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thomryng
Vombatus Sapiens

February 2019

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Fifty Years Ago Today

12 Apr 2011 21:05
thomryng: (Traveller)


And today? US astronauts are paying to fly in Russian space capsules because it's the only way we can get into orbit.

Well, there are two shuttles still flying, Atlantis and Endeavour, but they'll be retired by the end of the year.

Huzzah.

As if I weren't depressed enough.

Still, I shall raise a glass to Colonel Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, the first human in space.
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"We choose to go to the moon..."

20 Jul 2009 07:44
thomryng: (Planet IX)
Feast of Saint Apollinarius
Seattle

Dearest Reader,

As we celebrate today the fortieth anniversary of what is undoubtedly the most significant human event of the twentieth century, let us pause to reflect that NASA's three decrepit space shuttles, Atlantis, Discovery, and Endeavour, will be will be decommissioned in 2010, leaving the United States with no ability to launch humans into space for the first time since 1961.

The replacement program for the shuttles, called "Constellation" (which looks to my amateur eye suspiciously similar to the Apollo vehicles) has been put on indefinite hold pending a "review" of the program, which by my count is the third such review.

As I have said many times before, humans require frontiers. Without exploration, without frontiers, the Human species will turn in on itself like rats in a cage. It's already begun. With the closing of frontiers, the twentieth century was the most violent in world history.

NASA's entire projected budget for human exploration of space for FY2010 is about $10 billion. That's less than three tenths of one percent of the Federal Budget.

So when you follow the "live" feed at http://wechoosethemoon.org/ today, ponder about not only the past, but also the future of human space exploration.
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All the News in Fits of Print

31 Jul 2008 14:57
thomryng: (Planet IX)

Summertime Blues

17 Aug 2006 09:50
thomryng: (Default)
I won't even pretend that this hasn't been a rough summer.

Francine's father, one of the coolest human beings I've been privileged to meet, died in July while I was visiting my parents in Chicago. By the time I returned, she was gone to Virgina. She was only back a couple of days when our effort to buy a house failed. Then my sainted1 grandmother died, and I was off again to Chicago. Whilst I was attempting to return to Tacoma, the airports went to Muppet Alert Level Ernie, causing all sorts of fun. As the Pakastani medical student behind me in the security line at O'Hare said, "Today is a great day to fly!"

This past week, I've been working wicked hours trying to catch up and get some more students into our school. Francine's been ill, and meanwhile I keep having dreams involving sixteenth century plate armour, Turkish cigarettes, muskets, and Czech beer.

No proper time for mourning, and yet some moments it all just hits me and I have to remember how to breathe.

The world, of course, marches on with or without our active participation.

Forget the mystery of Planet X, we're now up to XII. I suppose it makes sense - after nine the next mystic number is twelve. Of course, with the Amazing Multiplying Plutons2, we're likely to be up to 23 or 42 before you can say "Planet George".

Meanwhile, they still haven't officially named 2003 UB313. I'm holding out for "Yuggoth".

Not nearly so Pluto-shattering is the news that Johnny Depp will play Sweeney Todd. Pretty much made my morning, that did. Odd how similar their names are...

- - - - -
1: Yes, I mean that. OK, it's not like the Church is likely to take up her cause any time soon, but the woman was wholly holy.

2: I have all their albums.
  • Current Mood: manic busy
  • Current Location: Visitation Catholic School, Tacoma
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Wherein the Author Wishes to Give Mr. Robertson a Swift Kick and Opines on Science and Faith

11 Nov 2005 08:44
thomryng: (CS Lewis)
This man is clearly in need of some professional help.

First, he publically called for the assassination of the President of Venezuela. Granted, he apologized (perhaps realizing that is a felony in the United States), he did but did not recant. Then, he claimed that Hurricane Katrina was somehow caused by legalized abortion.

And now:
I'd like to say to the good citizens of Dover: If there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God, you just rejected Him from your city... If they have future problems in Dover, I recommend they call on Charles Darwin. Maybe he can help them.
While I'm willing to grant Pascal's assertion that occasionally we catch glimpses of reality which transcend reason (more or less his definition of Christianity), it does not follow that Christians are required to be nonsensical.

I just returned from Mass, and what I heard there was vastly different.
(F)rom the greatness and the beauty of created things
their original author, by analogy, is seen.
In answer to Mr. Robertson's anti-science, I ask: can science contradict the Christian faith?

The answer must be: of course not. As Pope John Paul II said, "truth cannot contradict truth". If Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection accurately describes the evolution of life on Earth - if it's true - then it cannot be incompatible with Christianity. Is Genesis literally true? Of course not; some of the earliest Church Fathers said as much. For one thing, there are two different accounts of creation there. And just in case anybody was unclear on the idea of mythopœic cosmogenesis, the first chapter of John's Gospel should pretty much clear up the concept.

They're myths, people. They are an inspired attempt to speak Truth, not facts. Genesis tells us about God and about the people who worshipped Him, and about how to live, not about exactly how the physics of cosmogenesis works.

Science seeks to understand how the universe works. Faith seeks to understand why and what to do now.

Science may eventually unravel the secrets of time and space, but it cannot describe an Eternal God who transcends time, an omnipotent God who transcends space.

Anyway, I'm going to Shakabrah to write now. Maybe I actually will manage something.
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