Saturday, May 2, 2009

Leaner, Faster Loading?

May Day/Space Day

Happy Phil in the verdant outdoors. 4/30/09

Welcome to May at Phil's Place.
I didn't see any people dancing around the Maypole, but that could be because it has been raining. We have a prediction for days and days of rain ahead of us, here in Redding. That is good news. I have some fun books to read, and plenty of projects to catch up on.

Rivers Of Stars

NGC 2841 (Photo credit-NASA)

This latest image
from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope is of the spiral galaxy, NGC 2841. Located about 46 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major, this spectacular galaxy is helping astronomers solve one of the oldest puzzles in astronomy: Why do galaxies look so smooth, with stars sprinkled evenly throughout? An international team of astronomers has discovered that rivers of young stars flow from their hot, dense stellar nurseries, dispersing out to form the large, smooth distribution that we see in spiral galaxies like this one.

Saturn's Moon, Enceladus


Enceladus Up Close

Amazing close up from the Cassini Spacecraft

Mercury

Image of Mercury from the recent Messenger flyby.


Earth and Space Station from the Space Shuttle.

All these pictures are recent, within a month. They illustrate the achievements our species is making with technology and science.

Sometimes I overlook the great feats of artistry and intelligence of today because I try to define what we are doing by what has been done before. It can't be done objectively. Our forms of expression are greater in scope and execution than ever before in history.
Communicating with a friend halfway around the world is instantaneous.
The greatest library in history is in Google. They have been scanning and uploading every book, magazine, and newspaper that exist in the world.
Anyone on earth can access anything ever written with the click of a mouse! And Google can translate it into your language.

Today's Relatively Appropriate Song;
Sheik of Araby - Django Reinhardt

Optimistic

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