance catching a rare full eclipse of the moon. That’s serendipity. Now, imagine this same night was already an especially significant day in your personal life. It could be an anniversary, a wedding night, or a even birthday. This would be a very rare synchrodipity. Your psyche links up all the events, related casually or not. You experience a brief rift or dimple in time. Read more

Jul 25

Study: Iraqis May Experience Sadness When Friends, Relatives Die

A field study released Monday by the University of North Carolina School of Public Health suggests that Iraqi citizens experience sadness and a sense of loss when relatives, spouses, and even friends perish, emotions that have until recently been identified almost exclusively with Westerners.

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Jul 23

Linguists seek the ‘mother of all languages’

A controversial research project is trying to trace all human language to a common root. Many scientists think that fully modern human language enabled a “great leap forward” 50,000 years ago. And because scientists surmise that language arose only once, they believe that before leaving Africa to colonize the world, all humankind spoke as one.

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Jul 22

When you die, do you know you’re dead?

Kids in America grow up in a society that overwhelmingly believes in life after death. At the same time, these same kids grow up learning more and more about the nature of living organisms, and what makes something living or dead. At some point, these two belief systems inevitably collide: pure religious faith suggests that the soul lives on…

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Jul 20

Dick Cheney will be President on Saturday

Vice President Dick Cheney will serve as acting president briefly Saturday while President Bush is anesthetized for a routine colonoscopy, White House spokesman Tony Snow said Friday.

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Jul 17

61 Seconds

Have you ever wondered why there are 12 months in a year, 60 minutes in an hour, and 60 seconds in a minute? It’s one of those things we take for granted every day. This system has always seemed pretty arbitrary to me but you can find out the logic behind this by looking at decisions that were made in far away civilizations thousands of years ago. These ancient civilizations didn’t use base 10 number like the world does not (except for the U.S.) they used the duodecimal (base 12) and sexagesimal (base 60) systems. We have inherited some strange oddities because of these decisions. For example, did you know that “not all minutes contain 60 seconds?” Some minutes contain 61 seconds. Read more at Scientific American’s Ask the Experts.

Jul 9

Interesting Internet

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