I’m not posting as much as I did last year, when I was on sabbatical (gasp, shock, surprise), so making Forbes-blog links dump posts a monthly thing is probably just about sustainable.
— Here’s The Physics That Got Left Out Of ‘Arrival’: As noted previously, the movie adaptation of Ted Chiang’s “Story of Your Life” is very god but would’ve been better if they’d kept more of the physics from the original story. This is an explanation of that physics.
– Three Candidates For The ‘Hamilton’ Of Physics: Because I needed something frivolous and morale-boosting, some suggestions for splashy Broadway biographies of some notable physicists.
So, that’s the month of November for you. The math and Arrival posts did really well, traffic-wise, but I’m probably happiest with the cold plasma one. But, you know, such is science blogging.
from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/2gpICEE
I’m not posting as much as I did last year, when I was on sabbatical (gasp, shock, surprise), so making Forbes-blog links dump posts a monthly thing is probably just about sustainable.
— Here’s The Physics That Got Left Out Of ‘Arrival’: As noted previously, the movie adaptation of Ted Chiang’s “Story of Your Life” is very god but would’ve been better if they’d kept more of the physics from the original story. This is an explanation of that physics.
– Three Candidates For The ‘Hamilton’ Of Physics: Because I needed something frivolous and morale-boosting, some suggestions for splashy Broadway biographies of some notable physicists.
So, that’s the month of November for you. The math and Arrival posts did really well, traffic-wise, but I’m probably happiest with the cold plasma one. But, you know, such is science blogging.
This is going to be a bit of a rant, because there’s a recurring theme in my recent social media that’s really bugging me, and I need to vent. I’m going to do it as a blog post rather than an early-morning tweetstorm, because tweets are more likely to be pulled out of context, and then I’m going to unfollow basically everybody that isn’t a weird Twitter bot or a band that I like, and try to avoid politics until the end of the year. Also, I’ll do some physics stuff.
This morning saw the umpteenth reshared tweetstorm (no link because it doesn’t matter who it was) berating people who write about how liberals ought to reach out to working-class whites– as I did a little while back— for caring too much about the “feelings” of white people. While there are undoubtedly some disingenuous op-eds being written for which that’s true, I think it misses an extremely important point about this whole thing. That is, it’s true that these pieces are concerned about the feelings of white people, but only as a means to an end. What really matters isn’t their feelings, but their votes.
And all the stuff being thrown out there as progressives work through the Kübler-Ross modelneed those votes. You think it’s ridiculous that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by 2.5 million votes but still lost, so you want to get rid of the Electoral College? Great. To do that, you need to amend the Constitution, which requires control of Congress and/or a whole bunch of state legislatures, most of which are in Republican hands, because they get the votes of those working-class whites. You want to ditch the Electoral College, you need to change those votes.
Think those working-class whites have too much power because of gerrymandered districts that over-weight rural areas? You’re probably right, but if you want to fix it, you need to control the legislatures that make the districts, and those are mostly in Republican hands because they get the votes of those people in rural districts. You want to stop gerrymandering and protect voting rights, you need to change those votes.
There are a whole host of things wrong with our current system. Fixing any of them requires winning elections, particularly those off-year legislative elections where Democrats underperform even when they’re winning statewide and national elections. Winning some of those is going to require getting the people who vote in those elections to change their votes, and hopefully their minds.
And that is why pundits and those who play pundit in a half-assed way on their blogs are saying you should care about the feelings of those working-class whites: because they vote, and you need their votes. And you’re not going to get those votes by berating them and insulting them and disparaging their feelings. You get their votes by understanding where they’re coming from, offering them something they want, and treating them with respect.
And again, this does not mean you need to cater to their basest impulses. Fundamental principles of tolerance and equality are not negotiable, and can not be compromised. But you don’t have to pander to racism to move some votes– most of the policies in the Democratic platform are already clearly better for those people than the Republican alternatives. It’s just a matter of pitching them in a way that makes that clear.
As an attempt at a concrete example, look at issues of affirmative action and immigration. If you’re dealing with someone who’s concerned about immigrants or people of color “taking our jobs,” you’re not likely to bring them to your side by lecturing them about how they’re not really entitled to that job, they’re just the beneficiary of hundreds of years of racist policy, and so on. You might be right about the history, but that’s not terribly persuasive to somebody who’s worried about having a stable income and health insurance to support their family. But you don’t need to go full “build a wall,” either– something like “The real problem is that there ought to be enough good jobs for both you and them, and here’s what we’re going to do to make that happen” could work. (It has the disadvantage of needing a plan to create jobs for all, admittedly, but as the recent election shows, such a plan doesn’t even need to be all that plausible.) That steps around the implicit racism of the original concern in a way that preserves their feelings, gets their vote for better policy, and doesn’t compromise any fundamental principles.
(Yes, this is basically the Bernie Sanders strategy. I would’ve been all for Bernie’s economic program; I don’t think he would’ve been a viable candidate in the general election, though.)
Another common and maddening refrain the past few weeks has been “Why do we have to care about their feelings, when they’re hateful toward us?” The answer is, bluntly, that they don’t need your votes. They’re living in gerrymandered districts that give them too much power, and they’re winning the elections that matter. If you want to change the broken system in fundamental ways, you need to convince them to vote for policies that involve giving up some of that power. They can keep things just the way they are, or make them much, much worse, without any assistance from you.
And, yes, it’s unquestionably true that a distressingly large number of those voters are openly racist and probably not persuadable. But the hard-core racist fraction is not 100%, and you wouldn’t need a huge effect to make things better. As I said before, even if 39 out of 40 Trump voters in PA, MI, and WI was a full-on alt-right Twitter frog, flipping the vote of that one decent human being would’ve avoided our current situation. I think that would’ve been worth a little bit of effort to respect their feelings, at least long enough to win their votes.
Yes, that’s messy, and compromised, and leaves some big issues unaddressed. Welcome to politics. It’s not about feelings, on either side, it’s about getting enough votes to win elections.
Rant over, catharsis achieved. Shutting up about politics, now.
from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/2fJ9wbt
This is going to be a bit of a rant, because there’s a recurring theme in my recent social media that’s really bugging me, and I need to vent. I’m going to do it as a blog post rather than an early-morning tweetstorm, because tweets are more likely to be pulled out of context, and then I’m going to unfollow basically everybody that isn’t a weird Twitter bot or a band that I like, and try to avoid politics until the end of the year. Also, I’ll do some physics stuff.
This morning saw the umpteenth reshared tweetstorm (no link because it doesn’t matter who it was) berating people who write about how liberals ought to reach out to working-class whites– as I did a little while back— for caring too much about the “feelings” of white people. While there are undoubtedly some disingenuous op-eds being written for which that’s true, I think it misses an extremely important point about this whole thing. That is, it’s true that these pieces are concerned about the feelings of white people, but only as a means to an end. What really matters isn’t their feelings, but their votes.
And all the stuff being thrown out there as progressives work through the Kübler-Ross modelneed those votes. You think it’s ridiculous that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by 2.5 million votes but still lost, so you want to get rid of the Electoral College? Great. To do that, you need to amend the Constitution, which requires control of Congress and/or a whole bunch of state legislatures, most of which are in Republican hands, because they get the votes of those working-class whites. You want to ditch the Electoral College, you need to change those votes.
Think those working-class whites have too much power because of gerrymandered districts that over-weight rural areas? You’re probably right, but if you want to fix it, you need to control the legislatures that make the districts, and those are mostly in Republican hands because they get the votes of those people in rural districts. You want to stop gerrymandering and protect voting rights, you need to change those votes.
There are a whole host of things wrong with our current system. Fixing any of them requires winning elections, particularly those off-year legislative elections where Democrats underperform even when they’re winning statewide and national elections. Winning some of those is going to require getting the people who vote in those elections to change their votes, and hopefully their minds.
And that is why pundits and those who play pundit in a half-assed way on their blogs are saying you should care about the feelings of those working-class whites: because they vote, and you need their votes. And you’re not going to get those votes by berating them and insulting them and disparaging their feelings. You get their votes by understanding where they’re coming from, offering them something they want, and treating them with respect.
And again, this does not mean you need to cater to their basest impulses. Fundamental principles of tolerance and equality are not negotiable, and can not be compromised. But you don’t have to pander to racism to move some votes– most of the policies in the Democratic platform are already clearly better for those people than the Republican alternatives. It’s just a matter of pitching them in a way that makes that clear.
As an attempt at a concrete example, look at issues of affirmative action and immigration. If you’re dealing with someone who’s concerned about immigrants or people of color “taking our jobs,” you’re not likely to bring them to your side by lecturing them about how they’re not really entitled to that job, they’re just the beneficiary of hundreds of years of racist policy, and so on. You might be right about the history, but that’s not terribly persuasive to somebody who’s worried about having a stable income and health insurance to support their family. But you don’t need to go full “build a wall,” either– something like “The real problem is that there ought to be enough good jobs for both you and them, and here’s what we’re going to do to make that happen” could work. (It has the disadvantage of needing a plan to create jobs for all, admittedly, but as the recent election shows, such a plan doesn’t even need to be all that plausible.) That steps around the implicit racism of the original concern in a way that preserves their feelings, gets their vote for better policy, and doesn’t compromise any fundamental principles.
(Yes, this is basically the Bernie Sanders strategy. I would’ve been all for Bernie’s economic program; I don’t think he would’ve been a viable candidate in the general election, though.)
Another common and maddening refrain the past few weeks has been “Why do we have to care about their feelings, when they’re hateful toward us?” The answer is, bluntly, that they don’t need your votes. They’re living in gerrymandered districts that give them too much power, and they’re winning the elections that matter. If you want to change the broken system in fundamental ways, you need to convince them to vote for policies that involve giving up some of that power. They can keep things just the way they are, or make them much, much worse, without any assistance from you.
And, yes, it’s unquestionably true that a distressingly large number of those voters are openly racist and probably not persuadable. But the hard-core racist fraction is not 100%, and you wouldn’t need a huge effect to make things better. As I said before, even if 39 out of 40 Trump voters in PA, MI, and WI was a full-on alt-right Twitter frog, flipping the vote of that one decent human being would’ve avoided our current situation. I think that would’ve been worth a little bit of effort to respect their feelings, at least long enough to win their votes.
Yes, that’s messy, and compromised, and leaves some big issues unaddressed. Welcome to politics. It’s not about feelings, on either side, it’s about getting enough votes to win elections.
Rant over, catharsis achieved. Shutting up about politics, now.
These are star trails, and one of the brightest trails here is Alpha Arietis, or Hamal. To learn which one, click here, then click on the image you find. This neat image is by Herb Raab on Flickr.
Hamal – also known as Alpha Arietis – shines as the brightest star in the constellation Aries the Ram. This star and two others – Sheratan and Mesarthim – make up the Head of the Ram. Aries is small. But the compact pattern of these three stars makes Aries relatively easy to find. As seen from mid-northern latitudes, Hamal lights up the eastern sky on autumn evenings, shines high in the southern sky on winter evenings, and sits in the west on early spring evenings. Hamal disappears from the night sky in April, then returns to the eastern sky before sunrise by late spring or early summer, to begin another cycle of visibility.
It’s fun to spot Hamal and its brother stars in the night sky. But this star also has a profound significance in the history of astronomy.
Most people see the constellation Aries as three stars in a compact grouping. The stars are Hamal, Sheratan, and Mesarthim.
If you could see the stars in daytime, you’d see the sun and Hamal in conjunction (lined up with one another, due north and south in right ascension) on or near April 24. What this means is that – when the sun appears due south at noon – Hamal is due south, too, though lost in the glare of the noonday sun.
April 24 – the date of Hamal’s conjunction with the sun – is a little more than one month after the March equinox, which always takes place around March 20. This is the Northern Hemisphere’s spring equinox, and it’s a time of renewal throughout the northern half of Earth. So of course this time of year had significance to our ancestors, who were much more aware than we are of their dependence on the land and sky.
What is the relationship of Hamal to the March equinox? If you could backtrack some 2,500 years, you’d find the annual conjunction of the sun and Hamal happening on the March equinox. In fact, if you could backtrack 2,200 years, we’d find the March equinox sun in conjunction with the star Sheratan. So you see that the location of the sun at the March equinox sun drifts in front of the stars. It moves westward in front of the backdrop constellations by about one degree (two sun diameters) every 72 years. This drifting is due to a well-known motion of Earth called precession, or sometimes the precession of the equinoxes.
The March equinox sun shone in front of the constellation Aries from about 2,000 to 100 BCE. At present, the sun shines in front of the constellation Pisces on the March equinox. Even so, many people pay homage to the Ram and still refer to the March equinox point as the First Point of Aries.
Bottom line: The star Hamal, also known as Alpha Arietis, is the brightest star in Aries the Ram. Thousands of years ago, the sun was in conjunction – or aligned north and south – with this star at the time of the March equinox. Nowadays, we see the sun in front of Pisces at the time of the March equinox. But people still refer to the sun’s location at the equinox as the First Point in Aries.
Sky chart of the constellation Aries the Ram
Nowadays the sun passes in front of the constellation Aries from about April 19 to May 13. Click here for a larger chart
These are star trails, and one of the brightest trails here is Alpha Arietis, or Hamal. To learn which one, click here, then click on the image you find. This neat image is by Herb Raab on Flickr.
Hamal – also known as Alpha Arietis – shines as the brightest star in the constellation Aries the Ram. This star and two others – Sheratan and Mesarthim – make up the Head of the Ram. Aries is small. But the compact pattern of these three stars makes Aries relatively easy to find. As seen from mid-northern latitudes, Hamal lights up the eastern sky on autumn evenings, shines high in the southern sky on winter evenings, and sits in the west on early spring evenings. Hamal disappears from the night sky in April, then returns to the eastern sky before sunrise by late spring or early summer, to begin another cycle of visibility.
It’s fun to spot Hamal and its brother stars in the night sky. But this star also has a profound significance in the history of astronomy.
Most people see the constellation Aries as three stars in a compact grouping. The stars are Hamal, Sheratan, and Mesarthim.
If you could see the stars in daytime, you’d see the sun and Hamal in conjunction (lined up with one another, due north and south in right ascension) on or near April 24. What this means is that – when the sun appears due south at noon – Hamal is due south, too, though lost in the glare of the noonday sun.
April 24 – the date of Hamal’s conjunction with the sun – is a little more than one month after the March equinox, which always takes place around March 20. This is the Northern Hemisphere’s spring equinox, and it’s a time of renewal throughout the northern half of Earth. So of course this time of year had significance to our ancestors, who were much more aware than we are of their dependence on the land and sky.
What is the relationship of Hamal to the March equinox? If you could backtrack some 2,500 years, you’d find the annual conjunction of the sun and Hamal happening on the March equinox. In fact, if you could backtrack 2,200 years, we’d find the March equinox sun in conjunction with the star Sheratan. So you see that the location of the sun at the March equinox sun drifts in front of the stars. It moves westward in front of the backdrop constellations by about one degree (two sun diameters) every 72 years. This drifting is due to a well-known motion of Earth called precession, or sometimes the precession of the equinoxes.
The March equinox sun shone in front of the constellation Aries from about 2,000 to 100 BCE. At present, the sun shines in front of the constellation Pisces on the March equinox. Even so, many people pay homage to the Ram and still refer to the March equinox point as the First Point of Aries.
Bottom line: The star Hamal, also known as Alpha Arietis, is the brightest star in Aries the Ram. Thousands of years ago, the sun was in conjunction – or aligned north and south – with this star at the time of the March equinox. Nowadays, we see the sun in front of Pisces at the time of the March equinox. But people still refer to the sun’s location at the equinox as the First Point in Aries.
Sky chart of the constellation Aries the Ram
Nowadays the sun passes in front of the constellation Aries from about April 19 to May 13. Click here for a larger chart
As you all have no doubt noticed over the years, I love highlighting the best science books every year via the various end of year lists that newspapers, web sites, etc. publish. I’ve done it so far in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013,2014 and 2015.
As in previous years, my definition of “science books” is pretty inclusive, including books on technology, engineering, nature, the environment, science policy, history & philosophy of science, geek culture and whatever else seems to be relevant in my opinion.
(Astute readers will notice that I kind of petered out on this project a couple of years ago and never got around to the end of year summary since then. Before loosing steam, I ended up featuring dozens and dozens of lists, virtually every list I could find that had science books on it. While it was kind of cool to be so comprehensive, not to mention that it gave the summary posts a certain statistical weight, it was also way more work than I had really envisioned way back in 2008 or so when I started doing this. As a result, I’m only going to highlight particularly large or noteworthy lists this year and forgo any kind of end of year summary. Basically, all the fun but not so much of the drudgery.)
from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/2gpl8Qe
As you all have no doubt noticed over the years, I love highlighting the best science books every year via the various end of year lists that newspapers, web sites, etc. publish. I’ve done it so far in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013,2014 and 2015.
As in previous years, my definition of “science books” is pretty inclusive, including books on technology, engineering, nature, the environment, science policy, history & philosophy of science, geek culture and whatever else seems to be relevant in my opinion.
(Astute readers will notice that I kind of petered out on this project a couple of years ago and never got around to the end of year summary since then. Before loosing steam, I ended up featuring dozens and dozens of lists, virtually every list I could find that had science books on it. While it was kind of cool to be so comprehensive, not to mention that it gave the summary posts a certain statistical weight, it was also way more work than I had really envisioned way back in 2008 or so when I started doing this. As a result, I’m only going to highlight particularly large or noteworthy lists this year and forgo any kind of end of year summary. Basically, all the fun but not so much of the drudgery.)
The constellation Aries the Ram. His head is turned backward, looking in the direction of the Pleaides star cluster. Image via Old Book Art image Gallery
The sun – as seen from Earth – passes in front of the constellation Aries the Ram from about April 19 to May 14 every year. Of course, a Northern Hemisphere spring or Southern Hemisphere autumn presents the wrong time of year for viewing the constellation Aries because then the mighty Ram is lost in the sun’s glare. November and December are especially good months for viewing Aries.
Follow the links below to learn more about how to see Aries in the night sky, and about this constellation in the history of astronomy and in mythology.
Sky chart of the constellation Aries the Ram, showing the Pleiades star cluster near the Pisces/Taurus border. Click here for a larger chart
Look for Cassiopeia high over Polaris, the North Star around 8 p.m. local time in early December and 6 p.m. in early January. Then use Cassiopeia to star-hop to Aries by drawing an imaginary line from Polaris, the North Star, and through the star Segin (Epsilon Cassiopeiae).
Not sure how to find the North Star with respect to Cassiopeia in December and January? This chart should help.
Best time for seeing Aries the Ram. The best time to behold the Mighty Ram is at the opposite end of the year, when the Earth is on the other side of the sun. In late October, this constellation rises in the east at sunset, reaches its highest point in the sky at midnight and sets in the west at sunrise.
November and December are especially good months for viewing Aries the Ram in all his starlit majesty, for this constellation shines above the eastern horizon at nightfall and stays out for most of the night. Aries culminates – reaches its highest point in the sky – at about 10 p.m. local time (the time in all time zones) in late November, 8 p.m. local time in late December and 6 p.m. local time in late January.
Aries is not a particularly prominent constellation, so a dark country sky absent of moonlight is most desirable for viewing the Ram at its finest. The three stars depicting the Ram’s bust – Hamal, Sheratan and Mesartim – suddenly brighten in a dark sky, as if someone had turned up the dimmer switch. By the way, a small telescope reveals that Mesartim is a double star.
Fortunately, the head of the Ram is fairly easy to locate. You’ll find it midway between these two signposts: the Pleiades star cluster to the east and the Square of Pegasus to the west. The Ram’s head is actually turned backward, as if admiring the Pleiades – or perhaps his own golden fleece.
You can also star-hop to Aries by drawing an imaginary line from Polaris, the North Star, and through a certain star in the constellation Cassiopeia: Segin (Epsilon Cassiopeiae). You’re seeking for the star at the east end of the famed starlit W or M, as shown on the sky chart at right. It’s a very long hop, more than twice the Polairs/Segin distance. Jump until you land between the Pleiades cluster and the Square of Pegasus.
By definition, the sun resides at the First Point of Aries on the March equinox. This point has a declination of zero degrees and a right ascension of zero degrees. The ecliptic and celestial equator intersect on the March and September equinoxes, and the celestial equator is equal to a declination of 0o. Image via Wikimedia Commons
What is the First Point of Aries? The First Point of Aries marks the sun’s position in front of the constellations of the Zodiac on the Northern Hemisphere’s spring equinox or Southern Hemisphere’s autumnal equinox. This equinox happens yearly on or near March 20, as the sun crosses the celestial equator, going from south to north.
The First Point of Aries, which is actually in the constellation Pisces nowadays, defines the coordinate system on the celestial sphere. The First Point of Aries always coincides with 0oright ascension and 0odeclination. Right ascension is the equivalent of longitude here on Earth. Declination on the sky’s dome is the equivalent of latitude.
The First Point of Aries is one of two places on the celestial sphere where the ecliptic and celestial equator intersect. The First Point of Libra resides 180o east of the First Point of Aries, marking the September equinox point on the celestial sphere.
Because the Earth’s rotational axis wobbles full circle relative to the backdrop stars in about 26,000 years, Polaris doesn’t remain the North Star forever and the equinox points don’t remain fixed relative to the stars of the Zodiac. The March equinox point drifts westward (along the ecliptic) through the constellations of the Zodiac at about one degree (two sun diameters) in 72 years or 30o in 2160 years.
Hence, the March equinox point passed out of the constellation Aries and into the constellation Pisces in 68 B.C. Even so, we still call this equinox point the First Point of Aries.
Map showing the ancient Kingdom of Colchis on the eastern shore of the Black Sea. View larger.
Aries the Ram in star lore. In Greek mythology, Aries represents the supernatural Ram that was sent by Zeus to rescue the children of Athamus, the King of Thebes, from political intrigue. Phrixus and his sister Helle were about to meet their demise, but the flying Ram, which could both speak and reason, took them away in the nick of time.
The children held on tight as the Ram flew them away for the safety of Colchis, an ancient kingdom bordering the eastern shore of the Black Sea. Unfortunately, Helle fell into the sea and drowned before reaching their destination. Hellespont – the ancient name for the Dardanelles straight near Istanbul, Turkey – marks the place of her death and was named in her honor.
Phrixus survived the long trip to Colchis. He gave thanks by sacrificing the Ram to Zeus, hanging it in a sacred grove where the fleece turned to gold. Later on, Jason and the Argonauts recovered the Golden Fleece.
The constellation Aries the Ram. His head is turned backward, looking in the direction of the Pleaides star cluster. Image via Old Book Art image Gallery
The sun – as seen from Earth – passes in front of the constellation Aries the Ram from about April 19 to May 14 every year. Of course, a Northern Hemisphere spring or Southern Hemisphere autumn presents the wrong time of year for viewing the constellation Aries because then the mighty Ram is lost in the sun’s glare. November and December are especially good months for viewing Aries.
Follow the links below to learn more about how to see Aries in the night sky, and about this constellation in the history of astronomy and in mythology.
Sky chart of the constellation Aries the Ram, showing the Pleiades star cluster near the Pisces/Taurus border. Click here for a larger chart
Look for Cassiopeia high over Polaris, the North Star around 8 p.m. local time in early December and 6 p.m. in early January. Then use Cassiopeia to star-hop to Aries by drawing an imaginary line from Polaris, the North Star, and through the star Segin (Epsilon Cassiopeiae).
Not sure how to find the North Star with respect to Cassiopeia in December and January? This chart should help.
Best time for seeing Aries the Ram. The best time to behold the Mighty Ram is at the opposite end of the year, when the Earth is on the other side of the sun. In late October, this constellation rises in the east at sunset, reaches its highest point in the sky at midnight and sets in the west at sunrise.
November and December are especially good months for viewing Aries the Ram in all his starlit majesty, for this constellation shines above the eastern horizon at nightfall and stays out for most of the night. Aries culminates – reaches its highest point in the sky – at about 10 p.m. local time (the time in all time zones) in late November, 8 p.m. local time in late December and 6 p.m. local time in late January.
Aries is not a particularly prominent constellation, so a dark country sky absent of moonlight is most desirable for viewing the Ram at its finest. The three stars depicting the Ram’s bust – Hamal, Sheratan and Mesartim – suddenly brighten in a dark sky, as if someone had turned up the dimmer switch. By the way, a small telescope reveals that Mesartim is a double star.
Fortunately, the head of the Ram is fairly easy to locate. You’ll find it midway between these two signposts: the Pleiades star cluster to the east and the Square of Pegasus to the west. The Ram’s head is actually turned backward, as if admiring the Pleiades – or perhaps his own golden fleece.
You can also star-hop to Aries by drawing an imaginary line from Polaris, the North Star, and through a certain star in the constellation Cassiopeia: Segin (Epsilon Cassiopeiae). You’re seeking for the star at the east end of the famed starlit W or M, as shown on the sky chart at right. It’s a very long hop, more than twice the Polairs/Segin distance. Jump until you land between the Pleiades cluster and the Square of Pegasus.
By definition, the sun resides at the First Point of Aries on the March equinox. This point has a declination of zero degrees and a right ascension of zero degrees. The ecliptic and celestial equator intersect on the March and September equinoxes, and the celestial equator is equal to a declination of 0o. Image via Wikimedia Commons
What is the First Point of Aries? The First Point of Aries marks the sun’s position in front of the constellations of the Zodiac on the Northern Hemisphere’s spring equinox or Southern Hemisphere’s autumnal equinox. This equinox happens yearly on or near March 20, as the sun crosses the celestial equator, going from south to north.
The First Point of Aries, which is actually in the constellation Pisces nowadays, defines the coordinate system on the celestial sphere. The First Point of Aries always coincides with 0oright ascension and 0odeclination. Right ascension is the equivalent of longitude here on Earth. Declination on the sky’s dome is the equivalent of latitude.
The First Point of Aries is one of two places on the celestial sphere where the ecliptic and celestial equator intersect. The First Point of Libra resides 180o east of the First Point of Aries, marking the September equinox point on the celestial sphere.
Because the Earth’s rotational axis wobbles full circle relative to the backdrop stars in about 26,000 years, Polaris doesn’t remain the North Star forever and the equinox points don’t remain fixed relative to the stars of the Zodiac. The March equinox point drifts westward (along the ecliptic) through the constellations of the Zodiac at about one degree (two sun diameters) in 72 years or 30o in 2160 years.
Hence, the March equinox point passed out of the constellation Aries and into the constellation Pisces in 68 B.C. Even so, we still call this equinox point the First Point of Aries.
Map showing the ancient Kingdom of Colchis on the eastern shore of the Black Sea. View larger.
Aries the Ram in star lore. In Greek mythology, Aries represents the supernatural Ram that was sent by Zeus to rescue the children of Athamus, the King of Thebes, from political intrigue. Phrixus and his sister Helle were about to meet their demise, but the flying Ram, which could both speak and reason, took them away in the nick of time.
The children held on tight as the Ram flew them away for the safety of Colchis, an ancient kingdom bordering the eastern shore of the Black Sea. Unfortunately, Helle fell into the sea and drowned before reaching their destination. Hellespont – the ancient name for the Dardanelles straight near Istanbul, Turkey – marks the place of her death and was named in her honor.
Phrixus survived the long trip to Colchis. He gave thanks by sacrificing the Ram to Zeus, hanging it in a sacred grove where the fleece turned to gold. Later on, Jason and the Argonauts recovered the Golden Fleece.
A week and a half ago, a conference was held at the NYU Langone Medical Center, Confronting Vaccine Resistance: Strategies for Success. It featured speakers and panelists whom I admire quite a bit, including Paul Offit, the man who is to antivaccine loons Satan, Darth Vader, Voldemort, and Sauron all rolled up into one. Also featured were Richard Pan, the California state senator who co-sponsored SB 277, which passed and is now a law that bans nonmedical exemptions to school vaccine mandates; bioethicist Arthur Caplan, a strong advocate for vaccines; Dorit Reiss, a law school professor and strong advocate for vaccines who over the last couple of years has become a favored target for the antivaccine movement; and Bernard Dreyer, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics. As I put it at the time, it was as though the greatest enemies of the antivaccine movement were all concentrated in one place. It was thus utterly irresistible to antivaccine cranks, and, not surprisingly, the VAXXED bus, Del Bigtree, and a bunch of antivaccine activists showed up. One of them even harassed Paul Offit in the cafeteria, asking him to come down to the bus to be interviewed. Dr. Offit responded in exactly the fashion that was required.
Hilariously, more tha a week later, antivaccine loons are still very upset about the fact that the conference was held in the first place, gleeful that they think they have something they can criticize Paul Offit for, and delusional about what they think they can accomplish because of the conference. In other words, it’s just antivaccine activists being antivaccine loons, which is how they usually behave. Passenger one on the train to delusionville is Laura Hayes. We’ve met Ms. Hayes before, for instance introducing a screening of the antivaccine propaganda film VAXXED by referring to the vaccination program as “this ever-increasing medical tyranny, this abominable Vaccine Holocaust, this present evil.” It’s a metaphor she likes to use a lot. This time around, she’s very, very unhappy that the NYU Langone Medical Center held a pro-vaccine conference where medical students and faculty were the main attendies and the message was how to overcome vaccine resistance in parents. In fact, she’s so upset and deluded that she’s been pestering NYU Langone and writing about it on the antivaccine blog Age of Autism:
Last week, on Monday, Nov. 21st, I called the Office of the President at NYU to express that I was both disappointed and disturbed by a lecture being presented at NYU, specifically, the lecture by Paul Offit, Richard Pan, and Dorit Reiss titled “Confronting Vaccine Resistance: Strategies for Success”. I spoke to the woman who answered the phone in President Andrew Hamilton’s office, Kyle, for 10-15 minutes. She was polite and professional, and heard me out, which I greatly appreciated. I gave her my contact information in hopes that Mr. Hamilton, or someone in his office, would call me back to discuss my concerns further. I did not hear back from anyone.
Today, I called again, and spoke to Kyle for the second time. Again, she was polite and professional, and heard me out. I inquired as to whether or not NYU was going to host another lecture to counter and correct the information that was presented at NYU last week. She did not know, as the President’s office had not been in contact with the Director of Langone Medical Center. She ended up giving me the number for Langone, and told me I could email Mr. Hamilton, as he was presently out of town. I followed through on both counts.
I called Langone Medical Center, and first spoke with a woman in the Office of Communications. She transferred me to the Director of Media Relations, Mr. James Devitt. I told Mr. Devitt my concerns about NYU hosting the lecture and speakers that it did last week, and asked whether a subsequent lecture would be offered to counter and correct what was shared with NYU’s medical staff and students. He did not know anything about the lecture to which I was referring, so he took down my name and number, and said he would check into it and get back to me.
I must admit, I felt sorry for the people who had to answer the phone when Laura Hayes called. It reminded me yet again why I would be terrible at a job in PR or having to deal with cranks who call to complain. Chances are, I’d be out of Kyle’s job within a few weeks, if that. Be that as it may. Here we have an antivaccine activist complaining to the president of NYU because the NYU Langone Medical Center held a conference that, from a scientific, medical, and academic standpoint, was utterly uncontroversial. Maybe she was every bit as polite as she claimed. Probably she was. That doesn’t change the fact that she was complaining about a conference that was completely unobjectionable to anyone aware of vaccine science, particularly pediatricians and public health officials, because it presented a science-based view of vaccines and didn’t accept her fixed belief that vaccines cause autism and are the equivalent of the Holocaust. Let’s just put it this way. Just because Hayes thinks that what was presented at that conference was support for the “autism Holocaust” doesn’t make it so.
Her letter, however, does make for some seriously hilarious reading:
I am writing to express my grave disappointment at NYU’s hosting a lecture for its medical staff and students last week titled Confronting Vaccine Resistance: Strategies for Success, with speakers Paul Offit, Richard Pan, and Dorit Reiss, and moderator Arthur Caplan.
A summary of what was shared by these speakers can be listened to here, as lecture attendee, Dr. Suzanne Humphries, gave an interview immediately following the lecture:
Dr. Humphries opens her recap with: “It was more social engineering, brainwashing of medical students.”
Not surprisingly, Hayes reveals nothing about Humphries’ background. We’ve discussed her before here on a fair number of occasions. She is affiliated with major antivaccine groups. She’s also known for referring to vaccines as “disease matter.” An MD she may have, but she’s no longer a physician in any sense of the word, if you know what I mean. As for her characterization of the talks as “brainwashing of medical students,” well, one woman’s brainwashing is another person’s training, and medical training is supposed to be based on science. Science doesn’t support the beliefs of antivaccinationists that vaccines cause autism, autoimmune diseases, and all the other conditions and diseases antivaccinationists like to blame on vaccines. It does, however, support the contention that vaccines are effective and safe and that they save lives. It’s therefore entirely appropriate that medical students be taught how to persuade vaccine-averse parents to vaccinate their children.
Hayes seems particularly annoyed at Humphries’ report, which Age of Autism’s “media editor” Anne Dachel transcribed. Not surprisingly, at a pro-vaccine conference, the speakers were not exactly enamored of antivaccinationists and even made jokes about them. It’s even less surprising that they view Dr. Bob Sears negatively. (Certainly I do.) It’s also quite expected that the speakers recommended making non-medical exemptions more difficult to obtain. I can’t help but point out that Dorit Reiss was the one who allowed Humphries to attend in the first place. It’s not as though this were some sort of secret cabal or secret meeting. If it were, no one who wasn’t prescreened and absolutely reliable would have been allowed in that auditorium.
I am wondering if you were aware of this lecture at NYU’s Langone Medical Center? All of the speakers and the moderator are in favor of overriding parental rights when it comes to vaccination. This despite the fact that not one vaccine has ever been proven safe, efficacious, or necessary, and despite the fact that millions have now been injured or killed by vaccines, and despite the fact that the recommended and mandated lists for vaccines continue to grow, without any type of proper or ethical testing. And the definitive study, a comparison study between the vaccinated and the completely unvaccinated, continues to be refused to be done by those profiting from vaccines, which is a statement in and of itself.
I almost feel sorry for Hayes. Almost. If you start writing about how vaccines have never been demonstrated to be efficacious or safe and how “millions” have been “injured or killed by vaccines,” what sort of reaction do you expect from a university president? Hint: It’s highly unlikely to be sympathetic or favorable, although I did find Hayes attempt to appeal to President Hamilton’s background as a chemist chuckle-worthy:
As a distinguished chemist, I hope you will be interested to utilize the link at the end of my presentation which will take you to a listing of all vaccine package inserts. Please look at the amounts of aluminum, mercury, formaldehyde, polysorbate 80, and other ingredients. Please analyze the clinical testing methods, and note the lack of placebos and proper control groups, not to mention the incredibly short clinical observation periods. With a chemist’s knowledge, do you deem it safe to be injecting these ingredients into pregnant women, fetuses, newborns, infants, toddlers, young children, right on up to the very elderly, with no pause?
Please update me regarding any actions you take to address and refute the inaccurate, unethical, and dangerous information that was shared at NYU by Paul Offit, Richard Pan, and Dorit Reiss.
I’m sure President Andrew Hamilton will get right on that. Definitely. Right on that. Right away. I’m sure he’ll read all those presentations and rants.
If Hamilton is a “distinguished chemist,” no doubt he recognized Hayes’ nonsense for the nonsense that it clearly is. The beauty of Hayes’ letter is that she thinks that Hamilton’s background as a chemist means that he’ll accept her claims. In reality, if you’re a chemist (unless you’re Boyd Haley), it’s the exact opposite. If you’re a chemist, it’s far more likely than not that you’ll recognize Hayes’ nonsense for the scientific nonsense it is.
I’m actually rather grateful to Laura Hayes for writing her letter. It’s a perfect example of the delusional world that antivaccinationists live in. Hayes actually believes that the vaccination program is a holocaust and that, if only she can get the President of NYU to read her claims and evidence, she can convince him that the vaccination program is a holocaust too.
from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/2gXSfeZ
A week and a half ago, a conference was held at the NYU Langone Medical Center, Confronting Vaccine Resistance: Strategies for Success. It featured speakers and panelists whom I admire quite a bit, including Paul Offit, the man who is to antivaccine loons Satan, Darth Vader, Voldemort, and Sauron all rolled up into one. Also featured were Richard Pan, the California state senator who co-sponsored SB 277, which passed and is now a law that bans nonmedical exemptions to school vaccine mandates; bioethicist Arthur Caplan, a strong advocate for vaccines; Dorit Reiss, a law school professor and strong advocate for vaccines who over the last couple of years has become a favored target for the antivaccine movement; and Bernard Dreyer, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics. As I put it at the time, it was as though the greatest enemies of the antivaccine movement were all concentrated in one place. It was thus utterly irresistible to antivaccine cranks, and, not surprisingly, the VAXXED bus, Del Bigtree, and a bunch of antivaccine activists showed up. One of them even harassed Paul Offit in the cafeteria, asking him to come down to the bus to be interviewed. Dr. Offit responded in exactly the fashion that was required.
Hilariously, more tha a week later, antivaccine loons are still very upset about the fact that the conference was held in the first place, gleeful that they think they have something they can criticize Paul Offit for, and delusional about what they think they can accomplish because of the conference. In other words, it’s just antivaccine activists being antivaccine loons, which is how they usually behave. Passenger one on the train to delusionville is Laura Hayes. We’ve met Ms. Hayes before, for instance introducing a screening of the antivaccine propaganda film VAXXED by referring to the vaccination program as “this ever-increasing medical tyranny, this abominable Vaccine Holocaust, this present evil.” It’s a metaphor she likes to use a lot. This time around, she’s very, very unhappy that the NYU Langone Medical Center held a pro-vaccine conference where medical students and faculty were the main attendies and the message was how to overcome vaccine resistance in parents. In fact, she’s so upset and deluded that she’s been pestering NYU Langone and writing about it on the antivaccine blog Age of Autism:
Last week, on Monday, Nov. 21st, I called the Office of the President at NYU to express that I was both disappointed and disturbed by a lecture being presented at NYU, specifically, the lecture by Paul Offit, Richard Pan, and Dorit Reiss titled “Confronting Vaccine Resistance: Strategies for Success”. I spoke to the woman who answered the phone in President Andrew Hamilton’s office, Kyle, for 10-15 minutes. She was polite and professional, and heard me out, which I greatly appreciated. I gave her my contact information in hopes that Mr. Hamilton, or someone in his office, would call me back to discuss my concerns further. I did not hear back from anyone.
Today, I called again, and spoke to Kyle for the second time. Again, she was polite and professional, and heard me out. I inquired as to whether or not NYU was going to host another lecture to counter and correct the information that was presented at NYU last week. She did not know, as the President’s office had not been in contact with the Director of Langone Medical Center. She ended up giving me the number for Langone, and told me I could email Mr. Hamilton, as he was presently out of town. I followed through on both counts.
I called Langone Medical Center, and first spoke with a woman in the Office of Communications. She transferred me to the Director of Media Relations, Mr. James Devitt. I told Mr. Devitt my concerns about NYU hosting the lecture and speakers that it did last week, and asked whether a subsequent lecture would be offered to counter and correct what was shared with NYU’s medical staff and students. He did not know anything about the lecture to which I was referring, so he took down my name and number, and said he would check into it and get back to me.
I must admit, I felt sorry for the people who had to answer the phone when Laura Hayes called. It reminded me yet again why I would be terrible at a job in PR or having to deal with cranks who call to complain. Chances are, I’d be out of Kyle’s job within a few weeks, if that. Be that as it may. Here we have an antivaccine activist complaining to the president of NYU because the NYU Langone Medical Center held a conference that, from a scientific, medical, and academic standpoint, was utterly uncontroversial. Maybe she was every bit as polite as she claimed. Probably she was. That doesn’t change the fact that she was complaining about a conference that was completely unobjectionable to anyone aware of vaccine science, particularly pediatricians and public health officials, because it presented a science-based view of vaccines and didn’t accept her fixed belief that vaccines cause autism and are the equivalent of the Holocaust. Let’s just put it this way. Just because Hayes thinks that what was presented at that conference was support for the “autism Holocaust” doesn’t make it so.
Her letter, however, does make for some seriously hilarious reading:
I am writing to express my grave disappointment at NYU’s hosting a lecture for its medical staff and students last week titled Confronting Vaccine Resistance: Strategies for Success, with speakers Paul Offit, Richard Pan, and Dorit Reiss, and moderator Arthur Caplan.
A summary of what was shared by these speakers can be listened to here, as lecture attendee, Dr. Suzanne Humphries, gave an interview immediately following the lecture:
Dr. Humphries opens her recap with: “It was more social engineering, brainwashing of medical students.”
Not surprisingly, Hayes reveals nothing about Humphries’ background. We’ve discussed her before here on a fair number of occasions. She is affiliated with major antivaccine groups. She’s also known for referring to vaccines as “disease matter.” An MD she may have, but she’s no longer a physician in any sense of the word, if you know what I mean. As for her characterization of the talks as “brainwashing of medical students,” well, one woman’s brainwashing is another person’s training, and medical training is supposed to be based on science. Science doesn’t support the beliefs of antivaccinationists that vaccines cause autism, autoimmune diseases, and all the other conditions and diseases antivaccinationists like to blame on vaccines. It does, however, support the contention that vaccines are effective and safe and that they save lives. It’s therefore entirely appropriate that medical students be taught how to persuade vaccine-averse parents to vaccinate their children.
Hayes seems particularly annoyed at Humphries’ report, which Age of Autism’s “media editor” Anne Dachel transcribed. Not surprisingly, at a pro-vaccine conference, the speakers were not exactly enamored of antivaccinationists and even made jokes about them. It’s even less surprising that they view Dr. Bob Sears negatively. (Certainly I do.) It’s also quite expected that the speakers recommended making non-medical exemptions more difficult to obtain. I can’t help but point out that Dorit Reiss was the one who allowed Humphries to attend in the first place. It’s not as though this were some sort of secret cabal or secret meeting. If it were, no one who wasn’t prescreened and absolutely reliable would have been allowed in that auditorium.
I am wondering if you were aware of this lecture at NYU’s Langone Medical Center? All of the speakers and the moderator are in favor of overriding parental rights when it comes to vaccination. This despite the fact that not one vaccine has ever been proven safe, efficacious, or necessary, and despite the fact that millions have now been injured or killed by vaccines, and despite the fact that the recommended and mandated lists for vaccines continue to grow, without any type of proper or ethical testing. And the definitive study, a comparison study between the vaccinated and the completely unvaccinated, continues to be refused to be done by those profiting from vaccines, which is a statement in and of itself.
I almost feel sorry for Hayes. Almost. If you start writing about how vaccines have never been demonstrated to be efficacious or safe and how “millions” have been “injured or killed by vaccines,” what sort of reaction do you expect from a university president? Hint: It’s highly unlikely to be sympathetic or favorable, although I did find Hayes attempt to appeal to President Hamilton’s background as a chemist chuckle-worthy:
As a distinguished chemist, I hope you will be interested to utilize the link at the end of my presentation which will take you to a listing of all vaccine package inserts. Please look at the amounts of aluminum, mercury, formaldehyde, polysorbate 80, and other ingredients. Please analyze the clinical testing methods, and note the lack of placebos and proper control groups, not to mention the incredibly short clinical observation periods. With a chemist’s knowledge, do you deem it safe to be injecting these ingredients into pregnant women, fetuses, newborns, infants, toddlers, young children, right on up to the very elderly, with no pause?
Please update me regarding any actions you take to address and refute the inaccurate, unethical, and dangerous information that was shared at NYU by Paul Offit, Richard Pan, and Dorit Reiss.
I’m sure President Andrew Hamilton will get right on that. Definitely. Right on that. Right away. I’m sure he’ll read all those presentations and rants.
If Hamilton is a “distinguished chemist,” no doubt he recognized Hayes’ nonsense for the nonsense that it clearly is. The beauty of Hayes’ letter is that she thinks that Hamilton’s background as a chemist means that he’ll accept her claims. In reality, if you’re a chemist (unless you’re Boyd Haley), it’s the exact opposite. If you’re a chemist, it’s far more likely than not that you’ll recognize Hayes’ nonsense for the scientific nonsense it is.
I’m actually rather grateful to Laura Hayes for writing her letter. It’s a perfect example of the delusional world that antivaccinationists live in. Hayes actually believes that the vaccination program is a holocaust and that, if only she can get the President of NYU to read her claims and evidence, she can convince him that the vaccination program is a holocaust too.
Tonight – December 1, 2016 – look outside shortly after the sun goes down. In the sunset direction, not high in the western sky, you’ll find the sky’s two brightest nighttime objects, Earth’s companion moon and the planet Venus. The moon is now in a waxing crescent phase, and it’s moving up, away from the sunset, preparing to sweep closest to Venus on Friday, December 2.
from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2gNPrwJ
Tonight – December 1, 2016 – look outside shortly after the sun goes down. In the sunset direction, not high in the western sky, you’ll find the sky’s two brightest nighttime objects, Earth’s companion moon and the planet Venus. The moon is now in a waxing crescent phase, and it’s moving up, away from the sunset, preparing to sweep closest to Venus on Friday, December 2.
